"12…13…14" *SWOOSH* He narrowly evaded the swipe of a dangerous spear.
"17…18…" *SWOOSH* He had to quickly duck under the thrust of two swords.
"…21…22…23…24…25!" He then had to leap into the air to evade the wall of Savahnian warriors that attempted to rush him all at once.
Turning a flip in the air and landing gracefully outside of the crowd of Savahnian warriors, Vegeta released a very frustrated growl as he held a tightened fist to the group ahead of him. "Would you idiots be still already?!" demanded the Saiyan Prince with a roar of anger. "It's hard enough trying to count all of you when you look practically identical and all of this movement isn't making things any better!"
The soldiers all then remained as still as statues while they looked over to Vegeta in puzzlement. It was hard to tell if they had halted their fighting out of fear or if they were just stunned from the unexpected outburst. Nevertheless, Vegeta decided to make the most of the opportunity.
With a satisfied smile, Vegeta began pointing out the rest as he said, "Now then, 26…27…28…29…30…" Before he could finish his count though, a disturbance from behind caught his ear.
Enraged at being interrupted yet again, Vegeta turned with a sneer of pure anger as he simultaneously emitted a very powerful wave of energy. "DAMNIT!" roared the Saiyan Prince as the blast was shot from his palm and knocked away three sneaky Savahnian warriors.
The searing blast pierced through many buildings before detonating on a far side of the city. In its wake, three fallen warriors lied along with a smoldering scorch mark through the city.
Clutching the same hand that had fired the blast into a tight fist, Vegeta glared down at the three dead warriors. "You messed up my count," growled the prince to the deceased adversaries. Then he perked up as a thought occurred to him. "Wait a second…1…2…3…" stated prince as he counted the scorched bodies. His eyes then looked skyward as he calculated out the remaining warriors.
A big smile then fell upon Vegeta's face as he finally ascertained the number of soldiers he had been able to gather. "HAHAHA! I was able to snag 33 of you weaklings! That's more than the rest of those idiots could ever hope to pull in one setting!"
He then turned his head back to the hoard behind him and said, "Since that little task is out of the way, I suppose we can move on to your deaths." He offered a wicked smile as the warriors all began growling and hissing at him, finding their moment of anger entertaining and understanding how futile their attempts were. "Who's going to be first?"
With that statement from Vegeta, the 30 soldier armada rushed Vegeta, each of them yelling their own respective battle cries and saluting their efforts with their various weapons.
He turned his head back to the front, closing his eyes and subtly shaking his head at the useless efforts of the soldiers preparing to attack his back. "The fools," silently hissed Vegeta before shifting through hyper-speed.
In an instant, the entire squad of soldiers stopped, frozen in their tracks. Each of them appeared to have a glazed-over appearance. They remained suspended in that seemingly frozen state for another moment until Vegeta reappeared at the hind of the group.
He carefully analyzed the group for a moment as he scanned them over before allowing a satisfied smile to come upon his face. In the same moment that Vegeta's smile appeared, each and every last member of the soldiers fell to the ground, most likely dead due to Vegeta's impeccably speedy strikes.
"That certainly didn't last long. I suppose it's time to see how the others are doing, more specifically, my idiot brother," stated the Saiyan elite before turning on his heel and beginning to walk back to the marketplace's square.
He wasn't allowed to get far before he was stopped by a spear that nearly pierced his leg. Halting to examine the weapon for a moment, Vegeta then turned back to the group of what he believed contained exclusively deceased soldiers. Yet, there was one lone soldier left in the group.
In the very center, the white-coated Savahnian was hunched over on his hands and knees, clearly having a hard time catching his breath. His usually pearly white fur was matted with blood and dirt. Carefully, he got back to his feet and growled over to the invader of his home world.
"One lone survivor, huh?" stated Vegeta with a sense of peaked interest in his voice. "Let's see what kind of power level you're working with." Vegeta then pressed the button to the side of his scouter to read the warrior's power level. In a matter of seconds, it reported back a level of 1400.
