Part III

Vegeta's body tensed and he took a deep breath. "So, that's your offer. That's really by far the biggest piece of shit I've ever heard, you fucking asshole!"

Cooler hadn't expected Vegeta to have a will this strong. But this wasn't important. He was an Ice-jin and he would just break him. A painful defeat or helplessness could quickly change the mind of a warrior.

"I've made the important decisions for myself. And I won't go back on them, just because you believe that you're some kind of god!"

With these words the Saiyajin attacked again and Cooler did the same. The Ice-jin and Vegeta flew at each other and met in the middle for hand-to-hand combat. Metacooler performed the first hit, which Vegeta dodged by jumping slightly to the side. The warrior with the golden hair turned sideways floating two feet above the ground and pulled back for his own punch, but Cooler blocked it with his upper arm. Vegeta eventually landed with both feet on the ground and took turns hitting with the right and the left fist, while the golden flame around his body was only growing in intensity. Both times Metacooler was able to fight off the attack, which made Vegeta increase the speed angrily.

For a layman's eye too fast his fists were flying against Cooler's defenses and this happened again and again. The punches really rained down on him, but Cooler just kept blocking him. The Ice-jin concentrated only on defending himself, to show Vegeta how futile this fight was.

And while the fight continued this way, a heavy wind was coming from both fighters, which was blowing through the holographic arena.

Finally Metacooler finished this level of the battle and grabbed Vegeta's right wrist with one hand.

"You're much too slow. I feel like someone, whose opponent is wearing a vest made of lead. If you don't have to offer more, this will be over quickly."

"I have more to offer," Vegeta replied stubbornly and fired with the palm of the grabbed wrist a Galick Gun, which hit Cooler directly. The Ice-jin let go of the Super Saiyajin, who jumped backwards and landed in a fighting stance.

The smoke slowly cleared, while Vegeta was waiting for the next step of his opponent. Pearls of sweat had appeared on his forehead and also his breathing was a bit irregular. This fight had started to drain the Saiyajin of his strength.

Suddenly the smoke cover tore open and a reddish but thin beam flew at Vegeta. The Saiyajin couldn't dodge anymore, so the ki-beam shot past him, but grazed his cheek, where he felt a burning pain. The Prince was sure that a direct hit would have been his end.

This damn cyber-lizard was playing with him. It didn't want to kill him, but defeat him and humiliate him. But Cooler could forget that.

As soon as Vegeta had finished that thought, the Ice-jin appeared directly in front of him and hit him. Metacooler's fist hit Vegeta directly in the face, which broke his nose. Blood spurted from his nose and the split lip. Due to the force of the hit, Vegeta should have been flung away, but Metacooler kept holding onto his golden hair and pulled him closer.

"It is not my aim, but apparently you only learn respect by enduring pain, General."

"I'm not your General, you…" Metacooler didn't allow the Super Saiyajin to finish the sentence, but hit him again hard into the stomach. Vegeta gasped loudly, but the Ice-jin still wasn't satisfied.

"You will be eternally grateful."

With these words Metacooler let the hair of his opponent go and socked him in the jaw. Vegeta was thrown into the air and Cooler followed him. He was floating directly above the flying Super Saiyajin, where he hit him once again into the stomach to send him down. With incredible speed Vegeta crashed into the ground, so that a cloud of dust was whirled up. As the dust had settled, the light-haired warrior and Prince of Saiyajins was lying in a pretty big crater.

Metacooler slowly landed next to him and was standing directly next to the Super Saiyajin, who was still lying on the ground, and kicked him in the side.

"Is it really worth it?"

Vegeta didn't answer, but tried again to get to his feet, coughing. However, Metacooler knew how to stop this, by letting himself drop directly on the Saiyajin and remaining sitting on the back of the warrior.

Vegeta's spine was about to break under the weight, while all the air was pushed out of the Super Saiyajin's lungs. He had now clearly lost control over the fight.

"This courage is impressive. Because of this, I'm willing to be so gracious to spare the life of that brat."

"What… do you… mean… with this?" Vegeta's voice hissed weakly. Around his body, cracks were appearing in the ground.

