Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Touketsu ❯ Nothing ( Chapter 33 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Nothing

Goku looked up to see the horned Saiyan prince darkening against the brilliant emerald sky. The demon was again setting his sights on the Namekian village that lay in the valley just behind Goku, palm out as he prepared to deploy the negative energy. Goku quickly IT'd behind the prince to nail a Super Saiyan 2 roundhouse kick from his left, propelling the prince through the air and over one of the planet's vast, verdant oceans. Goku plowed forward after him, his arm drawn back for a punch when Touketsu-Vegeta recovered. He dodged the punch, grabbing Goku's outstretched arm to fling him into the ocean below.

"Kuromon!" Touketsu-Vegeta fired the implosive ball of black energy after Goku. Goku phased out of the way, whirling around and looking on as the energy drove into the ocean to instantly create a massive whirlpool. Goku had no time to react when Touketsu-Vegeta delivered a double-axe handle over his back that sent him straight into the churning vortex below.

"Right where you belong, you piece of shit," Touketsu-Vegeta snarled under his breath. He flung out his hand, his body darkening as he prepared to fire an attack into the vortex that would implode the heart of the planet. Goku IT'd behind the prince and locked his arms under his, immobilizing him before he could deploy the attack. The cascading fires of the demon's aura flared as he roared in abject frustration.

"DAMN YOU! You're not going to stop me! This planet's going, along with the rest of Creation. I won't repeat this farce of an existence anymore!"

Goku flinched as the negative energy bit into his own, but he held fast to the demon prince. "You don't have to repeat anything, Vegeta! Nothing is written in stone. You're in control of your destiny-"

"SHUT UP! You're a LIAR!" Touketsu-Vegeta screamed, his voice ragged as his energy flared. He flew them both backwards to rocket through the air, cliffs and plateaus exploding in showers of rock as the two plowed through them. They finally drove into a large cliff-face, a massive crater fanning out around them upon impact.

Goku grunted in pain as he was smashed against the rock, Touketsu-Vegeta's toxic aura now eating away at his body's strength. He flared his own ki and put a palm to the prince's back before releasing a blast of energy. The shadow cloaking Touketsu-Vegeta dissipated in the blast as he was sent flying forward. He crashed to the ground below, Goku dropping down out of the air in exhaustion a moment later. Momentarily stunned, they both tried to catch their breaths as they got to their feet. Touketsu-Vegeta stood up and whirled around unsteadily to face Goku.

"It's easy enough to repeat mistakes if you have no memories of them," the prince growled, breathless. "But I remembered enough, and I now remember my entire life working for Frieza. I remember being that…slave beast for the Kagemazoku. I remember being at the mercy of another's whims! Subjugation is for the weak! I was taught that as a boy! And yet here I was!" he panted with an emphatic sweep of his arm. "Being subjugated - by everything, at every turn. I did everything I could to secure power and avoid repeating this existence. I planned my every step so fucking carefully, only to find myself back at the beginning! It doesn't matter what I do! The notion of free will is utter bullshit!"

Goku straightened marginally, panting as he clutched his aching midsection. "Maybe you need another game plan?"

Touketsu-Vegeta gaped incredulously, and with a roar of outrage he launched himself at the Super Saiyan. Goku was counting on that. He brought his knee up and nailed the demon prince directly into the stomach. Stunned, the prince was barely straightening when Goku turned and struck the back of his head with the heel of his palm, sending him slamming face-first into the cliffside ahead of him. Goku was on him in an instant. He spun the dazed demon around before burying his forearm against his throat, pinning him against the rock.

"I'm serious, Vegeta! You have the same answer for everything and you expect a different result? What was in your head when you made these decisions? What was in your heart?"

"Oh spare me," he spat through a slurry of blood, reaching up to grip the arm against his throat.

"What were you feeling?!" Goku pressed. "Anger? Despair? Fear?"

"Fear?!"

"Think about it!" Goku persisted. "What was going through your mind when you wished Frieza back? What was motivating you to make such a stupid decision!?" Touketsu-Vegeta faltered as Goku pressed on. "What were you feeling when you were about to destroy that village? Were you thinking about Bulma? Trunks? Were you thinking about their interests, or were you too wrapped up in your own rage? Were you thinking of anyone other than yourself?"

