Bamf! 17 humanoids appear out of thin air on a far away planet. A faint breeze whistles past them, stirring up the grey dust and ash covering the whole landscape. A barren and desolate wasteland of grey and brown, not a hint of greenery or life to be seen. Five great moons of differing size light the night sky along with a host of celestial bodies not viewable from the Earth they just left. Their feet sink slightly into the cinders coating the floor of this desert, this featureless plain devoid of all topography or undulations. A flat landscape of sombre ash from horizon to bleak horizon.
Ryoko and Ayeka start to cough and wheeze from the low concentration of oxygen on the arid uninhabited world, Ayeka curling over her lurching stomach following the teleportation. The spluttering of the women breaks the eternal silence of the wasted world, the only noise made on the planet as the rest is silence. Vegeta shrugs off the two arms of the women grasped firmly to his back as he takes in his surroundings, noting that there will be no geographical features to give an advantage to anyone. No high ground or mountains to smash someone into, not nearby at least. The other warriors seem to also be analysing the area that will soon become a battleground, testing how much give the ground has, the effect the only slightly stronger gravity has on their bodies and what the change in oxygen concentration might have on their stamina.
" Darn it, we're too late. I hoped we could save this world from this monster … yet everything's gone. It's already killed them all." Goku's compassion for all living things shines through, even though he did not know who or what lived here the fact that every species of the planet bar one is extinct exasperates the kind soul.
" There's nothing we can do 'bout it now. Hey, at least it didn't absorb them to make itself stronger." Trying to lighten the mood the person most accustomed to climates like this, Yamcha, cheers up his long time pal.
" You're right there Yamcha. I just pray that this one doesn't also have regeneration powers or else we'll be in trouble."
" Hey! What's wrong with people who can regenerate?" The men all turn at this unexpected announcement from Ryoko, annoyed at this slander of what she deems to be a very important part of her fighting ability.
" I agree with you, Ryoko. Regeneration is an incredibly useful technique to have under your belt, yet when every enemy you fight can reconstruct its whole body from just a single cell that's when it starts to get real annoying." With his green and pink arms crossed, his striped muscles pronounced, Piccolo does not bother looking at who he is addressing just off into the distance where an energy level can be sensed. All of them but Ayeka can sense it and it is growing, swelling, nearing and doing all of these fast.
Ryoko sees that this ki she was sensing was not mere background noise that she attributed it to when she learnt this skill. She edges herself closer to Vegeta for protection and he stalks further away with a growl. He was against bringing any without Saiyan blood, and now he has weaklings to protect and distract him from this fight. The prince shoots a glare at the princess and she looks hurt at his anger, she only wanted to help. Vegeta sees someone with no combat experience, no ability to main or kill and utter dead-weight for this battle.
" I explicitly forbade you from accompanying us, you could endanger us all and jeopardise this mission. Damn you both! Don't you realise how much danger you are in here? This isn't a game you fools, you could die here. Do you want that? Ayeka I expected as much from you, you've never been in a battle in your life but you Ryoko, I expected you to at least have some slight common sense and stay the hell away. Damn you both to hell!" Still taking great umbrage from his cut short fight, he snarls this out a bit too harshly, but only a tad more than he meant to.
" But lord Vegeta w-we just wanted to help, I did not mean to cause any upset. My shields-" Poor Ayeka seems nearly heartbroken by him yelling at her, she went through all that trouble of fishing out this ceremonial battle garment and once again through the pain of teleportation just to be shouted at like a misbehaved child.
" The road to hell is paved with good intentions; I know I've been down that road far too many times than I would like. Now shut up and I'll take you back to my planet where you can stay out of my way." This little domestic scene has caught everyone's attention, it is the only thing going on in the landscape though, so as Vegeta marches towards them a gnarled hand stops him.
" Hey dude just chill out for a sec, OK? Let those two babes stay for a little while, you don't have to worry about them just yet and if it gets a little too dangerous then Goku can Instant Transmission them back to your gaff and hey presto everything's fine. Who knows, they might be a bit weaker then us but every little helps, y'know what I'm saying. Cheerleaders always made my baseball play team better if you catch my drift." Although Ayeka is not too fond of him calling her by such a derogatory term, she firmly agrees with what he is saying as does Ryoko, who once again has taken to staring achingly at Vegeta with pleading puppy dog eyes.
"Humph. Fine. On your heads be it. You two may be of some use after all. So for the time being you can stay but at any sign of trouble you're gone. Protect Dende, I'm sure that should be something the both of you can manage, if he falls then we lose our medical support so do not mess up. Stay safe." With that final comment he leaves them to look at the same spot on the horizon that Piccolo is watching with eagle eyes. Content with his decision to let them stay, they move over next to the Namekian who is towering head and shoulders above them yet is the weakest fighter out of all of them.
" Hey Dad do I get a super special important mission like them, do I?" Giddy with the prospect of the forthcoming battle due to the diluted Saiyan blood coursing through his veins, Trunks eagerly runs up to his father's side. Vegeta looks down on his only child, the last remnant he has remaining of Bulma, and mulls it over in his mind. He does not want to needlessly risk his son's life, having witnessed the death of Trunks before he does not want to go through that again, but his son is still a Saiyan and so by default has to be on the front-lines.
" Trunks, your assignment is the most important of all. You and Goten have the big task of … ensuring the safety of those three people over there. Their lives are in your hands, go now and do your duty my son." Totally enraptured by the enthusiasm and authority with which his father spoke with, Trunks and Goten hurry off to lay down their lives if need be for the people under their protection. Ryoko and Ayeka are not too thrilled however that Vegeta seems to think that children are needed to keep them safe from harm, no matter if they can turn Super Saiyan or not.
" You guys better get ready, it's here … and it looks like it brought some friends along with it." Scratching his chin, Gohan looks at the spot that has grabbed everyone's attention now stood next to his oldest friend and mentor. But a speck in the distance it currently is. A plume of dust ever growing and increasing in size, vast amounts of the ash and dust scattering the floor thrown into the air in a massive plume behind the things approaching the steadfast warriors. The trail blazing behind the beasts begins to brew into a vicious sandstorm, raging towards them as are the small figures that can barely be made out on the floor.
" You young whipper-snappers stand back, just because I'm old don't mean I can't handle myself. Let's see if I've still got it." Roshi hands his precious shades to Tien, the guy he trusts the most not to put them on for the fact they would be rendered useless by the additional eye in the triclops' forehead. Bracing his legs apart, he stands before all the younger and stronger warriors facing the adversaries and takes a deep breath.
His shirt erupts and flutters down to the floor in shreds. The muscles of the aged man doubling then tripling in size till he stands about a foot taller than Piccolo. Ayeka and Ryoko look amazed at this three hundred year old with the body of a giant, his back muscles rippling with raw power and ham sized fists coming together at his right hand side. His body swivels into the motion of the technique that took him 50 long years to develop and was widely acclaimed as the most powerful on Earth – but that was a long time ago, back when it was his name they shouted not Mr. Satan's.
" Ka…Me…Ha...Me …" A glowing blue globe bursts into his hands. Dazzling azure light dances in his mighty fists, continually enlarging until his hands cannot hold the sphere any-more. Thrusting his tree sized arms forward and opening his palms at the onrushing horde the first attack of the battle is struck.
