Chapter 10: Vegeta's Assault
Vegeta struck the first blow, his fist crashing into Goku's head and knocking him back. Goku recovered his senses and dodged to the left to avoid Vegeta's next attack, and swung his Power Pole at the back of his opponent's neck. Vegeta caught the weapon in mid-swing, twisting around to face Goku. He was not, however, aware of the Pole's unique property, and was now holding it in front of his face.
"Power Pole extend!" Goku shouted, and it grew in length in an instant, the end crashing into Vegeta's face and causing him to let go, staggering away. Goku followed up with a kick to the side, which Vegeta batted away with an uncoordinated swing of his hand, only just avoiding another hit due to the pain in his face. "Damn it…Kakarot…I'll crush you, just like Raditz! Your power is—" He was interrupted as Goku moved to the attack again, fending off a volley of feet, fists, and strikes with the Power Pole.
"You're injured now, Vegeta!" Goku answered, gritting his teeth in intense focus—one mistake and the prince's superior strength would give him the upper hand again. "And you're slowing down. Looks like all of us working together is too much for you." And, he added in his mind, while I probably won't win in the long run, I don't have to. I just need to last long enough for Tien to gather energy for the Spirit Bomb.
Vegeta broke away, flying around behind Goku, the renegade saiyan turning to face him. The battle resumed, with Vegeta on the offensive now. After a few seconds of perfectly-timed strikes and blocks, one of Vegeta's attacks got through Goku's guard, knocking the wind out of him. Vegeta grabbed Goku by the shoulders and started flying straight down towards the ground. "Hey, Kakarot! Ever wanted to see the ocean floor up-close? Only, without all that irritating water to soften the landing…" He narrowed his eyes, using the force of his ki to push all the water for miles around out of his way, leaving the surrounding seafloor empty for several minutes.
Damn it! Goku struggled in Vegeta's grip. This is gonna hurt… "NIMBUS!" He yelled in desperation. Come on, get here in time… The fighters hurtled towards the floor, but mere metres from impact a golden cloud swooped by, carrying Goku off to the side. Vegeta, surprised by the sudden interference, tumbled head over heels through the air, and Goku took advantage of the distraction, appearing to his left and landing a devastating blow to Vegeta's stomach. The prince bent double, gasping for breath.
Goku prepared to deliver the final blow, but discovered too late that Vegeta was only faking incapacitation, as the evil saiyan stood up straight, blasting Goku at point-blank range with a quick two-handed energy blast. Goku flew away, eventually slowing himself to a halt. "Well, that wasn't very nice," he said, smirking.
"I seriously hope you're being sarcastic…that would be a whole new level of stupidity, even for you," Vegeta growled.
"Shall we continue?" Goku raised his Power Pole.
"Allow me!" Vegeta leapt back into battle. Goku ducked straight under his lunge, slinging his Pole on his back, and came back up behind Vegeta, who immediately turned to face him, lashing out with both hands. Goku twisted to the side, dodging between the punches, and raised his hands to his face. "SOLAR FLARE!" To his surprise, Vegeta carried on moving through the light, grabbed Goku by his shirt, and headbutted him in the middle of his face. Goku fell away, clutching at his face.
"You know," Vegeta gloated, "it's almost as if I was listening in on a fight when you used that exact attack! And to work out I should close my eyes would require, ooh, average intelligence—you wouldn't know anything about that, of course."
Goku hadn't quite recovered when Vegeta barrelled into him, his fists, feet, elbows and knees finding their targets with cruel precision. Already injured as he was, Goku couldn't stand more than a minute or two under the onslaught, and soon his defenses dropped. Vegeta held up his limp body and rammed home a few more punches for good measure. Then he hurled Goku towards the shore with all his strength. "Drowning's too good for you, after the shame you've caused me. I'll finish you later—slowly, and one piece at a time." He turned to the other still-standing fighters—Tien was hovering with his hands in the air, a brilliant light surrounding his body, and Yamcha and Gohan floated in front of him, facing Vegeta in combat-ready stances.
Completely out of the blue, Vegeta felt something—like a tingling in his mind. "What? Did I…yes, it must be starting to work…I knew I could replicate their ability to sense energy without a scouter…but I haven't mastered it at all, so for me to sense anything would require an…" He stared at Tien, still glowing with energy. "…an…enormous power…they were stalling for time! Damn it all!" He shot forward at full speed, rocketing for the three fighters. Yamcha was first to intercept, but Vegeta flung him aside like a rag-doll. Gohan was faster than expected—he dodged over Vegeta's first strike, and started furiously attacking. "Stop hurting my daddy!" he bawled, as Vegeta struggled to fend of a hurricane of tiny fists and feet. Finally, Gohan overreached an attack, and Vegeta slammed his knee into the child's gut, then smacked him out of the way.
