The Earthling Chronicles

by FinalFlashX

During the battle with Raditz, Goku is injured too greatly to make the ultimate sacrifice in the battle for Earth's fate, leaving the door open for someone else to step in and be the hero. Follow this re-telling of DBZ where the Earthlings are the main focus of the story.

14. Saiyan Arc: Chapter 14

Hey guys, so here it is the next chapter as promised. Also about Goku having trained his tail to resist pain, I completely forgot about that. It's been over a year since I watched the original Dragonball, so I think I'm going to play the AU card on this one and say he didn't think about it even though he probably would. My bad on that one but I think it makes the story better that way. By the way italics in this chapter is a flashback.

Chapter 14

"KRILLIN!" Kakarot's yells echoed across the entire wasteland as he ran towards the spot where his best friend in the universe had disappeared inside of an ominous cloud of smoke. Vegeta watched with an amused expression as the saiyan from Earth continued to call out to his friend. The saiyan knew it was pointless however; there was no way that puny little man had survived that kind of onslaught from Nappa. Other than that last attack, the midget had been nothing but an insignificant pawn on the battlefield so far. Honestly, he could not see what Kakarot was getting so upset about. Why would he care so much about that pathetic weakling?

Vegeta watched as the limp and lifeless body of the human fell straight into Kakarot's arms and when he saw the condition his friend was in the saiyan fell to his knees. The shorter saiyan snorted with amusement at the low-class's reaction. He could never imagine himself falling to his knees if someone who was "close" to him had died. When he had heard Raditz die, he and Nappa had actually laughed about it and condemned the idiot for losing to such pathetic opponents. Truth be told, if a saiyan warrior is beaten by an opponent who roughly one-third of their own strength than they deserved to die and that was his reaction to the death of someone he had spent his entire life with. If Nappa had or were to die in this battle, his attitude would be the same. If someone is too weak to survive than they didn't deserve to stand by his side in the first place and thus don't deserve his sorrow or pity. That was the saiyan way and the code he lived by. No one deserved his pity, not even himself.

So why was Kakarot, a fellow saiyan, driven to his knees by the death of this pathetic, insignificant, human? He had never seen another saiyan care so much about a person like Kakarot apparently cared for the bald human. He couldn't even fathom having an attachment that had such a hold on him. It was a weakness, as Kakarot was clearly showing. Things such as attachments had no place in the heart of a saiyan warrior, especially not a saiyan elite like him, The Prince of All Saiyans. He cared for no one, not even his life-long companions, and he never would.

As his thoughts turned to his partner, Vegeta turned his head slightly so that he could see his giant comrade. The idiot had gone and lost his arm, all because he was too stupid to simply listen to his prince and move out of the way when he was told. The shorter saiyan could tell that Nappa's strength had been seriously depleted, first from his fight with the Namek and then from having his arm sliced off by the midget's energy disk. He scoffed as he thought of how Nappa had let his guard down so much that a huge, buzzing disk of energy had escaped the oafs notice. It bewildered him how idiotic his partner could be sometimes, especially seeing as how he had been the General of the Saiyan Army before the destruction of Vegeta-sei.

Still now that he had lost his arm, Nappa had become significantly less useful. Vegeta scowled as he thought of his plans for bringing down Frieza and how they would become significantly more difficult to follow through with if didn't have someone to take care of the lizard's underlings for him while he dealt for the insane space tyrant himself. However now that Nappa only had one arm, the older saiyan was pretty much just useless weight.

While he pondered his dilemma, Vegeta's eyes again rested on the form of the third-class saiyan from Earth. As his eyes scanned over Kakarot's a plan came together in his head and a smirk formed on his face. Yes, it was perfect! Kakarot was a saiyan after all and it would test who was the most worthy of the remaining saiyans to see who would stand next to their prince as he conquered the universe. The only question was, would it be Nappa or Kakarot that was left standing?

0o0o0o0o0o0o

Goku stared in horror into the inanimate face of his best friend. He could already feel tears beginning to pool up in his eyes as gazed into Krillin's face. The bald monk's mouth was slightly agape and his beady eyes were shut. It almost looked he was only sleeping after an extremely difficult day of training while they both were students of Master Roshi when they were just kids. His orange fighting gi had been ripped and his friend's skin had scorch marks on it from the blast. As his emotions overwhelmed him, Goku's knees felt like they were made of lead and they immediately sunk to the ground.

To him it seemed like he sat there for eternity as he gaped in shock and horror at his friends limp body. His entire body began to shake uncontrollably as he hugged his chin to his chest as he remembered how he had been in the same exact situation a little over nine years ago. It was the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament and he had just been narrowly defeated by Tien in the championship round and the entire gang had been together and they were celebrating at his favorite restaurant. After they had begun eating, he had realized that he had forgotten Grandpa Gohan's Dragon Ball and his Power Pole back at the stadium. Being the good friend he was, Krillin offered to go retrieve them for him since he didn't want Goku to have to leave his own party, and Goku had foolishly let him leave. A short time later, he had sensed something had gone horribly wrong and he had run to the stadium and that's where he found him. His broken body had been left on the floor and his lifeless eyes had still been open. Goku would never forget his friend's cold, dead eyes in that moment.

