Chapter 37: The Last Battle Part I

Piccolo awoke to the light. A sky of tranquil lilac was the first sight that greeted him as he opened his eyes – a sight he was unlikely to ever forget. From the flat of his back the namekian sat up, rubbing his eyes and shaking out the sleep before taking a look around.

Just as he thought: Otherworld. Around him orange clouds meandered beneath the simple green walkway, filled by a single file line of lost spirits – pompom-like nimbuses of consciousness, incapable of communication until judged by the lesser deity Yemma.

Of all the dead beings here Piccolo was the only one who retained his former body. The reward was now standard procedure for the Z-Fighters; Yemma and the Kais couldn't afford to piss off the saviours of the universe. Piccolo had to admit, the perks that came with his profession weren't bad at all. Better still, his wounds were healed. Alpha hadn't pulled any punches in their short-lived brawl. By the time he tumbled through that portal Piccolo had already wished for death.

The gravity here was a little lighter than Earth's. Testing it out, Piccolo clenched a fist and tensed his bicep as he pushed himself back up. Looking past the queue he noticed Yemma's headquarters, a traditional slate complex adorned with balconies, pools and even a decorative set of horns to crown the biggest building.

The namekian sighed; the queue was long this time around. He figured it was to be expected with Alpha's tyranny, but it did little to improve his mood. Despite their V.I.P status the denizens of Otherworld still didn't take kindly to Z-Fighters jumping in line, so a weary Piccolo took his place right at the back.

"You too huh? Bummer."

Too shocked to speak, Piccolo froze at the sound of a familiar voice behind him. He hadn't looked around; there was no need. Why would anyone be stood behind the last in line for passage to the afterlife? It was a saiyan's voice he heard – a friend he'd known since before he even knew what a saiyan was. Piccolo turned to face Gohan, sat on the floor, idly drumming his hands as he waited.

"With any luck they'll send you somewhere nicer this time," he said.

"Gohan?" asked Piccolo. The green man paused; if Gohan was here it could mean only one thing. "I see, you're going back."

"You think it's a bad idea." The saiyan looked down. The disapproval in his master's eyes was easy to read.

But Piccolo couldn't tell him that. Gohan was an adult; he made his own decisions. Besides, having one more powerhouse in the battle against Alpha could make the difference between winning and total annihilation. In reality Piccolo's main concern was worry – worry that Gohan might not make it back at all.

"It's a risk. You know that if he kills you-"

"I'll be erased completely, yeah. That's not going to happen. In any case it's a chance we have to take."

"Hm," Piccolo grunted. It wasn't an agreement, but nor was it a denial. He acknowledged the truth of Gohan's statement, but something else still bothered him – a burning question that he scarcely dared to ask. The namekian bit his tongue as Goku's son carried on.

"Anyway, I'm just waiting now. Kibito-Kai should be here soon to transport me over there. I might only have a minute or so, but you'll be surprised with what I can do with that long."

"Actually I don't think I will," said Piccolo. "Gohan, we all saw your fight with Cell."

Gohan quieted, his eyes sullenly meeting the floor again. With one look Piccolo saw the shame and confusion he had over the battle. Drawing on such a dark power for fighting was unfitting of the son of the purest man in the universe. Piccolo remembered watching it and wondering exactly how much control Gohan retained. Worse still was the idea that he'd have to tap into it once again.

"Just watch yourself out there," Piccolo warned him. "I fought my own demons recently; it's no easy task hanging on to your true self in all that darkness. Make sure it doesn't overwhelm you."

"I know." Nodding his head, the saiyan agreed. "I'd hate to be the next freak you guys have to take out."

"See that you're not. If that happened, you won't find me coming back to fight you."

The saiyan recoiled with eyebrows raised, barely staying upright after his stumble. Piccolo meant it – that much was certain. There were many things he was prepared to sacrifice; he had come back from death time after time to combat the threat of evil. No matter what the situation though, he wouldn't fight Gohan. No amount of begging would persuade him to raise a hand to his old student.

