Risk
Chapter 6
Despite Piccolo's strong start, things soon spiraled out of control when Frieza managed to get the upper hand on the Namekian warrior. Even after he shed his weighted clothes to increase his speed, Piccolo soon fell to Frieza after the alien transformed yet again. The tyrant had proclaimed that he was only at his second transformation and still had one left.
Around the same time, Vegeta's selfish wish for Krillin to blast him in order to unlock the mythical level known as "Super Saiya-jin" was granted. Despite Krillin's hesitation, he prayed that Vegeta would not turn around and just use whatever super powers that he would be granted after being healed from the injury. Last thing anyone would have ever wanted was for Vegeta to go against the ones he fought beside to bring Frieza's downfall.
Chi-chi stared in shock at the idea that Dende refused to heal Vegeta after all the harm he did to their people. Now the Earthen female wondered why he was even aiding them against Frieza when he killed the Nameks. During the time that Dende ran to Piccolo in order to heal him, Frieza had begun his final transformation to his true form. Shortly after Dende had healed Piccolo, Chi-chi and Gohan begged the Namek child to heal Vegeta also.
"I can't! He killed the village and I can't forgive him."
"You have to try! Please!" Gohan begged.
"But…" Dende hesitated. He rather had allowed Vegeta die for causing his people suffering.
"Please do it," Piccolo looked down at Dende. "I could beat Vegeta now, but not Frieza…"
The power escalated out of control before the smoke billowed out almost though it was a raging hurricane on the horizon. If another moment passed, Frieza would soon stop Dende before he even reached Vegeta to heal him.
"Oh no! Frieza's done powering up!" Krillin exclaimed in worry.
"This chi is beyond any I have ever encountered…" Piccolo muttered.
"He's coming! We need Vegeta if we're going to make it through this!" Gohan stuttered in fear.
"Dende please, Vegeta's the only other person who can do anything to fight Frieza and I'm sure if Goku was here, he would want you to do this also." Chi-chi added her plea, praying that this Namek boy would do as everyone requested of him.
Dende said nothing more and ran over to Vegeta to heal him. No sooner did Vegeta spring back to standing; he kicked the Namekian child much to Chi-chi and Gohan's disbelief.
"Next time don't wait so long to heal me child!" Vegeta yelled at the fallen Dende. Shortly after his tirade, Dende sat up and brushed himself off from the fall. "You're lucky I didn't kill you for taking so Goddamn long to get back to me!"
"You should be ashamed of yourself!" Chi-chi yelled at Vegeta for the abuse that he had done to the Namekian child. He was already traumatized enough without the added abuse that Vegeta had given moments before. "You were the one that killed those Nameks that could be his family!"
"Woman, those Nameks would have met their fate whether by my hands or Frieza's hands." Vegeta countered. "Now if you'll excuse me, I don't want to listen to your fat mouth speak anymore about this 'love' and 'affection' shit when Frieza's transformed to his final level!"
When the dust finally settled almost though the storm died before it could reach them, Frieza stood there looking oddly different without the added spikes or adorned with the intense piercing armored skin he had once worn. It looked almost though he was standing there without any type of armor on at all.
"Is that it?" Krillin questioned. Everyone else was equally surprised; however, they did not let their guard down for even a moment. "That's his final form? He doesn't look scary…"
"We shouldn't judge by his appearance." Piccolo interjected. "I would have rather faced him in his previous forms prior to this. I don't think I stand a chance against him and I feel guilty for making you guys go through so much trouble to gather the dragon balls."
Frieza moved his hand slightly to point and a deadly beam screamed past everyone before it exploded right behind them. Everyone turned around to see that the blast had hit Dende; instantly killing the Namekian child.
"No! Dende!" Gohan yelled. Chi-chi felt her knees give and she fell to the ground in utter fear.
"That monster's power's beyond anything I could even imagine!" Piccolo growled.
"Now none of you are going to return." Frieza hinted at Dende's power; hinting that he knew of their secret of their recovery rested in the boy himself. Now that he was dead, there was no guarantee anyone was going to survive this one.
"He saw him healing us! Damn it all!" Piccolo hissed.
"We're done for aren't we?" Chi-chi questioned before Frieza suddenly appeared right in front of them. She freaked out and nearly jumped at this creature coming within arm's reach of them.
"I still want you all to feel pain worse than death before you die." Frieza promised darkly. Before Chi-chi could recover, Gohan lunged at Frieza.
