Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Garrulous and Gritless ❯ I, 26: Raditz ( Chapter 26 )

NOTE: To anyone who's reading this, I can't apologize profusely enough for the delay. I hope that this one being slightly longer than usual, and containing a lot of plot developments, will make up for it at least a tiny bit. I also hope that the chapter's halfway decent, since I feel like I've gotten rusty. (And what a bad chapter to get rusty on!)

I don't know how many more chapters it'll be before Part I comes to a close—maybe six?

Hopefully henceforth I will be better about keeping my updates more frequent (this will most especially start happening in about a month and a half, I think, when the semester ends). Do I need to mention that reviews help keep me motivated to press on?

I hope you enjoy the chapter!

…

I'm about to toss the scouter off of my face after stopping Bulma's signal from coming through when more noise fizzles in my ear. She can't have built a second scouter with a different signal, surely? She wouldn't have planned for…

“Namek, hm?” Aw shit, it's Vegeta. “And you say there are dragonballs there?”

“Thanks!” says Nappa. “You're way closer to us than that Earth place is

anyway!”

“Nappa!” I hear Vegeta snap. “Anway, Raditz, I—”

Shit, shit, shit. This always happens. This always happens. Damned scouters. I tear mine off and stomp it beneath my boot into lots of tiny little pieces and to keep myself from thinking of what crazy shit might go down if I don't get outta here in time, I look back at the village I've been sitting outside of for a while.

A good long while.

`Cause I'm a little scared to attack—I mean—that particular Namekian who found me the last time might kill me if I do it again, and the fat one said…something or another that gives me the impression there's something else I oughtta be doing. Problem is, I haven't a single fucking idea what that could be. So I was figuring on gathering up these balls and wishing to find out what.

Thing is, now that I know I gotta use a wish to get back to Earth, what with the damned ship being not finished or whatever Bulma said…

About the only other thing I can do is…talk to somebody. Ugh. But it's better than dying. And anyway, I need the dragonballs and somehow I gotta do it without killing somebody.

“You!” I shout to one of the Namekians that's carrying a basket of water past me. He stops and looks at me curiously, but I see he's shaking a little…clearly heard of what I did to the nearby villages. Then it occurs to me I don't got anything to say, so I think something up. “Does this village have a dragonball?” I ask.

“Yes,” he says, “but I am certain that the village elder will not allow you to take it without the Great Elder's permission.”

All right, I can play this game. “I talked to that guy,” I say. The Namekian's eyes narrow a bit like he don't believe me.

“Of course,” the Namekian says, and then, “You know, if you would have killed him, somehow, the dragonballs would cease to work.” Aw, cute, he's trying to save the fat guy's ass.

“Right,” I say, chewing over a couple ideas in my head before I come up with a good one and add, “like the ones on Earth.” Which has him a little more interested, I see. But I shrug and move on past him like it don't mean a thing to me, and sure enough he starts following me.

“You said you talked to the Great Elder?” he says from behind me.

“Sure did,” I say, and I keep walking, through the village and around other Namekians that keep giving me funny looks.

The one guy keeps after me. “And…and Nail didn't…”

“Didn't kill me, no,” I spit out. This one is starting to make me think of Kakarrot and I try to shake the thought outta my head before I turn around and crush him on principle.

Now the guy stops. “Did he say that you had his permission to gather the dragonballs?”

I mull that one over. “Hinted at it,” I finally say. Hell, maybe this is how I'll manage it. So I figure I may as well sugar-coat it a bit. “He knew I was gonna try to gather `em and didn't say a damned thing about not doing it,” and a pause, and, “just so long as I don't kill no one.”

At that the Namekian's eyes seem to light up. Seems we got a common interest of not dying. That his oversized leader instructed me not to do it seems to mean something to `im, I guess. But he still seems a little wary, what with how I sort of took out a good chunk of the people who live on this planet before I got caught, I guess. “Dende,” he says, still looking at me. I'm about to tell him that I don't care for a lesson in his stupid language when a little thing comes bumbling over, practically tripping over his own feet.

“Yes, sir?” he says all quiet-like, trying not to look at me. I grin my toothiest grin at him and he looks like he wants to bury his little green face in this guy's clothes and wish me way.

The older one is still looking at me as he talks to the kid (or maybe he ain't a kid, I don't know how it works with Namekians, but if that's not what he is, he sure as hell is acting like one…like the whelp when I first kidnapped him). “Take this one back to the Great Elder,” he says, “and when—if—you hear it from the Elder's own mouth that he has permission to gather the dragonballs, guide him on this quest.”

