"Well well, Vegeta… what do we have here?"

It was the second worst thing that could have happened. The first being that Frieza himself discover them. Vegeta had little doubts how gleefully Frieza would have destroyed them both the moment he saw them. Or, at the very least, destroyed the woman. But Zarbon was nearly just as bad. While Vegeta had some doubts about Frieza's true strength he knew that Zarbon was a warrior. He had seen the man fight before; Zarbon so did love to send videos of him destroying Frieza's enemies to all of the Frieza Force. Bragging if one was being kind. A warning if you were being truthful.

Vegeta watched as Zarbon slowly turned his gaze upon the woman, ChiChi. Weighing her up, studying her, taking full measure of her. Trying to decide what uses she had. That was how he was with everyone. Vegeta remembered when Zarbon had first met him and how he had stared at him the same way…

~Years ago…~

"So… you are the latest Prince Vegeta," Zarbon said as he looked the young Saiyan up and down. Vegeta strained his neck to look up, up, up at Zarbon but he refused to let the green skinned pest think he was superior to him. It didn't matter how much bigger he was.

"I am THE Prince Vegeta," he said firmly.

Zarbon laughed at that. "Oh… so bold! But your title means nothing to me, Saiyan."

"It should," Vegeta replied. "I am the Prince of All Saiyans. And you are just one of many messengers for Frieza."

"Lord… Frieza," Zarbon said with a smirk. "And I am no messenger. I am one of his Inner Circle. Now normally you would have been left to the tender mercies of Dodoria but your father thinks that some little bit of talent has managed to be passed along to you and petitioned for me to personally see to your training." He leaned down, the same infuriating smile on his lips, Vegeta still glaring up at him. But he remained quiet for a long time, silently daring Vegeta to say another word. To speak up and break the silence. But Vegeta refused to give the low born wretch the pleasure and thus he remained quiet as Zarbon's eyes slowly scanned him. Finally, after nearly a minute, he said, "And I am going to find out exactly what strength, what power, what might you have." He dropped his voice to a whisper. "I promise you… before we are done… you will wish me dead. And you will have to live with being unable to do anything about that for all the rest of your days."

~MC~MC~MC~

"You know… when Nappa died I thought you would remain completely on your own. Honestly it was shocking that you didn't kill him yourself. You were never one to enjoy working with others, Vegeta." Zarbon slowly began to float around them, arms folded over his chest and a condescending little smirk on his lips. "And yet here I find you with a partner… and an unknown one at that. Those are strange garments she is wearing… did you just recruit her?"

"Yes!" Chichi said at once and Vegeta forced himself not to smirk; at the very least the woman had some brains in her skull! "We of course wanted to keep it a secret but we do feel that in a few weeks I will be ready to be presented to Lord Frieza."

"A few months, more likely," Vegeta snapped, quickly playing up his part. "You have much to learn… you aren't even ready to meet someone of Zarbon's character, let alone Lord Frieza!" He grabbed her arm and Chichi, though tensing for a moment, didn't fight against him. She did glower but it had the heat of a student annoyed at their teacher embarrassing them in front of another, rather than the rage of an unwilling woman being dragged off. 'Good… very good. There is a mind in that body. She can think and she can plot… that is very good! How someone like this ended up with that dolt Raditz and that naïve bumpkin Kakarot, I'll never know.' He began to pull her away, wanting to get some distance between him and Zarbon. 'I thought her an utter fool when I first encountered her and she refused me… but now I see that she is merely uneducated. She was never taught about Saiyan Pride; most likely Raditz and Kakarot refused to tell her anything about our people. Yes…'

It was all clear to him in that moment. The two low class Saiyans had discovered a Saiyan female. And not just any Saiyan female but a beautiful one. She had the regal bearing of an elite warrior's daughter and he wondered who her parents were. They certainly hadn't planned to send her away, as no Saiyan would dream of dismissing such a prize as her, unless she had been a hideously ugly child. No… Vegeta was beginning to suspect that she might be the child of one of the Lost Brides. They had been of the Elite Class and it was possible one of them had been pregnant upon leaving Planet Vegeta and, if not, then had found a powerful Earthling to breed with. He would of course prefer if she were a full blooded Saiyan but he wouldn't dismiss her if she was merely half. Clearly her mother's blood had been far stronger than that of her Earthling Father's and it had allowed her to brush aside his weaknesses.

