I do not own Dragon Ball Z
he screamed as the blue beam roared towards him, his tattered black cloths fluttered wildly and his black aura flared, in his hand appeared the dark blade, Vengeance and he slashed down at the incoming attack!
The sword swept through the mass of twisting blue Ki and tore a path! A grin appeared on his face and faded as the beam pushed forward and resealed the hole torn by the blade.
He just had time to bring his arms up and catch the attack, his dark Ki wavered and flickered as he shaped it into a shield, but the blast forced him back!
He screamed, the energy tore through his shield, his shield of darkness that had taken years to build and perfect. And Vengeance, his legendary sword feared throughout the universe disintegrated in his hand.
The Ki forced itself through his guards in flickering fingers and where it touched him he felt flesh give way and blood flow, pain followed and it felt like every atom of the wounded area was being forced apart.
He screamed again, this time in fear, for the first time in years he was afraid.
Now the blast was getting stronger and he felt it push him through the air. He threw everything he had into one final guard.
For a second the blast faltered and hope soared within his blackened soul. Perhaps he would do it! Perhaps he could win!
Then the attack surged, his guard collapse, he spun through the air as the attack consumed him, fire! It burned, slowly eating away at him from the outside, he felt his hair burn away, his arms bled as the flesh was ripped away, his gut wrench and exploded outwards in a shower of blood.
He screamed in pain and all he saw, was the blue of the beam.
Then through a pain filled mind, he felt the ground below him, but the impact caused him a new wave of pain and he quickly lost all feeling.
He couldn't feel anything, and the blue of the attack was almost peaceful, he knew of course that he was being eaten away, slowly disappearing.
But he had fought with everything, all his power and it hadn't been enough. He, just like all his race, was being killed by a Saiyen.
His hand reached out, unfeelingly and something hit his open palm, this small thing was enough to break weakened skin and cause a fresh wave of blood, he had only a few seconds left. His hand reached out and saw what he had grabbed, it was a bird. Wounded and dyeing, like him. It had been caught in the explosion. Trees were being ripped out of the earth and killed, everything around him was dyeing.
The bird struggled weakly, but he knew that it's struggles were useless. Even if it did survive, and heal. Then Saiyens would just wipe out the planet, like they always did.
The murderous bastards. They couldn't leave anything peaceful, or good, or living. They killed and tortured for their own sick twisted fun.
He had once come across a warrior, some kind of village chief who's only crime had been protecting his innocent people and planet.
His guts had been torn out slowly and deliberately so that he could feel every minute of it.
And there had been worse, people slowly hacked to dead, cut to ribbons in front of their family.
And the Saiyens enjoyed it. Whole races wiped out in the blink of an eye, and the Saiyens loved it, great peoples tortured just for the sick pleasure of watching them scream, and the Saiyens caused it.
No more!
His aura flared back into life, powered by a strength he never knew he had. The blue Ki bounced off his shield and he stood up on bloody legs, the Saiyens would pay, pay for all the harm they'd caused!
He would make them pay!
But then the attack reached its' full power and exploded with the power unlike anything he'd ever seen, and he was stuck in the middle of it!
Darkness, pain, these were the only two things in his shattered mind, his body seemed to float in a void with nothing but pain. Oh yes lots of that. He would have screamed but the pain was too much, he couldn't do anything but go limp and wait for it to end. It didn't, it went on and on.
It was so intense that it filled his vision with red, it slowly changed to blue. Then faded until it was black.
Then slowly, ever so slowly, his shattered mind started to pull itself together. Where was he? It was dark, was he dead? It didn't feel like it, maybe he was in Hell? Was this the end?
He hung there, for a long time. Then he felt something under his hand, it was hard and his mind threw up a name. Ground.
So, he wasn't dead. No. he tried to move but pain erupted and he screamed to the heavens. But this pain was different, the other had been there, but this seemed to be coming from a long way off. And it was drawing him to it.
Then, he opened his eyes. His right eye saw nothing, and he hoped it wasn't destroyed but what his left eye saw chilled him to the bone.
He was in a pool of his own blood, his left leg had been blown off completely, his right had been destroy all the way from the knee down.
His chest was missing chunks of flesh and bone, he could see his still beating heart. His lungs were punctured, both his arms blown away, and not forgetting his right eye.
All in all he should have died the second the blast hit.
But the most amazing thing of all, he had an aura. It was small yes, and flickering wildly but he had one.
What now? Was he dead? Dyeing? If so why did he still have an aura? What should he do?
How long had he been out? It was night-time now, so he would have had to be out for hours.
How could he have survived with these wounds for minutes never mind hours? It was impossible!
What could he do? He could call for help and hope that the Saiyens had gone. If they thought they had killed him then they wouldn't stick around here.
" Help!"
even this small effort had him coughing up more blood. No one came, he tried again and again was reduced to spewing blood.
His senses was numbing now, he was falling asleep. Darkness overtook him.
Darkness is as old as time, older even. People fear it. Make candles and lights to hold it back, live in illuminated houses so that they don't have to see it. But they fear it anyway. Because everyone and everything knows, deep down, that the darkness is never truly gone.