"Good luck Gohan, come back alive." Turning, Piccolo made for the back of the queue, now reduced by ten metres or so during their stalling. Half way over however Gohan called him back.

"Hey, Mister Piccolo."

Piccolo stopped; he hadn't heard that name for years.

"What's going on down there? I mean in the fight. Are we winning?" Gohan asked.

Suddenly Piccolo didn't see a grown man or a potential future threat, but a boy afraid for his father. The namekian managed the vaguest hint of a smile.

"Can't say anything for sure," he admitted. "But I left them in a good position – they have fusion rings now, and Vegeta's back on the field."

"Awesome!" Gohan pumped a fist. "Well hey, Kibito-Kai should get here in a few minutes – and he's got that crystal ball thingy! Wanna hang around and watch the fight with me?"

The namekian paused; what else was he going to do? Wait in line for the next few hours while the fate of the world was decided? Besides, he missed talking to Gohan. It was a while since the two of them spoke – in fact during Alpha's whole reign they had never met face to face. There was hardly a shortage of things for them to discuss.

"Sure, why not?"

The new saiyan was an echo of his former identities; all the names and forms he assumed in the past were a precursor to this, and yet at the same time he looked like none of them.

Fur the colour of snow covered the fighter's torso, parting only to show off the muscle tone of his chest. Black pants and boots acted as a contrast, and to couple them together the small symbol atop his back formed the circle of a yin and yang, standing out so the fighters could ponder its meaning.

His hair too, was an array of the most vivid white, shortened from the crazed bush of the later transformations to something shorter and leaner; in fact the whole form appeared smaller somehow. Gone was the overwrought, beefed-up physique of the highest Super Saiyan stages. This new fusion, whoever he was, didn't need all the excess weight that came with a power-up. The Earth's Dragon Balls fixed into his chest probably weighed enough, and he still wore a gravity enhancer on each wrist.

His strength became apparent once the Z-Fighters got a gauge of his energy. His aura was unlike anything they'd seen before, ethereal and shifting in particles around him. At different points his mantle of energy changed to make it an iridescent spectrum of orange of blue – a two-tone aurora that breezed about him like specs of glowing sand in the wind.

Any doubts about the saiyan's power were quashed completely once his eyes flickered open. Breaths of shock followed as he blinked the marble eyes of the Super Saiyan 5, the left of Goku's owl-like yellow and the right Vegeta's tropical pool of teal.

The fighter gave a momentary flex, cracked his knuckles and fell into stance. No screwing around this time; whoever he was, this fusion understood exactly how desperate their situation was.

"Th-that form," muttered Raditz, hardly able to form a sentence. "Could it be? . . No way! There's no way that's what I think it is!"

"Yes Raditz, it is," said the fusion, his voice once again a disconcerting blend of Goku and Vegeta.

"So you finally did it!"

"I sure did."

"That's the-"

"-The Final Super Saiyan," announced the fighter proudly. With his back facing them he failed to notice the awkward silence and glances passed between the three saiyans. Goten managed a snigger as beside him Trunks flattened a palm to his forehead. Raditz merely shrugged; all three of them figured he was about to say something else entirely.

"What's wrong?" the man asked, sensing their confusion.

"Oh no – it's nothing, never mind." Raditz spoke for the group. "Can you at least tell us your name?"

The Final Super Saiyan paused, his eyes wandering upwards for a moment as he decided on a name. Most fusions came with one hardwired into their consciousness, and as he searched the possibilities one in particular stood out to him. He turned to the group.

"You can call me Gogito," he said at last, grinning at how it sounded on his tongue. Facing the dragon again, he called up to his foe, "You hear that Alpha!? That means your luck just ran out. I'm going to end you today one way or another, so how about you ditch that pathetic form and at least make it a challenge for me?"

