//------------------------------// // Growing Up: Battle for Griea V // Story: Dragon Ball Z: Magic's New Life // by Blackdrag-rose //------------------------------// Following the short ritual to imbue Twilight with a small amount of dark energy, which went off without a problem, Frieza found that she remained mostly the same, she continued to train and learn from Towa and the others, while spending a good portion of her time in the libraries of Alexandria. When they sent her on missions, however, that was when he and the others found that she was more ruthless when it came to carrying out whatever her orders were, allowing her to focus on her objective and ensured that the planet's people sided with the empire or were wiped out if no one wanted to join her family's growing empire. She was deadly with her power and her weapon, the latter used when she didn't feel like fighting with her hands or hooves, and her ability to help capture worlds put her on a higher level than the Saiyans, where Towa knew that Vegeta, at the very least, disliked her with every fiber of his being and forced himself to keep it under wraps, all to ensure nothing bad happened to him or the others. As far as Frieza could tell the ritual had empowered Twilight, while at the same time making her more ruthless, a phase Towa said she'd grow out of in due time, but she remained mostly the same as before, which was good since he had grown to love her. Once upon a time he had viewed her as a weapon to be turned against the universe, though now she was a sparkle that he had come to love whenever he looked upon her or spent time with her, an irreplaceable daughter that he'd do anything to protect, not that he needed to do anything since she was capable of defending herself. Speaking of the Saiyans he knew that they were having trouble with some of the more recent assignments he gave them, as it took all three of them multiple days to take over a planet, in fact they went out of their way to exterminate everyone on the planets they were sent to, hence why it took them so long. Both he and Twilight were annoyed by that fact, as he had agreed that saving some of the population and conscripting them into the empire, in whatever manner their new citizens were comfortable with, was good for everyone, so killing potential allies left a sour taste in his mouth. The funny thing was that Twilight, at the age of ten, was able to do such a thing on her own and, with her eleventh birthday having come and gone, she really didn't need help taking over a planet, but accepted the aid of the soldiers to make sure nothing escaped her grasp. He knew that such a thing had to be chewing them up inside, knowing that they had been surpassed by someone like Twilight in no time at all, and Raditz seemed to be thinking of something, but refrained from speaking of it for the time being, making them wonder what in the world was on his mind. In September of Age 761, according to Towa since she was keeping track of that sort of thing, Frieza gathered the Saiyans and gave them their next mission, to head to the planet of Shikk and either bring them into the empire or eradicate them all, just as he told them in the past... only to be disappointed when they didn't report their success at the end of their first day on the planet. "Lord Frieza, it seems that the Shikkians are putting up quite the fight." Zarbon reported, as he and Dodoria were tasked with keeping an eye on Vegeta and the other Saiyans, from a monitoring station on Frieza Planet 79, one upgraded thanks to Twilight's enhancements, where he found that the three main members of the family, their Lord, his wife, and, even more importantly, his daughter, where relaxing before dinner. "Really? They're having trouble with a race that only uses blasters as their main weapon?!" Twilight remarked, causing her to sigh for a moment as she listened to what Zarbon had to say, all while noting that Dodoria wasn't present and was no doubt keeping an eye on the readings they were getting from Shikk, "Gah, they're useless!" "Vegeta and Nappa have skill, or would if they applied themselves to their training like you do, though Raditz must be the one slowing them down again." Frieza said, where he, too, was annoyed with the report, despite the fact that it was more like disappointment since he was so used to good news from his daughter and those who worked under her orders, while Towa frowned as well, since she was expecting the Saiyans to have finished the planet already, "Zarbon, how do you feel about all of this?" "I would have finished the mission in a single day, my Lord, maybe even sooner... depending on how the Shikkians reacted to the offer to join the empire." Zarbon replied, as he knew that he wasn't being asked his opinion on the Saiyans, which seemed to be what they were talking about, rather the question was about how he would have tackled being given this particular mission. Frieza was happy to hear that, as there was always the chance that the Saiyans were ignoring his orders and were simply attacking the planet like they did in the past, taking everyone down before reporting their success, but he figured that they could simply wait and see how long it took for them to complete the mission. As it turned out it took the Saiyans three days to clear the planet of targets, where Zarbon reported that no one else was alive on the planet, so since they disobeyed his orders or had carried them out to the letter by eliminating those who didn't want to join the empire. Frieza, of course, was slightly disappointed in all three of them and silently realized that their rate of growth wasn't going to be enough to keep all of them alive, in fact he was sure that the next