章 14: Chapter 13

LETTIE

A pandemonium followed.

The seven Saibaimen rushed at us and surrounded our group, running quickly around. They were so fast that my eyes blurred and I felt dizzy.

They then dispersed and began breaking the rock formations with the strength of their carcasses, while screaming like madmen.

"Saibaimen!" Vegeta ordered in an authoritative voice. "These four are your opponents! Make them suffer!"

The seven creatures stopped and turned against us, with maniacal smiles on their greenish faces. Their skin was not of a vivid and beautiful green color like Piccolo's, but rather a pale, cold and frightening tone.

"Lettie, listen to what I'm going to tell you," whispered Piccolo. "Take care of Gohan. I have a feeling he's not going to make it. I'll protect you both."

I looked at my nephew and a pang hit my chest. The poor thing was literally clinging to my leg, shaking all over as he faced our enemies.

He could have become a great warrior during this one year of Training; he could have faced countless challenges and overcome them; he could have grown and matured during his adventures; he could have even learned to speak without misspelling…

However, deep down, he was nothing more than a five-year-old boy among a group of merciless killers.

A tingling sensation raised every hair on my body as I realized that, perhaps, Piccolo and I had put the life of a little child at risk by bringing him into this fight.

But now, there was no turning back.

Krillin must have sensed our concern, because he also whispered, "Gohan, don't take your eyes off them, for anything."

"Pay close attention to their movements," I added.

"Don't be afraid," reinforced Piccolo.

"O-Okay...!" replied Gohan, trying his best to show courage.

The Saibaimen attacked.

Three advanced on Piccolo; two went to Krillin; and two came to meet me, and we began the fight. Gohan ended up by himself, standing there in the middle of that open field, as he tried to keep up with the speed of the battle with scared eyes.

Hearing the grunts of my companions facing their own enemies, I elbowed a Saibaiman in the stomach and kicked another in the head, but not without getting a scratch from their claws on the shoulder and a knee in the ribs.

Amid the tangle of blows and defenses, I made a big mistake: I glanced at Gohan. One of my Saibaimen noticed my worried look and threw itself into the air towards him.

"GOHAN! WATCH OUT!!!" I shouted.

Too late.

The Saibaiman pushed itself forward and shouldered Gohan in the chest, sending him flying away.

By the size of the Saibaimen's heads, I imagined that they had some kind of intelligence, but apparently, those heads were just for aesthetics, as they all suddenly stopped their attacks on us only to watch Gohan finally fall to the ground with a thud, all shaky, dazed and scratchy.

However, my fear soon returned when I saw all the Saibaimen staring at my nephew with bloodthirsty eyes.

Oh, no! Would they all attack him at once?!

I only had time to think about flying to Gohan, but it was someone else who stopped in a defensive position in front of him.

Piccolo.

"Gohan!" he exclaimed; his eyes fixed on the Saibaimen. "BE STRONG AND COURAGEOUS!"

If I could, I would have kissed him right there, but I was too busy catching my breath and positioning myself next to him, with Krillin also doing the same.

"So?!" I shouted at the Saiyans, taken by Piccolo's encouraging words. "Are you tired of attacking us?!"

Vegeta and Nappa curled their lips into evil smiles, while their Saibaimen lined up in front of them like pawns in a chess game.

"WAIT!" A voice sounded across the skies and we raised our heads.

Protecting my eyes against the Sun, I saw two figures descend until they landed next to us.

The first was a man, a few years older than my brother Goku, and his appearance already revealed to me that he was a serious and closed person. He wore only green pants with yellow details, held up by a wide red belt, with green wristbands covering his bare arms. He had no hair on his body, including on his head. However, on the other hand, a large eye emerged from the middle of his forehead and a scar mark crossed his chest.

Beside him, showing a more friendly expression, another young man floated in the air, but I believe he suffered from dwarfism, as he was quite small; half Krillin's size. His skin was so white and pale, it looked like his face and arms were covered in the whitest powder, and the only thing that stood out besides his colorful fighting uniform, were his cheeks as red as a fresh tomato.

"Tien! Chiaotzu!" Krillin opened a big smile, and I confess that I felt relieved to hear his happy tone. At least they were no enemies.

Gohan and I watched those two new individuals with curious looks to know who they were. However, I remembered hearing the name "Tien" there on Master Roshi's island a year ago, and that he was an ally.

"I thought we would only face two Saiyans," he said when he saw the Saibaimen with his three somber eyes.

"Long story." Krillin seemed much more confident by seeing his friends. "Now we have more opponents."

"It doesn't matter how many there are," replied Tien gravely, while Chiaotzu also looked at Gohan and me with a warm smile. Tien noticed his behavior and turned to us, "So, these are Goku's son and sister?"