Raditz, Trunks and Goten all froze in turn. Immediately they wondered whether they heard him right at all, with their suspicions being confirmed as the colossal dragon thrummed a steady growl that sounded like an agreement. Panicking, Goten broke rank and flailed his arms.

"Wait WHAT!?" he cried. "You're saying he's got another transformation!? That's impossible!"

"It's not impossible, it's the truth. Look at that form, it's too big and bulky to combat me," Gogito explained, "he hasn't condensed his power – what you're looking at is just raw energy. That kind of body is good for wrecking worlds, but that's about its only use. Don't worry yourself too much Goten. He still won't be strong enough to beat me; at least I don't think so."

"You don't think so?"

Only one way to find out, Gogito figured.

The Final Super Saiyan could only grin as black smoke began to seep from the scales of the dragon. Dark flames caught in a spark across the length of Alpha's body, melting him smaller and smaller. He became like a snake, shedding all the excess weight one skin at a time. Whenever his size reduced his scales would evaporate into smoke, until at last he became a mountainous, scaleless worm, blind and dumb like a giant baby animal.

As he shrunk and shrunk the miasma of dark energy shielded him from sight once again. Gogito saw the curtains of shadow shaping him; moulding Alpha into a humanoid form and clinging to him like armour. As scarlet eyes glared out from the dusk the saiyan suddenly knew his most important battle was at hand.

Ribbons of darkness fled the scene in a split-second shockwave. The saiyans behind shielded their faces as the energy battered them like a sudden hurricane, but Gogito held fast, his odd-coloured eyes locked on the eye of the storm.

At long last Alpha Porunga revealed his final and most powerful form. Like his long-lost cousin Omega, Alpha's visage was of a broad humanoid figure, hairless and covered in deadly jade spines at half the joints in his body; elbows, wrists, knuckles – even the ridges in his back were capped with hedgehog-like protection, ending with a death-trap of green spikes trailing from the back of his head to resemble a hairstyle. Any rabbit-punch Gogito tried was likely to get his fist mangled.

Alpha had become the bipedal incarnation of a dragon in every sense. A black natural armour covered all but a few areas – the abdomen and neck both thinned to show crimson skin, a colour shared by the Namekian Dragon Balls dotted around his body. Unlike Gogito or his deceased cousin, Alpha's form didn't centre them around his chest. Instead a pair of them protruded from his shoulders, two were set into his knees, two lay beneath his collarbone and the bigger one-star ball emerged from his chest, all seven gleaming in red negative energy.

Gogito couldn't help but smile. The form was powerful enough; Alpha Porunga was a worthy foe for the Final Super Saiyan.

"Impressive," said the fusion.

"You're so blasé, you saiyans," Alpha began. Gogito wasn't sure which he preferred, the dragon's bad impression of Vegeta or his true voice. He spoke in a distorted drawl, a sneer that made the hair at the back of Gogito's neck stand on end, like a serpent given voice.

"You should be proud you made it this far, but this is the end of the line. This game has gone on long enough Super Saiyan. Oh but how fun you've made it! I can't very well send you on your way without giving you one last thrashing can I?"

"You didn't let me finish Alpha," said Gogito. His eyes flashed a shade brighter as the shroud of power intensified. "That power of yours, it's impressive alright. . ." The saiyan gave a smile. "But it's not enough – not quite."

"Oh great, here we go again. Blah blah, heroic speech, blah blah, I'm the strongest, blah blah. You're way bet-"

A roaring impact of light and power drove the rest of Alpha's words to the back of his mouth. Gogito crossed the space before any could blink, coming back down with a shining right hook whose howl reverberated across every corner of Shenron's domain. For a second's delay there was silence; only then did Alpha Porunga fly from the light in a sonic boom, his body hurled like a shot-put through his swirling wormhole and out of sight.

