Author's Note: short chapter today, but action packed. Maybe Santa will slip a little something extra in you inbox over Christmas?

I haven't been keeping very on-top of replying to reviews and comments lately, but be assured that I read and treasure them all! Truly, reader reaction and interaction is the food that feeds the fic writers.

'What just happened?' Goku said, having missed the action while answering Bulma.

'Frieza mashed Vegeta over that way.' Brolly was white-faced, looking as worried as Goku felt. They'd been dashing around, trying to keep close enough to the fight to see what was going on without getting so close they'd get caught in the crossfire. They'd seen enough to know that Frieza was grinding Vegeta down.

'I can't sense Vegeta anymore.'

A plume of dust rose up from where Brolly pointed. They started in that direction. Beneath them the ground rumbled, and the Ajisa trees that were still standing were shaking their fluffy tops madly as the ground kicked and lurched. A crack! crack! cracking sound rang out across the plain, and Goku gasped to see a fracture spread from the plume and race along the ground below them.

'This is intense.' Goku said. 'I hope Vegeta is all right.'

'I hope the planet is all right.' Brolly said.

Goku grimaced. He hadn't thought a fight could be big enough that it might have consequences for a planet. 'Come on! We need to keep up, or Frieza might finish him before we can butt in!'

'This is insane!' Brolly said, catching up with him and flying alongside. 'Surely there's another way out of this? The others almost have all the balls - there must be a wish we can make so that we don't need to fight!'

'If you can think of a wish!' Goku said. 'I kinda think the fight is the obvious way to go, but...I suppose for the sake of the galaxy, if there's a wish that can stop Frieza we should make it. But remember, the dragons can't wish for someone more powerful than their creator to be defeated. And Frieza could kill Guru, no sweat!'

Vegeta drifted, little fragments of memories falling though his mind like colourful leaves violently shaken from a tree. His father patting his head at the banquet table; Bulma putting on her socks in her capsule house bathroom; Nappa's knowing grin across a bar table; a sunset he'd seen on some almost-forgotten planet purge. He watched it all go, fluttering by, too tired to focus on anything. He needed sleep, and only the heat stopped him from drifting off entirely. He stirred, and found he couldn't move his body. He opened his eyes to darkness, and tried to push himself up and away from whatever held him, all his muscles screaming with stiffness and pain as they encountered resistance everywhere. His back felt like he was on fire. His bare hand was scorched where it touched rock. He smelled burning fabric and sulphur.

He jerked, coming back to full consciousness. Tilting his head back, he could see a thin sliver of green sky far, far above. He was wedged in a deep cleft. When he looked down, a dull red glow bathed his face in blistering heat. He was in the fucking bedrock! The lizard had almost put him through the planet's crust!

He powered up enough to break himself loose and begin flying up the cleft, but he soon slowed and stopped. It was narrow, and the jagged rock tore at his skin and the rags of his training suit. He could feel Frieza, not too close by, and he imagined he must either be looking for him or waiting for him to emerge from the ground. It would be foolish to rush headlong into another ambush from above. He wasn't sure he'd survive another. He would take his time instead, move laterally through this fissure and come up slowly, elsewhere, having had some time to recover. At the thought of getting some time to recover he couldn't resist the urge to rest against a bulwark of broken rock. Just for a second. Two seconds. Three. A few more. How easy would it be to sleep?

Don't you fucking dare!

He took another, deep, shuddering breath to stave off the blackness. Sleeping at a time like this was guaranteed death. He wasn't thinking straight. The air down here must be bad.

He half climbed, half flew most of the way back to the slice of sky above, to where the rock was cool on his burned skin and the air sweeter. Then he began travelling away from where he sensed Frieza's chi. He needed a plan if he was going to win this. He wasn't out of the fight yet, but he'd be a moron to deny that it was looking bad for him. For every attack he landed on Frieza, Frieza got two on him. He was exhausted, but Frieza did not seem to tire.

He felt the discharge of chi behind him. A rumble reverberated through the space and the rock beneath his hands shuddered, a cascade of debris falling from above and forcing him to look down to hide his face from it. A few moments later it happened again. Frieza was getting impatient. Was he trying to make sure he finished the job? Without a scouter or the ability to sense chi, Frieza must have no idea if he was dead or alive right now, and was methodically blowing up the area he thought Vegeta had landed in.

