Chapter Eleven:

Goku was tired, far more tired than he could ever remember being. Watching the two beams, one from his son and one from an enemy, strive against each other, he felt an almost surreal calm about him. He looked down at his chest, and saw that the wound Vegeta had burned shut was now bleeding again. Only a trickle at the moment, but he guessed that if he had to fight again, or move quickly, it would soon be gushing.

He was far enough away so that the force of the two combating kis didn't hurt him, and all he could hear was the roar of it in his ears. Morgoth and Gohan seemed very close in power, so this could go on for quite a while.

Except…

Something bugged Goku, something about the way things had happened when he had been in the position Gohan was now. It had been very strange, Morgoth's ki suddenly shooting into the stratosphere, out of the range of anything Goku could even detect. But it hadn't felt right. The same thing had happened again when Morgoth had covered the whole planet in one huge area blast.

Their opponent was strong enough as it was, but it was almost as if he could surge his power for brief moments when he chose, doubling or even trebling it. Or perhaps Morgoth had more as of yet unrevealed strength. Either way, it didn't seem hopeful.

Goku shook his head, clearing it. The ball of ki gathering between the two fighters was now huge, and Goku flew back another hundred yards or so to get away from it. He hated this, hated it more than anything; not being able to help. It was torture, watching his son in the middle of a dangerous battle and simply sitting on the sidelines. But he was tired, so tired that he knew his joining in would only get in Gohan's way.

Suddenly the saiyajin was brought back to reality by a laugh. Morgoth's laugh.

"Now, young saiyajin!!" Morgoth's voice was somehow audible over the roar of their attacks. "It has been interesting, but I'm going to show you that you've been outclassed from the beginning!!!"

And suddenly the demon's hands changed position, instead of being cupped, one hand was suddenly holding the other's wrist, the second hand holding the energy at bay. It was the same thing he had shot at Goku earlier, some nameless attack probably perfected by this monster before there were spoken languages.

And with no other apparent change, the purple ki pouring from Morgoth's hands suddenly flooded, black lightning spiraling down the beam, which had just gone from normal sized to over ten feet wide. It sliced through Gohan's kamehameha like butter.

Goku saw what was happening. He couldn't let his son die, not this way, not again! Somehow, he reached deep into himself, feeling for any bit of power he had. His hair rose and flared into super saiyajin, his eyes turning aqua and his aura a golden flame.

He dove down, faster than the beam, and landed in front of his son. He knew he could never hope to block the blast, even if he and Gohan worked together. But he might be able to divert it.

"Chou KA ME HA ME HA!!!"

He unleashed all the power he could without dying, hitting Morgoth's attack not head on, but from underneath, using it's own momentum and adding his own. It's direction changed, just enough. It roared over their heads, and Gohan (after seeing what his father had done) added his own power, changing it further. The blast shot upward, into space, and detonated, turning the sky a momentary brilliant white even through the thick black clouds.

The group of Vegeta, Arda, and Osiris had grown to include Piccolo, Krillin, Trunks, Goten, and Uubu, who had found their way to the other three during Gohan's battle. Now they stood beneath the still glowing sky and tried to decide what to do.

Krillin, Uubu, Goten, Trunks, and Vegeta were in favor of going to the battlefield right away. Even if they couldn't help, they reasoned, at least they would be there. Maybe once Gohan had fought Morgoth for long enough to wear him down, they could all pool their energy again.

The other three, however, didn't all share that enthusiasm.

"That thing," Arda pointed in the direction of the battle. "Destroyed everything on this planet. With one blast. Do any of you realize how much ki it takes to cover an entire planet in an area blast? The only thing we could do in that battle is to get in Gohan and Goku's way."

"I think I have to agree with that one." Piccolo said. "Much as I hate to admit it, all of us are outclassed in this. If we go to that battlefield, Morgoth will try to use our presence against Goku and Gohan, because he knows that they don't want to endanger us."

"Spare me." Vegeta growled. "None of what you've said can convince me to let two allies fight for their and our lives while I sit by and watch. Do you two have no pride?" Vegeta didn't even bother looking at Osiris. "How can you sit here, using others as your crutch?"

