Heart of the Adventurers
By LastationLover5000 & Demod20
Chapter 46 - Prinz von Licht
Vegeta has had enough.
He had been trying to lure Tullece out, time and again, finding no success other than set back his empire's progress. He even blew up military bases and shipyards, each time he met little resistance. It took him some time studying the broadcasts and coordination of the enemy, but he figured it out.
Someone on Tullece's end had been feeding him false info of where he is. It angered the prince to think that the current emperor had been simply safe far away each time he came for him. Knowing this, he decided to stay still for a few months of the year he had been training, sabotaging and slaying his way across the Galaxy.
So, then, he found a communication and triangulated the Earthling ship's navcomputer. He had to threaten a specialist in interstellar communications to pull this off, but now he set the machine to work. After a thorough pinging is made for an agonizing set of time, he saw an old name for a world he hadn't been to yet.
King Cold's old capital world.
So, that's where he is! He thought with a dark grin.
Punching in the coordinates, the Saiyan navigated the spherical ship in a streak into hyperspace. As he did so, he walked over to the exit ramp, crossing his arms and glaring at it. He could see the Emperor, likely having got fat with power from the worlds he's planted trees at. And with it, the loss of Battle Sense vital for a Saiyan to survive.
I haven't lost an ounce of my prowess, Tullece! You'll soon see who is the rightful ruler of the Galaxy!
Time slowed as he locked himself into a mental space. In the darkness, Vegeta rigorously fought the monster that took his life on Namek. He may have gotten a second chance, but it'll mean nothing if he can't destroy his foe.
Once and for all.
Launching at him, he tried every strategy he could think of. Rushing him, throwing caution to the wind. Being guarded, holding back to let counters be his tool. Even using the environment to his advantage.
Every time, something happened where Tullece deals him a mortal blow. It frustrated Vegeta, each time he opened his eyes to see the ramp still hadn't opened.
And every time, he found his fingers trembling across his arms he crossed.
"Am I…afraid?" He asked himself out loud, knowing he was all alone. None to judge or support.
Tullece is one of a kind, not necessarily more skilled or more powerful than the Saiyans that came before. But his cunning, intelligence and patience made him among the most dangerous. Because of his plotting, he overthrew an all-powerful empire made by Cold and his offspring; and survived the Super Saiyan.
"No!" Vegeta yelled out, unfurling his arms, hands clenching into tightly squeezing fists. "I am the rightful ruler of the cosmos, not Tullece! It is my destiny! Super Saiyan or not, I'll cast him down from his throne with my two hands," he seethed, feeling the ship finally slip out of hyperspace, the computer chiming in about the ETA.
"He'll wish Kakarrot killed him on Namek when I'm through with him," He declared, the ship landing with a loud vibration.
Alarms blared throughout the facility. An intruder had landed at the port designs for spherical vessels such as the atypical Attack Pods. A slew of men in battle jackets ran out, arm mounted ki blasters at the ready. As the door opened with a ramp of stairs extended down, they all saw a silhouette slowly unveiled by the spotlights shining down on the Capsule Spacecraft.
"I-It can't be!" The leader of the squad, Pine, said, bulbous eyes widening from a conical shaped head with a variety of violet spots over yellow skin. "V-Vegeta, is that you?!"
"I have come to take what is rightfully mine," Vegeta said, descending the ramp slowly as he fixed a stoic glare at the squad of soldiers. "Stand aside, less I have to go through a pile of limbs."
"Everyone, pull back!" Pine said, the other soldiers rushing back inside the facility.
The Prince laughed. It seemed too easy, but he expected as such from the dozens of encounters he's had with the Tullece Army. They may have a new leader, but the mere sight of him invoked terror from the memory of what kind of power Saiyans possessed.
Any that hadn't learned from the past were given a life ending education.
With a purposefully casual stride, he entered the vast facility. Its halls were large, corridors reaching at least a distance of forty to fifty meters in any direction, and the ceilings were about nearly five meters in height. It made sense, given the stature of the late King Cold had made enough visits that structural changes were designed to accommodate him.
Closing his eyes, he tapped into his ki sense. Among the multitude of life signs that persisted about him, he sensed a handful that had incredible strength. Four had the distinct multitude of presences that bore the unnerving feeling the life sucking tree gave off; and only one of them is above and beyond the strongest.
Found you!
Grinning to himself, Vegeta took a single step forward.
Swish-Ziiiiiiiiiiiiip!
The next step took him just where he assumed the old throne room Cold presided. Having swiftly maneuvered through the spacious maze of a facility thanks to his ki sense, he kept his own aura subdued till he reached doors.
Raising a boot, he kicked the doors with a loud gong, sending them flying off their hinges, crashing along the long floor with sparks and skid marks made across an impeccable surface of marble. There he saw his target, sitting upon a now Saiyan sized throne appropriate for his stature. Beside him, he saw two figures he didn't recognize.
One is a tall bipedal reptilian species. He didn't quite remember their name, but he swears he hasn't seen one dressed and standing the way this one did. He also has a strange presence, one that gives off a pressure to the air just being in his proximity.
The other, who had been showing a datapad to Tullece's eyes to see, appeared to be a slender Limean. White hair adorned in an effeminate style, with pure emerald skin, the lithe figure turned about quickly and stares with an uncanny knowing of his arrival. And based on the science department uniform, Vegeta assumed this is one of Tullece's scientists.
