Reformed Saiyans

Chapter Twenty-Four: Zarbon's Demise

A/N: Sorry about the late upload, I got so sidetracked. My computer is coming back in a couple of days.

As Krillin's kamehameha wave disappeared, the short lived new foe as well had disappeared with it. Krillin deactivated his Kaioken, already feeling mild stress from the technique for leaving it on so long.

During that, Piccolo had vigorously fought against Faju, or...struggled to fight, as the fight continued, it quickly became known that Faju was much more powerful than Piccolo.

"An invigorating fight! I have yet to fight a Namekian that has yet to be this strong!" Faju said. He swung his leg at Piccolo's head but Piccolo blocked it with his right arm, negating some of the damage. "The strongest one I had fought before was at a mere five thousand and five hundred powerlevel! Just a little above half your own strength."

Faju hurled his fist at Piccolo's chest, but Piccolo blocked with both of his arms, Faju launched his knee but Piccolo moved to the side.

"Damn it! I can barely keep up with this bastard!" Piccolo said in thought. He really couldn't, he was barely dodging, it was much safer to block, which kept him on the defensive, however the more he blocked, the less pain he negated. It soon started to weaken and Faju's attacks quickly became stronger.

Faju spun around, swinging his foot, doing a roundhouse kick at Piccolo's head, landing successfully. Piccolo powered through, kept himself from moving at his current position, and hurled his fist against Faju's gut. Though Piccolo was damaged quite a bit from the kick, even to the point where his mouth slightly bled, Piccolo ignored it.

His fist landed against Faju's two arms, as the red-skinned fighter had scrunched up quickly, to protect his gut. Then Faju stretched out swiftly, and rapidly threw a barrage of kicks. Piccolo enveloped himself in his energy, and placed his two arms in front to block yet again, each attack thrown became more and more painful.

"Wham! Wham! Wham!" Faju's kicks became heavier and more powerful yet still quite fast. About a dozen kicks later, he launched his foot against Piccolo's jaw, then into his gut, and even before the Demon King's son could gasp for air, another kick was whipped against his right cheek.

Piccolo plummeted towards the ground, with Faju chasing his body down. Faju reached the ground before Piccolo did, and awaited the Namekian to fall to the ground. However Piccolo stopped himself, and spun around to regain his balance. Faju looked with a bit of surprise, but quickly brushed it aside to chase his prey once more.

However when Faju finally caught up with Piccolo, something else had kicked him in the back. After regaining his balance near the ground, Faju looked to see what it was, it...it was another Piccolo!

Faju stared at the sight with a bit of shock. "There's two of him?!" Faju thought. He shook his head. "No it has to be some kind of cloning technique. This should be easy enough, most split the power between clones, I should be safe."

One clone of Piccolo rushed after Faju, throwing his foot at the red-skinned alien, Faju inched his head away, grabbed the clone's leg, and spun rapidly. After a few seconds of rapid build-up, Faju released his grip and stopped spinning afterwards.

The clone crashed into a nearby hill, Faju smirked in his easy victory but then he was kicked in the back again, by yet another clone.

As Faju stood back up, he sent an irritated glare. "Another damned sneak attack?! Asshole!"

Two clones charged after Faju, from the right and left side of his front. They both sent several attacks at the red-skinned alien, a massive barrage in fact, but Faju dodged it all. He shook his head in disappointment, as he continued to dodge for another minute.

"Is that the best you can do? Multi-Clone techniques are useless." Faju said. "All they do is split the User's power into two, three, four, or more depending on the amount of clones. You'd be better off fighting as one than more."

One clone scoffed, another rolled his eyes, Faju grinned widely at the two. He darted to one, launched his fist into the clone's gut, and then grabbed it's arm. He threw the clone at the other clone, and unleashed a powerful energy blast, obliterating the two.

"Now where is the real one…" Faju thought out loud. He darted his eyes around searching for Piccolo. "SHOW YOURSELF SCUM!"

