Chapter Fifty-one

Sacrifice of the Demon King! Son Goku arrives!

Goku's face lit up as she saw the head of the Snake coming up towards her. She was finally to the end! Or… the beginning. Whatever! She ran forward with a new burst of energy and jumped off the head to hit the ground running not slowing down for a second as she went right through to Enma's desk.

"OH, HELLO!" Enma called down amiably. "GOOD TO SEE YOU AGAIN, SON GO–"

"Notime!" Goku blurted. "Where'sKami?!" Kami teleported in front of her, wide-eyed and sweating, looking more than a little ragged. "Kamiareyouo–"

"Notime!" Kami insisted as he grabbed Goku by the wrist. "Everyone'sdying! I'mdying! It'sallgonetoshit!" Goku barely had time to think about the fact that she'd never heard Kami swear before they were back on the Lookout.

"Hello, Son Goku," Popo said as he held out the bag of senzu, "This one–"

"Notime!" Goku shouted as she grabbed the bag out of his hand. "ByeKami! ByePopo!" She sprinted off the edge of the Lookout and kept running as she fell through the air. "Nimbuuuuus!" The yellow cloud flies urgently under her and Goku dug her heels into it to urge it on like a racehorse. "I'm coming, guys!" Goku called out as she pressed herself flat to Nimbus, doing whatever she could to make it go faster. "Just hold on a little longer!"

OoOoOoO

The second Nappa took another step forward, Krillin sprung into action. He flew at the hulking Saiyan as fast as he could and threw a ki blast into the ground in front him, kicking up a large cloud of dust and debris, before tearing off to the side. The instant the dust cloud was up, Suno completely vanished under the effects of her Fubuki Odori. Nappa was only able to catch the movement past him half an instant before he felt something grab his tail and he hear a woman shout "Gotcha!". Before he could even process what was going on, a cry of "Makankousappou!" and "Masenkou ha!" caught his attention as Piccolo and Gohan sent their most powerful attacks his way.

By this point, Nappa realized what they were doing and decided he was having none of it.

With a mighty yell, Nappa uncurled his tail from around his waist and hurled Suno towards the oncoming attacks before easily dodging them. Acting quickly, Suno flipped herself in the air and tried to fly out of the way but only managed to avoid being directly hit. As it was, the beams clipped her back and caused her to cry out in pain as she slid to a stop on the grass.

Vegeta clapped as he sat perched upon his rock and laughed uproariously. "Oh, well done!" he called as he continued to applaud the fighters. He would not look at all out of place with a bucket of popcorn under one arm. "I must say, that was quite the little strategy of yours! There is, however, a fatal flaw: We are simply better than common garbage like Kakarot and Raditz. Nappa is an Elite while I am a Super Elite!" Krillin thought that was a pretty dumb distinction but no way in hell was he going to say so out loud. "Nappa and I have trained the weakness out of our tails. All you managed to do was injure one of your own!" He threw back his head and laughed again.

Suno, Piccolo, and Krillin quickly back stepped away from Nappa to buy them time to think. With what was probably their only hope for an easy victory without Goku thrown out the window, their options basically boiled down to "Throw themselves at Nappa and pray to whatever sort of deity can affect this kind of thing that they won." They were so wrapped up in their thoughts that it took them a moment to realize that one of their number had stood their ground.

"You…" Gohan growled through gritted teeth as he glared at Nappa. "You… jerks!" They'd hurt his mother! They'd made him hurt his mother! They were laughing about it! Suno could feel Gohan's power rising and felt a surge of panic race through her body like lightning.

"Gohan, don't-" Suno called but she was too late. Gohan launched himself forward with surprising speed and rammed his fist into Nappa's gut with enough force to cause the giant to stagger. Before he could regain his bearings, Gohan launched into a flurry of punches and kicks that were slowly but surely pushing Nappa back. The others could only watch in shocked awe as this five-year-old kid beat down a giant man that had previously been effortlessly killing them all.

By the time they got the wherewithal to realise that it would be a good moment to launch their own attacks, it was too late. Nappa managed to lock his stance and take one of Gohan's punches without flinching before retaliating by grabbing him by the neck and slamming him into the ground.

"I hate to admit it," Nappa growled with a tone almost like begrudging respect, "But you really surprised me there, kid! You're a Saiyan, alright, so I'll try to make this painless!" He lifted his other hand and a ball of ki gathered in his hand as he prepared to blast Gohan at point-blank range. Then, against every logical part of his brain, Piccolo did something he had never thought he would do.

