Chapter 027 - A Spaceman Came Travelling
'Gohan... you can't die...' Corset's trembling fists grasped at the blue grass ripping it up from the dirt. Her anger began to bubble and seethe heat through her aching body; she hated Recoome. She wanted to charge him and beat him down for what he'd done to everyone yet her body was too sore and limp to move.
"Oh well, I guess I'd better kill them all," Recoome sighed disappointed, the sadistic joy of toying with everyone had worn off now that no one could fight back.
Through all the commotion, there was a small but distinctive high-pitched squealing.
The young girl couldn't look up high enough into the sky but judging by everyone else's movements, they were aware of the sound.
What was it?
Exhaustion began to kick in and Corset struggled as the world around her faded, finding herself being dragged back and forward through a dream-like state and the nightmare that was reality. She couldn't figure out what was going on, she couldn't even figure out anything! All she could do was lay there and endure whatever it was she was going through. Her body pounded with each beat, pain burning her with every thump, the breath in her lungs little and painful with every pulsation of her heart. She felt so awful as if her body was being burned.
In the confused blurry shapes floating in her eyesight, a shadow appeared above her. It was accompanied by a familiar voice.
"...is ter...ble..."
She recognised it. It was a man she knew she'd spoken to before.
"...set, eat this senzu bean."
Her vision blurred a little less; she could make out a face of a man with spiky hair, orange and blue blurring below his face.
"I can't move my arms..." Corset spluttered amazed she could even speak so coherently!
"Ok, just stay calm; I'll feed it to you,"
Something pressed against her lips and into her mouth, most of it retracting away leaving something slightly bigger than a grain of rice. Whatever was left tasted foul! Corset's instant reaction to the bean was to spit it out; it tasted disgusting!
"Just eat it, trust me," the man's voice was clearer now.
Knowing now who it was, Corset reluctantly did as she was told and swallowed. "That's yuck..." She mumbled, brain still quiet and empty.
Suddenly the burning stopped.
Corset's body jerked for the briefest of moments. She felt fine! Her mind was clear, her vision sharp, her hearing no longer muffled! What was weirdest of all was that her body felt fine!
Baffled as she sat up, she watched as Goku walked towards Krillin. What had he just made her eat?
"It's a weird feeling, huh?" Gohan was nearby and seemed to be giggling over something.
Corset looked herself up and down, "That yucky bean brought my energy back? All my aches and pains have gone too!"
"My dad wants us to follow him," Gohan grabbed Corset by her tattered wristband and the duo walked after the taller fighter. As they followed Corset took a deep look at Goku. Something did seem a little different about him... or maybe she didn't remember him right! All she knew was she always had a strange feeling when looking at him during a battle. Something about him just made her feel that perhaps everything was going to be alright. She didn't really know why but she felt safe with him being with them.
"Hey, why's Vegeta hurt too?" Goku asked.
"It was that guy," Gohan answered, "he's really strong, Dad!"
Corset watched quietly as Goku fed Krillin a senzu bean, the two adults having a conversation between themselves.
"Can't you see how powerful they are?" Krillin was saying, "It doesn't matter how much better we get; they'll still beat us down again! Not even you could beat them Goku. Even Vegeta over there was beaten by them."
Corset looked over at her father; he looked terribly beaten down, even if he was still conscious. The Saiyan had sunk to his knees.
"... Why was Vegeta fighting them? Weren't they meant to be in the same league?" Goku's question made Corset turn her attention back to them.
"Well they were at first..." Krillin stopped as Goku placed a hand on his head.
"You don't need to talk, I'm gonna try and feel it," Goku instructed.
A couple of moments passed, Corset tilted her head to the side in confusion. Whatever Goku was doing it reminded her of the Great Elder drawing out people's powers. Even with the draw-out, Corset still hadn't been much help, or so she thought.
"...Now I know everything," Goku smiled, "why your powers are all so much higher, that Bulma's safe, that the Dragonballs were taken by these guys, about Freeza and these guys and Vegeta too."
Krillin and the two children were baffled. "W-What, how did you-?"
"It doesn't look like Vegeta's turned over a new leaf but it looks like he saved your lives," Goku added, glancing over to his fellow Saiyan. "... Only one senzu left..." he noted reaching into the small pouch.
"Where did you get this new power?" Krillin asked startled.
"Hey Vegeta!" Goku called ignoring Krillin, "Catch!"
He tossed the last senzu bean towards the Saiyan Prince startling Krillin even more!
Vegeta caught the tiny object and observed it carefully.
"It's senzu, eat it!" Goku yelled.
"You gave him the last senzu? Are you out of your mind – even for you?" Krillin protested.
