Chapter 46
The ground began to tremble as Vegeta fought to reach his son. He was struck again and again by the mob surrounding him, but he no longer cared, no longer even felt the blows. Something inside him was building, boiling over until he could no longer contain it.
"Aahhhhhhhhh!!!" Vegeta screamed as he began to glow and a fierce wind swirled around him, pushing the crowd of warriors surrounding the Saiyan Prince back slightly. Blue lightening crackled through the air around Vegeta as his muscles swelled and his veins bulged. The Saiyan's hair glowed for a second and the ground underneath him collapsed slightly, forming a small crater; then the glow faded. A second later his hair glowed again and faded again; the crater grew slightly larger. The flashes began to happen more quickly and his hair lengthened slightly. And then, with another scream, he was enveloped in a column of blinding golden light.
When the light dispersed, Vegeta was hovering over a large pit. His eyebrows had vanished and his brow was jutting forward, giving him a savage, primitive look; his hair, which a moment earlier had been standing straight up, now hung down past his knees. The Saiyan Prince looked down at one of his hands for a moment, made a fist, then closed his eyes and let out a deep, rumbling chuckle.
The laughter died the moment his eyes opened. He looked at the warriors standing over his son and snarled. "You will pay dearly for what you have done!"
Three of the aliens turned to face him and dropped into their fighting stances while the forth decided to finish Trunks off first. He powered up a ki blast and then screamed as his hand was crushed. The warrior blinked in surprise as Vegeta materialized in front of him; the alien glanced over his shoulder and found his three comrades looking around in confusion, trying to locate the long-haired Saiyan.
Vegeta smiled wickedly and kicked the creature in the chest, sending him flying into the other three aliens. The warrior's arm didn't make the trip as it was still tightly held in the Saiyan Prince's vice-like grip. He looked down at the severed limb with a smirk, shrugged, and then tossed it away before hurrying to his son's side.
The fact that Trunks still lived even despite his injuries was a testament to the resilience of the Saiyan race. Blood flowed freely from dozens of wounds all over his body and probably from several internal ones as well. Without a senzu bean, Saiyan or not, the young warrior most likely wouldn't survive much longer.
'Where is that blasted weakling Krillin?' Vegeta asked himself, 'Surely not even he moves this slowly.'
Two soft groans brought the Saiyan Prince back to reality; Yamcha and Tien were gingerly climbing to their feet a short distance away.
"Ugh...anyone catch the number on that bus?" Tien asked, rubbing his sore neck.
"Yeah, I think we're finally starting to get to old for this," Yamcha said as he tried to shake the cobwebs from his head, then he caught sight of Vegeta. "Whoa, Vegeta? Is that you?"
"Of course it's me you idi—," the Saiyan Prince's tirade was cut off by the several large power ups behind them. The aliens that Vegeta had been sent sprawling a moment ago were recovering and reinforcements had arrived.
"Never mind," Vegeta said quickly, "take my son and get him out of here."
Tien didn't argue, he simply nodded and scooped up the lavender-haired young man and shot into the air with Yamcha trailing just slightly behind him.
"Alright," Vegeta said with a grin, "I hope you're all ready to die," gold lightening sparkled around him as he powered up. The warriors of Ammit looked uncertain and backed away from him. The Saiyan Prince's grin widened and he jerked forward, feinting like he was attacking, many of the warriors turned and fled into the sky. Vegeta laughed uproariously and then into the midst of the remaining fighters, killing or incapacitating most of them before even they knew he was there. When there was no longer anything standing in his immediate area, the Saiyan Prince took off after the fleeing aliens who had headed towards the part of the sky where Uubu was fighting off the remainder of Gohan's attackers.
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"Wha..." Akira turned and stared off into the distance as he felt several large power levels drop and then one suddenly become enormous.
Pan looked worried as Dende finished healing her, "I can barely feel my father any more and Trunks...I can't feel Trunks at all. But that other power, it's..." her voice trailed off as her thoughts turned to her grandpa. The power felt like his had during their travels in space, but it was definitely different. It was Vegeta.
