A/N: Okay, after giving it quite a bit of thought, I've decided why Vegeta hasn't been using the SSJ4 transformation and will be explaining it about half way through this chapter. Hopefully it will make sense and not contradict anything from Dragonball GT. If there is a contradiction, let me know and I'll see if I can come up with something besides "he can't do it, so just deal with it." As far as the questions about the dragonballs and why Dende didn't just make more, there's a two-fold reason. First, after all hell broke loose in GT because of the dragonballs I think he might be a little hesitant to make new ones. Second, I didn't think about it and I needed a good reason for Akira and Pan to spend sometime alone in a spaceship training and dealing a little bit with their relationship stuff. As for the TV special where Goku jr. has the four-star ball, I guess I'm just ignoring it or having it be in the same category as the DBZ movies which for the most part didn't fit in anywhere in the show's timeline.
Draco the Destroyer: I'm glad that you've enjoyed it so far. I hope to make the final battle something really impressive. I've actually been working on it for close to a week now and I think its finally starting to come together. Hopefully everyone will like it, but I guess only time will tell.
Ladybugg, Nouk, and anyone else who was bummed to see Goten's defeat: Don't worry, I'm not writing him out of the story just yet...
Phantom 1: Don't worry, Vegeta's good guy loyalties will remain intact. I agree with you that the whole Vegeta turns bad again thing is a bit over used and it won't happen here.
.
.
Chapter 41
"No!" Gohan yelled as he felt the last of Goten's power disappear. He and Trunks were almost to the door when Vegeta appeared in front of them.
"Stop. There's nothing you can do to help him," Vegeta said sternly. "Goten is gone and if you rush off now, you will only join him." Valese turned white and had to sit down as she heard his words, but Vegeta ignored her and continued, "If they can hide their power levels well enough to land on earth completely undetected, they wouldn't have needed to come out of hiding just yet. Goten was alone and easy to pick off, they're using him as bait."
"But dad, he might still be alive...we might be able to help him!" Trunks protested.
"No, he's right Trunks...even if he were still alive, we wouldn't be much help to him if we ran in there without a plan." Logic had wrestled control of Gohan's mind away from the Saiyan instincts that were crying out for him to run to the battle and destroy the people who had hurt his brother. He took a deep breath and turned his attention back to Vegeta, "Okay, how are we going to do this?"
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Akira and Pan trained for several hours before Pan finally called a halt to the action. Though she was tired, she'd mostly called the break for Akira's sake. He hadn't complained, hadn't backed down or shown any real signs of weakness the entire time they'd trained, but somehow she could tell that he needed rest.
She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye while she drank some water. It was hard to believe that she'd found him unconscious just a few hours ago; his will power and stamina were impressive.
'His body isn't too bad either,' a voice in her head threw in. 'Shut up,' she replied.
Pan continued to watch as Akira walked to the corner of the room, levitated slightly, folded his legs and began to meditate. She smiled and headed out of the room to get some food.
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Videl and Chi-chi helped Valese to the room Bulma had had prepared for her; the brown haired woman was eerily silent as she walked up the stairs. When they reached the room, Valese sat down on her bed and stared at the wall, her eyes were glossed over, but her grief was easily read on her face.
"Uh...Valese," Videl said in a quiet voice, watching her sister-in-law carefully. "Do you want to talk or anything?" The words sounded stupid as they left her mouth, but then striking up a conversation with someone who'd just heard that her husband was dead was never smooth. Valese didn't even seem to hear the raven-haired woman.
Videl was never one to back down from anything, so despite the younger woman's lack of response, she sat down next to her and gently put her arm around Valese.
At first the brown haired woman sat perfectly still, but then she slowly melted into the embrace. A moment later Chi-chi had joined them and all three women held each other and cried.
After several minutes, the tears were all shed, but the feeling of loss remained.
"This is all my fault," Valese whispered with a sniffle.
"What are you talking about? Videl asked, pulling away and looking into her sister-in-law's tear-reddened eyes.
"I should have told him... he would have stayed...but I wanted it to be so special for him..."
Videl and Chi-chi were both looking at her now, neither said a word as they waited for her to finish.
"I was going to tell him over dinner, when he got home...that he was going to be a...a dad... and now he's gone," her body shook with silent sobs as Videl and Chi-chi wrapped their arms around her once again.
"Shhh. Valese, it's not you're fault," Chi-chi soothed. "I felt the same way that you do for a long time after Goku died fighting Cell and I hadn't told him about Goten. But the truth is, he would have gone anyway. Not just because he loved the fights, but because he loved our family and me. Goten was the same way. Yes, he loved the thrill of battle, but he loved you more. He died fighting to keep you safe and I think that's the way he would have wanted it."
