Disclaimer: I do not own Dragonball Z, no matter how much I beg and
plead. All hail King Toriyama!

Chapter 20

Bulma breathed a heavy sigh and let time resume its pace. She watched
Rikuum intently so she could observe his reaction to her new attack.

At first, Rikuum wavered unsteadily on his feet as all the little
indentations she’d made on his body filled themselves out. "What the hell?!"
He yelled, crashing to the ground and rolling around as he clutched at his
face and his midsection. "How in the...? What the hell did you do to me?!"
He roared, still rolling on the ground in pain.

Suddenly loud hoots and wild laughter filled the air, and Bulma glanced up
to see Jees and Baata rolling on the ground laughing. They looked so silly
that she almost grinned when she saw them.

"Rikuum, you’re such a wuss!" Jees laughed. "I can’t believe you just let
yourself get thrashed by a WOMAN! Wahahahaha!"

"Yeah!" Baata exclaimed, pointing at Rikuum. "What good is a fighter who
can’t even defeat a woman? Maybe we oughta kick ‘im off the team, and
recruit HER instead!" They both laughed riotously after that, and Rikuum
turned red all over. Growling, he stumbled to his feet and yelled for them
to shut up. Bulma rolled her eyes. They were acting like a bunch of
schoolyard children.

Suddenly Bulma felt a jolt of ki from up in the sky, and she tilted her head
up in its direction to see what was going on. She couldn’t see anything up
there. Then, just as suddenly as it had appeared, it ebbed away to the
barest trace imaginable. She wondered what had happened, and she glanced
over at Vegita. He was staring up in the same direction as the strange ki
source too. He shared her look of confusion. She hadn’t noticed it before,
but it appeared that Vegita could now sense ki. Strange that she hadn’t
noticed it before, she thought to herself. Well, anyway, he had apparently
sensed it too, that strange ki. What could it be?

She labored over it for a few seconds before the answer came to her and hit
her all at once like a ton of bricks. Goku! It had to be him! It had even
felt like his ki! She could barely sense him now, but that didn’t mean
anything. Goku knew that the enemies on this planet had scouters. No doubt
he was suppressing his ki so he couldn’t be detected as easily. She could
tell he was getting closer, even though he was still pretty far away. He
definitely hadn’t reached the planet yet. But even that didn’t matter to
Bulma at the moment. All she cared about was that he was coming, and he’d
be here soon! She was beaming at the sky, with tears streaming down her
face, and was completely oblivious to everything else. She was so lost in
her reveries, in fact, that she wasn’t paying any attention to Rikuum. He
had cautiously made his way over to her, occasionally glancing up at the sky
to discover just what it was she was smiling at. Finally, after scratching
his head a bit, he shrugged and drew his massive fist back to pay her back
for that little humiliation that she’d put him through earlier. But just
before it was to connect, she darted off toward Kuririn, all the while
paying no heed to Rikuum - who lost his balance and fell flat on his face.

"Kuririn!" She said excitedly as she ran up to him and knelt down at his
side. "It’s Goku, Kuririn! I can feel it! He’ll be here any minute!"

"He... he will?" Kuririn said, struggling to look up at the sky. "Are you
sure?"

"I’m positive!" She exclaimed, beaming at him happily. "Just hang on for
a while longer, Kuririn. I just know that Goku will find a way to make
things right!"

She got up and stared curiously at Rikuum, who was angrily wiping the dirt
off his face. He stared back at her testily, as if it had been her fault.
She was almost giddy with relief that Goku was on his way, and she even felt
a little gutsier because of it. But looking at Rikuum made her remember
that she still had a job to do. She still had to protect her friends, at
least until Goku arrived. But at least now she knew she had a chance.

With a sly grin on her face, Bulma strolled over to Rikuum. She stopped a
few yards short of him and assumed a fighting stance. "Shall we continue?"
She asked politely.

"What the hell was that all about?" He snapped at her impatiently.

Bulma grinned more broadly and shook her head. "Sorry for that interruption,"
she apologized courteously. "It was never my intention to be rude, but it
had to be done. Don’t worry. I won’t skip out on you again."

"Well, that’s very kind of you," Rikuum said snidely. "I’d hate to think
you were avoiding me."

