The Princess

Chapter 17: Confrontation

By: senzubean

I do not own Dragon Ball Z in any way. I make no profit from this story. I just wrote it for fun.

"Well, there it is." Letta said as all three saiyans looked at the planet on the view screen before them." No messages are engraved into the surface of this one. " They had flown around the planet twice just to make sure.

"Shall we land?" Recely asked her son.

"No." Vegeta said as in a half daze. Recely and Letta hadn't noticed, but Vegeta had been not himself for a good five minutes now. "Get away from it."

Letta and Recely looked at him, now they were concerned.

"Why?" Recely asked carefully, seeing the look on his face. Letta just stared, not doing what Vegeta had told her.

"Now, Letta!" he ordered, snapping her out of her trance-like state. Letta then did as she was told.

Recely looked at her son, "What's wro..." then she felt what he'd felt for the past five minutes. Ki. A huge amount of ki, coming straight at them from the south of the ship. What was disturbing about the ki, was it was Bra's ki. But how Bra could possess that much ki was beyond either Vegeta or herself.

"Faster!" Vegeta yelled. "We're not going to be far enough away!"

"What are you talking about?" Letta demanded as she rammed the accelerator as much as it could go.

Her question was punctuated by a massive explosion that sent the ship careening out of control. It flipped it over, and it's occupants tumbled and smashed into walls, control panels and chairs until the ship settled again. Letta pulled herself back to the control panel as fast as she could. The thick metal walls shuddered under the impact of debris.

"Is there any damage?" Recely asked as she collapsed into a chair.

"There's some damage to the right engine. What the hell was that? It destroyed that planet but nothing came up on the scanners. " Letta said.

Vegeta replied. "I can still feel Bra's energy south of here, but its dying off."

"That was Bra?" Letta asked dumbfounded.

"No! It was that bastard Polkrif!" Vegeta spat. His entire being was engulfed in a fire that begged to be released. Never had he been so enraged. "Polkrif is using her! How long will it take to get there?" Vegeta continued.

"That depends, How far away is she?" Letta asked.

"Far." Was all Vegeta said, all he was able to reply without any device to help him but his ki sense.

"With that engine down, our total speed will be cut in half."

"Damnit!" Vegeta yelled. He clenched his fists and his hair turned golden. Letta quickly started to get the ship on its way.

"L..look at it this way, Vegeta." Letta started meekly. "At least you know that Bra is still alive."

That seemed to console him a bit as he relaxed his stance and let himself slip from super saiyan. "Yeah." He said in a nearly inaudible voice. But for how much longer?

A few hundred parsecs away, Polkrif chuckled pleasantly at his subordinate.

"Do you suppose they got the message?"

"They'd be idiots if they didn't." Arachne replied dryly. "Do you think that was a good idea? Using up so much of the energy we collected to just draw that Saiyan here?"

Polkrif snorted. "If you had any power of your own, you'd know how very little energy it takes to destroy a planet. Besides, we've nearly gained it all back since we put that new opponent in that girl's head."

"She's fighting it now. But I think her patience is wearing thin. She's going to give up soon."

Polkrif snorted harder at that. "No she won't. She knows that her only choice is to give me her energy or face intense pain. And no one ever willingly chooses pain, do they, Arachne?"

Arachne said nothing and returned to her monitors.

"Vegeta will be here soon, my Lord. I suggest you get ready."

"STOP IT! STOP IT NOW!" Bra screamed and threw another huge energy blast at her father. He was laughing incessantly. Bra dropped to her knees and covered her ears with her palms. Whatever she did, she couldn't drown him out. She tried flying away, only to find she hadn't distanced herself from the sound. Still able to hear him through her hands, she fired again at it.

"I'LL GIVE YOU ALL THE ENERGY YOU WANT! JUST GET RID OF HIM! BRING BACK THE OTHER ONE!" Bra screamed up into the void above her head. Her father's laughing didn't disappear, indicating that her request had been ignored.

Bra couldn't stand it anymore. Convinced that no amount of physical pain could be worse than this torture, she flopped down onto her stomach and lay there motionless in the dirt.

She lay there for a few moments disturbed only by the continuous laughing of her fake father, but she was even now learning to block that out. The laughing eventually ebbed then stopped altogether.

"Why don't you fight?" He asked her. "Are you afraid?"

Bra didn't answer. She was through giving up her energy. Polkrif would just have to kill her.

"Lord Polkrif, The saiyans will be within the planet's atmosphere in ten minutes." Arachne stated slightly distressed.

