Unexpected Threat

Nappa came up behind Bulma and rested his hand on her shoulder, squeezing gently. It was a comforting gesture he learned during his stay on Earth and he hoped it would be effective in consoling the woman who was essentially the princess of his people. He didn't have to see her face to know she was crying as the scent of her tears filled the air around her. "He's going to win."

She nodded half-heartedly. For all her grandiose boasting and reassurances, she was honestly terrified for Vegeta. She didn't know the half of what Frieza did to him while he was away from Earth, but judging by his carefully hidden fear, she knew it was bad, far worse than anything she could ever imagine. Even if she believed Vegeta could defeat this – this demon, she was afraid that his own doubts, memories, and fears would interfere and keep him from performing at the top of his game. From what she understood, the tyrant would use any weakness to his advantage, and while Vegeta talked big and strutted around like the king of the universe, his ego was fragile, his temper was quick, and his past haunted him.

"I just wish we could help." Bulma sniffled, wiping her nose on the back of her hand. "I worry about him."

The old saiyan grunted as he put his arm around her shoulders and guided her away from the edge of the Lookout. He could understand her worry; he entertained many of the same concerns, though he didn't express them. She resisted a little as he led her around the platform, no destination in mind. Really he just wanted to keep her busy, take her mind off the battle raging below.

"What if something happens—" She paused to clear her throat when her voice cracked. "I don't know what I'd do if something happens to him."

Nappa shrugged. Never good at the heart-to-heart conversations, he didn't know what to say to her, so he figured it would be better to just let her talk. He only half-listened as she continued spewing her worries and feelings since the majority of the time he could hardly empathize or didn't know what she was talking about anyway. His mind wandered until he reached the point of realizing the irony of his situation. Here he was, playing bodyguard because he was assigned to protect Bulma from Frieza, not unlike how he was assigned to protect Prince Vegeta from Frieza many years ago. But he couldn't protect his prince and now he was expected to protect his future princess. The last thing he ever wanted to do was fail at his job, so he hoped that no matter what happened, Frieza wouldn't find the Lookout.

"Nappa? Are you even listening?"

"What?"

"What if he's not strong enough? What if Frieza kills him? What if I can't get to Namek or they don't have dragon balls or they don't work or – or –"

"You need to trust Vegeta."

"Easier said than done," she grumbled, kicking her toe against the floor. She sighed, tilting her head back to look up at the sky. Vegeta was going to be okay. He had to be okay.

…

Vegeta came to a stop when he reached the open hatch of the ship. He raised his fists defensively as he inched forward, not sure if he should go inside or lure Frieza out. His eyes shifted around the area. Not the prime site for a battle of epic proportion, but it was more open than the ship. In the end, he decided keeping the fight outside would be to his advantage. That settled, he started raising his ki, slowly at first, then like an explosion flames of energy burst around him.

He was still powering up when Zarbon came running to the hatch, eyes wide with alarm as the power level reading continued increasing on his scouter until it exploded. He skidded to a halt when he saw who was standing at the entrance of the ship, disbelief clearly written on his face. "V-Vegeta? There's no way!"

The saiyan smirked when he saw Zarbon's reaction to his power, relaxing a little. There was no need to push his ki higher for a confrontation with the green man. "Hello, Zarbon," he drawled.

Zarbon backpedaled a few steps when he saw the feral look in the saiyan's eyes. Before his scouter broke, it read Vegeta's power level at over 50,000. And, judging by the saiyan's confidence – though he was always irritatingly arrogant – and the blazing aura around his heavily muscled body, his power was still higher than that. He swallowed hard, clenching his hands into fists at his sides. "Lord Frieza isn't happy with you, monkey."

"Really?" Vegeta snorted. "I couldn't imagine why. If he's so displeased with me, why isn't he out here telling me so himself? Is he that much of a coward that he has to hide behind his lapdog?"

"He isn't hiding, you fool. Lord Frieza has more important matters to attend to."

Vegeta crossed his arms over his chest. "Right, so I suppose you're telling me he came to Earth for a vacation?"

The plan had been for Zarbon to knock Vegeta out and bring him inside the ship to Frieza, but he was starting to think that wasn't going to be an easy task. He stepped forward, descending the ramp until he was standing in front of the saiyan prince, a sneer curling his lips. Knowing Vegeta was an expert at reading his opponents' body language, he forced himself to put on a show of unshaken confidence and fearlessness. "Come with me, Vegeta, and I won't be forced to hurt you, though I really wouldn't mind."