"Hello, gentlemen." I gave a polite nod with a little smile, also nudging Gohan to do the same.

"Yes," Krillin replied. "It seems that Piccolo trained them very well."

"I can see they were well-trained. They look strong." Tien just gave us another nod and turned his attention to the Saiyans and Saibaimen. However, I noticed that throughout the conversation, Piccolo was wrinkling his nose at him, while he glanced at me occasionally. The only conclusion I came to was that he felt intimidated in Tien's presence, for he was also tall, bald and, let's admit it, quite handsome.

I almost touched his arm to reassure him that Tien wasn't an emotional threat, but Nappa finally lost patience with waiting for all that presentation and shouted, "YOU CHATTERING INSECTS! Saibaimen, finish them off now!"

We all went back to positioning ourselves in defense.

"WAIT!" Another voice interrupted our fight, which certainly didn't please Nappa.

I got startled when another individual OUT OF NOWHERE appeared next to me and landed there, with his back to us. He then turned, revealing himself to be another young man, the same age as Tien, with several scars on his face and long black hair running down his back, wearing a uniform identical to my brother's.

"Sorry for the delay," he said with a confident posture.

"Yamcha!" Krillin once again opened a big smile. Gohan seemed as lost as I was in meeting all these new guys who had arrived.

"Is everyone here, except Goku?" asked Yamcha, and Krillin confirmed. He then looked at Gohan and me with the same determined expression. "Hahaha! There's no denying that you have Goku's blood, you're the spitting image of him!"

My nephew and I gave a little smile in response, and finally, I analyzed our group. So, these were the warriors Piccolo mentioned who also trained to help us? Good... Maybe we could actually stand a chance against the Saiyans if we joined forces.

Speaking of the Saiyans, I noticed that Vegeta was now watching us with a curious expression, narrowing his eyes as he analyzed us.

"Hmm..." He rubbed his chin. "One… Two… Three… Four… Five… Six… Seven people! I like that. Exactly the same number of Saibaimen." He caught Nappa's gaze, who responded with a nod and a bold smile. "Hey, you guys! Why don't you fight one on one with my soldiers? Oh, better! Let's have… a game!"

Piccolo shudder beside me. His mood seemed to have worsened a lot.

"A game?!" he replied. "That's ridiculous! Stop fooling around and let's get this fight over with!"

"Piccolo," I touched his arm, in an intonation that only our group could hear, "think carefully about their proposal. It might be a good idea to play this 'game', so we can buy time until Goku returns." I squeezed him tightly and concluded, with conviction, "Let them think they're in control."

Piccolo kept looking at me, with his lips pressed together and his nostrils flared. It was clear how nervous he was, even more so when we saw Gohan cowering between the two of us, staring at the Saibaimans with a frightened expression.

"She's right," said Krillin. "This could be our advantage." He looked at the other warriors, who nodded in agreement.

"Okay!" Tien took a step forward and faced the Saiyans and Saibaimen. "I'll be the first to play! Let's go!"

And the fight began.

Tien launched himself at the Saibaiman and hit it in the face, sending the creature flying backwards, but it was quick and pushed itself with it feet to counter-attack him. Halfway through, its green head OPENED IN HALF, and a jet of a whitish slime came out of it. Tien dodged at the last second, which made the slime's path head towards our group, especially at Gohan.

I only had time to pick him up and get out of there as quickly as possible, but it was too late. We would be hit by that disgusting thing that who knows what would cause us.

"LETTIE! GOHAN!" Piccolo pulled us back, and we fell with a thud, one on top of the other. When we recovered from the shock, we watched that slime melt the ground with scalding acid and steam.

"Are you okay?! Are you hurt?!" He inspected us as we heard Tien's attacks on the Saibaiman from a distance.

I couldn't answer him. My gaze and Gohan's were fixed in the hole that the slime had made in the ground, and I stared at Piccolo with wide eyes. If he hadn't saved us, my nephew and I would have been melted alive, slowly and painfully.

Confirming my suspicions, a burning smell reached my nose, and we gasped when we saw that my kimono belt was self-deteriorating from the acid that had hit it. Quickly, Piccolo took it off and threw it away, and we could witness it completely disintegrate, melting the sandy ground beneath it. Gohan was shaking in my lap, white as paper as he looked at the steam coming out of the hole.

"Answer me!" Piccolo held the side of our faces and made us look at him. "Are you okay?!"

"Y-Yes..." I replied in a whisper, and finally regained my consciousness, shaking my head and blinking several times. "Th-Thank you..."

Piccolo helped us to our feet, and it was my turn to inspect a traumatized Gohan as he created a new belt for me. Then we heard a commotion, and when we turned to see what it was, the Saibaiman was lying on the ground, and our colleagues were celebrating.

