~Chapter 15:The Hopes Of A Planet~
I felt as if all of my body had just gone numb as I saw Piccolo fall, unconscious, to the ground after only one hit from Nappa. I couldn't move; I was just that terrified. I watched helplessly as Nappa advanced on Gohan. Gohan looked so small and helpless, and even more terrified than me. Nappa kicked him - an enormous kick, with force like you wouldn't believe. I could hear it hit him. It would have torn Gohan apart but for the fact that he kind of rode the kick, since Nappa's foot was almost the size of his entire body. He was launched up into the air and Nappa hit him again, so hard that he crashed into a cliff that must have been a quarter of a mile away. What a terrible sight that was. Gohan hit the ground hard, and then - I could scarcely believe it - he actually got back up. Man, that kid was tough. Nappa showed no mercy, charging at Gohan again.
Time seemed to slow down for me in that moment. I was still paralyzed by fear. I wanted to wake up and have it all be a dream. I was so afraid to die. Then, though, I saw Nappa, the unstoppable powerhouse, charging at Gohan. Gohan looked defenseless. If I didn't do something, he would die. It felt like it was too late to save anything, but all the same, I couldn't just stand by and watch that happen. He was only a child... the child of Goku, I reminded myself. Now, I've never claimed to be brave. I have a bit more courage than, say, Yajirobe, but I'm really not a hero. Somehow, though, I found the courage and the strength right then to throw myself into Nappa's path. I kicked him as hard as I could, and then punched him - I slammed my forearm against his huge mass of muscle - while he was off-balance. It worked well enough. The blow sent him flying, and I tried to go after him to press the advantage, but Nappa really was a very good fighter, and he managed somehow to right himself and come back at me. I just barely had the speed to avoid being beaten to less than a pulp. I felt pretty grateful for the boost I'd gotten from the Choshinsui right about then. Still, I figured that that dodge bought me a few seconds at best before he killed me. I still had one attack left that I knew could hurt Nappa. I did a few flips to put some distance between us, and prepared myself for it. He was coming right at me, so I hoped - no, I prayed - that he wouldn't dodge it.
"Kienzan!" I shouted. Okay, so I didn't really have to shout it. I was in the moment.
To my astonishment, Nappa didn't even try to dodge the disc. I guess he thought that it would bounce off of him, or something. It would've taken his head straight off, except that Vegeta had the presence of mind to tell him to duck. Instead, it only cut his face and went on to demolish a cliff nearby. Damn. Nappa was extremely angry at being cut. He howled and hurled an enormous bolt of ki at me. I managed to fly upward and dodge it, but just the force of its explosion knocked the wind out of me. He would've finished me off except that that's when Piccolo managed to regain consciousness and blast him. I fell forty-five feet to the ground. I was pretty helpless after that. The impact hurt very badly, but it didn't knock me out. I was in so much pain that I couldn't even sense ki anymore. I could barely see.
There was a break in the fighting then. Piccolo and the Saiyans were talking excitedly about something, but I didn't catch a word of it. I was putting all of my concentration into trying to stand up. I managed to roll over onto my stomach, and the amount of agony that that caused me let me know that I wasn't standing any time soon. I kept trying, though. I had to get up, I kept saying to myself, I had to fight... What was I worth if I couldn't fight any more? Vegeta and Nappa chattered on. I managed to pick the word "Kakarrotto" in their conversation. Was Goku coming? I could hardly allow myself to hope for that much. But then I heard Vegeta say something of great interest. I think that I was the only one that heard him. He said,
"So, it's true that there are balls on Namek that can grant wishes... I never believed the legend, but it's true!"
I didn't know why just then, but what he'd said felt very important. I made sure to commit it to memory. My sight returned, and I could see them facing off again. Nappa was going to charge yet again, and this time meant disaster. This time, there was no one left to prevent the worst from happening. I was overcome by the feeling that something indescribably horrible was about to happen, and I felt so much frustration at the fact that I couldn't move... I couldn't do anything to stop it from happening. Nappa charged one more time, and I was surprised that Gohan himself managed to oppose him and kick him into a cliff. More angry than ever, Nappa reared back and prepared to launch another blast like the one that had taken me out of the fight. Gohan seemed too frightened even to dodge it. It seemed like my fear was finally happening - Gohan was going to be killed. As the blast shot toward him, though, I saw someone running desperately into its path. I couldn't believe my eyes; it was Piccolo. He set himself in front of it and took the full brunt of the whole blast. It unleashed all of its terrible energy into him, but he stood firm somehow. When the smoke cleared, Piccolo stood there still, shielding Gohan. He trembled and fell to the ground.
I watched in horror and confusion as Gohan ran in tears to Piccolo's side. I could not believe what I had seen, that Piccolo had sacrificed himself to save him. I had no idea how attached Piccolo had become to Gohan in the time that they trained together. Something in Piccolo had changed, and yet... When I think about it, he probably had it in him all along. No one had ever given Piccolo, the Demon King, The Great Incorruptable Evil, half of a chance. I certainly hadn't. It took the innocence of a child to break through that wall, and I suppose the desperate circumstances didn't hurt. I don't know if this is going to sound sappy or clichèd, but I think that everyone can be good if given the chance. And everyone deserves a chance. I watched Piccolo die with great regret, and a certain amount of shame. I felt badly for mistrusting him. Piccolo had made some mistakes, but it seemed to me that he was more noble than I'd ever be.
Gohan stayed by Piccolo while he was dying. He cried a lot and begged him not to die. Watching him, I realized something I hadn't before - he'd actually come to love Piccolo. Something changed in Gohan's face after Piccolo died. He stood up and screamed in rage and agony, and I felt his ki surge. It went up way, way beyond what I'd thought Gohan's maximum was. It wasn't a normal strong ki, either - to me, this ki felt brief and inconstant, but most of all it felt painful. It hurt. Gohan is - well, I don't know what you'd call it. When he gets mad - and I don't mean peeved, I mean real rage here - it gives him tremendous strength. Gohan isn't a dangerous person. Normally, he wouldn't hurt a fly. It isn't easy to get him that mad. The only thing that seems to do it is hurting someone that he loves. When that happens, though... Well, you don't want to be in his way. Gohan concentrated his rage into a Masenko - the same Kamehameha-like blast that Piccolo had used so much at the 23rd tournament - and directed it, and all of his pain and anger, at Nappa. Gohan's Masenko tore through the air toward Nappa like a rocket, like some kind of unstoppable force. Nappa stood firm, raised an arm, and deflected the blast.
I couldn't believe it. He'd deflected the blast. All that for nothing. That one blast was all that poor Gohan had in him. I felt his ki waver - his power level must have been below 1. He didn't have enough strength left to walk. And me, I still couldn't move.
"So this is it," I thought to myself, "It's all over." I'd thought the same before on that day, but this time it really felt like it. The Saiyans were just too strong. All of our preparation, all of our hard work and sacrifice, everything we'd done, and we couldn't even manage to defeat Nappa. That Masenko had been the Earth's last shot, and Nappa deflected it. Gohan sank to his knees. Nappa slowly approached Gohan, each step sounding like a minature earthquake, and raised his boot above Gohan's head. Since I didn't want Gohan's skeleton being crushed to be my final mortal sight, I shut my eyes as tightly as I could and waited for the end to come.
