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Reborn as Raditz
Chapter 29: Raditz's rematch

Chapter 29: Raditz's rematch

As Goku battles against Frieza's first form, two Saiyans on the other side of the planet stare at each other, hostility plain on the shorter man's face, while the taller man looks uncertain.

"This isn't the time for that." Raditz says. "Kakarot is fighting Frieza, and he's more powerful than either of us. If we waste time fighting against each other, and Kakarot fails to beat Frieza, then neither of us will be able to win, especially if we're tired from our fight. Use your head, Prince. Our best option is to work together!"

Vegeta stares at Raditz, amused by the words he's hearing. "I still have my tail, fool. I can transform into a Great Ape anytime I wish! Even disregarding that, I'm strong enough to kill you and take those 'Senzu Beans.' With those, I can heal from whatever damage Frieza will do to me, and grow even more powerful!"

"We both know that Frieza was responsible for the destruction of Planet Vegeta!" Raditz argues. "We can 'settle things' after we deal with him. Why makes things harder for yourself? You don't know what Frieza is truly capable of, and we won't be able to kill him without working together!"

"Frieza... he what?!" the Prince says, momentarily shocked.

'Oh... shit. Another thing changed.' Raditz thinks with a scowl, before coming up with a quick answer.

"Please. Do you really believe that a meteor was enough to kill our race? The strongest among us can easily blow up planets. A meteor would never be enough to destroy Planet Vegeta."

"I... I see..." Vegeta says, quieting down some.

"Don't you want to avenge our race?! This is our best opportunity to kill him! Let go of your ego for 5 minutes, and we'll be able to get revenge for the Saiyans, for our planet!"

"..."

Vegeta snorts.

"You seem to misunderstand me, Raditz. I couldn't care less about the Saiyans or my planet. I'll kill Frieza for how he dared to treat me, make no mistake, but he can wait until after you're dead."

Raditz stares at Vegeta for several seconds, before a small smile blooms upon his face.

"...And what makes you think that you'll defeat me?" he asks.

Raditz slowly begins to power up, some part of him rejoices at the chance to humble the Prince of all Saiyans, at the chance to prove that he's more than a simple low-class Saiyan.

"I was far weaker than you on Earth, and yet we fought for several hours. Now? Well, now you're barely stronger than me and with my Kasokudo technique, I'll be half a dozen times faster than you. You will help me kill Frieza. Whether I have to beat you into submission first is up to you."

Vegeta, rather than be intimidated, laughs.

"Heh. Do you truly think I'd try to get my revenge on you if I wasn't positive that I'd win? I have spent weeks planning on how I would kill you. After seeing your growth in the past year, I would be a fool to assume that you wouldn't get even stronger... that you wouldn't, somehow, close the gap between our power levels. Of course, I never expected either of us to get this strong in such a short amount of time... but that doesn't matter. I know how to beat you, scum."

Raditz's smile grows wider and, with confidence that surprises himself, he mocks the Prince.

"Oh? Then enlighten me. I can go blow for blow with you even without using the Kasokudo to multiply my speed. What makes you think you'll have a chance when I actually try?"

"There's two weaknesses I've found in you, Raditz... two weaknesses that I'll exploit to kill you." Vegeta explains, staring at the taller Saiyan with an arrogant smirk. "The first is your technique, the 'Kasokudo' as you call it. I found this one out when we first fought. This technique may increase your speed, but you can't keep it up forever. Even more importantly... it doesn't increase your durability. Y--"

"You told me that on Earth when I broke my knee." Raditz scoffs, waving away Vegeta's explanation. "I still injured you, despite my power level being half of yours."

Vegeta's smile grows strained as he is interrupted, but he continues speaking nonetheless. "You can use your speed to dodge my attacks, and maybe even to hit me twice as hard as you normally would be able to, but anymore more than that would break your own bones. I--"

"And how do you plan to win without being able to hit me?" Raditz interrupts yet again, smugly looking on as the Prince's anger slowly increases.

"...You'll see." the shorter Saiyan says, staring at Raditz with rage.

