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.

65. Chapter 65: A Saiyan Duel

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 65: A Saiyan Duel

Vegeta:

So, this is the girl who was presented to me in that false nightmare.

It was uncanny, now that he got the full look at her. It was hard to imagine having any daughter other than Bulla, let alone one that looked so much like him. In person the look was even more uncanny, the only features he could see of Bulma were her hairline, though she most definitely had Saiyan hair, not human, and perhaps the back of her jaw and ears. Even now, only moments before he was about to be joined in a battle for his own life, he had to examine if this creature could really be what it appeared. Were he the man who fought Kakarot on Earth, or scrambled for the Dragon Balls on Namek, perhaps this would have been the vision of what he expected, if he ever had a daughter.

Crossing his arms, Vegeta just tilted his head back while he continued to stare at her.

"So, you've done this before I've heard," he commented. "Do you try to kill me often then?"

Every battle he faced was always something new, something to be learned from. For Junia, if what he'd heard was true, every battle she wanted to have was a struggle against the same man, the same warrior only in a different time or place. What was the point of it? There was still something to prove.

"You're not normally one for small talk," came the reply as she made sure her gloves were in place, before closing her hands into fists while she stared at him. A sinister edge curling at her lip as well before she continued. "Trying to buy time isn't normally a tactic that you try until you're much more desperate."

That was enough to make him narrow his eyes on her, feeling himself give a slight grimace to his features before he unfolded his arms, taking several steps forward as he braced himself for the beginnings of their battle.

"If we're done with the talk then, why don't you show me the power you used to kill me the last time? Clearly I'm dying to find out what it is anyway," Vegeta mocked openly, letting some of his ki flow to the surface. A blue aura rippled around his frame as he concentrated on her, examining her stance, trying to make sure it was a mirror of the technique Piccolo had shown him before.

Her stance is more like Turles than mine. Well, at least I know I'll have an advantage in quality.

As strange as that sounded... that bothered him. A vengeful warrior who he sired in another world, fought like an embarrassment. Oh Turles certainly was a powerful fighter, at least when he fought him... but he was clearly the lesser twin to Kakarot. Turles fought like men of his lineage were to be expected. He was a lazy fighter, who relied on power above anything else to solve his problems in a battle. Already he knew she at least fought with more finesse than Turles, given how Piccolo had trained with him when adopting her preferred style, but it was something he doubted would be the case. In truth, he'd hoped for, or imagined a warrior who was a perfected master of his own battle stance. An ultimate challenge of facing an improved successor to the fighting style of Saiyan Nobility.

And instead, I'm going to be dealing with more third class scum.

It was somehow appropriate for them to be where they were. Taro, the far more intimidating of the two of them, had of course displaced multiple fighters across the planet. That kind of power was extreme, especially considering that none of them had realized it'd happened until they simply came to. Still, these were the badlands where he fought Kakarot the first time. The rock was familiar

"You hold yourself like a third class warrior," Vegeta remarked. "Is that why you were such a disappointment?"

A gust of wind blew past the two of them, rustling their black hair and sending Junia's white cape into a flowing motion. There was a familiar hatred he could sense from her in the instant she registered what he'd said. She had the same look in her eyes he knew he had every time he dealt with Frieza. That was a level of hatred that took him back. It didn't spark her to transform into a Super Saiyan however, which had been what he was really expecting, instead, he saw a familiar purple emerge around her form.

Arcs of blue and purple energy swirled between the two of them as they both stood there, waiting for the other to make the first move.

"No more a disappointment than the man who lead a failed rebellion against Frieza," she remarked. "Or one who has never surpassed Turles, or Kakarot."

A direct attack on his pride. They were barraging one another with attacks designed more to destroy their egos, than their bodies. The real test of truth wasn't going to be won with words however, they were going to be won with what made them who they were. Saiyan blood flowed through his veins, and hers, which meant that fighting is what made them who they were. The truth of either of their statements would be tested here and now. It would be either the pitiful third class warrior who rejected her own blood, stricken down by her better. Or it would be the story of the failed prince, who lagged behind anyone who challenged him with any kind of strength.

I will not be defeated by some girl with a chip on her shoulder.

"You've clearly had far more experience at this," Vegeta mocked himself now. "I've never killed my daughter before, where as you've clearly killed weak and inferior versions of myself. If you're so confident that I'm a failure, come prove it."

A predatory look crossed her features, replacing her hateful grimace. Vegeta couldn't help but mirror it himself, sensing the change in his enemy's mood and the ki surrounding them.

"It would be my pleasure."

Power flared from both of them before Junia disappeared into a blur. His first instinct was to follow suit, and move to intercept. But that was just it, that was his first instinct, and the one that Junia would have been banking on. There was a delay in his action, but it was more than worthwhile. Junia appeared in front of him, her stance still held in place, now only a few feet from him. He could already sense the irritation from her, and it was his turn to smile. She had expected him to go for a counterattack, immediately.

"Aren't you irritating?" she asked, looking very cross. "You're one of those rare Vegeta's that's not very offens-"

The sound of a blow sounded out across the untamed cliffs around them. Vegeta's gloved fist collided with Junia's in perfect symmetry, having lined up his shot perfectly with the moment she reappeared, rather than counterattacking her in mid flight. A surprised look crossed her face as his blow landed, her head jarring backwards before her own attack was returned on him, swiping her own fist quickly through the air, catching him across the face next. The two of them stumbled apart, the first hits landed before they reset their stances.

It was something he admitted he found exciting. That first blow was free, just to get a sense of what he was up against by more than just measuring Ki. That hit was strong. It didn't take more than another calm moment of two, before the first strike came back towards him. A sharp, high kick shot straight towards his head. Raising his left arm, he blocked the blow, forcing the top of her foot into this forearm, diffusing the attack. Before he could counterattack, he felt her foot hook his forearm, before pulling her leg in. Bracing his legs, Vegeta held firm, preventing himself from being pulled in. Instead, an irritated Junia hopped off her other foot, sending it sweeping in from the other side. Raising his other arm Vegeta blocked it as well, before smirking back at her as she floated off the ground. Both her legs were halted by his guard exposing her to attack.

"Sloppy," he scoffed. With her abdomen open and his legs available, Vegeta prepared to push himself forward into a kick towards her stomach.

Instead, as soon as his legs began to move, he saw her smirk right back at him. Her arms fanned out, and she rapidly swung her body, while her legs were locked against his forearms. Caught off guard, Vegeta sensed what was happening only too late, as his body was lifted off the ground and spun into a flip. The movement was violent and fast, leaving his body twirling in the air before he felt a sharp pain in his back as he spun. The foot that had connected sent his body out of the spin and into a high velocity dive towards a rocky cliff. Throwing both his hands out, Vegeta hit hands first, using the energy of his body to flip several times up the side of the rockface. Below him, he saw and heard Junia fly straight into the rockface, her arm smashing into the base of the huge pillar of rock. Pushing himself off the side of the rock, Vegeta pointed his right arm down towards the base of the rock, forming a ki blast and launching in quick order. The golden bolt of energy swept down towards its target, before exploding.

The blast rolled out across the wasteland, and he already knew Junia had dodged it. His eyes scanned all through the air around him, looking to sense her ki. His brow shifted up on his right side as his right eye lead his glance towards where he sensed the nearest disturbance in the air. On command, Vegeta threw a punch to the right into what was seemingly empty air. As it passed, a blur in space in front of him showed Junia come into view, an angry visage overtaking her features. Grasping his arm a second later, she pulled it over her shoulder before flipping herself, while holding his arm, straight towards the ground. He flipped right along with her, only he was thrown far ahead.

Clever girl.

His body was flipping through the air, straight towards the ground, and he could sense her rapidly approaching from behind, waiting for him to stop in the air, or waiting for the impact in the surface of the plateau below him.

So far she'd been dictating the battle more than he had, despite his several counters. He knew so far she had the power advantage in their base forms, which meant as they transformed, her advantage may grow.

Seeing the ground every rotation he made as he was falling towards the surface, Vegeta formulated his plan. It wasn't that he was just going to make her pay to win. He was going to win this fight. Power and strength only carried one so far. The most important thing was that he was the Prince of all Saiyans, and he wouldn't be brought low a third class warrior who'd turned her back on her true heritage.

Stopping himself in the air, Vegeta sensed the disturbance in the air behind him, he sensed the Ki coming towards him, and in a single fluid motion, he twisted his body around, turning to face the oncoming attack from behind. Pulling his right up arm and swinging towards her, just as he shifted to the left, Vegeta caught the rapidly approaching Junia in the jaw with an explosive right hand. The crack the blow made echoed out across the wastes before Junia's body violently flipped and spiralled past him, heading down at the same velocity she had before. When her body broken into the top of the surface of one of the cliff's while Vegeta started to cross his arms.

Not clever enough though.

The ground below began to tremble before it evolved into a full blown quake. The sound of rocks chipping away from their place, rolling down the side of the formation which had housed filled the air. White light suddenly replaced it all. Thousands of small chips of stone bounced off his aura as what had once been the cliff below as scattered across the region. Left floating there in the heart of all of it was the very clearly outraged Junia. Her angry howl overtook the noise of the blast as her arms outstretched. When it ended and dust particulate rose through the air around her began to calm down, her demeanour returned back to what it'd been before.

When she returned to the same level as himself, she was staring directly at him before reaching up and brushing a few strands of Saiyan hair from her right eye. She closed her eyes while doing it. When she reopened them, Vegeta felt himself staring into a damning mirror. The glare he was receiving was an intense one, even as she started to smile.

"This is just the fight I've been looking for. Do you know how many times I need to kill you to get a worthwhile fight, Vegeta? I was getting bored."

A desire for revenge, and a desire to be tested. It was a familiar story, especially for Vegeta himself. Frieza had been the one who controlled his whole life, and his hatred for his former employer was immense. Worse, of all the people he'd been around growing up, Frieza had been the closest thing to a parent figure to him, and the only thing he could have taught was ruthlessness and sadism. There was always something inside of him built to rebel. The air between them felt like the air between himself when he finally confronted Frieza. The primary difference, was that she'd confronted him a hundred times... yet never confronted the him that was the source of all her anger.

Vegeta didn't give his knowing smirk in return, all he did was stare back at her dispassionately.

"Of course you're getting bored. You've not fought someone like me before," Vegeta commented.

Her own dark smile only seemed to grow at the final remark.

"Good."

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Junia: Age 778

"No."

There it was again. The same word that had come up again and again. It was hard to imagine why to her of course, because it was such an inversion of what she saw on the outside. From here, from her home, she was isolated. Taro and Brass were strong, and getting stronger by the day. Turles and Raditz trained them, almost constantly, looking for them to become something greater than they were. For Turles even the young Junia recognized it was all about satisfying his own ego, but the results were all that mattered.

And that result was they were getting stronger, and she was stagnating. The only training she got at all was when she was actively seeking it from figures like Raditz. It seemed even more ridiculous, because she knew her father hated Raditz. Why would he want one of his most hated counterparts to train her? Her eyes scanned up the walls of the gravity room they were standing in before she turned her eyes back to Vegeta himself.

"I said no," Vegeta repeated. "250 times gravity is going to resume in two minutes, so I suggest you leave girl."

That was it, wasn't it? It was all about his own training regime. Everything else was a distraction for him, especially given the power gap that had been growing between himself and Turles. What time did he have for her if she couldn't keep up? Her own training with Raditz and the others was nothing compared to what she was seeing right now. Which meant that if she was ever going to play a role in the future, she was going to need to survive the kinds of conditions that were being created, here.

When she didn't budge, her father just stared back at her dismissively before a smirk smile moved up one side of his lips. It was as if he could see what she was thinking, and it was then that she was resolved to stay. The first minute passed in silence, before Vegeta began walking towards the controls, almost ignoring her entirely.

"I don't tolerate things which slow me down," were the only words he spoke, before the room's light shifted to red.

Confidence filled the teenager as she braced herself, intent on staying exactly where she was. The kind of power she could develop here, here in the Gravity chamber, could be unmatched. She would surpass Taro and Brass, and truly be her father's daughter. Already in her mind, she envisioned herself being what she was meant to be, the true successor to the Saiyans, and the next ruler, a ruler brought through strength and blood. Her royal blood would be satisfied and-

The gravity hit.

Her form struggled to stay standing. It was intense, so intense that she felt her knees beginning to buckle, even as her ki rose to try and compensate with the room. The first step she made was her last. Her entire body froze in place as she felt herself breathing the heavy air in, trying her best just to stay up. It was pain, everything in the room was pain, and a pain she couldn't grasp at or hit. Several small choking sounds resounded from her while she stood there, her shoulders trembling as they tried to stay up. Her aura burst around her while she tried all she could not to be brought low, not to be sent to the floor in humiliation.

And she failed.

With a resounding thump against the advanced metallic floor, her body dented into it as she gave a small, defiant cry out. When her hands moved to push herself back up, her body didn't even move in inch in the air before it thumped back down. The room was beginning to suffocate her before she even realized it. Her lungs couldn't expand and contract as they were supposed it. Her eyes widened at the realization as she pushed to bring herself back up again, as if trying to defy the circumstances around her.

Only when she thumped against the surface of the floor again, did she understand the environment her father was training in. It was too much now even to move her arm. Her eyes just looked ahead as she saw her father standing there. The worst part was he was utterly unfazed by all of this. The look he had was only one of disappointment. She could see it in his eyes as he walked over to her fallen form.

"And this is why I don't bother training with weaklings," he commented bluntly, before grabbing her by one of her legs and sliding her towards the door. When it opened, Junia felt her body be tossed through the air, leaving one world, and seemingly entering another. Her lungs filled with air before her back hit green grass outside the training facility.

"Don't waste my time," Vegeta warned her, before the doors closed behind him.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Junia:

There was no tolerance for weakness, and right now she could sense the weakness in this Vegeta, just like all the others she'd killed.

He was moving differently that he should have though. The examination of the last few manoeuvres of the battle so far had told Junia this quite clearly. It was almost like he'd been preparing for her. Which made sense, given that the Trunks which Taro had been obsessing over more than usual was here. The only problem was that he didn't know how she fought. Which meant either this Vegeta was completely different from any she'd come across before, or he'd been given more information. Either that, or he was smart enough to try and change some elements of his fighting style when he found out how many other universes they'd been through.

