Chapter Sixty-two - Fury

Goku dodged to the right around a hard punch from Vegeta, then dropped down under one of the energy discs, slid left to avoid a second disc, then came up with a knee aimed at the other Sai-jin's gut. But Vegeta thrust an arm down, smacking his open palm against Goku's knee and deflecting the blow. Then he countered with one of his own and Goku barely managed to avoid it. At the same instant he felt a sharp pain in his left arm and jerked back as one of the four energy discs nicked him.

/Keeping up with Vegeta and the four energy discs going to be impossible over the long run./ he thought, ducking under another disc just in time to get kicked in the face, knocking him back a dozen feet. As he recovered from the blow his eyes widened in shock and he quickly dodged right around two discs that had been aiming for his head.

/Alright, I've had just about enough of those things!/ he cried mentally, shooting into the air higher. Below him, both Vegeta and the four purple discs followed. At the moment, he was only concerned with the latter. After about a hundred yards he felt he'd put enough distance between himself and the discs and came to a stop.

They were trailing about forty feet behind Vegeta. The Sai-jin royal would reach him first, about two seconds ahead of the attacks. Plenty of time. Goku braced himself and waited as Vegeta closed the distance. Then, as the royal reached him, he dropped down, lashed out with a hard kick to the abdomen, then spun around behind him and slammed a knee into his back driving him off.

With the Sai-jin dealt with, at least for the moment, Goku turned his attention to the energy discs. They were only a second away now, and he quickly pulled in all of his energy. The discs were only an inch from slicing him into bits when he let out a scream and a burst of power that hit, warped, and then shattered the ki discs.

"Better." he said, nodding to himself as he turned to face Vegeta again. The two floated there, staring at each other, for a few seconds, and then both vanished at the same instant as they charged at each other at high speeds. They met less than a second later, both lashing out with hard right jabs, their fists impacting in each other with a thunderous crash, the shockwave from the blow blasting out over the planet below and scattering the dead warriors of Makai hundreds of yards away.

"You won't win, Kakkarotto." Vegeta growled as he launched a punch with his other arm, but Goku caught and held it. "I will prove I am the greatest!"

"We'll see about that." replied Goku, pulling his head back and then rocketing it forward, delivering a powerful headbutt. The blow knocked Vegeta back and Goku charged in, smashing his left fist into his stomach, then his right into the royal's face, and following that up with a kick to the back of the head. He attempted another blow, a kick to the back, but Vegeta slid to the side and the blow missed.

And then the royal's arm came down, his elbow locking around Goku's ankle. Vegeta pulled and turned, pitching his opponent into the distance, and then thrust an arm out toward him, golden energy flaring to life in front of his palm.

"Take this, Big Bang Attack!" he roared, firing the energy ball just as Goku righted himself. The attack reached him, then sped on harmlessly through the sky behind him as he vanished. Vegeta growled in frustration and released a burst of ki that knocked Goku back as he appeared behind him.

"Damn you, Kakkarotto!" Vegeta growled, turning to face him and clenching his hands into fists. "Even now, with my full potential unleashed, you're still stronger than me. Even at my best, you are better, and I wont HAVE IT!" With that he thrust both arms forward unleashing a massive wave of purple and gold energy.

Goku reached out and caught the blast, which was far stronger than he'd expected for something so hastily done, and with some effort he deflected it into the sky. As the energy blast sailed away Goku lowered his gaze to Vegeta again and blinked in surprise. The Sai-jin had his hands up as though in prayer, the same thing he'd seen Maku do earlier, before becoming stronger.

"I have a bad feeling about this..." he said, as black smoke began to swirl around Vegeta. He felt the suction a moment later, and then the darkness erupted into a twister.

XXX

Malus smirked as he charged at his opponent. The Shinkai Mortal was powerful, certainly, but he was also weak. His reluctance to fight, to take advantage of every opportunity offered in battle, made him a pathetic fighter. As he lunged in at Gohan once more, aiming a punch to his head.

Suddenly, Malus's eyes widened in surprise as he saw a leg sailing for his face, the jab having been a feint. He tried to duck under the kick, but his shock dulled his reactions and the blow landed with a resounding crack. As he was knocked backward Gohan charged after him and smashed his knee into the Demon's stomach that doubled him over, and then landed a double handed axe-chop to his back, driving him down seventy feet into the ground.

