Chapter 17 - The Losses
Vegeta floated up to where Olive was, and now Goku and the others had yet another problem on their hands. Goku formed a disc with his ki and then threw it toward Vegeta's ring. It hit its target, but the ring remained unscratched.
"Nothing that's weaker then me can break my ring, and no one weaker than me can release themselves from my wrath or go against my orders. Just watch. Vegeta, go kill both your sons. Trunks and Trunks." Vegeta hesitated. "Vegeta, listen and obey me." Olive's eyes glowed red, and the ring glowed gold with him. Vegeta went down to M.Trunks and fired a ki blast at close range.
"Father, stop! Don't listen to him!" M.Trunks screamed as he was blown away. The blast eventually disipated, and M.Trunks' body lay as a smoking lifeless wreck. Gohan rushed over to him, grieving at the loss of his friend (OK, now that there's only one Trunks left, C.Trunks will just be "Trunks" now).
"Now Vegeta, it's time for your other son's life to end," coaxed Olive. Vegeta turned around, walked over to Trunks, then paused. "Do it," Olive snapped. His eyes glowed once again, forcing Vegeta to form another ki blast. Trunks slowly backed away, pleading to his father not to kill him, but Vegeta couldn't hear him.
"Dad, please don't do it. I'm your only son. Deep down I know you wouldn't hurt me on purpose. Try to remember. Resist, dad, resist!" Tears streamed down Trunks' face, watching the ever growing ball of ki in his father's palm. "Come on, dad. You're stronger than that monster. You're the prince of all the saiyans, remember?" Trunks sobbed quietly. The glowing sphere shrank slightly and flickered.
"Kill him!" Olive roared, and just before Vegeta attacked, he whispered, "Trunks..." and then lost total control of his mind and body. Trunks was frozen with fear and the pain and the loss of his father filled his heart. Dad, how could Olive have done this to you? I know that you're strong, and that some day you'll be able to free yourself. Bad guys like Olive will never win. But to defeat him will take everything. I love you, dad. Trunks fired his own ki blast in self-defense, pushing all of his power into it, but Vegeta's blast was too overwhelming. Trunks could feel himself weakening, and it wasn't long before the blast completely swallowed him up.
"No! Trunks!" Goten ran forward, only to be pulled back by Goku. "Let me go, let me go! I have to try and save Trunks! Don't you understand? He's my best friend and I'm not going to stand here and watch him die!" Goku said nothing. "Daddy, why won't you let me go? Why don't you understand? We still have a chance to save Trunks. Don't you know that? Why don't you let me go? Trunks is your friend too, so why don't you try to save him? Dad, answer me, please, why isn't anybody saving Trunks?"
"Because, son, Trunks couldn't have been saved. Vegeta's blast was too powerful. He died when the blast smothered him. I'm sorry, Goten." Gohan went up to Goten and added, "when you grow up, you'll learn that sacrifices have to be made. I know how hard it is. We've all experienced it."
"But why Gohan? Why can't we all just live normal happy lives?"
"Because no matter how much we try to deny it, evil will always exist, because there is good. Think of it as this: light represents all that is good and pure, and the darkness represents all that is evil. The stronger the light, the deeper the darkness. We have a lot of freedom, Goten, but with freedom comes the responsibility to fight for what you believe in. You have to understand that," explained Gohan.
"Really. All that sentimental rubbish is sickening," spat Olive in disgust. His tail twitched irritably as he impatiently waited for everyone's attention. After a while he got bored and decided to take control of things. "Ahem. Attention everyone, I'm very not so sorry for the unfortunate loss of your friends, but don't you think it's time to move on?"
"I could never forgive you for what you've done, Olive, and believe me, you will pay for this. If not by us, then by others who will rise up against you."
"Ooh, I'm so scared," said Olive sarcastically. "Wait, I almost forgot! Here." This time Olive's eyes glowed black, and Vegeta's ring responded in the same black colour. A dark energy surrounded him, and his power level grew.
