QUEST FOR POWER 2: CHALLENGE KINGDOM

By Konrad

PART 8

The Orion shook once more with another explosion as Sulfus and his team reached the lab. With smoke billowing from the entrance behind them, the scientists were fleeing towards the hangar.

"H-he's insane! The material he set off, it's starting a fire!" The lead scientist cried out. Sulfus nodded in acknowledgement and the scientist immediately followed his colleagues in flight.

Sulfus' squad rushed inside the lab to assess the situation and stopped at what lay ahead. The vast chamber was ablaze, its various and dangerous contents already in a greenish inferno. The flames licked at more chemical compounds as well as at the station's very structure. However, they immediately turned their attention to the silhouette near the fire. Concealed in a large cloak, the person seemed to survey their handiwork.

"You there, stop!" Cinder yelled.

The intruder abruptly turned around, revealing only a pair of obsidian eyes and a short nose while the rest of the face was hidden behind a scarf. One quick look at the concealed form told Sulfus that they were dealing dealing with a male. A sudden feeling of familiarity chilled him and he tried to move as quickly as possible. But the stranger was quicker and flickered past the lead Kosajin. The remaining, less experienced, team members were also caught off guard as the intruder fled past them in a blur. Having bolted past everyone, he promptly engaged himself down the corridor where the Kosajin scientists had previously fled through only moments ago.

Shit! Way too fast. Sulfus cursed to himself.

"What in blazes...?" Volkanika murmured.

"He's heading for the evacuation ships, and the science crew!" Calcynon exclaimed in realization. "We gotta stop him."

The Kosajin sped after the intruder, barely keeping in step with him. Moments later they crashed into the hangar, hot on his heels. The science crew were apparently caught by surprise as only a few of them had at that point manned the individual evacuation pods. Panic abruptly hastened their pace then as they each quickly rushed to the remaining ships. The ennemy took an ominous step towards the nearest one.

"No, you don't!" Calcynon fulminated, lunging himself at the intruder.

"Calcynon, no...!" Sulfus bellowed.

The younger Kosajin didn't hear the warning in time and the intruder made an about-face to deliver a sharp punch to his gut. Calcynon's eyes rolled in their sockets and he passed out immediately, causing his comrades to gasp in surprise. Before the unconscious warrior's body had time to crumble to the ground, the cloaked stranger grabbed him and unceremoniously tossed him into the neareast ship, the cockpit slamming shut as a result. No sooner that was done that the stranger, in one continuous motion, flashed in front of the other three Kosajin and were upon them in an instant.

Out of instinct, Sulfus threw a punch that was parried but, instead of a proper follow-up, he found himself hurled to the side with a jab to his ribs. Having opened a gap between his would-be captors, the stranger jumped to the younger ones. Sulfus, meanwhile, rolled roughly on the floor. The sound of yelling and yelping beckoned him to get back in battle as soon as he could. But as he finally brought his skidding to a halt and looked up, the battle was already over, his young charges unconscious and the stranger dragging them by their collars.

"Get away from them!" Sulfus yelled.

"Shut up, you heap of dog shit!" The intruder responded in a familiar voice that shocked the Kosajin. "Or else I'll kill them."

"So, taking hostages, eh?" Sulfus sneered as he got up, taking small satisfaction that at least the scientists were gone in their ships.

"No. Not in the mood." The stranger replied as he proceeded to stuff Volkanika and Cinder into pods. He then pointed to the trio of ships with one hand, preparing a ki ball in the other. "Just get them outta here. And no funny stuff or I really have to vaporize them."

Sulfus glared but complied as he went to a nearby control. A few button presses later and the pods that contained Volkanika, Cinder and Calcynon launched with their unconscious cargo. Sulfus sighed in satisfaction and the masked intruder's shoulders fell as he too seemed to relax. That moment of relief blew away as the two remaining occupants of the burning space station turned to face each other.

"I can't believe it's you here..." Sulfus hissed as the intruder finally removed his cloak and scarf to removed the towering spiky hair to match the less-towering form of... "Vegeta!"

"Well, glad to see you recognize me." Vegeta taunted while failing to conceal his panting from his performance.

"I thought the voice sounded familiar. But how the hell did you get here? How did you follow me?!"

"Wouldn't you like to know? There I was in a bar, drinking and wondering where I'd be next, when all of a sudden I feel someone familiar. I turn around and there you are, that same stupid helmet and tail and all, chatting with someone else. So I stalked you from the bar and hitched a ride in the craft that bought you here."

"Wait a minute..." Sulfus blanched as thoughts of the night at the 'Wet Salamander' sprung to mind. That spiky hair... "It was you?!"

"So you had actually seen me but didn't do anything about it? Stupid." The Prince snarled back.

"I wasn't sure... I thought I had seen someone familiar but then the thought left my mind. In any case, what in the blazes are you doing here?"

"We didn't finish our 'chat' last time. I remember someone running away..."

"I was teleported out!"

"Right right, your ass was rescued 'cause someone obviously saw how outmatched you were."

"What do you want, Saiyan?!"

"You piece of trash, I want answers!" Vegeta snapped suddenly, losing his smirk and pointing at the Kosajin. "You said you know something about my people? That they're still alive and that I even have a sister?! I want to know everything."

"Heh, and how will you get that?"

"If you don't tell me now, I'll pound it out of you. I want my people back, now!" Vegeta screamed as he bursted into his Super Saiyan form. The shockwaves from the sudden transformation rocked the damaged space station further and forced Sulfus to brace himself.

Shit! I pushed him too far. Well, there was no choice but to go anyway. Why didn't he kill everyone else though...?

"Alright, since you're going all out, I guess it's time I showed you my higher form too." Sulfus stated.