The primary goal was now to filter through as much of his reactions before they transformed into more advanced stages, or to goad him into slowing down the battle. Right now, if Vegeta were to push himself to his full power and fight her, she actually might lose. It wouldn't be because he'd out-power her by any means, but because she recognized even in the brief engagement they've had, that he wasn't as predictable as his prior counterparts. Which meant that for the first time in a very long time, she was going to need to examine him more thoroughly.

Ironic, that this was going to be a training session that helped her grow for the first time in a very long time.

Examining Vegeta from where he was, Junia let an edge more power slip from her ki reserve. The cape behind her flowed upward the moment she did, sending a gust of wind swirling out from her before he launched herself forward. Vegeta's body reacted almost immediately, as if he was going to counterattack. This time she looked for any tells that would reveal a change from his prior strategy. So far none came into view as she vaulted towards him, blurring with pure speed before she shot below him at the last possible second. Looking down at the last second, Vegeta was clearly surprised by the act.

Which of course was great. Flipping up, her head being upside-down Junia grabbed Vegeta around the upper abdomen with both her arms, clutching his back against her, flipping him and herself over, Junia then began to drop her height in the air, at an incredible high rate of speed. Something was off however, as Vegeta was hardly resisting at all. This was all still preliminaries to him, wasn't it? When his shoulders and head ploughed into the rock below as she body slammed his frame in the top of one of the most jagged looking peaks she could find, Vegeta's body cut cleanly through it. When his frame stopped, he simply picked himself up and began dusting himself off.

"Are you done not being serious? Or were you hoping to learn more about how I fight?" Vegeta asked bluntly. "Because as of right now, nothing that you've pulled off is all that impressive, or serious. If this is the best you can pull off, I wonder why we were so concerned at all."

It was incendiary, and Junia accepted it as such. It was him goading her, and it worked. Bits of rock began rising in the air around her as she felt herself trying to maintain her control as she glared at Vegeta. Her hand hurt her right hand's fist so was tight. It was the same arrogance her father demonstrated, and it was being thrown back in her face, as if asking her to prove herself again. Most of the Vegeta's she'd killed after the first dozen or so, rarely had time to droll on like this. It grated her nerves just listening to him.

"It's no wonder that you can't use my fighting style. I know I wouldn't have trained such a-"

That was it. What control she had slipped away as she barrelled towards him at full speed. The ground behind her rose in a wave as the ground was torn away by the exertion of ki. When she closed with Vegeta, she threw her right arm in a short punch with all her power behind it into his abdomen. The Prince hunched over immediately as his eyes widened, his teeth clenched together. Swinging her leg up to catch him in the back, she saw him overcome his pain to throw his body back, raising his arm and blocking at the last moment. In a blur of motion, both of them shifted from view.

Faster than a human mind could comprehend, their bodies soared through the air, striking out with kicks and punches. The thundering sound of blocks echoed out in rapid succession. Junia's forearms and knees were reddened with the sheer number of blows she blocked, and her hands hardened from the number of punches she'd landed, only unfortunately having landed them on Vegeta's guard.

After a protracted period, far too long in her estimation, she shifted around his guard without him following her. Landing a blow on his kidney in under a heartbeat, Junia pressed her advantage. The Prince flexed in the air as their bodies seemingly rematerialized. Taking advantage, she drove her elbow into his back, sending him shooting towards the ground. This time, instead of following him directly as she'd done before and been humiliated, she pointed her hand down at him, just giving a 'hmph' before the air in front of her seemed to dance with blue light as she gathered energy. It was a quick process before she focused the ki, and tossed an orb of blue light after Vegeta's falling form.

It chased after him, curving to follow the body before it flew straight into the back of her target only with only a few metres before he hit the ground. The world had a tint of blue light wash over it a second later. At the core of the blast the ground was torn away in a destructive moment. With her hand still extended, Junia just listened and looked as rock fragments clattered against the small crater below as the light faded. It was obvious that it hadn't been enough to kill Vegeta in one hit, but she wanted to demonstrate that she was hardly through. She was not weaker than him, and she was definitely taking this seriously.

As always, he thinks his enemies are to be mocked. And as always he's taught a less-

Vegeta's power was suddenly very much in the place it'd just been, hovering in the dead centre of the dimming blue light. Golden light flourished a second later. A familiar humming noise filled the air as she looked down at her father's form, seeing the heightened golden hair rising from his head. Before she could even think to blink a set of knuckles clashed with her cheek violently. Her neck strained as her entire head shot backwards, sending her helplessly back and falling through the air. By the time she shook her head out of it, a pair of knees slammed into her armoured abdomen, cracking her Saiyan Armour while his energy carried through her body. Gagging in the air, Junia rasped once before her body was sent crashing into the surface of the earth.

Huge fissures opened up around her as rock formations crumbled and descended into them. The ground rumbled as her body was sent burrowing through layer after layer of untouched stone. Briefly, she expected Vegeta to continue his attack, but as her eyes scanned the open sky hanging above her, only hindered by the walls of rock marring the sides of her vision, Junia felt her breathing coming in and out. When she tried to sit up, her abdomen ached enough to almost stop her. The sensation only slowed her before she started to rise, and ascend into the air as well. The target of her hate was stationary, she could sense his power.

As soon as she cleared the sides of the huge walls, Junia could see Vegeta standing on the surface of the badlands, his arms crossed as his golden aura just burned around him. There was a cold look on his features, which only let a smug smile pull at the side of one of Junia's lips.

"Apparently you didn't enjoy continuing at such a low level. Normally you wait for your enemy to transform first," she observed. "You tend to like to push your adversaries until they are forced to push their limits. I'm glad that you were so uncomfortable that-"

"I was bored with playing your little game. Maybe if you mixed things up a bit more, you wouldn't get so bored yourself. This isn't my maximum level either, girl. I am just getting started. Unless you want to get left behind, I suggest you show me what you can do," his frosty look let a smile appear on his own lips. "But if you're unwilling and afraid... then you can surrender now and I'll consider letting you live."

There was no debate at all for Junia as she just inclined her head towards her father before golden energy wrapped around her. Spiked hair shot upwards and sparked golden as well before the entire mane of Saiyan hair turned gold itself. The familiar hum now surrounded her as her blue-green eyes met her father's. The two of them now just faced off, staring one another down. Inside though, Junia felt her confidence grow, simply put... she was stronger than Vegeta in their base forms, in these forms, the power gap would be more pronounced. The higher they raised their power, the more advantaged she would be, especially given the pace that Vegeta had taken this fight so far.

He wasn't going all out in an attempt to defeat her right away. A battle of attrition was something he couldn't win.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Vegeta:

That last attack had been very close. The ki blast had been precise, and the appropriate amount of power to disable him. If it hadn't been for him starting to draw up the energy to transform, it could have been a very serious problem. He was impressed that she was learning as well. It was very obvious from the way she carried herself that she was going to be a tenacious opponent. Powers across the globe were far more powerful than she could be. Right now it was increasingly evident that her power was only going to grow past his from here. Even now in her Super Saiyan form, he gathered that the level between the two of them had grown. When he ascended past this form, he knew she would ascend immediately as well. It meant he needed to do damage now.

A crippling injury or a means of draining her energy to lower her base strength were his best chance. Once he managed that, the battle could be decided quickly.

In front of him, faster than he could follow if only briefly, Junia disappeared. With a sharp turn, he quickly twisted his head from side to side looking for any sign of her ki. When her ki came back into his sensory range, she came into sight as well. It was in the fraction of a blink of an eye that he pulled his right up up to shield him from a vicious straight punch. His arm almost buckled as power whipped around them as their golden auras blended together. Striking back with a vicious response of his own, Vegeta's fist passed through empty space as he blinked to himself, before the hard edge of an elbow planted itself in his back, sending the Saiyan Prince flipping forward. Bouncing back as he halted his motion, Vegeta flipped back towards Junia, before thrusting both his feet back as he moved in the pattern of the flip.

Both feet smashed into her abdomen. The Saiyan behind him briefly gasped before she was sent back. The ground beneath her tore up around her as her feet slid through the sun baked soil. Glowing purple energy formed in her right hand while her body continued to skid, but was slowing. Turning to face her, Vegeta's eyes widened as she threw a bolt of crackling power towards him. Raising both his arms, Vegeta's forearms met the blast just in the nick of time. What followed was expected. The ground tore away and scattered behind him. His armour would have shattered and caught fire were it not for focusing his ki to protect himself. It singed his arms all the same, draining his energy

When the light faded and his arms lowered, the cloud of smoke around him swept away as Junia broke through the air, her arm raised up to strike at him. Tilting his body to the side, Vegeta instinctively reacted as the fist plunged towards him. Grabbing the end of the fist with his left arm and grabbing her bicep by the other, he swung her past him, before driving his foot into her back. A surprised yelp escaped his target before she blasted forward from the force of the blow. In a blink of motion she disappeared however, clearly having regained control. Before he could respond this time, she reappeared, driving her fist into his cheek. His left eye shut instinctively as the hand drove into his face, his entire frame slipping backwards before smashing into the edge of the ground. Skidding several times, Vegeta flipping back, harnessing his energy as he did.

Golden power blasted out from his body before his feet touched the ground again, skidding back across the dirt. A golden trail of energy blasted off towards him. With his power at his fingertips, Vegeta threw his energy against the momentum that was carrying him back, pushing himself relentlessly forward. The ground literally swelled beneath him as towers of rock and stone began to crumble around them. When the two forces of Super Saiyan energy collided in the midst of this storm of power, white light emerged from the centre of the clash. The crack of Vegeta's knuckles hitting Junia's exploded out across the wasteland while it crumbled around them.

The look in her eyes were furious. In the glimmer of a second he had to observe her, Vegeta steeled his gaze and took in the hateful sneer. It was a strange mirror of his own, wasn't it? There were still some of Bulma's features in her face, but it was his that seemed dominant. Perhaps it was a damning indictment. Bra looked so much like her mother, and was soft and kind. Trunks took on a much greater portion of his mother's features, and even when he came from war torn worlds, seemed gentle by comparison. Now he was faced with a child that reflected him, and it was savage, brutal, and hateful. The bizarre realization left Vegeta to pause for a micro second too long. By the time their fists separated, he felt the back of her heel strike against the side of his head. It took him off his feet before his back scraped against the ground, bouncing him and tumbling him through the air before his body smashed into a small formation of rock and stone. The solid substance split open almost immediately, letting his body pass through it even as his arms tore against the fragmented bits of rock.

Hitting the ground on the other side, face first with his legs leading the way, a mound of soil was pushed up as he slid for another six metres. Putting his hands on the ground, Vegeta began pushing himself up, shaking his head.

The follow up attack should have already happened, but instead he just heard two feet land in front of him.

Staring up, Vegeta looked at the golden haired woman, her arms crossed and her eyes blazing with anger.

"You let me hit you," she spat. "I know exactly how you fight. That would have been followed up by at least one more exchange. Even with you fighting differently, the setup was clear-"

It was ridiculous. She was here to kill him, and was complaining because he didn't meet expectations? Pushing his body up, Vegeta's legs lifted up next before he brought himself into a standing position, brushing some dirt from his armour after the fact.

"I was too busy being unimpressed," he lied. "Your teachers were very poor I can already see. If Kakarot had trained you, you would at least fight with some resolve. But instead you've been trained by his two dumb brothers, haven't you? The way you move, it reminds me almost more of Gohan than of anyone else."

There was a second where she was clearly listening to him, taking notes, before she uncrossed her arms and narrowed her eyes.

"Son Gohan in this world was trained by Raditz, then?"

"Turles," Vegeta answered. "And one of the many reasons why you've been so predictable to me, is that I've fought Turles, and I watched several of Son Gohan's battles."

"Well, that makes you one of the rare universes. I've not met many Vegeta's other than my own father, who've done battle with Turles-"

"It's a shame, because if you'd been trained by a better tutor, you could have been a much better fighter then you are right now. Maybe then I would have an actual challenge."

The last words were a boast, but it was all apart of the fight. He needed her off her game.

Both eyes widened as Junia stared back at him, before she sneered hatefully back at him. The tension was rising again, and they'd be exchanging blows within seconds. That was just fine by him, but the strange sensation of fighting his own reflection felt off. The squandered potential in front of him didn't bother him, it was the look in her eyes, just like before. Inside of them, he found echoes of his calls to fight Kakarot, Frieza, and Cell. There was something to prove, and he could understand that. But more than anything, it was utterly bizarre to imagine the kind of world that could have generated this creature. A monster was a monster, however.

"Of course," she snapped. "But I've spent so much time killing you, Vegeta, that I don't need a better mentor to know how to deal with you. I don't need lessons from Kakarot, Turles, Brass, or Raditz to deal with you."

"No, but you'll be living in the shadows of everyone else, just to say that you can defeat the Prince of all Saiyans," Vegeta said. "The other two, Brass and Taro, I can sense their power, and you're obviously their inferior."

"So what's you're point? It'll be enough to kill you."

"We'll see," Vegeta finished, before assuming a defensive stance. "And if you're wondering, you favour your left side. Its a common weakness in how the third class warriors fight-"

The golden aura around her reignited seconds later as she snarled, taking offence almost immediately. His own aura caught fire again as well, displaying it as an act of defiance of the air around them kicked up and began circling around the two of them.

"It's only fair that I give you the tip. It'd be unfair if I beat you when you were using such a flawed technique."

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Junia:

Favour my left side? Flawed?

Being talked down to by Vegeta was nothing new. The main problem so far seemed to be that this version of her father, as frustrating and infuriating as he was, had obtained a series of experiences that most of them never had. Most never confronted Turles, or anyone else with his take on lower class warrior style. It meant he could see through some of her fighting style. Worse yet, he was getting what he wanted in most of his fights. Vegeta loved to undermine his opponent, he loved to get under their skin and push them into making stupid decisions. So far her own taunts, her own attempts to get under his skin had failed. Even now as they were opposite one another, she could feel the muscles in her face contorting into a restrained snarl, and she could see the increasingly confident smirk on Vegeta's face. It was the look of a man who'd thought he'd figured out his situation, and how to win. It was even more frustrating when it by all appearances, was increasingly seeming to be correct. Her main advantage so far had been brute strength, because he'd not been falling into the pitfalls of her father's normal issues.

