"Trunks, Garic report." The blue haired scientist's voice nearly cracked with overuse. Bulma had stood for over an hour trying to keep everyone on task. Blind to the threats, she could only use her scouter to mark locations already looked into. Her throat was sore talking, but Yurin had not recovered. It was now her job to get everyone to a new location if needed.
"Boat in the ocean was attacked by a few clones." Trunk remarked over the scouter, the sounds of explosions and rushing water heard through the speakers. "Still dealing with some of the stragglers."
"Is it just me, or are they getting stronger." Garic spoke more to himself, a heavy grunt as he pushed away his opponent. A crack from a powerful strike followed before another explosion of water.
"We have this handled, Mom. Garic is using Multi-form to keep the ship protected, I am acting as striker." Trunks was quick to not let her worry. "Will call back in five minutes once we have this done."
"Very well, try to rest a minute before heading out to next location. And if you run into trouble, broad case on all channels. If the military gets upset, I will deal with it." Bulma placed her finger to the side and switched to a new channel. "Geta, Ashe… Report."
"Old small town found that seemed to be attacked, they reported a tall mohawked man saving them and then flying off south with a woman. We were going to investigate but we were snuck attack." Ashe spoke as the buzz of her Ki sword zipped through. "No threat that we cannot handle. Geta, three on your six."
"I know." Geta's voice growled into the mic, the sound of blasts of energy followed. He panted lightly. "Hope Mom is getting some answers with Nappa from those weirdos."
"Sounds like you two have things in control. Once done, continue investigation. If we can get more allies, the better." Bulma switched once more. "Vegeta, any luck on your search."
"I would do better without you pestering me endlessly." Vegeta snapped.
"Excuse me!?"
"Focus on the others, I will respond once I find out what happened and killed the person responsible."
"Fine, Goku is just one teleport away to you anyway."
"Tell that fool if he dares to interrupt my battle, I will kill him too."
Bulma sighed as she lifted her finger to change channels. But then the scouter began to chime, a power level. Then another, and another. Hundreds began to appear and some in clusters. Her eyes widened. "Vegeta, the scouters…"
"I already see it. And I see someone powerful near me. Must be my target… or a bunch of them close together. Now it is just a free for all." Vegeta's grin could almost be heard over the scouter.
Bulma switched to all channels. "Everyone, scouters are active. Use them to find large groups, take out the enemy. I am not sure what caused this to happen, but let's not waste this lucky break." She spoke with a new hope to her voice, listen to the confirmation from the other fighters.
-Vegeta-
Wind rushed past Vegeta's face, the cold air of the northern territory burned as he tried to rush toward his enemy. His scouter warned of other powerful foes, but he instead pushed faster. ~It has to be this one. None of them are worth of have killed him, but this is the only one who could have with our weakened state. ~ He thought to himself, his fists clenched. His little brother in his mind as rage filled him, it had been some time since he felt such anger. His scouter informed him he was close, and he soon felt the power surrounded by others. Frustration that his scouter may have led him wrong.
Frieza had his tail wrapped around one of the clones of Vegeta as she chuckled. "Oh ho ho ho. Looks like these clones are no match for the emperor. I am surprised that they were allowed to attack me, but even more so I was not 'punished' for defending against them." A snap came from the clone as it dropped to the ground. Lifeless eyes stared to the sky as five others moved closer. Frieza just smiled as he leapt back, the others followed into his trap. "If only Vegeta was this much of a fool." His finger lightly pointed forward, a single energy blast suddenly pierced their armor and skin. The clones in the front had faded vision as the others continued to push forward. Frieza shifted his hand to fling a nearby boulder into one the got close, his feet grabbed the fist of one clone each
It was too easy, and oddly cathartic by killing an insubordinate monkey. He made sure not to dawdle to much though, he learned from his past mistake of not taking the killing blow when he could. Energy surged into his feet as the clones' fist disappeared from the sudden blast. His tail grabbed one of the clone's leg and whipped him around before flicking him away with a snap of his tail. The body crashed down into the other and both into the ground. "Looks like your Saiyan race is nothing special without that Super Saiyan form." Frieza mocked as he held the lifeless head of Tarble in his unused hand.
"FRIEZA!" Vegeta roared out, a blast of energy carried a clone passed the emperor. The saiyan prince stood in the air over the emperor, his eyes glared down. Not at the former boss, but at the head in his head. "I was going to make this fun." Vegeta grit his teeth together. "But now… I am going to kill you… I am… going to… KILL YOU!" Vegeta let the rage building flush through his body, his body grew hot even in the cold weather. He screamed out as he pushed his power higher and higher, and forced himself into a Super Saiyan.