"Her Saiyajin-blood is impure. She's partly human and because of this Vegeta's heritage is weaker than in a pureblooded Saiyajin. But this doesn't mean that I can't use her. When you're really so attached to this nuisance, I will find a place for her in my army. Two Super Saiyajins are better than one, when you get what I mean. So, what do you say to this even more generous offer?"

Vegeta was breathing heavily and waited before he answered. "These… times are over."

"Excuse me?" Metacooler wanted to know.

"The times… during which we were slaves, are finally over. As long as… I can fight. As long as… my Saiyajin-heart is beating, no being with just a bit… of Saiyajin-blood… will bow before an Ice-jin… ever again. No matter… how little the amount is…"

Metacooler sighed. "What's this? This… ‚I'd rather die free than live as a servant.'-concept is so incredibly cliché. This is no heroic tale, no story written by an author with romantic views of a free warrior, who never bows before anyone. This is the harsh reality, Vegeta. When you throw your life away, it's lost. So, don't be so free with your own death."

Metacooler got up slowly and rose into the air. "I've got to admit, I hadn't expected these tough negotiations, but if there's no other way, I've got no other choice. I certainly won't accept a No as answer. I'm Cooler. A Lord of the Ice-jins and soon Greatlord over the whole Galaxy. When I've decided I want something, I'll get it."

Vegeta shakily got back to his feet and looked up at where Metacooler was floating above him in the air. Slowly he gathered some energy to continue the fight, even though he as Super Saiyajin barely had any reserves left.

"Life's got some new lessons for everyone," the Prince hissed quickly, while Metacooler was gathering his energy in his fingertips and then began shooting ki-balls in turns with his right and his left hand.

Vegeta looked up and saw the glowing red balls flying down at him.

The Prince of Saiyajins gritted his teeth, averted his gaze from the approaching ki-balls and concentrated on Metacooler instead.

"I'm really sick of this!" Vegeta cursed, just one second before the ki-balls hit him and the Super Saiyajin disappeared in several explosions. Cooler had started to put him under constant fire.

…

It was actually just the noise that kept Juunanagou conscious. But also the pain in his whole body played a not so insignificant part in this. Since his duel with Buu the black-haired Jinzoningen hadn't been this exhausted and battered. But even as it looked now they wouldn't just allow him to die.

He had failed in the battle against Cell, had been defeated by this pink demon and now also this android had apparently been too strong for him. But why couldn't his opponents just kill him and be done with it to end his suffering? Maybe this Cooler would do it for him and send him to Juuhachigou, wherever she was now.

The black-haired Jinzoningen was lying on his back and stared at this blue holographic sky until the face of the Coolerdroid appeared over him and looked at him in amusement.

"Don't you think, it's enough now?" Cooler's mirror image asked.

"Shut up and do what you want."

"Is your will to live really so low?" Slowly the android raised his foot, stepped with full force on the Jinzoningen's ribcage and put his whole weight on him.

It was creaking and cracking in such a weird manner that Juunanagou spit out a big torrent of blood.

Juunanagou gasped once, his eyes rolled back in his head and his head fell to the side. The android watched, as his opponent lost consciousness.

"Don't worry, my enhanced friend. You will no longer suffer any pain and your energy will be very useful." The Coolerdroid turned his head in the direction of the explosions. Apparently this battle will soon be decided, as well."

While the android was speaking these words, cables shot out of the ground and chained the Jinzoningen, whose energy would be a cornerstone for Cooler's reign.

…

It felt as if he were floating. As if he were incredibly light and free of any pain. There was actually just some kind of trance, which made this moment appear unreal. It wasn't easy, but Juunangou managed to open his eyes. There was nothing around him. Just some white light, which warmed him considerably.

"Juunanagou?" he heard a voice, which seemed to come from everywhere. It was female and familiar. A voice the black-haired Jinzoningen hadn't heart in a long time. A voice he had believed he would never be allowed to hear again.

"Juuhachigou?" he asked with a weak voice and too quietly, but apparently whatever sounded like his dead sister had still heard him.

"You may not give up. This Cooler will end countless of lives. Not just on Earth. Thousands of planets are in danger."

"Juuhachigou, where are you?" he asked, without reacting to what she had said.

Then he saw her. A woman with blond hair was standing directly in front of him. Her face reminded strongly of Juunanagou's, but there was an expression on her face, which actually didn't fit to her. At least not one Juunanagou had seen on her face, since they had been transformed into Jinzoningen by Dr. Gero.

