The monstrous roar that ripped through the area was enough to make everyone's hearts skip a beat as they looked up to the roof of Wheelo's laboratory. Oozaru Tarble climbed further out of the hole before ripping a piece of the structure from the roof and haphazardly slinging it across the icy tundra with little concern for where it landed. He proceeded to pounded on his chest as he yelled out with another guttural roar.

"…oh boy," Roshi groaned as he watched the scene, inwardly flashing back to when Goku would transform and run amuck.

Krillin resisted the urge to cower and instead offered, "Hey, guys! This might not be so bad!" All of the crew turned to him then, and he gulped before attempting a confident smile. "Tarble transforming might be just what we need. He might even be strong enough to take on Wheelo now; he's definitely bigger anyway!"

Before the others could consider Krillin's words, all eyes turned back to the scene as they heard yet another chunk of the lab's roof be ripped from the structure. Movements wild and manic, Tarble spun with the mass of cement and metal twice before flinging it through the air.

Meanwhile, Wheelo positively seethed at the scene. While taken aback by Tarble's abrupt transformation, watching his lab be ripped apart by the monster was enough to make the mad scientist go blind with rage. With a primal growl of his own, Wheelo pointed his left claw down at the monster before it opened to display its cannon. "Stop destroying my laboratory, you ANIMAL!" Wheelo declared as a beam of orange energy fired off.

Having completely ignored the giant robot, Tarble turned at the mad man's call and was greeted with the energy beam directly in the face. The blast struck with an explosive force that splayed a large smoke cloud across the monster's upper body.

Back on the ground, the others panicked at the sight as Tarble remained unmoving beneath the cloud surrounding him. They even began to suspect the worst behind the attack, but then all changed when Tarble released another monstrous roar, the sheer power behind the animalistic call forcing the cloud away and showing an unscathed Tarble.

Wheelo hardly had a second to be surprised before Tarble launched himself from the lab's roof. With the monster charging straight for him, Wheelo made an attempt to glide out of the way, but his movements were far too slow.

Before Wheelo could evade his grasp, Tarble reached out, snagging the robot's arm. His momentum carried him forward, dragging the robot with him. Wheelo grunted in anger as he fought against the monster's grasp. The doctor used his own flying ability to attempt to pull them further into the sky, but as he did so, Tarble swung forward with his free arm to smash a mighty fist into the robot's dome. Tarble didn't stop there, though; he pressed the attack, moving his body around to kick, punch, and gnaw at the robot. The combined weight of Tarble and the manic attack was enough to render Wheelo's attempts to fly useless, and they were both pulled from the sky as a rolling, tumbling mass of violence.

However, long before impact with the ground, Tarble broke away from Wheelo's body just enough to snatch the robot up by an arm and a leg. Before the doctor could even consider a counterattack, Tarble launched Wheelo straight for the ground, leaving the mad scientist to impact the icy surface like a missile.

Behind the destructive impact of Wheelo, the others were forced to take cover. The fissures that stretched out and rocked the icy ground asunder left the surface a ragged mess around them. Still, they managed to ride out the forceful impact and looked back upon the scene just as Tarble crashed violently into the ground right beside the mad doctor, who lied in his crater, unmoving.

"Holy crap! Krillin might've been on to something!" Yamcha admitted before arming himself with a brilliant smile. And then, against the former bandit's best judgement, Yamcha yelled out, "Get 'em, Tarble! Make that freakshow pay for hurting Bulma and Master Roshi!"

Tien sighed. "Maybe you shouldn't have done that," he pleaded, not taking his eyes off Tarble's massive frame.

Yamcha quirked an eyebrow. "What are you talking about, man? He's totally gonna…" Yamcha's words died out abruptly as he watched Tarble's head turn to look at them over his shoulder.

Slowly, Tarble's body turned to follow his line of sight until he fully faced down his comrades. Meanwhile, the gang stood still as statues as they faced down the monster's gaze. It wasn't until Tarble snarled, showing his razor sharp teeth and the arcs of purple light shining between the rows of teeth that the others jumped into action.

