She chewed slowly, the texture unfamiliar as she swallowed.
The taste wasn't bad—a bit tart, but manageable. However, it was a fruit Lisette had never seen before. She glanced down at Turles, who was slumped on the ground nearby.
To be honest, she still hadn't fully grasped the situation. She had woken up only to find Turles shoving a piece of fruit into her mouth. It made no sense. She had swallowed it instinctively because she felt like she was about to choke, but at the very least, it didn't seem to be poisonous.
"Alright, Turles. What exactly was that for?"
"Heh, don't get so worked up. It wasn't poison."
"I gathered that much, but there are better ways to feed someone... more importantly, why are you tossing snacks into people's mouths in the middle of a battle?"
"What? Did you want me to feed it to you mouth-to-mouth instead?"
"...It seems you're eager to sport the same hairstyle as Krillin."
"Cut it out!"
Lisette threatened him with a blade of ki shimmering at her fingertips. She was only bluffing, of course, but he didn't need to know that. Turles scratched his head vigorously before revealing the truth of what he'd fed her.
"It's a Fruit of the Tree of Might."
"What?"
"I said I fed you the fruit. And a Senzu Bean, for good measure. I know you hate the things, but Comet Gumory is going to collide with this planet anyway. It's doomed. If that's the case, this world might actually find some peace knowing its power was put to use."
"Even so..."
"Don't give me that. This planet gave everything it had for this. Even I've never seen anything like it—the Tree of Might growing in mere minutes, concentrating every drop of its essence into a single fruit."
Turles placed a hand on Lisette's shoulder, meeting her eyes with a heavy gaze.
"This planet is screaming. It refuses to let things end like this."
"..."
"Show him. Show that bastard Paragus the true strength of the world he called 'worthless.' It's up to you."
Lisette closed her eyes as his words sank in. To be blunt, she loathed the Tree of Might. The very idea of it made her sick. They said its fruit was reserved for the gods, but did being a god give one the right to devour a planet? To treat a world as a mere meal when so many lives were struggling to survive upon it?
She hated that arrogance. A planet belongs to the creatures living on it, not the gods.
Being forced to consume that power didn't sit well with her. Yet, she understood Turles's desperation. Without a victory here, there was no future. They couldn't afford to be picky about their methods. She couldn't blame him; he had simply done the best he could with what was available.
So, what could she do? How could she repay the planet she had just consumed?
"...I understand. If nothing else, I will fight in this planet's stead."
Paragus had called this place a worthless rock. He was wrong. This world had an environment that sustained life. It had air; it had the lingering echoes of a civilization. That alone made it a treasure—a miracle of the cosmos. A world capable of nurturing life could never be 'worthless.'
Broly, a man who knew only destruction, would never understand the greatness of the power that creates and fosters life.
Fine then, Lisette thought. I'll teach it to him in the planet's place.
That was the only way she could truly honor the world that had entrusted its very soul to that fruit. It was the only way she could atone.
"Let's go, Turles. We stop this hopeless future right here."
"Yeah! That's the spirit!"
Light erupted from Lisette's body as she unfurled her wings and took to the sky. She would win this fight, no matter what. With that resolve burning in their hearts, the two flew forward to overcome despair.
+++
"It's finally here. This planet has only hours left to live."
As New Planet Vegeta approached its end, Paragus stood alone on a high cliff, watching the approach of Comet Gumory. Originally, he had planned to escape with Broly by now, but that dream was dead. Broly, having shattered his shackles, was nothing more than a mindless engine of destruction—a force incompatible with Paragus's ambitions. A ruler who destroyed the very planets he sought to conquer was useless.
He was a liability now. His existence was merely an obstacle.
It wasn't just the comet, either. By giving its all to the Tree of Might, the planet was rapidly plummeting toward death. The world was freezing over; ice began to coat the surface as if a sudden ice age had arrived.
"Since I can no longer control you, you are nothing but a weight around my neck. It's a pity, Broly, but you shall die along with this planet."
Paragus climbed into a small escape pod he had prepared for just such an emergency. It was a single-seater, never intended for anyone else. He had stashed it away to ensure his own survival even if the main ship was destroyed. Given that the humans from Earth had hijacked the larger vessel to escape, his foresight had proven correct.
But being 'correct' doesn't always save a life.
As Paragus settled into the ship, he looked out to see his son walking toward him.
"Where do you think you're going?"
"I... I was just preparing for us to evacuate together!"
