QUEST FOR POWER :
THE WARLORDBy Konrad
PART 3
It seemed as if all of HFIL would collapse under the massive energy blast. Sparkling red waves bathed the landscape as a massive explosion kept sending out shockwave after shockwave, drowning out any sound in a loud roar. Eventually, the eruption settled down and quickly after, the energy and noise subsided, the earth stopped shaking, and the waves disappeared. At the center of that 'explosion', a lone armoured figure caught itself as it collapsed to the ground, panting heavily.
Damnit! Cursed Cooler silently. So close... His arms supported his heavy frame as he struggled to catch his breath. His latest attempt at a superior transformation had inched so titillatingly close to success but he still didn't quite make it. This time he was too exhausted to try again. For today, at least, that part of his training was done. The Kosajin finally mustered the strength to push himself off the ground.
"I hope you felt that, Goku, you hear me? That power will come to break your bones!" Cooler yelled at the top of his lungs to no one in particular. Unfortunately, he hadn't quite recovered from his exertion. His lungs felt like they burnt like fire when he screamed, causing him to go down on one knee clutching his chest. His world briefly pulled it's illusions from his eyes.
What would be the use? What's the use of fighting a man who was as dead as him? His thoughts veered wildly as the pain seemed to drug his mind. What would mother have thought if she saw what I had become? What example have I set for Aurora? His mind raced inexplicably to him. Could he feel guilty at the life he lived? No... no! Cooler thought as his merciless training and indoctrination regained control of his emotions once more. With a loud growl, he got back on his feet, his breathing more at ease. You are the strong, Cooler. The strong live to feed on the bones of the weak. No feeling must come, mercy is not something the weak deserve. To dominate is to survive. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He revisited in his mind all the challenges he met and surpassed. Since death was a mere continuation of life as he now knows, he'll continue on this path and meet the challenge to become the strongest ever.
"Cooler, so there you are. I thought that power I saw from the distance might've been you." A voice called out from behind him.
Cooler just barely repressed a grimace creeping into his face before turning to look at Dr Gero. He didn't like the man anymore than he liked his brother, which was to say not a lot. He felt contempt towards them, as well as towards his father and most other beings he met in Hell. He thought he'd go crazy around them all. Always plotting as if they were created just for that, can't live for anything better, he thought. Still, I am curious to know what this lunatic has in his head this time.
"Dr Gero, what's brings you here?" asked Cooler.
"Well, I think I've finally got a plan that even you'd find interesting." the doctor began. Cooler sighed mentally as Gero was promising another seemingly vague plot.
"Gero..."
"Now hold on, I've found some very interesting stuff." Cooler rolled his eyes but, relenting silently, he crossed his arms. "Now then, I've thought about something lately, about getting some sort of power source to help us to conquer. Well, I think I know such a source!" Cooler raised an eyebrow in curiosity.
"I remember you mentioning something. The idea seemed obvious enough, I'm surprised we never thought about that before."
"Yes, well I did some research and I stumbled upon information about something called the Power Stone. There is a small number of this artefact. Apparently any one of them could give the user a significant power boost, enough to crush almost any opponent. Imagine what one of us could do with it! Why, it could even assure certain victory against Goku and his ilk." The old man's eyes narrowed slightly as he articulated that last sentence, his moustache barely dissimulating a smirk. He knew Cooler wanted nothing more and nothing less than an excuse to defeat Goku, even though they were both dead. Cooler frowned.
"Power Stones? What are those?"
"Shouldn't the name make it obvious? Well, they are a set of mystical gems, five to be precise. Apparently they were created as weapons in a war long ago. Somehow they were imbued with stellar energy. Yes, the power of stars was locked inside specially created stones! Fascinating, don't you think? Anyways, this energy can be harnessed into individuals to make them temporarily stronger. No one knows how to unlock this power until now." Gero explained.
"...Until now?"
