Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ The Bite ❯ 13 ( Chapter 13 )

The Bite-Ch. 13

By Elbereth in April

Vegeta shifted nervously on the hill where he stood. The only thing left to do was let everybody know he was here.

He powered up, making his ki as bright and clear as he could.

The droning whisper in his head stopped, then loudly broke through. < "Vegeta! There you are! Giving up, are you? Why don't you just come here like I told you to?" >

Vegeta didn't answer.

The voice grew suspicious. < "You're up to something, aren't you? Or do you just intend to resist and don't want to fight near our prisoners? Well, it doesn't matter. Now that I know where you are, you're mine!" >

'I'll never be yours,' Vegeta thought suddenly. 'Even if you win.' He smirked. 'Let's just do this. I'm waiting.'

He waited, and concentrated on his link to Goku. There, he felt him search. There, he felt him locking on to his ki. There, he was starting his Instant Transmission technique. . .

`Now. Break the link. Hide my ki. Run.'

He flew as fast as he could, down the hill, into the little valleys. There were lots of hills here, and trees, and rocks, and cuts in the earth. He dropped down to the ground and ran.

He felt Goku appear where he'd been, blazing with power and energy. He had to get to where he couldn't be seen by air.

`Don't let him catch you, don't let him catch you. . .'

__________ __________

Radditz and Nasu landed near the Sons' backyard. They crept up to the house, staying out of sight. They could sense Kakkarot's ki and pinpointed where he was inside. They slipped underneath the window. Radditz carefully eased himself up to take a look into that room.

The Z warriors were lined up against the wall on the left, sitting on the floor. Kakkarot was sprawled on the couch, facing them and smirking. A very distraught-looking Chi-Chi sat next to him. He had his hand casually on her shoulder.

"He's injured," Radditz pointed out as Nasu slowly rose to look, too.

"Yeah. But so are they." Her eyes studied Hito for a moment. "Wow, so that's Vegeta's older version," she marveled.

"Let's rescue him. I've got an idea. I think I can take Kakkarot on my own, if he's hurt. I'll challenge him. You sneak in there and free the others."

"Are you sure?"

"Well, if I'm not winning, you can jump in. Keep your presence hidden from him."

She shrugged. It sounded workable. "Let's do it."

____________ ___________

Everyone jumped at the knock on the front door. Kakkarot grimaced in annoyance. "Go get rid of your visitor," he commanded Chi-Chi.

She got up and opened the door. The man who had knocked brushed past her and stood in front of Kakkarot, to the wonder of everyone there. "Get up, little brother. I'm going to fight you."

"Radditz!" Kakkarot and Hito exclaimed together.

Kakkarot's eyes narrowed as he stood up. "What are you doing here?"

"I followed you and Frieza. And you didn't even notice. Sloppy."

"Stay out of my business, big brother."

"Why should I? And don't give me any bull about family devotion, because you've never shown any."

"Hmm." Kakkarot smiled. "I'll give you Trunks. This Vegeta's son. How about that? The purple-haired one there."

Hito growled as Radditz's expression went deadly cold. But Trunks spoke very calmly. "It's no good. Radditz is brave and loyal, and you can't get to him. Vegeta-chan said so."

Kakkarot turned and glared at Trunks. Radditz never took his eyes off Kakkarot, but he smiled. "He said that?" he asked softly.

"Yep." Trunks looked over at Goten. "True friends know what they mean to each other. And remain faithful, no matter what." Goten's face lit up, and he nodded.

"Come on, Kakkarot," Radditz said, voice cold again. "I'm challenging you. Not afraid of me, are you?"

Kakkarot faced him with an amused smile. "Not at all. Shall we go outside?"

"Why not?"

____________ ___________

Vegeta ran along the dry stream bed. He heard the explosion off to the left, where Goku was randomly blowing up things as he searched for him. He wished he could take to the air, but was afraid he'd be found that way.

"Hey, Vegeta! Come on out!"

It seemed Goku wasn't very patient.

He stopped running abruptly as he felt two power levels flare up, a good number of miles away. That was Kakkarot. And Radditz. He felt sweat trickle down his forehead, past his ear, and rubbed it away.

"What game are you playing now, Vegeta? That's Radditz, isn't it? You always were tricky." Goku laughed. It was an eerie sound. "No matter. You're my first priority, ouji-chan."

There was an awful stitch in his side, and his breath sounded too loud in his ears. He tried to pant more quietly. Another explosion, and he was off running again.

___________ ___________

The ray of energy left Radditz's finger, and the scouter at Kakkarot's ear burst.

"Kame-hame-ha!"

Radditz dodged a blast that flattened several trees. Kakkarot may have been wounded, but he'd started out stronger. Things weren't going as well as he'd hoped.

He rushed in and kicked his little brother in the side, where his blood-stained shirt indicated he'd been injured. Kakkarot let out a hoarse cry, but blocked the next kick to his ribs and made a lunge for Radditz's tail.

