Gohan walked out of the ship stiffly. It was really cramped in there, with all seven of them inside. The fact that the trip had been far longer made things far worse. Looking back, Gohan was amazed that not one of them had died on Namek, not even Bulma or Yajirobe.

"So we all made it?" Krillin asked, apparently thinking similar thoughts.

"Not Goku," Bulma said airily.

"That's no loss of life," Tien muttered in an audible voice. Bulma threw down a capsule, created a capsule car and waved her goodbyes to everyone as she left. The rest of them all just stood around for a while, feeling great about themselves. Someone briefly tried to mention they failed to wish part of the population back, but was glared down swiftly. Just then Gohan saw a streak of gold in the corner of his eye.

Turning quickly, Gohan saw his father, laying in the dirt, not moving. He looked very injured, and the golden glow was gone now. Smiling, Gohan knew this was his chance. Gathering energy, he moved back and fired a giant Masenko. Piccolo had taught him that technique, in fact, Piccolo had just arrived now. Almost everyone was here. Stepping from Goku's spacecraft, Piccolo saw Gohan attacking Goku and shook his head, smiling.

Krillin gaped. Goku still lay there, looking none the worse for Gohan's beam. He was unharmed. Just then the final person arrived who had survived Namek- Vegita. Dust whipped away as his pod dropped to Earth. Vegita stepped from his pod and faced them all.

"Hello, worthless human scum," he said, his voice full of malice.

"Hello, idiotic, murdering saiyan junk," Gohan returned. Everyone else shot a similar string insult. However, before it could escalate to real cursing, Vegita continued.

"Frieza is dead, and now I am the Legendary One."

"You are not!" Gohan yelled at him, offended for some bizarre reason he didn't understand.

"Oh, but I am! Kakkarrot removed all those stronger than me, and thus allowed me to become stronger myself. I've reached even another level of power. Stronger than he was. Now there is nothing to oppose me!"

As if to prove it, Vegita let out a yell that shook the sky. Power flew up around him in a whoosh, his hair turned gold and he was surrounded by a shield of golden flames. His eyes were a glittering, emotionless, killer green.

"I am the most powerful being in the galaxy, I am the Legendary Super Saiyan!" Vegita smiled evilly. He moved forward on them with lightning speed.



Goku watched helplessly as Vegita became a Super Saiyan as well. Somehow he had managed to obtain the same form, and gotten to another level of power. He was beating on everyone but Piccolo, who stayed out of it and delivered solid blows only when he had a clear shot. Gohan did a bit of damage once, but everyone could do little. Only Piccolo's shots ever knocked Vegita down.

Yajirobe, Yamcha and Chou-su were already gone. Goku cursed his weakness, he couldn't help them at all! Krillin used a Destructo Disk, Vegita dodged and launched his own back. Now Krillin was gone as well. Tien started launching Triangle Cannon after Triangle Cannon, it knocked Vegita back but he just kept coming.

When Tien lapsed for a single second from the strain, Vegita zoomed up to him and finished him off with an uppercut. Piccolo chose this time to kick him in the back of the head hard enough to make Vegita's face eat the dirt. He tried to whirl on Piccolo, but Gohan leaped on him just then. They started fighting, but soon Gohan fell as well. Vegita flung him over near Goku, Goku saw no life remained in his son. His anger began to build.

Piccolo was the only one left. He tried his best, but Vegita was only barely damaged after defeating all the rest of them. While Piccolo could do damage with every blow, but it just wasn't enough. Vegita's Super Saiyan power was just too strong for him. So this was how it would be. Before, he had always known it would be something like this, but now he was certain. If it was his time, it was simply time. Smiling, Piccolo dropped his guard and let Vegita's kick take him head on.

Hitting his head on the ground and plowing through it, Piccolo was stopped only by a tree.

"Vegita!" he called, "I have something to say. You are not the Legendary One. You're nowhere near that sort of power. If you were the Legendary One, I shouldn't have been able to hurt you at all. Face it, betrayer, you just aren't that good. The Legendary One isn't even in the galaxy now, and it certainly isn't you. All you have accomplished is becoming a Super Saiyan, not the most powerful being in the galaxy.

"Your fate is sealed, Vegita. All this has been nothing but the first round of a game. I have won, even though I must forfeit my life. Everything has come into play as I had hoped. While it could easily go wrong, there is no way you'll be here to see it!"

Growling, Vegita dove at him in a flying kick. Piccolo saw it coming and smiled, shaking his head and laughing at Vegita.



Goku saw the whole thing as if it was in slow motion. Summoning all his anger, his emotions that had been pent up, all his power, he got up and charged. His lungs ran ragged in the air; he was used to breathing in space, but he ran none-the-less.

