Chapter Sixty-eight
Not So Fast, Freeza! Namek's Retribution!
Mr. Popo was watering the flowers on the Lookout, sprinkling them with his watering can. It wasn't easy watering plants at the top of the world, with the thin air and the constant light chill, but it was part of Popo's routine. Later, he'd sweep the tiles. After all, the Lookout had to look proper for if… when Kami returned. It simply would not do to have anything else.
This was the longest period Popo had ever spent in isolation. It had only been a month or so compared to the centuries he had served by Kami's side. Still, though, Popos had served Gods since time immemorial. It was a haunting experience, loneliness. Life was so unnerving for a servant who was not serving.
A sudden whoosh of air and the clack of a stick on the ground made Popo drop the watering can in shock, the can clattering as it hit the ground. "Mr. Popo?" a familiar voice greeted pleasantly. Mr. Popo spun on his heels and saw Kami standing just behind him, smiling warmly and leaning slightly on his cane. In a rare moment of emotion, the Djinn ran to Kami and hugged him fiercely, pressing his face into the Namekian's chest. After recovering from his shock, Kami returned the hug. "It is good to see you as well," Kami chuckled as he patted Popo's back. He did not have the heart to tell his servant and friend that he did not know how much longer he would be alive with Piccolo on Namek. Why in the world had he done that?
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Freeza lunged at the trio in a blur of frightening speed before smacking Suno aside with a vicious backhand that sent her spiraling through the air while grabbing Vegeta's face with one of his feet and flinging him down to the sea. This left Freeza alone with Gohan, who scowled at Freeza and balled his fists. He wouldn't be afraid. He wouldn't.
"You're a Saiyan, aren't you?" Freeza asked as he loomed over Gohan. "Or at least partly. Are you Vegeta's? Him and that woman, I'd suppose." Thinking of the woman, there was something vaguely familiar about her outfit. Like a measure from a song that Freeza could not recall the rest of or a quote from a book that Freeza could not recall the title of or anything else about it. He was sure he had killed someone wearing that getup. He could almost picture his stupid hair… While Freeza's thoughts were elsewhere, Gohan took this opportunity to attack, slamming his fist into Freeza's cheek. Freeza looked down at Gohan's fist in his cheek and smirked as the anger in Gohan's eyes slowly gave way to fear. Freeza's ki, Gohan realized, was even larger than before. "Hmm? Is that all?" he jabbed a finger into Gohan's chest, making him flinch. "What happened to your strength?" Gohan tried to throw another punch but Freeza deftly shifted his head to the side to avoid the attack and smashed his knee up into Gohan's torso, driving all the wind out of him. Gohan coughed and spasmed before Freeza followed up with an elbow into Gohan's back to send him to the ground. Freeza followed him down, grabbing the back of Gohan's head and smashing him into an island, churning up the waves around him. Freeza let go of Gohan's head to stand over him, ripping out a few of Gohan's' red hairs. Gohan struggled up into his hands and knees as Freeza chuckled, dusting off his hands and lifting one foot to crush Gohan's head. He was stopped, however, by a bloodcurdling shriek from behind. He looked over his shoulder to see Suno barreling toward him with murder in her eyes.
"Don't you touch him!" she screamed as she threw her arms around Freeza's throat and cinched in as tightly as she could while even biting down on Freeza's shoulder. Freeza reached back to grab Suno but was surprised by a waterlogged Vegeta grabbing his arm, trying to rip it out of the socket. This gave Gohan enough time to get back onto his feet and leap forward, headbutting Freeza in the stomach hard enough to make him double over. That was more than enough for Freeza and he lashed out with his tail, cracking Gohan across the face to smash through several boulders before reaching up with his free hand and ripping Suno off of his throat and flinging her forward before swinging the arm Vegeta was clinging onto to hit Suno with the Saiyan King, sending her flying. Freeza smashed Vegeta into the ground several times until he went limp before casually tossing him away, making him skip across the water before sprawling onto an adjacent island.
