Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ tHe DeStInY oF ChAlLeNgE ❯ Return Policies... ( Chapter 22 )

Chapter 23~ Return Policies…

**A/N: You guys want action, huh? Well how about this...

His heart hammered in his chest, beating against his flesh as if it wished to escape. The anxious pounding creating a pulsation to entangle through his nerves, sliver through his muscles, and trace his agitated breath. His lungs were filled with more than oxygen, instead accepting the woven combination of raw anticipation and dread. The warrior within was eager for battle, expectant of the blood that would stain his hands by the end of the night, but an incessant murmur would continuously wrinkle his sadistic thoughts as it flashed within his mind.

The murmur was of her voice, and the image of her eloquent face.

Though he was loath to admit it, he was anticipating the moment he would see her, but dreading what he might find. What would they have done to her? He banished the thought, proclaiming to himself that it didn't matter, as he made his way through the steel hallways of the enemy ship, his white tipped boots clanging against the blood stained metal, just as his every step sent vibrations to assert his presence. He could hear the startled guards in the distance, they're calls of order to organize one another echoing throughout the ship. A self-assured smirk was all that Vegeta conveyed, his eyes like dark molten, burning with a surreal heat, as they scanned his surroundings. His mask of indifference was no more; for his eyes revealed extreme emotion... a pity that, that one emotion was unadulterated hate.

"I guess they're ready to say `hello'," Vegeta said with a cruel bark of laughter, as he listened to the approaching steps coming from behind him.

He didn't bother to turn around, rather left his back to face the now lined up soldiers, weapons barred and ki's flared. His tail acknowledged the twenty or so guards with an agitated swish, openly flaunting itself. His legs were spread akimbo, his muscle bound legs planted firmly on the metallic tiles, and his arms crossed imposingly. It was apparent that he was ready for battle, but the guards were hesitant to approach. What could possibly have this guy so cocky?

That, they would soon discover.

"Don't make any fast moves," the leader ordered forcefully, speaking in a universal tongue.

Vegeta simply turned in a painstakingly slow manner, a malicious smirk branded on his lips, challenging each and every one of them. His muscles rippled threateningly with his movements, his ki remaining dormant, content to build into a storm of frenzied power.

"I assume slow actions are suiting," Vegeta asked with false pretense.

"Why don't you just not move at all," a guard instructed forcefully.

"Well that is intriguing," Vegeta said, eyes glinting with a blood lust.

With those oddly chilling words, Vegeta proceeded to shut his eyes, saving the uncertain guards of his brutal glare. After making no movements for quite some time, the guards decided that he had heeded their order, and so approached him cautiously.

"Stop this non-sense," one of them barked, angry at their hesitation, as he marched up to Vegeta with a sneer.

As he reached out to grasp the immobile Saiyan, a bright aura encompassed his body, burning the flesh from his body and melting the bones that had once held him together. A dark pool of crimson blood replaced the once cocky soldier, not even the marrow from his bones remaining. Silence defeated the warriors, winding a spell of insecurity into their minds. They looked to the still unmoving figure questionably, but Vegeta neither made attempt to move nor twitched under their scrutiny. After looking at each other determinedly, they moved in unison towards the creature that silently mocked them with his stillness. Once within three feet of the Saiyan, and still being intact, they became a little more assured of their survival.

The leader nodded his head dutifully, and just as they were to make another step, the Saiyan's eyes suddenly flared open, two dark orbs of hatred once more revealed. His lips slowly curled into a vicious sneer, as the muscles all throughout his body tightened with the traces of power that crackled around him. The lights chose that precise moment to flicker, and within an instant, Vegeta had broken from his motionless state and successfully decapitated three of the guards. The remaining six-teen glanced at their comrades remains, their limbs torn into shreds of mutilated meat, bruised and battered into a sickening purple hue. They immediately fell into fighting stance; all lunging at the intruder, forcing their ki's to reach their limits within seconds. Vegeta only smirked cruelly, relishing in the pain that coursed through his left arm as a ki blast skimmed past his skin. He needed that pain, needed the reminder it represented, for one wouldn't want to forget they were still in the living, and hopefully the sane.

