Trunks fixed his eyes on Nappa, the massive Saiya-jin who had flung his mother across a room like a sack of dirt. "This Nappa is mine," he told Shiatar. "I believe you have business with the other one."
Beside him, the demi-Saiyin woman nodded. He'd been worried for a moment back in the corridor; Shiatar's fear of Radditz had been obvious. He'd never seen her so agitated---but then, if the big lion-maned half-cyborg in front of them was the man who had assaulted her, he could understand her reaction. He stifled a sudden desire to rip the man's artificial arm and leg off again, and pull the other arm and leg off to make him symmetrical. Shiatar would not appreciate him reacting like some knight in shining armor; this was her demon to face.
He gathered his ki---and hissed in rage he felt the thing around his neck blocking his powers. He had to make an effort to muster even enough ki to fly, where once flying had been effortless for him. So this was what they used to control their slaves on Shiatar's world. One of these had once been around Shiatar's throat . . .
He focused on the task at hand. "Nappa," he mused aloud. "I seem to recall my father mentioning you. He killed you, in this world."
The big warrior bared his teeth, and clenched his hand into a fist the size of a volleyball. "You talk too much, demi-Saiyin," he growled. "I can see now that you haven't been properly disciplined. Allow me!"
And it began.
He had no time to spare thought for Shiatar and her battle; his opponent was nearly twice his size and surprisingly swift for someone so large. Nappa shot at him, massive fist cocked, and Trunks engaged, throwing and blocking, feinting and attacking, in a flurry of movement.
Shiatar and Radditz ignored them, still facing each other across the air. Radditz's tail waved gently in the wind. "Give this up, Shiatar," he said. "You don't really want to fight me. Your friends may get hurt. Nappa's playing with that human-looking brat; if he gets serious, how long do you think the boy will last with that collar on?"
Shiatar ground her teeth. "Trunks can take care of himself. I'm not worried about him." She smiled. "And he's not a boy. He's twice the man you'll ever be."
Radditz's eyes narrowed. "So that's how the land lays." He shifted, and
Shiatar spied the odd device attached to his belt: the gun that fired
restraining collars rather than bullets. She must not allow him to get one of
those on her. She'd have to take the gun out soon--- "I don't want to hurt you,
either," Radditz said, almost sweetly. "I own you, girl. You are mine.
The Prince himself gave you to me. That will never change."
"It's already changed. Deal with it."
To her surprise, the Saiya-jin laughed. "Oh, I see. And has your little
princeling changed things so much for you? Your protector isn't here now, little
fool. And if your false bravado is based on his strength---"
Shiatar laughed. "You underestimated me once, Radditz, and you haven't
learned since then. My strength comes from within me, and me alone. I fight my
own battles. And I make my own kills." She crouched, moving into a fighting
stance. "It's past time I completed this one."
Radditz crouched as well. "So be it. But I warn you, you're no match for me.
I have . . . changed since the last time we met."
Shiatar raked him with a scathing glance. "I can see that. Losing your eye
hasn't helped your looks, though."
Radditz hissed in fury, and came at her. She was ready, and they met in a
whirlwind of attack and counterattack.
Trunks was quickly getting the measure of his opponent. Nappa was big and
fast, but not particularly maneuverable, and from what Trunks could sense of the
Saiya-jin's ki through the damnable collar, he wasn't particularly
powerful, either. Still, the collar was having a definite effect. Trunks got
through Radditz's defenses several times, and struck what should have been
incapacitating blows, but his strikes were a fraction of what they should have
been; each time he connected, the big warrior chuckled, shrugging it off. They
drifted apart, and Trunks was astonished to find that he was breathing hard.
Already? But he hadn't done anything yet---
"I see the collar is having its usual effect," Nappa said, coolly. "You look
a little winded. You must not have been very powerful to begin with." His eyes
unfocused for a moment as he looked at Trunks through the crimson eyepiece;
Trunks frowned, then recalled seeing such an eyepiece before. One of Freeza's
men had scanned him with it and had apparently been able to get a reading on
Trunks' power-level. That soldier had not been impressed. Then Trunks smiled,
recalling what he'd then done to that soldier . . .
Nappa sighed. "Even without the collar, you would be no threat. I had rather
hoped for a decent challenge today."
Trunks smiled again. "Don't underestimate me. I might give you more of a
challenge than you're ready for." But even as he said it, he could feel the
debilitating effects of the restraining collar in every part of his body . . .
Nappa smirked again. "Then come on, boy---ah, but you claim to be the son of
Vejiita-sama, don't you? Very well, then, Prince," and the way he
slurred the word made an insult of it, "come. I am loyal to the house of
Vejiita; make me recognize your claim."