"So you don't have a plan. Got it."

Vegeta shakes with fury, and Raditz prepares himself to dodge the Prince's attacks... but then he suddenly grins at the taller Saiyan, staring at Raditz with an eerie calm.

"You know... once I've killed you, I think I'll go after that half-breed nephew of yours and--"

Raditz suddenly disappears from where he was standing, his fist appearing directly in front of the Prince's face a split second later.

A shockwave spreads throughout the area as the tall Saiyan's fist hits flesh, throwing Krillin and Gohan backwards while they fly through the air.

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"...And that's your second weakness." Vegeta says, holding Raditz's fist in both hands. "You care far too much about others. It disgusts me."

Vegeta releases Raditz's fist with one hand while the other pulls him closer, directly into a thunderous right hook. Blood goes flying from the weaker Saiyan's mouth, and yet Vegeta doesn't let go, keeping Raditz's hand trapped in his grasp. He rains strike after strike down on the tall Saiyan... and then a mighty punch slams into his cheek, surprising him.

"I have two hands, Prince." Raditz says, throwing an uppercut with his left hand.

Vegeta grins, hammering his own uppercut into Raditz's stomach. The duo trade punches for several seconds, each trying to inflict maximum damage onto the other, until Raditz breaks the stalemate...

Raditz's head leans to the side, narrowly avoiding a punch from Vegeta, before his hand turns into a blur of motion, moving far faster than Vegeta can see. Vegeta suddenly screeches in pain as he feels something stab into his left eye, almost blinding him. His momentary shock allows Raditz to wrench his arm free.

"Dishonorable scum!" Vegeta shouts in fury. "How dare you target my eye?!"

"..." Raditz stares at the Prince, dumbfounded. "You... you literally gouged my eye out on Earth."

"That's different! I had you beaten!"

"..."

Without another word, Raditz dashes at the shorter man, slamming an elbow into the Saiyan's nose. At the same time, Vegeta's leg shoots out, slamming into the tall Saiyan's side. Both of them go flying backwards, before exploding back at each other.

The Prince's arm shoots out, throwing a ball of Ki towards the taller man, who easily slaps it aside. Raditz arrives directly in front of the stronger Saiyan, landing a quick jab to Vegeta's nose, before dodging around the short man's follow up attack. Vegeta's attacks are brutal, efficient, and accurate, and yet Raditz is able to avoid almost all of them. The few that do land, however, are enough to throw the weaker man off his game for a split second.

'What the hell?! What's happening?!' Raditz thinks in a panic as his body begins to slow, no longer moving at the 2x bonus given by the Kasokudo.

Vegeta laughs out loud, glee in his eyes as he takes advantage of his opponent's drop in speed. He launches an all out offense and, despite Raditz dodging most of the hits, is able to catch the tall Saiyan with a thunderous uppercut, knocking several teeth out of his mouth.

Raditz slows even more with every hit. First, he was moving at about 2x his regular speed, then 1.9x, then 1.8x... and now, he isn't benefitting from the Kasokudo at all. Despite the differences in their power levels, Raditz's base speed is still higher than Vegeta's, to both of their surprise, but it isn't able to save him. The Prince ruthlessly attacks him, landing dozens of thudding blows on Raditz. The entire time, Raditz's mind races.

'Shit! Ow! Fuck! Dammit dammit dammit! What did he do?! Why am I so damn slow?!' he thinks, panicked. He directs his Ki sense inwards, spotting the problem almost instantly.

In Raditz's Ki veins is an unfamiliar, sinister wall of foreign Ki... of Vegeta's Ki. Every time the Prince lands a hit, the wall strengthens, keeping more and more of Raditz's Ki from flowing. As Vegeta continues to pummel him, Raditz ignores the System's notifications that let him know how injured he is, and sends his Ki surging forwards, tearing at the Prince's Ki.

"Heh, I guess you've finally figured it out." Vegeta says in surprise as Raditz starts to speed up. "It doesn't matter though... you're too injured to put up a fight!"

