Some minutes after Abalone descended into the lake, Puttee’s communicator vibrated. She ignored it at first, not caring what her friends were talking about. However, the vibrations took on a pattern, a familiar melody she would hum while she worked. Puttee opened her eyes and looked at the hand belonging to Gaita she pulled from the lake. She rushed back to the ship, on the other side of the vast battlefield. Her lungs burning, Puttee finally reached it, and frantically examined the control panels. Soon enough, she found within the computer banks a massive load of data, still decompressing and processing. The file was named Gaita_Promise_Kept. Puttee’s tears warmed into joy.
Looking around, Puttee considered flying back to the lake to retrieve as many of Gaita’s parts as she could before Abalone emerged. However, she knew that too few had survived to put her back together, and that Abalone was going to come back from the lake at any moment, ready to murder her. She looked to the computer panel where Gaita was uploading, and the medical machine that held Spats, and made up her mind. Doing everything she could to keep the Saiyan rescue ship from showing up on radar and tracking, Puttee prepared the ship to launch. She took it up into the air and flew out and away. Perhaps she could retrieve Gaita’s parts after Abalone left with the Dragon Ball, and it was safe to salvage. One day, she could put them back together.
She landed on an asteroid and sighed, feeling her overwhelming mixture of terror, sadness, relief, and hope battle it out inside her body. A moment later, the computer made booting up noises. “I…I’m sorry,” Gaita was heard through the ship’s speakers, shaky at first. “I lost that groundbreaking, one-of-a-kind body you made for me.”
Hearing Gaita’s voice filled Puttee with incredible joy. “I’m just happy you survived! I promise, I’ll go salvage your parts as soon as Abalone leaves.”
“Don’t do that. I know you already know too many of the parts have been destroyed completely. My body was a hodgepodge of parts from across the universe; too many of the pieces are too peculiar to replace easily. You’d have to go to Plant and Kamiland, for one. I don’t need you to remake that old body for my sake.”
“No, it’s totally fine, we can go start right now—”
“We both know we can’t, Puttee. Flying around these war-torn stars, with massive targets on our backs, with no way to defend ourselves, and leaving our friends behind while they carry out the most challenging and important part of our adventure…I mean, you know we can’t do that. We’d be risking our friends’ lives, our lives, Spats’s life. It’s fine, really. I can wait till this is all over, and you can make me a newer, better body, a living machine. I’m just sorry I failed, because now we’re down another fighter.”
Puttee wiped her tears. “You really should think of yourself more; it’s not like anyone else in this family hesitates to.” The two sisters laughed. “I know you’re right, I just can’t sit around doing nothing to help you.”
“Then sit around helping Spats. It’s not like you have anything better to do.”
“True, true. If you’re really alright with living in the ship’s computer, then I can start analyzing that Devil’s Tincture sample I took. It’s weird stuff, sis.” Puttee got up and retrieved the sample jar, ready to get started.
Far away, and a couple months later, on a moon orbiting a gas giant, Regal continued to bleed into the lunar soil, lamenting her fate. She turned her eyes towards Scallop, laying still and empty. Regal’s hope had died, and soon she would as well.
A cough broke Regal’s malaise. Scallop continued coughing and wheezing, the smallest spark of life energy burning inside of her. With renewed strength, Regal dragged herself over to Scallop to check on her condition; at least they could die together, if she were still hanging on.
Regal found Scallop, her heart run through, yet still holding onto life. Scallop looked at Regal and scoffed. “I won’t let my mom kill me, no matter what,” Scallop said defiantly. “She threatened to kill me so many times, and freedom means not having to live with that threat.” Scallop glanced down at her chest wound and sighed. “But things aren’t looking good, are they?”
“No, they aren’t,” Regal agreed. “Spite isn’t enough to sustain life. If only I were stronger, I could avenge you, at least.”
Scallop laughed. “You still don’t get what Malacol was saying, do you? You have to fight for yourself, for once.” There was a pause, and Regal puzzled over that statement. “Look, the two of us are dying. We only have one shot at living. You have to absorb me as a part of your being.”
Regal was shocked. “Assimilation? Even if I make you a part of me and get stronger, that’ll only be for a few minutes as I die.”
“I’ve heard rumors that when Namekians assimilate others, and make another’s body a part of their own, it’s more literal than you think. My body could literally fill in the wound in yours. My mass has to go somewhere. But look at it this way: We’re both dying, and if this works, I’ll unlock incredible power inside a revitalized you, possibly enough to defeat Malacol; if it fails, then we’re still dying together on this rock.”
“But your dreams would die!”
“Look, this is what I want. I can be free as a part of you. And if I’m a part of you, then you can’t say you’re fighting for someone else. I just…you’ve done so much for me, and I could never return the favor. Let me try to save your life.”
Regal took a deep breath. “Ok, I’ll do it.” She placed a hand on Scallop’s chest. “You…you were my hope that I could actually succeed. You remind me that I’m not alone. I can’t express enough gratitude for you, Scallop. Thanks for everything.”
Scallop smiled. “You better not screw things up.” Scallop began to glow brightly, and energy overwhelmed Regal’s body. Soon, Scallop was gone, and kneeling over the ground was a fully healed Regal. She felt the place where her body had been cut and felt Scallop as a part of herself. A tear rolled down her face, and she imagined Scallop scoffing at her sentimentality. With a chuckle, Regal looked over her fists, and felt power like never before flowing through her veins.
She got up and walked to the Rainbow Stocking. She had to get on the radio to her friends. Malacol had six Dragon Balls and was on her way to Sadla to steal the last from Daikon. In all likelihood, all seven balls would soon be found on Sadla, between two imperial armies, with the victorious tyrant claiming immortality. Time was running short.
The smoke cleared over a fresh crater on a former mining colony. Torta gasped for air as he revived. Though beaten very badly, he was not nearly as dead as Daikon believed him to be. The Saiyan Empire was far too arrogant about their ability to kill people, and Torta was determined to make that their undoing. But first, he turned over and looked at Dragon. The rebel was much more likely dead, after the puncture wound in his side. Though Torta succeeded in using his body to shield Dragon from the blast, there was every reason to think Dragon had not survived his previous attack. Torta checked on Dragon’s vitals. He had no pulse. Torta wrapped his shirt around Dragon’s torso, hoping to slow down the bleeding, and then started CPR. After several rounds of compression and breaths, Dragon’s heart finally started beating again. Torta nearly fainted from relief.
