Chapter 15: The Legend and the Tyrant

As promised, I'm back on normal schedule, despite someone in my family absconding with the laptop I usually write this on. Ah well, I'll get it back at some point, but I don't plan to let it affect my updating schedule. Enjoy.

Salza smiled as he surveyed the battlefield. The Ginyu Force had been taken apart by Tien, whose fight with Vegeta had broken off when Salza and the Armoured Squadron intervened, taking the saiyan prince down with a surprise attack. "Well…" the heavily-accented soldier said, warming up. "Time to clean up. Zarbon, stay back and you will not be 'armed."

Tien readied himself. All three of the Squadron were much stronger than he was, and he didn't know to what extent he'd have to power up to beat them. "Stay back, guys—this is beyond you," he warned Yamcha and Gohan. He didn't worry about Zarbon—Frieza's top soldier may have been a big deal a short while ago, but he'd make virtually no difference to this battle. Silence fell as Tien weighed up his opponents. Then, initiating the Kaioken, he darted of to the right.

"Get after him!" Salza yelled, racing to intercept with his comrades close behind. Tien skidded to a halt as Salza and the squad's mandatory large brute, this one called Doore, cut him off. The third soldier, Neiz—the shortest of the group—stopped behind him, trying to prevent him from retreating. Tien jumped into the air, but Doore got there ahead of him, and Tien kicked off a wall of his own ki he hastily threw up, catapulting away from his enemies. Neiz appeared under him, grabbing hold of one of the fighter's legs and hurling him to the floor. Tien grunted, the hard ground grazing his limbs, and looked up in time to see all three soldiers hurtling down towards him. He leapt away, somersaulting backwards as their combined attack crashed into the ground, forming a substantial crater. Tien gritted his teeth, raising his guard as the Armoured Squadron prepared for another attack. If I was at full power, this would be easier, but using the Kaioken times five against Vegeta—plus the beating he gave me—is really making it difficult to fight at my full potential! "All right, come on!" He shouted.

"Heh heh…quite eager to die, isn't he?" Neiz asked the others. Doore nodded, chuckling. "Mm." Salza grinned. "Let's stop playing around and fight seriously then, shall we?" Tien grimaced. They were just testing my strength… He calmed his mind, trying to achieve total focus. "Kaioken times four!" Within seconds, the Armoured Squadron was upon him, raining down lightning-fast blows that he barely blocked. He dodged past Salza's kick, but Doore got around behind him, smashing an elbow into the small of his back. He rolled away, gasping for air, rising and turning to charge straight back into the fight. I can't let them keep the offensive!

The three soldiers split up, avoiding his attack, and charged him from three angles. Tien realized this was the perfect opening—they wouldn't expect a counterattack. "Multi-Form!" At the cry, he split into three copies, all using the Kaioken times four to be slightly more powerful than the original Tien, each of which landed a solid blow to their designated opponent. The Squadron fell to the floor, and Tien rejoined into one being. The soldiers sprang to their feet, only slightly injured. "Damn him!" Salza muttered. "This should have been over in seconds." He fired an energy beam, which Tien jumped over, ducking under another from Doore. He landed on his feet, spinning to face them again. I'm getting nowhere fast, and I can't use the Kaioken forever! Salza started walking towards him, charging an energy blast in each hand and frowning in frustration. "You've caused us enough trouble!" He raised his hands to fire, when a blur of movement sent him flying, landing in a heap a couple hundred yards away. He struggled to stand up, glancing wildly around. "Who…?"

"Who do you think?" Vegeta stood behind him, a nasty burn on the left side of his body, but he showed no outward signs of pain. "Earthling, do what you will. The blue one shot me from behind, so I'm going to kill him. When these three are done with, I'll be back for you, so don't think I'm changing sides or anything—got it?"

"Right." Tien nodded, relieved that his two most powerful enemies were going to be fighting each other. He looked back to Neiz and Doore. "Now, where were we?"

A powerful kick launched Salza into the air again, and this time he was knocked right through a plateau, the rubble collapsing around him. Vegeta gestured the universal 'come and get me' sign, and an enraged Salza flew straight at him. He started punching wildly, and Vegeta deflected each one with ease. "Come on, Salza, where's the might of the strongest soldiers in the universe?" He jumped away, dodging another punch. "Or are you all talk?"

