Gohan and Vegeta stood on the plateau once again for the final fight of the tournament. The afternoon sun was still high in the sky and a warm breeze blew across the crater they stood in. Standing facing them was the Quazar Quartet. Both sides stood calmly as the silver announcement speaker drifted down between them. The heard Lord Vertard's voice come from the speaker as was addressing the crowds watching the fight.
"We are now on the final day and at the final fight for this awesome tournament. Fate has blessed us, not only with some of the best teams in the galaxy competing here, but in making sure the last fight is going to be one of the best seen here. Both teams are undefeated in their previous matches. So this fight will determine our champions!"
They could hear the roar of the crowd for a minute before Ventard's voice cut back in. "To the Sayians and the Quazar Quartet, I wish you a good and honorable battle! Let the contest begin!"
With that the sphere zipped up and out of the way and the two teams looked at each other. Yardra's voice was then heard, "So they are undefeated as well. Looks like we are going to have to take it up a notch boys. Let's show them what we are really made of." With that the Quartet started to power up, with Vegeta and Gohan matching the moves.
After both sides finished powering up, they took a moment to study each other trying to judge their opponents.
Then at a shout from Yardra, the twins of Trace and Pace jumped forward and zoomed in on the Sayians.
Gohan and Vegeta met them head on and equally traded blows with them for a couple minutes. But both Gohan and Vegeta were stronger and with their physical strength started to push the twins back. At another call from Yardra, the twins broke off and moved back to stand with the others again. Then Coombra started forward. Gohan and Vegeta waited until he was almost in range and then both jumped him and started hitting as fast and hard as they could. Coombra didn't just stand there and take the punishment either, he was a flurry of movement as he went about blocking a numbers of blows and managing to deliver a few himself. Each time he hit either Gohan or Vegeta they would be knocked back a good bit, but recovered quickly and rejoined the fight. After several minutes of this once again the Sayians started to get the upper hand and Coombra backed off.
Yardra smiled, "It's my turn now." With a cry of concentration a bubble of energy started to form around him. Then it started to spin until it was moving so fast it was nothing more than shimmer, but Yardra has also disappeared in the shimmer. Suddenly the bubble shot off into the air and Gohan and Vegeta spun around trying to keep track of it. As they were looking around trying to spot the shimmer from the bubble, a sudden burst of energy fell out of the sky at them, exploding on contact with the ground. But the Sayians had already taken to the air to get out of the way so it didn't even mess with their hair. The separated and started flying around looking to spot the bubble but it continued to elude them while throwing yet more energy attacks. Gohan and Vegeta would either dodge the attacks or slap them away so they wouldn't get hit. They searched around for a couple more minutes, evading the attacks coming at them, when suddenly they stopped.
Facing each other about 200 yards apart, they held out a hand and charged a Ki ball of their own. At the same time they threw the attacks, right at each other. Just as the balls were about to hit both of them let out a yell and their attacks changed direction, to head straight up. There was a sudden explosion that caused everyone to blink their eyes to clear the flash. When they could see again, Yardra was visible, floating in the air covering his eyes from the blast as well. There was a little smoke rolling off his clothes and the ends of his hair looked a little burnt. Yardra opened his eyes and looked down at Vegeta and Gohan, "Very good indeed. I see we are going to have to take you seriously."
Vegeta smiled. "Well, if you want to keep coming at us one at a time, we will be glad to pick you apart that way."
Yardra grinned in response and flew down to land in front of his teammates again. Gohan and Vegeta also landed again and faced the Quartet. Yardra spoke again, "So are you guys all warmed up? Time to get serious." His team nodded and started to power up again, blowing dust and small bits of rock all over the place from the loose energy bouncing around.
Vegeta and Gohan, for their part, looked on and waited for them to finish. After the Quartet finished their power-up, Vegeta spoke up. "I hoped you guys were holding back on us. But we are nicely warmed up now too." With that, Gohan and Vegeta screamed and forced their powers up as well. As the energy danced around them, the Quartet actually looked concerned for a minute and waited for Gohan and Vegeta to finish.
"Most impressive. I guess going for the direct approach would not be a good thing. That's okay, we have other ways as well."
After a moment of studying each others power levels both sides grinned in anticipation of the up coming fight. Vegeta was still about at just under 30 million in power, with Gohan having caught up a bit after healing from earlier fights, now just under 29 million. As for the Quazar Quartet, Coombra was the strongest by far with a power level of almost 35 million. The twins came in just under 15 million each and Yardra was the weakest at just over 10 million.
