Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ A Troubled Path ❯ Chapter 3 ( Chapter 3 )

Something like an explosion rocked the ship; the crates and barrels stacked precariously about the room shuddered and feel. Kaie cursed the barrel as it fell on top of her. She seemed to be cursing a lot of things in the past week.

Heaving the barrel to the side, she took the opportunity to stretch her cramped leg muscles and momentarily abandon her hiding spot. Until today, being a stowaway hadn't been as exciting as she had thought. Stealing the cruiser and sneaking onto the transport had been surprisingly easy, since she's had an entire night before she was even discovered missing. And the storage compartment she had chanced to duck into was filled to the brink with the ship's food rations. But sitting in the dark hour after hour, for who knew how long, was close to driving her insane. She dipped her tail into the open crate behind her and lifted a can into her hand. The abundance of food seemed to be the only thing keeping her sane. Kaie popped open the lid an began shoveling the contents into her mouth when the sound of shouts and pounding footsteps drew her from her meal. Poking her head above a stack of crates, Kaie watched as a group of guards gathered outside the storage room door. Perhaps she'd finally find out what had been going on for the last twenty minutes.

She studied the men, all of whom wore expressions of fear. What are they so afraid of? Kaie strained her ears, and managed to pick out something about pirates attacking the ship. Her heart fluttered at their conversation. Pirates. Now that was exciting. Kaie hopped around as she rubbed her hands together, thoughts spinning wildly through her head. She visualized herself vanquishing the dirty band of cutthroats, being showered with praise, idolization, and, more importantly, food. What better way to start off my new life than to come blazing in as a hero? She thrust her arm triumphantly into the air. "Kaie: Savior of the Weak; the Greatest Defender of the Galaxy; and the Most Beautiful Warrior in the Universe!" She clapped her hands in approval. Yes! This is it; the greatest opportunity I coulda asked for!

Kaie grasped the edge of the crate in front of her and hoisted herself over, dodging through the shadows toward the door once her feet touched the ground. Holding her breath, she waited impatiently for the guards to run off towards the pirates. As soon as the coast was clear, Kaie leapt into the hall. She sprinted in the direction the guards had taken off in, her eyes sparkling with her visions of grandeur. Making her way up two floors, she passed by hallway after hallway torn apart and choked with smoke. An explosion rocked the ship, and she watched in horror as a guard came flying out of a doorway; the same doorway she'd been about to enter. Kaie cringed as the guard went soaring through a wall. Raucous laughter drifted out of the doorway. I guess I found the pirates then. She crouched down to the ground and crawled under the clouds of smoke billowing out of the room. Passing through the doorway, Kaie peered through stingy and watery eyes and was stunned at the sight around her.

The room she'd crawled into was large, probably as big as the mess hall at the orphanage, and looked to serve as the navigation center for the transport; at least, it had at one time. Now it was nothing more than a collection of broken and burning computers, with the mangled bodies of the crew and guards scattered throughout the room. Kaie felt a cold chill race down her spin. Maybe this hadn't been such a good idea after all. Her attention was drawn from the carnage about her to one of the side rooms, by the sounds of strangled cries and harsh laughter from within.

Kaie stared with wide eyes in the direction of the horrific laughter; a moment later the pained cries ceased. She flinched as a bottle came flying from the next room and shattered against a wall, followed by a string of loud profanities. Definitely a BAD idea to come out here…she thought as the sinking feeling grew in her stomach. Taking small, shuffling steps backwards she began slowing making her way towards the hall, all the while keeping her eyes glued to where the supposed pirates were celebrating. Through the smoke Kaie made out the outline of figures heading into the navigation center. With a start, she fearfully began scrambling for the door only to trip over a smoking corpse and loudly crash into what was left of a computer.

"What do we have here? Heh heh… looks like we almost missed one of 'em." Kaie cringed as she peered up through her hair, fearing to see what the deep voice came with. The next thing she knew, she saw the bottom of a boot coming towards her face and found herself sliding down the far wall with a groan. Owww… how in world did they get in front of me so fast? She thought in stunned disbelief. Before she could even begin to pick herself up a large stocky hand wrapped itself around her throat and dangled her off the floor. Gasping for air Kaie found herself staring into a pair of the darkest, most frightening eyes she'd ever seen. The ship's flashing emergency lights reflected off the…. monster's bald head and gave his black eyes an eerie glow. Digging her nails into his wrist, she pried unsuccessfully in an attempt to get some air. She stared in wide-eyed terror as the monster chuckled something to the shadowed figured behind him who responded in an equal manner. The blood was rushing in her ears, drowning out even the high-pitched screeching of the emergency alarms. I…I… can't breathe!! I can't believe this is it. She was dumbfounded. I'm gonna die - right here, right now. These monsters are unlike anyone I've ever heard about before… and they're doing me in as they laugh about it.

