- Location
- Timbukto
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Now that raises the question, can burter's race tap into the speed force naturally? Is there a planet of speedy bois?
Going Native (DBZ/DC Comics) (Complete)
- Thread starter Ideas-Guy
- Start date
Sense of Conquest
- Location
- USA
"No." Elery decided with a shake of her head, "No. If you're going then I'm going too." The tone that she adopted was a familiar one -- the one that she used when her mind was already made up and there was absolutely nothing in the world that could change it. I wasn't surprised by it. The exact opposite really.
"Would you want to leave Mom all alone?" I asked, making Elery flinch as she turned a wide-eyed gaze to Mom, who looked down at the both of us. Her gaze flickered to me, telling me she knew exactly what I was doing. And she also knew that I wasn't in a position to refuse even if I wanted to. It could be phrased however Captain Ginyu wished, but I was being ordered to go to the Shield Wall.
"No… no," Elery repeated, pressing her lips into a thin line. "You have to stay or-or, we could all go with you."
"Afraid not," Mom said, crouching down and placing a hand on top of Elery's head. "We have our own job to do. Your big brother left a bunch of really important plans for us to take care of while he's gone." She said, deciding to back me up. Neither of us was surprised by Elery's behavior -- it was the first time she was going to be separated from either of us. And, well, I could acknowledge that we had spoiled her rotten.
Elery looked at me with doubt-filled eyes, prompting me to nod. "I have several invasion plans that I need you and Mom to take care of while I'm gone," I confirmed. It was the truth too. Given than they would be conquering the planets in my name, they would still be owned by me. I had a line of soft targets scheduled out for them, and alternatives if one of my rivals sniped one before they could arrive, and several hard targets.
"How long are you going to be gone for?" Elery questioned, perking up ever so slightly at the prospect of invading planets.
That, I didn't know. "However long it takes to break through the Shield World," I admitted to her. "I'll try to do it as fast as I can, though."
"But how long will it be? Like, a week?" She questioned, looking for an exact time frame. "If it's any longer than a week, then you'll miss the next episode of Hero-force and Hero-force: Next Generation." It never got less weird watching an animated version of yourself fight people and things you had actually fought, and they got the details wrong.
"Like… a year," I corrected, wincing internally when Elery's face fell. I didn't add that was being generous. Technician forwarded me the reports of battles and invoices for what the Cooler-force was selling and buying. The be kind, they were using utter garbage. That would be a difficulty in itself. So, a year was a generous estimate of how long it would take. My realistic one was about two years. Possibly three.
Simply because while taking a Shield World was entirely possible, but holding it would be another thing entirely.
"A whole year?" Elery questioned, her face scrunching up.
"We can still watch your shows together. Technician will take care of that. I just won't be here in person," I reassured. Elery still scowled, not liking that in the slightest. But there was nothing to be done about it. "You'll barely know that I'm gone and I'll do my best to come back as soon as possible. I promise," I swore.
Elery still wore a scowl that became more of a pout with every passing second, but she gave a slow nod when I promised. She put a high value on them to the point that she never broke one to me and expected me to do the same to her. And I would do everything that I could to make sure that I did keep that promise.
Though, the solemn moment was almost ruined when Elery floated over me so that she could hang off my shoulder, regardless of the fact we were the same height now. Mom looked like she was swallowing a laugh at the sight, but she changed the subject to spare Elery's pride. "Are you taking anyone?" She questioned, wanting how much of our strength would be reduced.
"A small support team," I confirmed. Despite what I was heading into, I was by far more concerned about what my absence would mean for others. A rival commander could see it as an opportunity to strike at my budding empire and family. I couldn't afford to weaken them too much.
I had a shortlist prepared, "I'm thinking Shugesh and Matillo from my Team along with Broly." Then I added, "Tora would take command of the 501st in my absence while Avery would command my ground troops." I was a General now, so I had my own army. They weren't the same quality as the 501st, but they were good soldiers that I did my best to look after. All one million of them.
Altogether, there was the 501st that could be considered an army of their own. There were the hundred thousand Saiyan recruits that could be considered an army. Then there was my actual army. On top of that was Mom's army with our two fleets combined. Stealing three Saiyans shouldn't diminish our fighting strength much.
Elery growled at the idea I was taking Broly and not her, but I accepted her ire. Broly needed an excuse to start to reveal his true strength. Already he was considered a prodigy in terms of strength, but that was barely revealing a fraction of his true strength. This was the perfect opportunity.
"Alright," Mom accepted before she reached down to ruffle my hair. "I'm sure there will be plenty of powerful opponents waiting for you. Plus, I doubt Frieza would mind much if you stirred up some trouble with the Cooler-force." I smiled lightly as I nodded. Of that, I didn't doubt too much.
"Keep an eye out for the Ghost Fleet," I said in place of a goodbye, knowing that this would be the last time we saw each other for a few years. In-person, at least. The Ghost Fleet was the remaining fleets from the Shield Worlds that I conquered. And given that we had chosen to seize control of the planets and leave the fleets relatively untouched, there were four massive fleets somewhere in the Reach Empire, but no one knew where.
From reports, it seemed that they joined together and had an uncanny ability to pop up where it was least convenient for a gigantic fleet to appear.
"I can handle a couple of ships with my eyes closed," Mom dismissed before she stood up. "I'll take care of things until you get back, but I'm not good with aliens like you are, so you should hurry up and break the Shield Wall." That was an understatement and motivation if I ever heard it. She gave me a small smile, "Go make your rounds. I'll see you off."
I nodded before we parted ways. With Captain Ginyu still on the ship, I was forced to use my scouter to trace my team. Even still, a number was displayed on my screen -- ten million PL. The absolute maximum that a scouter could read.
More incredibly, it wasn't just Captain Ginyu. Burter had a PL of ten million as well. But compared to how utterly crushing that presence felt, I couldn't help but believe that they were both far stronger than that.
"Do you have to go?" Elery questioned as we flew through the halls towards my team, hoping that my answer had changed five minutes later.
"I do. But, how about this -- if you complete all of my invasion plans before I get back, then you and everyone else can join us. It'll be a race," I said, knowing that would appeal to her. And I was right on the money. Elery nodded fiercely, about ready to invade planets all by herself.
We arrived at a mess hall some minutes later to see my team sitting at a table, crowded around Bardock. For a moment, it felt like nothing had changed. Like I was still a kid fresh out of the tank rather than a general and a prince.
Bardock saw me first, raising a hand to wave me over. I did, seeing everyone at the table. Elery jumped off my shoulder when she saw that Kakarot was there as well, "Bardock was just telling us what he's been up to," Tora explained.
Fasha cracked a smirk, "His stories aren't as impressive." Bardock scowled while Shugesh snickered at his expense.
"Can't be helped," Bardock admitted with a shrug of his shoulders. "I was stuck being babysat for a bit until I could keep up with the others."
"What can they do?" I questioned. I had tried to research the Ginyu squad's abilities, but there was nothing on them beyond strong and fast. An information blackout.
"Ginyu is stronger I thought possible and I haven't seen anything that could seriously hurt him yet. Even when something does give him a scratch, it heals so fast you can never be sure if he was hurt in the first place. Burter is fast. I haven't seen it myself, but he says he's fast enough to run laps around planets in seconds. But I believe him. Jeice and Guldo are tied for their place -- Jeice can use techniques like a Saiyan and all of them are powerful while Guldo can…" Bardock trailed off, frowning slightly. "He says he can control time, but I'm not sure that I buy that. Whenever he uses the ability, everyone friezes but we can move just fine."
I mulled that over for a second, "It could be that he controls a target's perception of time. To them, it's like time stopped, but to everyone else it's normal."
Bardock nodded, "Sounds about right. Either way, combining that with his telekinesis is a hard thing to counter. Recoome and I are tied for the weakest on the squad. He has a natural edge in terms of strength and durability, but I've spent the past five years closing that gap." Given who he was comparing himself too, Bardock was right to feel proud.
"Are you planning to fight them?" Shugesh questioned me, sounding suspicious.
"Well…," I started unconvincingly, earning some chuckle from my team. "Not just because I wanted to fight them. I need to know what they can do to take down the Shield Wall."
"Right," Shugesh said, clearly not buying it. And I couldn't blame him for that. The Scarabs, the best that the Reach could offer, had become annoyances at best. And only because of their weaponry that could ignore durability. My main increase in strength had come from three years of training, which only increased the gap in strength. The only actual challenges I had during the past three years were from my team, and even then their progress wasn't as rapid as mine.
"Do you think you would win?" Kakarot questioned, and now that they were sitting next to each other, it was clear that Kakarot was the spitting image of Bardock. And he used to say that Vegeta was a clone of my father.
"Of course he would win," Elery answered as if it were obvious. I wished I had her confidence in my victory, but I didn't. I was strong, of that much I had no doubt, but… I didn't have any technique that would allow me to close that gap in strength. I would be to Captain Ginyu what Scarabs were to me -- a momentary annoyance.
"Maybe," I allowed, not wanting to start an argument when it would be the last time I saw my team for a bit. I sat at the table, savoring the feeling that came to an end all too soon. A message beeped on my scouter from Captain Ginyu.
Bardock apparently got the same message because he abruptly stood up. "It's time for us to go," he announced, and while he was speaking to the Team, it was clear that he was directing the words to Gine and Kakarot. Gine's expression fell but she picked up not a second later. Given who her husband was, it wasn't surprising that she was used to long absences.
Kakarot faired worse. His expression crumpled, curling into himself as if every scrap of happiness he ever had was just ripped from his fingers. In response, Bardock reached out a placed a hand on top of his head, giving him a familiar smirk. While he said goodbye to his family, I turned to the Team.
"Shugesh, you're coming with us. Matillo is too," I informed, making Shugesh perk up while Fasha groaned.
"Why does he get to go?" Fasha muttered, sending Shugesh a dark look. To which he answered with a wide and smug grin, too delighted for his own good.
"Because Tarble can't crack the Shield Wall without me," Shugesh bragged to doubtful looks. A small smile tugged at my lips as I didn't correct him of that notion. "Honestly, it'll be good to shed some of the dead weight around here," He remarked, sending a sideways look at Parslee, who looked like he wasn't paying attention to anything that happened.
"Tora," I said, turning to my second in command, "You have command of the army and the saiyan recruits. Don't get them killed," I ordered and earned a half-smile and a nod from the older man.
"Yes sir, Prince General Tarble," He said, using a title that was only uttered when he felt like being a pain. "And I have your plans. You won't have anything to worry about on our end." And that was a relief to hear. My gaze swept over the others to see relaxed expressions. Each of them met my gaze -- Fasha, Tora, and Borgos as they nodded their farewell.
It was hardly heartfelt but that was simply because we all expected to see each other again.
"Until then," I said, rubbing Elery's hair before I left with Bardock and Shugesh. "Don't die, any of you," I added before the door closed as we made our exit. Once the doors slid shut, I let out a small breath before I continued forward.
We made our way to the hanger bay in silence -- the task at hand weighing heavily on Bardock and my minds while Shugesh nibbled on a piece of jerky. However, as we reached it, I found an unwelcome surprise. Matillo was at the docking bay, along with the Ginyu squad and Broly -- the unwelcomed figure there was Paragus.
I had seen very little of Paragus since I rejected his offer to place him in charge of thousands of lives. And instead of trying to prove himself worthy of that honor, he kept his head low like a coward. A rebuke weighed heavily on my tongue the moment I laid eyes on him, but I swallowed it. This wasn't the time or place to cause a scene.
Instead, my gaze went to Captain Ginyu. "We're ready to go," I informed.
"Excellent!" Captain Ginyu announced as the attack balls cracked open. "Don't worry -- with all of us working together, the Shield World will stand no chance. Perhaps our shows could even do a collaboration!" He added with a laugh as he got into his attack ball.
I simply smiled in response as I glanced at Broly and Paragus. Paragus seemed as if he were daring me to challenge his right to go with us while Broly simply seemed confused. "Let's load up," I said, walking to my own attack ball that had been prepared. Everyone nodded in response and obeyed the order, me, Matillo, and Shugesh each getting our own and Paragus and Broly sharing one.