After gathering his strength, Torta managed to drag Dragon out of the crater and back to the ship. It was a charred, ruined husk of a vehicle, but fortunately the inside was protected enough to contain the first aid kit. Torta took to sewing up Dragon’s wound, hoping that would be enough to keep him going.
Torta looked through the ship for whatever supplies he could salvage and found the jar of the Devil’s Tincture. The endgame would be a few days away; there was no more time for this miracle elixir to help him grow as far as he needed. The Super Saiyan Emperor Daikon was only ever toying with him, and days could not bridge that gap. He didn’t even have a way off the planet.
A few hours passed. Torta got some food together and ate. He gave Dragon some water and monitored his condition as best he could. He lamented not taking a ship with a medical machine, now that he needed one. In the sky, Saiyan chi descended. Torta looked out the window and saw a Saiyan fast attack ship land. Maybe Daikon was no longer quite so arrogant, since he sent a cleanup crew to confirm Torta and Dragon’s deaths. Three enemies emerged. They quickly checked the crater and found it empty. One turned towards the ship and indicated the others follow her. Torta saw enough and took all three out with a trio of Sliders to the heart.
With these assailants out of the way, Torta took Dragon to the enemy ship. This one did not have a medical machine, but it did have a life support system. Taking the qualified win, Torta hooked Dragon up in it and hoped that he would live through the night. Torta knew he needed to contact his friends and let them know what was going on. He went to the radio and set it to pick up the transmissions he and his allies had been using to communicate. When he did so, he heard Regal. “Hello…hello…We really need to get together as fast as possible. All seven Dragon Balls are likely being collected on Sadla in just a few days, and either Malacol or Daikon will get their wish!”
Torta was relieved to hear from Regal. “I’m here,” Torta responded. “How are you? Are we all on the line?”
“Yes, we are!” Puttee said.
“We’re doing a lot better now, but it’s been rough,” Gaita interjected.
It was a joyous occasion. All of Torta’s friends were alive and ok. They all traded stories, and caught each other up to speed. Everyone was devastated to hear about the loss of Gaita’s physical form, Scallop, and the wavering life of Dragon.
“This is all really bad for us,” Torta said. “Regal’s right, we need to get to Sadla as soon as possible. That is definitely looking like the endgame.”
“It does sound that way,” Gaita said. “I’m sorry I can’t help out more.”
“Hey, I appreciate that,” Torta said, “but I’m a lot happier to know you’re alive.”
“Indeed,” Regal concurred. “I’m more surprised Puttee didn’t insist on answering the call alone until after she made it sound like you were dead, as a joke.”
“She wanted to!” said Gaita. “That’s why I jumped in as soon as I could!”
“It’s a solid joke, you party poopers,” Puttee said, pouting. “Not like I’ll ever have another chance to make it.”
The group hashed out their trajectories, and agreed to meet near Sadla in a few days. Once the call was over, Torta looked back over at Dragon. He knew he had to do something to even the odds, to defeat Daikon for Dragon. But then Torta remembered how the fight they just had started. Dragon asked to challenge Daikon alone. Perhaps before, Dragon suggested a team approach, knowing how far below Daikon they still were. Now that he was so much closer to the emperor, he would not accept anyone taking his fight from him.
Torta thought about Spats, and remembered Puttee’s insistence that she bring Spats back to life. Fighting to avenge Spats wouldn’t be what Puttee wanted, and it certainly wouldn’t be what Spats wanted. The people of Earth had no inkling of any of this, so it didn’t even feel for their sakes that he fought. His eyes found the Devil’s Tincture again. He remembered all the work he put in, trying to overcome his limits and move forward. It was his dream since he was a child, to be an even better fighter than he was the day before. First Hedarrow, then Bagaruta, and then Daikon beat that kind of hope out of him, that he could ever succeed with honest work alone.
The jar was getting much closer to empty by then, but Torta estimated there was about another two months’ worth for a single person, at two drops a day. If that person were being responsible and following dosage instructions. Daikon only cared about proving he was the most superior being in all the universe, and Torta saw true fear on his face when Spats overpowered him.
He went to the helm and set the ship on an autopilot course for Sadla. A transmission came in over the radio. “Are the weaklings dead?” Daikon asked on the other line.
“Uh…um, yes, they are,” said Torta, making his voice gruffer in an attempt to imitate one of the Saiyans. “You’re incredible power was too much for them!”
Daikon laughed with pleasure. “Then return home at once! It’s time for the final battle!” The line went dead. Torta looked at the Devil’s Tincture and realized he had only one option to prepare for that final battle, and prove what made him special. He laughed, letting go of his concerns.
Regal meditated in the command seat of the Rainbow Stocking. She reflected on her fight with Malacol, and all the goading that had gone into it. She remembered Scallop’s words, before they assimilated. She thought back to the Trials of Kamiland, and how they revealed her greatest joy. Going into the next battle, Regal knew it had to be different. She feared so much what it would mean for her to lose when fighting for others, so much so that it held her back in the real fight. But she feared winning just the same, because she would lose her purpose. What she really feared, then, was fighting for herself and losing.
This was a liability she could not take into the next fight. If she won, she would prove how much work she’d put into being a better fighter, and she would demonstrate the strength her relationships had given her in that journey. If she lost, then she would die, and that hadn’t bothered her before. Regal was tired of living afraid of life. There was only one opponent for her on Sadla, and she and her were already sharing a ship.
Puttee set the medical machine to its new settings and watched it work with anticipation. Gaita made noises on the PA to indicate she metaphorically held her breath. After two months of research, Puttee had decoded the structure of the Devil’s Tincture sample, and figured out how to reverse-engineer a healing elixir from it. “Come on, Angel’s Extract!” she kept repeating, like a mantra. The medical machine, perhaps the only technology capable of making and distributing the Angel’s Extract, was filling with the special immersion. If all went as Puttee predicted, then soon Spats’s nerves would be healed, and a blank slate version of her would awaken. Yet another reason to make it through the next adventure alive.
“What will you do when she wakes up?” Gaita asked.
“I guess I’ll have to start teaching her how to talk first,” Puttee said. “Whatever seems like the most vital basic information. She’ll be like a newborn baby. We have to deactivate those nanites on Sadla, so we have to go, but having this blank Spats on board means we have to head out as soon as possible afterwards.”
Puttee watched the screen closely, desperate for good news. According to the readouts, the medical machine was having luck restoring the health and function of Spats’s nerves, all throughout her body. The process was rapidly increasing, and it would be finished within the hour. The two sisters cheered the successful results.
