Hello, one and all! Welcome to another piece of fanfiction courtesy of your resident unlikable bastard, me! In my growing efforts to annoy Lord Beerus by not finishing Yamcha & Ox-King Save the World, I've decided to tackle another, longer running story taking place in my own version of Future Trunks' timeline. This will take some liberties with the established canon (obviously) and combine events of certain sagas together in an effort to 1) provide a challenge for the characters and 2) let me kill two birds with one stone.
I apologize for any grammatical and spelling mistakes, English is not my primary language. I'll try to squash as many of them as possible pre-release.
Synopsis: In every other timeline, death at the hands of Androids 17 and 18 was the end for the Z-fighters. Not this time, however, with the aid of Goku, King Kai and the mightiest warriors from Other World, they will attain new heights to defeat the Android threat and beyond. But will the ones left behind on Earth survive long enough to see their return?
Chapter 1: The First to Die
[spoiler]May 12th, Age 767, Amenbo Island
In most instances, Piccolo has never viewed his sharper hearing as an asset. More often than not, he's yearned to rid himself of it, annoyed by the noises piercing into his skull whenever he trades blows or blasts with another opponent. An encumbrance he's usually overcome by allowing the heat of battle to sweep him up with his ki sense to compensate. Now, he can't afford to apply this method as much as every fiber of his being wants him to.
Shock waves, explosions, beams whizzing and the worst of all, shrieks of terror and death from all over the besieged city ring in his ears. Creating a morbid, and most unwelcome mental image of his surroundings. If not for this ability being the only thing presently keeping him just barely alive, he'd have rendered himself temporarily deaf already.
For now he faces an adversary his Ki Sense can't help him against, an enemy with not even the faintest ounce of a ki signature. Not even a minuscule one common to the human species. Instead, this regular looking boy, no more than a few years older than his apprentice Gohan stands before him like an unstoppable and unreadable force. This teenage boy with nary the hint of combat training or a physique above his human peers stares him down with a cold, and ruthless confidence. Not even bothering to blink or drop the smirk ever present on his face, his expression eerily reminds Piccolo of the galactic tyrant, Freeza.
"Well, this is disappointing," He comments, placing his hands on into the pockets of his jeans. "From what the good Doctor said about you being as strong as Goku, I thought you'd put up a lot better fight than this."
Piccolo narrows his eyes. "The Doctor? I'm guessing this is the guy responsible for turning you two into whatever you are now?"
17 nods. "Into Androids yes. Our creator, Doctor Gero, formerly the head scientist of the Red Ribbon Army is the guy you can thank for all of this and so much more." He arms extended toward the burning city all around them. "Although, your friend Goku certainly did his part too."
"Goku...?"
"Mhm, I'm not sure what exactly but he did something pretty bad to the old man. Bad enough for him to spend 15 years to get revenge, building all sorts of nasty things like us to do it too. Unfortunately for him," His smirk turns into a full blown smile. "He lost his head before he could see the fruit of his labor."
"If this Doctor Gero is dead, and Goku's not here anymore for you to target, then why are you two doing all of this?"
"What can I say," 17 cracks his knuckles. "We've always been a couple of little troublemakers."
Vanishing out of sight, Piccolo freezes in place before ducking beneath the kick, his hearing allowing him to hear the wind splitting in half near his head mere seconds before the attack came. Taking hold of the boys leg, Piccolo roars and promptly launches him through a nearby, evacuated building. Before he can even fly an inch off the ground, a quick sideways jab to his face sends the Namekian hurtling through the air.
Recovering quickly enough to suffer only a scratch to his cheek courtesy of the Android's narrowly avoided punch, Piccolo launches a flurry of blows his way. Despite putting in every bit of strength into every punch and kick, Piccolo knows it's a fruitless exercise. His recent experiences against the Saiyan's and the Freeza giving him a good idea of what it means to be on the receiving end of an overwhelming adversary. Even one he can't sense. But he doesn't have to, his casually blocked and intercepted attacks being all the proof he needs.
Despite this, he knows he can't quit. Against an enemy like this, only he and the other warriors of Earth, even Vegeta of all people, stand as the planets only line of defense. And he's not about to allow a repeat of his people's genocide to happen to the Earthlings, not when he can do something to stop it.
"Tell me you've got something better than this," 17 comments with a bored tone. "I'm getting sleepy here."
"Hmph,"
A white radiate of ki surrounds his body as he powers up, propelling himself several feet into the air and high above his opponent. Forming two balls of ki, accompanied by large discharges of electricity from both, Piccolo fires off a series of energy balls with a mighty shout. He knows full well a volley of blasts of this caliber will be little more than split second annoyances for him. Exactly what he needs, for he used a shred of his power even making them while the vast majority instead has gone to his charging Makankosappo. Things quickly take a turn for the worse when 17 smacks the blasts away in the directions of several fleeing or wounded people in the nearby area instead of dispelling them as Piccolo counted on.
Damn it.
Breaking his focus on accumulating as much energy as he can into one all out blast, Piccolo quickly moves to intercept his off target blasts with new ones fired from each palm. He only narrowly manages to get them all, though his brief moment of relief is cut short with 17 smashing his fist into Piccolo's stomach. The Namekian's whole body freezes in place as a pained gasp escapes his lips.