"In a one-man pod?"
The excuse was pathetic. No one would believe he was 'preparing an escape for two' while sitting inside a single-occupancy vessel. No matter how much Broly lacked in intellect, he wasn't that stupid.
Broly reached out, grabbed the pod, and began to crush it with his inhuman strength. The man inside was his own father, but Broly didn't show a hint of hesitation. Perhaps it was inevitable; this total lack of trust was the only thing Paragus had ever truly built between them.
"Wh... what...?! To be killed by my own child... Is this the fate of the Saiyans...?"
Those were Paragus's final words before he was crushed to death. Broly let out a roar and hurled the mangled pod toward Comet Gumory. Watching his father's coffin disappear, Broly spat out a word of disdain.
"Did you really think a planet's explosion would be enough to kill me?"
He was certain he was now the only living thing left on this rock. But a moment later, he sensed a presence and turned around. There stood the white-clad girl he was sure he'd defeated, and beside her stood the irritating man who looked exactly like Kakarot.
"You killed your own father without a moment's hesitation?"
"A child killing the parent—that is the Saiyan way," Broly replied coldly.
Lisette condemned his cruelty while Turles accepted it as nature. Though they viewed the act through different lenses, they stood there with a singular purpose: to take Broly down. He could not be allowed to roam free.
They weren't alone. Goku, battered and broken but driven by an unyielding will, arrived at the final battlefield. He truly was a man who didn't know how to stay down.
"I can't let a guy like him keep living."
Goku's aura flared as he stepped forward. Lisette, bolstered by the power of the fruit, pushed her Burst Limit to one hundred times its capacity, while Turles took a fighting stance.
"Hmph! If you had just stayed down, you wouldn't have to suffer!"
Broly shattered the ground as he lunged. Simultaneously, Lisette darted forward, grabbing his massive arm and pulling him off-balance. Caught off guard, Broly's defense faltered, and Lisette—boosted by the planet's dying strength—unleashed a ferocious assault.
Piercing strikes! Palm thrusts! Knife-hands! Heavy punches! Backfists!
She targeted his vitals with clinical precision: the crown, the forehead, the temples, the jaw!
"Ngh...!"
"Ha!"
As Broly recoiled from the flurry to his face, Lisette grabbed his fingers. Using them as a fulcrum, she applied an aikido throw, slamming his massive frame into the dirt. Broly tried to counter immediately, but Lisette ducked under his swing and drove a piercing strike directly into his throat.
"Hey, Kakarot. Neither of us can win this alone. I'm giving you the last of my power."
"Yeah. Give it to me. Give me the power to take him down!"
Turles funneled the last of his ki into Goku. Gohan, Piccolo, Trunks, and Nappa followed suit, pouring their energy into him. Goku's strength swelled. Even Vegeta, finally swallowing his pride and perhaps feeling a shred of responsibility, begrudgingly surrendered his energy.
The ki from the five Saiyans swirled around Goku in a brilliant ring before being absorbed. Suddenly, Goku began to radiate a crimson aura, similar to the Kaioken but far more intense.
It was a form of Super Saiyan Lisette had never seen—one she didn't even know existed. For a fleeting moment, Goku was emitting a divine pressure identical to her own.
Perhaps—if all five Saiyans had possessed hearts of pure good; if they had held hands to transfer the energy directly; if the ki of Piccolo, a Namekian, hadn't been mixed in—Goku might have fully stepped into the 'Realm of the Gods.'
Even Cell's energy was flowing in, though he seemed to be directing his toward Lisette instead.
"Kakarot... what is that...?"
"I don't know. But I think this'll do it!"
Feeling the surge of collective power, Goku charged. He locked hands with Broly, entering a test of raw strength.
"It doesn't matter how much power you absorb from those insects, you will never surpass me!"
"Is that right? We'll just have to see about that!"
Goku drove a knee upward. The blow connected squarely with Broly's chin, making the giant stagger. It worked. It didn't feel like hitting a wall of solid iron anymore. With their combat power finally bridged, Goku's attacks were actually reaching him.
"Take this!"
Goku's kick exploded against Broly, sending his massive body flying. Across the surface of New Planet Vegeta—now a frozen wasteland stripped of its life by the Tree of Might—Broly tumbled, with Goku and Lisette hot on his heels.
"Let's go, Goku!"
"Right!"
No more words were needed. They had one goal: destroy the demon. They detonated their ki simultaneously, accelerating until they were right on top of him.
