Chapter Seventy

Freeza's True Power! Vegeta Saves the Day?!

Everyone stared at Freeza in his true form, their bodies rigid with nerves and their skin pale with terror; a sharp contrast to his own appearance. His posture was completely relaxed, his face the perfect picture of calm confidence. The earthlings were terrified out of their minds. Well, three of them.

"Y'know," Suno said offhandedly, "I kinda thought you were gonna get… taller." The others gawked at her in horror and Freeza gave an amused sort of chuckle. Suno was, at this point, so far beyond terrified that she had completely swung the other way around and was back to being sarcastic. Or, in simpler terms, she was out of fucks to give. "I mean, you're the same size as your first form. But now you don't have any horns or anything."

"What are you doing?!" Krillin hissed at her through terror-clenched teeth. Freeza, however, was barely paying attention to them. Now that he was in his true form, his cognitive functions and senses were operating at their peak efficiency and the knowledge of his own supremacy in the universe allowed him to look past the constant annoyance of his "enemies'" refusal to lie down and die so that now he could actually ponder why they weren't dead. Namekians could regenerate, true, but this one didn't seem to be any worse for wear from the process, and even so, he had only seen that one fellow regenerate a torn limb rather than damaged tissue. He knew Saiyans lacked such recuperative abilities and, while he had no knowledge of whether or not these "Earthers" had healing powers of their own, he had quickly surmised a far more likely solution: a third party was at play.

The Earthlings' terror was now mixed with slight confusion as they watched Freeza's pupils dilate, take a slightly oblong shape before contracting again. The landscape zoomed before Freeza's vision, his superior mind effortlessly filtering through information, until he found what he was looking for. That last little Namekian. The one he'd almost killed ages ago.

"Hm," Freeza muttered, "There you are." Freeza's eyes flashed and he chuckled to himself as two beams of deadly light went into the young Namekian's eyes and punched out of the back of his head. He collapsed to the ground with thin wisps of smoke coming out of the back of his head. Somehow, the others knew what he had done before he'd had a chance to gloat.

"Dende!" Gohan cried in anguish as he felt the Namekian boy's ki drop almost instantly. Piccolo growled as he balled his fists, his lips peeling back in a snarl that showed his fangs while Suno and Krillin got into their guards.

"Well, well, well," Freeza mused as his tail swished across the ground. "No more escapes for you. This time when I put you down, you'll stay down." Gohan's vision turned red as he roared in fury and lunged past the others to get at Freeza in a maelstrom of punches and kicks, swinging furiously, his rage overwhelming him and filling every strike with power.

Freeza blocked and deflected every attack with a single finger before using that finger to smack Gohan away. The others joined the fight as Gohan flew past them, Krillin and Suno pushing past their exhaustion to join Piccolo in the fury of their attacks. They, too, were all blocked by a single finger before Freeza knocked them away, sending one into the next to smash all three into a boulder. Gohan came charging back, putting all his energy into a mighty blow, his fist glowing with ki. Freeza stopped that one as well. As well as a kick and a knee and another punch. Gohan's rage faltered before Freeza pushed his fingertip against his forehead and slammed him into the ground. Freeza smirked down at Gohan as the boy struggled to pull himself out of the dirt, fear clear in his eyes as, no longer fueled by rage, he finally seemed to understand the enormity of the expanse between their powers.

"Perhaps I was wrong before," Freeza remarked as he leveled his finger at Gohan, pink light malevolently twinkling on his fingertip. Gohan barely had time to cry out before the beam went right through him. Or, more accurately, where he had been. In the heartbeats between life and death, a white-black blur moved between Gohan and Freeza, who curiously watched the blur move off to his left. The others hadn't even seen the blur and so were sure that Gohan was dead until Vegeta seemed to miraculously appear before them, Gohan bundled in his arms.

"You… you helped me?" Gohan asked in a tone that was equal measures confused and grateful. Vegeta scoffed and dropped Gohan onto the ground.

