I do not own Dragon Ball Z
Talos awoke next morning. The sun was bright, birds were singing. Raditz was sleeping under a nearby tree while Gohan was still trapped in the Saiyan's pod.
Talos briefly considered making his escape, but his inability to fly combined with Raditz's scouter would guarantee that he would be quickly recaptured.
Talking about scouters, he tapped a button on his own. It was a spare from Raditz, the Saiyan had rigged it to display numbers that Talos understood.
Raditz soon awoke and after eating a breakfast of fruit and some kind of meat he said to Talos " You might want to step back."
He pointed out to the young Saiyan three dots on the horizon.
Talos did a double-take, three dots! Since when was there three fighters? The third dot seemed to be following closely behind one of the others.
GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG
Clare was nervous, she prayed that Piccolo wouldn't let go. His extendible arm was hoisting her through the air.
She reflected on the stroke of luck that had brought her into contact with Piccolo. He had spotted her tail and demanded answers from her. Mostly about Raditz. After convincing him that she hadn't anything to do with him, Piccolo had taken her with him to see Goku.
Upon discovering the kidnapping of Gohan and this mysterious Saiyan they had formed a plan.
Clare had spent the day learning everything she could from Goku and Piccolo and now felt ready. She could fight well enough for a human but the plan didn't call for her to fight. It called upon her to sneak in while Goku and Piccolo distracted Raditz and save Gohan.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Talos watched, The fighters talked for a while, then Raditz leapt into action! He raced towards the others at his top speed!
Goku and Piccolo leapt backwards, avoiding the attack, but Raditz was faster! He was now behind Goku with a powerful kick!
Goku was sent head-first to the ground!
Piccolo and Goku quickly removed their weighted clothing. And the battle began again!
Goku and Piccolo ganged up on Raditz in an attempt to confuse him, their fists and kicks blurred, seemingly passing through each other on several occasions! But Raditz wasn't fooled, he blocked every blow, and returned them! Sending Goku to the ground once more.
Piccolo blocked a blow but took a kick to the chest and he too staggered back.
Goku and Raditz talked for a little while longer, then Piccolo placed his fingers to his forehead.
Goku shot back into the battle. Launching a series of powerful fists, but Raditz turned them back, not taking a scratch, " Is this all you've got Kakerot? I'm disappointed."
Goku redoubled his efforts but Raditz was still unaffected.
Talos was torn between wanting to help Goku and staying backwards, after all he would be crushed if he intervened!
Then, Raditz's scouter beeped! He turned with a growl to where Clare was making a run for it with Gohan in her arms! He vanished, reappearing before her, he smirked evilly " Nice try, but not good enough!"
He struck her with a single slap, sending Clare tumbling to the ground where she passed out.
Piccolo swore " Goku, this is not working! Plan B!"
Goku nodded, " Right."
Goku dived and caught Raditz's tail! The Long-haired Saiyan gave a yelp and fell to his knees!
Piccolo smirked, " Good Goku, now hold him for a few more minutes!"
Raditz was panicking " Kakerot! You wouldn't kill your own brother would you?"
Goku replied " I have no brother!"
Raditz cried " I swear I'll leave! I didn't do any damage! You didn't think I'd really kill my own nephew did you?"
Piccolo cried out " Goku, don't fall for it!"
Raditz continued " I didn't even kill the girl!"
Goku slowly released Raditz's tail. Big mistake, the Saiyan elbowed him in the gut! Goku was sent flying backwards!
Raditz smirked, " How can you be so naive?"
Piccolo called " Raditz, take this!"
He shot off a Special Beam Cannon, the beam shooting towards Raditz! But the Saiyan dodged!
Piccolo cursed, " We're so dead!"
Raditz frowned, " Damn you, that might actually have harmed me. You'll pay for that. But first."
He turned to where Goku was still lying. Stepping on his chest he said, " Kakerot, I have decided that we don't need you."
He pushed his foot downwards, slowly crushing Goku's ribs!
Goku screamed in agony!
Talos cried out " I can't take this any more!"
He ran towards Raditz, intent on battle. He hated seeing other people harmed and the blood-lust in Radiz's eyes was a truly terrible sight.
Talos stopped himself quickly, What am I doing? Charging head first into battle? I'll never stand up to Raditz.
He focused, drawing on the power of his life-energy. The small pulse of life that powered him and every other being. There!
Now he tapped it, holding out a hand and letting loose a series of small Ki orbs!
Raditz took them in the back and snarled! Turning to see Talos' pale face. " Damn you!"
He leaped away from Goku and towards Talos!
