10-19-2005, 07:58 AM
Previously on Friend or Foe 2
?Stumpy sure knows how to make an impact??
Precluding the long-haired saiyan?s homage to the host of the game-show, a low whistle escaped his mouth. No wonder the trap that had nailed Bra had been so vicious. That had set off a bit of an alarm in the saiyan?s mind. All the traps up to that point had been pretty run-of-the-mill, even if there had been a lot of them. Not that any number of traps would have actually been able to stop the saiya-jin wonder that was Rad, but they got points for trying. The seven members of group XTREME were making their way across what amounted to a rope bridge. The fact that it was comprised of several metal platforms didn?t make it any less applicable to the old ?swaying bridge of doom? stereotype. Throw in the fiery chasm of potential death looming below them and you?d have a good case for copyright infringement.
?Would you cut that out?? 18 turned her head and glared at Trunks.
The youth had been taking great pleasure in trying to hurl his group-mate towards their fire-filled doom by rocking the platforms. Rad had tried to stop the shaking by applying his metal binding skill, but found these platforms just as impervious to Lord Vine?s ?amazing? technique as everything else in this base. Not really surprising, since this was a military facility. Trunks defended himself with some excuse about trying to keep everyone on their toes, but it fell on deaf ears. Up ahead, a series of connected platforms grew larger and larger. Upon these platforms, which were many times larger than the smaller versions that comprised the bridge, were several large buildings. All the buildings were only two stories tall and there weren?t any real distinguishing features between them.
?Where we headed?? Gohan asked from the rear of the group. He didn?t have as clear a view as some of the others.
?That way.? Rad pointed in the direction they were walking.
The saiyan didn?t know any more about this facility than anyone else. The small map that had led him away from the spiked ceiling trap didn?t have any sort of underground facilities on it. At least he didn?t think it did. The bridge carried through to a center platforms. As it turned out, each of the platforms the buildings sat atop was hexagonal. A slightly large platform in the middle shared one edge with each of the other platforms. There were four buildings and two bridges, all of which joining at this center point. The center platform held no building and was completely bare save a couple of computer terminals.
The small group of would-be adventurers slowed as they came to the center of the middle platform. Rad took in the surrounding area more out of boredom than intrigue. Just like all the other areas of this base, these platforms were completely devoid of any ki. So either no one had been here in a while, no one had been here alive in a while, or they had all fled at the sight of someone as amazing as Raditzu. Though the saiyan liked to think it was the latter option, it wasn?t as likely as he would have hoped. And Trunks exclamation confirmed it.
"More dead people." He explained. "If anyone needs me, I'll be in the room for living people."
A theory was slowly forming in Rad?s head, but, among other things, he would need to take a look at those bodies to confirm it. He had slowly begun making his way towards the ?Bedroom 3? that Trunks had found the bodies in when 18 called for him. A call he would always be prompt in answering, no matter how many dead bodies there were to tempt him. His eyes caught the screen 18 was looking at, but he didn?t need to read it. Attached to the bottom of the very platform they were standing on was a nuclear device. Unfortunately, it was the kind that went boom. Not that there were too many that didn?t. The saiyan simply nodded at this new information. It didn?t change much, it was simply one more life-threatening device to take into consideration. Each warrior here was capable of delivering just as much devastation as a bomb.
?By the sound of things, I?d say our problems just multiplied,? Cell?s voice cut in.
Rad made a point of counting to ten before he turned to face the new voice. He had sensed the ki, but decided it was just some kind of masochistic manifestation of his loathing for the bio-android. By the time Cell actually came into view, the saiyan had quelled his initial urge to simply rip the speckled insect?s head off. The artificial creation stood, arms folded, on the bridge they had just come across. The light from the fires beneath the bridge gave Cell?s fairly monochromatic carapace a rather intriguing gradient.
?Just wonderful? as if the bomb wasn?t enough.? Though always a gentleman, Rad allowed a few choice words to escape his mouth.
