Android 21 lunged at the clumped together mass of Saiyan warriors standing in her way with a shimmering Ki blade in hand. She swiped it with a wild swing, forcing both Goku and Vegeta to brace themselves and dive backward as the slash not only threatened to behead them outright but also created a resonating crescent projectile slicing far beyond the blade's actual range.
Goku flipped backward while Vegeta fumbled, picking himself up with a forward scramble as the two rushed toward their opponent together. With a proud roar, Vegeta let his Super Saiyan aura explode around him as he charged at Dr. Puri with a flying kick. Making little of her opponent's attack, Dr. Puri crossed her arms up and absorbed the shock of the impact, letting it carry her backward with a wild slide. Once her heels had reached the end of the ruined stone platform, she took off into the air while swatting Vegeta aside.
In this wild dismissal of her opponent, the artificial woman had made the mistake of opening herself up, as the smirking face of Super Saiyan Son Goku flashed up in her face to let her know about it. Android 21 gasped, but it was too late as Goku's swift jab dug into her gut. Immediately, the Saiyan transitioned into a more focused power blow and then into a rampant flying roundhouse kick. The finishing whip of his kick sent Dr. Puri airborne.
Bardock's voice filled the air as he roared while spinning around with a back fist pounder that kept on going, overwhelming Dr. Puri with Bardock's full power as it sent her crashing down through a shaky stone platform that crumbled from the devastating pressure and collapsed into the boiling magma kilometers below. It carried all the buildings, cars, trees, and other elements of an advanced civilized marvel alongside it to its ruin.
"Stop getting in my way, Kakarot!" Vegeta barked. The golden luster around him had faded the moment that the immediate exchange of blows had ceased. The extraterrestrial royalty clenched his fist out in front of him as he snarled at Goku.
"Huh? What's your deal? We just showed Puri what's what, didn't we?" Goku blinked a few times in confusion. The overall chilled vibes about Goku's Super Saiyan transformation present in his upgraded form took Vegeta aback somewhat so instead of replying immediately the king of Saiyans staggered back before crossing his arms to disguise his confusion about Goku's novel form for something more befitting a proud Saiyan king.
"I would've crushed her if it weren't for the two of you having to butt in with your half-assed moves," Vegeta barked out an excuse.
"Should we just let this punk get flattened and carry on without him?" Bardock turned to his son, sincerely looking like he was hoping for a positive answer.
"No way! Puri's one of those infinite stamina Androids so there's nothing useful in just letting our allies fight her alone–they're not wearing her out at all. This isn't like Frieza… We need to tackle her all together!" Goku proclaimed, taking a fighting stance and igniting a transparent and meek golden glow around him while his eyes became sharper and his expression changed to reflect it, putting more strain on his body to power up.
"I'm glad that all of you came together in defiance," Android 21 proclaimed as she swooped up from the rubble and floated in mid-air with an elegant stance to carry herself in. "After all, if all of you are to rebel and refuse my offer to join the all-new, converted, and superior Earthling population in kind, it is better that I rule all of you out at once and focus on the work that really matters."
"Can't we just shut this cocky bitch up already!?" Vegeta growled, raising his fist up to his face and igniting the Super Saiyan transformation again for the upcoming attack.
"Now look who's itching to work together…" Bardock rolled his eyes as Goku's father accompanied the young Saiyan king with a swoop from up above while Vegeta rushed straight toward the artificial woman.
Android 21 swiped her hand in a hasty slap, sending Bardock flying aside with a burning cheek while Vegeta received the backhand. A scarlet aura ignited around Dr. Puri as she rushed at Bardock like a human torpedo, slamming into him with a round and resonating detonation that sent flickering black thunderbolts across the ruined West City. Goku braced himself in the face of the expanding shock wave, unable to find an opening to join in on the attack. Thusly, the consequences forced him to witness Dr. Puri holding his battered father in her grip after the calamitous explosion had settled down.
With the entirety of his Super Saiyan power bursting from his body all at once, Goku charged to his father's aid, but this was just what Dr. Puri was seeking as she pulled Bardock's limp body in closer before slapping it away like a bothersome moth. The artificial woman then flipped over her back, making Goku miss out on punching her in the face and receiving an overhead kick to his back for his trouble that sent him crashing down instead.
"Perhaps I was wrong to ever consider you as potential Earthlings… After all, how could the Saiyans, a barbaric race that has caused our planet nothing but suffering, ever truly fit in?" Android 21 sighed while shaking her head in disappointment. Almost as if she was disappointed in what she perceived as her own mercy and goodwill.
"Haven't I told you… To shut the fuck up already!?" Vegeta exploded with raw, unchained power, devastating the rocky platform that he had been stuck in and sending yet another chipped block of the city to crumble into the boiling, bubbling abyss of molten minerals down below. The king of Saiyans curled his fingers and placed both his hands together at the chest level, facing Android 21's direction, one hand behind the other. A nova of violet energy began emanating from his body that became a brilliant flash of fuchsia-colored light with Vegeta simmering inside of its center.
"Wait, Vegeta!" Goku called out. "Don't attack Puri by yourself, it won't work!"