An hour of impatience later, Puttee examined the results. “It worked!” she exclaimed. “The Angel’s Extract was able to fully heal and revitalize Spats’s damaged nervous system! And it looks like it actually reinforced them! Based on what I saw of her bioengineering, her power rating should me massively higher than it was the last time we saw her! This stuff is insane!”
Gaita drained the medical machine, and Puttee carried Spats out of it, setting her in a chair. Puttee held her hand and awaited her revival. A minute passed with no reaction. Puttee tried gently nudging Spats, trying to get her to wake up. Nothing seemed to work. Gaita sounded over the PA. “If you look at the last readouts closely, you’ll notice that they…still show no signs of activity in her brain…”
Silence filled the ship as it flew. “Let me see it,” Puttee asked. Gaita produced the readout on the screen, and Puttee examined it. Indeed, the data showed no activity in most of Spats’s brain. Even the medical machine’s own processes for reviving patients had no impact, after the brain cells were restored to previous function. Somehow, there was no bringing Spats back.
Puttee began to cry. Gaita sobbed. “You did everything you could!” Gaita said. “Spats made her choice, and I’m sure she was happy with it!”
Puttee wiped her eyes. “Yeah, I bet she was. She always did exactly what she wanted.” But Puttee couldn’t stand the thought of losing her sister. “So, Gaita, remember how Spats said she’d do anything to make it up to us for trying to kill us?”
Gaita was apprehensive. “I really don’t think we should do that.”
Puttee shook her head. “It’s totally fine. I know we’ve talked a lot about this before, in case this exact thing happened, and my mind hasn’t changed. Spats wasn’t the sentimental type about this sort of thing. And you said yourself how much you want to help with the upcoming fight. We all have a much better shot at coming out of this alive if we do the worst plan B in all of history.”
Gaita was still harboring objections, but felt her desires overpower them, along with the logic of Puttee’s argument. She knew Spats would approve.
Days later, war broke out on Sadla. The entirety of the Demon Clan army swarmed the Saiyan homeworld, clashing with the full might of the Saiyan army. In the royal capital, Greek, Daikon sat in waiting, holding onto his one Dragon Ball. Malacol left her six with Abalone and flew into the capital to confront Daikon personally. This would be the last battle of the space tyrants; one would fall, and one would rule the universe forever.
Outside the planet, a trio of rogue ships met in space. Regal took the forcefield down a moment and opened up over the radio. “You’re all clear to come abord the Rainbow Stocking,” she said.
From the Saiyan fast attack ship emerged two figures in suits, one carrying the other. Once inside the airlock, Regal was surprised by who entered. “I thought you were the injured one, Dragon.”
Dragon took off his helmet and set down the unconscious Torta, his face etched with agony. “Yeah, it really should have been,” Dragon said. “I can move some, but I’m not exactly one-hundred percent; I’m hoping to get a bath in the medical machine on the other ship before we go planetside. But this idiot,” Dragon pointed at Torta, “decided to drink all of the remaining Devil’s Tincture, presumably thinking it would make him stronger.”
Regal scoffed. “That stuff beats the tar out of you on a good day. In any dose larger than a drop or two, it’s clearly a lethal poison! And we don’t even know if it works that way.”
“Yeah, he’s a real idiot. Maybe he thought he’d wake up by now.”
Regal gazed at the pained look on Torta’s face. “Did he drink it on the first day of your trip over here? It’s impressive he’s still alive.”
Dragon smiled. “That it is. Lot of good it does us now, though.”
“I’m coming in!” Puttee announced from the air lock. Once the doors opened, she came rushing in. “I’ve missed you so much!” Puttee cried out to the control panel. While Regal rolled her eyes and Dragon laughed, Puttee was followed inside by her sister.
Regal found herself staring a moment, confirming the hairstyle as Spats’s. “I didn’t realize Puttee had healed you,” Regal said. “Do you have any memories? Is it ok for you to move around?”
Dragon turned to Puttee. “Hey, congratulations! You did it!” He turned to offer a handshake to the sister. “I guess this time we can have a proper introduction. I’m Dragon!”
She stared at the hand and fidgeted. She took it and shook. “Yes, it’s time we reintroduce ourselves,” she said. “I’m actually Gaita.”
Regal and Dragon were confused. “I did heal Spats,” Puttee explained, slowly spinning around in the command seat. “I even made her far stronger than before. But she still couldn’t be revived in any capacity. Her bioengineering makes her too…unique, even by universe-full-of-aliens standards. So, I had the body of one sister with no mind, and the mind of another sister with no body…”
Regal and Dragon were stunned. Gaita bowed. “I know this is unusual. I find myself a bit uncomfortable in my skin.” Puttee laughed.
“Is this…something you can do?” Dragon asked.
“I’m not losing my sisters,” Puttee declared. “We talked about this a lot, and even after all of Gaita’s objections, we decided that Spats would bless this union, if she were here.”
Dragon contemplated the situation for a moment.
Regal clapped Gaita on the shoulder. “Then we’re just alike. I have Scallop living inside me, just as you are living within Spats. This isn’t anything to feel shame about.” Gaita teared up and hugged Regal, who rolled her eyes. “She’s definitely not Spats.”
Dragon laughed. “We can worry about the philosophy of this later, when it’s all over. I’m glad to have your help, Gaita.” He patted her on the back.
With the team finally back together, they went over their plans. “Intel is pretty limited,” Dragon said. “Based on chi sense and the nanite signals, I’d say that Daikon and Malacol are already fighting in Daikon’s palace, where he’s keeping the Dragon Ball he took from me. Another powerful Demon Clan member, probably Abalone, is fighting Bagaruta, and the other six balls are near that site.”
“Agreed,” said Regal. “The only notable enemies are the monarchs and their last remaining officers of note.”
“I want to be the one to fight Abalone,” Gaita requested.
Regal and Dragon smiled in agreement. “Glad to hear it,” said Regal. “A real warrior wouldn’t back down from this revenge match. I also would trust no one else with securing the Dragon Balls themselves.”
“For sure,” said Dragon. “I’ll fight Daikon, though I’m guessing Bagaruta will try to intervene. At least one person here is going to have two opponents, at some point. With that in mind, Regal, I suggest you wait for backup before going to fight Malacol. Daikon will turn on you, too, for interrupting the fight, and then it’s two on one.”
Regal leered at Dragon a moment. “Daikon’s just as likely to leave me and Malacol to kill each other and secure the Dragon Balls. It’s a gamble all around.”
Puttee nudged Torta. “Is, um…he going to be ok?”
