Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Black Hearts ❯ Pain like never before ( Chapter 13 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

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Vegeta was helping someone. He almost didn't believe it himself. He was
helping Lord Hantre to arrange a cease-fire between his enemies so that
they might join forces and battle Pan.

His present job was to travel to an empire called the "Free Empire",
and get their support. He snorted at the thought. It was far from a free
state. It had started a million years ago when one planet went on a march of
conquest. It was a medium sized empire, but occupied a tiny proportion of
space. The whole empire, though about 5000 times smaller than Freeza's
empire, occupied less than a cubic light year of space, whereas Freeza's was
spread unevenly across 80 million light years of space. It was so dense, in
fact, that a single super structure, consisting of thousands of planets,
stretched un-breakingly across the whole area, with super highways of empty
space open to ships, even though they were still enclosed. The whole thing
was powered by a single super giant star, of which 100% of it's energy was
harvested for the use of the empire. Such a thing was so grand it was
considered one of the wonders of the universe.

It was also a sitting duck. All Pan would have to do to kill it's trillions
of inhabitants was blast the star.

Vegeta's super fast ship, which was built for speed and nothing else,
cruised through the busy super highways at warp speeds. In a matter of
minutes, he reached the center. The artificial lights were no longer needed,
for the chamber where the star was kept was brilliantly lit with it's
boundless energy. Vegeta had to admit to himself that he was awed. Words
like 'huge' and 'massive' didn't begin to describe the sheer size of the
chamber.

It contained an M-class super giant, the largest yet found. In order to get
from one end of the chamber to the other, a billion mile journey had to be
made. Vegeta found it very strange to see so massive a star completely
encased in metal.

He decided not to give it anymore thought. He piloted the craft to a docking
bay that was specially prepared for him. Upon emerging from the craft, he
was greeted by a group of aliens with smooth, grey skin and no feature to
make them seem unique. One in purple silken robes bid him follow. He did so,
and walked beside him.

'Greetings. We received word of your arrival. Why are you here?' it asked
bluntly, but in a welcoming manner.

'I am here on behalf of Lord Hantre, seeking an alliance for the defeat of
the scourge,' said Vegeta diplomatically, even though every word he spoke
meant nothing to him.

'We will not become the slaves of the evil Hantre empire, even if it means
we must fight the scourge ourselves. We have limitless power for our
weapons.' It turned to a great window, with it's arms outstretched, as if to
catch more light and heat from the star, seemingly only a few miles away.
'That star burns a hundred million tons of hydrogen every second, giving us
power in limitless quantities. We don't need the help of Hantre. Get out,
and don't presume to offend us anymore with your vile presents,' said the
alien with cold formalism.

Vegeta's face darkened at the insult. 'I will leave now. Thank you for the
audience.' Vegeta mock bowed, and left. He was escorted back to his ship by
the alien. Just before he got on, he called over his shoulder, 'Oh, out of
curiosity, how many people depend on that star?'

After a short silence, the alien replied. 'Ten trillion souls depend on it
for life.' Vegeta smirked and got on without another word. He left far
faster than he came in, using super warp to travel the 4.5 trillion miles
from the star to the outside space in a matter of seconds. He went on his
way to the next empire.

The next day, he found out that Pan had attacked the super structure. In a
last ditch effort to kill her, after all other defenses had failed, they
self-destructed the star. They had hoped that the almost boundless amounts
of hydrogen igniting all at once would stop her. They had failed, and taken
10 trillions lives for the attempt.

Vegeta had more success with the next empire. He acquired a fleet of 4000
D-class destroyers. They were older than he was, but they were serviceable.
He proceeded to several other empires, and most dealings went well. The best
fleet he got was a tiny empire which was founded only 3 years earlier when a
successful coup overthrew the previous ruler. He got 10,000 A-class planet
destroyers. They all meant nothing to him, as he knew that Pan was stronger.
If Freeza could have been destroyed by such a fleet, he would have been. It
wasn't like people didn't try. They just failed.

*Just like me* Though Vegeta bitterly, still sore over his defeat. *But she
will pay. She will know pain like never before* Vegeta didn't at the time
realize just how true, and how naïve those thoughts were.

-------------------------

The army was ready. A vast fleet of space ships, easily a hundred thousand,
all armed and armored to the teeth, each with thousands of soldiers on
board, began their short journey to fight Pan. Vegeta and Lord Hantre donned
the flagship, the Invincible. Capable of leveling a major planet to a
barren wasteland in a matter of minutes, it was the best chance the fleet
had of beating Pan.

It was now 6 months since the defeat of Freeza. More than half the galaxy
had been blasted out of existence by Pan, and this crusade was a collective
battle for survival. All 23 remaining great powers had joined forces, and
were now moving to fight for their lives. To avenge the quadrillions of
lives taken by Pan, the most dangerous threat to life in all of written
history.

Of course Vegeta was planning to blast the fleet to bits the moment they
found Pan. It was pathetic really. The powers had always been at war, and
had called a temporary truce to kill Pan. Freeza's empire had been entirely
wiped out, and only one of the ships in the fleet represented him. All
Vegeta had to do was blast a few ships, and they'd begin to fire on
each other.

During the time it took to organize the fleet, Vegeta had been training, and
his power and risen substantially as a result. First he would kill Pan, then
he would battle Kakarott. He had no plan to kill Kakarott, for he viewed it
as dishonorable. As much as he hated Kakarott, he was the legendary. Vegeta
had no right to challenge it. He merely wished to fight him.

For months prior to this moment, they had searched for Pan. She had settled
on a small moon in a nearby sector, so reaching her was no problem. It was,
in fact, the very moon she and Vegeta had fought on months before. She
seemed to like that moon.

