Chapter 13: Pain and Power

After avoiding Tolstoy's punch, Kakarot moved backwards as more punches began to fly. The bull was lashing out in an almost random flurry of attacks. Kami watched in awe as Kakarot dodged each on of Tolstoy's devastating punches. He wanted to help but he didn't think that it would be necessary. But if it was, would you be able to do anything, you old fool, thought Kami. With each flick of the bull massive arms, wind rocketed off, nearly throwing Kami off his feet. Even though he'd been training for the past nine years, the saiyans still outclassed Kami almost tenfold, and these new invaders had been able to beat them. It was terrifying. Tolstoy let out a scream of rage and threw a punch, putting his entire body into the attack. Seizing the opportunity, Kakarot responded with a light jab that collided with the bull's unprotected face. Tolstoy was stunned for a moment, allowing Kakarot to make even more distance between the two.

"What the hell happened," screamed Tolstoy, "You were not this strong when you fought Nabokov, so what the hell did you do!?"

Kakarot began to shift the weight on his feet, almost dancing in place before responding, "This is really boring, idiot. Can we just get on with this?"

This snapped something deep within Tolstoy's psyche causing him to scream out in a rage. He shot forwards, surprising Kakarot, and slammed his fist into the young boy. Kakarot was only barely able to bring up his guard in time. The young boy noticed that something had changed in the bull's eyes. Instead of being the dark brown they were before, they had changed to a deep red. Blood vessels shone through the weak white that formed most of his eyes. This scared Kakarot slightly, causing him to retaliate out of confusion. The punch collided directly with the bull's jaw and sent him flying back a few meters. Kakarot's heart wouldn't stop beating. Even though there was still a significant gap in power between the two, something had changed about his opponent. Before the child had time to calm himself, Tolstoy weakly rose to his feet. The piecing red of his eyes still reached Kakarot and Kami. Though Kakarot couldn't sense the ki coming out his opponent, Kami could feel the terror that this warrior immited. It was unlike anything the guardian of Earth had even felt. Not even from the demonic King Piccolo. This was pure terror. Tolstoy stood staring at Kakarot, refusing to move. His body moved up and down with his breathing, giving him a terrifying unnatural quality. Kakarot turned to face him and got into his fighting stance. Now he had to take this battle seriously. Tolstoy took a step forwards and let out a harrowing battlecry. As he moved, an immense red ki exploded off his body. It climbed up nearly twenty meters and showed no signs of stopping. Tolstoy's muscles began to grow at an unnerving speed. His veins grew and his battlecry turned into more of a pained screech as he continued his slow walk towards Kakarot. But Kakarot refused to allow this go on any longer. Allowing for his own white ki to surround him, Kakarot lept forwards and prepared a punch. Kami attempted to call out to the child, knowing that the young man would not sense the danger that he was in. But it was much too late.

The punch collided with the bull's jaw, exploding into the flaming white ki that surrounded Kakarot. It was a direct hit. Tolstoy's eyes once again locked with Kakarot's. He looked unfazed. Out of desperation, Kakarot began to let off a explosive barrage of attacks, all of them slamming into the bull's unprotected body. After a few seconds of this assault, Tolstoy finally responded by driving a knee into the saiyans jaw. It forced Kakarot into the air and, when he landed, he was forced onto his hands and feet. Without a moment's thought, Kakarot pounced back into the fray.

Again, Thought Kakarot, I have to go again. I have to go until I win. There is nothing else.

His volley of attacks slowed as exhaustion took over his body but Tolstoy continued his monstrous attacks. Kakarot was barely able to move as his foot slammed into the ground. The force of the attack sent Kakarot flying back three meters and rocks followed him, slamming into his face. This acted as a momentary distraction, causing Kakarot to lose focus on his fighter for a moment. When Kakarot was finally able to see again, his opponent had already vanished. Desperately, Kakarot eyes shot back and forwards, attempting to once again locate his unkillable rival. He could find anything. Tolstoy had just vanished. A wave of relief began to wash over Kakarot until he noticed something. A shadow began cover him. And as he looked up, he saw it.

His death was coming.

Fear froze him as the bull shot towards him, both fists raised high above his head.

He was going to die.

Tolstoy was only seconds away.

But before he could die, the wind was knocked out of him. Kakarot felt his body lift up into the air and then collide with the hard dirt. The hit shook the saiyan's mind, forcing him to reboot. "Are you ok, young man?" The calming voice of the old man soothed Kakarot's mind. But the fear reminded in his mind. "What the fuck do you think you're doing, old man!? You need to keep yourself safe!" Kakarot was incredibly angry. The old man was going to get himself killed. His stupid decision to save someone who was too weak to help themselves. There was no excuse for weakness. That stupid old man. Kakarot didn't deserve to be save. He was too weak. Weak people didn't deserve to live. Bardock had taught him that. Kakarot threw Kami off of him and tossed himself in front of the old man. "Get the hell out of here, old man. You're just getting in my way." Kami was taken aback, not with anger but with something else.

