Sky-Kaiser reporting in once again for another chapter!

Now, I was originally going to include the entirety of the fight in the Northern Wastelands in Chapter 4, but I decided that a cliffhanger would go more in line with an anime like Dragon Ball. So I decided to break off with Nabana jaw-dropping at Yamcha's risen power level...

But your wait is over, and now we're going to see Yamcha show us something we never knew he had.

Also, I'd like to apologize if this is a short chapter. Thanksgiving had me slammed. And Christmas will probably have me in the same situation.

Remember, if you like this story, I beg that you rate and review. I love reading people's comments, and I want to know your thoughts on all this. BUT DO NOT FLAME.

Speaking of reviews, I think I will take time to answer a couple of comments.

"Oscurolight" asked if there was going to be someone with Future Trunks. No, F. Trunks will be alone, like in canon.

Also, to answer an anonymous guest's criticism, I am afraid that Gohan will not be romantically involved with Videl. A good deal of different things will take place differently, and that will be one of them. Also, I'm actually not a fan of the G/V relationship, even with its canon marriage status... (sigh...) but I will take your other notes into consideration.

Alright! Moving on from that, let's go ahead!

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball Z Kai, Dragon Ball Super, or Dragon Ball GT. That is the property of Funimation, Toei Animation, Fuji TV, Shueisha, and Akira Toriyama.

Chapter 5: The Future Reveals Itself


Silence.

That was the response that Frieza graced Nabana with, having heard the alien's declaration on Yamcha's power level. Frieza looked back to the human staring down his father, then back to Nabana.

In a fit of disbelief, Frieza shoved Nabana back and turned back to the two, focusing his one synthetic eye on Yamcha while shutting his organic eye for better focus. The doctors who had replaced his missing body parts had installed a high-quality energy scanner within the replacement eye, allowing him to survey the unsettled desert bandit. Much to a surprise, he received the very same power rating: 80,000,000.

"That's..." Frieza was aghast. "That is almost half my full power... I am calculated around 165,000,000. My father, 180,000,000. But... how can a human almost reach half strength to us?!"

Nabana, still refusing to believe the reading he was getting, tapped the 'reset scan' button on his Scouter repeatedly as if to see if his Scouter wasn't malfunctioning. He even scanned Vegeta and his power level of 2,500,000 to make sure it was working correctly. He got the correct power measurement. He scanned Yamcha again, and of course, he still ended up with 80,000,000.

"That's crazy!" Nabana told Frieza. "The Scouter's fine, but I keep getting the same reading! Dammit, if there's more power besides that, I'll crap myself! We already know these guys can hide their power! What if they're holding back, too?!" Nabana's dialogue quickly descended into terrified babbling. "God, this day's turning into a nightmare! I'm gonna end up just like Cousin Eachpei at Planet Vegeta! And Appule on Namek! What do I...?"

"QUIET, SOLDIER!"

Nabana squealed and flinched, his Scouter almost falling off the side of his head.

"Cowardly imbecile..." Frieza growled. "Even if that human was hiding some sort of unknown power, I doubt that he has more beyond that! We have records of humans from other planets, and they are a weak species. So I deny the possibility this human can go much further than what he already has."

Nabana was not reassured, regardless, and stood back along with the remainder of his force, hoping that they would not have to fight again.

Meanwhile, the Z Fighters decided to take a moment to do a double-take on what they were beholding. They were attempting to comprehend how Yamcha had suddenly grown in terms of power and daringly assaulted King Cold like a wild beast. Krillin kept wiping his eyes as if trying to correct his vision, when in fact it was perfectly fine. And he couldn't simply deny the power he felt radiating off of Yamcha. Never before had any of them seen him like this. And none in the current vicinity had a logical explanation on his state.

However, King Cold had allowed a small smirk to come across his face as he observed his current foe, having been bored with his previous opponents and now being presented with what seemed an actual fight, something not even Vegeta could provide. Lifting his chin and glaring down at his opponent with crimson, remorseless eyes, King Cold made a small huff as he stood ever so casual, as if beckoning Yamcha to come to him.

