Chapter 9
Ro paced around the sleeping Saiyan. He had never used to get this bored. But he had also been existing in a semi-conscious form, one that was more shadow than being. Once he had started teaching Vegeta the Sabaku-Kaze, Ro started living again.
But he would not be living happily until the Moment came. And he knew that the Saiyan didn't have what it took to get to x20... not while he still clung to the illusion that his Death Form worked the same as his Life Form.
There were concrete differences, but the best martial arts knowledge was taught through actions and not words... and Ro couldn't be bothered to explain, anyway. The hard way it was, then. More fun for him.
"Get up," Ro said, standing over Vegeta. Like a switch had been flipped, Vegeta's eyes opened and he sat up in one fluid motion.
"Why am I awake?" he asked, squinting up at Ro. He had been getting three hours of sleep every day since he got there, but Ro had woken him before two had passed.
"We're done with sleep," Ro said. This had gone on long enough. It was sink or swim. "And breaks as well. From now on, we will fight every second of every day."
His heart beat steadily, but a shiver slowly crept down Vegeta's spine. He didn't like the look in Ro's eyes. He wasn't bluffing. He must have some sort of plan.
Not questioning it, Vegeta got up. He didn't have a choice. Every hour his irritation at the difference in their power grew. At least Kakarrot hadn't abused it. Ro was unabashedly ordering Vegeta around just because he was stronger. Like Freeza had.
Then Vegeta thought no more as his mind focused completely on his opponent. Ro hadn't made a move yet, but when he did, Vegeta would be ready.
Ro's wrist blurred Sabaku-Kaze x10 successfully blocked and blocked the knee coming from the other side he was keeping up good good counterattack now but he got away where is he going too fast to see and
SMASH.
The first blow was on the side of his head and it nearly knocked Vegeta out. Without the strength he had gained from his time with Ro, it would have killed him.
Vegeta twisted around to face Ro as he fell but was met only with the dark space.
SMASH.
A blow to his back this time. Vegeta went limp and had to hover in case his spine was damaged. But after a few seconds, the pain dimmed until it was just a throb. He was lucky. Ro still wasn't in sight. This... wasn't... fighting...
"Why don't... you... FACE ME?" Vegeta yelled. "If you're so set on killing me... stop attacking my back and look at me. Have a little respect."
At speed, Ro grinned. "Respect? Why? I'm not even using half my strength and you can't even see me. Why should I respect that?"
Ro appeared out of nowhere, kicked Vegeta in the stomach, and disappeared again. Vegeta doubled over... the burst of pain momentarily blinded him... he was coughing up blood... but he still kept his head up.
"Be... grateful for your strength... some of us... actually... had to earn ours..." He could barely speak.
Invisible, Ro tsked to himself. Vegeta still just didn't get it. He was so hung up on life and death, and yet knew so little. No matter. He would learn. "I'm not going to kill you. I never was." Cough. "Just watch and learn. It's part of your training."
"'My training'?" Vegeta was baffled. "You keep-"
An elbow, slamming into Vegeta's upper back and forcing him to the ground. A hand, locking onto his wrist and forcing his arm behind his back. Then the other one. Vegeta was helpless, face pushed into the ground as the pressure built.
"Do the Sabaku-Kaze x16 and you'll be able to get free. That's all the strength you'll need. Just do it," Ro said, voice at the most disconcerting pitch of deadly calm.
"..." Vegeta screwed his eyes shut and he tried. Believe me, he tried as hard as he could. But his chi was all over the place, scattered, broken, and he couldn't gather it properly. Each second, Ro bent his arm further. If he kept going, he was going to break it.
Ro kept going.
"C... curse... you..." Vegeta got out. He couldn't do it. "F... fiend..."
"You disappoint me yet again, Vegeta."
"Aaaah... aaAAAHHH!" Vegeta screamed as his arm snapped. But Ro didn't stop.
It was the pain itself that sent Vegeta the strength to throw Ro off.
"..." Ro looked at Vegeta, cradling his broken arm and yet still with those eyes born from the inferno. He hadn't used the Sabaku-Kaze x16 to escape, just a simple burst of adrenaline. Hmm... very interesting.
Vegeta closed his eyes the second before Ro jumped at him. Ro had spared him the fate of being Judged, but Vegeta ended up in Hell all the same.