...
Remember when I mentioned Goku's Nick of Time Syndrome? You do? Good. Guess what happened next.
When I opened my eyes again, I found to my great surprise that Gohan was not brutally crushed against the ground, but on a Kinto'un several yards away. I felt something approaching from the sky. Strong ki. Big, weighted boots. Orange gi. Spiky black hair. Yes, that would be Goku. I was so happy that it hurt. I was trembling all over.
The Saiyans were markedly unimpressed with Goku. He seemed very quiet and solemn... He already had an order of things he wanted to do in his mind, I think. First, he looked around at the results of our struggle. He saw the dead bodies of Piccolo, Yamucha and Tenshinhan. I could feel his ki and his anger rising with each. Still, he remained very calm and quiet as he proceeded to come to where I was lying. Nappa tried to attack him, but I doubt he even noticed. That wasn't in his plan.
"I'm sorry I'm late," was the first thing he said to me. Hoo boy. He handed me a senzu bean, split in half. It was the last one, he said. At first, I didn't want to take it. I felt so worthless. I felt like I didn't deserve to be healed, as if it had been up to me all along and I'd failed somehow by letting so many die. Goku wouldn't be denied, though, so I swallowed my half a senzu. It didn't restore all of my energy, but it did well enough. I stood up, feeling kind of giddy. To be honest, I still felt pretty badly about our chances. Goku seemed strong, but the Saiyans were just so powerful... All the same, though, I couldn't stop myself from hoping. After all, Goku was back, and he always seemed to bring all the hope with him.
Goku complimented me on how much stronger I'd gotten and how well I had done holding out. I didn't want to accept those compliments. I didn't feel very good about myself. I felt weak and stupid and cowardly and worthless, and like I was no good to anyone. Yamucha, my friend, was dead. The brave Tenshinhan, and his strange friend Chaozu who was even braver in his own way, were both dead. Even Piccolo - we'd never known what we had in Piccolo, I thought - was dead, and with him Kami-sama and the dragon balls. None of our friends could ever be brought back to life. I said this, and Goku, Gohan(who'd eaten the other half of the senzu) and I stood there and just commiserated silently for a moment. It was a tough feeling, of a hurt that would only get deeper as time wore on and circumstances grew less dire. It seemed like the only thing left was retribution.
"Let's avenge them," I said, clenching my fists, "The three of us. Goku, you trained under Kaiô-sama, the lord of the worlds, right?"
"Yeah," said Goku, "But you two stay clear. I'll fight them alone."
It took me a moment to process what I'd just heard. He... would fight the Saiyans, just the weaker of whom had managed with ease to defeat all of the Earth's best... by himself? No way. My first reaction was to get angry. Goku was pulling one of his dumb stunts again. There was no way in hell that I was going to let Goku go get himself killed like all the others. Gohan and I began telling him that he was insane and trying to talk him out of it. Then, however, something happened to me. Gohan kept trying desperately to talk his daddy out of risking his life, but I found myself unable to say anything at all. Goku stood there, towering above me, staring at the Saiyans, and I suddenly noticed how imposing he seemed. Just the sight of him standing there, facing the Saiyans, with a vein bulging out upon his forehead, made me feel kind of awed. I had never seen him so angry. I could feel his ki, too, boiling inside him. His rage was easily the equal of mine when Yamucha had died or Gohan's when Piccolo had died, but more concentrated and much more deadly. I actually became a little scared of him. I could see that he wanted us to not try to help him because he was afraid we'd be hurt, by him almost as likely as the Saiyans. And Goku himself was a Saiyan, wasn't he? I think that I just remembered that then.
Before I even realized it, I was taking Gohan's arm rather roughly and saying to him, "Goku's right. We need to stay back." Gohan tried to run after Goku as he walked toward the Saiyans, but I held him back. There was no place for us in that battle anymore.
Goku and Nappa faced off. Nappa spouted some juvenile taunts, but Goku didn't flinch. He said something threatening and started to power up. I couldn't believe the ki! As he powered up, the ground shook, and all around him little bits of debris started to float upward. I heard Vegeta read his power level as over 8000 on his scouter. Hearing this seemed to infuriate Nappa, and he charged at Goku, who still didn't flinch. The instant before he hit, Goku kicked him in the back. I didn't even see how he got behind him.
Nappa was livid. "You... I'll kill you!" he shouted.
"You talk a lot," said Goku, "but you don't back it up."
Nappa screamed, powered up, and ran at Goku again, striking at him with an amazing rush of blows. He was suddenly fighting with a ferocity that he'd never had when fighting us. Goku only stood there and dodged everything without effort, not even moving much. Nappa put a lot of strength into one last punch, and by the time he'd thrown it, Goku was standing a good ten yards away in the opposite direction. It was insane. Goku danced circles around Nappa just to piss him off. At one point, he even stood on the Saiyan's head. It didn't matter what he did, Nappa couldn't lay a finger on him. I guess it might have been gratifying to watch Goku make a fool out of the monster that had made our existence hell for the past several hours. That's certainly what Goku was going for. But I only felt numb and a little faint. Soon, Goku tired of that and punched him hard in the stomach. He ducked another attack from Nappa and hit him again. Nappa threw another one of those blasts at him, exactly like the ones that had injured me and killed Piccolo. Goku didn't even dodge it - he blew it away with just ki alone. Goku rushed up to Nappa and hit him a few more times, finally hitting him so hard that he was driven straight into - and nearly halfway through - a nearby cliff. Nappa got right back up, bleeding profusely and howling with a terrifying voice in utter fury and frustration.
I was smiling, suddenly. I had given up so long ago, but now it began to occur to me that we could still have a chance. I was still terrified, but I was kind of giddy at the same time. Gohan and I cheered Goku on in shaky, nervous voices.
Vegeta shook Nappa out of his beastly howl with a shout of "Calm down, you idiot! He'll beat you if you lose your head!" To our surprise, Nappa actually did calm down. His confidence seemed to return, and his ki felt a lot more powerful than before. He used an attack on Goku that made a ridiculously large explosion that knocked me flat on my back, even as far away as I was standing. That attack felt very familiar - you know, I think that he used the same attack that reduced East Capital City to a field of rubble on Goku. Goku dodged it by flying upward, and I lost track of the battle after that. Hey, I have a very good memory, but I'm not a video camera. The next thing I recall is Vegeta ordering Nappa to retreat - he'd handle this himself. I wasn't sure whether to be glad that Nappa was finally defeated, or scared as hell. When Nappa got his second wind, Goku was having some trouble, and I'd already figured out that Vegeta was much stronger than Nappa. I wondered whether even Goku could handle this mysterious Saiyan called Vegeta.
Nappa started to retreat as ordered, but he suddenly shifted direction and gained a rush of speed. It didn't take me long to realize it - he was heading straight toward Gohan and I with amazing speed. I don't know why I didn't get out of the way. I guess I kind of froze. The only thing I thought to do was get in front of Gohan. I saw Goku flying after Nappa, but there was no way he'd catch up to him in time. However, that's when Goku pulled out his big trick. Suddenly, I felt his ki just explode, and he was between Nappa and us before I even saw it. He landed holding Nappa in the air with one hand, paralyzed and helpless. He tossed him to the ground. He landed next to Vegeta.