He leaped to Gohan's defense. Piccolo charged at Nappa and fired a blast at him with both hands. This caused Nappa to use the blast he had meant for Gohan to block Piccolo's attack. At the same time, Suno lunged forward and drove two fingers into the crook of Nappa's elbow as hard as she could. The giant saiyan cried out in stunned pain as his arm spasmed and his grip released. To finish the attack, Krillin flew forward and upward and smashed his knee up under Nappa's jaw while he was stunned to send him flipping through the air while Suno dropped down to check on Gohan.

"Are you alright?" Suno asked him as she stroked his hair. Gohan nodded and tried to push her hands away. He didn't need to be babied anymore.

"I'm fine, mother," he assured her as he rubbed his neck. Suno nodded and ruffled his hair.

"Good," she muttered, "Because when this is over, you are so grounded." Suno didn't know if he got this from her or Goku or the both of them, but she was suddenly feeling very sympathetic to the plights her own mother dealt with when Suno was younger.

Piccolo and Krillin both met Nappa in the air and did their best to capitalized on his defenseless state before they were joined by Gohan and Suno. The four threw everything they had into their punches and kicks while Nappa seemed to do little more than absorb the punishment. As it turned out, however, Nappa could absorb a great deal of punishment and he proved this when he grabbed Krillin by the ankle and swung him at the other three like a club. The attack sent the others flying before Nappa spiked Krillin into the ground hard enough to put him a good two feet underground. Nappa chuckled and dusted off his hands before descending towards Suno and Gohan.

"Now then," he growled darkly, "I believe I owe the two of you something."

"Makankousappou!" Piccolo roared from behind. Nappa spun around with seconds to spare as a large spiral beam of yellow-purple light pierced his left bicep and left a smoking hole that might have otherwise been in his chest. He snarled and lunged at the Namekian as Krillin burst out of the ground.

"Hey, ugly!" Krillin called out which, somehow, made Nappa come to a screeching halt. He turned slowly on Krillin and looked genuinely offended. "Y-yeah!" Krillin continued as he tried to look like he wasn't on the verge of weeping in terror. "I'm talking to you!" He balled his fists and tried to puff out his chest as Nappa lumbered towards him. "You think you can just come here, blow up a city, and kill my friends?" Nappa chuckled and cracked his neck.

"I dunno," he shot back casually, "Seems to be what I've been doing so far. Got something to say to that, little man?" Krillin swallowed nervously and looked to Suno, giving her a nod. She nodded back and waited to see whatever plan he was going to come up with.

"As a matter of fact," Krillin said, "I do!" He raised one hand high overhead and a small disc of ki hovered over his palm. The disc immediately exploded in size and there were very clear serrated edges that spun around the disc. "Kienzan!" The air hissed as Krillin through the huge ki disc with all his might and… Nappa hopped over it to avoid it. He landed in front of Krillin and lunged forward with his hands outstretched.

Here is what happened before his fingers reached Krillin's skull.

Suno watched the Kienzan sail overhead and realized what Krillin's plan had been. She gathered ki into her hands so that the disc wouldn't touch her skin and flew towards it in a burst of speed. Summoning all her focus, Suno caught up to the disc and guided it around in an arch before sending it back down to Earth.

Vegeta watched all of this with mild interest but never raised his voice to warn his ally.

Krillin felt the ki of the Kienzan as it flew back towards him and managed to hop out of the way with seconds to spare.

Finally, Nappa looked over his shoulder and saw the Kienzan come shrieking towards him. He flipped backwards to escape the deadly blade.

The edge of the Kienzan bit into his back and severed Nappa's spine.

Nappa crumpled to the ground in a broken heap as the Kienzan burrowed into the dirt and disappeared from sight. Earth's defenders stared in shock for a long moment without daring to breathe. Had they actually won? Was Nappa truly defeated?

Nappa let out a wretch of pain and tried to push himself up. His legs wouldn't move, however. No, Nappa realized with dawning horror, not wouldn't move. Couldn't.

"V-Vegeta!" Nappa gasped as he crawled through the grass and began to claw his way desperately to his comrade, "Vegeta! I… I can't feel my legs!" He sounded so different now. So weak and afraid. "Vegeta," he begged, "H-help me!" It was so pathetic that for a moment, Krillin and Suno felt a pang of guilt. Then they remembered all the dead and decided that this was more than deserved.