"1400," reiterated Vegeta as he simultaneously glanced between the reading and the warrior before him. "It would explain why you could have survived that little minor attack of mine, but it's still nothing impressive. I suppose, if you had found yourself fighting Raditz, the meager level would've proved to be more threatening, but that just isn't the case, now is it?"
Vegeta allowed a menacing smile to grace his features as he saw the look of aggression intensify on the warrior's face. "While I do admire your will to fight, it might've been better for you if you had just stayed down. Now then, let's end this."
Vegeta began stepping forward as he leered to the fighter before him. How could someone with a power level of 1400 be foolish enough to challenge him? It was almost insulting, but Vegeta couldn't be too mad at the cretin. After all, the fool had no idea what kind of power he was facing.
Continuing his trek towards the Savahn warrior, Vegeta noticed a calmness settle over the warrior. It almost seemed as if it was void of life. Vegeta definitely found it odd, but just wrote it off as the warrior accepting his fate. But then something odd began to happen.
While continuing to step forward, the scouter began to read out another power level. Finding the device's actions odd, Vegeta stopped to examine the screen of the device through his covered eye. He could see the readings rising higher and higher. Looking past the readings on the screen, Vegeta's eyes bulged as he noted a shift in the Savahnian before him.
The warrior had once been of a lean nature, but now the creature was bulging at all angles. It even looked to have gained a foot in height. Adding more on to the intimidating appearance of the Savahnian, its mouth seemed to have protruded out some, more in the form of a snout. And where normal looking teeth had once been, the creature was now sporting an arsenal of razor sharp daggers. It was even snarling like a rabid monster. But the most shocking of all to Vegeta, was the creature's new power level.
Having gone from a meager 1400, it would be perfectly acceptable for even the mighty Saiyan Prince to seem fearful of the new and improved monster before him.
Breaking out with a nervous sweat and angry veins bulging all over his cranium, Vegeta glared at the scouter over his eye in disbelief. "14,000!" declared the Saiyan Prince before looking back to the creature in front of him.
The monster before the Saiyan prince then fell down into a four-legged stance while it snarled like a wild animal. Its new pupil-void eyes looked to Vegeta as if it were ready to dine on the Saiyan Prince like a royal feast.
With his own growl of frustration, Vegeta returned a rightful glare to the monster while simultaneously preparing for the battle. "Damn you, Frieza! This was just another aspect that you forgot to mention," hissed the Saiyan Prince in a low, non-audible tone.
Vegeta allowed his pale blue aura to encase his body as he continued the stare-down between him and the beast.
"Don't just stand there, you disgusting freak! You haven't won a damn thing yet!" roared Vegeta, tempting the creature to attack. And the Saiyan Prince wasn't forced to wait more than a second before the creature leapt at him and the battle commenced.
"So, I was able to pull 16 of you soldiers?" stated Nappa as he looked back and forth between the North and the South openings on the large street that he had settled in. On both ends of the street stood eight Savahnian soldiers, and Nappa was placed squarely in the middle.
With his arms placed comfortable on his hips, Nappa looked questioningly to each group of warriors, finding it odd that neither was making a move to attack.
"Are we going to start this sometime tonight, or what?" asked the brute as he continued to switch between looking at either group of Savahn's
After another moment of tense silence between everyone, Nappa was beginning to notice something in the groups. For the most part, they were comprised of younger looking creatures. They didn't stand with confidence or bravery. In fact, a moment of scrutiny towards one of the members in the Southern group told Nappa a rather frustrating story. The fools were scared to fight. A few of them even had the nerve to be standing there with their knees shaking. How dare they waste his time like this?!
Feeling his head redden slightly from embarrassment, Nappa blurted out with, "You've got to be kidding me!" He turned to the Southern group, specifically glaring down the fearful Savahnian in the front, and said, "I come all this way to torment your people, to kill everyone in sight, and you dare to come to battle against me with fear! Do you understand how shameful that is? Huh; do you?!"
