Fan Fiction / Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Pride and Darkness ❯ Chapter One ( Chapter 1 )

Chapter One

Flames were leaping and scurrying away into the cooled nights sky. The blanket of smoke leaving all perspective twisted, the scarred and potted pile of rubble that had once been a thriving city, masked eerily behind the toxic clouds. Standing in authority over its few remaining fleeing citizens was an ominous shadow. It was that of a singular man… a warrior. This figure, small and agile as it was, could not be mistaken by the millions who inhabited this or any other world that had fallen within Frieza's contemptuous view, they were doomed indeed if the Ice-jin had set his favorite pet Saiyan on them.

There was more to this warrior though than most would dare to look for. After all if you were about to be on the end of a ki blast, only controlled enough so that it wouldn't destroy the entire planet, would you want to look deeper? Never mind that he had been taken from his parents at the tender age of ten to be adopted into the fold of one of the universes most feared and despised armies, taken kicking and screaming to serve under the rule of a ruthless tyrant, and tutored by his very hand to be plied into that very same mold, it didn't change a thing. Even the sufferer himself could ignore it. His childhood was a distant memory of the past… that was all. There was still a defiance about him, it would never be completely tamed, but he put it to the side, covered it up into the core of an unforgiving and callous heart.

This was his job. He served Frieza and until he was strong enough to create his own redemption, then he would remain as loyal as ever to the sick bastard. He had to be careful though, if Frieza ever found out his true power, then even he wasn't expendable. It was, at the end of the day, the whole reason that the Ice-jin had destroyed Vegeta-sei in the first place, he feared the Saiyan's, feared that one day 'one of the disgusting monkey's' would reach the legendary powers of their ancestors… Super Saiyan.

Not wanting to think about it, he flattened his palm and cleared his mind. All he needed was to be strong. All he wanted was to lose himself in the addictive flow of inestimable ki… to feel all the glorious energy pouring through his chest in wave after wave of euphoric release, it was the only feeling he would ever need.

The ball of pure, condensed energy, ignited into life over the white fabric of his gloves, and as it grew in size and power, so did the smirk of satisfaction that pulled his mouth at the corners. Pushing his arm forward, he braced it with the other and prepared to fire.

The smirk turned into full-blown maniacal laughter, as the ki pressure in his chest relaxed, to let a stream of white energy loose on the helpless creatures below. The screams that rebounded and echoed off the cloudless sky were almost musical to his ears, and as the energy impacted, exploding in nuclear proportions, mushrooming its furry into the centre of those who had survived his earlier attacks, his arm relaxed, "Hn, like I, the Prince of all Saiyan's would need the help of his servants in such an easy purging mission." He snorted, turning on his heals ready to torch the next village.

"I think you would have done well to have brought them with you Prince Vegeta. Not that they would have been much good to you. We would destroy you even with their assistance!"

Gritting his teeth in anger Vegeta peered over his right shoulder to see who dared to speak to him in that way. Catching sight of three men behind him, he let his shoulders drop from the tension. It wasn't even worth the effort of taunting these raggedy fools. Their power was minuscule in relation to his.

Appearing to ignore them he turned away and carried on walking, only stopping as he reached the edge of the precipice. It overlooked the largest city on Shinaria, which now glowed a deep red as it burned to the ground. Closing his eyes he simply smirked and threw a ki ball over his shoulder, "I don't think so." He purred, preparing to fly away.

"Not so fast Saiyan! You will have to do a lot better than that to defeat us."

Vegeta almost fell in shock, but controlled it well to simply turn and face the voice, "Ok," he conceded, standing upright and crossing his arms over his chest, "Now you have my attention, maybe you will be better sport than I had imagined."

The being that had spoken before now stepped away from the other two members of the group and towards the Prince, "No, not good sport Saiyan. More like the instrument of your defeat."

"Really?" Vegeta raised an eyebrow in sarcasm. "And just how were you, a pathetic nobody, planning on defeating the legendary Prince of all Saiyan's? Perhaps you were thinking of boring me to death?"

The fighter stood tall before Vegeta, the smile never leaving his face, "I will bring you to your knees with my bare hands. You maybe strong, but nowhere near as powerful as me or these other fighters."

"And just who do you think you are to be giving such threats to me?"

"We are the Forier rebels, even Frieza's elite Ginyu Force would have trouble dealing with us. You, therefore, are nothing compared to our awesome combined power. Your fight is not with the Shanari, it is with us… we are the reason that Frieza sent you. I think you must be out of favour Ouji."

