Chapter 36

Edited by: Ness Frost

A/N: Italics in this chapter will be used to show a flashback, so whenever the writing slips into that, that means you're seeing past events.

To say that Garlic Jr. was unhappy with the current situation atop what he deemed to be his new palace was the understatement of the century; he was absolutely livid. His miniature body trembled furiously as he attempted to bore a hole through the source of all of his troubles: the dark-haired woman that had effortlessly dispatched his henchmen in a mere instant. Balling his fist as an outward expression of his inner fury, the blue imp levitated off his throne before slowly making his way to face this last obstacle to his destiny.

"So it seems that you're not completely incompetent after all," remarked the Makyan, disdain for the human girl practically oozing from his lips with every word he spoke. "You may have been able to defeat those imbeciles, but you won't be so lucky this time. No one can hope to challenge me, the rightful ruler of Earth!"

"You don't have the right to rule anyone!" shouted back the fiery female. "No one does, especially not someone as despicable as you! You have the audacity to claim you are a king after poisoning the people you claim to rule. What's the point of being a ruler with no subjects?"

A snarl formed across the small man's face. This stupid girl had no idea what she was talking about, did she? It wasn't as if he had given the human populace arsenic, or any other lethal toxin. No, all he had done was allow for man's true self - the one that Garlic Jr. and his people had dealt with ever since crash-landing on this planet - to be fully exposed for all to bear witness to.

"I don't care to hear you lecture me on my actions," seethed Garlic Jr., baring his fangs at his opponent. "All I care about is getting rid of the annoying pest that stands between me and my destiny. Now you can either kneel before your new master, or I can force you to do it. It's your decision."

"Bowing to you would not only be an insult to the act itself, but to the people of Earth that are counting on me to save them!" exclaimed the woman, crouching into a fighting stance as she narrowed her eyes at the imp. "By the end of this fight, you'll be the one on the ground, not me."

"So be it then, I guess I'll have to eliminate you myself," stated the pointy eared dwarf coldly, before phasing out of sight. Reappearing behind his enemy, Garlic Jr. prepared to deliver several lightning fast jabs that he was positive would knock the woman out of the fight permanently after snapping her spinal cord. To his surprise, however, a crimson aura suddenly ignited around the brunette's body and the Makyan found his punches deflected by the palms of the girl's hands.

Using his agile and small frame to his advantage, the small devil quickly relocated himself by flying to about head level with the female but also placing himself behind her right shoulder. Again, Garlic was surprised by how quickly the girl was able to track his movements as he was forced to descend to dodge a lightning fast tornado kick that swept through the air he had just been occupying.

Attempting to take advantage of his now off-balanced opponent, the sky blue alien swiftly closed the remaining distance between him and the human warrior. A smirk formed across Garlic Jr.'s face, knowing that his enemy couldn't dodge this attack; he quickly kicked Chi-Chi's planted leg from underneath her, causing the female fighter to tumble to the ground. Phasing out of the way of the woman's cascading body, the imp appeared directly in front of his collapsed opponent, a red orb of energy already formed in the palm of his hand.

Garlic's devilish grin almost covered the entirety of his face as he caught a quick glance of Chi-Chi's widening eyes before firing his energy attack. His smile quickly transformed into a frown, though, as his attack passed harmlessly through a simple mirage of the Earthling and he was forced to retreat backwards to avoid being harmed by his own attack. The explosion from the small ball of energy ripped through the stone that covered the plaza of the Lookout, creating a crevice that traveled all the way to the lower levels of the palace.

From his position atop one of the many towers that dotted the courtyard, Garlic Jr. couldn't help but feel a little bewilderment at this sudden display of strength and speed from this mere human. There shouldn't be a being alive on this planet that could match his peerless power, and yet this human had managed to counter every move he had made so far. This was a troubling occurrence, because ever since his birth the Makyan had been told that they, he, was superior to the Earthlings in every way. That the only reason that they were treated so harshly and cruelly was because the humans knew that the Makyans were the superior race, so they attempted to degrade them since they couldn't hope to compare in any other way. So how was this woman achieving such power? No ordinary human should be capable of possessing that kind of strength.

Garlic Jr. was snapped back into reality when a crimson-hued arm suddenly entered into his peripheral vision. The dwarf's eyes widened in horror as his opponent's fist crashed into his cheekbone, forcing his neck to contort awkwardly to adjust for the pressure being placed on his face. A string of profanities raced through the man's mind as time seemed to come to a halt as he directed a glare in the direction of his attacker, all while his body was slowly being uplifted from the ground and forced into the air from the mighty blow.

After this fleeting moment of what seemed like a pause in space and time, the Makyan was flung through the air by Chi-Chi's punch, his body easily puncturing through any obstacle in his way. Tower after tower was reduced to rubble as the miniature devil crashed through their infrastructure, unable to halt his forced flight. Finally, Garlic Jr. was able to regain his composure after traveling nearly the entire distance across the Lookout.

"You'll pay for that!" the Makyan screamed, lifting both of his hands into the air as orbs of blood-red energy encased his tiny hands. With a furious cry of rage, the imp began to fire ki blast upon ki blast at the crimson aura that Garlic had begun to loathe with a passion. The Continuous Energy Bullet technique rained down upon the stationary human woman like a tidal wave, the energy building up into a massive cloud of explosions as they poured in one after the either. Violent tremors shook the entire Lookout as Garlic Jr.'s attack shook the very foundation of the floating fortress as a blinding red light bathed the entire scene in the explosion of the demon's attack.

As the light that obscured the courtyard from sight finally began to fade with a loud humming sound as the energy from the attack dissipated into the air, the light blue dwarf panted slightly from the tremendous effort he had just exerted. He hadn't meant to let his emotions drive him to using so much of his energy so quickly, but the imp just couldn't help himself. That annoying human had just pushed his buttons one too many times, and now she had felt his wrath. A small chuckle began to escape from Garlic's mouth as the thought of the woman's burnt corpse in the middle of the smokescreen below entered into his mind. Served her right, that's what she deserved after attempting to rob him of his birthright.

