Escallion didn't even have time to lower his hands before Krillin exploded out of the dust cloud below, eyes burning with desperate resolve.
"GOHAN! NOW!" Krillin yelled, rushing Escallion's blind spot from the left while Gohan burst out of the crater, throwing himself back into the sky from the right.
For a split second, Escallion was caught dead in the middle, tracking both signatures as they closed in. A synchronized double-pincer, Escallion realized, his muscles tensing to take both hits at once. "Not bad, but—"
"Get off me, you tiny freak!"
Nappa's booming shout cut through the chaos. The giant Saiyan was thrashing wildly in the middle of the battlefield, reaching back to claw at his own armor. Attached firmly to his back was Chiaotzu, his small white hands clamped tightly onto Nappa's shoulders, his face set in pale, heartbreaking determination.
"Goodbye, Tien..." Chiaotzu whispered.
"CHIAOTZU, NO!" Tien screamed, his voice shattering with pure terror as he scrambled forward from the dirt.
A blinding, violent flash of light swallowed Nappa whole.
BOOM!
The suicide blast tore through the canyon, sending a massive shockwave that blew back the dirt and entirely interrupted Krillin and Gohan's charge. The force sent Tien tumbling backward, his frantic yell cut short as he crashed hard into Krillin, knocking both of them into the dust.
When the smoke cleared, Nappa stood panting, his back scorched black and his battle armor completely shattered, but otherwise alive and brimming with rage. Chiaotzu was gone.
"You... you bastard..." Tien breathed, his third eye wide, his entire frame shaking violently as the reality sank in. Tears spilled down his face, instantly replaced by a blind, consuming fury. His aura flared into a jagged, roaring flame of white energy. "YOU MONSTER! I'LL KILL YOU!"
Without a second thought for strategy, Tien charged Nappa in an unbridled, suicidal rage.
Escallion dropped back down to the earth, his boots landing softly as he watched the tragedy unfold. He wiped a smudge of dust off his cheek, his dark eyes fixed entirely on Nappa and the grieving martial artist.
"Another suicide ploy," Escallion noted softly, shaking his head with a quiet, dry sigh.
Slightly amused by the grim spectacle, Escallion focused his attention on Tien's reckless assault, completely absorbed by their fight.
Having already lost his arm to Nappa, Tien was operating on pure adrenaline and agonizing grief. He threw his body into a brutal, one-armed barrage, lunging forward to hurl a savage flurry of heavy jabs, elbows, and sharp knee strikes straight into Nappa's chest and face.
Every blow rattled through Tien's mangled body, but he didn't slow down. He ducked under a wild counter-swing from the giant Saiyan and drove a devastating knee straight into Nappa's gut, sending the behemoth stumbling back.
"I'll send you straight to hell!" Tien screamed, his voice raw and cracking.
Gaining a brief second of distance, Tien leaped high into the air, hovering above the giant. He folded his thumb and forefingers together, forming a diamond-shaped frame with his lone hand, pointing it squarely down at Nappa's head. He was pooling every last drop of his remaining life force, transmuting his very stamina into raw, unstable demolition power.
"TRI-BEAM!"
A roaring, square-shaped column of pure, blinding white light erupted from Tien's hand, slamming down on Nappa with catastrophic force. The shockwave blasted the canyon floor open, grinding the earth into fine powder, but Tien overrode his body's natural safety limits to force his failing heart to keep pumping.
"TRI-BEAM! HAAAAA!"
A second blinding square of destructive force detonated right on top of the first, swallowing Nappa in a continuous, deafening pillar of annihilation that carved a deep, geometric abyss into the stone. Up in the air, Tien's aura violently flickered and died. His skin turned a sickly, deathly grey as his life force hit rock bottom, and with a faint, broken sigh, he plunged from the sky, collapsing lifelessly into the dust.
"Interesting," Escallion muttered under his breath, tracking the lingering heat of the blast. "He killed himself just to land those hits..."
Because he was so hyper-focused on analyzing Tien's final stand, Escallion treated Krillin and Gohan as little more than background noise.
Krillin darted in from the right, throwing a frantic combination of rapid punches, while Gohan charged from the left with a tear-streaked yell, hurling a barrage of small Ki blasts. Escallion barely even looked at them. He casually swayed his upper body, effortlessly slipping past Krillin's jabs and swatting Gohan's energy blasts out of the air with lazy, backhanded flicks of his wrist.