With a roar of rage, Vegeta latched his hand onto one of the soldier's neck, glaring into the frightened eyes of his opponent, as he dug his nails into the vulnerable flesh, letting the warm blood trickle down his hand. Squeezing minutely harder, he waited until the creature attempted to scream in pain, before ripping his throat out, clenching the veins and esophagus that now rested in his bloodied hand. He let the body crash to the floor, getting sadistic pleasure in the contorted expression of the alien, as it screamed eternally in its death, yet bound to silence of the non-living.

Turning to the other guards that were attempting a hasty retreat, Vegeta dematerialized, disappearing from their vision. They all halted awkwardly, half expecting their own throats to be ripped out, but nothing happened. Nothing stirred. Wide-eyed, they turned around to go inform the entire ship that the intruder was still at large, but, obviously, they wouldn't be allowed that luxury.

They turned to face the Saiyan no Ouji, in the flesh.

Horror filled their foreign eyes, as Vegeta lifted a single hand, his palm directed at them. A white energy snapped about, having a strong resemblance to lightning, as it rippled in the air. The once electrical like ki straightened into spears of deathly light, and with a victorious chuckle, he released his ki, watching with amusement as it split into tiny strings of energy, barely even extinguishable they were so thin. And like a web of death, those seams of power threaded their way through the warm flesh of the soldiers, not one escaping the venomous bite. With satisfaction, he watched as all fifteen corpses dropped to the floor like puppets cut from their strings. Thousands of pin-prick holes marred their bodies, streams of blood trickling from every intricate wound, creating a river of carnage to leak onto the metal tiles.

"Intrigues are amusing for only so long," Vegeta sighed mockingly, as he turned on his heel.

After all, there were others surely waiting for him.

He came to an intersection in the ship and halted abruptly, deigning that he should choose which path would suit him better. He sought out the onna's ki quickly, almost rolling his eyes at his own weakness, but then his eyes shot open, the vein in his forehead protruding as it pumped excessive amounts of agitated blood.

He couldn't sense her ki.

Vegeta's breath hitched at the thought that he may have failed to save, failing the only woman that held his granite heart. Damn her! She was supposed to live; she should have been stronger- she should have lasted for him! Grating his teeth angrily, he sought out her ki once more, searching almost frantically. Obviously, that paid off, for he did locate it. Though weak, it still withheld its claim on life, but something was wrong- something was different. Considering Vegeta couldn't understand why that would be so, he relented that he would have to find her to determine what had altered her ki signature.

Growling with anger, the Saiyan no Ouji began to run down the corridor to his left, keeping his mind locked onto Bulma's ki. As he dashed past cells and doorways, Vegeta successfully convinced himself that the reason for his haste was because the woman was too desperate for his help, instead of the alternative. That alternative being that he had reassure himself this his woman was O.K. He didn't even bother to scold himself for thinking possessively over the onna, he had decided not too long ago that everything Saiyan... was his. Simple as that. Why should she be excluded?

Just as he could almost feel her presence, a large roadblock suddenly appeared. Make that, an extremely large roadblock. Consternation contorted his features, as Vegeta looked up into the blood red eyes of the alien creature. He would have simply annihilated the thing without thought, if it hadn't been for the strong smell that wreaked from the being.

It was blood, and it was `her' blood.

Glancing to the enormous creature's hands, Vegeta fairly became undone with rage. Thick red blood coated its hands, even going so far as to reaching his elbows. The foul being was fairly bathed in her blood, and it drove Vegeta insane with fury. How dare he draw blood from his woman?!

"Tujii gohin hyat tiiky," the creature growled out with authority, paying no notice to the energy being radiated from the silently seething Saiyan, inches from licking his flesh.

