In this quest, we take the reins of Vegeta, Prince of all Saiyans, in his quest to reunite the Saiyan race and oppose the rule of the perfidious Frieza and his Cold Empire. After four years of hiatus, I return.
Vegeta and his crew have learned of a station used by the Saiyan resistance, a group formed soon after the destruction of planet Vegeta, over twenty years ago. While the station is derelict, it hosts intel and devices that could prove useful to the aims of the Prince. The Capsule Corp. Saiyan Spacebase Mark II crewed with Vegeta, Nappa, Turles, Raditz, the newly rescued Saiyans Kalabash and Calava, and the ship’s pilot and engineer, the human Bulma Brief, departed for Sadala Station and found it overrun by space pirates led by the mighty captain Zodd.
Following tense negotiations, Vegeta and Zodd began a one-on-one duel to settle who would keep authority over the station. The battle continues…
>>6396484(OP) Hello /qst/. Many, many years ago I started a quest called Vegeta Quest, where we took control of Vegeta a year before his arrival at Earth.
The quest had a good first thread, then I got taken by the QM curse. It was revived two times, once in 2021 and the other in 2022, each time it died out due to general personal issues and burnout. QMing required a lot of time that I didn’t have to spare. I hung around /qst/ for the next 4 years as a lurker/poster/one-shot QM afterwards and noticed that the board had slowed down quite a bit, which led me to think that I could actually handle the QM workload once again.
So, imagine reviving a quest that died thrice already, four years after its last death. Why even? Because I loved Vegeta Quest, it’s my favorite quest I’ve ever QMed, and it’s the one incomplete personal project that still hangs on my mind to this very day, FOUR years later. I needed to come back to it eventually, and hopefully my eternally loyal playerbase remains and comes back with me for another adventure along with new players we pick up on our way.
I spent two weeks rereading the entire quest, taking notes on characters, preparing for future arcs, and steeling myself for a prolonged, proper period of QMing.
>>6396485 Year 761 Vegeta, rightful holder of the title "Prince of all Saiyans" after the fall of his planet, has seen his life change in the past year. What looked like a simple mission to a low power level planet turned into a near-death situation and a complete disaster for Frieza's interests. After saving the life of his two servants, Raditz and Nappa, the trio set coordinates for Earth to hopefully meet Kakarot and heal their wounds with his help, exiling themselves from the Cold Empire.
They found that Kakarot had become 'humanized', unwilling to let go of his friends to join your ranks. Still, your weakened state did not leave you many options. In exchange for healing by the earthlings, you swore to not destroy or harm the population of the Earth and train with Kakarot for a full year.
After learning a variety of techniques from Kakarot and his reluctant comrades, Earth was invaded by the Crusher Corps, but through cunning and 'experimental' tactics, Vegeta was able to defeat Turles and destroy his ship, unaware that within were the seeds of the mighty Tree of Life. Turles then joined the Saiyans on Earth.
Kakarot, angered by Vegeta's actions during the battle with Turles, asked to duel Vegeta. After a long fight, Vegeta smashed Kakarot's limbs and rendered him unable to move, not before an intervention by a particularly angry Gohan. Tensions are high as the fighting was bloody, but it proved that Kakarot and Raditz were capable of great feats when spurred by their compassion.
Afterwards, in exchange for saving Earth from Turles, the Brief family designed a powerful new armor for the Saiyans and were constructing a spaceship for Vegeta and his servants in order to find out if any other Saiyan remnants still fight around the galaxy. While she completed the ship, Vegeta went out to meet Kakarot and reconcile as best he could with the humans of Earth.
After the new Saiyan spaceship was completed, we gathered a crew out of our Saiyan warriors, Bulma as a ship technician and the Namekian Piccolo, who wished to help in exchange for a future visit to Namek. Bulma’s ‘galactic range saiyan radar’ was activated and after detecting the signatures of the Saiyans onboard and after a long wait, it detected five others in a far off world. Eager to include even more Saiyans into his growing princedom, Vegeta decided to send the ship on its fastest path towards the newfound signatures, obliterating a Frieza scout ship that was patrolling the area into space dust and training Bulma in the use of ki (in exchange for an eventual gravity room) along the way.
The ship arrived at an arid planet after six months of travel. Everyone except Bulma descended to the surface to help out four of the signatures, the lowest ones, from pursuing Frieza soldiers. There Vegeta met Kalabash, his non-combatant wife Gisa, their plucky daughter Rokka and their terrified son Oshe. Piccolo had laid a trap for the pursuing Frieza soldiers with his Hellzone Grenade, passing it off as a trap with conventional explosives for those who might eventually investigate the matter.
With Kalabash and his family safe, Piccolo and Raditz stayed with them until the Attack Pods Mk. II could carry them to the safety of Bulma’s ship, while the rest led by Vegeta flew off to help Calava, a female Saiyan with a power of 5.000. There they met the Rosha Force, an elite team of Frieza’s.
After a long and bloody battle, which included a Zenkai for Vegeta and Bulma almost dying in an attempt to save his life, Vegeta and company got the upper hand against Rosha and his team. They took Olond and Rosha, the two most powerful and honorable members of the Rosha Force, into custody aboard the Saiyan ship, and another prize was the Rosha Force attack ship, now untraceable thanks to Turles’ efforts, which would follow the main ship on autopilot during the three month trip home.
=== THREAD 6 ===
In the thread before this one, Vegeta spoke with Olond and Rosha. The two aliens, while imprisoned, showed disdain for Frieza and his methods and declared that they owed Vegeta their lives. In a now not-so-rare show of mercy, Vegeta allowed Rasha and Olond to go free, recruiting them as soldiers for his cause.
Vegeta had another tense encounter with Bulma, but let the opportunity go due to the raw exhaustion from the battles on planet Vertes. He then met with Kalabash, the Saiyan warrior explained that a group of Saiyans formed a Resistance against Frieza shortly after the destruction of Planet Vegeta. This resistance group was based around cells that spread out among various space stations in the galaxy, they opposed Frieza for five years, but were eventually destroyed after one last raid on the group’s main base: Sadala Station.
Kalabash said that the station had information on the last location of the Saiyans in a hidden room by the command center, while the information would be at least 20 years old, it would be better than nothing. The other great prize within was a communicator that could send a message to the scouters belonging to Saiyans, again, it would be difficult to know just how many Saiyans still had their scouters after so long, but such a communicator could be a boon in Vegeta’s project to gather the Saiyan race once more.
