Chapter Hundred-twenty
The King of Hell Strikes! The Last Temptation of Vegeta!
The quartet descended down into the third level of Babidi's ship, the final level before, presumably, they could reach Babidi and stop him from freeing Majin Boo. Dabura was already waiting for them, already prepared for the fight. His fighting stance was not unlike a fencer's, his body pivoted so that he led with his left hand.
"Well then," Gohan remarked as he walked ahead of the other three, "Looks like you're mi–" Dabura moved in a blur of blue and white, crashing into Gohan and sending the half-Saiyan slamming into the wall. "Oh, wow," Gohan muttered in surprise, "This guy can actually hit." He powered up to Super Saiyan and flew toward his enemy in a golden flash, advancing on him and colliding with him forearm to forearm in the center of the room. "Not bad," he admitted as they pushed against one another, each one trying to gain ground, "But you won't surprise me again!" He swept Dabura's legs out from under him and pushed forward when his feet were taken out, driving his forearm into Dabura's chest to send him flying. Dabura growled and dug his nails into the floor to stop his momentum, dragging along before coming to a stop.
"Interesting," Dabura mused as he returned to his neutral stance. He opened his left fist and fired a series of ki blasts at Gohan to test his defenses and reflexes.
Gohan was startled by Dabura's ki blasts, if only for how strange they looked. They were… black with red lightning crackling around them. Even that red lighting was unnaturally dark. There was an absence of light to them that was unsettling. He slapped the first few out of the way easily enough before catching the rest and gathering them in his hands, almost as if he were juggling them before hurling them all back at Dabura. The Demon King's smirk never faltered and he grabbed the edge of his cape in one hand, casting it forward like the wing of some great bat, pulling the ki back into himself where it vanished harmlessly.
'Interesting,' Gohan thought to himself. 'Very interesting. This guy might have some tricks up his sleeve.' He flew at Dabura again and his foe met his advance, clashing in the center of the room once more in an exchange of punches and kicks. The clash slowly caused them to raise up into the air until they were nearly touching the ceiling, Dabura's strikes coming as swift and as malevolent as the snapping of a viper's jaws while Gohan met him strength for strength.
"Wait," Goku asked Xī as the other three watched the battle from about twenty feet below, "Why were you so worried? This guy doesn't seem that tough."
"Don't let your guard down," Xī warned her, "Dabura is clearly holding back. I only hope Gohan can tell that much as well."
"I should hope so," Vegeta scoffed, "I could have killed him by now." As Vegeta was saying this, Gohan and Dabura's battle came to a halt in the air as they came to a knuckle lock, floating in the air as they pushed against one another.
"I admit," Dabura growled with an unflappable smirk, "You are my physical match."
"Then why are you still smiling?" Gohan asked, his voice strained with the effort.
"Oh, that's quite simple," Dabura explained as he wrenched his right hand free of Gohan's grip. "I'm not left-handed." With that, he punched Gohan across the jaw, sending him flying before appearing above him in a blink and driving his foot down into Gohan's chest. Gohan hit the floor hard and bounced up to meet another of Dabura's punches, smashing him into the wall. Gohan pulled himself out of the wall and rubbed at his jaw with, to Dabura's bemusement, a smirk of his own. "Now what are you smiling about?" he asked.
"Oh, it's quite simple," Gohan echoed. His hair spiked higher and lightning flared around his aura as his power doubled. "I'm not 'left-handed' either." He moved in while Dabura was astounded by his leap in power and crashed a spinning roundhouse kick into the side of his head, sending him flying across the room before interrupting his momentum with a backhand, sending him off in the other direction before spiking him down to the ground with both fists. Dabura pulled himself out of the ground with a groan and threw himself at Gohan, his smirk replaced by a snarl as they clashed again, this time seemingly matched before Gohan began to gain ground, his blows finding homes more often than Dabura's.
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"Nope," Babidi muttered with a shake of his head as he flexed his fingers. "Nope, nope, nope. Not happening. This is not happening."
