A/N
Hi everyone! Here is the winner of the July side story poll, the latest episode of Saiyan Effect. As you know, this is the third time that Saiyan Effect has won in a row and it is now not eligible for the next poll. If you want to vote on future polls, get the stories early or read original works, head over to pat-re-on and look up Bored Peasant's Written Works.
On a side note, when I started this story, the Tournament of Power arc was still being played on TV for the first time. I didn't really go into the later arcs after that finished. I have been reading them more recently, but I am still not completely sure if I want to put the Granolah/Gas arc into the story, or if I want to go more with the Mass Effect story. I am tossing up between them and would appreciate the input from you all.
Special thanks to Austin, Ben wanless, Bloodraven, Brian, BuzzGrave, Chris, Christopher Herring, Eligah Moreno, Endervslender, Ezoz, FallenMetalGod, felipe Saavedra, Freeman, Hyaaa B1tch, Jason Moreno, Jermaine Key, JotunAltHist, Kraxis93, Lasted, liquidpotato, Luke, MathTheOriginal, Matt Bishop, Michael Scott, My Name is Klondike, Nathan Duncan, Oda The Toaster, Orangerazor120, Paul Fischer, Proxy, r4p16, Ranger, Robert Tipton, Sith_Paladin, sonic, tasso mevissen, The Senn Master, Tlingit97, Tristan d'conceicao, UtopiaKnight39, Voidwolf 1994, Whateverlol, Will Turner and ZeroTheSoldier for their support on pat-re-on.
Anyway, on with the story!
…
Saiyan Effect
Chapter 22 – Time for a Debrief
(Tevos POV)
The Council room was quiet, far too quiet in Tevos' opinion. It was just herself and Sparatus sitting at their terminal's, reading the reports that Ambassador Gohan had sent to them. Though, admittedly, 'reports' was a very generous way of describing the information that was sent through. After all, as he wasn't a member of the Citadel community, there was no real obligation for the saiyan ambassador to send any information to the Council at all. It was all done as a nicety; proof, if only just, that the saiyans were interested in having a more harmonious relationship with the Citadel even if they were not interested in joining.
It was all a sham, really. King Vegeta had no real concern with the Citadel and no regards on whether or not there was any kind of association with the other races than the humans. It was only Ambassador Gohan that had any interest in not causing friction with the Citadel races. And good thing too, or there would not be any information sent to the Council at all.
It was concerning though. More than concerning. So much had changed in such a short amount of time. An alliance that had stood for more than two thousand years had crumbled, their premier spy network had fallen, and the Salarian Union had lost its core leadership.
If that wasn't bad enough, the salarian people were protesting in their own space. The friction that the salarian leadership had caused by their actions had not been taken well by the salarian populace. It was only a minority, and Tevos had the suspicion that if they had won then they wouldn't be protesting at all, but they were still making themselves heard and their numbers were growing.
She leaned back from the terminal and let out a sigh. "Well, this is just not good," she muttered.
Sparatus leaned back and crossed his arms with a grunt. "That is an understatement if ever I've heard one," he grumbled. "What a mess."
Tevos nodded. "I have the Asari Intelligence Services mobilising to cover the STG in the interim, but we are going to need to get something more permanent organised in the meantime."
Sparatus just nodded at her. "I know," he said, sounding tired. "The primarchs are having the fleets do more patrols of troubled areas. We are getting plenty of reports of increased trafficking through Omega and the Terminus. The border systems are getting more chaotic and we have lost the current whereabouts of the Quarian Fleet." He let out a whistling sigh. "What a mess."
It was Tevos' turn to nod. "I don't know how long it will be to bring the Union back into play," she said. "The reports coming in are that the minor dalatrasses are mostly refusing to step up in fear that the saiyans are coming back for them. Until we can get a confirmation that the matter has settled, then it will continue to leave the salarians nearly leaderless."