Though stunned by the blows, the Demon retained enough sense to roll to the side within two seconds of landing, and the follow up energy blast missed a direct hit. The explosion, however, was powerful enough to still catch Malus and knock him thirty feet away, skidding along the ground and gouging out a trench the whole way.

He stood a little unsteadily, disoriented by the sudden change of pace, but turned just in time to avoid a charging kick to the head. Stepping around the surging Sai-jin, sliding behind him, he thrust out an arm and fired off a blast of energy. But the Shinkai warrior turned just before it hit, back handing the blast away from him and firing his own.

Malus growled, deflected the incoming attack, and then lunged in again. The two locked into a barrage of close range attacks, blocks, and dodges that Malus soon found himself on the losing end of. For every attack he managed to dodge or block, five others got through, and for each he managed to land, seven others were blocked or dodged.

/What... what's going on?/ he wondered, taking a glancing punch to the side of his head. /His entire fighting style has changed. It's not just the sudden interest in capitalizing on openings, it's everything. The way he moves, the way he reacts, the kinds of attacks he's using./

He surged backward an instant later to avoid an attempted point blank ki blast to the chest, then just barely managed to avoid a knee to the face. /I have the power advantage but I can barely keep up, now. He's clearly had a lot more experience fighting at these higher levels of power than I, and his new found ferociousness is pushing me past my limits./

He brought an arm up, quickly blocking a kick to the head, then countered with a knee to Gohan's stomach, followed by an elbow to the side of his head that caused him to stumble and fall, the first solid blows he'd landed in at least five minutes. Panting, Malus took a few steps back from the downed Mortal, who was already climbing back to his feet, and tried to catch his breath.

"You're not doing so good out there, Malus." Akuhei said, laughing.

"He's completely changed fighting style." retorted Malus. "I wasn't expecting that."

"If I'm going all out I'm going to use the style I know best." said Gohan. "And that's not dad's style, it's the combined style I learned from Piccolo and grandma." With that he charged in at Malus again and the demon, still breathing hard, quickly thrust his arms out and released a massive burst of energy knocking him back.

"A little help out here would be appreciated." growled Malus, glancing over at the others.

"But you've been doing so well." Akuhei said, grinning and squealing. "But, if you really can't handle one Shinkai mortal..." Still laughing Akuhei floated over to join him. "Come on Paine, let's give him a hand."

Paine glanced at him, then at Gohan who had recovered from Malus's earlier attack and was currently watching them all warily, then up into the sky where Goku and Vegeta were little more than specks of light fighting at levels she never dreamed of. After a moment she lowered her gaze and shook her head.

"No." she said. "I'm staying out of this one."

Akuhei snorted. "Fine. You always were a coward. Malus and I can handle this ourselves."

"I'll lend a hand." said Malchio, walking out to join the two demons. "This is the probably the last chance I'll ever have at a good fight, and the only chance I'll get to kill a Shinkai mortal."

Gohan scowled, looking at his two new opponents. Akuhei was even stronger than Malus, stronger than Vegeta had been. The other one, the Grand Mazoku, was weaker than him, but not by a large amount. Plus, he'd have experience at high level fighting, which meant he'd probably be more challenge than Malus had been.

/And Dabura mentioned something about Mazoku being at their best in their planes./ he thought. Seeing as this was Malchio's world... he had a feeling things just got a lot harder. /I don't have time for this, I still haven't been able to sense Videl./ he thought sourly.

He shook it off, however, as he lunged in at the three opponents. He lashed out with a hard kick to Malchio's head, knocking the Grand Mazoku aside, and then turned and smashed a knee into Malus's stomach. Before he could move again to attack the other Demon Akuhei kicked him in the back of the head.

He stumbled forward a step but quickly regained his balance, rotated, and backhanded the charging Akuhei with a loud crack. By then, however, Malchio and Malus had recovered and the pair charged him, forcing him on the defensive. As he dodged and blocked their attacks Akuhei surged in and joined them, and it was all could do to keep up.