The long-haired warrior sort of zoned out for a few moments after that. He decided that he would take a moment to recompose himself before making anymore genius suggestions to the rest of the group. For whatever reason Cell, decided that the best course of action was to return to a group that didn?t really want him. That didn?t sit well with the saiyan, but he would let it slide for the time being. Doing something about the bomb and getting everyone to calm down seemed a more appropriate course of action. If everyone was all panicked, and still following Raditzu around, it would make it that much harder for him to find whatever clue they were looking for a moving on to the next one.
Someone suggested they split up and look through the buildings and examine the bodies. A reasonable suggestion. With four buildings to search and eight people to do the searching, the group paired up and entered a separate building. 18 was close behind him, the two of them being an obvious pair. The building was fairly standard as far as military outfits went. Computers, some filing cabinets, and one of the larger rooms being full of desks suggested that a lot of the red-tape was handled here. Between several of the desks in the largest room was a pile of bodies. The pile was, admittedly, a bit smaller than Rad had been expecting, but that wasn?t necessarily a bad thing.
?See anything useful?? Rad looked up as 18 was shifting through the clothing of some randomly selected body.
?Not really.? She looked up as she spoke and their eyes locked.
Raditzu opened his mouth to say something. He wanted 18 to know how reassuring her presence was. He wanted to tell her how important she was. He wanted to say anything, but nothing came to mind. Not that sitting over a pile of corpses was the most appropriate place to reassure someone of your feelings, but timing had never been Rad? forte when it came to situations like these. With all these feelings and emotions slowly churning with the warrior, the most he could come up with was ?oh well.? As striking and poetic as it had been, Rad got the feeling that he had missed something. Luckily, before he could kick himself about it any further, there was some commotion outside.
The couple got outside in time to see Trunks cleaving what appeared to be a skull in half. The two halves rolled about for a couple of seconds, creating a soft metallic sound that was covered up by the words of the other warriors. Goten was reprimanded for freaking out while everyone else simply breathed a sigh of relief. Someone?s skull was nothing compared to the eminent death they thought they were facing. The group walked back to the center platform and conferred briefly. Perhaps they had been going about this the wrong way. Maybe they had missed something. Frankly, there were a lot of options, and not very much information to go off of. Even Raditzu was a bit confused about what their next move should be. And that was saying a lot.
At least Rad thought so, anyway.
Back to current events
?But then, if we?re supposed to go ahead and we?re on a timer...?
Goten?s voice dropped off and everyone filled in their own blank. Everyone but Raditzu, anyway. Through their discussion he had remained, very purposefully, silent. The fact of the matter was that the best course of action had already been suggested, they were just too busy making things more complicated to realize it. Raditzu had tried to point this out, but he had been cut short. Oh well, actions spoke louder than words anyway. Everyone jumped back as a golden aura burst to life around their self-appointed leader. The saiyan ignored the reaction and leapt into the air. His ascension took him a nice distance above the buildings, but that wasn?t really a terribly impressive feat. What came next was. Well? at the very least, it was terrible. Rad?s ki skyrocketed as his body plummeted back towards the platform he had been standing on. He threw in a couple of flips for dramatic effect, then came cascading back onto the spot he had been standing on. The result was to sway the entire facility they had been standing on. The center platform sunk towards the fires below it before swinging back upwards. The exterior platforms followed with a slight delaying, creating a sort of ripple effect. Rad powered down and waited for the swaying to stop. He smiled as the voices assaulted his ears.
?What the fuck are you doing?!?
?Are you insane?!?
?You trying to get us all killed??
?Rad!!?
?Woah??
?You bastard!?
?Well? that was fun??
They all spoke at once. At the very least they had waited for the platforms to return to their original positions. Everyone continued to elaborate on their outrage, some longer than others. It was ok with the saiyan, he could be patient when he needed to be. After a while, the yelling stopped and everyone waited for him to respond. Rad took a moment to look everyone in the eye before taking a step back and responding.
?Is it hot in here, or is it just me?? Predictably, this drew out another onslaught of insults, but it was much shorter lived than the first. Rad was given time to pull his armor over his head and drop it to the ground with a surprisingly loud thud. The katchin metal that he wore under it slid off of his body and formed a large cube next to his armor. ?Is everyone done?? Someone made a derogatory comment about Raditzu?s mother. ?Well? Anyone notice anything different?? Everyone exchanged glances.