No response, or it was no response until his scouter went nuts. Suddenly a power, west of him, was rising from ten thousand to eleven thousand to twelve to thirteen to fourteen, even up to fifteen thousand. A puddle of fear and panic erupted inside Faju.

"W-What?! F-Fifteen thousand?! That's impossible!" Faju yelled. He clenched his fists angrily, and growled under his breath. "There's no way any one of you can be that powerful! What's with this trickery!"

Faju rushed to the scene, exactly where his device had told him to go. There he saw the same Namekian, not a clone but the original, charging his energy, and unleashing immediately on the sight of Faju.

"Special Beam Cannon!" Piccolo yelled. The beam moved so fast, Faju had almost zero time to react, however the red-skinned alien managed regardless...or he thought he did. "BLAST!"

The energy beam redirected itself to Faju, and then from the sphere end of it, a violent explosive energy exploded against Faju. It grew and grew as the rest of the beam made its way to the point of the blast.

There was nothing Faju could do to protect himself.

Piccolo panted heavily, and let a grin appear on his face. "I think that should just about do it." He said.

He was wrong. Faju's body, while still alive, unconsciously fell to the ground, missing half a right arm, tattered clothes, destroyed armor, crimson hair gone, and lost left foot. The powerful impact on the ground broke his back, further damaging his already fried body.

Piccolo hurried to the site, to assure his life status. When he arrived, Faju had opened his eyes, reacting quickly, the red-skinned alien stood up. He looked at himself with rage.

"I...I've been reduced to this!?" He yelled.

Piccolo smirked at Faju, further angering him. "Looks like an improvement if you ask me." Piccolo taunted. Faju growled through his teeth with fierce viciousness.

"You dirty bastard!" Faju yelled. "I am Sergeant Major of the Frieza Force! How dare you!"

Piccolo lifted an eyebrow. "How dare me?"

"Yes how dare you reduce me to such a state! A state that only shitty scum like you should be!" Faju replied.

"Tch! Do you know what's wrong with people like you? You act as if you're the strongest being in the world, that nobody can touch you. You sit on a non-existent throne, and pretend you're above everyone else." Piccolo said. "You blame those who you deem below you, worthless, the problem, scum. And yet you can't even see for yourself who the true scum is. You're the real scum, you can't even realize that there will always be somebody stronger than you. Somebody to stand up to you. And you hate it when people are."

PIccolo took a few steps forward, as the silently enraged Faju growled through his teeth. Piccolo cracked his knuckles.

"Unlike you, I can win a fight without sheer power, and strength." Piccolo said. "Because unlike you, I'm not some trash-talker who can't back anything up."

"Y-...You shut your mouth you lying bastard!" Faju shouted. Piccolo smirked, not only had he won the physical battle but the mental one as well, Faju had nothing better to say than screaming insults.

Faju leaped forward, and hurled his fist, but Piccolo caught it. Faju's speed was drastically reduced thanks to the amount of blood loss he had, as well as his power.

"Now you'll meet the end you deserve!" Piccolo yelled. Faju's intense rage was overwhelmed by incredible fear, and hatred as well. His eyes widened, and his body trembled. Piccolo rammed his knee into Faju's gut, stunning the red-skinned fighter, then threw Faju across the landscape.

Piccolo placed his two hands on his forehead, and a small yellow energy sphere generated in front.

"MASENKO-HA!" Piccolo shouted. He shoved his two hands forward, and unleashed a torrent of yellow energy that quickly consumed Faju. After a short moment, Krillin arrived, super surprised to see Piccolo perfectly okay.

Krillin blinked twice as he looked around, seeing only Piccolo standing. "Uhm...I guess you don't need any help?" He said.

Piccolo nodded. "All taken care of. Let's break for a few minutes, continue to the Grand Elder's after a rest." He said. "We'll regroup first of course."

Krillin nodded in response, and the two regrouped with Gohan and Dende.

"It should only be another fifteen minutes to get there." Dende said. "I heard the Grand Elder has healing powers, so he might be able to restore you guys."

"Really?!" Krillin replied excitedly. Dende nodded in response. "That's awesome!"

