Chapter 9: Old Grudges
Cautious optimism spread across the Earth, could these new arrivals have really beaten the both invaders in a matter of seconds? Was the fight for Earth really over, or had the seemingly indestructible beings somehow survived the massive explosions that had completely blinded the cameras orbiting the Earth for nearly a full minute.
"Where is", "Son Goku?" The two men who had beaten the Saiyan invaders in just two attacks asked, one right after the other. Their voices had such deep German accents it was hard for the untrained ear to recognize the slight metallic edge to it.
Most of the human z-fighters recognized the double R symbol on the shirts of these new strange fighters, and realized their situation might have just gotten worse.
Tien took point, steeling himself to respond to the apparent Red Ribbon fighters, that he couldn't seem to sense the Ki of. His mouth started to move, but any words that came out were completely drowned out by another large explosion.
Vegeta burst out of the rubble surrounding the lava lake that everyone had assumed he was at the bottom of; the look on his face was that of deranged fury, no words were spoken as he shot straight towards his ambushers.
The Earthlings had tricked him, completely and utterly, there was no means to a wish for immortality, they were simply stalling so these new stronger fighters could arrive. Now not only was he further behind on his schedule, because he had thought there was no reason to hurry any longer, but he had lost his second in command, the second strongest Saiyan in the universe. They were going to pay; they were all going to pay.
He let loose a volley of small Ki blasts, the main targets of his aggression vanished long before any of the blasts could hit, most of the weaker fighters were able to get out of the way also, though Sgt. Adriac and Private Bengal had the bad luck of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and were caught in the subsequent explosions.
"NOOO!" Captain Meditrain shouted as he rushed to the crater his men had been standing, but nothing remained. He dropped to his knees, he had never lost a soldier under his command before, and now he had lost two.
He jumped to his feet, fully prepared to throw everything he had at their killer, but was quickly restrained by Nam, "Now is not the time for revenge, see." Nam said pointing out the fact no one present were even able to track the trio fighting's movements, they were moving at mind boggling speeds back and forth across the sky, the only telltale that they were still there was the resulting shock waves and explosions from the fighting.
Vegeta was getting irritated, his scouter wasn't registering their movements at all, he wasn't sure if it was damaged in the initial attack or if some unique ability was at play, it was making the fight much more difficult than it should've been. He couldn't anticipate their movements, they were both slower and weaker than he was but they moved with unison that he could barely comprehend. Every time he tried to focus on one the other would jump in, he just couldn't shake them.
He was currently on the defensive blocking and dodging a non-ending array of perfectly timed punch-kick combination from the pair, finally a kick made it through his defenses while he was busy blocking, one high punch from the left and one low punch from the right, the man's leg colliding right at the tip of Vegeta's hip, causing him to grunt in pain, and distracting him just enough that he let a follow up punch hit him straight in the face, breaking his nose, and sending the Saiyan Prince hurtling backwards.
One of the two let loose a volley of blasts at the rapid receding form of Vegeta, while the other one vanished, his speed otherworldly.
Vegeta had only flown a few thousand feet before he was able to use his Ki to stop his momentum, he registered the blasts moving towards him, before he could do anything about them though, a powerful double legged kick, hitting square in the center of his back, launched him forward, straight into the wall of blasts. The initial explosion was nothing compared to what followed, as both men began to let loose volley after volley into the center of the initial smoke cloud. A massive ball of energy continued to grow, the mysterious duo not allowing the blasts to detonate until it reached a massive size once more.
The resulting explosion was so high in the sky, and released enough energy that it actually damaged the satellite that was recording overhead at the moment, causing the feeds to millions of televisions around the world to go to static, causing confusion, and fear to spread all across the world, the growing popular opinion was that this was the end of the world, what other explanation could there be for beings capable of the feats being shown.
Vegeta was trapped, pressed between the expanding walls of energy, barely able to keep his energy flowing out enough to keep from dissolving under the staggering amount of energy around him, he pumped more and more energy out trying to get the blasts around him to detonate, he was starting to get nervous about how long he could hold out. Finally he forced the bubble to burst, as he was enveloped in searing hot energy.
Both of the new fighters stood at the ready, they would be sure they got their target this time, their master's programming didn't allow them to accept failure of any kind.
