Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Saiyan Style ❯ PART VI: Defeat ( Chapter 6 )

Disclaimer:

Epic

By: Letta

Rating: R - NC-17

Warnings: A little bit of gore (there's some tragic stuff in this chapter), Yaoi, angst, violence, slight language, poor grammar, typos I missed, good times

Pairings: Goku X Vegeta… completely classic.

Notes: This is also sad. *sniff* Why is there so much sadness in the world? This is also largely unedited, save spell check, due to me being really tired and having a migraine. Sorry about that.

"denotes speaking"

*denotes thought*

//flashback//

A/N: Well, I really don't remember a thing of what Vegeta said to Goku before he died, even though it was one of my favorite parts of the entire series. So, sorry, but I'm just winging it. Oh, and I skimped out quite a bit on the fight, so we can see Vegeta dead… that sounds rather morbid. Really though, when the writers can turn five minutes into an hour and a half or however many episodes it took, well that, that's just out of my league.

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Saiyan Style

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PART V: DEFEAT

Goku walked carefully over to Vegeta, holding his breath. As he looked on the helpless prince, rage began to fester deep within him, a kind of hatred he had never felt before, and it was all directed at Frieza. What made him angry above all else, though, was not that Frieza had killed nearly all the people of Namek. Not that Frieza had done this in the past, and if allowed to continue, would do this again. It wasn't that Frieza would soon be responsible for Vegeta's death. What hurt the warrior the most, was that he could do absolutely nothing for the prince. The last of his people.

"Vegeta…"

The fallen warrior looked unsteadily at him.

"…Kakkarot," came the hoarse reply. Goku smiled sadly, kneeling down next to the battered prince, ignoring Frieza's cold stare.

"Shh. Save your strength Vegeta."

"No… you have to listen!" the prince said, roughly grabbing Goku's gi and looking up into his open countenance. Goku started, looking wide-eyed at the fallen prince. There was an intensity in those eyes that was familiar and yet, somehow new. There was a new depth to feeling the had been opened up and laid bare for all the universe to see in those black depths. They seemed to suck in whatever got trapped in them, and Goku felt himself freefalling.

"Vegeta…" he repeated himself, voice hushed as he dipped his head lower to hear what the prince had to say.

"Listen. You have to defeat him, Kakkarot. You must. He took my from my home when I was just a child, he killed my father, destroyed our planet. Under his reign I became a hardened warrior with nothing left but my own pride, so I had to train. I had to become strong enough to defeat him! He took everything from me, so I vowed to one day kill him. I trained and beat myself worse than he ever did in the name of vengeance. I played along with his game, being to obedient warrior while secretly plotting the death of the one who had stolen everything from me! Pride and power were all I treasured, pride in what I was: the prince of all saiyans. Nappa and Radditz were nothing compared to me. I alone would be the one to defeat Frieza, and now, I can't even do that. No matter how hard I trained, it was never enough. My pride was built on the premise that I would, one day, be the one to defeat him. Now it's shattered, and I can't even sit up! How can I beat him if I can't sit up?!"

Goku stared in shock. Vegeta's eyes were glistening and unless he was mistaken…

A solitary tear slid down the prince's face, creating a trail in the dirt on his skin.

Another tear.

And another.

"He threw me away like yesterday's trash. I was nothing to him. I couldn't even scratch him! I am nowhere near what he is. With each blow, I felt my pride begin to crumble, to break away. Now, I lay here with nothing. My pride is gone, my power was never enough, and I am the prince of a dead race. You have to defeat him Kakkarot. For the pride of the saiyan race that he sought to destroy," Vegeta said, looking fully into the other warrior's face.

"Vegeta…"

"You have to beat him Kakkarot… for me." The last part was said so softly that Goku almost didn't hear it.

Ebony eyes slid shut.

"Vegeta? Vegeta!"

There was no answer.

Slowly, Goku stood.

"I see. It wasn't all your fault. You became what he wanted you to be. You didn't have the chance to be anything else," Goku said, looking down on the still body, at the tear streaked face. A new understanding flooded his being. He stretched out his arm to the side, sending a small blast into the dirt, creating a hole just large enough for him to place the prince's battered body in it, dirt piled up on either side. He knelt down and picked up Vegeta, feeling the last of the warmth that the body contained, a deep sadness growing within his heart, trying desperately to rag it down. Whether it was from being the only saiyan left or that he'd never get a rematch with the prince he couldn't tell.

