TITLE: Chapter Four - Approaching Danger
AUTHOR: Rachel Wong
AUTHOR'S EMAIL: Hidden_Angel_83@hotmail.com
RATING: PG-13
PAIRINGS: None
WARNINGS: None
NOTE: This is set in an alternate universe. Please do not read it if you do not like A/U's. As I have mentioned, this is a story about B/V. There will be a bit on G/CC as well. If you don't like them, please don't read. And YES! I know that everyone is OOC (out of character) other than Vegeta. Like I said, this is an A/U. It is MY A/U. So if you don't like it, don't read it. If you have the time, please also read my partnered fic (partner is Kureeji) called Eyes in Dark Corners. One final note, a kind thanx goes out to all who have reviewed my fic. If you care to, please review it again. Suggestions or comments are always welcome (constructive critism is good). The more reviews I get, the more I feel like writing (common sense eh?).
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Dragonball Z and am in no way connected to them. I only wish I was, than I'd have at least SOME $$$. Seeing as how I am broke, sueing me would do you no good. =Þ
Last time on Confusion:
"What is wrong with you? Do you even have a heart in that chest of yours? Why must you push anyone who cares for you away from you? What are you so afraid of Kakkarot?" She paused as a sob escaped her lips. Tears were now flowing unchecked down her cheeks. "I hate you. I regret ever caring for you!"
Kakkarot watched as Chi Chi flew away from him. Why had it hurt so much when she had told him she hated him? Why did he want to go and find her and apologize and tell her that everything was going to be alright? What did he care anyway? He wanted nothing to do with any of the Earthlings. Than why was he feeling so sad and lonely?
*****
Vegeta's pod made a head long dive towards the planet. The pod had just waken him up. He had left Planet Vegeta filled with anger and fustration. That anger and fustration had only coutinued to mount. He had felt the need to release his pent up emotions and the only way he knew how was to blow things up. So here he was, preparing for the impact that always came with landing.
Vegeta slowly stepped out of his pod. He knew that the creatures of the planet had sensed his arrival. They were a fairly strong race, no match for him, but they would be just strong enough for him to take out his pent up fustration on them. He still did not understand the significance of his hair turning gold and his eyes turning teal when he wanted them to, all he knew was that his power level rose tremendously when he did.
He moved away from his pod. He didn't want it destroyed. He saw the first wave of creatures. They were short and small with a blueish tint to their skin. They seemed to have eyes everywhere on their bodies. There were so many that Vegeta couldn't even count them. Vegeta searched for a word to describe them. Ugly just wouldn't do it, they were dispicable. He relished the thought of killing them. Nothing this ugly should exist in the universe. He was doing the universe a favour.
The creature said something that the Prince did not understand. He finally remembered to turn on his scouter. He really didn't need it since he could sense ki, but it was also a translator which was the only reason he kept it. He caught the end of the creatures second sentence.
"...Prince of Darkness. We must kill him before the prophecy can come true."
At the creature's words Vegeta's anger flared. Damn. Would he never be able to escape this torment? Why did everyone believe he was the Prince of Darkness? He didn't want to be. All he wanted was to be the most powerful fighter in the universe and to crush both Frieza and Beta. He wanted to make them suffer. He could care less about being the Prince of Darkness or the Prince of anything else for that matter.
The creatures fired, what he considered to be, small ki blasts at him. He easily deflected them all. He concentrated and he quickly felt his power level surge. He was once again transforming. The creatures seemed to sense his unbelievable rise in energy as they ground to a halt. However, realizing that their lives depended on it, they charged forward again.
Vegeta threw his head back and laughed hysterically before letting the enormous ki ball build in his hand. Yes! He liked this new found power. He fired without aiming knowing that aim did not matter. With that one blast, Vegeta had obliterated half of the planets population. He laughed some more. He was thoroughly enjoying himself. True, he had killed many people and destroyed many planets for Beta before, and yes, he had enjoyed all of those times as well, but now, this was a new kind of joy. This joy was created from the knowledge that he was killing for himself, not because he had been ordered to.
