Another Path
Two chapters straight. Nothing else to say.
Chapter 7: Prince vs Emperor
The short Icejinn shot forward through the sky, his new scouter directing him towards a Namekian island. There was power of two hundred thousand there and it wasn't moving.
"Captain Ginyu" Frieza called through the intercom, but no one answer. It was obvious his squad wasn't here. His sight on the ground showed five ships. The squad did arrive. They just never escaped their pitiful death. Of course, after fighting someone who bested himself, even Ginyu and his squad all together were useless against that weird-haired man in the orange clothes.
The Icejinn shot forward through the sky, moving towards the island knowing that the responsible was there. Not that he cared about Ginyu or the other soldiers. They were simple pest. He just wanted to see who was that with the power.
Vegeta woke up abruptly, suddenly forgetting he was supposed to be away searching for the Dragon balls. Vegeta stopped his tracks and turned his face around, feeling a massive power getting nearer and nearer. In, fact, it was far too close. The Royal Saiyan didn't need to guess who it belonged to.
The Saiyan Prince looked to his Dragon Ball. He could fight for it and surely die. Or surrender it to Frieza and still die. He was in no win-win situation. The Prince suddenly smiled. If he wasn't immortal, then he would at least make sure Frieza wouldn't become immortal either. Vegeta threw his Dragon Ball straight up to the sky at amazing speeds, disappearing out of sight in the horizon.
The short Icejinn landed and the Saiyan Prince spun and stared at him, anger and fear showing in his black eyes. The expression in the lizard's face looked like happiness. Or Frieza's kind of happiness.
"Well, well, Vegeta. I didn't expect to meet you in this backwater" The Galaxy emperor said, flaring an evil smirk. The Saiyan stood his ground, not backing down at all. "What's the matter, the so-called proud Prince of Saiyans is afraid?"
"Afraid of you?" Vegeta snorted, his face a cocky mask "Now that I'm a Super Saiyan, you don't stand a chance against me" His answer was nothing but a chuckle from his former boss.
"Please Vegeta, nothing but a myth to amuse low-class creatures" Frieza snickered, trying to hold his laughter "Just a false-hope legend to convince inferior servants that they 'actually' have such thing called freedom"
"Then I will prove it's true!" Vegeta yelled and shot forward with his white aura shinning bright. He brought his hand up and sliced downwards, the heel of his hand connecting with Frieza's neck. But nothing happened. The Icejinn was still there, smirking in triumph. The prince looked aghast, after putting a lot of strength behind that attack.
"Wow, that actually took the knot out of my neck" Frieza taunted "I can assume you were the one who beated Ginyu forces?"
"You should do your own dirty job instead of sending a weakling of a servant" The royal Saiyan talked, trying come up with something.
"You speak of servants Vegeta? Then let me tell you one thing, 'my servant' " The Icejinn confessed in a cold tone and started to walk closer, causing in turn to Vegeta to start walking back "You Saiyans were nothing but mindless apes that I had to take out of the mud before you had drown in your ignorance. It was ME, who made something out of you. Your primitive race would have been nothing without my power. And yet you simians think that just because you get a little power-up from a fight, that already gives you the right to usurp my throne. Well, know this Vegeta. No more Saiyans will ever exist. I will personally slaughter any living apes hidden among the stars. Your kind has pestered me enough. And I'm starting with you" His index finger pointed menacingly to the Prince's heart.
"So that was it. You aren't annoyed of us. You are only afraid" The prince retorted confident "The 'mighty' emperor of the universe is only afraid of our power. Of what we can truly be" Just for a brief of second one could have seen a vein of anger poking against Frieza's ivory skin. But it happened so fast that normal eyes couldn't see it. The anger left Frieza, as he smiled.
"You speak of fear, Vegeta? Then I will show you the true power of fear" Frieza shot forward, with Vegeta unable to see anything. A gist went straight through his belly, making a bulge in Vegeta's back. The Saiyan staggered back in pain, his mouth suddenly spitting blood. His internal organs were already nothing but smithereens.
Frieza attacked again, appearing behind Vegeta and landing a kick to the back. The blow sent the Saiyan to the other side of the short island, caving a small trench. Vegeta was able to regain his standing, though struggling to get up.