"I'm working on a device that can absorb power sources if they are within reach, a modified version of the energy absorbers in my hands if you will. It'll work on the same principle but it'll much more powerful and it can customized to match any source. With it, you can absorb the energy in one of these Power Stones or you can even absorb other warriors! I plan on giving a version of it to King Cold, Freezer and Cell as well as yourself, that is if you're interested. If one of us can absorb a Power Stone, together as a group we'll be invincible and can rule both the living universe and the Otherworld! What do you say, Kosajin? Sounds interesting?"
"I see... Well, I'm no longer concerned with ruling anything anymore so you don't have to worry about sharing with me. However, I do intend on crushing Goku and he'll get in your way regardless... Tell the others I'll join your cause and I'll take one of your devices when it's ready. Just be clear that the Saiyan is mine alone!" Cooler responded. Gero grinned widely, content to have the support, even conditional one, of one of the most powerful beings in HFIL.
"Good enough for me! I'll go formulate the details of a strategy." With that, Dr Gero took off as Cooler looked on.
What a disgusting fool! Cooler thought as he watched him leave. Disgusting fools, all of them... But I am like them, no? The weight of his actions felt like a mountain upon for a moment and he shook his head. He immediately looked into the distance again and a scowl crept back into his face.
"At least I'll have an excuse to challenge Goku. And this time, I will win..." he said aloud.
- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
"Far away, in the outer reaches of the galaxy, a conquering force has made a plan for universal domination. Bent on promoting evil, crushing good and justice, and assuring the prevalence of their lord's will, soldiers from everywhere have assembled into the greatest army ever known. Some of the universe's strongest beings have banded together to destroy all those who oppose them. However, one group of warriors is determined to stop these wrongdoers at all costs. These defenders of justice and light are…Trunks, the great hero from the future…"
Hearing his name, Trunks lifted his head before taking back a pensive posture he was holding while sitting next to a window.
"…Tenshinhan, the three-eyed powerhouse…"
Tenshinhan momentarily looked up from his cards before concentrating again on his hand.
"…the beautiful Android 18…"
18 couldn't help but smile slightly.
"…the fierce and noble Namek Piccolo,…"
Piccolo paid no heed to Gohan.
"…and Vegeta, the cocky bastard."
The Saiyan prince abruptly turned his head towards Gohan. "You insolent little brat, shut up already with your stupid narration!"
But Gohan ignored him and continued nonetheless and he wrote down his narrative in the manuscript he was working on. "Together, they form the amazing Z Squad. And they are led by the great Gohan…"
"Don't you think you're over-dramatizing a bit, Gohan?" 18 mocked nicely. Gohan laughed.
"Yeah, just trying to make my book interesting and fun. It never hurts to spice things up." They both laughed. 18 thought she finally found a friend she could trust, besides Krillin, in her former enemies.
Inside Yoshuro's spaceship, Gohan was busy writing down their adventure as 18 looked on. Trunks sat next to a window, lost in his thoughts. While Vegeta practised punches on the main floor, Tenshinhan tutored Piccolo and Yoshuro at playing craps.
"Two!" Yoshuro yelled out enthusiastically as he rolled a pair of ones. "Oh, I mean Snake Eyes!... That's good, right?" Tenshinhan chuckled.
"Actually, that means you lose this turn." the Triclops explained. That briefly brought down the Jubian's jubilations.
"Oh... Bah, another roll!"
"I don't understand where you found the time to learn this stupid game." Piccolo stated.
"Would it surprise you to know that Lunch's second personality is into gambling? As a matter of fact, you don't want to know what she's learned on her last trip to Las Vegas. And it doesn't involve just cards!" Tenshinhan smirked, causing blood to rush to Piccolo's ears.
"Remind me to never fall in love with a crazy woman." Piccolo muttered in disgust.
It's been almost three days since they left Earth and they still had a few hours before entering Jubian space. Uneventful ness had seeped itself in.
"Oh great! This is boring." 18 sighed finally, shaking her head. In doing so, she caught a glimpse of Trunks. "Oh never mind, I think I'll go talk to Trunks for a change." she continued. Gohan watched, curious to see how this would turn out.