" Ha!" The turtle wave like a bolt of lightning from the gods of old shoots from his wrinkled hands tearing a cleft in the ground beneath were it travels, leaving a furrow 20m wide in diameter. The sapphire beam contacts with the animals beneath the sandstorm, ploughing straight through and obliterating them all in a cerulean explosion that engulfs them all.
The mountainous sandstorm disperses into nothingness as the granules settle back down. Silence once again takes over the planet, no movement can be heard, no signs of life can be seen just a good sized divot still smoking.
That one attack used up roughly all of Roshi's power, he cannot hope to add more to their effort then that attack as his wheezing lungs pant from the exertion. Planting his dinner plate sized palms on his thighs he calmly exhales, slowly reversing his transformation to 100% power to a form much less cumbersome for fighting. His bushy white eyebrows and beard are plastered to his face and neck from sweat as he stands, more like David now than the Goliath he was before.
" Woo-wee, I'm pooped. You guys can take it from here, though I don't know what you got so worked up about if I can take it down." The topless old man retrieves his shades from the other bald headed man which he left in his possession, fluently putting them back on in a century long well practised motion before parking himself down on the gritty floor to rest. Thinking it is all over, Ryoko and Ayeka leave their post at Dende's side to celebrate the anticlimactic victory with Vegeta. Their merry cheering is met by silence as the warriors pay no heed to their joyfulness, instead the men fan out into a wide circle with the women, children and Dende at its centre.
Having only been able to recuperate himself for less then a minute, Roshi flips onto his tired old feet, stretching and limbering up he takes his position at the gap between Piccolo and Buu. Ayeka looks around puzzled, not sure why the men are still readying for battle when all the enemies lies incinerated in a crater a mile away. She is totally oblivious to the ki that Ryoko can detect surrounding them. Ryoko's eyes widen in fear as her newfound sense is overloaded by such a large amount of ki signature's so close and so powerful, encompassing their position entirely. Her feet lift from the unsafe floor.
The shifting sands start to vibrate, a clever ruse by the enemy to send in a headlong charge to all but blind them from the swarm burrowing beneath the loose ground to box in the new prey that it has found. Limbs and heads crawl from the ground in their thousands and the fighters finally get a good look at what they came to put down and wipe from the galaxy. Such a massive host now stands before them, waiting for some unseen signal to begin the besiegement of the universe's finest.
" These skinny runts are what we came for? Pathetic. I've seen more meat on a twig and houseplants that are tougher than these." Vegeta scoffs, thoroughly unimpressed by the small and skeletal state of what he had hoped would be a chance to show his strength, or at least a slight workout.
" Hey! Your houseplants aren't that weak, but yeah, Saibamen are stronger than these runts." How could Yamcha forget his encounter with the Saibamen, a year of training down the drain due to a kamikaze attack and the grasping clutches of death. Night terrors still disturb him; the pasty, green face with glowing red eyes cawing incomprehensibly before light engulfs them both and his body fries.
These small monstrosities are not too dissimilar from those home grown little green men from space. Long, spindly limbs attached to a torso that has not an ounce of fat or muscle on it and so emphasising the large ribcage and broad, bony shoulders of the critters. Two long, whip like tails ceaselessly flicker behind their spined and ridged backs. A verdant green tongue lashes from the obsidian maw lined with many small and pointy fanged canines. The head of the beastie is an elongated crocodilian like snout, two nostrils at the end, no ears or hair but 4 phosphorescent dark emeralds glitter as they stare intently at their quarry with unblinking, reptilian focus. The gorilla like arms of the quadruped end in a two thumbed and two fingered hand, with one, sickle like claw maliciously curving back towards its palms when it walks on its knuckles. As one the mass rises off of its forearms and stands semi upright like a primitive biped, its long legs featuring a wicked prong jutting from each knee and a massively oversized serrated claw impatiently tapping on the floor, cutting through the ground beneath it like a hot knife through butter. A shiver courses over the thick carapace of all the monsters, the coarse overlapping scales coating it more like the rough bark of a tree than that of any animal with verdant green pulsating through the sliver thin gaps between the plating.
Quickly deducing that they are dealing with a hive mind from the perfect synchronicity displayed between each individual animal, the humanoid combatants prepare themselves for the coming storm. Right then left then right again, in complete harmony with all those around them arms thrust into the air letting loose fireballs hurtling into the sky. Blotting out the sun and the entire sky, the heroes brace themselves in the shade as the flames reach the peak of their ark and accelerate down. Tien and Krillin break formation and spring into the air wafting their hands around them as ki shoots out to intercept all the weak missiles aimed at them. A successful flak laid down by the two humans easily halts the attack of the enemies. The fireballs themselves incinerated into ashes by pure energy. The two diversiform humans land back in their fighting positions around the defensive ring waiting for the next attack.
A panicked Ayeka stands. These are dangerous creatures stronger than her. Those were blasts some of which were aimed to kill her. There is no reasoning with those monsters. This is the truth of battle and she does not like it. Her hastily spawned barrier dies down as she glances about and tries to find comfort in the stoic warriors not showing any fear at these monsters she hopes they can defend her from.
" It's odd, I only detected one life force on this planet when I Instant Transmissioned us here. Can these things cloak their life force 'cos I still can't detect them that good and they certainly aren't androids." Goku was never the sharpest knife in the draw but his observation is one that all the others have been pondering on. A single extremely large energy is all they can sense, yet their eyes tell them that there might be a few more than that. The question is how.
" Hmm, I've been thinking the same thing. I have no idea why it's skewing with our ability to sense it … maybe it just reproduced itself asexually en masse, creating a host of clones to battle us." His white cloak now dirtied from the dust blowing in the breeze, Piccolo voices his thoughts on this troublesome matter with the only thing he can think of – asexual reproduction being the way that Namekians breed.
Meanwhile back at a comfortable sofa on Sol 3 the brightest mind in the galaxy thinks over this problem before her. The hypothesis of Piccolo is greatly flawed if what Goku says is true. Replication on such a scale, even if exponential, would take a lot more time than the apparent amount of time by which the large reptilians were spawned. Though a sample of one or a month long study would greatly aid her research into this new species all she has to go on is the audio and video feed coming in at a 10 second delay – which saying they are well over 27,000 light years away (or 8,278.2376 parsecs) is an accomplishment she wished the others would praise her for. Only one virus had she heard of that could replicate at that speed, but scaling up to a complex organism such as this and she decides that reproduction cannot be the reason for the army facing these 17.
" Don't be deceived Piccolo. These are all the same being, I'm sure of it. That faint trace in their ki signature, can't you feel it … these are legion for they are many. Hey Tien, looks like your not the only one to invent the multi form technique and this one seems to have a mastery of it I didn't think was possible." The scientist on the scene proclaims to his Namekian mentor and the others around him.
