The Gizard Wasteland…
Gine yelped as she barely dodged a massive, crashing fist. She was desperately trying to not only keep herself safe, but was also trying to carry the strained and exhausted Bardock as the Oozaru form of Vegeta rampaged above her. Nearby, her two sons were both also desperately trying to avoid being hit by the rampaging ape while also fighting back. Raditz and Goku both dodged and managed to get off some basic Ki blasts at Vegeta, but they were unable to concentrate long enough to fire off any of their more advanced techniques.
Gine dodged another stomp from Vegeta's massive foot, nearly dropping Bardock. She grabbed her husband by the back of his armor to avoid losing him and leapt up onto a rocky spire. "Jeez..."
Bardock groaned and shakily looked up at his wife. "Gine. Just drop me and save yourself. I don't want you getting stepped on..."
Gine shook her head, charging a Mother Blast. "No! I'm not abandoning you! But I'm going to give you such an earful for recklessly crippling yourself later!"
She fired off the blast and it hit Vegeta dead on the back of the head. The enraged prince turned to her and snarled. "What the hell was that?!"
He drew back his massive arm and swung it down at Gine. She and Bardock both would have been dead if not for, at the last second, Raditz jumping in front of the two of them and firing a Saturday Crush. The three of them were sent flying while Vegeta roared in pain, holding his tingling hand.
Watching his Saiyan family fall into a crevice, Goku knew that he had to cover for them for a bit. The Saiyan gave himself a double slap on the face and took a deep breath. And then, Goku shouted. "Kaioken x4!"
Goku flew up like a rocket and smashed his foot into Vegeta's massive stomach. The Oozaru wretched and fell to his knees and Goku landed next to him, charging up a Kamehameha and firing at Vegeta. The force of the blast knocked Vegeta over and singed his face. Seeing a moment for rest, Goku released the Kaioken and smirked at Vegeta as the lumbering ape pushed himself up. "You know... I've been thinking..."
Vegeta snarled. "About what?!"
Goku shook his head. "You won't care. But... I think I finally realized who the monster was that killed my Grandpa Gohan. Next time I die... I need to find his soul and apologize to him..."
Vegeta roared. "Let me help you!"
The Oozaru raised his fist into the air and smashed it down toward Goku. Goku dodged and jumped onto Vegeta's arm, running up it and blasting him right in the face. The Saiyan from Earth leapt up again, thinking that Vegeta was stunned, but was surprised when the Saiyan's massive hand shot up from the smoke and grabbed hold of his leg.
Goku cried out in pain as Vegeta tightened his grip around his leg, shattering it like a toothpick. He could feel shards of bone grinding against one another in his shattered limb, shuddering as Vegeta cackled. "Foolish low-class scum! When a Saiyan is transformed by the power of a full moon, our bodies are fully reenergized, and strengthened 10-fold!"
Vegeta roared and began to swing Goku around, smashing him into various rocky spires. "I've been thinking too, Kakarot! I've been thinking about this entire trip throughout this fight! I lost my remaining Saibamen!"
Goku was smashed into another rocky spire, tearing his shirt and cracking one of his shoulders. "I lost that idiot Nappa! That was my best lackey!"
Goku was smashed, head-first, into a rocky bluff. "And I've lost a modicum of my pride by lowering myself to fighting you low-class pieces of garbage in this ugly form!"
Vegeta raised Goku high in the air for one final smash. "This trip has been a massive waste of my time and I will kill all of you for this!"
Goku coughed up a bit of blood and called out. "Kaioken x5!"
The force of Goku's power blasted Vegeta's hand open. The surge of energy from the Kaioken bursting from Goku's body burned away his shirt and allowed the Saiyan to rain down a series of heavy kicks on Vegeta's forehead. Goku was running on pure adrenaline. He charged forward at the staggered Vegeta, following up with another kick right to the Oozaru's snout. Goku could feel the power pulsing through his muscles. He had to release the Kaioken or else he wouldn't be able to move anymore.
