"H-He's… he's dead! Yamcha!" Krillin shouted, looking at Yamcha's limp body as Tien and Piccolo just stood there stiffly.
"He… he is," Bulma muttered to my side, her eyes also wide, "S-Seriously? I know he was a dumbass, but this is… this is too far!"
"Relax. He'll be back," I just shot her down quickly, causing her to look at me incredulously. "You're the smart one, right? Remember the magical wish-granting balls that can bring people back to life?"
"You're right, but if…" She trailed off, glancing over Vegeta and Nappa, who were chuckling at how Yamcha had died to a Saibamen, "If they…"
"Trust me, they won't," I said simply, glancing over at her, as she still looked uncertain, "And, on the off chance they do, I'll wish them all back personally, alright?"
I wanted the Z-Fighters alive anyway, so while I was confident they would defeat the duo of Saiyans, I could reassure Bulma without lying. If Vegeta and Nappa did somehow come out on top, I'd just consider my plan a failure, kill them both, and wish the Z-Fighters back.
In an ideal world, I could control them all like puppets while I grew my empire, but things didn't always go as planned. There was no harm in having a backup plan.
"I-If you say so," Bulma nodded, still looking a bit shaky as she glanced at Yamcha's body.
"Ha! He really couldn't beat even a Saibamen!" Vegeta scoffed, chuckling as he looked at the remaining nervous Z-Fighters, "Surely you can't all be that weak, right? It'd feel like a waste of time if I were called here for such a group of weaklings!"
Vegeta finished his taunt by stepping forward, casually dumping the rest of the Saibamen seeds into the rocky floor as Nappa pulled out the green liquid again. The process repeated, as five more green-clawed hands rose from the ground like zombies, pulling themselves out from inside the Earth.
"W-What do we do?!" Krillin didn't answer Vegeta's taunt, instead just looking over nervously from Piccolo, to Tien, to Chiaotzu, to Gohan, and then even to Roshi. In response, the elderly man swiftly held up a peace sign as he stepped back, intent on leaving the fight to the younger generation - which was smart, because he was definitely out of his league here.
"What do you think we do?" Piccolo asked bluntly, looking over at the Saibamen with a small smirk, "You scared of a bunch of plants?"
That was rather ironic coming from the other green and plant-like fighter here, but Piccolo seemed rather unafraid as he looked over the Saibamen, and I couldn't blame him for his confidence. He had been able to handle the Saibamen pretty easily originally, and now he was far stronger, even while suppressing his true power.
"I hate agreeing with you, but I do," Tien nodded at Piccolo's unspoken decision, shifting into his fighting stance as he narrowed his eyes at the new quintet of Saibamen, "I said it already, Krillin! We can't just wait for Goku to come and save the day - this is our fight too!"
"R-Right!" Krillin steeled his face a bit, going into his fighting stance as Chiaotzu did as well. Gohan followed in suit, but the child was shaking like a leaf, and I felt like he was even worse than he had been originally. Did I somehow change how Piccolo trained him?
I was a bit impressed by how quickly they put aside their grief and fear at one of their own being murdered in cold blood by a literal Saibamen, but these were the Z-Fighters after all. Even if they tended to stutter and stare in awe at powerful beings to showcase just how outmatched they were, which happened more than you would think, they were still the strongest fighters Earth had to offer.
"You all take one," Piccolo ordered, smirking lightly as he stared down a Saibamen, "That means you, too, kid!"
"M-Me?!" Gohan flinched just at the idea, but he wasn't given a chance to argue as Piccolo lunged forward, the other Z-Fighters in tow.
The Saibamen fight had originally gone pretty smoothly, as aside from Yamcha starting his 'I'm going to constantly be a coward and suck at every opportunity I get' career path, the other Z-Fighters had been able to at least hold their own. Now, with their new increased power, it was a massacre.
Piccolo finished his first, dashing forward as he dodged a swipe from the plant, retaliated with a punch of his own that made the Saibamen keel over, and then raised his hand as he finished it with a simple Ki blast. Tien wasn't far behind, as he effortlessly outmaneuvered his Saibamen as well, and then slammed a harsh fist on the back of its neck - sending the small creature to the ground with a blank, dead expression from the blow.
Krillin struggled a bit more, having an exchange of blows with the one he targeted, but then managed to land a strong kick on the cabbage monster's face. It stumbled backward, falling onto its ass, and Krillin, the ever-nice-guy, paused as he hesitated to finish off the monster. Luckily for him, just as the Saibamen leaped up to self-destruct and give him the Yamcha treatment, a Ki blast from Piccolo intercepted and killed it.
