A/N: Note, the rating has changed, just simply because I've had a few people comment to me in review and private message that they thought I could get away with this being rated T. I try to follow the rules as closely as possible, I felt the violence early on (With peoples brains being blown out, limbs flying off ect) was a bit much for T, but having read some other fics lately, and receiving some feedback, apparently it is not so!
Just because I'd rather have not bridged so much content. I remade a lot of elements of the fight between Nappa and the Defenders. So if things don't go exactly as they do in the canon, its because I changed it knowingly. The next few chapters are really action centric, as you guys can probably guess, its the fight between Earth and the Saiyans.
Dragonball Z: The Catalyst
Act I:
Chapter 7: The Earth's Defenders
Their powers were terrible, terrifying even. Everyone had physically felt when they annihilated East City from the map, and that didn't seem anywhere near the limit of their power.
Birds flew over head, in a panic, attempting to escape the coming battle, animals had a tendency to avoid things which emanated so much power.
Piccolo's eyes were locked ahead, he mainly felt one big power, bigger than his by far, but there was another behind that one, perhaps it was even more terrifying, but he had no way of knowing.
"They are on their way here, don't be concerned. You've been trained for this." Piccolo informed Gohan.
In truth he'd come to respect Gohan, the son of his enemy. The boy had trained exceptionally, being vastly more powerful than any child he'd ever known of. The kid took well to almost all the techniques he taught him, and he was fast as well. And his hidden power had grown even greater with his training, Piccolo could sense it.
He felt a new power, it was close. Looking around briefly just as he removed his weighted clothing, Krillen zipped into view, before flipping and landing in front of them.
"Hey! Its my dad's friend!"
"Good." Piccolo said. "I was wondering if you guys were going to show up." Piccolo remarked.
Krillen blinked at the comment. "What's that supposed to mean, Piccolo?"
"After that display at Capsule Corporation, what else could I expect?"
Krillen felt embarrassment as he looked at Piccolo, blinking as he twiddled his fingers together.
"Well, not exactly our brightest moment I know."
Piccolo just gave a humph in response.
Krillen approached Gohan, before smiling at the son of his best friend.
"Hey!" Krillen said with a smile, before looking about for a moment. "We didn't have time to talk last time, but are you doing alright? Piccolo's not hurt you has he?"
"Well, outside of the training no." Gohan said. "Mr. Piccolo is actually a pretty good person." Gohan said with a smile.
Krillen just smiled nervously in response, looking between Gohan and Piccolo. Piccolo stood there like a statue and Gohan stood there, well, like a kid trying to act like a statue.
It was Tien and Chaotzu who arrived next.
"You feel those powers moving? Moving that fast they should have gotten here sooner." Tien said.
"They made a detour." Piccolo responded. "I felt them first move towards Raditz."
"Great, Raditz is with them too." Krillen said, looking despondent.
"We'll be ready for him." Tien immediately cut in.
"Raditz is not with them." Piccolo told them.
Everyone looked at one another in shock. But wasn't it Raditz who was waiting for them to arrive? Wasn't that why he'd been trying to gather the Dragon Balls? Krillen felt something was off, like something had gone awry, even if this was good for them.
"Why the hell wouldn't Raditz have gone along with his buddies?" Yamcha asked.
His answer was given him to a second later.
"Because that weakling Raditz needs to get his head on straight. Unfortunately for him he'll miss out on all the fun, as I doubt any of you will be alive by the time here gets here." Vegeta commented.
There was a dark smile appearing across his lips as he and Nappa made their way to the earth, descending from above.
"Well would you look at that, all in one place. None of this chasing the rats through the maze. Good," Nappa said with a grin plastered across his face as well.
"Look at that Nappa. The strongest one is a Namek, no wonder Raditz had so much trouble." Vegeta chuckled.
Piccolo's eyes widened. "Namek?"
"Yes, it all makes sense now. The Dragon Balls are much like the rumoured sacred seven balls of Namek. He'll be the one who tells us about the Dragon Balls." Vegeta said with a cunning smile.
