Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Attachments Detached ❯ Chapter 15 ( Chapter 15 )

Chapter 15

Vegeta gave no more warning, assailing Radditz so strongly that the Saiyan could hardly move for having to block all the attacks coming in at him. Vegeta's face was set in a cold, impassive mask and Radditz realized he'd much rather have the man smirking at him.

Vegeta suddenly drew back, putting his hands back in the same position Kakarott had. Radditz's assumption as he smirked and charged, that Kakarott and Vegeta's blasts were the same was very off. With only the shout of 'Gallic Gun' Radditz found himself flying backwards, just missing ramming into Kakarott, who ducked down quickly as Radditz sailed screaming over his head.

Kakarott looked after the rocketing body until it couldn't be seen and turned back to Vegeta to give him a thumbs-up. "Nice one!"

Vegeta scowled at the beaming man. "You are going to pay for making me waste my time. Now go and bring that bundled carcass back here. He's not done yet."

As if a portent to that, Radditz suddenly appeared behind Vegeta. Kakarott could barely get out a warning, the words lost in the wind, before the Prince found himself falling from the sky to hit the ground with a definite bounce.

"Vegeta!" Kakarott plunged downward, teeth gritted as he watched Radditz swoop down to land on top on Vegeta like a hawk on a rabbit; hitting, kicking, and scratching anything he could.

Vegeta tried to throw the weight off him, but with struggling to regain his breath from the ki blast to his back and attempting to fend of the myriad blows from the bigger man, found this quite difficult.

Frustrated at the vanity of his efforts, despite all his superior strength, he let out a scream of rage that was choked off when blood gushed into his throat as long, ragged nails raked across his neck, stripping away layers of skin and tearing through muscle and tendons. He felt a sudden lightening of the weight and tried unsuccessfully to hang onto the dying light around him as his eyes closed and twilight settled on their battleground.

Radditz let out a yell of frustrated fury as he was thrown off Vegeta to fold onto his back over a tree branch, cracking it and falling through. He let out another frustrated shout as the branches he had fallen among clung to his clothes and held him back; the very forest he had decimated trying to pin him down into an early grave.

Kakarott landed beside Vegeta, watching with thumping heart as the man's eyes closed, hand holding onto the throat that was gushing out blood at an alarming rate. Kakarott quickly tore off a piece of his own orange gi, moving the hand that did not resist him and making a tourniquet, using his own hand to apply pressure to it. Vegeta's lips moved as he tried to turn his head away but no sound came out.

Kakarott's head whirled around as a sudden crash sounded and a ball of light and energy erupted from the trees where Radditz had fallen through, the man himself soaring out of the opening he had made to look around him.

In the night lit by only stars and a moon in its first quarter, Radditz spied Kakarott kneeling beside the fallen Vegeta and cackled. "What's wrong? Your great and mighty leader not what you expected him to be?"

Kakarott looked down at the still unconscious Vegeta and brought his eyes back to Radditz. Despite his distance and the lack of light, what Radditz saw in those eyes made him retreat slightly, floating back as if the shadows around him could hide him. He regained his bravado and retook his retreated ground with a sneer.

"He's exactly what he needs to be. And you shall soon be what you need to be. Dead. I am not the Saiyan Judge, Radditz. I am the Saiyan Executioner." Kakarott rose, taking in the smell of the night air around him, taking in the sounds of the night predators awakening around the woods that were still standing as he allowed the predator inside him to awaken.

With a yell worthy of the oldest and mightiest of Saiyan warriors, Kakarott launched himself at Radditz and was upon the man before he could blink. Hit after hit after hit slowly knocked Radditz further and further from the sky as Radditz tried any trick he knew to put himself back on the offensive.

Kakarott's black look was just that, as black as the grave Radditz could see looming over his head, ready to tip him over and into it to bury him under so much dirt he would be better off digging down to get out of it.

Finally, Kakarott let out a yell and blasted his ki outward, shoving Radditz back. Kakarott did not stop, did not let up, there was no mercy in him. He took a step forward, putting him close enough that his hand touched as he placed it on Radditz's gut before letting out the ki blast with no gathering of his power; his rage was such he did not need to gather it.

Radditz let out a great bellow, finding himself falling and not able to stop. He felt as if there were a great hole in his chest and did not have to feel it to know it was there. He stared up at the man watching him fall impassively and gave his all into his dying blast, a parting shot that he was glad to see pierced right through Kakarott's chest as he himself was impaled on the branches underneath him, dead before his body settled fully onto them.

Kakarott had one chance to wonder if any them were going to live through this nightmare before death claimed him too, sending him crashing into the razed ground below.

<~>

Yamcha held his head, groaning as he managed to open his eyes to a night sky and pick himself up from the ground. Well, if he'd been on the ground, he wouldn't find himself falling out of a tree to hit the ground, now would he?