Rushing forward with a fist reared back, Nappa closed the distance rather quickly and slammed his fist into the face of the fearful, young Savahnian in the front, sending the kid piercing by his comrades and shooting into one of the buildings.
The remaining Savahnian warriors took a moment to gaze at their comrade's plight before looking back to the invader in front of them. One look upon the tall, muscly, and angered brute was enough to pale each of them.
"I am a Saiyan warrior! Stepping in my path of destruction with anything less than the intent to fight is a disgrace to my honor as a warrior. It's one thing to be weak, but to be weak and coward! That is the ultimate dishonor. And for wasting my time, I will make you all suffer!" growled the behemoth of a Saiyan as he looked intrepidly upon the fearful Savahnian warriors below him.
Taking note of the blood of their comrade dripping from the brute's fist, each of the Savahnian cowards knew very well that the invader was certainly playing no games. Allowing their weapons to fall to the ground, they all began to run as fast as they could, but weren't allowed far before Nappa began the rampage.
Rushing forward with one mighty fist, Nappa managed to plow through two Savahnian warriors, knocking them unconscious as they were knocked away. Catching one of the escaping warriors in the palm of his large hand, Nappa proceeded to throw the warrior clean through one of the nearby buildings. Far down the street, Nappa could see three Savahnians escaping. He then leapt high into the air. After taking a moment to calculate his precision, he plummeted out of the sky like a falling star and crashed his large feet down upon the two Savahnians that had been in the front. While proceeding to crush the spine of the two downed Savahns, Nappa turned just at the right moment to backhand the third escaping Savahn across the ground. The mere might of the blow was enough to shatter the poor fool's skull. Getting off of the two Savahns that he had implanted into the ground, Nappa then noticed that one last Savahn was trying to escape by climbing up a building. Just as it seemed that the Savahn was about to reach the rooftop, Nappa leapt up and placed a firm grasp on the creature's ankle. It an instant, Nappa then slammed the cowardly Savahn harshly into the ground below, forming a small hole. And with that, the eight man brigade of the Southern end was exterminated.
Nappa then turned a curious glance to the group in the North of the street, hoping that they'd be willed into fighting now.
This certainly wasn't the case, though.
That one look by Nappa caused the entire group to drop their weapons and run away as fast as they could.
Nappa sighed heavily as he watched them try to escape before opening his mouth and releasing a powerful energy wave to the escaping warriors.
Just as it seemed that the blast was ready to consume each of the warriors, it was detonated before harming a single soul. While the smoke of the explosion slowly evaporated from the area, Nappa could see someone standing boldly in front of the group of cowardly soldiers.
"I'm sorry that these boys are not to your liking, invader," stated the voice coldy. "We've never really had to deal with monsters such as you and your friends, so there was never a need to specifically focus on training individuals for combat. Adding in the fact that you're frame is quite similar to our most intense fighting form, and I'm sure these kids had a hard time willing themselves to go against you."
The smoke finally faded and showed another Savahnian in its wake. However, this one was much older looking and larger in comparison to the embarrassing pack of cowards. His hair seemed quite wild, almost making him seem like some kind of mad beast, but there was a sense of calmness around the older Savahn that seemed to ease the concerns of the cowards around him.
"I assume that you're here to fight me, now," stated Nappa as he looked over to the newest fighter, a pleased smile crossing his face.
"I'd prefer not to, but I don't think my preferences mean much to you," responded the Savahn with a serious glare towards Nappa. "Am I correct?"
"You sure are, old man! And for your sake, I hope that you're more interesting than the rest of your clan," said Nappa as he gestured back to the various dead bodies of the Savahns he had killed only moments ago.
