Chapter 18: Baby's Conquest of Earth, Part II
Seconds after his acquisition of Gohan's body, Baby stepped into the Dragon Team's OctoPUS 9000 spaceship alongside the brainwashed Piccolo and without even starting the engine levitated the ship and drove it toward Earth at unfathomable speeds.
"This feeling… It is a feeling almost indescribable," said Baby, "until now, in my moving from body to body, assimilating identity after identity… I had but one goal in mind, to acquire ultimate power to enact justice in the name of my great forefathers and fallen people. Amidst the maelstrom of borrowed memories, conflicting motivations from my hosts bleeding through, that alone shone so brightly… It was my only truth."
"And now that you've acquired it, you feel an odd sense of emptiness, knowing that your coveted objective is all but complete," replied Piccolo, "you are the same that you were in the past, sire. The thrill of the hunt brought fire in your eyes as much as the sense of closure that the realization of your dream would bring."
"Yes, you may be right… To begin with, I may have been descended from Tsufurian royalty, but I began in humble origins as a branch of the royal family in exile from past political battles. Even from the moment I began to walk on my own two legs… The moment I uttered my first words, life has always been a struggle of anger, persecution and desire. The paltry abode I began life in under exile instilled in me an insufferably vast anger. My life wasn't to end in exile, as fallen royalty… I went to any and all lengths possible to prove my worth to the childless Tsufurian King's court, because the vessel for this unquenchable rage, the cure for the ails in my heart could only be attained through kingship."
"An ordinary man would have been fully appeased through just becoming supreme commander of the Tsufurian Royal Army," said Piccolo.
"Feh. Having two of my eggs laid inside your being has made you a bit too privy to my deepest memories," said Baby, "in retrospect, perhaps remaining supreme commander could have skirted the tragedy of my people's extinction. To begin with, I never did see the point of letting those violent Saiyan savages lurk in our deserts. In my gratitude to the great previous king's kindness for selecting me as his successor, I was unnecessarily compliant in adhering to his leniency toward the Saiyans."
"You say that you regret, but you tremble with joy as you say this, sire."
"Trembling with joy? Yes, perhaps I am… Knowing that it will not be long now until I can appease the decades-old grudge of my fallen people, the knowledge that it shan't be long before the filthy bloodline of the surviving Saiyans… the lineage of the bastard King Vegeta can be purged… the knowledge that all creation will soon band together in perfect harmony under the Tsufurian flag… The fleeting sensation of a completed goal, a lost purpose lingered in me for but an instant. It all starts here!"
Less than an hour later, Baby's astronomically enhanced psychokinetic powers drove OctoPUS 9000 in range of the Earth's solar system.
"A power that meets every expectation that I had come to harbor from the memories of the young Saiyan bitch spawn of my host… Yet it still surprises me how the mere strength of my will granted this primitive contraption the power to cross the galaxy in a mere hour. I will have to admit this. The Saiyan blood coursing through this body's veins pushes me to freely wield this power… to use it to fight and conquer all of my enemies and opponents… But power without purpose, power not guided by right is nothing but base and primitive savagery. And that is why the remaining Saiyans will never defeat me! As long as they unthinkingly follow their base instincts of slaughter and anger, their strength of will and resolve falls short of my power, guided by longing for my fallen people, and for peace in all of existence!"
Baby then unleashed a small surge of power around himself and vibrated his Ki at such an immense speed that he distorted matter itself, passing straight through the door of OctoPUS 9000 without causing so much as a crack. Piccolo followed through the distortion, at which point the six Ultimate Dragon Balls they brought followed suit, and circled themselves around Baby's back.
"I sense that mortals with any significant battle power still on this planet have made themselves aware of our arrival," said Baby, "however, I have no interest in trampling them, for soon they will be part of my vast and precious empire. We will head for… King Castle! The people of Earth shall know now the name and face of their supreme ruler!"
Baby and Piccolo flew to King Castle within nanoseconds, where they walked bristly through the courtyard for several minutes, and then casually passed through the gates of the castle. A deafeningly loud alarm then sounded, the incumbent king having been made aware of Baby's intrusion.
"Shall I do the honors, sire?" asked Piccolo.
"No, leave them be. It makes little sense to flatten people so ignorant of their weakness and insignificance, who are so utterly incapable of landing even the tiniest harm to the Mightiest King. My only goal here is to announce that my takeover of Earth begins and ends with my conquest of this castle."
True to his word, Baby completely ignored the soldiers' demands and opposition and merely disabled all of their weapons with telekinesis, not wanting the castle to be soiled unnecessarily. Within minutes, the Mightiest King Baby and Piccolo were standing before the door of the dog king's chambers, which they casually passed through with their Ki.
"Ho… I am impressed indeed that in this moment of crisis, you have not absconded from your throne. If memory serves, you were not so brave when your castle was under siege the first time under… Piccolo Daimo, was it?" said Baby.