"Took you long enough, Vegeta," The Saiyan Emperor said mockingly, a smile stretched across his olive skinned lips. Black eyes stared at the prince appraisingly, taking in what he is allowed to feel is a massive increase of power since the last time he saw him. He didn't show anything past his smile, gesturing to the androgynous figure to his left. "You probably don't remember Arino, but he's among my finest staff within the Science Department. He's been an immense help, keeping you far away from me until I wished to deal with you."
"What's the matter, Tullece? Did that tree give you a case of cowardice when you realized I clawed my way from the grave?" Vegeta sneered with a grin, his feet walking into the large throne room.
The Prince remembered as a child, how he tread in a room such as this back on his home planet. There had been a column of Saiyans standing in bright ceremonial decals upon their armor, paying respect to the heir to the throne as he walked up to his father.
Now he approached a different monarch, one who twisted the meaning of Saiyan royalty to suit his own means.
"I chose to prioritize stability of my empire over a grudge match with a dead man," Tullece replied with a shrug, leaning his face against an upraised fist, elbow cocked along the armrest of his seat. "Dealing with you has its risks, but none that could ever end with me losing my life."
"Bold words coming from the Saiyan who couldn't kill the Legendary Super Saiyan," Vegeta spat with a glare.
Tullece twitched, his smile gone. The Saurian aid looked over at him, raising a scaled brow as saw the Saiyan Emperor's arm resting hand curl into a tight fist.
"That's one way of looking at it," Tullece smoothly spoke, eyes staring at the prince as he came up to a handful of meters to him. "But if you saw the news over the last year, I defeated the Super Saiyan and killed Cold, ending his legacy. It doesn't matter what you say, prodigal son of a dead race. I am the Emperor and you are a relic of an archaic people. It's time things changed for the better," he stood up, his cape flourishing around him as he stepped down the steps leading to his throne to where Vegeta stood. Looking down at him, eye to eye, Tullece speech quieted, black orbs coolly meeting the prince. "I meant what I said on Namek. If you join me now, I'll make a place for you in the new Saiyan Empire. Your strength will be valued and appreciated."
A wad of spit struck Tullece's face.
Tullece twitched, a false smile breaking across his face as he reached up to wipe away the offensive stain on his scarred face.
"Go to Hell, Tul-"
THUUM!
The Emperor struck faster than Vegeta could perceive, the force shaking the spacious chamber. The blow across to his face sent him spinning, shoulder crashing into a marble pillar - shattering it to dust before becoming embedded into the wall adjacent to the entrance.
Vegeta grimaced, opening his eyes dazed. He may have not expected it, his own power lowered, but he didn't expect to be stunned so easily.
"Consider that a warning," Tullece remarked, his voice coolly focused and his temper reined in from a moment's lapse of outburst. "Kneel before me in apology and I'll show mercy."
Vegeta's brow throbbed.
"Mercy is for the weak!" Vegeta howled, his body wrenching free of the wall, warping it and the ground around him in a howling gale of igniting plasma. His eyes vanishing, teeth bared, a familiar dark Sun hue burned outward, his hair tinged a deep red.
Catapulting across the air in a streak of flame, Vegeta's wrathful form struck at Tullece - a fist caught in a palm, unleashing a bristling pressure that sank the immaculate floor downwards in disjointed cracks.
"You've gotten stronger, that much is clear," The Emperor said, grinning with excitement. Bending the fist back, a virulent purple wave rose upwards, his cape flourishing with his hair under his own power.
"But so have I!" He proclaimed with sadistic glee, snapping the wrist back with a crunch.
Vegeta sneered, his numbness to pain allowing him not to feel the shock of his injury. Instead, he pulled an arm back, coiling it with power and threw it forth with an immediate blast of yellow light into his upper body.
A swipe of the arm and the kikoha soared away, piercing the ceiling with a fiery explosion that speared straight through the facility and into the night sky. Throwing Vegeta aside, he flashed a boot straight into the tumbling Saiyan, careening him through the throne room wall with a crash.
"Arino, may you be a dear and retrieve me the latest sample of our project?" Tullece asked.
The scientist eyed the hole, then back to his esteemed leader. Clearing his throat, he bowed his head and wordlessly departed; far more quickly than any Scientist ought to.
"My lord, is that wise?" Zard inquired, his voice ebbing into the room as soon as the Limean left.
"My project is meant to bend the untameable into being subservient," Tullece remarked, crossing his arms and facing the Saurian fully. "This is what it's meant for! When I bring Vegeta under my heel, not even my nephews will be able to stand against my authority."
"To use such a means in the heat of battle is outside its designed purpose of it being in a sterile lab," Zard proclaimed, scaled eyes furrowing at the entrance of the throne room. "Yet, Arino must have known that. Why not say anything?"
Tullece didn't have time to answer.
Vegeta burst through the wall, making a new hole as he held a pair of golden orbs in each hand. He hurtled them both at the Emperor, each one batted aside with a single hand as the Saiyan became engulfed in a thick purple light. Forward flipping to land a boot to the raised arm, the ground splintering in a rise of dust and electrical cables that sparked wildly around them.
Leaping backwards, he flickered back in an instant charge that met Tullece's guard. Hand chopped to the ground with a vicious smack into the cracking floor, Vegeta rolled away from a stomping foot. Jumping up from all fours, the prince spun around to kick at Tullece's arm, watching him not budge.