“Honestly, I have no idea,” said Dragon. “I have no way of knowing if he’s ever going to wake up. This is his reward for drinking magic poison like a miracle drug. It’s best to assume he’s out of this fight, and we’ll revive him as soon as we can afterwards.”
The battle on Sadla was already underway, and the heroes’ plan was essentially to bust through the front door. After Dragon spent a few minutes in the medical machine, healing his wound with the Angel’s Extract, he, Regal, and Gaita suited up and exited their ships. With one final look back to Puttee in the command center of the Rainbow Stocking, the trio flew off through the dark.
As they flew towards the atmosphere, Gaita activated her forcefield around Dragon and Regal. “We can sail straight in this way,” she said. “It’s a lot better than fighting everyone on the way down, or worrying about burning up in the atmosphere.”
“I’m more impressed you activated the forcefield so easily,” said Regal.
Gaita smiled an insecure smile. “This body is a mystery, but at least that was still a simple task.”
Dragon looked over and saw a stream of ships leaving the planet, meeting up on the western side. “They look civilian in nature,” Regal noted. “Probably best that noncombatants leave the planet; Malacol and Daikon fighting could kill everyone around them.”
“Those ships are being led out by the resistance!” Dragon said with delight, recognizing the ships belonging to his comrades escorting the others on their path. “They’re leading an evacuation that Daikon didn’t bother considering. Oughta win us a few more recruits. If I can kill Daikon here, then those Saiyans will be free, too, and my allies can start reshaping the culture instead of fighting.”
“That’s a wonderful dream,” Gaita said.
The heroes took fire from all sides as they descended through the atmosphere, heading straight for the royal palace at the center of Greek. The skies, skylines, and streets were filled with mutant Namekians and Saiyan warriors clashing. Buildings fell left and right. Smoke and fire filled the air. War was in full swing, a war even larger than the combat-ready Saiyan capital could handle.
Once they got close enough to spot their targets, the heroes split off. Regal flew towards the royal palace, ready to intercept Malacol from Daikon. Gaita headed off towards Abalone, who was already fighting Super Saiyan Bagaruta. Dragon followed Regal, looking to fight Daikon.
Gaita tackled Abalone into the rubble, to her shock. Bagaruta realized who Gaita had to be and widened her chi sense until she found Regal and Dragon. Abalone burst out of the rubble and screamed in anger. “I already killed you!” she seethed.
Gaita took her stance. “It seems like death and my family don’t agree.”
Bagaruta slapped Gaita on the back. “Tag, you’re it!” she said. “I’ll be back to kill you both later!” She then flew off towards the palace. Gaita turned to stop her, but Abalone attacked her. Regal and Dragon deflected enemy attacks as they went, until finally they faced the gates of the royal palace. Bagaruta slammed into the ground before them. “I won’t let anyone interfere with the Emperor’s battle!”
With a smirk, Regal increased speed, much to Bagaruta’s shock. She reacted as fast as she could and grabbed Regal’s foot, but Regal kicked her in the face and dislodged herself right away. Bagaruta then was tackled by Dragon, coming up from behind. Dragon quickly rushed off, hoping to bypass Bagaruta as well, but she caught hold of his arm. He fired a point-blank chi blast at her, but Bagaruta just snarled and tossed him way across the raised walkway in front of the palace.
Bagaruta charged in at Dragon full force. “You should be dead at least four times over!” she screamed. “Twice by my hands, and twice by Daikon’s! There will not be another fight like this! I’ll kill you here and now!”
Dragon rolled his neck. “How many times have you survived Daikon killing you? All those losses just made me stronger.”
Gaita was struggling against herself as she fought Abalone. She was so used to being a machine that she had trouble gaging her strength or energy expenditure without clear cut readouts and data. Before, moving felt similar to what humans called “just thinking about it,” but she didn’t know how to decide on her moves without reams of objective information flashing through her head. Abalone kept up her assault just the same. “How are you even alive?!” Abalone angrily demanded. “I personally ripped your body into pieces!” Gaita kept up the fight, ignoring Abalone’s pleas. Fighting with Gaita became a chore for the Demon Clansperson, not knowing when a full force punch or a limp noodle kick was going to come at her. Abalone felt like she was being played with, in the middle of an active warzone.
Once Regal made it into the main courtyard, she came face to face with the dueling space tyrants, Malacol the Demon Queen of Namek and Daikon the Super Saiyan Emperor. Malacol was fighting far harder than she ever did with Regal, and Daikon was already in his highest transformation. Taking a deep breath, Regal flared her chi to get their attention. Both stopped mid punch and turned with great shock and annoyance. Daikon cursed. “I killed you several weeks ago!” he swore.
Malacol scoffed. “You killed her?” she asked with contempt. “I killed her just a few days ago!” Malacol squinted at Regal and tisked. “Assimilating a worthless scrap like Scallop isn’t going to let you beat me!”
Without a word, Regal charged in at Malacol. Much to the Demon Queen’s surprise, Regal got behind her in an instant and kicked her far away. Regal then turned a fist to Daikon and fired a Jophiel to repel him. “I need you to stay out of my fight,” she told Daikon.
Daikon growled intensely. “You have no right to steal my opponent!” he said.
Dragon charged up a chi blast for Bagaruta. “Power Pearl String!” he said, firing a continuous stream of Power Pearls at her, forcing her to dodge to the air. She fired off a Rosemary, and Dragon blocked it without much issue.
Bagaruta started to lose her composure, something she never thought would happen against an opponent like Dragon. “You aren’t even a Super Saiyan!” she yelled. “You can never be a Super Saiyan, thanks to Hedarrow!”
Dragon retook his stance. “And I won’t need to be one,” he winked. “Not like you.”
Bagaruta snarled, and then sighed. “I don’t have the same level of mastery of the royal form that Daikon does. He can live like that indefinitely. But I didn’t spend all that time training with him just getting stronger.” With a flash of energy, she underwent another change, gaining notable muscle mass, more wildly spiked hair, and a major increase in chi. She laughed. “This should suffice for the likes of you!”
Dragon whistled. “That is quite the improvement. Not like Super Saiyan 2, though.”
Bagaruta attacked, pressing him with massive force unlike anything she was capable of before. Dragon struggled to keep up. Bagaruta was back, once more serene and graceful in her movements. “Don’t you dare mock the royal form with such silly numbering schemes!”
Abalone became tired of the farce that was fighting an enemy who couldn’t control her strength, and decided to simply end the whole thing right there. Charging up all her power, she ran in and overwhelmed Gaita completely. At the end of her assault, she fired a massive energy beam. “Mammon!” she called out, blasting Gaita into the ground.