?Nothing?s different? idiot.? Bra offered.
?Exactly. That?s wh--? Rad was interrupted by the beeping of his scouter. A short series of symbols flashed across the screen. The saiyan?s eyes darted towards Bra, and a slight smile crossed his features. Her message had an ironic sense of timing. Without actually saying anything, the warrior continued. ?That?s what I was going to say when Cell cut in with his little lesson in Russian technology. Trunks had the best idea of all you guys.? A cocky laughed erupted from the lavender-haired youth?s mouth. Rad almost instantly regretted adding that.
?Told ya..?
?Anyway, think about what we know.? The katchin metal cube melted to a puddle on the ground and split into eight pieces. Each piece slid across the floor to create a small stool for whoever wanted one. Rad dropped down into his as he spoke. ?Why are we all here??
?Because Brim?s a sick bastard.? Goten offered more as a statement of fact than as an explanation.
?His name?s Brim?? Rad shrugged and continued on. ?We?re looking for some clue about a civil war. Keyword their being ?war?.?
?And a military base would be a good place to be looking for one.? Cell added on.
?Supposedly this war wiped out whatever races was occupying this rock. Which means it was a pretty big one. It stands to reason that whatever was going on was pretty well documented by whatever army was in this base.?
?Yeah, but we haven?t seen anything that looks like a clue.? Gohan pointed out. ?We don?t even know if we?re in the right place now.?
?Or how much time we?ve got left.? The threat of a timer on the nuclear bomb was obviously present in Bojack?s mind.
?One thing at a time,? Rad responded. ?So, here we are at the bottom of some military base. And what did Cell say about important things??
?Military installations are set up with the most important things built deeper in the ground.? Cell recited, verbatim.
?And we?re not going to get much more ?deeper in the ground?.? Gohan connected the dots.
?So, we have this huge war that kills everyone and we?re at the bottom of some military complex. There?s a good chance whatever clue we?re looking for is somewhere here and we just haven?t seen it. We simply need to comb through this area more carefully.?
?And ignore the bomb we?re standing on top of?? Bra?s tone was a bit less aggressive then the one she usually reserved for Raditzu.
?No more than we?re ignoring these.? Rad tugged at his collar to emphasize his point. ?Stumpy doesn?t need a bomb to kill us, he can do that with a button. Besides, you really think he?s going to put his own life in our hands??
?The explosion of a nuclear bomb of that yield would be more than enough to destroy this whole asteroid.? Cell elaborated.
?So we don?t worry about the bomb.? Rad confirmed. ?There obviously aren?t any other alarms to worry about in this place. I would have set them off and everyone would be long dead.?
?Wait? if the bomb?s not a threat, then why does the computer say its active?? 18 pondered out loud.
?Brim?s probably just fucking with us.? Bojack responded around his cigar. His had moved up to his collar as he recalled the shock he had been given earlier.
?If the bomb?s out, what are we gonna do here?? Trunks asked. The youth had combined his own metal binding, along with his sword, to turn his small stool into an overly elaborate recliner.
?What we?ve been doing.? Raditzu replied. ?Everything we?ve seen is pretty standard for a military base?well? maybe not that spiked ceiling. But, other than that, the only thing that seems weird are the-?
?Piles of dead bodies.? Cell finished the saiyan?s sentence, having reached the same conclusion.
?What the bug said.? Rad tried not to glare at Cell, but couldn?t help it. ?I think if we figure out what the deal is with the bodies, we?ll have our clue and be out of here. We should get back to looking through these buildings.?
No one really had any objections, or any better ideas to offer. Without actually saying anything out loud, Rad marveled at his own genius. If they had just listened to him in the first place, though, they?d probably all be on their way to the next clue by now. Could be worse, the saiyan stipulated, they could not have him there. The metal stools melted from under the group and reformed into a cube. A couple of people were left to fall on their asses, but that was a risk Rad was simply willing to take.
?Stumpy sure knows how to make an impact??