Grasping his extended appendage, Vegeta felt himself hauled in with a vicious palm heel thrust into his jaw, snapping his head back in a blow that left his ears ringing. Spouting blood, he ground his teeth together, pulling his arms back behind his head.
Then threw them at Tullece's face.
An explosion detonated over the Emperor's head, his body reeling backwards, arms wobbling with unsteady legs. Dropping to the ground, Vegeta himself found his own knees buckled, finding it hard to stand at all after the last blow he received.
Had I not transformed, I might have blacked out from the pain! The Prince realized, his steaming mouth oozing boiling blood onto the crumbled floor below him.
"That was a very good hit, Vegeta," Tullece complimented, the smoke wafting off his face, a trickle of blood escaping his nostrils and lips with small signs of burns surrounding his mostly unfazed visage. Wiping away the leaking ichor, he chuckled as he saw Vegeta stagger towards him. "Unfortunately, it doesn't seem you can keep that up like you did on Namek."
"D-Damn," Vegeta's eyes returning, the ferocity of his aura already starting to wane. He realized he burned too much energy withstanding the hits he's had. A critical weakness, but what else did he have to match Tullece?
"It seems if the damage your body receives is too great, it shaves the power off each time it tries to reinforce it," Tullece deduced, placing his hands on his hips confidently. "A shame. I started to get a little excited for this rematch of ours, too."
At that, Vegeta sneered, growling out with another burst of dark yellow flames. Blasting debris away, he launched off with another leap, a gloved fist slamming into a raised gauntlet.
This time, the Emperor felt himself pushed back, his cape fluttering back as he widened his eyes as Vegeta swung another fist.
Then another.
And a hundred more.
A storm of gloved fists soared into his arms. The Emperor's eyes glinted rings of violet, a crazed smile stretching across his scarred face. His arms snaked out, moving faster than the fists did, deflecting them with superb parries. Lightning sprouted from the contact strikes, the throne room shaking violently under the strain of the two's attacks.
Amidst the storm of blows, the Emperor's fist slipped past Vegeta's hurtling arms, slamming up the smaller Saiyan's chest and stretching out his back. The blow dispersed the prince's aura, his mouth agape and his eyes barely focused as his vision blurred.
"You had me taking you seriously for a moment there," Tullece remarked, pulling his arm back. "But it's over now."
With nothing holding Vegeta upright, the Saiyan fell to his knees with a breathless look of pained shock clearly shone on his features.
Turning his gaze to the entrance, he saw Arino deftly slide down into the pit that was the throne room's main hall. She held up a sealed metal covered tube, a yellow handle that looked to be the way to open it.
"Your place at my side will happen, prince," Tullece stated, seeing the Saiyan weakly turn his bloodied face to glare up at him. His black eyes opened wide with horror, seeing a wriggling fluid escape the tube as it was unsealed. "Your compliance, however, was never a factor."
All at once, a mass of blackish fluid shot out and enveloped his face. He screamed past its veil, his hands trying to pry it off, his face stretching across what felt like tar. Against his will, it slid inside, flowing into his orifices, setting fire to his veins and bringing a chill down his spine.
Once the organism had been ingested, he felt something within throb in his head. The whole of his body twitched and spasmed, his gloved hands trembling at his sides.
Vegeta, that's enough.
His vision saw an empty void, a roar of red birthing a figure ahead of him. There stood a mirror image of him, though this one had red eyes and a calmer expression on his visage.
Like Hell it is! Get out of my body! He cried out into the void.
You'll die at this rate. Let me help you.
The hand stretched out, disturbing him. Growling, his phantom self's glove slapped it away.
Help me? I need no one! He spat.
At the rate you are going, you'll die, and so will your entire bloodline! Is that what you want?
Vegeta didn't answer. The voice within spoke truth, and pain seeped into every part of his muscles. He hadn't realized just how little he managed to rest since these past few months of preparing for this fight. Now that he's here, it has been all for naught.
Worse, Tullece held back and still managed to defeat him.
Was his method really able to work? Is he going to simply die, and be tossed out without a single soul to know of his last attempt for glory?
The glory of the Saiyans died with your father. Even you know that the rest of your race was doomed to die. What are you even fighting for beyond claiming an empire devoid of your own people?
The voice rebuked, saying what he already had argued with himself in the past. A part of him he bottled up and kept secret.
I…don't know… He rasped out, looking at the floor within the void.
All is not lost. Let me save you. Eventually you'll gain the power you want. The likes of which you never even dreamed of.
He heard this convincing argument in the past. He even wondered what could have happened if he ate the fruit. Would he be mighty, stronger than he ever could have hoped for?
Perhaps… He mused quietly.
Lord Tullece will spare you, I know this. We need to simply apologise and-
And that's when Vegeta's eyes shot wide within the darkness. A rage began to boil over, his phantom self's person burning a bright white that swallowed the blackness around him.
Lord? We? He sneered with an angry snarl at his visibly frightened reflection.
Yes, we. Our merging has begun, so it's not like you're going to be able to resi-
Vegeta's phantom hand lanced out, grasping the reflection by the throat.
"I REFUSE!" Vegeta bellowed out, both inside and in the waking world.
What-
"-the Hell?!" Tullece asked with visible shock.
