Universe Saga Chapter 24: THE SPEECH, a dragon ball z fanfic

OPENING THEME:

Episode 23:

THE SPEECH: A WARRIOR REMEMBERS

"Damn coward," Vegeta said through forced exertion. He was extremely weak now and it showed as his golden aura retreated and he finally succumbed and fell flat.

In the midst of his joy, the Great Ruler was not prepared for the group of nine that was quickly advancing. In unison, their blasts hit the target. And they waited anxiously for the outcome of their actions amidst the turbulence of the clouds of smoke.

As the small group of saiyans waited, huffing and puffing after their show of great power, they were interrupted by a fast approaching figure.

"Nasu! Dodge!" yelled one of the saiyans as he dashed forward but it proved to be too late. The girl was plummeted with furious blows from the new warrior before he was pulled off.

With a powerful punch to the face, the newcomer was sent sailing to one side and with another powerful punch from the other saiyan, he was sent back. The back and forth continued and the men's faces shone with their glee but they were surprised when they noticed an incoming blast. Nasu interrupted their moment with a flash of energy that sent not only her previous attacker but also the duo that came to her rescue falling to their fates.

The man that had warned her initially looked at her with equal shock. He could not for the life of him understand her reasons. Did she just take down those that she was just fighting beside just a minute ago? Did they not prove by venturing out here as a team that they were all on the same side?

"But, Nasu? W-Why?" he asked.

"You play you don't know," another female warrior aggressively stated as she dashed forward at the girl. The other four warriors marvelled at the scene they were witnessing.

"Are you just going to stand there and do nothing?" one addressed.

"B-But, I-I-" stammered the man in reply but before he could find the courage to finally say what was on his mind, the unthinkable happened.

Moving with vigour and spunk, the female warrior had dealt her fair share but unfortunately Nasu was too quick and blocked the majority, her sturdy arms taking on the full force of the attacks with ease. Smiling, the aura about her hand intensified and in one, swift motion it burst through the woman's chest.

Looking up at the man with a hint of satisfaction in her eyes, the girl sent the woman sailing to the earth with one shove, "Ah, Tomaro, my dear brother - you want to be next?"

"O-Our own mother?" the man asked as tears freely poured. In the midst of their combined auras, the darkness of the surroundings was intensified below them and it appeared as though the woman fell into a bottomless pit.

Growling, one of the four lurched forward and the others followed suit. Tomaro studied the onslaught with a burning rage but his fear kept him at bay. It was as though he was thinking through before he finally acted and just as he had finally made up his mind to go in for the attack, the men were struck with an impressive wave of energy that sent them falling.

Nasu looked up at her brother, "I suppose I just wanted that old hag out the way - after all of these years of her constant nagging. The others I suppose, I guess they are still alive due to the fact that I thank them for taking out the Great Ruler for me."

"Nasu, you fool. Don't be so gullible. How can you be sure that he is dead?"

The girl turned his back to him, "My dear brother, you're the gullible one. It's not that I thank them for maybe killing the Great Ruler but offering some much needed time to go after the King myself."

With an aura surge, the girl dashed forward towards the opening in the castle. He immediately took note of the upsurge of brilliant auras and he frowned. While he and his team took on the Great Ruler, the other saiyans were taking on a war amongst themselves. And he knew exactly why.

Following in hot pursuit, he was stopped suddenly and found himself staring into the face of a beautiful, dark-skinned woman. She was the one that boldly proclaimed herself as the King's mate. Her wicked grin signalled that she was up to no good and her heavy blow to the stomach confirmed it.

"Stay out of it. We're the strongest of the bunch - no one defies us. You step inside - you watch her kill the King or risk losing your life," the saiyan remarked before retreating.

Still grappling with the pain of the experience as he grabbed on tight to his stomach, he slowly made his way after her. However, he was taken aback by the massacre. Plenty of the fallen laid in heaps of blood and he feared that many had died. Others were still pushing on in heavy battle despite obvious wounds and the fatigued stood on the sidelines, silently cheering on their side. He grimaced when he noticed his sister walking up to the King who was in a much worse state than which he had left him. It was clear that he was to the point of extreme exhaustion and he wore tell-tale signs of physical abuse. He shuddered as Nasu landed a powerful kick to the man's face to which he slumped backwards into the hefty arms of the large saiyans that kept him in place. When he noticed a few break away from combat in an effort to fire blasts, he immediately got the gist that there were two sides. One that were loyal to the King and the other that wanted him dead.

The blasts were easily deflected and the original shooters barely dodged in time. Using the opportune moment to gain the upperhand, their opponents struck and the wars continued as before but in a more gruesome fashion.

With another powerful kick to the face, the King's head lolled to one side. "You - after all that you've put me through!" she yelled as she grabbed him by the collar and brought him face to face with her. He could barely keep his good eye open as blood poured over it from a gaping wound on his forehead. Clearly, he had been dealt a terrible time prior to Nasu adding her own aggressive blows.

