Chapter 25
On Defiance and Desperation
By now, the storm that had been threatening all day long was beginning to roll in. The lightning remained in the distance, but had closed in significantly, and rain was starting to drizzle from the sky.
Krillin hesitated for a moment, but followed 18's order and redirected his rage at the remaining soldiers in Tagoma's Company. The battle was still white hot, but with the right and middle waves of combatants gone, the tide was beginning to turn.
Chiaotzu, lacking any fighters on his side of the formation, went to aid Yajirobe with the added load he was shouldering in 18's absence. It was an unconventional sight; most of Chiaotzu's attacks were invisible, the majority of Yajirobe's consisting of flashes of steel, but together they were quickly dispelling of their opposition. To their left, Videl was still holding her own, neither dominating her opponents nor allowing them to overwhelm her.
On the exterior, however, Roshi was struggling mightily, and it was here that Krillin elected to begin his assault. Forgoing his years of technically savvy martial arts training in favor of what can best be described as a bum-rush, Krillin lowered his shoulder and plowed full-steam ahead into a swath of soldiers directly in front of Roshi, clearing them out and momentarily allowing the old man to catch his breath.
Krillin glided in front of Roshi, eyeing the soldiers furiously, daring any enemy combatant to attack him, and spoke to Roshi with his brow furrowed, and without ever turning around.
"How are we on senzus?" he asked gruffly.
"Not well. I've been passing them out to buy us time, but we're down to just one now. I'd take it myself, but it's too valuable." Roshi replied, breathing deeply all along.
"Hang onto it tight." Krillin replied, and then sprung forward, catching an unsuspecting soldier on the side of the head with a hard roundhouse kick before launching into another enraged flurry of punches at kicks at every enemy he could find.
Seeing Krillin's advantage and feeling slightly rejuvenated, Roshi looked around for where he might be useful, and found Videl. He launched himself into the fray, and soon, the pair had begun to turn their portion of the battle to the Earthlings' favor as well.
18 hung in the air and patiently waited for Tagoma to recover from her punch and return. He took a while, but finally did, and hovered in the air across from her, sporting a fresh bruise on his right cheek.
"So, you're the fulcrum." He began, "Strange. Hardly any energy at all, but that was quite a punch. From a woman, no less. Let's hope you're not too worn out to entertain me. Those men were…disappointing."
"Well, good news." 18 replied, brushing her bangs behind her left ear, "I never get tired."
With that, the two fired off at one another and began their own battle, just as the one behind them was winding to a close.
Piccolo momentarily relaxed, wary of tipping Freeza off to the energy he was gathering, though at the moment Freeza's attention was still focused on Uub's acrobatics in the sky. He thought of simply regenerating his broken bones and continuing the battle, but he seriously doubted they would be of much use, and he intended to take full advantage of what precious energy he had left.
Freeza momentarily turned his head to address Piccolo, but didn't bother fully turning to face him. "Wait here for a moment, won't you, Namek? I have something I'd like to investigate."
Freeza floated up high into the air, leaving Piccolo ample opportunity to gather more energy, and stopped when he was alongside Sorbet, his horned head obscuring Piccolo's view of his tiny assistant. The two kept their eyes fixated on Uub, and began to converse.
"I've not yet given up on bringing that boy along with me." Freeza stated flatly. "His master is crippled in a crater; a fickle child might well be convinced that his better prospects lie with me."
"Yes, sire!" Sorbet responded, "Surely a display of your power will convince him!"
"Call the men off." Freeza replied.
Sorbet yelled loudly and gave a signal, immediately prompting his troops to halt their futile pursuit of the mohawked child and return to their commander, all completely exhausted.
"That was pitiful." Freeza told the soldiers before turning his full attention to Uub. "Boy, I may not have introduced myself properly earlier. My name is Emperor Freeza. In my first life I was the most fearsome being in all the galaxy; in this one, the entire universe. Tell me, child, what do you desire? Adventure? I can show you the farthest corners of the universe. Power? There is no one more powerful for you to aspire to. Come with me, and anything you desire will be yours."
Unbeknownst to Freeza, his rambling recruiting pitch was barely registering with Uub, as Piccolo's voice was ringing telepathically in his head. "Just let him talk, Uub." Piccolo was saying, "Gohan's on his way, the more time he wastes, the better. And do whatever you can to keep him right there."
"Don't believe me?" Freeza asked, confusing Uub's puzzled stare for an answer to his promises. "Well, how about a demonstration? A quick sparring match, just the two of us, no pitiful soldiers or disgusting Nameks to get in our way, what do you say?"
"You can't beat me." Uub said flatly, continuing his blank stare at the tyrant.
"Is that so?" Freeza replied, slightly taken aback. "Then you've been measuring me as well, I see. Well, I suppose you're right. With things as they are now I presume you'd smash me into bits, wouldn't you? But…" Freeza smiled here and paused for dramatic effect, fully committing to his recruiting bit, "I can change."
