Chapter 23: Desperate Measures

The seconds ticked by as Nappa and Piccolo silently watched the water below for any sign of movement. There was none.

"I still can't believe I am actually working with you, Saiyan." Piccolo said in an attempt to keep his worry partially hidden, at least enough to keep from shaking.

"Same goes for me Slugman. When I kill something I don't usually ally with it later on." Nappa said catching onto Piccolo's strategy for staying calm. "Special times call for special measures though I suppose."

"Yes I suppose it does." Piccolo said as something caught his eyes below.

Suddenly, the water beneath them both split open and a completely silent Frieza floated up slowly between them.

He came to a complete stop exactly halfway between the begrudged allies staring off, seemingly into space. "So...you pests decided it was time to step in I see." He stated instead of asking.

Both looked on silently unable to hide the fear they were feeling.

"Expecting to buy time for you brave leader to heal I would guess." Again, stating not asking.

Within a second, the true meaning behind his words registered with Piccolo. The Namekian rushed forward trying to stop the inevitable but was too late.

Neither of them even saw Frieza's arm moving. A lone finger extended to the distance, the blast had hit Dende before anyone could move. The explosion from such a modest display of strength was still massive. Sending the unprepared, and physically drained, Chi Chi flying and landing in a heap.

Goku could only watch on helplessly. It took everything he had in him to not rush to her, and even then that was because he could still feel she was alive.

'Hang in there Chi. This'll work. I'm sure of it.'

Piccolo looked to the spot Dende had been standing in aghast horror. Part of him feeling an overwhelming urge to rip the Frost Demon's head clean off of his shoulders.

"You...You….YOU...MONSTER!" Piccolo shouted, forcing his body up to his Kaioken times three. His entire body burned as he launched forward, in slow motion to Frieza.

"My, I seem to have angered you again." Frieza taunted as he dodged the Namekian's rage enhanced strikes. "I am sooooo sorry that it had to end this way" Frieza voice was joyful, "I just couldn't risk that monkey friend of yours healing himself."

Finally, the Frost Demon grew tired of Piccolo's 'pitiful' struggling and unleashed a skull rattling backhand, sending the Namekian warrior spiraling to the ground.

Nappa launched forward, fist poised ready to strike. His attack cut through an afterimage though, leaving the giant exposed.

Frieza took full advantage of this, appearing again only this time he was standing on Nappa's head.

"What!" Nappa shouted as he tried to grab the Frost Demon's leg, only to have Frieza jump up, bend down, and unleash a 'small' blast right into Nappa's face, sending the giant hurtling into the ground.

Piccolo stared up at the sky, his vision bouncing between hazy and clear. His mind was trying to focus on how he had gotten there.

Frieza wasted no time with the weak afterthoughts. He needed to find the source of his frustration and end him once and for all. His eyes carefully scanning the ground, looking for whatever crevice the monkey had holed up in.

Piccolo's regenerative abilities finally finished their job as he woozily rose to his feet. Remembering his mission, he immediately began to charge up his best attack.

Nappa was just coming too from his failed attack. His body violently protesting as he forced himself out of the crater he had formed. "Shit..." He mumbled to himself as he got to his feet. 'Keep going... Gotta keep going...' With that he launched into the air after Frieza again.

"Where are you Saiyan? Come out to play! Frieza called before moving two fingers in a slashing motion, cutting several nearby islands in half and watching closely as they crumbled into the water.

"I'll keep this up till you come out you know!" He called again as another half dozen islands met their ends. Just as he raised his arm to strike again his eyes narrowed. "I'm right here!" Shouted Nappa just a second later.

Frieza whipped around and caught Nappa's arm mid swing. "Ah the monkey general back for more I see. You are as foolish as ever." Frieza taunted, Nappa repaid the insult by firing a mouth blast at point blank range.

Frieza's grip on his arm never loosened as he expected though and when the smoke cleared the Frost Demon's face was revealed to lack any new wounds.

"You're going to regret that." Frieza stated, his voice now icy cold as he twisted Nappa's arm behind his back causing him to yell in pain. "Yes, I think I know what will get that monkey out." He whispered into Nappa's ear.

"You have this one chance to show yourself or I kill the giant!" Frieza shouted not bothering to watch for Piccolo.

'Damn it...I...I can't just let him die…' Goku thought, his good nature fighting with his desire to stop this evil. He thought back to the last time he was faced with similar circumstances. The day that King Piccolo held Tien hostage nearly cost him his own life but he had refused to let his friend die.