Finally the smoke cleared, and the burnt and battered form of Vegeta still floated there, panting hard, the ragged remains of his armour barely hanging on his body 'Why the hell aren't they even winded, have they just been playing with me?' rage began to build inside of Vegeta once more, he was no one's plaything, He noticed the men had made the mistake of leaving themselves spread out, this might be his best chance to make some headway against them.
Vegeta launched forward as fast as he could, crossing the distance between himself and the one that had kicked him into the other's blast in a fraction of a second, his fist brought back ready for a punishing blow.
The man brought his arm up intending to block Vegeta's strike and buy time for his partner to catch back up. Vegeta's cocked back arm was just a ploy though, as both of his hands wrapped around the man's large arm, while both feet planted themselves on his chest. Vegeta pulled with all his might, and before the man could properly react, his arm had been ripped off.
Vegeta was initially surprised by how tough it was to pull the man's arm off, but it all soon became clear as a shower of sparks shot forth from being's shoulder as his arm finally gave way.
Vegeta growled in frustration that he hadn't connected the dots earlier, he figured something was up when such powerful fighters had appeared, undetected by his scouter, but he had not encountered machines capable of actually harming him since he was a child.
This revelation distracted the Saiyan prince just long enough for the two, presumably androids, to regain the offensive. The now one armed android, sporting a number 10 on his shirt, already had an attack charged, and fired it straight into Vegeta's chest sending him flying, Android 9 was waiting in the wings and quickly ax-handled the stunned Saiyan before he could make it too far. The Saiyan prince's body formed a large crater when he finally collided with the ground at meteor like speeds.
The next satellite had moved back into range just in time to see the Saiyan warrior plummet from the sky, eliciting cheers from all over the planet, maybe the world wasn't ending yet after all.
Piccolo could only watch mouth agape as a being much stronger than him was pummeled helplessly, the two apparent androids would be a major problem to his eventual plans of world domination, but at the moment they were helping him more than hurting. 'Hopefully they just all kill each other so I don't have to worry about any of them…' The son of the demon king thought to himself.
Most of the other fighters were equally nervous at this revelation, All but two of the human fighters knew of the Red Ribbon army, either through stories from Goku, or fighting them personally at the start of their military careers. The fact they had apparently graduated to using mechanical soldiers strong enough to fight the Saiyans was a scary thought since in all likelihood they would resume their quest for world domination as soon as the fight ended.
Vegeta stayed in the hole his body had formed for a moment, gathering his breath, and making sure he hadn't suffered any severe injuries, the kind that adrenaline could have been hiding. Other than bruised ribs, and the usual cuts and burns of an intense fight he mentally declared himself ready to continue, though with more strategy than before.
He shot into the air intending to press his advantage against the damaged android. As soon as he approached the duo they shot out in opposite directions, trying to get him to bite on one so the other could attack from behind. Knowing he couldn't rely on his scouter to warn him of sneak attacks Vegeta attempted to calm himself, and focus on his hearing, it would be his best advantage in this fight.
Completely changing his strategy hoping to fool the droid's computers, He stood there motionless waiting for his prey to come to him, and he didn't have to wait long before he saw the one-armed one rushing him from the front, Vegeta watched it come, but kept his ears open for the disturbances of the wind meaning the other was coming from behind.
The one armed one got within a few feet before veering to the left and firing a lone large blast, expecting Vegeta to fall into yet another trap from behind.
Vegeta felt his body instinctually want to dodge to the right, he almost did if hadn't have heard the movements of the second Android moving into position to hit him back into the blast again. The Saiyan Prince was almost insulted that the Androids thought he would fall for the same trick twice, and instead of dodging he decided to take a riskier strategy.
Focusing a large portion of his remaining strength into his arm, he attempted to backhand the blast. At first the ball of energy resisted his attempts to change its trajectory, but it eventually gave way to Vegeta's sheer will power, deflecting it into the waiting second android, detonating on impact, sending Android 9 flying.
Vegeta wasted no time using the seconds he had bought himself and began to beat the android 10 down. The Android couldn't keep up with the advantage in speed and strength Vegeta possessed with only one of his arms.
Android 10 blocked a powerful kick with his shin, but the force of the blow caused him to involuntarily rotate his head right into Vegeta's follow up punch, which was strong enough to actually dent it's outer shell right on its eye socket, eliminating the use of its right high speed camera.
