Which legend is coming to an end in this chapter? If you are faithful DBZ fans, I'm certain you already know which Legend will come to an end and which one will survive. Hope you like!
Chapter #7 – End of a Legend
Paragus tripped over himself as he raced down the hallway towards the throne room as fast as he could. Only minutes ago he had been informed by the lab that King Vegeta had learned of his son's power level and was in the midst of determining his fate. Paragus knew that he had act quickly to reason with the King and he knew it be an uphill battle. King Vegeta was no longer the level-headed tactician that he used to be, as over the past several months King Vegeta had grown to be more sadistic and cruel. Of course, all saiyans were expected to be ruthless towards their enemy but King Vegeta had even become merciless towards his own saiyan people. He was becoming well-known for slaughtering his own soldiers that did not perform at an exception level.
It was all due to an unfortunate chain events, that all began with demise of Brusselz. Ever since his most trusted advisor was brutally murdered, the position was taken over by his impulsive cousin Zorn, and King Vegeta was no longer making sound decisions. Then, King Vegeta's world almost fell apart when his Queen passed away when she went into labour prematurely. She left behind a sick and weakly son, Tarble, where the doctors predicted that he would always be weak and never reach the typical strength of even a low class saiyan. King Vegeta was offended by the doctor's diagnosis and killed them immediately. Afterwards, without even holding his youngest son once, the king sent him away on the very same day. Some had said that child was too pathetic and King Vegeta was ashamed of him, while some other kinsmen claimed that King Vegeta blamed Tarble for the death of Courgette. However, there were a few foolhardy men that dare to whisper that Tarble reminded the King too much about his dead mate and that he couldn't bear to be in the child's presence.
After losing his younger brother and mother, Prince Vegeta flew into a rage and he heartlessly destroyed four saibamen and surpassed his own father's power levels. Upon hearing about the young prince's increasing power, Freiza then seized the prince. It was just another blow in King Vegeta's life. King Vegeta used to have his son by his side when he went on missions, the two of them together were a quite a team, ruthlessly conquering several planets together. Now that his eldest son was under Freiza's control, King Vegeta lost interest in war and combat altogether. Even though he was able to stipulate that Nappa stay with his son at all times, King Vegeta could not sleep at night wondering about Freiza had planned for his son. Many of King Vegeta's elite soldiers commented about how their King just wasn't the same after the prince was taken captive.
Finally, there was pall that surrounded Vegetasei as the female population started dropping dead like flies. It was mysterious occurrence, as doctors and scientists could not discover what the source of their deaths was. Even Freiza's top scientists took control of the investigation and could not find the root cause to the female mortality rate. It was no wonder that the King's temper had become so volatile. But I can't allow King Vegeta's unpredictable temperament dissuade me from saving my son, Paragus gulped to himself as the ornate golden doors of the throne room grew closer.
Almost out of breath, Paragus crashed through the doors to find King Vegeta's formidable form sitting stoically on his throne, his royal crest hanging high above his tall hair. The decorative stain glass windows located above the King's throne appeared to only filter the red light through their frames, giving the entire room a menacing glow. Paragus had just rushed in the nick of time, as King Vegeta just declared the execution of his son Brolly to a throng of his elite soldiers. "We shall not discuss this any further, his son is to be executed without delay!" King Vegeta stated firmly to his soldiers and then he looked towards the entrance and met Paragus desperate gaze with his own soulless stare.
"Sire, no!" Paragus cried as he approached closer and then four palace guards immediately surrounded him. They held him back from the throne with much effort as Paragus struggled to get closer. He had to make King Vegeta change his mind about Brolly. I have to fight for Brolly's life!
"Paragus, I do not recall requesting your presence for this meeting." King Vegeta expressed with a dead calm that matched the emotion in his dark eyes.
"Please, my King! Brolly is only a baby!" Paragus begged, hoping to break through to the King's fatherly instincts. "When he grows up he will be a great ally to you and Prince Vegeta! He has the capability to be a great warrior!"
King Vegeta stood up from his throne and advanced towards Paragus with a malevolent smile on his lips.
"Do you not think that I am aware of your son's abilities, Paragus? This is exactly why this must be done. I am protecting the Prince and his future," King Vegeta answered in a stern tone of voice that indicated that his decision was final and that he would not change it.
