Hi! I'm not sure whether people are reading this fic still or not. Please, please, PLEASE let me know if you are (i.e., review), because the lack of support is kinda making me hesitate about finishing it and starting on a sequel story I have ideas about.
Anyway, hope you really ARE reading this thing and that you're enjoying the storyline.
Paul.
Chapter 16 – The Fury Of The Super Mystic
Gohan brought his elbow down and around, viciously striking at Brolli's cheek as the Super Saiyan shot upwards from a previous attack. Gohan could feel the new power surging through his body as he fought against this being, this thing that had threatened his friends and family, people he had known all his life, the people he had fought alongside with when times became desperate. Gohan remembered the mission to Namek, where he fought hard against Freeza's guards, and those moronic dancing goons: the Ginyu Force. Gohan remembered the battles and the bloodshed, and two images in particular flashed painfully in his memory: the deaths of Krillin and his own father, Goku.
Gohan's eyes screwed tight shut as he slammed his fists and feet in Brolli, his fury taking over as he attacked relentlessly, giving the broader, taller, larger Saiyan no room for quarter. But for all the hits Gohan was getting through, Brolli was merely shrugging the blows away or laughing. This was only making Gohan even angrier, and he knew it. Vegeta also knew it, and he had tactfully kept out the way of the battle, watching the silver and gold flashes of power from what he thought to be a safe distance. The two figures battling it out were still close enough to make out every single blow that Gohan made against Brolli, but Vegeta was far enough away so that he had more than enough time to avoid any stray blast that came thundering his way.
Standing there with his arms folded over his chest, eyes narrowed with intensity, Prince Vegeta watched with a spectator-like enthusiasm, watching as Gohan's attacks landed time after time after time. The man-child's speed had risen at an insane rate, whereas his strength had gone up only by only a fraction of the speed. But, without being able to detect the power level of Gohan in his new stage of Mystic, Vegeta knew that he would not be able to determine exactly how powerful this young warrior had become.
Vegeta felt his mind wandering, and he promptly returned his focus to the fight just in time to see a powerful down-heel kick by Gohan send the large Saiyan falling from the sky, followed by Gohan as he swooped down after him. Vegeta smiled and flew down after the falling Beast, and saw Gohan's dive turn into an attack, the speed of the decent adding a powerful edge to the blast of kai flung from the half-Saiyan's hands. The large blast of silver energy struck Brolli in the chest, and sent him hurtling to the earth even faster than before, the clouds billowing in his wake.
Gohan cleared the cloud layer long before Vegeta did, and he was already on the floored Brolli, striking the Brute hard in the back, sending the large man underground for the second time. Brolli's strength surged as he powered up under the rock, and a large green explosion encased itself around Gohan's feet, sending the younger warrior skywards. Brolli's tore his way from the Earth and darted up to meet Gohan in the air, lunging forward with a great punch. Gohan narrowed his eyes into a scowl and flicked his head to the side, the punch going over his neck and shoulder, leaving Brolli's whole body open to a counter attack. Gohan's fists began to glow with the same silver energy that encased his kai attacks, and with a flash, Brolli flew back several yards.
But Gohan was already waiting behind him, and a second flash had Brolli slamming into the ground once again. Gohan blurred downwards, the heel of his right foot striking Brolli heavily in the back of the head, dashing the powerful face off the ground. Brolli pushed his head back, and Gohan's foot rose with it, and he snarled, the sound mingling with the snarl that Brolli was giving off as he pushed himself off the floor. The glow in Gohan's eyes began to rise significantly, and Vegeta had to shield is own eyes from the blinding glare so that he could see the fight clearly.
Brolli managed to tear away from Gohan's grip and he turned sharply, a golden boot digging deep into the ground to gain purchase for the come-about, and then Brolli was all over Gohan. Brolli's first punch slammed Gohan back for several meters, stunning the young warrior long enough for Brolli to increase the gap with a volley of kai blasts from the palm of his left hand. The multitude green bolts of energy exploded across Gohan's body and off the ground around his feet, sending up a huge pillar of fire.
Brolli laughed as the explosions rang out across the night, and a green pulse of light in his right hand grabbed Vegeta's attention. A green glow spread from Brolli's fingers, and it quickly grew into a sphere of green kai, roughly the size of the Saiyan's head. Brolli pushed his right hand forward and directed the glowing ball of kai at the firestorm that marked the spot Gohan had taken up. Vegeta knew what this was, he had seen it used by Brolli against Goku on New Vegeta all those years ago.