I looked out the small round window of the attack ball and saw both Elery and Mom waving at me. A small knot of tension eased it's way out of me as I waved back, staring at them until my attack ball forced me to look into the void of space. I took in a small breath, settling in my chair and prepared myself for a long trip. Attack balls were fast, but not fast enough to cross the galaxy in a reasonable amount of time-
My thoughts were interrupted when a portal appeared before Captain Giynu, whose team led the formation our attack balls were in. I swallowed a comment, figuring I should have known better than to think that the Ginyu squad would have a way around Reach FTL blockers. So, I simply crossed my arms and leaned back as we entered the portal. Unlike a slipstream portal, it wasn't a pitch-black but instead, it was filled with vibrant colors.
A message pinged on my scouter from Bardock as we traveled halfway across the galaxy. I read it and my lips tugged into a frown.
>Have you heard about your brother?<
My eyes narrowed into slits, dimly aware of the possibility that Vegeta could have died. It was always a possibility in battle, no matter how strong you were. I replied back that I hadn't and I wondered if I was about to receive news that my brother was dead through a message.
>He's no longer apart of Frieza's personal army and he's been given the same privilege that you have.< Meaning that he wasn't dead. A sigh of relief escaped me, glad for it. That… that was really good news. I was doing my part to complete King Vegeta the First's plan, but with Vegeta carving out his own empire then we were that much more likely to succeed. And since I knew that Vegeta wouldn't be interested in it, I could offer to let Ada'la help him shape his planets.
>Since when?< I questioned, a thought struck me.
>About a year ago.< Bardock answered, confirming my suspicions. Vegeta hadn't spoken to me in three years. If he was angry about my privilege, then surely that would have stopped when he got it too? Then why hadn't I heard from him or King Vegeta? Not even Mom had heard anything.
I clenched my jaw and didn't respond to the message, choosing to sit in silence with my thoughts as I waited for the ride to come to an end. In the end, the only way I was going to find out was if I saw him again so I could ask him directly. The heavy thoughts made the trip take longer, but while it felt like days, it was only hours to travel halfway across the galaxy.
A bright light filled the end of the tunnel before we exited on the other side. Looking around, I saw that we at least weren't in the same system with all of the asteroids. And once our attack balls oriented themselves, I saw a large planet that was a deep red. The same color as blood. Storms dotted its surface, and more than a few of them were large enough to envelop entire countries. Beyond the planet, I saw fleets in defensive positions as well as defense platforms.
More noticeably, I saw salvage. It drifted through space, a near wall of it that forced our attack balls to Bob and weave through the debris field. Countless ships, likely more than I had ever seen before, were scattered around the planet. All of them ruined by breached hulls or missiles. Both Cooler-force and Reach ships. Once we neared the planet, I saw massive bricks hovering in orbit as entire armies of salvagers broke ships down to either melt them for scrap or a payday if they found something good.
Then I realized I knew the planet's name, "Shipyard." It wasn't the planet's official name, but it was what it would be called by so long as it existed. This was where Lord Cooler established a massive shipyard to salvage ruined ships to reuse them or sell them.
Our ships sailed by the large salvage operation towards the planet's surface. We aimed directly towards a large spot, a large storm that was worse than it looked. The attack ball shook violently, bombarded with wind and thunder as we descended into the storm. I could barely see a thing through the window, but I could vaguely make out the shape of what seemed to be a fortress. I'm guessing the storm was a defensive measure against ordinary Reach troops.
The attack ball landed with a light thump. The door cracked open and I prepared myself to be hit with a face full of sand. Instead, I was hit with nothing. Thinking I would see some kind of energy barrier keeping the storm out, I saw that I was only half right.
Surrounding the fortress was a blur and a whirlwind as if we suddenly found ourselves standing in the eye of a tornado. My brow furrowed as I looked at the blur, trying to figure out what it was. Then I recalled what Bardock had said. It was Burter. He was running so fast around the fortress that he was creating a shield that kept the storm out. "He's fast," I muttered, knowing that feat was beyond me.
"The fastest in the universe!" Captain Ginyu confirmed, seemingly taking pride at the abilities of his squadmate. He smiled down at me, "Can't have us looking devilish by a little storm when we're about to meet Lord Cooler."
To that, I nodded, "From what I've heard, he's someone that values order," I agreed. Which is why it was surprising that he would be in a place like this, I thought as I glanced at the fortress. The place was solidly built, that much I could recognize. A central building with layered walls marked with defensive towers -- it wouldn't stop me, but it would take countless normal soldiers to get through those walls.
But it looked like it was stripped and weathered by the sandstorm which had raged for who knew how long.
"Do you have any experience with Lord Cooler?" I questioned, feeling Broly grab hold of my cape as we walked. Shugesh snickered while Captain Ginyu looked momentarily lost before he nodded.
"Plenty. I've watched them grow up," He explained proudly.
"Then I'll follow your lead," I said, knowing when it was better to defer to those with more experience. If they were on good terms, then Lord Cooler would be more likely to accept our help. Captain Ginyu nodded as he led the way, I fell in step just behind him while everyone else trailed behind us. I heard Guldo make a comment about Broly holding onto my cape, but it wasn't enough to make him let go.
Even years after being surrounded by people, those years of isolation on Vampa had left their mark.
We walked into the fortress, whose doors opened as we neared. I expected to see soldiers or something, but there was nothing. Not a sound. Simply a dimly lite hallway that was a straight shot down. We walked in silence and a sense of unease entered me as I spotted a deceptively simple door. I felt a pressure on my skin that I learned to recognize that I was nearing a powerful person.
At first, I thought it was simply Burter and Captain Ginyu, but once the doors slid open when we neared, I instantly knew that wasn't the case.
Lord Cooler sat in a throne raised on three platforms. He didn't really resemble Lord Frieza. His skin was a deep violet, which made the white armor-like protrusions that covered his chest, shins, forearms, and head stand out that much more. Contrasting his deep violet skin were his red eyes, a color that was matched by skin that surrounded his eyes and flowed down his cheeks around his mouth and nose.
"Ginyu," Lord Cooler greeted coldly, and I could feel that our presence wasn't a welcomed one. Every hair on my body stood on end and my blood turned to ice in my veins. As if he could sense my apprehension, his red eyes flickered to me, "Prince Tarble."
"Greetings, Lord Cooler! You seem to be in fine health! Your father will be overjoyed to hear it -- he says that you don't talk much, but I'm sure that a case of the storm. Is there a message that I could pass along to him?" Captain Ginyu questioned, greeting Lord Cooler like an old friend while I simply bowed in response. Every muscle was taut, feeling unease deep down in my gut. A feeling that I had almost forgotten.
An instinct that told me that death was nearby.
"No," Lord Cooler answered while I gestured for my team behind me to fan out a bit. Just in case. Broly still held onto my cape, so he would be fine… as much as he could be.
"Oh… well… I suppose you are at that age," Captain Ginyu continued, making me briefly close my eyes as it clicked into place why I felt death nearby. It was apparently a mistake to let Captain Ginyu take the lead. That was abundantly clear when Lord Cooler simply stared down Captain Ginyu, his gaze unblinking as he rested his head on a fist that was propped up on an arm of his throne.
The silence stretched on for an uncomfortably long time before Captain Ginyu coughed into his hand before he continued, "Your brother, Lord Frieza, has offered his services in helping you break through the Shield Wall! The entire Ginyu squad as well as Prince Tarble and his associates-"
"My brother," Lord Cooler interrupted, his tone frigid, "sends you as an insult. To cast doubt on my abilities and to show that I am unable to do anything without his help." To that, he was answered with silence. I glanced over at Captain Ginyu to see that his mouth hung open, unable to argue the point. Because I had little trouble believing that Lord Cooler was absolutely correct in that regard.
The silence that stretched on was even more unbearable than the first. Eventually, it was finally broken by Captain Ginyu muttering a quiet, "Well… I'm sure-"
My vision was filled with a purple light and I felt wind on my face. However, as soon as it appeared, it was gone, leaving with afterimages in my eyes that had to be blinked away. Yet, even with my hazy vision, I looked over to my right where Captain Ginyu stood.
And I found only a hand.
A deep groove marked the floor and it trailed all the way down the hallway that we walked down, punching through the door and destroying the ships that we had parked outside. With a gesture that I hadn't even seen, Lord Cooler killed our most powerful fighter and cut off our only method of escape. If there had to be a silver lining it was that Captain Ginyu was the only one that died.
Slowly, I turned to face Lord Cooler to see him lower a hand that he had used to kill Captain Ginyu. I found his gaze focused solely on me and I met it unflinchingly. I guess this is what I get for complaining about my opponents being too weak.
"Your turn," Lord Cooler said, his voice ringing in my ears. I swallowed thickly, feeling closer to death with a conversation than I had in a fight in years.
"Lord Frieza probably sent us here as an insult, but that doesn't mean we have to be accepted as one," I started. "Use us to make a point. And a profit." At that, Lord Cooler's lips curled up into a slight smile.
"Diplomacy from a Saiyan. Interesting," he remarked. "I've met your brother and father. That is a talent that they lack considerably." To that, I simply bowed my head, waiting for him to continue. "But there is a problem with your plan, Prince Tarble. I don't need any of you to make a point or a profit. In fact, a point that I much rather make would be to send my dear brother your heads. All too often he breaks my favorite toys, and I think it's past time that I returned the favor."
Well then. That wasn't a promising start.
"Perhaps," I said, feeling that familiar fear of danger sharpen my instincts. I took in a deep breath and centered myself before I spread out my awareness. If felt Lord Cooler's presence wash over me like I had just been tossed into the sun. It was crushing, suffocating, and awe-inspiring. But it helped me know what I was dealing with and how completely outmatched I was. "I wouldn't go as far as to say that any of us are irreplaceable, but our deaths would certainly delay the Frieza-force war effort."
"But," I continued, "by killing us, Lord Frieza will ensure that it looks poorly on you. He'll twist our deaths to say that you were jealous because your forces are lacking."
Lord Cooler let out a huff, "That is true," he admitted. "So, no matter what I do, I must suffer an insult." And… he probably wasn't wrong there.
"... Yeah," I agreed with a nod. "But if you use us then your expenditures on ships will decrease by a notable amount, which will further increase your profit margins for this quarter. Additionally, once the Shield Wall is broken, you alone will reap the profits from the venture. I officially waive any right to the planets, if it was ever in question…" I looked up at Lord Cooler to find that he was listening to my proposal before I added, "And I'm certain that you will be able to twist our presence here as an insult to Lord Frieza."
"An interesting tactic for sparing your lives," Lord Cooler noted, sounding like he approved. "I see why Frieza favors you."
"Thank you, Lord Cooler," I said, waiting for the verdict.
The third beat of silence was the worst out of the three. Each second felt like it stretched on for an eternity and a half. I could have completely believed I knelt there for that long if it wasn't for Lord Cooler tapping a finger on his armrest.
Then I felt pain in my chest. I coughed, blood erupting from my mouth and the hand I went to cover it with didn't respond. Coughing up more blood, the panicked shouts of Broly falling on deaf ears when I looked over to figure out what the problem was. It was rather obvious.
My arm was missing, but it was okay since I saw it laying on the ground next to me along with a portion of my chest. Blood pumped from the gruesome wound, flooding down my armor. The sight sprung me into action as purple light covered my hand as I held it down on the wound. The pain caught up to me a second later after the shock wore off, but I ignored it as I looked up at Lord Cooler.
He was smiling, the finger that had been tapping at the armrest was pointed in my direction. I met his gaze as I cautiously formed a Medicine Ball. After all, if he wanted me dead, then I would be dead. The fact that I only had my arm cut off was on purpose. The action got a slight smile from the Frost Demon.
"You!" Broly shouted, making what was left of my heart drop to my feet as he took a step forward. I saw his eyes spark with yellow, slipping into the Wrath State with an accidental ease. "I don't like you!' he shouted, ki gathering in his hands. I had to stop this.
The Medicine Ball became a patch over my wounded side. Muscle mass and food was sacrificed to grow replacements to the very vital organs that were just damaged. Leaving my only hand free.
"GO AWAY-" Broly started to scream, only to be cut off when I grabbed his tail and planted a knee in his back to continue to yank. He struggled beneath me, weakened but it was enough.
