Part IV

"Why did you let him do this?" Juunanagou asked behind him. The Jinzoningen with the scarf came swaying to the side of the Saiyajin. "We've got to follow him."

"Forget it," Vegeta told him. "Cooler seems to plan something. But he knows that I can follow him at any time. The lizard is planning something to save his hide, so we let him try it." The Saiyajin bowed his head and looked at Juunanagou. "What about you? Do you still want to fight me once I'm done with Cooler?"

"Better not," Juunanagou answered. "For one, you're much stronger than me, and I've also got to gather some bonus points, when I want to go to Heaven someday."

…

Cooler hurried and threw himself a few levels under the holo-arena on his throne, where cables immediately connected with him and supplied him with new energy. And even though his exhaustion lessened a bit, he was sure that he would still stand no chance against Vegeta."

He needed more, much more. A complete overhaul.

"Start new construction. Circumvent all safety protocols," he formulated his order and mechanic arms with pliers, welding needles and other tools came out of the walls and began to take Metacooler apart, only to build a new model with new parts.

After a few minutes a new creature was sitting on the throne, which was less massive than Metacooler.

The being smiled insanely. "Now, give me energy! One hundred percent!"

Then it started! From all parts of the complex every imaginably source of energy was tapped, so that energy began to flow into the new Cooler-construct from all over the complex. The Ice-jin felt like a new man, but he still needed more, much more.

While he was taking in the reserves of his complex, also the last living batteries were tapped. The three hundred prisoners were completely sucked dry, which caused them to age by decades within seconds and they died as dried out, wasted figures.

Cooler laughed loudly. "You just wait, Vegeta!"

…

"How long will this take?" Juunanagou asked himself, while he was pacing nervously. At the same time, Vegeta was just standing there with his arms crossed in front of his chest, waiting as well.

Suddenly the light went out in the arena.

The blue sky had given way to the darkness and their whole surroundings had transformed into an empty hall. Vegeta's golden aura was the only source of light and saved them from the complete darkness.

"A blackout?" the Jinzoningen asked irritated, while Vegeta could already guess what this had to mean. But he kept it to himself. If what he feared came true, Juunanagou would be able to do even less in a fight against Cooler than before.

Then the ground burst open not far away from them. A creature, surrounded by a flame of black energy, came floating through this big crack.

"Damn," Vegeta hissed, whose assumption had just proven to be true, while Juunanagou was whistling.

"New look, Cooler?"

The Ice-jin truly appeared in a completely new form, which didn't resemble the first form at all anymore. At first glance Vegeta was reminded of Frieza's last form, only that this Cooler had two horns protruding from his forehead, which went backwards over his iron skull.

The artificial face of the enemy showed a crazy smile.

Vegeta didn't waste any time and started his next attack. The Super Saiyajin in the second level pulled back for a punch during flight, but just as he had meant to hit him, Cooler had disappeared and was finally standing a few yards away, turning his back to Vegeta.

With a fear inducing look on his face Cooler was looking at his right hand, which was glowing in a weird strange red.

"Incredible, what this new body is capable of," he mumbled with an insane fascination in his voice. Exactly at this moment, Vegeta spit out a big gust of blood and fell gasping to his knees. The golden aura around him dimmed a bit.

Juunanagou almost couldn't believe it. The Ice-jin must have dodged Vegeta's attack and at the same time landed an effective hit. And that so fast that the Jinzoningen hadn't even noticed it. How strong did this beast still want to become?

"It's almost sad. With this strength, no one can hurt me anymore. All your threats are now only smoke and mirrors, Vegeta. I'm invincible. I'm Ultracooler!" The Ice-jin enjoyed this moment and chuckled. "How does it feel to know that you're going to die in a moment?"

Vegeta growled and wiped some blood from his lower lip. He wasn't able to get back to his feet yet, but the Super Saiyajin still hadn't given up. "Why don't you tell me, Cooler?" the Prince countered.

"I beg your pardon?" Ultracooler asked, and his voice began to sound dangerous.

"Now stop pretending. This holo-arena has been deactivated, because you sucked out its energy. I guess you took all the energy of this ostentatious building into yourself, am I right?"

"So what?" hissed Cooler and walked slowly up to the kneeling Vegeta.