"Go to Hell!" Salza screamed, leaping after him. He continued his frenzied, unsuccessful attack, Vegeta no longer even needing to block, simply shifting from side to side to avoid each strike, his arms folded and a nonchalant expression on his face. "I'll see you there when I do!" He boasted. Salza grimaced, summoning his power and forming a flickering energy blade around his hand. "This technique will cut you in two, no matter if you are stronger than me!" He yelled, but Vegeta caught Salza's hand mid-swing. Grunting with the effort, Vegeta twisted it around, snapping Salza's wrist. The blue-skinned warrior howled in pain, and Vegeta pressed his advantage, hammering blows into Salza's chest and stomach, then scything his hand right through Salza's armoured shoulderplate and knocking him to the ground—deliberately attacking the most armoured target, just to show off his strength (and though he wouldn't admit it, his hand was aching from the last blow). Salza groaned, trying to get away, but Vegeta swept his arm around, incinerating Salza with a blaze of energy.

Tien caught Neiz's first attack, which the brown alien followed up with a series of fast strikes that drove Tien back. He jumped over a low kick, but Doore was running up behind him. Blocking one more punch, Tien backflipped over Doore's head, landing facing his two opponents. Neiz and Doore continued their relentless offensive, and Tien dodged and twisted, ducking under Doore's sweeping fist and rolling away from Neiz's downward elbow strike. He jumped up and away, rebounding off a nearby tree and leaping away just in time as Doore's kick knocked the tree clean out of the ground. They charged again, and Neiz's next punch ripped off one of Tien's wristbands, missing him by the tiniest fraction. He blocked another three punches from Neiz, then grabbed him by the head and swung around, crashing into Doore with both feet. Doore was sent flying away, crashing to the ground, as Neiz's renewed attack on Tien forced him to back away, dodging the onslaught. "Wow, you guys are relentless!" Tien said, sidestepping another kick. He saw an opening and punched Neiz in the jaw, following up with a kick that bent Neiz's knee, making him stumble. Tien brought his fist down on the back of Neiz's head as he staggered, jumping into the air as his opponent fell. Neiz tried to get up, but Tien, sweating as the Kaioken times four began to take its toll, came around for another attack, kicking Neiz away—a loud crunch heralded bones giving way under Tien's foot.

Doore was just standing up, when Neiz's flying form collided with him, sending them both tumbling to the ground again. Doore looked up to see Tien, red aura blazing around him as he held out his hands in front of him, hovering overhead. "TRI-BEAM!" The burst of yellow light enveloped the two soldiers, the impact making them black out instantly.

Tien floated slowly down to the ground, panting in exertion. "Woah…I don't think I have anything left after that…" He looked up, grimacing to see Vegeta walking towards him, methodically incinerating the Ginyu Force and Armoured Squadron members who remained alive but unconscious.

"That took you long enough." Vegeta flexed his arms, preparing for battle. "Now, I have another score to settle. And judging by the state of you, it won't take long."

"Wait…" Tien held up a hand. "Let me fight you at full potential…don't you want a challenge?"

"I'd give that honour to another saiyan," Vegeta answered, his anger showing clearly on his face, "and maybe to an opponent as mighty as Frieza. But you? You, Earthling who tries to climb above his sation as a lower life form? You don't deserve the thirty seconds it'll take me to kill you." He was about to launch into another degrading sentence, when something caught his attention. Within a second, Tien noticed it too.

"Hey, you feel that?" Yamcha asked. "Another high power just arrived on the planet!"

"Hmph." Vegeta snorted. "What is this, a tourist attraction? How come everyone and their mother is coming to this planet?"

"Well, whoever they are, they're strong." Tien looked in the direction of the approaching power. "And they're heading right for us—fast!"

Gohan's eyes widened as he saw the approaching figures in the sky. "Look! Look, it's my daddy! And Uncle Raditz!"

Vegeta gaped. "What?! Kakarot? That can't be him! It's incredibly strong! The only power in that league I've ever felt was Frieza…!"