"FUCK THEM! I'M THROUGH LIVING FOR OTHERS!" With a pulse of dark energy Touketsu brought a palm up and fired point blank into Goku's chest. The Super Saiyan was sent flying, his energy temporarily knocked out of him.

Touketsu-Vegeta snarled. "They aren't worth all this suffering. They're no more worth it than the Saiyan people were, and yet again and again I suffer for them! I'M DONE WITH ALL OF THIS!" His skin darkened and his body burst into heavy flames. The fires began to whirl around him, his body continuing to darken as the prince prepared to decimate the planet. Goku recovered, ascending back to Super Saiyan 2. He IT'd next to the prince, placing a hand on the surprised demon's shoulder before they both winked out of sight.

They reappeared on a tiny planet.

"Goku, what the hell?!" King Kai screamed. "Why do you alway have to bring the fight to MY doorstep, huh?! You can only blow up a guy's planet so many times!"

"Sorry King Kai, It was the first place I could think of!"

"Yeah, I'm not surprised with that pea-brain of yours!" the North Kai yelled.

Absolutely incensed, Touketu-Vegeta whirled on Goku, his grasp on the devastating attack aborted. "You like teleportation, clown? KUROMON!" He shouted, throwing the energy into a controlled projectile that curved around and behind Goku to tear a hole into the atmosphere. The demon prince immediately plowed into the still-weakened Saiyan, sending them both through.

King Kai clutched his heart. "That Saiyan is going to be the death of me." he grumbled. He glanced up at the halo over his head. "Oh wait - HE ALREADY WAS!"

_____________________________________________________________________

The two tumbled into a vast alien village. Numerous tall buildings were carved straight into the dusky, blue banded cliffs and canyons that surrounded them. It was dusk, and the planet's weak, red sun was dipping towards the horizon, steeping the atmosphere in bloody light. Several villagers, small, pale gray creatures with equally pale eyes, whirled in shock at the sudden appearance of these two aliens that had seemingly emerged from a tear in reality itself. They ran screaming in alarm, shouting in their native language as Goku, shocked, stood up and took in the new surroundings. Touketsu-Vegeta ignored the terrified shouts of the villagers around them, his eyes only on Goku.

"You are a persistent one, Kakarot. You just insist on getting in my way. You want that rematch before I scrub Creation out of existence? You've got it," he hissed. Goku snapped his attention back to the prince. Touketsu-Vegeta smirked, white fangs flashing from a rapidly darkening face. The dark light within quickly pulsed at an alarming rate and he drew one hand back across his chest. "Think you can fight with distractions?"

Goku blanched. "Vegeta-"

"KURONAMI!"

Touketsu-Vegeta flung his arm outward, and everything within 20 miles was consumed in a tidal wave of black fire. Buildings, people, the land itself were ripped apart by the dark conflagration and reduced to atoms.

"KAMEHAMEHA!"

Goku had leapt up into the sky and quickly deployed the attack only to find that Touketsu had likewise dodged it. The demon prince phased behind him and delivered a right hook to his head which he quickly blocked with his forearm. They again engaged in hand to hand combat, evenly matched as they traded blows that sent shock waves through the atmosphere and cleared the clouds.

"Aw, not fast enough, Kakarot," Touketsu-Vegeta taunted between a flurry of offensive kicks and punches. "You like that?! How does it feel knowing that you couldn't save them? Is that guilt settling in your chest, sapping your energy?"

Goku responded by going Super Saiyan 3. "YES! IT IS!" He shouted as the demon's body plunged to a charcoal gray, his dripping aura flaring in blues and purples. "I've experienced that loss before, and I'm going through it again! My sons are gone because you brought Frieza back, and you killed my friends!" With a snarl of bitter disgust Touketsu-Vegeta met him blow for blow, but he found himself incrementally losing ground. He was now on the defensive. Goku broke through the demon's defenses and cracked a roundhouse kick into his ribs before delivering a spin kick to his jaw that sent him flying. The demon prince recovered midair and flared his energy, halting his momentum.

"But I won't dwell on any of that!" Goku shouted. "I'm moving forward and focusing on making this right. We have the Dragon Balls. We can still fix this but NOT if you destroy the whole Universe!"

