DB Multiverse

In space, no one can hear you scream

Hanasia flew vertically.

As soon as she reached high enough, she felt the characteristic pain in her ears and nose, she still continued straight onwards, and it was becoming more and more painful. She then transformed into Super Saiyan, and held her breath, and all pain dissipated. She was then able to reach summits no Saiyan had reached without hurting herself, there were even at noon, the sky darkened. And it was the night. The day had stayed below, on the ground.

It was surprising: the sun still shined, even stronger than before, but nothing nearby apart from her was lit, seen as there was nothing except for the ground way down there. The day couldn’t continue where there was no air… She gazed at the stars. So, each one was in reality a sun, they had told her. And the worlds around those suns were like islands to reach, and even easier to find than an island, because those generally hid themselves (due to the curvature of the planet, but Hanasia didn’t understand that), whereas here, she just had to go towards the luminous spots.

Evidently… there were thousands of them! But the invaders couldn’t be far. She’d try the brightest star, and from there, ask for directions, simply put. She launched at full speed into the darkness, telling herself she could easily hold one or two hours without breathing.

Without gravity to hold her, without air to slow her, Hanasia continued acceleration for a number of minutes, engulfing monstrous distances. Hundreds of thousands of kilometers later, she realized that she was going to need to breathe earlier than she had thought. At the million kilometer mark, she thought of turning back. She turned her head and saw her starting point, which was now a small round spot, in her eyes smaller than a moon. And as she observed it, all the while accelerating, she noticed it was getting smaller. Yes, she was going very fast. Immensely fast, in space, nothing stopped you. She regained hope and accelerated towards the brightest star amongst the others she had seen.

Her whole body was telling her to breathe with insistence, and she couldn’t see her planet behind her anymore. Except maybe, a small dot. The spot she was heading for however, hadn’t grown an inch.

In a reflex, she opened her mouth and breathed in. But nothing came. All her instincts launched, in pure panic. It was as if she was drowning!

As she was directing herself in the opposite direction, the dot that was her planet wasn’t growing, if anything it kept getting smaller! Indeed, all she was doing as slowing her massive acceleration, and the u-turn hadn’t stopped it just yet, seen the speed she had reached. Without any logic, she tried to breathe again, but it just worsened.

The Super Saiyan was going to die in a completely stupid way.

When they realized the Queen of Saiyans had gone “on foot” to reach other planets, the Tsufuls were dumbfounded, jaw-dropped, and then shattered.

They decreted a new emergency situation amidst the victory celebrations. Their detectors still followed the whereabouts of Hanasia. But by the time they had a ship ready and launched, she was already exiting the solar system.

It was decided that the rebels, who already had a stealth ship at the outskirts of the system, would go to fetch her. They were in a better position, and what’s more, a Tsuful was present on the ship, Hanasia would be able to trust them. All too happy to see in real life, and maybe even save the life, of the strongest fighter of the universe, the navigators head straight to the estimated location of the Saiyan.

When they arrived, many long minutes later, and when they found the lifeless and non-luminous body of the Saiyan, their faces darkened, aware that their mission was now to recuperate a corpse. They all knew that even a powerful warrior couldn’t survive in space longer than a few minutes in normal form, but they kindled hope for this Super Saiyan.

An efficient manoeuvre brought her into the sas. Once filled with air they launched the radiation decontamination sequence. Indeed, a stellar object that isn’t protected by an ozone layer receives in permanence all the rays of the sun, of which the most dangerous are filtered by the atmosphere. If the aura of the Super Saiyan had protected her, as soon as she had lost consciousness, all the dangers of space had fallen onto her. If her body hadn’t been destroyed by the effect of the vacuum of space, it was because of the surprising resistance of the species.

They then brought the light body (they had removed the artificial gravity) of the Queen onto the deck, and immediately started giving her first aid to the best of their capacities. After several electroshocks, the navigator had teary eyes once he was able to say her heart was beating!

The maximum was done, and though she stayed unconscious, that her body was burnt, that she had numerous internal wounds from exploded blood vessels, the ship’s doctor was reassured to announce that, thanks to his powers, she’d certainly make it out.

You the readers never doubted a second, but imagine for a minute the position of this crew confronted to the harsh reality!