Vegeta ate the bean; Corset wondered how surprised he'd be with the bean's powers...
"You're insane!" Krillin cried. "I guess you want him fighting alongside us-"
"No, that's not it," Goku shook his head, "I wanna finish the fight we started on Earth later. I'll take care of these guys myself."
"What?" Corset gawped in shock. Was he really serious? Krillin was right, he was insane!
"N-No, Dad!" Gohan gasped, his father making his way over towards Recoome.
"He's nuts – even for himself he's lost it!" Krillin mumbled stunned. "This is it, we're gonna have to charge in you guys. Goku's reckless but this is completely crazy even for him!"
Although she didn't like the sounds of charging in considering what that monster had done to them all, Corset knew she had to be brave. She didn't want Gohan's dad to be hurt.
"You know, you're one weird dude!" Recoome's loud and burly voice was hard not to hear! "You seriously think you can stand up to us? All I ask is that you make it interesting." He turned to the other two Ginyu Force members standing to the side. "Hey, what's this geek's power level?"
"Geek is well-put," the blue man snorted. "He's at a lowly five-thousand!"
"That it? So it's another let-down..." Recoome turned back to Goku. "All talk and no action."
This was bad; if Goku was only at five-thousand then there was no way they could win! Then again if memory served her right, she could have sworn during the battle on Earth, her father had declared Goku's power was over eight-thousand... Had he grown weaker since then? It didn't add up!
"You can't beat me," Goku declared, "I can see that now."
This comment had caught many of those who'd heard it by surprise.
Recoome burst out laughing, "Hey did you hear that? This guy thinks he's beaten me! He thinks he can bluff his way outta this fight!"
"Something's happened to him. Goku never used to bluff like this!" Krillin mumbled.
"Doesn't my dad see how powerful this guy is?" Gohan asked.
Corset didn't get it either. She could sense Recoome's ki was a lot stronger than Goku's ki. Just why was he so confident when there was such a big difference in power?
"OK, I've had enough of this geek's jokes, I'm gonna shut him up for good," Recoome put his guard up. "Get ready kid!"
Corset gulped and clenched her fists anxiously. The fight was about to start.
"GINYU FORCE! RECOOME!" Recoome bellowed as he began to strike a couple of poses. "MACH ATTACK!"
At blinding speed Recoome jolted forward swinging out his fist at Goku—
Goku was gone.
Recoome stood baffled with his fist at arm's length. Where had Goku gone?
Corset looked around in disbelief, she couldn't see him anywhere! What had just happened? She didn't understand how he could have suddenly vanished!
"There he is!" Krillin pointed. "How did he manage to go so far so fast?"
Corset looked over and gasped; Goku was standing behind the other two Ginyu Force fighters; both were glaring back at him! She couldn't work it out. How had he moved so fast in an instant – she didn't even see a blur!
Goku's voice was audible but the words weren't. After a small talk with the short red man and the tall blue guy, Goku hovered back over to his opponent.
"So you're fast – big deal! You won't win by running away all the time!" Recoome jeered. "Now it's time for me to get serious – I guess I'm gonna have to show you my ultimate attack! I'll tell you now, you won't be able to outrun this because a large circle around me will get blown to nothing!"
Corset gulped, what was he talking about? A large circle? How big was this going to be?
"S-Shit!" Krillin gasped, "This is bad! We're not gonna be able to outrun this in time!"
That sent panic through her. Corset wished Krillin hadn't spoken! She didn't want to imagine how powerful this attack would be!
"RECOOME-!" Recoome began to pose for another attack.
Corset began to shake. This couldn't be it!
"-ULTRA-!" He raised his hands above his head.
His ki was shooting up.
"-MEGA-"
A flash of light was all that suggested something had happened. There was no sudden gust of wind to push them off their feet. There was no loud explosion.
Cautiously and with her heart thumping powerfully in her ribs, Corset slowly opened one eye.
Goku stood over his opponent, who'd fallen to his knees clutching his stomach and wailing in agony.
Corset was clueless. What had happened?
"Sorry, you were so wide open I couldn't help it," Goku apologised.
"... You... little... punk..."
Recoome collapsed onto his face, butt up in the air.
Corset couldn't believe it. Recoome's ki had fallen dangerously low in that one instant. It had left her speechless!
"... Did Dad beat him?" Gohan asked baffled.
"It can't be..." Krillin spluttered in disbelief, "Even if he caught him off-guard, that guy never even flinched at Vegeta or our attacks! That was just one single blow!"
One move had just taken down the guy who'd beaten herself, Krillin, Gohan and even her father and still hadn't broken a sweat! Had it been pure luck or was there something else going on? Goku's energy hadn't changed at all… Corset didn't get it!
