Chapter 014 - On their Last Legs
Vegeta landed on the ground in front of the tired children and began to walk towards them. "I must admit I'm surprised; you two put up more of a fight than I thought you would... However it doesn't make a bit of difference. It seems you're both hitting your limits." He stopped walking and held back his hands. "I'm done playing with you now."
Gohan gulped and took a cautious step back, "It's not working..." he mumbled worried, "Nothing we're trying is working."
"I know," Corset nodded, swallowing the lump that had appeared in her throat. "What's he about to do?"
"I t-think he's about to attack us." Gohan gulped taking another step back; both growing nervous.
Vegeta yelled out and threw both hands forwards repeatedly, sending out several separate energy blasts.
Both Gohan and Corset screamed and began to run backwards, narrowly dodging the dozens of attacks heading straight for them. They both leapt back across the uneven ground as blast after blast shot towards them, Vegeta continuously firing off attack after attack, each blast homing in on their targets.
In the thick of it all Corset tripped over on a rock and screamed as she fell backwards, blasts landing and surrounding her in chokingly thick dust. She was left in confusion as dust poured everywhere, ground fragments showering all over her. She couldn't hear anything over the deafening explosions but knew she had to move fast.
The dust rapidly cleared for some reason, Corset spotting a glowing blue light from the corner of her eye – it dashed past her so fast! She caught sight of it and realised it was heading straight for the Saiyan—
Vegeta leapt up into the air. The attack shot under him and headed directly for Gohan!
"Gohan!" Corset shieked; he seemed to just be staring at the thing – whatever it was.
Gohan's arms shot out in front of him, the ball of light bouncing off.
The ball headed for the Saiyan.
There was a terrific bright light as the attack made contact. The sky darkened almost instantly, lightning bolts appearing to fly from the centre of the attack, light flashing all around them. Krillin, Gohan, Corset, Yajirobe and Goku all looked on in awe at the tremendous destructive attack. In the centre of it all was Vegeta. The Saiyan screamed out as his entire body was attacked and engulfed by the powerful move, engulfed in the bright light before he was finally blasted up towards space.
Wonder stole everyone's words for a moment or so.
"We did it! Goku, we did it!" Krillin was heard cheering from a little far back.
A small smile appeared on Corset's face. Was it true? Had they won?
The smile faded quickly... Had they just beaten her father? Had they just killed him?
As Gohan passed her Corset glanced over to where Goku lay; Krillin now sat beside his friend and they seemed to be talking. With a quiet sigh she followed Gohan and walked towards the others.
"... We did it... didn't we daddy?" Gohan asked uncertain.
"Looks that way," Krillin nodded. "Nice rebound, Gohan. I think we all owe you one!"
Corset nodded but couldn't smile, not anymore.
"... Still that move of yours was incredible Goku!" Krillin was heard saying; he seemed really excited.
"What was it, daddy?" Gohan asked.
"Well... that was another move K... Kaio taught me..." Goku sounded awfully exhausted.
Now that Corset was this close to him she could see all the damage he'd taken. The sight terrified her; he'd taken such a horrendous beating... So how was it he was able to stay as calm as he seemed? Corset didn't understand. If she were in his shoes she'd be crying right now!
Something caught her attention; it had caught everyone's attention. There was something falling from the sky...
"... No way!" Krillin gasped.
Vegeta crashed onto the ground with a loud and heavy thump, bouncing slightly before finally stopping.
He wasn't moving.
"T-The Saiyan!" Gohan gasped.
"Don't worry, he's dead," Krillin smiled in a relaxed manner as he rose to his feet.
Corset looked horrified to see what she saw. She wailed out and turned away shaking. Evil or not, that was her father's dead body she was looking at and that alone was enough to bring tears to her eyes. The wet streams rolled down her cheeks as she began to cry, clearly disturbed by what she saw.
"What's wrong?" Goku asked. "Why are you crying?"
"Um... I guess you don't know about it then," Krillin mumbled.
Goku turned to face his friend curiously, "... Know about what? Am I missing something?"
"Well earlier on, we found out something quite dramatic," Krillin explained. "You see, the reason Corset had a tail was because one of these two Saiyans was her dad. It turns out that Saiyan was Vegeta."
"WHAT?" Goku gasped in shock. "Really?"
"That's probably why she's now upset," Krillin nodded, "It's not exactly easy seeing any dead person, particularly for a young kid at her age! It's even worse when it's a family member; I think it just has that much more of an impact..."