Frieza's eyes looked up the blond version of his minion. "Oh my, looks like you have improved. But the last saiyan to take that form died." Frieza grinned, knowing it was a bluff but might be enough to keep Vegeta from acting.
The emperor slowly lifted to the sky to try and take his position above Vegeta. The emperor would not make it there, instead he would catch Vegeta charging. Frieza laughing at the direct tactic, simply rose a finger to blast him. Vegeta thrust his hand forward to fire a blast himself, which blew up on contact and made a smokescreen. Frieza left growling as he looked around to where he would bother to slip out from. Vegeta then appeared charging forward like he was already, his direction did not charge. Frieza felt the impact of a fist heavy on his cheek. His body twisted; his neck extended. Vegeta rose a double fist chop down at his collar bone, a slam that send the emperor to the ground. The prince followed behind quickly, his knee landed into the chest of Frieza that made the alien exhale forcefully. Vegeta then grabbed for the head of Tarble. Instead his neck had a tail wrapped around his and toss him away.
"After this the whole time…" Frieza huffed as he stole his breath back. His grip tightened, before he smiled. "Then take it!" The Alien without a care threw the head at Vegeta. The moment of distraction was all he needed. His finger lifted to the air as a black ball formed overhead. Frieza knew he could make a ball to destroy this planet in an instant, and it would be enough to harm Vegeta. Vegeta caught the head and soon caught in the following blast. His body wrapped over the remains of his brother and boar the full force of the blast. Carried forward by the attack and dragged over the ground before it exploded with devastating eruption.
Vegeta growled as his armor was partially destroyed, his back exposed and bled. He looked down at the pale frozen face of his brother. Vegeta felt a pit in him stomach in the instant he looked into the pale lifeless eyes. He choked back his own tears. "Just a little bit… then you will be buried properly." Vegeta said as he placed his brother's head to the ground. The prince stood, the laugh of Frieza made his eyes snap to the monster. The anger of seeing the man the harmed his people, that took everything from him. His arms shook as he turned.
"Look at you, near deaths door in one attack. Come, Vegeta. I have slain plenty of your clones. You think you have something I don't know; you think you can pull some surprise? Your best bet is to be part of my new collection. I use to think a throne of skulls was tacky, but carrying around that worthless monkey around made me appreciate the idea of having you all as a chair. Your skull might do well, right under my foot… where you belong." Frieza laughed as he prepared another Death Ball. "Then again, I might as well erase you now!" Tossing the blast.
Vegeta arm stopped shaking, a green aura surrounded his palm. ~I was going to show this move to you… Now we have no idea if we can bring you back. The dragon balls are missing, and we would have to find Namek again. This move was to show you that I will not stay weaker than you… I will always be the brother that will protect you… Like when we were children. ~ Vegeta's eyes teared up as the black ball rushed toward him. His hand lifted, a small gesture toward the ball. "Final Shine"
An instant before the ball made contact, a burst of energy first from Vegeta's hand. Electric discharge almost instantly on firing it, the ball stopped. Vegeta shed tears that were pushed from his face by the blast's force. "rrrRRRRAAAAAA!" Vegeta leaned into the blast, the ball wrapped by the green energy as sparks wrapped around it. Frieza's eyes widened as the blast wrapped around him.
"CURSE YOU MONKEYS!" The final words of the emperor, returned to earth hell where he belonged. His body slowly vanished as he was consumed by Vegeta's new move, slowly turned to nothing more than dust.
"Do not return Frieza… if you know what is good for you." Vegeta spoke coldly, turned to the only remains he had of his brother. Stood for a moment in his disheveled form. His eyes focused on the cold pale eyes staring back at him. Vegeta steadied his body, he knew he needed to protect Earth. For his family, for his brother's family, for everyone. His finger lifted to his scouter, and pressed the comm button. "Tarble… has been avenged."
-Svadhishthana-
Rapid ripples flowed passed the Kulolo. The once vibrate shell and skin pale and gray, as if dried in the sun endlessly. The water splashing over its body returned the vibrate color that faded as quickly as it returned. Eat step was with a shaky foundation. His body shook as the head retreated into its shell enough to only just see outside of it. Hiccups escaped that caused its steps to falter. The ripples grew more aggressive, the sound of splashing grew closer.
Tarble's legs were sinking into the ground the closer he got to Kulolo, as if the planet was keeping him away. Each step was harder than the next, his legs burned as a weight was placed on him. He pushed out with his Ki and took to the air, but the air grew thin as he did. Hard to breath and felt his vision began to have spots and sparkles. He could feel his heart beat race suddenly, before he fell from the sky and into the water. The sand grabbed at him, clung to him and pulled him down. Tarble already low on oxygen, tried to push himself out. But the planet refused him, it refused his attempts and continued to drag him down.