"I know that you need the energy to survive. That's why the Big Ghetti-Star assaulted the planet of the Nameks. And I'm pretty sure that your new body burns a lot of energy. When will the level reach zero, Cooler? I hope, you're enjoying your last minutes."

While Vegeta was speaking, the steps came closer and a hard kick hit him and the Saiyajin flew through the air and crashed against the wall of the big hall.

"You can bet on it, you monkey," Cooler replied. "And I hope, you're doing the same, because I've decided to do something really special for you. You lousy bug have taken from me what was the most important to me. I am an Ice-jin. It's my destiny, the purpose of my life, to reign, but because of you I will never see my kingdom again. You're right, this body burns a lot of energy and this alarmingly fast. I will lose my life on this useless world. But so will you, Vegeta. We'll both go to hell."

The Prince of Saiyajins was sitting leaning against the wall and tried to keep his eyes open, while he was listening to Cooler. Inwardly he was preparing for his death, but it was still letting him wait.

"You surely don't believe that I'll kill you just like that." Again Cooler's face grimaced crazily. "You've made the meaning of my life unobtainable and because of this, I will also take yours. You can only call it justice, can't you, you pathetic babysitter?"

"You won't dare!" Vegeta threatened, but Ultracooler just laughed and took off. Without hesitating he broke through the ceiling, while his sick laughter was still echoing for many seconds after him.

Juunanagou wasn't sure at first and looked back and forth between the hole and Vegeta, whose face was showing some kind of horror. What did this mean? What was Cooler planning?

"Shit!" the Jinzoningen growled and followed the Ice-jin. He had apparently broken through every level of his huge fortress and so it wasn't difficult to follow Ultracooler. He eventually flew through the last hole and landed on the flat roof of the fortress. A cold wind was blowing that let his scarf flutter. It was cold in the desert at night. Immediately Junnanagou tried to find the enemy and noticed him floating in the night sky above him.

Juunanagou didn't know at once, what he was supposed to do. Even Vegeta hadn't stood a chance against Ultracooler and so it was actually senseless to face this monster. But on the other hand it seemed as if Cooler's battery would soon be empty. Maybe he just needed to be distracted for a bit.

Uncertainly Juunanagou got into a fighting stance. "Alright, I'm ready!"

Ultracooler laughed loudly and amusedly. "Do you think I'll waste my energy, no matter how little it is? You are so weak that you don't matter at all in the battle between Vegeta and me. But don't worry, you'll die anyway, even though I won't deal with you personally."

The cybernetic Ice-jin raised his arm and let a ball of red energy appear, which just kept growing. It woke the worst fears in Juunanagou, as the size of the ball increased.

"With an attack like this, you can't aim properly. So you don't want to hit someone specific with it, but blow up this whole planet."

Cooler shook his head. "Almost correct, but still wrong. Earth doesn't interest me. That it will be destroyed is a side effect, but I know that a child will die, a child that Vegeta wants to protect so much. That's my revenge!"

"Sick bastard!" Juunanagou yelled at the Ice-jin and tried to mobilize a bit of his ki. Maybe he would be able to fend off this huge ball, even though the probability was more than small.

'One way or another,' he thought to himself. 'If I die trying to stop it or go down with the rest of the world, in the end the result will be the same.'

"Get out of my way," a voice behind him growled, which startled Juunanagou, as Vegeta walked past him and regarded the situation.

"What are you planning?" the Jinzoningen asked, but the Saiyajin didn't answer.

"Stay away," Vegeta eventually ordered. "Should I survive this and it's certain that Cooler's attack is no longer a problem, you can bet that I won't be able to fight anymore. You will have to keep him busy until he dies on his own. He will use a lot of energy with this attack, so you should be able to do it."

Juunanagou swallowed involuntarily and flew off, to land on a rocky hill a bit further away.

"Your last action, Vegeta?" Cooler asked filled with anticipation, while it appeared that the size of the energy-ball hat reached its absolute peak.

"Just as yours, Cooler," the Saiyajin answered and then cried out loudly. In a huge explosion the golden aura around him spread and tore big chunks out of the fortress's roof. Vegeta concentrated the energies in his body.

"It will be decided now!"

At first Mrs. Briefs almost hadn't believed it and only shrugged it off as her imagination. She had assumed that it was just a side-effect of her fear, but now she couldn't deny it any longer. The Earth was trembling.

It was weak, but still noticeable.