"You had better not be backing out now, Arachne!" Polkrif warned. "I need you in case something happens to my machine."

"My Lord. The girl has given up fighting. We'll get no more energy out of her."

Polkrif turned around scowling.

"Well don't just sit there, Arachne, Get her fighting again!"

"You're pathetic, you know?" The fake Vegeta said. "And you call yourself a saiyan."

Bra didn't answer, she didn't even move.

"You're weak. No better than an insect. I ought to kill you."

"Go ahead!" Bra spat without looking up at him. He kicked her side, sending her flying across the desert. Bra only moved to cough up some blood, then lay still again.

"You're only making this worse on yourself. Just give us that energy of yours and you won't feel so much pain."

"Bite me." Bra replied right to its face and rolled over. Again she was kicked, though not as hard as the last time.

"Why are you being so stubborn?"

Bra coughed up more blood but made no other response to the fake Vegeta.

"You will give Polkrif your energy, girl." He stated darkly and began a slow energy attack on her. Bra curled up in pain, the ebbing energy fields coursing through her were like strings of shredded steel. She stifled her cries, feeling as if she were being torn apart. In addition to the pain, she felt herself becoming gradually weaker. This attack was sucking the energy from her.

Maybe this will kill me. She thought sleepily as she drifted ever closer to unconsciousness.

"What are you doing?" Polkrif asked as he watched the meters on his machine fall slightly. "You're loosing energy."

"It will be replenished." Arachne said. "I suggest we finish her now."

"No." Polkrif replied. "She is far too effective a power source to destroy."

Arachne heaved a weary sigh. "Wake up! I had to start sucking the power out of her, she refuses to give it to us anymore. That's why I had to expend energy we'd already collected."

"Heal her." Polkrif replied. "We'll devise another way of coaxing the energy out of her after her family has been dealt with."

Arachne growled apprehensively. "We don't have time to heal her! My Lord, I'm afraid that the limitations of my machine have become painfully obvious."

Polkrif stared at her unimpressed. "What did you tell me an hour ago, Arachne? How much power have we collected?"

"Exactly ten times that of when Recely transforms into a Golden Saiyan." Arachne replied. "But, I don't think that will be enough to defeat both Recely and her son."

"Don't think anymore, Arachne. Leave that to me." Polkrif replied then smiled wickedly. "Have they landed?"

"No." Arachne replied. "But they'll be in the planet's atmosphere any minute now."

Polkrif was already well across the room as she said this. He climbed some stairs to an elevated platform where a very simple control panel was set into the floor. It was made up of two large buttons, a rotating dial, and a digital energy meter. Behind him, the three energy filled cylinders sparked with a surplus of collected energy.

"Open the skylight, Arachne. It's time to negate this prophecy and be rid of the saiyans once and for all."

Vegeta and Recely both tried their best not to be too stunned as the descended from their ship. The entire planet, small though it was, was teeming with Bra's energy and it was all originating from one source, the only building erupting from the forest like a beacon of doom. Another stunning realization was that Vegeta remembered this planet.

"This was one of Frieza's planets." Vegeta said to his mother. "I remember staying here. Polkrif must have taken it for himself after realizing it was abandoned."

Recely hummed thoughtfully. "We always suspected that some of Frieza's operatives had joined Polkrif."

"Hmph! Some of them probably didn't know what else to do with themselves after Frieza was destroyed." Vegeta agreed, knowing that he'd been one of them and was relieved that he had not known about Polkrif's organization. Back then he would've jumped at the chance to get off of earth and gain power somewhere else.

"And what of this energy?" Recely asked. "It can't be Bra. Its far too powerful."

Vegeta nodded grimly. "It's stagnant energy too." He looked at his mother seriously. "If it is added to the energy of an attack, it could take out this entire planet, you and me included in an instant."

Recely's eyes went wide. "You're not serious. She couldn't possibly be more powerful than you, a Super Saiyan of thirty years. Bra told me she can't even transform. How could she have gained enough energy to destroy you in less than two weeks?"

"I am convinced that Bra has not gained any energy at all. Rather, Polkrif must have devised a way to harness energy from her."

"You mean he can do what Bra can do? He too has the power to draw energy naturally from living things?"

"I don't know." Vegeta replied. "If he could do that, you'd think that he'd've come himself long ago, destroyed us all and not risked a battle." There was a lengthy pause as both contemplated this. Then Vegeta abruptly transformed into Super Saiyan. "It doesn't matter. I must find out what's happened to Bra, and the only way to do that is to confront Polkrif." Recely nodded and powered up, but didn't try and force herself to transform at that time, hoping to save that energy for when she needed it. They took to the air and speeded towards the building just in time to see the skylight start to open. They soon were able to make out the machine with its sparking energy cylinders and aiming laser. The energy did not intensify, leaving the two saiyans a clear path right into the laboratory itself.