The green kai ball blasted forwards, kicking up a spray of dust from the ground as it shot towards Gohan inside his prison of fire, Brolli's laughter singing out across the plain.
"No! You're not doing this!" Vegeta shouted, powering up violently and charging across to the battle. Brolli pause din his laughter and he watched as Vegeta intercepted the kai ball.
Placing himself between Brolli's attack and Gohan, Vegeta braced himself and took up a crucifix position, his eyes narrowing in concentration. He brought his hands around and held them, fists clenched, and yelled as the power grew.
"Final Flash!" He cried as the blast of energy burst from his arms, heading straight for the great ball of kai that was heading straight for him. The two attacks met, and Vegeta strained as he kept flooding more and more energy into his Final Flash. The green kai bolt swelled with size as it met the Final Flash, and Brolli's laughter rose greatly as he saw Vegeta's struggle to keep his own blast powered.
"AARRGGGHHHHHH!"
Vegeta flinched at the sound of the roar, and a large blast of silver-blue energy ripped past him, so close that Vegeta could feel the heat searing cross his face. The new attack also buried itself into Brolli kai ball, and the green bolt's size became so large, fuelled by the attacks from Vegeta and Gohan, that it started to eat away the ground beneath it.
"Gohan! Run you fool!" Vegeta shouted over the roar of the ground as it was eaten away by the green ball before them.
"No! You'll be destroyed!" Gohan called back, putting more force into the Kame-Hame-Ha wave that he had just launched into the battle. Vegeta snarled s his arm buckled slightly through the strain of keeping his attack open this long, and he turned back to shout at Gohan again.
"Damn it! Do what I say! I am The Prince of All Saiyans!" Vegeta shouted back, trying to use the weight of his title behind the order.
"I'm not a full Saiyan, Vegeta, sorry! I'm staying!" Gohan responded, groaning under the pressure that Brolli was putting them both under.
"Fuck you! Get out of here!" Vegeta shouted back, annoyed by the pest's reluctance to leave.
"And let you have all the fun!" Gohan shouted back. "No thank-you!"
"This isn't a game!" Vegeta shouted.
"I know!"
"Then GO!" Vegeta was loosing his temper, and a surge of kai shot down his attack beam, swelling the advancing green ball of kai even more. Gohan swallowed hard as he watched the ground being ripped away by Brolli's green attack. His thoughts started to dwell on the Cell Games now, remembering the great duel fought by him and Cell after he had returned from the dead.
"No! I'm not leaving you!" Gohan shouted, and increased his efforts. With a roar of power, Gohan pushed his Kame-Hame-Ha wave's power even higher, and the explosion it caused as it slammed against Brolli's bolt pushed Vegeta back across the ground, his feet leaving two skid trails where they dug into the ground.
The fool's going to get himself killed! Vegeta thought as he gritted his teeth against another explosion that ripped a larger hole into the ground. And us ALL along with him!
Piccolo looked down through the clouds with his mind, sensing the battle raging below as he stood on the jagged, smashed edge of what remained of the Lookout. He half closed his eyes and let his thought dwell on Brolli's and Vegeta's power levels, and the fact that Gohan's had disappeared had him worried. It would be impossible to know whether or not he was in trouble or not, or even how strong he had become. During the battle on the Lookout only moments earlier, Piccolo – as well as many of the others, probably - had felt Gohan's power level rocket higher than Tomatta's, or even Vegeta's and Goku's.
Piccolo's thoughts trailed off and he frowned.
"Speaking of Tomatta, where is he?" He mused to himself under his breath, scanning the area for the cousin of Goku. He felt a power level fluctuate behind him, and he turned, trying to triangulate on the location where the energy burned so unsteadily. He took several steps forward, stopped, then hesitated. The power level was coming from right underneath him, and as he looked down, a pile of rubble at his feet exploded outwards, revealing the angry and flustered form of Applor, his clothing ripped and tattered.
"Kid?" Piccolo asked in amazement, looking at the young Super Saiyan as he pulled himself free of the building that had collapsed on top of him.
"What!" Applor answered hotly, pushing and pulling at the wreckage that still covered the lower portion of his body.
"What the hell happened to you?" asked Piccolo.