" Ha! Seems like we're dealing with a bigger fool than Kakarot then. Dividing itself this many times and each individual is not even worth the effort … this is target practise, no not even that, this is a slaughter waiting to happen. Even the women here might be able to take them down, and I was so looking forward to testing my mettle against something worthy." Vegeta drops his guard and leaves the ring, walking towards the centre as does Goku, neither wanting to be part of a battle so beneath them in terms of power. This is how Vegeta is used to it, the weaker grunts get taken out and massacred by his comrades whilst the strong ones are saved for him. It worked when he was under Frieza's shadow and he shall not dirty his hands on such pathetic opponents now.
In spite of the man of their dreams being stood a lot closer to them, it does not ease the growing sense of trepidation that Ayeka and Ryoko feel. Looking around them all they see is the multitude of green and black, the glinting claws and glowing eyes. Roshi shares their apprehension knowing himself to be the weakest link in the chain and that being emphasised after the Kamehameha wave he cast that sapped most of his strength.
" Come on guys, what are you waiting for? I say we stick it too them and show these things what we're capable of." With that the husband of 18 launches off into the fray, glancing back at his wife as he does so. Not wanting to be outdone all the others, save the two Saiyans, rush the clawed horrors for their chance of blood or glory against the insurmountable odds. Vegeta's prediction proves to be 100% correct.
The five foot tall father is the first to land a hit on the unlucky individual of the army before him he singled out, this one punch smashes its whole chest cavity and whatever organs were inside it into an amber mush slowly seeping out of its scales. Krillin's other hand raises to the dark sky and traces a quick circle before flinging his Destructo-Disk. It leaves a truly horrific wake behind it of bisected or decapitated abnormalities and a score more of badly mutilated creatures struggling to survive the horrendous amputations the razor sharp ki attack dealt them.
The sounds of battle brings life to the silent planet; cries of the dead and dying grotesques, squeals of pain and from those of Earth only the shouts of their signature moves they are utilising to devastating effect against such insubstantial foes. Gooey, orange sap sticks to Tien's fists as he splays his fingers in front of his third eye for his Solar Flare, needlessly handicapping the already doomed foes he is facing before they meet their quick end. More and more of the amber gloop coats the dust of the battleground. Lucky for Yamcha that his gi is already orange or else the bloodshed he has caused with his wolf fang fists would have dyed any other garment to that colour. His mind not caring about the life juices of those he crushes in his might or how none of them seem to be putting up any attempts of notable resistance bar trying in a futile attempt to block the savage kicks and strikes he lays down on them.
Gohan and Piccolo stand back to back in the midst of the host they came to this barren rock in space to cleanse from existence. Two of Piccolo's fingers are brought down from his head as he shoots out his arm. It stops mere inches from the petrified quadruped before he elongates his arm as if it were made of rubber, his clawed fingers impaling that of the one before him and skewering a dozen more unfortunates. Now his limb resembles more a kebab then an arm before he unleashes the Special Beam Cannon he charged up prior, disintegrating still more of the greatly decreasing numbers of the enemies. Gohan sees this and cricks his neck to the side, not looking at the fiends he calmly raises his left palm and over a hundred beings suddenly erupt in flame. The burning remains of them rain down like embers by a bonfire on the few surviving enemies left. He is dissatisfied with killing, only allowing this as he perceives these not as living entities but more appendages of the single ki he can sense. Not wanting to dirty themselves in the bloodbath ensuing below them, the sibling cyborgs rain hell-fire down, ki blasts homing and seeking the stragglers out. An extra layer of ashes falls over the sap / blood pooling on the dry ground. Craters, body parts, ruts in the ground and unrecognisable burning fragments is all that is left of the mighty host.
Ryoko seizes the initiative and sees no reason to listen to Vegeta and stay on guard duty when she instead could be impressing Vegeta. Phasing keeps her body safe from the reptilians stronger than her and her blade and blasts help fell them, though not as swiftly comparative to the others. Teleportation, flight and phasing give her control over her terrain and position. It disappoint her how little of a fight is put up, ruining her chances of her showing herself off to a Saiyan prince not even paying attention.
The battle, if it can be called that for it was so one sided, is over. The last body has fallen to the ground, ready for the shifting sands of the desert to take it back from whence it came. It lasted a minute at maximum and proved little challenge to all except for Roshi who, unlike the others, had to duel one on one with each gorilla armed adversary to be assured victory against it. All the fighters are now spread out far and wide across the desolate and battered plains, covered in the unusual gluey gore as a reminder of the massacre they partook in. Separated from one another in their own personal melees and brawls one man's scowl deepens. Ryoko teleports back to her post and Ayeka drops her uneeded defensive barrier raised around herself and Dende.
" Son, are you blind as well as deaf? Deal with the rest now."
The other warriors are too distant and preoccupied to detect what Vegeta and Goku have, the faint and minimal traces of lowered power levels creeping up on their position. Right on cue as soon as Vegeta closes his mouth two dozen more of the fell creatures spring out of the ground and high into the air. Flashes of silver dart across the sky as the unsheathed sword of Trunks makes mincemeat out of half of the surprise attack. Pieces of their dead carcasses splattering to the ground around the two women, still in the throes of surprise as another ten bodies crash down with their skulls caved in. Goten and Trunks resume their position on guard by Ryoko and Ayeka, shamed that they nearly failed their task from such a poor excuse of an ambush.
" Do I have to do everything myself around here?" His patience tested to the limit by his son failing him in such a paltry task assigned to him, Vegeta slowly begins to walk towards the group of 5, away from Goku. Halfway there the last of the savages bursts through solid rock, not two feet away from Ayeka. He does not miss a stride, having expected and predicted this, he carries on his way whilst his son and the son of Goku only now realise their grave mistake in presuming all had been dealt with.
Ryoko summons her blade of orange energy and charges, bringing it down hard on the shoulder of the beast before somersaulting backwards and blasting it from the air. One of its arms seems to be unable to move now and dislocated from whatever kind of shoulder it has, otherwise her assault on it missed anything vital enough to stop it. Eyes as green as jade fix on the princess quickly summoning her shield as it springs forth; its one working arm stretching wide, its ravenous maw opening and all in a split second it is over.
Tail grabbed, all movement stopped and splattered into a fine brown haze as its body detonates on impact with the ground. Vegeta stands looking disapprovingly at Trunks who is still fiddling with his sword that has managed to get stuck in its leather sheathe due to the adhesive blood of the animals encrusting its blade.
" Kakarot there is no sport to be had here, not with these things whatever they are. I say we blow this planet to pieces from orbit and take up our fight again." Disinterested, Vegeta turns from the women who now owe him their lives. Ayeka looks at him in adulation as she savours the moment the brave prince saved the princess from the monster, just like in all the ballads and bard's tales she heard on Jurai in her youth.
" Come on Vegeta, you know as well as I do that this isn't over yet. We might have defeated all of these multiforms but somehow I can still sense that same single tremendous power I felt when we first came here. Although, I will take the women back if you're that worried about them."
" They wouldn't need to be taken back to my house if some prick didn't think it would be fun for them to tag along. Those seven years of death changed you Kakarot, it's not like you to needlessly risk others. … Hmm, you're right though Kakarot, about it not being over. The damned thing's been toying with us, testing us to see our strengths and weaknesses. Maybe there might be some fun to be had here after all." Wiping the fine dust of what was left of the creature that made an attempt on Ayeka's life off of his white gloves, Vegeta surveys the few, the brave and the strong returning back towards him and Goku.
