Chapter 36: Dragon Inbound
At Goku's command the two saiyans took off in separate directions. Vegeta banked off to the left and Goku swerved right as the claw of the dragon rent the planet's crust. Beneath them fault lines appeared in the myriad of different terrains, breaking off sections of the ground to tilt up and away from Alpha's obelisk of a nail. To Goku they looked they looked like a fleet of ships trapped in a sudden typhoon. Looking around he saw all three claws bearing down to take a chunk from the planet; behind him the second toppled the forests and desert and up ahead the third ripped apart the sea.
Around them the air quaked as parts of the broken land started to float skyward; the planet was losing its atmosphere. Goku felt his stomach turn as they dropped into zero gravity. Alpha's claw was the figurative spoon on the crown of the boiled egg that was his world. By smashing off the outer layer he exposed the centre, the yolk of molten lava bubbling to the surface beneath them, devouring whatever segments of land failed to rise.
Flying was made difficult here. With the air itself turning around him Goku released his ki and dropped to the largest floating island he could see. As Alpha retracted his claw and roared once again the saiyan spied Vegeta across from him, adopting the same idea; he descended to the spinning debris of the dead planet and charged crimson power into his palms. Goku took to his stance.
"Dragon Kamehameha!"
"Crimson Oblivion!"
Blue and red beams smashed into either side of Alpha's nail to sandwich it in a colourful explosion. The bone was harder than concrete though; only a black scorch remained where Goku blasted it, big enough to darken a billboard – a size relatively puny in comparison. Cursing to himself, Goku quickly found he had to vacate his new locale as a fountain of lava hit the undercarriage of his floating isle. He took flight again before the fire could envelop his boots.
Zigzagging through the broken continents Goku continued his path upwards – straight towards the titanic dragon looming overhead. They were at a disadvantage here; Alpha was keeping them grounded on this dying planet so they could perish along with it. Caught between the behemoth himself and the exploding core of Alpha's nameless world, Goku preferred his chances against the dragon.
Left and right the saiyan swerved, just narrowly missing the tumbling rocks and geysers of lava before an island too big to dodge came rushing towards him. With a jet of golden energy Goku punched a man-sized hole right through the centre and rocketed through. Above him, what he first mistook for a cloud turned out to be Alpha's second hand, streaming into view on a course straight towards him. The saiyan sent more power to his flight and shifted up in speed, corkscrewing between the gap of two enormous nails and straight into the path of a crumbling landmass caught in Alpha's swipe.
Rocks bigger than Goku's head rained down in their thousands. For a good few seconds the air above him was a sandstorm of meteors sharper than blades. His Kamehameha cut a line straight through them, only to be immediately filled by the immense number inhabiting the storm.
The saiyan's rescue came in the form of Vegeta. A Final Flash cleared the path before the prince himself swooped in and speared Goku away from the giant comet that followed. The two touched down on the closest rock in view, wondering how to proceed. By now they'd flown all the way up to the clouds; the mist around them might stay Alpha's attacks for a moment.
"How did he get that big!?" cried Goku.
"He isn't condensing his energy – what you're looking at is what happens when you let your power run amok. Alpha has no fixed physical form, so it's easy for him to make something like that," said Vegeta.
"So then how are we supposed beat him?"
The saiyan prince flashed a smirk and raised a fist to encourage him. "Use your senses Kakarot – he isn't that much more powerful than he was. And a bigger body only means a bigger target; his weak points won't be hard to miss."
"Ahhh. Look out!"
An incoming presence forced both fighters to jump off the island and fall back into flight. Drooling white teeth – too many to count – appeared then from the safety of cloud cover to devour their temporary haven.
Looking up Goku and Vegeta got a good look at the face of the dragon, occupying the entire sky before their eyes as the top of its head and lower jaw were both too far away to see. Shimmering scales of jet black and occasional jade painted patterns running all the way down it. Its maw, elongated like an alligator's, dripped with an acidic saliva that fizzled land into steam. Its eye was by far the most noticeable of all though; towering and demonic, the blood red sphere glowed with an insatiable hunger.
"Vegeta! Quick! Blast his eye!"
In a heartbeat Vegeta understood. Side by side their auras flared into a spectral maelstrom, violet at the centre where their colours met. Goku cupped back his hands. Vegeta pushed them out before him.
"Dragon. . ."
"Crimson. . ."
Alpha stopped in his tracks. Goku could've sworn it looked at him then, frozen as it realised their less than honourable intentions.
"KAMEHAMEHA!"
"OBLIVION!"
