Chapter 18:
Our saiyan warrior, Vejin, has finally gotten a full grasp of his powers. His aura no longer flares as aggressive, but it flows like the finest stream of water. Vejin has mastered his berserker state completely. Vejin's eyes would be a crimson red color. His red and black aura would flow through his body as he ascends to meet Kobra's gaze. Kobra scoffs at Vejin's new look: "You don't look too different. You look relatively the same to me." Vejin looks down onto Kobra: "You don't realize the difference between us. I feel as if my energy is flowing through my whole body." Vejin looks down at his hand as he holds a concentrated portion of his aura. Vejin continues: "The difference being is that you'll be the one to not get back unscathed. I on the other hand.." Vejin, in a burst of speed, blitzes into the sky and comes crashing down with his concentrated energy in hand. He directly hits Kobra with hit, dealing great amounts of damage. Kobra recoils his face and some blood comes out of his mouth. Vejin adds more force into the attack as the energy leaves his hand and flies to the ground below. The energy takes Kobra with it and it bursts in a red explosion.
The smoke clears in an instant as Kobra looks visibly annoyed at Vejin. Kobra makes his ascent to Vejin. Vejin just looks down at Kobra with a smirk: "In the heat of battle, anything can happen.." Vejin vanishes and kicks Kobra in the back. Kobra takes a direct hit: "GAAAAAAAAAAGH!" Kobra is flung away and Vejin vanishes once again. He reappears in front of Kobra and punches him with his left hand, jabs Kobra with his right, uppercuts him with the left, and finally ending the combo with a double handed strike to Kobra's gut. Kobra is knocked back once again and is now starting to get furious: "Grrrrrr….That sudden power surge is nothing to me..I will walk away with you, and the brat Ryuko!" Vejin retaliates: "I'd like to see you try that one." Kobra enters a different fighting stance this time: "Secret Style: Perilous Python.." Instead of Kobra's aura lingering like steam, this time his aura erupts around him. Kobra's muscle mass slightly increases and enters a grappler like stance. Kobra dashes to Vejin in an instant, ready to grasp at Vejin. Vejin meets his grasp with his own. Once their hands collide, it'd create a shockwave. Their collision in power let out ferocious winds, blowing back everybody who's spectating. Ryuko's eye twitches, but he's still completely out cold.
Vejin's aura grows and Kobra's does the same. Vejin smirks as his end of the clash is overtaking Kobra's. Kobra struggles to hold his grasp, but still pushes back. After a final push, Vejin pushes Kobra off him completely, and axe kicks him into a mountain. Kobra dusts himself up before going back up once again. This time, Vejin rushes down to him and the two clash fists. The resulting collision caused the ground, hundreds of feet below, to erode and erupt. The entire mountainscape began to fall apart with the sheer force of power. The clash of fists end and the two suddenly vanished completely. The only thing that can be seen were the multiple shockwaves of their attacks colliding with one another in the area. Everyone on the battlefield was left in amazement at the battle before them and can't even follow the battle itself. For a brief moment, both of them would make a sudden appearance clashing with each other, before disappearing once again in the midst of the shockwaves. Finally, the two lights would clash once more.
With both their fists making contact, one would try to outdo the other. Kobra's aura and power began to burst as he tries overtaking Vejin. Vejin still remains smug at the assassin: "Heh. You don't even realize the gap between us, Kobra." Vejin uses the rest of his power into overtaking Kobra in the clash, leading his fist to come full force into Kobra's face. After the punch, Vejin roundhouse kicks Kobra back. Vejin pursues the assassin as he punches him forward, followed up by a second more powerful punch knocking him back further. Vejin vanishes and reappears right behind Kobra and kicks him high into the sky. Kobra's body would be moving at such high speeds that the clouds would clear. The light coming from Vejin's aura would blitz up towards Kobra's location in a spiral like format. Finally, Vejin would be hundreds of feet above Kobra who's going to crash into him. Vejin takes out both of his hands and charges up an attack. Vejin's hands would spark with red electricity before creating a giant red sphere. The sphere would grow in size, ready to burst. Black and white electricity would surround the attack. Kobra looks above him to see the attack Vejin is about to fire onto him. Kobra feels nothing but dread in this moment. He realizes there's no escape from the attack. Vejin's attack has completely charged up and is now at the apex of its power. Vejin grows excited to try out this new attack:
"You're about to get knocked into the afterlife with this! CHAOTIC BURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRST!"