When they arrived at Earth, the Brief family began working on a retrofitting of the spaceship that took them to Vertes with what they learned in the trip. Bulma tells the group that the extremely efficient drives of the Capsule Corp. Saiyan Spacebase Mark II would get the team there in under a month, and thus Vegeta decreed that this would be their next step. In a private conversation afterwards, Vegeta promised Bulma to teach her to fly if she built a Gravity room in the ship that would help the crew train in harsher conditions.
With 3 months of waiting coming up, the group trained and prepared. Kakarot offered Vegeta another duel after the Z Fighters’ long training regimen in King Kai’s planet. Vegeta instead offered a small “tournament” where warriors who desired to fight would have a chance to do so. The tournament ended in a 2-1 result in favor of the earthlings, thanks to some luck and power level bullshit.
Soon after the tournament, the new spaceship was ready and the final preparations were made. Kalabash’s wife Gisa would stay at Earth along with her two children, her daughter Rokke, more predisposed to fighting, would train along with Gohan under Kakarot, Piccolo (who had made friends with the stoic and silent Rasha and Olond) and the rest of the Z-Fighters.
Vegeta’s crew, composed of all the fighting Saiyans he had gathered (Nappa, Raditz, Calava, Kalabash), and his recruited alien fighters Rasha and Olond, departed for Sadala Station in search of relics from the past that could aid them in their new purpose. The trip began, Vegeta used this downtime to speak with his warriors and check on how they’re doing: Raditz, Nappa and Turles.
The trip would indeed conclude within the month. Vegeta’s ship would arrive to Sadala station and find it overrun with a crew of pirates led by Pirate Captain Zodd, with whom he had an audience. Zodd told him of the news of the galaxy, that Frieza had put a bounty on all remaining Saiyans, and that he served under a certain Queen Zar’Ann, an alien of the same species as Zarbon who did not owe allegiance to the Cold Empire. Vegeta is accompanied by Raditz, Nappa, Calava and Kalabash, all of his Saiyan warriors, while Bulma remained behind on the spaceship that brought you here.
After tense negotiations, Zodd decided to fight Vegeta one on one, leading to a duel that was not yet concluded…
Our Vegeta remains rather princely. Almost undefeated in battle, he enjoys wearing the upgraded combat armor that Bulma designed for him back at Earth, which uses black spandex and white lamellar bands, including a purple cape capable of blocking ki blasts. His left eye remains milky white following a hit on his back in the Rekar fiasco where his new life began. He has grown used to keeping that specific eye shut for the most part.
When it comes to his personality, little remains of his ruthless and pedantic pre-Rekar personality. The trauma of his defeat at that planet, along with the lessons learned from Kakarot and the Z-Figthers of Earth has led to a new Vegeta. One that has grown wiser, sees the usefulness in mercy, and seeks true friendship with his servants and vassals. Still, his Saiyan pride remains, battle still is and will likely remain one of his greatest drives and urges, spurred on by the primal desire within Saiyan instinct.
== RULES == >system is a simple d100 vs DC. Application of 'best of x rolls' varies per roll! >votes will last for ~30 minutes. Since I expect a very slow start due to the nature of reboots, I can conclude a vote at anytime to keep the quest going during my writing hours. >dialogue choices are only there as guidelines of what I think Vegeta could decide on a single issue. Write-ins during dialogue options are highly encouraged. >choices during battle may have higher or lower risks, and often entail higher or lower rewards. Bear in mind that sometimes, higher risks does not mean it provides a similarly high reward. Try to see which move is best for a situation, or even provide a write-in with what you think is best! >Zenkai only occurs during a real battle for your life! You can't abuse it by being brought to near death during training, as you technically know your life is not in danger. Though if there is a real chance of death during training (for example, a gravity chamber crushing your bones) you may be able to increase even if not as much as after a real fight! >you are not expected to be goody two shoes, and you are not expected to be pure evil bloodthirsty Saiyans. Saiyans are unique in that their nature is to be brutal and to seek fighting, but they can mellow out over time as Bardock and Vegeta demonstrated in the OG timeline, though they can hardly reach levels similar to that of a human. Do what you think is best for character development! >don't feel obligated to stick to Earth! You have spacefaring vessels, there's a Galaxy to explore, and I can always come up with some interesting choices. >there will be a bunch of waifu options! Right now Bulma is currently closest to romantic involvement. >don't be paranoid! I, as the QM, am not competing with the player but seeking to spur the story forward. Don't worry about specific details. For example wondering if some small mooks are alive after leaving a battlefield and if they could be trouble and I'm hiding it. Whether they are or not is up to your headcanon but if I don't mention it, then they're not gonna be a problem anymore. >Please keep debating and making theories on DBZ power levels. I love that shit. >While Saiyans and other powerful races inherently grow faster and have a stronger baseline, weaker races such as humans can overcome anything through training. I don't think leaving the Z-Fighters behind is fun, they should have path to powers and I was given many great examples. Expect training humans who seek strength to reach it! Some day, I'm sure.
>>6396493 Regarding writing the quest: >I’m afraid real life will make it very hard for me to have proper “sessions” of many many hours. Writing is slow, the longer the quest has gone, the more things you have to take into account to keep it all coherent, the slower the writing inherently gets. Vegeta Quest has gone through a lot of things that make it diverge from the OG timeline, even if I have my notes handy, it won’t be easy to keep track of everything. >In any case, expect updates in different rhythms. Sometimes I may be able to actually keep a “session” going around 9 PM to 12 PM GMT+1, other times I’ll only be able to output one post per day, sometimes there may be pauses of various days or even weeks (which I’ll try to warn everyone about here) due to real life taking priority. I'm thinking of making some sort of social media to add updates to, but not sure which platform to use as it's been a long time since I've used any. >I want to finish the quest, so the one thing I’d like to do is thank all of you anons for your eternal patience with your flakey QM!
“It’s called training, perhaps you should give it a try some day.” You taunt the pirate captain. The jeers of his followers echo in the hall as they also sing the praises of their captain “Zodd! Zodd! Zodd!”
