The Three Legendary Saiyans.
Chapter 104: Turning Point of Fate.
Stirring into a state of semi-awake as Raijin felt himself tightly bound and hoisted high above the floor of whatever building or ship he was inside of; the coldness of the chamber reminded him greatly of being in a walk-in freezer as even his breath turned to mist as he exhaled in the fridged chamber where the dark ness was so dense that Raijin could barely see the walls much less a floor or the ceiling.
"Where am I?" Raijin spoke as a single light lit up over him and illuminated a limited space around him; his voice rattling from the cold but as he looked down he spotted the army of Meta Cooler's all bowing to something far ahead of him that he could only just make out in the darkness, something small and suspected by a myriad of wires and machines but looked like a head or a central CPU for the army of clones.
"You are within the bowels of The Big Gete Star… or a mere fraction of its true majesty" Spoke Cooler's unmistakable voice; though it still sounded heavily synthesized rather than that of a fully biological speaking voice, even within the dark metallic chamber the voice echoed but Raijin could just make out a figure in the shadows as Raijin was pulled closer to the darker corners of the chamber until able to make out the shape of a head in the darkness.
"Oh my god… Cooler?!" Raijin muttered as he was forcibly lowered into approaching the obscured shape by the wires piercing his flesh; finally catching sight of the being before him for it was merely Cooler's actual head suspended by countless wires, with only a single eye to stare out from as Cooler's Head gave an empty emotionless stare to Raijin.
"Yes… see with your own eyes what I have been reduced to, this is all that is left of my real body!" Cooler's synthetic voice rang out; the wires protruding from his mutilated face moving and morphing like a mouth when speaking; several wires reaching out to form a hand as if to beckon Raijin closer of which Raijin did indeed step closer.
"Cooler… this state of being is not life, I'm sorry for causing this to one such as you" Raijin felt a pang of guilt for Cooler's poor state of living; being barely kept alive by The Big Gete Star's technology, even to his eyes that was a shallow imitation of life, Cooler's once-powerful body reduced to nothing more than a clump of flesh and a barely-functioning brain.
"Save your pity! I shall not be confined to this hollow shell of life for much longer now that my robotic legion has brought me a new body… a stronger body with limitless strength and capacity for growth" Cooler's Head's synthetic voice shouted greedily; the vibrations in the robotic voice sounding a great deal like anger; Cooler's sole eye narrowing on Raijin with a glistening desire as he spoke cryptically of his intentions and why he'd brought Raijin directly to him.
Raijin fell silent for a moment; the tense atmosphere setting in as all the ruby red scanner-eyes of the uncountable Meta Cooler's looked to him with great interest until the realisation dawned on him and Raijin finally opened his mouth to speak, "You don't mean…".
"Yes; I intend to take your body!" Cooler's Head announced; the legion of Meta Cooler's chanting for a new body, the wires suspending Raijin high above the legion humming as Raijin looked to the many wires puncturing his skin as he felt a tingle in his nerves before screaming as millions of volts of electricity flooded his body and began shocking the life out of him.
With wires spearing through his skin; Rajin grabbed at the wires and tore them from his flesh, focussed on the immediate threat of his body being stolen; Raijin was struck in the back of the head by a sudden violent blow, A Transformed Meta-Cooler had risen up from the floor beneath Raijin and attacked him while distracted; but Raijin shot a point-blank Energy Bolt into the clone and destroyed it.
Taking note that the clones were seemingly weaker now but couldn't take time to analyse as more wires speared through his skin while more clones rose through the floor to battle with him, the half-formed Aura Form bursting out from Raijin's back and blasting away three Meta-Cooler Clones while he tore the wires from his skin but wincing from the pain of his skin being punctured.