Tien felt a strange mix of relief and jealousy. You've done it again, Goku. You've truly surpassed me. I guess I'll just have to train even harder next time…

Goku and Raditz, fresh from their training in one hundred times Earth's gravity, arrived to find the battlefield a scene of total devastation. Half-burnt corpses lay scattered around. Tien, Yamcha and Gohan stood, injured and exhausted, in a group with a green alien warrior (Zarbon had, by this time, reversed his transformation—he hated his monster form with a passion). And at the center stood Vegeta, glaring at the newly-arrived brothers. He tried to smile, his grin shaking a little. "S-so, you've improved! Good! You'll give me a-a challenge!" He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. "It won't do you any good, you know. I have undergone the most intense training you can imagine, and since then I've been fighting almost non-stop. I'm finally becoming the legend—the Super Saiyan!" He laughed, reminding himself of the old stories and driving out his fears that they might have surpassed him. Never. Never!

Raditz folded his arms. "Well, that's nice. But crazy old stories aside, we've been training too. And you wouldn't believe the kind of potential Kakarot has—he's long since overtaken me. In fact, I don't think you'd have a chance if you tried to fight him…So why don't we put aside our rivalry, just for now—and together, defeat Frieza once and for all?" He held out a hand, and Goku smiled. "Come on, Vegeta. Don't you want to be free of Frieza?"

"Hrr…" Vegeta shook with rage. "How dare you! You think I, the greatest of a race of fine warriors, need help from your kind?! I shall defeat Frieza—alone! You two are just a pair of renegades to be exterminated, and I cannot allow you to interfere with my destiny!" He roared a battle cry, leaping at the pair of them as his blue aura burned into life. "Prepare yourself for the might of a Super—" His voice cut off in a surprised choking sound as Goku stepped between him and Raditz, catching his fist with ease. "Get out of the way, Vegeta." Goku narrowed his eyes. "If you won't help us, then leave." Vegeta swung his other hand, and Goku vanished, now standing behind him. Vegeta, now trembling, swung around, letting fly a two-handed energy wave at point blank range—but when it cleared, Goku was unharmed. The young saiyan's expression lightened. "But hey, you've improved a lot—well done!"

"STOP MOCKING ME!" Vegeta flew at Goku in a rage, launching into a frenzy of high-speed attacks, but Goku calmly avoided each one as if Vegeta was moving in slow motion. "Calm down, Vegeta. You're not getting anywhere." A vein stood out on the prince's forehead. Flecks of foam hissed from his mouth. "I'LL KILL YOU!" He rushed again, and this time Goku reacted, ducking under his attack and slamming a punch into Vegeta's stomach. Stepping back and away as Vegeta gasped for air, Goku rammed his elbow into Vegeta's face, knocking him to the floor. The two simple strikes were devastatingly effective. "Give up. You're not going to beat me like this." Normally, Goku would have payed more attention, relishing a rematch with Vegeta, but Frieza kept weighing on his mind—he could already feel the tyrant's power, all the way from across the planet. When Vegeta had regained his breath and the world wasn't spinning so much, he raised his head, a new look in his eyes—awe. "I…I was wrong…look at you, Kakarot. You-you must be as powerful as Frieza." He smiled. "It's you…" He coughed, bringing up blood. "You're…the Super Saiyan!" He climbed to his feet, struggling to stay upright. "Heh…we did our best, Raditz—and we came so far—but it was your long-lost little brother after all…and in case you need any incentive to fight Frieza…did Raditz ever tell you what happened to Planet Vegeta?"

Goku nodded. "It was destroyed in a meteor impact."

"No." Vegeta shook his head, wavering a little as he almost lost the strength to stand. "It was…Frieza!"

"Huh?" Both brothers looked shocked.

"He destroyed us…because he was afraid! That one day, a Super Saiyan would arise, and slay him! You must do it, Kakarot." He ignited his aura, lifting slowly into the air. "You must defeat Frieza!" He soared off, his flight path slightly shaky. I've got to get off this planet…if those titans clash, the whole of Namek could be destroyed!

"Should we just let him get away?" Raditz asked.

Goku shrugged. "He's no threat now—and I don't think it'd be right without giving him a chance to train some more. It was so easy…but anyway…" he turned to his friends. "Hey, guys! How's it going?"

"Better now you're here," Yamcha answered.

"Daddy! Daddy!" Gohan raced up to his father, who picked him up and held him tightly. "You're here! I knew you'd come!"

Goku smiled. "You've been very brave. Well done, son." He turned to face Zarbon. "So, uh, who's the Piccolo lookalike, and the, uh, other green guy?"