"It's not that bad," Sparatus denied, to her surprise. "There are a small handful of dalatrasses that were ignored by the saiyans who seem to be stepping up a little in their own regions. It is giving them some more credibility and luckily, for us and the galaxy, they are the ones that are far more open to fixing relationships with the Citadel and ending hostilities against the saiyans. It is giving the Union some much needed leadership on Sur'kesh right now."
"Well," Tevos said slowly as she considered how that would go. "I believe that is good news. I can already hear some of the matriarchs complaining that we are not letting their 'contacts' have a shot of being made dalatrasses, but it is much more important that the Union get stabilised than it is for their politicking."
"Agreed," the turian replied easily. He had always had less patience for the asari political machine than others did.
The door in front of them hissed open, breaking them out of their thoughts and, much to Tevos' surprise, former councillor Valern walked in through the door. Even more surprising, he looked far healthier than he had the last time that she had seen him.
"Greetings," the salarian said as he made his way to the salarian councillor's terminal. "It is good to see you all, my old friends. If I may be so bold, I believe that I can offer some assistance and would like to offer myself for the position of Councillor for the Salarian Union, at least in the interim. Once a vote has been properly organised, I will likely be back on a permanent basis, so this seems the most efficient way to work right now."
"Of course," Tevos said, feeling the corners of her lips crease into a smile. This was the first piece of good news that she had received in a while. Valern was a very effective councillor, and certainly not a radical like Linron had shown himself to be. "And I must say that it is good to see you looking so healthy."
"Indeed," Sparatus said, his flanged tone showing that he too was pleased with this new development. "In fact, if I didn't know any better, I would say that you look even better than you did when you first joined the Council."
Tevos looked again and saw that Valern did indeed look younger, and healthier going by the lack of coughing that he had done last she had seen him, than he had in more than a decade. Not to mention his age spots had all but disappeared.
"Yes," the salarian agreed easily. "I suppose that would be the case when I am no longer being poisoned."
Tevos froze for a second. "What?"
"You were being poisoned?" Sparatus barked angrily.
"Yes," Valern confirmed. "It turns out that Linron was not interested in waiting the normal amount of time that he was expecting to wait to become councillor. I suspect that it was under the motivation of the former Dalatrass Linron that he was to use a substance that was nearly undetectable to slowly reduce my health and give the appearance of aging. It was an elegant plan, all things considered."
"All things…," Sparatus gaped. "Valern, Linron was poisoning you! And right under our noses! You sound like you admire him for it!"
Valern had the audacity to shrug. "Salarian politics have always been far more fraught with danger than most people realise. And I can admire a well-executed plan, even if it was my own." He shook his head twice. "I still have no idea how he managed to suborn one of my own people to giving me the poison. I suppose it is a lesson in covering every base."
Tevos couldn't help feeling her jaw drop for a moment at her compatriot's nonchalance over nearly being assassinated before she composed herself. "I suppose that at the end of the day," she said carefully, "that salarians will always be salarians."
Valern nodded. "That is true," he conceded. "It is one of the things that continues to plague salarian politics even today. Though, no one can deny its effectiveness."
Sparatus grunted. "I can if it didn't work and you are still here," he said.
"Ah," Valern said, raising a finger, "point. But my death was not the goal. If I had died, then an autopsy would have likely caught the offending poison. All he needed was for me to step down from my position, which I did. That meant that he could be placed into the position, which was the goal."
Sparatus tilted his head in concession to the salarian's point. "Still," he said, "that doesn't explain how you are in such good physical health. Merely ceasing to ingest poison wouldn't be enough to fix the damage in such a short amount of time."
Valern stopped tapping at his terminal completely, bringing Tevos' attention right to him. Valern looked up at both of them, before tapping at his terminal once more. The room flashed, and the door signal turned red, indicating that the salarian had sealed the room.
"What I am going to tell you is not something that should become common knowledge," Valern said. "Least of all to my own people."
Tevos blinked. That sounded far too serious for her liking.
"The saiyans have a plant of some sort," Valern said. "When I informed King Vegeta that I had likely been poisoned by my successor to get me out of the council seat, he dispatched one of his people to help me. They gave me a bean of the plant and it instantly healed me from my ailment."
