(Yoko)
The blow that came for Yoko's head was sudden, faster than what the power level she could sense from the fusion should allow. But by now she'd come to expect that sort of thing out of Raditz, so adding that to this… Rappa would only make sense.
Which was why she leaped back from the attack before it came within an inch of her nose. The next blow that the saiyan sent out was a flying knee strike head straight for Yoko's chest. With speed and power that her young body allotted her the old heran copied the motion.
The resulting clap was like a lightning strike, the very ground beneath ripped open and the air growing heavy as rocks were thrown up into the sky.
Yoko's hand flew out towards Rappa's face, an act that the fusion predicted and countered with their own, grabbing the woman's in mid-motion. The two smiled like they were lions sizing up a meal as they squeezed and applied pressure on the conjoined hands, with each passing second the power behind the grip increased and increased on both until the two were so red in the face that they could've been confused with cherries.
But it was Yoko found themselves on the losing end of the competition.
For a brief second, the fused saiyan frowned before a hard, thin smile spread across their face, along with a boot that sent Yoko back several meters. On her face, was that same sharp-toothed smile that she'd been wearing as she broke Gyaku to pieces.
"I've found your limit," Yoko smiled, tapping her foot along the ground. "A bit more than five million. A number that-"
But she wouldn't get to finish that sentence, Rappa's elbow zoomed into her face. Snapping the nose once more and sending the ancient heran tumbling to the ground like a sack of bricks. In one instant, Rappa threw out a hand, blasting out with a deadly ki blast while Yoko rolled to the side to avoid it.
It was then that Yoko found herself held in a full nelson, her body struggling against the might holding her down. Even as this took place, Rappa bent backward while lifting her over themselves and letting go mid-motion.
"DragonSuplex!"
Crashing to the ground with a wet flop, Yoko's ears bled slightly from the impact of her head bouncing off a rock left there.
Hopping to her feet. Yoko blocked a punch from Rappa that smashed into her forearm. The sickening crunch upon impact telling the two fighters all they needed to know, even as Yoko was knocked yet again. But things were not over for the heran fighter, for her good arm snapped into position.
An index finger aimed at Rappa, blue ki gathered to its point like a deadly highlighter.
"Reigun!"
The resulting beam was massive, the height of a rather tall building, and also as wide as a two-story house. It sparkled and buzzed with the power of ki.
Rappa only smiled, copying the motion that Yoko had used just that second but waiting to gather power to its tip.
"Tuesday Peri-peri!"
Red and surging forward like a bolt from Zeus, the ki attack was thin, almost dainty. Twisting in the air like it was some kind of corkscrew, Yoko almost thought it wouldn't be able to do much against her technique. Then It sliced through the Reigun as if it was a water balloon rather than some deadly energy stream.
Without a single second to comprehend the situation, Yoko was hit by the Tuesday Peri-peri, it drilling into her body and making its way left and right as got deeper and deeper. It wasn't a straight line that it went through her, no it was a painful corkscrew.
Taking out both lungs and her heart at the same time.
Coughing up blood, Yoko fell to the ground, the spiral-shaped hole going through her body in a way that meant you wouldn't be able to see from one end to the next, you could tell that it was more than a little bit painful.
Rappa slammed a kick into what was left of her ribs, shattering them while also hiking her into the air as if Yoko was a football about to be soloed. Then flipping into the air themselves Rappa executed a flying bicycle kick into her face, launching her into the sky with enough force that the old heran knew it would cause her to leave the planet's atmosphere.
"So long, gay Bowser!" Rappa yelled while holding a single hand above their forehead to block out the light of the sun as Yoko reached higher elevations.
Sadly for the fusion, that was when the eldest heran's regenerative powers truly kicked in. Her lungs came back first, followed by her heart. Somehow managing to skid in the air, Yoko turned around with the intensity of the eagle spotting their prey.
Her ki exploding around her as the heran powered up, the light of her green aura growing brighter and brighter as her hair started to shift and lift just slightly so that it spiked up in the back and fronts. Leaving the long flowing hair at the back of Yoko's head seemingly shorter than before.
