Chapter 23 – The Legendary Super Saiyans

Vegeta and Syn Shenron's battle was in danger of rocking the planet with every impact. Luckily, Vegeta had the sense to take the fight to the sky, high above the surface. A dull rumbling filled the ears of everyone on Earth, and they stared up at the lightning-filled sky in fear and amazement, wondering what was causing it.

Out of the corner of his eye, Goku saw his senzu bean lying on the ground nearby. With an effort that took much of his remaining strength, he turned himself onto his stomach. Using his left arm, the one that had not been shattered by Syn Shenron, he began to pull himself along the ground toward the senzu.

High above him, Vegeta ducked as Syn Shenron sailed over his head, fist outstretched. He shot his head back up, ramming the dragon's stomach, then flipped in midair and kicked him downward. He shot down after his opponent, who disappeared as soon as Vegeta reached him. Vegeta was blindsided; the dragon reappeared at his side and punched the side of his head. Vegeta growled and fired a series of ki blasts from his palm. Syn Shenron blocked most of them, but a particularly strong one hit his shoulder. Vegeta shot forward again with a flying kick to the chest. The dragon reeled, then grabbed Vegeta's foot and hurled him down into the ground.

A foot away from the senzu, Goku stretched out his hand to grab it. As Vegeta hit the ground with the force of an explosion, both of them were thrown in opposite directions.

"Damn!" grunted Goku as his eyes refocused on the senzu, which was now much farther away.

Pan and Rage Shenron heard and felt the peripheral effects of that battle, but ignored them. They were too intent on inflicting as much pain as possible on the other.

Pan managed a short uppercut to Rage Shenron's jaw, then spun around to kick the dragon's chest. She was diverted, however, by the dragon's hand, which slapped her foot away. Now facing the other direction, Pan was forced to take a hard kick to the back. She flew downward and hit the ground.

As Rage Shenron flew at her, she sprung back to her feet and fired a large ki ball that hit her opponent head-on. The dragon screamed with fury, threw her hands behind her head, and brought them back with a powerful beam flying from them.

Pan gasped and dodged the beam. Rage Shenron maneuvered her hands, and the beam flew straight back at her. Attempting to trick the dragon into hitting herself, Pan flew at her and dissapeared at the last second. But the dragon redirected the beam's course expertly, following Pan wherever she went.

Pan was running out of breath but was unable to stop. The beam was catching up with her.

Trunks and Nightros Shenron were not having an even battle. The dragon had quickly recovered from his shock at Trunks' transformation, and had now regained his edge.

Trunks was firing an endless volley of ki blasts at Nightros Shenron, who stood on the ground enveloped in a protective shield. The shield was slowly breaking, and Trunks increased the power in each blast. Just as it began to crack, the dragon let it explode outward, throwing Trunks off balance. The energy he had used up in his attack made him unable to dodge Nightros Shenron's punch to the face.

Trunks hit the ground, hard. He was bleeding heavily and moaning as he clutched his face. The dragon landed beside him. Syn Shenron formed a ki ball above his head and hurled it toward the ground as quickly as he could. Below him, Vegeta sprang to his feet and knocked it back up, where it flew past the dragon's head and into space.

"You won't destroy this planet that easily!" he yelled, flying back up to meet his opponent. Syn Shenron blocked Vegeta's strike, sending more shockwaves down to Earth. Goku gritted his teeth as he inched closer.

The dragon disappeared and reappeared behind Vegeta. However, he was shocked to discover that Vegeta had already spun around, and received a hard sweeping kick to the side. He growled with fury and shot toward Vegeta again. Vegeta jumped out of the way, but the dragon grabbed his leg and pulled him back with one hand while punching him with the other. He kept up a barrage of punches and kicks that kept Vegeta off-balance. Soon, though, he began to block most of them, and before long he had regained control and caught the dragon's arm, swung him around and tossed him higher into the air. Drawing his arm back, he formed a powerful ki ball and hurled it at the dragon. It made contact, and a loud explosion occurred.

When the smoke cleared, Syn Shenron was still floating in the air, bleeding in several places. He seemed ready to explode as well.

"THAT IS ENOUGH!" he screamed, and jabbed his finger downward.

Miles below, Goku looked up in fear. Syn Shenron had seen him! He made a desperate swipe for the senzu and managed to get hold of it.

At that moment, Syn Shenron released a beam of white energy that missed Goku by four feet. Goku looked, puzzled, at where it had hit, and realized that the dragon had not been aiming at him. The four pieces of Nova Shenron's body had been enveloped in a glowing white light. They seemed to come together into a ball of red energy, which flew up and into Syn Shenron's body. There was a flash.

Vegeta froze as he felt Syn Shenron's power level rise. There were now two Dragonballs in his chest: the one-star and the four-star. The dragon glared at Vegeta with hatred. "Now we'll see who the better fighter is!"

On the ground, Goku popped the senzu into his mouth. Almost immediately he felt the bones in his left arm reconnect, his legs regain their mobility, his wounds heal, and his power level return to normal. He stood up and watched Vegeta and Syn Shenron continue fighting, knowing he was powerless to help.

