CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR: SAUZAA

            Gokua pulled Zarbon up by the hair.

            “Hello, pretty-boy,” he whispered to him, “I believe you and my sword had a score to settle?”

            He punched him in the back, breaking the rest of his armor plating. Gokua pushed him to his feet and let go. “Let’s see the little man run, shall we? Run, Mr. Fly-boy! Run!”

            He pushed Zarbon again, sending him sprawling until he could move forward normally. He went about three steps then stopped cold again in one of those psychic energy nets.

            “Oops. I guess this little one can’t go very far,” Gokua said, who was holding the net with Bujin.

            “Bido, what do you think we should do with him?”

            Bido, who was not working on the net smiled. “Nice piece of meat you caught there. Mind if I tenderize it before you carve it up?”

“Sure,” Gokua answered, a wry grin appearing on his face.

Bujin laughed again with that familiar high-pitched noise. Bido cracked his knuckles and slammed Zarbon across the jaw. He then followed it up with a punch to the gut. Zarbon screamed out in pain and coughed up yet more blood. Bido kicked his right leg in, shattering the kneecap. He grabbed Zarbon’s head and head-butted him, forming a huge gash in the man’s forehead. At that point Bido went wild bunch and started raining blows all over Zarbon’s face and body. The punches were light for him, but not for Zarbon.

All of the characters were too wrapped up in beating the Poop out of Zarbon to notice the other huge ki source that had just appeared. Sauzaa came in with a flying kick to Bido’s back, sending him sprawling into the sidewalk. Sauzaa turned and roundhouse-kicked Gokua, then dashed to the side and elbowed Bujin, effectively taking them both out of the fight when Bido came in from behind and grabbed him in a full nelson.

“Now try to hit me,” he said calmly. Sauzaa flipped him, jumped in the air, and fired a ki blast down into Bido. While it was still exploding, Sauzaa landed on the ground, scooped up Zarbon, and started to fly over to a safe place for him when Bido came back with a flying elbow, knocking him down and sending a semiconscious Zarbon sliding on the concrete toward where Zangya lay.

Bojack looked over his shoulder, turned, and watched the melee sitting down. Sauzaa jumped up, dodging Bido’s charge, and hit him in the back of the head. Bido came back in and kicked Sauzaa in the stomach. They both fired ki blasts at point blank range and knocked each other down. Both warriors stood up and started to evaluate each other. Sauzaa checked his scouter. 900,000. That was equal with him. This was going to be tough. Perhaps if he could take advantage of Bido’s lack of speed...

Bido disappeared, reappeared directly in front of Sauzaa, and laid one across his jaw. Sauzaa kicked upward on the way down, hitting Bido back. He landed on his hands and flipped back up, nailing Bido in the gut with a major punch. Sauzaa fired a few more ki blasts at Bido as he was knocked back, although Bido stopped himself, deflected the blasts, and charged directly for Sauzaa. The two met and immediately began exchanging blows, neither one actually hitting the other in this flurry of attacks so fast that if all of the others were conscious, only Bojack would have been able to have seen it. Bojack himself just sat back and grinned as he watched his right-hand man fight against a real challenge for once.

Sauzaa and Bido’s fists locked together, and they both pushed apart. Bido fired a two-handed blast at Sauzaa, which he avoided and countered with several of his own. Bido dodged both of those and elbowed Sauzaa in the ribs and pinned him down, breaking a small crater in the ground. Sauzaa kicked out of it and rained a few blows to Bido’s stomach, followed by one to the head, sending him into the air. Bido fired a ki blast into Sauzaa, hitting his right arm.

Sauzaa dashed behind Bido and hit him with a scissors kick, sending him back down. He fired a barrage of blasts back down at the warrior, most of them finding their mark. Bido got up from it and nailed Sauzaa across the throat with his forearm, grabbed him, and pile-drove him into the ground. He jumped up, charged up a huge blast, and fired it at the fallen Sauzaa. Sauzaa got up and moved behind him using false images, hitting him across the back with a horizontal chop.

