Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ The Price You Pay ❯ Chapter Forty-Five ( Chapter 45 )

Insert standard disclaimer here.

 

The Price You Pay: Chapter Forty-Five

 

Nappa watched as the few shuttles attempting to join the battle were reduced to little more than burning pieces of metal and shrapnel. Assuming that the Chikyuu-jin bitch would be with Zarbon had been a stroke of genius. After using his scouter to locate the hideous reptile's ki signature, he had made his way to the other side of the ship, barely impeded by security. Even though Freeza had expected such a reaction from the Saiya-jin populace, he had still left his command vessel sadly unprotected. Nappa didn't mind, it just made his mission that much easier.

 

As the smoke settled and the ship's fire suppression system kicked in, the Elite used his scouter to locate any remaining life forms. Most of the men were dead, but his prey, he noticed with sick satisfaction, was still lingering on the brink of death. He smiled. He wanted to see them face to face.

 

Nappa casually made his way over to the shuttle with the only remaining life forms.

 

The woman's ki had always been shockingly low, but Zarbon's ki was respectable. Now the creature's ki was lower than his own. The execution would be easier than he'd hoped.

 

“Attacking defenseless prey has always been one of your less Saiya-jin qualities, hasn't it, Nappa?” commented an all too familiar voice from somewhere within the lingering smoke.

 

Radditz stepped into view and Nappa chuckled. The Third Class's ki was so low that he hadn't even detected it on this side of the ship.

 

“Joining in on the fun, are you, traitor? Don't mind me. I've already found what I've come for.” Nappa glanced at the only remaining shuttle in the room. Though badly singed, the ship was relatively intact.

 

Radditz moved in between the Commander and the shuttle in question, but Nappa paid little attention. He remembered how easy it had been to dismantle the weaker warrior the night he'd abducted the Earth woman.

 

“You will not harm them,” said Radditz with a surprising amount of confidence in his voice.

 

“Freeza's fun is over. Surely he won't mind if I finish the job he started, especially not after the King is through with him,” said Nappa, clearly misunderstanding Radditz's intent. “Then he'll just be dead.”

 

Radditz made no move to let the larger warrior pass. If the lower ranking warrior wanted to die he had no problem adding another casualty to the night's battle. He was already bathing in the blood of countless victims.

 

“Haven't you learned this lesson before? You're no match for an Elite, Third Class.” Nappa was beginning to get angry. No one got between him and his prey.

 

It was Radditz's turn to chuckle.

 

“You misunderstand me, baka,” said Radditz with a tone Nappa couldn't understand. Nappa's eyes started to see red. He'd never taken insults well, even for a Saiya-jin. “And haven't you learned by now to never underestimate someone trained by Lord Freeza?”

 

Nappa snarled. His scouter was beeping frantically as the numbers indicating Radditz's ki level started to rise. One thousand, two thousand, three... Even if he made it to ten, Nappa would still be able to overwhelm him.

 

Nappa's scouter beeped even more frantically before there was a popping noise and a large crack appeared across the view screen. He'd set the contraption to a little under Zarbon's class, expecting the alien to be in poor condition after taking the brunt of his blast. Radditz's ki shouldn't be even close to that level.

 

What the hell?!

 

Radditz smirked. “It's called ki concealment, Commander,” said Radditz condescendingly.

 

His ki level was now that of an Elite and still rising. Radditz's fists began to glow blue, the light casting strange shadows across the hard planes of his face and the debris cluttering the room. Nappa's eyes widened.

 

Radditz struck the larger man across the face with a force Nappa hadn't been expecting. Regardless of the numbers that had scrolled across his scouter, the noble still had trouble associating Radditz with that kind of power.

 

“You will not defeat me, Nappa. I'm not going to pretend to be weak any longer,” said Radditz with certainty in his voice. Nappa spat and wiped away the blood from his busted lip.

 

“Lucky hit,” Nappa growled before releasing an enraged battle cry and rushing at the younger Saiya-jin.

 

Radditz easily dodged Nappa's hit, the shot poorly planned and swung more out of rage than cool calculation. Radditz had brute strength and cunning on his side.

 

Grabbing Nappa's extended arm, Radditz twisted forcefully and flipped the warrior around with a wet ripping sound. He needed to dismember the Saiya-jin Commander quickly before all of Freeza's troops left the ship. Little good it would do destroying the damn thing if all of the Ice-jin's henchmen escaped. At least Nappa had started his job for him, he thought, glancing at the dead bodies scattered around the room.

 

“How...?” gritted Nappa through the excruciating pain of his severed arm. Radditz was already positioning himself for the final blow.

 

“Not how, Nappa, why.” Radditz let a large amount of ki flow into his open hand. The energy began to spark and crackle as he extended his arm before the fallen Commander's face.

 

“For my people,” he said as he released the blast. “For my King.”