In here he was again. Holding his best friend's broken and battered body as the tears streamed down his face, his body shuddering from the gut-wrenching experience of watching him die, and him stifling his cries of pain and sorrow as he tried to keep himself from losing it all together. Only this time there was no hope of ever getting his friend back. This time he could not just wish his friend back to life with the Dragonballs, he was gone for good.

"Ha-ha, what a pathetic loser!" Goku whipped his head around with a snarl already formed on his face. Nappa was standing there with an insane grin across his face, which made him look him even more unstable since his body was still shuddering from all the blood had lost. "I had this elaborate and excoriatingly painful beating all planned out for the bastard, but he couldn't even survive the first blast! You should really get some stronger friends Kakarot, these ones all die too quickly! I can't get the proper enjoyment out of beating the life out of them when they die after one hit." The saiyan from Earth began to shake in anger as the murderer of his friends continued to insult his victims.

"Aw there it is. I was beginning to wonder if it would ever come out." Goku looked up to see the other saiyan, Vegeta standing over him.

"What are you talking about?" spitted out Goku. He was barely paying attention to the saiyan who stood over him as all of his attention was focused on the one who had murdered his best friend.

"Your saiyan blood Kakarot. I can finally see." Goku moved his eyes to meet the flame-haired saiyan's and Vegeta could tell he wanted him to elaborate further. "That look in your eye Kakarot, the look that says you want to rip Nappa into pieces! That look shows the way your rage is beginning to boil over inside of you! That look shows that your blood is beginning to sear inside of you in preparation for a fight! That look shows me that you only thing on your mind is causing as much pain as possible to that giant idiot! That look shows me that you truly are a saiyan, no matter how hard you try to deny it. That is your saiyan blood, your heritage Kakarot."

Goku shook his head wildly, trying to deny the truth in the words the saiyan said. He hated that those exact that's of tearing Nappa apart were racing through his head. As he carefully laid Krillin gently onto the ground he said, "No, that's not true. I'm not one of you!"

The flame-haired saiyan merely laughed. "Oh but you are Kakarot! You cannot deny it any longer, you need to embrace it and use the power your rage gives you. That is why we saiyans are the greatest warrior race the universe has ever seen! We give into our saiyan blood and let it guide us to victory! Give into your heritage Kakarot. It is a part of you and you cannot continue to deny yourself the power your saiyan blood gives you."

Vegeta then nodded over to where his partner was standing, still laughing and mocking Goku about his most recent kill. "Look at him over there, mocking you and your fallen ally. A true saiyan would never stand for such an outrage! You however cannot even get off your knees and avenge your so called friend." As the saiyan spoke, Goku could feel his anger beginning to wash over him and the only thing he could think of was avenging Krillin and the rest of his fallen friends. He could feel his power begin to rise to the surface and a white glow began to outline his body. The heat from his sudden surge in energy evaporated the tears that had covered his face and the steam made a trail in the exact opposite direction his tears had fallen.

"That's it Kakarot. Give into your saiyan blood. Let your rage and anger boil over until it gives you the power you need to defeat your opponent and avenge your comrades."

As Vegeta was putting the finishing touches on his prodding of Goku's rage, Nappa was finally beginning to wrap up his own insults to the saiyan from earth's friends. "Well now that I've finished off that little bastard, I guess it's time I turned my attention elsewhere." The giant saiyan turned his head to look over to where Chi-Chi and Gohan were standing watching Goku grieve. Chi-Chi had noticed the saiyan turn his attention turn his crazy eyes on them and their eyes met and she felt a chill crawl down her spine.

"I guess it's time I finally finished off that bitch you consider to be your mate, huh Kakarot."

And once the giant saiyan had finished his sentence, Goku's rage finally snapped.

With an intense battle cry, Goku had blasted off towards the giant saiyan with his white aura blazing around his body. The energy that was pulsating off of him was causing a trench to form behind him as he flew, like the wake of a boat. It only took a second for the angry saiyan to reach his target and he delivered a hard right hook to Nappa's stunned face. The bald saiyan hadn't even registered the fact that Goku had charged him by the time his fist connected with Nappa's cheek. Blood spurted out of his mouth of his head was snapped back by the punch and his body was soon carried by momentum and was sent sailing across the battlefield.

The raging saiyan was not about to let the murderer of his friends of off the hook that easily though. Surrounded in his blazing aura, Goku swiftly overtake the sailing Nappa and flew beyond his disoriented opponent. Stopping a few yards in front of his enemy, he set his hands on the ground and lowered his body so that it was almost touching the ground. As the giant saiyan passed over his position, Goku yelled, "THIS ONE'S FOR YAMCHA!" Then he kicked upward with all of his strength, planting both of feet into the small of Nappa's back. The behemoth cried out in pain as his back was forcibly arched and he was sent skyrocketing.

