05
"By the way, Kakarot," the individual who had introduced himself as Raditz suddenly mentioned. Chi-Chi noticed with horror how his gaze fixed right on her... and on little Gohan in her arms. "That kid over there… Don't think I didn't notice the resemblance and his Saiyan tail. He's not your son, or is he?"
All the muscles in Chi-Chi's body suddenly tensed, and by reflex, she clung even more to her son's tiny body and turned to the side, trying to hide him as much as possible from that person's view.
"Don't you dare refer to my son!" Chi-Chi snapped with fury overflowing from her voice and gaze.
"Your son?" the stranger muttered, letting out a wry laugh right after. "Kakarot, not only did you have the nerve to befriend these creatures, but you also dared to mate with one of their women?"
That man's attention returned to focus on Chi-Chi, and she felt a wave of disgust when she noticed how his gaze traveled all over her body in a way that was too shameless.
"Though I admit she's not ugly," Raditz pointed out in a sly voice.
"How dare you…?!" Chi-Chi blurted out, unable to avoid the thick lump that had formed in her throat.
Everything that happened in the last few minutes was incomprehensible to the young mother and wife. It had all happened so fast, and she felt simply overwhelmed by the situation, causing her the fervent desire to just run out of that place with everything and her child; if it weren't for the fact that the only thing around her was the sea.
The strange conversation that Goku and that individual was having brought up a lot of things that Chi-Chi had no idea about and many that made no sense at all: a blow that Goku had apparently given himself to the head when he was very young, a strange story told by Master Roshi about how Gohan, Goku's grandfather, had found him in a capsule that had fallen from the sky; and a wild claim that Goku was actually an alien, belonging to a race of warriors called Saiyans who were dedicated to conquering planets. And if that wasn't enough, that man also claimed to be neither more nor less than Goku's older brother.
This can't be true... it can't be happening, thought Chi-Chi, feeling dizzy, confused, lost... almost as if she was about to faint.
And, of course, her feelings of apprehension and skepticism were shared by everyone else, even Goku himself. However, if she stopped to think about it for a moment with a cool head, to a certain extent, it all made... sense.
That feeling of familiarity that the stranger had transmitted to her as soon as she saw him, now Chi-Chi could realize what it was due to: he was very similar to Goku, especially in his features and the color of his eyes and hair. And his tail, the same as the one Goku had as a child and Gohan's; she had never seen anyone other than an anthropomorphic animal have a tail like that. And what about the incredible strength that Goku had always shown compared to most of his enemies? Hadn't some claimed he could not be a human being?
What if it's true? Chi-Chi thought with doubt, but of course, also with fear. What if Goku has really been an alien all this time? What does this mean? What does this mean for Gohan? So he is…?
Chi-Chi tried to push all those thoughts aside before they got the better of her, but it was very, very difficult. And it was even more so when that Raditz guy said that Goku was on Earth because he had to kill all its inhabitants and conquer the planet for them and their boss. He had to fulfill his mission and then go with him to meet with his other companions. Goku, of course, absolutely denied everything that man told him and demanded that he leave. But he did not, and that horrible sense of danger that came for him only increased, much more so now that his attention was focused on Gohan...
"If you don't want to listen to me, maybe your son will be more cooperative," Radtiz commented suddenly, taking everyone by surprise. "After all, as I told you, few members of the Saiyan race are alive. Maybe Uncle Raditz can teach your son how to be a true warrior."
And with an almost unreal calm, he began to walk slowly towards Chi-Chi and Gohan, his eyes fixed like daggers on them. Chi-Chi felt a wave of terror run through her body, and she could not move beyond taking a step back. Her legs trembled slightly as she watched the imposing individual approaching her, but her arms clung tightly to her kid.
"Stay away!" Goku warned him, his voice rumbling like thunder. That man, however, continued walking, ignoring him completely. "If you take one more step, I'll eliminate you!" Raditz moved forward without hesitation.
When he was at the correct distance, and it was more than clear that he would not listen to his warning, Goku reacted with his maximum speed, launching himself with his fist straight into the face of his supposed brother. However, despite his outstanding speed, his fist ended up only hitting the air, as the image of that individual disappeared from in front of him in a mere blink.
Goku was taken aback by this, and before he could react or even visualize where Raditz had moved, the next thing he felt was the tremendous blow he received right in the pit of his stomach when Raditz's knee sank into him. His body was thrown violently into the air, and then he fell to the side several meters away from Chi-Chi and the others.
"Goku!" Exclaimed Chi-Chi, turning to see her husband fall backward into the sand and immobilized there by the pain. The others also watched these, stunned. Goku had just been knocked down with a single blow... How could that be possible?
"Scoundrel!" Krillin yelled furiously, lunging out of sheer instinct toward their attacker. Still, Raditz repelled him and threw him aside with a simple wave of his hand as if he were simply shooing away a fly, and the young fighter's body ended up face down against the sand.
Master Roshi also tried, kicking straight at his face, but Raditz stopped him in midair and then casually tossed him to the side, making him fall directly into Krillin's body on the floor before he could even try to get up.
"What pathetic creatures are these Earthlings you've become fond of, Kakarot," Raditz scoffed scathingly. "And now…"
He turned back towards his original target: Gohan and Chi-Chi. And now, there was absolutely no one between them and the Saiyan.
