Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Sculpted In Gold ❯ Meanwhile, on Earth... and elsewhere ( Chapter 18 )

Author's note… Vegeta and Goku are the same age in this AU. Deal with it- that was the only way that I could think of to make a couple of Goku and Chichi while Vegeta and Shani are so young. LOL.

Sculpted In Gold

Chapter 18

Since the initial meeting the other day had been tense and disappointingly unproductive, Kazar had his doubts about Zarbon's plans, but kept them to himself and finally decided to keep going on with it anyway, after all, it had been two days of negotiations and conversation now, and no one had left the summit yet. So at least he had managed to keep everyone's interest. But the tricky part of forming the tenuous new alliance was assigning everyone their new positions within the Alliance of Shadows.

Not everyone could be a leader like what they were used to. From what Zarbon had told him about the Saiyan Prince, Kazar already knew that he would not share his power, and everyone with him here was a leader in their own right at the moment. That meant demoting them might not go over well with many of them.

Challen and Bran, the two massive barbarian warriors were exactly that, they were warriors to the bone; they were going to be excellent field generals like Napa, and would also help to train the refugees that would come to help fight as word of the alliance spread. For in their resistance forces, that was how they led, others under their commands saw to gathering supplies and organizing, it was in battle that the two men showed their leadership skills. The men who were under their command would follow them unflinching straight through the gates of hell itself if that was where those two were leading them. Striker's position would be obvious as well; the assassin would be in charge of himself, keeping busy observing goings on around the empire and reporting the interesting stuff to Zarbon and Vegeta personally- eventually, but for now to Kazar. Dakarran was a likely candidate for either a Field General or Major General. He was an expert fighter himself being half Zarovian and half Tarian, but it was more than that. The man had survived the deaths of his entire family and come out of it fighting, like Challen and Bran he would fight to the death to win this war. A mere farmer that had peacefully raised racehorses on one of the pleasure moons of Tijuana until it was invaded, he had shown a unique- almost supernatural affinity for strategy and tactics in the short time that he had lead his militia... Ravenna would be responsible for keeping track of everyone who was keeping track of supplies and organizing transport- cargo ships as well as troop carriers. Hers would be a huge responsibility especially until they had everyone settled in on one of the two bases that they would be using for the Alliance headquarters. The others were not really fighters; they would be given tasks suited to their organizational skills and talents that would help him and Ravenna keep track of everything else.

He closed his notes slowly and took a deep breath; then the young Saurian opened the door to the meeting room and went inside.

**

Earth was enjoying a beautiful, peaceful day- well, Bulma thought, it was probably raining somewhere but at least on Master Roshi's tiny island where everyone had gathered for a wonderful day at the beach, everything was quiet and perfect. The sun was shining; the sand was warm and soft, while the waves were perfectly cool. Between the two of them, Launch and Chichi had fixed a sensational lunch. Even Goku seemed to have settled down for once, the hyper teenager often seemed years younger than she was, but they were actually the same age.

Chichi and Launch were trying to get the leftovers put away when Goku came over and grabbed a cookie, slipping an arm around Chichi's waist, drawing her against him for a moment. She giggled and kissed him lightly on the cheek as she went back to putting things away. Goku and Chichi looked so happy together, Bulma couldn't help feeling a little jealous, after all, they were the same age that she was and they were engaged already. Chichi couldn't wait to get settled into their new house and raise a family with him.

Bulma sighed. She knew she wasn't interested in kids yet, but finding a lover that was interested in getting married sounded nice. Yamcha was too busy exploring his newly discovered sexuality with everything in a skirt to remember to keep their dates half the time, so she had already given up on him- she hadn't told him that yet though. She was kind of saving it for when she found someone new. She had found out the hard way that he was keeping secrets from her too, and she wasn't pleased but she was saving breaking up with him for just the right moment. He had not only managed to forget her birthday last week, but she had seen him that afternoon with a bunch of giggling girls at a baseball game and when one of them had kissed him, he certainly hadn't told her no. Only a bastard like Yamcha would get caught kissing another girl on his girlfriend's birthday- on TV no less. Even if she hadn't been watching the broadcast of the game, she still would've known- after all, she had gotten hell for it when she went to the mall for a little stress relief shopping the next morning. The trouble with being Bulma Briefs was not the fame- it was the fact that the press liked to follow her boyfriends around and report every little thing they did too! Just once she wanted to meet a guy that wasn't intimidated by her fame and fortune or her ability to speak her mind.

