Tempest Chapter 21
.X.X.X.
Tempest looked up at Acies, horrified. "What have you done?" The planet began to violently tremble is response. Tempest turned from Acies' insane smirk toward the troops below. "Get everyone to the ships regardless of race. Saiyans, if have family or ships in the city, get them off the planet now!"
Acies chuckled darkly. "You think I'll let anyone leave?" He built a ball of Ki in his hands and heaved it at the area of the densest occupation.
Tempest dove down and caught it, her arms shaking from the strain of holding it back. She finally shoved it away. "You think I'll let you stop them?" Arms fully extended, she clapped her hands together then slowly drew them apart, a ball of lightning growing between her palms as she did. The ball was blue-white and crackled with energy, the air around it screamed and snapped. She brought her hands against her chest, palms out and shoved the ball at Acies.
His eyes briefly widened but he managed to cross his arms just before it hit. The lightning ball burst like a balloon against his arms, sending slivers of bolts tearing against his body. When he emerged from the blinding light, he was covered in red and purple jagged tears in his flesh radiating out from the blank spot on his chest where his arms had been. He growled eyes blazing red and brought up a sheet of lava from the river below.
Tempest bolted as he sent the wave after her, drawing it away from the scattering soldiers below. The more she drew his focus, the better chance everyone else had of getting off the dying planet in time.
.X.X.X.
The female Saiyan that had helped Tempest now kneeled over Vegeta's disfigured form. He had a scrap of fabric left to cover him and the rest of his flesh was red and blistered. Blisters already popped and oozed over his raw skin. He was covered in third degree burns, skin burned away to expose muscle in some areas. Vegeta was in bad shape, to put it lightly. The female observed his skin, bouncing and shaking wildly. Then she realized it was his muscles trembling and spasming from the intense pain. His teeth were grit and a twisted look of agony contorted what was left of his face. Her hands hovered over him uselessly. She wanted to pick him up, take him to a ship, but she was terrified to touch him, knowing how excruciating it would be. Her hands shook from the panic setting in.
A tall dark figure came forward through the scampering crowd and chaos. As he approached, the female could make out a stern face and black hair. Black eyes shone in the red light of the his white clothing, he was clearly a Bellator Dea. The female eyed him cautiously, ready to attack the second he made a wrong move. He held a palm out above the Prince's form. Slowly, carefully, Vegeta began levitating, rising parallel to the ground. He turned and began to walk away in the direction of the Bellaton ships, Vegeta's body floating behind him. The female rose and followed, keeping close guard of her ruler.
.X.X.X.
Kakkarot's first thought was of the women, children, and elders gathered in the palace. Well, his first thought had been to fight that Bellator wreaking havoc but that Tempest seemed to have it covered at the moment.
He took off full speed towards the palace. Once inside, he located them in the dungeons, the deepest most fortified place in the palace. He reached them quickly. "Everyone out. Get to the nearest ship. The planet is dying." There was instant panic among the civilians. "Stay calm, just follow me," he ordered. They followed Kakkarot closely as he led them through the halls of the palace toward a large shipyard. He stood in the center of the frantic mob and directed the people where to go, filling every ship passed full capacity to assure everyone got on.
Just then, the ground made a sound like bone breaking deep beneath them. A large chunk of earth tilted like the Titanic going down. Ships were shaken, some toppled. "Hurry! Take off now!" Kakkarot called from the fracturing ground. He ran to the nearest tipped ship and slid his hands under the side and heaved. Slowly but surely, he righted the ship and waved it off, moving to the next one.
.X.X.X.
The sky had gone completely black overhead in a mass of swirling and crashing clouds.
The ground trembled and cracked. Pieces rose or fell or tipped, some split open wide or simply dropped away to the center of the planet. The lava river was now mixing with the magma gurgling up between the cracks and made an ocean of boiling rock below, bathing everything in red light.
Storm heads of Tempest's making cracked and sizzled with lightning, sending white flashes off light over her and her opponent. Tempest summoned a tornado. The funnel cloud opened and swirled. As it touched down on the lava, the tornado was ignited in bright red flames. She sent the massive twister to Acies and slowly tightened it around him. Unfortunately, Acies, god of war and volcanoes, was fireproof. Tempest heard his dark chuckle as the tornado died around him.
"You should know better, Temp," he smirked. That face, that smirk. That face of twisted satifaction, his smirk and glowing eyes lit in the red light and backed by black writhing clouds was going to haunt Tempest. He sprang forward and began a relentless attack. Acies rained down blows as Tempest blocked her best, but a few shots managed to get by. Tempest sprang back and took the briefest of seconds to get a breath. The earthquakes and tornadoes of dying Planet Vegeta were getting worse as the planet faught off death. She prayed to the gods that everyone was off planet by now.
.X.X.X.
Vegeta struggled to open his eyes. One was hopelessly swollen shut, blood ran into his other, turning everything red. Two blurry shapes hovered over him.
"Prince Vegeta?" A female voice questioned.
He tried to speak but all that came out was a painful gasp.