Even in the brightest room in the universe, you would still find a shadow, under a chair, or a table.
Small, yes, shallow. But a portal. Turn the lights off for just a second and darkness rushes in to fill the void.
Light may chase it away, but it can never defeat it. For every light, from the smallest candle to the brightest sun, must sometime go out. And the darkness never goes. It waits and plans and eventually, it strikes.
For, in the end, darkness is stronger, light may chase it, but the same light will slowly fade until darkness rules supreme.
This is the fate of all types of light, all but one.
Ki, Ki is made up of many things, different and unique to everyone who welds it. Every being in the universe has Ki. Love, hope, light, these things are what give Ki its' strength. The desire to fight and to protect and to defend one's friends until the end. This too, is a kind of light.
And worse, its' a light that doesn't go out.
And a few strong people hold the darkness at bay. They don't know it. They do it just by being themselves.
But if they were ever to fade, then darkness would rush through the universe and wipe out all life.
There are also people who use Ki for evil.
Hate, fear, aggression, these things are the dark. And while thy may offer the welder great power, they will also eventually destroy him.
Vengeance, revenge is a dark purpose, yet one that has never been truly controlled by the dark.
For the person who searches for revenge walks a thin line between the two. Light and dark, hope and fear, destruction or redemption.
And ultimately, these things boil down to one choice, death or life.
Some people make this simple choice without knowing, some go their whole life without having to make it. And some, some have to make it a thousand times over.
Observe this fighter, in a pool of his own blood.
He is a hero on a thousand worlds, known as slayer of evil, the Saiyen hunter. Saviour of the innocent.
His soul is a battle ground, light and dark have both played a part in his life. He has both saved countless people and massacred countless innocents.
He travelled to this planet in the hopes of finally fulfilling his oath and killing the last of the Saiyens.
For you see, he is a Tuffle. The last Tuffle.
He also, has a destiny. This is way he has not died. But destiny is a fickle thing. And he will defiantly die if help does not arrive in the next five minutes.
It arrives just after two minutes.
An ambulance, escorted by police cars and even helicopters. Come to see what caused the explosion, but the Saiyens are long gone.
Roran opened his eye.
He had expected pain but what he got was much, much worse. He got numbness. He could feel nothing.
But he could see. He was laying in a bed. Hooked up to some kind of machine. Every so often it would make a sound.
The remains of his arms and legs were bandaged. Tubes ran up from somewhere out of his sight, and through the holes in is chest. The sight made him sick.
His right eye was was also bandaged.
He tried to talk but found that he could only moan. He did so now.
A doctor came into his sight. It had to be a doctor. He was wearing a white coat, and had three pens in his shirt pocket. He had white hair and a small moustache.
He completely fitted Roran's mental picture of what a doctor should look like.
Later he would be worried about that.
He tried to a talk again and again found that he couldn't make any noise above a moan.
The doctor said " you're vocal cords were cut when we moved you to the hospital."
his tone of voice really struck the Tuffle.
It wasn't bad as such. it just didn't care. You could have died in agony for all he cared indeed, that would make things so much easier for him.
Roran took an instant dislike to him.
" I am doctor Foster. And I will be you're examiner for you're stay."
Examiner, noted Roran. Doesn't sound too good.
" You suffered sever internal damage. Indeed you should have been dead long before we got there. My job is to find out why.
Ah, thought Roran. So I'm not in a hospital, I'm in a lab.
And he says my vocal cords were cut, he didn't say weather it was on purpose.
I have a bad feeling about this...
weeks past. And Roran got used to daily life.
In the mornings Foster would run a battery of tests on his blood and body.
Most of the latter were painful.
By the time he was finished testing it would be dinner time. He could get some kind of goo pumped directly into him stomach. Then more testing.
This would go on 'till midnight at least and then he would be put to sleep, by means of a a greenish gas that was sprayed into his face.
And he would dream. Dreams of far away places that he had never seen, dreams of people he'd never meet. Dreams of things that had never happened. He saw the future and the past and the present all at once. Nothing new there.
This went on for months. As his body slowly healed. Then one night he saw it.
A red sky, ashes filled the air and he could hear screams. Then a great sound filled his ears and he looked up.
A Saiyen space pod crashed in front of him.
Roran was confused, disorientated but some things become instinct. He leapt at the pod and Vengeance appeared in his hand, he swept it down in a killer blow, just as the Saiyen stepped out of his ship.
The Saiyen was not wearing the normal armour. He was wearing an orange fighting uniform and his hair was golden, not black. It reached all the way down his back.
But a Saiyen is a Saiyen and Roran struck! Only to have the Saiyen catch the blade and threw a fist at him!
Roran didn't dodge in time and the fist went straight through his gut!
His eyes widened, he laughed up blood and fell. But he could still see. The Saiyen laughed.
Then another figure stepped out of the smoke.
It was a green man. He fell into a fighting stance and said " Goku, how could you do this to the earth? How could you wipe out everyone!"
The Saiyen known as Goku smirked and said " Not Goku, Kakerot."
Roran woke with a scream.