I don't own Dragon Ball Z, or anything related to it. In fact I don't really own any intellectual properties to speak of, and this is story is in no way meant to be monetized.
Dragon Ball Z: The Catalyst
Act: III
Chapter 41: A Cold Reception.
The ship propelled itself ahead, burrowing through space at a speed faster than light, only slowing once it came into range of the planet, the target... Earth.
Staff hurriedly paced about the bridge, making sure everything was in place, making sure the landing would go smoothly, and ensuring of course that every need of their Lords were met. One mistake would mean a terrible, terrible death.
"Ah yes. I've always so enjoyed the last few quiet moments before laying a planet to waste," wine stirred in the glass of the venerable King Cold, before he gently tilted it back against his lips, sipping from it. "But I must say I'm feeling almost as anxious as you to reach our destination, Frieza."
"I'm quite curious to meet this Saiyan, after all I've heard so much about him one could hardly blame me," Cold added.
Frieza stood there, his red eyes looking ahead to the planet. He needed revenge, he thirsted for it, his body was trembling with anger at the mere thought of his humiliation on the Planet Namek. Through that defeat however, he had learned new strength. The Saiyan, Goku, had put him through the most desperate battle of his life, honing his body and energy, rising his power. This time, when they met, he would be the victorious one, it would be Frieza who knew only victory.
You will regret having shown me mercy, Goku. I will make everyone you care for bleed.
"I will make him suffer," Frieza whispered to the emptiness of the void, not to those in the room.
"As we've heard you say this entire journey," Cooler interjected, walking to the side of his father's throne.
"All this to chase down a supposed Super Saiyan? We have far better tasks to do. Frieza was defeated by a fool who got lucky, the universe is indifferent to this. If anything Frieza should count himself lucky to be alive."
The mockery of Cooler's tone was astounding, as if he'd have let a slight like this happen to him without reprisal.
Frieza turned his head, looking at his weaker sibling with contempt in his eyes. He sought only more position for himself, and would pay for it dearly once their father's attention was drawn elsewhere. Their father was easily the strongest among them, with Frieza now closely approaching him, the weakling Cooler was miles away. He stood no chance against the Super Saiyan.
If anything, Frieza had hoped Cooler may be arrogant enough to challenge Goku first, just to watch him die in ignominy and disappointment.
"You are far too forgiving, Brother," Frieza dismissively remarked.
"You drag us all the way to this miserable rock because your pride is hurt. All I ask is that you make it quick and destroy this planet," Cooler responded. "There is no need to waste time."
"Yes Frieza, I agree," their father chimed in.
"No," Frieza immediately interjected. "The Saiyan will feel me rip the lives of his friends one by one away from him, and then he will watch this planet burn."
That was the way it had to be, revenge. Revenge against not just the super monkey, but those pitiful other as well. They would all pay for their role in his defeat. They would all suffer and burn, so that Goku would feel them suffer and burn. The planet which harboured him in his youth and raised him, would suffer as well.
"Very well, Frieza," King Cold said, giving in to his son.
Yes, today was going to be a good day.
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It was when Frieza stared into the emptiness of the landscape and began to have bolts of energy trail off of him, that Cooler's concerns were being further vindicated. Frieza had been driven to madness by his defeat.
When they'd found him in space, he was barely alive. Physically intact, but horrendously savaged, his muscles degenerated, his body badly burned. It took months of medical surgeries to restore him to his original state. He spent months in the rejuvenation tank, months awaiting surgical organ restoration therapy.
"I will make him suffer for what he did to me," Frieza barely uttered. "I will make this whole planet suffer!"
"Well Frieza as long as you are quick about it," King Cold pronounced. "Not that I don't just love it here, but I still fail to see why we can't destroy the planet right now."
Cooler knew why, and the elder brother smirked at his father's impatience.
Because he needs to have the blood on his hands to feel his vengeance.
"It is because you taught us too well. Is that not correct brother?" Cooler asked aloud, a far more civilized version of the thoughts he was having.
Frieza was breathing heavily, angrily.
"Yes," he finally said, calming himself. "For I have learned all I know from you father, especially when dealing in the fine art of revenge."
King Cold smiled to himself, clearly satisfied by the response as he crossed his arms once again. Their father was easily pleased with anything Frieza wanted, and this situation was no different.
"I take great pride in having taught you all the necessary skills in life. Use them well."
"I will demonstrate this to you as I torture all of the Saiyans friends to death one by one," Frieza began to laugh with a maniacal laughter, his face twisting into one of a feverish joy. "Then won't he be surprised to find no one here to welcome him but me!"
It took almost two minutes for Frieza to calm down once again, his maddened eyes slowly gaining back some of their lost sanity. Turning to his father's men, Frieza simply said.
"Find any warriors with a high power level, and report them to me. If they are weaker than you? Destroy them without mercy."
"Yes, Lord Frieza!"