Trunks was only too happy to oblige him. He shot at Nappa, blurring, and
caught the man by surprise, sending a vicious kick at the Saiya-jin's head.
Nappa didn't move quickly enough to block; the kick caught him in the side of
the face---and had almost no effect. Trunks fell back, cursing---he'd counted on
that kick to silence this giant of a warrior---and shot forward again, throwing
a punch right at the man's eyepiece.
Nappa caught his fist.
Trunks' eyes widened, and he struggled to force his hand free, but it felt as
if it was caught in a vise. Nappa smiled at him---and then tightened his own
hand, almost crushing Trunks' fist. Trunks growled at the pain through clenched
teeth, and with his other hand summoned power, gathering a ki-ball in
his palm . . . but between the pain and the collar, it was an effort. The ball
gathered slowly, struggling toward useful strength---and Nappa curled his free
hand into a massive fist, wound up, and slammed Trunks in the face so hard that
he almost passed out on the way toward the ground. He slammed into the side of
the hill that bordered the Capsule Corporation on one side, creating a
man-shaped depression in the earth.
Shiatar's guard slipped just a bit when she saw Trunks go down, and Radditz
clobbered her with a left hook to the jaw. It hurt like hell, but she used the
accumulated momentum from the blow to spin around and kick him in the stomach.
He grunted with the impact, and she wasted no time; with the heel of her hand
she jammed into the underside of his chin, then hit him again in the stomach.
With a part of her awareness she kept tabs on Trunks, but his ki hadn't
diminished; he was only stunned.
The distraction again took its toll; Radditz uncurled from her blow and hit
her in the face, following that with a kick in the side that flung her a good
hundred yards away. She skidded to a halt in the air, and shook her head to
clear it.
"That hurt me more than it hurt you," Radditz grinned.
Shiatar smiled. "You're holding back, Radditz. You'd better work harder than
that if you want to kill me."
"I don't want to kill you," he said. "That would be too quick."
She snorted. "What, you think I'll let you touch me again? I'll take your
other eye first."
He snarled at this reminder of the injury she'd gifted him, and shot at her,
engaging again for a flurry of feints. Shiatar was hard-pressed for a moment,
but Radditz was allowing his rage to control his attack, and his movements had
become readable. She almost smiled; once this type of attack might have
overwhelmed her, but Trunks had been sparring with her for weeks. Radditz was
nothing compared to Trunks' lightning speed and unpredictability. For a while
she considered shifting to Super Saiya-jin and simply killing him, but she was
enjoying this. Like him, she didn't want the fight to be over with too quickly.
Radditz's hand shot past her ear, and she paid more attention to the fight;
it would be silly to get injured on this, her chance for vengeance. Even now he
was pressing the attack, encouraged by her lack of counterattack; she let him
think he was beating her for a while, then uncoiled like a striking snake. She
slammed the edge of her hand into the side of his head, stunning him
momentarily, the other fist into his belly, and grasping his clothing and his
ear, she twisted around and bodily flung him toward the ground. He fell like a
stone, but she met him halfway down and kicked him in the face, sending him off
horizontally. Blurring, she met him again, and gave him an uppercut that his
ancestors must have felt. He cried out with the blow, and she waited for him to
recover, so that she could beat him some more.
Trunks shook his head, blinking dirt from his eyes; he cleared his vision
just in time to see Nappa shooting down at him foot-first, like a javelin. He
managed to catch the giant's foot and cushion the blow somewhat, but it still
had enough force to pound him further into the mountain. Before he could pull
himself out, Nappa hit him in the stomach, his fist covering Trunks' whole
midriff, and while Trunks gasped for air and fought nausea, the other fist
slammed into his face again. Then followed an agonizing haze of blows to his
face, torso, even his groin; for a few seconds he grayed out, only coming to
after a vicious strike that split his lip and sent blood flying.
Nappa drifted back, his lip curled in disgust. Trunks eyed him through a
swelling eyelid, taking the opportunity for a few precious moments of breathing.
This isn't working, he thought, and reached up to probe the collar
where it had attached itself around his neck with his fingers. He could barely
feel its presence, it was so closely bonded to his flesh---
Nappa saw what he was doing, and chuckled. "It won't come off, Prince," he
said. "The restraining collar has held stronger warriors than you."
Trunks smiled, recalling that their Vejiita was the only Super Saiya-jin of
their world. "I doubt that," he said, taking his hand away from the collar. His
lip stung; irritably he touched it with a finger, and scowled as it came away
bloody. He was tired of this; Nappa had had his fun. Enough was enough.