Leaving Freeza and Gohan alone. Freeza stalked toward the rubble pile where he'd left Gohan, tail swishing idly from side to side as he hummed a little something to himself before kicking the rubble aside and found… nothing. "What in my name…" Freeza muttered just before Gohan burst out of the ground behind Freeza, smashing into the back of the Arcosian's knee to make him stagger forward before grabbing onto his tail and yanking to make him fall backward, flipping end over end to land on his back with a grunt. Gohan pressed his advantage, leaping over Freeza and blasting him with all the power in his body, bathing the tyrant in a golden-yellow light. Then Freeza's hands burst out of the light, one grabbing Gohan's throat and the other smashing him in the face, causing blood to spray out of his mouth. Freeza stood up, still throttling Gohan as steam rose off his body, punching Gohan in the face and stomach several times over before flinging Gohan away and blasting him with a beam of deadly pink light, sending him sprawling into a smoking, crumpled heap. Freeza sauntered towards Gohan's body, his brows arching ever so slightly as Gohan coughed and hacked and struggled up to his knees.
"Tough lad," he mused as raised one foot and smashed it onto Gohan's head to bring him back to the ground. He smirked as his toes wrapped around Gohan's skull. Freeza looked over his shoulder and spied Vegeta hovering in the air as Gohan cried out in pain and writhed, trying to break the grip of Freeza's foot. "Aren't you going to do something?" Freeza asked with a smirk. "He is one of yours, isn't he?" Vegeta was puzzled. Did Freeza merely mean that the abomination was one of his subjects or did he actually think that the boy was his child? Even if either of those things were true, what could he do? Vegeta's helplessness was maddening. It didn't make sense! Why wasn't he strong enough? Why wasn't he the Super Saiyan? What was left for him to do?! It wasn't fair!
Suno struggled to stay in the air as she flew back to the battle as fast as she could. Her whole body was aching with pain and she was lightheaded but she had to keep fighting. Then she felt Gohan's ki start to drop and she felt a surge of panic rush through her body. "No!" she whispered fearfully before flying that much faster, pushing herself to the limit. If her son was going to keep fighting then so was she!
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'Gohan!' Goku thought in a mixture of fear and rage as she felt Gohan's ki dropping. Her son needed her! 'I don't care if I'm fully healed or not,' Goku thought as she started to thrash inside the machine, 'I've got to get out there now!'
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"Well," Freeza mused as he slowly began to tighten his grip on Gohan's head, "I suppose I'd better go ahead and deal with you before I finish my business with Vegeta. I've been putting that murder off for about twenty years now."
"Kienzan!" a voice cried out just before Freeza could crush Gohan's skull. He looked up just in time to see a yellow energy disc flying toward his face. He flipped backward to avoid the attack, the disc slicing his tail cleanly in half. If he had been half a second slower, it would have taken his head off.
"You know," Vegeta muttered to himself, "If he didn't feel the need to scream like an idiot, that would be far more useful." More to the point, how in nine hells the little bastard was still breathing? Freeza, for his part, stared down at the severed length of his tail in dull shock. Someone had… hurt him. He had actually been injured. That shock was swiftly replaced with unyielding rage.
"WHO DARES TO STRIKE ME?!" Freeza bellowed, murder in his eyes as he looked left and right before his eyes settled on that bald-headed fool who he was certain he had murdered. His armor still had the hole in it from when Freeza had gutted him! So how was he alive?!
"That'd be me!" the miserable little cretin quipped as he held his hands up into the air. Freeza bellowed with rage as he flew towards Krillin, this time aiming his horn for his stupid, shiny head. Krillin smirked and tossed several more of those energy discs at Freeza while Suno caught up to them, Freeza stopping his charge to avoid Krillin's attack, dodging this way and that to keep from being sliced apart.
While all of this was happening, Vegeta looked down to see the little Namekian fly towards Gohan and lay his hands on him. Within seconds, the little abomination was back on his feet! "The green brat has healing powers?!" Vegeta asked incredulously. Freeza continued to dodge Krillin's attacks until he was right on top of him.
"Now I've got you!" Freeza snarled, his massive hands reaching out to crush Krillin's still-smirking head. In a flash, he brought his hands up to his face.