Tevos' eyes widened, stunned at the implications. Valern didn't even say that he had informed the saiyan king what the poison was, which meant that he hadn't done so. "They have a plant that can sure you of any poison instantly?" she asked.
"Not just that," Valern corrected her. "I managed to ask a few innocuous questions of the medic that provided me with the bean, which she called a senzu bean. While she never said it outright, from what I can gather, the senzu bean can cure any physical pain and completely restore a being's energy in moments. Broken bones, cuts that would require stitching or cementing, blood loss. I would postulate that anything short of amputation could be healed from these beans."
"That's absurd!" Sparatus exclaimed. "Why would they hide something like that from the rest of us?"
Valern didn't even reply to that. He just looked at Sparatus expectantly. Sparatus wasn't an idiot; Tevos knew that if he were, he never would have been made the Councillor for the Hierarchy. However, of the three of them, he was the most prone to emotional outbursts before he applied his logic. Valern knew this and had made a practice of it over the years of waiting for Sparatus to think of the answers on his own.
Sure enough, Tevos watched as Sparatus sighed in resignation. "Because if they did, they would likely have increased pirate attacks sponsored by business people all over the Citadel, either trying to get this plant, or burn it to the ground so that the saiyans wouldn't have it anymore," he answered his own question. "And if that were to happen…"
"Then it would be likely that King Vegeta would order another rampage against the Citadel," Tevos continued for him as she too realised what would happen. "One that would be sponsored by the humans, who most likely already know and probably have access to this plant. Not to mention that they are not members of the Citadel, so they are not obligated to share any of their technology or other related things with us."
"That doesn't even mention their extra-galactic allies," Valern finished. "Many of whom all have the same powers that the saiyans have, if not more. No, any knowledge of this plant being spread throughout the galaxy would not benefit the Citadel in any way or form. Not until the saiyans themselves are willing to share it with us."
Which would probably never happen, it went unsaid. Tevos knew that as long as King Vegeta was in charge, and considering he was apparently immortal could be for thousands of years, then the Citadel was never going to get a whiff of those… senzu beans.
"And these beans," Tevos brought the subject back, "they are responsible for your increased vitality?"
To her surprise, Valern shook his head. "No," he denied. "That was from King Vegeta. Apparently, they have the ability to share energy to refresh someone's life force. He gave me some energy and it helped to wind back the clock on me, so to speak. I estimate that I will probably live twenty years beyond the standard life of a salarian."
Tevos blinked in shock. Twenty years might not be anything to an asari, or in fact most of the other races, but that was half the life expectancy of a salarian. To her knowledge, the oldest salarian on record had only lived to fifty-five. This would make Valern overtake them.
"Why would King Vegeta do that?" Sparatus asked dubiously, peering at Valern with something akin to suspicion. "I don't see him doing so out of the kindness of his heart."
Tevos frown as she considered the question. That was actually a good point. It annoyed her a little that Sparatus had thought of it first.
Valern seemed to stiffen slightly. "He did it because I aided him in bringing down Dalatrass Linron and all others that had been involved in the planning and execution of the raid on Mindoir by the Union."
Sparatus' mouth dropped. "You what?" he shouted in disbelief. "That is treason against your own people!"
"Is it?" Valern challenged him. "If I didn't do this, I imagine that King Vegeta could have taken the same actions against the Union that he did against the Hegemony. By offering information to him, I was able to limit the damage to a few dozen individuals. Highly ranked individuals, surely, but nothing compared to the damage that would have been unleashed on my people. I spared my people that fate by my actions. I will not be made to feel shame for them."
Sparatus grit his teeth, as Tevos knew that he was fighting his instincts to bow to the higher authority. She could empathise with both, but she wouldn't hold Valern's actions against him, considering the alternative if he hadn't performed them. It was dirty, it was messy and it was underhanded.
All of which were hallmarks of salarian politics.
"Let it go, Sparatus," she said, breaking up the argument. "Just leave it as a footnote of salarian politics and go with that. After all, former Councillor Linron was also guilty of poisoning his predecessor, who was Linron. All told, it makes it easier to deal with if you just accept it and move on."