"I dunno, one moment I'm fighting the big guy, next thing I knew I'm under all that," Applor replied, tossing a large slab of material off his lower torso and over the edge of the Lookout.
Piccolo sighed and began to help Applor dig himself out the detritus of the battle.
"How long did you last for?" Piccolo asked.
"Long enough," came the reply.
The two continued working in silence, mentor and pupil picking up pieces of debris and hurling them aside until Applor was finally free of the collapsed building.
"Have you seen Tomatta?" Piccolo asked, looking about as Applor dusted himself down. The young Saiyan shook his head as he poked at a hole in his dark blue tunic.
"No, he was still fighting when I hit the wall," he answered.
"Shit, he's gone missing, and I fear the worst," Piccolo answered.
"Huh? I don't think he's dead. He was too powerful to just… die," said Applor.
"I know, but I've seen it happen before," Piccolo mused, remembering all the times he saw one of the Z Fighters killed in battle. Including himself.
He looked across at Goten, lying exhausted on the floor, with Trunks kneeling beside him to make sure he was okay.
"Go check on Goten, Applor. I have things to do first," Piccolo said finally, not looking at his new pupil. Applor opened his mouth to protest, but thought better of it.
"Sure," he said simply, then wandered over to where the two boys were on the destroyed floor of the Lookout. Piccolo watched Applor move away and then sighed loudly, looking around and still scanning for Tomatta. He was about take off and fly away in search of the Super Saiyan when a familiar power level registered in his mind. Turning his head, he saw Krillin land on the far side of the Lookout, wearing a jacket, shirt and jeans, the ex-monk's expression one of horror and amazement.
"What the hell happened here?" Krillin asked, amazed.
"Brolli," Trunks answered without looking up. Krillin turned at the sound of Trunks' voice, and immediately saw Goten, lying on the floor.
"Goten!" Krillin piped, tearing his civilian jacket from his shoulders and letting it drop to the demolished and battered floor as he ran to where Goten lay.
"Is he… is he…" Krillin stuttered, looking from Trunks to Piccolo and then to Goten again. Trunks put his hand on the monk's shoulder and squeezed very gently.
"It's okay, he's just asleep. Guess the fight really took it out of him," Trunks explained calmly.
"Yes, he and his brother were like a pair of terriers," came a familiar voice. The group turned and Mister Popo pulled himself out the wreckage of the main building, followed shortly afterwards by Dende.
"Terriers…?" Applor asked, but was ignored.
"Yeah, sounds like Goten alright," Krillin agreed. "Definitely takes after his father, that one!" Dende chuckled.
"Yes, remember the Cell Games?" the Guardian asked.
"Do I remember? Man, I swear I'll never forget!" Krillin exclaimed. "The way Goku fought against cell until he could barely stand!"
"The way Goku gave Cell that senzu bean!" Piccolo growled. "The way he almost got his own son killed!" Krillin stopped smiling and looked up at Piccolo, and swallowed hard as he saw the Namek's face in the cold night air.
"Yeah, yeah. I mean… yeah…" The monk stuttered, then turned to Dende. "So do you think you could fix us up?"
"What do you mean, us!" Piccolo shouted.
"Well, I was thinking we could give the guys a hand…"
"Well, I think all that would accomplish is getting ourselves killed," Piccolo said coldly.
"Well I for one would gladly die if it means that Goku and the others would get the job done!" Krillin replied. Piccolo pulled himself up straight and glared down at Krillin.
"Are you saying I wouldn't?!" The Namek demanded.
"I… uh…"
"Will you two just shut up!" Trunks yelled. Both Namek and Human tuned to look at the half-Saiyan crouched by his younger friend, who then turned to Dende.
"Dende, do you think you could heal Goten and Applor?" he asked calmly.
"Of course, Trunks. No problem," Dende replied without hesitation. He stretched his hands out and lay them palm down over Goten's body, then as they had done with Vegeta, a green pulse burst from the palms of his hands, coating Goten with a rejuvenating green glow. Goten's eyes fluttered as his energy was restored gradually by Dende's healing powers, then one eye opened slowly and focused on the faces above him.
"Trunks…? That you…?" Gohan said shakily, pushing himself onto an elbow. Trunks looked down and grinned.
"Yeah, it's me, buddy," Trunks answered and playfully thumped Goten on the shoulder. "Man, what a way to go! I thought you were a goner when Piccolo brought you here."
