Chapter 2: In the Knick of Time
I walked into the armory and approached the counter where a white haired man stood. I don't know him, and I honestly don't care to either. His eyes followed me as I walked across the room towards his counter, and he stared at me with his deep, piercing eyes. He was a humanoid, like me, but it was obvious that he was not a Saiyan due to not having a tail, but also the enlarged gut. As I stood before him, he finally broke the silence.
"What d'ya want, Saiyan?" He grunted, obviously showing the hatred he has for my race, which is pretty common among Frieza's men.
"Armor," I spat, showing the same amount of loathing towards him. He grunted and threw some gear onto the counter. I grabbed it, mumbled incoherently under my breath, and headed towards my locker.
I stripped out of my clothes that I had just put on, and began to armor up. Checking gear has always been an essential part of preparation for battle, but to me it’s also part of a ritual. With each piece I place on to my body, I take the time to recognize the familiar feel of the armor and its role in protecting me during a fight. But this time, I found it difficult to focus and my mind began to drift back to the last month.
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“Finally some competition” had been my battle cry. Now the mysterious warrior and I descended quickly to the ground and prepared to fight. I took a few seconds to look him over. It’s Saiyan instinct to assess the situation before engaging an enemy. He was a green alien, just like his people, with white robes and a blue undershirt. He wore brown boots, a belt, and a turban-like object on his head. He appeared to have no nose and ears similar to what I had heard Frieza's looked like. It was clear that he was assessing me as well. Finally, I broke the silence.
“So – ya got a name?” I shouted.
The mysterious warrior just stared at me and then responded, "They call me Pikkon, and I recommend you get off my planet before you get yourself killed."
I started laughing maniacally, "And who's going to do that? YOU?!" I asked before laughing some more.
"Yes," he stated cooly, causing me to stop laughing and take a serious tone.
"Then," I hissed while smirking through my thinned lips, "bring it on!"
With that, I charged straight at him, launching a barrage of punches and kicks that would have buckled the strongest opponent. To my surprise, he began to dodge them with ease – and worse, with a casual expression on his face that said my efforts were nothing to worry about at all. Finally, I caught him with a roundhouse kick, launching him back a few yards. I grinned, thinking he would finally know that he was outmatched. Instead, he shocked me by lifting up his head and smiled, blood showing through his teeth.
"Good hit," he said, "but now it's my turn!"
I had no time to react before he catapulted himself directly at me, and began to land blow after blow. His fists felt like blocks of lead as they made contact with my body. I could hear my armor begin to crack as he landed an uppercut squarely into the center of my stomach, which propelled me backwards into a nearby building. I felt a series of sharp pains as I literally went flying through a building – first the glass, then brick, and finally steel beams. I could feel the shards cut deeply into my skin.
As I regained my balance, I turned to look for my enemy, only to feel a jolt of pain shoot up my spine as he kicked me in the back. I was amazed and wondered, How can he move so fast? After recovering briefly again, I turned to face him. He just stood there, a calm look on his face. My rage began to burn inside of me until it could not be contained.
"Enough!" I snarled, "Time to end this!"
I then raised my hands up and pointed my palms at him and began to charge my ki in a desperate, final attack. Seeing this, Pikkon just smirked. To my own horror, he disappeared in a blink of an eye. Confused, I looked around, trying to find where he went when suddenly I saw movement in the corner of my eye. I turned left to see him finishing up what appeared to be a strange dance. Before I could react, he brought his arms across his body, and placed his fists together, pointing them at me. I knew it was over, and pure terror replaced the brash confidence that had been there only moments ago.
"Thunder Flash Attack!!!" Pikkon yelled. After these words, a huge storm of flames shot out of his fists, and flew straight towards me. I quickly put up my arms to protect myself, but knew that there was no way I could escape the power of this attack. I shut my eyes as I braced for the pain. I could feel the flames licking and scorching my skin as the attack knocked me off balance and sent me flying. After what felt like an eternity, I landed with a loud, audible thud. I could hear pops and cracks, but I could not determine if these were from my now destroyed armor, or my bones, or both. All I could feel was extreme pain – in fact, it was pain like I had never felt before. I slowly opened my eyes, trying to fight against the cold grip of unconsciousness, to see that I was in the crater where my ship was. Bloody and bruised, I instinctively tried to crawl to my ship.