Vegeta hopped off the rock he'd been sitting on and walked towards Nappa while the other Saiyan desperately reached out a hand for assistance. Vegeta took Nappa's hand in his and Nappa smiled with genuine appreciation and affection.

"You disgust me, Nappa," Vegeta muttered sourly as his grip tightened on Nappa's hand.

"Wh-what?" Nappa said tremulously as color drained from his face.

"You're worthless," Vegeta continued. "Your defeat has shamed our entire race. After all, a Saiyan that cannot fight is no Saiyan at all." The others shuddered as they heard the bones snap in Nappa's hand which caused the massive Saiyan to whimper in pain. "It's a good thing you're removed from the gene pool, I suppose. Couldn't have you polluting my bloodline with your disgrace through interbreeding." Then he casually flung Nappa over his shoulder like a ball of trash. He watched Nappa sail up into the air, pleading and begging and screaming, and grinned. Without even the slightest effort, a geyser of purple ki seemed to erupt from beneath Vegeta's feet and sail up into the sky, reducing Nappa to wisps of ash. Vegeta grinned as he turned his attention to Earth's defenders. If a shark could grin, it would look not unlike Vegeta did at that moment.

"Well," he said as he cracked his neck from side to side, "That was fun. I suppose it's my turn."

OoOoOoO

Goku watched a bright purple beam of ki shoot high up into the sky from afar and her eyes widened in surprise and, despite herself, excitement. Whoever had done that must be really strong! Despite everything else, she couldn't help but look forward to the battle.

OoOoOoO

Vegeta tugged at his gloves and brushed dirt off the jutting shoulder pads of his armor, he rolled his neck and did a few stretches. He was acting as though they didn't exist or were beneath his notice. It was infuriating, because Piccolo knew exactly what it was. He was trivializing them. Still, Piccolo told himself, that was to their advantage.

'Let him preen and posture,' Piccolo thought. 'It gives me the time for my last trick.' While Vegeta was preoccupied with, of all things, picking at his teeth, Piccolo slowly moved one of his hands behind his back. With carefully deft movements, he plucked a small vial from his blue belt and uncorked it before he placed it on the ground. He thrust out his hands and green energy swirled forth from his palms. "Mafuuba!" he cried as the energy enveloped Vegeta.

OoOoOoO

Kami grunted in pain and clutched at his chest. He leaned heavily on his cane as his knees began to buckle. Popo moved dutifully to him and propped Kami up, letting the Guardian lean on him for support.

"Oh," he muttered with a ragged breath, "How I wish he wouldn't do that."

OoOoOoO

Vegeta stared at the green energy surrounding him and Piccolo grinned. It had worked! Vegeta was trapped and now all he had to do was–

Vegeta took in a quick breath and blew the Mafuuba out like a candle flame. Piccolo's mouth went agape and his arms fell limply to his sides. In the blink of an eye, Vegeta was on him, hitting him under the chin with a toe kick that sent him tumbling end over end before collapsing to the dirt in a heap.

"Kienz–" but before Krillin could even finish the word, Vegeta was right in front of him and grabbed his forearm.

"No more of that," Vegeta told him in an admonishing tone. Vegeta put on the slightest pressure and Krillin let out a silent scream as the bones in his forearm shattered. Then Vegeta let go of his arm and flicked Krillin on the bridge of his barely-visible nose to send him flying. Krillin smashed through several rocks before coming to a stop in a tree with several more broken bones.

"Fubuki Odori!" Suno cried out as she raced towards Vegeta from behind in a burst of speed. To the casual onlooker, it seemed as if Vegeta had simply stuck out his arm and Suno appeared from nowhere, flying in the opposite direction. What had actually happened was that Suno charged Vegeta and the Saiyan threw his elbow out to intercept her. It smashed Suno in the ribs, breaking several of them, before he smashed her again in the jaw to send her flying away.

"I must commend you," Vegeta said as he turned on Suno and slowly advanced towards her. "That little speed-boost technique is quite impressive. I've seen its like before but usually they're from races far more advanced than this cesspit of a planet. If you were of our race, I'd strongly consider letting you live."

"Mother!" Gohan screamed in fury as he lunged for Vegeta. He smirked and turned casually towards Gohan.