Pirate Captain Zodd smirks. “Of course.” His devilish smile widens. “Too bad you won’t be alive to teach me!”
He launches himself forward. You take a deep breath and use the martial arts that the alien Olond taught you. You throw your limbs forward on wide and elongated arcs, spurring ki forward and mixing it with the air around you. Loud sonic booms echo in the hall, leading to many covering their ears, though you hear the cheers of Olond from behind you. Apparently, you have used the technique in a rather adept manner once more, and in the middle of a tense battle.
Two arm swipes and three forward kicks launch the mixture of ki and air forward towards Zodd. The pirate captain’s taunting grin is swiftly removed from his visage when he realizes what’s going on. Unlike you, he cannot sense the ki coming straight towards him, and he takes the brunt of the first few hits on his face and gut. He then begins blocking the blows almost at random, and dodging from side to side.
The large alien’s abnormal speed is his greatest boon here. The Way of the Wind is strong, but it is indeed slow, though he has taken big hits, he eventually realizes the weakness of your moves and disappears from one side to another, approaching you fast.
You defend yourself from his physical blows, his three-clawed hands trying to break through your defence again. As you focus on the blows from the usual limbs, you barely have time to realize that the scorpion tail from Zodd’s back had swept forward and bit you in your left arm. You deliver a strong punch forward, knocking Zodd a few meters back, and jump back yourself to make some distance.
It is poisoned, of course it is. You are already feeling an itch in your arm that spreads.
“Bahahaha!” Zodd’s gravelly laugh spreads throughout the station’s command room, and his lackeys laugh along with him. “Foolish prince.” He says pointing at you from the very same position he was in before. “The poison in the tail of the Roddite race is quite deadly. I’m afraid you won’t have much longer.”
You furrow your brow, striking your battle pose with defiance.
“Now now!” Zodd says. “I am not without mercy, you see.” He takes a flask from under his battle armor and shows it off, the liquid inside swirling about within. “I have, of course, an antidote, which I may think of giving you.” He takes a hand to his chin, as if pensive. “If, perhaps, you surrender and serve me for the rest of your life!”
You watch as Nappa, Raditz, and Calava almost jump forward to defend you and take the antidote from Zodd, but you splay your wounded arm before they do so. “He’s mine.” You grin. A battle to the death, it will be far more exhilarating this way.
>>6396501 You return once more to your stance as your warriors return to their positions. “And if I defeat you while poisoned, Zodd?”
“Bahaha!” Zodd shakes his head. “Then of course you’d take it.” He entertains before returning to a more serious tone “Don’t be a fool, prince.” He says. “Take the loss, serve me.”
You feel the itch turn to numbness near the area where the tail bit you. You spit some blood, then wipe your mouth. “No.” You grin, and fly forward again.
Vegeta (PL 25.125) VS Pirate Captain Zodd (PL 30.000). The battle continues!
>Galick gun! You will teach Zodd the meaning of humility, and end this battle swiftly! >Tail slicer! Zodd’s scorpion tail is too dangerous, you must destroy it now that you can. >Energy blast volley! Zodd is fast, and that can be countered by simply firing too many ki blasts to dodge! >Saiyan martial arts! The venom is beginning to affect you, perhaps you should take it easy for this round and try to get the upper hand through sheer martial prowess.
>>6397067 Zodd is fast, but he’s taken a few blows already from your gusts of ki-infused wind. You watch as he stands ready to take on your blow, a devious grin still on his face, he is patiently waiting for his poison to take effect.
It is true that the venom is affecting you, so you don’t have much time to take the pirate down. You have to take Zodd down, fast, and that could only be done through overwhelming power.
So you begin firing a few ki blasts, which Zodd handily blocks or dodges, allowing you to rush past him and take flight behind his position. You don’t think twice before you begin firing an unending volley of energy blasts towards him, their color a mix of pale blue and purple.
He begins to deflect the first few blasts, which land uneasily close to his soldiers. Zodd’s laugh rings out in the room once more. “Really? You’re going to use such a pathetic technique on me?” He says as he continues to deflect your blows.
You smile. Of course the demon pirate is proud. You don’t let up, instead intensifying your volley, the light emanating from them becomes so overwhelming that many in the room have to shield their eyes.
Zodd continues to dodge and deflect, but soon his smile begins to disappear, little by little, unexpected blasts reach him in the chest, some he deflects poorly and instead singe his arms, others he’s forced to straight up block and you begin to see his armbands creak and crack under the weight of your power.
“Tch.” Zodd is now using his tail to slice some of the blasts, he is no longer dodging, far too overwhelmed by the raw power coming towards him. You yourself have no intention of stopping, you’re pretty sure that your concentration on outpouring energy is the only thing allowing you to ignore the poison. Zodd’s armor has now cracked, and the red flesh exposed beneath was burned by your blasts, you watch now as he simply crosses his arms and yells in a booming voice to hold off your attack.
More. You think. More. But your poisoned arm is now starting to tire itself, you feel how poorly your energy is flowing through it, the ki that comes out of your hand clearly debilitated by your situation. Eventually, you decide to let up and watch the result of your efforts, breathing heavily.
Your foe is also out of breath, blood seeping from his mouth from the internal damage caused by the continuous impacts on his chest. His arms are burn, and a toasty smell permeates in the air. His tail’s tip looks almost cauterized from the many times he had to use it.
“I see now how Saiyans got their repute.” He says, he spits blood and still has a hard time controlling his breath, but his grin returns. “Still, it is only a matter of time.”
Once more he strikes a defensive pose, though you can see his energy flows irregularly. His speed and reaction times will clearly be hampered.
He seems to have no intention to go after you, so you have to take the initiative once more. >Galick gun! Zodd's beat, he won’t dodge this one! >Tail slicer! If you get rid of his tail, perhaps the blood loss will do the rest. >Absolute focus (Offense)! You will pummel him where his energy flows weakest. >Saiyan martial arts! Zodd clearly hasn’t fought that many Saiyans before, show him what their Prince can do!
00
AnonymousID:fFeaYSrC04/12/26(Sun)20:20:38
>>6397071 >Galick gun! Zodd's beat, he won’t dodge this one!
>>6397761 Nope, only the Z-Fighters are aware. They were used once while Vegeta was off-planet so the Z Fighters could go to King Kai's planet and train.