The forewarning of her arrival, and the kinds of experiences this Vegeta had, had hardened him into a weapon she'd not anticipated. But there were more sides to her own abilities than she'd been willing to exhibition. They hadn't turned up this experience to its full pitch yet, but she didn't need to do so to prove how she was his superior. After more battles against worthy opponents, even different visions of her father, she'd acquired enough experience and opportunity to have easily learned to mimic several other variants on different fighting styles. Her preferred style of combat was the one which had obtained her victory more often, but she wasn't beyond adaptation. She wasn't a one trick warrior.

That arrogant smirk represented something she wanted to conquer. She wouldn't just conquer another version of her father, she would conquer her own weakness, her own flaws.

Her feet shifted position, as her right arm shifted upward and her left moved to a striking position as her knees bent. It was a mirror image of Vegeta's own fighting stance from a hundred battles. As soon as her new pose was struck, the new tone to her power washed out from her form. It took several seconds, but she could see Vegeta's eyes widen at the realization of this new stance. The smile of confidence disappeared as she could tell her father realized what it represented. His anticipation for how this fight would go was about to change. The widened eyes quickly shifted to an unreadable look of hostility.

"Alright, it's flawed. You're right, Vegeta. We can see how this technique will do then."

Vegeta's own stance returned and his own aura burst out from his body. Dust and small rocks picked up around the both of them as the familiar thrum of the Super Saiyan energy filled the air around them. Neither side seemed willing to make a motion, not a move. Junia watched him for any tick, any sign of motion or hostility. The air between them swirled between their powers, letting the rocks and dust in its thrall scattered back and forth through the air. Their eyes were locked together, as if in a trance, the first to blink set to lose in their engagement. Staring into her father's eyes, Junia felt breathing synchronize perfectly with her body while she glared hate filled daggers at him.

She could see his judging stare. It was the same one he always gave her back in her own world. A world she'd left behind in what seemed to be a lifetime ago. It was a world where she was weak and helpless seemingly. She could kill some pitiful alien, or any human in existence, but she was nothing in comparison to the giants Vegeta or Turles. Worse, she had even been behind Raditz, Brass, Taro, and any other being of significant power. That her father had never bothered to help her rise past what she was made that stare all the more unbearable. It was a reminder of failure.

When he blinked, it broke her thoughts of the past and brought her back to her purpose here. The two bodies seemingly dematerialized in the air, traces of energy being the only things that felt real. They appeared several times opposite one another, striking at ghosts, images of what had been only the briefest micro seconds earlier. In a sweeping motion, Junia struck out with her forearm, swinging it towards the energy signature of Vegeta. Finally, there was a collision as their forearms locked together, the back of her right locked against his. Their elbows bent from the pressure of their confrontation, driving towards one another. Eyes met again, eyes filled with determination and disdain.

"Well, you're certainly a bit more skilled than I thought," Vegeta grumbled through grit teeth. "So you're just lazy, not unskilled. It's something I'll keep in mind."

It was an attempt to get her off her plan. It wasn't going to work. With their aura's burning, they split back from one another for a fraction of a splinter in time before. Bubbles of explosive force then blasted through the air around them. The ground cratered beneath the two as fists shot towards one another. Each block of the strike sending cascading waves of raw force rumbling through the world around them. Rocks cracked and shattered, causing whole ranges of ancient formations to slide into ruin.

It was simple enough to mimic a style which she'd seen a hundred times before. Her memories were sharp, knowing where to shift and focus her body, mirroring every action Vegeta took. The only problem for her counterpart was the fact that like this, he was just too slow on the draw. After another exchange of blows, seeing Vegeta's arm swing out towards her, Junia viewed her opportunity come to light. Slipping past his defence as her fist slammed into the centred of his mass. Vegeta's body froze as did the fighting for that sliver in time. Her leg kicked up after this brief reprieve swinging into Vegeta's ribs.

The body took off to the side, but predicting its trajectory was easy. Blurring out with full speed, Junia intercepted Vegeta before he had a chance to travel more than a few metres, before catching his form with a ruthless lariat. Her right arm caught him around his neck and chest, before she drove him straight into the ground, cracking the dry earth below and sending small fissures in a half dozen directions around them. The noise of the planet's crush groaning in what could only be described as pain made Junia smirk. Grabbing her father's neck further, she shoved him further down into the ground, driving him further towards the centre of the planet.

Rising to her full height, standing in the tear that had opened in the surface of the Earth, Junia just looked down at the Saiyan Prince with a grim look in her eyes, contrasted with an ever growing upward curve in the right side of her mouth. Shoving her boot onto the side of his face, she pressed down again, letting him eat the dirt.

"Lazy? Do you not think I learned a few things while killing you the last hundred times?" her voice was filled with triumph. "As arrogant as always. I can adjust my fighting style as needed. I know exactly how you fight, Vegeta, and I'm-"

"Wasting time."

Blinking, Junia narrowed her eyes, before raising her boot to stamp down on the fallen form of the Prince. In that quick blurring moment, she felt two hands grasp her other leg, ripping it out from under her. Her entire body fell forward, face planting into the spot where Vegeta had once lay on his back. With his hands still on her ankle, she felt her Saiyan rival pulling back on her leg, whipping her into the air before beginning to swing.

Frantic, her body picking up momentum as her head began to spin, she looked down at Vegeta as his aura began to grow more wild, before she felt her body finish its wild set of swings in the side of a rocky ridge. The hardened rock shattered and gave way almost immediately, collapsing over her. Jagged shards of stone scraped over her body, cutting through her suit and scuffing her skin, as well as openly scraping her.

Wasting time.

Fire was in her lungs as she started to furiously shove bits of jagged debris off of her. It all seemed futile to waste her time further, before she began gathering her strength. Ki formed around her before whooshing outwards. Tons of broken earth was sent scattering in all directions as the ground beneath her cratered from the force she displayed. Her hands trembled with the rising level of anger she felt. It was an anger not just at Vegeta, but herself. This was going wrong, and it wasn't going wrong because of the idiot copy of Vegeta floating around. It was going wrong because she was being lazy and arrogant and at every turn he was making her pay for it. It played off of everything her Vegeta had described her as being. It was proving him right.

As soon as the dust cleared around her, the last chatters of rocks hitting the ground echoing, her eyes scanned around her as she began sensing for the Vegeta she could no longer see. Sensing him a split second later, she felt energy being gathered. The very shards of stone that had just hit the ground started to slowly rise into the air as she turned, looking down at them. The crater beneath her began to rise up as well while she felt her own cape pulling upward.

Twisting her head up a second later, sensing the exact location of the gathering of power. In the air above her, a golden glow reigned down from above as Vegeta gathered his power.

"Big Bang Attack!"

The familiarity of the attack, of the energy rocketing towards her wasn't comforting at all. Raising her hands towards the sky as she braced herself and collected her energy, Junia felt the fiery orb crash into her hands. The fragmented floating ground beneath her vaporized as energy sizzled in the air around her. The impact of her energy meeting the attack went further. The ground split into a fissure beneath her as soil and rock which had been there for thousands of years eroded in a haze of gold and orange light which swept across the entire badlands. Her hands burned as her gloves almost caught fire. There was a small tremble to her arms as she stared up into the burning orb pressed against her hands.

The surface beneath her descended towards the core of the Earth as it was pushed apart further by the energy pressing against her. Worse, her own form was slowly following after it, unable to hold back the energy much longer. He'd outdone her. Transforming now, pushing herself to the next level would prove she hadn't been able to hang with him even at an advantage, even at this lesser level. It'd prove that she'd failed for the first time in years. And worse, she'd failed because he knew she was coming, and that was all it took. There was no surprise, there was no element of chaos. This was a straight fight, and even one which she carried many advantages...

And the attack in her hands began to reach its critical mass.

Shit.

Lightning rolled over her body as her hair spiked further upward, just as she felt the world turn white.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Junia: Age 778

Stagnant. That best described her life now. A waste of time, left to do what? Try to learn how to be a better technician and engineer? She had a talent for bloodshed, or at least that was what all the combat tests had proved. Even if her father wouldn't train her, it didn't mean she wasn't a Saiyan. Fighting was in her blood, but the want to improve herself was just as much there. How many times had she heard about her great Saiyan ancestry? She was nobility no less, the daughter of the Prince of All Saiyans, and the granddaughter of the last King of the Planet Vegeta.

And now she was the first of a line of nobility to be left sitting on her hands, encouraged to be some lab coat, or underling for some other purpose. That was what her father was implying she should be groomed for. It was transparent how much of it was meant for his own gain. Training her took time away from himself, and keeping her at a lower level meant it gave him more control. She wasn't blind or stupid. It was something which made her itch inside her skin even. And the more he neglected her training, the more likely it'd be she ended up in the miserable role he was leaving open for her.

Standing atop the dome of the Capsule Corporation, Junia just stared out across the city with a pair of black eyes. In reality, she'd not received many of her mother's traits. Everything about her seemed to take after her father, which made the rejection even more infuriating.

"A Saiyan Princess, standing atop a building on a warm Spring day? How fortunate it is that I, Brass, Prince of the Earth should be so fortunate to stumble across-"

"Shut up, Brass," she cut him off right away with a cold tone, turning her head to Turles's bastard. For a brief moment he blinked, frowning, before a smirk returned to his features.

Every time Brass was hanging around Capsule Corporation, it meant either Raditz or Turles needed something for some grand design by the erratic third class warrior who'd seized the title of Strongest in the Universe. The tag-along, this recently crowned "Prince" was hardly anything impressive, except for the fact he was strong. It was clear he had surpassed Raditz already, making him the third strongest being on the Earth, and in all probability, the universe. In all likelihood it was because he had the support required to reach that height. It made her own shame, and the shame of her father, even greater.

"That wasn't a very fitting response for a lady-"

Now her eyes turned towards him, fire contrasting the ice her features had originally had.

"Alright, so I'm guessing pretending your-"

"I don't want to pretend about anything, you third class simpleton. You show up here with your uncle, or worse, your father, and expect me to play along with you in your childish game of pretending I'm some human maiden. I am uninterested in playing your game. I am uninterested in this conversation. Go play the role of fake prince-ling somewhere else."

When he crossed his arms and raised his head arrogant, Junia knew something was brewing in his sickened head, looking to be fired back.

"Better a fake prince-ling, than a powerless Princess of All Saiyans. My dad at least taught me a few moves-"

Closing her fist, Junia made a step towards Brass. Brass with his power level of over 3,000,000. A power level of 15,000 going up against over 3,000,000...

Slowly, her hand opened again as she just seethed at him.

"I'll tell you what," Brass commented, leaning forward, noticing her clear disdain. "Maybe we can get along better if you sign up for the army. Because then I can get you in with my squad, and then maybe you can actually train."

That was enough to give her pause, especially with the devilish smile he was putting on his face. It felt almost like a bargain with the devil. But there was something in it for her. Even if she had to tolerate this big brute. What could she learn from Brass? What if she got to train more with Raditz? Hell, what if she got to train with Turles...

Because the more she learned. The more she fought. The stronger she would become. Strength was the language her father understood, and strength was the language that Saiyans spoke. She could outdo a bunch of 'strong' humans, and she could definitely outdo Brass, if she was given the opportunity. She mirrored his smile back to him, curving it directly his opposite.

"Turles's army? Working in your squad? You mean my squad?" her voice didn't flinch from its cold tone.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Vegeta:

The blast had destroyed several kilometres of the badlands, but Vegeta wasn't an idiot, and this was hardly his first fight. When he landed on an elevated set of rocks still standing after the bang had gone off, he stared at the immense crater. Smoke and dust billowed out of the cavity in the surface of the planet. The sight of the destruction wasn't what he was looking for, because he knew that despite playing that part of the battle very well, this was far from over. He'd sensed her power spike as the blast had gone off. Compared to the power the Namekian was facing, this wasn't as significant.

The wind brushed past him while he stood, his aura burning around him. Inside the core of the immense new feature, Vegeta sensed the new power burning through the last of the ki remnants left behind from the blast. It was huge, just as huge as he expected, even if it was inferior to the other two. She was definitely stronger than he was. Despite the fact he'd viewed her lazy fighting nature, opting to fight him with a thoughtless routine until she realized it wasn't working, he knew now she was taking their fight significantly more seriously. When she'd landed blows on him using his own fighting technique, he was surprised at how close she was to mastering his form. It was to be expected he supposed, if she truly had killed him so many times.

The real fight was about to get started, and Vegeta hardly felt unnerved by it. This kind of battle was what he lived for. A struggle to the death, the strongest and the most skilled would win this battle. It was a Saiyan Duel. This was his moment to rise above a powerful adversary, regardless of where it came from. It would be done not just for his own glory either, but to defend his family. And the sooner he won, the sooner he could turn his attention to helping the others. Already he sensed powers fluctuating wildly across the planet.

With his arms crossed, Vegeta stared ahead as he sensed the energy ahead of him materialize into the form of the Saiyan he'd been battle. This twisted parody of his daughter hovered there, her arms crossed in a reflection of his own. The lightning crackling around her enhanced muscle and further spiked hair, indicated to him her transformation beyond her power. Their Super Saiyan stares were exchanged as Vegeta unfolded his own arms.

"So, is it time to start the real battle?" Vegeta asked bluntly.

He could see her seething. It was trying to be hidden, and she was doing a good job of it, but clearly his prior attack had unsettled his adversary. Good, because even if he lost it was well worth the effort just to stick his finger in this creature's eye.

"It is, this is the part where your attempts to defend yourself evaporate," she commented. "I'm going to give you the chance to transform. It's fair that I let you try to save yourself at your best."

