Chapter 40: The Last Hope

Goku sprung from the rubble he'd been buried in and launched forward across the battlefield as an explosion indicated Vegeta was also racing back to rejoin the fight.

King Cold stood still, seemingly completely at ease, his arms hanging limply at his sides as the two Saiyans approached in unison. When they got in range of their mutual target Vegeta lashed out with a swinging kick only for it to be caught but the amused Frost Demon, while Goku's full strength punch was similarly trapped in Cold's vicious grip. The titan of power then swung his arms together causing the two trapped Super Saiyans to collide at bone jarring speeds sending a massive shockwave out across the pitted plain.

Goku shook his head trying to clear the fog that had formed in his mind from hitting Vegeta's knee at nearly the speed of light.

"You Saiyans sure are entertaining, so persistent even when it is clear your situation is hopeless. I can see why my son kept a few of you around for so long." King Cold said with a chuckle. as he stood over the two downed Saiyan warriors.

Finally Goku had cleared the fog from his mind, and decided it was time to try and get King Cold on the defensive. Goku's fingers shot up to his forehead as Cold's eyebrow rose in curiosity, suddenly Goku was gone, not just to Cold's shock but also Vegeta's.

Before Cold had any time to react he suddenly lurched forward, his face slamming into the ground as he skid across the surface for a few seconds before coming to a stop.

Goku's fist still outstretch from hitting Cold as hard as he possibly could. Goku wasn't done yet though, his other hand had already charged up a sizable attack, "HA!" He shouted as he unleashed a powerful ball of energy straight into the slightly stunned and still rising Cold's back.

Cold yelled in pain and surprise as the attack enveloped in him a large explosion.

Goku didn't waste time with premature celebrations and instead launched blast after blast into the debris cloud using only his Ki sense for guidance.

Vegeta finally forced himself from his shock, if Cold was going to insist on fighting them both at once the Saiyan Prince refused to allow the low-class Saiyan to steal his victory. Quickly he began to unleash his own furious barrage into the smoke, tracking the Frost Demon's movements by his Ki.

The battlefield shook as if an artillery barrage had been unleashed as each of the potent attacks detonated one after another.

Over the roar of the explosions Goku decided to use the opportunity to plan with his makeshift ally. "Hey Vegeta, when you see me disappear next can you charge up a large attack?" Goku asked as the duo continued their relentless assault.

"A better one than you could." Vegeta snarled back at Kakarot's idiotic question.

"Good so when-" Goku started to say before something shot from the smoke straight into the air. "Now!" Goku shouted as he vanished from sight.

Vegeta snarled to himself, it didn't matter how powerful a foe they were fighting he would never take orders from the clown who had nearly robbed him of his destiny and immediately flashed his aura intending to take Cold on himself.

Goku appeared behind Cold the same instant he had finished planning with Vegeta, his fist already slamming down on the energy barrier the Frost Demon had quickly erected.

Cold's eyes slanted dangerously as his mind try to figure out how this 'Goku' Saiyan was managing to move faster than him if his attacks were so weak that the blow wouldn't have even made it through his shield had he been paying attention.

Regardless Cold was falling to the ground yet again at speeds that would be difficult to stop. That was when he noticed a blur coming up to meet him. The Frost Demon smirked as he quickly gathered strength to unleash a wave attack.

"Vegeta no!" Goku shouted in surprise as he finally noticed the Saiyan Prince on a b-line for their enemy.

It was too late, just as Vegeta closed with a dozen meters Cold unleashed his attack, using it like a rocket off a launch pad to slow his descent to a perfect stop.

Vegeta on the other hand hit the ground and bone crushing speeds, leaving yet another massive crater in the Earth.

Cold wasn't done yet though and immediately vanished from Goku's vision. Goku's hand's started to rise to defend himself but they were far too slow, his right hand, the hand he had been using for instant transmission was suddenly, forcibly pulled behind his back in a powerful lock, which Cold's other hand grasped the back of his head. "Let's go for a ride." the Tyrant said before rocketing towards the ground.

Goku's eyes were wide in shock as they crossed the short distance to the ground in an instant, but instead of simply embedding the Saiyan warrior in the rocky ground, Cold decided to run parallel to the ground at the last instant grinding the Saiyan's face against the ground.

Goku couldn't move, he couldn't even open his eyes, all he could do was take it the agony enveloping his face and hope it would end soon.

