To See the Old Neighborhood.....

Part 26

Bardock registered that the huge ball of light at the tip of Freiza's finger would destroy the planet the moment it hit. He wanted to do something......ANYTHING! But, with death glaring into his face, his mind froze. He just knew he was going to die............ Then, the moment he was dreading arrived. With a thrust of his pale, small hands, Freiza made the pitch, and the huge planet destroyer came hurdling toward the three Saiyan. A more urgent feeling of deja vu came over him, and he saw a different time he had been here, the second time he had looked up and seen his demise come in that very shape and form.

And here it came again, only this time, there was no hope his son would live on. He was right here! He was going to die, right here, with his son. The last hope of the Saiyan race, as Bardock had seen him,about to be reduced to ash..................

The other two Saiyans were having execedingly less dramatic thoughts. In fact, Vegita was feinging boredom rather talentedly, while Goku could but roll his eyes. How Freiza thought he would ever be able to win was totally beyond either of them, and as the planet destroying ball of potential came close enought to touch, Goku raised a hand. The bright ball came to a rest in his palm, stopping as easily as a blow-up beach ball, his arm showing no sign of recoil from such a feat.

Bardock gasped, Freiza was frozen in the position he had been in from when he had thrown the attack, and Vegita.............Vegita was smiling like a demon, getting a kick out of the look on Freiza's face. How could he not, after all?

"Some people just DON'T know when to STAY dead," Goku mumbled, tossing the inpotent ball of energy off into space, everyone present watched the huge ball of light as it slowly flew off into the distance, becoming a pin-point in the dark vaccume before vanishing from sight all together. After recovering from his recent surprise, Bardock developed a perfectly wicked grin. In fact, even Goku had suddenly been overcome with the irrisistable urge to smile maliciously.

"Game," Goku said.

"Set," Bardock said.

"Match," Vegita said.

All three of them flew higher until they were eyelevel with Freiza.

Vegita suddenly riveted his attention away from the now pail face of Freiza to look harshly at Goku and Bardock.

"This is MY payback. You two leave."

"Aw, but Vegita-" Goku protested.

"YOU already had a crack at him! He KILLED me before! I. WILL. MAKE. HIM. PAY. There is no 'but's about it. GO!"

Goku considered arguing farther, but finally consented to nod his head, jerk his chin to his father, and the two of them sped off.

****

"See? She just wanted a diaper change........," Radditz said raggedly as he finished up taping a make-shift diaper (made of a pair of bed sheets and some tape) to the now clean and dry bottom of Bra. The little girl had ceased crying, and was now charming and horrifying the three Saiyans that had been volunteered agenst their will to her with little squeels of delight, gurgles, and bright shining smiles that could ONLY have come from her mother.

Nappa asked after a moment, "Where in the universe did YOU know how to change a diaper, Radditz?!" Turles agreed at the validity of this question. He and Nappa were stunned.

"Um........." Radditz said, and mumbled something uninteligible.

Nappa leaned closer, "What didja' say?"

"I SAID DAYNA MADE ME TAKE A CLASS!!" Radditz said defensivly.

Turles and Nappa both raised their brows in confusion.

"A class on what?" Nappa asked after a moment.

"On........on.........," Radditz blushed for a second and said quietly, "A class on how to take care of children."

"Why would she ask you to do THAT?" Turles asked, then replaced his confused expression for a devious one, "Is there something you're not telling us?"

"No!" Radditz said, perhaps too quickly.

The conversation went no further as Trunks and the Prince came storming through the door with a crying Pan.

"Where are the others?" Turles asked the two Princes as Trunks plopped Pan down next to a cooing Bra, at the moment too interested in her toes to notice she had been joined by a friend. Pan and Bra were soon both tugging at Bra's toes, oblivious to the world.

"Fightin' Lomen," the purple haired boy said, and turned to leave the room again.

"Where are you goin?"Nappa asked, raising to his feet as though he were about to follow them out.

"My chi is free again, so I'm going back to help Gohan and Goten. I just came back to drop off Pan," and with that said, the two boys left again, leaving the three Saiyans with two babies to watch rather than one.

Radditz rose to his feet, "I'm going with them."

"Me too!" Nappa said, but before he could leave Radditz stopped him.

"No. You two stay here and watch the kids.........," Radditz eyed Pan quickly, "And give her a diaper change as well."

"But......," Nappa said.

"Wait!" Turles hollered.

But Radditz had already left.

"Ah........dammit," Turles grumbled.

Radditz's head popped back into the door frame and he said, "And watch your language! Little ears are listening!" And he was gone again.

Turles glared after him while Nappa kneeled on the floor, playing with the kids.

"Yaro," he mumbled.

****

Tripnup opened his eyes. The first thing that registered in his painstaken mind was that the prisoner he was supposed to be watching was gone. As he painfully climbed to his feet, he called out, "Lotus?"

A creepy silence filled the room for a moment, being the only answer to the white Saiyan's call.

*CRASH!*

Ruby eyes riveting, Tripnup jerked his head to look at the kitchen into which Lotus had vanished into before he had been knocked out. He walked cautiously toward the entrance, hoping with all his heart that it wasn't Freiza in the kitchen, perhaps in the process of killing Lotus. Apon opening the door, Tripnup sighed in releafe.

Lotus, a large leg of meat held tightly in his teeth, turned an smiled aroung his meaty prize, "Zagee, gah ufin va uu!"

"Pardon?" Tripnup asked, raising a white eyebrow at the garble that came out of his Saiyan companion.

Lotus swallowed the bite he had in his mouth and repeated, "Sorry, I got nothing for you."

Tripnup couldn't help but to grin. He had never seen Lotus act casual before, he had always seemed like a stiff-necked fellow that called a spade a spade and nothing more needed to be said. Perhaps it was being in the presence of Kakarotto and his care-free family. Indeed, Tripnup had to admit that he had never seen such a laid back comfortable group in all his time of working with the public for the King.

"Freiza's gone."

That statement was more than enough to wipe that toothy smile off of the other's face, "What? What happened!?"

"I don't know. I was just sitting there, and then..........I think I remember being hit......and when I woke up, he was gone.......... Wonder where he went."

Lotus turned slightly pale, "So he could be anywhere, then?"

Tripnup nodded his head solumnly, "I'm afraid so."

"Then we have to leave here immidiatly."

"What?"

"We failed our King! Even if we don't get killed by Freiza, the King will kill us! You can go back if you want to, but I'M saving my skin!" With this said, Lotus hurried back into the control room. Tripnup followed.

"I..........would like to join you. I have no reason to stay." Tripnup had never said such a harder thing. Was he accually going to abandon his planet? It certainly seemed so.

"Kay, then! Main thrusters ACTIVATE!"

And Freiza's ship kicked to life, already heading out of the atmosphere.

To be continued.....................