He turned and put a hand on Corset's shoulder. "I'm sorry he turned out to be the way he did; I wish it had turned out differently for your sake... We'll honour him and dig him a grave."
"... Now that you mention it... there is a bit of a resemblance," Goku was still in awe. "... The hair colour is quite obvious now that I think of it…"
Corset didn't watch Krillin as he walked over to her father; she couldn't! Confusion and exhaustion filled her body; she was tired and so emotionally drained. She just wanted to wake up from this nightmare.
Krillin screamed, Corset span around on the spot, eyes wide and leaking. She couldn't believe it: her father was slowly getting to his feet. He looked absolutely awful! Then it dawned on her just how dangerous a situation they were all in.
"You've given me quite a beating... Even I thought I was going to die from that last attack!" Vegeta's voice was a little shaky yet the look in his eye was still deadly. "You bastards! I'll pay you back ten times for what you've done!"
Krillin was slapped to the side, crashing onto his hip, blood spewing out of his mouth.
"When I've FINALLY destroyed you all, I'll take time to recover, then I'll make my return and then I shall destroy the Earth!" Vegeta declared.
Corset realised he would make his way towards her and the others; disbelief and fear now dwelling inside her. She'd lost count how many times she'd lost hope today!
"You bastards... taxing my powers to their limits... Making a fool out of me... You really have made me struggle..." Vegeta snarled through heavy breaths as he approached the others, "You've really taken a lot out of me... But what hurts the most isn't my wounds... What hurts the most is my pride... for having to struggle against scum like you..." He stopped in his tracks and placed his arms across his front in a defensive stance. "So just die!"
"D-D-Dad... What do we do?" Gohan quivered terrified.
"... Run Gohan... both of you run away!" Goku ordered through grinding teeth.
A pure white bubble surrounded Vegeta, suddenly bursting outwards as he threw his hands up into the air. There was a horrendously powerful explosion; all five warriors caught in the blast and vanished in the bright light, screams drowned out by the ear-bursting rumble of the ground shaking. The powerful winds ripped up dust across the ground, shredding it into pieces, obliterating lose fragments of rock unable to stand up to its mighty force...
Corset was tossed through a confusing bright world. She hit something; pain bursting through her back, then her side as she hit something solid, blacking out.
After what felt like forever, the tremors calmed and stopped. The wind died down completely.
When she finally came to, she had no idea what was happening anymore. There was panic and tension in the air; from what she could sense she wasn't the only one alive. Her body ached, refusing to move without a fight. Struggling Corset managed to support herself against a rocky wall. Trying to work out and make sense of the world she looked around.
She spotted the gigantic monkey.
Her eyes widened in horror and shock as she instinctively backed off into the stone wall. "W-W-What? I-Is that the S-Saiyan again? Why'd he go all big again?"
Unbeknownst to her it was not the Saiyan, it was Gohan.
The monkey seemed to be on a rampage, smashing everything with its fists, roaring out every-so-often, making its way towards her! He grabbed a large chunk of rock and held it above his head...
Suddenly the mood changed. The monkey stopped dead in his tracks.
Corset raised a baffled eyebrow. What was wrong?
"Gohan! Get the Saiyan! Go attack the Saiyan!"
That was Krillin's voice. He was alive too! Yet now Corset was completely lost and tilted her head in confusion. 'Why are they sending Gohan to fight him? He's huge!'
She hesitantly leaned off the side of the wall and cautiously began to approach Goku; he was the closest one to her, plus she had a bone to pick with him. What was he thinking sending Gohan to fight that giant monster? As she made her way over, Vegeta leapt up the side of one of the many rock formations of the area; Corset caught a glimpse of him as he fled from the gigantic monster.
Her jaw dropped and she stopped moving; that big monkey wasn't the Saiyan? "... Who is that?" She cried fearfully. "Where's Gohan?"
"... That is Gohan..." Goku answered her, voice hoarse.
Corset's eyes widened in shock, "T-That?" She quivered flabbergasted. "How?"
How was it possible that the monster before her was Gohan? It was a big monkey as far as she was concerned! How had Gohan managed to become that thing? How was it possible? Why?
With no clear answers, Corset resigned to watching the seemingly one-sided fight, the monkey – or Gohan(?) – was giving the Saiyan a hard time yet the Saiyan seemed to be scheming something. He vanished behind the monkey's head, suddenly being swatted by his tail and vanishing into the dense collection of rocks.