Trunks spotted 18 approaching from the corner of his eye and made a move to leave. That sent a wave of rage boiling inside the Android's body. For the umpteenth time since the beginning of this trip, he had ignored her and this grated on her nerves.
"Hey, wait up! Don't leave!" 18 yelled. The young Saiyan reluctantly stayed put as the Android came in front of him.
"What's wrong with you, Trunks?" she started. Trunks looked away with a frown passing over his face. "Am I that bad in your time?"
"Yes! Yes!" came the reply as this time it was Trunks who snapped. "You're the cause of millions of deaths. You're the nightmare of my time, and every time I see your face, I'm reminded of everything that happened because of you!"
"Because of me! I'm not like the me…or whatever you encountered in your time! I'm a different person! Even when I was fighting you guys, I never thought of hurting innocent people, that's not me!"
Her voice echoed through the ship. Everyone, including Vegeta, stopped their activities to stare. Gohan got up and took a step towards the pair, bent on bringing this heated discussion on a better note. However, his eyes fell on Piccolo's own, silently telling him not to intervene. Reluctantly, Gohan stayed put and watched the mini-drama unfolding. 18's hands trembled slightly as she fought back the burning sensation in her eyes.
"I don't know what some…evil twin of me is going to do." she continued at the top of her lungs. "I can't take responsibility for what a copy of me does. If I'm to be a mass murderer in the future, then I want to die here and now. But at least, don't replace my own hands with someone else's blood stained hands, please, even if they talk like me, look like me... I'm not that person." By that time, her voice had grown more resigned, softer. Trunks, shocked into muteness, could only take her tirade. "I really you to trust me, Trunks. I want to find a way to do that…"
The tears couldn't be contained anymore and they finally began flowing from 18's eyes. Cursing her inability to stop them, she got up and left abruptly, leaving a stunned and shamed Saiyan in her wake. 18 made her way to the sleeping quarters of the ship. There, a small number of bunk beds were disposed comfortably against the walls. She climbed into one and, pulling her knees to her face, she started to cry freely. I'm not a cold-blooded murderer, I'd never kill innocents, I'd never, she repeated in her head.
18 was sitting there for several minutes already when she heard the door to the room open. Looking up through her blurry eyesight she was barely able to make out the familiar lavender colour.
"If the others asked you to find me, I..."
"They didn't." Trunks cut her off. "None of them told me to come, I'm here because I want to... It's unfair to treat you like this, you haven't done to deserve my hate, you're not her... I'm really sorry. I don't know what else to say."
"It's ok, I understand what a nightmare your world must be and how you can see something horrible in me."
"That's no excuse for my behavior. You've done nothing wrong. I admit it's not easy when I think everything that's happening in my world but I haven't given you a chance and I'm sorry."
"T-thank you." 18 replied as she wiped her eyes. Trunks took a seat in front her.
"Well, you did kick my butt when you first appeared so maybe I should be mad for that or something." Trunks tried to joke. He felt better when 18 giggled in response. A knock was heard on the door and the two turned to see Gohan cautiously enter the room.
"Man, am I glad you guys haven't ripped each other into shreds yet." He said smiling, as he joined them.
The next couple of hours rolled by slowly and quietly in the ship until an alarm went off, prompting everyone to rush to the front of the spacecraft.
"What's wrong?" Tenshinhan asked.
"Let's find out." Yoshuro replied as he rushed to the front of the ship. "It's an emergency message from planet…Hakiri!"
The communication device lit up and a robotic voice spoke up. "This is an emergency broadcast transmission from planet Hakiri, do you accept?"
"Of course I accept, you stupid piece of scrap!" Yoshuro yelled. A face appeared on the screen of the communication device.
"Calling out to all Jubian ships in the area, this is lieutenant Guri from planet Hakiri! This an emergency! A ennemy fleet has been detected and it's heading straight for our planet, E.T.A. in no more than an hour! We need any assistance immediately!"
"Lieutenant, this is Yoshuro Arro! I'm coming with help, please hold on!"
"Thank you, we will hold as long as we can!" Yoshuro cut off the link.