"I am Nail—Namek's most powerful warrior, if that is not too great a boast." Nail bowed.

"I suppose introductions are in order. My name is Zarbon, a…former…soldier of Frieza," Zarbon replied. "I formed an alliance with these Earthlings, and saved their lives—in exchange for one of the dragon's three wishes."

"Oh, three?" Goku scratched his head. "I guess we'll have to be careful then. So, we've got a few Dragon Balls, I see."

"Yup." Tien indicated to the left. "The rest are at Frieza's ship, over there. But Frieza himself is there too."

"That's no problem." Goku cracked his knuckles. "Whether or not I'm this Super Saiyan like Vegeta says, Frieza has to pay for everything he's done. Fighting him was always the plan. Come on!" He took off, and the others followed him.

"So, I reckon we should give Zarbon the first wish—I'm pretty sure it's a relatively small thing anyway," Tien was saying on the way there.

"That's right." Zarbon replied. "I want to have all of my power available with my normal appearance, without having to assume that hideous form."

"All right then…" Raditz closed his eyes. "Not that I care, mind you. I'm just here to make sure Kakarot doesn't do anything stupid. I can't imagine I'll be of much use, though," he said, sighing, "I could take the Ginyu Force now, but not Vegeta or Frieza. It won't be my battle, in the end."

Tien nodded. Raditz had indeed gotten a lot stronger—though nowhere near as much as Goku—but Tien reckoned he could use the Kaioken to overcome him, for a short period of time anyway. "Okay. Goku, what do you think? I say first wish is to bring Piccolo and Kami back."

"Yeah, I guess." Goku looked back at Tien. "I'm not sure about having Piccolo around again, but we can't have one without the other, and having Dragon Balls on Earth sure is handy…then I guess that leaves the third wish for the people the saiyans killed. Maybe then we can use the wish on Earth to restore the Namek people…I can't wait to see Krillin again. I wonder how he's doing on King Kai's planet…"

"Speaking of whom," a familiar voice spoke in their minds (taking most of them by surprise), "remember what I told you not to do? The one thing I warned you against? I'll give you a clue—it starts with 'fighting' and ends with 'Frieza'! You braindead imbecile! You—will—die!" King Kai ranted.

"Aw, come on King Kai," Goku replied nonchalantly, "didn't you hear Vegeta? I'm a Super Saiyan now!" He clearly wasn't taking the situation seriously. King Kai's voice receded into incoherent splutters.

Zarbon was about to comment on the strangeness of hearing a disembodied voice in his head, when another thought occurred to him, completely blocking out everything else. "Wait…I know now! I thought I recognized you!" He flew up to Goku. "Yes, you look almost exactly like him!"

"Who?" Goku asked.

"I was watching when Frieza destroyed your planet. There was one saiyan—who looked just like you—who flew right up to Frieza, and opposed him to the end. Frieza stared into his eyes as he killed him, along with the rest of his race."

"This warrior…" Raditz mused. "What did he look like? Besides Kakarot."

Zarbon tried to remember. "Well, if you must know…he wore, I think, was it green armour? And the scars on his face were quite memorable."

"Bardock…" Raditz whispered. "So Father fought to the last…"

"Huh? Our dad?" Goku blinked. "He must have been really brave." He frowned, speeding up. "And Frieza killed him personally. That monster…"

Frieza was, at the moment, infuriated. "Scouts! Report!"

"Scouts are missing, sir!"

"Then somebody had better bloody well report, before I lose my temper!" the tyrant yelled, vapourising a random passing soldier.

"Er…" a flunky hazarded. "We've lost contact with Vegeta and the Ginyu Force, but we've picked up readings that match Cooler's Armoured Squadron—they've disappeared, too, but some new signals have arrived."

"And then what?"

"We're…not sure, sir," the technician admitted. "One of the readings was so high it broke the, er, the scale. Sir." Frieza's eyes narrowed, and the entire ship exploded. A single dimunitive figure stalked from the wreckage. Worth it. There were plenty of other ships on this planet. Frieza turned his head, hearing feet touch the ground. A pink-skinned humanoid stood facing him, with wild scruffy hair and wearing a bright orange martial arts uniform. "And who are you supposed to be?" Frieza asked irritably, not in the mood for any more trouble today—he was expecting Cooler soon.