"Now's not the time to be the good guy," Piccolo grunted, looking hardly at Krillin, "Trust me, if we lose here, that guy won't even consider sparing us!"
Actually, I was definitely going to make sure they were all wished back after a bit of training from King Kai, but I could understand why he felt that way. I did steal Bulma, threaten to kill him, and flex my power on him probably more than I needed to, after all.
The final two were, notably, not included in the 'massacre.' Gohan seemed to have the speed to keep up with the Saibamen, but as was customary for child Gohan, he was nervous, shaky, and overall afraid. That led to him looking stupid as he stumbled backward, literally tripping on a rock, and then being saved as Piccolo dashed forward and handled the Saibamen.
By comparison, Chiaotzu was definitely more composed, but also… not nearly strong enough. Even as he powered up, causing a flare of white Ki to burst up around him, his power level barely reached two thousand. He was even with his Saibamen, exchanging blows, but as the Saibamen raked his claws across Chiaotzu's face in a barely dodged swipe, Tien wisely decided to step in.
He casually took out the Saibamen in just two attacks, catching it by surprise with a kick to the side as he sent it falling flat on its face. He followed up by stomping down with his foot, holding it in place as he fired a Ki blast down that destroyed the small creature's body.
"We did it!" Krillin breathed out, smiling a bit with relief.
"Awww! It would've been funny if another one died!" Nappa chuckled, and even I felt like that was a bit harsh.
Death by Saibamen? That was a fate worse than just dying normally - the humiliation that came from it was something only Yamcha could handle, as he was pretty used to that kind of stuff.
"Shut up! It's far from over!" Piccolo shut Krillin's excited words down, quickly gathering the Z-Fighters in a circle as he was scolding Gohan as well.
"A team huddle?" Nappa blinked, watching as the Z-Fighters were doing damn near that, and glanced over at Vegeta, "Hey, Vegeta! Should we do that too?"
"No, you moron, there's only two of us," Vegeta replied dryly, though he glanced back at me with a light smirk, "Unless you'd like to join in, Lord Frieza?"
Those last two words were strained with venom, and it seemed Vegeta hadn't entirely lost his balls. But I just waved him off.
"Why would I converse with ants?" I smirked as my words made him stiffen, but he didn't have a comeback.
A rather long few minutes passed as the Z-Fighters discussed, and while I knew they were just stalling for time until Goku arrived, I was starting to become a bit bored. I figured this trip back to Earth would be a lot of waiting and watching, but without even some popcorn to keep me busy, it was becoming too much to take.
"I think I could handle the bald one, but the other one is the problem," Piccolo muttered, glancing sideways over at Vegeta as he stood watching, still in a huff from my words, "Judging from his energy, it'd take everything I have to beat the first one, so I'd be pretty useless against him."
"The safest option is to just wait," Tien nodded at his words, "We'll just talk like this for as long as they let us, and then challenge the big one to a one-on-one battle. We don't even have to beat him - just stall out the fight until Goku gets here."
"Very good plan. It seems that devilishly handsome and super powerful alien is intent on just letting us wait, so we'll just keep talking. We don't stand a chance against him, but maybe we can bore him to death?"
"Huh? You think that pink guys is hand- UGH!" Krillin stumbled back, as did the rest of the Z-Fighters, as they realized I was now casually standing in their little huddle as well.
"You think I'm ugly? Eh, probably a bit," It wasn't like Frieza, especially this first-form I was in, was particularly good looking, "But when you have power, you don't really need looks, do you? I have a lot of that, so-"
I held up my hand, and a small, pink ball of Ki formed on my palm. It was just a casual, almost effortless display for me, but the power contained in the ball started to shake the entire world around us. The air vibrated, the ground below shook like there was an earthquake, and small pebbles started to float up into the air.
"Fight now, or die, alright?" I hummed, and I got a flurry of shaky nods in response. I casually closed my hand, dispersing the Ki ball, and appeared back in my chair next to Bulma in a split second.
"R-Right! Then, I'll fight first!" Tien shouted, stepping forward as he stared at Nappa challengingly, "I'll take you on by myself! I'm more than enough for-"
"Nope," I casually called out, intervening as Tien blinked rapidly, looking over at me confusedly, "You think I interrupted your conversation to let you continue with your plan? You'll all fight at once."
"H-Huh? You want us to fight together?!" Vegeta was the one who countered my words this time, looking offended as he glanced at the Earthlings, wrinkled his nose, then back to me, "Nappa could handle these weaklings alone!"