~No… this is not how it is supposed to go. ~ Tarble mind felt like it echoed into the water as he heard his voice even as he struggled in this world's quicksand. ~Why… I am trying to… I am trying to reach him. I feel like I am dying… again… I won't… be able… ~
-Memory of Planet Vegeta-
"Weakling like you is a cosmic joke to our family." A voice echoed out, Tarble's eyes opened as he was no longer on the Orange moon. He tasted iron in his mouth, lifting his hand and wiped blood from his lip. His eyes looked at it confused, before he realized his small hand. Tarble's gaze lifted to see his father, stood before him. "Get up, Tarble."
Tarble felt his body move on its own, pain shot into his body. A hand to his chest as a stabbing pain made itself known. Was a rib broken? He didn't have time to think. His father already planted a fist into his stomach, Tarble's eyes widened as the air was forced from his body. Spittle flew from his lips as a silent yell left his body. A back hand sent him rocketed into the ground and rolled onto the ground.
"I am not even using the power of a low-class warrior, and you disrespect me with this! This mockery of my bloodline!" King Vegeta's voice roared out. "Three times I brought you near to death, and your saiyan blood only barely increased your power. After my first son was outclassed by some soldier's child… you had to be born. Weaker than any saiyan born before, just to taunt me." The empty chamber echoed the King's voice. Tarble attempted to stand once more, but the king did not let him stand on his own. His foot connected to the three-year-old saiyan's body and forced him into the air, a fist impacted into his jaw. A crack as he felt it dislocate.
~W-why am I having to relive this? ~ Tarble's mind screamed out as the pain filled his mind. ~Why am I having to remember this? I don't need to focus on this! ~ The little body lifted up by the armor he wore, the anger filled eyes of his father. His cast down glare as tears fell down the young boy's face.
"I would have hoped you would have left him a bit livelier for me, father." A young Vegeta's voice rang in. "Now I have to wait for him to get in a healing tank to tell him about my exploits. You do know how I love telling my stories to him." A red cape flowed behind the young prince, stepping down the old training path. "I am sure I sent word that I would be returning soon." Vegeta eyes focused on his father before his lifted his hand to demand Tarble's body. "I will take him to the healing chamber, and allow you to go back to your kingly duties."
"Don't be silly, Prince Vegeta. You must be tired from your journey. You should return to your mother and tell her your stories. I am sure she would enjoy them." King Vegeta's tone shifted for his prized son.
"I am sorry, I don't remember stating it as optional." Vegeta's face was one that showed no amusement from his father. "I will say it only once more. I -will- take him to the healing chamber, and -allow- you to go back to your kingly duties."
The two locked in glares, the prince had been seeing his father more of a weakling ever since he gained control of his Oozaru and knew he could outmatch the king. With the sudden lose of the power balance, the young prince seemed to have no fear of his father or his rank. Instead the king could see hungry eyes, eyeing the weaker saiyan like a meal for him to politically feed off of. The king's only saving grace was the youth wanted to still test out his power, not meeting anyone but higher-ranking officials in Frieza's army. Moments pass before King Vegeta finally lowered Tarble to his brother's hold. A whip of his cape and he began to walk away.
"Also, father… Next time I send message to inform I am returning. I better not find him in such a condition. Otherwise, I will make our talks more public next time." The cold voice of the prince stabbed into the king's back, but the prince did not stay to admire his victory over his father.
Tarble's vision broke at this moment, only to return to a green tint to his vision. His body mended as the feeling of foam around his wounds. A breath mask allowing oxygen to his lungs. His vision blurred as he looked forward, his brother stood with a smirk on his face. The same smirk he always had when he found him, the same one that use to make Tarble feel safe.
~I know it is all a lie… Vegeta did not care then. I was weak then; he did not care for anything weak. ~ Tarble's mind focused on the prince as his vision returned to normal, his body mended completely.
"Let me get a look at you." Vegeta spoke loudly and proudly. His finger went to a scouter as it calculated his power level. His smirk faltered a little, and a sigh made him shake his head. "Still under one hundred. Oh well, I am sure if father actually taught you to fight you might show promise."
"I am sorry, brother." A meek voice came from Tarble's body, his hands raised to his chest and bowed to his greater brother. "I… I will…"
"Don't worry about it, I have a trick that will help you get stronger." Vegeta spoke before Tarble could finish. Tarble's vision lifted to his brother, the smirk was more of a real smile that Tarble could not remember. "It will be fun, come on."