Thwack!
Smack!
"Give it up, kid," Escallion said dryly, dodging another wild swing from Krillin without shifting his feet an inch. "You two are just flailing now. Save your breath."
"We're not giving up!" Krillin gritted out, throwing another desperation punch that Escallion casually caught in his palm.
"You should," Escallion replied, his gaze still drifting back toward Nappa's smoldering crater. "Your three-eyed friend is dead, and so is the Namekian. It's over."
What Escallion's analytical mind failed to process, and what Krillin and Gohan were desperately trying to cover up with their reckless assault, was the eerie silence hanging over the canyon floor directly behind him.
He was so busy swatting away the two exhausted fighters that he completely missed the shadow creeping up over his shoulder.
And, most critically, he failed to notice two long, slender green fingers pressing against a forehead, sparking with a lethal, piercing concentration of spiral energy.
"Is it?" a low, guttural voice rasped behind Escallion.
Escallion's eyes went wide. His muscle memory screamed at him to duck, spin, flare his Ki, anything to break distance. But he was mid-sway, his weight completely committed to dodging Krillin's previous jab.
"SPECIAL..."
Piccolo stood inches behind him, his turban gone, his gi shredded, and his chest heaving with agonized, bloody breaths. The two fingers pressed to his brow were glowing with a blinding, crackling orb of yellow and purple electricity that hissed like a caged pit viper.
"...BEAM..."
Escallion scrambled to throw his forearm up to cover his neck, his dark eyes locking onto Piccolo's deadly, unblinking glare in a fraction of a microsecond.
"...CANNON!"
A roaring, drilling spiral of concentrated Ki erupted from Piccolo's fingertips at point-blank range, aiming straight through the back of the young Saiyan's neck.
With a violent, unnatural twist of his spine, Escallion forced his body to contort mid-air.
BZZZZZZT!
The drilling spiral of light grazed his neck, searing through his battle armor collar and scorching a bleeding trench across his shoulder. The heat was blinding, but the millisecond of spatial clearance was all Escallion needed.
Driven by pure, survivalist instinct, Escallion pivoted on his heels, his right hand snapping forward, wrapped in a sharp blade of golden Ki.
SLASH!
The energy blade cut straight through Piccolo's chest.
Piccolo froze, a choked gasp escaping his lips as purple blood sprayed onto the dust. His eyes went wide, his knees buckling under the brutal, point-blank counter-strike. He collapsed onto his hands and knees, clutching the fatal wound in his torso, his breaths coming as shallow, ragged wheezes.
"Impressive ploy, Namek..." Escallion panted, touching his bleeding neck with trembling fingers, his eyes wide with adrenaline. "You almost had me."
Before anyone could move, the smoldering crater across the clearing exploded.
BOOM!
Nappa burst from the rubble like a rabid animal. His armor was utterly destroyed, his skin scorched, and his face twisted into an unrecognizable mask of absolute, psychotic rage.
"YOU LITTLE BASTARDS!" Nappa roared, his voice shaking the entire canyon. "I'LL BLOW THIS ENTIRE PLANET TO HELL!"
Ignoring Tien's body and bypassing Krillin entirely, Nappa locked his bloodshot eyes on Gohan, who was frozen in horror atop his rock pillar. Nappa cupped his hands near his mouth, pulling in a massive, blinding sphere of explosive energy.
"DIE, YOU BRAT!"
Nappa unleashed a colossal, world-ending energy beam straight at the helpless child. The roar of the blast swallowed all sound, tearing up the earth as it surged forward.
Gohan squeezed his eyes shut, paralyzed by fear, raising his tiny arms in a meaningless attempt to block.
Move! Kid, MOVE! Krillin screamed in his own mind, unable to reach him in time.
Suddenly, a tall, green silhouette tore through the dust.
Despite the gaping, fatal wound, despite being on the absolute door of death, Piccolo threw his entire body straight into the path of the beam.
BOOM!
The devastating blast detonated squarely against Piccolo's back. A horrific scream echoed through the valley as the Namekian absorbed the full, monstrous force of Nappa's rage, his body acting as a shield to keep the young Saiyan alive.
The blinding light of the explosion slowly died down, leaving a heavy, suffocating silence in its wake.