"Taiyoken!" Freeza howled in agony as he was hit with a blinding white light and clutched at his face while Krillin slipped away from Freeza's range. Unbeknownst to Krillin, this was even more effective than he had anticipated as, due to Freeza's heightened senses, the Taiyoken was even more debilitating. "Vegeta!" Krillin called, "Hit him! Now!" Vegeta didn't hit him. "WHAT'RE YOU WAITING FOR?!" Krillin asked frantically while Vegeta was staring down at the island below.
"Why did none of you tell me the Namekian could heal us?!" Vegeta snapped.
"Dende has healing powers?" Suno asked before she sighed and shook her head. "Why does it matter?!" Then she and Krillin brought their hands to their sides while Freeza was still incapacitated. Vegeta let out a huff before joining them.
"Kamehameha!"
"Galick Gun!" the three-pronged attack hit Freeza square-on while he was still too busy trying to recover from the Taiyoken to try and defend himself.
Down on the ground below, Gohan took in a big gulp of air as all his wounds were suddenly gone. "Wh-what happened?" he gasped out as he rubbed the back of his head. Although Gohan couldn't tell, even the hairs Freeza ripped out had grown back. Gohan sat up and saw Dende kneeling beside him and smiling widely. "Dende?" Gohan asked in clear confusion. "What'd you do?"
"I healed you!" Dende explained while beaming. "Just like I did with Krillin!"
"You have healing powers?" Gohan suddenly wished that Dende had come along a few minutes earlier so that he could have healed his mom instead of waiting for the Medical Machine.
"Yeah," Dende confirmed. "When Guru unlocked my potential like he did with you and the others, he said something about me having the power to give life instead of take it. So I guess I'm a healer!" Gohan smiled and gave Dende a quick hug before looking back up at the sky and glaring up at Freeza.
"Thank you, Dende," he told his new friend earnestly, "But if that's the case, it's even more important that you stay out of danger. You're too valuable to lose."
"Oh," Dende said softly with a nod, "Right." Then Gohan gave Dende another hug.
"Besides," he added, "You're my friend! I don't want you to get hurt!" That made Dende smile before Gohan flew off into the sky, both fists out as he made a beeline for Freeza. Now that he was healed, he felt stronger than ever!
The smoke had cleared and Freeza brought his hands down from his red eyes to glower murderously at the trio. He was, otherwise, unharmed.
"Crap," Suno muttered under her breath. "We're running out of tricks!"
"If only someone had not cut off my tail," Vegeta retorted in a hiss. The fact that Vegeta himself burned the stump to prevent regrowth had been blotted from his mind. He was entirely blameless in this matter. Before Freeza could tear them apart, however, Gohan called up to him.
"I'm not done with you yet!" Gohan called. "Round three, you big jerk!" Freeza fumed with anger for a moment before letting out a frustrated chuckle.
"I see you're as stubborn as your whole damnable race, boy!" he replied before flying down to face him. "I'll destroy this worthless planet if I have to to kill you!" Gohan pulled a fist back for the attack as Freeza did the same.
Before they could collide, however, a blur of purple and white crashed into Freeza and sent him sailing over the horizon.
"What the–?!" Suno cried out in shock.
"Huh?!" Krillin added in disbelief.
"Mr. Piccolo!" Gohan exclaimed in delight as he flew to Piccolo and threw his arms around him in a hug. "I'm so happy to see you again!" Piccolo was stunned by the gesture before he smiled and ruffled Gohan's hair.
"It's good to see you too, Gohan." Gohan smiled up at Piccolo before the Namekian warrior gently pushed him away. "I'm sorry I'm late but I think I'll more than make up for it."
"YOU MUST BE JOKING!" Vegeta roared in red-faced disgust. "YOU CHOSE NOT TO MAKE ME IMMORTAL BUT YOU BROUGHT HIM BACK TO LIFE?! HE COULD NOT EVEN SLAY NAPPA!"
"Vegeta's right," Gohan admitted reluctantly. "Are you sure you want to fight, Mr. Piccolo? I… I don't want to lose you again." Piccolo chuckled as he brought his fists to his sides.
"Don't worry," he assured Gohan, "I can handle myself Let me show you!" Then he gave a shout and powered up, his ki skyrocketing as his cape billowed dramatically behind him, swept up in the wind of his aura.
