The final countdown

The berserk ape hollered out in pure rage, a glare heavy and menacing lowering down at Nappa, before his whole body launching forward, storming with aggression.

His feet stomped heavily on the ground, his tail whipping apart large boulders, the smaller figure of the orange monkey was fast, a small target to maneuver himself, dodging expertly and quickly despite momentary shock and inertia, the same can not be applied to the much larger Nappa.

A blitz followed, within less than a second the distance was closed and a fist was sent forward, barely giving Nappa the time to block, even less so to evade.

Instincts are all that drove him forward now, using his arm by battle experience alone he managed to block the hit.

"Gaaa!" He grunted, with a half scream hidden in there, an involuntary action at the feeling of his arm breaking even further, by this point having been used to block 3 attacks, all of whom were beyond its capability.

Yet that was not the end of the struggle, another fist, just as impossibly fast as the first one, found itself embedded in his soft belly, lifting his body into the air by at least half a dozen meters.

Spittle and blood flew from his mouth as the fist sunk deeper still.

'This hurts.' Nappa thought, pain now a consecutive occurrence, yet it didn't bother him too much. The emotion, the pain, he felt it, yet his mind so detached, unassociated with the feelings, he gave no true response besides the involuntary and the logical. The emotions of pride, fury, and revenge only added to it, serving as masks, smokescreens for the pain to get thru.

Thus, while a weaker man would have faltered, he does not. With a mighty swing of his giant appendage, he caught the overpowered opponent with a hook to the side of the head.

The fist struck hard bone hidden barely beneath a layer of skin, the head moved back, the sheer kinetic impact pushing it away, yet no real damage seems to have been done, slight annoyance at most.

"Hahaha, Nappa, you are still weak! Far too weak! Scum like you will never be able to oppose a super-elite like me!" Arrogance filled the prince to the brim, whipping his head back to look at his fellow Saiyan with his one good eye a nasty backhand was what greeted the weaker of the two.

Like a ragdoll, Nappa flew. Thru solid rock and stone several times, until getting to a stop beneath a particularly large boulder, which had begun to crumble on top of him. For several seconds he waited, yet no follow-up attack came, the prince's anger seeming to be directed somewhere else.

"Fuck." That was the first time he cursed in a very long while, even more so to curse aloud, nothingness having made the concept of words themselves meaningless, they just exist to convey information, no emotion should be attached, and yet it has.

He needs a plan, for that he needs time, eternity is a long while, in nothingness, he at least had time to plan, to think, this hectic of a life does not suit him, it is all too fast to follow, to adapt.

Maybe he should die, to go back where he came from, the familiarity of nothingness preferable to the unknowable change of this new environment.

Maybe his fate is inescapable, destined to be disposable, discarded, and forgotten.

'No!' Yet the moment such a thought crossed his mind his gut turned, pride maybe, a lingering feeling of anger, revenge not his own yet belonging to him, he does not know why, but the very concept of rejecting this change appalled him.

The very thought of dying again, to retreat to familiarity like a coward appalled him. To be unable to take revenge, to not see what more existence has to offer, to not destroy more, to not even attempt and rage against his fate, he rejected the very notion outright, death, nothingness, shall claim him only after fighting tooth and nail for it.

Ironic, predictable almost, Nappa thought. He has not existed for more than a day and he already detests the desire for death, to return to what is familiar, perhaps he is more human than he had previously thought.

No matter, such thoughts may be preserved for later. Now he needs a plan as to how to survive, and yet all that he is pulling out are blanks, the only part of his brain that has any idea being the primal one, which amounts to it just telling him to smash the prince's head in with a rock.

"Hey, ape." His thoughts, his meanderings, were dismantled once he heard a voice next to him, not like he was thinking of any great plans. Looking over, it is great green. "We must team up. Goku has a plan, a technique to defeat this monster, however, we must keep him occupied for 10 seconds."

It was short, to the point, concise, and left no room for debate. They both know they have to do it, their own lives, and so their own goals are at stake.

A simple plan, Nappa thought, yet it would do. He does not know why, many unknowns have arisen in the last time, yet at the prospect of bringing the prince down a surge of joy flooded him, completely of his own, not tied to the emotions nor experiences of the previous Nappa.

"So be it." He spoke, his voice in this form sounding like he gurgles sandpaper. With legs one after another getting put beneath his torso he straightens himself out from the ground, eyes on the giant target, it is time for another engagement.

"Raaaaar!" A roar coming from Nappa's muzzle announced his appearance on the battlefield once more. All heads turned to him, yet none more so than the princes.

"Why'd you stop," It might be childish, rude, and foolish, to taunt his opponent instead of outright attacking, yet now he needed time, not efficiency. "I ain't heard no bell."

It's even more absurd of him to taunt his opponent with a quote from an adult cartoon from his past life, yet in the haze of separation between emotion and logic, between rage and death, the quote had wormed itself in somehow.