Twin streams of red and blue light struck the dragon at his most obvious weak spot. A roar escaped him as black shadow cried from the steaming wound they inflicted. The reptilian reared his head back like a coiling snake, immediately escaping their range by fleeing into orbit. They wouldn't get another chance until they escaped the planet – he wasn't stupid enough to try that one again.
"Not bad Kakarot. Who taught you that one?" laughed Vegeta.
"You did! Don't you remember our first fight on Earth?" said Goku. "I used it when you transformed."
"I have no memory of that whatsoever."
"Liar!"
A pale violet glow from above told them they had other concerns. Goku recognised the light and feeling; it was a polar opposite to that of his positively charged Dragon Balls. Before he could warn Vegeta the hail began again. Purple pillars shot down from orbit, fast and sharp as explosive javelins – and always six or seven falling at once.
It took them a few seconds to realise that Alpha's targets were not the two of them. Instead he speared his Dragon Ball jets through the clusters of land that sustained them in their assault. By destroying their footholds he reduced their chances with every scatter of rubble he made.
Eventually one caught Vegeta. Flattening him beneath its weight the enormous purple cannon gored the saiyan right out of the air. Turning, Goku witnessed the bolt shoot him right back down to ground level; to where an ocean of molten lava hissed and bubbled like a well heated cauldron.
"Vegeta!" Just as he screamed his arch-rival's name the saiyan felt another glimmer of a presence behind him, and before he knew it that very same attack slammed hard into his back. Faster than he'd ever fallen before Goku was thrown towards the surface, his spine burning as the ki from the beam set his fur ablaze.
Before he hit the ground the saiyan managed to fight it, turning himself so that his stomach faced the light; from there a powerful knee was enough to send it swerving away.
Goku glanced around. Sparks meandered in a windswept mist like a thousand fireflies in swarms surrounding him. The air stung his eyes and made them water, for three yards beneath his feet the hellish pit of a dying world lay in wait to consume him. On the waves of raging lava broken fragments of the planet acted as slowly melting driftwood. Through the heat waves and spits of flame Goku spied Vegeta, standing atop one with his blue aura flared to engulf it completely. Following the beacon, Goku homed in and touched down beside him.
"Alright, so maybe he's not all show," decided Vegeta, turning to see witness the sea around them. "Any idea how we take him down? Surely you can get us up there with that teleport of yours?"
Goku shrugged. "Maybe, but I stopped using Instant Transmission to attack him. I'm vulnerable when it activates – and he's caught me a few times. It might work – but then it'll probably lead us to certain death. Might wanna hold off on that one."
The prince cursed, clenching a fist. "There has to be a way to get him."
"Well. . ." The saiyan put a hand to his chin and looked up as he searched for an answer. Concentrating so hard seemed like an ordeal for him; the look of strain and effort was beyond anything Vegeta knew. After a few seconds his tensing brow rose upward in surprise. Goku pointed to the clouds in fear. Before Vegeta even turned he sensed something amiss, as around them the darkened red haze of his master technique blanketed the land.
Looking up he saw it – the sky was falling. In a crimson sheet of unrestrained power the red filled every corner of the air as far as he could see, slowly descending as the final curtain on their adventure. The size and texture was too great to believe it, though Vegeta's wits told him it was a beam – his own technique given the godly power of seven corrupted Dragon Balls. It made sense after all; with Alpha so huge, any beam he expelled from his mouth would be big enough to swallow the Earth five times over.
After the surprise attack on his eye the Shadow Dragon appeared to grow impatient. Clearly his intentions were to obliterate them along with the rest of his planet, leaving only the portal where a world once stood.
Together the two saiyans hopped off their sinking boulder and floated a short ways upward. They each readied a fist, keeping one eye trained on Alpha's falling judgement and the other trained on the man next to them. When the beam roared down upon them Goku and Vegeta's moves were as one. Two right hands, charged to the brim with Super Saiyan energy, punched against the crimson ceiling above their heads.
Fists plunged into the vortex as Goku and Vegeta felt their knuckles stung by raw power. Charging more energy, the pair pushed and shouted their loudest until the roof began to recede. From there some beams of their own helped Alpha's copied technique on its way. The red dawn fled back into the void of space, returning to planet to its previous state of hell.
The two saiyans remained unscathed, but in the aftermath of such effort the prince doubled over. He clutched the bleeding gash in his chest where Trunks's sword set him free.
"We can't repel another one of those Kakarot!" Vegeta turned to his friend. "If you're going to do something now would be a good time!"
Goku nodded. An idea did spring to mind. It was risky, but probably the only option they had. "Alright then, hold onto me – better make it tight or you'll fall off."
"What?" The prince's face went stone-dead.
