AN/ Flip, it's been a while since I last updated...sorry about that, I swear I haven't forgotten about this fic ^.^ althouth to be honest I am a little stuck at chapter 13, it's just taking me a while to get what I want to happen into words...

I would have had this up sooner but I've been rather distracted lately and I'll admit to having a slight obsession with doctor who as of late (especially David Tennant) so I've been watching it LOADS. David Tennant = EPIC WIN

Ok, onto the reviews:

The Better Side: if it's any consolation, this chapter is a lot longer than the last one...and yes, school has been a pain but c'est la vie. I hope you like the chapter XD

The King of Soda: I'm really glad you're liking the story, this chapter took me a while, very soon the plot should begin to take form!

Remembering childhood: thank you so much! I really am very new to writing so I'm (hopefully) getting better as I go along, I'm glad I haven't disappointed you.

Thunderyoshi: thanks for the review, can you believe I uploaded?! I still haven't got anything else written for chap 13 since i left your house...how depressing is that? Ahk well...WHY AREN'T YOU ONLINE!

Praiseman: Thanks and I like your ideas, they're quite imaginative!

Psycoticsimon: What a lovely thought...but I'm glad you liked the chapter lol

Jane Black278: Don't worry, Earth will come back into the picture eventually, I haven't forgotten about it. As for the mission, read and find out...though it may not be pretty...

GrandTourking: I have every intention of finishing this story, as soon as I get past the road block at chapter 13 I should be flying so don't worry about that, I shall be doing my damnedest to make sure this isn't a story that gathers dust for years without ever being completed XD

Now, in the words of The Doctor; ALLONS-Y!!

Chapter 10

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When they arrived at the launching station the first thing Goku noticed was how grim Vegeta looked, he nervously wondered what the evil reptile had ordered them to do.

Vegeta looked up as they approached and regarded them with a brisk nod. Nappa was standing beside him with a blank expression, at least until he saw Raditz, then a devious smirk spread across his face.

"What's with the sour face, Spiky? You look like you just sucked on a lemon," teased the burly Saiyan.

Raditz scoffed, "isn't that how most people react to seeing your ugly mug?"

"HA! It's not as bad as the looks you get when people smell how much you stink," Nappa retorted.

Raditz shrugged nonchalantly, "I can get a shower, but you'll always be ugly."

Goku laughed as the two Saiyans continued their tirade of insults and comebacks. Vegeta gave them a droll look, "Are you two idiots quite finished, or do I have to bring out the taser?"

"You wouldn't!" exclaimed Raditz aghast.

Vegeta raised an eyebrow, "who wouldn't?"

Against his better judgement, Raditz continued, "please, you don't even have a taser, you're bluffing."

A few minutes later, Raditz was writhing on the floor, flinching from aftershocks as residual sparks shot through his hair.

"I can't believe you actually tasered him," said Goku in awe. "Remind me not to get on your bad side."

Nappa was roaring with laugher, "Oh Gods! Raditz, your hair looks hilarious, as if it wasn't spiky enough before!" He broke into more fits of laughter. "Quick! Does anyone have a camera?!"

Raditz mentally cursed every breath the bald Saiyan had ever taken, since the shock seemed to have temporarily taken away his ability to form coherent words.

"Why were you carrying a taser, anyway?" asked Goku.

Vegeta shrugged, "I saw it sitting and have always wanted the opportunity."

A sweat drop formed on Goku's head, "isn't that a little...sadistic?"

Vegeta gave him a blank look, "and your point is...?"

Goku suddenly scratched the back of his head and waved his other hand in front of him dismissively, "umm no reason, just saying, that's all," he laughed nervously.

The Prince raised his eyebrow at the young Saiyan before brushing him off and walking towards his space pod, "that's enough larking about, encase you clowns have forgotten, we have a mission to carry out and Raditz get up off the floor, you're making the place look untidy," he said without looking at them.

"Hey guys, what is it we're supposed to do anyway?" asked Goku as he helped his brother to his feet.

"Same as always, it's a purging mission," replied Vegeta.

"You mean killing people?" Goku squeaked.

"No, we're going to take out all their weeds so that they have nice and pretty gardens. What do you think, idiot?" he barked back.