"That's enough, Broly," I rasped, keeping hold of his tail. My voice was enough to make him go still. That was good. I coughed, more blood rushing up my throat that I spat on the ground next to Broly. I turned to Lord Cooler, he watched the exchange with a faintly amused expression. "Please forgive him, Lord Cooler. The Wrath State is a harsh technique and he hasn't mastered it yet. He did not mean it."
Broly's, "Yes, I did," was absolutely damning.
"You owe me a favor," Lord Cooler decided, not remarking on the exchange. "I heard about how you Saiyans like scars, and that you had two that nearly formed an x over your heart. I've connected them for you. Thank me," he ordered. I swallowed a mouth full of blood as I attempted to reconnect my arm to my body with a Medicine Ball but I had no clue if it was working or not.
"Thank you, Lord Cooler. For fixing my scar, and allowing us to break the Shield Wall."
Lord Cooler chuckled. It was a chilling sound.
"You're welcome."
...
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"Would you want to leave Mom all alone?" I asked, making Elery flinch as she turned a wide-eyed gaze to Mom, who looked down at the both of us. Her gaze flickered to me, telling me she knew exactly what I was doing. And she also knew that I wasn't in a position to refuse even if I wanted to. It could be phrased however Captain Ginyu wished, but I was being ordered to go to the Shield Wall.
"No… no," Elery repeated, pressing her lips into a thin line. "You have to stay or-or, we could all go with you."
"Afraid not," Mom said, crouching down and placing a hand on top of Elery's head. "We have our own job to do. Your big brother left a bunch of really important plans for us to take care of while he's gone." She said, deciding to back me up. Neither of us was surprised by Elery's behavior -- it was the first time she was going to be separated from either of us. And, well, I could acknowledge that we had spoiled her rotten.
Elery looked at me with doubt-filled eyes, prompting me to nod. "I have several invasion plans that I need you and Mom to take care of while I'm gone," I confirmed. It was the truth too. Given than they would be conquering the planets in my name, they would still be owned by me. I had a line of soft targets scheduled out for them, and alternatives if one of my rivals sniped one before they could arrive, and several hard targets.
"How long are you going to be gone for?" Elery questioned, perking up ever so slightly at the prospect of invading planets.
That, I didn't know. "However long it takes to break through the Shield World," I admitted to her. "I'll try to do it as fast as I can, though."
"But how long will it be? Like, a week?" She questioned, looking for an exact time frame. "If it's any longer than a week, then you'll miss the next episode of Hero-force and Hero-force: Next Generation." It never got less weird watching an animated version of yourself fight people and things you had actually fought, and they got the details wrong.
"Like… a year," I corrected, wincing internally when Elery's face fell. I didn't add that was being generous. Technician forwarded me the reports of battles and invoices for what the Cooler-force was selling and buying. The be kind, they were using utter garbage. That would be a difficulty in itself. So, a year was a generous estimate of how long it would take. My realistic one was about two years. Possibly three.
Simply because while taking a Shield World was entirely possible, but holding it would be another thing entirely.
"A whole year?" Elery questioned, her face scrunching up.
"We can still watch your shows together. Technician will take care of that. I just won't be here in person," I reassured. Elery still scowled, not liking that in the slightest. But there was nothing to be done about it. "You'll barely know that I'm gone and I'll do my best to come back as soon as possible. I promise," I swore.
Elery still wore a scowl that became more of a pout with every passing second, but she gave a slow nod when I promised. She put a high value on them to the point that she never broke one to me and expected me to do the same to her. And I would do everything that I could to make sure that I did keep that promise.
Though, the solemn moment was almost ruined when Elery floated over me so that she could hang off my shoulder, regardless of the fact we were the same height now. Mom looked like she was swallowing a laugh at the sight, but she changed the subject to spare Elery's pride. "Are you taking anyone?" She questioned, wanting how much of our strength would be reduced.
"A small support team," I confirmed. Despite what I was heading into, I was by far more concerned about what my absence would mean for others. A rival commander could see it as an opportunity to strike at my budding empire and family. I couldn't afford to weaken them too much.
I had a shortlist prepared, "I'm thinking Shugesh and Matillo from my Team along with Broly." Then I added, "Tora would take command of the 501st in my absence while Avery would command my ground troops." I was a General now, so I had my own army. They weren't the same quality as the 501st, but they were good soldiers that I did my best to look after. All one million of them.
Altogether, there was the 501st that could be considered an army of their own. There were the hundred thousand Saiyan recruits that could be considered an army. Then there was my actual army. On top of that was Mom's army with our two fleets combined. Stealing three Saiyans shouldn't diminish our fighting strength much.
Elery growled at the idea I was taking Broly and not her, but I accepted her ire. Broly needed an excuse to start to reveal his true strength. Already he was considered a prodigy in terms of strength, but that was barely revealing a fraction of his true strength. This was the perfect opportunity.
"Alright," Mom accepted before she reached down to ruffle my hair. "I'm sure there will be plenty of powerful opponents waiting for you. Plus, I doubt Frieza would mind much if you stirred up some trouble with the Cooler-force." I smiled lightly as I nodded. Of that, I didn't doubt too much.
"Keep an eye out for the Ghost Fleet," I said in place of a goodbye, knowing that this would be the last time we saw each other for a few years. In-person, at least. The Ghost Fleet was the remaining fleets from the Shield Worlds that I conquered. And given that we had chosen to seize control of the planets and leave the fleets relatively untouched, there were four massive fleets somewhere in the Reach Empire, but no one knew where.
From reports, it seemed that they joined together and had an uncanny ability to pop up where it was least convenient for a gigantic fleet to appear.
"I can handle a couple of ships with my eyes closed," Mom dismissed before she stood up. "I'll take care of things until you get back, but I'm not good with aliens like you are, so you should hurry up and break the Shield Wall." That was an understatement and motivation if I ever heard it. She gave me a small smile, "Go make your rounds. I'll see you off."
I nodded before we parted ways. With Captain Ginyu still on the ship, I was forced to use my scouter to trace my team. Even still, a number was displayed on my screen -- ten million PL. The absolute maximum that a scouter could read.
More incredibly, it wasn't just Captain Ginyu. Burter had a PL of ten million as well. But compared to how utterly crushing that presence felt, I couldn't help but believe that they were both far stronger than that.
"Do you have to go?" Elery questioned as we flew through the halls towards my team, hoping that my answer had changed five minutes later.
"I do. But, how about this -- if you complete all of my invasion plans before I get back, then you and everyone else can join us. It'll be a race," I said, knowing that would appeal to her. And I was right on the money. Elery nodded fiercely, about ready to invade planets all by herself.
We arrived at a mess hall some minutes later to see my team sitting at a table, crowded around Bardock. For a moment, it felt like nothing had changed. Like I was still a kid fresh out of the tank rather than a general and a prince.
Bardock saw me first, raising a hand to wave me over. I did, seeing everyone at the table. Elery jumped off my shoulder when she saw that Kakarot was there as well, "Bardock was just telling us what he's been up to," Tora explained.
Fasha cracked a smirk, "His stories aren't as impressive." Bardock scowled while Shugesh snickered at his expense.
"Can't be helped," Bardock admitted with a shrug of his shoulders. "I was stuck being babysat for a bit until I could keep up with the others."
"What can they do?" I questioned. I had tried to research the Ginyu squad's abilities, but there was nothing on them beyond strong and fast. An information blackout.
"Ginyu is stronger I thought possible and I haven't seen anything that could seriously hurt him yet. Even when something does give him a scratch, it heals so fast you can never be sure if he was hurt in the first place. Burter is fast. I haven't seen it myself, but he says he's fast enough to run laps around planets in seconds. But I believe him. Jeice and Guldo are tied for their place -- Jeice can use techniques like a Saiyan and all of them are powerful while Guldo can…" Bardock trailed off, frowning slightly. "He says he can control time, but I'm not sure that I buy that. Whenever he uses the ability, everyone friezes but we can move just fine."
I mulled that over for a second, "It could be that he controls a target's perception of time. To them, it's like time stopped, but to everyone else it's normal."
Bardock nodded, "Sounds about right. Either way, combining that with his telekinesis is a hard thing to counter. Recoome and I are tied for the weakest on the squad. He has a natural edge in terms of strength and durability, but I've spent the past five years closing that gap." Given who he was comparing himself too, Bardock was right to feel proud.
"Are you planning to fight them?" Shugesh questioned me, sounding suspicious.
"Well…," I started unconvincingly, earning some chuckle from my team. "Not just because I wanted to fight them. I need to know what they can do to take down the Shield Wall."
"Right," Shugesh said, clearly not buying it. And I couldn't blame him for that. The Scarabs, the best that the Reach could offer, had become annoyances at best. And only because of their weaponry that could ignore durability. My main increase in strength had come from three years of training, which only increased the gap in strength. The only actual challenges I had during the past three years were from my team, and even then their progress wasn't as rapid as mine.
"Do you think you would win?" Kakarot questioned, and now that they were sitting next to each other, it was clear that Kakarot was the spitting image of Bardock. And he used to say that Vegeta was a clone of my father.
"Of course he would win," Elery answered as if it were obvious. I wished I had her confidence in my victory, but I didn't. I was strong, of that much I had no doubt, but… I didn't have any technique that would allow me to close that gap in strength. I would be to Captain Ginyu what Scarabs were to me -- a momentary annoyance.
"Maybe," I allowed, not wanting to start an argument when it would be the last time I saw my team for a bit. I sat at the table, savoring the feeling that came to an end all too soon. A message beeped on my scouter from Captain Ginyu.
Bardock apparently got the same message because he abruptly stood up. "It's time for us to go," he announced, and while he was speaking to the Team, it was clear that he was directing the words to Gine and Kakarot. Gine's expression fell but she picked up not a second later. Given who her husband was, it wasn't surprising that she was used to long absences.
Kakarot faired worse. His expression crumpled, curling into himself as if every scrap of happiness he ever had was just ripped from his fingers. In response, Bardock reached out a placed a hand on top of his head, giving him a familiar smirk. While he said goodbye to his family, I turned to the Team.
"Shugesh, you're coming with us. Matillo is too," I informed, making Shugesh perk up while Fasha groaned.
"Why does he get to go?" Fasha muttered, sending Shugesh a dark look. To which he answered with a wide and smug grin, too delighted for his own good.
"Because Tarble can't crack the Shield Wall without me," Shugesh bragged to doubtful looks. A small smile tugged at my lips as I didn't correct him of that notion. "Honestly, it'll be good to shed some of the dead weight around here," He remarked, sending a sideways look at Parslee, who looked like he wasn't paying attention to anything that happened.
"Tora," I said, turning to my second in command, "You have command of the army and the saiyan recruits. Don't get them killed," I ordered and earned a half-smile and a nod from the older man.
"Yes sir, Prince General Tarble," He said, using a title that was only uttered when he felt like being a pain. "And I have your plans. You won't have anything to worry about on our end." And that was a relief to hear. My gaze swept over the others to see relaxed expressions. Each of them met my gaze -- Fasha, Tora, and Borgos as they nodded their farewell.
It was hardly heartfelt but that was simply because we all expected to see each other again.
"Until then," I said, rubbing Elery's hair before I left with Bardock and Shugesh. "Don't die, any of you," I added before the door closed as we made our exit. Once the doors slid shut, I let out a small breath before I continued forward.
We made our way to the hanger bay in silence -- the task at hand weighing heavily on Bardock and my minds while Shugesh nibbled on a piece of jerky. However, as we reached it, I found an unwelcome surprise. Matillo was at the docking bay, along with the Ginyu squad and Broly -- the unwelcomed figure there was Paragus.
I had seen very little of Paragus since I rejected his offer to place him in charge of thousands of lives. And instead of trying to prove himself worthy of that honor, he kept his head low like a coward. A rebuke weighed heavily on my tongue the moment I laid eyes on him, but I swallowed it. This wasn't the time or place to cause a scene.
Instead, my gaze went to Captain Ginyu. "We're ready to go," I informed.
"Excellent!" Captain Ginyu announced as the attack balls cracked open. "Don't worry -- with all of us working together, the Shield World will stand no chance. Perhaps our shows could even do a collaboration!" He added with a laugh as he got into his attack ball.
I simply smiled in response as I glanced at Broly and Paragus. Paragus seemed as if he were daring me to challenge his right to go with us while Broly simply seemed confused. "Let's load up," I said, walking to my own attack ball that had been prepared. Everyone nodded in response and obeyed the order, me, Matillo, and Shugesh each getting our own and Paragus and Broly sharing one.