Piccolo was left, himself, in shock. He took in the information, coming to terms with it as he did. He was an alien, somehow he knew it was true. He could feel his connection always to an outside place, and now that place turned out to be a whole other world.
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The Afterlife, Snake's Way:
Goku launched himself as fast and hard as he could the second he'd been revived, as soon as he discovered that his journey back to earth would be from King Kai's planet itself. He raced through the heavens as quickly as he could, knowing full well if he wasted but a moment, his friends could die at the hands of the saiyans. Idly, he felt his eyes trace across the heavens for one moment, recalling the figure that confronted him on his way to King Kai's, a hateful creature that wished he and his family and friends dead.
Don't worry Goku. Our glorious confrontation and my revenge are reserved for later. Go to the pitiful King Kai's World, Train, grow stronger. It will make it all the more satisfying when I crush you.
The words rang in his mind as it had when he first was confronted by the creature. No, he'd grown strong enough now that he would stop any threat to the earth, or to his friends and family. He just had to get there in time.
It was in that moment that he froze, seeing the figure appearing in front of him once more.
"I think not. The saiyans are not done their work. My plans will not fail because of the incompetence of others. If you just never get to earth in time, they will die."
The voice whispered in his mind. It was then that Goku noticed something... this creature had a halo.
"I don't have time for this." Goku responded, his features tightening to a serious look.
He felt the power behind this hooded figure.
"Well that is too bad, Goku! My power lords over yours! And my power only grows with every passing day. There is no way I will let you past me."
"That's fine." Goku said, smiling knowingly. "But I don't have time to fight you."
With that, Goku flew straight down through the yellow clouds.
"What?! No!"
The figure knew full well Goku knew how to escape Hell, and return to the Way Station. All he'd done was buy the Saiyans time.
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Twenty-Five Minutes Later, Earth:
The last Saibamen exploded in the sky as Piccolo annihilated it from existence. Bits of Yamcha had littered the landscape with the kamikaze attack.
Nappa was to say the least, not impressed by them crushing a bunch of weak saibamen.
"Hey Vegeta, I'll take care of these weaklings." He promised.
In truth, Nappa just wanted to enjoy himself, all of these fools together couldn't touch him. The Namek was likely the only one there who could offer anything that resembled a challenge, and even then he wasn't that impressed.
"Very well Nappa. I'll let you off your leash. But remember, no killing the Namek. He's going to tell us exactly where those Dragon Balls are."
There was a nod from Nappa, before his large frame shifted, appraising his victims. Each one of them was something to be used up, he wanted to see what these weaklings could do. Outside of the Namek, he'd appraised three eyes was the next strongest, followed by q-ball. They were all cautious, if anything they were more cautious than he'd expected. It was probably because of their fighting with Raditz.
Raditz had already spoiled a batch of enemies? He couldn't even kill them. He failed to see why Vegeta hadn't killed Raditz as well, normally he wasn't so sentimental. The fool was lucky to have just gotten off with a lesson.
But now, which one to pick. He needed to make an example of the strongest one he could, which meant either Q-ball or Three Eyes.
"You idiots have to promise not to hold back." Nappa mocked. "I want to see if you might be able to give me a rash."
"You don't need our help to get a rash." Krillen responded.
Ah, Q-ball just nominated himself, Nappa thought with a smirk.
Without another word Nappa began to rush towards Krillen, his bulky frame blasting off towards him in a full sprint. It was then that the Namek interfered, Piccolo's body zipping in front of his charge.
"Let's do this."
With a blasting off of his own, Piccolo shot towards Nappa. Save for Vegeta, everyone observing was collectively having trouble tracking the two warriors.
Piccolo knew he was outmatched, but he'd had a lot of experience over the last year dealing with stronger opponents. He hadn't fully understood Nappa's power, but he did know he had to keep his allies alive to help him with this giant saiyan. The two locked in battle within seconds.
Piccolo's fist collided with Nappa's gauntlet, as the larger fighter blocked. The two froze in place for a millisecond before both moved back, moving at blinding speeds before they collided again. It was Piccolo's role to try to keep the initiative, which meant being as aggressive as possible.