OoOoOoO
The large room the combatants were in transformed almost instantly into a world of fire and brimstone, where continents of black obsidian were broken by oceans of lava, geysers and torrents of which intermittently burst and boiled high into the sky. At first, the change seemed to do little more than provide window dressing before Dabura started to regain the advantage, equaling Gohan's power again.
"Ohhh, this is bad," Xī muttered as she surveyed their surroundings, the trio now standing on a small island and forced to bunch up together. "This could definitely be a problem."
"Why?" Vegeta asked. "Where did the trickster send us now?"
"We've been sent to Dabura's demon realm," she explained. "Here, Dabura's powers are strongest. He and Gohan are completely matched now." Even as she said that, however, Gohan raised his hands over his head.
"Masenko!" he cried as he blasted Dabura, sending the Demon King hurtling down into the red sea. "Had enough yet?" Gohan called down into the waves. He was a little banged up and bruised but it wasn't anything he couldn't handle. In fact, this was… actually starting to get fun! He hadn't had a real fight in a long, long time! Of course, he had to remind himself, a real fight was bad because the longer this went on and the more Dabura was able to damage him, the more power would go to Majin Boo getting resurrected which they were explicitly there to stop! 'Might be time to bust out the Ryuuhameha,' he told himself.
"Not to worry, boy," Dabura taunted as he rose from the lava in a twisting red cyclone before coming to a stop, sending it flying everywhere. "I'm just getting warmed up!" Then he opened his mouth and a great jet of flame shot out toward Gohan, trying to engulf him. Gohan threw out his right hand and created a ki barrier in an attempt to shield himself from the flames but, to his shock, the fire actually ate through the shield, destroying it and blackening the arm of his suit, turning it to ash before Gohan was forced to pull away… directly into the path of a sword that seemed to have materialized from nowhere in Dabura's left hand as he swung at Gohan's neck. Gohan just barely managed to spin away to avoid the blade's edge, staring at it in surprise.
"Huh," he remarked, "I see your point." Then he held out his right hand as the grin returned to his face. "And here's my counterpoint!" He swung his hand forward and, in the instant before contact could be made, a blade of ki formed around his hand and clashed against Dabura's enchanted steel.
"Yeah, Gohan!" Goku cheered from below before giving Xī a light nudge with her elbow. "I taught him that," she told her proudly. Their blades met with a crackle and a clang, then backed away before colliding again, and a third time, and soon enough the Demon King and the Chosen One were fencing in mid-air. "I still don't see what you were worried about," Goku told Xī with a shrug. "This guy seems to be about as strong as Cell. Can you not beat him?" she asked.
"I'm a creator god," Xī responded with a bit of a huff. "I make things. You want someone who's really good at blowing stuff up? Get the destroyer god."
"You said that like it's a thing," Goku observed curiously.
"Ohhhh, it is," Vegeta grumbled with a shudder. Meanwhile, Gohan caught Dabura's blade in his and moved it around counterclockwise, forcibly disarming Dabura and catching the sword with his other hand, holding both toward him. Dabura looked back and forth between his empty hand in surprise before Gohan attacked, barely managing to dodge a few swipes before snapping his fingers and causing his sword to vanish from Gohan's hand. Gohan was surprised for a moment by the sudden absence of weight in his hand, leaving him open to a right hook from Dabura. He recovered from the blow and drove a hard kick into Dabura's ribs, driving the wind out of him and raising both hands to blast him in the chest. The blast sent Dabura hurtling toward the horizon before he came back at Gohan like a bat out of hell, firing his strange dark ki blasts again. Gohan wove through the air to avoid the attacks, charging ki into his left fist to crack Dabura across the jaw. The Demon King took advantage, however, and spit on Gohan's forearm in the split-second before contact. It was only Gohan's superhuman reaction time that allowed him to realize he'd been spit on as his sleeve started to turn to stone. He ripped the material away before the spit could seep into his clothes, leaving him un-stoned but slightly more undressed. He had been extremely fortunate that Dabura's spit had not landed on one of the small cuts that had been created by Dabura's sword.