I looked out the small round window of the attack ball and saw both Elery and Mom waving at me. A small knot of tension eased it's way out of me as I waved back, staring at them until my attack ball forced me to look into the void of space. I took in a small breath, settling in my chair and prepared myself for a long trip. Attack balls were fast, but not fast enough to cross the galaxy in a reasonable amount of time-
My thoughts were interrupted when a portal appeared before Captain Giynu, whose team led the formation our attack balls were in. I swallowed a comment, figuring I should have known better than to think that the Ginyu squad would have a way around Reach FTL blockers. So, I simply crossed my arms and leaned back as we entered the portal. Unlike a slipstream portal, it wasn't a pitch-black but instead, it was filled with vibrant colors.
A message pinged on my scouter from Bardock as we traveled halfway across the galaxy. I read it and my lips tugged into a frown.
>Have you heard about your brother?<
My eyes narrowed into slits, dimly aware of the possibility that Vegeta could have died. It was always a possibility in battle, no matter how strong you were. I replied back that I hadn't and I wondered if I was about to receive news that my brother was dead through a message.
>He's no longer apart of Frieza's personal army and he's been given the same privilege that you have.< Meaning that he wasn't dead. A sigh of relief escaped me, glad for it. That… that was really good news. I was doing my part to complete King Vegeta the First's plan, but with Vegeta carving out his own empire then we were that much more likely to succeed. And since I knew that Vegeta wouldn't be interested in it, I could offer to let Ada'la help him shape his planets.
>Since when?< I questioned, a thought struck me.
>About a year ago.< Bardock answered, confirming my suspicions. Vegeta hadn't spoken to me in three years. If he was angry about my privilege, then surely that would have stopped when he got it too? Then why hadn't I heard from him or King Vegeta? Not even Mom had heard anything.
I clenched my jaw and didn't respond to the message, choosing to sit in silence with my thoughts as I waited for the ride to come to an end. In the end, the only way I was going to find out was if I saw him again so I could ask him directly. The heavy thoughts made the trip take longer, but while it felt like days, it was only hours to travel halfway across the galaxy.
A bright light filled the end of the tunnel before we exited on the other side. Looking around, I saw that we at least weren't in the same system with all of the asteroids. And once our attack balls oriented themselves, I saw a large planet that was a deep red. The same color as blood. Storms dotted its surface, and more than a few of them were large enough to envelop entire countries. Beyond the planet, I saw fleets in defensive positions as well as defense platforms.
More noticeably, I saw salvage. It drifted through space, a near wall of it that forced our attack balls to Bob and weave through the debris field. Countless ships, likely more than I had ever seen before, were scattered around the planet. All of them ruined by breached hulls or missiles. Both Cooler-force and Reach ships. Once we neared the planet, I saw massive bricks hovering in orbit as entire armies of salvagers broke ships down to either melt them for scrap or a payday if they found something good.
Then I realized I knew the planet's name, "Shipyard." It wasn't the planet's official name, but it was what it would be called by so long as it existed. This was where Lord Cooler established a massive shipyard to salvage ruined ships to reuse them or sell them.
Our ships sailed by the large salvage operation towards the planet's surface. We aimed directly towards a large spot, a large storm that was worse than it looked. The attack ball shook violently, bombarded with wind and thunder as we descended into the storm. I could barely see a thing through the window, but I could vaguely make out the shape of what seemed to be a fortress. I'm guessing the storm was a defensive measure against ordinary Reach troops.
The attack ball landed with a light thump. The door cracked open and I prepared myself to be hit with a face full of sand. Instead, I was hit with nothing. Thinking I would see some kind of energy barrier keeping the storm out, I saw that I was only half right.
Surrounding the fortress was a blur and a whirlwind as if we suddenly found ourselves standing in the eye of a tornado. My brow furrowed as I looked at the blur, trying to figure out what it was. Then I recalled what Bardock had said. It was Burter. He was running so fast around the fortress that he was creating a shield that kept the storm out. "He's fast," I muttered, knowing that feat was beyond me.
"The fastest in the universe!" Captain Ginyu confirmed, seemingly taking pride at the abilities of his squadmate. He smiled down at me, "Can't have us looking devilish by a little storm when we're about to meet Lord Cooler."
To that, I nodded, "From what I've heard, he's someone that values order," I agreed. Which is why it was surprising that he would be in a place like this, I thought as I glanced at the fortress. The place was solidly built, that much I could recognize. A central building with layered walls marked with defensive towers -- it wouldn't stop me, but it would take countless normal soldiers to get through those walls.
But it looked like it was stripped and weathered by the sandstorm which had raged for who knew how long.
"Do you have any experience with Lord Cooler?" I questioned, feeling Broly grab hold of my cape as we walked. Shugesh snickered while Captain Ginyu looked momentarily lost before he nodded.
"Plenty. I've watched them grow up," He explained proudly.
"Then I'll follow your lead," I said, knowing when it was better to defer to those with more experience. If they were on good terms, then Lord Cooler would be more likely to accept our help. Captain Ginyu nodded as he led the way, I fell in step just behind him while everyone else trailed behind us. I heard Guldo make a comment about Broly holding onto my cape, but it wasn't enough to make him let go.
Even years after being surrounded by people, those years of isolation on Vampa had left their mark.
We walked into the fortress, whose doors opened as we neared. I expected to see soldiers or something, but there was nothing. Not a sound. Simply a dimly lite hallway that was a straight shot down. We walked in silence and a sense of unease entered me as I spotted a deceptively simple door. I felt a pressure on my skin that I learned to recognize that I was nearing a powerful person.
At first, I thought it was simply Burter and Captain Ginyu, but once the doors slid open when we neared, I instantly knew that wasn't the case.
Lord Cooler sat in a throne raised on three platforms. He didn't really resemble Lord Frieza. His skin was a deep violet, which made the white armor-like protrusions that covered his chest, shins, forearms, and head stand out that much more. Contrasting his deep violet skin were his red eyes, a color that was matched by skin that surrounded his eyes and flowed down his cheeks around his mouth and nose.
"Ginyu," Lord Cooler greeted coldly, and I could feel that our presence wasn't a welcomed one. Every hair on my body stood on end and my blood turned to ice in my veins. As if he could sense my apprehension, his red eyes flickered to me, "Prince Tarble."
"Greetings, Lord Cooler! You seem to be in fine health! Your father will be overjoyed to hear it -- he says that you don't talk much, but I'm sure that a case of the storm. Is there a message that I could pass along to him?" Captain Ginyu questioned, greeting Lord Cooler like an old friend while I simply bowed in response. Every muscle was taut, feeling unease deep down in my gut. A feeling that I had almost forgotten.
An instinct that told me that death was nearby.
"No," Lord Cooler answered while I gestured for my team behind me to fan out a bit. Just in case. Broly still held onto my cape, so he would be fine… as much as he could be.
"Oh… well… I suppose you are at that age," Captain Ginyu continued, making me briefly close my eyes as it clicked into place why I felt death nearby. It was apparently a mistake to let Captain Ginyu take the lead. That was abundantly clear when Lord Cooler simply stared down Captain Ginyu, his gaze unblinking as he rested his head on a fist that was propped up on an arm of his throne.
The silence stretched on for an uncomfortably long time before Captain Ginyu coughed into his hand before he continued, "Your brother, Lord Frieza, has offered his services in helping you break through the Shield Wall! The entire Ginyu squad as well as Prince Tarble and his associates-"
"My brother," Lord Cooler interrupted, his tone frigid, "sends you as an insult. To cast doubt on my abilities and to show that I am unable to do anything without his help." To that, he was answered with silence. I glanced over at Captain Ginyu to see that his mouth hung open, unable to argue the point. Because I had little trouble believing that Lord Cooler was absolutely correct in that regard.
The silence that stretched on was even more unbearable than the first. Eventually, it was finally broken by Captain Ginyu muttering a quiet, "Well… I'm sure-"
My vision was filled with a purple light and I felt wind on my face. However, as soon as it appeared, it was gone, leaving with afterimages in my eyes that had to be blinked away. Yet, even with my hazy vision, I looked over to my right where Captain Ginyu stood.
And I found only a hand.
A deep groove marked the floor and it trailed all the way down the hallway that we walked down, punching through the door and destroying the ships that we had parked outside. With a gesture that I hadn't even seen, Lord Cooler killed our most powerful fighter and cut off our only method of escape. If there had to be a silver lining it was that Captain Ginyu was the only one that died.
Slowly, I turned to face Lord Cooler to see him lower a hand that he had used to kill Captain Ginyu. I found his gaze focused solely on me and I met it unflinchingly. I guess this is what I get for complaining about my opponents being too weak.
"Your turn," Lord Cooler said, his voice ringing in my ears. I swallowed thickly, feeling closer to death with a conversation than I had in a fight in years.
"Lord Frieza probably sent us here as an insult, but that doesn't mean we have to be accepted as one," I started. "Use us to make a point. And a profit." At that, Lord Cooler's lips curled up into a slight smile.
"Diplomacy from a Saiyan. Interesting," he remarked. "I've met your brother and father. That is a talent that they lack considerably." To that, I simply bowed my head, waiting for him to continue. "But there is a problem with your plan, Prince Tarble. I don't need any of you to make a point or a profit. In fact, a point that I much rather make would be to send my dear brother your heads. All too often he breaks my favorite toys, and I think it's past time that I returned the favor."
Well then. That wasn't a promising start.
"Perhaps," I said, feeling that familiar fear of danger sharpen my instincts. I took in a deep breath and centered myself before I spread out my awareness. If felt Lord Cooler's presence wash over me like I had just been tossed into the sun. It was crushing, suffocating, and awe-inspiring. But it helped me know what I was dealing with and how completely outmatched I was. "I wouldn't go as far as to say that any of us are irreplaceable, but our deaths would certainly delay the Frieza-force war effort."
"But," I continued, "by killing us, Lord Frieza will ensure that it looks poorly on you. He'll twist our deaths to say that you were jealous because your forces are lacking."
Lord Cooler let out a huff, "That is true," he admitted. "So, no matter what I do, I must suffer an insult." And… he probably wasn't wrong there.
"... Yeah," I agreed with a nod. "But if you use us then your expenditures on ships will decrease by a notable amount, which will further increase your profit margins for this quarter. Additionally, once the Shield Wall is broken, you alone will reap the profits from the venture. I officially waive any right to the planets, if it was ever in question…" I looked up at Lord Cooler to find that he was listening to my proposal before I added, "And I'm certain that you will be able to twist our presence here as an insult to Lord Frieza."
"An interesting tactic for sparing your lives," Lord Cooler noted, sounding like he approved. "I see why Frieza favors you."
"Thank you, Lord Cooler," I said, waiting for the verdict.
The third beat of silence was the worst out of the three. Each second felt like it stretched on for an eternity and a half. I could have completely believed I knelt there for that long if it wasn't for Lord Cooler tapping a finger on his armrest.
Then I felt pain in my chest. I coughed, blood erupting from my mouth and the hand I went to cover it with didn't respond. Coughing up more blood, the panicked shouts of Broly falling on deaf ears when I looked over to figure out what the problem was. It was rather obvious.
My arm was missing, but it was okay since I saw it laying on the ground next to me along with a portion of my chest. Blood pumped from the gruesome wound, flooding down my armor. The sight sprung me into action as purple light covered my hand as I held it down on the wound. The pain caught up to me a second later after the shock wore off, but I ignored it as I looked up at Lord Cooler.
He was smiling, the finger that had been tapping at the armrest was pointed in my direction. I met his gaze as I cautiously formed a Medicine Ball. After all, if he wanted me dead, then I would be dead. The fact that I only had my arm cut off was on purpose. The action got a slight smile from the Frost Demon.
"You!" Broly shouted, making what was left of my heart drop to my feet as he took a step forward. I saw his eyes spark with yellow, slipping into the Wrath State with an accidental ease. "I don't like you!' he shouted, ki gathering in his hands. I had to stop this.
The Medicine Ball became a patch over my wounded side. Muscle mass and food was sacrificed to grow replacements to the very vital organs that were just damaged. Leaving my only hand free.