Vegita turned to see him and smirked. His smirk turned to horror as Goku's hair turned golden as he became a Super Saiyan as well. After the first time, it was easy for Goku to become a Super Saiyan again, given a reason to be angry. This was a more than sufficient reason. Goku landed a single, well-placed kick, then attacked Vegita savagely. He lost all humanity in a vicious attack.

"Goku, stop!" A weak voice was all that kept him from going on. He stopped his frenzy and saw that Vegita had fallen to pieces, literally. There wasn't much left that could be considered alive. Goku stared at his bare hands a second, then collapsed, his anger gone.

A green form inched over to him. Piccolo got close enough to look Goku in the eye. For all this time, Goku hadn't really thought about the fact that everyone he knew hated him. First he had fought Frieza, then he had just tried to stay alive in space and get back to Earth. Now it all hit him dead on. He started crying again. Vegita would have mocked him for doing so, but now he was dead, wasn't he? Everyone hated him, no one liked him, he was-

"Goku," Piccolo was using all his strength to speak. "Remember this, remember me. I am always your friend, Goku, to death and beyond."

Piccolo shuddered, "Goodbye, my one and only true friend." A rare smile graced his green features, and Piccolo looked truly at peace. Sobbing, Goku somehow managed to get to one of the ships and fall into a rejuvenation chamber. He needed to honor Piccolo, and live instead of dying.

He had wanted to die, at first, there was nothing worth living for anymore. But now there was, the memory of Piccolo. Goku fell asleep, a slight smile on his face.



Opening his eyes, Goku felt himself all over. He was fine now, and completely healed. For a while he didn't even know why he was there, but then it all flooded back to him. Vegita's betrayal, Piccolo's death, his own horrible rage. How could he have done something like that?

Taking off his oxygen mask, Goku crawled out of the tank. Looking around, he didn't see any new set of clothes he could use. His old gi had gotten ripped in the Frieza fight, he needed something new. Looking around, Goku finally spied some saiyan armor in a case in the wall. By chance he must have picked Vegita's old ship. Goku moved over and almost stumbled. He still wasn't good on his feet after so long in space and then healing.

After waiting a while to stabilize himself, Goku walked over to the side of the wall and got the saiyan armor on, removing the tatters of his earlier clothing. It was a full complete set too; it must have been Vegita's. He had once commented that saiyan armor showed what rank the wearer was by how complete it was. This one was basically a full body suit. Looking himself over, Goku didn't like it as much as his gi, but it would have to do for now.

Getting out of the ship, Goku looked around. Things looked a lot like they had before, but most of the grass had grown back from where it had gotten destroyed in the fight. The bodies were still there. Wincing, Goku walked forward into the middle of the field. Floating up into the air slightly, Goku fired a blast at the ground. Holding out one finger in a concentrated beam, he cut a makeshift grave out of the ground.

Working slowly, he took each person one by one and placed them into the grave as well. Vegita he just blasted into smaller pieces. He didn't deserve the resting place the others received. After filling in the grave, Goku placed a stone on it and, on a suddenly whim, melted a message into it with a finger beam.



Here lie the following:

Gohan

Krillin

Tien

Yamcha

Chou-su

Yajirobe

They died while battling Vegita on March 27th



All my friends are gone now. They've all died. There is little more for me here, it's time to move on.

My life has little joy in it anymore, I don't know why I live. Maybe, a vague hope for the future.

-The Alone, Goku



Taking a look at his grave, Goku nodded and moved back. Only Piccolo was left, but Piccolo deserved something special. Piccolo had been the only person, he now realized, who had ever liked him at all. He realized that Piccolo was largely the reason everyone on the planet was alive.

Finding a large boulder, Goku carried it back nearby to the grave site and set it down. Moving back, he fired a large kienzan that took off the bottom part so it rested on a flat surface against the Earth. Gathering his ki, Goku made a door, which he set aside, then hollowed it out inside except for a table in the middle. Goku wasn't sure how tall Piccolo was, but he made the table seven feet just to be sure.

Going back outside, Goku picked up Piccolo. Surprisingly, he was only just beginning to stiffen, so Goku laid him on the table and folded his arms in his usual crossed position. For a moment he watched, and liked what he saw. In death, Piccolo looked much like he had in life, his arms crossed, that slight smile on his face. He looked like he was merely meditating in the low light in the boulder.

Goku nodded and moved back outside the grave. Floating up above the door, he made another finger beam and wrote in simple letters: Piccolo. That was simple enough. It was something that Piccolo would have liked. It showed respect but wasn't extravagant. Now a final touch. Again using his finger beam, Goku wrote some more on the door to Piccolo's tomb.



The only real friend I ever had.



Taking the door he had carved out at first, Goku put it back over the door. He stepped back to admire his work a brief second, or perhaps to think about the past, then sped off in the other direction. The next thing Piccolo would want him to do would be to continue to live his life, not waste it thinking about the past.