Unable to strike back or protect himself, Piccolo finds himself flying upward from a jaw breaking uppercut. Treating the Namekian as little more than the object of a pinball game, 17 relentlessly smashes his bested opponent around in all directions, intercepting him before he can fly off with another punch or kick. Piccolo already guessed from the pain of the stomach blow that he's finished, with this exercise in torture merely serving to wilt away what little hope he has remaining of possibly winning.
Eventually, 17 stops, letting Piccolo fall face first into the ruined streets of the city and descends behind him with a disappointed sigh. "Y'know, my sister and I saw your stunt on TV all those years ago. How you outlawed all the rules and told everyone to do whatever they wanted as long is it was for the sake of stirring up trouble."
Piccolo lets out a grunt of pain and anger, his thoughts returning to his previous incarnations declaration on the day of his death and inception. Not with the same pride or disdain as he did in his younger days.
"We thought you were the coolest guy ever. A real role model for a couple of impressionable youngsters like us. But here you are now," He comments with disgust plastered all across his face and in every spoken word. "Just another goodie two shoes like the rest of Goku's loser friends. Honestly, what happened to you?"
Gohan... The boys smiling face emerges in his mind along with a sense of relief at his decision to knock him out, preventing him from partaking in the battle. A decision growing all the wiser as he can sense Vegeta, now a Super Saiyan and above both Goku and Freeza, falter against the other Android on the opposite end of the city.
Hearing the Android's approach from his footsteps, Piccolo knows he can't simply stay down and let the Android kill him. For the sake of the Earth and especially for Gohan, he pushes through the horrible pain, rolls onto his back and manages to hit 17 directly in the face with a quick ki blast. Using a pair of smaller blasts aimed at the ground, Piccolo propels himself back to his feet and lunges at 17 with a mighty roar.
Just as Piccolo's claws near his face, 18 vanishes out of sight with a smirk, leaving the Super Namek bewildered for a moment. Hearing her feet tap the concrete behind him, The Namekian quickly spins around to continue his assault only to find himself frozen from pain once again. A crippling kick to his chest knocks out the last shred of strength he has left.
For a moment, the entire world seems to slow down around him, a sensation he's only ever felt twice before. Once after Goku's powerful headbutt and more prominently, when he put himself in front of Nappa's energy blast. Just as he did last time, he feels his body go limp as 17 slowly pulls his leg back, staring at the alien as he plummets down to his knees. Just as last time, his thoughts return to his time training Gohan and lets himself smile at the boys statement about him being more grumpy than bad.
Sorry, I let you down, kid...
With that final thought crossing his mind, his body smashes against the ruined concrete at the feet of Android 17. The first of the Earth's warriors fated to die today at the hands of the Androids. Looking down at his corpse with a disappointed expression, the cybernetically enhanced boy turns to hunt down humans likely still scattered around the city. Sealing their fates as well.
------
5 Months Prior, Yunzabit Heights
"I'm glad you agreed to stay with Piccolo," Admits Kami as he hands a cup containing ice water from the northern area where Kami and Piccolo grew up during their time as the joined being known as the Nameless Namek to his counterpart. Considered a desolate wasteland with nary a sign of life or sunlight in the eyes of many, it remains as one of the few places both Kami and even Piccolo's previous incarnation held dearly. The self-proclaimed Demon King even spared the area of his infamous conquest many centuries ago.
"I was certain you'd simply fly away and ignore my request."
Piccolo takes the cup with some understandable apprehension, for he never expected to stand in the same room with his counterpart without any hostility, much less share a drink with him. "Ordinarily I would have," He takes a sip from the cup. "But I can sense you've got something important to say, so out with it."
"Very well then," The old Namekian's smile falters following a sigh, replaced by a stern and serious expression. "The time for another Guardian of Earth is fast approaching."
Nearly choking while taking another sip upon hearing this statement, Piccolo's cough gets an amused chuckle out of Kami. Not for the first time since seeing him there, Piccolo eyes the old Guardian with suspicion. Just before the arrival of Raditz six years ago, both he and Kami sensed that their time amongst the living was nearing its end. An ominous premonition which turned out to be true. However, Piccolo senses nothing amiss with himself or Kami.
"You seem fine physically at least, so you're not dying."
Kami shakes his head with a chuckle. "Oh no! I'm feeling quite well I assure you! In fact, I don't intend to retire for at least a few more years. Still, in light of recent events, I thought it prudent to plan ahead for the future."
Though he doesn't say it, Piccolo is smart enough to realize what he means: the unexpected death of Goku at the hands of that new virus plaguing the human populace. Even in his wildest dreams while growing up in the wilderness during his darker days, Piccolo never suspected or wanted him to face such an end. A warrior of that caliber, full of life dying in his bed in agonizing pain instead of in combat as befitting of him.
Despite his best attempts to keep his emotions and thoughts hidden from Kami, Piccolo's defenses falter for a moment as he finds himself missing the Saiyan. Something which doesn't go unnoticed.
"It's funny you know," Kami states while staring into the water of his cup, his mind wandering back to the days Goku spent in his company. "You two spent years training to defeat one another, and in the end, you two became comrades willing to save one another. You've even become a second father to his son."
"No one's more surprised by that than me," Admits Piccolo, letting himself relax somewhat for the first time since the arrival of Kami. "When I trained Gohan, I didn't intend to grow fond of him. Just having something of myself left after I died was more than enough, even if it was in Goku's son of all people." He forms a genuine smile. "But the boy got under my skin."
