A True Saiyan ~ 17
They were the strongest force in all of Tsuchi no Kuni. They handled all of his dirtiest work and came back to the village spotless. It had been that way for years, they were surprisingly good for a group of kids, and Onoki loved them for that reason. Normally he didn't like the younger generation of shinobi, but they were a different breed, and he watched their current battle with glee.
He had a perfect view from where he stood outside, and his eyes lit up like a little kid watching all of fighters go back and forth. The Kumogakure faithful were being thrown around like a children, and that was exactly what he wanted. The man snickered, turning away from the violence to continue to look for what he had left his office for.
The man was roaming the grounds that once housed Capsule Corps, but there was nothing left of it. He didn't expect anything less than a mind as great as Dr. Briefs, he had disappeared without a trace. Onoki sighed and stroked his beard, he knew the moment he showed his fangs to the doctor he'd run away, and all he could do is shake his head.
A masked ANBU member appeared behind Onoki and got down on one knee instantly, the older man turned around and looked down at the shinobi. He raised his brow at the sudden appearance, "What is it?" The masked shinobi looked up at him and remained silent. Onoki's face tensed up and he clenched his teeth, moving closer to his subordinate and frowned, "Out with it."
"We've lost the trail we had on Dr. Briefs," He said hesitantly and lowered his head. The ANBU member ran his hand through the dirt, "We did however find the Capsule Corps building."
"Where?"
The ANBU stabbed his finger into the ground, "He buried it," he brought himself to stand, "It's getting deeper, but we assume it has stopping point. We're working to get somebody in there as we speak."
Onoki nodded his head, "Good, get back to work." The ANBU member disappeared just as quickly as he had came, and that left Onoki standing in the newly created wasteland that once was Capsule Corps. Apparently the doctor buried it under the ground, but it wasn't something he hadn't dealt with before in his many years as a ninja.
He knew his shinobi would break in by the time the day was over, so he decided to continue with his search of the actual doctor, so he could try and convince the man to come back to the village. He would much rather have him as an ally than an enemy.
However, finding a man as intelligent as Dr. Briefs was proving to be no easy task. He was too smart to be a man of habit, or at least let off the fact that he had any other than smoking cigarettes. He didn't know anything about the man, where he was from, or if he had any family outside of Iwagakure, so his next move was extremely hard to predict.
All he could do is keep sensors posted around the village trying to find him. He was working his way away from the Capsule Corps. property and started going back toward the village. As he walked, he suddenly tripped over a rock and face planted in the dirt. He was spitting out loose pebbles and mud out of his mouth as he pushed himself back up, and there was a sharp pain in his back, "Agh! Damn these roads!"
"Is that really you old man?" A voice sounded out from behind Onoki, which made his head snap back in that direction to see who it was. A fairly tall and slim man stood there with a grin, he had his hands stuffed in his pockets. He had long black hair, and his eyes were covered by a cloth he had tied around his head. "I never thought you would come and play in the field with us kids."
Onoki nearly strangled the man, but he held back his anger and slowly stood up. He decided to float to make it easier on his back, "Yes, because you young ones are full of tricks, and I don't like games," He complained with a roll of his eyes, not that the man before him would even notice. "I hope you came with good news, Jun."
The man nodded and took a few cautious steps forward, "Yup, I've been added to your task force, old man." He laughed to himself for a bit, "Actually I added myself, I loved seeing the lower level sensors squirm for a while."
The Tsuchikage groaned, "You would have been useful about an hour ago, now the doctor has gotten away." He stared at Jun and was quietly irritated by the man's calm expression, despite how serious things were in Iwagakure right now.
"No he hasn't," Jun corrected quickly and made the old man even madder by being outsmarted like that. A small smile crossed his face as he walked up to Onoki and patted him on the head, "In fact, he's been right under your nose this whole time, old man. You looked every where except under the ground, I guess being six feet deep is the last thing you have on your mind right now."
"Take me to him right now," Onoki said in his deadliest tone, getting an ever bigger smile out of Jun.
"As you wish, old man."
. . .
(Outskirts of Iwagakure ~ With Bulma, Goku, and Tights)
Goku never thought he'd be wrapping up his own back side because he lost his tail, but here he was. The boy used a lot of bandages just to be sure, since he wasn't exactly the best medic. He didn't even seem to notice the two women that were awkwardly staring at him while he had his pants down. Once he finished, he pulled his pants up and smiled to himself.
