Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Touketsu ❯ Confrontation ( Chapter 29 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Confrontation

Touketsu clambered up on shore, not even bothering to shake off the water as he straightened unsteadily to his feet and looked around. He caught his breath; a tiny pinprick of gold wreathed in red stood out against the red of a cloud-covered sky. It was Frieza in his golden form, blasts of ki detonating around him. Trunks was engaging him. Without any more hesitation Touketsu bounded into the city, leaping from one building to the other as he steadily climbed his way upwards and towards them. Catching his breath, he clung to the side of a building and looked on; Trunks had since fled, but he could see Frieza languidly following. Touketsu was still miles away.

I'm not going to get there in time, he thought in a panic. "Blast it, I've got to do this!" he yelled at himself. He threw his hand out and again attempted to tear open a gate. Focus, He thought to himself. Think about your son! Your mate, damnit! He needed to focus on his objective in order to open a gateway that would take him to them. To his dismay he realized something: Frieza was closing in on them. He wanted to get to his son, but he was gripped with anxiety over the prospect of confronting his master. Frieza's presence conflicted with his conviction.

…He was afraid of him.

Touketsu grit his teeth in frustration, his outstretched hand curling into a fist. "No, damnit!" He squeezed his eyes shut. He was losing time. "Just focus on them, for ONE moment! Push everything else away." He threw out his hand and stilled his mind. "All I need is one moment," he whispered. His skin darkened and the light strummed within. He opened his eyes. "Kuromon."

The energy traveled up his arm and tore a hole into the atmosphere. His eyes widened, and he leapt through the portal without hesitation.

He plummeted.

"Shit!" He yelled. The portal had opened up 50 feet above one of the many domed towers of West City. He clipped the side of the sloped surface but managed to grab onto the side of the towering edifice. Digging his claws in, he continued to slide down at breakneck speed. He feverishly dug the massive talons of his feet into the wall, finally slowing to a stop. Panting and shaking, he clung to the side of the building. Willing his heart rate to slow down, he looked over his shoulder. He could see Frieza's terrible gold light beyond the buildings before him, just several leaps away.

His eye twitched. Close enough.

_________________________________________________________________________

Frieza was not so caught up in his little game as he had led Trunks to believe. With a smirk, he lazily flung a small blast of ki towards the fleeing pair. It slammed into the middle of Trunk's back, blasting a hole into the back of his hoodie and searing the skin. Trunks opened his mouth in a silent scream when the air was knocked out of his lungs, several vertebrae and ribs cracking under the impact. He greyed out and lost his Super Saiyan transformation.

Bulma screamed in terror for her boy as they pitched forward. Regathering his wits, Trunks adjusted his downward trajectory towards the flat roof of another building. He flared his ki in a shield, ducking and protecting his mother and letting his body take the brunt of the impact. They rolled along the roof, Trunks losing his hold of Bulma, before they came tumbling to a stop. Bulma pushed herself up on her hands and knees.

"Trunks! Oh my god!" Bulma raced over to him and collapsed to her knees, pulling him up.

"Mom it's ok."

He wasn't ok. Her face tight with concern, Bulma looked Trunks over. The near constant fighting and the wounds suffered up to this point had taken its toll; he was injured and exhausted, and Frieza's half-hearted attack had nearly brought him to his knees. Bulma looked around and spotted a doorway to a stairwell.

"Come on Trunks," she said urgently, scooping him up and carrying him towards the stairwell. Suddenly, Frieza descended to stand in front of them. Bulma shrieked in fear and Trunks immediately went back into action. Wriggling out of her grasp, he landed on his feet to stand protectively in front of his mother.

Bulma dropped to one knee and wrapped her arms around her son, pulling him towards her. "Trunks, please don't!"

"Do you have to learn the hard way, boy?" Frieza sneered. He pointed a finger towards Trunks's arm and it began to glow with red ki. "Seems some discipline is in order. I've had many one-armed soldiers in my army. Their performances were still…acceptable."

"STOP!"

The three of them looked up in the direction of the voice. Disheveled, bruised, and out of breath, Touketsu was standing atop one of the taller adjacent buildings.