Sparatus clenched his mandibles for a moment, before letting out a long whistling sigh. "Very well," he said. "There is plenty of things for us to move on to. For now, can you guarantee that the Salarian Union is in fact, not falling apart?"
Valern nodded easily. "While having several high-level dalatrasses being captured by the saiyans would be alarming, there were not many of them. I was able to convince King Vegeta to not target the majority of lower level dalatrasses that had nothing to do with the attack on his people. That leaves me with sufficient levels of leadership to be able to quell any social upheaval that might take place in uncertain times. There have been some calls from some of the wealthy merchants and quite a few of the citizens, particularly those with links to the Linron family, to take action against the saiyans. However, those are easily ignored. For now."
Tevos felt a weight being taken off her shoulders, hearing how Valern had effortlessly stepped back into the role of councillor. It made her feel content that he was likely to be a stabilising influence in the Citadel, for the next few years at least. It set her mind at ease, now that he was using his experience to bring the salarians back into line.
Her terminal beeped, breaking her thoughts from the meeting. She looked down and saw that she had received an incoming message.
"Tevos?" Sparatus asked. "Is it important? We were discussing how to approach the krogan kicking off one of the STG bases from Tuchanka."
She looked up at him for a moment, seeing the concern on his face, before looking down.
"I just received a message from Ambassador Gohan," she replied. "He has informed me that King Vegeta is going to be sending a message out for the Council and the news agencies soon. He further states that the saiyans have completed all of their tasks against the salarian leadership and that they now have declared a cessation of hostilities towards the salarians."
"Well," Sparatus said, sounding pleased. "That is good news at least. I hope that it lasts for longer than the last one did."
Tevos didn't reply, too busy trying to keep the excitement off her face as she stared at the last line that Gohan had sent her.
"I would have preferred to ask this face to face, but your receptionist said she had no idea what time your Council Meeting was going to finish. Would you like to have dinner tonight? With me? I have seen a place on Earth that is high end and caters to asari and saiyan diets. I would like to take you with me once your meeting is done. Please let me know, and if so, what time I should come pick you up? – Gohan"
A date? Gohan was asking her on a date? YES! She wanted to shout her excitement to the heavens; she wanted to dance around in joy. This was something that she had wanted for so long. Now it had happened and she couldn't even smile! What justice was this?!
"Was there anything else from Ambassador Gohan?" Valern asked, sounding curious.
Tevos made sure her face was completely schooled the whole time to not give anything away. "Yes," she replied with a level of casualness that she didn't' feel at all. "He was also just reminding me of a meeting that he had booked with me. I had forgotten it in all the madness with the dalatrasses."
"Understandable," Sparatus rumbled. "We shall need to press on then, so that we can all make our other meetings. "Let's get back to the krogan."
The meeting lasted for another twenty minutes of Sparatus droning on while Valern placated him. Tevos knew that she chipped in a few times, but if anyone was to ask her what the meeting was about after Gohan's message, she wouldn't have a clue.
She had to get ready to deal with that almost overwhelming sense of power that the saiyan ambassador put out. She would not be intoxicated by it!
Oh, goddess, she needed to get ready!
…
(Vegeta POV)
There were some things in life that were just satisfying. A good solid training session. A good meal, seeing his power grow. Being a king over his people. And protecting them from threats.
Though, bringing down one entire government and bringing another one to its knees did rate pretty highly on his personal scale.
The flawless execution of a plan that captured all their targets made Vegeta pleased with how his people were operating. Though, he couldn't help frowning a little as he considered the orb that had been in Dalatrass Linron's bunker. That had been a nasty surprise, and seeing as he had felt it trying to take over his own mind, he didn't doubt that the former dalatrass was affected by it.
Which made the next step harder. While most of the salarians that had been captured were guilty of all their actions, he had a harder time justifying punishment of someone under mind control. It wouldn't matter if the salarian leader was planning to attack his people anyway. He could be happy with punishing her in that case. However, if she had been forced to act by whatever power was in control of that orb, most likely the reapers he would guess, then he wouldn't feel completely just in executing her.