"Mind your own business, Kakarot!" Vegeta barked out with almost a matching amount of wrath directed at the lowlife Saiyan warrior as he aimed to unleash toward Dr. Puri. "Don't think I haven't noticed that weird new form of Super Saiyan of yours! How is it fair that a lowlife Saiyan runt who questions and denies the paramount importance of the legendary Super Saiyan form brings it up to a new level? Then again… Maybe it's that wild power of yours that makes you think you have a claim to live on this planet alongside its people. If that's what it takes… Then I'll break through any wall, with my head if I have to, to give my people that same safety and peace to recover and prosper! Galick Gun!"
Super Saiyan Vegeta thrust both his hands forward, releasing a potent beam of energy that split off from the overwhelming mass that he's accumulated from the most hidden and bottommost sources of strength for him. The Galick Gun howled in its racing journey toward the thoroughly unimpressed Android who only stared at Vegeta with her right side facing him.
Dr. Puri extended her hand, welcoming the lukewarm pressure of the enemy Ki wave and halting it before her all at once. With malicious intent, the artificial woman clutched the mass of power and thrust her hand in deeper into it, submerging her limb into raw power up to her elbow. Vegeta was shaking from the overwhelming remaining power that he was channeling, with veins littering his face, he kept on twitching and trying to push the attack through.
"You rotten dumbass…" a calm yet strict-sounding and grungy voice reached Vegeta, catching him by surprise as Bardock's modified and littered with cybernetic patterns and augmentations body flashed in by his side. The low-ranking rebel drew his hand back and formed an azure Ki sphere just as a scarlet Ki blast took off from Dr. Puri's hand and began pushing Vegeta's Galick Gun back. "Saiyans ain't only your people to save. They're our people too, heck, as of today, they're Earthlings too…"
"You useless heap of junk! That isn't for you to decide! You've abandoned your time on this planet and surrendered your chance for the peaceful life that I could have given you!" Android 21 yelled out, putting even more effort into her Ki blast and dwarfing Vegeta's Galick Gun to where it nearly swallowed up both Vegeta and Bardock who were standing side-by-side by their shoulders.
"That ain't for you to decide either…" Bardock replied with calmness in his voice before bursting with the berserk eruption of warrior's rage that he was known for and thrusting his hand out. "Rebellion Trigger!" he yelled out, blasting off an azure Ki wave that joined in alongside Vegeta's faltering Galick Gun in pushing the attack back to Puri.
"The one that's making things worse for everyone… Is you! Ka-Me-Ha-Me-Ha!" Goku yelled out, diving up from behind Dr. Puri with his hands drawn back and a massive Kamehameha brewing in between his cupped hands as the Saiyan raised on Earth thrust his hands out and blasted Dr. Puri with his Super Kamehameha from behind while Bardock bolstered Vegeta's attack from down below. Puri became surrounded by the Saiyans' unbound attacks as the pressure from the Kamehameha wave sent her straight toward the epicenter, where her attack was struggling against the combined efforts of Bardock and Vegeta.
"You… Sneaky… Rotten… It's just like you to thrust a knife in the back…!" Dr. Puri cried out from the strain and total damage she was taking and could no longer control or act like she wasn't feeling it. The Android tried huddling up into a fetal position to try to protect every single area of her body all at once but the overwhelming hurt seeping in from all directions made her straighten out and scream as the detonating howl of the singularity where all the attacks collided into one began pulling her apart from all directions.
All three Super Saiyans flew aside like rag dolls, flattening against buildings and trees that got in their way and then flopping straight on their face as their Super Saiyan forms vanished from them as they now once again needed to take a breather before they could resume fighting. And yet, despite all the pain and fatigue in their bodies, all three of them looked up at the bustling source of smoke and dust, wanting to see their enemy defeated or falling from it powerless or devastated.
Puri didn't jump the gun with a sneak attack, she just floated in mid-air, arms crossed up and her feet raised to her abdomen. It had been long after the colossal explosion had settled that the Android lowered her arms. Her lab coat had been thoroughly singed off with the sleeveless, red and blue checker-pattern dress donning more than a handful of smoldering singes to it while the entire body of the artificial woman had been littered with bruises and minor burns. This may have been the first sign that the Artificial Human could have been hurt at all.
"Now I see… What did my husband… The Red Ribbons… The Rainbow Brigade… The Demons… Every irrelevant scumbag coming at you to prove they're the strongest at the expense of everyone else… The Saiyans and even Frieza in…" Artificial Human No. 21 muttered as she straightened her body out to the best of her ability though she remained in a bit of a slouch as her hands with thoroughly damaged detached arm sleeves hung by her sides like chunks of lead. "I see that uncanny surprise that you Saiyans provide your enemies with. That will to keep on surviving and fighting on. It's easy for you to keep pushing and grinding on because… To you lot… It's not a grind. You genuinely love violence and fighting, so you don't see it difficult at all to keep doing it far past the point where everyone else would've given up and accepted defeat."
