Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ The Saga ❯ The Aftermath ( Chapter 4 )

The Saga

Chapter 4

Frieza glared at the stars in the Gamma quadrant. He couldn't believe that his plans were completely thrown out of sync, because of a malfunction with the main computer's matrix. No, this was deliberate. Someone wanted him and his dead, and when he found out who it was he was going to make them suffer. His radiated an unholy red. Frieza picked up the report that he received a couple of days ago from the new head scientist, Cardip. New head scientist…No his cardinal scientist was and will continue to be Dr. Ha Zodor, not some sniveling technician named Cardip. Glancing down he read the words that had put him in such a terrible mood: it was without a doubt from the data collected at the debris field that Dr. Zodor and Prince Vegeta perished.

Frieza hung his head. Vegeta dead. No that was something he wasn't going to tolerate. The young prince was his; no one could lay one finger on the young Saiyajin. He had trained the brat to be the best when he spirited him away from his father all those years ago. The only one, other than him, who should have been stronger than Vegeta was Zarbon--and even that was going to change. This was not fair. He should have been the one to kill Vegeta, not some mechanical assassin. That was it! An assassin. Vegeta, courtesy of him, had made tons of enemies, they must have paid someone aboard to kill the Saiyan prince, and Dr. Zodor got in the way. Frieza clutched the report in his hand incinerating it as his temper increased thinking about he deaths of both Vegeta and Zodor.

The silver doors to Frieza's personal quarters slid open as he moved his hover chair onto the bridge of the ship. He needed to let off some steam or else he wouldn't be able to focus on finding the traitor and killing them slowly. To make them feel the pain that he felt when Vegeta was ripped so suddenly from him leaving a large gaping wound that could only be filled again with revenge.

"Lord Frieza," said a slug-type creature as the purple tyrant approached the bridge. "What can I do for you?"

"I want you to open the hatch immediately," said Frieza his eyes burning with hate. "I have to let off some steam."

"The hatch," parroted the slug licking his lips nervously. He had explicit orders to contact Commander Zarbon the minute the young prince left his chambers. "Yes, right away Lord Frieza, right after I contact Mr. Zarbon."

Frieza frowned. "Did I hear you not obey my command?" His black nails became outlined in a magenta color as his ki swirled around his hand. "I don't think I asked for you to call Zarbon first, I believe I asked for the hatch to be opened." His tail whipped through the air emphasizing his point.

The slug creature stupidly tried to reason with the enraged purple prince. "I wasn't disobeying Lord Frieza," he replied as he backed away. "It's just that Master Zarbon asked me to get in touch with him when you--"

Frieza held up a hand silencing the slug. "I have a question for you," he said moving his chair closer to the insubordinate creature. "Who is in charge on this space station? Me or Zarbon?"

The slug creature licked his lips as his eyes darted back and forth. Lord Frieza had never spoken so many words to him at once, and it was making him nervous. Of course it didn't help that many others had stopped what they were doing to pause and stare at his folly. "Why you of course, Prince Frieza," replied the slug hoping to put the irate prince back in a good mood.

Frieza smiled. "Good, I would have hated for you to die, displaying your ignorance to all your friends and associates." He laughed at the expression that came over the slug's face.

"Wha-What?" A line of magenta hit the slug in the chest. Green blood squirted out as he gaped at the hole in his chest. "Lor-Lord Frieza…"

"Now then," said Frieza as he whirled his chair around to face the shocked audience. "Someone open up the hatch, or I will be forced to alleviate more tension in this chamber."

He nodded as several soldiers scrambled to open the hatch for the angry prince. "Oh, and someone remove that trash." Frieza levitated out the ship his ki flaring to life around him. He began letting off steam by destroying the unsuspecting planets around him.

************************************************

Nappa yawned as he stepped onto the much larger ship of Dr. Zodor. He wasn't use to getting so much sleep. The cryo-stasis really made him groggy and full of energy he needed to release that energy. He turned and watched as Radditz came striding from his hatch onto the deck with that nasty half-breed walking silently in front of him with wide eyes. The boy was too soft looking--and oddly dressed. The only thing that brat had going for him was that he seemed Saiyajin. He still couldn't believe Radditz allowed the boy to live, especially after discovering his half-breed nature. He didn't care that the child exhibited phenomenal powers not seen since Prince Vegeta was a babe. Half-breeds were an abomination, they had no choice but to die.