He looked up at the Spirit Bomb one last time. It was big but nowhere near big enough. He let out a sigh as his resolve hardened, 'I guess I'll have to think of a different stra-' His thought was cut off by another voice.

"Special Beam Cannon!"

Piccolo's aim was true. He only hoped Frieza would not be expecting an attack that could actually harm him heading his way.

Frieza had turned around before the attack had even covered half of the distance to him. His eyes narrowed upon seeing the attack. It was different that anything he had seen before and, although he was confident in his abilities, he didn't like unknowns.

He tossed the Saiyan general away, giving him a kick to the back to help him on his way; a pawn to take back when the need required, and vanished from the path of the attack.

Before Piccolo's lips could fall to a frown, Frieza was already behind him, "Nice trick, Slug-man, but I think I'll just take these away from you." Frieza's smirk was merciless as both of Piccolo's arms were suddenly and violently pulled behind him, Frieza foot planting himself in his back.

Piccolo began to yell. His body straining unlike it had ever been strained before and within seconds the agony had reached its peak. His skin, muscles, and ligaments finally giving in and tearing away. He fell flat on his face and lay there unmoving, streams of purple blood pouring from both of what was left of both of his arms.

"There we go, much better." Frieza said with a sadistic smirk, "Maybe next time you will think more carefully before you interrupt me. I am quite busy after all. So much revenge to get, so little time." His tone showing just how hard of a time he had resisting continuing his torture of Piccolo at the moment.

"Now then back to solving my missing monkey problem." He said before launching back into the air.

'Darn, I didn't think he'd do that much damage that fast to Piccolo, not good… I'm almost out of time...' Just as Goku thought this through the island he was on exploded wildly around him. He barely managed to keep himself from dropping his arms to defend himself.

His body shot backwards, before crashing into another rock cliff and dropping to the ground, one of his arms falling to his side, his other barely managing to stay upright.

"Ah so there you are." Frieza said landing in front of him as Goku quickly raised his other hand back into the air, trying to keep the rate of the energy coming to keep up, he sat up more his back straight against the rock face as he stared into Frieza's cruel eyes.

"What is this some sort of surrender again? Ha! You'd think even a foolish monkey like yourself would've learned that I have no intention of keeping you alive after our last meeting." Frieza said taking a step forward. Then, faster than the Saiyan could follow, Frieza landed a powerful kick right on Goku's rib. The agony shot through him yet again as his already broken rib rattled in his rib cage threatening to pierce his lung, not only that but several more ribs gave way.

Goku went spiraling away and landed on his back, one arm still raised above his head. His mind struggled on staying focused on controlling the sea of energy he had gathered above. 'Should...Should I...try and absorb it...maybe...It'll give me… a chance...'

Before the Saiyan could decide though Frieza was on top of him again, literally. As he stomped down on his ravaged rib cage. Blood shot from Goku's mouth, his mind struggling to stay active, to block out the pain surging through his body.

"AHHH No!" King Kai shouted ruining the somewhat jovial mood on his small planet at the moment as the three new arrivals struggled to stand. Nam and King Chappa managing to stay on their feet, while Yajirobe's already heavier body kept him pinned to the surface.

"What's wrong King Kai?" Krillin asked, concerned.

"It's...It's...over…" King Kai's voice was shaky. His pupil had done his best but in the end it appeared the Saiyans time of defying the odds was at an end.

"Wait you don't mean... did Frieza get Chi Chi and Piccolo?" Tien asked, his voice full of sorrow as he and Yamcha touched down on the small planet. Everyone was surprised to already see the pair of old rivals on the small world.

Chiaotzu silently watched on, unable to even enjoy seeing his best friend again, given the circumstances.

"No worse...Goku...is about to be killed...he didn't have enough time to charge up his Spirit Bomb." King Kai explained.

The news that Goku was still alive at all was mixed since he would soon be joining them in the otherworld, seemingly permanently this time.

"Is there anything they can do? Maybe Piccolo...could he buy some time?" Yamcha asked

"He already has. Chi Chi gave him all the strength she had in her even. They even had Nappa, the larger Saiyan, helping them." King Kai explained for those who didn't know the brute's name.

A dense gloom fell over the planet as they waited for the Blue Deity to give the final report below.

Frieza looked down at the pitiful creature that had dared to defy him so much, who had caused him so much pain. "This is the end Saiyan...I will make sure you die this time." Frieza extended his finger, taking delight in the fear sparking in the Saiyan's eyes as his finger began to glow.