"Don't be like that! Just here should do," said Goku, turning around and motioning to his shoulder.
Reluctantly Vegeta hovered over to place his hand there, vowing to break the saiyan's shoulder if he did anything foolish. Standing behind him, he kept at arm's length at all times, as if just being near the man was likely to infect him with a sudden case of stupidity. Vegeta figured his caution justified when Goku revealed his intentions.
The saiyan prince could only watch as Goku lit up the volcanic wastes with a single syllable, arching his body towards the inferno.
"Kaaaaa. . ."
"Kakarot, what are you planning?"
"Maaaaayyyyy. . ."
Vegeta growled in irritancy as Goku ignored him to carry on the chant his technique demanded. He looked down again; surely he'd would only kill them both by finishing off the planet – wouldn't he?
"Haaaaaa. . ."
Azure spilled across the ocean of fire as high above Vegeta noticed Alpha rake his claws forward for another move. He'd clocked on to their intentions, knowing now thanks to Goku's beam that they'd survived his first round of apocalypse.
"MAAAAAYYYYY. . ."
Not enough time; Vegeta redoubled his grip on Goku's shoulder and pressed his side against the man's back. Now was no time to be pedantic – if Goku took off without him he'd be left here to die. Setting his sights on Alpha, Vegeta closed his eyes and hoped his comrade knew what he was doing.
"HHAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
Faster than any flight the duo took off like a missile. As the beam hit the molten waves Goku kept his energy output at a constant, forming a continuous stream of ki that propelled both he and Vegeta skyward in a surge of blue. Using the beam as a jetpack the saiyans hurtled back into the labyrinth of floating continents; asteroid fields passed them by in a blur. Very soon Goku and Vegeta found their clothes drenched once again by their second rise through cloud cover.
"Easily your best idea to date Kakarot!" Vegeta called through over the wind's howl.
"Well the planet's done for already!" reasoned Goku. "Watch up ahead! We're not out of this yet!"
Vegeta understood already why he'd been asked to stand behind him. With Goku blasting downward Vegeta was given the task of looking right into the incoming storm of rocks above, some as big as moons with others shard-like and easy to miss. Up in the stratosphere Alpha's claw wiped out another cluster of land, forming a shower of fist-sized comets to descend over the two of them.
With only one hand free Vegeta blasted left and right like a madman, altering his techniques to see them safely through the sky. Smaller mists could be dealt with by a Final Flash, larger collections were left to the wide radius of his Hellzone Grenade and those too big to finish in ki were smashed to pieces by a well-timed right hook.
Goku's prolonged beam managed to rocket the pair right out of Alpha's world and onto an open plain. As light from the planet's atmosphere vanished they were plunged into the darkness of space. Goku released his technique and span to join Vegeta, their speed and lack of traction meaning they rocketed up to the face of their enemy.
With the void as his only backdrop the saiyans finally got a full, unhindered look at the creature Alpha became; black and green in diamond-hard scales and red where his bloodthirsty eyes watched them. Hurtling closer and closer with each passing moment they slowly came to an understanding of just how massive he was. His long, wyvern-like body could've coiled itself around the Earth's solar system, a length far greater than that of Snake Way.
Of course, Goku remembered it taking him a mere day the last time he tried Snake Way. He grinned, wondering how long it would take him now.
"Kakarot! Give me a boost."
"Right!" Placing his hands beneath Vegeta's boot, Goku brought up his arms with all the strength he owned to give the saiyan a leg-up. In a fraction of a second Vegeta was out of sight, flying a world's length past the nose of the dragon before touching down on the bridge between his eyes. Goku meanwhile stayed to challenge the creature's mouth, hardly flinching even as it roared and made a lunge for him.
As the dragon moved beneath his feet Vegeta put the orange saiyan out of his mind and started to run. With both hands aflame he blasted twin tracks beside him as he geared to a sprint. On either side of him Alpha's scales exploded in blue flames; the saiyan prince left behind a highway of fire, smoke and shadow. Before long he reached his top speed, dashing down the decline of the bumpy road and hitting his stride as the saiyan hit a hill.
"Dragon Fist!"
It was a blur to Vegeta, taking him moments to realise it, but as he raced past the halfway point something burst from the dragon's scales like a mole springing free of the ground – only with the gold visage of Shenron to propel him upward. With every footfall Vegeta continued to bomb the green tiles at his feet, wondering the whole time whether he was doing any damage at all. Behind him he felt Goku join in the fight, covering him from the air with a second barrage of energy globes.
Reaching the flick of the dragon's tail the two saiyans leapt off again and into flight, turning only when they'd travelled a safe distance to channel energy and launch a simultaneous blast against the dragon.