Bido turned around and grabbed Sauzaa, forcing him to continue grappling. The two started trading blows one after the other, slowly, until Sauzaa kneed Bido in the crotch, forcing him to back down. Sauzaa hit him with a two-fisted punch, went behind him and knocked him back into the air, smashed him back down, and then fired a huge ki blast into Bido’s back before he could get back up. He finished the combo by landing with a quick stomp on Bido’s back, then stood behind him, rather bloody, and breathing heavily.

“Take this, bastard” he muttered, holding out one hand and charging up some ki. He was interrupted when a rather large blast passed within centimeters of his face and blew up some of the surrounding area behind him. Sauzaa looked up and saw Bojack lowering his hand.

“Enough,” he said firmly.

Sauzaa checked his scouter. 1,000,000. Not good…

“You’re seeing how powerful I am? Then at least let me power up!”

Bojack clenched both of his fists and out a large roar-like shout. His coat, vest, and bandanna exploded, and when the shreds of clothing finished falling away, his skin was green and his hair red. Sauzaa watched as his power level grew to 1,100,00, 1,200,000, 1,300,000, 1,400,000 Sauzaa’s scouter shattered in a minuscule little pop. Bojack finished. and looked at the now-scouterless Sauzaa.

“I’m sorry, did your little toy break? Never mind, then-my maximum power level is 1,500,000, in case you’re curious.”

Sauzaa lowered his head and started thinking. He was doomed now, that was darned sure. Then an idea dawned on him. He took his com-link off his belt and raised it up in front of Bojack.

“Do you know what this is?” he asked.

“Yeah, of course I do. It’s a com-link.”

“Good, then. Then I suppose you know what I can do with it?”

“Call your reinforcements, all of whom are less powerful than me.”

“Do you know how much your head is wanted right now?” Sauzaa asked.

“Yeah. Your point is?”

“Are you aware that King Cold now sees you as a threat, and all that I have to do to get even him to come is to just say,” he lifted the com-link to his mouth, “...Bojack.”

Bojack’s eyes widened a bit. “Do you really think that saying that will help?”

“Maybe not, but it’ll get enough of an army here that either King Cold or Vegeta will end up joining in the fray, just because of all the raw power. What do you say to that? King Vegeta is at least five million, and King Cold himself is at least twenty. Do you want to risk that?”

“Good point,” Bojack answered. He kicked Bido in the ribs lightly. “Get up. Get the others up. We’re leaving.”

“What?” the large man asked Bojack. “You heard me, let’s go!”

They all managed to get up, and took off into the distance. Sauzaa watched them go, and silently cursed the fact that he wasn’t powerful enough to take their leader out. He went over to Zarbon, who was just beginning to get up. “Are you all right?”

“Yes, I’m perfectly fine,” Zarbon answered sarcastically before coughing up some more blood, “What about Zangya?” Sauzaa went over to Zangya, and checked her pulse. “She’s alive” he called back. “She’ll be spending some time in the tank, but it’s nothing that we can’t fix.”

“Say,” Sauzaa continued, “Isn’t Salad supposed to be around here somewhere?” Zarbon smirked and pointed over his shoulder. “She’s locked inside of the port-a-potty back there on the outskirts of the base. Could you get her for me?”

“My pleasure,” Sauzaa said as he flew in the general direction that Zarbon had pointed.

He found the said facility almost immediately, due to the loud pounding and shouting noises coming from within.

“HEY! GET ME OUT OF HERE!” Salad could be heard shouting from inside as the pounding increased to what was probably her flinging herself against the sealed door, “SOMEONE GET ME OUT OF HERE!!!”

Sauzaa landed just as one of Salad’s hits to the door tipped the entire thing over. It landed with a loud crash.

“OH, CRAP!!!!!!” she shouted from inside.

He couldn’t help but chuckle at the appropriateness of the word. He righted the outhouse, and wrenched the door open to reveal a slightly flustered Salad literally tumble out and into him. She grabbed Sauzaa in what could only be called an I-don’t-care-who-you-are-here’s-a-hug hug.

“Thank you,” she gasped out, letting go of Sauzaa, “Another few seconds, and that thing would have started to overflow. What happened, anyway?”

“Your mate and friend are both going to be spending some time in the Regen tank.”

“Oh,” she said, grasping his hand, “Where are they?”

“Over this way,” Sauzaa said, turning on his intercom to call some paramedics. Hopefully, not every dinner engagement would turn out like this one.

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