"Hey, Rikuum!" Jees suddenly yelled down impatiently. "Will you quit
fooling around down there and do your job? Hurry up and dispose of the two
little invalids and be done with it! We never even agreed you could fight
them, but now that you’ve ruined them for us, it’s only fair that you finish
them off. You’ve lost your chance with Vegita, pal. Baata’s going to
finish him off. And as for the other one, well let’s just say that I’ll
take care of her." He grinned fiendishly at Bulma, who pretended to ignore
him.

Rikuum instantly began to protest, complaining that it wasn’t his fault that
they had gotten in his way. Vegita was supposed to be his. And he still
had to pay the girl back for what she’d done to him earlier. But Jees and
Baata were unwavering. They were totally unwilling to listen to him, and it
was easy to see that Rikuum was outnumbered. He was fighting a losing
battle, and he knew it. Bulma began to worry. She couldn’t hold Rikuum off
of Kuririn and Gohan forever, especially if Jees and Baata decided to hold
her off of HIM. Rikuum flew up to his comrades so he could argue some more,
and Bulma glanced over at Gohan, and then at Vegita, who was still standing,
hunched over, a few yards behind him. Bulma found herself wanting to tell
him about Goku. At least she might be able to offer him some hope. But on
second thought, she decided not to. She doubted that he would be all that
happy to hear about Goku’s arrival anyway. So she looked away, switching
her focus to the sky, in the general direction of Goku’s ki. She knew that
he could land at any minute, but she wasn’t sure just when, since he was too
far away to judge just how long it would take. She looked back over at Team
Ginyu again, and was alarmed to see that Rikuum wasn’t up there arguing with
Jees and Baata anymore. She scanned around for him, and saw him dejectedly
trudging over toward Gohan. Bulma frantically searched her mind for
solutions. She didn’t know what to do. She didn’t see any way to stall
Rikuum, other than the obvious option of direct confrontation. Her strength
would most likely give out if she tried to fight him during teleportation
again, and she didn’t think it was a worthwhile method right now anyway,
since it didn’t do all that much damage, and made him exceedingly angry.
Besides, she needed to stall for as much time as she could, and stopping
time wasn’t going to accomplish that. There was nothing else to do. She had
to fight him. She had one more trick up her sleeve, though, and she decided
that now was the time to pull it. She’d only been shown how to do it once,
and that was by Yamucha, near the beginning of her ki technique training.
It was worth a try, though, so she decided to take the chance.

Bulma braced herself, and with a calculating glance up at the sky to see
where the brightest of Namek’s suns was, she launched herself at Rikuum with
tremendous speed. Being careful not to create the slightest sound, she
dashed toward him, forming a diversionary ki ball as she went. She hurled
it at his midsection, and as he began to turn around, she teleported to the
opposite side of him, and she then began punching him in his back, just as
he blocked her ki ball. With an exclamation of surprise, he spun around and
began blocking her blows.

"You just won’t give up, will you?" He laughed, blocking some more of her
punches and kicks.

"Not until you do," she snapped, jumping back a bit, and placing her hands,
with her fingers spread wide, on either end of her face. "Taiyoken!" She
screamed, sending the brilliant flash of light straight at Rikuum’s face.
He screamed in surprise, and covered his eyes with both his hands.

Bulma wasted no time. She jumped up and delivered an abrupt roundhouse kick
to the side of his face. He spun around a couple of times, but managed to
remain on his feet. He scrunched in defensively as Bulma began to punch at
his face. She landed a good one on his jaw and he fell backwards a bit.
Instead of righting himself again, however, he pushed off of his feet and
did a backward handspring. He then executed some more handsprings, and was
soon several hundred feet away. Bulma raced after him stealthily,
completely aware of what he was up to. If he could get her to chase after
him, he might be able to hear her coming, and he just might be able to fight
back. She couldn’t let that happen. She didn’t know when the effects of
her Taiyoken would wear off, but she had to do as much damage as possible
while it lasted, because she knew he’d never give her the opportunity to do
it again.

"Rapid teleport!" She screamed, watching him screech to an unnatural stop
in midair. She walked around to the other side of him and put about twenty
feet between herself and him. She then stopped her teleport, and as he
sailed towards her, she jumped up, turned a full 180° to the right, drew her
left arm forward, and then, just as his back was to hers, she slammed her
elbow into the back of his neck. The force of the blow caused him to spin
forward instead of backward, not to mention lose a lot of his momentum. As
a result, his face smashed into the ground, and then so did the rest of his
body. He slid across the rocky dirt for a couple of yards beyond Bulma,
before coming to a grinding, friction-induced stop.