"Dragon Kamehameha!"
"Crimson Oblivion!"
Together the beams rocketed through space and struck the dragon's jaw. Alpha recoiled, his head breaking a moon with the involuntary movement as a shadowy mist began to envelop his wounds. Darkness quilted the length of his back until it obscured any injury. In mere seconds the only proof of their moves ever hitting him was a single snapped fang from Goku's Kamehameha; the dragon had thousands to spare.
"He just keeps regenerating!" Vegeta cursed. "How are we supposed to obliterate something that big?"
"If energy won't work we'll just have to use fists!" resolved Goku.
Liking the idea, Vegeta set off after the saiyan as the two dived into aerial manoeuvres. In a double helix they spiralled around each other in their approach, leaving dizzying tracks of blue and orange behind them until the eyes of the dragon could no longer follow their movements. Rearing his body like a serpent in defence, Alpha swiped out a claw the moment they got close enough.
The attack was a hopeful one; Goku and Vegeta knew it the moment he threw it. Neither saiyan altered their course, twirling around the behemoth of a talon before closing in on the dragon with another burst of ki. White-hot with the Royal Assault Vegeta's fists pummelled its exposed belly; dentures the size of houses sprang up with every impact of his thousand blows, and when Alpha's head lowered in defeat Goku was there to slam the haymaker of the Dragon Fist to its face.
The creature howled again, the noise so sudden and loud that it managed to knock both fighters back a ways and throw them off balance. Only then did his claws come back for another swing. Rising into a long flip Vegeta managed to evade the planet-sized appendage trying to wipe him out, yet his focus on one attack blinded him to the dragon's second hand.
As he turned the prince realised quickly that it was too late. Looking up, Alpha's claw – enormous as the sun – began to close around him, draining all light until only rays of a nearby star system remained through the cracks.
"Vegeta!"
Before he could warn him against it Goku streamed into the opening. With two open palms he slammed the prince's back, channelling ki into a shockwave to send him flying into space and away from the dragon's clutches.
Dazed and confused, Vegeta winked his eyes back open just in time to see Alpha's claw shut around the motionless orange saiyan – the blasted selfless fool. Instinctually he flipped back into stance, pressed out his palms and summoned the crimson ki.
"CRIMS-" Vegeta paused; once again Alpha's right arm rose up towards him, blocking his attempt to blast Goku free. Shooting his energy upward Vegeta plummeted down into open space, dodging the move and finding himself a better position to launch his beam. Unfortunately a much bigger limb came at him this time. Alpha swung his entire body, his tail like the whip of a god cracking forward to meet the vulnerable saiyan.
Caught mid-blast, Vegeta found himself thrown farther than he'd ever flown before through the empty void of space, bruised and aching head to toe until at last he was stopped by something hard slamming against his back. It was another moon. Groaning back to his feet, the saiyan freed himself from the six metre Vegeta-sized crater he'd pounded into the rock and observed from a distance.
Alpha brought his left hand to his mouth – the very same that Goku lay trapped inside. The unrivalled signal of pure saiyan energy told Vegeta he was still alive, although all that would change if Alpha got his way. The dragon opened its jaws, momentarily stretching them to a fearsome, near-straight line angle like a snake about to devour its prey.
Only then did the Crimson Oblivion materialise – or Alpha's twisted version of it anyway. A vortex of red power began to grow above his forked tongue, sucking in particles of negative energy by the second until the ball resembled an exploding star. Vegeta clenched a fist; he had to do something. If Goku faced that thing alone he'd die for sure. There had to be some way to disrupt him.
Alone Goku was trapped to the confines of pitch darkness as the walls of Alpha's scales got closer than he'd like to crushing him flat. He pounded on them three times with the Dragon Fist before returning to the Kamehameha. The light they gave off showed little save for burns to mark his efforts. The Dragon Kamehameha cracked a few scales, but it was nothing a miasma of shadow didn't fix in a heartbeat.
Goku! Goku can you hear me?
With his ears ringing Goku switched himself on to the telepathic voice trying to contact him. The voice and energy were both all too familiar. Hey Kibito-Kai, he answered. I'm kind of in the middle of something right now, can it wait?
No it can't wait! You have to get back to Shenron's place right away. I don't have enough energy for the jump back, so we're flying over to Alpha's portal as we speak.
Awww, moaned the saiyan. But I wanted to see if we could beat this guy! We might not get another chance like this!
You can't kill that thing Goku! insisted the Kai. Just get to Shenron's!
