As this new Saiya-jin female descended from the air, he stepped back from Vejiita and dropped down into a fighting pose, assuming that she was a threat. However, even from a distance, he could see that her eyes were not full of anger, but of something that Gokuu wasn’t sure he recognized, perhaps kindness lay there buried in her eyes, but it was vague. It was a great sadness, he could tell, but he wasn’t sure if that was all of it. She stared at him as if searching for something that even she knew was not there, as if she were looking for signs of the past in his face. Her gaze was not angry or frightening, but softly fell on him like the snowflakes that were falling gently through the air now. He relaxed slightly, and straightened up as she dropped to the ground before him, standing lightly on the snow.

“Kakarroto.” She said with a bow, her eyes still locked on his. “You must come with me quickly. You are in great danger.” She stressed. “Sukuashi is after your head, and your head alone. You must come with me now. If you are taken prisoner, you will surely not survive.”

Though he believed her, and felt himself that he was in danger, he had to protect the people that he cared about the most. No one could call themselves brave or worthwhile if they left their friends in such a terrible spot. Gokuu looked at her as if she were crazy, then gestured around them to his fallen companions. “I can’t just leave my friends here. They’re hurt.”

“Not hurt.” She argued. “But momentarily paralyzed.”

“But they’ll probably die if they’re left out here in the cold….” He cried, looking down at Kuririn’s fallen form, which was laid out nearby Vejiita, his body curled into a ball, clutching his small hands at his chest. “I can’t leave them.”

“If you leave them now, they will be taken prisoner, but they will not die. Those soldiers over there will take them into custody, but there will be no death. I promise you, Kakarroto: your friends will not be harmed.” She informed him. “You however will be, if you are caught. Come with me, I will take you to Sukuashi, and to ChiChi as well.”

He didn’t know why, but there was something strikingly familiar about her eyes, something that the felt he could trust with all of his heart. He knew her, he must know her, from somewhere, somehow. In her heart, he could make out nothing of evil, and there was something very similar to his own heart there, a strong courage, but a spirit that would never be tamed. And hearing ChiChi’s name alone would have made him want to join her, fight off a thousand Saiya-jin soldiers, and stay out in the cold for as long as it took. If she knew ChiChi’s name, that meant she probably knew where Sukuashi was keeping her, and if she were safe or not. “You know where ChiChi is?” He asked her quietly.

“Hai.” She nodded. “She is safe, and well taken care of. But for her and all of you to be truly safe, we must first conquer the highest enemy: Sukuashi. Without him, the rest of the Saiya-jin population will no longer be your threat. Come with me now, defeat him, and she and all of your friends will be free.”

He took a long look at his friends, scattered in the snow around him, surrounded by the soldiers, who still stood looking at him in amazement. His eyes traveled to the woman before him as well, and found her eyes full of pleading and reassurance. “My friends will be safe?” He asked.

She nodded again. “Hai.”

Gokuu nodded as well, once, sharply, his eyes trained on her’s, and his heart was suddenly filled with peace. “Then take me to Sukuashi.”

Koronu couldn’t believe it. Couldn’t even wrap her mind around it. She edged a glance over to her son, who was flying cheerfully beside her through the snow. Her own flesh and blood was right beside her, looking so familiar, so like his father, that it made Koronu’s heart ache. And what’s more, her son was a Super Saiya-jin, the highest point of power that one could ever reach. She wouldn’t have believed it if she hadn’t seen it with her own two eyes, hadn’t been there to watch the transformation. Her son was a Super Saiya-jin. Her very own son, borne of her blood and bone and mind, had reached the most limitless and extraordinary power level that a Saiya-jin could possibly reach.

She was stunned. ChiChi had told her, yes, but she had no idea. She had no idea what it would be like to watch, to see her scouter shatter into a thousand pieces and explode, to feel the wave of power that swept over the snow like a tidal wave.

“So, who are you?” Gokuu asked her cheerfully, jolting her out of her thoughts.

