Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ A Light in the Darkness ❯ The Fray wih Frieza ( Chapter 92 )

A Light in the Darkness - Part 92: The Fray wih Frieza
by Mia Skywalker & Wataruo

 

PAIRING: None
RATING: PG-13
WARNINGS: none
C&C: Please! ^_^
DISCLAIMER: Neither of us owns any of the DBZ characters or anything about DBZ, but we both wish we owned the Saiyans. All of them. At least all of the ones with hair. And yes, we're including Yamcha, Ranma, and Ryouga in that, now you know. Dragonball Z and the associated characters are owned by Toei, Viz, Akira Toriyama, and FUNimation. Ranma 1/2 and the characters of Ranma Saotome and Ryouga Hibiki are owned by Viz, Rumiko Takahashi, and some Japanese studio I don't know the name of. We do own what we've written here, and our specific storyline, just not Dragonball or Ranma 1/2 themselves. We make no money off of any of these guys, nor off this fic. We just have fun writing it. Oh, I guess we do own Hakusai and Serori. But I doubt anyone cares. ^_~
SUMMARY: The battle with Frieza.
NOTES: The rest of this story is completely unbeta'd, as I can't seem to find a beta who will be as brutal or thorough as I like, and will get me chapters back in what I feel is a timely manner. I have, however, had training as an editor, and I've edited the remainder of this pretty thoroughly. I would simply like people to be aware that no one else has gone through it to catch any errors or inconsistencies, so it may be more flawed than I realize.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Vegeta was completely focused on the fight. He was not even aware of the other warriors backing away from them to give them space. Vegeta was so infuriated that Frieza had yanked off his tail that he could barely restrain himself from attacking mindlessly.

 

“Well, are you going to stand there stupidly?” Frieza taunted him. “Or are you going to do something?”

 

Vegeta snarled at him. “Feel free to start at any time.”

 

Frieza let out a hiss that gave away his reptilian heritage, and charged the small Saiyan warrior in a fit of pique. Even as Vegeta deflected the Ice-jin's blows, he couldn't help noticing that although Frieza was stronger than he had been during Vegeta's enslavement, he didn't seem as fast. Could it be that he wasn't used to his cyborg body yet? Vegeta didn't know, but he was willing to take advantage of it, whatever it was.

 

“What's the matter?” Vegeta asked after delivering a breath-stealing blow. “You seem to have gotten slower.”

 

“I'll show you slow!” Frieza hissed at him, then blurred and reappeared slightly above Vegeta and sent down a barrage of ki blasts. Vegeta managed to avoid most of them, but one caught him off guard and struck the ground at his feet, driving him backwards.

 

The Saiyan Prince winced as he came to a stop, his body leaving a long indentation in the ground where his body had skidded. Broken ribs, he thought as he stood up. Fire lanced through his side but he managed put up a mental shield, preventing Bulma from feeling his discomfort. He didn't want her to feel any unnecessary pain.

 

Vegeta charged up and returned with his own ki blasts, but Frieza laughed and nimbly avoided every one of them. The two warriors traded ki blasts, oblivious to the damage they were dealing to the countryside as each tried to incinerate the other. The battle took to the air, the two executing maneuvers that none of the three younger demi-Saiyans had never seen before. Stunning everyone with their skill and techniques, it was unquestionably a martial arts battle in the air, each trying to break down the other's defenses and find the other's weak point.

 

Frieza managed to get out of Vegeta's line of sight, and he brought his fists down on the back of Vegeta's neck. The force of the blow sent Vegeta plummeting towards the lake. He struck with a loud splash, sending the others diving for cover.

 

“Stupid monkey!” Frieza sneered when Vegeta did not come up right away. “I told you not to oppose me.”

 

The water on the lake went completely still. It seemed for a few moments that Vegeta was not going to reappear, then he broke though the surface, a look of pure rage on his face. Anger radiated off him in waves. “You think I am defeated so easily?”

 

Frieza's smirk vanished as he watched Vegeta's power level rise to impossible proportions. The last number he read was 200,000 before his scouter exploded, shattering the lens and shorting out the circuits.

 

“I'll show you want it means to fear!” Vegeta snarled, his tone deadly. His aura, which was usually blue, changed to yellow. Rocks and dirt rose up around him with the sheer force of Vegeta's ki.