He heard a rough chuckle and glared at Piccolo, who was picking himself off the actual ground and bushing his clothes as if he'd just rolled in some dirt and not been tossed around like a rag doll.

"So, when did it become canon for the bad guys to leave the good guys eating dust?"

Piccolo again chuckled at Yamcha, finding things amusing since they had been beaten so very easily. The entire thing had been an elaborate trap set up by Radditz himself, which Piccolo found surprising-and amusing. "I don't know. That last blast you gave him sent him flying a ways."

Yamcha stood up, rubbing his sore bottom and trying to pick out leaves and twigs from his hair. "I hope he's still recovering from that one."

After a long silence, he looked over to see Piccolo with the strangest look on his face. "If you weren't naturally green, I'd ask if you were going to throw up or something."

Piccolo blinked and glared at the man, wanting to cuff him, but just rotating his shoulder instead since he'd landed on it wrong when Radditz had last thrown him. "Feel for his ki and tell me if I'm missing anything."

Yamcha strained his senses, knowing they weren't half as good as Piccolo's. "Well, if you're missing something, I'd have to say it's Radditz's ki. I don't feel it at all."

Piccolo nodded. "You remember where you last felt it at?"

Yamcha nodded. "You think it killed him?" He sounded highly doubtful.

Piccolo shrugged. "Only one way to find out. And please, don't tell me you're going with that stick behind your ear."

As Piccolo smirked at him, Yamcha scowled and snatched the stick from behind his ear. "Oh yes, it's just all the rage now." The sarcasm from his voice was enough to make Piccolo chuckle, but he kept it in, satisfied with just smirking as both took to the air.

It was on their way to where Yamcha had last sensed Radditz that they saw the flattened land beneath them. Piccolo scowled. "Isn't this near where Miss Mau lives?"

Yamcha nodded silently, mouth set in a grim line, changing his angle so that he was flying over the devastated land. Piccolo followed and both were silent until Piccolo's sharp sight caught a flash of orange. He pointed and he and Yamcha were soon landing beside an orange and blue clothed man.

Yamcha winced at the wound on the man's left breast and bent down to feel his neck for a pulse. He withdrew the hand and sat back on his heels. "He's dead. Probably for less than an hour though." He glanced back at Piccolo's silence to see the Namek staring off in another direction. He followed his mentor's gaze to spy a very familiar looking body.

Yamcha stood quickly. "Radditz?" If he didn't sound shocked he sure looked it.

Piccolo moved to check that body, glancing Yamcha's way and giving a confirming nod. "You think that one killed him?"

Yamcha looked down at the still form he stood over. "He looks like-" He paused, "We may have to use those dragonballs sooner than expected, Piccolo."

Piccolo tilted his head to one side. "That's Kakarott? Figures."

Yamcha rolled his eyes, "Once again, your pessimistic powers amaze even me! Maybe we should just start calling you 'Pessi' Piccolo. Or just P.P. for short."

Piccolo glowered at Yamcha, raising one side of his mouth in a silent snarl as he folded his arms across his chest. His gaze faltered when he clearly heard something behind Yamcha moving.

Yamcha stiffened, his own hearing inadequate compared to the Namek's. He slowly turned, breathing a little sigh of relief to not see somebody preparing to ambush him. That had already happened once today.

His breath caught at what he did see though. A man strikingly familiar, complete with the same but cleaner clothes, was trying with great difficulty to rise from his prone position on the ground.

One hand involuntarily went to Vegeta's throat as a burning pain shot through it. It met with cloth and came away slightly sticky with the dampness of the makeshift bandage. He tried to squint through the haze in his eyes as he forced himself up on one elbow, breathe heaving raggedly. His other wounds burned savagely, but not half as bad as his throat. What was wrong with his throat?

He could make out two figures standing a little away from him in his swimming sight and groaned, not even noticing that no actual sound came out.

Yamcha moved toward the man, watching as the form stiffened, narrowed eyes not quite directed at him. Moving as slowly as one did toward an injured animal, he spoke in a low, soothing voice. "Prince Vegeta?"

Vegeta's ears perked up at the sound of the voice and his own name. He opened his mouth to ask his own questions but again raised his hand to his throat. Why did it hurt so much? The air came out but the words themselves seemed clogged behind some sort of lump. He tried to hack up the obstruction but just ended up fighting off a wave of pain from his torn throat, this combined with all his other injuries sending him crashing back onto his back.

Yamcha watched the man crumble to the ground and rushed to his side. "Piccolo, come help me!"

Piccolo picked his way over the rumble to where Yamcha was cautiously crouched beside the flame-haired man. He immediately noted the blood-soaked, orange piece of cloth around his throat and grimaced. This did not bode well.

