Chapter 12: Shikerou Makes a Big Mistake! The Battle
Is About to Begin!
After his fight with Ji-san, Shikerou had returned to the ship and retired for an hour in a rejuvination tank.
The warm liquid that he had originally been wary of now offered him a quiet repose from his daily regimine.
He and Kakarotto had been training together a lot since their mission on Barusei. Today however, Shikerou hadn't
seen Kakarotto at all and was resigned to train alone.
Once out of the tank, he walked down the hallway lit by the strange omnipresent light of the mothership and thought about
his times on Earth. Shikerou hadn't had a romantic encounter for months. He found himself walking past the harems
often, sometimes catching glimpses of the females that were kept there. Some were attractive but most were just strange
to the human eye. From scaley and green to blue and slimey, they were a prolific assortment.
There were female Saiyajin onboard the ship,
but fraternizing with them was discouraged to avoid growing a bond to one. Female Saiyajin were not much different
looking than humans, and some were startlingly beautiful. He knew, however, that they were as deadly as they were sexy,
and kept his eyes on their faces when they addressed him. They kept their tails defensively wrapped around their waists.
Before he knew it he came upon the door to the training room he used when training alone. He had learned enough of the
written Saiyajingo to understand the words etched above the door: "gravity training". He gazed around at the familiar
room. Round white walls circled around, culminating in a dome about thirty feet above. On the wall was a small panel with
a few buttons: on, off, and the Saiyajin numerals 0-9. The screen currently read 5G, which stood for five times Bejitasei's
gravity. Of course, Bejitasei had a gravity about ten times Chikyuusei, as Shikerou understood it, and so he was training
under fifty times Chikyuusei's gravity. Shikerou heard that Bejita trained under 20G, which would have instantly killed
Shikerou had he experienced such a force when he was first abducted.
Shikerou braced himself, bending his knees and taking a deep diaphramatic breath, pulling the air to the bottom of
his lungs by expanding his stomach, rather than his chest. He reached out and pressed the "On" button. Immediately he
was pulled toward the floor a bit, but recovered quickly and stood straight.
He spun around a looked off to the other wall about fifty feet away. Taking a few rapid steps, he jumped forward into a
front-hand-spring, flipping over and hanging in mid-air in bukujutsu. He charged up to his maximum battle power, around
12,000 by the Saiyajin scouters, green ki enveloping him and slightly skewing his view of the off-white room. Though it
hindered his sight, his ability to sense ki around him, and even inanimate objects was increased dramatically.
Shikerou cut the ki from his bukujutsu and landed with a thud on the floor. Five times gravity had become too easy to
handle. Shikerou knew he needed to train much harder if he was going to stand a chance in the up-coming battle. The
Emperor said that even his father's forces had been unable to kill the Barujin due to these Torajin he spoke of. They
must be incredibly powerful.
Ten times. Yes, Shikerou was certain he could handle it. He had been training under five times gravity for far too long.
Pressing the "off" button cut the gravity back down to 1G. Shikerou punched the "1" and "0" buttons and clicked the
gravity back on.
Suddenly he remembered what the floor smelled like.
Kakarotto lay face down on a table, naked and embarassed. Each of his ankles and wrists was firmly held in place by
thick metal restraints. The cold metal of the table chilled him to the bone, so he charged up
some ki to warm himself. He felt the ki build but it vanished immediately. A small purple alien drifted nearby and
explained to him that they had attached a device that would drain away any ki he tried to focus, to protect them from
him should he be hurt and lash out. Kakarotto scoffed at their fear, and more so at their low appraisal of his tolerance for
pain.
From his vantage point it was a strain to look around and keep an eye on the little scientists hovering around him.
He resigned to laying with his head on its side and watch one side of the room. Suddenly he caught sight of something
that brought a distant painful memory up through his mind.
"AAAAHHHHHH" Kakarotto screamed. "AAAAAH AAAAAAAHHHHH! Get it away! Get it away!"
The scientist paused in mid-stride, pushing the plunger of the hypodermic needle enough so that it expelled any air
left in the tube. Kakarotto was deathly afraid of needles.
Had the ki-draining device not been attached to him, he would have jumped off the table and incinerated everyone
and everything in the room to escape such a cruel fate.