"It'll be close but we will probably be there at about the same time as the enemy, if not shortly after."
"Let's hope not too many people get hurt before we arrive." Trunks added.
"So we're finally going to have some action." Vegeta grinned.
- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
The huge ship that landed on Hakiri emptied itself quickly as about thirty armed mercenaries stormed out.
"Well, it's time we find out what these weaklings are up to." spoke Aleen, a black-haired woman from the group. Along with four other members of the group, she wore a white star on her chest. All the others, except for one, bore no such medal. The last person, a leader with a bald conical head, had a red star.
"Indeed, Aleen." spoke the leader, Dukai. "That research base should be due west from here."
"Let's not spend too much time here." added a weary Djoukien, a younger, white-starred squad member. A somewhat frail looking young man, Djoukien nonetheless had the luck to be so skilled and strong that he earned promotions faster than any one else who served in the planet trade. He tried to avoid wanton destruction as much as he could though he loved to fight more than anything else. However that wasn't the only thing on his mind. For one of the rare times in his career, he felt extremely apprehensive. His brown tail tightened instinctively around his waist.
"Hehehe, you're always so soft." responded the sub commander Toono, a towering purple skinned creature. "Why not have a little fun here, kid? I'm sure there's plenty of fighters for us to play with."
"Speaking of fighters…" spoke up Aleen as she fiddled with her Scouter. "I'm picking up exactly forty five power readings coming from the main base and heading this way."
"Ahh, the welcoming committee!" said Dukaï, smirking. "Let's go introduce ourselves to our hosts. After all, that is the polite thing to do." Djoukien rolled his eyes and concentrated on the task at hand. Apparently, he wasn't going to get away from this fight without getting a fair deal of blood on his hands.
The soldiers flew off and promptly met the Jubian military in midair. Although they had the advantage in numbers, the Jubians knew they were outmatched in strength and weaponry.
"All right, everyone remember your training, we can hold them off if you just keep together!" screamed the Jubian commander to his troops. That brought a roaring laughter from Dukai
"What a joke! We are the strongest legion in the army of Lord Dudan. You don't honestly believe you can defeat us, do you? Toono, Cole, Baramon, I'll let you guys handle this one." ordered Dukai to three of his sub commanders. Their groups launched themselves into combat while Aleen and Djoukien, along with their teams, stayed back.
Dukai grinned with satisfaction as he watched Baramon behead a Jubian with a single blow. Cole, meanwhile, easily avoided a blast meant for him and countered by ramming the soldier who tried to shoot him. The Jubian was sent flying back uncontrollably, knocking out three of his comrades in the process. As the Jubian landed painfully on his back, Cole jumped on his abdomen, making his enemy vomit blood. Toono barreled through and went straight for the leader of the Jubians. He launched a flurry of punches and kicks, giving the overwhelmed officer trouble. Toono paused a moment to laugh at him, then he sent an energy beam aiming for his chest. The Jubian barely avoided the shot but it still burned his shoulder. He avoided receiving Toono's knee to his guy, but the giant Toono caught him in his back with an elbow. Grabbing him by the neck, he then repeatedly punched the helpless Jubian before dropping his body to the ground. Meanwhile, all the other Jubians were also losing badly. They were more numerous but it didn't matter, Dukai's soldiers were too strong. Blows were dealt, shots blasted, and the defenders were dropping from the sky. Toono slowly descended right next to his barely breathing opponent, poised to finish him off.
"Ah, yes…Well fun's over, boys! Time to get serious…Kill them all!" yelled Dukaï. Toono grinned wickedly and prepared a ki ball for the final blow. "It seems that this operation will go on without any problems whatsoever…" Dukai started before his scouter's frantic beeping interrupted him.
Djoukien and Aleen also checked out their scouters and their faces froze in shock. Several major power levels had appeared behind them without warning. Along with Dukai, they turned around to see a group of seven new figures were now standing there. One of them hid behind the others. But the first six were known to them before, they hoped they'd never have to fall on them.
"Well, you got a problem now." Vegeta stated, smirking.
END OF PART THREE