Vegeta growled from his position on the ground, trying to do something other than lie there in pain as two of this planet's people moved above him. Well, he tried to growl, just ended up spiraling back into darkness instead.

Yamcha let out a loud curse as the Prince's eyes closed and Piccolo touched him lightly on the shoulder, turning him around. "We have to get him medical attention. We only have three senzu and we want to save them for as long as possible, especially if the wounds aren't as bad as they look." He shook his head and sighed, looking tired. "We're definitely outnumbered now."

Yamcha shrugged, lightly smiling. "I'm not about to give up this far into it and neither are you. We'll win this; somehow. We still have a few wild cards up our sleeves."

Piccolo grinned as he moved to help Yamcha pick up Vegeta to carry him to the nearest house. "Well, it would help if I had sleeves, hm?"

Yamcha rolled his eyes. "Can I add badly-timed jokes to your list of attributes?"

<~>

ChiChi wrung her hands together as she stared out in the direction Kakarott and that other-Radditz, had vanished into from the gigantic hole in her bedroom. Night had fallen and the stars that she normally found such comfort in looking at appeared cold and distant, reminding her of the danger coming.

She'd long heard of the criminal known as Radditz. He was on the Z Fighters wanted list for a number of crimes. So many it would take a whole day to read off the condensed version. Now it seemed her newfound lover was risking life and limb to fight off a killer that had yet to be defeated by the strongest fighters on Earth.

She let out a small cry as she saw a tiny dot on the horizon. As that one dot turned to two with someone slung between them, her anxiety increased so that she paced in a tight circle, waiting for them to get close enough to see.

Yamcha nodded his head down at the small capsule house with all its lights on. A feminine figure stalked outside the house in an obviously nervous state. When Yamcha was close enough, he yelled out to her. "Miss Mau?"

ChiChi's heart leapt into her throat at the sound of a familiar voice and stood stock still as Yamcha and a green man landed with someone who was not Kakarott carried between them. "Yamcha? What are you doing here? I mean, who's he? What about Radditz? He's out there somewhere and Kakarott's with him and I'm so worried…."

Piccolo growled low in his throat in impatience and Yamcha quickly intervened as ChiChi's eyes widened in anger. The poor woman looked to be at the end of her rope and didn't need Piccolo antagonizing her. "Yes, we know all about Radditz. This man needs medical help. Let's get him taken care of and I'll explain everything to you."

The fact that they were carrying this man and there was no sign of Kakarott despite the fact they knew about Radditz told ChiChi things were not at all well. Steeling herself against worry for him as she checked out her new patient in the dim light outside, she frowned at his state and ushered the two inside. "There's a guest room one door to the left of this room. Get him settled in there. I'll get some towels and warm water. If you find yourself idle, come ask me and I'll give you something to do." The worst thing to ChiChi was an idle man. No telling what they would get into.

Yamcha nodded his thanks and both men quickly walked inside. ChiChi spared the sky one last glance, praying for Kakarott's safety, before following the two into the house.

A/N: Reasons late: Well, I was just informed MM.org had some problems, then my cooling fan in my computer stopped working and my power supply basically overheated. Everything in the hard drive is fine and I have these cool things called disks and pen and paper. This unfortunately means I'll be slowed down, since my car is also broken (bad transmission) and I have to walk everywhere. However, I shall brave the 90 degree weather for my loyal fans…. Ok, I'll stop, yeah, that was cheesy…. Anyways, I thought, 'hey Kahlan, why not post two chapters since they waited so long'…. And then I said, 'nah, they can wait till Wednesday or something. I'll post a new story instead'…. Cool beans eh? Oh, BTW, I HAVE KILLED KAKAROTTO! Rejoice with me! ^_^ Highlight of my day!

Susan: I had to interrupt them. I thought it was funny. Well, I'm sure you didn't expect all that, now did you…? I personally don't like Radditz, even Cha's version of him…. I hope you didn't become too attached to him or Kakarott…. Mom's doing ok, but my ex-boyfriend was too Kakarott-like, and I got in a Vegeta-mood.

JadedBest: Oh (consoles her) He'll come back. Especially since I've killed Kakarott now…. He'll want to watch you rant and rave over it and mock and tease you…. Vegeta's just that cool! Um, I do not love Radditz. Vegeta is my only love…(shrugs) and I even kill him…. Well, no more boyfriend. He was too Kakarott and I was too Vegeta. You know, those yaoi's are wrong. Eventually Vegeta would get sick of Kakarott's crap and leave…. Anyways, guess even I can't get the country boy thing…. Ah, where's my Vegeta? And why are Kakarott's attracted to me? I want a man with a tail for Pete's sake! (clears throat) Anyways, go read my new story too! And I can't work on S:WW! I have no computer…. Wait…. Where did I leave off? I don't remember! (ARUGH!) But go read the new one….