Carefully, he lowered the prince into the shallow grave, taking care to fold the lifeless arms across the chest. He looked so peaceful now, the lines of anger smoothed, he looked younger.

"I'll beat him, Vegeta, for both of us," he whispered before shoveling the piled dirt on top of the prince with his hands. It almost hurt to cover the prince's face with the dirt, somehow the action seeming to finalize the death. With each handful of dirt, he grew colder and colder towards the lizard standing behind him. Finally, he was done, the fresh mound concealing the body underneath. Looking at it, he felt a new kind of numbness that seemed to grip him everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

He hadn't wanted Vegeta to die. He actually liked him. Sure, the guy had been cranky, but Goku wasn't convinced that the prince hadn't been all bad, it was just all he had known.

He stood silently for a moment, looking at Vegeta's grave and giving a moment of respect before he turned his attention to the matter at hand, to the one responsible: Frieza.

He was going to make the lizard pay.

He would keep his promise: he would defeat Frieza.

*****

Vegeta looked around him. He was standing in front of a very large desk that served a very large man who was reading a large book. He was confused. He wasn't on Namek, of that much he was certain, and he didn't have any of the injuries he was sure he had a minute ago. Frieza nor Kakkarot were anywhere to be seen, not even any of Kakkarot's twerpy friends.

His eye caught on a nameplate resting on the desk. King Yamma.

"Where the hell am I?" Vegeta demanded.

"Not quite," the man spoke, intently studying his book.

"I don't have time to waste on your nonsense! Now where am I?"

"Actually, you have all the time in the world… other world that is."

"What are you talking about?" Vegeta demanded. He was growing increasingly irritated with the man before him. Nothing he said had told the prince anything. The man was speaking in riddles that the saiyan could not decipher, much less, understand. A vague feeling tickling the back of his mind told him that there was a very great significance to this whole situation, but once again, what it was, he could not grasp.

"Well, it seems Vegeta, that you have been a very bad boy. You have a list a mile long!"

If the prince was surprised that this King Yamma knew his name, he did a beautiful job of hiding it. As to what he just said, it all pointless stuff that Vegeta already knew. He had been told many times before and he really didn't see the point of being told again. The whole conversation was going nowhere and he was growing rather bored with it.

"So?"

"So, Vegeta, that means I'm sending you to HFIL."

Vegeta raised an eyebrow. All significance of the acronym was lost on him. What caught his attention was that this man had said that he was sending him there. He had the distinctive feeling that it was not somewhere he wanted to be, but if his luck kept playing out like it did, he had the sinking feeling that HFIL was exactly where he would end up.

"Where is this HFIL?" Vegeta asked, the name coming out as bitter as he had hoped.

"Well," King Yamma began, leaning back on his chair, "I suppose the easiest way to get there would be to throw you off Snake Way."

"Snake Way?"

"It's the road leading to and from this building."

It was then Vegeta remembered his original question that had gone unanswered. He still had no clue as to where he was.

"Where is this building?" Vegeta asked, teeth gritted angrily.

"In other world. I suppose no one's told you that you're dead."

It all came back to him.

//"Vegeta…"

"You have to beat him Kakkarot… for me." The last part was said so softly that Goku almost didn't hear it.

Ebony eyes slid shut.//

Vegeta let out an inaudible sigh. He should have figured as much. It was perhaps something he had known all along: that he would die at Frieza's hands. How he ever thought he was strong enough to beat the lizard was beyond him. Worst of all, he had lost his dignity, his pride. Though at least there was a chance that Frieza would die today as well. A very small chance.

In all likelihood, he would be seeing Kakkarot very soon. His heart lurched within his chest at that thought, making him scowl. As much as he would suddenly like to see the idiot, his appearance would mean that Frieza would still be alive. If Kakkarot did show up, he vowed to punch him in the face. Nothing, he felt, would make him happier.

*****

Goku stopped above the dust cloud, watching as bright orbs of energy erupted all around him. Far below him, on the ground of Namek, Frieza was doing his best to strike him down. The tyrant wasn't hitting him with a single blast that he sent. As far as he could tell, this could only mean one thing.