A small 'hmph' left Vegeta before he prepared to jump to the next level. There was a pause however before he could brace himself. It was strange, but it bothered him. The big one with the black hair, the one who beat Kakarot's boy, was clearly stronger than her. The nightmarish one which was fighting Trunks and Kakarot right now, was concealing his strength, but Vegeta knew he was more powerful than any of them fully understood yet. But the truth was this girl- woman, whoever, was supposed to be his progeny. Turles's offspring were both vastly her superior. And even if she was stronger than him right now... why was she the weakest?

"Girl, before I beat you, I actually have a question," Vegeta stated openly. "You can sense power levels as easily as I can. You've been apparently fighting and killing me for some time. Why are you the weakest of the three of you who showed up? All of you have similar training backgrounds-"

For a brief second, he saw her expression change to something unreadable even for him.

"We all once walked the same path. We fought and grew stronger. Taro was the first to use another technique, stealing the energy and memories of others. Brass recently followed him down that avenue, opting for more power as quickly as he could obtain it," she commented, her voice bitter as she revealed the reason to him. "I don't need others' energy. I don't need their memories. I don't need their power. I have my power. I will increase my strength."

As strange as it sounded, Vegeta felt a small edge of something approaching pride in hearing it. A smile crossed his lips, a genuine one before he began drawing power to the surface. Energy wrapped around his body as bolts of electricity began to roll over his form. The clouds above them seemed to wisp overhead as dust kicked up around him. His muscles bulged before regressing into a tighter, stronger new form. His hair spiked further as his aura intensified. With a final push, his own lungs forcing him to roar almost near the end, Vegeta felt his power climb to its height. The familiar thrum of the Super Saiyan aura now washed over both of them as he stood his ground as she floated in front of him.

"So, I did outdo Turles," Vegeta remarked. "My degenerate offspring is the only one who had any pride."

Once the sentence finished however, the conversation ended. Junia took on a similar stance to what she had when she routed him before, and he took up a stance favouring his left side this time, positioning his feet to allow him to move off the pillar which he stood. The tension in the air broke far more quickly. When Junia disappeared, Vegeta struggled to follow her movement before he felt her elbow strike into his spine. Taking him off balance, Vegeta's legs left the ground when he twisted and swung his leg out to catch her. She caught his knee with her own guard, before she slammed her palm into the side of his face. A solid punch then slammed into his abdomen before another blow came in towards his head, striking under his chin with a brutal uppercut. Immediately he skyrocketed upwards, his head dazed and his mind racing to catch up with the blows which had already been delivered.

She's using my technique against me, not Turles's. She's more powerful, but she's not invincible. It's all stolen, none of it is her own. It's... it's like Cell.

Before his thoughts could turn towards a rival of the past, Vegeta pulled out of his ascent, raising his block which caught a fist swinging directly for his gut, just like he would have done. The moment was short-lived as he felt an elbow crack into the top of his head, sending his towards the planet below once more. Twisting and turning as he fell, trying to regain control of his fall from the heights above, Vegeta turned to see Junia forming energy in both of her hands, before unleashing a bombardment of blasts after him. Dozens of the attacks followed his approach. When he landed under his own control, he threw himself forward, blasting ahead.

Behind him the ground and formations of rock exploded and shattered as a stream of deadly blasts rolled after him, it was like a wave of fire and death chasing after him. When the bolts landed in front of him a moment later, streaming towards him at the same time as the blasts from behind, his eyes flinched in surprise. Turning hard and pulling up, Vegeta twisted his route up into the air and towards the origin of the blasts. They corkscrewed behind him before they halted as Junia raised her guard in front of him, her back to the sun trying to obscure his vision. Blurring out of view Vegeta appeared above her, before striking down with both feet shooting straight towards her.

In a faze of motion she swept out of his attack range, his legs and body diving past her before she appeared on his other side, striking out with a long kick. Raising his block using his elbow, Vegeta countered the blow before striking back with his other hand. His palm struck into the head, only to find she'd disappeared only a micro-second before the blow would land. On instinct alone Vegeta changed his facing, raising his guard again only to catch a fist destined for his own face. Across from him there was a sneer before a knee slammed into his ribs. His already buckling Saiyan armour cracked all along the right side of his body before another blow was landed, crashing into his face. Flesh was pulverized into bone as his cheek pushed into his eye before launching him back.

Not even knowing how far he travelled through the air, Vegeta felt a backhand slap into his shoulder, sending him twisting downward before the crash exploded around his frame when he made impact on the ground below. Around him he could hear the Earth groan through its crust as the surface broke around him.

The debris around him started to lift into the air as Vegeta sat up, brushing his glove past his lip, noting the blood on the back of his dirty glove. Rising to his feet, the Prince turned his gaze up towards the figure floating above him to his right, the one clearly levitating the rubble around him into the air.

"You've managed to impersonate myself, and impersonate Turles very well," Vegeta commented, before cracking his neck to one side. "But you don't have any moves of your own from what I can tell. That means I know all your moves, girl."

"If you knew them so well, why were you the one eating dirt?" she remarked, a smirk appearing across her features. "Or have you developed a taste for it from losing to Kakarot so often?"

Assuming his battle pose again, Vegeta looked up and towards the one who looked to be his killer. This was like Cell, even if it wasn't exactly the same. If she really was fighting him with his own style, even if mixed with Turles's, he should know the insides and out of how she was going to fight him. That had to be an advantage.

In the distance however, he sensed the one fighting against Piccolo and his group of misfortune's continuing to rise in power. That was an ill omen, even if he managed to beat this one.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Vegeta: Age 767

Kakarot was dazed as he tried to sit up, while Trunks was struggling to move at all. The Namekian was the one with the Senzu beans, and Vegeta didn't know where he was at this point even. He and the Namekian had been unable so far to deal with these impish creatures. The humans were overwhelmed quickly, meaning that Cell himself had time to simply beat Kakarot and Trunks without their support. But Vegeta had seen the way these creatures moved, the way they fought. They adopted fighting stances based off the moves of those they'd been programmed with. From human warriors, to the Namekian, to Kakarot and himself. They were chimeric in their motions, but it was all repetition in many respects. If you fought Kakarot, you might understand how to counter them, when they chose to fight like Kakarot.

Kakarot disappeared from his view a moment later as Trunks threw himself back up as well, blurring into the air. He could hear Cell's mocking laughter before one of the imps landed in front of him again.

"CHI! HAHAHAHAHA!"

When Piccolo landed next to him a second later, the Namekian keeping his gaze ahead as more of the monsters landed opposite to them.

"Vegeta," Piccolo's voice remarked quietly. "That attack you launched on Cell after he turned into his perfect form, how quickly can you do it?"

The Final Flash? It was easier for him to draw that much energy again after he'd taken his second day in the Time Chamber.

"Quick enough," Vegeta's remark came back.

Piccolo's body began splitting, as more of the Namekian appeared all around him. A multiform technique?

"Get it ready," the Nameks ordered, much to Vegeta's chagrin. "We can deal with these things all at once."

Looking at all of them, Vegeta watched as the warriors disappeared in a blur of motion. Energy began gathering into his hands as he watched the battle above. The split Namekians fairing surprisingly better than he'd expected. Even now as his focus shifted to gathering energy, the ground around him beginning to become torn away, the Namek's plan seemed entirely based around stalling. The fact that he could stall being the most surprising element of it. The Cell Juniors were... predictable, in a sense.

Pointing his hands out to his sides, Vegeta felt his aura burning around him as he looked up into the sky, waiting for his moment to strike.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Junia:

More powers... I can sense them fighting Brass.

There was a moment of envy in her thoughts as she contemplated the battle taking place half the surface of the Earth away. There were distinct warriors of a half dozen backgrounds battling him. She sensed Kais, Piccolo, and Demons all coming to the fore to exchange fists with her former suitor. The battle he was participating in was one of immense powers exchanging blows that brought the world to tremble. Kakarot and Trunks' powers were rising rapidly as well as they were toyed with Taro fruitlessly.

And here she was with an already obviously inferior opponent. By her own estimates she was almost 25% stronger than Vegeta, maybe 20% if he was holding back significant reserves. The gulf between them would grow rapidly over the rest of this engagement. It wasn't a reason to become too cocky or arrogant, as those were ways to be brought low by an inferior opponent. She'd seen it time and time again on their exploits across time and space. The first time Taro met the creature... Cell, had almost spelt his doom due to his own arrogant attitude.

"I can see that you seem to be of the mindset that someone needs their own moves and style to be a worthy adversary-" Junia started.

"It helps with the credibility," Vegeta was quick to point out, his stance remaining unchanged.

It wasn't hard to see what weaknesses were already available in his position. It was too defensive, as he was trying to conserve his energy likely at the expense of her own. It was a worthy goal, trying to force her to be the one to go on the offensive, to take the bigger risks to win the battle. But it was conceding the initiative, which meant that he was allowing her to choose when they fought and ultimately how they fought. It was in her mind, a sign that her victory was almost assured. This battle was going to enter a new stage now that they'd both had a taste of what the other could dish out, and Vegeta had been found wanting. If she was smart, this wouldn't last much longer, and then she could take an opportunity to participate in the bloodbath which Brass was unleashing.

But, all the same, Vegeta's comment did give her a brief ideal. With a calculated glance, she slowly started to walk to one side, giving the open impressing she'd dropped her guard though even Vegeta would know better she was sure.

"It's not very often that I meet a Vegeta who can even pretend to hold his own, so I don't see any reason not to use this opportunity to demonstrate a few things... such as my techniques."

Opening her gloved hand, a glowing orb of crimson energy emerged from her hand as it began to hum in the air. Pulsing waves of red energy began to resonate from her while the ground began to slowly tremble. It wasn't hard to see the look of concern written across the Prince's features. The gaze towards her was as serious as ever however.

With the energy in her palm intensifying she looked towards it, half smiling as she did.

"Well, let's see if you can survive, Vegeta," she remarked, before winding up and reaching back, before lobbing the orb into the sky.

Red energy trailed upwards before expanding into a massive burning red star in the sky. The red tint of the light washed over them as the ground began to peel away from the surface of the Earth. The badlands seemed to wax and wane, creaking and rumbling as this energy seemed to draw all of the matter upward. A field of energy wrapped around herself however as this occurred while Junia slowly lifted into the air, moving backwards.

"It's called the Red Gravity Bomb," she explained. "Let's see how high we can turn up the gravity, hm?"

Almost as soon as her words finished, the orb in the sky's hum intensified. The pulsing waves of red energy seemed to cause the opposite to happen on the ground. As the waves rolled out, matter was drawn in at an increasingly rapid rate. It was even obvious from Vegeta's stance on the ground, which was started to crumble beneath his very feet, that the Prince himself was going to be drawn in. When the orb reached critical mass the explosion would would deal with anything being drawn into it.

Slowly, Vegeta's feet lifted off the ground before his aura appeared more intensely, forcing himself away from the source of gravity in the air, but it didn't matter at all. Across the entire badlands, every stone spire, every cliff and ridge, started to rip away and be pulled upward as if they were falling up. Gravity began multiplying by multiple hundreds of times. Even Junia herself felt it as her own aura flickered as she held herself in the air as a sea of rubble scattered past her, all rising towards the red sun in the sky.

Looking up towards the red orb, Vegeta turned his attention back to her before opening his hand and forming energy as the ground came apart beneath his feet. Floating in the air as the world was drawn up towards the attack, Vegeta threw a golden wave of energy towards her. The wave pushed through the pulsing waves for several moments, but with every second it seemed to slow and veer upward. With its tail trailing behind it, it curved up and past her before rolling back in the air and falling towards the bomb.

Leaning her head back, Junia did allow herself a moment of gloating as she saw how frustrated Vegeta appeared as he inched further and further into the air. She'd not started to move yet, able to focus more power in keeping herself where she was. It took only a few moments longer before Vegeta threw himself at her, the golden field around him flicking towards the attack in the sky. His flightpath towards her veered up and towards the attack as he forced himself through the expanding levels of gravity, as greater and greater chunks of the Earth's surface were drawn upward. Without warning the ground totally gave way, as magma was drawn upward into the sky as the Earth itself bled. A roar of creation itself seemed to scream out from the planet as the crust of the Earth shore itself open while under the intense pressure of the expanding gravity bomb above it intensified.

The thrum from above intensified as the air started to vibrate, catching fire around the red orb from the intensity of the pull, causing atoms to come into contact with one another. Pillars of magma and floating debris were pulled into the attack as the two of them started to fall towards it. Shifting herself around a massive pillar of magma, Junia's eyes scanned for Vegeta amongst the flames as the fire around them intensified as the barren landscape was turned into an image of Hell.

But it was the scan for Vegeta's energy that drew her gaze. He'd moved away from her. In the chaos of all of this he was hiding, which wasn't like him. Even among this living inferno she'd created her heart was racing as she flew past and around debris, her aura flickering up towards the centre of gravity above her. If she allowed it to intensify too much more, it'd start to crack the planet itself open. Somewhere among this floating nightmare was the victim she sought to destroy. Her own body's mass felt the constant draw upwards, the top of her head feeling heavier and further away than her feet seemingly.

It was fitting that she finished Vegeta off with the gravity bomb, if only because this was how he prided himself. Being able to survive the intensity of a gravity that seemingly no one else could was a-

Her senses came alive when she twisted around a river of magma flowing upward as she saw the flicker of gold energy beyond. It didn't take her more than a second to realize what Vegeta was doing, and it was something she didn't expect. The intensity of the aura was rising and rising as golden lightning crackled across him, floating towards the Gravity Bomb. That was the beginnings of the Final Flash, but he wasn't even looking at her, he was aiming it towards the Gravity Bomb itself. He'd made good on his distance and was going to use his attack to deflect her own attack into space. But why? That was going to expend an incredible amount of power. The last time she'd fought Vegeta, he'd tried to use the Gravity Bomb against her instead. And here this man was, about to expend an incredible amount of vital ki to end her assault. And she didn't know why.

And it didn't matter, she wasn't going to let him finish gathering all that power.