Zipping through the air, the Namek came about with a sharp kick towards Nappa's head only to find the giant had ducked. As soon as he did Piccolo's eyes widened, before glowing, blasting two bolts down towards Nappa. The saiyan disappeared, moving so fast even Piccolo couldn't follow for a moment. A kick, no doubt to entertain Nappa's sense of irony, came in, striking Piccolo in the head. The green warrior's body flew back, before Nappa appeared above him, hands up and ready to make an axe handle smash.
"Too easy."
With those words however, a bolt of energy collided with his frame, coming from Tien. The hulk stopped in his tracks as Piccolo fell to the ground and rolled, before ending on his feet. Whilst Piccolo recovered, Tien went on the attack.
The three eyed warrior flew directly into Nappa, striking out with a strong assault of fists and kicks. Each blow was dodged or blocked. Tien's hands hammered against blocks and deflections as Nappa started to laugh.
"Look Vegeta! This one is a comedian!"
Vegeta started to smirk as well.
"Here, let me show you how it's done!" Nappa shouted. He raised his knee to block another kick from Tien.
What came next was a vicious headbutt, crashing into Tien's skull, the impact surely concussing his opponent. Tien was left in agony, he could barely think or move after the hit. With a brutally powered up fist, Nappa punched him in the gut, causing Tien to lurch forward and cough up spit, blood and flem. Nappa then dropped an elbow into his back, sending Tien helplessly falling to the earth, crashing into it violently.
"This guy is too much." Krillen muttered to himself. "Gohan, Chaotzu stick with me. We've got to attack together."
"And to think!" Nappa laughed. "I'm just warming up!"
Piccolo suddenly felt something in his stomach, something cold that shifted about nervously. Just warming up?
When Nappa made touchdown on the ground, he started to focus. Power started to slowly gather around him, as the earth began to rumble.
Gohan felt terrified. This beast had just beaten Mr. Piccolo up front, and then proceeded to deal with Tien like he was nothing. And now the world was shaking itself apart as he powered himself up. Nappa started to roar as his frame shifted, power flowing around him.
Piccolo felt his teeth grind together as he braced himself. Tien barely managed to bring himself to his feet, assuming a weakened fighting stance.
To Krillen, this was the time to attack, not to let him power up. He shot forward, Chaotzu in tow. Gohan however was left behind, petrified by what he was feeling and seeing, trembling even as he was left otherwise paralysed.
Krillen only noticed at the last moment that Gohan wasn't there with them. Just as he'd attacked the beast himself. Nappa's frame shifted aside, elbowing Krillen out of the way a moment later, just as Chaotzu started to unleash a barrage of energy bolts into the giant.
The series of blasts rained down from above, showering Nappa and blasting away rock and earth. It was then that Krillen joined in, his body bounced up from the ground, flipping in mid and and turning to Nappa.
"Kamehame HA!"
The blue blast wave joined with the series of energy attacks, blasting into the middle of the smoke cloud in a huge blue fireball.
At last, Chaotzu, exhausted, stopped firing.
"Chaotzu get back!" Tien shouted, the only one to notice what happened.
Chaotzu looked towards Tien, before looking up. Nappa floated there, his body crackling with power.
"You little pale bastard!" He snarled angrily, before unleashing a massive blast-wave.
"Chaotzu!" Tien shouted out as the wave hit his friend. Only a second later it was clear that Chaotzu had been killed by it, his body disappearing in the wave before the blast came crashing to earth.
"Take cover!" Piccolo shouted, flying back immediately, grabbing the petrified Gohan as he did. Tien barely responded in time himself.
The blast-wave was staggering, a huge explosion on the scale of a megaton going off in the heart of their battlefield. A crater formed the size of a small football field. In the heart of the blast, Vegeta still 'stood' exactly where he'd been, completely unaffected.
Krillen landed next to Piccolo and Gohan. The two had been sent flying by the blast, along with Tien.