"You seem a very interesting creature," Dabura remarked as they hovered and regrouped, each one planning their next attack. "I hate to kill you." Gohan chuckled at that and shook his head.
"Wish I could say the same," Gohan shot back with a shrug. "But you seem like a real piece of crap. So I can't wait to see you die." Dabura nodded and they went at each other again, their punches and kicks filling the air, each one striking, blocking, and counter-striking.
OoOoOoO
"Inconceivable!" Babidi wailed again as he watched the battle unfold from his crystal ball. How could this be happening? How could this no-name boy that the Kaioushin had picked out from the middle of nowhere be a match for his servant Dabura, King of the Demon Realm?! It wasn't fair! Where did the Kaioushin find these frustrating mortals? How was he supposed to resurrect Boo when his opponents were so…
OoOoOoO
"This is ridiculous," Vegeta groaned with a roll of his eyes. "Just let me go in there and kill Dabura, we don't have time for this!"
"Nah, come on, Vegeta!" Goku implored. "You had your turn, let Gohan have his! He's got this!" Vegeta's irritation, which had been growing by the minute almost as soon as they had left the tournament, was near to the boiling point.
"This is idiotic!" he exclaimed vehemently. "The more time we waste with this Majin Boo nonsense, the less time there will be for you and I to have our final battle, Kakarot!" Xī had almost found herself agreeing with Vegeta up until that point. That was his priority? Was he serious?!
"Don't worry about it!" Goku assured him with a dismissive wave and a pat on the arm. "I don't even think it's been, like, three hours. We've got plenty of time!"
"And what is that supposed to mean?!" Vegeta asked hotly. "That you don't think I can provide a suitable enough challenge to take up your time?"
"What?" Goku asked in confusion. "No! I'm just saying it won't take that long. I mean, the first time we fought, where you were trying to kill me and stuff, that took… jeez, what, two hours? Maybe three?" Vegeta fumed and opened his mouth again to let loose another stream of haughty, offended insults.
OoOoOoO
"Waaait a minute," Babidi mused as he tugged at his snout. "That's it!" He snapped his fingers and waved his hands in an intricate pattern in the air. "Paparapapa!"
OoOoOoO
Gohan knocked Dabura to the ground and came hurtling down toward him with a fist, aiming right for his expose chest… and drove his fist straight through the floor of Babidi's ship, which they had been returned to, with Dabura nowhere to be seen.
"Huh?" Gohan muttered as he pulled his fist out of the ground, looking around in confusion. Where had Dabura gone? Why was everything changed back so suddenly? "So… did he forfeit?" Gohan asked as he tore the last scraps of his shirt off and tossed them over his shoulder, stripped to the waist. "Did I win?" Gohan didn't quite look like the winner. He was covered in bruises and small cuts and scrapes, a few of which were still bleeding. Granted, Dabura hadn't looked in much better shape when Gohan had gone in for the killing blow, either.
"I guess?" Goku wondered with a shrug as she tossed him a senzu. "You did really well, though, Gohan. Although," she admitted while clearly not trying to sound disappointed in him, "You have been slacking off in your training."
"I know, I know," Gohan sighed as his injuries were healed by the strange magic bean. "I've been trying to make up the ground I lost but I guess it was just inevitable that after four years of training as hard as I could, I was always gonna lose the power I gained after seven more years of taking it easy." Goku shrugged and gave Gohan an encouraging pat on the shoulder.
"Still," she told him, "You did really well for your first real fight in a long time. Nice work!" Gohan grinned and Vegeta cleared his throat rather obnoxiously to get their attention.
"Not that this isn't nice," he said in a tone drenched in sarcasm, "But what are we supposed to do now? We've defeated all of Babidi's minions and yet we are no closer to him than we were before." He gave Xī a sidelong glance as he continued, "It's almost as if we should have listened to me and blown the damn thing up in the first place."
"Babidi's planning something," Xī remarked as she looked shiftily around the room. "Keep on your guard for any attack either physical or mental," she instructed them."