A look of disgust and rage passed before the old Savahn's face while he looked to some his fallen brethren, but it fade to impassible calmness once his eyes landed back on Nappa. "I am not at all the strongest that Savahn can offer you, invader, but I do pride myself on being excellently trained. Therefore, I believe that you'll find me to be more than impressive," stated the old Savahn with the same grave tone as earlier.
"Is that so? Well let's just see how powerful you are, old man," replied Nappa before tapping the button on the side of his scouter. Once the reading was reported to him, Nappa couldn't help but burst with laughter. "With a power level of 800, I don't see you as being too impressive, but I like your moxie. Tell you what, I'll give you a quick and honorable death!"
Rushing down the street with both fists ready to barrel into the old Savahn, Nappa cackled happily as he prepared to end the foolish old man. With his eyes fixated on the old man, Nappa neared closer and closer, but could see something change in the man. In a matter of seconds, the old man's body became bulging with muscles and his frame grew by at least a foot. The man's mouth then shot out in the form of a snarling snout. To say that Nappa was surprised by the latest turn of events would be a drastic understatement.
Still rushing forward, Nappa glanced back to his scouter and couldn't believe the new reading that he was getting. "8,000!" shouted Nappa as he blindly rushed towards the new, monstrous old Savahnian.
Realizing that he had just rushed into the enemy's fighting zone, Nappa came to a skidding stop only to stop just in front of the old man.
"DIE!" growled the Savahn in a grizzly tone before slapping his palm into Nappa's face and sending the brute slamming violently through two buildings.
"HAHAHAHA!" came the cackle of Raditz as he stared down his group of Savahnian warriors.
His preferred location appeared to be the rooftop of a rather large building in the Savahnian's city. From the position, they all had a perfect view of the flame-licked city and could see how the smoke from the city blended beautifully in the night sky.
"Only six of you were brave enough to come and face me, I see," declared Raditz with a condescending expression upon the warriors. "The other weaklings clearly chose the coward's way out by staying back there with little Tarble. I don't say that I could blame them, though! HAHAHA! I'd be afraid to fight me too!"
Clearly reaching a breaking point with Raditz, one of the soldiers charged forward with a spear aimed at harming the Saiyan. "Shut your mouth!" the warrior declared as he drew closer.
Raditz merely watched with amusement as the warrior drew closer and closer. Just when it looked as if the spear was about to strike, Raditz stopped it by simply holding the tip of it between his middle and index finger.
"Such primitive weapons," chimed Raditz as the look of shock and fear came upon the soldier's face.
With a very sinister and mocking smirk, Raditz ignited a small amount of energy in his hand and set the instrument ablaze.
Releasing the fiery weapon, the soldier stepped back and watched in awe as his weapon burned in the invader's hands. He then looked away from the spear and paled under the serious scrutiny of Raditz.
Throwing the spear aside, Raditz stepped forward and slammed a powerful palm into the chest of Savahn soldier. The sheer force of the attack sent the warrior sliding across the roof until he nearly was knocked off of the other side.
Holding his chest in obvious pain, the soldier fell to his knees and squirmed with apparent anguish while his comrades watched helplessly.
Raditz, on the other hand, began cackling yet again as he gazed upon the soldier's plight. "Yeah, that's right! HAHAHAH! Kneel before your superior! If you keep this up, I might just spare your life!"
Raditz's cackle came to an abrupt stop as his ears caught the snarls of anger from the other five warriors.
Looking over to them with interest, he said, "If you want to be in the same situation that your friend is in then be my guest! Attack me!" Raditz spread his arms open in a taunt to draw the soldiers in for attack. "I'm right here! Will no one attack me? And you all call yourselves warriors!" Raditz began to cackle yet again as his taunts tore at the soldiers before him.
In an attempt to silence Raditz, one of the soldiers finally stepped forward. Charging at Raditz with a sword in either hand, he completely ignored the calls to heed from his fellow warriors. Instead he rushed bravely forward with a battle cry to signify his anger and willingness to kill.