In one fell swoop, the blast engulfs Kobra and comes crashing down towards the Earth fast. As the blast goes through the clouds, the area below is now visible. Letuce sees the blast coming crashing down and quickly takes action: "Everyone! We have to move! That blast is going to destroy this area!" Letuce grabs onto Goku Jr and starts flying to a safe distance. B'az grabs Ryuko and begins to follow Letuce, and Oritsu does the same. The blast finally comes in contact with the ground and it results with a massive explosion, with Kobra at the epicenter. The explosion was a massive sphere of red light as rubble began to fly at breakneck speeds. Vejin descends to the edge of the explosion and looks down at it. The explosion dissipates and leaves behind a massive crater, turning the mountainside into a rocky ruins or wasteland. Vejin completely descends onto the ground and walks towards a mass amount of rubble is. The rubble would shake before dispersing in a flash. Kobra was severely hurt and also extremely pissed. The veins in Kobra's body began pulsating as his rage continues to boil. Vejin was still very confident and stared down the assassin: "Seems you weren't so amused after that blow, huh? Don't worry, your death will follow soon after." Vejin heads in for another punch, sending Kobra into a mountain. Kobra climbs out of the mountain and is completely furious. Kobra finally lets out his rage in the form of his own power. Kobra unleashes his maximum power output as he screams: "I WILL MAKE YOUR DEATH A MISERABLE ONE!" He finally broke through the stoic assassin. But, Vejin had an issue on his hands. He has to take out Kobra now, or he and the others are done for. His confident smirk and attitude has changed to a serious and determined look. Kobra charges in at full power with an aura coated punch, but Vejin was able to block it with one hand. Vejin did have to use a lot of power to block it, resulting in the area behind Vejin to crumble apart from the attack's force. Vejin uses his other hand to send a blast straight into Kobra's abdomen. He lets go of Kobra's fist and lets the blast take Kobra into the distance. Kobra uses both hands to deflect the blast behind him, resulting in a mini explosion.
Kobra has finally had enough. His anger has finally led him to snap. Kobra, the once stoic assassin leader, has finally lost his composure. He begins to laugh, and that laugh turns into a maddening cackle: "Hehehehehhhehe…AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Vejin notes that this was quite…the interesting turn of events: "Well, looks like I knocked a couple screws loose in your head…So tell me, what's so funny to you, Kobra?" Kobra's eyes glow as his body emanates a bright red aura leaking out of his body: "Your death, Saiyan.." In an instant a red sphere of energy encases Kobra entirely. In the midst of him powering up, Kobra's shirt is completely torn and disintegrated. His muscles begin to grow abnormally large as he continues to bulk up. It's as if Kobra had grown twice in size, and so did his power! Vejin was in shock as he has a front row seat to Kobra powering up. Kobra's head began to contort a bit as his ears would be pushed back a bit, but were pointier. The top of his head would unravel and dawn a short spiky appearance. His head as a whole became much more chiseled and defined, instead of a normal head structure. Kobra lets out a massive roar within the orb of light, and it cracks open. The light disappears, resulting in Kobra's transformation being completed. Vejin thinks to himself: "This is impossible. He has a final transformation!? His power also increased…I can't let him get to the others!" Kobra looks down at his hand as it sparks red electricity. Vejin asks Kobra: "Just what have you become?" Vejin looks on in shock and horror, but he's also ready to fight this monster. Kobra answers him: "I have become the agent of death…King Kobra…"
King Kobra lunges towards Vejin in a quick burst of speed with a single punch. King Kobra's veins in his arm pulsate as his fist makes contact at Vejin's stomach. Vejin spews a hefty amount of blood from his mouth after that attack. King Kobra uses the rest of the attack's force to knock Vejin through the rubble and two mountains.
King Kobra follows through the two mountains to meet Vejin at his destination and proceeds to pummel him into the mountain even further. Punch after punch, kick after kick, it just never ended. But, King Kobra covers his arms in a thick layer of aura as he uppercuts Vejin up into the air. King Kobra leaps up high and performs a one handed sledgehammer on Vejin. The speed was so great, that a shockwave was produced as Vejin fell to the ground. Once Vejin made contact with the ground rubble and dust covered the entire landscape as the mad King Kobra grins to see the results. Once the dust clears, we see Vejin laying down on his back, but he gets back up and powers back into his complete berserk state, charging at King Kobra. He lands a solid gut punch on King Kobra, but it fails as he completely tanks it with ease. Vejin was shocked: "What?!" King Kobra grabs onto the saiyan's head and drags him through the ground. He pick up Vejin and slams him into the ground again and again, before firing a point blank blast on the saiyan in the ground. Vejin has reached near critical condition after this assault.