The third hatch opens and outcomes Prince Vegeta and his 'gift.' A blue-hair female with spunk. If wasn't for the odd color hair, eyes, and missing tail she could have been mistaken for a Saiyan female with her attitude. He could hear her screeching upon contact with the Prince when they awoke two hours before docking with Zodor's ship. He was surprised that she lived during those hours, his prince wasn't known for his supreme patience, something Radditz nor he could teach the young boy without seeming insubordinate. But he tried his best, now all he can do is follow where his Prince leads him.

The boy tries to run to the blue-hair female. He is pulled back by his tail by Radditz, who snaps a sharp command at the boy. The boys eyes tear up. This time I feel sympathy toward the boy. I know how painful it is to have your tail pulled, but then the boy has to learn--he's a Saiyan now. But I still would have killed him just for being a half-breed. Although Radditz is--in strength-wise--almost on the same level of me or another elite, I still think he harbors some low born tendencies to think of half-breeds as family. That what keeps him from being the perfect soldier. He has too much heart, or maybe I don't have enough. I can't really tell. It's probably I don't have enough, I know I didn't mourn my family properly when I was told they all died on Vegetasei. Maybe that is what Radditz sees in the little half-breed-- a connection to family. A link that survived our races genocide.

The blue-hair female is giving Radditz an angry glare. The anger looks good on her face. Too bad Radditz didn't gift her to me, I would work on changing that look of anger into an expression of fiery passion. Fiery passion? With an alien? I need a new mate badly. I eye the female again and sigh, she is definitely wasted on Prince Vegeta. I think I've heard him take a concubine only twice, since he reached maturity. He spends most of his days and nights training or away at missions. I didn't know why he focused so hard on training, but now I know, he'd been planning to kill Frieza. Blue-hair sees me gazing at her. She wraps that white thing closer around her. She feels uncomfortable, she turns her back on me. That doesn't bother me. I like the view from this angle too. Blue-hair is definitely wasted on Prince Vegeta.

The prince is still talking in low tones with Dr. Zodor. I don't trust science. First because I don't trust anything I don't understand, and second I don't trust anything that wants me to go against my base nature. We Saiyajins are an instinctual race, we live on our instinct. Sure, we plan battles strategies, but they more often than not fail, so we go with pure instinct. That's why I don't trust science. But the prince does. He can actually understand most of all the scientific nonsense Dr. Zodor utters. I'm proud of Vegeta. Not only is he the strongest Saiyan to ever exist since the Legendary, but he has got to be one of the smartest, too. King Vegeta would have been proud to see what a fine Saiyajin, Prince Vegeta has become. The king would also be proud to see the time and diligence Vegeta has put into avenging our people.

I have a funny feeling about this 'Revenge,' I don't think it will turn out the way Vegeta wants, but I can't say anything to the prince. Words don't sound the same once they leave my head and flow out my mouth. So I keep it shut. I'm not officially his advisor, nor his trainer anymore. I am just a loyal soldier, so I must follow where my Prince leads.

Vegeta nodded to the doctor, before turning back to the group assembled. "It look like its time."

*************************************************

"Yamcha," laughed ChiChi as the car hovered over Capsule Corp. "Did you have to scare that boy and his friends."

Yamcha snorted as pushed the stick shift for low thrusters. "Hey, nobody moons me and then drives off."

ChiChi wiped the tears from her eyes. "But did you have to put the car in overdrive just to catch up with them to moon them back."

"Yes."

"Good," said ChiChi as the car settled down on the immaculate green lawn. "I would have done the same thing."

"You did," replied Yamcha as he grabbed the bag and got out of the car. "That's why we're late getting back. You had to moon them twice."

"Shhh," giggled ChiChi. "I can't have Goku or Gohan know that I can act immature once and a while."

"Don't worry," said Yamcha as they rounded the large domed building. "Your secret is safe with m…" Yamcha dropped the bag. "Kurilin!" He ran over to his friend only to see a much more frightening scene. Goku was laid out further away either unconscious or dead. Muten Roshi and Oolong must have been frozen as they were still standing in the same spot when he left.

"Goku," screamed ChiChi as she moved toward her beloved husband any sign of merriment quickly dissipated. "Goku! Goku, open your eyes," she pleaded. There were huge bruises on his face. Blood trickled from his nose and mouth to run down in rivulets toward his neck. The front part of his orange gi was also splattered with his precious life blood. "Oh Kami, Goku," whispered ChiChi. "What happened here?"

Yamcha looked up he'd been trying unsuccessfully to wake Kurilin. "Any luck waking up Goku?"

ChiChi shook her head.

