Dragonball ZT RPG

The Vanguard

Opening
Last time on Dragonball ZT, the final showdown began for the 24th Tenkaichi Budokai, as Vulcan and Hyo faced off for the title of World Martial Arts Champion and a five hundred thousand zeni prize. Before the fight could get into its proper rhythm, however, both fighters were interrupted by a surprise attack from the air above that struck Vulcan directly.

Hyo immediately took off after the instigator, and the heroes eventually took to the air as well, leaving the announcer behind with an empty ring. Eventually they came upon a Frieza Force scout by the name of Cui, who was eager to inform Lord Frieza that their quarry had been identified. Cui did his best to hold everyone back, but he found himself quickly overwhelmed as he vastly underestimated his opponents.

Cui's message, however, was able to transmit through his scouter, finally giving away the location of the heroes to the largest looming threat in the galaxy, who had been mercilessly hunting them since the loss of the Ginyu Force. Without a doubt, that threat is now heading straight for them, and with no time to waste, the heroes have returned to their homes and are preparing for what's coming!

Episode Summary
It'd only been a few days since Cui was interrupted near Papaya Island and ultimately vanquished. Since then, all the heroes had returned to their homes to assess the situation; Tnsumi and Kukem were working diligently with Bulma at Capsule Corp, Vulcan had returned to his headquarters outside of Central Capitol, and Kanch was high above at Kami's Lookout to the west. On the various televisions in the background for those paying attention, the news of the 24th Tenkaichi Budokai was being replayed, with the announcer and Mr. Satan standing tall in the center of the ring. "... which brings us to our newest World Martial Arts Champion, Mr. Satan!"

The camera panned to a close-up of Mr. Satan, who, despite the still-obvious lump poking through his afro, had his hands raised in triumph with the World Martial Arts Champion belt secure around his waist. He grabbed the mic from the announcer and began speaking with a smug look of satisfaction on his face, "I am the greatest fighter in the world, and nobody can stop me! I am the untouchable champion that can never be defeated! Yeaaaah!"

Mr Satan twirled around, lifting a finger up high before continuing, "Those other fighters may have thought they were champs, but they were just chumps. I know they used flashy light shows and planted bombs to pretend they were stronger than they were. I know all their stupid parlor tricks and I am not impressed."

At the same time, everyone suddenly picked up on two large Power Levels, and several smaller ones, all converging on the planet together before breaking off into separate areas. About a dozen small Power Levels, all around four thousand could be sensed landing near the old Red Ribbon Headquarters, eight hundred kilometers south of Kami's Lookout. The weaker of the two large powers, three hundred and eighty thousand, along with another dozen of the smaller Power Levels, landed somewhere in West City. The largest Power Level of four hundred thousand with only half a dozen of the smaller Power Levels could be detected within Central Capitol.

At Kami's Lookout, Kanch immediately focused on West City, where his friends at Capsule Corp were located. At Mach twelve he was about sixteen minutes from West City, and made haste to link up with them as fast as possible. Meanwhile at West City, Tnsumi turned to Kukem, an expression of concern in his eyes. "I don't like it... it's not much, but it could be a trap. I'll keep and eye out here at Capsule Corp while you check out what we're dealing with." Kukem nodded and departed for the city core, waiting for Kanch to link up before moving together.

It didn't take long to zero in on the source of the threat, an obese pink alien with spikes atop his head, wearing a scouter and stretched out battle armor. He turned to face the newcomers, a look of disgust as he recognized Kukem's species, "Lord Frieza warned us it might be Saiyans we were dealing with, but I didn't think any of you monkeys would actually have the gall to oppose us." He paused and glanced down, then chuckled, "And without a tail, no less. You're completely stumped."

Kukem's nose hairs curled slightly as he caught wind of the alien's stench. "You must be Dodoria," he grumbled.