"But as you're not," he said while dismissively smacking Gohan into the dirt, "Then there's no reason for you to be alive." Gohan struggled to pick himself up before Vegeta kicked him into the gut and sent him tumbling away. "However, I've got a bit of cleansing to do before I get to you." He raised one hand high overhead and a blazing ball of ki roared to life in his palm like a fireball. "Say goodbye, abomination."

Suno staggered to her feet before collapsing again. Her vision swam and she started to cough up blood. She crawled, desperately, but every movement seemed to take an hour. She'd never get to Gohan in time. She was about to watch her son die, right in front of her.

Vegeta hurled the ki ball at Gohan with all his might with a bark of laughter. Gohan steeled himself and threw up his arms to defend himself. He wouldn't scream. He wouldn't cry. He would make his mothers proud. Everything was enveloped in a blinding flash of light.

OoOoOoO

The cane slipped from Kami's fingers and clattered to the ground. Not because Kami had lost his grip but because the cane had quite literally slipped through his hands.

"G-God?" Popo stammered in shock as his master began to fade away. "K-Kami?" Despite everything, Kami seemed… happy. Proud, even.

"He saved the boy," Kami whispered in disbelief before smiling serenely. "I knew he could be good." He faded away even as Popo reached out to try and touch him.

Popo suddenly realized how very… lonely it was at the top of the world.

OoOoOoO

Gohan slowly opened his eyes and looked up to see Piccolo standing in front of him with his arms outstretched. Tendrils of smoke were running off his body and his clothes were burning tatters that barely hung to his frame. For a moment, though, he seemed… fine. Then he fell forward and hit the ground with a thud.

"M-mr. Piccolo!" Gohan exclaimed as he knelt at the Namekian's side. He took one of his teacher's hands in both of his and looked at him with tears in his eyes. To his surprise, Piccolo was crying, too.

"G… Gohan," Piccolo muttered. Every word seemed to be agony and every breath took all his strength. "Are… are you alright?" Gohan sniffled and nodded. Piccolo… smiled. "That's good," he wheezed before laughing weakly. "The great Demon King, dying for a child. I should be disgusted. You and your mother and your damn soft hearts. Yet… I am glad to have done so. You are the only one who has ever shown me true kindness, Son Gohan. I am glad to call you… my friend." Then Piccolo slowly closed his eyes and let out his last breath.

"Mr. Piccolo?" Gohan whispered in a small voice. He squeezed Piccolo's hand again and shook it, trying to rouse him. "G-get up! Mr. Piccolo! Get up!" Piccolo gave no answer. "Please?" Gohan whimpered. It was no use. Piccolo Daimaou was dead.

"No…" Suno whispered as she finally managed to stand. If Piccolo was gone then so was Kami. So were the Dragon Balls. There was no way to bring anyone back. Launch, Chaozu, Ten, Yamcha, the people of East City. They were all just… gone. Forever.

"No…" Vegeta growled as he balled his fists. "No, no, no!" With the Namekian dead, then the Dragon Balls were useless! This whole planet was useless! His immortality had slipped from his fingers. All this time, wasted! He glowered down at Gohan and raised his hand again, creating an even bigger ki ball this time. This time, he'd make sure the brat was dead! He flung the ball down with all his might and Suno lunged forward to try and get to Gohan first… but she was too late. The blast engulfed Gohan and all she could do was scream as Vegeta laughed.

Then Vegeta abruptly stopped laughing and Suno felt a very familiar ki. She looked up, hoping against hope, and was the happiest she'd been in months when she saw…

"Goku!" Suno cried out in elation.

The Heroine had arrived. Goku smiled down at her, standing atop Nimbus with Gohan in her arms. She had also, Suno realized, bulked up considerably in the last eleven months. Vegeta furrowed his brow as he watched Goku descend to the ground on her strange yellow cloud. So this was Kakarot? He scoffed. Frankly, he didn't see what he was supposed to be impressed by.

Goku hopped off Nimbus and set Gohan down on the ground. Suno threw herself into Goku's arms and squeezed her wife as tightly as she could. She couldn't believe it. Goku was back! It was like she'd been in some awful, unending nightmare for almost a year and now she was finally awake again. Then she looked over Goku's shoulder at Vegeta and reminded herself that they weren't out of the woods yet.

"I'm sorry I didn't get here sooner," Goku said as she gently let Suno down. "Is everyone else...?" Suno nodded as Goku took a small pouch off of her belt.