OoOoOoO
"All right," Babidi mused as he ran his fingertips over the crystal ball, "Let's see what I have to work with here." While Dabura sat in a meditative position and let Babidi's magic heal his injuries, he couldn't shake the feeling that he was being replaced. He was not a fan of this feeling.
OoOoOoO
'...You're kidding, right?' Xī asked, a tone of disgust in her voice as she felt Babidi's fingers flickering across her mind.
'Just figured I'd check…'
OoOoOoO
'...Wow,' Babidi remarked as he looked inside Goku's mind. 'There is… there is just nothing for me to work with here. You don't have any real anger issues or vices? Seriously?'
'Nah,' Goku assured him with a mental shrug, 'I'm pretty happy. You wanna get out of my head, though? That's rude.'
OoOoOoO
'Ah, now here's something,' Babidi observed as he looked into Gohan's mind. 'You've got quite a bit of anger, haven't you? What's the matter, eh? Childhood trauma? Parental abandonment? All this pressure just too much to handle?'
'Not interested,' Gohan told him flatly. 'My moms are great. If I do have an anger problem, it's directed at people like you.'
OoOoOoO
"Be careful," Xī warned the others. "I sensed Babidi's magic trying to invade my mind. No doubt since you were so much more powerful than all of his other warriors, he intends to turn one or more of you against the others to give Buu the power he needs to be revived."
"He already tried that with me," Gohan put in. "He didn't have much luck, obviously."
"Yeah, same here," Goku added. "I think we're okay. Right, Vegeta?" She turned to look at the Saiyan King, who hadn't said a word. "Vegeta?"
OoOoOoO
'You can't beat her, you know.'
'Get out of my head,' Vegeta warned Babidi. 'It's not a nice place to be. Besides,' he added, 'You're wasting your time. I told myself quite some time ago that I would never be a slave again. You have nothing to bargain with.'
'Oh but I do,' Babidi assured him, his voice as tempting and soothing as a cold glass of water on a hot summer day. 'I have the one thing you need more than anything else in this world. Victory. Validation.'
'Validation?' Vegeta echoed incredulously. 'Don't be ridiculous. There is nothing I need to validate myself with.'
'Isn't there?' Babidi asked in a tone that was almost coy. 'Let's see here…' Vegeta shuddered, feeling Babidi peel back the layers of his mind no matter how he tried to fight it. 'This 'Freeza' character… killed your entire race and then, when it was finally your turn to fight him, you failed miserably. You didn't become this 'Super Saiyan', whatever that is, she did. Now, yes, your son killed Freeza in the end but he was trained by that 'Gohan' boy far more than he ever was by you so was it really your victory?' He wondered.
'Stop that,' Vegeta warned him. Babidi only chuckled before continuing.
'A failure to protect or preserve your species,' Babidi mused. 'You are the last of your kind, Vegeta. Only you and Goku remain, plus… those other two, whoever they are. In a few more decades, you'll all be dead, and in a few centuries after that, the universe's greatest warriors will have been bred out of existence. Nothing you can do about that, I'm afraid. And with Freeza dead and gone, there's nothing you can do to truly get your vengeance, either.'
OoOoOoO
"Vegeta?" Goku asked a third time. Vegeta just seemed to be staring out into space. Goku poked him a few times in the cheek, to no reaction. It was as if he wasn't even aware they existed.
"Kill him," Xī ordered them, a sharp edge of worry to her voice. "Kill him now while he's defenseless before Babidi gets his hooks into him!"
"What?!" Gohan asked, aghast. "What are you talking about? I'm not gonna kill Vegeta!" A sentence he could never have imagined himself saying a decade ago, to be fair.
"There is no way to break Babidi's spell," Xī explained, never taking her eyes off of Vegeta. "If he falls under Babidi's control, you'll have to kill him anyway! It'll be a kindness to kill him now before any damage can be done and he can be turned against you to revive Majin Boo!"
"That's crazy talk," Goku told Xī sternly before looking back at Vegeta. "Come on, Vegeta! Snap out of it!"