Nappa snarled to himself, Cold had already dragged Goku's face over a mile through the dirt. Vegeta had acted as a Saiyan should, but at the same time it appears his own Saiyan Pride was about to be what killed them all.

The Oozaru closed his eyes for a second, as he prepared his mind for his inevitable suicide run he was about to take part on. He knew he had to do it, he was the only fighter left that could even hope to touch the monstrosity Vegeta has unleashed on them all.

Finally it was time to act as quietly as he could the behemoth lunged forward ready to strike.

Cold watched the beast close in on him in slow motion as he continued to grind the only real threat to him's face into the ground. 'Typical Monkey...' He thought to himself as he vanished from Nappa's sight just as the giant began to reach for him.

Nappa's powerful hands grasped onto Goku's limp body for a second not realizing who he had caught.

It wasn't until he felt King Cold land on his shoulder that the Saiyan General realized the danger he was in.

"Pathetic." Cold said off-handedly before slapping Nappa's temple with his tail. The light left the Oozaru's eyes as he collapsed to the ground and lay still, Goku half crushed beneath him.

Piccolo hit the floor of the lookout hard enough to shatter some of the stone tiles much to Kami and Mr. Popo's dismay. "Have you decided yet old man?" Piccolo asked his tone filled with irritation as his counterpart slowly made his way over to him.

"I have...and the answer is no." Kami replied his arms trembling as he tried to stay resolute on his decision. His younger half had not change enough to warrant his trust yet. though there was good in him now, it would be too risky to allow such a being as Piccolo have access to that much power.

Piccolo's mouth hung open slightly from shock for a moment as the other Namekians currently taking refuge on the lookout continued to gather around.

"And you call yourself this planet's guardian!" Piccolo shouted in frustration. "What have you done to guard this world from anything old man? The only thing I've ever seen you do is get captured or get you ass kicked!" Piccolo continued as Kami's eyes lowered to the ground under his counterpart's relentless verbal assault.

"You watch what happens on the surface and refuse to intervene because the everyday evils aren't worth your time, yet when there is something you can actually do to help save the planet you refuse because you don't want someone like me to have too much power?!" Piccolo continued a vein building on his forehead. "Well at least I would use that power instead of withering away on top of floating sanctuary my entire life."

"I need more time to think I-" kami started to say before being cut off.

"When will you get it through your senile head that there is no time. Look down there, Goku and Vegeta are about to die and that monster is just playing around with them!. If we don't do this and do it soon there is no hope of anyone on this planet surviving. It's not even that I want to fuse with you old man, there is no choice we either do this or we all die." Piccolo's voice having a desperate edge to it as he felt first Nappa's energy vanish and then Goku's energy, which was already in a rapid decline vanish as well.

Kami looked up alarmed at what he had just felt happen below. "But...if we fuse the Dragon Balls will disappear and-" kami started to say.

"Doesn't matter if the Dragon Balls vanish from us dying or us fusing they're gone either way already." Piccolo snarled.

"Wait if that is the only hold up you could always transfer ownership of the Dragon Balls to someone else." A Namekian elder suggested stepping forward. "Dende and Cargo have both shown great progress in their learning. If both sides would accept it, one of them could stay here as Guardian in training and keeper of your Dragon Balls, under your tutelage." He finished.

"That might work, is that ok with you?" Kami asked the children.

Cargo gave Dende a nod as The young Namekian stepped forward. "Yes sir, if you think I am ready I would be glad to help." The child replied meekly.

"Ok it's settled can we do this already?" Piccolo growled getting increasingly frustrated with the pace of things.

Goku was broken, he stay halfway buried beneath the motionless Saiyan General's transformed body, his shirt had been ground away to rags. The wounds on his face, from his forehead to his chest were bleeding profusely keeping him from being able to open his eyes. His Super Saiyan energy was gone as well, the pain made it too hard to sustain the effort needed. The only thing he could do was lay still as wave after wave of agony washed over him.

Cold looked down admiring his work, This Saiyan did put up a better fight than Vegeta, maybe I should've played with him longer.' He thought with a chuckled to himself. "How about we make a deal, you tell me how you were able to move so fast before and I make the pain go away." Cold sneered.

About a mile away the ground shattered in all directions as Vegeta shot into the air seemingly enraged beyond all sentient thought. The streak of light curved through the sky like a shooting star aimed right at King Cold.