However, as the smoke cleared, the imp's smirk quickly turned around on itself and became a frown as the silhouette of a woman standing amongst the debris came into view. Garlic's tiny arms began to shake with rage as his opponent appeared completely unfazed from his furious assault, with the only signs that she had even been in the blast being some small tears in her clothing.

A feral snarl escaped from Garlic Jr.'s lips as he bared his fangs at the seemingly invulnerable woman before shouting, "Why won't you just die already, you pathetic human!"

"I will not fall!" responded the brunette as she clenched her hands into fists and prepared to launch herself into the sky after her opponent. "Not until I've saved all those innocent people that you've harmed!"

"Innocent!" scoffed the teal dwarf.

The sounds of stifled crying echoed throughout the crudely built, stone, house. Curled up into a ball against one of the rocky walls, sat a young boy, with pointy blue ears. Tiny trails of purple liquid streamed down his limbs and bald head as he rocked himself in the fetal position, failing miserably in his attempt at holding back his tears.

"Junior!" shouted a booming voice from the doorway of the hut. A quick glance from the wounded child revealed a large, muscular, man standing in the framework of the entrance. It seemed as if he were just a silhouette, since his dark, navy blue, skin made him nearly inseparable from the darkness that was shrouding the outside world. At first, the large demon-like man seemed not to notice him, but the boy did not remain hidden for long as the newcomer's blood-red eyes scanned over the one-room home before settling on the curled up form of the adolescent alien.

Garlic Jr. immediately broke eye contact with his father as soon as their two gazes met each other. Pulling his knees up to his chest, the boy buried his face into them in order to hide his tear stained face from his sire. An unsettled silence hung over the pair of Makyans as the older of the two simply stared down at his beaten and injured son with an expressionless face.

"You went into that village today, didn't you?" the father asked his son in a low voice.

The boy's eyes widened in horror as the images of the small rural town forced their way back into his mind and the voices of its inhabitants suddenly seemed to be shouting at him once again.

'Look, it's that monster again!'

'No, Sally! Get back in the house! That thing's dangerous!'

'What are you doing here, you pointy-eared freak! We've already told your kind that you're not welcome here!'

'Guess we'll have to teach this demon a lesson! Quick, everyone, let's get that little bastard!'

The sound of gunfire rang through Garlic Jr.'s head as he brought his hands to his ears and covered them, in a vain attempt to make the nightmare stop. No matter how hard he tried, though, he couldn't dispel the images of the townspeople chasing him away with their guns and pitchforks. The feeling of bullets and rocks scraping against his skin, drawing his blood while his pursuers howled victoriously at the sight of the 'freak' being wounded. The sound of theirs jeers and taunts at the mere sight of him. Why couldn't they all just go away!?

Garlic Sr. simply continued to stare at his son as the tears once again began to stream down his face. Turning his back on the boy, the elder Makyan made his way to once again exit the rudimentary building, but as he was about to step outside the man stopped and turned his head back towards the boy.

"I promise things will get better," the boy's father vowed. "Once I complete my training under the Guardian of this planet, and succeed him for the title of Kami, then our people will finally receive the respect we deserve. You, I, and the rest of our race have done nothing wrong, it is the humans that are at fault here. You are young, so you do not fully understand this yet, but the humans only fear, despise, and attack us because deep down they know that we are better than them. We are the superior race here, Junior, don't ever forget that!"

Upon finishing his small speech, the elder Makyan swiftly exited, leaving his young, weeping son to ponder his father's words.

Garlic Jr. dug his sharp fingernails into his palm as the memory of that day flashed before his eyes. Trickles of blood began to pour from the cracks between his knuckles as the imp gnashed his fangs together before glaring daggers into the insolent human woman below him.

"Innocent! Don't make me laugh!" screamed the dwarf. "There's no such thing as an innocent human! You are all to blame for the discrimination and suffering that my people have had to suffer from! You Earthlings like to believe that you are all high, mighty, and 'moral,' but in reality you are the exact opposite! All that I have done is reveal the true face of humanity, the side that my people have known since we crash-landed on this planet, to the rest of the world!"

Lifting up both his hands so that they were eye level, scarlet orbs of energy sprang to life in his palms as Garlic Jr.'s maniacal gaze once again focused in on his opponent.

"Now, why don't you be a good little human and DIE!" he roared as he flung both of his arms downward and fired a massive, ball of energy from both of his hands before bringing his hands together. With another vigorous shout of fury, Garlic Jr. fired another sphere of energy, flinging both of his hands down and firing a third energy blast, which dwarfed the other two in size.

The first pair of energy blasts raced towards their target with surprising velocity. A growl of frustration was released by the owner of these attacks as that annoying woman managed to deflect the first one with a well-timed kick before barrel rolling out of the way of the second orb of ki. However, she stopped dead in her tracks as the third, and most powerful, sphere of blood-red energy prepared to bear down on her.

Garlic cackled with glee. There was no way that she would be able to dodge that attack now! It was too late for her; soon that mass of energy would consume that stupid wretch and there would be nothing left to stop him from completing his plan!

It seemed that fate was slated against him today, though, for as the imp began to allow the euphoric feeling of victorious glee overtake him, a blue light began to emit from the palms of the human girl. A flash of anger appeared across the Makyan's face as a blue wave of energy then pierced through his own energy attack, causing it to disperse harmlessly into the air surrounding the Lookout.

In an instant, the crimson-hued woman was upon him, delivering a powerful knee strike to the dwarf's exposed abdomen. Garlic Jr.'s mouth hang agape, with a clot of blood spewing forth, as he doubled over the brunette's knee from the intense pain that now shot through every fiber of his being. The pointy eared demon had never known anyone could hit so hard and it seemed as if his mind had become completely blank, unable to even think straight because of the mind-numbing agony.