Saying nothing in return, Son Goku, Vegeta, and Bardock all began peeling their battered bodies off the ground to greet their resurfaced opponent once more to the best of their ability. Dr. Puri turned to the trio with a cruel stare as a crimson dot sparked in the corner of her eye. Bardock screamed out in pain, staggering back while grabbing hold of his head and roaring from the bottom of his lungs as the cybernetic patterns across his body lit up all at once before going through a myriad of glowing formations and distinct patterns.
"What are you doing!? Stop!" Goku yelled out.
"However… I am not like any of those other opponents you've faced before, Saiyans," Dr. Puri spoke while extending her finger toward Bardock. With the same meek flash of light sparking at the tip of her fingernail, Bardock leaned his head back and rolled his eyes while his mouth gaped ajar. The Saiyan straightened out and looked down, rushing at Goku in an instant with a rabid look on his face.
"Dad!" Goku huffed out upon collision with his father as the two entered a tug of war. Struggling against one another and constantly looking to one-up their opponent with a stronger and stronger power up. Bardock intensified his push, so Goku burst with Hot-Red. Just as the younger, Earth-raised Saiyan amped up with King Kai's Fist and began pushing his father back, a scarlet aura with black outlines lit up around Bardock's body and dwarfed Goku's efforts, returning the forceful favor.
"Enough of this!" Vegeta barked out, slamming both his hands in Bardock's back and knocking the cybernetically augmented Saiyan out from behind. The Saiyan royalty appeared to lack the strength needed to utterly overwhelm and render the converted Saiyan unconscious, though his back-sided attack stunned him just fine. "Your father's a weak link, Kakarot! We need to neutralize him, for good if need be!"
"What are you talking about!?" Goku yelled out, running in between his father and Vegeta and spreading his hands out wide to try to block any attempts from Vegeta's side to execute his father. "It's my father! It's impossible to just knock him out with Puri in his brain, but we can't just kill him!"
"You soft-ass!" Vegeta scolded the low-ranked Saiyan with a mean expression, shaking his fist up in Goku's face as if threatening to blast Bardock away even if he had to take Goku out to do it. "He's a liability to us now!"
"Stop it, Vegeta!" Goku yelled out, colliding with Vegeta and wrestling against him. It was fortunate that Goku had been a far superior technical martial artist to his more exalted peer as otherwise he'd have been taken down and out, followed by his father, as Vegeta held nothing back against him as he'd have held nothing back against his actual enemy.
Goku tripped the king of Saiyans by shoving his foot behind Vegeta and pushing him to fumble over it while the martial artist applied all of his physical force amped up at once to slam Vegeta's back against the ruined West City street. Goku even engaged the golden gleam of a Super Saiyan for a sole moment when he needed the amp the most. Vegeta coughed up blood and his stare blanked out from how hard his back hit the pavement.
Puri's lips curled in a wicked smirk as she marveled at the united Saiyan warriors now looking to kill each other. She pulled the fingernail she was nibbling on away from her luscious lips to pose as a seal to her proclamation.
"That's right, I'm nothing like the rest of your enemies because I don't care about being the strongest. All I care about is protecting my world against the danger you all pose to it. This means I'm not above turning all of you against each other, dampening your powers, abusing your weaknesses, and whatever other methods you'd deem underhanded to win," Android 21 declared, teasing the struggling Saiyan trio. "Bardock… You were a fool to confront me with your augmentations still intact. Did you really think I couldn't destroy you or, even better, take control over you with a glance?"
Bardock snarled, slowly picking himself up off the ground where Vegeta had smacked him down to. Just as Goku was about to rush to his father, Vegeta's feet wrapped around Goku's, making the naïve Saiyan lose most of his balance and require engaging flight to stay upright. Vegeta pushed himself off the ground and secured a grip around Goku's neck and his right wrist, performing an armbar behind Goku's back just as he was choking him out at the same time.
"I'm more than fine going through you in order to earn my people their right to restore their former glory on this miserable planet, Kakarot!" Vegeta barked out through a pain-ridden voice of a king struggling.
"Vegeta…" Goku yelped out through severe physical strain, but the lack of oxygen and the insurmountable pain put on him made him unable to finish the sentence. A scarlet beam split the entire world horizontally into two. Bardock's, Goku's, and Vegeta's eyes both went blank at the same time as all three Saiyans collapsed with a searing hole in their abdomens and smoldering smoke rising off of the edges of the gruesome wound while Android 21 landed behind where Bardock stood with her finger still aimed at them and a modest trail of smoke still lingering at the end of her index finger.
"Son Goku… You are a considerable combatant and you've garnered incredible experience on the battlefield. Though you let your nature dictate when you keep your guard up, which is an asset. For me, that is…" Android 21 lowered her hand while strutting up to the fallen Saiyans with whited-out eyes and stepping over Vegeta's chest as she forced more and more blood to splash from the wound of the Saiyan king and his mouth.
"As for you, king Vegeta… There's not a single weakness for me to exploit. That is to say, there're so many and you are such a confused ball of fumbled, painful, and confused emotions that you'd always sabotage yourself no matter what I do. Against you, no opponent in the universe can lose, because, at the end of the day, you're your own worst enemy," Dr. Puri mocked the king of Saiyans before extending her hand to loom over the fallen Saiyan with an apathetic, shadowy expression on her face.