Vegeta was fuming now. This was not what he had wanted to hear. The fighter in front of him was probably bluffing, but if he wasn't then this could mean serious trouble. The Forier were well known, by reputation. Could Frieza have found out? No! That was impossible… wasn't it? Only in his training sessions had he explored his full power, and he always trained alone.

Whether Frieza knew or not, however, could not be dwelt on. Right now, he had to act, to blanket all emotions and not give any apprehension away for his opponent to use against him. Instead he let his right leg fall back and lowered his stance, "Well if that is the case, then don't just stand there," he sneered, "bring it on!"

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Two huge, reddish golden waxing moons rose side-by-side into the coal charcoal sky, filling the air with oppressive heat. Low white clouds hung in the distance, lightning flickering occasionally within the haze.

Tall mountain ranges ringed the planet's surface, and hundreds of metropolises were nestled in the deep valleys. Vast wilderness stretched between the cities.

At the foot of one of the tallest ridges, in the heart of a thick, foliated forest, something unusual was happening. The very air began to twist and roll until it nearly solidified. Then it burst like a bubble in a bright flash of light, creating a literal hole in the space. The light swelled and pulsed, then slowly died away with a breath of scorching wind.

In the wake of the flare, a figure stooped. Shadows from the tall trees hid the figure from clear view. Rising slowly, it took a few tentative steps and stopped in a pale pool of reddish light that shone down from a gap in the canopy.

Long hair, the color of hot coals, cascaded down her back in a loose ponytail and a few stray bangs tickled her youthful, slightly freckled face. A dark green gossamer tunic and black leggings clung to her drastic curves. A short, black-bladed orc sword hung on her belt, and the hilt of a dagger poked out from the top of her boot. The most alarming aspects about her appearance were her deep emerald eyes that glistened with an esoteric evil.

Princess Jade took in all of her surroundings cautiously; her eyes darting from shadow to shadow, searching for a possible danger. She inhaled deeply and nearly gagged at the sweet scent the trees were emitting. The distant cooing and cawing of various forest creatures found her ears and she grimaced.

Irritating little beasts, she thought, drawing her sword. She saw no other sign of life.

Sighing loudly, she sat down at the base of a tree. Perhaps I can find some sort of sentient life form with enough power to help me.

Jade folded her legs beneath her and tried to relax. She wove a Vision spell and prepared herself for the things she would see.

Her sight went dark for a moment as the incantation coursed outward for unimaginable distances. Then, in an explosion of color, images flashed before her eyes at thousands per second. People. Millions and millions of people with varying power levels. There were races in this world she'd never seen before with abilities unheard of in her land. But her Vision extended even further than just this place; there were glimpses of creatures and strength out in a vast blackness dotted with tiny lights.

She filtered the unimportant mental pictures and focused on the ones that revealed high levels of energy. There were quite a few in this world, but none that rivaled her own.

Suddenly, a power hit her like a cudgel between the eyes. Its magnitude was staggering compared to the others she'd seen.

Focusing the spell on that one image, Jade gasped. It was so close! The power surged with such angry vehemence that it burned her eyes to the point she couldn't even see the one who wielded it.

She'd found what she was looking for. His power was unbelievable in a mortal, possibly even superior to hers, and more importantly… just as dark. Breaking the weave of the spell, she let the image go and her own vision slowly returned.

Her only problem now was finding the individual and persuading him to help her. That second part was the most difficult. She knew he was close, and she could find him rather easily. If she could capture him and take him back to Mordor, it would be so much simpler, but he had to consent to helping her.

Something brushed lightly against her leg, breaking her train of thought, and Jade turned quickly to see what it was. A small quadruped with short blue fur, round ears and large black eyes looked quizzically up at her, a low purring sound resonating in its throat.

Jade jerked back away from it and grabbed her sword. The animal didn't seem dangerous, but it looked remarkably feline. And Jade hated cats.

In one swift motion, she swung the blade around and severed the creature's head from its stout neck. The body collapsed and Jade scooted hastily away from it.

Now to find the powerful one…

She stood and looked up through the gap in the trees. Searching would go more quickly if she took to the air. Casting a simple levitation spell, she rose up into the sky and surveyed the area.

An intense heat was rolling from the eastern horizon, where the white clouds were gathered. She recognized the faint aroma of burning flesh immediately; she inhaled the scent nearly every day in the Dark Tower.

