The Long Road

by Drakthul

AU: Abducted at the age of three and a half, taken through thirteen years of bloodshed and strife, Gohan finds his way back to Earth... to finish a backlogged contract. On Earth, he will either overcome what he is, or be destroyed by it. Rated M.

46. Chapter 46: I'm Dying

Disclaimer, in case it wasn't obvious. I don't own Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, or really any other property. Thank you.

The Long Road

Chapter 46: I'm Dying

Goku:

There was no noise... no light.

It'd been this way for months now. It'd been months since the confrontation at Kami's Lookout that lead to him somehow being here. It was only a moment in time, before something simply shoved him forward into this place. After hours of searching for anything, any signs of energy to lock on to, all he could do was pull himself into meditation. It slowed down everything, and allowed him to feed on his energy, as much as it allowed him to feed on real food.

Food.

Oh man, he loved food, he loved food a whole bunch. A lot of his dreams while floating in the darkness were simply of being home, and seeing Chi-Chi bringing out giant piles of food for him to eat. Everyone was sitting down just eating away, but he always got the most of course. It was always so delicious. Until the dreams ended... and he was still there. He was still in the void, still just... in an empty place. There was no life here, nothing beyond him. It was always exciting when he bumped into anything, even a tiny pile of spinning rocks in the black.

He'd lost track of time in this place. Had it been days? Weeks? Months? All he knew was that he was wasting away. Every time he awakened from his meditation, he felt himself weaker then before. Part of him almost thought to deliberately kill himself, if only because it would give him a chance to go into the afterlife and find out what had happened. But even then, was there any guarantee of that anymore? He didn't know. All he knew was that he was in this... truly horrible place. The energy surrounding his body was the only thing that kept him warm as well. Anytime he saw any stray debris, despite how excited he became, he could see how icy it looked. The moisture int any dirt or anything, was always frozen solid.

But now, now as he awakened again, all Goku could do was notice how weak he was. The subtle glow of his aura lit around him, and he looked down, seeing the sad truth of his circumstance. He'd wasted away. There was barely anything left of him, and the aura which burned with such intensity when it first came into this strange world, was now just... almost a film around his body. More and more, the cold began to seep through, and the truth was that he had no idea how to stop it any longer.

Alone.

For a moment, he just wanted to reach out for his friends, and his family. His mind flashed to Krillin, Chi-Chi, Goten, Bulma, Gohan, Vegeta, Piccolo, Tien, anyone who could hear him. He wanted to say something, anything to any of them, but they were all out of reach. The whole of the two worlds he knew, were out of his reach. With a frail hand, Goku reached out into the void, wanting to sense anything from where he was, anything at all.

And he could sense... Gohan.

Gohan?

For a second, he thought it was a delusion, something that was unimaginable. How could he sense his son? What had happened? How long had he been gone? But it was an immense power, beyond anything he'd felt since the battle with Broly. Then the light came. His heart stopped as he saw the bright purple light pierce into the world, all around it illuminating the massive void of black. It was so small in the distance, but it was radiant. Ice floated all through the void, and gasses Goku hadn't even realized had been there, lit up all across the void.

The ice sparkled in the light, reflecting back the purple energy even further. For all his time in the complete darkness, for all that time in the void without sound or light, Goku saw a whole world come alive in the glow of purple. The entirety of the realm seemed to go from dead, to alive, brimming with motion and swirling in chaos. It was as if his breath had been stolen from him.

Only now, this endless space seemed to begin to shrink all around it. A force began to pull him towards the light, and the entirety of this existence went from cold, to very, very hot. Soon light was all that could be seen all around him, and he could feel Gohan's power as the purple energy mixed in with the very fabric of the world around him. It was all going to explode, and he could sense it. Gently, he drifted in this hot world as it became more and more compromised, trying to marshal the last of his energy. Reaching out across the barriers around him, he looked for the source of the power, trying to look past the world. Just as the world's light began to become almost physical, going from energy into matter, and back again, Goku sensed where the energy was coming from, beyond this once empty world.

Concentrating the last of his energy, Goku visualized himself there, urging his body to take itself away from this place, and to find itself back home. When he opened his eyes again, he turned his head, seeing only chaos all around him. The sky was on fire with purple energy and a circling void of nothingness.

Closing his eyes, Goku felt himself beginning to fall from the sky where he'd pulled himself, at the last moment as he fell, seeing Gohan and Piccolo, as the world seemed to become the very fire he'd just escaped.

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Gohan:

Slowly, eyes opened as if it'd been the first time in his life. Everything was out of focus for a moment, but he could see a haze of yellow, and in the centre of it all white walls with red roofs. As everything started to come into focus, he was met by a world he didn't understand. All around him was a sea of clouds, all of which were yellow. There was a massive pathway, almost shaped like a Snake, leading directly to a series of buildings and platforms. Small poofs of white seemed to trail along the path, with several creatures in suits next to the pathway, inspecting them.

Just what the Hell was all this?

"Oh wow! You've still got a body!" a voice said in excitement next to him. "That must mean you were really strong!"

Were?

"Where am I?" Gohan asked in turn, turning his head towards the sound of the voice. Standing to his side was a small... blue skinned man with a horn in the middle of his hair? Staring at the man for several seconds, he awaited a response.

"Oh? Here? Look at the halo above your head friend. You're dead, dead, dead. I don't get to answer how or why of course, but-"

Dead?

But he'd just seen his father! He'd held on for as long as he could, and-

Then it all slipped away.

"What happens now?" he asked bluntly to the- thing? "And what the Hell are you?"

It all felt wrong. This place was nothing like he expected, and it felt cheap. The surroundings didn't just feel off, but the fact he was here felt off. Part of him was angry at himself for just not being better. He let that monster kill him. He almost forgot how weak he was before their final clash, but it didn't matter. He was here now, because he'd made a mistake along the way, that was the only thing he could admit. Somewhere, he'd made the flaw.

"Well, you actually get to see King Yemma, who judges all those in the Afterlife and determines their fate. Oh! And I'm an ogre sir. We work for King Yemma here in the next life."

Maybe this is all just a hallucination-

Poking his shoulder several times, the male ogre just stared up at him.

"Uhm, you're holding up the line, sir."

Turning his head back, all Gohan could see were an almost endless stream of white poofs hanging in the air.

"So what? They're just white clouds. I don't see anyone whose waiting for me to move for."

"Those are all souls, SIR! And if you'd be courteous to your fellow dead souls, I-"

Grabbing the ogre by the face, there was a brief 'hurk!' noise, before Gohan simply shoved him back, sending the ogre falling over the side, plunging into the golden clouds with a half terrified, half surprised yelp. Turning his head back, Gohan only saw the white buildings. Along with dozens of the other ogres, all of them staring back at him nervously.

I can't afford to be dead.

Right now, he was here, wherever here was, and his father was fighting Garlic jr., without him. Worse, he had no idea if Pan was alright. Quietly, he waited several moments on the pathway, not moving, as if waiting for others to appear behind him. Nervously he paced for a few seconds, glancing at the ever growing line.

"Sir, you're holding up the line," another ogre reiterated. "If you don't stop being disruptive, they'll have to call the Other World's warriors to come subdue you."

... Other World's Warriors? What the Hell is that even supposed to mean?

Looking at the ogre for several more seconds, he just tightened his jaw, trying to remind himself that this wasn't some dream. This was all real, wasn't it? Looking up, Gohan saw a golden halo residing above his head, making him blink just seeing it.

I really am dead.

Dead and stranded in this strange place, without an idea as to what to do.

"Sir," the voice repeated.

"If you say another word to me, I'll make you wish you hadn't," Gohan snapped. "My father is on the other side right now, and I have no idea if he's going to survive or not. And I'm stuck here."

The Ogre just stared back at him for several seconds, before swallowing hard again and fixing his glasses.

"It is understandable that you are distressed, the passage into this world is never easy, but you must go before King Yemma. If you don't begin-"

Fine.

Walking towards the Ogre, Gohan shoved past him, deliberately, walking towards the building. Whatever was behind those walls, couldn't have been any worse than anything he'd faced so far. His walk slowed as he approached the door however, feeling almost sick for a moment. It wasn't just that his father was fighting up there against Garlic, it was that the last he saw of his daughter, was her running through a passageway, trying to get far enough away to survive. When he was turning to look behind him in the line, he was silently praying he didn't see her, or anyone else. But how were they going to stop an immortal?

They're all dead.

As soon as the doors opened for him and he began walking through, Gohan could barely pay attention, his eyes wide open at the words as they rang through his mind. They'd lost, and now Garlic was going to slaughter them all. He'd torment anyone he could before killing them, just to torture him. His mother, his daughter, his entire family and the whole planet were going to be liquidated in the most savage ways possible, and he'd failed them all by dying like some... some pitiful weakling.

"Why is there a delay? Oh!... Look, one of them has his body still," a deep voice boomed from behind a massive desk. "This is a once in a day occasion."

Looking up, Gohan saw a massive figure, wearing a purple suit and supporting a gigantic black beard and hair. Staring at the titan, all Gohan could do was blink once, and then blink again, trying to understand what was happening.

"King Yemma, this is Son Gohan, recently deceased," one Ogre announced.

Turning his head towards the ogre, Gohan narrowed his eyes.

"Son Gohan? Why does that name sound-... Hmmmmmmmm," the giant grumbled, looking over his book. "Oh! You're the offspring of Son Goku! You're father is very impressive, may I add? Very few ever complete King Kai's training, and even fewer manage to overcome such incredible odds. Defeating Frieza, defeating the other Saiyans, and even stopping the monsters Cell and Bojack! I'm sure that this will be a short order and-"

King Yemma picked up a large folder, slowly opening it and blinking several times, before grasping his glasses and putting them on, reading over the first few lines before looking over the huge folder and staring back down towards him, glasses on. It took him another glance at the folder before looking back up towards Gohan, and immediately the Saiyan could sense the confusion on the giant's end.

"Clearly there must be a clerical error. I sincerely doubt that this is the profile of anyone who Goku raised. If anything, whoever this belongs to is in a lot of hot water!" he laughed. "Creating so much work for me over the years! You have no idea how much effort it takes to judge whole planets of people with no notice!"

This was where souls were judged, and the judge himself was before him. King Yemma must have gone over the deeds of the dead, and determined what happened to them after they died. Of course, Gohan himself had no idea what to expect... except for the things which followed him in his nightmares. Everyone he killed dragging him down to Hell, where he'd never escape. They'd suck him down into the place he deserved, only now it was far worse then before. He always imagined misery for an eternity as being tormented.

Now he only had to imagine being separated from his family and friends, and he knew what Hell really looked like.

I can't go down there. If I do... I'll. I'll.

"Yea, wrong file I guess," Gohan responded, not looking, as if buying time would somehow give him a chance to change things, or find some better explanation.

"You there, go find the folder on Son Gohan and bring it to me. And don't be too long. There are countless souls to judge, and we cannot hold up the line much longer."

Hopefully, you take an eternity.

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Goku:

The world passed in and out of existence for him. One moment he would feel a gentle wind brushing against him, the next he'd find it bitterly cold. It was hard to concentrate on anything, except that he felt so weak. Even the air felt like it was overwhelming around him, and the pull of the Earth made it feel like someone was tearing his arms down towards the ground. Everywhere was so heavy, and everything was so bright.

It was only when he came back to the world for the dozenth time, that he slowly came to realize something... he was being carried. Barely turning his head, Goku managed to look over to his right, seeing the one with his personal safety. Blurring for a moment from unused eyes, Goku made out the telltale black hair and cool features of his friend, Vegeta.

"Heeeey... Vegeta," he managed to mumble and slur. "Everything feeeelllls real heavy right now."

Casting an annoyed glance over to him, Vegeta almost quieted him with the look alone.

"Quiet, the last thing I need right now is your bumbling ramblings. I'm taking you to get one of those cursed beans before you die."

Slowly, the realization dawned on him. He felt worn, like there was nothing left. His muscles were unresponsive and his energy was so weak. Vegeta was right when he said he was dying. He should have starved to death a hundred times by now, and his body was just finished. Wincing in pain, realizing what was happening around and about him. Goku closed his eyes tightly and just groaned weakly, feeling the dead weight that was his body just weighed down on him.

"Hey Vegeta," Goku mentally sent, trying to conserve his energy by not speaking out loud. "Everything seems off. Did I lose to someone in a fight?"

"You don't know what happened? You've been missing for months," Vegeta responded. "The Earthlings searched everywhere for you. Then a demon named Garlic junior began to try and kill everyone."

"Oh wow! Garlic junior! I thought I sensed him when I went to the lookout. Man, that guy is pretty dumb. I mean, there is no way he could take on Krillin, let alone-"

"He nearly killing Trunks, your boy Goten, my daughter, my wife, he did kill my mother-in-law, and potentially thousands if not millions of others. Piccolo suspected you were thrown into the Dead Zone, some Black Hole-"

Everything else began to just filter away as Goku's mind fell further and further behind, trying to adjust to what was just being said. He'd been gone for months, and their families were nearly killed? Millions of others might be dead? From... From Garlic? That wasn't possible. Garlic even if he was a thousand times stronger wouldn't be much of a threat to anyone. How had this all happened? Who'd pushed him into the Dead Zone? What happened to Garlic?

"What happened to Garlic?"

Vegeta's eyes steeled ahead as they flew, catching sight of something in the distance.

"Gohan defeated him as soon as he destroyed the Dead Zone. Garlic was caught in the wave and sent into his own destruction," Vegeta answered. "The Namek confirmed he was destroyed..."

Something appeared in the distance, not in their sight, but in their senses. Both of them felt it, because Goku could feel Vegeta's reaction. That was... an enormous energy, and it was all too familiar. It was the same power he'd felt the first time he'd been forced to save his son. The energy was vast by comparison to what it had been, fed by a darker force behind his ki.

"Impossible," Vegeta breathed. "Impossible! He was destroyed. We all felt it. I was there!"

Where were Gohan and Piccolo? They had to be... right there. Their powers were so tiny by comparison to the gigantic beast which reemerged simply next to them, it'd been hard to even sense their power on the fabric of the world. The only other power he sensed now was Vegeta's, which bolstered with energy. A deep blue aura covered them as the Saiyan Prince suddenly pushed himself forward. It was easy to sense his power burn away. Vegeta was throwing everything he had into getting them to Korin's tower.

With every second of flight, Goku's weak heart beat more and more timidly, his breathing hitched as he tried his best to maintain his energy, and tried to focus on what was happening below. Piccolo's energy had already disappeared, and Gohan's was flagging wildly. Gohan was weaker then when he first arrived on the Earth after his life in the Planet Trade. He was weaker then Goku had been when he first fought Frieza.

Gohan. Just hold on.

Every second the flight took, felt like an eternity. Unable to turn his head to even look at how far away his destination was, it was like being in limbo. Impotently, Goku tried to do anything other than struggle for his own life. Even Instant Transmission drew too much of his power now. It was just more than what he had left. The flight seemed to descend slightly, before almost all of Vegeta's power vanished.

?!

Falling from the sky, Goku felt the other Saiyan almost release him. It was enough to let him turn his head to see them rapidly approaching the tower, without almost any control. When his body hit the stone tiled floor of the tower, Goku's face twisted with pain as he and Vegeta rolled and skidded across the surface. Unable to stop himself, Goku gasped in pain, moving his frail arm barely into the air, desperately reaching out.

In front of him, the familiar image of a cat came into view, holding his staff as he walked towards him at a quick pace..

Korin.

"Oh! Oh! Goku?! Oh jeeze! This is bad."

The cat looked around for several moments, scrounging through several pots before scrambling over to him, a single green bean in his hand. Unable to reach for it himself, barely able to even move or see with every passing second, Goku felt the green bean placed against his lips before pushed in. Grinding his teeth down with the last of his depleted strength, Goku almost felt his heart cease beating before the bean passed through his throat.

It was instant.

Eyes shot open. His frail frame filled out. Muscles bulged back into place, and blood shot through his veins. Lifeless eyes were reborn, and air sucked into his lungs in one full gulp.

He was alive.