The Saiyan suddenly screamed, a blue aura suddenly exploding around. The Icejinn's scouter beeped, suddenly a power increment in Vegeta's energies. The Saiyan yelled in power and thrust his hands forward with the fingers sprayed outwardly. Another powerful scream and the Saiyan fired. The attack fastly engulfed the short Icejinn with a white light covering the entire sight. The Saiyan panted heavily, after using a lot of his remaining energy in his last attack.
But as the light deemed, a short figure was still there. Vegeta opened his eyes in astonishment, with Frieza's body only smoking. There were no wounds or even scorches on his short frame.
A sudden grip took hold of the Saiyan, bringing him closer to the Icejinn.
"Nice try Vegeta" The Saiyan's former boss said mocking "But why don't I show some power too?" The Icejinn only smiled and thrust his hand forward, Vegeta flying away inside a telekinetic bubble crashing with an entire mountain that crumbled over his already injured body.
Gohan and Krillin flew back, carrying each one Dragon Balls. They left them on the ground, just outside Guru's house. Goku arrived a few seconds later with another two.
"Well, we almost have all them, we need the last one" Gohan said, counting the six golden spheres.
"And the other is..." Goku said, rubbing his chin in thought. Maybe Frieza had it, or maybe Vegeta. Bulma was still fixing the Radar so they were temporally blind in their path.
"Guys, you are not going to believe this!" Bulma said frantically, running outside. She was carrying the beeping Dragon Radar.
"What's the problem?" Gohan asked the Earth scientist.
"A Dragon Ball is flying right at us" Bulma said aghast. Everyone shut up when the last Dragon Ball landed in front of them with a thud.
"Well, that was convenient" the full-blooded Saiyan said, looking to the sky. There wasn't any cloud so raining Dragon Balls wasn't an option. If there was ever.
"And here I thought that 'the drop from the sky' was only for Comics" Krillin joked.
"Hey guys, Vegeta is fighting Frieza" the bald monk said, with two Dragon Balls balancing on his arms. Gohan was nearby caring two while Goku had the other three with a lot of difficulty. All of them were collected. Now they had to move away from the Guru house. If someone decided to attack the Namek guardian, then their friends in the Other World would remain there for all eternity.
"Gohan, go find Dende" Goku said, keeping his energy sensing into Vegeta's. The half Saiyan nodded and flew away.
Gohan entered the Guru's house in a rush.
"Elder Guru, we are ready to make the wishes" The Saiyan-human said to the Elder Namek.
"Alright" The Namek turned his face towards the little Namekian child "Dende, step forward my son" The Namek child did, a bit scared. With a hand on the little boy's head, the Namek Elder unlocked his powers "Now I have unlocked the gift of healing inside you. Use it to help our friends from Earth" Dende nodded and left with Gohan, flying to grant the wishes. The wishes needed to be said in Namekian.
The human-Saiyan and the namek arrived in a desert island, where Goku and Krillin had the spheres collected. They were shinning with a golden color
"Ready?" Dende asked Goku. The Saiyan didn't look back to respond as his eyes were fixed on Vegeta's fight. Or onslaught by the energy he was feeling.
"Do it, Dende. We need as much allies as we can in this fight" The Earth warrior replied.
"Arise Porunga!" Dende said in Namekian language.
Frieza was standing tall over the beaten Saiyan Prince, ready to finish his life. The little annoyance had fought bravely, but without any kind of result in his favor. The Icejinn had always thought of Vegeta as a soldier. An annoying one and very useless but still a soldier to torture and mock. Sadly, the Emperor would have to get a new one.
Vegeta make one last attempt, suddenly going forward and punching Frieza in the nose. Nothing happened but amusement for the Icejinn. With a simple slash of his tail the Galaxy emperor easily beated Vegeta down to the ground, nearly unconscious.
"Have a nice trip to Hell, Vegeta" The Icejinn said coldly with a dark smile, his index finger lighting up with purple energy that would go straight through the brain. Saiyans were said to be hard heads, now it was time to test that theory "Say to your father and the other apes from my part that just like them, you were nothing but a fly compared to me" The Saiyan looked through narrowed eyes with even more anger.
"Oh you didn't know?" Frieza said, his smirk of mockery growing in size "I destroyed your dearest planet Vegeta. Kind of obvious because there's no one stronger than me in the entire universe" The only answer Frieza got was a spit on the eye.