"Then let's not delay any further." Piccolo said. The others nodded in response, and followed Piccolo along as he stood up and took off.

"Nine hundred and ninety-seven! Nine hundred and ninety-eight! Nine hundred and Ninety-nine! One thousand!" Goku shouted as he counted each pull-up he did. The Saiyan took a short break after reaching one thousand, catching his breath. He turned to the display on the chamber's main controls.

The gravity setting was at sixty g's of force.

"Man! Who knew gravity could get so heavy!" Goku said.

"You're telling me! I'm still trying to get used to walking in this heavy gravity!" Yamcha replied. He took a few slow steps forward, the gravity pushed down on his body. "It's giving me some serious neck pains!"

Raditz rolled his eyes, and scoffed. "Tch! Amateurs!" He yelled. "If we have any chance of surviving this, we need to be stronger!" Raditz sighed to himself. "This is crazy...Just too crazy, and I don't even know why I'm going along with it! I should just turn this damn ship around and….No..I can't."

Raditz sighed again, thinking to himself for a moment, staring in space. "I guess I should consider myself lucky, and should be thanking that idiotic brother of mine. If it weren't for him, Vegeta would've done away with me. Agh. I just hope we can get this done and over with. The sooner the better."

"The sooner we master sixty gforce, the sooner we can reach one hundred! So train harder! Faster!" Raditz shouted.

Raditz continued doing dozens of reps of sit-ups.

"At this rate, I'm becoming super solid." Goku said. "Regular gravity is gonna feel non existent!"

After being done with his short break, Goku continued doing tons of push-ups. The three fighters were trying to get used to doing regular regiments in each gravity level before being capable of sparring in such heavy gravity. Though by the time they're able to even spar around, Raditz would be ready to bump the gravity up.

They had to be careful when sparring though, there wasn't much room to do so. Yamcha would typically split himself between two, and use his Kaioken technique to make up for the split power.

For the few times they did any sparring, it was nothing short of a close combat session.

As Frieza's spaceship touched down on Planet Namek, his tremendous power sent shuddering spines to those throughout the Planet. So fierce and dark, you could feel it within a solar system.

Piccolo, Gohan, Krillin, and Dende stopped in their tracks.

"W-What the hell!" Piccolo gasped. He quickly whipped his around, facing the direction of where it came from. His eyes as well as the three others next to him's eyes, widened with intense shock and fear.

"T-This p-power!" Krillin stuttered. He shook his head. "N-No! These t-two powers! T-They're massive!"

"Is this that Frieza guy, Uncle Raditz was talking about?" Gohan asked.

All four couldn't believe just how powerful this newcomer was. His power toppled anything they could've imagined, far beyond belief. It was so big that it made the opponent Vegeta was fighting earlier look like a legit ant.

As if he could simply look, and if they, Vegeta, the opponent from earlier, had combined their powers, and he'd still win. What was scarier, was next to him, was another powerlevel, not quite as strong but definitely up there, intense and powerful. He could as well do the same as Frieza could.

"There's two hellish powers! And one of them has to be that Frieza guy.." Piccolo said. After quickly collecting his thoughts, and making a quick assessment he continued. "I think the energy, that is Frieza, is the darker and stronger ki. I can't quite figure it out, but the one near him feels familiar, as if we knew him or something."

Piccolo was right, Krillin and Gohan both recognized it, yet at the same time couldn't tell who it was. It was familiar, basically recognizable, but something was different about it, enough that it changed the signature of that user's ki.

It felt mind blowing, and they could help but feel incredibly shook.

"If these two powers are here to threaten Namek. Then we should hurry." Dende said. His face had begun to look almost as if he were to tear up, but Dende remained calm. "Please! We must hurry to Grand Elders."

The three nodded in response, and they all continued their flight, despite the tremendous ki.

"Finally...It's about time we have arrived" A voice echoed. The voice revealing to be a short demon humanoid, with two pairs of black horns donned on his head, a purple-brown battleplate around his chest, and black undergarments. His skin was pink but with several short small lines of black, he had a large tail with a purple tip, his eyes were bright red, his skin around his face, hands, and feet were a lavender colored purple.

