Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Wish For The Past ❯ Hunter and Hunted ( Chapter 13 )

Disclaimer: *lifts the Frying Pan of Doom threateningly at Kat (real life friend)* Gohan is MINE! *waves the frying pan around as Kat edges towards Gohan* Keep away from him! *latches onto a disturbed looking Gohan* You can't have him! *suddenly becomes aware of the audience* *gulps* *blushes in embarrassment* Er... that is... what I meant to say is... DBZ ain't mine. Don't own the characters.... *glares at Kat* But Gohan is still mine! *sticks out her tongue*

The stench was awful. Burned flesh and rotting meat were definitely not on Vegeta's list of favorite scents, but that was exactly what he faced as he stared down into the crater at the remains of what had once been his bodyguard, Nappa. Well, he had been wondering why Nappa hadn't reported in yet. He had his answer now.

Refusing to allow the smell to affect him, the young prince paced forward until he was only a few feet from the body. He examined it in hopes of discovering some clue as to how he had met this fate. Broken bones, seared flesh, ravaged terrain, and a dozen other signs pointed at a brutal battle against a skilled opponent. Not the boy, Kakarot, though. If Nappa had fought against Kakarot, Vegeta guessed that there would be no body and fewer signs of battle. The fight would have been over too quickly to cause this kind of damage.

No. This, then, had to be the work of either Bardock or the pale haired boy, Trunks. The Prince had no idea how strong Trunks was, but he knew that Bardock had been a fighter for all of his life. A fairly strong one, for a third-class warrior, if the reports were right. If Vegeta had been in a betting mood, he would have wagered that it was Bardock that Nappa had fought against.

With nothing more to discovered, the chibi prince turned away, his face emotionless. "Search for any nearby powers, no matter how small," he ordered. If he was right and Bardock had been the one to fight against Nappa, he was probably injured. His power would be low and he would not have been able to go very far without assistance. The two boys might be with him, but the one seemed to have to ability to raise his ki dramatically from a low base ki - either that or he had some method or device that allowed him to hide it - and the other had never had his power read. Trunks could be pathetically weak, for all they knew. Any of the three that Vegeta sought could have a current power low enough to normally be dismissed out of hand. He would not make that mistake.

He would find those three, and he would have his answers.

"I am picking up three ki signatures, Vegeta-ouji," one of his escorts stated. "One is 205, and the other two, who are farther away, are 420 and 495." The Saiyan warrior pointed in the general direction of the three powers.

Vegeta frowned. The highest of the three kis was more than 200 points lower than Kakarot's before he'd powered up. Perhaps he had been injured by Nappa, or maybe the scouter had malfunctioned. No matter the reason, however, there was only one way to find out. He nodded once, sharply. "We will head for the nearest one first, then track down the other two." Out of curiosity, he attached his own scouter to his ear. Normally he let his guards read powers and do the tracking themselves, as it was beneath the prince to do such menial work. But he didn't want to voice his question out loud.

Pressing a button on the scouter, he located the three kis in question. Two remained steady and were moving around. The third, and closest and weakest one, remained immobile, its numbers slowly dropping.

His curiosity satisfied, Vegeta levitated up into the air and headed towards the nearest ki. He smirked. It looked like he had been right. Someone - Vegeta guessed it was Bardock - had been mortally wounded and now lay dying.

It was hard to resist the urge to eat everything that they had gathered, but somehow Trunks and Goten managed. Oh, they still ate some of the nuts, berries, fruits, and other assorted plants that Bardock had pointed out as being edible while they had trekked to the waterfall, but it wasn't really enough to satiate the two Saiyan appetites. Nonetheless, they had agreed that half of whatever they found would be saved, to either be given to Bardock, or to be stashed away inside one of Trunks's capsules. Once they left the planet, they would need a lot of food to last them until they got to Namek or to Earth. Trunks still had some capsules filled with food, but he felt that they would need more.

"I think we have enough gathered to fill another capsule, Trunks," Goten said, staring hungrily at the mound of food. They'd already filled one capsule with ki-fried fish.

Smiling, the lavender haired boy put his hand into his pocket to retrieve his capsule case. His fingers came in contact with the case, only to find that it had somehow opened and had spilled its contents into his pocket. He muttered a curse, too low for Goten's ears to hear, and had to grab a handful of capsules from his pocket, searching for one that was empty.

He found more than just capsules. Trunks's eyes widened as he saw what his hand held. "GOTEN!" he yelled, causing his friend to jump nearly ten feet into the air.

"Don't do that, Trunks! You scared me!"

Ignoring his friend's glare of annoyance, Trunks danced around jubilantly with his fist in the air. "I totally forgot I had these! I'm such an idiot, Goten! We didn't ever have to worry about your grandpa at all!"

Goten looked at Trunks as though he had gone crazy. "What are you talking about, Trunks?"