Gohan and Vegeta both dropped into a fighting stance and watched for the next move from the Quartet. The four of them spread out a bit and then they all started going through a couple poses. Gohan and Vegeta watched for a moment trying to decide what was going on when Yardra suddenly froze pointing one hand right at Vegeta. With a yell, he waved his other hand and a small wavefront of energy washed out from him. When it hit Vegeta, it rolled over him and Gohan with no apparent harm. Then Vegeta screamed in pain and grabbed his head in his hands. Gohan stared at Vegeta wondering what was going on.
Vegeta for his part was in intense pain, his vision tunneled down so that all he was Yardra standing there pointing at him. Vegeta took a step forward as his only thought was to get his hands on Yardra, no matter what. Then Yardra smiled, and with a quick move jumped up and took off. Vegeta charged in right behind him stretching out his hands to try and grab Yardra. But just before he got his hands on the little guy, Vegeta was hit hard from the side and missed his grab. But because of the pain in his head, he could only pay attention to Yardra and went after him again. But every time he got close, he took another hit that threw him off the chase. There was a dim part of his brain that told him the twins were the ones that kept getting in his way, but nothing else mattered except getting his hands on Yardra.
Yardra proceeded to fly and spin and dive in a good attempt to stay out of Vegeta's way. His Ki's sensing abilities were the best of his group and he knew it would be very painful if Vegeta managed to get his hands on him. But he had trust in his teammates, the twins were very fast. Even though they could hit that hard, their speed and mind lock he had on Vegeta would give them an advantage. He was not sure they could really do much damage to Vegeta because of his extremely high power level, so their job became simple. They were going to keep Vegeta occupied until Coombra had been able to knock out the younger Sayain and could come over to do the heavy hitting they would need.
Over the next several minutes Yardra had several close calls, Vegeta proved to be faster than they were expecting. Yardra was working hard to try and stay away from Vegeta, but he couldn't let his telepathic attack slip or Vegeta would break free and possibly turn on the twins. Since the twins depended on speed, their physical durability was not that good. And Yardra found himself wishing their strength was higher too, they were finding that they had to put a lot of effort into hitting Vegeta hard enough to knock him away from grabbing Yardra. All three started to get worried after several minutes, they were using a lot of power, but Vegeta didn't seem to be too affected by their efforts. Neither of the twins had the strength to land a damaging blow and at the speeds they were moving, they didn't have time to setup for a good attack.
Vegeta was caught up in the needs of the moment. His concentration focused solely on getting his hands on Yardra. His conscious intelligence was blocked and his body was reacting almost on instinct. He couldn't focus any more of his power to try and transform to Super Sayian and break away, he couldn't turn his attention to either of the 2 that were landing blows against his body. However, even in that near mindless state, the long hours of relentless training showed. His instincts were able to detect each attack an instant before they happened and his body would twist or shift to lessen the impact of the blow.
The struggle continued for several more long minutes before an interruption finally came along. There was a sudden incredible burst of energy from the other side of the crater as one of the powers there nearly doubled in flash of rage. A moment later a wave of thunder was followed by a shower of small bits of rocks flying through the air. It was enough of a shock to break Vegeta out of his frozen state of mind for a moment as they all turned back to look at what happened.
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Gohan, for his part, took off after Vegeta hoping to help him but got pulled up short as he almost ran into the wall of muscle that was standing in front of him. Coombra looked down at him. "While the others are keeping Vegeta busy, I get to play with you for a while." Then he started to laugh, the same laugh that Gohan had heard from Recoome. Gohan fell back with memories of that fight flashing through his mind, but quickly recovered and smiled at Coombra. "What game do you want to play?"
Coombra was surprised, "You're not scared of me?"
"Why should I be? I wasn't scared of Recoome even when he was beating the crap out of me, and since I saw him defeated, I know I can beat you too."
"Okay squirt, let's see what you got." With that the two of them charged and started beating on each other at a furious pace. Gohan held in there for a couple minutes but Coombra was just too strong and finally knocked Gohan to the ground. As Gohan stood there for a second trying to clear the ringing from his head, he heard Coombra laughing again. He looked up to see him wiping away a trickle of blood coming from his mouth. "Hehe, you actually managed to cut me. It has been a while since even that has happened. This is going to be fun after all."
Gohan took a step back and pulled his hands to his side, "Let's see how you like this fun," he said to himself. "Ka…me…ha…me…HA!" Coombra had looked to check on his team mates and only just turned back in time to raise his arms in a defensive posture before the beam hit. When it cleared, Coombra was still standing there, but his clothes had been burnt and ripped.
