Planet Namek.
Two purple-crimson Cutting Discs hounded Son Gohan without letup.
"So annoying." Gohan frowned, then burst straight toward Cooler.
"Save the parlor tricks. You don't think I'd let myself be killed by my own technique, do you?" Cooler sniffed and flicked his fingers. A string of Death Beams lanced at the onrushing Gohan.
Gohan had no choice but to bank upward. The beams wouldn't pierce him now, but they would slow him and those disks nipping at his back were nothing to take lightly. Even at a distance he could feel the chill in their bite.
"Little Saiyan," Cooler called, rising into the sky, hands lifting as power boiled around him, "you can't live in hard vacuum. You'll die with this planet!"
A golden sun swelled between his palms growing, growing.
"And don't even think of stopping. Stop, and my discs will carve you in half! Hahaha!" Guided by his mind alone, the Cutting Discs clung to Gohan like shadows.
"Heh. I'm small, not stupid," Gohan said, flying a tight circle and letting the discs spool right behind him.
"Big talk's cheap. Let's see you catch my Golden Supernova and then see if the discs don't slice you to ribbons!" Cooler roared, and hurled the star he'd forged down at Gohan.
"Gohan, watch out!" Son Gokū, watching from afar, bit down on a senzu bean and readied himself to leap in.
"Leave it, Son Gokū. Your boy's not that simple," Merus said lightly, one hand raised.
Gokū hesitated… and held.
"Heh. Right on time." Gohan's mouth quirked and he vanished.
"Damn it that move again!" Cooler snarled, whipping his gaze about.
"Looking for someone? Try behind you."
Arms locked around him. In the blink of an eye Gohan Instant-Moved beneath the falling sun, still cinched around Cooler and pivoted to face the incoming Cutting Discs.
"What a little scoundrel," Beerus murmured, unable to help himself.
"Hehe. Thought of something, Lord Beerus?" Whis smiled. After a few tens of millions of years side by side, he could read the god's moods blindfolded.
"Watch," Beerus said, expression unreadable.
Gohan's chain of motions was intricate but it all happened in heartbeats.
"Let go let me go! You'll die too!" Cooler thrashed, eyes wide as the discs screamed closer.
Gohan's eyes flashed two golden beams speared Cooler's abdomen. Pain crashed through him; his concentration shattered, and the discs slipped the leash.
"You're the one who dies. I won't."
Whirr shnnk!
Gohan released and flashed away. Cooler kicked off with everything he had, gaining half a body's height
and the twin saws scythed through.
Whip sskrr thud!
Both legs, and the tail behind them, dropped to the ground as neat, twitching pieces.
"Bastard! Bastard!" Cooler's vision swam.
"Careful. Your supernova is here too," Gohan said from below, almost lazily.
"What !" Cooler twisted in midair.
The golden sun he'd thrown was already upon him.
"Damn it! Death Shockwave!"
A forged star, once cast, would not be called back. He could only pour more power into a counterbeam. Halved, bleeding out ki and stamina, Cooler could barely stand against the full-force attack he himself had created.
"Son Gohan help me! You don't want Namek to explode, do you? You can't survive outer space!" Panic bled into plea.
"You want my help?" Gohan asked, almost curious.
"Please save me! I'll do whatever you say!" Pride gave way to raw survival.
"Fine, fine. I'll be merciful and help you…," Gohan said, lowering his hands, knees bending.
"Gohan… you're really going to save him?" Gokū whispered, unsure.
"Kame "
"Ha "
"Me "
"Ha!"
The classic stance bloomed. Blue light swelled between Gohan's palms, drinking down most of his ki.
"No what are you " Cooler stared back, horror dawning.
"Helping you shatter your supernova and you with it. HA!"
The beam exploded from his hands, a cobalt pillar that swallowed Cooler and punched straight into the golden sun.
"NO !"
His last cry broke. Pinned between his own supernova and Gohan's Kamehameha, Cooler vaporized to drifting ash.
Gohan's beam bored through the star and out into space. The sundered supernova detonated.
BOOOOM
Namek heaved underfoot. Mountains bowed; seas leapt.
"Heh… kid's ruthless," Gokū said with a crooked smile.
Even his own father winced. Cooler had died a death for the ages cut in half by his own disks, then finished by his own sun and someone else's Kamehameha. If he had any wishes left, they were unspoken.
"Dad, it's over. Let's head back." Gohan let the gold drain from his hair and drifted to Gokū's side.
"Heh, Son Gohan, you bully," Merus chuckled. "You've wrung that Instant Movement for all it's worth."
"It's called playing it safe. You wouldn't understand. Who knows what cards he had left? A trump card you flash at the start isn't a trump," Gohan shot back.
"Well said!"
A voice cut in smooth, amused, and dangerously calm.
Gohan's heart jumped. He turned to face the two figures who had appeared without a ripple.
"Ohoho… Lord Beerus, look at that face. The boy knows us," Whis said, eyes smiling.
Gohan forced the tension out of his shoulders and bowed. "Lord Beerus. Master Whis."
"Gohan, who ?" Gokū began.
"Dad, I'll explain later. For now, don't say anything," Gohan murmured under his breath.
"Hn. You've got some sense," Beerus said blandly. "Cheeky methods, but at least you mind your manners."
"Heh. You honor me, Lord Beerus. This place is rubble why don't we continue on Earth? We can eat while we talk. Earth's food is… something special," Gohan said, tone light again now that the blades were sheathed.
"Food, is it? If it's not good, I'll destroy the planet," Beerus said, voice like frost.
"Don't worry. I promise you'll love it," Gohan replied evenly.
"Good. Whis."
"Yes, Lord Beerus."
Tok, tok. Whis tapped his staff. A ribbon of seven-colored light wrapped them both and shot into the dark.
"Whew." Gohan wiped his forehead.
"Didn't expect you to be afraid," Merus teased.
"My dear big brother, that's the supreme god of destruction in this universe. How could I not be?" Gohan muttered.
"Fair. Come on let me sample Earth's cuisine too. They deliberately didn't let you take them; I suspect they're giving you prep time. At my brother's speed, he'll reach Earth in… three minutes," Merus warned.
"Three minutes?! Right… from the Destroyer's world to Earth only takes a few anyway. Let's move!" Gohan grabbed Gokū with one hand and Merus with the other.
They winked out.
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