"That's crazy." Krillen managed to finally say. "Look at the size of it! All that from one attack! How are we going to even slow this guy down?" Krillen asked, his eyes unable to leave the crater.
Tien sat there, only catatonic for a moment. Chaotzu was gone, just gone. When he looked towards the crater and then above to the snickering Nappa, he felt something snap. Slowly the three eyed warrior began to raise.
"I think we need a new battlefield, I think I may have just ruined this one as badly as I did that pale skinner loser." Nappa stated, crossing his arms before starting to bellow out laughter. "Did any of you idiots think you could take on the two strongest saiyans in the universe? With how pathetic all of you are?!"
His laughter only intensified.
Tien felt a rage overcoming him, focusing all his power. Energy began to slowly ripple off his skin.
"Tien, don't do it!" Krillen urged, before his comrade took off, blasting into the air at high speeds towards the brute who'd killed his friend. His connection to Chaotzu was profound, and to see this monster kill and mock him was too much for Tien to handle right now. He would die if he had to, to avenge his friend. This monster was going to be stopped here and now.
The two foes collided, Tien pushing all his power to the limit as he lashed out at Nappa. Their limbs locked in Tien's desperate struggle. Unlike before, where Nappa had blocked and dodged every blow, something happened. Nappa blocked and dodged as he had before, until a violent and wild right hook connected with his jaw. His head shifted, violently rocking back and to the left. Before he could recover Tien had already dropped a knee into his stomach, and followed up by another vicious punch. The first real blows to be landed on the saiyan monster.
Nappa was left shocked, he'd let this low class human worm hit him.
Anger and hate boiled up inside the saiyan, his eyes almost cracking with it. The response Tien would receive in the coming moments would be overwhelming.
Piccolo looked to Krillen and Gohan.
"Tien is going to burn out soon. And Nappa is still too far ahead of us. We've got to intervene, but only when he's distracted."
Vegeta overheard the conversation, quietly smirking to himself.
"Good idea. Nappa is far too strong for you bunch of weaklings to take head on. Exploit his weakness, he doesn't use that head of his much." Vegeta remarked.
Piccolo turned to Vegeta, looking at him warily.
"We'll see who is outright strongest once Goku gets here."
"Goku?" Vegeta responded. "Whose that?"
Piccolo just chuckled. "You'll find out soon, shorty."
In the distance, the sound of Tien shrieking in pain was heard, immediately taking Piccolo's attention back to the duel in the sky.
Tien's body looked worn, as Nappa laid into him with another vicious kick to the side. It looked like he was hewing Tien in half, like cutting down a tree. One hand held his ribs while the other weakly tried to defend. Another brutal body blow was landed, this time by Nappa's fist.
"I'll rip you in half weakling, that'll show you for thinking you could challenge me!" Nappa snarled.
This time however, the blow sent Tien flipping through the air, his body slamming into the core of the crater Nappa had blasted out when he killed Chaotzu. Opening his mouth widely, Nappa began forming energy for his Break Cannon.
It was time for Tien to die.
With a shock-wave of energy following his lightning fast movements however, Piccolo appeared to his side.
"Forgot about me ugly?" Piccolo asked, before landing the very kick he'd tried to land at the beginning of the fight. The blow smashed into Nappa's head, sending the massive mouth blast flying in another direction, annihilating a small mountain. Krillen then came in above him, dropping both his fists down on Nappa's skull, sending him flying downwards.
Gohan was supposed to assault next.
"M-Mas." He couldn't even finish the words to his attack when he made eye contact with the furious Nappa.
"Gohan! What are you doing?! Do it now!" Piccolo shouted.
Vegeta just started to laugh at Gohan's fear.
Nappa recovered in the air, turning towards Piccolo and Krillen.
"You two think that stupid plan would work on me?!" He shouted angrily.
Piccolo felt a deep disappointment he couldn't describe. He'd spent a year training Gohan for this moment, if he'd attacked, there was a chance they could have finished this. Nappa's guard was down only seconds ago, even a relatively weak blast could have done serious damage to him. Was it a year wasted? Gohan may have just been too weak in character to be a warrior. Piccolo froze at the thought, feeling almost betrayed in that moment, not only by Gohan but by the bond he felt they'd formed over the last year.