I moved slowly, carefully inching myself closer to the pod nearby. I had gone a few feet when I again saw something out of the corner of my eye. I then turned my head and my worst fear was confirmed - Pikkon was descending towards me. I quickly turned my head towards the pod, and began to drag myself even faster towards it, my only chance for escape.
Almost there! Just a bit more!, I thought, now completely panic stricken. As I tried to drag myself those last couple of feet, my arms finally gave out on me. As I collapsed, I let out a loud grunt of pain. Pikkon was closer now, walking towards me, and I turned my face to look at him directly. I quickly tried to get back up, but found my arms were too weak. I looked up to see that Pikkon was almost to me now. I felt my heart beat steadily increasing in my chest. There was no more fighting it. I was done for. Resignation began to take over.
This is it, this is the day I finally bit off more than I could chew…, I thought, finally submitting to my fate.
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My thoughts were interrupted by Doc's voice over the speaker system.
"Rogue! Hurry up in there! Your pod is already prepped for takeoff!"
I sighed and quickly slipped on the rest of my armor. Once it was all in place, I wrapped my tail around my waist like a belt and began to examine myself in the mirror. The white chest plate and boots contrasted the black pants and the wrist guards. The shoulder guards are brown, just like they are for all the armor. I quickly moved to pick up the last piece of equipment, but I realized it wasn't there. Seeing this, I rushed back to the armory and to the counter.
The white haired man just looked at me – but really looked through me, obviously not wanting to see me again.
"What d'ya want NOW!?" he finally sighed, showing his displeasure that I was still here, but bound by duty to acknowledge and serve me.
"You never gave me a scouter," I hissed, now barely withholding my fury. A scouter is a device that is given to all of Frieza's operatives before each mission. The device covers the ear and has a colored screen that is transparent and covers the eye. Scouters are used to judge and locate power levels, which can be tremendously helpful for locating and eliminating the inhabitants. They are also used for communication. Even Saiyans have their own channel on the scouter's communication system. I hadn't worn a scouter on my last mission, so I was hoping that it would help me not to repeat the same mistakes and miscues as last time.
"Sorry," smirked the man behind the counter, "but we don't give out scouters to MONKEYS anymore."
Of course he would call me that. 'Monkey' is probably the worst thing to call a Saiyan. I looked up at him, rage filling my eyes. He only smirked, he knew that he had gotten under my skin, but he would soon regret it. Instantly, I grabbed him by the throat, and lifted him up from behind the counter. His snide expression quickly morphed into a look of terror. Before he could say or do anything, I proceeded to launch him into the wall behind me with one powerful throw. He made contact with a large crunch, and then fell to the ground. He didn't get up, but I didn't care. I jumped behind the counter and picked up a scouter with a blue screen, then headed towards the exit of the armory. As I left, I looked over to the man who was still lying on the ground.
"Serves you right," I said, chortling confidently, as I finally left the armory and began to walk to the takeoff area with the taste of victory. I took it as a good sign, but still dreaded going out again, especially so soon.
I walked down the hallway, taking my time. The knowledge that Doc wanted me to hurry motivated me to move to the takeoff area even slower than usual. I passed two other Saiyans in the hallway but I didn't recognize either of them, so I kept moving. As I strolled by, I could hear them talking.
"Did you hear about Bardock?" one of the Saiyans asked.
"Yeah, I heard that he's gone crazy," said the other.
"Well, it was bound to happen," retorted the first, "I mean, he did change after his mission to Kanassa."
I couldn't catch the rest of the conversation, but it had peaked my curiosity. I had heard about Bardock for many years. Bardock is an extremely strong, low-class Saiyan who is in charge of one of the elite squads that are used to take over planets for Frieza. He is an amazing fighter, and an even better leader, or that was what I had been told.
