Chapter 25: The Emperor's Reach
One year later, out in Deep Space..
Vegeta sat on a black throne, a large, red cape draped over one shoulder. On either side of him stood two humanoid aliens, one with purple skin and the other with orange, both clad in Saiyan armor. There were dozens just like them running around the deck of the enormous ship that the Saiyan Prince had made his Empire's base of operations. A third alien, this one dressed a bit differently, an emblem pinned to his chest, made his way in front of where the Prince sat. The red skinned man bore a striking resemblance to Cooler's former right hand man, Salza, complete with bodacious, bright yellow hair.
"What is it, Captain Curry?" Vegeta's monotone voice seeming to present disinterest in whatever was present.
The red skinned Captain Curry stood at attention, his voice deep and definitive, "We have a message for you, Prince. Sent from a strange planet called M-2."
"I've heard of this planet before, our people said it was devoid of life." The Saiyan Prince sat up straight, "This ought to be interesting." Vegeta's empire had spent the last year investigating planets within the Planet Trade Organization, assigning new names and importance levels, as well as squashing any rebellion brought on by the previous regimes.
"Organic life, yes." The red skinned, muscular alien turned around gesturing towards another armor clad humanoid, "Display the message, Private."
The bumbling, blue skinned alien pressed a button, lighting up a large screen in the center of the bridge. On the screen was a blue skinned man with orange hair and a mustache, "Hello, Lord Vegeta, my name is Dr. Myuu. I am sending this message to ensure we open a channel of communication with each other. My planet, M-2, is a fully autonomous Machine planet, and we know you have been here before, believing us to be unimportant to the universe. I personally invite you, to come see for yourself how vital we can be to your empire. I hope to see you soon."
Back on Earth…
"I can't believe it's ready!" Bulma's face was beaming as she smiled from ear to ear, "When I told you I was organizing this, I almost didn't think I could pull it off, but it looks the exact same as it did all those years ago."
Trunks looked around at what appeared to be an arena, it was completely identical to the way his mother had described the old World Martial Arts Tournament Arena. There was the stage, seemingly about thirty feet by thirty feet, bleachers on three sides, a entrance to the stage on the fourth side where Trunks and his mother had entered.
This had been her surprise she had told her Half-Saiyan son one whole year ago, she had been organizing a new World Martial Arts Tournament. The purpose of which was to show the world their protectors, bringing them out into the open. Trunks was already more than famous for his defeat of the Androids, the Golden Warrior some called him, but some still doubt they will ever be safe if another threat like that appeared. The public hadn't been privy to the events that happened involving Broly and Hatchiyack, both of which were taken care of by the effort of the Z-Warriors.
"It's been more than a year in the making, but the tournament starts tomorrow." Bulma smiled, her hand on Trunks back, "Gohan, 16, Piccolo, Krillin, Tien, Broly, they all signed up too. Even some masked man signed up, though I don't know why, knowing you guys."
One day later, back in Deep Space..
"Here it is, Lord Vegeta. This is M-2, the Machine Planet." Captain Curry stood at a console, staring at the bright silver planet below, various towers of metal coming into view as the ship got closer to the surface, "I'm bringing the ship down."
"Thank you, Captain." Vegeta stood up as the ship landed with a thud, the Saiyan Prince exiting the ship as the ramp lowered to the surface, "Let's go."
Curry turned to the other men on the ship, barking out orders to his subordinates, "Stay here, keep the ship ready to depart." The red skinned humanoid followed his leader to the outside.
As the pair departed, they made their way onto a bright silver surface. It was a clearing, with strange metal trees surrounding the area. Waiting for the two were four mechanical men, one of them stood in front of the others, a red and white robot with golden hands. "Greetings, Lord Vegeta. I am Commander Nezi, these are my compatriots." The red robot pointed to a large, blue and silver robot behind him, "This is Bizu.." He then turned to another blue robot, this one was partly gray, shorter, and had long, skinny arms with three drill like fingers on the ends. "This is Ribet." Then he pointed to the last robot beside him, a stocky gray robot with a teal skin and green head, "And finally, Natt."
The four of them took a strange pose, giving Vegeta flashbacks of the Ginyu Force, the four spoke in unison, "We are, the Sigma Force!"
"Yeah yeah." Vegeta could barely contain his laughter as he addressed the robotic men, "Take me to your leader."
Once again, the four machine men spoke in unison, "Our apologies, Lord Vegeta, but we have been ordered to incapacitate you."
The four simultaneously charged, but before they reached Vegeta, a sudden light burst through the area, stopping the four in their tracks. As the light died down, it revealed a powered up Captain Curry, his aura exploding outward as he stood between the Prince and the Sigma Force. The captain had a stoic expression as he turned his head towards Vegeta, "Excuse me, my Lord, but you don't need to sully your royal hands with these scum."
