Author's note: Hey, guys, thanks for the reads, & the reviews. I love getting those alerts. Please feel free to keep them coming, & let me know your thoughts as the story progresses.
Written by: SparkerLightning and StevenBodner
Chapter 42
Frieza Planet 314
Cold steel wrapped around their wrists and ankles. Heavy chains connecting each cuff to the others, both in front and behind.
Hot breath blowing across their faces. Thick sacks over their heads tied around their necks.
Sticky fabric wrapped around their bodies. Blood acting as glue between their torn outfits and their skin.
Tight leather held small needles in place, embedded into the backs of their necks. Periodically sharp, debilitating, pain shot into them.
Nappa was in front, followed by Goku, Krillin, and finally Chiaotzu. A guard flanked each prisoner, each holding a control for the entire line. If one resisted their authority, disobeyed a single lawful order, or even spoke out of turn, they would be punished as a group.
The group walked for hours, if not days. No food. no water. Just marching. Escorts came and went. Ki signatures appeared and vanished. But they kept moving, endlessly. When Chiaotzu fell, he was dragged. When Krillin fell, he was dragged. When Nappa fell, he was dragged.
Goku didn't fall. But under the insignificant weight of his friends, he threw himself to the ground. He didn't know when this would end, but he couldn't keep it up forever, and decided to move things along at his own pace, exert what control he had.
With their loss hammered in, the prisoners were thrown into individual cells. Still bound, hooded, bloodied, and periodically tortured, they were finally allowed to sit and lay down. They were brought food, water, and medicine. They wouldn't be healed in the medical center. No, prisoners didn't get that luxury, but they were to be made presentable. Their clothes were cut away from them, and once they were sufficiently drained, new clothes were provided.
After being forced to attend to their own injuries, they were finally left alone. The irregular shocks slowly weakened, but grew in quantity. When they reached a constant zap, they began to intensify once more. As they did, the warriors began to fall unconscious. Goku was the first to be awakened and brought out, followed by Chiaotzu, Nappa, and Krillin.
It was after that they were once more brought together, once more guarded, and once more marched. The guards were new, but the marching was familiar, and easy to ignore. The four felt out the situation. They felt how weak their guards were and that Frieza was moving off in the distance. Furthermore, they felt a crowd, and eventually, they heard it as well.
As the last door slowly slid open, the roar of the crowd grew to a tremendous level. The swarm to the left would call, and the swarm to the right would respond.
"HALE!" The left would speak in unison.
"FRIEZA!" The right answered before continuing. "HALE"
"COLD" The left called back. "HALE!"
As the captives were led into the chamber, the chanting seized and the jeering began. They were stomping their feet. They were calling for death, calling for torture. They were individuals, but of one mind, and that mind, wanted blood.
The prisoners were stopped, and Krillin was detached from the rest. After walking a few paces he was stopped once more, his chains were rattled, and he was forced to kneel. Two guards stayed beside the monk as Chiaotzu was disconnected and escorted, as well as the Saiyans.
Feeling their teammate's ki, they knew the Saiyans were across from each other, with Krillin to Goku's left, and Chiaotzu to Nappa's right. Over the course of the next three seconds, as the string holding their sacks tight were untied, the room fell silent. When the only sounds they heard came from their own bodies, the sacks were ripped from their heads. In Goku's case, his head was jolted back, as the troop grabbed his hair as well as the bag.
The group was in a large and open-air arena. Three hundred feet separated each of them from the nearest wall. Roughly fifty feet separated the Saiyans from the Earthlings. In the middle of the arena, the guards assembled in an outward facing circle. They each took a bow in turn, raised off the ground, and left through the door that they had entered through. As it shut, a gong rang out, and they could have heard a pin drop in the resulting silence.
Elsewhere on the planet
Frieza did not walk down the corridor, he hovered. His metallic feet glided, motionless, over the smooth polished floor. Unlike his body, his new red cape did move as he made his way through the endless structure. As he crossed one of a dozen identical intersections within sight, Bulma stepped out behind him, and jogged to keep pace.
"Greetings, my lord." Bulma awkwardly bowed to Frieza's back. "How may I serve you?"
Unseen to Bulma, Frieza smiled. "We have special guests, and I believe you would enjoy their company while they are still with us."
"Thank you, Lord Frieza." Bulma bowed her head as they went around a corner and began climbing a set of stairs. "May I ask who these guests are?"
"You may." Frieza twitched his tail, sending a ripple down his cape.
Bulma waited for a moment, and when she realized she had received permission, she asked. "My lord, who are these guests?"
At the top of the stair well, they crossed another hallway, and began going down another set. "Two Saiyans, and two Earthlings."
Bulma, just for a moment, froze. Frieza kept moving, and would not slow down or stop for a subordinate. Goku, Gohan or Turles, Krillin, Tien or Yamcha. Two Saiyans, two Earthlings, Bulma thought to herself. Internally swearing, swallowing back her racing heart, she skipped a step to catch up with Frieza.
Instead, she caught the skipped stair with the heal of her shoe, and tumbled forward. Reaching out for something, anything, to catch her fall, she securely gripped the railing in her right hand, and the tail of Frieza's cape in her left. He stopped moving, and she stopped breathing.
"Did I give you permission to touch me?" Frieza didn't move his head, but simply analyzed her with an array of sensors. Her heart was racing, her skin was rising in temperature, and her breath slowed. She was nervous, as she should be.
Coming to her senses Bulma let go of Frieza's cape, and sank to her hands and knees on the stairs. With her knees two steps behind her elbows, she was quite a site, but she did supplicate herself as a proper servant should. "I am sorry, Lord Frieza. I did not want to fall down the stairs and bloody your beautiful palace." More likely she didn't want to be injured, but she was already squirming plenty, no need to force the issue, now.
Frieza grinned and continued onward. Bulma frantically got back to her feet and got in place behind him.
