Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Ransom Due ❯ 17 ( Chapter 17 )

Chapter 17

 

Disclaimer: I don't own Dragonball, DBZ, or any of these characters. Written for fun, not profit of any kind.

 

*****

 

Bardock contemplated the balcony for a moment. He looked back at the door he just emerged from and then down to the lower levels of the house when a blistering pain shot through his skull. He fought a sense of tumbling in space. He realized with a feeling of disbelief that the sunlight coming in from the windows was reeling across the floor, first somewhat dim and brooding, then intense, then dim again as though both suns traversed the sky for an entire day while he watched, certain that he'd only been standing there for a few minutes.

 

 

The pain subsided with the sudden stop of the light's march across the walls and floor. He steadied himself and turned back to the door. His room… he'd just exited his room, hadn't he? A sense of trepidation crawled over him inexplicably, making the hairs at the back of his neck stand on end. He did have a trained warrior's senses when it came to possible threats, but he couldn't remember ever having such a sickening sense of fear over anything, let alone nothing. Nothing… he thought he felt the hint of a whisper gently stroking his cheek that made him want to recoil yet captivated him at the same time. If he went back through that door, what would become of him? Would he step into some kind of abyss that would suck his very soul out only to remake it as though chewing it up and spitting it out…? The very notion was ridiculous. He didn't believe in the concept of a soul. This was his house on the home planet. The only thing behind that door was his staid quarters. He was about to turn and jerk the door open, thereby laying to rest whatever it was that caused him such unease when he heard someone enter the house.

 

 

He looked down to see two of his squad members enter. The agitation he'd felt was instantly forgotten and replaced with satisfaction. These were his soldiers, rank be damned, fit and ready for some of the toughest assignments there were to be had. One could tell it in the way they carried themselves, even just entering a domicile; they were not to be trifled with. This had already rubbed off on Celipa, the younger of the pair. She had the same air of dominance as any of them, though female, inexperienced and not with the squad long. She stopped mid stride and confronted the much taller Toma to punctuate a disagreement in their conversation without pause, already secure with her status as equal.

 

 

“No, it's still not to your advantage to put yourself on the ground, even to knock the legs out from under an opponent. You only give them the opportunity to get leverage…”

 

 

“Ha! You assume they can recover from the impact of your entire body weight crunching their shins,” he grinned, suddenly leaving behind the air of professionalism, “rather, my body weight. Now I see why you would balk at using such a move. You haven't bulked up quite enough yet.” He gestured toward the kitchen. “We can fix that quite easily.”

 

 

“I could put on another four hundred pounds and I still wouldn't use that as an attack…”

 

 

“Hahaha! I think you should try to open with it, personally.”

 

 

“You're trying awfully hard to get me to mess up tomorrow. Just because it's the first time I get to go a round with the boss doesn't mean I have to make a complete fool of myself. I'm wondering what's in it for you if I fall short?”

 

 

“I just think you still need practice, work out some less conventional technique, that's all. Maybe you should consider postponing?” He chuckled a little bit but it didn't cover up the faint redness that rose in his cheeks. “The Commander hits awfully hard, you know.”

 

 

“I should hope so. I didn't join this squad because I was looking for a cakewalk. You might as well tell me who's keeping the pool and why you would be dumb enough to bet against me in the first place.” She went on, oblivious to the overtone of serious concern from her teammate.

 

 

Had that nonsense started so early? It was bad enough he had to watch his son alternately rage and moon about over the new recruit in the month since she'd taken up quarters with the squad. He didn't think Toma had become distracted by her until much later, but he hadn't even been there for this exchange and there could have been…

 

 

He stopped himself mid thought. He hadn't been there - here. For a very short moment the interior of the house slipped away and he looked on from outer space as the entire planet was crumbling in a fiery meltdown, knowing he had failed utterly…

 

 

Then he was back inside the house, griping the balcony rail and trying to figure out how he could be somewhere he was not, because he knew the night before his first spar with Celipa he had gone to retrieve his eldest son from a drinking establishment in an upper class part of town where he shouldn't have been…

 

 

He looked back towards the offending doorway that had caused him such discomfort moments ago. The intense feeling of having missed the mark on something extremely important washed over him again. He closed his eyes and saw what could have been a powerful explosion, something big, in the colors dancing on the back of his eyelids. The burning embers coalesced into the face of an infant, the spitting image of himself. “Kakarotto…” His eyes snapped open. Had he said the name aloud? If he had, the two downstairs hadn't noticed. They continued with their conversation heedless of his presence.

