Dragon Ball - Heart of the Adventurers
By LastationLover5000, and Demod20, edited by Firegod00
Chapter 26 - New Pieces On The Board
Everything had turned belly side up in a matter of minutes.
The dutiful accursed lieutenant of Freeza had retired to his quarters, as instructed by his lord and master. He had felt uneasy ever since he arrived with his captives in tow. Tullece's aid had left a sour taste in his mouth and curdled his stomach. What was he to do about impulses? He couldn't make his superior doubt the one he had suspicions and distaste of when he has acted more loyally than even he had done in recent years.
"But now, when he showed up to the source of the noise -a charred hole warped of heat and shattered by force- he knew it was a mistake to leave his prisoners unattended. He ignored the panicked cries of soldiers who were caught in the crossfire of plasma, the energy that was used to create the opening in the interior of the dreadnought all too clear of its path.
Rushing forward in a blur of his replacement cape and his re-braided hair, he stopped with a pair of taps from his boots hitting the floor grating. His eyes widened, his mouth agape with an air of shock so palpable he still was left aghast. There, on the floor, with a grievous burn of blood and charred flesh around the gut was a barely conscious Tullece.
"V-Vegeta...was playing...possum," He choked out, blood escaping his mouth as his eyes looked up in a haze at Zarbon. "He broke out, and...the others...ulk!"
He visibly flinched with indecision. A part of him relished the idea of watching his most hated colleague bleed out on the ground before him. A hand twitched at its side, building up a waft of energy that rolled off his palm and curled around his fingers. If he killed him, here and now, none would be the wiser after all.
A shrill scream tore his mind from his wavering posture, and pulled him into an erect stance of alarm.
"WHERE IS HE?!" Lord Freeza howled with fury, stomping on foot as soldiers gave him a wide berth to his immediate approach. One soldier that didn't get the hint was flailed by a mere glance, splattering into an indistinct smear on the wall before he stopped at the gaping hole caused by the ki blast that was used. "ZARBON! WHY ARE YOU STANDING THERE?! GO AFTER THEM!"
"B-But it wasn't-!"
Zarbon didn't get the chance to retort as his eyes saw nothing but a look of sheer indignant rage cross Freeza's face. Even from this distance, the darkened opening separating the medical bay and the corridor Freeza stood looked almost insignificant of a detail. He could make out the cracked red lines within his sclera, the dots for his eyes near pinpricks and his mouth curled into a hideous snarl with bared teeth lurking just beneath them.
"What was that?" He sneered in a low, venomous tone. "Do you have something to say to me, Zarbon?"
"None, my lord!" The emerald haired man bent to one knee, bowing his head in a hurried gesture of apologies. "I shall go after them, posthaste! They shan't get far with me on their tails!"
"See that you do," Freeza sneered, his eyes trailing past him to look at the prone resting Tullece. "Make sure you place your colleague in a healing pod, now that it's free. I'd haste to see my most loyal asset expire along with you."
Gritting his teeth, he intoned with a low somber voice as he rose back up to full height, "As you command, my lord."
When the horned-head of the icy tyrant looked the other way, the vague sight of Appule was seen retreating from the boss's shadow, bringing a heated glare of indignation from Zarbon.
"That weasly scum left his post, didn't he?! Of course the monkey must have mangled with the controls when taking a look at the prisoners himself!" Zarbon growled, his words never escaping his lips as they echoed in his throbbing skull.
Turning around, he unceremoniously grasped Tullece by the top of his head and pulled him up to be eye level with him. The blood that caked his mouth mattered little as the weakly staring Saiyan of olive pigmentation was but inches away from a dagger-staring toad-man. Raising a pristine finger up to jab at his face, he whispered dangerously under his breath to the black-maned coworker of his.
"I'm going to clean up your mess. When I come back, I'll drag your tailed buttocks out of the pod and demand an explanation when I return, you incompetent monkey!"
Opening the nearest pod, the emerald-haired elite tossed Tullece in backwards with a metal thud. Strapping in the respirator over his face, he turned him to face in the proper direction and turned on the machine. With a whirring sound the mechanisms pulled the glass back and sealed it with a distinct hissing sound. The healing liquid filled up within and brought the Saiyan up in its buoyant mass, leaving him visibly twitching at the numbing sensation of its medical properties adhering to his body.
Satisfied, he rearranged his bangs as he saw himself on the pod's glass and left with a huff.
"Even if we don't have Scouters, you couldn't have gone far," He thought to himself, following the additional still-hot hole of where soldiers scrambled through and outside, looking close to the dreadnought but daring not leave farther than fifty meters. His eyes picked up faint signs of brief distended boots that could only have belonged to a trio rather than the smattering of troops surrounding here. Looking up from there, he raised up in the air, levitating high enough to get a bird's eye view.
It only took a few minutes for him to pinpoint another set, right at the edge of the lake this island bordered next to. He nervously chewed at his lip, realizing they could have submerged and gone anywhere. How was he supposed to find them? Flying aimlessly across the world?
But, then an epiphany hit him.
He had remembered that Freeza wanted to interrogate Vegeta over a missing Dragon Ball. They had seemingly were hold up in the middle of nowhere when he came across them, but, what if they had just acquired the artifact in question?
A gruesome grin spread across his face and he rocketed across the sky, his teal colored aura painting a streak of light as he arced through the heavens. Rocketing at top speed he'd reach the trajectory of where he last spotted the three at the carved battlefield. They weren't anywhere to be seen, but he had smelled a faint trace of burnt ozone; a common factor among take-off from ki expunged.
