Chapter 18 - Earth At Last

A lonesome ship gently soars across the soft blanket of the universe, slowly nearing its destination. The depressed pilot of this medium-sized craft is deep in thought, thinking about how horrific recent events have been, and coming close to tears at how bad things have become. He frowns, aggravated screwing up his face and clenching his fists. In a futile attempt to take his mind off the happenings, the man stares out into the empty depths of space, where there are billions of light years of nothingness. His tail swishes angrily, and his face almost beams with frustration as his deep scar is emphasized in the dim light of the room.

“Bardock” a familiar voice said from behind him. The upset Saiyan knows whom the voice belongs to, but refuses to believe that it could possibly be the one that he thinks it is, so instead decided to ignore it, believing it to be a figment of his imagination.

“Bardock” it repeats firmly, causing the Saiyan to turn round out of curiosity. The sight that he sees makes him shed tears, not out of sadness, but out of joy. Korosu stands limply, covered in blood, cuts, and bruises, as he sways from side to side attempting to keep his balance. A goofy grin has spread itself across his face, as he approaches his good friend.

“Korosu!” Bardock yelled happily. “Damn, I thought you were dead!”

“Yeah, I’d call the fight I had with Frieza a draw” Korosu joked, laughing intently before having to stop due to coughing up excess blood. “Frieza…he’s too powerful, I don’t know if I can ever beat him, even with your help” Korosu stammered, his voice having a sudden tone of seriousness to it this time.

“We will do friend, we must train harder than we ever have before, but it’s definitely possible. We are the last two of our kind; we must fight for all of our dead comrades! We cannot give up; we’ve come too far. We’ll soon meet up with Goku on Earth…”

“Very nice speech scarface, but I’m afraid you’re mistaken in your calculations. I too am a Saiyan, the prince in fact.” A third voice said, his face partially in darkness. Korosu struggles to hold Bardock off as the Saiyan desperately tries to get near the prince to rip him to shreds for the insult.

“There’s no way you’re prince Vegeta you liar!” Bardock yelled. “Frieza killed him and his father when he was just a boy!”

“Wrong again. Frieza did kill my dad, no big loss, he did kill my people, and I don’t really care, but he took me away, and treated me like a slave! I worked so hard to please him, went through agony and torment to abide by his wishes, and for what? Not even a lousy compliment, nor did he ever allow me to do what I wanted! He thought I was his pet, insulting me constantly, treating me terribly, and still expecting me to do what he wanted!”

“I’m sorry to hear that” Korosu said sympathetically. “Thank you for saving me back there, I would have died if it wasn’t for you”

“Save your petty thanks, I didn’t stop Frieza because of you, it was a personal vendetta. I had a score to settle with him, but because of you I couldn’t finish him off! You idiot, why’d you have to drag me away?”

“I…I thought I was helping…” Korosu started.

“All you did was complicate things! Now because of you, we’re all dead men! Frieza is going to wipe everyone and everything out!” Vegeta interrupted before walking out of the shadows. On him he is wearing some dated, dented armour which is chipped, scratched and burnt. It’s a dull white colour and compliments his mood perfectly. Underneath the armour he wears a deep blue bodysuit, which is equipped with white gloves and boots with a golden lining on the edge. His face seems to be in a permanent frown, and his hair is long and stuck up like so many other Saiyan’s. Whilst he is a few inches smaller than Korosu and Bardock in height, he is certainly just as muscular as them.

“I guess I’m going to have to go with you now as you’ve given me no other choice!” Vegeta shouted in an annoyed tone before walking right up to Korosu’s face, and speaking his mind very aggressively “If Frieza kills me, then you’re going down too”. He pushes the damaged Saiyan to the floor, then storms out of the room.

“What an asshole” Bardock grunts after the prince has ejected himself from the immediate premises. “Even if he did save your life he still doesn’t have any right to talk to us like that!”

“Yeah, he’s a complete jerk, but he’s also incredibly powerful” Korosu replied. His body is ragged and beaten, and he is struggling to maintain consciousness. He wipes some blood from his face, and then suddenly groans in overwhelming agony. His eyes shut, and he is suddenly silent. Bardock fears the worse as he doesn’t hesitate in taking him to the medical bay.

It must have been a whole day later when Korosu opened his eyes again. He was surrounded by a familiar blue liquid, and noticed that all of his wounds has rapidly deteriorated. He knows that he’s in the regeneration tank and has been nursed back to health by his caring friend Bardock. Korosu taps on the glass and attracts the attention of Vegeta who just happens to be passing. The prince looks at the Saiyan in an arrogant way, then reluctantly releases him from the tank, causing the water to come flowing out rapidly. Korosu falls out breathing heavily, but is immensely happy none-the-less. He has somehow survived yet again, and can feel how insanely strong he has become. His muscles bulge for a while before he finally manages to relax them.

“Put some clothes on!” Vegeta shouted at Korosu who was grinning like an idiot at his newfound strength, not realizing that he was totally naked. He briskly runs off to his quarters, and hastily gets dressed into his regular fighting clothes, before searching for Vegeta once more with only one question on his mind. He finds him in barely any time at all, just outside the worn down training room which has already had way too much activity going on inside it.

“Hey Vegeta, can I ask you something?” the young Saiyan questioned politely.

“As long as you make it quick, I have more important things to do than waste my time with the likes of you” was the subtle reply from the prince.

“How did we get onto this ship? I remember Frieza shooting some sort of blast at me, and I felt its heat on my face, but suddenly I ended up behind Bardock, unscathed from the attack. You were right next to me too.”

“Some weird alien creature used a strange technique to teleport us away” Vegeta replied unenthusiastically.

“Wow! I didn’t even know that it was possible to do that!” Korosu exclaimed excitedly.

“Well now you do kid. Anyway, he instantaneously went back to his planet after taking us here, didn’t even say a word.”

“How odd. I guess we’re eternally grateful to him though, whoever he was” Korosu thought out loud.

“Maybe you are, but he pulled me away just as I was about to kill Frieza the idiot!” Vegeta said aggressively before walking off into the training room, a towel draped over his shoulder, and weights in his hands.

‘Man, that guys so self-centered and full of himself!’ Korosu thought to himself. Before he has anymore time to think though, his string of thought is interrupted by the familiar beeping, signaling an imminent announcement from the computer.

“10 minutes until arrival on Earth” it broadcasted. Korosu excitedly hurried down to the ships bridge to prepare himself for the landing, excited at finally making it to their destination. He buckles up and watches as Bardock frantically keys in the controls as the ship speeds down to the blue and green planet, before rushing to his seat and strapping himself in.

The ship cruises into the atmosphere, constantly picking up speed as it becomes a fiery ball of flame. Bardock and Korosu close their eyes as the ship nears the surface. Suddenly the speed decreases massively, and the ship comes to an abrupt halt, landing almost perfectly. The two Saiyans walk out of the automatic doors to begin their quest to search for Goku. Little did they know they were being watched by many people who had sensed their powers coming, as they hid around the crater ready to pounce.

Vegeta comes out soon after, holding his ribs and moaning about the way in which the amateurs landed the ship. It is he who realizes that something is wrong, something around them is not right.