As Goku let the Kaioken go, Vegeta stood back up. The massive Saiyan drew back his fist to punch Goku out of the air, but was met by a blast from left field.
"Dynamite Monday!"
The blast hit Vegeta's face and exploded, knocking the prince onto his ass. Goku looked down to see where the blast came from, but was surprised as a bloodied Raditz leapt up, snatching him from the air, and plunged both of them into a nearby crevice.
Vegeta stood up, dazed and angry, and shouted at the top of his lungs. "Where did you cowards go?!"
In the caverns under the Gizard Wasteland…
Raditz landed and sat Goku on the ground. The younger brother screamed as his leg touched the rocky floor of the cave. Raditz quickly covered his mouth. "Shut up, Kakarot! Vegeta will hear you if you're too loud..."
The two brothers both looked up at the cavernous ceiling and felt Vegeta's rumbling footsteps above them. The prince was almost feral; he was so angry. And his actions were proving it. Raditz glanced back down at Goku as the rumbling footsteps got softer and farther away. "So... where are you hurt?"
Goku groaned. "My leg is broken... and so is my shoulder... and several of my ribs..."
The Saiyan from Earth winced in pain and looked up at Raditz. "How about you?"
Raditz held up his left hand showing five broken fingers. "This hand won't be good for much for a while... and I busted my knee when we fell into this cavern."
Goku's eyes widened. "Oh yeah! What about Mom and Dad?!"
Gine groaned. "W-We're alive..."
She came walking up to her two sons, carrying Bardock on her back. "I... I have a... a... uh..."
Raditz chimed in. "Mom smashed her head against a rock really hard. She has a concussion. And Dad..."
Bardock snarled. "I'll be fine. I just need a minute to rest my... unh... my muscles..."
Raditz chimed in again. "Dad overdid it with the Kaioken and most of his muscles are strained or torn."
The older brother helped his mother and father to sit down and then sat down himself. The family of four all sat there, in silence, listening to Vegeta thrash around up above. The rampaging and rioting only got worse and worse as Vegeta got angrier and angrier. Eventually, Raditz spoke up again. "I know I'm the only person here that ever really tries to be cautious... Mom is too optimistic and Dad and Kakarot both have devil-may-care attitudes, but..."
Bardock, lying flat on his back, spoke up. "If any of us try to face Vegeta alone, he'll kill us. No need to sugarcoat. It was a damned stupid move to not take into account that he might turn into an Oozaru..."
The older Saiyan cringed. "Dammit, that smart punk! Destroying the Power Ball so only he could benefit from it!"
Goku turned to Bardock "What do you mean?"
Gine sighed. "The Power Ball creates an artificial spectrum of Blutz Waves that has a unique side-effect of seeping so much power into our system, that it takes much longer to fully-process through the body. This makes a transformed Saiyan remain in said state without continued exposure to the Blutz Waves for a good 90 minutes."
Bardock cut in. "90-minutes on average, the stronger you are, the quicker your body burns through the Blutz Waves absorbed…"
Gine nodded. "So, who knows how long Vegeta actually has left…"
Raditz clenched his good hand. "Fortunately, Vegeta doesn't know I learned the Power Ball myself, ages ago. We just need to transform as well to even the odds!"
Gine placed her hand on Raditz's shoulder to get his attention. "Probably not the best idea. I'm still a little sloppy at controlling myself in that state once things get too heated, and unless you've been working on it, you don't fare that much better than me with it."
Raditz blushed as he looked away from his mother. Bardock sighed. "Yeah, too much of a trade for sheer power. Vegeta can maintain his self-awareness and full cognitive thinking as an Oozaru. Meanwhile, at least two of us would probably become mindless beasts that would probably kill Kakarot on instinct, then be left as mindless targets for the much stronger and more rational beast to kill us."
Goku groaned, his leg throbbing. "So, what do we do then? He's so strong that not one of us can take him on single-handedly. Normally, I would be excited... but this could turn out really bad for the Earth..."