 

 

He heard the front door downstairs open and slam shut and then Raditzu limped into his view. Celipa and Toma's banter abruptly stopped and both looked at the youth, mouths agape at the unqualified damage he'd sustained. But for the unusually long hair, the boy was barely recognizable. Bardock knew for a fact it would have taken phenomenal effort for the boy to walk (perhaps crawl?) by himself to the house with a fractured back, and probably broken ribs and internal injuries. Bardock knew the extent of the wounds considering they were his own handiwork.

 

 

The boy glowered menacingly at the two onlookers uttering only a guttural snarl, daring one or both of them to do anything, say anything about what they were looking at. Crap, Bardock thought briefly, the boy really could have been a contender for first class designation… maybe if I'd left well enough alone. No. The failure was Raditzu's. He would have been dead at this point if it had been a conventional fight, definitely would have been killed if either one of the two looking him over had disrespectfully intruded in their Commander's personal matters by taking on the boy's challenge. Raditzu stood there, doubled over and clutching his side, still daring the two of them with murder in his eyes…

 

 

“Kakarott, don't kid yourself,” he said. He held the same hunched over stance, but most of the blood had vanished and he'd suddenly become much older. The house faded away revealing an open landscape with vast blue skies.

 

 

Bardock gasped involuntarily. `The Blue Planet,' he thought unconsciously, immediately struggling with a vision of the world and trying to remember why it was important.

 

 

“Your brat is more than `just a child'. His power level is higher than yours already.” The grown up Raditzu grinned without mirth, only heartless, empty cruelty. “Pity he'll never learn to use it.”

 

 

The blue skies faded quickly to the muted interior illuminated with Vegetasei's red dusky light. The warrior Raditzu shrank to a child's stature, blood pooling at his feet, but his expression was the same. Bardock knew then the boy would've made an insane attempt at fighting the warriors he faced, even in his condition and knowing the certain outcome, if only to try to take one of them, and it was no mystery which one, with him. Toma's interest in the new recruit may have escaped his notice, but not his son's.

 

 

Bardock looked away. He hadn't been in this house at this time, felt certain that he wasn't even here now. Maybe things hadn't even transpired like this. A rush of something that could've been the mocking laughter of a thousand voices rose in his consciousness. He threw the door to his quarters open and strode through without thinking…

 

 

…and found himself in the bar he'd gone to that night. He turned to look back the way he had come, half expecting to see the interior of the house over the threshold of the establishment's entryway. He saw only a city street, people enjoying the balmy air characteristic of a summer evening on Vegetasei. He heard laughter again, but this time it wasn't confined to his own head; it was real.

 

 

“Furiza? Destroy us? Why ever would he do that?”

 

 

He turned to the interior of the bar. The patrons weren't the first and second class crowd he remembered. In fact, most were peers of his, third class grunts. They continued to heckle him.

 

 

“You've lost your mind. We've always done a good job for Furiza, and he's always given us good work.”

 

 

“Yeah. Hey, Bardock, maybe you've pushed yourself too far this time, bitten off a little more than you can chew, huh?... geez, you look awful. Maybe you'd better just sit down and have a drink…”

 

 

The sharp pain in his head had returned. He stumbled, leaning on the doorframe to get some balance as dizziness overtook him. But he had to get them to listen…

 

He looked up and saw the upper class cantina he'd originally walked into. The laughter stopped and the pain subsided. The only thing out of place here was his son at a corner table with a good view of the entry, not of proper status and really too young to be pounding down ale the way he was.

 

 

He walked towards the boy's table; not really wanting to relive what he knew was coming, but unable to stop himself.

 

 

“What do you want? I already made your delivery.” The boy disrespectfully made eye contact and held it despite his obvious intoxication.

 

 

“You really don't want to start this in here.”