"Ten, Yamcha, Chaozu, Piccolo, Launch… They're all gone." Goku turned and glared up at Vegeta while she took two senzu out of the pouch. If Piccolo was dead, Goku reminded herself, then no one else could come back. She handed a bean to Suno and one to Gohan. Both let out a sigh of relief as they chewed on the magical beans and their healing powers took effect.

"Where's Krillin?" Goku asked icily. Was she too late again? Was Krillin dead because of her, again? Krillin let out a groan of pain from the tree he was tangled up in and Goku flew up to him. "Hold on, buddy!" she told him as she carefully extracted him from the tree. She gently brought him down to the ground and gave him a senzu. Once Krillin was restored, he, too threw himself at Goku and hugged her tight.

"Goku!" he shouted. "Boy, am I glad to see you!" Goku smiled and hugged Krillin back.

"I'm happy to see you guys, too. I can take it from here." Krillin nodded and let Goku go before she turned back to Vegeta. He descended slowly as Goku walked towards him. The air seemed to simmer with tension like a heatwave as the two drew closer. Goku stopped for a moment and knelt to ruffle Gohan's hair affectionately. "You did great," Goku told him encouragingly, "I'm so proud of you!" Gohan sniffled and smiled. "You guys need to get out of here, though." Gohan nodded and Goku stood up before turning back to Vegeta. "You're the jerk who's killed all these people, aren't you?" Vegeta gave a cavalier shrug.

"No but I commanded the one who did. I am Vegeta, your King. I will give you this one chance to-"

"Nope," Goku said suddenly. Vegeta blinked. No one ever cut him off before.

"I… I beg your pardon?"

"Whatever you were going to say, I'm not interested. You and whoever else you came with killed a lot of good and innocent people and I'm going to make you pay!" Goku pounded her fist into her palm before jerking her head towards the east. "Follow me. I want us to go somewhere where no one will get hurt. That way I can go all out." Vegeta chuckled and shrugged.

"Very well, Kakarot," Vegeta said. "Your king shall grant you this request for your final resting place." Goku flew off with Vegeta tailing after her while the others watched. Despite the joy they felt at Goku's return, they couldn't shake off a sense of dread. Vegeta was incredibly powerful, like nothing they'd ever seen. They just hoped Goku's training would be enough.

OoOoOoO

While she and Vegeta were flying, Goku couldn't shake the feeling that she'd seen him somewhere before. There was something about the angry man that made him seem very familiar. She landed on a rocky outcropping and Vegeta landed on one that was slightly higher than hers. He crossed his arms and sneered and it was then when Goku finally realized why he looked so familiar.

"Hey!" she said while jabbing a finger at him. "I saw you in a pot once!" Vegeta chuckled.

"How convenient," he replied as he fixed his scouter over his ear, "Because I'm about to see you in a grave!" He chuckled and Goku frowned. She didn't like this guy very much. "But first," he went on, "Perhaps you wouldn't mind showing me your power level? I'm just curious to see how quickly you'll die." Goku nodded and brought her fists to her sides. She let out a cry of power as her aura surged around her and her ki rose dramatically. Vegeta nodded and tapped at his scouter as it pinged repeatedly and a number rose higher and higher. "Four thousand," he mused. "Impressive for garbage. However, you are still low class where I am a super elite. This battle was decided from the moment we were born."

Goku smirked and got into a fighting stance. "Don't be so sure about that," she warned Vegeta. "Even a 'low class' can surpass an elite with enough hard work." Besides, she still hadn't shown him her Kaiouken technique so he didn't really know how strong she was.

Vegeta chuckled and got into his own guard. "Then allow me to show you a power that no amount of 'hard work' will ever be able to overcome. You cannot win."

Goku narrowed her eyes at Vegeta and balled her fists. "People usually regret telling me when I can't do something," she warned. And with that, they attacked.

A/N: So you might have noticed that Goku's training didn't seem to be nearly as effective in this universe. That's not because she didn't train as hard or because she's inherently weaker. We're just... nerfing everybody in DBZ, to avoid the absurdly overblown power levels and power creep that DBZ winds up getting smothered in. Everyone's strength is still relative to what it is in canon so if Character A is stronger than Character B at Point C in canon but weaker than them at Point D then the same will remain true here.

SSV/N: If you're not a fan of that, "Three Eyed Turtle and the Murderous Monkey" won't have any nerfing.