"Drat," thought Gohan. "I used too much power and he is not even hurt that badly."
Coombra blew out the last little smoking patch on his gloves and thought to himself. "Got to pay more attention, that one would have hurt if he caught me for real." Then he looked down at Gohan, "Nice one kid. I guess my tailor will be a little upset though." Then he smiled, "My turn!" He started throwing balls of energy at Gohan that exploded before they even made contact. Gohan turned and dashed down the side of the hill he was on trying to avoid the attack. But Coombra followed him and kept dropping blasts near him. Then he charged another attack and threw a large blast right in front of where Gohan was running. The blast caught Gohan and threw him almost 100 feet through the air to land in a large pile of boulders standing in the crater.
Coombra landed next to the pile and started to look around. He walked around a couple large rocks peering into corners, "Come out, come out, wherever you are!" He called. Then he spun around at a sound behind him only to see a fist sized rock rolling down the hill. He started to turn back when Gohan came around the side of one of the rocks and planted a double kick right in Combra's stomach. Commbra screamed and doubled over in pain but Gohan didn't stop there. He put his knee up into Coombra's jaw snapping his head back, then threw a punch into the big man's cheek. Gohan dropped to the side and sent a jab into Coombra's lower back before moving around to start pummeling him in the ribcage.
Suddenly a big arm snapped forward and grabbed the front of Gohan's armor. The arm pulled Gohan to the side and smashed him into a nearby rock. He dimly heard Coombra scream "That hurt you damn little cockroach!" Then Coombra, in a furious haze, went on a rock smashing spree, using Gohan as the hammer. After a couple minutes Coombra seemed to come out of his daze and looked at Gohan still clutched in his hand. Gohan's head was hanging and his breathing ragged. He was covered in bruises and small cuts. Coombra dropped him and said, "Sorry kid, I tend to get a little carried away when I get mad. Guess we should end this here."
Gohan for his part was lying face down on the ground but could still see Coombra's boot out of the corner of his eye. He took a deep breath and with a yell pushed himself up and forward to grab Coombra by the leg. With a burst of energy Gohan pulled Coombra off his feet and swung him around a couple times then let go, sending the man flying into a another pile of boulders. He smashed into them hard and was buried in debris. With a groan of effort Gohan pushed himself forward to continue the attack before the big man could get up. But just as Gohan got there a fist came out the rubble and caught Gohan square in the face. He tumbled backwards and cracked his head against another boulder.
Gohan slumped to the ground in a sitting position with his vision fading in and out.
Coombra pulled himself free of the rock and looked over at Gohan. "Like a cockroach for sure, you just keep coming back. Well, I've got something that will take care of cockroaches like you. Hehehe." And he started walking forward.
Gohan in a haze of pain couldn't see straight, so the hulking shape and the dumb laughter brought back memories of his fight with Recoome. Remembered pain, fear and frustration came roaring back to Gohan. His vision swam for a minute and when he looked up again, he saw Recoome standing over him. Suddenly rage swept through him and as it had happened before, the spike in rage brought an awesome spike in power as well.
Gohan jumped up and lunged forward, with a snap kick he launched Coombra high into the air. Gohan jumped up after him screaming, "I won't let you win Recoome!" Gohan shot past Coombra and stopped his upward fight with a blow to the top of the head, and then his knee came up into Coombra's belly causing him to double over in front of Gohan. A sharp chop of the elbow into the upper back brought a scream of pain and then Gohan raised both hands in the air and landed a double chop that blasted Coombra to the ground. He hit hard enough to be half buried in a 20 foot crater caused by the impact. Then Gohan raised his hands once more and threw his best Ki attack. "Masenko… HA!" The beam of energy went down and exploded on contact. The force of the blast was enough to blow away over half of the starting plateau in the middle of the crater. Then Gohan's arms fell and he started to float to the ground, his rage and energy spent.
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On the other side of the crater, everybody stopped dumb-founded at the size of the explosion Gohan just caused. Yardra was so surprised he lost his concentration and get go of his mental hold on Vegeta. Without thinking, Yardra dashed over to look for his teammate. Vegeta, for his part, suddenly found his mind clear. After a quick review of his memories he looked up and scowled. Then he saw one of the twins, Pace, hovering in the air next to him, also looking in the direction of the explosion. Pace was muttering to himself, "Remind me not to get that kid mad at me."