"You said before that backstabbing didn't come as easily to humans as it did to Saiyans," Vegeta said. "That is because Saiyan loyalty is more difficult to earn. Besides," he added, "I am the last of the Saiyan kings. What sort of king would I be to let one of my own die?" He gave Gohan a smirk that was as close to a good-natured smile as Vegeta's face was ever likely to construct. "Even a half-breed abomination." Gohan smirked right back and nodded at Vegeta, who nodded back before he began to stride purposefully toward Freeza. "All of you, stay out of my way. Freeza's mine." This gave Freeza cause to chuckle.

"Oh ho ho, Vegeta, you never cease to amuse me," Freeza told him as he held out his hand, extending the same single finger he'd used to easily handle the others. "You could barely stand against my most restrained form. What makes you think you can stand before my full gloriosity?" Vegeta smirked and cracked his knuckles before pounding one fist into the other palm.

"Because I am so much more than what I was before," he explained. "More than I have ever been before. I was willing to sacrifice all that I was, my pride, my honor, even my very life, for this moment. To take hold of the power that was always meant to be mine! I am what you have always feared, Freeza. I am the monster that keeps you up at night. I am the being that drove you to slay my entire race." He jabbed a finger proudly into his chest and declared, "I! Am the Super Saiyan!" Again, Freeza laughed, though there was just the slightest hint of nerves to his laughter.

"A Super Saiyan?!" he asked incredulously. "Really, Vegeta, you truly do always amuse. A Super Saiyan. Heh. Just another of your little legends that your filthy monkey race told each other to pretend their lives had some purpose or meaning, that you did not live at the mercy of the strong. Do you know why I killed your people, Vegeta? Because I had a whim. It is the right of the strong to do whatever they like and the right of the weak to grovel before them!" Despite Freeza's bravado, Vegeta could smell the lie. And that slightest tinge of fear that just barely stiffened Freeza's body language was enough to bolster Vegeta's resolve.

"In that case," Vegeta said as he moved into his guard, "Then it is my right to take your life!" Then they lunged at one another. Freeza stabbed forward with his finger but was shocked when Vegeta shoved his arm away and slammed a punch into his gut, driving the wind out of him and doubling him over before hitting an uppercut with his other fist to make him stand up straight again and finishing with a flip kick that caught him under the chin and sent him into the air. Vegeta followed up after him into the air, the pair exchanging punches and kicks that ripped the clouds apart with the sound of thunderclaps.

"Jeez," Krillin muttered as they 'watched' the fight, keeping up more with their ki sensing than their eyes, "It's a good thing Vegeta's on our side… technically. Right?" Piccolo wasn't so sure. While Vegeta's power was impressive, there was something not entirely right about the way Freeza's ki felt. Piccolo and Gohan shared a worried look, both thinking something that they were too fearful to actually say aloud. That this still wasn't the full extent of Freeza's power.

OoOoOoO

Freeza filled the air with lances of deadly pink energy, barely suppressing a snarl of frustration as Vegeta dodged and weaved his way through them all and pulling back just in time to avoid a roundhouse kick from Vegeta, sending him away again with a palm strike to the exposed skin of his stomach. Vegeta rolled with the attack and came up flinging purple ki bolts at Freeza who brought up a telekinetic shield to weather the attack rather than put in the effort to actually dodge the attacks himself.

"You do not fool me, Freeza," Vegeta called over the din of his assault. "Your boasting, your posturing, your obsession with godhood! I know what it truly is! You hide your insecurity and your loathing that you shall never match the power of Beerus the Destroyer!"

"...Who?" Freeza asked in blase confusion. That was clearly not the reaction Vegeta had expected as it brought Vegeta's assault to a screeching halt, giving Freeza an opening to shoulder block Vegeta practically across the horizon, before appearing behind Vegeta in a blur of speed and knocking him toward the ground with his tail. Vegeta managed to bring himself to a stop and dug his feet into the ground as he glared up at Freeza.

"It matters not," Vegeta snarled, "Because I have seen a God, Freeza. And I know what a God is. You are no such creature and I will prove it to you!" Freeza smirked as he looked down at Vegeta smugly with his arms crossed over his chest.