"How are they doing? Gohan and Chi-Chi I mean."
"They're doing better," He takes another sip from the cup. "They took it about as well as you'd expect at first. But once Goku contacted them from the afterlife, the blow was lessened somewhat. I've been traveling there often these days. Training with Gohan and helping around their home a little, they need it with another kid on the way."
"Chi-Chi must be thrilled having you around." Muses Kami with an amused tone to his voice, his implication not lost on his formerly evil counterpart.
"I sense some hostility, but the fact of the matter is that Gohan likes having me around. Seeing him happy with anyone, even with me must be good enough for her."
Kami chuckles once more. "You can't exactly blame her, the first time she met you, you nearly killed her fiancée after all."
"Hmph," Scoffs Piccolo with an amused smile. "Some fiancée, he didn't even remember what she looked like."
"Oh it gets even better, at first, he thought marriage was a kind of food!"
Letting the tension between them wash away, the two share a loud and genuine laugh together, the first of many stories Kami shares with Piccolo of Goku's many antics during his time on the Lookout. Beginning what will become a trend of meeting up for the two in the coming months of peace.[/spoiler]
Passing The Torch (Future Trunks AU)
Passing The Torch (Future Trunks AU)
When someone tells you, "Don't present your opinion as fact," what they're actually saying is, "Don't present your opinion with any conviction. Because I don't like your opinion, and I want to be able to dismiss it as easily as possible." Don't fall for it.
How the Black Arc Should End (by Lightbing!):
How the Black Arc Should End (by Lightbing!):
Spoiler:
Re: Passing The Torch (Future Trunks AU)
The next chapter is out! This time focusing on our favorite, enternally pissed off Prince, Future Vegeta!
Chapter 2: A Legend Outclassed
[spoiler]May 12th, Age 767, Amenbo Island
To any far away from the catastrophe unfolding on Amenbo Island, the quivering of the ground may appear as a precursor to a massive earthquake in the making. Possibly the worst in recent memory. To those unfortunate enough still be on the besieged island, the shaking is second to the dozens of shockwaves rippling through the air. Inadvertently smashing chunks of buildings and glass in their wake, raining both down on the fleeing populace.
The truth, for the handful aware of it, would be viewed as quite a bit stranger in the eyes of the ordinary humans. That the cause of all this isn't some natural disaster, but the aftermath of punches and kicks. Exchanged blows courtesy of two beings with the power to do far, far worse if they wanted to. One looking no different than any other young woman her age while the other is the prince of an almost extinct species.
Clad in a customized version of the Saiyan armor courtesy of Bulma and Capsule Corp and shining brightly with the power of the legendary Super Saiyan coursing through him, Vegeta battle Android 18 with a sense of excitement he hasn't felt in six months. Not since his opportunity to defeat Goku and reclaim his honor slipped through his fingers. Snatched away forever by an enemy not even greatest fighters can resist: a disease. Leaving him without purpose and bringing him back to the headquarters of Capsule Corp, giving him something of a home.
But now all of that feels like a distant memory from a lifetime ago.
After blocking the latest in a series of punches, Vegeta spins out of the way of her kick and retaliates a backhanded strike to the side of her face, sending her plummeting towards the ground. She recovers just ahead of smashing into the street and turns around to continue the battle only to find a massive, golden wave of ki coming at her.
Knowing she can't disperse wave of that size, she instead prepares to push it back when she notices something in the corner of her eye. A golden streak of energy darting around the incoming attack, a trail left behind from Vegeta's flaring aura. With one hand pointed at the incoming wave with the other aimed at Vegeta, she tries to gun down the Saiyan Prince to no avail.
Dispelling the ki blasts with quick karate chops, Vegeta smirks as he gets behind 18 and with all his mighty, propels himself forward while ramming his elbow into her back. At last, the wave he launched mere moments ago reaches the Android, hitting her face first, pushing her down while Vegeta pushes upward.
Not content to simply ram her through his blast, Vegeta decides to add a little twist to his plan and fires off a closer range energy wave nearly twice the power of his previous one. In a blinding ray of light, the Android and the blast attacking her from the front are completely engulfed with anything caught in its range wiped out of existence, leaving nothing but a massive cloud of smoke behind.
With a quick swipe of his hand, Vegeta creates a wind gust strong enough to disperse the smoke cloud and finds 18 hovering back up in the air, staring down at him with only minor burns on her body and clothing. Most would be shocked or at least somewhat worried about their blast not having much of an effect. Not Vegeta, however, as he has no desire to see this fight end so quickly or so easily.
"I see I'm not the only one enjoying myself," 18 comments on the smirk planted firmly on the Saiyan Princes face just as positions himself several yards opposite of her. "The data mentioned your fondness for combat."
"A trait shared by all true Saiyan warriors, even by fools like Kakarot."
She rubs her chin thoughtfully as she recounts the data stored inside her modified brain. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't that fool leave you in the dust until you turned into that monkey thing you aliens got?"
Her comment hits closer to home, closer than Vegeta would want to admit, either to himself or anyone else. Still, it's nowhere near enough to kill his enthusiasm. "Even a fool can get lucky, but it doesn't last. If it did, he wouldn't have died from some common Earthling cold."
"Was that before or after you beat him?" She smiles upon noticing Vegeta's fists tighten. "I know I'd be pretty mad if the guy who screwed with me died before I could get some payback."