"He isn't fighting any more," Goku said. "Just take him and leave!"
Vegeta didn't say anything, he just stood there and seemed to ponder what had just happened. I took the chance to ask Goku what in the universe he'd just done. I got a somewhat rushed explanation of the Kaiôken. Using it, you control all of the ki in your body at once and amplify it. If you do it correctly, you recieve an amazing increase in power and speed, as if you're somehow stronger than yourself. However, you have to be extremely careful when you're doing it, or you can overload your body and kill yourself. Interestingly, Kaiôken is a rare case of a technique whose name you actually HAVE to say when doing it. For some odd reason, it's impossible to perform a Kaiôken without shouting, "Kaiôken!" It's a very powerful technique, but I never bothered to learn it. I could have. I'm pretty sure that Yamucha knows it. There's just some instinct in me that makes me shy away from anything that you can kill yourself by using. The Kikouhou, the Kaiôken... I wouldn't use them under any circumstances. Goku, Tenshinhan, and Vegeta never seemed to have that failing. I feel a little guilty about that. If I had learned the Kaiôken, and really worked on it... It is so powerful, I might actually have been a little bit of good against Cell or Buu. Ahh, I guess that's taking it a little far. Oh well, it doesn't do any good to have regrets, does it?
Back on the point, Nappa laid there shivering on the ground, helpless and in very obvious pain. He reached a hand feebly out to his partner.
"Vegeta," I heard him croak desperately... "please... please help me..."
Vegeta stared at him uncomfortably for a moment, and then hesitantly took his fallen comrade's hand. He grinned terribly, and then tossed Nappa high into the air. Vegeta powered up, causing a bright blue ki flare to form around him, and sent an enormous blast from his entire body at Nappa. It reduced him to dust.
Man, oh man. I just... There's nothing lower than that. I admit that I wasn't sad to see Nappa go, but I couldn't imagine that anyone would be such a monster as to just kill their own partner (I once asked Vegeta whether he had any regrets about Nappa. He just gave me a look of total contempt and said, "Since when do YOU care?" For some reason, I felt like I deserved that). Also, the sheer amount of power of Vegeta's blast was so much. Could anyone really be that powerful? Of course, I hadn't seen anything yet. Sorry If I sound like a broken record on that point, but I'm trying to convey to you some kind of remote grasp of the powers I've felt, and it's just impossible. No words can describe it. By the time I get to Buu, I guarantee you that you won't want to think about it. Lord, I know that I don't. The amount of power possessed by the super saiyans and by some of the enemies we've fought is daunting. For heaven's sake, I am six million times as strong as the average person, at least! I'm not trying to brag or anything, that's just fact. And to them, do you know what I am? A weakling! Less than an ant! It's insane!
...
I'm so sorry. That was just a small portion of that rant. It's stupid and childish, and I promised myself I wouldn't get into it here. I could edit it out, but I'm afraid that if I did, it would come back later even worse, so I'm just going to leave it there and go on. I'm sorry. I'm not normally like that. I'm not resentful.
Where was I? Right, Vegeta killed Nappa. Having seen that, Goku got very nervous. He floated with Gohan and I - we'd all flown way back to avoid the blast that killed Nappa - and we looked at the whole battlefield. A lot of the landscape was destroyed. All of the dead bodies were still lying where they'd fallen. Looking at them, I remembered what Vegeta had said. I'd been thinking about it for a while, actually. If Vegeta knew what he was talking about, then there were more dragon balls. If that was true - very big if - our friends might still be able to be brought back...
Goku told Gohan and I to go back to the Kame House. As strong as Vegeta was, he didn't want us to be anywhere near the fighting. I didn't argue with him - I realized that Goku would only be hindered by having to worry about us getting hurt. Gohan wasn't happy about it, but he agreed too. I wanted to say something about my dragon ball theory, but I didn't want them to have false hope. To hell with it, I figured, I'd say it anyway. I decided not to actually tell what I had in mind yet, but just to tell Goku to fight somewhere else so that our friends' bodies wouldn't be mangled if they were brought back to life. He was a little confused, but he agreed to that. We said our goodbyes before leaving Goku, trying our best to be confident about the whole thing. I clasped his hand and told him not to die. "No way," he said. "Don't die" had become a kind of phrase that we used. As strange as it seemed, for us those simple little words conveyed, "Please, please don't get hurt, because I love you and it will hurt me so terribly if you do" without actually saying it, which would feel really weird.
Goku said a few more things to his son, and then he and Vegeta flew off to fight, leaving Gohan and I behind and feeling very worried. For a minute or so we just floated there.
"K... Kuririn-san," said Gohan, looking up at me with wide eyes, "I'm scared. I don't know if daddy can beat him... Do you think he can?"
"Gohan," I said, "If anybody can do it, it's your dad." I hoped that it sounded comforting. Gohan was mature for his age, but he was only a child. I think one of the things that I was angriest of all about toward the saiyans was that they'd taken Gohan's childhood from him. I hated to see him suffering. "Well, come on," I told him, "We should go back to the Kame House, like Goku said."
So, we took off and started flying in that general direction. We didn't fly as fast as we could have out of worry, I think. We kept feeling strange kis... way too large, much larger than anything we'd felt before. Sometimes it felt like the Saiyan, other times it felt like Goku. Occasionally, we would hear some kind of blast from far away, and Gohan would always stop and turn around, and I'd grab at him to get him going again. However, when we were almost there, I turned back and saw something bright in the sky, like a second sun. Right after that, I felt some enormous ki flare up. It felt like the Saiyan, but it was too powerful. I've never been great with power level estimates, but I'd put that power at somewhere around 150,000. Gohan felt it, too. We both realized that it was the Saiyan. Suddenly, Gohan looked determined.
"I'm going back," he said.
"What? Are you out of your mind?" Me, of course.
"My daddy's in trouble! He... he could die!"
I felt in shock. I knew that there was absolutely nothing I could do to stop him from going back. What a brave kid. He knew then that he didn't have the strength to do anything against Vegeta, but he was going back all the same. He flew off back in the direction we'd came in. I fretted for a moment, but pretty soon I was flying after him. Hell, I had to admit that I couldn't just stay back and let whatever happened happen, either. It was obvious pretty soon that we were right to go back. Before we got there, I could feel Goku's ki diminishing rapidly - when that happens, someone is near death. I guess we exhibited a bit of Nick of Time Syndrome ourselves - by the time we got there, Goku was moments away from being killed. We arrived in the desert that Vegeta and Goku had picked to fight in, and we saw a giant ape in Saiyan armor crushing Goku to death in his hands.
--an ape! A giant ape! Things were not good. I cursed myself for forgetting about the Saiyan transformation. I'd figured that since the moon had been destroyed again, we didn't have to worry about it. Apparently, though, Vegeta knew how to make a temporary moon for his purposes. I had to take charge and be the leader and do it fast, or we were all dead. I shouted to Gohan to get down and hide, and then we ran toward the giant ape Vegeta as quickly as we could without being detected. Strangely enough, we ran into Yajirobe right then. I didn't really care, though. I knew that the giant ape was very powerful, so unless Vegeta turned back to normal we had no chance at all. Once again, I found myself down to the Kienzan. I remembered what Yamucha had said about those things - Goku had always changed back when his tail was cut off. I told Gohan and Yajirobe to distract him and I prepared a Kienzan. My nerves were shot. I could feel Goku's life slipping away.
