"I am the least lucky man on this planet."
The Vegeta of the present day sat brooding underneath the shade of a massive fungus native to the planet on which he had been stranded, with the Yardrat elder responsible for his current predicament leisurely resting about five feet away from him. As he had done every night of his captivity and forced "rehabilitation," Vegeta pondered killing the old fool in retribution for leaving him stuck on this miserable world, and although he always decided against it, the mental images that the thought generated typically helped lull him to sleep. Not so tonight; for whatever reason, there was something pressing onto the back of his awareness that kept him awake, a faint sensation of impending danger that he had learned to trust over the course of his life. He chuckled to himself.
"Amazing; this place is so unbearable that I'm actually hoping for someone to...wait," he thought to himself, getting up slightly as he focused more intently on the sensation he was feeling. From the looks of things, Pybara had followed his lead, swiftly getting up and looking around him before a sharp spike of ki to his side sent him running in front of Vegeta.
"Vegeta, look out-!" The Yardrat elder cried, already putting two fingers to his forehead in order to teleport them both away from the planet and out of danger before a yellow ki blast burned his body to a crisp, killing him immediately. As Vegeta looked upon the dead body of his abductor, a foreign emotion passed over him only for an instant before fading away as he scoffed at the corpse.
"Tch! Foolish old man," he muttered to himself. "Now then, where are you-?" Vegeta began as he searched for his attacker, only to become enveloped in a sickening field of purple ki that crackled all along his body like a kind of electricity. In vain, Vegeta tried to power up to full in order to escape it, only to realize too late that doing so seemed to feed the trap that he had been placed in, draining his energy even faster. At that moment, three figures emerged from the darkness to regard the fallen prince with sinister expressions on their faces, as though they had just accomplished their objective even more easily than they had anticipated.
"Well, well, well, so this is where you decided to hide out, Vegeta," Salza remarked with a sneer. "I'll give you credit; if it hadn't been for the oh-so-cooperative people of Yardrat, it would have taken us far, far longer to locate you! But oh, they were just so desperate for us to come and save their elder from the big bad Saiyan! All it took was our promise to leave their planet alone for them to tell us where you had been taken to by their elder." He tittered to himself in a way that only added to Vegeta's torment. "Of course, I see no reason not to honor their request, even if they may come to wonder why their elder hasn't returned to them. As it turns out, governing an empire is much harder than expanding it, and with the Cold family all dead with no heir, thanks to you...we've had our hands full just keeping the empire's current holdings from defecting." At this, the members of the Armored Squadron all glared at Vegeta, who was left in both agony and confusion.
"What...are you talking-?!" he attempted to get out before being shushed by Salza.
"Oh, don't bother to deny it, dear prince. You may have been smart enough to wear a mask and disguise your voice, but your hair was another matter. Quite distinctive, really; our satellite imagery may have been somewhat blurry, but it was still recognizable enough that we easily deduced it could only have been you. So yes, we know full well who took our master away from us, and his father besides, and I assure you...we will not let that foul deed go unpunished. Goodbye." With that, all three of the Armored Squadron members began pelting Vegeta with a dizzying array of rapid fire ki blasts that battered his already-weakened body even further, to the point where he was starting to lose consciousness and no longer able to put up any resistance to Neiz's Bind Wave. With mere moments before he believed himself likely to die at their hands, Vegeta was left with his life flashing before his eyes, and as he reflected on everything that he had ever done, only one constant stuck out to him in the face of his inevitable demise:
He was a failure.
He had been denied his kingdom and his birthright when he was but a child, and after devoting the majority of his life towards the Frieza Force's goals, he had still only risen up to the status of a minor lord within the empire, outranked by the likes of Dodoria and Zarbon, and not even holding a candle to the respect garnered by the Ginyu Force and the Armored Squadron. When he finally had the opportunity to make something more of himself by becoming immortal, he had been denied that as well, first by being bested on Earth and losing his Saiyan subordinates, and then by almost dying on Namek at multiple points. In the end, he had to run like a coward after reclaiming his body from Captain Ginyu, and while the experience had made him stronger, that still did not prevent him from being spirited away to this forsaken world by a pitiful old fool who refused to accept that he would never be some grand and noble hero like Kakarot.