"And don't forget, when this is all over, we can just wish him back with Namek's dragon balls," Videl chimed in as the thought occurred to her.
Valese nodded silently. In her head she could accept the truth of Chi-chi and Videl's words, but in her heart her grief was too overwhelming to find any comfort.
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Vegeta stared out the bedroom window, watching quietly as West City slowly slipped into the shadows of evening. It never ceased to amaze him that the entire planet could be on the brink of annihilation and all but a handful of individuals would never know the difference unless the Z-Fighters were defeated.
The Saiyan Prince turned his attention to the area where he now knew Ammit and his men were waiting for them. He couldn't sense any of them any longer, but that only made him more uneasy; especially now that the Z- Fighters were already down one man, two if you counted Gotenks.
"Goten," Vegeta said quietly, "You went down fighting impossible odds and you took several of them with you. You were a true Saiyan Warrior...more so than I have been."
It was a thought that had been plaguing him for quite sometime, but until he'd felt Kakorrot's youngest child meet his end, Vegeta had always managed to push it aside. Now it refused to go away.
'Only a coward would rely on something other than himself for a power increase,' he thought.
When he'd first reached the fourth stage of the Super Saiyan evolution, a part of him had been ecstatic; he'd finally caught up to Kakorrot. By that time there was not more enmity between himself and his fellow Saiyan, but it had still given him a measure of pride.
When he thought about it later though, it had put a sour taste in his mouth. His achievement was not his own, it was Bulma's. Without her Brute Ray he would not have reached what appeared to be the pinnacle of Super Saiyan power. In the end it hadn't mattered, the effects of the ray had been long lasting, but temporary none-the-less. A couple of months after Kakorrot rode off on Shenron's back, the Saiyan Prince began to feel his power drop and no amount of training could push it back to where it had been. A little more than a month after that, he could no longer make the transformation.
He had been furious with himself initially, feeling that he should have been able to hold on to the power that he had briefly possessed. He'd left his home and family and lived in the wilderness, meditating on the problem for over a week. Eventually he came to the conclusion that while he was disappointed in himself, he was also somewhat relieved that the effects hadn't lasted. A part of him had hated the way he'd obtained the power. If he was ever to make that transformation again, he wanted it to be by his own merit, not the genius of his wife.
And then his mind was made up; he knew what he would do when the time came.
After several minutes of sitting in complete silence, the Saiyan's keen ears heard footsteps in the hall a moment before the door opened and his wife entered the room. She quickly moved to where he was standing and hugged him from behind, her hands gently sliding over his well-sculpted chest. Vegeta could feel warm tears softly splashing on his neck.
"Is this how it's going to be tomorrow?" Bulma asked quietly. "Are Bra and I just going to sit around waiting to hear whether or not you or Trunks were killed?"
Vegeta turned and looked into his wife's eyes, "What would you have me do woman? Just hand the planet to Ammit? I am a warrior and a protector of this planet; I will not give up my home without a fight. If I die tomorrow then so be it! I will die protecting my family..." he gently wiped a small tear from her eye, "protecting you."
Bulma took a deep breath, her fears and anxiety ebbing slightly at his words. "I love you Vegeta," she whispered.
The Saiyan Prince mumbled something about how annoying it was that humans always insisted on bringing up their disgusting emotions, but his eyes danced at her words.
The aqua haired woman pulled him close and kissed him passionately. She'd known that he say he loved her, he never did. In all the years they'd been together, she'd only heard him say it three times. The first had been shortly after the Cell Games, when he thought she was asleep; the second had been as they made love the evening after Buu was destroyed; and the third was when Bra was born. Still, even though she almost never heard it, she could always see it in his eyes and feel it in his touch.
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Trunks, Uubu, Tien, Krillin and Yamcha were in the dinning room eating a light snack and discussing the upcoming battle while Gohan sat silently and mulled over the loss of his brother.
Goten had returned from the dead before and, if they survived this battle, Gohan was sure they would be able to revive him again with Namek's dragonballs. The problem, of course, was surviving; and now that Goten was gone, their chances were looking bleaker than ever.
"Hey, uh, you alright bro?" Krillin asked, bringing Gohan back to the here and now.
"Yeah... yeah, of course. I was just thinking, that's all," the Saiyan scholar replied as he looked up at his gray-haired friend and gave him a small smile.
The former monk cocked an eyebrow and stared at his friend skeptically for a moment, then he shrugged and said, "Well, if you need someone to talk to, I'm always here for ya."