The world was bright and full of colour again, and his senses bombarded him from all angles. The noise of the wind brushing up against the tower assaulted his ears, and the normal sensation of touch almost overwhelmed him. The ability to detect energy also felt revitalized, looking out where his eyes could not. The dark power he'd felt before became all the more vivid in his mind. The struggling and dwindling power near it became all the more real. It was expiring, drained, and almost finished.

Immediately, a golden aura burned around him and his hair shot upward, shifting in colour.

Gohan. I couldn't save you before. I'm going to save you this time.

Placing his fingers to his forehead, not saying a word as he focused on the demon's energy, Goku transported from the tower, to the source of the power. Immediately he was greeted by the image of a little girl, tears in her eyes, running as fast as she could past him. How strange that was didn't matter. Taking several strides forward, towards the mouth of this underground, burning nightmare. The sound of crackling wood as it was torched all around them was almost lost on him as he gazed into the room.

Standing there, illuminated in the flames, was the giant blue monster. Fresh red blood trickled from his mouth and nose, clearly not his own. Garlic junior had been the one to have opened the Dead Zone. He had no idea what threw him into it, but the portal was opened by him. All the time in the darkness, slowly losing all hope, was this beast's fault. But it wasn't the demon that stuck out to Goku.

It was the body at his feet.

The last flicker of life evaporated from black eyes. Power faded into the background, and Goku felt something infinitely heavy on his chest. The desperate struggle for his heart to beat, which had ended only a minute earlier, reignited as he looked at the broken form. There was blood splattered across his face and chest, and his arm was laying wrong next to his body, clearly mangled. The entirety of Gohan's chest and abdomen looked pulped.All Goku could do was look into the eyes of his son, and realize that his boy, his first child, the child he'd lost for so long, the one who seemingly could survive no matter the odds, was... dead.

He'd spent so long looking for him, and just hoping he'd been alive for fifteen years. The moment he'd resigned himself to never seeing him again, he found his way home. It was the first time he'd ever truly given up, and Gohan found his way back. Gohan had been ruthless, brutal, and taught how to be the worst kind of monster because he'd failed to protect him. Everything he'd ever known was about survival, and saving his own skin at the expense of others. He even betrayed him for his long-lost double, the man who taught him to be so vicious.

But Gohan had surprised him. Just as he surprised him when he returned home. When he defeated Turles, it was a miracle, and it was something Goku knew he could do. Even before the battle was over, when all seemed lost, Goku had felt something special in his son and he knew he'd find a way to win. Even when Broly killed him, and Goten, Goku never lost faith that Gohan would find a way and he did. From inside the Dead Zone, drifting helplessly for the Kais know how long, the Saiyan raised on Earth knew, knew the second he sensed Gohan's energy, that his son had pulled through again.

Gohan was a champion, and he was the most powerful warrior he'd ever seen. He'd surpassed him and even if he wasn't always everything Goku had hoped he'd be, he'd become someone he was all the same proud of. He was proud of how far his son had come, and he was proud of how much he'd learned to care for others and the risks he would take for the people he cared about.

But all of that didn't mean a thing. Because he'd failed Gohan again. Just like when he failed him when he was a child, he'd failed him as an adult, by not being there for him. He'd failed him by not protecting him. Now, staring at him, Goku felt all of his grief multiply a thousand times as he let it sink in that his son was dead. He was dead right there in front of him, just as he'd failed to protect Goten from Broly. Turning his gaze up towards Garlic, Goku could see more then just a grin from the giant, he could almost feel the grin.

Ticking his head forward in almost a nod, Garlic just grinned.

"Goku?...It's a shame, isn't it?" he asked aloud, kicking the body ahead with his foot. Gohan's lifeless form contorted with the blow, flopping against the ground several times before stopping face first in the floor. "Your boy tried so hard to hang on. It was almost sad to watch him struggle. But don't worry, if you're worried about him, you'll get to see him again soon."

Staring at the body in front of him, barely noticing the Goliath and his snide remarks, Goku felt his heart start racing again. It was impossible to contain how furious he was. Not just that this monster had just stolen his son from him, but that he was mocking him. Gohan had finally seemed to be gaining his own life on the Earth. Before all of this occurred, he'd been finally starting to pull things together. And that was all gone because of this monster.

"You look angry," Garlic observed, before standing up straight, crossing his arms. "So did he. I fought Vegeta, Piccolo, and this pitiful boy of yours. Do you really think you can stop me? Gohan alone stopped Turles and Broly, two adversaries you couldn't. What can you do? You were stupid enough to fall into my trap. I don't know how you escape the Dead Zone, but you don't have a chance against me. What do you intend to do, hm?"

It was too much.

That was my son!

Golden energies swirled around him as Goku tensed himself. Mixed in with his anger, anger and grief at himself from his own failures, and fury for the demon who'd just stripped him of his son and tried to kill his friends, Goku felt something rise up from the depths of his power. He'd been near death for so long, it'd never occurred to him that his body would harness that suffering and transform it into something else.

Immediately lightning rolled over his body before the ground beneath him cratered outward, spreading across the floor. Golden fire lit through the air, washing away the flames smothering the room. The granite walls buckled, and the dust in the air washed up into the air, before being blasted away. The sky broke through the ceiling as the entirety of the underground part of the castle just simply blew away. A golden light shone in all directions, bursting out of Goku's body itself.

There was something just beyond his power, something Goku wanted to reach out and grab, but at the last moment, he couldn't. It felt as if something was beyond just being an ascended Saiyan, but he couldn't reach it. It slipped from his fingers just before he could grasp it, if only because his mind was pulled from all the power swirling around him, to the prone form laying between Garlic jr. and himself.

The air still burned from whatever cataclysm had occurred on the surface of the Earth only minutes earlier, but the gentle breeze of the ocean was familiar. The familiar hum of his Super Saiyan aura pulsed through the air, and finally Goku looked up past his son, looking towards the demon, who finally looked stunned for words. The giant stepped back, his mouth slowly falling ajar as he felt what Goku could sense within himself.

"N-no, you- how- How did you surpass... You're just as strong as-"

What do I intend to do?

"Try."

As soon as Goku answer the original question, he blasted forward. The movement was almost instant. The path was clear. Like lightning, his arm struck out, before snapping into the jawline of the giant. The sound of the bone breaking didn't reach him until Garlic's head had already shifted back. His body lifted into the air, and blood splattered from his mouth. A half strangled cry erupted from the blue monster as he suddenly shot back, helpless under the power of a single blow from the first Super Saiyan to arise in thousands of years.

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Garlic jr.:

No. No not him too!

Red eyes turned to ones compromised wholly of disbelief. Power emerged in the air around him, rocketing past his own strength and Vegeta's. It began to rise, further and further until it crested near the power Gohan had demonstrated at his full strength. It was impossible! IMPOSSIBLE! Goku was at best, as strong as Vegeta, which meant he should have been around his level. Instead, the air seemed to catch on fire, with golden energy. The entire structure of the underground of his castle just burned away in the light. His own aura bent and shifted with the sheer volume of power flowing around him, and he was left with nothing high and mighty to say.

I- he- but-

Words rolled out, but he couldn't form anything of any value. It was all just noise as his mind raced to try and deal with what had just unfolded in front of him. He'd killed Son Gohan, defeated Goku with his plan, defeated Piccolo and would have crushed Vegeta as well, and now... now this happened?

"Try."

By the time he heard the word, he felt the fist.

One eye swelled with fluid as all the blood in his head shifted to one side. The immediate sensation of his jaw shattering followed, and blood splattered against the inside of his cheek and spat out of his mouth, mixed with saliva. The sheer power which rolled with the blow sent his body back without any control, lifting him into the air as well. With an intense velocity, the giant flew back, the ground beneath him being torn up. Before he could even hope to regain control, he felt the movement of air around him.

The battle over the last hour hadn't just taught him how much he enjoyed harming everything Son Gohan cared about, it'd taught him how to predict the actions of these stronger opponents. Already, he could tell Goku had moved beneath him, and was travelling around the same speed, trying to land another series of blows. When pain emerged in the centre of his back, and the entirety of his momentum changed, Garlic's suspicions were confirmed.

Why you rotten Saiyan monkey, as soon as I-

Even as his frame trailed up, this time towards the clear skies above, Garlic felt the same motion of air and energy slipping past him. With a sneer, he raised both his arms over his chest, just as a foot appeared seemingly out of nowhere. When it collided with his guard, the two of them froze in the air, all the while a boom thundered around them from the power of the impact. With a delighted grin, Garlic stared back towards Goku, proud of the fact he'd just predicted the assault of the more powerful of the two of them.

Before he could move to counter attack however, he already felt Goku's hand on his foot as the image of the warrior disappeared in front of him. Swinging down violently, the demon felt himself launch towards the ground without any control. Slapping into the burnt surface of the Earth a moment later, his shoulder and face ploughing into it, his body broke through the surface layer of ground easily, before diving deeper and deeper. Finally, his face slammed into one of the foundations of the castle's structures. It was solid enough to stop him, but his own pace was fast enough to have impacted it enough to send a crack running along the thick, ancient stone. Which now meant his face and skull were in a great deal of distressful agony.

Pulling his hand up to his face a moment later, kneeling at the bottom of the hole his body had burrowed into the Earth, Garlic just stewed, before looking up to where he'd entered from. Beyond the hole, he could already sense Goku's presence, waiting for more combat. Slowly, he felt something bubble up in his lungs. Unable to hold back, Garlic began to laugh. It wasn't a malicious cackle, but one of genuine amusement.

All of his worries began to evaporate as he slowly started to ascend into the free space above him, climbing to the top of the hole with his levitation. His opponent was formidable, of course. But he'd been learning over the previous battle, and he'd been learning from his mistakes. Better yet, he could afford to make even more mistakes. For all of Goku's anger, the Saiyan would find himself as impotent as Gohan was before he died.

Even if it took some time to advance towards that goal.

"Well, you really have impressed me, Goku," Garlic chuckled, staring directly ahead at the glowing Super Saiyan. The no-nonsense look he received in turn, only made his smile darken. "You are just as strong as Son Gohan. I'm very impressed. However you fail to understand what you are facing. My power is constantly replenished by the power of the Makyo Star, whose power now flows directly from me. Even if I deplete all of my power, it returns to me in mere minutes, where as yours? Well, yours certainly can take some time to return to you, can't it? Especially without any of those Senzu Beans. I am immortal, even when you're friends Piccolo, Vegeta, and that son of yours, have killed me, I simply return."

The mistake he'd made when facing Gohan, was assuming he could just strike out at him as he would any other fighter. The truth of it was that he was in the inferior position in immediately available power. But he didn't need to be sloppy. There were telegraphs he'd missed from Gohan, and he wouldn't miss them with his father.

"I don't care," Goku responded, his features ablaze with determination. "I'm going to stop you, for all the people you've harmed, and all the people you would harm if given the chance."

With a slant, Garlic let his head fall to one side.

"You really are as thick as I remember, you know that?"

With those words, Goku blinked out of sight.

The world slowed for Garlic as he sensed the vibrations in the ground and air around him, and followed the Saiyan's energy. Stepping to one side and raising his arm, Garlic's wrist caught Goku's fist before it could land on his face, and just stared into the Saiyan's eyes.

That's right. I'm hardly just a target for you to-

Pulling back immediately, Garlic barely averted another near strike, this one coming from Goku's other fist. Seeing an opportunity, he drove back into the Saiyan, bringing his huge fist down, crashing across the surprised Saiyan's features.

"What did you think, that I would just let you beat me without a-"

Suddenly his world sucked in as he looked down at Goku, his head slowly turning back towards him, a small mark on his cheek. Looking down a second later, Garlic only could see Goku's leg sticking in his stomach. His ribs had shifted away from the blow, putting horrific tension on his organs and the structure of his rib cage. Scowling, Garlic had no time to stop the next blow from Goku's fist arcing up the side of his face. Immediately his head and body were thrown back, but his feet held. Another blow crashed across his face as second later from Goku's other hand, blood spitting into the air from his lip.

Recovering, the giant immediately struck back, his arm swinging and finding only air as Goku dodged beneath his blow. Striking of his leg a second later, the huge limb was blocked and deflected by Goku's forearm and a simple motion, pushing it back. Using the momentum to spin around, Garlic lashed out with his head one more time, finding it colliding harshly with the Saiyan's ribs. Goku shifted slightly from the blow, but was already in mid motion coming at him. Desperately moving his forearms together for a block, his arms never met in time as Goku's fist moved clearly past his defences, breaking into his nose.

His vision splattered with red as blood shot up and away from Goku's fist with the force of the blow. Finally losing his footing, Garlic took off, flying back and up. Just as his nose reformed, Garlic shoved his power forward, stopping his radical ascent.

"You rotten-"

Before he could finish, he felt Goku's knuckles on his chin. Immediately his head spun and his body twisted helplessly in the air as his frame corkscrewed into the air. This time, he felt Goku pulling past him in the air. Forming energy into both of his hands, the demon scowled as he waited to sense where Goku's movement stopped. At a fraction of a second as his body seemingly helplessly tumbled, Garlic twisted towards where Goku awaited him with his next blow. Putting both his hands together, the giant unleashed the crimson energy wave.

The sound of pure energy burning through the air thrummed through his large ears as the world in front of him was overwhelmed by a burning red light. Rolling out across the already ruined landscape, an explosive wave sundered what was left of anything which was standing. Waterside cliffs sunk into themselves, and islands passed into the sea.

Smoke billowed into the air all around him, and the titanic monster just breathed out heavily, grinning to himself, the demon felt his own energy dissipating, and Goku's returning.

Immediately the smile disappeared as he looked into the cloud in front of him, seeing the perfect outline of Son Goku. As the clouds cleared, he could see the fabric of his fighting gi was torn, and in some places burnt, but otherwise he was absolutely fine. Slowly lowering his guard, Goku stared back at him.

"You're going to pay for what you did to my son," Goku said, his voice cutting through the silence between them.

Snarling, Garlic closed his fist furiously, forming a barrier of energy around himself as he prepared himself for the next joust in their battle.

"You have a lot of nerve, Goku, if you think that you're going to be the one who obtains any justice for the monster you called a son. The occupants of the afterlife are probably cheering I killed the butcher of the North Galaxy," Garlic shot back, his voice filled with hostility. "Even if you overwhelm me now, you'll die just like he did when you run out of power."

Arrogant monkey. He's no better better than Vegeta, or Gohan. What makes him-

"And don't think I don't know about you're little Instant Transmission technique," Garlic grinned, feeling the barrier of energy encasing his entire frame. "I wouldn't rely on the idea that you can just drop me off. After all... I'm going to have a trick to deal with that."

The confidence in Goku's eyes wavered for a moment at the mentioning of Instant Transmission, turning to one of concern, and it was then that Garlic grinned back at him, the barrier of blackened lightning and red energy coursing over his body.

"Remember, I told you... I have the power of the Makyo Star here to help me. And you? Well, you're going to have to save this planet, and avenge you're son, with a very finite amount of power. Let's see which one of us runs out first, shall we?"

The plan was obvious. Keep himself shielded... and destroy the Earth.

This planet wasn't needed anymore anyway.

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Goku:

He knows about Instant Transmission?

The energy field formed around his frame already made Goku guess he was looking to avoid being touched. Which meant he understood the ace Goku had thought to use. He'd already been mentally scouting out places to just leave Garlic until they could gather the seven Dragon Balls again. But now the giant had put things into question if that would be possible at all.

Zipping forward, the Saiyan struck his foot out, looking to connect with Garlic's form. As soon as it touched the barrier, shocks ran through his system. Hissing in pain, Goku pulled his foot away, which crackled with blackened electricity.

That field causes pain. It breaks concentration through it. He's smarter than I gave him credit for. Shoot.

"That's not going to save you, Garlic."

"Oh? Well then I guess it won't wave the bratty kid down there, or you're Namekian friend either?"

... uh oh...

Immediately the monster raised his hand, discharging two red bolts of energy. It took only seconds for Goku to lock on to where they were headed, there was a little girl in the middle of the barren landscape, alone, and the other was heading towards the cavern where he'd first confronted Garlic. Placing his fingers to his forehead, Goku instantly moved to the little girl, grabbing her as she made a single struggling noise, before transporting to Piccolo, grabbing him with his other hand.

Somewhere safe.