He sensed the rest of the creatures coming towards him. Yet again he blew them all away with one blast. One dying creature was all that remained of the once abundent race. It crawled over to Vegeta.
"Spare me please mighty Prince. I will give you anything you want. Please open up your heart and spare me. Just this once."
Vegeta scowled at the creature. "I spare no one. I have no heart." With that he spit on the creature and than proceeded to slowly torture it to death. Vegeta smirked, than smiled and finally let his joy wash over him as he laughed hysterically. He was really enjoying torturing the poor creature as, unknown to him, the evil inside of him completely wiped out the small traces of good left in his heart.
*****
Without knowing it, Vegeta had destroyed one of Beta's planets. Beta was enraged. How dare Vegeta rebel against him! He would pay. Yes, the Prince of Saiyans had outlived his worth. Beta shivered slightly. He was still shaken from the vision he had just had. The vision showed him that he must kill the Prince soon, or his plans to be the ultimate ruler of the universe would be ruined. He didn't understand how a weakling like Vegeta could even dream of hurting him, but he wasn't going to go against the vision.
*****
Vegeta growled to himself in fustration. The alien had long ago died cursing his name. Though the alien had been weak, it didn't matter, Vegeta had had fun slowly killing him. Now what?
Then, realization hit the Prince hard. He had nowhere to go, nowhere to call home. He could never return to Planet Vegeta, there was nothing there except decaying bodies and crumbling buildings. This planet that he had just destroyed held nothing of interest to him either. He could not return to Beta, that creature disgusted him beyond words. What could he do?
Vegeta spoke to himself. "I will continue to destroy Beta's planets. That will diminish the size of his all important empire while at the same time making me stronger. Yes! Vegeta, you are so very smart!"
*****
Frieza stared at his father, King Cold. Yes, his father was right. He should have added Earth to his collection of planets long ago. Why hadn't he? It was an insignificant planet whose warriors couldn't even dream of the power that he possessed. That was then, now was different. Earth was quickly becoming a planet of refugees. Any survivors of planets that he or Beta's forces had destroyed were all heading towards Earth. He would add it to his empire now, before it could catch Beta's attention, and he knew that it would do just that soon.
"Yes father. I will send the Ginyu force there. They will be more than enough to handle such a pathetic planet."
King Cold smiled down at his son.
*****
Vegeta landed on Arlia. His pod needed to be refueled and where better to do that than this planet? Arlia was one of Beta's newest captured planets and he planned to destroy it. He stared at the creatures who stared right back at him. This was going to be an easy battle. These creatures possessed absolutely no ki at all. Instead, they held some sort of machine and shot lasers at him. The shots didn't hurt, in fact they didn't even penetrate his armour.
Vegeta laughed hysterically as he noticied the fear growing in the creatures eyes as his power level rose. He slowly began to obliterate all life on the planet, saving the last creature for his "fun". He enjoyed torturing and hearing these aliens yell and scream and curse his name. As the creature was on the brink of death, Vegeta refueled his pod and flew back up to space. He loomed above the planet with a smirk on his face. No, he would not let this creature live. A few seconds later, the planet began to glow and than completely blew to pieces with the Saiyan Prince laughing hysterically once more.
*****
Bulma closed her eyes and clutched at her heart as she felt the immense pain seer through her entire body. What was going on? Why was she in so much pain? She opened her eyes in time to see a creature begging for it's life. She wasn't sure how she understood what it was saying, but she did.
There was another creature standing above it. He, she knew it was a man because of his build, looked almost human except for the tail. A tail? She couldn't see his face, that was all a blur, but she was sure it wasn't Bardock or Kakkarot. He was too short to be them. She felt immense sorrow for the creature being tortured.
How could anyone do the things that this guy was doing? She watched in horror, unable to not watch, as the guy slowly poked out one eye, and than the other. He than continued to break one arm, one leg, until the creature was crippled.
When the man with the tail flew off, Bulma felt tremendous relief as she thought the creature would live. Than her view changed and she saw the man with the tail again. He was forming a ki ball. NO! He was going to blow up the planet! RUN! She tried to yell, to warn the unexpecting creature but found she could not.