Gohan nodded and went back to his thoughts as Krillin walked back to the group and rejoined the conversation.
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"Stop."
At the sound of the words, Goten's nearly lifeless body dropped to the blood soaked ground. He couldn't see who had spoken, but the voice had sounded beautiful in his ears and in his mind; he would gladly do anything just to hear it again.
"We need him alive...for now."
The Saiyan smiled happily.
Draco the Destroyer: I'm glad that you've enjoyed it so far. I hope to make the final battle something really impressive. I've actually been working on it for close to a week now and I think its finally starting to come together. Hopefully everyone will like it, but I guess only time will tell.
Ladybugg, Nouk, and anyone else who was bummed to see Goten's defeat: Don't worry, I'm not writing him out of the story just yet...
Phantom 1: Don't worry, Vegeta's good guy loyalties will remain intact. I agree with you that the whole Vegeta turns bad again thing is a bit over used and it won't happen here.
.
.
Chapter 41
"No!" Gohan yelled as he felt the last of Goten's power disappear. He and Trunks were almost to the door when Vegeta appeared in front of them.
"Stop. There's nothing you can do to help him," Vegeta said sternly. "Goten is gone and if you rush off now, you will only join him." Valese turned white and had to sit down as she heard his words, but Vegeta ignored her and continued, "If they can hide their power levels well enough to land on earth completely undetected, they wouldn't have needed to come out of hiding just yet. Goten was alone and easy to pick off, they're using him as bait."
"But dad, he might still be alive...we might be able to help him!" Trunks protested.
"No, he's right Trunks...even if he were still alive, we wouldn't be much help to him if we ran in there without a plan." Logic had wrestled control of Gohan's mind away from the Saiyan instincts that were crying out for him to run to the battle and destroy the people who had hurt his brother. He took a deep breath and turned his attention back to Vegeta, "Okay, how are we going to do this?"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------
Akira and Pan trained for several hours before Pan finally called a halt to the action. Though she was tired, she'd mostly called the break for Akira's sake. He hadn't complained, hadn't backed down or shown any real signs of weakness the entire time they'd trained, but somehow she could tell that he needed rest.
She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye while she drank some water. It was hard to believe that she'd found him unconscious just a few hours ago; his will power and stamina were impressive.
'His body isn't too bad either,' a voice in her head threw in. 'Shut up,' she replied.
Pan continued to watch as Akira walked to the corner of the room, levitated slightly, folded his legs and began to meditate. She smiled and headed out of the room to get some food.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------
Videl and Chi-chi helped Valese to the room Bulma had had prepared for her; the brown haired woman was eerily silent as she walked up the stairs. When they reached the room, Valese sat down on her bed and stared at the wall, her eyes were glossed over, but her grief was easily read on her face.
"Uh...Valese," Videl said in a quiet voice, watching her sister-in-law carefully. "Do you want to talk or anything?" The words sounded stupid as they left her mouth, but then striking up a conversation with someone who'd just heard that her husband was dead was never smooth. Valese didn't even seem to hear the raven-haired woman.
Videl was never one to back down from anything, so despite the younger woman's lack of response, she sat down next to her and gently put her arm around Valese.
At first the brown haired woman sat perfectly still, but then she slowly melted into the embrace. A moment later Chi-chi had joined them and all three women held each other and cried.
After several minutes, the tears were all shed, but the feeling of loss remained.
"This is all my fault," Valese whispered with a sniffle.
"What are you talking about? Videl asked, pulling away and looking into her sister-in-law's tear-reddened eyes.
"I should have told him... he would have stayed...but I wanted it to be so special for him..."
Videl and Chi-chi were both looking at her now, neither said a word as they waited for her to finish.
"I was going to tell him over dinner, when he got home...that he was going to be a...a dad... and now he's gone," her body shook with silent sobs as Videl and Chi-chi wrapped their arms around her once again.
"Shhh. Valese, it's not you're fault," Chi-chi soothed. "I felt the same way that you do for a long time after Goku died fighting Cell and I hadn't told him about Goten. But the truth is, he would have gone anyway. Not just because he loved the fights, but because he loved our family and me. Goten was the same way. Yes, he loved the thrill of battle, but he loved you more. He died fighting to keep you safe and I think that's the way he would have wanted it."
"And don't forget, when this is all over, we can just wish him back with Namek's dragon balls," Videl chimed in as the thought occurred to her.