Raditz stopped his laughing and just glared down the soldier while he rushed forward. Raising a hand to the scouter's button, Raditz sidestepped the simple attack from the soldier and simultaneously read out the grunt's power level.
It's 340. This must be some kind of joke, thought Raditz as he mockingly disregarded the planet's warriors.
"That's enough out of you!" declared Raditz while thrusting his boot up into the chin of the Savahnian warrior. With the one mighty blow, the warrior was sent flying high into the sky. Turning back to the remaining five warriors, Raditz just barely caught the sound of the other soldier plummeting into a building elsewhere, most likely dead from the lethal kick.
"Well that's one down! HAHAHA! Any other takers?! I can do this all night!" roared Raditz in between fits of his ghastly laughter. When it seemed that no one else would be stepping forward to challenge him, Raditz allowed his laughter to die out long enough for him to say, "Well if you're not going to come at me, I suppose I can come at you!"
Reveling in the look of trepidation that came upon each of the Savahnian warriors' faces, Raditz decided it best to go ahead and read out the remaining's power levels. Tapping the button on his scouter again, it didn't take long to report. Three of the soldiers ran along the line of 500 with slight ten point deviations between the three. One's reading was a slightly unnerving 845, but Raditz knew that he could handle that foe. And finally, the wimp that was still nursing his wounds was a measly 200.
Child's play, thought Raditz as his eyes scanned over the group. All that I really need to do is take out the 800 power level and the rest will easily fall to my power.
Taking a fighting stance and preparing to engage the foes, Raditz noticed the stronger of the Savahns getting into a protective stance before the other three.
And he's their leader! Again, I say this will be too easy!
Rushing forward at a quick pace, Raditz charged directly for the leader of the group, but just before attacking, his body evaporated through the Afterimage technique. Puzzled by Raditz's sudden disappearance, the Savahn soldier looked around in confusion for a moment before catching Raditz's scent. At the absolute last second, the warrior brought a forearm up to barely block the impact of Raditz's fist. But the meager defense still wasn't enough to stop the warrior from being knocked across the rooftop.
"You're going to have to keep up, Savahn!" mocked Raditz with a gleeful smile.
He then ran over to the downed warrior, aiming to slam a fist down to the fighter. Just before impact, though, the fist was caught in a two-handed effort by the down Savahn. With Raditz caught in his firm grip, the Savahn leered up to the invader and growled furiously, while also signaling to his comrades.
While Raditz tried to rip his hand from the firm grip of the downed Savahn, he barely caught the sense of the three Savahns leaping into the air behind him. Turning to look upon the warriors in fear, Raditz watched as the three fighters brought spears, swords, and knives down to impale his back. However, at the last second, Raditz sped away with his hyper-speed. This left the warrior's weapons to spear down towards to their downed leader, but thankfully, they had been able to stop themselves before killing their own.
Appearing several feet away from the Savahn warriors, Raditz glared to them with pure hatred. "How dare you try to sneak up on me?!" roared the Saiyan warrior before emitting a powerful energy blast to the fighters.
Two of the standing Savahn's managed to leap away in either direction, but the centered warrior was stunned into horror as the blast neared. Unable to move, he watched as his death came towards him. But he was saved at the last second as the downed leader leapt in the way of the blast, allowing it to singe painfully into his back.
After taking the full force of the blast into his back, the leader of the small group collapsed over while his back burned from the fierce energy.
The two Savahns that had managed to escape the blast could only watch in sadness while their leader lied dead on the rooftop, and the Savahn that had been saved could only cry for their leader's bravery.
Raditz found the entire thought of their sadness disgusting, but he was more than willing to alleviate their pain.
Rushing forward to one of the standing Savahns, the brutal Saiyan warrior caught the native off guard with a furious snap kick to the side of the head. The power behind the kick was enough to send the soldier flying for yards and eventually crashing into one of the many burning buildings in the city.