(A/N: Oh, and the language isn't Japanese. It is an alien tongue.)

Vegeta only regarded him coolly with two raging orbs of teal. His teeth were bared, canines exposed threateningly. Obviously, the idiotic alien couldn't sense ki, for he remained blissfully ignorant to the death that was about to be dealt to him, and by none other than the Royal Prince of Vegeta-sei, but more importantly, the protector of the onna he had so cruelly beaten only moments before.

A brigade of soldiers could be heard, ever nearing to the spot where Vegeta stood, their footsteps ricocheting throughout the maze of halls. Vegeta could hear them halt behind him, though they wisely chose to remain at a twenty-foot distance from the enraged Saiyan. They glanced nervously from their yelling superior and the seething Prince. Watching stupidly, one tried to warn the slave trader with hand motions, but the other guards stopped his attempts quickly, all hoping that the Saiyan warrior would mutilate the cruel slave trader as he had their comrades.

"Tujii gohin hyat tiiky," the slave trader ordered once more, clearly unhappy that Vegeta wasn't listening to his commands.

"Tey crai' mal ae hyi nisyjk syaeth," Vegeta spoke in a deathly whisper, the ancient tongue of his ancestors coming out in a threatening hiss, the words an insight to the alien's impending doom.

***Translation: You dared to touch my woman?!***... ***Pronunciation: Tay crr-i' mal-uh he-i nas-i-jk sigh-uh-ath***

The maliciously spoken words hung in the air like a whisper of death, letting all that heard to breathe in fear, the once acceptable air tainted by the cruel intentions it foretold. The golden aura that surround the Saiyan no Ouji rippled in anticipation, as he watched his prey's blood red eyes fill with realization. The dawning that the creature was standing before the aforementioned intruder finally taking root, creating the slow transformation of authority into bone-shattering fear.

It really was too bad that the ignorant creature hadn't understood Vegeta's words, but Vegeta wasn't patient enough to teach it. He would just have to pound it into the alien, or perhaps brand it into its flesh. Unraveling his tail, Vegeta let it twitch angrily behind him. Now this, the creature did understand, the cashmere tail of the Saiyan no Ouji looking all too familiar. Making a connection between the seething warrior before him and the blue haired creature he had practically mutilated, the slave trader became just a bit uneasy.

Before another word could be spoken, or breath taken, Vegeta had dropped his ki to become dormant within his body, as he utilized his brute strength to execute the perpetrator of the onna's shed blood. With uncanny speed, Vegeta swiftly kicked the creature's kneecaps, shattering the bones into small shards, a rather gruesome few protruding from the alien's flesh.

"You don't mind kneeling, do you," Vegeta inquired sarcastically, as it fell onto it's broken limbs, it's body mass creating a satisfying crunch upon impact.

Maneuvering deftly, he managed to create fractures within the creature's spine with a kick to its side. Though the alien's breath was labored with pain now, Vegeta took extra care to ensure it's prolonged life. This was more than execution, this was torture, and Vegeta planned to do it the right way.

By causing the most pain.

Now ready to deliver his entire wrath, Vegeta let the hatred he had harbored for twelve excruciating years run through his veins, racing with his blood, as it competed to reach his granite heart first, if only to fill it with more of the hatred it thrived on. Concentrating his frenzied power, Vegeta roared with his anger, as he manipulated his ki to enter the alien through its airways, and twist through its body, contaminating everything it made contact with. He started with the skeletal structure, melting it into liquid as smooth as blood. Astonishment registered in the slave trader's eyes as his body crumple into a heap of unorganized flesh, and yet he still lived, left to feel every agonizing moment of his torture.