Vegeta floated a little closer, "Psst, don't get the kid mad at you, okay?" Pace looked up in surprise which changed to shock when he saw who was talking to him. Before he could move Vegeta reached out and landed a sharp, powerful punch to gut that left Pace doubled over in pain. Then Vegeta reached out and put a precise chop to the side of Pace's neck. Pace immediately fell unconscious and slumped to the ground. Trace looked over when he was his brother fall and noticed Vegeta looking at him. Vegeta pointed and smiled. "You're next!" Trace gulped and with a frightened look took off as fast as he could, with Vegeta right on his tail.
Yardra flew over the rubble looking when he spotted Coombra. Coombra was working on a warrior's instinct and trying to get to his feet. As soon as he rolled over and started to stand, he fell back to the ground with a scream of pain and clutched at his knee. Yardra flew down and landed next to him. "I'm here big guy, hang on." He reached down and held his hands over Coombra's knee and closed his eyes in concentration.
"Is he going to be okay?" Yardra looked up and saw Gohan standing on a nearby rock. Or at least trying to stand, he was leaning back and forth in an effort to keep his balance.
Yardra nodded. "His knee is dislocated, but otherwise he doesn't seem to be too bad off."
Gohan sighed and slumped down. He ended up in a sitting position leaning against another rock with his eyes closed and breathing ragged. Yardra turned back to Coombra, "This is going to hurt." Coombra nodded and sucked in his breath. Yardra reached down, grabbed his leg and with a quick pull and twist popped his knee back into place. Coombra screamed again and then panted trying to catch his breath. Yardra reached up and put his hand on Coombra's head and closed his eyes in concentration again. After a minute he sat back, "I just gave you a telepathic block against the pain, that should help." Coombra nodded, his breathing easier.
Just then they heard another boom from the other side of the crater. Yardra looked up to see Vegeta holding an unconscious Trace. Vegeta let him drop to the ground and then turned and started in their direction. Yardra shook Coombra's shoulder, "I'm going to need your help with Vegeta."
Coombra nodded. "I will try, but it won't be easy. The leg is pretty much useless and the kid took a lot out of me."
Yardra glanced back over at Gohan, who was still slumped there with his eyes closed. "I think he is out of it, and I still have a few tricks."
Coombra smiled and forced himself up so that he was able to fly and get above the wreckage. Yardra floated up and joined him. Vegeta paused a moment then grinned at Yardra, "Nobody to protect you this time. I hope you like pain." Yardra smiled and then floated over behind Coombra. Suddenly he let out a shout and another wave of energy washed over Vegeta. With a scowl, he launched himself at Coombra and swung at him, but his fist went right through that image. In return Coombra landed a good hit on the side of Vegeta's head.
After recovering, Vegeta looked around but still could only see Coombra so he threw a Ki ball at him. The attack went through the image again and Vegeta growled. They went through this for a couple minutes with Vegeta trying to hit Coombra but not having any luck and getting hit a few times in return. Vegeta was getting furious and trying to think of way of getting some results. With a yell, Vegeta let go with a wave of energy to one side where the image of Coombra was. It washed past the image and caught the real Coombra. Vegeta focused on that spot and jumped forward, only to hit nothing again.
Meanwhile Yardra was floating around trying to stay out of Vegeta's way while he kept illusion going so that Coombra could beat up on Vegeta without getting too hurt. He was suddenly surprised by a pair of hands that grabbed him and locked his arms above his head a Full Nelson type hold. "Who?"
"I never said I was out of it, you just assumed. Bad mistake." Gohan then let himself just drop pulling a surprised Yardra down with him. At the last second Gohan flipped them over and used Yardra as a cushion for his landing. Yardra was momentarily stunned by the impact and Gohan used the chance to land a good blow against the side of his head, knocking him out.
Vegeta smiled once again as he looked over at Coombra, "Okay big guy, just you and me now, let's see what you can do." Coombra scowled and leapt at Vegeta who also charged forward. It only took a couple minutes for Vegeta to finish off the weakened Coombra.
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As Vegeta floated over to where Gohan was sitting, he let Coombra drop to the ground next to Yardra. "How you doing brat?"
Gohan looked up and smiled. "Fine. I am pretty worn out, but not too beat up. I just need some food and rest and should be okay by morning."
Vegeta sat down next to him, trying to suppress a groan in pain from the bruises and cuts he had from his mindless chase of Yardra during the battle. "They should have beaten us. That little guy and his mind tricks gave them a great edge in the fight. But fortunately we had a few surprises of our own."
Then they sat back and watched the shuttles fly in to pick them up and return them to the palace.
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Author's Notes:
Don't worry folks! This story is not over yet! Just be patient. I am trying to write whenever I get a chance, and trying to work through a couple ideas on how to end this. But I guess the toughest critic of my writing is myself, and I won't post until I feel I have it right.
