Chapter 5: Vegeta, Invincible?

Vegeta looked at the saiyan in mild shock. He wanted to continue fighting? The guy was barely holding together. His stomach was inches away from falling out, and with only one eye, he could barely see plus his arms were almost broken by the energy blasts he attempted to block. How on Earth did he expect to hold a match against him? Vegeta kept looking at Zeta as though he was crazy, then he knew what was going on. The boy was calling a bluff.surely? No way he would dare to try and fight again, this was a bluff so Vegeta would have pity on him. But, no, this was no bluff. Zeta had courage and he had it in surplus. He wanted that throne and he was going to fight for it.

"Well, you're certainly brave my young friend" Vegeta said to Zeta, "but it won't help you if you're willing to go on." Zeta just stared at Vegeta tiredly while breathing deep breaths. He hadn't fully recovered to a fighting state after his last few beatings. Most of his ribs were broken and he dared not think about the state of his innards. He needed to think of something, some way of taking Vegeta down.

"Like I said Zeta, go home now and I won't harm you again. But if you wish to keep fighting, I'm warning you now that there will be serious consequences. I've fought all my life and I know what you feel. You feel you will let your saiyan pride down, your planet and your race if you do not fight to the finish. I, my friend was once like that" Zeta suddenly started paying attention, his eyes were transfixed on Vegeta. He thought how much they were the same, how determined each one was.

"I was so stubborn, and I never saw the truth until it was too late and I was almost dead. Anger would always cloud my judgement in a situation and only when I realised that I could not surpass, a certain someone, I knew I could equal him though. That satisfied me. You must think to yourself, how much your life means. Now go back to your home planet, and don't come back unless your pride is that strong and you think that fighting to the end is the only way."

Zeta looked blank. His face froze, his eyes staring off into nothing.

"It's true. It's all true" he thought to himself, "how could I have been so blind. I never once thought that I am fighting for my life and Vegeta is a hardened warrior. He will have no regret or hesitate in killing me. But.my throne, the leadership of Barados, its mine, all mine!" Zeta suddenly flicked his head up to look at Vegeta. The look was of anger and pride. Vegeta looked back, with a stone look; no regret, no emotion, if Zeta wanted to die that would be all right with him.

"Noooo!" yelled Zeta. His golden aura exploding around him created a massive energy boost. Vegeta still stared at the young saiyan through cold eyes.

"I will not lie down" Zeta yelled. He flew forward at Vegeta, screaming in rage as he readied a right-handed punch, leading and balancing himself with his left hand. Vegeta waited for him to come, analysing the attack and choosing his best option for moving. Zeta's gold trail was left behind and he closed in on Vegeta then swung. The punch would have been hard, except it missed. Vegeta calmly moved out of the way to the left and the punch completely missed. He punished the boy for being so impatient and stupid; a quick knee to face was applied. It connected with Zeta's nose, which created a sickening breaking noise followed by a fountain of blood.

Zeta didn't seem to be fazed by the attack and launched an all out assault on Vegeta. He wasn't fast enough though as he punched and kicked at Vegeta in a mindless blur. Vegeta dodged every attack with lightening speed and efficiency. Ducking under and weaving around each blow proved too easy for Vegeta. Zeta grunted and groaned with every punch and kick he let out. He wasn't even close to hitting his target. Vegeta could see it all at an easy pace and became bored very quickly. Zeta went for one more punch straight to the chest. In a blink of an eye, Vegeta caught Zeta's closed fist. His hand engulfed the fist and grinned at the stunned Zeta. He then proceeded to slowly crush the fist with his bare hand. Zeta howled in pain. He could feel his knuckles being forced into the very muscles of his hand and his fingers being crushed and jarred into themselves. The cartilage was torn and the bones almost pierced his hand and gloves.

"Fuck you Vegeta" he groaned, then he tried to strike back with his spare hand. The punch went straight for Vegeta's head, but missed. The head of Vegeta moved to the side and the hit missed, and then Vegeta had an opening. Using his free hand, Vegeta grabbed the helpless Zeta by the collar and in one fast, swift movement head butted Zeta. The effect was instantaneous and Zeta was almost knocked out. Vegeta had applied quite a big amount of energy into the head butt and his head collided with Zeta's perfectly. This was a bit of a down side to Vegeta, as the attack left a rather large cut on his head except it wasn't as bad as the receiver. Zeta floated loosely in the air, trying to get his bearings. The sudden impact had temporarily knocked him unconscious. He moaned as he tried to steady himself so he wouldn't fall from the sky. A deep cut was the result of the attack and it dribbled blood down his face. Just another injury to add to the list.

"I give you one more chance Zeta" Vegeta said, "take it now, your almost dead because after this one I will not let you leave here alive" the young saiyan Zeta finally recovered. The words of Vegeta seemed vague in his mind but he had a fair idea of what he said, and he wasn't going to accept them.

"Go to hell Vegeta. Don't worry, I still have something in stall for you and it'll really fuck you up" Zeta spoke through bloody clenched teeth. He had expended his most of his energy in trying to attack Vegeta but he still had plenty left for his last attack, which he planned on doing soon. Vegeta was becoming impatient with Zeta, he had given him far too many chances and he didn't want to spend any more time here.