Bulma quickly floated down to the ground and positioned herself so as to
assure the most support for what she was about to do. Rikuum began to groan,
and he plunked his hands down into the dirt and started to lift himself up.
Bulma had to hurry."Ka-me..." she began, fiercely concentrating her ki between
the palms of her hands. "...Ha-me..."

Rikuum had, in the meantime, gotten to his feet. He snarled, and as he
raised his head, his gaze fell on Bulma.

"HA!!" Bulma screamed, letting the blast go. It sped toward Rikuum with
the highest speed Bulma could muster. She was absolutely sure that she had
gotten him.

Rikuum stepped to the left a bit, and he rammed his right shoulder into the
brunt of the blast. Without so much as a grunt, he simply shoved the blast
aside, and it sailed off to the right in a graceful arc before landing on a
flat plain just less than a mile away, and it exploded in a brilliant flash
of light. A few seconds later, the thunderous reverberations of the
explosion echoed throughout the battlefield, and the ground shook a little
as well. But Bulma naturally didn’t pay any attention to any of these
things. She just stared, terrified, into the smoldering gaze in which
Rikuum held her. He had regained his sight already, and he was glaring
furiously straight at her. She stepped back defensively, and she felt a
lump form in her throat.

"Oh crap," she thought frantically. "Here it comes."

With lightning speed Rikuum charged at her like a mad bull. Before Bulma
had time to blink, she was flying backwards, staring down at Rikuum’s
enormous right knee, and was beginning to feel an excruciating pain in her
stomach. She felt like she was moving in slow motion. With a sharp thud,
she found herself sprawling, face up, on the ground. She gagged, and a
painful fit of coughing racked her frame. She turned her head aside and she
coughed up a mouthful of blood. She spit it out and wiped at her mouth with
her arm. She was definitely going to be feeling that hit for a while.

Vegita winced. It was only a matter of time now. He’d tried to warn her,
the damn fool. But that stupid girl just had to go and make Rikuum angry
with her. Whatever she got, she had brought on herself. Earthlings. He
shouldn’t have expected anything less moronic from her. Still, he found it
terribly hard to watch her destroy herself like that.

Bulma cried out in pain as she tried to get up. Her stomach felt like it
was on fire! She fell back again, gasping as she waited for the pain to
subside. Still determined, however, she rolled onto her stomach and pushed
herself up with her arms. Jerkily, and with a great deal of pain, she
pushed herself upright and stumbled clumsily onto her feet.

She looked around frantically for Rikuum, expecting him to hit her again at
any second. She finally spotted him, nearly twenty yards away. He was
making a beeline for Kuririn.

"Damn him!" Bulma hissed, shooting off after him. Her stomach was killing
her, but surprisingly enough, the pain was ebbing away fairly quickly.
Perhaps she had lucked out and he hadn’t seriously damaged anything.

She raced after him, silently and swiftly, and brandishing a tightly
clenched right fist. She caught up with him and swung violently at the back
of his neck, but she found herself swinging through an afterimage. She
spun around just in time to have her feet swept out from under her. Before
she even touched the ground, however, Rikuum grabbed her left ankle and shot
skyward with her in tow. She shrieked in surprise and shot an energy blast
at him, but he was moving much too fast for her to even be remotely accurate.
She kicked and punched at him, flailing about wildly. She definitely did
not like being dragged around by her foot!

After only a few seconds of flight they were up over a sharply sloped hill,
and then Bulma was staring at the upside-down figures of Jees and Baata.

Jees laughed. "Having problems, Rikuum?" He snickered, nudging Baata, who
began to chuckle. "Do you need us to help you dispose of those two little
nuisances down there too? Is that it?"

"Catch!" Rikuum snarled, and he flung Bulma at Jees. She crashed into him,
knocking him over, and she rolled a few feet away from him before she was
able to stop herself. She was pretty slow about getting up. Jees, however,
jumped to his feet straightaway, growling at Rikuum.

"And just what was that for?" He demanded, floating up to be eye-level with
Rikuum. "What’s the big idea, Rikuum?"

