Bulma had moved Vegeta a bit back from the battle and was now cradling the unconcious Prince in her arms, without even realizing she was doing it. She couldn't see a thing of the battle above her beyond rapid and random flashes of light and streaks zipping about wildly. "Oh... Goku, we could use you here..."
"We... ugh... don't n-need... Kak...kar..rot..to." the Prince rasped slowly and painfully. His eyes fluttered open slowly for a moment and then closed again as he slipped back into unconciousness.
"Oh... Vegeta." Bulma said worriedly gazing down at him. "Well, at least I know your brain wasn't damnaged. Still as stubborn as ever."
"You can't win!" Cooler called out as he slammed a fist into each of his opponents' stomachs doubling them over. "I'm going to enjoy killing you slowly, and then the rest of your pathetic race." the tyrant said backhanding the king away from him. Turning to Pug he slammed his knee into the alien's chest and then smashed his elbow into his back driving him down into the ground. The warrior didn't move to get back up.
Cooler turned as he heard a yell and saw the Sai-jin King down on the ground, his aura pulsing and swirling around him, the planet shaking beneath his feet. "What... he's powering up?" Cooler cried in shock. "But... that's not in the records!" The King's arms and chest began to slowly expand, his muscles growing to contain the power he was building up. A vein stood out along his neck pulsing rapidly. And then, with one last yell the king threw his head and arms back.
His purple aura flared out for a moment and then shrank back down to nomral, thick and wild around him as he relaxed. "Your brother and I both knew the other was holding back power." Vegeta called up as he cracked his neck. "Neither of us knew exactly how much the other had. My records stood at 10 million and his at 12. As we saw through the battle on Namek his true full power was just over 17 million. My full power is just over 15.5 million! Haa!" With a cry he launched toward the Changeling, his aura trailing behind him.
The Changeling barely even saw the Sai-jin move as he charged him. His eyes snapped wide as the King's fist smashed into his stomach doubling him over for a change. The Sai-jin royal didn't give the other a chance to think and followed the punch up with a knee to the head, an open fist to the chest, a kick to the back, and then he grabbed his tail and dove downward smashing the Changeling into the ground before floating back up into the air and gathering purple energy in each palm.
It only took a moment to gather the power he needed and then he thrust his arms down. His voice rang out as the purple energy surged downward. "Galic Gun!" The energy reached the point where the tyrant was embedded in the rock in a matter of seconds and then exploded savagely. The entire planet shook as dust and rock was flying high into the air surrounding him. The king panted lightly as he relaxed a little, his muscles shrinking slightly. He'd expended a bit more energy in that assault than he'd intended... hopefully Cooler was feeling the effects more than him.
When all the dust and debris finally settled he saw only one of Cooler's hands sticking out from the settled rubble. Suddenly the Changeling let out a roar of anger and the rocks around him exploded violentely and the tyrant leapt to his feet. He looked up and glared at the Sai-jin king. "I underestimated you." he growled slowly. "I will not make the same mistake twice. You just missed your one and only chance at defeating me!"
With that he let out a cry as his aura flared up. /Rotten Sai-jin's reduced my power quite a bit! At this level... maxing out what I have left will only be around 75 of what my true maximum is! No matter. 75 of my current maximum should be enough to handle this pest./
The King stared down in shock as he tried to gather his energy again for the battle and recover from using so much in a single attack like that. It was something he knew could cause problems but he wanted to try and bring Cooler down quickly not knowing the full extent of the Changeling's power. Now that Cooler was powering up again he realized it may have been a very bad move indeed. The tyrant's arms bulged with the power flowing through him and a moment later he finished and turned his solid red eyes back up to the Sai-jin King. "Now, are you ready!" he cried up before launching up once more.
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Raditz furrowed his brow inside his regen tank. Something felt... odd. He couldn't place his finger on what it was though. He had this strange... sensation. It felt like there was a pulse inside his head. It wasn't painful or even distracting, just... there. No, not just a pulse, several. He furrowed his brow further as he focused on them and they began to grow in clarity, shifting and changing. Some large and some small. /What... is this/ he wondered. /Wait... could this... I'm sensing the powers on the planet/
As realization dawned on him he couldn't help but grin. The one skill he'd been having trouble picking up was finally his. After the excitement faded a little he focused on what he felt. A lot of powers were out there but most didn't feel too powerful, not that he really knew the difference beyond comparing it to his own energy. And then a strong force seemed to slam into his brain. Not a painful hit but a strong and overwhelming presence. It took a moment for him to process it and realize it wasn't one but three powers.