The saiyan from earth wasn't even close to finished yet however and quickly flew after Nappa. As he approached the bald saiyan he drew back his fist and screamed, "AND THIS ONE IS FOR CHIAOTZU!" As soon as the reeling saiyan was within reach Goku unleashed a furious barrage of lightning fast punches which thrashed the mammoth sized saiyan around like a rag doll. After using the giant as a punching bag, Goku then kicked him in the chest and again sent him flying through the air before phasing out of sight. He was not gone for long though as he reappeared right above Nappa whose body was flying parallel to the ground.

"THIS ONE IS FOR UPA!" Goku hammered his clasped hands into the giant saiyan's exposed face and sent the saiyan spiraling back down to the earth. When he collided with the earth, a huge pillar of dust exploded into the air as the impact caused the entire battlefield to shake. When the dust settled a few seconds later it revealed Nappa lying face down in a small crater. The saiyan slowly lifted his remaining arm and grabbed the edge of the crater and pulled himself out of the crater. When he lifted his head, he coughed up a mixture of blood and phlegm as blood flowed freely out of his broken nose.

"Where the hell did that come from?" spit out Nappa as he struggled to stand. The saiyan from earth had caught him by surprise and he had been thoroughly thrashed for his mistake. His muscle in his body felt like it was on fire as he brought himself to his feet. There was no denying it; Kakarot had some power in that scrawny body of his. If Nappa was at full power there was no doubt in his mind that he could handle the saiyan from earth, but after all the fighting that he had done today and the fact that he only had one arm left meant that the fight between them a lot more difficult. Nappa just grinded his teeth together and snarled as he lifted his head and saw that his opponent had already descended to the ground. The giant saiyan knew one thing; there was no way in hell that he was going out this easy to third-class garbage like him.

The two saiyans stood each other down for several tense moments before Nappa went on the attack. With a fierce battle cry he charged at Goku and then let out all the stops as he tried to hit the saiyan from earth with everything he had, putting him on the defensive. Goku was able to dodge or block most of the giant's attacks but the saiyan was able to hit with a couple of punches and kicks. However when he did get hit he was able to shrug off the blow like it was nothing, which infuriated Nappa to no end which only led to him increasing the intensity of his assault.

With a feral howl, Nappa brought his arm back and tried to deliver a powerful chop to Goku's neck. His arm whistled through the air as he brought it down at super-sonic speed and he was shocked when he heard a loud smack. He looked at his arm and saw that it had been blocked by the saiyan from earth's forearm. Goku then drew back his other fist and delivered a heavy blow to the bald saiyan's exposed stomach. The giant's torso lurched forward as his stomach was continually pushed backwards by his opponent's fist and a coughed up a mouthful of blood as entire body shuddered from the force of the punch. As pain coursed up and down Nappa's entire body, Goku leaned in so that his mouth was right next to the behemoth's ear.

"And this one is for Krillin," he whispered.

In rapid succession, he removed his fist from Nappa's gut and then leaped up into the air twisting his body as he jumped. Whipping his leg around, Goku kicked the giant's temple and sent him skidding across the scorched battlefield. As soon as his feet touched the ground again he brought his cupped hands to his hips and began charging his signature technique.

"KAME!" chanted Goku as a blue orb of energy began to form in his cupped hands. Nappa's mind began to race wildly as he continued being driven into the ground by the force of the kick. He knew that if this attack hit him, then it would be over for him. If he remembered correctly, Kakarot had used this attack against Raditz and he had been able to direct where is attack even after he fired it so he just try and move out of the way once he fired. The standard strategy would be to either block or dodge the attack at the last second, but at his current strength he wasn't powerful enough to deflect the blast or fast enough to evade it. What options were left to him then?

"HAME!" The giant saiyan realized that he was running out of time as the younger saiyan was fast approaching the end of his attack's chant. As he finally skidded to a stop, his eyes drifted over to where Kakarot's family was standing. They were only about 15 yards away, a very short distance and one he could cover in a second even in his weakened state. The harpy was tugging on the brat's gi and telling him they had to get out of the way, but the brat's eyes were transfixed on where the bald saiyan had come to a halt. With his plan fully threshed out, Nappa let loose an evil grin as he prepared to launch himself towards the brat as the saiyan from earth finished his chant.

"HAAAAAAAA!" As Goku thrust his arms forward an enormous blue energy wave erupted from his cupped hands and shot towards the murderer's position. As much as he loathed himself for feeling this way, it felt good seeing the killer of his friends in his sights as his Kamehameha wave raced towards him. Just as his energy wave was about to collide with its target, Goku noticed that Nappa had moved away from his original position.

"Oh no you don't!" yelled Goku as he moved his arms, with his energy beam following their movement and altering its course to chase the fleeing saiyan. As his attack continued to track down his enemy, he realized that Nappa had his leg extended like he was about to kick something. Suddenly the light from the fast approaching Kamehameha wave illuminated the saiyan's target, and Goku watched in horror as the giant kicked his wife in the head and set her flying away. Then fast as lighting, the saiyan reached down and wrapped his remaining arm around Gohan's throat and then threw him up like a shield in front of the energy beam that was almost upon him.