Which meant that he was going to have to take a look into her mind to see if he could figure out the truth. There was only one small issue with that: she was nuts.
Her mind appeared to have been broken when Vegeta had destroyed the orb, but she was clearly on the ropes before that happened. Whatever had been happening to her, must have been happening for a long time. He wasn't sure what level of lucidity she had had. The only way to know for sure was to read her mind and sort through whatever the mess was to find out.
He shook his head and looked back at the meeting that he was having with everyone that had been involved in the mission.
"Well done," he said simply. Never over-praise them for doing their jobs. They might expect it for mediocre work. "Pan, I take it your guest has finished amusing you?"
The female saiyan god leaned back in her chair with a dissatisfied glare. "It ended too quickly," she growled. "But yes, he is dead. Not until after he gave a full confession though. And I made sure to record it. The other officers are still alive, waiting for their trial."
Who would have thought that the daughter of Gohan would be so violent? Then again, her mother had a certain fire in her that could go wild when it was stoked. Vegeta was satisfied to see that she girl took after her mother more than she did her father. Though, Gohan had certainly become more saiyan-like since the resurrection of their people, so that was also an approvement in his opinion. At least she had her father's brains and not Goku's.
"Good," Vegeta grunted. "Trunks, I take it you have managed to gain access to all their computer files?"
His son's mouth twisted in annoyance. "Not quite," he admitted grudgingly. "I have got most of their less restricted ones decrypted, but the high-level stuff is taking longer. Whatever failsafe went into the coding was copied with the rest of the files. If I don't get it right in two attempts it tries to purge its memory core, and the memory core of the whole terminal. This STG director was very paranoid."
That sounded about right from what Vegeta had heard about the salarian spy group. "Keep at it, but very carefully," he ordered. "I want that information and then we can figure out what to do from there."
Trunks nodded and leaned back in his chair.
"Other than that," Vegeta continued, "all of the dalatrasses that we were targeting have been confined, as have two admirals and a general. All of them are people of interest who had been involved in the attack on us in some way. I am going to make an announcement about it later, once we have held the trials. However, you should all know that as of right now, we are silently supporting Urdnot Wrex in his attempts to drag his people out of the muck, after Gohan had declared him ready to do so."
A faint ripple of murmured whispers pierced the air for a moment before it shut off at his glare.
That's right, he was still king.
"One last thing before I call an end to this meeting," he growled softly, lowering the tone of his voice and making the other saiyans lean in to hear him fully. "On Sur'kesh, when I got that rat Linron out of her little hole, there was something else. There was an orb about this big." He showed it roughly with his hands. "Roughly the same size as the namekian dragon balls. It appeared to be made of grey glass of some kind. Then it started glowing. When it did, it tried to take over my mind and make me its puppet. Me! HA!" He spat to the side.
"Still, its pressure was… formidable. I could easily see it having succeeded with less resilient minds. And if it managed to take over my mind and force me to do something truly destructive, then it would be nearly impossible to stop me." That was no exaggeration and they all knew it too, judging by how they all sat up in their chairs. "It is possible that it had something to do with the reapers, going by how they like to mess with people's minds. If we are going to be involved in any more of these missions, I want everyone to be wary. I don't want anyone, especially anyone that can transform into a Super Saiyan, to become a slave to these things. Understand?"
The room rumbled with solemn agreements from the gathered saiyans. No one wanted to have their minds taken over. He would have to see about having mental training given to any saiyan that would venture off world. If that failed, he would have to go to earth to see about getting the dragon balls.
"Good,' he grunted. "Dismissed. Pan, Trunks, you stay."
The two blinked and looked at each other but didn't move from their seats. Vegeta stood up and moved over to a window that looked out over the small city that had been built there were only a few building that looked like they had touches of saiyan architecture. Most of the structure were prefabricated works from Earth. It was disappointing to see.