Simultaneously, on Earth…
People were pouring into the stands of the new Martial Arts World Tournament arena, Bulma beamed with delight at the scene. She was the benefactor for this event after all, she wasn't it for the money though, she had made sure this event was free admission to the public.
Trunks stood in the back of the arena, staring at the strange masked figure in the corner. He was the only one of the fighters who wasn't one of Trunks' friends. It was weird that someone else would even consider joining, but it made the number of fighters even, so his mother allowed it. The masked man was shorter than Trunks, had a slender figure, but appeared to have quite a bit of muscle as well. Secrecy however, seemed to be his priority. Even his hands and neck were covered, not a sliver of skin revealed.
Trunks was transfixed on the Masked Man and nearly jumped out of his boots as Gohan put his hand on the purple haired Half-Saiyan's back, "Don't worry about him, Trunks." Gohan smiled at his former protege, "Krillin got that guy in the first round, I'm sure he'll move on."
"Yeah, I'm sure." Trunks smiled back, "Who did you get? I got Piccolo."
"Broly." Gohan chuckled softly, "I've trained quite a bit, I'm sure it will be a good match." The Half-Saiyan knew the kind of power Broly had, but he also knew he had closed the cap quite a bit in the last year.
"So that leaves Tien with 16. This will be an interesting day."
The two were interrupted as a stunningly familiar voice suddenly rang out through the arena, "Weeeeeeeeeeeelcome everyone, who thought that we'd ever be doing this again huh?" The gray haired Tournament Announcer's voice bellowed echoed throughout the air, "Please be seated for the beggining of the first ever Capsule Corporation World Martial Arts Tournament!"
Back on Planet M-2…
Captain Curry's white aura lit up the area, reflecting off his black Saiyan style armor and surprising the Sigma Force with his extensive energy. Vegeta smiled as he watched his Captain engage the robotic men. He had personally chosen Curry as his right hand man, his power was immense, possibly stronger than an untrained Super Saiyan.
The red skinned humanoid charged Commander Nezi first, slamming a gloved fist into the red robot's head. Sensing an oncoming assault, Curry continued by catching a drill hand from Ribet, spinning around in the air and smashing the gray and blue robot into the ground. The stocky, green headed Natt suddenly shot up from the out of the metal ground, slamming into the Captain.
As the other three were engaged with the Captain, Bizu decided to go after the Prince himself, ascending up from the ground in front of him. Vegeta smiled and extended one hand, gathering an energy blast, "Wrong move, metal man." Shooting the blast straight into the robot's torso, blasting him to pieces on impact.
Captain Curry adjusted himself, catching Natt in the midst of his second assault, throwing the stocky robot into his compatriot, Ribet, sending them both flying through the air and smashing into the ground. Meanwhile, Commander Nezi had regained his footing, charging towards the Captain with a swinging fist, but only meeting air as Curry expertly dodged the blow.
Vegeta watched as his Captain continued to battle against the robotic Sigma Force, thinking to himself, "His training has paid off pretty well." The Saiyan Prince smiled as Curry landed a strong blow onto the back of Commander Nezi, smashing the red robot into the ground next to his companions. The Saiyan Prince yelled to his subordinate, "Finish this, Captain."
"Yes sir." Captain Curry straightened himself, pointing and outstretched hand straight up into the air, charging a large, red energy ball. "Time to die, metal men."
After sending the energy ball careening towards the Sigma Force, Captain Curry watched as just before it reached it's target, his ball was sent off course by another blast of Ki. A sharp, robotic voice echoed, cutting through the air like a hot knife in butter, "I apologize red man, but I cannot allow the Sigma Force to die just yet."
Vegeta and his Captain turned towards where they heard the voice coming from, where there stood a teal skinned man accented with golden parts on his torso and head. The teal skinned man was smirking a bit, staring at the Prince with his piercing red eyes,"I am General Rilldo, pleased to meet you."
Back on Earth…
Krillin stood on the stone surface of the World Martial Arts Tournament arena, stretching and loosening his muscles. He smiled and looked across the arena at his opponent, the Masked Man. "Hello! I'm Krillin. It's nice to meet you!"
The mask on the man's face was white, along with his whole outfit, covering the entirety of his body, a jumpsuit type of thing. He stood there as Krillin spoke, completely ignoring the monk. Krillin's smile soon faded, "Well, um, let's have a good fight then!"
"Well, it's time to Beeeegin!" The echoing voice of the Tournament Announcer again rang through the arena, the gray haired, sunglasses clad man stood on the outside of the ring. "Our first bout pits the veteran martial artist, Krillin, against the mysterious Masked Man!" The crowd erupted as the announcer continued, "Ready fighters?"