Broly instinctively took a defensive stance—likely for the first time in his life. It was an unconscious reaction, not a calculated move. But that act alone was proof that he finally recognized the two of them as genuine threats.
"Hah! Hah! Hah! Hah!"
"Haaaaah!"
Goku's fists and kicks clashed against Lisette's palm strikes and leg sweeps. They hammered away at Broly's guard, forcing him back and drawing blood. Broly didn't just take it; he flared his ki while guarding, the pressure blasting them back.
But Goku and Lisette flipped in mid-air, landed, and instantly kicked off the ground again. They slammed their strikes into him once more. Broly was blown backward, shattering the earth beneath him as they pursued.
The dual assault landed again and again, but Broly fought back even through his mounting injuries. Even at two-against-one, he held his ground. With overwhelming monstrous strength, he grabbed Goku's head and threw him, then blew Lisette away with the mere wind pressure of his fist.
Goku landed quickly, caught the flying Lisette by the arm, and spun. Using the centrifugal force, he hurled her back at Broly. Reading his intent, Lisette added her own acceleration, buried her foot into Broly's face.
Goku closed the distance, sweeping Broly's legs. As the giant faltered, Lisette grabbed his cheek with a vice-like grip and slammed him face-first into the ground.
"Gwaaaaah!"
Still, Broly gritted his teeth and stood, throwing a massive punch. Goku blocked the strike with crossed arms, creating an opening for Lisette to kick Broly from the side. Without a pause, Goku unleashed a storm of ki blasts, followed by Lisette's Destructo-Disc, which carved a gash across Broly's chest.
Then came the deciding blow—Goku lunged in, his fist gouging into Broly's torso, carving a cross-shaped scar into his chest. Lisette followed with a blade of light, unleashing a flurry of slashes that left cuts all over his body.
But it wasn't enough. Not yet. His life was still intact. Broly, drenched in his own blood, glared at them with the pride of the 'Strongest.'
"Ooooooooooooooh!!"
He roared. A Saiyan grows stronger the more they fight, and as the Legendary Super Saiyan, Broly possessed that trait more than anyone. The near-infinite potential within him refused to let things end here.
His hair stood on end, and sparks of electricity began to dance around him. Even at this late stage, he was undergoing another awakening. He truly was a legendary monster. His limitless growth sent a chill down Goku and Lisette's spines.
"You... you can still go higher?!"
"Grrr... Kakarot!!"
It was fortunate for them that Broly no longer had a tail. Had it remained, this monster of potential might have harnessed the power of the Great Ape and surpassed even the 'Realm of the Gods.'
Regardless, he was a demon. Bolstered by his sudden surge, Broly charged Goku, grabbed him by the head, and slammed him into a wall of ice.
"Gaaaaah!"
"Goku!"
Broly ran while keeping Goku pinned to the ice, using his body to grind through the frozen cliffside. He didn't stop there. He grabbed Goku by the leg, slammed him into the ground, then swung him in a semi-circle to slam him down on the other side.
After repeating this several times, he tossed Goku aside and turned to Lisette, firing a massive wave of ki from his mouth.
"Ngh...!"
She dodged with a graceful, dance-like movement and took to the air. Landing behind him while he was still firing the beam, she rained down blades of ki on his back. They failed to penetrate the wall of muscle. Broly lunged, caught her by the face, and slammed her into the earth.
An instant later, the "Lisette" in his hand exploded, obscuring his vision. It was a decoy—an autonomous ki blast she'd shaped into her image.
The real Lisette, using a variation of the Afterimage Technique, was already high above him, a massive sphere of ki gathering between her hands.
"Ha!"
A white meteor dived toward the planet, shattering into over a hundred streaks of light mid-fall. It was a rain of lasers. Hundreds of piercing beams hammered into Broly, but he shielded himself with a barrier.
He ascended, beginning to scatter ki blasts in every direction. He vented his overflowing power indiscriminately, carpet-bombing New Planet Vegeta like a fleet of bombers. The frozen world was instantly scorched, then transformed into a hellscape of molten magma. The planet was tearing itself apart; it wouldn't even need the comet to finish it off.
"Nuooh!"
Broly closed in on Lisette, detonating ki from his chest muscles. Blown back by the unexpected move, she was nearly caught by his follow-up, but Goku intervened with a kick. Broly punched Goku away, only for Lisette to strike with ki blades. When he parried those, Goku was already on him again.