Not because he didn't like human architecture and design. It wasn't really something that bothered him. But, as king, he wanted to see his people flourish and grow. To rebuild their identity. They would always be warriors, of course, but he had asked for the more peaceful of his people be resurrected for a reason.
It was one of the reasons why he had allowed Gohan to teach that krogan of his. He felt a touch of empathy towards the big alien. To have the desire to make your people be more than what they are; to have the wish to help your people be led to a greater level… that was his own wish for the saiyans.
In his youth, and even through his beloved Bulma's early life, he had been far more focussed on his own strength, to the exclusion of all else. But now that his people had a home of their own, it was time to look for more. To be more.
"It has been on my mind for some time now," he began, not looking back at the two saiyans sitting at the table, "that our people need to grow more. I look out this window, and I see barely any works of saiyan origin. We are using most of our population to handle the basics, but that doesn't leave a whole lot of room for growth."
He turned around and walked back to his seat at the front of the conference table, but stood behind it. "Don't get me wrong," he said, "I am not looking to cut ties with Earth, nor am I ungrateful for the efforts they have put into helping us build our home here. But I want to see a grand world of our own design. To see buildings, artworks and arenas designed by saiyans. To see more than one little city on our world and have our people expand and grow. I see a future of our people where we are not merely living and surviving, but we are growing and prospering."
"That is going to take time," Trunks said, "we only have a little over three million people and, as you said, most of them are busy with other projects or training."
"I know," Vegeta grunted. "And I applaud the training. I never want us to lose our hearts as warriors. I just want us to be more than thugs, like I was in my youth."
"It's a good wish," Pan said with a nod. "What are you needing from us?"
"I want you to work with the children that are more academically inclined," Vegeta told her. "I will be working on a deal for our children to have access to human universities. I want some of our young to get qualifications in engineering and architecture, so that we can have buildings of saiyan origin out that window. I want technology from our own people to thrive.
"Trunks, I want you to look into training any of the young that you find that have the brains for technology. I don't expect them to be on your level, at least not right away, but I want you to start a training and education program for them to be able to operate, take apart and design technology of the likes that the rest of these aliens could only dream about. I want us to be the pinnacle of technological advancement, that all other races look to in awe. Can you both handle that?"
Trunks and Pan both looked at him in surprise for a long moment, before their expression turned thoughtful. Eventually, they both nodded.
"Good," Vegeta grunted. "And, while we are at it, I want you both to consider remarrying."
"Wait, what?" Trunks said, looking startled. Pan's stared at him wide-eyed in surprise.
"Not to each other," Vegeta explained. "But I think it would be beneficial for you both to look at having a companion and more children. Our people will need more children with your brains."
Pan looked like she bit off a furious retort and paused for a few seconds to find the words she wanted to say. "I don't really want to look for a new husband," she eventually ground out."
"I'm not saying that you have to," Vegeta growled, his patience starting to wear thin. "All I am saying is that you should keep an open mind to the possibility of it happening. Don't close yourself off."
"What about you?" Trunks' tone was not quite a demand. "Or any of the others, for that matter?"
At this, Vegeta only shook his head. "My position as King would complicate matters a little more," he said. "Succession is a concern for many and I don't want to have the political nonsense to go with it. Goku, on the other hand, seems to have Caulifla from Universe 6 sniffing about him. Whis brought her here again and she is off investigating things with Goku now."
He turned to face Pan. "As for your father, Gohan," he continued, "it seems from his latest message that he is thinking about accepting the asari councillor's attempts to court him. He will be going to have discussion with her sometime in the future."
Vegeta was also a little interested to see if a child came from that union. If Gohan was able to provide ki energy to an asari in utero, it might awaken something special. Or it might amount to nothing. Time would tell.
"Dad's going on a date?" Pan looked stricken.
"Don't give your father a hard time," Vegeta said, pinning her with a glare. "We all know he loved your mother, but she has been gone for more than a century. We all know how it can feel to be alone for that long. If your father is looking for companionship, don't get in the way of that."