The eight man scout team jumped into the air.
And body parts landed where they'd left from, the quick sound of a blade shifting through flesh being heard.
Cooler, King Cold, and Frieza all froze as the last of the limbs reached the ground, looking towards the newcomer.
"So, you must be Frieza," the young man remarked. The young man who everyone would eventually come to know as Trunks.
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There was a third one, this was something Trunks didn't understand. His mother had told him that Frieza and his father came to earth. Without turning and focusing his eyes on the third, purple alien, Trunks felt uncomfortable around him. His very stance seemed to emanate power, yet he seemed to be the weakest of the three by far.
"Well, we have a guest," the largest of the three remarked.
"No," the largely purple coloured one responded, narrowing his eyes in a deadly fashion. "We have a threat."
So the one he didn't recognize clued in right away.
Frieza and King Cold both looked at this new comer with dispassionate gazes.
"He's right, I'm here to kill you," Trunks stated bluntly.
The two Trunks had expected to fight, laughed out loud at his remark, utterly unimpressed. The third one remained stoic, just narrowing his eyes on him with a kind of scrutiny. That was still the wild card he wasn't aware of. As it stood, he was assuming, and feeling, that he was weaker than Frieza or his father.
"You don't know what you are up against, boy," Frieza announced.
Overconfident fool, that was exactly how he'd been described to him as, and he wasn't disappointing. Apparently Goku had finished off Frieza in under a minute. There was no need to break any records, but there was certainly a need to hurry.
"I know exactly what I'm up against, and I'm not worried."
Frieza's eyes locked onto him hatefully, snarling openly towards the teenager. Every inch of the monster looked filled with hatred, ready to lash out at any moment. It didn't bother Trunks in the slightest, given that their powers were worlds apart.
"Fighting a punk like you isn't even worth my time," Frieza hissed.
"Well, maybe you didn't hear me well enough yet. You are finished Frieza!" Trunks announced.
Frieza's anger only grew, and it was evident. Veins appeared on his forehead and muscles tensed, his teeth clenched together and he scowled furiously. Within a few moments though, he visibly calmed.
"Foot soldier! Vaporize this rodent!" Frieza ordered, before turning his head to walk away.
"Countermand that order," the wild card ordered.
Frieza paused, his eyes now furiously looking at this other alien. The way they stood around one another, this third fighter must have been one of the family, likely Frieza's brother?
"Cooler, why must you be like this? On what grounds?" the large one, King Cold, sighed, just sounding disappointed and irritated.
Cooler was the name of this new Arcosian? It was a name Trunks never heard before. Both his mother and Gohan had just never mentioned him. For some reason that was making him increasingly uncomfortable. Right now, his power didn't feel overly impressive, given both Frieza and his father seemed stronger, but it was still something he wasn't counting on.
"On the grounds that this boy has a hidden power, far in excess of all our soldiers combined," Cooler said, before finally smiling, right at Trunks. "Isn't that right, Sayian?"
Trunks and Frieza both couldn't move, they couldn't speak. To Trunks, the simple question was... who the Hell was this guy? Cooler, sure, that was his name, but he knew he was a Saiyan? How was that possible? They'd never met before, Trunks certainly knew that. Was this guy some kind of time traveller? But so far, from what he was piecing together, he just seemed to be one of Frieza's species.
The elder of the three, King Cold however, just seemed... interested, and amused. It didn't take much for Trunks to notice the glee in his eyes. Obviously, the foolish monster had no idea what he was up against, or he wouldn't be smiling at all.
"So this is the Saiyan then?"
"No! He's not a Saiyan!" Frieza snapped angrily finally, turning towards Cooler. "You ignorant moron, don't you even know what a Saiyan looks like?!"
The look Trunks noticed Cooler give back was almost chilling, his smile continuing to remain on his lips despite Frieza's tantrum. Which was odd, given Frieza was stronger then Cooler.
"Men, inside the ship." Cooler ordered. "I think our guest was going to reveal himself, weren't you?"
King Cold now began to growl, but Trunks had bigger concerns then the angry one. What was going on here? Reveal himself? That couldn't mean what he thought.
Tracing his own eyes towards Cooler's, Trunks made eye contact, looking for any signs of what he meant by that sentence. It was then that Trunks realized this situation was going to shit and quickly. He knew, and worse yet he knew him. But how? How was that possible? Just looking into those red eyes, Trunks could see it. There was a confidence there, but not only that, a sense of knowledge.
"What is the meaning of this Cooler?" King Cold demanded.
"This boy has come here waiting for that monkey, Goku. However, to bide the time he intends to kill us," Cooler explained simply. "I can assure you, his powers are certainly a concern. A teenager by appearance, he's a veteran warrior behind the mask. Isn't that right Trunks?"
Trunks' eyes widened in horror. He did know! What did this mean?! Cooler?! He'd never even heard of him before, and now he was talking to him like he knew everything about him!