 

Goku's eyes widened when he realized what it meant. “I don't think he is going to need our help after all,” he murmured to Yamcha.

 

The other warrior was about to reply when Vegeta's scream ripped through the air. As the group watched, Vegeta's hair went from black to blond, his eyes from deepest obsidian to emerald green.

 

“Now you will know hell!” Vegeta pronounced in a terrifying voice. “For I will send you there!”

 

“I think you're right,” Yamcha replied, completely awed. He had only seen anyone go Super Saiyan twice, so was still unfamiliar with the effects. He had been expecting Vegeta to make it to Super Saiyan, but the sheer power he exuded.... He wondered if Vegeta might even be stronger than Goku now. He hoped the Saiyan Prince didn't want to conquer Chikyuu anymore, because if he did Yamcha didn't think they would be able to stop him.

 

Gohan gasped, amazed and almost frightened by Vegeta's transformation. Vegeta looked angry - angrier than Gohan had ever seen him before. Vegeta was no longer mocking, no longer smirking, no longer ridiculing. He was simply completely enraged. Gohan stood there, frozen by the sight, unable to react.

 

Bulma looked up at Vegeta, drawn by his scream, and then stared, transfixed by the image of him. The emotional pain and turmoil she could sense from him tore her heart. She wanted to run up to him and hold him tight, to calm him down and tell him she loved him, but she knew that was exactly the wrong thing to do. Despite the barriers Bulma could sense that Vegeta had erected to protect her, she could feel the anger and pain emanating from deep within him. She had no idea what Frieza might have done that had hurt him so badly, but she could sense there was a deep-rooted pain within him, a hatred that went beyond what she had believed before. Was it the death of his father? Or his homeworld? She didn't know; she instinctively wanted to comfort him, but somehow she knew that right now he needed this fury to be a Super Saiyan and to defeat Frieza.

 

Those eyes! Frieza was beginning to panic. How was it possible that there were Super Saiyans other than Goku? He took an uncertain step back as Vegeta advanced. For the second time in his life he realized he was afraid. Unlike Goku, Vegeta would show him no mercy. The Saiyan Prince wanted blood; Frieza could see it in the man's angry emerald gaze.

 

“Apparently you are not the strongest in the universe after all.” Vegeta's voice sounded calm but his body language spoke volumes. He was furious - he couldn't remember the last time he had been this angry.

 

He stopped an arm's length away from Frieza and a slow smile spread its way across his face as he watched the small purple alien visibly tremble. Without warning, Vegeta delivered an uppercut to the unsuspecting alien's chin. Frieza bit down on his tongue from the sheer force of the blow and could taste his own blood as he stumbled back from the enraged Saiyan Prince.

 

“Don't tell me you have given up?” he mocked Frieza as he watched him wipe the blood from his mouth. “It won't be any fun if you don't fight back.”

 

Frieza's eyes widened. It was almost the same thing he had said to Vegeta on Namek. But he wasn't going to be beaten by a monkey so he charged at Vegeta, aiming a punch to his stomach. Vegeta caught Frieza's hand by the wrist, preventing the blow and allowing Vegeta to strike at his opponent.

 

He pulled him up by the arm he was holding and his fist connected with Frieza's sternum, shattering the bone. The purple alien spit up blood and cried out in agony as Vegeta continued to hammer away at him. Vegeta was ruthless, bordering on primitive, as he struck Frieza repeatedly in the ribs.

 

“Nothing is impossible for my race. It was your mistake to let even one of us live.” Vegeta felt oddly detached as he watched Frieza writhe in pain where he dropped him. Vegeta folded his arms across his chest, looking almost bored as Frieza managed to get back to his feet. “Don't tell me you are dying? I haven't finished with you yet.”

 

“It doesn't matter,” Frieza rasped to him. “Your race is gone. Once you and that third-class warrior die your race will die with you.”

 

“No it won't,” Yamcha muttered out loud without thinking.

 

Frieza glanced at him, startled from his panic of Vegeta. “What?” he snapped.