Goku Jr readies himself to take action against King Kobra: "Vejin!" Goku Jr goes to fly over to assist Vejin, but he's stopped by Letuce, B'az, Saito, and Oritsu. Goku Jr is agitated at this: "Boys, what are you doing!? You need to let me into the fight and save Vejin's life!" Oritsu tells the geezer: "Master, please! You're also in no condition to fight after your altercation with Kurvos! Look at what happened to you after the fight ended, you nearly collapsed from a heart attack!" Goku Jr tells Oritsu: "I understand your concern about me, but I'm alright. Just let me-" He's interrupted by Letuce: "Just let us into the fight, Goku! You still need time to heal!" Goku Jr snaps at the four: "BOYS THIS IS NO TIME TO DECIDE THINGS LIKE THIS! I AM NOT GOING TO LEAVE VEJIN OUT THERE TO DIE!"
We cut back to Vejin, who is already down after the first assault, he is picked up by one hand from King Kobra. King Kobra boasts to Vejin: "Where's your pride now saiyan? What happened to that spunk of yours!" King Kobra says this as he's pummeling him with his other hand. Vejin cries in pain: "GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" Over to Goku Jr and the Neo Z-Fighters, Goku Jr calms himself down and tells the three: "You need to understand me boys, I have to stop Kobra from killing Vejin. So please, stand down!" Oritsu sighs in reluctance: "I know, we can't stop you from getting involved. But, be careful master.." Goku Jr nods to Oritsu: "I will.." The three warriors step aside for Goku Jr. Goku Jr bursts back into Super Saiyan, however his strength has drastically decreased because of his heart attack. Ryuko's eyes begin to open once again.
B'az notices this. B'az tells the two: "You guys! Ryuko's getting up again!" Saito sees Ryuko and approaches the other two: "How long has he been like that?" Letuce answers his question: "I think it's been about an hour maybe?" Ryuko has one hand over his gut as he sits back up: "Ughhhhh…What the? How'd I end up over here?" He looks up to see Saito: "And who's he anyway?" Saito looks down to meet Ryuko's gaze: "I've heard a lot about you from your grandfather. I am Saito, a saiyan from planet Yardrat." Ryuko's eyes widened a bit: "Another saiyan? That makes three then. Speaking of my grandpa, where is he?" Oritsu speaks up: "He went to go help out Vejin. We tried to stop him after his fight with Kurvos, but we couldn't." Ryuko goes ballistic after hearing that: "WHAT!? I CAN'T LET HIM FIGHT OUT THERE, HE'LL DIE!" Ryuko blitzes towards the battlefield to help Vejin and Goku Jr. Letuce tries to grab Ryuko, but couldn't: "Ryuko, wait!" Saito tells the others: "Seems we can't stop him either. We need to go help them!" Oritsu also agrees: "Right..There's no use in sitting around anymore!" Oritsu says this as he powers back up into his Legendary state yet again. Saito, Oritsu, B'az, and Letuce follow behind Ryuko's trail.
In a few minutes, the five warriors will arrive on the battlefield. For now though, Goku Jr has managed to make it to the battlefield in his golden form to fight alongside Vejin. Vejin and Goku Jr would fight in sync with each other, giving each of them the opportunity to strike at King Kobra. Vejin decides to have some banter with the old man: "Y'know geezer. I'm actually impressed you haven't collapsed from your other battle. You've got some guts for someone your age, heh heh!" Goku Jr lightly chuckles at that remark: "You remind me a lot of Vegeta back in our prime. Always with spunk and cockiness to back it up!" Goku Jr and Vejin both kick into King Kobra's gut, knocking him back. The two pursue him almost immediately. Vejin tells Goku Jr: "I'm very glad that the legend was true." Goku Jr raises an eyebrow: "What do you mean, Vejin?" Goku Jr tries to kick King Kobra over to Vejin, but he blocks hit, holding Goku Jr in a choke hold. Vejin fires a blast at King Kobra's face and he lets go. Vejin responds: "I'm glad to see that the legend of the Super Saiyan was real. And I got to see it with my own eyes."
King Kobra comes out of the smoke from the blast to deal a hefty blow to the two saiyans. He knocks them both back into a corner, but they quickly recover. Vejin notes something about Goku Jr: "You've gotten weaker, old man. What happened to that strength I saw earlier? If you had all your power, this guy would be no issue to you." Goku Jr agrees and tells Vejin the truth: "To be honest, Vejin, once I enter Super Saiyan, it's as if a timer activates. My body overexerts itself as with my old age, that much power would damage me more than anyone could." Vejin asks him: "What do you mean old man?" Goku Jr answers: "It means that by the end of this fight, I may not be long on this world. It will likely result that if I overexert myself in Super Saiyan, I will die."