A day later, the crew arrived at a Tsuful spatio-port in the middle of the ocean, and Hanasia was already on her feet.

— What a remarquable constitution! remarked an officer, she had seemed so frail...

The Tsufuls were small and large, with bulky muscles to hold them upright under this gravity, so Saiyans always seemed surprisingly lean.

Most of the crew members stayed aboard the ship. Only the strongest among them, equipped with portable floaters allowing him to divide his weight by four, exited with the Tsuful and the Queen. As he walked, it was evident he was fighting to not to collapse on the ground.

Chiin-Lee explained to Hanasia, whose head still hurt and had nausea, that her idea was not a good idea:

— You must understand, Queen Hanasia, that other worlds are far, far, immensely far from ours. That’s why we use ships that have air we can breathe.

— But I’m much faster than your ships, Hanasia said.

— Well… to make it simple… not in space.

— Then I want one.

— You first need to get better… Please! Your internal wounds from the radiation are much worse than from the fight you’ve just got out of! It’s extraordinary you’re still alive. You need to rest and heal my… our Queen.

Hanasia frowned as her vision blurred.

— You’ll fight against the other invaders before they reach here. I promise to avoid fights at home, it’s what we all want. But later. We know where they are and they’re not getting here anytime soon. Accept our aid.

— Ok… later… she said while walking towards the edge of the platform.

— Hey! Don’t go home flying! We’ll bring you back!

She’s unbearable, thought Chiin-Lee. We’ll have to make do, we really came close to the worst possible catastrophe!

The announce of Ice Kurima’s death, the the throne room, was explicitly painful, especially for the messenger.

If Blizzard, with his terrible and powerful aura, restrained his anger and didn’t cause more destruction than obliterating the body of the announcer, the eldest, Frosty, let his anger go unchained.

— You bloody idiots! he screamed. We prepare the best traps, we send our best army, and nothing is left! The general AND my brother, dead! This is ludicrous!

Frosty was frustrated because, the admiral vessels that had fled the battle had surrendered or were destroyed by the small army of the Tsufuls, and there was no commander to sack.

He was only hoping for one thing. That someone of the court would cut him off, or try answer his screams. He’d then instantly pulverize them. But well aware of the danger, none made the slightest sound and all were well in retreat, lining the walls.

— And where the hell is Snower? he shrieked to the room and in part to his father.

— Snower is pacifying the entire East Zone of the galaxy, Blizzard answered as no-one else in the room would have dared answer that simple question. He’s two weeks from here.

In fact the rebelling governments were more and more numerous, and in this zone, the Frost Demon empire was almost a memory. Snower, a contingent of the army, and a few warriors of the court, had left to refresh their memories. Within two days, he had already ravaged three planets, not bothering himself with detailed work. A fourth planet, though entirely inhabited, had been simply destroyed from afar by the Frost Demon. These few measures had already greatly calmed the new rebels.

With the urgent need for retaliation, Snower could come back straight away, be he’d still take weeks to arrive. And Frosty didn’t intend on waiting.

— I’m stronger than both my younger siblings united, Frosty said calmly, suddenly at ease. We’ll destroy the planet, and kill this Super Saiyan in space. Too bad for him if he needs to breathe!

Was this plan cowardly? Or merely justified?

— It will not be said we won’t take every precaution against this planet and everything around it, which are only traps and pitfalls. I’m taking with me the spatial stadium. As well as Avoka. And Yikoun. And… all ten of you, there.

The spatial stadium was, in many regards, similar to the small planet of King Kai that you all know. Much larger, but incomparably small next to a habitable planet, it kept its own atmosphere and flew like a ship. Few combattants were useful in space, and a stadium of this genre was ideal for fighting in between two planets. From there, Avoka would be able to destroy the admiral vessels. Whereas Yikoun could last almost an hour in space.

They left the same night. This way, the opposing armies wouldn’t have time to mobilize, and the Super Saiyan wouldn’t have time to heal from her previous fight.

— Gentlemen, the moment we’ve been waiting for is at hand.

In the stealth vessel that transported the rebel elite, the orator had a wide smile. After having decimated only small squadrons to remain discreet, they were finally going to have the chance to turn the tides. The plan with Krämm’s sword, especially, gave them great hope.