Trunks stopped his celebration dance and held out his hand, palm open, to show his friend what he had just found. Mixed in with the capsules were two small, hard, brown beans. Senzu beans. "I've been saving these for a while now. When I packed my things to go to Namek, I put them in my pocket, since I didn't know if I'd need them or not. I guess I forgot about them, but that's not the point." The older boy grinned like an idiot. "The point is that we can give one of these to your grandpa!"

The younger demi-saiyan's eyes also widened at the realization. A large grin spread across his face. "Come on, Trunks, get that food put in a capsule and let's get back to my grandpa!" he shouted excitedly. As his friend threw a capsule at the food, Goten continued. "Hey, Trunks, I bet my grandpa's never seen a senzu bean before! I bet he'll-" The black haired Saiyan cut himself off, his eyes wide with horror. Trunks picked up the now-full capsule and glanced at Goten to see why he had stopped.

"What is it, Goten? What's wrong?"

"Don't you sense it, Trunks?" Goten's eyes swiveled and focused on a spot somewhere in the distance. "Your dad's ki! It's getting closer!"

Trunks extended his senses to find that Goten was right. The younger version of his father was getting closer. "He's heading straight for your grandpa, Goten!" he yelled in alarm. "We've gotta stop him before he gets there, or he'll kill Bardock!"

Throwing caution to the wind, the two boys launched themselves into the sky and raced back to where Bardock remained hidden. Please don't let us be too late. Please let us get there before Vegeta does, Trunks silently prayed.

The beauty of the scenery was lost upon the young prince Vegeta as he stared at the roaring waters that cascaded over the cliff. According to the scouters, the ki they were seeking lay somewhere within the waterfall. There was probably a cave hidden behind the deluge of water. Vegeta grinned predatorily in anticipation. He had found his quarry, and now he could begin the pleasurable process of extracting the answers he desired.

He floated slowly up along the side of the falling waters, looking for the cave where his prey was hiding. There. A dark recess mostly hidden from view caught the prince's eye and he grinned again. His four companions hovered behind him as he drifted towards the cave....

Only to stop short as two small forms suddenly flashed in between Vegeta and the cave. The two Saiyan boys faced the four adults and the prince, everyone in a fighting stance and eyeing each other warily. Vegeta's obsidian eyes met the blue eyes of the odd purple haired Saiyan boy and again he felt like he should know the kid.

"Goten, Bardock's ki is getting really low. I don't think he's got much longer. Here," the boy paused and shoved something that Vegeta couldn't see into Kakarot's hand, "give this to him. I'll hold off Vegeta and his men."

"But Vegeta's your-"

"Can it, Goten!" Trunks barked. "Bardock needs you! I'll be fine, don't worry. Now go on!!"

Interesting. What had Kakarot - or was it Goten? - been about to say? Vegeta was Trunks's what? Vegeta felt sure that it had something to do with the mysterious feeling that he knew Trunks from somewhere. The black haired chibi-Saiyan cast a look at Vegeta and Trunks, then flew off into the cave, vanishing from view. That left the Prince of the Saiyans to face this disturbing boy.

Folding his arms, he glared at Trunks with all the pride that the prince of the mightiest warrior race could hold - which was a rather considerable amount. "Who are you?" he asked bluntly. Maybe he could figure out what it was that bothered him about this boy by talking to him.

"Trunks," came the simple reply.

Not satisfied, the chibi prince pressed on. "I know you from somewhere. And you know me. I want to know how, and you will tell me," he said haughtily.

"Yeah, right," the boy snorted. "Why would I have to tell you anything?"

"I am the Saiya-jin no Ouji!" Vegeta yelled angrily. "You must obey my commands! If you will not willingly tell me what I want to know, I will arrange to have you tortured slowly until you are begging for the opportunity to tell me!"

"Get over yourself, Veggie-chan," Trunks mocked. Man, I have wanted to say that for soooo long, he snickered inwardly. He watched with sinister glee as his chibi-father's eye started twitching and his face turned five shades of red.

With a roar of unbridled rage, the young prince attacked Trunks all-out, his power surging through his veins wildly, his face a mask of fury.

As Goten's eyes adjusted to the darker interior of the cave, his gaze fell upon his grandfather and he felt his heart freeze inside his small chest. Bardock lay on his back, his face turned to one side with his mouth hanging open slightly. One hand rested on his broken ribs in a vain attempt to soothe the pain. Blood soaked the ground near Bardock's mouth and covered the man's lips. A weak cough caused more blood to trickle from Bardock's mouth, pooling with the rest of the blood on the ground. His ki was so low that Goten had to strain to feel it. The young boy felt tears welling in his eyes as he choked back a sob.

Kneeling beside his grandfather, he placed his small hand on Bardock's broad chest and shook him slightly. Tears slid down his cheeks, falling to splash lightly on his grandfather's face. "Grandpa?" Goten's voice trembled as he shook the warrior again. "Grandpa? It's me. Goten. Grandpa, I have something for you." The tears were coming faster now and Goten's body shook with suppressed sobs.