"For a moment I thought you may have had something to say. I am glad you were wise." He turned, and his tail barely missed intentionally sweeping Bulma's feet out from under her. "We are going to the arena. Out of appreciation for all you have done for me, for the empire, I will let you witness them as they are executed."
"Thank you, Lord Frieza." Bulma chewed her lip as she pondered her options. Slowly, noiselessly, she began to pat her pockets. "I would like to know what method of execution you have decided upon, if you would bless me with this knowledge?"
"You are inquisitive, aren't you?" He glanced over his shoulder, temporarily paralyzing Bulma. After the skipped heartbeat passed, she wasn't certain if it was her gut reaction, or if he had actually used his powers to harmlessly stop her. "You have given me so many good options. I could use the droids to turn them to dust. I could throw them in an empty room, and open a capsule of poisonous gas. I could hook them up to our power storage system and drain them empty. I, however, will give them a death suitable for their races. The Earthlings will be crushed under my heals. The so-called Super Saiyans will fall in battle."
Frieza looked at Bulma's reflection in the flawless surface before deciding to continue. Their execution and extermination will not only be witnessed live by the entire population of Frieza Planet 314, but we will be streaming the event across the entire empire." No reaction. "My father has suggested I take a more, peaceful, approach in my future ventures. He believes a gentle hand will help me reclaim Cooler's fallen empire far quicker and with far less effort than an all-out war. Now, don't get me wrong. I have no issue working our way through his former territory, system by system, planet by planet, city by city. But at this point, I'm willing to give my father's idea a try. If this works, if this is how my brother's subjects have learned to be treated, then, once I have my hands around their throats, they will be in for quite a surprise."
"Wonderful, Lord Frieza." Bulma dared to frown before wiping it off her face with a wide grin. Thank Kami she only had one lab coat. In her bottom left pocket she felt a familiar remote. "May I be of assistance during the process?"
Frieza closed his eyes in contemplation as they rounded the next corner. "You will be at my side while I give my speech. You will be pleased to be there. You will be the perfect role model both for all noncombatants in my empire, and the totality of my brothers. When it comes time for the execution itself, you will remain where I leave you. Many lessons will be taught today. Lord Frieza will not tolerate rebels. Lord Frieza will bring order and glory. And most of all, as far as the people are concerned, Lord Frieza will protect all who are part of his empire."
"Brilliant." She genuinely smiled. It was programmed to the prototype robot, but she should be able to fix that. Using her nail, she slid the rear cover up and off. A small plastic ting came from her pocket as the cover settled into place.
Coming to a large set of stone double doors, Frieza stopped short, and Bulma stopped just behind him. Frieza glanced at the top of the seam of the doors, and they began to open. An overpowering noise entered the formerly quiet hallway. Perfectly balanced, perfectly smooth, they swung across the floor, exposing the dusty brown dirt arena beyond.
When the doors had locked into place, a gong rang out, and silence fell. Lord Frieza entered from the opposite direction as the condemned, followed by another Earthling. As the duo approached the others, one brave, foolish, voice called out.
"BULMA!" Goku shouted. "We found you!"
Bulma's heart snapped in two and shriveled like a raisin at what she saw in front of her. She expected Goku, she expected Krillin. She did not expect Chiaotzu, and while Gohan was thankfully nowhere to be seen, another Saiyan was where she thought the boy would be. She looked past them, through the gap in their square, and was surprised at how quickly she spotted Jeice in the crowd. He wasn't seated, but simply standing at the rail in front of one of the lower entrances, still over twenty feet up from the floor of the pit arena. She flashed a faint smile, a persistent frown, and settling on a forced smile before she nodded as she continued adjusting small leavers in her pocket.
Frieza held up a hand. Somehow the arena sank to a new level of quiet. While previously no one spoke, they had stopped moving, stopped eating, and in several cases, even stopped breathing, while their lord prepared to speak.
"Quiet, Saiyan." He swung his arms out wide, and prepared to address his people.
"WE'RE HERE TO SAVE YOU!" Goku bellowed, before gasping for breath as Frieza plowed his knee nearly through the Saiyan's stomach. Before Goku hit the floor, Frieza was back at Bulma's side.
"Thank you." Frieza continued walking Bulma forward, until they stood where the circle of soldiers had just moments ago. Using the more subtle, less combat oriented, enhancements provided by Bulma, he instructed the guards to shock any of the prisoners that spoke out of turn, at the maximum level the collar could produce. "Before you today, are four enemies of the empire."
He swung his arms out once more. It didn't feel nearly as fulfilling as it would have if he wasn't interrupted the first time.
"Two Saiyans! The last two Saiyans. Two Earthlings! A confusing race that has done its fair share to better the Frieza Empire. The story has been told, time and time again, about the Saiyans. We all know of their rise, and we know of their fall. We all know that their planet was destroyed when an asteroid smashed into it, decades ago." He expected an interruption and was not disappointed. Before Nappa could finish the first syllable though, he was momentarily incapacitated. "While that is the truth, it is not the complete truth."
Frieza paused for a moment, letting the gravity of his words sink into the spectators.
"The Saiyans thought themselves a dangerous race. They thought themselves superior, not just to me, but to all of the universe's population, all of you." He paused to let the crowd boo the Saiyans, and raised his hand when he was ready to continue. "They were wrong, of course, but that did not stop them. Nor would we expect a monkey to know its place at the bottom of the barrel."
Cheers erupted but quickly stopped as Frieza continued.
"They had believed in a Super Saiyan. A legend of a Saiyan that would rise above the rest in power, by a significant margin. A Super Saiyan would not threaten me. A planet of Super Saiyans would not threaten me. However, they would threaten my soldiers, my empire, you, my subjects! While I had no problem putting down each Saiyan, one by one, as they would go rogue, as they endangered or even killed their teams, I could not allow such a rampage to besmirch my glorious empire!"
Goku opened his mouth, and was immediately on the ground.
