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– The Management.
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Chapter 7: Old Memories
Vegita stood on a familiar plateau in the middle of a very familiar landscape. Ball-like trees dotted the landscape and rivers and canyons were everywhere. With all the water on this world, Vegita was surprised with how dry the air felt and how brittle the ground was. Dust-like dirt and soil covered everything; from the ruined towns and villages to the plains… even to the riverbanks! There was that omnipresent dryness that seemed to add to the present atmosphere, the atmosphere of death and destruction that covered the planet Namek. Goku took a step back in horror, his clothes tattered and torn, his body scratched, cut and bruised, his black hair blowing freely in the wind. Vegita looked left at Goku, then right at Krillin, who hovered in the air beside young Gohan, immensely strong for his age, or so Vegita thought, remembering how that little brat had blasted the hell out of Frieza when the tyrant had nearly killed that pathetic little bald human. Vegita clasped his hands tight shut, his arms shaking slightly with the effort, and audibly growled through gritted teeth, looking up into the sky as the floating white visage of Frieza hung there, laughing hideously before gazing down at the group. "That massive attack by Kakkarot did not as much as hurt Frieza! What can we hope to achieve now!" Vegita thought, his hands fisted so tightly that his knuckles threatened to burst through his skin.
"Goku, that attack angered me! Now, let me think… what can I do to relieve some of this stress…" The white alien grated in that hideously annoying voice as he scanned the four figures. Suddenly he straightened up, his long tail curling sinuously around the white body. "I know! I'll destroy you one by one! What entertainment!"
"Frieza! What are you doing!" Goku demanded, not hearing that last statement uttered by the maniacal beast, shouting at the top of his lungs. In an answer, Frieza pointed a finger at the crowd and grinned evilly, letting his finger sway from figure to figure. They all followed it in a horrid fascination; each member anxiously dreading which of them it would end on. Goku spun, looked at where Krillin and Gohan hovered and screamed. "Krillin! Gohan! Get out of here! Go! Now!" Gohan looked at his father, but Krillin, who was already panicking, didn't need to be told twice. He reached out and quickly grabbed Goku's son by the wrist.
"Come on, Gohan! We can't hang around here like this!" he said as he tried to pull the youngster away. Gohan budged several centimetres then pulled his grip free. "What are you doing, damnit? Let's go!" Krillin yelled, but Gohan turned and pushed him away.
"You go, Krillin. I'm gonna stay here and help my daddy!" Gohan replied and hovered down to the ground where the two Saiyans were standing awkwardly, gazing at Frieza. Krillin floated backwards with the momentum of Gohan's push, puzzled as to what to do. "Do I get the hell out of here," he thought, "or do I stay and help out?"
Meanwhile, Frieza had started to sing a little rhyme to himself as he swung his digit across the group: "Eeny meeny miney moe, catch a monkey by the toe," he said with a sadistic grin and pointing at a different person with each word. "If he bleeds cut his throat, eeny meeny miney… You!" Frieza shouted. The others followed the direction of the finger and Goku's eyes bulged.
"Krillin! Get the hell out of here! Run! Run away! Get as far away from here as you can!" But Krillin was way a head of him and had turned to run. He weaved through the sky, trying to avoid the point of the finger, but no matter where he turned, the finger followed.
"Goku! Go-ku!" Krillin screamed in pure terror. "Help me, help M-" His scream was cut off as the explosion ripped through his body. Krillin felt a brief sensation of being white-hot and his chest beginning to melt from the inside, then everything went black.
For the others, everything went bright. Fire and charred remains exploded outwards from Krillin's chest as the blast engulfed their little friend, incinerating him into nothing more than ash, soot and several fragments of charred armour. Gohan's heart lurched as he saw his friend's face screw up in a terrible agony, Goku screamed in horror as he saw a tattered and burnt piece of his best friend's robe flutter away in the breeze. Even Vegita was horrified enough to turn away. Goku spun around, fury etched into his placid face, muscles and veins bulging out from every part of his exposed body.
