Well, things are about to go from bad to worse for our young Prince... not out of the woods yet! (Not by a long shot).

Time seemed to slow down to almost a stop. Goku watched in horror as the other ape came into full view. It was much larger than Vegeta with a nasty scar across its chest and matted, grey hair. It's teeth were yellow and cracked and Goku was pretty sure there was dark blood on the tips on its fangs.

Not good.

Vegeta noticed immediately and turned away from Goku to confront the new member to the scene. He growled and squared his stance. The other ape returned the growl. The two Saiyans bared their teeth and the older one beat his chest, trying to display his dominance. Goku had to admit, the Saiyan's power was off the charts. Goku hoped that in this transformed state, Vegeta still remembered how to sense other powers and also to raise his own. Goku did not want to have to get in the middle of this. Maybe Vegeta would run for it. Maybe there wouldn't be any fight at all.

Goku snorted to himself. Vegeta run from a fight? Fat chance. Goku stood and took off as the older, more aggressive ape lunged at Vegeta. A spray of dark blood erupted from Vegeta's shoulder as the other Saiyan sunk his teeth into him. The momentum caused Vegeta to fall back, with the large ape on top of him. Their combined weight caused the ground to shake.

Vegeta cried out in pain and then used both his arms and legs to push the larger ape off of him. The power sent the ape crashing into a mountain. Vegeta was on him in a minute, but being young, already inexperienced, and slower gave his older opponent time to recover from the crash. Their hands were locked together as they tried to push one another around. The larger ape was starting to overpower Vegeta when his tail shot out and wrapped around one of the thick thighs of the other Saiyan. He tugged hard and tripped him.

Goku floated above the two apes, being completely ignored. He waited, ready to intercede if necessary. As of right now, it seemed to be fairly even. Goku crossed his arms over his chest as a cold breeze rushed through the mountains. He thought about the first time he had fought Vegeta in the... Oozaru, is that what they called it? In the ape form. He didn't want to get involved unless he absolutely had to.

From the ground, the older Saiyan took a nasty swipe at Vegeta's inner thigh, cutting deep slices into the skin. Vegeta roared and stumbled back. He took a running start as his opponent got up slowly and hit him at full force. The ape wrapped his arms around Vegeta and they struggled together, Vegeta slamming him into the mountain every so often. The force disrupted the earth and soon large boulders began to fall on the pair. One large rock hit Vegeta on his injured shoulder and that was all the distraction the other one needed.

With a mighty push, he separated the pair and moved away from the mountain. He was moving slower than before, but his injuries were not too serious. Goku was more worried about Vegeta; he seemed to be struggling a little more. It didn't seem right though; there was no way that Vegeta was even close to fully powered up. He wondered if there was any line of logic running through the teen-ape's mind. Maybe Vegeta didn't know how to reach the deep reserves of power he had stored up, or maybe he was really trying to hurt, but not kill, the other Saiyan.

The two apes squared off again and watched each other for a long while. Vegeta was breathing heavily and there was blood dripping from his shoulder and thigh. Goku noticed that the sun was beginning to rise and the dark landscape was lightening by the minute. Good. They would transform back soon.

The ragged ape suddenly lunged at Vegeta with a mighty roar. He grabbed the smaller ape and threw him hard into the ground. Vegeta hit his head hard and went limp, face down on the ground. The older ape grabbed the ankle of the unconscious Vegeta and dragged him closer. He stomped his foot hard into the arm of his opponent and Goku heard a sickening crack.

Goku had to act, and fast. With Vegeta unconscious, there was no way he would be able to defend himself. Goku shot a quick blast of energy at the ape that was preparing to stomp of the downed prince's spine.

The ape turned and stared at him, bloody mouth open in surprise. It appeared that this was the first time he had noticed Goku. He growled and moved away from Vegeta, taking a massive swing at Goku, who dodged it easily. "Pick on someone your own size!" Goku yelled as he floated away.

The grey ape laughed cruelly, but he didn't respond. Goku didn't think that this ape had mastered his transformed body just yet.

Goku blasted the enraged ape again and again. The ape roared and stomped angrily, still trying to reach Goku. Neither of the two noticed that Vegeta had woke up. The injured ape limped towards the two, slowly and groggily.

He threw his entire weight at the larger ape and pinned him to the ground. He grabbed an arm with his unbroken one and began to pull. The ape screamed in pain and Goku watched with morbid fascination as the dazed Vegeta attacked the older Saiyan with all his might.

Suddenly, Goku realized what Vegeta was trying to do. It was too late. The ripping sound made Goku want to vomit. He threw a blast at Vegeta, but the arm was off. The older ape was shrieking underneath Vegeta and blood was spurting everywhere.

The ape swung his one remaining arm at Vegeta violently, desperately. The gash swiped Vegeta across the face and sent him spinning. The older ape followed him and tackled him to ground, his blood still pumping everywhere.