Raditz nodded. "One option to consider is to just wait down here until his Oozaru form runs out, but that would leave the Earth susceptible to Vegeta's wrath. So, the way I see it, we only have one other option..."
Gine turned to her eldest son. "Teamwork, right?"
Goku and Bardock both visibly cringed. Raditz nodded. "Yes. Teamwork. It'll hurt us, but if we each use our maximum Kaioken and combine our power together, we might be able to kill Vegeta once and for all. But we would need a move to really finish him off..."
Suddenly, King Kai forced himself into the conversation. "That is a very bad idea! Too much of the Kaioken could kill all of you! Even you Saiyans have a limit to just how much you can endure and adapt to all at once! Why don't any of you understand that?! That technique is not a toy to play with! You can't just all go to maximum and expect-"
Bardock snapped at King Kai. "Are you going to come off the miserable little planet of yours and help?!"
King Kai was stunned. Bardock shook his head. "Unless you are, then shut your mouth! We aren't trying to break ourselves on purpose! We don't have much of a choice here..."
King Kai swallowed a lump in his throat and sighed. "If you die, you can't blame me..."
Goku smiled and chuckled. "We wouldn't blame you, King Kai. And don't worry. None of us plan to die here... We just need to beat Vegeta!"
King Kai nodded. "Okay then... Well, I wish you all the best. I'll be watching."
Goku nodded. "Right. Talk to you later, King Kai!"
Once King Kai's voice was gone, Goku, Raditz, and Gine turned to Bardock. Gine nodded at her husband. "You're the strategist here, Bardock, what do we do?"
Bardock smiled at his wife's vote of confidence. "Okay then... listen closely..."
Back on the surface…
Vegeta rampaged in furious a tantrum at his inability to locate his enemies. He roared as loud as he could and smashed a mountain with his fist. "Dammit all! The cowards must have run off!"
Vegeta turned and sneered. "Fine. If they refuse to show themselves, maybe I have to convince them to show up..."
In the distance, Vegeta could see the small outline of a city. "Maybe a few corpses will convince them to show their-"
Quick as a flash, Raditz leapt in front of Vegeta and smirked. "Hey, asshole!"
Vegeta flinched. "Wha-"
Before his larger opponent could react, Raditz fired a blast right into Vegeta's eye, severely damaging it and bringing the Oozaru to his knees. Vegeta roared in pain. "Raditz!You damned, cowardlyRUNT!"
Wiping his face, Vegeta glared down at the ground and saw Goku, Bardock, Raditz, and Gine standing in front of him. Raditz stood confidently. Bardock looked like hell. And Goku and Gine were tightly holding hands. Vegeta sneered. "So good of you to all line up for me to kill you! Now..."
Vegeta raised his fist into the air. "DIE!"
Calmly, all four members of the family said it together. "Kaioken..."
Goku's body flashed red. "...x6!" (Power Level: 90,000)
Raditz flashed red. "...x5!" (Power Level: 72,500)
Bardock flashed red. "...x2!" (Power Level: 32,000)
And finally, Gine flashed red. "...x10!" (Power Level: 100,000)
The force of the Family Kaioken pushed Vegeta's fist back. He stared down at the power raging before him. He didn't know why, he didn't have his Scouter anymore, but some feeling in the back of his head vaguely told him that, if they all came at him at once, he would be dead.
Vegeta picked up a boulder and tossed it at the four of them, but Raditz and Bardock quickly responded. The two of them burst through the rock and slammed into Vegeta's stomach, sending him flying back.
Bardock charged up a Riot Javelin and fired it at Vegeta's face while Raditz delivered a solid kick to the Oozaru's massive throat. Gine quickly followed up, still holding Goku's hand and delivered a heavy kick to the side of Vegeta's head, sending the Oozaru tumbling across the wastes.
Goku was still in awe as he and his mom flew together. "How did you manage to master Times 10?!"
Gine's face was totally serious. "I might be weaker than you, Kakarot, but King Kai helped me get around that by focusing on the spiritual side of things! Now, hush up and focus! My body is almost entirely spent already! This plan fails without theSpirit Bomb!"