Krillin wasn't really taking his opponent seriously, he couldn't sense any sort of Ki from the man, so he wasn't very worried. Nonchalantly, the monk stretched his arms. "Beeeeegin!"
A bell rang and the fight began. Krillin again wasn't paying much attention, taking his opponent for granted. The Masked Man burst ahead, slamming right into Krillin quickly, the monk was taken off guard, knocked onto the edge of the ring. Suddenly, Krillin found himself trying to keep from falling out, but it was to no avail. The Masked Man straightened out his arm and shot a yellow Ki blast from his arm, blasting right into Krillin and knocked him out of the ring.
"Well...that was quick!" The crowd was stunned at the quick match, murmuring among themselves as the Tournament Announcer continued, "The winner via ring out, the Masked Man!"
Krillin couldn't believe what had just happened. He knew that the Masked Man wasn't that powerful, he shouldn't have lost. Krillin looked up at the Masked Man, shaking his head, "Who is that guy?"
Trunks, Gohan, and the others were stunned. Trunks looked as the Masked Man slowly walked back towards the participant area, the others looking on him with a great sense of perplexity. "Who is he?"
Piccolo eyed the man curiously, something was strange about him, "I don't know, but he's something else, that's for sure."
Back on M-2...
"General Rilldo, hm?" Vegeta smirked, flipping the red cape over his shoulder, letting it flow with the slight breeze, "Commander Nezi, General Rilldo, I didn't know machines had ranks."
"Machine Mutants, we are more than petty computers." The General walked towards Vegeta slowly, "You've put up quite the resistance, Lord Vegeta. That's over now. Sigma Force, kill the red guy. I'll take the Saiyan."
The three remaining Sigma Force bots suddenly jumped up, merging together into one being. As they melded together, the individual parts of the Sigma Force merged, a drill hand, red armor, and their voices all spoke in unison, "We are Super Mega Sigma!" The new, combined Sigma force blasted into the air towards Captain Curry, the red skinned humanoid unprepared for the combined Sigma's speed.
Meanwhile, Vegeta ripped his cape off, letting the red cloth float to the ground. The Prince's Saiyan armor gleamed in the sun like a diamond as he took his familiar fighting stance, one arm to his side, the other over his head. "Come on, Metal Man. Let's go."
General Rilldo screamed, his white aura exploding outward before he charged at Vegeta, throwing a large fist at the Saiyan Prince, which was blocked by a gloved hand. The Emperor of the Planet Trade Organization smirked, exploding his energy outward in a familiar golden aura. Briefly overpowering Rilldo, Vegeta threw him backward and thrust himself forward, launching a gloved fist into the Machine Mutant's torso.
Captain Curry was simultaneously engaged with the combined Sigma Force, exchanging blow after blow, neither of them managing a significant blow on the other. The red skinned humanoid extending his hand out, "Time for my ace in the hole." Red energy wrapped itself around the Captain's hand, forming what seemed to be a blade of Ki. Curry caught the next punch thrown by Sigma, using the blade of Ki and slicing it through the Machine Mutant's hand, cutting it off completely.
"Ha, there we go." The Captain continued slicing at the combined Sigma, cutting the Machine Mutant into pieces. Curry watched as the pieces fell to the ground, a big smirk on the red skinned humanoid's face.
Super Saiyan Vegeta was unloading a vicious assault on General Rilldo, a barrage of blows raining down on the Machine Mutant's torso. His speed miles ahead of the General, Vegeta was knocking Rilldo around like a punching bag. Suddenly appearing above the Machine Mutant, the Saiyan Prince unleashed a devastating two handed blow, sending the General smashing into the ground.
Rilldo slowly stood up, looking over to where the pieces of the Sigma force lay and smiled, "Perfect..Sigma Force, come to me!" The pieces of the former Sigma Force floated up into the air, flying towards Rilldo at lightning speed. The pieces attached to the General, seemingly disappearing into his skin and being absorbed by the Machine Mutant.
Transforming him completely, Rilldo's torso, legs, and forearms were covered in red armor similar to his former comrade, Nezi. With new metal wings that sprouted from his back and his right hand now a large drill, Rilldo's power had increased dramatically.
The Saiyan Prince smiled, his golden aura lighting up the area around him, "That's more like it, I haven't had a good fight in ages."
End of Chapter 25
Thanks again for reading! I'm excited to get deeper into this story. Obviously there are a couple differences between this part and what happened in GT, GT's power scale is all fucky, Rilldo was supposedly more powerful than Kid Buu, but Goku only needed Super Saiyan to fight on par with him? It made no sense to me, therefore I adjusted his power so that it fit my story better. I know GT isn't everybody's favorite story, but I believe it had some good elements to it, Baby's arc being one of them. Elements of Super will be included as well later on in the story, though Super also has it's flaws.
Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed the chapter.