"They were here," Zarbon noted, his eyes furrowing and his face scrunching up into a visage of determination. "The question is, where?"
Upon pondering this, he looked at a faint light in the horizon spark off. Were those explosions, or the Nameccian Suns playing tricks on him?
Staring intently, he'd see it flare up again, and his smile turned bestial as anger fueled his joy.
"You should've stayed low, Monkey Prince," He chuckled in a guttural tone, his body undulating into a visible flex as he transformed with a heaving expansion of muscle and fat. Now adorned in his toad-like, reptilian shape, he laughed aloud in a cackling gurgle as he'd rocket forward in a bleeding flame of bluish-teal light with hands gripped tightly at his sides. "NOW I'M GOING TO TEAR OFF YOUR ARMS AND LEGS BEFORE BRINGING YOU BACK TO MY LORD! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Tights was relieved.
When she had left with Jaco, she had the smallest inkling that she may have been over her head with no ki-wielding-warrior here to protect her. She counted on her intergalactic space cop more times than not, but with stakes this high, she didn't know what to count on. After all, there are people on average that can wipe out whole planets that all answer to a guy who makes that seem like a pastime rather than an impressive feat.
Arriving back with the handy use of her Capsule Corp hover-bike (branded as NO 99), she and Jaco arrived with a sharp turn around to the top of the aquatic base's top. Consequently, it almost caused the transport to tilt on its side, making the patrolman almost fall off the back-passenger side. Correcting itself with its internal stabilizing gyros, they rocked back upward, and revved back down as she powered the vehicle down; bringing it down to the soft soil with a small thud.
"G-G-Geez, Tights! Can you be anymore reckless with your driving?!" Jaco nasally croaked out with a stretched mouth of agitation. "I'm holding onto the ovular glass casing and your above-average waist! Least you can do is be considerate of my well being!"
"I'm going to ignore that remark of me not being in peak shape," The blonde older sister of Bulma remarked with an eye-rolling snort. With a 'poof', the vehicle became capsuled in an instant, and she pocketed it into a little plastic compartment she kept in her pants left sleeve. Turning about, she grasped the orb out of Jaco's left arm, hoisting it up to smile brazenly into its opaque orange surface. "Hehe, I can't believe our luck! We scored big when we grabbed this. With none of them possessing those little eyepatch-computers, we sure have the advantage in having a Dragon Radar."
"I believe they're called Scouters," The Galactic Patrolman corrected her with a sigh, standing upright with his hands propped onto his hips. "Anyways, we should probably head inside. We're kind of sitting ducks out here and I don't like being exposed for any of these musclebound freaks to pummel into paste."
"Alright-Alright," Tights resigned with a sputtering raspberry let loose from her lips. Frolicking up to the hatch near the surface of the island, she a tentative step into the water and knocked rhythmically onto the hatch's top. Waiting for a minute, she was greeted by the sight of her sister opening the arched doorway that led to the submersible structure that lied beneath the serene waves of the lake. "Hey sis! Look what I brought?"
"HEY! What about ME?!"
"Nice work, Tights," Bulma replied, not even batting an eye at the exasperated whine emitted from behind her sibling. "Sorry I had to make you wait. I let Pan and Kuririn leave not but a few minutes ago. Apparently the Grand Elder of Namek can bestow a great power onto anyone he lays his hands on, like some sort of magic spell."
"Wow, that's cool!" Tights awed with sparkling eyes and a broad smile. "I got to meet him! He may help make my pending novel be a bit more interesting!"
"I'm sure when things have calmed down, he'd be happy to meet...you..."
Bulma's words trailed off as she visibly flinched in place, as if she was receiving a migraine.
"Bulma, are you alright?" The blonde sibling said, placing the ball by her feet, and reaching a hand out to comfort her sibling. Instead, she saw it slapped away, and a woman now ebbing cold sweat over her face. Flickering HUD cast over her eyes, indicating her surgically implanted Scouter was going haywire. Looking up at her with a panicked look.
"Tights...where did you grab the ball from?"
"At...a ruined piece of land. It looked like a battle took place there," She mouthed aloud, her own eyes contracting at realizing what her sister was asking.
A sick cackle broke the tension in the air, bringing the Patrolman and the blonde to look in the direction the partially emerged lavender woman was looking. Touching down first was the behemoth Saiyan, Nappa, his bearded face spreading a smile ear to ear with contentment.
"Look, Vegeta! It seems the rats that took the ball are here; and they look like they're the Earthlings you were talked about!"
Touching down not too long after him was Aspara, her long smooth mane of onyx hair whipped around in the breeze of wind that picked up with her arrival. Her scarlet aura dispersing upon arrival, she placed one hand on her hip and cocked the opposing hip to the opposite side. Brushing her hand idly through her smooth tresses that waved in the air, she stared with disinterest at the woman, though her eyes narrowed at the bug-eyed man with interest.
"Say, that uniform," She began to speak up, nodding to Nappa with a furled up expression towards the man with unblinking optics. "Isn't that the Galactic Patrol?"
"A Space Cop? HA!" Nappa bellowed, jeering as he leaned visibly forward with arms crossed over his chest. "That's just CUTE! Whatcha doing so far out of your jurisdiction, small fry? I know for a fact you guys don't police useless rocks like this one."
"A-A fact I'm remiss at being reminded o-of," Jaco affirmed with a shiver, his body shaking at the sight of the two Saiyans. He knew he was no match against most of these monsters, but Saiyans were a special case. He had opted to stay out of the fighting on Earth for a reason. All patrolman were ordered to flee at first sight of these heinous creatures and use the Genocide Bomb when they were young; less they become unstoppable forces of nature.