As Vegeta says this, he blocks a quick 1-2 combo, predicting where Raditz will strike, and responds with a point-blank wave of Ki. The blast quickly engulfs the weaker man, throwing him towards the ground in an instant. Vegeta grins arrogantly as Raditz crashes into the ground.

"Haha! You should've known better, Raditz. Low-class trash such as yourself could never hope to defeat an elite warrior like me!"

"..." Raditz doesn't move, gasping for air as tears of pain make their way down his face.

"Maybe I'll use those Dragon Balls, and get myself immortality. Yes, that's a good idea... I'll kill Frieza after I'm immortal."

"..."

"It serves you right, scum. You shouldn't have dared to defy me. But don't worry... Frieza will join you in Hell very soon! Big Bang Attack!"

As a condensed ball of blue Ki flies at him, Raditz disappears from his place on the ground, moving as if he didn't just spend a full minute getting beaten down by Vegeta. Vegeta's eyes widen as he stares at his opponent, who's burnt skin is visibly regenerating due to his Advanced Self Healing (5) skill.

"What?!"

In a panic, Vegeta rushes at the taller man, but Raditz weaves out of the way, buying time for his injuries to heal. Occasionally, Raditz counterattacks, launching a quick punch or kick to the Prince's left arm, trying to whittle him down.

"Cowardly fool! Fight me like a Saiyan!" Vegeta shouts after ten entire minutes of this.

"Why should I fight on your terms?" Raditz questions, almost fully recovered. "I'm doing pretty good fighting my way. I don't see a reason for me to stop."

Vegeta scowls as Raditz lands another drive-by kick to his arm. He looks around wildly, trying to think of ways to counter the hit and run tactics of his opponent. His Ki sensing abilities fall upon two fighters, both far weaker than him and Raditz, digging in the dirt near Frieza's ship...

With a large grin on his face, Vegeta dashes at Gohan and Krillin, building a blast of energy in his hand. Suddenly, his Ki sense catches several purple blasts of Ki as they explode out of the ground, launching themselves at him at high speeds.

"I gotta say, Prince... you're really fucking predictable." a voice says directly in his ear.

Vegeta tries to dodge the blasts, but Raditz locks his arms around the shorter man, catching him in a full nelson hold. As the Prince of all Saiyans desperately struggles to escape, the blasts finally reach him, exploding on contact with enough force to send both Raditz and Vegeta flying backwards.

Raditz's hands release Vegeta, instantly moving downwards to wrap both arms around the shorter Saiyan's waist. The Prince, seeing his chance, tries to struggle out of his opponent's grasp... only to find that his muscles no longer follow his commands.

While Vegeta tries to shake off the paralyzing Ki that Raditz's Ki blasts were infused with, Raditz flies up into the air, pulling Vegeta with him as he pushes the Kasokudo to its limits. Once they get high enough, Raditz arches his back, throwing both him and Vegeta towards the ground at mind-boggling speeds. Just before they can hit the ground, Vegeta's muscles finally follow his commands, and his hands scrabble at Raditz, but it is far too late. Raditz heaves Vegeta over his head, throwing the Prince into the ground with a massive German Suplex, creating a shockwave so grand that it destroys Frieza's ship, along with the ground for dozens of miles.

The tall Saiyan quickly puts everything he has into slowing his momentum and, despite hitting the ground, is able to avoid any serious injuries.

Raditz looks at Vegeta's shell-shocked body, barely moving inside the crater he created when he hit the ground.

"I guess you didn't 'know how to beat me', huh?" Raditz mocks, slowly walking towards the injured Saiyan.

Vegeta's hand weakly moves towards his mouth, causing Raditz to have a realization...

The tall Saiyan looks down at his waist, where his pouch of Senzu Beans are... or where they're supposed to be. Raditz dashes towards his opponent at full speed...

Crunch.

A surge of energy bursts from Vegeta's body as he swallows the Senzu Bean, knocking Raditz backwards.

Vegeta disappears from his place in the crater, appearing behind Raditz in an instant.

"I suppose I should thank you... I never expected such a boost in power from our fight."