Yamcha accepted the invitation and let out a roar of displeasure as he sprinted in all-fours at the Frost Demon challenging him. Upon reaching him, he raked his sharpened nails at Cold's face. The alien blocked the attack with his forearm, only for Yamcha to follow up with his foot, which managed to crash into Cold's chin and make him stumble backwards. Yamcha followed up by placing his feet to Cold's chest and kicking off, further knocking the tyrant back. As he recovered, Cold pointed his index finger, where a tiny speck of ki coalesced on the tip. A series of narrow purple beams were fired at Yamcha, who bounded in-between the blasts before closing the distance again, slamming both his palms into Cold's chest and further staggering him.

The former Emperor of the Universe did not take kindly to this sudden combination of attacks, and crouched to the ground as Yamcha bounded towards him like a wolf bearing down on its prey. Cold then sprung upwards to take to the air in a massive jump, attempting to gain ground and find a window to power up as he had been merely toying up to this point. Yamcha missed his mark when Cold jumped, but quickly readjusted and ascended after the reorganizing tyrant. As King Cold made to focus on raising his power to full, Yamcha interrupted next thing, making use of a vicious flipping axe kick that shot the extraterrestrial right back down to the ground. King Cold stopped his descent about a few feet off the ground. The disgruntled alien looked back up at Yamcha, growling in annoyance.

Yamcha gave little time for the Frost Demon to recover, descending towards the ground with a foot aimed for his opponent. Cold propelled himself sideways to avoid Yamcha's booted foot, which slammed into the ground with tremendous force. Rock was sent flying in all directions. But even the missed attack did not slow down the desert bandit down as he reset himself to burst forward and back after Cold. The vicious alien attempted to find a means to counter, clenching his fist to create a field of energy in Yamcha's path. When Yamcha entered the circle of power, King Cold opened his hand as he thrust it to the sky. Suddenly, a tormenting maelstrom of power erupted from the ground, a powerful exploding wave of force that made Yamcha disappear from view...

There was a painful pause as the practical energy mine subsided, and the Z Fighters stared in shock as they saw no sign of Yamcha. Gohan, Krillin, Tien and Chiaotzu looked the most aghast, besides the hiding Bulma, who looked absolutely horrified. Had she... had she just witnessed Yamcha die again...?!

Her fear and her disbelief were about to make her let out a desperate, despairing cry of 'YAMCHA!' when...

BOOM!

Faster than anyone could track, Yamcha burst out of the smoking area of effect from King Cold's attack with a deep sound that reflected the power he was exerting. Howling with rage, Yamcha caught King Cold off-guard as he landed a devastating elbow to his jaw, then followed up by raking his nails - now more like claws - across the tyrant's chest, leaving deep, bloody scratches that pierced his breastplate. Were he not the species that he was, King Cold would have most certainly died at that point. It was only thanks to his unique physiology and durability that he did not lose his life.

"AAUGH...! DAMN YOU!"

King Cold reared back his left fist, which was coated in energy as he made to pay the infuriated human back for the grisly wound. Yamcha jumped over the strike, front-flipping to land behind the monarch. Cold reared back his tail and lashed out with it, but Yamcha once again jumped to avoid the tripping blow. Sticking his landing to Cold's back, he grabbed the middle of Cold's tail and dug in his nails before jumping off the alien's back - still clutching the tail - and...

SPLORCH!

King Cold let out an extended shout of agony as he tripped forwards, the remaining half of his tail bleeding immensely from being torn in half. Cold only managed to land on his knees before taking deep breaths to cope with the terrific pain stinging his rear appendage. It was only because he aimed to play around with Yamcha, but thanks to lowering his power level, he had paid a grievous price.

King Cold's subordinates on the sidelines could hardly believe what they saw. Their great leader - former Emperor of the Universe - he was being put down by what they assumed was a lowly human, but was much more. In a panic, they clamored for their king to get back to his feet, jumping up and down and waving their arms frantically.

"WHAT THE-?!" Nabana was on the verge of losing his mind completely. "NO, I DID NOT JUST SEE THAT! HE CAN'T DO THAT!"

"Father, you fool!" shrieked Frieza incredulously, waving his hands in the air in furious, agitated movements. "Enough toying with him! Are you not holding back?!"

While the reactions of the Frieza Force were negative, Yamcha's dominance in the situation earned positive feedback from his teammates, who were astonished yet optimistic with how Yamcha seemed to be on the verge of triumph.

