Chapter 49: Tails

Gohan took a large leap backwards as Turles now towered above him. Turles had finished growing and raised his arms above his head. With a tremendous yell he fired a blast from his mouth into the sky. The beast roared wildly and shook its head around violently until its eyes found their way to Gohan. His gaze was fixated on him and his nostrils snorted. He breathed heavily and his mouth hung open slightly. His warm breath created a brief fog in front of his face as it collided with the cold air.

"G, Go… han." The giant ape muttered out. "I, remember. I must, kill Gohan!" A safe distance away, Cooler smiled to himself.

"He's in control this time." Cooler said happily.

"So what?" a voice said from behind him. Frieza took a few steps forward and was now only a step behind Cooler.

"He's never been in control before."

"Do we join in yet?"

"No, Cell still needs some more time."

"I don't like waiting around like this."

"I don't care what you like." Turles threw his giant right fist down at Gohan. Gohan hopped above it, but a left hook was then heading for him. Gohan fired off an energy blast and pushed himself back out of range. The blast hit Turles, but didn't faze him at all. With his arms tangled up, Turles then twisted himself around and managed to hit Gohan with his foot. Gohan was quickly sent flying and Turles hopped back onto his feet. Gohan stopped himself and put his hands together and began to charge up a Kamehameha.

"Kaaaameeeehaaaameeee…" Gohan said as the blast swirled in between his hands. With a giant leap, Turles was directly in front of Gohan. Gohan couldn't help but gasp in surprise at how quickly the giant ape was able to move. "…haaaaaa!" Gohan quickly shot the blast at Turles. The blast hit his armor in the chest and shattered a hole in it. It pushed against the weight of the giant ape, but couldn't make any more progress. Turles's right arm quickly shot out and grabbed Gohan in his hand. The blast stopped and Gohan was caught. "Yaaahhhhhh!" Gohan struggled against his grip and the fingers were slowly forced away from him. As Gohan was about to get free, Turles put his left hand around him and began to crush him with both hands. Turles squeezed Gohan in his hands. "Aaaaaahhhh!" Gohan's yell echoed throughout the glaciers. It was a mixed yell, one of both pain and determination. Turles's fingers began to get pushed away again, but the grip retightened. Bardock and Raditz had made their way to the scene and both of them stared up at the orb glowing in the sky.

"Father." Raditz said as he continued to stare at it. "I can't control my ape form."

"That's okay." Bardock said back to him as he continued his gaze as well. "I can't either." Their heart rates picked up and the two of them both began to grow into their own great ape forms. It wasn't long until both of them had finished transforming. They both roared loudly into the air, announcing them to the world. This announcement did not go unheard by Turles, who turned around and growled at them. Bardock and Raditz growled back and both hopped over to Turles. Turles turned around and faced them, still clutching Gohan in between his hands. Bardock and Raditz's eyes both saw Gohan struggling in Turles's grip. They then both made eye contact with Turles and growled. Turles growled back. Raditz and Bardock yelled into the air while flexing their muscles and firing off mouth blasts. Turles flung Gohan into a glacier as if he were a rag doll and turned his attention back to Raditz and Bardock.

"This isn't good." Cooler said to Frieza. "I think Turles lost control. We might have to get involved early now."

"Against them?" Frieza asked as if he didn't know the answer. "You can deal with them on your own." Cooler turned his head back and glared at Frieza.

"Coward." Cooler hopped out of his hiding spot and began to make his way across the ground, being careful to remain out of sight. Bardock showed his teeth to Turles with a fierce growl. This time Turles responded with his fists. He nailed Bardock in the snout with his right fist. Raditz let out a loud yell and then hit Turles in his snout with his right fist. The apes quickly erupted into a giant brawl with fists and feet flying in every direction. Roars were frequent, and usually accompanied by a blast from the mouth. Though not completely in control of themselves, they still possessed some sense of self for Bardock and Raditz had not attacked each other. Bardock and Raditz briefly glanced at each other. They then each grabbed one of Turles's arms and using all their might flipped him onto his back. Despite the incredible thickness of the ice, it was not able to withstand this and it broke shortly after impact. The three giant apes fell into the freezing water and flailed their arms about. Despite their struggle to get back onto land, they continued to attack each other. Turles slugged Bardock in the face and Bardock fired a mouth blast back at Turles's face. Raditz bit into Turles's arm and he howled out in pain as blood began to run down his arm. Suddenly though, Bardock began to sink. His sank lower and lower until his only his head was above the water.

