His eyes held an incredible passion, a passion that flamed outward in his ki; Gohan looked more than the whimpering 5 year-old Vegeta had been watching earlier that day, and that very fact fascinated the prince of Saiyans. Vegeta wore his best cocky smile and folded his arms before his chest, giving the kid more to be angry at. It worked – Gohan's clenched fists somehow grew tighter, his ki glowing brighter.
Gohan had been lucky just a moment prior, and Vegeta would not let his guard down so easily again; weakened from his energy excursion with Kakarot or not, Vegeta was still stronger than the little brat; he could… sense it. And that alone was something else he would be thankful for upon leaving this dust ball the Earthlings protected so much.
Nearly all his life Vegeta had been raised to rely on his scouter, to allow it to tell him the strength of his foe. But these Earthlings could alter their readable ki signature, focus it down, as well as sense the ki of others. 'More than likely an adaptation since they do not have any decent technology…' Vegeta snorted, watching Gohan as he flashed forward at the prince, unfurling his tail from where its tip was hitched at its base behind the Saiyan's back. However, it was a very useful adaptation – and one that Vegeta was keen to pick up on…
"Ha!" Gohan yelled, throwing his fist forward and appearing before the prince – whose tail flashed up and about, jutting the boy across the face and spinning him from his attack. Vegeta spent no time waiting, but rather reared back his right fist and sent it into the boy's stomach, bringing Gohan's pain-and-shock-ridden face before Vegeta's; Gohan cried out, red spittle escaping in his gasp.
Vegeta continued his retaliation against the inexperienced rodent; grabbing Gohan's left hand in his loved right hand and Gohan's right ankle in his left, Vegeta pulled the boy taught and pushed him out from him; Gohan began to squirm ferociously.
"Let – Me – Go!" Gohan snarled; the boy was like an out of control beast, Vegeta chuckled.
"Where do you plan on going? To kill someone else, like me?" Vegeta taunted, laughing as his tail ran up and grabbed the boy's right fist, wrapping about it as it zoomed at the prince's face; Vegeta's right knee came up to protect from any quick thoughts the boy gave to his left leg. Gohan was trapped at the prince's mercy, his ki flaring and searing against the warrior's own.
Gohan stopped wiggling, breathing heavily as he stared with anger into Vegeta's cold, laughing eyes. The bad man had him, he couldn't move, regardless of how much strength he mustered. And once again Vegeta's psychology hit a chord in the boy's mind – he had intended to kill Vegeta…
Vegeta watched something occur behind the boy's face, some emotion other than rage and hatred; despair, realization maybe? Laughing, Vegeta awaited his space pod, hearing it hum in the distance at a very high intensity he was used to picking out.
'Good bye Kakarot.' Vegeta watched the low-class Earthling as the attack crushed him into the ground…
~*~*~
"Ahh!" Goku screamed, his hands thrown back up with only the strength of resolve he had gathered upon seeing his son race to his rescue; the gathered energy orb of purple ki burned his hands, where Goku knew his blood to be boiling and instantly cauterizing, over and over.
He had to do something, and fast, or the entire planet was doomed! Goku thought fast, raced to find something he could do, but to no avail; already the man's body was hidden from profile from the desert; the ki attack had painfully pressed him into the dirt, which cackled and exploded as near to the blast as it was.
'There has to be something I can do!' Goku grunted, his hair singeing where it touched the orb above; the skylight was cut off from the massive purple glow that was all he could see now. Goku felt his body tingling, losing sensation; he knew this feeling – death; he was dying again, and the planet – and his son – would go with him.
"No!" he cried out, his lungs burning; there was no oxygen down here to breath, the attack had eaten it up.
Goku could think of one last thing to try, though he may die trying.
"Kaioken…" he began, choking back blood as he cried out, gathering ki he doubted he even had and focusing it into his torn and ruined body.
"Times… 4!"
~*~*~
Gohan felt a cold dread touch his heart. The boy strained his head backward, suddenly not caring about the man who held him so tightly; his father, he couldn't feel his father! All the boy could feel was the huge purple blob that had consumed his dad, had wiped his presence clean from the planet.
"No! Daddy!" Gohan cried out. The boy's mind cut clean, he spun forward to face Vegeta, venom in his mouth; he had done this! Gohan suddenly did not care about anyone's life but his fathers, did not care whether or not he took another being's existence. His father was gone, and Vegeta would pay!
Gohan flared, Vegeta gasped in shock, and the boy exploded free of Vegeta's very bonds, glowing so brightly that the prince was nearly blinded for an instant – and instant in which the boy slammed forward, crushing the prince's nose under his fist.
Pain wretched Vegeta's face as he felt his nose break – how dare that brat! – and his body fly backward. He barely had time to realize what was going on when the terrible ki that Gohan had let loose smashed him backward through the sky yet again, this time victim to Gohan's roundhouse kick.
"Damnit!" Vegeta spat, flipping about and stopping his descent; quickly he wiped the blood from his nose on his white glove, locking his face into the most contemptuous face he had worn in a very, very long time.
That was it; the boy was going to suffer the same fate as his father now. Vegeta's rationale vanished, replaced by his strong tempered vengeance. Tempting body guard or not, Gohan would perish at the prince's hand…
Vegeta focused his ki, powered up, and prepared to fly at the oncoming madman of a child who flew at him.
Both of the warriors were snapped out of their assault by a terrible red flash to their south at the planet's surface, where the Kamehameha-Gallic Gun attack was sent spiraling into the sky.
"What?" both Vegeta and Gohan mouthed…
~*~*~
Goku had done it! The awesome assault flew from his second's-worth of strength, flew high into the sky, and the man fell to his knees, every ounce of strength he might have once possessed gone from his body. Eyelids heavy, Gohan's father allowed himself a small smile before he passed out, drifting into blissful darkness.
~*~*~
Gohan watched as the huge purple bomb flew up into the faint-blue sky over the dreary desert; Vegeta laughed as it reached its peak, Kakarot's final attempt wearing out, and then slowly began to fall back to the earth.
Wasting no time in his rival's downfall, Vegeta slowly hovered backwards, just as Gohan brought his tearful face back to his opponent.
Gohan had tasted the sweet bliss of victory for only a moment, but felt it die from his mouth, replaced by bitter fear, as the attack, carried by only a moment's worth of deflection, began to fall back to the planet. His heart was no longer black but cold, filled with dread; Vegeta would always be stronger than him, the planet would die, and all the child wanted very suddenly was to be by his father's side, going to the other world with him.
"You… monster…" Gohan choked, tears streaming down his face.
Vegeta laughed. This had been a most splendid time, he noted to himself. However, it was time to leave this dust ball to its Armageddon. His space pod rocketed overhead and then arced to the ground a quarter mile to Vegeta's right, where it slammed into the ground, forming not the first – nor the last, the prince smiled – crater of that day.
"Well kid, it's been nice knowing you, but I have to fly." Vegeta laughed, turning around; he sensed no more threat from the boy; Gohan's fuel had drained from him along with the draining of Kakarot's strength.
Without a look back, Vegeta blasted off toward his space pod.
Gohan stared at Vegeta's diminishing figure, unable to move, paralyzed to the spot. He had failed, his father had failed, everyone had failed. He was just a child… and he would watch his father die. Crying in full now, Gohan disobeyed the fleeting urge to chase Vegeta and turned around, gathering what fading strength he had to fly down to his father's side.