"Why don't you show us who you really are?" Cooler asked, but it sounded more like a demand, he unfolded his arms and sneered at Trunks. "End the facade. I am sure my brother Frieza is more than eager to deal with a Super Saiyan."
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Red eyes demanded to see it for himself. When the short creature calling itself the Catalyst came to him, he'd not believed him, until he saw the evidence presented to him. A boy named Trunks would fight, and kill Frieza and King Cold on planet earth when Frieza came for his revenge on Goku. This boy would be a Super Sayian.
Cooler remembered this conversation well, and he remembered the vision he'd been granted of this future. The vision that involved his brother being cleaved into a dozen pieces, and then vaporized. The vision that showed his mighty and proud father killed with two shots into his chest. But what made it more believable yet, was that this creature knew about his new Transformation. Something only one other being in the universe had ever seen.
"Cooler, what aren't you telling-" Frieza was cut off as rocks began to slowly lift into the air.
The concentrated and determined Trunks stood there, glaring at them. Power flowed all around his body as his hair raised up from this power, beginning to turn gold. Waves of energy radiated off of him before finally the transformation was complete.
Before Frieza, for the second time, was a Super Saiyan. He started to tremble in terror, stepping back his mouth gaping. Before Cooler and King Cold, was a fantastical legend, and legends were almost always overblown. Better yet of course, was the fact that Cooler knew this Legend was overblown.
Cooler observed the two figures stare at one another, now a strange blue set of eyes gazing into a pair of red ones. But then something unexpected happened. Trunks stared into Cooler's eyes a moment later as well. As soon as he looked away from Frieza, the younger Arcosian saw it as his moment to strike.
"Die Saiyan!"
Frieza opened his palm, releasing a massive quantity of energy. A beam of lethal energy shot towards Trunks, exploding in a huge blast.
"Well," their gargantuan father said as the area burned, smoke plumes rising from where the blast had landed. "That didn't take very long now did it? How did you lose to one of these Monkey's on Namek Frieza, I mean really?" he chuckled.
Frieza smirked, preparing to respond when he was cut off before a word could be said.
"Frieza," Cooler remarked, admittedly taking some satisfaction in his brother's failed arrogance. "This is hardly over."
"What do you-?" Frieza stopped, seeing Trunks standing in front of him in the flames and smoke.
"You three don't have the power to beat me. You can't win."
It was fantastic to see one of these Super Saiyans for himself. Were this only a few years ago, Cooler himself would have been easily overwhelmed by such a powerful adversary. What followed of course, almost seemed to follow the predetermined script Cooler had seen before. Turning his gaze to his brother, Cooler just watched.
Frieza's pride hurt beyond words, that much was obvious. The galactic tyrant tyrant raised his hand forming an even more powerful blast.
"We'll just see about that boy!"
"Frieza!" King Cold shouted as the blast-wave was released, flying towards Trunks. "You'll kill us all!"
With his hands outstretched, Trunks took the blast head on, fragmented the beam and sending smaller bolts of energy scattering across the landscape. Finally, the beam completely dispersed, and young Trunks was fine.
Cooler believed it, but the most priceless aspect was the look on Frieza's face. How he'd wished it was he who was fighting him in that moment, he would have enjoyed it greatly.
Finally beginning to chuckle, Cooler wouldn't help but say.
"Really Frieza? If you can't handle this boy, why don't you let Father or myself?"
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Frieza turned to look at his sibling. What was he talking about? Their Father perhaps had more power than himself, but Cooler was a weakling. Power level 100,000,000 was significantly less than his own. But how did he know this boy? He even seemed to know his name... and that he was a super Saiyan.
How could Cooler have been given foreknowledge f all this? ran through Frieza's mind.
Trunks was no longer concerned with Frieza, if there was ever a concern. Now it was just about getting him out of the way and finding out how this Cooler knew exactly who he was. Even now he could sense him as an inferior to Frieza, even with his boast of fighting Trunks one on one. Trunks was almost fifty percent stronger than Frieza's energy, let alone this guy. He had to have something up his sleeve.
Frieza sneered with frustration.
"How did you know he'd be here? How!?" Frieza finally shouted. "Its like you know every-"
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Cooler raised his hand, smiling. "I believe your enemy is waiting for your next move, Frieza."
"Just who the Hell are you?" Trunks demanded of Cooler.
A being far superior to yourself, Saiyan.
"The most powerful being in the Universe, here to claim my title," Cooler responded. "I had hoped we could have avoided this whole mess by annihilating the planet from orbit, but brother did insist we come down here."
Trunks sneered, but not before Frieza began forming a Death Ball. It wasn't just to kill Trunks, but to demonstrate his power to Cooler. The most pitiful member of their family, was a better name for Cooler.
"Father, how much do you want Frieza to die?" Cooler questioned, turning his gaze towards his mighty father.