/Looks like I was right, though./ he thought, ducking under a kick from Akuhei and blocking a punch from Malchio. /The Grand Mazoku's giving me more trouble than either of the Demons, despite being weaker than all of us. His short height isn't helping, either./ he thought, as he tried to kick the Grand Mazoku but was dodged. /Makes for a smaller target./

Gohan ducked under a punch from Akuhei and managed to slip between him and Malus, getting behind the two Demons. Quickly he thrust his feet out, slamming them into the Demons' backs and driving them away. Turning, he fired a kick at Malchio's legs but the Grand Mazoku blocked it. Without hesitating Gohan lifted off the ground, twisted, and lashed out with his other leg smashing his knee into the side of the short man's head.

With that done he took to the air, going up about forty feet before turning to locate his enemies again. Fighting three on one like this, he'd need the extra room to move. /Though what I need more is to knock one of them out of the fight./ he thought. /But if I put enough power into one attack to do that, it would put me at a disadvantage against the two left./

He braced himself for the fight to resume as the three charged up at him from below, but all of them came to a stop at the sound of a loud roar above them, and the accompanying increase to Vegeta's energy. The four turned their gazes up and to the north east, to where Goku and Vegeta were fighting about five hundred feet above them. Gohan could see his father, but Vegeta was lost inside a twister of black smoke and energy.

/That's the same thing Angel did!/ he thought in shock. Then he swallowed as it ended. /He's... stronger than dad, now. Just barely./

/How did he use Darkness Infusion?/ Malchio wondered, as he watched the twister vanish. /That ability has to be taught, and I didn't teach it to him./ He scowled, but shook his head. It didn't matter, the man was now stronger than his opponent. After these fights were over it'd just make him an even greater gift to Quietus.

XXX

Goku shielded his eyes as the twister exploded in a shower of black and red sparks. He could feel it as well as the others, Vegeta's power had now increased to just beyond his own. Though, not quite as high as Bardock's, and certainly nothing he couldn't contend with.

/But I definitely can't hold anything back, now./ he thought. /I didn't want to risk killing him before but it's better I take that chance than risk dying myself. If I lose here, and the Grand Mazoku manages to get control over his mind, he could cause problems for Bardock and the Spirit Bomb plan./

Lowering his arm and getting a look at Vegeta again, his eyes widened. His appearance had further altered. The red stripes on his forehead had grown thicker, his skin had darkened, his hair had grown thicker and spiky-er, and his eyes were now a solid, glowing, silver-blue.

Vegeta smirked as he raised his arms and clenched his fists. "Now do you see, Kakkarotto!?" he cried. "I am the greatest, the most powerful! I am better than you, and it's time to prove it!" he roared, surging in at the other Sai-jin again.

Goku's eyes widened in shock and he just barely ducked under the charging Sai-jin's punch. He quickly brought a leg up and blocked the follow-up kick, then slammed a rising uppercut into his stomach. The abdominal blow doubled him over and Goku thrust his elbow down into the back of his neck, driving him back toward the ground again.

Vegeta pulled to a stop after only a hundred feet, however, and shot back up at him. "This is it, this is our battle, this is what I have been waiting for!" he cried, as the two began trading furious close range attacks. Their powers were so close, their speeds so close, that neither one had the advantage. Neither one could get past the other's defenses.

"Something's always gotten in the way before, hasn't it?" Goku replied, dodging around three swings, blocking four others, and launching seven of his own attacks that were likewise blocked or dodged.

He considered the fact that he'd first discovered that Vegeta wanted to fight him after his return from space, but by then they were more concerned about the coming Android threat. And, after that, he'd been killed at the Cell Games. Goku could almost see, thinking back on it, how that past had lead to this battle.

Vegeta's pride had been wounded on Namek, and frayed further at the Cell Games, and then he'd lost his chance to fight him. Apparently forever. But now, here was a chance, and because of his pride Vegeta was simply unwilling, perhaps even unable, to risk losing it.

/At the moment, Vegeta could probably overcome this 'Dark Awakening' thing if he wanted./ Goku realized, as Vegeta punched him in the face. He quickly blocked the follow-up kick and then retaliated with a knee to the stomach that had the Sai-jin royal gasping for air, but did little to slow him.