Appearing a second later near where his grandpa's house had been in the woods, Goku looking down at the girl.

Geeze, she looks familiar. Oh weird! She even has a tail. What're the odds?

"Hey there kiddo, sorry, no time to talk. Hey, could you watch my friend for me? He's kinda hurt right now."

"But-"

"Anyway, thanks a bunch!"

Placing his fingers to his forehead, Goku transmitted himself back to where he sensed Garlic, scowling as he did.

He was gathering energy, and fast.

Looking up into the air, Goku could see a crimson orb, mixed with blood-like fire, growing above the giant's head. Huge bolts of black lightning rippled across its surface in random intervals. It was growing still as well, beating and pulsing as if it was a living heart. Below the gigantic sphere, floated the source of the enormous energy ball. The amount of power centred in the attack told him exactly what it was designed for. This was an attack designed to destroy the Earth.

"You're so predictable, just the same as that pitiful boy of yours," Garlic chuckled, before breaking into an almost full blown cackle. "Like father like son! All it takes is just one little distraction, and then you give up all your advantages! Well let me explain this to you quite clearly. I don't need this planet anymore! I don't need to prove anything to you or anyone else on this pathetic rock!"

Narrowing his eyes, Goku hardened his features as he stared back at the demon, gathering his own energy into his fingertips as the golden aura around him picked up into a fury of energy. The electrical field around Garlic continued to spark and shoot across his body, but slowly started to receded a moment later.

Gohan. I know you did everything you could. I know that I didn't save you, before or now.

Another wave of golden energy rippled off Goku's form as he began to shift his from to the right, cupping his hands together.

"If you destroy the Earth, you'll have nowhere to go yourself," Goku pointed out.

"Idiot, I told you before, I am immortal! I will simply go on, whether the Earth exists or not!... I will never die!"

Throwing his two huge blue arms down, Goku saw the massive orb shift down towards the Earth, pulling towards it as if it were filled with a vile burning liquid. The ground beneath them began to shift and crack. The already broken and desolated landscape began to shift and separate. Cracks spanned across countless kilometres as the Earth's crust began to weaken. The world around them rumbled violently and magma flows which never should have been active, began to spew from the ground and parts of the ocean.

The Earth was bleeding.

Blue energy swirled into his hands and began to form a familiar orb.

"I'm not going to let you hurt any more people, Garlic!" Goku breathed as the thrumming sound of his pending energy wave began to shriek through the air.

"Kamehame-!"

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Gohan:

"King Yemma," one of the blue skinned trolls announced, standing at attention in front of the great ogre. "After much searching, we've found the correct file, as you ordered!"

"Ah, wonderful!" the giant said, a broad smile across his face. "Perhaps if you're lucky, Son Gohan, I'll even allow you to see King Kai."

Right now, Gohan was only half listening. As the line of the dead grew further and further behind him, his Saiyan eyes looked through the clouds, and bodies, looking for any signs at all of his father, or Pan, or anyone he knew.

It was all in a mixture of fear and hope. The fear was that if he saw any of them, then they'd failed and it was all over. But the hope was if he saw any of them, he could see someone, anyone before he met the fate he desperately sought to avoid. Even now, the huge red gatekeeper was looming in the background. Looking at him almost felt like it would bring on his fate all the sooner, in some ways, it was safer just looking away, as if it would conceal him from the ogre's ire.

The sound of the documents being pulled up were heard a moment later.

"There are an exact same copy of the documents from before," Yemma grumbled.

"Y-yes, King Yemma, but these are the correct set. We tripled checked them this time. This is Son Gohan, the Butcher of the North Galaxy."

Butcher? Geeze, they even had to throw in a title for me? Why can't fearful people just give more benign labels.

Beginning to read, the gigantic figure made a low grumbling sound, and Gohan didn't bother to look.

"Well," the King started, sounding very sober. "Well this is very... unexpected indeed. Did you know this when you came in here?"

It was hard to keep track of the words as Gohan scanned the crowd, almost ignoring the King. Taking a step towards the entrance, he looked out across the lineup, his heartbeat racing in his chest. What if the planet had been destroyed? The lineup seemed to be almost endless as it grew and grew in the distance-

"Son Gohan!" the ogre shouted. "Are you listening to me?!"

Blinking and turning his head slowly, the Saiyan finally looked up towards his judge. The nightmares he'd experienced were nothing like this, but the same chill ran through his body. The weight of his own actions, the weight of his own bid for survival, would be used to weigh him down, and sink him into a nightmare. The look on the King's face already said everything. His frustration at being ignored was the most evident feature, but the look in his eyes told him that the judgement to this case was already predetermined.

"What?" the Saiyan shot back.

"You will refer to me as King Yemma," the gatekeeper ordered, his huge teeth barring for a moment before he sat back. "Did you know that this profile was indeed yours when you got here?"

"It'd be hard to say I didn't," Gohan responded bluntly, crossing his arms and looking away. "Whatever. I don't have time for this-"

A furious fist slammed into the desk, shaking Gohan's attention, drawing it immediately back to the ogre as he braced himself.

"You've wasted nearly thirty minutes of my time, and my staffs, over immature games to delay judgement! So you've started your next life with a crime already! Have you seen this profile!? You've made more work for me than anyone in the last thousand years short of Frieza or Cooler!"

"So, let's see here... 121,000,000,962 counts of homicide, throughout a recorded 82 planets. 4,000,290,092,021 counts of property damage. 15,002,012 counts of assault. The annihilation of 15 planets-"

"I only destroyed twelve. The other three were-" he tried to cut in, trying to correct the record, feeling almost impotent as he did.

"The destruction of fifteen planets," Yemma's voice boomed over his. "Of you're homicides, 121,000,000,212 are classified under the terminology of genocide. Given that you did so with the express purpose of annihilating a species of people from a planet. You surprisingly only have two counts of sexual assault, though you have solicited prostitution nearly 122 times-"

As the ogre went on, Gohan could only stare. The result was all he wanted to hear. As the numbers were listed off, as his crimes were investigated, he was left to feel the fabric of his soul being grasped at by the nightmares he'd felt before. Everything was closing in on him. The walls of this building were real, none of this seemed real. The only thing that was real was the grasping and clawing he could feel on his body, all of them trying to just... drag him down, and suck him into the Hell that was awaiting him. Burning cities and bleeding bodies flashed before his eyes. There were too many crimes to remember them all. There was too much bloodshed to even recall it, only the most horrible incidents remained fresh in his mind, with the faces of his victims staring back at him.

When he saw King Yemma, he saw Garlic jr. staring back at him, a malicious smile creeping across his face.

"Remember that I'm the one that sent you here Gohan. I sent you to that place you've been so afraid of, but that you've desired to go for so long. To think? You'll not have to worry about judgement ever again. You'll have no more nightmares about being sent to Hell. You'll simply get to exist in it."

Closing his fists, Gohan stepped back, his eyes widening as he trembled.

Colour bled back into the world around him as he looked around in almost a panic, his breathing accelerating with every breath.

"Is there anything you have to say for yourself before I sentence you?" the King demanded.

Golden hair replaced black in a flash of brilliant light. He felt his teeth grit as the bright golden aura wrapped itself around his body.

"You're not sending me anywhere!" he spat, his body blurring with pure speed. Something invisible stopped him however.

He reappeared next to the giant a second later, his body stiffened by an unnatural force.

Raising his gavel, and placing his cheek in his free hand, the titanic figure just shook his head slowly.

"I am truly sorry, Son Gohan. I am sorry for your father for having such a monster as yourself as a son. I suppose all heroes must pay a price in their lives. But having you as a son is a far heavier price then he deserved to pay."

Pulling at the invisible barriers around him, Gohan spat furiously as he slowly began to push his arm up, trying to form an energy wave.

"I am not my past. I am Son Gohan, son of Goku. I've fought monsters beyond your imagining, and you sit in this chair as a bloated pile of red shit, thinking you can just lord over me!? You don't know anything about me! You don't know why I did anything in my life, you just have your fucking sheets of paper! I won't let you judge me! I won't let you just take-"

Bringing up his gavel again, Yemma glared back at him.

"I know a great deal! And I know that there is a price to be paid for what we do in our lives. No amount of good will ever bring back all the innocent people you've killed. No amount of selfish good at that!"

Purple energy formed at his fingertips as the Saiyan sneered, preparing to unleash his Cataclysm Cannon.

"Selfish good!? Selfish!?" Gohan snapped. "I've saved-"

"Your home. You saved your home. You saved your mother. You saved your daughter. You saved your friends. You saved your father. And of course, you saved yourself, Gohan. All the good you've ever done was for your own gain. There was nothing selfless about it. Only when you've been backed into a corner, it's all in your file. Have you ever demonstrated a shred of good? Even now, you try to just escape your judgement by attacking me! You tried to control the space around your daughter by bullying the woman you forced yourself on. When your mother confronted you years ago, the only time she ever has, you bullied her as well. You don't know what it is to do something without your own selfish desires being your only motivator. Everything is about you."

The energy disappeared in Gohan's hands as he stared back at the King of the world around him. Super Saiyan eyes stared back at the huge figure as he spoke down at him, picking apart his life in a matter of moments.

"Every crime you've committed were all for yourself. Every person you murdered was to perpetuate your own survival and power by any means. You are everything your father isn't. Your father embodies selflessness in many respects, thought not all. You embody selfishness, and you have the narcissism to try and decouple yourself from the laws which govern the dead in this world. You are a monster. Only now your sick nature has been used for good, given your need for affection from others, especially those you feel were stripped away from you."

Quietly, Gohan felt his aura slowly disappear, his eyes looking away from the judge.

Looking back up at him a moment later, Gohan only gave a half smirk in response as one image passed in front of his eyes. It was the image of the little girl he'd left behind, with the small hope that she'd live a better life than he did. It wasn't that she was his daughter, why he cared about her. If anything the fact she'd been his daughter pushed him away from her. Reluctant responsibility and fear had motivated his actions, and he'd never wanted her to know he was her father. She was such a good kid, and just being around her had changed a lot of the way he looked at the world. Even when he inserted himself into Videl's life, without her permission, it'd not been because he wanted to deal with some crazy bi-, damaged woman. It'd been because he wanted to try and help the little girl. The little girl he was afraid to consider his daughter.

Breathing in, straightening himself out as he stared back at the King, Gohan kept the image of his daughter in his mind, not tearful and afraid, like the last moments he'd seen her, but as bright and happy as she was the first time he'd met her, when she grabbed his tail in the crowds outside of the World Martial Arts Tournament.

All his fears and anxieties fell behind only one fear. That he'd not done enough to save her. The longer he was here, and she wasn't, the more hope he built for himself, that this had all been worth it. This was the price he was going to pay for her.

"You're wrong," Gohan finally said, before smiling back defiantly, just as his father did. "Do what you were going to do."

With another strike of his gavel, Gohan felt his body tighten, and then he felt himself falling. Rapidly.

"For all your crimes, Son Gohan, I sentence you to an eternity in Hell for so long as your spirit dwells in this realm. May all of your victims find some sense of justice in what passes."

The floor beneath him, even as he floated in the air, parted open and sucked him downward, just as the field which held him in place seemed to vanish. With his normal eyes, he looked back at the angry and disappointed gatekeeper, and just gave him a sneer mixed with a smirk. Plunging into the darkness, this time without any kind of retort, without any kind of power to save him, Gohan found himself spiralling helplessly. Everything seemed to be accelerating faster and faster. There wasn't any light, and for the first time for as long as he could remember, Gohan felt like he was truly alone, left in his own thoughts as the darkness passed by him at ever increasing speeds.

This was the thing he'd dreaded most. The inky darkness around him heralding the new life he'd now face. In the darkness, he could almost hear the whispers of everyone he'd killed, just as he did in his dreams. Finally, the speed, the darkness, and the weight of everything on his shoulders, finally became too much for him to hold. Building up in his lungs, Gohan finally cried out, his scream echoing across the unlit world around him, just as he felt air resistance across his body. His cry brought him out of the darkness, and into something much worse.

Falling from the heavens above, Gohan fell into his new world.

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Garlic jr.:

The field of red energy slowly pulled itself back up his body as Garlic chuckled to himself, watching as the orb of destruction rolled towards the Earth. Below, the familiar blue glowing energy of the Kamehameha, prepared to meet the challenge. Only of course, this would be hardly the last of his attacks. The thrumming noise of his attack was almost overwhelming to the senses as it pushed ever closer to the surface.

That's right, Goku, face it like you've always faced your destiny. Save the Earth, save it over and over again, until you have nothing left to give.

Unable to conceal his giddiness, Garlic began to howl with laughter. The ground below spewed magma out huge cracks now appearing all over the battlefield. The smell of sulphur in the air was satisfying, knowing the planet was suffering along with his enemies.

"Come on now, Goku! Why don't you save the day again!? I'm waiting! Or don't you have it in you anymore?!"

"-HA!"

It was breathtaking to see. The wave of sapphire energy shone through everything. Even the intense red glow of his own attack almost vanished in the midst of it. For Garlic, he could sense power, perhaps even greater than Son Gohan's, emerge from the older Sayain's hands. When the wave collided with his energy orb, it was hardly a contest. The beam almost tore through the orb, and it nearly ruptured where it was in the air. Red energy burst out of it in all directions as it leaked its evil contents all around them, catching fire throughout the air. The surge of energy from the Earth's saviour however, propelled the attack into the air. A trail of blue and red streaked into the heavens, before a magnificent event appeared in the distance. A twisting wave of red and blue cast its light across the Earth for several moments, before it finally died down.

Smirking, Garlic just looked up into the sky, seeing the full extent of the power he was facing. Looking back down towards Goku, he just chuckled.

"Well, that went exactly as expected."

In the blink of an eye, Goku appeared in front of him, his arms crossed dangerously as he glared back towards him. Electricity ran up his body and his golden aura glowed brightly, but Garlic could sense the exertion it took for him to stop his attack. Another few of those and he'd be just as helpless as his foolish boy. These Saiyans just couldn't accept that he was of course, the next ruler of the universe. He'd proven that idiot Abaddon wrong. He'd slain Son Gohan, Vegeta was in no position to oppose him, and the only other power on this planet was going to bash his own head into a brick wall for him. It was stupendous.

It was impossible to hide just how pleased he was. Chuckling, Garlic just darkly looked back towards Goku, his protective field rippling around him.

"You're trying to get me to waste power," Goku said, crossing his arms and staring back at him with a serious gaze.

Immediately the chuckling ceased as Garlic felt his heart stop. Red eyes widened as he stared back at Goku with almost a moment of disbelief. This monkey was supposed to be the dumbest of them. Vegeta and Gohan were both significantly more... savvy, and it took Goku only moments to deduce his plan? This was ridiculous. It was not only ridiculous, it was infuriating. But of course, it wasn't going to matter, because he didn't have a say in it, if he failed to play along, the Earth would be destroyed. Smirking as he felt his own power drawing back to its limits, Garlic just started to smile again.

"Well, bravo, you're the first of the defenders of this world to understand how my power works. I would be impressed, but I am afraid to say it really is too little, too late," Garlic snickered. "No matter how many times I launch my attacks, my power will only return to me. I have amassed the most significant power in the universe, all thanks to the Dragon Balls. Even when I face opponents who are my superior, I cannot lose, simply because I have enough strength to eventually weather them, and I am immortal."

"Nothing is unbeatable," Goku countered. "And you've not earned any of that power. You can't appreciate it. You'll never win because you never learned the discipline needed to win."

Hadn't earned it?

Without thinking, his own face sneered intensely towards Goku.

"Gohan told me I had not earned all of this as well, and he's dead now. Do you know why? Because I did earn all this," Garlic snapped, cracking his neck from side to side. "Suffering in the Deadzone for an eternity. Planning out my revenge. Subduing you, and then collecting the Dragon Balls. Terrorizing my enemies for months before my plans were realized in order to draw their attention? Doing all of this while I was the inferior as well? How dare you think I don't deserve this? Especially because I already dealt with that little beast of yours."

The golden aura around the Saiyan intensified for a moment as Goku just stared him down. The battle was going to continue any moment.

"You think that shield is going to protect you?" Goku asked, his voice abnormally dangerous. "Nothing is going to protect you from me, not after everything you've done."