Talos turned to run but too late! Raditz's fist hit him back, pain lanced throughout Talos' body as he slammed into the ground with enough force to form a crater!
Talos groaned and turned around but Raditz stamped on his leg!
He screamed as the bone was crushed to dust.
Blood spurted from hundreds of small cuts and bone protruded in several places.
Raditz kicked him for several feet! Talos screamed as he hit the ground again, Raditz stamped on Talos' chest, slowly increasing the pressure as Talos felt his bones start to bend.
He cried out in agony as red hot pain overcame his body. His every nerve ending screaming for release, an end to this torment. When it came, it came from an unexpected source: Gohan!
The young half-Saiyan, enraged beyond belief smashed into Raditz's chest head-first!
Raditz gasped and staggered back, cracks plain on his armour. Goku could only look on in amazement as his son did more damage to Raditz than he and Piccolo had done combined. Then, horror showed on the father's face as he realized that Raditz's reaction would be.
" GOHAN! Run! Run now!"
The young boy seemed dazed, as if unsure of what he had just done. Meanwhile, Raditz was recovering from his shock, he checked his scouter again, as if to be sure. His eyes were wide behind the glass instrument as he read Gohan's power. " 1,307? N-not possible. How could a child be stronger than me?"
He took a minute to calm himself before checking the scouter once more, sure that it had been a mistake, " Now his power level is at fifty? It's still dropping... Must have been a malfunction it's back to one."
Anger plain on his features, Raditz stalked towards Gohan with a murderous look. Goku paled. " Gohan! Listen to me! RUN! Please go!"
But the child didn't pay any heed, rather he ran to his downed father and tried to get him to stand again. Goku wasn't in the best shape for standing, his ribs were cracked if not broken, but he didn't stop his attempts to get his son to flee, and Raditz didn't stop his slow, deadly, walk towards his prey. Gohan was just starting to calm down, when he heard Raditz's voice from behind, " Turn around."
He did, Gohan saw an angry Saiyan towering above him, seemingly ready to kill. With one blow, he sent the child flying with a scream into the distance.
Goku cried out, " Gohan!"
Raditz smirked, " Oh don't worry, Kakerot. You may be about to die but your son isn't. He along with that other Saiyan will be retrained and shown what it means to be a true warrior. They wont die with this planet like you and your green friend."
Goku cried out, hearing what Raditz intended for his son. The long-haired Saiyan ignored this and said to himself, " Where is that green man anyway? Has he run off and let you die?"
He cast his gaze around the field of battle, there! The green man was trying to build up another of those beam attacks. Raditz grinned like a predator, " Hey, greeny, do you really think that you can defeat me with a second of those attacks? Its not like the first one did so well! But first, my dear brother, I will deal with you!"
Quicker than the eye could see, Raditz spun around and jabbed his foot back into Goku's chest! The pure-Saiyan screamed in agony. Raditz chuckled, putting more and more pressure on Goku's broken ribs. As Goku screamed and tried to get out, Raditz said, " See? You're far too soft. A disgrace to the Saiyan race. Which is why I am removing you from existence!"
Raditz jabbed his fist downwards, to smash into Goku's skull. But, a small Ki orb slammed into his back! Raditz's armour easily defused and reflected the energy, but the attack vexed him. He spun around and not even bothering to look at who had attacked him, blasted them into next century.
All Clare saw was an onrushing purple glow as the dark Ki energy devoured her with a scream of surprise. From the ground, Goku cried out at another death but Raditz ignored him. The big Saiyan smirked, " Now anyone else want to try and fight me?"
Sweat was pouring off Piccolo as he dumped all the power he could into his charging attack, but it still wasn't anywhere near enough! He watched helpless as Raditz destroyed his allies one by one, Goku was down, the girl was dead, the brat was down, that other guy had a crushed leg so he would be no help. This was not looking good for the Earth.
Raditz smirked, held up a hand as the palm started to glow with purple energy. He pointed at Piccolo, he laughed cruelly knowing that the green man would be unable to block nor could he dodge if he wished to maintain his power-up. With a cry, he unleashed a Ki orb of destructive power that blasted towards the Namek! Piccolo could only look on in helpless anger as the attack approached him slowly, slowly enough that he judged the Saiyan had slowed it on purpose, to give him more time to sweat. He couldn't get out of the way, the unborn Special Beam Cannon wouldn't die down in time, and if he tried to move while it was transferring power... well it was a good way to end up dead. The orb exploded in his face! But the important fact here, he had not reached him yet. While he did get burned at least he didn't go the way Clare had died.