But now there was no way out. With him in their sight, he'd be lucky to even survive, let alone flee.
"Last time I checked," Nappa spoke aloud, his smile showing his teeth as his eyes narrowed at the being he continued to look down on. "You patrolman had a run at first sight of us Saiyans. So, why ain'tcha running?"
"Here I thought the Galactic Patrol were smarter than that," Aspara commented with a smirk of her own.
"That's p-pretty simple," Jaco chuckled aloud, his face forming a quivering half-smile as he raised shaky fists up while his legs shook wildly beneath him. "I-I'm too scared to think straight."
"What do we do?" Tights whispered over to Bulma, the latter of which had her eyes fixed ahead with numbers distinctly raised to a mirrored number numbers on each eye.
Nappa - 38,000
Aspara - 34,000
"They're too strong," Bulma croaked out, her throat hitched and her face paling before her sister's eyes. "Pan, and even Kuririn...they're not even close to this strong! We have no way of stopping them-!"
"Then move," A voice growled beneath her, making Bulma squeal with surprise as her rump was slapped from beneath.
Stiffening in shock, she whirled out just in time to see Chi-Chi's angry face zooming pass her. Leaping high into the air in a flourishing spin that aerodynamically flipped her head over heels till she landed on a bent knee forward with a bare smooth leg with a single slipper wrapped around her foot. Black bangs framed a pair of stunning onyxes that gleamed outward with a pair of knitted brows staring up at the pair of Saiyans. Slowly standing upright, she was up and close to the two, making them look at her with a dubious pair of expressions.
"If you want the Dragon Balls," Chi-Chi growled aloud, hands sidled at her hips with fists pressed tight against them. She looked up at them with a fearless stare, her lips pulled back into teeth-bared expression. "You'll have to go through me first!" her hand reaching out behind her blue-dressed gi
Barking out a laugh, Nappa let out a bellow escape his lungs out of his lips. Aspara herself rolled her eyes with indignation, snorting a bit under her breath as her companion let out deep lunged guffaws.
"This Earthling thinks she's such hot stuff. Do you have any idea who you're facing?"
"Don't be fooled."
Vegeta's voice cut in the air as quickly as his person did. Slicing through space like a mirage, the Prince appeared behind and between the two underlings of his. Casting him surprised expressions, the pair saw the torch-haired Saiyan that had trailed behind them with a mysterious look on his visage. It was cagey, but not completely without emotion. Staring hard ahead at the stubborn woman, he had his arms crossed over his chest, a hint of a rueful smirk adorned over his face.
"While lacking in power, she makes up for having strange techniques, like all of her kind. Don't drop your guard down when you remove her from our path, you two," He warned them, a nostalgic sense of both respect and resentment settling within his coal colored eyes.
He could tell just by looking at her from this distance that she visibly wavered in her resolve, having full memory of the last time they crossed paths. Still, it was just a moment. She returned to being more settled into a forward leaning, knee-bent at a side with arms raised in perpendicular harmony in preparation for the inevitable fight laying ahead of her.
"Ha! If you say so," Nappa sneered, turning around to face her.
Only for his eyes to widen palpably as she was now suddenly face-to-face in the air to him.
"What the-HNGH?!" The giant of the trio exclaimed, being cut off with a vicious elbow that flared up in a mantle of red light for an instant. It caused him to stagger back, leaving him open to a palm-heel thrust into his bent chin that exploded in another flash of crimson, this time being the outline of a hoof that crashed into his visage. Tripping over on his heels to fall towards the ground, his tail unwound from his waist and struck the ground to hold himself aloft.
Leaving him open to a driving heel kick of another hoof-outline blasting him in the chest. The blow sent the Saiyan crashing into the earth with an explosive wave of force that splintered the island's foundation, uplifting with large slabs of grassy dirt and clouds of smoke wafting outward. It drove Aspara to leap up in reflex while Vegeta remained undeterred, his feet casually floating above the sinking fragments of soil that the lake quickly filled up with.
Just as the Nappa snarled in a sickly gout of yellow that exploded from the water that he had been submerged into, Jaco and the two sisters looked on with combined shock. They saw Chi-Chi took to the air with hands holding one flat palm down towards the emerging brute and the other having the fingertips just touching the side of her left cheek. Nappa himself had actually sported visible bruises formed from the hits, showing that it wasn't for naught that her techniques actually incurred damage.
"H-How-?!"
"He tried to warn you."
"Shut it, Aspara!" Nappa snarled, looking over with teeth gnashed at her. "She just caught me off guard!"
Vegeta laughed softly behind him, much to the burly Saiyan's chagrin. Veins began to throb across his scalp and cheeks, a glow of gold radiating around his pupils. A baleful shine of light raised up around him, flames of hardened light encroaching over his person. A loud howl released from his lungs that shook the remaining half of the island and thrashed the air with the force of his own voice.
Then, he moved.
It was a solar streak to Jaco's eyes when he perceived him ramming his head into Chi-Chi's guard. In the instant that he had done so, she had flashed her crimson mantle into the body of a phantom bull, tanking the hit and splintering in a cracked effigy of its momentary glory. A follow-up punch thrashed the young woman across the air, flecks of red light trailing behind her as she arched in the sky.
"Ha! How do you like that?!" Nappa jeered aloud, racing across the sky to chase after the visually flailing woman. A clawed hand pulled back, thrusting it to stab at her upper body, aiming to eviscerate her beyond recognition.
And, then he felt an enormous gale in the sky strike him point blank.