The dragon had disappeared. Vegeta fired several ki blasts into the air, and punched and kicked at wherever he might reappear. He flitted into view above Vegeta's head, and slammed both hands down onto it. Vegeta fell toward the ground; he flipped over at the last second, kicked at the ground and propelled himself back at the dragon. He punched with both hands, but Syn Shenron flew to the left. Vegeta followed him with one hand and shot a ki blast, which hit him in the chest. As the dragon caught his breath, he was astonished to discover the blasts Vegeta had fired earlier come back down to rain on his head. Cursing, he struggled to see where his enemy had gone. Vegeta dove back down and kicked him in the back of the head. As Syn Shenron fell toward the ground, Vegeta swooped down to meet him. Preparing to strike again, he was surprised to be hit point-blank by a shot fired from the dragon's mouth. Upside-down, the dragon flipped back over, kicking Vegeta downward.

Vegeta crashed into the ground a few feet away from Goku, who was thrown backward by the force of the impact. Syn Shenron landed with his knees on Vegeta's chest, laughing triumphantly.

"AHAHAHAHA!" he crowed, standing up with one foot on Vegeta's chest as he struggled to breath. "Now I know how you've been feeling!" His voice lowered to a menacing whisper as he pressed harder. "Powerful."

Vegeta opened his mouth in an audible yell as he pressed in the other direction. Slowly, Syn Shenron was being driven back. Then his smile widened, and he whispered, "Would you like me to push harder?" He forced his foot further into Vegeta, who ground his teeth, trying vainly to get back up.

Goku watched in horror. All the training he had been put through, and for what? He was helpless! Vegeta and the entire Earth were going to be destroyed, and all because he had been unable to get angry enough!

Syn Shenron suddenly turned his head in surprise to look at him. Goku couldn't figure out why, until he noticed that he had plowed away a considerable amount of Earth beneath his feet. He was standing in a large crater, with his hair long and golden, feeling more powerful than he ever had before: his full power. He looked up expectantly, though he knew that the moon would still be there. A scream from Vegeta set him off.

Raising one foot, he slammed it down again, propelling him out of the crater until he was level with Syn Shenron. The dragon stared.

"Son Goku! When did you recover your strength?"

Goku glared at him. "You're going to wish you'd thought about that before!" he yelled, throwing his head back and staring at the moon. "HAAAAAAAAAAA!"

If anyone had been able to see through the blinding light that surrounded Goku, they would have seen the beginnings of an Oozaru transformation. His eyes lost their pupils, bright red fur sprouted all over his body, and fangs began to grow from his mouth.

Just as he felt his body beginning to swell and his mind giving over to the primal rage inside him, something changed. The zeno waves from the moon had no tail gland to feed into, and could not fully complete the transformation. But his anger spurred the changes onward. His body seemed to be trying to turn Oozaru and Super Saiyan simultaneously. Instead of some terrible deformity, however, the two forms melded together seamlessly, somehow producing more power than Goku had even known existed in him.

His hair turned to its original black color and shortened; the pupils returned to his eyes, and the fur receded slightly. Lastly, like a cannon, he felt a furry red tail shoot out of him. The light around him faded, though there was still a bright golden aura. The transformation was complete.

Goku floated above the crater he had made, looking at himself. Syn Shenron gaped, his foot still on Vegeta, who also gaped. It was now raining heavily in addition to the thunder and lightning.

After a few silent moments, Goku looked up. He was still in control of his mind, though there was a strong sense of instinct in him as well. It guided him, and told him what he knew all along: he wanted to kill.

"Syn Shenron," he growled. "Now, see how you do facing two Super Saiyan 4's!"

"Kakarot!" snarled Vegeta. "What did I tell you--?" But Goku ignored him. Syn Shenron had already lifted his foot and converted his stare into an arrogant smile.

"We've already seen how I did against one, Son Goku," he said. "Should two be any more of a problem?"

"Let's find out," said Goku.

They stared at each other for a moment. Then, Syn Shenron shot off the ground, fist raised. Goku threw his torso backward, and the dragon sailed over him. Planting his hands on the ground, Goku flipped over and kicked the dragon in the back, sending him crashing into the ground. Goku dashed over to where he lay, and brought his knee down; but Syn Shenron caught his knee in both hands, and kicked him backward. Goku landed on his feet and skidded backward, but the dragon had seized his moment. He charged forward and punched as hard as he could. Goku barely got his hands up in time to block it. The dragon kicked; Goku brought his knees together and blocked it as well.

"You're out of limbs!" laughed Syn Shenron. "You can't block forever, Son Goku!"

"No," came Vegeta's voice from behind him. "He doesn't need to." Vegeta kicked Syn Shenron upside the head, and he skidded. Goku planted his feet on the ground and shot a powerful beam of ki from his entire arm, which hit the dragon straight in the chest and shook the Earth.

Vegeta flew forward and kicked Syn Shenron upward; Goku flew up to the spot and kicked him back down. The two of them rushed to him, stopped him from falling, and punched him in the face at the same time. He crashed to the ground with tremendous force.

Syn Shenron lay on the ground, with the two Saiyans hovering over him, their arms folded.

"Do you see, Syn Shenron?" said Goku stonily. "You're stronger than either of us alone! But together, nothing can match our power!"