The dust cleared over Gaita’s forcefield. She sighed as she turned it down. “You know, without knowing my limits, it’s hard to say which of us is stronger,” Gaita admitted. “But I’m not worried at all. You know why? Why I’m taking the time to slowly flail as I learn to control this body, knowing what’s at stake? I can’t finish this job early and make myself a target, carrying your Dragon Balls. Luckily, I have unlimited energy, so I’ll just wait you out.”
Abalone sneered. “No one has unlimited stamina,” she declared. “And I felt you get weaker in our last battle.”
Gaita rushed in and attacked, not trying to control her strength and allowing all her strikes to land full force. Abalone was pressed back, surprised with the force she felt. Gaita then fired a massive, full power Chelsea. After the energy washed over a panting Abalone, Gaita smiled, no worse for wear. “You get the idea? Ah, it’s great to be back in my element!”
Regal, Malacol, and Daikon fought a fierce three-way battle throughout the palace. Though she was a bit unsure going in, Regal was very pleased to see her power enough to keep pace with these giants. It helped that Malacol and Daikon attacked one another, as well, since it kept some of the pressure off of her. Malacol rushed in at Regal, and the two traded blows evenly. The force of their strikes echoed beyond the palace halls. Daikon charged up a Rosemary in each hand, ready to snipe both in the head. Then he looked at the chi in his hands and wondered why he was wasting energy on this, when his goal was immortality; if he got his wish, then it wouldn’t matter what these two did.
Pocketing his Dragon Ball, Daikon left the palace. Malacol chased after him, but Regal intercepted. “I’ll never let you get your wish!” she said.
“So you want him to have it?” Malacol retorted.
“I trust my friends,” said Regal. There was a pause, and then their battle continued, one-on-one.
Daikon emerged from the palace and saw Bagaruta in her enhanced Super Saiyan form fighting evenly with Dragon, and further out Abalone fighting with Gaita. Though Daikon wanted to kill Dragon personally, he put his goals in perspective and flew to Abalone and Gaita. Before he could make it to them, he felt a powerful Power Pearl hit his back. Dragon was moving past Bagaruta and flying after him. Daikon, already incredibly frustrated with the way the day was going, felt his anger peak. He rushed in at Dragon and slammed him in the gut, stopping him in his tracks. Bagaruta arrived at Daikon’s side. “I’ll help you kill this whelp!” she said.
“No, I’ll do it myself!” Daikon barked. “You go get the Dragon Balls, and I’ll join you as soon as I’m done here!” Turning back to Dragon, Daikon growled. “Just lay down and accept your fate! I am not in the mood to play with a rebellious reject like you!” Dragon got up and took his stance, showing no fear in the face of oppression. Daikon took his stance. “Yeah, I’m never making another no-tail. Just death for you.”
Bagaruta rained down chi blasts over Gaita and Abalone. “As promised, I’m here to kill you both!” she proudly announced. Both Gaita and Abalone fired a blast in answer. Bagaruta dodged both of these, appearing behind them and repelling them with a kick.
Abalone got up. “You finally got serious,” she remarked. “Our previous fight was boring.” Gaita popped back up and figured she couldn’t be as relaxed, going two-on-one.
Malacol fired out a powerful Ifrit. Regal blocked with a Raphael, which she released at the tail end of the Ifrit. Malacol blocked the Raphael with a series of blasts fired from her fingers. “Ordog!” she called out. Regal was already en route with a kick after the smoke cleared from the Ordog, and Malacol dodged below, kicking Regal in turn while flipping back up.
The Demon Queen smiled. “Finally, I feel it! This is different than our other fights! I already beat you as the Hero of Namek, but this is what I wanted for my personal satisfaction! I guess I should thank Scallop for giving me a chance to fight Regal as Regal.”
Regal glared. “Scallop’s finally free of your will, and she never needed your thanks.”
Dragon fought valiantly against Daikon, giving the battle everything he had. In his fists were years of pain and suffering, of hardship and struggle. Every challenge in his life was orchestrated by Daikon, for no other reason than his success would be inconvenient to the monarch’s selfish pride. Dragon, a pinnacle of Saiyan training in defiance of Super Saiyan supremacy, delivered as much retribution as he could with every strike. Unfortunately, it was not enough. Daikon had exceeded all normal expectations of power, and his strength eclipsed the rebel before him. Every strike to the tyrant was blocked with ease and returned twofold, beating Dragon down through the rubble of Greek. Daikon laughed. “It’s foolish for you to think you could resist me,” he said. “Resist the nature of Saiyans! We transform to release our battle power to its true potential, the greatest in the cosmos! No amount of hard work can replace that nature!” Gritting his teeth, Dragon tackled Daikon and released an explosive wave, hoping to knock him back. Daikon struck Dragon’s stomach and back at once with a knee and elbow, causing him to release. “Thyme!” he yelled as he blasted Dragon away with a mouth energy wave. Daikon charged up a Rosemary and aimed it at Dragon on the ground. “Keep the pits of Hell warm for me.”
Before he could fire it, he was blasted into the ground by a powerful energy blast. Dragon, shocked by the chi he felt, looked up to see Torta flying down. Dragon cheered his friend’s recovery.
“Thanks, buddy!” Torta said. “That was rough; my nightmares were in pain!” Torta then turned to Daikon. “I’ll take care of him.”
Dragon sprang up. “This is my fight! You can’t understand what I’m fighting for here, so don’t even say you’re fighting for me!”
“Hey, I have my own fight here!” Torta shot back. “Your people will need you to live through this war. Me, on the other hand? I’m just some stupid, random Earthling, with nothing compelling to keep me out of danger.” Daikon shot out of the rubble and fired a full power Rosemary at Torta, howling in anger at yet another pest who refused to die. Torta met this with a BLT, and the two beams clashed, neither giving an inch.
Dragon was stunned to see Torta display this kind of power, on par with Daikon. Torta turned to him. “Just two months, man. Just two months’ worth of the Devil’s Tincture. We were both so close. It’s only a matter of chance that I’m the one who did this stupid, ill-advised thing. Our hard work did pay off!”
Dragon smiled. “I could have drank that stuff, too.”
Torta smiled. “I wish it had been you.” He turned to Daikon. “Hey, what do you call this more than Super Saiyan form?”
“Silence, you bug!” Daikon screamed, putting more energy into his beam.
Torta responded in kind. “You’re no fun!”