"He can't sense me! He's just firing blind." This realization brought with it many advantages. If Frieza couldn't sense him, that opened up a whole new world of attacks available. The problem was, very few were strong enough to inflict any damage. He admitted to himself that if things kept going the way that they were, Frieza would eventually wear him down and win. The lizard was stronger than him, he wasn't going to kid himself there, but there were ways around that.

While Goku was never much for strategies, he could cook up a half-baked plan that usually had some positive side effect. He may not have had the advantage of strength, but that did little to dampen his optimistic spirits. Things always had a way of working out, and he was confident they would again.

At any rate, he was glad that Piccolo and the others had gotten out of the way of the fight, they would have hindered him too much. As it was, he was free to fight without restraint, and that's what he needed most.

*****

Vegeta looked around him in disgust. There several white puffy cloud things milling about. The landscape was red and rocky. The ceiling could not be broken through. You could not tunnel down. There was no escape that he could find, yet. Occasionally he saw a blue creature with horns walking around with a clipboard. This was HFIL.

He had been given the meaning of HFIL: Home For Infinite Losers. That, in itself was understandable, this place was full of losers. The problem was, he didn't consider himself a loser, so, by his reasoning, he had no place here.

The prince was seething. He refused to even think about how they had gotten him down here, it was beneath his healing saiyan dignity. He was angry enough to attack someone without provocation, but didn't say much as far as he was concerned. He uncrossed his arms from their usual resting place and stalked off in search of something to vent his anger.

The opportunity arose when he delightedly came across what appeared to be one of the henchmen he had killed earlier that day. The man recognized him with horror, immediately shaking in fear as the prince approached. Vegeta could not have been happier. The man's terror was feeding his bruised soul. This was the kind of therapy he loved.

Without warning, Vegeta charged at the cowering man, driving his fist deep into his opponent's abdomen, relishing in the feeling of his fist connecting with his victim, sinking in just beyond the barrier of skin. This was beyond cathartic. The beginnings of satisfaction began to well up and flood his being.

The man himself was still, unmoving on the prince's clenched hand, blood leaking down from his slack jaw. The blow would have killed him if he weren't already dead. Instead, it sent him for a visit with his subconscious. Vegeta snorted in disdain as he removed his arm and the man crumpled to the ground, not even twitching. He needed a lot more to quell his rioting anger. With annoyance, he kicked the body at his feet, sending it careening across the landscape to come to a stop beyond the prince's line of vision.

There had to be someone stronger around. It was guaranteed that there was an opponent milling around that could withstand more than one blow. There had to be. He just hadn't found them yet. After all, it appeared HFIL played host to all the naughty dead boys and girls from the living realms, the universe undoubtedly offered someone stronger than these pathetic peons of Frieza.

*The Ginyu Force.* The thought hit him so suddenly he wasn't sure what it meant, until his mind brought up the images of him finishing off those whom Kakkarot had fought. Of course! The Ginyu Force would be the perfect punching bag for him. He was much stronger than when he had fought them earlier. The senzu bean he had received from Kakkarot boosted his strength, along with his short nap, the namek brat's healing… He owed them a good beating.

*****

Goku panted heavily, looking at the direction his opponent had been hit off to. Frieza was much stronger than he had imagined. There was only one option left. The spirit bomb. It was the only thing strong enough. The problem was that it would have to be huge, he would have to gather energy from the entire solar system, and to do that would take time. Time he wasn't sure he would have.

Still, he knew he had to try. It was the only hope he had, it was the only hope any of them had. The fate of the universe lay in his hands, in this fight, and he had to give everything he could to come through. No matter what, Frieza had to be stopped, and he had promised to avenge Vegeta.

Vegeta… He would do this for him. After all, who had suffered more at the hands of the tyrant? Vegeta had lost his home, his family, his people, even his freedom because of Frieza. The prince had lost everything, had been turned into a ruthless killing machine. If he was going to do this for anyone, Goku would do it for him.

With new determination, Goku raised his hands above his head, calling forth energy. This would decide it all.

"Are you giving up already?" came the bemused response to his new stance.

Goku looked up at Frieza, a weary smile adorning his features.

"I must say you've put up a good fight, for a monkey. Though I'm surprised, I've never seen a saiyan smart enough to know when he's been beat."

Frieza waited for a retort, a comeback, but snarled when none came.