"I-I am the global monarch of this great land! Piccolo, Cell, no matter what the threat that befalls me, I shan't… I shan't repeat that disgraceful move! My last stand will be televised, and just as before, a brave and powerful young man shall put a stop to you both!"
"Then I hate to break it to you that the brave young man you refer to is right here!" yelled Piccolo, as he generated a bronze statue of a young Gohan from the Cell Game, which then morphed into Super Saiyan 2 form before suddenly enlarging itself into adulthood, taking the form of the modern-day, 32-year old Son Gohan. Baby, donning an evil smirk, morphed his face back into Gohan's normal form for a second, at which point he used his psychic powers to morph the Gohan-statue to the form of a young Goku from the battle at King Castle decades ago, which too aged itself into adulthood, and then into the form of a Super Saiyan before shattering.
"T-That man… Yes, I remember! I had thought that broadcast was just a figment of my imagination, but the blond man that fought Cell on the day Mr. Satan 'saved' us… He was the same boy that fought and defeated the Demon King so long ago! T-The two young men who put a stop to Daimao and Cell both were… were related?!"
"Yes, and at my hand… The hand of the supreme and just ruler of the Multiverse, the Saiyan boy who stopped the Namekian Daimao is no more, and the body of his even more powerful son now operates under my kingly will!"
"Fiends! I now recognize the green one as well, I could never forget the revolting visage of the green devil who very nearly destroyed this world! Y-You weren't killed that day, Piccolo Daimao?! Have you drawn breath in this new form to bring disorder and chaos upon this world once more?!"
"Absolutely not. Disorder and chaos are the very things we aim to stifle entirely from this world, no, from all of existence! Being King of this planet, however backwater and irrelevant in the grand scheme of things… You must remember the destruction of East City at the hands of alien invaders, must you not?"
"Y-Yes. Unidentified spacecrafts from outer space descended upon East City that day, and not long after, the recovered spacecraft we unearthed in the ruins of the city exploded on its own! W-Was that, too, an invasion upon our peaceful world?!"
"Yes. On that day, two of the only three survivors of the genocidal and barbaric Saiyan race invaded your planet, and would have wiped out everything in a matter of weeks! The battle against the Saiyans that I am waging as we speak… It is your battle too, as Earthlings who were targeted for wholesale slaughter! The Saiyan pestilence survives still, in the form of the heiress of the Capsule Corporation and her two children. Since you remain pathetically ignorant still of their threat, I will now supersede your position as King to carry out their execution in your stead! In my hands peace across all the universe shall be achieved, my takeover is the very epitome of justice itself!"
"I-I won't let you kill any innocent people! Capsule Corporation has been bought out by a madman, and Dr. Brief himself was a friend of mine! I will end you heathens even if it costs my life!" yelled the animal king as he revealed a timer attached to his heart, which read that a bomb was to go off in five seconds and take out the building. He then flipped a switch on his throne, which zapped Baby and Piccolo with a blindingly unbearable electric shock, in the hopes of freezing their movement. Piccolo and Baby were completely unaffected, and before the Earth's King could even react, it was he who was zapped with the electricity instead when Piccolo used his arm as conduit for the shock, destroying the timer promptly as well.
"His futile last stand is still being broadcast, sir," said Piccolo, "shall I end him here and now to drive the point that the Earth now as her true king?"
"No. Although we may have met as enemies, he displayed impressive bravery in being willing to sacrifice his own life for the sake of his conviction. You shall keep him alive, and we shall now make way to the ZTV news station where our defeat of the previous king shall be broadcast to every corner of this planet and civilization."
"As you wish, my king," said Piccolo as he donated a small amount of Ki to avert the defeated king's demise, at which point he levitated his unconscious body and flew alongside Baby to the TV station. There, Baby simply phased himself into a broadcast in progress, where he announced, "Hello, I believe that minutes ago the previous King of Earth broadcast our takeover of King Castle. However, with the soldiers all having fled in panic when I nonchalantly brushed off their doomed efforts to fell me, and the castle having been burnt badly from the deposed King's ill-fated attempt to end himself and us both, I needed a more… fitting stage for my historic declaration! I, the Mightiest King who hails from the fallen Planet Tsufuru, hereby announced that from this day forth, I am to be your king and absolute ruler of all creation!"
Watching this magnanimous broadcast at Kame House, Kuririn, Roshi, #18 and Yamcha were trembling in their shoes.
"T-This guy… He's suppressing himself as much as physically possible, yet I can feel his power like he's standing right here behind me! Majin Boo… He looked like the kid next door compared to just the power he's giving off!" said Kuririn.
"Y-You can seriously sense this guy?! The moment he landed on Earth, I've felt like my Ki sensing ability went completely bust, 'cuz if I felt that power head-on, I'd just fly right off my rocker! W-Where are Tenshinhan and Oob at a time like this?! A-And was he really telling the truth about killing Goku?! And taking over Gohan's body?!" yelled Yamcha frantically.