"GO AWAY-" Broly started to scream, only to be cut off when I grabbed his tail and planted a knee in his back to continue to yank. He struggled beneath me, weakened but it was enough.
"That's enough, Broly," I rasped, keeping hold of his tail. My voice was enough to make him go still. That was good. I coughed, more blood rushing up my throat that I spat on the ground next to Broly. I turned to Lord Cooler, he watched the exchange with a faintly amused expression. "Please forgive him, Lord Cooler. The Wrath State is a harsh technique and he hasn't mastered it yet. He did not mean it."
Broly's, "Yes, I did," was absolutely damning.
"You owe me a favor," Lord Cooler decided, not remarking on the exchange. "I heard about how you Saiyans like scars, and that you had two that nearly formed an x over your heart. I've connected them for you. Thank me," he ordered. I swallowed a mouth full of blood as I attempted to reconnect my arm to my body with a Medicine Ball but I had no clue if it was working or not.
"Thank you, Lord Cooler. For fixing my scar, and allowing us to break the Shield Wall."
Lord Cooler chuckled. It was a chilling sound.
"You're welcome."
...
The next chapter is currently available on my Patreon and Subscribe Star, so if you want to read it a week early, all it takes is a single dollar in the tip jar. Or, for five dollars, you can read the chapter after that two weeks before its public release! I hope you enjoyed!
- Location
- 'Murica
Fishies don't end man, nobody knows how deep the oceans go.
- Location
- Writeland
Ginyu's body was that race that Lobo is from so I'm pretty sure he's not actually dead. His severed hand should regrow a whole Ginyu.
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Its a good thing that Tarble didn't bring Elery with him.
Roth963
If I become inactive with this massage, I died
I imagine that Broly would have gone super Saiyan if he killed her and proceeded to kill Cooler.
TheLastOne
Person of impeccable tastes (for destruction)
Which wouldn't have improved... well I guess it would have improved the situation. But it wouldn't have salvaged it.
- Location
- Germany
right, Cooler is actally a worse person than Freezer.
Keep forgetting that since he only gets so little screentime.
If Ginyu's body is really a Czarnian, then he'll be fine. Physically that is.
Not sure if the mind that regens will be still his or affected by the original owner.
And if its a Silver Age Czarnian, then every drop of Blood will grow into a "Ginyu"
- Location
- Houston
Looked up the race, as I'm not too familiar with DC.
That's hilarious and sad.
- Location
- Germany
That seems a bit strange to me, was there a retcon?
Because I remember it as "Lobo killed half of his species by the time he turned 16, then he stopped playing around and killed the rest."
Which was quite the achivement because Czarnians are tough, ridiculously so. As in regrow limbs from being turned into slasa sauce.
Then again this is a crossover and the Author has left many notions of Canon in the dust.
So only he knows how this will play out.
Roth963
If I become inactive with this massage, I died
There is the possibility that Cooler negated his regeneration if he didn't survive.
TheLastOne
Person of impeccable tastes (for destruction)
Yep. It's also funny, because he did do this in a room with Broli, and Broli is absolutely one of the people who, if sufficantly pissed, could use Freeza and Cooler's heads as bowling balls. At the same time.
I mean, again, not something that would actually improve the situation, and in fact would get absolutely everyone involved killed. But Cooler has no idea how close to death he just got.
Lifeandlice
Practitioning side-character
- Location
- Usa
Eventually. Broly is a bit too unskilled to make up for them being around his current level of power (or they're still above him at the moment.)
Modus_Tollens
SCREAMING AT THE APOCALYPSE
- Location
- ALSO SCREAMING.
Its a good thing he didn't just get gibbed because then we might have multiple Ginyus, each of whom can either regrow or who can bodyswap out. You could get a thousand Ginyus from one "corpse".
But now he has a reason to hate something, and a good one. If he lets loose his escalation will be even faster than in canon.
He'd die now, but this campaign alone could easily turn him into a galaxy level threat if he has enough fuel for that burning black pit inside his belly.
Lifeandlice
Practitioning side-character
- Location
- Usa
Like I said, still eventually. His father (who hes majorly attached to in canon) got outright killed and thats what spurred his growth. And can't forget he was already an adult by that point. I'm unsure if hed grow to canon 'i can fight medium level gods on even footing' level as fast as he did with the changes made to the world in PL's.
Hes great and quite literally a game changer, but even tarble and vegeta can match him somewhat right now (not all out on his part but still) so hes not an instant win button just yet.
Walker of the Yellow Path
Ho There!
- Location
- The Land of Memes
Also part of his growth in the Super movie is because Goku and Vegeta did that thing where they don't go all out from the start. If either of them had gone into that fight with the motivation to just kill Broly as soon as possible instead of deciding to mess around and see how good this new Saiyan is, Broly would have just died without any chance to match or exceed them. If Cooler just decided to kill Broly, I doubt Broly would be able to survive the fight long enough to power up.
Zo-Kel
H̸o̴t̷-̵b̴l̶o̵o̵d̴e̸d̷ ̷A̸b̶o̷m̷i̸n̶a̴t̵i̶o̷n̶
- Location
- Meropis
....Well, at least he is going to get a Zenkai boost. Hopefully the arm can be reattached. Ginyu should be fine, Lobo has regenerated from a drop of blood. Also a pool of blood too after his "a Lobo from every drop of blood" thing was stripped away. Though I wonder if it will be Ginyu or Lobo who regenerates. Lobo has traveled around as a ghost before trying to get his body back in the comics.
TheLastOne
Person of impeccable tastes (for destruction)
Hmm, well it sort of feels like it would be a waste of a Ginyu if he's gone now... but it feels like it's a waste of Cooler's threat if he survives. And Cooler does need it.
After all, Cooler is Freeza, and Freeza is Cooler.
Sense of Challenge
- Location
- USA
This is the first time in a long time I haven't been happy with a Going Native chapter. It feels like it's pure exposition and set up. I think I was a bit too ambitious in doing this storyline in just 4 chapters, but it is what it is.
One more chapter and a new arc begins. One that really starts to delve deep into the DC elements of the setting.
...
A video played on a tablet, showing me the POV of a Cooler-force soldier. They moved through a familiar setting of the ruins of a once-great city -- rubble and broken buildings covered the streets and they moved through the shattered remains of stores that once inhabited those buildings. The video was short, cutting right to the chase of why it was being shown to me. As the squad moved through a building, they stumbled across what appeared to be a large soap bubble floating in a doorway.
The squad hesitated, the squad leader checking back for thoughts and opinions on what the bubble was. He received puzzled shrugs in response. Cautiously, he approached the bubble while the POV I watched was of his back. Like an untrained idiot, which the soldier was, he reached out to the bubble with a hand and tried to pop it.
Instead, the moment the bubble made contact with his hand, it surged forward. The man screamed as everything that went inside of the bubble was liquified -- flesh, bone, metal, and plastic, and it expanded to contain the red slush that once was a person. The bubble quickly overtook his arm, then expanded down his torso -- it might have expanded more if the other soldiers hadn't started shooting. Plasma struck the bubble, making it pop. In turn, a red mist exploded out from the bubble, flooding the room.
Coughing and gagging emerged from the speakers of the tablet as the squad screamed as they died, their gas masks and safety equipment proving ineffectual against the mist.
"Another new weapon," I said, my lips pressed together into a thin line as I slid to an autopsy report. The corpses looked like they had been eaten with acid, stripping flesh down to the bone but not evenly. And not cleanly. Their armor was fused to the bodies, bonded to them as both body and armor had been broken down. Without the video, I could have guessed that they had died a bad death.
"So it seems. Our current safety equipment won't be enough. We'll require a complete overhaul since the Reach has made extensive deployments of these bubbles," a general in the Cooler-force said. "They've covered strategic planets in them so full-scale invasions will have to be delayed."
Delayed. I was growing to hate that word.
"It'll be expensive-" the general warned, ready to make his case, but I cut him off.
"Dig in, but don't advance any further. We can't afford to give up the ground we've lost," I ordered, flicking a hologram onto the projected that displayed the current progress of breaking the Shield Wall. It was more than just Shield Worlds -- they utilized planets and asteroids to cushion the Wall. A string of hundreds of Shield Worlds with thousands of planets. The current front I was dealing with was highlighted -- dozens of planets that I intended to turn into a staging ground.
"And the safety equipment?" The general questioned, accepting the order with too much ease.
In response, I showed him a video on the projector of a battle with those same bubbles littering about. They were dangerous to be certain, but not dangerous enough I would have to spend billions of credits completely revamping the Cooler-force's armor. And who knew how much of that money would be lost in unworthy pockets.
"The Reach soldiers are unaffected by the bubbles,' I said, showing a Reach soldier walking through the bubble with no hesitation. "The reason they can is because of a thin polymer that acts as a solution to the intense acid. Weapons and countermeasures are already being deployed," I informed him, watching his expression carefully. His eyes tightened and his lips twitched.
Another general trying to profit from the war.
Was I the only one trying to end the war?
"You have your orders, general. Dig in and wait. When the time comes, you'll be informed." I told him, keeping my voice level.
"As you say, Commander Tarble," The general said with a small bow before the hologram of him winked out of view. Only then did I let myself release a small frustrated sigh as I left the small shuttle that served as my current quarters. There wasn't much in it -- a tank for me to sleep in, a hologram projector, and a chair for me to hit on. It wasn't much, but it was all that I needed.
I stepped outside of my ship to see a vast crater that had once been a city. A crater that I created in my opening moment of being on this planet. A small bubble shield that was just large enough to cover my ship protected me from the elements that swirled outside. Of all the worlds I had fought on in the past decade, the one I was currently on was the worst. It looked like it was ripped straight out of hell.
The sky was on fire. Heavy red flames surged and twisted at the sky above, raining down black ash onto the ground below. The planet was devoid of life -- the Reach poisons in the air did that, then a decade of pure death and slaughter on unimaginable scales turned it into a scene out of a human nightmare. Crashed ships littered the horizon, some older than others, and the only way to tell the difference was the state of the corpses around them.
"Bardock, come in," I said, securing my mask to my visor and connecting it to a tank filled with oxygen. I took out a capsule and sealed away my ship, and then I sealed away the energy projector. The elements hit me at one -- the air was boiling hot, enough so that I decided that it would be best to take this planet by myself with the aid of one other. Tens of thousands of lives would be wasted if they fought here.
"This place is a time-waster," Bardock remarked, sounding like he was in the middle of a battle. I reached out with my ki sense, my range has grown considerably in recent times. It wasn't enough to encompass a planet yet, but I was nearing the halfway point on small planets like this. Which was still thousands of miles in every direction.
I felt Barock's presence, a great big flame that stood out that much more considering how devoid of life the planet was.
"Yeah, it is," I agreed. I thought as much when I read the reports about the drastic changes to the atmosphere in the past year as we approached the planet. There were significant forces placed on the planet but the atmosphere was so inhospitable that it would need expensive specialty equipment to fight here, or a high enough power level. Meaning, it was practically tailor-made for me to decide that I would handle this planet myself. "The Reach knows about the budget."
It was a secret that I had been trying to keep under wraps -- a condition that Lord Cooler gave us was that we weren't allowed to go over a budget that he had established. To ensure his profit margins. And the budget was… considerably less than what we needed to break the Shield Wall.
War was expensive. I had never cared about money, or really understood the point of it, for the longest time. It was just a thing that other aliens cared about. Now it was something that I was forced to care about. Everything seemed to cost money -- rations, equipment, repairs, and so on. Individually, it didn't cost that much, but multiplied by billions? Trillions upon trillions of credits.
The budget I was allocated was in the trillions. More money than most people saw in a thousand lifetimes, and it was barely more than a fraction of what I needed to wage war the way I wanted. The way I was used to.
"He's predicting my movements," I said, flying towards Bardock, only to pause when PL readings began to appear on my scouter. Mechanical soldiers judging by the lack of ki signatures. And they numbered in the tens of thousands. Looking up, I saw their drop pods race down from the sky, and whatever progress we made in taking the planet diminish.
Another thing I wasn't used to. Reinforcements. The Reach fought tooth and nail for every inch of ground we took and they did whatever they could to take it back. Before, the garrisons and fleets were isolated. When we pushed a front, they retreated to gather their strength elsewhere.
