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

Chapter 20 - Part Two

"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 Part One