"Fun?" Tarble confused as he watched his brother turn to leave, following behind. His armor still scuffed and damaged, but that lead the other Saiyans to believe he was training to get stronger. The small sign that the king's bloodline had not had a fluke. Tarble followed close behind Vegeta, accidentally stepping on his cape.
"Not so close." Vegeta snapped, but saw Tarble flinch as if ready to be struck. He let out another sigh, and grabbed hold of his own cape. "Here, hold onto my cape. That way you can stay close and not ruin my stride. But it means you have to keep up." Vegeta said with a smile.
"Yes." Tarble spoke with a soft nod. He remembered the feeling of the fabric; It was soft and warm. The deep crimson matched his brother, like a true blooded saiyan. Fire the burned without end. The young boy followed behind his brother, clung to the cape and walked faster. The fear of being left behind, of Vegeta going too far.
The two soon entered into a court yard. Servants stood waiting, one with an orange ball. Tarble looked at the strange object with a cock to his head. Vegeta lead the two to it and took it into his hand. "We are going to use this. It is not heavy, so don't think you have to throw it hard. We will pass it back and forth. This will train your hand eye coordination. Afterward, I will let you throw it at me to try and hit me. That will help your accuracy. Then we will try going Oozaru, it is about time to learned that as well."
~What? I don't remember this… Is this real? Is this a lie? Why would my brother bother playing with a ball? This has to be fake. ~
The small hands of Tarble soon held the ball, it felt familiar. The two brothers soon passed the ball back and forth. A strange sound soon escaped his lips. laughter? He could feel his body moving on its own. It moved faster, threw harder, reacted quicker. The two laughed as this simple orange ball passed back and forth. The two played for the whole day, the young boy tired but happy for a few moments. Vegeta left the ball in Tarble's grasp.
A flash before him, the orange ball held in his hands as he watched his brother headed off with a few other pods. Tarble remembered this day, this was the final day he saw his brother. He was headed out with his new team mate, Raditz, and the Elite, Nappa. Two additional guards that were there mainly as secondary pods in case once damaged Vegeta's. Off to a new world to conquer. This was the same day he was thrown into a pod.
"Do not return, die on this world I send you to. I will no longer have a failure of a son. Set the pod to find the strongest power level it can, and hopefully it will kill him." Tarble heard this as his father condemned him to an unknown world. His armor fit, his scouter model was old and he could hear the communication jumbled, possibly damaged.
"Father please! I am getting stronger, let me train more! Father! FATHER!" Tarble's voice screamed out.
"Die with some dignity." Vegeta ripped something from his hands, an orange ball. Tossed into a pod and the door closed. Tarble could only scream out as the pod activated its sleep function, his mind darkening as he was forced to sleep.
-Svadhishthana-
Kulolo lifted Tarble's head over the water, air could fill his lungs finally. The small turtle creature chirped strangely; a sound of a musical triangle being rapidly struck. It's body barely over the water as his head was lifted over the water. Tarble felt the ground once more being solid under his foot, as much as sand could be. The chime of the creature hides something else inside the noise, something that Tarble could not focus well on.
"Thank you, Kulolo. I am not sure what that was." The saiyan sucked in air in worry he would lose his breath. Kulolo answered once more with cheerful chimes, the vibrant color once lost was slowly coming back. "You are looking a bit better, I am glad." Tarble sighed lightly as he sat in the water, his hand lightly patted on Kulolo's shell. Each pat made ripples of colors shift go through his shell, mixtures of reds, blues, yellows that swirled together before settling like a pond.
"I… am not sure if you understand what I am saying." Tarble voice somber, as he looked at the small creature that came to save him. His mind wondered what would happen if the creature did not return, or how it knew he was in danger. "I am sorry, for tossing you aside. I was angry and took it out on you. You did nothing wrong."
~It's okay ~ Chimes entered his ear as a voice broke through. Kulolo looked up as turtle like beak seemed to shift to smile. ~I am glad you are okay. ~
"Wait, you can speak?" Tarble laughed, a part of him feeling worse.
~You can understand me? ~ The chimes became more invigorated. The shell wiggled as if to show excitement, the eyes sparkled as they filled with joy.
"I take it that I am the first?"
~Uh-huh. That other person keeps talking to me, but I can't understand her. When you were talking, I could hear you clearly though. And she did not seem to know what I was saying though. I learned 'play' was to have fun. Some other words began to make more sense, like 'tag' means try to touch the other person. 'Fetch' means get the thing that was thrown. 'Hide' means to make it hard for the other person to find you. 'Race' simply means run really fast. All of them are fun games, I enjoy her. ~ The chimes would not stop, but the voice overwhelmed the noise instead of the other way.