Unable to mount a verbal retort, he'd see himself thrown back away from her, making a distinct sight of a leaf-shaped fan of red-etching and brown-threaded handle with a red furred tip.
"What are you-?"
"HA!" Chi-Chi shouted aloud, thrashing the Bashōsen in an arching sweep across the sky. This time, instead of a forceful wind, a strong updraft hurled up within the Sun-filled heavens. Within it came a black cloud, rumbling and quaking the air with its ominous presence that blotted out the constant Sunlight that was so ever-present on this world. Bulma blinked, Tights gaped and Jaco gawked while Aspara looked on with confusion with Nappa; while Vegeta's eyes narrowed.
"And with this," She began to say, raising the fan over her head, she hurled it downward with a successive sweep down at the airborne Nappa. "I'LL BRING DOWN THE THUNDER!"
As if one cue, a flash of light crossed their retinas and a hail-storm of lightning forked out to hit the Saiyan in the face.
"AH! GAH! FRACK!" He cried out in pain, following up with another bolt, and another. Each one grew in veracity as giant chunks of ice soon pelted him repeatedly with a forceful gale that shot out of the magically conjured cloud. Grimacing, he flexed his hand out and unleashed a massive pulse of light that erased the cloud, a thunderclap of yellow shining over everyone's heads.
A sudden explosion of pain caused him to lurch forward, the sight of Chi-Chi's feet slamming two ghostly crimson bull hooves into his armored stomach. Repeatedly kicking into his abdomen over and over, she'd whirl the Bash-sen to release the force of its wind-conjuring into his face. Grasping a hold of his turned ear, she'd haul herself up over him in a vaulting motion, releasing another swing at the back of his naked scalp, forming a cloud directly over his body. Leaping out of its recesses of affect, she pulled up and whipped the fan once more; causing the cloud to unleash its fury upon him within its darkened embrace.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Nappa howled from within, his body electrocuted, whipped and slashed upon by the elemental fury of this magical conjuring. Gritting his teeth, he bolstered as much force as he could from his core and then released it. The resulting explosion ripped open the cloud, and even sent Chi-Chi reeling in the sky by the shockwave alone.
Hanging in the air, Nappa looked like a mess. His armor had already been partially mangled thanks to Zarbon, but now his pauldrons were torn off from the successive elemental strikes and his abdomen looked marred from repeated hits from the woman's unusual form of attacks. Steam rose off his body as he evaporated the moisture he was immersed in; yellow light soon petering off his pores as angry eyes glared towards a stunned Chi-Chi hanging in the air who held her Bashōsen in a tentative grip.
"Tch, it didn't do nearly enough," Chi-Chi hissed under her breath. "I thought this would help even the odds; but did it even do anything?"
"You're...making me...mad!" Nappa began to snarl aloud, his mouth opening to reveal a cauldron of sickly colored light. Rearing his head back, he spewed it outward, unleashing a column of light straight at her.
In the face of certain death, Bulma saw something incredible happen. Instead of attempting to evade or freezing up in fear, the mountain princess pulled back the fan and hurtled it just bare millimeters in front of the super-heated head of the ki wave. Impossibly the pyre of luminous fire flowed around in an arc, channeling its fury in an instant straight back at the source of its discharge.
"W-W-WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-!" Nappa screamed aloud, much to the surprise of his Saiyan cohorts below as the full force of his explosive energy detonated in a plume of gold in the sky.
"Did she just," Aspara blinked, watching the flames sit within the sky, crackling with a petering column of smoke that ebbed within the sky over her head, "bend Nappa's fastest attack?"
"I told you to not to underestimate her for a reason," The Prince intoned from below.
Heaving in the air, Chi-Chi couldn't help but crack a hint of a smile. Looking down at the leaf-shaped fan, it was an heirloom that she remembered being able to conjure since she started training in martial arts. The magic was the only thing she thought capable of, but her father seemed adamant in knowing how it worked as it once was in the possession of his former teacher Muten Roshi.
"With this," She thought with a gleam of envy shone down at Bulma's stunned face. "I can finally get to Son, and have him repay me with that favor-!"
In her moment of breaking concentration, a smoking silhouette slammed into her. Without her energy raised, she was powerless to stop a massive tree trunk sized arm from lariating her across her midsection. Spewing out blood, she felt her ribs creak beneath her toned abdomen and her body was sent slamming into the island below.
"CHI-CHI!" Tights cried out.
"Don't-!" Bulma called out, failing to grasp her sister's hand as the blonde rushed towards the crater she was embedded into.
She didn't get more than twelve steps ahead before a smoking figure stomped between them. Nappa had a scorched breastplate, practically crumbling away by the heat of his own attack. The guards on his arms dissolved to ash, showing bloodied lacerations underneath. Despite some burns that showed over his arms and legs, his face was unmarked, showing that he had managed to brace himself at the last second.
"No more tricks left, huh?" Nappa jeered with a cruel smile on his face, his neck angling to look down at Tights. "Why not just lie back and give me our Dragon Ball before I pulverize you?"
Shaking in place, Tights took a trembling step back, taken aback by his sheer size. A monster unlike any other had survived an explosion of such a magnitude. How could they survive this, if not even the fearsome Chi-Chi do little against him. Bulma was petrified in place, and Jaco couldn't do more than hold a fighting stance without moving an inch.
And then, a roaring meteor of teal-colored light crashed into the submerged side of the island in a powerful blast of steam and kinetic impact. The titanic power lurched the island upward, causing Tights to stumble forward and slide between Nappa's massive legs towards the crater of Chi-Chi's making. When she tumbled inside, she'd see the woman rasping for breath as she'd try to get up, only for her to flop onto her -much to the mountain princess's chagrin-. The pair could see over the lip of the half-formed island the sight of a bestial nightmare standing there, wreathed in bluish crackling energy, a bulbous snout protruded with teeth spread in a deranged grin.