OoO
In less than 24 hours Vegeta was lying on his side, unaware of what was happening. The ringing in his ears blocked out all sound... the blood trickling in his eyes blurred his vision... he was dazed and thinking straight was a chore that he couldn't handle anymore. All Vegeta knew was the pain. It came in layers now... the thin, stinging pain of burned skin... the sharp bite of damaged sinew... the soreness of overworked muscle... the jarring ache of bones struggling to stay together... the deep, ugly hammer of bruised organs... the only thing he had tasted in weeks was his own blood.
Only a few precious seconds had ticked by before the monster was standing over him again. He never waited long. He observed the prone form of Vegeta, once the prince of one of the most powerful races in the galaxy, now reduced to a shuddering mess curled up on the ground like an infant.
Ro had to refrain from tapping his foot as he waited for Vegeta to get up. He was so close... but Ro's instincts told him to not press the Saiyan, or he actually would end up killing him.
"Oh, Vegeta," Ro said on a soft exhale. "I thought you'd be different, I really did. Is it really so hard to reach your full potential?" He then grew angry. "Why wasn't your pride good enough? Did you just not have as much as I thought?"
Pride. That was the word that reached Vegeta in his prison of silence... Pride. The only word he'd ever stood by. "Wh... what..." Vegeta said, shoulders and back trembling as he propped himself up on an elbow... "does someone... like... you..." He was seized with a coughing fit and had to pause... "know... about..." His eyes were almost closed and he felt himself fading but he couldn't. "PRIDE."
His feet were under him. His hands were. On one knee, now. And standing. He wasn't done yet. Somehow...
Vegeta held up his hands and stared at them, wide-eyed. "What's happening?" he asked. His broken arm was whole again and he felt healthy. His mind was sharp, not fogged. And his chi wasn't static anymore, it billowed around him like wind and flowed through his veins like water.
Vegeta turned to Ro, still watching him. "Tell me," he said. He knew that Ro was keeping secrets from him and he didn't like it. He would have to go.
"Welcome to Sabaku-Kaze x18."
"I don't care. You know that wasn't what I was talking about."
"You've transcended yourself."
"... What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"It means that you won't fight like someone who's been carrying around a dead weight body their whole lives. You'll fight with your chi."
"Why am I healed?"
"Dead and away from any physical worlds, even your chi is different. The body acts as a barrier between the chi and the soul. Right now, your body's essence is weakened so your chi and soul are closer. You already knew that the strength of your chi here can heal your body, but now the strength of your spirit can heal your chi."
After a long pause, Vegeta spoke. "I'm taking three hours for myself. Then I'll give you what you want." He had always trusted his instinct. He needed to explore these new found holdings on his own.
"If it amuses you, go."
Vegeta turned and started to walk. Stranger and stranger developments kept appearing suddenly. And he needed to figure out what to do with Ro.
Later, he knew that Ro would not be allowed to live. He had been rude to Vegeta, treating him like some troublemaker schoolboy. So he would pay. Crime begets punishment. Only two more multipliers on the Sabaku-Kaze until Vegeta could unmake that annoying speed-bump. Then he would find a way back to Earth and kill Boo... sigh... there was too much trash that needed to be cleaned up. But after that, he could finally... finally take care of Kakarrot for good. And then... heh... he would leave Earth in a cacophony of screams, honor and blood.
OoO
The two demi-humans faced each other in the endless dimension of shadow. One short, both muscular and lithe, with spiky coaled hair and an almost tangible intensity in his black eyes. He stood straight, regarding the second one with a look barren of trust, yet at ease and receptive. The look of a true warrior.
The second one was a head taller than the first, with eyes so slitted that at first glance they appeared to be entirely absent from the pale flesh. The mouth was equally subtle... and the nose was simply not present. He carried a long mane of albescent hair. He, too, stood perfectly straight, but his set-forward head gave the illusion of a slouch. He regarded the first one unblinkingly. There was such a complete stillness coming from him that it seeped into the air around him, like ink on parchment. His absence of movement gave him the appearance of a spider waiting for its prey, or perhaps a corpse.
No chi came from either of them. They were both waiting for the same thing... just with very different reasons.
Vegeta broke the stagnant pause. "I'm ready for x20." The multiplier was a mere formality, now. There was only "power" and "more power".
Rokuma's closed lips slowly spread until they were stretched taut across his face. "Show me." It takes you a moment to recognize the expression as a sign of pleasure; a smile.