"You killed my siblings and... for no good reason at all and my mother still thought highly of you for it," she remarked as she landed a heavy fist to his stomach. Tears sprung to life and it was evident that she stumbled on purpose thus not finishing off who else besides her siblings were killed. To whom else was she referring to?

She continued in a deafening shout, "You were our king! Our only hope and supposed protection and yet you led us to this - to this pathetic moment. We were doing quite well on our own."

She charged a sizeable blast, aimed for his chest, "Together, when I am through with you, we will find a way to kill the Great Ruler. For 24 years, we've been your slaves - not any longer. It all ends here!"

"F-Father."

The weakened voice startled her and she turned around to face whom had spoken, the blast being reduced to nothing. The sight of the man alone was more than enough to stop the brutal wars and the warriors settled down. Plenty fell to their knees in a formal bow but quickly stood up after a quick wave of permission.

Vegeta hung on tight to the sides of the building, his open wound bleeding profusely. His body was clearly spent but the determination was evident on his face, "What - To what is she referring to, father? I was made to understand that you and your soldiers were in cahoots, willingly." The last word uttered was emphasized with disgust and bitterness. Had his father made slaves of the low-levels just like how he made slaves of the saiyan race? After all, it wasn't that the deal with Frieza had gone sour, it was the King's plans all along to have his people purge planets and obtain the rights to the universe bit by bit in his honour.

His father looked up at him and smiled, "Ah, son. Kill this girl and be rid of these pests that commit treason against their own king. Quickly, before the Great Ruler recovers."

Vegeta growled and it showed just how much the small action took a great deal out of him, "Shut the hell up! I am the true King of all saiyans - you were dead for crying out loud! But I - I honoured you so much that I could not fathom to call myself that title after all. But now - now I see things in a whole different light."

Vegeta looked up in the nick of time to see a steadily approaching blast but it was deflected with a single strike by a warrior that dashed before him.

"You want to hurt the prince, you need to get through to me first."

The voice belonged to that of the chubby saiyan from before known as Poompa. Vegeta forced a meek smile and Poompa directed an understanding nod his way and averted his attention back to the angry remaining saiyans.

The large man trembled as he noticed a small crowd that started at five and then ten and then fifteen soldiers steadily making their way towards him. He shook his head from side to side quickly, "No, no, no! You can't hurt the prince!"

The dark-skinned warrior that willingly proclaimed his desire to take on the job of killing the prince stepped forward from amongst the group. The closer he got, the more Poompa shivered.

"Little man, as I said before. Let someone in who wants to do the job. Now get out of my way."

"B-But - N- No!" stammered Poompa, "I would rather die for him."

"And what has he ever done for you, huh?"

"B-But - Clearly he is not anything like his father," the chubby man turned around to face Vegeta, "It's not his fault that they look so much alike, right?" He laughed nervously.

"Hmm," the tall, well-built saiyan smirked.

He turned around at the small group before him and bellowed, "To all of those who side with the King, I beg of you to remember who I am, what I stand for!"

The men and women looked from one to the other with seeming emotion in their eyes and then back at the man.

"Ringo, b-but - the King has given us a life of luxury before on the Igmite planet and especially now here on Mezora. You cannot be serious -?" a male warrior spoke up.

"Sukasshu and his wife perished and for what!" yelled Ringo.

Several wore guilty faces and the other portion of the group, clearly on the side against the King, looked on with intrigue and approval and they settled their fighting stances.

"I am the true leader of the saiyans not that man that poses as the King!" Ringo declared. He turned to Vegeta, "I am not sure of what he has told you but rest assure I believe it to be mostly lies."

Vegeta wordlessly begged the man to continue and understanding the notion, he complied. "He won't tell you but I most certainly will," he cast a vicious glare at the man and the King trembled in his rage.

"I am the reason for bringing together the saiyans in the first place and not for all this bloodshed, not for all this mutiny but as a brothership, as a union," Ringo continued as he took one look of disgust at the group before him and many, even those against the King, lowered their heads in shame, "He wouldn't have even known that the planet was destroyed if we did not inform him."

He paused as though he was thinking a while before continuing, "As a child, I had willingly and gladly carried out my orders. Kill - destroy - purge the planet for resale and you will be highly rewarded or so the damn machine kept replaying until I finally learnt how to shut it off. It felt like ages - I'm sure plenty of years passed and still nothing. Not even one saiyan had come looking for me as promised. I sent out the signal and yet nothing."

He turned to face the King and growled, "Tell him, dammit! Tell him the truth. You never had any desire to come in search for the low-levels, did you?"

Vegeta looked up at his father and waited anxiously for his response and when he heard it, he cringed.

"But of course, I chose to send them away for a reason after all," the King shared with a twinkle in his eyes, "When I found out of Frieza's power I knew I needed a planet full of the strongest, the best. Besides, it was a win-win. I never did like the low-levels from amongst us anyway." He chuckled.

