Fullmetal Alchemist Fan Fiction / Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Saiyan Foster Father ❯ Familar faces in wrong places ( Chapter 8 )

Chapter 6

Out in West Province 439, farmlands rolled and stretched in irregular patterns for miles. Farmers drove their tractors while life went about its usual course. Although many horrid things had marred the landscape, life had returned to the once scarred valley. Atomique pushed herself to the limit streaking forwards in her flight. Every day she could move further and faster, yet not sufficiently enough to match Jeannie or Christine.

Up ahead, tall misty mountains gave way to more rocky ones. White snowcapped peaks jutted up into the blue sky, looming ever closer in the distance. Paozu's features gave way to the irregular rice patties, then more conventional squares of gold and brown. Already she had flown close to one hundred miles, saturating her clothing with sweat. One large peak ahead stunned her when she saw a jagged crescent moon shape carved inside its top. A realization dawned that no natural phenomenon could cause this.

She ground to a halt, hovering several thousand feet over the field. Slowly she drifted to a landing next to what appeared to be a huge meteor crater. Long since filled in with grass, its bowl shape dented the whole field for miles around. Tentatively she touched down on the rim, glancing left and right with curiosity. As a scientist she always enjoyed investigating unusual features, even if they weren't chemistry related. One of her second loves was astronomy.

"What caused this? I can't help but wonder if…"

Chikara shifted. Her mind tingled with multiple traces that appeared out of nowhere. Aware she was not alone; she froze still, tensing her muscles. Again she launched herself into the air, glancing wildly around. "Kuso," she cursed, inadvertently in Japanese.

Instantly she dampened her true nature, pinpointing the locations of the traces. Still it was hard to completely discern, but they appeared to increase geometrically. Reaching down she felt the silver pocketwatch around the waist of her patched Military uniform. While she knew it was somewhat risky, she preferred it when working out for any great length of time because it was ideal for fighting in many situations.

"Over there!" called a voice that made her blood freeze. She zipped behind the rim of the crater, pressing herself down in the lee of the stones. All her shutters she clamped down on her battle power, lowering it to nearly zero.

Footsteps crunched, as boots landed. She was aware that a huge ki flared into existence. Several of them, in the midst of the ki that designated Destroyers. Yet those other two… they were Saiyan!

"How?" she asked, blinking up from behind the rock. Two armored figures had touched down in the field, opposite a squad of six Destroyers. They raised their radar and trained them about while the strange massive giants towe4red over them, standing as still as statues. Both wore black armor on their shoulders, with shoulder pads that stretched way beyond their waists. Armored groin and hip pieces matched the shoulder guards, while their boots were also massive, encasing huge feet.

The taller of the two figures was bald, with a moustache, while the man next to him had a long mane of shaggy black hair that hung past his waist. Both them them wore strange headpieces over their right ears, covering one eye with tinted glass while concealing the ear like a headphone. Around their waists wrapped shaggy thick belts of brown fur. They carried no weapons, but from the ki she sensed they had no need for them.

"Kuso… those… are Saiyans… but there are only 2… how…" she blinked.

"So, we're here on this joy ride," said the taller of the two, the bald one. "Where's our prince?"

"Patience," said Leader. It had to be, judging from the harsh rasping female voice like nails across slate.

"This had better be worth our time. If Frieza discovers we've bailed we're history," said the other, with a deep rasping voice sounding similar to Goku's in a way. If Goku had been speaking an octave lower, that is.

"Frieza doesn't have to know! He's in another dimension. That's the beauty of it. The natives of this world have captured your prince…"

"These creatures are puny. I have a hard time believing any of them are capable of…" said the longhaired Saiyan, raising his hand to the earmuff. He punched something, then mumbled as lights flickered across the green lens of his eyepiece.

"Any significant battle powers?" asked his companion, punching his own headpiece. "Cause I'm reading zip. A bunch of puny gnats…"

"Of course they could be masking their power," said his friend. "All the more fun for us, and unfortunate for them…"

"Nappa, Radditzu, those are your names, correct?" asked Leader.

"Yeah, tell us something we don't know, female. What's in this for us again? How do we know you're not going to dump us here and lead Frieza right to us?" asked the bald one.

"Patience, Nappa. You will find your prince easily. We shall divide our forces into two, one of you each…"

"What's bothering you, Radditzu?" asked Nappa, turning to the shaggy haired fellow. Oddly if he wore facepaint and dribbled blood he'd bear a striking resemblance to the Demon, thought the alchemist. She struggled to hear as much as she could. Someone had to inform the Z fighters that they were in trouble. Serious trouble!

"I'm sensing something nearby," muttered the other, named Radditzu. His dark eyes flashed, angling across the landscape as he punched the buttons on his scanner side.

