Piccolo's impromptu artificial respiration had worked—Gohan coughed, spat out a mouthful of water, and opened his eyes. Although his gaze was dazedly out-of-focus, his question was down-to-earth.
"Where's the alien?" he mumbled. As if in answer to his question, the lake exploded in a magnificent splash. Vegeta appeared, still locked in combat but rapidly being pushed back by his foe. Piccolo noticed that, although the fingers of his left hand were clenched into a fist, the arm itself was out of use. The beast had scored a series of slashes across his shoulder; as a result, the Saiyan was still fighting one-handed. And it was putting him at a decided disadvantage.
With a triumphant leer, the creature brought its tail arcing up to slam down on Vegeta's head. The warrior went to his knees with a grunt of pain. The beast repeated the same attack, whipping its tail down a second, third, fourth time, all the while driving Vegeta lower. At last, when the Saiyan had crumpled into a ball, huddling on the dirt on his elbows and knees, the alien delivered the coup de grace. With sickening flair, it kicked Vegeta savagely in his wounded shoulder. The unfortunate prince flew through the air and crashed limply to the ground near Gohan.
"Think you've won the battle, do you?" Vegeta asked, pushing himself painfully up to stand bravely, albeit unsteadily, before his enemy. The fish-like lips curled in a smirk.
"Won it? I've ended it! Not one of you has the strength to stop me."
"Are you so sure of that?" Vegeta asked. His left hand opened to reveal the minuscule twinkle of energy that Piccolo had seen earlier. The creature let out a screech of laughter.
"You think that speck of dust will stop me?" it cackled. Piccolo couldn't help feeling a twinge of pity for the brave warrior. Vegeta certainly looked pathetic: besides being covered with scores of smudges, scratches, and bruises, he seemed to be channeling all his strength into simply remaining on his feet. His wounded arm was held painfully aloft, blood dripping freely from the shoulder, hand pointing squarely at the beast. And the only attack he could offer was an energy ball almost too small for the eye to see. As Vegeta directed his sparkle of chi to hover—agonizingly slowly—over to the alien, it only laughed harder.
"Yes, yes—throw it at me!" the being urged, still gasping for breath between fits of giggling. "Watch me tremble before your mighty blow!" Finally, as its mirth subsided, it added nastily, "Go ahead, hit me with all you've got—if that's the best you've got." The tiny globule of energy moved haltingly forward until it touched the brute's chest—and vanished from view.
"W-what happened?" Gohan asked in confusion as, in the same moment, the alien's face froze in an expression of pain and terror. Piccolo, his eyes narrowing, could just make out a minute hole in the creature's chest. The energy had gone inside the beast without detonating. "Did you really think you had beaten me into submission?" Vegeta asked sneeringly. Although still battered and bleeding, the Saiyan seemed to stand with new energy, his outstretched hand still trained on his opponent. "I let you take the upper hand. You fell right into my trap."
"H-h-how?" the creature choked out, fixing its eyes, which were beginning to glaze, on its attacker.
"I waited until the kid's power had gone off the charts, and then I gathered my energy and began to compress it," Vegeta answered. He seemed to be enjoying himself, dragging out his enemy's pain while outlining the details of his plan. "The energy coming from the kid masked my own, and you were so busy fighting him that you never noticed what I was doing."
"I h-had you . . . on the run. . ." the beast protested. Its eyes were slits of malice, but it was already beginning to collapse to its knees.
"Fool!" Vegeta said mockingly. "You played right into my hands. The gash in my shoulder allowed me to hide the energy in my hand and fight one-handed without getting you suspicious. Letting myself get attacked by you was a perfect ruse to trick you into thinking that I had no strength left—not even enough to form a decent chi blast."
Vegeta, his head tilted arrogantly, a sneer of triumph on his face, faced the alien, who knelt trembling in abject terror, aware that it was at the mercy of its enemy. Gohan was staring at the Saiyan in wonderment, and even Piccolo beheld him with a new respect. The brilliance of his plan, the cleverness of his bluff, were beyond reproach.
"C-curse you to oblivion!" the creature snarled. Vegeta shot it a feral grin.
"I've had enough of your filthy presence." The beast's eyes widened in horror as Vegeta's open hand closed to a fist.
"Say hello to oblivion for me," the Saiyan hissed. And, with shocking suddenness, the energy that had resided motionlessly inside the alien exploded with a roar. Piccolo instinctively dived onto his stomach and grabbed Gohan, shielding the boy from the powerful wind that drove dust and fragments of rock before it. The light was blinding, the boom deafening.