Yamcha shook his head in disbelief. What had happened in the two hours that he and ChiChi had gone? Who was strong enough to attack Kurilin, Muten Roshi, and Goku? Was it Piccolo? He did say he'd only joined up with their fight against Garlic Jr. to prevent Garlic from taking over the Earth and killing Goku. Something only he alone could enjoy. But if it had been Piccolo who did this, wouldn't they be seeing some immediate effect? Like him claiming to be the sole ruler of the world. Yamcha ran over to Muten Roshi and Oolong. "Muten Roshi," called Yamcha. "Oolong?"

Muten Roshi let out a sigh of relief as he felt the blood finally unfreeze in his body. "Yamcha," he croaked. "Goku…Kurilin…attacked. Need help…"

Yamcha took the old man by the arm and helped him sit down on one of the picnic benches. "I know. You must have been underneath some immobilization technique." Oolong fell over.

Roshi lifted a white bushy eyebrow at Yamcha's a wrong assumption. "Yeah, I was 'immobilized' you could say. How's Goku and Kurilin?"

Yamcha shook his head. "They're in bad shape. They're going to need some senzu beans fast." He ran an unsteady hand through his black mane. Things like this weren't supposed to happen with Goku around. Okay, Yamcha he thought to himself I have to think. Goku and Kurilin are down. And they need senzu beans. He could take the car Bulma lent him…Bulma! She always kept a bag of senzu beans at her place. He'd pop in and get them from her and…He glanced around. "Where's Bulma?" he asked turning to his old master. "Why hasn't Bulma come running out of Capsule Corp. Why hasn't she already given Goku and Kurilin her stash of senzu beans?"

ChiChi looked up from where she'd been diligently trying to wipe the blood from Goku's face to see Yamcha advancing on Muten Roshi. His body shaking with fury--or maybe fright? He was asking about Bulma. Where was Bulma? ChiChi eyes went wide as she realized that she was missing something too. Gohan! Where was Gohan? "Gohan," gasped ChiChi. "My little boy. Where's Gohan?" She stood up. "Gohan come out now, Mommy's here. No one is going to get you, come on out Gohan. GOHAN!"

Yamcha whirled around to see ChiChi screaming her head off for her son. Gohan was missing too. Why would someone take Gohan and Bulma? Was it because of the dragonball that he had on his hat? He slapped his forehead. It was always because of the dragonballs. Whoever did this must have been coming for the dragonballs and Kurilin, Bulma, and Goku resisted. But that didn't explain why they would take Gohan or Bulma. They would need Gohan's hat. But what would they do with a little boy and woman?

"Stop woolgathering," said Roshi as his wits returned to him. "Goku and Kurilin are in serious conditions. They need those senzu beans right away."

"What happened here?" demanded Yamcha.

"No, time for that right now Yamcha," said Roshi as he waved his cane toward the house. "Go get those beans. And don't dawdle all will be explained when you return."

Yamcha flew up to Bulma's opened window to jump inside her luscious spaced room, which could have been a miniature apartment. No time to admire he admonished himself, I have to find the senzu beans. He knew she kept them in her room, but where? He looked left and right in the room and not having a clue he began tearing open drawers and dressers. He finally found a small bag located in the drawers near her bed. He snatched them up and flew back out the window. "I got them," he said to ChiChi handing her a couple. From the carnage done to Goku, it looked like a two senzu job. He moved over to Kurilin and looked at the damage rendered to his bald friend. Not too bad. It only warranted one senzu. Yamcha gently held Kurilin's head up supporting on his forearm, while he pried open Kurilin's mouth. He forced the bean in and worked it down his esophagus. He looked up to see ChiChi doing the same thing for Goku.

Kurilin reflectively swallowed. He ached. He hadn't felt like this since the battle with Garlic Jr. He eyelashes ached. His fingernails ached. If he felt this bad he wondered how Goku fared. Goku! Kurilin's eye popped open to see Yamcha gazing toward ChiChi. "Goku…" he rasped out. Kami his voice ached.

Yamcha turned back to his friend. "Kurilin, you okay?"

Kurilin moaned. "I was hit by a bulldozer and I did not survive it. How's Goku?" He tentatively sat up holding his bald head. His ceremonial burns ached too.

Yamcha shook his head.

Tears of joy slipped down ChiChi's face, Goku's eyes fluttered, it was a start. "Goku," she whispered tenderly. "Goku, please wake-up." He groaned. "Come on Goku. Wake-up it's me ChiChi. Where's Gohan?"