"Hold him down!" Cooler's Head screamed synthetically; watching as Raijin kept blowing away clone after clone with his imperfect Aura Form, instead of generating Clones; Cooler willed arms formed out of wires to slam down from the shadowed ceiling and walls to punch down on top of Raijin, the wire fist slamming down on top of Raijin as he just gazed at the huge attack and disappeared under millions of wires only to reappear strung up and hundreds of the wires poking through his skin as they began electrocuting Raijin's body to sap his life so Cooler might transfer his own essence into a new body.
Raijin's screams echoed across the cold and dark walls of the chamber; the shocks from the wires felt like his very skin was on fire as the wires not only shocked him but was also draining his energy to use for the brain transplant, the pain gripping a hold of all his senses until everything went dark with the only sound reaching Raijin's ears were that of Cooler's laughter.
Slipping into the recess of his mind; Raijin thought back to the last time he and Cooler fought, the sounds of the crashing waterfall, the smell of the grass and water, the sound of Cooler's voice through verbal battle, the impact of Cooler's transformed state beating him down into what would have been his grave, the jubilation of achieving victory over such a powerful foe as then Raijin recalled how familiar The Earth-Station was for it was the exact same as the place he'd seen in that premonition.
With his eyes snapping open and gritting his teeth as the truth finally came to his mind; for this was exactly how he was supposed to die in that vision he'd been shown by Chronoa as a reward in giving him a warning of his future, the pain still burning his body alive as burns seared into his flesh from the torture but a way to survive occurred to him and there was no time to waste.
Through the darkness of the dimly-lit chamber; only lit up by the flashes of electricity being channelled through the wires exposed the remains of Cooler's head, his wiry cheeks curled upwards in a smile as his single solitary eye stared out as Raijin writhed in agony from being shocked to death as for once The Saiyan of Namek was dead then he could transplant his own mind into that body and control not only the power of The Super Saiyan but have the Meta Cooler Legion at his command to conquer all that was left of Universe 7; his smile only dropping as Raijin's screams of agony turned to grunts and cries of denial.
Through the endless pain of electrocution; Raijin had an assumption on how to survive this death trap, the muscles in his arms and legs all tensing while blood dripped from the corners of his mouth from grinding his teeth through the pain; his eyes glaring out at Cooler with defiance as he drew on not his own energies but that of his God Ki, the divine might he'd been gifted fuelling his body and causing the wires that punctured his flesh to turn to dust due to God Ki not being compatible with technology.
"What is this?!" Cooler's Head spoke loudly as the strange energy he absorbed proved to be far stronger than he could contain, the flowing God Ki causing machines to explode and malfunction to the point that even The Meta Cooler's began self-destructing under the might of the energy Raijin was channelling into the Big Gete Star.
"What's wrong? Can't handle a little divine power?" Raijin cracked a grin as he spoke; pulling himself free from the slackening wires as to Cooler's view he swore he saw Raijin's hair turn a bright red as scarlet radiant flames burst into life for a brief moment but vanished as quickly as it came.
"Divine?!" Cooler's Head spoke with a single widening eye; watching helplessly as the wires suspending Raijin went slack and turning to dust thus allowing The Saiyan to break free from their clutch of machines and drop down to the cold metal floor and smashing two Meta Cooler's with a double stomp directly onto their heads.
"Do what you must; your might was far greater than what I could have imagined, my resurrection plot has failed and The Big Gete Star will snuff my life itself for my failure" Cooler's head's singular eye closed; having watched as Raijin not only halted his attempt to transmigrate his own mind and soul into Raijin's body, accepting his own fate as Raijin raised a hand to blast away what little remained of his living body.
"Cooler; let me ask you one final question, why are you so fixated on me when you could have overtaken Earth… or any planet with your infinite army?" Raijin stood silent for a brief moment; posing a question that even Cooler's Head looked surprised at when posed with the question, Cooler's sole eye glancing around at his Meta Clones but all were melting away from the uncontrollable God Ki destroying their circuits.