Stay tuned! And thanks for the reviews and thoughts I have received from everybody!
"We are now on the final day and at the final fight for this awesome tournament. Fate has blessed us, not only with some of the best teams in the galaxy competing here, but in making sure the last fight is going to be one of the best seen here. Both teams are undefeated in their previous matches. So this fight will determine our champions!"
They could hear the roar of the crowd for a minute before Ventard's voice cut back in. "To the Sayians and the Quazar Quartet, I wish you a good and honorable battle! Let the contest begin!"
With that the sphere zipped up and out of the way and the two teams looked at each other. Yardra's voice was then heard, "So they are undefeated as well. Looks like we are going to have to take it up a notch boys. Let's show them what we are really made of." With that the Quartet started to power up, with Vegeta and Gohan matching the moves.
After both sides finished powering up, they took a moment to study each other trying to judge their opponents.
Then at a shout from Yardra, the twins of Trace and Pace jumped forward and zoomed in on the Sayians.
Gohan and Vegeta met them head on and equally traded blows with them for a couple minutes. But both Gohan and Vegeta were stronger and with their physical strength started to push the twins back. At another call from Yardra, the twins broke off and moved back to stand with the others again. Then Coombra started forward. Gohan and Vegeta waited until he was almost in range and then both jumped him and started hitting as fast and hard as they could. Coombra didn't just stand there and take the punishment either, he was a flurry of movement as he went about blocking a numbers of blows and managing to deliver a few himself. Each time he hit either Gohan or Vegeta they would be knocked back a good bit, but recovered quickly and rejoined the fight. After several minutes of this once again the Sayians started to get the upper hand and Coombra backed off.
Yardra smiled, "It's my turn now." With a cry of concentration a bubble of energy started to form around him. Then it started to spin until it was moving so fast it was nothing more than shimmer, but Yardra has also disappeared in the shimmer. Suddenly the bubble shot off into the air and Gohan and Vegeta spun around trying to keep track of it. As they were looking around trying to spot the shimmer from the bubble, a sudden burst of energy fell out of the sky at them, exploding on contact with the ground. But the Sayians had already taken to the air to get out of the way so it didn't even mess with their hair. The separated and started flying around looking to spot the bubble but it continued to elude them while throwing yet more energy attacks. Gohan and Vegeta would either dodge the attacks or slap them away so they wouldn't get hit. They searched around for a couple more minutes, evading the attacks coming at them, when suddenly they stopped.
Facing each other about 200 yards apart, they held out a hand and charged a Ki ball of their own. At the same time they threw the attacks, right at each other. Just as the balls were about to hit both of them let out a yell and their attacks changed direction, to head straight up. There was a sudden explosion that caused everyone to blink their eyes to clear the flash. When they could see again, Yardra was visible, floating in the air covering his eyes from the blast as well. There was a little smoke rolling off his clothes and the ends of his hair looked a little burnt. Yardra opened his eyes and looked down at Vegeta and Gohan, "Very good indeed. I see we are going to have to take you seriously."
Vegeta smiled. "Well, if you want to keep coming at us one at a time, we will be glad to pick you apart that way."
Yardra grinned in response and flew down to land in front of his teammates again. Gohan and Vegeta also landed again and faced the Quartet. Yardra spoke again, "So are you guys all warmed up? Time to get serious." His team nodded and started to power up again, blowing dust and small bits of rock all over the place from the loose energy bouncing around.
Vegeta and Gohan, for their part, looked on and waited for them to finish. After the Quartet finished their power-up, Vegeta spoke up. "I hoped you guys were holding back on us. But we are nicely warmed up now too." With that, Gohan and Vegeta screamed and forced their powers up as well. As the energy danced around them, the Quartet actually looked concerned for a minute and waited for Gohan and Vegeta to finish.
"Most impressive. I guess going for the direct approach would not be a good thing. That's okay, we have other ways as well."
After a moment of studying each others power levels both sides grinned in anticipation of the up coming fight. Vegeta was still about at just under 30 million in power, with Gohan having caught up a bit after healing from earlier fights, now just under 29 million. As for the Quazar Quartet, Coombra was the strongest by far with a power level of almost 35 million. The twins came in just under 15 million each and Yardra was the weakest at just over 10 million.