"Svaroken!" The darkness raced up Touketsu-Vegeta's arm to manifest the blade, and in the next second Goku saw it being brought down over his head. His arms crossed protectively over his face, he flew back, but not fast enough. Super Saiyan 3 protected Goku from having his arms lopped off, but the weapon nonetheless sliced deep into his forearms. Its toxic fires crawled across his flesh as the demon prince furiously brought the blade down again and again. Goku could feel its virulent energy affecting him, but he refused to succumb. He instead responded to the demon's onslaught by pushing his power to the brink. With a roar of unbridled determination Goku unleashed a powerful wave of energy that blasted Touketsu-Vegeta away from him, stunning him. Goku brought his hands back.

"KAAA-MEEE-HAAA-MEEE-HAAAAA!

The blue blast tore from a Super Saiyan 3 Goku's hands. The demon prince's red eyes flared as he reactively brought his blade up in front of his face. He was driven back by the blast nearly a kilometer before the blade swallowed it. The dripping aura around the sword flared, growing blindingly bright with the captured energy. The black sword within the blazing fire began to smoke. It couldn't hold the captured energy long. Touketsu-Vegeta's head snapped up.

"You can take this right back, FOOL!" Touketsu-Vegeta screamed. He rocketed through the air towards Goku, sword arm raised and prepared to cleave his adversary in half with the now terribly enhanced weapon. He was within fifteen feet of Goku when the weapon exploded around his hand in a burst of searing blue-white light.

Touketsu-Vegeta roared in surprise and pain as he gripped the wrist of his right hand. His horrifically burned hand was a mess of charred red flesh, the black hair on the back of his hand seared off. Gritting his teeth in pain he looked up just as a fist plowed into his face.

Goku IT'd behind the stunned prince and captured him in a headlock. Gripping Goku's forearm, the demon wrapped his long tail tightly around Goku's ribcage and proceeded to squeeze like a constricting snake. Goku wrapped his legs around the demon's midsection, applying equal pressure as the two grappled suspended in mid-air.

"Stop this, Vegeta!" Goku screamed in his ear. "There is no sense in any of this. Whatever you're feeling, wherever your mind is, you don't have to keep going down this path! It's like the Supreme Kai said. He's a god for crying out loud, I think he knows what he's talking about! Why won't you listen?!"

"Shut up!" Touketsu-Vegeta choked out. "That lofty little fuck never had any idea where I've been or where I am now - not that he ever cared. Neither do you! You talk like there's a way out. There IS no way out!"

"There is! I know because I was there!"

Touketsu-Vegeta scoffed. "Like hell you were!"

"Do you realize what your attack did to me on that mountain? It ripped my soul apart!"

"That a fact? Too bad the pieces weren't smaller!" the prince snarled as he struggled in his grasp.

"It scattered me across a place that was nothing but darkness. That ki blade of yours - that energy - it's an extension of you. I know you're still there. You're in a dark place, but I know that you can get out. If I could do it, you can! You don't have to stay there!"

With a scream of rage Touketsu-Vegeta flared his energy, the darkness pulsing outward as Goku was blasted off of him. His Super Saiyan 3 transformation flickered like a flame in a gust of wind, but it held fast. The demon prince was on him in an instant as they were once again trading blows laced with opposite energies.

"I know it's difficult to know where to go if it's too dark to see in any direction." Goku persisted.

"Shut up already and just fight me, clown!" he screamed, his body again darkening.

Goku caught the demon's incoming fist. "Stop focusing on your pain! Focus on something - someone - that you can live for." He caught the monster's next punch. "If you do that you'll see a light. You can follow it out - you'll be able to find your way out of there!"

Touketsu-Vegeta yanked Goku forward and drove a knee into his jaw, snapping his head back. He dug his claws into the stunned Saiyan's hands, his dark skin plunging to onyx as blue light strobed throughout his body to infuse the stone.

"Find your way out of this," he snarled, his cold, dripping blue aura flaring. Goku gasped in pain. His hands began to blacken and his life force ebb as Touketsu-Vegeta sucked out his energy. The prince's burned hand healed as the blackness crawled up his adversary's arms, and Goku dropped down to Super Saiyan 2, then 1. Touketsu-Vegeta chuckled in morbid amusement as he watched his rival die slowly.

