Battle with Vegeta

West City, Capsule Corporation.

When Son Gohan descended from the sky, the aura around him had completely receded.

As he approached, the door opened automatically.

Bulma poked her head out from the laboratory, her blue hair casually tied into a ponytail. She was still wearing a white lab coat and holding a steaming cup of coffee.

"Gohan, you're here so early. Have you had breakfast?"

Son Gohan looked up at the clock on the wall. It was already past nine.

Past nine and that's early? he muttered inwardly. But seeing the sleepiness that had yet to fully fade from the corners of Bulma's eyes, he swallowed the words.

Researchers kept different hours from ordinary people. Bulma often stayed up late conducting experiments, and having her days and nights reversed was the norm.

"Yeah, I just didn't want to disturb your rest," Son Gohan said with a gentle smile.

As soon as he finished speaking, a figure emerged from the room inside.

Mrs. Brief was dressed in loungewear, her hair curled. The moment she saw Son Gohan, her face blossomed into a smile.

"Oh my, Gohan is such a considerate child. So adorable."

She walked over, bent down, and kissed Son Gohan's young face.

Son Gohan smiled sheepishly and rubbed his cheek with the back of his hand.

Beside him, Bulma rolled her eyes. She had long since grown used to her mother's behavior.

"Come with me. Everything's ready."

Holding her coffee, Bulma turned and headed deeper into the research facility. Son Gohan followed behind her, passed through a corridor, and entered the laboratory packed with parts.

Several Capsule Corporation capsules sat on the workbench, neatly lined up in a row.

Bulma picked up the capsules and handed them to him one by one.

"These three are gravity chambers—large, medium, and small. Stack them in that order.

"When using them, deploy the largest one first, then deploy the medium one inside it, and finally the small one inside that.

"Pay attention to the activation order. Don't mix it up. Start from the outermost layer."

She placed the gravity chamber capsules in his palm, then picked up two more.

"I prepared these two as extras. One contains compressed rations, and the other is a specially made battle suit. It uses the latest elastic fiber material, so no matter how much your body changes, it'll fit perfectly. You also won't have to worry about bursting through your clothes."

Son Gohan accepted the capsules and held them in his palm.

She had prepared everything so thoroughly—gravity chambers, food, battle clothes. She had even considered details like that.

"Thank you, Aunt Bulma. These extra surprises are wonderful. You prepared so much."

"No need to thank me." Bulma waved a hand and took a sip of coffee.

Footsteps sounded from the other end of the corridor.

Vegeta emerged from the direction of the training room.

He wore a black sleeveless compression shirt, the lines of his muscles stretched taut beneath the fabric. He had just finished training and was clutching a towel in one hand.

His gaze swept over the room before settling on Son Gohan, his expression dark.

"Kakarot's son, what are you doing here?"

His tone was hostile, and he wore an utterly punchable look.

Son Gohan turned to look at Vegeta.

His expression did not change much.

He had long known that Vegeta was at Capsule Corporation, so there was nothing to be surprised about.

"I came to ask Aunt Bulma to customize some gravity chambers," he replied calmly. "Aren't you training here too?"

Vegeta folded his arms and raised his chin slightly.

The atmosphere grew tense, and Bulma hurried to smooth things over.

Standing between the two of them, Bulma looked from one to the other and quickly said, "Well, Vegeta had nowhere else to go, so I took him in."

"Think about it—if I left him outside with nothing to do, what if he got the urge to cause some more destruction? Wouldn't Earth be in trouble then? At least here, he has a gravity chamber to burn off his excess energy."

Vegeta's brows furrowed at that, and displeasure was obvious on his face.

"I see." Son Gohan nodded, slipping the capsules into his pocket. "If there's nothing else, I'll be going."

He turned and had just taken a step.

"Stop!"

Vegeta suddenly barked.

Son Gohan stopped without turning around.

"Have you forgotten what it felt like to lose to me?"

Vegeta's tone was icy, his face full of arrogant pride.

Son Gohan turned around and looked Vegeta in the eyes, his expression calm.

"Oh, really? Then how about we go outside and spar right now?"

Vegeta's gaze flickered.

"This brat—last time, I had him completely pinned down. Now he's talking tough."

"Looks like he's forgotten what pain feels like."

He said nothing more.

Neither did Son Gohan.

The two walked out of the company gates, one after the other.

Bulma chased out of the laboratory with a coffee cup still in hand, shouting after their backs, "Hey—! Wait! You two—"

Two white auras erupted at the same time.

Dust on the ground was swept up by the shockwaves and scattered in every direction.

Ripples spread across the coffee in Bulma's cup. By the time she looked up again, the two had become white dots in the sky, flying farther and farther away.

