Bringer of Death

Cold Saga - Part 5: King of Arcose

Cold Saga - Part 5: King of Arcose 

The last Lord of Arcose rose, the crimson folds of his massive cape rippling behind him. "Captain! Once my men and I have left the ship, you will return to geostationary orbit, well clear of the planet's blast radius. Maintain maximum shields at all times." He turned to a humanoid soldier with flat-cropped blue hair. "Fisshi, you will bring one squadron of troops onto the surface. Maintain communications with my ship and send half your men to begin exterminating the local population." 

Though the massive frost demon was ordinarily dismissive of all would-be challengers, his encounter with the Super Saiyan on Xylon-38 had caused him great concern. If Vegeta had the same kind of power as the mysterious youth, his current form would be greatly outclassed. 

The flight to the Earth system had taken approximately one month. Although there were still day-to-day administrative concerns related to the Empire, Cold had spent most of his time alone in his chambers, meditating. He could not risk transforming to his next form unless he could maintain control. "This filthy Saiyan slaughtered my sons and made a mockery of my race. His defeat must be decisive; everyone must understand that rebellion against my power is futile." 

The round ship broke through the upper atmosphere, rapidly heating up. The shields, designed primarily for defense against energy attacks, only absorbed a small percentage of the frictional energy. As the ship shook, Cold gripped his throne with one hand to steady himself. His sons would be avenged.

Vegeta boosted his speed, blasting toward a small area of the desert outside of West City. C47 had picked up the ship's suborbital trajectory and calculated a potential landing site, then sent the location to the prince's scouter. The android had then been ordered to remain out of range of the battle while maintaining a scanner lock; Vegeta wanted a record of the battle to analyze after his victory. 

As he flew, the prince considered his strategy carefully. King Cold had boasted that he wanted to fight a Super Saiyan; he had obviously seen the transformation during the fight with cooler. The prince wouldn't normally start out fighting at such a high power level, but he could already sense that Cold's energy level was much greater than Frieza's. 

Grinning wildly, the Saiyan powered up in mid-flight, his hair flashing golden and flame erupting in his aura. There was no tactical advantage to remaining in his base form. Few opponents would merit such a precaution, but the prince had learned from his battle with Frieza; he would not be caught off guard again. "I'M COMING FOR YOU, DEMON!"

Gohan dashed out of the front door of his house, hopping on one foot as he pulled a boot - part of his Saiyan armor - over his right foot, then blasted into the sky. A woman in a purple dress ran out the door behind him, waving a sheaf of homework papers madly. "Sorry, mom, I've got to go!" the boy yelled without pausing to look back. 

The feeling had overwhelmed him. It wasn't Frieza's energy - he had seen Frieza die with his own eyes - but it felt almost the same. Surely Vegeta would be strong enough to protect the Earth if he wanted to. But he didn't trust the Super Saiyan to protect the Earth. He could still vividly remember Vegeta's cold, calculated attack on Earth not even a year ago. They had all come so far since then, but the Saiyan prince still didn't care about humanity - he was entirely focused on training to exact his revenge on Goku. 

It was all happening so fast that Gohan wasn't sure what to make of everything. A second later Gohan felt three more bursts of energy as Piccolo, Tien, and Krillin all took flight, headed in the same direction as he was. He banked hard to the right and increased his speed, heading to intercept Krillin.

Vegeta landed in a cloud of dust, his golden aura vaporizing the rocks around him. The incoming ship would come into view at any moment. 

Just then, his scouter chirped, announcing several more power levels flying in his general direction. He had been so focused on the frost demon's energy level that for once his scouter actually detected the approaching energy levels before he had. Whirling in place, he realized that it was just the runt and the Namek, along with the bald midget and another power level he couldn't quite place. "Fools! Don't they realized how outclassed they are? They are dead if they interfere."