Gogito looked over his shoulder to the others. "Wait on my signal," he said. The fusion then dropped to one knee; a single push of his right leg was enough to propel him faster than light after his mark.

The saiyan joined Alpha on the other side of the portal, emerging to an asteroid belt in the far reaches of space. The dragon's planet changed much since he tore it asunder; now only fragments of a broken world remained, drifting without purpose or current through the empty vacuum.

Whatever the case, Gogito quickly learned that it made a great site for a battle. Materialising at speed, the Final Super Saiyan brought down a two-handed smash to the crown of his enemy. Alpha flew through rock after rock headfirst; soon the gaseous darkness of his 'blood' filled the void, but not before Gogito warped to his flight-path and kicked him through the comets once again until he splatted flat atop one.

As the saiyan closed in a third time Alpha finally managed to prance out of the way. Gogito's Dragon Fist reduced the rock to ashes as his hand hit nothing but stone. Turning, he noticed Alpha Porunga stood atop a nearby rock, sporting an oozing temple with a gash splitting his skull nearly in half.

He was angry again. Gogito had seen that look once before; back in Vegeta's mind when the saiyan prince briefly managed to best him. The Shadow Dragon shrieked, a feral wail of bloodlust and envy, like a child throwing a tantrum in a public place. Gogito almost felt sorry for him; for so long Alpha had convinced himself he was untouchable – that no being from the mortal or spirit realm could ever dream of approaching his level of power.

Porunga shook his head, and as his cranium regenerated he balled up a fist in rage. "Listen here rookie, you might have more power, but you're still deluding yourself if you think you can take me on. I only need to do one thing to take care of you."

Gogito scratched his head, wondering what Alpha's plan was. He was right about one thing though; whatever their difference in strength, the Final Super Saiyan was still in for a fight. Alpha's energy was virtually inexhaustible whereas his depleted with every move, even more so than usual thanks to adopting a brand new form.

I have to finish this quickly, he decided then. Once I start to slow down it'll be over before I know it.

"Ultima. . ." Alpha began. Gogito looked up to his nemesis, now showing a single palm centred with red ki. "BARRAGE!"

As the beam raged to life the saiyan ducked into a nose-dive. Energy blazed at his heels, stinging his feet, but as Gogito plummeted downward it was the attack itself that got his attention. It was Vegeta's Crimson Oblivion again, pressurised to a high-speed snipe that took only one hand to use. Alpha took full advantage of that fact as his left arm snapped up, firing off another before the first had even gone.

Spinning into a kick, Gogito summoned the energy to kick the blast away. Such feats were made possible by his new form, but that amounted to naught as Alpha Porunga began to thrust his arms back and forth.

Wave after wave of Crimson Oblivion rained upon Gogito as the saiyan fell into a blurry sequence of dodges and blocks. Visions of snowy white flashed in the darkness, the afterimages making it seem like half a dozen of him blinked around the void at any given time. The Final Super Saiyan was a fortress; whenever he singled out a beam he made a point of swatting it aside with just one hand, as if to impose on Alpha their difference in strength.

With every jump of inhuman speed the saiyan began to get closer. As Gogito neared his dodging pathways grew thinner, the empty space slowly vanishing until at last he was close enough to charge forward and elbow Alpha across his temple.

Following the Shadow Dragon a barrage of jets from Gogito's Dragon Balls punctured holes in Alpha's body. He spun towards them, firing up an arc of the brightest green ki to match them.

As the two attacks collided and cancelled each other out Gogito and Alpha met eyes through the smoke. Neither was sure who twitched first, but within a moment the pair jousted, flying full speed at the other with each a left hook until they met in the centre with a shockwave. Gogito went overhand; Alpha went underhand. The result left both of them sore.

Alpha's punch rattled the saiyan's teeth – he spat out blood and cracked his jaw. Gogito's dizzied the dragon – he aimed for the same spot he'd targeted earlier, trying to get the wound to open back up. No luck there. Both stood still for a time, arm's length from each other, heads spinning and injuries throbbing until both remembered where they were.