"AHHHHHHHH!!" he screamed as he strained at the clasps holding him down. He channeled his ki ineffectually as it all was
drained off. He was helpless. Kakarotto paid no heed to the calming voices that tried in vain to assuage his fears.
He felt a prick just above his buttocks that he knew to be the damned needle. His panic overcame him and he passed out.
The tail end of a basic training kata Izumi had been practicing. She took a deep breath, and began again, repeating the same steps
she had been practicing for the past few hours. Her movements were relatively slow and strained under the intense 20 times gravity.
She was unusually strong for a female Saiyajin, and also unusually beautiful. She was strong, but not overtly muscular.
Small in stature, and slender. Her small hourglass frame hid the power level of 6,000 that she sported behind each punch
and kick. Her training was intense and rigorous, and her skill showed it. Izumi was beginning to feel a little strained,
but she pressed on despite the four hours she had spent training already.
A small amount of ki evaporated the slimy rejuvenation liquid off of Shikerou's taut skin, that had been one of his
shortest stays in a rejuve tank, after all he only needed to recharge after some training, he wasn't on
the verge of death for once. He felt terrific, stronger than ever.
His step felt lighter after every session of gravity training, his
speed was drastically increasing; it would be a great advantage in the
coming battle since his foes would in all likelihood be much stronger.
Normally he wouldn't have worried, but if the Torajin were strong
enough to bring Bejita himself into the conflict, they had to be
pretty damn powerful.
During his stay with the Saiyajin, Shike had begun to pick up on their
language, both by listening, and by reading, words became clearer,
though he wasn't fluent yet..
He could tell, however, what the rooms ahead were. Down that hall, Shikerou had seen other
warriors disappear for hours to tend to their natural urges. He now felt he had the authority
to take such luxuries.
A luminous aura hung about the surface of Wakusei Baru, an aura of
death and destruction, as that was the only thing left after the duo
of Kakarotto and Shikerou had voided the planet. The Torajin had
wasted no time, but were too late to prevent the deaths of all the
Barujin. Keikan felt a small sense of retribution after killing some
of those Saiyajin, but he wanted more, he wanted a war.He stepped out
of his tent, despite his regal status as king and commander of his
people, he was humble in his surroundings. He gave himself no more
benefits than his soldiers would receive, and living conditions like
these would be unbearable for most. The Torajin were a different breed,
they needed no luxuries, only the bare essentials to survive.
"Parukan, Reido, what is the status of our Saiyajin enemies?"
Parukan, the third in the command chain of the Torajin army, was nowhere near Keikan or Reido's level of power, he was a very skilled
warrior though, and that skill had meant the difference between life
and death in many a battle. He was older, but wiser than most
Torajin. His booming voice and bulking figure belied his moderate strength.
"Keikan-sama, the Saiyajin battle ship is nearing Barusei, our
intelligence reports indicate they'll launch their pods
tomorrow..."
"Excellent, have the preparations been made?"
"Hai, the planetary defense systems have been activated, we'll be able
to blast away their first wave of attackers, but they have a great
deal of warriors, vast numbers more than us, fortunately they are not
all Saiyajin."
"What about the dead Barujin, have all of them been buried and last
respects paid?"
"Yes, all have been buried, we put them in the mountains in the hope
that our ensuing battle will not disturb their final resting
place."
"Good, Reido, what is the status of our warriors?"
Reido was Keikan's second in command, more importantly though, his
brother, and heir apparent to the Throne of Torasei should Keikan ever
fall in battle. If you could have imagined a mirror of Keikan, Reido
was it. His power was almost equal, his skill as well. His only flaw
was his arrogant nature, which held him back from true leadership.
"Our men are fresh and ready to fight. Let no man mistake our deadly intent."
"Never underestimate your enemy Reido. The Saiyajin are crafty, and
powerful."
"But brother, we are much stronger!"
"Weaker in numbers, they can overwhelm us if we're not careful. Reido, I'm counting on you to be wise."
"Hai Brother, I will fight my hardest, in the name of our people, and
the people of Barusei."
"That's not what I asked..."
With that Parukan and Reido bowed to their leader and withdrew, Keikan
reentered his tent and began meditating, it would truly take the full
might of the Torajin to overwhelm the Saiyajin. Reido truly worried him sometimes.