 

Yamcha shook his head and spoke more loudly. “No it won't. There are more Saiyans. Our race won't die out at all.” At Frieza's blank expression, Yamcha unwrapped his tail from his waist, and held it up. “Besides my mother and my wife, there are other Saiyans still alive. I don't know why you thought all Saiyans were dead. There were warriors that had been exiled like my mother, as well as the ones who were out conquering planets for you. You don't think King Vegeta always waited for you to ask, did you? With a planetful of bored Saiyans? There are plenty of us still alive!”

 

Yamcha didn't actually know if there were other Saiyans that had been exiled the way his mother had been, but he thought it was a fairly safe bet considering the things Hakusai had told him. “There are plenty of us still around. We've just been waiting until we had enough strength to destroy you.”

 

He was bluffing - he knew that had been his mother's intention, but it hadn't ever been either his or Goku's. But he thought that his pretense might throw Frieza off and he was right. It was intimidating Frieza, and Yamcha could tell he was already beginning to falter.

 

Frieza sputtered, partly angry at himself that he hadn't even considered this possibility; partly in denial at the probability that he had been wrong. “No!” he groaned out. “There aren't....”

 

“Oh yes, there are,” Vegeta said, his face expressionless. “My race will flourish once again. Our strength will be unmatched in the universe. What a pity you will be dead so you won't get to see it!”

 

Frieza looked sick at the idea that he had been beaten in more ways than one. How could such an oversight have occurred? He had a lot to fix, he realized. The sound of gravel crunching caught his attention, and he looked up to see Vegeta approaching him once again. He wasn't going to get the chance to erase his errors. He wiped the sweat from his brow with the back of his hand, wondering how he, the strongest being in the universe, was about to beat beaten once again, this time by his former slave.

 

Bulma's hands had dropped as she watched what was happening with horrified fascination. She glanced at Hakusai who stood next to her, but the other woman seemed to be watching with a sort of aloof interest. Bulma shuddered and looked back at the fight again. It was more a massacre than a real contest; there was a kind of defeat about Frieza that even Bulma knew meant he had given up, that Vegeta had won already.

 

Apparently Frieza realized it himself, as he drew himself up again, his face filled once more with pride and arrogance.

 

No! I won't let it end this way! I won't be beaten by a monkey!

 

“So!” he sneered. “Some of your pitiful monkey race managed to survive. How pointless. You're still weak and worthless. You'll never amount to anything. Even if all of you were to fight me at once, none of you could ever defeat me. You'll never defeat me!”

 

“Oh boy,” Yamcha muttered, watching Vegeta's face darken. “He's dead.” He knew the alien was in for it now.

 

Ranma shot his older brother a swift glance, not understanding, but when he looked back at the two warriors facing each other he thought he understood. The rage that suffused Vegeta's features was deeper and more frightening than anything he had ever seen; even the berserk rages Ryouga was known for had nothing on this. He knew suddenly that he never wanted to be on the receiving end of that anger, and he knew Yamcha was right; Frieza was a dead man.

 

Even the non-Saiyan warriors - Tenshinhan, Krillin, Piccolo - knew Frieza had just made a terrible mistake in enraging Vegeta further. The only one who didn't realize what a mistake had been made was Frieza himself, as he continued to compound it.

 

“Even if you surround yourself with every Saiyan that has managed to run in fear for their pathetic, worthless lives, you can't possibly beat me. And this brat of yours! What is he? A mongrel half-Saiyan? You couldn't even find a Saiyan woman who would have you, so you had to take anything you could get! And what is he, anyway? Obviously not a race that's worth my time! He didn't even show up in our radar, so how could he possibly be worth fighting? He's probably even weaker than you are, even though he's only half of your weak monkey race!”

 

Vegeta growled. If the Saiyan warrior had still had a tail it would have been swishing angrily at his back. His eyes narrowed, then fists clenched he sprang at the alien. His first punch connected with Frieza's jaw and sent the lizard hurtling backwards into a mountain. He collided with a loud BANG! and went through the rock only to exit out the other side.

 

Vegeta blurred out of sight and reappeared in front of the purple lizard only to punch him back through the mountain, creating another Frieza-shaped hole. The Saiyan Prince continued to do this for several minutes, reminding the other warriors of a ping-pong game as Vegeta punched Frieza back and forth through the mountain. When he bored of the game Vegeta simply let Frieza drop to the ground in a heap.

