DB Multiverse

As a gentle breeze flowed across the flowers bringing a note of caramel to the air, the two groups stood their grounds firmly. Both sides were judging the other, a spark of hatred in the eyes of the ones, answered by sardonic smiles from the others.

Wigner was the one to break the silence.

— Who are you, where are you from, what do you want and who sent you?

Kiwi readied himself to give out the usual conquest speech, but a loud laugh cut him off before he even began.

— You're pretty curious for a second rate grunt, guffawed the large Nappa.

— We are Ultras! spat Lidar in the instant.

Confident in his superiority, hands on his hips, the mustache wielding giant took two steps forward.

— Where we're from, imbeciles who rely on weapons are not worthy of living, amused the bald Saiyan.

As Lidar was going to reply and Fuller edged to go forward as well, Wigner stopped them both with a gesture.

— Who is "us", and where is "where you're from"? he said simply as he started again on a cold tone.

— We are...

Kiwi wasn't able to say anymore. Moving so fast it wasn't visible to the naked eye, Vegeta was on him and ripped off his scouter, which he then broke in his hands before dropping the debris into the grass below.

The purple-skinned alien was awe struck an instant, his big round eyes dumbly stuck on the small Saiyan in front of him.

— Fast! whispered Fuller, mostly to himself.

Raditz bent his head to offer a large toothy smile to the Heloïte trio, visibly surprised.

— Impressed it seems?

Kiwi regained his spirits.

— You dare?

— Don't cry! You won't even need it, these imbeciles aren't even worth puppies! insisted Nappa.

— LIDAR!

Wigner could shout all he wanted, the little boiling warrior had already thrown himself in a shower of sparks against the giant.

Nevertheless, the leader of the Ultras didn't budge. He was also curious to know the true capacities of the other group. He was as interested as any of the other witnesses of the first exchanges between the two fighters.

Nappa started by sneering as he evaded a first kick catapulted by Lidar. It was worth mentioning that his small stature was nothing compared to that of the Saiyan. The latter allowed another two shots aimed at his face, but when a punch scrapped his stomach, he responded with a monstrous direct punch. Far from impressed, the Heloïte answered with a fierce grin of his own before going at it again, his spite intact. His fists were merely skimming the ears of the giant, who was of amazing velocity, especially taking into account his size. The leg of Lidar almost landed on the flank of the Saiyan, an instant unprotected. But Nappa countered before with his fore-arm, as hard as a beam of steel. A downwards punch landed harshly against the right temple of the small fighter, throwing him off-balance briefly. Immediately back on his feet, Lidar jumped once more again towards the guard of the giant.

— Let them have their fun, said Vegeta mockingly to the one he identified as the leader of the Heloïte group. Your man seems to take well to beatings it seems, he observed as the Ultra continued standing his ground against his larger opponent.

— VEGETA! screamed Kiwi, thoughts of murder abound.

The purple of his face had turned to dark red, small bumps on his skin seemed to have grown, a rivelet of blood oozed from the gash on his cheek and veins showed here and there despite the thickness of his skin.

The opportunity of a disagreement between the invaders did not escape Wigner. The diodes on his temples blinked as he was about to give his instructions to Fuller.

Before he had the chance to, Vegeta was right under the nose of the Heloïte leader.

— Don't get any fancy ideas, machinist. One small problem to take care of and we will be able to talk between men... trust me this is going to interest you.

— DIE!

The word had leaped out as a cry from the heart at the same time as Kiwi threw a blast directly towards the small group composed of the annoying little prince, the chief of the Ultras and his young companion.

Wigner had deployed his right arm-shield as soon as the light appeared inside the hands of the alien.

Useless precaution in the end as Vegeta deviated the deathly shot with a simple swing of his left arm.

Dumbfounded, Kiwi stuttered.

— Bu-but how?

Without any regards to the two Heloïtes, whom Raditz kept an eye on, or the combat between Lidar and Nappa, busy sending each other formalities of the stunning kind, Vegeta walked in a conquering fashion towards the underling of Freiza. As he spoke, the air around him started swirling.