— Blizzard is alone in his throne room. Of his best elite, only Dijicharate will remain. A powerful adversary I’m not denying it, but compared to our superb team, nothing unstoppable. The other warriors of the court will not pose problem.

— Are we sure that it’s not another trap? Some people must doubt we’ll try to attack the palace of the emperor.

— Ah ah, no, we have checked and double-checked. Snower is two weeks from the place, whereas we’re only eight days away. Frosty and the two other elite warriors of the court, have indeed left for Plant. For each piece of information, we have run checks using two different networks.

— Ok, but did many Bothans die to obtain this information?

— Beg your pardon?

— No I… no, nothing, sorry.

— Ok then, Krämm of Istaal said raising his hand, we’ll kill the emperor and take possession of the capital! It will be the biggest blow against the empire in recorded history! Except for the two extraordinary fights of this Legendary Super Saiyan, long may he live! We wish him great luck against the third son of the damned Demon Lords!!

The troop ignored the terrible state of Hanasia, which had been kept secret.

All made a hurrah, and took the direction of the capital planet.

— Where is Bourgo, the Namekian? asked one of the fighters.

— He stayed behind during our last halt, I think he took a one-man vehicle and went his own way.

— I’d have preferred if he hadn’t ditched us like that… The Namekians are hyper-receptive, I think he would have been a valuable asset against Dijicharate. Personally, I’ll be killed seven times by her before even seeing her shadow. Remember that her speed and discretion allowed her to eliminate foes much stronger than herself!

— Don’t fret, she won’t be able to take us all down. There’s heroes on this ship, you know.

Yshar was called a “hero” on his planet, but within this group he felt very small. It wasn’t Dijicharate that scared him. He was counting on Krämm or the others to take care of her (even if he counted especially on Bourgo). What scared him was all the warriors of the court. One didn’t obtain that title easily.

In the empire, at the bottom were the soldiers, then the “fighters”, raised in martial arts and capable of throwing energy balls, of flying and the likes. Such a fighter was able to lay waste to an entire city of normal people, and generally commanded dozens of soldiers, but already at that level one preferred single combat.

Above the fighters, or “warriors”, was directly the elite. The elite could ravage an entire region with the swing of the hand. The fact that elite were dying in one-on-one on Plant against the Saiyans transformed into giant monsters, gave an idea of the power that a Saiyan army could be. The one who’d commander and conquer such beings, would surely be invincible…

The elite was outclassed only by the warriors of the court. Their levels varied from being able to darken the sky of an entire country, to the pure and simple destruction of a planet. The latter could be counted on the fingers of the hands, and their names were known throughout the empire.

Yshar had never tried to destroy a country. He didn’t think himself able to. However he had been admitted into the rebellion as an elite, directly. All this because he had defended his planet against a group of invaders, which he learnt later included two warriors of the court. Certainly the weakest.

After all, Chili’s commando was only constituted of four warriors of the court. Didn’t they alone turn the tides on the Battle of Plant? Without even going that far, it had also been apparent that the General Chatterton had done as efficient a job, alone, as the entire commando.

Yshar felt dizzy just thinking of all this.

Hanasia, like any Saiyan, hated being stuck in a bed.

She had to admit it, she had strained herself too much, and when she got up, the urge to vomit, vertigo, and a total loss of strength forced her to lay down again, often with force, often on the ground.

But she already suspected that - with reason - her healers were giving her something that made her sleep.

In the Saiyan King’s palace, it wasn’t Tsufuls healing her anymore. Against her will, Chiin-Leelo-thingy had left, and the group had only left more robots, cold and shiny beings that didn’t speak, but were efficient for constructing and healing.

Thanks to the Tsuful’s magic, Hanasia could see images of the war funeral. The people had done rather well, while she had been getting lost in space. But she had been reminded that her absence as Queen had been a big mistake. Some rumors even said she was dead, and she couldn’t, in her current state, contradict what they thought. She was so weakened she wouldn’t even win a duel!

Fortunately the reconstruction of the capital, and the mourning of the dead (mourning was rare for Saiyans, but given the number of deaths, all felt the need to do a little more, as a community), the numerous wounded, and the shock of the battle, rendered the Saiyans rather calm on the political aspect. They already had much to do with telling their friends, especially if they were part of the “Day Oozarus”, they had too much to hear, too much to heal, to try and become King.