Vegeta merely lets out a chuckle, no wanting to give her the satisfaction of seeing him riled up. "I'd choose my words more carefully if I were you, speaking to a superior warrior like that tends to end badly. Especially if you can't back it up."
"That's some good advice," She admits with the same mocking tone to her voice. "I'll be sure to keep it in mind when a superior fighter shows up."
"He's standing right in front of you," Vegeta's smirk turns into a full blown, confident smile. "He's just been holding back!"
His humming, golden aura explodes as the Prince of all Saiyan's unleashes a mighty roar with his increasing power. His entire body tenses up from it with his muscles bulging and veins popping out all over his body. The quivering of the ground from before is a minor tremble in comparison to the shaking caused by Vegeta's powering up.
Letting out a confident laugh as a vortex of wind spirals around him, Vegeta gives 18 one last warning. "Don't die too quickly, I'd hate to use my full strength for nothing."
"Of course," She bows without lowering her head to him, "Your majesty."
Blasting off towards the Android, Vegeta attempts a flying back kick only for 18 to casually tilt her head to the right, causing him to miss entirely. Quickly re-positioning himself, the Saiyan warrior fires a minor Big Bang Attack with his attack failing to connect again due to 18 vanishing out of sight. An instant later, Vegeta is sent flying back courtesy from a headbutt, leaving a bleeding smear over his right eye.
Before the growling Prince can even retaliate, a blindingly fast uppercut sends a horrid rush of pain coursing through his skull. The first of many injuries to come. A spinning roundhouse kick to his chest piece is the next, one powerful enough to leave a fist sized dent on it and knock the air from his lungs.
Tumbling onto the cracked skyscraper top, Vegeta narrowly avoids a stomp directed at his head and quickly leaps back into action as he cannot afford to stay down and leave himself vulnerable. He lashes out with a punch aimed at her face only for the Android to casually catch it midway. Applying only a minimal amount of effort on her part, she pushes the limb forward, forcing Vegeta to his knees or risk fighting with a broken arm.
"Let's see who did it better," Is all Android 18 tells the kneeling Prince before kicking him up into the air before unleashing a ki wave of her own roughly three stories in size at the Saiyan warrior. An instant later, she takes off into the air, darting past both her attack and the spinning Vegeta in mere seconds, reaching the Earth's stratosphere in speeds thought impossible but humanity or the Z-fighters.
Using the built up momentum to her advantage, 18 smirks upon speeding up even further downward and rams her shoulder right into the Princes back plate. Before he can even hear the cracking of his armor, Vegeta is assaulted by the scorching heat of 18s energy wave burning away at him from head to toe. The pain only grows worse as burns appear all over his body and clothing, burning away whole chunks of his jumpsuit and armor plate.
He receives a momentary respite once the blast gets cleaved in half though it soon becomes worse as 18 manages to shatter the sound barrier just as a figure grows closer and closer. The top of the skyscraper and instantly, Vegeta knows what's about to come and finds himself unable to do anything about it. The damage to his body, just from this handful of blows has left it in a sorry state.
All he can do is let out a quickly silenced yell of anger and terror before rammed through thirty stories of glass, concrete, and stainless steel.
Like the shell of an egg, a third of the island breaks from the impact of Vegeta hitting ground level. Massive cracks form all throughout, splitting streets and buildings alike, allowing the nearby roaring ocean to rush in-between, slowly sinking everything into its depths. Emerging from the sinking ruins of the skyscraper, Android 18 holds the nearly unconscious Vegeta by the hair, letting him almost dangle in the air before tossing him into a nearby wall.
As he lies there, half-dead and choking on the salt water eating away at his throat and nostrils, a feeling of frustration and restlessness eats away at him. Not the same one from the weeks following Kakarot's demise. No, this bears a frightening resemblance to the last moments of agony he spent against Freeza. Beaten, bloody and tired as if he aged 50 years. Once more, the power he thought would let him overcome any challenge turned out to be not enough.
He manages to push his back against the wall when something akin to a jolt of electricity hits him courtesy of his ki sense. He senses Piccolo's energy fizzle out and immediately, he knows the worst consequence of his death: the Dragon Balls are no more. Any hope of Piccolo perhaps being alive quickly dies with the arrival of Android 17.
"I see you're still having fun with this one." He casts a sideway glance at the scowling Vegeta. "Should've known you got the better deal with the rock, paper, scissors game."
"Piccolo wasn't all he was cracked up to be?" 17 shakes his head. "That's a shame. Maybe you can try your luck with the tri-clops. The old man's data says he's pretty strong, for a human anyway."
"And risk running into that clown thing? No thanks."
"It's either them or the shortie and the loser, take your pick."
Falling silent for a moment, 17 weighs the pros and cons of each group without a care in the world. "Eh, I'll take the tri-clops and clown instead. Hopefully, they didn't croak from that little welcoming blast."
With his mind made up, 17 departs back towards the city, allowing his sister to end her business with Vegeta. "So, you're still awake. I figured you'd play dead after hearing about the green man dying."
"I already told you..." Growls Vegeta as he slowly gets back up. "A true Saiyan warrior relishes battle, no matter what."
Clenching his fists, Vegeta fights through the pain and with a shout, reaches into the scant remains of his energy reserves for one, final transformation. "So what if the Namekian is dead? You think the Dragon Balls end will make me scared? Make me beg for my life? I already let my spirit get broken once!" His golden aura flares up with his temper, causing several pieces of debris to start floating all around him.