The ward of Ryoko and Ayeka steps forward, feeling a bit uneasy from the carnage he witnessed, being a Namekian of peace not war. Dende extends his powers to those who participated in the battle, rejuvenating the very minimal amount of energy lost in the skirmish and healing the few minor scratches sustained by Roshi.
" Hey you two, you don't happen to know where Mr. Popo and Majin Buu are do you?" He does not need the additional eye he has to make this observation, Tien seems to be not the only one who has noticed the apparent disappearance of the two portly companions of the party. Alerted to the fact that the caretaker of his gardens is missing in action seems to make Dende alert and apprehensive, eyes darting about and scanning for a sign of the black genie he has grown to depend on.
" They both seem to be nearby and in the same position. The fight must have dragged them further afield. Never seen Popo fight before, it must have been quite something." Piccolo reassures the other member of his race who has taken residency on Earth, thinking back on Kami's memories of the perpetual watcher from the lookout who's memories are now his since they re-joined bodies to become one Namekian.
Two large objects strike the ground at Gohan's feet. Inside the first crater is the one who Dende was fretting over, crumpled in a heap unconscious. Buu is splattered all over the second crater, his form not being as solid as that of the others. More amorphous than any solid being should be, he soon begins to wriggle as each separate piece and pool of him flows into one mass before reforming into his preferred shape.
" What the … what the hell is that thing?" Gohan helps Mr. Popo out of the ground and places him carefully beside him as he sees the figure just stood there. Ryoko and Ayeka are petrified looking at this thing, pure malevolence dripping from it. No compassion and no soul, it scans those who have come to challenge it and killed its spawn. Being well over 11 feet tall it dwarfs those expendable sprog it sent against them, its musculature rippling and expansive over its great limbs, nearly bursting through the inch think armour plating of its bark.
" I believe that is the foe we came to face, the foe who's head shall be mounted on my wall. Now the fun begins." Not turning his head, the Prince of all Saiyans is the only one not looking at the great monstrosity as it stretches to its full height, tails cutting through the air and the abyss of its snout unhinging.
" Graaeeurgh!" The booming roar rips through its alien throat as green light pulses outwards through its thickened hide turning the very air around it into searing plasma before it bursts through it. Pounding across the distance on all fours, the massive bulk builds up great speed and will soon be upon them.
" This is a job for Saiyan's, you weaklings stay out of our way." Vegeta steps forward, quickly followed by Goku and Gohan. A flash of light later and Gotenks stands beside his other Saiyan brethren prepared for the juggernaut tearing towards them. They exchange a very slight nod between each other as the four extraordinary beings stand their ground, bracing their legs as 'Grah' is almost upon them. His ravenous mouth glistening like the deadest of night, its eyes showing predatory greed, lusting for the taste of their tender flesh.
" Ka …" Goku's hands dart to his side as he charges the first ki attack he ever learnt.
" Me..." Gohan follows his father's example as blue light bursts into existence in his palms.
" Ha …" The fusion warrior child already has a colossal amount of energy charged up for the attack and still Gotenks draws on more staring at the talons of the beast.
" Gallick …" The Saiyan not related to Goku through blood joins him , showing the low class warrior how to properly blast an opponent.
" Ha!" As one, all four release their attacks point blank at the tank-like chest of the ravenous alien. An azure sun lights the arena as it is engulfed in a bright blaze of dazzling energy, all four blasts converging and conjoining to hit it dead centre.
The blast has barely struck it before it lunges out of the explosion like a shadow and hovers high in the night sky, it's dark exterior being the perfect camouflage save for its verdant luminescence. Having leaped clean out of the way of the Kamehamehas taking only a slight burn to one of its scales, it watches as the unified wave of energy tears across the landscape before shooting off high into space. The planet loses one of its satellites in that instant. The full force of the Kamehamehas brought unto it, a small reddish brown moon becomes naught but cinders drifting in the vacuum of space.
With the dust on the ground still clearing from their attack, the four Saiyans look up at their enemy as they motion for the others to retreat and find cover knowing what the next move of the brute will be. Hailing down lightning bolts, 'Grah' smites the four below him with the very rudimentary and primitive ki blasts that it can conjure from all four of its skull crushing paws. Fire and brimstone meteors crash into the erect barrier of Vegeta. Bouncing and ricocheting off it like harmless pebbles they continue on their altered trajectory blasting away the rock and ground encompassing the tetrad of omnipotent Saiyans. Apparently the women that have barged into his life might be of some use with the barrier technique of Jurai holding strong against all these ravaging blasts; taking the brunt of it all and draining a minuscule amount of energy to cast.
Naught but a smouldering hole is left beneath them, the shield protecting them but not blocking out gravity so as the rock beneath them disintegrated and was taken by flame so too were they forced to fly. Hands glowing from the heat of its blasts, the beast levitates in the air still, its animalistic mind still trying to work out these most mysterious creatures that have wandered into its territory. Unprepared for aggression against it, Grah is surprised when the shield coalesces and shoots towards it and instinct kicks in as its sickle clawed foot kicks and deflects the energy attack into the stars above.
A Frisbee of death, a guided infernal ball and two beams split the sky as Piccolo, Tien, Yamcha and Krillin charge forward to blindside the enemy who's sole focus was on the Saiyans not the other able bodied brawlers. Their improvised ambush worked better than the trap laid by the hell spawn in the air but still they are left looking at their most powerful techniques hitting it square in the back and it hardly flinching. One lone spine is loosened from its back and falls off of the creature's otherwise intact carapace. The faint thud of its carbonised spine hitting the singed earth snaps something within the creature's mind. It has been injured, it has been hurt and for the first time in its short life it has felt pain … and it does not like it.
Three humans and a Namekian seem to regret drawing the attention of Grah and evoking its wrath. Hissing, its elongated head turns to look at those who dare attack it with its teeth bared. Blood turning to ice under its dreadful stare, the Z warriors born on Earth slowly start to back away whilst not taking their eyes off of the airborne menace. As soon as its body begins to move towards its frozen prey a foot slams into its jaw sending it spiralling down to the boulders below.
Acting to protect his friends from when he was a toddler, Gohan's sturdy leg is firmly outstretched, his poise perfect. In the blink of an eye a talon lashes at his face, having recovered before it hit the ground Grah has rebounded back to take vengeance. Saved by the hint of motion he saw out of the corner of his eye the razor fails to bisect his head yet draws blood all the same. Still recoiling from the speed of the attack, Gohan clutches at his face with one arm whilst he quickly descends and lands by his father and brother. Dende acts immediately and heals the curved slash marring Gohan's face from his little hidey-hole, leaving him with a smooth scar starting from his forehead and curving around the left side of his face and terminating at his chin.
Slowly Grah descends too, its blood starting to yearn for that of a true challenge in the field of battle like that of Saiyans. Something within it is being evoked by this species before it. Snarling and licking its jagged fangs the exterminator of all this planet's life lands on all fours in the middle of all four Saiyans. Such a powerful beast but a mere metre from them, its arms capable of easily lashing out at them. The Saiyans just stand and watch their foe. A maelstrom of sparks and lightning fly from the four as they all ascend to Super Saiyan 2 form, their brilliance illuminating the dark and dreary landscape and their blue eyes coldly looking at the green eyes of the monster.