"Okay" Vegeta started, "I'll try and make it as quick and painless as 'I' possibly can" Vegeta started laughing. For he could never give a quick death, and this fight was a lot of fun but he wanted it to end for he was getting tired, quickly.

"I won't let you beat me," Zeta yelled out while extending his right arm. With a big grunt he let loose an energy beam at Vegeta. He aimed it at the old saiyan's head, hopefully doing some damage. It was a waste of time, the beam reached Vegeta quickly, except Vegeta was quicker.

Vegeta quickly deflected the beam off into the sky and immediately used his super-speed to gain some ground on Zeta. He confused him by appearing all around the sky leaving after images. Zeta was watching, trying to catch a glimpse of Vegeta, except he was too slow, as he appeared right behind him. Vegeta reached out and grabbed Zetas shoulder, turning him around and punching him in the face. He hit him hard, just to stun him though. Zeta was helpless; nothing could be done as Vegeta stuck his hand to the man's bare stomach where the wound lay.

"I told you to quit!" yelled Vegeta as he let loose an energy blast onto Zeta's chest. Its blue glowing colour lit up the sky and its intense light passed through the clouds. The injured saiyan was propelled towards the ground by the massive force of the blast and nothing he could do would stop its power. Zeta dropped from the sky with his distant-cousin watching from above. When he hit the ground, the blast detonated into a small explosion. The ground cracked and almost caved in under all the energy, but it held and poor Zeta lay on top. Dust and all other debris scattered into the sky and another destroyed portion of the island was made. Zeta wasted no time. With his last ounce of strength he gradually lifted himself off the ground to stand tall and look at Vegeta.

"What's this?" Vegeta said to himself, a little stunned and taken back. Nevertheless he watched, amusing himself in Zeta's efforts to look strong.

"Okay Vegeta. You want a challenge, try this on for size!" Zeta yelled. The rage filled all his voice and beads of sweat and blood poured from his face to show how hard he had worked in this futile fight.

"Let's have it then" Vegeta laughed. He then started to chuckle to himself and try and guess what he could possibly do. Zeta didn't listen to Vegeta's comment, instead he prepared for his most powerful attack, Barados' Cannon.

"Wow, dad's almost invincible" Trunks exclaimed "I've never seen the old guy fight like this, I can't believe he is actually this powerful, incredible" All the others watched in silence, admiring the ferocity and power of Vegeta's attacks.

"Your father better kill Zeta soon" Gohan said

"Why?" asked Trunks.

"He is getting tired" Gohan answered, "I don't think he will last much longer out there. He may be super powerful, but remember he is old and his body won't be able to take the strain of the super saiyan four transformation for much longer."

"He doesn't look tired" Bosta added, "I mean, he's been fighting fine and hasn't shown one let down."

"If you concentrate heavily on just Vegeta when he attacks, you'll notice his power goes up and down very quickly, a clear sign of fatigue and that the current transformation is too much for him to handle."

The fighters floating in the sky fell into silence and quietly prayed that Vegeta will be able to survive for a bit longer. They watched attentively as Zeta started doing something odd.

Zeta prepared his attack. He clasped both hands together so that his fingers were inter-wound. The two top index fingers were pointed out together, side by side and the thumbs pointed up, much like the shape of a pistol. Vegeta watched closely and very curiously as the pointed finger gun was raised at him. Zeta looked at Vegeta in hatred and then his aura exploded around him. Except, this time his aura had turned red. A flaming red aura started to grow more intense as Zeta started screaming. The screaming was first a low rumble but now it had become quite loud. He grimaced as pain swept through his body from powering up. Stress from the fight had damaged his efficiency to summon power. The aura grew wider around him and became so intense that it was impossible to see through it. Zeta's yelling became more intense than ever and so did his power. A raging wind filled the area they were in, blowing over trees and anything else that was loose.

Vegeta looked down and found a lump in his throat. He wasn't afraid of this new threat, but he didn't seem too fond of it either. He could feel the power coming from Zeta's attack, it was incredible. This attack was certainly powerful, but Vegeta took the initiative. He quickly powered up, creating an energy shield around himself. Pumping power into the golden sphere around him, it would provide ample protection from this attack.

Zeta's yelling was constant and the aura had become a large red dome that was spreading out, ripping up any land it past. The dome stopped and the power rise seemed to stop as well. The attack had reached its peak, and Zeta on the inside of the dome could muster no more power to feed his attack. He then used the Barados' Cannon! Vegeta's protection was becoming even stronger with every bit of energy he gave it, but he didn't want to tire himself so he couldn't kill Zeta after this. Vegeta kept his eye on the powerful red dome then all of a sudden it seemed to disappear. The red dome shrunk, in an instant towards the tip of Zeta's gun shaped hand. All the screaming stopping, all the wind suddenly died down, and all that could be heard was the soft droning of Vegeta's energy sphere. The silence was deadly; it was the eye of the storm.

Zeta sort of stood there for a few seconds, catching his breath, but he didn't hold for long.