"And he will," I nodded, confusing Vegeta as he blinked at my words, "I meant they'll fight together. I don't want the appetizer to take too long, and I know you Saiyans have your pride. When he fails, you'll finish them off."
"When I fail?! Hah! I'll handle these brats quickly!" Nappa shouted arrogantly, stomping forward with a large grin as he eyed Krillin and Gohan.
"Oh, this is what you meant," Bulma sighed next to me, looking a bit relieved at the Z-Fighters tensed, ready to all take on Nappa at once, "If they take them on one at a time, then there's no way they'll lose!"
"Close. They'll win, but not without a death or two," I countered, causing Bulma to look at me confusedly, "Just trust me. It'll all work out."
In theory, the Z-Fighters should be able to win this 5v1 pretty easily. They were all much stronger than they had been originally, and with Nappa's power level sitting at just four thousand, it should be a walk in the park.
Should be. Instead, I knew that Nappa would put in a lot of pain before he went down, simply because he was… weird.
In the series, he shouldn't have been that difficult to take down either. His four thousand power level hadn't been that overwhelming when facing down Piccolo's only five hundred less, along with Gohan's three thousand and Krillin's roughly two thousand. But, despite that, Nappa had pretty easily dominated the fight, only having a couple of close calls overall, and even killed Piccolo because of Gohan's fear.
Then, when he fought Goku, someone who was double his power level and whom he had been shaking in fear after hearing his 'over 8000!' power level, he had been getting his ass kicked at the start - as expected. Goku flexed on him, literally using his head as a stool, and ran circles around him… until Vegeta simply told Nappa to get serious. The meathead had then powered up and had been able to keep up with Goku, even if Goku wasn't fighting entirely seriously. He even forced Goku to use the Kaio-Ken to save Gohan and Krillin.
As such, I genuinely didn't know how this fight would go. Nappa might get his shit kicked in by the powered-up Z-Fighters, but I suspected that he would at least hold his own.
And, as Piccolo made the first move, lunging forward as his Ki flared up around him and his power level rose from not even four thousand to almost six thousand in an instant, it seemed my assumption was right. He shot forward at Nappa, his arm cocked back, and… got a fist lodged in his stomach immediately.
"GUH!" Piccolo slumped over the fist, his eyes wide as Nappa stepped forward, both dodging Piccolo's attack and countering in one fluid movement. Even if he was the weakest of the 'only three living Saiyans' - at least as far as Vegeta knew - Nappa was still a Saiyan. A man with decades of experience, and who was a part of a warrior race.
Fighting was in his blood, and while Piccolo was far from a newbie at fighting, this was something he had never experienced before. Luckily, he wasn't alone, as a flying kick from Tien slammed into Nappa's cheek and sent him stumbling backward, giving Piccolo a chance to recover.
"Fight together!" He shouted back, and Krillin came flying forward a second later, his fists blurring as he launched punch after punch at Nappa - who recovered quickly and made quick work of dodging them.
Tien joined in as well, and I was seriously impressed as Nappa dodged, his body moving like a blur to the Z-Fighters as his massive frame weaved in and out of the punches, and then finally crossed his arms. Both Krillin's and Tien's punches landed, pounding into his guard as he slid back a bit, but Nappa just smirked.
"DIE!" He roared, flinging his arms outward as his mouth opened abruptly, and both fighters scattered as a massive beam of Ki shot forward. However, it wasn't aimed at them, but instead at one of the two members who had yet to enter the fight.
"GOHAN!" Piccolo shouted as he dashed forward, watching as the beam of Ki streamed towards the shaking boy, who had been far behind Tien and Krillin, "DODGE!"
Gohan did, in fact, not dodge. Luckily for him, Chiaotzu actually had a brain and grabbed his arm to yank him out of the course of the blast.
See how easy that was, Piccolo? Did you really need to sacrifice your life to block that attack? You could've just shoved him out of the way!
"HAHA! Hey, Vegeta! This is fun, Vegeta!" I remembered how annoying Nappa was as he called out to Vegeta, his eyes wide with excitement as he shot forward again, not giving Gohan or Chiaotzu a second to recover.
He slammed his fist directly into Chiaotzu's face, sending the small man flying backward as he shot into a rocky mountain, and then turned to Gohan. He lashed out with his leg, trying to stop directly into Gohan's fear-ridden face, but Piccolo reached him in time, blocking the stomp with a grunt.
As the battle continued, I quickly figured out that Nappa wasn't as stupid as he looked, sounded, or acted. He was caught in a five-versus-one battle where three of the participants could at least match him, if not surpass him. However, he quickly realized the weakness that was the terrified Gohan, and to a lesser extent, Chiaotzu.