In the regular timeline, they became aware of the dragon balls because the earthlings discussed them in front of dead Raditz' scouter. Nappa and Vegeta were listening in. This didn't happen in our timeline.
If Zodd won’t attack, then you might as well throw all you’ve got into this next one. You feel your arm grow more numb, it’s starting to get swollen, and the uneasiness is beginning to spread to the rest of your body.
You give your foe a spiteful look, you tuck your hands behind your side and let the ki flow through you into a ball of energy.
“Hmph.” Zodd crosses his arms and his persistent grin taunts you. “I can see how your arm grows ever more stiff, Prince. I wouldn’t recommend you go through with your attack, you might hurt yourself.”
It surprises you ever so slightly, how so many in the galaxy fight and fight without understanding of how energy flows in their bodies. You used to be unaware yourself until you trained with the earthlings. What they taught you, that technique called ki sense, it wasn’t just a way to sense energy, but to master it. You have observed your foe and he, as many others, is wasteful with it. Strong, yes, but unfocused. He never had to train in order to win.
So now he thinks you are too weak to actually harm him much. But him giving you the time to do as you wish allows you to concentrate fully on your energy flow. You compensate your poisoned arm’s weakness with your other arm, letting more energy flow through it. You take up energy from deeper within your well. That well that is fed not only by hunger for battle, but by your Saiyan pride, by your ambition to return your race to its deserved spot in the galaxy, your struggle to give your people new purpose, to take responsibility.
You yell as you fight through the pain of the poison, which has hastily spread to your chest as you force your body to overwork itself. A purple light emanates from the point inbetween your hands. Its terrible shine overtakes the artificial lighting in the room. You see your foe’s minions retreat to avoid your wrath, his more powerful subordinates also take a few steps back, sweat running down their skin and scales.
Zodd’s grin does not disappear. He puts his hands forward. “Fool, no matter how hard you try, your power level has already gone down too much!” He taps his scouter pridefully.
“Gallick…” You utter. You see your companions ready themselves, stamping their foot to the ground. Raditz takes a step in front of Kalabash to protect him.
“Gun!” You feel a vein in your forehead almost pop from the exhaustion, but you throw your hands forward nonetheless a great purple beam emanates and a great gust of wind storms out around it, knocking down the weakest among Zodd’s crew. Your cape flutters behind you as you yell with all your might.
Zodd stays on his spot. It’s when the beam hits the palms of his hands that he realizes that your energy is going to not only scald him, but burn him alive. His grin now disappears. You watch his energy flow to block yours, but it’s far too late, had he taken you more seriously, maybe it would’ve worked.
But. His arms are consumed by the purple light. “No! What?!” He yells as more of his body is engulfed. “It can’t be! The poison, your power level!” He goes on, but his voice is overtaken by the raw power of your attack as it covers him.
“Vegeta!” You hear the voice of Turles. “Watch it! You’ll blow a hole through the hull at this rate!”
“And the antidote!” Nappa throws a fist upwards.
Tsk. You’re having to fight back against your very instincts, a big part of you wants to blow this idiot to dust, tear a hole through this damn station, and watch as this fool’s minions pay for daring to desecrate a symbol of Saiyan history by embracing the cold emptiness of space.
But you hold back. You must. You’re no longer that destructive fool. You have to keep this station in the best condition possible, how could you make these idiots pay for desecrating the station you would readily destroy part of it yourself?
You separate your hands, the purple beam slowly goes out. What remains by it is Zodd. Burnt up, his armor destroyed. He breathes heavily and yet still stands. “Bastard.” His gravelly voice has turned ragged, his eyes gone white with raw rage. “You… I will kill… You…”
You feel your own ki dissipate and have to touch ground below you to hold yourself up. “Give up.” You say inbetween exhausted breaths, the poison coursing in your veins and now reaching to your legs. You mustn’t collapse, but your legs… “Give up!” You don’t know if it’s you speaking to Zodd, or your body begging you to fall down.
Zodd’s grin returns. “No… I’m… the great captain Zodd.” His body begins to wobble.
You feel your legs giving out, your body unable to move. “And I am the Prince of all Saiyans!” You throw your good arm out with what little strength is still in you.
>Roll 1d100, best of three, to see if you can stay up until Zodd falls.
00
AnonymousID:fFeaYSrC04/14/26(Tue)23:16:41
Rolled 16 (1d100)
>>6398023 Was it the classic right arm that's faltering again? I do wonder where your players went, QM. Anyways, how distant in personality is Quest Vegeta from Namek Vegeta in your opinion?
>>6398167 It's the one that got poisoned, the left one.
>I do wonder where your players went, QM Who knows? 4 years is a long time, I hope they're all doing well and enjoying questing in some form or another. /qst/ doesn't have as many people as it did all those years ago. I imagine a lot of people grew out of the hobby or left for other sites. 4chan including captchas and delays between posts has hurt /qst/ exponentially, you basically need a pass if you want to QM.
>how distant in personality is Quest Vegeta from Namek Vegeta in your opinion? Good question. Namek Vegeta was still on that completely egocentric mindset. Might makes right, no need for need training (he's perfect as is), and seeking quick ways to gain power through the dragon balls. He's ruthless with Gohan and the Namekians, kills his enemies without a second thought. His way of thinking doesn't change until he's basically lying on the ground dying and knowing that his only chance at revenge against Frieza is Goku.
Quest Vegeta is far tamer than that. He was basically almost dead after a failed planetary conquest in thread 1 and only got saved by earthling hospitality and seems to have learned a lot from them. He cares about people that aren't himself, is more cautious with how he treats his enemies (even going as far as being respectful), trains with others and learns new techniques from them, he also feels responsible for the Saiyan race as a whole as he's technically their leader.
He doesn't know about the dragon balls yet though. Neither does Frieza thankfully, only the Z-Fighters know about them. I have to check in lore how Frieza came to know about the Namekian dragon balls for a possible future arc.
>mfw it’s back HAHAHAHAAA, YEEEES I checked every October and was met with sadness, but I never gave up hope. Pleasure to have you back again, King. Seems you come back whenever a new war springs up, eh?
>>6400314 Glad we still got some veterans on board. Thank you for your eternal vigilance anon. >Seems you come back whenever a new war springs up, eh? There's a new war every other year lately, crazy world we live in. I just wanna write dbz fanfics man.
