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Reborn as Raditz
Chapter 26: An unexpected situation

Chapter 26: An unexpected situation

Nail stares at the small fighter in front of him, cringing as he senses the raw power coming from the man. His opponent is short, barely taller than most Namekian children. Two horns jut out from the creature's skull, while his limbs are pink and almost scale-like in nature. He only wears battle armor and a scouter, but both are of extremely high quality when compared to what most of his troops wore. He looks around at this 'sacred battleground', obviously unimpressed.

"...Is this it? Are you ready to die, Namekian?" Frieza asks in a bored tone.

'I hope Dende can make it to the Earthlings in time...' Nail thinks, taking a fighting stance.

The tiny alien yawns, staring at Nail with disdain... and a hint of cruelty.

The green man shivers in instinctual fear, but forces that fear down, instead focusing on all the people this monster has killed. With a shout of rage, he launches himself at Frieza.

The emperor smiles at the quickly approaching Namekian, hands behind his back. Nail punches forward, his arm suddenly stretching in an attempt to catch his opponent off guard. Frieza's eyebrows raise in slight surprise as the arm quickly reaches his face...

...Unfortunately, the difference in power level is too much for the green alien. Right before the arm can touch him, Frieza's tail explodes into movement, striking Nail's arm like a snake. The green arm folds like a lawn chair, the bones (or rather, the Namekian equivalent) inside his arm instantly shatter when Frieza's tail impacts it. Nail tries to recoil, to get away before Frieza can follow up on his attack... but it's too late. The tyrant's tail wraps around the broken arm, keeping Nail rooted in place.

"Oh my..." Frieza remarks. "You are the strongest member of your race, no? Is this all the Namekians amount to? I must admit... I'm not surprised."

The tall Namekian grimaces, staring at his trapped arm reluctantly. He comes to a decision almost instantly, and swipes down at his broken arm with his left hand, forming a blade of Ki...

"AHHHH!" he screams as he slices through his right arm, cutting it off instantly. Frieza looks on curiously as Nail backpedals to gain space.

"Quite a bold tactic." he admits.

Nail's breathing becomes rougher and rougher, to the point that Frieza worries that the Namekian may die before he's satisfied, until...

"HAAA!" Nail screams, this time in exertion, as a new arm bursts out from where the stump where his old arm was.

Frieza's grin becomes crueler, eyes filling with glee as he learns this fascinating new fact about his opponent.

"Wonderful!" he says. "I didn't know that your people were so durable! What an amazing ability..."

Nail takes a step back, his mind racing in an attempt to find a way to elongate this fight. He feels a chill run down his back as he stares at his opponent's smile.

"...It is quite uncommon for me to have the opportunity to hit a punching bag that won't break in one blow. I think I'll savor this rare chance. Be grateful, Namekian! Be grateful that you have the opportunity to witness the might of Lord Frieza!"

The last Namekian warrior bites back a scream as Frieza's fist hits his arm, blowing it off of the Namekian's shoulder in a shower of gore.

Vegeta looks on, confused by what just happened. After he killed Burter, he sensed an immense amount of energy coming from Ginyu, almost like the purple alien was forming an attack, but... different, somehow. He can't exactly explain why it felt different, but the energy he sensed from the wave of energy felt... wrong. He stares at Ginyu, who is just standing on the ground, a confused expression on his face...

Behind Ginyu stands Raditz, a large grin evident on the tall Saiyan's face. He points a single hand at Ginyu, blasting the purple alien in the back. Raditz's voice echoes through the area as Ginyu goes flying.

"Trying to steal my body, huh? Unfortunately for you, 'Captain', I can sense Ki. Why the hell would I stay in one place and get hit by your attack?"

The purple man's eyes widen in shock as he slams into the ground.

"What?! How could you have learned about my body change technique?!" Ginyu shouts.

Raditz smirks. "I have my ways."

As Ginyu opens his mouth to reply, Raditz rushes his opponent, throwing a powerful left hook into the taller man's jaw. Teeth go flying as purple blood flows from the Captain's mouth. Surprised, the horned man attempts to defend himself, throwing a purple ball of Ki at Raditz. When the Saiyan tries to dodge, the purple ball explodes into a quickly-expanding dome of energy, engulfing the surrounding area.

Vegeta scoffs, turning away from the battle. "This isn't even worth watching... he's just toying with the bastard."

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Raditz instants proves the Prince right by appearing behind Ginyu, landing a palm strike to the purple alien's back, sending him flying forwards. Ginyu quickly turns in midair, arms spread, as he attempts another body change. Unfortunately for the Captain, Raditz isn't the type to stand still during a fight. Ginyu gives a shout of pain as the tall Saiyan lands another blow to his undefended back.

"Dammit... dammit! Lord Frieza won't stand for this!" he shouts desperately, trying to find any way out of this predicament.

"Please. Frieza barely stands for anything. We both know how much he likes that hover-chair of his." Raditz jokes.

Ginyu grits his teeth in rage, before his eye catches a new target...

He grins as he stares at the short Saiyan Prince, who seems to not be paying any attention to their "fight." A plan slowly begins to form in Ginyu's mind...

'Yeesh. I wish he'd try to be a little more subtle. I mean, come on! You're staring at Vegeta with a big ass grin on your face! It's obvious what your plan is!' Raditz thinks with a sigh, before pointing both of his hands at Ginyu. 'No way I'm letting that happen. I don't want a rematch against Vegeta.'