"I'm not going to lose to some kids!" Yoko grunted while the pigment of her skin shifted to spring green, her hair turning into a brighter shade of orange and her eyes evolving into a red gleam of light.
But that was not the end of her transformation.
The muscles on her limbs expanded like they were balloons, before then growing in length as if it was stretching out to let Yoko's body expand proportionally. Her torso was next, exploding out all at once in both width and length with her neck and head following after.
What once was a small woman, about the height of a seven-year-old child, was now a slightly taller woman, which meant teenage size.
Now you would think that such a transformation would take a few seconds at least. Long enough for Rappa to burst through the air and interrupt it? But sadly that wasn't to be so, this happens in a single moment, less than a second.
By the time Rappa made it to Yoko, she had already punched them in the face, sending them hurtling back into the ground. Crashing into it with enough force that it sank the entire island. Burying them under a mountain of dirt and water.
(Gyaku)
Gyaku awoke to the sound of a boy grumbling, his hands floating above her body with a golden sheen. The feeling reminded her of the warmth of her bed on a cool night or the feel of her mother's arms around her for a soft hug.
It was nice.
"What happened?" she moaned, reaching up with her hand to rub her forehead… only to find that no such limb was coming forward. "AHHHH!"
"Oh shut your mouth," The boy snapped at her, letting her get a proper look at his face as he turned to speak to her. "We could re-attach it if I can find the arm… "
Gast trailing off gave Gyaku the chance to speak up once again.
"R-r-really?" Gyaku's studdered, bringing her other arm to her eye line… only to find a rather disturbing secondary discover. "MY FINGERS!"
"Oh, yeah I forgot about that," Gast nearly chuckled, his smile sheepish but in that way where you couldn't tell if he was lying about it or not. His hands continued their work, sealing the wounds over her body with his healing glow, it was nothing that Gyaku could ever truly describe.
It was floating in sunshine, warm, inviting and with just the hint of power.
"How could you forget that I didn't have any fucking fingers!"
"I don't know," he shrugged, his shoulders rolling as Gast smiled… it was small and only at the edge of his mouth. "How do you forget that you didn't have any fucking fingers?"
Gyaku nearly growled, attempting to sit up only to be shoved back down by the simplest of nudges by the Namekian. Her eyes glared at the boy, if she'd had the energy she would've burned him alive.
"Let me up!"
"Nope," Gast popped his lips out as he spoke. "You're not going anywhere, not while I've got anything to say about it."
"You?" she giggled, leaning her head on the ground grass terrain. "You couldn't stop a fly!"
"Oh?"
"Yeah-" before Gyaku could start on a long tirade about how feeble he was, how he could never defeat her even if Gyaku didn't have any working arms… Gast sat on her. His legs coming to either side of her torso as his small smile grew wide. "What are you doing?"
"Proving a point," he responded, tapping his fingers along the ground. "Try and get up. I dare you."
Gyaku smiled, closing her eyes and pushed up her chest. There was no way that such a small brat could ever hope to hold her down. But she couldn't, no matter how hard the young heran girl pushed against the small boy's weight there was no give at all.
She was stuck on the ground.
"See-"
"How are you so fat!?" Gyaku interrupted him with a whine. "Your species sustains itself entirely on water!"
"I'm not," Gast told her, losing that smile that had been on his face the whole time. "You're just really tired."
"Oh… " Gyaku replied, closing her eyes once more and letting the heat from the sun remind her of the gentle embrace of the golden healing from before. The weight of the past few days, the past few months were crushing her at the moment. Knowing that her goal was further than it had ever been.
Knowing that with the state of her body her goal may be forever out of reach.
The young thirteen-year-old girl couldn't help the metaphorical ocean that drowned her emotions. Dragging them into the depths of her heart. It wasn't long until this metaphor became expressed as the tears flowed out Gyaku's eyes, falling back sideways towards the ground.