Vegeta's face flashed with bulging veins, teeth gnashing, black eyes flickering red and back to solid onyx. Hands twitched upwards, arms flexing and feet pushing himself slowly upright into a strained standing posture; knees threatened to buckle but he willed himself to remain standing.
"I refuse to be denied my destiny! Not again!" He yelled out, his knees straightening, a flicker of gold flaring out from his back, centered around the bottom of his spine. Unaware of what was transpiring, a wave of yellow light crackled around him, the facility shifting uneasily and the planet deep below shook with an intense vibration.
"You may break my body, Tullece," He rang out, blood spraying out of his mouth, his arms clenching tightly at his sides as he spoke further in determined holler, "and you may try to take my mind with your parasite; but there's one thing a Saiyan should always keep!"
A raise of his arms, his head swung up as his limbs swung down, and a flash of pure gold as he let out a mighty roar.
"HIS PRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDE!"
A pillar of light shot through the roof of the throne room, flaring out in a blinding wave of luminous white, forcing the Emperor to shield his eyes. Arino felt himself flung back, narrowly caught by a scaled hand by Zard before looking on unaffected with a visibly knowing look.
The shaking caught the attention of all in the facility. Soldiers ran about in fear, spoke realizing something is happening but it was outside of their control.
Blinking past the dampening glare, Tullece felt his blood go cold. His throat constricted, his mouth dried as it opened. He took an unconscious step back, his cape flourishing behind him as he took in the yellow fiery aura now christened about the Saiyan Prince.
Blue eyes glared ahead, his body reeling from the transformation, his erect black hair now a set of jagged pale yellow-white locks. His muscles bulged, his wounds receded and his breathing began to normalize.
Heaving heavily, black vapor escaped his mouth, showing the unthinkable to the Emperor.
"You…transformed…and purged the organism?!" He balked, the olive skin paling on the elder Saiyan as he felt himself feel his worst nightmare unfolding before his gaze.
Gripping his hands into fists, he snarled out, his own aura erupting with a shriek, violet-black thrumming around him as his muscles bulked up and his hair went erect. Violet ringed eyes glared angrily at Vegeta, shouting at the prince with fury. "How?! How could you throw away every act of mercy I've shown you?! You and I should be comrades in arms, yet you spurn me at every turn!"
"Mercy is for the weak," Vegeta repeated, his blue eyes burning with focus towards Tullece. "Only a coward uses a parasite to break someone to serve you. But who would serve a snake like you?"
Tullece felt himself lost to anger. In his own reaction to the fear of seeing a Super Saiyan emerge in front of him again, he launched at his foe. The Saiyan Emperor threw a punch, his fist moving with lethal intent.
Meeting the Prince's, the shockwave blasting apart the throne room in a blaze of heat and jagged lightning. Violet overlapping with gold, the two's fists connecting in a resistance of sheer force of two overwhelming powers.
One endowed by the fruit of the Shinseijū, and the other a fulfillment of an ancient prophecy. As the two clashed, a dome is erected of mirrors over Zard and Arino, the pair spectating the fierce flashes of light coming off the two. Arino's eyes kept wide with a stunned expression while Zard watched in his usual stoic self.
Blasting away from each other, the Emperor threw out a hand, unleashing a flurry of kikoha, lancing out like missiles that further tore across his own facility in molten blasts of ki. Vegeta deftly avoided them, shimmering around each projectile, bounding back with an orb of blue held over his head.
"HRAH!" He shouted, annihilating the ground below in a massive rolling fireball. The upheaval surged outward, peeling the metal spheres and elongated necks of the structures like tin foil, rippling out in a blast that nearly annihilated everything in its wake. What lied beneath the thrumming feet of Vegeta is a distended crater, with a small partition of the base where he parked his ship.
Save for a singular standing part of tiled earth that Tullece stood upon, a gauntlet raised burned with sizzling heat in shielding himself. As the smoke emerged with Zard and Arino spectating, the pair saw the Super Saiyan coolly glare down at a mutually scowling Tullece.
"I'm surprised you can deflect such power, Tullece," Vegeta remarked, raising a hand to prime another swelling ball of ki in front of his gloved palm. "But it doesn't matter. Now that I'm a Super Saiyan, your defeat is assured. I'll make quick work of your cheap counterfeit for strength."
"Super Saiyan," Tullece sneered, his aura roaring to life with a ferocious gale of purplish-black light. "You stand before an Emperor. I've already made you fall on your knees once; now it's time to make you bow!"
The Saiyan Legend fired off another orb, this one launching with shrieking sound in its wake. Tullece phased out view, the tall mound of earth eradicated in a thunderous blast of fiery light.
Reappearing above Vegeta, Saiyan Saber formed around his arm, he struck down at the glowing Saiyan's neck. Raising an arm clad in bright ki, the saber was deflected with an electric spark on contact. Twisting around, Vegeta swung his opposite hand with a clenched fist to flail into a raised arm with a thuum!
Kicking out, Tullece whiffed, the Super Saiyan vaulting backwards in an acrobatic maneuver; slamming both knees into the back of his head. Thrown out by the fierce blow that rattled his skull, the Emperor's eyes bulged and teeth gnashed angrily. Swinging an arm around in a spray of white light, he found Vegeta arcing under it, ascending up with a lancing elbow straight into his chin, followed up with a grinding knee of sparking yellow straight up his chest, searing his armor and producing a spout of blood from his nostrils and mouth.