'They found her and kept her completely in the dark about our kind. They wanted nothing more than to keep her for themselves but if she knew of the proud Saiyan Race and all it stood for they would have found themselves rejected by her. She would have sensed right away their low class birth and shoved them aside, seeking out a mate that better suited her own status. Those two low born dunderheads would have never been able to match up with what she deserved!' He narrowed his eyes. 'The child though… that is a question I must consider long and hard. I did not expect her to have a child and while it is the spawn of Raditz or Kakarot I can't be choosey when it comes to my subjects. If she is willing to raise him proper and make him understand the weakness of his father, whichever of the two he might belong to, then I would be willing to let this Gohan live. He could prove himself worthy and, perhaps, live to see his grandchildren gain some importance in my empire-'

His thoughts were cut off when Zarbon suddenly appeared before him. He reached up and flicking a few stray hairs away from his eyes, making it clear that the sudden speed he'd put on had required little effort.

"Now now, Vegeta," Zarbon said, reaching over and grabbing Chichi's arm, pulling her away, "you know that isn't how things work. All new Frieza Force members must be looked over by me or Dodoria. And with Dodoria dead… I suppose his tasks fall to me." He looked over at Chichi and sniffed dismissively. "I suppose you may be able to offer a bit of a surprise but-"

Chichi suddenly thrust her hand into his face and fired off a ki blast, so startling Zarbon that he released her.

"Rage of Frypan!" she bellowed as he thrust back her hand, her Ki turning bright red with an outline of orange before she thrust the sphere at Zarbon. The blinded warrior wasn't able to avoid the blow and it struck him right in the chest, causing him to cry out before he plummeted to the ground.

Vegeta stared in shock.

"Come on!" Chichi snapped.

"What?"

"Can't you sense it? He isn't dead and you don't leave a knife behind you that might stab you in the back! We need to finish him off… or did you want him to run back to Frieza and let him know about either of us?" She glowered at Vegeta and the Saiyan prince shook his head, snapping himself out of his startled surprise.

Yes… this was a woman worthy of him!

~MC~MC~MC~

"Gohan, I thought we were going to find Lord Guru?" Dende asked nervously as the two of them flew across the dark green waters of Namek. So far, between Gohan using the scouter to see ahead and Dende knowing the terrain, they had avoided all of Frieza's forces. It was almost like the invasion had never happened and Dende was off practicing his flying. Almost. Things had changed though when Gohan had suddenly turned left and begun flying away from the path that Dende knew led to the Grand Elder's home.

"We are!" Gohan said cheerfully. "But the Dragon Radar just detected a Dragon Ball! We need to go get it!"

"Why would we need to get it, though?" Dende asked. "All of the villagers will have brought their Dragon Balls with them… and Elder Sax sent messengers already so they don't need us to let them know about this. We can just head to Lord Guru's home and let someone else bring that Dragon Ball."

"Except there is no one around it!" Gohan declared. "No other energy sources. That means that the Dragon Ball must have been left behind. Either some Namekians abandoned it-"

"They would never do that!" Dende said utterly offended by that thought. "The Dragon Balls are sacred to us. Even if it meant death at least one villager would have remained behind to protect the Dragon Ball while allowing the rest of the village to escape."

Gohan cringed at that. "Oh, I'm sorry Dende. I didn't mean to make it sound like any of your people would just dismiss their duties." He glanced over at Dende who, while still looking a touch upset at the insinuation, calmed down a bit much to Gohan's relief. "What's more likely then is that Frieza's forces…" He trailed off, realizing that the other possibility might not be the most pleasing to Dende either.