"I have a better idea," Vegeta said, raising his hand, palm facing Zarbon's chest. "You take this message to Frieza for me like the good little messenger you are." Before the other man could move, Vegeta fired a beam of ki through his chest. He was careful to aim where he could severely injure the amphibious alien without killing him – immediately.

Howling in pain, Zarbon pressed his hands against the gaping wound, his turquoise blood gushing out between his fingers. He staggered back a few steps before falling backwards and scrambling up the ramp into the ship. Vegeta laughed cruelly as he disappeared inside to go seek help from his master. As if he would find any mercy from Frieza. Only a minute passed before Vegeta felt Zarbon's fading ki suddenly disappear, no doubt his end met at the hands of the tyrant he served so faithfully for many years. Frieza's ki spiked with anger before it started moving toward the hatch where Vegeta was waiting, his heart hammering in his chest.

As he waited for the lizard to finally make his grand appearance, Vegeta continued powering up. His power, held steady at about 100,000 during his confrontation with Zarbon, rapidly doubled, then tripled and quadrupled. He was approaching 500,000 by the time Frieza showed himself, floating in his hovering throne with a furious snarl on his black lips. Vegeta's stomach twisted when he saw the lizard for the first time in over three years. He looked the same as he always did, with the feminine pink skin, black horns jutting from the sides of his head, dry black lips, and purple armor. He was a hideous creature to behold, his appearance made uglier by his evil demeanor.

Frieza looked down at the flame-haired saiyan with disdain. He hadn't changed much aside from the modifications made to his armor and his noticeably bulked up muscles. No, he was essentially the same physically, but there was something completely different about him. He wasn't trembling in fear, faking submission and reverence, and the obstinate defiance that always glinted in his eyes was more pronounced as he made no effort to hide it.

"Well, well," Frieza said when their eyes met, "there's my missing monkey. You realize what you did was treasonous. But, I'm willing to strike a deal. Pledge your undying allegiance to me and I will let you live."

Vegeta spat on the ground between them. "Shut up. You know that'll never happen."

Frieza sighed dramatically. "I had hoped you would change your mind." He shrugged, rising from his throne. "Though you have been nothing but disobedient since I took you in, I still care for you, but I will not tolerate this sedition. You do know the penalty for your little rebellion is death."

"Only if you can kill me before I kill you." Vegeta flared his ki again, raising it above Frieza's current level. He slid his foot back, lowering himself to his fighting stance, focusing his mind on the fight ahead.

Smirking, Frieza took a purely offensive stance. "Stupid monkey, you can't kill me. Even if you were strong enough, a nice little dragon on Namek granted me immortality."

Like a knife surprise and fear stabbed Vegeta's heart, but he remained calm on the outside, his expression betraying nothing to the lizard. It certainly was unexpected to be going up against an immortal enemy, and maybe now there really was no way to win, but he would not submit to Frieza, not even with his dying breath. Memories flashed through his mind of those he vowed to protect: the remnants of his race, his pack, his woman. Suddenly it didn't matter how pointless the battle would be; victory could not be achieved by ending Frieza's life, but it could be attained through living his last moments in freedom.

No longer in the mood for banter, Vegeta gathered ki in his right hand and hurled it at Frieza's chest, jumping out of the way of the explosion and collecting more ki for his next attack. When the smoke cleared, Frieza was still standing there, an expression of mixed surprise and amusement on his face. Vegeta was about to attack again when Frieza phased behind him and kicked him to the ground, landing on his back and wrapping his tail around his neck.

When he tried to squeeze the saiyan's neck, constricting his breathing, he was again surprised when Vegeta started laughing, quietly at first, but it grew until he was roaring with laughter. "You think you'll defeat me so easily, Frieza? Think again." Raising his hands to his throat, he dug his fingers painfully into the fleshy noose and yanked the tail away from his neck. Then, as he stood, he jerked the tail to his right, pulling Frieza with it before starting to swing the small alien around and around, finally releasing him into the side of his ship. While he was still dazed and slightly dizzy, Vegeta fired a strong beam of ki at him and phased over to him, kicking him in the head before he could recover.

"Why don't you transform, you pathetic freak?" the prince spat. "You're not a challenge to me, even if you are immortal!"