"Do you ever get tired of whining about all the things I've done? Look at what you've done. Between failing to save that son of yours twice and-"

The response was immediate, and Garlic was prepared for it. Immediately the giant pulled himself back, blasting back through the still sulphur scented air, the Saiyan immediately trailing after him. The golden aura chased after his red one as the two of them streaked through the air.

Even if you catch me, idiot, you can't hurt me. And I'm already ready for another little planet killing attempt...

Before he could even think to gesture he'd make his next assault on the Earth, Goku's leg swung in towards him from above, as the other fighter blurred from his view for a moment. Raising his arm to block instictively, Goku's foot hit the electrical field before it hit his arm, leading to a shock, causing the Saiyan's body to spasm instead of carrying through with the kick. Forming a bolt of raw demonic energy in his right hand as Goku pulled back instinctively, Garlic lunged into him, throwing the bolt into the Saiyan's chest. The reaction was immediate, carrying the orange-clad warrior into the distance, the red bolt laying in his chest as it flickered, reaching critical mass.

As soon as the blast went off, red light flashed across the sky. Magma lifted off the ground below from the force waves, splashing against solid rock as the Earth continued to bleed.

"Well, you certainly did talk tough, didn't you?" Garlic asked, slowly turning his head to look towards Goku, who was now behind him. "But you can't even touch me, let alone harm me. For all that power-"

"Jeeze, you're really arrogant, you know that?" Goku asked, looking at him almost with a sense of bewilderment. "Even if your energy restores itself, you're... kinda weak. You'd figure you'd have learned to you know, not build yourself up so much."

Pausing, Garlic just stared back at the Saiyan with a disgruntled glare.

"We'll see-"

As soon as the words gruffly escaped Garlic's throat, Goku disappeared again, this time not using his speed, but his instant transportation. Pulling his guard up in response, Garlic's eyes scanned the horizon for several seconds, not sensing anything.

"Fine," he sneered bringing his power back to the fore, surging energy into his palms as he prepared another attack. Another crimson orb appeared between his fingers, small at first just as before. Focusing his energy inward, Garlic grinned even as his field dropped from his concentration. "If you won't fight me fairly, then I'll just destroy the whole-!"

An enormous sound rang through his skull as soon as he felt the boot connect with the back of his skull. Immediately he lost grip on the orb he'd formed so far, blasting forward from the sheer force of the blow. His brain rattled in his skull for a moment, making him almost black out before he threw his arms out, pushing energy in all directions.

"RAAAAA!" he screamed furiously, drawing energy into his right hand, before swinging out back out towards Goku, sending a hundred tiny black orbs flying through the air, trying to hit the Super Saiyan.

The golden fighter blasted through the gaps between the blasts and they rained down on the already devastated landscape. Explosions mixed with water, and sometimes magma, blasted into the air as the bolts of energy missed their target. Striking out towards Goku before he reached him with his other hand, intent on counter attacking, the demon found only air as Goku moved past his fist, before slamming his elbow into his face. What followed, was only more painful. A fist hit his gut, then his chest, then his chin, before two feet crashed into his gut. Spitting blood up for a brief moment, Garlic lunged forward trying to slam his fists back on Goku in response. Blinking out of sight, Garlic already knew he was behind him.

An elbow was driven into his back, sending him falling helplessly towards the ground. Only it wasn't ground that awaited him, it was the blood of the Earth.

There was no way to prepare himself as he collided with the river of molten rock. Heat already assaulted his senses before the impact. The moment he did impact it, his very essence was set alight. Flesh melted and was carried off the the current of the lava. Pulling himself up from the river of fire, Garlic screamed, only a gurgled noise escaped him instead. He was going blind as his eyes melted in his skull, and his entire frame slowly began to simply cease to exist. There were no words to describe what it felt like as ever bit of flesh melted from him, and some organs simply popped from the heat, letting the gases out. Blood evaporated or was lit on fire within him before the whole of the limb mass disappeared. Finally, he felt his pain end, as his mortal shell sank back into the lava, his bones burning away as they did.

Everything was quiet, and his mind was wrapped in the last moments of sheer agony. It couldn't move forward, before sensation slowly returned to him. But he knew his body was restoring itself, even now, away from his demise. Heat was the first stimulus he sensed. Slowly, he felt his muscles and flesh coming back into existence, wrapping themselves around new bones. The world came to life with him as his eyes formed back into his skull, just as his lungs filled with air. His scream continued as his mind was still alight with the burning horror he'd just faced. Only when he ran out of breath, as his new body trembled, did Garlic finally stop himself.

Breathing in and out heavily, he floated above where his body had met its demise moments earlier. Standing on an island of rock in the middle of the hellish wasteland he'd helped create through his assaults on the Earth with his Orb of Destruction and the Dead Zone, Garlic couldn't contain his fury.

It was impossible to speak coherently without just barking in a rage while he looked at Goku. The death he'd obtained from the Saiyan was horrific and agonizing.

I. HATE. SAIYANS!

Flipping forward several times, he smashed into the ground in front of Goku, causing the entire small island to sink further towards the molten stream flowing past it. His arms bulged as his power spiked around him, causing waves of energy to simply roll off of his frame.

"I'm guessing that immortal thing kinda doesn't work out so good sometimes, right?" the monkey enquired.

Gritting his teeth, Garlic let several short snarls escape as he trembled in front of his adversary. He was too far gone to conceal his hatred or anger. The universe itself seemed to spit in his face. Even after he conquered his greatest enemy, it threw this in his face. It was almost demanding that he prove himself again, as if he needed to.

The only response he had for Goku, was a straight punch from his right arm. Pulling down below him, the Saiyan just threw an uppercut in response, knocking him into the air with a violent blow. It almost felt like his head was knocked off his shoulders, were his fingers not still responsive. Wincing before looking down, Garlic only saw a golden bolt chasing after him. With his hands wide open, Goku reached out, grasping for his arm.

Grasping, not attack- NO!

Powering his eyes with energy, just as he noticed the plot, the demon sent out two beams, not directed at Goku, but at his left arm's bicep. The pain was quick, and his blood splashed into the air just as Goku grasped his arm. A moment later, both the arm, and the Saiyan, were gone.

I'd forgotten to raise my shield again. That was too close. I entirely forgot about that. Well, I'm going to have to be much more careful in the future. Spending a millennium in-between galaxies is hardly the most enjoyable experience I'm sure.

Stopping his movement in the sky, Garlic raised his one arm in the air as he began drawing energy. By the time Goku got back, he'd have a trial for him again.

We'll see how clever he thinks he is after this.

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Goku:

Damn it!

Only the field of energy around him was keeping him in any way functional. The bitter coldness of the vacuum of space surrounded him, pulling at his aura. The glow from his energy was the only immediate light source, and in this case illuminated what he'd hoped would have been Garlic's entire body. Instead, it was an arm. The giant had cut his own arm off to avoid what he knew was coming. Which meant that he needed to find another way to get a hold of him, and that was going to be incredibly difficult given the current battle. Overwhelming Garlic with raw strength was becoming increasingly difficult as the battle drew on.

In the distance, spanning across space and time, Goku could sense Garlic's power rising again, and fast. Which meant...

He's going to try and destroy the planet again!

Even after getting his 'revenge', Garlic was still so vindictive he had to destroy the whole Earth? Even if it hurt him, it was still what he was going to go through with? And for what? Just to try and defeat him? His own people were still on the Earth.

Placing his fingers to his forehead, Goku disappeared from the emptiness of space...

And reemerged, feet on the solid surface of the Earth. A warm glow radiated from above, but he already knew it wasn't the sun. Turning his eyes upward, Goku's vision followed the light, and a deep cackle emerged from the source. Black lightning rolled around the Orb of Destruction, the same as before, only this time its volume seemed to be even larger.

I need to end this.

As the orb seemed to violently churn with energy, Goku closed his fist and steeled himself.

"What's wrong, Goku?" a mocking voice came from above. "Are you surprised that the great and powerful Garlic Junior has outsmarted you again? Even if you stop this attack, I still win."

He's right. If I stop the attack, I'll drain even more of my energy, and give him a bigger advantage. If I let it past and try to stop him, it'll destroy the Earth and the Dragon Balls. But what about the Namekian Dragon Balls? I don't even know what's happened. I need to find out more before I-

"But I know you'll throw everything you have into stopping these attacks, won't you? Because you fear failing again. The mighty Goku, the Earth's greatest champion. The Saiyan who couldn't save his son... twice. You're leaving quite the legacy behind, aren't you?"

Something bubbled up in his chest, and he could almost feel fire in his lungs. His vision narrowed on the blue skinned brute who had already started that wretched cackle again. It was the same fire he felt when he'd faced Cell, when the android was going to destroy the Earth. It was the same fire he'd felt when he confronted Frieza on Namek, fighting the monster who destroyed his people and wanted to do nothing but spread his cruel reign. The fire burned just as hot when he confronted Bojack, who wanted nothing more then to rule the universe for his own selfishness, just like Frieza.

But this was different. This was like the fire Goku had felt when he confronted his brother, Raditz. It was the same fire he felt only a few moments of, burning at the edges of his soul, when he fought Broly, trying to avenge his fallen son.

Waves of ash and dust picked up into the air around him, swirling in all directions as the golden light emerged from all around his body. He was going to stop this attack, and then he was going to stop Garlic jr. himself.

"I don't care how many deaths you need to experience before you're stopped, Garlic. I'm going stop you from hurting anyone else. Eventually Hell won't reject you anymore."

With a snide grin of his own in response, the demon just gave a half laugh in response.

"Oh? The only one whose gone to Hell recently is that boy of yours," Garlic chuckled, before pulling his arms back, preparing to unleash the attack. "When you get to the afterlife, and find Gohan sucked into the bleakness of the underworld and left to rot, try to remember how arrogant you were for challenging the immortal master of the universe!"

Throwing both his arms down a second later, the gigantic ball of energy began to curve downwards, towards him and the Earth. In front of him, the world turned to blood, darkness, and fire. It was for a brief moment, the crushing sense of shame he'd felt, made manifest. The shame for being incapable of defending his children. It, and its master, were going to strip all that he'd had left away. If he couldn't stop it, it'd lead to his own destruction, and the deaths of everyone else he cared about. He'd fail the Earth, like he failed Gohan.

But beyond his despair, was the thing he chased after his whole life. Victory.

Bringing his arms up to his side, Goku tensed himself as a savage look overtook his features. The golden aura around him climbed higher and higher from his frame and the pulsing thrum which sounded from it echoed as loudly as the booming attack coming towards him. Every challenge he'd faced and overcome, were always overcome when he tackled them without any fear or doubt. He'd doubted himself for too long. He'd doubted he'd made the right choices or done the right things, but it was time to cast all of that away, and it was time to win.

I did everything I could to save my Gohan. I did everything I could to save Goten. I will do everything I have to, to save the Earth.

"You'll do nothing but continue to hurt even more people if I lose, and I can't let that happen!" the Saiyan shouted as the blood-red light shone on him from the ever encroaching orb. "For all the people you've hurt, this time your going down!"

Roaring, Goku collected his power back into his frame, his skin itself glowing brightly with the power of a Super Saiyan. His hair sparked more and more violently with electricity as he prepared himself. In a whoosh of raw power, and his retracted aura blasted back outward, sending out its own wind. The already scorched and ruined land around him picked up. Rubble was throw aside and rivers of magma stopped in their flows. It was almost as if the world itself stopped turning for him. Even the incoming destructive orb, slowed in its descent towards the Earth itself. The ground beneath the orb shifted and crumbled as it hung in the sky, and all Goku did was pulled back in towards himself, bracing himself for its arrival. Pointing his hands up, Goku felt the orb suddenly fall forward, colliding with his hands.

The ground around him caved in from all directions. It was gigantic, even now it was almost overwhelming in its very nature. All the demonic energy burned against his flesh, and simply evaporated away the front of his gi's top. The planet itself quaked, and his footing slowly lost the ground it'd used to keep him standing upward. Then the crash came. It was the collapse of all of the already brittle Earth around him. Magma beneath the ground quickly became lava, flowing past him, only kept away by the sheer volume of power colliding with one another.

Beyond the sounds of the Earth breaking and the pulsing thrums of Super Saiyan power and the booming pulses made by the orb, Goku could hear Garlic jr. laughing.

Looking into the blinding light of the orb in front of him, stretching his strength to its limits, Goku pushed back with all of his might. The churning mass of Earth and fire around him swirled as the orb lifted inches above the surface of the Earth, before moving up feet. The void it left created a vacuum sending magma flowing in from the Earth, seemingly filling the entire massive crater, all save in the middle. The heat was intense. It was as hot as Namek had been before it'd met its final end. Sweat poured down his cheeks as Goku grit his teeth.

The cackling beyond this, stopped, and even as he stood there, holding up the power meant to destroy the Earth itself, even when surrounded by flames, even when facing off against an immortal monster, Goku did the only thing that felt natural to him, even with the weight of his son's death weighing on his shoulders.

I'm going to stop him. I promise, Gohan.

He smiled.

With one great motion, pulling his extended arms in, the entirety of the energy ball shifting with him, Goku built up tension in his stance, and his energy condensed, before he thrust his arms towards the heavens once more, and the red death which had come to claim the Earth, was cast freely into the air.

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Garlic jr.:

When the world of became one of fire, Garlic could only cackle as the flickering swirling mass of power collided with Son Goku. The Earth was turning into the physical embodiment Hell he wanted the universe to inevitably become. The smell of ash lifted into the air as the blood of the Earth pushed past its skin. Black lightning swirled around where the confrontation of his attack and Son Goku met. Huge clouds of ash began to sprout up all around them as the planet began the process of doing something he would never do.

The planet began to die, and he wanted to kick it to make it scream before it succumbed. This would be the first world he destroyed. Once he imagined it to be the seat of his new empire, of his new reign. But now it was going to be the funeral pyre for his enemies, and he'd rather see it burn just because of how defiant the occupants of this world had been. Piccolo and his merged counterpart Kami before him, the Saiyans, and of course among those monkeys... Son Gohan. Even as he fought Goku, his thoughts drifted to the one he'd sought out his final confrontation with. He wanted to know how Gohan felt when he died and failed. He wanted to feel his death inside himself, because... he would never understand it for himself. Licking his lips nervously, he wished he could have tasted that moment.

The way he wished he could taste this moment, as the last defender of the world fell, and as he did, the planet let out its death scream. When the world around the red orb and the Saiyan Warrior collapsed in on itself, and the Earth let more of its life blood splash to the surface, all Garlic could do was laugh. The red shield around his body flickered as he felt his lungs empty. This was the closest thing he could feel to real joy. And once the planet died, even if it meant centuries of wandering, he knew that he could sustain his sanity with the idea of the death of all the countless people of the Earth. Billions of souls would cry out in fear and agony, before meeting a fiery, or bleak demise. All of them would pay for the crimes of their supposed defenders.

But his laughter died with a swoosh as hundreds of metres away, he felt a swell in Goku's power, and felt the air change as the Orb of Destruction slowly began to rise in the air. Freezing in the sky, the giant felt his throat constrict. Red eyes locked on to their mirror coloured orb, feeling his control on it slowly breaking. The vision he held of his victory, and of the final death throws of the Earth, slowly tempered themselves, especially as the massive ball was shoved back. Huge shifts in energy and mass sent waves rolling across the surface of the Earth around it, and at its centre, was a single glowing figure.

Standing there for almost a moment, Garlic forgot entirely about Goku. He could only see Gohan standing there, despite whatever had been thrown at him, preparing for victory. His breathing hitched for a moment as he pulled his head back.

I'll never get to kill him again.

The voice whispered through his mind as he slowly let it sink in that it was indeed Son Goku, and not his son. Closing his fists angrily, black and red electricity running over his forearms and hands, the demon sneered down at the champion of the Earth.

"Garlic!" Goku shouted from below, his power trying to flare as brightly as it had only moments earlier. The walls of lava still hung in place around him, slowly receding backward. "You can't hide any longer. You can't hide behind your immortality, and you can't hide behind this planet."

Snarling, Garlic pulled more of his restoring power forward, letting energy form in his palms.

"And you keep thinking that you're somehow the one whose been chosen to stop a new God for this universe to worship. You couldn't even save that son of yours, do you really think you can save this planet, let alone stop me?"