In a burst of speed, her body blasted past and around hundreds of scattered rock formations and flicks of lava. The heat around them from above was growing in its intensity, sweat even forming on her brow. Closing in on the intense aura, Junia came around from Vegeta's left flank, crashing her knee into his side, forcing his arm in on his side as his armour cracked again. Her own head shifted to the right as his free hand swung in, striking towards her face. His thumb brushed past her cheek he'd been so close. Without even fully realizing it, she felt her lip curl upwards into a smirk while she grabbed the arm, flipping her over her should, before driving both her legs into his back, sending him flying into a massive piece of floating Earth, shattering him through it. Appearing on the other side with raw speed, she cast her elbow upwards towards the falling Vegeta, only to feel him pass through her.

An afterimage?

Her body braced itself for an attack from the real Vegeta following suit, but instead she just felt the small fragments from the floating rock she'd broken Vegeta through. Her eyes scanned a moment later for the Prince, sensing out his energy again. Did the Prince of all Saiyans just run from her? Her head darted in every direction looking for him, trying to sense out his energy, the only problem being her own energy from the Gravity Bomb masking him. Finally, in the swirling madness that was becoming the world around them where physics seemed to be slowly breaking down, Junia sensed Vegeta's power growing again.

It took her only a moment to realize what he was doing. He was gathering energy, again, for the Final Flash.

What is he doing?

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Vegeta: Age 747

Useless chatter.

That was all Vegeta was listening to right now. They were stuck on this purged rock for at least another two hours due to a stellar storm in the system above them. That meant that Lord Frieza was going to be displeased. But right now all he was listening to was chatter from the idiot Nappa, as well as the weakling Raditz. He'd appraised his underlings, the Last of the Saiyan Race, and determined them to be wanting in some capacity, Nappa less-so than Raditz. The planet's natural atmosphere had a great deal of rain, and Vegeta had trouble thinking of who would want to buy such a world as it now started to shower from above.

"Ever thought of what it'd be like if we were back on Planet Vegeta?" Nappa asked.

"Not really. I always thought it'd be a vacuum," Raditz answered. "You don't need to contribute much thought to what an airless-"

"Idiot," Nappa snapped. "I meant if the planet hadn't been destroyed by a comet. I mean what would it be like for all of us back on Planet Vegeta?"

"Not much different," Raditz commented in turn. "Vegeta would be the crown-prince. You'd still be a general, and I'd be in the army. What bother is there for wondering?"

Sitting down against his pod, Nappa grabbed a pebble from the ground, flicking it into the air idly before looking ahead.

"I remember following King Vegeta into battle a dozen times. I remember the fights I had there, it's where I learned my art of combat. I remember my parents teaching me what it was to be strong. And it's all just..." Nappa caught the pebble one last time, his stare not breaking. "Gone. My title is gone, my family is gone, and all I have left is my duty to the Prince and the chance to fight. So I do wonder what it'd be like in the down-time."

"Then we should aim to reduce this accursed down-time," Vegeta declared, turning with his cape shifting behind him, staring at the young adult Raditz and balding Nappa with a narrowing gaze. "Who cares what you'd be doing on that lifeless pile of rubble? We are where we are, and strength is all that matters."

Only the sound of rain permeated the air around them after his short remarks before Vegeta crossed his arms, feeling the rain bombard them from above. He'd wait in his pod in a minute for the damn storm readings to clear.

"I'd probably have a family of my own by now," Raditz commented. "So bizarre."

"You've got about as many moves as a dead Kijlarian, Raditz. You'd be lucky to seduce your own hand-"

A snarl emerged from Raditz in turn as he glared at Nappa before resting his back against the pod, crossing his arms.

"Those kinds of things are just distractions," Nappa commented. "They redirect your focus and energy into something which will weaken you. Only the Prince here would really need to worry about-"

"Nappa, Raditz" Vegeta addressed them. "I don't know if I made myself clear when I remarked before. This conversation is over. If you're going to blather on like a pair of Frieza's weaker henchmen, at least talk about something productive, like technique. The Gods know that Raditz could learn a thing or two for once in his life."

There was only silence when Vegeta turned away, his arms crossed again while he stared off into the distance. For a brief second his own mind saw himself at the head of a palace, an older man. He saw himself standing atop a balcony with a crowd below, strong and unopposed from the position of seemingly a god. To his right was the mirror image of himself in so many ways, looking up at him with the kind of ruthlessness it took to survive in this world, and to conquer.

That was the destiny that was diverted from his path.

"I wonder what Kakarot has been doing all of these years," Raditz mused aloud.

"Probably decaying nicely by this time," Nappa remarked.

The last comment, Vegeta wasn't even entirely sure why, brought a smile to his lips.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Vegeta:

Power flowed through his arms as Vegeta set his sights on the burning orb of red energy above him, while the planet below still howled in pain at its proximity. His own body felt heavier as it was constantly being dragged towards this short ranged centre of gravity. He knew its artificial pull was short if only because the entire planet's orbit hadn't deteriorated and shifted, being tossed into the darkness of space. But it was going to destroy the planet, and soon, if he didn't stop it now. Pointing both his hands up towards it, golden power sparked into existence several seconds before it rippled around him. The air around him swept around however, and Vegeta already knew what that meant. Trying to store up as much power as he could, he felt his left cheek shove into his face as an immense blow landed on his cheek.

Flipping through the air, Vegeta felt his frustration rise as he turned to look at the female warrior in front of him. The arrogant smirk on her face left him reminded of a vision of himself somehow.

"Now now Vegeta. I can't have have you wasting all of your energy and effort on silencing one of my attacks," she chuckled. "You should be spending that power fighting me, now shouldn't you?"

"You're attack isn't attacking me, now is it?" Vegeta was quick to shoot back. "You're destroying the planet because you can't fight me on your own. This planet isn't yours, you don't have anyone to protect. You're gone the moment you win."

"Are you trying to tell me you're trying to protect Trunks and Bulma?" Junia asked him almost in shock. "You're trying to save this planet for your kid and your wife? Please. I'll believe that when Turles tells me he cares about Chi-Chi and Brass."

That was a somehow unsettling remark.

Spitting to one side, Vegeta just narrowed his gaze.

"If you want to get the fight you're looking for, fight me. Destroying the planet itself is a cheap way to win. If you're so confident, you should be fighting me, not the Earth."

Another geyser of the Earth's boiling blood blasted up from below, blasting past the two of them, its red light pouring over them as well as the intense heat. The pull of the gravity above seemed to become more and more intense as the cracking sound of the crust below intensified.

It was strange, as she seemed to be in a deep sense of contemplation, which was something he'd not expected.

"Are you going to beat me, or are you going to beat the Earth?" Vegeta asked. "Because if you're objective is to kill me, you'll get a victory. If you're objective is to beat me, then you'll lose, and show what kind of warrior you really are."

It was strange. The air around them, the intense heat, started to slowly recede. Above them, the red orb's light started to disappear as the superheated air around it started to cool, the fires going out. The cracking beneath them reduced, as geysers of magma started to reduce. Looking around him for a second, Vegeta saw the path of destruction around them. Hundreds of kilometres of the Earth had burst open and tore apart. A sea of magma below them was left as hundreds of thousands of massive chunks of Earth and rock plunged into the open sore below.

"I never thought I'd hear you ask for someone to go easy on you, Vegeta," she remarked, before giving a devilish smile at him. "But I can definitely just kill you with me hands. I'll leave the poor little Earth alone."

There was a moment of suspended disbelief on Vegeta's part, knowing that this warrior would destroy the planet the moment she failed to defeat him, of that he was almost certainty. Still, the idea that she'd stall her own victory if only because she wanted to beat him with her own two hands further cemented the strange admirable quality. It was something he was going to overcome regardless, given this girl wasn't going to beat him. There was more to a battle than raw power.

"You're wrong you know," Vegeta commented. "I want to fight you to prove myself your superior. Having the planet blow up is the tactic of a coward and the desperate."

"Then why did you try that against Kakarot?"

"I was desperate," Vegeta admitted. "Which means I was a coward."

There was another strange moment, as Junia's eyes widened for a moment as she stared at him as the last of the fragments of torn and burnt earth finished raining past them. There was a calculation going on behind her eyes which Vegeta couldn't read himself.

"You're the most pitiful Vegeta I've ever met," she observed. "You're as weak as Kakarot."

Even as she assumed her fighting stance, her aura flickering around her, the words sunk into Vegeta as he listened to them. He was weak like Kakarot? What did that statement even mean? Kakarot was an idiot, and a fool, but anyone who thought Kakarot was weak was a fool. Kakarot was soft, which was very different from weak. Perhaps it was living on this planet for decades, perhaps not, but the idea that he was soft like Kakarot was preposterous. But was he soft compared to the Vegeta she really knew, the one she wished she was fighting?

"If you think Kakarot is weak, then you've already made a grave mistake," Vegeta remarked coldly. "Because he'd beat you just as I will. You're just a pitiful child who is angry at her father. Well all I can say is I can see why he was so disappointed if you're as good as it gets."

Hatred and anger mixed in his opponent's expression before she blurred out of view, roaring before she did. Trying his best to calculate where she was, Vegeta felt her elbow collided with him before he could even try, his face spitting to one side with saliva and blood before he felt he knee slam into his gut, before the next blow landed, slamming into his cheek again. Before he could even get to his block she'd already drove a long kick into his side, sending him sprawling back through the air, his body tumbling helplessly through the ash riddled clouds.

His ribs were aching, and his face was bruising when he felt the vapour around him shifting. It gave him only a brief window to respond. Raising his guard, he caught Junia's shin against his forearm. Before he could respond he felt the vapour shift again, raising his other forearm, he caught a vicious left hook before he struck out with his own leg. The resounding boom that connected as her leg shot out to block sent the cloud into dispersion around them, scattering it to the winds of the Earth. Floating there, locked together, Vegeta could still see the seething hatred in her eyes before he just narrowed his gaze in turn.

It was a wordless exchange as the two moved into a flurry of motion. Punches passed into the air around one another, as kicks stabbed and swept into their space, only to find no occupant. With each block that connected, a bubble of raw force blasted through the air around them, sending thunder rolling across the shattered wasteland around them. Finally, she overextended, swinging forward with a vicious right. Barely ducking under it in time, Vegeta prepared his left arm, bracing his fist downward. Realizing her mistake only at the last second, Junia peered down in shock before his fist rose into the air, focusing his ki into the fist as much as he could before he drove it up into her stomach. The world froze as she gasped for air, her eyes replacing hate with pain and disbelief as she hung over his fist.

"This battle's isn't yours to win, girl," Vegeta breathed. "It's either of ours to win, and every time you forget that, I'll teach you something your own father should have."

Tilting around and swinging his other hand around into a twirling backhand, he caught her across the face, this time sending her own head spilling backwards as her body began to fall away.

"Respect."

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Junia:

Her body hit the ground below before skidding for several dozen metres. She was left in a mild daze, staring towards the still darkened sky above her, the sun cutting through the ash only barely. Her lungs rose and fell several times before she sat up, seeing none other than Vegeta standing there, only feet away from the cooling magma lake behind him. He brushed the bruise forming on his cheek before putting both his hands up, ready to continue their fight.

Carefully, Junia rose to her feet before reaching up to her shoulder, unpinning the first part of her cape, before reaching up and unpinning the other side. Drifting into the air behind her, the white, now dirtied cape, picked up in the wind before casting itself several feet away from her. Cracking her neck to one side, Junia stretched slightly before narrowing her gaze on Vegeta once again.

He's going to teach me respect? All because he got lucky and landed two hits?

Steeling herself Junia slowly started to step to the left, beginning to stalk the man who supposedly was going to win this fight. Brushing her hand against her mouth unthinkingly, she realize she'd wiped blood away, causing a small noise of irritation to emerge from within. She was tired of his attitude. There was a sense of victory on his side, even when she overpowered him, and even when he was left on a back-foot. It was strange because every other time she fought him he always fell into desperation or despair by now. If anything it was her who was starting to get unnerved, even when she knew she still had the advantage.

"We knew you were coming," Vegeta commented finally, as if reading into her thoughts. "You and the others. I was the first one to see it. I saw you try to kill me."

Her stalk stopped in its footstep as she looked at Vegeta from his side with a dead serious gaze.

"I've been training to fight you since that day. I know you knew all my moves, and how I'd respond to you. I was told if I fought you alone I'd die without the assistance from the outside," Vegeta remarked before taking one step to face her, his eyes burning with intensity. "I am Prince Vegeta, Prince of all Saiyans, and I have been waiting for you, Junia. I will not be the prey you've been hunting for."

It was the truth. This entire battle she'd been fighting a war she didn't understand. It explained how he'd been behaving differently, deliberately fighting in another series of ways. It explained why he was so calm even when she achieved the upper hand. This was the ultimate challenge in many ways. This was the Vegeta who wasn't caught off guard, and wouldn't be left surprised and depleted. This was the challenge she'd run from in many respects with every battle.

And now he'd unmasked himself in front of her. This was the true fighter she was poised to battle. How much time had she wasted?

Lightning rippled up his form before his aura intensified around him. The lake of magma behind him blasted away, sending huge waves of molten rock back with every pulse of power that emerged from his Super Saiyan aura.

As if on instinct, her own aura flared around her as lightning began picking up around her.

"I can see why you've been such a nuisance now," she admitted, not breaking her stare from him. "You know I'm still going to kill you, Vegeta."

"Talk is cheap."

Normally she laughed at his condescending attitude when it was displayed. But right now she detected the dead serious nature of his tone and it grated beneath her skin. No more games, no more chasing around to the point, she was going to just beat him with her bare hands into an inch of his life, and then finish him off. She wanted to see that confident attitude vaporize before he did. All those years of being shackled and forgotten bubbled up to the surface as her heart started to race, her breathing intensified as her fists clenched together tightly. Something raw scratched against her very soul while she stared down this monkey prince. She was a Saiyan, not some smug, ignorant, fallen noble of a dead world. She didn't go around calling herself the Princess of all Saiyans, especially when she had no power over the others.

She didn't even bother blurring to assault Vegeta, instead blasting off straight into him. Striking out with her right arm, she felt Vegeta move before she even saw it. Predicting where he shifted was simple, until her leg shot into thin air. The ki in the air warped around her before she struck with her elbow behind her, not even looking as she felt it make contact with Vegeta's chest. The short prince gasped before she stepped back, changing her facing to him before swinging her left arm out, catching him across the chin with her forearm in a huge lariat. The sound of the blow cracked out as Vegeta was taken off his feet, flipping through the air several times before he landed face first in the scorched dirt. Without losing a second to the ground, the Prince rolled forward before turning towards her, pointing both his hands out as he gathered energy.

