Central City, "King Piccolo's Citadel"
Piccolo stared at the two Saiyan teenagers with a nonplussed expression. One of them had killed Drum in a single blow, and he was far stronger than Tambourine ever was. There was no denying that they had gotten more powerful, but even so, they did not know the full power of a rejuvenated Piccolo Daimao. Eventually, the demon chuckled to himself when Drum's body ceased twitching.
"'I'm next,' you say?" Piccolo grinned, baring his fangs. "You two may be a touch bit stronger, but you still cannot compare to me."
"Well if you still don't wanna get your hands dirty, how about sending in Pterodactyl Face over there?~" Caulifla cheekily suggested, pointing at Piano, who flinched in response.
"Feh," Piccolo scoffed. "No. I will dismantle you two vermin personally. No one fights Piccolo Daimao and lives to tell the tale, so I will correct this mistake here and now. In fact, I will kill you two in 5 seconds…"
With a mighty roar, Piccolo charged in with a double chop, each hand aimed at Gokū and Caulifla's respective necks, only for both of them to block the strikes with minor effort. Everyone, including Piccolo himself, were shocked at this display. Piccolo then delivered a swift spinning kick, only for Gokū to catch his foot, and then heave him over his shoulder and into one of the castle's towers, causing it to crumble upon impact. When the dust had settled, the rubble began to shift, as Piccolo's massive green frame crawled out of the rubble, his face pulled into a furious sneer. Gokū, meanwhile, gave a cocky smirk.
"So, what happens if we go past 5 seconds?~" Gokū cheekily asked, glad he was now getting under Piccolo's skin.
"You…" Piccolo snarled, shaking the pebbles of debris off of his gi. "YOU! THE BOTH OF YOU WILL SUFFER!"
Piccolo bolted up into the sky, blasting several chunks of debris away in the process. He quickly altered course and raced head-long towards the duo. He shot both palms forth and two massive yellow beams of ki cracked forward, forcing the two to jump away. Caulifla jumped upwards, while Gokū jumped to the right. The blasts impacted the ground with a deafening explosion. Once Piccolo landed on the ground, he brought his fists back to deliver two more ki blasts to the fleeing teenagers. Both were forced to raise their arms up to block. When the blasts made contact, they also detonated, forcing their victims back. Caulifla, airborne as she was, latched onto a pole from the castle's central tower and vaulted her momentum forward. Gokū, meanwhile, skidded along the grassy turf, reaching a low wall and rebounding his momentum to spring forward, the two landing back where they started. Piccolo was genuinely shocked to see these two vermin counter his Makosen so effectively.
"At least you didn't use the same version of that move before," Gokū sighed as he settled into a comfortable fighting stance. "Still, doubling it up won't help you here."
"Rrrrgh, This is absolutely ridiculous!" Piccolo growled with frustration. "Mere children! CHILDREN! Contending with Piccolo Daimao!"
"Alright, my turn," Caulifla stated as she too settled into a fighting stance. "I guarantee you'll feel this next one."
"And I guarantee I will force you to learn respect for your master!" Piccolo spat. "I will not be disrespected by mere children and have them live to tell the tale!"
"You've taken the lives of people we cared about!" Caulifla retorted. "And I will make you pay!"
One second, Caulifla was glaring daggers at her green foe. The next, her fist was lodged directly under Piccolo's pronounced cheek bone. Physics began to take hold and the demon was sent flying, his jaw dislocated and his massive form ultimately crashing into a terrified Piano. Piccolo's shoulder impacted the demon spawn's chest, a sickening crack echoing across the area. The Daimao lay face first on the grassy turf of the castle courtyard, while Piano was gasping in shock and pain, purple ichor welling up in his throat with a sickening gurgle. Over to the side, Tenshinhan was feeling a mixture of emotions at what he saw, or rather, what he couldn't see.
'I couldn't even track her movement…!' Tenshinhan thought. 'She didn't even leave an after-image in the process! I never thought I'd feel scared of a small kid...'
Piccolo began to push himself up, snarling as he popped his jaw back into place. As he finally got to his feet, he began to snarl with fury. "I WILL END YOU!"