A tense few seconds follow the echo of your words in the command center of what was once Sadala Station. Everyone looks on as both you and Zodd fight one last bout, one of pure, raw resistance against wound and poison.
Finally, the end of your duel comes. Zodd spits a bunch of blood, his eyes go white, and he falls forward. You sense his energy still flowing within, he is alive.
Meanwhile, the poison is still burrowing into you. You can no longer stand the shake in your legs and fall onto a knee, taking a hand to your chest and gripping your weakening heart.
“Vegeta!” You hear Nappa yell, he dashes towards you and takes a stand to ensure none of the pirates dare get close to you, gritting his teeth as he watches the Zodd’s elites converge to your position from a relatively safe distance.
You see Calava fly towards Zodd. She rummages through his broken armor as nervous sweat dribbles from her forehead. Her hands find the prize she seeks, the small vial containing the antidote that will save your life. As she flies towards you, you watch as the rest of the pirates seem to follow along their commanders.
Rasha, Olond, Raditz, Turles, and Kalabash take positions to form a defensive perimeter around you and Nappa. The first four stick close to the enemy’s elites, while Kalabash eyes the mooks.
Nappa lets Calava approach you while keeping his wary stare fixed on your foes. She takes to a knee and pushes you back so you fall on her lifted thigh, your breathing is growing fainter as she pours the antidote in your mouth and you swallow. Soon, you start feeling that the poison’s effects are no longer spreading as they did before, but the harm to your body was done, it will take a while for you to recuperate fully, still, you can lift yourself on Calava’s shoulder and speak.
Zodd’s second-in-command approaches, he’s of the same race as the pirate captain, though leaner and smaller by a long shot, he still towers over most of you. He is backed by the rest of Zodd’s elites, the four strongest being reptilian-looking, but there is a wide variety of species among them.
“I am Nishka, and with Zodd out cold, I rule this band of pirates.” He clenches his fist. He eyes your group with snarl, he does not know your power levels, his old scouter is off to avoid the risk of it breaking from high reads. “We will do no further battle if you let us leave with our captain.”
Turles speaks before anyone else. “You’re really going to go back with your captain? Seems like a pretty good chance for him to fall ‘in battle’ while you get the post.”
Nishka snickers. “Someone will have to take the blame in front of lady Zar’Ann. Won’t be me. Taking Zodd with us is non-negotiable.”
Turles’ brow furrows, he looks back towards you. “Well, these guys are going to go back to Pirate Queen Zar’Ann. She won’t be happy to hear that one of her stations was lost.”
Rasha, your tall and lean alien companion interjects. “If we fight this entire group, we will risk damaging the station further, perhaps irreparably. It’s already in a bad state as it is.” Olond nods in clear agreement, while the lack of a reply from Turles clearly indicates that he agrees with Rasha as well.
You look to Turles, struggling to bring out your voice. “Would Zar’Ann be willing to negotiate with us if we let her crew go?”
Turles shrugs. “No idea, never met her. I hear she’s a ruthless woman though.”
You nod in reply.
Nappa pulls a quick move. “Our previous offer to work for us still stands.” He says, looking at Nishka with a smirk.
“Honestly, we’d rather die and tear down this station with us than betray the Queen.” Nishka says. You’re trying to analyse his words, wondering if that’s loyalty or fear speaking, but the alien does a good job of keeping his emotions calm as he speaks, your poison-clouded mind doesn’t help either.
You steel yourself to reply, your aching body making it hard to bring out your voice.
>”I allow you to leave with Zodd as a gesture of goodwill. Tell Queen Zar’Ann that we are open to negotiate terms.” >”Letting you go would just let you gather more forces for a counter-attack. Destroy them!” A new battle begins! The station may be damaged further! >Write-in.
A bit of a ramble post but I'll post it nonetheless.
>>6400611 Nope, Zenkai was discussed a few times over the course of the quest. Namek Zenkais are too big for quest pacing, you'd basically be going from scrub Vegeta to Cold Empire genocider in like 2-3 zenkai boosts.
This would be fine if my intent was to get involved with the weirder shenanigans of the later half of DBZ and all of Super as soon as possible, but I'm a HUGE Saiyan + Frieza arc enjoyer. I'd like to keep that vibe going for a long time.
In regards to fic canon, the quest has a part where the characters elucidate that the Saiyan's exponential growth is what led to interest/fear from the Cold Empire. The Saiyan-Tuffle wars are dated to 719, in 730 the planet's full moon causes the Oozaru rampage, 731 the planet is annexed by the Cold Empire after noticing the power level spike during the Oozaru rampage, 737 Frieza decides to destroy planet Vegeta likely after seeing that a random amount of Saiyans (such as Bardock) were growing exponentially more powerful in a short amount of time. Still, it took decades for the Saiyans to be noticed, and 6 years for Frieza to decide they were too big of a threat, so the growth is there, it's exponential, but it can also take time.
So what I came up with is the following: Zenkai boosts are a flat increase + random roll (We will do one later after Vegeta starts to recover). I take into account the PL of the enemy / gravity of the situation, Vegeta's current PL, and other stuff like the near-death experience being caused by a selfless act (gives more power), having important people Vegeta genuinely wants to protect (friends, comrades, partners, children, etc), and whatever else I come up with on the spot.
Rather than multiplying power by a factor of 10, it's more like a very large % increases on your current PL. It being a % increase also implies that the stronger you are, the bigger your Zenkai boosts but they're not game breaking stuff. Multiplying your power should be left to transformations and powerups.
>>6400827 >Multiplying your power should be left to transformations and powerups Majin Vegeta, my beloved. >selfless act Woah, never realized Zenkai was linked to that. I thought it was just Saiyans being beaten within an inch of life. >the stronger you are, the bigger your Zenkai boosts I thought they tapered off after the Saiyans get strong enough.
>>6401113 >Woah, never realized Zenkai was linked to that. I thought it was just Saiyans being beaten within an inch of life. It's not, really. I associate strength increase to selflessness because it's Goku's thing, and he's the strongest character in all of DB. >I thought they tapered off after the Saiyans get strong enough. Considering the strength of Zenkai in proper canon, I'm not surprised that it eventually tapers off. The quest's version of it is already super nerfed so I'll follow another logic. I may do a bell curve, Zenkai is just that Saiyan blood pushing Saiyans to reach their ultimate form as Super Saiyans and when the deed's done, Zenkai tapers off and Saiyans must focus on mastering ki management and training to improve themselves to the next breakthrough/transformation.