"Yes, of course, My King! Our Prince is well protected in the bowels of Freiza's ship!" Paragus spat out sarcastically, furious that King Vegeta refused to see Brolly's potential. King Vegeta snarled and brought his face close Paragus, glaring deeply into his deep pupils. Paragus had never seen so much cold hatred in anyone's eyes before. Paragus was well acquainted with many hateful stares in his lifetime because of his career as an elite, but this was the first time such a glare sent chills down his spine.
"Paragus, you think I'm a fool, do you? You don't think I can see that hunger burning deep inside your eyes? But it's your hunger that truly blinds you. You want so badly to rule the universe with your child by your side that you cannot even see the true nature of such power. You are genuinely a fool if you believe that you or I could rein in such an immense strength," King Vegeta uttered. "I am not even certain a man in your obviously mad state should even serve as an elite warrior..."
"Sire, no! Forgive my outburst!" Paragus cried out as he attempted to wriggle out of the guardsmen's grasps.
"Paragus, I hereby sentence you to death along with your son!" King Vegeta roared, bringing forth his open palm that glowed bright with his red ki. "EXECUTION BEAM!"
Suddenly, Paragus sailed across the room when the execution beam made contact with his torso. His inert body lay in a crumpled heap nearby the grand entrance.
"Toss his body in the trash, along with the corpse of his son. The sooner the better, I would really like to address the second issue for this meeting." King Vegeta ordered as he strode back to his throne.
"Of course, sire!" The head guardsmen nodded and he signalled the remaining three guards to pick up Paragus's lifeless body.
King Vegeta stood tall in front of his soldiers, his back facing the throne. He critically scanned the crowd of the handpicked soldiers that stood before him, feeling confident in his choices. They were the strongest warriors that Vegetasei had to offer and he felt certain that with this elite team behind him, they were certain to succeed in his dastardly plans for rebellion.
"All of you have been chosen to be a part of secret mission to recover our crown Prince from Freiza's ship. You soldiers have been carefully selected by Zorn and myself, because you are the strongest and you are the elite of all the warriors that reside on Vegetasei!" King Vegeta finally revealed as he watched his band of soldiers beam proudly at his commendation. "Never has there been a team of this calibre, we are certain to succeed and make Freiza rue the day he attempted to enslave us!"
The warriors cheered and raised their fists at King Vegeta's exclamation. The saiyan population grew tired of Freiza's tyranny and welcomed all ideas of a revolt. Zorn grinned approvingly as he surveyed the crowd from behind the King's shoulder. When their cheers finally subsided, Zorn addressed the revved up troops.
"For this rebellion to be effective, we must attack today as we cannot allow Freiza get wind of this. We will use the element of surprize to our advantage," Zorn stated. "Remember that we must tread carefully, the Prince is held captive on Freiza's ship. So whatever happens, do not destroy the ship!"
"We leave in 15 minutes, follow Zorn and he will further instruct you." King Vegeta added in. Before he turned away, King Vegeta looked back at his warriors who appeared eager to bring their Prince back. For the first time in a long time, King Vegeta felt somewhat content.
"My soldiers, do not forget that you all come from strong bloodlines and that you are the elite of this planet and this end of the galaxy. We will fight together and we will conquer together, like we have done for hundreds of years!" With the first genuine smile since the death of his Queen, King Vegeta nodded with a short grunt and placed his gloved hand flat over his heart. Every soldier nodded in unison together in response and placed their hands over their own hearts pledging fealty to the recapture of their prince.
My son, you will be by my side once again…
"Lord Freiza, a party of monkeys has just arrived and they are requesting an audience with you," Zarbon informed as soon as he entered Freiza's wing. "King Vegeta is amongst them."
Freiza pursed his lips in annoyance when he heard Zarbon's annoucement. He had been enjoying his moment of solitude as he swirled his finest wine in his best crystal glass, as he gazed upon the entire north quadrant of the galaxy that he conquered. It was one of his most favourite pastimes and he looked forward to overseeing a larger portion of the galaxy as he knew it was only a matter of time when it would all belong to him. However, at the mention of King Vegeta's name, his smile of irritation turned into a smile of pleasure.
"Lord Freiza, shall I allow them in?" Zarbon asked courteously, bowing low. Freiza stared into dark purple liquid sloshing around in his glass and he could see his own reflection grinning wickedly. Hiding his smile, he took a refined sip of his wine.
"Yes, allow them in. I am very interested in the reason behind their visit," Freiza responded, without even turning around as he was still preoccupied with the vast view in front of him. "But do provide them a proper welcome, the one that we always reserve for our surprise visitors."