The terror that filled Chi-Chi became even more intense. Before her, Raditz's tall, imposing figure loomed large as if he were a huge, imposing bear, and she was just a tiny, harmless bunny. She had fought enemies before, even enormous dinosaurs, and even seen Piccolo Daimao himself up close. And she had never, on any of those occasions, felt so defenseless, so vulnerable... or as weak as she was at that moment.
The Saiyan took one more step toward her, and only then did Chi-Chi manage to overcome herself sufficiently fueled by a single fervent desire: to protect Gohan; nothing else mattered.
"Don't touch my son!" she yelled with all her might, and pushing aside her fear, she spun around, delivering a quick, strong roundhouse kick straight into the face of that smoldering threat.
Her foot sliced through the air with great speed, smacking straight into the left side of Raditz's head. She had used all the forces in her body; every fiber of her being had been focused solely on that kick. And, even so, that individual did not move an inch. Actually, he didn't even flinch from receiving such an impact.
It can't be... Chi-Chi thought, stunned.
"How absurd," Raditz whispered flatly. And the next instant, he raised his right hand in the air, and in less than a second, he directed the back of his hand straight into Chi-Chi's face without her even seeing it coming towards her. His hand slammed straight and unimpeded into her right cheek, turning her entire head to the side, and her body followed.
The woman's mind went completely blank as she was propelled to the side. She barely caught the hard, rough feeling of the sand falling against her but could not react for the next few seconds. She just lay there lying on her side, awake from her, her eyes wide open, staring at nothing but unable to think of anything other than the intense pain that was beginning to eat away at the side of her face.
"Mom! Mommy!" She barely managed to hear her son's voice, crying hard. She was listening to him as if he were far, far away, but the little boy was on his knees right next to her; he had slipped out of his arms as she fell. "Mom, get up, Mom!" The little boy let out loud howls while he desperately shook her with his little hands. Only until that moment did Chi-Chi manage to react a little.
"Gohan?" she thought, still dazed, lifting her head as she could to look at her son's reddened, tear-soaked face right in front of her. His hair and clothes had become covered in sand. She only looked at him for a second, perhaps less, before the Saiyan's hand abruptly took Gohan from his clothing and lifted him quickly into the air, pulling him away.
That was enough to snap her out of her reverie.
"Gohan!" Chi-Chi managed to pronounce it out loud, trying to quickly get up, but without success due to the pain and dizziness that the blow had caused her.
Raditz turned at that moment towards Goku, who was still on the ground, equally unable to get up like everyone else.
"I'll take your son with me, Kakarot," Raditz said, holding the little boy up. "If you want me to return him to you safely, you have to start behaving properly and obeying your big brother's orders. You will have to fulfill your mission to conquer this planet and then come with me to meet with Prince Vegeta. He might let you join us if you can prove yourself to him. But for that, I will first need you to prove that your loyalty is with us and not with these lesser beings. In twenty-four hours, I will return to this place, and you will have to show me the corpse of a hundred earthlings that you have exterminated with your own hands. It shouldn't be difficult for you to do this."
"That... no..." Goku mumbled between moans, trying to overcome the pain. "There is no way for me to do such a thing!"
"You won't have any choice," Raditz replied mockingly. "If you do, I'll give your son back to you, and maybe even the three of us can take it upon ourselves to finish the job on this planet and leave together. If not, I'll kill him instantly, and I won't care that he's my nephew. Is what I'm telling you clearly, Kakarot?"
That last threat reached Chi-Chi's ears as a deafening sound that did not allow her to hear anything else. I'll kill him instantly, he had said without further ado, referring to her Gohan!
The little boy's cries resounded in the air like a shrill howl that reverberated inside Chi-Chi like an earthquake and made her put aside any pain or fear.
Pushed by that internal fire, Chi-Chi used a large part of her body's strength to stand up and the rest of it to throw herself against that man, encircling the thick arm with which he held her son with hers, staying practically hanging off this one. Raditz barely glanced at her sideways.
"Leave... my son!" Mumbled Chi-Chi weakly, concentrating all her strength on trying to move his arm down, resulting as immovable for her as that trunk in front of her house. "Let him go…! Leave him alone…!"
"What a nuisance! Get away from me, woman!" Raditz yelled in rage. And without the slightest restraint, he yanked his fist free, pinning it straight into Chi-Chi's stomach with force greater than if a horse had kicked her directly. All the air left her body at once.
"Chi-Chi...!" She heard someone speak, but she couldn't identify who it was. Goku? Bulma? It did not matter…
She felt her mind cloud over again. Her body rose from the ground a few meters after the blow and fell backward. She rolled onto her side, clutching her hands to her stomach, coughing loudly, and even throwing up a little on the sand. Her mind vacillated between conscious and unconscious, leaning more towards the latter as her wide-eyed eyes stared blankly at the endless sea before her, her cheek pressed against the hard, hot sand.
She couldn't get up again. As much as she wanted it, her body just wouldn't let her.
"Have you understood, Kakarot?" that man's voice (no, that monster) pronounced in the distance. "No matter what you do, the only alternative is to obey me. Don't dare to betray me."
Chi-Chi turned his face just a little, a few centimeters, but enough to see how the Saiyan's body rose into the air, holding the little boy under his arm who was writhing and crying.
"Go... han... no..." she muttered slowly in a raspy voice, raising a hand weakly into the air as if naively reaching for them. "Gohan…!"
Her eyes filled with tears and completely clouded her vision while the figure of that person sped away with everything and her son.