'It's now or never!' He shouted inside his mind.

Just as he was about to pull his massive, but still too weak, attack down from the heavens with all of his might, something unexpected happened. Frieza's head lurched forward, followed by the rest of him, shooting away like he was fired out of a gun.

Goku's felt a small wave of relief rush through him as Vegeta stood there, a serious look on his face as he watched Frieza hit yet another of the seemingly endless rock walls that dotted the island landscape.

"Don't just look fool. Get to work!" Vegeta ordered Goku before charging up and unleashing a dizzying arsenal of blasts into the rubble pile Frieza was in. The entire portion of the island was quickly taken up with a rapidly expanding sphere of yellow energy.

'Damn it it's not going to be enough, I need more power to keep him subdued.' Vegeta thought, as his muscles began to burn with his prolonged effort.

Suddenly, he heard two pairs of feet land to his side. Piccolo and Nappa immediately let loose with everything their tired bodies had left adding to the massive hellfire building up around the rubble containing the Frost Demon.

"That's it. Keep pouring it on!" Vegeta ordered before drawing his hands back and focusing all the strength he could muster. He would only get one shot at this.

His eyes widened in horror just as he was about to launch, as a new bubble slowly began to extend from the still growing sphere of plasma, 'Now! Gotta do it now!' He shouted to himself pulling himself out of his stupor. "Galick Gun!" He shouted unleashing a purple wave of energy.

Too late. Frieza shot from the maelstrom just as the front of the attack left his hands. Everything was moving in slow motion for the Tyrant as he batted the pitiful attack Vegeta had launched his direction out of his path with a simple back-hand.

Before anyone could even move a muscle, Frieza had vanished from in front of Vegeta. Aloud thud behind the Saiyan Prince rang out causing him to whip around. Nappa and Piccolo were falling away from each other as Frieza released them, their eyes' rolled back into each of their heads.

It was obvious what had happened. Frieza had rammed their heads together eliminating half of his adversaries in one blow. 'With Kakarot still charging that attack of his, it's up to me.' Vegeta couldn't help but feel his stomach tighten as he stared down his tormentor of the last two decades.

"So it's come to this, my Monkey Prince." Frieza said his voice taking on the pseudo-sweet tone he used when he was trying to get inside Vegeta's head.

"Can it Frieza! I'm am not your servant anymore. In case you didn't get the memo, I quit!" Vegeta's voice boomed.

"Heh, I feel like I've heard that before. You really are as foolish as the rest of your monkey troop after all." Frieza said with a chuckle, "It'll be such a shame having to kill you Vegeta but it appears you have left me no choice. Just like your weakling father…" Frieza couldn't help but smile slightly at the last jab he had worked in. He had waited a long time to use his best material on Vegeta.

Vegeta's pride was wounded by the insult to the father he had idolized for so long but he wouldn't give the bastard that satisfaction, "Yes, he was a weakling but what of him" Vegeta stated calmly attempting to appear callous towards the insult of his father.

Frieza's face betrayed his surprise but he recovered quickly enough, "Ah, so you finally stopped worshipping that weak spineless coward." He noticed Vegeta's fist clench and continued, "I would've told you how your weak father tried to rescue you after giving you up to me much sooner if I had known that. You were actually on the ship that day if I remember right."

A shocked look came to Vegeta's face at the revelation, his mind trying to come to grips with the idea that his father had indeed attempted to rescue him and that he was actually on the ship at the time. "Father...you were a fool…" He whispered to himself, knowing that he was in no position to criticize his childhood hero seeing how he himself had gotten himself into an equally fruitless stand against the monster who had kill his father and his entire race.

The Saiyan Prince looked up at Frieza and knew what he had to do. The bastard who had robbed him of everything he had ever held dear, his father, his home, his people, his birthright, was going to die that day by his hand. "This is the end of you Frieza." Vegeta seethed as he began to power up, his aura lifting rocks all around the island.

Frieza was surprised by how controlled Vegeta's voice was even though he was clearly furious, "My, aren't you feisty today Vege-" The rest of Frieza's taunt was cut off as he was forced to raise his hand to block against Vegeta's attack. Although by his current standard it was quite slow and weak, it still came fast enough to almost catch him off guard.

"I was in the middle of speaking." Frieza growled out as he began to tighten his grip on the Saiyan Prince's fist.

Vegeta's leg lashed out attempting to sweep the Frost Demon's feet from beneath him, to no avail. As he continued to struggle against Frieza's iron grip.