Piccolo charged forward, but Caulifla smirked as Gokū jumped to her side and the two sprung forth to meet their green foe head-on. Piccolo charged forward in kind, preparing to deliver a knife-hand chop to take off their heads, only for both to duck under the attack. Gokū dove in with a kick to upset the demon's footing while Caulifla vaulted a kick into his chest to send him back even further. Piccolo recovered quickly and sprung off the ground to deliver a punch to the Saiyan girl who kicked her. As she prepared to dodge the punch, the larger demon feinted back and shifted his momentum into a kick that hit Caulifla in the jaw and sent her flying in Gokū's direction. Gokū cupped his hands together and Caulifla caught on immediately, reorienting herself and landing her foot in her boyfriend's palms, to which he responded by catapulting her forward as well as launching himself forth. Caulifla caught Piccolo by surprise and delivered a palm strike to the very center of the kanji of the Daimao's gi, amplified with a kiai, knocking the wind out of the green monster's lungs. Gokū, now taking the advantage, sprung upward from below and delivered a swift uppercut to Piccolo's jaw and springboarded off of his temple to regain distance from the now staggered demon.
Tenshinhan, meanwhile, was left completely speechless at how handily these two were assailing their foe. They were not even breaking a sweat as they let loose their fury. The three-eyed warrior was so transfixed upon the battle that he did not notice something coming his way.
"Tien!" Chaotzu cried out as he brought the jet flier over to his position. "Get in!"
Tenshinhan was finally snapped out of his stupor as he heard his friend call out. As much as he hated to admit, there was nothing he could do in this battle, and complied with Chaotzu's wishes, and boarded the jet flier.
"Chaotzu," Tenshinhan began, finally recovered from the shock of what he was witnessing. "We should see about evacuating everyone left."
"That's just what I was thinking, Tien," Chaotzu nodded with a smile.
As the ex-Crane Schoolers flew off to save what lives remained in Central City, Gokū and Caulifla stared down their foe as he finally rebounded himself from the pummeling he just took. Instead of snarling with unkempt rage, he began to chuckle, with mirth lo less.
"Bravo!" Piccolo laughed as he wiped the purple blood from his lip. "You two are the first to thoroughly wound my pride."
"Good," Gokū responded, glaring daggers at his foe. "That means you'll be coming at us at full power."
"And not this piss-poor dribble you've been going at so far," Caulifla added, smirking that she was going to face down this foe at full strength.
"Heh, so you've noticed, eh?" Piccolo chuckled even more. "Not surprising. I typically avoid fighting at full strength, if only because of the severe exhaustion that comes with it. However, you two leave me no other choice…"
The Daimao settled into a squatted stance, his elbows tucked in and fists clenched. Slowly, he began to let out a focused growl that grew into a roar. Eventually, a faint white aura began to envelop the demon king, crackling as Piccolo continued his focused roar. Veins popped all over his scalp and his muscles increased in volume by a margin. Gokū and Caulifla were nonplussed at this display, more focused on defeating this foe.
"I hope you're prepared for the Hell I have planned for you…" Piccolo sighed as he now thrummed with power.
"This had better mean we can finally break a sweat," Caulifla jeered.
"Oh trust me," Piccolo chuckled maliciously. "You will break much, much more than just a sweat…"
With a casual swing of his hand, Piccolo released a gust of wind that would rival a hurricane, enough for Gokū and Caulifla to both shield their faces from the wind and skid them backwards by a full meter.
"Okay," Gokū grunted as he reeled himself back after being blasted by such a powerful force, settling into an aggressive fighting stance. "You definitely have bragging rights."
"Enough so that you should at least say your prayers to whatever deity you believe in," Piccolo responded. "You little vermin will now know the full depths of my power!"
"All the more reason for us to go all out too!" Caulifla countered, settling into her own stance. "Bring it!"
Piccolo said nothing, and instead lunged forward, ready to claw at his opponents. The Saiyan duo were barely able to jump out of the way, but Piccolo was not going to give them an opening, and thus sprung upward to deliver a massive jab kick, only to feint back and deliver two punches to each side of the duo, sending them hurtling towards the ground and leaving an earthen explosion upon impact. By the time the dust settled, two large craters remained where they had impacted. Piccolo touched down, grinning at his handiwork before he let out a gleeful laugh.