Picking himself up off the ground, Frieza glared at Vegeta for a moment before his lips turned up in a smirk. "So, you know about my transformations, hm? Fine then, consider yourself lucky to see the illustrious Lord Frieza in his true form, a sight none have lived to behold."

Vegeta rolled his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest. "Cut the talk and do it already."

"I only transform after a countdown." Frieza took off his scouter and tossed it over to his throne, then rested his arms at his side as he concentrated on raising his power and morphing his body into the next form.

"You've got to be kidding me!"

Frieza smiled coyly, shrugging as he waited for the saiyan prince to give in to his ridiculous request. "I'm waiting."

Vegeta growled, the tip of his tail flicking erratically. "Fine! Ten-nine-eight-seven-six-five-four-three-two-one. Happy?"

"Elated." At first his muscles bulked up a small amount, but enough to break off his armor, leaving him bare. Vegeta's lip curled in disgust and goosebumps rose on his skin as he remembered the times he saw that pale, sickly-looking flesh before. He stepped back as Frieza's power surrounded him and gusted out like a shockwave, leveling half the city and nearly knocking the saiyan prince off his feet. He cackled maniacally as his power soared, his body growing along with it.

…

Krillin grinned, giving the victory sign to the pile of dead soldiers around him. Another village was cleared of Frieza's men, which meant it was time to move on and defend more innocent lives from the flood of invading aliens. He and Yamcha were working in the same general area, moving from town to town destroying Frieza's army. Countless lives had already been lost, but they were able to easily overpower the soldiers as most of them were pitifully weak by comparison and they were catching up fast on the line of destruction.

Heading west and into a thunderstorm, Krillin looked around for any signs of chaos that the army of aliens inevitably left behind. The area of the world he was in was undefended, as there were no military bases nearby. It wasn't much of a problem though, since there weren't many of Frieza's men there either, and the ones that were around traveled in large groups. That was why the destruction was not as widespread as it could have been. Still, they were wreaking havoc and taking lives and needed to be stopped quickly.

He slowed when he saw another small group of soldiers setting fire to a farmstead. The barn was already ablaze and the large family was being dragged out of the house by a variety of soldiers who looked like they came straight from the filming of a bad science fiction movie. Each of them wore arm cannons, indicating they were weaker soldiers, easy kills assuming they wouldn't use the humans as shields.

Krillin dropped out of the sky, and, before they could turn to see who was there, blasted half of them into oblivion. The rest, seeing their comrades falling, turned and backed away, aiming their cannons at him. They started firing, but Krillin was too fast for them as he ran away from the family. He easily outran the blasts of energy, circling around until he was behind the soldiers, then jumped and kicked one of the soldiers into all the others, making them fall like dominoes. Once they were on the ground, he blasted them all and took off again after he failed to sense any others around the farm.

While he was flying to the nearest village where he felt a few dozen soldiers, he met up with Yamcha, who was heading the same way. "Hey, Yamcha!"

"Krillin! How many have you gotten?" Yamcha grinned as he flew alongside his bald friend. "I haven't been counting, but I'd guess I've taken out a couple hundred."

Krillin shrugged. "I don't know, man. I haven't paid much attention. I just go where the action is."

"Tell me about it! This is great. I mean, not the killing, but it feels great to fight again, you know?"

They were still talking when they felt a tremendous surge in the ki they identified as Frieza. It didn't take long to double, leveling off after a couple minutes. The ki now dwarfed the power they assumed was Vegeta's, but after Frieza's power stabilized that, too, began to rise. Whistling when he felt the enormous power levels, Krillin turned to Yamcha and gestured with his head toward the source of the power. "Glad we're not in that one."

"You can say that again." Yamcha shook his head slowly. He opened his mouth to say something else, but then he felt the ki of several soldiers up ahead and descended to the ground. There were only a few soldiers, maybe a dozen, terrorizing a small village. It didn't take long for the two earthling warriors to take care of them all. Before they could take to the air to find another town to save, they were met by Raditz.

"Krillin, Yamcha!" he shouted as he landed on the ground a few feet from them. "We got orders from Vegeta to destroy any space pods you find. None of Frieza's men can get off the planet."

Krillin's eyebrows rose. "Why not? Don't we want them gone?"

"So they can go call for help?" Raditz snorted. "I don't think so. Kill them, destroy their pods. This ends here and now."

The human warriors exchanged a glance before turning back to the long-haired saiyan. Yamcha asked, "Where's Goku?"