"I'll kill you!" came the cry of the other standing Savahn as he charged forward with a sword aimed to slice at Raditz.
Turning a rather irritated look to the warrior, Raditz said, "You wish." With that, he placed a palm towards the Savahn soldier and emitted an energy blast that speared directly through the warrior's abdomen.
With the majority of the trash taken care of, Raditz stepped over to the weeping Savahn that was still seated next to the idiot Savahn that had given his life.
With his shadow looming over the weeping warrior, Raditz's look of disgust couldn't be contained. "Animals like you don't deserve to live," stated the Saiyan warrior once the Savahn had looked up to him.
Acting on what looked to be pure anger, the Savahn leapt from the ground with a knife aimed at slicing Raditz's throat, but his efforts were to no avail.
Long before the Savahn could reach his neck, the mighty Saiyan quickly stuck out his hand, resting it completely over the soldier's face. The Savahnian seemed frozen in that moment, completely unsure of what to do. This entertained Raditz immensely.
"It's over," stated Raditz simply before emitting another energy blast that completely incinerated the native warrior.
Having finally finished with that task, Raditz thought it nice to go relax for a moment before the second wave of warriors was to come. Perhaps he'd even go check on the progress of the others.
Just as he turned to leave, he caught the subtle shift of someone's presence to his left. Looking over with a hint of interest, Raditz realized that he had completely forgotten about the last soldier. With a sinister smile, Raditz began walking over to the creature and said, "Still nursing your wounds, I see! Well I know of a way to help eliminate all kinds of pain. Just leave your needs in Dr. Raditz's hands. HAHAHAH!"
Just as Raditz was ready to end the last of the fighters once and for all, a signal on his scouter caught his attention. Looking through the lens, he could see that it was reading out the downed warrior's power level and it was rising dramatically! Once the reading finally leveled out, Raditz's look was of pure disbelief. The reading was even greater than his!
Looking back to the downed Savahn, a chill ran up Raditz's spine as he noted the drastic change in the soldier's form. It had gone from a humanoid creature to a full-blown monster!
Snarling like a wild dog, the Savahn leapt onto all fours and then lunged directly at Raditz, slamming the Saiyan warrior through the roof of the building.
"Aahhh!" shrieked Tarble before quickly leaning back at the last second to dodge to spear strike, allowing the Savahnian warrior to rush over his body.
Sitting back upright, Tarble then noticed the other two Savahns leaping up onto the rooftop as well.
Feeling kind of overwhelmed in that moment, Tarble cautiously stepped away from the side of the rooftop, unknowingly stepping back towards the other Savahn warrior. However, he caught on just in time to duck under another spear strike from the Savahn. Leaping away from the spear-wielding Savahn, he landed directly in front of the other two soldiers and narrowly avoid being struck with either a sword or a club.
Leaping to the side, Tarble was put on the defensive as the three warriors began a barrage of swipes, strikes, and stabs at him. He was successfully dodging the assault, though. If he learned anything from his years in the PTO, he certainly learned how to dodge.
Still, he knew that he couldn't win a battle based on defense. He had to fight eventually. Therefore, he analyzed the fight pattern of the three warriors and quickly determined the best route for attack. Before he was able to strike, though, he found himself pushed to the edge of the building by trying to avoid the melee of attacks.
Caught off guard by the unexpected plight, he was left wide open for a powerful strike via the clubbed Savahn.
Tarble was knocked off of the building and landed harshly in the square of the marketplace, his landing managed to kick up a mild plume of dirt. Rubbing his bruised cheek, Tarble looked back to the rooftop, seeing the Savahn warriors staring down to him in disgust.
"Leave this world, invader! We want nothing to do with your kind. You bring nothing, but death and destruction wherever you go. Revenge can't even repay the harm that you've brought to our planet, so simply leave! Just go!" declared the sword-wielding Savahn that stood in the center of the other two warriors.