"Answer me!"

Goku continued to smile at Frieza, after all, he wasn't giving up.

Frieza glared back. Perhaps he had hit his opponent too hard on the head at some point. This was definitely not the type of behavior he expected from a saiyan. Just when he had thought he had them figured out, they threw him a curve ball. Well, he would simply have to remove that maddening smile from the monkey's face. He smirked at the ingenious simplicity of his own plan…

With a growl, Frieza shot forward, arm extended. To say he was shocked when Goku didn't even bother to try and block the attack was an understatement. He watched dumbfounded as the saiyan bounced backwards only to pick himself up again and throw his hands in the air. This was more than strange.

He knew confusion was evident on his face.

Goku winced slightly, there was a stabbing pain in his elbow, but if he was lucky, it was an injury he should keep elevated. Already he could see a large blue mass of energy forming in the sky. It grew bigger as he watched it out of the corner of his eye. All he had to do was hold out a little longer.

Frieza charged him again. He skidded along the ground and picked himself up, stretching his arms above his head. This had to work.

Another hit.

Pain.

Stand up.

Arms in air.

It was repetitive, but his attack kept growing, and as long as that happened, it was worth it.

Knocked down.

Slide along the ground.

Push up.

Throw hands up.

Goku could feel his own energy depleting. This wasn't good. He had to be conscious to attack, but that occurrence was beginning to seem more and more unlikely. Frieza was scowling darkly at him. He could see it coming and braced himself. This was going to hurt… a lot.

Bam!

Splash!

Goku wondered at the wetness around him before realizing Frieza had pushed him back towards and into a lake, whether intentional or not. The speed at which he was moving through the lake was astonishing, proving how hard Frieza had hit him. He fumbled to try and slow his speed, glad that his momentum was easing as he began to start sinking a little.

Finally his trip backwards stopped he broke the surface, gasping loudly for air. He had gotten turned around somehow, he noticed, looking at the shore in front of his face. Then a white figure slowly descended into his line of vision, dropping lightly in front of him.

Frieza smirked coldly as he held an outstretched finger in front of the saiyan's face, nearly touching his nose. This was too good! He concentrated slightly and his smirk grew wider at the deadly red glow of power he produced, nearly laughing when the saiyan's eyes grew wide with fear. It all ended now.

Goku knew he wouldn't be able to dodge in time, he was too close to the origin of the blast to come. He would be hit, and in all likelihood, it would kill him. His spirit bomb wasn't even finished! It was so close, too! He only needed another minute. Just one more minute! Then it would've been strong enough to defeat Frieza.

That didn't matter now…

A blur of white and green shot in front of him, replacing the cold form of the tyrant.

Goku looked up in delighted shock.

"Piccolo!"

The saiyan looked beyond his friend to see his opponent still flying back wards from the blow he had received while caught off guard. Goku hurriedly struggled to his feet, once more extending his arms as he gave the namek a grateful look. It was the break he had needed. His goal was once again within reach!

"Hurry up, Goku. That hit won't keep him for long," Piccolo warned before flying back away from the battlefield. Goku could sense that Piccolo had used up all his remaining power on that attack, after having surrendered what he could to the spirit bomb.

45 seconds… 40… 35…

Frieza was once more a speck speeding towards him.

30… 25…

Frieza was in the air, looking down angrily.

"What's that? That's not the sun!"

Goku froze. Frieza was looking past him to the water.

The reflection!

20 seconds.

The tyrant looked to the sky.

"What… what is that thing?!" Frieza looked back down at Goku, astonishment written across his face. "I see! It's a trick!"

15 seconds.

Goku stopped paying attention to what Frieza was saying, and watched in confusion as Frieza flew closer to the orb of blue energy.

10 seconds.

5 seconds.

Frieza powered up and shot a blast of energy at the spirit bomb to try to destroy it.

0 seconds.

The blast connected, and dissipated almost instantly against Goku's attack. With effort, the saiyan brought his hands down, guiding the bomb with them. Slowly it lurched, then began to move downwards, towards the confused tyrant.

"Do you think this can stop me?!" Frieza shouted from above, preparing to push the bomb backwards in his arrogance.

It was too late before the lizard realized his mistake.

"It's too big!"