The saiyan from Earth walked towards his enemy, weighing him up and preparing for battle. "Frieza…"

"Yes, that's me, now go away, today I'm liable to utterly destroy you and wipe all trace of your existence from history." Frieza turned to face the stranger. He supposed he'd have to teach this one some manners. Frieza disappeared, coming around from behind Goku. He lashed out with one arm, and Goku caught it, holding back Frieza's attack without flinching. "That…that's not supposed to happen…" Frieza stammered.

Okay, I predict a lot of 'Goku shouldn't be that strong' sort of reviews and messages, so here's my reasoning. I discussed this with davidstarlingm, who does a lot of work for the excellent Bringer of Death, and whose opinion I value highly. I'd put Goku at 500,000 and Raditz at 150,000. Here's why.

David:
Canon doesn't really give us any information about how strong Goku was after being healed post-battle vs. how strong he became in 100Gs. We just know that he ended up being around 10x stronger (from ~8500 to ~90,000). However, training along with another Saiyan would most likely accelerate the process, which could allow him to become much stronger (though, not knowing the kaioken, he is at a disadvantage compared to his canon counterpart). Considering that he has never before trained in high gravity, there might be an initial "hump" to get over. But once that is passed, he and Raditz could make great strides. I'd estimate 300,000 for Goku and 380,000 for Raditz, but I'd be interested to hear how you're getting 500,000. My guess is just that - a guess, no explicit numbers just yet.

Me:

First, I don't worry about the zenkai being distinct from the training. Canon Goku, and my story's Goku, are both getting zenkai+training.

Then, I start with the whole process being a slightly more than x10 multiplier (8000-ish to 90,000-ish), and figure that if BTtL Goku had already experienced 10G, it'd go from 6000-ish to 70,000-ish. But he's starting from 1G. I figure, being extremely powerful already (relative to canon Goku before 10G training), he'd master 10G very quickly, and move on to 20, 30 and up to 100-so, I just did the same multiplier as before (x10 and a bit) but multiply it by 10 again for the 1 to 10G increase-giving 700,000.

Of course, he's still going to have to take some time to master 10G, giving him less time at 100G, so I take a couple hundred thousand off-giving us 500,000.

Raditz, on the other hand, would only be experiencing 10x what he's used to at 100G, plus he has less potential than Goku at this point in my opinion, so I'd use the same old x10 and a bit-which I'd say puts him at 150,000.

David:

Good reasoning! I'm glad to see someone giving their plot a lot of thought. This is great.

Your numbers don't seem unreasonable. You make an excellent point about Goku going from 1G to to 100G; recall that Piccolo on King Kai's planet benefited tremendously from the 10x increase in a very short time.

Raditz, of course, won't have nearly the same benefit, because he is already accustomed to 10G. However, I think that will be offset more by the whole training-with-another-Saiyan bit. If I were you, I would put Raditz a little higher - maybe around 190,000.

One thing that you may not be taking into account is Goku's lack of kaioken. The anime (and the manga to a lesser extent) make it pretty clear that Goku's dramatic increase in strength under 100G was made possible by kaioken. If I were you, I would go into a good bit of detail during their training, so that people will be expecting such incredible increases.

And the reason I didn't increase Raditz to 190,000 or so as suggested was that it made the difference between him and Goku more noticeable, and it meant he wouldn't have been able to take on Vegeta-more goals for hm to strive for later on. So mainly for story purposes, as there's no 'hard and fast' rule for exactly how powerful someone can get by doing this and that.

So anyway—here's a little list, because these things can pile up:

Goku: 500,000

Raditz: 150,000

Vegeta: 200,000

Tien: 40,000 to 200,000 (with Kaioken x5)

Armoured Squadron: 150,000

Captain Ginyu: 120,000

Ginyu Force: 40,000

Guldo: Who cares

Gohan: 14,000 to 20,000 and up when angry

Yamcha: 10,000

Zarbon: 23,000 and 30,000 transformed

Nail: 40,000 (well, 42,000 to be exact)

Frieza: 530,000 (but basically 500,000) (and yes, that's for his first form)

Cooler: Oh, like I'm going to tell you.

Average Frieza soldier: Up to 2,000, often much less

Average Namekian warrior: 3,000 to 10,000

Bulma: 5 (or thereabouts, presumably)

Q: The story has improved. It shows in this chapter. Good work. Is Jeice knocked out or dead? If knocked out, will Jeice become part of the alliance?