"I called the Saiyans back to their home planet, a stolen world. I kept three away, Prince Vegeta, General Nappa, and Raditz the rabid. As General Nappa kneels before you, we already know this was a mistake, but I am getting ahead of myself. When I went to Planet Vegeta, I was met by a hostile army. Many loyal soldiers would have died if I hadn't gotten involved from the beginning as I did. I used my power to redirect an asteroid, to destroy Planet Vegeta, to protect my people, to PROTECT YOU!"
He rose slightly into the air as he spun himself in a circle.
"Prince Vegeta, General Nappa, and Raditz the Rabid, were kept alive. They could never work on another team, but by themselves they were a powerful unit. I PRAISED THEM, and that was a mistake. Their self-importance inflated, as did their pictures of themselves. They went to Earth to recruit another Saiyan, one who was living peacefully on a remote planet, Earth. He also kneels before you today."
The crowd jeered and Frieza fed on their emotional energy.
"I thought Prince Vegeta was dead. I thought all Saiyans were dead. Yet on this planet, I put him down. The boy I took in as an orphan, the boy I raised from a young age, I killed him with my bare hands. His father was the leader of the rebel Saiyans. I did not hold that against him, I did not project the sins of the father onto the son. I will continue to hold individuals responsible only for themselves, and not hold their parentage against them. However, despite how kind I was, how open I was, Prince Vegeta was a Saiyan, Prince Vegeta wasn't able to help himself. On this planet, he came for me. In my chambers, he proclaimed himself a Super Saiyan, and attempted to assassinate me. On this planet, I killed my surrogate son. Of course, he was no threat to me, but I must keep my empire safe!"
Chiaotzu tried to drown out the thunderous applause, but with his hands still secured, and without breaking the chains, he was forced to suffer through.
"While I grieved over his corpse, as I reflected upon the life that will never be lived, I was attacked once more. This time, by actual Super Saiyans. The legends were true, Saiyans do have the genetic capability to transform, not just into apes, but to instead greatly multiply their power their power, and retain their standard form. Two such Saiyans are here, on their knees." He lowered one hand to Goku, and another to Nappa. "I captured them alive. With them, I will demonstrate to you what happens when incredibly powerful terrorists try to overthrow the empire. Do not be fooled by the ease of which I dispatch them, their power levels are in the hundreds of millions, and they are extremely dangerous. Dangerous to you, dangerous to your families back on your home worlds. But to me, to the empire, to us, as an unstoppable force, they aren't even a speed bump!"
"Bulma, our lead scientist, knows these Saiyans. She knows these Earthlings. She is a loyal subject of the Frieza Empire, and I will treat her now as I will treat any of my subjects. Will she be exposed to danger? Yes, danger is inevitable. However, I will NEVER stand by while she, while ANY OF YOU, face danger that you are not prepared to. She is not a combatant, she is completely helpless here. Will she be harmed? Absolutely not. Now, RELEASE THE PRISONERS!"
As the crowd roared to life once more, the guards deactivated their controls. Three sets of shackles fell to the ground, and three of the collars were taken offline. Immediately both Saiyans and Chiaotzu freed themselves of the chains and leather.
Freed from their bonds, the Saiyans stretched their sore, stiff muscles as they took several deliberate steps towards Frieza. Goku was the first to erupt in his golden aura, however Nappa wasn't far behind. At ten paces out, Frieza still hadn't reacted. Bulma was behind him, in front of Krillin, and his tail was loosely hovering around her.
Frieza looked skyward, towards the audience. "I GIVE YOU, THE SUPER SAIYANS! They have the power to effortlessly destroy this arena, destroy this planet, and they will kneel in front of me before their deaths!"
At the proclamation, both Saiyans slid their right foot backwards and charged the emperor. Goku arrived first, his ki-powered fist being caught by Frieza's extended arm. Nappa's foot came in from behind, appearing between Bulma and his target, but Frieza had already raised his guard, and captured his ankle as well.
Goku pulled at his wrist, no luck. Nappa kicked out with his right leg, Frieza didn't react. The pair glared at him, energizing ki attacks in their free hands, but before they could launch them, Frieza crossed his arms. The Saiyans' skulls bounced off each other as they exchanged positions, and while releasing a small amount of his stored energy in front of him, Frieza whipped the Saiyans back towards their original sides, sending them flying.
With Nappa still skidding along the dirt, Frieza turned his focus to Goku. The more powerful Saiyan had already recovered, catching himself on his hitching post. Still keeping Bulma in the circle of his tail, he pointed his right pointer finger at Goku, braced it with his left, and unleashed a constant barrage of Death Beams at the warrior.
Goku started his evasion by ducking left, and due to the constant pressure, maintained the direction. His first step was to flip backwards, and now, with the beams closing in, he kept up the tactic until he risked putting Krillin in the line of fire. Tapping his forehead, he appeared back at his post, unharmed, but still the focus of Frieza's wrath.
Nappa appeared behind Frieza, over Bulma. His fists were together, and he swung them down, fast and hard. Frieza didn't take kindly to the close-range attack, and side stepped it effortlessly. As Nappa blinked, Frieza vanished, appearing again a dozen yards behind him, and closing quick. The spear kick landed slightly off center of Nappa's spine, and sent him flying. Frieza followed the assault with a nondescript ki blast, exploding upon impact with the brute and forcing him into a spiral aimed at the nearest wall.
"I GOT YOU!" A small voice called out from somewhere behind Nappa. As he twisted his ki, trying to counteract his spin, his aura turned from gold to green, as Chiaotzu's blue telekinetic field embraced him, gently slowing him, bleeding off speed.
Frieza gritted his teeth at the irritant. Closing his fist, he pulled it back. Once energized, he opened it as he threw a punch at the distant warrior. A sphere of red energy rocketed at Chiaotzu. "If you insist on not waiting until your turn, I can assure you I will find new depths of pain to plunge you to."
The crimson ball moved too fast for the typical audience member to track. One moment, Frieza was shouting at the little fighter, the next, said fighter was covered in a thick blanket of smoke. No one moved as the dust cleared, revealing a deep blue dome around the warrior, who was apparently unharmed.