The alien flashed a wicked grin, "You'll regret ever facing down the great Dodoria!" He turned to the Frieza Force soldiers with him, all of various humanoid and alien types, and barked out at them, "Finish this worthless monkey and his friend off so we can find the real troublemakers on this wretched planet!"

Kanch immediately launched forward and punched one of the Frieza Force soldiers, killing him instantly while Kukem powered up. Dodoria lurched towards Kukem, delivering a powerful haymaker and driving Kukem into a building across the street, leaving a Kukem-shaped hole. The remaining eleven soldiers all used their beam guns to target Kanch, but his armor deflected their attacks completely.

Kanch then punched a second soldier, critically wounding them, as Kukem used Mach speed to return a haymaker back to Dodoria. Dodoria showed a surprising amount of speed, however, and deftly blocked, responding with an uppercut into Kukem's gut that sent him flying up into the sky a few hundred meters. The soldiers, all having dropped their now useless beam guns, tried using their innate ki to attack Kanch with more powerful attacks, but he weaved in between them without breaking a sweat. The building behind him, however, collapsed as the structural integrity failed, causing quite a few civilian casualties. In response, Kukem launched his Heaven's Reign from above into the city street below, hitting everyone including Kanch. The soldiers were all killed, and Kanch found himself knocked out in a small crater, while Dodoria was weakened slightly from the blasts.

As Kanch woke up from his temporary incapacitation, Kukem powered up again, and was met with Dodoria travelling at Mach speed to deliver a powerful double axe hand to Kukem's skull, but Kukem was able to perfectly counter the strike and it met nothing but air. Kanch yelled out, "Who wants some!" as he powered up, and Kukem used the point blank range to fire his Devastation Cannon into Dodoria's chest. Dodoria raised a frontal deflection, but it wasn't enough and he was launched backwards several hundred meters, causing him to growl.

Kanch then flew up at Mach speed to head-butt Dodoria, but the alien dodged out of the way in time. Kukem used Mach speed himself to kick Dodoria in the face, but met with similar results. Dodoria's response was to clap Kukem's head in both his hands with an ear-ringing strike as Kanch powered up, then Kanch delivered a Kaiser Blade to Dodoria's body. A second deflection held off the attack, and it bounced away harmlessly.

While Kanch raised his own deflection as a precaution, Kukem became fed up with Dodoria and entered into a Saiyan Rage, powered up and launching his Power Level to an equivalent level as Dodoria's. Dodoria sneered in response and delivered a roundhouse kick to Kukem's head, launching him hundreds of meters away.

Kanch had enough and activated Kaio Ken x35, surging his Power Level over three million and firing a second, stronger Kaiser Blade, ripping through Dodoria's deflections and cutting into him. Kukem then boosted his reflexes and launched with Mach speed back to Dodoria, firing another point blank Devastation Cannon. Without time to raise any defenses, Dodoria was enveloped by the blue energy blast. "That's... Im... Impossibleeeeee!!!" he screamed, before being consumed entirely by the attack.

As Dodoria fell silent, Kukem and Kanch looked to the northeast where the remaining large threat was located. They launched at maximum speed in hopes to get there in time to assist Vulcan.

Meanwhile in Central Capitol, Vulcan had decided to stay local and seek out the Power Level nearby. Arriving in the city itself, he made haste to where it was originating. When he arrived, he found a tall, slender, effeminate pale green alien with luscious dark green hair in a braid, earrings and a maang tikka. There were a handful of Frieza Force soldiers with him, again of various species. The alien calmly watched Vulcan set down and placed his hands on his hips as he quipped, "You really are dumber than you look if you think you can defeat the all-powerful Frieza."

"So you're Frieza, then?" Vulcan responded.

The alien shook his head and he chuckled, "Heh heh, the name's Zarbon, and you've made a big mistake. Why I could clean your clock with both arms tied behind my back, bird boy."