"And how is that?" Freeza asked with no small hint of amusement. Vegeta growled and balled his fists so tightly that blood began to seep through his fingers.

"Because I will make you bleed this day." Murder shone in Vegeta's eyes and launched back up toward the sky in a bullet of purple aura, Freeza flying down to meet him in a pink bullet, and the two colliding in an explosion of light that streaked the sky.

OoOoOoO

"I still can't get over Freeza's transformation," Suno muttered.

"Seriously?" Krillin asked. Suno shrugged.

"I can't help it," she admitted. "He looks like something I keep in a drawer at home." That made Krillin snort with laughter. He certainly hadn't expected that.

"I-I mean," he stammered out through his chuckles, "When you put it like that, I guess he kinda does."

"I can go back to the ship if you want proof," Suno added. "I brought a whole box." That gave Krillin a few seconds' pause.

"Wait, a box?" He hadn't thought of Suno and Goku as that… adventurous.

"Well, yeah," Suno remarked casually. "How many're you supposed to have?"

"I mean…" Krillin replied with an awkward look in Gohan's direction, "Isn't that kind of inappropriate, with your son on the same ship? A ship with no rooms?" Suno huffed indignantly.

"Well what was I supposed to do?" she asked irritably. "Bleed all over the floor?" Krillin was extremely confused until he pieced together the meaning of Suno's words.

"Ohh," he said in realization. "You meant… ohhhhh."

"Well, yeah," Suno replied, now confused herself, "What'd you think I meant?" Krillin's face reddened significantly.

"Well, I thought you meant… y'know…" Suno groaned and rolled her eyes.

"This is why I didn't marry a man."

"This is why I live in the wastelands," Piccolo added. Gohan had his face buried in his hands and was wishing Vegeta had been a few seconds too slow earlier.

OoOoOoO

Freeza slammed Vegeta down into the ocean and seemed determined to drown him, his tail wrapped around his neck and his fists driving the wind out of Vegeta. Vegeta snarled through the pain and the oxygen deprivation, bubbles pouring out through his gritted teeth as he jabbed his thumbs into Freeza's eyes to make him break his grip and hurtled Freeza back into the air by his neck. Vegeta burst out of the ocean a few seconds later, taking time to catch his breath. Freeza, for his part, used a telekinetic bubble to push all of the water off of himself.

"You've put in a good effort, Vegeta," Freeza admitted, his breathing completely even and his skin completely unmarked in contrast to Vegeta's desperate gasping and the bruises and scratches that covered his flesh, "But I'm about done here. If it's any consolation, you're making me use more than one percent of my power." He smirked as Vegeta growled at his mockery. "Now I'll use two." Vegeta lunged forward, a fist drawn back, ready to punch Freeza's head into one of Namek's three suns. He was only bluffing. Vegeta knew it. He was the Super Saiyan!

But by the time Vegeta got to him, Freeza was already gone. "Wh-what?!" he stammered in shock, looking frantically. He felt someone tap his shoulder and spun around to see Freeza standing behind him. He punched furiously at Freeza, his fists a blur, moving so fast that his skin began to burn with the heat of friction, yet they came no closer to touching Freeza than they were to touching the nearest planet. Vegeta threw a desperate kick, banking on Freeza being distracted by all the punches, but he was gone again before Vegeta had finished extending his leg. "This… this is impossible!" he stammered out. Fear began to set in and snuff the fire of his warrior's heart. Was this what Freeza was truly capable of? Could not even a Super Saiyan match his power?

While Vegeta was pondering this, Freeza flashed in front of Vegeta again and effortlessly backhanded him again before Vegeta even understood what was happening to him, conveniently sending Vegeta spiraling back down to the island they had originally started from, the others gawking in horror as Vegeta crashed to a heap in front of him.