He hurried, flying again, steeling himself and his chi to deflect the shards of stone he clipped as he got faster and faster, on and on until the cleft grew so narrow he was smashing his shoulders on both sides. He went up instead, emerging cautiously into the light. The air was dusty, but he thought he could see a tiny figure in the air, confirmed when that figure dispensed a fat slug of pink chi directly at the ground. It exploded around the top of the crack, and the dirt under Vegeta shook again.

Well, if Frieza is looking at the ground, he won't be looking over here.

He ran, not too fast, along the ground, looking for boulders and shallow creek beds and whatever else he could use to cover his path as he headed for the low ridge of a valley. The explosions continued behind him.

It's a strategic retreat.

As soon as he judged he was out of sight he ran in earnest, putting a mile between himself and Frieza before collapsing to the ground, sucking in lungfuls of cool Namekian air. He sobbed for a moment. He was in no shape to win anything. So what should he do? Run, and keep running? Let Brolly and the others finish what he'd started? How weak would that be? He just needed to hang on long enough for the others to wish him immortal. If they did.

Remembering the earpiece in his pocket, he fished it out. It had been crushed. He threw it away, and reached for his transponder, but it was gone, torn away unnoticed during battle.

I just need to hang on long enough. Just live that long, please!

Was it possible that night sometimes fell on this accursed planet?

As they travelled away from the largest sun, it lowered in the sky, seeming to cast the landscape into a sped-up sunset. The pretty sight brought Bulma no pleasure or peace.

They touched down in an area relatively thick with ajisa trees, not far from an abandoned village. As soon as Bulma, Puar and Caraco clambered out, Bulma strode into the trees, following the directions from the radar, leaving Caraco standing in the open, waiting for Nail, who was still to catch up. Over the rise she found a shallow indent in the hill with a murky pool at its centre. Puar appeared over her shoulder.

'It's in there?'

'Yes.'

Bulma walked to the edge of the pool, but hadn't even made it to the water before she started to sink into the thick, slippery mud around it's edge. She slid into the shallows, mud sucking at her sneakers, pulling her further into the pool. Below the surface the bank of the pond was steep and treacherous. She U-turned, throwing herself back to the safety of the grassy bank before she ended up swimming in the mudhole, and got filthy mud all over her legs for her efforts.

'Crap! I don't know how we'll be able to see the ball to find it! I don't even have any equipment capsules with me.'

'I brought some of the capsules in the pod,' Puar said. 'But I don't think we need them. I'll get it.'

She floated over the centre of the pond, then transformed herself into a large, blue octopus with a tan underbelly. 'I'll feel it out!' she chirped with the octopus beak.

'Are you sure?'

Puar twisted one tentacle tip into a thumbs up. She took a deep breath, something a real octopus wouldn't need to do, and dropped into the water. Bulma watched the swirling surface of the pool, counting the seconds before Puar came up again.

Nail and Caraco came jogging into the dell.

'Where's Puar?' Caraco asked.

'In the pool.'

Both boys made a sound of dismay.

'What?'

The pool surface churned and then Puar shot from halfway from the water, blue tentacles flying out. 'Bulma!' she shrieked, hoiking the dragonball at the shore. Then she was yanked down again.

'Puar!'

'Polgati!' Caraco cried.

Nail caught the ball before it could roll back into the pond and passed it to Bulma. 'Stay here!'

He dived into the water, his green babyface set in a stern expression.

'What's happening?' Bulma screamed. 'What's a polgati?'

'That is!' Caraco said, pointing as the surface erupted again, a black, spidery beast was hauled into the air by Nail. It seemed to be all limbs and a monstrous mouth at it's centre. Yellow, needle-like teeth serrated a jaw three feet wide, into which it was trying to stuff Puar, who was back in her cat form.

Screaming, Bulma and Caraco sprinted back to the trees as Nail swung and crashed the writhing thing on the spot they'd been standing. It was as big as a car, and it squealed in protest as Nail tore off the segmented limb that held Puar in it's pincers. Then he backed up and took a flying kick that shunted the monster back into the pond.

'Polgati is the only creature left on Planet Namek that is dangerous to Namekians,' Caraco said as they watched Nail free Puar from the pincers. 'They make deep pits that fill with rainwater and wait for other creatures to get stuck in them.'

Bulma shuddered. She had been close to falling in herself.

'She's hurt!' Nail said, rushing the cat over to them.

Puar was panting, eyes wide, two spreading spots of blood decorating her pale chest fur.

'Its hooks pierced her,' Nail said.

'Oh, my god, Puar! Hold on! Did you bring the medical supplies in the pod?'