"Gohan!" Chi-chi instantly found her footing and lunged at the same time Krillin and Piccolo did. Frieza dodged Gohan's fist with ease followed by the other's random attacks. No matter how much they tried, no one was able to land a foot or fist on Frieza. They all pulled back and fired blasts at Frieza to try to at least make a mark on him in vain when he avoided the blasts.
"He's gone!" Krillin exclaimed in shock.
"You fools! He's behind you!" Vegeta yelled from above.
"Right answer!" Frieza spoke in a rather pleased voice while the others turned in alarm at the ambush. None of them were prepared when the blasts came and had to dodge. Vegeta managed to protect Gohan during this random fire his own way, which irritated Chi-chi again.
"Don't kick my son!" Chi-chi yelled at Vegeta.
"Would you rather he was dead?" Vegeta countered. "Besides, this proves I don't need your guy's help beating this guy now that I'm a Super Saiya-jin." A surprised look appeared on Frieza's face. "Now step aside!"
"Such confidence will be your downfall Vegeta," Frieza spoke in a sultry voice.
'Is he really a Super Saiya-jin?' Chi-chi thought to herself.
"I am something that Kakarrot can't be!" Vegeta boasted before lunging at Frieza. The confidence turned into disappointment when Vegeta failed to hit Frieza and appeared behind him.
"I believe this "Super Saiya-jin" nonsense is just a legend and very soon, you too will be one," Frieza spoke in such a way that it seemed like an insult.
"I'LL SHOW YOU THAT I'M A SUPER SAIYA-JIN!" Vegeta roared and fired a powerful blast at tyrant. Everyone minus Frieza was worried that Vegeta would take the planet in order to try to destroy Frieza; however, the tyrant easily deflected the blast lazily with his foot into the sky. The Saiya-jin prince stared in disbelief of the monstrous power that the tyrant possessed. That made Vegeta lose the will to fight for the freedom he long sought for himself.
"Now that you seem to be done, I will start torturing you until you beg for death," Frieza lunged at Vegeta who was still hovering in the skies. Chi-chi wanted Vegeta to something, anything to fight again; however, it seemed her heart couldn't sway the broken prince's spirit to fight. While he was brutally tortured by every means necessary, everyone seemed to stand their frozen while the tyrant beat the prince in such a merciless way that no one could even dare go out and attempt to save him.
Chi-chi felt a flutter in her heart despite the beating and gasped when she felt warmth fill her spirit that Frieza had taken. She knew what it was and looked back where the ship was. No one else seemed to notice Chi-chi's gaze had shifted since they were still petrified at the scene. Frieza paused and looked up at Chi-chi in question.
"What are you looking at?" the tyrant questioned. Chi-chi's eyes were filled with tears. Frieza would have said something offensive when he suddenly saw a figure appear crouched down to the ground before he stood to his feet. The other warriors that had been staring at Frieza turned and saw who Chi-chi had felt moments before.
"G-Goku!" Chi-chi cried happily at his amazing recovery. He walked over rather boldly with anger written on his face.
"So, the dragon balls brought you here Piccolo? Great! I was wondering who came back to life." A faint smile appeared on Goku's face before it faded. He walked past Gohan, Krillin and Chi-chi. "I apologize for keeping you all waiting, but I'll take it from here."
"What? You can't do this alone!" Chi-chi exclaimed and almost went after Goku when Piccolo grabbed his wrist.
"Don't intervene with Son's request and stay here." Piccolo warned. Chi-chi felt trapped and felt like she needed to do what Piccolo said; for now.
"So, you must be Frieza," Goku started. "Funny you look so young."
"I was wondering what that woman was looking at. For some odd reason, I wondered if there was someone else she was waiting for by the way she was acting." Frieza spat.
"Listen, I want to fight Vegeta after this," Goku added. Frieza ignored it and was puzzled by the way Goku looked. Vegeta, who happened to recover from the beating he had taken from Frieza, looked up weakly at the Earth-raised Saiya-jin.
"Ka… Kakarrot… y… you…" Vegeta barely managed to mutter with what strength he had.
"Kakarrot? That's a Saiya-jin name!" Frieza realized before he put two and two together. The warrior that stood before him reminded him of the one he killed a quarter century ago along with the planet Vegeta. Neither one of them knew who this male was that Frieza killed heartlessly along with the rest of the planet, but the resemblance was truly uncanny. "You should have stayed hiding! I vowed to exterminate the last of your kind!"
Without another warning, Frieza lunged at Goku. He almost expected the Earth-raised Saiya-jin to fair no better than Vegeta did while he battled; however, Goku easily surprised Frieza by a kick to the face that sent him flying backwards. Taking a moment to recover, Frieza pointed his finger out at Goku.