"No, please," the old woman whispered. She had taken a chair and sat down at Jenny's bed. She wanted to be with a person she loved, when the world might end, not wanting to wait for death alone. The fight with Vegeta against this Cooler could of course be completely unrelated to the earthquake, but how probable was this? Should she lie to herself, even though it was obvious what these fighters were capable? This was a sure sign that the fight was starting its last round.

"Vegeta… watch out," Jenny mumbled suddenly in her sleep and nervously threw her head back and forth. "Vegeta… he's too strong. Run away…"

Mrs. Briefs felt the despair in Jenny's voice, how her own mouth went dry. Another sign? Was it already decided that Vegeta would lose? Jenny could feel kis, too, after all, and maybe noticed details of the fight that the old woman couldn't sense.

Tears ran down the young girl's face, who was getting more and more restless. "Vegeta!" she cried out and Mrs. Briefs decided to step in.

"Jenny, wake up. You're only having a nightmare," she said gently and put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

Startled the girl opened her eyes and seemed to need a moment to recognize where she was.

She was breathing unevenly and her face was still filled with pure fear. "Where is Vegeta?" she asked hurriedly.

The old woman wanted to answer, but then Jenny already seemed to sense that a battle was fought somewhere on Earth.

"He needs my help," she said and wanted to jump out of her bed, but Mrs. Briefs held tightly onto her. The girl looked at her uncomprehendingly.

"What are you doing? He's in trouble!"

Mrs. Briefs shook her head. "No, he isn't," she said with a voice that was missing the determination in her opinion. She simply wasn't a good liar.

"But the energies he's using. Something is wrong!" Jenny persisted. „The Earth is trembling even here."

"He wanted to train. Some kind of special training. You know him."

"Why hasn't he taken me with him?"

Mrs. Briefs forced a fake smile on her face, but she would have rather cried. She felt so bad. "Because you have to go to school tomorrow and it would be much too difficult for you."

"Did Vegeta say that?" the girl asked and Mrs. Briefs realized, which consequences lies could have. "Jenny, we'll talk tomorrow!" she finally said, as she didn't know what else to say. "You have to get up early tomorrow!"

The old woman tried to put much authority into her voice and it was apparently enough. Jenny laid down again with a sad look on her face, which almost broke Mrs. Briefs's heart. She walked slowly to the door, but turned around one more time.

"Jenny, I wanted you to stay. Vegeta would have surely taken you along," she lied again and knew that it would now be easier for the girl to fall asleep. The child and the warrior ware connected by such a strong bond that she wouldn't have forgiven herself, if she had put a wedge between them. "Goodnight and sleep now," Mrs. Briefs only said, before she left the room, switched off the light and quietly closed the door behind her. She slid down at the closed door and lay down on the floor, crying.

She felt guilty. She had yelled at Vegeta before he had left, because had he kept from her that the world might be in danger and now she had done the same to Jenny. Was that fair?

"Please, come back," the woman begged in a whisper and with tears running down her cheeks.

Cooler's piercing laughter went straight to his head. "Are you finally ready, Vegeta?"

The Super Saiyajin was gathering steadily more energy and had now reached his absolute limit. He had really taken everything that was possible for a Super Saiyajin in the second level at the moment.

Stubbornly he looked up at Ultracooler and his gigantic ki-ball, but didn't say anything. He would answer the Ice-jin in his own way. In the way of a warrior.

He spread his arms to both sides and let his energy flow into his palms until they appeared to burn like small suns.

"This attack is called…" Vegeta started, put the arms together in front of his body and took aim. "FINAL FLASH!" his voice roared. At that moment Ultracooler got his ki-ball on the way, which slowly came closer, but at the same time the destructive force of Vegeta showed itself.

It was an enormous beam of bright energy which sped towards Cooler's ball and met it halfway. A shockwave spread after the Saiyajin had fired his attack, which hit Cooler's fortress and caused it to collapse. Cracks appeared in the ground, in which an incredibly amount of sand disappeared.

…

Juunanagou felt that the wind that hit him, had almost swept him from the hill. It really wasn't easy to fight against these forces. He was holding one hand in front of his eyes to protect them from the sand and the bright light, which seemed to bathe the desert with daylight.

"That's not possible!" he said, but it didn't change anything at what he was seeing. Cooler and Vegeta were fighting against each other with attacks that would leave nothing of Earth than a few specks of dust.