"Brought me here? Where'd I go?"" Goten asked, baffled.
"You fell of the Lookout, kid. I had to really push myself to catch you in time," Piccolo said, grinning a little. "Heh! If I hadn't been there to catch you, you would've splatted onto the floor." Goten winced slightly.
"Gee, thanks. I think…" Goten answered before sitting up with a groan. "My head hurts."
Goku looked around the landscape with puzzled frown, then back to the Dragon Radar held in his hand.
"Man, these things are hard to find. I mean, they're big enough. You can hardly miss them, in fact." He looked back up with a sigh, and then something caught his eyes. A small rivulet trickled by his foot into a perfectly round lake some way in the distance, and Goku frowned as something caught his eyes. At first glance, it just looked like the way that the yellow sun was glinting off the surface of the lake… but if he moved forward…
Goku charged off over the lake, kicking up a spray of water as his golden aura pushed the waves away from his body. He hovered over the lake where he thought he had seen the shine, and then looked around. He was nearly at the center of the lake, probably at the deepest point if this was what he thought it was, after hearing the story from Gohan when he had been a child. Clenching his fists, he started to charge his power up, sending it outwards and began to expand his aura outwards and a tremendous rate. His aura flashed brightly and lightning sparked across his body as he hit stage two, and then continued growing rapidly. Hit leaped outwards again even farther this time as his hair flashed and lengthened down his back as he passed the third-stage barrier level. Still his aura expanded, and still he charged his power level higher. His arms shook and a small cry escaped his throat as he took his power-level to the extremities of his limits, and then stopped.
"Whoa! That was quite a warm up!" Goku said cheerfully, and then looked down into the dimple that had opened up directly beneath him in the lake. At the edge of the large bowl-shaped whole in the flat surface of the lake, water jumped and leapt into the air from where it had been pushed outwards by Goku's aura. He let himself lower towards the lakebed, watching as his aura pushed the water away from him, and pretty soon he was well beneath the water level of the perfectly round body of water. After several more moments of descent, the light went dark as the water closed up overhead, the energy from Goku's aura the only thing keeping him dry as he lowered even farther towards the lakebed. The glow had vanished beneath him, replaced instead by the bright golden glow that his aura had put into the water.
From the air, the whole lake shone with a bright golden energy, something that attracted several passers by.
"What's that?" a figure said. The figure had purple skin and was dressed in what appeared to be Saiyan Battle-Armour, the kind employed by Freeza's men.
"Hmm, I don't know, Fui. But I don't like the looks of it. Lets go check it out." Fui's colleague said, also dressed in the Saiyan Battle-Armour.
"What!?! Go down there? What if there's some sort of monster?" Fui asked suddenly.
"Relax, will you? We have these!" Fui's partner said, patting the fusion rifle slung casually over his shoulder.
"Yeah, I suppose so. C'mon then, Mor. Let's see what's causing that glow at this time of night." Fui said, plucking up the courage, as well as his fusion rifle. The pair hovered down in their hover-sleds and landed on the western-shore of the lake. Mor took aim through the scope of the rifle and pressed a button on the side of the pistol-grip handle, then froze, his purple skin paling slightly. Moments later the scope blew up with a cloud of acrid smoke pouring from the destroyed receptacle.
"What the fuck just happened!" Mor shouted as he bounced to a standstill, looking back at his smoldering weapon which he had dropped as he dived for cover. Fui looked at the rifle and prodded it with his toe to make sure it was safe before he picked it up.
"Maybe it was faulty…?" he suggested, taking his own rifle from his shoulder.
"Faulty?!" Mor said.
"Yeah, here. Try mine." Fui said, offering his rifle to Mor. Mor went pale again.
"Uh… no thank-you!" he said quickly, picking himself up from the dry ground and dusting himself down. "I mean; it's your weapon and everything. I couldn't possibly take it from you. It's besides regulations, for a start." Fui looked at his partner and shrugged, then pressed the butt-plate of the weapon snugly into his shoulder and pressed his cheek to the rifle side, his skin tingling as the cold metal pressed against his warm flesh, and aimed it at the center of the lake. With his finger on the trigger and his eye firmly on the target, he let his thumb press the slide-button on the pistol-grip handle, which activated the scouter built into the rifle sight scope. The numbers went soaring upwards immediately, and then, again, the scope blew up.