Goku began to grey out when he shook it off, gritting his teeth in determination. "HEYAAAAHHH!" Goku raised his power as high as he could, feeding his body with strength even as it was being drawn into the dark prince. With a scream of fury he pushed his power to new heights, and he again ascended to Super Saiyan 3. The darkness spreading through Goku's arms began to recede, and Touketsu-Vegeta's grim smirk faltered. He grit his teeth and tightened his grip, stubbornly trying to maintain his hold on Goku's hands. At last, Goku unleashed a burst of energy that ripped through Touketsu-Vegeta's body. The demon prince was blasted back as though he had stuck his finger in a light socket. He was sent rocketing to the ground in an explosion of slate-blue earth, his dark transformation gone. Nearly drained, Goku hovered in the air, back in his primary Super Saiyan form. He clutched a hand to his chest, his hands blackened and blistered but otherwise intact.

Touketsu-Vegeta pulled himself up to his knees, the markings on his body now pulsing in a constant, uninterrupted stream of light. Also clutching a hand to his chest, he drew himself up on shaky legs before gasping in pain. The strobing light running through his body turned gold, the energy filling the stone in his chest until it burned like a sun. His stark white skin began to glow like a star. Touketsu staggered back, growling in fury and heightening concern. He was burning up. It was too much…the energy was too much- his body was going to be destroyed!

Pure hatred twisted his features as looked back up at Goku. "DAMN YOU, KAKAROT!" He screamed. "I'm not going out alone. After you, you BASTARD!" Using the discipline and militant coldness that had made him Frieza's most deadly and heartless soldier, he submerged all emotion until he felt nothing. There was nothing but his objective. Leaning forward, he crossed his arms over his chest. His skin began to darken before quickly plunging into a flat black.

The energy that was pouring off of him was balled up and ruthlessly pushed down deep within. The gold light continued to pulse through the markings and into the stone, his body trembling as the enormous power within threatened to fracture it. He cast cold, glowing golden eyes up to Goku. Gleaming white teeth cracked into a snarl from the shadow's face as the golden aura of Super Saiyan 3 burst around him.

Goku just managed to ascend back to Super Saiyan 2 when Toueketsu-Vegeta was suddenly hovering in the air right in front of him. The dark prince flung both hand out on either side before bringing them forward to lock at the wrists.

"NISSHOKU!"

In a burst of blinding light an ear-splitting explosion ensued. The darkness and light ripped from Touketsu's body to hit the Super Saiyan point blank and send him flying. Trapped within a black sphere pulsing with a violent corona of gold ki, Goku's body was being quickly compressed within the crackling thunderstorm of planet-destroying energy. The dark ball immediately retracted and Goku's Super Saiyan 2 transformation was smothered, the air knocked out of his lungs as he went back down to 1. With the force of a dying star the attack suddenly detonated around him in a furious explosion of the stolen Super Saiyan 3 energy, sending Goku flying for hundreds of miles as the blast scrubbed away the atmosphere. He crashed through several cliffside buildings, blasting through the land and sending chalky, indigo earth high into the air. At last he tumbled to a stop on his stomach. His hair faded to black.

Touketsu-Vegeta hovered in the air miles away, a sheen of sweat covering his alabaster skin. Breathing hard, he shakily wiped the sweat off his brow with a shaggy forearm. A slow grin spread across his features, and a chuckle escaped his lips in spite of himself.

He had missed this.

Goku was weakly pushing himself up when he was viciously kicked in the head. He rolled over onto his back, and a heavy, clawed foot stomped down onto his solar plexus. Goku coughed up a gout of blood, the air knocked out of him as he struggled to breathe. The demon stepped up onto Goku's chest before crouching down and wrapping his arms around his legs. He rested his chin on his knees and looked down thoughtfully at the gasping Saiyan for a moment, his long tail flicking up once.

"Hn. It almost kills me to admit it, Kakarot, but the level of power that you have attained is incredible. You challenge me in ways I couldn't imagine." He chuckled. "I'll never forget our first battle on Earth. I was forced to push my power and abilities to new heights, just as I did moments ago." He mused for a moment as he continued watching Goku cough up blood. "Was it you that pushed me to achieve the level of Super Saiyan?"

Goku spit a mouthful of blood off to the side. "I may have motivated you to pursue it, Vegeta," he wheezed, "but you were always capable of reaching it."

Touketsu-Vegeta smiled mirthlessly. "How diplomatic of you."