Another yelp of anguish escaped from the man's throat as the Earthling sent him careening towards the stone floor of the Lookout from a follow up karate chop to the neck. With a sickening crack, the Makyan made a headfirst, crash landing into the palace that he believed to be his birthright. Garlic's body finally grinded to a halt, after carving a trench through the marble courtyard, and the imp made a feeble attempt to stand. His effort was in vain, though, as he fell back to the cold, smooth ground before he could even make it to his knees.

A purple filter seemed to be placed over Garlic Jr.'s vision as a wound on the tiny devil's forehead bled profusely and began to stream over his eyes. With his head turned sideways, the imp mustered the energy to growl in frustration as his enemy landed several yards away. The woman seemed no worse for wear after their fight, seemingly coming out entirely unscathed from the whole ordeal. In contrast, the Makyan could felt pain in every bone and muscle in his body from their battle, and yet he had nothing to show for his effort.

How could he fail? How was a mere human able to generate enough power to effortlessly defeat him and his henchmen in a matter of minutes? It was absurd! He was the mighty Garlic Jr.! He was supposed to assume his father's role and lead his lost people to glory and power! The last few centuries he had dedicated himself to fulfilling his father's dream and he was not about to allow himself to be beaten by a puny human!

Biting down on his lower lip in an effort to jolt himself into action, Garlic Jr. began to force himself to his feet. Lifting his head as he began the painstaking process of standing, the imp prepared a devilish grin for his adversary in response to her, no-doubt stunned, expression about how he could possibly stand after "such a powerful attack." However, the teal alien's face was the one that turned into an expression of pure shock when he realized that his opponent wasn't even paying attention to him. Instead, her attention was focused solely on the sudden reappearance of the monster that had ruined his life.

"Kami?" said the puzzled brunette, as she allowed that mystical, red aura to dissipate away from her body. At the sight of the withered, leathery-skinned, repulsive form of that… thing, Garlic Jr.'s eyes immediately widened as a primal rage seemed to erupt from his very soul and the dwarf's eyes went completely white as his feral anger overtook his entire being. With a ferocious roar, the blue devil leapt to his feet as the fiend's voice suddenly filled his head with the words that had driven him his entire life.

"I'm sorry, it couldn't be helped…"

The sound of cloth being shredded to pieces filled the Lookout courtyard as Garlic's torso violently exploded in size, becoming easily ten times larger than it was before this sudden transformation.

"He was simply out of control…"

Following the metamorphosis of his upper body, the imp's legs expanded almost instantaneously to ten times their former mass and length, making the Makyan gigantic in size.

"It was for the good of humanity…"

The now massive demon's pupils finally began to return to focus, and as Garlic's mind finally began to clear up again, his head slowly began to lower down to look at…

"There was nothing else I could do…"

The current Guardian of Earth: the man that had murdered his father and stolen his position.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Gohan let out a sigh of relief as the last of the blinding light from the Namekian Dragon Balls finally faded out of existence. It had been a long and difficult search, but he and the Namekian boy, Dende, had finally found where the large spheres had been hidden. It had been relatively simple when the boys had stumbled across a large patch of freshly dug dirt outside of the ship to deduce that Frieza and his men had buried the Dragon Balls. Gohan found the space tyrant's hiding spot extremely funny, since he had always envisioned the Planet Trade Organization as space pirates.

After a brief period of celebration with his friend upon finding the mystical artifacts, and then a one-sided conversation with Mr. Piccolo, the young Namekian had summoned Porunga. For the two boys, the sight left them speechless as the most massive creature they had ever seen before sprung to life right before their eyes. The half-Saiyan had wondered for a brief moment as the Namekian Dragon introduced itself to them if the Eternal Dragon on Earth was anywhere near as gigantic as this one.

Once he had been snapped out of daydreaming by a very impatient, very large dragon, Gohan had proceeded to repeat word for word the wishes that Mr. Piccolo wanted done. It had taken a decent amount of time to tell the wishes to Dende and then for the green boy to translate that into Namekian for Porunga, but in the end, they had managed to get all of the wishes successfully granted. Now that the wishes had been fulfilled and their part of the plan had been completed, the only remaining question was what to do now? Should they go to the battlefield and see if there was any way they could assist his dad and Mr. Tien against the monster Frieza, or was it better for them to stay put and wait until the adults emerged victorious from the battle?

"Brat." Gohan froze as a gravelly voice suddenly shattered the silence that hung over the two children. As a feeling of dread slowly washed over him, the young half-Saiyan slowly turned to look in the direction of the raspy voice.

The broken body of Vegeta was an unsettling sight and a shiver was sent up Gohan's spine as he looked down upon the proud Saiyan warrior. Vegeta had slumped to the ground after receiving the boy's father's powerful blow, causing the majority of his limbs to land in awkward positions that made Gohan nauseated from the mere sight of them. In similar fashion, the Prince's neck was contorted in an unnatural angle, which made it appear as if the Saiyan was able to turn his head 180 degrees to scowl at the pair of younglings.

"Wow, dad must have hit him a lot harder than I thought," mumbled Gohan as he timidly began to inch towards the prone body of his former enemy.

"I am surprised he is even conscious," admitted a whispering Dende. "I would have estimated that it would have taken him at least a day to even regain cognitive capacities after such a blow."

The son of Goku gave a quick nod to his friend before pivoting his gaze back to the grimacing face of Vegeta. It was clear that the man was in pain, but due to his massive ego, he was attempting to mask his agony behind a fierce scowl. He wasn't doing a very convincing job, though, and Gohan felt a pang of pity for the Saiyan prince.

"I… need… healing," grunted the Saiyan Prince in-between grinding his teeth together in a vain effort to lessen his pain.

"Wha… what?" stammered Gohan, not believing what his ears had just heard. The prideful, arrogant, Vegeta was asking for their help? Well, he wasn't explicitly saying it, but who else was there to heal him after all?

"You heard me… you half-breed trash," growled Vegeta between haggard coughs. "Hurry up! Frieza won't wait all day!"