"Yes. I can, and I will."

A foul taste entered the demon's mouth before he licked the front of his sharpened fangs.

"Then come and try," Garlic snapped.

Immediately, the lava around Goku exploded back as the Saiyan took off towards him. Several booms followed as the sound barrier broke a hundred times in a blink. Time slowed for Garlic as he pushed his hands forward, and waves of red energy rolled from his hands, crashing into Goku like a wave crashing against the shore. The Saiyan raised his arms to cover his face as the energy wore against his body and skin, but pushed through the attack.

A flash of golden energy preceded the Saiyan's arrival, burning away his only real protection. With his shield bled away as if it wasn't even there, any chance to stop Goku from simply teleporting him if they made contact, disappeared.

An annoyed snarl escaped the demon just as the world came back into real time. Dropping the Death Impact at the last moment, Garlic lunged forward, his entire weight moving behind him as his huge fist struck around. The golden fighter shifted under him at the last moment before driving back up at him with his fist extended. It was too late to block or dodge. With a thundering crack, knuckles found their home on his chin, and the impact sent a boom across the heavens. Blood immediate spat into the air as Garlic's head travelled upward, almost trying to leave his body. His jaw, neck, and skull felt as if they were torn apart, but he couldn't dwell on the pain.

Every moment of his battle with Son Gohan and Vegeta had taught him a great deal about himself. It'd taught him about his immortality, and it'd taught him about how to fight. Immediately turning back into the fight, he saw Goku reaching to grab his arm, and there was only recourse. Pulling his arm back as fast as he could, the demon drove his head back down towards Goku, and the two of them had their skulls meet a split second later. Both of them recoiled a moment later as Garlic pushed back, trying to gain distance, knowing exactly what Son Goku's path to victory looked like.

With a grunt however, the Saiyan pulled himself together, taking off after him in a blur of raw speed. Immediately their fists met as Garlic saw the new assault beginning. Knees connected a moment after, and then the battle truly began anew. Strikes passed by one another as each one moved to avoid the other one's attacks. Disappearing, Garlic appeared above the Saiyan, dropping a huge swinging kick down towards him, only to find Goku had disappeared a second later. As if on cue, the Saiyan appeared to his left, just as he expected. It was the same motion Gohan had made in their battle. Raising his arm, Garlic felt the kick connect with his forearm, and the demon turned his red eyes confidently towards Son Goku, feeling something new rushing through his own veins.

It wasn't a confidence born of his immortality. It was a confidence born of his own ability. Every injury sustained, grew his mind. Every death experienced, grew his understanding of what battle was, and how it was to be met. Every time they killed him, they only made him a more worthy warrior. It was Gohan's gift to him. The gift of teaching him what it meant to fight a Super Saiyan of such incredible power.

Without a moment's further hesitation, and capitalizing on the overexposed monkey, Garlic quickly shoved the leg back, before striking back with a quick, short, powerful jab of his elbow. When it connected with Goku's cheek and nose, the Saiyan's head turned away violently and quickly, his body going back.

The two of them paused in the air as Garlic licked his own bloody lip, and Goku brushed the crimson from his nose.

"You're better then I remember," Goku admitted coolly, before cracking his neck to one side.

The Saiyan's body looked bruised and burnt, though not nearly as much as Son Gohan had been. With confident red eyes, Garlic just slowly grinned back.

"Because I am," he responded simply. "All this pain does, is teach me. I see every mistake I make, and I simply don't make them a second time. Perhaps if you'd been the first to confront me, and my new power, you would stand a chance, Son Goku. But the more I fight, the more I learn. The more I die... the more I grow. All you can do is hurt me, and even if it does not make me stronger it makes me sharper."

Slowly pulling his stance back into form, he could see the determination still written on his counterpart's face. The wind blew past them again as the giant prepared to lock horns once again, seeing his opponent trying to determine his next avenue of attack.

The moment he had the chance, Garlic would strike the match that would set this world on fire once more, and then this battle would truly be over. The only thing he could want now, beyond knowing what Gohan's suffering and death felt like... was what Goku would feel before he expired next. Concentrating his restored power, Garlic let his aura push to the surface. It was time to tax the Super Saiyan, and draw his power down further. The longer this battle dragged on, the weaker the famed Son Goku would become.

With a chuckle, Garlic charged through the sky a second later. Throwing a fist out, two arms met it, blocking the Saiyans's face. What followed was a bombardment, as the demon pushed the initiative. Each blow was met by the perfect counter blow. Fists and kicks were blocked, blows which landed had an immediate response. Flesh was weathered by combat. Strike, strike, strike, strike, strike, block. The motion of battle throughout the air was guided by a flurry of blows, spanning over only seconds. After another block, Garlic threw his entire weight into one swing of his arm, finally connecting with the full follow through on a brutal punch. Fingers pushed into Goku's face, and the impact was so violently it made the air seem almost solid for a moment. Without even realizing it, the Saiyan had already responded by the time the blow had landed.

A golden glow found itself in his abdomen, and Garlic only looked down as Goku's body was carried away by the violent force of the punch, to see an energy wave preparing to explode in his mid section.

The entire exchange they'd had, was all the monkey waiting for the right time to strike, even at the cost of several blows.

Gasping, the demon had no time to respond, before he felt the energy detonate.

In the heart of the golden wave of energy, Garlic lost the feeling in his legs. It told him enough, because without even looking down, he hazarded that his lower body was no longer in place. Falling, all Garlic could feel was almost lost. It was as if he couldn't grasp where he was, and the world was nothing but a dizzying haze as it spun and flipped around his vision. It was too much for him even to make a noise before his black slammed into burning, half molten rock. The sizzling of his flesh against the cooling half solid, half liquid rock, was enough to bring him back into the world.

Staring up at the sky, Garlic grit his teeth as he began to will his body back to its original shape and form. Before anything was restored however, he saw a golden haired figure come into view.

"It's over."

Over?... No... NO!

Before he could respond, he felt the Saiyan's hand on his shoulder.

The world went from hot, to cold. But it wasn't just cold. It was such a place beyond cold he couldn't even comprehend it. Neurons in his brain fired as it tried to address where he was. Ice formed from the moisture inside his shattered, broken form. Immediately he let his mouth open, desperate for anything beyond this vacuum. Only sparks of light came towards him, all so far in the distance. With his red eyes being the only source of light, he saw the shaded form of the architect of this new prison among the stars.

With the last of his body's strength, the demon lashed out, grabbing the Saiyan.

And then the world came back to warmth.

The sound of both of their lungs filling with air was the first sounds Garlic heard as his body returned to atmosphere, now on top of Kami's Lookout. A surprised set of tired, Super Saiyan eyes stared back at him. There was a spark of understanding in the Saiyan's eyes, and he could almost feel him looking with his mind for a new place to take them, for him to be left. His arms were almost too weak to hold on to Goku for much longer, and his doom would arrive without some kind of salvation from the Saiyan's technique.

I'm not going! I'm not going anywhere!

Without a second thought, Garlic pulled himself towards Goku, and lunged his face towards the Saiyan's, opening his fanged mouth and plunging his teeth into the Saiyan's face. Blood filled his mouth a second later as his teeth met bone around the top of his eye and the top of his cheek. Flesh gave way in seconds as a scream sounded out. Whilst the Saiyan let his pain out, Garlic's own throw gurgled and groaned from the effort. Before he could even think to let go on his own, a wave of blue light warped into his flesh as the Saiyan placed his hands on his chest desperately, and simply blew him away.

Every molecule in his body, disappeared in a wave of blue fire.

And of course... he could feel it all, all hanging over him in the void of emptiness... until he started to feel his new legs again...

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Goku:

It was all red. All across the left side of his vision, it was nothing but red. Flesh was raw and missing, and he felt what could only be described as spikes of bone missing from his face. He'd bit him, in the face? Reaching up and touching the side of his face, all Goku could do was pull his hand away and look down at it, smeared with blood. It was something he'd been known to stoop to more then once, but it was something he'd never even thought would happen. If he'd thought of somewhere to dump him faster, then this would already be over.

And it was stupid of him to blast away in response, because now he would come back, legs and all intact.

But worst of all, he was starting to feel fatigue. Even now he was breathing heavily. It was going just as Garlic had described it when he fought Gohan. Despite Gohan's strength being greater, he just... ran him into the ground.

He's making me spend my energy. I can already feel it. Those last two exchanges only show it too. He was fast enough to keep up with me. It's not that he's gotten stronger... it's I'm getting weaker.

A scream echoed out across the empty Lookout around him as bones appeared in the air perhaps a hundred metres away. Within seconds flesh had wrapped itself around the frame, before skin filled over the muscle and sinew which had manifested itself. It was just like when he'd thrown him into the lava earlier. This was what his son had faced. It was doubtless to him that Gohan would have killed this monster a half dozen times. Was it hopelessness his son felt when he saw this demon come back every time? Was it anger? Was he afraid? Was he disappointed.

Gritting his teeth, Goku did his best to push his ki back up, even as he felt his reserves reaching closer and closer to their bottom.

The two huge feet of the monster crashed into the ground, the crack of the stone tiles across the Lookout's surface.

Immediately, red and black energy washed out of the newly reborn frame of the would-be tyrant, spiking in the air at its centre, Garlic jr. himself. He was just one manoeuvre away from finding victory. He'd had him only moments earlier, twice, but the giant had managed to avoid that as well, by grabbing him and hitching a ride back. Now he couldn't rely on raw speed to simply overtake Garlic this time. But even if he used instant transmission, Garlic had successfully managed to track him and avoid the main contact necessary to take him back into the void of space.

Cracking his neck from side to side, the demon just glared back towards him.

"Well, I can say unlike that boy of yours, you actually do had a glimmer of hope to stop me. Congratulations on failing. I'm not going to forget that for a moment. Cowardly trying to leave me in the vast emptiness of space. Shame on you Son Goku, such an act of desperation... Is it because I can sense that great power of yours slipping? Just like I felt your miserable son's power slip?"

Slowly starting to walk forward, the giant just grinned.

I need to slow him down enough to get a hold on him. He's much better then I thought. He's only gotten as far as he has because so many people keep underestimating him, and I have too.

Tensing, awaiting the next round of their combat, the Super Saiyan searched himself for a plan. In his mind's eye, he could see the next five steps ahead, and given what he thought of Garlic's paths to victory, four of those five didn't favour him. How did you defeat someone who you couldn't hurt? He needed to subdue him and then take him back towards the void of space. Even if this time, it meant he needed to stay with him to ensure that he couldn't grab hold of him and simply hitch a ride back. That was the only path to victory he'd find.

It meant saying goodbye to this world, but that was fine... if only because he'd make sure everyone was alright. All of his friends, Chi-Chi, and Goten were going to be safe.

Crossing his arms in front of him, Goku then shifted his stance, moving one foot forward and positioning his hands to his sides, awaiting the inevitable attack as Garlic's pace began to quicken.

"I want to know what that boy of yours felt, before the last specks of life dripped out of him," Garlic said, his voice sounding almost... strange... obsessive.

Glaring, Goku felt his own rage boiling to the surface over everything. He stayed quiet rather then dignify the beast's comment with a response.

"Show me," Garlic then said, before pouncing forward. The huge frame bounded over dozens of tiles, his huge hands formed into fists as he ploughed into him.

As soon as their frames met, arms locked. A second afterward their arms broke apart before their fists connected. Red energy met golden. Tiles all across the lookout pulled into the air before shattering. Taking this as his chance at close, Goku moved into Garlic's defence, slamming his fist into the giant's gut before throwing an uppercut. The demon flew into the air and Goku took this as his chance. Taking off after him, he reached out, aiming to grasp at the bottom of one of the huge blue feet he found in his reach. Just as soon as his fingers made contact, the huge limp tore out of his grip, just before he began to concentrate on where to take them.

Turning up, he raised his arm immediately and blocked the huge fist which was thrown back down towards him as Garlic shifted in the air. Muscles in his arm flinched in pain as the seething hulk above him glared hatefully towards him.

"More of that ridiculous attempt to stop me?" he sneered. "I've figured out your plan! It won't work!"

Swinging back down towards him with his other fist, Goku reached out with his other hand, trying to grasp it in the air. As soon as his fingers made contact, Goku's eyes opened hopefully as he projected a picture of the bleakness of space in his mind. Before he could project himself there, along with Garlic, a searing burning pain emerged in his chest, breaking all his concentration. Two eye beams bore into his chest and he couldn't help but gasp as his flesh sizzled. Gasping, before he could respond further, the huge demon's head collided with his again in another headbutt, breaking his hold over Garlic's fist.

"How dare you!?" bellowed out of him, picking up on exactly what he'd been doing.

Blocking a huge knee, Goku threw his own attack back, his leg sweeping out and catching the giant across the side of the face. Immediately the huge form swung with his foot, his face contorting with pain as he did. As his body spun, the Saiyan shot forward, intent on tackling into him, trying to close their distance again. In a blur in the air, the blue demon disappeared, appearing only a few metres above him, his hands glowing brightly with energy.

"Transport this, you wretched monkey!"

A wave of crimson became all the light around him. With all of his reflexes in order, Goku thrust his hands back, before letting his own energy loose. Golden power flowed from his palms and fingers, blasting into the heart of the wave. A frustrated snarl was heard on the other side of the torrents on energy. There was no use in just wasting more of his power persisting with this struggle. Pulling up his power as much as he could, Goku let his power overrun him almost, his voice cried out as he felt his power flow through him.

"RRR! RAAA... RAAAAH!... NO!"

The crimson energy washed away in a ray of Super Saiyan energy, and it shot past and through the giant on the other side. Energy scorched everything in its path, and golden electricity bounced along its edges. When the light cleared, and Goku stared into the air where his attack had passed through, he saw only a ruined form. The right leg on Garlic was a mangled mess of burnt blue flesh, his arms were burned as well, and half of his head was missing its skin. With his only eye which contained an eyelid blinking, the demon laboured for several seconds, his skin and limb already beginning to heal.

The only problem was, Goku could feel just how much his own energy had bled. Looking down at his own hands for a brief second before looking back up at Garlic, he felt increasingly empty. Even now he was breathing heavily, trying to catch his own breath. The only problem was, if he knew that his power was depleting, then Garlic certainly knew... and he could already feel the demon's energy rising like a great tide. Even as his face healed, Goku's own face dripped with blood by contrast, and as they exchanged looks and fortunes, Goku could see the confidence emerging across the demon's face.

"There it is," Garlic breathed as his breath slowly caught up with him. "That was what I was waiting for."

Before he could respond, he felt the wave of force roll past him as Garlic's form closed with his. Blasting upward, further into the air, Goku dodged the huge kick which had been destined for him. By the time he prepared to strike back, he felt Garlic's form move past his own. A block was impossible as two huge arms came crashing down on his back. A cry pushed past his own lips as he felt his body beginning to fall from the sky. Immediately a knee slammed into his side, before an elbow crashed into the other side of his body, making him gag up spit a second later, his ribs bruising on both sides. A huge fist slammed into his gut, then another into his face, knocking blood from the side of his face. Slowly, the world seemed to feel lighter and lighter as another blow landed on him in his decline towards the Lookout. This time, the elbow landed between his neck and head, making his world spin wildly.

When his face slapped straight into the stone tiles, Goku just murmured quietly to himself, wincing as he did.

"Weakness is a terrible thing, isn't it? To feel helpless in the hands of another... especially one who wants to hurt you," Garlic chuckled, before reaching down, grasping his arm and yanking him to his feet and staring into his eyes. "Show me what that son of yours felt."

Raising his arms into the air, Garlic roared before driving both down on his shoulders. It was enough to make Goku's body almost break in two down the middle. Bones protested and his shoulders felt like they were torn from his body, blood sputtered up from the back of his throat before his entire frame crashed into the ground. Concentrating himself, trying to pull away from his energy, Goku groaned before using instant transmission to whisk himself away.

Finding his feet on the ground dozens of metres behind Garlic, he breathed in raggedly, feeling his body almost falling apart after the last series of blows. Now it was just a matter of even trying to drag this out. If he didn't do something to buy time, he wouldn't even have the opportunity to pull a plan together.