/Three of them... a lot stronger than I am... that has to be where the king is... what the hell? This doesn't make sense... The three powers are in the same range... Cooler isn't that strong... and where's the Prince/ He frowned as he suddenly felt the lower power drop down drastically and he lost track of it. He wasn't sure if it was just too low for his new ablity to pick up or if it had actually vanished... he just knew he didn't like it. /I have to help the King/
Suddenly his regen tank began to beep as it started draining. Outside the tank he could hear voices picking up now. "What the hell? Raditz's tank is draining!"
"Is it a malfunction?"
"No, he's reading stable... but he should need at least another hour!"
A second later the tank was empty and opening. Raditz climbed out and quickly donned the fresh armor that had been set out for him and reached for his scouter out of habit. Before his hand even grasped it, however, he caught himself and smirked. "Heh, don't need that junk now." he said grinning as he grabbed a basic communicater instead and walked from the room. It only took a moment to get outside again and once there he could see the battle in the distance as well as feel it.
As he'd exited the palace, the ground had shook not once but twice, and with both times the powers he felt had shifted. First the one went up and then both went down. Now the weaker one was going up again. Shaking his head he lifted into the air and shot off for the battle. As he neared he heard what sounded like a distorted version of Cooler's voice. Then he spied the oddly formed Changeling surging into the air. "What the hell?" he wondered, realizing that his power was greater than that of the King's.
He felt something below him and glanced down to find Bulma and the Prince. He descended quickly. "What that hell happened?"
Bulma turned and looked at him. "Oh, Raditz... Cooler... I don't know... but it doesn't look good."
The Sai-jin turned his head skyward again as the battle between Cooler and the King resumed. Only, now, it didn't look like much of a battle. The Changeling was having little trouble landing blows, the King couldn't even see him move now, and Vegeta was unable to block. Not that he could see either of them moving, they were both well beyond his ability to follow, but he could feel them now. "That's an understatment." he said to Bulma softly. He then heard a low groan coming from the Prince.
The Sai-jin looked down as the younger royal's eyes opened again and he moved from Bulma's arms into a self sustained sitting position. "My head... ugh... my everything hurts... What hit... COOLER!" he cried looking up. Suddenly his eyes widened. "No way... that... that's impossible!" he stammered feeling Cooler's power. "How... how do we beat that?"
Raditz frowned and looked down at his right hand. "I... might have a way for us to win." he said after a moment.
Vegeta looked over to him seeing the Sai-jin for the first time. "What are you talking about?"
"A False Moon." Raditz said at last. "I haven't managed to do it right yet but... if I can then the King can transform. Even after the Moon Ball is destroyed he'll remain transformed, either until his tail is removed, he's knocked unconcious, or a span of 30 minutes has passed."
The Prince growled slighly. "If I still had my tail I could take Cooler as well. You..." he focused on the Sai-jin's power and then shook his head. "You wont be of much help though."
"No, I suppose not, but I doubt King Vegeta will need any help." Raditz said slowly. "Well, we wont know until I do it... let's just hope it works." He clenched his fist and began to gather the energy focusing intently on the formation of the ball. If it wasn't done just right the explosion wouldn't generate the right kind of light wave output and it'd be useless. "Prince Vegeta... I'm going to keep my eyes averted from the ball after it's formed, I can't control my Oozaru state. You'll need to destroy the False Moon after the King has transformed... if this works." The Prince merely nodded.
Raditz exhaled slowly as a spark of blue formed around his hand and then the energy took shape. "Well, here goes our... last chance." he said slowly before hurling the ball high into the sky, noticed only by the King who had noticed Raditz preparing it a moment ago and was currently looking for where Cooler had gone.
The Sai-jin leader grinned as he saw it and the source of it knowing exactly what it was. "Cooler!" he called, just before the Moon Ball was launched. "This is your end now."
Suddenly he felt a presence behind him. "Oh? Is it now?" Cooler asked smugly. "It seems like I have the upper hand."
"Not for long." the King replied watching the energy ball that was now above him and still climbing.
And then Raditz's voice called from the ground. "Moon Ball explode!"