"Listen," Gast explosively sighed, causing Gyaku to once more open her eyes and stare at the boy, though her sight was muddled with tears unspent. "I might have lied about the finger… thing."
"Wh-wh-what?" Gyaku couldn't even find the energy inside herself to understand the words coming from his mouth. There was nothing left in her tank, even her voice was a shivering mess.
"Yeah, I was feeling a bit vindictive-" Whatever he was about to say was interrupted by the massive explosion that came from above the pair, high in the sky green shifted to red briefly before there was a single white beam cutting through the very atmosphere itself.
Leaving a dark void-like scar stretching across the sky.
"Holy shit."
Neither one was sure who really said that because they both had thought it.
(Yoko V Rappa)
There wasn't a single word for the speed the two fighters were clashing at. The very air of Namek voided at the mere common act of them moving from one place to another, there wasn't a second moment that the world didn't hear the thunder that came from every limb blocking every strike.
But that wasn't a good thing for Rappa. They were on the back foot constantly.
Each second that passed they were ducking and weaving, blocking shins and forearms. Deflecting blows at the last second and attempting counter attacks that ended with them completely missing. Things were looking in dire straights for the fusion.
But that was just how Rappa liked it.
And that smile that showed this started to creep out Yoko. Every time she stared at their eyes was a time that she lost just a little more confidence that victory was certain, that this performance was the peak of the fusion's power. Because even though the elder had the advantage at the moment, Yoko knew that it wouldn't last a long time.
Because it wasn't like her immortal body never tired… and this form was hard for her to maintain after so long of not even being capable of using it.
"I'm going to end this!" With a tiny sphere of ki on each finger, Yoko threw out a spread of them, dozens upon dozens of spheres littered the sky, lighting up the very air with a green glow. "Now try dodging this attack!"
"Does everyone know this technique!" Rappa griped as they brought their arms in close to their torso. "Let's go, SUNSET TRIPLETIME!"
With a single spin and one arm being held out, the fusion sent out a series of thin ki beams, no doubt coming from their finger. Each struck down every sphere that Yoko had thrown up. But despite this, Yoko never moved from her spot, never really reacted to this besides a slow smile that filtered across her face.
"As I thought."
"You actually think?" They snarked, the red aura of Sunset Overtime dying out for their traditional blue aura. "Count me surprised, from the way you've been going around. I'd thought that you were an oasis of emptiness in the desert of thought."
"You're not as cute as you think."
"Bitch, I'm adorable."
"I was wondering if you were capable of using that technique," Yoko continued on, driven not to be annoyed into defeat by the powerful fusion. "I don't know why you've been holding back so bu-"
"Oh, I've been using it.
"What?"
"I'm just so good that you've not noticed," Rappa grinned, their smile suddenly sending a chill down Yoko's smile as the elder realized the number that the fusion had shouted earlier in the fight. Three… compared to the five times boost Raditz once did. "But since it bothers you so much, and I ain't got all day, Sunset Overtime!"
With knees bent and their arms close to their torso, it was a single scream that signaled the burning red aura bursting to life around Rappa's body. This time, it was the five-time boost.
(Guru)
"Grand Elder, there's little indication that their fight won't spill over to this location. Perhaps we should join the others underground?"
Nail's soft voice contrasted with his otherwise hard expression. The young needed to lighten up somewhat, this may have been a dire situation but that didn't mean that they themselves needed to be dour. Life was too short to be so focused on duty.
Of course, his current concerns were somewhat justified.
"No," Guru denied him, his eyes peering out the window. Even though he couldn't see the fight with his eyes from this distance, it didn't hinder his ability to observe the fight. Things seemed to be going as planned. "I think that the fight will die down well before that."
"I see."
The Grand Elder tapped the arm of his chair, his great mass making the noise closer to that of a drumstick smacking the lead of a drum rather than a finger off of the soft material of the arm. He turned his eyes toward Nail's form, questioning what he was about to do.
Guru had never done something like this before, but he'd seen the technique in the mind of the young Raditz. He knew that it was within his power, that he could impart such a technique.
Even one that he'd never used himself.