As the dense cloud of smoke parted, Piccolo stood trembling, his back completely blackened and smoking from the force of Nappa's blast. For a long, agonizing second, he remained upright through pure force of will, before his knees finally gave out.
He collapsed heavily onto the cracked earth right in front of Gohan.
"P-Piccolo... Mr. Piccolo!" Gohan cried out, tears streaming down his face as he dropped to his knees beside the fallen warrior, his small hands hovering over Piccolo's torn gi.
Piccolo lay on his side, his breath coming in shallow, agonizing rasps. Purple blood pooled beneath him, mixing with the dust.
Yet, as he looked up at the weeping child, the son of his greatest rival, the boy who had spent months breaking through his bitter, demon-king exterior, the harsh lines on Piccolo's face softened.
"G-Gohan..." Piccolo rasped, his voice barely a whisper. "You... you were the only one... who didn't look at me like... like a monster."
A faint, blood-stained chuckle escaped his lips.
"You actually... talked to me. You made me... soft..."
A tender, genuine smile, the first and last he would ever give, broke across the Namekian's face. His eyes, once filled with cold, ancient evil, were soft and peaceful as he looked at the boy.
"I'm... glad... I got to train you, kid..."
Piccolo's hand slouched onto the dirt. His eyes slowly closed, the final ember of his Ki flickering out completely.
A few feet away, Escallion stood holding his bleeding shoulder. He stared at the fallen warrior and the hybrid at his feet.
"Let's end this."
"Mr. Piccolo..." Gohan sobbed, clutching the dirt beside him. Then, the boy's small shoulders began to tremble. The air pressure in the canyon plunged, and the rocks on the ground began to vibrate once again.
Before the boy's rising grief could fully detonate into rage, a sudden, blinding crack of air shattered the quiet. The heavy, suffocating weight of the battlefield was instantly overwritten by an immense, calm, and bone-chillingly dense energy that none of the sayains could feel.
In the center of the clearing, right beside the weeping child and the fallen Namekian, a man stood in a bright orange martial arts gi.
Goku had arrived.
"D-Dad...?" Gohan choked out, his small eyes widening through a blur of tears.
Goku didn't say a word. His face, usually defined by an easygoing, friendly warmth, was entirely devoid of emotion, set into a mask of pure, terrifying focus.
He slowly knelt, gently resting a hand on Piccolo's cold shoulder, feeling for a pulse he already knew wasn't there. His fingers tightened slightly in the cloth of Piccolo's gi, his jaw clenching so hard the muscles in his cheek stood out.
"You fought well, Piccolo," Goku said, his voice quiet and heavy with solemnity. "Thank you for protecting my son."
A few paces away, Escallion raised an eyebrow, looking at him; he, along with the others, recognized him.
"Kakarot..." Vegeta murmured from the high cliffside, his arms slowly unfolding as his dark eyes locked onto the orange-clad warrior. "So... the low-class trash finally decides to show his face."
"Hah! About time!" Nappa barked, wiping sweat and blood from his forehead as he stepped forward, a maniacal grin stretching across his face. "Hey, Kakarot! You're too late! All your pathetic little friends are broken, dead, or dying!"
Goku stood up slowly, his back turned to the Saiyans. He reached into his belt pouch, pulled out two small, split Senzu beans, and fed them to a groaning, battered Krillin and Gohan.
"Krillin... take Gohan and move back," Goku commanded quietly, still not turning around. "Leave the rest of this to me."
"Goku, be careful!" Krillin urged, scrambling to his feet as the bean restored his vitality. "They're monsters! Piccolo... Piccolo didn't stand a chance!"
"I know," Goku replied, his dark eyes shifting slightly toward Escallion and Nappa. The absolute, unshakeable calm in his voice was far more terrifying than any roar of anger. "They're going to pay for every single one of them."
Goku didn't even drop into a battle stance. He simply took a single, quiet step forward.
"Hey! Don't ignore me, Kakarot!" Nappa screamed, furious at the total lack of fear in the newcomer's eyes. The giant Saiyan lunged forward, throwing a violent, earth-shattering right hook intended to take Goku's head clean off.
SWOOSH.
Nappa's fist struck nothing but empty air.
Before Nappa could even process the blur, Goku was behind him, planted solidly on the giant's massive shoulders. With an effortless flick of his boot, Goku kicked off Nappa's scalp, sending the behemoth stumbling forward into the dirt.