Right on cue, Tarble's head launched forward, maw opening wide as a gigantic wave of energy spewed forth. Tien's arms were already around Chiaotzu. Krillin was just then snatching Roshi up by the hand. And Yamcha was tossing Bulma over his shoulder. In the blink of an eye, the Z fighters cleared out from their spot and hardly a second later, the tidal wave of energy careened through with a blinding light and searing heat.

As the others landed far out of harm's way, they couldn't help looking back upon where they once stood. The giant trench that had formed behind the attack stretched as far as their eyes could see and was already pooling with water from the melted ice.

"That would've completely erased us!" Tien marveled as he practically shivered with the thought.

While words failed the others, the looks on their faces quite closely mirrored the triclops. Only then, did they realize that they were out of the frying pan with Wheelo and into the fire with Tarble.

Meanwhile, as if to revel in his attack, Tarble released yet another animalistic roar, this time jumping up and down as he banged on his chest. And then, with no rhyme or reason, he began kicking, punching, and stomping at the ice around him, destroying the landscape with every strike and celebrating with every bit of destruction he caused.

"This is even worse than Goku!" Krillin announced as he watched Tarble's display. He managed to get back to his feet, momentarily stumbling as Tarble released another mouth beam that rocked the surface around them. "Tarble is way stronger than Goku ever was. We have to stop him before he destroys the entire landscape!"

"And how, exactly, do you propose we do that?" Yamcha offered with disapproval.

Krillin look back to the bandit with an unamused glare. "The tail, duh!"

Yamcha's contempt didn't falter. "So, you expect us to get close enough to that to de-tail him?" The former bandit nodded a head in Tarble's direction, taking note of the continued wild destruction the giant ape caused. "That sounds like suicide to me."

"Do you have a better idea?" Tien interjected before Krillin could rebut. When Yamcha offered no other words, Tien continued with, "I thought so." He turned back to Krillin then. "If Yamcha and I manage to distract him, do you think you can land your Destructo Disc?"

The former monk nodded, albeit timidly. "I haven't exactly perfected it, but I think I can."

"That's reassuring…" Yamcha muttered, not so quietly to himself.

Ignoring the bandit, Chiaotzu rushed up by his friend's side and demanded, "What about me?!"

"I need you to hang back and keep an eye on Master Roshi and Bulma. Tarble is going pretty crazy out there. We don't want him to redirect anything their way," Tien offered, kneeling down to pat his comrade's shoulder.

While Chiaotzu looked unimpressed, he nodded his head anyway. "Will do," he half-groaned, half-agreed.

Tien gave the small warrior a warm smile before turning back to Krillin and Yamcha. "Let's go," he said before sprinting off with the other in tow.

Yamcha and Tien wasted no time rushing right up to Tarble. Despite himself, Yamcha couldn't resist the urge to snatch up a handful of ice and cup it into a nice round ball.

"Hey, ugly!" he yelled out and slung the snowball out with the speed of a freshly fired bullet.

As the snowball and insult struck, Tarble paused his destruction and turned to face his two accosters. The snarl he offered said more than words could.

"Even when he's a giant, killer ape, you can't resist the urge to prod at Tarble, can you?" Tien sighed.

Yamcha shrugged. "Might as well die as I lived."

Having witnessed the sight from his perched position on top of an isolate ice plateau, Krillin could only shake his head. "Idiot…" he groaned just before Tarble launched into action, darting out to attack his former comrades.

Tien and Yamcha, however, were quick on their response and rushed away to lead the maniacal monkey on a high-speed chase.

Krillin took a couple seconds longer to take in the scene, watching as his friends ran for their lives, before he took in a deep breath and exhaled. "Alright, Krillin…it's all up to you." He lifted one hand above his head and began channeling his energy until a small energy disc formed.

Meanwhile, on the battlefield, Tien and Yamcha were darting around, moving every which way to confuse and disorient Tarble. So far, the tactic was proving fruitful. Tarble was still fairly quick, despite his large size, but his movements were much easier to anticipate, and it was obvious that there was no kind of calculation behind them, which only aided Tien and Yamcha's efforts further.