Tien had defeated it.

I noticed that Vegeta and Nappa started to argue about the downed Saibaiman, but I couldn't hear them clearly. All I knew was that, suddenly, Vegeta pointed two fingers at the Saibaiman and blasted him with a beam of energy, simple as that.

Nobody understood anything, including Nappa.

"If they continued fighting, it would be a waste of time," explained Vegeta as he saw our troubled looks. "That Saibaiman would be incapable of victory, from the beginning." He then barked at the other Saibaimen, staring at him with visible fear, "I TOLD YOU TO FIGHT WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH, YOU IMBECILES!"

I was still recovering from the idea of almost being melted alive, but I could see how all my companions were shocked by Vegeta's behavior. When I turned to Piccolo, he was sweating coldly, with a gloomy expression, probably thinking the same thing as me: if they wanted, the Saiyans could also finish us off in the blink of an eye.

Those guys were toying with us!

A freezing breeze passed through and raised the hairs on my nape. A sinister aura surrounded us. The feeling I had was that we were living… the end of the world; as if an invisible battle was happening around us, and our good energies were fighting against the evil energies of the two Saiyans who glared at us with the cruelest of intentions.

"So?!" Vegeta exclaimed to us. "Who will be the next?"

Gohan swallowed hard and cringed between me and Piccolo, unconsciously seeking our protection. That brought me deep anguish and, once again, I felt a pang of guilt for having involved him in this problem. How on earth did I think a five-year-old could face two aliens that made the adults in this group tremble???

But Gohan's fear gave me strength, and I took a step forward. "I will fight!"

Vegeta showed a big malicious smile. On the other hand, my companions turned to me with several exclamations of disbelief. Piccolo was the first to speak out, "No way! It's very dangerous! You stay here, with Gohan. In fact, it would be best if you both head back to the Camp and remain there until this is all over."

"Lettie, I'm sorry..." said Krillin with an awkward half-smile. "We're not underestimating your strength, but Piccolo has a point. It's too risky."

"Besides, Goku would kill us if he knew we let his sister and son get hurt." Yamcha chuckled nervously, while Tien and ‎Chiaotzu agreed.

When I least noticed, they positioned themselves in front of us, forming a wall of five warriors, separating me and Gohan from the Saiyans.

You see, I appreciate good chivalry. To be honest, I think this protective instinct that many men naturally have towards women and children is healthy, and I would appreciate it if I had had a good male figure with that type of behavior around me while I was growing up. It would have saved me a lot of pain.

However, in that specific situation, I knew how strong I was and what I was capable of. My fighting power was as high as my colleagues.

I grabbed Piccolo's arm and made him turn to me. "Why did you propose to train me for a year, if you won't let me fight?" I questioned, in a low but indignant tone. "I want to fight!"

"Becau–" Piccolo suddenly stopped, and glanced at the other boys. Then, he left the formation, leading me to a distance, until he finally leaned close to my face and replied, "Because it was different back then!" He ran his hands over his face, taking a deep breath, and gazed deeply at me. "I-I... I didn't care about you and Gohan."

My heart skipped a beat, and I could see the distress in his eyes. Gently, I placed my hand on his chest and replied, "I know I can have a chance, because it was you who trained me. Please, let me fight."

"Stop it, Lettie!" he retorted, still whispering. "Don't you see the reality?!" He came closer to me and said, through gritted teeth, "Nobody here has a chance."

His words sounded so ominous, so hopeless, that my limbs tingled. Slowly, I turned to observe Vegeta, Nappa and their Saibaimen, with their pernicious and bloodthirsty faces, and finally, the reality of Piccolo fell on me like a mountain: it was very likely that some, if not all of our group, would die on that battle.

He looked at me once again with great bitterness and returned to the formation, leaving me behind with Gohan, digesting that terrible, but perhaps imminent reality.

"Well, then! I'll be your opponent!" Krillin said up ahead.

"Wait," interrupted Yamcha. "Don't fight yet. Leave it to me. I want to show them that they shouldn't play with us."

"But..." replied Krillin. "I can do that too!"

"You have already been resurrected once by the Dragon Balls, and if the worst happens to you, you won't be able to revive." Yamcha's words hit us harder than I imagined. "So leave it to me. I'll get rid of these creatures once and for all!"

I noticed that Krillin was touched by Yamcha's behavior, and I wished, from the bottom of my heart, that I had had that kind of friend during the difficult times in my life. Who knows, if the worst doesn't happen, this gathering could lead to good friendships in the future.

Nappa, on the other hand, found it all very corny and boring, and finally ordered a Saibaiman to attack. Yamcha stood in front of our group, and positioned himself, ready to receive the first blow.

And then, he and the Saibaiman disappeared.