"Frieza! You fucking bastard! You've pushed me too far this time!" Goku screamed, traumatised from watching his life-long friend decimated like that. Frieza stopped laughing in glee and turned and looked down at Goku. Something odd was happening to the Saiyan. In Goku's rage, his energy was building. "Frieza, you're a dead man! You hear me? A fucking dead man!" Vegita turned to look at Goku, and noticed the same thing Frieza had. The eyes… something was happening to the eyes. They were becoming green! Then a flash of something caught his eye. Looking up, he noticed that Goku's hair was starting to rise and become gold, and then droop back again. With a bellow of rage, Goku flung his chest forward and his arms out and to the side, bellowing in pure rage, then finally he transformed. The hair flashed golden and remained golden, the eyes became green and stayed green. Vegita found himself being pushed away by the sudden golden aura that had suddenly blasted into existence around Goku. The Prince shielded his eyes from the dust that was being flung away from this new Goku standing before him then he slyly turned towards him, a large wolfish grin on his face.
"Kakkarot! You dog! You did it! You transformed into a Super Saiyan!" Vegita shouted with triumph, but Goku wasn't listening. He simply took a step forward and launched himself into the air.
Frieza watched the events with the heir of somebody who couldn't care less; he had all the time in the world to destroy these incompetent mortals, what would a few seconds hurt? He floated there with his still wrapped around his legs and abdomen and arms crossed over his chest haughtily. Then, everything changed suddenly. Instead of the beaten and discarded Goku standing down there, there was a golden haired, green eyed beast with a golden aura hovering before him with a face full of hate and eyes full of revenge. Frieza backed off a little way and snarled.
"Get out of my way!" Snapped Frieza and hurled an energy bolt at Goku. With a blur, Goku slapped the bolt away and hovered there with grim determination.
"Frieza, you son of a bitch, you will go away now or you will face the wrath of the Super Saiyan!"
Vegita snapped out of his daydream as Goku placed a hand on his shoulder. Vegita stood up from the steps to the Capsule Corporation building and looked at the taller Saiyan, smiling with that typical idiotic smile.
"Hey, bud. You looked you were away there. Penny for your thoughts?" Goku asked. Vegita harshly pushed the friendly hand from his shoulder and looked into those dark eyes, his recollection of events coming back to him.
"Leave me alone, Kakkarot. I do need your pennies!"
Vegita looked up as Goku and Frieza battled it out in a vicious and violent battle. Energy blasts, punches and kicks were dealt out at all quarters, and Vegita was at awe at how much Goku's strength had increased.
"This is unbelievable! How can Kakkarot have gained so much power! Even I never suspected the Super Saiyans to have this much power!" Vegita gasped, then looked down at Gohan, who was also looking up at Goku with awe and amazement.
"You look up there, young Saiyan, and you be proud! Your father may be a stupid idiot, but he is the first Super Saiyan for thousands of years!" Vegita said. Gohan nodded, not taking his gaze away from the fight.
Goku punched his way through Frieza's defences and started a barrage of blows at the white overlord's face. His fists pummelled into Frieza's head and then a final hard blow spun the intergalactic conqueror around on his own axis. Goku swooped up above him and landed a solid kick on Frieza's temple, sending the white man clattering to the ground, landing with a crash and sending rocks into the air and cracks splintering across the ground. Goku hovered in the air, gazing intently downwards where Frieza lay in his crater.
"Give up, Frieza and go home! IF you continue to fight I'll be forced to destroy you!" Goku shouted down to Vegita's complete astonishment.
"What! Kakkarot, this bastard destroyed everything we are! He killed your pathetic little friend! The last thing it deserves is our sympathy!" Vegita roared, not being able to believe Goku's choice of ultimatum. Goku ignored Vegita's comment and remained looking down at Frieza.
"I hope you choose to stay and fight, you bastard," Goku thought privately, and then watched carefully as Frieza picked himself up off the floor and hovered upwards to a parallel position in the sky opposite. Frieza chuckled to himself and then sprung into the attack without warning, catching Goku off guard. The tyrant threw a punch, turning it into a feint and when Goku moved to intercept, spun around sharply and caught the Super Saiyan around the waist by the tail, then constricted as he laughed evilly, listening to Goku's cries of pain.