 

King Cold watched in shock and horror as his son was battered around like a toy by someone they had always believed was inferior to both of them. Frieza, his son - whom he had raised to believe was the strongest in the universe, to assume that no one could ever possibly be stronger than he was - was being thrown around like a rag doll. Conflicting thoughts battled through him, vying for control. He could flee and try to save himself. Or he could fight and try to save his son. Instinctively he knew he didn't stand a chance against Vegeta in a fair fight, but then... he didn't think he had to play fair.

 

He watched Vegeta drop Frieza contemptuously to the ground and sensed that Vegeta was so focused on the fight he wouldn't be expecting anything else. Without any warning he lunged towards the small Saiyan, hoping to kill him before he could react. More quickly than the other Zed warriors would have expected he had arrowed in on the Saiyan Prince with a move calculated to remove Vegeta's head in one blow.

 

But before he could reach the smaller warrior, a lavender-haired image blurred its way in front of him and cut him off with a sudden punch to the kidneys. “Did you really think you could get away with that?” Trunks asked quietly. “I'm not going to let you interfere. If you want to fight, you'll fight me!”

 

King Cold stumbled backwards a few feet, and then stood glaring down at the warrior who had interfered. “Well, if you are in a hurry to die,” he sneered at Trunks. “Alright, you tailless monkey. Let's see if you are trash like your father.”

 

Trunks smiled coldly at the giant alien. He knew what purpose the tail served for a Saiyan, and what purpose its removal served. But neither Frieza nor King Cold were aware of that or Frieza would never have removed Vegeta's tail. By doing so he had freed the small Saiyan's potential, allowing him to finally reach the Super Saiyan state that Frieza so feared.

 

Trunks faced King Cold and once again ignited his ki, causing his golden hair to billow upward from the power emanating from him. “Trash like my father? If my father is trash then I'm proud to be like him! He has more power than you'll ever know, more power than you could ever imagine. He could beat you with one hand tied behind his back.”

 

“Your faith in him is moving,” Cold said, looking amused. “Do you really think he cares about you? No Saiyan parent likes his children. The only reason they reproduced in the first place was keep their race going. Saiyans care about nothing but themselves.” He smiled and continued to taunt him. “Vegeta has never cared about anyone. Vegeta cares nothing for you or this planet, the only thing he wants is to destroy.”

 

Cold decided that it might be to his son's advantage if he killed Vegeta's son. He charged at Trunks, determined to do whatever he had to in order to ensure his son's victory. He attacked the pale-haired youth and was instantly surprised to see Trunks had simply vanished from the spot where he had previously been.

 

Trunks' smile didn't waver. He had seen the way his father acted around his mother and remembered that his father was the one who had invited him to stay. He also knew a little about how his father had grown up, from bits and pieces Vegeta had told Bulma that she had passed on to Trunks as a child. He knew that much of what King Cold claimed had been caused by the very treatment he and his son had given the young Saiyan Prince when they had `raised' him with their troops. He also knew that much of it was a mask to keep Vegeta from being vulnerable. Trunks didn't know how much of it might be true, but he wasn't about to let his enemy see that.

 

“You're wrong. But even if you were right, he is my father and I will give my life for him. Whether he would do the same for me or not doesn't matter. But whether or not I care about him, I would kill you regardless. You are the lowest scum there is and it will be a pleasure killing you.”

 

He raised both hands, cupping them together and pulling them back. “Kame... Hame... HA!” he shouted, as he released a blast at King Cold. He didn't expect it to finish off the alien, but he hoped it would hurt him. He had no intention of killing King Cold yet. He wanted to prolong the agony a little, make the tyrant suffer for everything he had made Vegeta endure as a child and a slave of himself and his insane son.

 

Cold had just enough time to bring his arms up in front of his face to shield himself from the blast. But it didn't take away the sting of the attack that Trunks had thrown at the older warrior. Cold lowered his arms and smirked at the boy, deceived by the weaker attack, and started laughing.

 

“Is that all you can do?” Cold smirked. “Let me show you how to attack.”

 

Cold simply bent his elbow, smiling at the youth, folded all of his fingers in, except one, where a small red orb begin to grow.