"Finding Tien and Piccolo to give the same message. He headed north from Central City where Frieza and Vegeta are fighting." Raditz levitated off the ground and looked around the land, brows scrunching as he concentrated on all the ki he could feel. Most of Frieza's soldiers in the area had already been killed or left to find more inhabited locales.

Yamcha nodded, also levitating off the ground. "Guess we should get back to work."

"Right." Krillin jumped into the air and flew westward. "Let's go."

While Yamcha followed after the bald fighter, Raditz turned and went back the way they had come from to destroy all the space pods he could find. It was a boring job, and he would much rather be fighting even if the soldiers were pathetically weak, but it needed to be done. Sighing to himself as he flew, he started blasting each space pod he spotted until there were a myriad smoking remains of alien spacecraft across the countryside.

…

After they both powered up, Vegeta and Frieza exchanged a few blows, neither of them really gaining the upper hand. Frieza, now much larger, did not lose much in the way of speed, so he was able to dodge most of Vegeta's attacks. Vegeta, meanwhile, was as agile as ever, and being so much smaller than his opponent was able to evade nearly everything Frieza threw at him. Neither of them were tiring out as they flew through the city, effectively demolishing any building that was left standing after the initial invasion.

Finally, after what felt like hours of fighting but was in reality only a few minutes, Vegeta caught Frieza with a hard uppercut, then phased behind the tyrant with his hands clasped together, beating him down to the ground with a double axe handle. Frieza landed hard on the ground, but immediately jumped back to his feet and flew up to Vegeta, barely missing his chest with his curved, elongated horn. While the saiyan was distracted with avoiding being impaled, Frieza gathered ki in his right hand and threw it at him, blasting him into a pile of rubble that once stood as a tall skyscraper.

Frieza laughed after waiting a few seconds for any signs of life. He heard nothing and Vegeta didn't come crawling out of the wreckage, so he naturally assumed he won the battle without having to ascend past his second form. Not that he expected he would have to. His laughing ceased when the pile of broken cement, metal, and drywall exploded and Vegeta shot out of it, fury burning in his obsidian eyes. He charged toward Frieza, roaring as he raised his fists to strike, then phased out of sight. With ki collected in his hands, he reappeared several yards above Frieza and started raining ki blasts down at the tyrant; none of them hit the target, instead spreading around him and stopping mid-air. Once Frieza was entirely surrounded, Vegeta brought his hands together, directing all the orbs of ki inward. A huge, blinding explosion resulted as they simultaneously hit the lizard.

This time when the smoke cleared, Frieza was noticeably disgruntled, though he wasn't injured in any way Vegeta could see, much to his chagrin. Frieza's lip curled in a snarl as he clenched his hands into fists. "You'll have to do better than that, monkey!"

Vegeta felt sweat trickling down the back of his neck as he backed away from his former master. He was losing energy, having already spent a great deal on powerful attacks against Frieza. Frowning, he started raising his ki further, no longer concerned about conserving energy. It was obviously doing no good anyway. No more holding back. He grit his teeth as he pushed his ki higher, his energy erupting around him like blue fire.

Frieza watched for a minute before deciding he wouldn't be able to defeat Vegeta in his current form. He was once again surprised by Vegeta's power; while he had expected the saiyan prince to increase his power over the past two years, no doubt training constantly, he had no idea that he would be capable of such a dramatic increase. Already their power levels were over one million, but it seemed he was going to be forced to take on his third form, which would more than double his power again. In a way, he was curious to find out just how strong Vegeta had become. And he hoped Vegeta would realize just before he died how pointless all his efforts were. No matter how strong he ever became, it would never, never be enough to defeat him.

…

Bulma sighed, slumping forward in her chair as she finished yet another cup of tea. She had refused the food Mr. Popo offered, her appetite lacking since Vegeta left. Beside her, Nappa ate with his usual fervor, and on the other end of the table, her parents, Chi-Chi, and Gohan were also eating as if nothing was wrong. She was tired of sitting around doing nothing while almost all of her friends were out risking their lives, but there wasn't anything she could do about it. Pushing her chair back from the table, she stood up and excused herself quietly before going outside to get some fresh air.

