"So this is Kakarot." Vegeta smirked. "Raditz undersold you quite a bit, you know. He told us he was the stronger brother, but then, he always was a liar as well as a weakling. You must take after your father." His gaze switched to Gine. "I can see Raditz takes after you."

Gine snarled.

"Don't be like that!" The Prince gave her an oily smile. "Finding a female changes everything! We three might not be able to take out our next target on our own, but think what a passel of brats with royal blood in them could do." He leered at Gine, his tail waving behind him in a gesture that was the exact middle ground between an invitation to mate and a threat of imminent violence. "What do you say? Want to be queen?"

Gine returned the gesture with one too obscene for words.

Vegeta laughed.

"That's probably for the best," he chuckled. "Who knows what I'd catch rutting with a low class kitchen wench? I bet my dick would turn black and fall off before we even—"

Gine shot forward, punching Vegeta hard in the mouth. The Prince staggered and almost fell. Kakarot took the opportunity to rush in with a hit of his own, knocking him over entirely. Before they could press their advantage, Vegeta flipped to his feet and struck back. They both went down like a sack of rocks. The amount of power on display even in that short jab was nothing short of horrifying.

But Gine was satisfied. Vegeta was no longer smiling.

The Prince gingerly touched his glove to his face and it came away red.

"Heh heh." It was a deranged chuckle, more fury than mirth. He seemed transfixed by the smudge of red on his glove. "You… you caught me off guard. Heh heh heh. You should be proud, wench. You're the first person to draw my blood in a long, long time." His eyes were wide and unfocused. His hand, still in front of his face, was trembling. Gine could imagine him piercing her chest with that hand, adding her blood to his own. The trembling could have been from bloodlust, the eagerness for battle any proper Saiyan would be feeling at this moment.

But it wasn't.

Gine hopped to her feet, ignoring the bruise forming on top of the one Nappa had given her. Vegeta wasn't trembling from bloodlust. The King would have been, she was certain, but his son was trembling from outrage. Horror.

Fear.

Kakarot got to his feet as well, and together they attacked.

They had a slight advantage, at first. The two of them had been sparring together since Kakarot was a little boy, and even after a year apart they knew how the other moved like an extension of themselves. A single opponent, even one this powerful, found it difficult to split his attention two ways.

But Vegeta was not the Prince for nothing, and soon he calmed down and realized he could more or less ignore Gine's attacks. He hadn't been wrong— her punch had caught him off guard, and once he got his guard back up Gine didn't deliver another devastating blow.

Even so, she kept fighting. Kakarot was strong, but he wasn't on Vegeta's level. If her presence could help even a little, she was going to stay. Besides, Gine no longer cared about winning or losing. She wanted to hurt Vegeta.

Even if it killed her.

Tired of Gine's distracting attacks, Vegeta found an opening in Kakarot's constant barrage and shot a massive ki blast in Gine's direction. It was too fast to dodge and too large to take. It might not kill her outright, but it would certainly remove her from the fight. Gine braced herself, only sorry she hadn't been able to save more of her friends.

But before the blast could reach her, something surged through her awareness like lightning, and in front of her, between one blink and the next, was Kakarot, burying his fist in Vegeta's stomach.

The beam went wild, searing through several mountains but missing Gine. Vegeta doubled over and spat up blood. With more power and speed than he'd possessed just moments before, Kakarot brought both fists down on the back of the Prince's head and slammed him into the ground. Blood pooled under Vegeta's body, and when he groggily picked himself up he spat out several teeth.

"Wha…?"

Gine echoed the Prince's sentiments.

"What the hell was that, Kakarot?"

Her son flashed her a grin.

"Just a little somethin' I learned from King Kai."

Gine gaped, still unable to understand what she had seen. "Why didn't you do that sooner?"

Kakarot went solemn.

"If I ain't careful all that ki can turn back on me and explode. King Kai said I shouldn't go more than twice my normal power, and I can't do it for long."

Twice his own power… Gine marveled. Her son was already strong enough to qualify for elite class, but to be able to double it at will…

"Filth..." Vegeta spat venomously. He staggered to his feet, clutching his stomach, and spat out more teeth. "How dare you? I am the Prince. I am above you! Learn your place!"

He sprang at Kakarot, grabbing the sides of his head and kneeing him in the face. Blood fountained out of Kakarot's nose, but before the droplets could even hit the ground his power surged again. Still in Vegeta's hold he reached up and grabbed the prince by his ears, pulling his face down violently to meet the solid rock of Kakarot's head. Vegeta staggered back, his nose now also gushing blood.

Still surging, Kakarot kicked him in the chest. Vegeta winced, but grabbed Kakarot's leg and twisted, sending him spinning to land on the ground. Not bothering to get back up, Kakarot kicked Vegeta's legs out from under him. Both now on the ground, they grappled, tumbling over and over as first Kakarot had the upper hand, then Vegeta, then Kakarot again.

Gine could do nothing but wipe the sweat out of her eyes and feel useless.

At last Vegeta kicked Kakarot away from him and sprang to his feet. Kakarot's surge had ended and he got to his feet slowly, breathing hard. Both of them were covered in blood and bruises. They were an even match, leaning toward Kakarot's favor when he doubled his power. It was unreal for Gine to think that a child she had borne could go toe to toe with a member of the royal family, even if only for moments at a time. A tiny thread of hope began to worm its way through her body.

Vegeta wiped the blood from his face and flung it from his fingers. He no longer looked quite sane.

"This isn't happening," he muttered to the ground. "I'm the Prince… I'm the Prince, damn you!"

He looked up and fixed Gine with a look of pure hate.

"If you really love this pathetic mudball that much, go ahead and die with it!"

With a growl he launched himself into the air, bringing his hands together at his side.

"No!" Gine screamed. Without waiting for Kakarot, she cupped her hands together and charged a Kamehameha. Useless though it was, she refused to do nothing while the second planet she'd called home was incinerated beneath her feet.

Beside her, Kakarot charged a Kamehameha of his own, dwarfing hers. He surged, his power doubling once again, and out of the corner of her eye Gine could see the sweat pouring down his face.

Above them Vegeta was shouting something. They couldn't make out the words, but Gine could feel his desperation giving him power. He wouldn't succeed in destroying the planet, they had at least done that. But he was only going to come back, angrier and ready for more.

Somehow Kakarot's power doubled again, and a stab of worry made Gine's ki falter for a moment. What had he said? His own ki might turn back on him and explode?

And yet this added power was still not enough. Their attacks were pushing Vegeta back slowly, an inch at a time: a defeat, but a survivable one. Even still, Gine couldn't bring herself to hope that Kakarot had more in him to give, not if it meant his death.

Beside her she heard Kakarot give a deep grunt and mutter through his teeth,

"Kaio-ken times four!"

It was like standing in the middle of a hurricane. Kakarot's energy exploded into something her mind refused to comprehend, more a force of nature than something coming from a person. Wind howled in a vortex with them at the center, the negative air pressure sucking the breath out of Gine's lungs. She was forced to squeeze her eyes shut against the sheer force of it.

So she felt, rather than saw, the Prince falter, redouble his efforts, then give way entirely.

Gine lowered her arms, breathing hard. The wind, and Vegeta's energy, faded away, leaving a loud silence. Grinning in disbelief and triumph, Gine turned to Kakarot just in time to see him lower his arms, smile back at her, and collapse.