Goku's eyes rolled beneath his still closed lids. He heard a voice calling to him. It wanted him to come toward the light, but he didn't want to. He didn't want to leave the calm soothing abyss where nothing hurt. He did not want to join the light and feel immense pain. He wanted to stay in the darkness forever--and hide. The voice called to him again. He recognized the voice it was his wife's voice: ChiChi. Other voices were calling him also. Those were his friends voices. They wanted him to wake-up and face the pain. But he preferred to stay shrouded in the cloak of darkness. He didn't want to wake-up. Wetness is on his cheek. Tears? Am I crying? No. Those were tears from above. His wife's tears. She was calling him again, but so was the calming abyss. He had to make a choice: total darkness or painful light? This wouldn't be a hard decision. She's saying something again. Where's Gohan? Gohan…little boy that is part of me…DADDY!! "Gohan!" shouted Goku as he sat up in ChiChi's arms. "Gohan," he sat up heaving. "He took Gohan."

"Who," said Yamcha. "Who took Gohan? What happened to Bulma?"

"It looks like you got a larger dose of what he gave me," said a voice from above the group gathered around Goku.

The group looked up startled. Floating above them was Piccolo. Kami's reject. The green guy glared down at them from his position. Even from his weakened condition Goku could tell that Piccolo was breathing a little hard. "Larger dose?" he asked since no one wanted to say anything.

Piccolo landed softly on the grass. "Yeah, some big guy with long black hair and I had an argument over fashion." He surveyed the dried blood on the bald midget and his arch-nemesis. "He was looking for someone in a hurry so we didn't get a chance to accurately exchange tailors. Anyway before he left me he gave me a parting gift-- a small ki ball aimed at my heart. It obviously didn't kill me, but it caused me to stop and pause for a while. Since, he said he was looking for someone I assumed it was you--and it looks like he found you."

"So," said ChiChi as she pushed another senzu into Goku's mouth. "Who was this guy and why did he take my baby?"

"He said he was my brother," replied Goku munching on the senzu. He began to relate what happened when after Yamcha and ChiChi left to the store. With the occasional input from Kurilin.

"You're an alien!" shouted ChiChi.

"It's not so bad," came the sardonic retort from Piccolo. "You get used to it."

"He took Gohan because you wouldn't join him in killing thousands of people."

"…And Bulma was taken because she tried to protect Gohan."

"That's about it," said Goku after he finished the story. He stood up and brushed his pants off. "I'm going to get Gohan back." He turned to Yamcha and Kurilin. "You guys ready."

They nodded. "Fine, since he came Piccolo's way," Goku pointed toward the east, "we'll go back that way." He turned back to the group. "Knowing Bulma she put up a fight and he's bogged down."

Goku, Piccolo, Kurilin, and Yamcha jumped into the sky heading eastward.

"Kami-sama," prayed ChiChi kneeling on the ground. "Please, bring my family home safely."

***************************************************

Zarbon opened the ship's hatch to let his overlord back inside the massive carrier. He glanced back to the large viewing screen where four planets and their satellites once were, before the awesome destructive power of Frieza. He hoped Frieza's temper tantrum was finally over. Too bad for those planets, that Frieza was having a bad day.

Frieza settled himself into his hover chair. He was feeling better. He needed to get rid of the tension that had been boiling beneath his skin. The assassination of Vegeta and Dr. Zodor did not sit well with him. How dare someone challenge his power? He alone commanded more planets and species than his father or his older brother. And someone dared to question that, someone dared to take what was his away! No, he couldn't allow an assassin to kill two of his most beloved treasures and live.

Zarbon felt the rise in ki of Frieza as he sat in his hover chair apparently in deep thought. He was getting angry again over the deaths of Vegeta and Zodor. He didn't know why Frieza was so upset over losing the monkey and the mad scientist--especially when he planned to kill Vegeta in the future sometime. And as for Zodor, well, personally he liked Cardip better. The Tekian was easier to control and monitor, with Zodor you had to talk to Frieza about every minute thing. It made the ship less efficient to run, when he had to ask for permission on every detail concerning its citizens. With Cardip as the head scientist he had the knowledge of Zodor, but the malleability of Tekian race.

"Zarbon," snapped Frieza as he moved his chair closer to the bridge's star map. "Do you know exactly where we are?"

The pretty warrior moved forward to consult the map over Frieza shoulder. He ran his finger along a path before stopping in the middle of four terrestrial planets. "This is where we are, however, you won't find the planets on the screen, because you just blew them up."

Frieza fumed. "They didn't have anything important that I wanted anyway."

"Yes, well," said Zarbon as he flipped his green braid around this neck. "You might not have found anything of importance in this area, but our scientists could have come up with something useful on them."