There was no cruelty in her eyes, nothing hostile, just worry and love.

"I'm so incredibly sorry," Junnanagou whispered and a few tears were streaming down his face. "I'm so sorry that I couldn't stop Buu. You would still be alive, if the fight had ended differently."

Juunanagou then did something he hadn't done since his childhood. Something he as Jinzoningen had always been too strong for. He cried.

"Stop," Juuhachigou said, but she said it softly. "I'm grateful that it has ended this way. You could have never defeated Buu and so you could at least survive."

"But what about you?" Juunanagou asked desperately.

"I think that it has been something like my destiny to die. You've got to understand, I'm not alone here. My husband and my daughter are with me. So you don't need to blame yourself. It had to be this way. And just like it was my destiny to be killed by Buu, it's your destiny to live. Earth needs fighters that can protect her. And I want you to enjoy your life. I don't want to watch how my brother wastes his times drunk in bars."

"But what am I still good for? I've lost you and I haven't been strong enough to keep up with the Saiyajins for a long time."

"But you're still stronger than the humans, so you should use your power to protect them. By doing this you should again find a reason to live."

Juunanagou took her words to heart, but one question still needed to be asked. "Will I ever see you again?"

Juuhachigou looked uncertain as she answered. "I hope so, but we've both done much we could have gone to hell for. I was forgiven, but I can't make you any promises."

Juunanagou smiled. "You may not be able to promise me, Juuhachigou, but I will give you my word," the black-haired man answered and felt that something had returned to him. Something that had been asleep for years, for so long that he had believed it to be dead. "I will give you my word that I will see you again, no matter where you are now. My sins will also be forgiven and then I will be allowed to join you and your family someday."

Juuhachigou smiled happily. "I hope you're right."

Then she disappeared and Juunanagou woke again up in Cooler's arena. The pain was also back, but it didn't seem to be as strong as before. The exhaustion, too, wasn't weighing him down as much anymore.

Cables coming from the ground had wrapped themselves around the Jinzoningen to keep him down, but he didn't need a lot of strength to tear them apart and get back on his feet.

"Hey!" he called towards the Coolerdroid, breathing heavily, while he was taking off his old brown coat and then began to roll up his sleeves.

The android turned to the Jinzoningen. "Impressive. You shouldn't be able to stand anymore, much less be conscious."

Juunanagou cracked with his knuckles. He had decided to stop this Cooler and to give everything in this battle from now on. He would fight for his right to see his sister again.

The android walked up to him with slow steps. "But maybe this stubbornness is a programming error. Maybe your creator would have eliminated this bug with the next productions."

"You want me to tell you something, asshole?" Juunanagou asked with a meaningful smile. "I'm the peak of weapon technology and you're just a piece of polished space scrap with an ego that's way too big and behavior that gets really annoying after a short time. So, explain this to me again. You're an interplanetary dictator, who spends his time to conquer worlds and destroy other cultures."

The Coolerdroid stepped steady closer. "Something like that, even though it's a holiday, when I destroy a culture. Let's the slaves have their gods, as long as they work hard."

"I'm really lucky," Juunanagou said thoughtfully, which the Coolerdroid didn't seem to understand. The explanation, however, already came in his next sentences. "I think, I can book a nice room in paradise, when I kick the ass of a tyrant like you."

"You're crazy. Is this the alcohol speaking?"

Juunanagou shook his head. "I believe I haven't been that sober in years, you polished douchebag." The Jinzoningen raised his arms and prepared himself to end this fight, even though he still felt the exhaustion deep in his bones. "Emperors first," he said provokingly and the android attacked.

Juunanagou managed to dodge the first punch, found a hole in his enemy's defense and hit back.

His fist hit the Coolerdroid's face on the cheek, which forced him to stumble a step backwards. But the black-haired warrior didn't stop at this. He shifted into a higher gear to finish this here and now.

He took a step forwards, swung his fist back and socked the Coolerdroid again. Then Juunanagou disappeared in high speed and appeared again behind the android, who hadn't managed to recover from the former attack. With an aimed kick the Jinzoningen flung Cooler's copy with a lot of force into a huge rock.