She was about to sprint back to the pod when Caraco said, 'I can heal her!'

'How?'

But he was already hovering his hands over Puar, eyes closed in concentration. He began to chant under his breath. Bulma thought she saw something like a shimmering heat distortion between his hands and Puar.

Bulma looked at Nail in desperation. 'Will this work?'

Nail nodded. 'It should do. He is Tsuno's best apprentice.'

Quite soon, Puar stopped panting and relaxed into Nail's hands. Gingerly, she reached up to rub at the bloody spots on her chest.

'It's gone!' the cat said. Then she burst into tears. 'I thought I was going to die again!' She floated into Bulma's arms, who wrapped her in a hug.

'How did you heal her?' Bulma asked.

Caraco smiled. 'Traditional chi healing. Many Namekians can do it.'

'Not many can do it that well though,' Nail added. 'Caraco is modest.'

Bulma looked at Caraco with newfound admiration. She was glad they had him along now.

'Amazing!'

Caraco beamed.

Puar lifted her head from Bulma's shoulder. 'And way better than being stuck in a regen tank for hours.'

Bulma frowned. 'What did you mean, you thought you were going to die again?'

The cat had gotten over her tears and now looked somewhat uncomfortable. 'Well, I didn't actually die, just thought I was going to.'

'What happened? When?'

'Ah… I'll tell you about it later sometime.'

They moved away from the polgati pit back down the slope to the clearing where they landed the pod to wait for Krillin and Raditz.

Bulma decapsulated the other four balls, placing them with the fifth, and then paced the clearing, beside herself with worry. She moved to touch her transponder, then decided better of it. It had only been a few minutes. Wouldn't they tell her if things had changed?

'Sorry about last time,' Nail said, distracting herself from her thoughts for a moment.'

'For what?' she asked.

'For summoning the dragon too soon. I won't make the same mistake this time.'

She nodded in acknowledgement, biting back the automatic response to say it was fine. It hadn't been fine. It had almost cost them everything.

'I'm sorry too,' she said instead. 'That I'm back here asking your people for more wishes and Frieza is back again. It's hardly fair.'

'No,' he agreed. 'It isn't.'

'Vegeta's not dead,' Goku said as they flew towards the barrage of chi-bombs Freiza was throwing at the fractured ground.

Not quite dead, Brolly mentally amended.

'I can feel him further out. Frieza's got the wrong spot. Maybe he'll get away?'

'He can't win this,' Brolly pointed out.

'You're right. I think we need to step in. He's done.'

Brolly covered his mouth with his hand, his quesiness almost getting the better of him for a moment. Nothing he had seen had made him remotely confident he could keep up with or even defend against Frieza. What Goku suggested sounded like suicide. What would it be like to die? He was sure it would hurt a lot. And then what? Would it be better than this? He feared it wouldn't. His hell would be this day, over and over again for eternity.

'I-I don't know how you can be so calm. Y-you're basically flying to your own death.'

Goku cast him a quick frown over his shoulder. 'You can't think that way! You don't know what's going to happen!'

Yes I do! I'm going to freeze, be overpowered and murdered. And the rest of you don't even seem to care!

'I wish...I wish I wasn't the Super-Saiyan.'

If Goku heard him, he didn't give any sign.

I'd wish it on you.

The explosions in the distance came to a stop. Vegeta came to alertness again, listening and searching with his chi. Frieza was moving away. That made him uneasy. What would Frieza do if he wasn't hunting for him? Interfere with the search for the dragonballs? If he encountered anyone besides Brolly, they were dogmeat.

He rolled to his feet again and into the air. Tracking Frieza from behind, he increased his speed until he could just see the spec of Frieza's white form in the distance. He felt a little better for his time out, a little more hopeful. Then he sensed Kakarott and Brolly's chi closing in from the side, angling to meet Frieza. Did they think he had died? He was nowhere near finished! Outraged pride erupted inside him like an instant power-up. This was his fucking fight!

He put on a brutal burst of speed, the effort leaving him feeling squeezed out, like the tube of "toothpaste" that Bulma managed to get a little bit more out of every night, when it was plainly empty.

Frieza halted in mid-air, spotting and hailing the two younger Saiyans, and while he was distracted, Vegeta barrelled into him from behind, tackling the lizard around the waist and bearing him downwards. He caught the gormless expressions of surprise on Kakarott and Brolly's faces for an instant as he passed.

