บท 22: Battle

"How could you have possibly survived that?" Frieza asked.

"I heal fast." Raditz deadpanned his response.

"I'm curious to see what the limits of your miraculous healing are." Frieza casually commented.

The combatants disappeared, leaving shockwaves in their wake. The two emperors had engaged in high speed combat. The onlookers were only sporadically able to make out what was happening. A medium sized rock formation near the group watching the fight exploded. Raditz's allies had to move quickly to avoid being hit by the debris.

The Saiyan had managed to hit Frieza into the hill, which was what led to the explosion. The tyrant wasted no time in returning to the battle. He noticed that his opponent, Raditz, was becoming better at avoiding his blows. Frieza hated to admit it, but Raditz's fist had become less of an annoyance and more noticeably painful.

Raditz learned through the exchange of blows with Frieza that his Fist of the North Galaxy would be ineffective on him. His atypical alien biology made his Ki points vastly different from other species. It didn't matter to Raditz whether he could rely on his technique or not. He just wanted to use Frieza as long as possible to get stronger.

"You think you are doing well?" Frieza asked. "Here, catch."

Frieza held up his right arm with his index finger pointing skyward. He formed a massive yellow ball of Ki on the tip of his raised finger. With a flick of his wrist, the galactic emperor tossed the small sun like ball of energy at Raditz.

"You can have taste of what happened to Planet Vegeta." Frieza laughed, "By the way if that touches

the ground, consider your friends and a big chunk of the planet extinct."

Raditz pooled his Ki to resist the imposing ball of energy bearing down on him. As the ball drew closer, the Saiyan raised his hands to hold back the energy. Raditz needed to keep ramping up his Ki to prevent Frieza's attack from vaporizing him.

The Saiyan managed to start forcing the giant attack back when he dropped down on one leg. A smoldering hole was burned through his left thigh. While he was struggling against the attack, Raditz failed to notice Frieza fire the Death Beam at his leg.

KAIO-KEN TIMES TEN!

The blazing red aura of the Kaio-Ken burned around Kakarot as he rushed at Frieza. He was angered by the sneak attack Frieza made against his brother. Kakarot used his burst of strength to force Frieza back away from the area.

Frieza was surprised that another Saiyan was strong enough to stand a chance, no matter how slim, against his second form. After getting push some distance away from Raditz, Frieza hit Kakarot with a hammer fist. The strike caused the Saiyan to get driven into the ground at a high velocity. A crater in the Namekian surface was formed around him.

The red fiery aura erupted around Kakarot once again as he exploded out of the crater back towards Frieza. The pair vanished and reappeared from place to place exchanging blows. Explosions could be heard from the collisions of strikes from the two combatants.

Raditz focused his Ki into his hands and used Ki beam to push against Frieza's attack. He continued to pour more energy into the attack until it started to move away from him. Beads of sweat formed on his head as he concentrated on using the appropriate amount of Ki to get the job done. Eventually, his blue beam of energy forced the attack out of the atmosphere and to the depths of space.

Raditz managed to push the Supernova away just in time, because Kakarot was sent crashing into the ground behind him. Kakarot seemed to be fine for the most part, but out of breath.

"You hurt?" Raditz questioned.

"Just need to catch my breath... Kaio-Ken takes a lot out me." Kakarot huffed.

Frieza slowly lowered himself down onto a blue grass covered hill. The group stared at the tyrant, waiting to see what he was going to try next. Nappa was horrified by the power he had witnessed from Frieza. Yet, at the same time he was inspired by Raditz's ability to match the his former boss.

Not to mention, Kakarot, a low leveled Saiyan who survived one on one against Frieza.

"You monkeys actually believe you can defeat me, behold." Frieza declared as his Ki skyrocketed.

CRACK! CRACK!

Frieza's body made sicken noises as it stretched and morphed. His head elongated, gaining four spike like protrusions. His face became more amphibious in appearance, along with his lips turning dark purple.

He was transforming into his third form.

When the transformation was over, the Earthlings could only stand there petrified. They could not conceive of anyone possessing the level of power they felt coming from Frieza. Raditz expected Frieza to be strong from knowing how the original story went, but feeling it in person was a different thing altogether. Ever since the hyper moon mutated him, Scouters have never been able to actually gauge his power, but he used Frieza as a measuring stick. He knew that his power had to have risen to at least over a million to push back the Supernova attack Frieza threw. Which meant he had waited long enough.

HAAAAH!

Raditz powered up with a deafening shout. He was drawing on the power of the Ape. Everyone could feel the oppressive Ki surging from his body. His muscle began to expand, his irises became Great Ape crimson, and his hair took on the same wild appearance as it did when he used it against Vegeta. He could feel the anger of the ape rising inside of him. The pain from the wound in his leg was all but nonexistent.

"I have never seen or heard of a monkey doing anything like that." Frieza mused before using both hands to fire off a barrage of Death Beams.

Raditz blinked through the attacks as he closed the distance to Frieza. Once he was directly in front of his opponent, both disappeared from sight. The onlookers once again could no longer follow the action. They all could see the effects of the battle by the trail of destruction left behind.