Vegeta saw Gohan and taunted him. "Oh, look, Kakarotto," he said cheerfully, "Your little son has come to watch you die! Well, little fella, how'd you like to hear your daddy's spine snap?" Or something disgusting like that.
I threw a Kienzan at his tail, and he jumped over it. It went on to destroy a few more cliffs. You know, if the landscape had been our opponent, I'd have been doing pretty well. Vegeta laughed and loudly proclaimed that he'd been waiting for my move. He held Goku in front of us between his massive hands and began to grind them together. I trembled at the sight. It was one of the most terrible moments of my life. Goku was dying in front of me, and I couldn't do anything. The only thing I had that would even make Vegeta flinch was Kienzan, and another one of those seemed like a waste of energy since he could dodge them so easily. I was about to try one anyway when Vegeta suddenly stopped in shock. To my bewildernment, I saw Vegeta's tail cut off and falling to the ground... and Yajirobe sailing through the air with his katana extended. As soon as he landed, he ran like hell. You know, I've got to hand it to Yajirobe, that was his moment. He deserves a lot more credit than he gets for that - if not for him, we'd all be dead now. Actually, he's fond of sticking that at random into conversation - "Ya know, if it weren't for me, we'd all be dead now."
With his tail gone, Vegeta returned to normal, making him drop Goku, who looked even worse than I'd suspected. I think there were hardly any bones in his body that WEREN'T broken. Vegeta was extremely angry, to say the least. Things looked pretty bad. Even back to normal and weakened besides, Vegeta was much stronger than Gohan and I. Vegeta declared that Gohan would die first and he landed next to him and began beating him up. I flew to his aid, but it was hopeless. With one kick Vegeta sent me ricocheting off of three cliffs. I fractured my skull and dislocated my left arm at the shoulder. I coughed up a lot of blood.
Unbothered by me, Vegeta returned to mercilessly beating Gohan. He threw him next to Goku, who was, amazingly, still conscious. As I fought my way painfully to a position that was more or less upright, I heard Goku say to him, "Gohan... please, just hold him off... I know you can do that. Hold him off, and Kuririn will finish him."
Wait, did he say that I would finish him?
"So this is it," I thought again, "It's all over."
Vegeta started kicking Goku around just out of spite. Goku was totally paralyzed, and he couldn't do a thing. I guess that seeing that was enough to set Gohan's rage off again, because he suddenly seemed to have the strength to exchange some blows with Vegeta, taking him away from Goku.
"Ku--Kuririn!" I heard Goku cry. He could barely speak, it sounded so strained. "Kuririn, please come--!"
I didn't see what good it could do, but I managed to limp over to him.
"Goku," I said, "It's hopeless."
He turned to me - well, really more of rolled his head in my direction - and smiled. "No, Kuririn, not yet. I can still give you the Genki Dama."
"The what?"
The Genki Dama is probably the most powerful thing there is. Ki is gathered from as far as the user can manage to gather it, taking a little bit of the life force from every living thing it reaches and compressing it all into one immensely powerful sphere. On a planet like Earth, that adds up to a LOT of ki. Goku must've gathered the ki earlier in the fight but not had the chance to make the sphere. Most of the power had already escaped, but there was still some left. Goku told me to take his hand. He cried out in pain when I did because his arm was broken, but he gasped out, "Just hold it!" so I did.
Goku concentrated, and I saw his hand light up with a tremendous crackling energy that transferred to my hand. It felt amazing! I couldn't believe how much ki there was. Per Goku's instructions, I concentrated hard and cupped my palm, and I managed to form the Genki Dama into a sphere. It hovered just above my cupped hand. It was about as big as a globe, but very dense and so bright that it made my eyes hurt. Goku gasped painfully. He didn't have any strength left. He said that he was counting on me. I felt my lip stiffen at that. Goku was counting on me. There's a switch.
"Leave it to me," I said solemnly, and I leapt to a good vantage spot. I could see Vegeta and Gohan, still fighting. Gohan was giving it all he had, but he was doing badly. The Genki Dama was our final hope.
Vegeta was moving so quickly, I couldn't see how I'd ever get a bead on him. I don't think I've ever been so nervous in my life. I mean, I only had one shot. If I missed, that was it. It was all over for everybody. Let me tell you, as frustrating as it is being a bystander, it isn't very fun to be the person everyone is counting on, either. Still, I felt determined. After all that he'd done for me, Goku was finally counting on me to do one little thing. All I had to do was throw a ball. If I couldn't handle that-- well, damn me if I couldn't handle that.
As I tried to aim at Vegeta, I heard a voice in my head.
"Do not aim with your eyes," it said, "Feel the evil ki and throw."
"What?" I demanded. "Who said that?"
The voice identified itself as Kaiô, the Lord of Worlds. "In your hand," it said, "You hold the ki... and all of the hopes... of an entire planet."
Yeeeeesh. No pressure, right?
I swallowed hard and looked around. Goku was still alive, but still paralyzed. Vegeta began to throw a volley of blasts at Gohan - it was obvious that he wouldn't last long. I took one more look at the ball of ki in my hand.
The hopes of a planet...
I shut my eyes tightly and reached out with my sense of ki. I felt over an expanse of desert and felt it - I felt Vegeta's evil ki. Once I had a lock on that ki, I knew somehow that there was no way that I could miss. I prepared to throw it.
That was when Yajirobe just had to open his big mouth. He shouted something at me, and it got Vegeta's attention. Desperate, I just threw the Genki Dama at Vegeta as quickly as I could. It headed straight for him. Because he'd been alerted by Yajirobe's yelling, though, he jumped over it.
In that moment, I felt as if I had died and gone to hell. There aren't many feelings worse than having failed a whole planet. I might have killed myself. However, we were really, really lucky. With Vegeta out of the way, the ball headed straight for Gohan. Since Gohan didn't have an evil ki, it knocked into him, bounced off, and, miraculously, hit Vegeta.
It hit him with an explosion as bright as the sun that seemed to swallow everything. The whole sky turned dark, and the Genki Dama held Vegeta in an enormously huge sphere of furiously crackling energy. You couldn't see or hear anything but the Genki Dama. It crackled out in all directions, destroying most of the landscape that was still standing, and with one final burst of energy, sent Vegeta screaming into the sky.
Incidentally, the Genki Dama was the only blow I managed to land on Vegeta throughout the whole fight. Thank you.
You know, as it turned out the battle wasn't quite over, but I can't write any more right now. I got kind of upset writing this. I need to go talk to my wife. She'll probably tell me that I'm being ridiculous, and then maybe she'll give me one of those famous back massages. Mmm.
By the way, if you're the sort of person who reads these things one chapter at a time and you're in terrible suspense, I can assure you that Vegeta did not destroy the Earth that day. Sorry if I spoiled it for you.