Kakarot. Kakarot had gotten almost everything that Vegeta had been denied. He had grown stronger than him, strong enough to challenge and probably kill Frieza, a feat which Vegeta had dedicated his entire life towards accomplishing only to be denied his opportunity. Kakarot had companions who would fight and die alongside him even when they had no chance of winning, something Vegeta hadn't even realized that he had missed until he was forced to survive entirely on his own on Namek. Kakarot had a world that he could call a home, even if it was a D-class dirtball whose people ought to be worshiping him as a god. And, as much as Vegeta was loath to admit it, Kakarot was the kind of warrior that made history, the kind that people would tell stories and make up legends about for years or even centuries to come. But Vegeta...Vegeta would never enjoy that kind of status ever again. Vegeta would never achieve his dream of immortality, or his wish of taking Frieza's empire for himself. Vegeta...was going to die.
And he would be forgotten.
With a defiant scream, months of quiet fury regarding his circumstances and the many misfortunes that he had been forced to undergo since his defeat on Earth boiled over as his power skyrocketed to such an extent that the purple crackling ki that had bound him so effectively suddenly found itself being broken apart. Before any of the Armored Squadron could react to this unexpected development, the newly golden-haired and teal-eyed prince swiftly moved to make sure that he would never be trapped again, slicing out towards where Neiz stood and glancing dispassionately at the corpse as Neiz's headless body fell to the ground. Although momentarily taken aback by his newfound power, Vegeta recovered quickly, firing off a ki blast towards Dore that incinerated him just as the mercenary had done to Pybara only a few moments before. With his companions dead on either side of him, Salza briefly contemplated turning tail and flying away as fast as he could, only to conclude that doing so would not save him. Left with no other option, he grit his teeth and decided to try and land one last desperate blow on the man who had now taken everything from him.
"FOR LORD COOLER-!" Salza cried as he unleashed his purple Salza Blade upon Vegeta, only to gasp in shock as Vegeta took the blade head-on while replying in kind by stabbing him through the torso with a single strike, tearing apart his armor right where the logo of his division rested directly above his stomach. With a strangled gasp, he looked up at the Super Saiyan standing before him, registering the only appreciable damage that any of them had done since his transformation: a single drop of red blood that had spilled from his lip.
"Die," Vegeta said simply, kicking Salza upwards and surrounding him with ki before causing that ki to explode all around him, completely vaporizing his body...and leaving Vegeta alone.
Alone, but not without a means of escape.
Not bothering to waste any time regarding the corpses of his attempted assassins or the man who had abducted him, Vegeta flew rapidly towards the ship that he had spotted over on a nearby mountain range and recognized it almost immediately: the fabled private shuttle of King Cold himself, said to be able to travel from one end of the universe to the other at ludicrous speeds. Happily claiming the spoils of battle for himself, Vegeta pondered just what to do with this newfound power at his disposal. Although he longed for vengeance against Kakarot and all of the others who had wronged him, he was now certain that his hated rival had to have unlocked this same power in order to defeat Frieza, and was probably stronger than he was now. All the same, though, he knew where Kakarot and most of his other hated enemies would be, and he knew that they would not be leaving their planet anytime soon. They could be dealt with at Vegeta's leisure. For now, he had a much more immediately attainable goal in mind:
He had an empire to conquer.
"Considering your current situation, I believe it should now be obvious that I am being exceedingly patient with you all."
As Future Vegeta spoke, he held a mysterious alien warrior named Pui Pui by the neck in a chokehold, ready to knock him unconscious in a single blow if he continued to attempt any kind of resistance. Standing across from him on the main bridge of their commandeered flagship were Jeice and Recoome, who had attempted every method of freeing their comrade that they dared use aboard the ship with no success. Indeed, it was painfully clear how outmatched they were by this golden haired warrior, but the two rogue mercenaries simply growled, their pride making them unwilling to submit just yet. Future Vegeta sighed and attempted to come at this from a different angle.
"I understand, of course, why you are angry with me," he began. "I killed your captain after he took my body and left me to die, leaving you without your beloved leader. I killed both Cooler and King Cold, leaving your primary employer in shambles. And, of course, I am presently stopping you from reviving your companions with the Namekian Dragon Balls, leaving you without them for even longer. However...this need not be the case." At this, Jeice's gaze hardened.
"What are you talking about, you bastard?" he asked. Future Vegeta relaxed his hold ever so slightly, allowing Pui Pui to breathe a little more easily without making it any easier for him to free himself. The message seemed clear enough: conversation would be rewarded, to an extent.
"Without getting into specifics, I am aware that you will succeed in getting what you desire, and that out of spite, you will destroy Namek once you leave with your companions in tow," Future Vegeta explained, surprising the trio. "For reasons which I am not at liberty to disclose to you...I can't allow this to happen." Recoome scoffed, not entirely convinced by his explanation.