"VEGETA!" Zarbon howled with fury, much to Vegeta's amusement. Turning to face him the Prince saw the visibly disheveled toad-man point a finger at him, making Nappa and Aspara flinch in painful memory of what he did to them with bare effort. The blue blooded Saiyan didn't share their fear, as a haughty smirk spread on his face with his arms unfurled to face the wrathful glaring lieutenant of Freeza. "YOU'VE DONE IT NOW, PRINCE! NOW I'M GOING TO RIP THOSE LEGS OF YOURS OFF SO YOU CAN BE EVEN MORE BENEATH ME!"
"Ah, Zarbon," Vegeta spoke with a mirthful sigh, shaking his head with eyes closed. "You didn't even deal the final blow when Tullece hit me from behind. What makes you think you can stand a chance against me now?"
Eyes twitched violently upon his bulbous visage.
Zarbon had enough with the arrogant snot's attitude.
He had enough with Saiyans!
A horrid roar was released from his lungs as he swung his fist around to hit the Saiyan where he stood-
-only for him to evaporate from his gaze entirely.
"W-What?" He croaked out, looking around to try and spot the prince.
"You fool," Vegeta spoke above him, urging the toad-man to look up. He was now 'standing' in the sky with arms limp at his sides and his smirk unchanged on his face. "I'm not even fully healed of my wounds and I can tell. As of now, my power is superior to yours. You stand no chance of defeating me."
"Is that," Zarbon began to sneer, revving up an orb of teal-colored light into his left meaty palm. Then, he thrust it outward with a finishing word that unleashed a coral-colored ki wave straight at his aerial form. "SO?!"
Without even batting an eye, Vegeta's worn-gloved hand slapped the encroaching head of energy aside, sending it veering straight into the horizon to explode in a dome of destructive luminescence. The hot wind that came wafting over them, bringing Vegeta's dark hair swirling to the side, a look of dawning horror expressed onto Zarbon's face.
"J-Just wait a second," Zarbon raised his hands up, his voice croaking aloud to show a sense of desperation, his face ebbing sweat that manifested within seconds. "L-Let's not do a-anything hasty! I-I can help you! Together...w-we can bring down Freez-ULK!"
Instantly, a piercing beam of light shot straight through Zarbon's mouth, escaping out the other side of his bloated neck in a streak of yellow light.
"Hilarious," Vegeta grimly spoke without a smile on his face while holding a smoking finger-gun that had fired the kikoha. Eyes glared down at him with a brow knitted glare poised at Zarbon's choking, dilated expression of gurgling horror. "Freeza's most loyal lackey was so afraid for his life that he'd turn on his master in a heartbeat. I guess you're as ugly inside as you are on the outside, aren't you, Zarbon?"
Choking on blood that escaped his hideous mouth in convulsing fountain of blood and ichor, the green-haired creature fell to his knees while clutching at his neck with both hands. Going into spasms on the ground, the prince lowered himself to the slanted earth, watching him slowly choke to death. When his bulging eyes looked up at him, he couldn't suppress a dark smile as he raised a boot to hover over Zarbon's face.
"I'd thank your coworker for letting me out," He chuckled out, slamming his heel straight into the toad-man's reptilian face with a sickening crunch. "Killing you makes it worth playing his game; for now."
Zarbon wouldn't be able to hear Vegeta's last words, only focusing on the last incriminating sentence before his entire skull was fractured. In a shower of blood, his eyes rolled back as his body was sent flying back into the lake beyond in a shattering immersion into its crystalline depths. The last remnants of his consciousness vied for blood, screaming in anguish at his last ebbs of life wasted so wistfully; and how he was played so easily by the one person he distrusted the most.
"Damn you...Tullece!"
The last of Freeza's elite soldiers had been slain.
A stiff silence followed the death of Zarbon; Chi-Chi, Bulma, Jaco, and Tights all gaped in horror at how easily Vegeta had completely destroyed Zarbon. As if the situation could get any worse, Vegeta had become stronger than he'd been before. Bulma was quivering in fear; she'd seen, displayed in her eyes, a combat strength reading from Vegeta which had breached 60,000 and then some. Zarbon's reading — 45,000 — had stood absolutely no chance. The strongest person with them was Chi-Chi, whose combat strength reading — Bulma flickered her eyes towards the ebony-haired martial artist — was 15,000.
They stood no chance.
Vegeta exhaled softly; a mixture between a sigh of relief and a moan of ecstasy. Standing up to his full, rather unimpressive height, Vegeta shook the remains of Zarbon's guts off his gloved hands. "Ridding this world of Zarbon has left me in a very good mood," he said, a grin plastered onto his face. "I'm going to give you lot a chance; give us your Dragon Ball, and your lives will be spared. Continue with this futile resistance—" His onyx eyes stared directly into Chi-Chi's matching orbs "—and I will kill all of you."
Chi-Chi gripped the Bashōsen firmly in her palms, fully prepared to use it. "Do you think that we're just going to cave—"
"Alright."
A voice cut Chi-Chi off directly, and it was to the surprise of many that the acquiescence of surrender did not come from Jaco, but Bulma. The lavender-haired woman had picked up the basketball-sized orb that Tights acquired, and rolled it cautiously towards the Saiyan trio. The sphere was picked up by Nappa, who tucked it underneath his arm with a widening sneer. "Looks like one of you has a brain, eh?!" He glanced pointedly at Chi-Chi. "You should thank your friend, girlie. Or are you suicidal?"