Turning in towards him as she picked up speed, she saw a flash of light in front of her as golden energy washed past her. Throwing her two hands forward like daggers, she cut into the wave. Ki blasted out around her, scattering away from her as she burrowed into the core of the energy wave. Throwing her arms back as she grasped the energy itself, the wave split in two before exploding behind her in two massive blasts. Continuing to propel herself forward, she saw Vegeta raise his guard, forming an X across his chest.

"Do you think I'm that stupid, Vegeta?!" she caught herself yelling before focusing all of her strength into her right arm and shifting her position with lightning speed as she closed distance with Vegeta.

Lunging into him, she drove her fist into his ribs, this time shattering the totality of armour around his body as his arm pulled in painfully, gasping opening in pain as she felt two of his ribs fracture. Fragments of Saiyan styled armour turned into shrapnel, cutting the edge of her hand and cutting Vegeta's body, before his person went flying back, diving directly into the sea of cooling magma her Red Gravity Bomb had formed. Two massive walls of magma blasted into the air, turning into steaming waves of molten rock they shot hundreds of metres in the air. Her face twisted into a sneer while she gathered her power once again, this time forming a resonating orb of red energy in front of her. The glow overpowered the light from the son within seconds, burning with the same hatred she'd let simmer beneath her calm veneer for the entirety of the battle so far. With naked aggression and hatred, Junia threw the orb after Vegeta into the parted sea of magma.

It took only a brief second for the red sun to rise in the distance as the energy orb made contact with Vegeta. A wall of fire fire seemed to encompass the horizon as towers of burning magma spat up out of the massive lake, seemingly reheated and flowing like fountains of boiling water in the air. The shock-wave rolled past her moments later, and even she raised her arms and empowered her ki as the explosion rolled past her. The wind picked up around her, becoming more intense than any natural tornado or hurricane as all she heard was the screaming whistle of the air around her brushing past while boiling hot air and magma whipped past in the wave.

As the light died in the distance, and the massive pillars of fire descended back into the lake, sending out huge disturbances and ripples in the once calming lake of the Earth's blood, Junia slowly lowered her guard as she looked out across the landscape.

It was over. Vegeta's power was completely gone. Her sneer slowly turned back into a small, confident smile as she raised her head proudly. The familiar thrum of the Super Saiyan energy around her was somewhat appeasing as she closed her eyes, breathing in and air serenely, letting her tension and stress slowly wash away for a brief second as she accepted the reality of her victory. Adrenaline was still pumping through her veins however.

"The battle isn't mine to win?" she asked herself, mocking Vegeta as she felt her chest swell a bit. "You're the same as all the others. You're just as arrogant and short-sighted as any Vegeta. And I proved it."

Slowly rising into the air, she started to detect the energies across the surface of the Earth, focusing on them rather than on the battle at hand. Taro's power was muted... he was playing with his food, a terrible tendency but it didn't matter. He couldn't be punished for such arrogance, and Junia knew it. Kakarot and Trunks' powers were struggle as she expected. Their fate was inevitable, and she was long past caring about anyone beyond herself really. A small part of her wished Taro met his fate at the hands of some of the warriors they stumbled across in one dimension, but that seemed impossible.

There was a pause however when she turned her head towards Brass's direction. He was most definitely injured. That seemed to be quite a feet. This planet was an extreme anomaly. Their prior warning to their arrival and preparations were a significant hindrance. Up until a few universe's ago, she was certain her power was on par with Brass, but Brass had descended into this pathetic way out, mirroring his brother Taro. She knew how strong he was, she'd felt his strength across the surface of the Earth even while fighting Vegeta. His power was significantly reduced, but she still sensed the echoes of dead powers around him. But there was something else she sensed.

Turles?

Her eyes flared in surprise. Turles was on this planet? That could be a problem for Brass if he was anything like their own Turles. But how was that possible? He would have used the Tree of Might to...

The power was different somehow. It wasn't Turles, it was just similar. But it was similar to someone else. It didn't make any sense either, especially because Kakarot was alive on this planet. That was Gohan's power. And as soon as it flared up, she knew it was Gohan as well. Left hovering in the air as she determined her next step, she felt a feeling she'd never really experienced before. A small flicker of something perhaps she'd felt as a child, before all of the rejection, politics, and games. There was a tinge of worry. The idea of Brass getting himself killed, dying without even fighting her of all people, didn't sit well in her chest. Especially because her mind slowly sewed together the scenario at hand.

I'm going to go need to bail that fool out.

It was irritating, with all that power he was going to need someone to pull him out of the fire. He might defeat Gohan, but the truth was she could sense how drained and savaged his power was. Even if in a straight fight he'd obviously win, she knew was a flagging power felt like. It was a strange mixture of disdain, concern, and resentment that mixed through her veins as she felt her energy intensifying around herself as she prepared to take off towards the South.

That all stopped when she sensed something nearby.

Her eyes began scanning the area, looking for any sign of this emerging power. It was hard to even determine where it was coming from.

What the Hell is this? Who could-

Suddenly, the familiarity of it came over her. Her heart immediately started pumping violently as she felt herself bare her teeth, her eyes turning in hatefully. There was no way that it was him. He was dead. She felt him die. The magma lake started to twist and swirl at the edges from the disturbances her power resonating out over the area. Every second her anger grew, especially as Vegeta didn't materialize.

"Vegeta!" she screamed out, turning her eyes in all directions. "Are you afraid? Are you waiting for Kakarot to save you?! Are you trying to buy time? Fight me!"

Time seemed to slow down around her as lightning crackled around her. Power that wasn't her own began to swirl around her as gravity seemed to increasingly defy her. Golden bolts of energy seemingly shot down from the sky all around her, slamming into the ground below. Even as her blood boiled, she felt... confused. When she looked up, she didn't sense anything. But Vegeta's power was growing, even from the weakened state she'd left him in. It was rising rapidly, and she couldn't pinpoint him. He was almost on top of her, he was gathering strength all around her.

Turning her hands up, she unleashed a wave of death above her, parting the clouds themselves as she scanned the air for any sign of him.

King Yemma must have brought him back from the dead already and thrown him back here to fight me. No matter, I can still kill him again without any... without...

Looking at a pebble in the air in front of her, Junia noticed it hovering straight upward, even towards the cleared sky above her. A second later thousands of other fragments were rising around her, gold and blue lightning tracing past all of them. Her anger blinded her briefly, before her sense started to kick in.

Find the power, Junia. Where is it. It's not above you, and its right on top of... I'm right on top of it!

Looking down immediately, Junia stared at the flattened ground beneath her as rocks chipped up from the surface, before the ground itself cracked open, sending thousands of chunks of earth skyward, scattering past her.

"Vegeta! You-"

When her eyes peered past the fragmented boulders and loose rock from below, she saw only an intense golden light. It took her a brief second, her arrogance slipping away to realize what she was looking at. She was looking at a barrel of a gun, and her pride and arrogance hadn't let realize it. After all, she'd just won minutes ago. When another bolt of lightning shot up around her, she realized it was crackling all around her, bouncing off the airborne ground around her.

"FINAL FLASH!"

It was a familiar roar, but this time it was different. This time there was weight behind the attack. This time there was surprise. The angle of the attack was all against her.

The light beneath her was immediately overwhelming, even as she tried to raise her ki to form a barrier. It was shattered the second the blunt force of the blast hit her. Her eyes widened in terror as she felt the beam cut through everything before slamming into her. The last thing she could do was scream in horror as her father's blast overwhelmed her. Energy scorched past her armour, shattering it as it broke free from her body and disintegrated around her. The world tumbled, filled with light, noise, and ki, as well as the scream which echoed over the entire landscape.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Vegeta:

Arms trembled in front of him as Vegeta lay on his back. A shower of rocks clattered around him as he breathed in and out, trying to even move his body to sit up felt impossible. Burns covered his arms and legs, and even his now bare chest. Open cuts from sharpened burning rock had gashed open several parts of his arms and legs as well. When he finally had the strength to rise, his eyes never left the hole in the clouds above him. The open wound in the sky with a golden bolt travelling further and further away with every passing moment.

It was a strange sensation, realizing he was looking up at this view for the second time in his life. The familiar glow of his Super Saiyan aura had started to dim as the Saiyan Prince felt himself nearly lose consciousness while staring into the sky. His ribs ached while he let his arms finally fall to his sides. It wasn't time to pass out. It was time to rise to the next challenge. Brass and Taro were still out there and-

Saiyan eyes focused in on something in front of the shrinking golden energy wave in the distance, Vegeta could make out a small figure in the air hanging in the clouds. After decades of battles across the galaxy, after fighting Frieza and every monster since him, Vegeta should have known better than to breath a sigh of relief. It was all his effort seemingly to rise to his feet, every muscle protesting in its nearly pulverized state.

It was his pride driving him to get back up. Perhaps it was his fate to be struck down here today. Much like Kakarot's boy, he was up to his neck in blood. The small figure in the air was growing larger as it made its approach. Perhaps it was watching death descend from above, coming to finally collect him. A death moulded from the man he used to be. It was an echo from when he'd been a coward. Serving Frieza all of those years out of fear, and now here he was his his greatest effort and it hadn't been enough to finish this one off. Taking a shaky step forward, the Saiyan Prince managed to stumble his way out of the crater his body had resided i, moving over the hole he'd burrowed beneath the Earth with his body, in order to position himself underneath his would-be killer.

What came into view however, was hardly someone who'd deflected his attack. The breathing was so loud he could hear her before she even landed. Her armour was gone, annihilated from her person. Tears were strew across her Saiyan under-suit. Her boots were even missing, leaving behind burnt feet. Lacerations appeared across her abdomen and torso, and burns could be seen through rips on her legs and armours. When her feet touched the ground, she almost immediately fell forward, dropping to one knee as her eyes glared hatefully at him. The heavy breathing seemingly stopped any smart remarks, or comments of superiority or definitive victory. Instead, he was looking at a wounded, furious animal.

Exhaustion was replaced rapidly through an addition of more adrenaline. His own muscles, battered and torn, were driven to make him take another step towards her. Their aura's flickered in and out of existence as they both tried to maintain their power. Their Super Saiyan forms seemed to almost be at risk of disappearing all together.

"You," she rasped finally, her heavy breathing effecting even the one word so far. "You can't kill me that easily."

If he was fighting for just his own pride, perhaps he'd have not been bothered by the comment at all. If this were just about him, showing he could rise above a powerful enemy from another world, he'd have scoffed even. If he lost here, he was certain Trunks would die, his Trunks. He was certain that Bulma would die, and Bulla as well. These three would provide no one with any mercy, they'd already shown that from even Kakarot's home.

I can't kill you that easily. Fine. I can still kill you.

As if on queue, her breathing began to even out as she slowly prepared herself, taking her stance as the golden aura around her brightened a moment later. His own aura flickered once, before bursting to glow at the same brightness.

"I won't let you win," Vegeta finally declared openly. "That's something you've not understood in all this. I'm going to break you, and throw your ruined body to the winds."

The pause in the fighting, despite their posturing was a relief if only for a second. Every second to let his body recover from the expense of energy, and his forced dip into the magma was a blessing.

"You always are pretentious," her voice cut back at him. "I don't understand how mother could ever stomach being in the room with you."

It was strange. It was the first time she'd mentioned her mother at all.

"And who was that, girl? You clearly aren't a pure-blood."

"It's the same in most world's, Vegeta," she commented coldly. "The one you use to build your training facilities, and all of your little toys to travel around the galaxy. Bulma."

There wasn't much of her mother in her at all. Well, perhaps Bulma's bad attitude when she was angry, but this was honestly closer to himself. Redeeming qualities of any sort seemed to be lacking in this hateful, revenge starved killer. But if her intention was to get him to stop and think just by mentioning Bulma, then perhaps she'd succeeded in her mind games.

"If you kill me," Vegeta remarked after a few moments, admitting to the grim truth aloud, and to his opponent. "Promise me you'll spare Bulma and my daughter."

"You're always so weak. You're either weak in body and vicious in demeanour, the way a true Saiyan warrior should be. Or you're weak in character and strong in body, and don't have what it takes to win."

"I had what it took to get this far," Vegeta was quick to remind her. "With you standing across from me, scorched and bloodied. Is there anyone you would want me to spare after I beat you?"

Her eyes flashed with a mixture of anger and outrage, but she stopped herself from letting her anger overwhelm her this time. After a brief moment though, something unexpected happened. She seemed to contemplate something before inclining her head towards him.

"You really do care about their fate, and you have this kind of strength and resolve, don't you?" she asked almost seemingly herself, more so than him. "You are one in a thousand, do you know that? Every world where you care, you're an easy soft target. And every world where you don't, you're pitiful. And now you're asking me to spare your family if I win? The last time you asked me that, you clutched my boot while you begged for their lives."

It was impossible not to feel his own heartbeat start racing with anger in how she said it.

"I'll tell you exactly how it ended when you beg for theirs in this world, Vegeta."

It wasn't going to get to that point.

The golden field around him however, slipped away. His hair turned black as his aura changed in colour. Muscles decreased in size as his energy slipped from him, his body unable to maintain his form any longer. He'd spent too much power saving himself in the magma, and even more firing the Final Flash. Before he could even imagine to restart this fight, he'd already lost too much power.

A wolfish smile emerged across from him as the golden aura around Junia burned.

"It looks like I'll be telling you soon, then-"

As if on cue, just as the final word left her mouth, Junia's aura transformed to purple and her hair turned to its natural raven black. Immediately she looked down at her hands and investigated her own form. Snarling furiously, she concentrated her ki, her aura flickering to gold only the briefest second, her hair not even changing in colour.

"No, no this can't be happening," she snarled, concentrating again, burning more energy as she tried to reacquire her lost form.