"And why do you care, huh?" He challenged Future Vegeta. "We were thinking about teaching the slugs a lesson they'd take to the grave, sure. What's it to you? The Vegeta we all liked to make fun of wouldn't have given a damn about them."
"The Vegeta you liked to make fun of also wouldn't have given a damn about you," Future Vegeta countered. "The Vegeta you knew all of those years ago would have killed you all without a second thought if he had the chance. Seeing as I am doing no such thing, I would think that you'd be willing to hear me out." In response, the two mercenaries looked at each other for a moment before sighing, realizing that their prideful display of defiance wasn't getting them anywhere with someone who clearly had the capacity to kill them all anyway.
"Alright, let's hear it," Jeice spat out, the contempt in his voice obvious as he and Recoome lowered their hands as a signal that they would not attack. In response, Future Vegeta fully released Pui Pui from his hold, pushing the alien warrior towards his comrades. He looked back at the former prince with fury in his eyes, his honor having been insulted.
"That was an underhanded tactic, sneaking up on us the way you did," Pui Pui said, glaring at Future Vegeta. "You may be stronger than all of us, but that does not mean you command me. If you are lying, I am prepared to fight you again, even if it will mean my death." Future Vegeta merely grunted in a noncommittal fashion before laying out his offer before the trio.
"I am prepared to negotiate on your behalf for the revival of Burter and Guldo," Future Vegeta began, piquing the mercenaries' interest. "I have no influence among the Namekian people, but I do hold a certain degree of sway over the Earthlings that aided them in their darkest hour. Although I can make no guarantees, I imagine they would be willing to grant the request if it meant that their planet would remain unharmed and if it would not endanger any other worlds." After a moment of tense silence, Recoome was the one who dared to speak up first.
"And what about the Captain? Why can't you get him revived?" he asked, causing Future Vegeta to sigh as he readied his response.
"Unfortunately, the second part of this deal would make that impossible," he replied before elaborating. "In exchange for this, frankly, generous act on your behalf, I would humbly request that you and your newly revived companions refrain from attacking Namek...and openly pledge your loyalty to the Galactic King and the Galactic Patrol." At this, the mercenaries laughed in spite of the situation while Pui Pui was left confused, as per usual.
"Are you serious?! You expect us to start working for that high and mighty jellyfish?!" Jeice asked rhetorically, looking over at Recoome and pointing at Future Vegeta as though the saiyan had told the most hilarious joke that he had ever heard in his life.
"Oh, you really don't know us at all; you honestly think we can go straight after all this time?" Recoome asked, causing Future Vegeta to look at him with a dry expression on his face.
"I imagine you will do so rather easily, once I point out that the Galactic Patrol is the only other entity in the entire universe willing to pay the kind of fees you require for your services," Future Vegeta retorted calmly. The two blinked, having not considered that aspect of the situation, while Pui Pui decided to speak up once again.
"I'm sorry, who is this 'Galactic King' you speak of? What right does he have to claim dominion over the entire galaxy?" the outsider asked, allowing Future Vegeta to answer.
"Honestly, he doesn't have one, really, at least not anymore," Future Vegeta replied frankly. "He and his Galactic Patrol once held power over a good portion of the known universe, but Frieza's reign put an end to all that. I was never quite certain why he left their headquarters alone. I can only assume that he wanted them to watch helplessly as he conquered the universe. That certainly seems in character for him." Future Vegeta paused for a moment before returning to his offer. "In any event, with Frieza and the rest of his family dead with no apparent heir, the Galactic Patrol is in a much better position to challenge their dominion...assuming the empire doesn't collapse on itself first." At this, Jeice and Recoome shared a nervous glance, wondering just how much Future Vegeta knew about the aftermath of his interference in Goku's battle with the Cold family. "I take it from that look that several worlds have already elected to break away?" he asked, confirming their suspicions somewhat before Jeice answered reluctantly.
"Yeah, twenty of 'em," Jeice replied. "Frieza Planet 79 was the first; pulled away just about the minute they heard the Cold family was dead. Bunch more followed not long afterwards. We used the rebellions as a cover to gain access to this ship, claimed we wanted to go put them in line and, well...you obviously know the rest." Future Vegeta simply nodded before continuing.