--END OF CHAPTER FIFTEEN--
I felt as if all of my body had just gone numb as I saw Piccolo fall, unconscious, to the ground after only one hit from Nappa. I couldn't move; I was just that terrified. I watched helplessly as Nappa advanced on Gohan. Gohan looked so small and helpless, and even more terrified than me. Nappa kicked him - an enormous kick, with force like you wouldn't believe. I could hear it hit him. It would have torn Gohan apart but for the fact that he kind of rode the kick, since Nappa's foot was almost the size of his entire body. He was launched up into the air and Nappa hit him again, so hard that he crashed into a cliff that must have been a quarter of a mile away. What a terrible sight that was. Gohan hit the ground hard, and then - I could scarcely believe it - he actually got back up. Man, that kid was tough. Nappa showed no mercy, charging at Gohan again.
Time seemed to slow down for me in that moment. I was still paralyzed by fear. I wanted to wake up and have it all be a dream. I was so afraid to die. Then, though, I saw Nappa, the unstoppable powerhouse, charging at Gohan. Gohan looked defenseless. If I didn't do something, he would die. It felt like it was too late to save anything, but all the same, I couldn't just stand by and watch that happen. He was only a child... the child of Goku, I reminded myself. Now, I've never claimed to be brave. I have a bit more courage than, say, Yajirobe, but I'm really not a hero. Somehow, though, I found the courage and the strength right then to throw myself into Nappa's path. I kicked him as hard as I could, and then punched him - I slammed my forearm against his huge mass of muscle - while he was off-balance. It worked well enough. The blow sent him flying, and I tried to go after him to press the advantage, but Nappa really was a very good fighter, and he managed somehow to right himself and come back at me. I just barely had the speed to avoid being beaten to less than a pulp. I felt pretty grateful for the boost I'd gotten from the Choshinsui right about then. Still, I figured that that dodge bought me a few seconds at best before he killed me. I still had one attack left that I knew could hurt Nappa. I did a few flips to put some distance between us, and prepared myself for it. He was coming right at me, so I hoped - no, I prayed - that he wouldn't dodge it.
"Kienzan!" I shouted. Okay, so I didn't really have to shout it. I was in the moment.
To my astonishment, Nappa didn't even try to dodge the disc. I guess he thought that it would bounce off of him, or something. It would've taken his head straight off, except that Vegeta had the presence of mind to tell him to duck. Instead, it only cut his face and went on to demolish a cliff nearby. Damn. Nappa was extremely angry at being cut. He howled and hurled an enormous bolt of ki at me. I managed to fly upward and dodge it, but just the force of its explosion knocked the wind out of me. He would've finished me off except that that's when Piccolo managed to regain consciousness and blast him. I fell forty-five feet to the ground. I was pretty helpless after that. The impact hurt very badly, but it didn't knock me out. I was in so much pain that I couldn't even sense ki anymore. I could barely see.
There was a break in the fighting then. Piccolo and the Saiyans were talking excitedly about something, but I didn't catch a word of it. I was putting all of my concentration into trying to stand up. I managed to roll over onto my stomach, and the amount of agony that that caused me let me know that I wasn't standing any time soon. I kept trying, though. I had to get up, I kept saying to myself, I had to fight... What was I worth if I couldn't fight any more? Vegeta and Nappa chattered on. I managed to pick the word "Kakarrotto" in their conversation. Was Goku coming? I could hardly allow myself to hope for that much. But then I heard Vegeta say something of great interest. I think that I was the only one that heard him. He said,
"So, it's true that there are balls on Namek that can grant wishes... I never believed the legend, but it's true!"
I didn't know why just then, but what he'd said felt very important. I made sure to commit it to memory. My sight returned, and I could see them facing off again. Nappa was going to charge yet again, and this time meant disaster. This time, there was no one left to prevent the worst from happening. I was overcome by the feeling that something indescribably horrible was about to happen, and I felt so much frustration at the fact that I couldn't move... I couldn't do anything to stop it from happening. Nappa charged one more time, and I was surprised that Gohan himself managed to oppose him and kick him into a cliff. More angry than ever, Nappa reared back and prepared to launch another blast like the one that had taken me out of the fight. Gohan seemed too frightened even to dodge it. It seemed like my fear was finally happening - Gohan was going to be killed. As the blast shot toward him, though, I saw someone running desperately into its path. I couldn't believe my eyes; it was Piccolo. He set himself in front of it and took the full brunt of the whole blast. It unleashed all of its terrible energy into him, but he stood firm somehow. When the smoke cleared, Piccolo stood there still, shielding Gohan. He trembled and fell to the ground.
I watched in horror and confusion as Gohan ran in tears to Piccolo's side. I could not believe what I had seen, that Piccolo had sacrificed himself to save him. I had no idea how attached Piccolo had become to Gohan in the time that they trained together. Something in Piccolo had changed, and yet... When I think about it, he probably had it in him all along. No one had ever given Piccolo, the Demon King, The Great Incorruptable Evil, half of a chance. I certainly hadn't. It took the innocence of a child to break through that wall, and I suppose the desperate circumstances didn't hurt. I don't know if this is going to sound sappy or clichèd, but I think that everyone can be good if given the chance. And everyone deserves a chance. I watched Piccolo die with great regret, and a certain amount of shame. I felt badly for mistrusting him. Piccolo had made some mistakes, but it seemed to me that he was more noble than I'd ever be.
Gohan stayed by Piccolo while he was dying. He cried a lot and begged him not to die. Watching him, I realized something I hadn't before - he'd actually come to love Piccolo. Something changed in Gohan's face after Piccolo died. He stood up and screamed in rage and agony, and I felt his ki surge. It went up way, way beyond what I'd thought Gohan's maximum was. It wasn't a normal strong ki, either - to me, this ki felt brief and inconstant, but most of all it felt painful. It hurt. Gohan is - well, I don't know what you'd call it. When he gets mad - and I don't mean peeved, I mean real rage here - it gives him tremendous strength. Gohan isn't a dangerous person. Normally, he wouldn't hurt a fly. It isn't easy to get him that mad. The only thing that seems to do it is hurting someone that he loves. When that happens, though... Well, you don't want to be in his way. Gohan concentrated his rage into a Masenko - the same Kamehameha-like blast that Piccolo had used so much at the 23rd tournament - and directed it, and all of his pain and anger, at Nappa. Gohan's Masenko tore through the air toward Nappa like a rocket, like some kind of unstoppable force. Nappa stood firm, raised an arm, and deflected the blast.
I couldn't believe it. He'd deflected the blast. All that for nothing. That one blast was all that poor Gohan had in him. I felt his ki waver - his power level must have been below 1. He didn't have enough strength left to walk. And me, I still couldn't move.
"So this is it," I thought to myself, "It's all over." I'd thought the same before on that day, but this time it really felt like it. The Saiyans were just too strong. All of our preparation, all of our hard work and sacrifice, everything we'd done, and we couldn't even manage to defeat Nappa. That Masenko had been the Earth's last shot, and Nappa deflected it. Gohan sank to his knees. Nappa slowly approached Gohan, each step sounding like a minature earthquake, and raised his boot above Gohan's head. Since I didn't want Gohan's skeleton being crushed to be my final mortal sight, I shut my eyes as tightly as I could and waited for the end to come.