The patriarch of the family looked down at his eldest son, his eyes dead serious. It was clear he was beginning to develop the same questions as his younger son had.
"I do not wish him to die at all, son."
"Then prepare to step in, soon."
King Cold looked puzzled, as if not understanding why they'd need to step in. However, Cooler knew all too well what was coming next.
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Trunks stared up into the air, watching as the massive orb of energetic fire seemed to be formed in the Supernova Death Ball. Frieza was a blind fool and little else. His pride was so great that he had to defeat him, the only one there who could come even close to him in power was the big one, his father. Even then Trunks was completely confident he could overwhelm him as well.
With the release of the Death Ball Frieza cackled madly. The huge orb came down towards him, thrumming with destructive force.
It wasn't hard to handle, it pressed down against him and the earth, beginning to burrow a hole into the planet itself.
One hand pressed up against the attack in defiance, finally slowing its advance after several seconds. He felt himself take almost complete control of the attack, gently lifting it above him as if it were a giant balloon rather than an orb of destruction.
Stepping from the crater, he saw Frieza waiting for him, staring hatefully at him. He was so mad he could barely control himself at all.
"Is this yours?" Trunks couldn't help but ask him.
Frieza, slowly, visibly calmed himself, just for a moment. In a flash he fired a single, small energy bolt which hit the side of his Death Ball.
The orb began making the sounds of detonating, prematurely, it was completely unstable. He knew what was about to happen, before light burst all around him. What seemed to be almost a nuclear blast went off on the surface of the earth, a massive blast-wave rolling across the rocky terrain around them.
He'd felt the blast around him, raising a shield to defend himself at the last possible second. He knew Frieza couldn't follow his movements, especially with all the debris and smoke he'd created. Using this, Trunks found his way to the top of a pillar of rock.
"Well done Frieza!" King Cold announced, landing next to his son. "It only took you four tries to kill that little boy!" he laughed.
"I wasn't trying father, really!" Frieza defended.
"Of course son, of course!"
"Idiots! Get back!" Cooler shouted.
That was it, Trunks put his hands out, moving them in several positions before locking them in place.
"Burning Attack!"
The attack launched shooting straight towards its target. Frieza and his father both caught on when it was sent, both dodging to the side as the ground exploded beneath them.
Now was his time to strike.
With a burst of speed, with the element of surprise, Trunks appeared above Frieza wielding his sword.
Terror was written across Frieza's face. It was the same terror Trunks had seen a thousand times in the faces of people as the Androids slaughtered them. Only in this case, it was justice which was being administered, not a crime. All of the people this monster had destroyed were to be avenged in one swing.
Preparing his arms to swing down with the blade, Frieza disappeared from his view, his slash instead finding empty air.
Blinking, Trunks looked everywhere for Frieza for a brief second, before finding him on the ground, breathing and heaving heavily. His arms were trembling and his eyes still seemed empty.
"Where. Where am I?" Frieza uttered, still fazed.
Standing a few meters away, were both King Cold and Cooler.
Two sets of glaring red eyes looked up at Trunks with a particular level of disdain.
"He is far too powerful for Frieza," Cold announced. "It is pointless for Frieza to continue."
"But father, I-!"
"But nothing!" the enraged King snapped. "You've dragged us to this lump of clay Frieza, and it may mean our deaths if this being is as powerful as I'm beginning to believe."
"Worry not father," Cooler interjected. "I think our Saiyan friend is more than able to be taken care of."
Trunks watched Cold narrowed his eyes on his eldest son. "What have you been hiding, Cooler?"
"I've haven't got all day," Trunks finally shouted down to his enemies.
This was ridiculous, he needed to get these guys out of the way, and quickly. Even if all three rallied, the son of Vegeta was still sure he could disrupt and defeat them, but that was a much uglier fight than what he had planned.
"No, you are quite right. You have about five minutes," Cooler declared, ironically, as if he were stating a fact. "Saiyans aren't the only ones with legends of unlocked power. Amongst our people there is the legend of the ascension, to not only transform to lock away our power, but to expand it! A form hidden to our kind, where only the most worthy can unlock it!"
What did he mean? Didn't he just see what he did to... Frieza...?
Trunks' thoughts wandered away from this, to one of awe and shock as Cooler braced himself. His power started to radically and dramatically increase. Waves of black-purple energy rippled from his body, sending the ground into a rapid escape, fragmenting and destroying the very earth he stood on. Bolts of dark energy rippled from his frame as well, sending violent tremors through the whole continent it seemed.
Rocks began to rise into the air, and soon more than rocks. The mountains of stone around them began to shatter, before huge boulders drifted into the air.
He's still weaker than me, but my god. He's much stronger than Frieza. Wait no! It keeps getting bigger!
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It was then, that Cooler's torso expanded, bulging outwards as his natural armour shifted and changed. Next his legs expanded, his three toed feet crushing the ground as they dug in with the pain of his transformation.