Piccolo's expression remained rigid. "Sometimes, Vegeta, questions of pride have to give way to common sense."

Arda sighed and threw his arms in the air. "I've said what I have to say, if everyone else still wants to go try to help, I'll follow. But I still think it's a bad idea." He sat down on the bare earth, crossing his legs.

"We can't do it." Piccolo said. "Besides, I have to see Kai-sama, I think there's something…"

"I have to go." Uubu interrupted. "I don't want to, but I have a duty to my sensei. If he falls, I have to take his place in the battle."

Piccolo looked at the boy for a second, not saying anything, as if studying him to see how true his words were. Uubu looked back, unblinking into the other's eyes.

Finally the namek sighed. "Do what you think is right. As for me, I have other business."

Piccolo casually pulled Goku's bo staff from his shoulder, holding it by the sling. "Here, kid." He tossed it to Goten. "See that your dad gets this back, when you have a chance. I have something I have to take care of."

And with no more words of explanation, he took off at top speed toward the silver pillar that was the gateway to hell.

Morgoth looked down at Goku and Gohan with an expression of mixed anger, disbelief, and even a bit of wonder, wonder that they could do such a thing, this team of father and son.

"Oh, that was clever." He said at last. "Wonderfully clever. You have managed to save your pathetic lives yet again. Unfortunately for you, I doubt very much that you will be able to do it again."

Goku was almost passing out now, his ki was so depleted. And as he had predicted, the wound on his chest was now profusely bleeding again. How long would it be before it caused him to bleed out? Would there be enough time?

Gohan stared back at Morgoth, hating the demon now. Before he had felt anger, but now it was blinding, red and black hate pouring through his head. This thing was going to kill his father. This thing was going to kill everything, and had already wiped the planet clean of living things. Bubbling rage tainting his judgement, he pushed himself past the line.

"Triple Kaio-KEN!!"

Goten, Trunks, Vegeta, Arda, Uubu, and Osiris, all streaking wordlessly toward the battlefield, their kis all low so as not to be detected before they arrived. Not that it would really make a difference, since they all knew there was no way that Morgoth would leave Gohan, the much more challenging opponent, to go find them. But still, it was always better to be safe than sorry.

"Now remember," Arda glanced around at the rest of the warriors. "No one jump in until I tell you to. The only way we get in the middle of this fight is if Gohan and Goku cannot possibly win."

Trunks glanced at the vampire, looking angry. "Who the hell put you in charge!? I'll jump in when I decide I should." The demi-saiyajin glared defiantly.

"Age and power back me up, kid." Now Arda looked irritated, but not really angry yet. "And your father will back me up, I think."

Trunks laughed. "Oh, that's good. My dad's going to…"

"Shut up, Trunks." Vegeta growled.

Trunks glanced at his father in surprise. "Tou-san…"

"We don't have time for this. The vampire's plan works best, so you don't enter until one of your elders says so." The prince glanced around. "And that goes for the rest of you, as well. I may be weakened, but I can still kill you." Vegeta's words had the desired effect, even though they all knew that he wouldn't actually kill them. At least, they hoped…

"Yes, papa." Trunks said dejectedly, crossing his arms over his chest. Goten flew next to him, and gave his friend a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry, Trunks. We'll get our chance."

Gohan was stuck in some middle ground, his body fighting to hold together and contain the immense power that he had just poured into it. He could hold it… but just barely. And time would be severely limited. He suspected that now he had less than ten minutes before he had to move back down to a double or even single Kaio-ken, or he would hurt himself more than was worth it.

He was dimly aware that he had been screaming, and he forced his mouth to shut it in, bring it down to a mere growl of pain, but also of power. The energy coursed through his body, his mystic form alone now looking like child's play.

Morgoth was looking down at him with a small smile. "This is… interesting. Yes, I'm beginning to like you more and more, Son Gohan. You just keep pushing and pushing, hoping that somehow if you put yourself through enough pain, you can do the impossible, kill the evil Morgoth. Maybe even make up for all those times you let down your family and friends before. Well, you can't, but we'll have fun while you try."

