Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Distant Light Years ❯ Unveiling ( Chapter 13 )

Chapter 13: Unveiling

Vegeta watched the ships sliding through the Earth's atmosphere. The round noon sun shone upon their metallic surfaces, reflecting gleaming beams of light. The light was so very deceptive. A symbol of purity to humans for thousands of years, light was really created through the chaos caused by reacting atoms with in an ignited ball of gas which held such tremendous mass that it created its own gravity, pulling other alien atoms and material towards it. Some times to circle and bask in its creative destruction, and other times to engulf, obliterate and add selfishly to its own extreme bulk. The creator of light was a selfish thing.. hateful.. burning.. destructive. Humans had harnessed the art of creating light. In a very primitive way yes, in a very unstable destructive way. Humans waged war with light. To flush out the darkness in an extreme moment of over exposure that destroys and unstabilizes the very microscopic foundations of life its self. They did not call it light though. Rather Nuclear Warheads was the favored name.

He knew these ships had those light weapons. Despite Kakarotto's effort to destroy them in the sun years ago, the science still existed. There was no way to erase that. Besides, apparently Trunks wouldn't allow that. His mind still thirsted for the knowledge of things, therefore he had a love of knowledge, and the destruction of knowledge was wrong to him.

The boy was weak like that. If he wanted knowledge he should have isolated it. So it would not become something for the enemy to use against him. Too much arrogance. Vegeta shook his head. Too much real arrogance. Arrogance was a good tool to act with, but too much real arrogance got you into trouble. He had learnt that lesson in life well.

Piccolo stood silently nearby. He had delivered his message. What more could he do? This was Vegeta's moment to strike. Things had to be thought over, motions had to be planned. And no doubt to the Namek, these were all happening inside Vegeta's fast strategic mind at this very moment.

Vegeta turned his head to his son. His eyes were dark, cloudy.. thoughts rolled and clamored with in his mind. First things first. A distraction.

"Trunks."

Trunks moved his eyes to his father. The rest of his body was motionless.

"If you are still my son then go prove your self. Bring me the bastard in charge of this pathetic example of an 'invasion'." He flipped his right hand with the last word. As if to say 'invasion' was too strong a word to be used in this situation.

Trunks's eyes grew round and large and blue. His bottom lip quivered slightly as his arms dropped to his sides. His face flushed pink and he gave a slight upward tilt to his top lip. Shadow of a smile. "Oh Kami! Thank you Father!" He seemed flustered in his excitement as his hands thrashed about in nervous apprehension.

It was zeal. Piccolo felt a streak of disgust. The boy felt a zeal for his father that was god-like. It was an unusual madness, zeal.

With a wide demonic grin plastered to his face, Trunks ran from the room like a child running to meet the ice cream truck.

There was a collision at the door of the room as Gohan and Trunks ran straight into each other.

"Move it Gohan!" Trunks scowled as she shoved the older demi-Saiyan out of his way and vanished down the hall.

Gohan barely noticed as he collected him self and hurried over to Vegeta. When he saw Piccolo, he stopped suddenly. His eyes wide in alarm. He felt like his limbs had frozen over when he saw his old friend and mentor standing there just as though the last hundred years without seeing him had never occurred.

"Piccolo?!" He cried. The Namek nodded to his old student. He had been wondering what this moment would be like. This man.. this stranger that Piccolo had once taught when he was a boy. He had seen the monstrous things Gohan had done in the past. Particularly in the Wars. Back then he had been disgusted and separated him self from Gohan and the other Saiyans. He was convinced that now they had taken in their Saiyan instincts he would never see the kind youth from old again.

Gohan swallowed and berated him self for acting like a geeky fool. Vegeta had totally ignored him, it was a comforting familiar thing that strangely reminded him of the good times. His thoughts drifted him a way for a moment as he remembered all the times he had pissed Vegeta off when he was a boy. Such happy times.. Alien and far away.. Never to return. A wave of despair threatened to choke him. Collecting his rationality Gohan walked up to Vegeta. "Uh.. Vegeta I have discovered what is on the chip."

Vegeta heard the words which Gohan spoke but his mind and thoughts were else where. He could see his son from where he stood. The boy was zooming towards the spacecraft from the invading army with a black dot in tow. It had to be Goten, he thought. One quick sense of Ki told him that it was. He heard Gohan mention "chip" and he turned his head to face him. "The chip? What is on it?" he said, his words sounded empty even to him. After all this time he had no belief that what ever was on that chip was going to help them at all. It was from another time, from a people now long dead. Their sensibilities maybe useless now. The whole damned thing was insane. EVERYONE was.

Gohan pulled the small silvery box from his pocket and held it up for Vegeta to see. "I managed to reduce it and simplify the chip's silicon components so I could transfer its information onto this cube." He tapped the top of the cube and muttered the words; "Play chip." Immediately the little Saiyan figure faded into being above the chip.