Fui screamed in pain as thick purple blood spurted from his right eye, the eye which had been pressed against the scope, and he dropped his rifle instinctively so that he could cradle his ruined eye.
"Fucking hell!" Mor called out. "Fui, are you alright?"
"I've just had my eye put out!" Fui shouted back, the purple blood mixed with ocular fluids oozing out between his fingers and flowing down his cheek. "What the fuck do you think!?" Mor just stood their looking at his comrade in arms and then swallowed.
"Come on, we'd better get back to base camp," he said eventually, putting his hand on his stricken friends back as he scooped up both rifles by their holster straps. The pair clambered onto their hover sleds and rode off over a line of broken hills.
Back on Earth, Gohan and Vegeta struggled to press more energy into their attacks as Brolli merely laughed, the energy for his ball of kai flowing through him easily. Vegeta gritted his teeth and put every ounce of strength he had into sustaining the energy wave that he sent surging forwards to try and destroy the green force ball that was heading for them slowly, and it was steadily getting bigger as it absorbed the energy from his Final Flash and the Kame-Hame-Ha that Gohan had thrown into the struggle for power between Brolli and Vegeta.
Gohan took a step forward and bunched the muscles in his arms, then powered up higher. A blasting silver aura erupted from his body and shot outwards, tearing up the ground as his power level began to sore incredibly, the power from his Mystic state increasing the power of his Super Saiyan state by… and that's what troubled him. He didn't know! He couldn't detect his own power level, so he was pretty sure that nobody around him could either.
As Gohan's power rose, so did the force in his attack. The Kame-Hame-Ha wave widened incredibly and it smashed across the ground, the beam so broad that the bottom edge ripped open in its wake before it collided with Brolli's bolt. The green blast wobbled in the air slightly as this new force struck it, then it suddenly swelled with power, the ground beneath it churning as the crater widened even more, the splintering of rock and the explosions from the three attacks drowning out the insane laughter coming from Brolli's mouth.
"Argh! God damn you!" Vegeta panted as he tried to summon as much strength as he could and shove it into the Final Flash. The Saiyan Prince was still annoyed that Gohan wouldn't listen to his order and leave whilst he still could, but that was irrelevant now. Gohan was here, and he was staying.
"You foolish, foolish brat!" Vegeta cursed as he was pushed back a little more. "Why don't you just leave!" he shouted as to be heard over the clash of the three waves.
"Because you need me!" Gohan shouted back.
Curses! Vegeta thought, gritting his teeth tighter against the strain, He's right, and he knows it!
"I need you the way that I need your imbecilic father!" Vegeta lied.
"Yeah right! Without my dad, you wouldn't be as powerful as you are today!" Gohan retorted.
"That doesn't mean that I need him!" shouted Vegeta.
"No, it just means that you would still be a servant of Freeza!"
"I might not be!" Shouted Vegeta in a rage. His power level rose and he found that his Final Flash beam had become less demanding.
Gohan looked over at Vegeta with a scowl, sensing the Prince's power level rising slightly.
Good, he's angry. Now let all that fury unleash at once on Brolli… Gohan thought to himself.
Goku reached the bottom of the lake and looked down. The mud was beginning to be pushed aside, and a golden sparkle met his eyes, and Goku smiled with pride.
"Aha! There you are!" Goku said with a smile as he reached down and picked up the large three-star ball effortlessly in a single hand. "Boy, these things are certainly lighter than I remember them," he said, looking at the huge ball of gold with three stars of a deeper hue engraved into the shining surface. Goku gave the ball another quick look-over and then blasted upwards, surging through the water and erupting from the lake's calm surface like a burning meteor. He hovered in the air and looked around for somewhere safe to stow the balls, because he was sure that he couldn't possible carry seven of these things around with him. Maybe if he had a sack or something…
Goku scanned the area once again, and off to the east he saw a plume of smoke rising up into the sky, something was definitely burning there, maybe it was a settlement? Goku's curiosity was peeked, so he shot off across the sky in a burst of golden energy as he headed for the smoke column, hoping to lend a bag of some description from the inhabitants.
He reached the smoke after several minutes of flying and looked around, his mouth dropped open in shock at what he saw. Line after line of bodies lay strewn across the floor, shot dead, many of the bodies lay with their hands tied behind their backs, a single shot-wound in the head heir marker of death. He turned around, seeing the smoke he had seen was billowing from the burning bubble-huts that these villagers had lived in. Goku was horrified at what he saw.