"If you want me to leave her for you, then that’s fine with me," Rikuum
retorted angrily. "But keep her away from me, you got that? The next time
she challenges me, I’ll kill her! I’ve had enough of this nonsense!" And
with that, he shot down to the base of the hill, and stormed over toward
Kuririn.

Bulma watched Rikuum in desperation. It was for keeps now; she knew that.
She couldn’t afford to make another mistake with this guy. She decided
she’d run at him from behind, and then she’d teleport to another angle as
soon as he turned around. She’d have to fight him like that, staying on the
defensive, for as long as she could hold out. That was the only way she’d
be able to buy any more time. Her options were all gone. Maybe she’d get
lucky and wear him down a bit for Goku.

Deciding it was now or never, she sprang out after Rikuum. She didn’t get
very far, however, because before she had even jumped off of the top of the
hill, Jees had one arm wrapped tightly around her waist, and the other
wrapped just as tightly around her neck.

"Whoa! Whoa!" He exclaimed, as she struggled fiercely against him. "What
are you doing?! Do you have a death wish or something? You heard what he
said! Rikuum’s not kidding around! He really will kill you if you so much
as go near him again!"

"You think I’m doing this for my health?" Bulma snapped at him, squirming
around violently. "Or for kicks? Geez, when are you jerks gonna get it?
I’m not going to let you hurt my friends any more!"

"I’d say it’s probably a bit too late for that," Baata remarked, nodding
down at Rikuum, who was rapidly approaching Gohan this time.

"No!" Bulma yelled, fighting wildly to free herself from Jees, but he only
held her more tightly. He laughed as she kicked at him with her feet and
clawed violently at his arms with her hands. It was all in vain, however.
No matter how hard she kicked, punched, or scratched at him, he didn’t even
seem to feel it. Bulma glanced despairingly down at Gohan. What was she
going to do? She could only watch as Rikuum advanced on him. Bulma felt
like breaking down and crying. It was over. There was nothing else she
could do. She wanted to turn her head away so she wouldn’t have to watch,
but that would be doing Gohan a dishonor.

"Hey Jees," Baata said suddenly, tapping him on the shoulder. "Didn’t
Freeza say he’d rather blow up this useless bit of dirt than call in for
more reinforcements?"

"Yeah," Jees replied, glancing back at him. "Why do you ask?"

"Because we’ve got company," Baata said, pointing to the sky off in the
distance, in the same general direction as Rikuum. Jees craned his neck so
that he could see what Baata was pointing at. Bulma looked up too. She
could just barely make out a small glowing speck in the sky in that
direction.

"That doesn’t look like one of ours," Jees said with mild interest. "Where
do you think it came from?"

"Who knows?" Baata said, shrugging. "But we ought to check it out anyway,
just to see."

The craft had gotten much closer, in the meantime, and it began its descent,
suddenly swooping down toward the battlefield. The engines roared loudly
as it zoomed overhead. Bulma scrutinized it closely as it passed over them.
Upon recognizing the logo on the side, she gasped in surprise. It was the
Capsule Corporation emblem! As unmistakable to her as her own father, and
there it was, flying above her! It could only mean one thing. Goku had
arrived!

She looked back down at Rikuum. He had stopped what he was doing and was
watching the ship as it zoomed overhead. He suddenly began running up
toward Jees, Baata, and her. He must have been curious as to what was going
on. Bulma involuntarily sighed with relief. At least Goku might get a
chance to see his son alive for a little while when he got here. Thinking
of that really curbed her excitement at seeing him arrive, though.

Rikuum flew up alongside Baata and watched the Capsule Corp. ship land about
a half a mile away. "What’s that?" He said, pointing at it. "That’s not
one of ours, is it?"

They began to discuss what they ought to do about it while Bulma studied the
ship carefully. It definitely didn’t look like her Namek ship. It was more
like an enormous Saiyan space pod. Her dad must’ve used that design after
all. She’d have to ask him about the details involved later. She was
definitely interested in finding out why Goku’s ship got there in only six
days while hers got here in no less than a month!

She glanced at Rikuum and Baata. They were both watching the ship, and they
had become practically oblivious to her and her friends. She decided she’d
take a chance that Jees was doing the same. She suddenly wrenched and
twisted herself around in an attempt to get free.