"You know, it was you that made me believe in the Super Saiyan legend," Goku ground out through a pained smirk, squinting up at the prince through one eye. "You helped me get there. When I was fighting Frieza, I had a vision of you. You told me I had to ascend to Super Saiyan or die. Was that all in my mind, or did you speak to me from Otherworld? Do you remember that?"

Touketsu-Vegeta's dark smile faded. "I don't." He stepped off of Goku and stood over him. He shrugged carelessly before aiming two fingers at Goku's face, his body darkening. "But there's a lot I don't remember."

He released the blast, creating a sink hole when Goku IT'd behind him to throw a ki blast of his own at point blank range. Touketsu-Vegeta was blasted forward before recovering to retaliate as he again launched at Goku. Goku went Super, nimbly jumped backward as he deployed a Twin Dragon Shot at the advancing creature before leaping into the air. Touketsu-Vegeta easily dodged the attacks and flew at the Saiyan, throwing his arm outward as Goku got his guard up.

"Kuromon!" Touketsu-Vegeta disappeared into the ensuing vortex only to reappear behind Goku, sending them both barreling through the sky as the prince hooked his arm around Goku's neck. "I think we need more playing pieces," he rasped, a smile in his voice. The prince threw his arm out, and they both tore through the gateway that opened in front of them. The two were instantly rocketing through the stormy night sky of a completely different planet. A bustling alien metropolis, alive with light, sprawled below them.

Having gained a second wind, Goku ascended to Super Saiyan 2 before flinging Touketsu-Vegeta off and over his head to the streets below. Goku automatically charged a Kamehameha attack before realizing they were someplace new, thousands of aliens in diverse races at risk of annihilation. He aborted the attack and IT'd behind Touketsu-Vegeta. The prince whirled around only to be met with a sidekick to the midsection before receiving a powerful uppercut that sent him upward. Goku immediately gave chase, deploying a massive Kamehameha at Touketsu-Vegeta with the intent of driving him and their battle away from the populated area. Touketsu-Vegeta had put his guard up, and while he was driven back for several miles he had weathered the attack with little damage to show for it. Goku phased behind him for another energy attack but Touketsu-Vegeta was ready. He twisted around and they again exchanged blows at lightning speed, churning the roiling thunderclouds with their concussive force and further charging an already electrified atmosphere.

"Trying to move our battle arena, Kakarot?" the demon prince shouted as the thunder and lighting cracked around them. "I don't think so." Touketsu-Vegeta delivered a charged spin kick to Goku's face, sending him flying backwards. In the next instant Goku found his trajectory had changed, and he was now rocketing diagonally downwards to tumble through buildings. The structures collapsed behind him as he continued to bounce off of gridlocked alien vehicles, crushing them with the force of the impact before tumbling to a stop through bustling streets. Touketsu-Vegeta had torn a portal and kicked him straight through it, sending him right back down into the city. Goku wasn't even aware when he had done it. He sat up, blinking and disoriented as the diverse alien populace ran about screaming in a complete panic, vehicles crashing into each other and alarms blaring to add to the terrifying confusion.

Goku looked up when he heard mocking laughter above him. Touktesu-Vegeta hovered above the city, arms crossed as he laughed imperiously, his hair whipping around in the winds of the thunderstorm. "Is my Kuromon a good answer to your blasted Instant Transmission, Kakarott? Unlike your technique however I need not seek out familiar ki signatures for teleportation. So, unless you want to deliver our battle to your friends and loved ones - or what's left of them," he sneered, "we'll be staying right here. I do so enjoy the look on your face when people die, hero."

Goku stood up and powered to Super Saiyan 3 before IT'ing behind Touketsu-Vegeta, plowing forward with his fist.

His fist met nothing as he stumbled forward across the torn up street. He blinked. "Wha?" Touketsu-Vegeta had anticipated the move, sidestepping Goku like a matador and instantly creating a portal that the Saiyan went right through. Goku grit his teeth and looked up over his shoulder.

"You're growing predictable Kakarot!" Touketsu-Vegeta called out mockingly. "Allow me to introduce a little variety." The demon prince's body darkened as the energy pulsed throughout. He held his index finger up, a wicked smirk twisting his mouth. "Tokui-ten."