But his new friend merely sighed. "Its likely that Frieza's men have attacked the village."

"Yeah…" Gohan said before perking up. "But they left the Dragon Ball all by itself! And I'm not detecting any ships-" the scouter had such neat features… Uncle Raditz had shown him how he could cycle through all sorts of energy readings, including just the energy that came from a ship! It was super helpful and Gohan hoped that he got to keep the scouter after this was all done. While he could sense energy having a built in Dragon Radar and a way to find ships and other power sources would be really nice! "-so that means that the Dragon Ball is all by itself! So maybe what you said did happen! One Namekian stayed behind to fight off the Frieza Soldiers and while he did… die…" he winced again at that, "…he took out everyone else! So the Dragon Ball is safe!"

"There… is a village somewhat in that direction, I believe," Dende admitted. "But Gohan, why not go to Lord Guru and let him known about this? He could send Nail out to deal with collecting the Dragon Ball!"

"We can manage it!"

"But this isn't what we were going to do," Dende said nervously. "We were supposed to just find Lord Guru!"

Gohan though smiled, not bothered at all by his new friend's doubts about their ability to collect the Dragon Ball. "My daddy told me all sorts of stories about him and Aunt Bulma hunting for the Dragon Balls! They did it a ton when they were my age! And despite thinking that it would be easy there was always some problem that came up. They'd run into some bad guy or some monster or something like that and they would have to deal with them in order to get the Dragon Ball. And if they could manage that so can we!"

"But we don't have monsters or bad guys on Namek," Dende pointed out, only to frown. "Well… until Frieza showed up."

"Maybe… or maybe the monster or the bad guy has been waiting to appear at the right moment. Or were sleeping and Frieza wakes them up. That happens a lot too!"

Gohan saw though that his random thought had done nothing to assure Dende. In fact the idea there might be MORE enemies for them to deal with had only made his worries grow. "Then why not go to Lord Guru? Or return back to the canyon?"

Gohan though shook his head. "Heroes don't turn away when there is danger! They go and they face it head on! That's what my family does and that's what I'm going to do! What we're going to do! Come on, Dende… this is an adventure! And when its done we'll have helped out your people!" Dende though looked about nervously and Gohan came to a stop. "If you don't want us to go on we don't have to," he assured Dende. "This is supposed to be our adventure and it wouldn't be fair if I made you do things you didn't want to do."

But Dende, after a moment, sucked in a deep breath and shook his head. "No… no you're right." He balled his hands up into tight fists. "We need to do our part! One day… one day I will be an Elder! Just like Elder Moori! And I need to show my fellow Namekians they can trust me!"

"That's the spirit!" Gohan declared only to pause, turning his head to the right. He touched the scouter when he saw that there were several power levels heading his way; he couldn't tell if they were Frieza Soldiers or Namekians but either way he didn't want to run into them. The former would be a fight and while the scouter said that they were weak enough that Gohan could take them (or, well, one of them… and assuming he had the element of surprise…) he would have to worry about Dende, who wasn't a fighter at all. And the latter would make them go back to camp and he didn't want to do that; especially empty handed. 'If I return with a Dragon Ball then Mommy will have to admit that it was a good thing that I went off on my own!'

Gohan knew his mother worried about him and he understood why! There were a lot of scary things out in the world. While he had become a lot braver over the last year and a half he still worried about things. He knew that the world was a dangerous place and that he still had a lot to learn. After all, his father had often talked about how little he had known when he had first set out on his adventures and how that had led to so many mistakes and close calls.

"But the only way you learn," his daddy had told him, "is by trying! No one learned how to row a boat by reading about it! Or learned how to throw a punch just by having someone talk about it. You have to do it yourself… and yeah, you'll mess up! Hurt your knuckles or make the boat spin about in one direction. You might fall in the dirt or end up going for a swim. But you'll learn from those mistakes and you'll get better!"