"You've already burned that bridge, and you and I both know that, despite your history of misdeeds, the Galactic King isn't in a position to refuse any offer you make to lend your assistance," Future Vegeta pointed out, pausing briefly as he watched them consider his offer. "With this ship at your disposal and the power you have gained in just a few short months, think of how much more you could accomplish with the officers of the Galactic Patrol on your side and even more time to train. Four months from now, you could be standing aboard this bridge with your fallen comrades restored, making twice as many credits liberating the very planets you conquered not that long ago...and leaving Frieza's empire a smoldering shadow of its former self." At this, the mercenaries' eyes widened, and Future Vegeta knew that they were almost there. "You may not be able to get your revenge on me or the Earthlings who killed your friends...but you can get your revenge on the organization which sent them to their deaths, while still being able to restore two out of the three to life. I don't know about you, but I'd say that's a bargain you can't afford to refuse." The ship fell silent one final time as Jeice and Recoome thought over the offer before Pui Pui turned to them.
"In your place, my honor would demand revenge," he began. "It would demand nothing less than the complete eradication of those men who wronged you, and everyone they cared about besides. However...those are my customs, not yours and not your companions'. And although I never met this Burter you speak so highly of, Jeice...I do not believe he would want you to die needlessly, purely for the sake of avenging him. I believe he would want to fight alongside you once again...just as I am prepared to fight alongside you two for as long as you will have me." At this, Jeice and Recoome both smiled weakly, the former holding back tears while even the latter could admit to being choked up as he attempted to ease the tension in the room with a joke.
"Heh, well, uh, you're a bit outside of our usual color scheme, but we can make it work, right, Captain?" Recoome said, turning to Jeice, whose face fell as he grappled with what he knew he was going to have to do for the sake of the team.
"The Cap'n would've never gone for it," he began before chuckling mirthlessly. "But then again...he wouldn't have gone with betraying the Cold family either. I think, on some level, I always knew he'd be disappointed in us if he ever got brought back, I just...I didn't want to say goodbye." At this, he finally let himself sob just a little bit, not willing to outright break down in front of his hated foe, and ultimately managing to compose himself after a moment. "I like to think that he would have wanted me to put the team first. That's the kinda man he was. ...I'm gonna miss him." Recoome placed a hand on Jeice's shoulder, seeking to comfort his closest friend.
"We all will, Captain," he said. "We're just gonna have to think of a way to honor his memory, because, uh...I feel like continuing to call ourselves the Ginyu Force isn't gonna fly." Jeice weakly chuckled at that, turning over to Future Vegeta with a sardonic expression on his face.
"Yeah, are we gonna have to call ourselves 'The Galactic Force' or something as part of the deal?" he asked jokingly, to which Future Vegeta simply shrugged.
"I could care less what you call yourselves; hell, you can keep doing those ridiculous poses for all I care," Future Vegeta said, somewhat grumpily. "All that matters to me is that you give me your word that you will follow my instructions, and if you ever deviate from your new career path-"
"Yeah, we kinda got the memo, mate," Jeice replied before sighing as Future Vegeta waited expectantly for an unambiguous answer. "Alright, fine, you bastard, it's a deal. It's the best offer we're gonna get at this point, so we might as well take it." Future Vegeta took his outstretched hand and shook it firmly before stepping back and putting two fingers to his forehead.
"Thank you. I'm glad we could come to an-" he said before pausing as he noticed something alarming once he opened his awareness of ki out to the wider universe. Most of the ki signatures he recognized were either on Earth, on Yardrat, or on the very ship he was standing on, but there were two on a particular planet which he had been quietly monitoring the entire time he had been in the past. He hadn't been especially worried about the prospect of his actions affecting such a remote planet, but that all changed quickly once he reached out to that location and realized that one of the ki signatures was missing, while the other had grown exponentially more powerful. Based on his own experience, this could only mean one thing:
The Pybara of this timeline had died...and their Vegeta had transformed far too early.
"Arrangement," Future Vegeta finished, not wanting to give any inkling of what he had realized to the former members of the Ginyu Force. He had already come dangerously close to giving himself away with this stunt of his, but it had been necessary in order to ensure that they would not destroy Namek. Now that his business with them had concluded, however, his new priority was to investigate just what had happened on that deserted planet...and kill his past self, if necessary. As such, he saw no particular reason to offer any explanation short of an "Excuse me" before he left as quickly as he had arrived, leaving the mercenaries perplexed...for differing reasons.
"Hang on, what's all this about poses?" Pui Pui asked, having evidently missed the memo.
Vegeta hadn't even made it to the shuttle's controls before he was kicked in the face.