They both levitated , face to face with Polkrif on the elevated platform. The laser head followed their direction, maintaining its aim on them.

"Where is my daughter?" Vegeta demanded just as Polkrif was about to greet them.

"She's fine. We've taken good care of her." Polkrif replied with a devilish smile.

"You've taken her energy!" Vegeta snarled. "Where is she now?" Bra was not visible in the Lab anywhere.

"She's in the machine." Polkrif gestured to where Arachne was sitting, smiling down at the scene. "I believe you've already met Arachne."

Vegeta snarled recognizing her now that Polkrif had told him her name. "I was sure I'd killed you."

"Yeah, well you always were particularly inefficient, Vegeta." Arachne smiled. "Frieza always complained that you saiyans never did anything right."

"You obviously had help in surviving." Vegeta replied, more interested in that story than tired old insults. He noticed the mechanical parts that had replaced most of her body. "Who would help someone as disgusting as you? Everyone seemed quite pleased when they thought I had killed you."

Arachne laughed. Polkrif snorted at her newfound bravery.

"Who do you think made those bio-mechanical parts that prolonged Frieza's life for an entire week?" Arachne laughed. Then she grew serious. "I will be quite pleased to see you die, Vegeta, after what you did to me!" She said clenching all of her mechanical fists.

"After what I did to you?" Vegeta spat under his breath. He didn't continue and stared murderously at her. It was quite a different glare, like he gave none of his other opponents in his past, except for maybe Goku. Vegeta truly hated Arachne.

Arachne chuckled at this reaction. "Of course, I probably deserved it didn't I? I had done it to so many of Frieza's little protégés. He was quite angry that I had done it to you. The only reason why he didn't kill me was because I was developing all his technology. I just couldn't resist an unsuspecting little whelp, all full of himself, and you had arrogance that rivaled the entire base. Being a prince only added to the attraction, I'd never done it to a Prince before. It's unfortunate that pansy Zarbon came and interrupted..."

"Vegeta, what is she talking about?" Recely asked.

Vegeta spat hastily. "She just tormented me, that's all."

"That's not all, Prince." Arachne replied. "Too embarrassed to tell your mother what I did to you?" She laughed. "I don't blame you. Being molested and almost raped would be embarrassing to anyone, let alone to a mighty Saiyan Prince."

Enraged at that admission, Recely flung herself at Arachne at full power. Arachne pulled out her energy gun, which she'd concealed well behind her back with one of her arms, and fired. It hit Recely dead on, but too angry to care about the pain, she landed on all fours then followed Arachne as she flew out of the lab through the skylight.

Polkrif looked after his minion, displeased, but Vegeta was quite happy with the way it turned out. Arachne, once powerful enough to subdue him, had resorted to using artificial power, a sure sign that she was outclassed. And Polkrif, hiding behind his machine and his daughter's power was admitting the same thing.

Still too worried to gloat, Vegeta confronted Polkrif. "Is my child alive?"

Polkrif smirked. "Why, yes. She's the battery to Arachne's machine."

"Get her out of there now and your death will be quick and painless." Vegeta said.

"I'm afraid I can't do that." Polkrif replied.

Vegeta snarled and powered up. "Have it your way. I'll get her myself after I've finished torturing you!" He went to fire a ki blast at him, but was shot himself before he could let it loose. He yelled angrily after his jaw smashed against the steel floor. He got up, wiping blood from his chin. He looked up to see the laser aimed directly at him.

"Hmph!" Vegeta scoffed unimpressed and went to fire again.

"FUCK!" Vegeta swore as his arm smoked from the blast he hadn't dodged completely. The laser could detect when he was going to release an attack, and fired so quickly that it disabled him. Vegeta shook off his anger at that, and continued in a calm manner.

"No matter." Vegeta said to Polkrif. "I've had to fight without ki before, it is not a disadvantage to a real warrior." With that, he lunged at his opponent. Before he could hit him though, he felt a very peculiar field of energy surrounding them both, he was then hit by a massive beam of energy and pinned against a titanium wall.

Vegeta yelled as he struggled to free himself. Finally he managed it and before the ray could stop its beam, he fired up at the laser. The laser almost didn't stop the destructive blast, but unfortunately managed it at the last second.

