[Rated] R Not for the kiddies....although they enjoy it the most...... --The Hunt-- Part Two [By] Ben Weeks [Note] I would like to thank whoever the composers are of the respective songs "We Gotta Power", "Cha-la Head-Cha-la", and "Just Communication." Without these songs for inspiration, my stories would be chalk-dry and boring. I strongly recommend you listen to them while reading my stories. Download "We Gotta Power" and "Cha-La Head-Cha-la" from VegettoEX's homepage. "Just Communication" is a cool video on Castor Troy's page. Or you can buy the CD's! Please, for the love of humanity, do not keep sending me emails asking why my story isn't done yet. It was nice to hear that someone was reading my stories, but after I received no less than thirty-seven emails over it, many cursing me out, I stopped answering them when the subject was: "finish yur goddamned story!" or words to that effect. For any other comments, whether they be insults, comments, questions, or compliments, send them to: redwizardb@yahoo.com and NOT the owner of this worthy and obviously classy webpage.^_^ Kami, the other half of Piccolo, is still Kami of earth and has not fused back with his counterpart yet. That will be of great import later on, so I'd like to get that cleared up. When we last left our, uh, "heroes", they were on the mysterious and dead planet Sai. Gokou, stirred by saiya-jin instincts that were increased with Vegeta's tale, felt a strong urge to go on the hunt, the saiya-jin practice of cruising the galaxy for adventure, akin to that of a carnivorous predator. Vegeta felt an urge to go as well, wanting to get in one last hunt before he could do it no longer. So they were off... After crashing on the planet of Sai, the ancient saiya-jin homeland, they met Saki, the legendary Super-saiya-jin spoke of in myths and tales. Defeating him, since super-saiya-jin aren't so legendary anymore, we left them wounded on the planet. Wounded, but victorious..... "Stand, men of the West! Stand and wait! For this is the hour of doom...." --Gandalf the White, in the "Return of the King", during the most climactic moment of the trilogy "Lord of the Rings" The spaceship cruised through space at incredible speeds, breaking every law ever written by any and every physicist. It sped by planets, skirting star systems and suns with perfect angle of approach and exit. It found the quickest and safest paths through nebulae and dust clouds; it calculated the movement of every asteroid in an asteroid field. It avoided all these hazards with routine form and style, zipping through the great vacuum.... It's only inhabitants slept during all of it. Vegeta had taken off his blackened armour and thrown it into a repair mechanism that the ship had happened to luckily and conveniently have onboard. He was floating in the Isolation Chamber, his chest bloody and damaged. His wounds slowly but surely were healing, using a sample of his DNA for the onboard computer to take a reading from and produce a synthetic material equivalent for healing purposes thereof. Gokou lay asleep on a very comfortable bed located on the edge of the room, sprawled every which way under silver satin blankets and resting his head on a self-cooled pillow. Drool ran slightly down his mouth as his dreams were filled with thoughts of turkey and ham and fish... The computer quietly beeped away the distances they traveled, duly logging everything of importance into the Main Log. On they sped through the inky black velvet of space.... Gokou suddenly woke up blearily to the sound of a loud beeping that incessantly rang annoyingly in his ear. He wiped the drool from his mouth and stood up, yawning and stretching. He scratched his stomach while he walked up to the console, peering down to the computer screen. On it was an image of a group of stars and planets, with a ship shining outlined in red and entitled "CC ship FF6" steadily moving towards one of them. He yawned and read sleepily the message blinking in red. "Nearing Zar. Zar guard unit MF-nn Ninethree; hostile query. Logged 0300 SST. Danger; units entering offensive mode." Gokou blinked and rubbed his eyes, staring blankly at the message he was unable to read, since it was in a foreign language. He turned and saw Vegeta floating in the isolation chamber, clothed only in his underwear. Gokou scratched his nuts and walked forward to put on his own boxers. After slipping them on, he walked to the isolation chamber and read the time left until healing complete. "Two hours...huh." Gokou walked back to the console and peered out the large screen facing space, seeing two strange-looking black-coloured ship approaching. He squinted to get a better look, then shrugged and walked back to his bed. WHOOMPF! Gokou staggered