The Frost Demon turned to face the most stubborn of his adversaries. "Vegeta are you seriously-" he started to ask before a loud crack sounded at his feet and the ground vaporized. Cold's eyes widened in shock as the blast ripped into his lower back rocketing the Frost Demon high into the air.

Vegeta continued to accelerate throwing all of his power into boosting his speed, holding nothing back for defense, if he was going to hell he was going to drag Cold kicking and screaming down with him.

The battlefield exploded as the combined kinetic energy of two object going well above the speed of light.

Vegeta smirked at his 'victory' as his fist, held out in front of his head, slammed home into the Frost Demon's torso. He immediately heard bone snap, as one of his fist dissolved itself against one of King Cold's ribs, while the other landed in his less defended stomach, blood and spittle sprayed from the Emperor's lips as his body began to contort in agony.

The smirk of victory was replaced by a grimace of pain as Vegeta's nerves alerted him to the fact that Cold's rib wasn't the only bone broken in the initial collision, his left fist was reduced to little more than a sack of shatter glass extending halfway up to his now torn elbow tendons and dislocated shoulder.

None if this mattered to the Saiyan Prince though, in an instant his head would collide with Cold's already weakened stomach fast enough to easily rip a hole right through him, and apparently pulverize his own skull in the process. 'I can think of worse ways to go." He told himself one last time as he continued to close in on his destiny.

Everything, suddenly, violently stopped at the last instant. A indescribable pressure constricted Vegeta's stomach as Cold's head snapped back to face his own a look of unbridled rage unlike anything Vegeta had seen before told the Prince his fate. His entire body rocketed downwards as Cold threw him with all of his might towards the ground that he himself was already plummeting towards.

When the latest batch of debris finally finished falling Cold made his way into the crater.

The now black haired Vegeta was desperately trying to pull his broken body from the rubble. Every muscle in his body shaking from the exertion of just trying to crawl from the hole his body had made.

"Yes that's right stay alive, stay defiant, because you know what? You're not allowed to die yet Vegeta!" Cold shouted as he hoisted the Saiyan Prince up by his hair. "No you have much, much more suffering to do before you get to die." Cold's icy tone sent chills up Vegeta's spine.

"Damn it guys, if we don't stop him now we're all finished!" Krillin declared his entire body refusing to move.

Tien, Chi Chi and Yamcha were similarly paralyzed it was as if they were trapped in a nightmare they had no hope of waking from.

"Destructo Disk" Krillin finally mumbled to himself as he charged up and launched his signature attack, his eyes closed from fear.

King Cold had decided that pounding Vegeta's kidneys into paste was an adequate start of a punishment for the Saiyan to have caused him real pain for the first time in over a century. The tyrant was actually calming down hearing Vegeta's yells of agony with each blow. It was in between strikes that a strange humming sound came to his attention.

Cold's eyes slanted as he allowed Vegeta to slip out of his hand prepared to defend himself. His eyes went wide as he lurched to his side a fiery pain erupting along his cheek as the Frost Demon continued into a roll.

Finally landing in a kneeling position his hand absentmindedly moving to his heavily bleeding cheek. "Who did that!" King Cold boomed his power flashing even higher than he had showed so far as blood continued to pour from the gash on his cheek.

That was when his eyes locked on Krillin, his arm still finishing his follow through of his attack.

"You pest sure do revel in making me want to kill you!" Cold shouted as he rushed forward tired of the constant interruptions.

Krillin knew the instant his attack missed he was dead, he could only hope the monster would be quick about it.

Just as Cold crossed the last few feet towards Krillin the world around them exploded with a ear shattering sonic boom.

Krillin hesitantly opened his eyes to see Piccolo standing in front of him where he expected to see Cold. The Namekian warrior was facing away from them, his arms crossed in contempt as he looked down. "I'm going to have to ask you to stay away from my students." His voice filled with a surprising confidence.

Hey everyone I was hoping to get something a little more substantial up before I disappeared for a couple weeks, and since this was chapter 40, but that just wasn't possible this time. Between a little health issue, dealing with my living situation for next year, helping my parents get ready to move, and getting ready to go on vacation today I have had almost to real good time to write. This was about half of what I had planned for this chapter. So because of that I will attempt to get the next chapter done asap so we can get back on track for the next part of the arc :)

There will be a power level list next time, I don't have time to make one today. Also if this chapter is kinda rough I apologize i'm just kinda hectically throwing this up last minute before I leave.