"SHUT UP!!" Gohan flew into the air, leaving Goku standing on the ground, and dove straight at Morgoth, not really knowing what he was going but only intent on destruction, killing Morgoth, banning this foul thing from the world of the living.

But he found himself face to face with a black ball of energy that had just been thrown at him. Not very powerful, though, as he slapped it out of the way.

Morgoth swung at Gohan as he slapped the ball away, but Gohan was too quick, and blocked the fist that would have torn his head off. He countered, slamming a kick into Morgoth's side and throwing the demon off balance, then swinging a fist right into his face, throwing Morgoth backward.

The demi saiyajin didn't wait for hi to stop, but blurred out and appeared behind him. Morgoth was able to right himself, and spun around as he flew toward Gohan.

Gohan swung his fist, and Morgoth blocked, white tremors or energy flying through the air as the blow connected to the arm. Morgoth smiled, opened his mouth, and past the rows of fangs a huge blast ripped straight into Gohan's face.

Having not even spoken to or listened to the rest of the warriors since the initial explanations of his presence, Osiris had been able to monitor and follow the battle much more thoroughly than anyone else. He had been monitoring the kis of Gohan and Morgoth, at first only privately marveling at the demi-saiyajin's huge increase, but now more and more paying attention to the demon, and with growing suspicion.

All through the battle, Morgoth's ki had been slowly but very steadily going up, which was normal, except for one thing.

In any normal warrior, once they have powered up partially, it is fairly easy for a skilled fighter to be able to sense if they have any power left that they aren't showing. Well, maybe not that easy, but having been alive for two thousand years, Osiris had become very, very good at it.

The trouble was, he sensed nothing like this in Morgoth, even though the demon just kept getting stronger. Which could mean one of two things. One, impossible really, was that his power was unlimited. Or two, he was drawing energy from someone or something. The last was more likely, and since the first had them all dead to rights, that was the one Osiris was going with.

But that only began another problem. Based on the huge surges of ki Morgoth had displayed thus far, his energy could at least for brief moments far exceed anything that could be accurately gauged, more than all of the z warriors combined, easily.

The only way for them to beat Morgoth was to either somehow overpower whatever he was drawing power from, which already seemed nearly impossible, or to destroy it. Since the second option wasn't even really an option, the first was the only choice.

Osiris calmly shut his eyes and wondered if death hurt much.

Gohan was pitched backward by the blast, and he was at least temporarily blinded. He felt someone, definitely Morgoth, grab the ragged remains of his gi collar and grip it, holding him in place. The Kaio-ken vanished, his mystic power dwindled to less than half.

"I thought you would enjoy that." The demon's cold laugh made Gohan's skin crawl. "You were fun, Gohan, but our game is over."

Gohan had no doubt that Morgoth would have gone on gloating for quite a while, but he was interrupted when he heard a familiar and very welcome voice yell…

"Put Kakarott's son DOWN!!"

Even his temporary flash blindness couldn't keep him from seeing a flare of gold as Vegeta's foot tore into Morgoth's head, the demon's claws ripping through Gohan's gi as he was tossed away. The demi-saiyajin felt strong arms catch him, arms slightly smaller than his own.

"Don't worry, big brother." Goten said. "We've got you." He floated down, setting Gohan on the ground next to their father, who seemed to be near dead. Then he flew back upward, stopping next to Trunks. The line of z warriors and two vampire's faced forward, as Morgoth floated slowly toward them.

"You know," the demon said, very irritated, "the surprise rescues are getting quite repetitive. I'm going to kill you all now."

The power surged, beyond anything they had ever imagined or dreamed. But they stood their ground, the warriors who knew they were hopelessly overpowered, and all threw out their ki to block the massive blast that had blown up from every pore of Morgoth's body, but it wasn't enough, of course it wasn't enough.

They were driven into the ground, power pounding on them. Each one knew in some corner of their mind, that survival of this would be a miracle.

