The main computer that navigated the Capsule 3 was a wonder of human acheivement...
... pretty much like everything else Dr. Briefs and his daughter came up with.
It had features for everything: a television and radio to pick up still travelling signals from the long-ago past, a panel that controlled functions in the entire rest of the ship, the gravity machine of course, as well as automated detectors for any defects in the ship, and any approaching anomalies.
But all this equipment was not perfect. It depended on one fatal flaw to work as it was intended. It depended on the attention of the pilot. So it was all for naught when Sarro wasn't at the pilot's seat when sensors detected the approach of another ship.
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" Yaa! Vejiita! " Greeted Kakarrot in that abominable cheerfulness of his. Vejiita-Oji turned and sneered at him. Kakarrot smiled as though he didn't notice, and asked, " Shall we fight? "
" Yes! " answered Vejiita-Oji immediatly. He was never one to turn down a fight.
Kakarrot continued to smile, and walked up to him. The smile then dropped and he got into fighting stance. Vejiita-Oji did as well. But before the sparring could commence, Kakarrot smiled again and leaned down to look Vejiita-Oji directly in the face.
" Maa yo, I cannot fight you Vejiita! "
" Why the hell not?! "
" Because, you have already defeated yourself! " answered Kakarrot cryptically, and then he disappeared. Not in the sense of using One-Pattern or Teleportation, he just vanished, leaving Vejiita-Oji to glare around at the darkness angrily.
Then a slight glow caught his attention and he looked towards it. As if sensing his eyes upon it, the glow became a bright burst of light that Vejiita-Oji had to sheild his eyes from. When the light faded back to a glow, and Vejiita-Oji could look again, he gave a start and an inadvertant step back.
Fourth Stage Freezer smiled at him coolly. " Vejiita, " he said in that
false affection that the little prince had once fallen for,
" What's bothering you? "
" N-Nan na no? " Vejiita-Oji took another disgracefully shaky step back.
[Nan na no means something like 'what in the world']
Freezer smiled at him, almost femininely, and leaned his head back. Liquid light spilled over him, and he morphed into... Sarro? Sarro, with her hair hanging out of the braid and pure silver eyes. She reached out a hand towards Vejiita-Oji and smiled sickeningly, with an almost perversion that split her face and made it something unholy.
Vejiita-Oji turned from that horrible face to find no comfort. What he found instead, was something much more horrible.
For there in the darkness was Katera, covered in the blood of her victim, and that damnable sword embedded in the heart of his son.
" K-Katera! " Vejiita-Oji voiced in shock, " Trunks! "
Katera laughed quietly and licked Trunks' blood from her lips, staring directly into Vejiita-Oji's eyes as she did so.
Vejiita-Oji shook with rage. He looked back, half sure this was Sarro's doing, but the woman was no longer there. He turned back.
" Katera... Kisama... " he trailed off, growing angrier as the seconds ticked by, forcing him to see his son dead... his own flesh and blood... his heir...! " KATERA!!!!! " He flew at the other Saiyajin, his eyes blind with fury, " I'll Kill You!! I'll Kill You!! " His ki aura flared brighter, his eyes went white, and he blasted all the way to Super Saiyajin Three in one shot. " I'LL KILL YOU!! " He reached the murderess and punched...
... right through Katera to land on his face past her. His face mashed
into the floor, he lost all hold on Super Saiyajin... and his
consciousness.
When he awoke, he found himself alone. There was no sign of Katera, Trunks, Sarro, Kakarrot, or anybody. Vejiita-Oji was alone... again.
" Hontou ni? " came the voice of Sarro to his ears.
" Hai, " agreed a younger voice, one he couldn't quite place.
The owners of both voices appeared before Vejiita-Oji. True to his hearing, the first was Sarro, still with the silver eyes and loose hair. She looked on Vejiita-Oji with a frigid gaze that he'd... seen before... but where?
The other person with Sarro completely wiped that thought away from his mind.
Dressed from head to toe in the regal dress of the Saiyajin monarchy, he stood to only about Sarro's knees. A little cape was clipped to his shoulder guards, and long-gone bangs fell into his already hard black eyes.
Sarro smiled down at Vejiita-Oji's five year old self and prompted, " Neh, Vejiitachan, why don't you tell Vejiitasan what you just told me? "
Chibi Vejiita looked on without expression and began, " Omae wa... "
Vejiita-Oji clamped his hands over his ears and yelled, not wanting to hear.