Vulcan hid his true Power Level as he powered up, only reading twelve thousand on Zarbon's scouter. "You better get ready for the beating of a lifetime," Vulcan grunted. Zarbon responded by launching a medium-sized energy blast, catching Vulcan before he could react and throwing him hard into a building, causing it to collapse with several civilian casualties. The six Frieza Force soldiers all laughed as the dust plumed.

Within the rubble, Vulcan hid his Power Level further, making it appear to be zero while he powered up further. "Go find the bird corpse!" Zarbon yelled, crossing his arms impatiently while the soldiers gathered at the build's remains to rummage. Suddenly Vulcan activated Kaio Ken x40, revealed his true Power Level of over eight million, burst forth out of the rubble, and with his Blade of Thanatos cut down all the soldiers in one fell sweeping strike.

As his Kaio Ken took a toll of his body, Vulcan then used his Aviary Strike on Zarbon, but Zarbon was able to dodge out of the way, using his arm to push the rapier aside. Nonetheless, he found himself stammering at the readout his scouter was giving. "This stupid armor is weighing me down," Vulcan stated, removing his weighted clothing and dropping it to the ground with a small crash. Zarbon finally collected himself and launched a full-sized energy blast at Vulcan, but Vulcan quickly raised a full deflection and causing it to blow up harmlessly in Zarbon's face.

Getting frustrated, Zarbon kicked towards Vulcan's groin, but it was parried away with his rapier. "I'm going to recommend you get out of here," Vulcan growled, before launching another Aviary Strike at Zarbon. Zarbon managed to evade, but a second Aviary Strike cut true, and his legs took the brunt of the attack.

Realizing his was in trouble, Zarbon yelled out, "I hate doing this, you damn birdbrain!" as he transformed into his Monster Form, growing much wider and considerably uglier. He punched recklessly at Vulcan, but was able to use his Featherguard to block. Vulcan then leapt back fifty meters and began to charge a massive electrical charge for his Pink Fluffy Kittens.

Seeing the danger growing in front of him, Zarbon launched high up into the sky at Mach speed, while Vulcan continued to charge his attack under the strain of Kaio Ken. It was at this point that both Kanch and Kukem arrived on either side of Zarbon in mid-air, and the flustered alien pointed his hands straight down as he screamed, "Try and stop this!!!" before launching a planet-ending energy blast directly at the ground below. Vulcan dropped his charging attack and, with Mach speed, was able to get underneath the attack and wear it with his full deflection, reflecting the entirety of the attack back up at the three in the air. Kukem transformed into Super Saiyan 2 as the attack hit him, launching him several kilometers further into the air. Kanch wore the attack with the bulk of his own deflections, bracing and holding position, while Zarbon similarly braced for the impact and held his ground.

Still next to him, Kanch grabbed Zarbon while Kukem powered up far above. Zarbon's struggles were fruitless, and he screamed in dismay, "What ARE you people!?!" Down below, Vulcan increased to Kaio Ken x80 and began to charge his Aviary Strike, yelling up to Kanch to send Zarbon his way.

Kanch obliged, exclaiming, "Mach Speed Pile Driver!!!" and diving down with Zarbon into the ground below. Far higher, Kukem went Mach six and dove down to meet the others in the small crater. Zarbon struggled further, swinging wildly and missing Kanch.

"If you want to look good in your casket, I suggest you switch back now," Vulcan stated, launching his Aviary Strike at the monster and shredding through his armor.

"You gonna stop?" Kanch asked, but Zarbon's only response was to spit purple blood into his face. Kanch sighed and, in response, fired his Makouhou Beam into Zarbon's chest, mortally wounding him.

Zarbon choked out a final cough of blood, growling, "Lord Frieza will make... all of you cretins pay... if you thought we were bad, you have no idea... what you're about to face..."

Zarbon and the rest of the Vanguard had been stopped, minimizing the damage to the planet, but for how long? What else could Frieza throw at planet Earth and her defenders, and what was the galactic terror himself going to be like when he finally arrived?