She felt a tear fall down her face as the planet blew up. She didn't know who the creature was or what it was like, but no one deserved to die so cruelly. The man with the tail laughed hysterically as he was obviously enjoying himself.
"You are the last hope of the universe Princess...face your destiny..."
Bulma abruptly sat up in bed. She prayed that what she had seen was really only a dream, not a vision. She felt the tears on her cheek and wiped them off. She knew that it wasn't a dream. What she had seen had really happened. She sighed sadly to herself. This was the second time she had had these awful "visions" where someone was being tortured. The last time, she had seen the same man, at least she was sure it was the same man, torturing a different creature.
She felt another tear streak down her cheek. Who could be so cruel? She wiped the tear off of her face and curled up into a little ball in bed as she thought about what she had just seen and heard. "You are the last hope of the universe Princes...face your destiny..." Bulma closed her eyes, wondering what the Voice meant.
*****
Bardock sat up quickly in bed, sweat pouring down his face. Was it a vision? He hadn't had one since Planet Vegeta had been destroyed. It had to be a vision. It was all too real to be just a dream. He stumbled out of bed. He had to train the Earth's warriors. They had to be ready. His vision had shown him that Frieza had set his sights on Earth and had sent orders to the Ginyu Force to capture it.
Bardock shuddered. The Ginyu Force. That name still struck fear in his heart. They were four very powerful creatures. He had heard stories of the destruction they caused in the name of Frieza's empire. He sighed as he realized that the Earth had virtually no chance against such powerful beings but he had no choice. He had to try and fight them. He couldn't just let the Earth fall under Frieza's rule without a fight. He didn't like to admit it, but he had come to care for this planet and it's weak inhabitants. He knew deep down in his heart that he would fight to his last breath for Earth and he would train the warriors so they would at least have a chance of survival. At most, he would have one week to train them...at most.
*****
"I refuse to go Bardock!" Bardock shook his head at the Princess's words.
"But Princess. It is better for you and for the rest of us! This way you will be safe."
"No. If my planet is going to be in danger, than I refuse to run and hide. I will stay and suffer whatever consequences fall upon my people!"
"But..."
"No buts Bardock. I am staying."
Bardock shook his head once more. "As you wish my Princess."
Bardock had already sent the King and Queen to Namek earlier that day. He had never imagined the Princess could be so stubborn. As he walked out of her chamber, he smiled to himself. He felt a deep respect for her, one that hadn't been there until now. She was braver than he had thought she was. He began to see why the people of Earth loved her so much. She trully cared about her people.
*****
"No Bardock. I am not going." Bardock had just finished convincing the second last ambassador to return to his home planet until the battle was over and now he was trying to convince Piccolo to leave. He felt as if it was deja vu all over again. He didn't want the ambassador to be hurt or killed during the battle.
"Piccolo..."
"No. I am not going anywhere. Do not insult me further Bardock." Bardock's mouth dropped open in shock. Insult him? When had he done that. "Do you think so little of us Namekians? We would never turn our back on our friends and allies. If there is to be a fight here, than there is no way you can get me to leave." Piccolo's face was set and Bardock knew he couldn't change his mind.
"Thanks Piccolo. You are indeed a good friend and a great warrior. We are glad to have your help."
*****
Kakkarot and Piccolo trained almost none stop. The only time they stopped was to eat and sleep. They both wanted to be as ready as possible for the threat that was approaching them. This was a good thing for Kakkarot because if he wasn't fighting with Piccolo, his mind kept wandering to Chi Chi. She had looked so hurt when he had told her he didn't care about her. He hadn't seen her since then and he figured she was ignoring him.
Good riddence, he thought to himself. But deep deep down in his heart, he missed her. He missed the way she looked at him, her smile, her lips, her...NO! He was not going to let his mind wander. He couldn't. He had training to do. She wasn't important anyway.
*****
In outer space, four pods sped towards Earth at a tremendous speed. Each pod held one member of the highly feared Ginyu Force. A smile was set on each face as they understood their job, and they liked it. Their orders had been simple. Destroy whatever resistance there was, keep the rest of the creatures as slaves and await Frieza's arrival. They hoped there would be lots of resistance. The more there was, the more fun they could have.