The kick, delivered with enough force that it sent him sprawling out of the shuttle and onto the ground, initially seemed as though it had come out of nowhere. However, as his vision cleared and his eyes focused on the form of his assailant in front of him, Vegeta sensed and witnessed something that couldn't possibly be right. Exiting the shuttle was a figure who appeared almost exactly like him, save that he was imperceptibly older in a way that only a fellow Saiyan who grew up around their own kind could have possibly recognized. That alone could have been explained by some kind of shapeshifting ability, but why a shapeshifter would choose to appear as a subtly older version of him and not just a perfect copy of him in every way, Vegeta couldn't explain. In any event, the question was rendered moot by the fact that his assailant's ki signature was identical to his own, something which he was reasonably certain no shapeshifting ability could mask. And, of course, there was the rather bizarre accusation from the Armored Squadron to consider. They claimed that Vegeta had murdered Cooler, a man who was already dead as far as he was aware, and King Cold, who he would certainly have liked to if he had been strong enough to do so at the time. The only possible explanation that accounted for all of this seemed to be that the man who had just assaulted him, the man whose steely gaze spoke to the fact that he was willing to kill him...was him.
And that simply wasn't possible.
"Who are you?" he spat out as soon as he had managed to stand up from the kick, staring his mysterious doppelganger down before the older version of him deigned to offer a response.
"Tell me what happened here, and what you plan to do once you leave this planet...and I'll tell you anything you want to know about me," Future Vegeta replied coolly, causing his past counterpart to seethe for a moment before acquiescing.
"Salza and his cronies ambushed me," Vegeta remarked with a scoff. "After killing the old fool who had kidnapped me and held me prisoner on this world for months, they claimed that I had somehow killed Cooler and King Cold, which I can only assume was your doing," he said snarkily, noting how Future Vegeta did not deny his accusation. "They nearly succeeded in killing me as well, but unfortunately for them...Saiyans do not die easily." Vegeta sneered as he flexed his newfound power once again, not yet comprehending the differences between him and his future self. "I ascended to a new level of power previously described only in the annals of legend...and slaughtered them without breaking a sweat." Vegeta looked up at the older saiyan with a curious look in his eye. "Now then, I've offered you my tale; why don't you tell me yours?"
"Not so fast," Future Vegeta cut in. "You still haven't explained your intentions."
"Oh, right, of course. How could I forget?" Vegeta said mockingly. "Forgive me, but assuming you are me and not just some pale imitation...I would think that you know my intentions already." Future Vegeta frowned as he looked at his younger self, knowing exactly what he meant.
"Of course," he said bitterly. "You wish to rule."
"I was born to rule," Vegeta countered, his own tone turning aggressive to match the older man. "Frieza took that away from me, so I'm going to take everything from him and raise a greater empire from the ashes of his failed dominion. I will grow strong enough to finally defeat Kakarot and those other backwater fools, and I will finally acquire the immortality I sought when I graced that pathetic D-class dirt ball the first time around in pursuit of its Dragon Balls. I will reign for eternity over a new Saiyan Empire that spans the entire universe...a universe that will know me only as their immortal king." With that, Vegeta powered up to the maximum of his current strength, readying himself to attack. "You are a fool to try and stop me," he said right before flying towards his doppelganger at full speed...only to find too late that Future Vegeta wasn't budging.
"Perhaps you're right," he said simply. "Only a fool would still think you're worth saving."
With this, Future Vegeta brought both hands to his temples and directed all of his focus towards projecting his thoughts into Vegeta's head with enough intensity to stop him in his tracks. As Vegeta clutched his head in pain and vainly attempted to resist the psionic assault, he found moments from an entirely different life flashing before his eyes. He saw himself spend years at Pybara's side, slowly coming to realize his plan to kill the old man and regretting it immensely. He saw himself furiously teleport to Earth to fight an overwhelmingly powerful foe, only to fall easily. He saw himself being gradually restored back to health by people who should have left him to die for what he had done to them...people who instead called him their only hope.
"What...what is happening?! Why...why are you-?!" he asked angrily, while Future Vegeta was visibly straining to maintain the connection between their minds. Given how painful it was for both parties, there was a reason he had decided against relaying his life story in this manner the first time around, particularly since it also left him unable to read the target's own thoughts. Still, in this situation, the immediate benefits outweighed the drawbacks. If there was even a chance of making his past self see reason, Future Vegeta was going to take it. He figured he deserved that much.
"To show you that there's a better way," Future Vegeta remarked through gritted teeth. "To show you that it's worth it. It's worth it to allow yourself to feel. It's worth it to help others. It's worth it to be kind." Future Vegeta paused briefly, reflecting on his life up until this point. "It took me decades to learn those lessons, and I still find myself tempted to fall back into bad habits. The fight to reform yourself is a battle that never ends...but that doesn't mean it isn't worth fighting. If you don't see that after seeing everything I will show you...then I'm afraid I will have no choice."