"Kamehameha!"

The familiar blue glow appeared in his hands, before he unleashed the wave. Rows of stone tiles pulled up from beneath the wave, before shattering in the air itself before they made contact with the beam itself. Instead of fighting the beam, all Goku could see was Garlic start laughing, pulling his arms wide open and just seemingly embracing it. As the Kamehameha closed in, force picked up all around the giant, his belt's tassel picked up and wildly moved in the air as wind wrapped around him. As soon as it connected, it tore into the huge monster's mass, before washing away his arms and parts of his torso. Unlike before, this time all the Saiyan heard was laughter.

Spending all the energy he had, seemed to buy him no time to plan, and worse, his ki began flickering all around his body. It was incredibly hard to even keep his energy up. Suddenly, golden energy turned white, and he knew his hair had turned black.

Damn it! No!

Slowly, a panic set in as he looked around and over his battered body, before turning his eyes back towards Garlic as his arms and body slowly began to heal.

"You can start telling me how it feels to be dying now."

The beast's red eyes lit up, before two bolts of energy shot from them. Immediately diving to the side, where he stood exploded in a massive blast, sending fragments of stone scattering for hundreds of metres. As soon as he got back on his feet, Goku felt the giant's fist smash into his chest and ribs, feeling a half dozen of the bones fracture without his Super Saiyan form. It was enough to make him gag immediately.

Looking up towards Garlic, trembling, Goku felt blood roll down the edge of his mouth.

Weakly, he reached up to grab Garlic's belt, only to have his hand knocked away.

"Do you really think I'd just let you win now? Now that I've obtained almost everything I want?" Garlic sneered, before kicking Goku's chest, sending the Saiyan flipping back before he crashed back into the tile again.

Walking over him, Goku could sense Garlic's shadow hovering over him. Grabbing his shoulder and flipping him on his back, Goku looked up at the demon which killed his son, as the giant just smiled back.

"You can start describing how this feels now," Garlic chuckled, clenching his fist and pulling back.

Suddenly, there was a wave that washed over the two of them of amazing current. He almost was lifted off the ground himself by whatever it was, before a familiar power came to the fore. Garlic's red eyes opened with surprise, turning his head at the last moment before a golden flash collided with him. The snapping and powerful sound of a kick echoed out across the open air as Garlic howled in shock and pain. The giant lifted off his feet, before flying through the Lookout itself, smashing through Kami's palace. The sound of wall after wall crumbling rumbled in the near distance as Goku just breathed out with relief, groaning as he barely managed to sit up.

Standing there next to him, his Super Saiyan aura glowing, was a familiar sight.

"Thanks, Vegeta."

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Vegeta:

He was still exhausted.

There were no senzu beans waiting for him down at the cat's tower. He'd managed to rest to regain his energy for perhaps a half of an hour at most. Even now he was stretched to his own limit already. He'd sensed the confrontations between Gohan and Garlic, as well as Kakarot and Garlic. Never before had he felt as helpless as he did right now. How did you kill an immortal? Kakarot had clearly been trying to send the beast to the far reaches of the universe, but even then it hadn't lasted. Each time the brute found a way to bring himself back.

Now they were reaching the limits of what any of them could do. Now he had to rely on Kakarot, always Kakarot or his blasted boy, to come up with a plan to deal with this mess. Buying time was the best he could hope to achieve right now, and he only had so much of that he could buy as he was.

"Kakarot," Vegeta said gruffly. "You'd best have a plan. I don't need you sitting there in you're own drool while I do this."

Not even looking at Goku, he spoke, allowing his eyes to drift through the holes in the lookout, where he knew Garlic was on the other side, raging he was sure.

"I need to get a hold of him," Goku said weakly, pulling himself slowly to his feet. "If I can make contact and keep my grip on him, I can take him between galaxies and leave him."

A cowardly way to deal with their enemy, that much was to be sure, but the truth was there was little other opportunity to simply deal with this thing as it stood.

"Do you need time to regain your power?" Vegeta questioned as he saw Garlic's frame slowly rising from its prone position in the distance.

"If you can slow him down, I don't need to regain my power," Goku assured. "I just need one opportunity."

"Then don't miss it."

With those words, Vegeta narrowed his eyes forward, and with his aura running over his body, launched himself forward, stopping on the other side of the holes in the palace. The demon who'd nearly killed his daughter and son stood on the other side of the palace, his face contorted to something close to pure rage. Trembling as he brushed some blood from his lip, Garlic growled as he started to walk through the rubble his body had made, making Vegeta just stare back at him.

"You certainly have some nerve Vegeta, interfering in my fight for a second time..." he breathed, making Vegeta only shoot back an accomplished smirk.

The quaking Garlic's body made as black and red energy oozed off his body had no impact on Vegeta. Already his eyes were scanning for the avenues of attack the demon was going to make. As if on cue, Vegeta's eyes widened as soon as Garlic's body disappeared. He looked at the energy itself, not at the image that the monster left behind. Throwing his hand up in a fist, Vegeta caught the titan with a backhand from the side. As soon as the back of his hand hit the giant, he heard a long groan escape him, before turning about and throwing the full might of his right fist directly into the demon's face. With a satisfying crunch, he heard bone grind together and break.

Launching the demon back, Vegeta watched as the howling demon cried out, before smashing through several pillars in the lookout, before smashing into one of the side buildings. As the domed palace collapsed in on him, Vegeta stood his ground. Immediate pursuit right now may play into a counterattack, and he couldn't afford to waste his energy. It was obvious after all he'd gone through, two well landed punches were hardly any accomplishment, or any real black to Garlic doing anything.

Stop playing dead, get up and fight.

The rubble remained unmoving even as the dust slowly began to settle.

And I hope that idiot Kakarot is prepared to step in when this buffoon exposes his weaknesses.

It was then that the Lookout began to shake and tremble in the air. The rubble shook and quaked along with the rest of the structure, but seemed to do little else. This wasn't just a demonstration of power, it was the beginnings of a strategy-

The ground between himself and the rubble split and broke in rapid order. Tiles exploded and shattered as they were torn out of the way, the rumbling only getting worse as they approached him, before the destructive path stopped at his feet. Instinctively, Vegeta already twisted his body in the air as Garlic exploded out of the ground behind him. A huge right swung down towards him, and anticipating it, Vegeta swung out of the way before swinging a merciless kick into the side of the giant's head. As blood spat from his lips, the giant looked dazed and confused.

"Never forget the resolve of a Saiyan to win, you pathetic little demon!" Vegeta shouted, before sweeping into the giant's form, planting his fist directly into his gut. The giant wheezed a moment later, staggering back, gasping for air.

Kakarot immediately made his move in, attempting to get behind the monster, when Vegeta saw the glint in Garlic's eyes, and the grin.

He knows Kakarot is moving on him!

Immediately Vegeta threw both of his feet out, smashing them into the demon's chest, before forming a single powerful energy wave between his hands, and unleashing it. The golden wave tore through the air, and into the sky, and slammed first into Garlic's chest exactly where his foot once had. A surprised look wrote itself across the demon's face before he was carried into the distance by the attack. It was a shock brought on by Vegeta picking up on his plans, but also by how weak his attack must have seemed. He was hardly in the position to send an all obliterating wave of destruction.

But in saving Kakarot, he realized just how much he'd revealed about his own position. There was a bad taste in his mouth when Garlic flipped off the side of his beam and hung in the open sky beyond the Lookout.

"Vegeta," Kakarot's voice cut in from the side. "I think he's caught on that you're near the edge of your limit."

A frustrated sneer immediate overcame him as Vegeta's eyes turned deadly, and looked towards Kakarot.

"Well, what gave that away? Was it the energy wave, or was it the fact he has giant ears, and your big mouth just told him!" he shouted furiously.

Two dumb struck eyes, of course they were dumb struck having belonged to Kakarot, just innocently stared back at him.

"... Idiot!" he finally snapped, before turning to look back towards the floating figure, swallowing once as he cracked his knuckles.

Suddenly, the calm broke as Garlic's massive frame blasted back towards them at full speed. Immediately Kakarot jumped back, clearly in the weaker position. Stopping in front of him, Garlic's entire frame was still braced, before he jumped back, flipping through the air, towards Kakarot.

Shit!

Getting over the unanticipated move, Vegeta blasted off again, sweeping into the air after the giant. It all happened in under a second. The huge beast smashed into Kakarot's side with his elbow, before twisting in the air to confront him next as the body of the other Saiyan flew violently back down into the Lookout, his body breaking through the entire ceiling. Swooping under Garlic's kick, moving under him, Vegeta grasped him by his lower body and back, and dove back towards the surface of the Earth itself.

As the pair of them fell, he felt Garlic struggle in the air, snarling as he did, and all it did was inspire the Prince to dig his fingers into the monster's flesh, to lock their suicidal powerbomb dive together. The ground approached more and more rapidly. The sound barrier shattered around them once, then twice, and finally a third time. When his knees hit the ground first, Vegeta felt his legs dislocate immediately, before his body smashed into the hardened soil of the forest floor, breaking the face of the Earth.

Garlic jr.'s body however, exploded into the ground on impact. Vegeta's arms almost felt like they'd been torn off from the violent force of Garlic's impact. Bones broke through the giant's body, all through his neck and back. The body tore through the mud for dozens upon dozens of metres, digging a deeper and deeper hole, before he lay motionless.

Struggling to even stay on his knees, Vegeta just breathed as he looked up, his energy depleting further and further by the moment.

Kakarot. Kakarot get here now.

Weakly, Vegeta tried to stand, but his knees immediately gave out, dropping him back to his fours. That was almost everything he had left, and now his body was torn and wrecked. Looking up towards the lookout, all Vegeta could feel was the weakened sense of his comrade's power.

Breathing out shakily, Vegeta realized Goku wasn't there, because he'd been hit so hard by Garlic on the Lookout... meaning he-

Before the thought could finish, Vegeta looked up to see the towering blue monster in front of him. Managing a smile, Vegeta stared his fate back in the face. Without a second thought, he drew snot and spit together in the back of his throat, before spitting up towards the demon. When the saliva based projectile hit Garlic in the chest, the already very cross demon transformed his rage even further.

"The spit was worth more than you, you should be honoured," Vegeta managed, before he felt something in his chest.

It stopped his entire life, it was as if it froze. Five knives plunged into his flesh, and he barely managed to look down, seeing the huge blue hand's claws dug into his chest, scraping against his ribs. Nerves sent vicious sensations through his brain, causing even Vegeta to cry out in agony.

"I've grown tired of your interference, Vegeta. Do you understand what that means? You've done nothing but get in my way all day, and I think it's very rude, don't you?" the demon asked, before beginning to twist his fingers in his chest.

Blood spat out of Vegeta's mouth as he felt his muscles being torn from the bones. There was only one recourse, to scream. It was almost enough to drag his mind from consciousness. He felt his power slipping further and further as the torture pulled his muscles into a stew of bloodied flesh. The entirety of the front of his armour and suit began to fill with his blood.

"I have a more deserving opponent to crush now, Vegeta," Garlic spat, before tossing him aside.

When Vegeta's shoulder hit the ground, all he could do was quiver. Reaching up with his hand, he held his chest together with a weakened hand, watching as blood just poured over his chest.

I'm dying.

Worst of all, he'd been left here to die. Weakly, he turned his head to watch as the red trail followed the giant on his climb back to the top of the tower to confront Kakarot once more. If he got there, Kakarot was finished. If Kakarot was finished, then everyone here would be as well. Bulma, Trunks, and Bulla would surely face a death conceived only in the mind of a deranged psychopath. Slowly, lifting himself up, Vegeta let his ki carry him. Wheezing as he slowly ascended, he felt his golden aura flicker, but he willed it to stay. Even as his power desperately tried to abandon him, he pulled it into himself if only through his will alone. He would not let this monster strip everything away from this world, or his family. He wouldn't even let him harm Kakarot even if those things weren't at stake. He didn't deserve to fight Kakarot, or any of them.

Slowly, the edge of the Lookout came into view as his frame barely climbed to the top of the huge structure. It was a herculean effort merely to hold himself in the air a moment longer, before barely pulling his feet down to the edge. Weakened legs barely held up his weight as he held himself perfectly still, for fear of falling. Before him was the sight he feared. He had one last role to play.

"Garlic!" he shouted, his voice half gurgled from blood slowly leaking into his lungs. The expansion of his chest agonized him.

Before him, Kakarot had barely started to pull himself out of the hole his body had made in the Lookout, and Garlic loomed over him with a sinister stance.

"No more interruptions Go-" immediately the titanic demon paused. "..."

Veins slowly began to expand all over the muscular creature's frame as he tensed. With the last of his energy, the Saiyan Prince formed his power into one point.

"None of you Saiyans know when to stay dead-!" Garlic shouted, throwing his weight to one side and turning about to face him, preparing to charge.

Pointing his one hand out, energy trembling in his hand, Vegeta gave him his only worthwhile response.

"Big Bang Attack!"

The bolt left his hand a second later, as he felt his hair and aura shift in colour. His form disappeared as everything he had left in his body had been focused into his attack. When the energy blast connected with Garlic's left side, just as he had started his charge, the giant's frame stopped in its track. What followed was a tremendous explosion. A tower of debris and dust shot into the air as a blue coloured light warped through the heavens. Bricks and fragments began raining from above as Vegeta just breathed raggedly, clutching his mortal injury.

"Remember, Garlic," Vegeta breathed. "When you get to Hell, it was the Saiyan race that sent you there."

Without warning the cloud of dust and debris opened up in front of him, as the huge, snarling demon charged through, his left arm only a hung pile of meat. Looking into the giant's eyes, Vegeta couldn't do anything to move. He couldn't do anything to block himself. He couldn't do anything for anyone now.

Now, it was up to Kakarot.

Finish him, Kakarot.

The last thing he saw, was the demon's huge right fist swing towards him.

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Garlic jr.:

With his arm extended, Garlic's fist landed squarely on Vegeta's jaw. The black haired Saiyan's body immediately rag-dolled before falling back helplessly. Flying out across the open sky, Garlic watched with a resentful gaze as the Saiyan Prince fell from the top of the Lookout towards the Earth below. With his injuries, he'd die even if Garlic didn't destroy the planet. It was a mercy that he'd decided to knock him out, even if it was a mercy he'd not wanted to give.

No more interference from you. Pathetic little wretch. Saiyans sending me to Hell? Ridiculous.

Turning his head to look at the heavily labouring Goku, Garlic jr's eyes just impassively watched him. Every second he delayed this planet's fate, he gave this worm an opening to defeat him, and he was done playing games. He was done with these Saiyans, and he was done with this miserable planet. Slowly lifting into the air, Garlic's body began to spark with red and black bolts of electricity as he slowly began to concentrate.

"You should be happy to know, Son Goku, that I'm going to give you the privilege of dying at the same time as everyone else on this miserable planet."

Raising his hands, the blackened energy began to coalesce between his hands, before filling with the blood red energy within. The deep booming hum his Orb of Destruction made was now familiar and almost calming. Closing his eyes, Garlic breathed evenly as he relaxed almost, letting his power collect above him, collecting higher and higher amounts of power as the red-tainted light began to fight for dominance with the light from the sun itself. With each pulse of the increasingly massive attack, depraved thoughts slipped through his mind.

He remembered how good it felt to kill Son Gohan, how much of a release it was. Now he just wanted to feel that all over again. Would destroying this planet bring him the same joy?... It couldn't. The only thing that could even come close to reliving such an exhilaration, would be knowing exactly what the Saiyan who'd locked him away felt, when his life slipped from him. Even now, he was going to deny himself knowing what Son Goku felt, if only to ensure his victory. Dominion over the universe mattered much more then his desire to indulge his senses.

"It's a shame really, I remember how my father told me it was my destiny to rule this planet," Garlic chuckled to himself, opening his eyes finally. Above him, he held the largest orb he'd yet formed. "He would be so disappointed to know how unruly it was. Oh well... I wonder what the next world I come across thinks of their new God?"

"Garlic," the only conscious Saiyan for half a planet said up to him, still struggling to stand. "You won't get away with this! Nothing can last forever. You're going to be beaten, and when you are-"

It was impossible to stop his lip from curling with disgust and annoyance. So, now was the part where they tried to diminish his victory? He had no time for this! This was what they'd fallen to?!