AUTHOR: Rachel Wong
AUTHOR'S EMAIL: Hidden_Angel_83@hotmail.com
RATING: PG-13
PAIRINGS: None
WARNINGS: None
NOTE: This is set in an alternate universe. Please do not read it if you do not like A/U's. As I have mentioned, this is a story about B/V. There will be a bit on G/CC as well. If you don't like them, please don't read. And YES! I know that everyone is OOC (out of character) other than Vegeta. Like I said, this is an A/U. It is MY A/U. So if you don't like it, don't read it. If you have the time, please also read my partnered fic (partner is Kureeji) called Eyes in Dark Corners. One final note, a kind thanx goes out to all who have reviewed my fic. If you care to, please review it again. Suggestions or comments are always welcome (constructive critism is good). The more reviews I get, the more I feel like writing (common sense eh?).
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Dragonball Z and am in no way connected to them. I only wish I was, than I'd have at least SOME $$$. Seeing as how I am broke, sueing me would do you no good. =Þ
Last time on Confusion:
"What is wrong with you? Do you even have a heart in that chest of yours? Why must you push anyone who cares for you away from you? What are you so afraid of Kakkarot?" She paused as a sob escaped her lips. Tears were now flowing unchecked down her cheeks. "I hate you. I regret ever caring for you!"
Kakkarot watched as Chi Chi flew away from him. Why had it hurt so much when she had told him she hated him? Why did he want to go and find her and apologize and tell her that everything was going to be alright? What did he care anyway? He wanted nothing to do with any of the Earthlings. Than why was he feeling so sad and lonely?
*****
Vegeta's pod made a head long dive towards the planet. The pod had just waken him up. He had left Planet Vegeta filled with anger and fustration. That anger and fustration had only coutinued to mount. He had felt the need to release his pent up emotions and the only way he knew how was to blow things up. So here he was, preparing for the impact that always came with landing.
Vegeta slowly stepped out of his pod. He knew that the creatures of the planet had sensed his arrival. They were a fairly strong race, no match for him, but they would be just strong enough for him to take out his pent up fustration on them. He still did not understand the significance of his hair turning gold and his eyes turning teal when he wanted them to, all he knew was that his power level rose tremendously when he did.
He moved away from his pod. He didn't want it destroyed. He saw the first wave of creatures. They were short and small with a blueish tint to their skin. They seemed to have eyes everywhere on their bodies. There were so many that Vegeta couldn't even count them. Vegeta searched for a word to describe them. Ugly just wouldn't do it, they were dispicable. He relished the thought of killing them. Nothing this ugly should exist in the universe. He was doing the universe a favour.
The creature said something that the Prince did not understand. He finally remembered to turn on his scouter. He really didn't need it since he could sense ki, but it was also a translator which was the only reason he kept it. He caught the end of the creatures second sentence.
"...Prince of Darkness. We must kill him before the prophecy can come true."
At the creature's words Vegeta's anger flared. Damn. Would he never be able to escape this torment? Why did everyone believe he was the Prince of Darkness? He didn't want to be. All he wanted was to be the most powerful fighter in the universe and to crush both Frieza and Beta. He wanted to make them suffer. He could care less about being the Prince of Darkness or the Prince of anything else for that matter.
The creatures fired, what he considered to be, small ki blasts at him. He easily deflected them all. He concentrated and he quickly felt his power level surge. He was once again transforming. The creatures seemed to sense his unbelievable rise in energy as they ground to a halt. However, realizing that their lives depended on it, they charged forward again.
Vegeta threw his head back and laughed hysterically before letting the enormous ki ball build in his hand. Yes! He liked this new found power. He fired without aiming knowing that aim did not matter. With that one blast, Vegeta had obliterated half of the planets population. He laughed some more. He was thoroughly enjoying himself. True, he had killed many people and destroyed many planets for Beta before, and yes, he had enjoyed all of those times as well, but now, this was a new kind of joy. This joy was created from the knowledge that he was killing for himself, not because he had been ordered to.
He sensed the rest of the creatures coming towards him. Yet again he blew them all away with one blast. One dying creature was all that remained of the once abundent race. It crawled over to Vegeta.