He must be over there! I just hope he's not the one burning; it would be such a waste.

Pushing her levitation spell horizontally, she was able to propel herself toward the battle site.

As Jade neared the far mountains, the sweltering heat began to roll over her like a wave. It didn't disturb her in the least; after all, she'd spent most of her "childhood" roaming around Mount Doom, and this heat was nothing in comparison to the ancient volcano.

Screams of terror and pain took her by surprise as she cleared the towering peaks. She was blinded by the smoke and couldn't make any sense of the scene before her. Through the fumes, she could see fires smoldering across the valley below.

Maybe this is not such an alien place after all, She mused a half-smile on her face. It had been a long time since she'd seen such devastation, thanks to those damned wizards always keeping the peace in Middle Earth.

Jade got a little frustrated when she couldn't see what was going on and cast a wind spell to clear the air. The acrid smoke still swirled up into the night, but at least her vision wasn't blocked anymore.

Four men where standing on the ledge thirty feet below where Jade hovered. Three of them reminded her vaguely of her father's Fighting Urak-Hai, his powerful battle orcs. The fourth was almost human with gravity-defying black hair and a long brown tail.

As Jade watched, the three orkish creatures lunged at the humanoid, who attacked in turn.

She lowered herself onto a nearby outcropping to observe the fight curiously.

Kicks and punches flew in a wild flurry, but it wasn't until the humanoid formed a golden ball of fire in his hand and threw it at one of the other creatures did Jade realize what she was seeing. He was the one.

She decided to bide her time and see what happened. Crouching down behind a rock, she continued to watch the battle.

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The ball of energy flew from Vegeta's hands, the electrical charge tingling at the edges of his gloves, as it was fluently steered towards the enemy. In retrospect he would have done better to reserve the energy, as all it hit was the back of an alien arm. The power was batted nonchalantly away, the pure energy that was supposed to meet with flesh and blood, impacting against one of the multitude of unsuspecting mountains that ringed the torched Shinari capital.

Great slabs of rock fell clumsily to the ground in the middle distance, throwing up gargantuan swirls of debris, to mingle with the dissipating smoke. Vegeta growled in frustration. It was now painfully clear that the fighters had not been lying to him. They were the Forier rebels. It could mean only one thing… he was in deep shit, especially if an attack of that caliber could be deflected so easily. True, he hadn't lifted his power up to maximum yet, he had a fair way to go before the burning cut off would make his veins pump and chest pull, so much so that he thought he would explode, but still, somehow, he knew that he would be lucky to escape this with his life.

How could he have been such an idiot? He should have known as soon as Frieza gave him the OK to go alone that things weren't right! Dammit! He should have known, but he was far too caught up in the victory of being permitted free-range to consider anything else. Now he was on his own and up against one of the most formidable fighting senshi's in the universe.

One of the three fighters lunged at him, fists flying, and it took immense concentration on his part to block them all, never mind about throwing some of his own. If he let his guard down for a second then it would all be over. He could not afford a single mistake. To be honest, his purpose would have been served an easier license, if he could steal a few seconds to power up to the next level, but these fighters were not the usual testosterone driven warriors he was used to battling. There was no bloodlust running though their veins, they did not glory at the thought of a challenge, they were here to finish him by whatever means possible, and if that meant restricting his energy, then that is what they would do. They would not allow him the time needed to dip into untapped energy reserves.

Well if they wouldn't let him power up, then he had to invent a way of stalling their attack, unfortunately that was a lot easier said than done. If the situation were revised and they took him on one at a time, then he was pretty sure of having the advantage, but that was absurd. It was blatantly obvious that these creatures had no intention of handing him such a luxury. Why should they? They had their battle plan all worked out, and not giving him the slightest inch to gain the advantage seemed to be their dominant tactic.

The brightness flew at Vegeta in near semi-time, the familiar smell of charged ki, warning his keen senses of the impending attack as soon as the other fighters decided to get involved. Rapid ki fire flew at his body from all directions and although the majority were blocked, it was physically impossible for him to bat them all away, whilst still fending off a beating. The meticulously worked kicks flying at his upper body, meant that his head was continuously being dipped, his guard dropping a little more with each attack, eventually allowing some of the myriad of tennis ball sized energy beams, to slam viciously into his back.

At first they made little impact, but each one was thrown with pinpoint accuracy, aimed to hit the exact same spot over and over. Stabs of pain raced through his body, as one of them managed to create enough force to crack his armor, sending little shards of the reinforced material into his back.

