QUEST FOR POWER : THE WARLORD By Konrad Gateau PART 2 The visitor stood silent in front of Vegeta and Gohan, nervously tapping his fingers together. “Well?” started Gohan. “Can you be more specific about why you’re here?” The visitor didn’t respond. He was immensely afraid of Earth’s Special Forces. From what he’s heard back on his home planet, little Gohan by himself could easily annihilate him. And he also knew about Vegeta. Unfortunately for him, Vegeta seemed to be getting increasingly impatient. “Well now, cat’s got your toungue, eh?”. The prince of Saiyajin lifted his left hand. “That can be fixed if you want.” A ki ball appeared in the palm of his hand. At this point, the visitor simply panicked. “YAAAAHHH! Alright, aright! Please calm down, I didn’t mean to make you angry!” “Well? What are you waiting for?”, Vegeta shouted. “SPILL IT!” As the prince’s yells got louder, the baby started crying. “Shush, Trunks”, said Gohan, trying to calm down baby Trunks. “It’s just your dad beeing angry for no reason whasoever as usual. Your daddy’s a very, very mean man.” “Hey, hold on! We’re coming!” Gohan, Vegeta and the vistor turned around to see Tenshinhan who was carrying Lunch, Krillin, Android 18 and Chaozu approaching as fast as they could. “Krillin”, Gohan said as they landed, What are you doing here?” “Well, we followed that thing all the way here.”, Krillin responded, pointing at the spaceship. “Oh, that’s just fantastic! Who else knows?”, went Vegeta in his usual sarcastic tone, obviously not thrilled at the others’ arrival. “We’re also here, father.” Everyone turned around to see Trunks and Piccolo standing there rather calmly. “Oh, great! The Namek’s also here.”, started Vegeta. Piccolo, understandably annoyed by the comment, replied in kind. “Midget”, he said. Everyone stood silent, pleasantly surprised that someone was brave enough to insult the prince of Saiyans. But then again, Piccolo was the only one of them who had the necessary strenth to keep up with Vegeta, therefore he could afford the occasional disrespect. “What did you say?”, went Vegeta slightly annoyed. “You heard me. I said you are a midget! M-I-D-G-E-T! You are a freaking midget.You are not just the prince of Saiyans, you are the prince of all the short people on this side of that big ego-inflated head of yours!” The others frowned, worried. The first remark had already been more than what Vegeta would normally allow without hurting anyone. Vegeta did his best to keep his composure and, after he got it back, he smirked. “Alright. I’m short, there’s no denying it.”, he said. “But there’s also no denying that I’m much stronger than you, Piccolo.” Piccolo smirked back at him. “So what? You’re only stronger than me because, as a Saiyan, you get more powerful everytime your incompetent ass gets whooped. If we fought with the power acquired only through, I’d beat you with one antenna.” Everyone gasped. Piccolo would die for sure now. Vegeta paled, he was so shocked that he couldn’t point out that Piccolo wouldn’t be much either if it weren’t for fusions with Nail and Kami. “WHAAAAT?”, Vegeta shouted. “Well, maybe two antennae if I’m having a bad day.”, Piccolo continued. Everybody’s jaws droped as they continued to watch the Namek who was still stanring at Vegeta with calm and resolution (or was it rather foolishness?). Surely this was the last time they would ever see Piccolo alive…but nothing happened. Vegeta was white as a sheet of paper and he wasn’t moving. This had gone so beyond anything he had ever experienced that he just couldn’t react like he normally would. After a few long seconds, his skin colour finally went back to a healthy beige and Vegeta regained his composure. “I might have to kill for that some day.”, went Vegeta. “Maybe”, Piccolo replied.. With the situation seemingly back to normal, everyone turned their attention back to the visitor who surprised at this spectacle. “Now then”, Piccolo started, “Who are you, where you from and what do you want?” “Yeah, and who is this Dudan you were talking about earlier?” Gohan continued. The visitor took a deep breath to keep his cool in front of these intimidating beeings. “Alright then.”, he started. “My name is Yoshuro from the planet Mesata. My people…our civilisation started on the planet Jubi but we now live on several other planets as well, like my home planet Mesata. We mainly live on a dozen planets in three systems…” “Mainly.”, Piccolo interrupted. “Well, we Jubians are established on several other planets, mostly in the form of