He tried to get around it, but the bomb already had him pinned, pushing him towards to planet. Faster it went, gaining speed as it dropped, finally crashing into the ground, a brilliant blue flash of light momentarily blinding the onlookers.

*****

The group assembled at the crater's edge, the dust and smoke having cleared as water from the countless lakes and oceans poured in, seeking to fill the hole. Specks of foam flew up, drops of cool water landing on the group, misting them. Frieza was dead!

Krillin walked up and lightly patted Goku on the back, "Way to go, buddy! I knew you could do it!"

Goku winced at the contact, but smiled anyway. He had beaten Frieza, the spirit bomb had worked! He had avenged Vegeta. Vegeta… the thought of the saiyan prince put a slight damper on his mood. He had really wanted to fight him again, and now he was certain that Vegeta could have become good if given the chance.

He laughed happily, the others joining in out of sheer relief that everything was over. Now they could go home.

A beam of energy splurted into Piccolo's chest, shooting out a quick stream of purple liquid in its wake, before reducing to a flowing state. The namek collapsed unconscious to the ground.

The laughter died.

"What's all the celebration for?"

Slowly, everyone screwed the eyes up to look at one very scratched up Frieza perched on a jutted rock across the crater He did not look happy. The tip of his tail was missing, he was covered in scrapes and cuts, and his eyes read murder.

"How…?" Goku trailed off softly. How could the spirit bomb not have worked?

"You didn't think a monkey could defeat me, did you? Now which one dies first?" Frieza asked, cold eyes darting to each member of the group.

Finally, they settled on a very frightened looking Krillin.

Frieza snapped his arm out, and Krillin suddenly was lifted from the from the ground. Frieza moved his arm upwards and Krillin shot into the sky as everyone else watched on in horror. Frieza smirked, clenching his hand into a fist.

Krillin screamed.

"Help me Goku!"

Suddenly he exploded, smoke appearing to guide the charred, burning chunks of flesh to the ground. What remained of the bald fighter burned up before it could reach the surface of the planet.

Goku felt himself grow cold. Twice now, twice had he seen Frieza do this. First Vegeta, now Krillin, his best friend.

From somewhere deep inside power gushed out and out every nerve, every fiber. His anger fueling the rush. In seconds he was awash in golden power. He couldn't see, but he could feel the power rush upwards to his head, turning his ebony eyes to aqua, spiking up his hair, dying it blonde.

Gohan and Frieza looked on in shock at this transformation.

"Gohan! Take Piccolo back to the ship with you. Then go find Bulma."

"But… but daddy…"

"Do it, Gohan!"

"Yes father," Gohan said, uncertainty flooding his voice. He knew his father was telling him to leave without him if it came to that.

*****

Vegeta couldn't find the Ginyu Force anywhere. It was as if they had cheated the system. That wasn't fair at all!

Those thoughts were forgotten as he suddenly felt a tingling sensation form in the pit of his stomach and spread outward. His surroundings became hazy and began to fade as he struggled to keep his rising nausea down. He squeezed his eyes shut, feeling a falling sensation.

Then it stopped.

Vegeta realized he was lying down, but couldn't actually remember hitting the ground. Blindly, he shot a gloved hand up, holding it as the last tingles faded, then sat up. He blinked his eyes open, then blinked again.

"I'm… I'm alive!"

He was on Namek, of that he was certain. Someone had even taken the care to bury him.

*Kakkarot.*

The sky was black.

Namek had three suns, the sky never grew dark. In fact, if he didn't know any better, he'd say it felt like that planet was shaking apart. Realization struck him.

The planet was shaking apart.

He could only guess the reason behind that. Kakkarot had proved to be more of an opponent than Frieza had bargained for, and since Frieza was an idiot, he probably tried to blow up the planet. Only, for some reason, he didn't quite succeed.

Off in the distance he could sense two tremendous powers, and it was in that direction he sped.

In no time at all, Vegeta saw a very large magical dragon. He didn't know how, he didn't know why. The day was full of surprises. The sight of Porunga (He's alive! Yay!) almost distracted him from his second shock since returning to life.

"Vegeta!" came a happy cry.

Kakkarot. Vegeta halted and stared at the man. He had quite obviously transformed, and was putting out quite a bit of power. Golden hair spiked on top of his head defiantly, aqua depths burning with an unequalled intensity, surrounded by a visible golden aura, the man was… breathtaking.