It was in this moment, that Vegeta knew it was time to strike. Leaping forward, his blue aura trailing behind him, he pulled back his right arm, feeling the wind blasting past him. Junia's face turned up to face him at the last moment as she looked back in anger and disbelief before he swung his fist down into her face. Spit and blood brushed past his fist before her body went flying back. Appearing beneath her before her body could fall, he drove his foot into her lower back. She immediately went skyward, her body's tail and arms trailing behind her as she was shot forcefully upward. Focusing his power wisely, Vegeta blasted off once more after her, trying to keep the initiative, trying to press home a final advantage to conclusively win and finish off his opponent.

When he closed ranks with her again, her body flipped to face him at the last moment, spinning one leg around and catching him in the face. His head jerked to once side as his body flinched from the hit, before he felt Junia's fist slam into his face further, forcing him back. When he next kick came however, Vegeta dodged to one side, before driving his elbow into the side of her knee. He felt the knee pop out of place as a long, strangled noise escaped the Saiyan's lips. Pulling her left leg up from the other side however, she struck out with the other foot, catching him in the side of the head again. His nose spat blood out as his right eye finally swelled shut from the multiple impacts to the head. She came back around with a strong left palm strike as well, hitting him in the chest, buckling his already fractured ribs, before she made aim for another blow.

Catching her fist, he pulled her forward, before slamming his knee into her stomach. It was enough to stop her in her tracks before he drove his own palm strike into her chin, sending her head snapping back. Without giving her a second to recover, Vegeta drove his right foot into her already battered abdomen, sending her flying up and back. Blasting off again to close ranks with her, he saw her turn to face him again, this time forming all of her power into one fist as she drove back towards him. At the last moment before their impact in the sky, he slipped under her fist, purple energy flicked past his face as his hair burned almost at its proximity, before his own fist ploughed into her stomach at full strength and speed.

Finally there was a pause in the fighting. Her entire body seemed to invert inwards, her hands coming to her abdomen as she started to tremble, clearly increasingly being unable to continue the fight. Her energy levels were dropping and her body was increasingly falling apart. His own was on the verge of failure as well, but it was all to degrees. He had finally earned the plurality of power over her.

When she looked up at him, there was a moment of grim understanding between the two, even if her own eyes reflected back her stubborn unwillingness to surrender.

"It's over," Vegeta breathed. "If you want to plead for your life, you can start now."

It was by no means an idle threat. This creature had murdered countless people from countless universe's. This would be her last chance to do that. By winning, he also proved he was clearly the best Vegeta she'd come across.

Pulling her hands up, she immediately fired a wave of energy at him. It shot past where he floated before he appeared before her. Her head shot back, trying to follow him, only seeing him just as he struck, driving his elbow into her back, sending her descending wildly towards the ground. Letting his own power wash over him, Vegeta corkscrewed after her in the air, before intercepting her as she fell, throwing both legs out and catching her in the back again, this time sending her violently past the sound barrier before her body broke through three of the last standing pillar's of rock in the entire wasteland, all before her body crashed into a lonely cliff near where the beginnings of this fight happened.

A single hole remained where her body had been deposited.

Slowly, Vegeta landed on the ground, his own aura flickering out several times before he almost fell forward. The world grew fuzzy for several moments before he shook it off, staring ahead. She was out of power and buried in a mountain, essentially. The only problem was that he was now almost entirely out of power himself. It was hard to imagine even flying to another part of the Earth to participate in any of the conflict going forward.

A senzu bean. Or Dende. I'll need-

Across the surface of the Earth, he felt something tremendous happen. Son Gohan, and Son Goten's power flared up to an immense deluge of energy, and he sensed the other member of the trio, Brass... disappear. Staring in the direction of the immense expulsion of power, the Prince of all Saiyans breathed in and out several times. Gohan had come back from the dead and helped defeat one of these monsters, and now that meant there was only one threat left, after he took care of-

The ground started to rumble around him, and Vegeta was quick to turn back to the source.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Junia:

It was hard to move now. Every fibre of her body was worn through at this point. The twist of fate that seemingly could never happen, had happened. The cave her body had burrowed into the side of this cliff to make was dark, leaving only the entrance as a source of light. Her gloved hand moved up to try and hold her head, which was spinning from the impact she'd made. When she pulled her hand away, she saw the blood coming down from her hairline. Even with her head spinning and her body barely responding, she knew what her fate was going to be shortly. Vegeta's energy would recover, and then he would either way this cliff away in a wave of ki, or he would fly in through the entrance, and finish her off by some other means.

Losing had never been something she'd thought she could do. Not really anymore. Her free hand moved up to grasp the side of the unstable cave as her hand reached out in the half darkened space, trying to at the very least bring herself to a sitting position, maybe even a standing one. So the only way to ensure victory was to become a monster like Taro. And that was pitiful. Who wanted to win by sacrificing everything you were? That kind of constant desire for power at any cost had created the people she despised most. No... the only way to fight was to grow by yourself.

But that lead her here. Here into this shallow cave and an early death. Keeping her head up, even after she managed to slide up the side of the cave, became impossible before she finally let her head slide back, just choosing to breath even as she felt he strength slipping from her.

Vegeta.

In the quiet, in this darkness, she sensed something seemingly a world away. It was Son Gohan, and this time what was clearly Goten. And she sensed Brass die. Brass had probably been the only person to care about her outside of her mother for most of her life. A pig-headed, arrogant bastard who was obsessed with his own strength. A show-off who had always been trying to impress her and try to imply himself to be somehow her protector, even when they came to be equals. Someone who thought he could try and convince her to stay with him by making some deal with her father. The first and only person she'd ever slept with. The last time, before all this ever happened, that she felt like she was a normal person was around Brass.

There was one time where she'd not thought about all this desire for power and revenge. Amongst the destruction of world's across the stars, she remembered looking up into the heavens alongside Brass, and it was just normal. It was a life which was familiar to her, to her instincts even, but it was something simple. It was something she knew she could have never been happy with, but strangely it was something she wished she could go back to now.

Looking out at the light of the sun just outside the cave, she knew the full scope of what had taken place. Even if he'd lived, Brass had become something else, being twisted by his own ambitions. When he adopted Taro's technique, he was even further gone, because he was unable to accept being second to anyone. It'd been really just her, alone, for months with two creatures. But now the familiar was gone. Brass was dead, she sensed it. How he died she couldn't even understand, having been too focused on Vegeta and her own desire for revenge. By failing to win here, really... Brass died. Even if he was a coward undeserving of her, he was gone now because he'd fought against at the very least two opponents, and many more earlier. Taro killed him by just not taking on a greater burden of enemies, and selfishly wanting his next Trunks.

Just as she killed him by selfishly just wanting to kill Vegeta. A man she'd finally failed to kill herself.

All of the hate she'd carried for years was causing her already spent force to wildly come to the surface. A hatred for Vegeta was superseded by her hatred for it all. She hated her past. She hated the world she came from, and she hated travelling to other worlds to somehow right those wrongs by killing mirrors of her father. She hated Brass for letting himself turn into something off. She hated him for ever trying to show he cared about her, or because he claimed to love her. She hated Taro for his ambitions and descent into madness. And she hated herself.

She hated herself probably more than anything.

Despite how they'd been unresponsive seconds earlier, Junia forced her legs to work as she felt energy flow through her finally. Expanding it outward, she roared as the cliff around her disintegrated in a wave of her own anger and loathing. Her lungs expanded as it happened, before letting out a roar, a fierce balk which she threw back at the universe around her. Standing in the sun, she felt her limited power flowing around her. It didn't come close to even transforming, but it was good enough. She wasn't going to just die on this planet.

Her eyes locked on to Vegeta, who was barely standing there, but his guard was still up.

"I don't understand," she breathed to herself, her pulse rising as her aura flickered violently around her. "I've destroyed this world a hundred times, and killed Vegeta even more. Brass has killed hundreds of those pitiful rats, and they killed him."

Her anger roused her instinct to survive, but more so, it discarded the shell of control she'd allowed herself for this battle. Her anger and rage overflowing.

"I don't need Taro, or anyone else," she hissed further, her aura flickering from purple to blue, warping around her as the rocks she stood atop started to erode away with her power. "I don't need anyone here. Do you hear me?! I don't need anyone, Vegeta! I don't need you, Taro, Brass, or anyone! I don't need to be a Super Saiyan to kill you, Vegeta! I don't need any of that to finish you, Vegeta! You're finished! Do you hear me Vegeta?! FINISHED!"

Energy violently started to ripple around her, her black hair flowing in it before she cracked her neck from one side to the other.

"Let's see you stop this one. Because if you can't Vegeta, this whole planet is as finished as you are!" Junia roared before her body blasted straight into the air, her blue energy following after her.

Beneath her, she saw Vegeta looking up at her as a speck in her vision below. Her own aura flashed purple, black energies running off of it as his own energy levels started to rise. It didn't matter, because her attack have overrun the beam he was going to challenge her with a dozen times. She knew exactly what she was facing this time, and she wasn't going to lose to this one again. She was going to outdo Brass, and kill Taro even as she defeated Vegeta, even now with only a fraction of her strength.

Her energy focused further and further as she placed one hand above her, focusing everything into one point as black bolts of electricity ran around her, her blue aura intensifying.

You won't die alone, Brass.

"If I can't beat you directly, Vegeta, I can at least beat the planet! Galactic Star Cannon!"

Crackling blue energy emerged from her hand, reaching out like the hand of god towards the earth, intent on its destruction. From below, the purple energy flowing around Vegeta concentrated into one point before emerging as well. A wave of purple reached out a split second later.

"Gallic Gun FIRE!"

The two waves crashed against one another. Two opposing waves of ki warped together at the centre as they were forced in to one another. A concussive wave rolled out between them, washing over the ruins of the badlands as debris was lifted into the air, swirling around the blasts. Light blinked in and out around them as the ki from the waves overwhelmed the light from the sun itself. The ash covered, ruined battleground they battled over was illuminated only in shades of purple and blue as the landscape around them was further devastated.

As soon as Vegeta's wave was overwhelmed, her victory was assured. Even now she could feel the waves, and could sense her own slowly overpowering that of her father's.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Vegeta:

The ground beneath him cracked as his feet were forced back by the wave. How many times did he need to win to finally secure this? How deep did he need to dig to come back from this time after time? No matter how many times she came back with more power, each time coming back with more resolve, it didn't matter. He wasn't just fighting for himself, or for his pride. He wasn't going to lose to her because that would mean losing more than just his life, or his dignity. It would mean losing his family to these monsters, but worse it would mean he would meet that demon-witch's expectations. He didn't need her, or anyone else to save himself.

He didn't need to put himself into debt to anyone to save not only himself, but his family. It was going to be with his own strength and his own resolve that he won this battle. Even now, his body battered, his power depleted, and his beam wavering before this alternate offspring, he was not going to just roll over and die. If that beam hit the planet, things would be finished in under a minute. This was do or die for him.

The irony of all of this wasn't lost on him. Over twenty years ago, it was his form hanging in the sky, raining death and destruction down on the Earth only to be stopped by Kakarot. Even now he couldn't help but compare himself to the third class warrior who, along with his friends, had stopped him from destroy the Earth himself. Kakarot always found it within himself to find victory, ever since Raditz defeated him. There was no one else coming, and Vegeta was fine with that. He didn't need anyone's help to match Kakarot.

If anything, he would outdo him. Kakarot's midget friend's Krillin and Tien was really the one who outdid him after Kakarot had stopped him several times. He couldn't rely on others if he failed. It was all down to him.

The only thing to flash in front of his eyes as the beams continued their war ahead of him, was his family. Even now as his energy became less and less stable, even now as his strength waned before this, the final attack.

This was it. The last push, the last time he could reach for victory. The last of his strength was already spent, but beneath it all there was something else. Staring up at the blue death reaching out for him, his own blast now shrinking to barely more than his hands, Vegeta felt his heart racing. The tank was empty. Every bit of ki he recovered was already going into maintaining what was left of the Gallic Gun.

Bulma. I do this for you.

Through the wave, he could see the hateful sneer of the girl who had come to murder him. It seemed impossible that this girl came from Bulma and himself. The childish glee his little girl displayed was always so innocent. Trunks, even if he was a warrior, even hardened by the battle with Broly, was still so human in many ways. The figure above him was a mirror of himself from another life in so many ways, only more hateful and just as angry.

In front of him he fully didn't grasp what he felt. Even as the blue wave closed in on him, nearly about to rush past him before burrowing into the surface of the Earth and driving towards its core... he felt something from within. The last desperate shade of purple in front of him suddenly opened up. His own anger had risen, but beyond that... he wasn't going to let this thing destroy the world his family lived on, and she wasn't going to defeat him.

I am Vegeta, the Prince of all Saiyans, and I will not be defeated by someone as lowly as you.

The wave of purple rushed up, surging through the blue beam as a pulse rolled out through the waves. His own feet were barely able to stay up as the ground beneath him's crack became worse, the entire piece of the badlands he was on shredding to pieces. The blue wave shrank in the distance as Junia's features shifted from hateful to shocked.

"No, no no no how can he-?!"

The Gallic Gun crashed against the blue wave, shattering it at the peak of Junia's power. A scream emerged from above, this time a short lived one as the Gallic Gun rolled past her, this time catching her in the wave and throwing her along with the beam. It did what the Final Flash hadn't before, carrying her away in the energy. He sensed her energy almost vanish before she disappeared in the beam as it travelled into the atmosphere.

The air calmed as the light from the sun returned while the blue and purple hues disappeared. This time it was over.

His arms fell to his side before his knees finally buckled. It took almost all his will to force his arms forward to stop him from just face planting into the ground. His breathing laboured as he tried his best to recover enough to even get back up. That creature had killed him hundreds of times across multiple universes.

Barely able to make it to his feet again Vegeta felt the wounds across his body now more than ever. From busted ribs to the burns across his body everything was just aching. Trying to lift off from the ground, he fumbled in the air from such a distinct lack of ki. It was all spent. She'd taken him to the wall and nearly won multiple times.