Cooler's head shot up as the energy exploded savagely in the air. "What is this?" he cried floating back slowly. He turned his gaze down toward the ground and saw the Prince now back on his feet, a woman beside him, and a long haired Sai-jin on the ground in front of them. He didn't notice the Sai-jin King was staring at the light in the sky, or that his muscles were rippling and his eyes had gone pure white. Slowly his tail unfurled from around his waist and began to expand as hair grew over his body.
"It worked!" the Prince cried grinning as he felt his father's power growing.
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Earth:
Goku froze in the middle of charging a Kamehameha and looked up into the sky, the energy in his hands fading and his spar with Bardock, Gohan, Videl, and Piccolo temporarily forgotten. The Namek noticed the Sai-jin's sudden distraction and motioned to the others, all of them pausing and floating over to where he was. "What is it Goku?" Piccolo asked.
"Something..." he said. "I feel something... faint but growing slowly."
The powerful Namek glanced over to Bardock for a moment and they both looked up as well and tried to find what Goku had felt. "What?" Bardock wondered aloud after a moment. "That's... that's coming from around the area of Planet Vegeta!"
"Unreal!" Gohan cried, eyes going wide. The power had already passed all of theirs and was still growing. "What... what do you think it is?" he asked looking over to his grandfather.
"My best guess... It has to be King Vegeta transforming."
"You mean, into an Oozaru?" Piccolo asked.
Bardock nodded. "The King's record power is about 10 million, this... this feels close to 100 million."
"He's even stronger than all of us at max..." Goku said in awe. "And it's only an Oozaru..."
"But why?" Videl asked. "Why would he transform?"
"Something must be happening." Bardock said at last. "I can feel... there's a power on Vegeta higher than anything that should be there."
"Let's head back to the Embassy." Piccolo said turning in that direction. "We'll see if we can contact Planet Vegeta."
"Right." the others said in unison, turning and flying off for the Embassy.
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Planet Vegeta:
The ground shook as the now massive Sai-jin King landed, his large feet creating small craters as he hit the ground. The Prince thrust an arm up and a second later the False Moon exploded. Cooler looked at the sparks of light as they faded and then back at the Oozaru King. "This isn't possible!" he cried. "They simulated full moonlight!"
"Like I said, this is your end now!" the King roared, his loud and deep voice echoing off into the distance. Suddenly a chorus of cheers came from behind Radtiz, Bulma, and Vegeta and all turned to see the Sai-jin warriors from the palace and Saiya City gathered at the edge of the Training Grounds, come to watch the fight having cleared out the last of Cooler's men. The King turned his large head back around and locked his pure red eyes on Cooler. "Even at just under three quarters of my full power I'm still far more powerful than you. Say your prayers Changeling!"
The King oppened his mouth and began to gather energy to blast Cooler when the Changeling suddenly vanished. Vegeta blinked and looked around for some sign of the tyrant but couldn't see him anywhere. "I lost him." Raditz said, glancing around as well. "One second I could sense him and the next..."
"I don't get it." the Prince said looking off to the right. "How did he move so far so fast? Can he... dematerialize?" He shook his head. "Father! That way!" he called up pointing. "It seems he can dematerialize!"
The large Sai-jin King growled and turned to look the way his son was pointing. "Running wont save you Cooler!" he called walking off in that direction. On the ground Raditz had locked onto Cooler's power again and both he and the Prince could sense that it was, once again, going up. A moment later it stopped as Cooler reached his full power, more than four times below that of the Oozaru king.
Suddenly his power vanished again, moving across to the other side of the Training Grounds, and then off in another direction, and then another. "Damn it!" Raditz yelled. "He's jumping around at random!"
The Sai-jin King growled and tried to focus his mind. He'd not yet mastered the ablitiy to sense Ki and doing so as an Oozaru wouldn't be an easy task. Oozaru minds were primitive, geared toward straight out brute force more than thinking power, hence why most couldn't control their Oozaru forms without training, and some couldn't do it period. He felt something faint for a moment but then it was gone and he shook his head. With Cooler moving so fast he'd never get a lock on him.
"King Vegeta!" Raditz called up suddenly. "He's getting closer each time he moves! He's coming back in!"
The Oozaru nodded and kept looking about. Suddenly his eyes snapped open wide in pain as Cooler suddenly appeared for all to see and came down to the ground landing, arm held across his chest, energy sparking around his hand. A loud thump sounded a moment later as the King's tail hit the ground, no longer attatched to the king. All went silent as the Sai-jin King began to shrink. As he returned to normal size he fell over, passed out from the sudden and sharp pain of losing his tail.