Vejin's eyes would widen after hearing that. There would be a pause between the two during their scuffle with King Kobra. Vejin is the first one to speak: "I see then. If by chance that happens, I am glad to be fighting alongside you, old man. You're a worthy adversary through and through. A noble and proud man, heh heh." Goku Jr laughs at that last part, but, he does offer Vejin some advice. Goku Jr tells the Saiyan: "Vejin..Your dedication to training and self growth is astounding. Your hard work will pay off someday, but you need to focus on balancing yourself." Goku Jr punches King Kobra away. King Kobra grows angry with their chat they've been having in this battle. Goku Jr continues: "I want you to grow strong, but I want you to be happy with what life offers you, Vejin. The same goes for all of you. I am proud to have been your mentor and friend." Vejin and Goku Jr both smirk at each other before they turn back to the ferocious King Kobra. Their expressions change to a serious glare as they each charge up a one handed energy beam. Goku Jr and Vejin fire the combined blast directly at King Kobra, causing him to be sent across the landscape.
King Kobra gets back up and is completely furious. His aura explodes: "I HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF YOUR BANTER!" King Kobra charges straight towards the pair and fires a blast at each of them. They both scream in agony: "GAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" King Kobra charges up another attack in his palm: "NOW YOU DI-" Right as he's about to unleash it, Ryuko dives in with a swift kick to his head. King Kobra was knocked back by several feet, but no real damage was done. Goku Jr sees his grandson enter the battlefield: "Ryuko!? What are you doing!" Ryuko responds to his grandfather: "Sorry grandpa, I just can't sit on the sidelines anymore! Now it's my turn to fight!" Oritsu, Saito, B'az, and Letuce land behind Ryuko, ready to fight as well. The odds are now seven to one with King Kobra seemingly at a disadvantage. But, he wasn't at any disadvantage. Although he was after Ryuko, he no longer cared about his mission and now wants to go after them all. King Kobra exclaims: "I don't care about my mission anymore. I JUST WANT TO SEE YOU ALL TURNED TO ASHES!" As King Kobra shouts this at the top of his lungs, he unleashes a massive ki explosion from his body to engulf all seven warriors.
The explosion would end as everyone on the battlefield, except for King Kobra, was badly damaged. King Kobra rushes towards Oritsu and Letuce immediately and punches the both of them straight in the gut. They'd recoil in pain as they'd grab their stomachs. King Kobra grabbed their heads and bashed them into each other before throwing them both away. Saito would quickly rush in at full power with a spin kick to King Kobra's face. B'az follows in from below to strike at King Kobra's legs. Their attacks never reach as he'd elbow B'az down into the ground, forming a small crater. He'd kick Saito up into the sky at high speeds. He'd look over to see Ryuko, Vejin, and Goku Jr. He'd charge in at full speed to clothesline the 3 of them with both of his arms fully extended out. They'd ram through several mountains before King Kobra blasts the 3 away.
After King Kobra's massive assault, everyone was left almost useless. The only ones who still had any energy to stand were Vejin and Goku Jr. Even then, they stand no chance against King Kobra as he pins the two down on the ground by stomping on them. King Kobra added more force as their bones began to crack under the pressure. The two winced and screamed in pain: "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" Vejin would power down from his berserk state after this attack. Goku Jr would also go back into his base form, but is faced with another heart attack. Goku Jr's condition grows even worse than before as he grasps his chest. Ryuko's rage began to boil as he goes in to punch King Kobra: "GET AWAY FROM MY GRANDPA!" However, King Kobra meets Ryuko halfway through his attack and drags him through the ground. Vejin struggled to get up completely, but he ends up sitting against a rock next to a mountainside. He'd be catching his breath, but knew that he didn't have enough energy to continue. Nobody could continue anymore, they were all brought down by King Kobra in one strike. No wonder why he's the leader of the Venom Mercenaries.
