Chapter Thirteen- The battle begins
Looking around at the gaggle of green monstrosities, Gohan radiated terror in waves.
"I can't do this mr Piccolo, I'm too scared!" the last word came out as a cry and he attempted to position himself behind piccolos left leg. A saibamen grinned evilly at him but made no move. Clearly they were under the control of the saiyans.
I couldn't honestly understand Gohan's fear. Yes, he was a small child but the things he'd seen and done over the past eleven months should have aged him. The only scary thing about these creatures were their looks. Their power levels were like Raditz's, and for us, that was nothing to worry about. Besides, Krillin, Piccolo and me had already agreed to take these monsters for ourselves. He really had nothing to fear.
Piccolo shifted his glare onto Gohan, and swooped one arm down to tug the kid of his trouser-leg.
"Get a grip kid, we've got worse things coming. Just sit down and cry your pathetic little heart out whilst we adults deal with the plants" His tone was patronizing and harsh, one of a man who was utterly fed up. As for calling those things plants, well he kinda had a point. They did grow from a seed in the ground after all.
Gohan's eyes watered and a tear slipped loose before he slumped down onto his bottom. His eyes gleaned betrayal on Piccolo's behalf.
"For gods sake, Lessa, you're a woman. Do something with him will you" I bit back my tongue before I said something of sexism. Dropping onto my haunches, I placed a hand through Gohan's matted hair.
Another tear dropped into the dust before he looked up. Completely vulnerable, what the boy needed was his father.
"Gohan, I know its tough, but we're relying on you to try and be strong. For your dad, for us; your friends. I know you may not think you have much use but you have an incredible hidden strength and if we all fight together, we have a chance of winning this thing, or at least stalling them til your father gets here. You'd like that wouldn't you? Your father to be proud of how much you've grown" I was going to add that he would be lucky to have a father to be proud of him, that I had never had that proud-ness in my entire life; but it was no use. I had left the humans long behind, and getting angry over a past that could not be changed was something I did not need at this moment.
Especially when revenge was not an option. They were already rotting in a world of hell and had most likely forgotten about me at the first possible opportunity.
Trapped in my own thoughts, I didn't notice the new power levels heading straight for us. Not until one of them crudely shouted down at us anyway.
"Hey guys, what's up? Thought we'd come and help you with the saiyans you know" Wonderful. From what I could see as three figures floated down in the glare of the sun, we had another idiot in an orange jumpsuit; although he had a huge mane of hair to make up for Krillin's lack of hair. And the other two was a midget kid that was paler than a ghost and looked like a china doll; and a tall muscled; bald guy. It seemed being bald was a popular thing around here. At least the third one looked like he could actually do some damage though.
"Who the hell are these idiots" As rude as it was of me to call them idiots, I still saw Piccolo smile.
"Their friends of Goku" Well go figure.
"Why am I not surprised" Krillin beamed a sickly grin and practically bounded over to the newcomers, slapping hands with his fellow jumpsuit friend.
"Hey Yamcha, Tien and Chiatzu, long time no see huh?" The taller bald one didn't speak, instead surveying the saiyans.
"Good to see you Krillin, we heard about Goku, shame huh" Not that Yamcha seemed to be overly concerned about Goku. Clearly these bunch of lunatics had a history that went a long way back.
"Yeah but he'll be back though, he did some super special training with these guy called king kai and now he's on his way to help us defeat the saiyans" Yamcha brushed back a lock of thick black hair and smirked as he finally saw the non-smiling saiyans.
"Well they don't look much of a challenge, I think bulma exaggerated a bit when she called us away from our training. I bet I could take all of them on by myself"
"So I was right, he is the stupid one" I murmured, only loud enough for Piccolo's sensitive ears to pick it up. I could see he was holding back a laugh.
"Well its look like all the planet's idiots have finally turned up, and look there's six of them and six saibamen. Why don't we play a little game" The one called vegeta eyed us humorously, and I was reminded of a cat that likes to play with its food.
"Uh actually there's seven of us" Chiatzu squeaked, hovering his tiny body above Tien's shoulder.
"I'm sorry, what was that? I don't count china dolls as people" Chiatzu opened his mouth as if to speak but then snapped it shut hastily.
"As I was saying, how about a little game of one on one?" His eyes shined with a dark fire, and I don't think he was giving us a choice. His eyes flickered over my body and a shiver ran up my spine. Yes, he exumed pure evil, but that didn't fail to make my panties wet.
"Get stuffed, we're not playing your stupid game" I could almost see the muscles in Piccolo's throat preparing him to growl.
"Whoa hang on a sec Piccolo, perhaps this would be a good idea. It would buy us some more time for Goku to arrive" Krillin flapped his arms hastily, trying to shield Piccolo from the saiyans as if they would unheard his words by not seeing him.
"Well if that's the case, then I'll go first" Tien had a low, deadly voice and everything fell silent when he spoke. He flexed his biceps, eyebrows lowered as Vegeta pushed forward a particularly cocky saibamen.
"Don't hold anything back" Vegeta informed the saibamen coldly.
