Chapter 10

Time froze on the Moment. For an instant, Ro's entire plane pulsed with golden energy... but before Ro had a chance to see it the light shimmered and imploded on Vegeta, now floating an inch off the ground.

Ro waited for perhaps ten seconds, getting more and more uneasy as Vegeta continued to exist. But he looked more dead than alive: eyes not moving or blinking in a face of stone, body rigid in the air. The only movement coming from him was his hair, lazily waving as if underwater.

If Vegeta moved one single molecule out of place, the entire galaxy would be gone. He could feel the elements that made him out, every single one of them. He had never been so still. His mind didn't have much freedom of movement either- it was narrowed to one single point of focus: Rokuma the honourless snake, and how best to kill him.

No sooner had the idea whispered itself to Vegeta than he found himself on top of Ro, who he had just pushed to the ground triliseconds before. It took him another instant to realize he was choking him. Would he be able to loosen his grip without losing control of his chi? Had to take the risk -good, he managed it- it wasn't yet time for Ro to die. He needed to know first. Vegeta needed to see the shocked comprehension dawning on Ro's blank face... heh heh heh... that had always been his favorite part.

For Ro, it had already ended when he saw -or rather, didn't see- how fast Vegeta was. No one had ever gone too fast for him to see. It wasn't supposed to be possible... but Vegeta had such unearthly discipline and complete mastery over both his mind and physical manifestation that he was able to take the galaxy-crushing power... and bend it to his will. He could control it.

Ro was suddenly aware that the seconds slowly trudging by were to be his last. He, with all his immeasurable strength, was going to die by the hands of a lone Saiyan. "You really are amazing."

Vegeta's fist smashed through Ro's rib cage, grabbed hold of his spine and tore it out in one knobbly cord. Save your praise, SCUM. He was sick of being talked down to.

Ro went limp and twitching underneath Vegeta, completely paralyzed. Vegeta calmly pressed his hands on Ro's chest to staunch the bleeding. He was meant to do it... his chi gave him no other choice. It still wasn't time for Ro to die.

But it was time for Vegeta to speak. And once he opened his mouth, the words starting flowing out on their own.

"All my life I've searched for this 'ultimate power'... I kept thinking I'd reached it... but time and time again I had not. I started to think that there was no 'ultimate power' after all, just an infinite parade of warriors marching towards an empty promise... how pointless. I almost lost hope then... but something kept me going. It was my Saiyan blood. No matter how many bitter defeats I suffered through, I knew deep inside that there was something for me at the end. And I was right." To Vegeta's ears, his own tone of voice sounded like he was reading a bedtime story. He continued.

"I thank you, Rokuma, for showing me the way... misguided though your intentions may have been, I would have never gotten here on my own... so I'll put you out of your misery and kill you before I leave. I do aim to please you, Rokuma." Vegeta smiled. Ro could only stare at him, suffering but not afraid. "I would say that you must be pleased to have a successor, but that is neither your way nor mine. So farewell, new friend, farewell, dear mentor, pity that you never knew real power. For it is glorious."

Though his energy was almost all drained away, Ro drew in one last breath. "Is... is this how it f-feels...? To feel so... much pain..."

Vegeta thought of all the times Ro had so rudely cut him off mid-sentence by punching him and mildly entertained the idea of doing the same to him this time. Before he could dismiss the thought, the warmth of fresh blood appeared on his hands and he was suddenly pinning a corpse to the ground.

He'd killed the most powerful being that had ever existed accidentally. Vegeta held his stained hands out in front of him, stunned.

The violet bursts of lightning washed into crimson ones as ownership of the dark plane came to Vegeta... for he had killed its previous master. As if they had switched spots, Ro was now the dead man and Vegeta was the monster.

Any unlucky soul he killed would not be able to ascend. It would just drift in the space between worlds forever, hidden away to all but him.

And he inherited a few thousand years in energy.

Vegeta couldn't help but smile as he felt his body waking up, a pulse fluttering in his neck... oh, it was good to be alive again. He slowly released the Super Saiyan form, for now. Even though energy worked differently alive than dead, he knew he would be able to reclaim his power again. But he couldn't heal himself by will alone anymore... no matter. Now all that was left was to find a way to escape. Maybe he could tear a portal in the fabric of reality...

Oh, please. That was too crude and just a waste of time. Vegeta owned the dark plane. He could get in or out as he pleased. He could even bring others with him, but that wouldn't be happening. He was never coming back... it was too lackluster for him.

As Vegeta summoned a portal to Earth, he thought of Kakarrot. Vegeta had spent so much time chasing after him... now he could see how small the other Saiyan really was. The way he was now, it would be ludicrously easy to beat him at half power, maybe with one arm.