Above him the saiyan suddenly noticed light for the first time in minutes. A crack appeared between the plate-armoured fingers of Alpha's clutch, growing and growing until the full picture came into view. Suddenly Goku realised he was looking into that same raging torrent of impossible ki that assaulted them before – a horrific reimagining on Vegeta's Crimson Oblivion on a multi-planetary scale.
Gotta go, said Goku. If I don't make it back. . . Well I imagine you're about to see why.
As the ancient overseer began to protest the saiyan severed the telepathic connection, focusing all his attention on the atomic strike about to fall down upon him. If he warped to Shenron's here and now Alpha would simply turn the beam on Vegeta. Goku shook his head; he couldn't let that happen – not after it took them so long to get here. The only thing to do was to face it head on, hoping his momentum and energy could help him cut a path through it.
With a war-cry and a sudden charge of saiyan energy Goku bolted for the opening far above him – a spot worlds away where a glowing crimson dawn lay in wait to finish him off. The saiyan screamed into his flight and threw out a single fist before him, streamlining himself in the hope that he could penetrate Alpha's ultimate attack with an arrow-shaped body.
In the end he never found out how the drama would've played. Instead Goku's surroundings began to tremor as a sudden bang like a spontaneous earthquake rocked the dragon to its core. In his flinching Alpha released the energy too early and off-target, vomiting the pillar of crimson ki towards the farthest reaches of farspace. As he left the snare of the dragon's hold Goku found himself none the wiser as to what just happened.
Greyish, boring rocks fell in an avalanche from the dragon's head and cascaded around them in freefall. Carrying on his charge, Goku travelled up and up until he found himself right beneath the screaming beast, finishing his flight with a spinning uppercut straight to the neck.
As the dragon shot back again the saiyan's eyes flashed around the storm of rocks for any sign of Vegeta. Instead the prince found him. From a falling fragment of the broken moon Vegeta zipped back into space, hovering beside Goku within a moment of charging his energy.
"Sure showed him!" said Goku, watching as the creature recoiled.
"Stay alert," warned Vegeta. "This fight isn't over yet."
As if on cue Alpha decided to try his most powerful technique a third and final time. The crimson nebula whirred to life in the basin of his yawning maw. Vegeta dropped into stance, preparing to move at the slightest provocation. Goku meanwhile had other ideas; he slapped a hand on the prince's shoulder and pressed two fingers to his forehead, channelling energy for a dimensional warp. Before Vegeta could tell him otherwise they were spinning through the fragile precipice separating worlds.
The effect was so dizzying Vegeta nearly fell the moment they touched down. Holding out a hand, the saiyan steadied himself for a moment before drawing back to full height and looking around.
He'd been here only once before – on the eve of their last assault on the dark spire of the Vices; Goku had shown up when they needed him most and zapped them all to safety before Chronus and his most powerful lackeys could close in for the kill. This was Shenron's dimension, the last safe haven in the universe.
"Hold on a minute Kakarot," he said. "Why are we here? Don't tell me you're scared?"
"Relax, Kibito-Kai told me to wait at Shenron's. Everyone's on their way over – Alpha included. I think we're supposed to make our last stand here."
Grumbling, Vegeta accepted and glanced around. It looked different now than it was before. Six craters, varying in size, covered the floor like dug up plants – scars of Z-fighters powering up. One in particular dwarfed the rest; Goku's no doubt. At the centre of the room a swirling portal spanned from floor to ceiling. Guarding the open hole, three friends sat resting beside it: Goten, Trunks and Raditz turned to see their family members return.
"Dad!"
As Goten ran into his chest Goku felt his wounds flare up from the sudden impact. Wincing, the saiyan did his best to look tough before noticing Trunks. Not half an hour ago the lavender-haired saiyan was a collapsed heap in his father's arms. Now he looked better than ever. His shiny new sword was missing – replaced by his old one – but the steady pulse of his energy reading said he was ready to fight.
"Trunks? You look. . . Better," said Goku.
"Yup. Seems our favourite cat decided to pay my mom a visit," answered Trunks.
Favourite cat? Goku scratched his head. "Puar?"
"No dad, the other one!" said Goten.
Raditz rummaged around in his side pocket before pulling out a jingling bag of beans. "These should work unless you took another direct hit."
"Oh right, Korin! Of course!" said Goku.
With Senzu beans at the ready the two saiyans each gobbled one down as fast as they could. From a red and purple exterior Goku's skin immediately began to fade to its usual pink; he felt his chest and biceps bulge with the fullness of his maximum power as his hair bounced back to its wicked array, blue bolts dancing around him. Vegeta's wounds were fewer, but far more damaging. In an instant the stab wound through his torso closed itself shut as every iota of his strength returned to him.