 

 

“Oh? Are you worried people will talk?”

 

 

“No. But you should be. Let's go.”

 

 

“Nobody looked twice at me being in here, but now that you've arrived, everyone's taken notice. Your looks mark you as third class, maybe…”

 

 

He didn't let the boy finish, just hauled him out of his chair. He didn't bother looking around either. Sure, people were bound to be staring, in good part just because what Raditzu had said was true. He knew nobody was going to do anything, though. He was broadcasting a power level over 9000 to every scouter in the room. They may have been first class, but many of them didn't match his strength, the rest probably didn't want to get into tussle that was likely to destroy the bar. Nobody followed them after he pushed Raditzu ahead of him out the door, anyway.

 

 

 

When they got outside, the boy glared at him but had enough sense to start flying in the direction of the house. He didn't have enough willpower or sense to make it all the way there without saying anything though. About half way he stopped in midair and turned, much as Celipa had done to Toma, and blurted an accusation.

 

 

“You did it because you're scared. You know I'm going to get first-class status. You'd eventually have to give me command of the squad.”

 

 

 

He may have had formidable potential, but the boy was no equal, certainly no better, yet, and now he never would be. Bardock didn't really gratify him with stopping, just followed through his approach with a fist to the boy's face before turning himself.

 

 

“You dare!?” He was able to blindside Raditzu again from behind. He knew the boy might've been able to match his speed, but he was also drunk. He had him by the neck before he shook off the second punch. “You covet a position on my squad so you can challenge me, blatantly, and fail. Now you seek to repeat this process? Don't tell me you're stupid as well as weak.”

 

 

 

Enraged, Raditzu struck out with his fists. Bardock let him wail away, but didn't loosen his hold.

 

 

 

“You aren't ready to serve on any squad, much less my own. You need no more explanation for my actions than that. If you're so sure I'm wrong, prove it now.” He let go and Raditzu got a jab in on his cheek before disengaging. He felt the flesh split against his cheekbone, certain to leave a scar. He smirked as he let the boy come at him again from above and drive him from the sky to the ground below.

 

 

Bardock looked up as Raditzu raised his palms to fire the killing blast at him and hesitated, just for a fraction of a second, but same as with the girl, it was enough. Bardock was on him before he realized what was happening.

 

 

 

Every bone he broke, he did so deflecting the boy's attacks, showing that he had no intention of expending the effort to go on the offensive. Until the very last blow in the confrontation landed. His only offensive strike shattered his son's back, thereby putting a definitive end to the disagreement.

 

 

 

He held the boy down in the crater where the `fight' started, only then bothering to get a hold of his tail and squeeze.

 

 

 

“The true warrior never hesitates to kill, not even his own father.” He made sure he had his son's full attention and then let loose of his tail. “Mark this. It isn't hesitation. This is dishonor. You don't deserve to die in battle with me.”

 

 

He could've let it go - let the boy get into whatever he was going to at the bar and sleep it off the next day. He'd done enough damage that without access to a regen chamber, and novices didn't have free access, the boy would fall irreparably behind with his training. Undesignated warriors were all given status by their sixteenth year, no later. Even with the power boost he'd get from eventually getting over his wounds, he'd never catch up by then to garner first class rank, or even second.

 

 

Bardock looked down at his son in disappointment and scorn. He'd made abrupt plans that night for a long string of away missions. He intended to collect his squad and make an immediate departure as there was nothing keeping him on-world now. Surely he hadn't lingered there this long. He didn't remember so much blood in the crater… or the rocks being so discolored, bleached through. Suddenly it was the adult Raditzu he was staring at, laying sprawled out in a blood cove on a white beach at the bottom of a chalky cliff. Before Bardock could get his bearings Raditzu's eyes blinked open and his hands shot out with massive twin streams of ki that caught Bardock in the gut and sent him backwards into the rocks.

 

 

He struggled to rise and realized the only thing he fought with was a tangle of blankets. His back hurt like hell, but only from superficial scrapes and cuts. He'd suffered no blows. He threw off the covers and grabbed his tattered clothes, now knowing exactly where to look for them in the cluttered bedroom.