"You are pretty predictable," Bardock remarked, but the tone he said it with told me it wasn't a criticism. He didn't know my plan yet, but he knew that I had one. "I'm guessing as soon as we take this planet, another one is going to be terraformed just for you. Might even wrap a bow around it."
I launched myself towards the reinforcements, black ash marking my trail. Ki glowed in my hands as I eyeballed their reentry trajectories. The ki blasts launched from my hands, hundreds of them firing every second. Explosions rang out as I carved a path through their decent, destroying hundreds, then thousands. But I knew that it was just a drop in the bucket.
The Reach was trying to tie me down here. All across the planet, there would be drop pods. Millions upon millions. If we let them stay, content to simply park a fleet in orbit and advance, those robots would build and salvage the planet until they built an army and fleet and made that known when it was least convenient. They had to be destroyed, utterly, and quickly.
With just two people.
I was fast. And strong. Faster and stronger than I ever have been before, but until it was just me or with one other facing an entire planet alone… they had never seemed so large before.
"Hopefully," I said, flying forward as I wreaked havoc on the enemy. The robots broke like glass underneath my attacks, so very fragile but just rough enough that ordinary soldiers would struggle with them. Worse, I couldn't just blast them all away because each busted robot was salvage money. "We have more incoming."
"Joy," Bardock muttered, sounding like he thought it was anything but. "I have to admit, when I first heard we were going to break the Shield Wall, I was expecting something more than spending a year and a half destroying useless trash." He grumbled without any real heat. Mostly because he knew he was preaching to the choir.
"The Reach has limitless money, so I figure we should let them throw it at us," I offered. It wasn't going to excuse the lack of powerful opponents, but it was a gesture to show our suffering wasn't without meaning. We dig in, let the Reach throw themselves at us, then we sell the scraps.
It was because of that method that we hadn't gone over budget yet. That, and liberal use of the Ginyu-force. My personal funds were funneled into the war, and some of my planets had been terraformed so they were making money as well. With all of that, we had about half of what we needed.
"Hm. A Saiyan credit-pincher. Guess it had to happen eventually," Bardock remarked, a grin in his voice. I found myself smiling as well. "I just finished up on my end. I'm headed your way," he informed. I nodded, knowing it was because he wanted to ask something that couldn't be spoken about over coms. I redoubled my efforts in destroying the countless robots that rained down from the sky.
The Reach were real pains about it too. Instead of sending them by ship, they launched them from a nearby station or planet and let them travel the distance on thrusters. So there wasn't a convenient way to take them all out at once.
It took Bardock over half an hour to reach me. The planet was large, and we were fast, but there was so much ground to cover. I never knew how useful ground troops were at locking down the enemy until I didn't have any. Or a unit specifically picked by me for their diversity in strength that allowed them to punch out of their weight class. Or a team of powerful individuals used to working together.
I flew above a world of destruction that had seen countless battles to the point that the devastation I rained upon the Reach soldiers blended in so seamlessly it was like it had been there all along. Bardock joined me as we flew underneath a sky of fire. I sealed away my scouter into a capsule -- a risk to go radio silent. I was temporarily a High Commander of the Cooler-force, and every time I looked away for a split second the entire invasion plan got kicked in the teeth.
"It's been a year and a half, Tarble. How long are we going to wait?" Bardock questioned as we flew. And despite being a year and a half, it never got less weird having him ask me what we were doing. It felt completely backward. "I know you don't want to throw lives away, but-"
"The mission, the team, then pride. I remember," I cut him off. "And it's not just because I don't want to throw away lives. We can't afford to."
Bardock let out a huff. "You're not getting annoyed because you at least get a challenge out of it. Or are you telling me you aren't enjoying the restrictions placed on you?"
I couldn't.
"It's different than when I'm leading my own troops. The tactics I used don't really work the same way, so I have to find new ones. And with the budget and the trash equipment…," I trailed off with a shrug. "A Koter seems like he's not completely incompetent like all the other Reach aliens I've encountered."
Admittedly, it was only two directly -- the alien I had captured on Rench and the alien in the Prototype Scarab. But neither of those two had really impressed me. So far, Koter seemed good at slowing me down but not stopping me.
"Point still stands. You're the only one having any fun," Bardock remarked. "But from what I hear, there's nothing but delays. Do you have a time frame for how long we're going to be stuck here?"
"Got somewhere to be?" I questioned, sending Bardock a look. I guess I couldn't blame him for being a little impatient. It wasn't like I hadn't asked him to be patient for over a year now. If anything, it did him credit that he was only now starting to pester me.
"My place as the fourth-strongest Saiyan is being threatened," Bardock informed. "You're sitting all comfortable at number two, but Tora is riding my ass. I'm not ready for all the crap he's going to give me if he becomes stronger than me."
Oh. Well, that explained it. Tora was currently the seventh strongest Saiyan, just behind King Vegeta, but just weaker than Mom. Another few years of fighting weak opponents and Bardock could find himself sliding back down that list. Even if it was fake -- only a handful of people knew that Broly was number one rather than me.
"Fair enough," I allowed. "But I'm playing Koter as much as he's playing me. He's focused on tying me up and slowing our advance. And as far as he's aware, it's working," I explained. Unsurprisingly, Bardock was quick on the uptake.
"So you're using his focus on you against the guy. I'm guessing that the delays in the invasion are accounted for then?" Bardock questioned, earning a nod from me. It might not be that he was focused on me specifically, but he understood that my squad and the Ginyu squad were unquestionably the most powerful active members fighting on the front line.
However, we could only be in one place at once. Even if I assigned each member to a planet, it wouldn't be enough. The only one that could destroy the Reach faster than they could reinforce themselves alone was Burter. If they were gathered in one place, it would be easy. But the Reach knew that, so they were scattered across a planet.
A ghost of a smile tugged at my lips that Bardock couldn't see. "Maybe not as much as some people think," I admitted to him. War -- beyond the immediate battle and front line you fought on -- all came down to clashing lines. The Reach and the Cooler-force. The Shield Wall was a line that hadn't been pushed in a considerable amount of time. The line was reinforced and established.
To push the line, first, you had to put yourself in a position to push.
Bardock let out a chuckle as we flew, heading towards our next destination. "You really have changed, Tarble," he said after a lengthy silence. "The others said that you had after I left, but whenever I thought of you, I always pictured you as the kid that would sit alone in the hanger waiting for a mission to start."
A pang of pride filled my chest at the words. Perhaps it was arrogant to say, but… I had changed a lot over the years. My human memories were laid to rest, I became a commander, then a general, and now I was a temporary High Commander. I was the second strongest saiyan alive, only behind Broly and the margin had closed considerably.
Comparing to where I started…
"Thanks," I said, pretending that the words didn't mean the world to me. I was who I was thanks to Bardock -- he was something that I had to aspire to be. It was his shoes that I had to fill. I swallowed thickly before clearing my throat, "We should check on Broly to see how he's holding up." I decided to change the subject. Bardock grunted in response and I reached out with my ki sense.
I found Broly's presence easily. I adjusted my flight path and long before I saw him, I saw evidence of his fight. Larger craters in the ground, demolished terrain, and countless robots littered the spaces in between. Flashes of light marked his ki attacks as he utterly annihilated the reinforcements. Too thoroughly, meaning that we wouldn't be able to sell the leftovers for scrap, but I had anticipated that.
Broly darted around, a strained smile on his face as he laid waste to everything around him. Broly fought like an unstoppable force of nature. Ki formed in his hands and was unleashed in devastating explosions that whipped up the dust, sand, and ash that covered the dead planet. He didn't use a single technique, but as powerful as he was against his opponents, he didn't need to.
"He's doing better," Bardock observed as we both watched Broly's rampage.
Against nonliving opponents, he was. I didn't correct Bardock, but I couldn't help but to notice it. I had kept a very close eye on Broly's progress. His growth rate was utterly insane. I had made massive jumps in power, but they paled in comparison to the strength Broly seemed to gain by training and sparring.
On paper, I was the strongest Saiyan alive with a power level of a hundred thousand. My largest jump in power came after I survived the wound that Lord Cooler gave me. Even my training was more effective. I didn't know how strong Vegeta was exactly, but the last I had heard was that he was pushing sixty thousand about a year ago.
But that title rang hollow when Broly's presence washed over me in waves.
"And he's stuck at stage four," Bardock muttered in disbelief, with a shake of his head. The others had reached stage five or six, with a few others reaching stage seven or eight, but Broly was stuck at stage four.
Part of it was the secrecy around him. He couldn't practice as often and I was currently the only one that could stop him.
Because Broly was the undisputed champion of the Sayian race. Before his growth spurt, Broly had been around a hundred and seventy-five thousand. After? He was nearing three hundred thousand already.
"It's unavoidable," I agreed. "But he's stronger than me already in stage four. The only way I could overpower him would be to push myself to stage fifteen. And I'm hoping to keep that a secret for as long as I can. And you never know who might be listening," I added, a hand drifting up to my necklace.
"Pretty sure the Reach already know about pushing it beyond stage ten," Bardock remarked before he sent me a sideways glance. "But, I suppose that you have a lot more enemies than just the Reach."
"You could say that," I agreed with a slight smile.
"Lucky."
I laughed at that. It felt good.
…
"You're having fun with this," Sousk noted from behind him, making Koter glance over his shoulder to see his wife standing there. Unannounced. Someone had been abusing their newfound authority with her Ve'sk last name.
Koter looked down at the reports detailing Prince Tarble's progress. He had never expected to confront the saiyan in such a manner, but it truly was a stroke of luck that he was. The Prince was placed in High Command of the front that covered the Shield Wall and he was given direct control of all the Cooler-force personal and equipment assigned to that front.
And so began a game that perhaps he had been enjoying too much.
"I am," Koter admitted honestly, a rare luxury for a member of his species. "Prince Tarble is determined to make progress. It's more engaging than waiting for Lord Cooler to grow bored and demolish the Shield Wall himself." His wife strode into the room, standing next to him as she took in the information. Thousands of planets, more systems, and forces that numbered in the tens of billions.
"I meant you're enjoying your little duel of tactics with the Prince," Sousk clarified, proving that she could see right through him. It was a disconcerting feeling, but not an unwelcome one. Just different. "If you were taking this seriously, then you would have killed him already."
Koter smiled, "You're making the same mistake that I did. Underestimating the prince of the saiyans." Sousk gave him a flat look with a teasing quirk of her lips.
"Ah, you're referring to your Great Blunder," she realized, making Koter let out a small huff. The loss of one production planet hardly deserved the title of Great Blunder, capital letters. But he supposed he was hardly in a position to argue that point.
"Yes, my Great Blunder," Koter decided, accepting the name. "I thought the saiyans were beneath my notice, and for it, they got away with a member of our species and countless production secrets." With a hand, Koter rolled back the battleplans to the start of Prince Tarble's campaign.
A dark purple layer emerged, highlighting the rather considerable progress he had made considering his limitations and the fact before his arrival, at most a handful of planets would be traded back and forth. There was a reason why Prince Tarble had been placed in charge, and he had proved it thoroughly.
"He's made progress," Sousk allowed, not seeing the pattern. Koter didn't blame her like that. For years, Koter had studied Bardock using his slaves in the Board of Directors. Every mission that Bardock had ever gone on was studied and dissected. It even inspired some of his own strategies. And, like birds of a feather, Koter saw the same inspiration in all of Tarble's strategies.
Which was why he could see the pattern.
"He's created staging grounds," Koter explained, highlighting the pattern he found. A zigzag pattern across dozens of planets. "Three of them are behind our lines. Isolated and under threat of constant elimination if it weren't for Captain Ginyu, Jerice and Guldo, Shugesh, and Roccome."
Sousk gave him a cautious look, "That's because you isolated them," she ventured. And he had. He identified the pattern, what missions Prince Tarble would send them on, and set a trap to ensnare his most useful pieces on the board. For months, six extremely powerful individuals worth dozens of armies were stuck on planets. And Koter made sure that they stayed there.
"I did. I had assumed it was my own doing, but now I suspect that Prince Tarble is laying a trap. Six incredibly powerful people stuck behind enemy lines. When times with a convenient push from these points," Koter continued, excitement in his tone as he highlighted a dozen planets. Some, the Cooler-force had simply stopped. Koter had assumed that Prince Tarble ordered them to stop to avoid being cut off and budget restraints… now Koter wasn't so certain.