OoOoOoO
'I'll fight her anyway after we've killed you and stopped your monster,' Vegeta thought dismissively. 'You won't tempt my soul just with a battle.'
'You'll fight her, yes,' Babidi agreed. 'But will you win?' Vegeta bristled and Babidi chuckled again.
'The one and only time we fought, she never would have defeated me on her own!' Vegeta remarked indignantly. 'That won't change now!'
'Won't it?' Babidi wondered. 'Once upon a time, yes, you were her superior. Yet ever since that day, no matter how hard you have struggled and fought, no matter how much you trained, she has always exceeded you. For a moment, for the briefest instant, you can be more powerful. Yet she always closes the gap before too long, then takes off ahead again, leaving you behind. This is your last chance,' Babidi reminded him. 'Can you really leave the battle up to chance?'
'I don't have to listen to this!' Vegeta snapped. 'I shall never be a slave again!' Babidi's persistent chuckle and relentless digging continued.
'You have failed, King Vegeta,' he narrated, his tone heavy with patronizing mockery as he went on. 'It's not your fault, of course, there's nobody to blame for your enemies being hopelessly out of your league. So you let that inability to do anything become an excuse to save yourself from having to do anything. You have become soft and complacent. But you have failed. You did not avenge your people. You cannot continue their legacy. And so you wrap yourself in luxury and wealth and power, you distract yourself with a 'loving' family, you affix yourself with all the trappings of success to hide from the fact that you are a failure. But,' Babidi continued, 'There is one thing left for you to succeed at. One small victory you can actually obtain.'
'Stop it,' Vegeta insisted, though his resistance was breaking. 'I have trained seven years for this day! I can defeat her under my own power!'
'Can you?' Babidi wondered. 'Do you know that for sure? Yes, you have trained all this time, but so has she. She was stronger before. She will be stronger now. Think of what I did to Spopovich,' he reminded Vegeta. 'I took an ordinary, mortal man with malice and rage in his heart and I raised him up far beyond his limits. You have such a rage inside of you, Vegeta, such darkness and hatred. Imagine what I could do for you. The power I could bring to you. I could make you into your old self again. Ruthless. Relentless. The ultimate warrior. Swear your soul to me and you will have your victory.'
'I… I…'
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"Come on, Vegeta!" Goku urged as she shook him by the shoulders. "Get it together!" Vegeta shoved her away and looked at them again. For the moment, it seemed as if he was his normal self and the moment of uncertainty had passed. The apology was almost on Xī's lips before his face contorted with rage, his eyes going wild and bloodshot. "...Vegeta?"
OoOoOoO
'I will never be a slave again!' Vegeta insisted, over and over, as Babidi's words chipped at his mind.
'You can't beat her,' the mellifluous, tempting, tantalizing words echoed again and again. 'You need me.'
'I will never…'
'You can't…'
'I will never…'
'You need…'
'Never…'
'Can't…'
'Never…'
'Need…'
'...I will.'
OoOoOoO
Vegeta lurched forward as a painful scream ripped forth from his chest, grabbing his head in both hands as it throbbed painfully. He felt as though his head were about to explode.
"Vegeta!" Gohan and Goku cried, moving toward him before his aura flared wildly around him, the force of it knocking both of them back as Vegeta toppled to his knees. Vegeta had never felt anything like this before, had never experienced such a breathtaking pain. It was devouring him, consuming him, driving him insane! He fell onto his back and writhed in pain, his back arching and his muscles moving unnaturally as his veins bulged and rippled across his skin. He underwent a completely involuntary transformation into Super Saiyan then his hair spiked wildly and lightning danced malevolently around his body in wild, jagged movements as he was forcibly ascended into Super Saiyan 2. Every movement was uncontrolled as if some other force was taking hold of his body. It was agony, it was killing him! His screams grew louder and he felt his forehead burning as if his face were being shoved into the surface of the sun. He couldn't breathe. Was this some sort of a trick? Was he dying?!
