Vegeta and Trunks sensed Goku Black at the same moment.
"He's moving," Trunks said, his attention fixed on the distant energy. "He must have noticed us."
"Good. Let him come." The promise of a real fight brought a fierce edge to Vegeta's smile.
Before either of them could move, Trunks spotted someone lying among the rubble below. Hope surged through him when he recognized Mai, and he raced down to her side.
"She's alive!" After confirming that she still had a faint pulse, he looked back at Vegeta. "Dad, did you bring any Senzu Beans?"
Vegeta landed beside him and handed over a bean without comment.
Trunks crushed it between his teeth and carefully fed the pieces into Mai's mouth. Her injuries vanished almost immediately, and her eyes fluttered open to find him kneeling over her.
"Trunks!"
"Mai…" He pulled her into his arms, relief breaking through the grief he had carried since leaving. "You're alive. Thank goodness."
She clung to him just as tightly.
"Why are you back? Didn't you make it to the past?"
"I did. Goku brought my father and me back here."
"So everything went well?" Mai looked around, expecting someone else. "Ken didn't come with you?"
"He said Goku and my father should be enough to handle this."
The mention of his father finally drew her attention to Vegeta.
"Your father?"
Trunks stepped aside.
"Mai, this is my dad."
She straightened quickly and bowed her head.
"It's nice to meet you."
Vegeta looked from her to his son.
"She's your girlfriend?"
Trunks's face warmed under the question.
"Yeah… she is."
Mai lowered her gaze, no less embarrassed.
Vegeta sensed Goku Black drawing closer and turned toward the approaching energy.
"He'll be here soon. Protect the woman you care about, Trunks."
Golden light carried him into the sky before Trunks could answer.
He had expected an order to stay out of the way, not something so openly protective.
"Can your father really beat him?" Mai asked, watching Vegeta disappear into the distance.
"He's much stronger than he used to be." Trunks kept his eyes on the sky, drawing confidence from the power radiating from his father. "I think he can win."
Mai nodded, though the ruined world around them made optimism difficult.
High above the city, Goku Black watched Vegeta fly toward him. The corners of his mouth lifted as their eyes met.
Vegeta studied the stolen face with open interest.
"So you really do look exactly like Kakarot. Coming here was worth it after all. I've always wanted an excuse to beat that face without listening to him complain afterward."
His amusement sharpened into accusation.
"You're Zamasu, aren't you?"
The question cut straight through Goku Black's confidence. He had expected suspicion, not immediate recognition.
"You used the Dragon Balls to exchange bodies with Kakarot," Vegeta continued. "Am I wrong?"
Goku Black's expression tightened.
"How could you possibly know that?"
"Ken told us."
The name struck harder than any threat Vegeta could have made.
"Ken…"
"And since you recognize him, that proves you came from our timeline." Vegeta folded his arms, pleased with how quickly the pieces fit together.
Goku Black found himself with nothing to say. The Vegeta from Ken's timeline was far more perceptive than the one he had killed.
"I heard Kakarot died from a heart virus in this world," Vegeta said. "How did you exchange bodies with a dead man?"
"I thought you already knew everything."
"Not everything—and I don't care enough to interrogate you." Vegeta rolled one shoulder, eager to begin. "I came here to beat you until you understand what real despair feels like."
"Before we fight, answer one question."
"Preparing your last words already?"
Goku Black ignored the taunt.
"Where is Ken? He didn't come with you?"
"He said he'd arrive later."
The answer sent a chill through Goku Black.
He had no idea whether Zamasu had completed his preparations. Perhaps a large enough army of alternate selves could overwhelm Ken when he arrived.
It had to be possible.
Goku Black had grown much stronger as well.
"You won't live long enough to see him," Vegeta said. "I'll deal with you first."
Golden power erupted around him, and lightning crackled through his aura as he transformed into Super Saiyan Two.
"This is more than enough for someone like you."
Vegeta almost raised his thumb toward himself, then remembered Kakarot's warning about what usually happened whenever he made that gesture. His hand stopped halfway and dropped awkwardly back to his side.
He covered the hesitation by launching himself at Goku Black.
His opponent remained in his base form and met the charge head-on.
In the Sacred World of the Kai in Universe 6, Goku appeared where Fuwa's energy should have been.
Nothing answered him.
The empty world confirmed what Ken had already suspected. Goku lowered his head, grief and anger settling over him as memories of his teacher surfaced.
"Fuwa… I'll make Zamasu answer for this."
His fists tightened until his arms began to shake. Once he had taken one last look across the abandoned world, he locked onto Trunks's energy and vanished.
Goku reappeared beside Trunks and Mai.
"Goku!" Trunks called, relief cutting through his tension.
Mai recoiled at the familiar face.
"Goku Black!"
"Don't worry." Trunks quickly moved between them. "This is the real Goku."
"Oh…" Mai recovered from the shock and offered an awkward greeting. "It's nice to meet you."
Goku studied her with a puzzled tilt of his head.
"You look familiar. Have we met somewhere before?"
Mai kept her expression steady, though the question sent a flicker of panic through her.
They had met a very long time ago, when Goku was still a child. Explaining that she was older than Trunks's mother was a conversation she had no desire to begin.
Fortunately, Goku's attention shifted toward the battle.
"Vegeta couldn't even wait for me to get back before starting."
Mai quietly released the breath she had been holding.
Above the ruins, Vegeta and Goku Black were already trading blows.