Dende smiled sagely and nodded, "Yes, I'd say that Vegeta is turning up the heat. I just hope he doesn't tear up my planet too much while he's protecting it." The soft glow from his hands faded, "Alright Pan, you're healed. Now, I think the rest of what you came here for should just be coming out of the oven."
A confused look passed between Akira, Pan, and Krillin.
The former monk was the first to ask the question they were all thinking, "Uh, what do you mean 'the rest,' Dende? We just came up here to get Akira and Pan healed so we wouldn't have to waste any senzu beans before we got back to the fight."
The deity's face fell a little. "Oh, sorry I thought Pan and Akira had come by to get some food so I had Mr. Popo make a quick feast."
An inticing aroma floated out of the magnificent palace and Akira cocked an eyebrow as his mouth began to water, "Feast? Why would you make a feast?"
"Well, yeah. You guys always eat when you come up here," Dende replied, "In fact; I spend a lot of the time in between climatic battles storing up food just so I can feed everyone when the time comes."
"Sorry Dende, I just don't think we have the time right now," Pan said with a smile, then she looked over at Akira who appeared to be torn between heading to the fight and taking Dende up on his offer. "You alright over there Akira?"
"Um, yeah...I just thought...you know, maybe we have time for a little...uh, quick...bite to eat," he smiled sheepishly as his stomach growled.
Pan rolled her eyes, but a part of her was glad he wanted to eat, it had been several hours since her last meal and she was feeling a little hungry also. "Okay, but real quick. We need to get there to help as soon as possible."
Krillin couldn't believe his ears, "You guys are eating? Now? Bu...but we have to get back to the others, they might need our help."
Akira smiled, "Don't worry Krillin, this won't take long. Besides, Vegeta has things under control.
Krillin shook his head and followed the two hungry Saiyans into the palace. It took the two of them less than five minutes to devour two platefuls of food while the former monk filled them in on what had been happening during the last two days.
Pan had a drumstick in her mouth when she felt it and her food fell to the ground forgotten; Akira was reaching for some more spaghetti and almost fell off his chair in surprise; Krillin gasped and spun around as if expecting to see all the way back to the battle.
"Okay, fun time is over," Akira was suddenly deadly serious, "Let's go." He placed his hands on his two friends' shoulders and, with a quick goodbye to Dende and Mr. Popo, they were gone.
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Uubu was bleeding from several large cuts on his face and chest, but had taken care of most of the warriors he was facing. At the moment, he was in the midst of a stare down with about fifteen aliens. After the thrashing that he'd handed out to several of their comrades, the warriors didn't seem overly anxious to resume the battle; which was fine with the human as he needed the time to catch his breath. Though he wasn't showing it, after over an hour of battling close to a hundred fighters he was beginning to tire and wasn't entirely sure how much long he could go before dropping from shear exhaustion.
Suddenly several aliens flew between him and his enemies, a moment later an enormous golden comet went chasing after them. In less than a second the light had overtaken the fleeing warriors, causing them to turn and fly back towards Uubu.
"Stop running and fight me you cowards!" Vegeta's voice came from the swirling, golden aura as he chased after them again.
Thinking quickly, Uubu moved to block the aliens retreat. There were over forty aliens "trapped" between the Mystical One and the Saiyan Prince, but somehow it was they that seemed outnumbered and not the two remaining warriors from Earth.
Galvanized by the sight of Vegeta at his new power level, Uubu shook off his fatigue and attacked the large cluster of warriors at the same time as the Super Saiyan.
"Return!" a loud voice called out as nearly half of the alien fighters fell to the ground. The remaining warriors wasted no time in flying from the fight and landing near the ship. Of the three hundred that had come to Earth, barely sixty were able to answer the call and many of them weren't able to stand once they reached the spacecraft.