Lying there in the dirt and gazing up to the brave warriors above him, Tarble couldn't help but feel guilt overwhelm him. This was how he always felt when going on missions, especially to planets that he found to be as peaceful as Planet Savahn. He deserved it, though! The Savahn warrior was right. Everywhere that Tarble went, he brought death and destruction. Sure, it never actually came by his hand, but he was always privy to it, nonetheless.
And to think that he had actually planned on striking against the trio above him moments ago!
He was a coward by nature and a true weakling at heart. Or at least that how Vegeta had described him on more than one occasion.
Tarble truly didn't have the desire to do the things that the others did. He didn't revel in destroying civilizations. He didn't feel glee when bringing harm to others. And – most unnerving of all – he didn't even really enjoy fighting. All his life fighting had always been to kill others and to bring some worthless kind of self-justification. He just couldn't see the joy in all of that destruction; it was utterly pointless.
Still though, he knew how Vegeta would feel about his current train of thought. His brother would not be at all happy to hear Tarble going on about these "weakling thoughts" again. In fact, Tarble could already feel exactly how displeased Vegeta would be. And it was because of Vegeta that Tarble felt so horrible for having such embarrassing thoughts.
Vegeta had been Tarble's protector for as long as Tarble could remember, showing him the ways of the PTO, keeping some of the other soldiers from bothering him, and even keeping things smooth with Frieza when he messed things up. Sure, Vegeta could be a little harsh from time to time, but that was what made him such an amazing leader.
At the end of the day, they were brothers and would always be that. Tarble couldn't betray Vegeta in the slightest of ways. And that also included in his acts as a soldier. Tarble had to prove his worth to Vegeta and show that he was worthy of being called a Saiyan.
Guilt be damned! Tarble had to fight these Savahns and finally show Vegeta that he truly was a proud Saiyan warrior!
"Hey!" roared Tarble from his seated position. "We're going nowhere! This planet is ours, so you might as well give up!"
With a new fire lit within him, Tarble leapt to his feet, ready to fight for his pride as a Saiyan warrior and his worth as the brother of the Saiyan Prince. However, before Tarble could enact any of this newfound courage, a spear shot through the air and pierced right into Tarble's right thigh. Releasing a yelp of pure pain, Tarble only had a moment to support the wound before one of the Savahnians tackled him to the ground.
With his foot pressed against Tarble's neck and the rest of his weight pressed firmly on Tarble's chest, the Savahnian warrior glared harshly into the eye of the downed Saiyan invader. "We will give up nothing, invader, but it is clear that the only way to stop you monsters is for us to take your lives. And if take we must, then take we will!" Pulling a hidden knife from behind his back, the Savahn brought it high into the air and aimed to slam into Tarble's throat.
Tarble could see the blade shining in the light of the blazing city. He couldn't remember the last time he felt this kind of fear. He was about to lose his life!
Before the blade could ever plummet towards his neck, Tarble's left arm came to life and shot a powerful fist into the jaw of the Savahnian on top of him. The native warrior was sent skidding across the dusty grounds of the marketplace before finally coming to a stop several feet away from Tarble. Finding the thought of nearly losing his life draining, Tarble could only breathe heavily as he looked over to the unmoving Savahn.
In truth, he had absolutely no idea where that had come from. It was like his body had just acted on its own resolve, and it appeared to have really packed a punch; after all, the guy was clearly unconscious. Surely he couldn't have died, though. Tarble could tell that these were strong warriors on the planet. It would take more than a simple punch to kill these people.
While continuing to stare at the unmoving figure, Tarble's beliefs as to the Savahn's wellness was waning quickly. He couldn't have possibly killed him with one hit, right? Tarble continued to watch as one of the other Savahn warriors landed next to the downed warrior. His heart dropped as he watched the pained expression come upon the other Savahn's face.
"Why is this happening to us?" growled the Savahn warrior as he sat beside his deceased comrade, tears beginning to fall from his eyes.