She sat under one of the palm trees and held her face in her hands. It was getting harder not to break down crying the longer she had to wait to know the turnout of the fighting. She paused in rubbing her eyes when she heard a strange noise coming from the other side of the Lookout. Her heart pounded in her chest as she slowly stood up and padded around the palace to see what was making the strange noise. As she grew closer, she could hear someone talking, but she definitely did not recognize the voice. Peeking around the corner of the building, she spotted five strange men who had to be aliens. She gasped. They had to be Frieza's soldiers.

The blue-haired woman was about to run back inside and get help when Nappa and Gohan appeared behind her, having felt the ki of the strange warriors. She backed away from the corner, wanting to hide behind her stronger friends. Those men didn't look like pushovers; as much as she wanted to help, she didn't want to get herself killed by throwing herself into a fight she had no hope of winning. Maybe she could take on one of the little guys, but those big guys would snap her like a twig.

"Who the hell are these clowns?" Nappa muttered when he saw them. Bulma turned to him, brows knit with confusion. He was supposed to be the one telling her who they were.

Gohan frowned, his small hands balling into fists at his sides. "I know who they are."

The others looked down at him, wondering how he could possibly know them while they had no clue. He didn't answer their questioning looks, instead walking into view of the men, subtly raising his ki higher in preparation for battle. Deciding to follow his lead, Nappa gently pushed Bulma back before likewise stepping forward to face off against the unknown warriors.

The smallest of the men, a cloaked figure who was apparently the leader of the group, looked over when he saw movement and masked his surprise with an expression of unadulterated hatred. "Well, look who came to join our party."

The other men spun around and smirked when they saw the two saiyan warriors. A little kid and an old man, no doubt an easy win if they tried to instigate a fight. One of the taller ones, a man with pale blue skin and spiky white hair, raised his fists as he shifted into a fighting stance. "May we, my lord?"

"Wait." The short man gestured for the others to move out of the way so he could have a better look at the opposing fighters. He glanced at Nappa, then turned his gaze to Gohan. "It's that brat! I want him dead!"

"And he shall be," the blue man said smoothly.

"Good. The rest of you, make sure no one interferes." The short man shuffled forward, followed by two of the others, a short creature with red skin wearing a funny brown hat and an extremely tall man with lavender skin wearing a similar hat with white horns. The other two men, the one with blue skin and another tall one with a more animalistic face, tan skin, and white horns, stayed behind to fight Gohan and Nappa.

Before they could stop the others, the blue man and the horned guy started attacking Nappa, immediately putting them on the defensive. Bulma watched for a moment before jumping out in front of the others with her fists ready to strike. "Where do you think you're going, you freaks?"

"Salt, get this vermin out of the way," the leader ordered.

The red man grinned wickedly as he stepped forward and swung a punch at Bulma's face. To his surprise, she blocked the punch with her forearm and gave a retaliating kick that knocked him back a few feet. No longer concerned about suppressing her ki, she raised it to her maximum power and ran forward to hit him again. He ducked under her kick, losing his hat in the process.

"Who is this girl?" the tall man shouted.

"Does it matter?" Salt spat. He blocked one of Bulma's punches and jabbed her in the ribs with his other hand. Quickly, before she could recover, he floored her with a sweep kick and then kicked her in the ribs, slamming her body against the wall of the palace. Rolling onto her back, she groaned in pain. She hadn't even seen that last kick coming, let alone been able to dodge it. Her vision blurred as she watched them walk past her before she blacked out.

…

Goku waved to Tien when he saw him fighting about a dozen of Frieza's soldiers outside of a small city. He landed near them, waiting for Tien to finish the job to relate the orders from Vegeta to destroy any spacecraft he found. It didn't take long for Tien to kill them all, leaving nothing but a smoldering pile of burnt corpses behind when he walked over to greet his friend.

"Goku, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be out fighting more of these guys?" Tien asked, wiping sweat from his brow as he surveyed the area for more soldiers.

The saiyan shrugged and rested his hands on his hips. "Looks like you've got the area under control without my help. Anyway, I just came to tell you to destroy any spaceships you find so the soldiers can't get away. Vegeta wants this all to end here so we don't have to chase after them, I guess."

Tien nodded. "That makes sense. The others know?"

"Yeah. Raditz went to tell Yamcha and Krillin, and I've already told Piccolo. Anyway, I kind of want to get back to Central City in case Vegeta needs help fighting Frieza. I can feel he's got more power. A lot more."

"You sensed it too?" Tien frowned a little as he hovered off the ground. "There's so many of them. I think we've killed most of them, but they're still out there hurting innocent people. We've got to stop them."