"All that bravado for nothing!" Piccolo boasted as he stared at the craters he had created. "NONE CAN DEFEAT ME AND LIVE TO TELL THE TALE!"
"Kaaa…"
Piccolo's reverie was broken when he heard two voices muttering an incantation in unison.
"Th-That cannot be…" Piccolo muttered, disbelieving what his ears were hearing.
"Meee…"
Springing out of her crater, Caulifla locked onto her target, her hands cupped to her side, her ring and pinky fingers clenched as a bright red star began to gain mass.
"BĀSUTO!"
Caulifla launched her attack, a bright red ball of ki streaking towards the demon.
"That stunt won't work on me!" Piccolo defiantly boasted as he raised his hands to block, but was immediately distracted by a sudden electric jolt around his ankles. "AGH!"
"DENKIKEN!" Gokū shouted as his hands sprouted out of the ground and gripped the demon's ankles, charged with electricity, causing the Daimao to convulse in pain. Caulifla took this opening to pull her palms apart and detonate the explosive ki bullet, sending Piccolo flying back. Gokū let go of his grip and dug himself out of the ground as he saw the effect of the joint maneuver he and his girlfriend had pulled.
"Nice going, Gokū," Caulifla congratulated with a fist bump, which Gokū returned in kind.
"I knew you were gonna hit him with that move, so I thought I'd hold him in place for ya," Gokū responded with a smile.
"Aw, how sweet of you,~" Caulifla replied with a small hug. When the two finished their embrace, Piccolo was on the ground, reeling from the shockwave dealt by the kamebasuto. The explosion did little to burn him, but the force did stun him a bit. "Alright, get up, demon! We all know you're being dramatic!"
"This fight won't be over until one side is in pieces!" Gokū declared, settling into his fighting stance once more.
Piccolo pushed himself up and settled into an aggressive and low-hanging stance of his own, suitable for combating fighters far shorter than him. "And I can't wait to see you two in pieces," Piccolo sneered.
Gokū and Caulifla charged forth once more, eager to tear their larger opponent asunder, and Piccolo responded in kind. The three met in the center with a ferocious clash of limbs. The exchange was very much in Piccolo's favor if he were to fight just one of them, but two equally skilled and equally powerful Saiyans were proving far more difficult than anticipated. Soon, the duo's onslaught began to slowly, and very gradually, increase in pace and power. At first, Piccolo suspected it was exhaustion setting in, but he could tell these two were losing steam just as quickly. So why are they hitting harder?!
Gokū did not allow the demon to find an answer by delivering a swift jab kick to Piccolo's torso, knocking the demon off his feet and onto the ground. The Saiyan duo were now visibly sweating and panting, with a few bruises and cuts here and there. Piccolo was no different as he brought himself to his feet.
'These monsters will soon overpower me if I give them the chance,' The demon thought as he caught his breath. 'I need to whittle them down more effectively.' Suddenly, he had got an idea, one that tugged a small grin on his green face. 'All is fair in love and war, vermin…'
The recently demoted King Furry and his attendants were thoroughly distraught. King Piccolo had departed for West City some time ago, and yet despite this, word of its destruction had not been made in the slightest. Even stranger was the sudden commotion going on down in the courtyard. Typical commotion would not reach the throne room, but this was far more intense, enough to cause the entire building to shake.
"Sir!" A guard over by the window called out. "Piccolo Daimao hasn't left for West City! He's in the courtyard!"
"What?!" The canine monarch sputtered as he rushed over to the window to see what was happening. Down below in the courtyard was indeed Piccolo Daimao, but he was being accosted by two… children? And they were actually putting up a sizable fight against this demon! "My word, that is amazing! Who are those two?"
"Whoever they are, sir, it's still dangerous here," The guard captain responded. "We should evacuate while we can."
"B-But-"
"Sir, I do not like leaving the fate of the world in the hands of children, but what choice do we have?!" The guard captain implored. "If they do succeed, we need to make sure there's still a monarch to govern the world!"
"Very well…" King Furry sighed through his nose. "To run while children are fighting for their lives… It's shameful on my part."