With that, the Kosajin lit up in a blinding light. As it grew brighter, flames erupted from his body, the heat punishing the battered station further and setting parts of it ablaze. Vegeta recovered his strained sight as the light dimmed to stare, his jaw agape, at what was before him. Sulfus was now a bipedal inferno, radiating a fiery glow that would easily sear anything within its reach. A yellow haze engulfed his whole body and embers flickered away randomly. The pupils of Sulfus' eyes disapeared entirely, a seemingly radioactive billow emanating from his eyes as well as his nostrils and his mouth. Underneath the glow, Vegeta could make out the Kosajin's battle-ready grin.

"First time seeing a transformed Kosajin, huh? Only a handful of us are that strong." Sulfus mocked.

"Heh, that electricity bitch might've said a thing or two in that sense." Vegeta retorted. "Though I wouldn't think one as weak as you would've qualified."

'That electricity bitch'? How long as he been here?! Certainly he's not talking about... "Whatever, little man. Why don't you see up close how strong I am?"

"I said I want answers, you're not stopping me from getting what I need to know!" Vegeta screamed out.

As the Saiyan lunged at him, Sulfus sent out a silent prayer to the stars. Cooler-sama, you never said it would be like this.

Vegeta landed and smashed into the floor where Sulfus was a not even a moment ago. While evading, the Kosajin spun and waved his tail, sending out a cloud of embers. Vegeta couldn't avoid it completely and grunted in pain as he got singed.

"D-damnit!" The Saiyan cursed as he threw a small ki charge. But Sulfus avoided the blast and was upon him in an instant. His fist lit up with more fiery intensity than the rest of his body, he threw a punch that both rang Vegeta's senses and burned his face.

"Despicable." Sulfus spat as the Saiyan struggled back to his feet. No sooner did he look up that Sulfus breathed out a lance of flame aimed at him. Vegeta shakily jumped away only to then find himself punched through a wall and into another chamber.

"Everything about you is despicable." Sulfus continued to rant as he casually ripped out a beam from inside a wall. He swung with it at Vegeta's abdomen and the Saiyan threw up blood as he keeled over. "Mercenaries and soldiers run dangerous lives. Everything in what we do is serious. Keeping and weaving secrets, starting wars, watching over our own... backs." With added emphasis on that last word, Sulfus swung at Vegeta's back, causing him to collapse once more on the floor.

"It'd take someone with quite a character to keep things in perspective in that kind of job, don't you think?" Sulfus rambled, his tail's flickering growing alongside his excitement and aggression. "That's why you're not worthy of the Saiyans! Who'd want you as their Prince?!" And he sent Vegeta reeling once more with a kick to the face. "Sadistic beyond measure. Reckless. Egotistical. I've watched over your brethren and I've seen you too and I'll tell you this: the Saiyans, including and especially your sister, are much better off without you."

"Heh. L-like I ever got a choice." Vegeta smirked weakly as struggled up.

"Don't we all have a choice?"

"What the hell do you know?! Like you know what it's like to have nothing to live for!" Vegeta suddenly screamed out, his aura flaring up.

"W-what?" Sulfus blurted out, unsure if he was surprised more by the power burst than by the Saiyan's words. He took a couple of quick hops backwards but Vegeta was quickly upon him, taking a massive swing at him. The Kosajin barely blocked it with the beam but it shattered in the process, stunning him.

"Do you realize what I've been through? I've had to become what I am now, just because there was no other way, nothing else for me! How could you have left me like this?! " Vegeta cried out, delivering a roundhouse kick that Sulfus couldn't fully block with his right arm. The Kosajin went through an entire room, the boom of the blow and the bursting walls echoing with the fire-induced explosions and rocking of the space station. Sulfus got up slowly, dazed and now nursing a very sore, if not broken, arm. He eyed the heavily panting Saiyan carefully, taking in his every word.

"Nothing to live for?" Sulfus repeated. "How could I have left you like this? What in blazes do you mean and what does this have to do with me?"

"Because all I am today, my whole life, is because I never had any hope!" Vegeta replied sharply. "I lived my life on the fact that I had nothing else but myself. When you have nothing, that's all you can do. And then I met that stupid Kakalotto, who got almost everything one could want: family and friends to love and who loved him in return, peace. Something to live for, to protect. Something to die for." Sulfus' eyes widdened in realization. The Prince continued talking in spite of the slight but distinct quivering in his voice. "I envied that the most in him because I never had any of those. But then I realized that at least I had done the best I can. It was all I could do, right? But now you're telling me my race still lives somewhere? That I have a sister, even? All this time, something I could live for..." Vegeta almost choked the last few words, tears swelling in his eyes.

Sulfus' thoughts shifted downwards as the weight of the implications came on him. What would I've done in that position? Still, we had no choice back then, didn't we? "Vegeta, I..."

"A lifetime!" The Prince cried out. "Just wasted. If I had known... No, I can't forgive you!"

Sulfus breathed in deeply, choosing his words carefully. By the gods, I can just make this right for once, maybe? Vegeta stared intently at him, teetering between letting the Kosajin talk and tearing him to pieces, almost pleading with him silently to give him something.

Suddenly, a massive explosion, bigger than any so far, shook the Orion, this time ripping a breach in the hull on the opposite side of where the warriors were. They, along with the entire contents of the chamber, were abruptly being sucked out into space. Getting his instincts back together snappily, Sulfus twisted his body and then violently gripped the floor his hands and feet. Objects flew by him, some hitting him hard but he couldn't afford to let go. A Kosajin could survive in space but it certainly wasn't comfortable, quite the opposite. He and Vegeta had to rush out to the next chamber.

"Vegeta! Can you grab...?" Sulfus started but stopped mid-sentence as he looked around. The Saiyan Prince was nowhere to be found. "Oh no..." The Kosajin muttered in horror.

END OF PART EIGHT