'If I ever want to be like my daddy and the rest of the Z Fighters I have to begin doing things on my own!' Gohan thought. He motioned for Dende to follow him towards a small cave in the rocks, the two quickly hurrying inside. He pressed his finger to his lips and waited. Sure enough three strange aliens that looked nothing like Dende landed about 10 feet below them near a small slow moving river. One looked like a snake man, only he had arms and legs. Another a bull-like creature, complete with a ring in his nose. The last one was the weirdest of all because he had a dog head but also had flat feet and bat wings! It reminded him of some of the statues he'd seen in one of his history books.

"Hey, you know the rules!" the bull one said as the snake man leaned down and pulled out a canteen, filling it up in the river. "You only eat or drink that which has been approved by the medics!"

"Oh come on, it lookssssss clean enough!" the snake man said with a roll of his eyes. He raised the bottle to his mouth and stuck out his tongue.

"Ssssssmellsssssssss good too."

"But it might have diseases!" the bull alien snapped. "I'm going to report this."

"Oh lay off, Gala!" the gargoyle alien said with a snicker. "You worry too much."

"And you two don't worry enough," Gala said. "I mean it, Fuji… you drink that and I'll report you. Then it will be quarantine for you."

"oh no!" Fuji said mockingly. "I get to lay around not doing anything, getting free food and drink? Ssssssuch a terrible thing!" That made the gargoyle laugh.

"You want ssssome Macintosh?"

"Nah, but only because I didn't guzzle mine down like you did."

That made Fuji huff. "Itsssssss hard work, hunting down thessssssse Namekiansssssss!"

"Not that we found any," Gala said with a deep snort. "You two made too much noise… let them know we were coming."

"Oh, we did not!" Macintosh complained, though he kept smiling. "And we're as quiet as can be… you're the one that manages to sound like they are stomping around even when they are quietly flying about!" He cackled at that. "Isn't there a regulation about proper stealth in that rule book you are always thumbing."

"He doesssssssn't thumb through it," Fuji said; Gohan noticed he hadn't yet taken a drink from his canteen. "He hassssss it all memorized."

"and if you two had it memorized you would be squad commanders as well," Gala retorted; that caused the other two aliens to glower at him. "Oh, don't get mad at me, I'm only telling the truth. You two idiots like to treat this as fun and games and that's why you'll never move up. I see this for what it is: a chance to move up. Lord Frieza himself is running this mission and if I do well he will promote me. Actually let me have a real battalion, maybe a ship of my own. And if you think I'm gonna take you two along with me you have another thing coming."

Macintosh, however, just shook his head at that. "That's a lot of tough words for someone coming back to Lord Frieza empty handed."

"I am coming with information. You don't think Lord Frieza will want to know that a village was slaughtered? "

"Probably jussssst another team ssssssent out like ussssss."

"No, it wasn't," Gala said. "I can tell. There is someone else on this planet… probably the same ones that knocked out our damn scouters." He looked up and Gohan quickly scuttled away, losing sight of them but thankful they kept talking. "Now come on! Let's get going!"

The other two grumbled but all three rocketed off.

Gohan waited till he was sure they were gone before emerging from the small cave. "There's someone else on the planet! And they took the Dragon Ball and hid it!"

"And that's… a good thing?" Dende asked, confused. He was looking a bit pale, clearly not liking how close they had come to the Frieza soldiers. Which Gohan didn't really get… sure, there had been three of them but they had been weaker than him. And he was sure that Dende could do all sorts of things, tricks and stuff that Gohan would never be able to pull off. Things that could surprise Frieza's men.

'He just needs confidence!' Gohan realized. 'Needs to learn that he can fight back! Like Mr. Piccolo taught me!' Out loud Gohan said, "Yeah! The scouter is only showing the Dragon Ball, no one else. That means whoever took it isn't there… we can go steal it from them!"

"And have them chase after us?" Dende said nervously.

"Or have them think Frieza's men took it!" Gohan waved for Dende to follow him. "Come on!"

With that he took flight.