Shikerou took a seat on one of the many luxurious couches,
putting his feet up and relaxing. He'd never been to a Harem before,
but then again he had never had the need for one. Desperate
times call for desperate measures, and if he was going to fight his
best, he needed to release some built up stress. He
glanced to his left and right,Funny, I don't recall any of these
guys in our training facilities, weird, they don't seem that strong
either, I can barely feel their ki, oh well, they must be powered
down, I mean why show of your ki in a Harem... Shike sat up and
leaned towards his closest companion.
"Hey pal."
The man almost looked startled for a second, then responded.
"Uh, yeah?"
"What's going on here? Where are all the women?"
"Are you new?"
"Well yeah, I've never been in the Harem before."
"Oh ok, it's real easy, we just sit here and the women come in and
pick us, then, well you probably know where it goes from there."
"Oh, they pick us? That's interesting. Oh well, Saiyajin custom I
guess."
"Yeah. The women are kinda rough too."
A smirk came across Shike's face.
"Good, I like 'em rough."
Shikerou resumed his relaxed lounging position on the large sofa and
waited..
Izumi entered the Harem to be greeted by ten men who instinctively
lined up. She had a towel wrapped around her upper body,
her hair still dripping wet from her fairly recent shower. She didn't
really have the look of a Saiyajin, nor did she have the look of a
women as rough as she was.
"Hmph, not a durable looking bunch. Very weak stock."
Then something caught her eye, one of the Harem's men was just
lounging on a couch and paying her no attention. She was enraged.
Izumi was nor ordinary Saiyajin women, she was one of the most
powerful women of their race, and she had as much of a
warrior spirit as the Saiyajin men. A man in the Harem disrespecting
her was not to be tolerated. She casually pushed two of the men to
the side and broke through the Harem lineup. She walked over, arms
folded and stood over the blond haired, muscular looking man
slouched casually on the couch.
A droplet of water splashed across Shikerou's bare chest and rolled
down his left side, he opened his eyes a crack to see where it came
from. What he saw was not within his expectations. Above him stood a
gorgeous woman with short black hair, well toned muscles, a deep tan,
and a figure to be reckoned with. A smile came across his face, she
would do nicely.
"And what are you smiling at dog?"
Shikerou was taking back by the tenacity in her voice, surely a
concubine wouldn't treat a warrior like this, then again, Saiyajin
customs were strange to Shike, maybe this was how they liked to be
treated by women. I guess I'll play along.
"Well you obviously..."
"Baka. Stand up!"
Shike slowly rose, deliberately loosening his towel, upon reaching his
feet it fell off. Putting both hands on his hips he winked at Izumi
and stood with his feet shoulder length apart.
Izumi was caught off guard by his brash move, but she was not one to
be outwitted. The typical Saiyajin smirk, which went unnoticed by
Shike, came across her face.
"Well you certainly are the best specimen in here.I suppose if you're
what's available, cover yourself and come with me."
Izumi couldn't believe the audacity of this concubine, never had she
encountered such a brash, cocky, and arrogant being, outside the
Saiyajin men of course, but she liked it, and she liked the way he
looked to. Her smirk drifted somewhat into a more serene, much more
seductive smile.
Without words she was upon him, their lips locked together.
She clutched Shikerou's head
by his thick golden hair, he cradled her head in palms, their
breathing growing heavier by the
moment....
Shike couldn't believe the abrupt nature of courtship on this ship,
they had just met and she was already on him, their lips embracing, he
could do little else but succumb to her will and follow wherever she
was leading. Not that he minded really, he actually kind of enjoyed
the mysterious nature of their encounter.
The small statured purple warrior entered the room, his right arm
across his chest, he quickly
falls to one knee before his sovereign leader, one of the most
powerful beings in the North
Galaxy, Lord Furiza.
"Your reports my Lord, on Zarbon and Dodoria..."
Furiza extended his hand from his floating chair to the left, his
whole figure obscured by the
rays of light from the nearby star...the small alien
trembled as he passed the
electronic chart to the waiting hand...
"You're much better than my last assistant, you're a day early."
The small warrior cringed at the sight of the dark black siloutte on the wall.
"Excellent, and what about Torasei?"
The small alien's fearful cringe turned into a smirk, he laughed a
little at his own answer...