"Nail," The Father of All Living Namekians spoke, causing Nail to snap back into attention. "Come here my son, I've need of your services… and a gift so that you may complete them."
And with that, Guru placed his palm on the top of Nail's head.
(Yoko Vs Rappa)
Rappa spun their arms around, shooting out spiral streams of ki that encircled the area in front of them in a cone shape. Yoko bounced back, attempting to get away from the technique but failing as it continued to move forward faster than she could move back.
"DEATH PEPPER SATURDAY!"
The spiral tightened, the top and bottom coming down onto her body as if she was a carrot about to go into the blades of a blender. Yoko swiped her arm upward, a blazing green stream of ki launched out of the motion and shot upwards at the top spiral.
The two streams of ki clashed in a blinding display of power with Yoko's winning out in the end and tearing open the atmosphere to reveal the dark void of space to the world below. The planet screamed as the sky repaired itself within a fast few seconds as if like magic.
But she wasn't fast enough to react to the bottom coming up and splitting her in half. The halves fell from the sky, dropping like rocks.
Suddenly Rappa kicked out into the air, seemingly aiming for nothing but still striking someone if the sound of a wet crunch ringing out in the sky was to be believed. Rappa's face broke out once more into a wide smile as the red blaze of their aura continued to surge and burst.
"You really must be ancient," they spoke towards the sounds of moist coughing and painful groans. "Especially if you'd forgotten that Raditz already found a way around those wimpy illusions of yours."
That was when the fusion was taken off guard.
Because Yoko's form revealed itself but rather than their foot being shoved into the old hag's gut, instead she held it in the palm of her meaty hand, a grin on her face that made sharks veer away from the danger.
"You're so right," Yoko teased, her grip on the fusion's foot increasing. "I'm just a forgetful elder, I'd never remember what had happened just an hour ago."
Then it was a scream, Yoko rocketed towards the ground while dragging the saiyan along with her. The hand holding Rappa was outstretched from the heran's body, allowing her to fling the fusion down into the earth like they were a hammer striking at a nail.
"I'll show you a real slam now, kids!"
Rappa cut through the ground like a hot knife would through butter, their head cutting through any type of material put before them. The entire island exploded, taking down another chunk of the Namekian landmass and replacing it with a brand new crater.
The Namekian sea rushed in the fill the lack of mass as Rappa blazed back into melee range with Yoko, this time their foot really did smash into her stomach. Blood flecked out her mouth and onto Rappa's face but at that very moment of impact, Yoko herself had punched out as her longer limbs gave her the reach needed to bypass Rappa's legs.
Smashing into their cheek with enough force to launch the Apollo to Luna.
The saiyan's other leg came up smacking the heran into the jaw, shattering her teeth and knocking the woman away. Rappa's right hand then launched a ki blast right at her form, spraying with burning red power.
Yoko chopped out with her left arm, cutting the blast in half and redirecting them off around her body as if she was Moses parting the red sea. Yoko's return blast was matched even as her body steamed and smoked the little wounds gained from the latest clash.
The elder couldn't help but feel all her lost confidence return to her, even as her stamina drained in every second that this fight lasted. Because she could see that it was much worse for her fused saiyan opponent.
With a vest that was in a bunch of tattered pieces, long cuts on baggy pants that revealed thin but dirty red wounds and the scratches that covered their face. All that added to how the fusion was breathing so heavily that if their chest was a piston then it would be able to power a train.
Rappa was exhausted. Not even keeping Sunset Overtime as they were minutes earlier but still ready to restart the technique at a single sign of movement from the heran.
"I'm telling you that you should just give up now, saiyan," Yoko gloated, taking in large gulps of air herself. Not paying any heed to the sweat dripping from her brow as if she was a water fountain. "You're tiring, I know that even as impressive as you are, not even you can keep up this level of power. Not when it stresses your body so much."
"That's nonsense," Rappa countered, somehow stretching out their limbs in the sky as if they were leaning on the ground, pressing their knee and pushing up their arms. "I ain't even begun to get this party started… and I'm not looking to make my record two to one."