But Vegeta had promised Kakarrot a fight. And he always kept his promises. Son Goku would be the first mortal to see his full power.

Vegeta left the dark plane with nothing in it but the corpse of Ro, its former owner, and the harvested spine on the ground next to him. The dark plane would drift in space for the rest of eternity, its grisly tableaux undisturbed, because Vegeta would never return.

OoO

Arrgh!

Only five seconds... five measly seconds for Son Goku to choose a Potara fusion partner before Boo finished off the earth... and there was no one left but Hercule. This was past disaster... this was doomsday.

He had no choice. Goku cocked back his arm, called for Hercule's attention, and-

Wait! A chi! And a powerful one at that! It was so familiar... it almost felt like...

"VEGETA! What luck!" Goku cried out loud. Finally, there was hope! He was on the opposite side of the planet... good! That would buy them a minute. Concentrate now...

Even as Boo jumped at Goku, ready for a rematch, Goku pressed two fingers to his forehead and vanished. Boo roared in outrage. That damn instant transmission! There had never been a technique so irritating. No matter, he could feel the Earthling appear somewhere else already. Boo took off with a grin, knowing that was to be the last annoyance that this planet caused him.

An instant when Goku was nowhere, then he flicked back into existence. The first thing that hit his eyes was the bright glare from the ocean. Then- to his right-

Vegeta. Never had Goku been so happy to see him.

As a matter of fact, Vegeta was thinking the exact same thing.

"Yeah! It is you!" Goku yelled in relief.

"It's me." Vegeta tilted his head slightly, looking for Boo's chi. Was that it? Well, well, well. He really was nothing to bother with. How disappointing. Just regular Sabaku-Kaze x20 would take care of him. He would be on top of them... in forty seconds.

Goku noticed the lack of a halo above Vegeta's head. "Whoa! How did you come back to life?"

"It's not worth the breath it would take to explain," Vegeta said dismissively. Hmm... didn't look like anyone else was around. Oh yeah, Boo slaughtered them all. At least it saved him the trouble.

"Oh, well, never mind that," Goku said hastily, keeping an eye on Boo's ever-approaching chi. Why did Vegeta look so calm? Didn't he feel the power? "Put on this Potara earring! Then we can beat Boo and bring everybody back to life!"

Vegeta considered the little glass ball. "It'll combine us, won't it?" Ro had been keeping tabs on everything, and now all of that information was Vegeta's for the taking.

"Y-yeah!" Goku couldn't waste time asking how he knew. "Hurry, Boo's comin' fast!"

Vegeta took the earring between his first finger and thumb. Then he crushed it to powder and let the wind claim it from him. Seeing Goku's shocked expression, he couldn't help but laugh. He was so worried. "You actually thought I'd combine with you?"

"VEGETA! Why did you... what have you done?!" Goku gasped. "Don't you realize? Boo's going to be here in FIVE SECONDS!"

"Why would I combine with you when it would make me so much weaker?" Vegeta drifted forwards until they were almost nose to nose.

But Goku could only stare in horror over Vegeta's shoulder.

Boo had arrived, armed with a beach ball sized bullet of chi that was strong enough to blow up the moon.

Vegeta rolled his eyes. "Hold on. I'll pick up this trash myself." Turning around, it took him less than a second to find the bullet's path and knock it away.

"What? You again!" Boo said, then laughed. This simpleton was challenging him? Some people just never learned!

Vegeta cracked his knuckles, unimpressed. Normally, he'd enjoy killing someone who was once more powerful than him, but with Boo there really wasn't any point. Anyone could have beaten him back then. Boo wasn't even a proper person. Boring.

He stole a sidelong glance at Kakarrot, sensing a golden opportunity. All that was needed was a slight change in wording...

"Say goodbye, Boo." The sun was shining, a cool breeze was blowing and Vegeta was happy. It was finally time for him to claim his rightful place.. "Kaiō-Ken x20."

A tremendous bang that echoed across the planet, and Vegeta was powered up. He started building a chi blast of his own.

Meanwhile, Goku was looking around at the planet struggling with Vegeta's power. Vegeta knew the Kaiō-Ken? How? Did he run the Serpent Road and meet Kaiō Sama? That had to be it... but the energy surrounding Vegeta wasn't red, it was black... and it felt different somehow...

It didn't matter. The Earth was officially saved! Fantastic!

Boo charged Vegeta before he had a chance to throw the blast. Anticipating, Vegeta dodged, landed one solid blow to the djinn's back and brought the giant ball down on him.

As Boo turned into ash, Goku remembered and shouted to Vegeta- "You have to incinerate him until there's nothing left! Just one particle is enough for him to regenerate!"

"Thanks." Before the ashes could begin to drift apart, Vegeta zapped them. That stupid little superpower had made Vegeta's death pointless. He wasn't about to forget it.