The tunnel vision attention span of Oozaru Tarble made the plan for distraction go rather well. However, one quick glance to Tien's left allowed the triclops to take note of their comrade. By Krillin's stance and the large disc above him, the former monk was ready to fire.

"Well, now comes the hard part," Tien groaned and looked to Yamcha, who had Tarble in tow behind him. With a flare of his aura, Tien darted over to the bandit and took pace right beside him as they both charged ahead of Tarble.

"Krillin's ready," Tien yelled out. "We need to keep Tarble still so he can fire!"

"That sounds a lot easier said than done," Yamcha yelled back before they both suddenly darted to the left, leaving Tarble to stumble clumsily into the turn before chasing after them once more. "What's wrong with this? We're practically leading him in a straight line!"

Tien shook his head. "Krillin's odds of landing it are best when Tarble is still. Not to mention, this technique is draining for him. We don't have multiple attempts here, Yamcha!"

The former bandit groaned. "Fine! I certainly hope you have a plan, though!"

Tien actually offered a mischievous smile. "Definitely…"

Back on the plateau, Krillin did his best to measure his breathing. With the fight, the previous Destructo Disc, and the group Kamehameha, the former monk's stamina was draining. Not to mention, he poured substantially more into this disc considering the target it was meant for.

He just hoped that Tien and Yamcha would hurry and try to hold Tarble steady because there was no way that he'd be able to land the attack right now.

Then, as if Tien was reading his mind, he watched the triclops rush over to join Yamcha. The two appeared to converse while they led Tarble across the land and after a sharp turn, they dispersed, leaving Tien to carry on the chase. While Yamcha rushed off elsewhere, Tien maintained a moment longer before launching into the air.

Tarble paused at the sudden upward direction of his target, but that lasted hardly a second before he aimed to leap up in pursuit. However, the great ape wasn't given the opportunity to follow suit. Just as he prepared to do so, Tien turned to the wild animal, hands poised around his face. Krillin was quick to close his eyes.

"SOLAR FLARE!" the triclops yelled out as a searing, blinding light splayed out across the land.

Tarble roared out in agony as the light rushed out, forcing the animal to claw at his eyes as if to rake the pain away.

Tien's flashing technique continued a moment longer before finally dying out. Even then, the effects remained as Tarble remained rooted in the ground, roaring in anger.

Once he finally opened his eyes, Krillin realized what had transpired. Tarble was still and his tail was an open target.

Krillin smiled. "Alright, here's my chance! Destructoooo Di-,"

"Wait," Tien's calm tone suddenly demanded, freezing Krillin mid-throw.

Krillin was startled ever so slightly, but recovered nonetheless, saving his energy disc before it was gone to waste. "What the?! Where'd you come from?" the former monk declared.

Ignoring the question, Tien continued with, "I couldn't trust that the Solar Flare would distract Tarble long enough, so I had Yamcha create some reassurance."

Krillin quirked a brow in confusion – to which Tien nodded his head back onto the open field, where a recovered Tarble was busy swatting his hands around like a person trying to get rid of an annoying fly.

"…is that?" Krillin began as he squinted his eyes. Once he made out the golden energy ball darting around Tarble's body, bumping and prodding him incessantly, Krillin barely contained a laugh. "Good idea, Tien," he offered.

"Thanks," Tien replied, looking away from Tarble's body to instead look to Yamcha, who was far removed from the area – his arms moving around rapidly, yet purposefully to direct his signature attack. "Let's make this count, Krillin," he said once more, motioning to the monster before them.

"Right!" Krillin nodded and poised himself once more. He took aim, narrowing his focus directly to the base of Tarble's tail. "…Alright Krillin…let's do this!"

"Gooo Destructo Dis-,"

"Krillin, wait!" Tien suddenly yelled out – serving to only startle Krillin as the energy disc flew forward. While Krillin looked back to him in confusion, Tien could only snarl as he looked out on to the battlefield at a very irritated Tarble that had taken notice of Yamcha.