Strangely enough, the broad, ugly scar stretching from his shoulder to hipbone remained. He was about to ask who landed such a blow before the excitable Goku went back to his jabbering.
"What did you do back there?" he said, turning to Vegeta. "He was about to kill me just now!"
"It was nothing." The saiyan crossed his arms. "He wouldn't release you, so I threw a moon at him."
"Nice. We're going to have to think up a name for that one."
"Think it up yourself."
"Well maybe I will!"
Before a second rematch could begin the hall began to shake. Tiles of slate from the roof fell like snow as the room tilted back and forth like a bad theme park ride. Expending their energy the fighters managed to stay afloat, slowly backing off from the writhing wormhole at the centre of the room.
Alpha's portal grew in size by the kilometre. In half a second it smashed through the roof of Shenron's domain and began to expand high into the air. Less than a minute had passed before no Z-Fighter present could make out the top. It didn't take a genius to work out why. As the world quaked and crumbled apart Goku realised it was to accommodate his enormous new form; there was no way he could fit through its previous state.
"It should be big enough now right!?" cried Goten, watching as it summoned forth green thunder, casting a tempest over the whole dimension.
"I wouldn't be so sure," said Vegeta.
A familiar energy signal behind him made the saiyan prince lurch in fright. He spun around to face the back of the hall, finding to his dismay that his wife had arrived.
Bulma clung to one of the slanted doors, looking on with tears in her eyes. Three years, he realised then – three years without even seeing her face. It occurred to Vegeta then that he'd never fully appreciated just how much he missed her, but now wasn't the time for reunions. She squealed in fright as a chunk of the roof came down just inches from her nose, heavy enough to squash her flat if she'd come any closer. Humans were so fragile. Vegeta knew he had to get her away.
"Go!" he called to her. "We've got this under control. Get yourself and everyone you can gather to safety!"
Without a word Bulma nodded. She wiped her tears away and immediately adopted her game-face; she had a job to do. While everyone else was out fighting Bulma knew she couldn't sit idle and wait to die. She disappeared back into the corridors as the tiles of the ceiling began to fall like rain.
When a chunk of rebar came down on Raditz's head Trunks drew his old sword and traced it in a circle, leaving wisps of a silvery light from the tip of the blade.
"Echo Force: Expand!"
Trunks's dome fanned out to a ten metre radius, translucent and reflective for anything that grazed the surface. Covering all five of them weakened it significantly, but the Echo Force remained more than powerful enough to repel falling debris. Without having to worry about the rocks above them the Z-Fighters could sit and watch as the portal continued to widen.
Eventually something small and weak streamed out of the opening. All five fighters fell into respective poses before Goku halted them with a hand, recognising the signal as Kibito-Kai. The overseer travelled down to meet them; Trunks disengaged his technique for a moment to let him through. The Supreme Kai looked beat, but save for some shaky knees from high-gravity exposure he was largely unhurt.
"Prepare yourselves!" he told them. "Alpha was right behind us when we-. . ." The Kai trailed off, glancing around frantically like he'd lost a wallet or his keys. It was something far more important. "Piccolo," he asked them. "Where's Piccolo!?"
The Z-Fighters looked around; there was no sign of the namekian.
"He was right there when we-!"
In answer to his protests Piccolo's scream suddenly echoed through the wormhole. Crashes boomed from the portal in violent tremors and wayward bolts of energy leapt from the membrane. Alpha roared and the namekian roared louder, his guttural snarl filling the dimension. No one could make out the fight, but from the raw power and painful sounds coming from the border the saiyans could only imagine it to be hell.
Goku set off, finding only a hand on his tail pulling him away. Kibito-Kai jerked him back to the ground.
"Don't! That portal is fragile at best! You'll collapse it if you act recklessly."
"So we leave him!? Is that it!?" snapped Raditz.
"I-" The overseer paused. "I don't know, just let me think!"
"Well while you 'think' the namek dies," said Vegeta. "So how about you contribute or shut your mouth?"
"No! You can't!"
"SPECIAL BEAM CANNON!"
A vivid shine of purple and gold suddenly flared from the dimensional window, heaven's light made reality. Pieces of the complex headed towards them in a hurricane and Trunks's barrier snapped back into focus to protect them. Shielding themselves from the blinding light, all five saiyans could only stand there and pray as energy unlike anything they'd ever felt from Piccolo raged within the portal.
When all was done silence fell. The wormhole remained, soundless and swirling, but the quaking stopped. Alpha's foul energy receded back into the portal; for a moment the skies looked calm again.
