Dragon Ball Z: Taro

Chapter Two: Confrontation

Five minutes had gone by. Taro sat on top of Raditz' pod while Raditz himself stood in the field nearby, waiting for the power levels to arrive. Gohan's cries could still be heard inside the pod under Taro, and it was getting to him bad. His guilt continued to grow for the child his partner had kidnapped. He slowly slid off the pod and looked in through the red glass on the door, seeing Gohan curled in a ball with tears in his eyes. He gently knocked on the glass, getting Gohan's attention.

"Hey." Taro said softly with a gentle smile. "Don't be scared. I won't let Raditz hurt you, I promise." Gohan sniffled and pressed his face and hands to the glass.

"Please let me go! I want my daddy!" The boy cried out. Taro shushed him before Raditz could hear him.

"I know, I know. Your dad and someone else is on the way. While he's fighting Raditz, I'll let you out, I promise. He should've never brought you into this." Taro growled in frustration, turning and leaping out of the crater a little behind Raditz. They looked to the sky, seeing two silhouettes approaching, one riding a yellow cloud. The two figures zoomed past them, blowing Raditz' hair in the wind. Taro's short black spikes shifted a little, a singular bang of hair drooping in front of his face. Taro and Raditz turned around and jumped back. Before them stood Kakarot and the green man they encountered before with determined looks on their faces. Raditz smirked.

"How did you know where to find us?" Raditz asked, clutching a root vegetable from the dead farmer's garden. Kakarot furrowed his brow.

"That's none of your buisness." He replied sternly. Raditz took a bite of the vegetable and smirked as Taro examined the two. They had a striking resemblance in their faces, yet Kakarot's face looked softer, less hard edged than his older brother.

"Fair enough... Kakarot. I always thought you'd have a little more sense than this." Raditz sneered. The green man grabbed his cape and threw it behind him, landing with a surprisingly loud thud on the ground. The Saiyan's scouters beeped. "His power level just jumped to 408..." Raditz thought to himself, narrowing his eyes. Kakarot removed the top section of his orange outfit before removing the blue shirt underneath.

"I see you've still been wearing your training weights too, huh Piccolo?" Kakarot smiled innocently. Taro raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms as Kakarot removed his wristbands and boots. "Something tells me I'm not going to want to hold anything back for this one."

"Piccolo? That's your name, huh?" He asked. Piccolo only growled lowly in response. Taro noticed on his scouter that Kakarot's power level had also jumped since removing his accessories. "Hm... 416. That's peculiar." He pondered to himself. He was trying to wrap his head around how they could hide their power like this. Raditz folded his arms.

"I'm sorry brother, but I was thinking about my offer and I've changed my mind! You'd probably just slow the rest of us down! And for betraying the Saiyan race, you will die!" He yelled, his hair flareing up in random directions. He turned to Taro. "Take the green one. Kakarot is mine."

"You know what, you got this one. I'm gonna stand back and watch." Taro sniffed. Raditz grinned, his face lighting up.

"Suit yourself!" He exclaimed, moving at high speeds towards Kakarot and Piccolo. Too fast for them to register as Raditz slammed his elbows into both of their backs, throwing them forward. Kakarot rebounded with a handspring flip as Piccolo awkwardly balanced himself. "I know. Here in your final moments, why don't I tell you a little secret?" Raditz chuckled evilly, his pupils dilating from the adrenaline. "There are two other saiyan warriors besides Taro and myself with power levels even greater than ours!" Looks of shock and horror shot across the faces of Kakarot and Piccolo. Kakarot growled.

"Where's Gohan!?" He yelled. Raditz pointed to Taro and the pod.

"He's being guarded by my partner. But to get to him, you'd have to go through both of us! Which won't happen!" Raditz laughed as Kakarot and Piccolo got into fighting stances. The two flew at Raditz, throwing punches and kicks. Raditz was far too fast, deflecting and blocking their strikes. Both vanished, attempting for a strike to the back but Raditz saw this coming, throwing both his legs backwards to kick them both in the face simultaneously. Taro watched as the two recovered and launched at Raditz again for a tackling strike. The Saiyan warrior floated up into the air right before either attack landed, his arms outstretched. As the two got closer, Raditz fired two pink beams from his hands straight down at them.  Reacting fast, both Kakarot and Piccolo were able to dodge as the blasts curved out, destroying a mountain range on either side of them. Kakarot landed as Raditz disappeared.