"AND I'LL DIE BEFORE IT LET IT HAPPEN AGAIN!"
With no hope of victory and ready to die, Vegeta launches himself at the smirking Android, roaring like the finest of his ancestors did whenever they charged to every battle the outcome be damned. The matter of the Dragon Balls being rendered useless matters far less than he thought it would, admittedly. For if he's going to die permanently, he refuses to simply lie in the dirt, bleeding and broken. Not again, never again.
As he nears the one surely responsible for his demise, the world around him slows down as a single image pops up in his head. Whenever he thought of his death, he expected to see his glorious triumphant from his countless conquests across the cosmos. Or even the days on Planet Vegeta with his father and kin.
Instead, he sees a little baby boy, holding a ball and smiling right back at him.
--------------------------------------------
4 Months Prior, West City
As per his usual routine ever since arriving on Earth, Vegeta stands in the red lit Gravity Chamber parked in the back yard of Capsule Corp headquarters. Clad in his standard Saiyan battle armor, he dodges the dozens of laser beams launched from the equally numerous attack drones with utter ease. A long time ago, such a gravity would've sent him falling to the ground and staying there, now he avoids them with his arms crossed and his eyes closed as light as a leaf, a sign of his mastery.
Once he took pride in this achievement, seeing it as another stepping stone to him reclaiming the mantle of strongest Saiyan. Now, it's just another in a long series of exercises he keeps putting himself through just to pass the seemingly endless hours of the Earth's day.
For a time, this strategy has worked. Keeping his mind off recent events and letting him vent off steam, but the law of diminishing returns applies to all things. Slowly but surely, the same thrill shrank with each passing day. Leaving him bored with the repetition though not quite enough for him to quit outright. Today, he feels more so than any other.
Today, his thoughts wander back to the day he witnessed the power of the Super Saiyan up close. The day Freeza and his hidden father, King Cold arrived to lay waste to the Earth. How everyone was certain their world was doomed, how Freeza's gargantuan flaming ball of ki loomed over them like an incoming meteorite and how, out of nowhere, Kakarot appeared to swat it away with complete ease.
Glowing with the legendary power, he did what Vegeta dreamed of many times during his years of service under Freeza: completely annihilate him. Though he apparently gave the tyrant plenty of opportunities to simply leave them alone, his advice went unheeded once again and Kakarot couldn't let it happen again. With the largest energy wave, Vegeta had ever seen, Kakarot vaporized Freeza and King Cold out of existence and ended the PTOs reign of terror across the cosmos.
The others were thrilled and amazed by this display, but not Vegeta. He merely stared on with envy as Kakarot once again left him in the dust. He accepted the low-class fighter as the one destined to destroy Freeza on Namek well enough. For he was dying and his power was clearly not good enough to do it, but Kakarot's was. So he asked, no, begged him to see things through to the end and though he took his time doing so, Kakarot avenged the Saiyan's of planet Vegeta.
The only problem with this: Vegeta was still alive. His impending demise forced him to dash away his pride in a last ditch effort to see Freeza destroyed. But now he was alive again, his pride still wounded despite the respect he found for Kakarot for achieving the legendary Super Saiyan state and defeating Freeza.
For two and a half years, Vegeta sought to rectify this mistake. To take his place as the true, strongest Saiyan of all and just as he thought he did it by attaining the legendary power as well. Kakarot was fading away. Now he's gone, beyond the ability of any Dragon Balls to restore him to life. Sent away to some place where he'll keep getting stronger and stronger for all eternity while Vegeta wastes away.
It isn't until he feels a faint sting to his forehead that Vegeta snaps out of his trance and finds himself standing in the middle of the chamber. Assaulted from all sides by the lasers yet their attacks do little to him. Looking down on the floor like a scolded child he lets out a tired sigh and with a few button presses shuts down the chamber. Too mentally drained and physically sickened by the tedium to force himself through it anymore.
The setting sun is the first thing to welcome him as he walks onto the grass of Capsule Corp headquarters. Not knowing anything better to do with himself, Vegeta simply walks back inside the headquarters, ignoring the greetings of the secretary entirely as he makes his way back to his own sleeping quarters.
As he passes through the somewhat claustrophobic corridors of the bubble shaped building, Vegeta passes by an open door and stops dead in his tracks when something of inhuman speed darts past his head. Instantly, his warrior instincts activate, letting him narrowly avoid the projectile and see its trajectory as if it were another one of these gravity chamber lasers.
The ball smashes against the walls of the corridor, leaving dents all over until Vegeta finally snatches it out of the air. The force behind the throw was so great, the ball even smokes as if burning for a moment until finally cooling off in his hand. Upon further inspection, Vegeta notices that the ball isn't a ball at all, but an orb like drone, one he hasn't seen thus far. Either an old obsolete model or one yet to be released he guesses.
That's when he hears a childlike giggle in the room next to him and looks inside to find the baby Trunks looking at him with an innocence only someone of his age could. At his feet, he finds a whole toolbox Vegeta instantly recognizes as Bulma's and wonders to himself how the boy even managed to get here, much less climb high enough to the table to knock it down.
"What are you-"
The boy sends another object his way, this time with even greater force and speed behind it though Vegeta is far more alert now and snatches the screwdriver just as it's about to cut his cheek. Noticing that the boys calling out for his ball back, Vegeta finds himself intrigued and tosses the ball with the same force as his son did.