Gohan and Vegeta both dropped into a fighting stance and watched for the next move from the Quartet. The four of them spread out a bit and then they all started going through a couple poses. Gohan and Vegeta watched for a moment trying to decide what was going on when Yardra suddenly froze pointing one hand right at Vegeta. With a yell, he waved his other hand and a small wavefront of energy washed out from him. When it hit Vegeta, it rolled over him and Gohan with no apparent harm. Then Vegeta screamed in pain and grabbed his head in his hands. Gohan stared at Vegeta wondering what was going on.
Vegeta for his part was in intense pain, his vision tunneled down so that all he was Yardra standing there pointing at him. Vegeta took a step forward as his only thought was to get his hands on Yardra, no matter what. Then Yardra smiled, and with a quick move jumped up and took off. Vegeta charged in right behind him stretching out his hands to try and grab Yardra. But just before he got his hands on the little guy, Vegeta was hit hard from the side and missed his grab. But because of the pain in his head, he could only pay attention to Yardra and went after him again. But every time he got close, he took another hit that threw him off the chase. There was a dim part of his brain that told him the twins were the ones that kept getting in his way, but nothing else mattered except getting his hands on Yardra.
Yardra proceeded to fly and spin and dive in a good attempt to stay out of Vegeta's way. His Ki's sensing abilities were the best of his group and he knew it would be very painful if Vegeta managed to get his hands on him. But he had trust in his teammates, the twins were very fast. Even though they could hit that hard, their speed and mind lock he had on Vegeta would give them an advantage. He was not sure they could really do much damage to Vegeta because of his extremely high power level, so their job became simple. They were going to keep Vegeta occupied until Coombra had been able to knock out the younger Sayain and could come over to do the heavy hitting they would need.
Over the next several minutes Yardra had several close calls, Vegeta proved to be faster than they were expecting. Yardra was working hard to try and stay away from Vegeta, but he couldn't let his telepathic attack slip or Vegeta would break free and possibly turn on the twins. Since the twins depended on speed, their physical durability was not that good. And Yardra found himself wishing their strength was higher too, they were finding that they had to put a lot of effort into hitting Vegeta hard enough to knock him away from grabbing Yardra. All three started to get worried after several minutes, they were using a lot of power, but Vegeta didn't seem to be too affected by their efforts. Neither of the twins had the strength to land a damaging blow and at the speeds they were moving, they didn't have time to setup for a good attack.
Vegeta was caught up in the needs of the moment. His concentration focused solely on getting his hands on Yardra. His conscious intelligence was blocked and his body was reacting almost on instinct. He couldn't focus any more of his power to try and transform to Super Sayian and break away, he couldn't turn his attention to either of the 2 that were landing blows against his body. However, even in that near mindless state, the long hours of relentless training showed. His instincts were able to detect each attack an instant before they happened and his body would twist or shift to lessen the impact of the blow.
The struggle continued for several more long minutes before an interruption finally came along. There was a sudden incredible burst of energy from the other side of the crater as one of the powers there nearly doubled in flash of rage. A moment later a wave of thunder was followed by a shower of small bits of rocks flying through the air. It was enough of a shock to break Vegeta out of his frozen state of mind for a moment as they all turned back to look at what happened.
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Gohan, for his part, took off after Vegeta hoping to help him but got pulled up short as he almost ran into the wall of muscle that was standing in front of him. Coombra looked down at him. "While the others are keeping Vegeta busy, I get to play with you for a while." Then he started to laugh, the same laugh that Gohan had heard from Recoome. Gohan fell back with memories of that fight flashing through his mind, but quickly recovered and smiled at Coombra. "What game do you want to play?"
Coombra was surprised, "You're not scared of me?"
"Why should I be? I wasn't scared of Recoome even when he was beating the crap out of me, and since I saw him defeated, I know I can beat you too."
"Okay squirt, let's see what you got." With that the two of them charged and started beating on each other at a furious pace. Gohan held in there for a couple minutes but Coombra was just too strong and finally knocked Gohan to the ground. As Gohan stood there for a second trying to clear the ringing from his head, he heard Coombra laughing again. He looked up to see him wiping away a trickle of blood coming from his mouth. "Hehe, you actually managed to cut me. It has been a while since even that has happened. This is going to be fun after all."
Gohan took a step back and pulled his hands to his side, "Let's see how you like this fun," he said to himself. "Ka…me…ha…me…HA!" Coombra had looked to check on his team mates and only just turned back in time to raise his arms in a defensive posture before the beam hit. When it cleared, Coombra was still standing there, but his clothes had been burnt and ripped.
"Drat," thought Gohan. "I used too much power and he is not even hurt that badly."