He also had this purple dome atop of his head, it reflected like glass yet looked sturdy and strong. The reptilian-like demon had also rode this strange vehicle, controlled by his energy. He whipped around from the glass window of his ship, and slowly exited.

"Come General. We have much to do." The man said.

The bruteish hairy man behind him bowed. "Yes Lord Frieza."

The two exited the ship, with several soldiers following behind them, passing by other soldiers who guarded the ship.

"Men!" Frieza shouted. They all stood firm waiting for a response. "Spread out and guard the ship. I have to have a little talk with our First Lieutenant." Frieza's once pleased looking face turned into an angry expression at the mention of the First Lieutenant. Nothing has ever made him so enraged before, yet he chose to remain calm.

Frieza and the bruteish hairy man, he called "General" continued to the ship near their ship. This was the one led by Zarbon, First Lieutenant of the Frieza Force. On que, Zarbon had already stood outside, awaiting Frieza's arrival.

Zarbon kept a blank expression, yet inside, he was trembling, knowing what to come. Frieza motioned for the General to stop, and Frieza floated gradually out of his vehicle-like device. He then took several steps forward til he was a foot away from Zarbon.

"Did you find Vegeta?" Frieza asked.

"Yes Lord Frieza!" Zarbon answered. He was quick to respond, and assured to nod. For a moment, Frieza paced around the teal-skinned man, making Zarbon unnerved, yet also curious. Zarbon was smart not to ask though, especially after the mess he had made.

"What was his condition?" Frieza said.

"Vegeta was nearly dead when I found him, but we hav-." Zarbon stopped, his body stopped for a moment, for one whole second, it felt like an eternity. A sudden intense pain shot through his body before the teal-skinned alien could finish his sentence.

"I see…" Frieza replied. The Demon pulled his fist away from Zarbon's eye. In his hand held the First Lieutenant's eye. He floated back down immediately after. "Don't bother with the med bay, or I'll kill you. Got that?"

Zarbon gulped and nodded. "Y-Yes Lord Frieza!"

"Can I get a report on Faju and Duran." Frieza asked.

Zarbon nodded. "Faju and Duran had left a while ago in search of securing other Dragon Balls. We have not heard from them since and it appears their scouters are offline."

"I see…" Frieza said. His rage intensified, although he remained calm on the outside, the rage he held within radiated powerfully outside.

"Let's see the crimes you have done. Disobeying my orders, taking lead without permission or at the very least, being competent enough to know what you're doing. Nearly killing vital information, killing a witness to vital information." Frieza said.

He tapped his chin with his index finger, then continued pacing around Zarbon again, the First Lieutenant was in immense pain from his eye, but he had to resist otherwise Frieza would make it so much worse. He had to endure it no matter what, Zarbon had feared what Frieza might do next. So despite all the blood loss coming from his face, he simply endured.

"Am I forgetting something?" Frieza said, thinking out loud. He continued to mumble under his breath, collecting his thoughts to assure himself of what else Zarbon had done. "I see that there is only four Dragon Balls in possession…. Disappointing."

Frieza narrowed his eyes on Zarbon then continued. "Putting it simply, A dead witness, almost losing vital information, disobedience, taking charge without permission, and impermissible use of my Chief Officer and Sergeant Major." He said. "However, given that you did save Vegeta, lucky that he was alive, as well as usually excellent in your missions, I will be a bit generous."

Zarbon let a sigh of relief, but then tensed up once more when Frieza continued talking.

"First Lieutenant Zarbon! You're hereby demoted by your commanding officer!" Frieza shouted. "So be sure to grab your bags out of your officer, you're nothing but a simple Corporal now."

Zarbon looked shocked. "B-But Lord Fr-" Once again, Zarbon was cut off, Frieza rammed his fist powerfully into his gut. Zarbon fell to his knees, coughing a small amount of blood from his mouth.

"Talking without my permission...no...Protesting against my words, careful Corporal, you're asking for a death treatment." Frieza replied. "I will let you off this once, but if you talk without permission again unless talken to, you will be executed."