00
AnonymousID:5exx2E2q04/21/26(Tue)02:22:31
>>6401180 >and he's the strongest character in all of DB. El Grande Padre is the strongest character in all of DB.
“I allow you to leave with Zodd as a gesture of goodwill. Tell Queen Zar’Ann that we are open to negotiate terms.”
Nishka nods, you can’t help but notice the sly smile that is quickly subdued into an air of indifference once more. “The best solution for all, prince.” His voice, higher pitched than Zodd’s, still carries some of that demonic gravel within it. He turns around and looks to his subordinates. “Vishtak, Ebtak, take Zodd and carry him to our ships. The rest of you, board your ships, we’re heading back to the Queen’s Station!”
The two larger reptilians, whose power levels hover around 10.000, approach Zodd and hoist his arms around their necks. The other pirates pick up what few personal belongings they had brought to the station and board their ships, mostly Frieza-style recon ships that were haphazardly patched and clearly worn out by time. Despite their poor state, they swiftly dock out and fly into hyperspeed as a group. Turles remarks that they performed the maneuver quite fast, the ships may be modified to move faster. A risky endeavor that requires technical skill.
You order Nappa, Raditz, Turles, Kalabash, Rasha, and Olond to scour the ship. You would participate as well, but your body does not agree with your point of view. As you give the last of your orders to them, specifying the urgent need to find the communication device that would allow you to send a message to all Saiyan scouters in the galaxy, and the map of all the resistance cells the Saiyan Resistance once had, you spit out blood again in-between heaved breaths.
Nappa puts a hand to your free shoulder, the other one held up by Calava. “That’s enough, Prince Vegeta.” He says. “I’ll take care of things here, alright? You go and rest.”
You regain control of your breathing, trying to slow it down, but every breath is laborious. “Yes, Nappa.” He offers you a broad smile and turns around, proudly bellowing orders to his fellow comrades who clearly aren’t enjoying the sudden change in leadership.
Calava then looks at you, her brown eyes locking into yours. “Should I take you aboard the ship, Prince? Its medbay will likely be far superior to whatever they have here.”
There may be a healing pod around here somewhere, if the Resistance was able to snatch any when taking over this station. But if there are any, you’re in no condition to find it, you’ll have to trust the rest of your crew. “Take me to the ship. Bulma will have to administer first aid.”
The corner of Calava’s mouth curved down, irked by the mention of the earthling. “Fine.”
Slowly but surely, you headed back through the hallways of the station in silence. “That was a good fight, Prince.” Calava comments.
“Zodd was too proud. He could’ve beaten me if he hadn’t been trying to show off to his men.” The level of honesty in your statement surprises the female Saiyan.
“Not every day you hear a member of the Super Elite recognize that he could’ve been beaten.”
“The class system was flawed.” You reiterate, the pangs of pain warn you to stop talking before your lungs collapse.
“No shit.” She says with an ironic tone as she opens the door to the walkway that will lead you to your ship.
From the other side of the walkway, you see your ship’s door open. It’s clearly Bulma, though she bears her armor design along with a full face helmet with a tinted crystal from which she may be able to see, but you can’t. She wields some form of advanced earthling gun in her hands. “Don’t get closer or I’ll-“ She recognizes you, removes her helmet and you see her deep worry drawn on her face. In that very instant she flies forward in a dash, Calava tenses up for a moment, but Bulma takes up your other shoulder to help you walk the rest of the way.
She speaks up in a hurried, angry tone. “What have you gotten yourself into, Vegeta?!” She says, though the question is rhetorical.
Calava answers first. “Our Prince has taken the station, didn’t you see the pirates fly out?”
“Of course I did!” Bulma replies. “Almost fell out of the pilot’s chair when I saw them docking out. I need to give you guys communicators so you can give me sitreps or something.” The three of you reach the ship and the door slowly opens, giving you a welcome moment of rest. Bulma takes a hand to your chest. “Your heart’s racing, Vegeta. Your arm’s swollen, and…” She takes a hand to your face and moves it out of the way to check your neck. “Your veins look like they’re about to burst too!” She moves your head back to look at you directly. “You were poisoned?!”
You’re able to gather enough strength to answer. “Yes, their captain had a tail with poison in it, but I drank an antidote.”
She sighs in relief, swiping the sweat from her brow away. “Good news then, it would’ve taken me days to create one here.”
The doors had been open for a bit as Bulma checked on you. Once more you’re hoisted up by your comrades, a rather humiliating moment for you now that you think about it. Soon, you’re taken to a bed in medbay. Bulma activates the machines around you and puts a respirator on your mouth. She tries to pierce your skin with a needle, but the needle fails. “Oh, right.” She says as she throws it away then brings out another made of a different, shinier, tougher material that now does pierce your skin and vein. A bag of IV medicine begins pouring into your system, bringing some much needed relief to your pain and discomfort.
“That should do it for now.” She says as she removes her clean surgical gloves and puts on her white battle gloves again.
Calava, who had watched the scene cross-armed as she leaned on the medbay’s wall, stands up straight. “You better take good care of him.”
Bulma’s reply seems filled with offended pride. “Of course I will! Capsule corp. got a lot of its rep from medical care, you know? All the cities on earth have one of our hospitals in it.” She takes a clipboard with a paper on it and writes down your readings. “Plus, I’d never let anything happen to Vegeta if I can help it. Or to any of you.”
Calava seems to show a mixed reaction at the statement. “When you’re done, I’d like to speak to you.”
Bulma seems surprised, she looks back at the Saiyan and shrugs. “Sure.”
The last thing you hear as you drift out of consciousness for some well earned rest is the door opening for Calava, and Bulma complaining to no one in particular about the state you’re in.
“Man, this place is busted.” Nappa says as he moves wreckage blocking a doorframe. He sighs as he sees that the room in front of him is just another barracks.
“Pirates aren’t big on station maintenance.” Turles says as he checks the electric infrastructure of a wall behind him. “Kalabash, how did the resistance find this station?”