It was then that Vegeta found himself bombarded with more images, each one sickening him more than the last. "No!" he cried as he saw himself cry over that pathetic fool that would have left him to rot, and began to realize just how weak this other version of him really was. "No, no!" He cried as he saw himself spending year after year with people who contributed to his downfall on Earth and Namek: the clown child, the overweight samurai, the Namekian guardian, all acting as though they were friends and not bitter enemies who deserved to die. "No, no, no!" he cried out as he saw himself laughing with a bunch of human women and playing with their children. The last straw came, however, when he realized that standing among these women was one he hadn't met before, with blue hair, whom he now knew was the one responsible for his counterpart's augmentations. She was standing among them because one of the children, who had rather similar hair, was playing with him as well. A lavender haired child...with a tail.
His counterpart's child.
His counterpart had fallen in love with this woman, a woman who struck Vegeta as being loud, obnoxious, egotistical, and yet also funny and intelligent and kind and loving, at least according to the other version of him. He couldn't see how, but nonetheless, that Vegeta thought so to such a degree that he had married this woman. The thought made him sick; that the heir to his father's throne would marry a common woman from a D-class world. Worse still, he had a child with this woman; two children, as memory after memory oh-so-helpfully informed Vegeta. Children that were not warriors, but shared their mother's cunning alongside her less-than-noble qualities. Memory after memory depicted them as being adorable little troublemakers, troublemakers that Vegeta knew he would have been tempted to kill within weeks...and yet this other version of him would die for them.
"Please!" Future Vegeta called out. "A part of you knows I'm right! It's not too late for you to change your ways, just as I have! You can stop your quest right now, we could-we could destroy what's left of the Frieza Force or whatever it's calling itself now, together! We could liberate the galaxy, reunite with what remains of our people, and find a way for you to live the kind of life I have lived as well! Just please...don't make me do this. Don't...don't make me kill you." As he spoke, Future Vegeta charged up a finger beam which he intended to fire straight through Vegeta's heart if he didn't stand down, which Vegeta faintly heard in spite of the flood of memories.
He'd die for any of those Earthlings now, Vegeta realized. That was how far this other version of the Saiyan prince had fallen. He had given up everything that he was entitled to - his birthright, his desire for immortality, his pride - and devoted himself towards protecting the last scattered survivors of a world that should have meant nothing to him. Vegeta couldn't understand it, even as the memories rushed through his mind, and yet, to his horror...he found a small part of him feeling envious of this other version of himself. Envious of a life that he despised every aspect of, and yet...something about it appealed to him all the same. Whether it was some kind of subconscious manipulation, or merely the fulfillment of a desire to love and be loved by others that he hadn't even known himself to possess, the fact remained that it was there, and it posed more of a danger to him than any attack this future version of him attempted. It was something he should not want, something he could not have. And so, faced with the choice between taking the offer Future Vegeta put before him, or staying the course and becoming the king he was meant to be...he made the only choice he could.
"NO!" Vegeta cried out in fury, firing everything he had into a ki blast that tore through Future Vegeta's torso...and caused the man's finger beam to pierce through Vegeta's right shoulder.
As both warriors fell to the ground, it soon became clear that Future Vegeta had suffered the far worse injury. Although his body was largely left undamaged by the blast, his augmentations were completely vaporized, leaving a bloody cavity in his body where his artificial digestive system had once been. With horror in his eyes, Future Vegeta realized that his energy reserves were fading fast, particularly since he had burned a decent amount of energy with that fatal finger beam. He doubted he would last long enough to attempt some kind of self-destruction technique, and although he might be able to take Vegeta out with another attack, this was no longer guaranteed. Even if he did, death would almost certainly follow, and Future Vegeta couldn't discount the possibility that something might happen to the Namekian Dragon Balls in the next four months, so dying before he could face Cell yet again was not an option. In the end, there was only one thing he could do.
He looked his past self in the eyes one final, desperate time...and teleported back to Earth.
"Thank the stars you got here when you did."
As Dende spoke, he held his hands over Future Vegeta, constantly restoring his energy to counteract its rapid depletion while several panicky Capsule Corp employees struggled to set up the proper equipment for providing him with artificial life support. No sooner had they finally done this when Goku and his family burst into the room to see Future Vegeta, along with Piccolo, Master Roshi, and the rest of Earth's warriors.