"Why should we heal you?" questioned Dende, the young Namekian showing some courage in standing up to the Saiyan while his friend seemed dumbstruck by Vegeta's request. "Mr. Goku knocked you out on purpose to keep you from killing more people, and you've betrayed us before. Why should we trust you now?"

"Heh, heh, you don't get it do you?" said the Saiyan with a pained smirk as a tiny stream of blood leaked from the corner of his mouth. "You… don't have a choice. Can't you sense it? That… third-class clown's energy has almost completely vanished. It seems… he wasn't enough to handle Frieza, the fool."

Panicking at the elder warrior's words, Gohan began to frantically search for his father's energy signature. Before they had summoned the Eternal Dragon, he had been able to sense his dad's ki constantly thanks to the enormous amount he now possessed. After summoning Porunga, though, now that the boy thought back, his father's energy seemed to have vanished. At the time, he supposed that it was simply because of the awe-inspiring sight of the wish-granting creature before him and it was only now that he was considering something might be wrong. After a few moments of panicked searching, Gohan gasped as he finally managed to sense his father's presence.

"It's faint," stated the half-Saiyan as he finally allowed the breath he had been holding to escape, "but it seems like my dad's alright…"

"For now," quickly interjected the wounded Saiyan Prince. "Kakarot was a fool, for challenging Frieza on his own! That, third-class idiot… didn't stand a… chance."

"Shut up!" exclaimed Gohan, quickly coming to his father's defense. "Who else could have gone and fought that monster? He only did what he had to in order to buy us enough time to make the wishes on the Dragon Balls, and you want to ridicule him for it! Why don't you just stop talking! I'm tired of listening to your constant talk about how pathetic my dad is and how he's not a true 'Saiyan warrior'! He's a great man and if he's not a true Saiyan, than maybe the other 'true' Saiyans should have been more like him! Maybe then, you wouldn't be the last one left…"

Gohan stopped mid-sentence as he felt shame the moment the words left his mouth. He had allowed his rage at Vegeta's constant barrage of insults against his father to get to him, and it had caused him to go one-step too far. It was one thing to point out the flaws in the Saiyan's' ideology, it was a complete other matter to rub in the fact that all of the Prince's subjects had been wiped out and that he was the only survivor. The boy could only imagine how he would feel if all of his family, friends, and everyone else on Earth were destroyed while he somehow managed to survive. Gohan believed the pain and loneliness such an event would have to be excruciating.

Silence hung over the trio as the son of Goku simply hung his head, ashamed of the cruel words he had thrown at the already beaten and broken man that lay at his feet below him. The aforementioned Prince himself had remained silent throughout the boy's entire tirade, his darkened face obscuring any emotion from being discerned by the young half-Saiyan. Throughout all of this, Dende fidgeted uneasily to the side of Gohan, unnerved by the awkward stillness that had settled over them.

"Go ahead, Dende," Gohan finally whispered. The little Namekian cocked his head to the side as he gave his friend an inquisitive glance, but after receiving a small nod of encouragement, Dende took a terrified gulp of air before kneeling down to begin the healing process. An amber glow surrounded the silent Saiyan's body as the Namek quickly began to heal the man's wounds. Within seconds, the numerous cuts and bruises that covered Vegeta's body slowly began to vanish and Gohan could even hear the warrior's breath steadying as his strength returned to him. After a few minutes, Dende ceased the flow of his own energy and stepped up to face Gohan as the amber aura dissipated around the Saiyan.

"He should be fully recovered now," the young Namekian said. "Now we should probably go to help your father, Goha…"

Before his friend could finish saying his name, Gohan suddenly felt an enormous pressure clamp around his throat and the boy was dragged through the air until he slammed violently into the side of Frieza's ship. The impact of his small body with the steel exterior of the ship caused an instant dent to form around the boy as the force of his collision forced the ship to cave in around him. Dazed and disoriented, the adolescent attempted to get his bearings to find out what exactly was slowly suffocating him, but the only thing he could see was the enraged face of Vegeta mere inches away from his own.

"Gohan!" Looking past the feral Saiyan's shoulder, the boy was able to see that Dende was rushing towards him, but he came to a dead stop when Vegeta thrust his free arm towards him. The man's gloved hand began to glow with a violet energy as he charged an energy blast that Gohan could sense was more than enough to finish off the small Namekian.

"Give me, one good reason why I shouldn't kill you and your little green friend," muttered Vegeta, his low voice sending chills down the boy's spine.

"Awk… gak…" Gohan sputtered as he attempted to speak, his hands instinctively grasping around Vegeta's wrist in a vain attempt to loosen the man's iron grip. "You… argh… agreed… to help us… beat Frieza!"

"NOT GOOD ENOUGH!" roared the Saiyan Prince as he slammed the boy even further into the ship and tightened his grip even further. Gohan's legs flailed wildly beneath him as he struggled to free himself and regain his footing. The amount of pressure that Vegeta was exerting on his throat made the boy feel like his head was about to pop off.

"You think I need YOU to beat Frieza!" raged Vegeta. "I don't need anyone's help! ESPECIALLY not after you dare to insult my race and my pride! Not to mention, that you brats stole my wish for immortality! You both deserve to die!"

"Please… awk… Vegeta," stammered Gohan, his voice little more than a hoarse whisper thanks to the lack of air his lungs were receiving. "You… have to help… gak… my dad and… Mr. Tien! It's… argh… the only way…"

"Humph, I don't need the assistance of low-class trash like Kakarot and that pathetic human," snorted the Saiyan. "Thanks to that last beating, I've become even more powerful and entered into the realms of legend! Not even Frieza can hope to compare…."

The Saiyan Prince halted mid-sentence, and Gohan felt his vice grip loosen slightly as an enormous surge of energy suddenly washed over both of them. Even as unconsciousness was threatening to overwhelm him, the half-Saiyan could still vividly feel the massive spike in ki from the distant battlefield.