Kalabash seems to be wrestling with his memory of the station, trying to guess where his leaders may have left the two devices they’re seeking, but he didn’t come to Sadala Station as often as others did, he was a low-class warrior and mostly undertook missions far away from it. “It used to belong to a civilization that a Saiyan team destroyed. One of the Saiyans in that team was part of the resistance.”
“I see.” Turles brings down his soldering mask and seems intent on fixing this specific part of the circuitry, light emanates from the soldering iron’s connection to the cables. He pauses to think on his next move. “How many joined up with the resistance?”
“Hundreds.” Kalabash replies, helping Nappa clear the hallway of rubble. It would be nice to just blast them away, but they couldn’t risk damaging anything important. “I’m not sure if we reached a thousand.”
“Damn.” Turles scratches his hair, then continues his work. “So that’s what remained of the Saiyans 25 years ago, don’t want to imagine how many we are now.”
“9, at the very least.” Nappa replies as his puzzled mind tries to gauge the danger in moving each piece of rubble, not wanting to have the roof collapse on his head, not again at least.
Kalabash gives his thoughts as well. “Many of us died with the fall of this station, but I know a bunch survived the attack itself. The later persecution by Frieza though...” He grimaces as memories surge.
“Whoever remains, we’ll find them.” Nappa says as he moves a long, crooked beam.
Raditz had been ordered by Nappa to search for some sort of medbay along with Rasha and Olond. He knew that Nappa didn’t have much love for them and he didn’t want to risk the mission by letting them search for the precious devices Prince Vegeta sought. They were checking in the cleared out hallways first, in case they were lucky enough to find it there.
As they walked, Rasha decided to speak. “You seem to be the friendliest Saiyan among your Prince’s cohort. At least Piccolo says so.”
Raditz looks at the alien, confused. “Thanks?”
“How come?”
“Well, a bunch of aliens saved my life after I lost my arm.” He points to the cape covering his shoulder and missing arm. “My brother, the one called Kakarot, also influenced me, I guess.” He ponders for a moment. “I was reticent at first but it surprised how he just seemed… Happy doing nothing but training and being with his friends and family.”
Olond lets out a belly laugh. “Not the usual Saiyan mindset, that is for sure.”
Rasha seems to be deep in thought. “Do you really believe in your cause?”
Raditz seems disgruntled by the question. “Yes, I believe in Prince Vegeta. What’s with the questions?”
“Sorry.” Rasha says, lifting his hands. “My race is always a curious one.” A short silence follows. “It just seems like an impossible task. Even if you gathered up all the remaining Saiyans, what can they do that your whole home planet couldn’t do?”
Raditz didn’t respond instantly, they continued their walk for a while, checking the doorframes. His time pondering didn’t seem to bother Rasha or Olond, who didn’t insist on the tall alien’s question. Raditz finally answers. “I’m not sure. Something. Something is better than nothing.”
Olond nods. “An honorable purpose. Again, not the usual mindset for a Saiyan.”
“You’re insisting on that fact.” Raditz says, bothered by the small alien.
Olond shrugs. “It is not in our way to offend others without purpose.” He clarifies. “Perhaps…” He says, taking a gloved hand to his chin to think. “Perhaps that something you seek is the difference between the Saiyans of today and the Saiyans of many years ago.”
That sentence is followed by another thoughtful silence. Raditz is deep in thought. Maybe. Maybe that was the one thing that would give them the tiniest sliver of a thought of victory.
“Sir Raditz.” Rasha says as he stands by a broken down door. “You may want to see this.”
Raditz approached him and checked inside, his eyes widened and his mouth went agape. “A healing pod!” He rushed in, but his initial excitement was swiftly replaced with disappointment. A large hole, likely coming from some sort of energy beam, had destroyed the device, torn its glass and its electronic insides. “Crap.” A vengeful thought overtakes his mind, but his fears are quickly dissipated, the damage is old, very old, likely from the Frieza raid on the station. The metal would be hot if it had been destroyed by the fleeing pirates.
Rasha and Olond approach him. “Mayhaps the Saiyan Turles can fix it.” Olond says. “Though seeing its current state, it may take much time, and components that we do not have.”
Rasha checks the broken machine, looking around the torn insides. “Not even the earthling will be able to fabricate what we require, if my memory of healing pod technology serves me right.” He grabs a cable that seems important and sighs. “We will have to raid the Cold Empire to obtain them.”
Raditz takes a hand to his eyes, scratching them. “If it was in working condition, Prince Vegeta would be healed within just a few days.”
Rasha puts a hand on Raditz’ shoulder. “Worry not, we will all protect the Prince as he recovers.”
Bulma left the medbay room. Vegeta would be fine, he’s a tough guy, and Saiyans are made of something else entirely. She sighed, tough as they were, suicidally brave seemed to be second nature too. Probably the only reason their species survived the evolutionary process.
She saw Calava, the Saiyan woman, waiting further down the hall. Cross-armed, back leaning on the wall. Her typical posture. Bulma redid her ponytail, too many hairs had gone wild as she carried Vegeta, then she approached the Saiyan. She could sense the woman’s ki, she was, of course, absurdly more powerful than her. So this is what her friends felt when they faced their stronger foes throughout the years. Honestly, it’s easier to understand why Krillin seemed to be on the verge of tears half the time he looked at any would-be demon king, invader, or whatever else came to Earth over the years.
As Bulma approached, Calava removed herself from the wall and stood. Her arms still crossed. Here stood the earthling. Smaller than her, weaker than her. She felt her claws digging into the flesh of her arm. What irked so much about her? It wasn’t the fact that Vegeta seemed attracted to her, she could think beyond that, there was something else, and she couldn’t guess at it.
“Well, gonna say something?” Bulma says, her voice impatient. “I think we both have stuff to do.”
“How dare you talk to me like that?” Calava replies. “Should I remind you which one of us is stronger?”
“Ugh.” Bulma scoffs. “You Saiyans and prattling on and on about strength this, strength that. Just tell me what you want.”
Calava’s grimace grows angrier, she grits her showing teeth. It takes all her strength to restrain herself. “Why… Why are you here?”
“Huh?”
“I mean, here, with us, participating in this. Your life is at risk. When we left you alone in the ship, some of the pirates could’ve snuck in.”
“I can defend myself.” Bulma proudly says.