Raditz roared and turned, there! The one with the crushed leg had somehow pulled himself into a sitting position. Raditz cursed the line of thought that had caused him to teach the other how to use Ki. He would correct that now, " Know what? I've changed my mind, you don't deserve to be a Saiyan, so DIE!"
This time, there was no stopping the purple wave of death as it struck Talos and tore his body apart. There was agony, but only for a few seconds.
Goku cried out again. Raditz spun to face Piccolo again, " No one to save you this time, green man!"
The energy wave formed in his palm again, and again he thrust his hand forward to propel the attack towards it's target. A smirk formed on Raditz face as the attack almost erupted from his hand. Almost. At the last second, before the attack launched, a pair of hands arms locked around his tail! Now it was Raditz's turn to scream in pain! In horror, his turned his head to the side and saw, Goku!
The wounded warrior was some how on his feet and holding Raditz's tail. His face was somehow different, he was angry. He called out " No more killing! NO MORE!"
Piccolo smirked now, " Goku! I should have known he couldn't keep you down, after all, you have taken worse."
Goku replied, " I don't know how much longer I can hold him, Piccolo are you ready to fire yet?"
Sure enough, Raditz was struggling fiercely, desperate to escape and have his revenge on his soft brother. He screamed in rage and pain as his movements caused Goku to grip his tail tighter. He tried to talk Goku out of it again, but this time there was no escape.
Piccolo called out, " Almost ready! Goku, you know this attack will kill you, right?"
Goku responded, " Piccolo, I can't hold him much longer, do it now!"
Piccolo nodded, at last he removed his finger from his forehead and thrust it forward, now his own attack erupted with a scream of powerful Ki and plunged towards Raditz and his brother!
Raditz scouter beeped, " What?! No way! You can't be this strong! Kakerot, this attack will kill us both!"
Goku bit out, " I'd rather die than let you live after what you've done!"
Then, Raditz had nothing to do but scream, the attack struck his chest, hitting the point which Gohan had cracked earlier. For a long second, the armour and beam struggled but then the armour gave in. With one last scream of fear and pain, Raditz was impaled by the beam of Ki. Goku in contrast, made no sound as the same happened to him. For a minute, there was no movement after the beam vanished. Then, the two brothers turned enemies fell to the ground.
Piccolo stood still for a time. Though on the surface he looked calm, he was in fact confused. He had been born for the sole purpose of killing Goku but now that it had finally happened, he felt empty. He put it down to not defeating Goku himself. The Namek strode over to the fallen warriors. To his surprise, Goku was still alive.
"..Piccolo... is he dead?"
Raditz voice answered, "...Not..yet..."
Piccolo spun around with a savage roar, Raditz ether didn't notice or didn't care because he continued as if nothing had happened, " Brother... why did you do this? Now we'll both die."
Piccolo snorted. Maybe he was angry at how futile his power had been up to this point, maybe he was annoyed because Raditz had forced him to kill Goku before he was ready, but Piccolo wanted to do something to the Saiyan, to get under his skin before he died.
" Hmm, you may die but I expect to see Goku back within the year."
Raditz frowned, though no one saw it. " W-what? How? Explain!"
" Gladly, you see on this planet we have things called Dragon Balls, if you gather all seven you get your wish granted. Goku's friends will revive him, he'll have the last laugh!"
Piccolo had expected Raditz to moan or to be angry, or to show some sign that knew he had lost. He didn't expect the Saiyan to throw back his head and laugh!
Piccolo growled, " What's so funny?"
Raditz said, " You! Your impending doom... this device on my face.. this scouter... is a communication device, my two partners have heard everything! And they will come here, to this planet... I'll have the last laugh after all! And guess what? They're far stronger than me!"
Piccolo was struck speechless, but Goku wasn't. He managed to breath out, " When..will they get here?"
Raditz proceeded to tell them exactly how long it would take the two mighty warriors to reach Earth. Enraged, Piccolo took his anger out on the downed Saiyan, killing Raditz with a single blow.
As if signalled by Piccolo's final blow, a shape flew overhead. Piccolo ignored it, knowing it was in fact a craft that would contain Goku's soon to be grieving friends.
To Goku, things were not so exact. There had been pain when the beam punched through his chest but now he was slowly losing all feeling. He closed his eyes for a second, but he must have been out longer than that because when he opened them, Krillen was next to him. Goku's best friend was crying, Goku was really weak now, he could feel himself slipping away, but he did his best to comfort Krillen and his other friends while he could.
After doing what he could, Goku closed his eyes and let death take him. Wind swept past, ruffling his hair as Krillen let out a cry of grief for his lost friend.