Goku fell silent, wishing he hadn't asked. What was he going to do? There was no way he was going to be able to bring himself to kill innocent people, he'd rather die!

The young Saiyan sighed in defeat, he knew he couldn't argue with the Saiyans, the most he could do was get into his space pod and hope for the best. That's when he realised that he actually had his own space pod and wouldn't have to sit on Raditz's knee. However, this caused another problem to arise; he didn't know how to work the damn thing!

"Umm, I don't know how to control this thing..." said Goku.

Raditz laughed having apparently recovered from his shock. "It's not that difficult, here, I'll show you," he said as he walked over to help. "You use this panel to enter the co-ordinates of where it is you want to go, this button activates the launch, these buttons control your communicator," he said, pointing to each of the buttons as he explained them.

"What about this one?" asked Goku as he pointed towards a large red button.

"Don't touch that one!" commanded Raditz, "that's the abort button, it will immediately land you on the nearest available planet, it overwrites the co-ordinates so only use it in emergencies."

"Oh, ok. Anything else?"

"Yes, one more thing. These buttons are for the ship's sleep mode, this is the timer, you use this to control how long you sleep for and this green button activates it."

Goku paid close attention to his brother's explanation, doing his best to remember everything. "Ok, so what co-ordinates do I enter for our mission?"

"Don't worry about that, the co-ordinates have already been entered, all you have to do is hit the 'go' button, think you can handle that?" asked Vegeta with a patronizing tone.

"Very funny," said Goku annoyed, "I'm not that stupid. Hey, what about the sleep mode, do I have to activate it?"

"No," said Vegeta, "the planet isn't that far away."

"Whenever you guys are ready," called Nappa, who was already seated in his pod, "I'm growing a beard here, at this rate I'll have to hit sleep mode just waiting for you."

Vegeta rolled his eyes, "alright, everyone in your pods, it's time to go."

Goku and Raditz did as instructed and once everyone was ready, the pods were launched into space.

The planet may have been close by astronomical standards but it was still hours away and after the first hour, Goku feared his boredom would drive him insane.

However, Raditz caught his attention as the long-haired saiyan's voice sounded over the intercom, "anyone up for a game of 'I spy?'"

Nappa and Vegeta remained silent, knowing better than to get involved, Goku, however, was not so wise. "I'll play!" chirped the younger Saiyan.

"Great, I'll go first," said Raditz, "I spy something beginning with...S."

"Star!" chimed Goku. "I spy something...shiny."

"Star," replied Raditz, "I spy something...really far away."

"Star?" Raditz nodded. "Okay, I spy something..."

"If it's a star, I'll kill you!" threatened Vegeta over the intercom.

"Hey, I wasn't finished!" complained Goku. "I spy something...round."

"STAR!" the other three yelled at the same time.

"Nope, space pod," said Goku, grinning like a Cheshire cat.

Silence drifted through the four space pods as no one had anything further to say and that was how it remained for the rest of the journey which was much to Vegeta's liking.

When they finally landed, sometime later, they found themselves in the middle of a desert with twin suns burning down on them from far up in the sky. It was an arid, rock landscape with mountains which seemed to stretch endlessly. Far off, in the distance, a towering citadel stood proudly on top of the largest mountain and shot upwards into the hazed, orange sky like a royal crown.

Goku was in awe of the planet's beauty, he had never seen anything like this on earth. Unfortunately, they didn't have long to appreciate the view as within minutes the area was swarming with strange armoured creatures.

One of them looked at Goku and the sight of them made Goku recoil. Their eyes were orange and bulging, as though full of liquid. Their faces didn't have skin but reptilian scales with where a washed-out orange colour.

The rest of their bodies were hidden under layers of heavy red, plated armour that left no area exposed. The last thing Goku noticed was that they were armed to the teeth with large gun-type weapons and behind them he could see groups of them with large canons and other weapons that Goku didn't recognise, this technology was far beyond what the earth was currently capable of.

Despite their threatening appearance and obvious hostility, Goku knew better than to assume they were evil, after all, they were the intruders and these creatures were just protecting their planet. For once, Goku was on the side of the villains and that sudden realisation left a heavy lump in the pit of his stomach.