As it did before, the drone smashes against the walls only to be stopped moments later by Trunks, not even a year old, leaping into the air and catching it before landing onto the ground as if he'd been practicing the maneuver when no one was looking. Then he slumps back onto the ground, a giggling baby just like any other.
For the first time in a while, Vegeta finds himself genuinely smiling at the display. "Hmm, not bad kid."
As if he perfectly understood him, Trunks' enthusiasm only grows, prompting him to prepare another toss at his father. Impressed by his display and with little else to do, Vegeta decides to play this little game and prepares himself for the incoming toss.[/spoiler]
Chapter 2: A Legend Outclassed
[spoiler]May 12th, Age 767, Amenbo Island
To any far away from the catastrophe unfolding on Amenbo Island, the quivering of the ground may appear as a precursor to a massive earthquake in the making. Possibly the worst in recent memory. To those unfortunate enough still be on the besieged island, the shaking is second to the dozens of shockwaves rippling through the air. Inadvertently smashing chunks of buildings and glass in their wake, raining both down on the fleeing populace.
The truth, for the handful aware of it, would be viewed as quite a bit stranger in the eyes of the ordinary humans. That the cause of all this isn't some natural disaster, but the aftermath of punches and kicks. Exchanged blows courtesy of two beings with the power to do far, far worse if they wanted to. One looking no different than any other young woman her age while the other is the prince of an almost extinct species.
Clad in a customized version of the Saiyan armor courtesy of Bulma and Capsule Corp and shining brightly with the power of the legendary Super Saiyan coursing through him, Vegeta battle Android 18 with a sense of excitement he hasn't felt in six months. Not since his opportunity to defeat Goku and reclaim his honor slipped through his fingers. Snatched away forever by an enemy not even greatest fighters can resist: a disease. Leaving him without purpose and bringing him back to the headquarters of Capsule Corp, giving him something of a home.
But now all of that feels like a distant memory from a lifetime ago.
After blocking the latest in a series of punches, Vegeta spins out of the way of her kick and retaliates a backhanded strike to the side of her face, sending her plummeting towards the ground. She recovers just ahead of smashing into the street and turns around to continue the battle only to find a massive, golden wave of ki coming at her.
Knowing she can't disperse wave of that size, she instead prepares to push it back when she notices something in the corner of her eye. A golden streak of energy darting around the incoming attack, a trail left behind from Vegeta's flaring aura. With one hand pointed at the incoming wave with the other aimed at Vegeta, she tries to gun down the Saiyan Prince to no avail.
Dispelling the ki blasts with quick karate chops, Vegeta smirks as he gets behind 18 and with all his mighty, propels himself forward while ramming his elbow into her back. At last, the wave he launched mere moments ago reaches the Android, hitting her face first, pushing her down while Vegeta pushes upward.
Not content to simply ram her through his blast, Vegeta decides to add a little twist to his plan and fires off a closer range energy wave nearly twice the power of his previous one. In a blinding ray of light, the Android and the blast attacking her from the front are completely engulfed with anything caught in its range wiped out of existence, leaving nothing but a massive cloud of smoke behind.
With a quick swipe of his hand, Vegeta creates a wind gust strong enough to disperse the smoke cloud and finds 18 hovering back up in the air, staring down at him with only minor burns on her body and clothing. Most would be shocked or at least somewhat worried about their blast not having much of an effect. Not Vegeta, however, as he has no desire to see this fight end so quickly or so easily.
"I see I'm not the only one enjoying myself," 18 comments on the smirk planted firmly on the Saiyan Princes face just as positions himself several yards opposite of her. "The data mentioned your fondness for combat."
"A trait shared by all true Saiyan warriors, even by fools like Kakarot."
She rubs her chin thoughtfully as she recounts the data stored inside her modified brain. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't that fool leave you in the dust until you turned into that monkey thing you aliens got?"
Her comment hits closer to home, closer than Vegeta would want to admit, either to himself or anyone else. Still, it's nowhere near enough to kill his enthusiasm. "Even a fool can get lucky, but it doesn't last. If it did, he wouldn't have died from some common Earthling cold."
"Was that before or after you beat him?" She smiles upon noticing Vegeta's fists tighten. "I know I'd be pretty mad if the guy who screwed with me died before I could get some payback."
Vegeta merely lets out a chuckle, no wanting to give her the satisfaction of seeing him riled up. "I'd choose my words more carefully if I were you, speaking to a superior warrior like that tends to end badly. Especially if you can't back it up."
"That's some good advice," She admits with the same mocking tone to her voice. "I'll be sure to keep it in mind when a superior fighter shows up."
"He's standing right in front of you," Vegeta's smirk turns into a full blown, confident smile. "He's just been holding back!"
His humming, golden aura explodes as the Prince of all Saiyan's unleashes a mighty roar with his increasing power. His entire body tenses up from it with his muscles bulging and veins popping out all over his body. The quivering of the ground from before is a minor tremble in comparison to the shaking caused by Vegeta's powering up.
Letting out a confident laugh as a vortex of wind spirals around him, Vegeta gives 18 one last warning. "Don't die too quickly, I'd hate to use my full strength for nothing."
"Of course," She bows without lowering her head to him, "Your majesty."