"And now…!" He dashed over to Tien, holding his neck with one hand and crashing the other fist into the human's jaw, again and again, each strike punctuating a word. "Never! Never! Never be beaten by a lesser being like you!" His anger was reaching its peak, and he snarled like a rabid beast, holding Tien's barely conscious body. "What will you do now?! You can't launch your attack like that!"
Tien coughed, blood spraying into Vegeta's face. "Just...ask yourself…why am I not glowing anymore?" Time seemed to stop. Vegeta's face froze in horror, as he heard the movement behind him too late. He spun around, ready to lash out, but stopped in bewilderment, seeing another Tien behind him. This one held a blindingly white ball of energy in one hand, and was flying straight at him.
Tien rammed the Spirit Bomb right into Vegeta's chest, and let go.
The detonation blinded Tien, Gohan and Yamcha for a full ten seconds. When they could see again, Vegeta was gone, and Tien had merged back into one person, somewhat less injured that the one Vegeta had beaten up, but still extremely tired and worn.
"D-did we win?" Yamcha asked, hesitating in case Vegeta came back for another round.
"I think so." Tien smiled. "We did it, guys! Now, let's go pick up Goku and head home!"
Yamcha nodded. "Come on, Gohan. Let's tell your dad we've won."
"Right!" Gohan flew off towards where Goku had landed, on the shore to the west, touched down and ran up to him. "Daddy! Daddy!" Goku looked up, his face lighting up when he saw his son.
"Gohan! You're okay! And Tien and Yamcha, too!" He added, noticing the humans following Gohan. "I'm so proud of you, son." Father and son embraced, and for a moment, all seemed well. "How did you get Yaijerobe's sword, anyway?" He asked. "And where is it now?"
"Well, right about when I decided to come back and help, Yaijerobe came driving up—I guess he wanted to fight too. But as soon as he saw Vegeta as that monster, he turned right back around and left. I made him give me the sword, though—and when Yamcha hid Raditz somewhere safe, he left it there with—
"AAH!" Came the guttural cry from over to the right. Everyone looked around.
"Oh, no way!" Yamcha shivered in fear. "Over there, up the beach…don't tell me that's…"
"Vegeta survived," Tien said grimly. "I knew I should have spent more time practising the Spirit Bomb! And of course, it hit him from the side, knocking him in this direction..." He trudged over towards Vegeta, who was pulling himself up on his hands and knees. Yamcha followed Tien, telling Gohan, "Wait here with Goku, no matter what." Gohan nodded silently.
The human warriors approached their defeated enemy, as he rolled to a sitting position, retrieving a remote control from inside his armour. "Heh…still intact…guess the armour is good for something after all…" he tapped a button, scowling when he saw Tien and Yamcha approaching. "Stay back! Stay away from me!" His attack pod streaked out of the sky, landing a few feet away, and he started crawling towards it.
"You've caused enough pain!" Tien nodded. "Yamcha, I don't have much energy left…can you…?"
"I got it." Yamcha raised a hand, a pulsing ball of energy forming in his palm. He prepared to fire it into Vegeta's skull. "End of the road, saiyan!"
"Wait!" Goku's voice was shaky, but strong enough to carry along the beach. "Don't do it!"
"Goku?!" Yamcha hesitated. "You'd better have a damn good reason for this!"
"Please, don't kill him." Goku remained determined. "It's not right—not like this. To kill an enemy in battle, to defeat them when there's no other way, is one thing…to shoot them in the back as they flee in defeat, that makes you no better than Vegeta."
"I-I'm sorry, Goku!" Yamcha sniffed, raising his hand again as Vegeta reached the open door of his ship. "I hate disagreeing with you, but he's killed so many people—I can't let him escape!"
"Yamcha!" Goku yelled. "I'm a saiyan too, remember! And despite that, I'd never kill an innocent person! He might not show it, but Raditz has changed too! If the most vicious race in the universe can show compassion, why can't humans?! And who's to say he can't change too? Raditz was just like him when he came to Earth!"