The landscape was altered in multiple locations by the clash. In one place, a small mountain crumbled to the ground. When the fight moved over the water, tall geysers of water would erupt into the air from the pressure of the strikes.

When the clash ended, the two fighters found themselves face to face on twin plateaus. Raditz was covered in blood and clutching his right arm. Frieza looked equally as worn down by the quick, but

fierce clash.

"You actually are quite capable." Frieza praised. "To think a Saiyan achieved such strength."

"I like exceeding expectations." Raditz said.

Vegeta couldn't understand where Raditz obtained his mysterious power. He thought the jump in strength came from when he healed earlier in the fight. If that were true then he could also use his Saiyan Power to get stronger, too.

"Kakarot how was your brother healed from his earlier wounds?" he asked, causing Kakarot to break his concentration on the fight.

Kakarot relaxed his tail and removed a pouch from his waistband. He removed one of the small, pale, green beans and tossed it over to the spiky haired Saiyan. Vegeta caught the bean and closely examined it. To him it just looked like an ordinary plant with no special qualities.

"Its call a Panacea bean." Kakarot explained, "As long as you are alive, it can heal any wound or disease. They come from one of my brother's planets."

"Does it really do what you say?" Vegeta had a plan but needed confirmation before he attempted such a risky gamble.

"Yeah, you can keep that one." Kakarot nodded his head in confirmation.

"Nappa, I'm going to suppress my power level. I need you to mortally wound me." Vegeta ordered.

"What? Why?" the bald Saiyan asked. He couldn't understand why his boss had given him such a strange order.

"It's simple, Raditz may be strong, but only I have the potential to become the Super Saiyan of legend. Once I heal from near death, my power should be unrivaled." Vegeta explained.

"Are you sure about this, Prince Vegeta?" Nappa questioned. He could already feel Vegeta's power dropping.

"Yes I'm sure Nappa, do it." Vegeta ordered his ally to attack.

Nappa charged a beam in his hand, preparing to attack his long time boss. Secretly, it was a pleasurable moment for the older Saiyan. He was could get revenge for all the years of taking orders from Vegeta. Nappa unleashed his attack.

The beam seared a hole in the lower torso of the defenseless Vegeta. The other nearby warriors looked over to see what had occurred. Vegeta's body was on the ground with a smoking hole in his stomach. The blue Namekian grass was dyed red by his Saiyan blood. He was struggling to get the life saving bean into his mouth.

"He should've put the bean in his mouth first." Kakarot commented. Reiss nodded in agreement with his uncle. Tien and Krillin were not sympathetic to the plight of Vegeta, he did recently attack their home world.

Vegeta was very near to death when he managed to eat the Panacea bean. His consciousness was teetering on the edge of darkness when he took the first bite. Instantaneously, he felt his life return to him. Not only had his wound been healed, but he was right, his power had increased dramatically.

In his mind, if he was on the threshold of becoming a Super Saiyan before, he must had crossed it now.

Vegeta looked down at his hands as he opened and closed his fists. He was double checking that the bean had done its job with no adverse effects. When he was satisfied, he flew off towards Frieza and Raditz. He was ready to prove his theory about his Super Saiyan status correct.

"Ah, Vegeta, how wonderful that you could join us." Frieza chided. "Are you here to surrender to my mercy?"

"Surrender?" the prideful Saiyan asked. "I'm here to kill you, Frieza."

"And how do you plan on killing me, Lord Frieza?" the evil emperor asked. He seemed genuinely curious, "Don't tell me you became a Super Saiyan. Honestly, Vegeta, you are too old for fairy tales."

"Laugh all you want Frieza." Vegeta said full of confidence. Pressure from the short Saiyan built as he charged his Ki.

Nearby rock formations crumbled under his building power. A crater formed under his feet as he screamed. Debris began to float and orbit around Vegeta as his power neared its peak.

"As you are about to find out Frieza, you aren't dealing with an ordinary Saiyan warrior. I, Prince Vegeta, have become what you always feared, a Super Saiyan!" Vegeta declared with a certainty born of pride and stories his father told him.

"Vegeta, you are not a Super Saiyan." Raditz frowned.

"If that is what you think, then prepare to face me after I finish with Frieza." Vegeta replied.

The atmosphere around Frieza grew still as he built a huge amount of Ki. The tyrant was in the process of increasing his power even more.

"If you think you are a Super Saiyan, then I'm more than willing to test it." Frieza said before becoming enveloped in a sphere of bright light.

When the phenomenon was complete, Vegeta and Raditz were face to face with the final form of Frieza. His body had shrunken back down to its original short height. The shell like skin covering his body had turned white. The horns on his head had disappeared, leaving his head a smooth dome.

"No one has seen my final form before. I hope the power of a Super Saiyan isn't disappointing." Frieza sounded bored. The baritone his voice had taken on in his previous two forms had vanished. "Are you ready, Vegeta?"

Without waiting for a reply, Frieza charged at Vegeta, delivering several rapid blows to his body. Raditz watched on as Vegeta was overpowered at every turn. He hoped his wife was getting good footage of what was happening, because he would want to see Vegeta get beaten up multiple times.