as the entire ship shook violently, waking up Vegeta and causing the computer to start flashing with warning alarms and klaxons. WHOOMPF! WHOOMPF!! WHOOMPF!!!!!! He fell onto his bed as more sounds of destruction whirred around the ship and shook the floor under his feet. He looked out into space and saw a bunch of bright red beams of light flying at the ship, lancing out from the small vehicles that circled the ship and then started slowly and ominously to bank. While they banked, he ran up to the Isolation Chamber and started to pound on the cover. Vegeta narrowed his eyes and started to motion for Gokou to go back to the console, but Gokou was oblivious. Vegeta's face reddened in frustration and he raised up his fingers. Gokou stared at them, then comprehended what Vegeta wanted him to notice. "Oh..lemme see...five words...first word....one syllable....get? Get? Okay, second word...one syllable...you? Me? Me? Get me?...third word...one syllable....um.....run? Exit? Food?? Get me food? Is that what you want? Food? No? Yes? No?" What Vegeta really wanted was to break out of the chamber and crack Gokou upside the head, but interrupting the healing process from the inside would have disastrous consequences. He started waving his hands when suddenly he stopped, perplexed. He floated silently, his eye's wide. Gokou had just suddenly disappeared, without a trace, like a cloud of smoke. Vegeta looked around as best he could, but he couldn't see Gokou. The sound of battle had stopped. He blinked in surprise. The ship continued through space, unmolested and alone. it's single inhabitant wracking his brain for an answer to what had just happened. Vegeta felt the whole Isolation Chamber suddenly shudder and the water began to empty. He ripped off the face mask as the water dropped below his neck and he kicked the button at the bottom of the chamber. The door in front of the chamber swung up quickly, letting some water pour out. He stood up, ignoring his body in order to search the room quickly. He jumped over the edge and ran up to the console, looking at it's strange text. It blinked and flashed with warnings. He calmly but hurriedly scanned the damage assessment. There goes that damned Praefacture....and the oxygen tanks have been breached..fuck! The control systems have been shot!! Suddenly a loud beeping sound drowned out the loud alarms and flashing red lights that lit up the small dark chamber of the ship. He looked down to read a small message: "Danger! Danger! Caught in orbit of Zar. Approach vector azimuth 160'. ETA six minutes. Prepare for impact." Vegeta cursed and ran up to his bunk, grabbing his jumpsuit and throwing it on over his underwear. He clutched his armour with one hand and ran up to the chair in front of the console, slipping the armour on and jumping in the chair. He clipped on the hand restraints and strapped himself in very tight. These spaceships had painfully jolting landings, especially if the landing was un-planned for. Vegeta looked out the window as the ship screamed into the atmosphere, fire making the heat inside nearly unbearable. He felt sweat form on his face and he gulped as he saw that he was about to land on a desert world, covered in mountains and sand. Several glints of metal showed him that there were cities on this planet, but they were few and far between. The beautiful sight of the sun shining from the other side of the planet right before it was eclipsed was totally lost on Vegeta as the ship started to violently rock and juke, baying back and forth as if it was about to rip apart. Wind was particularly strong, and Vegeta wondered if he'd been caught in a jet stream. The last thing Vegeta thought before he hit was: What the hell was I thinking!? Vegeta walked painfully away from the crashed ship, his leg limping slightly. He gasped for water in the hot world. His feet were blistered, his eye's were drying, his mouth was burning. His tongue felt like sandpaper. His muscles ached, his nose bled, his bones creaked. He was alive. He took a moment to look behind him. Far out of sight was the location of the crashed ship, a long line of his footsteps tracing it back and a wispy thin smoke cloud rising from it. Behind him, ever dogging his steps, was the beating sun. It's face seemed to leer at him, sending unbearable heat waves coursing into his veins. And far behind him, looming ominously on the horizon, were dark clouds that were growing ever bigger and bigger. Wind whistled around him strongly, blowing his hair behind him and making him squint to keep sand out of his eyes. He gasped for air as he looked forward again to see his target. It was a city. The first thing he noticed when he had staggered out of the ship was the fact that his Ki was