No one objected as both parties flew towards each other and threw punches. Both were almost equal in speed, and as the saibamen's punches failed to phase Tien, he quickly turned his attention to us.
I saw it before it was too late, the creatures skull splitting open to release a spurting white liquid, that although looked harmless, steamed as though deadly.
All of us moved except Gohan, the liquid heading straight for him. Piccolo sighed loudly and as soon as his feet hit the ground he sprinted towards Gohan, picking him up and throwing both of them to the ground just a second before it would have hit. There was an audible laugh from Vegeta before the ground sizzled and literally dropped away to reveal a great gaping chasm the length of three buses.
Thank god Piccolo had got there in time.
The saibamen had turned in arrogance, thinking Tien would be distracted enough for him to examine his work. He rubbed his claws together, giving a cry of outrage before Tien slammed into his side, his eyes bulging as Tien's fists pounded into him. Tien gave of a silent rage and left no part uninjured before he threw the lifeless body to the ground.
The saibamen still lived, but barely as it struggled to cling onto life. He could not fight back and Tien knew it. Flexing his muscles again as he turned and walked back to us.
"Well that was disappointing. Obviously we have a weak bunch" Nappa looked the picture of concern as he watched the saibamens claws scrape the dust feebly.
"But vegeta, they all have the same power level as Raditz"
"Well then that's our problem isn't it" Vegeta shot a look of malice towards the fallen saibamen, raising his hand, with the palm facing flat outwards. Ki bubbled up and shot out, destroying the saibamen and the patch of earth it lay on with it.
"What did you do that for!? He was still alive!" Nappa cried, lines of anguish stretched across his cheeks. Vegeta smiled, his eyes betraying the true meaning of a smile.
"I told him not to hold anything back and he did. Be that a lesson to the rest of you" He addressed the saibamen, each cawing in hurried assurance that they wouldn't hold back. At least I assumed that's what they were saying. To my ears it was all just a load of squeaks and shrieks.
"Alright, its my turn now" Yamcha slipped a fist across his chest, pushing it out proudly and strutting his way forwards.
"Are you sure that's such a good idea? I could have a go you know" Krillin offered, wording kindly that even he thought he was incapable.
Yamcha flashed his teeth.
"Don't worry Krillin, if anything happens to me I can be wished back by the dragonballs. You've already died once so you won't be wished back. Besides, I could take on all of these losers if I wanted"
'He's going to die'
'Yup' The next largest saibamen leapt forward and the two wasted no time in engaging each other. Yamcha was of to a good start, in fact their speed was so extreme that my eyes were constantly moving in order to watch them. They flickered from rock to rock, matching evenly in close combat.
"What's going on?" Gohan asked and as I turned to look at him I saw his eyes were not bobbing around the same way everyone else's was. He couldn't see them. Piccolo tore his eyes away from Yamcha and nodded. I returned my eyes to the battle but left my ears listening to what words of wisdom Piccolo would offer the kid.
"Alright Gohan, now you know how to sense energy don't you?"
"Yes mr Piccolo"
"Now keep track of where you sense their energy, and use all of your senses to see the energy. Don't just use your eyes, feel them out, hear them" Just as Gohan latched onto them, Yamcha disappear with a blur and as the saibamen twisted left and right to find him, he came from above. Cracking into his skull and slamming him straight to the dust. He twitched before stilling, and it seemed as though he was dead.
Yamcha dropped down, giving the saibamen the once over before turning his back and pointing a thumbs up towards us.
The air turned dark, the particles weighing heavily all of a sudden.
"Don't you worry guys, I'll take on the other four by myself" He assured us.
"Damn it, I hate it when the other team is winning" Nappa moaned petulantly.
"Oh I wouldn't count our team out of the battle just yet" Vegeta said coyly, tilting his head. Yamcha ignored his words and out of nowhere, the saibamen leaped from his grave and wrapped himself around Yamcha's chest from behind. Yamcha let out a startled cry and began squirming, trying to detach the saibamen. It grinned before linking its claws together and ki started to envelope Yamcha.
It only took a second, as energy reached its bursting point and the two brawlers exploded.
Smoke brew up as Yamcha's lifeless body hit the ground face down, and bits of saibamen smacked down beside him.
Although I knew pride came before a fall, my heart panged at a loss that could have been avoided. Suffered by the unjust of a saibamens cowardly suicide. Krillin had lost a friend and I warily stepped away as his rage began to boil. The air was no longer heavy, instead the particles were steaming. Krillin ignored us all, slowly but steadily stepping over to the remains.
"Damn it, a draw is boring, let's get on with the next fight!" Nappa obviously had no feelings of remorse, and I felt a flicker of my own rage simmering.
"Wait a minute Nappa, let's give them a moment to clear the trash of the battlefield"
The particles popped and Krillin's forehead creased with five lines as he glared daggers at the enemy.
"The other four are mine, you hear me!" His teeth gritted together as he raised his arms above his head. The air became energy, and a steaming mass of white ki formed in his hands.
It was all or nothing.