A: Thanks very much. And he was knocked out (Tien broke his arm, I believe.), but he is now dead. Thank Vegeta for that. So I'm thinking no, unless the plot becomes extremely contrived. Sorry. Can't have everyone on board.

Q: I do think I will add a bit on Salza's power. The scans really cannot be correct, because they list one of Salza's men as stronger than him, when he died so much easier (He was destroyed by a non charged ki blast, while Salza effortlessly smacked several away.). So while I doubt Salza was at a million, he would have had to at least been in the upper hundreds of thousands to last as well as he did against Piccolo, who was 1,000,000 when he fought second form Frieza. And that is not counting the fact that Piccolo could have trained since and grown even stronger.

Way I see it, the other two could be in the 150-200k range, and Salza more around 650-800k. At least at full power.

A: How about, for the purposes of this story, they're all around 150,000. After all, the movies weren't really canon, and they contained plenty of continuity errors themselves (and not just in terms of this-guy-couldn't-beat-this-guy). I'm going to say, as far as this story is concerned, Salza is the leader for his leadership capabilities, and is maybe a little stronger than the other two. Plus, energy blade and French accent. Sorry, Space French.

Q: It's funny how many what-if sagas from the games your including. First, Raditz becoming a Z-fighter life in "Fateful Brothers", then Zarbon betraying Freiza like in "Beautiful Trechery", now Vegeta takes control of the Ginyu Force like in 1 of the Raging Blast 1 what-ifs. It awesome! By the way, sorry for being a spoiler about Launch and Raditz.

A: I've never played Raging Blast, so I don't know the last one. And, uh, spoiler? Launch? Raditz? Lots of people asked about that, and I never said anything conclusively one way or the other. So…I don't think you did give a spoiler.

Q: How did Vegeta have time to train and get to Namek so quickly?

A: Excellent question, and there is an answer. It took Bulma, Gohan and Yamcha several weeks to get to Namek, and the attack pods (like Vegeta's, and the one that was converted into the ship Goku and Raditz used) are much faster than the old, probably-not-fully-functional Namekian ship they were using. So that's when he did it—while they were journeying. Also it took a few days for them to even get into space, while Vegeta set off immediately after the battle.

Q: This story has been very good so far. I've always believed Raditz should have had a bigger role in DBZ seeing as how he is the main characters brother. Another thing I've always wondered is what would happen if Piccolo decided to stay evil and you've done an excellent job and showing both of those what if scenarios in this story. It's always interesting to see how the tiniest changes to the orginal story, such as Piccolo being stronger, affect every thing following it in the DBZ universe. It has been very well written so far and your fight scenes are also excellent. I love how you've given several the humans bigger roles in the story, having Tien and Yamcha survive the fight with Nappa and Vegeta was a good twist in the story and its made the Earthling team on Namek not completely useless without Goku there to save them. Along the same lines, I'm interested in seeing where you take Zarbon and Vegeta's roles in this story now that their orginal roles on Namek have been discarded, especially now since Zarbon has openly been fighting Frieza's men I can't wait to see where you go with them. Also it will be interesting to see where you go with Piccolo from here. Will he even be wished back by the others now that he has still remained evil? My guess is that he will because they'll want Kami back so Piccolo will also be brought back and I could see him causing problems in the future.

A: Piccolo will continue to have a role in the story. That's all I'll say for now.

Q: I really only have one crictism I would like to point out, and its my personal opinion but I think you should have fleshed out the growing relationship between Goku and Raditz during the year they were training to beat the saiyans. I understand that you wanted to jump straight to the fight with the saiyans but I thought it was strange how drastically and quickly Raditz's attiutude towards his brother and the other Earthlings changed. I understand that he was affected deeply because Goku risked his life to save him and Tien died to protect him, but still I think he would have a harder time adjusting to his brother's radically different life style than the one that he had lived in his entire life. In your story he goes from wanting to kill his brother for being to weak to being his trusted ally that would not betray him even to Vegeta, who he had lived with his entire life and revered as his prince and commander. In the manga/anime Raditz was portrayed as a coward that would do anything to save his own skin and escape death, even it meant sacrficing his honour and pride to beg for mercy. I just think I would have been a much harder decision for Raditz to defiantly escape death at the hands of Vegeta than risking the chance of somehow defeating a much more powerful opponent. Of course understand that in this story the year with Goku radically changed Raditz's personality but I just wished you could have shown more of their brotherly bonding in the story and Raditz gradually warming up to his younger brother and accepting his values of good as his own.