As her vision darkened to only a small point of light, Kaie felt a fire grow in her abdomen and squeezed her eyes shut against the pain of it. She cringed mentally as the fire took over her whole body, bringing on waves of anger and outrage. The strange emotions began to overtake her, whispering in the back of her mind to embrace them, to welcome them. Something inside of her mind snapped, forcing her to she open herself, and the raw emotions washed through her.

How dare they? These inhumane… murderous bastards just wiped out the entire crew of this ship and are laughing as they watch me struggle for my life! This incredible feeling continued sweeping over her, and in the split second since she first felt it begin her anger had spun out of control. Drawing on her new sensation of empowerment, Kaie snapped her eyes open and glared into the evil orbs gloating before her. Lashing out her tail, she snatched up a metal rod and brought it straight up into the monster's groin. She smirked as she saw pain flash into his eyes, and in the split second when he loosened his grip in shock she bit into his forearm, brought up her leg and pummeled the bastard in the face. A howl of pained surprise escaped the monster's mouth as he stumbled backwards and dropped her to the ground. Kaie landed deftly in a crouch, the fingertips of her left hand resting on the ground and the metal rod raised above of her. With flashing eyes she charged the monster's crumpled form, her tail lashing out behind her. Never had she felt so powerful as she did in this moment. Never had she felt more unstoppable. She felt… invincible.

**WHAM** Kaie felt as if she hit a brick wall and was stunned to find herself pinned to the ground. Opening her eyes she found herself face to face with a being not so unlike herself. Brown eyes glared down at her from a pale face; a face framed by a wild mass of dark hair that stood straight up from his head. He was sitting on her chest and had her wrists pinned above her head in a perfect, demobilizing position. Apparently she had forgotten about the monster's friend. Kaie felt fear rise in her throat as she realized the powerful feeling she was just experiencing was completely gone. She searched for it, tried to draw upon it, but it was over. Everything was over. Squeezing her eyes shut, she turned her head away and braced herself for the killing blow. When nothing happened Kaie relaxed a bit and peered at the man cautiously with one eye. Those intense brown eyes were still glaring at her, studying her as if confused by her mere existence. "What the hell are ya waitin' for Vegeta?! Just blast the bitch in the face and be done with it already!" Kaie warily lifted her head to see a large, muscular man, not a monster, picking himself up off the floor. He wiped a trail of blood off the corner of his mouth, his black mustache standing out starkly from his angry red face as he growled, "If you ain't gonna do it, then move over - I owe her one!"

"Idiot! This bitch just registered a power level of 7,000 on my scouter and laid you out with a single kick to the face. Or perhaps you have forgotten so easily?" The man, Vegeta as the bald man addressed him, still had her pinned to the ground and never took his eyes from her face as he spoke. "Besides, you seem to have missed an important trait about this bitch that is quite perplexing." In a flash, Vegeta was standing up with a grip on her ankle, and was dangling her in front of his large companion. "What the hell…." The large man's voice trailed off as he stared her waist. Looking down, or up from her new position, Kaie saw that Vegeta was pointing toward her furry brown tail that was defiantly wrapped about her waist. What's the big deal about my tail? The larger man rubbed his bald head in confusion as he met Vegeta's gaze. "How in the world is this possible? I thought we were the only ones left."

Vegeta smirked at his companion, "Well Nappa, obviously Freiza missed more of us than he thought. Just take Kakarot for example… that is, if Radditz leaves him alive."

Kaie crossed her arms over her chest as the two men pondered whatever they were pondering in silence. The blood was rushing to her head, and not even the intense amount of fear she felt towards the pair could overcome her newfound annoyance. She never was good at keeping her thoughts to herself. With a huff, Kaie glared at the hand still holding her ankle. "Look Mr. Veggiehead, or whatever your name is, if you two aren't going to kill me could you please just tie me up on the ground or something... cuz this position is really giving me a headache." The smaller man huffed in disdain and rudely dropped her on her head. With a groan, Kaie pushed herself onto her bottom as she rubbed her head; it really had been a bad week for it. Vegeta crouched down to her eye level and stared into her eyes.