The boy nods and looks at me carefully, like he thinks he can make me think he ain't scared out of his wits. “You c-can fly, right?” I hop up into the air, maybe pushing the air out from other me a little harder than I oughtta, just to see him flinch away. eHHe takes off himself, and I snort at him to make sure he knows full well that I don't appreciate having to wait up for him. Then he speeds up a little, and we're clipping along.

…

“Great Elder,” the kid, Dende, says.

“Ah,” says the fat guy, “you have returned so soon?” Not like I can tell at all where he's looking, but I'm assuming it's at me. Crazy fucker looks pleased at first, `til the kid explains about the dragonballs and he sobers up a bit. “Yes, he has my permission,” he says. Kid nods and we start leaving. Then on our way out I hear, “I will see you later.”

…

You know, gathering the damned things didn't take nearly as long as I'd thought it would with this kid by my side. It was just a matter of flying from village to village, letting everybody who poked their little noses into it know that I had the almighty fat guy's permission. Seems this is a weird occurrence on this planet. Still nobody bothered asking what I was wishing for. Well, not `til we got `em all.

“What are you going to wish for?” the Dende kid asks me as he sets them around in a circle, looking at me in this way likes he's got hopes but at least knows well enough to expect the worst. Maybe he ain't actually a kid. Then again…

“Why should I tell you?” I say, rolling one of the balls underneath my boot just to piss him off. Or maybe just fluster him, `cause his cheeks get all flushed when he realizes he's gotta ask to pull it out from under my foot. Instead I kick it over into the circle. If I gotta wait `til the kid musters up the courage to ask, I might be here all day. Or all…whatever. All I know is, I gotta figure things out before Vegeta and Nappa get here.

“Because I have to translate the wishes to Namekian,” he says, “so that Porunga can properly grant them.”

“Oh,” is all I say. Then, “Wait, wishes?”

“Is that not why you've gathered the dragonballs?” he asks, suddenly all in a panic like he did something wrong.

“Ones on Earth just have one wish,” I say, and suddenly I can't hold back just about the biggest grin I've been able to manage since coming here.

“Here you have three,” he says, “but only if you need all three, otherwise you should…”

You know, feeling like you've actually got a plan for how things are gonna go is a great feeling, and one I ain't had the privilege of very often. Now I suspect it might backfire just to spite me, but a guy's gotta have hope. After being stranded on a backwater planet for however the hell long it's been, maybe the gods have decided I deserve a little more luck this time around. “I think I will,” I say. “Yes.”

“All right,” he looks doubtful. “I guess the Great Elder must have approved, to have allowed this,” he mumbles to himself.

“I didn't tell—” I stop and thank the gods that for once my mouth actually stops moving before I regret saying something. “Never mind.”

He shrugs and seems to be all fidgety with his little green hands wringing themselves for a while before he spreads them over the balls, and chants something in Namekian. I figure, hell, maybe I'll be prepared for the giant fucking dragon to burst out this time…but no, it ain't so. What's more, this one is different from the one on Earth…and, I can tell from his first words, much less of a sadistic bastard.

“Greetings,” he says, “What three wishes may I grant you? Speak them now.”

“Um,” the kid looks to me.

“This is the only one I need for right now,” I tell him, feeling all clever for realizing this ahead of time. “I need to know what I need to do here to gain the most strength.”

“Hm,” he looks at me he's trying real hard not to treat me like I'm crazy. “It's…an odd…wish…” he mumbles, “how to phrase it…” After a moment, he looks up to the dragon and chants something.

The dragon chortles. Maybe I was wrong about the sadistic bastard part. When he finally stops his laughing, he says, “You must go to the Great Elder, the one who created me.”

Well, ain't that fucking convenient. Dende don't look terribly surprised, like there was something he knew and I didn't and maybe I shoulda said something to him before about this being my wish. “That's all for now,” I say. “Can I make my other wishes after my,” and I can't keep in a growl, “visit?”

“I,” Dende says, “I don't know. I'll…I'll stay here and make sure nobody makes any wishes,” he volunteers. “If anybody contests it, they need only know the Great Elder gave you permission,” it sounds like he's trying to convince himself, “and then they'll leave me alone, and won't cause any trouble.” He nods. “Right. Yes.”