"Wha-"
"Sun-" Before Yoko could even question that last statement, Rappa yelled out once more. Their body screaming in pain as they went higher than ever before. "-set Overtime!"
Yoko brought her arm up to block the most powerful punch that she'd felt since the days of her Father's rampage across the universe. But for the first time since the beginning of the fight, just blocking the blow wasn't enough, there was a sickening snap as the bone of her forearm snapped in two.
"Shit," She swore, her skin breaking and half of her forearm falling limp in the air. "Fuck," The elder tried to jump back away from Rappa but found their hand grasped around her throat, their small fingers tearing into her flesh.
"Oh, and they've got her into a chokehold," Rappa started to speak as if there was a crowd and as if they were a color commentator from a wrestling organization. "Are they? Are they going to go for it?!"
"What is wrong with this thing?" Yoko yelled mentally, her chocked throat making it impossible for the woman to speak her thoughts out loud. She couldn't kick out, for every limb that Yoko tried to use was blocked, it was deflected and at times even snapped in half.
The few blows that did land, impacted like a hammer breaking a finger. It left massive bruises but somehow never did hit hard enough for the hold to break. Yoko's breath started to become sparse, her brain started to slow down.
She couldn't think right, only being able to focus on the hold restraining her.
The woman couldn't bring herself to concentrate on how they'd started to move forward, on how the sunken landmass below them was soon replaced with the peak of a Namekian mountain. Clouds were crashing into the mountainside, coating it in either freezing cold water or soft touch of snow.
"They're going to do this!" Rappa suddenly roared, nearly busting the eardrums off Yoko's head with just the raw decibels produced. A sudden chill went down the spine of her heran back as they started to rapidly descend towards the mountain. "THEY'RE GOING FOR THE CHOKESLAM! SIX TIMES BOOST CHOKESLAM!"
Yoko hit the mountain peak with so much force that nukes were jealous, so much force that asteroids shivered in fear. The explosion of rock, dust and even diamond came from more than just the sheer newtons that the elder hit the peak, it also the fact that Rappa continued to push her downward, using her as both a makeshift shield and drill.
It was then the speed that they came at the mountain really sunk into her head. The fight when the fusion was using around a five-time boost meant the two of them were moving fast enough that the air behind them briefly became a vacuum… what would happen with a six-times boost?
Inside a mountain?
The resulting explosion told her everything she needed to know about the physics of the situation. The resulting pain told her all she needed to know about the effect the explosion would have on her.
(Minutes Later)
"Come on!" Rappa moaned, their arm raising to their forehead to ripe off the mix of blood and sweat that had accumulated there. Resulting in a bloody and bruised hand instead. "She's immortal, that couldn't possibly have killed her.
It went unsaid that even Rappa's mighty power was exhausted at this point. Certainly, it was still much higher than either of their component parts but they were running at around half of the power they would've had at full strength.
Without a single notice, the ground ripped open, a hand erupting from beneath to deliver a sickening uppercut that slammed into their jaw with so much force that Rappa was knocked on top of a pile of mountain debris, crashing their ass on the ground and letting them sit up with their back at a ninety-degree angle.
The pain, combined with the exhaustion the fusion had for using Sunset Overtime for so long, caused their bodies to freeze up.
"I've had enough, I've gone far, done too much to let a bunch of saiyan rejects push me around," Yoko coldly spoke, her left hand sparkling to life with a glowing blue tip. "I can just find those other Balls myself, it's not like I'm in a rush. I can afford to take a million years if I have to."
Pressed up against the debris and out of options, Rappa took note of the old woman's own power… and frowned. In one last act of defiance, the fusion spat out at the woman's face, hitting Yoko right in the nose.
"Your troubles have only just started, you fossilized shit," Rappa regained their spirit, knowing that there was one last thing they could do.
"Reigun!"
The blue beam slammed into their body, crashing it through the debris holding them up and blasting them off into the distance, all the while it roasted their skin and cauterized their open wounds.