After several useless seconds, Frieza tired of Vegeta's struggles and gave him a quick, but strong jab to the stomach, released his hand, and watched the expression of pure agony and surprise cross his face as what had just happened registered with his brain.

The Saiyan Prince staggered back, his mouth wide open as the air had been forced from his lungs, both arms wrapped around his stomach as fell to one knee.

"Isn't that cute. Even when you quit, you still bow to me." Frieza sneered, as Vegeta's face continued to contort in rage and pain.

"I...will not be...your plaything anymore!" He shouted and rushed forward as soon as his lungs had recovered some air. Breaking off at the last second in a desperate attempt to get behind Frieza, who didn't even bother to move. The expression on his face never wavering from the sadistic smile that had been plastered on it since beginning his game with Vegeta.

Vegeta finally banked back towards him, firing a blast in every direction Frieza could run before putting on the afterburners attempting to tackle Frieza, but just as he reached him Frieza vanished seemingly without disturbing any of his attacks which he had intended to keep his target stationary.

As he was still coming to a stop, his body was suddenly and violently accelerated into the ground. Frieza dropped from the sky with a one legged drop kick into Vegeta's back.

The Saiyan prince refused to stay down for long though and erupted from the crater with a furious shouted.

Immediately, he began chasing after the seemingly teleporting Frost Demon, always just an instant behind him. Finally, he got him pinned near a rock wall and began to unleash a furious array of jabs and punches. Even seemingly trapped as he was though, Frieza was somehow able to evade everything the Saiyan Prince could throw at him.

Frieza making sure to wait until there was a hint of hope in the Saiyan's eyes before vanishing again, up into the sky.

Finally, the Saiyan Prince had had enough. Instead of chasing his adversary, he began firing wildly, a dizzying array of blasts after his speedy tormentor. A ribbon across the entire sky shone brightly with blossoming yellow spheres of destruction. Still though, the Saiyan Prince just couldn't catch a break. Every attack was an order of magnitude too slow.

Frieza continued his game with little effort as he phased behind Vegeta and fired a single blast through the back of his leg.

Again, Vegeta dropped to a knee, agony shooting through his body. Gritting his teeth, Vegeta prepared himself to continue. He whipped around, trying to land a point blank shot into Frieza's face, but again he was too slow.

Frieza had vanished again.

"Come now Vegeta, surely even you realize how pointless your struggles are." Frieza mocked from several dozen feet off to Vegeta's side. He wanted to break Vegeta, but do it slowly. Chip away at the walls of defiance he had allowed Vegeta to build up over his decades of servitude.

"Shut up you overgrown lizard!" Vegeta shouted finally letting his anger get the better of him. Frieza was toying with him like an expert bullfighter does a bull, slowly breaking the creature down before going for the kill, and he had had enough of it.

Frieza's smirk fell to a frown at the insult but before he could respond to it Vegeta continued.

"I am the prince of all Saiyans, destined to be the first Super Saiyan in a thousand years. I will defeat you Frieza! You will die by my hands and no one else's!" He declared forcing weight back on his injured leg, his eyes shining defiantly, as Frieza's frown deepened.

"A Super Saiyan huh, well we'll cross that bridge when we come to it...IF WE EVER COME TO IT!" Frieza snarled before appearing directly in front of Vegeta, whose fist immediately collided with the Frost Demons face. Frieza walked into his attack. Unfortunately it didn't work, his fist didn't even manage to move his face. "You low-life Saiyan how dare you!" Frieza shouted before backhanding Vegeta across the island.

His head was spinning, his left eye was swelling shut, he had a hole in his shin, but still he rose again. 'I can't lose... I'm so close...' he thought to himself as he tried to come up with a strategy, 'Damn it...I've already used all my best moves...'

"Back up again already?" Frieza asked from behind Vegeta before his after image could even fade noticeably away. "You really should give up Vegeta. You were never really a match for me. And you never will be." He whispered causing a chill to go down the Saiyans spine as he limped into a defensive stance.

Vegeta let out a low growl as he tried to make sure Frieza couldn't get the drop on him again, his mind clawing at any attack that could even phase the monster.

"Out of ideas?" Frieza asked seemingly reading his mind, "I have one." Before Vegeta could even react Frieza had phased just inches away from him again, his fist colliding directly with the Saiyan Prince's chin and launching him skywards.

He didn't fly long though before Frieza appeared directly behind him, delivering a downward swinging kick and sending him into the water below.