Goku began to form a thin power blade. It was Krillin's trade-mark, but Goku was going to have to take a page out of his old friend's book. He didn't want to cut off Vegeta's tail, but it looked like he had no other choice. This fight had escalated horribly. He tried to aim to the best of his abilities, but with the one-armed ape on top, it was going to be tricky. Goku would have cut the older Saiyan's tail off, but with all of the blood the ape had lost, Goku wasn't sure how much longer he was going to last.

Goku let the blast go with a scream and watched as it flew towards the young ape. Just as it closed in on the ape, Vegeta let go a scream and began to shrink. Soon, both of the apes were slowly shrinking and returning back to their original forms.

The deadly energy was still careening towards the two, but it was no longer aimed at Vegeta's tail. Goku watched as the two men continued to shrink, his mouth was agape and the panic coursing through his mind making him incapable of acting.

It all happened in an instant. The blade of energy was upon them, and they were already back in their human form. The blade went between them, cutting Vegeta deeply through his previously uninjured thigh. The older Saiyan was not so lucky; the blast halved him completely.

Goku landed and was sick immediately. He had seen so much fighting, and so much violence, but never had he inflicted this much on someone… someone so innocent. Frieza had halved himself with his own evil blast and even that had struck a painful chord with him, but this, this, was done at his own hand. He tried to bury the horrible feeling of guilt.

He quickly recovered and ran over to the pair. He couldn't look at the two halves of the once-living man. Vegeta was underneath the dead man's torso, shaking in painful spasms. One look told Goku that Vegeta was in a lot of trouble. The gash across his face and the bite marks on his shoulder were still oozing blood slowly, but it was the two on his legs that were the worst. The gashes along his inner thigh were too close to the main artery for Goku's liking. The slice on his other leg had been cauterized by the heat, but the wound was down to the bone. Goku's stomach lurched again when he saw the white flash out between the muscles and ligaments.

"Vegeta, you have to wake up." Goku said, loudly and sternly as he knelt down, pushing the torso away from him, trying not to think about what he was doing. Goku was no doctor, but he knew enough to understand that his friend wouldn't survive the trip back to the palace if he didn't do something. He had to get these wounds stabilized first and he had to make sure that the huge welt forming over Vegeta's temple didn't cause any brain damage.

"Vegeta!" Goku yelled as he quickly bound the deep gashes in his inner thigh. The young prince groaned, but didn't wake up.

Goku continued to call his name as he worked. He was getting worried. It wasn't until Goku carelessly shifted Vegeta's shattered arm to better wrap the wounds on his shoulder that the prince woke up. He shot up suddenly, screaming in pain. Goku fell back in surprise and watched as the young man was sick all over himself from moving so quickly.

Goku winced. Not only was Vegeta naked from the transformation, but now he was covered in both blood and vomit. Goku moved closer and grabbed the prince's chin and turned his head gently. "Vegeta, I need you to look at me." He said quietly.

It looked like Vegeta was having trouble focussing, but he looked up anyways and blinked a few times. One of his eyes was significantly more dilated than the other. Goku swore under his breath. This was bad. If they didn't get Vegeta back to the palace, he wouldn't survive. It looked like the head injury was a lot worse than Goku had thought at first. Hopefully whatever medicine the Saiyans had would be able to fix him.

"Okay buddy." Goku said softly, trying to keep the panic out of his voice. He grabbed the blanket from his pack and wrapped it tenderly around the whimpering and bleeding teen. "I need you to stay awake for me Vegeta. Can you do that?"

Goku picked him up and stood, preparing for flight. "Can you do that, Vegeta?"

"-Do that." He sounded so weak; his voice was a barely audible mumble.

"Okay, good." Goku took off, holding Vegeta as gently as possible. As they flew, Vegeta grew still. "Vegeta. You're going to be okay. You just need to be strong. You're the strongest person I know and there's no way you're going to let a little tiff kill you, right?"

"Right." Vegeta said after a moment.

Goku smiled. "I mean, all of us Saiyans are strong, but wow! You're one of the strongest there is. You're too strong to give up now. Once you've healed you're going to be even stronger."

Vegeta mumbled something, Goku thought he heard the words 'stop' and 'patronizing', but really it could have been anything.

"We're almost there."

"Almost there." Vegeta was sounding weaker. Goku wasn't sure if Vegeta actually understood what he was saying, or just repeating what Goku said.

"Just hold on a little longer."

"A little longer."

"I need you to stay with me."

"Stay with…"

Goku landed in the courtyard of the palace and ran inside, screaming for help. He was met my two guards. They rushed him to the medical wing. Goku tried to get Vegeta to respond to him the entire way there, but it was useless.

Once they arrived, Vegeta was taken from his arms and put on a bed. He was pushed out of the way as the healers got to work. All he could do now was watch on helplessly.

Yikes! Please let me know what you think in reviews! I love them and they fuel me. :)

WWingWisher: I don't remember any of them flying in their Oozaru form, but maybe that's just my shoddy memory. Anyways, Planet Vegeta has a higher gravity than Earth... so let's just go with that's why he can't fly and has to climb... Yes, that. ;P