"What's the matter, Goku? Don't you want a little bit of freshly squeezed monkey juice?" the evil lord taunted before laughing again. Goku pulled and pulled on the tail, but it proved to be useless. Finding it hard to breathe, Goku wasn't a match against this. He soon weakened and Frieza unfurled his tail and sent Goku spinning up into the sky. With a streak of white, Frieza was above him and midway through a summersault. Another blur completed the flip and the tail caught Goku across the midsection and sent him hurtling back down to the ground, where he impacted hard and sending up a large cloud of rock and dust. Back on the plateau, Vegita snarled to himself.
"Kakkarot, you should have destroyed when you had the choice! Not given him mercy!" the Prince screamed. Goku pushed himself off the floor and flipped in the air, pulling himself upright and landing down on the floor, breathing heavily, his body bashed and cut, blood gushing out of a particularly bad wound that stretched up from his abdomen to the top of his left breast. He clutched at wound, feeling the blood trickling through his hands. The flow wasn't heavy, but it would weaken him if he didn't stanch it soon. Thinking quickly, he tore a long strip from his trousers and tied it around his body, noticing the cloth turn quickly from orange to a deep, moist, red. Frieza gently lowered himself back down to the floor, gloating with an evil laugh.
"He's right, Goku. The Prince of Monkeys is definitely on to something. You should have destroyed me when you had the chance instead of waiting for me to get back up again," Frieza said, finally touching down onto the ground and watching the panting Goku with a slight curiosity. "This is not the same mistake I will make!" Frieza suddenly whipped around and brought his large whip-like tail crashing down onto Goku's head, sending him sprawling back into the dirt. Frieza rushed him and planted a hefty kick across his stricken opponents already injured chest with enough force to raise Goku off the ground and send him bouncing and scraping across the ground. Frieza strode forwards casually and, noting Goku's attempts to get up from being face down on the floor, stomped heavily on the square of his back, sending him back down with a small cloud of dust and rocks bouncing out from under the Saiyans damaged body.
"And now I think it is time to be rid of you, once and for all, monkey!" Sneered that grating voice above Goku.
"Hey, what are you doing out here all on your lonesome self?" Bulma asked cheerfully striding towards Vegita as he leaned against one of the walls in the Capsule Corp courtyard. In the centre was a small raised area with a small slab of rock from the obliterated moon, engraved with some nonsensical nonsense about all piece to mankind and that other brotherly affection that Vegita hated.
Vegita snorted through his nose in reply and looked away. "Woman, all I ask is to have a little time to myself! As the ruler of the Saiyan race, I'm sure it is the least you could do for me!" Bulma stood there, not sure what to say. But she just smiled and stroked a gently hand over his cheek.
"You know, I think you're so cute when you're in your 'Mister Moody' frame of mind." She said, trying to lighten his spirit. All that this achieved was to just made more even angry.
"Woman! I do not need your pestering! Go away and make sure that those blasted Sons and that infernal brat of mine does not interrupt my contemplation!" Vegita snapped, still not looking at Bulma. Bulma made a sarcastic noise behind his head as she headed away and he heard her mutter something as she entered the building.
Vegita stood tensely on the plateau with the young Gohan hopping from foot to foot as they watched the fight. Gohan was nervous, but Vegita had to agree that he would be as well if Frieza were standing over his father in his final form.
"Come on, daddy, get up! Daddy! You have to do it!" The kid whimpered, and deep down Vegita felt sorry for the brat; no child should have to witness the destruction of their best friend and their father in the same afternoon! Vegita gave Gohan one last quick glance before turning his attention back out onto the plain. There was Goku, lying on the ground, being repeatedly stomped on by Frieza, the only thing to be heard being the insane cackling of that white-skinned runt Frieza! "You will pay for this, Frieza!" Vegita swore, and then winced as the white hand-like foot came down once more right onto the back of Goku's head.