Cooler began to cry out once his arms joined the rest of his body, large curved spikes forming from his wrists. Finally his head began to change, growing bigger and a huge crest forming at the front. His red markings on his face turned white as well.
Standing before Trunks was a completely different creature. Cooler's height was almost the same as that of his father, King Cold, as well.
Still on his backside on the ground Frieza felt his jaw drop at what he was seeing. Cooler had surpassed him, weak cooler, the one who hadn't been able to approach his power almost their entire lives.
King Cold, by contrast, was left in shock, his mouth agape along with Frieza's as he looked at his eldest son. So... this was his secret. In his conquest around the galaxy, years ago Cooler began to exhibit almost a new confidence, and a new willingness for confrontation with Frieza. Now he understood why. His lips curved into a smile, before looking up at Trunks in the sky. In that moment he felt the same confidence his son Cooler did. What a proud moment for their family. This would surely be remembered as one of their greatest moments, the destruction of the Legendary Super Saiyan.
"Son, destroy this wretched monkey would you?"
Cooler's black lips smirked in response, noting the look of surprise on Trunks' features. It would be terror by the time he was finished with him.
You will understand what real power looks like now, Frieza.
"Of course, father."
The tone of Cooler's voice had a certain level of joy to it almost. For once, it was him getting the praise, and not his brat brother.
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The power Trunks had felt growing expanded one final time when Cooler launched at him. This was bad, very bad, because he'd just felt the tables completely turn about. Cooler was stronger than he was, and not by any small margin. In fact, the gap in their powers was just as great, if not greater, than the gap in power between himself and Frieza.
Trunks' couldn't ready a defence in time. He tried his best to use the speed advantage he'd obtained in the beginning of the fight to get away. Disappearing with blinding speed and appearing almost a kilometre away, Trunks looked in all directions for his attacker.
Instead, from above he felt a kick drive into his back, sending him with no control at all in an accelerated fall towards the earth. Before any impact could be made Cooler was already next to him on his way down, grabbing him by the front of his shirt.
There was a low chuckle emanating from the galactic conqueror.
The speed of the fall increased as Cooler's aura flared around him, driving up the momentum and speed they travelled at. Cooler disappeared at the last possible moment, however Trunks felt his body impact the ground. The whole world seemed to shake around him, his body cratered dozens of metres worth of land, sinking whole ranges of rocks into the crater, crashing down on him.
There was a sense of shock in the boy's mind. Where had this guy come from? And if he was this powerful, how could Goku hope to stop him? He was as strong as Gohan, maybe even stronger. There was no choice, he had to fight, he had to try, or the future would be lost. Why didn't he know about this guy? How did he know about him? This didn't make any sense!
A glowing yellow aura began to shine through the rubble in the crater Cooler had 'help' Trunks make. Within seconds rock was atomized in the furious rise of the young Saiyan.
Trunk's mouth was bloody, his jacket torn, and his sword still drawn.
"You aren't supposed to be here," Trunks finally openly said, knowing full well that no one named "Cooler" had been here when Goku arrived.. "And if you know who I am, you must know where I come from."
Cooler's condescending laughter was deep, turning his head. "You are my warmup, for the one known as Son Goku," Cooler stated as a matter of fact. "But if he takes as long as I think, I may let you live long enough to watch your father and mother die."
Trunks felt something cold coil in his stomach. He... even knew about Vegeta and Bulma? This was impossible!
"Who the Hell are you?"
"Didn't I tell you? I am the strongest being in the Universe. I am Cooler. And I am the Catalyst for your destruction. Now, I was expecting to fight, not to talk. Come at me Saiyan, let me see what you can really do."
Gripping his sword fiercely, Trunks stared down the Alien with a furious snarl. With a battle cry Trunks launched himself at the monster in front of him. Pulling energy into his sword he lashed out, the first swing aiming straight on target, only to find his target had moved. Cooler had completely disappeared a second before the blade hit and he couldn't follow. A heavy elbow landed in the middle of Trunk's back, sending him spiralling down once again.
Looking up, Trunks saw Cooler unmoving. Powering up, Trunks hit full speed to try and gain some distance. Instead, he ran straight into the 5th formed Cooler's chest. His back pressed against Cooler for a moment as there was complete silence.
"Is this all your power, Trunks? Is this the power of the Legendary Super Saiyan?... What a laugh."
Sweat beads had already formed along Trunk's forehead as he heard the villain speak. The Arcosian was so fast. He needed to do something, anything to turn this around. The young Saiyan's hand holding his sword tightly, and he swung it about, cleaving his sword to where Cooler should be. With each swing he never found his intended target.
Panic overtook him as he looked in all directions for where he could be.
Where is he?!