Panicking, Goku quickly pulled up with his arms and the beam followed suit, curving up at the last second to avoid hitting his son and his captor. The bald saiyan wore an evil grin as the blue energy beam curved upward mere inches away from his face casting a blue glow on his face. Gohan had his eyes tightly shut and his hair was blown back by the wind the attack gave off as it went by. After the attack finally ended, Goku was panting slightly from the effort it had taken to avoid hitting his son who was being used as a human shield.

"Gohan!" wailed Chi-Chi from where she was lying on the ground. She cried out as Nappa gave her son a little squeeze which made him choke for air. Her reaction prompted even more laughter out of the evil saiyan.

"Idiot!" he mumbled to himself. "How did you not notice that you had kicked him right where Chi-Chi and Gohan where standing?" It didn't take long for him to answer his question. In his rage and in his quest to avenge Krillin and the others, he had completely forgotten that his family was even there. Goku grinded his teeth together as he watched the giant begin to laugh as he continued to hold Gohan with a chokehold in front of him. He promised himself then that he wouldn't let his anger get the best of him like that again for the rest of the fight. It clouded his judgment and made him someone he didn't like and it had led to his son being taken hostage by the enemy.

"Ha-ha, you are so pathetic Kakarot," mocked Nappa. "You had me. You had me beat and you couldn't go through with it just because I grabbed your brat! That is why we true saiyans never form attachments, because they are a weakness that can hold a warrior back just like yours our holding you back. Ha, I don't care if you do have saiyan blood in your veins, you're no saiyan."

"Your wrong," retorted Goku. "My family is what gives me my strength. You will never be able to convince me that they are a weakness."

"Well allow me to show you as I beat you to a pulp!" The bald saiyan then kicked off the ground and flew towards Goku. The saiyan from earth was conflicted in what he should do. He knew that he had to beat the giant saiyan, but if he attacked his opponent would simply use his son as a human shield. His hesitation allowed Nappa to get inside his reach and the saiyan lowered his shoulder and drove into Goku, lifting him off the ground. The older saiyan then twisted his body around and kicked Goku in the chest sending him into the air.

Goku quickly recovered from the attack but it didn't take long for Nappa to follow him into the sky. The bald saiyan again went on the offensive but this time Goku was ready for him and evade the kicks that were flying his way. He however never threw a punch or kick in retaliation for fear of hitting Gohan if he did.

With a loud roar, Nappa brought one of his knees up aiming for Goku's gut. The younger saiyan blocked the knee by pressing both of his hands against the knee and pushing it off course. This however left him open to attack and the brute brought his head back and then smashed it into Goku's face.

Momentarily stunned by the headbutt, Goku drifted backwards in a daze. Seeing his chance, Nappa sprung forward and again drove his shoulder into Goku's ribcage. The saiyan from earth grunted in pain as he felt several of his ribs crack. He then pushed away from his attacker and put some distance in between the two of them.

"Ha what's the matter Kakarot, where did that fighting spirit you had earlier go?" mocked Nappa. Goku just scowled in pain as he checked to see if his ribs were cracked. A shot of pain coursed through his body as he touched his ribcage, and he knew they were definitely cracked maybe even broken. He just tried to block out the pain as he tried to formulate a plan to get his son out of the clutches of the giant saiyan. He wasn't allowed much time to think though because Nappa resumed his assault after finishing his string of insults.

With his reflexes slowed because of his cracked ribs, Goku found it difficult to evade Nappa's flurry of kicks and so was forced to block most of them. Seeing that he was wearing the younger saiyan's defenses down, the bald saiyan picked up the intensity and his legs became mere blurs as he pushed himself to the limit trying to hit the saiyan from earth. Finally the opening he had been hoping to see presented itself and Nappa kicked Goku's right arm to the side, dislocating it from his shoulder. Then the giant saiyan spun around and used the added power from his momentum and kicked the same arm that was hanging at Goku's side. Goku screamed in pain as his arm snapped in half. He floated backwards as he clenched his now useless arm and grimaced as he lifted his head and stared at the saiyan who was holding his son.

"You are a wonderful punching bag Kakarot," said Nappa in delight. The bald saiyan was absolutely giddy about how the fight had turned out. He was going to make the third-class scum pay for every single hit that he landed on him when they table had been turned against him. "I am starting to get bored though so I think I'm going to give you a first class trip back to earth."

The mammoth sized saiyan quickly closed the distance between the two fighters and he drove one of his knees into Goku's stomach. The fighter doubled over in pain over Nappa's knee and he gasped in pain as the saiyan drove his knee even further into his gut. The giant then removed his knee and did a flip in the air, extending his leg out as he flipped. When he had come through a full rotation, Nappa used the momentum of his flip to propel his leg forward and he brought it down on Goku's back. Goku was sent spiraling down to the ground and when he hit the ground face first he continued to travel through the ground, creating a small trench as his face dug through the earth.