"I didn't expect you to survive that. I'll admit when I'm..." Frieza was cut off as a fist slammed into his jaw. He barely avoided biting his tongue off as his head was thrown backwards.
"Don't forget, I'm still standing." Goku growled as he pulled his fist back. He had expected Frieza to be sent flying, and was concerned that he hadn't. Lowering his stance, twisting at the waist with each punch, the Saiyan unleashed a powerful barrage of punches into Frieza's unarmored core.
As expected, the tyrant's eyes bulged slightly, his mouth opened, and a groan escaped. Slowly, with effort, Frieza was able to fight the pain. He pulled his arms in, and simultaneously grab both of Goku's wrists.
"Bad monkey." He hissed. Gritting his teeth, Frieza scowled at Goku. "Pride is not permitted for you, inferior being."
He ripped the Saiyan out of his stance and towards himself. Metal head met flesh, and Goku was sent flying backwards. Effortlessly, Frieza launched a Death Beam after his target.
Chiaotzu reached out to protect Goku, but the Super Saiyan rejected the aid. Goku released a powerful blast into the ground, forcing himself into a quick spin. He dodged Frieza's attack, but not well-enough. It dug through his hip, gushing blood onto the dry surface. He caught Frieza's gaze, summoned a blast into his palm, and pushed it into his wound, stemming the blood flow as he seared the wound closed.
Aiming another attack at Goku, Frieza barely noticed Nappa circle around and approach from above.
"Deluxe Bomber!" He called as he threw an already prepared white ki ball down at the tyrant.
Spinning on his heel, Frieza brought his hands up in front of him, and with effort, grabbed the attack out of the air.
"FETCH!" Winding up, he threw the attack back at the now retreating Nappa.
Knowing he couldn't outrun the attack, Nappa turned and raised his cross guard. To his surprise, Goku was already beside him, retracting his fingers from his forehead. Quickly touching hands, the pair created an energy string between them. Dodging aside as the attack rocketed past, they caught it. Then, with a well-timed swing from both of them, they shot the Deluxe Bomber back, trailing a web of energy to Frieza.
With the now twice increased speed, and the additional energy behind it, Frieza couldn't catch it again. He raised his hands to absorb the incoming attack, but he wouldn't be able to.
"Ka…me…ha…me…" Goku chanted as the Deluxe Bomber approached. The moment before impact, Goku tapped his forehead, appeared in front of Frieza, and released his own attack. "HA!"
The blue beam fired from less than a stride away, directly into his soft belly, and spreading out over the frost demon. The pain caused Frieza to wince, and take the full brunt of the Deluxe Bomber on his unprotected head.
Goku hopped back as the dust settled, and prepared for anything to come out of the cloud. No attacks came, at least none of consequence. A painless wave of red energy rushed out, sending the cloud throughout the arena. Frieza stood there, shoulders moving ever so slightly with each breath. His stomach was starting to bruise, and the metal around his core had no shine left to it. The armor on his head wasn't in as good of shape though. In several places material had actually been chipped away. Nothing organic was visible, but his perfect appearance had been well-soiled.
Even with Goku's guard already raised, Frieza found an opening and went for it. He appeared off to the Saiyan's side, and delivered a devastating haymaker to his jaw, once again launching him into the air. Giving him a slight head start, he raced after the flying monkey.
Seeing their path, Nappa took a deep breath, forced his ki up, and began moving. With Frieza hyper-focused on the chase, Nappa had no difficulty appearing out of nowhere in front of him. Opening his mouth he fired the Mouth Blast at soon to be pointblank-range.
Frieza thrust his hand above his head, in front of him as he approached. Quickly powering a basic Death Ball, he charged through the Mouth Beam, knocking Nappa to the side, and continued his chase of the far more interesting target.
Taking the bought moment to get himself under control, Goku spun and side stepped Frieza's Death Ball punch. Twisting with the deflection, he brought his foot up and roundhouse kicked Frieza in the already battered stomach. With his energy back up, and momentum stopped, Goku powered a ki ball in each hand, and rammed them into Frieza's back, again, and again, and again. As Frieza was pushed back, Goku converted his hand delivered ki blasts to a standard barrage.
Letting the blasts spin him around, Frieza used himself as a shield for the beginning stage of his his newest plan. He arced his hand across the air in front of him, summoning a section of sphere, and quickly spun it up to speed. With his barrier in place, he turned to face Goku. With expert timing, he fired several eye beams through his own shield, sweeping a wide approach from above Goku's left shoulder to below his right foot.
Frieza was too slow though. Goku was bathed in blue energy, and his attacks bounced off of him and harmlessly up into the void of space. Thankfully, their method of maintaining atmosphere was not a physical one, although, if it came to that, Frieza could just expose everyone to the vacuum of space. It would cost him a planet worth of soldiers, but he'd cut the broadcast before that was sent to perspective planets to conquer.
"I told you that if you can't wait your turn, you would suffer." Frieza turned to Chiaotzu. "Prepare for hell."
He wrapped his shield tighter around him, converting it to a Nova Strike, and rushed Chiaotzu.
When his vision was overtaken by blue, and it was too late for him to evade, Chiaotzu pealed back his barrier, focused it into his hands, and launched an attack.
"Tri-Beam!" He inhaled sharply. "HA!"
The attack was not only powered by his spiritual ki, nor his life energy, but his psychic power as well. It was enough to stop Frieza in his tracks, banishing his attack.
The two powerhouses of Saiyans took their opening. Goku went wide, and Nappa charged in from behind. With their differences in speed, and the differences in paths, they both came upon Frieza at the same moment. Goku's faster and sharper knee slammed into Frieza's stomach. At the same time, Nappa's slower yet heavier knee slammed into his spine.
Frieza gagged in pain, blood speckling Goku's face. The Saiyans each pulled their knees back, snapped their fists back, and thrust them towards Frieza's head. Unfortunately, now unpinned, Frieza vanished from sight, and the Saiyans barely avoided knocking each other silly.