Krillin followed Tien's line of sight and hissed, "Crap."

Meanwhile, Tarble had completely ignored the presence of Yamcha's Spirit Ball in favor of the long-haired warrior. Snarling to show his massive, sharp teeth, Tarble looked ready to release another destructive mouth blast. However, just as energy began to gather in his maw, he faintly caught sight of a glimmer swooping in at his side. One quick shift of his eyes and the great ape's instincts took over. With an air of grace that a being his size shouldn't rightfully possess, Tarble leapt clean over the Destructo Disc that aimed to cleave his tail off. A massive crash rang out over the area as the gigantic monkey slammed back onto on to the icy surface below, and Tarble was quick to follow the path of the incoming attack, spotting a petrified Krillin and Tien atop the icy plateau.

Snarl back in place, the great ape opened his mouth wide to show the massive orb of energy gathering at the back of the throat. With one chilling roar, Tarble fired forward, sending the colossal wave careening out to Krillin and Tien. However, Tarble didn't stop there. Tarble then whipped his head out to Yamcha, leaving the destructive wave to drag across the tundra; and then, as if going into an angered frenzy, Tarble began whipping his head back and forth across the area, destroying and wrecking everything in sight.

When the giant ape was finished with his maelstrom attack, he proceeded to roar out into the night's sky as he pounded on his chest.

Elsewhere, Roshi, Bulma, and Chiaotzu took in the scene with astonishment. A look of solemnness took over the turtle hermit as he watched his students disappear into the chaotic attack, unsure of whether they'd made it out alive, and Bulma was barely able to contain herself. Tears welling up in her eyes, she took two steps forward as she took in the scene before them. Tarble's attack had left little more than clouds of ice and smoke in the air. "Yamcha…Tien…Krillin…"she gasped out. "Please…you have to be okay…"

Chiaotzu, though, couldn't stop the tears from flowing. "No! I can't sit here!" he yelled out before running forward. He paused just ahead of Roshi and Bulma, and turned back to say, "Stay here and stay quiet! I'll be back!"

The timid warrior didn't give the two a moment to respond before his aura wrapped around him and he struck out across the battlefield to check on his comrades. Opting for running, Chiaotzu was a blur as he darted across the icy surface, his pale skin and translucent aura working in his favor to help him blend in against the background.

Unable to keep up with Chiaotzu's rapid movements, Bulma could only watch as Tarble continued to rampage, going back to stomping, punching, and ripping the ground apart around him. She just couldn't believe this was the man that they'd gotten to know the past few months. Tarble was always so timid, shy even. Despite his heritage, Tarble always managed to give off the feeling of someone who couldn't hurt a fly. But now? He was everything that she feared about this Saiyan threat.

Gripping at her shirt so tight that her knuckles turned white, Bulma was practically trembling with a weird mix of sorrow and anger. This wasn't their Tarble. This wasn't their friend. This was a monster! Bulma stomped forward, first walking, then jogging, and then full on sprinting out into the battlefield.

"Bulma! STOPPP!" she heard Roshi yell out for her, but Bulma pressed on, undeterred as she rushed right up to the great ape.

Tarble couldn't just attack their friends like that. She couldn't allow that. She wouldn't allow that! "TARBLE!" Bulma screamed out.

The fiery, bombshell didn't stop running for one second as she watched the giant ape stop. "TARBLE!" she screamed out once again, only to stop running when Tarble finally turned to look down at her, practically pinning her down with the glare from those ruby red eyes. For a considerable pause, she and Tarble were just there, staring at one another, neither moving as they watched for what the next would do.

And then, Tarble snarled once again.

"STOPP!" Bulma screamed to the top of her lungs, making Tarble's face soften unexpectedly.

As if completely taken aback by the sudden change, Tarble found himself stepping backward as Bulma trudged forward, the fiery genius going on an absolute tirade. "WE'RE YOUR FRIENDS, TARBLE! WHY ARE YOU ATTACKING US? WHY ARE YOU TRYING TO HURT US? DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND! WE'RE! YOUR! FRIENDS! JUST STOPPP!"