Vegeta raised his fists slightly and gave a sharp kiai. A thunderclap as his chi climbed so fast there wasn't any build, it just appeared. And it was divine- powerful enough to cause the air in the empty space to thicken like a sauna. He was far beyond those petty days of elevating stray bits of rubble. Any amateur martial artist would get knocked unconscious merely from of the awesome droves of energy pouring from Vegeta. He had practiced, and was now able to sustain this level of power for longer than an instant- though not indefinitely.
Vegeta then settled into a fighting stance, still making eye-contact with Ro, and waited for the demon to make a move.
Ro's smile widened just a little more and his eyes drifted closed as if he were stepping into a hot bath. It was finally time for him to release his chi. For the first time in years, he had reason to fight at full power. Not to win, oh no...he wouldn't need anything close to what he was capable of to kill the vain Saiyan for good. But Ro had spent a significant amount of time planting this false impression of his true power in Vegeta -one that was on par with what Vegeta would be capable of if he learned the Sabaku-Kaze- and Ro needed to show him the truth. Because Ro didn't care about any of that insipid 'fighting a worthy opponent' garbage. He was no Saiyan. He was something entirely Other.
All he wanted was to see pain. The strongest pain that a person could feel. Vegeta was the ideal candidate: his obnoxious pride would make it easy to break him. When Vegeta had learned the Sabaku-Kaze, he discovered that his deepest fear wasn't true. All along, he had been better than Son Goku. And Ro knew how happy he had made him... Ro had purposefully lifted Vegeta up higher than he had ever been before.
All that meant was that he could fall that much farther.
Ro's power came in waves, passively. Vegeta waited, patiently comparing their two chis in his mind's eye. He estimated that in ten seconds they would be on the same level.
The countdown happened in silence, the heavy atmosphere broken only by the sound of Vegeta's heartbeat in his ears. He knew the biggest problem this battle posed was his focus: how could he concentrate now when he would be fighting Kakarrot so soon? It simply wasn't practical!
... But if he didn't win this fight, he wouldn't get to fight Kakarrot. Just stay calm, he thought to himself. Get ready, Ro's going to reach full power right... about... now.
But Ro's chi kept rising. And rising. Confusion turned to outrage turned to horror on Vegeta's face, Ro gleefully watching each one. Vegeta felt a huge presence suddenly appear right in front of him and he looked up, as if expecting to see a mountain emerge from the black.
But all that stood before him was that pale creature, stronger now than a hundred gods.
Vegeta was frozen, helplessly staring with wide eyes. On their own, his muscles tensed and shivered and his teeth chattered. He was overcome with a feeling he knew far, far too well.
He was outclassed again.
The power... he wouldn't be a match for Ro in a hundred years. What had happened? They were supposed to be equal to each other! Had Vegeta really miscalculated so badly? Ro said that the Sabaku-Kaze x20 would be enough t...
Ro said...
"You..." The words caught in his throat, constricted by shock and fury. "Y-you..." Ro's still-rising chi was making it near-impossible for Vegeta to just manage his thoughts.
It was stopping now. That was good. He could tell that Rokuma wasn't holding anything back now; this was it. This was his full power. And Vegeta could finally think straight. He glared, stomach clenching at the sight of Ro's blank, spacey eyes. Disgusting. Absolutely disgusting. "You liar."
That threw Ro for a second. "Oh?" Had he missed the Moment? Why wasn't the Saiyan showing any pain? Was he still processing how utterly dead he was going to be in a few minutes? That must be it. Leaden disappointment sat in Ro's throat. He'd studied Vegeta for a long time, and this was supposed to be the worst thing that could possibly happen to him. It was supposed to shatter his outlook on fighting for the rest of his short existence! If Ro had gone through all that trouble for nothing...
Meanwhile, Vegeta had been studying Ro in his own way. There again was that eerie feeling he'd been getting since day one. He was so close to putting his finger on it... it was in those times he'd been so close to giving up, the times that he was down to the last dregs of strength and stamina, the times that Vegeta knew how alive he really was, because he could feel the life draining out of him. Though it had been hard to pay attention to anything, he'd always felt Ro's eyes on his back. And now... Ro's composure never broke, but his eyes on Vegeta were expectant. Like somehow he was supposed to perform, like Ro wanted entertainment.
"What is it?" Vegeta said tightly. It was no use trying to divine the demon's true motives... Ro had been impenetrable from the very beginning. Vegeta's best bet was to just ask. "After all this time... deceiving me... pretending to have some sense of pride... you still feel the need to keep secrets? What are you hiding? If you were always so strong, why bring me here at all? What is it you want... lusus naturae?"