"HAH! HAH! HAHAHAHAHA! HOOOO HOO HOOOO HAHAHAHAHA!" Garlic laughed. "For all that Saiyan posturing, for all your righteous condemnation of me, for all those claims of victory to come, it's come to this! Well allow me to spell it out for you... I've won! I will soon be the most dominant power in the entire universe. Even creatures stronger than myself will kneel before me! And you and everyone on this planet are going to die, and what remains is going to drift through this solar system as little more then faded memories and rocks! The strongest of you were no match for me, and all you've done is made me even stronger. With each blow I've learned!"

Pulling back his arms, preparing to launch his attack, all he could do was grin.

"And now, I achieve my final victory. You DIE!-"

"Destructo Disc!"

A strange voice filled the air, and Garlic blinked, for a moment almost forgetting the hum of his attack. Turning his head, Garlic only caught a glimpse of a golden disc whipping through the air as it flew past his outstretched arms. Immediately, he lose all sensation in them. What... what was happening here?! He pulled his arms down at the shoulder, where he still had sensation, he looked to where his forearms, elbows, and hands should have been on both arms, and found them gone.

What just-

Turning his head up, he saw a tiny man with black hair perhaps fifty metres from him. Immediately his red eyes narrowed hatefully on this pitiful human. A human delayed him?... A HUMAN!?

"You," Garlic snapped. "I hope you enjoy having your flesh pealed off, you pathetic little-"

"TIEN! NOW!"

Tien?

"Tri-Beam HA!"

Turning his head upward, he felt a small spike in energy above him, above the Orb of Destruction. But there was something else... without his hands, he couldn't guide the attack, he couldn't grasp at the fabric of his own energy to manipulate or control it. When whatever this Tri Beam was hit his attack, he suddenly felt it shove towards him. Both his eyeridges shot up before the giant attack ball shoved into him. Immediately black energy flowed over him and Garlic felt his body sizzle. He was already caught in its field, and ironically found himself unable to pull away from the huge mass of energy he'd acquired.

What is happening!? Who-?! But! My own attack!

Slowly, he felt himself sucked deeper into his own energy, despite trying to raise a barrier to protect himself. The blood red energy within swirled around him, stripping his bones of their flesh second by second, before the entire ball began to fluctuate violently around him, being pushed further and further towards its critical mass. There was no world beyond the darkness of his orb, or its crimson judgement. And as soon as it detonated, Garlic felt his physical shell rip out of existence once more.

His moment of triumph had been delayed... by humans.

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Gohan:

When he landed, his body landed among spikes and hardened rock. Slowly, eyes opened to look at a bleak world around him. When his eyes looked upward, he only saw a black sky, covered in clouds. But the most noteworthy thing about it all, was the vast emptiness around him. Looking out across this realm, he saw only a barren wasteland.

Spiked constructs were scattered above in all directions. A few red lakes could be seen as well, but the most strange part about this seemingly endless landscape, was that he didn't see a single soul. It was a bleak, vast, emptiness. Slowly taking several steps, the Saiyan found himself trying to understand the gravity of where he was, because this was it. This was it. This was existence itself now, and it already made his stomach sink. It wasn't just the fact that this was... what it was, it was that this would be all there was.

Forever.

There would be no seeing Pan. Even if she lived through everything, that would be here world. She would live a good life, and at the very least not come here. In its own way, it was a relief. The idea that his daughter would be dragged down into this... this... nightmare was a warm thought. The idea that he'd never see her grow up, and that he'd never see her accomplish anything in her life, the idea that even after she died, for all eternity he'd not spend another moment with her, beyond in his own limited memories, punished something deep inside of him.

The idea that he'd never see his parents again. It was all the same things, but only made worse. They'd hoped for so much more for him, but when they got to the afterlives, either now, or in the future... they'd understand just how guilty he was. His mother more than anyone, he feared would not just be disappointed, but would feel he deserved to be here, if she only knew half the truth of just how deep his crimes went.

Their son was the monster King Yemma described.

A monster fit to be put in a cage for an eternity. There would be no reincarnation, there would be no Heaven, all there would be would be this... wasteland, this endless wasteland for an eternity, trapped down in this nothingness with God knows what, to suffer in his loneliness. Given a body so that he could suffer in this form as well.

He would never know his sister.

Two siblings he'd never fully know were left behind as well. He knew Goten, but hardly as a brother should have.

I don't deserve this.

Without even realizing it, his entire body had tensed as he stood there in the wasteland, standing in his red shirt and black jeans. His fingers closed into fists as he felt his breathing slowly increasing. It wasn't grief which held his heart now, not anymore. The thing that gripped him, was one of the contributing factors to why he was condemned to this hell. Rage wrapped itself around the core of his being as he scowled and sneered at his new surrounding.

"This is it?" he asked himself angrily. "This?!" he threw his arms out, walking around in circles, rambling to himself almost.

After all of his struggles just to live, they took him exactly where he'd feared. All those people had dragged him down into this nightmare by having died by his hand. Nevermind that someone else would have been sent to do the job if he hadn't. Nevermind that if he didn't do it, they'd have killed him. What the King of the Underworld said was simple. If you were a coward, you deserved this. How could anyone, no matter what their crime, deserve... this? An unending sentence here?!

I don't deserve this!

Slowly, a golden aura came to life around his body as he breathed in violently, his eyes wildly looking around for something, anything to be the victim of his anger. Because if he deserved to be down here, then destroying someone down here couldn't be a crime. After all, they were here for being the scum of the universe as well. But even then, it was just barren. Slowly lifting into the air, Gohan surveyed even more of the blasted landscape, viewing further in the distance, great travelling clouds of ice and fire, seeing storms on the horizon.

But worst of all, even now sentenced to this... he was alone.

It was impossible to hold back, to hold back all of his anger, to hold back his fears, to hold back anything. Suddenly, the spark of power which had saved him a hundred times before, ignited his power within. Golden flames emerged from his body as he cried out in a single voice. With rapid motion his aura swirled around him, growing ever greater as the stale ground beneath him was churned up, slowly grinding away in a circular motion as a massive, massive crater formed.

Spiked constructs for hundreds of miles began to rumble, along with the very ground itself. The blackened, almost unmoving clouds above him, at first slowly, but then rapidly, began to twist and turn, before cycling around his energy. Without even realizing it, Gohan's energy touched the floor and the ceiling of the Hell he was condemned.

"AHHHH!" his unnatural scream carried across the wasteland, carrying with it his anger, and his pain. It was a new birth cry, the first actions in his new life, in a new, bleak world.

A world that would last an eternity. All across the Other World, in the heavens or in Hell itself, the creatures which lurked within felt the arrival of this new, overwhelming power. And the world itself, the fabric of space around him, began to tremble.

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Goku:

"Bail!"

Immediately, Goku felt Krillin's hands grabbing his shoulders, before he pulled him back violently. Behind them, in the distance, Goku watched as the huge black and red orb flickered increasingly violently in the skies above, next to the Lookout itself. Suddenly, it expanded violently before collapsing in on itself, then the sky turned to one of fire. The black and red flames rolled out across the heavens themselves seemingly, and consumed the whole of the Lookout itself. Staring back with widened eyes, Goku could only wait as the shock-wave caught up with them. When it hit, suddenly the three of them tumbled from the sky. Trees all around the forest below were flattened by the massive wave, sending trees down for hundreds of kilometres.

As soon as he hit the ground, Goku winced in pain, his back hitting a tough old, though now destroyed tree.

Looking to his side, he saw Krillin and Tien already getting up and dusting themselves off.

"Do you think we got him?" Krillin asked, a huge grin appearing across his face. "Be the firs time in a long time me and Tien took down the baddie-"

"He's still alive," Goku immediately cut in. "Please, I need you two to help me. I need your energy, now."

Immediately Tien and Krillin were at his side, nodding seriously as they arrived, placing their hands on his shoulders. He could feel their energy pulling into his body, even if it was limited, it was enough to jump start much of his own power. Concentrating, Goku let the foreign source of power flow through him even as he looked towards the declining light in the distance, knowing Garlic was already reborn and regrowing his body. The flow of energy ceased almost a minute later as Tien and Krillin breathed out, looking exhausted themselves now.

Pulling himself back to his feet, Goku smiled at his comrades, nodding towards each of them.

"Thanks guys, I really needed that. I've got one more chance to get this right," he said. "If I screw up, uhm, I'll apologize once we get to the afterlife."

Immediately, Krillin smiled back towards him, and Tien followed.

"Are you crazy? You always find a way to win," Krillin offered.

"Well, except Raditz, Turles, Broly-" Tien started, which immediately earned him a dim look from Krillin.

"Way to build up our only chance's confidence, Tien."

"I just thought we should be honest about our chances," Tien commented, before smiling directly back at Goku. "You've got this Goku."

Nodding, Goku turned his head up and saw a red and black sphere forming once again in the distance. He was getting right back to business, wasn't he? Closing his eyes and focusing his ki, and the ki of his friends, Goku breathed in and out evenly several times, before his eyes flashed open, blue and green once again as a familiar golden glow and aura unfolded from his body. Tien and Krillin's power was enough to jump start his form back to its more powerful state. He was hardly at the top of his game however, and he knew it. There was only an opportunity for one more attempt, just like he told Tien and Krillin.

"Vegeta's hurt," Goku observed, turning his head towards the others. "He's somewhere among the wreckage of the forest. Please go find him and get him to a doctor, he'll die without help."

"But what if you need our help?" Krillin asked.

"I appreciate it, but you've already helped me more then you know. Thanks you for everything."

With a burst of golden energy, Goku took off into the sky, flying towards his destiny. The empty void was going to await both him, and Garlic, and that was just fine. Seeing the Orb of Destruction again, the huge sphere being formed in the air, the Saiyan already devised his plan. Garlic was always static in the attack. If it was thrown back at him, it'd just kill him. The point couldn't be to throw it back at him, but to use his position as his final weakness. There was one way to do this.

There was one thing he had left to try, and he now had the power again to do it.

Chi-Chi, Goten, I'm going to make sure everything is alright.

As the orb reflected in the air while he closed his distance, his thoughts moved again towards his eldest son. An image of the boy as he was when he lost him all those years ago flashed before his eyes. The little boy that stopped this demon twenty years ago. He could imagine what life would have been like for him, to go from that happy smiling child, to... what he was, when they met again. But now that image had been ruined for him. Even the image of his son as a killer, was ruined by him. All he could see was his son's lifeless body. A broken body with lifeless eyes and blood, blood everywhere. And standing over that body, even in his mind's eye, was the very same one which stood over it in this life. The very same monster he saw in the distance, hovering before an ever growing ball of dark energy.

Stopping in the air, staring back towards the growling titan as he let more and more of his energy flow up into the attack designed to destroy the Earth, Goku let his arms hang at his side as he slowly began to gather the last remnants of his power. Huge arcs of black electricity sparked across the surface of the attack. The now familiar glow of deep red demonic energy shone down on him, and the Saiyan just let himself stay calm.

"Those two human rats haven't changed anything," Garlic sneered. "You don't have the power to stop me, just because those rodents gave you their power to jump start that pretty little transformation of yours. You have nothing left to stop me."

Both of them however, froze in the air as something unbelievable happened. It wasn't just his imagination either, as clearly Garlic's head turned up, looking around for it as well. In the far distance, beyond space perhaps even beyond time. It was...

"Gohan?" Goku spoke aloud, his eyes wandering about, trying to find the source of it. It was so distant in his mind he could barely comprehend it.

The energy was filled with anger and pain, with sorrow and regret. On the edges of this faded power in the distance, Goku could sense his son's fate. The power had seeped through the barriers between the worlds. But inside all of the chaos he felt in his son's power, Goku also felt something else. It was as if his son had reached out and placed his hand on his shoulder. The broken body of his son, the only one he could imagine in his mind, looked towards him, asking for him to save him.

Tightening his jaw, he looked up towards the bewildered Garlic, who still held on to his attack, preparing his assault.

"Where is he?" Garlic asked, his voice sounding half excited, half panicked. "He died. I felt him die, I kill him, he was at my feet."

All Goku could do was hold on to the energy he felt from his son.

Turning his red, furious eyes back down towards him, Garlic sneered.

"Another trick, just one to distract me, is that it? It doesn't matter. I don't care whose power you have floating around here to distract me," he snapped. "It won't save you."

Golden energy crackled across Goku's right arm as he braced himself.

"No, you're wrong. Gohan did save me. Because if I don't stop you, he can never come back. I couldn't save him before, you're right. But I am going to stop you, because I'm going to save my son from the fate you pushed him into, the one he never deserved."

Words were done with. It was time.

A whoosh of red and black energy surged up from Garlic's form as he sneered back down towards him.

"This time, there is no clever escape for this planet or for you, Goku," Garlic snarled. "We'll see if your energy comes back after YOU die!"

The already massive sphere suddenly expanded violently, almost doubling in size as Garlic poured everything into it. Inside the red blood of the orb, Goku saw for the second time, victory.

With that, the titan, only a fraction of the size of his own energy sphere, threw his arms down towards him. The entire earth almost felt like it twisted and turned with the sudden shift of energy. The atmosphere seemed to burn around it as clouds swirled violently in the air away from it, but being drawn in in the same motion. The booming thrumming noise it made was deafening almost. Huge bolts of lightning sparked off of it, setting the air itself on fire around each bolt. The only noise which made it through everything was the cackle of the psychopath who'd created it. The same cackling laughter which took pleasure in the suffering of others.

Staring into the mass as it came driving towards him, slowly turning in the air, Goku felt the energy still surging through his arm. His last chance had arrived, and it was laid open in front of him. Staring past the Orb, Goku saw Garlic himself behind it. The only barrier to his victory, was the sphere, because it was the only thing between him and Garlic. Having sapped all of it power into the orb itself, Garlic, even with a rapid regeneration of his energy, was naked, even if only for a moment.

Golden sparks of energy rippled one last time, before Goku launched himself towards the Sphere, pushing almost everything into his arm before throwing it towards the blackened tainted sun which was diving towards his home.

"DRAGON FIST!"

For the first time in combat for the manoeuvre, theory became practice. For almost a decade he'd worked on the technique, unlocking the power within himself. All of his Super Saiyan energy bulged around him, before his fist threw out in front of him. Crackling golden energy mixed and transformed into something else. His will became physical, as golden energy blasted from the end of his fist, shifting into the form of a Dragon itself. The huge beast roared as it flew ahead of him, colliding with the centre of the massive, darkened sphere.

The huge sphere crackled violently as it swelled inward, pushing back against him. Inside the sphere itself, the dragon and energy seemed to simply become absorbed inside the massive orb. Still flying towards it himself, Goku felt his heart stop as his energy seemed to just fall helplessly into the red tinted darkness.

"HA! HAHAHAHA! You fool! You can't-... W... what's happening!?" Garlic's voice shouted.

It took seconds for Goku's eyes to see what Garlic had sensed within his own attack. It was the light. Light emerged from the very heart of the sphere. The Darkness itself being thrown further and further into the corners of itself, before everything simply shattered. Fragments of black and red energy blasted away in a wave of golden light, scattering it to the empty sky. The light was almost blinding as he continued to blast forward, his fist still extended, the Dragon reforming at the edge of his power as it flew towards his target. Looking into red eyes, Goku saw something he hadn't imagined he'd see in Garlic junior since they'd started fighting.

He saw fear.

And it was a familiar fear. It was the one which Goku knew all too well. It was the same look that crossed Frieza's face, and Cell's, and finally Bojack's. It was the fear of death. The immortal, the one who could never die, sensed his impending doom. The Golden Dragon roared once more as the light closed in on Garlic himself, leaving the beast to stare into his fate for agonizing seconds, before the Dragon's jaws opened, just as it connected with him. Arcs of golden light sparked in all directions as it hit him, before burrowing through his chest. A gurgled how escaped Garlic's lips as he twisted in pain. The Dragon itself sailed through him, its long winding body emerging out the other side and twisting in the air. Finally, Goku himself arrived, his fist diving through Garlic's stomach a second later, sending blood and burnt innards splattering out of his back. The giant vomited blood as the dragon continued to twist and turn in the air.