"Holy... look at that!" Tien remarked with astonishment, rising up to bended knee to see clearly Yamcha's most recent feat. "Yamcha's bringing him down!"

The other members watched from their spot on the ground, beginning to cheer on their rattled comrade.

"Go, Yamcha! That's what I'm talking about!"

"Yeah, that's it, Mister Yamcha!"

"Incredible..."

Though she could not voice her own praises, Bulma's bright blue eyes were big and in awe. Never before had she seen Yamcha do something remotely close to what he was doing now. All the hype that had been built up around the father to the Emperor of the Universe, and Yamcha was dismissing him like he was not even there! Sure, he must not be in a right state of mind, but Bulma, regardless, was wowed.

"Now I just gotta make it up to him after this..." she noted to herself.

Meanwhile, King Cold has returned to his feet, hitched breathing through clenched teeth as he tried to cope with the traumatic loss of half of his tail. He looked back at Yamcha, who tossed the torn tail away and growled at him, his voice still menacingly deep.

"How's it feel to be knocked off that high-horse of pride, Your Majesty?"

Again with the snarling voice. Everyone present, minus Frieza and King Cold, remembered why they were unnerved.

King Cold made a deep, surly sound in his throat as a response to Yamcha's taunt, a sound born from agony and rage. Rising to his feet, he acknowledged his adversary with a quiet, shaking tone. That was a danger sign indicating that his composure was starting to fall to pieces.

"My patience is tested," he stated simply. "You have managed to do what very few have accomplished... to actually make me feel pain. To harm me."

Suddenly, the ground cracked beneath the feet of the Frost Demon as he built up a deep yell, his body being immersed in a violet aura of raw ki as his power level rose dramatically. Yamcha stood his ground, returning to all fours as he looked for an opportune moment to strike. He seemed to be awaiting for Cold to reach a certain amount of strength before he resumed his attack.

"Due to your ability to cause me such irritation," King Cold continued, his fist clenching, "I will grant you the honor of seeing the majority of my magnificent power!"

Yamcha actually stayed where he was for duration of Cold's charging sequence, as if waiting for him to show what he had. Likewise, everyone sensed what kind of power Cold was building, and became somewhat unnerved. They knew if it rose much higher, it would slip out of Yamcha's range of strength, and he would surely die...

"Almost half is all I need."

Yamcha took off from the ground, cancelling King Cold's rising on power with a merciless scratch to the face, followed by a knee of the gut and a painful left elbow to the top of his head. The sudden combination left King Cold reeling back, yelling loudly from the last strike; a dent had been put in his cranium from Yamcha's elbow. The ex-bandit came at the Frost Demon next with a sphere of ki in his right hand palm and thrust the dangerous gathering of power forth. The ki sphere exploded on contact with the jaw of the monstrous alien, and Cold left the ground again, stopping himself about 8 feet off the ground.

"Enough!" snapped King Cold, pointing his finger; it began to bristle with ki. "Your insistence that you are superior to a royal is beginning to leave my patience at a critical low!"

"Yamcha, watch out!" Krillin cried out, reaching his hand out. "He's gonna-!"

But Krillin was left unable to complete his warning out to Yamcha, as a narrow beam darted from Cold's finger yet again, aimed directly for Yamcha's forehead. The nature of the Death Beam was that of an attack too fast to track, and he was hoping this offensive technique would put an end to Yamcha's attempts at winning.

But as luck would have it, Yamcha could see it coming at him. Thanks to his increase in power, he was able to see his opponent's projectile coming at him, whereas his friends would've simply seen the beam materialize and phase through its target. Flipping backwards, which was more of an unnecessary show-off move where he could've simply blocked it with his hand, Yamcha swung his left foot upwards to impact the beam and kick it right back. In a remarkable "return to sender" move, the piercing ki "laser" impaled King Cold's arm, leaving the tyrant shrieking in fury. This human was making a fool of him!