Blasting off towards the Android, Vegeta attempts a flying back kick only for 18 to casually tilt her head to the right, causing him to miss entirely. Quickly re-positioning himself, the Saiyan warrior fires a minor Big Bang Attack with his attack failing to connect again due to 18 vanishing out of sight. An instant later, Vegeta is sent flying back courtesy from a headbutt, leaving a bleeding smear over his right eye.
Before the growling Prince can even retaliate, a blindingly fast uppercut sends a horrid rush of pain coursing through his skull. The first of many injuries to come. A spinning roundhouse kick to his chest piece is the next, one powerful enough to leave a fist sized dent on it and knock the air from his lungs.
Tumbling onto the cracked skyscraper top, Vegeta narrowly avoids a stomp directed at his head and quickly leaps back into action as he cannot afford to stay down and leave himself vulnerable. He lashes out with a punch aimed at her face only for the Android to casually catch it midway. Applying only a minimal amount of effort on her part, she pushes the limb forward, forcing Vegeta to his knees or risk fighting with a broken arm.
"Let's see who did it better," Is all Android 18 tells the kneeling Prince before kicking him up into the air before unleashing a ki wave of her own roughly three stories in size at the Saiyan warrior. An instant later, she takes off into the air, darting past both her attack and the spinning Vegeta in mere seconds, reaching the Earth's stratosphere in speeds thought impossible but humanity or the Z-fighters.
Using the built up momentum to her advantage, 18 smirks upon speeding up even further downward and rams her shoulder right into the Princes back plate. Before he can even hear the cracking of his armor, Vegeta is assaulted by the scorching heat of 18s energy wave burning away at him from head to toe. The pain only grows worse as burns appear all over his body and clothing, burning away whole chunks of his jumpsuit and armor plate.
He receives a momentary respite once the blast gets cleaved in half though it soon becomes worse as 18 manages to shatter the sound barrier just as a figure grows closer and closer. The top of the skyscraper and instantly, Vegeta knows what's about to come and finds himself unable to do anything about it. The damage to his body, just from this handful of blows has left it in a sorry state.
All he can do is let out a quickly silenced yell of anger and terror before rammed through thirty stories of glass, concrete, and stainless steel.
Like the shell of an egg, a third of the island breaks from the impact of Vegeta hitting ground level. Massive cracks form all throughout, splitting streets and buildings alike, allowing the nearby roaring ocean to rush in-between, slowly sinking everything into its depths. Emerging from the sinking ruins of the skyscraper, Android 18 holds the nearly unconscious Vegeta by the hair, letting him almost dangle in the air before tossing him into a nearby wall.
As he lies there, half-dead and choking on the salt water eating away at his throat and nostrils, a feeling of frustration and restlessness eats away at him. Not the same one from the weeks following Kakarot's demise. No, this bears a frightening resemblance to the last moments of agony he spent against Freeza. Beaten, bloody and tired as if he aged 50 years. Once more, the power he thought would let him overcome any challenge turned out to be not enough.
He manages to push his back against the wall when something akin to a jolt of electricity hits him courtesy of his ki sense. He senses Piccolo's energy fizzle out and immediately, he knows the worst consequence of his death: the Dragon Balls are no more. Any hope of Piccolo perhaps being alive quickly dies with the arrival of Android 17.
"I see you're still having fun with this one." He casts a sideway glance at the scowling Vegeta. "Should've known you got the better deal with the rock, paper, scissors game."
"Piccolo wasn't all he was cracked up to be?" 17 shakes his head. "That's a shame. Maybe you can try your luck with the tri-clops. The old man's data says he's pretty strong, for a human anyway."
"And risk running into that clown thing? No thanks."
"It's either them or the shortie and the loser, take your pick."
Falling silent for a moment, 17 weighs the pros and cons of each group without a care in the world. "Eh, I'll take the tri-clops and clown instead. Hopefully, they didn't croak from that little welcoming blast."
With his mind made up, 17 departs back towards the city, allowing his sister to end her business with Vegeta. "So, you're still awake. I figured you'd play dead after hearing about the green man dying."
"I already told you..." Growls Vegeta as he slowly gets back up. "A true Saiyan warrior relishes battle, no matter what."
Clenching his fists, Vegeta fights through the pain and with a shout, reaches into the scant remains of his energy reserves for one, final transformation. "So what if the Namekian is dead? You think the Dragon Balls end will make me scared? Make me beg for my life? I already let my spirit get broken once!" His golden aura flares up with his temper, causing several pieces of debris to start floating all around him.
"AND I'LL DIE BEFORE IT LET IT HAPPEN AGAIN!"
With no hope of victory and ready to die, Vegeta launches himself at the smirking Android, roaring like the finest of his ancestors did whenever they charged to every battle the outcome be damned. The matter of the Dragon Balls being rendered useless matters far less than he thought it would, admittedly. For if he's going to die permanently, he refuses to simply lie in the dirt, bleeding and broken. Not again, never again.
As he nears the one surely responsible for his demise, the world around him slows down as a single image pops up in his head. Whenever he thought of his death, he expected to see his glorious triumphant from his countless conquests across the cosmos. Or even the days on Planet Vegeta with his father and kin.
Instead, he sees a little baby boy, holding a ball and smiling right back at him.