The deep gore from the giant's mouth splattered all down Goku's naked back and shoulder as the titan just clutched onto his shoulders, trying to hold himself together. This was it. But Goku's thoughts couldn't trace towards the void as the Dragon circled around them, moving in for its second and final strike. His only thoughts were of his son. They were of the energy he sensed past the fabric of the universe. With all of that engrossing his thoughts, Goku, his fist in Garlic's stomach, and the giant's hands on his shoulders, sent himself, Garlic, and the Dragon, to the source of his thoughts.

The world changed. From clear skies and overwhelming light, to somewhere only vaguely familiar to Goku. A place he'd been only for a short while, but one all too notorious. The smell of stale air filled his lungs. Clear skies became stormy darkness. The green and blue of the Earth was replaced by grey lifelessness. Mountains became balls of spiked spheres. The wind died, and all that remained was the Dragon, soaring through the air around them, twisting and curving back in on them, roaring as it did.

When it dived on them from above, even this world, became nothing but light. The body in front of froze for a moment, before it slowly started to simply vanish before his eyes. Widened, horrified red eyes stared down at him as the edges of his very existence lifted into the air around him, and disintegrated. Finally, the last of the immortal demon vanished, leaving only Goku's fist hanging in the air in front of him.

Breathing out heavily, he stepped back as his black hair returned to him.

This is it. I did it.

Slowly, he fell from the air, his feet hitting the ground and not supporting him. Collapsing to his knees, Goku just looked around at where he was, his black eyes taking it all in. This was more then fitting. Its where Garlic should have gone anyway. It didn't matter if he was immortal or not, now that he was stuck here.

In the air above him, slowly bone and flesh manifested once more, as the howling last moments of Garlic returned. When he fell from the sky, the brute crashed into the grey ground in front of him, breathing heavily, still reliving the last seconds of existence he'd experienced at his hands.

Unable to help it, Goku started to smile. The power he'd felt so far in the distance, was now so near, and even as Garlic slowly started to rise in front of him, his face twisted into a sneer, Goku could only feel relief knowing that this was all over.

"What."

Garlic's foot pushed up, as he looked around him.

"Have."

Bracing his fist as red electricity bounced around it.

"You!"

Reaching back, intent on striking him down, the demon's hellish eyes screamed.

"DONE!"

Before the blow could land, the giant stopped himself, sensing what he did. His mouth slowly dropped before he looked around them again, nervously.

"This. This can't be," he whispered to himself stepping back, before looking up towards the blackened clouds, and back down to the grey ground. "I'm immortal! Where have you taken me!?"

The demand was met by a slow smile from the Saiyan as he remained on his knees, trying to conserve his energy.

Then, it happened. To his left and Garlic's right, a golden haired figure emerged from the wasteland's edge, his blue-green eyes staring back at them. For Goku, it was bittersweet. There was his son, the one he'd lost. Just seeing him again, standing and aliv- there, made his chest swell. But knowing that this was his fate, was enough to bring the edges of tears to his eyes. Everything Gohan had done in his life would forever chain him to this fate. No amount of good could erase what he'd done.

But for Garlic, as soon as Goku looked over towards the demon, he knew the experience was vastly different from his own. The giant trembled as he stepped back, his eyes laced with the same fear Goku saw when he'd destroyed the final Orb of Destruction. With a sad smile on his face, certainly not sad for Garlic, Goku confirmed the monster's fears.

"This is Hell, Garlic."

Turning to him with a horrified expression, the blue skinned beast gasped, his mouth falling agape. It took only seconds for it to twist into a fear induced rage.

"You can't do this to me! I'm immortal!"

Red energy collected into his palm as he prepared to strike, only it never landed. Instead, the sound of bones breaking and a gargled scream echoed out. A blast of golden energy rolled around them as Gohan's form appeared next to Garlic's, his leg already having smashed the bones in Garlic's right arm, pulverizing them. A second later, the Saiyan's hand implanted itself into the flesh of Garlic's throat. Red ruin spilled out of the demon's neck before Gohan slammed him to the ground, clearly pulling the giant down by the bones in his neck.

"You took everything from me!" Gohan shouted, dangerous bolts of hateful energy sparking off of his frame.

Trying to pull himself up, Garlic's body was only met by a kick in the side, sending his massive frame flying, blood trailing after it. It was easy to feel Gohan's energy swelling all around him, before it was unleashed. A terrifying purple wave emerged, tainting the endless wasteland of Hell all around them.

"Cataclysm Cannon!"

When Garlic's body ploughed into a huge mountain of spikes, the demon's form was then immersed in the deadly wave. What followed was an explosion which should have annihilated a planet. A wall of flame emerged across the underworld, sending waves of destruction rolling across the home of the damned.

Slowly, Goku managed to rise up from his knees, staring towards his son. The fury he sensed was overwhelming. For a second he almost thought Gohan would turn to strike him down next. In front of him was a shell. Swallowing, Goku managed to take several steps forward, before grabbing his shoulder. The instinctive flinch from the other Saiyan almost lead to him being struck down, he knew.

"Gohan," he finally said, staring back at him. "I know this will be-"

"I did everything I could to fix things," Gohan managed to say. "I changed. I really did. I tried to do what I could for others, and I'm still sent here. He even told me everything I did was just for me, and-"

"Gohan," Goku's voice cut through again, staring at his son sincerely.

There was so much to say. There was so much he wanted to do. But he couldn't lie to him. The only thing Goku could do, was give his son a promise.

"I'm going to get you out of here," he swore. "Whatever it takes. Alright? I promise I'll get you home."

The other Saiyan just looked tired for a brief second, and the elder Saiyan smiled back, before pulling his son into an embrace. It would be the last time they met until a year from now, unless he could get to Namek and used their Dragon Balls. All that mattered though, was letting his son know that this wasn't the end. Even if he couldn't return, he would do everything to pull him out of this place.

Stepping back, Goku could see more then just anger. He could see grief on the other Saiyan, who couldn't even bring himself to look back at him.

I am going to get you out of here.

"You'd better go," Gohan then said, turning away from him slowly. "I have unfinished business I need to take care of."

In the distance, Gohan was looking towards where he'd left Garlic's ruin.

Placing his two fingers towards his forehead, Goku reluctantly began to think of home.

"Don't... don't tell mom I'm down here," Gohan's voice finally cut through. "Tell her anything else but this."

Before he could respond, Goku wasn't standing next to Gohan anymore.

He was standing in a humble house in the woods.

I'm tired.

Before he could even think to do anything else, he collapsed.

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Author's Notes:

Holy crap. This dragged out a lot longer then I intended it to. Originally, this chapter was planned to be about half the length it ended up being. I do apologize, but I wanted to add some more depth to it if I could, and I wanted to give Vegeta, Krillin, and Tien a chance to shine as well. A lot of this chapter is also really Garlic snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

But if you were wandering, in my original design for this story, the Dragon Balls were to be destroyed in the last two chapters. There would have been no ending with Goku consoling Gohan about bringing him home. Instead, Gohan was going to stay dead, and stay in Hell. That was the original ending for this story, and this would have been the last chapter, followed by an epilogue. Obviously things have changed, which I'm happy for.

There are at least two more "big" Sagas left to do, but I do have 3-4 smaller plot arcs I wanna do as well. So there are "six" sagas left. But only two of them are planned to be as large as the Turles, Broly, or Garlic sagas.

Expect lots for Pan, Goten, Vegeta, and several others. Of course, the story is centred around Gohan, but his role will diminish ever so slightly to give the rest of the cast a bit more of a chance to be heard. Obviously, the delay for this chapter came as a result of the size of it. I'm really glad Garlic is done after this chapter. Don't expect any of the fights going forward, to be as big as this one. As I said, this was originally going to be the end of the story, so between last chapter and this one I really wanted to pull out all the stops.

Don't expect huge chapters for a while, this has really drained me. I am going to be taking a week or two break from writing as well, given I have slaved over this for over a month.

I'd have to say that my two favourite parts of this chapter, was firstly the part where Vegeta came in at the battle of the Lookout. The second part I really enjoyed was the Dragon Fist. The climax, at least for me, ended up being just as I envisioned it in my mind. It also speaks to how things have been built up in this chapter, where Garlic wished he could understand what Gohan felt before he died. In a way, he got to find out when the Dragon obliterated all of the energy he'd massed, and then obliterated him. Best of all, of course, is the irony that the Dragon leads to his final defeat, parody how the Eternal Dragon's wishes really lead to his rise.

I also really wanted to give this one to Goku, as he's really the Hero of Dragon Ball, and a huge secondary in this story. Go team Goku!

Finally, I want to list off the music that really inspired me this Chapter. For a lot of Goku's moments, I actually listened to the English Soundtrack from Movie 4 and 5. Revelation by American Pearl, as well as Rebirth by Boy Hits Cloud, as well as I'm a Cloud.

But the number one song, which I imagined fit all of the characters thoughts in this chapter, as well as now headlines the title, is "I'm Dying" by VAST. I'd not heard it in years, but when I heard it earlier last week, it really inspired me for the big, big confrontations that happened.

I hope everyone enjoys. I also hope that if you haven't reviewed before, you'll review now, as this was kinda the period on the story. This is where it was originally meant to end. Lemme know your thoughts on the chapter, and even the story if you want. The next planned ending for the story won't change, as I see no reason to add more to the story. So the next time the ending of the story rolls around, there won't be a second chance.

I hope everyone has a good week, and I'll be back with more content hopefully within a month.

I do apologize if there are a few mistakes laying around in this chapter. I have proof read it repeatedly as I've written it, but I'm notoriously bad at proofing. I'll fix more errors if I find them. Thanks everyone.

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Reviewers:

Kaosmoshpit: answered by PM.

Pyromania101: answered by PM.

DarkKnightShiva: This is the last chapter of the ark, so you most definitely got what you wanted (and so did I, lol)

Lourdes-Sunrise-Princess: Be excited once more!

Tomorrow4eva: Well, I hope you feel the same way about this chapter, lol.

Theblukrew: I thought to change the chapter name to match "I'm Dying" if only because I don't see Goku's return as a triumphant anymore, but a struggle for him. The Return of the King just didn't seem to match the chapter once I managed to finish it.

Perfect Carnage: Thanks for the review as always. I hope this chapter was as breathtaking.

Assweetlilpixie: It's all wrapped up now. Garlic will have a few cameos, but he's not King of the villain mountain any longer. Expect lots of villain cameos for Gohan in Hell. And look forward to Gohan's wonderful reunions with lost friends :P

Aqua Roxas: I agree!

Guest1: Probably because the writing usually gets better as I write more. My style has changed a bit since then. Changes a bit every saga really.

DBZ fan the first: I hope you can say the same about this chapter :D

MaxPain32: I tried to get this up sooner, but its really hard to write this much, especially when my life's been getting busier.

Kakkrot: Thanks a bunch. I really put a huge amount into the previous chapter. For Gohan, I think it is his best chapter in the story. But it's really his final struggle.

Etsukazu: Hello my French comrade! Super happy about the review of course. As to Gohan and Videl coming to an understanding? That'll be tough. There are a lot of factors behind what's coming down the pipe. Videl and Gohan are going to have more then a few scenes moving forward, but I'm not sure either of them will ever be happy with what goes down. Videl's plot arc does excite me much more for the next few sagas however.

DZ: You'll get more then one Saga, I promise. I personally can't wait for a few years to pass. I've got a really, really fun one to do for me anyway.

Uchiha999: Wait no longer! :O

Guest2: I actually don't drink, smoke (tobacco or weed), or do any kind of narcotic to boot. I was stone cold sober when I wrote that. By the way, I loved writing it, and I enjoyed the shit out of this saga. I'm sorry to hear that you didn't.

Guest3: Hopefully you'll be able to say the same for this.

Sekhelmet: Cooler will show up briefly in one saga coming forward, and announcing it now, one of the major sagas coming up (eventually, not right away by any means, a long way off in fact) is the Cooler Saga.

RedHunter87: It's alright if you don't buy the truly immortal part, because I'm going to flatly let you know, for then purposes of this story, Garlic jr. is immortal. So, uhm... it doesn't really matter if you buy it? A lot of this chapter is really about Garlic overcoming his enemies by playing to his strengths, and learning from his mistakes, even if he still was a blowhard about it. He's learned and grown as things have gone forward, but he still cannot overcome his own hubris entirely. He got what was coming to him, and it was great to write him being trapped in Hell. He's going to have so many productive new friends down there :P

MasenkoX: I think I answered this by PM.

Daughter of Vegeta: I dunno if that's entirely true, keeping readers as I write. I've lost a fair number of reviewers since Chapter 30, largely due to making Garlic jr. the main antagonist of this chapter. Last chapter had the most reviews since Chapter 30, and even then it was heavily down. Which is alright with me, because I really do want to present my vision. The entire story has been planned from start to finish. It's just a matter of writing it out. More reviews just gives me more motivation to write it out.

But I am glad that I've retained you as a reviewer. Thank you for your kind words Daughter of Vegeta! :) Also, I think you'll like one of the main villains coming up in the next saga :D

Brograham18: Brighten up! Updates are here!

Brelic: Yea, I'm aware that each of my last two chapters are bigger then most stories. I can't help it, it's just the way I write :(

Abaddon's storyline will be more revealed over the next few sagas, I promise. Including his role among the Kais, or at least, his originally intended role.

PursuingPerfection: I hope you enjoy the fact that Garlic's alive, but forever trapped in Hell. So he's basically facing the fate he'd face, if he had died. Oh irony... I love the irony :D

Guest4: Looking forward to writing more.

GreedtheWolf: Garlic's saga is done! The new Saga coming up will have some interesting arrivals, including the Supreme Kai of Time!

Guest5: One of my more scathing reviews. But once again, as I've repeated, being knocked out is a physical injury. If you heal from it, you're not knocked out. You can't knock someone out for hours, whose brain can't be properly harmed. I apologize you feel this way. It's alright to not like Garlic. It's alright to rate an entire saga on not liking Garlic. But I find it kinda disingenuous to make up excuses not to like it, especially ones that don't make sense. There are plenty of characters who I don't like, and I'm not interested in reading, which is cool. If you don't like any of the content moving forward, feel free to let me know, though I would ask, if it is possible, not to repeat the same things in reviews over and over again. I read them, I respond to them. If you don't like the responses, repeating the same thing won't change them.

Elvenscribbler: I think I answered this one by PM?

Lmc9389: You're right, the Earth has taken some serious damage, and there will be consequences for this until the Dragon can be summoned again.

Ninjaguy67: Vegeta, in some ways, I think, sees Gohan as a grim reflection of himself, and of what he once was. Only in many ways, Gohan was even worse, given he was a complete sellout, unlike Vegeta. Gohan for the longest time, represented what the Saiyans were under Frieza. Honourless, self serving monsters, and I think it took some serious events for Vegeta to turn away from this view.

Guest6: Thanks for the advice. And yea, I always respond to people if I can.

DaLightningKid: Hopefully you feel the same way about this one, only for Goku.

RandomReader: I hope you do manage to get your project up and running. It may start out rough, and the first few ideas may be hard to get across, but you'll sharpen with time if you work at it.

Ki Ai Sky: Pan's got no real fighting potential right now, at least compared to everyone else. She could muster maybe a power level of 2,000 if cornered, but against whose out there right now? It's just not enough. And yes! You see why I used Garlic in this saga. It all makes sense now, doesn't it?!

AwesomeGuyV7: Thanks so much. I really try to write what I think would be reasonable reactions from people. And death is apart of life, so killing off characters must be an option. In this world, there is more that can be done about it.

Nostalgic Beauty: It really was Gohan's finest hour, and it's lead to him facing his past and the consequences of it. Its something he can never escape. The real question becomes, why do good if it won't be rewarded?... Or is good in and of itself, the reward?

Morisako83: I'm gonna spoil it. Gohan will come back to life. But it's not about that. He'll come back to life this time.

VuvuzelaHero: I hope you enjoyed the finale as much as you enjoyed Garlic getting the shit kicked out of him. :)

bumike99: I'm super stoked to hear you burned through it in 3 days. But that's huge man, this thing is like what? Two Novels? Three?

Guest7: RIGHT NOW!

Thank you for the support everyone!