Vegeta's eyes went wide. He recognized that figure! It was Kakarotto! He gasped out loud and his eyes widened as he leaned closer. Wait.. that wasn't Kakarotto.. It was Bardock! Kakarott's father. He was a famous general and scientist. He led the army against Frieza once Vegeta Ou was murdered. So.. what does he have to say for him self.

The small figure stood proud and stern as he addressed Vegeta formally. The small Saiyan seemed to be more than a recording; it was an Artificial Intelligence of some kind. Very much like the hologram he had seen on that moon. "Prince Vegeta!" It nodded with a bow. It turned to look at Gohan. "And once again, my grandson." It looked back to the Prince. "If I am delivering you this message then the gravest has happened. Vegeta-sai is no more. Frieza has defeated the Saiyans but thankfully he will never win as long as you exist. Within this chip is the technology to travel back in time and wipe out that bastard before he ever has the chance to destroy our home world." The little man paused, as if considering something. His face was serious yet troubled. "There is another thing I have to admit." He uncharacteristically bit his lip and looked nervous. "Um.. I have to say I am not really the Saiyan called Bardock. I chose that name after I found out that he was my father that never existed." He muttered something unintelligible.

Both Vegeta and Gohan stared in shock. Vegeta felt confusion bubbling under him. "What are you talking about?!"

The Saiyan sighed. "I am Goku." He said and gave a slight sad shrug. "Bardock never really existed. In your near future I will travel back in time to our home world in a desperate attempt to stop me from ever coming to Earth. I believed I was the cause of everything that had ever gone wrong there. When I came to Vegeta-sai I found out it was years before I had plotted. I had no way of returning so in an effort to survive I learnt all I could of my people and integrated my self into our culture.

"I never thought I would fall in love again but I did. I watched Maranatina from afar, never giving my name away until, to my shock, I found that a Saiyan called Bardock was killed in action. I had been working as a guard for several years, passing my self off as another nameless soldier in a medic facility. When I found out Bardock was dead I was shocked. I wondered how it was that I had even been born. But when I got a glimpse of the real Bardock I saw that he didn't even resemble me in any way other than our ages. When I heard that Maranatina was to be sent off world for purging I stole Bardock's identity as a third class Saiyan General to follow her. So I became Bardock. I constantly had to hide my true power, it was an effort that paid with these scars in one purge." He paused and shook his head.

"I never thought I would be able to do such an evil thing, but after a long while I realized there was nothing I could do about it. It was in my nature and all those battles on Earth and the Civil Wars had hardened me. Still I tried to focus my time into forming new energy manipulations for the Empire. Well.. eventually I won Maranatina's heart and we had our first child shortly after. I was stunned that she wanted to name him Raditzu." He grinned and blushed slightly.

"It was when I came into the King's favour that I realized what had happened. I saw this very same chip and found out the truth. The King's of Vegeta-sai had this chip just in case it was ever needed to stop an event that would lead to the destruction of Vegeta-sai. The technology for time travel was given to the Saiyans on this chip as thanks from an alien civilization we once protected. It could only ever be used once and the trips could never be reversed. You could only travel back, not forward." He paused and a strange look came on his face.

"The day you were born Vegeta, I will never forget. I knew what the future held. I knew you would one-day come to Earth and meet.. me." He gave a short laugh. "I knew that one day you would leave Earth for three months and return 250 years later to chaos. You see, that was the jinx. I could warn you when you were young not to go, but you would think me mad. So I re- recorded this message on this chip the King sent me to hide on the moon. I knew that by the time you saw it, it would be too late.. again."

Vegeta could barely comprehend what was happening. It was something so totally mind boggling that he was sure the world had just ended and he had gone insane. Gohan was staring at the floor. Of course the little Bardock had never told him this message before. He had only told him to take it to Vegeta as soon as he could. This.. This was phenomenal!

The small hologram looked up at the shocked Prince's face. "You see? Really every thing bad that has ever happened has been my fault.. my second son to Maranatina was me for Kami's Sake!" He gritted his teeth. "I could have changed things then. I saw the signs of the destruction of the planet drawing near, you were the right age, and my second son had been born. Maranatina died in childbirth. You see, I killed my own mother.."

Gohan winced as he put two and two together and thought it was the strangest case of Oedipus syndrome he had ever heard of. Goku continued in his tale.

"I sent him to Earth, knowing what would happen. But by then I had learnt that the only way all of you would ever live would be if I sent him. My self. If I sent my self to Earth there was more hope than me ending it. I knew I had no choice. I was going to have to face Frieza with out my Ki. I knew I was going to do what my father.. well.. me.. I .. have done before. So, I am about to go out and face my greatest foe it seems. I'll leave this chip here, in this vault where it's always been. But my mission for this message is this. Vegeta, do not use the time traveling components to save Vegeta-sai. As much as you might want to, you have to remember the family you had. Trunks and Bra.. Bulma. Go back and stop your self from leaving! You must not go out into space for those three months! Stop your self Vegeta! This time line is doomed. Vegeta-sai was always going to be doomed. Go back and save yourself and us. Don't take any one with you. Especially not me." He looked very seriously at Vegeta who looked so pale that he might, for the first time in his life, faint.