After waiting several minutes, Vegeta managed to drag himself onto land, coughing up water. His reprieve was short lived as within an instant Frieza was behind him, holding him up by nothing more than his hair. As he rose high into the sky again ready to watch Vegeta's lifeless body drop to the ground exactly as he had always imagined.

"You know Vegeta, you really were a fool to try and pull that stunt on that backwater planet. Did you think I wouldn't find out?" Frieza's voice was full of mock disappointment. As he delivered a body bending blow to Vegeta's kidney, causing the him to gasp in agony.

"Wha...Wha...What the...hell are...you talking...about…" Vegeta finally got out slightly to Frieza's surprise, "You...sent Dodoria...to kill me…" Vegeta managed to say between the waves of agony still shooting through his body.

"No, I sent Dodoria to capture you after finding out about your little rebellion. I mean, it was very creative of you sending that mongrel brat and the idiot to distract me and all. I'm even surprised that he did a good such a good job hiding your intent to try and gain immortality from that planet's magic balls, even after a prolonged interrogation even." Frieza said his voice not reflecting the praise he was apparently giving Raditz.

"Just...Just what...did that idiot tell you?" Vegeta finally got out, his motives for the question a mixture of forestalling the inevitable next attack and actual curiosity as to what exactly he needed to punish Raditz for if he ever saw him again.

Frieza was a little taken aback by the question, it should've been obvious. "He didn't have to tell me a lot actually." Frieza said with a smirk at his own superior intelligence, "I was able to infer he had failed to wipe out the planet that the boy was from. The rest just sort of fell into place, especially when he mentioned you and Nappa both going to such a weak world to wipe it out." Frieza said before delivering another blow to Vegeta's kidney, this one causing a spray of blood to flow from Vegeta's mouth.

What happened next surprised the Emperor. Vegeta began to chuckle, it was a pained chuckle with just a hint of irony to it.

"And just what is so funny Vegeta!" Frieza shouted before turning the Saiyan Prince to face him and delivering a powerful blow to his stomach causing more blood to spray.

Vegeta hacked and coughed for a moment before he was able to compose himself. His internal organs had been jumbled pretty good from that single blow. It was going to be a difficult issue to fix, at this point if he ever survived long enough for that to be an issue he would take it as a blessing, considering his current situation. "For...the...last year...I was convinced...that the sorry low class...made up some lie...as revenge for treating him...like the trash he is…" He paused to cough again before continuing, "In reality...you were just...a paranoid freak who-" The rest of his dialogue was cut off but a strong slap to his face causing more blood to flow from his mouth.

"How dare you call me a paranoid FREAK! You insolent MONKEY!" Frieza shouted ready to finish Vegeta off then and there.

"You were paranoid!" Vegeta shouted back defiantly catching the Tyrant off guard, with his forcefulness. "I had...no plans...to betray you...at least not... that day…" Vegeta managed with a slight smirk, "I...didn't find out...about the wish...till I landed…" Vegeta continued completely shocking Frieza.

"So you were planning on reviving the Saiyan race with the weaklings." Frieza stated instead of asking.

"No...I would...never sully...my royal blood with...such weak creatures…" Vegeta responded, "The...whole reason...we went there...was because the...idiot and his brother...both failed to wipe the planet clean...it was to avoid punishment...not start a rebellion…"

Frieza was shocked. He had read Vegeta for years and could tell for once the Saiyan Prince was being truly honest with him. He thought back to that day, just to be sure.

(Flashback)

Frieza rose from his chair and slowly floated over to the writhing, bleeding form of Raditz.

He would simply kill the monkey-child and then torture the planet's location from the useless being that now bled on his throne room floor. Then he would kill him in as painful a way as he could conceive, before going to this new monkey world to blow it up himself.

Gohan stared up at Frieza in horror. Frieza just glared back irritated, before turning his attention back to Raditz on the ground; wanting to make sure he could see the other monkey's death.

"Do you take me for a fool? Vegeta and Nappa both going to purge a planet that weak unless ordered ha! No they are going there to try and rebuild your filthy species, you should've just wiped the planet out instead of trying to pass this worthless child off as reason to keep the planet ar-" Frieza's rant was cut off by a weak, shaky voice

"Damn that would've been a good idea." Raditz paused as he coughed up blood. Before continuing, "Unfortunately as far as I know what I have said is the truth, they are going to wipe the planet clean, and the boy is much stronger than he appears, if he gets angry his power soars." Raditz choked out laying all his cards on the table as a last ditch effort to save his life.