"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Chi-Chi snarled at Bulma. "Have you lost your mind, giving them the Dragon Ball!?"
"Lost my mind?" Bulma repeated, incredulous. "Are you trying to die? There's a fine line between bravery and stupidity; we didn't come here to die, we came here to save our friends!" Lowering her voice, she hissed. "Just giving them the Dragon Ball does nothing. If you'd just be patient, we'll be able to work around this!"
"I do hope you don't think I'm a fool" interjected Vegeta. "Please don't think I'm so stupid as to believe you only have our Dragon Ball. If you want to ensure your continued existence from us, we will be leaving with both Dragon Balls." Vegeta's statement was followed by a pregnant pause; Bulma, her face set, muttered towards Jaco, issuing him an order to fetch the other Dragon Ball from the depths of their aquatic base. Aspara watched Jaco carefully, the alien returning as quickly as he could with the Dragon Ball, and, like Bulma moments before, rolling it towards the Saiyans to keep his distance.
Aspara stopped it with a foot, picking it up and tucking it under her arms. Her group were now in possession of two Dragon Balls; Freeza had the other five. If she could simply keep these two away from Freeza, simultaneously keeping Vegeta away from Freeza's own set of Dragon Balls, neither party would get their wish. Her father would be — as much as the thought turned her stomach — pleased, and whatever he was planning, may very well get away with.
"You've made smart decisions," Vegeta said, his shoulders shaking in mirth. "Zarbon's dead. We've acquired two Dragon Balls. And I feel more alive than I have in years!" He was no longer able to repress his elation; laughter erupted from his throat, unsettling Tights, Bulma, Jaco, and even Nappa and Aspara to a degree. Only one person was not intimidated. Only one person stood, affronted by the exchange that had just occurred. Gripping the Bashōsen tightly in both hands, Chi-Chi howled in rage.
"YOU'RE NOT LEAVING HERE WITH THOSE DRAGON BALLS!" Swinging the fan, Chi-Chi released torrential, gale-force winds from her leaf-shaped fan. Rushing winds pounded away at the ground beneath them, causing it to split, cracking under the pressure. Nappa and Aspara felt the force of nature bear its weight down on them, the ocean beginning to churn from the sheer strength of the wind. Yet a follow-up technique did not come. Curiously, the wind pressure receded, amidst the sound of spluttering.
"Thank you for reminding me," Vegeta had closed the distance between himself and the girl in a matter of moments, the intensity of the winds disregarded; his fist was logged firmly into her stomach. The fan had fallen from Chi-Chi's hands, her eyes as large as saucers, irises contracting, pupils dilating. "I owe you for Earth, don't I, woman?" Shouts of horror mingled from Chi-Chi's companions, yet she could only stagger, unable to defend herself when Vegeta raised his other hand to her face, palm glowing vibrant with ki—
A sudden shock jolted through Vegeta akin to ice-water. His skin prickled, and hair stood on end; it was clear he was the only one who felt it. Aspara and Nappa both lacked scouters, and he noticed that, for as tricky as Chi-Chi seemed to be, she lacked the ability to sense ki, as he could. The only other person who noticed anything was Bulma. Both she and Vegeta were staring off into the same direction on the horizon; Vegeta feeling the sudden increase of ki that certainly couldn't come from a native, and Bulma seeing numbers increase before decreasing in the HUD her eyes displayed.
Dread froze Bulma's heart solid. She knew was lay off in the direction they were both looking, the only cause of this disturbance would be her daughter and Kuririn, off to the far edge of the planet with that elderly Nameccian. And now Vegeta knew something was amiss.
"What...was...that?" Vegeta asked slowly, his eyes focused entirely away from Chi-Chi and the others now. His body turned, curiosity piqued. "That strength can't be from the natives of this planet...I haven't felt a ki that strong since we landed on this rock."
"Should we go check it?" asked Nappa, who hadn't felt it, but was more than willing to take Vegeta's word for it. "If it's someone strong enough to catch yer attention, we may need to kill 'em."
The Prince deliberated. With the two Dragon Balls in hand, he didn't have any need to be here anymore. Killing this lot would be pointless now...and there was someone far stronger on the horizon that could prove to be a completely new variable. "Nappa, Aspara, we're going. I can feel a powerful ki at one of the further ends of the planet."
With a sinister chuckle, Nappa grinned. "Alright! Let's beat it!"
"...I still think we should kill them, but fine," Aspara glowered at Chi-Chi specifically, but did not argue with Vegeta. "You all lucked out, but if we run into you again, you won't get the Prince's mercy. I'll cut you all down without hesitation."
Plumes of ki erupted around the three Saiyans, varying in hue and shade. Without an aside glance to Bulma and her group, Vegeta, Nappa, and Aspara rocketed into the horizon. Bulma cursed herself internally for her lack of foresight. "Why did I prioritise the Scouter before some sort of propulsion mechanic...!" She bemoaned the situation entirely. "I can't even follow the bastard, and he's headed right for Pan!"
Chilling realisation dawned on the entire group; even Chi-Chi, who couldn't bring herself to despise the child, in spite of what the young girl represented, felt the dread creep up her body. If Vegeta wanted to fight Pan, there wouldn't be any getting out of it. She gnashed her teeth, wrestling with her own internal conscience. The fan clutched within her hands began to feel heavy. "Keep your head on," Chi-Chi muttered, refusing to meet Bulma's eyes. "That little bald monk is more dependable than you think." Ki erupted around her body, and without another word, Chi-Chi sped off in the direction of the Nameccian Elder's home.