Vegeta and Uubu landed a short distance away and watched the large, red warrior as they waited for whatever was to come next. A moment later, they were joined by a very weak, but still standing, Gohan. The Mystical One looked at his mentor's son and the Saiyan scholar gave him a tired smile.
"You should be back with the others," Uubu whispered.
"No, I can still fight...I think. I'll help in whatever way I can until Krillin get's back."
Vegeta looked at Gohan for a brief moment, then shrugged and turned his attention back to the big alien.
"So, are you going to keep sending lambs to the slaughter or are you ready to face me yourself coward?" the Saiyan Prince called out in a cocky voice as he cracked his knuckles.
"You are indeed an amazing warrior Prince Vegeta, it will be my extreme pleasure to crush you," the warrior stepped forward menacingly.
Suddenly, the black robed figure that had not moved since the Z Fighters arrived, shot out his hand and grabbed the alien, pulling him back and having a whispered conversation with him. The warrior smiled and nodded at whatever had been said and then looked back at Vegeta.
"It has come to my attention that you probably wouldn't even be a challenge for me, so rather than waste my time killing you, I'll let an associate do it for me." He nodded to the figure in tattered, brown robes who quickly hopped off the ship and landed between it and the Saiyan.
"Your cowardice knows no limits, does it?" Vegeta taunted. "Very well, I'll kill your 'associate' first, after that I hope you'll stop making excuses. Besides, your pathetic minions died so quickly they really weren't much of a warm up."
The fighter in rags began to power up as golden light flowed around him, the three earth warriors' eyes went wide in surprise. Then the fighter grabed his robe and ripped it off.
All of the air was sucked from Gohan's body and the world seemed to suddenly grow very cold. "No..." he finally managed to gasp.
It was Goten. .
A/N: Vegeta's transformation was based on that of Gotenks during 'Feeding Frenzy.' Thanks again to all those who reviewed, I don't think I would have finished this chapter nearly as quickly without all of the reviews. I want to apologize up front if any of this gets boring or repetitive. I try really hard to make each fight fairly unique and interesting, but it's been getting tougher and tougher. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it! Please remember to review.
The ground began to tremble as Vegeta fought to reach his son. He was struck again and again by the mob surrounding him, but he no longer cared, no longer even felt the blows. Something inside him was building, boiling over until he could no longer contain it.
"Aahhhhhhhhh!!!" Vegeta screamed as he began to glow and a fierce wind swirled around him, pushing the crowd of warriors surrounding the Saiyan Prince back slightly. Blue lightening crackled through the air around Vegeta as his muscles swelled and his veins bulged. The Saiyan's hair glowed for a second and the ground underneath him collapsed slightly, forming a small crater; then the glow faded. A second later his hair glowed again and faded again; the crater grew slightly larger. The flashes began to happen more quickly and his hair lengthened slightly. And then, with another scream, he was enveloped in a column of blinding golden light.
When the light dispersed, Vegeta was hovering over a large pit. His eyebrows had vanished and his brow was jutting forward, giving him a savage, primitive look; his hair, which a moment earlier had been standing straight up, now hung down past his knees. The Saiyan Prince looked down at one of his hands for a moment, made a fist, then closed his eyes and let out a deep, rumbling chuckle.
The laughter died the moment his eyes opened. He looked at the warriors standing over his son and snarled. "You will pay dearly for what you have done!"
Three of the aliens turned to face him and dropped into their fighting stances while the forth decided to finish Trunks off first. He powered up a ki blast and then screamed as his hand was crushed. The warrior blinked in surprise as Vegeta materialized in front of him; the alien glanced over his shoulder and found his three comrades looking around in confusion, trying to locate the long-haired Saiyan.
Vegeta smiled wickedly and kicked the creature in the chest, sending him flying into the other three aliens. The warrior's arm didn't make the trip as it was still tightly held in the Saiyan Prince's vice-like grip. He looked down at the severed limb with a smirk, shrugged, and then tossed it away before hurrying to his son's side.