Only for two bodies to drop from the sides of the beam. Not flee, not escape.
But drop to the ground like a fish being thrown on dry land.
"What does it take… to kill… these… fuck… ing brats," Yoko's breathing was shallow but heavy. Like someone that had never truly learned how to breathe during a fight or any real exercise. She was exhausted, her limbs burning as she made steps towards the long-haired saiyan.
"Kill… the... Boy first," her words came out in short bursts, her body deflating to conserve power, even going as far as to bring down to the level it had been before the fusion had taken place. There was nothing else Yoko could do if she wanted to have a chance at having enough power to kill the two saiyans.
The elder stopped mere meters from the dazed and confused form of Raditz, holding her hand out in her signature technique. It took longer than it would usually take for her to gather the power needed to make the kill.
"Rei-"
"REIGUN!"
Another voice shouted out first and a massive unconcentrated version of Yoko's graceful technique collided with her, taking her youthful form by surprise and knocking her far away into the distance. Yoko's face hit the ground, her legs somehow snapping, breaking her nose once more.
Blood followed down into her mouth, coating her tongue with the taste of iron. Her hands pushed against the ground, sliding against it as Yoko slowly rose to her feet. There was a wobbliness to her stance that hadn't been there before, even as her wounds healed once more…
… even as her body was once more perfect, Yoko knew that while she wasn't physically exhausted. Mentally the elder was spent.
"Gyaku!" Yoko growled, licking what blood she could from her lips. "I'd thought you'd learned your lesson?"
With a hand to her back, Yoko pushed inward causing an audible crack to ring out as she righted herself. Her eyes came across the remains of Gyaku's arms, the lack of anything below her elbow was exactly as Yoko remembered it.
But not her hand.
"Wake up!" Gyaku used that miraculous hand to slap Raditz across the face with fearful energy as her eyes caught Yoko's slow approach. At the sight of this, the elder heran smiled once more, her new teeth popping out her mouth at that very moment, truly giving her bloody mouth the appearance of a shark's grin.
"Please, he's not getting up," Yoko's gloated as she took slow steps forward, each one signaling a widening to her shark grin. But even as the elder said what she did, the saiyan being slapped started to blink, he started to grumble and sigh.
"Fuck!" Gyaku groaned, raising her head up into the air. "I should've brought the fucking brat!"
"Oh, that was how you… ," The elder trailed off, laughing to herself, mainly out of pain. Being immortal didn't mean that the older woman didn't feel pain, it usually meant she was fine to ignore it. "... recovered from my lesson. Guru must have a healer, always was into that hippy crap. Still, you look good, my dear. Have you lost weight?"
Gyaku jumped to her feet only to be knocked off them by a weak yellow ki blast that Yoko hit her with. It wasn't meant to kill the young child, because Yoko still needed the girl for her future plans, no it was closer to the technique that Raditz used.
Saturday Crash.
"Poor Gyaku," Yoko's cold voice spoke out, her form walking ever closer to the now two moaning bodies. "Never learned a lesson that she liked, never truly followed those in charge, because she was far smarter than them. Well, guess what?"
"Ah," Gyaku whined like her head mildly hurt or she had a regular headache.
"You're far dumber," Now standing beside the girl, kneeling down and stroking her hair gently. "No one else would be dumb enough to trust an old librarian telling them tall tales. I mean you should know better, didn't Aku teach you anything? Never trust librarians… they know too much."
At that moment, a pair of arms wrapped around Yoko's torso, taking her by surprise.
"Hello, luv," Peppa grinned as her head poked around Yoko's shoulder. "Fancy a trip."
"Wh-" The elder heran couldn't even finish the sentence before being bent back and slammed against the ground. There was a powerful crack as once more another bone of Yoko's snapped to pieces, her neck didn't just break, it shattered.
"No!" Yoko screamed, pushing past any reasonable idea of the pain threshold and standing up once more. Peppa was too surprised to do anything other than hang her mouth agape at the woman, even as Yoko's hand blurred towards the waiting neck of the saiyan girl, lifting her high in the air. "I was going to kill him first, but you just fucking annoy me so fucking much that I'm going to do you in right here!"