/Even so, he clearly doesn't. It's finally closed the gap between us again, it's given him what he's wanted./ Goku frowned and surged backward, away from Vegeta, putting a little distance between them. /He knows the plan as well as I do, he knows neither of us is needed in this final battle against Quietus, that Bardock can generate the Spirit Bomb on his own just fine. That's why he's willing to do this./

Goku cupped his hands at his side as he thought, blue energy flaring to life between his palms. /But I can feel it now in his energy, an inner battle of light and darkness. The evil he's let in, that he just absorbed and is using to match me, is fighting for control. If this fight goes on for too long it could take over. I have to try and end this quickly, and worry about his pride later./

He thrust his arms forward, firing the Kamehameha at Vegeta. The other Sai-jin's voice rang out as he countered, "Final Flash!" and the two beams of energy collided high above the planet sending out powerful shock waves in all directions, scattering the few dead warriors that had still remained within a thousand yards of them.

It soon became clear to Goku that the two of them were in a stalemate. Vegeta had a slight power advantage now, but not enough to drive back the Kamehameha with. And he had no way of adding any more power to his attack than he already had, he'd channeled as much into it as he could before firing, hoping to end the fight there.

/So much for that idea./ he thought, ending his attack and then shooting to the left to avoid being hit by Vegeta's Final Flash which, now uncontested, zipped by him an instant later.

"You have gotten a lot better." Goku said, turning to face him again.

"Of course." Vegeta said, smirking. "I am the Sai-jin King, descendant of Vegeta the First, First King of the Sai-jin People, first Super Sai-jin in known history, the Sai-jin who unified all the tribes into one nation. Biology may have given me a handicap with the reduced capacity gene, but only to rein in my incredible power.

"You see, Kakkarotto, in the end destiny is on my side. I have gone from the weakest Sai-jin royal in known history to the most powerful King the Sai-jin race has ever known! The first member of the royal family to ever surpass the power of Vegeta the First, the greatest of our great line!"

As he spoke, Goku heard both pride and bitterness in his voice, in equal measure. And near the end, he saw his hands and jaw both clench, and he felt he knew what Vegeta was thinking. Best of his family, but not best of his people. Weakest of his line to strongest of it, but not weakest of his people to strongest of them. First of his family to surpass Vegeta the First, but not the first Sai-jin. Those 'honors' went to Goku.

/As much power as he's gained, as much as he's improved, in the end it's not as much as me, and I think that's what's really eating at him. Why he's fixated so much more on me than on Bardock or Gohan. We both have similar backgrounds, starting out as the weakest of our families, but I've gone above and beyond him, done and improved more./

Goku sighed and shook his head, finally realizing just how deeply Vegeta's pride, and the wounds to it, ran. And even more concerned now about the Sai-jin's mind. The dark energy within was churning, growing stronger, and he was worried they didn't have much more time. He was just about to charge in at Vegeta and resume the battle when a sudden power flux caught his focus.

/Is, is that Gohan!?/ he thought, turning in the direction of the energy. Vegeta, too, had felt the power spike and turned his gaze that way as well. Goku focused on it and realized that it was, indeed, Gohan. Though his power was increasing quickly, had already doubled from what it had been before, from what he'd thought was his eldest son's maximum power.

His eyes widened as Gohan's still climbing power surpassed his own. /He still subconsciously holds back some of his power, and it feels like that withholding has increased a LOT since he was kid. His power's just tripled! He's even stronger than Bardock and I.../ The planet beneath them shook savagely then, as a massive stream of golden energy surged across its surface and then exploded, carving out a huge trench and blasting out a massive crater, cracks snaking out across the planet's surface from the blast zone.

He stared on in wonder as the shockwave reached them, pushing the unprepared fighters back a few feet, their hair waving in the sudden stiff wind. /Incredible, Gohan. But... what triggered it?/ He shook his head as the wind died. Whatever the trigger had been, he knew it wasn't good, only anger had ever drawn out his son's full power, and there was nothing he could do about it right now.

XXX

Gohan had put Vegeta's power increase out of his mind more quickly than his opponents had, and managed to land blows on each of them before they'd brought their defenses up again. Malchio had been the first to recover, and Gohan had only gotten one hit on him, but the two Demons had taken longer, and Gohan had landed several solid blows on both.