"You should hold your tongue and remember who you are dealing with, child, for we have not yet decided to keep you alive for long." Vegeta's penetrating gaze never wavered as he smirked wickedly. Kaie gulped in apprehension, unable to move as she froze wide-eyed in his glare. "If you are good little hostage maybe, maybe, you will survive this encounter. But as you can see, my associate over here has a short temper and I have a low tolerance for annoying little rugrats; get on my nerves and I will let Nappa have his fun with you. Understand?" Kaie snuck a peek at the huge man standing in the middle of the room and somehow managed a small nod, for once not concerned with being a tough guy. Lucky for her, Nappa seemed to be engrossed in the device on head; the "scouter" as Vegeta had referred to his, a small device that covered one ear and folded across his face on the same side, with a thin green-tinted glass hovering over one eye; Vegeta wore a matching with a red-tinted glass.

Vegeta smirked, obviously enjoying the girl's fear. He opened his mouth to say something else, when Nappa's voice interrupted him. "Hey, Vegeta… I think you should come over here. Its about Radditz." Vegeta stood up, and turned toward the other saiyan. Radditz? What has that simpleton done now? Don't tell me he screwed up such a menial mission. Vegeta clicked a few buttons on his scouter, turning it back on, and walked over to Nappa. Standing next to his partner, Vegeta barely reached Nappa's shoulders; a tribute which was largely due to his hair that stood up straight from his head. Vegeta crossed his arms and assumed a wide-legged stance. "Well?" he said, "What's the big news?"

Nappa looked down at Vegeta, a strange look on his face. I don't even know how he's going to take this news. I'm sure glad there's another "punching bag" around in case he gets pissed off. "Well, uh… I was checking in on Radditz's signal and it sounds like I caught the tail end of his meeting with Kakarot."

Vegeta raised an eyebrow. "So he found the long-lost Kakarot. What's all the fuss about?"

Nappa shifted his weight uncomfortably, his tail swishing back and forth in unease. "Well Vegeta, from what I gathered Kakarot never completed his mission; in fact, it appears that Kakarot actually settled down and has lived with the Earthlings all these years… even interbred with one of them. And on top of that…." Nappa's voice trailed off, unsure of how to break the rest of the news to his superior.

Vegeta glared at Nappa. "Well? And…?"

Nappa straightened to his full height and crossed his arms, still in disbelief himself. "Kakarot and Radditz have just finished a desperate battle… and they are both suffering from mortal wounds. Radditz will be dead shortly. Tune your scouter to channel 5, hear for yourself."

~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~

Kaie sat hunched on the cold floor, hugging her knees to her chest as she watched to the two pirates talking in low tones to each other. She could hear bits and pieces of their conversation, though none of it made any sense to her. "Radditz…. meeting…. Kakarot never…. the Earthlings… interbred…. dead shortly…." When the two men both grew silent, she realized they were listening to something on the scouters they wore. What is going on? One minute they're on a killing spree and the next they seem to have forgotten I am even here. Of course… that could be a good thing. Kaie's mind began to race as she contemplated an escape route. She'd studied enough outlines of space cruisers at the orphanage to know that the emergency vessels were typically located down the hall from the control center. That is, if any were left. So its only a matter of sneaking out of here unseen, then I'll be home free! Kaie looked towards the hall, a mere 20 feet till freedom, and was about to make her move when the pirates conversation caught her ear.

"…revive the dead?... smart to leave his radio on… collect dragonballs… a wish… go to Earth… can kill Freiza… lucky break…" The mention of Freiza's name stuck out like a sore thumb. A sickening feeling grew in Kaie's stomach as a realization came over her. These men weren't pirates - a closer look their armor and insignia identified them as Freiza's warriors; the most feared and ruthless collection of beings in the universe, besides the dreaded overlord himself. The hair on the back of Kaie's neck prickled as a new fear settled over her. She was in the presence of two of Freiza's personal warriors, in the middle of destroyed cruiser and a bloody massacre, and she was expecting to get out of this mess alive; and from the bits of the conversation she heard, she was looking at the starts of a plot to kill the most horrible and powerful being in the known universe. Kaie gulped in apprehension. Things looked grim.

She flinched as the two warriors clicked off their scouters and stared at her, apparently finished with their discussion. Nappa scratched his nose before folding his arms across his chest. "So Vegeta, what're we gonna do with the bitch?"

Kaie's throat tightened as she waited for Vegeta to voice her fate. The smaller saiyan's trademark smirk appeared. "Heh. For now, the bitch comes with us."

Yep. Things were looking very grim.