Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Only the Weak ❯ Chapter 5 ( Chapter 5 )

Only the Weak

By Karete-chan

Chapter 5:

Being a rebel was more trouble than it was worth Radditz mused as he watched the scuttling people below him. Casually he tossed another ball of ki at their fleeing backs.

His face was impassive as the smoke cleared, revealing nothing more than an empty crater, as if the lives that had been burning and vibrant a minute ago were not now cold and dead by his hand. His scouter beeped.

"Radditz!" Vegeta's voice cracked over the bad connection. Radditz presumed he was on the other side of the planet somewhere. "Have you finished yet?"

"Yes my Prince. The last of them paid their respects just a few moments ago."

"Good. Meet us back at the pods so we can get the hell off this mud-ball Frieza dared to call a `rebel' base."

Radditz grinned. He knew what Vegeta meant. The pathetic creatures had been no more of a challenge than a child's game of toss-stone. He turned and sped away, skimming low over the clipped fields of the planet. Here and there craters were smoking still as houses slowly burned their way towards the ground. If he hadn't had been admiring his handiwork he might have seen the glint of metal as it protruded from the small clump of bushes. As it was, if his scouter hadn't warned him the beam that the contraption fired might have caused him some serious damage. Growling and holding his hand to the hole in his shoulder, Radditz turned slowly. There was a faint cry of horror that was only just audible to his sensitive Saiya-jin ears. He growled once more and the men concealed in the low scrub bushes fled, their farmers' robes flapping around them.

~*~*~*~

The lead man's feet flew over the cultivated fields, heading for the large mud brick house in the next paddock. He could hear the others behind him as they fell one by one beneath the Saiya-jin's hand. Heart pounding he reached the door and slammed it closed behind him. He only had a few moments at the most.

~*~*~*~

This was more fun, Radditz thought, as he picked off the terrified men. One dashed off on an angle and he followed. Just as he was about to grab the man, the farmer showed a surprising agility. He ducked and turned away from the large Saiya-jin's grasp, heading towards the trees and away from the farmstead. Radditz grinned as he bided his time, letting the man think he might just make it to the tree line. The man literally bounced off him as he appeared in his path. He never hit the ground though, as a large surge of Radditz's ki burnt him away to ash.

As he brushed off the ash that landed on him, Radditz picked up the faint sound of talking on the breeze. His head swivelled around to glare at the farmhouse. Not bothering with manners he blasted the door in from where he stood, taking a great portion of the wall with it.

The last farmer stared back at him in horror. The small communications device he held in his hand squawked tinnily, and then he seemed to recover himself and yelled a few words in his native language before reaching forward and doing something Radditz couldn't see. He shot forward, crushing the receiver and the man's hand in his fist. The farmer screamed.

"Who were you talking to?" Radditz growled.

The man shook his head, his face pale and drawn.

"Tell me!" he growled, shaking the man.

The man closed his eyes and shook his head. Growling Radditz blasted him through the wall behind. He was not known for having patience. Glancing around the small room he spotted the main transmitter and dusted off the rubble around it. One look at the read-out told him it would not help. The machine was so old that it was still set by hand. No doubt the man had flicked the dial to read something else before he got there.

Annoyed with himself for his folly Radditz returned to the low scrub bushes. Ripping them up roots and all he tossed them aside and picked up the shiny contraption that lay beneath them. He frowned. This flimsy little thing had put a hole in his shoulder. Vegeta would want to see this.

~*~*~*~

Vegeta turned the shiny metal tube over in his hands again.

"This weak looking thing put a hole through your shoulder?"

Radditz nodded. "Yes my Prince. Clean through." He paused. "These people were farmers. Where in the seven hells did they get a piece of machinery like that?"

"More to the point," Vegeta added, "is who gave it to them? There is nowhere on this planet with the capacity to rend metal this fine."

Nappa frowned. "If they had these things why was there not more resistance?"

"Most likely because they did not have time to organise themselves." Vegeta smirked but it faded quickly. "It concerns me though; imagine the damage they may have been able to do if they had. There is no question about their demise but the two of you may have come away with more than a hole in your shoulder." He smirked again as he watched Radditz wind a cloth around his bleeding wound.

"What if there are more of these things?" Nappa asked.

"Then they'll burn with the rest of the planet. This one," Vegeta tossed it from hand to hand, "I think I will keep. It will be interesting to see who made it."

Radditz snorted. "It's probably just another production line prototype from the rebel bases."

Vegeta growled at his underling's condescending tone. "No. This is different from anything else the rebels have thrown at Frieza before. In fact," he grinned widely, "whoever did this may well turn out to be a sharp thorn in Frieza's side."

~*~*~*~

Dodoria knelt in front of his lord. "The monkey's have sent their report Lord Frieza."

Frieza didn't turn but his tail moved slightly, slapping the floor in sickening thuds. Dodoria watched as the Tsiru-jin lifted his glass and sipped the red wine daintily. "And?" Frieza's soft voice asked.

"They had no complications," Dodoria answered standing. "They are on their way back as we speak."

"Good. I have had enough incompetence for one day."

Dodoria nodded curtly and left his master to his own thoughts. Outside, he made his way to the bridge.

"How long?" he barked at the crew on duty.

"E.T.A six hours," answered one. "The pods show no damage but Radditz's is indicating that he's injured." He tapped a few keys. "Nothing serious. He won't need a tank."

"Where's Zarbon?"

"Lord Zarbon had an audience with Master Frieza earlier. It was him who told Master Frieza about the loss of the newest Ginyu." The man gave a wry smile. "He was carried back to his quarters sometime later."