 

Goku's eyes grew wide. He knew what that attack was; Frieza had used it to destroy Namek. If that ki blast struck the Earth, they were all done for.

 

::TRUNKS!:: Goku shouted to him mentally. ::Be careful! That thing is what destroyed Namek! Don't let it touch the ground!::

 

::I won't,:: Trunks replied calmly. An idea grew and his smile widened. To Goku's horror - and King Cold's glee - he allowed the alien to build up the orb until it was enormous, larger than anything any of the other Z warriors had seen before with the exception of Goku.

 

::TRUNKS!:: the larger Saiyan shouted mentally at Trunks again.

 

::Don't worry, Goku,:: Trunks replied, still calm. ::I have it under control.::

 

To the horror of the others he simply stood there, and when King Cold threw the blast at him, the ki ball caused a crater that enveloped the Saiyan boy and began settling into the surface. For several moments there was silence as the others were certain Trunks was dead. Then to their surprise they watched as the giant ki ball began to rise again. Instead of dissipating, or exploding and causing untold damage to the planet, it rose slowly upward. When it had cleared the crater, they could see Trunks floating in mid-air, casually holding the energy ball in his hand, as if it was as light as a feather.

 

The cold look on Trunks' face had become almost vicious. “You'll never hurt anyone like my father again!” he shouted as he pulled his arm back and threw the energy at Cold, who was so frozen in terror he couldn't even dodge.

 

When the blast had cleared, nothing was left of the large alien except for a burnt spot on the ground. Trunks brushed his hands off and turned towards the others.

 

“Why don't we see how my father is doing against Frieza?” he asked calmly.

 

Vegeta had turned his head in time to see Trunks block King Cold's blow, then watched with an unemotional expression as his son faced off with Cold. Instinctively both he and Frieza paused in their own fight, watching the battle between Cold and Trunks. For a moment when the ki ball had enveloped his son, he had felt something like panic thinking that Trunks had been killed. Then the Saiyan Prince felt a surge of pride when his son lifted the ki ball and threw it back at Cold, disintegrating him completely.

 

Vegeta looked back down at Frieza, arching a brow at him, and then smirked when he saw Frieza's expression at his father's demise. So now Frieza knew what Vegeta had felt when he had killed his father. Though Vegeta was far from emotionless, no one could tell it from his manner. Vegeta looked bored, completely unconcerned at the look of rage and panic that passed over Frieza's countenance. Vegeta's expression was one of mild curiosity, as though the outcome didn't matter to him. Until, that is, one looked closely into his eyes and saw the overwhelming loathing in them for Frieza.

 

“You were saying something about us being weak?” he asked. “Something about Saiyans running from you?” He smiled - it would have seemed a pleasant smile, but for the hatred in his eyes. “Don't make me laugh. My race never ran from anything or anyone. Certainly not from an over-rated lizard.”

 

Frieza knew at that moment that he was facing death again and that this time there would be no rescue from his father. Frieza laughed bitterly knowing all his fears had been true. I should have killed all of them when I had the chance.

 

Frieza looked up in time to see Vegeta charge up, raise one arm out in front of him, and shout, “BIG BANG ATTACK!”

 

Then he knew nothing more.

 

Vegeta watched with apparent disinterest as the blue ki beam enveloped his former master. He vaguely heard Frieza scream in terror as he recognized he was about to die right before he exploded from the blast. Vegeta watched the fog and haze clear to see nothing left of the being who had controlled his life for so long, who had used him and his race as nothing more than puppets to do his dirty work.

 

It was over, Vegeta realized. He was finally free of Frieza.

 

The others stared in shock at Vegeta as he levitated above the blackened ground where Frieza's body had once been. The small Saiyan Prince's face was as unreadable as always, dour and arrogant in its imperviousness. They watched as he landed lightly on the ground, staring down at the black ash that outlined where Frieza had been. Then he looked up at them, his face still impassive.

 

Trunks let out a sigh as he watched Vegeta, then flew down to where his father stood, landing next to him. “Father, I'm....” He hesitated, suddenly not sure what to say, and shook his head. “I think Mother is worried about you. Maybe you should let her know that you're all right.” It wasn't what he had wanted to say, but suddenly he felt awkward around Vegeta, not knowing what to say or do.