Ro grew angry, actually angry. "Well, what do you think?" He had lost it. The Moment had passed right over his head and he missed it. Somehow he screwed it up and the only chance of entertainment he'd had for years was gone. "Not to have the 'thrill' of fighting someone as powerful, that's for sure."
Vegeta looked at him, expressionless. He was showing emotion now of all times...? Of course Ro didn't want to fight him for his power. It was just another lie to appeal to Vegeta's Saiyanity so he would learn the Sabaku-Kaze and...
"Then why? What's the point?" Vegeta was stalling. Or was he? He knew Ro wasn't planning on letting him go back to Earth, he never had. Come to think of it, Vegeta had never wondered how he would get back. He was dead. In the face of the Sabaku-Kaze, Vegeta had went blind. But Ro was so much more powerful than even that... Vegeta was like a fox going up again a tiger. He had let himself assume that just because they were the same color they were a match... and he was going to pay for that mistake with his memories and his spirit. The thought that every second was the last he would ever have should have been enough to terrify him... but even so...
His heart was still. Still, yes, because it had froze long ago... petrifying itself for reasons that had been just a bit too sacrificial for Vegeta's tastes... probably why every single one of them had failed to bear fruit. But also still because his heart only beat faster when he killed someone who was worth anything... or when he was outdone, alone and with no tricks up his sleeve.
But in that Moment, he had something. It was risky, stupidly risky, and if it failed it would mean he hadn't learned his lesson at all, but then again... if it failed, he'd be so far away from sentience he wouldn't be in any position to care.
"The point... yes, good question. The point, you bastard, was for you to be in the worst pain that you, that anyone, has ever felt." Ro had never been so irritated, so disappointed, so furious. And that stupid Saiyan wasn't even paying attention, he was just staring at the ground! Had he actually regressed into a monkey?
"So you're a sadist..." Vegeta murmured, half of his mind away. He did a quick check up on his energy and body. Ever since he had learned to heal, his body had been in crystalline condition but his chi... yes, it could be strengthened by willpower, but even though Vegeta's will was one of the strongest in the galaxy, there were some things that just needed time and rest to heal. His chi wasn't damaged... but it was acting more like static electricity and less like its normal dependable current. He didn't know how much farther he could push it. But he had to try... it was the only thing left to do. He had practiced trusting his chi to hold itself together... to endure past all the limits it had in the past... he only hoped it would be enough. Next to what he was planning on doing very soon... the Sabaku-Kaze looked like a good night's sleep.
"I am the product of every evil thought in any organic being's mind. There is nothing more evil than taking joy at the suffering of others." Ro began to circle Vegeta, who kept staring ahead. What a stoic. "There's some of you in me, Vegeta. A fair bit. Of course, Freeza as well."
"And Kakarrot?"
"Nothing. You can't get much purer than that one. I have to admit, I was surprised... especially for a Saiyan. You sure know how to pick your enemies, Vegeta."
"I didn't pick him." In his mind, Vegeta had no choice in the matter. He was to be the one who would kill Kakarrot, a fact just as sure as him being the Prince of All Saiyans was.
"You know," Ro was still walking around him, "pure evil is actually stronger than pure good. It's just so much harder to attain. You did a pretty good job, though. Right now, you're the second most powerful being in the universe."
"With you being the first."
"Of course."
Ro failed to appear in front of Vegeta. Vegeta crossed his arms and let out a small sigh. Ro was going to start the attack very soon. Knowing him... he would want to toy with Vegeta first... it would be a while before he would start to inflict lethal damage... so he best not try just yet. There was no point in throwing his only hope away, not if he could prepare himself just a little more... Vegeta's awareness was so attuned that he could feel every cell in his body... each one worked day after day to protect him, to keep his soul tethered, and he thanked them all... but he still needed to go deeper. He needed to find a control greater than any he had even dreamed of.
In hypersonic subspace, Ro's frustration dissipated into bitter acceptance. The promise of Vegeta's pain had been nothing but a great big anti-climax. Perhaps the Saiyan had suffered too much in his lifetime for even such a letdown as this to cause much damage. Ro didn't care. There wasn't much else left to do but destroy what was left of Vegeta and go back to watching the oblivious people of the galaxy.
S-I-G-H.
Vegeta raised his chi. Better practice the precise control that was necessary for his gamble now. Ro seemed to prefer attacking his face, and Vegeta was confident that the worst he'd suffer from the first blow would be a bloody nose. Ro wasn't going to destroy him until he'd had his fun.