“Unless Vegeta and Nappa show up,” I say. He looks like he's about to jump out of his skin at the thought of somebody he don't know coming by and challenging him, but it ain't my problem—I'm in the air rocketing back toward that damned rock tower and he's way beneath me, quivering in his little boots.

…

“Ah,” the fat guy says. “And surely this time you know why you are here.”

“Only know I gotta be here for something,” I cross my arms to make it clear I ain't too pleased that he seems to have known the whole time that I'd have to come here for something or another. The stronger Namekian, Nail, looks at me with narrow, suspicious eyes.

“Where's Dende?” he asks.

“Guarding the dragon,” I say. He rolls his eyes.

The Great Elder guy clears his throat and Nail looks away. “So you do not understand quite why you are here,” he says. “But it matters little; you will soon enough, after all. And have you thought of your home at all?”

Weird question. “Tried to avoid thinking on it much since the damned meteor shower,” I say.

“Ah,” is all he says back.

“So why the hell am I here?” I ask. Let's get on with it, before Vegeta and Nappa blow me up for summoning the dragon without them. Vegeta's a bastard enough and Nappa'll do whatever he says. I don't stand a chance in hell unless, for one thing, I can figure out how to get real strong, real fast.

The big Namekian finally says, “I wish you would have realized it yourself, but I feel our time is running short.” Pauses. “You have latent powers, son; powers that you may realize in the distant future, or that you may not. I believe you will use them well—I will draw them forth for you, bring them from beneath your consciousness to its fore.”

“Fancy talk,” I say, “so you're gonna make me stronger?”

“That is,” he seems to consider things, but hell if I know what he's actually doing. Maybe he fell asleep. “That is a part of it.”

“Sign me up,” I say.

“Then come,” and I get closer, and he puts his damned hand right where he'd had it the first time, like he coulda done this all at the beginning, the fucker. As his hand settles in this weird feeling comes over me, and I start thinking about shit without trying, about what's maybe going on on Earth right now, about what I'm gonna do to Vegeta if he tries to blow it up, and then I'm thinking about Kakarrot and his whelp and what it might be that makes `em so different. I keep trying to think but then my insides bubble up, soapy lava in my innards with the bubbles popping and reforming at the pit of my stomach, and wind around my skull, wind around my brains, wind around keeping me from thinking straight and wind saying things, hot lava wind saying,

Stop him,

And,

Don't let that bastard get you too,

And,

You ain't gonna wanna face us in Hell if you fail us.

Hot lava wind inside me, inside all of me, racking through every little thing I ever thought, deciding whether I oughtta have thought it, pushing me around and then getting all sucked back up into my gut where it tickles up my spine in the unpleasantest of ways, like I'm never gonna get used to it, like it was there since before I was a whining ball of flesh and longer yet before the only four Saiyans left somehow deemed me the blight of our race. Like there's something about…

“There,” the fat guy lifts his hand off me, only now it feels more like the farther his hand gets off my head, the more weight is pressing me down, heavier on my shoulders than those weights Bulma designed for my new armor. Is this it? Is this…

But I am stronger. Strong enough to beat Vegeta? I can't be sure. I need to…

“You'd best hurry,” I hear from the giant Namekian beside me. “Or you will lose your last two wishes.”

…I need to get the fuck back to that dragon.

…

That Dende kid looks at me like I'm crazy—maybe I'm that much faster than before—or maybe it's that I'm shouting before I've even landed. “My next wish is to get my tail back!” I say, and it ain't just to be safe that I'm all in a hurry and all in a panic, naw, it's because by now I can feel Vegeta and Nappa getting closer to the planet.

“Your…tail?” he asks.

“Yes, dammit!” is all I can say, trying to press my power down, but now I've got all this extra hot feeling in my veins, and the voices that are still muttering at me underneath it, it's tougher—like trying to quiet a crowd a' drunkards, maybe.

He looks like he ain't so happy about that wish—maybe it seems too frivolous—but he must pick up on that something's gonna go down if he don't hurry up, `cause he shouts it up to the dragon, who obliges. I'm waiting for that feeling of everything being right, and then—then there it is. I whip it back and forth a few times and try to shake the feeling that something ain't quite the way it's supposed to be. Did the dragon fuck it up? But there's no time to fix it now—I can actually see the goddamned pods breaking through the atmosphere, and soon's I manage to open my mouth for the next wish, they crash.