~MC~MC~MC~

"I told you he was still kicking!" Chichi called out as she fired off several Ki blasts at Frieza soldier Vegeta had identified as Zarbon.

"I never doubted you, woman!" Vegeta snapped as he moved in to strike Zarbon, only for the green skinned warrior to evade his blows.

"I must say," Zarbon taunted, "that was rather surprising. But you know that the only reason you managed to get that hit on me was because you surprised me. But now that I know what you can do I am going to take you apart piece by piece!" He flew at Chichi and hammered his fist into her side, causing her to cry out. "So much for your student, Vegeta," Zarbon said as Chichi doubled over around his fist, "and here I thought-"

Chichi suddenly snapped up, smirking before she grabbed onto Zarbon's hair and YANKED.

Her attacker cried out in pain as his head was pulled back and Chichi used that to punch him hard in the face, digging her knuckles into his eye socket before she kicked off and fired a ki blast into him, sending him towards Vegeta. While they might have been enemies only a few moments ago Chichi was finding that they worked rather well together, with Vegeta having already moved into position to catch Zarbon as he flew back and drive the warrior down into the Namekian soil with a downward hammer fist strike.

'Its like how Goku and Raditz were able to at once work together,' Chichi thought as she pulled back to allow Vegeta to go on the offensive. He flew down and began to pummel Zarbon, the Frieza Warrior forced to actually block his blows. 'Is this how it is for all Saiyans? They can work together so easily moments after meeting? Or is it something else?' She shook her head, really hoping that Vegeta didn't read too much into all of this and think that them taking down Zarbon together meant that they were meant to be; she was still worried about him trying to claim her as his bride or the like. 'I'm going to have to find some way to nip that in the bud, even if it means planting him down next to Zarbon.'

Vegeta laughed as he continued to pound on Zarbon. "Where is your grand talk now? You and Dodoria were always so brash and bold, strutting about just behind Frieza acting as if you didn't mind the stink that came off of him! Looking down at all the rest of us! But where did that attitude get Dodoria?" Vegeta kicked out at Zarbon's leg, sending his foe down to one knee. "Dead on this meaningless waste of a planet! And now you are about to join him!" Vegeta moved to chop Zarbon's head off his shoulders…

…only for Zarbon to easily catch the blow.

"That has always been your problem, Vegeta," Zarbon taunted as he slowly stood back up, twisting Vegeta's arm. "We've all seen it… it is why you are trusted with only certain tasks. The moment you have victory so close that it seems as if there is nothing that can take it away… you can't help but stop and ramble on. About your Saiyan Pride or your Royal Title or your delusions about your great power. You just can't help but blather on… and every time it costs you greatly."

Vegeta grit his teeth, refusing to cry out even as Zarbon lashed out with his other hand, grabbing the wrist of Vegeta's free arm and twisting that one as well until he could begin to hear the bones pop and crack. "It is an important lesson that Nappa failed to beat into you: when to brag and when to simply keep your mouth closed and go in for the kill."

"Take your own advice!" Vegeta declared, moving to headbutt him only for Zarbon to easily twist his head off the side, avoid the strike, and then stomp down hard on Vegeta's foot.

"Now now, that wasn't-"

Chichi dove down at once.

When she had been a child learning how to fight her father had educated her on many things. Lessons that she should remember. Yes, he came at it from a decidedly male point of view but still his points had been good ones and things Chichi had made sure to modify to work for herself. Case in point, the Ox King had been VERY clear that when one went into battle they avoid anything that could be easily grabbed onto, as that always became a point of danger. Oh, you couldn't do anything about your arms and legs but that's why helmets were worn to protect one's ears. Or hair was tied in such a way to keep it from being a snag point.

'Honestly, I need to talk to Goku about cutting my hair,' Chichi thought in the back of her mind as she landed behind Zarbon. 'It works styling it the way I do but it would save time if I just cut it shorted. I'll have to get his opinion on it… Bulma looks cute in a lot of her styles…'

The point was that you never left yourself an obvious weak point. That was just asking for someone who was willing to fight dirty to cause you a lot of pain and suffering.