"Goku!" cried Chi-Chi as she rushed over to where her husband had landed. She bent down and wrapped his good arm around her shoulders and helped up to his feet. She had to continue supporting his weight however after he was on his feet because he was too weak to stand on his own.

"We here at Nappa Airlines would like to thank you for choosing us for your face plant," mocked Nappa as he watched Chi-Chi help Goku up. "We hope that your experience with us was a painful one." The saiyan began to laugh hysterically while Chi-Chi glared up at the man who had her son in a chokehold. Gohan's face was white as snow as his terror was clear to everyone and his mother couldn't stand the fact that there was nothing she could do to help her son.

"Look at yourself Kakarot," snorted Nappa as Goku continued to lean heavily against his wife for support. "You have to rely on a woman just to stand! You're a disgrace to the entire saiyan race. You're existence brings shame to the true saiyans. No wonder you were sent to this mud ball of a planet! You and your attachments you have here, they make you weak Kakarot and they have turned you from a proud saiyan warrior into one of these pathetic humans!"

As Nappa finished his speech, Goku shrugged off Chi-Chi so that he could stand by himself. The saiyan from earth stumbled and wobbled a bit but he slowly limped forward, with his head downcast. His right arm hung limply at his side and his other arm was wrapped around his cracked ribcage. As continued to limp closer to where Nappa was hovering in the air he began to speak.

"You're right, I'm not a saiyan and your probably right; I would have been a disgrace if I had lived with the rest of the saiyan. Do you want to know why? It's because I could never live by your insane guideline to life. I could never kill innocent people for money and I could never sacrifice my family or friends for the sake of getting stronger. Why would I want to though? They are the ones that give me my strength. They are the ones that are going to give me the strength to defeat you!"

As he finished his sentence, Goku lifted his head to meet eyes with the giant saiyan. Nappa's grinning face transformed into an angry snarl as he met the fighter's intense gaze.

"You were right. I'm not a saiyan and I don't want to be one. I am Son Goku and I am from Earth and don't count me out just yet!"

0o0o0o0o0o0o

Gohan was finally beginning to stop feeling so nauseated. During the entire fight between his dad and the saiyan he been swung wildly around and it had taken every single bit of willpower he had to prevent himself from puking. His light-headness was starting to fade though now that the saiyan and his dad had come to a pause in their battle.

The young fighter took a second to take in the sight in front of him. He hadn't been able to see any of the fight since his head been whipped around so much that everything had just been a blur. He did know though that it hadn't been good for his dad, who hadn't even thrown a single punch because the big bully had a hold of him.

What he saw wasn't a pretty sight; the saiyan had turned his dad into a bloody pulp who couldn't even stand on his own. His face was smeared with dried blood from where he had been headbutted. His right arm was hanging lifelessly on his side, lower than it normally would be since it had also been dislocated from his shoulder. His father's other arm was wrapped around his ribcage where he had several broken and cracked ribs. His arms and legs were littered with bruises from having the block countless kicks and knee strikes.

Gohan closed his eyes, not wanting to see the damage he had caused his father. He knew that every injury his dad had suffered was entirely his fault. If he hadn't been completely useless, the big saiyan would have never been able to use him as a tool against his dad. If he had only listened to his mother when she said that they had needed to get out of the way, but had frozen up when he and the saiyan's eyes met, again.

It was exactly like during Piccolo's first plan of attack against the saiyan earlier in the fight. He and Krillin had knocked him off balance and set him up perfectly for Gohan to blast him and end the fight. Piccolo had counted on him and given the most vital and important aspect of his plan and all Gohan had done was freeze up. He had let his teacher and Krillin down and he had known it.

The boy shook his head as he heard the giant saiyan giving a speech to his dad. He had been useless during the entire fight. He had counted on everyone else to fight and beat the saiyans and even those little green men. When one of them came at him, he just ran away until Piccolo stepped in and took care of the little monster. Throughout the entire fight he had just been in the way of the others and a burden to everyone.

Now it was even worse, it was because of him that his dad had been beaten up so bad and why the big saiyan was now winning. Before he had gotten a hold of Gohan, his dad had been taking care of the saiyan with ease. However as soon as Gohan had been captured however the saiyan had turned the tables on his dad and now he could barely stand. It was all his fault, it would have been better if he just never come to the battle at all.

"I am Son Goku and I am from Earth and don't count me out just yet!" Gohan opened his eyes and saw his father. The man who had only moments before been unable to stand was now standing by himself and was even walking but what impressed Gohan the most was his dad's eyes. Those eyes were filled with an unquenchable determination to never give up and Gohan swelled with pride as he saw his father refusing to give up enough though his body was begging him to. Inspired by his dad, Gohan decided that he would no longer be a burden and he certainly was not going to be used as a tool against his father.

With renewed determination and vigor Gohan opened his mouth and clamped his teeth down on the forearm that was wrapped around his neck.

As the boy bit down, Nappa's concentration and his awareness was shattered. All he could think about was the intense pain in his arm and he did the instinctive thing and flung the thing that was biting him off of his arm. Gohan went flying into the sky, flipping around in mid-air. Instantly realizing that he had just thrown away his meat shield, Nappa decided that the brat had outlived his use anyway. So instead of flying up to retrieve him, the giant saiyan began to charge his signature attack and white energy began to pulsate around his hand.