The darkness instantly receded from his body, traveling up his arm before concentrating at his fingertip. A marble sized sphere of black energy appeared above a shining black claw before it quickly began to balloon in size. Crackling lightning of blue and purple energy laced the growing black sphere before it began to spin, faster and faster like a globe on its axis. Touketsu-Vegeta raised his hand over his head, the swirling ball of energy dancing over his fingertip as it continued to grow in diameter. He began to laugh manically, looking very much like Frieza in that moment as the storm clouds were pulled in to rotate around the strange energy. Goku began charging a Kamehameha, ignoring the pandemonium as the terrified people fled in droves around him. Touketsu-Vegeta appeared to be charging an attack; he would have to intercept before the prince deployed it. Then Goku noticed something: pieces of the buildings around Touketsu-Vegeta were rapidly disintegrating, the particles being pulled in to coalesce around the spinning energy ball into a growing vortex. To his horror, he realized the effect was happening everywhere.

Touketsu-Vegeta had created a black hole. Everything around was being picked apart piece by piece to be drawn into the ever growing accretion disc that whirled around it: men, women, children, animals, objects both living and non-living were pulled in, their fragments becoming thin strands of pure energy. Even the light from the neon street signs and from within the apartments and offices couldn't escape. It was then that Goku realized that the energy of his charging Kamehameha was being pulled in as well. Tiny shreds of his gi began to come apart, and he felt a prickling on his skin as his body began to succumb to dissolution. He flared his ki, protecting his body but simultaneously feeding Touketsu-Vegeta's insidious attack.

"How do you like it, Kakarot?" he shouted down. "I drew a little inspiration from your Spirit Bomb technique. For a clown you make an excellent teacher," he laughed. "Though I must admit mine is a vast improvement. Why just harness energy from spirit when I can take it from matter too?"

"Vegeta, don't do this! You're going to destroy the entire planet!"

"You say that as though I care! I'm putting this planet to better use."

Goku gaped before realizing what he intended to do. "Vegeta! Are you forgetting what almost happened to you a little while ago?! If you take in too much energy you'll rip yourself apart too! Stop this!"

Touketsu-Vegeta's mocking grin dropped. "Fool," he hissed. "You don't give me enough credit, but then I suppose you never DID! HEYAAAAHH!"

The black hole began to retract in size, and the entire city was immediately ripped apart. Within seconds, far and wide throughout the planet, matter and energy was fed into the vortex. The ground broke apart and gave way beneath Goku's feet and he found himself now levitating among what was fast becoming space debris. The spinning disc of energy swirled to disappear into the black spot like water down a drain, the light disappearing with it. The demon prince opened his hand, and the still spinning black marble dropped into his palm before he closed a tight fist around it. It was immediately absorbed into him, casting him completely in a flat, black shadow. The pulsing energy from the converted matter quickly blazed through the markings, increasing to an alarming velocity as the stone in his chest burned with the coalescing power within. The energy leaked off of his trembling form to orbit him in a sickly aura of barely contained energy.

Touketsu-Vegeta opened glowing eyes that burned with the imprisoned energy. "I learned something after absorbing your precious Super Saiyan 3 energy," he smirked through a pained grimace as he fought an internal battle to prevent the energy from ripping him completely asunder. "One can't hold on to everything. Sometimes, you just have to let go." Snickering, he drew both his hands back to his side in a familiar gesture as the aura around him spun faster into a vortex. The strobing energy in his markings peaked and the light in the center of his chest burned like a star. "A little modification of an old technique of mine!" he shouted, laughing. He threw his hands forward. "GAMMA GUUUUUUUNN!"

A massive, spiraling blast of incredible energy tore forth from his hands. With a terrifying roar that ripped through the cosmos, a miles-wide pillar of destructive power hit Goku dead-on. Goku had no where to go and no time to react. He got his guard up, and flared his ki in a desperate attempt to protect himself. The force of the impact all but took his breath away, the energy tearing through his body and threatening to separate his soul from it. He diverged all his power into the barrier he created, screaming as he pushed desperately to keep it sustained. Touketsu-Vegeta had become a singular point of destructive energy. He continued to pull in light and matter from nearby planets and stars, their energy whirling into a hot accretion disk around his flat, black form to be pulled into the void of his being, augmenting the devastating attack into a seemingly never-ending onslaught. With a furious scream, the demon's darkness joined the attack with a final, devastating pulse of vengeful energy. The column of light at last receded, racing off into the infinite darkness of space.