Sadness?

Pity?

The young man was about to throw his life away for the old namekian. And even if Kami wanted to help him, he was much too weak to do anything about it. He stared up at this child. Only a child but ready to throw his life away in a battle. Something about that made Kami tear up. And as the tears formed in Kami's eyes, he got to his feet. "This is not your battle, young man," he whispered, attempting to calm the boy. As Kami rested his hand on Kakarot's arm, he could feel the boy shaking from the fear. Kami could feel that the difference in power between Kakarot and Tolstoy was not that great but the bull had something stronger that power on his side. Fear. The young man was scared. Kami was scared. Shaking off the namekian's arm, Kakarot once again attempted to protest, "Sorry, old man, but it-" Suddenly, he stopped and began to stare off behind Kami. Kami could feel the terrifying power that Tolstoy had quelled instantly return. But there was also something else behind that power. The desire to kill. Before Kami could see what the young boy was looking at, he had disappeared, leaving no trace of him behind. A shockwave of air followed shortly afterwards as the monstrous bull gingerly removed his foot from the earth and locked eyes squarely on Kami. "Nice try, monster," Kami whispered, "But you can't scare me."

Bulma's heart stopped the moment that Kakarot jumped in front of her. She was prepared to die. But then he appeared to save the day. If we make it out of here alive, I'm going to rock this kid's world, Bulma thought as the two warriors began to stare each other down.

Balmont was impressed at this kid's incredible power. He had nowhere near this level of power when he had fought Nabokov. Where the hell did it all come from? "Hey, kid," Balmont shouted, "How the hell did you get so strong." Kakarot refused to answer, instead continuing to stare the wolf down. Well, it was worth a shot, thought Balmont as he raised his arms to continue his battle. The pain that was flooding throughout all of his body was becoming more and more unbearable. He would have to end this battle quickly or else he wouldn't be able to last for much longer. But a plan was beginning to form in Balmont's mind. Letting his hands fall to his sides, Balmont closed his eyes and began to focus on his ki. Kakarot was confused for a moment but refused to allow his guard to falter. After a moment of waiting, Balmont's body began to split of into copies of himself. Within seconds, five copies of Balmont stood in a line. They all smiled before dashing off in different directions. Before Kakarot could move to intercept the clones, two of them dashed towards him and the three began to trade blows. The other clones moved behind the distracted saiyan, instead choosing to focus on Bulma. Even though she was hurt and afraid, Bulma stood strong. She wouldn't let herself be a burden on Kakarot. She got her wish so something like this would never happen ever again. Even though she didn't have much control over her power, she began to fight with the three clones. The ones attacking Kakarot dashed backwards and began to charge ki within their palms. Before Kakarot could move, they began to launch a flurry of purple energy balls. Kakarot tried to deflect as many attacks as he could but was quickly overwhelmed in a flash of purple light. Once the light had died down, the clones paused for a moment, waiting for any sign of their opponent. With a resounding battlecry, Kakarot dashed out from the smoke and forced one of his elbows directly into the clone's faces. They were thrown back a few feet and the young saiyan took this moment to fall back to his ally. While this was all happening, Bulma was locked in desperate combat with the other clones. Her attacks, even in this weakened state, were devastating to the clones. With one clear hit they would be down for the count so they decided to play smart. One took lead and received much of the brute force of the young girl's attacks. The others moved around her in an almost pincer-like motion. Luckily' Bulma was able to keep a level head and jumped up into the air to dodge this encirclement. The clones looked up as she rocketed back down, slamming a knee into the head of the clone that attempted to attack her originally. The other two grabbed hold of her waist and threw her over their heads. She flew for a moments before being caught by Kakarot who had only recently finished fighting his clones.

"Are you okay, Bulma? Did this bastard hurt you too badly?" Bulma's heart warmed at the youngs boy's concern. Even though she didn't deserve it.

"No, don't worry, Kakarot. I'm fine." He gave a nod of acknowledgement before allowing her feet to once again touch ground. The two stood side by side as the clones turned to dust and reformed into one being.

"Congratulations," Balmont called out as he reformed, "But now you guys are going to have to fight me at my full power, not split between these worthless clones." As he looked over at the two 'warriors'. Both prepared to give everything up to protect the man named 'Bardock'. It made Balmont feel sick. A monster like him didn't deserve the love that these two were giving him. Not when he'd taken so much from everyone else. Balmont could feel the life leaving him as blood continued to seep through his clothes and pool on the ground.

Only a few moments left.

Balmont would kill him.

And then he'd die.

But not before him.

Another chapter done. As I said, this arc is nearing it's epic climax….soon. I just have to tie up a few loose ends and we'll be done. Once this is done, i'll be back to following the main timeline, I promise. I can't wait to continue this as I have some great plans for the future. If you're reading this and haven't favorited or followed, I would recommend it. You don't want to miss out on any of the exciting action that will be coming up soon.

That's all from me

-mAskMaN09