QUEST FOR POWER:
THE WARLORDBy Konrad
PART 9
Skyscrapers crumbled. The streets were filled with screams of panicked people. The ground shook and erupted loudly. The sky lit up with flames. It was only the day before that Mesata City was a forward looking, booming outpost that symbolized the triumph of Jubian technology.
Now, the air buzzed with hundreds of deadly fighter planes and aircraft that tried to batter each other. While under fire from Jubian defences, the Planet Traders Guild ships pounded the city with their weapons and bombs, setting it ablaze and destroying anything they could. Meanwhile, the battle on the ground raged on, the true balance being decided there. Sulfus, Timber and Crest dispersed themselves throughout the crowds, sowing havoc and terror as they went and using the populace as shield from the Z Squad. Every few moments, a loud boom was heard along with a sudden gush of power, indicating that Vegeta, Piccolo or Tenshinhan had been able to make contact with their enemies. But more often, they played catch-up. Piccolo and Tenshinhan especially didn't want to harm any civilians.
Far above the city and the chaos, both distracted by the events below, Gohan and the enigmatic Cerion faced each other. Gohan frowned and sent out a silent prayer that not too many people would get hurt. Cerion, meanwhile, seemed more concerned over someone else.
"Damn you, Sulfus…" She cursed. "I told you not to anger Vegeta." Hearing her voice brought Gohan's attention back to his own situation.
"Hey, what do you want with me?" He yelled again, getting Cerion's attention back. "And what are you going to do with this Power Stone?"
"Well, I have to say that I'm more interested in you, Son Gohan. And you could become something else with my guidance." Cerion replied
"Your WHAT?" came the angry reply. "What makes you think I need anything from someone like you!" Cerion sighed. She had obviously chosen the wrong words.
"Gohan, what makes you what you are?"
"Whoever you are, miss, I don't know what you're getting to!"
"Again, that's Cerion. And what I mean is, you defeated Cell, didn't you?"
"Yeah, how do you know that?" Gohan responded.
"And you defeated Garlic Junior. And you also successfully attacked Radditz. All those times, that incredible power of yours was suddenly unleashed. Haven't you ever wondered where that comes from? How you could repeatedly reach a new peak of power while others, including your father, could only do that very few times? Do you know who or what you are?" Cerion began to explain.
"What do you mean, 'what I am'? You're confusing me. How do you know all this?"
"I'm a good spy maybe?" Cerion shrugged. "Most importantly, because I'm like you, child. I know who and what you are and, more to the point, what you CAN be."
"Oh, I get it now. You want my power and you want to use me." Gohan said frowing. Cerion chuckled.
"If only it were that simple. So much potential… and yet so much wasted. You couldn't defeat me as you stand now. Because you can't get to your powers. How could you beat Dudan? I'll tell you one thing. Vegeta, Trunks and Piccolo, if they fight Dudan, they'll fail. And they'll die. Because you couldn't do it. Now how would that feel?"
"Shut up! I'll stop him like I stopped Cell!"
That's right, child… Cerion thought to herself in satisfaction. Get angry and unleash that real power of yours!
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C'mon, you gotta stay calm. Tenshinhan thought. He dashed madly through the crowd of panicked innocents. Only moments ago, he had again lost track of Timber and now he had to contend with the Planet Traders' regular ground forces. In spite of his own mental encouragement, Tenshinhan struggled not to be overwhelmed by the situation, as the battlefield was different from any other of the hero's previous fights.
A group of a dozen Planet Traders' soldiers fired indiscriminately into the nearby crowd. The street filled with blood as Jubians both civilian and military were being mowed down. More people were hurt even trying desperately to flee. Tenshinhan pushed his way through until he was between the enemies and the Jubians. The Traders fired more salvoes of thick energy blasts in the opposing direction. Tenshinhan's mind raced at the potential of more bloodshed.