"Yeah, I know." Goku's smile faded as he, too, lifted off the ground. "Come on, I think I felt more of them that way. I'll help you with those, then I'm going back to Central City."

The two warriors flared their ki and headed south where there was another group of high power levels. They didn't talk more as they flew, instead focusing on all the ki they could feel, both of the aliens and the earthlings. To their relief, there were still thousands or millions of humans on the planet, and the number of soldiers was dropping by the minute. For several minutes they flew as fast as they could, in a hurry to get to the next troop of invading soldiers to stop them before they could kill more people. But then, when they were nearing their destination, they saw a rolling cloud of dark purple mist descending over the land.

"What's that?" Goku asked when he saw it. He slowed his flight, looking all around. The mist was everywhere, coming closer. It certainly didn't look natural.

Tien came to a stop beside him, equally confused. "I have no idea. Do you think it has something to do with Frieza?"

Goku shook his head. "I don't think so. At least, Vegeta never said anything about something like this."

"I don't think we should let it touch us. Or breathe it."

"It's everywhere." Goku glanced around again; this time, the mist was closer and it was moving fast. Avoiding it was going to be a challenge.

"Come on!" Tien shouted, flying higher in the air. "We should get back to Kami's Lookout. Maybe he knows what's going on."

"Wait!" Goku grabbed Tien's arm, stopping him. "I can ask Raditz and Vegeta about it. Maybe they know about it."

"How are you going to ask them?"

"With my mind." Goku flew higher, hoping they could stay above the mist as he opened his mental link with his brother. "Raditz, do you see some kind of foggy cloud where you are?"

There was a moment of silence before the answer came. "Yeah, it was here a few minutes ago. I don't know what the hell it is, but it's making people go crazy. After it rolled through they all started acting like animals, fighting each other and destroying everything."

"What about you? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. And, unfortunately, so are all of Frieza's men. On the bright side, the humans are fighting them and actually winning in some cases."

"Can you find Krillin and Yamcha? Make sure they're okay. We need to find out what's going on and stop it."

"Got it. I saw them a few minutes ago, they shouldn't be far away."

Goku opened his eyes when he felt the mental link disconnect, though he didn't remember closing them. He was shocked when he found himself in the midst of the strangely colored mist. A few feet away from him, he heard Tien choking, holding his throat as if something were trying to strangle him. Immediately he went over to assist his friend, but Tien lashed out at him, hitting him with a strong punch to the gut. The saiyan doubled over in pain for a second before recovering. When he straightened, he saw that Tien was looking at him with a strange expression, and unless it was his imagination, his eyes were pink and his teeth were long and sharp like a wild animal.

"Tien? Are you okay?"

The three-eyed man growled as he lunged at Goku and started punching and kicking him with blind fury. At first caught off-guard, Goku was unable to block or dodge the blows, but once he got over the initial surprise, he was able to defend himself from his friend.

"Tien!" he shouted, "What are you doing?"

Growing frustrated with Tien's relentless and unwarranted attacks, Goku finally struck back, careful to hold back enough not to seriously injure him. While Tien spiraled down to the ground, Goku blasted off toward Central City. If Frieza was responsible for this strange turn of events, he wanted to get to the bottom of it and reverse it as soon as possible. There wasn't time for his friends to fight amongst themselves when they needed to be fighting Frieza's army. He looked back over his shoulder and groaned when he saw Tien following him.

"Kakarrot!"

"What, Raditz?"

"I found Krillin and Yamcha. They've been affected by that mist too. When I got to them they tried to kill me."

"The same thing happened to Tien. I'm heading back to Central City now. If Frieza's responsible for this, I want to know how to stop it. Meet me there."

"On my way." Raditz closed his link with his brother and sped toward Central City. He could feel Yamcha and Krillin trailing after him, occasionally having to dodge a ki attack thrown his way. He decided not to take the time to stop and knock them out, but he was growing increasingly irritated with their hostility. He knew they were being affected by something he didn't understand, but he still resented them for their irrational behavior. At a time like this, they needed to be attacking Frieza's men, not him.

…

Frieza blocked a punch and feinted a right hook, fooling Vegeta so he could kick him with his left leg. He laughed when Vegeta gasped in pain as he hit his already broken ribs, grabbing the saiyan's hair as he doubled over. Frieza held the saiyan prince like a ragdoll as he started beating him with his free hand and legs. Blood oozed from the saiyan's broken nose and split lip by the time he was done. He threw him on the ground and kicked him again.