"Let him show you." Piccolo was demanding inside Uub's head.
"Show me." Uub replied obediently, utterly clueless as to why Piccolo would encourage his opponent to add to his power.
Pleased that his tease had been well received, Freeza chuckled to himself for a moment before speaking again. "Very well." He finally said.
Freeza arched his back and flexed his muscles, straining with effort as his body began to expand and contort. His muscles bulged and his horns extended and turned upward, and his body stretched until he dwarfed his previous height.
The opportunity was not lost on Piccolo. He wanted desperately to fire while Freeza was distracted with his transformation, but his attack wasn't yet ready. Even if it had been, Freeza's violent contortions would've made him a difficult target from this range. As it was, Piccolo laid quietly on the ground, grateful for the added time.
"Freeza's kicking it up a notch." Gohan said as the Saiyan trio made their way toward the battlefield. Trunks and Goten's fight had drug them far away from Freeza, and at their current rate, the group was 20 minutes away. They knew that at any moment, however, they could kick up the pace and reach it in less than 10. They were moving quickly, but reservedly, attempting to reach the area without alerting Freeza, lest he attempt to finish off Piccolo and Uub quickly before they could arrive.
"I felt it, too." Goten replied.
Trunks nodded in agreement, and the three increased their speed slightly, content that Freeza's focus on his transformation would mask their added energy.
18 and Tagoma traded blows in a stalemate for a long while, locked in an evenly matched exchange. Finally, however, 18 made a mistake, overextending on a punch that Tagoma deftly slipped. Tagoma seized the opportunity by grabbing her extended arm and bending it behind her back, and using his other arm to lock around her neck from behind. From there he took the two into a divebomb toward the base of a massive rock formation, releasing 18 at the last moment and sending her crashing into the rock. Upon impact, the formation crumbled on top of her, and Tagoma fired a blast into the rubble for good measure, causing the pile of rock to erupt.
Yajirobe slashed through yet another soldier, and turned to face more, only to find the few remaining in his vicinity were already retreating, scattering for cover in whichever direction they could. He and Chiaotzu allowed them to leave, and quickly bolted over to Roshi and Videl's aid.
Soon, the foursome had dispelled that swath of troops as well, and turned their attention to Krillin, who was still singlehandedly combating a massive chunk. He might've defeated them sooner, had he not been incessantly stopping to check the progress of 18's battle with Tagoma.
"We've got them! Go!" Roshi yelled, as he landed a flying kick to the back of a lizard-like man's head. Krillin didn't bother to thank him, and wordlessly bolted toward 18.
Krillin landed next to the rubble and began to toss rocks aside one by one in search of 18, but after a moment she emerged of her own accord several feet away. Tattered and burned but alive, Krillin helped her to her feet and together they looked up at the blue alien, floating high above them with his arms crossed.
"You're strong, I'll give you that." Tagoma said, "But that was a rookie mistake. If I were fresh, that blast would've killed you. You can't defeat me."
"You ok?" Krillin said under his breath, so that only 18 could hear.
"Yeah." She said, heavily damaged from the attack but readying herself for more action nonetheless. Krillin noticed a gruesome wound above her right shoulder blade, where a mixture of bone, blood, and circuitry was now plainly showing. He kept it to himself for fear of alerting Tagoma to the weakness, but noted the extent of the harm his wife had undergone.
Tagoma burst down out of the sky at 18 again, but just as he was about to make contact, Krillin sprung up from beneath him and drove his shoulder into Tagoma's chest, altering his flight path off course and over 18's head. Tagoma bypassed the pair, reversed course, and attacked again, this time on even footing with 18.
Tagoma launched into an array of kicks and punches at 18, aiming to take advantage of her damage in their last exchange. 18 countered as best she could, but would've been overcome had Krillin not joined in the fray. Whatever power she had lost in her first encounter was offset by Krillin's added strength, and together, the couple fought Tagoma nearly to a stalemate, taking only marginally more harm than their opponent.
With a loud scream, Freeza flexed his muscles one last time before finally settling down and facing Uub in his 2nd Form. "Well, what do you think?" He asked, examining his fist as he repeatedly opened and closed it, "In this form, you and I should be more or less equals. Now, how about that sparring match?"
"Power up first." Uub said, once again repeating Piccolo's prompt.
"Still skeptical, are you?" Freeza replied, "Very well. I'll show y-"
"Makansoppo!"
Piccolo hoisted himself up on his left arm, his broken legs still unable to provide support, and took aim at Freeza's head with his right hand, firing high into the sky above him. He thrust every bit of energy he could muster into his beam and took his shot, convinced that this would be his best opportunity to influence the battle.
Despite the distance Piccolo was attempting to cover, his aim was true. The beam's trajectory took it spiraling directly for Freeza's head, set to drill a hole straight through his skull.