"Maybe," she growled. "But I'm still going to have a talk with him. And probably her."
Trunks chuckled. "Do shovel talks work if she is centuries older than you?" he asked.
"They do when I can erase her with less energy than it takes to sneeze," Pan declared. She stood. "Very well, Vegeta. I will get on to the kids and see if any are up to snuff. Then I need to… talk with dad."
She and Trunks left, leaving Vegeta alone with his thoughts. He moved back to the window and looked out at his kingdom. He pictured in his mind the buildings that would come, the works that would be created by his people.
It was time for the saiyans to rise from the dust, shake themselves off, and become great.
…
(Goku POV)
Goku stared up at the enemy floating above him. The alien was the same race, had the same golden colour, had the same cruelness in the eyes, and even had the smug sense of superiority as Frieza.
It was like he had gone back in time to face his old adversary.
Sleet was everything that Frieza once had been, though he also seemed to have done more planning than Frieza had taken the energy to do. Frieza had been far stronger than anyone else in the universe that wasn't a god when Goku first met him. It meant that he never had to worry about anyone being strong enough to oppose him. It also meant that Frieza didn't really have to plan things out too far. He just came in, destroyed whatever resistance he had to face, then got what he wanted.
Sleet, on the other hand, would have grown up knowing all about the saiyans. He knew that he would have to be both strong and smart to defeat Goku and the others. The cheap shot at Goku when his back was turned was not something that Frieza would likely go for, at least not at the start. He might have done it to amuse himself, but that was it.
"I guess I should have known that you were a coward," Goku taunted the alien. "If you were only brave enough to try getting me in the back, I imagine that it won't take much to take you out."
There was the predictable angry grumbling among the minions of Sleet. The leader himself scowled angrily, before visibly forcing the cocky smile on his face.
"Oh, hardly!" Sleet brushed off. "After all, from what Uncle Frieza told me about you, I would have been highly disappointed in you if you had gone down so simply. Call it a test, more than anything. From what I hear, you enjoy tests of your strength like this."
Goku couldn't help the small flinch that went through him as he recalled the earlier conversation about wasting too much time playing around. He guessed it had really made him predictable.
"That may be," he conceded. "But I still always manage to make it through somehow."
"Yes," Sleet's voice dripped with amusement. "Sometimes by the skin of your teeth, sometimes by sheer dumb luck. From the stories that my uncle used to tell me, I have no idea how you haven't died more often.
That was… fair. Goku had been far luckier than he had any real rights to be. But it also seemed like Sleet was counting on that. And while he might only be average in most areas, Goku had always been a good fighter. He could use this.
"That is also true," Goku admitted, slowly bringing up his energy. "But that doesn't mean much. Just ask your uncle how his fights against us went."
Sleet grit his teeth at the insult towards his uncle, showing his true feelings at Goku. "Oh, yes," he bit out. "I remember hearing about them. And let me tell you, I shall enjoy killing your little friends, just as much as he did. What was his name again? Killin? His name might as well have been Kill-Me for all the good it did him."
Goku froze for a second, before taking a deep breath. "I see that tongue of yours is something you inherited from your family. I guess I will have to take that from you too."
"Then come and take it monkey!" Sleet shouted. "Kill them!"
"Goten, Junior, take his lackeys," Goku ordered, transforming into Super Saiyan mode. "Caulifla, you and Gotel can go for his personal hit squad there. Leave Sleet to me. Goten and Junior will join you when they finish off the small fries."
"Right!" the three males responded, taking off towards their targets.
"Don't dawdle, Dear," Caulifla cooed at him. "I want to get plenty of practice in before we get have our child." She took off towards her targets, turning Super Saiyan 2 as she did. It looked like she was wanting to take down the enemy quickly.
A shiver ran through Goku, but it wasn't unpleasant. He shook it off turning to face Sleet, just as his body moved on its own away from another ki blast sent his way by the golden alien.
In an instant, Goku flashed in front of Sleet throwing a punch that was blocked, defending against the counter. Their fists and legs flashed against each other so powerfully that it sent shockwaves each time they hit.