planet he had lined up for them, after a bit of rest, might end up being the end for Raditz. It was during that meeting, to discuss their next assignment, that Twilight and her parents learned a new bit of information from the weak link, there was a fourth living Saiyan on a nearby planet, nearly three weeks away, who would be of great assistance to them if he could track down his brother. In the end they sent Raditz off to track down Kakarot while letting Vegeta and Nappa rest, since the next planet might be a bit harder for them since it would only be the two of them and no one else, though after that Frieza and his family left the planet for their own reasons. Suffice it to say that, when the time came from Vegeta and Nappa to make their report on what Raditz was up to, Frieza, Towa, and Twilight, not to mention King Cold and Cooler, were disappointed in the news they received, since everyone was expecting them to have good news. Apparently Kakarot didn't exist and someone called 'Goku' had taken his place, where Twilight guessed that he must have suffered a head injury at some point, caused at an early age to make him forget who he was, and he was weaker than the Saiyans had thought, since he teamed up with a Namekian. Twilight couldn't help but laugh when they finally got to the bit of news they were waiting for, Raditz, the weakest of the three Saiyans, had been brought down by his own brother and the Namekian, killed by the very person he was meant to recruit into their cause, and the only good thing was that the other Saiyan had perished before the message had been terminated. Vegeta and Nappa asked if it was okay for them to head to the planet in question, Earth it was called, to decimate the population and claim the planet for the empire, something Frieza was fine with, mostly because he had a feeling it might spell the end for the other two Saiyans and would allow him to never worry about them again. Of course there were several planets on the way to Earth that Frieza asked the Saiyans to conquer as well, because now that their weak link was gone they should be able to do much finer work for him, to which Vegeta agreed since it meant he and Nappa wouldn't be hounded by him or Twilight. The route in question would have taken them about a month or two to get to Earth, but Twilight charted the new path for him and his companion, revealing that it would take roughly a year, or thirteen months to be exact, and when Nappa questioned her decision she answered without pause. Since there was a Namekian on the planet in question that meant there was a chance that the Dragon Balls, mythical spheres that held the power to grant wishes, something she and her mother wished to confirm whether or not they worked, purely because all of the studying they did couldn't confirm it one way or the other. Based on the last bits of dialogue from Raditz's Scouter some people talked about Goku, or Kakarot if the Saiyans preferred, and that he was dead, like they said, and if the balls did exist it stood to reason that they might be able to revive the dead, which they could confirm or deny by the time they got to the planet. Once they had the list of planets added to their ships, and informed them that ships would be heading to each as soon as the signal was triggered, the Saiyans departed with their heads held high, as they intended on killing Kakarot, if someone brought him back to life, and taking the planet for the empire. Following that nothing nothing happened out of the ordinary, save for Twilight's twelfth birthday, allowing them to focus on what sort of assignment to send her on next, where Frieza had to smile when Towa presented her idea to him and the others, the Griea star system. The area in question contained a set of five planets that bared the same name, which was due to the fact that they were roughly the same planet when one looked at the environment, though out of the five only the fifth planet had any life to speak of. That was due to their last readings of it and the other planets, so her plan was to give it to Twilight as one of her missions, as she felt that it was the best place for her, while they could send a few people to the other four to verify or disprove the existence of life on it's brethren. During the time period that she planned on the three of them visiting the planet, along with their soldiers, Cooler and his force would be heading after another couple of planets that should be theirs in no time at all, while King Cold would be watching over the main planet. When the day of their visit came Twilight found herself standing on the outskirts of a large jungle that clearly had some sort of ruins built into it, she could see the stonework from where they landed, though while it was off to her right she also found another jungle off to her left, like this was a battlefield. "You aren't allies of the brutal king, Moloch, are you?" a voice asked, where Twilight found that it was a light blue figure who spoke, a person who had a humanoid form, like most of the species in this universe, though he had scaled hands and claws, mimicked on his feet like they were lizard or dragon claws, and there were some scales on his face, giving him a more reptilian form, complete with a tail resting behind him. "No, we are not. We are the Frieza Force, and this is Emperor Frieza himself, or Lord if you prefer." Twilight replied, where Towa still felt it was so weird how Twilight switched from calling him her father and calling him Lord when talking to those they were trying to recruit, "Can you explain the situation to us? We might be able to help." Moloch, as it turned out, was a demon king whose race had crashed on Griea V a long time ago, where they had