 

 

Of course, the demon was on his heels immediately, demanding he stop, that it was no use bothering to go anywhere. He didn't even slow down, healing the abrasions on his borrowed body as he headed out the door without pause. Somehow he knew precisely where the sheltered cove surrounded by high cliffs was, though he'd never been there before and he was sure he'd navigated the whole of the island more than once in his attempts to find some avenue of escape.

 

 

The demon appeared to recognize the sudden sense of purpose in his self curative act and stopped trying to dissuade him through words or action. She just followed at a distance. He looked back at her wraithlike and naked form and read a mixture of curiosity and concern in her expression. All too soon, even without flying, he realized he'd reached his destination, a precipice beyond which the blood sea appeared to rage in disquiet, the churning waves only settling to gentle ripples in the bowl like cove he could observe by looking directly over the edge.

 

 

He lifted off the ground, intending to hover down to the thin strand of beach below, but the minute he moved over the edge, gravity, a stronger pull than existed on Vegetasei, seized him and he found himself falling, landing hard on his back on the white sand before he even realized he needed to right himself. He could see the demon, a tiny speck, looking over the edge far, far above him. Her body dissipated into a crimson mist that floated down gently and rebuilt itself on the ground next to him.

 

 

“That won't work here,” she held out her hand to him as if to help him up. He rejected it, familiar with the inquiring look on her face. She only wanted an opportunity to pick his brains, read his vision if indeed that was what his dream had been. “Nor will any form of ki manipulation. The whole area acts as a damper,” she said as she dropped her outstretched arm, recognizing his refusal. “Anything you do here has to be done by physical strength alone. It is the first test of the gateway.”

 

 

“Gateway?” He again healed himself and stood easily. Ki might not work here, but the properties of this body still did. In fact, he felt the pull of the ocean even more acutely than before. But Raditzu had clearly, painfully, blasted him with ki in his vision. He looked around to be sure this was the same place he had seen.

 

 

“Yes.” The demon smiled. “This place serves as the threshold to the world of the living. One way of course.” The smile took on a sinister quality. “It hasn't been accessible for what must have been thousands of years to those who live. Someone is coming.” She took a step towards him, her brash nudity all at once looking powerfully alluring and even innocent. He fought the urge to pull her into an embrace. “You know who it is, don't you?” she purred.

 

 

He backed away from her. “No. I didn't see it.”

 

 

“Oh?” She frowned; obviously well aware he was lying. “Do you know what the last test of the gateway is?” He shook his head slowly in the negative, as all at once the quiet lapping sound of the waves behind him filled his head, blocking his sense of reason, clouding his resolve to resist the demon.

 

 

She bared her pointed incisors. “I am.” He struggled to remove himself from her reach, determined not to let her rend the information she sought from his already tortured psyche. “The gateway has opened twice, and both times those I faced met with failure, allowing me to consume them. Absorption of a living soul adds immeasurable longevity to my, to our, existence here…” Her scowl deepened “…and after all the trouble you've put me through as of late, I find myself very, very hungry.”

 

 

She continued her slow advance and he retreated again without looking. He felt the wet stickiness under his heel too late to move before the sea made its physical link to his captor. The red tide swirled around his ankle and the demon's face lit up in recognition as the vision of his son lying on that very beach flashed up in his mind and projected to her.

 

 

“Heh. So that's what all that bullocks earlier was about.” She looked genuinely amused at his swift defeat, suddenly turning and heading back toward the cliffs. She looked back at him over her shoulder. “Well come on then,” she coaxed, indicating the shear rocks. All traces of her anger vanished, her come-hither smile innocent and sweet despite the sharpened teeth. “You're going to have to make the climb, but it can't hurt things any. Your boy is going to have to when he gets here and you may as well get some training in. He didn't look happy to see you.”

 

 

He watched her dematerialize and float upwards and then turned his attention to the crimson brine at his feet, cursing it. He imagined his frustration as though it were a physical force and directed it into the surf. He watched in amazement and with a tiny, belated sense of triumph as it momentarily appeared to surge away from him. It only moved a few centimeters, and there was the chance he'd just imagined it, but the waves no longer reached him as they broke. He took that small victory with him as he set to scaling the cliffs.