The three of them had long since moved from the cave, and were now moving on the actual ground. Ever since the explosion sounded, there hadn't been any more attacks on them, or any ninja lurking around the area. The ones that were didn't seem to be looking for them.
The boy outstretched his arms and yawned, "Ok, let's keep moving." He said smoothly, still adjusting his pants.
"Ok, quick question," Bulma spoke up and stepped up to Goku with a raised a brow. "Where is your tail?"
Goku poked his butt out and looked at it, "Oh yeah, I lost it," He looked up and smiled awkwardly. He didn't necessarily know how to explain it when he had it, and now that it was gone; he still couldn't. He figured life would get a bit easier in that aspect though, even if it would take some getting used to.
"Okay..." Bulma wasn't satisfied with the answer, but she wasn't going to pester him about it. They had to make an escape anyway, so she could worry about her younger companion later on life, for now she had to focus on keeping it.
Tights rested her ray gun on her shoulder and pointed toward the village, "Our best bet is taking the scenic route, there are too many shinobi out here searching for something. We've done a good job avoiding them so far," She gestured her head in that direction as well, and was about to walk off, but she couldn't help but notice that Goku and Bulma stood still. "What?"
"I'm not leaving without K," Goku stated flatly, gesturing back toward where they came from.
"Neither am I," Bulma smiled and nodded at Goku.
"I think he's going to be completely fine without us, he's a capable ninja," she had heard about many of his endeavors. Tights simply turned away and walked off without them. Hopefully they would follow, "Well good luck, kids, I'm getting the hell out of here."
With every step she took, she heard nothing. They were serious when they said they weren't leaving without the famed shinobi in tow. She quietly groaned and tried to push herself to just continue on, hoping they would give in and follow, but she knew they were too stubborn to do that.
After ten minutes of walking, she turned around and returned to the two teenagers and frowned when she saw them sitting on the ground.
"Rock!"
"Paper!"
"Scissors!"
"Shoot!" Goku and Bulma threw out their hands, the genin having scissors, and Bulma was unfortunate enough to have paper. She groaned and folded her arms over her chest and Goku grinned from cheek to cheek.
"What are you two doing, I thought you were going to find Goku's sensei?" Tights placed her hands on her hips and furrowed her brow at them.
"We were waiting on you to come back," Goku admitted honestly as he got up off of the ground. "We weren't going to do it without you."
Tights rolled her eyes, mentally mad that she came back, and for being that predictable. She shut her eyes and walked past them both, back in the direction they had come from. "Well, let's go, kids."
"Actually," Bulma said as he got off the ground herself and placed her hands on her hips. She frowned, "I'd rather not go back in that direction now."
"What, why?" Goku nudged her side and frowned.
"Well what do you kids want to do!?" Tights threw her hands to her side and groaned. First they wanted to go back for Goku's sensei, and now they were undecided. She herself wanted to get out of Iwagakure for good, but they were making it extremely hard for her.
There was nothing but silence and she was confused, she was about to open her mouth to yell at them again, and she suddenly felt a chill run up her spine. She could see why they were completely silent, and she slowly turned her body to see just what was causing this horrible sensation.
The woman looked up and saw a large brown hand reach out of the cave, the arm of it was covered with brown fur. It had a thick killing intent, and she couldn't help but feel like it was focused on them. Her eyes were still wide, and she turned back to look at Goku. He was in as much awe as she was.
"No way, this can't be happening," Goku took a step back and fell onto his butt, "This can't be real." A bead of sweat rolled down his head and he started breathing heavily. He tried shaking his head rapidly, pinching himself, and shutting his eyes; but the feeling in his gut told him that what he was experiencing was real.
"What's wrong, Goku?" Bulma kneeled down and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"I used to have these crazy dreams," Goku said as he placed his hands on his head and took a deep breath. He looked up at the cave and grit his teeth, "There was this monster that would terrorize and destroy everything in its path."
"Seriously?" Tights asked with a raised brow.
Another oversized hand ripped the small mouth of the cave wide open, the red eyes of the beast were the first thing the trio saw, before it fully stuck its head out and beared its fangs. It let out a deafening roar and made their hearts race. A devilish grin appeared on the creature's face afterward, like it could smell their fear, and it was enjoying every second of it.
"Maybe it doesn't see us!" Bulma offered optimistically.
Any semblance of hope was crushed once the eyes of the large ape focused solely on Goku from the top of the cave. It cracked a smile and opened its mouth, natural energy was slowly being drawn in from the area and concentrating within its maw. The trio's eyes widened as they watched the monster charge up his attack.
"I think it sees us," Goku sighed.