Nappa's arrogant voice broke through his morbid thoughts, "I'm guessing that this is the welcoming committee."

Vegeta smirked, "I have to say that the courtesy of your planet is quite disappointing, so much heavy artillery and not one of you brave enough to actually address us."

Nappa spoke up again, talking loudly to Vegeta while making sure the creatures could hear him, "they might as well be beating their chests and arming themselves with rocks, those toys won't do them much better good. May I demonstrate?"

"Go ahead," said the Prince.

Raditz said nothing throughout the whole exchange, he was too busy watching his brother, the younger Saiyan looked like he was going to be sick, not that Raditz could blame him, the boy had grown up in a relatively peaceful world compared to this one where morals where a heavy burden that would only serve to get you killed.

Before Raditz could say anything to his brother, a large explosion suddenly erupted around them, flattening the surrounding area within a mile radius and wiping out every creature in its path leaving only the fours saiyans standing in the centre.

Goku was astounded and he looked around at the devastation in disbelief. He spun around to look at the other saiyans with his alarm clear on his features, silently demanding and explanation.

Vegeta looked rather bored but Nappa's expression was smug, he had a fist held up with his index and middle finger raised, that's when Goku realised that Nappa had caused the explosion, "you...you did that?" he asked with astonishment.

The bald Saiyan grinned evilly, "pretty impressive, huh?"

Raditz, sensing his brother's distress, decided to change the subject slightly, "if you're quite done showing off, we should get moving, more of them will be coming soon and we've got a lot of ground to cover."

"Raditz is right," agreed Vegeta, "no more larking about, I want this job finished quickly. Not that that should be a problem, these insects don't appear to be much of a challenge," said the prince with disgust. After speaking, the Prince took off with a powerful blast and headed straight towards the towering citadel at the top of the mountain.

Nappa took off right behind him and Raditz followed after placing a comforting hand on his brother's shoulder. Goku was reluctant to go along but after a few moments of hesitation, he knew he couldn't just stand there so he followed after them.

He caught up to them at the top of the mountain and was amazed by what he saw. The citadel shimmered and glistened in the burning rays of the suns as though on fire. A sense of foreboding took firm root within Goku; he knew this planet's inhabitants wouldn't back down and forfeit their planet into Frieza's clutches, just as he would rather die than surrender the Earth. They were all going to die and their citadel would be reduced to dust.

Vegeta's voice broke through the oppressive atmosphere, "let's get started, the sooner these pests are dead, the sooner we get to eat," he said before freefalling down into the heart of the planet's stronghold.

Nappa shot down straight after him, "Oh yea! That's what I like to hear!" he hollered before firing ki blasts at building and anything that moved.

Raditz hung back and approached his brother, "Kakarot, I know that this is difficult for you but you have to do this, Frieza doesn't take well to insubordination." After saying this, the older Saiyan flew down to join the others, leaving Goku alone.

The younger Saiyans face hardened as resolve found its place there. Regardless of what Raditz had said, he refused to kill any innocents so he stayed where he was, stubbornly.

It didn't take long for Carnage to ravage the planet and though Goku tried to look away, there was nowhere else to look that wasn't soaked in bloodshed. He was forced to endure the screams mixed with explosions of ki and artillery fire. As the suns set in the north, Goku bared witness as the citadel burned and skies caught alight with the flames.

Apprehension broke through his stupor of despair and horror as the young Saiyan sensed a gathering of energies behind him. He spun around and saw a group of soldiers gathered and aiming a powered up canon directly as him.

He froze, it was as if his brain had suddenly hit a wall and everything had gone into slow motion. The creatures were about to fire a lethal attack but he had no control over his ki or limbs; it was as if his body wasn't his own, unable to counter attack or even to form a defence. All he could do was stare in shock as the weapon was fired straight at him.

However, before Goku could become cremated, the blast was deflected by a larger ball of ki. The young Saiyan managed to break himself out of his stupor and he turned towards the origin of the ki blast to see Vegeta levitating a few metres behind him with a look of fury on his face that filled Goku with sudden dread. If looks could kill, then the Prince's death glare would have had Goku dead, buried and pushing up daises.

Vegeta flew off, back into battle, without saying a word. Goku shivered, right now the creatures who had almost claimed his life seemed a whole lot less scary.