A: Is that the impression I gave? As far as I know, Raditz still doesn't really like the humans that much, and was reluctant to even go to Namek just to bring back Krillin (and possibly Piccolo/Kami). I would like to know, though, in the whole battle with Vegeta and Nappa, and the period after that before heading into space, was Raditz too suddenly-good? I hadn't meant him to be. Anyway, I had actually planned one scene where Raditz talks about some things that happened during that year (although not for a while), but maybe I should have a few scenes like that. Eh, if I can work it into the story.

Q: Now I was wondering, would you put in some song suggestions in the chapters? I know at times it can be a bit hard to find THAT song, but I do enjoy some background music in a fight or death scene. Though thats just my opinion.

A: How about themes for the characters?

Goku—'DBZ movie opening theme'

Raditz—'Vegeta powers up'

Piccolo—'Majin Vegeta theme'

Vegeta—'Vegeta's theme'

Tien—'Piccolo's theme'

Saiyan saga—'Dragon soul'

Namek saga—'Buu saga opening' (the Funimation dub one they play when it starts getting action-y)

Frieza—'FREEZA' (a song by Maximum the Hormone, about, er, Frieza. It was used in Team Four Star's DBZ Abridged as Frieza's ringtone.)

Cooler-Requiem for a Dream (there's two main versions I've been able to find. The louder, more well-known one that shows up in a lot of AMVs and other assorted Youtube-ness.)

(Wish I could put links here, would make this whole thing much easier.)

(And I don't know if anybody else likes it, so feel free not to listen to it, but the previous chapter—the fight with the Ginyu Force—I wrote while listening to 'I'm alive' by Disturbed. I had never heard of them before, but I quite liked that song. So consider that the chapter 14 song.)

I don't know what the music for this chapter would be...

Q: Just wanted to say that I love this story! I look forward to reading it every week, great job! There's only a few problems I have so far and I had to make an account just to address them since they didn't make much sense to me. First of all, Vegeta becoming 200,000 is sorta ridiculous. I've always hated how Goku jumped from 8,000 to 90,000 after 1 week of training (gravity training never made sense to me, it's basically just giving the main character enough power for plot necessity), but Vegeta going to 200,000 seems even crazier to me. I understand he healed faster than Goku/Raditz due to the healing chamber, but I still don't think he could've improved that much in so little time.

A: Well, if we accept Goku could go from 8,000 to 90,000 in canon (and I'm afraid he did, no getting around it), then Vegeta's 18,000 to 200,000 is basically the same multiplier. Ta-dah.

Q: Secondly, regarding Cooler's Armored Squadron, they are definitely all higher than 200,000. I've done a lot of research on it as Salza is one of my favorite characters, and the general consensus seems to be Neiz and Doore around 400-600,000 and Salza around 800,000, possibly more. Salza is an incredible fighter (he was seen as a genius on his planet, trained in high gravity, etc), and he actually put up a fight against Piccolo in the Cooler movie. Piccolo was over a million, which means Salza had to be close to that. I hope you don't make them pushovers since (compared to most beings in the universe) they are actually pretty strong fighters. And who doesn't love Salza blade?

A: I've already spoken about the Armoured Squadron a bit in an earlier question, but how do you know Salza was seen as a genius and trained in high gravity? Where does it say that? I heard somewhere he speaks 500 languages or something, but that could just be a trait of his species, not necessarily intelligence. And I've never seen much speculation, so I can't comment on what the general consensus is. So…I'm sorry to disagree with you, but if the Armoured Squadron was more powerful than 1st Form Frieza, we'd have a problem. So I'm going with logic and plot necessity over a non-canon, albeit enjoyable, movie.

Q: The Vegeta taking command of the Ginyu squad was also an alternate story. maybe in Burst Limit? I have no idea, I only own Nintendo. Anyway, I love how this story incorparates elements of other stories, DBZ Canon and original content into one. Awesome!

A: Was it? Somebody else said it was from Raging Blast. Can anybody answer this? Vegeta Force—Raging Blast or Burst Limit?