No matter how many times they were repelled, they refused to give up. They attacked from both sides, the sound of their blows echoing through the air as shockwaves rippled outward.
"Ngh... you stubborn pests!"
The veins in Broly's forehead bulged. Eager to erase them both at once, he gathered more ki than ever before into his hands and unleashed it.
As the green torrent of energy surged toward them, Goku leaped over it. Lisette did the opposite—she charged straight ahead, dodging the blast by a hair's breadth. She gathered ki in her palms and touched the side of Broly's beam, sliding along the edge of the energy.
Using that momentum, she reached the vulnerable Broly and leaped past him. In the split second they crossed paths, she used ki manipulation to thread a thin wire of energy into his ear canal.
With a surge of telekinetic power, she shredded his inner ear and kept moving. Blood sprayed from Broly's ear as his sense of balance vanished. He tried to fire a counter-blast, but his aim was wild, the energy flying off into the distance.
Lisette capitalized on his disorientation, blasting him back with a Kiai Cannon. Goku was waiting on the other side, meeting him with a punch backed by every ounce of his strength. Broly spun through the air and landed, but the depth of the damage forced him to his knees.
"Wh... what are you people...!"
His legs trembling, Broly felt fear for the first time. The prospect of 'defeat' was closer than it had ever been.
But he wouldn't accept it. He had to be the strongest. It wasn't because someone had told him so; it was simply because he had been born as the pinnacle of existence. Defeat was intolerable.
That was his pride, and that was why he couldn't forgive Kakarot. If he didn't erase that first and only 'defeat' from his infancy, he could never move forward.
To Goku, it was a forgotten event from when they were babies. But Broly remembered. He could never forget. And so, his obsession remained.
"Kakarot... Kakarot!!"
He steeled himself, pouring every last drop of his ki into a final stand. Despite his mangled inner ear, he took flight, launching a desperate charge.
Goku met him head-on. Enveloped in an aura just as fierce as Broly's, he lunged forward. Behind him, Lisette's ki erupted into a pillar of light as she soared into the sky, wings spread wide. White feathers scattered as light condensed between her raised hands.
"Ooooooooooooh!!"
"I won't let you get away with this!!"
Goku and Broly's fists crossed.
In that instant, a memory flashed through Broly's mind—the cursed memory of his infancy. The first humiliation and defeat ever dealt to a man whose life was supposed to be a tapestry of victory. The indelible scar left on his supposedly 'strongest' self.
The memory of that day bared its fangs once more as the battle from their cradles reached its conclusion. Broly's ki spiked further; his eyebrows thinned as his hair began to lengthen, showing signs of a further awakening—
"I'm putting everything into this one punch—pierce through!!"
Goku's shout drowned him out as he released the power sleeping within him. In that moment, the ki Nappa had given him triggered a transformation.
Nappa had learned to draw out the power of the Great Ape through the Ultra Divine Water, but his limits only allowed him to combine it with Super Saiyan for a split second. But that power had meaning. By passing his ki to Goku, the baton had been handed off.
For a moment, Broly saw it. A phantom of a Golden Great Ape roaring behind Goku.
The phantom shifted, becoming a Golden Dragon that surged toward him. Whether it was a dream or an illusion didn't matter—the fist, backed by the absolute peak of Saiyan power, was very real. It punched clean through Broly's stomach.
"Kaka... rot...!!"
Broly screamed at the impossibility of his defeat. Yet, even then, a monster like him might have found a way to survive. With his freakish biology, he might have clung to life, grown stronger, and returned to Earth one day. That future could have existed.
But she wouldn't allow it. The girl who served as Earth's god would not permit his resurrection.
"Raging Blast!!"
A streak of pure white divine light plummeted from the heavens, striking Broly directly. It ends here. There will be no coming back. As if delivering a divine judgment, the light incinerated him, lashing out with arcs of lightning.
"Kamehameha!!"
Goku followed up immediately with his signature wave. The two torrents of ki burned away his hands, erased his feet, and began disintegrating his body down to the last cell.
Then, a massive explosion. A dome of light expanded across the wasteland, delivering the final blow.
"I-Impossible!!"
The death cry of the strongest Saiyan echoed and faded. In another timeline, this man had destroyed the future. He was the symbol of nightmare. But here, the future had changed, and despair was fading away. This world would not lose to hopelessness.
Because—yes, because—this world had Son Goku.
"Our power... won!!"
That cry of victory reached the ears of every one of his comrades.
***
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