"Ah, jeez, I sensed your ki fading fast; what happened?!" Goku asked, causing Future Vegeta to chuckle weakly in spite of the dire situation.
"It turns out...I really am my own worst enemy," he quipped, eliciting several gasps of apprehension and other expressions of concern among the group.
"You mean, the other Vegeta did this to you?" Gohan asked, to which Future Vegeta nodded. "But how would you have even run into him? Isn't he supposed to be stuck on that deserted planet like you were?" Future Vegeta sighed, not exactly proud of the role he played in recent events.
"My actions in this timeline were bound to have ripple effects," he explained. "The Armored Squadron, the mercenaries loyal to the late Cooler I spoke of, tracked him down by mistake in an effort to kill me via ambush. From the sound of it, they might have succeeded in killing him, had their attack not triggered my past self becoming a Super Saiyan over two years ahead of schedule."
"Ohhh boy!" Yamcha said nervously, the concern in his voice evident as the others were similarly worried. Piccolo, meanwhile, tried to be reasonable about the situation.
"Calm yourselves. From what we know, he may be fearsome now, but he's far weaker than Goku or our own Vegeta. He only triumphed through dumb luck." Future Vegeta winced at that.
"Dumb luck...and me all but telling him my greatest weakness," he admitted. "When I realized his intention of conquering Frieza's empire for himself, I tried to bombard him with my own memories in the vain hope that they might convince him to stand down and see things my way. I was wrong, and I have evidently paid the price for that mistake." He glanced down at the gaping hole in his body and, for the first time in almost two decades, felt something akin to what he had felt the first time that he had looked down and seen those implants in his body.
The crushing sensation that his life as an able-bodied warrior was truly over.
Before he could lose himself in despair too badly, Bulma burst back into the room after having left Future Vegeta alone briefly to figure out a means of stabilizing him permanently. From the look in her eye, it looked like she had devised a solution to his predicament.
"Have no fear, Bulma is here!" she proclaimed before shoving a design schematic in Future Vegeta's face which looked to have been recently drafted. "Alright, so, as I suspected, your original implants were the finished product of a design we literally just patented, like, a week ago. It might be a little tricky, but I think I can build you a new set and get them online within a couple days; you could go back to kick that lamer Vegeta's ass in no time!" Bulma winced as the bad part of her initial idea came to her mind. "Of course, the only problem is that-"
"This exact situation could happen again," Future Vegeta finished for her. "If not with my counterpart, then perhaps with the Cell of my own time, putting decades of preparation to waste. I cannot allow that to happen." She reluctantly nodded, knowing that Future Vegeta was right, before brightening back up once she remembered her second idea.
"That was Plan A. Plan B is a lot riskier, but potentially far more rewarding, both with respect to taking this guy down and with respect to taking out Cell once you get back to the future!" Bulma pulled out another design schematic which looked to be even more complex, despite the fact that it was hastily drawn up onto a napkin. "I just got off the phone with the twins, and they've agreed to tell me everything they can about their design. They're kind of my only option, considering you, y'know, burnt everything to the ground." At her slightly miffed expression, Future Vegeta glanced away only briefly like he was afraid to face her wrath before Bulma's voice brought his attention back to her. "Still! After talking to them, I'm, uh, decently confident that, with enough time and technical know-how on my end...we could make you a cyborg."
At this, the people there were left cautiously amazed, while Future Vegeta frowned. "A cyborg, you say?" he asked, not necessarily skeptical, but certainly guarded about the possibility of becoming anything like Cell or the twins. Bulma shrugged her shoulders.
"Well, not entirely," she conceded. "Near as I can tell, the twins were altered on a cellular level to allow for their insane power. It'd be more like those Saiborgs the good doctor made; not nearly as broken of a power boost, considering this would be my first time designing a reactor like theirs, but considering how strong you are naturally compared to how tough Saibamen are...it'd still be pretty substantial." As Future Vegeta's eyes widened in response to that statement, Bulma waffled for a second, torn on whether or not she wanted to get his hopes up too much, before deciding to trust her napkin math. "No guarantees, obviously, but it may even be enough to where you could go back and beat Cell as soon as you're done taking care of your past self. And the best part is, unlike the implants, this reactor could be set snugly inside of your body. You technically wouldn't even need to eat, just drink fluids through a separate implant I could place next to it. Since they're both small enough to fit where the rest of the implants had been set up originally-"
"I could seal up the rest of the exposed area so that your skin will protect them from harm," Dende finished, evidently liking this plan. Future Vegeta was silent for a moment before he asked one question, one of only two questions that mattered to him.