Roaring in rage, Vegeta managed to use his tail to wrap around the closest fighter and aim an unguarded ki beam at his open chest. It's sheer magnitude pushed the fighter back a few feet, and thankful of the opportunity it presented, he made damn sure to use the precious few seconds of relief it gave him, to pile on more energy.

A well placed kick to the forehead sent another of the attackers smashing to the ground, but even before he could think of triumphing, another one was on him, delivering a perfectly performed side kick to his broken armor, making it splinter even more, sending great chunks of the material falling uselessly to the ground.

Flying back under the pressure, Vegeta managed to catch his equilibrium just in time to tuck into a somersault. It semi-controlled the backward motion, only allowing one foot to cleave a trench into the soft ground, as his ki balanced out enough to gain forward momentum. With fists flying the Saiyan no Ouji could almost imagine himself in a training sessions with Nappa and Raditz, only right now there was one distinct difference… he wasn't the one winning. His kicks were eloquent, and precise in their strikes, but they were not making any true impact. They were each blocked in turn, and even when one did connect, the advantage would be lost, his lapse in defense being punished to the fullest extent.

Energy screamed through his body, flickering a pale blue against the fire scorched sky. All fighting stopped as each warrior took a mutual timeout. Vegeta needed it, he was unsure of his next move. The enemies were infuriating in their nimbleness, not one of them was as tired as himself, and their speed was exceptional. The accuracy and brute force they put behind their attacks more than made up for the slight lack of ki ability that was indicative to their species.

He didn't want to admit it, but he was losing. If only he hadn't been so cocky, so sure of himself. He hated to even think of being out of his depth in a fight, but he needed help, and so long as he was outnumbered, he was also, ultimately, out-classed.

Backing out was not an option; his pride wouldn't allow that. But he also wasn't about to give Frieza the satisfaction of his death. So what choice did he have?

His mind was made up for him as one of the rebels lunged forward at lightning speed, throwing kicks and punches even faster than before. Vegeta held his ground as best he could, but he couldn't block or evade all those attacks. One perfectly executed punch connected squarely with his jaw, tossing his head painfully to the side and lowering his defenses.

That was all it took.

The rebels bombarded him with attacks, driving him back to the edge of the cliff. Before he knew what was happening, he felt his foot slip from the solid rock and he started to fall.

Thanks to his ability to manipulate his ki, Vegeta was able to catch himself in mid-air. The Forier rebels pursued him, but this time he retaliated.

A kick came for his head, but Vegeta pulled to the side and caught the limb. He spun around and let go of the leg, sending the being sailing across the scorched sky.

Immediately, another rebel landed a blow to the back of Vegeta's neck. The Saiyan's vision blurred and sharp pains jolted down his spine. He dropped from the air, only to be assailed as he fell.

More ki blasts struck, cracking what was left of his armor and burning his battered skin. He hit the ground and a cloud of smoke and ash billowed up upon impact.

Vegeta forced himself to his hands and knees, trying to ignore the searing pain coursing along his body. He was coughing up blood, but wouldn't let that keep him from getting back up.

Before he could stand, though, one of the rebels landed next to him and sneered.

"So this is the almighty Saiyan no Ouji? I am not impressed."

He kicked Vegeta's stomach savagely, and the Saiyan distinctly felt his ribs shatter. He grunted, holding in the agony, and fell limply back to the dirt. It was time he faced it; he wasn't going to make it out of this one. He couldn't even get his body to respond.

The fighter pointed a finger at Vegeta's head and snorted disdainfully. "Your kind will never plague us again, Saiyan."

The fingertip began to glow with ki energy. This was it. Vegeta glared up at his would-be assassin despite his fading vision, defiant to the end, and waited.

It happened in the blink of an eye. Something metallic flashed in the firelight, and suddenly the Forier rebel wasn't standing there anymore. He was pinned against the rock wall, impaled on a black-bladed sword. Dark, purplish blood gushed from his mouth, and he hung motionless.

Stunned, Vegeta struggled to sit up so he could see where the sword had come from. His body still wouldn't move, and his efforts were met with only quickly failing eyesight.

He heard another of the fighters scream, felt a wave of heat, then smelled something hideously acrid: burning flesh.

What the hell is going on? He thought as he felt his consciousness wavering. The last thing he heard before he surrendered to the darkness was unmistakably feminine laughter.