QUEST FOR POWER :



THE WARLORD
By Konrad Gateau


PART 3



Deep within the overwhelming vastitude of hell runs a river of fire. It’s been there since the beginning, no one knows why, it’s purifying flames burning the evil souls of hell. No inhabitant of that place can stand within fifty feet of the flames…except for one man. One strange man. An armor-clad warrior. With red skin. And a giant tail. He often comes to sit next to the River of Fire. He’s able to withstand the heat, at least more than any other evil soul. Only good souls can go through the fire unharmed. Therefore some afterlife dwellers wonder if this man is truly as evil as he claims…
or is he just fooling everyone, including himself.

He sits as close to the river as he can. He comes here to think about when he was alive. He forces himself to think about stuff and people that make him mad, to prove to himself that he is evil. His mind is set on a few people.

“That bastard Goku!” he thinks. “And that stupid Saiyan prince! I had the Nameks at my mercy! Why didn’t I kill them? WHY?…And why didn’t I kill Goku…before?”

He reminisces about the time he could’ve killed a Saiyan baby boy. A boy who grew up to become the greatest warrior ever…

“Why wouldn’t I kill a simple baby?…Hey speaking of babies…?”

His mind shifts on a different person. A woman. 99% of the people in the universe he hates. Almost 1% he doesn’t hate or barely like. And only one person he loves: her. Despite the fact she’s good, unlike him. Or rather he loves her because of the fact she’s good. From the first time he saw her, he knew he didn’t want her to end up bad like him. So he has tried his best, as an evil being, to teach her the more righteous path of life. He’s taught her to hate the same thing he likes: destruction, spite, deceit. And he gave her appreciation of the things he himself hates: love, 
friendship, respect, honor. Thus, from the day he first saw her, the powerhouse known and feared as Cooler has worked to transform his little sister into a champion of good. As for himself, he thought, it was too late, he was evil so will play that role to the fullest.

Cooler sat there for about four hours, despite the seering heat, his thoughts oscillating between his sister and his ennemies, between good and evil.

“Cooler!” Someone called out from behind him. Cooler turned his head to look, then he started to make his way towards the man very slowly. The other figure, still shocked by the fact that Cooler can withstand, up to a certain point, the heat radiating from the River of Fire, has gotten used, however, to seeing him there.

“What’s new, Dr Gero?” asked Cooler.

“Nothing much.” Dr Gero responded. “I’m working on the dimension opener. I’ve also given your brother and father the upgrades they needed. And I’m making plans for a new body for myself.”

“Nothing much!” Cooler sneered.

“By the way, have you thought about your share?”

“I’ve talked to my father and Freezer and we’ve decided to stay here. Death isn’t as bad as we thought.”

“Then it is settled.” Gero added. “Cell will get most of the universe, I will get some of the universe but most of the wealth and knowledge. Commander Red will rule over Earth, while you, Freezer and your father will dominate the afterlife…Say, why don’t you accept received cybernetic upgrades I made? Despite the fact that for some reason you’re now organic you can still get implants that will boost your power.After all, it worked for your father and your brother, and your brother was not cybernetic anymore either.”

“Thanks but no thanks.” Cooler said as his facial expression turned into a frown. He’s now bearing an evil look that he’s only had periodically ever since he got sent to hell by the combined efforts of Goku and Vegeta. “WHEN I defeat that bastard Goku, it’ll be all-natural. No upgrades or add-ons. I’ll prove to him once and for all who’s the best and then I’ll torture him for eternity. Besides, I’m powerful enough as it is, I don’t need upgrades.” 

“Suit yourself. I’m only trying to help evil prosper.” And with those words Dr Gero flew off.

“I’m going to beat you, Goku.”, Cooler kept whispering to himself. “You and your friends will regret having ever heard of me. And before I’m done with you, you will wish there was another afterlife so that you can hide from me.” Cooler then took a breath and sighed. “No use wasting my breath like this…Oh well. The time will come…Hmmm…I wonder how’s sister doing.”