Vegeta's attention was drawn to the huge bay window. In the distance he
could feel Pan's ki. The fleet slowed as they neared the planet. They would
have just shelled the moon from space, but Vegeta had demanded that he fight
her first. Hantre planned to shell them both in mid battle. As much as he
needed Vegeta's help, he still had a vendetta with the prince for killing
his daughter.

Vegeta steered the flag ship down. He leapt out of it at high altitude and
blasted several other ships which were just coming down. They couldn't tell
where the shots were coming from due to Vegeta's small size and the dark
sky, lit only by the stars and the beautiful full moon. Or rather, full
mother world, as they were on the moon.

Just as Vegeta expected, the ships opened fire on each other. He mirthlessly
smirked and began his descent. He went vertically downwards, feet first and
with arms crossed. He powered up on the way down, and was careful not to
look at the full planet. He tightened his tail around his waist.

He landed right in front of Pan, who had seen the ships battling it out far
above. Now in her final month of pregnancy, she was grossly swollen in the
waist.

She hadn't expected Vegeta, and was suddenly worried, no, terrified for her
child. She didn't dare use Kaio Ken at all, and she was painfully aware that
he could go Oozaru at any time. There was a long, tense silence, broken only
by the savage battle above.

'This is it?' asked Pan in a whisper. 'This is where you overpower me, and
punish me for doing you so wrong?' Vegeta nodded. 'Well then Vegeta....you
leave me no choice. I will fight, for my child. I want you to know that I
love you, and wishing you off Namek was because I cared for you, not to
spite you. I didn't want you to be killed again. Once was enough,' she
confessed in a dead voice.

Vegeta, enraged that she would dare admit it, looked up at the full disk of
the planet. His Saiyan-jin armor stretched as his mass grew, along with his
power. Thirty seconds later, he was ten times stronger, and a hundred times
bigger. Pan went to Kaio Ken times 10 and began blasting him. He brushed
them off as if they were nothing, and swung his fist at her. It impacted,
sending her and her child crashing painfully to the ground. She clutched her
midsection, feeling her child's pain. She gasped as she saw a blast coming
at her. She leapt back, dodging it by less than a hairs breadth, only to
have another one smash into her. It was crushing in it's power, and she had
to raise to Kaio ken times 15 just to survive. She began to fight back as
best she could. For almost an hour they raged on, devastating the world
around them. Pan had to avoid all his attacks and use her greater mobility
to her advantage. In the end, she could have had a hundred advantages, but
Vegeta's superior strength would have triumphed.

Pan was exhausted, and Vegeta was somewhat hurt. He decided to end it there
and then. He cornered her, and fired a blast from his furry snout at her
with all his power. Pan realized two things. One, that she would have to go
far higher than she dared to survive it, and two, if she dodged it, it would
blow up the planet, killing her anyway. She began to panic. The safety of
her child was the first thing on her mind. She knew she had to go all out to
protect it.

She closed her eyes, bracing for impact, as she powered up as high as she
dared, forgetting that she could take far more damage than the child. 'Kaio
Ken times 120!!' she cried in a moment of sheer panic, and poured all her
energy into a Kamehameha. The second she did it, she knew she made a
horrible, horrible mistake. The blast shot forward and crushed Vegeta's
blast. It came at him with great speed and crashed into him with a mighty
explosion. His abdomen had a huge hole punched through it. The blast emerged
on the other side, and took his tail off. He was sent flying to the ground,
and reverted back to his normal form.

Pan kneeled over and vomited. She felt her water break, caused by Kaio Ken.
She immediately powered down, rushed back to the ship, and took off. None of
the ships above noticed her depart.

Just as she did, Vegeta, with supreme effort, took out a senzu bean from a
pouch in his spandex, and healed himself. He got up, fully healed, save for
his tail, which lay twitching on the ground. He looked at his tail, and
began to shake. He turned to the heavens, watching Pan's craft take off, and
roared in defeat.

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Pan leaned against a pole that went from the ground to the ceiling. She was
hyperventilating. Cold sweat coated her whole body. She tore off all her
clothes and sank to the ground. She spread her legs and went through with
the labor by herself. Hour after hour passed, and still nothing but endless
pain. Then, at last, after was seemed like an eternity of eternities, she
could feel the baby leave the protecting of the womb. She could feel it as
it passed through the birth canal. She moved her hand down to her vagina to
feel the baby as it crowned. She grunted loudly as it came out all the way.
She waited a few minutes for the after-birth to flush itself out. She lay
there, panting for several seconds before she realized something was wrong.

There was no crying.

He heart seemed to stop beating in her chest, and it felt like her blood
went cold in her very veins when she realized this. She was instantly at the
baby's side. A boy. He looked just like his father and grandfather in every
respect, except the 1st degree burns covering him from head to toe. Burns
caused by Kaio Ken, Pan had no doubt. All went numb. Time seemed to stop.
She couldn't accept it. It seemed as if the world had stopped. It seemed as
it someone had ripped her heart from her chest and threw it away. She
gingerly touched the dead baby, and flinched when a part of it's charred skin
broke off.

She could feel something stir within her. Her breathing increased from
nothing, to everything in a few seconds. She slowly, and gently, went super
Saiyan-jin, without even realizing it. Even if she had, she wouldn't have
cared. It was the last thing on her mind at the moment. For her entire life,
her emotions had been balancing stubbornly on the edge of a blade. One side
was emotional stability. The other was emotional ruin and madness. Her whole
life, Pan walked the fine line between these two, having no emotions at all,
except anger and hate.

Unable to face this new emotion, hurt, she broke down. She fell from the
edge, and took the path of ruin and madness. For the first time since she
had lost her memory years and years ago, she cried.