As King Cold turned his focus back to Yamcha, the desert bandit proceeded to appear inches from his face and plant his knuckles into his cheekbone. Still at 45% or so power, the Frost Demon did not take the strike very well and felt a wad of saliva escape his mouth. Yamcha, in a merciless mood, proceeded to pummel his hapless foe. Raking his claws across Cold's body, he aimed to tear him limb from limb. Cold found himself flinching and attempting to hopelessly defend himself from an unrelenting onslaught. His arms were raised in a blocking position, so they took the brunt of Yamcha's sharp nails. They were soon covered in bloody, jagged scratches, as not even the bony cartilage on King Cold's forearms could defend against such brutal slashing.

And then Yamcha's hands began to glow...

"WOLF FANG FIST!"

This declaration of the name of his attack was followed by the rapid strikes associated with his unique, barraging rush; these powerful, sharp strikes broke through King Cold's feeble defense and left him at the mercy of (or rather, lack of) the unhinged thief's attack. When this combo concluded, Yamcha put his palms together and pushed them forcefully into Cold's scratched chest. The impact actually created a powerful shockwave that sent King Cold hurtling backwards once again!

Even with that, Yamcha was hardly finished. Putting his index and middle fingers together, he conjured a golden ball of energy orbited by a few small specks of ki. This was the Spirit Ball, his signature ki attack; a ball of power literally controlled by his own will. Winding his hand back and then forth, the ball of energy sped at the speed of a bullet towards the mobile - and still not reconstituted - King Cold. The projectile passed Cold, and Yamcha jerked his fingers back.

The ball was tugged backwards and slammed into the former king, stopping his unwilling trip away from his adversary. Then Yamcha swiped his fingers to the right, and the ball came back to hit Cold again. Those watching observed how Yamcha's fingers were pointed at the ball, and how when he flicked his fingers in a different direction, the ball moved that way. He was controlling the sphere of energy to bat Cold around, leaving singing burns from where the Spirit Ball touched him.

Then Yamcha maneuvered the ball to uppercut King Cold right in the chin, and brought the ball right down for one last attack. The ball spiked King Cold down to the ground, catching him and bringing his massive body back to earth. The Frost Demon impacted with the force of a meteor his size hitting the ground, and a detonation of dirt and rock resulted. Cold disappeared in the cloud that was kicked up by his rough landing.

Yamcha observed his work for a second before descending to the ground. Much to his chagrin, he still sensed Cold's presence. He certainly recognized that what he was doing at the moment was nothing more than fooling around. King Cold was still vastly more powerful than him, therefore it would be a tactical decision to attempt to kill him before he tried to power up fully.

With the cloud of debris from where King Cold disappeared from view, Yamcha returned to all-fours. Once he saw King Cold again, he would make short work of him. And then he would do the same to Frieza. As he prepped himself, he heard the cheering of his comrades from behind, but they came to him as an indistinct buzz in the back of his ears and mind. He was not concentrated on them. Cold was his priority.

Now Cold came back into view, disoriented and trying to regain his surroundings. But seeing his objective was all he needed. Sprinting like the wolf inside of him, Yamcha made to end it, his elongated nails glowing with silvery blurs trailing off of them as he made to tear and rend the Frost Demon apart...

BAM!

...and then there was intervention in the form of King Cold's son.

"NO!"

"YAMCHA!"

"DAMMIT!"

"YOU CHEAT!"

That was the response of the Z Fighters, who had seen Frieza move from his position far too late. Slamming one of his metal feet into the side of Yamcha's head, the long toes of the cybernetic manipulators clamped down and brought him back to the ground. Yamcha thrashed around like a wild animal, attempting to break free and scratching at Frieza's metal legs, but not doing so much of a dent upon them. Frieza responded by stomping on Yamcha's head with the force of a steel hammer. This forced Yamcha's head into the solid rock beneath him and leaving an indentation.

"Perhaps now you have the opportunity to make up for the embarrassment of a display that was, Father?" Frieza muttered aloud to King Cold.

"Do not test me, my son," snarled King Cold in warning. "I have already met enough infuriating circumstances today."

Yamcha continued to fight back as he was pinned to the ground, despite it being a very helpless situation. While he toiled to break free from Frieza's hold, King Cold clenched his fists and hunched his back up, beginning to raise his power beyond Yamcha's capability of managing him. The enraged, prolonged yell of the former ruler echoed through the air as power skyrocketed dramatically. Despite sensing the new gap being created by King Cold ascending past half his power, Yamcha howled and scratched even harder against Frieza. Still no effect.