"Dad," Trunks breathed. At that moment Trunks felt paradoxically both relieved and threatened. Steel eyed, Bulma kept her eyes on Touketsu. She carefully stood, one protective hand on Trunks's shoulder.

"Ah, Touketsu!" Frieza cackled. "Alive and well, I see." Touketsu leapt onto the rooftop between his family and Frieza. He quickly turned to his son and motioned for him to stop.

"You will stand down now, boy," he growled. "You can't win against him." He looked over to Frieza. He wouldn't dare challenge his master. All he could do was appeal to his mercy. "Please, Lord Frieza, let me talk some sense into him."

Frieza arched an eyebrow. "A change of heart?" He searched the eyes of his underling and saw a man that feared for his family. "Touketsu," Frieza admonished. "I admit I'm disappointed. You were taking a step in the right direction, ridding yourself of these old attachments."

Touketsu swallowed. "Do you not need the woman's skills to establish contact with the empire? She is useful, and keeping the boy alive will ensure her cooperation."

"Thank you for pointing that out, Touketsu," Frieza replied dryly. "Regardless, I will not tolerate insubordination, however useful she and her son may be. They are becoming more trouble than they're worth. Besides, I don't need her when I have you."

Touketsu's brows drew together. "H-how do you mean?"

Frieza smiled approvingly. "You're fast gaining mastery of your abilities, Touketsu. I have faith that you will be an expert in no time at all. You're all I need to reassemble my Galactic Army. Once it has been restored, I guarantee you a permanent high ranking position among my esteemed elite. You have my word."

"You…you wish for me to serve in your army?"

"Why of course, dear boy! You did give me your allegiance. You didn't think so little of yourself that you were only worth performing a few errands for me, now did you? Your power, skills, and devoted service haven't gone unrecognized. You're worth my investment. Do you accept?"

It wasn't an offer. It was a command. Touketsu lowered his head; he didn't trust himself not to betray the despair he felt welling up inside. He had told Frieza he would continue to help him in exchange for his tutelage. Did he really think there would ever be an end? He could almost hear Vegeta berating him in anguish. "Yes, my lord," he replied quietly. "Thank you."

"Very good. Now then, execute those two."

Touketsu's head shot up, unhidden horror in his eyes. "My lord-"

"That's an order, Touketsu. Are you defying my orders?" Touketsu tried to form words when Frieza interrupted. "I don't know when you became so reattached to these people, but your hesitation tells me that their hold on you exceeds your loyalty to me."

"No, no that's not it, I-"

"If this simple task proves to be beyond your abilities then I'll simply do it myself, and you will be demoted. You will be kept in a kennel like a dog until you understand the folly of such trivial attachments."

Speechless with terror for their lives, his mind raced as he thought of a way he could appeal to Frieza. He dropped to one knee, his fist on the ground, and he lowered his head. "Please, my lord. I humbly ask that you allow my family to serve you as well. Both the boy and the woman are very gifted. I will ensure that they respect you and learn their places in your army. Please." Touketsu squeezed his eyes shut. "Please!"

Frieza studied him for a moment, a smirk of amusement tugging at his lips. This version of Vegeta was definitely a keeper. He would never tire of seeing the prince groveling like this. He let the genuflecting demon quake in fear for a few more moments before finally giving him his decision. "I'm sure that you more than anyone can appreciate what a forgiving person I am." Touketsu hesitantly looked up, the barest hint of hope in his eyes. "I agree that the boy is something of a physical prodigy. Pending some attitude adjustments, he would make an excellent soldier in my new army. His genius mother likewise would make a fine addition to my weapons research and development team. So long as they both cooperate from here on out, they won't be harmed." He held up his index finger. "I'll give them one last chance."

Touketsu released a shaky breath of relief before nodding in deference. "Thank you, my lord. I will reason with the boy." He stood and turned to his wife and son who were regarding him warily. He locked eyes with Trunks. "Don't fight him, son. He's more powerful than you can fathom. You're putting your life at risk needlessly, and you're risking your mother's life as well," he said, flicking his gaze to Bulma for a moment. He could barely look her in the eye.