Tarble's own heart wept right along with the Savahn's as he realized that he had just killed someone, and a person that was simply trying to protect their planet no less.
"You!" roared the Savahn as he turned his tear-filled, angry eyes upon Tarble. "You monsters! We did nothing! We did absolutely nothing to any of you, yet you come here and kill our people! You are all monsters and deserve nothing less than to be burned at the stake! Do you hear me?! You all deserve to die!"
The Savahn then snatched at his sword and began rushing towards Tarble with tears of anguish darting his eyes. All that Tarble could do was watch solemnly as the warrior drew closer, unwilling to even put up the slightest of defenses.
I'm so sorry, thought Tarble as his eyes closed in preparation of his death.
However, as time waned on, nothing was heard. There was no death, no pain, no nothing. Opening his eyes with confusion, Tarble was shocked to see a rather important figure standing before him.
Standing just before Tarble with a vice-like grip on the angry Savahn's throat was Vegeta. Tarble could see the look of pure agony on the Savahn's face due to Vegeta's powerful grip, but the creature's life was no longer in his control. With a heavy heart, Tarble understood that any wishes for vengeance would be lost on the Savahnian.
A frankly horrible popping noise then drew Tarble's attention to the rooftop. Standing at its top was Raditz and Nappa, with the latter holding the club-wielding Savahn in a vice grip around the skull. Tarble quickly concluded what the ghastly popping noise had been. Though, Tarble couldn't help but note the frankly horrendous appearance of his comrades. Raditz and Nappa looked like they had gotten put through a grinder; it was surprising that they were still able to walk.
Looking back to his brother, Tarble even noted the worn appearance of Vegeta's clothing. It was more than obvious that everyone else had been in intense brawls while Tarble had been wallowing in his own self-pity.
Naturally, this didn't make Tarble feel any better about his current standings as a warrior. The three warriors were clearly no match for any of them, yet he still managed to get hurt. Then again, that was pretty typical of him, the weakling.
He knew he had to make an apology for his idiocy. He had to let the others know how much he'd try next time. He just had to.
Slowly getting back to his feet and trying desperately to ignore the pain in his thigh, Tarble watched Vegeta's back carefully, trying to decide what the best tactic would be. After a moment of getting nothing, Tarble decided to just dive into the conversation, but just as he was ready to say something, the snapping of Savahn's neck stopped him. It was quite unnerving to watch that happen to someone, especially from such a close distance, but he knew that he'd have to eventually get used to it. One day, he'd have to be the person doing the neck snapping!
"Vegeta, I'm sor….UGH!" started Tarble before being promptly silenced with a speedy and rather painful backhand from his older brother.
Falling back to the ground and trying desperately to ignore the pain radiating across his face, Tarble could only stare helplessly up to his older brother and the glare that he was receiving was enough to make little Tarble rethink any decisions of speaking.
While the brothers locked eyes below, Nappa and Raditz noticed the appearance of more soldiers coming in at all angles. "Vegeta, there are more coming!" called Nappa from atop the rooftop.
After a few more moments of glaring down at his brother, Vegeta broke the gaze and looked back up to his other comrades. "You know what to do," responded the irritated prince.
Nappa produced a glee-filled chuckle before raising his hand in front of his body. He took just a moment channel his energy before thrusting his middle and index finger upwards, igniting a furious explosion of power that tore through the entire city.
While the rays of Nappa's energy ripped and tore through the city, Tarble could only do one thing. He rolled over to his side, sheltering himself from the view of his older brother. The only view that he had was the explosion of energy around him and as he gazed into the fiery blast, a single stray tear escaped his eye. He wasn't sure if it was out of the pain of his throbbing face, the sadness that he felt for the people on Planet Savahn, the thought of killing a truly innocent man, the notion of embarrassing Vegeta again, or because – for the first time in a long time – he truly believed that what they were doing was inexplicably wrong.