The fight definitely wasn't going as Vegeta wanted. He got back to his feet, staggering back a few steps before regaining his balance, and clenched his fists at his sides. Frieza was in his transformation, a hideous form with a grotesquely elongated head with four horns, long spikes sprouting from his back, and a flat, pale face. Vegeta allowed himself to be caught off-guard after Frieza made his latest transformation, giving the alien tyrant the edge through the latter part of their battle. He wasn't stronger or faster, but he gained the upper hand early and now he was taking full advantage of it. On top of that, he wasn't giving Vegeta the time he needed to raise his power.

"What's wrong, Vegeta? Am I hurting you? Surely you didn't think fighting me would be a walk in the park." Frieza's lip curled contemptuously as he looked at the battered saiyan.

Vegeta spat out a mouthful of blood and leaned against a section of a wall that was still left standing. His left eye was already swollen shut and his vision was blurry in his right eye. Forcing himself to focus, he started raising his power again. He still had reserves of untapped energy that he needed to access if he hoped to last much longer against Frieza. But he couldn't make it obvious what he was doing or Frieza would knock him down again, doing anything to break his concentration.

'Keep talking, Frieza. Tell me how great you are so I can increase my power.' Vegeta coughed violently as blood seeped into his lungs. Slowly he raised his ki, being careful to keep it from showing in any outward manifestation. "I never said it would be easy killing an immortal. Tell me, do you think you would have had a chance against me without your wish?"

Frieza growled, his energy crackling around him. "I don't need immortality to beat you into the ground, monkey."

Vegeta exhaled slowly as he felt some relief washing over his body. His increased ki was speeding the healing of his body, easing some of the pain in his chest and slowing the blood flow from all his injuries. Taking a deep breath, he pushed off from the wall and flew straight at Frieza, dodging his tail as it swung at him, and ducking under a punch. He grabbed Frieza's leg as it flew toward him and used it to push his momentum up, swinging around so his heels hit the tyrant's ugly face. Frieza reeled backwards from the blow while Vegeta landed in front of him and fired a beam of ki at close range.

While Frieza was temporarily out of commission, Vegeta raised his ki further, assuming his fighting stance to defend against any attacks. He jumped into the air in a back-flip when he felt a ki attack approaching from behind. The ki beam shot under him and hit Frieza instead, and while it wasn't terribly strong, it was still better to hit Frieza than himself. He landed again and spun around to see who his new assailant was, surprised when he saw the earthling scar-faced warrior. Beside him was the bald midget, his hand extended above his head with palm up, a disk of ki forming.

"What the hell are you doing?" Vegeta screamed. He jumped out of the way when Krillin sent the destructo disk flying his way. He whirled around to see where it went, his eyebrow raising when he saw it cut off the end of Frieza's tail unintentionally. Maybe it would have some benefit, at least.

"Krillin, stop that!" Goku yelled when he saw what was happening. He landed behind him and Yamcha and kicked them to the ground. "Where's Raditz?"

"Over here!" Raditz ground out as he tried to hold off an animalistic Tien. "Did you have to bring him with you?"

"I could ask the same about you," Goku said, pointing to Yamcha and Krillin.

"Not my fault they followed me."

"What are you idiots doing here?" Vegeta roared, interrupting their conversation. "Get them the hell out of here." He grunted when Frieza appeared next to him and punched his jaw.

"So, Vegeta," Frieza taunted, "Even your allies are fighting against you now. Though they could improve their aim." To emphasize his point, he swung his tail around, clobbering Vegeta with it.

The flame-haired saiyan picked himself up off the ground and rolled his shoulders back before punching Frieza with as much strength as he could put into a single blow. The alien went careening across the city and landed roughly, rolling several times before coming to a stop. Pushing his ki higher still, Vegeta took off after him, dodging another ball of ki sent his way by one of the earthlings. As he approached Frieza, he started gathering energy in both hands, cupping them together at his side.

Coming to a stop above Frieza's fallen form, he yelled, "Gallic Gun!" The beam of violet ki released from his hands and made a direct hit, but he knew it wasn't enough to kill the tyrant, especially since he was, well, immortal.

He opened his link with Raditz and told him, "Get those fools out here. Knock them out, take them away. I don't need them distracting me."

"I will, but do you have any idea what's making them act this way? Did Frieza do something? Every human on the planet's gone crazy."