"Those idiots!" hissed the flame-haired warrior as the energy he had directed at Dende quickly died out. "They've allowed that lizard to become even stronger! Fools!"

"Vegeta, we have to work together," Gohan stated weakly. "If we don't…"

"SILENCE!" bellowed Vegeta as he slammed the boy into the ship once again, this time causing the adolescent to spit up a clot of blood. "I don't take orders from snot-nosed brats! Besides, you still haven't given me a reason why I should care about any of this! You've stolen my wish for immortality, insulted my pride and race, not to mention you all have done nothing but foil my plans since arriving on this God-forsaken planet! Why should I help any of you!?"

Gohan gnashed his teeth together as a stream of blood began to trickle down through his vision. He had to think of something fast. No matter how much of a jerk Vegeta was, there wasn't a doubt in the boy's mind that they needed him to help fight against Frieza. They only needed to hold out for a bit longer, but it seemed that the galactic tyrant outclassed both his dad and Mr. Tien. Now, the only one that had the strength to challenge him was unfortunately Vegeta, but the Saiyan was definitely not in the helping mood. There had to be something that would get the Prince to assist them!

"If… if you help us, I can get you… gak… the Dragon Balls on Earth!" proclaimed Gohan. The vice grip on the boy's throat lessened significantly, as Vegeta cocked an eyebrow at the desperate deal that the adolescent presented to him.

"Explain."

"If you go and help Mr. Tien and my dad against Frieza, then… then I can get you the Dragon Balls that we have on Earth and use them to wish for whatever you want," the boy said reluctantly. It had never been a part of the plan to allow Vegeta to use the Dragon Balls, in fact, it was the exact opposite, but Gohan couldn't think of any other way to get the Saiyan Prince to go along with their plan.

"Humph, why should I agree to that?" questioned the flame-haired fighter, his attempt at hiding his intrigue at the offer failing miserably. "It won't matter if I can use the Dragon Balls on Earth if Frieza kills us all here on Namek."

"Yes, but," began Gohan before leaning forward and whispering something into the older Saiyan's ear. Vegeta listened intently for a few moments, his eyes widening in surprise as Gohan finally pulled back. The boy could only watch helplessly for what seemed like an eternity as the veteran warrior pondered his words. Finally, Vegeta released his grip on the half-Saiyan, allowing Gohan to slide to the ground off the now curved exterior of Frieza's ship.

"Humph, I always knew you Earthlings were cowards," stated the Saiyan Prince as Gohan coughed and gasped for air on his hands and knees before him. "But, if it leads to me gaining immortality, then I'll go along with your little plan, brat. Just know this, though: if this doesn't work out, or if you go back on your word, than I will kill you in the most excruciating way possible. Got that, half-breed?"

Through his fit of sputtering for air, Gohan managed to give an acknowledging nod of his head to the arrogant Saiyan who now lorded over him. It repulsed him to know that he had been forced to concede to the man's greedy desires, but there was simply no other way. The lives of Mr. Tien and his dad depended on him, and he would do anything to save them. No matter how disgusting.

"Good," said Vegeta as his trademark smirk spread across his face. "Now, guess I better go save that idiot Kakarot and his pathetic human."

With a mere grunt, an enormous purple aura sprung to life around the Saiyan Prince and Gohan could practically taste the power that the man was emitting. It was indeed on a completely different level that it had been previously, and in a single bound, Vegeta had rocketed out of sight. The force of his launch left gale force winds that nipped at Gohan's face relentlessly until he was forced to turn away.

After the cruel biting of the wind had died down, Gohan sighed as he slowly stood to his feet. Walking over to help the young Namekian, who had been knocked over by the powerful gust, the son of Goku could only hope that he made the right decision.

0o0o0o0o0o0o

"Oh man, this is such a drag," moaned Yajirobe as he trailed behind his guide through the maze-like palace. "Hey, Popo, how much longer is this going to take!? I'm starving!"

"Please be patient, Yajirobe," requested the genie. "We have almost made it to the storage room; it's just a little further down this corridor. Besides, we have only been here for a little over ten minutes at most."

"Eh, really, feels more like we've been down here for like 3 months now," complained the chubby samurai. "Hey, this storage room will have some food in it right?"

"I would imagine so, but…"

"Well why are you walking so slow then, Mr. Popo! Don't we have some delicious food - I mean - a world to save! Let's pick up the pace, you slacker!"

With a newfound source of inspiration, Yajirobe quickly began to sprint down the darkened passageway. In no time at all, the samurai had left his escort in his dust and had arrived before a large wooden door. Salivating at the prospect of sinking his teeth into some delicious meat, or even simply enjoying a nice bag of potato chips, the gluttonous man grasped his hands around the handle and swung the door open.

The man's beady eyes quickly swept over the small storage unit with stunning speed and efficiency. Quickly, he discarded anything on the numerous shelves that lined the walls of the room as unimportant. All there was were a bunch of books, a few small boxes, a gem-encrusted vase, and a miniature dragon statue. None of those things had any food, so they were of little importance to the samurai.

After a few more seconds of extensive scanning, Yajirobe finally set his sights on a barrel tucked into the far corner of the room. In a flash, the swordsman was already wrenching the top of the container off, his nostrils flaring as he tried to pick up any clue as to what sort of treats awaited him inside. Finally prying the lid off, a wide grin spread across the longhaired fighter's face as he peered inside of the container, eager to claim his prize for all the hard work he had put in today. However, his smile quickly slipped from his face as he finally caught a glimpse of the barrel's contents.

"Ah man, it's just rice," Yajirobe whined as his shoulders slumped in disappointment. Taking another glance around the tiny cupboard, the slothful man let out a groan as there appeared to be nothing else big enough to contain food. With a sigh and a shrug, Yajirobe experimentally scooped up a handful of the grain.