been at war with them for a really long time, though Towa knew they weren't actual demons, otherwise Dabura would have come to smite this Moloch for his arrogance. The king who ruled over the kingdom that the figure, a Grieaian in Twilight's eyes, was a soldier of had sent them out because a scout found that another force was on it's way to do battle with them and he had spotted the ship before hand, so he came to double check the situation. As Frieza listened to the situation it was easy to see that Moloch didn't serve others and was only focused on his own growth, while the kingdom this man represented was more important to preserving the history of the world and it's people, which would win over Twilight and Towa since it was all new information. He knew that they could have to speak with the other king at some point, to go over terms like all of the other planets they were able to speak with, but this would prove that joining the empire would be beneficial to all of them, just as Twilight planned, so for now they departed and followed the figure back to his forces. Of course Frieza himself remained on the ship as the others headed out, he never sullied his hands, which left Twilight to discover why the Grieaians had called Moloch's people 'demons', as they had antlers growing out of their heads, wicked hooves in place of feet or claws, and thick hides that looked hard to deal with. Twilight found that the Malians, her name for Moloch's species, attacked without even waiting to see what their foes had done in preparation for their arrival, causing the rest of the Grieaians to rush at them in kind, though while many fighters had weapons in their hands other preferred to fight with their fists. Twilight, however, decided not to bother with either of her personal weapons, rather she targeted the Malians that were in the middle of the pack and crashed into them with a swift punch, finding that many readied energy blasts to end her, which was a foolish mistake for those who turned to face her. She kicked and punched her way through the couple of enemies that were around her, many of them finding that all of their energy was leaving them as she seemed to get stronger and stronger in their eyes, before she noticed a figure on a nearby ridge who had to be Moloch. The figure in question was taller than her, not to mention skinnier, though even she could tell why he was treated as the ruler of his kind, his energy was immense, in comparison to the others, and his own antlers looked more like a crown, a sign the others must have took to heart when they noticed it, though he had a single weapon, a dagger oddly enough. With her target spotted Twilight burst into the air and flew over to the ridge that Moloch was standing on, who seemed displeased with the arrival of her forces to aid the Grieaians, though he stopped watching the battle, which her army was currently winning since they were better trained, and turned to face her as she finally landed. "So, you are the one who brought these soldiers to this planet and ruined my plans within moments." Moloch remarked, to which he shifted his stance, showing her that he intended to fight her in some manner, which was fine with her since taking him down was the easiest way to complete her mission, "You shall pay dearly for your transgressions." Twilight didn't bother to say anything to that as she shifted her own stance for a moment and raised her arms, to show him that she was ready for battle, before the two rushed at each other and swung their fists, which connected not a second later and caused the air to shudder for a few seconds. After that the pair separated and clashed a few more times, moving from one point of Moloch's observation point to another, allowing Twilight to see that he was strong and his energy was stronger than all of his followers, to the point where one could say his soldiers had little to no energy of their own. Thanks to her own usage of a similar power she was able to figure out that he had his own way of siphoning the power out of his followers, or at least enough to make him the strongest of them all, and when faced with a stronger foe he decided to increase what he was draining from his soldiers. Such a thing lead to many of them faltering at the wrong moment and caused them to fall to either the Grieaians or the Frieza Force, crippling whatever plans Moloch had set into motion before their arrival, though she continued to go on the offensive as she punched him in the face, brought her knee into his chest, and even shattered part of his antlers, before knocking him into the stone below them. He was strong, Twilight had to give him that much, but she was stronger and better trained than he was, in both combat and how to use his powers, which caused Moloch to resort to his weapon as he pulled the dagger out and stabbed her in the side, actually puncturing her armor and her body in one swoop, though as she kicked him backwards he did something odd, he licked her blood off the blade. In the next moment it became clear as his energy exploded, where she found that Moloch grew a pair of black feathered wings from his back, a long pointed horn grew out of his forehead, and parts of his arms and legs bulked up, like they had been strengthened. Twilight didn't need to be told what she was seeing right now, Moloch, and maybe his entire species, had the innate power to digest the blood of those they harmed and incorporated their power into their bodies, or at least a portion of it, but she wasn't sure this counted as 'her' power, since she didn't have wings or a horn like her foe now had. Moloch was pleased with the transformation, in fact he was surprised by how much power had been given to him by