"He builds up his strength and does a concentrated push here, here, and here. The six that are 'contained' on those planets push. The initial push would stall -- our technology is too advanced for what they can through at us. Which is why those three planets act as breaks -- the push could gather itself and follow the line those six would carve through our defensive lines." Koter could see it. They would hit the Shield Worlds, and with those six leading the way, the Cooler-force would be able to break the Shield Wall.
Which left Prince Tarble, Bardock, Matillo, and Burter unaccounted for. Four very dangerous variables to leave unaccounted for.
Sousk looked at him, then the hologram, trying to see what he did. Sousk was by no means a poor admiral. Quite the opposite. But she couldn't see it. She couldn't see how the battle lines would develop over time as Prince Tarble put his pieces into place. He could. Because he had relentlessly studied his enemy and learned from them.
Prince Tarble was surprisingly patient and letting his strategy develop slowly and organically. Loose enough to account for variables but tight enough that there was a clear path to follow. All Koter had to do was follow that path and he could predict his enemy's next move.
"Then we circumvent it. We sacrifice the planets, take those few out, and his strategy amounts to nothing." It was telling that she jumped straight to sacrificing planets to eliminate those threats. Countless projects were in development, but the Reach hadn't found the answer they were looking for to deal with Frieza. It was grating because they absolutely did have the answer.
But as high as he had climbed, Koter was not yet at the top. And those at the top had decided Frieza's death. And Lord Cooler. And King Cold. And every single Board of Director and all their most powerful fighters.
A singular Scarab of untold power that would restore the glory of the Reach empire. A symbol of their strength. A symbol that would then turn on the galaxy that dared mock them.
The ones that controlled the Reach… they wanted to conquer the galaxy. They made him waste his incredibly valuable time drawing up plans to accomplish that goal when they were on the cusp of annihilation. The words had burned when he was forced to thank them.
"We could," Koter agreed. "But I doubt it would work. Prince Tarble wouldn't put them in such a precarious position unless they had a way out. There's a very real possibility that we'll just destroy the planet, they'll survive and we lose what advantage we have with his plan."
Then he turned to his wife, "Are things progressing well on your end?" To that, she smirked.
"The ghost fleet remains anonymous. There have been no notable difficulties on my end," Sousk confirmed. That was good.
Koter turned his attention back to the hologram, seeing how the front line would develop.
"Then it's a race to see who's plan finishes first."
...
The next chapter is currently available on my Patreon and Subscribe Star, so if you want to read it a week early, all it takes is a single dollar in the tip jar. Or, for five dollars, you can read the chapter after that two weeks before its public release! I hope you enjoyed!
One more chapter and a new arc begins. One that really starts to delve deep into the DC elements of the setting.
...
A video played on a tablet, showing me the POV of a Cooler-force soldier. They moved through a familiar setting of the ruins of a once-great city -- rubble and broken buildings covered the streets and they moved through the shattered remains of stores that once inhabited those buildings. The video was short, cutting right to the chase of why it was being shown to me. As the squad moved through a building, they stumbled across what appeared to be a large soap bubble floating in a doorway.
The squad hesitated, the squad leader checking back for thoughts and opinions on what the bubble was. He received puzzled shrugs in response. Cautiously, he approached the bubble while the POV I watched was of his back. Like an untrained idiot, which the soldier was, he reached out to the bubble with a hand and tried to pop it.
Instead, the moment the bubble made contact with his hand, it surged forward. The man screamed as everything that went inside of the bubble was liquified -- flesh, bone, metal, and plastic, and it expanded to contain the red slush that once was a person. The bubble quickly overtook his arm, then expanded down his torso -- it might have expanded more if the other soldiers hadn't started shooting. Plasma struck the bubble, making it pop. In turn, a red mist exploded out from the bubble, flooding the room.
Coughing and gagging emerged from the speakers of the tablet as the squad screamed as they died, their gas masks and safety equipment proving ineffectual against the mist.
"Another new weapon," I said, my lips pressed together into a thin line as I slid to an autopsy report. The corpses looked like they had been eaten with acid, stripping flesh down to the bone but not evenly. And not cleanly. Their armor was fused to the bodies, bonded to them as both body and armor had been broken down. Without the video, I could have guessed that they had died a bad death.
"So it seems. Our current safety equipment won't be enough. We'll require a complete overhaul since the Reach has made extensive deployments of these bubbles," a general in the Cooler-force said. "They've covered strategic planets in them so full-scale invasions will have to be delayed."
Delayed. I was growing to hate that word.
"It'll be expensive-" the general warned, ready to make his case, but I cut him off.
"Dig in, but don't advance any further. We can't afford to give up the ground we've lost," I ordered, flicking a hologram onto the projected that displayed the current progress of breaking the Shield Wall. It was more than just Shield Worlds -- they utilized planets and asteroids to cushion the Wall. A string of hundreds of Shield Worlds with thousands of planets. The current front I was dealing with was highlighted -- dozens of planets that I intended to turn into a staging ground.
"And the safety equipment?" The general questioned, accepting the order with too much ease.
In response, I showed him a video on the projector of a battle with those same bubbles littering about. They were dangerous to be certain, but not dangerous enough I would have to spend billions of credits completely revamping the Cooler-force's armor. And who knew how much of that money would be lost in unworthy pockets.
"The Reach soldiers are unaffected by the bubbles,' I said, showing a Reach soldier walking through the bubble with no hesitation. "The reason they can is because of a thin polymer that acts as a solution to the intense acid. Weapons and countermeasures are already being deployed," I informed him, watching his expression carefully. His eyes tightened and his lips twitched.
Another general trying to profit from the war.
Was I the only one trying to end the war?
"You have your orders, general. Dig in and wait. When the time comes, you'll be informed." I told him, keeping my voice level.
"As you say, Commander Tarble," The general said with a small bow before the hologram of him winked out of view. Only then did I let myself release a small frustrated sigh as I left the small shuttle that served as my current quarters. There wasn't much in it -- a tank for me to sleep in, a hologram projector, and a chair for me to hit on. It wasn't much, but it was all that I needed.
I stepped outside of my ship to see a vast crater that had once been a city. A crater that I created in my opening moment of being on this planet. A small bubble shield that was just large enough to cover my ship protected me from the elements that swirled outside. Of all the worlds I had fought on in the past decade, the one I was currently on was the worst. It looked like it was ripped straight out of hell.
The sky was on fire. Heavy red flames surged and twisted at the sky above, raining down black ash onto the ground below. The planet was devoid of life -- the Reach poisons in the air did that, then a decade of pure death and slaughter on unimaginable scales turned it into a scene out of a human nightmare. Crashed ships littered the horizon, some older than others, and the only way to tell the difference was the state of the corpses around them.
"Bardock, come in," I said, securing my mask to my visor and connecting it to a tank filled with oxygen. I took out a capsule and sealed away my ship, and then I sealed away the energy projector. The elements hit me at one -- the air was boiling hot, enough so that I decided that it would be best to take this planet by myself with the aid of one other. Tens of thousands of lives would be wasted if they fought here.
"This place is a time-waster," Bardock remarked, sounding like he was in the middle of a battle. I reached out with my ki sense, my range has grown considerably in recent times. It wasn't enough to encompass a planet yet, but I was nearing the halfway point on small planets like this. Which was still thousands of miles in every direction.
I felt Barock's presence, a great big flame that stood out that much more considering how devoid of life the planet was.
"Yeah, it is," I agreed. I thought as much when I read the reports about the drastic changes to the atmosphere in the past year as we approached the planet. There were significant forces placed on the planet but the atmosphere was so inhospitable that it would need expensive specialty equipment to fight here, or a high enough power level. Meaning, it was practically tailor-made for me to decide that I would handle this planet myself. "The Reach knows about the budget."
It was a secret that I had been trying to keep under wraps -- a condition that Lord Cooler gave us was that we weren't allowed to go over a budget that he had established. To ensure his profit margins. And the budget was… considerably less than what we needed to break the Shield Wall.
War was expensive. I had never cared about money, or really understood the point of it, for the longest time. It was just a thing that other aliens cared about. Now it was something that I was forced to care about. Everything seemed to cost money -- rations, equipment, repairs, and so on. Individually, it didn't cost that much, but multiplied by billions? Trillions upon trillions of credits.
The budget I was allocated was in the trillions. More money than most people saw in a thousand lifetimes, and it was barely more than a fraction of what I needed to wage war the way I wanted. The way I was used to.
"He's predicting my movements," I said, flying towards Bardock, only to pause when PL readings began to appear on my scouter. Mechanical soldiers judging by the lack of ki signatures. And they numbered in the tens of thousands. Looking up, I saw their drop pods race down from the sky, and whatever progress we made in taking the planet diminish.
Another thing I wasn't used to. Reinforcements. The Reach fought tooth and nail for every inch of ground we took and they did whatever they could to take it back. Before, the garrisons and fleets were isolated. When we pushed a front, they retreated to gather their strength elsewhere.
"You are pretty predictable," Bardock remarked, but the tone he said it with told me it wasn't a criticism. He didn't know my plan yet, but he knew that I had one. "I'm guessing as soon as we take this planet, another one is going to be terraformed just for you. Might even wrap a bow around it."
I launched myself towards the reinforcements, black ash marking my trail. Ki glowed in my hands as I eyeballed their reentry trajectories. The ki blasts launched from my hands, hundreds of them firing every second. Explosions rang out as I carved a path through their decent, destroying hundreds, then thousands. But I knew that it was just a drop in the bucket.
The Reach was trying to tie me down here. All across the planet, there would be drop pods. Millions upon millions. If we let them stay, content to simply park a fleet in orbit and advance, those robots would build and salvage the planet until they built an army and fleet and made that known when it was least convenient. They had to be destroyed, utterly, and quickly.
With just two people.
I was fast. And strong. Faster and stronger than I ever have been before, but until it was just me or with one other facing an entire planet alone… they had never seemed so large before.
"Hopefully," I said, flying forward as I wreaked havoc on the enemy. The robots broke like glass underneath my attacks, so very fragile but just rough enough that ordinary soldiers would struggle with them. Worse, I couldn't just blast them all away because each busted robot was salvage money. "We have more incoming."
"Joy," Bardock muttered, sounding like he thought it was anything but. "I have to admit, when I first heard we were going to break the Shield Wall, I was expecting something more than spending a year and a half destroying useless trash." He grumbled without any real heat. Mostly because he knew he was preaching to the choir.
"The Reach has limitless money, so I figure we should let them throw it at us," I offered. It wasn't going to excuse the lack of powerful opponents, but it was a gesture to show our suffering wasn't without meaning. We dig in, let the Reach throw themselves at us, then we sell the scraps.
It was because of that method that we hadn't gone over budget yet. That, and liberal use of the Ginyu-force. My personal funds were funneled into the war, and some of my planets had been terraformed so they were making money as well. With all of that, we had about half of what we needed.
"Hm. A Saiyan credit-pincher. Guess it had to happen eventually," Bardock remarked, a grin in his voice. I found myself smiling as well. "I just finished up on my end. I'm headed your way," he informed. I nodded, knowing it was because he wanted to ask something that couldn't be spoken about over coms. I redoubled my efforts in destroying the countless robots that rained down from the sky.
The Reach were real pains about it too. Instead of sending them by ship, they launched them from a nearby station or planet and let them travel the distance on thrusters. So there wasn't a convenient way to take them all out at once.
It took Bardock over half an hour to reach me. The planet was large, and we were fast, but there was so much ground to cover. I never knew how useful ground troops were at locking down the enemy until I didn't have any. Or a unit specifically picked by me for their diversity in strength that allowed them to punch out of their weight class. Or a team of powerful individuals used to working together.
I flew above a world of destruction that had seen countless battles to the point that the devastation I rained upon the Reach soldiers blended in so seamlessly it was like it had been there all along. Bardock joined me as we flew underneath a sky of fire. I sealed away my scouter into a capsule -- a risk to go radio silent. I was temporarily a High Commander of the Cooler-force, and every time I looked away for a split second the entire invasion plan got kicked in the teeth.