"What Torasei?"
Furiza's small body shook with a partial laugh...
"That's just what I wanted to hear, you are dismissed..."
"Arigatou gozaimasu, Furiza-sama."
The small warrior shuffled quickly out of the rooms, his sigh of
relief was loud enough to hear
through the massive steal doors as the slammed behind him.
Izumi fell to Shike's left side, both of them covered in sweat, both
gasping for air. Both had only one word to say...
"Wow."
Shikerou's body was racked with the most intense pleasure he had ever felt, never had a woman
give him the work out he had just received, and he reveled in his
intense sense of satisfaction.
"So what's your name?"
"Shikerou."
"Interesting, sounds like a Chikyuujin name?"
"Hai, I am from Chikyuusei."
"Really? Chikyuujin are so weak, I'm surprised your not dead..."
"Dead? I'm a heck of a lot stronger than you think...So what is your
name?"
"Izumi."
"Izumi...What race is that? There are so many on board it's hard to
tell..."
"Hard to tell? I'm Saiyajin, bakame, only the warriors are allowed to
use the Harems..."
Her answer hit Shikerou like a sucker punch. She
stood, her brown tail swinging out in front of his face before curling around her waist. she
pulled the black spandex-like material up over her legs and threw on a grey sleeveless shirt.
How in the hell did I miss that!? Shikerou pondered, and then aloud, "You mean, you're one of Bejita's warriors?"
"Hai, I'm the strongest Saiyajin female on this ship."
Shikerou cupped his hands over his face in despair, pulling his fingers down over it.
"Kuso...Bejita is going to have my head on a platter..."
"Nani? Bejita? Naze ka? You're only a male concubine, why would Bejita-"
"Because I'm not a concubine, I'm one of the strongest warriors on
this ship," he interrupted. "My teammate is Kakarotto, and Bejita's already pissed at me."
"Kakarotto... Bardok's son?"
"I guess. Kuso, I gotta go."
"No wait, Shike it's-"
"I'm sorry Izumi, I have to leave."
Shikerou burst out of the room and down the long hallways, he had no
idea where he was headed.
Shikerou did not rest easily that evening, and morning came quickly. Once he rolled out of bed, he grabbed his scouter from the low table next to it and attached it to his ear. The events of the night before disturbed him, and frightened him, training was the only thing he could really turn to for comfort. Since he hadn't checked in a month, he figured it was about time to get an idea of how he had progressed.
Standing in front of the body length mirror, he click the button on his scouter.
"Hmmmm... Wow, I'm twice as strong as I was on Wakusei Baru... All right, 10 times gravity today."
Shikerou started off with a familiar kata, taking his mind away from the troubles at hand.
He started at the sound of the chamber door opening. "Nani?"
Kakarotto stood in the opening, clad in Saiyajin armor, and stepped
into the training room. The high gravity caught him off guard for a moment, but quickly regained his composure as if it were nothing. He clicked his scouter on and eyeballed Shikerou.it beeped several times and displayed a six digit number.
"Glad to see you weren't slacking off while I was gone."
Shikerou noticed something different about Kakarotto, he never wore a
brown belt before, that seemed very odd...
"Sporting belts now? The brown doesn't match the black..."
"Baka..."
Kakarotto relaxed his arms and his belt swung out to reveal that it
was in fact a full grown
Saiyajin tail.
"Huh? You didn't have one of those before."
"Well I do now. Ready to train?"
Kakarotto ignited his ki and raced towards Shikerou leading in with
his right fist. Shike dodged, but a left
swing narrowly caught Shike off guard and sent him flying...a trickle
of blood ran down his lower
lip, he smiled and flew back on the counter attack, loving every
second of it.
Hours passed like minutes as the two warriors exchanged blows,
Shikerou's skilled fists deflected
every kick and punch Kakarotto could throw, and Kakarotto's skilled
hands caught and countered
each attempt at a combination Shikerou tried. Kakarotto's right fist
shot forward, it connected with open air. a dull pain shot up his
back and he fell to the floor.
"What's wrong?"
"My damn tail, let it go..."
Shikerou released his grip on the Saiyajin tail and Kakarotto
instantly felt his power return...
he shifted to the left and swept his leg backwards trying to catch
Shikerou off guard, Shikerou
merely leapt and fired a weak blast of ki which was easily deflected
and absorbed into the ki
absorbing walls...