Vegeta could not believe what he just heard. Did his father just confirm that it was he whose idea it was to send off the low-level babies to distant planets? And for all of these years, he found it quite ironic that it was Frieza's doing. After all, if it wasn't for such, Kakarot would have never survived and he was the one who initially and in a twist of fate, finally ended things with Frieza. And now to find out that it was his father's doing all along?

Ringo shook with the massive storm of anger within himself, "So, you just sent us away to do your dirty work and then perish!" A swirl of energy emerged from within him and shook the foundation of the castle and more of the structure tore apart but soon it was calmed much to the grateful glares by many of the warriors; it would appear as if they were aware of just how much further he could have taken things with his power. "Had it not been for my resourceful mind - I most certainly would not be here today."

Relaxing his arms, he settled into a much calmer stance as he continued, "I wandered the remains of Planet Lexins like an orphan, like an abandoned child all alone in the world. Indeed I was but I was grateful at least that my great ape form was not so wild after all. I destroyed the space pod and its large supply of pureed food but I did not ravage everything or otherwise I would have starve and more so be without shelter."

A small smile crept on his face as he continued, "I wandered the remains of the planet and discovered the scraps of some much useful technology. Several spaceships, barely in tact and tinkering around for several years not knowing a damn I was doing, I decided to use one of them to escape the planet. And of course I did not know how to fly the damn thing even though I tried for months to learn through their manuals but I hardly had a grasp on the language at all to begin with. Indeed, it was a reckless risk but it was either that or remain on the planet and I had had more than enough by that time."

Suddenly, the deep chorus of his laughter filled the atmosphere, "Thanks to our most gracious King and his involvement with this Frieza, the saiyan race had more than established itself as a most feared race throughout much of the universe. As you would think as a below par pilot, I crashed often and often needed repairs and fuel but too often I found myself in the mist of a war before I got what I wanted. And it was a struggle for some time - I did not train once in those years of waiting." His beady eyes glared at the King who was neither perturbed or interested in the least.

"Soon enough I finally found one with a means of great technology and allowed me a decent ship installed with the coordinates to Planet Vegeta. You could imagine my shock and horror to finally reach and to see nothing! Nothing but floating, tiny debris where the planet should have been."

He returned his gaze to Vegeta who was visibly upset by what he was hearing. "The nearby planets were scared to give me answers at first but all of them agreed that it was Frieza who had destroyed the planet. I did not want to believe this for it was understood by many that the saiyans and Frieza worked hand in hand. So I decided to find some other saiyans. I mean there had to be other low levels like me that were sent away, right! And still waiting to be picked up, right!"

"So in time, through the aid of special races and technological races I tracked down quite a few and saved plenty in the nick of time from the Galactic Police, by Frieza himself, starvation or just sheer madness. Through some of these saiyans, I sought out others as some had siblings of which were described to them in great detail by their parents in a message kept in the space pods. I later learnt that the King was still alive through a special race that can track the lifeform of any other and we continued in our search for him as well."

"Eventually we found the King and he had a desire to seek out the Igmite planet. It took us four years before we finally settled on the giant chunk of rock. And after everything that the small band of saiyans have been through - and explaining to the King that we were out and about salvaging planets on his behalf - he!" he pointed an accusatory finger and his tone became even louder, "He accosted us and explained that he did not want anything to do with low-levels one way or the other."

"And then he made us his slaves - since after all he had no other saiyans to rely on. He stole our power day in and day out until near death and when he deemed it sufficient he forced us to steal power as well. The fools we were - we caught on too late of just why he was so adamant about finding the Igmite planet."

"King Vegeta!" Ringo raised his head high in a dramatic stance and added in a sarcastic pitch, "Our great and loving hero!"

Making his way in through the ruins of the castle, Piccolo could not believe what he had just heard and his shocked countenance fell upon Vegeta who was smiling in response. Not only was he in a room full of super saiyan 3's but Vegeta was their leader? What in the world did he return to? And most importantly, was he too late?

END THEME:

PREVIEW OF NEXT EPISODE

"Son Goku here! Alright, Piccolo's back! Woo-hoo!"

Piccolo's heavy breathing is forcing his chest to rise and fall in great leaps.

"Um...is he scared? Are you scared Piccolo? Come on - now is not the time for this!"

Eight golden, great apes rise to great heights as they each share punches to the Great Ruler's upperbody while he is held beneath one of the creature's foot.

"Whoa oh! *heavy panting* Now I get it. I'm scared now too. See you NEXT TIME ON DRAGONBALL SUPER: OF MEN AND GIANTS: WHO WILL FALL?"

END CREDITS: Author/Creator of the DBZ series and characters: Akira Toriyama

A/N: Next week on my Dragonball blog will be a post specifically discussing my reasons on what went down in this episode - particularly about how I came about to the real reason of why they sent off the babies to conquer worlds. See you over there!

(If you are interested in the blog, please google DB Analyst - it is a Wix website. The link to it is not working here. So take a look and enjoy!)