After her absolute meltdown, Bulma found herself out of breath and couldn't help crumbling to the ground from her exertion. It didn't matter that she'd just faced down a colossal, chaotic, alien ape. She'd said her peace and had done more to affect Tarble in that moment than anyone else had thus far. At this point, she was tired and just wanted everything to stop.

"Bulma, have you lost your mind!" Roshi suddenly called out as he rushed right up to the girl. Ignoring the persistent stare of Tarble above them, Roshi slid down to Bulma's side, shaking her shoulder to get her attention. "We have to move! Now!"

Roshi didn't even give the girl a moment to concede to his demands before he was throwing her over his shoulder. Not giving Tarble a second glance, the turtle hermit turned to dart out of there with as much speed as he could muster. However, one word stopped Roshi in his tracks.

"…Bul…ma…" Tarble's grizzly voice announced.

"Oh my Kami," Master Roshi gasped in shock, while Bulma's face suddenly sparked with a happy smile.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

The growl that emanated from Wheelo was positively chilling. Having had to run repairing software and override the shutdown of some of the androids features, the mad scientist was finally back in charge of his body and vengeance was the paramount goal.

His movements were clunky, but the giant robot managed to sit up in its icy grave and Wheelo instantly locked onto Tarble's massive form. That creature had proved several times more formidable than he could've ever hypothesized. Its strength and power was overwhelming. Even at 100% Wheelo couldn't have hoped to stand a chance against it, but certainly not with the damage that he'd sustained.

Thankfully, though, Tarble seemed preoccupied with the annoying Briefs girl and Master Roshi. This was Wheelo's time to strike.

Angling his body to point at Tarble, a compartment on Wheelo's chest suddenly opened to reveal a massive cannon, at least twice as large as the ones in his claws. It wasted no time beginning to channel orange energy into the opening as Wheelo seethed at Tarble's form.

"You damned monster," Wheelo growled in disgust. "I will save the human race one way or another. If I can't have your body, then I'll pick you apart in the autopsy!"

And with that, Wheelo's massive cannon fired a mega wave of searing energy for Tarble's back.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Tarble had eased closer to Roshi and Bulma, crouching down to meet them. The ever-present snarl that had greeted them so many times before was miles away as the giant ape looked to them. The Tarble that they'd grown to know was shining through now. He was appearing to gain control.

"Bulma," the ape crooned once more as he reached out a hand, reaching out to the blue-haired genius.

Bulma mirrored Tarble's motion reaching out to grasp the monkey's hand. "Yes, Tarble! It's me!"

However, Roshi took note of the incoming energy long before Bulma could. Much to Tarble's chagrin, Roshi snatched Bulma up once more and rushed out there as fast as he could. Bulma started to protest the movement just as her and Tarble were starting to connect, but her complaints fell short as she looked back to Tarble and the energy rushing in at his back.

The last thing she saw before it struck was the pained look on Tarble's face as Roshi carried her off.

"NO!" she screamed just as the energy struck, the powerful impact was enough to send shockwaves across the area. Her and Roshi were blown off their feet and thrown across the icy surface as a monstrous roar of agony spread across the land.

Another plume of smoke bathed the battlefield, this time followed by the nauseating scent of burnt hair and flesh.

As quick as the smoke had blown out to meet them, it was filtered away by a gust of freezing wind, leaving an unmoving Tarble lying face first in the snow. Bulma was the first to her feet. Tears were already flowing as she took in the sight.

The sob that tore from Bulma nearly pulled the girl back to ground. Tears freely flowing, Bulma could do more than cover her mouth in horror as she took note of the heat radiating off of Tarble's scorched back. Acting on pure impulse, Bulma made a move to run back out to her friend, only to have Roshi rush in and snatch her into hug to hold her still.

"You can't, Bulma!" he demanded as Bulma fought against his efforts.

The need to run back out there was so strong, though, that she pressed on until she collapsed onto the snow once more, sobbing uncontrollably. Finally finding her voice, Bulma could only scream, "TARBLE!"