"That is a simple one to answer; because it was you and only you who came to face me that day I came to Earth seeking revenge, whereas the Saiyans: Goku, Vegeta and that unknown youth were nowhere to be seen… you alone rose to meet my challenge, we fought with all our strength and might but you rose cloaked in fire and lightning so you could surpass me… I consider you to be a man worthy of my respect because you and only you have ever defeated me in fair combat" Cooler paused before speaking but speaking with the most honesty and truth that Raijin had ever heard; recounting how only he had faced Cooler while everyone else had attended The Cell Games but he'd never though that it meant that much to Cooler himself, it was true that Raijin respected Cooler after facing him in battle but he'd had no idea that Cooler also respected him.
Raijin stood silent for several seconds; a single tear rolled down his cheek as he fought his own emotions in that moment, "Thank you Cooler; I'll remember you until the end of my days" Raijin spoke solemnly as if speaking to a cadaver at the funeral ceremony; opening his left hand and charging a single small Energy Bolt to he would bring Cooler's life to a painless end.
"And I wish you luck… in the battle against my brother, for you will need it for what he has become will bring only desolation to all worlds" Cooler spoke for the last time; what little remained on his face curled into a look of peace, the visage of someone awaiting their end brought another tear to Raijin's eye as he moved to bring an end to the real Cooler's pain.
With those parting words spoken; Raijin hurled his Energy Shot at Cooler's Head, watching as Cooler's sole eye closed and welcomed his death moments before the bolt struck; the ensuing explosion rocking the immense chamber as the walls began exploding in a chain reaction, the entire station being destroyed from within while Raijin ran as fast as his feet would carry him while pillars and machines burst into flames and sending electrical wires and shrapnel in every direction until Raijin kicked off the ground and flew directly up through the sole entranceway back out into the desert but looked down as the sandy dunes shifted with a huge underground explosion indicating that The Big Gete Star's Earth-Station had been destroyed and disintegrated into nothing.
Muttering a silent prayer for the soul of Cooler; Raijin turned to bear witness to that Reality Tears had not only reached Earth but had grown larger in diameter and width, biting his lip as the situation would have gotten worse but this war was still far from over, not needing a word for himself and beginning to turn towards the site of battle until spotting something far on the horizon.
Out on the edge of the horizon was a familiar series of dark clouds while all else was daylight; a single space were storm clouds had gathered with a glimmering glow at its centre, with that all-too-familiar sight within reach; Raijin rushed off to uncover the source of this disaster by questioning Shenron himself.
Toki Toki City.
With a soft smile crossing her purple lips, Chronoa beamed as she watched the events within the confines of The Big Gete Star; bearing witness as Raijin had indeed heeded her words and escaped the claws of the dark fate she'd gifted the man, pleased in Raijin's use of God Ki to overload the machinery and overcome the possession that Cooler had intended to transplant his mind and soul after murdering Raijin for the sake of stealing a new body for himself.
"So, I take it The Saiyan of Namek survived his fate?" Spoke a voice from behind Chronoa; The God of Time turning to meet with The Masked Saiyan and smiling warmly to greet the man.
"Yes, he survived… but I now fear his other fate" Chronoa spoke as her proud smile turned to a frown of sadness; glancing back down to her scroll and watching as the image shifted from the image of a Cooler-Possessed Raijin to the image of Raijin standing against a misty veil with a burnt right-hand, a severed foot and blood streaming out from one eye now blinded, his body being consumed entirely by an infinitely white void while a figure cloaked in dark energy watched and laughed.
"I did tell you that presenting knowledge of the future dooms one to a darker fate, Time has a habit of adapting and changing direction when altered, however; it is exceptionally rate for the fact that his new fate is so immediate" The Masked Saiyan stated; glaring down at the new images flashing across The Scroll of Fate, the image replaying again with little difference nor a sign of a changing of fate.
"Yes, that concerns me too; it'll take a miracle for Raijin to survive his final battle" Chronoa surmised sadly; gazing down upon Raijin's new fate; turning the imagery backwards to re-watch it again, watching over and over but not seeing so much as a single method of survival nor branching path in Time whereas he could claim victory over the final foe.