"What now?" Goku turned to the other two Ginyu Force fighters. "Will you go back to your own planet or do I have to keep hitting you?"
This was insane! Corset'd never known anyone as ridiculously crazy as Gohan's father! What was he talking about; he wanted them to leave so he didn't have to hit them? What was he doing? Corset watched carefully, curious to see what the other two would do. Neither looked too pleased.
"G-Goku knows something," Krillin muttered.
"Let's go!" The red skinned fighter jeered.
"So you're not going to leave?" Goku asked.
Corset gulped and tightened her grip; it looked like this was going to get far, far worse for them all!
The two fighters charged forwards; the blue guy shooting ahead of the red guy. Both landed either side of Goku, surrounding him. "Now..." the red guy spoke, "... you'll see what happens when you underestimate the Ginyu-"
The man yelped as his head rocked back; Goku'd punched him square between the eyes! Corset tried to stifle a laugh and kept quiet; was this really happening?
"You keep leaving yourselves wide open," Goku mumbled.
"Oh you are DEAD!" The red man yelled.
Goku blocked both fighters' attacks with his arms. He kicked the red guy back and tripped the blue man; both regained themselves and stood. Peculiarly Goku tossed both hands out; something sent the two Ginyu Force fighters flying backwards as a gust of wind picked up.
Corset raised an eyebrow. Were they just messing around? Goku seemed to be winning!
"That was a kiai!" Krillin exclaimed. "Goku just blew them away with a basic little kiai!"
"... But... I thought these guys were supposed to be strong..." Gohan mumbled, "... they're helpless against Dad!"
"Their ki is as strong as that Recoome guy," Krillin realised. "It's gotta be that Goku's too strong for them so these guys look weak in comparison!"
"I don't get it," Corset mumbled, "I can't sense Gohan's dad's ki rising at all Krillin; those two feel so much stronger!"
"I don't really have an answer for that..." Krillin mumbled.
"CRUSHER-"
The sudden rise in the red man's ki caught the trio's attention. Corset was sure he had just as much ki in that ball as what had been in Recoome's Eraser Gun from earlier!
"-BALL!"The fighter smacked the ball forwards straight for Goku.
"...What are you doing? Why aren't you dodging it?" The blue guy yelled rather loudly, the spectators easily picking up on it.
Goku slapped the ball effortlessly to the side, sending it straight towards the blue man who dodged with ease, albeit he seemed a little stunned.
In a flash Goku was behind him, again catching everyone by surprise.
'Gohan's dad is really fast...' Corset's eyes were wide in awe. He seemed to be faster than the blue man! Didn't he say he was the fastest in the universe? Well whatever, he was now having a talk with Goku, they were so far away Corset couldn't hear them.
The fight started up again as the blue man went on the attack; Corset could only just make out the blur of his fists, finding it harder to see Goku! The red guy joined in, struggling in a closely-knit frenzy of attacks.
A flash later and the blue guy was sent hurtling towards the ground at a dangerous speed-
He was spared inches from the ground; Goku holding him above his head. It had been just like the fight with Nappa!
Goku tossed the man to the ground.
Everyone was stunned, jaws dropping to the floor.
"Do you see now?" Goku yelled up at the last remaining Ginyu Force fighter. "There's no point in fighting! Take your friends and get off this planet!"
Corset looked at Goku in sheer awe and admiration. How he'd done what he had done was beyond her but what surprised her was how he was dealing with the situation. Piccolo had taught her the fight wasn't over until her opponent was dead. As much as she hated that and could never make herself kill anyone, she was surprised to see such a difference in opinion here. Goku wasn't killing his opponents; he was letting them live.
Could a fight end that way? Could a fighter really be that merciful and be able to get away with it? Corset really hoped so, for her own sake...
"What are you doing, fool?" Vegeta's yell caught Corset by surprise. "Finish him off!"
"He is finished!" Goku snapped back. "There's no reason to kill him!"
There was no reason? Of course there wasn't! She liked that there wasn't! She didn't want to see anyone or anything die, it was too distressing! Could she be able to fight like he did? She wanted to; she didn't want to kill anyone. The idea of having to kill was too upsetting to her, too unfairly horrible.
In an apparent panic, the red man suddenly took off!
"He ran away!" Gohan cried.
"He left his friends here," Goku frowned disappointed. "What a friend he is!"
"Hey..." Krillin caught Goku's attention and he looked around at the trio, "... are you really Goku?" Krillin asked.
Before he could answer, Goku turned back around.
Vegeta had teleported and slammed straight into the blue man's neck. Corset gasped as he saw the man's body jerk with the impact, his ki diminishing instantly!