Now, Nappa was going on the attack.
Sweeping in, the Giant collided first with Krillen. The human warrior found himself quickly flying back under little control. With the human out of the way, it was clear he was taking aim at the Namek next.
Piccolo snarled as he began to bring his power to the surface. Energy waves licked off his skin, his eyes narrowed on Nappa and his teeth ground together. Nappa couldn't read the power level, his scouter having already been disposed of.
Vegeta couldn't feel the Namek either, but he could tell this was going to be good.
"I can see you want a challenge." Piccolo started, his voice strained. "Come on then, Nappa!"
The Namek's body then braced itself for combat, clawed hands prepared to meet in battle against his superior foe. It was clear that the other fighters couldn't help him, either because they couldn't... or in Gohan's case, because he wouldn't.
The last thought was particularly painful before in a blur of light and speed, the strongest defender on the earth currently alive, threw himself into a battle he knew he couldn't win.
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Goku's body soared through the air as he flew past the second layer of hell, finally coming to his far more familiar settings finally. It'd still take hours to finish getting through all this, now that he was running behind.
He just hoped the others were holding on, that's all that mattered now. His body blasted over the blood pond as several ogres looked up towards him, two of them nervous.
"Uh oh, not this guy again."
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Krillen's body went flying, this time crashing into the ground below and bouncing violently. In the air Piccolo had barely managed a defence, blocking several attacks by Nappa, only to be overwhelmed by a quickly fired ki blast, and then kicked away.
The two warriors hovered, squaring off against one another.
Moving at a speed only Nappa and Vegeta could follow, Piccolo moved in for his next round of attacks. He struck out violently, catching Nappa in the cheek, before his other jabs found their way towards his mid section. Nappa's armour absorbed the damage along with his frame, before he slammed both his forearms into Piccolo's shoulders, the sounds of dislocated bones could be heard if close enough. The kick that followed sent Piccolo back in the air.
"Its pathetic that you are the only one here who can even block one of my attacks. How these weaklings have survived this long is a miracle. How they even survived against Raditz is just a pathetic judgement of Raditz's uselessness." Nappa barked.
On the ground below however, Tien's hands were clasped together, concentrating power, both his energy and even his very soul. If someone didn't stop Nappa, they'd all be dead, and he was going to stop him even if it cost his life.
Suddenly his body rocketed into the air, hovering above Nappa. The energy in his hands electrified by its sheer force.
This was his only shot to do this.
"Nappa!"
When Nappa looked up, all he saw was the human in a funny pose.
"Three Eyes!" He shot back mockingly.
"Tri-Beam!"
The energy slowly crackled from his hands, before exploding out in one huge, massive wave, it seemed to almost be as powerful as the blast Nappa had used to kill Chaotzu.
Piccolo could sense the power of the attack, immediately taking flight away from Nappa.
Nappa, for his part, had thought the attack would be smaller, something be easily deflected as most of Tien's assaults had been. Instead he now stared what seemed to be death in the face.
The blast hit, it was like a wall of energy, and he'd not prepared himself to dodge.
Everyone watched in shock as piles of rocks collapsed in on themselves even kilometres away because of the sheer force of the assault.
Inside the crater Nappa had created only minutes ago, a new, deeper, fresh crater appeared. At the heart of the crater, the armourless Nappa lay there, his body looking roughed up, slightly burnt. His face was still in shock, even in pain for a moment, blinking several times before his body slowly started to rise.
Tien however, was spent, not just in energy, but in life.
"No." Tien managed, before falling from the sky, unable to keep flight, or keep his life. His corpse hit the ground within seconds, all there could feel the life slip from him.
"Tien!" Krillen shouted.
Nappa's boot hit the ground, causing it to break apart under it, his eyes written with anger and hate.
"Nappa, maybe you should be more careful, at this rate one of these earth worms may humiliate you." Vegeta said, his smile evident as he found the entire scene amusing.