Cooler took a very pensive look, put his hands behind his back and started walking away from the River very slowly…  



“Far away, in the outer reaches of the galaxy, a conquering force has made a plan for universal domination. Bent on promoting evil, crushing good and justice, and assuring the prevalence of their lord’s will, soldiers from everywhere have assembled into the greatest army ever known. Some of the universe’s strongest beings have banded together to destroy all those who oppose them. However, one group of warriors is determined to stop these wrong-doers at all costs. These defenders of justice and light are…Trunks, the great hero from the future…”

Hearing his name, Trunks lifted his head before taking back a pensive posture he was holding while sitting next to a window.

“…Tenshinhan, the three-eyed powerhouse,…”

Tenshinhan momentarily looked up from his cards before concentrating again on his hand.

“…the beautiful Android 18…”

18 couldn’t help but smile slightly.

“…the fierce and noble Namek Piccolo,…”

Unlike the others, Piccolo didn’t react.

“…and Vegeta, the obligatory jackass.”

The Saiyan prince abruptly turned his head towards Gohan. “Gohan, you insolent little brat, shut up already with your stupid narration!”

But Gohan ignored him and continued nonetheless. “Together, they form the amazing Z Squad. And they are led by the great Gohan…”

“If the great Gohan doesn’t shut the hell up, I’m gonna put my foot up the great Gohan’s ass!!!” Vegeta yelled.

“Alright, alright!” Gohan replied. “I’ll stop. Geez, there’s no having fun around you.”

Inside Yoshuro’s spaceship, Vegeta, Piccolo, Tenshinhan and Yoshuro were sitting around a table, playing poker, while Gohan and 18 looked on. Trunks was seated next to a window, thinking about God-only-knows-what.

“Yoshuro?” Piccolo inquired.

“Fold” the Jubian said with a disgusted look on his face. He put his cards face down on the table.

“Vegeta?” Piccolo continued.

“I equal your bet, Namek, and i raise it by two.” And the prince put his bet on the table.

“Tenshinhan?”

“I also equal that.” the Triclops responded.

“And so do I. Well, watcha got…midget?”

Vegeta frowned then showed his cards. He had two 8s and three 10s. “Full house!”

“Ha!” Piccolo laughed. “Straight flush!”

“Bastard!!!”

“Not bad, Piccolo” Tenshinhan said. “But I got a royal flush.”

Piccolo’s jaw dropped as he looked at the cards. “This sucks big time!”

It’s been almost a week since they left Earth and they still had a few hours before entering Jubian space.

“Hey Gohan! After they finish playing poker, do you wanna play blackjack with me?” asked Android 18.

“No thanks, sorry.”

“Oh great! This is boring.” she said, shaking her head. In doing so, she caught a glimpse of Trunks sitting down.

“Oh never mind, I think I’ll go talk to Trunks for a change.” she continued.

“OK then”, Gohan replied. “Knowing how he feels about you, I guess that might help.”

As 18 approached him, Trunks spotted her from the corner of his eye and made a move to leave.

“Hey, wait up! Don’t leave!”, 18 yelled. The young Saiyan reluctantly stayed put as the Android sat in front of him.

“What’s wrong, Trunks?”, she started.

Trunks gave her a cold look. “You know the deal! In my future you ruin millions of lives…”

“But I’m not like that!”, 18 snapped. “I’m not like the me…or whatever you encountered in your time! This is a different dimension and this is a different person you’re looking at!”

Her voice echoed through the ship. Everyone noticed but the men continued to play cards, knowing that they should not intervene. Gohan, on the other hand, took a step towards the pair, bent on bringing their conversation on a better note. However, his eyes came across Piccolo’s own eyes and the look the Namek gave him told him not to move. Reluctantly, Gohan stayed put and watched the mini-drama unfolding. 18 was on the brink of crying now and Trunks was shocked by that to say the least. 