Quickly getting back-to-back, they searched around them. Chiaotzu had his barrier up again, and Krillin still wasn't reacting. Bulma was close, standing still, hands in her pockets. Where the hell was Frieza?
"The only reason you're still alive." He spoke from above them. "Is that I find you both mildly amusing. Two of the most powerful warriors in the universe, and you are my playthings."
Smoothly, the Saiyans stepped apart and spun around to launch themselves at the tyrant. Fists and knees were flying, and nothing was connecting with Frieza. His movements were minimal, exceedingly fast, and reminded Goku of his time tied to a tree, dodging bees. This shouldn't be possible. Nappa over extended, Frieza dodged simply by pulling his head back a fraction of an inch, and then he struck.
Frieza pulled back first, sucking Nappa and Goku together in front of him. With a powerful kick to Nappa's gut, he was sent flying. With an unrestricted punch to Goku's face, he was sent after Nappa, and overtook him just as he impacted the arena's wall.
As Goku and Nappa pulled themselves free of the rubble, Frieza aimed an open palm at each of them.
"This has been fun, but it's time to end it." He summoned a Death Ball in each palm.
Goku snapped both hands to his forehead and closed his eyes.
"SOLAR FLARE!" He pleaded as the light of a galaxy of suns burst out.
While Frieza's eyes weren't strictly organic, they were still overwhelmed by the light, and he winced away from the stimuli. Grabbing Nappa, Goku touched his forehead and appeared on the far side of the arena next to Chiaotzu.
Frieza clinched his synthetic eye covers shut, still rubbing them with his left hand. However, vision wasn't his only means of detecting foes, not anymore. He felt five energies in the arena. Bulma was now sitting on the floor, covering her eyes, the other warrior still hadn't made a move, and the other three were huddled together. He lifted his hand into the air, spawned a Death Ball, and launched it in an arc, along with several more.
The attacks, while powerful, were predictable in their movement and growth. Chiaotzu segmented his shield, folded each piece in on itself, forming a small army of psychic cups. Each cup moved into place, caught a Death Ball, and sealed around it. The attacks did explode, however they were muted by the barrier, and nowhere near their targets. As they faded, Chiaotzu got his shield back into place.
"What now, Goku?" Chiaotzu didn't turn to face the Saiyan. "I can't keep this up forever, and while I can counter him, I don't think I'd be able to actually hurt him."
"I hate to admit it." Goku rubbed his hip. The flesh was raw and would absolutely hurt later, if there was a later. "Frieza really has become more powerful. I'm a lot stronger than Gohan was when he fought him on Namek, and I can barely hurt him."
He looked over at Nappa, he was still on his feet, still unharmed, but it was obvious he was beginning to feel the impact of his second ever fight at this level.
"Our only hope is to wait for him to slip up. He's way too cocky, and hope to score a knockout blow then."
Returning his gaze to where Frieza was, Goku panicked. Looking up, he found him. A Nova Strike was rushing down from directly above, and Goku only had a moment to slam himself into Chiaotzu and Nappa so Instant Transmission could help them all avoid the full-powered attack.
Goku frantically looked around once more. Finding Chiaotzu's barrier a hundred feet away and twenty feet down, he looked up to see Frieza crash into it. Frieza wasn't there though.
"Too predictable!" Frieza called out from directly overhead. "DEATH CANNON!"
The wave of ki bloomed out into a cone, quickly overtaking all three warriors, and launching them towards the ground.
Nappa impacted first, sending rocks and dirt flying as he created a marvelous impact crater. Chiaotzu was next. He had gotten his barrier up in time, but it wasn't enough. The attack was slowed over him, but he landed inside Nappa's crater, forming a smaller one of his own within it. Being thrown around by the energy, Goku was able to roll with it and collect himself well-enough to land on his feet, before quickly charging back up at Frieza.
Frieza evaded Goku's first punch, and slowly clapped his hands.
"Very good." He continued to applaud as he pulled his legs away from a series of knee strikes. "I expected that to kill at least one of you."
Finding the perfect opening, Frieza threw a fast energy-encased jab of talons at Goku's gut, attempting to gore him.
To the tyrant's surprise, Goku rode the leading pressure wave of his attack to safety, twisting off it to get behind him. Continuing with the spin, Goku aimed an ax kick at Frieza's exposed backside. But he didn't have the speed, or the power, to make contact by himself. His leg was caught by Frieza's mechanical tail.
Spotting Nappa getting to his feet, Frieza whirled himself around. As he spun, he powered a one-handed Death Cannon, and when the time was right, he launched both Goku and the blast at the two warriors on the ground. Nappa caught Goku, and Chiaotzu rose up in front of them both.
Chiaotzu created a gigantic thimble of psychic energy overhead, and the Death Cannon slid perfectly into place. His skin erupted into the familiar azure Kaio-Ken as he fought the attack. He couldn't hold it for long. In fact, he couldn't hold it at all. But it was slowed and there was now time.
Nappa and Goku took the opportunity and acted on the necessity. They split up, rocketing around and back to Frieza. The emperor was distracted. His guard was down and his hands were occupied. If he surrendered control of his blast, who knew what Chiaotzu could do with it.
Eight limbs, plus knees and elbows, attempted to thrash Frieza. But with a combination of mathematically perfect tail swipes, deflecting legs, not a single blow landed on Frieza. Without releasing his second Death Cannon, he grabbed Nappa's wrist, spun him around and kicked him away. Goku nearly landed a chop to his neck, but with a slight step back, the attack missed. Frieza brought his arm around and his elbow down on Goku's shoulder, sending him back to the ground as well. With the pests taken care of, he brought his hands together, and doubled his effort on the wave in front of him.
Bulma, frantic on the inside, maintained a cool exterior as she fumbled the lid back onto the remote in her pocket. Once secured, she quickly spun the behavior knob, and got no reaction.