The fact that Trunks still lived even despite his injuries was a testament to the resilience of the Saiyan race. Blood flowed freely from dozens of wounds all over his body and probably from several internal ones as well. Without a senzu bean, Saiyan or not, the young warrior most likely wouldn't survive much longer.
'Where is that blasted weakling Krillin?' Vegeta asked himself, 'Surely not even he moves this slowly.'
Two soft groans brought the Saiyan Prince back to reality; Yamcha and Tien were gingerly climbing to their feet a short distance away.
"Ugh...anyone catch the number on that bus?" Tien asked, rubbing his sore neck.
"Yeah, I think we're finally starting to get to old for this," Yamcha said as he tried to shake the cobwebs from his head, then he caught sight of Vegeta. "Whoa, Vegeta? Is that you?"
"Of course it's me you idi—," the Saiyan Prince's tirade was cut off by the several large power ups behind them. The aliens that Vegeta had been sent sprawling a moment ago were recovering and reinforcements had arrived.
"Never mind," Vegeta said quickly, "take my son and get him out of here."
Tien didn't argue, he simply nodded and scooped up the lavender-haired young man and shot into the air with Yamcha trailing just slightly behind him.
"Alright," Vegeta said with a grin, "I hope you're all ready to die," gold lightening sparkled around him as he powered up. The warriors of Ammit looked uncertain and backed away from him. The Saiyan Prince's grin widened and he jerked forward, feinting like he was attacking, many of the warriors turned and fled into the sky. Vegeta laughed uproariously and then into the midst of the remaining fighters, killing or incapacitating most of them before even they knew he was there. When there was no longer anything standing in his immediate area, the Saiyan Prince took off after the fleeing aliens who had headed towards the part of the sky where Uubu was fighting off the remainder of Gohan's attackers.
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"Wha..." Akira turned and stared off into the distance as he felt several large power levels drop and then one suddenly become enormous.
Pan looked worried as Dende finished healing her, "I can barely feel my father any more and Trunks...I can't feel Trunks at all. But that other power, it's..." her voice trailed off as her thoughts turned to her grandpa. The power felt like his had during their travels in space, but it was definitely different. It was Vegeta.
Dende smiled sagely and nodded, "Yes, I'd say that Vegeta is turning up the heat. I just hope he doesn't tear up my planet too much while he's protecting it." The soft glow from his hands faded, "Alright Pan, you're healed. Now, I think the rest of what you came here for should just be coming out of the oven."
A confused look passed between Akira, Pan, and Krillin.
The former monk was the first to ask the question they were all thinking, "Uh, what do you mean 'the rest,' Dende? We just came up here to get Akira and Pan healed so we wouldn't have to waste any senzu beans before we got back to the fight."
The deity's face fell a little. "Oh, sorry I thought Pan and Akira had come by to get some food so I had Mr. Popo make a quick feast."
An inticing aroma floated out of the magnificent palace and Akira cocked an eyebrow as his mouth began to water, "Feast? Why would you make a feast?"
"Well, yeah. You guys always eat when you come up here," Dende replied, "In fact; I spend a lot of the time in between climatic battles storing up food just so I can feed everyone when the time comes."
"Sorry Dende, I just don't think we have the time right now," Pan said with a smile, then she looked over at Akira who appeared to be torn between heading to the fight and taking Dende up on his offer. "You alright over there Akira?"
"Um, yeah...I just thought...you know, maybe we have time for a little...uh, quick...bite to eat," he smiled sheepishly as his stomach growled.
Pan rolled her eyes, but a part of her was glad he wanted to eat, it had been several hours since her last meal and she was feeling a little hungry also. "Okay, but real quick. We need to get there to help as soon as possible."
Krillin couldn't believe his ears, "You guys are eating? Now? Bu...but we have to get back to the others, they might need our help."
Akira smiled, "Don't worry Krillin, this won't take long. Besides, Vegeta has things under control.
Krillin shook his head and followed the two hungry Saiyans into the palace. It took the two of them less than five minutes to devour two platefuls of food while the former monk filled them in on what had been happening during the last two days.