"You will stay where you are," Frieza spoke in an ordering tone. "You have forced our hand into becoming the cruel taskmasters we are having to be in order to keep you rabble in line."

Not that Yamcha cared to listen. He still berated Frieza's legs with his sharp nails as if to find some kind of chink in his defense. But the half-cybernetic tyrant's metal legs seemed as unbreakable as the rest of his body. It didn't stop Yamcha from trying his damnedest to free himself, ignoring that the one holding him down was not fazed by his scrabbling.

But Frieza reacted to the cry of "TRI-BEAM!" from the sidelines, and was blown back by the impact of Tien Shinhan's signature attack. Frieza dug his mechanized talons into the rock, anchoring him down as he slid back from the blast. Yamcha looked to his side to see Tien with his hands forming a triangle as his reticle, firing another blast guaranteed to impact with the force of a wrecking ball. Again, Frieza was blown back, but not as much as before as he had learned to brace himself. Then Frieza retaliated, raising his hand to the sky and gathering a gleaming, bright yellow power in his hand. Tien hoped to fire a third Tri-Beam before Frieza countered, but the blast came all the same; Frieza placed his open hand in front of him to shoot forth a goldenrod beam, and shortly after Tien actually commenced with firing an additional Tri-Beam... but only when Frieza's "Death Blaster" was a mere foot away from hitting its target. The Tri-Beam did stop the attack, but the force of the blasts colliding sent Tien back. But unlike Frieza, he was sent tumbling away.

Then came Gohan, Krillin and Chiaotzu, but they were coming for Frieza's father rather than Frieza himself. Out of the corner of his organic eye, Frieza saw them and and made ready to deal with them as his placed his index and middle fingers together on his non-synthetic hand. The fingers brimmed with a dangerous kind of energy that hummed unnervingly. Then Frieza swiped his hand in front of him, and an enormous wave of pure psychokinetic energy flashed out in a crescent of dangerous power, slicing into the ground near the three small heroes' feet. The raw energy packed inside of the "Fissure Slash" caused the ground to spontaneously combust; the shockwave knocked Krillin and Chiaotzu to the ground, but Gohan sped past as quickly as possible to get to Cold. Gohan could care less if it would be a fruitless gesture, regardless of how tiny he was compared to King Cold, in both size and strength. And as King Cold watched the half-Saiyan boy approach, he halted his charging process to extend his finger.

A foot planting into the back of the Frost Demon's head stopped the attempt on Gohan's life; Piccolo, doing his best to ignore his still regenerating wounds, managed the blow that set Cold's aim sideways, causing the Death Beam he fired to miss Gohan by a fine margin. The half-Saiyan took the advantage and readied his ki into his hand, charging a spherical version of his Masenko. Hurling the projectile like a baseball, the Masendan crashed into the side of King Cold's head. Piccolo made to add to the damage by slamming his fist into King Cold's back, but Cold lurched backwards with his left forearm crashing into Piccolo's abdomen. Pulling his arm around the stunned Namekian's head, he made to try and snap Piccolo's neck, but Gohan intervened further, creating a new Masendan to blast his alien adversary point-blank.

Gohan's intent was simply to avert King Cold from taking Piccolo's life, as he still understood how hopeless it was trying to hurt the Frost Demon. All he knew was that keeping Piccolo alive was important. In fact, keeping everyone alive was important. Despite the fact that everything seemed to offer no hope as they fought to stay alive, Gohan could care less. It was better than just laying down and dying. And he most certainly would not let Mr. Piccolo perish so quickly, not if he had the power to say otherwise.

Not caring how weak he was in the face of such a monumental foe, Gohan yelled at the top of his lungs as he pitched the Masendan with great force. But the cruel monarch had other plans as he relinquished Piccolo... only to throw him in the path of the blast! But quickly adapting to the new problem, Piccolo pulled an aimless jump so that the Masendan would miss him. Cold had moved accordingly as well, unfortunately. Gohan and Piccolo regrouped and lifted their hands above their heads in tandem.

