Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ The Bite ❯ 19 ( Chapter 19 )

The Bite-Chapter 19

By Elbereth in April

Clearing his mind proved difficult, but Vegeta did it. `All right. Now concentrate. And call upon the planet and all living things on it. The earth, the air, the plants, the animals. . . focus on them. And their ki. You feel the ki? OK. Collect their energy and form a ball, above your head. That's right. Call. Feel them offering it up? Take it.'

He reached for the energy. He could feel it growing, flowing within him and through him and out his hands into the ball above his head.

More. He needed more.

Brolly bounded forward and grabbed Goku by the shoulders, ignoring Vegeta for the moment, as he seemed to be just standing still.

Goku growled and tried to shove Brolly away. Brolly hung on, staring into Goku's eyes. Goku became quiet and dropped his arms.

"Fight him, Goku!" Trunks called, deeply worried.

Sweat broke out on Goku's face. Trunks bit his lip. Brolly snarled. Goku gave a yell, once, then went limp. His eyes closed as he passed out.

Brolly hissed in exasperation and threw Goku away from him. He fell in a heap to the ground. Brolly turned back to look at Vegeta. He raised his eyebrows. "And what do you think you're doing?"

`No, not yet! We need a little more time!' Vegeta thought desperately.

Trunks seemed to recognize this. He'd heard enough about how the Spirit Bomb worked to realize Vegeta's plight. `Here goes nothing,' he thought, took a deep breath, and launched himself at Brolly.

Brolly heard him coming, and turned from staring at Vegeta, but he was a little too late to react. Trunks tackled him to the ground and started pummeling him with his fists.

Nasu and Radditz looked at each other, then at Vegeta.

"Hold him off for just another minute," Vegeta called to them softly, so Brolly wouldn't hear. "It'll be ready by then."

They nodded and entered the fray, each grabbing one of Brolly's arms and holding it behind his back as Trunks continued to hit him.

Vegeta felt himself sweating. `It better be ready. That'll only leave one minute before I unfuse.'

Brolly was growling at his opponents. His ki started escalating. That was a sign to Trunks that he should throw an energy attack. Nasu and Radditz let go just in time for him to fire. Brolly took the blast in the face, and flew backwards a dozen yards.

Nasu cheered. Trunks looked at her and blushed.

But then the trees around where Brolly had landed blew outward in an explosion of splinters and twigs. And he came charging back towards them, glowing a crackling green.

`Let's just throw it,' Vegeta suggested in panic. `He may kill them!'

`If it's not at full power, it won't do any good. We can't waste this. He's weakened, despite that light show. Hold on,' Hito argued.

`We're not the ones paying.' Vegeta wanted to close his eyes, but didn't.

Brolly rammed into Radditz, pinning him against a tree and kicking him in the ribs. Radditz felt several break. Then he grabbed Radditz by the hair and one arm and threw him into the air. He raised an arm to send an energy bolt after him.

Nasu leapt to try and stop him, but Brolly merely turned and smiled at her, spun around behind her, and grabbed her by the tail. She screamed. He laughed, pulling her up against him. She put all her weight into stepping on the inside of his foot, and he howled and slacked his hold enough that she could maneuver around to face him. He had stopped smiling, she was pleased to note. She spit in his face, then punched him in the stomach. He let go of her tail. She flitted away up into the air, pausing long enough to kick him in the back of the head as she rose upward.

"Big Bang Attack!" Trunks shouted, and hit Brolly with another ki blast before he could recover.

Radditz managed to stop his flight and right himself in mid-air. Nasu flew up next to him and put an arm around his shoulders. His face was drawn up tight with pain. She helped him back to the ground, then returned to the air to join Trunks.

They hovered over Brolly, who wiped his face, stood up, and looked at them. "Insolent Saiyan brat," he said, quite calmly one would think, until they looked deeply into his eyes and saw the madness there.

`He's lost it,' Radditz fretted. `He's gone over the edge with anger.' That made him even more dangerous.

"Half-breed abomination. Bardock's spawn," Brolly continued, insulting them each in turn. "You will all die."

"Someday," Nasu replied. "But not today. And not by your hand."

Brolly gave a laugh that chilled Radditz, who thought it positively maniac. Then he gathered two handfuls of green ki and threw them both at Trunks.

He dodged the first, but the second struck him in the chest and sent him crashing to the ground, where he landed with his leg twisted under him. He didn't get back up.

`Now,' Hito instructed. `Throw it now!'

The energy was a vibrating, pulsating mass above his head. He took hold of it with all his might and sent it flying toward Brolly.

"Kiya namen se!" he shouted as he loosed it.

Once again time seemed to slow down. Nasu and Radditz both turned their heads to watch. Brolly whirled around to face him, not comprehending the danger. His face went slack when he saw the enormous ball of energy heading for him. He started to dive away.

But he never made it. The Spirit Bomb was faster. It enveloped him in its light.

With a popping noise and a strange stretching sensation, Vegeta and Hito unfused.

Everyone squinted through the light to see. . . and Brolly was slowly obliterated into particles of nothingness. Hito let out a deep breath. Vegeta swallowed hard.

"Name tiko," Vegeta said. It is finished.

"Rate tah," Radditz and Nasu responded. So witnessed.

Hito smirked. "That'll teach them to mess with Saiyan Royalty."

Vegeta couldn't help but smile at that.

"How's Trunks?" Nasu asked, walking over to him. "How are you, Radditz?"

"I'll be fine," Radditz replied.

Hito went to examine Trunks. "He's OK. Nothing that a senzu bean can't fix."

Vegeta looked over at Goku, who looked like he was starting to come around.

Krillen appeared from amongst the trees, looking rueful. "I missed the whole thing, didn't I?"

"Check Goku," Vegeta ordered.

Krillen blinked, but did so. The others were stirring, as well. Chi-Chi came running up to check on Goten. Piccolo, moving in a strange cross between his normal stalking and a woozy sort of wobble, went over to see about Gohan.

Vegeta watched them all, ignoring his own few injuries. This was his clan now. His past was officially over. And while his planet and most of his people were gone, here he was on a new planet, with friends. He wouldn't be a King, but he was free from Frieza at last. And Brolly was dead. And Kakkarot. . . Kakkarot. . .

Goku sat up, rubbing his temples. "Oh man, what just happened?"

Apprehensive looks turned toward him. "Brolly's dead," Krillen reported nervously. "You are good again, now, right?"

Goku frowned in confusion. "Haven't I always been?"

"You were evil, you baka," Hito told him scathingly. "I thought you had more will power than that."

"Like you can talk," Piccolo sneered.

"But I wanted to be evil," Hito retorted.

Trunks groaned and sat up. The first sight his eyes met was Nasu's eyes staring back at him. He blushed but didn't look away.

Goku was good now. All his enemies were dead. He was safe, and among friends. He'd found a place. And Kakkarot. . . Vegeta shuddered involuntarily. He still couldn't think about Kakkarot. That would be for later. But Kakkarot was dead, and that was the important thing.

"I'm staying here."

They all turned to look at him.

"I'm not going back."

"Then neither are we," Radditz said. Nasu nodded.

"Good! You can stay with us!" Trunks smiled happily. Hito didn't speak up to say no.

Chi-Chi looked as if she couldn't decide whether or not to be horrified. "Two Vegeta's? Forever? Oh my."

As if on cue, they both smirked.