"Now's as a good a time as any to try this! PSYBLAST!" Tenshinhan screamed at the top of his lungs as he extended his arms forward. A series of large purple rings shot forth from his hands. The Traders' blasts stopped moving when they came in the vicinity of the travelling rings, before harmlessly dropping right there. That didn't discourage the soldiers however and they kept firing while Tenshinhan kept sending out his Psyblasts to protect the Jubians. Unfortunately he was distracted from seeing another group of soldiers approach from the street to his left.
"Full power! Fire!" They yelled.
"Shit!" Tenshinhan muttered as he braced himself for the impact of the blasts this time aimed directly at him. But before they could fire, an energy wave engulfed and vaporized the second group of soldiers and a familiar capped figure swooped overhead. A moment later, Piccolo barrelled through the first group. He punched and kicked his way through, often killing his opponents in a single blow. Tenshinhan was finally able to put down his Psyblasts and breathe easier.
"Looks like it'll be like this the whole time. Yet we can't be everywhere at the same time. And we need to defeat the Elites, they'll do the most damage and are our real opponents." Piccolo stated as Tenshinhan caught up with him.
"They're so fast." The Triclops wondered aloud.
"I know." Piccolo replied. "Damn them! Taking cover in the middle of a whole city."
"Wait… Piccolo, was that Trunks? A power just fell." Tenshinhan said.
"What?… You're right. And I feel someone else's too! They're probably fighting over the Stone."
"Do we go there right away?"
"No, not you, Tenshinhan. You continue defending the city. You might not be enough for that other fighter, whoever it is. I'll go help Trunks and the others."
"Alright. But here, take a senzu bean with you. 18 gave me the whole bag to help here. Just in case." Tenshinhan said as he reached for a senzu to hand to Piccolo. "I'll try to be there as soon as possible, you can't do it alone, you know."
"Fine. Thanks." Piccolo responsed. The Namek immediately flew away as fast as he could.
Tenshinhan was right. That was Trunks' power that went down. What's going on now? Could that be…? As the thoughts raced in his head, Piccolo saw too late the purple flash pass in front of his eyes. Next thing he knew, an elbow dropped into his back, sending him spiralling out of the air. Piccolo slammed through a building and finally stabilized himself as he came out the other side. Well, isn't this swell? He thought acidly as Crest materialized in front of him.
"Hehe. I heard you earlier and you're not going anywhere, Piccolo." Crest said smirking.
"Don't count on it!" Piccolo yelled as he fired dual laser beams from his eyes.
Crest blocked them but Piccolo was immediately on him with a flurry of punches that the mercenary could barely keep up with. Even Crest's reflexes weren't enough as one punch got through and broke his nose. He was sent back in the air before regaining his senses.
"What! Even with his cape?" Crest mumbled as he wiped the blood that was flowing.
"You seemed so fast a minute ago. To think I was worried you could actually be dangerous up close." Piccolo taunted. He faked his best cool expression as he was actually feeling the strain from his exertion. Even without the cape, he might be faster than me but I don't want to waste any more energy on him when there's someone bigger. All I need is to trap him up close…
"You piece of trash!" Crest spat. "I'll show you real power!"
Crest flew at Piccolo and disappeared. Expecting that, Piccolo turned to swing a punch but his hand only went through an after-image, mildly startling himself. He immediately felt pain in his back again as Crest passed by quickly, delivering a swift kick. Crest flew by again and again until he was nothing more than a blazing whirlwind, delivering punches and kicks that Piccolo couldn't keep up with. The Namek kept taking the blows as best as he could until he was blown out of the sky. He slammed into the ground in a heap of concrete.
Come on, Piccolo, just a little more. Keep it up. Piccolo thought to himself as he got up shakily from the ground. Suddenly he felt Crest wrap his arms around him from behind, seemingly binding Piccolo's own arms.
"How about that, Namek?" Crest mocked. He started to squeeze Piccolo tightly, crushing his lungs and his bones.
"How about I get rid of your arms?" Piccolo answered back angrily. He shot his eye beams downward at Crest's arms but missed and instead they opened a hole right next to the two warriors. "Damnit!" Piccolo cursed.