"Alright, round 2, Big Green!" Gokū declared.
"And you will be sitting this one out!" Piccolo retorted, before firing his eye beams directly at Gokū's knee cap. The impact was enough to shatter the important leg bone.
"AUGH!" Gokū screamed as he knelt down to rub his wound. "Ah, Damnit!"
"Gokū!" Caulifla shouted with concern as Gokū suffered the devastating injury.
"I can still move!" Gokū grunted as he hobbled to one leg. The pain clouded his focus, but not as extreme as he was worried it would be. "I'm gonna get you for that one!"
"HAHAHA! Who are you kidding?!" Piccolo retorted with a boisterous laugh. "Your mobility is hindered with one leg gone!"
"Alright, that's it!" Caulifla snarled as she charged forward, delivering a swift volley of attacks, only for Piccolo to respond in kind. Fists and feet met blocks and their targets, all while Gokū drew out his Nyoibō, and angled it just right.
"EXTEND!"
Caulifla smirked and vaulted away, confusing the tall Daimao, only to have his confusion ended by a swift knee to the jaw delivered by Son Gokū himself. Gokū vaulted himself with the extended Nyoibō and retracted it, landing gently away from his foe, and using the polearm as a temporary crutch. Piccolo, was now thoroughly pissed, suffering a bleeding nose as well as a chipped molar that was welling with his blood.
"'Mobility is hindered,' eh?~" Gokū cheekily jeered with a chuckle.
"D-Damnit…!" Piccolo groaned as he wiped the blood from his face. "What is that stick?!"
"It's magic, that's what!~" Gokū jeered as he kept himself propped up with his Nyoibō.
"I think Piccolo's hating you more than me now," Caulifla commented "That could-AGH!"
Immediately, Piccolo fired a finger beam at Caulifla's knee as well, shattering her own kneecap as well. "Don't think I've forgotten about you, wretch…" The Demon King snarled. "I will make your deaths slow and painful…"
"Caulifla!" Gokū cried out, hobbling over to his downed girlfriend, and propping her arm up on his shoulder.
"I'm fine," Caulifla grunted as she got support for her lopsided stance. She then thought of something and let loose a small chuckle. "Think we can coordinate like this?"
"One way to find out, right?" Gokū answered with a shrug. "Kinda feels like a 3 legged race, only it's a fight to the death."
"You…"
Piccolo began to snarl as he began to build his ki. "You dare to make a mockery of my power?!"
The Daimao let out a massive roar as his aura began to flare outwards like a fire, bringing the Saiyan duo back to the battle at hand. Piccolo clenched his fists and outstretched them forward. He uncurled one index finger and fired a beam at the two, who barely dodged. Piccolo smirked as he repeated the process with his other index finger, aiming right at Gokū's Nyoibō, and knocking it away from them.
"OH CRAP!" both Gokū and Caulifla exclaimed as the polearm was knocked away.
"And now your little trinket is out of the picture!" Piccolo laughed as he thrust out his palm and gripped his wrist. "BEGONE, YOU MISERABLE PARASITES!"
A massive wave of ki emanated from Piccolo's palm. The resulting explosion rivaled that of a thermonuclear detonation, incinerating every building within view and leveling the entire landscape. A massive mushroom cloud was left in its wake that would take several minutes to dissipate. When the dust finally settled, the entirety of Central City was gone, and Piccolo Daimao was the only thing left standing.
"Finally…" Piccolo grinned to himself before he broke into another laughing fit. His laugh was cut off when a sensation assaulted his mind's eye. "Ki! I can still sense their ki!"
"Yoohoo!~"
Piccolo immediately looked up and saw two small figures stuck together, suspended in mid-air. Gokū and Caulifla still had their arms wrapped around each other's shoulders for support. Their gis were slightly torn and their skin suffered some superficial burns from that attack, but nothing more.
"Your aim sucks, Big Green!~" Caulifla jeered from above, pulling an eyelid and sticking out her tongue.
"Maybe you should charge your ki more subtly if you wanna get the jump on us!" Gokū added as they descended back to the ground, still gripping each other's shoulders to keep their damaged legs off the ground.