Vegeta hyperventilated in rage. He was faring badly. He could not lose this battle!

Polkrif tisked from his platform, "My, my, that was a close one. In interest of my little powerhouse, I must mention that she has become part of my machine. She cannot survive away from it. Any damage to it, will damage her. So, you may want to keep that in mind if you foolishly decide to continue. Or, being a generous opponent, I will offer you the choice to surrender, " then Polkrif laughed tauntingly, " and a quick and painless death."

Vegeta's teeth were clenched. That was the worst thing that he could've possibly told him. His trained warrior mind instantly suggested the possibility of Polkrif bluffing. But he just couldn't chance that. He looked around. The machine was massive, any stray energy from that laser could strike it. If only he could get the fight outside in the air.

Deciding that that was exactly what needed to be done, he leapt from the floor and sped as fast as he could towards the open skylight.

An energy field was created over the opening and he flew right into it, like a bird flying into a window. He dropped from the air like a stone, stunned, and landed on his back.

"You're as stubborn as that daughter of yours." Polkrif stated. Vegeta growled angrily at the thought of her, how he was absolutely no use to her whatsoever. "You're her father. I know you have only her best interest in mind or you wouldn't be here fighting as valiantly as you are. But face it, Vegeta, you haven't been able to hurt me in the least. It is plainly obvious who the victor will be. So, why don't you do what's right for your little girl and give your life to preserve hers?"

"Life as part of that machine?" Vegeta said from where he lay on the floor. "What kind of life is that, living only to be the source of your energy? She wouldn't want her energy used to kill people! She'd be better off dead!" He was barely able to choke the last part of his sentence out. He'd made his decision and before he could change his mind, he sat bolt upright and shot a ki blast directly at Arachne's control panel.

"No!" Polkrif yelled, just as the machine fired. Polkrif leapt into the air and fired at both blasts, deflecting them into the wall of the lab, leaving a smoking crater. Simultaneously, Vegeta fired at Polkrif, but the laser was fast as well as accurate. The Prince was blasted halfway across the room, Polkrif was left virtualy unscathed. He panted, nearly exhausted from what would have been a simple attack from Vegeta.

Vegeta pulled himself to his feet, and Polkrif, summoning up enough energy, flew back to the safety of his platform.

"I should have known not to offer a choice to a saiyan. I forgot your vile race has no love for their offspring."

Vegeta cursed th elost opportunity to kill Polkrif. The laser had to go.

"No." vegeta replied. "I love my children more that anything else in this universe."

"That's touching." Polkrif stated. "Can I just kill you already?" Polkrif went to turn up the dial of the energy blaster intent on making sure the next blast would incinerate the Prince. But to his horror, the meters were almost to the bottom of the screen. Polkrif was nearly out of power. He looked back at Vegeta. He was still golden hared, and very much still a threat.

"Any blast you fire risks hitting this machine of yours." Vegeta said. "You don't want to lose your machine and I don't want to lose my daughter. So, this is my final proposal, Polkrif. Release my daughter and allow her and my mother to leave this planet, and I will willingly take her place."

Polkrif stared poker faced at him, one eye on his digital power dials.

"Bra is nowhere near as powerful as I. Think of the energy you can take from me."

Polkrif looked back at him. Vegeta's heart jumped, he was falling for it. Of course, he had no intention of handing himself over willingly, but as soon as Polkrif shut down his machine to remove Bra, he would destroy him. He stared at his adversary, concentrating on not getting himself too excited by the prolonged silence that could only indicate intense consideration. Vegeta could barely manage to hide his smirk of victory, he knew too well the appeal of large sums of easy power. And Vegeta was sure that Polkrif had a limit on his collected reserves.

"No." Polkrif replied cautiously. Vegeta's eyebrows arced into a vicious scowl and he snarled. How could he refuse? "I'll have you both."

"What?" Vegeta said. Then tried to move too late as a huge amount of energy hit him, pinning him to the ground. On his control panel, Polkrif pressed the huge blue button, sending additional energy down on the struggling, angry Prince. Vegeta yelled out in alarm as he felt strings of energy pass through his body. He felt as if fire were coiling about his insides and to further his distress, he was getting weaker. Desperate to stop this before he was too exhausted to do anything, he expelled as much energy as he could, but it disappeared as quickly as he created it.

Polkrif smiled as his meters shot up from the bottom of the screen at a tremendous rate. He watched as Vegeta's struggles became weaker and his screams of outrage diminished into painful grunts of defeat. Polkrif began to chuckle, then laugh at his victory.