"As you wish, my lord," Zarbon replied, evil smile playing on his lips.
As soon as the doors opened, King Vegeta marched down the barracks of Freiza's ship with his squadron of elites following close behind him.
"Zorn, take a small group with you and search for my son through there!" King Vegeta ordered, pointing toward the left hallway. "I will continue to Freiza's quarters with the rest of the warriors."
With a deep bow, Zorn left the crowd with a handful of men trailing after him and then the rest of the warriors continued purposefully toward Freiza's wing. Unexpectedly, a legion of Freiza's henchmen came running down the hallway toward King Vegeta.
"We found the damn monkeys!" One of the henchmen called out to the rest of the team and more of Freiza's soldiers joined the raid. As the saiyans approached closer, the soldiers began shooting their laser guns at the saiyan rebel army.
"Warriors like the saiyans don't need little gimmicks like guns to defeat the enemy! Let us demonstrate our superiority!" King Vegeta shouted at the henchmen as he easily deflected the laser shots. One stray laser beam pierced through the King's royal cape, causing him to growl in annoyance.
With a loud cry, King Vegeta launched his imposing figure forward just as he sliced the frontmen with a wave of his ki. The men behind the frontmen then converged upon King Vegeta, attacking him from all angles. Despite the great number of men that came at him, King Vegeta effortlessly averted their attacks, leaving a trail of dead soldiers behind him.
"I'll show you something that your guns will never be able to do!" King Vegeta taunted. With a small groan, King Vegeta gathered a massive amount of ki to his palm and then propelled it towards the screaming henchmen. All the soldiers within the ki blast's trajectory were obliterated to dust.
"Finish off the rest!" King Vegeta yelled to his crew, determined to reach Freiza's room. The soldiers that Freiza kept on his ship were certainly not as strong as the crews that were dispatched to take over planets, thus they were ill prepared to defend themselves against the magnitude of King Vegeta's small army. With loud battle cries, the saiyan army descended onto Freiza's henchmen, easily taking apart their meagre defenses. They rooted loudly when they snapped the neck of the very last soldier left standing.
"Do not celebrate now! This was only a small sample! You must all conserve your power for what lurks ahead!" King Vegeta advised harshly, not taking part in their celebrations. The last thing he needed was his platoon to march into Freiza's quarters over confident in their skills. King Vegeta knew that Freiza would not be as easily defeated. He needed his men to keep their wits about them and be primed for a bloodier battle. But as soon as they're in Freiza's presence and get a sense of his power, they'll finally understand why I had to amass such a powerful army, King Vegeta thought to himself as he trudged forward. Hopefully, they will still stand behind me once they see what they're up against.
Freiza's wine splashed out of his glass and onto his lap, as his ship trembled from the attack of the saiyans.
"Those infuriating monkeys! Do they not know to behave on their Emperor's ship?" Freiza exclaimed, as he looked down distainfully at the red stain on his lap. "Zarbon, why don't you allow those uncouth guests of ours into my quarters? We much educate them on etiquette."
"Of course, my lord." Zarbon replied, opening the main hatch door. An orange haze drifted in and in the midst of the haze, King Vegeta emerged.
"Freiza? Freiza! We have some matters that need to be discussed!" King Vegeta called out as he entered the room.
"Indeed, we do…" Freiza replied calmly, hiding his amusement as he looked up at the doomed saiyan king. "For somebody with your royal lineage, I would think you may have had some notion on how to behave as a guest."
"We did not come here to speak of niceties! We have come here to end your reign of terror and to reclaim my son!" King Vegeta answered angrily. Freiza snickered at the saiyan king, and placed his palms behind his back as he gauged the reaction on King Vegeta's face as well as the army that he brought with him.
"We, King Vegeta? You must tell me who else did you bring with you?" Freiza inquired with a pointed glance towards the king's army. A moment of confusion crossed King Vegeta's face and he then turned around to look at his army. Instead of standing directly behind him, King Vegeta saw his men sulking behind the main door with terrified expressions. "Your pathetic army looks more ready to abandon ship, than they do about overthrowing my regime."
King Vegeta scowled at his spineless team, causing Freiza to laugh once more.