The Saiyan Prince slammed a fist, an elbow, a knife chop and a palm heel across the Emperor's face, each hit producing a sparking blaze of light across the heavens of the planet below. Throwing a kick across the head, Vegeta lashed out the same boot in a salvo of blows to the galactic ruler's visage.
Lurching back, Tullece rebounded with a bloody smile, startling the prince enough to back away.
"What's wrong, Vegeta?!" He crowed out, his aura screaming out in a blaze of wails; echoing the life forms and ecosystems his body has absorbed. "You've shed my blood, and got your licks in! I do believe it's my turn!"
Something isn't right, The Prince thought, eyes staring with unease. He should be dead with the amount of force I'm putting into these blows. Yet he's laughing! Is he mocking me?!
"Why not come closer, Vegeta?" Tullece asked, eyes shining a pupiless purple glow. His hands raised up, clasping together, forming deliberate hand signs. Ending with two sets of index fingers latched over extended thumbs, the purple flame of his own ki turned a stark black.
Imperial Technique: Pit of Emptiness.
A blackness that spread from his feet and wiped out the surface of the cratered world below and enveloped the whole sky. Vegeta saw Tullece disappear, soon everything in front of him did too, including his own features, the light of his ki, and the sudden reaching hands he knew were there. And for that matter, he couldn't hear anything, nor smeIl.
It's just him and the void.
What's this, Tullece? Another underhanded trick?!
A sudden pain thrashed his chest, another across the face. They were both punches. Grimacing he swung around, unleashing an arc of energy as he did. To no avail, he couldn't even see the hand that attacked nor the light his gloved hand produced.
Another blow dealt to his head, making him feel as if he was falling. Once he hit the sizzling soil, he rolled around in the black. He felt an energy wave come his way, causing him to leap away opposite of it.
Wait.
I can still feel his energy! He realized. A sudden flicker of ki formed behind him, causing the Super Saiyan to throw out his power in that direction. He felt a connection, and the darkness receded; returning the Emperor from the darkness and the sight with it.
"You forget, I could sense that power of yours while you wailed at me!" Vegeta snapped, wiping away a streak of blood from his own mouth.
"Can't blame me for trying," Tullece remarked, wincing at the burn across his jaw from the last shot he felt hit him. "But I'm still getting used to using mana. Once I perfect it, it won't break so easily."
"Mana?" Vegeta asked with an incredulous tone. "You've been seeking out sorcery since becoming Emperor? Is there no low a warrior like you will sink to?"
"Magic is just one aspect of control, Vegeta," Tullece proclaimed with a smile, his arms spreading outward, face looking up at the night sky. "All aspects of life will be mine to command. Be it natural or unnatural. The New Saiyan Empire will have no equal, and my dynasty will be eter-"
POW!
"I don't care!" Vegeta snarled out, his fist slamming Tullece across the face, sending him soaring across the air. Sailing after him, the prince repeatedly bludgeoned his fist into the face of the emperor. Each time the momentum increased, so did his speed.
The last blow came when Tullece rolled out of reach, his cape whipping up into the Super Saiyan's vision; hiding an elbow that jabbed him square between the eyes.
"Ngh!" He grimaced, his vision offset as Tullece lashed out with a Saiyan Blade. Stepping back, it cut short, the sting producing a splash but little more than a small slit.
"Heh, what was that?" Vegeta asked with a sarcastic grin. "I barely felt that!"
"It's the right kind of cut above the eye," Tullece said, a dark smile present on his bruised, bloodied face. "The kind that bleeds."
As he said that, Vegeta felt the wound pour red into his eye. It stung, and caused his other eye to blink while he used a hand to instinctively remove the ichor out.
In the moment he did, Tullece jabbed his upraised arm in a precise point. Vegeta swung his other fist in counter, spinning the Emperor from the force of it, while his right arm fell numbly to his side.
"What's with it?!" Vegeta hissing, trying to will his arm to move but failing to.
"Don't worry, I only struck the nerve cluster. You should feel it again in a few minutes," Tullece remarked, wincing as he stood back upright in a cape flourishing spin to face Vegeta once more. "But this fight should be over soon."
"When did you learn how to fight like this?" Vegeta asked, clutching his immobile arm while trying to think of another strategy. "You're not one to suddenly shift your way of fighting so quick. Have you actually been training since becoming Emperor?"
"In part, I'm reclaiming the old part of me I've lost touch with," Tullece answered, raising up a flat palm with a thumb tucked over it pointed ahead, while the other pressed against his side as a flat palm as facing upwards. Front knee bent forward and the other slightly bent back, the Saiyan exhaled slowly out of his mouth while inhaling through his nostrils.
"It's taken me awhile, but I've finally mastered what my Master Moorsh taught me; the last true Saiyan I've ever known!"
"Who?"
Tullece leaped forth, his movement swifter, shunting into Vegeta's space. Jabbing the knuckles into Vegeta's gash, spiking the pain in a spray of blood, allowing a follow-up combo of palm curled blows into his chest. Each one brought out excruciating pain, eyes bulging and the Super Saiyan staggering back from the flurry of blows.
Backpedaling away, Tullece pursued closely, throwing more strikes to his face. Gritting his teeth, the Saiyan Prince made his head jolt away, his other arm parrying the swift attacks aimed for his vital areas.