 

~~~~~~~<(((((|||)))))>~~~~~~~

 

Zarbon shook the dizziness from his head as he came to. He'd barely had any time to put up a ki shield before the blast struck them. Bulma was a mess. Still strapped in her seat, the earthling was badly burned and slightly concussed. She was going to need a regen tank immediately. Chikyuu-jin were remarkably frail. If he hadn't seen the energy blast reflected in her eyes, they would all be dead. The shock wave had shaken the entire ship violently.

 

Trunks stared at him from his prone position beside his mother. The boy looked to be in perfect health.

 

Built like his father, that one.

 

Thought Zarbon, thankful that the child was unharmed.

 

In a birdlike gesture, Zarbon quirked his head to the side as he heard two men conversing in the hanger. Their voices were barely recognizable through the roar of the flames and the fire system trying to put them out.

 

Nappa.

 

He thought with instant anger.

 

The bloody fool.

 

The Commander had always despised Zarbon for not being Saiya-jin. He must have come after them on his own. Two aliens and the half breed Heir could be written off as convenient casualties of battle if executed properly. No wonder Nappa had sought them first. He didn't want to give them a chance to escape before he destroyed them.

 

Zarbon continued to listen as the confrontation became violent. Eventually, the talking stopped completely, followed by the roar of a small ki blast.

 

“Zarbon?” questioned Radditz as he pressed the button to open the shuttle door.

 

“What happened to Nappa?” asked Zarbon in surprise as Radditz's muscled frame peered into the cabin.

 

“He got in the way of my plans.” Radditz stared Zarbon down, unwilling to give any more information.

 

Zarbon looked at Radditz appraisingly. For a traitor, the Saiya-jin was suddenly becoming all sorts of useful.

 

“The shuttle appears to still be in working condition, Zarbon. Besides the heat from the blast, not much energy made it through your shield. The hull is still intact.”

 

Zarbon turned toward the blinking navigation console and the shuttle's controls. Amazingly, the ship was still functional.

 

“Thank you,” said Zarbon sincerely, the double meaning behind his words apparent. Radditz just smiled and pushed the button to close the shuttle hatch.

 

Zarbon sighed and looked down at the unconscious woman in his arms. So much for escaping unscathed. She would need to spend several days in a regen tank in the very least. Her condition could be critical.

 

Placing Bulma on one of the few cots the small vessel possessed, Zarbon once again made his way to the navigation console.

 

This time, he was very glad Bulma had already programmed the landing coordinates.

 

~~~~~~~<(((((|||)))))>~~~~~~~

 

Vegeta carefully focused his energy as he let the power within him seep into his bloodstream. He couldn't sense anything from his Ice-jin enemy, but Freeza's power had always been that way—empty, cold, detached.

 

Freeza smiled wickedly, his thin purplish lips pulling back from sharp white teeth. It was obvious to him now that he wasn't going to be able to goad the Saiya-jin King into striking the first blow.

 

“Impressive. You have more control than I gave you credit for.” His tone was mocking. “But you are still no match for me.”

 

Vegeta phased out of sight, just barely avoiding the Ice-jin's blow. Had he been a half second slower, Freeza's fist would have punched nicely through the back of his skull. Adrenaline rushed through his system, slowing everything down and giving him the added speed he would need to survive.

 

“Even more impressive,” came the Ice-jin's voice. “Whatever have you been doing with your spare time? Been eating more vegetables than usual?”

 

Vegeta spun, trying to locate the voice that was echoing behind him. But there was no one there. The surface of the moon lacked anything that could provide concealment. Freeza must have been phasing in and out of space quickly enough that Vegeta's Saiya-jin senses couldn't detect him. He couldn't even rely on his sixth sense to lock in on the lizard's ki signature.

 

“Playing hide and seek?” called the Saiya-jin no Ou tauntingly. The Ice-jin chuckled.

 

Suddenly, Freeza phased back into view. “You're it!” he said, smiling into the King's face and striking the Saiya-jin with an alarmingly powerful ki blast.

 

Vegeta felt himself spinning as he was thrown into open space. The ki blast had been little more than a warning. It was insulting. This was not a game. Righting himself, he placed a hand over his chest where the ki blast had struck. Miraculously, the breastplate, and coincidentally the rest of his torso, was still intact. Whatever the woman had done to improve Saiya-jin armor, it was damned useful. Why hadn't he helped her with it sooner?

 

From his position on the moon, Freeza blurred out of view as he phased again. But Vegeta was ready for him, blocking the Ice-jin's fist with his forearm and pushing him away with a blow to Freeza's solar plexus. Within only a fraction of a second, Vegeta struck out with a straight legged kick to Freeza's unguarded abdominals.

 

“Sneaky sneaky,” said Freeza from whatever position he'd phased to again.

 

Now!

 

Thought Vegeta as his sixth sense picked up a flicker of Freeza's ki barely thirty feet away. Without giving himself away, the Saiya-jin King leaped forward and grabbed onto the Ice-jin's own breastplate, throwing him forcefully at the ground with a ki blast of his own. A large crater formed where Freeza's body must have impacted. A cloud of dust rose and everything was temporarily still.