Despite everything, there was something to be proud of for her. She was by no means a coward, and her strength had been something he couldn't believe. It would mean the last one left... this Taro... was going to be a nightmare beyond anything he could imagine. Even now as he sensed his darkness in the distance, Vegeta felt himself shrinking. If he could barely stop this Junia, how were they possibly going to stop...

Looking up in the air, Vegeta blinked in shock, his mouth dropping to an agape as he caught glimpse of a fireball descending from the heavens above.

No. That's impossible. There is no way she survived that.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Junia:

There had been no air. When she finally pushed herself off the Gallic Gun's wave, her body blistering from it scorching her as it nearly overwhelmed her, she had no air. And it was just cold. The last thing she felt she could remember was trying to push herself down, down towards the distant ground. Even the clouds seemed small.

Then the flame hit. When she came to, she felt it licking across her body. Everything was agony. Every nerve in her body was wild in its reaction. Only when she opened her eyes could she see anything, and it was nothing but red fire. Everything turned dark again before she felt the ground. Terra below was not kind as her should smashed into the ground before her frame tore through the soil, shredding through hardened dry ground and the rocks within. Scrapes tore across her raw skin, ripping through the remnants of her uniform. When she tried to move, nothing worked. Her head barely shifted upward before it fell back down to the ground.

This was how it all ended. Here. Defeated, wounded and alone. Her eyes scanned the sun-baked area. Even now as she felt her body soaking increasingly in her own blood. This was the punishment for her failure, and perhaps the punishments for the crimes others so often accused her of. A slow, painful death, alone in her misery and defeat. There was no comfort in her death either, as it'd all failed. She'd proven herself to be the failure her father had always told her she was.

I...

Her lungs wheezed with every breath, burnt inside from the atmosphere above. Her heart slowed more with every few beats, and she just swallowed as she felt herself trying to prepare for her end. To prepare herself for a life after this one, in a universe that wasn't her own. Her failure ensured her a place amongst the failures of this universe. Her shame would be concealed from her place of origin. But even then, there was a deep sadness which gripped her soul.

I could have shown him how strong I became... he was wrong. I've done so much. I've seen so much. I've fought so many battles across time and space and... it all ends here.

The small part of her she never acknowledged, something which drove her so deeply for so long came to the surface. Her hatred for her father was born of wanting approval, something he never validated or provided to her. It was to have his attention. Every time she killed him across the universe, it was increasingly hollow because it wasn't him. It wasn't her world. She never equalled him or his expectations. Even if she were to return now, she would still be a failure.

The dream she always had was returning home. Returning home and defeating, even killing her father to show him he was wrong. He was wrong when he called her just some mare to be traded. He was wrong when he said she wasn't worth training. He was wrong when he told her all of her ambitions and desires were pointless, and that she didn't matter.

Something warm rolled down her cheeks as she felt her stuttering breathing hitch as her lungs helplessly tried to keep breathing. It didn't matter now.

A shadow slowly emerged over her, her heartbeat slowing still as her eyes peered up towards the figure looming over her.

Vegeta... father.

For that moment, it wasn't this world's Vegeta peering down at her. It was her father. A trembling hand reached out, trying to grasp at anything before it barely managed to take hold of his boot. Her vision was going dark as she saw him just stare down at her. She couldn't speak, she couldn't say anything. She couldn't lash out at him, or tell him about how she was better than he ever gave her credit for. All she could do was weakly reach out and try to take hold. She wasn't dead yet. She would be, very soon, but not yet.

There were some muffled words on his part, but all she could hear was her own heartbeat. She saw him open his palm and point it down at her as she tried to still breath, tried to keep everything going. Her head fell to one side, her strength having fled from her, before the world started to darken. The last thing she saw, as her eyes darted up towards him even as her vision failed her, was a cold, judging stare in return. And the last thing she sensed was the energy barely gathering into his hand.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Author's Notes:

Holy crap. I finally finished it. After multiple extensive rewrites, writer's block, other projects, overtime at work, job interviews and buying a car all contributed to the big delay. I am genuinely sorry this took x6 longer than usual. The next chapter is larger than this one, even with how I'm going to try to cheat a bit by skipping past some of the initial parts of the fight. It is going to take time, probably a few months. After these battle chapters, there are tons of development ones coming, and their all much, much shorter. Which means more updates more routinely. After I get the next one out, I'm gonna aim for 2 updates a month until things start heating up for the full blown end pieces of the next saga, or huge moment chapters.

Also, I try to update my profile to say what's up with delays and such. I've been doing so since March. Just a heads up.

But, to the chapter itself. I really tried to convey a lot in here. I constantly felt it hard to write Vegeta in this, because so much of the story really hasn't focused much on him as a protagonist so far, but as an anti-hero or even a rival-antagonist in some senses. I also had to remember that Vegeta's advanced a lot as a character, caring about his family and ect, and it's not all "muh pride". For Junia, it's all revenge, but as the story goes on, I really wanted to explore her character more.

So yea. It was a lot of work to write this. I got inspired by tons of things. Even the chapter's title gave it away. It's Vegeta very much filling the role of Goku in the Saiyan Saga in many ways. I deliberately mirrored his saving the world, with his attempt to destroy it in the Saiyan Saga. I also really wanted to give a non-super saiyan level battle a bit of a whirl between them, as they started up, and as the fight wound down. I wanna drive the point home that it doesn't really take that much power to do a lot of the craziness that we see, or the plant destruction.

I cut a few techniques I was going to give Vegeta and Junia if only because their scenes felt unnecessary, and seemed like I was just driving the chapter forward without a real cause. T he fight is part of the story, the techniques only matter if their used in interesting ways, or to display things about the characters. So, I wrote two scenes I cut, and I cancelled two scenes I was going to put in, and I didn't rewrite the scenes that ended up cut. Just the way it is.

I hope everyone enjoyed this foray into writing Vegeta. It's not something I do that often, and next saga Vegeta plays a bigger part than Goku really. So yea. Lots of music inspired me while writing this one. Mostly Metric by the end of it, I love that band and it just felt right, writing a lot of this to that. Satellite Mind, Artificial Nocturne, but more than anything the two songs "Speed the Collapse" and more than that, "Blindness".

Hell, even the last stage, of the last fight in the entire story, is centred around two Metric songs. I've got the whole thing done in my head. It'll be a beautiful way to end the story itself when we get there.

Onward to the final stage. This one is gonna be brutal fellahs. Also, if you wanna entertain yourselves, I recommend The Long Road tvtropes page. I always check it out a week or two after chapters go up, for teh lulz.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Reviewers:

Pyromania101: We did it Pyro. It actually got updated! Lol. I hope it meets some expectations, but that'd be hard after this long of a development time. Still, I enjoyed writing it, so I hope you enjoy reading it.

Blackicethunder: Brass is really, really strong. He's gotta be around Buu somewhere. Maybe somewhere around Fat Buu when he was first introduced, maybe a bit below or above that.

Delias Starlight: Yea, I really wanted to give Goten and Gohan a big moment in this chapter. Important for a lot of stuff later. :)

Deadman19: Yea. Life goes on though. It's part of the package unfortunately.

Matt: Thanks. Battle chapter's are always the hardest to do honestly. Especially how I do them all as one big piece. I think that if a fight is happening, people should be given the whole thing, rather than being left in suspense. It doesn't always work out, but I try.

Guest1: I enjoy the fact that you call me an immature idiot. :D

Sekhelmet: Everyone has a role to play next chapter too. I'm scared to write it, as its really the main payoff for the entire saga, but it's gonna be hard to top Chapter 64. So we'll see how this goes for me.

TaitanoRules555: I dunno about his canon counterpart, but maybe something close to it. I haven't decided, there is a lot of ground to cover still before the story's done, and its quite full already honestly.

Drewba12: Thanks :D

Ultimate Black Ace: We talked. We forumed it up. So no need for a big response to this, beyond- Thanks Ace.

Perfect Carnage: I hope all those times you play Xenoverse, you feel guilty when you murder people for more power. Shame. Shame. Shame. Shame...

Blades of Fury: I don't think Vegeta or Junia had a lot of fun with those daddy issues this chapter, lol

Hek'unnSkipper: Gohan is Super Saiyan II right now, and can't improve his power without transforming beyond that. He's very, very weak compared to Taro. Very.

Gammabeta99: Thanks :D

ApertureScience: As a duel citizen with the great nation of New Zealand, I appreciate the time you put into the review, and the poem you added. It was very well received on my end. Next saga has lots of Videl, Pan, and Gohan in it after the intermediate stuff. It's really anchored on them.

Anomymous: I actually really wanna get the time to do the big notes list for what was going to happen in the Catalyst. If I get the time, I really wanna do it. It was going to be a really amazing story. But it got too big. Something I've tried to avoid for The Long Road.

Guest2: I'm pretty sure Goten is an early teen right now, and he'd be about 4'10ish. Gohan's closer to around 5'10-6ft.

DBZ fan the first: A masterpiece? You're too kind good sir. I really like to provide people with value when they're reading. I always want to improve the story and keep it to a high standard, even if I'm not a great proof reader. Lol

Luke: Sorry for leaving you waiting so long Luke. But I don't think I'm the best writer here, genuinely. I know better writers than myself. I just hope that the story ends up being compelling.

FireFnBrimstone: I'm really down with this review. Yea, Brass vs. Everyone was a huge project I'd planned out for months. Junia vs. Vegeta was harder to plot, because it took me longer to figure out what I wanted the fight to say, even if I knew what I wanted both Vegeta and Junia to convey. I feel 64 is superior to 65, which makes me guilty. I just hope people enjoy 65 as much as I did writing it.

Ardee: Pikkon's not gone for good. Dragonball's inconsistent on if dying after your dead means your dead forever. I personally don't think so, so it's not gonna end up that way. I'll take flak for that, but I already take some flak from powerlevel stuff. I will say that dying does have consequences. It destroys your body, and you can't just come back right away. It takes time to come back after your body is destroyed, at least to rematerialize your physical form in the next life, or be reincarnated.

Saul of Romulus: I really don't see Junia as a feminazi. She doesn't think females are better, or men are worse. She's got a complex because of Vegeta, and just is a hateful, bitter person. She really wanted approval and validation. I hope this chapter fleshed her out a bit better for you. :)

lil dynamic: I tried to meet that deadline man. I did. I'm just 3 months late. I will say that it was because I literally rewrote the chapter at least once in terms of overall rewrites. It took me a long time to get my bearings for this one.

Rmggeeked: Sorry you had to wait. Lol

Shonenjump guy: Beerus? Expect Beerus ;)

Super Mystic Gohan: Gohan totes wants out of Hell. He's not exactly fully reformed, he's still got that edge of self interest with him.

Jazocoti: Neat! Lol-
Google translate peut aider, mais ce n'est pas parfait.

Danni: Everyone seems concerned about Videl/Gohan, I know they're not going to be a couple, but I would say that it doesn't mean interesting things won't happen. Next saga is gonna be a huge piece for them.

SortaCore: I know I could do it that way, breaking it all up into smaller chapters, but I honestly feel as though I'm cheating people by not giving them the full fight. My reviews would be hundreds, maybe even a thousand higher if I did it that way. But I just think of it as being releasing incomplete products, in order to increase reviews. No, they're written as one piece, and are meant to be read as one piece. It's one fight. I wish I had the will to do it the other way... but I can't.

And I'm gonna have demons go to hell after they die. It was just the anime that put them in heaven as a joke with Dabura. Lol And thank you for the review. :)

Uchiha999: Thank you :)

Maddog631: I hope Vegeta didn't disappoint.

G: Badass to teh max. :D

Gyest: *takes a bow*

Guest3: Oh man... Taro is something far more terrifying. My plans for chapter 66 are very big. I just hope I can realize them. Taro is much, much more terrifying than Brass...

Felixhelixer: Thank you. :D

Fantastic: I like to think when I finally close in on the last chapter, that the ending is something people won't forget.

Saibaman 36: Both heroes and villains should be characters with reasons and actions. Brass has his reasons for doing what he does, he needs a logic path to do it. I really like the character, and was sad to make him die. But... sometimes people get what they deserve. Gohan: :\

thomasthetmc: Goku still died. :D

Team Soda: Oh man. The hatred for Junia is near as strong as the hatred she possesses for Vegeta. Lol

Next chapter will hopefully hold Taro's fate. It'll be yuge. Everyone is gonna love it. It'll be the best saga ending, the biggest saga ending, very good. The best. :P

maesde: Junia's ruthless assault on Vegeta was weathered, and the Prince stands tall in victory.

Darknessrising11: Vegeta is the Prince here. He made Junia kneel down, he had more riding in this fight, and despite her having killed him multiple times, he was the better warrior, despite being slightly inferior in power. He adapted and thought outside the box, where as Junia was too blunt, and when she did think outside the box, it was not achieving her objective. Her willingness to let Vegeta suffer also didn't help. Vegeta was looking to win a fight, Junia was looking to win over herself, Vegeta, and the Vegeta of her own universe. That made her battle plan imperfect.

Zachfikes7: I know right?

Afanaddict: Thank you :D

Glukkon: I needed it. What a six month period. Blegh. I felt guilty by January not having an update I thought was up to par ready.

Guest4: Too bad you had to look really far forward :P

5secsLeft: Yea, death sucks, but we all do it.

ShadowFFD: Yea, it was really about Brass's unwillingness to die, but Goten and Gohan just ended up being too stronk for him. *Salutes Brass.*

Megacharizat: Thanks, and I hope you enjoyed more in the meantime.

Kaccrot: I really wish I had time to write that side-story, lol

Guest5: I continued. I was working on it the whole time.

Guest6: I know this sounds really not cool, but I don't really care about the official power levels. At all. They change, and have changed to be more convenient for what the writers want at the time. Power levels in general are literally just a system to make characters rise or fall in importance, and are whatever the writer needs them to be. Like Android 17 becoming as strong as SSG Goku? Sure thing. At the end of the day, it's all fantasy. People try to wrap it in internal logic to make it work, but Dragonball is far from internally consistent, with almost anything.

IHeartGohan: I love it too.

Guest7: Can't eat? Dear god, did you make it this long?

Luke: If you had an account, I'd have messaged you earlier dude. Sorry for the wait, lol

Man, answering all the reviews takes like... over an hour. Lol