The processor quickly put a large amount of its computing power into its attempts to optimize the use of its left, hopefully enough that it could survive the fight long enough for Android 9 to re-engage, Vegeta had other plans though as he charged as much strength as he could into his left hand and promptly jabbed straight through the equivalent of the machine's chest cavity, right where it's heart would've been had it been alive. Pulling out a small object as it cut through. He hoped whatever it was, was as important as a heart to the machine.
The red light in the android's still functioning eye flickered for a second, as a message was received, the android immediately wrapped it's arm and both legs around Vegeta and attempted to execute its self-destruct mechanism, as the shared processor that controlled it and its twin determined it would now be useless against Goku when and if he arrived.
"Hasta la vista!" It shouted as it attempted to start it its emergency self-destruction sequence.
Unfortunately for the droid, the bomb wouldn't go; a nearly instantaneous self-examination quickly revealed the problem, Vegeta had narrowly missed pulling the bomb itself out, and pulled the bomb's trigger out instead.
Vegeta misinterpreted the bear hug as the Android attempting to hold him for the second android to deliver a finishing blow, as he quickly threw all the energy he could into a massive aura, that shot out as a destructive, explosive wave, shattering the damaged android into a thousand tiny shards.
He immediately whipped around searching for the location of the second android, which was quickly located standing on a nearby hill, two massive balls of energy already gathered, but otherwise completely motionless.
Vegeta rushed him confident in his ability to tear the lone machine apart, before he could cross half the distance to him though a large pink hand burst through its head, the energy in each hand quickly faded out, and the arms dropped limp.
Vegeta had completely stopped himself and now simply stared in horror, as the now broken android was thrown to the side, "Hello their Vegeta long time no see." Dodoria said his voice taunting, as the rest of his team rushed up around their leader each with as smug a look on their face as the Planet Trade Lieutenant.
"Wha… huh… ugh…" Vegeta couldn't make his mouth form words, 'What the hell, why is Dodoria here? sure Frieza was probably listening to me about the wish, but Dodoria couldn't of possibly gotten here in time-... unless… unless… Frieza was going to have him try and kill me anyway…. that bastard….' Rage pure unadulterated rage began to build in the pit of Vegeta's stomach, they were going to pay, everyone on this rock was going to pay, but especially Frieza was going to pay, he just had to figure out a way to survive the next few minutes.
"Come on Vegeta, we all know you monkeys can at least mimic us advances species well enough to form full sentences." Dodoria continued to taunt, earning chuckles from his team, a ring of 4 fighters behind him of varying species.
"Shove it Dodoria!" Vegeta shouted back, he knew he was in no condition to take part in a prolonged fight, the robots had actually done a decent amount of damage to him, meaning he had one option left, he had to escape, hopefully killing all the fools in the process, "Galick!" he said cupping his hands, all he needed was a distraction, "Gun!" A massive wall of purple energy shot towards the ground, Vegeta didn't intend to hold it though and as soon as it was away he launched himself back in the direction of his pod.
Dodoria just smirked, as he realized Vegeta's plan, he decided to play along for a moment though and raced to the spot on the ground the blast was about to it and caught the blast, with only one hand, before throwing it back into the air like it was nothing, before shooting into the air.
Vegeta had only made it a quarter of a mile or so when Dodoria's large frame seemingly materialized in front of him. "Vegeta, Vegeta, when are you going to learn." His fist lashing out into the Saiyan Prince's gut. Vegeta gasped, all of the air forced from his lungs, and the fist still indenting his chest cavity continued making breathing impossible, his eyes almost popping from his head. A simple back hand from Dodoria was all it took to send the Saiyan prince back into the ground.
An animalistic scream of unbridled fury rang through the air. Dr. Gero was on the verge of an all-out meltdown, he couldn't understand what could've happened to his second android, "Surely the Saiyan couldn't have defeated 9 that quickly, the two of them were crushing the fool."
He watched the last few seconds of the recording once more trying to make sense of what he was seeing, somehow the Saiyan had been able to outsmart his computer, or at least out time it.
The mad scientist was practically snarling in rage, "All the effort, the planning, the timing, all wasted!" his fist slamming down on his desk. "That Saiyan is going to pay for getting between me and my revenge… no all of them are going to pay, each and everyone one of them." Dr. Gero's voice dropping to darker and darker tones with each word he uttered.
"I don't care if I have to make a hundred androids each and every one of them will pay, but not before I get to see both that Saiyan and Goku crushed beneath my feet!"
He screamed his eyes scanning over the 6 other stasis tubes he had prepared; some filled others yet to be.
The sight of his creations calmed him momentarily "Come my children we have work to do, if we are to get my revenge." His voice not even bothering to hide the insanity that had filled the doctor's mind since the fall of the red ribbon army. His manic laughter filled the laboratory once more, like many other times during the last few years.
The Z-Fighters were just now realizing just how much trouble they were in, Not only was the pink being much stronger than either of the Saiyans had been, but he gave off an aura that might've even been darker.
His backup weren't slouches either, each one nearly as strong as Nappa had been, they quickly surrounded the group to make sure they didn't attempt to escape, "Well hello there, just stay right where you are for now, our boss would like a word with you after he gets done having his fun with Vegeta." a large one with a single horn jutting from his head said a confident smirk on his face.
No one moved; they knew they wouldn't stand a chance for the time being and just had to wait, for something to change.
"Not so tough now are ya Vegeta?" Dodoria said as he picked Vegeta from the dirt, blood dripping from the corners of his lips.
Vegeta let out a quiet growl in response, but it sounded more like a gurgling sound due to the blood in his throat.
"Why don't you just go ahead and tell me where the source of this wish that has Frieza so worked up is so I can take you back to him for your punishment." Dodoria said hoping Vegeta would try to fight back some more, he always enjoyed putting the Prince in his place.
When Vegeta responded his voice was hoarse and only between wheezes, "I don't know...Why...don't you...ask… the Earthlings..."
"Fine I'll deal with you later, goodnight Vegeta." Dodoria said, a sadistic look on his face, as he punched the Saiyan in the gut once more and shook him to make sure he was unconscious, before tossing him to the dirt, like a piece of trash.
Dodoria then crossed the battle field so fast his after-mage had not even faded until after he had already appeared front of them.
"So Earthlings, Vegeta tells me you've resisted his attempts to learn about how to get this wish so far, an impressive feat for weaklings such as yourselves." Dodoria paused for a moment to add gravity to what he said next, "But your resistance is now at an end… you will tell me, how to get this wish now, or I will kill one of you every five seconds until you do."
Everyone just stared at him in shock not sure if he was serious or not, they found out he was when he reached zero, a single blast shot out faster than any of them could follow, completely vaporizing Sgt. Aegean, his death yell drowned out by the explosion.
Dodoria just started his count down once more, he wouldn't waste time negotiating with being so far below himself, he was getting straight to the point, he hated being on such weak worlds, besides he could hardly wait to see Frieza finally kill Vegeta.
Captain Meditrain's vision turned red, he was done staying calm he had lost three more men than he had his entire life and he refused to lose anymore. He let loose a wild yell and shot forth, letting loose a flurry of punches and kicks, desperate to land even a hit to avenge his fallen men.
Finally in desperation he let loose as strong of a blast as he could gather, before the smoke could even disperse, everyone heard Dodoria say, "times up." Before anyone knew what was happening he was already behind the commander of the Blue Force, and snapped his neck in a single fluid movement.
Once more Dodoria began to count down, fear beginning to build in everyone's stomach, finally they could take it no more everyone rushed forward determined to go down fighting if nothing else.
Dodoria and his men dodged the desperate attacks, none of them fighting back except when Dodoria said zero, in the next 10 seconds Pvt. Aden and then Chiaotzu both met quick, violent ends.
"Chiaotzu NO!" Tien shouted, he couldn't believe it his best friend vaporized in one blast by one of Dodoria's smaller men. "I will avenge you!" He shouted placing both hands in position to use his signature attack, "Tri-Beam!" just as the Red amphibious creature dodged one of Yamcha's kicks.
The blast took him completely by surprise, and actually managed to kill the creature, much to all of the Planet Trade solder's collective shock.
This gave Chi Chi a chance to strike Dodoria, who had stopped counting, her fist failed to even move his head.
"Well I think we know the next two who are going to die, no point counting." Dodoria growled, before backhanding Chi Chi into the ground and charging up a powerful blast preparing to vaporize her while his men swarmed Tien.
Just as he was about to launch obviously fatal attack his scouter picked up a new power level, one higher than any of the others on the planet, minus his own men and Vegeta, "5000, Ah so Nappa has decided to make an appearance after all." Dodoria said with a chuckle as he looked at a rapidly approaching figure, completely forgetting he was about to kill the woman before him. His men also stopped their attack of a now very bloody Tien to watch Dodoria, play with another Saiyan.
Instead of the giant brute they had expected to see though, they saw a man wearing an orange Gi, on a golden cloud shooting across the sky.
A small sense of relief spread among the remaining survivors, they knew right away that Goku was their best hope for survival. He was stronger than Piccolo was already and everyone knew he was holding back a lot.
He landed with a series of acrobatic flips and stood facing Dodoria, a look of utmost seriousness on his face. "Hey, you're not the Saiyans are you?" The childlike question was enough to knock everyone present on their backs.
After everyone righted themselves, Dodoria was the first one to speak, "Do we look like Saiyans you idiot?" 'Who the hell is this moron?'
"Well no, but I was expecting to fight the Saiyans and you guys are here instead." Goku responded more on guard now that he had noticed the dark energy swirling off of the being he was talking to.
"Oh so you're one of this pitiful planet's defenders, no need to worry about the big bad Saiyan I already took care of Vegeta." Dodoria said point with his thumb back over his shoulder. As if on cue Vegeta let out a loud moan, as he forced himself to shake off the chains of unconsciousness.
"Thank you for helping us against the Saiyans but I think it's time you leave." Goku said his voice getting warier by the minute, especially after noticing the condition of his friends were, and how some of them were missing, he wasn't sure if the Saiyans had killed them or if this new threat was the cause.
"I don't think I will be leaving, you see my… employer... has asked me to retrieve something for him, you see he heard there are means to grant a wish here. You wouldn't know where we would go to get this wish granted would you?"
"Sorry but I don't think you will be having your wish granted, the Dragon Balls are gone for a whole year" Goku responded, preparing himself for what just might be the fight of his life.
"That's too bad; I guess I'll have to continue with the game I was playing with your little friend's every 5 seconds you don't tell me how to find these… Dragon Balls." Dodoria said with a smirk as he started to count again.
Goku now knew what had happened to his friends, "No more, you're done hurting my friends!" Goku's entire being seemed to have completed its transformation from carefree and innocent to a stern, hardened warrior filled with righteous anger.
Goku began to yell as he released the full extent of his power, catching Dodoria off guard, "What in the world, his power level over 9000!"
Goku launched towards Dodoria, knowing his current level of strength would not be enough. A red aura shot around him as he shouted, "Kaioken times 2!"
Dodoria watched the newest Defender of Earth to arrive rush at him in slow motion, around the time he crossed half the distance between them, as soon as the aura surrounded him, his speed increased enough that Dodoria couldn't react in time.
Goku's fist connected with Dodoria's face sending the rotund pink being stumbling back, his scouter being thrown from his face. He tried to follow up with a powerful round house kick, but even with his doubled speed and strength, Dodoria was still able to recover and react in the split second the attack had taken and grabbed Goku's leg, before promptly throwing him into the air.
Dodoria wiped a small trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth and smirk, "That's not bad… not bad at all, you probably could've held your own against Vegeta over there, unfortunately for you I'm much stronger, I'll humor you though for a while, Capterin, watch the monkey prince, while I have some fun, the rest of you make sure our audience doesn't get out of line."
The second largest member of Dodoria's henchmen, a wasp like being, rushed over to stand guard of the now barely conscious Vegeta, all 12 of his eye's locking on to the prince, a slight nervousness to his stance, not even Vegeta's awful condition could completely stem the memories of the prince's more violent temper tantrums.
"Now that that's taken care of let's begin." Dodoria said to the no longer red glowing Saiyan before lunging forward, Goku's red aura shot forth just in the nick of time to keep the first blow from being fatal, though not fast enough for him to block it. His torso bent painfully inward from the force of the punch, blood shooting from his mouth as blood vessels burst from the sheer force behind it, before the rest of his body moved to follow his torso.
Goku went shooting backwards, completely out of air; he couldn't remember ever receiving such a powerful blow. Dodoria wasn't satisfied with his opening attack though and kept on the offensive, by phasing behind him, and delivering a vicious ax handle to send Goku back into the Earth.
He only stayed down a moment though, as he forced himself up out of the crater he had formed just seconds before, and back up eager to continue the fight
No sooner had he made it into the air though, Dodoria was already back on top of him. Goku was kept on a constant defensive as his arms and legs shot back and forth trying to block the high speed blows of his opponent, finally after 20 seconds he mistimed a block, a bone crushing left cook got him just below the armpit, his body bending painfully inward before finally one of his ribs snapped under the pressure.
Goku let out a yell of agony, which was music to Dodoria's ears. He took advantage of Goku's painful distraction, as he delivered a quick right legged round-house kick, embedding Goku within a nearby mountain.
Vegeta lay there, feigning being incapacitated, though mentally he was anything but. It hadn't taken the Saiyan Prince long to put the pieces together, the Earthlings had been telling the truth, there was a means to grant a wish, but only one apparently, that one wish was to bring Raditz's weakling brother back. At least that was what he had thought at first but as the fight had gone on it was clear, the rogue Saiyan was anything but weak, the fact he was still alive after fighting Dodoria for so long was testament to that. But that wasn't what the Saiyan Prince was focusing on at the moment, currently he was monitoring the fight, occasionally with his eyes, but mainly with his ears, looking for the opportunity this new surprise had brought him
He had managed to catch his breath long ago, and was currently building strength up in his two hands, trying to keep it growing slowly if he's luck held, the insect's scouter wouldn't pick up the change, which so far it hadn't.
Finally when he felt he had more than enough gathered, he began to watch the fight more closely, looking for the opportune moment to strike?
He didn't have to wait long as the being he believed to be Kakarot let out a pained yell before being hurled into a mountain, drawing his guard's attention once more, Vegeta launched into action. He jumped up, both hand's glowing with energy, one hand shot forward just as his guard's scouter alerted him of the danger, and started to turn, a movement he would never finish as a large hole was burned through his stomach.
Vegeta quickly formed the other handful of energy into a small white sphere and threw it up into the air. A victorious smirk crossed his bloodied face, 'I will have my revenge!' he thought as his eyes locked onto the moon like ball, a rush of energy shooting through his veins. He couldn't help but let out a loud laugh, which sound more like a roar as his body began to expand.
Dodoria had just started to imagine what he would do to the noble fool that had dared oppose him when he re-emerged from his new rocky home. He heard a sound that he didn't expect to ever hear again Vegeta laughing.
He turned just in time to see the member of his team meant to watch Vegeta dropping to the ground and Vegeta staring up at… THE MOON!
Panic rushed his system that was the one thing he couldn't allow to happen, if Vegeta transformed he was stronger than even the Ginyu force, even in his weakened state he would kill him in an instant.
Gathering up all of his strength he shot across the sky, determined end the only threat Vegeta could pose once and for all.
In the instant it took him to get to Vegeta, the Saiyan had already grown to over 12 feet tall, and was getting larger by the second, his power rocketing upwards. The desperate Planet Trade Lieutenant grasped onto his tail, pulling on it with all of his might. Vegeta simply battled him away with a wag of his tail.
Dodoria quickly recovered, he needed to stop the transformation now, it was almost complete. Channeling all of his strength into his arm, so that it began to glow brightly, he shot back into place before Vegeta could turn and stop him, and with one powerful, Ki coated swing, his arm managing to cut through the now tree trunk like tail.
Vegeta let out a final rage filled roar, as he reacted to the pain of his tail being cut off. He had been so close, so close to his true power being unleashed, so close to surviving this disaster of a mission.
Goku's body was already aching not only from the beating his stronger opponent was delivering but also from holding onto the Kaioken technique as long as he had. He had spent the last 20 seconds or so trying to come up with a strategy to fight this surprise threat to Earth, without pushing his body too far.
While he was thinking he couldn't help but notice a new energy had appeared, no it wasn't a new power just a small one shooting up, it was just as dark as the other invaders' energies, and growing rapidly. He also noticed the pink alien's energy begin to travel towards the new energy, emanating a sense of panic. 'Who is that… this isn't good, looks like I don't have a choice, I have to take it to times 3.' A grim look of determination crossed his face, 'I just hope my body can handle this, well here I go, got to keep the power ups as short as possible.' he thought as he mentally prepared himself for the stress he was about to put his body under.
After Vegeta had finished shrinking back to his usual size, a look of absolute defeat plastered on his still bloodied face, he had played his ace card and had had his victory snatched away from him at the last possible second, he had no hope now.
Dodoria bent over and picked Vegeta up, a smug look on his face, momentarily forgetting the other being that had still been fighting him; he was going to enjoy having his fun at Vegeta's expense. Frieza had always made him hold back too much, but not anymore. "You had me scared there for a minute Vegeta, you really did, unfortunately for you, a monkey is useless without his tail." Dodoria shouted right into Vegeta's face, a spray of spit landing on the Prince's face, as the Planet Trade Lieutenant began to laugh, at how broken the proud Saiyan Prince seemed.
Vegeta just shut his eyes and wished the Dodoria would just finish him off instead of torturing him with his stupidity any longer. Unfortunately he would not be shown such a mercy, not only would he be forced to endure whatever Dodoria had planned for him, but he would also be delivered to Frieza to have as long and as painful of a death as the tyrant wished upon him.
Before Dodoria could continue his fun a mountain off to his left exploded, shaking the ground for miles around, as a blur of red energy shot forth faster than even Dodoria's eyes could follow. Every one of Dodoria's men's scouter burst from the high concentration of Ki as the blur past them, onward towards its target.
Dodoria quickly dropped Vegeta and began to turn to defend himself, but two feet impacted the rotund fighter's side before he could even manage to complete his turn. His body bent painfully inwards for a fraction of a second before, cracking all the ribs on his right side, before the elasticity of his body caused the rest of him to follow the momentum of his chest, launching him backwards at an unbelievable speed, through a series of spire hills dotting the landscape.
Goku had used the force of the kick to stop him for a minute as he dropped out of his Kaioken and try to catch his breath. "Darn I didn't think it would be so hard to sustain." Goku mumbled to himself one arm wrapped around his broken rib, unaware that Vegeta was laying right next to him fully awake, plotting how to best use this new distraction.
Dodoria managed to pull himself out of the rocky rubble he had landed in, his face locked in a grimace, the pain emanating from his chest several times worse than Goku was dealing with. "You… You bastard… where... where did all that strength come from." Dodoria's voice was full of pain, anger, and even a small hint of fear, it had been decades since he had been hit so hard.
"A new technique I learned." was all the hero of Earth said in response." he was glad the evil being before him could feel some of the pain he had caused others, and Goku was determined it wouldn't be the last he felt if he continued to be a threat to the Earth, or anywhere else for that matter.
The answer enraged Dodoria even more, he was one of the strongest fighters in all of the Planet Trade he wasn't going to let some defender of a class one world beat him with some technique. Luckily he was now prepared, to exact his revenge for that last attack.
Goku barely had time to react as a massive wave of energy shot out of Dodoria's mouth hurtling straight at him. He quickly powered up to his Kaioken with just enough time left to dodge, when Vegeta let out a groan.
Death was finally coming for the Saiyan Prince; he had defied it too long. He knew exactly how the next instant would play out; the Earthling Saiyan would dodge the attack leaving Vegeta to be completely dissolved by the wall of energy. The thought of Raditz, the boy, and the boy's father being the only remaining Saiyan caused a groan of dismay to escape his mouth.
Goku heard a faint sound, as he began to dodge; he looked over at the Vegeta who just laid there staring at the blast heading their way completely unable to move in time. 'I can't just leave him to die.' Goku thought as he changed his plan.
A massive explosion shook the area, a massive dark cloud rose from a newest of the many craters that now filled the valley.
"Goku No!" Chi Chi shouted, she had already lost her son, and her husband once before, she couldn't bear to lose him again.
"Ha! I got you, you damn monkeys!" Dodoria deep hearty laughter filled the valley, his joy at his triumph momentarily blocking out his pain. His laughter quickly died out though as Goku stood there, a determined look on his face, his arms singed from the blast, but nothing more. Behind him lay Vegeta, one eye swollen shut staring up at his savior, his mind a tornado of mixed emotions.