"Don't talk. You have been severely injured, you shouldn't move," a male voice this time.
Vegeta wasn't about to let anyone tell him what to do, even it was common sense. He tried to rise to his elbows. Every little movement tugged and tore his blistered, bloody skin and made his scorched muscles scream. His vision went white from pain and he cried out, crashing back to the ground.
"My lord, please. You are covered in burns and have very little skin left. It would be best for you to not move," the female pleaded with him.
"T-Tempest," he stuttered out in a hoarse whisper.
"She is fighting Acies, keeping him busy so that everyone can evacuate," the male informed.
He turned his head slowly toward the male. "Evacuate?"
The female figited nervously. "My lord... Planet Vegeta... Acies grew angry and he, well..."
"Planet Vegeta is dead. It will be gone in moments," the male finished for the female.
Vegeta's eyes shot open. He shakily rose to his feet with great protest from those around him and his own body. "I have to..."
"Have to what? There is nothing to be done to save your planet. Your people are already evacuating. And you cannot possibly avenge your home world's death against Acies in this condition," the male said sternly. "Stay down, Saiyan Prince. Your people will need you."
Vegeta reluctantly lay back down carefully, a slow and painful process. He tried to look at the blurry red world around him one more time before closing his eyes.
The female Saiyan that Tempest had released turned to the dark Dea beside her. "How long does she have?"
"We can only wait maybe another two minutes. After that, the ground will be too unstable to take off. She will have to remain behind."
.X.X.X.
The ebony sky boiled overhead. All the ground within sight had completely flooded with lava. The stone buildings of the capitol of Planet Vegeta were smoking from the heat. Everything was bathed in a red light and long shadows. The Dea of storms panted slowly from the marathon battle.
Tornadoes swirled around the pair, feeding off Tempest's energy. A deep, ominous rumble from the ground shook her to the core. Planet Vegeta was going to blow at any second now. She was going to have to finish this quick if she still had any chance to get off left.
Acies launched a energy ball at her. Tempest dodged and it exploded in the lava below. A spray from the blast splashed her arm. Tempest cringed then pushed the pain down.
"Give up, Temp. You know the second you're defeated I'll hunt down and blow every ship that escaped this Dea-forsaken planet. This grandstanding is only prolonging the inevitable," he smiled at her in the red light.
He was right. If Tempest didn't finish him before this planet blew, it would all be for naught. Acies would kill every last survivor just to spite her memory and move on to build a new army. Tempest clenched her fists and cried out. She had no choice, she had to raise her power beyond ascended though she was unsure if she could.
Wind whipped around her wildly, lashing at her skin and tearing her hair free from its clip, white hair snapping about her face. Acies watched, amused at first. What she was attempting was obvious, but he was confident it would never work and watched her feeble attempt without interruption.
Tempest's scream was drowned out by the howling of the tornadoes, the crashing of thunder, and the rumbling of the dying planet. Her skin flashed white and her eyes glowing red. Acies' eyes widened as he realized she may actually do it.
"No," he growled and charged forward to stop her transformation.
Just as he was about to reach her, only inches away, an enormous burst of Ki erupted from her body with a blinding light. Acies fell back and shielded his eyes. When the light finally subsided, Tempest stood in full godly glory. Her eyes blazed red, her white hair even longer than before, reaching the back of her knees if it lay flat rather than fluttering about in the torrent of 's skin had gone marble white and her extremities were covered in fine, intricate etchings.
Seemingly without moving, she appeared in front of Acies. She wasn't about to give him a single moment to transform himself. Acies went to block was seemed like a punch but his arm was sliced off clean halfway up his bicep when her ax-spear appeared mid-swing. Tempest was sprayed with a fountain of blood. In the red light, the blood arreared black, a sharp contrast against her milky skin. The twisted smirk on Tempest's ruthless face was the stuff of nightmares. She had become an entirely different entity all together, a merciless being with no remorse.
As her blade came back around, Acies thought this was it. She was aiming for his neck, at least it would be quick. But no such luck. At the last moment, Tempest dipped her blade down and cut Acies from right should to left hip. He coughed out a spray of blood as the thin membrane holding his intestines together burst and spilled his innards. He floated there a moment in stunned pain, looking uselessly down at his organs hanging like skinned snakes. He turned his gaze slowly up toward Tempest, crimson pouring from his lips. There was a deafening crack as the ground and even lava split open to an empty void beneath them, the crack shot jaggedly towards the Capitol. Tempest watched as the city split then crumbled into the suddenly vast ravine.
Acies chuckled brokenly and gurgled out, "Too late, Temp." His eyes rolled back in his head and he plummeted down into the nothingness below, waterfalls of lava pouring back into the dying planet above him. Tempest quickly scanned for life. Most were already out in space, but perhaps one or two ships were left in the distance. This planet was gone in seconds there was no way she could make it to the ship in time.
.X.X.X.
Looks like Tempest is stuck on a dying planet and Vegeta isn't holding up too well from his injuries. Hope you all enjoyed. I'll try to the next one out quick, been writing on lunch breaks. -Hel