I hoped that he didn't go crazy; it would be a shame to lose such a man.
I finally reached the takeoff area in less time than I had hoped. I opened the door and was greeted by the sight of Doc who was sitting at the launch station and two pods. Muffled crying also could be heard from inside the room, which surprised me. Doc looked up from his work and saw me.
"Ah, Rogue! I see you finally made it," he said before returning to work.
"Doc, why are there two pods and what's that noise?" I asked, curiosity finally getting the better of me.
"Oh, that," he said, as though he had not even realized that there was a second pod, "that pod is going to an unknown planet. I have decided to nickname it Epsilon 3. I am sending Kakarot, Bardock's son, on his first mission to this new planet."
"That explains the crying," I grunted, remembering how horrible my first mission as a child was.
So, Bardock had another son, I thought, and I wondered to myself what else had actually changed over the last month.
Doc chuckled before pointing over to my pod.
"Speaking of missions, last time I checked, you still have one," he said, much to my chagrin.
I nodded and headed over to my pod, the crying getting somewhat louder due to my closer proximity to Kakarot's pod. A question popped into my head as I prepared to embark.
"Hey Doc?" I asked
"Hmm?"
"Where am I going, anyway?"
"Well," he responded, "just like Kakarot, you are headed to an unknown planet that we have just discovered. I've taken to calling it Theta 5."
I shrugged, "Alright Doc, I guess I should get to it then."
He nodded in agreement as I opened the pod door and sat inside. I could see that Doc had already put in the coordinates, so I sat back and waited for the rush of force that is the result of takeoff.
I could see Doc on the other side of my window holding up five fingers.
Now four.
Three.
Two.
One.
The familiar initial pressure greeted me, as the pod thrust straight through the air with incredible speed. I looked out the window to see Kakarot's pod flying in a different direction than mine. I quickly wondered if I would ever see him again, but just as quickly shook it off. Only time will tell, I thought. As Planet Vegeta began to fade out of my sight, I could swear I saw a large ship flying towards it, but I couldn't see for sure. I threw the thought out of my mind as my eyelids began to flutter a bit before growing too heavy for me to keep open.
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Doc walked out of the building, and looked up at the sky. He gasped at what he saw, a shocked expression transformed his face. A ship was hovering just above the atmosphere. This would not be thought of as uncommon, but he knew it was not just any ordinary ship. As he looked closer he could see a large ball of energy rapidly approaching the planet. Doc shook his head in disappointment.
"There must have been another way. I cannot believe that you turned to genocide in order to alleviate your foolish fears of being overthrown. But I have made sure that even if you do succeed on killing this planet that you will not kill the Saiyans. As much as you have tried Freiza, you have failed."
With this last statement, the ball of energy made contact with Planet Vegeta, and in a matter of seconds, it was no more.
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Twilight and her parents sat in the waiting room of one of Canterlot palace's many towers. They were surrounded by many different unicorn fillies, colts, and their parents as well, all hoping to get into Princess Celestia's School of Gifted Unicorns. Twilight was quickly going through her flash cards, making sure that she would be ready for anything the instructors threw at her in the entrance exam. The tension in the room was palpable. She was just finished reviewing illumination spells when a commanding voice shattered the tension of the room.
"Ms. Sparkle?" the voice asked. Twilight looked towards the voice to be greeted by the sight of a unicorn colt with a grey coat and black mane. He was wearing a suit, so Twilight assumed he was an instructor.
"Here..." she sheepishly replied.
"Come," he stated, before walking through the door.
Twilight and her parents quickly got up and followed him.
As she reached the door, Twilight stopped, closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She then opened her eyes, a look of confidence replaced her nervous one.
"All right," she whispered to herself, "this is it. Time for me to finally begin the path to my destiny!"
She then galloped to catch up to the instructor and her parents, ready to take on any challenge…or so she thought...