While Bagaruta and Abalone focused their fight on one another, Gaita looked around the battlefield once more. Abalone was supposed to be holding the Dragon Balls, but, as could be expected, she didn’t have a sack tied around her torso. Based on how her abdomen felt while they fought, Gaita didn’t expect her to have eaten them, either. The Dragon Balls were being guarded somewhere nearby.
Abalone charged in at Gaita once more, so she defended herself as best she could. Bagaruta kicked Abalone out of the way and attacked Gaita herself. As Abalone got back up, Gaita was able to throw Bagaruta into her, and the two started fighting each other. Gaita turned her attention back to the landscape; she knew she was close to finding the balls. Suddenly, as she walked, she felt something unusual under her feet. Gaita realized what it was she had stepped on, buried beneath the rubble. More than that, the wobble and flash of insight made everything click for her. A machine, a weapon or shield, would have quantified the exact forces coming through that foot and calculated the shape and distribution of the items, but a warrior had to rely on their wits. Gaita was in an organic body, a living machine, and had finally become what she always wanted.
Abalone saw where Gaita was and panicked, knocking Bagaruta out of the way to reengage with Gaita. Gaita took a confident stance and met Abalone’s attack in equal proportion, fighting with proper balance and even power. Abalone scoffed. “Were you playing around before?” she asked. “No one improves so suddenly.”
Gaita giggled a superior giggle. “Well, I was custom-made to be a martial arts genius!”
Bagaruta realized what Gaita must have discovered and prepared to reenter the fray. Before she could, Dragon kicked her down. “My dance card just opened up!” he said. “I’d be glad if you filled it!”
Bagaruta glanced at Daikon and Torta, fighting evenly above Greek, and felt more dread than at any time in her life. Growling, she recomposed herself. “I’ll never let you leave this planet alive!”
Regal pressed the attack on Malacol as hard as she could. The two had been fighting evenly for a while, and there was no sign that either would pull ahead any time soon. It was the battle of her life, against an enemy she was born to battle, and yet Regal did not care about any of that. She had trained more fiercely than anyone, and took up the dreams of others as her own. All that mattered was proving it was all worth it. She was truly happy, fighting the ultimate adversary in Malacol. Malacol, on the other hand, was becoming increasingly worried. Daikon was likely close to getting the Dragon Balls, and for as great as it was to fight Regal the warrior, her purpose on that world was slipping farther away with every passing second. She had to act quickly.
Dragon pressed his fight with Bagaruta with confidence. Having fought Daikon and lived multiple times, she no longer seemed like such a dangerous enemy. Bagaruta felt her anger build up higher and higher the longer Dragon resisted the power of her attacks, refusing to die like he was meant to. She had the “royal form,” and he was just a pup who crawled on top of the trash heap they tossed him into. Bagaruta formed a circle of energy bombs in front of herself. “Sage!” she said, launching them at Dragon.
Dragon charged energy over his hands and feet, spinning and twisting through the air to deflect the Sage and close the distance to Bagaruta. Kicking her into the ground, he stood over her. “What do you think Daikon would do if you ever went Super Saiyan 2, like him?” he asked her. “He would kill you as a threat to his power, and you know that as well as me. Daikon is loyal to no one but himself, and you’re a fool for standing at his side. I can’t promise you redemption, but at least if you fight Daikon with me now, I can offer you the same freedom as the rest of our people.”
Bagaruta knocked Dragon off of herself. “You’re the fool for trying to defy the will of the mighty!”
Dragon sighed. He formed Dragon’s Fangs over his fists. “Then I guess all I got left for you is some Tooth Boxing.” He and Bagaruta began fighting once more. With a concerted assault, he was able to tear at her armor, muscles, and bones with his sharp fangs, honed from years of hellish effort to tear down her whole world. Finally, he caught her by the throat and tore away at her arteries and windpipe. Bagaruta grabbed her neck, trying desperately to keep pressure on her wounds as she bled out. Dragon felt a huge sense of accomplishment, having finally beaten her. He turned to join Torta in killing Daikon, but suddenly felt himself being stabbed through the back. There was a whole in his stomach, and he turned to see Bagaruta, smiling with still-glowing eyes from the eye energy beam she ran him through with. The glow died down as she bled out completely.
Now with the control she needed, Gaita was able to hold her own against Abalone with ease. Fighting this way, by her instincts, felt entirely different and utterly exhilarating; Gaita knew she was no longer a mind given the ultimate weapon to fight with, but a true warrior using her own strength. Abalone could tell it was only a matter of time before she would run out of strength, but Gaita truly had unlimited energy. Knowing her options were limited, Abalone charged up her full power and launched an all-out attack, laying everything on the line, victory or death.
As she pressed her attack, Abalone expected Gaita to put up her forcefield again; the strange Earthling was finally looking overwhelmed by the demon’s strength. But the shoe never dropped. Taking it as a blessing, Abalone grabbed Gaita by the throat and fired an Ifrit into her stomach. Once the beam ceased, Abalone smirked over panting breaths, sure she had drilled a hole into Gaita’s stomach. Instead, she saw that Gaita had used an energy sphere to deflect the attack. Gaita smiled. “That ought to have taken the fight out of you!” she said. She charged in for her own attack, devastating Abalone and knocking her deep into the rubble. She charged energy over her hand and raised it over her head. “Wedge!” she called out, bringing her hand down to chop Abalone’s head in two.
Torta continued to duke it out with Daikon, still not fully believing how evenly he was able to clash with the emperor. He had nearly killed himself in a stupid bid for power, and it was paying off. As he saw more and more of the fear and insecurity show in Daikon’s eyes, the more he knew he was right. He did have something that Daikon didn’t, because Torta was having more fun than at any time in his life.
As the two traded blows and Torta prepared a Steak Bomb, Malacol suddenly popped out of the palace and dropkicked Daikon into the streets below. Regal quickly followed. “Hey,” Regal said, smiling briefly. “Sorry I couldn’t keep her away from this.”
“We’ll sort it out shortly,” Torta said. “Not even going to act surprised I’m here?”
“Why bother? You have a way with fate.”
Malacol accosted Daikon, trying to reach for his Dragon Ball. “Hand it over to me now!” Malacol demanded. “Let me end this charade and take my throne!”
“How about you tell Abalone to give me your Dragon Balls!” Daikon spat back. Eventually, Malacol grabbed ahold of the pocket that was supposed to be holding the Dragon Ball, and both monarchs realized it was empty.
Gaita attended to Dragon’s wound. “Are you ok?” she asked.