King Kobra would smash Ryuko's head into some rubble before letting go of his head. He'd punt Ryuko into a nearby rock, and King Kobra follows up with a dive kick to Ryuko's gut. He'd continue to pummel the poor saiyan to pieces, it was rather sad to see. Goku Jr gets back up, but he's in no condition to last long in the fight. Vejin faintly says: "Old man…" Vejin is well aware at what the old man is about to do, and at this point, nobody could stop him. Goku Jr lets out one last hurrah against his enemy. Goku Jr roars from the bottom of his lungs: "YOU ARE GOING TO PAY FOR DOING THAT TO MY GRANDSOOOOOOOOOOOON!" Goku Jr powers back up into Super Saiyan once again as a final resolve before he's done for. King Kobra is left speechless at Goku Jr: "How…HOW ARE YOU STILL STANDING OLD MAN!" Goku Jr dashes in with nothing but determination and resolve in his eyes. Ryuko is stunned at this: "GRANDPAAA! DON'T! YOU'LL DIE!" Goku Jr shouts back towards his grandson as he clashes with King Kobra: "I CAN'T LET HIM HURT ANYONE ELSE ANYMORE! THIS IS THE END OF LINE KOBRA!" King Kobra exclaims: "JUST STAY DOWN OLD MAN!" King Kobra lands a hard jab to Goku Jr's face, knocking him into a wall of a mountain. King Kobra charges in shoulder first and bashes through the mountain wall, crumbling it to pieces. Goku Jr is tattered and bruised completely throughout his body. His body is starting to quit on him, but his spirit is unwavering and still ready to fight. In one last gambit, Goku Jr lets out a ferocious battle cry with an energy coated punch. King Kobra replies with an energy coated hand. The two moves clash with each other and form a massive shockwave, blowing everyone back a bit. However, Goku Jr's last attempt to overpower King Kobra failed.
King Kobra's hand would clench Goku Jr's and slam him into the ground. King Kobra picks him up by the throat and squeezes the life out of the poor man. Goku Jr struggles to breathe as he gasps for air: "ACKKKK! AAAAAAAAAAAAACK!" King Kobra continues to apply pressure until he stops: "Here, I'll make it better for you. You can keel over and die next to your grandson!" King Kobra throws the Saiyan next to Ryuko. Ryuko exclaims: "GRANDPA!" He rushes over to his downed grandfather. Goku Jr powers back down to base form and his condition is beyond repair. Goku Jr reaches out to his grandson: "R-Ryuko…My boy…" Ryuko would hold onto his grandfather's hand. Goku Jr continued: "You've grown into..a f-fine warrior..I am-" Goku Jr suffers another heart attack and shouts in pain: "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" Ryuko holds Goku Jr's hand tight: "Grandpa!"
Goku Jr's heart pain stops: "I-It's alright, Ryuko..Please…There's no need for you to worry about me..I've overexerted my body too much back there.." Goku Jr paused and looks up into his grandson's eyes: "But…You c-can be the one to carry on..The n-next generation of fighters for planet Earth…" Ryuko responds immediately: "I will, grandpa…" Ryuko's eyes began to shed tears as he looks upon his withered and weakened grandfather. King Kobra begins to grow tired of this emotional moment, but he sees that Goku Jr is using his other hand to grasp at his chest. He notes that he must have a heart deficiency. Goku Jr tells him: "Please, R-Ryuko…D-Don't let my sacrifice be in vain..I will always be there to g-guide you..In here.." He reaches his hand out and points to Ryuko's heart. Ryuko's eyes began to appear slightly pink as the tears kept flowing. He'd wipe the tears off his face. Goku Jr tells his grandson: "It is okay to be sad…It is o-okay to be angry…These e-emotions are a part of life..It is okay for you to let g-go, Ryuko…So, please…"
Goku Jr tells him closely: "Let it g-go…Ryuko…"
As Goku Jr says this to Ryuko, a beam comes in right between them and pierces straight through Goku Jr's chest. Ryuko was left stunned and immobile after seeing his grandfather attacked in such a weakened state. King Kobra tells Ryuko: "I noticed that he had something troubling him. The most threatening target to your capture, Goku Jr, has been successfully eliminated."
Goku Jr's eyes would lose their color in an instant. His pupils once filled with life, have become gray and blank. A hole appears in the middle of his chest, right where his heart used to be. His body would reflexively cough up blood through Goku Jr's mouth. He lays there completely lifeless and cold. His hair drifts through the subtle wind, as dust covers his body in a light coat. Ryuko had still been immobile, he hasn't even processed the attack that just killed his grandpa, he couldn't even believe it. But, what brought him back to reality is what King Kobra said to him. King Kobra tells the boy: "It was a good thing I put him out of his misery. He would be disappointed in a sad sap like you…I pity your miserable existence, Ryuko..You'll be coming with me…"
After this, Ryuko realized what had happened to his grandfather in that moment. All he needed was a reality check to bring him back.
Son Goku Jr, the great-grandchild of the free spirited Pan, and descendant to the noble warrior, Son Goku, had passed away.
After seeing his grandfather's lifeless body, something clicked in Ryuko's mind.
Ryuko….had finally snapped…
Chapter: END