There was nothing left but silence.

Kakarrot came up beside Vegeta, in awe. It was amazing. Vegeta finally managed to beat him, and by such a wide margin... he bet even going Super Saiyan 3 might not be enough to beat him. Vegeta, on the other hand, had done all this at his base form's power... with no Super Saiyan of any sort! Huh.

Goku hadn't been this excited in years! He was inspired. He would train again, and one day... he would beat Vegeta by an entire level. Goku loved a challenge, and he was happy that Vegeta was back in the game. Not to mention the Earth...

So Goku was completely unprepared for what he saw when he met Vegeta's eyes.

Anger. Cold intelligence. Disdain. Hatred.

It was like they had stepped back fifteen years. Like all Vegeta's time spent on Earth hadn't helped him at all.

It suddenly came to Goku that if Bulma had had Trunks -like she was supposed to- he would be the same age as Goten. Vegeta would have had a wife and a son- a family.

But that day, he stood before Goku alone with screaming eyes. He hadn't changed at all from the man who killed his own partner because he couldn't keep up. Goku couldn't imagine the danger Bulma had been in by living with him- but then again, Vegeta must have known not to try anything with Goku around. He was clever... he managed to fool everyone. He must have been waiting... waiting until he knew that he was strong enough to win. And now he was.

Vegeta watched Kakarrot's smile slowly disappear and he knew that Goku had found him out. He didn't mind being unmasked. It would be no fun otherwise.

Vegeta knew there wasn't going to be a battle, because he was going to be fighting at no less than full strength. It would be too short to count. Short but sweet.

"You're stronger than me," Goku said, "But that doesn't mean I'll just lie down and take it!" If Goku somehow got enough time to turn Super Saiyan 3, he would have a chance. Just a chance, that was all he needed. He knew Vegeta well... or at least, he knew his fighting style well. He hadn't known Vegeta as a person at all. None of them had...

Don't get distracted now! Think about how you can get more time.

As if reading his thoughts, Vegeta spoke. "Power up. I'm not taking you down at anything less than your best."

Goku smiled grimly and started building his chi. Good ol' Vegeta. Who else would willingly let him power up?

Vegeta waited patiently until Goku's chi stopped climbing. "Of course, the same goes for me."

Confusion. "Are you-"

Vegeta's catastrophical Super Saiyan chi nearly knocked the planet out of orbit.

And for the first time, Son Goku could only stare wide-eyed, like a child, at the Saiyan before him. No, Vegeta wasn't a Saiyan. He was a completely different creature. He always had been.

In fact, he was the living personification of the evil inside every organic being.

Vegeta thought about just killing Kakarrot now, but knew that his energy wouldn't allow it. There was one more thing left to do.

"Hit me," Vegeta said. "Since I took so long to get our rematch, you get one free shot. How about using the Genki Dama? There's nothing worth gathering on Earth, but I hear there's quite a lot of untapped energy in the sun."

"..." How did he know everything? Goku got a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. Why was Vegeta telling him? Slowly, Goku raised his hands to the sky, Vegeta watching intently.

After a few seconds, Goku's hands dropped limply to his sides. "It's no use," he said. "It won't be enough to stop you."

A smile grew on Vegeta's face. "I thought you might say that. Do you still hope that maybe this is just a nightmare... that I'm still your friend?"

Goku looked away and nodded bitterly. There was no use trying to deny it. Now, because of his stupid blindness to Vegeta's true self, all of his friends were never coming back again.

"I was never your friend." Vegeta raised an open hand, facing Kakarrot. His palm started to glow red.

"Vegeta?" Goku searched the other Saiyan's face, sad for the first time.

"Kakarrot."

"Why?"

Vegeta paused, considering. "Because... that day I first came to Earth, with Nappa... because..." He had to cut himself off as his grip on his chi wavered for a moment.

"Vegeta?" The sky darkened and Goku shuddered as Vegeta's chi swelled. If it went that much higher, the planet wouldn't be able to take it.

Vegeta had it again. That was close. Shaking his head, Vegeta started to re-charge the blast. "Because you let me live."

An explosion, not visible to Dende and Hercule from the other side of the world.

Vegeta's gaze, following the drifting trail of ashes down, found the blue planet slowly orbiting below him. Planet Earth meant nothing to him now. After a second, he turned to the clear sky. He could almost see the stars and planets that lurked past the atmosphere, innocent and ripe for the taking.

But if he was the most powerful being in the universe, would conquering it still be fun? Maybe Vegeta had to finally learn to appreciate things for what they were...

Or maybe a new martial artist would crop up someday, one who would make him fight at full power. Vegeta hoped so. Until then... he would find something to occupy himself...

Just as the doom of the universe was sealed by the wind, it starts with a smile.

~Lily F. Sang