The silence was broken a moment later by low mummurs from the gathered Sai-jins as Cooler stood. The tyrant held an arm out and pointed his palm at the prone King. A loud crack sounded a second later as Prince Vegeta slammed his foot into the side of Cooler's head. As with his last attack on the Changeling it did nothing. However, Cooler lowered his arm and turned to look at the Prince who now stood only a few feet away growling at him.
He took a step toward the Sai-jin who stepped back cautiously. However, Cooler made no other moves toward him. In fact, he seemed to freeze. The Changeling lifted his foot up and moved it back looking down at the ground to see what he'd stepped on. There, laying in the grass, was a small pendant with a yellow green gem. The chain attatched to it seemed to broken. Curious he bent down and picked it up.
Vegeta scowled as he watched the Changeling pick something up off the ground. He didn't know how he'd do it but he had to stop Cooler somehow... or at least stall him until his father came around again. And then, as his mind worked on finding a plan, he noticed what it was Cooler was looking at and his gloved hand reached up to his chest and found his pendant missing.
Cooler flipped it over and read the back of it wondering how it ended up in the middle of the battlefield. As he finished reading the inscription he noticed a small swtich on the side and brushed it which caused it to open up. His eyes widened in interest as he looked at the images inside and he started to chuckle softly. "Oh yes... yes, now I remember these things." he said at last. On the cover side was a picture of the King, a female Sai-jin that must have been his mate, and a young Prince Vegeta. The other side contained an image of the Prince and the woman he'd seen a moment ago.
He looked up again, over the Prince's shoulder, and saw her standing beside the long haired Sai-jin. "Ah, so, you've found a mate Vegeta." he said laughing again.
"Give that back Cooler!" Vegeta growled.
"Oh, I think not." the Changeling said closing his fist and crushing the pendant into little more than dust as he relaxed, letting his power drop some again. Vegeta's fists clenched tighter as the Sai-jin Prince growled again. Cooler's eyes moved once more back to Bulma. "I think... I'll save you and your father for last." he said after a moment. "Neither of you are a match for me now." He started walking foward. "I'll kill off the rest of you first, one by one."
"Over my dead body!" Vegeta cried charging in.
"In due time." Cooler replied before vanishing just as the Prince reached him.
Vegeta pulled to a stop and looked back in time to see Cooler appear only feet from Radtiz and Bulma. "I think... I'll start with Vegeta's mate." the Changeling said. Raditz moved between Cooler and Bulma quickly, holding his arms out to shield her. Cooler laughed. "You think you can stop me?" A loud crack sounded as Cooler backhanded Raditz away. The Sai-jin flew nearly twenty yards before hitting the ground and gouging out a trench for another ten, where he then passed out.
"Don't touch her!" Vegeta cried charging in toward Cooler again as the tyrant reached a hand out toward Bulma. The Changeling merely raised his other hand and slammed the back of it into Vegeta's face knocking him back and down. The Prince pulled himself up to his hands and knees and looked up to find Cooler holding Bulma up in the air by her neck, the woman kicking her feet at him and grasping at his hands to try and get free.
Off to the side his father had come to again and was getting up as well. As the King saw the scene before him he shot in at Cooler again. As with the Prince the Changeling barely even reacted simply lashing out with his tail and slamming it into the King's chest cracking his armor and knocking him back.
"Cooler!" Prince Vegeta growled as his fingers dug into the ground. As he glared across at Cooler his eyes caught a glimmer of light a few feet ahead of him, the remains of his pendant. Everything suddenly started flashing before his eyes. The accident that killed his mother, his defeat at the hands of Nappa, his inablity to defeat Pong, his failure in the fight against Frieza, seeing a third class Sai-jin surpass him, learning that Bardock and Gohan had done the same, all of it.
/I am the Prince of all Sai-jins and yet... I can't even.../ His fists clenched in the ground as he lowered his head, his eyes starting to burn. /What good am I? I can't even... protect my mate... my people.../ A tear dropped down followed by a second and a third. /I've... failed everyone... I don't... don't have the right to call myself the Prince of all Sai-jins./ His fists closed even tighter. He suddenly had the urge to beat himself up.
/How pathetic am I? Suprassed by Kakkarotto, Bardock, and that half-breed brat! Beaten by Cooler... I can't even... can't even stop him from destroying.../ Suddenly his head snapped up again, his pupils vanishing making his eyes pure white.