Then, as suddenly as the pain had come, it left. Vegeta slowly rose to his feet with his eyes transfixed on his shaking hands as he took wild, ragged breaths in through his mouth. He could feel it. The darkness in his heart had been brought to the forefront again. He could see with complete clarity again. His business, his family, the feeble attachments he had been gathering into himself, none of it mattered. All that mattered was power. He was power. All that mattered was conquest. He was a conqueror. All that mattered was the fight in front of him. He was… he was…
"Free…" Vegeta breathed, stretching the word out before it dissolved into a chuckle. Even that sounded different. It was low, guttural, bestial. His eyes were transfixed on Goku as he balled his hands into fists. "Master Babidi," he snarled. That in and of itself made the others take a step back. Had Vegeta actually said that? How could that have happened? What was happening? "This arena is far too small for me. Take us somewhere else. I know where I want to have my fight." Then, they were gone.
OoOoOoO
They reappeared in the middle of the ring at the Tenkaichi Budoukai, the crowd's roaring cheers dying instantly as the quartet materialized, the air instantly filled with tension and apprehension.
"Goku?" Suno asked as she advanced toward them, Goten in her arms. "What happened? What's going on?" Goku held up a hand toward Suno, never taking her eyes off of Vegeta.
"Suno," she warned, "Get out of here. This isn't safe right now." Vegeta chuckled in that savage tone again.
"Yes," he muttered, "You did always care for the sheep, didn't you?" He fixed his manic eyes on Goku as his malevolent grin grew even wider. "Fight me," he challenged her. "Fight me or I will kill every last one of them."
'Kill them all anyway!' Babidi ordered Vegeta. 'The spectators, the boy, Goku, and especially the Kaioushin!' Vegeta ignored him, his focus solely on Goku.
"I demand an answer, Kakarot," he insisted. "Will you fight me?" Goku hesitated for half a second and that instant was all Vegeta needed. He threw out his hand to one side and, faster than anyone could react, blasted a hole right through the stadium, killing thousands of people in the stands. The audience shrieked in terror and began to flee as those in the luxury box watched on in horror.
"Vegeta…" Bulma whimpered, worry on her face and in her eyes as she looked at her husband on one of the giant screens, his face twisted up in malice and hatred with that strange M burned onto his forehead. What had happened to him? How could he have turned into this monster? 'Or more appropriately,' she was forced to remind herself, 'How could he turn back?'
"...Dad?" Trunks wondered in a small voice as he stared at his father, the man who had just slaughtered innocents without even looking at them. Then, seemingly just because he could, he blasted another chunk of the stadium, killing thousands more.
'"Fight me, Kakarot!" Vegeta demanded. "Only you and I! Tomorrow you return to the dead but I am not finished with you!" Goku scowled, her anger tinged with disappointment as she powered up to Super Saiyan 2 to meet his challenge.
"No!" Xī said firmly as she stood between Goku and Vegeta, fanning her arms out. "Absolutely not! This is insane! You will not fight him, Goku! Every single injury he inflicts on you will be power that Babidi gives to Majin Boo! Which, hey, in case you forgot, is exactly what we are trying to stop." She glared at Goku, who was looking over her shoulder, her eyes fixated on Vegeta. "Listen to me when I'm talking to you!" she ordered. "You, Gohan, and I will fight Vegeta together. We will kill him and then we will go back to Babidi's ship, kill him, and stop this whole mess before it gets any wo–" Goku held a hand up in front of Xī's face to silence her. Her palm glowed and a ball of blue-white ki hovered less than an inch from Xī's face.
"Move," Goku told Xī sternly, her eyes never leaving Vegeta. Xī stared at the ki ball in her face with a hint of nervous apprehension and, reluctantly, she moved to one side. Goku dropped her arm and advanced toward Vegeta, glaring at him. "I'll fight you," she conceded, "But not here. You've killed too many innocent people already. I won't have you hurting anyone else."