"Y-Yes, I'm afraid it's true," said Roshi, "as foul and corrupted as his heart and body are, the power he's suppressing is without a doubt one that belongs to Gohan! T-There's nobody who can stop him!"
Still strutting arrogantly before the crew broadcasting his declaration, Baby used his psychic powers to open up the roof of the TV station, exposing the nighttime sky, with as many stars shining as there are grains of sand in the beachside. Baby then began to gather his palms together and muttered, "My dear forefathers to whom I owe everything… Please forgive what must be done. If I am to minimize the casualties of an impending insurrection against myself, this display of power is necessary."
"W-What the hell is wrong with this guy?!" said the director of the news broadcast that Baby interrupted, who walked up to the impenetrably self-absorbed king and yelled, "Look, I don't know what is your problem, but we were in the middle of a program! How about you and your green friend go back to the costume party you must've walked out on and stop being a disruption – "
As he said this, Baby killed the man by stabbing his temple with his tongue and said, "Although I would like to avoid unnecessary casualties, those who so brazenly disrespect their new ruler must be made an example in the name of justice. And now while the atmosphere is rife with oppressive terror, I shall make my plans for this planet clear. As I was saying, I am the Mightiest King Tsufuru of a faraway planet. You people of Earth will be able to go back to your peaceful, everyday lives after this declaration, on the condition that all disruptive acts of peace in public and private be reported to your lord and savior, myself. In my utopia no one who harms another for the sake of his own self-satisfaction shall be allowed to revel in the blessing of life. Just as the multiverse will be reborn with the savage Saiyan pestilence removed, so too will the law and order of this planet and all other terrestrial bodies that carry intelligent life."
"Y-You and what army?!" yelled a bald, three-eyed figure, who was sweating profusely as he descended upon Baby and the possessed Piccolo.
"The likes of you are not even worthy of being offed as an example or a martyr. I commend your bravery in being able to make a stand against myself in the face of overwhelming power, but you yourself know all too well that you are outclassed to no end. Stand aside, and you may keep your life."
"That I cannot!" yelled the caped figure, Tenshinhan, as he lit the news station with a blinding flash of his Taiyo-ken attack, at which point he grew additional limbs from his back and tried to stab poison knives into his two enemies, only for Piccolo to spit saliva in his stomach with such force that it drove a hole through his chest, defeating him instantly.
"You will tend to his wounds, Piccolo. His death would accomplish nothing."
"Yes, sir. And now, the broadcast of the Tsufurian Empire's very first moments shall resume."
"Indeed it shall," said Baby as he used magic materialization to create a giant telescope that displayed a massively enlarged image of the planet Jupiter, which could be seen the world over through Baby's control over all machinery. Baby then said, "I trust that I have made it abundantly clear that I am a tolerant king. All of you people the world over shall be spared on the condition that you follow the laws of your new King, and even futile struggle will be forgiven as with the previous King and the three-eyed fellow. However, what I will not tolerate are those who pilfer, take advantage of and assault and kill the innocents of this race, or any other race… Those who are rotten to the core must not be made to live, and with my absolute power I will now kindly make a demonstration of what happens to those who go against the wishes of their benevolent King."
Baby then charged Ki into his finger and shot a tiny blast at Jupiter, which erased it completely and caused a shockwave that could be felt all across Earth. As all the employees who were at the news station tried to flee in terror of the all-powerful assailant, Baby used his powers to barricade all the exits and yelled, "Now! Bow! BOW BEFORE MY UNSTOPPABLE POWER!"
The sheer, forceful and godlike will conveyed through Baby's deafening voice caused people the world over to kneel in sheer terror. Baby then said, "And with that, our work here is done. I shall return now to King Castle where I will make my ameliorations of the backwards, earthly laws you previously followed clear within days. Rejoice, for this is merely the first step in the birth of the Infinite Tsufurian Empire! Hahahahahaha!"
"W-We're done for…" said the crew gathered at Kame House.
As Baby, elated from having made his presence known the world over, sat upon a massively enlarged version of the throne they took from the previous king, Piccolo then asked, "Sir, what about the true ruler of this planet, the Kami Dende and the two fugitives they are harboring? Surely you must desire to end the life of Vegeta's only daughter?"
"There is no need for that, yet… With Prince Vegeta already dead and gone, our main objective is to lure out his son and his ragtag band of friends. I sense that they have already acquired the final Ultimate Dragon Ball, they will attack us at the heart of our empire soon enough. They will then know true suffering as I destroy all that they hold dear, as the Saiyans did to myself and my glorious people. Until then, the affairs we have in order are political ones. I must submit myself to intensive studies to understand fully the history and workings of this planet's government and various ethnic groups, to be a fair and just ruler."
"The Mightiest King always knows best," said Piccolo as they stared into the dark and blackened sky as it rained fiery debris of the planet Baby destroyed.
"Fuhuhuhuhu… Grandson of the accursed King Vegeta, you will know the definition of a living hell! I await your arrival!"
To be continued…