Frieza looked down and laughed as he gripped his toes around the back of Goku's head and pushed him down into the ground harder, laughing in delight. He released the head, letting it loll back and forth, and then brought his foot down again and again, stroking the prone Goku repeatedly on the head. There was a loud crack and a muffled, but still piercingly loud, scream as blood spurted out from the indentation caused by Goku's pounded face in the floor. Frieza laughed even more as he crushed Goku's already beaten face harder and harder into the ground, squealing with delight at every crunch of bone and scream of agony. Blood spurted out with every stomp, now, and it was clear that Goku must be suffocating in his own blood. Not wanting his prey to fall so easily, Frieza flipped Goku over heavily with his foot, and looked down at his handwork. Goku's face was mangle beyond recognition, his face cut to ribbons and his eyes swollen and bleeding. His nose was crumpled and ripped, blood gushing from the orifice. The lips were swollen and ripped to tatters and blood also ran out from his mouth in a steady trickle.
Goku lay on the floor, gasping for air, his chest clicking with every breath due to the broken ribs in his chest. Frieza made well of this fact and began to bring his foot down hard once again. Splintering and snapping noises were heard clearly and distinctively, even above Goku's cries of pain and Gohan's cries of utter dismay heart-wrenching agony as he stood there watching his father being smashed on the floor by Frieza.
Gohan's memory was jogged back to watching uncle Raditz try and destroy his own brother in cold blood, but he knew that he could not save his father this time. Gohan slumped to the floor as his knees gave out and he started to cry bitterly, repeating the word 'Father' over and over to himself. Vegita's eye twitched as he watched the horror before his eyes and tried to blot out the noise of Goku's smashed chest, the two Saiyan's cries and the tormenting laughter of Frieza.
Frieza withdrew his foot, then reached down to wipe the blood and flesh from it on a piece of Goku's tattered shirt. Frieza noted that the hair was flashing between gold and black and the eyes were also straining to remain green. With a half smile, Frieza realised that Goku's energy was failing, tat his life was close to an end, and that would be it. Super Saiyan or no Super Saiyan, Frieza would have dominated the battle.
With ease, the evil being reached down and picked Goku up by the throat and help him up at arms reach, his height meaning that Goku's legs dangled uselessly on the floor. Blood ran down the Saiyan's head and body, forming a spreading crimson puddle on the floor beneath him. Frieza decided it would be best to hover a little off the ground, as not to get his feet with monkey's blood.
Laughing insanely, Frieza tossed Goku into the air, then brought around his hand and reached his fingers to the sky, palm out, and sent a lancing beam of yellow energy straight through Goku's gut. Vegita jolted at the sight of Goku's stomach being blasted out through his back, and felt sickened as he saw the smouldering corpse drop back to the floor, smoke pouring from his open mouth and through the nostrils of his destroyed nose, and even through the blood-thickened ears. Pieces of Goku's gut were strewn about behind him; all charred into lumps of burnt black material. Vegita saw the way that Frieza smiled down at Goku, heard the way that Gohan cried with agony at seeing Goku lying dead on the floor. He saw the way that Frieza looked up at them, then kicked the corpse of Goku across the plain towards the plateau, where it bounced of the brown-red rocks and lay in a heap beneath them. Vegita clenched his fists and yelled in a fury that even Goku ha not managed after seeing Krillin destroyed before his very eyes.
Not wasting a single second, Vegita launched himself off the platform and sped across the ground towards Frieza.
"What is it!" Vegita shouted, finally giving in to Goten's insistent tugging at his shirtsleeve. Goten took a step back from shock and beamed with the same grin as his father.
"Auntie Bulma says that you have to come in now, Uncle Vegita," Goten said. Vegita gave the youngest Son a quick glance and grunted.
"And why did she say this, hmmm?" Vegita asked, not in the mood for that woman's games.
"Auntie Bulma says it's because you are being a pig-headed grouch and that you've been out here for three hours already and that doesn't count when you were sitting on the steps all morning ignoring poor Goku trying to be friendly," Goten repeated, trying to use the same the infections that Bulma had used. Then took a gulp of air. Vegita looked blinked once or twice in uncertainty at what little Goten had said. In return, Goten looked up and beamed again, closing his eyes and pulling off a wide grin that even Goku would have had problems with. Vegita sighed and signalled with his hand that Goten should lead the way. Goten nodded and skipped off, Vegita grudgingly following behind.
"You white-skinned little bastard! You've insulted us for the last time!" Vegita screamed as he caught Frieza unexpectedly by the throat and slammed him through another plateau. Frieza floated up out of the debris and dusted himself off, then smiled at Vegita.