And he didn't. All he heard, was his own yell, intermingled with Sarro laughing. As time went on, her laugh crescendoed, until it was the last thing ringing in Vejiita-Oji's ears when he woke up.
[I seem to have this thing for dreams, lately, ne?]
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Katera screamed in frustration as her sword once again sliced only air.
Rucuruu appeared behind her and chuckled quietly. " You still have the tendancy to lose your temper, Kateraope. "
" SHUT UP! " she fired and swung at him again, and again only caught air. She turned ninety degrees and flew fast to engage him. The sound of clashing metal filled the skies, and a silver blurr filled the vision of both opponents. Katera's fiery green eyes remained on Rucuruu's steady black ones.
Eventually her face pinched in insult and she made a disgusted sound. Taking one hand away from her hilt, she formed a ki ball and threw it at Rucuruu.
Rucuruu threw it off with the blade of his sword and flew around to engage Katera from a different angle.
" What's happened to your form? You used to have remarkable patience, Kateraope. " Rucuruu commented, his breath short. " Has all that power affected your mind? "
" Who cares? " Katera spat, " So long as I defeat you? "
Rucuruu's emotional mask fell a moment as he let his dismayed shock show through.
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Gohan flew in a burst of ki off of the school campus and towards where he could feel the ki from the battle going on. While flying he passed over a cloud and activated the special capsule Bulma had made for him, and transformed into the Great Saiyaman.
[Didn't know what else to call it other than 'Special Capsule']
Arriving on the scene, he found Kyande and Goten arguing over something, a group of people alternately watching them, and staring to the sky. Deciding to leave the kids alone (it was only an argument thus far, not a fight) Gohan looked to the sky and gave a start.
It was definatly Katera... but who was she fighting? Was it another enemy to Chikyuu, or just one to Katera? Or was it both? An enemy of the Saiyajin perhaps? There was also the slim possibility that it was a local enemy.
" Oi! You two up there! " Gohan shouted to the sky, trying to sound important. They either ignored him, or didn't hear. Either way, Gohan looked miffed a moment before lifting to the sky. He raised himself to their level and called again, " You there who dare to disturb the peace of Chikyuu, I, The Great Saiyaman, order you to cease immediately. "
" Get lost, Gohan. "
Gohan nearly fell over (or just fell, since he's in the sky) and sweatdropped. " Katchan... " he whined.
Rucuruu laughed. " Another half-breed? Is he your brother as well, Kateraope? "
" Shut up. " Katera said quietly, and then attacked again.
Gohan debated over whether to interfere. " Chotto... "
Rucuruu and Katera clashed again, and fought for a long while until suddenly things changed and Rucuruu gained the upperhand, throwing Katera's sword out of her hands.
The blade arced through the air to land in Gohan's hands. He stared at it in surprise for a moment, before his attention returned to the battle he was supposed to be stopping.
" You still forget the most important lesson, Kateraope. " stated Rucuruu.
Katera roared in anger and flew at him weaponless. It was an easy matter for Rucuruu to lift his blade and use Katera's own force to drive it through her chest. She came to a stop halfway up the blade and choked. Rucuruu closed his eyes and relaxed.
" As well, you still forget, Rucuruusensei... " Katera's voice rasped, and he opened his eyes again in surprise. Katera's chest heaved around the blade with every breath, and she glared at Rucuruu with a slight grin tugging at the corners of her mouth. She continued in a rough whisper that betrayed her dying ki, " That we Saiyajin have power to spare... " With that she brought her hands up and blasted Rucuruu point blank with all her power.
Rucuruu's last cry echoed through the air as he disappeared into the ki blast.
Katera's force threw her off the blade and past Gohan to crater the ground and heavily damage a building.
" Neechan!! " Goten screamed and burst into tears.
Spurred into action by his brother's cry, Gohan spun around, the sword still resting in his hands, to see Katera lying amidst a slow mixture of debris and blood.
" She's dead! " Kyande declared without any tact and began crying herself.
Gohan could only stare, as his body went numb. The sword slipped from
his grip to embed itself in the pavement below.
**
[Personally, I think that was a bit drawn out. Oh well! I had writers' block really bad there for awhile, but now I'm back! Next! Is Katera really dead? Is Rucuruu? What exactly was the most important lesson that Katera apparently forgot? Find out next in Chapter Thirty-two; Dende's Misfortune! Sarro is Dead as Well?! Ja ne!]
[Written by Inseiko, 2000]