Finally the black-haired Jinzoningen managed to watch but his face was filled with horror. Vegeta's attack was slowing the ki-ball down, but it was still moving incessantly towards Earth. It was pretty much over.

…

"Just try it, Vegeta!" Cooler screeched. „But you stand no chance against my hundredfold Supernova!"

Vegeta gritted his teeth, as he knew that while he managed to hold up the ki-blast, the strength of the energy was slowly lessening.

He had failed. He was inferior to Cooler. Prince Vegeta, a Super Saiyajin on the second level, hadn't been strong enough to compete against Cooler. Slowly his arms began to tremble with exhaustion, while the hundredfold Supernova steadily came closer.

Seconds seemed to become hours, in which Vegeta saw himself in different places and times. He remembered his first fight against Kakarotto, which he lost, even though he had only been fighting against a third class warrior. Also the memories of Namek returned to him. He realized again, how he had thought himself to be the legendary Super Saiyajin and had challenged Frieza. He had failed again and in the end it had again be the third class warrior, who had brought down the tyrant.

Then there had still been his fight against the monster Cell. Vegeta had overestimated his abilities this time as well and had allowed his enemy to reach the perfect form. The Prince had dismally failed in his fights and had to watch, how his son from the future had been killed. Back then, the world hadn't been saved by him, but by the son of his enemy, a half-blood.

And then there were Babidi and Buu. The one who had awoken the slumbering wish for revenge and had tried to use him as a tool, and the other one he had stood no chance against, who had finally killed his family. "Trunks…" the warrior whispered quietly and the trembling in his arms ceased.

"Bulma…" the name of his mate followed and the intensity of the blast returned.

He hadn't been able to protect them and now he wouldn't be able to protect Jenny. She would die because of this fucking ki-ball.

At this moment he felt as if Kakarotto were watching him. Would this third class warrior have been able to save the world from Cooler? Of course he would have.

"No…" he growled quietly and then cried out loudly. Vegeta wouldn't give up. He wouldn't watch again from the sidelines how his family was killed – even if this family only consisted of an old woman and a little girl.

The beam from his hands became more and more intense and eventually the ki-ball stopped.

"What's going on?" Cooler asked himself horrified, as his attack didn't seem to move forward anymore. He extended his arms and put all his strength into the attack, but the hundredfold Supernova didn't move an inch.

To the contrary, it began to move back towards him! Cooler couldn't understand this. What was happening? How was Vegeta able to counter the hundredfold Supernova and send it back? It was so unrealistic, like rain falling upwards.

Ultracooler struggled harder and harder, straightened his arms even more, but the ki-ball kept coming closer. The Ice-jin cried out in panic, as his fingertips touched the huge ki-ball and slowly began to evaporate.

These Saiyajins, could no one handle this plague? Where they some kind of curse for his family?

This seemed more and more probable to Ultracooler, while he was slowly being swallowed by his own attack. He cried again out, as his whole body was riddled with malfunctions. Suddenly the Ice-jin no longer saw himself in the sky, but inside his programmed illusion of his throne room. A cynic cruelty of destiny, to force him to see, what he had desired so much over the past years and would never again see in person, before his death. It was his end, Cooler was aware of that. His kingdom would fall, what he had to accept, but that the planet Earth would once again be allowed to survive he just couldn't accept – but he had no other choice.

He felt the incredible heat inside his ki-ball, which was slowly dissolving the iron shell of his body.

Piece by piece the last organic remains of what was left of his true body were exposed, only to be pulverized into its smallest atoms by the deadly energies.

Nothing would remain of this being, the tyrant and murderer Cooler. Another terrible despot of the galaxy was destroyed forever.

…

Vegeta was watching, as the gigantic ki-ball started on its new course and would probably disappear somewhere in outer space. But even though this danger seemed to be averted, Vegeta still remained ready to fight. But there were no more attacks. Ultracooler had been swallowed by his own Supernova and would never again bring trouble to Earth.

No sooner had Vegeta come to this conclusion than his hair turned black again and his eyes rolled back into his skull, as unconsciousness claimed him. The warrior of the Saiyajin fell like a stone, but was caught by Juunanagou shortly before he hit ground and laid down on a big rock.