Frieza wailed, taken completely unaware, and Vegeta couldn't help a moment of satisfied laughter before Frieza put the brakes, preventing the rocky faceplant Vegeta had planned for him. Reacting, he swapped his hold on Frieza's waist for a chokehold on his neck. The instant his arm was wedged under Frieza's chin was the same instant Frieza's tail wrapped around his chest like a boa. Shit, he'd let himself get too close! He already knew how strong that thick tail was, like a bonafide fifth limb!

'So...you're..not...dead...yet,' Frieza croaked out.

'Hurry up and choke!'

'Ha!'

Frieza's tail constricted, forcing the rest of the air from Vegeta's lungs in an involuntary cough. Several things popped inside him. He couldn't breathe in, but still he kept his hold around Frieza's neck.

Frieza lowered them to the ground, but if he was in any distress he didn't show it. He stood calmly, he even crossed his arms before him patiently, waiting… What for?

Panic jolted though Vegeta. He should have remembered this from his first fight with Frieza! Frieza didn't need oxygen! He was definitely going to lose this game of chicken!

He abandoned the chokehold and began clawing at Frieza's face, searching for his eye sockets.

'Uh!' Frieza twisted his face away, then swung back, biting at Vegeta's hand. He caught the flesh on the outer side of Vegeta's palm and tore a chunk away; Vegeta would have screamed if he could. The world flipped, then Vegeta was slammed into the rocky earth, Frieza's weight bearing into him, and his back bent the wrong way over the thick tail that held him. There was a terrible pain in his chest, and he tasted blood in his mouth. He lost his hold, his vision was growing dim around the edges, unable to react fast enough as Frieza turned until he faced him, catching both his arms and pinning him. Vegeta fought back, but his struggle was useless against the unflustered lizard, and he grew weaker with each second without oxygen. His heart was beating faster and faster, like it would burst.

'I only need air to speak!' Frieza announced gleefully. 'My father was right - it pays to hide your strengths as well as your weaknesses!' He bent closer to Vegeta, sneering. 'Shall I watch your light go out?'

Vegeta could do nothing but stare in horror at the cut-ruby eyes and wine-dark lips. Would it be the last thing he saw? He closed his eyes, regretting his hubris of only minutes ago. He should have let Brolly step in. Now he would die.

The pressure around him released and Vegeta drew in a breath and immediately choked on it. He coughed and spluttered, blood flooding his mouth as he alternated between whooping in breaths and drowning in his own blood. He opened his eyes to find Frieza standing over him, a satisfied smile on his face. This was his last chance to escape, but standing was out of the question; he didn't seem to be in control of his body. One of Frieza's prehensile claw-feet came down on his lower abdomen, pinning him needlessly.

'So, we have reached the end, you and I.' Frieza sighed. 'It is not as cathartic as I expected.' His tail swung into view, and Frieza cradled its stump end like a baby. 'Sometimes I wonder if it was worth all the effort, but I hate to look at this thing and know that the scum that did it still lives. And after all, if I hadn't pursued you, I would never have discovered the secret wishing orbs of the Namekians. I suppose in a way, I can thank you for my immortality.'

Hatred filled Vegeta. How many times had he been forced to listen to Frieza's self-congratulatory musings? The gentle chidings covering a cruelty like knives? And it was going to be the last thing he heard.

Or was it? Each second that Frieza talked was another second that he remained alive, and another chance for the others to summon the dragon.

Come on, come on, please!

Frieza's eyes strayed to Vegeta's middle. 'My, what do we have here? Do you Simians possess some sort of regenerative biology?' Frieza leaned down, grasped Vegeta's own tail and unwound it from his waist, flipping him over in the process. Vegeta landed on his knees, his face pressed to the ground. The wave of pain that accompanied the movement was so sickening that he wretched, blood splattering the dirt instead of vomit. He barely felt the pain of Frieza tearing his tail off for the second time.

'Fascinating. Fascinating and disgusting. And I would hate for you to die with some shred of honour or dignity intact. I guess I will have to imagine you begging for your life, as you seem unable to talk, but you are on your knees, so that is something.'

But Vegeta had begun to catch his breath. Now that he was no longer flat on his back, the blood had stopped drowning him. Every breath was shallow and agonizing, but he could breathe.

'I..don't...care about a...fucking tail.'

'Really? I thought Saiyans were meant to care very much. Your father seemed quite dismayed when I took his.'

What was he talking about? Vegeta pushed himself to his elbows and then rolled over to face Frieza, the effort and pain making him almost causing him to black out.