"Impossible…" Piccolo muttered in disbelief. "You brats know Bukujutsu as well?!"
"Buku-what?" Gokū said, feigning confusion. He knew the translated terminology, but couldn't help but make the jab at the demon before him.
"Tch," Piccolo clicked his tongue before grinning. "No matter. You only seek to delay the inevitable."
"I think this is more like a battle of attrition at this point," Caulifla pointed out. "I'm willing to guess you burned a good chunk of your ki with that last shot. Next attempt won't have the same kick."
"Your mockery is getting nauseating," Piccolo groaned. "It may be so that I have spent a sizable portion of my power, but what I have left will be more than enough to put you two down, even if you try to dodge it or take it head-on. You will regret questioning the power of Piccolo Daimao…!"
The green demon began to charge his ki once more, and this is exactly what Gokū and Caulifla had wanted, the former even pointing out the issue but a few moments ago.
"Ha! You dumbass!" Caulifla shouted as she and Gokū charged forward. "You leave yourself wide open when you do that!"
With each giving a mighty roar, the Saiyan duo launched themselves at Piccolo, delivering a double haymaker right into the demon's abdomen. This knocked him back several feet as he gasped in pain, trying to hold his focus and struggle from keeling over. With a strained grunt, Piccolo pulled himself back together, stunning the Saiyans before him.
"Oh shit!" Gokū cursed. "It wasn't enough!"
"BURN, YOU LITTLE BASTARDS!"
Piccolo roared with malicious fury as he unleashed another immense blast of ki. Gokū and Caulifla had no choice but to put their arms up in an effort to block this point-blank attack. Another explosion rocked the already desolate landscape, while not of the same magnitude as the first, was still enough to cause the earth to tremble. A massive crater, large enough to fill a public swimming pool's worth of water, was before the panting demon as he grinned at his destructive handiwork.
"Finally…" Piccolo sighed as he slowly dropped his arms to his sides. "Dragging this... humiliating charade... for so long…"
"Battle… of attrition alright…"
Piccolo was stunned by what he had just heard. Climbing out of the rim of the crater were the battered forms of Gokū and Caulifla. Though they looked much worse for wear, they were still alive. Gokū was chuckling at the dumbfounded look Piccolo was giving.
"Yep!" Gokū said triumphantly. "Your power is dropping!"
"I'll give it to ya, Big Breen," Caulifla sighed as she took deep breaths. "That one hurt like Hell."
"This… This cannot be happening…" Piccolo muttered in pure disbelief. "You two are like cockroaches refusing to stay down…!"
"I guess Saiyans are tougher than they look," Gokū responded with a shrug. "Still, we ain't got a lot of power left, so like Caulifla said: Battle of attrition."
Piccolo was on the backfoot now. These two clearly had sustained far more damage than he had, but they kept coming back up. While his own ki reserves continue to dwindle, theirs kept dropping as well, but for some reason, their strength keeps building to compensate. He refused to admit it, but the girl has a point. These two 'Saiyans' will wear him down before he can do so in kind.
'Their reflexes are sluggish now, and their speed is hindered by their broken legs,' The Daimao thought to himself, trying to find an out for this situation. His mouth tugged a small smirk as he had come to a solution. 'Those two are very well-coordinated. I wonder how they'll fair if separated…?~'
"Something funny?" Gokū asked, seeing the smirk on the green demon's face.
"You might say that,~" Piccolo responded, his grin deepening. In a split second, he had vanished from sight. Neither Gokū or Caulifla could track their opponent's movements. The Saiyan boy heard a yelp to his side and the support he had for his leg had vanished, leaving him to hobble on one leg. When he turned to see where Piccolo stood initially, he was horrified at what he saw. There was Piccolo, grinning with malice, while in his hand was Caulifla's head, the rest of her body struggling to wriggle free.
"Let! Go! Of! Me! YOU! BASTARD!" Caulifla shouted as she tried to wrestle herself free of Piccolo's grip, but found it impossible to break.
"HAHAHAHAAAA! What will you do now, vermin?!" Piccolo boasted with a bellowing laugh. "Try to move, and your precious girlfriend's head will turn to paste!"