completing his ritual, and when he brought his fist down on the ridge it shattered under the weight of his newfound power, causing them to take to the air. "Do you see this?! You cannot hope to defeat me now!" Moloch stated, showing her that he believed that he was now above all of them, including her for that matter, something that caused Twilight to chuckle as the air around her started to shake, confusing her foe since he wasn't familiar with what she was about to do. "Then let's try this!" Twilight replied, where the air caught on fire for a moment as she embraced it, allowing herself to take on her Rage Form once more, though thanks to all of her training it was less of a berserk form and more of a power boost, like all of the others that were used by the races of the universe. Moloch barely had a moment to understand what was going on as Twilight rushed through the space between them in just a few seconds, almost disappearing from his sight as he realized he had used his ritual too soon, though the first thing she did was blast the hand that held the dagger clean off, erasing it and the weapon from existence. As he came to terms with that fact Twilight struck him in the chest with her elbow, causing him to stagger for a few seconds, which was perfect for her as she appeared behind Moloch and kicked him in the back so hard that he went flying down into the ground, hard enough to blast a crater into the stone. Moloch barely had time to do anything, other than cough, as Twilight handed on his back and gripped both of his new wings with her hands, where he started to plead with her, to not do what she might be thinking of doing, but she did it anyway as she crushed the bones and tore them out. While that happened Towa, who was with some of the others fighting the Malians, shuddered for a moment, as adding dark energy to Twilight had turned her Rage Form into more of a 'Brutal' Form, as Twilight was merciless in this form, and she proceeded to grip Moloch's new horn before breaking it with the side of her hand. In the next moment Twilight drove the horn into Moloch's stomach, with enough force to push him backwards onto the ground, though as she took another step forward something weird happened, her form shattered, as she returned to her base form, which caused Towa to raise her eyebrow as she noticed that Twilight was huffing, an unusual scene, before she collapsed where she stood. "TWILIGHT!" Towa exclaimed, as she knew something was up, because there was no way that her daughter was tired or exhausted after such a short battle with Moloch, in fact she was sure Twilight hadn't used a lot of energy to beat her foe into his current state, though when she landed and placed her hand on her daughter's head she instantly pulled back, as it was burning, worse than when someone had a fever. "How much of your life did you burn away, little warrior? A few weeks, or maybe a few months?" Moloch remarked, which told Towa that he had done something to her daughter and it made her angry with him, though at the same time Frieza and the Grieaian who first came into with them approached them as well, both surprised by the scene even though one of them was also outraged as well, "You would have had a year left, had you not used that form of yours... now there's no telling how long you have left, since you burned so much of it away!" "It can't be... Warrior's Bane?!" the Grieaian asked, showing them that he recognized the symptoms that Twilight was now experiencing and what Moloch had just said, while at the same time Towa noted that it had to be an extinct item that had been found by his people's enemy, "How did you find some? Every herb was burned to ash and the antidotes were all destroyed, as per the terms of the treaty you just violated." "Does it matter? The only sample was on my dagger, intended for your king, and whatever was left on it was destroyed when she blew it away." Moloch replied, though he had the widest smile on his face as Towa and Frieza glared at him, as both of them were incredibly angry with him right now, showing him that he either didn't care about his fate or that this was better than he could have hoped for, "You will NEVER cure her, for she is..." Frieza didn't let him finish as he used a bit of his energy to make a small marble that entered Moloch's chest, though that was when he sent him flying into the air before he collapsed his hand like he was crushing something, causing the energy to detonate with enough force to blow Moloch to pieces. The Malians submitted once their leader was dead, allowing the Grieaians to claim victory and take the survivors into custody, though at the same time the one who met them first quickly told Frieza and Towa that he was also a medic, since there was no telling what their enemies might have in store for him and his people. There were herbs and remedies that could temporarily diminish the power of the poison that was now coursing through Twilight's veins, but with every herb and antidote destroyed there was no way to cure her, so the best he could do was ease the pain. He also informed them that the reason the poison was called Warrior's Bane was because of the fact that it targeted one's abilities to use energy, like what Moloch had been doing earlier, and it also had the same effect on magic users, so the more power one used, when infected with this poison, the more of their remaining life span they lost as a result. In the end Frieza vowed that he'd do anything and everything in his power to cure Twilight, as there had to be some way for them to save her without the herb that created the poison, he just had to figure it out before he and Towa lost the light of their lives and drove them to madness.