“Of course you don’t know how it feels.”, 18 continued. “To be despised by you for something I didn’t do but rather some…twin of me did! And everytime you look at me, it’s a look of hate and supicion. Because of what? Because of that…I just can’t describe the feeling I have when I see your attitude towards me. It hurts…I want to gain your trust, Trunks. I have to find a way to do that…”

Just then, tears started streaming slowly from 18’s eyes. Frustrated by her inability to contain them, she got up quickly. She was about to walk away when a hand grabbed hers. She turned around to see Trunks’ eyes. For once their expression was not one of hatred but rather one vaguely reflecting a feeling of regret. Not quite but it was a start.

“18”, Trunks started slowly. “I’m sorry…I hate you for the crimes of someone else and it’s unfair to you…I just can’t help it.”

“I know… it’s not your fault”, 18 replied. “I’m sorry for what happened in your future, believe me…I don’t think there’s more I can say…”

They stood there silent for about a minute, Trunks sitting, 18 standing up, the both of them hand in hand. Gohan was following the scene with great attention.

“How is…your relationship with Krillin going?”, Trunks finally asked to start a conversation.

“Huh…me and Krillin?”, 18 looked at him, puzzled. “Why do u want to know about that?”

“I just want to know what’s new.”, Trunks said smiling.

“Uh…I love him…”, she said hesitantly. She then sat down. “I…hope he’ll ask me to marry him…”

“That’s so nice…”

“Yeah…”, she replied, smiling back.

They continued to talk like that for a few more minutes. Gohan joined the conversation while the men continued their games of cards. After a couple of hours, however, an alarm went off.

“What’s wrong?”, Tenshinhan asked.

“I don’t know”, Yoshuro replied as he rushed to the front of the ship. “It’s an emergency message from a planet…Hakiri!”

The communication device lit up and a beep was heard. “This is an emergency transmission from planet Hakiri, do you accept?”

“Of course I accept, you stupid piece of scrap!”, Yoshuro yelled. A face appeared on the screen of the communication device.

“Calling out to all Jubian ships in the area, this is lieutenant Guri from planet Hakiri! This an emergency! A ennemy fleet, most likely one of Dudan’s armies, has been detected and it’s heading straight for our planet! E.T.A. no more than an hour! We need assistance immediately!”

“Lieutenant, this Yoshuro! I’ve got the group of warriors from Earth with me that will help us. Hold on, we’re on our way!”

“Thank you, we’ll be waiting”. 

Yoshuro then cut off the link. “Darn it, we’re gonna have to make a detour to reach Hakiri. We will be there in a little over an hour but certainly not before that ennemy fleet.”

“So there will be some damage done.”, Trunks said. “Hopefully, it won’t be too much and not too many people will get hurt.”

“Yes…you’re right, Trunks.”, Yoshuro responded. “Most of the people there should still be alright. As for the rest, there’s nothing we can do but hope for the best.”

“Right.”

“So we’re finally going to have some action.”, Vegeta said.

“Yep.”, went 18.



Less than an hour later…
A huge ship landed smoothly on planet Hakiri. Almost immediately, thirty one individuals stepped out one by one.

“Ahh! So we have finally arrived where our Lord wanted us to be.”, said a black-haired woman from the group. Along with four other members of the group, she wore a white star on her chest. All the others, except for one, bore no such medal. The other guy, who seemed to be the leader, had a red star.

“Indeed, Aleen.”, said another young man with a white star. He then turned to the one with the red star. “So, Commander Dukaï, shall we proceed as planned? We go find the Incantations that our Lord Dudan wants and bring them to him?”

“Yes, Djoukien.”, responded Dukaï. He then smirked. “But we shouldn’t hold back to just doing that. Let’s have a little fun…let’s trash this planet!”

“Yes, that should prevent any reactions afterwards too.”, went the young man. Djoukien was a skinny man with black hair, barely in his twenties, but he was the second strongest fighter in Dukaï’s squad after Dukaï himself and he was the most promising young fighters in all of Dudan’s armies. He had a weird brown belt around his waist… 

“Toono”, started Dukaï, this time talking to a more built and taller guy, “what was the information you had about this planet’s defensive forces again?”