Nappa started to breathe aggressively, his body trembling with the kind of anger only hurt pride could breed. "You're all dead!" He sneered.
"By the way, Nappa. I think I have a new plan." Vegeta said bluntly. "We don't need that Namek anymore. The Sacred Balls of Namek may actually be real, in fact I'd bet our immortality on it. That means we can kill this one and destroy this planet, no problem."
Piccolo knew what that meant, as Nappa made eye contact with him, and gave him a nefarious smile.
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Unknown Location:
"Were you able to slow down Goku?" One of the hooded figures asked.
"No, he escaped through Hell. I have not been able to ambush him since. He will escape soon."
"I am very disappointed."
"And who are you to be disappointed in me, you pathetic worm!? You'd be nothing without me! I suggest you remember that." The voice snarled.
"Yes, of course. Forgive my... poor choice in words."
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"He's too strong." Krillen managed to say, before he collapsed once again.
Gohan was half buried in a mountain, carefully pulling himself free and staggering forward. His eyes drifted to Krillen, and then to Piccolo, who was barely able to stand at this point. They'd been no match for Nappa.
The big brute had his share of injures, cuts, bruises, and scorch marks, but his power was unaltered from when the fight had started. Everything they'd done, all the sacrifices they'd made seemed like it was for nothing. Yamcha, Chaotzu, Tien, they all died for nothing. Rage was beginning to bubble inside of Gohan's mind as he felt the losses of his father's friends grip him.
Nappa kicked Krillen aside as if he were nothing.
"So what's next?" Nappa asked. "This was really disappointing, I was at least hoping to get a few more minutes of fun out of the Namek over there."
Piccolo had managed to stagger forward, glaring at Nappa from the side.
"Just wait until Goku gets here."
"Goku, Goku, Goku, all you idiots talk about is Goku. Has it occurred to you he's not coming?" Nappa mocked. "He'd be here by now wouldn't he?!" Nappa then just gave a half smile to Piccolo. "No one is coming to save you, q-ball, or the brat."
Piccolo almost snarled at the words.
"Mr. Piccolo. You've gotta get out of here." Gohan urged. "If you die, the Dragon can't be summoned anymore. Please Mr. Piccolo, we won't be able to wish back our friends."
Vegeta just smirked. "Nappa, this kid thinks he can hold you off long enough to save the Namek."
Nappa just flexed, grinning. "Well kid, let's see how well you can hold me off!"
Powering the same attack that killed Chaotzu, energy began to form in his right hand.
"Get ready for Hell kid."
Gohan stood there, completely unable to move as Nappa prepared his attack, another fighter down.
There was a blur in the distance as Piccolo, Gohan, and Krillen felt a new power.
"Oh no. Not him too." Krillen said.
Nappa stopped, noticing the blue bolt coming towards them.
"Raditz? Raditz get your own victims!" Nappa laughed, turning his attention back to crushing Gohan.
Vegeta watched as Raditz rocketed towards Nappa, only realizing at the last second what was about to happen.
"What?! Nappa, behind!"
Nappa turned his head up towards Vegeta, just as the blur of Raditz almost in slow motion threw his right arm out, fist swinging towards Nappa's head. The impact sent blood splattering out of Nappa's mouth, his body being sent flying off towards a scattered formation of rocks. His head was ringing as he tried to get a hold of what just happened.
"Nappa! Get ready to die!"
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A/N: Not my favourite chapter so far, but it was still fun to write. The next chapters is one of my favourites. I just want to thank everyone for reading so far, I always enjoy it if people have enjoyed reading my stories.
I always hope for Reviews of course, so if anyone would like to Review that would be great.
Expect Chapter 8 to rear its ugly head this coming Wednesday, the 5th of June. Once again, thank you to everyone whose read so far, I hope you guys will want to continue reading the adventure as it unfolds. Expect big things to come, especially after we wind down the Saiyan Saga.
You guys can expect Updates every Wednesday, and every Saturday OR Sunday. Basically, one on the weekend, one in the middle of the week.