Although an intelligent sentient being, Grah is still a very young mutant beast and like all animals acts violently when both startled and surrounded. An elephantine shin appears, cracking Goku in the back of the head with enough force that it was a miracle that decapitation did not occur. The lights in his eyes dim and his hair darkens as the hero of so many battles crumples to the floor. The beast is not dumb, it sought out what it believed to be the strongest of their group and took it down. Grah's hulking form moving with such agility meant that no-one was prepared for such a savage attack, the pure shock that Goku has been taken down in a single blow is still slowly seeping into their skulls as it charges them.
Flabbergasted by the ease in which their father was taken down so easily in his Super Saiyan form, Gohan and Gotenks meet the charge of Grah and begin hand to hand combat with it. Whilst their fists fly and meet the bone like defence of the barbarous monstrosity it blocks every one of their moves against it, its bestial mind slowly analysing their moves and fighting style with its four optical orbs. Walking past the raging battle and sidestepping the wildly swinging barbed tails of Grah, Vegeta kneels by his fallen brother in arms and looks at the sorry state he is in.
" I expected more from you Kakarot, you'll never learn …. Why did you not dodge it you fool, you bring shame upon the Saiyan race with that shoddy effort. Looks like this is one fight you'll just have to miss then." Vegeta stands up with Goku's prone form over his shoulder looking on at the way in which Gotenks is fighting, wondering if what he is seeing reflects his son's true power or not. Vegeta vanishes.
Grah has no fear, no notion of what the concept of this emotion is but even if it did the feeling would not be troubling it at all. Struggle as they will to get through its speed and defences, neither Gohan or Gotenks appear to be posing any real threat to it. Any hit they land is by pure chance and damages their hands on the rough exoskeleton more so than the beast. Flailing tails whip past both of their heads drawing their attention as it sends out a wall of ki to both of them, repulsing them down to the ground. Whirlwinds of shimmering gold gust around both Saiyans, charging up to their maximum power before continuing this fight any further. Squinting its beady eyes from such blinding light, Grah is taken unaware from the next combo of blows that hit it from Super Saiyan 3 Gotenks.
Over a million miles away Goku's body falls like a rag-doll onto the floorboards, deposited there by Vegeta to make sure his rival won't go and get himself killed by the battle - for that is a pleasure only he will partake in. Job done he Instant Transmissions back to Grah's planet to re-join the fight. His vanishing form is still fading from the house as Chichi rushes to her collapsed husband, scared to death she might lose him yet again.
Two versus one and for that Grah has lost the upper hand. Even using his tails and jaws the duo still outmatch him. Their speed on par with its but one advantage they have is that which Grah could never hope to replicate, experience. Savage claws rip at the air and kicks designed to eviscerate hapless foes are its speciality yet for all this Grah is in its first battle against things that can match it in terms of power and speed. In a trial by fire, Grah learns which attacks leave it open, the strengths of its opponents and its own limitations but at the cost of a few more cracked and dented scales. Dicing with death, Gotenks' overconfidence nearly ends him on several occasions, dancing away from the attacks flying at him only at the last possible millisecond. Grah is outmatched and being beaten back, injured but most importantly enraged.
Krillin and the rest can only be spectators to the match taking place above their heads, none of them capable of aiding the effort but more likely hindering the half blood Saiyans if they tried. Their eyes are barely able to follow the fast flying limbs of the trio locked in a fight to the death. Vegeta has no thoughts of joining Goku's sprogs, when he fights he fights alone, the only thing left to him is to wait for Grah to best them so his turn can come around. Until then he might as well make himself useful so evacuating the useless plebs staring slack jawed at a level of fighting none of them could ever dream of achieving seems a good a place to start as any.
" You've had your fun so come now, time for you lot to leave before I have to scrape bits of you off the floor." They do not need to be told twice and hurry towards the only man capable of getting them away from certain doom, all but two. Android 17 stops halfway to Vegeta and points into the sky behind him yelling a warning of dire urgency. Grah has knocked back both of his opponents and in the time it took for them to recover it has rocketed off away from them to finish off the easier prey it noticed earlier and never paid back for the hurt caused to it. Blackened claws glisten in the starlight, their keen edges hungry for man flesh and the ever ravenous eyes of Grah lock onto its chosen victim. Unluckily for Grah it chose Vegeta as its starting point, a mistake it will not make again.
Four flashes of light hit Grah as it crashes down into the ground face first, smashing through the rock and eating dirt it lets out a tremendous thundering bellow. Each of its four limbs are locked in place, rings of yellow ki encircling its chunky wrists and shackling it to the very earth it is laid immobilised on. All of the momentum of the beast has been stopped at the feet of Vegeta. Never missing an opportunity to humiliate his foes, he delivers a swift boot to Grah's face knocking out a few knife like teeth before beckoning for the others to hurry to him and to the ones who are not obeying.
" Look you two, now is not the time for this! Come to me at once! … Fine have it your way then, see if I care." Ryoko and Ayeka do not budge towards him, their minds set to stay with him to whatever end whether he wants them there by his side or not. Vegeta snarls at their stubbornness and is gone, taking with him the outclassed warriors. Drop off complete he does not stay on Earth any longer than it takes to break physical contact with those he brought with him in transit and returns to war.
Grah's constraints though powerful suffer from a fatal flaw that Vegeta has never managed to work out and that being they are only as strong as their weakest link, in this case it is the gritty floor they are bolted to. A faint trickle of orange sap spills from the monster's mouth as it rises up to its full height, no longer hindered from its manacles, and sees two tasty morsels kindly left unattended before it. The two brothers failed to notice that Vegeta did not take with him all of the others off of this desolate rock and have to quickly break off their recuperation as they see a flash of obsidian darting towards a pair of women.
The jaws of death open up before Ryoko and Ayeka, the stench of millions dead festering from the black gullet ready to devour them. Their screams are cut off as abruptly as they rose from their throats as teeth slam down and oversized canines grate against each other.
" Now do you see what I mean?! I am trying to save your pitiful lives here and neither one of you is making my job particularly easy. You damn women are going to be the death of me." Vegeta's arms are tensed and are firmly gripping the two barbed tails of Grah, holding firm and stopping the fiend less than half a metre from its quarry.
From afar Gotenks launches a Galactic Donut to ensnare Grah as Vegeta did, trapping its arms against its body. Rancid breath pours onto the two frightened maidens as they live to see another day, Grah's attention turned from the pitifully weak stood in front of him to the irritant grabbing onto him. The two thick trunks of the tails wrap around the proud Saiyan like boa constrictors enveloping a helpless antelope, their abrasive coating peeling off his armour in chunks. Swinging its bulk around, Grah propels itself off the ground and backwards to Vegeta, a wry grin plays across his face.
His well used teeth chomp down and sever one of the tips of the tails encasing him, the gloop that is its blood spilling freely and sending sharp nerve impulses of pain to the former owner of two tails. The loss of a segment of a tail will not do much to deter such a power as Grah but all Vegeta needed was a distraction, something to completely take over the mind of his enemy and that came in the form of sharp pain. Grah is still hurtling towards him over the short distance that is its own body length but now not paying attention to the movements of the Saiyan.