"Masenko-!" they began to chant, before an invisible force hurled them forward: Frieza had blasted them from behind with a kiai that pushed them right into the charging King Cold, who bull-rushed the before they had time to act. Thankfully, Gohan and Piccolo avoided the horns, but they had to endure the broad pauldrons on King Cold's armor bash into their faces. And that was before they understood that he was gathering energy, as when they did, the king expelled it from his body in a massive explosion with him at the center. The half-Saiyan and the Namekian were blown back without much resistance.

The situation had returned to all the Z Fighters on the ground, defeated and beaten on the ground, while Yamcha himself was still pinned underneath Frieza's metallic leg. He had not ceased attempting to get out from underneath his captor's foot, and was still struggling like an angry animal locked in a cage. The men of the PTO viewing the display were laughing at the pathetic display, and that only prompted Yamcha to scrabble at Frieza's legs with more ferocity. Frieza paid him little mind.

"Perhaps it is cliché of me to touch on this subject," Frieza said casually. "But were you in any state of mind to speak to me, I would suggest that you join our Empire..."

"BITE. ME."

Frieza looked down at the afflicted human as if to say something along the lines of 'So you will talk to me,' but then he noticed that Yamcha's elongated nails had gotten themselves under Frieza's metal kneecap; Yamcha then pried the steel open, hoping to tear him apart from his legs up! Frieza quickly raised his foot to stomp on Yamcha's head, but the feral man rolled out of the way before the inorganic foot of the tyrant indented a small crater into the ground. Ignoring how close he came to death, Yamcha got to his feet and kicked Frieza in the head before leaving him for King Cold...

...and out of the corner of his eye, he saw a bruised but furious Vegeta barreling forward for the same target. A Death Beam shot past Yamcha's shoulder, giving Yamcha the knowledge that Frieza had recovered quickly. Putting it in the back of his mind in favor of shredding King Cold to meaty chunks, he reached the older Frost Demon a half of a second after Vegeta did, raking his claws forth as Vegeta aimed a solid kick at the enemy's knee.

King Cold threw Vegeta off-balance with the stump of half his tail bludgeoning his temple. He used the momentum to spin him towards Yamcha, blocking the claws with his forearm (though he still drew blood). Cold now slipped behind Yamcha - moving extremely fast for someone so big - and shoved his elbow into the back of Yamcha's head. Yamcha yelled in agony as he tripped and collapsed...

STOMP!

...only to scream more as the tyrant proceeded to stomp on his back! Pressured against the ground, Yamcha felt some of his ribs crack from the horrible impact. Spit shot out of his mouth, and his eyes went wide with pain...

"YAMCHA!"

...and then he heard Bulma.

Despite the immense danger, Bulma could not have controlled herself. Her boyfriend was being tortured in her line of sight, and she could not keep silent.

And the worst part was that King Cold's men had caught sight of her, as well as Frieza.

"Take her into custody," Frieza grumbled, addressing two of the men that his father had selected to serve under him.

The two PTO grunts that Frieza had spoken to were a humanoid with a bulbous helmet and a cannon installed into his gauntlet. His friend resembled a bipedal crocodile, and had similar armor, except that he had spikes on his helmet, possibly to conceal horns. Saluting Frieza with a "Yes, sir!", they began to soar over to Bulma's location.

From where he could see her, Yamcha watched as Bulma covered her mouth and tried to hide. But already the two troops were flying to where she was, and he was not in the condition to pursue them. Try as he might, however, Yamcha tried to get up, only for King Cold to stomp on his back again. Yamcha felt another rib crack as he wheezed out a soundless cry.

A ki blast that almost resembled a fireball struck King Cold from behind. Yamcha moved his head to see Vegeta with his hand outstretched, his palm smoking. King Cold returned the offense simply by thrusting his hand forth. Vegeta was pushed onto his back by an unseen force: an obvious kiai. Dismissing him where he lay, King Cold left the beaten Yamcha where he lay to face the defiant Saiyan Prince.

Yamcha could care less for Vegeta, so he turned to see the cliff where Bulma had been standing watch. And much to his dismay and horror, the two soldiers Frieza had sent after Bulma had caught her. She was thrashing and shouting profanities until the crocodile man pointed his plasma cannon at Bulma and threatened her with a retort of his own; something Yamcha really couldn't hear, but it mattered none. The fact was that Bulma was in danger.