Unfortunately, none of those had been enough to incapacitate either Demon, and he was still fighting a three on one fight. Malchio was still proving the greatest challenge of the three, though that challenge was declining. The two Demons were burning through their power quickly, Malus was now weaker than him and Akuhei only a little stronger. Which meant they were giving Gohan less challenge, and in turn allowing him to pay more attention to the better skilled but weaker Grand Mazoku.

Gohan dodged around a blast of red energy from Akuhei, then deflected the purple blast from Malus toward Malchio. The Grand Mazoku dodged the redirected attack, and flew right into Gohan's fist. The blow spun him around and the half Sai-jin kicked him in the back, knocking him down.

He turned then, blocking a punch from Malus before smashing a fist into his stomach. Before he could follow up with another attack, however, Akuhei arrived and kneed him in the side of the head. The blow caught Gohan off guard and knocked him sailing toward Malchio's palace where he slammed into one of the still standing walls.

Pulling to a stop inside he turned his gaze to his left, where the rubble created by Vegeta's transformation lay. According to the Demons Videl lay somewhere in that... His eyes suddenly widened, he could feel her! It was faint, almost overwhelmed by his father and Vegeta, even this close to it, but it was there!

And fading...

He instantly turned his attention from the three he'd been fighting and focused, entirely, on the weak and dying ki of Videl, shooting toward the pile of rubble. As he neared his fix on the signal grew stronger, and his concern greater. It was even weaker than he'd first assumed, barely there at all, and it wouldn't last much longer. He had to get her help somehow, and fast.

Reaching her location he grabbed the biggest piece of rubble in the area, lifted it, and pitched it aside. He was reaching for the next rock when Malchio's foot slammed into the back of his head and he stumbled forward. Turning, scowling, he lashed out with a hard punch that cracked into the Grand Mazoku's chest.

And then the energy around it exploded and Malchio was blasted backward five hundred yards, through several walls, before falling to the ground and sliding another hundred feet. Gohan then turned to deflect Akuhei's kick, grabbed the Demon's leg, and pitched him into Malus before sending a ball of golden energy at them.

Before the attack had gone even more than ten feet Gohan had already pushed it, and the Demons, from his mind, and was back to moving the rubble out of the way. Pitching large rocks into the distance, shoving the smaller ones aside, and working his way down to Videl.

Then, as he moved one of the rocks aside, he saw a hand. He worked faster, shoving more rocks aside, and in less than two seconds he had enough of her upper body exposed to pull her out from under the debris. He didn't need his ki sense to know she was in bad shape. Broken bones, shallow breathing, blood everywhere. The power of Vegeta's transformation into a Demon had done a serious number on her.

He swallowed a lump in his throat and, carefully, began to extract her from under the ruins. He had her half way out when red light illuminated the area and he looked up. He lowered her back down and swatted the energy blast aside, then lunged at Malchio and kicked him in the chest, the head, then slammed an elbow into his back, grabbed his arm, and pitched him off into the sky.

With the Grand Mazoku again out of the way he turned back to Videl, and froze. Malus and Akuhei were standing on either side of her, and Akuhei had an arm pointed toward her, red energy already charged in front of his hand.

"Let her go!" Gohan yelled.

"Heh, heh, heh. This is why you Shinkai scum are so weak." said Malus. "You care too much about other people, it leaves you open to things like this."

Akuhei grinned. "And when you lose someone you care about, it leaves you a wreck, too distraught to even fight!" he laughed, launching the attack. Gohan's eyes widened, he was too far away and the Demons too close for him to have any hope of stopping the attack. It hit Videl dead center less than half a second after it was fired, and then exploded.

The faint trace of her ki vanished in an instant, before the shockwave from the blast had even reached him. He floated, frozen, in numbed silent shock as the glare and dust faded away. There was no trace of her left, just a smoking crater in the ground.

"See?" Akuhei laughed, turning to face Malus as Malchio landed nearby. "All the fight's gone out of him. This will be a cakewalk, now."

Gohan just stared at the crater. "She was... she was defenseless. She was..."

His words caught in his throat as his aura pulsed faintly. He wasn't sure what she was. His best friend, certainly, but... maybe more. Was it really just yesterday that he told Piccolo she wasn't his girlfriend? He'd thought, maybe, they were heading that way, but, now...

He could feel it bubbling inside him, the same rage he'd felt seven years ago. He knew what that anger could do to him, how easily it was to get lost in it, to lose control, and part of him tried to rein it in, to keep it down.