not with him. The air had burned his lungs and he had suddenly felt as if he was moving in clay. His Ki returned after a moment, strong as ever, but it had been unsettling. He had attempted to fly but found that the air higher up was unbearably hot, along with the fact that the jet stream made it nearly impossible to move. Walking had been his best alternative. Besides, he didn't want to be found by any scouts the planet might have, at least not in his condition. All the while his thoughts were on Gokou. Where was he? What had happened? He had no idea. Vegeta sidled against the wall, watching the throng of people in the square. His eye's narrowed in the shadows as he watched them crowding around a large spaceship. It was steaming and clanking. The engine hummed and Vegeta smirked wickedly. Blow his way through the annoyance of a crowd, then steal the ship and find his way back to earth. It was too bad about Kakarotto, but oh well. The people inhabiting the city looked very much like humans, except they were slightly taller and they all had purple hair. Plus, he had noticed, they were much more intelligent and vicious. Their eye's were blue, but Vegeta suspected that was from a lack of water. Water was prized on the planet above everything else, and for good reason. Vegeta felt thirsty just thinking about it. Sneaking in had been no problem; they were all gathered in the middle of the city for some sort of momentous occasion. He watched the people crowding around the ship, and he was about to do his deed when suddenly a figure stood up on the edge of the platform. He was tall, but his eye's were dark black. His hair was the same color as his eyes, except his eye's were slanted even more viciously then the crowd that seemed to be cheering him on. He waved and was about to enter the pod when a small child of the race ran up and handed him a jug of water. The man took the water and drank it down, then spit it out and kicked the kid in the face, knocking him violently away. Vegeta gasped. It was Kakarotto. Gokou waved yet again to the cheering throng and then entered into the spaceship. Hordes of strange flower-like plants were heaped in all directions as the crowds went wild. The spaceship suddenly started to shake and then it flew high into the sky, disappearing among the clouds above. The hordes of people watched it leave quietly, until long after it was out of sight. Finally, with a sigh, they all started to disperse, going back to their respective businesses. Vegeta was agape the whole time. What the hell..? He sat there for a few moments, trying to sort out the thousands of distorted thoughts racing through his mind. Kakarotto....here? But.... He shook his head and walked forward, about to go look for another spaceship when suddenly two children entered the alley. He weighed his options and decided to let them live. He slunk up against the alley and ducked behind a trash can, watching the kids as they strolled down the dirty street. Vegeta suddenly realized they were talking in a language he could understand. "Wow, I can't believe it! The saiya-jin is going to go conquer Earth for us!" "Yeah! I wish I was with him! It's so cool!" Vegeta heard them yammering on and he growled. Finally, as they started to pass him, he leapt up and clutched the nearest one by the neck. The kid yelped and then started to gasp as Vegeta cut off his air supply. The other one's eye's widened in fear and he started to run away down the alley. Vegeta frowned and outstretched his hand, sending a beam flying at the boy's back. The boy's scream of pain and terror was abruptly cut short as the Ki energy burned away the flesh from his body. He turned back to his captive and grinned wickedly in his terrified face. "Where are your spaceship's located?" The boy gasped and tried to squirm free, but Vegeta tightened his grip. The boy's face started to turn red as he desperately tried to pump air into his lungs. Vegeta held it there for a second, then let go. The boy fell to the ground gasping, clutching his neck in pain. Vegeta opened one palm and pointed it at the boy, his face cruel. "Answer my question. Where are your spaceships located?" The boy looked up fearfully at the being that had just killed his best friend. Tears of anger and sorrow pulled at his eyes. "They....they're in the west side of the city." Vegeta grinned as a blue bubble of Ki popped around his hand with a flash of light. The boy cringed away as Vegeta pondered his options. "Where did that saiya-jin come from?" "A spaceship....they captured him and they proclaimed him their newest warrior." "How? He would have never fought on your side." The boy, despite himself, sneered at Vegeta. "Indoctrination. A drug planted in his food. He quickly saw