Precluding the long-haired saiyan?s homage to the host of the game-show, a low whistle escaped his mouth. No wonder the trap that had nailed Bra had been so vicious. That had set off a bit of an alarm in the saiyan?s mind. All the traps up to that point had been pretty run-of-the-mill, even if there had been a lot of them. Not that any number of traps would have actually been able to stop the saiya-jin wonder that was Rad, but they got points for trying. The seven members of group XTREME were making their way across what amounted to a rope bridge. The fact that it was comprised of several metal platforms didn?t make it any less applicable to the old ?swaying bridge of doom? stereotype. Throw in the fiery chasm of potential death looming below them and you?d have a good case for copyright infringement.
?Would you cut that out?? 18 turned her head and glared at Trunks.
The youth had been taking great pleasure in trying to hurl his group-mate towards their fire-filled doom by rocking the platforms. Rad had tried to stop the shaking by applying his metal binding skill, but found these platforms just as impervious to Lord Vine?s ?amazing? technique as everything else in this base. Not really surprising, since this was a military facility. Trunks defended himself with some excuse about trying to keep everyone on their toes, but it fell on deaf ears. Up ahead, a series of connected platforms grew larger and larger. Upon these platforms, which were many times larger than the smaller versions that comprised the bridge, were several large buildings. All the buildings were only two stories tall and there weren?t any real distinguishing features between them.
?Where we headed?? Gohan asked from the rear of the group. He didn?t have as clear a view as some of the others.
?That way.? Rad pointed in the direction they were walking.
The saiyan didn?t know any more about this facility than anyone else. The small map that had led him away from the spiked ceiling trap didn?t have any sort of underground facilities on it. At least he didn?t think it did. The bridge carried through to a center platforms. As it turned out, each of the platforms the buildings sat atop was hexagonal. A slightly large platform in the middle shared one edge with each of the other platforms. There were four buildings and two bridges, all of which joining at this center point. The center platform held no building and was completely bare save a couple of computer terminals.
The small group of would-be adventurers slowed as they came to the center of the middle platform. Rad took in the surrounding area more out of boredom than intrigue. Just like all the other areas of this base, these platforms were completely devoid of any ki. So either no one had been here in a while, no one had been here alive in a while, or they had all fled at the sight of someone as amazing as Raditzu. Though the saiyan liked to think it was the latter option, it wasn?t as likely as he would have hoped. And Trunks exclamation confirmed it.
"More dead people." He explained. "If anyone needs me, I'll be in the room for living people."
A theory was slowly forming in Rad?s head, but, among other things, he would need to take a look at those bodies to confirm it. He had slowly begun making his way towards the ?Bedroom 3? that Trunks had found the bodies in when 18 called for him. A call he would always be prompt in answering, no matter how many dead bodies there were to tempt him. His eyes caught the screen 18 was looking at, but he didn?t need to read it. Attached to the bottom of the very platform they were standing on was a nuclear device. Unfortunately, it was the kind that went boom. Not that there were too many that didn?t. The saiyan simply nodded at this new information. It didn?t change much, it was simply one more life-threatening device to take into consideration. Each warrior here was capable of delivering just as much devastation as a bomb.
?By the sound of things, I?d say our problems just multiplied,? Cell?s voice cut in.
Rad made a point of counting to ten before he turned to face the new voice. He had sensed the ki, but decided it was just some kind of masochistic manifestation of his loathing for the bio-android. By the time Cell actually came into view, the saiyan had quelled his initial urge to simply rip the speckled insect?s head off. The artificial creation stood, arms folded, on the bridge they had just come across. The light from the fires beneath the bridge gave Cell?s fairly monochromatic carapace a rather intriguing gradient.
?Just wonderful? as if the bomb wasn?t enough.? Though always a gentleman, Rad allowed a few choice words to escape his mouth.
The long-haired warrior sort of zoned out for a few moments after that. He decided that he would take a moment to recompose himself before making anymore genius suggestions to the rest of the group. For whatever reason Cell, decided that the best course of action was to return to a group that didn?t really want him. That didn?t sit well with the saiyan, but he would let it slide for the time being. Doing something about the bomb and getting everyone to calm down seemed a more appropriate course of action. If everyone was all panicked, and still following Raditzu around, it would make it that much harder for him to find whatever clue they were looking for a moving on to the next one.