"It's been a year and a half, Tarble. How long are we going to wait?" Bardock questioned as we flew. And despite being a year and a half, it never got less weird having him ask me what we were doing. It felt completely backward. "I know you don't want to throw lives away, but-"
"The mission, the team, then pride. I remember," I cut him off. "And it's not just because I don't want to throw away lives. We can't afford to."
Bardock let out a huff. "You're not getting annoyed because you at least get a challenge out of it. Or are you telling me you aren't enjoying the restrictions placed on you?"
I couldn't.
"It's different than when I'm leading my own troops. The tactics I used don't really work the same way, so I have to find new ones. And with the budget and the trash equipment…," I trailed off with a shrug. "A Koter seems like he's not completely incompetent like all the other Reach aliens I've encountered."
Admittedly, it was only two directly -- the alien I had captured on Rench and the alien in the Prototype Scarab. But neither of those two had really impressed me. So far, Koter seemed good at slowing me down but not stopping me.
"Point still stands. You're the only one having any fun," Bardock remarked. "But from what I hear, there's nothing but delays. Do you have a time frame for how long we're going to be stuck here?"
"Got somewhere to be?" I questioned, sending Bardock a look. I guess I couldn't blame him for being a little impatient. It wasn't like I hadn't asked him to be patient for over a year now. If anything, it did him credit that he was only now starting to pester me.
"My place as the fourth-strongest Saiyan is being threatened," Bardock informed. "You're sitting all comfortable at number two, but Tora is riding my ass. I'm not ready for all the crap he's going to give me if he becomes stronger than me."
Oh. Well, that explained it. Tora was currently the seventh strongest Saiyan, just behind King Vegeta, but just weaker than Mom. Another few years of fighting weak opponents and Bardock could find himself sliding back down that list. Even if it was fake -- only a handful of people knew that Broly was number one rather than me.
"Fair enough," I allowed. "But I'm playing Koter as much as he's playing me. He's focused on tying me up and slowing our advance. And as far as he's aware, it's working," I explained. Unsurprisingly, Bardock was quick on the uptake.
"So you're using his focus on you against the guy. I'm guessing that the delays in the invasion are accounted for then?" Bardock questioned, earning a nod from me. It might not be that he was focused on me specifically, but he understood that my squad and the Ginyu squad were unquestionably the most powerful active members fighting on the front line.
However, we could only be in one place at once. Even if I assigned each member to a planet, it wouldn't be enough. The only one that could destroy the Reach faster than they could reinforce themselves alone was Burter. If they were gathered in one place, it would be easy. But the Reach knew that, so they were scattered across a planet.
A ghost of a smile tugged at my lips that Bardock couldn't see. "Maybe not as much as some people think," I admitted to him. War -- beyond the immediate battle and front line you fought on -- all came down to clashing lines. The Reach and the Cooler-force. The Shield Wall was a line that hadn't been pushed in a considerable amount of time. The line was reinforced and established.
To push the line, first, you had to put yourself in a position to push.
Bardock let out a chuckle as we flew, heading towards our next destination. "You really have changed, Tarble," he said after a lengthy silence. "The others said that you had after I left, but whenever I thought of you, I always pictured you as the kid that would sit alone in the hanger waiting for a mission to start."
A pang of pride filled my chest at the words. Perhaps it was arrogant to say, but… I had changed a lot over the years. My human memories were laid to rest, I became a commander, then a general, and now I was a temporary High Commander. I was the second strongest saiyan alive, only behind Broly and the margin had closed considerably.
Comparing to where I started…
"Thanks," I said, pretending that the words didn't mean the world to me. I was who I was thanks to Bardock -- he was something that I had to aspire to be. It was his shoes that I had to fill. I swallowed thickly before clearing my throat, "We should check on Broly to see how he's holding up." I decided to change the subject. Bardock grunted in response and I reached out with my ki sense.
I found Broly's presence easily. I adjusted my flight path and long before I saw him, I saw evidence of his fight. Larger craters in the ground, demolished terrain, and countless robots littered the spaces in between. Flashes of light marked his ki attacks as he utterly annihilated the reinforcements. Too thoroughly, meaning that we wouldn't be able to sell the leftovers for scrap, but I had anticipated that.
Broly darted around, a strained smile on his face as he laid waste to everything around him. Broly fought like an unstoppable force of nature. Ki formed in his hands and was unleashed in devastating explosions that whipped up the dust, sand, and ash that covered the dead planet. He didn't use a single technique, but as powerful as he was against his opponents, he didn't need to.
"He's doing better," Bardock observed as we both watched Broly's rampage.
Against nonliving opponents, he was. I didn't correct Bardock, but I couldn't help but to notice it. I had kept a very close eye on Broly's progress. His growth rate was utterly insane. I had made massive jumps in power, but they paled in comparison to the strength Broly seemed to gain by training and sparring.
On paper, I was the strongest Saiyan alive with a power level of a hundred thousand. My largest jump in power came after I survived the wound that Lord Cooler gave me. Even my training was more effective. I didn't know how strong Vegeta was exactly, but the last I had heard was that he was pushing sixty thousand about a year ago.
But that title rang hollow when Broly's presence washed over me in waves.
"And he's stuck at stage four," Bardock muttered in disbelief, with a shake of his head. The others had reached stage five or six, with a few others reaching stage seven or eight, but Broly was stuck at stage four.
Part of it was the secrecy around him. He couldn't practice as often and I was currently the only one that could stop him.
Because Broly was the undisputed champion of the Sayian race. Before his growth spurt, Broly had been around a hundred and seventy-five thousand. After? He was nearing three hundred thousand already.
"It's unavoidable," I agreed. "But he's stronger than me already in stage four. The only way I could overpower him would be to push myself to stage fifteen. And I'm hoping to keep that a secret for as long as I can. And you never know who might be listening," I added, a hand drifting up to my necklace.
"Pretty sure the Reach already know about pushing it beyond stage ten," Bardock remarked before he sent me a sideways glance. "But, I suppose that you have a lot more enemies than just the Reach."
"You could say that," I agreed with a slight smile.
"Lucky."
I laughed at that. It felt good.
…
"You're having fun with this," Sousk noted from behind him, making Koter glance over his shoulder to see his wife standing there. Unannounced. Someone had been abusing their newfound authority with her Ve'sk last name.
Koter looked down at the reports detailing Prince Tarble's progress. He had never expected to confront the saiyan in such a manner, but it truly was a stroke of luck that he was. The Prince was placed in High Command of the front that covered the Shield Wall and he was given direct control of all the Cooler-force personal and equipment assigned to that front.
And so began a game that perhaps he had been enjoying too much.
"I am," Koter admitted honestly, a rare luxury for a member of his species. "Prince Tarble is determined to make progress. It's more engaging than waiting for Lord Cooler to grow bored and demolish the Shield Wall himself." His wife strode into the room, standing next to him as she took in the information. Thousands of planets, more systems, and forces that numbered in the tens of billions.
"I meant you're enjoying your little duel of tactics with the Prince," Sousk clarified, proving that she could see right through him. It was a disconcerting feeling, but not an unwelcome one. Just different. "If you were taking this seriously, then you would have killed him already."
Koter smiled, "You're making the same mistake that I did. Underestimating the prince of the saiyans." Sousk gave him a flat look with a teasing quirk of her lips.
"Ah, you're referring to your Great Blunder," she realized, making Koter let out a small huff. The loss of one production planet hardly deserved the title of Great Blunder, capital letters. But he supposed he was hardly in a position to argue that point.
"Yes, my Great Blunder," Koter decided, accepting the name. "I thought the saiyans were beneath my notice, and for it, they got away with a member of our species and countless production secrets." With a hand, Koter rolled back the battleplans to the start of Prince Tarble's campaign.
A dark purple layer emerged, highlighting the rather considerable progress he had made considering his limitations and the fact before his arrival, at most a handful of planets would be traded back and forth. There was a reason why Prince Tarble had been placed in charge, and he had proved it thoroughly.
"He's made progress," Sousk allowed, not seeing the pattern. Koter didn't blame her like that. For years, Koter had studied Bardock using his slaves in the Board of Directors. Every mission that Bardock had ever gone on was studied and dissected. It even inspired some of his own strategies. And, like birds of a feather, Koter saw the same inspiration in all of Tarble's strategies.
Which was why he could see the pattern.
"He's created staging grounds," Koter explained, highlighting the pattern he found. A zigzag pattern across dozens of planets. "Three of them are behind our lines. Isolated and under threat of constant elimination if it weren't for Captain Ginyu, Jerice and Guldo, Shugesh, and Roccome."
Sousk gave him a cautious look, "That's because you isolated them," she ventured. And he had. He identified the pattern, what missions Prince Tarble would send them on, and set a trap to ensnare his most useful pieces on the board. For months, six extremely powerful individuals worth dozens of armies were stuck on planets. And Koter made sure that they stayed there.
"I did. I had assumed it was my own doing, but now I suspect that Prince Tarble is laying a trap. Six incredibly powerful people stuck behind enemy lines. When times with a convenient push from these points," Koter continued, excitement in his tone as he highlighted a dozen planets. Some, the Cooler-force had simply stopped. Koter had assumed that Prince Tarble ordered them to stop to avoid being cut off and budget restraints… now Koter wasn't so certain.
"He builds up his strength and does a concentrated push here, here, and here. The six that are 'contained' on those planets push. The initial push would stall -- our technology is too advanced for what they can through at us. Which is why those three planets act as breaks -- the push could gather itself and follow the line those six would carve through our defensive lines." Koter could see it. They would hit the Shield Worlds, and with those six leading the way, the Cooler-force would be able to break the Shield Wall.
Which left Prince Tarble, Bardock, Matillo, and Burter unaccounted for. Four very dangerous variables to leave unaccounted for.
Sousk looked at him, then the hologram, trying to see what he did. Sousk was by no means a poor admiral. Quite the opposite. But she couldn't see it. She couldn't see how the battle lines would develop over time as Prince Tarble put his pieces into place. He could. Because he had relentlessly studied his enemy and learned from them.
Prince Tarble was surprisingly patient and letting his strategy develop slowly and organically. Loose enough to account for variables but tight enough that there was a clear path to follow. All Koter had to do was follow that path and he could predict his enemy's next move.
"Then we circumvent it. We sacrifice the planets, take those few out, and his strategy amounts to nothing." It was telling that she jumped straight to sacrificing planets to eliminate those threats. Countless projects were in development, but the Reach hadn't found the answer they were looking for to deal with Frieza. It was grating because they absolutely did have the answer.
But as high as he had climbed, Koter was not yet at the top. And those at the top had decided Frieza's death. And Lord Cooler. And King Cold. And every single Board of Director and all their most powerful fighters.
A singular Scarab of untold power that would restore the glory of the Reach empire. A symbol of their strength. A symbol that would then turn on the galaxy that dared mock them.
The ones that controlled the Reach… they wanted to conquer the galaxy. They made him waste his incredibly valuable time drawing up plans to accomplish that goal when they were on the cusp of annihilation. The words had burned when he was forced to thank them.
"We could," Koter agreed. "But I doubt it would work. Prince Tarble wouldn't put them in such a precarious position unless they had a way out. There's a very real possibility that we'll just destroy the planet, they'll survive and we lose what advantage we have with his plan."
Then he turned to his wife, "Are things progressing well on your end?" To that, she smirked.
"The ghost fleet remains anonymous. There have been no notable difficulties on my end," Sousk confirmed. That was good.
Koter turned his attention back to the hologram, seeing how the front line would develop.
"Then it's a race to see who's plan finishes first."
...
The next chapter is currently available on my Patreon and Subscribe Star, so if you want to read it a week early, all it takes is a single dollar in the tip jar. Or, for five dollars, you can read the chapter after that two weeks before its public release! I hope you enjoyed!
- Location
- Germany
classic megalomania
what is the plan to scarab Ginyu or maybe Tarble?
btw, while I expected Ginyu to get better, I'd love to read the scene in which he regens and has a talk with Tarble about diplomacy
Roth963
If I become inactive with this massage, I died
I think it was implied it is already being built or was built, the chapter didn't give me the impression they were going for Tarble, but it could be that it will require a host on that level.
Modus_Tollens
SCREAMING AT THE APOCALYPSE
- Location
- ALSO SCREAMING.
There are probably several possible hosts. In a state of war you can't gamble on having the opportunity to move on a specific one.
Roth963
If I become inactive with this massage, I died
That what I was implying.