(Raditz)
"I was going to kill him first, but you just fucking annoy me so fucking much that I'm going to do you in right here."
I heard her voice like I was underwater, the sounds garbled even though I could make out the words. For some reason, I couldn't understand them. I'd describe it like I was stuck in a dream, as forcing my arms to move did nothing.
Another way of being trapped in one spot, I'd say.
"I'd think that you'd like to get up young Raditz," Guru's voice popped up like it was next to my ear. Somehow it was much clearer than the words I could hear from the other people, which I found was pretty odd because I knew that Guru was nowhere near me.
Unless I'd been knocked a lot further than I'd thought possible?
"No, I've not left the comfort of my chair in some time," he continued, there was a sense of desperation I could sense from the old Namekian's tone. But I really wished that Guru wouldn't read my mind.
I also hoped that he'd never tell Peppa that he could do this, then I'd never have a free moment from her if she managed to pester out how to read my mind from Guru.
"If you care about a free moment from the young Peppa, then I'd wait a few more seconds," Guru's voice became dry, but still tinted with tension. "Because Yoko is about to kill her."
My eyes shot open, my arms leaping into the air and whacking someone in the face. In my haste, I couldn't tell who it was, but it was neither Peppa nor Yoko. So I searched around the area, finding to my horror the sight of Peppa going red in the face as Yoko's blackened hand tightened around her neck.
But I could still couldn't move, I still couldn't find the energy to get off the ground, no matter how much I panicked, I couldn't find anything. It was like I was all tapped out, my body only burned, it only hurt me more whenever I tried to move.
I needed more, more energy, more power.
I needed more life.
"I could grant you such a thing," Guru's voice was solemn like there was something wrong, which was odd, given that I was sure that he could give such a thing… but only when I was beside him. "But you know my price.
"Yes," I grunted out, somehow finding the inner strength to stand at that very moment. "I'll be getting up now."
I said this, knowing that I was running away from the easier solution, I said this knowing that the next few seconds could be the last of Peppa's rather short life. Even as the tears threatened to spill from my eyes, I held on hope.
I wasn't giving up on Dad.
But looking at Peppa now?
I was going to get up, even it killed me.
Rising to my feet, the world swarm in front of me, it wobbled while black spots flickered into my vision and blurred into one as I swayed on my feet. It reminded me of what used to happen back when I was human and would stand up sometimes in secondary school.
I barely make out Yoko's face turning to face me, the steam rising off her neck was like a white haze to my vision. Her grin became thin and her finger glowed a radiant blue as she aimed it towards me.
Before I could make a single step I fell to my left knee, not due to some attack but because I couldn't stay up. My breath came out in uneven spurts like it was now I that had never learned how to breathe properly.
"If it isn't the saiyan prince," Yoko's cruel voice rang into my ears, casting me into a rather painful spiral due to the noise alone. "It's a wonder that the slapping didn't wake you but the cries of this little freak did!"
She spat this out, not metaphorically mind you. Yoko actually spat at Peppa's reddening face.
"But if it's the end that you want so badly?"
At those words I got back to my feet, this time gaining even more energy than before. This time, my steps were steady despite the way the world spun, with every move forward stamping my feet hard down on the ground.
"This will not end well," Guru warned me, his voice far more pleading and full of much more compassion than before. "Say yes and Peppa will live, say no and you both die."
"Yes… "
I thought I had whispered it but it turned out that Yoko had heard anyway. Her finger pointed out, the word Reigun spilling from her lips like it was words that Satan himself would speak. The streak of blue that entered my vision at the same time a scream of pain erupted from my mouth at…
… the sight before me as Peppa was shot somewhere on the torso, the wound pouring blood.
"Then have it, son."
Then my emotional dam, the one barely holding anything back these last few hours, burst open like God sending the floods to wipe out the sinners, and Noah was the power that now rushed to the surface.