And Chichi… had spent 15 months with Avo Kayos, one of the dirtiest fighters she'd ever encountered.

That was why she didn't hesitated to grab Zarbon's earrings and rip them right out of his lobes.

Zarbon let out a scream, at once releasing Vegeta so he could grab at his own bleeding ears. Chichi though didn't wait and instead spun Zarbon around and drove her knee into his armored crotch. She wasn't for sure if he even had genitals that could be harmed but she figured that if it was armored that way that meant something was there. But much to her surprise despite looking like armor the trunk-like piece between his legs gave way like fabric and Zarbon's scream grew higher in pitch. Chichi responded by grabbing his head with one hand and punching him right in the jaw before firing off another Ki blast that sent him skidding across the ground while leaving a clump of his hair still clutched in her hand.

Vegeta glanced at her, open mouthed, rubbing his wrists.

"What?"

"That… was vicious," he said. "Even for a Saiyan."

"Only known I was a Saiyan for a couple of months," she stated. Vegeta was clearly surprised by that and she fought back a curse; she'd forgotten who she was dealing with and let slip info that she REALLY didn't want him to have. He'd probably make a big deal about the whole thing… "That going to be a problem?" she asked as she held up the clump of Zarbon's hair she had claimed, letting it drop to the ground next to his bloody earrings.

Vegeta merely laughed at that. "I was warned since I was small that we rarely take women into battle because they are the dirtiest, most savage creatures on all of Planet Vegeta. They'd take all the fun out of it." He smirked at that and she wondered if that was a joke or the truth; Raditz could probably tell her.

But it didn't matter though as her attention went back to Zarbon, who was pulling himself to his feet, glaring at them.

"Aw, what's the matter, Zarbon?" Vegeta taunted. "No fun when you don't have a bunch of lackies at your beck and call to bail you out of the mess you yourself made?"

"You… you two are going to pay for maiming me!"

"See, I don't think that's going to happen," Vegeta stated. "Because while you might have a higher power level than both of us it isn't enough to be able to take us both down."

Zarbon huffed and panted before unleashing a massive aura of ki. "I will show you just how dangerous I can be, Vegeta!" The shockwave from his power up caused Chichi to skid back a few feet. "Before I was working to at least keep you alive and able to speak when I brought you before Lord Frieza!" he was suddenly in front of Vegeta, grabbing onto his head and smashing the Saiyan's face against his knee. "But now I think as long as I have enough of you for them to take a blood sample that will be good enough!" Vegeta snarled and the two of them began to trade blows.

"Always so concerned about Frieza, aren't you Zarbon?" Vegeta taunted. "When are you going to be your own man?"

"Unlike you, Vegeta, I'm able to look past my own ego and see the bigger picture!"

"Ha! The most vain of all of Frieza's soldiers is trying to claim he doesn't have an ego?"

Zarbon twisted around, moving to try and get behind Vegeta so he might strike his back, but the Saiyan Prince was just able to turn enough to block the blow. Zarbon though didn't give him a moment to savor that minor victory because he lashed out with his leg, kicking him right in the gut.

"It was my ears that were damaged, Vegeta, and yet you seem to be the one who can't use yours. I never said I didn't have an ego." Vegeta tried to thrust his hand out and blind Zarbon with a Ki blast but the Frieza Elite grabbed his wrist and twisted it up, sending the shot harmlessly flying into space.

~MC~MC~MC~

"What was that!?" Hundew declared, grab onto his workstation. The entire Frieza Force ship shuddered and trembled, only to suddenly stop.

"I think we were hit by something!" Wamelo declared.

"We don't have any sensors to check," someone called out. "But Canelupe said he saw it out the viewport! Some sort of energy strike!"

"We… we must get the communications systems back online!" Sorbet declared, trying to sound tough but unable to hide the terrible tremble in his voice. "We… we must not panic!"

Everyone began to quietly panic.