Pan had a drumstick in her mouth when she felt it and her food fell to the ground forgotten; Akira was reaching for some more spaghetti and almost fell off his chair in surprise; Krillin gasped and spun around as if expecting to see all the way back to the battle.
"Okay, fun time is over," Akira was suddenly deadly serious, "Let's go." He placed his hands on his two friends' shoulders and, with a quick goodbye to Dende and Mr. Popo, they were gone.
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Uubu was bleeding from several large cuts on his face and chest, but had taken care of most of the warriors he was facing. At the moment, he was in the midst of a stare down with about fifteen aliens. After the thrashing that he'd handed out to several of their comrades, the warriors didn't seem overly anxious to resume the battle; which was fine with the human as he needed the time to catch his breath. Though he wasn't showing it, after over an hour of battling close to a hundred fighters he was beginning to tire and wasn't entirely sure how much long he could go before dropping from shear exhaustion.
Suddenly several aliens flew between him and his enemies, a moment later an enormous golden comet went chasing after them. In less than a second the light had overtaken the fleeing warriors, causing them to turn and fly back towards Uubu.
"Stop running and fight me you cowards!" Vegeta's voice came from the swirling, golden aura as he chased after them again.
Thinking quickly, Uubu moved to block the aliens retreat. There were over forty aliens "trapped" between the Mystical One and the Saiyan Prince, but somehow it was they that seemed outnumbered and not the two remaining warriors from Earth.
Galvanized by the sight of Vegeta at his new power level, Uubu shook off his fatigue and attacked the large cluster of warriors at the same time as the Super Saiyan.
"Return!" a loud voice called out as nearly half of the alien fighters fell to the ground. The remaining warriors wasted no time in flying from the fight and landing near the ship. Of the three hundred that had come to Earth, barely sixty were able to answer the call and many of them weren't able to stand once they reached the spacecraft.
Vegeta and Uubu landed a short distance away and watched the large, red warrior as they waited for whatever was to come next. A moment later, they were joined by a very weak, but still standing, Gohan. The Mystical One looked at his mentor's son and the Saiyan scholar gave him a tired smile.
"You should be back with the others," Uubu whispered.
"No, I can still fight...I think. I'll help in whatever way I can until Krillin get's back."
Vegeta looked at Gohan for a brief moment, then shrugged and turned his attention back to the big alien.
"So, are you going to keep sending lambs to the slaughter or are you ready to face me yourself coward?" the Saiyan Prince called out in a cocky voice as he cracked his knuckles.
"You are indeed an amazing warrior Prince Vegeta, it will be my extreme pleasure to crush you," the warrior stepped forward menacingly.
Suddenly, the black robed figure that had not moved since the Z Fighters arrived, shot out his hand and grabbed the alien, pulling him back and having a whispered conversation with him. The warrior smiled and nodded at whatever had been said and then looked back at Vegeta.
"It has come to my attention that you probably wouldn't even be a challenge for me, so rather than waste my time killing you, I'll let an associate do it for me." He nodded to the figure in tattered, brown robes who quickly hopped off the ship and landed between it and the Saiyan.
"Your cowardice knows no limits, does it?" Vegeta taunted. "Very well, I'll kill your 'associate' first, after that I hope you'll stop making excuses. Besides, your pathetic minions died so quickly they really weren't much of a warm up."
The fighter in rags began to power up as golden light flowed around him, the three earth warriors' eyes went wide in surprise. Then the fighter grabed his robe and ripped it off.
All of the air was sucked from Gohan's body and the world seemed to suddenly grow very cold. "No..." he finally managed to gasp.
It was Goten. .
A/N: Vegeta's transformation was based on that of Gotenks during 'Feeding Frenzy.' Thanks again to all those who reviewed, I don't think I would have finished this chapter nearly as quickly without all of the reviews. I want to apologize up front if any of this gets boring or repetitive. I try really hard to make each fight fairly unique and interesting, but it's been getting tougher and tougher. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it! Please remember to review.