Trunks's eyes flared. Who's side was he on anyway? Was this even his father?! "Now I'm your son? Why do you care all of a sudden? You wanted to kill me and mom! You're a liar and a MONSTER!"

Touketsu squared his shoulders. Swallowing, he held the boy's accusing eyes. "I make no excuses for what I did. You're right, Trunks," he quietly agreed, his brows drawing together in regret. "I am a monster. But… I'm not lying to you when I say I care. I care about you both. I didn't realize then what you both are to me. I denied it so many times, I-"

"I don't believe you," Trunks snapped. "I don't even know you! Why are you doing this? That guy - he forced you to work for him. You hated him!

"Trunks, hush," Touketsu admonished, his eyes ticking nervously to Frieza behind him.

"Why are you working for him again?! Why do you want to?!"

"Quiet, Trunks-"

"Well I DON'T want to! And I WON'T!"

"Shhh! Shut up!" Touketsu hissed as he stalked up to him, his fear for their lives escalating and his patience wearing thin. "I'm trying to save your lives," he growled. "If you want to live you will NOT challenge him again, do you understand!? Now you will kneel, and you will pledge your allegiance to him!"

"No!"

Touketsu growled angrily. He reached over and grabbed Trunks by the back of the neck, disregarding Bulma's attempts to intervene as he shoved him stumbling forwards towards Frieza. He then grabbed Bulma by the arm, ignoring her protests and weak attempts to fight him as he stalked up to the boy. "Get down, brat!" Touketsu grabbed him again, forcing him to his knees as he threw Bulma to the ground. He likewise grabbed her by the back of the neck, forcing her to kneel as he knelt down between them before the emperor.

"He doesn't seem to respect your authority, Touketsu." Frieza chuckled. Touketsu looked up, tension etched in his face. "That can be remedied. I will take him under my guidance and train him personally. He will learn his place in due time."

"Yes Lord Frieza," Touketsu immediately acquiesced. "You can…have him." He blinked. There was something terribly, devastatingly familiar about all this….

Trunks knocked his hand off his neck and Touketsu looked at him in surprise. Trunk's eyes were bleary with tears of deep betrayal and crippling disappointment.

"I HATE YOU!" Trunks screamed in his face. He narrowed his eyes and hissed, "You're a coward."

Touketsu was speechless. He felt as though his heart had caved in at those words. He blinked as he looked into those livid blue eyes, and he saw Vegeta staring accusingly right back. Suddenly the image of an unknown man flashed through his mind. He looked like Vegeta, but bearded. He was regal. Respected. Proud. Strong.

Coward.

Touketsu caught his breath. Then, a sharp pain lanced through this brain.

He had reveled in being treated like an adult. Being assigned missions by the powerful emperor that his father worked with filled him with a pride that he couldn't imagine. But this? He hadn't anticipated this. His father was sending him to live with Frieza on his flagship, and he didn't tell him how long his tenure would last. Frieza was standing before him, flanked by his two lieutenants, Zarbon and Dodoria. His father stood just behind him. He glanced up at his father's face. He could see tension in his regal features, and what appeared to be…regret. Vegeta turned his head away before reluctantly bending his knee. The boy had a foreboding sense that he wouldn't be returning home any time soon.

That was only the beginning of the psychic onslaught. Faster than the speed of light the dormant memories fired off through his synapses, unfolding chronologically. He was a boy, declaring he was done doing any more assignments for the Galactic Army. Frieza threatened to kill his father. He was in a cell on the flagship when he received word that his planet had been destroyed. He saw every planet purge he had a hand in, every beating at Frieza's hand. He remembered every cycle that he grew older, renewing his vow to become stronger than his oppressor, living for the day he was powerful enough to overthrow him.

He experienced his battle with Kakkarot and his humiliating defeat. He destroyed a Namekian village in his race to gather all the planet's Dragon Balls. He saw his mate backed up against a cliff face in terror of him as he proceeded to slaughter Zarbon. He made a shaky alliance with the monk and a young Gohan as they fought the Ginyu Force.