"Watch out!" Chi-chi cried before she was dragged to the ground by Gohan and Krillin.
In seconds, dozens of blasts went screaming at Goku and he deflected them all harmlessly away from himself and his friends standing behind him. He even kept any from hitting Vegeta who lain not far away from Goku's left side.
"Impossible! How can a mere Saiya-jin knock my blasts away with one hand?" Frieza questioned in utter shock. He wasn't used to seeing anyone, not even anyone on the Ginyu Force, match that kind of speed that Goku just displayed.
"You're finished you fool! Kakarrot's a Super Saiya-jin!" Vegeta proclaimed while sitting up slightly to see the look on Frieza's face fix in horror. "He's the one you feared would rise up and destroy you and now that he's here, he'll avenge us all!"
Insane laughter left Vegeta's throat before he was silenced by a blast through his heart courtesy of Frieza. As though everything fell into slow motion, Vegeta's body hit the ground before his head rolled to the side and he coughed up blood. Everyone stared wide-eyed at this scene and wondered why Frieza took his anger out at the originally injured prince.
"I'm tired of you repeating yourself on and on about this legend of yours," Frieza growled.
"Why did you do that when he couldn't even defend himself?" Goku growled at Frieza. Something within him wanted Frieza to pay; however, he fought against that feeling due to his upbringing. Chi-chi felt a slight bit of inner turmoil in Goku and said nothing to the others; fearing that she may do more harm than good.
"I warned him to stop repeating that nonsense since it's only a fairy tale and it will never happen. Sadly, he won't listen." Frieza snorted.
'I believe it,' Chi-chi thought silently to herself. 'Whatever it is, it must exist or otherwise, Vegeta wouldn't of talked about it so much to the point where he's laying there dying.'
"K… Kakarrot… sto… stop being merciful… and destroy Frieza!" Vegeta stuttered weakly despite the blood loss. No normal person would even be alive after being shot in the heart; yet, it seemed that the Saiya-jin Prince wouldn't die until he finished saying whatever was on his mind at the moment to inspire the Earth-raised Saiya-jin in some way or another.
"I can't change who I am," Goku admitted to the prince.
"You have to… in order… in order to become… a Super Saiya-jin… and…" Vegeta coughed violently.
"Don't talk more! You're killing yourself!" Goku warned.
"Kakarrot…" Vegeta defied Goku's request and continued despite his life nearing its end, "…how do you even think our world… where you and I were born… was destroyed…? It wasn't… because of some damned meteor…"
"Talk, talk, talk." Frieza interrupted. "I swear I should just gag you to shut you up."
"It was Frieza who did it!" Vegeta blamed the tyrant before them while tears ran down his bloodied face. "We Saiya-jins… did just as he commanded… we were his hands… his muscles…" Goku's eyes widened at that revelation and at the fact that Vegeta was crying out before him. "…and yet… he killed them all! Your parents… my father… the king… He killed them all because he feared that a Super Saiya-jin would arise from among them!"
"So you say," Frieza spoke coldly.
"Pl… please…. Frieza…. Frieza must… die… by a Saiya-jin's… hands…" Vegeta managed to finish before his tear-filled eyes closed completely and he laid there still. It was almost though he had fallen asleep, yet, sleep was something he did not do for he no longer drew breath in his lungs. The Saiya-jin Prince had died. And it was thanks to Frieza that Goku was the only pure-blooded Saiya-jin left alive.
"About time he stopped. Now let's get started." Frieza grinned impatiently.
"Tears… I guess you held them inside of you all of your life," Goku did not pay heed to Frieza. Goku was instead looking down at Vegeta's broken and bloodied body in a sign of respect. Looking away somewhat, he concentrated and sent a kiai to create a hole into the ground. He knelt down to Vegeta's body and picked it up.
"You must have hated that life to the point you wanted nothing more than to get out." Setting Vegeta into the shallow grave, Goku began to bury him. "He used you for his own pleasure and gave nothing back to you. He's taken everything from you, including your pride. I ask you now to give me some of that pride." He rested his hands with the dirt in them on top of the covered hand. "I may have been born on Earth, but I'm a Saiya-jin too! For all of the Saiya-jins you killed… and all of the Namekians… I'm going to destroy you!"
'Oh Goku, please don't make a promise you can't keep…' Chi-chi grew worried. Somewhere in her heart, she felt her husband hesitating at the words he had spoken and knew that this was something he was pressured into carrying out.
To Be Continued…