"Well," Suno observed as Vegeta struggled to his feet, "That's not good." Freeza floated down to meet him and Vegeta choked down the fear before charging again, his energy fading as he swung desperately at Freeza, who was avoiding him so effortlessly that he seemed to be teleporting. Each time he moved, he struck Vegeta with debilitating force. The spine, the kidneys, the back of the knees, the shoulderblades. Vegeta gasped in pain with each blow, eventually hacking up blood.

"Feel free," Freeza added coolly over his shoulder at the others, "To step in at any time." Vegeta took advantage of that and punched Freeza in the face as hard as he could. Freeza didn't even move. He chuckled as Vegeta gawked at him in horror. "I told you," he reminded Vegeta, "Just a legend." Then he fired a beam into Vegeta's chest, sending him tumbling away to sprawl pathetically in the dirt.

"That's definitely not good," Suno muttered nervously as Freeza turned his attention on them.

OoOoOoO

'Uh oh,' Goku thought, 'That was Vegeta's ki that just went down!' Mercifully, the stupid machine finally dinged and the healing liquid began to drain. She ripped the mask off her mouth and the tubes out of her throat before punching the pod, causing it to explode violently. Goku stood there for a moment, taking a few gulps of air as the healing liquid ran off her body. "Time to go!" Goku flew through the roof of the ship, punching a hole through it in a burst of speed. She was vaguely aware that she had gotten much stronger but she barely had time to pay attention to that. She flew toward the fight as fast as she could. Everyone was counting on her!

OoOoOoO

There was… emptiness. Vegeta slowly pulled himself to his feet and stared around at the black void in confusion before looking down at the hole in his chest.

"So," he muttered, "This is death." The nothingness continued in all directions, forever. "I thought the rest might be here." The prospect of eternal loneliness filled Vegeta with an emotion he had never before tasted: despair. He had failed. There was no chance. And so the gods had seen fit to punish him by damning him to an eternity in shadow. Then a voice answered that he had not heard since he was a boy.

"Or perhaps it is because your work is not done." Vegeta spun on his heels to find… his father standing before him, his cape billowing in an impossible breeze. They looked almost identical, save for his father's beard and the red shoulder pads on his armor. They were both even wearing black undersuits now.

"Father?" Vegeta asked in shock. King Vegeta nodded.

"What are you doing, lying on the ground and dying?" King Vegeta asked brusquely. Vegeta scoffed and wordlessly gestured to the hole in his chest, his face the picture of indignity. Then another voice Vegeta had not heard since his youth followed and another shade came out of the darkness.

"Would a mere chest wound stop a Saiyan warrior?" a woman asked. Vegeta's mouth hung agape as he stared at her. Her black hair billowing down to the small of her back, a gold circlet around her throat, a blue bodysuit with white armor and a single yellow shoulderpad. She was a tall woman, made for violence and passion, pride burning in her eyes. "Let alone the blood of kings?" Rosicheena. The Queen of Saiyans.

"Mother…" Vegeta whispered. What was happening to him?

"As long as there is a drop of blood in your body," Rosicheena told him, "A wisp of breath, a flicker of energy, you must fight! That is the power of the Saiyan spirit!" Now Nappa stood on the other side of his father, arms folded over his chest.

"If you truly are the Super Saiyan," Nappa told him, "Stand and fight." Then Raditz stood beside him.

"Stand and fight!" he echoed. They said it again, and again, Vegeta's parents taking up the chant. More and more voices added to the chorus as Vegeta glimpsed hundreds of Saiyans coming in from the darkness. Thousands. Millions! Every Saiyan that Freeza had slaughtered. This was his burden, his responsibility, his sworn duty. He must fight. He must win!

"Stand and fight! Stand and fight! Stand and fight!"

OoOoOoO

"Sooo," Krillin murmured nervously, "Who's got a plan?" He looked at Suno out of the corner of his eye. "You've been pretty talkative all of the sudden, how about you?" Suno shook her head.

"Don't look at me," she muttered defensively. "All my brain can do at this point is make smart-ass comments."

As Freeza began to walk toward the four, he was stopped by a sound he knew he wasn't supposed to be hearing. A grunt of effort, the shuffling of a body across dirt, and a guttural growl.