He was facing off against Frieza at last. Again, he experienced Frieza slowly torturing him. He beat him within an inch of his life, but not before he beat the pride out of him and killed his spirit. Frieza callously fired a death beam through his heart. He felt the remains of his heart slowing, the blood stilling in his veins and his body growing cold. He knew he was facing Hell. He saw Kakkarot through a blur of tears and an imploring, outstretched gloved hand. He heard his own voice. "He made me what I am."

He saw blackness.

He remembered Frieza's words when he was nailed to that tree in Otherworld. "The Dragon Balls are capable of bringing the dead back to life."

The prince's eyes widened with realization. I…died.

The complete recall of his life up to his death happened within that single second. It was as though a veil had fallen away, revealing the truth: He was Prince Vegeta. He had been brought back from the dead, but it was only now that he was awakening; he was awakening to a nightmare. He had been resurrected into some twisted version of his hated oppressor. Utterly aghast, he began to hyperventilate No. Gods, no. He had been transformed, he brought Frieza back, and now he was giving him his son just as his own father had done.

Touketsu-Vegeta was snapped back to the present when Trunks screamed in fury, ascending to Super Saiyan. Before anyone could react, the boy leapt forward straight at Frieza, arm drawn back to strike him.

Trunks's parents both shot to their feet, screaming at the same time.

"TRUNKS, NO!"

Frieza punched the boy directly into the chin, snapping his head back. His transformation instantly dropped as he was sent flying.

Touketsu-Vegeta reacted and caught the boy midair, Bulma rushing to them a moment later. Cradling Trunks's head over his left arm, Touketsu-Vegeta immediately knelt down, Bulma across from him as they both hovered over the boy. The single moment they anxiously searched for life felt like an eternity.

Trunks's neck was broken.

Touketsu-Vegeta looked into the half-lidded eyes of his son, and he stopped breathing. "No," he muttered in denial, touching two fingers to the boy's throat and searching in vain for a pulse. There was nothing but stillness and a fast approaching chill. That chill gripped his own body as the truth became agonizingly clear. "Trunks?" he spoke quietly, searching his son's unresponsive eyes. The spark was completely gone. Touketsu-Vegeta's face began to contort in grief, the sight of his son's lifeless body warping behind a veil of tears. "Trunks, no," he begged, his voice cracking.

Trunks had been a better version of him. He was good. He had become The Legendary and liberated him from Frieza's reign. The prince would have never thought he'd sire a hybrid, much less acknowledge the child's existence. This boy had blasted all his preconceived notions into oblivion; Touketsu-Vegeta's soul was being rent apart with loss. His eyes cracked open to see Bulma's gracile hand lay over his son's dead body.

"Trunks," Bulma choked out weakly. She gripped a tight fistful of his shirt and dropped her head. "Trunks," she sobbed, her voice ragged as the tears flowed freely.

Touketsu-Vegeta looked haltingly up at her. Bulma. His son's miraculous existence was made possible by the woman across from him. She was that same, frightened woman from Namek all along, the one that caught his eye and stayed his hand. How did a passing fancy lead to something so profoundly powerful?

She must have seen something in him. He must have fallen for her as well, just as he began falling for her at the Lookout. Ever since he became an orphan, he had vowed to never have any attachments, but he somehow let her in. Bulma must have been incredibly strong in sprit to break down defenses he built up over 25 years. He had seen glimpses of that strength during their short time together while he was trapped in this incarnation. How he wished he could have seen more.

"Bulma?" he whispered, his voice uncharacteristically weak. The moments seemed to stretch on before she finally looked up at him. Her blue eyes were still, lifeless oceans.

He felt himself die as he looked into her expressionless face. From the moment he saw her on Namek he inextricably had no desire to hurt her. In the end, he had after all; he killed her. He killed her very spirit. All the good from the family he helped create would remain locked away from him, a mystery. She was done with him.