(End of flashback)

Frieza couldn't believe it seemed to match up. For once he was actually wrong. An almost apologetic look crossed his face causing Vegeta to relax slightly, before a powerful blow landed in his gut again causing another spray of blood. "It really doesn't matter." Frieza said as his eyes bore into Vegeta's a sadistic smile on his face. "You've already outgrown your usefulness Vegeta. I can't allow you to live as strong as you've become in such a short time. Though I will make it a little quicker than I had been planning since you were honest." Frieza said, expecting a sense of ultimate defeat to fill Vegeta's entire being. Instead though was a look of...Triumph?

"You've lost Frieza, it's all over now." He responded confidently, his eyes shining with excitement unlike anything Frieza had seen before.

"Just what the hell are you talking about Vegeta?" Frieza snarled as he cocked his fist back ready to beat that infuriating smile of his Saiyan pet's face.

"Hey Frieza, over here!" Goku's voice suddenly cut in causing the Frost Demon to look directly behind him, before his entire body went slack in shock as he realized the true reason Vegeta's eyes seemed to shine.

The Saiyan Prince for his part dropped towards the ground, filled with a joy that was completely blinding him to his pain as he watched Frieza for once truly afraid at the massive attack baring down on them both.

"No...Impossible…" Frieza's voice was shaky as he raised his hands to try and slow the behemoth of an attack bearing down on him. "The...Monkeys tricked me?" His entire system was in shock as the attack began to push, painfully against his hands forcing him back.

"How is this possible! The other monkey was half dead...where did all of this energy come from…" Frieza, at his maximum power couldn't hold it back as he slowly gave way, drifting closer and closer to the ground.

Vegeta's moment of joy had passed and now a new issue was presenting itself as he slowly made his way towards cover, his body was trashed. There was no way he could escape the blast radius in time at his current pace. But he could do little better at the moment.

'No I won't die here, I must go faster.' He inwardly thought as he forced himself into the air barely able to stay afloat.

Before he had made it passed even the second island away from the slowly falling Spirit bomb, a green hand suddenly grasped onto him before rapidly retracting.

Piccolo had already moved Chi Chi and the Saiyan general to what he hoped was a safe distance away; for some reason though he had felt compelled to save the Saiyan Prince as well. "I'm just repaying my debt for you getting Frieza's attention." Piccolo mumbled as he rocketed away. "I'll kill you myself when this is over." He added at the end to make himself feel better about his uncharacteristic action.

Goku's body was battered, as he used the massive attack containing strength from the entire Namekian solar system as a battering ram against the Tyrant. There would be no way he could survive such an attack, he was sure of it.

Even though his enemy had left him for dead he couldn't help but feel sorry for the Frost Demon. 'If only I had been stronger...I could've given you the same chance I did Vegeta and Piccolo...I'm sorry.' He thought towards Frieza before giving it one last massive push.

The entire planet was whited out in a brilliant, all consuming light. Goku did everything he could to get to the ground and take cover before the shock wave hit, but the force was relentless. There would be no cover from such an attack.

"Damn it! Damn it damn it damn it!" Raditz shouted his voice quivering with fear as he desperately tried to get some distance between them and the planet. He had been so marveled by the sheer size of the attack, he had forgotten about the amount of destruction it would wrought when finally used. Now it was being used and he didn't know if he could get their pods away in time to survive the inevitable shards of planet flying their direction.

While his uncle was having his panic attack cursing their old, slow to respond, flying pieces of space junk. Gohan couldn't help but enraptured still with the attack. 'So much power. If I could make something like that no one would ever be able to hurt me again.' He thought to himself, a pang of regret springing up in his stomach that he couldn't have been that strong. 'If I was that strong mommy and daddy would still be with me.' Suddenly, watching the attack didn't bring him awe anymore, instead envy was all he could feel.

"It's not fair, why is there someone else strong enough that they don't have to worry about anything!" He cried out not even realizing he was thinking out loud.

"Shut up brat life's not fair." Raditz responded over the radio as he continued to struggle to get away from the planet in time, "We're just low classes and, though you have potential, there is always going to be someone out there stronger than you. The key is whether you have the ability to survive or not. Obviously Vegeta was strong but he is about to be dead if he isn't already." Raditz continued going from his own personal experiences.

Gohan was silent for a moment thinking over his Uncle's words before inwardly deciding, 'No, I will be strong, I will be the strongest ever.' He reaffirmed his earlier promise to himself. "No one else will be taken away from me ever again." he whispered to himself, just so he could actually hear those words. It calmed him some. Suddenly the entire sky exploded in a golden brilliance, the child couldn't keep his eyes open, his hands rushing to his face. Everything was lost to a golden glow.