Letting his anger surge within him, he threw back his head and shouted as the
power came with it. But even now the collar interfered; where he should
have shifted to Super Saiya-jin, he'd only moved up near that level. The
hillside cracked around him, reacting to the unleashing of his power, and as he
surged up out of the earth, he saw Nappa's eyes widen at the blazing pale aura
that flickered to life around his body. The Saiya-jin wore an expression of
surprise for only an instant. Then Trunks' fist smashed into his face. The giant
warrior flew backwards, stunned, and Trunks blurred to follow, striking Nappa in
the face and body repeatedly as he flew backward. Blurring again, he intercepted
the flying form and kicked it upwards, then blurred again to send a thoroughly
satisfying roundhouse punch into the man's belly, flinging him toward the earth
again. Nappa flew like a meteor, and raised a crater about as great; Trunks
shouted again, summoning his energy, and sent a ki blast after him. It
wouldn't be enough to kill Nappa, he thought savagely, but it ought to hurt like
a son of a bitch.
Radditz came at Shiatar again, his own speed blurring; they'd both increased
their power to a level just under Super Saiya-jin. Shiatar ducked, feeling the
wind of Radditz's passing as she gathered a ki-blast to shove into his
face, and was caught off-guard by the Saiya-jin's tail, which lashed out and
smacked her across the eyes. She gasped, trying to see around the tears which
blurred her vision, and felt a sledgehammer drive into her back. It drove her
toward the ground as she fought to see and control her descent; before she could
do either something drove into her belly so hard that her body doubled over.
Damn---! But he gave her no chance to complete her unspoken oath. Hands
caught her and wrapped around her from behind, pinning her arms to her sides.
Able to see finally, she looked around to spy Radditz's face, grinning over her
shoulder.
He looked a mess, his one eye half-shut, face cut and bruised, nose and lip
bleeding, but he was smiling. "You've improved tremendously in the last few
years," he told her. "You were no challenge at all the first time. Now you've
actually drawn blood---I'm impressed."
"Glad to---" she snarled, trying to break free, but his hands were locked,
"---oblige you."
"Oh, I know." He leaned forward, murmuring in her ear; Shiatar had a sudden
momentary flashback to the first night he'd done so. Evidently his mind was on
the same unpleasant path. "Do you remember the last time I held you?" he
breathed. His tail moved to encircle her thigh through the loose pants. She
stiffened, and her eyes wide with the terrible memories; how could she forget?
He chuckled. "You held still the same way then. Did you enjoy what I did to you
that night?"
Oh, gods . . . his hands on her skin, ignoring her attempts to push them
away . . . She got a grip on herself. "Bastard," she gritted. "Pervert! I
was a child! Did you expect me to enjoy it? I hated it!"
He laughed, sending chills down her spine. "I know," he said. "Why do you
think I enjoyed you so much? I knew it when I saw you in Vejiita's throne room;
you thought you couldn't be defeated. You thought you couldn't be broken. And I
. . ." his voice dropped, breath hot on her cheek as he leaned close enough for
his lips to touch her ear, ". . . I broke you!"
She tensed, rage flooding through her. "You broke a child," she snarled.
"That's about all you could break, you Saiya-jin son of a bitch. Now .
. ." She clenched her fists and flexed her arms, straining against the lock-hold
he had on her; she felt him start and tighten his grip, but the fury would not
be contained. She screamed as she broke free of his hold, turning and catching
him by the throat. Squeezing him until she felt his larynx grate beneath her
palm, she jerked him to her face, glaring into his bulging eye.
"Now I'm a woman, Radditz. Can you handle a woman, or can you only defeat
children? Huh? Are you a warrior, or just a sick coward who likes teenage
girls?"
His eyes blazed, and he formed a ki-ball faster than she could
blink, flinging it into her belly at point-blank range. She released him and
rolled with it, the ball pushing her several meters away before she managed to
deflect it and send it off into the air. Immediately she sprang at him again,
and they met with a jarring crash, gripping each other's arms---stalemate. But
both of them were blazing with the aura of fury, and Shiatar sent her knee
upward to smash into Radditz's stomach. He gasped, eyes widening, but almost
instantly recovered, rearing back to lunge forward with his head, smashing into
her forehead savagely. She cried out, and fell back; stalemate broken. They
glared at each other across the intervening distance.
Nappa swayed on his feet, half-doubled over already from the last blow;
Trunks smashed his knee into the giant's face and straightened him up, then
leaped into the air, spinning about to slam his foot into the Saiya-jin's face.