His face cracked with loss, and his throat tightened. "Bulma…" he rasped. He swallowed and shook his head, looking down helplessly at their dead son in his arms before looking back to her. "Bulma, I…I'm s-"

He flinched when he felt a beam of ki graze his right arm. He looked at the flesh wound in confusion before looking back up at Bulma. There was a smoking exit wound over her heart. Her eyes rolled back and slid closed as she slumped forward.

"NO!" Touketsu-Vegeta cried. He caught her and held her close, his family cradled in each arm. He buried his face in her neck, his face twisting in pain as he squeezed his eyes tight against hot tears. He had struggled to break these bonds with them. Throughout his tribulations he concluded that only with their deaths would the bonds break. He was so wrong. Forged through forgotten experiences, they remained, powerful and agonizing. He was chained to corpses.

Frieza approached. "One. Last. Chance. I keep my word. The woman was attached to the boy. With him gone, she was useless to us." Arms crossed, Frieza studied the demon impassively, the creature's shuddering form wracked with soundless sobs as he held the lifeless bodies tight. "Let them go, Touketsu," Frieza drawled in annoyance. The grieving creature didn't seem to be listening, and Frieza's lip twitched in disgust. "That's an order."

Touketsu-Vegeta immediately stilled at the command, his bleary eyes cracking open. He had not been fully aware of the decisions he made that lead him down this path, but he made them nonetheless. He had marched right back into slavery. He couldn't hope to gather the Dragon Balls and revive his family now, not with Frieza again in control. In a broken daze, he looked up at his master.

His gaze hard, Frieza waited for him to comply. Touketsu-Vegeta lowered his head. Gently, he laid them down on either side of him, each hand resting over their hearts. The strength seemed to leave him as he gripped their shirts tight, his shoulders hunching up and his head dropping as he struggled to push away the pain. Shaking, the shadow began to creep over him.

"I'm waiting."

Touketsu-Vegeta released them. Head still lowered, he leaned back on his knees, his hands curling into fists. Trembling, the dark light began pulsing throughout his body.

"Good boy." Frieza stepped up to the demon prince, noting how he seemed to be reacting. "Now don't get emotional," he chided gently. "Those two were making you soft, and I care enough about you that I want you to realize your potential. They were the last hurdle for you." He placed a comforting hand upon his head. "While you may find it painful now, you'll be stronger for it, son-"

His words were cut off when Touketsu-Vegeta snatched him by the wrist of his outstretched hand. The dark prince looked up at the emperor, his lips peeling back in a fanged snarl as he burst into dripping blue and purple fire. "I'M NOT YOUR SON!" He roared.

He barreled into the tyrant with surprising force, knocking him off his feet before he could even react. Without conscious volition, the darkness raced through the demon prince's body, knocking the air out of Frieza and opening a portal behind him. They both plunged through.

_________________________________________________________________________

Down they fell, punching through the fabric of space-time again and again as the demon roared with unrelenting fury. Touketsu-Vegeta had lost control, the portals manifesting with every beat of his enraged heart. The powerful energy tore through Frieza's body repeatedly, and the tyrant lost hold of his transformation.

Through space debris they traveled, through the remains of planets long destroyed. Finally, they cut through the frigid atmosphere of a dead planet. Frieza regained his bearings at last, kicking outward into the prince's solar plexus and knocking him off. Frieza back flipped through the air and they both landed to the ground of the cold, barren, wasteland. They stood apart from each other for several moments, motionless and on guard.

Breathing hard, Touketsu-Vegeta lashed his tail angrily from side to side, his skin alabaster once more. In mind, he was again the warrior with the fighting prowess and ki wielding ability that had made him legendary for his deadliness. Nonetheless, it hadn't been enough against Frieza back on Namek. The prince knew he had a strange power within him. When he clashed with the Z fighters that power came to the fore and he had fallen in rhythm with it. But…how had he done it? His mind went into overdrive, analyzing just how he had managed it.

"You dare to attack me, you stupid beast!" Frieza spat. "I'll remind you of your place!"