She didn’t speak at first, not sure what the right words to say would be. How would you tell someone that you just met something that serious? How could she look him in the eye and tell that she was his mother? How could she explain Bardoku, and all that had happened to them, her journey here, being a prisoner of Sukuashi? As simple as it may have seemed before, she couldn’t possibly bring herself to say it now. She longed to just wrap him in her arms, hold him gently as she had when he had first been born, tell him that she would never let him go again, but the words choked in her throat and her arms hung stiffly at her sides, unmoving. She finally closed her eyes and answered him in a defeated tone. “My name is Koronu.”

“Koronu.” He repeated. As he said the name, she heard it in a different voice, from a different time, a memory so far back and so real that it almost took her breath away. He sounded just like him, just like Bardoku. Looked just like him, from the stature to the hair. It was absolutely uncanny. She had no idea that Kakarroto would be such a reminder of her past, such a perfect replica of her mate. She avoided his eyes, because there was too much pain when she looked into them. “And why are you helping us?”

“I’ve become very fond of ChiChi.” She answered honestly, then spoke in a slower tone. “And there are other reasons too, but this isn’t the time or place to discuss something like that.”

He looked over at her, and she wondered if he felt what she felt: the instant connection of mother and child. How could he look at her and not see the truth? She was his mother, she felt that in every part of her, and she didn’t understand how he could look at her and see just another ordinary Saiya-jin female. True, he had no idea of his mother, or anything about his past, but how could he not feel it? All Saiya-jins inherently felt some sort of bond with their parent counterparts. It was simply a matter of science. She was even vaguely attached to Pi, although she hated the girl with all of her heart. Saiya-jin parents and their children were not close by any means, but the bond of family always remained.

The approached the city at a rapid place, and just at it edges, Koronu signaled for Gokuu to drop down to the ground. The two looped down through the city streets and ended up standing under the ledge of one of the shorter buildings, dry and out of the snow. As they walked, Koronu caught sight of Potuto standing there, waiting for her. He jumped to attention when he saw the two of them, his eyes lingering on Gokuu, a smile on his lips. The area was dimly lit, but she could see the happiness in Potuto’s eyes. Meeting his brother was obviously a very important thing to him, and Koronu felt proud that she could bring them both together.

“Kakarroto, this is Potuto, my son. Potuto, this is Kakarroto.” She explained.

“Hajimemashite.” Gokuu said politely.

Potuto smiled again and bowed low. The moment was locked away in Koronu’s heart forever, her two sons finally meeting each other. Her past melded together with her future, forming an instant enchantment. Kakarroto would perhaps never know the poignancy of the moment, but she would still treasure it always, as her sons stood side by side, both grown men, admirable and strong. She was very proud of both of them in different ways, and maybe someday she would tell Kakarroto just how much it meant to her to see them together. The only thing that could have possibly made it more perfect would be if Bardoku was standing right there, his tail twisted around hers, smiling down at her.

Again, Gokuu looked puzzled. “Are we all going to fight Sukuashi together?”

Koronu shook her head. “Iie. I am sending Potuto off to see that your friends get back to your spaceship safely.”

“By himself?”

Although she hadn’t thought of it before, the idea seemed suddenly mad to her as well. It just wasn’t feasible that Potuto would be able to carry all of those people back to the ship. Saiya-jin or not, Potuto simply wasn’t strong enough to be able to carry off a feat like that. “Hai. But I think you’re right, Kakarroto. That might be too much of a task for just one person.”

Gokuu looked deep in thought. “There are others still on the ship. Piccolo, Vejiita’s son Trunks, and another one of my sons, Goten. If the others have already been taken prisoner, I know that they would help. That wasn’t the original plan, and I’m sure Kuririn would kill me, but I think it would work.”

Koronu wasn’t too happy about brining more people into the mess, but if Vejiita’s son and her grandson were going to be fighting, she somehow knew that it would be okay. “Perfect.” She turned to Potuto, who looked very capable and ready to help. “Fly out to find the ship, tell them that Kakarroto sent you. You know where they must have taken the prisoners, and you have keys and full access to everywhere that you may need to go. And just like I mentioned earlier, take them to the ice tunnels, and they should be safe there.”