"Cowards!" King Vegeta sneered, turning his face away from them. "None of you are fit to carry saiyan blood in your veins and you all deserve to die!" As far as King Vegeta was concerned, they should all perish for such gutless behaviour and if he wasn't so concerned with recovering his son, King Vegeta would have finished them all off himself. However, he did not come all the way here to decimate his own army.
"I defeated your father, which means I can defeat you as well!" King Vegeta growled. He lunged forward and directed his fist to Freiza's face with deadly speed. Yet, his fist missed and met with the air alongside Freiza's face. Freiza looked up at King Vegeta and smiled with amusement. King Vegeta met the tyrant's gaze with fear swimming in his own eyes. His fist should not have missed considering the amount of force and speed that he put behind it and he realized that he certainly underestimated Freiza's capabilities.
"Tsk, tsk, King Vegeta…a man in your position should definitely know better!" Freiza derided as he waved his pointer finger in King Vegeta's face. "Sons, they always surpass their fathers. Why your son is already stronger than you'll ever be and now you'll go to your grave know that he'll be mine own little weapon to use and abuse as I wish!"
King Vegeta tried again once more to strike Freiza with even more speed, but then again he proved to be too slow for the space tyrant. He attempted to jab his knee into Freiza's gut, but he could not make contact no matter how much power or speed he placed into his movements. Freiza grinned sweetly up at him before he swiftly slammed his fist upwards connecting with the saiyan king's jaw. Blood sprayed from his mouth as he fell backwards and Freiza quickly moved back to avoid any drops of blood touching him. The wine stain was enough for me today, Freiza thought as he gazed unsympathetically at the fallen king's form. It was obvious, the saiyan king was dead. The moonstone from King Vegeta's royal amulet rolled away from his chest and trundled to a stop at Freiza's feet.
"Ugh, these saiyan's are so flashy. Look at this gaudy amulet, it's almost as tacky as their palace!" Freiza complained as he looked down upon the king's jewellery.
"Perhaps you should hold onto it as keepsake for Prince Vegeta," Zarbon suggested, as he quite fond of jewellery. "It would be reminder to never defy him."
Freiza tilted his head to one side, appearing to be seriously considering it. Then with a short chuckle, Freiza stamped his foot over the blue gemstone, crushing it to powder.
"Zarbon, you have a point but I'm certain that over time young Vegeta will learn to never defy me on his own!" Freiza laughed. The remainder of King Vegeta's army gasped at Freiza's impudence towards their fallen king.
"Ah, yes. The rest of King Vegeta's foolhardy tribe. Do not mourn long for him as you will all join him very soon!" Freiza mocked, providing them with a welcoming smile that did not reach his eyes. Then, with a maniacal laugh he eradicated the rest of the saiyans in the room with fatal beams that shot out from his eyes.
"My lord, you certainly know how to clean house," Zarbon commented with an impressed smirk.
"Well, it's not entirely clean of all the monkey vermin." Freiza replied, as he floated back to his air car. He frowned at his empty wine glass when he sat down. "Once Dodoria arrives, the two of you may exterminate the other saiyans that have taken to the west wing. Afterwards, we will then destroy Vegetasei once and for all!"
"With King Vegeta dead, do you still plan on destroying their planet?" Zarbon asked.
"Their planet is long overdue for destruction, especially now since this silly little rebellion. We cannot afford for any other monkeys to get such bright ideas," Freiza replied. "You know, monkey see, monkey do."
"Yes, my lord. After this abysmal attempt, I'm certain they wouldn't double cross you again." Zarbon suggested. "Especially since all your major threats are dead. The saiyans are still good soldiers."
"Zarbon, mark my words, if I don't destroy them now, there'll be another one of them trying to 'end my terror' as King Vegeta phrased it," Freiza replied too snidely due to his small fear about the legendary super saiyan and not wanting share this piece of information with Zarbon.
"Of course, my lord. You always know best." Zarbon easily accepted.
Feeling a familiar energy coming near, Freiza turned to Zarbon. "I sense that Dodoria has just arrived, go to him at once."
"Yes, lord Freiza." Zarbon answered with short bow.
"Zarbon! Also, would you send someone over to get me another glass of wine? You know that wine and the scent of death are one of my most favourite combinations." Freiza instructed with a pleased smile. "After I have thoroughly enjoyed my wine, you may arrange for the men to toss out King Vegeta's carcass."
"As you wish, my lord." Zarbon intoned obediently and he left Freiza's side.
Without the saiyans in the way, the whole galaxy will be mine...