~MC~MC~MC~

"What I said," Zarbon continued, "is that I can look past my ego. That has always been your problem, Vegeta. You believed you were owed everything purely because of your name and your title… ignoring the fact that you only have those because of the grace of Lord Frieza!"

"That's rich, Zarbon, coming from you," Vegeta stated, locking his fingers up around Zarbon's. The two of them began to push against one another, foreheads nearly touching. "You would have been tossed aside ages ago if you didn't kiss Frieza's feet. I have worked hard to develop myself, to make myself known throughout the universe! You hide in Frieza's shadow and take little pot shots at everyone and then scurry back to him."

Chichi hadn't been idle during the conversation. She was running through the different attacks she had, trying to think of one that might work. 'I wish I had learned the Kamehameha,' she thought to herself. 'That might have been useful. Solar Flare might work… but as much as I hate to admit it I need Vegeta in this fight. We are holding our own against Zarbon due to our numbers but if one of us is taken out then he will be able to overwhelm the other.' She frowned, rolling her shoulders. 'Which is why I have to stop over thinking this and just do something!'

Zarbon leered almost manically as he began to push Vegeta back, forcing his spine to bend in a direction it wasn't built to go. "You know… I didn't miss that little medical device you are wearing… that is to protect your poor damaged tail, isn't it?" Vegeta snarled at that and tried to break free of Zarbon but the other warrior suddenly twisted his body and spun them around; when it was complete he had both of Vegeta's wrists clasped in one hand while the other began to reach out for Vegeta's tail. "I do think I will take a lot of pleasure out of ripping it out right at the stem… and if I can't in the first tug then I'll just dig it out. Followed by that female-"

Chichi fired her attack.

Zarbon was blasted away from Vegeta who snapped back to a proper position, panting… and staring RIGHT at Chichi.

"How… how did you do that?"

"What?" Chichi said, annoyed. "It was easy. I thrust out my hands and gathered my ki-"

"I know how to perform attacks, woman!" Vegeta snarled. "I meant how did you do THAT attack."

"I just told you-"

"Would you just listen to me!?" Vegeta roared, throwing his arms up in the air. "How did you manage to perform THAT attack! You shouldn't be able to perform it!"

"What are you talking about?" Chichi said, getting rather annoyed with how Vegeta was speaking to her. It was a healthy reminder though that while they might have the same enemy they weren't allies.

"That attack… I recognize it. It is the attack of my house, of the Royal Bloodline. The Galick Gun."

Chichi just shook her head. "What? You're offended I managed to do something similar?"

"You didn't do something similar, woman, you performed that attack! And that is impossible. Only my family has been able to perform the Galick Gun!"

And then suddenly Vegeta's eyes went wide.

"Who… who is your mother?"

"My mother?" Chichi asked, confused. "What does-"

But she didn't get to finish as at that moment Zarbon blasted back up to them, panting and wiping the blood from his mouth.

"Very well, Saiyans," he said darkly. "You wish to push me to my very limit? So be it. I had been holding back before but now I will not stay my hand, as much as it pains and disgusts me to do this. But you have driven me over the edge. What I unleash now… it is on you and you alone!"

He took a deep breath… and let go.

His entire body grew in an instant. Every limb doubled in size. His middle tripled. His elegant and refined features suddenly ballooned out, like when one drew their chin towards their face but… worse. Far worse. Fleshy and fatty and bulky. His long elegant fingers became bloated with huge black fingernails and his neck disappeared under the layers of fat that now came up from his barrel-like torso and his corpulent face. And it wasn't just the weight either. His refined nose merged with his mouth to become like a short dragon snout. His teeth grew longer and sharper, more fangs than standard teeth honestly. And his once smooth skin was now covered in bumps and growths and warts. Combined with how his hair was in complete disarray and Zarbon now appeared to be some sort of savage dragon-toad rather than the cultured warrior he had been portraying himself as.

He let out a deep rumbling chuckle.

"Gonna enjoy this," he said before he launched himself at the two.