"Ha! Now you see who is stronger." Crest continued his taunting despite the fact that Piccolo's head blocked his view. "Like I said earlier, you're going nowhere, heheURK! Aaack! W-what?" Crest stammered as something wrapped around his neck and squeezed, choking him. He let go and grasped desperately at the thing. His eyes swelling from the pain and the lack of air, he could barely make out the green and pink form around his neck. "No way…"
"Yes way." Piccolo nonchalantly replied, now completely unfazed by the previous beat down.
His right arm was stretched into the hole he had deliberately blown seconds ago. His arm had snaked it's way through the sewers underground then surfaced back halfway across the neighbourhood, unseen and undetected by the overconfident Crest.
"Sorry to make this short." Piccolo stated. "Unlike some people, I'd rather not waste my time bragging." With that, he started retracting his arms without entangling it from his opponent's neck. The last sound Crest heard was that of his own neck snapping.
"There. Now to the most important" Piccolo said recalling his arm back from the corpse. Ignoring the continuing fights in the city around him, he quickly took off towards the faraway mountains. "You three better hold on until I get there or you'll hear from me!" He growled to no one as he accelerated, not unnoticed to some.
Huh? The Namek? Sulfus wondered as he lost sight of the green streak that had just passed. Did he defeat Crest already? They are stronger than Dudan thought, no wonder Cerion warned me… though I don't understand why she didn't tell the others. I wonder… The Kosajin's thoughts were interrupted by a distinctive growl followed by a yell. While he mused, Vegeta had found his way into a nearby street.
"Come out, alien!" The Super Saiyan screamed at the top of his lungs. "I can feel your power, I know you're near. Show yourself, you coward!"
Sulfus smirked to himself. Well I'll have my fun with the Prince of Saiyans regardless of what Cerion says. "I'm right here, Princeling." He said as he stepped out of the shadows.
"Well, about time you stopped running away. Is that all you know how to do?" Vegeta taunted but Sulfus erupted into laughter.
"Not even! You know so little, Vegeta. You never even heard of us, Freezer did such a thorough job of maintaining your ignorance, haha!" Suddenly, Sulfus's face became composed as he looked at Vegeta. This time, his grin turned into a sinister smile.
"W-What?" Vegeta stammered. As he couldn't do nothing more than stare back at the Kosajin, he felt a pang of uncertainty creep up in him. A vision of the last time he saw his father alive, as he was taken hostage into Freezer's camp, passed into his mind. While Vegeta was escorted into Freezer's ship, the king watched as regal as always. Very few people could ever read King Vegeta's expression but to his son, the pain and desperation in his eyes was evident. The monarch had lost his two wives and was now losing his son. Why am I thinking of this now?
"Freezer had his secrets." Sulfus continued. "But Cooler, Dudan and myself kept even more from him and, by association, from you!" Suddenly Sulfus powered up violently. The ground swelled around him and was blown in the air. The block around them shook while bright light radiated from the Kosajin, forcing Vegeta to shield his eyes. "You probably remember Djoukien, don't you? Got killed a few days ago by your group? I knew him pretty well, we were partners actually. Well, I'll tell you just this, that he wasn't the last, if you know what I mean. Now I'll bury you with your ignorance!"
While Vegeta gasped at the meaning of the words, the Kosajin bursted forth at tremendous speed. Too shocked at both the speed and the words, the Saiyan didn't move. Using his advance as momentum, Sulfus delivered a hard punch that sent Vegeta flying through the air. He passed through several buildings before making a painful landing in the ground, face first and no longer moving.
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"There!" Lulu shouted.
Lulu, Trunks and 18 descended and approached an opening the mountain range. Soon they were standing at the mouth of a giant cave, towering above them by almost a hundred feet. At each side of the entrance was an equally gigantic dark orange painting of two creatures vaguely resembling a cross between the sun and Earth's minotaur.
"What is this place?" Trunks asked as he marvelled at the frescoes.
"A sacred place for a primitive civilization. Hold on." Lulu responded almost dismissively. She took out her communicator to try to reach the Jubians that were supposed to be inside looking for the Power Stone.