I could barely hear the cackling of the sky, barely see the way the ground started to flake off into pieces and raise into the air. I didn't even pay any attention to the way my arms suddenly felt light once more, by the way I could the end of my hair hike up my back as if I'd just gotten a haircut.
Not a single word was uttered from my mouth after that point, just animalistic growls of rage. I'd never felt so much pain over such a period of time. It needed to stop, this needed to stop. Dad was dead, it was my fault, I could've trained harder, should have been the one to step up.
Now because I was stupid to deny a power boost… Peppa's dead… No, more. It was time I ended this.
Once and for all.
"YOKO!" I yelled, the tears free from my eyes and rage overtaking any sense of pain I had before. My vision was as clear as before letting me see the blood leave her face… from fear.
"W-what the hell, I've never thou-" I didn't let her finish the sentence, punting her away from Peppa with all the force that my body could muster. Yoko splattered across the shattered fragments of rocks on the ground, though taking some of the floating ones with her along the way.
"Shut the fuck up," I growled, taking no time in appearing next to her. Yoko was still quick on the draw, but I'd let her get one in. Everyone got one.
"Reigun!"
Yoko's signature move, pure power in a blue package. The technique that killed countless people, it was just something that you could tell given her age and skill. But most of all, it killed Peppa.
I let it bounce off my chest, the beam flinging off into the depth of space, but it never moved me from my spot right next to her. I grabbed her finger, holding it tight and watched as she struggled against the power set I was using. I could feel the urge to rub it in, feel the power overcome any sense of danger that I'd felt from this woman.
Why shouldn't Yoko feel the pain that she's inflicted on others?
But I knew better, even as angry as I was, even as power-mad as I was now. I knew for a fact that only one of us could survive the planet blowing up.
I snapped her finger, the crunch filling me with such a sense of satisfaction that only one thing at the moment could beat it; bringing back Peppa. Yoko opened her mouth to scream but stopped herself by biting down on her lip.
"Please, think about this," Yoko battered away at my chest, but it was obvious that the old fucker was too tired to even have a chance at hurting right now. "I know secrets… things that the Kais' have hidd-"
Grabbing hold of her neck, the exact way I could remember Yoko hold Peppa in. I let my rage once more be my guide and growled in her face. I held out a hand, pointing my finger at her with a golden glow, one that grew brighter with each passing second.
"P-lease," Yoko somehow, her face gaining more color than it had lost a few moments earlier. "I can give you whatever you want!"
"Die," I said in low but slow tones, making sure that her eyes saw the way my lips moved for the next part of her end. "Reigun."
Unlike her, I didn't shoat her technique. I didn't put any spirit in it, I simply said the word before watching as the move pushed her into the sky, each second passing as the woman got further and further away.
When my eyes couldn't see her anymore, my ki sense kept track of her.
It wasn't till Yoko went past whatever passed for a Namekian moon that I stopped keeping track of the fucker's body. It was at that point that silence was all that was among the broken bits of the mountain.
That was until I heard the clatter of feet hitting the ground, coming closer to me. I turned with a snarl ready on my lips, yet finding Gyaku's gobsmacked expression waiting for me didn't lighten my mood either.
"Do you want that!" I yelled at her, my arm swinging up to vaguely point at the direction that I shot Yoko off the planet at. After a second of silence, Gyaku shook her head. "Good," I told her, patting down the broken and battered saiyan armor I wore, "Then I'm going to faint now."
"Right," Gyaku nodded, her eyes still wide, til her mind registered what I'd just said. "Wai-"
That was when I blacked out.
Author's Note: I'll keep this note short. Yes all that just happened, and yes many did predict it before, but that's to be expected. I hope that none of this was anticlimactic for you guys, and yes I do know that some of you are thinking about well comes to how Yoko was defeated here. That's intentional... at least if we're thinking of the same thing here.
I've asked this in the thread before, but what recurring ideas/themes to you find when you read this story. Because I'm interested to hear if I actually managed to write the story well enough for them to come across, I'm also interested in what people to see in it that I've never intended. It sounds like fun doesn't it?