Goku used a ki blast that threw Sleet back. It took the alien only a few moments to correct himself, but he was unable to dodge or block the massive punch to his face that dropped him to the planet's surface.
Goku took a moment to look around the battlefield. Most of the minions were gone, with some in full retreat. Only a few were still there, staring at Goten and Junior in horror as they moved in for the kill.
Gotel and Caulifla were in a tougher battle, though nothing that they were looking worried over. Gotel had to transform to Super Saiyan 2 as well to take on some of Sleet's personal team. Caulifla was still fighting against Myne. She seemed to be taunting her other woman, saying that Myne was never going to be good enough for Sleet.
Goku frowned in exasperation. He had been pulled up for not taking things as seriously as he should, but Caulifla was dragging it out and mocking her opponent that she could have killed at any time.
A ki blast went past his head, his Ultra Instinct getting him to move out of the way at the last instant, as he looked back to where Sleet burst out of the crater her had formed. With a roar, they re-engaged in their fight.
Goku let his body do the work for him as he considered how to approach the rest of this fight. He still wanted to see how far he could push himself against Sleet, but he also knew that Sleet needed to be stopped and could very well be counting on a hidden weapon that would be able to beat Goku and his people.
In the end, he decided that he was going to just get it over with. He had a tournament to get prepared for and he didn't want to spend more time than necessary wasting his time here when he could go get some more training in. Maybe Vegeta or Whis would be open to helping him.
His mind made up, Goku was about to charge an attack that would disable Sleet. He started to raise his ki and was forming his energy, when a loud feminine shout, followed by a pulse of energy flowed over him.
His ki fell to nearly nothing instantly, cancelling his Super Saiyan transformation and reverting him to his base mode. His power suddenly became unreachable, as though it had been locked away. It was still there, but something had made it unreachable, except for the smallest amounts that he would need to fly. He honestly felt weaker than he was when he faced Frieza the first time on Namek.
He looked around quickly and saw that every member of his team had also had their transformations cancelled. All of them were back in their base forms and Caulifla had just been punched into the ground.
His Ultra Instinct flared, but sluggishly. He tilted his head, but it wasn't fast enough and he received a massive punch to the side of his face that hurt far more than it should have. It sent him crashing to the ground a moment later, sending pain all through his body.
Goku hiss as he rubbed his cheek, noticing that Sleet hadn't followed through on that attack. He was instead floating high above Goku, in the same spot that he had just hit Goku.
"I see that you are experiencing one of the techniques of my dear follower, Myne," Sleet gloated from his spot. "She has the ability to cancel out the ki of all people in an area. It works regardless of how powerful the enemy is and if she targets you when you have transformed, it will cancel your transformation."
"How did you manage to avoid it?" Goku grit out through the pain. "You were right next to me."
"Because I know the exact limits on the range of her technique," Sleet replied smugly. "She used it when you were on the outer edge of her range. I was just beyond it and I was smart enough to not attack you when she released the technique, so I stayed out of range."
Goku looked around and saw that all four of the others were lying in craters on the ground just as he was, all of them having had their transformations cancelled. A second look around confirmed that all of Sleet's minions were gone, with Goten and Junior having joined up with Gotel to take on the surprisingly strong members of his personal squad. They were clearly in the middle of that fight when Myne's technique hit them all.
Sleet slowly lowered himself to the ground, his smug grin turning vicious. "And now, Goku," he said, his tone dripping with malice, "I can show you just how much I hate you for what you have done to my family." His grin grew even wider, making Sleet look insane. "And you can't even transform to try and stop me!"
Goku could only sigh in self-disappointment. He really should have gone all out from the start.
…
A/N Please Review and Follow/Favourite as you please.
A few things have happened here. Vegeta looked towards the future for his people, Tevos is thirsty for some saiyan loving and Goku is receiving the consequences of his battle mania... again. I hope you enjoyed it and will see you next time on Saiyan Effect! (I couldn't help having that end-of-episode narrator voice in my head when I wrote that. Now you can too.)