I once again saw the changes that came from stealing Bulma and showing up on Earth previously, as while Gohan had definitely been scared originally, right now he was downright terrified. He couldn't even hold up his hands to form a guard as Piccolo, Tien, and Krillin had to keep coming to his aid, not able to turn their full attention to Nappa as a result.
I assumed that Piccolo trained him differently than he originally did for a reason I wasn't sure of, and as a result, Gohan had less life-or-death experience. He was a handicap for the other fighters, and the weaker Chiaotzu was too as Nappa targeted him as well.
Granted, that didn't mean the Z-Fighters were getting destroyed or anything. Nappa had his work cut out for him, and the Z-Fighters hadn't forgotten about their stall tactic just because they were fighting together. They fought in a cat-and-mouse-like manner - exchanging blows with Nappa, and then retreating to protect their weak links, and never doing an all-out attack.
Nappa's huge body quickly became covered in bruises as his armor broke down, but his endurance was seriously impressive, as he wasn't falling behind despite having to handle five fighters. However, eventually, he was pushed to the brink as he was breathing heavily, covered in trails of blood, as the Z-Fighters still looked relatively healthy.
"GRAH! I seriously have to go all out against these weaklings?!" Nappa roared, looking more than a bit pissed off, "Hey, Vegeta! Look away!"
"Just shut up and kill them, Nappa," Vegeta responded dryly as Nappa let out a loud scream, his body becoming covered in a thick yellow aura of Ki as his power level spiked upward.
It climbed far from its initial four thousand, shooting up to eight thousand, and then nearly ten thousand as he smirked widely, enjoying the wide-eyed expressions of the Z-Fighters. I could see how he had been able to keep up with a non-serious Goku now.
"HA! Now you're in for it, you damn weaklings!" Nappa grinned widely, launching forward as he locked onto Gohan again, appearing in front of him in a burst of speed, "You're dead, brat!"
"G-Gohan!" Piccolo shouted, launching forward to try and save him, but he simply couldn't keep up with Nappa's speed. Nappa cocked back his fist, towering over the scared kid, and slammed it down into his face.
Or, he would've, if a figure didn't come flying out of nowhere - literally, as the spikey-haired form of Goku came launching down from the air, his feet slamming into Nappa's face and making him stumble back.
Seriously, what's up with this timing? I figured he would show up sooner than I expected, since he was stronger than he had been originally, and thus could travel Snake Way faster, but right at the perfect moment? At the very last second?
I couldn't help but chuckle.
"W-What the hell?!" Nappa huffed, stumbling backwards from the blow as Goku flipped through the air, landing on the ground in front of Gohan.
"D-Dad!" Gohan stared up with wide eyes.
"Goku!" Krillin looked almost as excited as Goku's own son, letting out a sigh of relief as he arrived.
"Sorry I'm late, guys," Goku just smiled brightly, reaching down into his Gi as he pulled out a familiar-looking green bean. "You guys did great! Here, Gohan, take this- AH!"
Goku inhaled sharply, spinning around as the bean was suddenly not in his hand, but mine as I stood behind him.
"I'll be taking this," I hummed, looking down appreciatively at the Senzu Bean. To be able to mass produce the bean, I first needed one to be studied, so unfortunately for Gohan, I would be keeping this one.
I hadn't grabbed one on my first trip for a couple of reasons - mainly because I hadn't convinced Bulma to help me yet, and I thought she would be essential in mass-producing these beans, and I didn't know if they'd go bad or lose their effects before I could convince her. And, because I didn't want to torment the Earthlings too much.
"You…" Goku narrowed his eyes at me, "You're the same guy from last time, right? The crazy strong one."
"I am. You may call me Lord Frieza," I hummed, smirking at him as I held up the bean, deciding I would instead use it to challenge him a bit, "You want this back, don't you? I can tell by the look on your face."
I could always get another one from the Lookout, though, waiting for them to be ready would be a bit annoying.
"Of course I do! I'm here to fight, so leave Gohan out of this," He replied, his face a bit steely, "Give it back!"
"Sure," I said simply, smirking wider as I nodded at the forms of Nappa and Vegeta behind him, neither of whom dared to move as I took action, "Defeat them, and I'll give it to you."
"Them?" Goku glanced over his shoulder, his lips twitching up into a confident and excited grin, "No thanks. I'm not here to fight them. I'm here to fight…"
I blinked, genuinely surprised as Goku turned back, raising his arm and pointing his finger directly at my chest.
"You."
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AN: Thank you for reading! The next chapter will be posted in a few days!
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