"Barados' Cannon!" he yelled, drawing out the words, making the word trail on. The scream filled the island. Vegeta watched anxiously as an energy sphere, three times the size of Zeta grew at the tips of his fingers. The ball carved out the ground underneath it to create room, spilling rocks and clutter out the side. It was red, just like the aura, except this time it was covered with electricity. Blue tongues of electricity danced around on the giant sphere intimidating Vegeta to the point of frustration. Suddenly, the energy was released; a beam of energy came out of the sphere towards Vegeta. It was about half the size of the sphere and it was coming in fast. The energy bubble on Zeta's fingertips grew a little smaller and he screamed with all his might, willing the beam to connect with Vegeta. The red electrified beam met Vegeta in the sky.

Vegeta screamed out, creating his energy protection sphere a little bigger and then the beam hit. The sphere shrunk down to nothing and the rest of the energy flowed up to Vegeta. The end of the beam tailed behind but as soon as it hit, the effect was dynamite.

A brilliant red blast filled the sky. The red explosion came all the way down to the ground filling the space between Earth and Vegeta. Zeta quickly crossed his arms in front of his head and chest to protect himself. Trunks, Goten, Bosta and Gohan immediately flew as fast as they could behind a giant rock to give themselves some cover. The sky was lit up in a display of red and blue electricity. A huge shock wave was emitted from the blast. The rock in which Trunks and company hid behind was shattered. The invisible force tore it to pieces and blew them away a bit until they managed to stop themselves. The ground underneath Vegeta became toasted and eroded away. The spherical detonation was a spectacular sight but deadly to anyone caught in its wake, for it was red because of how hot and intense the blast was. Zeta was barely holding himself up from the amazing ferocity in which he felt, and Trunks and company could only stare in fear and awe.

The red blast died away eventually, turning the sky back to its normal colour. The point of impact smouldered with a thick black smoke that seemed to puff out forever. Zeta removed his arms and cautiously looked up to see whether Vegeta was still there. All that could be seen was black smoke.

Zeta laughed to himself. He had hit the bastard, Vegeta was wasted. The blast had completely disintegrated him.

"What, no way" Zeta yelled, "no. that's impossible" Zeta looked skywards to where the blast had impacted and saw what he dreaded. The black smoke gave way and was turning into thin grey puffs. The source of the smoke was the body of Vegeta. He floated there. In a peculiar but not uncommon appearance when defending from such an attack. His head was looking down, chin on chest, his arms crossed over his body, the legs were crossed as well, at the shins and were tucked up a bit towards his body with the knees bent slightly. The silence was eerie to say the least. Zeta's jaw almost dropped to the ground while he gazed upon Vegeta; survivor of Barados' Cannon. An attack taught to all saiyan elite members on Barados. The attack was created by the first king himself, to be used in all situations; blowing up planets, destroying people etc. It was mostly effective because of how hot the blast is and how concentrated the energy is, except this time the cannon had met Vegeta. The smoke came from just centimetres of Vegeta's fur body. The energy shield he made had worked, just barely though. The blast was so intense it had almost penetrated the shield, which could have proven painful. Vegeta slowly looked up, unfolding his limbs and straightening them out. His eyes were full of hatred, yet his mouth was in a smirk.

Zeta thought nothing. He looked at the saiyan Vegeta who had survived an atomic blast and stood tall like nothing happened.

"That was a rush" Vegeta quietly said, "you almost had me then. Your, Barados' Cannon, was it called? Well anyway, that blast certainly goes by my approval. My energy shield was almost breached by the massive explosion. It was like hell in that blast, all hot and painful. But now I feel better. I gave you a chance to leave without any more pain. You didn't take it!" Vegeta's voice raised louder.

"I then gave you time to attack me with as many hits as you would do, but still you couldn't hit me. And just now I gave you ample time to charge up a generous attack, which to my surprise was quite powerful except it still didn't do any damage. So now, your time is up.you are going to fucking die!" Vegeta's last words were yelled in anger at Zeta. His eyes zeroed in on the stunned boy and he then extended his arm and pointed his index finger at Zeta. A thin energy beam shot out from the tip of Vegeta's finger, creating a whining noise as it pierced through the now dusty air. The beam met with Zeta's left shoulder, it was so fast that he couldn't even see the beam, until it was too late. The blue length penetrated the armoured shoulder of Zeta, going all the way through and out the back where it bore several feet into the ground behind him. A scream of pain could be heard exiting Zeta's bloody mouth. The thin beam ceased to fire and Vegeta watched Zeta fall to his knees. Blood began to quickly spurt from the clean hole in his shoulder. The screaming stopped and Zeta looked at Vegeta with proud eyes; the eyes only a saiyan warrior possesses, eyes, which show courage and strength for their race.

Vegeta knew he had won, and all he had to do was deliver the final blow, then he could go home and forget about this little interruption.

A flicker of someone appeared in front of Zeta. It was Vegeta, looking down on him with a frown on his face. The look of a man who is hiding his emotions; Vegeta didn't want to kill, but it had to be done.

Trunks, Goten, Gohan and Bosta all looked anxiously upon the stand off between the two warriors. They waited for the final blow to be given and for the end to come.