Vegeta smirked sadistically, using his own ki to sustain the creature, making sure it would feel everything he did to it. His pitiless obsidian orbs gazed at the deformed alien with satisfaction. After relishing in the groans of pain for several moments, Vegeta let his ki rove it's way through the veins of his enemy, replacing the creatures blood, just as he felt compelled to scar more than just the flesh but to wreak havoc upon its soul. He abruptly pulled his energy back, leaving traces that would eventually collide into each other. Once they had woven their way throughout the creature's veins, they would all find their way into it's heart, and then the threads of Vegeta's ki, of which he strategically had left, would implode its body, mutilating every strip of flesh with their charged energy.

But that wasn't enough.

No, Vegeta felt the need to see pain not only etched across its formless features, but to sense it branded upon its entire being. And he knew precisely how. Growling low within his throat, Vegeta outstretched his blood drenched hand, forming his ki to mold around the alien's motionless form, eating away at its flesh from the outside. And, unfortunately for the alien, if the energy that now ate away at its flesh even came within minimal contact with the remaining ki inside its body, well- boom?

"The moment you attempt to breathe more of life's air," Vegeta snarled, "is the second you're greeted by death."

With those prophetic words, Vegeta sidestepped the mound of burning flesh, and proceeded down the hall. The cowardly soldiers had already dispersed, leaving Vegeta to his own devices, at least until they could regroup, that is. Moans of unimaginable pain reached his welcoming ears, but he was now on a new mission.

Finding the damn onna!

Concentrating his ki once more, he searched for her weak signal, letting his minds eye trace the passageways of the ship in hopes of finding her. Stopping abruptly, he glanced down a corridor to his right, as he was currently at a crossing of hallways. Time seemed to freeze in that moment, prolonging the revolutionary pain that wrenched through his body, gripping at his vital organs, like a viper's fatal bite.

Only twenty-feet from where he stood, hazardously lain near the wall of the corridor, was the only woman that had stolen his granite heart. He could detect no movement. Her body was doused in her own blood, her slender legs swollen from an attempted escape, just as bruises discolored her once heavenly skin. Her aqua hair was matted with crimson blood, covering her face from his horror stricken eyes. Not being able to see the sapphire orbs snapping with life unnerved Vegeta. He had expected that no matter her condition, she would be yelling at him, screeching and ranting that he should have come sooner.

But it wasn't so.

Before he could even regain his composure and approach the broken vixen, several guards came trotting down the hall, and unfortunately, the very one she was within. They passed her carelessly, paying no heed to the battered woman on the cold tile floor. As soon as they spotted Vegeta, they raised their weapons threateningly. The only response they received from their actions was a vicious glare, the teal eyes defining everything that was sinister.

Vegeta hadn't even realized he had ascended, nor did he care. His blood raced with power, the energy flowing streams all throughout his body, building his blood lust to a blazing fire. And he wanted their blood. He could almost hear their pulses, his overactive senses leaping with anticipation. The two guards glanced at one another uncertainly, unnerved by the insanity that seemed to grip at their foe, the Saiyan no Ouji. Clenching his hands into iron fists, Vegeta let his energy swarm around him, bulging his muscles, and heightening his strength. No hesitation was granted as he released a ki blast from his outstretched hand, having no patience to do any fancy killing. One of soldiers shot out with the ki-generated weapon he held, hoping that it would deflect the fiery ki coming his way.

And it did, but the guard had made more a foolish move than he knew, the ki he shot simply feeding into Vegeta's ki attack. What he would learn to be a fatal mistake, as the deflected orb of enormous ki broke through the ceiling of the ship. Not evening of curse could escape the two guards lips as they were ripped out of the ship, the added air pressure pulling their limbs apart.

The ship was going to crash.

Vegeta immediately powered up, passing the hole only by shear strength, as he resisted the forces attempting to pull him into space. Firmly planting his feet upon the ground, he made his way down the hall where Bulma lay. His hair was swept back, the bleak darkness of space continuously trying to claim Vegeta. The pressures died down considerably once he was fifteen or so feet away from the broken ceiling, but his nerves hardly rested.

Bulma was nowhere to be found.