Bardock's eyelids fluttered slightly, then slowly lifted halfway. After a moment, the inky eyes beneath focused on Goten and the trace of a smile graced Bardock's lips. "Goten," he whispered, one hand weakly lifting to wipe the tears from his grandson's face. "I'm sorry... I... didn't get... you home.... Wish..." He stopped as another fit of coughing overtook him and more crimson fluid spilled from his mouth.

"Don't speak, grandpa," the demi-Saiyan pleaded. "Here. Just eat this." He tried to put the bean into Bardock's mouth, but Bardock shook his head.

"I'm not... that hungry... anymore," he chuckled weakly. "But thank you. Thank you... Goten... glad... I met you." Breathing shallowly, he closed his eyes, still smiling as his hand fell limply to his side.

"No, grandpa! DON'T LEAVE ME!" Goten screamed, shoving the senzu bean into Bardock's mouth, sobbing uncontrollably. "NOOOOOO!!!"

Goten's scream of pure grief shattered the air, startling Trunks. Vegeta smirked as Trunks let his guard down briefly, distracted by the noise. His fist plowed into the younger boy's jaw and knocked him back several feet. Trunks's eyes flashed in annoyance and he landed briefly on the ground, using the rebound to launch himself back at the younger version of his father. Faster than Vegeta could follow, the lavender haired child grabbed the prince in a headlock too strong for Vegeta to even hope to break. The arrogant prince struggled vainly against his captor's grip. Trunks would have none of it. He fisted one hand and brought it down sharply against Vegeta's temple. The chibi prince instantly went limp.

"Listen here, " Trunks glared angrily at the four supposed guards. "If you four don't get lost right now, I'll kill the prince! Go back and tell whoever would be in charge now that if you guys keep chasing us, Vegeta's as good as dead!" It was a bluff, of course. He would never kill his own father. But they didn't know that. Trunks resisted the urge to look anxiously at the cave. Something was wrong. He couldn't feel Bardock's ki anymore and Goten's ragged screams were still going strong. He needed to get rid of these idiots now! Charging up a lethal ball of ki, he held it dangerously close to Vegeta's head. "What are you morons just standing there for?" he shouted, sounding uncannily like Vegeta at that moment. "Get outta here before I blast his head off!"

The increase in ki was enough to blow the scouter of one of the Saiyans who had accidentally left it on, informing the guards that this was no ordinary boy. And this boy held their prince hostage, threatening to kill him unless they cooperated. Growling, all four reluctantly took to the skies.

Not wasting another second, Trunks zipped into the cave and dropped Vegeta unceremoniously onto the floor. Goten was still screaming wordlessly, his face buried in Bardock's chest, his hands gripping the folds of his grandfather's sea green shirt. Bardock himself lay unmoving, no rise and fall of his chest, no coughing, no ki. To all senses he appeared to be dead. The demi-saiyan vision became blurry and he tried to blink away the tears. Slowly, he walked up behind Goten and rested a hand on his friend's shoulder. Goten ignored him, cries still coming from his raw throat. Trunks felt so helpless. He could do nothing to ease the pain his friend was suffering, nothing besides stay at Goten's side and offer silent support.

A few minutes later, Goten's screams had subsided to heartbroken sobs. Trunks sat next to the still unconscious Vegeta, trying to come to terms with Bardock's death. Outside, the sky began to darken slightly, signaling the coming of night.

Somewhere off in space...

A fifteen year old boy frowned as he sat down in a clearing. Everything around him was still as death. An ominous sense of foreboding filled the air as even the insects quieted. Something was not right, but he didn't know what. He was currently in the middle of clearing a planet with perhaps half the population destroyed and the other half cowering in fear. But it wasn't the mission that was going wrong. It was something more distant... and yet closer than anything else. The boy shivered, and not from cold.

Searching his troubled mind, he tried to pinpoint the source of his disquiet. It wasn't the mission. It wasn't his ship. It wasn't the planet. What was it? Shaking his head, he ran his fingers through his wild, spiky mane of hair that fell to his knees. He had inherited his hair from his mother, though he had his father's face.

His father....

Radditz frowned as he thought of his father. That was the source of his unease. Was something wrong with his father? That was ridiculous. Not the thought that something might be wrong with Bardock, but, rather, the thought that he would somehow know if something was wrong with him.

Nonetheless, the teenage Saiyan could not shake the feeling that he was needed back at home. Despite the fact that his mission was still incomplete, Radditz headed back to his ship. He could always come back and finish the job later. Somehow, he knew that whatever was wrong at home, it couldn't wait. If he left for Vegeta-sei now, he might be able to get there by noon of the next day on Vegeta-sei. He hoped that would be soon enough.

*swings a pocket watch in front of the readers' eyes* You are getting veeery sleepy. You will review this story and give questions, comments, constructive criticism, praise, etc. to the author. *grins*