Goku floated in the silent void barely conscious, the top of his orange gi disintegrated and the rest of his clothing in tatters. He was left completely drained, his hair having faded back to black. His breath came out in short gasps as the iciness of space gripped him, frost forming in his hair and over his skin.

"It seems I inherited Frieza's ability to survive in a vacuum. Lucky me," a gruff voice dead-panned.

Goku's eyes fluttered open. Touketsu-Vegeta drifted over to him, pale once more. Goku winced as he tried to summon his energy, to move, anything. But it was getting harder and harder to breathe, and he could feel his life force begin to ebb.

"How long do you think you can survive out here in the void of space, Kakarot?" Goku wasn't given a chance to answer when he was suddenly grabbed by the face, claws digging into his head as they both rocketed through space. The prince slammed Goku through drifting asteroids, scraping his face up against the massive rocks before bursting through them completely, reducing them to dust.

Touketsu-Vegeta gave himself up completely to his animal wrath. Impassioned with a fervor to at last take out all his shackled rage on the Saiyan he was gripping by the face, he blazed through space time, tearing through portal after portal without conscious thought. His scream of rage continued to rise as they blazed through the fabric of space and time faster and faster.

Finally, Goku was flung into the dark side of a moon, creating a broad impact crater and sending dust up to hover in the low gravity. He bounced in slow motion several times before drifting to a stop, spread-eagle on his back. Seconds later Touketsu-Vegeta softly landed in a crouch nearby. He straightened, his long hair floating gently around him in the cold darkness as though he was standing at the bottom of an ocean. He slowly walked over to Goku, crossing his arms as he looked down at his fallen adversary gasping for breath.

"There is one thing we have in common, Kakarot. We respect strength. Because ultimately, we're both Saiyans. Perhaps you should have pushed for Super Saiyan 4 over in Otherworld," he sneered sarcastically. He scowled and slowly unfolded his arms, bringing them to his sides as his hands curled into fists. "You certainly never respected my title, that was made abundantly clear when we first faced each other. Well, that title that you wouldn't deign to acknowledge gave me purpose. It gave me pride. It filled me with a sense of power and responsibility from the day my father told me what was expected of me. I held onto that title when my father handed me over to Frieza, because it gave me strength during my servitude to him. It reminded me that I had been next in line for the throne, and as such I had the potential to become the most powerful Saiyan that had ever lived. Now why wouldn't Frieza want a weapon like that at his beck and call?" Touketsu-Vegeta's expression grew cold. "I suffered for that. I suffered for my dead race when, if I had been as weak as the rest of them, I would have been allowed to die and be spared the hell that was my life. At the very least, I was content in the knowledge that I survived for a reason. That, no matter how much I wanted to die some days, I still had a purpose. My continued existence was proof of my significance. I had a destiny to fulfill. I would avenge my fallen race and take my seat as ruler of the universe. All of my suffering would be worth it."

Touketsu-Vegeta's cold, detached expression hardened to one of passionate hatred. "Then…I met you," he sneered. "You single-handedly destroyed everything I had ever believed in. Power is everything to a Saiyan, and I was bested in battle by a common, third-class soldier. And you, the perfect, shining one, had slipped beneath Frieza's notice and beyond his grasp. Our people should have been your responsibility," he jabbed angrily in the direction of the gasping Saiyan lying helplessly on his back. "You should have been the one to suffer for them. Instead it was me, and it was all for nothing." His expression began to crack, his voice becoming more impassioned. "You showed me I was nothing! Well, at last I am in charge, and I'm going to reshape all of Creation in my image: I will make it nothing." Touketsu-Vegeta strode over to Goku, his tail lashing tightly around his throat. He hefted him up, and they both levitated high into the still atmosphere. Finally he stopped, and Goku squinted through one eye. Far beyond the horizon of the moon, cresting through the darkness of space and glowing like a blue jewel, was Earth.

"Recognize your precious planet, Kakarot?"

"No,' Goku thought weakly. He was going to destroy Earth and make him watch. He weakly gripped the tail wrapped tightly around his throat. He couldn't breathe, much less fight.

"Frieza may have destroyed planet Vegeta, but you destroyed my world - and I'm finally going to return the favor. Before I do however, I would like to properly conclude our business. I'm ready to revisit the past, Kakarot. How about you?" Touketsu-Vegeta threw out his hand and summoned a portal. His tail still wrapped tightly around Goku's throat, he dragged the Saiyan in with him.