The giant flew backward into the crater he'd just climbed out of.
Trunks took a moment to catch his breath. He wasn't certain how long he'd be
able to maintain this power-level; the collar was sapping his energy even now.
But he had enough strength left to kill this bastard and send him back to his
world in a pile--- Gritting his teeth in determination, he flew up the hill
toward the crater, gathering his energy.
But to his surprise, Nappa had gotten to his feet by the time Trunks arrived,
and the massive warrior was crouched and ready to face his adversary. Trunks
stopped short, floating in a circle around the larger man, and the wind rose to
a howl as they faced each other.
A thread of blood ran down Radditz's chin from his lip, and he reached up
absently to wipe it with his metal hand. "Enough of this," he snapped at
Shiatar. "I'm tired of playing with you." He straightened, and smiled.
"You didn't kill me on the night that you had your little fit," he said, tail
flicking around his waist like a living belt. "You should have. When I
recovered, I discovered that my power had increased dramatically. Vejiita-sama
took me, along with the other Elite, for special training. Do you know what he
taught me to do, Ko Shiatar?"
Shiatar started at his change of tack. She could feel, instinctively, that he
was not bluffing. And what the hell was he talking about---?
At that moment, she felt a change in his ki, and suddenly she
realized what he meant . . .
Radditz's fists clenched; he partially doubled over with effort as he closed
his one eye tightly. His teeth ground together, but a sound came from between
them anyhow; he was growling, his voice rising in volume. And his power was
rising with it . . .
With a roar, he straightened bolt upright, his great mane of hair rippling
outward from his head---and turning the burnished gold of a true lion's mane.
Shiatar gasped in shock as what looked like the corona of a small sun burst
around him, whipping and crackling with energy. Radditz opened his eye---his
blue eye---and smiled at her coldly.
Radditz had become a Super Saiya-jin.
At the same moment a mile away, Nappa snarled soundlessly at Trunks. "Do you
think I will forgive this insult?" he demanded, his voice rough with anger. He
began to walk toward Trunks, swinging his massive arms with the promise of
further damage. "I will not be defeated by a lowly demi-Saiyin!"
And as he walked, there was a flash and a surge of ki that Trunks
could feel even through the damper of the restraining collar. The flash grew too
bright to look at; Trunks blinked---
And Nappa stood even larger before him, aglow with the power of the Super
Saiya-jin.
Shiatar watched Radditz's transformation in shock, then took a deep breath
for control; she'd never believed that Vejiita would share the secret of his
power, even with his closest warriors, the Elite. Clearly, however, she'd
underestimated the prince again.
Radditz was gloating as he hovered before her, the crackling light from his
aura making his face glow with a sinister, vengeful intent. His lips drew back
from his teeth in a smile that was more snarl. "I told you before," he said in a
low voice, "you're no match for me. When I recovered, I thought about how you'd
mutilated my body---" he held out his metal arm, and the stitched lid of his
missing eye tightened visibly, "---and I felt a rage so tremendous that I
thought I would explode. Vejiita-sama taught me how to use that rage." He
lowered his arm, and turned to the side, showing off his new form. "Do you like
it?"
Shiatar smiled back. "I told you, Radditz, not to underestimate me.
You make the same mistake over and over again."
She stared at his face, her trigger, and remembered all that he'd done to
her. She hated him. She wanted him dead. Flinging back her head, she
let go the bonds she usually kept on her emotions, the bonds that had limited
her for so many years. Radditz would never hurt her again. She would make sure
of it, this time.
She cried out as the power blasted from within her, lifting and lighting her
hair and transforming her body as it came. Again, the sleeves of her jacket
could not accomodate her increased size, splitting from her shoulders to her
elbows; negligently she let her power evaporate this item of her clothing. She
lowered her head, and felt a surge of vindictive glee at the sight of the shock
on Radditz's face.
"Let's finish this," Super Saiya-jin Ko Shiatar told him.
Trunks felt something akin to despair as he faced the great glowing warrior
before him. He had reached the limits of his strength with the collar binding
him long ago, and now he had nothing left. Nappa was still walking toward him,
and he could do nothing . . .
. . . but wait.
Shiatar has powered up to face her adversary, but Trunks is still crippled
by the restraining collar! Will Shiatar destroy the source of her nightmares
once and for all? Can Trunks defeat a fully powered Super Saiya-jin in his
condition---or is this the end for the last warrior of Earth? In the next
episode, MASSACRE AT THE CAPSULE CORPORATION: AND THEN THERE WAS ONE!!!
On to
Part 19