"Better than nothin' I guess," grumbled the samurai before tossing the handful of rice into his awaiting mouth. Yajirobe's eyes bulged and he immediately spit out the rock hard grains. Sticking out his tongue, the man began to attempt to scrape off every trace of the foul food ever entering into his mouth, but no matter how hard he scrubbed, Yajirobe couldn't completely remove the nasty taste of the dry rice.

"Ugh, blah!" exclaimed the swordsmen as he quickly retreated from the barrel of grain. "Why would someone keep food like that lying around for just anyone to eat!?"

Despite the putrid taste of the rice, Yajirobe quickly felt his appetite returning to him. Stomach growling, the short, fat man quickly began to formulate a plan in his head. Maybe it was just because the rice was so dry that it tasted so bad?

"If only there was some way I could moisten them up, then maybe they would be edible," he murmured as his brain worked to solve this perplexing problem. Then, out of the corner of his eye, inspiration struck him.

"This might work," stated Yajirobe with a smirk as he wrapped his hands around the blue vase he had spotted earlier. He gave the bottle a little test shake, and the swishing sound of the swirling water inside was like a chorus of singing angels to the ravenous man's ears.

"Heh, this should do it!" exclaimed the exuberant swordsmen. Finally, he was going to get a halfway decent meal! It had almost been… three hours since he had last had some food and Yajirobe was absolutely starving.

Approaching the barrel of rice, blue vase in hand, Yajirobe's eyes gleamed with a voracious glimmer as his other hand drifted up to uncork the top of the cyan-coated jar. Just as his palm had come to rest firmly on the cork, though, the samurai's keen sense of hearing heard the sound of footsteps passing through the doorway.

"Ah, good work, Yajirobe!" praised Mr. Popo as he stepped into the small pantry to stand beside the swordsmen. "I didn't know you knew what the Sacred Water was contained in! Excellent, now we can head back up and release it so that the people of Earth will return back to normal!"

For a moment, Yajirobe simply stared at the black genie, dumbfounded, before slowly shifting his gaze to the vase he held in his hand, then back to the genie. Beads of sweat began to form on the samurai's forehead and before long, his entire body was drenched in it as he came to realization that he was about to pour humanity's last hope into a barrel of rice.

"Uh, yeah! I, um, learned about it from Korin, so I… uh, went ahead and grabbed it to save some time. Yeah, yeah that's it!" proclaimed Yajirobe as he began to laugh nervously before shoving the vase into Mr. Popo's hands. "Whelp, guess we better get going!"

"Indeed, we must act as quickly as possible!" exclaimed the genie. "If we hurry, we will still be within the time perimeter where we won't have to use the currents at the bottom of the Lookout! That is most fortunate!"

Yajirobe simply nodded, still mortified about the action he had almost taken only moments before. The pair quickly left the closet, with Mr. Popo making sure to close the door behind them, and began to make their way back to the surface. Silence hung over the duo as they walked like a cloak, only being disrupted occasionally by the sound of the samurai's shuddering at the horrible death he would probably receive if he had actually followed through with his plan.

"It seems that I've finally found you Mr. Popo!" Yajirobe was dragged out of his stupor by the cry of an old, familiar voice. Turning his head, the samurai's mouth was suddenly thrown open as the form of Kami emerged from another one of the Lookout's numerous corridors.

"Hey, aren't you dead!" exclaimed the shocked Earthling as he stared dumbfounded at the wrinkled face of the Earth's Guardian.

Kami merely gave a small smile to the samurai before saying, "I was, but it seems that our allies on Planet Namek were successful in their endeavor. Now it is time for us to play our part. Mr. Popo."

"Yes, Kami," said the genie as his back straightened. Yajirobe was reminded of the hard-working students he had been peers with back at his sensei's dojo. He had always disliked those try-hards, always making him look bad.

"I require your assistance; go get your magic carpet," ordered the Guardian. "There are some important matters we must attend to immediately. I'll fill you in on the details when you get back from your room. For now, simply hand over the Sacred Water to Yajirobe and go."

"Of course sir," said Mr. Popo with a bow before passing off the jar to the still gaping samurai. Without a moment's hesitation, the genie then disappeared from sight, causing Yajirobe to shout out in surprise. Since when could that guy move so fast!?

"Now, Yajirobe, I am leaving the task of releasing the Sacred Water to you," said Kami. "There is no doubt in my mind that you up to the challenge and I would assist you, but there is another matter that Mr. Popo and I must attend to at the moment."

"Hey wait a sec, I can't do that by myself!" exclaimed Yajirobe. "I don't stand a chance against that Garlic Jr. guy!"

"Do not fear, Chi-Chi will still be here and can hold him off long enough for you to use the Sacred Water. Besides, you are stronger than both Mr. Popo and myself, so you are in fact the best suited for the task," remarked the Guardian before turning his back to the samurai. "I must go now; I leave the rest to you Yajirobe."

The chubby man was forced to shield his eyes as a golden glow suddenly illuminated from every pore of the elder Namekian's body. With a pulse of this blinding light, the Guardian of the Earth was gone, leaving no trace behind that he had ever been beside the fat swordsmen.

"Man, I wish I could just teleport like that," moaned Yajirobe before looking down at the jug of Sacred Water in his hands. It was now up to him to save the world and cure its people of the Black Water Mist that Garlic Jr. had spread across the entire planet. The samurai sighed before beginning to run down the passageway that led back to the surface of the Lookout.

"Oh man, what a drag," he muttered as he raced towards the surface.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

A playful smirk danced across the Saiyan Prince's face as he stared down his former master, taking immense pleasure in the slight frown that had formed across the Arcosian's face. The small look of disappointment on the usually smug bastard's face was absolutely priceless to Vegeta. He had waited twenty years for this day, this moment. The day that he finally took his revenge against the prick who had dared rob him of his destiny and payback was going to be one hell of a bitch by the time the Saiyan finished with Frieza.