"You're too slow, Nappa," Goku said calmly, landing lightly on the ground.
"WHY YOU...!" Nappa spun around, his face purple with rage. He powered up to his absolute maximum, an aura of blinding Ki exploding around him. "BREAK CANNON!"
He unleashed a lethal mouth blast straight at point-blank range, but Goku simply raised a hand, deflecting the world-ending beam up into the sky with a casual slap of his palm.
"Kaio-ken!" Goku roared.
A sudden, terrifying crimson aura exploded around Goku. In a fraction of a microsecond, he vanished.
Before Nappa could even blink, Goku reappeared directly above him, driving a devastating double-axe handle strike right into Nappa's back.
CRACK!
The sound of Nappa's spine fracturing echoed throughout the canyon like a thunderclap. The massive Saiyan slammed face-first into the dirt, paralyzed, groaning in sheer, broken agony.
Escallion stood completely frozen, his jaw slightly open, his dark eyes wide as his mind struggled to process the sheer speed and efficiency of the fight. He didn't just beat him... he completely dismantled an elite heavy-assault unit in less than thirty seconds without taking a scratch!
Goku picked Nappa up by his underclothes and tossed his paralyzed body effortlessly over to the base of the ridge. "Vegeta... take your friend and leave this planet. You've done enough damage."
Nappa stretched a trembling, blood-soaked hand up toward the ridge. "V-Vegeta... help me... I can't move..."
Vegeta looked down at his fallen comrade, his face an unreadable mask of cold disgust. He reached down, grabbing Nappa by his wrist.
"Vegeta... thank you..." Nappa rasped, relief washing over his face.
"You're useless to me now, Nappa," Vegeta said softly.
With a cold sneer, Vegeta hurled Nappa high into the air and unleashed a single, concentrated beam of brilliant purple Ki straight from his palm.
BOOM!
Nappa exploded into a brilliant cloud of vapor and starlight, reduced to absolute nothingness in a heartbeat.
Escallion's eyes snapped to the sky, a deep, bitter scowl twisting his face as the shockwaves washed over his armor.
"Vegeta, you fool..." Escallion hissed under his breath, his fist clenching so hard his knuckles turned white. "He was our comrade!"
Vegeta floated down from the ridge, landing softly on the earth, completely ignoring Escallion's outrage. His dark eyes were locked entirely on Goku.
"He was garbage, Escallion," Vegeta said coldly, cracking his neck. "And garbage gets disposed of."
Vegeta glanced off into the distance, eyeing the direction where the human and the hybrid had retreated, a dark sneer spreading across his face.
"Let them run," Vegeta said coldly. "They can't hide forever. Once I finish with you, Kakarot, hunting down that half-breed will be a mere formality."
Goku looked back at the smoldering crater where Piccolo and the others lay, his posture completely rigid. "We're changing locations," he said, his voice quiet, flat, and absolute. "I don't want their bodies destroyed in our fight."
Without waiting for an answer, Goku kicked off the ground, soaring toward a desolate, red-rock wasteland miles away. Vegeta chuckled—a low, cruel sound—and launched into the air after him.
Escallion lingered for a brief second, his dark eyes sweeping over the quiet battlefield. He looked at the cracked earth, the dried purple blood of the Namekian, and the charred crater from Tien's final Tri-Beam.
"Changing arenas to preserve corpses...Pointless." Escallion muttered, though his heart was hammering against his ribs in a way it hadn't all day. He ignited his aura, rising into the sky to follow at an observing distance.
Moments later, Goku and Vegeta touched down in a barren basin framed by towering stone pillars.
Goku dropped into a loose, balanced Turtle School stance, his body relaxed, his feet digging firmly into the red dust. Opposite him, Vegeta assumed his classic Saiyan posture, arms extended, fingers clawed, knees bent low, radiating an air of suffocating, lethal confidence.
Escallion settled onto the high edge of a plateau overlooking the valley, crossing his arms tight over his chest. He narrowed his eyes, keeping his focus locked on the two combatants.
"Show me what you've got, Kakarot," Escallion whispered, his gaze glued to Goku. "Show me if that trick you used on Nappa was a fluke."
Below, the wind cut out entirely. Loose pebbles began to float upward.
Then, with a sound like the sky tearing, Goku and Vegeta vanished simultaneously, colliding in the center of the valley with a shockwave that shattered the surrounding canyon walls.