Then, like a thrown rock smashing through a window, a figure emerged from the portal. Piccolo fell from cloud-height, charred and broken before he even hit the ground. There was nothing from him, his energy reading that of an amateur's after spending up so much power. The namekian had truly seen better days; an arm and a leg had both been severed, his skin was stripped from his flesh in bloody purple streaks and he'd turned a darker shade of green from Alpha's attack. Fist-sized holes punctured his torso and his body smoked like a barbequed slab of meat. Goku wondered how anyone could still be alive after all that, but Piccolo was nothing if not resilient.
The namekian's eyes blinked open – one cracked and bloodshot from his overload of power. He tried to speak, finding nothing but a mouthful of blood.
"Senzu bean!" Goku realised. "Quick Raditz, give him a Senzu bean!"
"It's no use Goku," muttered Piccolo, finally finding his words. "My insides are fried – I'm not regenerating. . . It's over for me."
Before he could tell himself to stop Goku felt a single tear rush down each cheek. He shook his head as Raditz knelt beside him, urging the green man to take the bean. Piccolo only waved it away.
"I managed to get him good though; should've bought you a minute or two with that one." The namekian glanced to the two saiyans stood over him – his oldest friend and newest student, both struggling to hold back the waterworks as he neared the end of his life once again. "Relax you two. This is nothing new – hopefully I'll end up somewhere better this time around," he assured them.
At last Piccolo glimpsed the saiyan prince, standing half-turned in quiet respect for the dying warrior.
"Vegeta – is that really you?" he asked.
Vegeta nodded. "Yes Piccolo, it's me."
In one of the most bizarre final moments they'd ever seen the namekian started a low chuckle, growing by the moment until it became one of the heartiest laughs they'd ever heard from the solitary fighter. Goku squeezed his shoulder and tried to shake him back to sanity – he didn't get the joke.
"What's so funny Piccolo!? Save your laughing until we get you safe!"
Piccolo sighed, his voice growing weaker as his life force began to fade. "Sorry Goku. . . Guess I'm not meant for this world after all."
"Quit talking like that!"
"It's alright guys, I know I can leave the rest to you." Arching his back, the namekian turned into Goku's arms, using all the strength he could muster to bring over his fist and rest it in the palm of the saiyan's hand. "We've won. . ." was his final whisper to the group.
Goku froze in dread, taking a moment to absorb the shock of the situation as the Piccolo's body relaxed in his grip. When his claws pried open it took the saiyan a few seconds to realise he'd dropped something into his hand – a parting gift and a chance at victory. Goku brought them up to his face to inspect them: two rings jingled atop his palm, one topped with stunning orange amethyst, the other with a shimmering sapphire. Closing his fist around them, Goku laid his comrade to rest and got to his feet.
"No one else dies today," he decided then.
The others nodded, muttering words of agreement.
The shaking of Alpha's approach suddenly threw five of them off balance. Only Goku remained, striding towards the wormhole with a new purpose in mind. Everything was clear to him now. In his mind he saw the steps they'd take to win. Alpha was coming – and this time there was no Piccolo to slow him down. With his portal complete they became the last obstacles separating him from destroying humanity. He was on his way to end them once and for all.
"Everyone get behind me!" ordered Goku.
In silent compliance the remaining warriors retreated six steps. Only Vegeta remained, taking his position beside the saiyan as the two faced the endless vacuum towering to the ends of the sky – an obelisk of impossible proportions.
"I don't take orders from you, Kakarot," said Vegeta.
"I was counting on it. Here." With a flick of his wrist Goku produced the two rings, delving into the explanation he made sure to commit to memory. "Now," he began. "Trunks and Goten have been using these for weeks – it's a much simpler than the old ways. You just hit the rings together and at the exact same time you both s-"
"-Wait, wait – hold on a minute Kakarot." Vegeta shook his head. "This had better not be another fusion method! Two was bad enough. We're warriors; we should be able to fight without resorting to these humiliating performa-"
"-It's this or the dance Vegeta!" insisted Goku.
"Just. . ." The prince froze. Even as the world around them shook like the eye of a tumble-drier Vegeta still took the time out to think it over. Goku could see him go through the motions, seriously considering his options before finally sighing in dejection. When he spoke Goku only heard contempt. "Just throw me the damn ring Kakarot."
"YES!" The saiyan pumped a fist of victory and tossed Vegeta the blue ring. He slipped the orange onto his finger and the prince followed suit, grumbling as he wrestled it on.
"Alright so what now?"
"You need physical contact with both rings – and at the same time you just shout 'fusion'. Hmm. . ." Goku furrowed his eyebrows and placed a hand under his chin, deep in thought. "Well, I think our dads used a handshake. . . Trunks and Goten used a fist-bump."