The little figure of Goku immediately fell back into his Bardock character and saluted the Prince before speaking swiftly in Saiya-go to wish him good luck. The little man faded out.

Piccolo was staring with wide eyes at the cube and replayed the message in his mind over and over. He couldn't believe it! I just couldn't.. and he knew no one else would. He looked up, breaking the silent frozen stiffness of the room. "You can not tell the others!" He growled out as he walked over to Gohan to shake him. He didn't think Vegeta would tell any one, but Gohan.. he might. "You can never EVER tell any one! Do you hear me Gohan!" Gohan blinked and nodded swiftly at the Namek.

"No.. no way am I telling any one." His voice sounded harsh and dry.

Vegeta let out his held breath and walked over to lean heavily on the windowsill. He was shaking slightly. So unexpected! "My Kami.." He breathed and slowly looked up to watch as his son and Goten engaged with the first of the big ships.

"Who would ever have known.."
~*~
"Over there Goten! Watch out!" Cried Trunks as he zipped out of the way of a red laser beam. Goten giggled slightly and slightly missed being scorched.
"You know Trunks! I always find it amusing how they underestimate us!" Called out Goten as he sunk his fists into a panel of Titanium and tore it off the ship in a long shrieking scream of damage. Trunks laughed and went feet first through a window into the cockpit of the leading ship.
Edmund screamed orders. "The paralysis ray QUICKLY OR I'LL HAVE YOUR SPLEEN FOR LUNCH!" He shrieked as Trunks smashed into his cockpit.

Laughing, the Saiyan danced about the screaming running people grabbing at skin and tearing through flesh to disembowel or decapitate. He was happily covered in blood and gore when a red light flashed over him and he found he couldn't move. "GOTEN! YOU SLACKER! HELP ME!" He roared as he struggled against the red ray of light.
Edmund laughed and walked around to face the dripping Saiyan. "Finally finally finally!" he rebated on in a high pitched girlish manner. "It's been almost a century and FINALLY I have my revenge Trunks Briefs!" Trunks looked at him with scorn.

"So you're the one.." He said in a breathless voice, his eyes narrowed and his face took on a demonic air.

"Of course I am!" He giggled. "I'm the one responsible for killing your sister.. well actually it was my father, but you know what they say about the sins of the father do you not Mr. Briefs?" The man had a wide toothy grin that Trunks took an immediate disliking to.
"Ah.. such plans I have for you little lilac hair." Trunks growled at the derogatory statement about his hair. Edmund walked around the Saiyan slowly, his eyes glinting. "For several months now I have been perfecting my new Ki-Restraining cuffs. I think I'll dress you in them and make you dance for me before I take your Empire from under your nose and torture you." he smiled sweetly.
Trunks showed no reaction at all to Edmund's words but stared into space in a dark dreamy manner. This put a bitter taste into Edmund's mouth and he pouted. "What?! This means nothing to you?!" Edmund felt totally robbed of his finest moment. He had counted on Trunks's withering and screaming to give him that nice bubbly feeling of success. ~Damn him! How dare he take my finest moment and make it seem trivial in his life!~ He scowled. ~Oh yes, I'll show him pain! MOUNTAINS OF PAIN!~ "MUAHAHAHHAAA!!" He cackled maniacally. Trunks continued to ignore him and had in fact begun to hum a strange little song that made Edmund feel irrationally nervous. Wasn't he the victor here?!
Suddenly Edmund felt a damp sticky hand curl around the back of his neck. Goten grinned at the humming Trunks and brought his other arm around Edmund and stuck him in a Full Nelson. He crushed the laser and the red light vanished. Trunks stretched cat-like and grinned at his friend. He tossed away the liver he had in his right hand and walked up to Edmund. He wiped his bloody hands off on the stunned mans shirt and hummed to him self as he looked about the cockpit. "Well I think that's enough remodeling Goten. Let's get back, I'm starving for some turkey." The younger Saiyan giggled and followed after Trunks towards the broken window. Edmund stared for a moment before running over to the control panel.
"You're not going to get away that easily!" He screamed as he flipped the plastic case back from a large red button.
Trunks calmly looked over his shoulder at Edmund and said, "Oh Goten go fetch that scum for my father." Goten grinned and began walking over to Edmund in a menacing manner.
Edmund grinned darkly. "Oh no Trunks.. this is my Check Mate!" With that he pushed the self-destruct button.

~***~

TBC…