He backpedaled furiously, giving Kakkarot time to recover.

"Destructo-disc!"

Radditz ducked the energy circle, which took the tops off several more defenseless trees until it earthed itself in the side of a mountain.

Inside the house, Krillin looked decidedly startled. "That's my move!"

"He's been sifting through your minds," Piccolo said gruffly. "I've kept him out of mine, but he's been learning things from the rest of you. And Goku, too."

Chi-Chi looked up briefly from where she was trying desperately to free Gohan. "I've felt him. Through my bond with Goku. He feels. . . perverted. And slightly insane." She shivered.

Hito had felt him, too. He'd kept him out, but he knew if Goku tried to take his mind later. . . well, he'd probably do it, eventually. He was afraid for his younger self, even though he wasn't going to admit it.

"Why can't I get these off?" Chi-Chi cried in frustration.

"Here, let me help." Everyone jumped again as a girl quietly let herself into the room through the window. A girl with a tail, in Saiyan armor. . .

"Are you Nasu?" Trunks asked in wonder as she rushed over to them.

She smiled. "Hai." She inclined her head to Hito as she grabbed his manacled wrists. "Ouji-sama."

"Drahnai," he replied, the Saiyan equivalent of it's nice to meet you (more literally translated, I've decided not to kill you at first sight).

___________ _________

"Kame-hame-ow!" Radditz phased in behind him and brought both his fists down onto Kakkarot's back, then slammed his knee up into his stomach. "Baka!" Kakkarot grabbed Radditz, pinning his arms to his sides. "You can't save him-he's mine! Do you hear me?"
Radditz did a flip and slammed himself into the ground, with Kakkarot on the bottom, leaving a large crater. They both got up rather dazedly.

They faced off again, then Radditz released an energy blast at Kakkarot. Kakkarot smiled, and sent out his own energy wave to meet it. The blasts met in between them, as each struggled to put more energy in, and consume the other.

_________ ___________

"Gah! Why won't these things come off?" Nasu snarled, channeling a bit of ki into the handcuffs. They wouldn't pry off by brute force, they wouldn't melt by ki.

Trunks was examining his bracelets closely. "I think we need a code. . . see these buttons? It takes some kind of password to open them."

"Who would program the password, Kakkarot or Frieza?" Gohan asked.

"Frieza, I suppose," Nasu answered. "What would he have used?"

___________ __________

Goku was gaining. Vegeta checked their positions cautiously. They were both distracted by the fight they could sense between Kakkarot and Radditz.

He slowed to a steady ground-covering jog. He needed to pace himself, save energy.

< "Interesting bluff, Vegeta." >

He tripped over a loose rock and sprawled on the ground. Kakkarot!

< "Get Goku away so Radditz here can fight me. Interesting. I admit I didn't know he'd followed me. But I'm still going to win. I'm beating him even as we speak." >

Was it true? Was Radditz losing?

< "Goku will stay in my possession. . . he'll find you. And then you'll be mine, as well." >

Vegeta swallowed hard. He picked up the rock that had tripped him and crushed it to powder in his hand. Then he moved on. Goku was searching even more diligently. Kakkarot must have sent him a command. Was he really beating Radditz? And what was Nasu doing?

`Can't let Goku catch me. . .'

___________ __________

"You look distracted, Kakkarot. I'd concentrate if I was you." Radditz smirked and added more ki to his blast. It was slowly moving toward Kakkarot.

Kakkarot blinked, then snarled at Radditz and added more energy as well. The stream was flowing back towards Radditz now.

Radditz's eyes widened. He didn't think he could stop it.

Slowly, slowly. . . now it was picking up speed. This wasn't good, this wasn't good. . .

Their combined blasts slammed into Radditz's chest and threw him through the trees until he plowed into the side of a cliff. Kakkarot followed after. He sent a barrage of energy bolts into Radditz, lying stunned and embedded in the cliff. Radditz fell to the ground, creating another crater. Kakkarot laughed.

Radditz groaned and weakly picked himself up. He glanced over to Goku's house in the distance. Had Nasu freed anyone yet? He rose back in the air to start another round of fighting.

___________ ____________

"Nothing works!" Nasu pulled at her hair.

"Maybe it's not in Standard," Hito mused. "Maybe Kakkarot switched it to Saiyago."

"That doubles the possibilities!"

"Try this. . ."

__________ ____________

"Why do you keep staring over there?" Kakkarot asked as Radditz flew up to meet him.

"What?"

Kakkarot looked to the house suspiciously. "Are you just worried about the prisoners? Or is there something going on?"

Suddenly he phased away from Radditz and headed back towards the house at top speed.

"Ribotto!" Radditz swore and tore after him.

___________ ___________

Goku was closing in. How could he be following so closely? His ki was hidden. Goku couldn't know where he was!

Kami, kami, he was closing in. . . and this was a dead end. . . what was he going to do?

_____________ __________

"Din che," Nasu typed in.

"What's that mean?" Krillen asked.

"I win. . ."