'Damn it,' she thought, 'of course the AI controls wouldn't work on him.'
Fumbling around the remote further, she found the slider, and quickly dragged it from the top to the bottom.
As Frieza's Death Cannon broke through the barrier, as Goku launched himself towards Chiaotzu and Nappa regained control of his flight, the attack's energy rapidly evaporated. The size was there. The presence was there. But it lost density. It lost power. But it still smashed into Chiaotzu, and smashed Chiaotzu into the ground. Goku was too late, plunging himself into the dust cloud, and quickly sensing Chiaotzu at the bottom of a new crater. He was alive, but unconscious.
"I don't know how he did it, but I am genuinely surprised." Frieza called down to Goku. "That, by all means, should have turned him to dust. I really must stop underestimating you."
"Rest, Chiaotzu." Goku set him back down on the ground.
Goku then flew up to Frieza's level. His aura started to crackle. Lines of electricity rose off his hair and throughout his aura. Deep inside, he felt his power twitch before settling back to its normal state. Howling in rage, he appeared in front of Frieza. One hand grabbed the back of his skull, the other fist smashed into his jaw, then his throat, and then repeatedly into his chest.
Frieza cursed under his breath. Something had changed. This hurt far more than it had before. Far more than it should have. Not seeing an opening, he jabbed at Goku's guard, but the Saiyan caught his fist between his arm and torso. As he struggled to free his arm, Nappa appeared behind him, fingers pressing against his eye plates, as he smashed his fist into the back of his head.
Taking advantage of his grip while he had it, Goku jerked himself into a spin, and Frieza came along freely. After two full cycles, he released the frost demon towards Nappa, who caught him with a full body punch directly into his gut, where he had already been struck time and time again.
Frieza was bent over Nappa's fist, gasping for air. Goku, caressed the left side of his ribs, and spiked a fist into the right. With Frieza stunned, trying to hold his ribs, along with his stomach and face, didn't see, the Saiyans from appearing in front of him. Two, unequal, hammerfists smashed into him. The lower sent him flying backwards and down, the upper forced him to spin head over tail as he plowed into the ground.
While the Saiyans slowly prowled closer, Frieza dug himself out of the ground. "This is knew. Tell me, where did you get this much extra power? If you keep this up, I may actually need to start trying."
"I'm big enough to admit when I come up short." Goku said, again running his hand over his hip. "And the truth is, Frieza, we haven't gotten any stronger. You though, you have got weaker and that's good enough for us."
"Weaker?" Frieza rolled the word over his tongue, and his eyes widened in realization.
Frieza glanced towards Bulma, but Nappa was in his line of sight instead. The Saiyan lifted his right hand, with a closed fist. His middle finger extended, followed by his index.
"Volcano Explosion." He called as the cylindrical explosive wave rushed towards the emperor.
Reacting quickly, Frieza spun his shield back up. It held strong against the attack, but only until it began enveloping him. Approaching from all sides, he had to thin his shield, and he cut it too thin. Cracks began to form along the surface, and he braced his hands against it, willing to survive. Hearing a pop behind him, Frieza risked a glance. Goku was there, blue energy ball in hand.
"Kamehameha!" He called at once.
The attack went through Frieza's shield like a hot knife through butter. Hitting Frieza, it launched him into, and through, Nappa's Volcano Explosion, which launched him into the air.
Over his shoulder, Frieza saw nothing but space. He was being pushed up and out of the arena. Rolling with the attack, he escaped the blast. Quickly sighting his target, he launched a barrage of Death Beams at Goku. As he charged, the Saiyan dodged as none of the attacks hit their target, making Frieza waste precious energy.
As Frieza got back down on to the same level as Goku, he charged in for a direct attack. Out of nowhere, an ax kick fell on Frieza's back and with effort, he was able to grab the limb with his tail and swing himself around to face Nappa. Letting his momentum aid him, he landed a haymaker on the side of Nappa's skull. The Saiyan winced in pain, but to the surprise of both warriors, Nappa stood his ground. Going tit for tat, Nappa hammered his own blow into Frieza's face, and the frost demon had to stop himself from screaming in pain as the knuckles dented his armor further.
The two began exchanging fast and heavy blows. Each one taking as much damage as they were dealing. Each one willing themselves to hold their ground. Once more to Nappa's surprise, Frieza was the first one to fall back, even if just an inch. But not looking a gift horse in the mouth, he sent Frieza flying with a rib cracking blow to Frieza's trunk.
Spinning into place, Goku appeared over Frieza, and dropped his foot into the emperor's chest. A thin line appeared on Frieza's body as he was embedded in the dirt once more. As he stood up and dusted himself off, small chips of armor fell to the ground.
"Looks like someone is overdue for a maintenance check." Goku grinned and winked at the frost demon.
"Why." Frieza spat blood onto the ground. "Why am I getting weaker?"
He reached into himself, attempting to summon all stored energy at once. He came back emptyhanded. Did, did the monkeys damage his internal system? No, it didn't feel like that. It felt, it felt like he was cut off from his power. Like a block was put up between him and his energy, and no matter how much he hammered on it, it wouldn't come down. Pointedly glaring at Bulma, he demanded answers through gritted teeth.
"What have you done to me, woman? Why can I not access my full power?"
"Lord Frieza." Bulma got back to her feet and snapped to attention. "I did precisely as you requested. I used the prototype robot that your father destroyed, that you customized, as a template for your modifications."
The rubble at Frieza's feet was thrown away as he drew energy from his organic parts. It wasn't enough.
"What do you mean? Explain yourself, NOW."
"Yes, Lord Frieza." She sneered as she saluted once again. "The prototype could have stored several days' worth of your energy output. Meaning, before you were modified, he could have severely overpowered you. You requested I modify him, install a limiter, so you could decide just how much power of his he would use. As it was your idea, we made certain to follow your demands to the letter."
Frieza took a step towards Bulma, trying to maintain his energy output for as long as he could.