Well, at least, that was Gohan's impression. The two were moving so fast during the fight, that, in my nephew's eyes, he couldn't keep up with such speed. Piccolo turned to him and reminded him of our classes on sensing Ki, and instructed him to concentrate and also be able to see that "invisible battle", like the adults could.

Piccolo and I exchanged a little smile when Gohan made a serious expression, shaking in concentration as he tried to feel Yamcha and the Saibaiman's Ki, until he finally exclaimed, "I got it! They're near that rock formation with a bush on top, aren't they?!"

"That's right, Gohan." I stroked his hair, and Piccolo gave him a proud look.

Our group continued to watch the fight. Yamcha was doing pretty well, attacking and defending the enemy's quick strikes. Even when he was caught off guard by the creature, he was able to fight back with a counterattack. Then, in a sudden movement, the Saibaiman spun him around by his arm and launched him into the sky, but Yamcha regained his balance and launched a powerful beam of blue energy from both hands, directly at the Saibaiman.

The creature fell motionless to the destroyed ground around it.

"HE DID IT!" Some of our group celebrated.

Positioned behind Piccolo, I saw him let out a silent sigh of relief, while Gohan gasped in awe at Yamcha's victory.

The Saiyans, however, didn't seem happy with the defeat of yet another of their soldiers at our hands.

"I think these monsters of yours are not as strong as you thought." Yamcha turned to them with his chest puffed out. Nappa wanted to retort, but Vegeta interrupted him, and Yamcha continued, "I don't need help. I'll finish off the remaining Saibaimen myself."

Why did I have a bad feeling?

There was Yamcha, a true warrior and fighter, standing confidently in front of his fallen enemy.

Too confident.

Something caught my eye. Had the defeated Saibaiman moved, or was it just me?

Too late. I opened my mouth to alert Yamcha, but his Saibaiman suddenly jumped up and grabbed him from behind, locking its arms and legs around his body.

In the next second, it self-exploded.

A flash temporarily blinded us. When we regained our sight, we gasped in horror.

Yamcha was lying on the ground in an awkward position.

Dead.

That chilling fact was more than clear. There was no need for Krillin to have dashed off to check the pulse of that torn and tattered body in the sand that deformed around him.

An uproar began between our group — incredulous and outraged by Yamcha's death —, and the Saiyans — furious that their Saibaiman had self-destructed.

The only feeling I had was a great discomfort in my core when I realized that our enemies were capable of ending a life like that, in the blink of an eye.

I had barely met Yamcha, and he was already dead. Out of the blue. Even Piccolo, who evidently had no friendship with any of those warriors, seemed disturbed by such a sudden death, and I don't hide saying that he, Gohan and I got even closer, in a sense of mutual protection, upon seeing that we were nothing more than mere toys in the hands of those Saiyans.

However, we suddenly had to run away from there, as Krillin flew into a rage and fired a powerful ball of yellow energy at our enemies, which rose into the sky and divided into six rays of light and hit several points on the battlefield, causing strong explosions.

All I know is that, when I opened my eyes, there were me, Gohan and Piccolo, curled up in each other's arms. After quickly making sure no one had been hurt while the dust settled, we realized something… incredible!

Krillin had successfully exterminated all Saibaimen.

We approached him, celebrating his victory, but Krillin warned, "Don't let your guard down! One of them has escaped!"

My stomach churned when the remaining Saibaiman simply emerged from a hole in a rock, its sharp claws aiming for my nephew's throat.

"GOHAN!!!!!!!!!!!" I threw myself in front of him and closed my eyes, waiting for the fatal blow.

But it didn't reach me.

When I opened my eyes, shaking from head to toe, I saw the Saibaiman's claw five millimeters apart from my chest.

But its claw was paralyzed, held by Piccolo's mighty hand.

Both Saibaiman and I raised our gaze and stared at him, perplexed.

Never, in all the time I've lived with Piccolo, have I seen so much hatred written on his face, covered by a shadow of the purest contempt against that Saibaiman.

"Die, you bastard," he said, through gritted teeth, and then, in a quick movement, he pulled the Saibaiman by the arm, closed his fist and buried it in the creature's stomach. Then he threw it into the air and fired a beam of energy.

The Saibaiman literally disintegrated, its remains falling from the skies like ashes from a fire.

I was still shaking, mouth agape, when Piccolo came to me and Gohan and asked in a serious tone, "Are you okay?"

We couldn't bear it any longer. We threw ourselves on his neck, crying.

I don't know why my nephew and I reacted that way. It may even have been shameful to behave like that in such a situation. But perhaps, it was because we were so perplexed at the power of our enemies; or perhaps because we began to realize that our strength was not enough; or perhaps because we were so surrounded by death, that the only thing we wanted to do was cling to the one who brought us so much security and protection.