Goku looked around to see how the others were doing. Nappa was blasting away at a large gathering of soldiers that seemed determined to take him down despite the bald Saiyan looking like her was having the time of his life.

It took Goku a few minute to spot Raditz, he was at the far side of the main battle area and was in the middle of taking out an organised regiment of soldiers that were armed to the teeth with high-tech artillery.

Goku's eyes narrowed in concern as he noticed a group of soldiers had managed to accumulate behind Raditz without detection. They were powering up a large weapon similar to the one Vegeta had just saved him from. Goku could sense the power in it growing to dangerous levels, ready to strike the oblivious Saiyan.

Goku tried to call out in warning to his brother but his efforts were in vain, he couldn't raise his voice about the surrounding devastation.

Desperation began to take hold as Goku realised that he had to do something if he wanted to save Raditz and without even thinking, he fell back into a familiar pose and drew his hands together. Channelling his own energy he yelled out into air, "KAAAAAAAAAA..."

Raditz still fought the regiment, giving them his full concentration, "MEEEEEEEEEE..."

The weapon's power escalated further, it now contained enough power to easily kill the oblivious Saiyan, "HAAAAAAAAAA...MEEEEEEEEEE..."

Nappa and Vegeta's scouters bleeped furiously as they detected a huge energy build up, the two Saiyans looked around frantically, trying to find the source. Their eyes fell on Goku, the younger Saiyan was crouched with his hands held close together at his right-hand side but what really caught their attention was the growing ball of ki that pulsed between those hands.

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Goku's cry echoed through mountains as a huge beam of pure energy erupted from his stretched out palms and hit his brother's would-be attackers dead-on.

Raditz spun around just in time to see the creatures being incinerated and the weapon demolished. Shocked, Raditz looked down at where the beam had come from to see his little brother standing and panting heavily with his arms outstretched. Had Kakarot just saved him?

Unsure of what to make of recent events, the three Saiyans efficiently finished off the remainder of the planet's population before descending to the ground and regrouping with Goku.

The four Saiyans stood in awkward silence. It didn't look like anyone was going to break it anytime soon so Vegeta decided that he would do the honours.

The Saiyan Prince approached Goku and gave him the soft and caring pep-talk he believed the younger Saiyan deserved. "YOU GODDAMNED IDIOT!!!" He hollered at the top of his lungs, "what, in the name of Raxifrey, where you playing at back there?! You're only supposed to have a power reading of 330, you've been hiding your power from us! If you have that kind of power then why didn't you use it before? Instead you just stood there like a mindless buffoon!"

Goku was never one to be intimidated but in that moment, Goku felt no more than three inches tall and was desperately fighting the urge to hide under a rock, the whole while wishing the ground would have some mercy and swallow him up.

However, Goku pulled himself together, he was no push-over. "I never said that I couldn't take care of myself," he argued, "but I refuse to kill an innocent person, it isn't right!"

Vegeta scoffed, "it isn't about right or wrong, Kakarot. It's about survival, kill or be killed, ever heard of it?"

Goku stood his ground, flinging out his arms he yelled back, "but why?! Why did we have to kill them? This is their planet and we have no need for it, why couldn't we have just let them be?"

"Because!" spat Vegeta, "Frieza wants this planet or his empire and its inhabitants refused to conform so he ordered their extermination. That's all we are, Kakarot, exterminators. If Frieza orders their death then they will die, whether it is by our hands or someone else's, there's no two ways about it."

Goku growled stubbornly, "I don't care what Frieza says, I won't kill an innocent."

"Then Frieza will kill you," Vegeta said resolutely.

The two Saiyans stared each other down with fury burning in their eyes. Goku was the first to break eye contact and without another word he stormed off through the ashes of the citadel ruins.

Vegeta stood still as the younger Saiyan stormed off before curling his lip in disdain and walking away in the opposite direction.

Nappa and Raditz were left alone to endure the awkward atmosphere left by the angered pair and with no idea what to do next they lit a small fire and waited out the dregs of the night.

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TBC

Did you like? Review and tell me pleeeeeeeeeeeease (puppy-eyes)

As for me, I shall go now and read some dr who fanfics XD yays