"WHY YOU LITTLE BRAT! YOU'RE GOING TO PAY FOR THAT!" yelled Nappa as he prepared to throw the Impact Bomb he had just charged.

"Gohan!" yelled Goku as he outstretched his good arm towards his spinning son.

"GOHAN!" wailed Chi-Chi as she began to move as fast as she could towards where her son was hanging helplessly in mid-air. It was no use however because with an evil grin, Nappa launched his attack before she could even cover half the distance.

As the white grenade of energy approached him, Gohan could tell that this was the end. He could sense that the energy contained in that attack was more than enough to kill him. His eyes were wide with fear as the energy got within a hundred feet of him, causing his entire field of vision to only contain the blinding white light that was his death.

Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, Gohan saw a flash of purple in the bright white light. Then a heavy weight suddenly collided into the side of him and this time through his peripheral vision he could see the familiar green skin and antennae. Before he could cry out his savior's name though he began to feel the momentum of the collision take over and he felt himself beginning to fly away. As he turned his head to look at his rescuer, he was already beginning to drift away. But he was able to turn his head in time and for one second, teacher and student's eyes met.

In that one second, every memory of Gohan that he possessed flashed through Piccolo's mind. He saw the time he had dropped the boy into a pond to wake him up. He saw the kid's first night alone and he remembered how he had sworn to not get attached to him that very night. Later in that same night he brought the kid apples because he could hear his stomach growling from where he had been meditating. He then saw the night he had destroyed the moon and given his symbol to the kid, marking him as his student. He then remembered how he had frantically searched through a hurricane for the kid. Then it was their first day of training together. Then he saw the first time Gohan had ever called him his friend and invited him to his birthday party. He remembered every night they had spent sitting by the campfire at their camp in the wilderness. The kid would always talk on and on about something and he would pretend to be annoyed by it, but he would actually be listening to every word his student said. He remembered every night he had stood guard over his sleeping pupil and had silently promised to keep him from harm. The last thing he saw though was the day before the saiyans arrived, when that night at camp Gohan had come up to where he was mediating.

The kid had been shuffling his feet with his eyes looking down and had stood there for several minutes before Piccolo could no longer take it anymore.

"What is it kid?"

Gohan shuffled his feet once more before looking up into Piccolo's eyes. "Hey Mr. Piccolo I was just wondering…" Piccolo waited patiently as he silently wondered what Gohan's request would be. He suspected that it would be if he could go home and spend the rest of the time until the saiyan's arrived with his family. While it would pain him to give the kid up, Piccolo was willing to let him go. The kid had earned the right to spend the last days before they might all be killed with his family.

"I was wondering if for the battle against the saiyans, if well, maybe, you could make an outfit just like yours for me to wear." Piccolo had been stunned by the request and had actually been speechless at first.

"It's just well the other one you gave me is great and everything, but it's kind of torn up now. Plus since I'm your student, I thought that maybe you would let me wear the same type of fighting gi as you wear."

A feeling that Piccolo had never felt before suddenly welled up inside of him. The feeling of immense pride that he had at that moment almost brought tears to his eyes and he vowed in that instant that he would never allow any harm ever to come to the kid, from the saiyans or any other threat after that. Even if it meant sacrificing his own life so that Gohan could live, he would give up his live in an instant.

Of course Piccolo let none of these feelings shine through his emotionless exterior. "Humph, whatever kid. We can do it in the morning, now go to sleep."

As this last memory flashed through his eyes, a single tear formed in Piccolo's eye as he and Gohan were face to face in that bathing white light where time seemed to be standing still. As the tear began to roll down his face, the proud green warrior mumbled,

"Damn kid, you made me soft."

And then that single second ended.

The laws of time and physics resumed and Gohan was sent crashing back down to the ground at supersonic speed. When he hit the ground the boy didn't even feel it because he was too focused in on the huge explosion which had just occurred at the spot he had just been at half a second ago. If he hadn't been hit as hard as he had been and sent flying away as fast as he had, he would have been caught in the blast radius for sure.

"MR. PICCOLO!" yelled Gohan from his position on the ground. The young half-saiyan frantically searched the surrounding sky to see if his mentor had somehow escaped the blast as well. When he didn't see him, Gohan knew that he was standing in the huge cloud of smoke that was just beginning to clear. Piccolo would be standing there with his arms crossed and that smug little half-grin he wore whenever he had just duped his opponent. He just had to be there, Gohan knew that he would be there, but deep down he knew that he was lying to himself.

As the smoke finally cleared, Gohan's worst fears were realized as he saw Piccolo's motionless body hanging in limbo in the air. In what seemed to be slow motion, the green warrior's body began to fall back down towards the ground. The student watched as his teacher with in his burnt and shredding purple gi free fell to the ground. After several agonizing seconds had passed Piccolo finally hit the ground on his back with his face facing away from Gohan and he remained their unmoving.