Tears were rolling down Yamcha's face. He hated himself for arguing with his best friend, but he couldn't let go of his convictions, and his conscience stood on a knife-edge. His hand wavered in the air. "I…I don't know…"
"Yamcha, if you kill that man, I will never forgive you!" Nobody seemed to know where that had come from. Goku never got angry with his friends-his saiyan side was showing itself. Yamcha collapsed, the mental strain overwhelming him. Everyone watched in silence as Vegeta pulled himself into his ship, the door closing behind him. "You…haven't seen the last of me…scum…" he hissed through bruised lips and shattered teeth. The ship took off, and as it had almost left the atmosphere Yamcha released his energy blast—just as a warning shot, and partially a stress reliever, but it cut a little close and grazed the side of Vegeta's ship, sending it spiralling off course as it shot off into space.
Everyone relaxed, the threat to Earth finally ended. "It's over…" Tien sighed. "Finally, it's over."
Shortly afterwards, Yamcha (after retrieving Raditz from further inland and laying him with the others) went and told the group at Capsule Corp that the battle was finished, and shuffling his feet whenever he told them of a death, he recounted the events of the day. They flew over in Bulma's spacious hovertruck, immediately charging out to see their friends and family. Chi-Chi learnt that Gohan had been fighting, and there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth (and much leaping for cover).
The injured were taken to the hospital, where the doctors agreed not to ask any questions and give them privacy when they were talking.
"I still can't get over both Krillin and Piccolo dying…" Goku said the next morning. Everyone was gathered around the hospital beds where Goku and Raditz lay, having taken the worst beatings from Vegeta.
"It was the second time for Krillin, the poor man…" Roshi added. "And I'll miss the Dragon Balls, too—without Piccolo and Kami to sustain them, they're useless…and that means all the people who died when they blew up that city are gone too."
"Idiots." Raditz's eyes opened for the first time in hours. "Am I the only one who was paying attention to Vegeta and Nappa? Piccolo and Kami were members of a race called Namekians."
"Uh…" Came the chorus from the rest of the room, and met with a wall of blank stares, Raditz groaned.
"Look, somewhere out there is a whole planet of beings with the ability to create Dragon Balls!" He would have slapped his forehead in exasparation, but both his arms were heavily bandaged, and in fact it hurt to move just about any part of his body. "If you really want to wish them back, just go to planet Namek and use the ones there!"
"But…" Launch, timid at the moment, scratched her head. "How would we get all the way to outer space?"
"I don't know!" Raditz shut his eyes again. "I've had my bright idea for the day, now I'm going back to sleep, if you don't mind!"
"That's all right, you sleep now…" Launch went to pat his shoulder, remembering just in time how painful the contact would be.
"Well, as it happens," Bulma said with a grin, holding up a remote control, "I have an idea about that."
Unfortunately, the remote control was a little damaged, and—as the news report of the government team investigating Nappa's ship so helpfully showed—as soon as Bulma attempted to activate the ship, it set off the self-destruct, obliterating it. Everyone stared in shocked silence.
"Cheer up, all! A solution has presented itself!" Someone appeared silhouetted in the doorway—a tall man smoking a cigarette and wearing a white lab coat, with blue-grey hair and a large moustache.
"Dad? What is it?" Bulma asked as Dr. Brief entered the room. He smiled.
"Well, according to Raditz, Goku would have destroyed the ship he arrived on Earth in, correct?" Scattered nods. "Well, Master Roshi told me a story while you were all staying at Capsule Corp, Roshi told me an interesting story, told to him by Goku's adoptive grandfather Gohan…"
"Huh? My Grandpa?" Goku looked over at Roshi and Dr. Brief. "What did he tell you?"
"Apparently," Dr. Brief continued, "Gohan found Goku while out walking in the woods—and here's the bit Roshi told me almost without thinking, or realising its significance—he found him in some sort of strange craft. It wasn't until after he'd taken the child home he learnt of his nocturnal transformation."
"Then that means…" Tien grinned. "Goku's ship is still here, on Earth—Gohan must have found him before he ever transformed. We can use that to get to Namek!"
"Indeed." Dr. Brief nodded. "However, it's a small ship—it could only fit one of you, two at a stretch I suppose…and anyway, it's sat there for years, hatch open, at the mercy of the elements. It's not ready anytime soon. I can solve both problems—repair and expand the thing—but unfortunately it'll take weeks, or even months."
"And Vegeta will be heading to Namek as soon as he's healed…" Goku frowned. "If we have to wait for months, he'll beat us there. There has to be a way of getting into space quicker!"
"You need a space-ship, I hear?" Came a polite voice from the window. Heads swivelled to see Mr. Popo, hovering on his flying carpet just outside the window. "I might be able to help."