The storm carried on like it never stopped to begin with. In a heartbeat the two fighters fell into a blitz of punches, kicks, knees and elbows, a complex dance where failure to match one's partner meant a haymaker to the face.

Tussling for control they ploughed through countless rock faces, scarcely feeling them break on their blows as they fought for dominance. When a kick of Alpha's went wide Gogito leapt at the chance, pummelling the dragon's black chest – hard as a diamond – until he felt ribs crack beneath his fist. A knee followed suit to his exposed stomach; then a blast to the face with the golden energy of the Earth's prized Dragon Balls.

Coughing through the smoke Alpha lashed out in rage. Like some untamed predator he was most dangerous when threatened – the dragon came out swinging with a windmilling fist that Gogito barely anticipated, swaying left to avoid the blow before a ninja-swift kick snapped up to side.

Before long the two were again a whirlwind of fists and excess energy leaking in every colour of the spectrum from their flight. Their path formed a zigzagging rainbow through the asteroid field, tactfully inching away from the enormous blue sun glowing in the distance.

Seeing an opening, Gogito threw his jab and landed it hard. A splatter of dark energy fountained from Alpha's nose, but in reality it was only a glancing blow; the dragon leaned back to absorb the impact, retaining full consciousness so he could reach up and wrap his nails around the saiyan's wrist.

"How about this, 'Final Super Saiyan'?" he jeered, squeezing the black device strapped to Gogito. Sparks began to fly from the LED screen before it flashed to a warning shade of red. "Just one more now. . . Heh, be sure to let me know how it feels to suffocate in the void of space."

"Oh. . ." Gogito trailed off, disappointed. "Seriously? That was your plan?" His left hand punch was as sudden and vicious as a firecracker to the face; Alpha let go out of instinct, his eye swollen and glowing.

"Well, I hate to break it to you Alpha. . ." A shake of his wrist was enough to shimmy off the broken device, but for the remaining one the saiyan had to reach up and unbuckle the strap himself. Alpha's eyes went dead as both bricks of metal drifted into space, as useless now as the rest of the debris around them.

"I don't need those anymore," said Gogito. With a nostalgic smile he watched Bulma's creations drift off into space until a thought hit him.

Wait a sec, maybe I shouldn't have done that. There's no guarantee I'll find a safe place to un-fuse. Goku and Vegeta might need them. Gogito caught sight of the devices again, wondering suddenly whether he should zap off and retrieve them. Such a move would provide Alpha with an opening – along with making his cool speech seem completely redundant.

Gogito shrugged. Eh, I'm sure they'll manage, he decided, and the thought never crossed his mind again.

"Ultima Barrage!"

Snapping the saiyan from his inner monologue, Alpha's own personal hive of Crimson Oblivions poured once more from his palms. With each round a powerful shotgun the dragon dished one out every half-second until the void before Gogito was filled with the constant volley.

The fusion didn't mind. He had already dealt with this attack once. Now that he knew the technique to avoiding it he could replicate it at a faster pace. Speed-lines and afterimages speckled the cosmos as the Final Super Saiyan darted side to side.

It took only a few seconds this time for him to close the gap. Before Alpha realised the saiyan was on him Gogito grabbed his arm and pointed it upward, still blasting continuous jets of red power into the atmosphere. With his side exposed Gogito slammed a hook to Alpha's ribs, a world-crushing pain right where the dragon's armour parted for a soft scarlet underbelly.

As Porunga's eyes whitened in shock the darkness coughed from his lungs. Gogito hit him again, this time a right straight sideways across his face, cracking his nose down the bridge and punching out any teeth that it happened to graze. From there an elbow in the back winded him some more before the Final Super Saiyan flung him into space, already charging his ultimate attack to chase the flailing Shadow Dragon.