"Ah, Vegita, my young lackey. I must say, that is probably the stupidest thing I've seen you're entire race do!" Chuckled Frieza as hovered towards Vegita, who was heaving with fury. A vein pulsed in his forehead and he spoke through gritted teeth. "What's the matter, Vegita? Monkey got your tongue?" Frieza mocked then laughed at his own joke.
"You enslave my people! You destroy my father! You then destroy my people AND my planet! You use me as your manservant and ridicule me to my FACE! Then you unceremoniously destroy the true symbol of power in the universe AND NOW YOU WILL PAY!" Vegita ended in s cream, his fury sending his body soaring into Super Saiyan. Vegita felt his own power surge, felt renewed vigour flow through his body and into his muscles and thought: "This is it! This is what it feels to be a Super Saiyan!" He threw his head up to the sky and bellowed.
"I WILL AVENGE OURFATHERS THIS DAY! DO YOU HEAR ME! I WILL AVENGE ALL THE SPIRITS OF THE SAIYANS!" Vegita roared, then looked down, eyes burning with the need for revenge and his lips twisted into a smile showing his lust for taking it. Frieza smiled back, and attacked. Vegita leapt up and shot his legs down, catching Frieza on the neck as he lunged and sent the lord thundering down into the ground, leaving a large scar on the ground. Vegita flipped away and twisted in the air, landing to face Frieza, who picked himself up and jumped high into the sky. Vegita followed and collided with his adversary, fists and arms flailing as struck Frieza time after time, drawing blood from the corner of the mouth and then a roundhouse punch sending the tyrant flying across the sky, loosing altitude quickly until he eventually ploughed through several mountains and plateaux, leaving a long skid trail in his wake. Vegita darted across the areas and landed and heavy kick on Frieza's face as he picked himself up, sending hi hurtling back through more landmarks, eventually leaving him sprawling on the ground. Vegita made his way over to where the lord was lying and then was shocked to see he had gone. He looked into the crater to see a hole bury deep under the ground, and Vegita dropped back. He looked around, looking for any sign of Frieza, then had an idea.
Vegita shot upwards into the sky, the stopped and looked down. The crater was a spec, tiny now compared to its real size. Gathering his energy, Vegita brought his closed fists together and arms length and roared as the energy ball grew larger ad larger, then he yelled and prolonged cry, flared of the attack and sent the gigantic lance of energy shooting down into the ground. The very core of the beam hit the spot where Frieza had started his hole, and widened as it struck. From the air, it looked as though a white dome was spreading across the land, growing in size from the point where the blast ht. In reality it was a sphere of brilliant energy, vaporising anything it came into contact with. The visible dome's intensity waned and then disappeared as the blast dispersed, allowing Vegita to see the colossal crater that now scarred the landscape. Water from many rivers an streams flowed down its sides and already was collecting deeply at the bottom of the crater, within a few days this crater would be come one large lake in the very centre of the plain.
As he descended, he noticed something scrabbling its way out of the crater, some thing white. With a smile, he realised it was Frieza and he stretched out a hand and sent another flare of energy to intercept it. The bolt hit the ground under Frieza and the tyrant flying into the air, limbs flailing. Vegita was close enough to see Frieza clearly now, and what he saw rejoiced him. Touching down several metres away from the sprawled body of the being that previously was un-touchable before today; Vegita walked over casually and grinned down at tyrant.
"Well, well, Frieza. It appears you only half that man you used to be!" the Prince gloated, looking at the charred remains of the lord's lower torso. About half of the chest had been burnt away, and one arm was severed at the elbow. A large scorch mark was tattooed across the throat and upper chest, and a portion of Frieza's jaw had been ripped away, revealing bleeding flesh oozing with purple blood. Vegita sniggered again. "Or maybe that's only a quarter of a man. Who can tell, you were only half a man to begin with!"
Frieza shot Vegita a rage-filled glanced and poured all his strength into just hovering in the air. Vegita watched this with interest then drop kicked his former master and ruler back into the ground with a loud crack as Frieza's skull smashed off the floor.