Reviews:

RKF22- Nice we may see a merging of two back to one and wondering what Gohans treat will be

Yes Kamicco has landed. Gohan's treat will be a treat given in a later chapter ;)

KnightofZero12- Kamiccolos coming pretty early.

Yes and this change will cause many ripples in the up coming story line.

wheathermangohanssj4-Ah another great chapter, well done...although Cold feels a little too strong, then again I feel he isn't stronger then Frieza in the first place...but I guess that's the point.

I'm guess that the implication is that he is suppose to be somewhere in-between the Strength of Android 17 and 18 and Imperfect Cell what with piccolo's suggesting.

Also that story is up, and was up when I had reviewed, the first 4 chapters.

Yes, sorry to disappoint you with Cold's power, I hope you are enjoying the story enough to make up for that fact. I am currently re-evaluating where I placed 17 and 18 in terms of strength previously here, I realized I was using Perfect Cell holding back's pl vs his full power used against Gohan (Not Super Perfect Cell) If I come to a number that seems more realistic than what I originally had put I will let everyone know. Finally Piccolo has no idea how much of a boost combining with Kami will give him, he is simply hoping that it will be similar in level to the Nail fusion and hopefully no make his duel soul problem worse.

Very good about you're story being up, I added it to my follows so I can possibly read it on the plane.

fatefan- well I think we all knew vegeta would get a beat down, though I thought goku and vegeta would be able to beat him together. looks like piccolo will be combining early, if kami will combine with the not totally reformed piccolo. It would be interesting if combining with piccolo as he is now will bring back the son of katas original dilemma .

I assume Gohans prize is either a piece of fruit or a beat down. Gohan is alot weaker now than in cannon so he is going to need some serious power boosts to catch up to his cell games power level.

my only issue this tiime is instant transmission. in the manga its just that: instant. Making it so goku has to put effort to make it faster is interesting but I am not sure how I feel about departing from cannon.

also please do me a favor and don't put Broly in this. everyone does but I hate him.

Yeah Vegeta getting beat down by the villian he helped make more powerful is about as classic Vegeta as it gets lol. Piccolo is less good than he was in canon, but most of his "I want to rule the world" stuff isn't as much malice as it was before. It is more of a way to try and convince what was the original Piccolo that he was still himself, that he could still be evil if he felt like it. If Piccolo actually took over the Earth it wouldn't be the apocalypse like it would've been before.

Gohan's growth will be beginning in the coming chapters. It is less that Goku was putting effort into making it go faster and more he was pushing himself to focus, and recuperate less between jumps. Sorry if it seemed like I was implying that. I will try to make a note to go back and check that section again.

I plead the 5th on whether Broly will or will not be in this story, sorry :( I hope you enjoy it enough that even if he is you continue to like it.

Luke- Oh oh, time for a super namek!

Between the 3 of them, they should be able to beat Cold...if Vegeta and Goku can hold on that long...

Kami was definitely cutting things close lol. You have to remember the more damage your body takes the less energy you can actually use from your maximum. At this point the two Saiyans would be lucky to stand let alone go Ssj.

anomymous- So Vegeta gets owned, goku gets owned and the chamces for earth's survival are getting slimmer and slimmer

Looks like the picollo and kami fusion is going to be fairly early this tym

I wonder then how the fallen warriors will be brought back, will dende be brought back sooner? Also how much stronger is cold than frieza that he curb stomped vegeta as a ssj and is stronger than goku as ssj even when his base is stronger than vegeta's and his ssj should also give more of a boost considering he has been slightly used to it

Also well yeah multiplied like rabbits, though I wonder if more will be willing to join to protect the planet after this or not seeing the mass massacre?

If possible then do give a pl list of the main characters like chi chi, goku, vegeta, cold, etc

Update soon

You hit the nail on the head, on the who got owned section and the piccolo fusion section. Dende and the other Namekians never left, they've been staying at Kami's since the Garlic Jr mess.

Cold is significantly stronger than Frieza i will explain all in my pl list next chapter (sorry i was going to try and get one this chapter just no time).

King Furry will continue (or double) recruitment efforts after this fight, if the Earth survives...

Jhotenko-

Enter Kamicolo. I hope anyway, Introducing the super namek early will definitely make him more useful. It always bugged me how in cannon he was introduced and almost immediately surpassed and shunted off to the role of wise mentor.