"Let her... go..."

His voice did not sound as deep and raspy as it had earlier. It seemed as if all traces of his earlier animalistic behavior were beginning to fade. He gritted his teeth, starting to get back up, but with difficulty. He felt as if his snapped ribs were jabbing his lungs, or that they had even punctured them. Either way, he felt it hard to breathe.

His back was turned to King Cold as the latter had performed the same method of torture on him as he had on Yamcha: stomping on him to ensure that his ribs cracked. Pinning him to that exact spot, King Cold created a tiny orb of power upon the tip of his finger.

"Now you will have the honor of dying at the hands of a true king, Prince..." King Cold told him "Be thankful that I will be the one to end your meaningless existence... my son would not be as forgiving as I am."

Vegeta could've wished for the air to spit a final word of defiance at his tormentor, but he was too wounded and out of breath to say anything more. Yamcha heard King Cold speak behind him, however, and knew that Vegeta was preparing to enter the next world once again, perhaps for good. Possibly as damaged as the Prince, Yamcha knew that he would never reach him in time. Even if he wanted to save him, he wouldn't be able to reach him before Cold pierced him with a Death Beam. He could still hear the laughter of King Cold's men in the background at the impending demise of Vegeta...

...then a scream rang out, and it caught everyone's attention.

It came from the direction of Bulma's location.

Bulma's eyes were wide with fright and shock as a steel blade protruded from the humanoid PTO soldier's abdominal area. His friend let out a cry of surprise and pointed his gun, but the blade withdrew itself from the already dead man, and the next thing Bulma knew, the crocodile man's arm came off. He had no time to scream, as the blade - a finely-crafted sword - passed through him and bisected him through the waist. The freed Bulma whirled around to see her rescuer, but by then they had leaped over her head. Bulma feared that her head would come off, and ducked with hands on the top of her head to avoid decapitation. The blow never came, though, and she heard someone landing below the cliff she was on. Opening her eyes, she got back up and looked over the cliff to see that whoever it was who had saved her...

The sword which had cut down the two soldiers was placed back into a red sheath, which was carried by strap on the back of a young man who appeared in his early 20s. The new arrival was clad in a black tank-top covered by a short, indigo jacket that only reached his abdomen... and the Capsule Corp logo was stitched on the left sleeve of the over-wear. His lower body attire consisted of dark grey pants, held in place by a white belt. His feet were clad in a pair of goldenrod boots. A small computerized watch was wrapped around his wrist. He had a head of straight lavender hair that was neatly parted from the top of his head to both sides of his face that reached to his ears. Twin strands of hair draped over his forehead. His eye shape evoked a somewhat stern visage, and his eyes were a brilliant blue.

King Cold was actually distracted enough that he postponed his attempt to kill Vegeta. And both was joined by Gohan, Krillin, Yamcha, Tien, Chiaotzu, Piccolo, Frieza, and the soldiers working for the Frost Demons as he glared directly at the half-machine tyrant out of all of those present.

"So," he said calmly, holding the air of one who thought nothing of slaughtering two men. "You must be Lord Frieza."


HALLELUJAH, I FINISHED! I'm sorry I took a little longer than I meant to.

And I really hate seeing Yamcha get beat the crap out of him, but he's not going to suddenly become a Gary Stu because reasons. I want him to have a meaningful character arc. Still lose a couple of times, but get wins here and there, too.

So... power levels.

* Mysterious Young Man: 5

* Planet Trade Organization Soldiers: 2,000

* Nabana: 5,000

* Chiaotzu: 40,000

* Yamcha: 100,000 (80,000,000 in "feral" state)

* Tien: 120,000

* Krillin: 150,000

* Gohan: 1,300,000

* Piccolo: 2,400,000

* Vegeta: 2,500,000

* Mecha Frieza: 165,000,000

* King Cold: 180,000,000 (20,000,000 in suppressed state, 70,000,000 after first attempt to power-up, 120,000,000 after second attempt to power-up)

Big thanks to Childhood Enigma for helping me with the story, and thanks to LastationLover5000 for inspiring me to write something I like.

Well, see you next update, my peeps! Hopefully Christmas won't sideline my interest in writing as much!

Sky-Kaiser out.