Tights grabbed Bulma and Goku already knew what was going on. They scrambled and took off in different directions, so they wouldn't be torn apart by the purple beam of energy that suddenly ripped through the ground and destroyed everything in its path. The beam didn't let up, and the ape turned its head so it could focus fully on Goku now.
It tore through the ground and chased after the surprisingly fast and wily Goku. It was about to catch him, but before he could be tripped up and fall; someone swooped in and saved him. The boy knew it to be none other than K, but when he looked up; the man seemed different. There was a self-sustaining crimson flame on his forehead.
Once they were safe, he instantly dropped Goku to the ground and looked up at the cave. His calm expression never left his face, even when the ape pushed itself out of the cave and lunged at him and Goku. He looked down on the boy and stared at him, "What happened?" He asked with the little time he had to speak with the boy.
"Does this really need an explanation?" Goku questioned back as he jumped up and shrieked when he saw an oversized ape flying toward them.
K sighed, "Don't be foolish, Goku." The wave of malicious aura and debris flying past him didn't change his demeanor at all, despite his panicking student. The ape grinned at the duo and he stared blankly back at it, "Hello." He pushed Goku forward and the boy stumbled, "This is the one you want, isn't it?"
Goku shot a look at K that had 'what the fuck' written all over it, but he was speechless. The Ape laughed, "Oh, yes, definitely!" The monster had finally spoken, and Goku was even more shocked when he heard that it sounded like Vegeta. The giant ape smashed his fist into his open palm, "He's going to pay for his foolish actions against the Prince of All Saiyans!"
The word foolish was starting to haunt him. Goku looked up at K, "What are we going to do?"
Raditz landed on Vegeta's shoulder with a smile, "You could run, brother," the saiyan laughed while he watched Goku's face twist in horror. "Or you could join forces with us, and help us take over this planet." Even though they were in a vicious fight to death mere moments ago, he had no problem offering his ally a spot in world domination.
"The real question, Goku," K said slowly, placing a hand on top of the boy's head. "Is what are you going to do?"
This day had been more than stressful for Goku. He had been told that he was from a completely different planet, had another family, and his flesh brother was supposedly standing right before him; giving him a chance to work with him. It rattled his brain to an extent, and he wasn't one hundred percent sure how to respond.
He always wondered about his real family, and what he would do if he met them, but he didn't expect them to be power-hungry aliens, so that changed things completely. The boy grit his teeth and stared at Raditz, who seemed to be waiting on his answer and shook his head, "I could never leave Grandpa Gohan and mom behind in Kumogakure." He instantly got into a fighting position, ready to take on whatever the saiyans would throw at him.
K nodded, remembering that he didn't tell Goku that his adoptive grandfather was dead. Now was definitely not the time, "We're going to run." He said lowly and got a pair of wide eyes locking onto him, and he didn't seem to care. K was going to stand by what he said.
While the duo was talking, Vegeta had been gathering natural energy. His fists were pressed against each other and his eyes were closed. Raditz would be his look out for the time being, and everyone around him was surprised by his sudden increase in power. The ground itself began to crack and rocks began to levitate as he reached a new level of awareness.
The jounin turned and looked at Tights and Bulma, who were not too far behind them. He could tell Tights was an experienced woman, so it only took a nod for them to communicate what they were going to do. He grabbed Goku, not willing to stay and see what kind of power the great ape form granted Vegeta.
Before any move could be made, all four of them were thrown around violently by an invisible force once Vegeta opened his eyes. His pupil was more defined now, they dilated slightly, but returned to normal when he gained control over the new found power. He grinned, "Not so fast!" Even in his great ape form, he was still a skilled shinobi, and he flew through hand seals with relative ease. He held it on the last seal, "You're not going anywhere!"
Vegeta took a deep breath and when he exhaled, a giant ball of fire swallowed the whole area and burned everything to a crisp. The appearance of the land had been completely altered, charred rocks and ground, but there were no dead bodies to go along with it. Before the smoke could clear, a blinding light was the counter to fire ball, and the duo of saiyan's vision was obscured.
. . .
(Underground Iwagakure ~ With The Briefs)
Everyone had their respective vices, and for Dr. Briefs it was the terrible habit of smoking cigarettes. However, when you have to live a life as stressful as his; maybe you would understand. He always promised his wife he'd quit, but something always came up, and here he was sparking another cigarette to ease his mind.
During his well thought out escape of Iwagakure, he drilled through the village's underground, and planned on drilling his way to the next town. He didn't fly over the village because sensors and snipers would work together to bring him down in a matter of seconds. This was supposed to be the best way, so when Shidō announced that he had crashed; he was a little more than surprised.