Several incredible minutes passed by. The wind buffeted them, all the islands for miles around were swept as smooth as a platter, if they managed to stay intact. The only outliers being the five fighters, just now struggling to get to their feet.

Goku watched the crater that had formed and, feeling no energy coming from it at all, let out a sigh of relief. "It's actually over!" He called before shakily making his way over to the others.

Chi Chi and Nappa were both just now awakening from their earlier injuries. Chi Chi was less injured than Nappa though and as soon as her head stopped spinning enough to notice Goku she rushed to embrace him. "Goku!"

"Hey Chi Ch- OW!" He shouted as her hug compressed is shattered rib cage.

Chi Chi almost immediately went to work trying to at least get an idea of all of Goku's injuries.

Vegeta and Piccolo simply stood silently watching on as the couple conversed, and Nappa struggled to sit up. "Is it over?" The giant asked after eventually getting to his feet.

"Yes, Frieza is dead. Kakarot's attack appears to have been successful" Vegeta responded, even though he was angry that he himself couldn't have been the cause of the Tyrant's demise. He was still at least content that a Saiyan was the cause of his destruction.

"Good I- Vegeta look out!" Nappa shouted as a series of small blasts rained down on the group. Four shots fired, and four bodies hit the ground.

Hey everyone, thanks for reading the latest chapter of Culture shock! I hope you enjoy one of the biggest cliff-hangers yet I left for you here, I've been waiting awhile to use this one. I almost didn't think I would get it done before finals started, which would've meant no new chapter till like the 19th at the earliest.

I'm going to keep this A/N short this time since I need to get back to studying but I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who's reviewed lately, I've really enjoyed the feedback.

I would also like to make a request to anyone reading this, the 1 year anniversary of Culture Shock's first chapter being posted is coming up, I plan to try and get chapter 24 up on that date at the latest, if I get 24 up early somehow I will try to finish chapter 25 in time to get it up on that date instead. If I don't get 24 up until the anniversary I wanted to make my request here instead, the story is very close to 100 reviews and it would mean alot to me to be able to break the 100 review barrier in under a year, so if you have any questions, concerns or just feed back in general please let me know, thanks in advanced everyone :)

Special thanks as always to MrCamtastic for his work beta reading the story.

Now for the reviews (slightly different format)

Review:

RKF22-

Awesome story so far can't wait for more

Glad you're enjoying it, I hope you liked this latest chapter too!

wheathermangohanssj4:

This was an interesting chapter.

But I'm gonna say this, I think Piccolo shouldn't be able to take the Kaioken too far, from what I've seen Namakians are actually extreamly easy to injure but they make up for it with regenerative ability and sense the Kaioken beats the shit out of the user I think a Namakian's body would just give out just that much sooner.

Huh, so the Ginyu force are going to survive this hmm and either a Cooler Revenge inspired arch or some such thing that'll be neat enough if that's what's being suggested.

The way I see it is since most Namekians are relatively weak, it can make it seem like they are just easy to injure. The way I see it is how tough you are is almost entirely dependent on your powerlevel. But I want to point out that Piccolo won't be able to take Kaioken very far, due to the issue of fusion, at least the way I described both how Kaioken works and how I believe fusion works. Otherwise Piccolo would be seriously over powered by my estimation.

Yes I've spared the Ginyu Force because they still have a mission to take care of, what that mission is I cannot reveal yet but I try to not leave characters around without a purpose. I hope you enjoyed the latest chapter too.

BeyondInfinty:

Man this story should have more reviews. The chapters are epic, this story is just marvelous. I have a question though, will Cooler or his crew come to Namek? That's just my question because it will definitely be a good twist. I'll see you on the next chapter!