Collapsing onto his back, Vegeta coils his legs and slams them into the hulking mass above him. Both mighty kicks connecting Grah in each broad shoulder. Vegeta knows its all or nothing against an adversary like this. Amethyst light shines from his dusty boots, a split second later the sky is split by two massive beams. Gallick guns, two of them, one fired from each of his feet tear into Grah. Forcing the horror above him up into the heavens at speed, taken with the blasts the hostile creature shoots off unable to escape the ki blasts propulsing it. Whiplash exerts itself on the laid down Saiyan as tails hooked around him are wrenched forth with the rest of the unfortunate Grah. Yanked back to his feet Vegeta watches as his perfectly executed plan reaches its finale.
Gohan and Gotenks land by his side watching the pretty fireworks as a moon is drilled clean through and the final explosion disintegrates another three of the planet's now scarce satellites. Nothing but embers and shards of dense minerals drifting in the abyss of space can be seen by the three Saiyans in the aftermath of the Double Gallick Impact. Thankfully no large chunks are left as meteors begin to stream into the thin atmosphere of the unnamed and unknown planet far from anywhere anyone has ever mapped or charted in the galaxy.
Ryoko and Ayeka look at their prince, patches of skin on his body has been flayed off and raw chunks of his flesh is exposed. The Saiyan jumpsuit around his arms and legs offering no protection to the jagged scales and the armour scratched with deep grooves. A sharp and sudden roar erupts forth from Vegeta as he increases his power level, ki surging around his body. The raw unbridled power of his heating up his flesh and cauterising his openly bleeding skin. With his shallow and superficial wounds dealt with, he turns to face the reasons why he had to resort to such desperate measures.
" Woo! Yeah, alright! We sure showed him, that's what happens when you mess with the mighty Gotenks, hahaha."
" Don't let overconfidence blind you, youth is no excuse for that behaviour. Can you not still feel it? That thing out there is still alive and I'd wager it's not going to go so easy on us any-more. Thanks to Vegeta we might have a little time to prepare before it comes back." Gohan and Gotenks pay no attention to the lone adult Saiyan striding towards his women, they continue to look at the stars and the black night sky waiting for a flash of green to indicate the return of Grah. Charging up their power to the highest levels they currently can, Gohan and Gotenks stand in their billowing fire vortexes of golden light.
" No more of your nonsense now, you two are leaving this planet and getting out of my way." Vegeta marches up to them in his battered state, not in the mood for any arguments or ridiculous behaviour that these two women seem so fond of when he is around.
" No, I won't go! I'm not going to leave you alone against that. What if you need me?" Ryoko seems absolute in her decision as does Ayeka who says words to a similar effect but with rife fear flowing through each word.
" This is not open for debate, it was an order not a request! Go, save yourselves. I'll be fine." Snapping at them his form disappears from in front of them. A swift karate chop to the base of their necks yields their minds into the blackness of unconsciousness, unable to argue or put up a fight he grabs them and Instant Transmission back to his home they have taken over. Dumping their prone forms by the feet of the other Z warriors, he heads back not wanting to miss an opportunity to finish his fight with someone worthy of his time and skill.
Out of all the flaming debris of the moons burning up through the pitch black atmosphere one green speck among the hues of red and orange can be made out. Having survived Vegeta with not much damage done to its shoulders or arms, Grah rockets back down to his home planet, hurtling like a bat out of hell to repay the one who dares to stand up and defy its will. A green speck soon becomes an emerald comet, exponentially growing as it approaches closer and closer to where it was blasted out of orbit. One more long sustained roar tears through Vegeta's throat as he pushes his body beyond all mortal limits into the final and most powerful form known in the universe. Standing beside his half son, Vegeta joins him in the Super Saiyan three form.
Plummeting towards the ground, Grah's small eyes pick up this large conflagration and light show. Quick thinking on its part, Grah decides to attack well before it can make out the humanoid bodies stood ready to take it down. Lighting the fires in its throat, it gathers energy in its expansive mouth in a ball designed for one thing. Spitting the blazing globe toward the planet below the ki attack soon takes on shape and starts enlarging more and more. For the Saiyans below it is as if daytime had come early but this is no Sun they want to dawn, if that Supernova like sphere impacts then they can wave goodbye to the planet they are on and all hope they have of beating the monstrosity bearing down on them.
Taking the initiative, Vegeta flies off heading on an intercept course to try and stop the planet destroyer before it is too late as Gohan and Gotenks go to put down the bothersome animal once and for all. Muscular arms spread wide, Vegeta grips onto the fiery ball of death in mid-air pushing with all his might against its tremendous power and momentum. Straining against its might he continues to push with every muscle in his body, the gloves on his hands spontaneously combusting and his palms searing as he fights on through the pain yelling. The orb is slowing down, steadily decreasing its speed towards its intended target but it is too little too late as Vegeta has already been pushed onto the ground itself.
Double teaming Grah, Gohan and Gotenks fight for all their worth in the upper atmosphere. Fists flying and feet impacting against the rock hard stomach of the beast. No longer having to contend with the tails of Grah, for both are hanging limply after Vegeta's attack, they can easily breach its defences and start to inflict damage on Grah. This bout is not as one sided as they like however, for every other punch, kick or slam they deal unto Grah they suffer a vicious injury themselves from claws or coarse scales.
The air around him shimmering and ablaze from the great output of power, the prince of all Saiyans continues wrestling to save a planet from destruction for once. Such a powerful attack could never have been deflected away, this was the only course open – that or die with this godforsaken rock as they lose their oxygen. His aura burns around him, lighting up the horizons as it outshines the supernova blast in its intensity. He will not lose to this, he will stand his ground to the bitter end – if only the ground thought the same. Giving away and crumbling into gravel, Vegeta's feet break through the floor beneath him. The very rock itself betraying him, every inch he falls into the planet's crust is another inch closer to certain, inevitable doom.
A sudden yell and he expels a large amount of built up ki to destroy the plains he is sinking further into. The wasteland torn asunder, he hovers at the centre of a crater, a crater that still is not big enough for the attack he is trying to stop which has a slightly larger radius than that of the depression he has made. No time to make amends to his misjudged hole he plunges deeper as the earth swallows him, his only escape blocked by that of the unstoppable and unmovable force. If he tried to enlarge the crater again he runs a major risk of prematurely detonating the thing pushing against him, that is something he thinks is best avoided if at all possible.
Grah is certainly not going to just lay down and die, despite the insurmountable odds of tackling two Super Saiyans at once it is pushing them back. After but only a few moments of being engaged with them its observant mind has adapted to their fighting styles and is now capable of predicting their attacks no longer just reacting to them. They might still have better tactics and fighting abilities but most of their attacks it can not even feel through its thickened hide, protected from any real damage Grah pushes the attack. Gohan and Gotenks have no protection from the death dealing scythes arcing cruelly through the air, Washu's armour being like putting a wet sheet of paper up to stop a bullet. They get a reprieve as Gotenks coughs up a spawn of several ghosts that Kamikaze into Grah, the beasts attacks to defend itself detonating them all.