Too bad. Trunks thought. Gohan would've loved to see this. The bright red rocks lit up like a fire in the sunshine. The grotto was perfectly sculpted by the years and by ancient tools. So taken up he was with the spectacle that Trunks almost missed an energy signature that rose up suddenly from within.
"Oh no, I'm picking up something!" He said.
"You're telling me, I can't get a signal." Lulu complained.
"No, it's too late for that!"
"Trunks, what are you talking about?" 18 asked.
"Those people inside, they're in trouble."
"No way!" Lulu yelled. She immediately powered up and flew inside at a frantic speed, with Trunks and 18 closely behind. As they went deeper and deeper into the mountainside, they sped through the corridors as quickly as they could in search of the team. The tunnels were almost like a maze but Trunks kept extending his senses to detect anything.
"Lulu, they're behind that wall there!" He yelled.
"Hang on, we're coming!" With a powerful scream, Lulu charged her ki around her and flew through the wall, causing it to explode in a burst of rocks. On the other side they were now in a large cavernous chamber.
"What is… oh no…" 18's words were reduced to a whisper as they all took a look at their new surroundings.
Littered on the floor were an incredible number of bodies. Some of them were burned, others had holes in them, bathing in a pool of fresh blood. In the middle of the chamber stood only two remaining figures. One of them was a slender man with an air mask and goggles hiding his frightened and pained face. The other person was holding him by his head with his left hand, several inches above the ground. The stranger's appearance sent a chill down Lulu's spine. It was a giant of a man, almost nine feet tall, with bulging limbs the size of tree trunks. Pupil-less grey eyes highlighted a perfectly round and bald head. On almost all his body, save for his arms, he wore thick red and black armour that was attached in pieces.
"What is this? The general of the Jubians!" The giant spoke in a booming voice.
"D-Dudan!" Lulu whispered.
"You got to be kidding me." 18 muttered. Trunks didn't say a word as he waited for Dudan's first move. The warlord laughed.
"Haha, yes you guessed it right! I'm glad to see you here, General Lulu, as well as your Earth 'saviours'. You've come at my moment of triumph!" Dudan mocked as he raised his right hand that was holding a large purple-pink gem. Lulu. Trunks and 18 gasped in shock at the Power Stone's presence in their enemy's grasp. "You see, you're not going to save anyone… certainly not this poor fool!" With that, he crushed the other man's skull in between his fingers. Lulu's heart exploded in anger at the loss of both the Stone and the cruel death of her compatriot.
"No, you monster! You won't get away with this!" She screamed and she flew at Dudan, not noticing his eyes take on a brighter glow.
"Lulu!" Trunks yelled in his turn but Lulu wouldn't hear him in time. In a flash, Trunks powered into Super Saiyan and quickly leapt at Lulu just as yellow beams shot out from Dudan's eyes. The beams instantly grew into the diameter of an arm and Lulu realized to her horror that she couldn't avoid them.
Trunks stretched his arm as much as he could and he managed to grab one of Lulu feet. He abruptly pulled on it and swung the girl to the side to the floor, where she rolled in a rough and painful landing. Then the Saiyan twisted his body in midair to avoid the beam himself in time. He was only partially successful. While he avoided most of the blasts, part of one beam ripped into his right shoulder. Trunks let out a pained scream as he landed, stumbling.
"What! Trunks, no!" Lulu yelled when she realized the Saiyan had taken the blow in her place. 18 was too stunned and shocked to say or do anything.
N-no way. With only one blow! Trunks' thoughts ran through his head at frantic speed.
"Hehe. That was very courageous of you." Dudan taunted as he flexed his left arm. "Now I'll end this silly war like I end all others. With my victory!" He punched Trunks in the head and the young Saiyan was imbedded into a wall where he lost consciousness.
"Trunks, what are we going to do? I'm so sorry…" Lulu let a tear roll down her cheek while Android 18 rushed to her side.
"Lulu, are you alright? We gotta do something!" She said with a hint of despair.
"Oh, there's nothing you can do." Dudan said, smirking. "You either surrender… or you die!"
END OF PART NINE