Two feet slammed into his back. Cooler had dived down feet first. Trunk's back exploded in pain with the two huge feet grabbing him. The dive towards the cliffs below continued however. Trunks realized his body was picking up more and more speed, with this huge creature on his back. The ground was rapidly approaching as Trunks finally cried out, seeing what was to happen.
Face first, he slammed into the rocks. His body smashed through them before reaching the solid earth. It broke for him, and his back gave a terrible clicking and snapping sound as Cooler pressed in on the impact. He couldn't feel his legs.
Agony. His entire body save his legs was filled with agony before he cried out. While in mid scream however, little mercy was administered. A huge purple hand grabbed him, hoisting him into the air by his shoulder.
"I dislocated several discs in your spine. That is not acceptable, as we aren't done fighting yet."
Quivering in pain as he looked into the red eyes of this... demon that was attacking him, Trunks struggled to even move. The grin he saw reflecting back on him was one of supreme confidence and maliciousness. This creature was evil to the core... It made him sick inside. It reminded him of the androids... only worse.
Seeing Cooler grab his leg, and felt the grip on his shoulder intensify for a moment, before several cracks and clicks rumbled through his spin. He couldn't hold in the pain anymore, crying out as his spine was adjusted back into place. The grip on his leg could be felt, and it felt like he was digging into his bone.
Trunks didn't know how long he'd been allowed to scream before feeling the air sucked out of him from a blow to his gut. He couldn't breathe, he couldn't even find air, all he could do was spit, and what came up was blood and saliva. Cooler's hand left his shoulder, allowing him to drop to his knees.
"Are you beginning to understand, Trunks?"
His eyes looked up finally, just as air felt as if it were safe to enter his lungs again. He felt his teeth grinding together as he looked up at the giant hovering above him.
"I'll kill you," Trunks promised. "I swear it."
"How fortunate, you still have some spirit left to you."
With that, Cooler pointed his hand into Trunk's chest, a purple energy bolt forming, before he blasted him away,far away. Trunks body smashed through several cliffs and small mountains of stone. He'd finally dropped his sword as he landed, just breathing.
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What a fantastic power, what incredible energy.
Frieza watched as his brother picked the Super Saiyan apart, something he'd been completely unable to do on Namek. At first they'd been moving so fast he was unable to keep up, though when he noticed his father was able to, if only barely, he began to understand his place on the power ladder. Now it was more than just father who was stronger than him. This was inexcusable! He was Frieza, destined to rule the whole universe!
"Frieza," King Cold finally bellowed. "Your brother is really making this family proud. Perhaps you could learn a thing or two from him."
Frieza internally snarled, as doing so externally would be far to openly hostile. This was the first time in his memory where Cooler got the praise. How could have this been allowed to happen?
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Staggering to his feet Trunks could barely think. He'd had to do everything he could to slow this guy down, how he was going to last the two hours before Goku arrived he didn't know, but he had to do something.
Everywhere hurt, especially his back. He could see Cooler floating in the air above him, his arms crossed with arrogance and overconfidence. This had to make a difference now.
Trunks delved deep, deep within his power. He needed every last bit of strength he could gather. His golden aura roared around his body as he prepared himself.
"Well, now it's getting interesting." Cooler remarked, unfolding his arms.
Trunks sneered, taking off the ground, behind him destroying the very ground he took off from. His blade swung out towards Cooler once again, this time Frieza's older brother forming an energy shield around his right hand, blocking the blow, not dodging it. Trunks pressed his blade it, feeling the shield starting to give way.
"Very good," Cooler laughed, before his tail wrapped around Trunk's foot, pulling him away and whipping him away.
Trunks recovered in the air, turning about to face Cooler only to see him dashing towards him. Swinging his sword out, he passed clear through the image of Cooler himself.
An afterimage!
When he looked to find where the real one was, he found him from below. Both his feet where grasped. Swinging Trunks around several times, Cooler threw him back down towards the earth. Hit the ground with a terrible crash, Trunk felt his entire body almost break from the impat.
Quickly, with all his remaining strength, he brought himself up, but only to find Cooler was already upon him, having charged after him. His huge fist slammed into Trunk's chest, driving him back and smashing him into a wall of stone. His insides felt like they were being pushed out both ends of him, rock crumbling around him. Flipping him over and slamming him into the earth behind him, Cooler then started to push further and further.
"Ahhh...AH!" Trunks finally cried out before his body tore through the rock.
The jacket his mother had given him was now a ruin, Goku's antidote with it.
No.
Feeling his feet were bare and his pants torn Trunks just tried sitting up. Cuts and scrapes adoring his body, he saw Cooler walking towards him with a grin plastered across his face. Worse yet, he stopped, and just started to laugh at him.
Lifting himself from the rubble his body had created in its tour through the rock around him, Trunks planted his sword in the ground next to him. His sheath had been destroyed along with his jacket. Pulling all of his energy into his hands, he knew this was it, this was his last chance to stop this monster, or at least put him down enough. After this he'd not have much energy to continue with.