"Kakkarot had his shot at you!" The prince shouted back. "My son had the honor of sending you to Hell. It's my turn, Frieza." He was again facing Frieza before he was ready, but he had to succeed this time. He had to. He crouched down into his signature battle stance.

Frieza's scowl gave way to dawning realization. An ugly smile crept across his lips, and he straightened. "Ah. There you are, Vegeta. Recovering from your little bout of amnesia?" he chuckled. "Or are you? You seem to have forgotten that it was in this form that I terminated your service. And now - thanks to you, I might add - I possess a power that overshadows even that of your revered Super Saiyans."

Inwardly cursing himself for getting swept up by his emotions, Touketsu-Vegeta pushed the deaths of his wife and son to the back of his mind. "Well I'm no Super Saiyan, so you should be worried," he bluffed.

"Should I, Vegeta? I won't need to draw upon my newfound powers in order to dispose of you." Frieza smirked confidently. Vegeta's previous mental state had been that of a reactive animal; it was while in the throes of his ape-like berserker rage that his power rivaled that of Gohan's enhanced Super Saiyan form. His protege had regained his identity, and Frieza knew the prince well; Vegeta would not allow himself to fall into such an emotional state again…

Touketsu-Vegeta's mouth twisted into a rictus of hatred, and he fell back completely on his old, familiar attacks. Channeling his ki, he leapt up to levitate several hundred feet in the air as he raised his arms over his head.

"HYAAA!" Touketsu-Vegeta lobbed a massive blast of gold ki at Frieza. Frieza's form seemed to disappear in the light of the ensuing blast that tore the frozen ground up into a traveling wall of debris. The prince immediately flew backwards to descend amongst the buildings of a vast, empty city. Bracing his back up against a glassy black wall, he suppressed his ki.

He strained his senses, searching for the tyrant's ki signature. His ki-sensing abilities were still relatively new to him, as his memory had only been restored up until his demise on Namek. Last time they went head to head, Frieza didn't possess the skill to detect ki or suppress his own. Damned if he couldn't detect him now, though. He didn't put it past the tyrant to have learned a thing or two during his time in Hell…

The prince was startled out of his thoughts when an enormous explosion suddenly detonated from within the city, continuing to sweep outward as it shattered the dark, glass-like buildings in its wake. Touketsu-Vegeta launched himself skyward out of the wake of progressing destruction. He observed the traveling wave of fires below, his expression grim.

His nostrils flared, and he stiffened.

The demon prince somersaulted up out of the way as Frieza plowed through where he had hovered moments before. The arcane speed and animal senses of the Oozaru as present as ever, the prince stomped into the back of the tyrant's neck, sending him rocketing down. He threw both hands out and rained a hail of ki blasts down on his target. "Trying to sneak up on me, Frieza!?" He called out. "Good luck trying that again with that stench of yours!"

Frieza phased behind him. "You're one to talk about stinking, you filthy monkey!" Frieza screamed as he delivered a roundhouse kick to his head. The demon prince blocked it before delivering a punch that was quickly parried.

Touketsu-Vegeta was capable of moving as fast as Goku at Super Saiyan 1. However, his former master was still stronger than him. He would have to anticipate Frieza's moves if he was going to be successful. Frieza had not yet transformed, and the prince concluded he was either too drained or too arrogant to do so. If Frieza was underestimating him, he would use that to his advantage. He successfully landed a punch combo and flew back.

"Destructo-disk!" he shouted, lobbing Krillin's attack at Frieza. Frieza dodged the attack, but Touketsu-Vegeta anticipated it; he had already directed the discus of energy to boomerang back. He phased in at Frieza's left and performed a spinning hook kick, sending him sailing in the opposite direction and into the trajectory of the returning attack.

Touketsu-Vegeta cracked a grin of anticipation, but it was wiped off his face when Frieza unleashed a burst of energy that nullifed the attack and temporarily blinded Touketsu-Vegeta. A half second later he found himself blocking a kick aimed for his head, then he deflected a knee aimed at his chin. He was instantly on the defensive as he met Frieza's flurry of punches and kicks. Though he was able to land the occasional blow when he broke through Frieza's onslaught, it did nothing to break their stalemate. Frieza hadn't landed a punch yet, but the demon prince could feel fatigue beginning to creep up on him with every bone-jarring punch he blocked.