"How can you have such a big mouth? I've seen microwaves and electric toothbrushes who could do more," Juunanagou taunted and fired two ki-blasts, which pulverized the debris, under which the Coolerdroid was buried.

Exhaustedly gasping for air, Juunanagou now turned his attention to Metacooler, who was floating above the arena and was still firing his attacks at a specific point, apparently not planning on stopping soon. It seemed as if Vegeta had some problems.

Even though Juunanagou was reluctant, he decided to help the Saiyajin. "The things you do to escape hell."

But then he heard something behind him that made him act carefully. He turned around quickly and saw the Coolerdroid attacking him. But Juunanagou was quicker.

His hit was precise and effective. With brutal power the right fist of the Jinzoningen punched through the android's torso and remained stuck between the cables inside his enemy.

This didn't stop the android, however. With a dark smirk the artificial Ice-jin wrapped his hands around the Jinzoningen's throat and pressed hard.

"I'm no longer interested in your energy. You will die. Now."

Juunanagou couldn't breathe anymore, but he was still smiling. He was croaking something unintelligible, which caused the Coolerdroid to lower the pressure a bit.

"What did you say?"

"That I will give you energy, if you want me to. I call it Beaming Death."

With these words Juunanagou released a ki-attack with his right hand inside the Coolerdroid. Out of the edges of the hole, a bright light was trying to escape, and eventually the eyes and mouth of the android began to glow brightly.

Finally the big beam broke through the back of the Coolerdroid, which destroyed him.

Juunanagou was standing there alone and watching the back of his hand. He was bleeding from a small wound. For a short moment he had felt as if something in the Coolerdroid had bit him.

The Jinzoningen discarded the thought, however, and concentrated again on the real Cooler. He gathered all his courage and power and flew up at him.

He didn't allow himself to be impressed by the wide appearance of Metacooler.

"Do you mind, if I cut in? It would be unfair, if you just danced with the Saiyajin."

Cooler looked to the side and only fired with one hand his hail of attacks.

"You want to challenge me, drunkard?"

"Looks like it," Juunanagou replied cheekily.

"You barely managed to destroy a Coolerdroid, so how do you think you can get rid of me?"

"No idea, got some kind of feeling, asshole!"

"I will destroy you, when you attack me," Metacooler assured him.

Juunanagou shrugged and played down, how exhausted he really felt. "Well, okay… Tell me, I've heard that every woman looks like a supermodel in paradise. Do you think it's exaggerated?"

"Are you crazy?" Cooler asked.

"I just wanted to hear your opinion about that. Well, I'll send you a postcard into the hell for half-mechanic lizard-aliens and tell you, if it's true or not."

Juunanagou extended his arms in front of him and his palms began to glow.

"Beaming Death!" he yelled and fired a ki-beam, which hit Metacooler and let him disappear in a blinding detonation. The attacks of the Ice-jin stopped and for a short moment the Jinzoningen really believed that he had pulverized this monster.

But this hope didn't last long, because Metacooler was still floating in the air, completely unharmed. The Ice-jin had crossed his arms protectively in front of his body until he noticed that the Jinzoningen's attack hadn't been effective. Metacooler finally relaxed and looked at his opponent.

"This was a lot of light for nothing, you fool."

Juunanagou was breathing only weakly, lowered his arms and looked down at himself.

"Sorry… I think… I need a short break," he whispered and then dropped like a stone. He was falling head down towards the ground, but was caught a few inches above the ground by a warrior with blond hair.

Carefully Vegeta put the Jinzoningen in front of him on the ground. The Super Saiyajin was bleeding from countless wounds and his blue gi was torn in many places. The Prince of a people of unfaltering warriors had suffered under Metacooler's last attacks and wouldn't be able to stand another one of these attacks.

Without another words Vegeta flew to a bigger hill in the middle of the holo-arena, while Metacooler landed a few yards away from him. Both opponents were looking at each other.

"You look good, last of the true, pureblooded Saiyajins. Good for the fact that you just had to deal with my Deathly Hail. No one has ever survived this technique. You can really regard this as a compliment, Vegeta. But it's over now. Swear your loyalty to me and follow your destiny. I know that you want to do it."