The saiyan prince went blank. "A fist-bump?"
"Exactly. So how about. . ." Goku held out his hand as high as he could reach it, grinning as he did so. "Up top!" he said.
"You've got be joking."
"Nope!"
"Hmph, have it your way Kakarot." Vegeta managed a smirk, betraying the workings of an evil plan.
"GUYS!" cried Raditz.
Sparing a glance for the portal, Goku realised what got his brother so rattled. Like a boat being shipwrecked the start of Alpha's head emerged through the tear between dimensions, skidding towards them as the room began to collapse entirely. Behind them Trunks intensified the Echo Force; debris fell like rain, but neither saiyan seemed to notice.
Looking back, Goku noticed Vegeta taking ten steps in retreat. He limbered up his arm with rotations of his shoulder, letting fly a few practice punches for good measure.
"Hey that's not fair! You can't take a run-up!" Goku moaned, his ring-hand left hanging in the air.
"Why not? You insisted on this didn't you?" said Vegeta. "This way, if it doesn't work and we're made to look like fools I'll be sure to take your hand clean off for humiliating me."
"Have a little faith! It'll work alright!?"
"Would you hurry up and fuse already!?" screamed the Kai, painfully aware of the giant dragon racing towards them.
"Aright! Geez! Do your worst Vegeta!"
"With pleasure Kakarot."
Goku winced, preparing himself for the worst as the prince channelled energy and sent it to his feet. Vegeta's run was an athlete's charge; a practiced sprint faster than the gunshot with enough power behind his arm to slap a planet out of orbit.
With the slight height difference between them Vegeta had to jump at the last few yards, propelling himself even faster in order to reach up and throw his supersonic high-five. Their palms collided with a metallic clang as light poured from the clash between the rings.
"FUSION!"
In an instant the saiyans were obscured, their forms merging together to form a single white silhouette, features hidden by celestial light in the same way Alpha concealed his in shadow. Bolts of blue thunder crashed to the ground by his feet and a golden aura served as his mantle.
Before the fusion could fully form the dragon careered into the tiny figure. A rumble filled the air as the land shook more violently than ever, throwing the Z-Fighters off their feet once again before total stillness claimed the domain. The saiyans scrambled back up to meet their saviour.
Without budging an inch the white-shrouded fusion had thrown out a hand to the jaw of the dragon. There was no recoil – no visible sign of effort – he'd stopped the colossal creature dead in its tracks; all those solar systems' worth of weight held fast under the power of a single arm.
Sensing his failure, Alpha's mouth opened wide once more. Crimson blanketed Shenron's dimension for half a moment before the new fighter intervened. In a flash he materialised atop the dragon's nose, his heel coming down with a force so powerful that Alpha's jaw snapped shut with a teeth-shattering crash. Black smoke spluttered from the gaps in his fangs; he swallowed his own attack, leaving the Crimson Oblivion to detonate right where he least expected it.
As the creature writhed in apparent agony the illuminated fusion touched down. Finally the light began to subside, putting his features on full display.
.
Author's Notes: I just keep topping myself with these cliff-hangers don't I? That has to be one of my worst ones, but wait! There's a reason for this one - and it's for your benefit!
So there's the issue to resolve of this character's name, and I want you guys to be the ones to decide it. You see, since this is technically a third form of fusion, and Goku and Vegeta's other ones have different names (Gogeta and Vegito) it makes sense for this one to have his own name too. So for a while I've been toying with the name Gogito. See what I did there?
However I know that a lot of people love Gogeta and were expecting him to make an appearance, so I've been taking that into consideration as well. Regardless of his name this guy is going to have a whole new look, so it really just boils down to what you guys want him to be called. Gogito or Gogeta? Write the name in a review and whoever gets the most wins.
Speaking of which, 300 REVIEWS!? Are you kidding me!? Jesus! I know I should save my thanks for the end but that wouldn't even begin to describe how grateful I am for all this support. I never dreamed for a second that Dragon Ball AF would be half this popular. I think I've come a long way in three years, and I couldn't have done it without all the feedback and encouragement I've received on this site. So yeah, bravo guys, thanks for this awesome milestone.
Also, the high-five fusion. Yes it's very silly, but sillier than the dance? Introducing it was a huge cop-out but I've still kinda enjoyed this third fusion form – lets me get a bit more creative with the merging scenes. Can't stand writing the same thing more than once, which you inevitably end up doing in Dragon Ball a lot.
As usual don't forget to let me know if you've got any comments, ideas, criticism or if you spot any errors. I bet there's a load of embarrassing mistakes littered around these chapters, I'm going to have to go back and fix them once this is over.