Chapter III – The Price of Freedom
Kail was barely conscious when he jumped into the Pod Ship. He'd never seen the inside of one before, but fate played a helping hand. One of the buttons had the same symbol as the hospital ward he had been too several times. With a single click the Pod door closed and the ship launched quickly into the air. The world started getting darker for Kail, now that he could rest.
Over the next several days Kail would find brief moments of awareness. The occasional beep of the proximity sensors or light from a passing star. Dreams and reality bleed together into a blur for the half-saiyan. Eventually a different alarm was going off, one that was more urgent sounding. Kail managed to open his eyes to see his ship approaching an artificial world unlike anything he could have imagined. Green grassy hills and cities, safely tucked behind a large protective sphere. The sphere was transparent and reflected the light of the nearby star like it was made of glass.
"Unknown Frieza Force Pod 3319, this is Pital airfield, do you copy?" The radio began to speak as the alarm silenced itself. "Unknown Frieza Force Pod 3319, I am reading Medical Autopilot. Do you copy?" The voice came back again after a brief pause. Kail tried to focus on the controls to find a way to reply but could barely lift his head. "Don't worry Pod 3319, we're bringing you in with tractor beams. We'll take you straight to the Emergency Medical Center. Piral airfield, out." With a relieved sigh, Kail closed his eyes.
The Pod came to a gentle stop on the hospital landing pad. A medical team rushed to the ship and opened it immediately. "Woah, his armor is in rough shape." one of the medics said leaning over Kail and scanning him. "I'm seeing ruptured organs and internal bleeding in the abdominal region. It's been pooling for a few days."
"Let's get him to Surgery right away." spoke the other medic who positioned himself on the opposite side of Kail. "Ready to lift?" The first medic nodded before both grunted and lifted Kail out of the Pod and onto a nearby gurney.
"This guy weighs as much as my house." spoke the medic through rapid breaths.
"Frieza likes his fighters big, I guess." The two medical team rushed the gurney down a short path and into the hospital.
"Operating room 4 is open and waiting with an abdominal trauma team." spoke an intake specialist as they pushed the wounded Kail inside. "What's his race?" she asked further, walking alongside the medics.
"He's got a tail. I think he's a Saiyan like Prince Vegeta." the medic said still pushing.
"I though they all died." she said pushing some buttons.
"There was bound to be a couple that were off world, right?"
"That'll be one to tell the kids. Okay, they're all ready for him." she said turning back toward the desk where she was before the team entered.
The surgery lasted for almost 20 hours but they had to place Kail into a coma and seal him into a regeneration tank. He had too many damaged organs to allow him to move around at all. It would take years of regeneration to heal the massive damage done. At least physically. Mentally was another story, for inside his mind Kail faced a new threat. One that he was no match for. No more than an ant is a match against and Super Saiyan.
Far across the reaches of space and time, floating in the black timeless void, Mechikabura is reaching out with his dark magic. He had lost to the Z warriors and Chronoa more times than he could remember. Whether himself physically, or other version of himself throughout time. One lesson that he had learned was that time favored the good. All of his plans, no matter how thorough or fool-proof, would collapse fight against time.
So this time he would use that to his advantage. Instead of corrupting timelines and causing chaos and destruction, he would make positive changes. Changes that would initially save lives or create harmony. He had tested it out several times, to see if it would have the same consequences as his past attempts. To his delight, he was able to manipulate entire timelines without alerting his arch-nemesis, Chronoa.
This was the key to his ultimate revenge. Mechikabura reached out with his magic, feeling the threads of time. He was searching for a linchpin, a single thread that could cause massive changes throughout time. To his surprise that thread involved Trunks again. No matter how far the demon tried to get away from Trunks, he always seemed to find him again. Latching onto the thread, he peered through time to witness the event.
The demon watched as Trunks, slightly younger than he had seen before, struggled over a moral dilemma. His father Vegeta, who Trunks had never met before, was allowing an android named Cell to absorb another android to get even stronger. The young half-saiyan knew that this would cause more pain and death, but he didn't want to insult his father. Mechikabura smiled to himself with devious joy. This was marvelous for him.
The demon surged his powers into Trunks, giving him the bravery to do what is right. The half-saiyan quickly chopped his father in the back of the head, knocking him unconscious. Cell turned to see Vegeta laid out and his jaw dropped in fear. "No boy! Listen to your father!" He moaned.
"Never again will I allow any android to claim a SINGLE life!" Trunks yelled powering up his Ki. Cell took off flying fast trying to escape. Trunks, without missing a beat, took off after him. He was catching up fast too. He put his hands above his head as he flew closer. "Masenko!" He shouted as he flipped in front of Cell. "HA!" With a thunderous explosion Cell was completely atomized beyond any hope of repair.
Just like that Mechikabura had saved thousands of lives over the next several days, including Goku's. However, further down that thread of time would be problems. Goku never died and got to train in Otherworld. Gohan never unlocked his Super Saiyan 2 transformation. Vegeta, grew resentful, and became even more of a recluse. The demon ran his hands over the connected threads looking at the opportunities to remove those who would stop him.
Two threads stood out, both of them Saiyans. Mechikabura reached out with his magic again, across space and time. First he reached out to Broly and his father Peragus. Mechikabura summoned a Pod Ship for the stranded saiyans and begin to fill their minds with visions of Prince Vegeta living happily on Earth. He showed them Vegeta's son, happily being raised by his mother Bulma. Peragus grew angry with the visions, unable to accept that the line of Vegeta was still succeeding.
"Broly. I've never asked much of you in our time in exile. I've done the best I can to raise you right and to prepare you for the life you may never know. Now, we have the answers to our desires. A ship and the location of those who exiled us here." Peragus spoke to Broly, as helped his son don his armor.
"What would you have me do, Father?" Broly asked solemnly.
"Find those that exiled us here and make them suffer what we have." The bitter father demanded of his son.
"Make them suffer? Do you mean kill them?" Broly questioned.
"Not at first, but yes. It must be done. Only then can we know that we will be safe." Peragus answered with a nod. "Do this my son, for us!" Broly nodded back before climbing into the Pod Ship. Peragus leaned over and pressed a couple buttons for his son.
"Good bye father! I won't fail you." Broly yelled as the Pod began to shut.
"I know you wont." Peragus said with a smile before the ship launched into the air.
Mechikabura turned to the second thread. A powerful saiyan-hybrid, left in a coma for years, regenerating massive organ damage. He was not only the half-brother of Vegeta, but also of Racoome, the former member of the Ginyu force. Mechikabura began to twist Kails dreams to manipulate his mind. The demon showed the former slave visions of his brother living happily on Earth with a son. Then he showed visions of Vegeta losing in a beam battle to another Saiyan, one growing red with energy. Then Kail saw another brother, Racoome, talking to the same warrior from before. It wasn't long before Racoome was killed. Who is this man that hunts down my family across the stars? Kail's mind began to wonder.
Soon his visions changed to a bloody battle on a dying planet. That same warrior was bathed in glowing golden light. His hair was golden just as Kails had been fighting Icer. The warrior beat down Emperor Frieza. Who is this Saiyan? He's powerful, but I will be his end! After eight years in a coma, Kail opened his eyes.