Everyday, Chiin-Lee tried to talk to her, but in general Hanasia preferred avoiding conversation with this person who she had nothing in common with. Much to the disappointment of the latter, who dreamed of becoming her friend.

One week later, Hanasia warned during her daily call that if she still felt strangely tired the next day, and if she knew it was their fault, she’d destroy every robot in her range.

This didn’t bother Chiin-Lee beyond measure as she had already been insisting since two days they stop drugging her.

The imminent arrival of the strongest Frost Demon had everyone on edge, and every tactician was in concertation so that a new brilliant plan, or at least as efficient as the previous one, might be readied.

But with the Super Saiyan out of action, the chances of victory seemed this time even slimmer. Hanasia wasn’t aware yet. The Tsufuls thought, Chiin-Lee included, that the worry would reduce her chances of healing. It was obviously not knowing her temperament, because with this sort of person, the promise of imminent danger would have instead accelerated her return to form!

So for the moment, everyone was biting their nails, claw or earlobes for those that had ever-growing earlobes.

In the meeting room with the Tsuful leaders, or holographic rebels from other worlds, and a robot that served coffee (even to the holograms, which was pointless), ideas were buzzing, and information was being exchanged. But the solution remained hidden.

— We need to nuke their spatial arena! Is its shield really that impressive?

— First off, yes. But also, the warriors within it would deviate or stop any energetic attack or missile from afar without difficulty.

— In any case, we don’t have the choice, we need to send our army to meet them.

— Fight on their ground?

— Our ground is destructable, and the entire Tsuful population lives on it. These demons destroy planets for breakfast.

— But ours is much more resistant, no? I read that the inhabited planets of the empire were a lot less dense and had a gravity ten times weaker than ours! Maybe…

— Per show, Madam. At their power level, it wouldn’t make a difference.

They pondered the idea of sending their army into space.

— Do we have cargo for this? Will our vehicles function in space? asked a Tsuful.

— We can transport troops, robots and cannons… but no, our planes would be useless, they fly using the magnetism of Plant.

— But how do we get Saiyans into our ships? the same Tsuful asked.

— What, are you counting on them? a manager said with outrage as he saw the chaos arrive.

— Saiyans aren’t cannon fodder! a third one exclamated.

— They need to participate in the war effort! With artificial moons, they multiply our army!

— Don’t you think they’re had enough deaths?

— Stop! No sterile arguments. Keep proposing ideas, for now. We’ll discuss the details later.

— After the war, yes! Your children will live atop the cadavres of an entire race sacrificed for a cause that goes over their heads, manipulated by…

— Look at things as they are, our planet is in danger! You’re not going to tell me the Saiyan civilisation is worth the Tsuful’s! And more so, it’s normal to have a national preference. The population is on my side, even if they don’t dare say it. But me, I’m not afraid to show my logic in front of the politically correct!

— I thought we had evolved passed selfishness, but I see you come from the past. Your words remind me of the nauseating period of our history.

— When the sewers flooded 25 years ago?

A strident sound cut off the Tsufuls and their heated debate.

— Ah, that’s what this button does, said a violet hologram with faked surprise. Its eyes were difficult to distinguish, and even when found, they were in fact nostrils.

All turned towards him. Except the robot, which really didn’t have manners.

— Dear Tsufuls. Your discussions full of life demonstrates your sain preoccupations and the danger that abides you. You are assuredly very civilized and it is a pleasure to listen to you. I’ve seen your creations, I’ve listened to your music. All this is quite magnificent. Myself as well as other people who have associated with you closely or loosely all recognize your qualities.

One in two Tsufuls blushed.

— But if one thing is clear, and that’s all to your honor as a people, at peace for so long, is that you have no idea how to do war.

He allowed the silence to install itself.

— War is messy, treacherous, and unfair. It knows no winner.

Chiin-Lee opened her mouth to answer and closed it again. She understood that even if they saved their planet and killed the Frost Demons, their losses would be such that they indeed have difficulties considering themselves winners.

— So continue to list all your options. And we’ll take care of the plans for the battle. Give us everything. Our objective if yours: your survival and their death. But for that… there will be blood.