Him and his wife Panchy sat against the wall plotting their next move, and she rested her head against his shoulder. They had been sitting there for the better part of an hour and they hadn't made any progress. She closed her eyes and trusted everything to her husband, knowing he was way too intelligent to let something as small as this to stop them.
They had long since gotten used to the loud alarm and flashing red lights. Shidō was working on figuring out what they crashed into. His system came to life and his face appeared on the screen, "Good morning!" The couple looked over to Shidō and he simply smiled, "I have indentified what we crashed into, Doctor!"
His old eyes lit up, "What is it, Shidō?"
"Scientific Name For Gold, and a whole lot of it!" Shidō exclaimed and a digital image of the gold appeared on the screen. He grinned, "If you weren't already rich, I'd tell you you were going to be rich!" Shidō joked and both he and the doctor burst out into laughter.
Dr. Briefs smiled and went to sit in the operator's chair. He typed in a few commands, "Well, if we work together Shidō, we can increase the rotation speed and power of the drill, and possibly keep on moving!" He was like a giddy child at the thought.
"That is true doctor, but the overall strength of the drill will be weakened by the end of it!" He explained to the genius doctor, "While we might get through the ore of gold, the time it would take to reach Tobaku will increase by three hours!"
The doctor nodded and continued typing in commands, "That's a small price to pay, now isn't it?" He clicked one last button, and the sound of the drill coming back to life filled the room. He turned in his chair and smiled at his wife, she came and sat in his lap; kissing him on the cheek.
The drill kept getting louder, and they could feel it moving forward through the ore of gold. They were now back on track to escaping the village they once called home. Dr. Briefs and Panchy had no problem abandoning the shinobi lifestyle they were slowing being sucked into.
"Bad news doctor!" Shidō suddenly yelled out and got the couple's attention. He frowned at them and his face started disengrating on the screen, "Good night!" He completely disappeared from their view and they both looked shocked.
The drill had stopped, Shidō had been turned off, and that meant the system was shut down. The doctor was going to continue trying to reactive his system, but a blue screen popped up in place of what he was accustomed to, and he placed his hand over his head. He let out a deep sigh and got up from his seat.
"Dr. Briefs, you're too old to play games like this," A voice sounded out from outside the drill.
"Oh, I know," Dr. Briefs said to himself and had no choice but to walk over to the ladder in the room. He opened the hatch and looked outside, sighing when he saw who was out there. The doctor crawled out of high powered drill, and easily jumped from the top onto the ground. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and took a few cautious steps forward.
Onoki floated before him with a frown on his face, standing next to him was Jun; who was grinning. He folded his arms and shook his head, "Trying to run away I see, doctor," Onoki shut his eyes and sighed. "This is high treason, trying to escape with confidential information."
Panchy crawled out of the hatch and dropped down the ladder. She stormed across the ground and got directly in Onoki's face, poking the man in his chest, "Now you listen here, you're not going to attack my family and expect us to sit here and cooperate!" She furrowed her brow, "We don't feel safe in Iwagakure, so we're leaving!"
"What she said," Dr. Briefs agreed with his wife, but still pulled her away from one of the most powerful men in Tsuchi no Kuni. "You compromised our trust, sending that kid out there to raid my building and take Goku." He placed his hand around his wife's waist to hold her back, his other hand still shoved in his pocket.
"I see, so you're not coming back?" Onoki asked calmly, with a slightly raised brow, and the couple firmly nodded. He nodded as well and looked at Jun, "Ok, we have nothing more to discuss then." He held up his hands and a three-diemensional cube began to form between his palms. It was taking time to build up, but Dr. Briefs and Panchy were no fighters, so this would be simple for him.
"So we were this expendable to you?" Dr. Briefs asked while sighing.
"I don't believe in keeping loose ends," Onoki stated dryly and shot out the cube at the couple, and slowly smirked. His dust release would disintegrate anything on a molecular level, so he knew someone as harmless as Dr. Briefs and his wife wouldn't make it out alive. He turned his back on the couple, so he couldn't see their saddened expressions, and he floated away.
Jun couldn't see what had transpired, but he felt it in his gut and frowned a bit. The Briefs seemed like good people, so for Onoki to get rid of them like that was harsh in his opinion. His smile returned to his face quickly though, "So that's how you're going to handle it, quick and clean?"
Onoki shrugged, "Yup."
. . .
Next Chapter: National Treasure