"What's happening? Vegeta's power level is increasing by an incredible amount, but I know that he can't be this strong! The last time we fought I was still a whole lot stronger than him," said Goku, amazed at what he was sensing.
"Trunks told me once that Vegeta started to train under five hundred times normal Earth gravity. Maybe that's why," guessed Goten.
"I don't think so. Training under that much gravity would still bring him to just under my full power. And also, I don't think he's doing this out of his own will," murmured Goku.
"Man, you guys are thick!" exclaimed Olive. "Do you really think that your friend here could have all that power? Of course not! You see, I've discovered that Vegeta, in many ways, is like a dog. If you train him well enough, he'll obey your every command. And how do you do that? By satisfying his hunger, and Vegeta's hunger is for more power. So I give him power every time he does what I tell him to do. And he can't seem to get enough of it. But, if he doesn't listen to me, I can threaten and I will take some of his own power away, and of course he doesn't like that, so he has no choice but to obey."
"Vegeta would never take his own son's life just to get stronger than me," said Goku.
"I think I already know that, which is why my rewards are great, and my punishments are severe."
"Vegeta, can you hear me? You have to break free of Vegeta's ring," pleaded Goku. "I tried slicing it with a disc, but it didn't work. I think you and Olive are the only ones who can get the ring off. Please Vegeta, try to free yourself. I know you can do it. The fate of the world is in your hands. If Olive really has that much control over you, then everyone you know and love, including me will be gone."
Everyone tuned to see Vegeta's reaction, even Olive, who had a sly smile on his face. Vegeta's hand slightly moves, but that was it. "See? I told you. No one can stand up against me," gloated Olive. "Of course it doesn't matter how hard you try or what you say, he will never again be free."
Olive snapped his fingers and Vegeta went over to him. Goku, Gohan and Goten braced themselves for an attack. "So now we are almost even in number, but nowhere near equal in strength. Let's just see how strong you really are. Ready... fight!"
The two sides charged towards each other, then Goten disappeared, leaving the others to fight one on one. For the moment they were equal in strength and speed, and then Goten executed a sneak attack on Olive. He had reappeared behind Olive and attempted to cut off his tail.
"No chance, monkey boy," jeered Olive, and used the flat side of his tail blade to knock Goten away. He slammed hard into a small mountain, then slowly and painfully got back up. He suppressed his ki and crept behind a tree, ready to use the kamehameha on Olive. Olive was too busy fighting Gohan to notice that a high speed energy beam was coming his way. Goten silently celebrated when his blast hit Olive, but his joy quickly turned to anguish when he saw that Olive was unscathed and hadn't noticed his blast the slightest bit.
Now what? Dad and Gohan can't beat them, and neither can I. If only Trunks were here. Then we could gang up on Olive and he wouldn't stand a chance against us. How dare he kill my best friend! Fueled by anger, Goten charged towards Olive, blasting and punching like crazy. Olive easily evaded all of his attacks and thought of it as a game.
"Special beam cannon!" A yellow-orange beam spiraled its way closer and closer to Olive. He saw the beam coming his way and had an idea. He grabbed Goten and pulled him forward as a human (or in this case, a demi-saiyan) barrier and shouted, "bad move, namek! You've just killed your friend!" Olive roared with evil laughter and grinned maliciously as Piccolo's special beam cannon drove straight through Goten's heart.
"No! Goten!" Everyone, even Vegeta, turned to see Goten fall to the ground, a smoking hole in the center of his body. Piccolo collapsed to his knees, wondering how he could have made such a mistake. Goten, I'm sorry. I never knew that he was going to do that.
"Well that makes things easier," said Olive, "instead of getting rid of four it's now just down to three." Olive descended and floated down to Piccolo.
"Yes... you used to be evil and wanted to destroy this world. Why did you give it up? I'm ashamed of you, Piccolo." Olive once again produced a ball of ki and flicked it to Piccolo.
"Here. Catch."
Piccolo instinctively reached out for it and the ball exploded on impact, killing him instantly.
