On Planet Vegeta, within the royal palace, a heavy silence reigned. King Vegeta sat upon his throne, his face a thundercloud. The elite warriors flanking him stood rigid, their expressions a mix of grim determination and simmering rage.
Tap, tap, tap!
Hurried footsteps broke the quiet. A scout knelt before the throne. "Your Majesty, all elite warriors have returned and await your command."
"Good!" A savage smile cut through King Vegeta's scowl, ambition blazing in his eyes. He turned his icy gaze to his closest aide. "Prepare. I will lure Frieza here. Then we strike as one. Kill him, and the universe will be ours!"
"Yes, Your Majesty!" A low, fervent roar echoed through the hall. The suppressed fury of years boiled over into a collective, bloodthirsty zeal. The time for groveling was over.
"Go. Make ready." King Vegeta dismissed them, his heart swelling with a grand vision. He would lead his people to cast off their shackles. He would be the greatest king in Saiyan history.
Aboard Frieza's command ship in high orbit, a different conversation was underway.
"Lord Frieza," squeaked Kikono, the diminutive, frog-like strategist. "My investigation into the legends of the 'Super Saiyan' and 'Super Saiyan God' is complete. They appear to be nothing more than myths."
Frieza, reclining in his hover pod, waved a dismissive hand. "I thought as much." A cruel smirk played on his lips. "The investigation was merely to settle a… minor itch of curiosity. A precaution."
"So, shall we call off the operation?" Kikono ventured.
"Oh ho ho ho!" Frieza's laughter was a high, chilling sound. "Mr. Kikono, you do amuse me!" The laughter died instantly, replaced by a glacial stare. "It is so rare to have all the Saiyan vermin gathered in one place. An opportunity to cleanse the universe of their nuisance and rid myself of this wretched rock in one stroke? I would be a fool to miss it."
The Saiyans' thinly veiled insolence had long grated on him. Their usefulness was outweighed by their trouble. And with a certain… higher suggestion now in play, their fate was sealed.
Buzz—Bang!
The door hissed open. A communications officer entered. "Lord Frieza, King Vegeta reports he has a treasure to present. He requests your presence on the surface for an inspection."
"Oh?" Frieza's voice dripped with mock surprise. "It seems King Vegeta is playing his final card." He glanced at Beriblu, his blue-skinned attendant. "Beriblu, what do you think I should do?"
"Before the main course," Beriblu replied with a knowing smile, lacking the fear of others, "why not enjoy a little dessert?"
"Oh ho ho ho! Precisely!" Frieza chortled, his eyes fixed on the display screen showing King Vegeta waiting below. "I do wonder what little surprise King Vegeta has prepared. I am… anticipating it."
The trap, crude and obvious, was sprung. Frieza's ship descended through Vegeta's atmosphere.
Success! King Vegeta's heart hammered against his ribs as he watched the ship land. He stole a glance at the full moon hanging fat and bright in the sky—his ultimate insurance.
The hatch opened. "Lord Frieza, this way, please!" King Vegeta bowed, the picture of obsequious loyalty.
Amused by the pathetic display, Frieza followed in his pod. As they moved, King Vegeta's gaze swept the area. Surrounding them, in a silent, grim-faced ring, stood every elite Saiyan warrior on the planet. A welcome party… or a firing squad. The stage was set.
"Attack!"
The moment Frieza's hover pod glided into the center of the grim-faced Saiyan ring, King Vegeta's roar shattered the tense silence.
The elite warriors, their docile masks ripped away, erupted. A storm of ki blasts—hundreds of them—lanced from every direction, converging on the single point where Frieza floated. The air itself screamed in protest.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The coordinated bombardment was deafening, a continuous, earth-shaking detonation that churned the ground into molten glass and threw up an impenetrable curtain of dust, smoke, and debris.
Beep-beep-beep~
In the midst of the chaos, King Vegeta activated his scouter, its screen flickering as it sought a life sign within the maelstrom. What he saw made his blood run cold. Impossible!
"TRANSFORM!" he bellowed, the command born of sheer, desperate instinct.
His body convulsed, bones cracking, fur erupting as he swelled into a colossal Great Ape. Around him, the other elite warriors followed suit, their roars of agony and rage blending into a single, bestial thunder that shook the very foundations of the palace. Twenty, thirty titanic Oozaru now stood where warriors once were, a forest of fur and fury, and as one, they brought their massive fists and energy breaths down upon the smoldering crater.
Biu.
A single, thin, crimson beam of light lanced out from the heart of the smoke. It was silent, precise, and utterly lethal. One of the towering Great Apes froze, a perfectly round hole punched through its forehead, before it collapsed like a felled redwood.
Biu. Biu. Biu.
More beams followed. They were not blasts, but surgical strikes. Each crimson flash was a period at the end of a sentence. A Great Ape clutching its throat. Another stumbling, a hole through its heart. They fell with terrifying speed, their immense, tenfold-powered forms offering no more defense than paper.
Biu.
The final beam found King Vegeta. He was still staring in shock at the carnage, his grand rebellion disintegrating before his eyes. The beam took him in the chest. He felt no pain, only a sudden, profound cold.
Pfft.
His massive Oozaru form shuddered and shrank, reverting to his mortally wounded Saiyan body. He collapsed to the scorched earth, his life bleeding out into the dirt. Confusion clouded his vision. The dream… so close…
BANG!
A pulse of invisible force erupted from the crater, blowing the remaining smoke and dust away in a perfect, clean circle.
Buzz~
The familiar hum of the hover pod. Frieza emerged, utterly pristine, not a speck of dust on his lavender armor. He drifted forward, coming to a stop directly above the fallen king.
"Oh ho ho ho!" The laugh was light, amused, and infinitely cruel. "King Vegeta… was this your grand design?" Frieza leaned forward slightly, his black eyes pits of disdain. "How… utterly disappointing."
Patreon Seasay, been a busy week, sorry for the update delay