Vegeta wiped some blood from his face. "You know what's really annoying, Cooler? All this time you act as if you have just the slightest idea about us Saiyajin. You try to tell me, what my honor tells me to do and you seem to believe that you know, where my limits are. But an arrogant braggadocios bastard like you have no idea of honor and shouldn't judge my power level."

Cooler remained calm, even though he was slowly losing his patience. Why was this primitive barbarian so stubborn? For the first time, Cooler considered destroying Vegeta. But why not? There was still this girl on this world, who was also carrying the heritage of the Saiyajins in her body. Well, he would have to be satisfied with her, if all else failed. Maybe it would be easier to control this child than this narrow-minded Prince. It made sense to keep this alternative in his mind.

"You've got to admit that my power level is much stronger than the one of a Super Saiyajin. You can't feel it, of course. I consist for the biggest part of android-components, but our battle should have proven to you that I'm the strongest warrior in the universe."

Vegeta listened to him and smirked. "The strongest warrior in the universe?" the warrior asked and began to laugh loudly and mockingly. Hearing Vegeta laugh was something that didn't happen very often, which Cooler also knew. It made him angry. Did he look like a clown? Was he joking?

"What's wrong with you?" Metacooler hissed.

"You're right!" Vegeta admitted. „You can defeat a Super Saiyajin, but this doesn't mean that you're the number one."

"So you believe that you're the best?"

Vegeta shrugged. "Maybe. But I'm at least closer to this title than you, Cooler."

Cooler didn't understand. "You have long become a Super Saiyajin. You have reached your absolute limit."

"If you really knew what you're talking about, you would know one thing. There's one rule for my people. If the Super Saiyajin isn't enough, just surpass this limit."

"Which limit?"

Vegeta smirked and his eyes were sparkling dangerously. "Are you curious, Cooler? Do you want to see, what I'm talking about? Do you want to experience it firsthand?" The Prince downright roared the last words. "I can guarantee that you will regret it. Once I get really started, there won't even be a screw left of you."

Cooler sighed. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"You will see in a moment," Vegeta promised. He bowed slightly, balled his fists and let out a long war cry, which echoed through the whole arena.

"You're a pathetic monkey," Cooler said disappointed and let a reddish energy ball appear in his hand without much effort. "I think, I should be so kind to release you of the suffering of this insanity."

In the meantime in the Western Capital…

"He's been gone for so long," she thought, while she was walking through the house for what felt like the thousandth time, always looking out of the windows and looking for signs for a looming apocalypse. But the night was the same as usual. As quiet as can be expected in a city of this size.

Mrs. Briefs sighed. It was possible that she wouldn't even notice a lot of what would precede the direct destruction. The older woman didn't know what she was supposed to think. How should she feel in a moment like this?

She wasn't the youngest anymore and she guessed that her own time on Earth was limited. Was it right then, to pray that she wouldn't have to die? Should she maybe look forward to seeing her daughter, her grandson Trunks and all the others again, soon? But what about the rest of the world? What about Jenny?

Hadn't she deserved a quiet, normal life after all the suffering of the past months? Wasn't it exactly this that this small brave girl had deserved, after she had to go through so much?

With these thoughts Mrs. Briefs went to the door to the child's room and opened it. In the dim light she could see Jenny, who was lying peacefully in her bed, fast asleep. Slowly the woman clasped her hands.

Vegeta had told her, he would be able to defeat Cooler without any problems. She wanted to believe him.

"I hope you're right, I truly do."

A loud explosion could be heard and suddenly a huge flame of golden fire was burning around the Super Saiyajin and small stone that were lying close to him, began to rise into the air and even bigger stones were floating around him.

Cooler watched this with interested and hesitated in firing his deadly ki-ball. This spectacle in front of him was fascinating him.

The Ice-jin wanted to know what this was supposed to mean, which the nervous whipping of his tail clearly showed.

Then it happened. Vegeta disappeared for a short moment in a blinding light, which was so bright that even Metacooler had to close his eyes. After a few seconds he opened them again and the Super Saiyajin was standing on the hill as if nothing had happened. Metacooler saved this impression taken in by his visual sensors and immediately noticed that his opponent had changed slightly.

The color of the aura of flames and the hair was somehow more intense and at the same time blue sparks were dancing around the body of the Prince of the destroyed planet Vegeta in irregular intervals.