...
Remember when I mentioned Goku's Nick of Time Syndrome? You do? Good. Guess what happened next.
When I opened my eyes again, I found to my great surprise that Gohan was not brutally crushed against the ground, but on a Kinto'un several yards away. I felt something approaching from the sky. Strong ki. Big, weighted boots. Orange gi. Spiky black hair. Yes, that would be Goku. I was so happy that it hurt. I was trembling all over.
The Saiyans were markedly unimpressed with Goku. He seemed very quiet and solemn... He already had an order of things he wanted to do in his mind, I think. First, he looked around at the results of our struggle. He saw the dead bodies of Piccolo, Yamucha and Tenshinhan. I could feel his ki and his anger rising with each. Still, he remained very calm and quiet as he proceeded to come to where I was lying. Nappa tried to attack him, but I doubt he even noticed. That wasn't in his plan.
"I'm sorry I'm late," was the first thing he said to me. Hoo boy. He handed me a senzu bean, split in half. It was the last one, he said. At first, I didn't want to take it. I felt so worthless. I felt like I didn't deserve to be healed, as if it had been up to me all along and I'd failed somehow by letting so many die. Goku wouldn't be denied, though, so I swallowed my half a senzu. It didn't restore all of my energy, but it did well enough. I stood up, feeling kind of giddy. To be honest, I still felt pretty badly about our chances. Goku seemed strong, but the Saiyans were just so powerful... All the same, though, I couldn't stop myself from hoping. After all, Goku was back, and he always seemed to bring all the hope with him.
Goku complimented me on how much stronger I'd gotten and how well I had done holding out. I didn't want to accept those compliments. I didn't feel very good about myself. I felt weak and stupid and cowardly and worthless, and like I was no good to anyone. Yamucha, my friend, was dead. The brave Tenshinhan, and his strange friend Chaozu who was even braver in his own way, were both dead. Even Piccolo - we'd never known what we had in Piccolo, I thought - was dead, and with him Kami-sama and the dragon balls. None of our friends could ever be brought back to life. I said this, and Goku, Gohan(who'd eaten the other half of the senzu) and I stood there and just commiserated silently for a moment. It was a tough feeling, of a hurt that would only get deeper as time wore on and circumstances grew less dire. It seemed like the only thing left was retribution.
"Let's avenge them," I said, clenching my fists, "The three of us. Goku, you trained under Kaiô-sama, the lord of the worlds, right?"
"Yeah," said Goku, "But you two stay clear. I'll fight them alone."
It took me a moment to process what I'd just heard. He... would fight the Saiyans, just the weaker of whom had managed with ease to defeat all of the Earth's best... by himself? No way. My first reaction was to get angry. Goku was pulling one of his dumb stunts again. There was no way in hell that I was going to let Goku go get himself killed like all the others. Gohan and I began telling him that he was insane and trying to talk him out of it. Then, however, something happened to me. Gohan kept trying desperately to talk his daddy out of risking his life, but I found myself unable to say anything at all. Goku stood there, towering above me, staring at the Saiyans, and I suddenly noticed how imposing he seemed. Just the sight of him standing there, facing the Saiyans, with a vein bulging out upon his forehead, made me feel kind of awed. I had never seen him so angry. I could feel his ki, too, boiling inside him. His rage was easily the equal of mine when Yamucha had died or Gohan's when Piccolo had died, but more concentrated and much more deadly. I actually became a little scared of him. I could see that he wanted us to not try to help him because he was afraid we'd be hurt, by him almost as likely as the Saiyans. And Goku himself was a Saiyan, wasn't he? I think that I just remembered that then.
Before I even realized it, I was taking Gohan's arm rather roughly and saying to him, "Goku's right. We need to stay back." Gohan tried to run after Goku as he walked toward the Saiyans, but I held him back. There was no place for us in that battle anymore.
Goku and Nappa faced off. Nappa spouted some juvenile taunts, but Goku didn't flinch. He said something threatening and started to power up. I couldn't believe the ki! As he powered up, the ground shook, and all around him little bits of debris started to float upward. I heard Vegeta read his power level as over 8000 on his scouter. Hearing this seemed to infuriate Nappa, and he charged at Goku, who still didn't flinch. The instant before he hit, Goku kicked him in the back. I didn't even see how he got behind him.
Nappa was livid. "You... I'll kill you!" he shouted.
"You talk a lot," said Goku, "but you don't back it up."
Nappa screamed, powered up, and ran at Goku again, striking at him with an amazing rush of blows. He was suddenly fighting with a ferocity that he'd never had when fighting us. Goku only stood there and dodged everything without effort, not even moving much. Nappa put a lot of strength into one last punch, and by the time he'd thrown it, Goku was standing a good ten yards away in the opposite direction. It was insane. Goku danced circles around Nappa just to piss him off. At one point, he even stood on the Saiyan's head. It didn't matter what he did, Nappa couldn't lay a finger on him. I guess it might have been gratifying to watch Goku make a fool out of the monster that had made our existence hell for the past several hours. That's certainly what Goku was going for. But I only felt numb and a little faint. Soon, Goku tired of that and punched him hard in the stomach. He ducked another attack from Nappa and hit him again. Nappa threw another one of those blasts at him, exactly like the ones that had injured me and killed Piccolo. Goku didn't even dodge it - he blew it away with just ki alone. Goku rushed up to Nappa and hit him a few more times, finally hitting him so hard that he was driven straight into - and nearly halfway through - a nearby cliff. Nappa got right back up, bleeding profusely and howling with a terrifying voice in utter fury and frustration.
I was smiling, suddenly. I had given up so long ago, but now it began to occur to me that we could still have a chance. I was still terrified, but I was kind of giddy at the same time. Gohan and I cheered Goku on in shaky, nervous voices.
Vegeta shook Nappa out of his beastly howl with a shout of "Calm down, you idiot! He'll beat you if you lose your head!" To our surprise, Nappa actually did calm down. His confidence seemed to return, and his ki felt a lot more powerful than before. He used an attack on Goku that made a ridiculously large explosion that knocked me flat on my back, even as far away as I was standing. That attack felt very familiar - you know, I think that he used the same attack that reduced East Capital City to a field of rubble on Goku. Goku dodged it by flying upward, and I lost track of the battle after that. Hey, I have a very good memory, but I'm not a video camera. The next thing I recall is Vegeta ordering Nappa to retreat - he'd handle this himself. I wasn't sure whether to be glad that Nappa was finally defeated, or scared as hell. When Nappa got his second wind, Goku was having some trouble, and I'd already figured out that Vegeta was much stronger than Nappa. I wondered whether even Goku could handle this mysterious Saiyan called Vegeta.
Nappa started to retreat as ordered, but he suddenly shifted direction and gained a rush of speed. It didn't take me long to realize it - he was heading straight toward Gohan and I with amazing speed. I don't know why I didn't get out of the way. I guess I kind of froze. The only thing I thought to do was get in front of Gohan. I saw Goku flying after Nappa, but there was no way he'd catch up to him in time. However, that's when Goku pulled out his big trick. Suddenly, I felt his ki just explode, and he was between Nappa and us before I even saw it. He landed holding Nappa in the air with one hand, paralyzed and helpless. He tossed him to the ground. He landed next to Vegeta.
