Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball Z, or the characters of Akira Toriyama's creation. I do however, own the story, and the characters of my own creation.

Note: Sorry for the prolonged time for this chapter to come out, but I've been kinda busy as of late. Blame "Jade Empire", "Rainbow Six: Lockdown", and Photoshop for that.

Chapter 5

At the palace, a few Saiyans are standing guard just outside the front door. They look bored, but they have recently been told that they should be on the lookout for any Saiyans or otherwise that might look suspicious. All on behalf of the news that guards have gone missing, been found dead, along with Nappa and Tolan missing. One of the guards is slowly nodding off to sleep, while the other three lean up against the door and wall. One of the awake ones elbows the sleeping guard.

"Wake up before Golar or someone sees you sleeping on the job!" The Saiyan says stressfully.

"Huh? Oh, you know that Golar is too full of himself and doesn't think like the rest of the Royalty. He wouldn't get us in trouble, unless it actually got him a higher view by King Vegeta." The previously sleeping guard replies, and then lowers his head again.

"Well, at any rate, we should be keeping an eye out for whoever has been attacking the guards lately. He might even have something to do with Nappa going missing." Says a third guard, a little authoritatively.

"Yeah, you're right. But anyone could be behind it, and the questionable Saiyans we have approached so far, have been too weak to have possibly been able to do all that damage. We're talking about an Elite class Saiyan here!" The fourth guard breaks in with a fearful tone. "We don't rank with the Elites, there'd be no way we could deal with him. I swear, they should have put Vulcan, or Shade on this detail, not us."

"Well, Vulcan and Shade are resting in the local pub, so we have to do it. Besides, Elites shouldn't have to deal with stuff like this, they conquer planets for the King and Lord Frieza."

Then, in front of them, a small bright light appears. It's only about the size of a child's scouter, but the intense light coming from it is almost blinding, almost as if it was a micro star. One of the guards slowly walks up to it, holding one of his hands over his unscoutered eye. His scouter is going off the charts with energy readings, and begins to sizzle from the computing it is being forced to perform. Suddenly, the star explodes, and the guard flinches. Before the star expands more than a few inches, is starts to get smaller, and implode upon itself. In seconds, the star shrinks to the size of a dust particle, and then expands once more. The guard is then pushed back and smashes into the other guards. They begin to pick themselves up, when they notice someone stepping out of the once star.

Duke steps out of the white hole created in front of the palace, and then walks to the side. His armor and uniform are tattered, and singed from his battle with Tolan, but he looks as determined as ever. He waits for the rest of his team to step out of it. Tarah follows closely behind him, wearing Saiyan armor with one shoulder pad on her right side, and one shoulder strap on her left side. All colored sections of the armor are dark green, while the plates are black. Her uniform is blue, and covers most of her body, except for her face. She walks over towards Duke to wait with him.

A Saiyan steps out after her, with long spiky black hair, resembling Raditz if he had shorter hair. His face is calm, but odd, as if he is trying to act normal when he isn't. He has white and yellow armor with pads, paired with a black uniform. He steps off to the other side of the white hole, and looks at the palace. He focuses his eyes in observance of his new surroundings. After him, steps Vector, wearing red Saiyan armor, no shirt, and light blue pants. He, unlike the other of his team, has no gloves, and wears black boots. He looks over to the Saiyan with long hair. "S'kur, I must admit, you have done a very good job taking Asper's appearance."

"Th-thank you. Y-y-your lang-uage is a diff-icult one to u-use. I-I-I will d-do my b-best to l-learn quickly." The reptilian has difficulties adapting to the Saiyan language, even though he has recently taken a body from Asper.

"Listen to us, and you will learn fast enough." Duke steps towards the guards at the palace door, and they regain their composure.

"You must be the Saiyan that has caused us a lot of trouble lately. But your power level isn't that high. What tricks have you learned in your absence?" The first guard says to Duke.

"Enough to be able to conquer the King and bring a peace about to the Saiyan race. Step aside, or you will be one of the first victims."

"Your band of mercenaries will not win against the Royal Guard. They are Elites, and even if you do best them, you will not be able to best the King himself."

"Vector, send them to space, we don't have time to deal with them."

