Bringer of Death

Tournament Saga - Part 3 Nowhere to Hide

Tournament Saga - Part 3: Nowhere to Hide

Broly raised one muscular arm into the air and pointed it directly at the Bringer of Death, Vegeta's own flagship. His Eraser Canon erupted from his palm immediately, racing inexorably toward the black-winged ship.

"Shit!" Vegeta shouted, his eyes widening. He was considerably faster than Broly, but not even he could move quickly enough to intercept an energy attack of this size and speed, not from where he was. It was just too fast, too powerful. "O...Oniya!" he shouted, frozen in shock.

'This is it!' the prince knew instantaneously. 'I'll get only one shot at this.'

There wasn't time to say or think anything beyond that. He didn't have the luxury of going through each step carefully, or making sure he was doing everything to the best of his remembrance. He had observed the technique several times now and experienced it twice. Not only that, but he had spent considerable time planning and trying to counter the move, only to determine that the best way would be to learn it himself.

The green orb, Broly's Eraser Canon, looked as bright and dense as an entire star as it rocketed towards the ship unchallenged.

The prince lifted two fingers from his right hand and touched them to his forehead. He concentrated intensely, not sure quite how to initiate the technique but doing his best to break through into the spinning, dizzying rush of energy and space he remembered. As challenging as it might be, it was the only chance to save his crew and his ship, not to mention save face in front of all his subordinates.

"Come on! Work, damn it!"

During an active confrontation, Oniya was never more than a few feet from the Bringer of Death's steering controls. She knew she had to be ready for anything at a moment's notice, particularly due to the aftermath of their first arrival on Earth-she had paid the price of her own life for letting down the shields prematurely. Since then, she had maintained an almost-obsessive attention to detail in every conceivable situation.

But never in a million tries would she have been able to avoid this attack, even if she had already been at the controls. Time seemed to stand still as Broly's bright green blast raced up toward the ship, threatening to swallow it up entirely. The black-hulled vessel was just far enough from the battle that she was barely able to register what was about to happen, no longer.

Even though the shields were at their maximum, a sensible precaution, there was no way they would hold against a direct attack. Even if she could get to the controls and direct all the shielding to the front of the ship, it would be like trying to stop a tornado with a piece of paper. The shields were rated for blasts of 5 to 10 million units, though that had never been tested; they were guaranteed to fail at several times greater than that. From what C47 had said, this attack was easily two orders of magnitude more powerful.

That was all the thought Oniya had time for before the ball of energy reached the ship. Everything went dark.

The deck under her feet lurched. There was a horrible, screeching roar as green light exploded all around her, rushing past her, encompassing her body...

'Not like this...not again,' she thought fearfully. Oniya braced, tightening her eyes and gritting her teeth for death.

Then, as she realized in the next split second, the blast phased completely through her body as well as the whole ship. As quickly as it had enveloped her, the green light vanished, leaving the Asari commander standing on a darkened and shaky bridge.

Vegeta didn't know whether to be relieved or frustrated. His first attempt to perform the instant transmission had failed miserably-he almost felt a portal start to open up, maybe a path of some kind, but he hadn't even budged before it closed. It might have even been completely his imagination, his mind's excuse for his inability to perform Kakarott's technique.