At the last moment, Freeza sensed the attack's presence and instinctively jerked his entire upper body backward and turned his head to the side, too slow to dodge the beam. Piccolo's attack cut across his left cheek, burning a trench from the hinge of his jaw to the edge of his lip and continued out the other side. Freeza howled and clasped his face in pain.
Sorbet reflexively jumped in fright at the sudden commotion and turned toward Freeza. He never uttered a word, as the beam caught him squarely between the eyes, continued on through his skull, and evaporated into the distance, dropping him from the air lifeless on impact.
Piccolo collapsed back to his elbows in exhaustion and pounded the ground with his fist at the missed opportunity. Freeza was scarred, but more or less unharmed, and his eyes were now burning with rage.
"Soldiers, charge! Finish the Namek!" Freeza screamed, still covering his cheek with his left hand.
"No!" Uub screamed and shot to defend Piccolo, only to have his path cut off by Freeza.
"No, boy. You're staying here." The tyrant hissed.
Uub attempted to fire past his nemesis, but when he tried, Freeza caught his leg as he passed and flung him through the air in the opposite direction. Upon his recovery, Freeza was set firmly in his path once again.
Finally, tired of the mostly fruitless exchange, Tagoma relented, firing a blast at his foes to separate himself. The blast caught both Krillin and 18 on their inside shoulders and pushed them backward, burning them in the process and lowering their guards, but Tagoma elected not to press his attack, opting instead to catch his breath and reassess the battle.
Tagoma was tired, but upon inspecting his adversaries, began to smile to himself. He was fading, but not nearly as fast as them; Krillin was taking heaving breaths, clearly running on fumes, and the damage 18 had taken in his earlier attack was slowing her more and more by the moment.
Sensing the inevitability of his victory, Tagoma raised his power to attack again, and both 18 and Krillin anchored down in their stances in anticipation of more conflict. No sooner had they raised their guards, however, then they were joined on either side by their remaining allies, having killed or chased away the last remaining members of Tagoma's force. 18, Krillin, Chiaotzu, Yajirobe, Videl, and Roshi all assumed defensive stances and stared defiantly at their last remaining enemy.
Tagoma was clearly the strongest warrior remaining on the battlefield, that much was indisputable. At one time, 18 had been relatively close, but ever since their exchange, the gap between the two had been widening by the moment. In a strange reversal of fate, the only advantage the Earthlings had was in their numbers. Surely, Tagoma thought, it was only a matter of time until he picked them apart, one by one.
"Worthless scum." Tagoma uttered as he watched the remnants of his retreating force disappear into the distance. He crouched low, stared hard at his opposition, and began to raise his power to its peak again
Piccolo stared defiantly into the face of the descending horde, and began to speak to Uub telepathically again. "Uub…" he began, "it's alright. Don't worry about me. I've done this before."
Fully aware that he lacked the energy to effectively counter the onslaught, Piccolo gathered what smithereens of power he had left, and waited for the force to reach it's mark. Uub froze in the air, locked on Piccolo's words.
"I'm sorry I couldn't do more for you, but help's on the way; you'll be alright. I believe in you, and I always will."
As the enemy closed in around him, Piccolo closed his eyes and felt Gohan closing in, and cracked a small, brief smile, knowing that Uub and the Earth were in the best hands possible. Satisfied, his eyes snapped open one last time, and he prepared for his final moment.
Piccolo hoisted himself up on one arm again and stared into the heart of the horde as it closed in around him. He waited until the last moment possible, and with a ferocious roar, threw up his free arm and released all his remaining energy at once, encompassing the area in a pulsating golden dome. The brilliant flash of light encompassed the entire valley, attracting lightening to it's core and causing his targets, as well as Freeza and Uub, to shield their eyes from it's glare.
All but a very few of Freeza's remaining men found themselves encompassed in Piccolo's final attack, and saw their bodies disintegrate in the desperate rush of energy. The remnants were blown backward in every direction, clinging to life before they hit the ground. Piccolo lost consciousness as he allowed every ounce of energy to leave his body and encompass the area, never to see the result of his final action.
As the light from his final blast faded away and the clouds regained their position, the rain that had been threatening all day finally started to set in in earnest, forming its first puddle in the bottom of Piccolo's crater. His harshly burned body steamed softly in the rain, and as his head lay softly in the mud, the raindrops slowly dripping off the tips of his drooped antennae.
Author's Note:
Hey guys. So real quick, I should address the obvious: I missed two weeks. I apologize for that, and I wish I could say it's never going to happen again, but the reality is that life changes, and free time's a little harder to come by for me these days. I fully intend to keep the story moving forward, but there will probably be some missed weeks. Hopefully you all bare with me.
There's nothing really pressing to address, other than the fact that nobody really likes Trunks, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, and there's not much I can do about it anyway other than keep the story moving. As such, I'll keep it short today. Thanks for sticking with the story, hopefully you guys are cool with character deaths, and I hope you all enjoy it.
- SlotT7