"Whoa! Calm down, now," Jees exclaimed, steadying his grip. "What are you
so worked up about?" He squeezed her a little too tightly and she yelped
at the sharp pain this caused around her waist. He eased up a bit then, but
not enough for her to be able to move.

"Now, you just behave yourself and stay still," he said, patting her lightly
on the thigh, "and I won’t have to get physical with you... yet."

The way he said it sent cold shivers down her spine. She was deathly still
then. The terror was as plainly visible on her face as the clouds were in
the sky.

"Hey, it’s opening up!" Rikuum exclaimed suddenly. They all turned their
attention toward the door of the spacecraft as it swung down to the ground.

Bulma watched it open with anticipation. A figure stepped out and levitated
up into the air. He slowly made a full 360º turn, and then, as he came to
face them, he stopped.

"Son-kun," Bulma said sadly. "If only you had gotten here fifteen minutes
sooner."

"What?" Jees said. "You know that freak?"

"Yes," Bulma replied. "He’s from my planet... but he’s a Saiyan."

"A Saiyan?" Baata laughed. "Well now we know there’s no cause for worry,
don’t we?"

Goku was suddenly replaced by a bright red ball of light, and that soon
disappeared. The next thing Bulma felt was a sharp, jarring blow to each
of Jees’ arms. Almost instantly, Jees was knocked backwards, and she was
free. But before she could do anything else, some unknown force lifted her
up, and she found herself swooping down to the battlesite below. She wanted
to scream, but she was moving so quickly that the fast-moving air was
whipping all the sound away. In no time flat she was just above the ground,
and only a few feet away from Kuririn. She looked around, and discovered,
to her utter surprise, that she was resting comfortably in Goku’s arms!

"Hi Bulma!" He said affably.

"GOKU!!" Bulma cried, hugging him around the neck ferociously. "Dammit,
Goku, you scared the hell outta me!"

He laughed, and let her fly on her own. She glanced up at Team Ginyu.
Rikuum and Baata were gaping down at them in surprise. Jees was just
getting up, and boy did he look ticked off!

"Goku, I’m glad you’re here," Bulma said, lowering her eyes, "but you’re too
late. Vegita and Kuririn might live, although Kuririn’s iffy, but Gohan’s
as good as dead. Even if we were able to get him back to Earth he’d be a
vegetable for the rest of his life, at best. Damn that Rikuum!"

"Aw, don’t worry about Gohan," Goku said, smiling reassuringly at her.
"He’ll be fine. Here, give this to Kuririn. I’ll take care of Gohan." He
held out a small bean in the palm of his hand. Bulma gaped at it in
disbelief for a second before she could regain the ability to speak.

"Is that what I think it is?" She said, barely daring to believe her eyes.

"Yep," he said, nodding happily. "It’s a Sensu bean. Go ahead and give it
to Kuririn while I give one to Gohan."

Nodding at him as the tears welled up in her eyes, she took the precious
bean from him and flew down to Kuririn’s side.

"Hey Bulma," Kuririn said feebly. "I must be hearing things. I just heard
Goku tell you to give me a Sensu bean. How crazy is that?"

"About as crazy as this," Bulma choked, laughing and crying at the same
time. She poked the bean in Kuririn’s mouth, and his eyes opened wide as he
recognized the taste. He chewed it furiously then, and as he swallowed it,
Bulma could already sense the change taking place inside of him. Finally,
he picked himself up off of the ground and looked at Bulma as if he were not
quite sure that what he was seeing was real. She then smiled and breathed
a sigh of relief, and what they saw in each other’s eyes was real enough for
them to be convinced.

"ohan!" Bulma said suddenly, and they both turned around, just in time to
see the young boy leap joyfully into his father’s arms. Laughing, they ran
over to join them, and Vegita just looked on in disgusted disbelief.

"Man, Goku," Kuririn said, grinning from ear to ear. "You sure know how to
make us wait. Thank Kami you got here when you did!"

"Oh, I don’t know," Goku said, chuckling and tousling Gohan’s hair. "I’ll
bet you guys could have held your own for a while longer."

"No," Kuririn said soberly. "Gohan and I got knocked out of it right after
Vegita did. It was all Bulma could do to keep that Rikuum off of us. But
she knew you were coming, Goku. When she told me she could sense you were
on your way and that you’d be here soon, I didn’t dare believe it. But here
you are!"