Preparations for the journey to Namek went quickly, once Bulma had confirmed that the ship Mr. Popo had found—Kami's old ship—was still functioning. Bulma was the obvious choice to pilot the ship—Dr. Brief needed to stay on Earth to work on Goku's ship, and besides, no force on Earth could move the good doctor or his wife from their home in Capsule Corporation. Tien and Yamcha, as the two fighters not still incapacitated after a few days, volunteered—some powerful warriors would be necessary when heading off into the unkown. Gohan, feeling responsible for ensuring the return to life of all those the saiyans had killed, also volunteered, and despite firm resistance from Chi-Chi, he stubbornly refused to change his mind. Raditz, pretending to be asleep, smiled when he heard Gohan stand up to his mother. Goku was also smiling, but that was because he really was asleep, dreaming about a martial arts tournament with a built-in all-you-can-eat buffet.
The day they set out was an emotional one—Bulma wasn't too bothered about saying goodbye to her family (she'd been on long journeys before) but Gohan spent a long time on farewells, first in the hospital (tearful final words with Goku and a vaguely acknowledging grunt from Raditz), then with his mother as he was about to board Kami's ship. Tien gave a final wave to Chiaotzu as the hatch closed, then the engines thundered to life and they were off.
Thus ends the saiyan saga of Break Through the Limit! Namek is indeed next, and I can't wait to write it. Thanks for all your support-as soon as I put up that question at the beginning of chapter 9, I got several reviews telling me (sometimes quite forcefully) that the review in question was just one person's opinion, and not the general consensus. So that's all good.
Don't ask me what the power level of anything was in this chapter, I don't have a clue. Everyone=weakened. Spirit bomb=mucho powerful.
And without further ado:
Q: It'd be nice for gohan to have a cousin lol
A: We shall see.
Q: really good chapter I am impressed though I am abit disappointed about nappa
A: A couple people wanted Nappa to have a bigger role. I don't know how I'd have handled that, although I guess I could have if I wanted to. I guess in my opinion there just wasn't as much potential to his character as to Raditz's.
Q: As for tien being a gary stu, dont' worry about it. Of course he seems to be the great hero now. But soon the saiyans will overpower him again since theyre saiyans.
A: Oh, they will.
Q: Maybe you should think about a sort of super human form for the non saiyans.. Based on kaioken. Would keep them interesting for a while longer than in dbz canon, but would not make them the strongest. Im thinking parallels between getting used to ssj1 and now getting used to lower lvl kaioken or something, with the 'constant' use of kaioken maybe slightly changing the humans appearance and so on. Super humans as i said :)
A: Well, not sure if I'll use that exactly, but I'm working on some ideas, which may or may not come to fruition, which would make some of the humans more relevant.
Q: In any case good work so far i like the story. Also you do a good job on vegeta being in character. as a vegeta fan i like that
A: Vegeta will continue to have a role in the story. I can't say exactly what that role is without giving too much away, but don't expect it to turn out exactly like DBZ did...
Q: I'm just wondering about namek, i'm sure you'll make gohan go with yamcha annd maybe tien so raditz and goku can go save the day, or maybe you'll make tien go after gohan and yamcha but before the saiyans to make things more intresting, anyway great chapter
A: Well, the second would require three ships, and also I wasn't comfortable with Gohan having only Yamcha to protect him...
Q: An excellent chapter! Will Tien eventually pass on the kaioken and spirit bomb techniques to anyone?
A: I think if you could teach those, Goku would have done so in DBZ. He's not so selfish he'd withold the secret of something that significant from his friends-I'm pretty sure it has to be learned from King Kai. Of course, who knows who may seek training from King Kai next and learn these techniques themselves?
Q: A good chapter, but remember that if Gero bug is watching the fight he will record info about Raditz which could make Cell different
A: Uh-huh. I've been thinking lately what I'm going to have Cell be like in this timeline. Not entirely sure yet. Not too different to DBZ Cell, but not identical. I think I know how he'll be slightly different in personality, but in terms of appearance I'm still working on it.
Q: Hey I notice that this story is a little similar to another story on this site where Tien is the one that is trained by King Kai and several of the humans are also stronger than they were in canon and have larger roles in the story. Of course this story is pretty different from that one, especially in regards to Raditz and how you portray Piccolo as still remaining evil; but I was just wondering if you had read that story (I think you can find it under Tien) and if you were influenced by it.
A: Nope, no influence. Sounds interesting though, what's it called?
Anyway, since I've just finished a saga, here's a bonus thing. You may not find it funny; if so, skip it and ignore it. It's not a serious chapter or anything.
Break Through the Limit Kai: Chapter 1
Piccolo: You're an alien!
Raditz: I'm an alien!
Piccolo: Am I an alien?
Raditz: Probably! Anyway, I'm looking for my brother.
Piccolo: Whatever. DIE!