"Who would do this to…" He was broken off by a savage cry from behind him. He turned just in time for a green fist to come slicing around and slam against his chest. There was a loud snap and then a curse, then another chop came form the other direction with the other arm. The arm passed straight through Goku's after-image, and the Saiyan was standing behind his attack, his arms wrapped around the body of the assailant.
It was a Namek.
"Bastard! Let go of me!" he shouted, thrashing in Goku's arms as the Super Saiyan held onto the Namek lightly.
"Whoa there, I'm just passing through," Goku said, trying to calm the wild Namek down. "What happened here?"
"Like you don't already know!" The Namek snapped. "Pillager! Murderer!" came the shout. Several more Namek's appeared from various shadows, some of them were of the taller, stronger Warrior cast. But every one of them carried crude weapons of some sort. Goku looked around and narrowed his eyes.
"Look, I'm not here to harm anybody, I'm not from around here, I'm from Earth," he tried desperately. "Listen, I really don't want to hurt anybody."
"Yeah? We'll be the one's doing the hurt…" said the Namek in his arms.
"Shhh, Quin!" said a voice from the back of the group. The crowd parted to allow a shorter, older-looking Namek through and he stood before Quin and Goku, looking at the Saiyan intently.
"Yes, yes. He does have that animalistic quality about him, doesn't he?" the older Namek said.
"Elder, what is this about?" a younger warrior asked curiously, tightening his grip on the pick he held.
"This is one of the warrior who saved our planet from that tyrant Freeza all those years ago!" the Elder said, and then made small subtle waving motions with his hands. "It's alright, you can put your weapons down, lads." One by one, each of the Nameks looked at each for support, then there was the clunking and thud sounds as various hatchets and clubs and picks hit the floor. Goku released the growling Namek he had grabbed and scratched the back of head through the long gold hair, smiling greatly.
"Er… hi! My name's Goku!" He said and grinned.
Quin muttered something as he twisted his arm with a grunt, a load snap ringing out across the area as he reset the broken limb, and then turned a cold glare on the Saiyan.
"Yeah, sure ya are," he said then walked away.
"You must excuse Quin, he is the villages greatest warrior. I guess he is feeling somewhat foolish being bested so easily. Even more so, considering you never even struck a blow," the Elder explained apologetically.
"Uh… it's okay, really. I know somebody just like him," Goku said, bringing his hand from his head.
"I am sure you do. I am Jerron, Elder of this Village, or what remains of it," Jerron said with a bow. "I am humbled by the appearance of one who is famous amongst our older population." And with that, Jerron bowed. Confused, and almost unwilling, the congregation bowed also, leaving Goku standing tall amongst a group of doubled-over Nameks.
"Well, gee. You don't have to do all this… I didn't do much… It was really all Vege…" Goku started.
"No, no. We know how you valiantly stood up against Freeza and defeated him, and your modesty is well placed. However, we have problems…" Jerron broke off, and then looked up, a smile moving across his old face.
"Of course, this is why you are here!" he said, beaming.
"I am?" Goku asked uncertainly.
"Yes, yes! Everybody! Goku is here to save our planet once again, just as he did against Freeza in the days gone by!" Jerron exclaimed, catching everybody – even Goku – off guard.
"I am?!" Goku shrieked, the Dragonball nearly dropping from his hand.
"Why else would you be here?" asked a warrior.
"Well I was here to…" Goku began, looking at the Dragonball, and then he sighed. "Why else indeed? Now, will somebody tell me what happened here?"
"You mean you did not know?" asked Quin, pulling himself to his full height.
"Nope," said Goku.
"Well why then are you here in this place?"
All eyes remained on Goku as he thought, then an answer occurred to him.
"I was…uh…drawn to this place. I had a longing to be here?" He tried. The group nodded.
"The call of the adventurer is strong, and must be heeded to," the Elder said. "Now come with me, Son Goku, for we have much to talk about." Jerron turned and headed away, moving towards one of the smoldering huts that had housed many of the compliment of Nameks. Goku shrugged and followed the Elder, smiling in bewilderment.
How do I get myself into these situations? He asked to himself as he ducked under the doorway and entered the building. Oh well, I guess it wont take too long, will it?