"Now we're even," the Jinzoningen said, whose own exhaustion was nothing compared to his immense relief. But it was still strong enough to force him to sit down. He leaned against the rock Vegeta was lying on and closed his eyes, falling into a quiet sleep, during which he was dreaming of his sister and their family, who he would someday meet again on the other side.

The sun was already rising, as Vegeta regained consciousness. His whole body was in pain from the exertions of the fight.

"Juunanagou?" he asked.

"Hmm?" the Jinzoningen mumbled, only slowly waking up from his deep slumber.

"What about Cooler's fortress? No single piece of working Ghetti-technology may stay intact, otherwise we'll soon have trouble with it again."

Juunanagou understood. His eyes wandered to the smashed ruins. Vegeta's energies had caused a lot of damage.

"I'll take care of that. You've taken care of the bad guy, after all." The Jinzoningen tried to smile a bit.

Vegeta didn't say anything, but rose into the air. Without saying another word, he flew away.

…

It took a bit longer, but sometime around mid-morning Vegeta had reached Capsule Corporation, where he was already expected by Mrs. Briefs. The woman was startled, when she saw the Saiyajin bleed from countless wounds and how his gi was torn to shreds in many places.

His nose seemed to be broken.

"What happened?" she asked.

"We fought, I've won," Vegeta growled, while he was staggering through the door. Suddenly the Prince lost his balance and would have fallen, if he hadn't been able to use the wall as support just in time. "Where is she?"

"At school," Mrs. Briefs answered, who knew of course that Vegeta could only be talking about Jenny. "She had felt that something wasn't right, but I told her that it was some kind of special training."

Vegeta snorted but nodded and walked past the human woman. He seemed to force himself to walk on his own power, but it was obvious that he wouldn't allow anyone to help him.

"When she gets home, tell her that we won't be able to train today," were Vegeta's last words before he disappeared around a corner and left Mrs. Briefs behind. She took a deep breath. This Cooler seemed to have been a special case, but it was over now. It was time to go back to their normal life.

There were several small explosions, while Juunanagou was taking care of some of the bigger debris with ki-blasts. After ten minutes he had decided that it was enough and that there was nothing left of the threat.

He breathed deeply and noticed again this strange tingle in the back of his head.

"Start diagnosis of the potential host."

He had had this feeling for some time now, but had in the beginning only thought that it was some after-effect of the fight. Slowly his gaze fell to the bite he had gotten, when he had hit with his fist through the torso of the Coolerdroid. The small wound had become infected and was burning.

"Weird."

"This individual is an improved cybertronic organism of the class H 245. Estimated compatibility is 99%."

"Shit," Juunanagou cursed, as the tingle became something more. It felt as if a strange pressure built up in his head.

"Start installation."

Then Juunanagou cried out in pain. He felt as if thousands of needles were drilling into his brain. The Jinzoningen could barely manage to stay on his feet and didn't seem to notice that something was moving under his scalp.

"Start assimilation of the individual's personal characteristics."

The eyes of the black-haired fighter glowed red, while he doubled over in pain, but then Juunanagou relaxed again. There was even a relative serene look on his face. A look that was somehow him and at the same time not. Slowly he rose into the sky and flew somewhere. Even he didn't know his destination yet.

"Installation of the Ghetti-program finished. Prepare for upgrades and for the following extermination of each potential threat to existence. New name of the individual: Ghetti17."

The Jinzoningen flew through the sky and smiled evilly, which even put Juunanagou's own smile to shame. He was someone new, someone stronger. A new personality that was still at the beginning of its development. And no matter how much of the being Juunanagou was still left inside of it, it would follow its new programming. Assimilate technology and destroy the Saiyajins, once it was able to do so.

This world was again living in peace, but not forever.

THE END

A/N: So that was "Cooler's Offer". I once again have to thank my reader Infernus for writing this story – I think there's no greater honor for an author than have someone else write a fanfic for one of your story, even or especially, if it's just a fanfic itself. Translating this story into English was also quite an experience for myself, because it somehow seemed to be easier translating an English story into German. Which is kinda weird, seeing as German is my mother tongue.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this little story (you can think of it as one of the DB Z movies *g*). I'll try to finish the next "real" chapter of TLW-AR soon, hopefully within the next week. There are just a couple of scenes that I have to write and then it's ready to be posted.

See you then and thank you for reading!

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