"You truly believe that it will make me strong enough to defeat Cell?" he asked, and again Bulma hesitated before listing her reasons why she did indeed think that.
"Well, again, no guarantees, but it's a possibility!" she answered. "The perpetual energy reactor would not only boost your power output, but it'd essentially be giving you an unlimited source of energy to draw from for your attacks, so you'd never run out over the course of a battle. Not to mention, it wouldn't take too much work to modify the rest of the implants in your body to work with it. Of course, the research and development would probably take a while; maybe a month, which is a long time for you to be on the bench considering the situation, but...it's probably your best option." Future Vegeta mulled over that for a moment before turning to Dende.
"And there's no way to restore my body?" he asked, his face falling as Dende shook his head.
"The implants are too interconnected. I could attempt to give you new organs, but with how long your body's relied upon the implants to function, they might be rejected," Dende explained. "It's not a guarantee that they would be, of course, but...your odds aren't great." Future Vegeta sighed as he thought the problem over, that ugly feeling from before settling in his chest for just a moment before he looked at Bulma and made a choice that would quite literally change his life.
"Do it," he said simply, laying down on the table as Bulma ushered for everyone else to leave...and allow her to begin her work with no one else around to disturb her.
Things are really heating up now, huh?
Not gonna do a super detailed author's note for this one: only gonna say that this confrontation has been coming for a bit and that I'm hoping it's understandable that Future Vegeta, as ruthlessly pragmatic as he is, would nonetheless be reluctant to ice his present self. Of course, the other Vegeta has no such reservations: he never got the repeated moments of getting all that Saiyan pride both physically and emotionally beaten out of him in the future, lol.
So yeah, with this, the main plot of this arc is now underway! Featuring Vegeta going right back to trying to conquer the universe and Future Vegeta being down for the count after a redemption arc speedrun gone wrong, leaving the rest of the Z-Fighters to pick up the slack. Will they be able to manage it? Only time will tell.
Pretty sparse on reviews this go around, unfortunately. Only got the one from Zeon Paralysis Crystal, which reads:
"Nice to see a cooldown chapter after all the crazy and downright depressing future. Chi Chi squealing and wanting Goku with a beard was hilarious. Vegeta is right about Goku being a technique hog. If anything Future Cell would be the perfect test subject for Badibi to sic Buu on. And completely deserved on Cell's part. Maybe he has Cell Juniors on other planets.
But whatever you have in store for the future. We kinda have to trust you on this. After all, it's your story, your rules and all. I hope you do it without regrets. Have a nice day."
Thank you! I'm hopeful that I will continue to justify the faith y'all have placed in me to deliver a quality story, and I'm glad you liked all those little details I put in. =)
As far as Cell having Cell Juniors, I think I can safely say that he hasn't really figured out that aspect of his abilities yet. Not like he'd need a bunch of mini-hims when he's on top of the world like this, after all, and that's assuming the idea would even occur to him without a suitable situation for it arising. As far as Future Buu goes, I'm in a bit of an interesting situation about that whole thing. From what I can tell, Babidi and Dabura knew the Sealed Ball was on Earth as of 300 years prior to the Buu Saga, but if it flew off into space when Future Cell blew up the Earth, would they...ever be able to track it? I mean, it's gotta have some pretty strong anti-detection enchantments on it since it's supposed to stay under Other World's radar, so if that's the case...I think Future Cell might've inadvertently done the universe a favor by unintentionally shot-putting Future Buu out into space, lmao. I imagine Future Babidi and Dabura would not be pleased about that. xD
Anywho, power levels are mostly the same with one or two exceptions, but let's get some older numbers on there for reference's sake.
Armored Squadron/Ginyu Force: A little over a million each due to gravity training, haven't had too much time to bump that up further.
Vegeta: 3 million due to the Zenkai boost he got after healing from the last of his Namek injuries. He's as tough as Goku's canon base vs Frieza, at least.
Vegeta (Super Saiyan): 150 million, just like Goku is in canon when he goes Super Saiyan for the first time.
Future Vegeta (Super Saiyan): 350 million, just like he was before. Unfortunately, like with Yamcha's prosthetic, implants do not tend to match in terms of durability.
Alright, with all that said, let me know what you think below as always: you've got plenty of time to do so, but I do really enjoy having at least a few reviews to respond to each time. Thank you all for reading, stay safe, wash your hands, wear a mask and get vaccinated if possible, have yourselves a fantastic night, and take care.