Valese nodded silently. In her head she could accept the truth of Chi-chi and Videl's words, but in her heart her grief was too overwhelming to find any comfort.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------
Vegeta stared out the bedroom window, watching quietly as West City slowly slipped into the shadows of evening. It never ceased to amaze him that the entire planet could be on the brink of annihilation and all but a handful of individuals would never know the difference unless the Z-Fighters were defeated.
The Saiyan Prince turned his attention to the area where he now knew Ammit and his men were waiting for them. He couldn't sense any of them any longer, but that only made him more uneasy; especially now that the Z- Fighters were already down one man, two if you counted Gotenks.
"Goten," Vegeta said quietly, "You went down fighting impossible odds and you took several of them with you. You were a true Saiyan Warrior...more so than I have been."
It was a thought that had been plaguing him for quite sometime, but until he'd felt Kakorrot's youngest child meet his end, Vegeta had always managed to push it aside. Now it refused to go away.
'Only a coward would rely on something other than himself for a power increase,' he thought.
When he'd first reached the fourth stage of the Super Saiyan evolution, a part of him had been ecstatic; he'd finally caught up to Kakorrot. By that time there was not more enmity between himself and his fellow Saiyan, but it had still given him a measure of pride.
When he thought about it later though, it had put a sour taste in his mouth. His achievement was not his own, it was Bulma's. Without her Brute Ray he would not have reached what appeared to be the pinnacle of Super Saiyan power. In the end it hadn't mattered, the effects of the ray had been long lasting, but temporary none-the-less. A couple of months after Kakorrot rode off on Shenron's back, the Saiyan Prince began to feel his power drop and no amount of training could push it back to where it had been. A little more than a month after that, he could no longer make the transformation.
He had been furious with himself initially, feeling that he should have been able to hold on to the power that he had briefly possessed. He'd left his home and family and lived in the wilderness, meditating on the problem for over a week. Eventually he came to the conclusion that while he was disappointed in himself, he was also somewhat relieved that the effects hadn't lasted. A part of him had hated the way he'd obtained the power. If he was ever to make that transformation again, he wanted it to be by his own merit, not the genius of his wife.
And then his mind was made up; he knew what he would do when the time came.
After several minutes of sitting in complete silence, the Saiyan's keen ears heard footsteps in the hall a moment before the door opened and his wife entered the room. She quickly moved to where he was standing and hugged him from behind, her hands gently sliding over his well-sculpted chest. Vegeta could feel warm tears softly splashing on his neck.
"Is this how it's going to be tomorrow?" Bulma asked quietly. "Are Bra and I just going to sit around waiting to hear whether or not you or Trunks were killed?"
Vegeta turned and looked into his wife's eyes, "What would you have me do woman? Just hand the planet to Ammit? I am a warrior and a protector of this planet; I will not give up my home without a fight. If I die tomorrow then so be it! I will die protecting my family..." he gently wiped a small tear from her eye, "protecting you."
Bulma took a deep breath, her fears and anxiety ebbing slightly at his words. "I love you Vegeta," she whispered.
The Saiyan Prince mumbled something about how annoying it was that humans always insisted on bringing up their disgusting emotions, but his eyes danced at her words.
The aqua haired woman pulled him close and kissed him passionately. She'd known that he say he loved her, he never did. In all the years they'd been together, she'd only heard him say it three times. The first had been shortly after the Cell Games, when he thought she was asleep; the second had been as they made love the evening after Buu was destroyed; and the third was when Bra was born. Still, even though she almost never heard it, she could always see it in his eyes and feel it in his touch.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------
Trunks, Uubu, Tien, Krillin and Yamcha were in the dinning room eating a light snack and discussing the upcoming battle while Gohan sat silently and mulled over the loss of his brother.
Goten had returned from the dead before and, if they survived this battle, Gohan was sure they would be able to revive him again with Namek's dragonballs. The problem, of course, was surviving; and now that Goten was gone, their chances were looking bleaker than ever.
"Hey, uh, you alright bro?" Krillin asked, bringing Gohan back to the here and now.
"Yeah... yeah, of course. I was just thinking, that's all," the Saiyan scholar replied as he looked up at his gray-haired friend and gave him a small smile.
The former monk cocked an eyebrow and stared at his friend skeptically for a moment, then he shrugged and said, "Well, if you need someone to talk to, I'm always here for ya."
Gohan nodded and went back to his thoughts as Krillin walked back to the group and rejoined the conversation.
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"Stop."
At the sound of the words, Goten's nearly lifeless body dropped to the blood soaked ground. He couldn't see who had spoken, but the voice had sounded beautiful in his ears and in his mind; he would gladly do anything just to hear it again.
"We need him alive...for now."
The Saiyan smiled happily.