I have to stop him! I have to!
It was sad that he was forced into the same tactic Frieza had been less than five minutes ago.
"Finish Buster!"
With that, a huge orb of energy made itself known, the glowing blue ball thrummed to life before its launch at Cooler.
Cooler's face switched from confidence to shock as the oncoming blast came towards him, his face plate went up finally, locking in place.
With the energy blast made its way towards his foe, Trunks fell to one knee, one his moving to hold his sword to keep him up. The collision with Cooler within a moment lead to a truly huge explosion, it rocked the entire area, mountain of rock and stone collapsed in on themselves, high winds blasted throughout the region.
The blue flames from the assault licked into the air, smoke billowing from where he'd just attacked. He was totally spent now, that was all he had left.
In the smoke however, a single purple hand, looking slightly singed, trembled for a moment before being pulled back into the smoke. As the smoke cleared it became increasingly clear that Cooler was absolutely fine. His mask slid back down as he walked forward, looking very, very upset.
"You rotten little Saiyan. I let you live for more than five minutes, and this is how you repay me?"
The blow that came next wasn't held back. Trunk's felt blood eject from his mouth as his teeth cut into his cheeks. Falling back and hard, he skidded across the rocks for several moments. Quietly, his golden hair turned purple, unable to maintain his Super Saiyan form any longer.
Tired blue eyes looked up, seeing Cooler rip his sword out of the ground and start walking towards him.
The gravity of the situation really started to be apparent to him. He was going to die. He was going to die in the past, and no one back home would ever know what happened to him.
Mom, I'm sorry I'm going to leave you all alone. I didn't know this would happen. Please forgive me.
Tears welled in his eyes. She'd already lost everyone, Vegeta, Gohan, Goku, Krillen, Yamcha, and all the others. Worst of all, she'd never know what happened, she'd never even know if the time machine had functioned the way it could. He imagined her desperately trying to figure out where it went wrong, trying to find out what happened to her son.
Trunks choked back a sob, tears began to fall freely from his eyes.
The purple Goliath stood in front of him now, sword in hand. His smile became satisfied when he noticed the tears streaking down Trunks' face.
The huge purple tail moved out, wrapping around Trunks' neck, lifting him in the air. Cooler examined the sword briefly.
"This will make a fine gift to my father. A trophy of our victory over a Super Saiyan," he chuckled. "But first, as with any good sword, its value must come from blood."
In blinding speed the blade lashed out a half dozen times.
Trunks didn't feel the pain it'd happened so fast, blood didn't even escape, until two huge gashes appeared on his right leg. His shoulder exploded into the worst pain he'd ever felt as his right arm went limp, his own sword having dug in so deep that the bone and muscle were made useless. A huge gash appeared on the right side of his chest as well. And finally, he felt hot blood drawing down the right side of his face. Down his cheek, down his brow, it started to drip into his eye.
The tail tightened, around his neck, making the blood gush from his body yet more for a moment.
Trunks finally let go of his serious mask, the one that was keeping him together for all this.
He was afraid.
The teenage boy had gotten himself into a situation he couldn't handle, again, and this time it would certainly cost him his life, the lives of his parents and everyone else. This monster had picked him apart completely, he'd known everything about him.
Blood mixed with his tears of pain, fear, and personal anguish as the tail choked him. With every flex of the terrible limb around his neck, he felt his heart race, he felt it beating erratically, panicking. He was panicking.
With a snap of the tail he was let loose, sent flying before he crashed into the ground in a bloody heap. All he could do was tremble, looking up as Cooler started to pace towards him again.
No. Stay back. Instinctive thoughts surged ahead, Trunks' trembles becoming more violent.
A pained sound escaped his lips as everything hurt, it hurt to move, it hurt to breathe. It was so terrible his eyes shut tightly and his mouth shut tightly. The pain in his shoulder and leg were too great, his one good arm reached up to take hold of the bloody shoulder, turning his hand red instantly. Just touching it made his head throw back in an agony he couldn't describe.
Bursts of small screams and heavy panting followed as he tried to contain the bleeding. His breathing was pained and heavy, slowly becoming raspy even. Quivering, instinctively trying to almost fold in on himself, the son of Vegeta had quietly conceded. His arrogance, which he had worn when he confronted Frieza, stripped away leaving only a frightened, hurt child.
"S-somebody h-help m. ," he finally managed to barely beg, once his pained screams had died.
The words came out in a pained hiss, a desperate plea for someone to save him. Finally his blue eyes found the courage to look at Cooler again, but it lead only to more trembles in his already pain wracked body.
Trunks vision continued to blur, it was getting worse and worse by the second.
He couldn't leave his mother all alone in the world, he couldn't leave the Androids to destroy everything he held dear.
"Father," Cooler finally called out, holding the bloodied blade. "A gift for you."
