Draxar staggered from the smoke, scorched and furious. One arm hung limp from his side. "You…!"
Vegeta descended slowly, his eyes cold.
"You were loud," Vegeta said, folding his arms. "And stupid. You should've stayed down."
"You think you can stop me now? I'm beyond—"
Draxar didn't finish. Vegeta appeared in front of him in a blink and drove a knee into his gut so hard that Draxar coughed up blood.
"Talking wastes breath," Vegeta said flatly.
Draxar threw a punch and Vegeta caught it.
He tried a kick and Vegeta blocked it.
Another punch and Vegeta ducked, then countered with a savage elbow that shattered Draxar's jaw and sent him reeling.
Draxar screamed in desperation, charging a massive beam with both hands. "DIE!!"
Vegeta didn't move.
Lightning cracked around him as he raised one hand.
A sphere of pure blue-white energy formed in his palm dense, controlled, deadly.
"Big Bang… Attack."
The sphere swelled, then compressed to the size of a soccer ball.
Draxar's beam fired and Vegeta's attack launched at the same time.
The two collided but Vegeta's pierced through the blast like a bullet through paper, striking Draxar dead center.
There was a flash.
Then silence.
When the light faded, Draxar was gone he was completely disintegrated.
Vegeta lowered his hand.
"Tch. Waste of time," he muttered.
He turned as Gohan slowly stood, battered but alive. Piccolo groaned, pushing himself up.
"You took your sweet time Vegeta" Gohan said with a weak grin.
"I was watching," Vegeta said. "Wanted to see if you two could manage it. You almost did."
Piccolo smirked. "So… what now?"
Vegeta looked to the sky, where the Dragon Balls had disappeared.
"Now… we chase them."
The skies had cleared. The battlefield was behind them, but the war wasn't over.
At Capsule Corporation, the air buzzed with urgency. Inside Bulma's high-tech lab, large monitors displayed satellite footage of the departing ship, its trajectory stretching across the stars.
Vegeta leaned against a console, arms folded, his aura now calm and silent. Gohan sat nearby, bandages wrapped around his shoulder. Piccolo stood in the corner, stoic and silent, his cape fluttering slightly from the breeze of a nearby fan.
Trunks paced, anxious. "So let me get this straight… That ship had all seven Dragon Balls, and it's heading to some planet six months away?"
Gohan nodded. "Draxar launched them before the fight ended. Even though we stopped him, the balls are still in enemy hands."
Piccolo added, "And whoever's on the other end… Draxar called him 'his lord.' If that guy gets the Dragon Balls, we may be facing someone even worse."
Before Trunks could respond, a sudden flash of light filled the room instant transmission.
Goku appeared in his orange gi, hand on Krillin's and Tien's shoulders.
"Hey, guys!" Goku grinned until he felt the tension in the room. "Wait… what happened?"
Gohan stood and walked toward them. "We beat someone named Draxar but he sent the Dragon Balls into space before we could stop him."
Tien raised a brow. "And where are they heading?"
"We don't know the planet's name," Piccolo said. "But the guy said that the ship should take around six months to get there, even at full speed."
Goku's expression turned serious. "And we can't just teleport there?"
Bulma's voice cut in from her desk. "Nope. I've tried locking onto the ship's coordinates with the satellite systems. It's too far for Goku to get a ki lock, and to top it off there's no one on board, so Goku can't sense anyone."
Vegeta scoffed. "Then we do it the hard way. We build a ship. Fast. One that can catch up."
Bulma smirked. "Already working on it. I've got schematics from the Namek expedition. With some upgrades, it should be spaceworthy within a week maybe less if I don't sleep."
Goku chuckled nervously. "Guess we owe you… again."
Krillin rubbed his neck. "So this guy Draxar… was he really that strong?"
Gohan's face turned serious. "If Piccolo and I hadn't fought together, we wouldn't have lasted. Even then, he nearly beat us both."
Goku looked to Vegeta. "You finished him?"
Vegeta gave a small, proud smirk. "Easily"
Trunks clenched his fists. "So this new threat… Draxar's master… is probably even stronger?"
"Most likely," said Piccolo. "Draxar was willing to die for his wish. That means whoever's behind this he's after immortality, and he has the patience and power to let someone else do the dirty work."
Gohan looked toward the stars beyond the glass dome above. "We have a week before we're in space… there's no backup. No Senzu Beans. No Earth. Just us… and him."
Tien nodded. "Then we train."
Bulma turned in her chair. "I'll need help outfitting the ship with a gravity chamber and enough fuel for the round trip."
Gohan stepped forward. "I'll help. The sooner we finish, the sooner we crush whoever's waiting."
Goku smiled. "Guess it's time to get training started right away."
Trunks looked at Vegeta. "You up for this Dad?"
Vegeta nodded. "Of course I'll be up for this Trunks."
Piccolo's cape fluttered again as he turned. "We all will."
As the Z Fighters began planning their roles and training regimens, Bulma tapped away furiously at her console, the image of the ship on screen growing smaller with each passing second.
The race had begun.