“It’s bad, but it won’t kill me,” Dragon said. “I gotta get back in that fight!”
“It’s far more important we get the Dragon Balls!” Gaita said. “We can’t let either of them become immortal!”
Dragon smiled. “Already taken care of.” Daikon turned to Dragon with a look of intense anger. “Looks like the jig is up. You know where the others are?”
“Yeah.”
He showed her the Dragon Ball he managed to swipe from Daikon. “We need to run, now!”
Daikon and Malacol immediately rushed over to Dragon and Gaita. Gaita dashed to the place where the remaining Dragon Balls were hidden under the rubble and removed them. She put up her forcefield around herself and Dragon as Torta and Regal intercepted the tyrants. “Get yourselves out of here!” Torta told them.
Gaita flew off as fast as she could, dragging the surprised Dragon in the shell of her forcefield. Daikon and Malacol both tried chasing after, but Torta and Regal kept them at bay, doing their best to drive the enemies into the ground. Knowing the forcefield was in play, neither bothered blocking the energy blasts the tyrants fired at the retreating Gaita.
“Hey, put on your helmet!” Dragon reminded Gaita as he put his own on. Gaita did the same, thinking this form of frailty was an unwanted change. They made it back into space and flew as fast as possible to the Rainbow Stocking.
“We’ll get you back in the medical machine as soon as we can!” Gaita told Dragon.
Once they got closer to the ship, they found that every ship around the Rainbow Stocking, protected by its forcefield, was destroyed by stray chi blasts fired in pursuit of Gaita. “It’s fine,” Dragon said. “Just get inside!”
Gaita continued on and entered the ship. “Thank god you’re back alive!” Puttee said, hugging Gaita as soon as she boarded. “Where’s Torta and Regal?”
“They’re still down there,” said Dragon. “They’re keeping the big guns busy. We have to finish the job, or it’s all for nothing!” Gaita rolled the Dragon Balls onto the floor.
Puttee nodded and removed a wand-like device, shining a light over the Dragon Balls. She then checked the radar screen. “The nanites are deactivated!” she confirmed. “There’s no longer an easily trackable signal to locate these bad boys! After we get our wish, they’ll go back to being nearly impossible to locate!”
Gaita went to the command seat and started charting a course for a habitable moon in a nearby star system. “We should wait till Torta and Regal get back,” Puttee said.
“We can’t wait that long,” Dragon said. “We’ll go make our wish and then run right back to help them. As long as the Dragon Balls are in play, Daikon or Malacol could become immortal. We have to be sure.”
Puttee fidgeted a minute. “Punch it, Gaita,” she said. Gaita turned the engines on and blasted off.
Daikon screeched in anger as he felt Dragon’s chi shoot away from Sadla. Torta interrupted this animalistic rage with a knee to the gut, causing Daikon to lose breath. He prepared a hammer strike, but Daikon flipped back and out of the way. “I’m going to kill you so hard for ruining everything!” Daikon screamed.
“You let the Dragon Balls slip from my grasp!” Malacol said as she and Regal continued to fight. “You insufferable worm!” Regal kept attacking Malacol single-mindedly, ignoring all her indignant anger. A kick at the end of her assault was blocked with a steely arm. “I’m going to make you pay for everything.” Regal charged back in, but Malacol repelled her with a stream of chi blasts. Malacol rushed over to Daikon and Torta, knocking Torta away to give Daikon several good licks. “You interfered from the start! You killed so many of my children!” Torta charged back in, so Malacol blasted him with chi and then grabbed him by the throat. “And you! You’re just an irrelevant speck of trash who keeps popping up in my plans!”
She tossed him down to the ground. Regal flew back in, but Malacol jumped back and floated a dozen feet off the ground. She held out both hands and charged up a massive energy bomb, the likes of which could destroy a planet. Torta, Regal, and Daikon were stunned. “None of you get to leave here alive!” Malacol said. “No matter what it takes! Beelzebub!” She fired the energy bomb directly into Sadla. The blast knocked the other fighters back onto the shaking ground. It was like the mother of all earthquakes, flattening the crumbling capitol. The bomb continued to bust down through the mantle until it reached the core, where it detonated. All of Sadla was rocked by seismic tremors of apocalyptic proportions.
After a moment, once the dust settled, Malacol laughed over the battlefield. “I’ve detonated the core of this planet!” she announced. “Sadla has just a few minutes of life left on it! No matter how this turns out, I’ll have my revenge! You’re the ones who die here, one way or another!”
Daikon exploded with anger. “How dare you destroy my planet, you slug!” he yelled. “I’ll kill you ten times!”
“I understand your feelings,” said Malacol with a sly smile. She pointed at Torta and Regal, standing shoulder to shoulder. “But they’re a united front. I suggest we table this discussion for afterwards.”
Daikon growled like an animal, delirious in his anger. Torta charged him and tackled him far away. “Regal!” Torta called out. “I don’t know if they’d really team up, but we better keep them apart!”
“Agreed!” said Regal, who flew up to meet Malacol. Malacol dodged the first kick. “You managed to surprise me there, you vile beast!”
Malacol drew out her full power and attacked Regal, catching her in the side and knocking her into the ground. “I heard about Limpet’s prophecy, you know!” she teased. “You are going to die here today! As the Demon Queen, I will act as your god of death and ensure this prophecy comes to fruition!”
Regal smiled. “Is that supposed to scare me? I’m more worried the planet will kill you before I can!”
Torta took a moment to refocus himself, fighting against the frenzied, bestial Daikon. The Earthling dodged around a moment, proving too agile to pin down easily. He found an opening and punched Daikon in the gut, following up with a massive series of blows. The last kick hit Daikon in his face, and he just stood there, not reacting.
“I’m going to make you pay for everything you’ve done to me!” Daikon yelled ferociously. He, when using all of his strength, was a force to be reckoned with. Each blow could crack a planet in half, and he moved blindingly fast. Truly, the power that he had cultivated with his training and transformation were on another scale entirely. A scale that Torta found himself balancing, as he blocked as many strikes as he took, without breaking. Despite every reason Daikon should have been the superior fighter, Torta was keeping pace, and saw victory ahead of him.
Daikon fired a Sage at Torta, who deflected all the blasts by hand. After the last one, he saw Daikon fly in his face. The emperor punched Torta and used his body as a punching bag, beating him mercilessly. He knocked Torta into the ground and fired a Rosemary into Torta.