tourist resorts and mining colonies. Anyhow, three weeks ago, an army belonging to Dudan came and attacked us. They were excessively weak so we handled them easily but our leaders worried that Dudan’s main forces and possibly Dudan himself might come. And, unfortunately, our fears were confirmed when we detected Dudan’s armies heading towards our space. We Jubians are merchants and we lots of trading with other civilisations, exchanging anything from goods to information. Therefore, in a short amount of time, we were able to gather accurate information on Dudan and his forces. Some of his troops we’ll be able to fend off but we won’t have so much luck against others. And even if…IF…we survive them, which is quite unlikely, we will still have to face Dudan’s bodyguards and maybe even Dudan himself if he decides to amuse himself at our expense. We resisted a couple more attacks but, at last report, some strong attacks are coming up and Dudan has never been defeated before. So ours leaders sent me here to ask for your help because, aside from the Kosajin who can’t be totally counted on, you’re the most powerful people we can find.” “The…Kosajin?”, Vegeta said puzzled. “The Kosajin are…”, Yoshuro started. “Never mind”, Vegeta said as he shook his head. He then smirked. “It’s a good thing you cam…Yoshuro. I’m going to make mince meat out of this Dudan character, he certainly isn’t half as powerful as me.” “Wow, undefeated, huh?” Piccolo thought out loud. “Then it’s probably going to be a difficult one.” “Right.”, Tenshinhan said. He turned to Chaozu. “We might need some senzu beans then.” Understanding in a flash, Chaoz nodded and flew off towards Karine tower. “Providing this guy with his first defeat!”, Gohan spoke up. “Looks like we got our work cut out for us, but it’s not like we haven’t done that before.” “So how long will it take for us to reach your people, Yoshuro?”, Krillin asked. “A week at max speed.”, the visitor replied. “So what are we waiting for!?”, went Vegeta. “Watch! I’m gonna set that Dudan straight in no more than ten seconds. You should all come, each of you can learn a few things from me, you know.” Piccolo frowned upon hearing Vegeta. The Saiyan Prince had an ego the size of the moon and it was beyond just getting on his nerves. “Oh, I’m so going to enjoy kicking your butt once I’ll be able to do so, you stupid Saiyan.”, Piccolo mumbled. “What’s that?”, Vegeta asked, not having understood a single word. “Oh! Uhm…”, Piccolo started. “I said we should select those who will go to fight Dudan. It will be foolish to leave Earth completely undefended. “Fine, then!”, Vegeta said. “I guess I don’t really care since, with me, victory is cerain anyways. I do think Trunks should come, however. “Of course.”, Piccolo agreed as he turned to the teen. Trunks nodded in acceptance. “And Gohan’s necessary as he proved recently against Cell.”, the Namek continued. “You heard that, Trunks?”, Gohan said in the most childish manner possible. “I’m going in space!.” Not catching to whom the comment was directed, Trunks raised an eyebrow. “Of course I heard that, Gohan…” “What? I wasn’t talking to you.”, Gohan replied before turning back to baby Trunks. “Aren’t you cute? Aren’t you cute? Yes you are!…” Trunks flashed a smile and his face turned red. “Next on the team should be Number 18.” Piccolo continued. “What?”, went 18, surprised. “WHAT?”, went Trunks, startled. “I won’t object.”, said Vegeta. “Why me, Piccolo?”, the Android asked politely. “Because during the time I trained…”, the Namek started. “YOU WERE TRAINING HER?”, Trunks gasped. “When it wasn’t you, Trunks, it was her.”, Piccolo explained briefly. He then turned back to 18. “As I was saying, I think you’ve done some tremendous progress, 18, so it would be good to test your new powers and skills in a real fight against a real ennemy.” “OK, then”, 18 responded. Trunks then immediately took Piccolo aside. The Namek was not surprised by his new protégé’s reaction. “Piccolo!”, Trunks said in a low voice. “We can’t bring her along, she can’t be trusted!” 