"Yeah, I figured that at least one of you would pick up that little signal.
I figured I’d let you know I was almost here. But I don’t understand,
Kuririn. I thought that Vegita was on their side. Why did they beat him up
too?"

"Let’s just say that a common enemy has made us temporary allies," Bulma
said, sighing. "It turns out Freeza wanted Vegita dead even before we got
here. I think Vegita was rebelling against him or something like that."

"Yeah," Kuririn agreed. "God, Goku! Everything’s been crazy up here!
There’s so much that we have to tell you! I don’t know where to begin!"

"I’ve got an idea that will save us a lot of time!" Goku said suddenly,
snapping his fingers. "Let me try this!" He put his hand on Kuririn’s
head. Kuririn looked at him in confusion for a couple of seconds, but
before he could say a word, Goku had withdrawn his hand, and was nodding his
head in understanding.

"Man, you guys HAVE been through a lot, huh?" He said, fishing around in
the little pouch that was attached to his belt.

"What just happened?" Kuririn said, flabbergasted. "Don’t tell me YOU can
read minds!"

"Yep," Goku replied, smiling at him and fishing out another Sensu bean from
the pouch. He then tossed the pouch to the ground. "That’s something I
developed during my training on the way up here. I guess training at 100
times Earth’s gravity has some weird side effects."

"A hundred times?!" Bulma squeaked, her eyes nearly bugging out of her head.
"You mean to tell me that you worked all the way up to 100 g’s in less than
a week?!"

"Sure did," Goku replied, scratching his head. "And it was pretty rough at
first, too. But I got the hang of it. I’ll have to thank your dad when we
get back, Bulma."

Bulma smiled. Goku never ceased to amaze her. "Someone oughta write a song
about him," she thought to herself. Gravity training, huh? That was an
interesting concept. Maybe she’d have to try that out when she got back
home.

Goku looked thoughtfully at the Sensu in his hand. "Hey Bulma," he said
suddenly. "What kind of shape are you in? You’re not hurt badly, are you?"

"Surprisingly no," she said, wiping some dirt off her gi and gingerly feeling
the tender place on her middle where Rikuum had kneed her. "I guess I
lucked out again. What’re you going to do with that Sensu bean, Goku? I’d
say that it’d be a waste on me right now."

"Okay then," was all he said in reply. He turned around and faced Vegita.
"Yo, Vegita!" He called out to him. "Catch!" He tossed the Sensu bean to
Vegita, who caught it and looked at it the way someone might look at a dead
cockroach.

"Eat it, Vegita!" Goku called. Vegita looked at him distrustfully a couple
of times before finally putting it in his mouth and eating it.

"Um... Goku?" Bulma said, watching Vegita’s eyes open wide as the Sensu
began to take effect. "Are you sure that was a good idea? What if he turns
against us? Vegita’s gotten a lot stronger, and I mean a LOT."

"Don’t worry," Goku said, winking at her. "So have I. But that’s beside
the point. If it hadn’t been for Vegita, Gurudo would have killed all of
you guys. I figured we owed him one."

Bulma wasn’t so sure that she agreed with him, but it didn’t really matter
now. Vegita was now completely healed, so whatever was going to happen was
going to happen.

Suddenly Rikuum leapt down off the hill and ran out in front of them. "Hey
you!" He yelled at Goku. "I don’t know who you are, but you just got
yourself in a world of trouble!"

"Is that so?" Goku said, grinning with confidence.

"Be careful, Goku," Bulma said, glaring at Rikuum. "He’s the reason why
Kuririn, Gohan, and even Vegita got the crap kicked out of them."

"Yeah, be careful, Goku," Rikuum taunted him, sneering at Bulma. "I don’t
care that you’re a Saiyan, either. Everyone knows that Vegita’s the
strongest one of all of you apes, and I didn’t even break a sweat with him!"

"Well maybe I’m an exception," Goku said, frowning suddenly, "because I’m
not afraid of you. Compared to me, you’re as weak as a baby."

Rikuum started visibly at that bold statement. So did Bulma. What was Goku
saying? It wasn’t his way to bluff. Just how powerful did he think he was?
Or more importantly, just how powerful was he? She didn’t know, but she was
dying to find out!


On To Chapter Twenty One