"You miserable excuse for a subject. Deactivate the limiter at once, or suffer my wrath."
Bulma stepped backwards, towards Krillin.
"No. I refuse." She clinched her fists in her pockets, preparing for death.
"Fool. I don't need that power to finish you." He lifted a finger towards Bulma.
As a red Death Beam shot forward, a red soldier jumped the barricade and landed in the pit.
As the attack flew, Frieza cursed himself for ever trusting an Earth scientist. He was perfectly content to let the planet be. But now, now that he had been personally slighted by them, he would see to it that they were erased. No, they wouldn't be allowed to serve him. They weren't worthy of being his subjects. They were a treacherous race, and must be exterminated.
Goku appeared in front of Bulma, batting the Death Beam away with a simple sweep of his forearm.
"That's our Bulma." Goku cheered before he growled at Frieza. "She would never serve a tyrant like you. Now, let's finish this."
As Bulma processed Goku's words, a knife twisted in her stomach. Looking back, she couldn't say it. She couldn't say she left the limiter in for this. No, she was instructed to install it in the prototype and orders were carried forward. Yes, she left a weakness in Frieza. But no, it wasn't out of disobedience. It was a misguided attempt to follow her lord's orders to the letter. She bit her tongue as Nappa appeared behind Frieza.
"From the feel of things, Frieza." He wrapped an arm around the tyrant's neck and lifted him off the ground. "Your power keeps dropping. You're on borrowed time."
He squeezed with all the energy he could muster. It wasn't a massive amount, but it was enough to further crack Frieza's exoskeleton. Giving two quick jerks, followed by a series of punches directly onto the side of his head, Nappa let Frieza drop. Before he hit the ground, he delivered a spinning kick to his side and sent him away to an empty portion of the battleground.
Frieza didn't catch himself. He let himself land hard, followed swiftly by rolling and eventually slide to a stop. He had to maintain his energy. Levitating himself off the ground, he spotted four valid targets, a still incapacitated prisoner, and someone who was stupid enough to think he would need assistance.
"I am Lord Frieza, emperor of the galaxy. I will not be made a fool of!"
Disregarding the unmoving monk and moronic soldier, he threw his hands towards the Saiyans and Bulma. A massive barrage of Death Beams fell like sideways rain towards the warrior.
Not bothering to dodge, Goku deflected and blocked any attacks that got too close to Bulma, while letting the rest singe his clothes and burn his skin. Nappa was in a similar spot, standing in front of the downed Krillin.
With the focus momentarily on Nappa, Goku used one of Krillin's signature attacks.
"Kienzan!"
He quickly formed and threw the disc at the cackling emperor. While he didn't get the bisection he had hoped for, he did stop the attack, and he did take the demon's tail.
Now free to move once more, Nappa quickly prepared a Deluxe Bomber and threw the attack overhand at Frieza. The attack barely missed Frieza, who was forced to expel a large amount of ki to rocket himself up and away from the danger.
"Enough." Frieza growled under his breath. "I don't care anymore. I try to play nice guy. I try to diplomatically take over my brothers territory, and this is what happens? No, might makes right, and I am the mightiest being in the universe!"
He lifted his right hand in front of him and forced his ki into it. When he had reached the limit of what he could safely spare, he poured more into it. When he reached the limit of what he could spare without passing out, he poured even more.
"My father will find me drifting through space, again. No one will find you, or this worthless planet." He flicked his wrist and sent the Death Ball towards the ground below.
At once, Goku and Nappa were at the soon to be point of impact. Bulma was behind them, once more sitting on the ground. Krillin was still chained and collared, and Chiaotzu was somewhere, underground but hopefully safe.
"Kame…hame…" Goku prepared his attack, pouring all the energy he knew he could spare into it.
This was it, no more fighting, no more struggling. If they didn't win here, they wouldn't win. He wouldn't hold back anything more than absolutely necessary. Enough to teleport to Turles, enough to get to the healing chambers, and that was it.
"Hell Hurricane !" Nappa threw his arms and legs out beside Goku as he forced his ki forward. He didn't focus it, he didn't sharpen it, he just pushed it forward.
"HA!" Goku launched as blue wave towards the Death Ball.
Taking one more deep breath, Nappa snapped his right arm, left arm, left leg, and finally his right leg, forward. A massive blast shot forward from the entirety of his body, spiraling as it caught up with Goku's attack.
The two attacks met the one, and they began to interact. The Death Ball would gain a foot, and the Kamehameha and Hell Hurricane would widen, thicken, and push back. The attacks continued to struggle against each other, fighting for superiority, fighting for survival. The force of the attacks was absolutely incredible. Powerful shockwaves were sent out in all directions each time ground was gained by either side. The army of powerful warriors could barely keep themselves from being sent flying.
Bulma, behind her rescuers, was protected from a majority of the side effects of the beam struggle. Chiaotzu, was still nowhere to be seen. Krillin was like a wind chime in a typhoon as his chains rattled and his body struggled against the post. Jeice was flattened against the exterior walls of the arena, no longer able to approach the battle.
"An emperor will always stand supreme!" Frieza howled. 'Even with your technological trickery, I…will…kill…you…all! I will use your pelts to carpet my new palace!"
"That time is long over!" Nappa called back. "You are done! YOUR DAYS ARE NUMBERED!"
"You're doing a pretty crummy job looking high and mighty right now." Goku agreed with Nappa as he pumped another pulse of energy into his Kamehameha. "Then again, even if you were a frog, you'd probably proclaim yourself the prince."
Slowly raising their power output, the Saiyans leaned into their attacks. No longer was the Death Ball gaining any ground, and slowly but surely, it was being pushed back and towards Frieza. As agonized and infuriated screeches came from the unseen tyrant, Goku and Nappa felt his attack overtake him, followed by their own. To their surprise though, he was still alive when the energy dissipated.