the light." "How did you get him here?" "We read how high his power was. We knew we could harness it. The adult scientists are geniuses. They teleported him here by locking onto his energy source. After that, we just offered him some food." Vegeta gritted his teeth in anger. "So he went to earth to conquer it?" "We'd never heard of it, but he said he could grant us any wish with some sort of magical orbs that were on the planet. We decided to let him take his pick of the first planet to be conquered, to join the empire of Zar!" Vegeta growled and fired a beam at the boy, before he even had a chance to realize what had happened. The ground was eaten away into a small crater, leaving no trace of his victim. He flexed his fingers and ran down the alley, his thoughts racing on a plan. Steal a ship, race back to Earth. Kakarotto cannot wish for immortality! I can't let that happen! Vegeta's face was contorted in anger as he ran through the streets, ignoring the people yelling at him. The army of the city was sounding the alarm, sending hordes of beings after him armed to the teeth with deadly lasers that, by themselves, were of no consequence, but when combined with the might of many others, could prove a bit dangerous. Vegeta was not worried about the lasers, however. He was more concerned with how he was going to get off planet alive. Zar was infamous for it's deadly fleets. He couldn't defend himself with his powers in space! How could he survive? Among other things, Vegeta got angry when his life was threatened. Although all around him the soldiers of Zar were firing at him, he just gritted his teeth in anger and searched desperately for a ship, feeling his time running out. Finally, after much searching, he found a small scouting spaceship that was obviously built for speed, not comfort or protection. It also looked, to Vegeta's trained eye, to be unsuitable for deep space travel. But he didn't have any choice. Any more time down here and he might succumb to his enemy's attacks. Couldn't let that happen. With a grunt, he ran forward to it's open door and leapt into the seat, twisting his body in midair to land backwards in the correct position facing out. The ship beared a comfortably close resemblance to a saiya-jin spacepod. Lasers rumbled over the ship's metal hull. Vegeta grimaced and slapped a button, feeling the ship rise high into the air. As it soared high in the sky, rocketing at an incredible rate towards space, he quickly slammed the pod's door shut. The ship sped through the atmosphere at cheek-tugging speeds, making him flinch as turbulence rocked him back and forth in the cushioned seat. As he saw the stars slowly come into view, he grimaced as he saw several small ships fly out towards him on point positions, lining themselves up for attack. His ship couldn't enter full throttle before he exited Zar's gravity sphere. Vegeta cursed in frustration and impotence as the small guard ships started to unleash a salvo of lasers, rocking his ship into critical condition and jarring his teeth harshly. Alarms started to go off and red lights began to flash incessantly in his ear. He saw the ships began slowly and sleekly to bank. He knew that this would be the last pass; the small ship could not take any more hits at all. He saw the full throttle lever, not even close to being one-quarter finished. He weighed his options, and then, holding his breath, sweat pouring down his face, he reached for it. Vegeta hesitated, looking out the viewport. Outside, the two ships were silently and gracefully completing their banking maneuver, bringing his ship slowly but surely into their crosshairs. Vegeta reached down, clutched the lever, and sucked in as much air as he could hold. With a sudden rush of resolve, he pushed the lever to full throttle, sending his ship careening randomly through space faster than the speed of light. He held it for the longest four seconds of his entire life, then with a grunt he slapped it back to zero, bringing the ship to an abrupt and jarring halt. He slammed forward in his seat with a cry of pain and brought up the coordinates. After looking at them, he let all the air inside his lungs out in a huge sigh of relief. He entered the coordinates for Earth, safely out of reach of the Zar fleet long enough for him to calculate the course. Clutching his old wounds, he watched the stars stream at increasing speeds by his ship. Vegeta closed his eyes and went to sleep, fear making him nervous and tired. Vegeta sped silently through space in his damaged craft, speeding urgently to Earth.... Hoping he made it before Kakarotto. The two sped urgently towards earth, which was blissfully ignorant of the single perilous string it's fate now depended upon. End of Part Two.