Or I could be wrong and you've thrown another curve-ball. Either way it ought to be a lot of fun. Keep the good times rolling, I'm enjoying this story more with each new chapter

Yes kamicollo has arrived. I didn't like that in canon either, Piccolo, like all nonsaiyans, was completely pushed into irrelevancy. Sometimes the best curveball is having exactly what everyone expects to have happen ;)

Glad you are enjoying the story so much i hope you continue too ;).

super mystic gohan- i cant remember if reviewed last chapter but it was good how vegeta killed freiza and his ascended but he let his sayien pride blind him and now cold what his 100 per cent? and now goku thinking both off them cant stop him. is piccolo going to merge with kami? is there going to be a future trunks or a human from the future? well I guess I have to stayed tuned till next time on draon ball culture shock!

I just checked you did not, but no worries i am happy to get any reviews i get. Yeah Vegeta has a bit if an issue with pride lol. Cold is still playing games, though he is starting to get a wee bit angry. The future (if there is one) will be explained next chapter. Yes you do lol.

calcu22- Whoa finally caught up. I'm really digging this change from cannon. As much as I love future Trunks, I felt his fight with meta Frieza and King Cold was anticlimax. And having Vegeta and Goku have to work together and/or having piccolo fuse with Kami already will further change things. Can hardly wait to see how this will turn out.

Glad you did catch up, and enjoy the story. In canon it was a anticlimatic fight, i feel like to shock the audience into taking Trunks seriously. Hope you enjoyed this latest chapter too!

Chi-Chi's FAN - The beginning sounds like both Gohan and Turles could use the other as an advantage for something. Well more Gohan uses Turles as an advantage by becoming his favorite.

I kind of do wonder if Goku would have let Cold transform, my theory is yes. I really am looking forward to the next chapter. Just a hunch but I'm actually thinking M. Trunks might only reveal himself to Goku, but that's only based on a theory I had if Goku actually did let Cold fully transform and was capable of defeating him.

The suspense actually tripled...my breaks at work kept ending before I could finish the chapter! I don't like rushing my reading especially if it's this good!

Gohan is smarter than an average Saiyan, but so is Raditz; Gohan lucked out here and happened to be playing around and found the perfect world. Gohan, Turles and Raditz do need to rely on each other in a way, not only are they family, but they believe themselves the last 3 Saiyans alive.

In the canon universe I believe Goku would've let Cold transform, but after the Goku of this story had to deal with Frieza's transformations I'm not sure he would've risked it.

Well I hope this chapter helps keep you entertained on your breaks as well.

MusingAIR - This is a very interesting story, I just found these days and I got so hooked that I read it in under two days. I really like how this battle is playing out and all I can't wait for the next chapter, hopefully it will be soon. Vegeta is one of my most favorite characters, though that really isn't so much of a surprise to me I always love the anti-heros, especially if at one point they were true villains. I've only ever had one problem with vegeta's character or at least it is how they portrait it in DB is how when he hooks up with Bulma she practically tames him. I've always found that slightly boring and predictably. I can't wait for the upcoming battle and I have to ask are you going to put in future Trunks and when will he appear?

That is some major reading to get done in just 2 days lol, good job :). Vegeta is my favorite character too, anti-heros are entertaining, all of my 3 favorites in dbz were former villains actually. I can't speak to whether the future is around at this point sorry, it would be a bit of a spoiler.

TheMarkusBoy- Hi!

I stumbled upon this fic while I was searching randomly while I was bored (all the fics I follow were found while searching randomly lmao xD), and it's pretty good so far.

At the start I was skipping all the RaditzGohan parts because I wanted to read some action, but eventually I ended reading all the fic.

Pretty cool that you introduce some OVA's or the Garlic Jr saga in this fic, I like it.

Regarding this chapter:

Piccolo will fuse with Kami, huh?

His power after the fusion will be tied with Cold I think (looking that even a SSJ can't do much to him).

Looking forward moar action! :3

Glad you enjoyed the story so far. I think you found by now there is action in the Gohan and Raditz parts too, just not quite as high level action do to lower pls.

Yup, Kamicco is on the scene. As far as how strong he is you have to remember that he is weaker than his canon counter part because Piccolo hasn't had 3 years of training yet, even though Piccolo himself was stronger than his counterpart was at this point in the story there is still a gap.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter since you were looking for action and the upcoming chapter as well.

Ok I have to run now everyone so if I didn't answer any of your questions adequately just let me know and I will do my best to give you a better answer next time. Till next time!