I think, everything's gonna end soon unless I get outta here, but then, what are those fuckers gonna do to this planet? No better than what I did, I guess, and I imagine this kid crumpling down beside me as they blast him, but then he's the brat…Gohan—I grab Dende by his robes. “Take us both to the planet Earth!” I tell him. He looks at me like I'm crazy, and we hear an enraged shout from over where the pods landed—Vegeta can see the dragon from there, I'm sure, and I bet he's figured it out. “Now!”

He stutters and then shouts it up to the dragon, who's gone only just before we are.

…

And, thank the gods, it worked.

First thing's first, I've gotta take this kid to…somewhere. One of the other Namekians, maybe. He looks at me with the widest eyes, like he don't know what to say about what he's done.

“You woulda died,” I tell him.

“The Great Elder…” is all he says back. Shit, I really hope Vegeta and Nappa don't off the guy. Those dragonballs could be useful later. But there was no time…right? I couldn't have…

“I'm gonna take you to this Namekian called Piccolo,” I say, `cause, hell, I feel for the kid, “and my brother's,” okay, damn, that came out even bitterer than I'd thought it would, “whelp, called Gohan.”

“What should I…” he starts, “what should I…do?”

I shrug. “Not die?” Always been a good plan for me.

When we land near where I could feel Gohan's ki, surprise, surprise, there's Kakarrot. He looks just about as pissed as I feel to see him again, after all this time—not that it's been so long but—it sure as hell feels like it. “Raditz,” he snarls at me, like I did something wrong. Oh, right, the dragonballs, stealing Bulma's shit, all that. And maybe he's still bitter over me killing `im.

“Don't fuck with me,” I tell him, snarling right back. His whelp looks like he's about t' jump between us, but before I can stop him, Kakarrot moves in front of him. The little Namekian, he runs over and takes cover behind some boulder nearby.

“You're stronger,” is all he says, and he don't look so excited about it, which, based on what Bulma's mentioned here and there, ain't his normal behavior. “And you have your tail.”

“Somebody's gotta kick Vegeta's ass when he gets here,” is all I tell him.

He gets what I'm trying to say. “I can handle it just fine.”

The lava through me flows hotter, but it's like I'm gonna retch because of it. And there's no way this ain't gonna break into a fight, with how thick the air is, and, shit, I'm ready. I may even be stronger than this turncoat bastard…than…than Kakarrot.

So it's no surprise when he takes a swing at me, the two Namekians and his kid looking on like they know better than to stop it for now. He ain't expecting me to duck away from his fist and plant my own in his gut, then smack his face so's his body gets jerked to the side and tumbles into the open plain just to the west. It feels great, it feels—

—Feels like a blur, like the entire series of blows is just a matter of half a second, and maybe it is, but as my skin boils hotter I start feeling sicker. When he slugs me a nasty blow with some ki in his hand, I grab his shoulders, and am struck by how much smaller he is than me, but hell, he's my little brother, what do I expect—I grab his shoulders and heave him over underneath my body weight `til he's pinned against the grass, my knee falling on his gut before I readjust myself to crouch over him and get ready to lay a few blows across his face. I lean in close to get a good look at the horror and concentration on his face, like he's gonna pull something crazy outta his sleeve to save his sorry ass. But I still can't keep back a grin—is he thinking of how he died? I could do it again, even, right now, and without even thinking about it, my hands drift over either one of his ears, getting ready to snap his—

Shit, but just like when the old Namekian started drawing out my power, I feel wind over my shoulders, and voices, saying things, screaming, and my eyes pry themselves open past all the wincing the wind is causing, and it's like I'm just now seeing the bastard beneath me. His eyes are all steely like knows, knows he ain't gonna die, and I know it too, and I see somebody in him—my father—or is that one of the voices over my shoulder—

And my tail is throbbing with pain just about as bad as my head, and I push what probably sounds like “I can't” past my teeth and that's it, and I roll off of him, and my head is pounding with weird thoughts that ain't mine, that he ain't the one that's gotta die, and he ain't the one I gotta worry about, and I damn well better let him go.

And of course he ain't the one I gotta worry about—it's Vegeta. Vegeta and his goddamned scouter, and now he really does have a reason to kill me, and now I really do have a reason to kill him, only—

Only…oh. Shit. The scouter…the dragonballs…Vegeta overheard—the goddamned scouter—and now he's too far away to get here by when that old coot Kami said he'd die, which means…shit, shit, shit. It ain't gonna be Vegeta and Nappa. Never was gonna be.

Freeza.