Frieza turned around to face the struggling Zarbon, and got close. "Do I make myself clear?" His tone became deep and firm. Zarbon nodded in response. "Good."

"Now please keep a good eye on Vegeta for me, will you? That should be a simple enough task for your incompetence." Frieza said. Zarbon nodded once more

Frieza then turned around, hopped in his vehicle and turned to the General.

"General." He said.

"Yes Lord Frieza!" The General replied.

"It seems we have a new spot in the army, a higher position, for the spot of First Lieutenant." Frieza said. He turned around and look at the pathetic display that Zarbon showed, still clutching his stomach as he stood up. Then turned back. "Would you be interested in it."

"All I'm interested in is getting my revenge to Vegeta and those Earthlings." The General replied. "But if its what you wish, I'll shall accept your most gracious offer."

"Then consider yourself promoted, First Lieutenant Nappa." Frieza said. "Come now, let's return to my quarters."

Nappa nodded, and followed Frieza back. However Zarbon, who overheard, his once fear expressed face, turned into incredible anger and fury.

"Wh-WHAT?! SOME STUPID FILTHY APE TOOK MY POSITION?!" Zarbon yelled in thought. He seethed with rage, growling through his teeth, clenching his fist angrily. Once he knew Frieza was completely gone, he slammed his fist against the ground. "THIS! THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE! I'M SUPPOSED TO BE FRIEZA'S RIGHT HAND MAN! I'M SUPPOSED TO BE NEXT TO INVINCIBLE! SO WHY IS IT THAT, TODAY OF ALL DAYS! I'M PLACED BENEATH SUCH GARBAGE!"

Zarbon's face welled in tears, not of sadness but frustration, his face became intensely angry. "IT'S ALL VEGETA'S STUPID FAULT! IT'S HIS FAULT! AND EVER SINCE THOSE STUPID EARTHLINGS SHOWED UP, AND THAT OTHER NAMEKIAN SHOWED UP, IT'S BEEN GOING HAYWIRE! I'M GOING TO MAKE THOSE BASTARDS PAY FOR WHAT THEY DID! THEY'LL RUE THE DAY THEY CROSSED PATHS WITH ME!"

Zarbon growled ferociously, clenching his fists tightly in raw anger. He stood up a moment later, and swallowed the lump in his throat, returning to the ship in which he led. He entered the medbay, and sat, waiting for Vegeta to recover.

Staring at the Prince with pure hatred and rage.

"Lord Frieza, permission to speak freely?" Nappa asked.

"You may." Frieza answered.

"Why did you send Firs-...erm, Corporal Zarbon to watch Vegeta?" Nappa said. "Wouldn't it be better for me to have watched Vegeta? I know him best, and his tricks. I'm almost far far stronger than him and Zarbon combined. Wouldn't it be safer?"

"As wise as it would be, it is Zarbon's mess, he is to clean it up." Frieza said. The demon turned his head to Nappa. "You're not to meddle with it unless I state otherwise, got it?" Nappa nodded in response. "Good, Zarbon will have it handled. If something goes wrong, it'll be on him."

Nappa remained quiet. He had gone through such a painful, torturous month, with Frieza. Through it all, he grew stronger, faster, mightier, quicker, and although he still is with his faults, Nappa could care less. His aim, his goal, was revenge, and that's all he had been thinking for that long month, that kept him going.

To the point where he stopped shaving, and surprisingly grew his hair back. Albeit not quite as thick or luscious as when he was young, his goatee however was plenty thick, and his chest and back hair were bushy.

He could feel his revenge within grasp, he just had to keep waiting…

After a short moment, Frieza spoke again. "And well...I had called the Ginyu Force already, I might as well utilize them first." He said. "You'll be more of a last resort, but rest assured, I'll make sure that Vegeta's death is yours to take."

"T-Thank you Lord Frieza." Nappa replied.

"It's a small price to pay to have my eternal life, and a loyal yet powerful subordinate." Frieza said.

To be continued…

Frieza: ?

Nappa: ?