With a toss, the blade flew towards Frieza and King Cold, the King catching it before his eyes lightened up in surprise and delight.
"Cooler, you know you shouldn't have!" he laughed. "What a fine specimen of a blade! Truly magnificent craftsmanship! I will treasure it and keep it in my mind as the symbol of your glorious triumph this day."
Frieza fumed next to his father, scowling at Cooler openly now. Not that it helped Trunks any.
Pointing his hand out, energy drew into Cooler's hand, forming a single dark purple ball in his palm.
"You were hardly entertaining at all Trunks. I'm very disappointed. But don't worry, I'm sure all of Goku's friends will be able to entertain my family and I for another few minutes."
The blast prepared to fire when Cooler... sensed something. Stopping his blast, he turned his head, looking about for the origin of this new source of power. It was significantly larger than Trunks.
In front of him, a young man landed before Trunks, his eyes locked ahead with a deadly seriousness.
"... Who are you?" Cooler asked, truly surprised by the appearance of this boy.
On the left side of his face, Trunks noticed a long scar, from the top of his forehead down to the bottom of his cheek. Inside this one he could feel the power within, it was real, significant, and familiar. As the Arcosian tried to reconcile this difference of events, Trunks couldn't help think this had turned into some kind of dream. It couldn't be...
Trunks' blurring vision saw the pair of deep blue boots in front of him and orange fighting gi. With his one good hand he tried to reach out.
"I. I.-" he tried to speak, but his lungs felt as if blood was beginning to fill them, internal bleeding from Cooler's beating, his breathing wheezed along with his attempt at speech.
"Hold still." The familiar voice ordered, before he turned his head.
Trunks knew he must have been hallucinating from blood loss... that... that sounded like...
"I'll get you help as soon as I can Trunks. Just hold on," the figure promised, before turning his head back to his new enemy.
"I don't like being ignored, human."
When the golden aura began to burn around the body in front of him, his hair spiking upward, Cooler's eyes widened. Finally there was a flash of energy and standing before him was yet another Super Saiyan.
"Who... who is that?! Not another one!" Frieza shouted from behind.
"Be silent Frieza!" Cooler shouted back, his voice sounding stressed and his fist closing furiously.
Cooler's face mask raised itself, locking in place, immediately his body taking a defensive stance.
The last thing Trunks thought before drifting into unconsciousness was a simple one.
Gohan?
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Author's Notes:
Well, it's been a while, sorry guys. But the update is up. This was actually written about... 10 months ago, when I started the Catalyst. Really in a lot of ways I was building the story up to reach this chapter. Now that its here, well, I had to do a lot of rewrites. I still like it, I still enjoy it. And I've got the next chapter ready. I'll be posting that in about 3 weeks.
Also, just letting everyone know, I've kinda knocked my wrist out, so I won't be typing as much over the next week or two. My dog is also battling cancer, and is recovering from a surgery, so I'm spending more time with her as well.
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Reviewers:
FightingChampion:
I've got a saga coming up that will be very interesting if its a Super Saiyan Turles you're wondering about...
AlphaShenron:
Don't worry, no one suspects my plots. Their like the Spanish Inquisition! XD
Super Mystic Gohan:
I can't really give that kinda stuff away. But what I can say is the saga after this battle is one I've spent a huge portion of time plotting out, and it has extreme consequences, and changes a good few things about the timeline... And it's an original plot! :D
gda:
Sorry. I talk too much. Lol
Jason9000:
The next chapter is pretty fun too if you like Mirai Gohan.
DaOneInDaCorner:
Thanks! :D
Tomorrow4Eva:
Hopefully once my wrist is a bit better, I can hammer out a chapter or two. :)
Demod20:
Thank Mod.
LILFOC:
This will sound really terrible, but I generally like every character in Dragon Ball, at least the main series. The reason for this is they all fill the roles they are supposed to. People forget that Chi-Chi's "Bitchy" moments, are often thrown in for comedic purposes.
SaiyanWanderer:
I wish I could pump out chapters like I did when I first started. I finished the first 10 chapters in under 2 weeks. But I've just got too much going on right now to do that much.
Xxxpossessedforlifexxx:
Thanks.
Assweetlilpixie:
Things are sadly, never that simple.
Um:
Because if I posted all of them at once, there would be nothing to tide people over while they waited for new content.
Coldblue:
I'ma ruin it for you... no one is getting paired with Zangya. :P
Garlic jr? Whose that?... Clearly Garlic jr. Has no role in this story! Not one... looks around shiftily
For the record, I don't mind your reviews Coldblue. I think you just tunnel vision a lot of the story. I'm really glad you enjoy it and even appreciate your feedback. Just multiple reviews from one person is generally not something I want on one chapter post. As to asking me the same questions? Well, sure I can get annoyed. Remember, I'd answer all of your questions if you had an account to be honest, but I can't PM you, therefore I don't want to spoil things.