--------------------------------------------
4 Months Prior, West City
As per his usual routine ever since arriving on Earth, Vegeta stands in the red lit Gravity Chamber parked in the back yard of Capsule Corp headquarters. Clad in his standard Saiyan battle armor, he dodges the dozens of laser beams launched from the equally numerous attack drones with utter ease. A long time ago, such a gravity would've sent him falling to the ground and staying there, now he avoids them with his arms crossed and his eyes closed as light as a leaf, a sign of his mastery.
Once he took pride in this achievement, seeing it as another stepping stone to him reclaiming the mantle of strongest Saiyan. Now, it's just another in a long series of exercises he keeps putting himself through just to pass the seemingly endless hours of the Earth's day.
For a time, this strategy has worked. Keeping his mind off recent events and letting him vent off steam, but the law of diminishing returns applies to all things. Slowly but surely, the same thrill shrank with each passing day. Leaving him bored with the repetition though not quite enough for him to quit outright. Today, he feels more so than any other.
Today, his thoughts wander back to the day he witnessed the power of the Super Saiyan up close. The day Freeza and his hidden father, King Cold arrived to lay waste to the Earth. How everyone was certain their world was doomed, how Freeza's gargantuan flaming ball of ki loomed over them like an incoming meteorite and how, out of nowhere, Kakarot appeared to swat it away with complete ease.
Glowing with the legendary power, he did what Vegeta dreamed of many times during his years of service under Freeza: completely annihilate him. Though he apparently gave the tyrant plenty of opportunities to simply leave them alone, his advice went unheeded once again and Kakarot couldn't let it happen again. With the largest energy wave, Vegeta had ever seen, Kakarot vaporized Freeza and King Cold out of existence and ended the PTOs reign of terror across the cosmos.
The others were thrilled and amazed by this display, but not Vegeta. He merely stared on with envy as Kakarot once again left him in the dust. He accepted the low-class fighter as the one destined to destroy Freeza on Namek well enough. For he was dying and his power was clearly not good enough to do it, but Kakarot's was. So he asked, no, begged him to see things through to the end and though he took his time doing so, Kakarot avenged the Saiyan's of planet Vegeta.
The only problem with this: Vegeta was still alive. His impending demise forced him to dash away his pride in a last ditch effort to see Freeza destroyed. But now he was alive again, his pride still wounded despite the respect he found for Kakarot for achieving the legendary Super Saiyan state and defeating Freeza.
For two and a half years, Vegeta sought to rectify this mistake. To take his place as the true, strongest Saiyan of all and just as he thought he did it by attaining the legendary power as well. Kakarot was fading away. Now he's gone, beyond the ability of any Dragon Balls to restore him to life. Sent away to some place where he'll keep getting stronger and stronger for all eternity while Vegeta wastes away.
It isn't until he feels a faint sting to his forehead that Vegeta snaps out of his trance and finds himself standing in the middle of the chamber. Assaulted from all sides by the lasers yet their attacks do little to him. Looking down on the floor like a scolded child he lets out a tired sigh and with a few button presses shuts down the chamber. Too mentally drained and physically sickened by the tedium to force himself through it anymore.
The setting sun is the first thing to welcome him as he walks onto the grass of Capsule Corp headquarters. Not knowing anything better to do with himself, Vegeta simply walks back inside the headquarters, ignoring the greetings of the secretary entirely as he makes his way back to his own sleeping quarters.
As he passes through the somewhat claustrophobic corridors of the bubble shaped building, Vegeta passes by an open door and stops dead in his tracks when something of inhuman speed darts past his head. Instantly, his warrior instincts activate, letting him narrowly avoid the projectile and see its trajectory as if it were another one of these gravity chamber lasers.
The ball smashes against the walls of the corridor, leaving dents all over until Vegeta finally snatches it out of the air. The force behind the throw was so great, the ball even smokes as if burning for a moment until finally cooling off in his hand. Upon further inspection, Vegeta notices that the ball isn't a ball at all, but an orb like drone, one he hasn't seen thus far. Either an old obsolete model or one yet to be released he guesses.
That's when he hears a childlike giggle in the room next to him and looks inside to find the baby Trunks looking at him with an innocence only someone of his age could. At his feet, he finds a whole toolbox Vegeta instantly recognizes as Bulma's and wonders to himself how the boy even managed to get here, much less climb high enough to the table to knock it down.
"What are you-"
The boy sends another object his way, this time with even greater force and speed behind it though Vegeta is far more alert now and snatches the screwdriver just as it's about to cut his cheek. Noticing that the boys calling out for his ball back, Vegeta finds himself intrigued and tosses the ball with the same force as his son did.
As it did before, the drone smashes against the walls only to be stopped moments later by Trunks, not even a year old, leaping into the air and catching it before landing onto the ground as if he'd been practicing the maneuver when no one was looking. Then he slumps back onto the ground, a giggling baby just like any other.
For the first time in a while, Vegeta finds himself genuinely smiling at the display. "Hmm, not bad kid."
As if he perfectly understood him, Trunks' enthusiasm only grows, prompting him to prepare another toss at his father. Impressed by his display and with little else to do, Vegeta decides to play this little game and prepares himself for the incoming toss.[/spoiler]
When someone tells you, "Don't present your opinion as fact," what they're actually saying is, "Don't present your opinion with any conviction. Because I don't like your opinion, and I want to be able to dismiss it as easily as possible." Don't fall for it.
How the Black Arc Should End (by Lightbing!):
How the Black Arc Should End (by Lightbing!):
Spoiler: