Chapter 5

Below Kami's Lookout.

Accelerating towards the ground, Goku reached out and grabbed a sack out of the air. Pealing back, he jetted over the tops of trees.

Pushing himself and his cloud as hard as he could, he rushed towards the fight. 'Just hold on, I'll be there soon.'

Remote Island

Soaring over the ocean the island quickly came into view. Still feeling for ki, Goku was surprised to feel Gohan's attack. He was even more surprised to see it.

An orange beam left the boy and flew for miles into the air.

A moment later, Goku arrived. Krillin was on the ground and a short man in blue spandex under white armor was on top of him. Piccolo and Gohan were facing each other, orange fading out from between them while half a corpse was falling to the ground. Chiaotzu was helping Tien up, and Yamcha was nowhere, or everywhere, depending on how one looked at it.

Vegeta looked up at the newcomer. 'Oh great, here we go again.'

Feeling the approach, Gohan turned towards his father, Piccolo's gaze followed. 'Daddy?'

Landing between Gohan and Vegeta, Goku faced his son. "Gohan, I'm here. I'm sorry I'm late." Goku got on a knee and opened his arms to his son.

"Daddy!" Gohan verbalized this time and jumped into his father's arms. Hot tears began running down his face. Piccolo saw the emotion but disregarded it.

"Are you okay?" Goku embraced his son.

"Yeah, I'm not hurt." Gohan buried his face in his dad's vest. The fabric was rougher than he remembered, and it smelled like home. Fighting away the tears, Gohan touched his father's face.

"I am so sorry this happened to you." Goku did not try stopping what Gohan did, and Gohan felt the tears hit his fingers and his face. Reaching into his shirt. Goku pulled out a sack and handed Gohan a Senzu bean.

Chewing and swallowing it, Gohan felt his energy burst back to life, and his skin sews itself back together. Releasing his dad, he threw some kicks and punches in the air. "Thanks, Dad." Unnoticed by Gohan, his father nodded in acknowledgment.

Picking out the other beans, Goku threw them to Piccolo, Tien, and Chiaotzu. In turn, they thanked Goku. Ignoring them, Goku addressed his son. "Gohan, you killed that man?" he pointed his chin towards where the lower half of Nappa lay in a heap.

"I had to. He was going to kill us. He made these monsters, and they killed Yamcha." Gohan tensed up, beginning to doubt he made the right choice. 'I did it, I actually took a life. That man will no longer have a story to tell because I stopped it.'

"Alright, son. I get it. I'd rather he die than anyone here, but I'd rather you not have to be the one to..."

"He was about to kill me right before we got the upper hand. He didn't hesitate, so I couldn't either."

Watching the humans getting back on their feet, Vegeta was impressed. The healing tanks were good, but these beans were better. "The boy is good, he's got a real fighters spirit."

Getting back between Vegeta and Gohan, Goku finally addressed his prince. "Get off of Krillin."

"No." Vegeta dug his heel into Krillin's head, pushing it into the rocky ground.

"Stop that!"

"Make me." Vegeta put his other foot back and assumed his fighting stance.

Goku sank into his pose as well and began gathering ki. As Vegeta's scouter beeped he couldn't help but smile. "If my blind son can take out that monster, then I'm sure we can handle you." Goku spat.

Vegeta didn't respond, instead, he flicked his tail out from his waist, and focused his thoughts on it. 'The great ape transformation requires the Saiyan to see the full moon. If the brat can't see it, then I'm the only one here who can transform.'

A wall of muscle rammed into Vegeta from behind, tripping him forward. Before he knew it the large bald man had taken the small bald man away from him and rejoined the rest of the fighters.

Handing the Senzu beans to Piccolo, Goku didn't take his eyes from the invader. "Tien, Piccolo, take Gohan and Krillin and get as far away from here as you can. You did great, and now it's my turn."

"Alright, let's go, everyone." Tien picked his feet off the ground and Krillin followed his lead. Gohan and Piccolo didn't budge.

"No, I'm not going." Gohan stepped out from behind his father, facing the bringer of death. 'If he wins, then we all die anyway.'

"You're strong, Goku, but you're not so far out of our reach that we can't help." Piccolo stepped on the other side of his student. 'If Gohan got hurt and I wasn't here, I couldn't forgive myself, or you.'

"Guys, he's still suppressing energy, you can't do this." Goku pleaded with his son.

"No, Dad, I'm not leaving you, and I'm not leaving him."

Touching down again Krillin stood behind Gohan. "If he's staying, then I'm staying."

At this, Tien touched down as well, Chiaotzu on his back. "Guess we're all staying. Chiaotzu, you don't need to fight. If you want to leave, I will not hold it against you."

"Mhmm." Chiaotzu hummed, floating up to be right behind Tien's shoulder. "I won't let you die, Tien."

Vegeta stepped forward, widely, maintaining his stance. "That was a cheap shot, three-eyes. You won't get the best of me again."

Summoning his aura, stirring up the ground beneath him, he disappeared in a cloud of dust. "Saves me the trouble of tracking you down. Come at me, all of you."

Calling their auras, the Z-Fighters were candles to a fireplace.

Goku put up a crossguard as Vegeta's fist slammed into it. The force of the impact pushed the others away. Following up quickly with a low kick, Vegeta's foot found open-air as Goku jumped over the attack.

Grabbing the front of Goku's shirt with his free hand, Vegeta threw him back into the air. With a collection of swift punches and kicks, Vegeta ensured that Goku continued his ascent to the heavens.

Grabbing his foot, Vegeta spun Goku around like a ragdoll before reversing his direction and sending him rocketing towards the Earth. Performing a perfect reverse dive, Vegeta landed the toe of each boot on Goku's chest right as he impacted the ground. With a downward blast, Vegeta dismounted his inferior and sunk back into his stance.

"You're pathetic." Vegeta taunted Goku as the Earth-bound Saiyan rose to his feet.

"Kaio-ken," Goku spoke to himself. His energy flashed red, his skin darkened in tone, and his eyes grew angry.

As Goku rushed towards Vegeta he heard a voice in his head. "Yeah, that's it, kick his evil butt!" followed by a series of monkey noises.

Goku started his assault with an ax handle drop, which Vegeta blocked with one arm. Before Vegeta retaliated, Goku swung his leg around and towards Vegeta's ribs, blocked by a swiftly tensed arm.

Hopping back, Goku launched a ki blast at the prince's face. Vegeta launched his own blast, but it wasn't strong enough. The prince's hair blew in the remaining energy of Goku's blast.

Speeding to the left Goku left afterimage after afterimage. Surrounded by a dozen Goku's Vegeta trusted his scouter. Ducking quickly, a fist ripped through the air above his head. Kicking back, he sent Goku over his head and followed up the attack with a headbutt to Goku's torso. The red fled Goku's energy as he impacted the ground.

"For a minute there, your power increased sharply. I could use a technique like that." Vegeta picked Goku up by the scruff of his shirt. "You will tell me how it works."

"It's really easy." Goku cheerfully responded.

"No, don't you dare!" King Kai shouted in his ear.

"All you need to do." Goku summoned the Kaio-ken once more. "Is die!"

Inside Vegeta's guard, Goku swung a fist from nearly no distance towards his stomach.

As if Goku were punching in slow motion, Vegeta grabbed the Saiyan's fist and looked down at it. "Bad move."

Pulling Goku's fist open Vegeta grabbed his pinky. "One."

He crushed the finger. "Tell me."

"No." Goku winced in pain, but he'd already been through a lot worse, both in training and in real fights. A broken finger wasn't going to have any power over him.

Grabbing Goku's ring finger, Vegeta clenched his fist again, snapping it in three places, until the tip of the nail rested against the back of the finger. "Two down, eight more, then we start having fun."

"I won't help you." Goku snarled.

Vegeta grabbed Goku's middle finger. "Let's see what happens if I pull your finger."

Vegeta began pulling it, slowly, stretching it, pulling each bone out of its socket. The only thing that stopped him from ripping the finger clean off was his scouter alerting him to an attack.

Spinning in place, Vegeta held Goku in front of him, letting Gohan's blast strike his father in the back. Goku had the air driven from his lungs. 'That hurt.'

"Nice try, brat. You can't sneak up on me."

"I don't need to." Gohan threw another blast towards the Saiyans. In midair, it broke apart into several energy balls and began circling the pair as they approached.

Looking between them, Vegeta didn't notice the finger beam launched from Piccolo. His scouter erupted in a shower of sparks.

Glaring at the Namekian, Vegeta's concentration lapsed and Gohan's energy balls harmlessly exploded on his armor, and Goku's flesh.

"If you lived longer, you would have regretted that." Vegeta disregarded Goku and was immediately in Piccolo's face.

"Galick Gun!" Vegeta threw his arms forward. A large purple wave sprang forth, quickly enveloping the entirety of Piccolo's being, before erasing it from existence.

Walking back to where Goku lay in a heap, Vegeta watched as Goku swallowed a bean 'Damn it.'

Back on his feet, Goku once again got between Vegeta and his family. "You're done here. Now that Piccolo is dead, the Dragon Balls are gone. There is nothing here for you."

Thinking for a moment, Vegeta considered his options. 'If the Namekian died and the Dragon Balls are gone, then the option is clear to go to Planet Namek, where it's almost certain that other Namekians can create more.' "That's okay, I'll go to Namek and use theirs."

Vegeta flared his aura back to full strength. "You're still going to die, though. Not because you threaten me, not because your death has value, but because you wasted my time, and dared to stand against your prince."

"Kaio-ken Times 2!" Goku's aura blazed red once more. Sweat instantly drenched his body and as quickly as it formed, it rose off his body in waves of steam.

Reflexively reaching for his scouter, Vegeta grunted in frustration and dove fist first towards Goku.

Goku ducked under the attack, delivering his own punch to Vegeta's chest.

"Rock." Rushing behind the winded Saiyan, Goku's open palm struck Vegeta's back.

"Paper." Hooking his hand around Vegeta's head, Goku spread two fingers on his good hand open, aiming for the eyes. Unfortunately, Vegeta tilted his head back, leading to Goku's final attack of "Scissors" to end up in his nose instead.

Back flipping free of Goku, Vegeta rubbed his nose.

"You're a freak!" before charging in for more.

"Careful, Goku. Don't go any higher." King Kai nervously whispered from across dimensions.

Putting his hands up to his temples Goku.

"Solar-"

Before Goku could finish, Vegeta vanished from in front of him, and his knee reappeared in his spine.

"Too slow." Vegeta followed up his contact by throwing a chop at Goku's neck.

Taking a chapter out of his enemies' playbook Goku threw his head back, taking the chop to his skull. Letting the energy of the attack take him, Goku quickly put distance between them.

"Kaio-ken Times 3!" the sweat waves radiating off of Goku quickly vanished, as his skin turned solid red.

"Oh, damn it! What did I just say!?" King Kai smacked his forehead.

"If I don't win, we all die anyway," Goku spoke aloud, hoping his trainer could hear him. Returning his hands to his temples once more Goku spoke "Solar Flare!"

Recognizing the hand motion and technique, Krillin, Gohan, and Tien covered their eyes.

Vegeta was too slow to follow and was immediately blinded by the incredibly bright light that flashed out of Goku's head. Vegeta rubbed his eyes, trying to clear the wave-like blurs of pain that ripped over the surface of the suns that were his eyelids.

Taking advantage of the opening, Goku quickly got behind Vegeta, smashing an elbow into the Saiyan's spine. Following this up with a leg sweep and a knee to the gut, Goku got Vegeta helplessly into the air.

With a rapid series of light punches, Goku drained energy from the prince as he tenderized the entirety of the front of his body.

Vegeta regained his vision as Goku appeared behind him, trying to send him to the ground. Spinning in the air, Vegeta blocked the devastating blow from impacting his back but instead took it on his forearms. Feeling his bones begin to bend he let out a scream, an explosive wave, forcing Goku back as he pulled his feet under him and began flying.

'Ouch.' Vegeta rubbed his chest as he kept a hand in front of him, and his eyes on Goku. "I'm done. Done with you, done with this planet, and done letting you witness my glory.."

As Vegeta rocketed upwards, Goku did not follow.

Feeling Vegeta pulls his energy out, Goku began doing the same.

"Galick Gun." Vegeta began to glow purple. Forcing the energy into his hands, the light hid his features.

"Ka... Me..." Goku put his hands to his side, three fingers, on one hand, going in all directions. "Ha... Me..."

A blue ball of energy spawned between his hands.

"Fire!"

"Ha!"

The two beams, blue and purple, raced towards each other. Vegeta pumped energy into the attack as quickly as he could gather it. Goku, on the other hand, left his beam in its original state. Tears began flowing down Goku's face as rips appeared in his skin.

"It's too much, Goku! You have to stop the Kaio-ken!"

"No!" He put what energy he had left into the attack, but it wasn't enough. Purple overtook blue. Turning violet the two beams bloomed outward where they met and floated like glacial water towards Goku. "Kaio-ken..."

"You'll die!" King Kai shouted.

"Times..."

"No, Goku, please!"

"4!" Goku didn't hear himself shout as much as he felt it. The noise drew out as his skin burned, his aura erupted, and his attack began reclaiming ground. The Kamehameha deepened in color as it continued raging, and Goku pumped his newfound power into it.

'I refuse to be defeated!' Vegeta mentally roared as he forced every last ounce of his power into the attack. "I reject your reality!"

Vegeta shredded his vocal cords. With all his might he barely stopped the Kamehameha. 'This isn't good.'

"Masenko, ha!" rang out in Vegeta's ears as he remembered the other fighters. Looking at where the voice came from, he met Gohan's eyes as the orange beam seared his arm. Breaking Vegeta's concentration, allowed the Earthling to obliterate his now meaningless attack. Calling back as much energy as he could, he attempted an energy wave as a shield, however, he was quickly overwhelmed.

Pain is all Vegeta sensed. Light pierced his eyelids, forcing him to observe the blue death in front of him. The roar of energy filled his ears, mixing with his unintentional screams. Burning heat covered his skin. He wasn't being pushed by the wave but snared in the mushroomed tip as it forced him away from the battlefield.

Lowering his hands, Goku allowed his raging energy to calm. Slowly at first, Goku fell before entering free fall and being caught by Tien.

"That was incredible." Tien was amazed as he lowered Goku safely to the ground before he looked at the boy. "You too, Gohan. Incredible."

Approaching his father, Goku felt for more senzu beans.

'I'm sorry, Dad." he patted his pockets frantically. "Piccolo had the beans."

"Hey, no worries, I'll live." Goku laughed.

"Holy cow, man! That was awesome!" heads turned to the new voice. Yajirobe walked out from behind a rock, sword at his hip. "Wow, did you feel that guy? Did you feel yourself? I don't know how you did it, Goku. I can't believe I used to fight with you."

"Thanks, guys. Where's Krillin?" Goku looked around from where he lay.

"Right here, buddy." Krillin joined the club.

"Good, you're okay." Goku looked relieved.

"Yeah. Goku, you and Gohan, you did it. We lost Yamcha and Piccolo, but did you hear him? It sounds like there are more Dragon Balls. If we can get to Namek, we can wish everyone back, maybe." Krillin grabbed Goku's hand in excitement.

"Guys, what do I feel over there?" Gohan pointed with his chin inland. "It feels like Vegeta still, but softer?"

Reaching out Goku felt for what Gohan was talking about. "Vegeta, he's still alive, and he's cut his energy?"

Lost for words Goku climbed back to his feet. A small ball flew into the sky but didn't approach.

"Okay, guys, Keep up the good work. I'll let everyone know what's happening here and that you're doing good, but I think Korin needs me to help him water so I'll see you guys around good luck and kick his butt extra hard." Yajirobe didn't stop to breathe as he bid his farewells and ducked behind the rock he used as cover earlier.

Vegeta watched the Power Ball hovering in the sky. Feeling his heartbeat, thump thump, thump thump, THUMP THUMP, THUMP THUMP. His body expanded in all directions. A thick layer of fur climbed from his tail to cover a majority of his body. His mouth extended, becoming snout-like, as his eyes turned red.

'It's business time.' Vegeta howled at his ball.

Gohan began to shiver as he sensed Vegeta's energy. 'He tore off a chunk of himself, and now, he's growing. Oh, crapbaskets.'

Krillin grabbed one of Gohan's hands. "We'll find a way, Gohan. We always do." He comforted the boy.

The chunk of Vegeta that was torn off bathed Gohan in its glorious radiation. Clutching Krillin's hand, he was able to stop his own from shaking. Where his hand stopped, his tail continued. Bending over he braced his free hand against his knee as power radiated up from his tail.

Screaming in pain, he released his grip on Krillin and returned Vegeta's howl.

"What's wrong, Gohan?" Goku turned away from the Power Ball, worried etched on his face.

"It's the blutz waves." Vegeta began his approach in his massive new form. "When a true Saiyan sees the full moon, he absorbs the blutz waves and transforms into an Oozaru. When there is no full moon, a mighty Saiyan such as myself can transform part of our energy into an organic blutz wave generator. Your boy is getting the radiation, but can't transform. He's impressive, but worthless without his eyes."

Goku absorbed this information, absorbed the power of Vegeta, and Gohan, and began to tremble. Not from the effects of the blutz waves, but out of anger, and fear. Anger that his own flesh and blood would injure his son in this manner, and fear of Vegeta. His energy was drained before he split himself, but then his power skyrocketed. He probably couldn't reach this level with a Kaio-ken Times 10, let alone 4, and that is if he was at full power, but as he stood, battered and bruised, he wouldn't even be able to harm him.

"Krillin, Tien, I need time to gather energy. Can you keep him busy? His tail is probably still his weakness." Goku stepped away from the approaching monster.

"You want us... us, to distract him? The giant raging monster who transformed from the guy that killed Piccolo in one attack, and has gotten far more powerful since then?" Krillin's clothes were instantly drenched in sweat.

"Of course." Tien took to the air and flew to Vegeta's side.

"God damn it," Krillin yelled as he took to the air, going to Vegeta's other side.

Goku raised his arms over his head. 'I know we're tired, but I just need a little energy from each of you.'

Pulling himself out of his body, Tien became two, and then four fighters. Following his lead, Krillin did the same.

The team of Krillin's began circling Vegeta, making faces at him, and smacking their bottoms in his face.

Reaching up, Vegeta swatted one of them to the ground, but the other three got away.

Two of the remaining Krillin's retreated, summoning energy discs into their hands. The third Krillin put his hands to his temples and performed the solar flare. Unfortunately, Vegeta had already seen this attack, and he quickly turned his back to the assault.

Goku's outline began to shimmer white as a colorless ball of energy formed over his head.

Quickly forgetting about the pests behind him' Vegeta confronted the four four-armed Tiens. Dodon Rays hit him from all sides, not coming close to harming him, but stinging.

Opening his mouth, Vegeta created a ball of energy. With the swing of his head, he launched it, sweeping across the attackers. Unfortunately with his greater size, he projected a little too much, and the Tiens ducked low and jumped high, avoiding the surely instant death.

Feeling a looseness in his back, Vegeta looked over his shoulder. The Kienzen discs had slashed at his back. He was unharmed, but his armor was cut clean through. 'Dangerous.'

Pulling in his limbs Vegeta summoned a ball of energy. Starfishing out, the explosion destroyed everything in his area. Just as he had aimed, the pests had avoided his energy wave.

Frustrated, Vegeta lunged at the crowd of cloned fighters, grabbing a Tien in one hand. "Say goodnight."

Vegeta began squeezing his captives' lower bodies.

Extreme pain flooded Tien's senses as his feet, legs, and lower torso had every bone pulverized. Knowing that even if he were to get out of it, he'd be useless. Accepted this, he pulled all his ki to his hands and kept pulling. 'I may only have a fraction of my power, but life force should make up for that.'

Tien formed a triangle between his third eye and Vegeta's left eye. Forcing his energy, and spirit, forward, the wave of energy rammed into Vegeta's eyelid and kept going.

'I'm sorry, Tien.' Goku thought as he continued standing perfectly still. The ball of energy slowly dripping down into his body.

Cursing, Vegeta smashed his other hand on top of the one holding Tien, intending to leave his corpse as nothing more than a thick red paste. However, as Tien's remaining clone used up its life energy, it vanished as the fist approached.

More Dodon Rays and Kienzens peppered his body, easily disregarded. Disregarded with more effort was the eyeless brat that decided to pop up in front of his face and attempted to beat him. He, the prince of all Saiyans, in his Oozaru form. "Ha, what a joke!"

With a thick rush of air, Gohan was sent flying by a hand bigger than his whole body.

Watching the boy's path, Vegeta saw Goku, still as a statue, grimacing under a ki ball. Swatting a second and third Krillin out of the air with his tail, Vegeta approached Goku. "Even if you got that attack off, you don't have the energy to kill me."

Slowly Vegeta wrapped his hand around Goku and picked him up. "If you'd like to try something, you may want to get started."

A burning sensation caused Vegeta to whip around. Tien's second and third clones were fading. If he had been paying attention, he'd have noticed the energy flowing into Goku, but as things were, Vegeta was distracted by the smoke coming off his tail.

With an unbelievable burst of speed, Vegeta snatched for the last Tien. Missing, he instead got the last Krillin out of the air, right in front of the last Tien. "My tail is off-limits."

Vegeta squeezed the original like he did the other clone, shattering his legs once more.

Refusing to give Vegeta the pleasure Krillin bit back a scream, opting instead to flip off the giant ape.

Vegeta was clearly annoyed. "That was just rude."

Vegeta tensed his fingers in order, bottom to top, sending waves of pain through both Goku and Krillin. With all his might, Vegeta crunched the two warriors. His grip was low, so he couldn't kill them, not instantly, but he could make them suffer.

While mainly focusing on the captives, and secondly focusing on the other fighters, Vegeta lost track of Chiaotzu, if he even noticed him in the first place.

Taking advantage of this, Chiaotzu flew in low, grabbing the underside of Vegeta's tail and holding on.

Looking back again, Vegeta failed to see him and instead speculated. 'Can I get flees?'

'We can't let Goku die. If he dies, you die, everyone dies.' Chiaotzu sent his thoughts to Tien. For the second, or third, time today, Chiaotzu pulled in what energy he had left.

'It won't be enough, don't waste yourself.' Tien was winded but forcing himself back towards Vegeta. With his hands occupied, all he had to do was avoid any mouth attacks and he'd be able to get all the free hits he could take. 'Get out of there, Chiaotzu.'

'I wish I could.' Chiaotzu wrinkled his nose against the horrible odor. 'But I at least have to try.'

Closing his eyes Chiaotzu gathered his courage for what he hoped was the last time. He didn't think that if it came down to it again. That he could make this sacrifice again. Tien was his best friend, and he would do anything to protect him, but he could only plan on dying, by his hand, so many times before he lost the heart for it.

As Chiaotzu pondered these last thoughts, and the nature of the thoughts as being his last, he was utterly disgusted to feel a hot, sticky liquid, cover his body. Opening his eyes he saw himself falling away from Vegeta, tail still in hand, and blood all over him and the ground below him.

Yajirobe did not take one wrong step. He had approached, ran, cleaved off the tail, and continued running. Not looking back he continued inland.

Feeling the cut, and seeing his tail hit the ground, Vegeta attempted to adjust his grip, to crush these weaklings once and for all, but as he shrank and moved his fingers, they slipped through his hands and onto the ground in front of him. On all fours, Vegeta drew in his energy once more. Exploding it out he watched as their bodies were tossed away, but not far enough. The ground beneath him was dented, but the crater that should have been there was no deeper than his knees if he were on his feet.

Memories flashed through Vegeta's mind. His first transformation. Sparring with his father. Planning with Nappa and Raditz to overthrow Frieza. His brother and his refusal to fight. The transformation was the source of Saiyan power. He could fight without the form, but with it, he could have already defeated Dodoria, Zarbon, and even the Ginyu Force as if they were nothing. But now, due to these humans, this third-class trash, he was locked out of that form. His highest power was cut to a tenth of what it rightfully was, and Vegeta was pissed. While his eyes returned to white, all he saw was red.

Grabbing a kick from Gohan out of the air, Vegeta dragged the fighter to the ground with him. "Die, just die!"

Vegeta slammed a fist into the boy's face. Blood flowed from Gohan's nose, but it didn't stop the boy from reaching out and grabbing Vegeta's hair.

"This ends now!" Gohan threw an energized fist into Vegeta's blindside, sending teeth flying.

Quickly getting to his feet, Vegeta released Gohan's fist and focused several punches on the boy's stomach. Fortunately, Vegeta didn't think about the boy's agility, and with a few kicks to the face, and a second hand on Vegeta's hair, Gohan was behind him.

"TIEN!" Goku shouted in a strained voice. "Tien. Tien."

Hearing the panic in Goku's voice Tien forced himself to Goku's side. "I'm here."

"Take this". Goku touched Tien's hand and a ball of energy formed in it, causing another wave of pain to spread through Goku's battered form. "Spirit Bomb. Won't hurt us. Destroys only evil. Your energy. Mine. Krillin's. Gohan's. Yajirobe's. Even Vegeta's. All together..."

Tien felt the power in his hand. He didn't mean to, but he tuned Goku out. He was rambling now, and he understood enough. This energy was drawn from everyone as the battle was going on, it was tuned to not injure good people, only harm evil.

'Is that possible?' Tien wondered.

"Yes, it is. It's extremely hard to make one. You won't get a second chance. If this fails, then I think you're done." a voice rang out in Tien's mind.

Goku responded in Tien's head as well. 'I trust him.'

Looking back at the fight Tien wasn't sure what he missed, but Gohan was launching small blast after small blast at Vegeta. Then, Vegeta was strangling Gohan, Krillin was strangling Vegeta, and Chiaotzu was using his psychic power to try to limit Vegeta's strength, but Tien didn't know how much good it was doing.

"Hold him still, guys," Tien shouted to his team.

'Idiot.' Vegeta spun to face Tien, putting Gohan between them. Releasing Gohan from one of his hands, he grabbed Krillin's leg and tried to pull him forward, hoping to dangle him as a shield as well.

Fighting the hold, Krillin summoned a nearly zero-energy Kienzen. Pulling it back towards Vegeta's face he ducked down, releasing Gohan and Krillin's leg. The buzz saw of energy cut too close, shaving part of his head.

Not missing his chance, Gohan grabbed Vegeta's legs. Spreading them, he jumped and kicked with all his might. Feeling the armor shatter his foot continued into Vegeta's crotch.

Reflexively, Vegeta jerked his hands in front of his royal jewels. Letting go of one of Vegeta's legs Gohan smashed his fist on the prince's head.

Krillin, normally not being one to kick a man while he's down, did exactly that. The force of his kick sent Vegeta rolling forward. Gohan grabbed him around the waist. The smell of blood filling his nose from where Vegeta's tail was supposed to be and took to the air with Vegeta upside down.

"I've got him!" Gohan shouted back.

'Need to escape!" Vegeta kicked and threw elbows back at Gohan, and if he had more time he would have escaped. However, Tien did not hesitate. After only a few blows to the boy, Vegeta was left breathless.

The white ball of energy was thrown overhand and landed in the pit of his stomach.

As it exploded Vegeta felt pain like never before. Every cell in his body was being pulled in different directions. His hatred left him as he was released and impacted the ground.

'Okay, that's enough.' Vegeta thought to himself. 'There's nothing here for me. Nothing will come from this battle. I need to leave.'

Reaching into his chest plate, Vegeta found the remote, pressing the buttons without having to pull it free.

'How could this happen?'

He kept his eyes closed, no need to burn energy with processing vision.

"He's still alive?" Tien touched down at his side.

"He's still breathing, and he moved his arm a moment ago." Krillin flanked Vegeta.

"I thought that would kill him? How'd he live?" Tien addressed his question towards Goku, but all Goku could do was smile at their victory.

"He would have been killed, but the Spirit Bomb wasn't completed. Goku didn't have enough time to collect energy." A voice rang in everyone's ears, including Vegeta's.

'Sorry, guys, but at least we won?' Goku mentally responded to the void, trusting that King Kai would carry his thoughts out.

Startling everyone, Vegeta's pod landed in front of him.

"Did it sense his energy drain?" Krillin asked Tien. 'How would he know?'

As Vegeta reached for his open pod door and pulled himself forward Krillin jumped. "You're still fighting?"

"We're done here." Vegeta weakly proclaimed.

"You came here." Krillin summoned energy to his hand.

"You killed our friends." He sharpened it to a disc.

"You threaten to destroy our planet." He prepared to launch the attack at Vegeta's neck. "And you think you can leave?"

Vegeta looked up at Krillin, frozen. His hand was on his pods' door, a few more moments and he'd be safely flying away from here, towards medical attention.

"You're done! "

"Krillin, no!" Goku's voice called out in everyone's minds. "We won, we're safe. We can wish everyone back on Planet Namek. Let him go. There's no reason to kill him."

Krillin froze as Vegeta did. A twitch away from decapitating the prince. "Are you sure, Goku? What's stopping him from coming back? From winning next time? We beat him, but can you really say we can do it again?"

Goku thought for a moment. "If he does come back, we'll be ready. We can train, get stronger."

Krillin's attack vanished. "I really hope you know what you're talking about."

As Krillin and Goku spoke, Gohan approached the beaten prince, the one who considered himself the last true Saiyan and raised his foot to Vegeta's throat. Thwack. It was over.

Krillin snapped his attention back to the pod. Eyes wide. "Gohan."

Goku was speechless. 'He couldn't fight back. You didn't need to kill him. Why? Where did I go wrong? What made you this way.' Goku thought, but he knew the answer. A warm tear slid down his cheek.