“Oh, yes…”, started Toono, another man wearing a white star. “Uhm…right, there should be 30 something weak warriors on this planet.”

“And counting possible reinforcements in this area, there shouldn’t be more than about 40 something fighters and let’s not bother with their traps which we already know about and wouldn’t have hurt us much anyways.”, continued Dukaï. “And we know Jubians are incredibly weak.”

“Speaking of warriors…” spoke up Aleen. She was playing around with a device that was on her left eye. It was pretty much like a Scouter device but it was yellow instead of green. Several dozen power readings had appeared on her device. “My Advanced Scouter is picking up exactly…Forty five power readings heading this way.”

“Ahh, the welcoming committee!”, said Dukaï, smirking. “I knew we’d have some fun on this planet. Let’s go introduce ourselves to our hosts. After all, that is the polite thing to do.”

They all flew off, with the leader up front, and, in no more than a couple of minutes, they we face to face with the Jubian warriors. The Jubians were shocked. They didn’t think that their ennemy landed that close to the city and, especially, they couldn’t believe how fast they came up to them. Their leader looked at Dudan’s soldiers and cringed his teeth at what he saw.

“You…you’re using Advanced Scouters!” he said.

“Yes”, said Dukaï, smiling evily. “We’re using the advanced version of the Scouter device. The version that your people made! How ironic that your very own invention will serve in your destruction.”

“Why…you…Bastards! Attack!”

And all the Jubians flew towards their ennemy.

“We are one of the elite legions in the army of Dudan. You don’t honestly believe you can defeat us, do you? Toono, Cole, Baramon, I’ll let you guys handle this one.”, commanded Dukaï. At his orders, those three team leaders and their warriors went into combat. Each team leader (those with white stars) had a group of five fighters at their command. Aleen and Djoukien, along with their teams, stayed back.

“Ah, sweet”, Dukaï grinned with satisfaction as he watched Baramon behead a Jubian with a single blow. Cole, meanwhile, easily avoided a blast ment for him and countered by ramming the warrior who tried to shoot him. The Jubian was sent flying back uncontrolably, knocking out three of his comrades in the process. As the Jubian landed painfully on his back, Cole jumped on his abdomen, making his ennemy vomit blood. Toono charged through a entire group of warriors and went straight for the leader of the warriors. He launched a flurry of punches and kicks 
that were normal power for him but that were difficult to block for the Jubian. Seeing that he was giving his adversary trouble, Toono paused a moment to laugh at him, then he sent an energy beam aiming for his chest. The Jubian barely avoided the shot but it still burned his shoulder. Under the pain, he was only barely able to avoid Toono who charged at him with his knee. But Toono caught him in his back with an elbow. He then grabed him by the neck with his right hand and repeatedly punched him with his left. Afterwards, Toono let his opponent’s half-conscious 
body drop to the ground. Meanwhile, all the other Jubians were also losing badly. They were more numerous but it didn’t matter, Dukai’s soldiers were too strong. Toono slowly descended right next to his opponent who was breathing really hard now. He was poised to finish him off.

“Aleen, where are the Incantations again?”, Dukaï asked.

“They are in a shrine about 10 miles west, in the jungle”, she responded.

“Ah, yes…Well fun’s over, boys! Time to get serious…Kill them all!” yelled Dukaï. Everyone of his soldiers heard the order and smirked at the thought of being able to go all out now since they were holding back. Toono, in particular, smiled evily and prepared a ki ball while he standing on top of his ennemy, ready to get rid of him.

“It seems that this operation will go on without problems, minor or otherwise…”, Dukaï started before his scouter interrupted him. Djoukien and Aleen also checked out their scouters. Several major power levels had appeared behind them. They turned around and froze in shock. Seven individuals were now standing there. One of them a Jubian and was insignificant. But it was the six others that baffled them. From information gathered throughout the galaxy and spying, they knew who these people were. Piccolo. Prince Vegeta. Gohan. Trunks. Tenshinhan. Android 18.

“Well”, Piccolo said, “you got a problem now.”


END OF PART THREE