Scars and blood begin to riddle both Gohan and Gotenks, neither able to back down or retreat due to their Saiyan heritage and for all their trouble most of the damage Grah has sustained is mainly self inflicted. Losing a claw when it stabbed Gohan's biceps with it, Gohan rotated in the air rapidly to dislocate and dislodge the claw from the beast's hand before tearing it from his flesh and stabbing it wherever he could reach. Gohan and Gotenks take any opportunity they see to deflect the remaining claws of the beast back towards itself, piercing it with the only thing that can seemingly injure it. More of its back spines and its left head crest being lost is the total sum of harm dealt by the two sons of Goku that they can see, nothing that is in the slightest bit of being life threatening, or even a minor inconvenience, to Grah.
Creating an inconceivable loud bellow out of the sheer frustration that it still has not felled the pesky insects troubling it, Grah elbows Gohan, the slower moving of the two, into his younger brother. Spiralling down they slam into the floor but as Gohan gets back to his feet he feels something is terribly wrong. His intuition was right. Behind him, instead of one single entity, two people crawl out of the pit him and Gotenks made. The sands of time have conspired against the fused warrior and back to their original bodies they have gone, Goten and Trunks look at each other understanding the messy situation they are now in.
In their young age it is remarkable that they have attained the Super Saiyan transformation, but even that level of super power is dwarfed by that which they have lost in an instant. Drained and exhausted from the fight, both children stumble about, barely able to put one foot in front of the other. What appears to be a grin on the lipless face of the crocodilian snout of Grah stretches its sinister muzzle in disfiguring mirth, only one stands left to oppose it and that being the previously weaker of the two - or three as it is now.
Bright green pulses faster and faster under the plates coating Grah, burning like currents of magma. Each throb of its building power echoes in the convulsing planet, Grah's green colouring projecting outwards in a shimmering flame encapsulating all of its vast form. Emerald bonfires ignite from its very core, light in a dazzling exhibition of the true power Grah has kept concealed, not in a secret ploy but for it did not know it could tap into such a wealth and bounty of strength.
Not boding well for Gohan, he swallows down his feeling of foreboding and makes one last valiant effort against Grah, throwing everything he has into one punch. Channelling his might and fortitude into those four knuckles of his right hand, his battle cry reaches Grah long after the resounding impact. Gohan manages to land the punishing blow dead centre on Grah's expansive chest yet the agonised scream does not originate from his foe. Grah loses a few ribs from that mighty impact but wins the war. Coughing up red onto the black and green of Grah, Gohan looks down at the open wound in his stomach. Timed to perfection, Grah allowed itself to be hit so that for a split-second Gohan would be stopped perfectly still when his punch collides and rendered unable to move away. Slamming its knee into the young Saiyan's stomach the large prong fixed onto Grah's patella slid straight through his stomach and is now tickling the spine of Gohan. A growl more akin to a laugh is the last sound Gohan hears when the fangs of Grah crush down on his shoulder, splintering bone and muscle alike before flinging him away like a rag-doll The violent nature of the throw splits Gohan's abdomen in two. Laying eviscerated on the floor, barely able to keep his vital organs within himself his eyes lose focus and have trouble focusing on the demon prowling closer to finish off the one not long for this world. A weak ki blast gets shot off from the floored Gohan, all he can do to protect his brother and himself.
His hands burning, the jumpsuit he was wearing melting, Vegeta continues to ward off the supernova. His boots scraping through the base of the crater. Millimetres from extinction, Vegeta gives up playing games and gets serious. Quaking the world with shouts of rage as he summons to him all available ki to counteract the supernova of Grah's attack it has long since forgotten about, and for the first time the ball of death stops dead in its tracks. This will impede his stamina greatly in this form but needs must.
" Big bang attack!" A massive blue bolt of energy collides against the many hued supernova. Vegeta is a master when it comes to ki or energy based attacks and not some amateur like this Grah, his blasts packs one hell of a concentrated punch as demonstrated by the supernova being one second about to detonate the planet and the next about to detonate another planet in another far off leg of the galaxy. Vegeta flickers out of the dimple on the face of the planet he is now the saviour of and gathers up his fallen comrades, careful with the delicate state in which Gohan is verging on.
" You've fought well, there is no shame in this defeat. Your part here is done now, leave it to someone who knows what he's doing." Feeling like a taxi service as he lays down three more on his second home planet Vegeta swiftly surveys the company of warriors that of which he the last able to continue.
He stands waiting this time to make sure Gohan receives the immediate medical care of Dende and maybe a Senzu bean. It is getting all too much for Chichi, her husband and two beloved sons all fallen in battle and clinging on grimly to their last vestiges of life. She grips onto Goten and screaming at Dende to stop her Gohan from bleeding out. Before he leaves, Tien throws a Senzu bean his way and he does need it. He snaps it in two between his crispy fingers and discards it, returning to Grah with no others to obstruct his fight. Only a coward with no honour would accept such aid mid battle, an affront to his sense of self he would prefer to perish than accept such aid.
The only two beings still left on this heavenly body face each other. A stand-off, neither making a move towards the other. Both just watching the other, watching and waiting for the right moment. Baring their gritted teeth, bracing their legs and tensing their muscles, Vegeta and Grah annihilate a hundred hectares in a heartbeat. Their voices joined in choir, auras radiating off of them to block out the starlight above them and in perfect synchronisation the two fated destroyers raise their power to the max. No floating rocks or crumbling mountains just complete ionisation of all surroundings before, as one, they vanish from all perception.
Islands of rock millions of years in the making shatter, mountains collapse and tumble down and fissures wide enough to engulf nations mar the surface of the whole planet. Such a catastrophic catastrophe as blasts and punches from the two fighters inflict massive devastation to the surroundings, whole continents set ablaze - swallowed whole in infernos of ki. Nuclear warheads would seem like bringing a dull stick to a knife fight compared to the mighty explosions dotting the landscape, scarring it to such a degree that even if this planet were to survive for several aeons it would never heal these deep wounds gouging it. Global temperatures rise 10 degrees centigrade over the first second of the fight, which goes unnoticed by the duo of living things left battling it out.
Moving in the hyper-time of faster than light speeds, Vegeta implements every battle technique, strategy or combo of moves he has ever thought of as he exhausts his arsenal against the horror that hardly winces from each attack landed. Blows traded between the two produce huge earthquake causing shockwaves. Mile long tunnels in the planet appear as one fighter then the next is thrown through the ground. Fighting on a different plane all together than anything alive the battle rage for too long, dragging on with neither giving into the wounds they receive. With the battle lasting for length of time greater than a few brief minutes Vegeta on several occasions has to instant transmission to the opposite side of the planet and power down. He cannot keep in his Super Saiyan 3 form for as long as he needs to. These brief respites are only gifted to him as Grah has no decent ability to sense ki and nothing but the reek of burning can be smelled upon the air. As soon as he is able to, Vegeta ascends back to Super Saiyan 3 to continue the marathon battle. Each time his transformation lasts for less. The strain exhausting him. His ki depleting rapidly.