"STUPID, MONKEYS!" Frieza screamed from overhead. "YOU KNOW I CAN ABSORB ENERGY, AND, AND YOU JUST KEEP GIVING ME MORE!" He felt the energy inside of him, feeling more alive than ever, after brushing the edge of death, as he directed it to the surface.
But to his dismay, it slid effortlessly past his blockage, and into storage.
Frieza cursed, but the word was cut short by Goku's fist smashing into his jaw. His teeth splintered, the shards of which cut the inside of his mouth as Nappa dropped his elbow into the back of his head. As he was launched towards the ground he felt pieces of his exoskeleton being peeled off by the wind resisting him. He didn't have much time to think though, as Nappa quickly gave chase, tackled him as they continued towards the ground, and hammered heavy blows into the small of his back.
Frieza never did hit the ground, not that he was aware of. Goku met him there, just above the planet. His knee dug into Frieza, scrambling his organic and synthetic internal components, and sending both himself and Nappa back into the air. As Nappa was able to twist them around, get under him and kick him further into the air, Frieza was helpless.
At the top of his arc, Goku dropped an ax kick into his open wound, nearly ripping him in half. Before he could fall far, he was caught by Nappa once again. The massive Saiyan smashed a palm into either side of his head, and stared into his red eyes.
"Burn in hell, Frieza." Nappa summoned his ki from his core, then into both his hands and mouth.
Frieza screamed in furious hatred as the Open Obliterator erased everything above his shoulders. No longer holding any part of the frost demon, Nappa watched as his body fell to the dusty arena floor.
Slowly the crowd realized what had happened, who had won, and a rapid retreat quickly turned into an all-out stampede as a planet full of Frieza-loyalists fled their emperor's killers.
Ignoring the chaos around him, Goku kept all his attention on Frieza. He was drained, they were both drained, but Goku smiled. He was still alive. Trusting his body to handle the fall, he dismissed Super Saiyan and all external ki use. He let himself fall to the ground below. He had meant to maintain more energy, but as it was now, he'd barely be able to get them off the planet, and he couldn't risk flying any longer.
Nappa snatched Goku out of the air, and with more tenderness than he would ever admit, softly landed next to Bulma.
"Is, is he okay?" She knelt at his side.
"Yeah." Goku panted. "I'll be fine. Just, I'm almost empty, and we need to get out of here." He shut his eyes and took in the world around him. "What, what happened with Krillin?"
Nappa cursed as he got back to his feet. Quickly locating the smaller fighter he rushed to his side.
"Take the collar off of him!" Bulma shouted the instruction. "It's not lethal."
She bit her lip as she inspected Goku's body. He had burns from head-to-toe, there was no way he'd get out of this without massive scars. His wrists were bruised from the shackles. But even more, where Frieza grabbed him, he had several puncture wounds.
Nappa took Krillin's collar in both hands and gave it a tug. Another thing he wouldn't admit, the toughened material was, was nearly a match for him. He chuckled at the mighty Super Saiyan, defeated by a simple strap of leather, before realizing his Super Saiyan energy had faded. Not caring to figure out when that happened, he gave the leather another tug, and ripped through it, allowing it to fall to the ground.
Krillin's eyes shot open and he looked around. "Nappa?"
The Saiyan allowed himself to fall backwards, leaving Krillin where he was.
"It's over." He looked into the dark sky above. "You missed it. Frieza's dead."
He fought to take a deep breath, and ended up panting his next few words. "You'll, you'll need to get, get yourself, out of the chains."
Effortlessly, Krillin snapped the chains. Spotting Bulma and Goku, he lifted Nappa into a fireman's carry and approached the others. He wasn't alone in doing so.
Jeice got to them first and knelt beside Goku, on the opposite side from Bulma.
"How can I help?" He forced eye contact with the woman.
"Get Chiaotzu." She nodded towards the crater, in a crater, that he was lying in. "And do you have any way to heal him? You're strong, but, but we need him, now." She glanced around the scarred battleground.
"N-not really, but hold on." Jeice quickly stood and ran to the lip of the crater. Not bothering to look first, he jumped over the side, landing directly beside the downed psychic warrior. Scooping the dwarf into his arms, he slowly fed some of his energy into his body. He was alive, but he was clearly injured. Jeice couldn't heal, but he could fuel a recovery.
Jeice returned to Bulma's side as Krillin arrived with Nappa. He sat Chiaotzu, now snoring, gently near Goku's feet and placed his hands on the Saiyan champion.
"Are you awake?" He asked as he felt Goku's strong heartbeat.
"Yeah, I am." Goku said after taking a deep breath to exhale with.
"I'm going to give you my energy." Jeice began forcing his ki into his hands and directly into Goku's body.
Goku's body noticeably didn't react. His burns were still blistering, his cuts were still sealed as he had left them, and his bruises were still dark.
The Saiyan kept his eyes closed as the energy poured into him. He wouldn't be able to fight, not for a while, but his confidence in the Instant Transmission working grew by the second. He took another deep breath and slowly let it out.
"Is this everyone?"
Krillin looked between Bulma and Jeice, and opened his mouth to ask who he was, but Bulma spoke before he could.
Bulma called names as she looked around the group. "Krillin, Chiaotzu, Nappa? Me, and my partner, Jeice. We're here. Is there anyone else?" She had almost paused, stumbled, on who Jeice was to her, but, no other word could describe all of him so promptly
"No." Goku brought two fingers of his right hand to his forehead. "Everyone, grab on."
He searched the cosmos as he waited until Bulma grabbed his left elbow, Krillin and Nappa grabbed his ankles, Jeice touched his left shoulder, and Chiaotzu was placed in his left arm. After everyone was together, and Turles was felt, he willed himself to the ship. And they were gone.
Author's Note: I had very high hopes for this chapter. And since StevenBodner did the choreography for the battle, I think this is the chapter I am most proud of. Please leave a review with any thoughts you may have.
ALSO:Would you rather I try to stick to a consistent schedule, as I previously have, with my standard length and quality, or would you prefer I go to a post as their done routine?
Thanks for reading.