"Whoa!" Suno exclaimed as she held her arms up to her face to shield herself from the blowback.
"Jeez," Krillin muttered, "Why didn't I get any stronger when I was dead?"
"...How?" Vegeta growled in dull fury.
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'Wow,' Goku thought, 'Is that Piccolo's ki? It feels… different.' Once she got out of this machine and Freeza was defeated, they'd have to have a rematch!
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Piccolo smirked as the others stared at him, cracking his neck and his knuckles. "Leave Freeza to me," he said as he watched Freeza come flying back towards them. "I'll make him pay for what he's done!" Then he flew forward to meet the genocidal tyrant, one fist out and the other tucked up at his side.
Freeza was fuming now. He'd been mutilated, blinded, harassed by a child, and now he was being cheap shotted! All of this on top of having his immortality stolen! His father was definitely going to hear about all of this! Just wait and see if he didn't! To Freeza's surprise, it seemed that his attacker was yet another Namekian. There was something strangely familiar about this one, to be sure, but honestly, the only thing that made this Namekian any different from the others was that he wasn't dead yet. Freeza would rectify that soon.
"And who," Freeza asked, "Are you? I'm surprised I missed any of you. I was sure you'd all be dead by now." The Namekian got into a fighting stance and Freeza rolled his eyes. Here came some sort of speech, no doubt.
"I am the last warrior of Namek," he boasted proudly. "I have journeyed long and far to return to my home and defend it from you." Well, it was a little late for that, wasn't it? "Once I was a Demon King, a creature of evil like you. But now I am here to bring justice and see you pay for your crimes!" He jabbed an accusatory finger at Freeza as he boldly declared, "I am Piccolo! I will defeat you!" Freeza chuckled, rubbing at his chin for a moment.
"Hmm, yes," he mused, "I see. There's a problem, however." Then he glared at Piccolo as he drew back a fist. "You'll be dead in five seconds." The Namekian seemed amused by that. Freeza threw out a punch… and was shocked when the green man blocked it. He threw another and that one was blocked as well. He kept punching, faster and faster, and the Namekian kept blocking! Then, to Freeza's shock and dismay, the Namekian punched him in the mouth! Freeza flew back, holding his face and staring at this "Piccolo" in disbelief.
"It looks like your five seconds are up." Piccolo pointed out. Freeza growled and balled his fists with a murderous glint in his eye before he charged. Piccolo flew forward to meet him, their shockwaves ripping apart the clouds.
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The quartet had drifted closer and closer to the fight, with Dende following far below, and were completely lost as to what was going on as they watched the fight. Not only was Piccolo surviving, he was winning! They'd barely been able to do any damage to Freeza with everything they had and yet Piccolo had come from nowhere and was slapping him around like he was nothing!
'It doesn't make sense,' Vegeta thought to himself. 'It's completely insane! The Namekian wasn't even dead for two months, where did he get this kind of power?!' While the others continued to watch the fight, Vegeta's gaze drifted down to Dende below them, an idea forming in his head. 'So the little slug healed the abomination when he was near dead,' Vegeta thought, 'Making him stronger. That should mean…'
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Piccolo grabbed Freeza by the horns when the tyrant lunged and tried to gut him, spinning him around and stretching out one of his arms to fling Freeza into a mountain far below. "That can't be all you've got!" Piccolo called out as he floated down to the rubble. "I can sense your power level! You're not done yet! So come on out and take your beating! Or are you going to sulk more?" The rubble was blasted into vapor in pink fire as Freeza glared up at Piccolo, his aura flaring around him.
"I AM THE MIGHTY FREEZA!" he roared. "I WILL NOT BE MOCKED BY AN UNDEREVOLVED SLUG LIKE YOU!"
"Sulking it is, then." That was the last thing Piccolo said before Freeza's fist consumed his entire worldview. Piccolo was sent tumbling end over end as Freeza battered him with punches and kicks before driving him down into the dirt and grabbing him by the cape, slamming him down into the ground over and over. He started to spin Piccolo around before the fabric gave way and ripped, sending Piccolo flying and leaving him with only shoulder pads and his turban. He smirked as Piccolo took in a few breaths, wiping his mouth as he recovered from the onslaught, his clothes torn and his arms and chest covered in scratches.