But with luck, Vegeta would get the time to play instead. He could feel his senses going past cell-level... but it was too slow... he just needed a bit more time...
Without any warning, no fluctuation in Ro's colossal chi, no change in the air currents, and certainly nothing that Vegeta could see, it came. The attack was so instantaneous that it was almost like his nose started bleeding on its own. Over his hand pressed to his face, Vegeta's sight focused on Ro, now standing in front of him, eyes closed.
"Any last words?" Ro asked softly, half his attention on searching for something to entertain him after he disposed of his Saiyan letdown.
"Yeah..." Vegeta said, aching chi bracing for one last transformation. He had known for quite some time that at least half his difficulties with learning the Sabaku-Kaze had not only come from fatigue and injury... but also from not being able to fight at full power. It was like trying to put together a sturdy crate with no nails, only glue sticks and frustration.
This was his last chance to see if he could... otherwise he'd die permanently without ever knowing. And there was nothing Vegeta hated more than not knowing.
As the most infuriating, yet most brilliant, warrior he'd ever met once said, "Better to blow myself up than let him do it."
"Sabaku-Kaze x20." His voice was calmer than the utter hopelessness of his situation should have really warranted.
"What is it that's making you think you have a chance?" Ro knew Vegeta well enough to know he thought he had some sort of trump card. Impossible. Ro was just too powerful- no secret technique could even scratch his skin.
Vegeta didn't reply, just held the power as one would hold a boiling hot mug of tea and stared at Ro until the answer dawned on him. At Ro's level, you could only fight power with power. And Vegeta did have one more option... if you could call it that. "You're going to go Super Saiyan."
"What choice do I have?" Vegeta asked through gritted teeth. The strain of holding his chi together was already sinking its claws into him.
"I just didn't have you down for that much of a fool, Vegeta." Ro cocked his head curiously. "You do know that you would have enough energy to blow up the entire multiverse?"
"I am aware, yes." Vegeta could feel the veins desperately pumping blood as the ungodly pressure increased.
"So what makes you think that you, a mortal, would be able to control it at all? You would die before that energy could even finish its build." Ro glanced at Vegeta's red face in amusement. "Look at you. You can't even handle x20 longer than a few moments. Understandable, considering your base power level, but still. It's just beyond your capabilities, Vegeta... though I'm sure you've thought of that already. You don't seem like the type who would surrender if you had another option." Ro took a moment to appreciate the irony of the situation. Vegeta was going to break very, very soon, without Ro's help. Seems like, in the end, the only person who could cause the Saiyan pain was himself.
As if on some sort of cosmic cue, Vegeta's exhausted legs finally gave out and he collapsed. He was so used to external pain that it was shocking to feel it coming from inside him and he cried out. It was a betrayal a thousand times worse than anything Ro could come up with, his own muscles close to snapping his bones in the strain of the Sabaku-Kaze x20, and that knowledge was the only thing that gave him the strength to keep holding on. He was past rational thought. Revenge and petty ideals had no place where he was, the only language he spoke was instinct. And, when faced with betrayal, Vegeta's instinct had always been to fight.
But to Ro, the Saiyan's inhuman struggle to wield the very power he had sought his whole life was getting boring. In fact, he would have already snuffed Vegeta by now had it not been for the arrival of his long-overdue pain. Finally, some quality entertainment. Ro sat on the ground next to Vegeta, who by now was convulsing under the strain of the twenty-fold Sabaku-Kaze.
It was like every single one of his cells was trying to rip itself apart from the others. It felt like the only thing keeping his soul chained to this world was the sheer force of his own will. It certainly wasn't his body. He was having a full-out seizure now, and there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it because he was too busy keeping his chi from being torn to shreds.
... But... why? Why was he putting himself through all this? The small part of Vegeta's mind that hadn't yet succumbed to the screaming pain tried its hardest to remember the most important question of all. Why?
His whole life slowly turned in his mind's eye... training... battles... slaughter... defeat... blood spilled on the ground... enemies vaporized into nothingness... defeat... training... defeat... training... defeat... defeat... defeat.
ENOUGH.
He had suffered by his own hand enough.
It was finally time. Vegeta had thought so many times before, he had thought he couldn't rise any higher... and eventually, fall any farther, had thought he finally knew what torture was...
But now he knew it, even as his tenuous grip on his chi slipped at last, he knew that it was finally time for him to reach full power.
Super Saiyan.