'When?' he managed.

Frieza smiled. 'When he and his so-called Elites stormed my mothership while it was in orbit around Planet Vegeta. He demanded I release you to him, or he would kill me!' Frieza threw back his head and laughed. 'The underestimation of the millenia, I'd say! Even years later it never fails to amuse me, the thought of that buffoon threatening me!'

My father came for me.

Zarbon had told him that his father had been murdered on Frieza's ship, and Frieza admitted that he had killed him, but until that moment Vegeta hadn't really known why. He'd hated his father for not coming to take him away, but it turned out that he had tried. Had he known he would likely die in the attempt? And the Elites? That meant Aubergina was probably there, too. Both his parents had fought and died for him.

Vegeta's disdain for his father cracked right down the middle. He was no better than the man, after all. More powerful, physically, but in every other way, they were more alike than he'd ever admitted. He was even going to die the same way, in a noble fool's quest against Frieza. His heart squeezed with the desperate hope that the Saiyan gods that he'd never really believed in delivered him to an afterlife, and a Saiyan host waiting for him in Hell.

'They were all dead in moments,' Frieza went on, 'except for your father. I took a little extra time with him so he could really appreciate how badly he'd failed before he died. I wanted him to know that all he'd succeeded in was sealing the Saiyans' fate. You see, I had been pondering destroying your planet for a while, but that night helped me make my mind up. The Saiyans were, how should I say? Too ambitious, too proud, to be allowed to continue.'

'You'll...die...for that.'

Frieza lifted his hands and smiled. 'Who will finish me? Not you.'

'The…Super...Saiyan...is here...on Namek.'

He could feel Kakarott, but especially Brolly, not far off. He reached out a hand in their direction, willing them to hear his silent plea.

Now fools! What are you waiting for?

'This is it!' Goku cried. 'Brolly! We have to attack now or he's going to kill him.'

Brolly sucked in breath after breath, his wide, but still-skinny chest heaving visibly. 'Not yet - I'm not ready!'

'It's not about being ready! Come on! Vegeta needs us!'

'I need...I can't fight Frieza! He'll kill me too!'

'We have to try!'

The two tiny figures, the prone one reaching out a beseeching arm to them, dimmed before Brolly's eyes. He looked up; above the broken plain, dark clouds boiled into existence from nothing.

'Goku! The sky is going black! They've summoned the dragon!'

Goku spared a glance at the sky. 'It doesn't matter. We have to attack now!'

'But no one's asking you to fight that monster to the death!' Brolly protested. 'Everyone is just expecting that I will! You don't know what that's like!'

'If you don't come, I'll fight Frieza alone,' Goku said.

When Brolly still didn't move, Goku flew on ahead, hoping Brolly would follow like he had so far, more afraid of being left behind than the danger ahead.

'Wait!' Brolly shouted after him. 'Wait! Hold on, Goku, I thought of a wish!'

And then he flew away from the fight.

Shocked, Goku turned and saw Brolly's breathtaking acceleration, his slipstream flaring purple with chi for a second before he was gone from sight.

'Fuuu-d-ck!' Goku hissed. Looked like he was going it alone.

Frieza's smile froze. 'Do you expect me to believe that one of your hapless underlings is this Saiyan folk-hero?. No more pointless lies, Vegeta! If you are not the "Legendary," which you patently aren't, then it doesn't exist! And even if it did, what do I have to fear? I can't die, Vegeta. I'm immortal.'

The world was going dark. Vegeta blinked, fighting his failing eyesight. But then he saw that in the sky behind Frieza's head the clouds were churning, thickening unnaturally, blocking out the suns. They'd done it.

'Not...for much...longer,' Vegeta said, and grinned with bloodied teeth.

'What do you mean—' Frieza halted, looked up and saw what was happening to the sky at last. 'NO!' he howled at it, then turned back to Vegeta for just a moment longer. 'DIE!'

He pointed a finger, a laser-like beam of energy striking Vegeta right in the centre of his chest. Vegeta jerked in shock at the instant of searing pain, and then fell from his elbows to his back again. His body felt impossibly heavy, and when he panicked, his heart didn't race. He felt like the ground was swallowing him, the darkness at the edges of his vision growing until it swallowed everything, becoming absolute.

Is this it?

His mind wandered, like he was falling asleep, and the panic slipped away with his awareness. One last thought remained, flickering across the screen of his mind, the last light in the dark. A blue haired girl, laughing.