After several rapid exchanges, Vegeta drove a kick toward Goku Black's chest. Goku Black crossed both arms in time to block, but the impact still forced him backward, his boots gouging twin trenches through the ground.
Goku flew closer to the battlefield.
"Hey, Vegeta! We hadn't even finished talking, and you already started without me!"
"You're the one who wandered off before the fight," Vegeta shot back. "Besides, once I saw your face on him, I couldn't resist hitting it."
Goku could only shake his head at that.
Goku Black glanced toward him without surprise. Vegeta and Goku were rarely far apart; seeing one almost always meant the other would appear sooner or later.
"Perfect. Fighting Trunks over and over was getting boring."
Power burst around Goku Black. His hair turned gold, while arcs of lightning snapped across his Super Saiyan Two aura.
Vegeta's smile widened.
"So you can match my transformation."
"He really can become a Super Saiyan," Goku said, more curious than alarmed.
Vegeta and Goku Black settled into their stances, then collided hard enough to crack the air between them.
Vegeta seized control within the first few exchanges. A kick caught Goku Black cleanly and launched him high above the city.
Goku Black twisted upright in midair, gathered a massive sphere of energy between his hands, and hurled it down.
Vegeta slapped the attack aside.
The redirected blast crossed the horizon and detonated inside another ruined city, raising a vast mushroom cloud above the wasteland.
"Vegeta, watch where you send those!" Goku shouted. "Are you trying to destroy the planet?"
"There's hardly anyone left alive on it," Vegeta replied without taking his eyes off Goku Black.
Goku considered the devastation stretching across the landscape.
"That's true…"
Vegeta shot upward before Goku Black could recover. His uppercut snapped the impostor's head back and lifted him even higher, then Vegeta appeared overhead and buried a heel in his side.
Goku Black plummeted into the ruins below, collapsing several buildings beneath him.
A golden streak burst from the dust moments later. Goku Black stopped across from Vegeta, anger smoldering behind his smile.
"You're far stronger than the Vegeta from this timeline."
"You killed another version of me. That makes this personal."
"He died rather impressively." Goku Black's tone turned almost conversational. "Would you like to hear about it?"
Vegeta said nothing, though the question drew a dangerous stillness over him.
"He destroyed himself trying to protect Trunks. I'll admit, the Vegeta from this world was a remarkable father."
Goku Black raised a mocking thumb.
"Don't praise me with that mouth." Vegeta spat to the side, but the story stirred an uncomfortable pride in his chest.
So the other Vegeta had chosen self-destruction too.
He could not have copied him. They had never met.
Perhaps they had simply reached the same answer when their sons were threatened.
Vegeta cut the thought short and drove back into the fight.
Trunks and Mai watched from a safe distance.
Mai followed the movement through binoculars, since the battle had already climbed beyond the range of ordinary sight.
"Goku Black transformed into a Super Saiyan."
"I haven't seen him use that form in a long time." Trunks's unease deepened. "He must realize my father is dangerous."
"Isn't that good? Your father has the advantage, and Goku still hasn't joined the fight."
"For now." Trunks could not ignore the pattern he had witnessed for months. "Goku Black is stronger every time I face him. Somehow, every battle pushes him further."
Mai lowered the binoculars long enough to study him.
"Your father is still overwhelming him."
"I know. I just can't shake the feeling that something's wrong."
A heavy impact drew their attention back to the sky.
Vegeta's fist crushed into Goku Black's face and sent him crashing into the ruined city below. Before he could climb out, Vegeta gathered energy in both hands and rained blasts into the crater.
Each explosion fed the next until smoke and fire swallowed the entire district.
Vegeta laughed as he continued the barrage.
"I haven't enjoyed myself this much in ages!"
Once the last blast left his palms, he descended toward the smoking ruins.
Then Goku Black walked out of the haze.
A dark violet barrier surrounded him, untouched by the destruction Vegeta had poured into the ground. It faded as soon as he stepped into the open.
Vegeta regarded him with renewed interest.
"Now I understand. Trunks never stood a chance against you at his current level."
"You truly are the Vegeta from Ken's timeline," Goku Black said, his gaze turning colder.
"You don't have the right to judge me." Vegeta's amusement returned. "We've played around long enough. Show me your strongest form, and I'll finish this."
Goku Black offered no answer.
Vegeta transformed again.
Red fur spread across his body as his hair darkened and lengthened. The force of Super Saiyan 4 rolled over the battlefield, and Goku Black's composure finally cracked under the pressure.
"What's wrong?" Vegeta asked, enjoying every second of his reaction. "Go on. Turn blue, red, or whatever other form you stole from Kakarot. Maybe you can even match mine."
The silence told Vegeta everything.
"You can't transform beyond Super Saiyan Two, can you?"
Goku Black refused to answer.
Vegeta broke into laughter.
"So that's it! You stole Kakarot's body and still can't use its strongest transformations." He pointed openly now, too delighted to remember his usual superstition. "You chose the wrong Saiyan. If you'd stolen my body, even an idiot like you could've reached Super Saiyan 4!"
Goku Black could not understand why Vegeta sounded offended that he had chosen someone else's body.
Even Goku had no idea how to respond to that logic.
Vegeta's laughter finally settled into a predatory smile.
"Since you have nothing else to show me, I'll end this now."
He vanished from Goku Black's sight.
The next instant, Vegeta's fist drove into his chest with enough force to cave the air around them. Goku Black's scream tore free as the punch carried him backward, Vegeta keeping his knuckles buried against his body while both of them ripped across the sky.
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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