"Bardock!" Gohan yelled as he rushed over to his great ape grandfather. Bardock's head went under the water and his arm was left flailing above. Gohan grabbed one of his fingers and began pulling him up. "Yaaahhh!" Gohan yelled as he slowly pulled the great ape out of the water. Gohan kept on pulling until only his knees were still in the water.

"Perfect!" Cooler yelled to himself. He leapt high into the air behind Bardock. His eyes glowed and two beams shot out of them, severing Bardock's tail from his body. Bardock slowly began to shrink and Gohan had to quickly grab his wrist to keep him from falling.

"Wha…" Bardock mumbled as he came back to his senses completely.

"It's okay grandpa." Gohan said to him. "I've got you." Gohan slowly floated to the ground with Bardock as they watched Raditz and Turles continue their brawl. They watched as Raditz punched Turles in the face with first one hand, then the other, and the firing a mouth blast into Turles's chest.

"Raditz, he's doing great." Bardock said the pride evident in his voice.

"Yeah." Gohan noticed Cooler hopping across the ground again. "I've got to stop Cooler from cutting off Raditz's tail as well." Gohan flew off after Cooler.

"My, tail." Bardock said as he looked behind him where it once was. Bardock stared at it absent mindedly. "My tail." He muttered again, still in disbelief. "My tail; that was my saiyan pride." Bardock watched as Gohan caught up to Cooler and drop kicked into the ground, keeping him from reaching Raditz's tail. "My taaaaiiiiillllll!" Bardock's yell caught everyone's attention. Gohan looked over from the sky and Cooler turned his head as he got up from the ground. Even the apes of Raditz and Turles looked over, momentarily stopping their brawl. An aura flared around Bardock and his hair stood on end. "Tail!" His aura turned gold, his eyes went green, and his hair turned gold. Bardock had achieved the power of a Super Saiyan. "Cooler! I'll kill you for taking my tail from me!" Bardock charged forward towards Cooler with his full fury channeled into his fist.

"Heh." Cooler said to himself with a small smirk. Cooler sidestepped Bardock's charge and kneed him in the gut. With his knee still in place, he clenched his hands together and pounded them into Bardock's back and then immediately into the back of his head. Flowing right back from that attack, Cooler then brought his hands back and hit Bardock in the chin. He then spun around and whipped Bardock in the face with his tail. Bardock went flying. Cooler stuck out both his hands and fired a large blast at Bardock. The blast hit Bardock and sent him colliding into the side of another mountain of ice. Snow and ice fell on top of Bardock, completely covering him.

"Bardock!" Gohan yelled as he rushed over to him. Cooler smiled to himself, but it didn't last long. An angry ape Raditz quickly squashed Cooler into the ground with his massive hand. Turles punched Raditz in the face and he was already distracted again. "Bardock!" Gohan yelled again as he began digging through the snow. He quickly uncovered Bardock's face. His face was covered in blood and his eyes were closed. He was no longer a Super Saiyan, he wasn't even conscious. "Bardock!" Gohan yelled again as he grabbed his shoulders. "Grandpa." Gohan said quietly as he held his head against his shoulder. "Come on, don't die." Much to his relief, Bardock began to hack and cough. "Thank goodness you're alright." Gohan let go of him and laid him back down. "Don't worry; I'll take care of things now." Gohan turned around and flew back off to the battle.

"Gohan." Bardock muttered, his eyes still closed, but trying desperately to say a final message. "Don't fight. Run away." Bardock went silent again.