"CRIMSON DRAGON! . ." he roared, cupping back his hands as red ki sparked into a solidified dragon's head. Moulding the energy was another matter entirely; the technique drew more power from Goku's Dragon Balls than any before it.

After wrestling the ki like a struggling chicken Gogito finally got the energy under his control. The globe locked into place, flashing red as a sign that it was ready to fire. Gogito was only too happy to oblige.

". . . KAMEHAMEHA!"

The moment he threw it the saiyan knew he'd taken too long. With the crimson dragon bearing down Alpha snapped to sobriety and threw himself out of the way. Carrying on with a will of its own the Kamehameha snaked off into space, colliding eventually with the blue sun Gogito oft noticed in the background.

The explosion was spectacular. Blue and red flames roared in a spreading eruption that decimated everything in its path. Fortunately that only amounted to a few moons and another nearby asteroid field, but the damage was evident even from afar. Right then Gogito understood the true destructive power of the attack; if he channelled it right it had the potential to destroy Alpha once and for all.

The dragon seemed to understand that too. With a sly sneer he turned back to Gogito, mocking his failure.

"Not a bad move Super Saiyan – but it won't count for much if you can't even hit me with it."

As Gogito cursed to himself Alpha charged again, this time breaking the saiyan's guard with a heavy blow straight to the liver. Seizing the chance, the dragon picked up the nearest slab of meteor that happened to drift by and smacked Gogito twice across the face with the fragment of his old planet.

Upon his third swing Gogito raised an arm in defence. Like a snowball the asteroid broke on his fist, scattering into a million tiny pebbles floating in zero gravity. On its way through the haze the saiyan's punch pushed a few along with it, augmenting his attack with razor-sharp knuckles as he slammed Alpha across the cheek.

Flying back through the belt again, the last Shadow Dragon sought safety in retreat. Turning tail, jade energy streamed from his heels; Alpha geared up to his top speed and weaved through the asteroid field, occasionally firing back a blast as if daring the Final Super Saiyan to follow.

Of course Gogito did. In a mist of blue and orange the white-haired saiyan shifted into overdrive. The naked human eye would see nothing but a wave of distorted air; slowed down a thousandfold and the glimmer of a warrior flying faster than the speed of light through the rocks might have almost been visible. Even with his incredible speed Gogito never hit a single asteroid; he swerved over and under – left and right of every obstacle in his path.

Finally he spotted Alpha's echo of energy again, a green line twisting an obvious path through the field. Slaloming back on course, the saiyan matched himself along the same track and waited for the attack.

It came exactly as he expected it would – with a colossal meteor the size of a small moon barrelling fast towards him through space. As it neared the familiar Crimson of Vegeta's attack struck it from afar; the boulder became a grenade.

Shielding his face, Gogito squinted from the light as pebbles of space-rock nipped his skin and the red energy burned like hot water. The pain was nothing was to the saiyan. He could afford to ride out the attack, knowing it would do him little damage and that staying here would get the best results. His theory was proved as Alpha raced through the explosion, fists raised in attack.

By jumping through a bright light the dragon hoped to blind Gogito to his movements – he would have no idea which hand to block and no indicator of which angle the attack was coming from. So when the saiyan's hand snapped up to deflect his overhand right the dragon froze, his expression turning from shocked to priceless.

Gogito's senses were on a superior plateau. Since transforming he found that sensing energy signals was only the beginning; even closing his eyes, he could see every twitch his enemy made.

From his awkward stance a spinning roundhouse kick sent Alpha sprawling through another landslide of wayward boulders. Half a dozen broke on his face before the last Shadow Dragon hit the deck on one, eventually struggling back onto to all fours with a dark, gaseous energy dripping from his wrathful snarl.

"You'll never kill me Gogito. . ." he managed, grunting and growling his way back to shaky legs. "You are me, only younger and less experienced. Why do you think I began this game, hmm? Take a guess? Go on – any guess you like."

