Dragon Ball Z: Paradise Found

Cosmic Family Drama

Vegeta wiped the blood and slobber off his lip and scowled before rushing at Meta-Cooler. The metallic cyborg leaned back in a manner of flexibility only permissible to someone with an artificial spine and a cyborg's body before driving his forearm into Vegeta's gut. The blow took the Super Saiyan right out of the exhausted Saiyan, who sustained his battle frenzy solely through sheer rage.

The segmented metallic tail of Meta-Cooler wrapped around Vegeta's neck and pulled him in closer to further beat down. With a furious growl, Vegeta drove his forehead straight into Meta-Cooler's own front. The power struggle sent sparks of lightning crackling in all directions and riding the forceful shock wave emanating from their collision.

The two began clashing fists, forearms, and calves, throwing hands and legs at one another in an automated barrage. The two danced this way until bleeding scrapes burst all over the body of the only of the two combatants to not be fully automated and possess the qualities of flesh and blood to him. Despite this, Vegeta threw a solid side kick at the side of the cyborg's neck, which Meta-Cooler felt obliged to block. It socked the cyborg harder than he predicted, sending Meta-Cooler sliding aside and disappearing inside an opening within the Big Gete Star's wall.

Vegeta exclaimed in surprise at the sudden switch in the cyborg's battle tactics. He began scanning the entire room in search of his opponent and where he'd resurface again. It was only when his opponent had vanished that Vegeta recalled the fact that he couldn't sense Meta-Cooler's Ki. This made fighting him inside of a living cybernetic organism led by artificial intelligence that wanted its pet project to win at all costs complicated.

"You should give this up, Vegeta. Fighting for others was never your strong suit. Even this measly power-up you've scrounged up quickly faded away. Since fate can't seem to give it a rest without sending you against Cooler, shall this one reignite it in you?" Meta-Cooler's voice resonated from every device integrated into the surrounding systems of the Big Gete Star with a speaker.

"Don't you fucking dare, you cocky bastard!" Vegeta clenched his fists and tensed up his muscles in sheer hatred for the reborn, cybernetic image of the older brother of his lifelong nemesis and oppressor. "Bulma has nothing to do with our quarrel, you hear me!?"

"Maybe not, but she makes you so mad that this one kind of enjoys bullying her a bit. Plus, she gave you a rotten mutt for a child, and that's one more for us to crush. Since it isn't even a full-blooded Saiyan, it won't give this one the same satisfaction to kill it," Meta-Cooler's disgusting voice resonated throughout the fueling headquarters.

"What kind of martial artist are you?" Trunks yelled out from a compromised position. The same one that his mother found herself in as well. "My dad's your enemy, isn't he? Just show yourself and fight him fairly! Leave mom alone...!"

Vegeta turned to Trunks to scold him about such a naïve attitude toward combat, but then his eyes cleared up and his jaw dropped slightly as he contemplated something deep down and looked up. "Humph... I guess Cooler really died back in the rotten dump I killed him in. The Cooler I remember had a shred of honor, unlike his dirtbag little brother. Guess the Big Gete Star can only recreate lowlife imitations. That glorified toaster... Might as well trash it right now!"

Just as the Saiyan king raised his hand to blast at a random location and begin thrashing the Big Gete Star, the floor opened up with an escalating staircase, providing him with a shinier opponent of gleaming silver to attack.

"Don't you dare make this about honor now, Vegeta..." Meta-Cooler hissed upon emerging. "What you did to the original, that's rotten and unforgivable. You didn't challenge the original for his empire, you attacked Cooler with your full invading force and stole his empire from him. Then you ruled what he left after him from a throne of scrap and ashes while your Earthling cronies betrayed and crippled his clan back on Earth. You're no king nor an emperor. You're just a thug, and this one will butcher you as such."