"You've transformed somehow," Metacooler said thoughtfully.

"It looks like your body doesn't possess any scouter technology," Vegeta replied to this laughable assessment.

"Why should the strongest know, how strong the weaker ones are?"

"So you have no idea, what's going to happen to you?" the Prince asked, but didn't allow the Ice-jin to answer. Suddenly Vegeta had disappeared and reappeared again directly in front of Metacooler.

He was surprised.

"How did you do this? You can't be that fast! Not even as Super Saiyajin."

"I'm no simple Super Saiyajin anymore. I'm something much stronger. I've just reached the second level. I and the Super Saiyajin of the first level are worlds apart."

"I don't believe you!" Metacooler countered and threw a punch. He had expected to land a hit, but much later than should have been necessary, Vegeta tilted his head to the side, which made Cooler's hit simply pass him.

This first scare gave way to determination, so that Metacooler fired the prepared energy ball, which Vegeta could dodge again with the same method. The Prince crossed his arms across his chest.

"A bit too slow for someone who wants to become Greatlord."

"It's enough for you!" Cooler prophesized and tried to hit him again and again, but his fists never connected, no matter how hard he tried.

After some time Vegeta became impatient and started to launch a counter-attack. His fist shot through Cooler's defenses and directly hit his face, which threw the Ice-jin a few yards backwards, where he remained lying on his back.

Patiently the Super Saiyajin in the second level waited until the Lord of the Ice-jins was standing again and was watching him, as he felt his dented cheek. In the rest of his face the complete bewilderment was more than obvious.

"How… did you did this?"

Vegeta put a murderous smile on his face. "I can imagine that it was pretty fast. Maybe you didn't notice it because of this. But don't worry, I will gladly show you this again."

Metacooler couldn't answer anymore, as Vegeta flew straight at him and punched him hard straight in the chest. But this was just the beginning. At a tearing pace the Saiyajin changed his position and covered the massive body of the Ice-jin with glowing punches. All of them pushed the metal armor inside.

While Cooler was feeling each attack, he never managed to locate Vegeta, who kept working on Metacooler's outer armor. The only thing he really noticed was the golden tail of energy which was wrapping around him and announced the fast movements of the Super Saiyajin always a bit too late.

After almost one minute Vegeta finished his attack and landed with crossed arms a few steps away from Metacooler, who had to fight really hard to stay on his feet. He staggered and wounded shifted his weight from leg to leg.

The whole armor was covered with dents and looked like a crater landscape. It didn't look at all like Metacooler could continue this fight.

Horrified Cooler stared at his opponent. "I didn't expect that," his shaking voice said.

Vegeta didn't show any pity. "That's what happens when you think you know everything about your opponent. I've experienced this myself more than once on this planet."

"Okay? So what?" Cooler finally hissed. He apparently tried to nip his own uncertainty by this outburst in the bud. "I will crush you, Vegeta! You and this brat! What do you say now?"

"That you're welcome to try," Vegeta replied unimpressed and then attacked again. He once again rushed at Cooler, who was gathering his own energy. Since he wasn't attempting to fire a blast or volley, Vegeta could guess what would happen.

That why he managed to stop at the last moment and jump back to escape the energy barrier which Metacooler had just erected. It was some kind of cover made of pure ki, which was lying protectively around Cooler. Red sparks shot across the dark red surface of the dome, which diameter was around fifteen yards.

Vegeta growled. "What's this supposed to be?"

Metacooler was standing smirking inside of this half-bowl which he had created. It was the perfect protection of this monster. In this second he congratulated his brother Frieza for his decision. These creatures had to be destroyed, when you thought about how much damage they could cause. How foolish he had been to want to make Vegeta one of his Generals.

This fighter was a beast, a real danger for Cooler's reign and maybe even his survival. He would destroy this dog before he could bite.

There were some loud noises and yellow lights flickered on the red barrier. The damned Ubersuper Saiyajin apparently fired a few attacks at the dome to try to break it.

"You idiot!" the desolate Metacooler grinned. More than a few ki-attacks were necessary to break through his powerful nova-shield. This technique cost a lot of energy, but it was definitely worth it.