"You sick bastard…!" Gokū growled, seeing Caulifla trapped in Piccolo's grip.
"Don't worry about me, Gokū!" Caulifla grunted as she tried to free her head from Piccolo's vice grip. "I'll get out of this!"
"I beg to differ!" The Daimao snarled as he began to squeeze down onto Caulifla's skull, causing her to scream in pain. The demon saw the pained expression on Gokū's face, and was relishing in the torment.
"STOP!" Gokū cried out, absolutely furious, but presently powerless to the situation. Piccolo relaxed his grip, but enough so that he could keep a hold on Caulifla's head. "I'll… I'll do as you say…"
"No…!" Caulifla gasped as she heard those words come from Gokū's mouth.
"That's a good boy,~" Piccolo chuckled as he knelt down to pick up a rock. "Now, if you so much as flinch, she dies."
Gokū snarled with fury as the demon before him held the rock up to his mouth and gave a harsh blow to it, sending it flying and crashing into the Saiyan's forearm, the sickening crack of his bones echoing across the landscape. Gokū was in pain, but he did his damndest to not flinch.
"First a leg, and now an arm,~" Piccolo chuckled as he took to dismantling this boy's limbs one by one. "Your parents were right in sending you away. Such a weak child that even when victory is in his grasp, he can't because of his precious thistle-headed monster…"
Caulifla, meanwhile, flinched at Piccolo's choice of words. Thistle head. Monster. Those were titles that stung her core like no other. Her eyes shot wide as she began to snarl with fury. Piccolo was unaware of what was happening under his grip, and took another rock to blow right at Gokū's other kneecap, causing him to topple over.
"Ha! Once again, crawling like the worthless worm you are!" Piccolo laughed at Gokū's misery. Suddenly, he felt a shift in the air. His hand was beginning to burn. He looked at his captive, and saw a faint orange aura glowing around Caulifla, as her muscle mass began to swell and her hair grew even more wild than it was. "What is this…?"
"You're right… I am a monster…" Caulifla snarled. Gokū saw the look in her eyes and smiled, knowing what was going to happen. That topaz hue had returned, and Caulifla smirked back. "YOUR MONSTER!"
With a massive roar, Caulifla's ki exploded outward, freeing herself from Piccolo's grip. She was not going to let that be that, however, and proceeded to jump up and grab the demon's upper arm, planting her feet onto his chest for leverage, ignoring the shooting pain in her busted knee. She then began to pull with all of her might, causing Piccolo to howl in pain as his arm began to crackle and pop until…
SHRED!
Caulifla had torn Piccolo Daimao's arm off!
The demon began to scream in pain, frustration and fear as he clutched the purple stump that was once his arm. Caulifla fell backwards from the stunt she had pulled, the aura around her dissipating, and the Ikari state returning to its dormancy. Tossing the dismembered limb aside, she hobbled over to Gokū's side, but fell over, as she had burned more ki in that outburst than she had anticipated, as well as ruin her knee even more.
"Well," Caulifla groaned as she pushed herself up to face Gokū, who gave a thumbs up. She gave one in return. "That's gotta hurt...~"
Caulifla fell flat, barely retaining consciousness, rolling over to see Piccolo scream in pain.
"That's karma, ain't it?" Gokū chuckled weakly, as he saw the one-armed demon try to recompose himself.
"This is but a scratch in my case," The Daimao grunted as he moved his good arm away from his stump. "You vermin have not won yet…!"
"A scratch?!" Gokū exclaimed. "You just had an entire arm torn out of your socket, and you call that a scratch?!"
"Observe…" Piccolo sighed before he began to roar with pain and focus. The purple blood from his severed limb turned a sickly green color, and took an almost mucus-like consistency before, like something out of a horror movie, a fresh arm sprouted from the severed stump, good as new, and coated in the green fluid. The demon was panting, clearly exhausted from what he had just done, but was grinning nonetheless. "I doubt you 'Saiyans' can regenerate damaged limbs like I can...~"
Piccolo then flew high up into the air and began to laugh. He then dove down, ready to kill. "There is nothing left you can do to stop me now! Victory finally belongs to Piccolo Daimao! AND YOU! WILL! DIE!"