She wouldn't let the child die, though she would never tell this to Bulma.
Nameccian Elder's Shrine, Namek
Amazement.
That was the only word that could describe what Kuririn was feeling at this moment. His plan having gone successfully, the former monk had taken Pan with him to the Nameccian Elder's home at the furthest reaches of the planet. To his great relief, the Nameccian Elder had agreed to do to Pan what he had done to Kuririn and Chi-Chi — use his powers to draw out and magnify Pan's innate gifts. Soft white flames licked Pan's body, having before been a rush of white conflagration which had since settled. Yet Kuririn couldn't deny her power boost had been tremendous; was she as strong as Vegeta had been on Earth? Stronger?
"This isn't fair..." He chuckled weakly. "Saiyan genetics really are broken, you're not even five!"
The young halfling didn't know how to explain it. She had thought she was strong when Mr. Piccolo and Uncle Raditz had trained her, but this...this was different. The old Nameccian man, when he'd placed his hand on her head, triggered something and she felt a sudden rush of power, followed by immense clarity, rather than ego. The young girl frowned, trying to find the words. "You pulled something out from my tummy, and it spread throughout my entire body!"
"You could consider it that way, young one," agreed the Nameccian Elder. "You surprise me...for one so young, you possesses a wealth of power underneath. What I drew out was a mere fragment, only what I could access now." Inclining his head towards Kuririn, he inquired, "And you referred to her as a Saiyan? I have not yet met a Saiyan with such strength. Though," he hesitated, as if he considered it something he ought not to tell, yet continued onward, "Saiyan history tells of Saiyans with powers out of the ordinary. The most prominent in their history is that of the Legendary Super Saiyan."
"The Legendary Super Saiyan?" Pan and Kuririn spoke in unison. It wasn't a term that either one of them at heard before.
"Some refer to this Legendary Saiyan as a God. Some refer to them as a Demon. The tales of these unique Saiyans are dotted throughout history, and the arrival of every Legendary Super Saiyan has been marred by sparks of turmoil in the history of the Saiyan race," The Nameccian Elder explained grimly. "It is believed that a Legendary Super Saiyan emerges once every thousand years, and represents the pinnacle of the Saiyan warrior race."
"And you think Pan is this mad warrior of legend?" Kuririn asked, slight incredulity in his voice.
"It is a theory," replied Elder. "Nothing more. Super Saiyans are anomalies in the long history of the Saiyan race, and this young girl's strength is an anomaly in and of itself."
"So you really are a little weirdo," mused Kuririn to an indignant Pan. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding!" He added hastily, catching her affronted eye. "So we mi—" A shudder passed throughout not only Kuririn's body, but Pan, the Nameccian Elder, Nail, and Dende. Kuririn, however, felt it first, rushing towards the door and throwing himself outside. The sensation of dread filled him completely, the bald former monk recognising the ki that all of them now felt barreling down on them.
"I-It's Vegeta!" he stammered. "Vegeta and his lackeys are coming!"
"Nail..."
"Yes, Grand Elder," replied Nail, without any further need for elaboration. He strode past Dende, Pan, and Kuririn, stepping over the threshold of the Elder's dwelling. Confidently, the Nameccian warrior stood tall, the three invaders descending onto the raised plateau moments after. A silence accompanied their arrival; Nail appraised the three Saiyans, while Vegeta was glancing around the small plateau, evidently looking for something.
"What brings you to this sacred ground, offworlders?" inquired Nail harshly. Just as he did with Kuririn and Chi-Chi when they arrived, he spoke openly in Basic, but his tones were harsh and confrontational. "Make your intentions clear or I will force you to leave!"
"I'd love to see you tr—" Nappa started, only for Vegeta to cut across him by throwing an arm out.
"Don't waste your time, Nappa," Vegeta said. "He may look like trash, but he'll rip your apart. Tell me, Nameccian, were you the cause of that sudden spike in ki I sensed? You seem more capable than the rest of your brethren whose blood has managed to stain my gloves."
Nail gnashed his teeth, baring sharp, vestigial fangs. "You bastard...so you are going around slaughtering our people!?" His eyes fell on the Dragon Balls Aspara and Nappa were carrying, and grew wide. "That Dragon Ball — what happened to the offworlders who had that Dragon Ball?!"
"Were you friends with that little ragtag bunch?" sneered Aspara. "You can breathe easy, slug. They're alive, though only because they got lucky. Everyone here, though, won't be so lucky."
Amidst his rage, Nail felt relief flood his body. The offworlders who had been so earnest and offered their help to the Lord Elder had not perished at the hands of these barbarians. That, in and of itself, was a relief. Unfolding his arms from behind his back, the attendant of the Grand Elder clenched his four fingered fists. "Regardless, I can clearly see that you bring nothing but ill will to this holy place. My duty is to protect the Grand Elder of Namek, and I will lay my life down for that cause!"
Vegeta laughed, a amusement and fury flooding out of his voice in equal measure. "You're confident, green man. But let me assure you, there isn't a single one of your people who can fight me on equal grounds — especially not alone. The moxie is appreciated, but you'd be better off answering my questions."
"He isn't alone!" chirped a small voice. Pan emerged from the house, her burning black eyes furiously glaring at Vegeta. "I've gotten so much stronger now! I can help him fight you!"
"Speaking of guts, look at the brass pair on this shrimp!" jeered Nappa. "What's the matter, midget? Did you gain a confidence boost along with a suicidal rush in that little hut? Or is that Saiyan blood in you finally kickin' in at the wrong time?"