"Zarbon," warned Frieza as stared at the map. He was not in the mood for one of his commander's hissy fits. "I said there was nothing, so there was nothing. Now what I want to know is how long will it take for us to get back to our original coordinates?"

"It will take us several months maybe even years to resume our original position in orbit around Tehre-9, sire," replied Zarbon his gaze unblinking as he stared into the ruthless monarchs angry scowl.

"Why so long, Zarbon?" Frieza glanced down at his black nails. This was not the news he wanted to hear.

"Sire, we need materials to patch the hole, that was left behind Vegeta and Zodor's unfortunate demise." Didn't Frieza read the report that he sent to him. "Also, our matrix isn't completely fixed--the navigational part is, but not the entire matrix. Cardip is working hard on bringing the matrix back to its original functional operation. I have Dodoria supervising the cleanup where the TTR used to be sire."

Frieza sighed. "Good job, Zarbon. Until the matrix is back online I will try to be understanding about this delay." He glanced back toward Zarbon. "However, I have come to surmise that Vegeta and Dr. Zodor did not die because of some technical bug. Zodor was the most brilliant scientist in the galaxy. He was avidly sought after by several species, until I acquired his services. So, Zarbon my pets were killed by an assassin. And I intend to find that assassin. Someone aboard this ship knows something."

"Lord Frieza," choked out Zarbon. "You can't really believe that someone on this ship would actually try and kill Vegeta and Zodor under your watchful eye. It would preposterous to even think they would get away with it. The people on this carrier are very loyal to you, sire. Unlike Vegeta himself, who could care less about establishing loyalty to you."

"So," said Frieza as he glanced back toward the emptiness of space, bits of rock flew by reminding him of the tensed up energy that he released moments before. "What would you have me believe. That it wasn't an accident. That Vegeta and Zodor weren't assassinated."

Zarbon heaved a sigh. The purple prince was more trouble than he was worth serving most of the time, and with Vegeta gone it seems like his problems have only doubled to extreme. Now the powerful prince was thinking assassins. "Maybe it wasn't. We found bio-tissue, but no definite body parts, and then we were hurled into space. So maybe it wasn't an accident at all."

Frieza sat in his chair silent.

***************************************************

"You find anything," asked Goku eagerly as Kurilin finally joined the group. Kurilin had been the last one to come back from searching his quadrant. The rest of them had no success. It was like Radditz, Gohan, and Bulma had disappeared.

Kurilin looked into the hopeful gaze of his best friend. He didn't want to let him down. He didn't want to say what he had to say. Even Yamcha was pleading with his eyes to for him to have good news. Why was it that he never had good news to tell people in tense situations? Why was he always the one stuck with the bad news? Was he cursed to forever give bad news?

"Spit it out monk," Piccolo finally said getting tired of the long silence. "I'm tired of waiting. Did you find something or not."

Kurilin shirked back, he'd forgotten Piccolo was here. He took a deep breath and reached inside his shirt pulling out a little red hat trimmed in yellow with the four-star dragonball on it. "I found this near three huge craters. It was just lying in the dirt..." He looked into his friend's dark eyes, with tears in his, he hated giving the bad news. "I…I don't think Bulma and Gohan are on Earth anymore."

Tears streamed down Goku's face as he realized what the hat meant and what his friend just told him. He shakily reached out taking the small hat into his large hands. Hands that were supposed to protect…and he couldn't even protect his own son. A few drops splashed onto the hat, then rolled away leaving a wet streak in the dirt on the small cap. How was he going to tell ChiChi? He turned seeing Yamcha sink down his chest heaving, as he was racked with sobs. How was he going to tell Dr. and Mrs. Briefs. Kurilin had tears streaming down his face. He glanced back down at the hat and saw a frightened little boy with questions in his eyes. Goku's ki flared around him the tears continued to spill over his face. "GOHAN!!!"

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End Chapter 4. Created [10/04/01] and Finished [10/14/01]. So, to answer the question plaguing DBZ authors: Is Nappa smart? I say yes, it's when he opens his mouth that the answer becomes 'no.' Yes, I am going crazy. Wouldn't you with this vicious muse that I have. Bad muse. But alas, poor Goku. Am I not cruel? Coming next time: Invasion: Planet Jueru. So, send them to me comments, questions, flames, and critiques at: pmchivas@hotmail.com Or leave me a message. Dark Shadow Princess.

Lunatic's Ravings

As for the dragonballs they will be used, however, I'm going to limit the ways they can be used. I know right now most of you are going "WHAT?" Yes, I'm limiting the wishes one can receive or achieve using the dragonballs. Remember this is A/U.