"The Namek?" said a confused Nappa as he stared at the motionless body of the Namekian. "How did he get up there? I thought I'd beaten him so bad that be unconscious for weeks!"

"Piccolo," said Goku breathlessly. "So you did really change after all, huh friend."

As Gohan lay there staring at the spot where his teacher had fallen, he thought he saw a twitch in the green warrior's neck. Then he saw it again, and it continued until Piccolo's whole head slowly began to turn.

"There's no way!" cried out Nappa as he saw that the fighter's eyes were still slightly open and his head was beginning to move again. "He should be dead! There's no way he can survive both my Break Canon attack and an Impact Bomb!"

Piccolo's head continued to turn, slowly but steadily, in Gohan's direction. The boy watched in complete awe as his teacher struggled just so that he could be facing him. When Piccolo's head down finally come to a rest, Gohan could see that his eyes were half open and there were tears welled up at the bottom of both of his usually stoic master's eyes. As their eyes met once again, Gohan watched as Piccolo unleashed a huge smile, the first genuine smile he had ever seen the proud warrior wear.

And then Piccolo's chest stopped heaving and the proud Namekian warrior died.

Gohan watched in horror as his mentor's eyes slowly closed as his chest stopped moving. He quickly pushed himself off of the ground and began running towards were Piccolo's body laid. Goku watched as his son dropped to his knees and tried to convince himself that this was just a bad nightmare as tears began to stream down his young face.

Turning away to let his son grieve, Goku clenched his fist together and said, "Damn, now we want be able to wish any of the others back."

"What do you mean Kakarot?" Goku whipped around to find that Vegeta had come over to stand next to him. The flame-haired saiyan was looking over at where Gohan was kneeling over Piccolo's body, the light gleaming off of his red scouter as he watched the half-saiyan grieve over the loss of his mentor.

"Oh you right you don't know," said Goku snidely. "Well your partner up there just ruined any chance you had of getting your wish. Without Piccolo, the Dragonballs will become inert, unusable." Goku smiled a little as he saw the anger flash across the saiyan's face. Then as quickly as it had come, it was gone and again the emotionless face had returned.

The short saiyan shrugged and said, "No matter, we can always go to…" Vegeta was interrupted by the beeping of his scouter indicating a nearby rising power level. The saiyan quickly found the coordinates his scouter had supplied him with and moved his eyes to look at the spot where the rising power level was emitting from.

His eyes found Kakarot's woman standing there with her arms at her side and her fist clenched. Her entire body was trembling in anger and what caused Vegeta to arch his eyebrows was the steam that was beginning to rise off of her body.

"You…" she said. Nappa and Goku both turned to look at the female fighter and both of their eyes widened when they saw her appearance. Vegeta glanced down at the number on his scouter which was still steadily rising.

"You…" she repeated. "You tried to kill my son."

The giant saiyan burst into an idiotic grin. "Why yes, I think I did. That stupid Namekian got in the way but that's okay, I'll get him this time." As the saiyan finished his sentence, his hand began to glow with the same white energy as before. He then turned his back to the boy's mother and set his sights on her son.

The female warrior didn't move, her body just continued to shake with rage and steam continue to rise off of her skin. "You tried to kill my son. NOW YOU DIE!" Chi-Chi's head snapped back and her arms shot into the power-up position as she unleashed a thunderous scream as a deep red aura suddenly burst into life around her body. Nappa's head turned to look at the source of the scream but his eyes widened in terror when all he saw was the face of the super powered and super pissed off housewife.

Chi-Chi then unleashed a furious flurry of punches and kicks on the one armed saiyan, causing the energy in his hand to dissipate into thin air. The saiyan was thrashed again in a style reminiscent of the beating he suffered at the hands of Goku. After almost 30 seconds of unleashing her furry on the saiyan, Chi-Chi finished her barrage off by driving her knee up and into the giant saiyan's groin.

Nappa's eyes almost popped out of their sockets and he doubled over in pain, unable to even breathe after the attack on his loins. The enraged female bent down next to the saiyan's ear and whispered, "That was for using my son as a human shield so you could beat me husband, and this…" Chi-Chi then drew her hand back and smacked Nappa's face with the back of her hand. The blow sent the saiyan flying and he collided into the side of a mountain where he became firmly lodging, unable to move.

The saiyan wildly looked around, searching for his attacker but she was nowhere to be seen. Then she reappeared, with her red aura blazing furiously and her hands cupped out her waist where a blue orb of energy and already formed, the rays of blue light that spilled out from in between her fingers spreading in all directions. Nappa stared at the goddess in complete terror as she prepared to pour out her full wrath on him.

"IS FOR TRYING TO KILL MY SON! KAMEHAMEHA!"

The blue wave roared out of her hands as she thrust her arms forward and it took less than a second for it to reach its target. Nappa let out a scream of agony as the blue energy beam began to incinerate him and the mountainside that he was trapped in. The Kamehameha wave consumed the giant saiyan and the entire top half of the mountain and Goku and Gohan both watched in awe from the ground as Chi-Chi obliterated the saiyan brute.