"So, it seems you have indeed decided to betray me and join with these measly Earthlings, Vegeta," stated Frieza, his usual haughtiness slowly returning to his demeanor. "I must say it doesn't surprise me all that much. It's expected of a lowly primate to band together with beings on its own meager level of intelligence."

"Humph, keep on talking Frieza," said Vegeta calmly, his smirk still spread wide across his lips, "because in a second, I'll have you groveling before this 'lowly primate'!"

"Oh," said the Frost Demon, a playful smile forming on his face. "It seems that you've finally grown a backbone, Vegeta. I'm impressed,; I never thought you had the nerve in you to actually challenge me face-to-face. Before, you always had the courage to bad-mouth me whenever I wasn't around, but when it actually come down to it, you would bend your knee and bow before me like the cowardly dog you truly are. You must be even dumber than you look, Prince Vegeta."

Scowling, the flame-haired warrior turned his head slightly so that he could see the injured human that was standing dumbfounded behind him. Vegeta's snarl only intensified as his quick glance revealed to him that the Earthling was utterly depleted of energy and had been reduced to gasping for air after his skirmish with the sadistic tyrant. Just another example of how weak and pathetic the human race was in comparison with the almighty Saiyan race.

"You just stay out of this, Earthling," spat the Saiyan. "I'll take care of Frieza."

"Argh, Vegeta," said the raspy voice of the triclops. "You can't fight him alone! We're going to have to work together if we want to beat this monster!"

"Silence!" roared the Prince of all Saiyans. "I don't need anyone's help to beat this lizard!"

"My, my, having a lover's quarrel already, Vegeta," mocked the Arcosian. "Though you should take your friend's advice, you don't stand a chance against me alone, Vegeta."

"We'll see about that!" bellowed the Saiyan as his purple aura suddenly sprung to life around him. The power he was emitting was extraordinary, so much so that the outward manifestation of it completely blew the three-eyed freak behind the Saiyan away. A smirk danced across the Prince's face as he witnessed the human's body slam against a distant rock before he unleashed a fierce battle cry and charged towards his sworn enemy, Frieza.

Cocking his fist back, the Saiyan Prince launched a powerful right hook towards the smug bastard, who still wore that condescending little smile on his lips. Vegeta's eyes bulged as he roared with rage as his fist swung towards the galactic overlord, every ounce of his fury being poured into his attack. Casually, Frieza lifted up his own hand to intercept the punch, but just as their two hands seemed about to collide, Vegeta's body suddenly phased out of sight.

Frieza only had a brief moment for his eyes to widen in shock as it dawned on him that he'd fallen for the Saiyan's feint before a white boot slammed into the back of the fiend's head. The flame-haired warrior let out a shout of victory as his devastating roundhouse kick sent his former boss rocketing towards the horizon. His bloodlust not yet sated, Vegeta swiftly gave chase to his careening opponent, quickly phasing behind the flying figure of Frieza.

The Saiyan's palms were surrounded by a violet energy as he gathered the necessary ki in his hands to launch a deadly barrage of energy blasts to finish off his life-long tormentor. With a howl of primal fury, Vegeta began to pump his arms back and forth, as he fired a flurry of large, purple, ki blasts at the supine figure of Frieza. Almost instantaneously, the Arcosian's body was obscured as the swarm of energy attacks converged on their target and exploded in a magnificent display of power.

His wrath not satiated, the Saiyan Elite continued to rain down blast down after blast, his limbs a mere blur as he continued to launch his onslaught. The words that the stupid half-breed brat had said to him earlier, the ones that once again reminded him that he was indeed the last Saiyan left, seemed to pound in his head like a drum as he maintained his unrelenting assault. No matter how much Vegeta tried to push those haunting words out of his head, they remained, because they were the truth. He was alone in the universe… and it was all Frieza's fault.

It wasn't the fact that the sick, twisted Frost Demon had constantly mocked and attempted to humiliate him that Vegeta loathed the tyrant with every fiber of his being. Almost every person that the Saiyan Prince had ever met during his time in the Planet Trade Organization had treated him in that manner. While this sort of harassment led to the flame-haired man hating nearly every person he had ever met, it wasn't what distinguished Frieza from all the others. That wasn't the reason that if Vegeta were given the power to absolutely destroy one person, it would be Frieza he would wish he could annihilate.

It also wasn't the numerous beatings that he had received at the Arcosian's hands that made the Prince despise the sadist. Vegeta was a Saiyan after all, a destroyer of worlds, a person that was universally hated and detested everywhere he went. Many people had beaten him to within an inch of his life, hell, even his own father had once or twice. He was a proud Saiyan warrior though, he could take a beating, and he would become stronger because of it. The torture itself wasn't what bothered Vegeta so much, but how easy it was for the Arcosian to trounce him in a contest of physical strength. It wasn't the fact that he was being beat up, but that he was being so easily defeated, like some weakling who didn't possess the strength to defend himself.

Frieza had managed to distinguish himself from all of the others that had managed to earn the Prince's hatred for one reason alone: the Arcosian had robbed him of his destiny. Vegeta had been born as the Prince of All Saiyans, the future leader of the "most powerful warrior race in the galaxy." His destiny since the day he was born was to be the ruler over this mighty race, and as such, he of course was the most talented, gifted, and powerful Saiyan of them all. His status as Prince meant that he was the elite of the elite, the strongest Saiyan to ever live. He was special and he was supposed to go on and become a legendary warrior the likes of which the universe had never before witnessed.

Then Frieza had come along. His power… had been unfathomable to the young Prince the first time they had met. Even though he had not possessed the ability to sense energy back then, Vegeta had still known since their first encounter that the Frost Demon's power completely dwarfed his own. All of the Saiyan race's might combined more than likely could not even amount to a fraction of the Arcosian's, and for the first time, Vegeta had questioned his own standing in the grand scheme of things. Was he really that special? What did his or his people's pride mean if this strange, bizarre-looking creature could so easily outclass them?