Tarble could only laugh as the vibrant colors shifted to neon bright. "Calm down please. I am still getting use to talking to you. Have you ever trained with anyone before? I am asking because that woman said she was going to train me."
~I don't know what training is, but she comes and plays games with me. It is nice, normally I am just exploring. ~
"Figures… I guess I will have to find out from her what the purpose she has for me." Tarble sighed, stood to his feet. Kulolo's chimes softened as it looked around. "You want to join me? I need to get stronger… but I might find some time to just relax." Tarble placed his hand to his hip as he felt the water fall from his cloths and body.
~Yes! Then you can show me training, and I can show you games. ~
Tarble laughed at the innocence of the creature. A tap on his leg, his gaze turned to the ball that he originally brought with him. A flash of memory once more, the sound of his brother and him playing a simple game. His hand reached down and picked up the ball, his eyes stared at it for a moment.
"Glad you woke up." Nishi's voice appeared. "Heard you were looking for me, I almost blushed knowing a cutie was after me." She teased as her form took shape before him as if she always stood only a few feet in front of him. "You ready to get back to training? I hope so, as we lost time to play."
"It is awkward the way you speak like your flirting." Tarble's voice echoed annoyance.
"Well this moon does represent a Chakra that corresponds with Creativity, Imagination, Potential of Personal Growth, and Sex Drive. It is a Chakra best strengthened by trying to enforce this." Nishi clapped her hands together and readied herself. "I plan on training you in games, an odd form of training to spur you own Creativity and Imagination. I mean, unless you want to try something else." The female Kai winked at Tarble.
"Did you not say previously say you don't go after married men." Tarble tried to calm his voice, not wishing to grow angry and snap again. Nishi might use it as a reason to disappear.
"Did I? Well maybe I lied. It doesn't sound like you are disagreeing. Naughty boy, shouldn't go lusting for women." She continued to push his buttons.
"I am not lusting for you." Tarble swallowed hard to keep his frustration in check.
"For me? Are you lusting for someone else? It is okay to have thoughts. Don't ignore them, use them as fuel to seek creative methods to solve a problem." Nishi giggled. "Now you going to throw the ball or what."
Tarble looked at the ball in his hand, her question of him lusting for someone else got to him. Was there someone he did lust for? He knew only his love for Yurin, but even being with her so long he could not say he felt lust for her. He wished to be with her, and their moment of passion was one they had not repeated all these years follow. "I am not lusting for anyone." He finally admitted, tossing the ball to Nishi and felt the weight shift as he put more power to it.
"I feel sorry for your wife." Nishi said as she received the ball and threw it back for Tarble to dig into the ground from the heavy weight. "It was already bad enough your son does not see you as a father, but you don't even complete your duties as a husband."
"What do you mean?" Tarble snapped, his tone turned to anger quickly.
"About what, your son not seeing you as a father or you failing as a husband?" Nishi smiled. "You do nothing but train with your son, but when was the last time you just had fun? Where you played a game and did not seek to prepare for the future? When was the last time you kissed your wife alone without having to prove you two were in love? When was the last time you showed you cared outside of battle? When was the last time you stopped, and enjoyed what was in front of you?"
Nishi's words dug deep into Tarble; His mind began to seek when he was not preparing Garic for a future threat. Even the travels they went on, they were a form of training and not meant to be fun. Garic often spoke to him with a respect one would give a master, not a father. His wife and him showed affection, but he never stopped seeking ways to train and often left romance out. Was Yurin suffering because of his callus nature? His eyes and mind always focused on the next threat… when was the last time he did just looked down to earth to enjoy the time. His arm felt heavy, as he weakly tossed the ball toward Nishi.
~It isn't to late. You can still fix it! ~ The chimes filled his mind once more. Tarble's eyes turned to Kulolo, its eyes were big and filled with hope. ~Don't think about what you have done wrong, instead look forward to when you can make it up to them, and enjoy the time you have now to learn how. ~
Tarble nodded as the ball landed into his hands once more. "Teach me… how to play. The both of you. I fear I lost how to." He admitted. "The… only time I can remember. Was when I was a child."
Tarble's training seems to be less like one of getting stronger, but a different growth he needs to be a proper 'human'. But as he trains the others seek to defend their world. The Androids seems to have their plan enacted and allowing the Z-warriors to do what they need to do? Will it have been in time? Will they truly stop the threat? Lets see what next chapter has in store for us!