"Kakkarot, you dog, you've done it! You've become a super saiyan!" Vegeta said, knowing full well that Frieza was going down. There was no stopping them.

A little ways off, Frieza was shouting that he wanted immortality.

Down below, at the base of the dragon, the prince could hear someone speaking loudly in namekian. Vegeta looked down to see Dende… so the kid was alive as well. Then, the child stopped speaking and Porunga glowed white, eyes burning red. Again, Vegeta felt tingly and nauseous.

This time when it ebbed away, he was looking at a blue sky. The planet wasn't shaking. Frieza and Kakkarot were nowhere to be seen. He wasn't even in the air. Where was he?

"We're home! We're home!" a high-pitched voice said from somewhere behind him. He slowly turned around, dreading what those words might mean to see it was the human girl who had spoken. If she was home… he was on Earth. If he was on Earth, he wasn't on Namek.

What was going on?

Why didn't he sense Frieza or Kakkarot?

"Dammit where's Frieza? I was so close I could have spit on him!" Vegeta said, clenching his fists and looking around. Rage was boiling up at his missed opportunity. He wanted more than anything to repay Frieza for all his `kindness.'

"Hey, where's my dad?"

Vegeta searched out the voice to find Kakkarot's son, who was looking though the crowd worriedly.

"He chose to stay on Namek to finish his fight with Frieza," Guru said. Everyone turned to look in astonishment at the revived namek elder.

Vegeta had a few curses fly through his mind as he realized Kakkarot must've been responsible for sending him here as well. He desperately wanted the third class to suffer unspeakable agony at the moment. He wanted to beat Kakkarot until he cried, then nurse him back to health lovingly so he could kick his ass again!

"What's going on?" the blue haired woman asked.

"Kami used the earth dragonballs to revive everyone killed by Frieza and his men. Then the wish that Porunga had left to give was used to bring us all here," Guru explained. Murmurs of understanding rippled through the crowd.

"Well, where's Krillin?" Gohan asked.

"Porunga cannot revive someone who has already been brought back."

Vegeta turned his attention away from the conversation, cursing softly to himself. There went his last chance for immortality, at least for the time being. Then a thought struck, and a smile slowly spread across his face.

Kakkarot had stayed to fight Frieza. From the short time he had been on Namek since returning from the other world, he could tell that the planet wasn't going to last much longer. If Kakkarot didn't win soon and leave, he'd be dead. Apparently the third class was more of a saiyan than he had realized. Staying to fight. Typical saiyan behavior. Vegeta allowed his smile to widen, for once a smirk not gracing his features.

*****

Goku sent a blast at the sliced version of Frieza. The alien was literally severed in half, and by his own attacks too! Goku was just glad he was good at dodging. He didn't understand why Frieza couldn't just accept that he had lost. He had given him several chances to walk away, and the tyrant kept launching new attacks at him.

Now his situation was dire. He figured he had less than a minute to escape and if he didn't hurry up and find a way off the cracking planet, he would go with it. Then a white blotch caught his eye. Frieza's ship!

Racing over to it, he flew in through the hole in the roof he had made and sped along the corridors until he found a control consol, punching in buttons that failed to do anything. What was wrong with it?!

"C'mon, work baby, work!"

For an instant, the screen in front of him flickered to life, but then died again.

Then the ship lurched, and he had the distinct impression that he was falling. *The ground must've given way.* Quickly he blasted through the roof, and up above the chasm that the ship fell into, eyes frantically searching for a way out.

From space, the planet was bright display of light as lava visibly coated the surface, and electrical jolts reached outside the atmosphere to tickle the blackness beyond. The sphere itself was twisting and breaking shape, pushing and straining against itself. Then light flooded out from its center, enveloping the scene before fading out, leaving emptiness in its wake.

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A/N: Did Goku make it? As if you didn't already know…

Whether or not I'm turning Vegeta's feelings into love/hate for Goku I have no idea, but it kind of sounded that way. Hmm…

Oh, and my memory is super fuzzy on everything that happened during the fight because there were so many side stories that didn't pertain to the main part, that it's all cluttered up in my head. At least we're coming up to the saga I know the best: Android Saga! Yay!

Oh, and splurted isn't a real word. I made it up. But, it suited Piccolo's situation nicely, if you ask me.