Goku nodded. "Right!"
Bardock and Raditz both hammered into Vegeta, their tired bodies screaming for a break. Gine fired off several Ki blasts, all the while maintaining focus on what she and her younger son were doing. Gine felt the energy of the Earth flowing into her and she was quickly pushing all of it onto her son, who was also gathering the Earth's energy. Gine landed and fired another blast, impacting Vegeta's back and leaving him open to an assault from Bardock and Raditz.
Raditz was cringing at the pain, but Bardock was powering through it. The older Saiyan delivered a solid kick to Vegeta's snout and knocked out one of his fangs. The prince took a swipe at Bardock, but Raditz was quick to meet his arm with another powerful blast.
Vegeta held his singed hand and screamed in pain. Bardock flew high up into the air and quickly descended back down, slamming his knee into Vegeta's back and flooring the Oozaru. He bolted around the wasteland, bouncing from rock to rock and waiting for Vegeta to get back up. Once the prince did manage to get into a kneeling position, Bardock flew under him and hit him at max speed, sending the prince flying upward and following after him to assault him with Ki blasts.
Raditz landed next to his mother and brother and called over to them. "Fly after Dad! Now!"
The three of them took off in hot pursuit of Bardock. High up in the sky, the older Saiyan flew up above the dazed form of Vegeta and smashed him back towards the Earth. Bardock turned towards his family. "How's the Spirit Bomb?!"
Goku nodded. "It's nearly ready!"
Bardock nodded back and readied himself. "Kaioken x3!"
Raditz charged a massive blast. "Weekend!"
Gine formed a Ki ball in her hand. "MatronBlitz!"
Goku charged up his signature move. "Ka...me...ha...me..."
Bardock then held his hand high. "Riot Javelin!"
All four of them threw their attacks down at the crumbled form of Vegeta. The four of them screamed in unison. "Family Kaioken Barrage!"
A massive explosion engulfed Vegeta and the four Saiyans quickly raced back down to the ground. The four of them were still wreathed in the Kaioken. They all landed and, with a massive burst, their power finally ran out. Raditz and Gine slouched over in exhaustion, supporting themselves with their hands on their knees to stand. Bardock had collapsed to his hands and knees, struggling to get back up. But Goku held firm. In spite of the aches and pains surging through his body, he was ready to finish this. Goku held out his glowing hand and produced the Spirit Bomb.
As the smoke cleared, Goku smiled. "Now, Vegeta! Take this!"
Goku readied his throw, but then the smoke cleared and he, Raditz, and Gine all gasped in horror. Right in front of them was Vegeta, with a massive Great Ape Beam charged in his mouth. Before any of them could react, Vegeta fired.
Acting quickly, Raditz leapt on top of his downed father and Gine ran up behind Goku, grabbing his hand. The blast struck dead on and all four Saiyans were blown away.
The dust settled as Vegeta stood up, his massive form battered and bloodied. He roared as loud as he could, sending waves of his power surging and blowing the dust away. On the ground were the broken forms of Earth's Saiyan defenders. Vegeta sneered and swiped his hand across the ground, sending Bardock flying, smashing him into a rock and letting him fall into a crevice. Bardock was so out of this fight that Vegeta decided to save him for last.
Gine shakily stood up as well. She was injured, but she had avoided the majority of the damage due to the intervention of Kakarot. Gine looked up at Vegeta with tears in her eyes. "Damn you... Kaioken Ti-"
Vegeta quickly reacted by slapping Gine aside. She hit a rocky spire so hard that it made it crack. Gine fell to the ground and was quickly buried in rubble. Vegeta sneered and turned his attention to the remaining two. Reaching down, he picked up Kakarot in his left hand and Raditz in his right.
The two brothers both came to and glared up at Vegeta. Vegeta laughed at both of them. "You see?! This is what happens when the low-class think they can rise up beyond their allowed limits!"