 

Vegeta turned his head, green eyes fixed on his son, and narrowed his eyes. He could feel his son's concern for him as well. He scowled. Great. He wondered if he was as open to the brat as he was to the brat's mother.

 

“Tell me something I don't know, brat,” he muttered at him before powering down, his hair and eyes going back to their normal color.

 

Vegeta glanced over at the others, noting their expressions. He imagined that none of them had understood his motives, why he had wanted Frieza dead and what it meant to him. Well, maybe Bulma.... His thoughts trailed off as he felt Bulma's concern overwhelm him. He looked over at her and noted her anxious expression. But even she hadn't known everything about Frieza, and the things Frieza had done to him during the years of his slavery. He didn't know if he would ever tell her; some things were too personal and painful to recount.

 

The Saiyan Prince powered up slightly and flew past his son, making his way to his mate. For a brief moment he said nothing as he gazed at her as though searching for something in her eyes. Whatever it was Vegeta was looking for he must have found because he smirked at her arrogantly.

 

“Looks like I need to sit in the tank of yours again. I swear that's where I spend all my time.”

 

Bulma sighed and touched his face wistfully. He could see unshed tears glistening in her eyes, but she was restraining herself and not allowing herself to cry. “Vegeta....” she murmured, and then she collapsed against him, hugging him tightly. “Kami, I was so worried about you!” she whimpered. “You could have been killed!”

 

Trunks sighed, but relaxed slightly when he saw the affection his parents showed each other. He had almost been afraid that Bulma's memories of Vegeta had been hazy and clouded unrealistically by the passage of time. He had been worried that his father might not have really loved Bulma the way she had always told Trunks, that maybe her own wishful thinking had made her tell him things that weren't true. He didn't think she would have lied to him, but he had thought maybe she had distorted the memories in her own mind, wanting to believe something different from the truth because of her own desire for it to have been true. But after seeing the way the two of them acted around each other, particularly when they thought no one would notice or when the emotions were too strong to hide, it relieved him considerably.

 

Yamcha also sighed, but for different reasons from Trunks. He lifted a hand and wiped his brow; although he hadn't fought, somehow he felt exhausted from the battle. He had wanted to fight; it had taken all of his willpower to restrain himself from launching into the battle and helping Vegeta beat Frieza senseless. But he had realized Vegeta needed to do this by himself, and he knew why. Goku had been told as well, but from the confused expression on his friend's face he knew Goku didn't remember. Yamcha lowered his hand, and then blinked in surprise when he realized it was shaking. He looked up at where Hakusai was standing next to Vegeta and Bulma, watching them awkwardly, and he smiled at her a little wistfully.

 

Hakusai returned Yamcha's gaze and smiled back at him. The Saiyan woman made her way to him and wrapped her arms about his waist and rested her forehead against his chest. “I am glad that's over.”

 

Vegeta had wrapped his arms around Bulma, holding her close, somehow knowing that it would comfort her as much as it would reassure himself. “Takes more than an overgrown lizard to outwit me,” he told her.

 

Bulma shook her head, no longer restraining the tears. “He killed you before,” she reminded him tearfully, not realizing how that reminder might rankle. He tensed against her but she didn't recognize it for what it was. “I don't want to lose you again, Vegeta.”

 

Vegeta relaxed under Bulma's embrace. He knew she had not intentionally insulted him with the reminder that Frieza had killed him before, but the remark still pricked at his pride.

 

“I am not so easy to kill,” he replied, his voice tense. “Not anymore.”

 

Bulma didn't answer him, but refused to release him. Even though she knew he was fine, holding on to him like this reminded him that he was still there, that he was with her and alive. Her embrace tightened, unaware that she might be causing pain to the injuries he had received in the fight. Vegeta sucked in a breath as Bulma's arms tightened around his cracked ribs.

 

“Are you trying to puncture a lung?” he asked, wincing as a sharp pain traveled down his side.

 

Bulma released him instantly and stepped back, looking at him in concern. “Oh! You're hurt! We have to get you home!”

 

She pulled out a capsule and tossed it, turning it into an aircar, then grabbed his hand and tugged it, trying to lead him toward it. She felt his resistance when she couldn't even budge him, and she turned towards him with a frown.