18 watched the two warriors. She couldn’t hear a word they were saying, she couldn’t understand anything but she knew she was the subject of their conversation. She heard about how she ruined Trunks’ future, about how she took part in the murder of the world’s prime defenders, about how she destroyed cities and killed millions of people. She wasn’t like that anymore. “Somehow, I have to find a way to prove to him that I can be trusted…”, 18 thought. “Trunks, you don’t have to worry about her doing anything funny. She’s totally on our side now.”, Piccolo said. “But…” “I understand how you feel because she wrecked your life in another timeline but this timeline’s 18 is different and she will never be like the 18 you know in your time. Guaranteed. Look, I used to be evil too. And Vegeta, even though he’s still basically evil, he doesn’t have the intention of turning against us. So if you can trust us, Trunks, you can certainly trust 18.” “M-Maybe… but I can’t forget the future and what happened there…I-I’ll try to…appreciate her presence more.” “Good.” As the two men returned to the rest of the group, Trunks tried but was unable to suppress a look of anger when his eyes met those of Android 18. After all, he was so used to hating that such a reaction on his part was almost instictive and automatic. The Android sighed, disappointed by the look Trunks gave her, and the young Saiyan noticed. “Oh, very mature, Trunks!”, he thought to himself. “You promise to make peace with the woman and, ten seconds into it, you’re already at odds with her again! WOOWEE! Nice going, kid! Champion! Yeah, Trunks, you’re a…” “Shut up, brain!”, Trunks said aloud. “Piccolo!”, Tenshinhan started. “I want to come too. I got a couple of new moves that I need to try.” “Fine then, but I think that we won’t need Chaozu.”, the Namek replied. “Why?” “Isn’t it obvious, baka?”, Vegeta stepped in. “He’s to weak to be of any help whatsoever.” “Yeah, I suppose you’re right.” Tenshinhan then turned to Lunch. “Take care now.” “Always trying to save the world as usual.”, she said, half-smiling. “If I don’t do it, who will?” “I can name a few people”, said Vegeta. “I’m not going either, right?”, Krillin asked. “Damn right you’re not!”, Vegeta exclaimed. “I’ll come back in one piece, Krillin.”, said 18. At that moment, Chaozu came back with an entire bag of senzu. “How much senzu you got in there?”, Tenshinhan asked. “Lots. So are we ready to go or what?” “Umm…Chaozu, you’re not coming with us.” “Why not?” “Well…uh, we agreed that we needed to leave a few warriors behind so that Earth wouldn’t be totally defenceless”, the Triclops said, trying to spare his friend’s feelings. “And you’d be of great help since you’re a good warrior.” Trunks put his hand in front of his mouth and, pretending to cough, he said “Bullshit!” That’s ok, Tenshinhan.”, Chaozu said without an ounce of emotion in his voice. “I know the reason why I’m not on this mission is because I’m weak and I’d be a liability. On the other hand, I’ll do a fantastic job of protecting Earth.” “Alright people!”, went Trunks. “Let’s recap. Who goes?” “You, Vegeta, Gohan, Tenshinhan, 18 and me.”, Piccolo responded. “So, that leaves…?” “Krillin, Chaozu and Yamcha to defend Earth.” “Talk about strong defense.”, said Vegeta with his usual sarcastic tone. “Don’t forget that my brother is also here.”, added 18. “Like I said: Talk about strong defense.” “Well, then I guess we’re all set.”, spoke up Yoshuro. “Let’s get this show on the road.” Chaozu handed the bag of senzu to Tenshinhan. “Good bye, Tenshinhan.” The Triclops hugged Chaozu then Lunch. “I’ll see you both in a couple of weeks.” “Don’t be sad about not going.”, 18 told Krillin. “Don’t be silly. Good luck!” They kissed. As Lunch, Krillin and Chaozu waved good bye, Piccolo and the others prepared to board the ship when a voice rose up from behind them. “WAIT!”, Gohan yelled. “What do I do with him?.” He held out the baby who started giggling. Just then, a car pulled up. “Hi everybody! What’s happening? Why…HEY!!! What the hell is that doing on my property???” “Ah, Bulma!”, Gohan exclaimed. “Just the person I was looking for! Here you go!” He handed her the baby. “Uh…Thanks, I guess, for taking care of Trunks but why am I the person you were looking for? And is that a spaceship in MY backyard???” “No time to explain!”, Gohan said as he rushed to the spaceship. “Just tell my mom I won’t be back for at least two weeks! BYE!” The door closed behind him and the craft slowly rose up, ready to take off. “WAIT!”, Bulma screamed as she held baby Trunks tightly against her chest. “What do you mean you’ll be back in a couple of weeks???”. In a blink of an eye, however, the spaceship disappeared in the horizon. “Why am I always left in the dark when these kinds of things happen?”. Suddenly, Bulma felt a warm liquid trickle down her chest and abdomen. “OH NO! That idiot Vegeta forgot to put diapers on the baby!” The baby smiled and giggled as he continued to piss on Bulma. END OF PART TWO