"...What is this supposed to be?"

She sighed and downed the rest of her coffee in one gulp.

In a stretch of mountains far from West City.

It was far enough from the city, surrounded by mountains and exposed rock. There was no sign of human life for dozens of miles—a perfect place for a fight.

Son Gohan landed first, his feet crunching softly against the loose stones.

Vegeta landed opposite him, about twenty meters away.

The two stood facing each other as a gust of wind swept through, making Son Gohan's wolf-tail hairstyle sway slightly.

Vegeta folded his arms, a faintly disdainful curve on his lips.

Son Gohan did not waste words with him.

He took a deep breath and clenched both fists.

Boom!

A white aura burst from his body.

He went all out from the very start.

His aura shot skyward, blasting the rubble beneath his feet into the air and sending it rolling outward in every direction.

The ground trembled, cracks spreading from beneath his feet.

His power level had now reached 4.2 million. He was fighting at full power.

Vegeta's pupils contracted.

Good kid. Back on Earth, Kakarot's son had been utterly helpless against him.

But the intensity of this ki was already no weaker than his own.

Kakarot's son had improved this quickly.

Without saying a word, he lowered his folded arms, clenched his fists, and suddenly unleashed his ki!

Boom—!

Another white aura erupted.

The two presences collided amid the mountains.

The pressure of their auras alone made the air hum, while cracks spread outward from beneath each of them.

His power level was also somewhere above four million.

Vegeta's current strength came from his near-death experience on Planet Namek, followed by an even more complete death and resurrection.

Combined with more than a month of intense training in the gravity chamber, his base power level had risen to around 4.4 million.

Son Gohan moved first.

His right foot drove into the ground, shattering the rock beneath it with a crack, and his body became a blur.

He hurled a punch at Vegeta's chest. White aura wrapped around his fist, the force concentrated into a single point. The angle of the strike was clean and decisive, without a single wasted movement.

Vegeta did not dodge. He crossed his arms and took it head-on.

Boom!

The fist slammed into his forearms, and a shockwave exploded outward.

The recoil cracked the ground beneath Vegeta's feet, while the bones in his arms went numb from the blow.

This brat's strength was heavier than the power level his ki revealed.

Vegeta's eyes lit up.

"Not bad, kid. You've got some strength."

He was no longer testing him.

Vegeta blurred and vanished from in front of Son Gohan.

He moved at high speed into a blind spot. Son Gohan had yet to retract his fist when a dark blur flashed at the edge of his vision to the right.

Vegeta appeared at his right side and drove a straight punch at his face. The punch tore through the air, and the pressure wave struck his face first.

Son Gohan tilted his head to the left.

The punch blasted past his ear. Without giving Vegeta a chance to retract it, he grabbed Vegeta's wrist with his left hand from below, dragged it aside with the force of his forward momentum, and drove his right knee toward his abdomen.

Vegeta smashed his left elbow downward, and knee and elbow collided with a muffled bang.

The recoil forced them both half a step back, before they charged at each other again at the same time.

Their auras erupted from within them, surging wildly. Their black hair whipped back in the blast of energy, while shattered stones scattered in every direction.

Son Gohan threw a right punch, and Vegeta met it with his left. Their fists collided squarely in midair, trading blow for blow.

A shockwave exploded between their fists. The ground beneath both of them sank at once, and rubble burst outward.

Neither of them withdrew their fists.

Son Gohan suddenly clenched his right fist, the muscles in his forearm bulging. Twisting at the waist, he unleashed a fierce blow. The punch wind ripped through the air with a piercing shriek as it drove straight toward his opponent's chest.

The next instant, Son Gohan used the recoil to spin, sweeping a back kick toward Vegeta's neck.

Vegeta leaned back. The tip of the foot grazed past his chin, its energy leaving a red mark.

They rose into the air at the same time.

Above the mountains and forests, two white spheres of light tangled together in pure close-quarters combat.

Every collision of fists and feet detonated the air, shockwaves spreading outward layer by layer.

Son Gohan punched toward Vegeta's chest. Vegeta twisted aside to evade it, then swung a palm strike at his shoulder.

At the same time, Son Gohan drove his knee toward Vegeta's abdomen. Vegeta pulled in his stomach, and the knee struck empty air, but before he could counterattack, Son Gohan's next fist was already crashing toward him.

Afterimages of fists overlapped, too fast for the naked eye to distinguish.

Vegeta blocked, dodged, and counterattacked. Every time their arms collided, sonic booms rang through the air.

Wherever they fought, another crater appeared in the ground. Rocks split apart, trees were uprooted by the shockwaves, and the earth was churned over.

The two faced each other from afar, their auras colliding soundlessly in the air.