The Oozaru sneered at Raditz. "You dare to turn your back on me, Raditz?! That's fine..."
And then, with all of his strength, Vegeta squeezed Goku. Raditz flinched back in horror as he heard bones snap. Goku screamed in agony. Vegeta laughed at his former servant and punching bag. "You will die for betraying me, Raditz! But first... I will make you watch your beloved brother die!"
Raditz cried out. "No!"
Vegeta gave Raditz a light squeeze and the elder brother cried out in pain. And then, the prince turned his attention to Goku. "And as for you, Kakarot! You're a disgrace to the Saiyans! Befriending this pathetic planet of lesser creatures is a blemish on our race that I cannot let go unpunished!"
Goku was stammering through the pain. "Sc-Screw you..."
Vegeta gave Goku another heavy squeeze to shut him up. Goku screamed out in pain and the Prince laughed. "And now...LET THE EXECUTIONS BEGIN!"
The prince leapt into the air and roared as loud as he could, clearly having snapped a while ago. "You love this miserable planet so much, Kakarot?! Then you may join it in death!"
Vegeta raised Goku high into the air and prepared to spike him into the ground. "And after I am done with you, I'm going to kill your family, your friends, and every last miserable life form on this enti-"
A shearing noise, followed by a snap, rang out through the wasteland. Vegeta gasped in shock and pain at what had just happened. Goku and Raditz both opened their eyes and looked down to see a most welcome sight. Vegeta's severed tail was plummeting to the ground... and a triumphant Yajirobe landed with his sword in hand before frantically running behind a large boulder, his courage tank now completely empty.
Vegeta screamed in pain as his grip around Raditz and Goku loosened. "D-Dammit! M-My...TAIL!"
Vegeta was stunned as he shrank back down to his normal self. He, Goku, and Raditz were all plummeting to the ground from high in the sky. But Goku and Raditz were fortunate enough to be saved. Vegeta's body hit the ground with a hard thud, but Goku and Raditz were both carried down to safety.
In pain, Goku looked up to his savior and smiled wide. "H-Hey, Krillin... Nice save!"
Krillin smiled down at Goku and chuckled. "Anytime, buddy. You know I have your back. Although, you should probably thank Yajirobe for the sneak attack and bringing us those two Senzus!"
Yajirobe, cowering behind a rock, called out. "L-Leave me out of this! I only did this because yo said it would shrink the creep back down to size!"
Raditz grunted in pain as he looked down at his savior. The elder brother gasped when he realized whose back he was laying on. "Y-You?!"
Gohan, still looking sheepish and a bit fearful, carefully placed his uncle on the ground and ran over to his Dad and Krillin. Raditz and Gohan stared at each other for a moment before Raditz finally spoke. "Th-Thank you for..."
Raditz grimaced and, shocking Goku, immediately lowered his head to the ground, bowing to his nephew. "I am so sorry for what I put you through! Thank you so much for saving my life!"
Gohan was shocked, but the politeness his mother taught him shined through. "O-Of course... I couldn't just let a member of... m-my family fall..."
Raditz lifted his head and looked at Gohan. He prepared to say something, but was cut off before the words could come out.
"You didn't save his life... You just delayed the inevitable!"
Goku, Gohan, Krillin, Yajirobe, and Raditz all turned and stared in shock as Vegeta pulled himself from the crater his fall had made. The prince shakily stood up and gripped his blood-stained gloves tight. "I will kill every last one of you!"
Raditz was stunned, but Krillin and Gohan quickly ran up to either side of him and took fighting stances. Raditz turned to Krillin and Krillin glanced up at him. "On Earth, we stand and fight together, even if the odds seem like we can't beat 'em! Will you fight with me and Gohan to put a stop to this guy?!"
Raditz took a deep breath and nodded. "Yes! Let's end this!"
The elder brother took a fighting stance alongside Krillin and his nephew and the three of them stared down Vegeta. Practically frothing at the mouth, Vegeta screamed like a madman and charged at the three of them!