"There's no one I want to hurt but you," Vegeta assured her with a sickening smirk. "Babidi," Vegeta announced, already having dropped the use of the word 'Master', "Take us somewhere remote. This battle shall give you all the energy you require." Goku and Vegeta were gone in a flash and Xī and Gohan were alone, Xī standing in open-mouthed shock and dismay. This was… how could they…
"IDIOTS!" Xī screamed at the top of her lungs, the purple color in her face turning even darker with rage. "AN ENTIRE FUCKING RACE OF IDIOTS, THAT'S WHAT I MADE!" She couldn't believe that the fate of the entire universe was now in jeopardy because of the dick-measuring contest of a couple of punch-happy fight-monkeys, one of whom was a woman. "Come on, Gohan," she growled irritably. "I guess we have to go save the universe while Goku and Vegeta fuck around." She grabbed Gohan by the arm and the pair disappeared, returning to the desert outside Babidi's ship with Xī's power of Instantaneous Movement. Goten squirmed out of Suno's arms and started to fly off into the air before Suno grabbed her by the tail.
"And just where do you think you're going, young lady?" she asked sternly.
"Big bro has to go save the universe!" Goten reminded her. "He needs my help!"
"Absolutely not!" Suno scolded her as she started pulling her back down to the ground. "Goten, this is serious! This isn't a game! You could get killed out there! What Gohan needs is for you to stay safe! What if something happened to you while he was fighting? He couldn't focus on what he needed to do if he had to worry about protecting you!"
"But–"
"No buts!" Then they noticed Trunks starting to fly off as well. "What are you doing?" Suno asked.
"I gotta go find my dad and Goten's… other mom," he explained. "I gotta try and talk to him! I gotta see what's wrong!"
"No, you won't!" Suno told him in a tone so severe one would be forgiven for thinking she was his mother. "Your father isn't himself right now, Trunks! He's dangerous! He might not even recognize you as his son!"
"But he's my dad!" Trunks insisted. "If something's wrong, if he's in trouble or he's mad or whatever, I gotta help him!" He powered up to Super Saiyan and flew off, which caused Goten to power up as well.
"Goten!" Suno snapped. "What did I just tell you?!"
"Trunks is my friend!" She whined. "I-I can't let him go by himself! Like you said, it could be dangerous!" Before Suno could argue with that logic, which she most assuredly would, Goten pulled out of her grip and flew off, moving far faster than Suno would be able to catch her. Suno could only groan and run her hands through her hair. What was she going to do with these hero-babies?
OoOoOoo
It was pretty fitting, Goku observed, that she and Vegeta would be fighting out in the desert again. It was a different desert, she knew, but it was still miles upon miles of sunbaked earth and mountains.
"I just can't believe it," she remarked as she got into her fighting stance. "How could you get controlled like this? You've always been so prideful, so headstrong. Is Babidi's magic really that powerful? Or…" she stopped as the pieces clicked in her head and her eyes went wide with realization. "You let Babidi control you, didn't you?" Vegeta nodded grimly. "But why?" she asked. "Why throw your pride away like this and become a slave again?"
"Because I had to," Vegeta growled, "For this." He gestured back and forth between them. "This battle. This moment. This destiny. I needed Babidi to restore me, to remind me of my true purpose. All so that I could rectify the cosmic injustices done to me. When you surpassed me. When you stole my birthright. When you dared to defy me! His eyes narrowed and he looked at Goku with unrestrained hatred. "So that I, Vegeta, the King of All Saiyans, could put you, Kakarot, back in your natural place: on your knees, in the dirt, before your superior." Goku scoffed.
"Well then," she taunted him, "After all that, you better win. It sure would be a shame if you threw away your soul and then I beat you again." Vegeta let out a primal roar of fury and lunged for Goku, who let out a battle cry of her own and flew at him in response. And the Earth and the Heavens alike trembled at their fury.
A/N: Hey, everyone! We have a works page on TV Tropes now! I can't upload the link because FF kinda sucks a butt about that sort of thing, but you can definitely search for "Tales of the Monkey Queen" on TV Tropes. We'd also like to give a shout out and a big thanks to tropes Hello101, fsdfsdfsd, and acg452. Keep up the great work, guys! And for any other tropers reading this, feel free to add onto the page yourselves!