Gogito shook his head. "I won't accept any 'reason' for the things you've done. You started this because you're a monster."

"I started this because I was BORED!"

The dragon's sudden scream caught Gogito by surprise, the emphasis on his terrible motivation sending a chill down the saiyan's spine. He could only listen in disgust as Alpha continued to try and justify himself.

"You and me, we both live for battles – for the thrill of the chase – for the ecstasy you get when you step over an opponent's corpse – for the challenge of pushing your limits as far as they go," he explained. "Imagine it with your saiyan blood; staying locked away inside a set of Dragon Balls for all those hundreds of thousands of years. Could you imagine a worse hell?"

Gogito stopped to think; in a way he had endured that – or at least Vegeta had. Then again, the prince's frustrations vanished once he saw through the illusion. Alpha Porunga's years in confinement were almost certainly real; he was a growing nexus of dark power, the result of countless namekians and humans alike making greedy wishes on a sizeable set of Dragon Balls.

"When I escaped the only thing I wanted was to test myself. I was ecstatic when I learned of your existence; a small community of self-fancied heroes – fighters all with levels beyond what mortals should dream to achieve. I amassed a legion of minds as twisted as my own to pit against them." Alpha shook his head and rested his forehead in his hands, almost certainly on the verge of crying.

"We fought, we won, we lost, we lived, we died. It was the most exciting thing I've ever seen! And now here I am, finally pitted against a 'Final Super Saiyan', the only man in the cosmos who could ever hope to match me. . . Can you imagine my elation Gogito?"

The saiyan thought on it. In a way they were alike, he couldn't deny that. It was pointless considering what would happen if their places were reversed – that wasn't important. Alpha was deranged; he was all the ingredients for a powerful fighter, yet always destined for corruption. He was a danger to the universe; it was that simple.

"What you've done is unforgivable. I might enjoy a good fight, but I won't do it at the expense of innocent lives." Gogito laid out his philosophy.

"When you get to my age you stop caring about all those little. . . Heheh, trivialities."

Rage took over Gogito before he could tell himself to calm down. In a burst of iridescent power his aura resurfaced as his muscles throbbed with the desire to break the dragon in two. The saiyan raised his hands above his head, preparing to draw energy from the entire universe for a Spirit Bomb. He'd heard enough of the creature; just one conversation with him and he knew they'd never see eye to eye.

"You can't dodge this one Alpha! Prepare yourself!"

"Oh?" Alpha gave a wry grin. "And you expect me to just sit back and wait while you charge up this technique?"

"No," confessed the saiyan. "You'll wail on me for a good five minutes while I gather energy for this thing. You've got that long to finish me – and if I'm still standing once it's fully charged. . . What then Alpha?"

Alpha snarled in annoyance; any kind of Spirit Bomb from the Final Super Saiyan would destroy him in an instant, he saw that as plainly as Gogito. He had only minutes to bring the fight to a close – regrettable now that they were having so much fun.

As Gogito harnessed energy visible particles of ki flowed towards his fingertips, joining the mantle of his aura to create a godlike visage. In just a few moments the power condensed to a white, glowing sphere hovering two feet above him. Gogito drew energy from the stars and far-off planets, drawing on the life force from the water, the trees, the animals and the skies.

Alpha's headfirst gore into his stomach hit the saiyan like a train. Crazed by his taunts, the dragon opted to spear Gogito out of his pose, carrying him on a mile-long course as they plummeted through debris.

Around him Gogito felt the world change from a sickening pit in his stomach. Suddenly the two were flying in higher gravity; a hotter, denser place that stank of ash and decay. He realised then that the feeling was that which he'd felt before – a thousand times over in Goku's body: crossing dimensions.

The dragon let go of his clutch. As a glowing torpedo Gogito sailed into the nearest cliff-face, breaking rocks on his skull until he skidded into a crater. Immediately the saiyan shook his head and bounded back up; no time to lose.