I know I'm stronger than him, even if just by a little! Vegeta thought, his mind working overtime to come up with a counter-strategy. He's planned for this ever since he found out I came back from the dead. None of my old methods are going to work. What can I do against him?
During a particular movement his head made, he fail to see past his right clenched eye whipping back to hit him in the temple. His left eye widened, vision going blurry as pain shot out of his head and down his spine.
A palm thrust up his jaw, more blood spewing out of his orifices. Another hard punch in his gut made him double down in agony, with a boot sending him crashing to the ground below. Somersaulting with the fall, he skid back, dashing away as the Emperor descended like a wraith in pursuit.
The black shadow rushed out, throwing blow that made it past his guard. Strike for strike, all the earlier damage felt inconsequential compared to what Tullece inflicted now.
I'm…not going down!
A hard crack against the jaw.
I refuse this to be…my end!
A knee up his chest with a thuum. A chop to the shoulder, and a kick to the side made Vegeta bow across the leg. Hissing out past his teeth, Vegeta felt his right fingers ball up into a fist, as he closed his left eye.
Tullece thrust a hand out to slam into the prince's face, suddenly accosted by a brilliant flare of light. His eyes shut, trying to shut out the fiery golden-white light that tried to blind him.
A deafening gong struck his nose, crushing it in a brutal crunch. His eyes fluttered in watery pain, seeing Vegeta's forehead to be responsible. He barely could make it out, but he saw the Prince had shut both eyes, his fist arcing out in a streak of light.
THUUM!
"HNGH!" Tullece graveled out, his face warping with a fist that sought out his jaw produced an ear popping shockwave. Stomping the ground, he twisted around to launch another strike towards the currently blinded Saiyan.
Whiffing the air, Vegeta ducked, catching the lancing limb to pull him forward and slammed a fist into his chest; hard enough to bow out his back, whipping his cape back.
"Haulk!" Tullece vomitted out, feeling his throat spout saliva and blood out of mouth. Another hit, forcing the wind out of his lungs. Another, and another, with more and more driving hard into the Saiyan Emperor.
Gritting his teeth, he yelled out, kicking out - his boot whooshing the air as Vegeta adeptly backflipped away out of reach. Vegeta bent low, arms held up by either side of his head, eyes shut on either side.
"You truly are a fighting prodigy, to adapt so quick when I had the upperhand on you," Tullece remarked bitterly, heaving heavy breaths as he did. "But what will you do? Keep fighting blind? I'll catch you again, and this time-"
"There won't be a next time," Vegeta spat, his left eye opening and his body standing upright. "I'm going to break you, then toss you into the wind. The throne of rule will be mine, at long last, after your death!"
Tullece snarled out, his aura roaring back to life as he leaped back at Vegeta. The pair began to exchange blows, both wounded yet too stubborn to give one another the edge. Punches glanced off arms, kicks cracked against each other, the pair becoming a dizzying flurry of light that rose up into the sky and soared around overhead.
Thunderclaps of contact were constant, a crescendo of two beings transcending mortals and rising to the status of demigods. Tullece throttled Vegeta to the earth with a successful chop, his other palm thrust a ball of air to further drive the prince into the ground with a mighty crash. Flipping backwards away from a wrathful stomp, Vegeta dashed back, driving his head into a guarding arm.
The Saiyan fired a pair of beams from his eyes, missing the prince as he phased away, a line of combustion flowing up in a blast of explosive ki where his eyes focused on. Landing a kick from behind, glancing across his bloodied scalp, Tullece clamped a hold of a heel and threw Vegeta into the ground with a cracking thud.
Chest swelled, mouth opened and Tullece regurgitated out a swift blaze of purple light onto the downed prince, driving the Super Saiyan across the landscape, erupting past a mountain in a flash of destruction. His Guts Thrower struck true, and hissing steam came out of a heaving Saiyan as he glared violet eyes at the distance.
A golden halo formed in the horizon, following a singular blue line arcing over the sky; quickly transforming into hundreds of massive beams surging straight towards him. Pulling back an arm, he fired a slew of kikoha, hitting each one before they could make it to the ground, exploding mightily in the heavens of purplish-pink.
Another rush of gold came lower at the ground, curving the world's land under the heat and velocity.
Clasping his hands, Tullece decided to weave his hands, calling upon his energy deep within. Gritting his teeth he shot a hand out, halting the golden racing comet, as well as everything in sight.
Imperial Technique: Prison of Stillness.
Lowering his hand, he grinned, seeing a trapped silhouette of the prince. Igniting his right arm into a Saiyan Saber, he slowly walked up beside the form, raising his blade and driving it down straight the middle.
FZZZT!
"What?!" Tullece cried out, seeing the shape of Vegeta fizzle away like static in front of him. "An Afterimage?! Then where is he-?"
He turned around, searching for Vegeta's ki. Whirling about, he checked every angle, assuming he could swiftly appear at any moment.
The ground stirred, his feet trembling from the quake. Eyes bulged, hard chunks of rock flowing out as a bolt of light streaked up-
Krrrrrrak-KOOM!
-slamming his chin with a full throttle uppercut, lancing his body upwards in a dramatic streak of velocity. Coughing out blood, he threw himself forcibly back, clenching his jaw while looking at the emerging prince.