Potuto gave her a quick salute, and gathered up his things, ready to take off into flight. He paused for a moment, to look at Gokuu again, and suddenly reached out and put a hand on his shoulder, a sign of affection. Gokuu may have been confused at the happiness that the Saiya-jin displayed, but Koronu thought she detected just a hint of a knowing look in his eye, as if it was all beginning to fall into place for him. As Potuto sped off into the distance, Gokuu turned to her with a strange look on his face.

“What is it that you’re not telling me?” He asked her.

As much as she wanted to let him know, again, she couldn’t bring herself to say the words. “I’ll tell you when I am ready, Kakarroto.” She looked down. “But that may take a great deal of time.”

As he stared at her, took in her appearance, he wondered: why all the secrets? She had delicate features, lovely features. She was tall and lean, looking strong without the over-muscled look that many Saiya-jins had acquired. Her skin was smooth and pale, looking almost white next to the midnight black of her hair, which hung loosely about her shoulders. The thing that interested Gokuu the most however, was her eyes. They stared back at him, dark and unmoving, and he was suddenly thrown into a different world. Her eyes were ageless, yet he could see a lifetime of years in them, eyes that had been around since the beginning of time, wise and knowing. There was also a softness to them, something that he hadn’t expected to see there.

She had taken care of ChiChi, she said. She had helped her and kept her safe from Sukuashi and the little girl who attacked them earlier. Her voice was interesting, and as Gokuu listened to her speak, explaining things about Sukuashi and the Saiya-jin Council, about ChiChi and the injections that she had been forced to take. He watched her silently as she spoke, captivated by her eyes, which seemed to swallow him up whole. What shook him up the most however, was the feeling that was slowly creeping into his heart, the familiarity of it all. It was like staring down Radiztu when they first met on Earth, except that when he had looked into Radiztu’s eyes, he had seen nothing but evil and fury. When he looked into Koronu’s eyes, it was like he saw himself somewhere in their dark depths, waiting to be discovered.

Pi sat up from the snow and brushed the flakes out of her hair, her muscles and joints aching from the force of the hit that had thrown her into the air. She was dripping blood, though she could see where it was coming from, and it made a line in the snow behind her, dripping bright red onto pristine white. Her sword, several feet away from her in the ground, was nearly buried, but the handle stood out black and shining. In fury, she ripped the sword from it’s resting place in the snow, gripping the handle so hard the her knuckles cracked. She spit a mouthful of blood from her mouth, and turned her eyes to locate her enemy. With a gaze so full of fury that her vision actually began to tint red, she watched the conversation between Koronu and Gokuu. She couldn’t hear their voices, but she saw the look on Koronu’s face, and the realization in his eyes.

It would be just like that traitorous witch to give help to the enemy. She thought. A Super Saiya-jin enemy. She was still amazed at the force of power she had felt from Kakarroto. The way her father had always described it, that family line was weak and stupid, nothing that could have reigned in the amazing power of a Super Saiya-jin. Then again, Sukuashi had fed her a lot of lies in the past, and perhaps what he had said about Bardoku and the events on planet Vejiita was just another one of them. That meant that these enemies were not going to be easy to dispose of, no matter what Sukuashi had tried to convince the Council of. She watched with slightly amazed black eyes as Gokuu and her mother disappeared into the flurry of snow, two small black points in a sea of snow.

She couldn’t go after a Super Saiya-jin and hope to win, it just wasn’t possible. She was strong, she was deadly, but she knew her limits. Foolish Sukuashi was going to chase after a dream of paying Bardoku back for the past, but he was going to be killed in the process. If Sukuashi was weaker than her, and she couldn’t even fight back against Kakarroto, then Sukuashi was as good as dead. She was a more intelligent killer, the kind that could make the bravest man’s blood run cold. She knew her limits, she knew her strength, and she weighed out everything before acting, including the after effects. A smile spread across her face, and she turned towards the other Earthlings, heaped on the snow, paralyzed. There were other ways to get revenge, other ways to kill someone inside. Pi wiped away the blood that was dripping into her eyes and smoothed her short dark hair away from her forehead. With careful steps, she gathered herself once more and began walking back to the city.

Behind her, perplexed, the soldiers began picking up the fallen Earthlings, taking them into custody.

Chapter 58
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