Poor Yamcha, she actually felt a little sorry for the guy, she knew he wasn't used to all the attention he'd been getting since people had found out that they were seeing each other. He was on his way to being a celebrity already and he just didn't know how to handle it. At first it was cute, but the more well known he was getting, the more strange women came up to hit on him and there were more than a few that Bulma was sure hadn't drawn the line with flirting with him. She had grown up famous, she knew better than to do something stupid like that. But at the same time, she knew she had every right to feel angry and hurt after all, he had missed her birthday and she hadn't even bothered to remind him yet. He was here for the beach party today too, but she had made it a point not to talk to him and he had not tried to come anywhere near her yet…

So far they had kept their distance, but they hadn't had sex since two weeks ago yesterday because of a string of poorly arranged business meetings and the special plans she had made for them on her birthday had been so badly thrown out of whack. Right now she was very horny so she wasn't sure how much longer she'd be able to keep her distance. Even though she was upset at him, Yamcha was a good lover; she liked the way he had learned to take his time enjoying her body and the way he would do almost anything to make her happy. She sighed, it only made her worse when she saw how well Goku and Chichi were getting along since they got engaged.

"Hey Bulma? You want to play some volleyball with us or something?" Goku asked, startling her out of her thoughts.

"No, I think I'm just going to read for a while. You guys have fun." She sighed, picking up her book again, but she had no sooner taken the bookmark out of it than everyone else gasped in shock and horror. Bulma was about to ask what was the matter when she looked up.

There were five men floating in the air, the leader was a smallish purple skinned man with yellow spots and a larger than normal head. His men looked similar enough to their leader that she supposed they were of the same race or alien species, and each of them wore the same white and beige armor with spandex like bodysuits. That would have been ominous enough by itself, considering their malicious expressions… but the leader tossed the badly beaten body of Piccolo into the sand.

"Nameks to beat the crap out of and beautiful females can be found on this planet, doesn't get much better than this, does it boys?" the leader grinned. His followers all laughed, but the leader kept on talking and no one interrupted him. "Makes me wonder why Lord Frieza waited so long to send us here. I guess maybe since the infant Saiyan that was sent here was Bardock's kid, they might have still been hoping that he'd complete the mission, but I'm guessing it's not going to happen."

Goku walked over to Piccolo and checked to make sure he was alright. The Namek was breathing, but barely, these men had really done a number on him. "Who do you think you are?" Goku shouted at the men who had attacked Piccolo.

"Well, well." Kiwi laughed as he landed to take a good look at Goku. "What do we have here? A Saiyan that thinks he's native to this planet? Damn, when I mentioned your father, I had no idea you'd look just like him, kid."

"What are you talking about?" Goku growled, barely able to keep himself calm. He had always suspected that he wasn't an earthling, but he didn't want to believe it was true.

"You are a Saiyan, kid. Your father was a third class warrior named Bardock. It's too bad your father went a little nuts and tried to fight Frieza though, he could have been the strongest Saiyan alive if he had held out just a little longer... Then again, Saiyans aren't known for their intelligence, and Zarbon said Bardock was on Vegetasai when Frieza blew it up so he didn't have much choice at the time I guess. I guess I don't know why I'm surprised to find you here, this planet has an absurdly low threat level, and you are Radditz's full brother."

"I-I have a brother?" Goku asked.

"Yes," Kiwi laughed. "Saiyans breed like rabbits you know, that's part of the reason Frieza destroyed the planet, taking all the females out at once. You, Radditz, Napa and Prince Vegeta are all that is left, Lord Frieza figured a population cap would make you monkeys a little easier to keep track of..."