"Stubborn until the end?" The Icejinn said, rubbing his face with his forearm "Fine, because your end is right here!"
Suddenly the sky darken all over the planet, the green sky covered in dark shadows. Frieza felt a weird power surge in his scouter, coming from the East of the planet. As far as he knew, the planet had three stars so there was no possibility of night-time.
"Fool!" Vegeta said through narrowed teeth "Someone is already using the Dragon Balls. Guess non of us is becoming immortal" The prospect of Frieza losing, the Royal Saiyan started laughing. It was the only thing he could do with the little strength he had. Frieza balled his hands in fists, his anger running through his ivory body. And Vegeta was only making it worse.
"Shut up!" The Icejinn bellowed at the top of his voice, suddenly firing a black and red energy sphere as big as himself. The attack hit Vegeta dead on, blasting the island away with no rock remaining from it. The tyrant, however, didn't wait to check if someone did survive the attack, as he had already taken off towards the sudden power.
"Krillin, you have any beans on you?" Goku asked out of the blue towards his old friend. Frieza was on the move. More accurate, moving into them.
"I took this one if we needed it. Sadly is only one" The monk said, taking the healing peanut out of his pocket.
"Good, because Frieza is coming right at us" The Earth Saiyan said to Krillin, who opened his eyes wide, feeling the amazing power getting near "Listen to me, make a rodeo and go give Vegeta the bean"
"You are kidding, right?" The monk asked, almost hoping Goku was joking.
"We need as much hands as we can and Vegeta can help" The Saiyan explained. Krillin was a bit reluctant to do so "Just do it Krillin, we don't have many choices at the time"
"You are the boss" Krillin flew away from another angle, so to not came in contact with Frieza. The Saiyan spun around, as the Dragon Balls activated. The magical orbs shone brightly, and the giant Dragon of Dreams towered many feet above the others. His imposing reptile bulk stood in great splendor.
"Speak your wish. I can grant three of them" The imposing dragon said ominous.
"Wish for everyone killed on Earth to be brought back to life" Goku told Dende. The Namek translated.
"That wish is beyond my power" The Dragon said "I can only revive one being per wish" The news were really surprising.
"Wish for Piccolo to be revived" Gohan said to Dende and then looked at his father "If Piccolo is back so is Kami and the Dragon Balls on Earth" Goku was left speechless but smiled to his son. His boy was surely a fast thinker.
"Nice plan son" Goku rubbed his son's head, who smiled by the compliment. Dende translated the wish.
"It shall be done" The dragon said, and his eyes shone red "The one named Piccolo is now alive"
"Goku, Gohan, can you hear me?" A sudden call reached both Earth fighters.
"It's Piccolo!" Gohan smiled.
"Thanks for bringing me back to life. And as a second wish, teleport me to Namek. I want to fight that Frieza for what he did in Namek" The Earth Namekian told the Saiyans.
"You got it!" Goku said smiling "The second wish is to bring Piccolo right here to where we are" The palm tree-haired Saiyan said, knowing that Piccolo surely was strong enough now to help handle Frieza. Dende again translated. The dragon's eyes shone red and the wish was granted.
In a white flash of light, Piccolo was in front of the fighters.
"Mister Piccolo!" Gohan said out-loud and hugged his teacher. The Namek wasn't used to sudden affection but didn't back away.
"Good to have you back Piccolo" Goku said smiling to his old rival, feeling his power increase "Right now we need all the power we can get"
"I am always ready for a fight" The revived Namek smiled "But once this is over, you and I will have our rematch"
"Gladly" the Earth Saiyan replied smiling by the prospect of a rematch with Piccolo. A stomp on the ground caused everyone to look what just happened.
"Well, well, look who we have here?" An icy voice said from behind the warriors.
Notes from Chapter 7:
Vegeta's attack that looked like the Final Flash, was the Final Crush he used against Recoome on cannon Anime/Manga.
Power Levels:
Goku:
Base form: 2 millions
Gohan:
Base form: 500,000
Piccolo:
After training (Weighted clothes on): 250,000
Vegeta:
Base form (stronger after resting): 200,000
Final Crush: 300,000
Beaten: 10
Frieza:
First Form: 590,000
The fight will start and Frieza is angry. Can the Earth fighters win?