“Maybe against a bunch of earthlings, but not against what we’re fighting here. Your guns would do you no good, your power level isn’t even close to some of the lower class pirates that were in this station.” Calava relaxes ever so slightly, for some reason, she seems glad to be having a proper conversation with the earthling.
“They wouldn’t do anything to me, not with you guys around.” Bulma continues.
“And what if we’d been defeated?”
“Then I would’ve undocked and flown away. Maybe gone back to Earth to call for back up. I’m good at improvising.”
“Okay.” Calava takes a palm to her cheek. “Let me rephrase my question… Why risk it? What’s in it for you?”
“Well, it’s not every day you have the chance to go out into space protected by a bunch of super powerful aliens.” Bulma says with a merry voice. “It kind of reminds me of old times, I used to roam Earth with Goku and our friends. Then things kind of settled down before you guys came, got into a boring work routine. I wanted to get back into it but there really was nothing to do.”
“Wanderlust? I guess. There’s also so much to see out here, so much to discover. I’ve been able to develop a spaceship with the tech from Vegeta’s pods. I already met many aliens who come from completely different civilizations. Heck, Piccolo is an alien!” Bulma, looks to her side, straight out one of the windows that point towards the emptiness of space. “I mean, what kind of scientist would I be if I didn’t go out and look for stuff that could help me make new things?”
Calava listened to Bulma, her eyes growing wider as she spoke. “And you’d risk your life for that?”
“Yeah.” Bulma says as she continues to look out to the galaxy. “My dad would too, if he wasn’t so old. I guess I want to do it for him too.”
Calava stands there, silent for a while. Maybe that’s it. The earthling would go so far for the sake of her purpose, stand against odds so impossibly against her. Meanwhile, she could only brood, think of the past, of what she’d lost to Frieza and his thugs, of the impossibility of winning against the Cold Empire. Her father’s face as his head lay in her childish hands. His eyes, once proud and stern, bereft of any light. She could still hear Kalabash finishing off the Frieza soldiers who had attacked them, driven by rage and hate. Taliso, once a leader of the resistance, her father.
“I…” Tears welled up in Calava’s eyes.
Bulma panicked. “Shit, did I say something wrong?! I’m sorry!”
“I miss my dad.” Calava’s tears streamed down her cheeks, and Bulma went in for a hug, which Calava accepted.
You drifted in and out of consciousness. Most of the time, you saw Bulma taking notes, changing your IV bags, or checking on the devices around you. You remember your crew coming in to check on you. Nappa seemed worried and stern, you’d wager he assumed position as leader while you were out of commission. Raditz had come in, he spoke at length with Bulma, though the voices were just distant echoes to you. Kalabash, Turles, Rasha and Olond all came to visit at the same time, they spoke amongst themselves, but stayed only a little while. Calava came in a few times too, once accompanied by Nappa, another time by Kalabash, one time she came alone and just sad by your bedside, you heard her speak, but couldn’t make anything out.
One day, you finally woke up. You looked around half panicked, almost ready to tear through the entire medbay. Your last dream was of your fight in the planet Rekar, your last thought was of that terrible rage you felt when you realized that the emperor of that cursed planet had spent his life to doom yours.
Bulma rushes into the room, seeing her reminds you that those days are gone, and now is now. “Vegeta! You’re okay!”
“I- I think so.” You reply.
“Your heartbeat shot up through the roof. You want me to increase the sedative?” Bulma asks as she approaches your bed.
“No, no need.” You say. “How long have I been out?”
“A week.” Bulma says as she picks up her clipboard and notes down your readings. “Your guys have scoured the whole station.”
Nappa appears by the door frame, having to bend down ever so slightly to cross it. “And we found what you wanted.” He takes a hand to the insides of his armor and pulls out what looks like the communicator along with a holo-box. “The trip was worth it.”
As Nappa gave you a report of their findings in the station, the rest of the crew came in, happy to see you in good condition.
“…If we get a proper crew, they could live in the station.” Nappa says. “The pirates have kept the life support systems in a relatively good spot. There’s room for at least a few hundred people to live here, if a bit squeezed maybe.”
Turles butts in. “This was clearly a mining station for the large asteroid it’s orbiting. There’s a whole bunch of mining equipment, including some pretty big lasers, stashed down in the lower levels. These types of station are built to last, so I think we can get most of the regular systems back online, most importantly the defence systems. Some of the guns around the station could be operative again, would be a good help against attackers.”
Calava nods. “I don’t remember the resistance bothering to set those up.”
“We didn’t have the resources or the knowledge. Most non-combatants died in Planet Vegeta.” Says Kalabash. “We would have if we could have.”
Raditz is next. “Another big prize is a broken healing pod. I investigated it along with Rasha and Olond. We could get it working again with the right components and help from Bulma and Turles.”
“Good.” You reply. “Any news from the Queen of pirates?”
Nappa shakes his head. “Nothing. No one came here in the entire week.”
You sat there for a while and pondered.
Bulma breaks the silence. “We will eventually need to go back to Earth. Supplies are low, and we can get a lot of stuff that we need to rebuild the station. With enough effort, we could make it self-sufficient one day.”
Turles shrugs. “Not to be a downer, but maybe we should consider just not taking at all. We have what we came for. Zar’Ann’s pirates will eventually come back, likely with bad intentions.”
“In any case, we will need to go back to Earth.” You reply. “We can plan further there.”
Kalabash steps forward and kneels. The rest look at him. “Prince Vegeta. Please allow me to stay here and gather the bodies of the Saiyans that drift around the station. I’d like to give them a proper burial of some sort, honor their sacrifice. I would await your turn.”
Calava doesn’t seem to like the idea. “What? What about your family?”
He grits his teeth, clearly uncomfortable at the thought of not seeing them for a long while. “My family and I are still alive because of these Saiyans. I must do this for them, at the very least.”
Silence hangs in the air. You’re now sitting on your bed, your arms crossed, your good eye looking at the wall in front of you as you think.
>”We will gather the corpses of these Saiyans together. It’s the least we can do for them.” They deserve this. >”Stay, Kalabash, and honor them. We will return to Earth and prepare for our revenge.” You must look to the future. >”Let them lay where they fought, they will be a reminder for all of us to never falter again. We will all return to Earth.” Everyone must look to the future. >Write-in.