Someone suggested they split up and look through the buildings and examine the bodies. A reasonable suggestion. With four buildings to search and eight people to do the searching, the group paired up and entered a separate building. 18 was close behind him, the two of them being an obvious pair. The building was fairly standard as far as military outfits went. Computers, some filing cabinets, and one of the larger rooms being full of desks suggested that a lot of the red-tape was handled here. Between several of the desks in the largest room was a pile of bodies. The pile was, admittedly, a bit smaller than Rad had been expecting, but that wasn?t necessarily a bad thing.
?See anything useful?? Rad looked up as 18 was shifting through the clothing of some randomly selected body.
?Not really.? She looked up as she spoke and their eyes locked.
Raditzu opened his mouth to say something. He wanted 18 to know how reassuring her presence was. He wanted to tell her how important she was. He wanted to say anything, but nothing came to mind. Not that sitting over a pile of corpses was the most appropriate place to reassure someone of your feelings, but timing had never been Rad? forte when it came to situations like these. With all these feelings and emotions slowly churning with the warrior, the most he could come up with was ?oh well.? As striking and poetic as it had been, Rad got the feeling that he had missed something. Luckily, before he could kick himself about it any further, there was some commotion outside.
The couple got outside in time to see Trunks cleaving what appeared to be a skull in half. The two halves rolled about for a couple of seconds, creating a soft metallic sound that was covered up by the words of the other warriors. Goten was reprimanded for freaking out while everyone else simply breathed a sigh of relief. Someone?s skull was nothing compared to the eminent death they thought they were facing. The group walked back to the center platform and conferred briefly. Perhaps they had been going about this the wrong way. Maybe they had missed something. Frankly, there were a lot of options, and not very much information to go off of. Even Raditzu was a bit confused about what their next move should be. And that was saying a lot.
At least Rad thought so, anyway.
Back to current events
?But then, if we?re supposed to go ahead and we?re on a timer...?
Goten?s voice dropped off and everyone filled in their own blank. Everyone but Raditzu, anyway. Through their discussion he had remained, very purposefully, silent. The fact of the matter was that the best course of action had already been suggested, they were just too busy making things more complicated to realize it. Raditzu had tried to point this out, but he had been cut short. Oh well, actions spoke louder than words anyway. Everyone jumped back as a golden aura burst to life around their self-appointed leader. The saiyan ignored the reaction and leapt into the air. His ascension took him a nice distance above the buildings, but that wasn?t really a terribly impressive feat. What came next was. Well? at the very least, it was terrible. Rad?s ki skyrocketed as his body plummeted back towards the platform he had been standing on. He threw in a couple of flips for dramatic effect, then came cascading back onto the spot he had been standing on. The result was to sway the entire facility they had been standing on. The center platform sunk towards the fires below it before swinging back upwards. The exterior platforms followed with a slight delaying, creating a sort of ripple effect. Rad powered down and waited for the swaying to stop. He smiled as the voices assaulted his ears.
?What the fuck are you doing?!?
?Are you insane?!?
?You trying to get us all killed??
?Rad!!?
?Woah??
?You bastard!?
?Well? that was fun??
They all spoke at once. At the very least they had waited for the platforms to return to their original positions. Everyone continued to elaborate on their outrage, some longer than others. It was ok with the saiyan, he could be patient when he needed to be. After a while, the yelling stopped and everyone waited for him to respond. Rad took a moment to look everyone in the eye before taking a step back and responding.
?Is it hot in here, or is it just me?? Predictably, this drew out another onslaught of insults, but it was much shorter lived than the first. Rad was given time to pull his armor over his head and drop it to the ground with a surprisingly loud thud. The katchin metal that he wore under it slid off of his body and formed a large cube next to his armor. ?Is everyone done?? Someone made a derogatory comment about Raditzu?s mother. ?Well? Anyone notice anything different?? Everyone exchanged glances.