Vegeta's eyes fly open as Raditz's voice suddenly appears in his head.

"Start paying attention, you arrogant jackass. Ginyu is going to try to change bodies with you, and from how inattentive you seem, he'll probably succeed."

"W-what?! Raditz?! Why are you in my head?!" the Prince yelps in surprise.

"Telepathy. Don't worry, I can't hear your thoughts unless you actively project them at me."

"You... how dare you?! I can't believe that scum like you would dare to send a message into my mind without my permission!" Vegeta thinks back, shocking Raditz with how quickly the Prince picked up the technique.

Once the shock wears off, the tall Saiyan rolls his eyes at Vegeta's words.

"Right... just be ready to dodge, okay?"

The short Saiyan scoffs, but readies himself, heeding Raditz's warning despite his anger.

Without any further hesitation, the tall Saiyan releases a massive wave of energy at Ginyu.

The purple alien immediately spreads his arms wide, turning his body towards Vegeta.

"Change now!" he shouts as a sinister aura surrounds him.

Raditz's heart stops as the Prince floats in midair, unmoving, as a wave of purple energy grows closer and closer...

...but it turns out that he had nothing to worry about, as Vegeta soon disappears from view at speeds that even impress Raditz.

"Big Bang... Attack!" he shouts, launching a blue ball of energy towards Ginyu.

Raditz eyes widen as Ginyu's body is engulfed by the blue sphere, instantly being evaporated as Vegeta's attack explodes.

'I thought he was supposed to create that attack after the Frieza saga. I wonder what else has changed...' the Saiyan thinks, slightly panicked by the implications this can have.

The Saiyan Prince lands on the ground, staring at the spot where Ginyu died with a satisfied look upon his face.

"Heh. Serves you right."

He turns towards Raditz, marveling at his newfound strength.

"Now then... I believe it's time that we settle things, Raditz."

Krillin and Gohan cringe as they sense Vegeta's hostility towards Raditz.

"We should help! Vegeta is way stronger than he was on Earth!" Gohan says, flying towards the two warriors.

Krillin appears in front of the Half-Saiyan, stopping him from interfering in the fight.

"No. We have to find the Dragon Balls first. Once we do, we can wish back our friends, and then we can all fight Vegeta."

"But Krillin!" the child argues. "What if Raditz loses? What if we're able to make the difference? I'm tired of standing on the sidelines and letting other people protect me!"

"That big guy is stronger than you think. He can last until we revive everyone else."

"But--" Gohan begins to reply, before suddenly being cut off by the bald Earthling.

"Dammit Gohan! We need to revive our friends first! If we go out there and fight, there's a good chance that we'll die, and Piccolo won't get revived! You want to bring him back to life, right?"

"I... ok. Let's hurry!"

The duo begin to track the Namekian Dragon Balls with Bulma's Dragon Radar, but stop as they see a familiar figure fly towards them, causing the two to shout in surprise.

"Dende?!"

Nail gasps as Frieza's fist slams into his stomach, knocking the air out of the Namekian warrior. While the green man struggles to breathe, the tyrant opposing him lands another heavy blow, this time to Nail's left leg. The leg crumbles instantaneously, but before the Namekian can stumble to the ground, Frieza's knee shoots up, hitting Nail's jaw. The tall warrior goes flying upwards, but suddenly finds his body freezing up as Frieza points a finger at him.

"What the hell?!" Nail shouts, struggling against the invisible force binding him. "What have you done to me?!"

The short alien chuckles. "You see, I have what your people would refer to as 'psychic powers.' With these, I can use my Ki to freeze and control the bodies of those weaker than me... which is to say, everyone. On top of immobilizing you, I can insert a little bit of my Ki to..."

Nail's arm suddenly swells up, exploding in a violent shower of purple blood.

Frieza continues speaking, ignoring his opponent's screams of pain. "... do that. My Ki is simply too powerful for weaklings such as yourself."

Nail squirms in the air, still held up by the tyrant's telekinesis.

"Now tell me, Namekian... how do you make your Dragon Balls work?" Frieza asks.

"Go to hell!" Nail replies.

"Hmph. I suppose I'll just have to ask that fat slob you call 'Grand Elder.' While this was fun, I'm afraid I'll have to end things."

Frieza's grins as he begins to pump energy into the Namekian's body at a snail's pace, intentionally drawing it out to cause maximum pain. The green warrior slowly but surely begins to swell up, screaming in agony the entire time. The process is torturous and cruel, which only causes the sadistic smile on Frieza's face to widen.

Before the tyrant can finish Nail off, something slams into the back of the short alien's head with an alarming amount of force, launching Frieza into a nearby hill. To the emperor's immense surprise, he feels genuine pain from his skull. He whirls towards his new opponent, fury evident on his face.

"Who dares?!" he shouts.

Standing in front of Frieza is a man of medium height, clad in an orange martial arts Gi. The man's hair is pitch black and almost as spiky as Vegeta's hair. Instead of replying, the stranger checks on Nail, making sure that the Namekian is ok.

The green warrior, unsurprisingly, is not ok. His breathing grows rougher by the second, until the man who saved him uses his own Ki to combat Frieza's, forcing the excess energy out of Nail's body. The small alien shakes in fury when he sees that he's being ignored.

"Answer me! Who dares to attack the mighty Frieza?!"

"My name is Goku, and I'm a Saiyan from Earth!" the stranger replies, staring at Frieza with a serious expression on his face.