A small part.

"You MONSTERS!" Gohan suddenly screamed, catching all three by surprise. His aura pulsed and flared brighter, a burst of wind washing out from him for a moment, before settling again. His fingers slowly curled, his hands clenching into fists.

Too small a part.

Gohan threw his head back and screamed, his aura flaring up massively around him, the planet shaking from the force of it though he was about a hundred feet above the ground. The wind built quickly, forcing the shocked Demons and Grand Mazoku back a few feet, then a few more, then blowing them off of their feet and dozens of yards through the air before they could right themselves.

"Wh-what is this!?" Akuhei cried.

"His... his power is..." Malchio breathed, wide-eyed.

A moment later the screams died down, and then a point of golden light flared above the Mortal's head, and his voice resounded. "Masenko!"

The golden stream of energy, fifty yards across, erupted from the Sai-jin's hands and surged at the three of them, each too shocked to move, and engulfed them a second later. Paine watched on in disbelief as she felt all three energies vanish almost at once, and the attack sped on along the surface of the planet for several miles.

She felt dozens of other energies vanish as it rushed on, dead Makai warriors unlucky enough to be in its way as it passed. And even from where she floated, three hundred yards away from the stream, she could feel it pushing back at her, feel the edges of the uncontrolled and untamed energy within trying to tear at her.

The stream ended, the shaking of the ground stopped. And then an explosion rocked the horizon, a massive eruption that launched a dust cloud three hundred miles into the air, rocked the planet once more, and unleashed a shockwave that uprooted even the trees by the palace, and further cracked the already damaged structure. It was all she could do not to be blown away by the force of it.

Below her, as the roar of the explosion faded, she heard a cracking and crunching sound. Looking down she saw the ground ripping apart. Cracks snaking out from the area of the explosion, growing deeper and wider. Spires of rock erupted out from within as the energy and force washing out from the blast forced its way through planet, shoving aside everything in its path.

Paine turned her gaze from the still growing cracks back toward where she could sense the Shinkai mortal's ki. It had dropped back down again, from the massive level it had just been at, a level comparable to that of Aku, second strongest of the Supreme Mazoku, to one lower than she'd ever felt it before.

Taking a deep breath she floated closer, moving over to see inside the ruined structure. A moment later she found the Mortal kneeling beside a small crater, one hand resting down inside it, his hair now black instead of its former gold.

She was wary of approaching him, but she knew she had to. Just as she'd worked up the nerve to speak she heard a loud groaning, followed by a rumble and then a reverberating crack, from off to her left. Looking over she saw part of Malchio's Palace collapse into the still growing cracks.

She cast her gaze all around her, taking in the still growing damage to the terrain, and her eyes widened. The cracks weren't just coming out from the area of the blast zone any more, but forming all over and going in every direction.

/The planet's fracturing./ she realized. The uncontrolled force of the explosion had been too great, the shockwave of energy too powerful, for the already seismically unstable planet to resist. A cascade of quakes had rippled through planet as the shockwave set off every single fault line at once. The Grand Mazoku's planet was ripping itself apart, and soon it would be gone.

XXX

A/N: A note about the use of fighting styles in this saga, and the series as a whole, as they have been mentioned frequently now, and will be mentioned more throughout.

In early Dragonball Roshi pretty much called fighting styles worthless when he was training Goku and Krillin. However, in the view of the series, I see this as being related entirely to existent 'real world' styles relative to the powers and abilities of the Dragonball characters.

In other words - when you are as powerful as Goku, Krillin, and Roshi were, even in early Dragonball, and when you can do what they could do, and you were so much better than everyone else, fighting styles are pretty much a waste of time. I mean, even in the real world it's not like the world's strongest man would need to bother with fighting styles to beat down the average joe. However, when you work ki related abilities into the styles, and when you are dealing with others who are on your level of power, fighting styles become relevant again.

And 'fighting style' is a blanket concept covering a whole range of aspects, from the type of attacks most often used (kicks, punches, heavy blows, quick attacks, ki attacks, etc) to the types of ki skills used (defensive, offensive, indirect, blunt, explosive, piercing, cutting, etc) and into so many other areas.

Just thought I'd toss this out there since I just recently read that chapter of the Manga again. :)