When the blue wave finally ceased, not a single rock remained of the top half of the mountain. There was no trace of the saiyan called Nappa, not even the tiniest trace of energy, and the Son family knew that he had been defeat for good.

Chi-Chi panted heavily as she landed on the ground. The red aura that had enveloped her earlier had disappeared and she could now feel the drain of using so much energy so quickly. Her entire body felt like it was on fire and her arms and legs felt like they weighed like a ton of bricks each. As she landed, she was greeted by her son and husband.

"Wow mom that was amazing!" exclaimed Gohan who was happy to see the giant saiyan finally felled.

"You were great honey," said Goku with a smile.

Chi-Chi smiled as she continued to try and catch her breath. She was about to speak when suddenly she heard the sound of a slow clap. The entire Son family turned to see the flame-haired saiyan, Vegeta, standing there clapping.

"Not bad, not bad at all," he said with an amused expression on his face. "I must admit that out of all the people I imagined Nappa being killed by over the years, I never would have dreamed it would have been to a woman and especially not a human woman. I have to admit though harpy, your power level was quite impressive."

"What do you want?" asked Goku with suspicion dripping down his words.

The saiyan just shrugged and crossed his arms over his chest. "I'll jump straight to it than Kakarot. I seem to have an opening on my squad now that Nappa's gone, so my offer to join me still stands."

"I already told you…"

The saiyan raised his hand and Goku stopped talking. "However, I am willing to extend the offer to the rest of your family as well. I must admit the harpy impressed me and I could use someone with that kind of power on my team. The halfbreed brat too, I can see that he has potential. His power level for someone his age is extraordinarily high. Plus what is left for you on this planet Kakarot? All of your friends were killed by Nappa and I'm allowing you to live if you come with me, because of you think you can beat me than your insane Kakarot. Join me Kakarot and together we will conquer the universe."

For a long time, Goku didn't respond, but then after several tense moments he gave the other saiyan his answer. "I don't think so Vegeta. It's not just about my friends or my family. I have a responsibility to every single person on this planet to protect them from evil. It's my responsibility because I have the strength to protect them from people like you when they can't. So it is my duty to protect the people of Earth since there is no doubt in my mind that you plan to destroy this planet whether I join with you or not."

"Also, you say that I shouldn't stay here because my friends are dead now. My friends died trying to protect the Earth from you and your partner so it would be an insult to them if I joined forces with you just to save my own skin. Plus, you had the power to call off of your partner when he was killing my friends, you did it earlier when it fitted into your plans, but you didn't stop him. So you are just as much to blame for their deaths as he was. I could never work alongside the man who was responsible for the death of my friends and all those innocent people you've killed since arriving on this planet. As I told your partner earlier, I could never kill innocent people like you seem to do on a daily basis. My answer to your offer is no and that I would rather die than join forces with you!"

By the end of Goku's speech, the flame-haired saiyan was trembling with anger. "Well who am I, the Prince of all Saiyans, to deny third-class scum like you your wish of death!" Faster than any of the Son family could even see, Vegeta was floating high above the family with his hand outstretched and pointing down at them. "If you love this precious planet so much, then after I'm done with you I'll turn it to dust as well!" A violet orb of energy formed in the palm of the saiyan's outstretched hand and Goku was astounded by the amount of energy Vegeta had summoned in such a short amount of time.

"Are you prepared Kakarot, because here comes your death!" yelled Vegeta as he prepared to fire his energy blast at the family that was huddled together below him. Just as he was about to blast the Son family into the next dimension, his scouter alerted him an extremely high power level. While he was in the process of beginning to scan the information his reading was interrupted when he was abruptly kicked out of the sky. The stunned Son family had to do a double take when the show the falling figure of Vegeta and the looked up to see…

Tien.

Yes, finally finished with the Nappa fight. I had planned on it being a maximum of 2 normal-sized chapters when I first started planning out the saiyan fights but it just kept growing as I wrote it and these last 3 chapter ended being by far the longest chapters I've ever written. But now we can finally move onto the fight we've all been waiting for, Tien vs. Vegeta! Oh man, I can't wait to write it out! I already have most of the fight thought out so expect an update in the next few days.

Power Levels

Goku: 4,500

Nappa (One-Armed): 3,700

Chi-Chi (Enraged): 4,200

Chi-Chi (Enraged) Kamehameha: 5,000

The only thing I really can think of to talk about is to tell you that Nappa did not stay at that level through both the fights with Goku and Chi-Chi and Goku defiantly wasn't that high by the end of the chapter. Their power levels wore down over the course of the fight as they sustained injuries and severe beatings.

As always if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions please leave them in a review and I'll be happy to address them. Also let me think of what you thought of this chapter and the entire Nappa fight in whole. Did you like or not? What did you think of how it ended? Stuff along those lines. Plus I was happy to see a few anonymous reviews in the last chapter, and I encourage more in the future. All reviews count the same in my eyes and I will not penalize you for not signing in or not having in an account. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it.