The fighters appear back in view, clashing two almighty beams of raw ki: one a brilliant shining gold the other a dark and twisted jade connecting in a blaze of solar magnitude. Directing such power through his incinerated palms is no mean feat for Vegeta, each molecule of power singes more and more of his ravaged hands but not in a way in which his nerve endings get toasted to the point so that pain is not transmitted. A beam clash is always a difficult position to be in, especially with tremendous pain screaming at you from trying to stop yourself being disintegrated by Grah.
Instant Transmission is Vegeta's only bet to escape Grah's blast, both weakened by the previous fighting but only the Saiyan appears to be handicapped by it. Now suddenly behind the creature a rapid volley of shots fire off into the flanks of Grah. Two knobbly scales fall towards the floor below, revealing more of the horror's vibrant pulsing core. Grah dives, completely unfazed, through the barrage and into the waiting trap laid cunningly for it. The mindless beast charged headlong without thinking through the soot and smoke of the blasts that hit it not suspecting Vegeta would have instant transmissioned again. In the time it takes for the raging Grah's eyes to clear the obscuring vapours it is far too late for it.
Landing on its back and scrabbling over its scaly hide like a rock face as he uses his smaller size against the beast, Vegeta works his way towards the one chink in Grah's armour - the missing scales only just shattering on the cold hard floor. Being grappled from behind Grah goes berserk, bucking and shaking to rid itself of Vegeta. Only when it feels something touching the gaping hole in its side does its actions become frantic, great arms lashing at its back and luckily for Vegeta he took out the use of its tails long ago or he would have a hard time dodging now. One of Vegeta's arms is now by its target and a swift punch takes it into the beast.
" Grah!"
One of Grah's arms explodes off at the shoulders as Vegeta ejects himself from the rabid monster. The Saiyan did plan on sawing off the limb with a blade made of ki but the other oversized arm of his foe was getting dangerously close to ripping his back into shreds, forced to act on impulse has cost the Saiyan. Not a whole limb so it was still worth it but Vegeta's right hand is a bloody mess, most of the blood not his but the crimson life juice of his is spilling freely from where the explosion he set off cleanly detached three of his fingers. A finger and thumb is no good for making a fist, the arm has use only for elbowing now.
An aftermath of feral rage brought on from the searing pain at its shoulder drives Grah into a frenzied rage of unrelenting fury. Reckless slashes and swipes allow Vegeta some room to attack Grah but such an assault is leaving him hard pressed just to keep his head attached. Tapering claws rake his chest and legs where the fatigue of sustaining the Super Saiyan 3 transformations gets the better of the prince and soon it is hard to make out either fighter for the gore spattered everywhere and covering them in a thick coat. Blood loss and extreme exhaustion slows down Vegeta and Grah in their epic duel. Punches become sluggish and legs leaden in their movements. Such a battle should have been over in a matter of minutes but it is now entering its twentieth and neither can retain the pace for much longer. Vegeta strikes focus on the wounded opening of the empty shoulder socket, Grah is taking damage.
Their battle drags both down to the ground as the prince and the fiend wrestle. They each try and conserve what energy they have by not flying. Vegeta's good arm is holding back the gnashing mandibles from mauling his face whilst his wounded hand is left with the Herculean task of keeping back the one healthy arm Grah has at its disposal. Muscles taught and feet digging into the ground, Vegeta head-butts Grah's neck hoping that maybe there is a slim chance it has a vital organ there or something to be destroyed. Pounding away as they both stand unmoving Vegeta's sight blurs and he immediately discontinues his futile attack which had a higher likelihood of concussion than success. Blood drips from his ruined forehead into his grim eyes focused on one thing alone.
Such an annoyance as the one person it can not overpower has to be dealt with, Grah utilises one lone foot and turns the tide of battle in its favour. Vegeta's calf was not ready for a foot long spike to be rammed into it, the foot claw of Grah severing tendons and muscles as it rips its way clean through the flesh of his leg. Clean as a butcher's slice, copious amounts of sanguine flowing out of his calf. Precious drops he cannot afford to lose soil the floor. A fit of blind rage engulfs Vegeta, still interlocked with Grah he once again turns the air into explosive plasma. Searing both injured parties flesh and wounds but consequently wiping out a humongous chunk of the dying world.
A simple lesson in geography for Vegeta arrives at the wrong time – when a massive hole is created in a planet's crust it usually leads to a volcanic eruption. Lava spurts and spews forth from beneath the wrestling pair, that is until one of them suffers a severe misfortune. Burning magma splashes onto the Saiyan's mutilated back, boiling his flesh, giving off a smell that only seems to arouse Grah's hunger to beat Vegeta more. Slowly being roasted alive, unable to rid himself of the lava for if he were to let go Grah would be upon him and it would be game over. Such pain, pain of which he has dealt with before but not all at once: lost digits on his hand, innumerable scratches, scars and deep lacerations, his calf severed , hands burned and flayed to the point which they don't even work and to top it all off lava melting its way onto his spine.
It all becomes too much for a single man to bear and for just a fraction of a second his mind forgets the battle and all it knows is the world of pain it has been dunked head first into. Screaming in the throes of his tormented and tortured body, he fails to retain a hold on the opening jaws of death. A sweet deliverance awaits him at the end of the tunnel that is its mouth, a light. A bright glowing crimson light growing as it comes to greet him. The second supernova blast of Grah this time does not fail in hitting its target, and in that moment the battle is decided.
Fired at point blank range there is no time to dodge and blocking it would be pointless, having used up most of his energy neither is a physical possibility – he is spent. Taken with the blast the last remnants of Washu's ineffective armour enkindle and flare out of existence. The ball of malevolent power detonates, Grah stands victorious at the very edge of the world. Over two thirds of the remaining planet was devoured in the single explosion of that ki blast, the globular core of the planet empties itself and the atmosphere begins to dissipate as the gravity of the planet lessens dramatically. What is left of Grah's world is in flames and the rest is naught but cinders plaguing the void of nothingness, a shallow victory if there ever was one. Ready to embrace what must be down and set off into the stars on a voyage of discovery and eradication, Grah spots something which troubles it.
Flickering out of existence a minuscule bubble of azure light dies in the distance, having been previously shielded from view by the mammoth pieces of debris falling off of the crumbling world. Smouldering in the distance Vegeta Instant Transmissions back onto Terra firma, his destroyed body collapsing into the dirt. Dust and ash seeps into the wounds that litter his prone form, harsh stinging adding to his mind already overloaded with terrible pain. He has nothing left to give. Every ounce of energy has been sapped from him and he can no longer keep himself in Super Saiyan 3, debilitated from how much it has sapped at his enormous reserves of strength. Skin has been scorched, clothing combusted, bones shattered. A face that has only one blind eye, the other evaporated instantly along with his nose and most of his cheeks leaving scarred and smoking pits where those features should be. Lungs seared from temperatures that would melt any known metal rasp as ragged shallow breaths tear into his body, the simple act of staying alive now a more challenging fight then staving off Grah an hour ago. His heart beats bloodily with segments of his pectoral muscles gone exposing parts of his rib cage exposed to the open air. A leg and an arm incinerated, left only with the arm ruined from his previous attack on the beast and a leg with all its bones shattered and broken, he is abandoned with not much hope in defending himself. He lays on the ground, alone and dying.