He looked bloodied, his aura thrumming but his arms were scorched down to his undershirt, revealing how the earlier Guts Thrower damaged him a great deal. His clenched right eye winced, his still open left eye glaring heatedly as he held up his damaged arms in a readied fighting stance by his head.
I don't think he can go much farther…and neither can I, Tullece thought, feeling his head dizzy and weakness fatiguing his form.
Igniting his aura, his hair rising up in a torch of onyx, Tullece swathed a part of his energy into a Saiyan Saber once more as he charged down to cut down the weakened Super Saiyan. Appearing in a whoosh, Vegeta deflected the blade with one of his own, surprising Tullece.
The Emperor hissed, swiping a chop to his neck with his spare hand only for it to be knocked aside for a punch to his throat. Wheezing out, a strong punch decked him to the ground with a loud thud. Sprawled out, he grimaced, pushing himself up slowly as Vegeta stepped up behind him.
Tullece swung around, facing the Prince as he felt a vice grip cling to his throat. When blue eyes met his, he gripped the Legendary Warrior's wrist, his own eyes flashing out a blinding light that made Vegeta howl in pain of his remaining eye being blinded. He kicked with all the force he could muster, causing the prince's head to whip back in a spray of blood and a thuum of intense velocity that ended with him rolling across the ground.
Feeling the hand release his throat, he gathered all of his ki in his clapping palms - spreading them out to unveil his signature technique, the Murder Ring. The golden energy crackling, humming dangerously with potent force.
"Burn in Hell, Vegeta!" Tullece howled out, launching the ring straight at his target, rocketing swiftly to the rising Saiyan Prince.
PING!
The Emperor's face went slack, a boot snapping up to kick the ring straight into the sky. Streaking away to impact a distant celestial body out of sight, Vegeta blitzed back, to palm his chest; sending him spiraling back on impact while he took aim.
"You first," Vegeta intoned, blood trickling down the corner of his mouth. Raising a burned flat palm up, thumb crossing over, a swelling orb of condensed ki formed with a whirring flash of bluish white.
"Big Bang…Attack!" He roared out, firing off the amassed concentration of ki with a roar of momentum.
Tullece's eyes shrunk at the rapidly approaching orb, knowing full well if it made contact, he will die. Though he reeled back, he used his backwards motion give him enough time to pull his arm back, swelling it with bulged and a whirring white glare of light.
"STARBURSTER!" He yelled out, throwing himself straight at the orb of light.
And then, everything turned white.
Tullece awoke with a start. Mouth heaved a mask affixed to give him vital intakes of air. His eyes looking around as he found himself in a liquid tank. His submerged body felt aches but none of the pain he knew he would be feeling if he was without it.
Beyond the bluish blur of the outside, he saw a familiar scientist enter to greet him, holo-pad in hand with a smile on his beautiful face.
"Morning, my Lord," He greeted, taking the time to look him in the eyes. "How are you feeling?"
"Could be dead, but, I didn't expect to be intact enough for a healing tank to be of use," He replied, finding words easier to convey than he thought. Looking around, he saw himself flanked by two other tanks, but neither seemed to be in use. He imagined he was transported off world to a planet with better healing equipment than his main base had.
"Where am I?" He asked.
"Pontus III, one of the more secluded bases used for the R&D Department," Arino admitted, looking back at the holo-pad, clicking it rapidly as he continued speaking informally. "Your throne and a great deal of the base you've acquired from the late Cold was decimated by Vegeta. Your lucky most of your subordinates were off world. I had the misfortune of losing a lab, but thankfully my safe room was more or less suitably intact."
"I see…"
Clearing his throat, Arino smiled as he shyly brushed some bangs out of his eyes, "I had to physically extract you, since your advisor seemed busy searching the base for surviving personal. He healed whom he could but your wounds were too severe for his talents could provide at the time."
"How long have I been here?" The Saiyan asked.
"Two weeks," Arino confessed with a sigh. "These pods are archaic compared to what's traditionally available. And your injuries were grave. Whatever healing factor you possessed thanks to consuming the Shinseijū's fruit had burned out after you took so much damage. I've theorized it's likely that the longer you go without eating the fruit, the more your body stabilizes and stops feeling the effects. It is, after all, an unnatural substance I'm still studying after all."
"I guess I should have expected as much," Tullece sighed. "What about Vegeta?"
"As for Vegeta, he disappeared after the blast," Arino said quietly, looking back up at Tullece. "His ship, too. Coco had already placed a tracer on it, in the event he managed to escape alive."
"Good," He spoke, taking his mask off, several switches pressing on their own. Emptying beneath, the glass case slipped down, allowing a battle scarred olive Saiyan Emperor to emerge. Violet light trailed off him in waves, his eyes having a faint violet fire within the pupils. "I've learned much from this battle. But I am in no hurry to find the Prince. Let him lick his wounds, I'll take the effort to strengthen my forces and expand my empire."
"Of course," Arino noted, turning on his heels to leave.
"One more thing," Tullece added, the scientist turning to look over at him. "Thank you, for your assistance."
He quietly stared, blushing at the praise. It sounded sincere, even gentle. Turning away, he cleared his throat and said, "T-Think nothing of it, my Lord! I-I am simply fulfilling my duties, n-nothing more!"
Tullece chuckled.