'I… he…he saved me?' The actions of the Saiyan before him made no sense, why did he block the attack, Vegeta would not have done the same for him; he would've killed him himself without a second's hesitation. Furthermore, the Saiyan actually hurt his chances of victory by wasting the strength to block the attack, unless it was some show of strength. Then it dawned on Vegeta, 'He must be keeping me alive to interrogate me.' anger began to build in Vegeta stomach as he was torn between a rock and a hard place his best hope was that his enemies would take each other out during their fight.
"Attacking me is one thing, but he couldn't even hope to dodge your attack, have you no shame!" Goku eye's shown with fury, yes the Saiyan on the ground was evil, his aura made that much clear, but that was beside the point, the Saiyan was clearly beaten and therefore outside the fight. "Your evil stops here!" Goku continued as he powered back up to Kaioken 3 once more and launched after Dodoria, still in shock from the idea that his attack had done so little damage. Goku's fist collided back into spot of his broken ribs causing a mixture of blood and saliva to spew forth.
Goku followed the blow up with a round-house kick before seemingly teleporting behind Dodoria's flying form and ax-handling him back into the ground.
On the other side of the valley partially buried in a rubble pile, on the shores of one of the rapidly drying lava lake, lay a large bloodied form. Consciousness was just beginning to return to the large being, and with his consciousness came pain.
'What the hell just hit me... ?' Were the first thoughts to crack through the darkness, his years of constant fighting allowed him to pin down the source of his pain almost instantly, his jaw was broken. 'I guess it's time to kill a… wait where am I?' Nappa was confused unsure of what world he was on, he forced his eyes open, and felt a thrill run down his spin, if he could he would have laughed at his good luck, directly in front of him was a perfect white sphere, the moon.
Chapter 9 is in the books, The fight is coming to a head, what will happen, I hope everyone's enjoyed all the twists and turns so far, and the cliff hanger at the end.
Next chapter, Chapter 10, will be the last chapter I will get up before the end of the semester, I'm not sure when it will be up but I am hoping to have it done before the end of April.
I know it kinda sucks timing wise that right at the peak of excitement for the fight, but that's just how this kinda goes sometimes. If you are looking for some other good stories to fill the void while you wait, The other story Vegeta the Academic, that I work on with my cousin, just recently got another chapter update, it's a DBZ/Rosario and vampire cross over. If you're looking for a purely dragon ball z story, my cousin recently started a new story also Dragonball Z: The Valhalla Saga, it's a really unique concept that's still in it's infancy. but I can tell you what he has so far is great.
Powerlevels:
Andriod's 9 and 10 - 15,000 each
Vegeta- 18,000
Vegeta (post androids)- 10,000
Dodoria- 22,000
Dodoria's squad- All between 4,000 and 7,000
Goku base- 9,200
Goku Kaioken x 2- 18,400
Goku Kaioken x 3- 27,600
Now for the reviews.
Lightningblade49: Now that I think back on it I probably could've had a female solder within the Blue Force, but fear not there will be more female fighters in the future.
To answer your second review, I hope this chapter answered the question but if not i'll try to here. Gero see's the Saiyans as a threat, but more to his hopes of ruling the world than anything else. He was mostly using it as an opportunity to attack Goku since he knows he'll try and stop them if he could. The androids are programmed to see the Saiyans as secondary targets instead of primary ones, but because Nappa proved stronger than anticipated they decided to try and eliminate them while they still had the element of surprise on their side, obviously it didn't work the way Gero planned.
Simgr101: Yeah Androids, Gero saw an opportunity to strike, because he figured Goku, ever the hero, would show up to try and stop the Saiyans.
For your second review, Frieza would definitely be strong if he became an Android. His organic form was around 120,000,000, I place Android 17 and 18 each in the ball park of 250,000,000, So I would put Android Frieza around 370,000,000. So stronger than I think Andriod 16 would be at.
Super Mystic Gohan: Glad you enjoyed the fight, as you can see by this last chapter that wasn't all the turns I had planned. The entire group of Crane students were vaporized, but there were two fighters who weren't vaporized, Master Shen and although I didn't specifically say it the other was Mercenary Tao. PTO solders on Earth, unfortunately I cannot say anything about that.
As always, any questions, concerns, comments etc, feel free to review, I always look forward to what everyone thinks about the story.