Thanks, I hope it gets more too, I really enjoy them. I'm glad you are enjoying the story, I hope I can continue to give you a story that you enjoy that much :). Cooler is going to have an important role in this story, what that role is I can't reveal to much yet, I think it'll both the Ginyus' roles and Coolers roles will become more clear soon. Other than that I unfortunately can't say more to avoid ruining some of the fun.

anonymous

Yeah yeah u did :P
Okay so tht answers the Kaioken thing
Just wondering, as u r taking ssj as a increase of 147 million is it possible that if base level is powerfull enough, the user can generate more power with Kaioken instead of ssj(if Kaioken can't be used wid ssj) as it multiplies power

Ssj as a transformation can be trained up, so it isn't necessarily a static 147 million. Like when Goku and Gohan mastered ssj they were much more powerful than just say 20-50 million + 147 million. I'd say at a minimum each of them were in the 800 million range. Theoretically that is entirely possible though, the way I picture it though, going with what Vegeta and Goku said after leaving the hyperbolic time chamber, your progress can stall out at certain levels unless you unlock the next transformation. So say Goku doesn't unlock ssj then with the limit I estimated of 5 million before ssj is unlocked the maximum you can take Kaioken is about 100 million. But if he unlocks ssj and continues training only his base form and gets up to like 10 million then Kaioken would actually get him in the 200 million range as opposed to 157 million for ssj. It might be possible though that further training in your base form actually increases the well from which you can draw you ssj energy from, in which case ssj could stay ahead or at least be even with the Kaioken multiplication. It would have the benefit of being much less stressful to the body though.

I hope I answered your question ok, if not don't be afraid to ask again.

Ohh and another thing for u're question
It is better for shorter but faster updates, keeps the interest going :)

Thanks for responding to that question, that's what I was thinking the general opinion was on the subject, I will try to transition my later chapters to stay closer to 5000 words per chapter from now on.

Random:

I agree with the add on of power instead of the multiplier but I think bod made it to high because freiza's power level is 120 mil and in canon super saiyan goku fought full power freiza pretty evenly so I hope you make the add on lower than bod.

You bring up a really good point, good enough that I went back and rewatched the Goku/Frieza fight again just to make sure. Yes it was a very close fight and I think I have an theory that makes sense given the circumstances. Goku and been getting his salad tossed, for lack of a better term, his body had been wrecked pretty good by the time he actually transformed. So not only is his normal base at this point none existent, -3 million, but it is entirely possible his body wasn't actually able to handle the full strength of the inner well of his ssj energy. So like he was only able to access 125 million of it or something like that. In which case the cannon Goku v Frieza battle would be Frieza 120 million vs Goku 125 million, which is alot closer to the fight that actually happened.

Anyway thanks for bringing that to my attention :), I guess I probably should've realized that myself earlier, but the transformation hasn't taken place yet so no real damage was done.

super mystic gohan:

im glad you gotten more reviews! the things I like the ginyu force are alive and going to coolers plant goku made frieza go 100% before he turnt super sayien vegeta out off the healing tank now piccolo and nappa gotta buy goku time and wonder when vegeta will get involve also it be a different twist if the z-fighters manage to beat frieza with out a super sayien that would be a big twist because frieza alittle bit hurt already right?

Me too, me too lol. Yeah Frieza is in a bit of pain, he's lost his tail and has some actual burns on his body before the spirit bomb was even used. I figure you've probably read the chapter already to be reading this so you know he did survive, but as you've probably already guessed his body is not in a good place right now, so anything is possible. Thanks again for all the reviews you've given the story these last 350+ days lol, I really appreciate it :).

Chi-Chi's FAN:

They're almost here!
Since the beginning the story has been building up and each chapter becomes better than the last! Shows that you've been placing plenty of thought into each moment. And yes suspence and unpredictable moments are the best way to keep us reading. You clearly do that a lot, that's why I'm doubting you'll kill Chi-Chi and proceed to make Goku a Ssj (my first guess), but then if most of us think on the opposite direction wouldn't it be surprising if you chose what should've been obvious? Reverse Psychology is an authors secret weapon...that is if it even becomes a strategy, and since no one can know till the results your still in the clear of using that technique.

Yup, almost there but stuck in orbit because Raditz thinks the planet is about to blow. Anything is possible as for who just got taken out, 4 shots 5 fighters so who knows ;). I've actually had who goes ssj first decided for awhile now, I've given some other candidates thought as well, especially when weighing everyone's guesses on the subject, but based on what I've heard so far I think everyone will enjoy the end to this arc.

Anyway I hope you are still enjoying the story, and that the increase suspense is to you liking lol. I've definitely put quite a bit of thought into this arc; mostly because I hadn't put any into it before the end of the Saiyan saga, just to leave myself some flexibility as the story progresses in case I get any awesome ideas as I go through.

Random:

Please update more often I don't care if the chapters are shorter as long as there are more updates.

Alright, I will do my best, with finals next week there will probably be a bit of a delay till the next one, but after that I will try to turn into a chapter factory over Christmas break :).

Well I think that covers everything, thanks again everyone, and if you're like me and have finals coming up, good luck.