"I'm getting it too. Several traces of note. They're coming this way. I think this might be fun after all," Nappa laughed, cracking his knuckles.

"Here, take these. Your 'scouters' are only good for tracing chikara, while these will give you the locations of the items of interest…"

"Talismen, huh?" asked Nappa. "You said our prince would be at the location of concentration… I'm reading more than just seven…"

"Thing must be broken," Radditzu grunted.

"There are false echoes. Only by going to the source can you find them. There is an alchemist among them who can make fake Talismen. Whatever you find, bring to us. Whoever holds it, bring as well, and don't hurt too much… unless they annoy you… we need intact specimens…"

"Fine then. But when we find our Prince, that's higher priority. No fooling around, because you may be powerful… but we're capable of taking you out in a heartbeat," said Nappa with a cruel grin.

"Shit," she mumbled. Glancing around she hoped that she could somehow wait till they vanished.

"I'm sensing one over this way…" Radditzu whispered.

"There's a high concentration of battle power to the west… I'll take that. You go that way, Radditzu…"

"I can't help but wonder if it's possible that… remember that pod we sent here and never heard from… in this dimension maybe Kakkarot is still alive…" Raddiztu whispered.

"Kakkarot…" whispered Atomique. She had heard Vegeta use that name to call Goku when he was angry with him. Was it possible that these two knew him?

"We meet back here in several hours. Take a few of our squad with you…"

"No, we work alone," said Nappa harshly. "You'll get in our way. If we need you, we'll call. But that won't be likely…"

"Remember we're your only way out of this dimension," said Leader. "Good luck…"

"Whatever," said Nappa, rising into the air.

He streaked off towards West City, the alchemist realized. While the destroyers vanished, she waited to see if the other would take off. As he had his back turned, she quickly masked her chikara and ran as fast as she could. Throwing herself into the air she shot out towards the Son house. Mt. Pauzo was 100 miles away. If she could just….  

"What the hell?" Radditzu mumbled, punching his scouter button. "I could have sworn there was something… for a second… of 1000!"

Grumbling he levitated off the field, and happened to glimpse the bowl shaped crater. He blinked and then disregarded it in favor of the battle power trace he'd received. In his hand he carried the talisman tracker, bleeping with ten traces. One was very close by, he realized, almost in an identical place to the flare of chikara.

"All right, it seems fortune is on my side," he grinned. For a moment he punched his button again, picking up a trace that was streaking at good velocity over the farm fields. Launching himself into the air, he blazed after it.

A flare of ki touched her senses. It was flying rapidly after her, she realized with horror. Under her the farmlands still stretched, fanning for miles. In the distance she saw the gentle misty hills undulating. Within her breast her heart pounded, and she realized she was running out of steam.

"Kuso… and I forgot… I need to…" she gasped, dropping altitude. Glancing behind her she saw a shimmering speck of ki blazing into view. Every second it grew more intense, till she could see the armored figure rocketing at a ferocious velocity to close the gap between them.

She veered her course down into the edge of the forest underneath them. Wild beasts of every description lived here, according to Goku. Up in the distance the misty rounded needles of rock jutted in contrast to the more conventional mountains, resembling a Chinese wall scroll. Perhaps she could lose that warrior or whoever was after her in the monstrous jungle.

If the monsters didn’t' get her first, that was. Massive chikaras flickered under the canopy, while she ducked lower. Overhead the trace suddenly winked out, and she dipped into a tree for cover. Clamping down her energies she struggled to gather them again. While she had no hope of outrunning that warrior, she might elude it long enough that it would give up.

Unfortunately a loud bellow shook the tree. She shivered; glancing through crackling branches at a medium sized saber-toothed tiger crashing through the trees after several large flightless birds. Close behind them something streaked, hurling a ball of yellow ki in their midst.

She shrieked, dropping from the tree. Flipping over she landed in the forest floor. Anxiously she glanced around, reaching out her perceptions to sense the ki nearby. Hands raised as she generated a long staff of translucent polymer to whirl around her head for a weapon. Movement flickering in the bushes turned her attention, and she flickered around to see a large tiger drop out of the trees.

"Oh terrific!" she yelled, hurling her arm, sending several large spikes of plastic towards it. Pressing her pole to the ground she levered herself out of the way.

A loud snarl sounded behind her. Something dropped between her and the feline. Shaggy hair concealed its back. In seconds there was a loud flash of gold energy, and the smell of burning flesh and hair. She whirled around to see it was the saiyan with the shaggy mane of spiky black hair.

He spun about, dark eyes fixing on her as she began to run. She wheeled just in time to hear his loud voice speak, "So, there you are. No use running from me… whoever you are…"