Meanwhile, the fight against Brolli was still stalemated. Vegeta had poured almost all of his power into the attack, which meant he was rapidly running out of strength, and he knew it. Gohan still remained, he had powered up again twice times over the last half an hour or so, pouring his energy into his attack, resulting in Brolli's sphere, which was still lurching towards them, to expand again and tear up the ground around it.
Gohan looked at Vegeta with a worried glance and he snarled, pouring more energy into a blast that would only sere as more fuel for Brolli's own attack.
Damn, arrogant fool! Why doesn't he get out of here! Surely he must see his own power failing! Gohan thought as he watched both Brolli and Vegeta with those brilliant shining eyes. His own power was far from diminished, he could feel that. But he didn't know how much power he had, and he knew no body else would be able to gauge his strength or the limits of his abilities until he himself reached them. An undetectable power level would have its advantages, however. But right now, he had to stay here and protect Vegeta from Brolli.
As he thought this, Vegeta staggered, almost falling as his hair shrank up his back. The Prince managed to catch his fall, and he returned to an upright position, the blast still pressing forwards from his fists and into Brolli's attack.
"Vegeta! Get out of here, you fool!" Gohan shouted.
"No! I'm staying! Get out of here before we're both killed!" Vegeta called back.
"I'm not leaving without you!" Gohan shouted.
"Will you just go! I'm done for anyway! There's no use in us both going down!" Vegeta answered.
"No! I'm not leaving you here!"
"What will you do, boy, come over here and get me?" Vegeta shouted. "We both know that you're the one keeping that green ball at bay! If you let your wave go, that thing will destroy both me and you! We'll both be killed!"
"Fine then!"
"You idiot! This is more important than emotions! Don't you realize how strong you've become?! You went toe to toe with Brolli and never got hit once! Nobody has ever done that! We need you and your new power, now get out of here!" Vegeta yelled, forcing what was left of his diminished power into the attack.
"Damn you, Vegeta! You and your fucking pride!" Gohan yelled, looking forward at the figure silhouetted against his own attack. What was getting at Gohan was, he knew that Vegeta was right. Either Gohan left now whilst Vegeta could still hold Brolli's attack or they would both be destroyed.
"Fine, so be it! Now go!" Vegeta yelled back over his shoulder, then slumped onto one knee, the lightning crackling over his body for another few moments before vanishing completely with a spark that crackled over his aura.
"VEGETA!" Gohan yelled.
"GO DAMN YOU!" Vegeta shouted back, his hair starting to flicker. Gohan watched, his heart pounding in his chest and then psyched himself up to leave.
"Alright, I'm going…" Gohan said, then turned.
"Gohan… tell Trunks… tell my son that I love him!" Vegeta shouted, his hair turning black and his eyes dark. Gohan turned back to look over his shoulder and nodded silently. "And you tell that baka onna of mine that I'll be back before she has a chance to take apart that gravity room!" Gohan smiled at Vegeta's misplaced humour, and then flew away quickly.
Vegeta struggled to hold his attack against Brolli, feeling the last of his energy drain out of him. The attack flashed and fluttered, then disappeared entirely, along with it went Vegeta's strength.
This is it… the Prince thought as his legs shook from the sheer effort it took to remain standing, this is where I sleep… Vegeta's body slumped forwards and hit the floor, taking his weight on his arms for a moment before they buckled. Vegeta looked up, his body flat against the floor, and briefly saw Brolli's body, turned green through the attack.
Then it suddenly ended in a flash of white, which somehow seemed so beautiful, so clear when compared against all those years of confusion that he had lived.
Vegeta, Prince of the Saiyans, valiant warrior and loving father, died.
Trunks flinched, then dropped to his knees as something he had already felt hit him harder than what how he had remembered it. Tears rolled down his cheeks as he arched his back, turning his eyes to the dark sky, and into the night he screamed at the top of his voice:
"FATHER!"
And at the same time, in a different location, Bulma's cup dropped from her hand and smashed against the floor as she watched her infant daughter sleeping. Tears welled in her eyes then washed over her cheeks, and she whispered:
"Oh, Vegeta…"
With this touching self-sacrifice, Vegeta saved Gohan from the trap that Brolli had sprung upon them, though as the somber and bitter wave of grief washes over the Z Fighters and the Prince's loved ones, Goku faces a new challenge on the Planet Namek. Will he be able to help the Nameks again and be able to collect the Dragonballs before the rampaging Brolli destroys the Earth, or will Time fall short? Find out, In TOTAL WAR!!!!!