— I told you before: when you'll finally understand it will be too late. You don't know a lot of things about my kind, notably the fact that we get stronger when we escape death. Mind you, Freiza doesn't know this either. It's a little secret we keep to ourselves. I also discovered a little trick recently through Raditz's brother, at least he would have served one purpose. It took some time, but it's quite handy to be able to hide your true combat strength.

— You... you're bluffing!

— You sure of that? smirked the prince, quite satisfies with himself.

— Freiza will kill you! Kiwi almost blurted out, feeling cold sweat accumulate on his skin.

— Freiza? He's far Freiza! Also, he'd have to know what's going on.

— Your scouter...

Vegeta burst out laughing.

— Who do you think I am? I rigged our scouters, all our conversations were passing through yours to be transmitted, you simpleton! Why do you think I broke your gadget and not any of ours?

Now aware of what was waiting for him, lashed by an influx of adrenaline, Kiwi regained his composure and his hands started glowing with the energy.

— I shot in haste earlier, but this time I'll end you! warned Kiwi, his face deformed by hatred.

Curious about the turn of events, Wigner signaled to Fuller to not move. Further on, as pugnacious as he was, Lidar wasn't able to get the upper hand against his towering opponent. First the Kollok warrior who fought Dirac, now this beast... the supposed superior strength of Ultras was not holding up! What's more, the others had proven the potential danger they presented. Seeing the two leaders kill each other would not only reduce the amount of work to kill-off, but would also allow Wigner to better judge their real capacities. By the way they talked, they didn't know much about the Ultras. Knowing their strengths and weaknesses while keeping them in the dark about the Ultras would constitute a certain advantage. Alas, it meant more time lost for the Dardanite front... but the sheer power of the bald giant or the way the smaller one had deviated the murderous blast of energy had nothing to do with magic... and they had the advantage of numbers on their side. One less and other hurt, maybe even wounded was worth patience. Visibly the quarrel was between the two claiming the leading position, no doubt who was the strongest from what their body language suggested. Added to that, the rebel of the band seemed disposed to give information which would definitely interest Radom and the Council of Sages.

The warrior with the improbable hairline raised an eyebrow when the screen of the Ultra leader illuminated with a succession of signs and symbols, but nevertheless stayed arms crossed in a simple posture of intimidation. Might as well use the time to see if the command centre knew anything about this Freiza, and see how the rest of the team was doing.

Lidar got up after having once more rolled twenty-odd times in the dirt. The big bald hulk with a mustache hit really hard, harder than any Kollok, harder than any Ultra. Not content with aligning cannonball punches, he was as fast as a reptile! To top it off, the bastard had technique and took hits without flinching... In short the kind of adversary you dreamed of facing, except when the fate of your home planet was at stake.

The smallest of the Heloïte warriors grumbled... the repeated assaults of the invader were continuously stimulating his cells' accelerated reconstruction. The resulting pain and fever wasn't exactly ideal for calm thinking.

On the other side of the fight, Nappa was relishing the fight. Though pushed, the kid kept coming at it, and despite his size it had to be said that he didn't lack panache. Fortunately, being much faster, the Saiyan landed more shots than he took. He even allowed himself the luxury of avoiding the smashed parts of the Heloïte's face, so he could see the reconstruction happen, only to smash it in again. He knew Vegeta was also discretely watching the astonishing power of these Ultras. The prince had had a stroke of genius, and elaborated a plan to finally allow the survivors of Planet Vegeta to get their revenge.

Out of the corner of his eyes, the large Saiyan saw his master take off behind Kiwi who had bravely fled. The Heloïte, distracted by the movement, turned his attention to the scene an instant. Even though warned by the different reports and seen the footage of the previous fights, nor he nor his compatriots had seen a humanoid take flight naturally. With a powerful uppercut, Nappa sent the impudent who had dropped his defence soundly flying to the ground. Upon landing, he firmly grabbed the little one by the chest and started hammering down unrelentingly this time.

