The Horror of Emptiness                                                                                                      Reda

Chapter Four: Prisons of Psyfoam’s Layer

    Darkness. It’s a term used to identify the amount of light in an area, usually meaning no light at all. However, to most people darkness means more than that. To them it stands for evil. If there is pure darkness, there is pure evil.  It is the same for light. The brighter the light, the purer the good. It is in this fashion that the term dark and light take form in my mind. I am not the only one who thinks this way. When you meet up with a pure force of evil, your mind immediately thinks dark and black. This is how Goku, and any other experienced warrior, begins to think after many battles, especially when the golden light of the Super Saiyan begins to identify good. For meeting pure evil will only make sense for pure darkness to be the setting, and likewise for meeting a pure-of-heart good-natured warrior. So when pure evil is abroad, one thought comes to mind. Darkness.

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     “This is a lovely reward, Reda. One of the best I’ve ever had.”

     “Oh, shut up already. You know it’s a lot better than our last one, so don’t complain.”

     “Actually, Reda, I think I would have preferred the other reward over this one. At least we got to go somewhere...”

     The voices drifted away. Goku woke up to complete darkness, wondering where he was. He knew those voices. They were Vee and Reda. So, at least he knew someone in this darkness, but he had a feeling that he wouldn’t be seeing or hearing them for a while yet to come. It was too dark a place to be seeing those two kids. They didn’t belong in a place with this much darkness. If they did, then Goku would have been wrong about their feelings, but that was seldom the case.

Goku tried to stand up, so that he’d have a better idea of this desolate place, but he only discovered that he couldn’t move. He realized that his ki seemed to have dispersed. He felt strangely weak, and he couldn’t sense any other powers, although he knew there had to be something because Vee and Reda had just walked by. Oh well, he’d just have to assess this place from his position as it was.

He could tell that he was sitting on hard, cold ground that probably was similar to stone. Although it didn’t have the same feeling as stone it was a metal. His back was against the same cold, hard metal. It wasn’t very smooth, but it wasn’t entirely rough either. It felt like something in between those two descriptions. Anyway, that didn’t really matter because if he could find a way to gather his ki without attracting the attention of the greater forces in this place he could easily create a hole in the strange metal. The key phrase there was gathering his ki. For some odd reason he couldn’t get a hold of his ki. This had never been a problem before, and he did feel strangely weak as if all his ki had been sucked out of him.

“It’s the energy crystals around this place.” Goku turned his head toward that sudden voice. He couldn’t see anything but darkness and he realized that he shouldn’t have expected to see anything anyway because this place had absolutely no light at all. The voice came again, giving Goku the assumption that he actually had heard someone talk. “They steal your energy, and make your ki disappear.”

“What?” Goku asked with surprised confusion.

“Yep, it’s true. Same thing happened to me. Of course, after my fight with Frieza, I had hardly any ki left. I wonder if that bastard is still around...”

The voice faded out as if the speaker was thinking. Goku attempted to answer the guy’s silent question. “Frieza’s dead. I took care of him a long time ago.”

“What? You defeated Frieza?”

“Well, actually, his father, King Cold pieced together what was left of him and made him mostly robot, and Trunks destroyed the robot form of him. However, I am the one given credit for defeating Frieza because I was the one who actually fought with him.” Goku answered.

The voice was definitely surprised, and he probably didn’t want to believe it because it seemed so unlikely. “Are you telling the truth?”

“Of course,” Goku replied right away. “It’s wrong to lie.”

The mysterious voice laughed. “What are you pure-of-heart or something?”

Another voice came into play on the opposite side of Goku, coming from the right instead of the left. It was much rougher and not quite as nice sounding as the other one. “Yes, this one is pure-of-heart. Maybe that’s why Psyfoam sent Vee and Reda after him.”

Looking toward the right Goku actually saw some light. There were two glowing dots in the darkness, and he could only guess that they were the eyes of the person on his right. They kept getting closer, and pretty soon Goku realized they were staring at each other. Only problem was he couldn’t see the person looking back at him, so he just looked into the yellow eyes. They had a sense of feeling in them, but Goku knew that this person was not pure-of-heart like he was. Of course you didn’t have to be a good person to be pure-of-heart, like Bulma. She was something else, a great friend. This person was like that. He had a sense of good feelings, but he was not entirely evil-free, actually he seemed to be like Vegeta.

“Who are you?” It asked.

“My name’s Goku. I’m a Saiyan...from Earth,” he answered confidentially as the mysterious person backed away with a curious expression in his eyes.