"F… Freeza…" Freeza spun around to see Vegeta struggling up onto his hands and knees and the sight gave him more than a moment's worry. Tears dripped onto the dirt under Vegeta amidst drops of blood and sweat. "I-I'm not… not done with you," Vegeta dug his hands into the dirt, clenching it in his fists. How? How was this possible? His beam had pierced Vegeta's heart! "Do you hear me?!" Vegeta barked with enough fury to make Freeza take a single step back. This… this wasn't happening. This was not. Happening. Vegeta was not– "WE'RE NOT DONE!" Vegeta roared as he exploded to his feet and into the air. "FREEEEEZAAAAAAAAA!" A tower of golden ki surrounded Vegeta like an inferno and rushed into the heavens and the ground below as Vegeta continued to roar, bellowing his defiance in the face of his own death. Vegeta slammed his palms together and thrust them forward as the tower coalesced down into Vegeta's body, the light making his hair appear golden and his eyes seemed to go white. "I will show you the power of the Super Saiyan!" Vegeta gathered all the energy into his palms and Freeza felt a moment's relief as Vegeta's hair turned black again. "TAKE THIS!" Vegeta bellowed. "GALICK CANNON!" The blast shot forward toward Freeza with the cacophonous roar of an erupting volcano.

"If that blast hits," Piccolo exclaimed in panic, "It'll destroy the planet!" For his part, Freeza looked surprised for a moment before he gathered a telekinetic shield around himself at the last moment to shield himself from the blast and flew toward Vegeta, pushing the blast back and flying forward without much trouble. His hands emerged from the blast right in front of Vegeta, one grabbing him by the throat and another one driving a spear strike into his stomach… and coming out the other side. Vegeta stared at him in shock with tears running down his face as Freeza smirked and casually tossed him back to the ground, where he fell among the others in a broken heap. Freeza took a moment to wipe a single bead of sweat from his forehead and was more than surprised when his fingers came away with blood on his fingertips. He rubbed with his other hand at the same spot and discovered that the blood was gone, yet… still. He pushed the thought out of his mind and casually descended toward them. .

"Aaany time y'wanna get back up, Vegeta buddy," Suno muttered nervously as she looked back and forth between Vegeta and Freeza. "Third time's the charm!" As Freeza sauntered toward them, he stopped when he saw Vegeta's fingers twitch and rolled his eyes as Vegeta coughed and sputtered.

"Oh this is just ridiculous," he muttered in exasperation. "How can one monkey be more difficult to kill than an entire planet's worth of monkeys?!" He pointed his finger at Vegeta and prepared to shoot him in the head. Assuming that he could hit his primitively small brain, that would finally kill him.

"No," Gohan said suddenly. Then he moved in front of Vegeta, his arms outstretched. Then Krillin stood in front of him and Suno in front of him and finally Piccolo in front of her. Once again, Freeza rolled his eyes.

"And this is meant to deter me… how?" he asked. His finger glowed and he prepared to kill them all in one stroke… when a sudden rush of air caught his attention, as well as everyone else's. A new player, it would seem, had stepped onto the field.

She had the same pinkish skin as Vegeta and the Earthers. She was wearing a most peculiar orange and blue outfit made of fabrics with an unusual character on the breast. She had a steely look of determination in her eyes that, when combined with that strangely familiar hairstyle, gave Freeza that odd feeling again, the same he had gotten when he first saw the red-haired Earther's armor.

"Get away from them," the woman said firmly. For reasons Freeza could never fathom, the Earthers' faces lit up at her arrival.

Because they knew what he didn't. They knew who this was and what she was capable of. They knew that somehow, someway, Freeza was going to get what he had coming to him. He was finally going to pay.

Because Son Goku had arrived.

SSV/N: Full disclosure, Rosicheena isn't my creation. I was looking for pictures to inspire what Vegeta's mother might look like, and she came up as a very popular fan character with a lot of art. I don't know who made her first, so I guess this is a blanket credit to everyone who draws her.