"Now you see what happens when I decide to get serious," Freeza mocked him, his good humor returning as he felt his invincibility reasserting. "You certainly did better than the rest of your mongrel race but this is simply what happens when a species like yours encounters a superior breed." Then Piccolo smirked again.
"I guess I'll have to get serious as well," he said as he tossed off his cape and turban.
"I beg your pardon–" Piccolo was on him suddenly in a blur of green and purple, with Freeza struggling to block, dodge, and parry; each killing blow missing its target by inches or glancing off to hit a thigh or shoulder.
Freeza's hands wrapped around Piccolo's throat but Piccolo shot lasers from his eyes that would have gone into Freeza's own eyes if he hadn't broken his grip and jumped back in time. Piccolo followed up with a spin kick that caught Freeza in the side of the head and attempted to drive a karate chop into the back of his neck. Freeza caught Piccolo's arm, however, and yanked him down to drive his knee into his chest before headbutting him. Piccolo staggered back before hitting Freeza with a headbutt of his own and driving his feet into Freeza's chest. Freeza found himself wishing he had the whole of his tail as he drove an uppercut under Piccolo's chin, nearly into his throat. Piccolo coughed and hacked before clapping his hands around Freeza's ears and biting him on the bridge of the nose and grabbing his shoulders, flying them both down into the ground of a new island and digging a trench with their bodies. Freeza snarled as Piccolo's hands made their way to his throat and drove both feet into Piccolo's chest to send him flying away. Freeza burst out of the dirt and threw out a hand to blast Piccolo with malevolent pink death and, with no time to spare, Piccolo threw out a hand in response with two fingers jabbed out.
"Makankousappou!" The yellow-purple spiral beam met the pink lightning in a great, cacophonous explosion.
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"Do you think Piccolo can win?" Krillin asked as they hovered over the battle. Suno chewed on her lip indecisively as she watched. She wasn't really sure. Piccolo was doing great, yeah, but Freeza's ki hadn't gone down. At all.
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The dust cleared and the light faded, the two warriors glaring at one another before Piccolo dropped out of his guard and flexed his fingers. "So now I know what you're like when you're serious," he remarked, "And you know what I'm capable of as well. It seems we're evenly matched." Piccolo smirked, one brow arching. "Unless you can get even more serious?" he asked jokingly. To Piccolo's surprise, Freeza laughed.
"As a matter of fact," he replied before his eyes narrowed contemptuously, "I can." Piccolo watched him suspiciously. "In honesty, all of that anger was for show. To give you some glimmer of hope before I snatch it away. You weren't even aware I'd already transformed, were you?"
"Transformed?" Piccolo asked. That would explain the spike in Freeza's ki he sensed earlier. Freeza chuckled again, nodding.
"As a matter of fact, I can transform two more times," he explained, holding up two fingers.
"...Did he say what I think he said?" Krillin asked nervously out of the corner of his mouth. Suno nodded and Gohan gulped.
"Honestly, I hardly ever use this next one," Freeza went on. "It's positively ghastly. So I think you'll be the first beings in a century to have the honor of seeing this form!" Piccolo rolled his eyes.
"Are you going to hurry up and do it," he asked as he crossed his arms over his chest, "Or do I have to say please?" It was, of course, slightly false bravado. He didn't even want to begin to guess what Freeza's power would be like when he transformed again. 'I wonder if it's too late to grab the old man…'
Dark red energy surrounded Freeza as pink sparks crackled up and down his body. The five watched in horror as Freeza doubled over and screamed in pain. His bony armor morphed and deformed, spikes shooting out of his back as his shoulders sprang out like wings and his body made horrible cracking sounds. His neck stretched out and his horns retracted back into his head before they were replaced by more bony protrusions. Freeza's face stretched out like some horrible reptile and his skull stretched backwards and his tail almost completely regrew. His new, nightmarish transformation completed, Freeza's cry of pain transformed into a pleasurable sigh as he looked at Piccolo… and smiled.
"Now then," he said in a terrifyingly distorted voice, "Shall we continue?"