 

When she saw him scowling at her she shook her head, matching his scowl's ferocity. “I'm not going to let you hurt yourself by flying!” she insisted, still tugging at his hand.

 

“I have been hurt worse than this, woman,” he huffed at her. “Flying is NOT going to hurt me in the least.” He tried to get Bulma to release her grip on his fingers, but she stubbornly refused, glaring at him. “Oh all right, woman,” he muttered as he let her lead him over to the car. “Have it your way.”

 

The others watched wordlessly as Bulma strapped Vegeta in, not even allowing him to do that much on his own. He would have objected, but she kissed him briefly before she strapped herself in, and then took off abruptly, heading for home.

 

Yamcha stared at the others, and then shrugged. “I guess maybe we should leave too,” he said lamely. All the other warriors glanced at each other, trying to figure out what to do.

 

As Trunks and Goku followed immediately after the aircar, Yamcha squeezed Hakusai's hand, and the two followed right after him, the four youngest demi-Saiyans close behind. Krillin looked at Tenshinhan and Piccolo and shrugged.

 

“Well, I think I'm gonna go back with them,” the small human told the others. “I have to know what all of that was about!”

 

Tenshinhan's eyes narrowed as he looked at the dust cloud that was slowly disappearing where the others had disappeared, and nodded in reply. “I think I want to know as well. I'll go with you.”

 

Piccolo scowled at both of them. “Fine!” he growled. “You go! I'm not going to have anything to do with any of them! I don't trust Saiyans, and I don't trust Vegeta! I'm sure he's up to something!”

 

Krillin scratched his head, looking at Piccolo in confusion. “Then don't you think you should come with us to find out what it is?”

 

Piccolo growled for a moment, and his eyes narrowed into tiny suspicious slits. “Yeah. I'm going to go keep an eye on him. I want to know what he's up to. I'm not going to let him get away with anything!”

 

Krillin shrugged, then took off after the aircar, followed by the remaining warriors as they headed towards Capsule Corp.

 

 

 

 

To be continued.....

 

~~~~~*~~~~~

 

And in the next exciting episode of DragonBall Z: A Light in the Darkness... Another visitor arrives on Chikyuu

 

 

~~~~~*~~~~~

 

Reviewer Responses:

 

o0kittyblue0o: I hate when that happens. :-( It always happens on those instances when I forget to write it in Notepad first with the intent to cut and paste. I would recommend doing that when you're going to write a long post on any forum; if your connection times out (or the site glitches) at least you won't lose what you've typed and you can just try pasting it again. It's definitely frustrating when that happens. Yes, I've always felt that Vegeta had the right to kill Frieza. I think the main reason he didn't in the series is that Toriyama never liked Vegeta (he expressed that once in an interview), and he never understood why the fans liked that character. He preferred Goku. Some writers don't understand that it's the characters that change and evolve and show depth that are interesting, not the “goody goody” types that never change at all. Yes, Goku is “good”, but he's good because he is, not because there was ever any deep moral philosophical thought on his part to be so. That makes him far less interesting than someone like Piccolo or Vegeta or even Tenshinhan, all of whom went from evil to good through philosophical angst. As for Vegeta's right to kill Frieza... there are hints in the series (at least the dub - I'm not sure about the Japanese or the sub) that Frieza sexually molested Vegeta as a young child. That certainly gives Vegeta the desire and right to be the one to destroy his molester; it would give him closure. I don't recall those hints existing in the manga (the Namek fight didn't take that long in the manga, not like it did in the anime), so that may not have been Toriyama's intent, but it has become part of continuity for the anime, and I'm always going to use it in my fanfics because it gives Vegeta more depth, and it makes his character more understandable.

 

Sue: Updates will come every Tuesday and Saturday, unless I don't have access to my computer or the internet that day. If I miss a day, I will NOT post the day after, so if you don't see an update on a Tuesday or Saturday, you don't need to try every day after that to see if I've updated. I figure that will be easier for everyone. There are a total of 102 chapters (including the epilogue) so this is almost complete now. I'm glad you're enjoying it - I hope the rest of the story lives up to your expectation. :-)