After the sadistic tyrant had shaken the very core of the young Saiyan's beliefs, he completely shattered them with his next action. Vegeta was taken by the fiend, away from his home, family, and people to become just another foot soldier in the Arcosian's empire. Before, he had been the legendary Prince of All Saiyans: the most powerful and gifted child to ever grace their people's ranks. He was literally a god amongst men on Planet Vegeta and he was lauded as the savior of his people, the one who would lead the Saiyan race to their rightful place atop the universe. Then Frieza had snatched him away from all that, his rightful place in the universe as a Prince, and forced to serve as a lowly grunt in the Arcosian's own army.

There, amongst the rank and file of the Planet Trade Organization, he was quickly shown that, in fact, he was just another pawn on the galactic chessboard. His destiny was supposed to be that he was to be the greatest warrior that the universe had ever witnessed, but now the scum of the universe was ordering around him. The Prince had been forcibly dragged from atop the social hierarchy and thrown to the bottom, his pride in his own abilities and strength being shattered during the fall.

Then, after all that humiliation, Frieza did the final act that would forever ingrain himself into the number 1 slot of Vegeta's hit list. It hadn't been enough for the Frost Demon to rob Vegeta of his conviction in his and his people's strength, nor had it been enough for him to completely degrade the Saiyan Prince by forcing him to become just another peon. No, it seemed the sadistic lizard wasn't satisfied until he had destroyed every, single, facet of the legacy that Vegeta was supposed to fulfill. Frieza had to rob the man of his people as well, along with his significance as their leader.

"The Prince of Three" was a common nickname the Arcosian bastard liked to use whenever he wasn't calling Vegeta a "filthy monkey." The reason it had aggravated the flame-haired Saiyan so much was that it was the truth; he was a Prince in name only. His race, the people he was supposed to lead to conquer the universe, was extinct. With the destruction of Planet Vegeta, Frieza had finally completely crushed the Saiyan Prince's destiny, because while he could continue to train to become the strongest warrior in the universe, and while he could continue to flaunt that strength in order to gain the respect of all the other species in the universe, there wasn't a single damn thing he could do to restore his race. He was born to be a leader, the savior of his people. To lead them to fame and glory across the galaxy, and while a major part of that would because of his own personal strength, his race was meant to share in the glory as well. What Frieza had done to wrong Vegeta so much was the fact that he had stolen his destiny to become the ruler of the mighty Saiyan race before it could even begin. His dream had been shattered before the man could even begin to take steps to achieve it, and that was what was so unforgivable about Frieza.

Therefore, since his destiny had been stolen from him, Vegeta had sworn to create a new legacy for himself. He WOULD become the strongest warrior that the universe had ever seen. He WOULD carry the pride and honor of his entire race on his shoulders and he WOULD be the one to kill that smug, insufferable, bastard Frieza. That was his only purpose in life now, to get his revenge against Frieza for ruining his life before it had even begun, and he would have his vengeance, even if he died in the process.

"Oh my, seems like someone's get a lot of bottled up anger." Snarling, Vegeta ceased his output of energy and whirled his body around towards the vile voice that he had heard mocking him so many times before. Standing behind him, cast in a purple hue from the still imploding energy attacks the Saiyan had been firing, stood the tyrant Frieza, still wearing a tiny smile on his lips. The Arcosian had several black marks of soot littered across his body, revealing to the flame-haired veteran that his attack had at least made some contact with the fiend, but looked otherwise relatively unharmed by it.

"I do hope that isn't the best you can do, Vegeta," taunted Frieza, his tail lightly tapping against his own legs. "If not, then I'm afraid you won't be able to even handle 5% of my true power and this won't be any fun for me at all. I've gone through all the trouble of transforming into my final form, so the least you can do is entertain me for a little while before I finish you off, Vegeta."

The hair of the Saiyan's tail stood on end as the man seethed. He would not be humiliated like this! He had waited twenty years for this day to come, for the day that he totally exacted his revenge on Frieza, and he would not be made a fool! It was time for Frieza to remember exactly why he had annihilated the Saiyan race in the first place: because he feared them.

"I haven't even started yet," spat out Vegeta as his tail uncoiled from around his waist and a clear, blue orb formed in the Saiyan's palm. "Now that I've finished warming up, it's time for you to face the true power of the Saiyan race, FRIEZA!"

With that final roar of defiance, the flame-haired warrior launched the blue orb into the sky, and even as it traveled through the emerald atmosphere of Namek, Vegeta could already feel his body beginning to tingle with the dormant power that rested inside of every Saiyan: the power of the mighty Oozaru!

Hey there guys! Sorry for taking so long to update again, but college was a lot more time-consuming and demanding than I originally thought it was going to be. Guess that's what happens when you go in thinking, "Everyone else struggles with this, but I'M going to be different!" Anyways, I've settled in now so hopefully I'll be able to have a lot more time to write than have been in the past. For now though, all I can say is sorry for taking so long with the update and I hope you enjoy this chapter of The Earthling Chronicles! Thanks to everybody for the constant support and I'm glad that you guys enjoy the story enough to continually stick with me through my erratic updating schedule. I know this chapter was a lot more character-driven and not very action packed, but I promise, next chapter will be LOADED with action! Now, onto power levels!

Power Levels:

Garlic Junior: 60,000

Transformed: ? (Next Chapter!)

Chi-Chi (Kaio-Ken): 80,000

Vegeta (after Dende healing): 3,000,000

Frieza (Final Form): 3,000,000

Frieza (Final Form, 5%): 6,000,000

Yes, that's how Frieza managed to survive Vegeta's gigantic energy barrage with hardly any damage done at all. If you notice in the Frieza Saga in canon, they don't really show him increasing his power again with another long power up until he goes for 100%. He just sort of continuously gets stronger, and Goku to counter, is constantly using the Kaio-Ken to keep up. Anyways, that's all the power levels I've got for this chapter. Hope you enjoyed the chapter and if you have comments, suggestions, questions, or concerns, leave me a review and I'll be happy to get back to you about them. Until next time guys!