The giant ape prince turned towards him, shock underlining his features, only slightly though. "Hoo, for you to get up, you are more tenacious than I thought Nappa."

"But it is of no matter, you shall still, in the end, fall to the might of a super-elite Saiyan like me."

'We shall see who falls, prince.' That thought came out with more venom than it has the right to, yet by now he is beyond holding himself back, if he shall die, he shall do it while as wild as possible.

A second passed barely as the two giant apes, both bloody yet to different degrees, just stared at each other, before the prince launched himself with incredible speed at him.

'Nothing that big should move that fast.' His logical part told him, now with the greater distance, and a more prepared mind, he can observe the prince better in his moves. The thought however was disregarded as quickly as it came, he had seen weirder things while going insane, and now his focus should be on the battle.

He knows that he has no hopes of winning this, he is far too outclassed in terms of power, yet that matters little when the goal is to distract and not to win.

"Nappaaaaa-" The prince's warcry as he sailed thru the air was loud and booming, yet interrupted by a sudden energy attack, just missing his healthy other eye, the prince just barely having angled his head back enough to dodge the debilitating Ki.

"Who dares!" He yelled out, frantically turning around himself, looking for the attacker, his rage now having taken over, even more, Nappa forgotten for a moment. "To try and take my other eye too, you will be ripped apart for that!"

He spotted the comparably small green man standing on a rock rather quickly, launching himself speedily at the alien, intent clear as showcased by a fist raised.

*Bam*

Yet that would be put on hold, as instead of getting a clean hit on the rock outcropping of the great green, mid-air he was sent careening to the side by a giant rock hitting him, the kinetic energy once more outweighing the actual damage done to him.

Briefly, Nappa and the great green exchanged glances, something aking to a nod of recognition and appreciation passing between them before they focused back on the rising prince.

"Nappa! Since you want to die fast so bad, you shall!" The prince roared in anger, this time doggedly throwing himself at Nappa, even as another boulder impacted his shoulder, and another smaller rock hit him in the face.

*Pyu*

Another attempt at taking out the eye by the Namekian, yet it was dodged, and the prince just continued to steamroll forwards.

Nappa prepared himself, not fast enough to dodge he knows that his only option is taking the blow head-on, only able to minimize the damage taken.

*Boom*

A large crash ensued, grappling each other with strength and skill the two apes tried battering each other to death, the prince has the upper hand courtesy of his greater power, yet Nappa has an edge in experience, closing the gap slightly.

Nappa did not just roll over, no. Despite knowing his odds he fought back as hard as he could, barely creating scratches on the prince, yet even shallow cuts could kill a man, a win is a win, no matter how small.

Finally, however, his resistance proved futile as he got pinned down by the prince, his vastly superior strength proving to be the determining factor.

"It is time for you to die, Nappa." A cruel smirk made its way onto the prince's nuzzle, the maw of razor-sharp teeth at the ready, the crude yet effective form of execution hanging over his head.

Nappa snarled, ready to fight back as much as possible, internally asking himself if the monkey was ready before the prince snapped back his head.

"What!?" He nearly shrieked, looking to his side. Nappa followed his gaze, battered and bruised, from the ground he barely saw the other monkey with a great blue ball of energy hovering above his hands.

He allowed a victorious smirk to make its way onto his lips, gleeful satisfaction washing over him as he observes the then-coming doom of the prince.

At the back of his mind, thoughts whirred, however. If this energy hits the prince will die, yet he too will be hit strongly, survival is very likely, but so too are the consequences that will arise.

A low hum, however, broke both the smirk and the thoughts, looking up with confused eyes, despite his brain knowing the most likely culprit for the noise, he saw the prince's mouth split open, a purple hue beginning to emit from it, a telltale sign of the Great Ape's strongest, and most devastating attack, directed straight at the monkey.

His eyes widened, his thoughts whirred, he could not allow this, the beam would surely outclass the ball in terms of speed, the monkey is the only person capable of actually bringing down the prince, he can't allow the attack to go off successfully, it would ruin it all.

"Raaar!" In a push of strength and determination, with the prince's guard and attention diverted, Nappa managed to push him off balance and rise halfway to his own feet.

Yet that would not be enough, the prince still prioritizing the monkey, Nappa is left with no other choice, he throws himself at the prince in a desperate bid to stop him.

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P. S. The previous chapter title is a reference to George Orwell's 1984, where the MC says: "Your worst enemy, he reflected, was your own nervous system." Although that quote is meant as saying that one's own body betrays your innermost thoughts and opinions, in my chapter, it is used quite literally. Goku's twitches and spasms tell of how exhausted and tired he is, despite trying to keep a straight face. Vegeta's body is betraying him, not listening to his mind as the super-elite Saiyan. Nappa is not even listening to his body, being entirely separated from the feeling of pain. The only one whose body is listening to him is Piccolo since he can regenerate.