Vegeta leapt towards the jumping monkey, an attack that looked very similar to Krillin's strange disc formed in his hand and he tossed it out.
The disc shot straight through the monkey's tail cutting it off.
Corset leaned in closer. She wondered if what had occurred before would happen again...
It seemed to be. The monkey rolled forward as it looked down at the lack of tail it now had. What confused Corset was the Saiyan; he didn't even attempt to move out of the way! The last Corset saw of Vegeta was the monkey landing on top of him, vanishing behind a few more tall boulders.
The ground shook violently, knocking Corset off her feet and onto her back.
For a moment all she wanted to do was close her eyes and sleep...
No. She had to stay awake.
Reluctantly she sat up and got to her feet. She had to keep an eye on the situation and do her best to help out; that was one of the things Piccolo had taught her. There were so many questions buzzing around her mind; had that monkey really been Gohan? If so, how had he become that monkey in the first place? Why had he changed back when his tail had been cut off? Since when had his tail grown back? Why hadn't her tail done the same thing? What was the Saiyan doing? Was Gohan still in danger? Were they all still in danger? Was she getting distracted by asking herself all these questions? She could answer the last one easily.
Corset could see them now. Vegeta was down on his back, not moving. If whatever was on top of him was what she thought it was, Corset didn't want to look as embarrassment slapped her in the face. She was sure that was a butt she could see! She stifled a laugh, feeling she had to watch the Saiyan just in case he got up but finding it hard to be serious.
Vegeta was moving although his actions were sluggish, slow and not much to speak of. He seemed to be reaching for something in what Corset assumed was armour. He took a tiny device out and began to press it, hands dropping heavily.
It was a while before anything suspicious happened. A strange round thing landed a few metres away from the Saiyan. Slowly he pushed whatever it was off of him and rolled over, each move taking a while to complete. Corset's suspicions were confirmed – the butt belonged to Gohan – why was he not wearing any clothes?
Krillin appeared, holding what looked like the fat man's sword in his hand. A feeling of dread shot through her heart; was Krillin chasing after the Saiyan?
The Saiyan had made it to his ship and was holding onto it before Krillin finally caught up.
Corset watched terrified, anticipating what was about to happen.
The villain realised he'd been spotted, his eyes wide as he looked helplessly at Krillin.
"This is for all the people you killed!"
The sword rose – Corset couldn't turn away but she pleaded in her head for Krillin to stop!
"DIE!"
She clamped her eyes shut and clenched up, whimpering a little as she braced herself for that awful sound...
"... Was that you talking in my head just now, Goku?"
Corset opened her eyes, shocked and confused. Vegeta was still alive; Krillin still had the sword raised but his focus was on Goku! Corset blinked and looked back and forth between Goku and Krillin, oblivious to what was going on; it seemed as if Krillin was talking to Goku but Goku wasn't answering back. What was going on? Why hadn't Krillin killed her father? (She was partly glad he hadn't; this was her father after all...)
Krillin seemed to suddenly grow angry. "Let him go? Goku, what are you thinking? Do you think he's gonna turn over a new leaf like Piccolo? I can tell you now this guy is not like that; he doesn't have a leaf to turn over! He doesn't have a speck of decency in him at all. If we let him go he'll just come back and destroy us all." After a moment or so he raised an eyebrow, now looking more confused.
"... What a waste? ...Goku, this is the guy who killed all of our friends!" Krillin bellowed frustrated. "Yamcha, Tenshinhan, Chaozu, Piccolo; all of them died because of him!"
Krillin clenched his fists, sword rattling as his arms shook with emotion. He hurriedly turned away from Vegeta, who'd managed to almost sit himself inside the pod, eyes still wide open as he stared at the weapon held in the Earthling's hand... or so it looked to Corset.
What was going on? Why did Krillin look so torn...?
The sword clanged as it struck the floor.
"... I got it... Listen Goku; you make sure the next time he comes here that you beat him!"
Corset couldn't believe it. Why had he dropped the sword? 'What's going on? Why did Krillin change his mind?' Corset wondered. 'I'm glad that he did but I thought he didn't like my dad... Weird...'
A humming sound caught the little girl's attention. It looked like the strange thing her father sat in was beginning to move. Was it his transport? It sounded like a machine of some kind.
"When I come back... there will be... no mercy..." Vegeta sneered, "... I'll kill you all... count on it."
The door closed, clamping into place. Seconds later the ship rose into the sky, bolting up with a dramatic increase in speed and disappearing out of their sight into the distance.