"You really think you can keep up with me, Vegeta?" Frieza taunted as he threw strike after strike. Touketsu-Vegeta roared with fury as he struck again and again only for his attacks to be deflected. Frieza shook his head in mock disappointment. "I almost succeeded in your grooming. You had so much promise, but you decided to throw it all away, again, you ungrateful little SHIT!" He performed a reverse roundhouse kick which Touketsu blocked before countering with a close-range ki blast. Frieza immediately batted it away.

"Ungrateful?"Touketsu-Vegeta echoed as he attempted to drive a knee into Frieza's sternum. "What in the hell should I be grateful for?"

Frieza continued to effortlessly deflect his attacks. "You were an orphan. I could have killed you as a boy, but instead I showed you mercy and chose to raise you as a son. That is what makes you ungrateful, Vegeta."

"You enslaved my entire race! You took me from my father and destroyed my planet!" Touketsu-Vegeta successfully delivered a kesagiri chop to the neck that hardly fazed the tyrant. "I had nothing! Everything I did was for you. I destroyed worlds for you - carried out countless genocides in your name!"

Seeing his protege's fighting pattern, Frieza anticipated his next offensive. "Oh come now, Vegeta." He caught the prince's incoming fist in his hand, gripping tightly. Frieza yanked him forward and punched him hard in the stomach, Touketsu-Vegeta doubling over his fist. "You're a grown man now, take some responsibility." Frieza drove an elbow into the back of his neck sending him straight down. Touketsu-Vegeta halted his descent and whirled around angrily to look back up at the tyrant that hovered above him.

"You enjoyed it!" Frieza called out. "You reveled in it so much that you did it purely for sport - and I allowed it. It wasn't all in my name, my pet, and you know it. Your violent nature is in your blood, as it was with your filthy race. That is what made your kind such excellent soldiers. I merely fed their nature. I gave the Saiyan race direction for their mindless bloodlust and barbaric ways. I gave them purpose."

"You speak as though serving you was some great honor! I didn't want it! I didn't NEED it! I was the son of a king. I stood to inherit an entire world, and you took that from me!" Touketsu-Vegeta roared. He shot up to Frieza and swung a right hook, missing when Frieza phased behind him.

"You can't argue with the results now, can you?" Touketsu-Vegeta whirled around to face him when he was backhanded in the face and sent flying off to the side. Frieza phased in front of him to strike him across the face with his tail, but Touketsu-Vegeta brought up his forearm to block it. Frieza's tail immediately wrapped itself around his wrist and he was flung down towards a building. The prince drove his claws into the side of the building's smooth facade, and he looked over his shoulder. Frieza hovered above him, toying with him now.

"The results?!" the demon prince panted. "You twisted me!"

Frieza crossed his arms imperiously. "I made you more than what you could have ever been as a ruler of your little backwards planet. I made you a mirror image of the most powerful being in the universe: me." Frieza smirked. "And besides - your face is so much more comely now."

"DAMN YOU!"

Livid, Touketsu-Vegeta pushed himself off the building and launched himself towards Frieza with a speed the tyrant hadn't anticipated. The prince's horned head connected with his jaw, snapping his head back.

"I left you and your fucking army behind!" Touketsu-Vegeta screamed as he pummeled Frieza in a blind rage. "I had a new life!" He landed an uppercut followed by a left hook. "I had a FAMILY!" He raked a clawed hand across Frieza's face as the tyrant howled indignantly. "Somehow, somewhere along the way I began rebuilding what you took from me, and YOU TOOK IT ALL AWAY AGAIN!" He punched him in the stomach. "You've taken EVERYTHING!" he roared as he delivered a double axe handle over Frieza's bent form, sending him straight into the inferno below where he disappeared from view.

Touketsu-Vegeta quickly drew two hands back and began charging his Gallic Gun attack. "You're a plague, Frieza! AND I'M SENDING YOU BACK TO HELL!"