"Why are you laughing?" Arino exclaimed, turning to face the Emperor.
"I never thought my cold, quiet scientist would behave in such an adorable manner!" Tullece expressed with further laughter.
The Limean found his face turning pink over his normally green face, stretching to his ears with embarrassment. He huffed, turning away only for a hand to grab his shoulder. Before Arino could consider why, he felt Tullece's lips capture his, and his tongue sliding into his mouth.
Time froze as Arino felt his hands drop the Holo-pad, his hands rushing up to encircle around the Saiyan's neck to deepen the kiss. The two moaned in unison, passion filling each other as the pair of conspirators embraced in an act of carnal reveling.
Shoved against a wall, Arino's hands stroked black locks, still moist from the chemicals of the tank. He wrapped a leg to wrap around the mostly unclothed Saiyan, feeling his hand squeeze his thigh and wrap around his raised rump. Pulling the kiss away with a moist pop, he opened his eyes half lidded towards the door as Tullece sucked and gnawed at his neck.
There, leaning against the door, is Aspara with arms crossed and one eye exposed where the bangs didn't cover. An icy glare of annoyance crossed her stare at the feminine scientist's lovemaking with her father.
"Uh, M-My Lord!" He tried to halt Tullece's advances. He shuddered even while being watched unable to bear the pleasures of deft hands brushing underneath his coat and through his uniform. "Y-Your daughter is-"
"What is it, child?" Tullece asked, pulling away with a dry stare aimed at her while still pressed against Arino. "Can't you see I'm busy?"
"You're not busy," She venomously hissed, cocking her head away. "We need to talk. Now."
Tullece sighed, releasing Arino and walking away with a less than pleased expression. He adorned himself back in his armor, taking his time ensuring his cape fluttered in place over his back. Ensuring he looked presentable, he strode towards his child. The Saiyaness arched off the door, walked around the corner and Tullece followed after.
Coming across the observation hall a few minutes later, viewing port windows gazing across a much more rocky, airless world outside. Giant holes filled with tubes that pumped energy to the station they stood within were visible, driving power from the world into the facility to further research and testing.
"What's the problem?" Tullece asked.
"Problem is putting it mildly," She scowled at her own reflection, brows knitting into a glare. "You fought Vegeta, and almost died! If you had, then all this scheming you've done, all I've been through would have been for nothing!"
She balled her hands at her side, shaking them until one slammed into the glass, cracking it as she shouted, "And to make it worse he's now a goddamn Super Saiyan!"
"A temporary setback," Tullece he coolly replied, placing a hand on her shoulder.
One she quickly shook off, whirling around and stepping back.
"Don't do that!" She snapped.
"What?" He asked, a puzzled expression forming on his face.
"What you did, I didn't like," She replied, a confused glint seen in her exposed eye. "Touching me softly, isn't something you've done before."
"I'm trying to show concern, child," Tullece intoned, visibly annoyed at her behavior.
"Like you actually are!" She shouted back.
"But I am," He said with a raise of his arms, his muscled scarred skin open with invitation. "Because, daughter of mine, your role is still important in the empire."
"As what, your insurance?" She asked, her tone snide and obviously dubious of his intentions. "I know you're going to replace me as soon as you get kids from your new wives. Or did you think I wouldn't figure out what you had planned?"
"They will be mothering my children, yes, but you are my daughter, my first and only pure blooded Saiyan offspring," He lauded, walking up and placing a hand on her shoulder. She didn't shrug away, but her gaze looked conflicted and turned aside to look out the window.
"But, I'm not who you wanted me to be-"
"You will be!" Tullece implored, stroking her cheek and parting her bangs to have both of her eyes, tearing up to meet his fully. "Because Vegeta proved the legends aren't completely true. He's the second Saiyan to transform into the Legendary Warrior. This means, any who has the strength and ability, can become one as well.
"Make no mistake, my Aspara," Tullece told her, a smile stretching across his face. "Among these bargain bin rejects, you will surpass them all as the one worthy to become a Legendary Saiyan!"
A/N:
Demod20: Hello everyone! Been a minute since I did a solo chapter here and boy did I have fun writing it. Vegeta has been an interesting character in this story since he doesn't have the same positive reinforcement Bulma gave him, nor has he tried to mend his ways. So him fighting Tullece became more of a dick measuring contest between a schemer and a lost Royal. I loved incorporating different fighting styles depending on Tullece and Vegeta's mindset. From relying on ki sense to pressure points to even magic. This whole battle was enjoyable, and I even liked writing the end scene of Tullece promising to make his daughter a Super Saiyan!
LastationLover5000: Hey everyone! My co-author was very excited to write this battle, and as I was otherwise indisposed during the time he wrote it - Pokemon does that - I was more than excited to let him have a go, and he wrote an absolutely thrilling chapter! You see, he and I, unlike Toei, have a certain modicum of respect for Vegeta. He's shown to be immune to mind control before, and there's no reason simply it being biological as opposed to magical would change that. Ki is part of the body, and thus should be able to purge the body of unwanted...bastards. But now you all also get the full scope of what's going on with Chi-Chi and Macki - they aren't loyal so much as controlled. But Vegeta is unique, and becoming a Super Saiyan - which was a moment we were both IMMENSELY looking forward to - shows just how unique he is. This was an amazing chapter with an amazing fight, and we will bring you more very soon!