"I still have an arm left!" Gokū defiantly retorted. He swiftly coalesced his ki into his palm and thrust it downward, generating a powerful blast that propelled him upwards. The initial launch complete, he continued amplifying his speed with his ki as he brought his good arm forward into a fist. "I'm putting everything into this one attack!"
Piccolo was dumbfounded by this sudden maneuver, and halted his descent, raising his hands to block. "You cling to false hope if you think that will be enough to stop me, you estranged bastard child!"
"I'LL SHOW YOU WEAKNESS!" Gokū roared as his irises shimmered yellow and his aura exploded into an amber flame. "THIS IS FOR KURIRIN, MUTEN RŌSHI, AND EVERYONE ELSE YOU KILLED YOU DEMON!"
Suddenly, Gokū's speed and power increased tenfold, stunning Piccolo by this sudden burst of energy. What shocked him was what could not be seen. In his mind's eye, a massive silhouette of a towering primal monster engulfed Son Gokū as it charged right at him. The demon felt genuine fear and tried to get out of the way before-
BOOM!
Son Gokū emerged from Piccolo Daimao's backside, coated in purple ichor and viscera, while the demon himself now had a massive gaping hole in place of the kanji that was on his gi.
"I… did it…!" Gokū croaked out as he finally allowed exhaustion to claim him, as well as gravity.
"Un...believable…" The perforated demon gasped in shock, trembling from the fatal blow done to him. "The great Piccolo Daimao… defeated… like this…" He then gave a weak chuckle. "Most… impressive… But do not think… you have eliminated… the Demon Clan… so easily…"
With every last drop of his strength, his neck began to swell as he unhinged his jaw to spit out one last egg, that fired out like a gun and went flying for miles.
"One day, my son…" Piccolo wheezed. "You will… avenge… my death… and claim this world… for your own…!"
With his dying gasp, Piccolo Daimao exploded. This sent Gokū tumbling through the air. Lacking the strength to stop his fall, he hurdled towards the ground. He soon impacted the earth, but it was not a painful impact. In fact, it was not earth at all. Caulifla dove in to catch the falling Saiyan as he fell. The two were locked in an embrace on the ground.
"C-Caulifla…?" Gokū tiredly spoke as he saw he was caught.
"The one and only," Caulifla answered with a smile. "We did it."
"Yeah, we did," Gokū sighed triumphantly. "That was one hell of a-"
Gokū was immediately cut off as Caulifla dove in to kiss him on the lips. Both of their nerves were set ablaze with excitement from the exchange that seemed to last forever. When they finally separated, Gokū couldn't help but chuckle and scratch his head with his good arm. "I think I could get used to this."
"No kidding," Caulifla sighed, hugging her boyfriend in a warm embrace.
"Jeez, get a room."
"WILL YOU SHUT UP?! You ruined the moment!"
Gokū and Caulifla were pulled from their bliss to see both Yajirobe and Bulma on the approach, the former suffering a comical konk to the head, while the latter was scolding him down. In the distance, a large craft that looked like an airborne aircraft carrier flew into view, bearing the Capsule Corp Logo, and the title "Blue Bloomers." Several other craft flew to the sight of the battle. Meanwhile, the Saiyan couple couldn't help but jovially laugh at the sight as well as their shared victory. Piccolo Daimao was defeated…
...But his legacy remains...
A/N: Hoooooo boy! Hiatus on a cliff-hanger! I am a terrible person! I even missed the 1 year anniversary of the first publishing by a whole damn month! I actually feel bad about that one. At the same time, holy crap, I spent more than a whole year on this story! Mondo thanks (Not 'Mondo Cool,' go away.) to everyone who stuck with this story up to this point, and HOPEFULLY I can make this the last break for a while.
So as for the contents of the chapter itself: A few things I switched up from canon, specifically stuff that was soft-retconned out, like Piccolo's claim that going full power shortens his life, which is hogwash at this point because A: He's got eternal youth, and B: 70% of fights in the series since then have had fighters go full power, be it on even standing, desperate struggle, or just showing off in general. Again sorry for the wait, but do leave a review sharing your thoughts. I hope this was a good read. :)