*Fight fight fight*
Goku: Goku's here! Oh yeah, and Tien.
Raditz: Kakarot!
Kakarot: Kaka-what?
Raditz: You're an ali—
Piccolo: Shut up Raditz!
*Fight fight fight*
Tien: Oh hey, I died.
Vegeta: Hey Raditz, we're coming to Earth.
Raditz: Cool!
Vegeta: …And killing you.
Raditz: Less cool. Hey Kakarot—
Kakarot: I'm Goku!
Raditz: Whatever. Let's team up.
Goku: Weren't we enemies?
Raditz: Oh come on, nobody's paying attention to this. They just want to see us fight people. Also, you killed your grandfather.
Goku: Huh? Why?
Raditz: Because you're a monkey!
Goku: You don't mean—
Raditz: Every one of our race can become a giant gorilla!
Chi-Chi: Just don't train Gohan!
Raditz: Let's train Gohan!
Goku: As a responsible adult hearing the suggestion to train a four-year-old for a life-or-death battle with evil aliens…sure, why not.
Gohan: So, how are you going to train—
Raditz: DODGE!
Gohan: Ow!
Launch: SUBTLE HINT THAT RADITZ LIKES ME AND/OR VICE VERSA!
Plot Convenience: Twelve months later!
Nappa: Hi.
Yamcha: Yamcha's here!
Raditz: Nobody cares!
*Fight fight fight*
Piccolo: Makankoppotamus!
Vegeta: DODGE!
Nappa: Killin' all the bald people.
Yamcha: Krillin, no!
Gohan: Krillin, no!
Goku: Krillin, no!
Raditz: …Meh.
Tien: Training Ex Machina!
Nappa: Ow my spine!
Tien: Kaioken!
Goku: Kaio-what?
Vegeta: IT'S OVER NINE THOUSAAAND!
Everyone: …
Vegeta: What? It is!
Raditz: So am I!
Vegeta: Raditz, what did I tell you about shutting up?
King Kai: Okay Tien, just don't use the Kaioken times three—
Tien: Kaioken times three!
Vegeta: Ow my everything!
King Kai: Well, at least he didn't use the Kaioken times—
Tien: Kaioken times four!
Vegeta: Ow my everything again! And a quarter worse this time!
King Kai: Why do I bother?
Raditz: Because deep down, you're really a nice—
King Kai: Shut up Raditz!
*Fight fight fight*
Goku: Kamehameha!
Vegeta: Garlic Gun!
Raditz: Generic Energy Blast!
Tien: Geometric Impossibility Beam!
Raditz: Insight into Vegeta's personality!
Everyone: Shut up Raditz!
Vegeta: Well, looks like I'm winning! What are you going to do now—
Tien: Kaioken times plot necessity!
Vegeta and reviewer 'Mega Person': Oh, for f***'s sake…
Goku: Yay!
Vegeta: I'm back!
Goku: Not so much yay.
Vegeta: Also, I'm a monkey!
Goku: Even less yay.
Raditz: I'm a monkey too!
*Fiiiiiiiight*
Vegeta: Excessive violence no jutsu!
Gohan: Here I come to save the day!
Vegeta: Oh no, I'm not a monkey!
Goku: I'll fight you!
Vegeta: Because that worked so well last time.
Goku: Well, I'll use loads of tricks this time!
Vegeta: I have a trick too! It's called, 'punch you until you die'!
Goku: Well that doesn't sound like the funny kind of tri—
*smash*
Vegeta: Oh hey, some more warriors. Yamcha too.
*smash, smash*
Vegeta: Well, now it's just you Tien! And you're half-dead, so…
Tien: Multi-Form!
Vegeta: Multi-what?
Tien: Spirit bomb, go!
Vegeta: Again with the everything!
KA-BOOM
Goku: And Krillin's still dead.
Tien: Way to kill the mood, jerk!
Raditz: Well, looks like there's nothing we can do about it.
Goku: What if we went to Namek?
Raditz: There's nothing we can do about it.
Yamcha: Yeah, then we could wish him back with their Dragon Balls!
Raditz: Damn it!
Bulma: Science science science!
Raditz: Is the author seriously going to condense discovering Kami's ship into a couple of sentences?
Captain Space the Author: Yes! It would be exactly the same scene as in DBZ! I don't want to write repeat scenes! Why do you think I didn't write Raditz killing the farmer? Or the first half of the Goku/Piccolo fight? For the love of…
Tien: Wow. Calm down, man.
Gohan: …Anyway…Namek?
Everyone except the two most powerful characters for not-at-all-contrived reasons: To Namek!