"Who is this Frieza guy?" Goku asked.

Kiwi choked on his reply. "You don't know who Lord Frieza is? You were sent here to destroy this planet because he had a little business arrangement with King Vegeta. Lord Frieza has lots of fighters, but not many of them were as efficient at killing planets as you Saiyans. Frieza left you Saiyans alive so that you could purge planets and he could sell them. If it wasn't for Prince Vegeta, your brother and Napa, I'd have to do a lot more work around the Empire than I do, so I don't hate you Saiyans like some of the other fighters do. Lord Frieza is the most powerful fighter in the entire universe, he doesn't need anyone to fight for him, but he likes to keep armies around anyway so he can rule and let us handle the upstarts."

"But why would this creep destroy the Saiyans when they were doing his dirty work?" Bulma asked, planting her hands on her hips, she walked up beside Goku and demanded of Kiwi.

Kiwi moved so fast that Goku didn't even have time to warn her to get back. The alien was no taller than Bulma but when he put his arms around her she realized she had no chance of getting away from him. "Hello gorgeous." Kiwi grinned, apparently enjoying her squirming and attempts at escape. "So you want to know why Frieza killed off all his pet Saiyans but four? There is a legend, that most of known space seems to believe... begun by an ancient oracle, the Prophecy speaks of Lord Frieza meeting his doom at the hands of a Saiyan- the Super Saiyan to be exact. Myself I don't believe it, but Lord Frieza decided it would be better to be safe than sorry. Three- or now four Saiyans are easier to keep track of than a whole planet full. It was very obliging of you to volunteer to show me the beauty of your planet."

"I was just trying to talk to you…" Bulma gasped, trying desperately not to let him see her fear. "What is your name?"

"I am Kiwi, I am one of Frieza's elite lieutenants. And what is your name?"

"I'm Bulma, Bulma Briefs."

"Interesting name, Miss Briefs, shall we go somewhere quiet while my men get down to business?"

"What do you mean down to business?"

Kiwi gave an evil chuckle, and he started to fly higher with her. "We are here to destroy your planet. But don't worry; I think I will take you with me, when we do."

"You leave her alone, you coward." Goku shouted, and as if to add emphasis to his words, Chichi tossed a heavy frying pan at the small purple alien, but he avoided it easily.

"You really ought to worry more about yourselves than her. I have no intention of harming her. On the other hand, the rest of you will be dying with your worthless planet- unless, of course, the Saiyan here would like to pledge allegiance to Frieza and save my men the trouble of annihilating this planet..."

"Not a chance." Goku growled, and took off toward Kiwi, ready to land a punch in his face, but he barely was able to stop the attack in time as he realized he was about to hit Bulma! Goku was stunned by the man's speed, but he didn't have time to try anything else, Kiwi shot him with an energy blast and he fell into the sand where the last thing he heard was Bulma's scream fading into the distance.

**

Goku heard voices, but he couldn't quite make them out as he lay there for a while, trying to figure out what had happened. "Hey, Goku, you sure gave us a scare there, bro."

"Yamcha?" Goku fought to sit up, realizing someone must have given him a senzu bean, the gi where he had been hit by that blast was torn out completely, front and back and he realized he was lucky he had such good friends, or he would have died...

"Yeah, we're all here, Goku." Tien said, and when he looked up he was stunned to see Piccolo there too, and the giant green warrior looked like he was feeling better as well.

"I don't understand, what happened, where are Kiwi's men?"

"They were total weaklings compared to him. After what he did to you, we were a little scared at first, but we all fought together and got them all but one. Even Chichi and Launch helped a lot… unfortunately we think that the last guy must have gone to find Kiwi. We tried but we couldn't stop him from escaping, because he could fly. They will probably be back together." Yamcha said. "But what about Bulma, you guys? What if they don't bring her back with them?"

Goku's eyes seemed to change to black ice as he answered; his voice was a low, dangerous growl. "Then we will find her, Yamcha. Don't worry. We Saiyans don't abandon our friends." Then he got to his feet and whistled for Nimbus.