"I don't like mean people like you!" snapped back Pan. "You're the kind of people that Papa fights against! You hurt all of us when you came to Earth!" Her ki began to rise in time with her emotions, a flickering wave of white enveloping the short, lavender-haired child. "I won't forgive any of you!"
Vegeta felt it. The rising of her ki — to what he wagered, if he had to give it a number, was close to 25,000 — tipped him off. "So you were the one, brat. It was your ki I felt. You're starting to feel like a proper Saiyan, brat!"
Kuririn ran outside to see Nail and Pan on the one side. Nappa, Aspara, and Vegeta on the other. The burly man and beautiful woman placed the radiant spheres down onto the grass, preparing to adopt a combat stance. Each party was prepared to fight. A gust of wind, common for such an altitude, rippled through the space between the opposing groups.
"I feel that I should warn you all," came a tired voiced from inside the hut, unfamiliar to the three Saiyans, "that a tremendous power approaches the planet. Now is not the time to fight amongst yourselves..."
Kuririn was the first to look to the sky, his face curious. He felt a massive ki signal rushing through the atmosphere, and the first thing he felt was hope. "Gokū! It has to be Gokū!"
"Yeah!" crowed Pan. "And I think I feel another one! It's Papa and Uncle Raditz! They came!"
"...Were you expecting a party of five?" inquired Nail. "I can feel five ki signatures."
"Five?!"
The cry came from Nappa, Aspara, and Vegeta simultaneously. The Saiyans glanced at each other, and then Vegeta towards the sky. "Five of them...!" He groaned. "It can't be..but must be! It's the Ginyū Special Squadron!"
"The coward Freeza really called the Special Squadron!?" groaned Aspara, rage and frustration lacing her voice. It wasn't simply fear of this so-called Special Squadron that was flooding her body. Her father hadn't banked on something like this, and he was out of commission. Was this a chance for her? Or would the situation just spiral downward? She fought the urge to wring her head in her hands; surviving the Squadron came first.
"Vegeta, what do we do?!" Nappa asked. "It's the Ginyu Special Squadron! They aren't just your average solidiers!"
The Prince whirled on the spot, glaring daggers towards Pan and Kuririn. "Listen, you lot! You're coming with me, now! If any of us want to make it out of this alive, we will have to work together! That purple-headed woman of yours seems clever, and her combat strength is negligible! We'll hide these Dragon Balls with her! Meanwhile, your black-haired friend will lend us a hand!"
"What makes you think we're going to work with you!?" protested Kuririn hotly. "If you haven't noticed, we aren't exactly chums—!"
"Are you daft?!" snapped Vegeta. "The Ginyū Special Squadron are monsters; the bulk of them are stronger than myself and there are five of them!" He stressed the last part for emphasis. "Between myself and Freeza, Freeza is the last person you want getting these Dragon Balls! If you want to make it out of this alive, then follow my orders!"
"But you tried to kill us be—" Kuririn was lifted off the ground by Vegeta, white glove grabbing his gi top.
"Don't make me repeat myself!" snarled the Prince of the Saiyans. "I don't like the idea of working with you all either, but the moment the Ginyu Special Squadron broke through the atmosphere, open discussion ended! If we don't move now, they will find us with their Scouters! Or even worse, Freeza, as they've surely brought him a new model! If you want to live, then we move out now!"
Against Kuririn's better judgement, he nodded, and Vegeta let him down.
So, an unlikely alliance of Earthlings and Saiyans was formed, the new group of five making a mad dash towards the Earthlings' hiding spot.
Freeza's Ship, Namek
Ripping through the atmosphere, five pods, the trademark of the Freeza army, descended towards the large ship owned by the tyrant, Freeza. Each pod landed violently with a crash just outside of the ship, whose hatch opened, revealing the pink Emperor of Evil, Freeza, arriving in his hovercraft. Smirking, Freeza watched as the doors of each pod opened, his eyes narrowing malevolently.
A devilish feeling of delight overtook him. After all of the hassle, his victory was assured now.
A/N:
Demod20:
This was an unexpected addition to the end of this year. A whole new chapter, featuring the arrival of the Ginyu Force at the end of my co-author's section. Naturally the original intention of my half was just another confrontation between Zarbon and Vegeta, but since that fight ultimately boiled down to (I got stronger and thus, you die) the Saiyan Prince who had matched him before is now superior even without a full recovery. So, I thought instead of relenting outright, our most vindictive vixen takes to the field! A return of the Bansho-sen (Bansho Fan to you Dubbers) makes a good comeback and some useful utility to boot. Even though she is outmatched she puts up a good effort, even impressive Vegeta whom had remembered their skirmish in his final stretch on Earth. This was fun to describe the sheer fear of our heroes actually being cornered by these Saiyans, and a brief elation of Chi-Chi's heroism brought to heel till Pan's immediate power-up being more interesting to Vegeta after dispatching Zarbon. Despite how fun it'd be to see the Saiyan Three fight Nail, Kuririn and Pan, the Ginyu Squadron are here and it'll take all of their combined effort to thwart their powers off. Merry Christmas to you all, and have a Happy New Year!
LastationLover5000: Heya, everyone! So Demod and I had begun making a few plans for the story, and we have a firm direction for a lot of its future. This motivated me to get another chapter out, so here we are, with the final chapter before the new year! It's quite something, and chock-full of content! The death of Zarbon, and the arrival of the Ginyū Special Squadron. My section was shorter, but I hope not devoid of anything interesting, even though Demod got to write the fighting! Anyway, I wish you all a Happy Christmas, and a Happy New Year! We'll see you all in January!