?Nothing?s different? idiot.? Bra offered.
?Exactly. That?s wh--? Rad was interrupted by the beeping of his scouter. A short series of symbols flashed across the screen. The saiyan?s eyes darted towards Bra, and a slight smile crossed his features. Her message had an ironic sense of timing. Without actually saying anything, the warrior continued. ?That?s what I was going to say when Cell cut in with his little lesson in Russian technology. Trunks had the best idea of all you guys.? A cocky laughed erupted from the lavender-haired youth?s mouth. Rad almost instantly regretted adding that.
?Told ya..?
?Anyway, think about what we know.? The katchin metal cube melted to a puddle on the ground and split into eight pieces. Each piece slid across the floor to create a small stool for whoever wanted one. Rad dropped down into his as he spoke. ?Why are we all here??
?Because Brim?s a sick bastard.? Goten offered more as a statement of fact than as an explanation.
?His name?s Brim?? Rad shrugged and continued on. ?We?re looking for some clue about a civil war. Keyword their being ?war?.?
?And a military base would be a good place to be looking for one.? Cell added on.
?Supposedly this war wiped out whatever races was occupying this rock. Which means it was a pretty big one. It stands to reason that whatever was going on was pretty well documented by whatever army was in this base.?
?Yeah, but we haven?t seen anything that looks like a clue.? Gohan pointed out. ?We don?t even know if we?re in the right place now.?
?Or how much time we?ve got left.? The threat of a timer on the nuclear bomb was obviously present in Bojack?s mind.
?One thing at a time,? Rad responded. ?So, here we are at the bottom of some military base. And what did Cell say about important things??
?Military installations are set up with the most important things built deeper in the ground.? Cell recited, verbatim.
?And we?re not going to get much more ?deeper in the ground?.? Gohan connected the dots.
?So, we have this huge war that kills everyone and we?re at the bottom of some military complex. There?s a good chance whatever clue we?re looking for is somewhere here and we just haven?t seen it. We simply need to comb through this area more carefully.?
?And ignore the bomb we?re standing on top of?? Bra?s tone was a bit less aggressive then the one she usually reserved for Raditzu.
?No more than we?re ignoring these.? Rad tugged at his collar to emphasize his point. ?Stumpy doesn?t need a bomb to kill us, he can do that with a button. Besides, you really think he?s going to put his own life in our hands??
?The explosion of a nuclear bomb of that yield would be more than enough to destroy this whole asteroid.? Cell elaborated.
?So we don?t worry about the bomb.? Rad confirmed. ?There obviously aren?t any other alarms to worry about in this place. I would have set them off and everyone would be long dead.?
?Wait? if the bomb?s not a threat, then why does the computer say its active?? 18 pondered out loud.
?Brim?s probably just fucking with us.? Bojack responded around his cigar. His had moved up to his collar as he recalled the shock he had been given earlier.
?If the bomb?s out, what are we gonna do here?? Trunks asked. The youth had combined his own metal binding, along with his sword, to turn his small stool into an overly elaborate recliner.
?What we?ve been doing.? Raditzu replied. ?Everything we?ve seen is pretty standard for a military base?well? maybe not that spiked ceiling. But, other than that, the only thing that seems weird are the-?
?Piles of dead bodies.? Cell finished the saiyan?s sentence, having reached the same conclusion.
?What the bug said.? Rad tried not to glare at Cell, but couldn?t help it. ?I think if we figure out what the deal is with the bodies, we?ll have our clue and be out of here. We should get back to looking through these buildings.?
No one really had any objections, or any better ideas to offer. Without actually saying anything out loud, Rad marveled at his own genius. If they had just listened to him in the first place, though, they?d probably all be on their way to the next clue by now. Could be worse, the saiyan stipulated, they could not have him there. The metal stools melted from under the group and reformed into a cube. A couple of people were left to fall on their asses, but that was a risk Rad was simply willing to take.
![[Image: RadOct.jpg]](http://frozendust.com/sig/raditzu/RadOct.jpg)
"In this world, his world, life is just a game you play"