Smoke from his impact swirled about the clearing, obscuring any landmarks Gogito could see. In standing up too fast he inhaled a lungful, choking on the hot gas until his throat was clear. A swift burst of his aura had the mist fleeing in an instant.

Surrounding the saiyan was a place he'd never set eyes on before, a world he knew should never have existed. The inside of an enormous sphere greeted him, intersected in chaotic lines by columns of the most jagged and ferocious looking emerald clusters he'd ever seen. On each of the crisscrossing stems were attached a handful of platforms, all at different altitudes and angles. In a dome above and below him the floor was an obsidian rock, glassy and reflective like a midnight pool.

This was Alpha's world – the corrupted hall of an Eternal Dragon. Here and there Gogito saw echoes of the design in Shenron's place, only harsher and twisted in shape and frame.

That wasn't the only bad news; Alpha's hysterical laughter made it all the more apparent. Here, Gogito was cut off entirely from the mortal world. Alpha Porunga wanted this battle on his own turf; there would be no Spirit Bombs thrown here, the energy was too vile and tainted for him to use.

Part of the saiyan relished the challenge. The dragon would know he'd lost completely if Gogito bested him here. It was a chance to break the spirit of the enemy entirely – to have them know that they'd lost completely before destroying them forever. Half of him thought that was a good idea.

On the upside this was a confined space away from civilisation – and incredible looking too – a fitting place to have their final bout. The more he thought about it the more Gogito wanted the fight, and it wasn't long before he found himself complying. He had the Inter-Dimensional Instant Transmission – when the time was right he could grab on and warp Alpha back.

"Alright." The saiyan cracked a few knuckles before flaring his ki. "Looks like no Spirit Bomb."

.

Author's Notes: Posting a double today, Chapter 38 is up as we speak!

Spirit Bomb anyone? :P Yeahhh I wasn't gonna do that again. I'll settle for making you think I was! Also, ha! Final Bout! Can't believe I never thought of that before! Kinda fitting that it came to me here. . .

Okay, so remember a few chapters ago when Goku and Vegeta ended up stuck in that limbo state and swapped memories? Well, that event is what allowed them to access the Final Super Saiyan, and this explanation dates waaaaay back to – wait for it – chapter 12 of The Room of Spirit and Time Saga.

I won't go into it too much, but basically there's a part where Vegeta asks Piccolo why he and Goku don't ascend to a higher level when they fuse (unlike Trunks and Goten). Piccolo lists along with all the other elements of being compatible fusion partners (height/weight/age etc.) that friendship is actually a key part of making a powerful fighter.

I remember putting this in all those years ago so I could pull it out for an eventual Super Saiyan 6. Basically by sharing their memories and motivations (why they choose to fight) Goku and Vegeta have now achieved a much stronger bond thanks to a having better level of understanding. Give them a fusion ring and hey presto! Final Super Saiyan! Yes it's cheesy and a bit bullshitty but throw me a bone, I'm rolling with the terrible writer from three years ago.

But yeah, the Final Super Saiyan. Tried to incorporate the Toybe design a little bit there because everyone thinks it's really cool. He's a little smaller though, I imagine this one tones down a lot and I guess has a more Super Saiyan 1/2ish hairstyle. Plus we've got the eyes thing I always do, now giving us a character with severe heterochromia. And then there's the yin/yang thing, which marks Gogito's status as a balance between positive and negative energy (Goku and Vegeta respectively). Like the last Gogeta I'm not gonna draw him, no way could I pull off something that cool looking.

Also I reallllly didn't wanna call him a Super Saiyan 6. I've discussed this with a few people on the site and everyone seems to have a different opinion, but I reckon Super Saiyan 6 is the point where it starts sounding. . . A little bit silly. Calling him the Final Super Saiyan instead then was a cheap way for me to put in the Super Saiyan 6 without actually calling it that.