Coombra blew out the last little smoking patch on his gloves and thought to himself. "Got to pay more attention, that one would have hurt if he caught me for real." Then he looked down at Gohan, "Nice one kid. I guess my tailor will be a little upset though." Then he smiled, "My turn!" He started throwing balls of energy at Gohan that exploded before they even made contact. Gohan turned and dashed down the side of the hill he was on trying to avoid the attack. But Coombra followed him and kept dropping blasts near him. Then he charged another attack and threw a large blast right in front of where Gohan was running. The blast caught Gohan and threw him almost 100 feet through the air to land in a large pile of boulders standing in the crater.
Coombra landed next to the pile and started to look around. He walked around a couple large rocks peering into corners, "Come out, come out, wherever you are!" He called. Then he spun around at a sound behind him only to see a fist sized rock rolling down the hill. He started to turn back when Gohan came around the side of one of the rocks and planted a double kick right in Combra's stomach. Commbra screamed and doubled over in pain but Gohan didn't stop there. He put his knee up into Coombra's jaw snapping his head back, then threw a punch into the big man's cheek. Gohan dropped to the side and sent a jab into Coombra's lower back before moving around to start pummeling him in the ribcage.
Suddenly a big arm snapped forward and grabbed the front of Gohan's armor. The arm pulled Gohan to the side and smashed him into a nearby rock. He dimly heard Coombra scream "That hurt you damn little cockroach!" Then Coombra, in a furious haze, went on a rock smashing spree, using Gohan as the hammer. After a couple minutes Coombra seemed to come out of his daze and looked at Gohan still clutched in his hand. Gohan's head was hanging and his breathing ragged. He was covered in bruises and small cuts. Coombra dropped him and said, "Sorry kid, I tend to get a little carried away when I get mad. Guess we should end this here."
Gohan for his part was lying face down on the ground but could still see Coombra's boot out of the corner of his eye. He took a deep breath and with a yell pushed himself up and forward to grab Coombra by the leg. With a burst of energy Gohan pulled Coombra off his feet and swung him around a couple times then let go, sending the man flying into a another pile of boulders. He smashed into them hard and was buried in debris. With a groan of effort Gohan pushed himself forward to continue the attack before the big man could get up. But just as Gohan got there a fist came out the rubble and caught Gohan square in the face. He tumbled backwards and cracked his head against another boulder.
Gohan slumped to the ground in a sitting position with his vision fading in and out.
Coombra pulled himself free of the rock and looked over at Gohan. "Like a cockroach for sure, you just keep coming back. Well, I've got something that will take care of cockroaches like you. Hehehe." And he started walking forward.
Gohan in a haze of pain couldn't see straight, so the hulking shape and the dumb laughter brought back memories of his fight with Recoome. Remembered pain, fear and frustration came roaring back to Gohan. His vision swam for a minute and when he looked up again, he saw Recoome standing over him. Suddenly rage swept through him and as it had happened before, the spike in rage brought an awesome spike in power as well.
Gohan jumped up and lunged forward, with a snap kick he launched Coombra high into the air. Gohan jumped up after him screaming, "I won't let you win Recoome!" Gohan shot past Coombra and stopped his upward fight with a blow to the top of the head, and then his knee came up into Coombra's belly causing him to double over in front of Gohan. A sharp chop of the elbow into the upper back brought a scream of pain and then Gohan raised both hands in the air and landed a double chop that blasted Coombra to the ground. He hit hard enough to be half buried in a 20 foot crater caused by the impact. Then Gohan raised his hands once more and threw his best Ki attack. "Masenko… HA!" The beam of energy went down and exploded on contact. The force of the blast was enough to blow away over half of the starting plateau in the middle of the crater. Then Gohan's arms fell and he started to float to the ground, his rage and energy spent.
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On the other side of the crater, everybody stopped dumb-founded at the size of the explosion Gohan just caused. Yardra was so surprised he lost his concentration and get go of his mental hold on Vegeta. Without thinking, Yardra dashed over to look for his teammate. Vegeta, for his part, suddenly found his mind clear. After a quick review of his memories he looked up and scowled. Then he saw one of the twins, Pace, hovering in the air next to him, also looking in the direction of the explosion. Pace was muttering to himself, "Remind me not to get that kid mad at me."
Vegeta floated a little closer, "Psst, don't get the kid mad at you, okay?" Pace looked up in surprise which changed to shock when he saw who was talking to him. Before he could move Vegeta reached out and landed a sharp, powerful punch to gut that left Pace doubled over in pain. Then Vegeta reached out and put a precise chop to the side of Pace's neck. Pace immediately fell unconscious and slumped to the ground. Trace looked over when he was his brother fall and noticed Vegeta looking at him. Vegeta pointed and smiled. "You're next!" Trace gulped and with a frightened look took off as fast as he could, with Vegeta right on his tail.