Torta got up and countered the beam with a BLT. Unlike before, Torta started to overpower the Rosemary, slowly pushing Daikon’s beam back at him. “Your transformations are really draining, did you know that?” Torta asked. “It’s like you’re eating away at your life force. You can’t fight like this forever, but I’m not nearly so close to the end of my rope.” The beam clash finally met Daikon, and he was blown away.
Daikon got up and spat blood. With a low growl, he flew over and landed atop a single-person spaceship. “Malacol, you want to make this game interesting?!” he asked loudly. He charged up a massive amount of chi and the drew a circle around himself. Chi flowed into the circle, creating a wall of energy. “Oregano!” he called out. The wall of energy burst across the planet, like a tidal wave. Torta, Regal, and Malacol guarded against the energy, but the rest of the Saiyan and Demon Clan soldiers were unable to withstand the force, and burned away. All standing structures and vehicles were devastated by the attack. “Once this Oregano wave finishes circling the planet, this ship I’m standing on will be the only ticket out of here! No one’s scrambling anywhere for shelter or escape except the victor!”
Torta was stunned. “He’s insane!”
Regal was shocked as well, but saw Malacol fly at Daikon and his ship. She intercepted, kicking Malacol away. “You’re not getting on that ship!” She went in for the attack, and waved Torta off. Getting his senses back, Torta blocked a strike from the advancing Daikon, and their battle continued.
As the battle raged on, Regal could feel the difference in her and Malacol’s power more clearly. The Demon Queen was a ferocious monster, aiming to kill or maim with every strike. The force of her attacks could destroy worlds, and the wake of her movements tore at the charred, rocky surface of the planet. And yet, Regal could not see herself losing this match. Malacol got some distance and stretched her arms out, using her demonic mystic attack to keep Regal at bay. Regal blocked the elongated limbs and smiled, stretching out her own arms to punch Malacol in the stomach. “I assimilated your child, remember?” she reminded Malacol. “I know all your tricks.”
“You don’t know anything about me!” the Demon Queen screamed, seething with anger. “I’ll rebuild the Demon Clan from the ground up! They were useful tools! Even if it takes centuries, I’ll collect the Rainbow Dragon Balls again, and I’ll rule over the universe for eternity! I am the most fearsome being in the cosmos, and I will personally ensure that all living things know the might of Namekians! I am all that matters!”
Regal realized Malacol’s great weakness. She turned to Torta and motioned to the ship. Torta was confused a moment, but then realized the question and nodded with a smile that surprised even him. Charging up an Uriel, Regal destroyed the last remaining spaceship on Sadla, much to Daikon’s and Malacol’s shock. Regal turned to the Demon Queen. “Now no one has an ulterior motive in this fight,” she said coolly. “Let’s just settle this.”
Malacol charged back in at Regal even more ferociously than before. “How can you be so moronic, you insolent wretch!” she cursed.
Regal laughed. “Did you really think escaping me was an option? I guess you would need to run away from me!” Malacol snapped, but her next punch was caught in a steely grip. “You are weak because you’re alone. I built my entire life around those who make me stronger. You have no hope of defeating me!”
Daikon had initially charged at Regal after she destroyed the last ship, as well, but Torta intercepted. “Hey, don’t forget the backwater weakling currently kicking your butt!” Torta reminded Daikon.
Daikon unleashed his power on Torta. “My power goes beyond the limits of your flimsy imagination!” he declared. Torta scoffed, so Daikon forced his body and chi even higher through sheer anger and pummeled Torta back.
A moment later, Torta was hurting but still standing, while Daikon was huffing and puffing, the outburst costing him more in stamina than he put out in effort. Torta laughed. “Yeah, that’s your problem! You keep talking a big game about your big, bad transformations, but you need those transformations to keep up with people like me, who don’t use them! My hard work did more than you could ever imagine, and it’s killing you, isn’t it? I guess having a transformation like that would come in handy, if I faced someone far stronger and needed to close the gap right then and there, but it’s a fool’s way to claim inherent superiority over all life in the cosmos!”
Regal and Malacol kept duking it out. Soon enough, both Namekians were feeling the burden of their long battle. Malacol sighed. “I guess there is a certain joy in this battle. A certain freedom in this moment.”
“Indeed,” said Regal, keeping her mind laser focused on victory. She charged back in and knocked Malacol into the ground, where she rained a storm of chi blasts onto the Demon Queen. Malacol guarded these blasts with ease, and noticed something odd about the way they hit the ground. A moment later, the chi blasts started shooting up from the ground.
Malacol dodged them all. “You’ll need more than Scallop’s tricks to beat me!” she said.
She then felt Regal’s Michael impale her heart from behind. “You’re right,” Regal concurred. “It makes for a killer distraction, though.” Removing the chi blade from Malacol’s back, Regal chopped her head off, grabbed it, and then burned it away with a Daniel. Regal was satisfied that it was over, and wondered if the Grand Elder could feel this on Earth. She looked to the sky. “It’s over, mother.”
Daikon charged at Torta, who was knocked backwards, his hands streaming through the air. After getting his guard back up, Torta threw a Steak Bomb into Daikon’s chest, blasting him back. When the tyrant looked up, he found Torta had let out a stream of energy mines when he was tackled. “Have a Tea Set!” Torta said, converging these mines on Daikon, peppering him with powerful explosions. After the smoke cleared, Daikon looked up to see a chi spear mere feet away. It pierced his heart, causing Daikon to spit up blood and gasp in pain and shock. Refusing to die, the emperor got back to his feet and took his stance. “That Pickle Spear not enough for you? I figured as much.” Torta rushed in and overwhelmed the dying Daikon with a series of blows and point-blank Sliders, which stabbed through his body in multiple places. Soon, Daikon had taken too much damage, and he fell to the ground, dead. Torta looked down at the deposed emperor, not quite believing it himself yet. He couldn’t help laughing.
The planet was rocked by a massive earthquake, as the core began to cave in for the last time. Torta looked to Regal. The two locked eyes and smiled. “You know, you look a lot worse for wear than me,” Torta said. “Kinda feels like that’s a sign about who’s the best fighter here…”
Regal snapped. “I was fighting for far longer than you!” she shot back. “Against both of them!”
“And I just recovered from a lethal poisoning! Stop making excuses!” He chuckled and took his stance. Regal sighed, smiled, and did the same. There wasn’t anything else for them to do. As Sadla began to go through its final death throes, the two fated rivals fought, not willing to go quietly to their deaths without knowing who was the superior martial artist.
As the two traded blows, Sadla collapsed into itself.
All original story, all original characters! Check out Dragon Ball ‘Redux’!
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Life in the Gutters 