 

“You're going to wish you hadn't done that,” hissed Freeza as the dust began to swirl on the surface of the moon. Small pebbles floated into the air as the Ice-jin's power radiated from the crater. “No one soils me and lives.”

 

Freeza floated into the air, his aura swirling with the debris from his impact against the compact earth. A drip of purple blood was slowing drizzling down his immaculate white chin, his armor was scuffed, and his eyes glowed red.

 

The Ice-jin screamed as he let his power consume him. Dust and moon particles were cast away violently as his aura thickened and blocked him from view. The moon shook with the release of an overwhelming amount of energy as Freeza's ki level spiked to a million. Having already been exposed to Freeza's different levels of ascension, Vegeta watched on as the Ice-jin transformed. Things were going according to plan.

 

Freeza laughed, his voice several tones deeper, as the aura that surrounded him faded. He was taller and broader now, the spikes on his head more prominent than before. Gazing upon him, Vegeta couldn't help but feel that he was in the presence of the very devil himself. He no longer looked deceptively frail.

 

“You will not be so lucky again,” said Freeza in a menacing voice, his small eyes locking on the stationary form of the Saiya-jin King.

 

Freeza clenched his fist, looking down at the long talons of his hand as ki began to pool into a glowing red flame.

 

Lashing out at the unsuspecting Saiya-jin, the Ice-jin's claws sunk deeply into the plate guarding Vegeta's internal organs. The cloth tore with a loud ripping sound and Vegeta felt the sting of ki against his skin. He wasn't bleeding, but his skin had been punctured, cauterized temporarily by the ki Freeza had used to strengthen his blow. As far as he could tell, the wound was only superficial. His reflexes were good, but not good enough.

 

How Kakkarot had defeated Freeza, even at this level, was a mystery. The Ice-jin's ki was at least million and his third level of ascension was even more phenomenal. Only the Lengendary could defeat him. And that option was now off limits. If Vegeta wasn't careful, he wouldn't survive and his planet would undoubtedly be destroyed again. Bulma and Trunks would be killed and never make it back to Chikyuu. They would never make it back to their rightful home.

 

No!

 

Thought Vegeta as he screamed and powered up. His ki rose to nearly 100,000, putting him in league with most members of the Ginyuu Squad, but it wouldn't be enough. Freeza was at least ten times stronger and infinitely faster.

 

~~~~~~~<(((((|||)))))>~~~~~~~

 

Radditz watched as the shuttle with Zarbon, Bulma, and Trunks exited the ship. It had been a close call, and he'd had to expose the power he'd been suppressing for years, but the second he heard the ship alarms go off, he'd known what he had to do.

 

Nappa was no longer a necessary evil. He'd served his indirect purpose after abducting Bulma and unknowingly pushing Vegeta to succeed the Saiya-jin throne. But he'd also come surprisingly close to discovering Radditz's alliance with Freeza. If Vegeta hadn't had such a low tolerance for the moron and already been in an awful mood that night outside of the King's quarters, it would have all been over. Radditz never would have been able to lead Vegeta into fighting the Ice-jin tyrant and subsequently Vegeta-sei would have been destroyed.

 

For his ministrations, he would surely be executed. Still, it would be an honor to be killed by his King—to be killed by her son.

 

Radditz raced to engineering. He doubted anyone would still be there with the ship under attack. A Saiya-jin fleet was no small threat to ignore.

 

He punched in the code to the door and entered, carefully looking around for any members of the crew. The room was dark and silent, filled with a peculiar white noise that could only be created by computers and heavy machinery.

 

As he penetrated the darkness of the room, the ship's core loomed before him, casting undulating green shadows across his features. It was a nuclear fusion cell. He took a minute to consider the complexity of the technology. After being surrounded and threatened by some of the most powerful entities in the universe, Radditz was still in awe of the extraordinary energy contained within a single atom. Set to the proper specifications, the ship's fusion core could create as much energy as Vegeta-sei's stars. And somehow they'd managed to harness its power. He was going to have to handle it very very delicately.

 

Reaching the control panel, Radditz checked the stats of the field that protected the core. Given the incredible power the machinery possessed, the engineers had made sure that the core could survive almost any attack without causing a disaster. And it was a good thing too. If the core were to explode, it would likely take the entire system with it.

 

After assuring himself that the core's field was intact, Radditz approached another piece of equipment and tapped a few select keys, disabling the fire suppression program commands. The only way to get the ship to self destruct would be to eject the core and cause a short in the ship's atmosphere control system. Because the majority of Freeza's troops were aerobic, engineering was full of a complicated oxygen filtering system. If all of the oxygen gas was consumed at once by a large enough fire, the ship would implode, unable to support such a great pressure difference within the vacuum of space.

 

Of course, by that time, Radditz planned on being far away from the Ice-jin command center. Reaching within the complicated machinery, he rewired a few choice circuits and rechecked his handiwork. Perfect.

 

He placed his hand over the plastic casing that protected the release for the ship's core and double checked the numbers indicating the security of its field. Everything was a go.