"He isn't fighting any more," Goku said. "Just take him and leave!"
Vegeta didn't say anything, he just stood there and seemed to ponder what had just happened. I took the chance to ask Goku what in the universe he'd just done. I got a somewhat rushed explanation of the Kaiôken. Using it, you control all of the ki in your body at once and amplify it. If you do it correctly, you recieve an amazing increase in power and speed, as if you're somehow stronger than yourself. However, you have to be extremely careful when you're doing it, or you can overload your body and kill yourself. Interestingly, Kaiôken is a rare case of a technique whose name you actually HAVE to say when doing it. For some odd reason, it's impossible to perform a Kaiôken without shouting, "Kaiôken!" It's a very powerful technique, but I never bothered to learn it. I could have. I'm pretty sure that Yamucha knows it. There's just some instinct in me that makes me shy away from anything that you can kill yourself by using. The Kikouhou, the Kaiôken... I wouldn't use them under any circumstances. Goku, Tenshinhan, and Vegeta never seemed to have that failing. I feel a little guilty about that. If I had learned the Kaiôken, and really worked on it... It is so powerful, I might actually have been a little bit of good against Cell or Buu. Ahh, I guess that's taking it a little far. Oh well, it doesn't do any good to have regrets, does it?
Back on the point, Nappa laid there shivering on the ground, helpless and in very obvious pain. He reached a hand feebly out to his partner.
"Vegeta," I heard him croak desperately... "please... please help me..."
Vegeta stared at him uncomfortably for a moment, and then hesitantly took his fallen comrade's hand. He grinned terribly, and then tossed Nappa high into the air. Vegeta powered up, causing a bright blue ki flare to form around him, and sent an enormous blast from his entire body at Nappa. It reduced him to dust.
Man, oh man. I just... There's nothing lower than that. I admit that I wasn't sad to see Nappa go, but I couldn't imagine that anyone would be such a monster as to just kill their own partner (I once asked Vegeta whether he had any regrets about Nappa. He just gave me a look of total contempt and said, "Since when do YOU care?" For some reason, I felt like I deserved that). Also, the sheer amount of power of Vegeta's blast was so much. Could anyone really be that powerful? Of course, I hadn't seen anything yet. Sorry If I sound like a broken record on that point, but I'm trying to convey to you some kind of remote grasp of the powers I've felt, and it's just impossible. No words can describe it. By the time I get to Buu, I guarantee you that you won't want to think about it. Lord, I know that I don't. The amount of power possessed by the super saiyans and by some of the enemies we've fought is daunting. For heaven's sake, I am six million times as strong as the average person, at least! I'm not trying to brag or anything, that's just fact. And to them, do you know what I am? A weakling! Less than an ant! It's insane!
...
I'm so sorry. That was just a small portion of that rant. It's stupid and childish, and I promised myself I wouldn't get into it here. I could edit it out, but I'm afraid that if I did, it would come back later even worse, so I'm just going to leave it there and go on. I'm sorry. I'm not normally like that. I'm not resentful.
Where was I? Right, Vegeta killed Nappa. Having seen that, Goku got very nervous. He floated with Gohan and I - we'd all flown way back to avoid the blast that killed Nappa - and we looked at the whole battlefield. A lot of the landscape was destroyed. All of the dead bodies were still lying where they'd fallen. Looking at them, I remembered what Vegeta had said. I'd been thinking about it for a while, actually. If Vegeta knew what he was talking about, then there were more dragon balls. If that was true - very big if - our friends might still be able to be brought back...
Goku told Gohan and I to go back to the Kame House. As strong as Vegeta was, he didn't want us to be anywhere near the fighting. I didn't argue with him - I realized that Goku would only be hindered by having to worry about us getting hurt. Gohan wasn't happy about it, but he agreed too. I wanted to say something about my dragon ball theory, but I didn't want them to have false hope. To hell with it, I figured, I'd say it anyway. I decided not to actually tell what I had in mind yet, but just to tell Goku to fight somewhere else so that our friends' bodies wouldn't be mangled if they were brought back to life. He was a little confused, but he agreed to that. We said our goodbyes before leaving Goku, trying our best to be confident about the whole thing. I clasped his hand and told him not to die. "No way," he said. "Don't die" had become a kind of phrase that we used. As strange as it seemed, for us those simple little words conveyed, "Please, please don't get hurt, because I love you and it will hurt me so terribly if you do" without actually saying it, which would feel really weird.
Goku said a few more things to his son, and then he and Vegeta flew off to fight, leaving Gohan and I behind and feeling very worried. For a minute or so we just floated there.
"K... Kuririn-san," said Gohan, looking up at me with wide eyes, "I'm scared. I don't know if daddy can beat him... Do you think he can?"
"Gohan," I said, "If anybody can do it, it's your dad." I hoped that it sounded comforting. Gohan was mature for his age, but he was only a child. I think one of the things that I was angriest of all about toward the saiyans was that they'd taken Gohan's childhood from him. I hated to see him suffering. "Well, come on," I told him, "We should go back to the Kame House, like Goku said."
So, we took off and started flying in that general direction. We didn't fly as fast as we could have out of worry, I think. We kept feeling strange kis... way too large, much larger than anything we'd felt before. Sometimes it felt like the Saiyan, other times it felt like Goku. Occasionally, we would hear some kind of blast from far away, and Gohan would always stop and turn around, and I'd grab at him to get him going again. However, when we were almost there, I turned back and saw something bright in the sky, like a second sun. Right after that, I felt some enormous ki flare up. It felt like the Saiyan, but it was too powerful. I've never been great with power level estimates, but I'd put that power at somewhere around 150,000. Gohan felt it, too. We both realized that it was the Saiyan. Suddenly, Gohan looked determined.
"I'm going back," he said.
"What? Are you out of your mind?" Me, of course.
"My daddy's in trouble! He... he could die!"
I felt in shock. I knew that there was absolutely nothing I could do to stop him from going back. What a brave kid. He knew then that he didn't have the strength to do anything against Vegeta, but he was going back all the same. He flew off back in the direction we'd came in. I fretted for a moment, but pretty soon I was flying after him. Hell, I had to admit that I couldn't just stay back and let whatever happened happen, either. It was obvious pretty soon that we were right to go back. Before we got there, I could feel Goku's ki diminishing rapidly - when that happens, someone is near death. I guess we exhibited a bit of Nick of Time Syndrome ourselves - by the time we got there, Goku was moments away from being killed. We arrived in the desert that Vegeta and Goku had picked to fight in, and we saw a giant ape in Saiyan armor crushing Goku to death in his hands.
--an ape! A giant ape! Things were not good. I cursed myself for forgetting about the Saiyan transformation. I'd figured that since the moon had been destroyed again, we didn't have to worry about it. Apparently, though, Vegeta knew how to make a temporary moon for his purposes. I had to take charge and be the leader and do it fast, or we were all dead. I shouted to Gohan to get down and hide, and then we ran toward the giant ape Vegeta as quickly as we could without being detected. Strangely enough, we ran into Yajirobe right then. I didn't really care, though. I knew that the giant ape was very powerful, so unless Vegeta turned back to normal we had no chance at all. Once again, I found myself down to the Kienzan. I remembered what Yamucha had said about those things - Goku had always changed back when his tail was cut off. I told Gohan and Yajirobe to distract him and I prepared a Kienzan. My nerves were shot. I could feel Goku's life slipping away.