"Spare me please mighty Prince. I will give you anything you want. Please open up your heart and spare me. Just this once."
Vegeta scowled at the creature. "I spare no one. I have no heart." With that he spit on the creature and than proceeded to slowly torture it to death. Vegeta smirked, than smiled and finally let his joy wash over him as he laughed hysterically. He was really enjoying torturing the poor creature as, unknown to him, the evil inside of him completely wiped out the small traces of good left in his heart.
*****
Without knowing it, Vegeta had destroyed one of Beta's planets. Beta was enraged. How dare Vegeta rebel against him! He would pay. Yes, the Prince of Saiyans had outlived his worth. Beta shivered slightly. He was still shaken from the vision he had just had. The vision showed him that he must kill the Prince soon, or his plans to be the ultimate ruler of the universe would be ruined. He didn't understand how a weakling like Vegeta could even dream of hurting him, but he wasn't going to go against the vision.
*****
Vegeta growled to himself in fustration. The alien had long ago died cursing his name. Though the alien had been weak, it didn't matter, Vegeta had had fun slowly killing him. Now what?
Then, realization hit the Prince hard. He had nowhere to go, nowhere to call home. He could never return to Planet Vegeta, there was nothing there except decaying bodies and crumbling buildings. This planet that he had just destroyed held nothing of interest to him either. He could not return to Beta, that creature disgusted him beyond words. What could he do?
Vegeta spoke to himself. "I will continue to destroy Beta's planets. That will diminish the size of his all important empire while at the same time making me stronger. Yes! Vegeta, you are so very smart!"
*****
Frieza stared at his father, King Cold. Yes, his father was right. He should have added Earth to his collection of planets long ago. Why hadn't he? It was an insignificant planet whose warriors couldn't even dream of the power that he possessed. That was then, now was different. Earth was quickly becoming a planet of refugees. Any survivors of planets that he or Beta's forces had destroyed were all heading towards Earth. He would add it to his empire now, before it could catch Beta's attention, and he knew that it would do just that soon.
"Yes father. I will send the Ginyu force there. They will be more than enough to handle such a pathetic planet."
King Cold smiled down at his son.
*****
Vegeta landed on Arlia. His pod needed to be refueled and where better to do that than this planet? Arlia was one of Beta's newest captured planets and he planned to destroy it. He stared at the creatures who stared right back at him. This was going to be an easy battle. These creatures possessed absolutely no ki at all. Instead, they held some sort of machine and shot lasers at him. The shots didn't hurt, in fact they didn't even penetrate his armour.
Vegeta laughed hysterically as he noticied the fear growing in the creatures eyes as his power level rose. He slowly began to obliterate all life on the planet, saving the last creature for his "fun". He enjoyed torturing and hearing these aliens yell and scream and curse his name. As the creature was on the brink of death, Vegeta refueled his pod and flew back up to space. He loomed above the planet with a smirk on his face. No, he would not let this creature live. A few seconds later, the planet began to glow and than completely blew to pieces with the Saiyan Prince laughing hysterically once more.
*****
Bulma closed her eyes and clutched at her heart as she felt the immense pain seer through her entire body. What was going on? Why was she in so much pain? She opened her eyes in time to see a creature begging for it's life. She wasn't sure how she understood what it was saying, but she did.
There was another creature standing above it. He, she knew it was a man because of his build, looked almost human except for the tail. A tail? She couldn't see his face, that was all a blur, but she was sure it wasn't Bardock or Kakkarot. He was too short to be them. She felt immense sorrow for the creature being tortured.
How could anyone do the things that this guy was doing? She watched in horror, unable to not watch, as the guy slowly poked out one eye, and than the other. He than continued to break one arm, one leg, until the creature was crippled.
When the man with the tail flew off, Bulma felt tremendous relief as she thought the creature would live. Than her view changed and she saw the man with the tail again. He was forming a ki ball. NO! He was going to blow up the planet! RUN! She tried to yell, to warn the unexpecting creature but found she could not.