"You're tail is a major weakness, we'll have to eliminate it, you were
better off without it..."
"Ha! Baka, with this tail I can grow in power 10 times at the sight
of a full moon..."
"Impressive. You better work on ignoring the pain from it then. That could prove to be a
real liability in battle..."
Shikerou looked toward the door as once again it hissed open unexpectedly. Izumi entered, clad in Saiyajin armor. The plating covered his chest and
left shoulder, her legs and arms were left bare. She wore a green scouter over her
left eye.
"Izumi?" Shikerou said
Her only response was a seductive smile.
"What are you doing here, Bejita will kill me if he finds out-"
Izumi interrupted him by marching straight over and pressing her firm, but soft body against him. Kakarotto stared on in amazement.
"He already knows, I've claimed you as my mate..." she said as she reached up and ran her fingers through Shikerou's sweaty hair.
"Wait you've claimed me as your... but I, but you, but he, but..."
"We're allowed mates, so you're not in trouble."
"But...but..."
Kakarotto watched in amusement as he lowered himself to the floor, wiping the
sweat from his brow...
"No buts, just come with me, you have some work to do...And
Kakarotto, give my regards to your father, we haven't spoken in a
while."
"Will do."
"Now follow me Shikerou, if you want to live..." she joked.
Izumi took hold of Shikerou by the neckline his armor
and dragged him out of the room, Kakarotto merely sat and laughed, at
the same time wondering how Buruma was doing back on Chikyuusei.
His royal garb shone with incredible brilliance, his power imposing
like none among Saiyajin, save his father. Bejita strode with the pride of his race, and the pride of his own power. He knew the fight before him would be difficult, but he had an emergency plan, and would not hesitate to use the full power of the Saiyajin race to crush his Torajin enemies. They had called him out, and he was going to bring his best. Gathered before him in the great meeting hall of his battle ship, Bejita addressed his army, thousands of bodies filled the room, all devoted to their supreme leader.
"Proud Saiyajin!" he spoke, thrusting one fist skyward.
A wave of cheers arose from the crowded room of warriors, proud to be
a part of what was promised to be a new regime of galactic power.
"Today is our trial, for we have shown our strength in the
conquering of planets, and now we shall show our true might in
conquering the long time foe of my father, friend and ally to Furiza,
and enemy to the peoples of the Neo-Saiyajin Empire, the Torajin!
Little could be done to silence the roars of the masses beneath his gaze, Bejita was pleased with their aqueisance.
"Yes the battle shall be a hard one, and should we lose ground my
Saiyajin comrades, you need only look to the sky for your victory, for
I promise you will find it in your gaze, as for the rest of you
warriors, try not to get in the way. Today, we go to victory, today we
establish ourselves as a force to be reckoned with, now go to your
pods, the fight has already begun!"
The hall emptied quickly and within minutes thousands of pods had ejected from the hull of the ship, all headed for the green planet beneath them: Barusei.
Keikan and Parukan stood side by side and watched as Reido organized
the Torajin forces into their legions. The mighty technology of
Barusei would be their aid in vengeance,Oh these Saiyajin will pay
for their mistake in attacking us and our allies, King Bejita's
foolhardy error will result in his only son's death. A grin came
across Keikan's face as he relished the thought of his claws tearing
at the entrails of Ouji Bejita. And then he felt it: immense power in
the sky.
"Parukan."
"Hai, Keikan-sama!"
"Activate the planetary defense guns."
"Hai."
With that he disappeared into the structure behind them. Moments
later the air was thick with the beams of pulse guns firing into the
sky. Reido took notice of the weapons targets and snarled as the
faint white ki that enveloped each pod began to glimmer in the
distance.small explosions dotted the horizon as some of the pods never
reached the planets surface, but the guns were simply not enough, they
were heavily outnumbered, and Keikan and Reido both knew it.
"And so it has begun, come Bejita, come meet your death."
Keikan's lips twisted into a snarl, his gleaming white teeth outlined
by his orange fur-covered face. His eyes burnt with the intensity of a caged
animal.
"Welcome to your death." he murmured as he awaited his foe.
Chapter 13 |