Vegeta saw Gohan and taunted him. "Oh, look, Kakarotto," he said cheerfully, "Your little son has come to watch you die! Well, little fella, how'd you like to hear your daddy's spine snap?" Or something disgusting like that.
I threw a Kienzan at his tail, and he jumped over it. It went on to destroy a few more cliffs. You know, if the landscape had been our opponent, I'd have been doing pretty well. Vegeta laughed and loudly proclaimed that he'd been waiting for my move. He held Goku in front of us between his massive hands and began to grind them together. I trembled at the sight. It was one of the most terrible moments of my life. Goku was dying in front of me, and I couldn't do anything. The only thing I had that would even make Vegeta flinch was Kienzan, and another one of those seemed like a waste of energy since he could dodge them so easily. I was about to try one anyway when Vegeta suddenly stopped in shock. To my bewildernment, I saw Vegeta's tail cut off and falling to the ground... and Yajirobe sailing through the air with his katana extended. As soon as he landed, he ran like hell. You know, I've got to hand it to Yajirobe, that was his moment. He deserves a lot more credit than he gets for that - if not for him, we'd all be dead now. Actually, he's fond of sticking that at random into conversation - "Ya know, if it weren't for me, we'd all be dead now."
With his tail gone, Vegeta returned to normal, making him drop Goku, who looked even worse than I'd suspected. I think there were hardly any bones in his body that WEREN'T broken. Vegeta was extremely angry, to say the least. Things looked pretty bad. Even back to normal and weakened besides, Vegeta was much stronger than Gohan and I. Vegeta declared that Gohan would die first and he landed next to him and began beating him up. I flew to his aid, but it was hopeless. With one kick Vegeta sent me ricocheting off of three cliffs. I fractured my skull and dislocated my left arm at the shoulder. I coughed up a lot of blood.
Unbothered by me, Vegeta returned to mercilessly beating Gohan. He threw him next to Goku, who was, amazingly, still conscious. As I fought my way painfully to a position that was more or less upright, I heard Goku say to him, "Gohan... please, just hold him off... I know you can do that. Hold him off, and Kuririn will finish him."
Wait, did he say that I would finish him?
"So this is it," I thought again, "It's all over."
Vegeta started kicking Goku around just out of spite. Goku was totally paralyzed, and he couldn't do a thing. I guess that seeing that was enough to set Gohan's rage off again, because he suddenly seemed to have the strength to exchange some blows with Vegeta, taking him away from Goku.
"Ku--Kuririn!" I heard Goku cry. He could barely speak, it sounded so strained. "Kuririn, please come--!"
I didn't see what good it could do, but I managed to limp over to him.
"Goku," I said, "It's hopeless."
He turned to me - well, really more of rolled his head in my direction - and smiled. "No, Kuririn, not yet. I can still give you the Genki Dama."
"The what?"
The Genki Dama is probably the most powerful thing there is. Ki is gathered from as far as the user can manage to gather it, taking a little bit of the life force from every living thing it reaches and compressing it all into one immensely powerful sphere. On a planet like Earth, that adds up to a LOT of ki. Goku must've gathered the ki earlier in the fight but not had the chance to make the sphere. Most of the power had already escaped, but there was still some left. Goku told me to take his hand. He cried out in pain when I did because his arm was broken, but he gasped out, "Just hold it!" so I did.
Goku concentrated, and I saw his hand light up with a tremendous crackling energy that transferred to my hand. It felt amazing! I couldn't believe how much ki there was. Per Goku's instructions, I concentrated hard and cupped my palm, and I managed to form the Genki Dama into a sphere. It hovered just above my cupped hand. It was about as big as a globe, but very dense and so bright that it made my eyes hurt. Goku gasped painfully. He didn't have any strength left. He said that he was counting on me. I felt my lip stiffen at that. Goku was counting on me. There's a switch.
"Leave it to me," I said solemnly, and I leapt to a good vantage spot. I could see Vegeta and Gohan, still fighting. Gohan was giving it all he had, but he was doing badly. The Genki Dama was our final hope.
Vegeta was moving so quickly, I couldn't see how I'd ever get a bead on him. I don't think I've ever been so nervous in my life. I mean, I only had one shot. If I missed, that was it. It was all over for everybody. Let me tell you, as frustrating as it is being a bystander, it isn't very fun to be the person everyone is counting on, either. Still, I felt determined. After all that he'd done for me, Goku was finally counting on me to do one little thing. All I had to do was throw a ball. If I couldn't handle that-- well, damn me if I couldn't handle that.
As I tried to aim at Vegeta, I heard a voice in my head.
"Do not aim with your eyes," it said, "Feel the evil ki and throw."
"What?" I demanded. "Who said that?"
The voice identified itself as Kaiô, the Lord of Worlds. "In your hand," it said, "You hold the ki... and all of the hopes... of an entire planet."
Yeeeeesh. No pressure, right?
I swallowed hard and looked around. Goku was still alive, but still paralyzed. Vegeta began to throw a volley of blasts at Gohan - it was obvious that he wouldn't last long. I took one more look at the ball of ki in my hand.
The hopes of a planet...
I shut my eyes tightly and reached out with my sense of ki. I felt over an expanse of desert and felt it - I felt Vegeta's evil ki. Once I had a lock on that ki, I knew somehow that there was no way that I could miss. I prepared to throw it.
That was when Yajirobe just had to open his big mouth. He shouted something at me, and it got Vegeta's attention. Desperate, I just threw the Genki Dama at Vegeta as quickly as I could. It headed straight for him. Because he'd been alerted by Yajirobe's yelling, though, he jumped over it.
In that moment, I felt as if I had died and gone to hell. There aren't many feelings worse than having failed a whole planet. I might have killed myself. However, we were really, really lucky. With Vegeta out of the way, the ball headed straight for Gohan. Since Gohan didn't have an evil ki, it knocked into him, bounced off, and, miraculously, hit Vegeta.
It hit him with an explosion as bright as the sun that seemed to swallow everything. The whole sky turned dark, and the Genki Dama held Vegeta in an enormously huge sphere of furiously crackling energy. You couldn't see or hear anything but the Genki Dama. It crackled out in all directions, destroying most of the landscape that was still standing, and with one final burst of energy, sent Vegeta screaming into the sky.
Incidentally, the Genki Dama was the only blow I managed to land on Vegeta throughout the whole fight. Thank you.
You know, as it turned out the battle wasn't quite over, but I can't write any more right now. I got kind of upset writing this. I need to go talk to my wife. She'll probably tell me that I'm being ridiculous, and then maybe she'll give me one of those famous back massages. Mmm.
By the way, if you're the sort of person who reads these things one chapter at a time and you're in terrible suspense, I can assure you that Vegeta did not destroy the Earth that day. Sorry if I spoiled it for you.
--END OF CHAPTER FIFTEEN--