"Yes Duke," Vector then points his hands at the guards, and another micro star appears in front of them. They step back, and attempt to open the doors, but the star implodes instantly, and creates a black hole, pulling them in. Once they are gone, Duke and his group walk up the stairs, and start towards the throne room.

After they get part way into the palace, Duke and the rest of them separate, and Duke heads to the throne room door with Vector. He stops at the door, and looks to Vector. Nodding, Duke turns back to the door, and senses into it with his mind. He locates five people in the room, one of them fortunately being the king. The others are guards, as well as Dodoria and Zarbon. Smiling, he lifts his hand up, and holds up five fingers. With his thumb, he points to the position where the King is, then signals it is the king by closing his hand into a fist with the thumb sticking out. With the other fingers, he points to the position of the others, and then once again, closes his fist with his thumb sticking out, but this time it is pointing down. Vector understands the signal to mean that the other four are to be taken out, and the King to be left alone.

Vector kneels into a meditative position, and closes his eyes. Focusing on the four people in the room besides the King, he creates a micro star just behind them all. Forcing all the stars to become black holes, he transports them just outside the atmosphere of Planet Vegeta. Zarbon and Dodoria die in seconds as they unexpectedly appear in the cold and airless void. The four bodies just begin to float about. Duke then nods to Vector again, and he disappears in another black hole, reappearing with S'kur and Tarah.

Duke then throws the doors to the throne room open, and stomps up to the King. "What is the meaning of this, what the hell just happened, and who the hell are you?" The King blurts out as Duke makes it toe to toe with him.

"I am Duke, your men were," Duke pauses as he smiles, "taken to a cold place. They won't be coming back for a long time. Possibly not at all. And as for what the meaning of this is, I've come to make you pay for what you did to my family, and what you are doing to the Saiyan race."

"What I did to your family? I don't even recognize you, how could I know what I did to your family?" This was one thing the King should not have said, for Duke powered up intensely, and threw the King into the chair behind him. Duke's energy continued to climb so fast, that King Vegeta's scouter exploded, burning his face, and cutting him on his cheek.

"You don't even remember! You are such a bastard, and you will pay for your mistake!" Duke starts to charge him, when a presence at the throne room door stops him.

"I don't think so son, no one is going to kill the King on my watch," comes a voice from the door. Duke turns to look at the newcomer, and raises his eyebrow. Standing in the doorway, is a Saiyan with dark gray long spiky hair. He is wearing white and red Saiyan armor, and has a blue Saiyan uniform. His most distinguishing feature is something that is missing: his left arm. From the elbow down, his arm is gone, lost in a fight long ago with the King.

"Barok, nice of you to show," says the King. He smiles, and adjusts his position in the throne, so he is more comfortable. "Take care of this dog for me, show me you can still fight, and I may allow the scientists to make a new arm for you."

The Saiyan looks at the King, and then back to Duke. "I'll fight him, but not because you ordered me to." Then he says to Duke directly, "So you want to take down the King? Make him pay for the loss of you family? Then your gonna have to go through me son."

"If you have a grudge against him yourself, why let me fight him? Or are you waiting for the opportunity yourself?" Duke starts to power down as he talks with Barok.

"Don't power down kid, not just yet any how. We're going to fight in a second here, and I want you at your best." Then Barok smiles, and looks at the King. "I want to make sure you can take the King before you challenge him, because if you fail, then the King'll become more powerful, and then no one 'll be able to take him out."

"Hmm, well, you have a very good point. Alright, I'll face you. But don't hold back, I want to make sure I am strong enough too." Duke turns to face Barok fully, and slips into his fighting stance.

"Yes, do make this a good fight, I would enjoy so much to watch this." The King then thinks to himself, 'Of course, I'll kill the winner just after the fight, that way, I rid myself of two birds with one swift strike!' Duke then turns his head to the King. "Don't think you will be able to kill the winner. As you well know, Saiyans grow stronger from every fight, and the winner will surely be able to take you." The King just stares at Duke dumbfounded.

Barok shifts himself into a fighting stance, and prepares to charge Duke.

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Yeah, yeah, I know. Everyone hates cliffhangers, but I thought I'd give some suspense to the story, and hold off on the fight til the next chapter. Who's going to win? Duke, or Barok the one armed Saiyan? Tune in next time on... Sorry couldn't help myself. I will put up chapter six as soon as I am done with it, so be patient.