Lidar didn't have time to regret his mishap. The punches were raining down at such a rhythm that he felt he was drowning, even more so that the giant was painfully blocking his respiration as he pinned him to the ground. It was impossible to breathe as the torrent of hits of unreal power landed, blow after blow after blow. He felt reality slowly escape his reach, his body felt afloat, the sounds fading in the background, even the cruel face of his executioner seemed to dissipate. His attempts to free himself from the ruthless deadlock were vain; his knees, his fists were hitting solid rock, his reach desperately too short to reach for his aggressor's neck or face. To disengage, he had thought of activating his thrusters, also in vain. The manoeuvre simply covered both fighters in a cloud of sparks and dust. The other weighed too much for his anti-gravity gear to unearth the giant, it had been calibrated for the weight of its owner.

As the mist took root in his mind, as the face of his wife drifted in this strange dream... he seemed to discern Wigner's voice. His survival instincts were whipped by the orders of his leader. In an ultimate reflex, Lidar activated one of his hand-weapons.

The punches stopped, and the gigantic shadow that was crushing him disappeared suddenly.

Kiwi had just taken flight as fast as he was capable of, without having sent the concentrated energy in his hands. He didn't need his scouter to know Vegeta was tailing him, but he knew himself to be faster than Vegeta. As soon as he'd have gained enough distance between them, he'd be able to turn around and use the element of surprise to end this once and for all... The bloody ape was going to get what was coming for him!

Him dead, the other two would fall back in the fold, those imbeciles were only good for following orders. Returning having succeeded in his mission was the safest way to make Freiza overlook the fact that he hadn't managed to tame the bloody Saiyan. Nappa had proven that these Ultras weren't that bad after all, and there were only three. Even if this cursed planet didn't have a moon, under his command, the two Saiyans would suffice to take care of things, and finally subdue this arrogant race.

Eager to put as much distance possible between himself and the renegade trailing behind, Kiwi flew in a perfectly straight line towards the horizon. In front of him, the barely visible silhouette of the gigantic solar ring, which gave Helior its ideal climate, became clearer. It was indeed an impressive feat of technology.

Suddenly, to his right, under the blinding light of the projectors, he saw a silhouette emerge and approach him.

Kiwi concentrated while grumbling to himself, wasting energy he wanted to use on Vegeta didn't enchant him.

His heart leaped and he felt the blood leave his face.

There in front of him, now immobile, it wasn't a Heloïte machine that was waiting for him, but that accursed Saiyan along with his insufferable smirk adorning his ugly treacherous face.

How had this useless bag of meat managed to overtake him ?!

He had mentioned becoming stronger after escaping death... Lord Freiza had left him severely beaten after his last mission. Could this monkey have been saying the truth?

Even if it was the case, even if he had indeed become faster, it was impossible that it be enough for him to overtake Kiwi in pure strength. It was no doubt why he had destroyed his scouter... without it, it was impossible to bluff!

Reassured by his renewed confidence, and without warning, Kiwi threw both hands forwards and let them spill death as he screamed.

He observed with open satisfaction his enormous blast race towards the insolent prince. To his great surprise, the mortal shot didn't not explode upon reaching him... no. It continued its path in a elliptic trajectory as if it hadn't hit any obstacle!

Flabbergasted, Kiwi saw Vegeta pounce towards him from the sky above the spot where he had been seconds ago. Instants later, the bastard was taunting him from merely a few metres from him.

Higher up in altitude, higher than the atmosphere, a formidable deflagration illuminated the horizon even under the light of day. Vegeta turned around a brief instant, but the ring was intact... Kiwi's shot had been disintegrated by a counter from wherever. Most surely a ship stationed in space. Now that was a firing power quite different than what had been shown on the ground! Worth noting was that the powerful attack from Kiwi wouldn't have left the pretty planet much chance, no matter how much this surprising race wanted it. Pity for those two destroyers.

Kiwi, on the other hand, realised that fleeing Heloïte grounds in case of defeat had suddenly become much more complicated than he had thought at first.