She felt a tear fall down her face as the planet blew up. She didn't know who the creature was or what it was like, but no one deserved to die so cruelly. The man with the tail laughed hysterically as he was obviously enjoying himself.
"You are the last hope of the universe Princess...face your destiny..."
Bulma abruptly sat up in bed. She prayed that what she had seen was really only a dream, not a vision. She felt the tears on her cheek and wiped them off. She knew that it wasn't a dream. What she had seen had really happened. She sighed sadly to herself. This was the second time she had had these awful "visions" where someone was being tortured. The last time, she had seen the same man, at least she was sure it was the same man, torturing a different creature.
She felt another tear streak down her cheek. Who could be so cruel? She wiped the tear off of her face and curled up into a little ball in bed as she thought about what she had just seen and heard. "You are the last hope of the universe Princes...face your destiny..." Bulma closed her eyes, wondering what the Voice meant.
*****
Bardock sat up quickly in bed, sweat pouring down his face. Was it a vision? He hadn't had one since Planet Vegeta had been destroyed. It had to be a vision. It was all too real to be just a dream. He stumbled out of bed. He had to train the Earth's warriors. They had to be ready. His vision had shown him that Frieza had set his sights on Earth and had sent orders to the Ginyu Force to capture it.
Bardock shuddered. The Ginyu Force. That name still struck fear in his heart. They were four very powerful creatures. He had heard stories of the destruction they caused in the name of Frieza's empire. He sighed as he realized that the Earth had virtually no chance against such powerful beings but he had no choice. He had to try and fight them. He couldn't just let the Earth fall under Frieza's rule without a fight. He didn't like to admit it, but he had come to care for this planet and it's weak inhabitants. He knew deep down in his heart that he would fight to his last breath for Earth and he would train the warriors so they would at least have a chance of survival. At most, he would have one week to train them...at most.
*****
"I refuse to go Bardock!" Bardock shook his head at the Princess's words.
"But Princess. It is better for you and for the rest of us! This way you will be safe."
"No. If my planet is going to be in danger, than I refuse to run and hide. I will stay and suffer whatever consequences fall upon my people!"
"But..."
"No buts Bardock. I am staying."
Bardock shook his head once more. "As you wish my Princess."
Bardock had already sent the King and Queen to Namek earlier that day. He had never imagined the Princess could be so stubborn. As he walked out of her chamber, he smiled to himself. He felt a deep respect for her, one that hadn't been there until now. She was braver than he had thought she was. He began to see why the people of Earth loved her so much. She trully cared about her people.
*****
"No Bardock. I am not going." Bardock had just finished convincing the second last ambassador to return to his home planet until the battle was over and now he was trying to convince Piccolo to leave. He felt as if it was deja vu all over again. He didn't want the ambassador to be hurt or killed during the battle.
"Piccolo..."
"No. I am not going anywhere. Do not insult me further Bardock." Bardock's mouth dropped open in shock. Insult him? When had he done that. "Do you think so little of us Namekians? We would never turn our back on our friends and allies. If there is to be a fight here, than there is no way you can get me to leave." Piccolo's face was set and Bardock knew he couldn't change his mind.
"Thanks Piccolo. You are indeed a good friend and a great warrior. We are glad to have your help."
*****
Kakkarot and Piccolo trained almost none stop. The only time they stopped was to eat and sleep. They both wanted to be as ready as possible for the threat that was approaching them. This was a good thing for Kakkarot because if he wasn't fighting with Piccolo, his mind kept wandering to Chi Chi. She had looked so hurt when he had told her he didn't care about her. He hadn't seen her since then and he figured she was ignoring him.
Good riddence, he thought to himself. But deep deep down in his heart, he missed her. He missed the way she looked at him, her smile, her lips, her...NO! He was not going to let his mind wander. He couldn't. He had training to do. She wasn't important anyway.
*****
In outer space, four pods sped towards Earth at a tremendous speed. Each pod held one member of the highly feared Ginyu Force. A smile was set on each face as they understood their job, and they liked it. Their orders had been simple. Destroy whatever resistance there was, keep the rest of the creatures as slaves and await Frieza's arrival. They hoped there would be lots of resistance. The more there was, the more fun they could have.