"I didn't see him do anything. I don't think it's him. Now move!" He cut off their telepathic link abruptly when he felt Frieza's power growing again. From the smoke shot rays of blindingly bright light. He swallowed hard. Frieza was transforming again and there was no way to stop it.

…

Nappa woke to the sound of Gohan crying out in pain. Groaning, he opened his eyes and looked around the dark room. The little guy, obviously the leader, was sitting in Kami's throne. In the center of the room, the other four warriors were playing a soccer game using Gohan as the ball. At least, that's what it looked like they were doing. Quietly, he sat up, ignoring the pain shooting through his body with every small movement.

Despite his attempts not to attract attention, the midget in the guardian's throne looked over at him and scowled. "I thought I told you useless morons to kill him!"

The blue-skinned man looked over at Nappa and shrugged. "I thought we did kill him. He must be tougher than we thought." When Gohan's body flew his way, he kicked him over to where Nappa was.

Gohan was breathing heavily when he landed next to Nappa. His small body was horribly bruised and covered in scratches and cuts. He looked up at the bald saiyan, almost apologetically, and whimpered a little. "I – I'm not strong – enough to – to fight them all," he whispered.

"I know, kid," Nappa said, keeping his voice low so the others couldn't hear. "Where are the others? Did they hurt them?"

The young demi-saiyan shook his head once, a movement small enough only Nappa noticed it. "They're locked in another room." He gasped as pain coursed through his body. "Kami and – and Mr. Popo are trapped – trapped in bottles. Need to – to help them."

Nappa grunted, turning his gaze to the table at the side of the throne. He could see two glass bottles there, but he couldn't see what was in them. "Who is this guy, anyway?"

"Garlic, Jr. I fought him when I was younger. Don't know how – how he came back."

They both looked over when they heard footsteps coming their way. It was the blue-skinned man, seemingly the strongest of the bunch. Once he reached them, he knelt down in front of Nappa and grabbed his throat, lifting him up off the floor. "I don't know who you are, but you're in the way. For that, you must die."

Gathering the last dregs of his strength, Nappa held the blue man's elbow with his left hand and hit his upper arm as hard as he could with his right hand, breaking his humerus. He smirked when he heard the snap and the following howl of pain. He managed to gain his freedom for a short time, falling to the floor when the hand released his throat.

"Got any power left, kid?" he asked as he rolled onto his side.

"Not much. So tired."

"We got to fight them." Nappa started gathering energy in his hands. "If we both attack one of them at once, we might have a chance. Which one's the weakest?"

Gohan looked over at the strange men. His senses were dulled from the extensive beating he received, making it difficult to focus on a single ki signature. "I think the red guy."

"Alright. On three we attack, got it?" Nappa poured more energy into his hands. "One…"

The boy rolled over and sat up, also gathering energy in his hands for an attack against the smallest fighter of the group. He wondered why they weren't all attacking at once, but he dismissed that thought. He wouldn't question their opportunity to get back in the battle, hopefully taking them by surprise.

"Two." Nappa pushed himself up to his feet, his hands glowing with the energy they held. Beside him, Gohan also struggled to his feet and faced their adversaries. "Three!"

Together they released their attacks on the red-skinned fighter. As they hoped, he was caught by surprise and didn't have time to block the attacks. They were severely weakened by their previous fights, but they still had enough combined energy to overpower him, their ki attacks incinerating his body. All that was left was a streak of black on the floor and a tendril of smoke wafting through the air.

Seeing their victory, Nappa collapsed to his knees and Gohan fell on his face. They had one less fighter to contend with, but they had no energy left to speak of to fight off the others who were now likely angry as hornets. 'At least,' Nappa thought before passing out, 'we got one of them. One less for the others to deal with.'

A/N: Well, there's action for Nappa at the Lookout. Man, some of you reviewers have some violent ideas about how to kill Frieza... it's fantastic. :D I'm actually not really going to go through the Buu saga, but it will be addressed. So, there won't be a sequel to this story. I guess you'll figure out what my views on immortality are through the next few chapters. Yeah, Garlic and his men are probably stronger here than in CU, but you know what? This is an AU! Deal with it!

I just finished writing chapter 68 (and it's intense, so I'm pleased with it). I'll start 69 soon enough. On a side note, does anyone else agree Inception is one of the best movies ever? I've been obsessing over it lately...

Beta'd by lilpumpkingirl

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