"Please, don't try ad stand up. I prefer it this way, you grovelling at my feet. It so much more proper this way, isn't it? Me being a prince and all, and you only being a common… well, an uncommon peasant." Vegita chortled; he was enjoying this immensely. Frieza pushed himself up on his fully intact arm and glared at Vegita.
"You think you have beaten me… You think you have won! But you have not! There well be -" Frieza began, but was silenced by the energy blast that took away half of his head.
"Oh be silent!" Vegita snapped as Frieza's still corpse flopped to the floor. "I always liked you more when you were quiet," the gloating prince mused. Hearing something behind him, Vegita turned to se Gohan standing there, dust lodged to his face where I had clung to the moisture on his cheeks, nose and chin left by the tears. Vegita offered, what he thought to be, a warm smile, and Gohan merely nodded.
"Is he dead now, Mister Vegita?" the young Saiyan asked. Vegita ruffled the kid's hair and grinned.
"Yes, Gohan, it's over," he lied, then turned away. "Now let's find those dragon balls so we can wish every body back!"
For the second time that day, Vegita was snapped out of his daydream by Goku's hand on his shoulder. Vegita shook his head clear of those thoughts and he looked at his old companion, the one who had gone so much with him through think and thin and even died a couple of times to try and save his home, or someone else's, from various evils, such as the bastard Frieza and that unbearable Cell.
"What is it you want, Kakkarot!" Vegita snapped, causing Goku to pull his hand from the pink shirt he was tapping.
"Well, gee Vegita, I was just wondering if you would pass the mashed potatoes," Goku said, sounding surprised. Vegita rolled his eyes and picked up the great big bowl as if it were nothing.
"Do I have to do everything around here?" Vegita muttered as Goku eagerly spooned the yellow food onto his plates then passed the bowl onwards. Bulma heard Vegita's exclamation and stopped her conversation with Chi-Chi.
"Excuse me? Mister, all you do is train in that gravity chamber of yours –"
"A warrior must train all the time to keep his whole body a weapon, woman, you know that!" Vegita interrupted. Bulma kept her mouth open and waited for him to finish talking.
"In that gravity chamber of yours," she repeated, "or sit about on the sofa watching the Telly Tubbies." The conversation went quiet as everybody in the room turned their attention on Vegita who started to go red. All, that is, except Goku who kept on eating.
"I do not!" Vegita shouted as one or two twitters and laughs escaped from people around the table. Tomatta looked about politely, not getting the joke. He leaned over Goten who was sitting beside him, dying with laughter with Trunks beside him.
"Um… what is the Telly Tubbies?" he asked. Goten wiped away a tear that was collecting in his eyes and gave his cousin a bemused look, paying half an ear to Vegita's protests and his Chi-Chi's accusations.
"Huh? Oh, right. You don't have TV where you come from, do you?" Tomatta shook his head, not even knowing what TV was. "Well, the Telly Tubbies are a program – "
"Entertainment show," Trunks corrected.
" – Right, what he said, aimed for little kids." Tomatta raised an eyebrow.
"Even littler than you?" the large Saiyan asked, his smaller cousin nodding.
Now everybody turned to Tomatta who had fallen backwards off his chair and burst out into fits of laughter, his legs waving in the air. Cukumbri leaned across to Piccolo.
"Is it always like this in here?" she asked. She has only accepted the invitation to have dinner with Bulma and Vegita after Piccolo and Krillin explained to her the story of the fight against Frieza.
Piccolo nodded. "Uh-huh," he said, biting into a ham, "Always." Gohan, Goku and Krillin laughed at Videl and 18's mocking of Vegita, as Applor and his mother Fru talked to Bulma about technology. Cukumbri just shrugged and started devouring her way through her own meal. Piccolo took the opportunity to look about the room and sighed, thinking.
"It's been so long since there's been anything like this. With Brolli here, I don't know if we'll ever do this again." He took another bite of food. "So I for one will die to preserve what we have here!"
With the gang back together again after being severed by Vegita's wish, how long will they last before taking on Brolli? Will we ever see times like these again, the whole group clustered around a singe table eating and laughing, or will that lunatic Brolli prevail and defeat our heroes? Find out, in the next gripping chapter of… TOTAL WAR!