“A Saiyan?” The yellow-eyed guy asked. “But Frieza destroyed them when he blew up their planet. I was there watching it happen! Of course he almost killed me and the rest of his men along with Bardock and the planet, but that’s a different story.”

“Not entirely, Kerchak,” another voice said from the dark. This one sounded deeper than the others, and it was clearer too.

“Oh! Sir, sorry to wake you,” the yellow-eyed guy said, and Goku watched as his eyes backed away and all but disappeared form the darkness.

Goku could almost feel the presence of another fighter in front of him now, but he couldn’t really sense him. He just had that feeling of another presence leaning over him, staring at him in the darkness. This new person spoke again. “If I survived, don’t think for a moment that another Saiyan didn’t escape as well. Besides, you said he’s pure-of-heart, right? So, that would make him telling the truth.”

“Yes, sir, of course, sir.”

“So he is a Saiyan? But, sir, I thought only Vegeta, Nappa, and Raditz escaped the planet’s destruction.” The voice from the left said.

Goku felt the presence before him stand up, and he was almost certain that he was looking at the one who had just spoken. “Dresco, you don’t doubt my word, do you?”

The voice sounded worried, as he explained, “No, sir, of course I don’t. He is a Saiyan, but why does Psyfoam want him, sir? And why did he have to send Reda and Vee?”

“I’m not sure, but I do have a guess.”

“What sir?” Dresco asked.

“Dresco, I never tell you a guess. You know that. I only tell you what I know for sure. Remember, that’s why you managed to survive the planet’s destruction.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Now, what is your name, stranger?”

“Uh...Are you asking me?” Goku asked with some confusion.

“Yes, of course I’m asking you.”

“Well, my name’s Goku.”

“And you’re a Saiyan from Earth, right?”

“Uh...yes,” Goku replied, not understanding what the stranger was getting at.

“That’s strange. Goku’s not a Saiyan name,” the voice said thoughtfully.

Goku decided to clear up the stranger’s confusion. “Well, Goku’s my Earth name. My Saiyan name is Kakarot.”

At that, Goku felt a sudden, surprised silence. Nobody talked for long minutes. This long silence gave Goku the chance to notice his surrounding a little better. With what very little light there was, from the yellow-eyed guy, Goku’s eyes could adjust a little bit to the darkness.

To his right, a few paces off, he could see Kerchak. The yellow-eyed creature looked like an overgrown toad. His skin was an ugly green-brown, and it looked very rough and slimy. He was dressed in Saiyan armor that was torn on the shoulder and left arm. Goku was just getting more confused.

To his left, sitting down a few meters away, he could see Dresco. This guy looked more humanoid, except he was blue tinted, and he had thin wings. His flowing yellow hair showed up in the darkness pretty well for Goku to see how messy and uneven it looked. Dresco was staring at him with an open mouth, but he had the start of a smile on his face. He was dressed in lavender clothes that tied at the waist with a red ribbon. His clothing was ripped too, but seemed to have been mended somewhat.

Now, Goku turned to the strong presence he could feel even without his ki, and got a shock of his own. This person was a Saiyan. He had the same monkey tail that all Saiyan’s had, even though Goku’s had been removed. He was wearing the Saiyan armor, and it was ripped in every place imaginable, even though it looked as if someone had tried to mend it. He had a red ribbon tied around his forehead that stayed still in the quiet, cold prison, for Goku finally noticed that they were locked in this area. Even though this information shocked Goku, it was the hairstyle and face that shocked him the most. This Saiyan had the same hairstyle as him, and his face looked similar too, even if there was an x-shaped scar on his left cheek. Goku knew this Saiyan. It had to be his father, Bardock.

“Did you say, Kakarot?” Bardock asked.

“Yes, that is what Vegeta and Raditz called me. Actually, Vegeta still does.” Goku said as he began to leave the subject.

“You really are, Kakarot? And you live on Earth?” Bardock was really starting to get happy now.

“Yes, and so does Vegeta.”

“Who cares about Vegeta? My son’s alive! And he beat Frieza!”

Before Bardock could celebrate any longer, the door opened, and light flooded into the building. Goku was forced to turn his head and shut his eyes at the sudden brightness. He heard a surprised voice that quickly dispersed into pain. It was Bardock’s. Goku turned his head back and opened his eyelids halfway. He could see his father on the ground, moaning in pain, and he could see Kerchak and Dresco beside him, helping him up. Suddenly, Goku saw a shadow stand over him. Then, he saw a flash of blood and his world went dark.