"Why not to a tank?"

"Master Frieza's orders, sir."

"Untouchables were sent to take care of him?"

"No sir. Lord Zarbon was still coherent enough to refuse them."

A grotesque eyebrow rose. "Really? What kind of an idiot is he?"

The man shrugged. "Apparently he was muttering something about rumours."

Dodoria smiled nastily for a moment then frowned again. "Get Ginyu on the line. Tell him I'll meet him in the officer's mess in two clicks to discuss the replacement for…whatever his name was."

~*~*~*~

"Guldo."

"No way! That four-eyed, diseased kumquat? He can hardly waddle, let alone pose!"

"What's waddle?" asked Recoome.

The other two looked at him, rolled their eyes and resumed the conversation.

Jeice propped his elbows on the table and lent his head in his hands. "Who was the idiot that came up with that one?"

"Apparently it was the pink blob. But the Captain agreed with him so the deal was sealed." Burter sighed. "We would have been better off with Vegeta."

The liquid Jeice was drinking made a hasty exit through his nose. "Vegeta!" he spluttered. "What bonehead put that idea in your head?"

"At least Vegeta has actual legs."

"And nowhere near the fighting power required. Besides, do you really want a monkey in the ranks of the Ginyus?"

Burter took a sideways glance at Recoome, who was holding a spoon backward and trying to feed himself soup. "At least he'd make for better conversation."

Jeice sighed. "You never know, we might get lucky. Maybe Guldo will turn out to have a degree in engineering or something."

"Yeah, and the Captain is a virgin."

"What's a virgin?"

~*~*~*~

The lab was busy for this time of night. Especially for a lab that was located several floors underground and supposedly secret. Bulma glanced around. The man with ebony skin, the one from the video, was watching her. Again. She had been introduced to him yesterday. He called himself Hontij and she had quite liked him. Now he was just creeping her out. She glared at him. He grinned back at her, his white teeth standing out in stark contrast to his dark skin. Huffing, she turned back to her work.

Her fingers flew over the keyboard, the display in front of her showing multiple screens of scrolling data. It was her baby. An idea she'd had while watching Yamcha train with Gokou.

"Interesting."

She almost swallowed her tongue. Coughing slightly she turned around to see Hontij grinning down at her. What was it with people and scaring her lately? Turning back to the console she hit a button and wiped the screen.

"Yes it is isn't it?" she said coolly. "Is there something I could help you with?"

His grin tapered down into a soft smile. "No, daughter of my friend, I simply wish to express my gratitude at your willingness to help."

Bulma was slightly taken aback. "Well of course."

"The good doctor tells me it was you who worked the bugs out of our last effort."

She nodded. "The frequency was wrong. By rasing it we were able to concentrate the beam more accurately."

He smiled again in that soft knowing way, turned and walked away. Bulma stared after him. Okay, so he wasn't creepy, he was weird. She watched him leave the room before sighing heavily and recalling the data to her screen.

Some time later she was humming away, totally immersed in her work. The background noise had faded away to a gentle hum. Quietly she was impressed with herself; usually she was fidgeting in her seat trying her damnedest not to yell at the other workers. Pulling up the almost finished blueprints for the latest idea her genius had conceived she grinned to herself and stretching, decided to get a cup of coffee.

To her great disappointment, the room was empty. The soft humming noise was the new generators they had installed yesterday, gradually working themselves up to full power. She glanced over at the only clock in the room. The glowing digital read-out told her it was just past three am. No wonder the place was empty, she thought, even aliens have to sleep sometime.

Yawning, she wandered out of the lab and took the 30-second elevator trip to the surface. Not surprisingly there were a few people still wandering around. A lot of them had large eyes. Bulma guessed that they were probably nocturnal races - they weren't in the lab because the lighting hurt their sensitive retinas. They nodded amiably to her as she passed on her way to the house.

Her hand had just fallen on the doorhandle when she was grabbed forcefully from behind. A hand clamped over her mouth before she had the right of mind to scream but she did it anyway as she felt her feet leave the floor and watched her home disappear beneath her.

~*~*~*~

Cracking an eye open ChiChi watched as her husband quietly pulled himself out of bed. He sat with his back to her his head sitting in his hands.

"Gokou?" she asked uncertainly.

He jerked upright at the sound of her voice but he didn't turn around.

"I'm sorry ChiChi. I didn't mean to wake you."

The tone of his voice told her enough.

"What's wrong? Has something happened?"

He shook his head. "I'm not sure. It's probably nothing." He stood. "I'm going to check on Gohan. I'll be back in a minute."

ChiChi watched as his broad back disappeared through the door of their room. She frowned slightly. Something was wrong. He never checked on Gohan. In fact he hardly ever woke in the middle of the night. Soft padding footsteps announced his return. He sat back down on the bed but made no move to show that he was going back to sleep. ChiChi sat up and put her arms around him.

"Gokou," she said softly, "nothing has ever woken you up in the middle of the night before. Are you sure that everything is okay?"

His hand came up and touched her hair. "No. There's something going on. In the last couple of days there has been a lot more people able to use ki than before."

ChiChi eyebrows creased in worry. She had never seen her husband so serious before.

"Is it bad?"

He sighed. "That's just it. They don't feel bad."

"Where are they?"

He was silent for a moment. "Over near West City somewhere."

ChiChi felt herself relax. "It probably just has something to do with Bulma, or her father. Why don't you go over there in the morning and find out?"

"You think?"

ChiChi pulled him back down onto the bed. "I do. You'll see; it will probably be nothing."

Gokou's arms wrapped around her and pulled her closer. "I hope so," he whispered into her hair.