Slowly Vegeta lowered his arm, because he now knew what kind of dome this was. "This is bull shit," Vegeta growled warily and slowly walked towards the nova-shield. "Do you really think that…" he started with a calm and controlled voice, while several white lightning bolts appeared around his right fist. "… you can stop me with a pathetic shield like this?" he roared loudly, pulled back and punched the shield with his right fist, which managed to break through the dome. There were a lot of red discharges, which were dancing around Vegeta's arm and the Saiyajin gritted his teeth because of the pain and wrath.

This fucking lizard had insulted him! It had offered him to crawl in the dirt before it. It had assumed that it would be able to defeat him and had questioned his decisions. Cooler had no right to do that and he would die for this.

"You can't hide from me!" the Prince yelled and set the last of his power free, which managed to bring down the shield, as it began to get pierced with ki-blasts, until it went down completely. Metacooler was now standing shell-shocked and unprotected in front of the warrior with the golden hair.

The ground under the lizard's feet had been vaporized and made way for iron plates. They shouldn't forget that this was just a holo-arena in the middle of a gigantic complex, which consisted of Ghetti-technology.

"How did you do this?" Cooler demanded to know in some kind of desperate frustration. He apparently tried to hold forcefully onto his hope to survive this.

"It wasn't more difficult than this," Vegeta explained and appeared directly in front of Metacooler. He grabbed his right arm and put his own hand on the deformed chest.

The Saiyajin didn't fire a ki-blast, but caused a huge shockwave with his ki, which was shot concentrated through his hand and pushed Cooler away. He was still holding tightly onto his arm, which was eventually torn away from the body, while Metacooler slid away several yards.

Stunned the Ice-jin watched, as Vegeta just crushed the cybertronic limb in his hand and let the pieces fall to the ground.

At this moment Cooler realized something. A certainty he had never expected. He had come back to his feet after so hard defeats, even though he had been believed to be dead. But here and now there was no way out. He barely had any power left and this Super Saiyajin in the second level just seemed to get warmed up.

How could he escape? How could he survive this?

There were really the last remains of his biological self built into Metacooler; this version was the original one, which would be destroyed. Cooler had completely forgotten, what state his kingdom was in, that two Lords of the Ice-jins were working to bring it down for good. All thoughts of politics were banished from his mind and the only thing that mattered now was survival. His survival. Here he was now. Completely battered, while a few cables were hanging out of the stump of his right arm. In front of him, Vegeta was standing with a haughty look on his face. A look which should only be reserved for an Ice-jin.

"Stop smirking!" Cooler yelled in despair, which only made Vegeta sigh quietly.

"You will die in a moment, Cooler, and that's the only thing that's bothering you? My smirk?"

Cooler's jaw trembled.

'Shut up!' he thought, but didn't say it. There just had to be a way out of this situation.

"Is there anything else you want to say or do you want your end to be a trembling and speechless one?"

Cooler didn't answer. He was too caught up in his thoughts. Why did he come here? What did he want on Earth? Hadn't it been expected from the very beginning that Vegeta would never join him?

At this moment the other possibility seemed so far away and absurd. How stupid he must have been. But why had he been tempted? These Saiyajins were dangerous monsters that couldn't be tamed.

"You will stand there and curse yourself, because you thought that Earth was helpless. You will curse yourself, because you have, as it is your nature, completely and exorbitantly overestimated your abilities," he heard the Prince's voice again. Vegeta had promised him exactly this at the beginning of their fight and it had come true.

Suddenly something changed. The fear disappeared as it passed a limit and made way for something else.

"So I'm going to die?" the Ice-jin asked, which sounded more like a concession. "But certainly not like this."

Vegeta raised an eyebrow. "Not?"

Cooler grimaced and looked like someone who was insane. "There is a way. You will moan and beg, Vegeta, but I won't spare any of you. That's what I promise you in return."

"You're making no sense."

"Oh really?" Cooler asked giggling. „Or are you just too afraid, great warrior? Afraid of my true power, afraid of what I could do? Do you want to see it?"

Vegeta couldn't stop the chuckle. Cooler apparently did understand a bit of the Saiyajins' mentality. "If it makes you happy."

Vegeta had barely finished this sentence as a round opening appeared next to Cooler in the ground, in which he disappeared. The opening was closed again behind Cooler.

to be continued in Part IV...