Yardra flew over the rubble looking when he spotted Coombra. Coombra was working on a warrior's instinct and trying to get to his feet. As soon as he rolled over and started to stand, he fell back to the ground with a scream of pain and clutched at his knee. Yardra flew down and landed next to him. "I'm here big guy, hang on." He reached down and held his hands over Coombra's knee and closed his eyes in concentration.
"Is he going to be okay?" Yardra looked up and saw Gohan standing on a nearby rock. Or at least trying to stand, he was leaning back and forth in an effort to keep his balance.
Yardra nodded. "His knee is dislocated, but otherwise he doesn't seem to be too bad off."
Gohan sighed and slumped down. He ended up in a sitting position leaning against another rock with his eyes closed and breathing ragged. Yardra turned back to Coombra, "This is going to hurt." Coombra nodded and sucked in his breath. Yardra reached down, grabbed his leg and with a quick pull and twist popped his knee back into place. Coombra screamed again and then panted trying to catch his breath. Yardra reached up and put his hand on Coombra's head and closed his eyes in concentration again. After a minute he sat back, "I just gave you a telepathic block against the pain, that should help." Coombra nodded, his breathing easier.
Just then they heard another boom from the other side of the crater. Yardra looked up to see Vegeta holding an unconscious Trace. Vegeta let him drop to the ground and then turned and started in their direction. Yardra shook Coombra's shoulder, "I'm going to need your help with Vegeta."
Coombra nodded. "I will try, but it won't be easy. The leg is pretty much useless and the kid took a lot out of me."
Yardra glanced back over at Gohan, who was still slumped there with his eyes closed. "I think he is out of it, and I still have a few tricks."
Coombra smiled and forced himself up so that he was able to fly and get above the wreckage. Yardra floated up and joined him. Vegeta paused a moment then grinned at Yardra, "Nobody to protect you this time. I hope you like pain." Yardra smiled and then floated over behind Coombra. Suddenly he let out a shout and another wave of energy washed over Vegeta. With a scowl, he launched himself at Coombra and swung at him, but his fist went right through that image. In return Coombra landed a good hit on the side of Vegeta's head.
After recovering, Vegeta looked around but still could only see Coombra so he threw a Ki ball at him. The attack went through the image again and Vegeta growled. They went through this for a couple minutes with Vegeta trying to hit Coombra but not having any luck and getting hit a few times in return. Vegeta was getting furious and trying to think of way of getting some results. With a yell, Vegeta let go with a wave of energy to one side where the image of Coombra was. It washed past the image and caught the real Coombra. Vegeta focused on that spot and jumped forward, only to hit nothing again.
Meanwhile Yardra was floating around trying to stay out of Vegeta's way while he kept illusion going so that Coombra could beat up on Vegeta without getting too hurt. He was suddenly surprised by a pair of hands that grabbed him and locked his arms above his head a Full Nelson type hold. "Who?"
"I never said I was out of it, you just assumed. Bad mistake." Gohan then let himself just drop pulling a surprised Yardra down with him. At the last second Gohan flipped them over and used Yardra as a cushion for his landing. Yardra was momentarily stunned by the impact and Gohan used the chance to land a good blow against the side of his head, knocking him out.
Vegeta smiled once again as he looked over at Coombra, "Okay big guy, just you and me now, let's see what you can do." Coombra scowled and leapt at Vegeta who also charged forward. It only took a couple minutes for Vegeta to finish off the weakened Coombra.
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As Vegeta floated over to where Gohan was sitting, he let Coombra drop to the ground next to Yardra. "How you doing brat?"
Gohan looked up and smiled. "Fine. I am pretty worn out, but not too beat up. I just need some food and rest and should be okay by morning."
Vegeta sat down next to him, trying to suppress a groan in pain from the bruises and cuts he had from his mindless chase of Yardra during the battle. "They should have beaten us. That little guy and his mind tricks gave them a great edge in the fight. But fortunately we had a few surprises of our own."
Then they sat back and watched the shuttles fly in to pick them up and return them to the palace.
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Author's Notes:
Don't worry folks! This story is not over yet! Just be patient. I am trying to write whenever I get a chance, and trying to work through a couple ideas on how to end this. But I guess the toughest critic of my writing is myself, and I won't post until I feel I have it right.
Stay tuned! And thanks for the reviews and thoughts I have received from everybody!