With the help of Juuhachi-gou and Mr. Popo's flying carpet, Dende had been able to get all of the z fighter's friends out of the great black expanse and onto the green grass of Kaio-shin-Kai. Most of them were sitting around the crystal ball, except for Bura and Pan, who were off just out of clear hearing range playing. This was the scene when Piccolo unexpectedly landed.

"I need to speak to Kaio-sama, right now." The namek said, not waiting for anyone to greet him.

King Kai walked up. "Well, this is unexpected, Piccolo. And just what are you doing here, if you're not dead?"

"I need to ask you something about this Golden Moon. I think it may be the key to defeating Morgoth."

The god seemed immediately interested. "Come over here, where we can talk in private." He gestured toward the one tree on the planet, where there was no one but the old Kaio-shin, listening to a walkman.

He and Piccolo walked over, and began to quickly talk.

Goku's eyes opened just slightly. He saw nothing at first, but then his vision cleared just a little and he saw clouds, the black clouds that covered the whole sky.

His whole body hurt more than he had ever imagined it could, even though he could feel that nothing more major than his ribs were broken. He was just so tired…

His eyes snapped open; they had begun to droop closed. But sleep, hell, even death must be better than this. He had failed, Gohan had failed, all of the z warriors had failed. He didn't have enough ki left in his body to sense whether anyone else was alive, but by turning his eyes he could see Uubu, battered and with one long gash along his side, trying to help Arda, who was trying to stick his severed arm back on his shoulder.

Looking the other way, there was Vegeta. His hair was still gold, so that meant he was at least partially conscious, even half buried in rock as he was.

They were the only ones he could see.

Looking back at the sky, Goku cursed inwardly. How could this happen? Always before, even in the darkest of their dark hours, there had been some sort of hope. Now there was none. Everyone was either hurt or dead, and he himself had so little energy left that simply moving his head required every ounce he had.

And one thing Goku could sense, the only thing, was Morgoth. He was up there in the sky, simply floating just out of Goku's vision. Maybe he was gloating, or maybe he was just trying to figure out what to do next. But Goku never found out, because it was just then that he noticed an interesting change in the quality of the light. It was almost…

Then in a huge flash, it happened. The silver pillar that was a gateway into hell shot all the way up into the sky, going out into space. Goku could see it now, shining so brightly that it hurt the saiyajin's eyes slightly.

Then it exploded in a flash of light, and Goku had to shut his eyes against the glare that now threatened to blind him.

When he opened his eyes, the silver light had changed. Now it was gold. And in the sky was a huge ball of golden light, with a silver hole in the middle.

The Golden Moon.

Kaio-sama looked curiously at Piccolo. "The plan sounds possible, Piccolo, but it's also risky. If it doesn't work, everyone on earth could end up dead for good."

Piccolo smirked. "Yeah, I realize that. But just tell me, could it work? I only came to ask you because you know more about it than anyone else."

King Kai scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Well, yes, it could work…"

Piccolo was already gone.

Brute Waves. King Kai had said that the Golden Moon's rays were high in them, but no words could have said what Goku was feeling right now. The golden waves of light were touching something in his mind that had lain dormant for years, decades. Since he was a child…

Without even realizing it, he began to raise his ki, and remarkably it rose. He stood up, and looking around he saw that Vegeta was doing the same. Almost without any physical feeling, Goku saw his tail re-grow instantly, and Vegeta's did the same. That was when it really began…

An orb of ki enveloped Goku, the gland in his tail responding instantly to the moonlight as it always had. He screamed, not able to hold it in as the wild, strange, oozaru-like power flooded him. He could tell without even thinking that this transformation would be different, this would be something more, something legendary.

Fur sprouted from his upper body, his gi top vaporizing in the roar of power. His hair began to grow, and his senses heightened with his power, which didn't seem to have an end. He could tell easily that Vegeta was feeling what he was feeling, their minds open to each other for the first time since fusing.

Goku could only say one thing, whispered it to himself as the transformation into a near-beast began to complete.

Super Saiyajin Four……