Sweat drips down Raditz's forehead as the immense power of Vegeta's aura slams into him.

'Ah... shit.'

A great force impacts the tall Saiyan's back, throwing him forward with alarming speed. Rather than attempt to halt his momentum, however, Raditz decides to twist in midair, activating the Kasokudo to fly away from Vegeta at top speed.

Warning: User has 3 broken ribs.

Vegeta stares at the fleeing Saiyan, stunned for several seconds, before he launches himself at Raditz, laughing the entire time.

"Ha! Where'd all that big talk go?! You were so arrogant earlier, but here you are, running away from me as fast as you can! If I didn't find it so amusing, I'd be furious."

Raditz flies close to the ground, barely staying ahead of the Prince. While fleeing, he shoots dozens upon dozens of Ki blasts downwards, forcing the balls of Ki to hold their form and float just above the ground.

Vegeta easily weaves around these blasts, and thrusts his hand forwards. Raditz's Ki sense flares up, causing the tall Saiyan to instantly fly upwards, narrowly avoiding a wave of KI that would surely have killed him.

'Dammit! Should I just fly towards Frieza and Kakarot and hope that Vegeta gets off my ass?!' he thinks, before shaking his head. 'No... with how Vegeta has been acting, he's likely to ask Frieza to wait while he kills me. Knowing Frieza... he'd probably accept that deal. With how slow my Ki blasts are to him, they'll never be able to hit if I keep firing behind me while running...'

A plan begins to form in his mind as he narrowly avoids another blast from Vegeta...

Warning: Stamina at 50%

Gohan stares at the quickly disappearing forms of Raditz and Vegeta, eyes wide. The boy's Uncle continues to flee the Prince, circling the planet several times. Every time he passes by, he leaves several Ki blasts behind him, as if creating a minefield for the Saiyan chasing him.

"We have to help him, Krillin! Raditz can't win against Vegeta now!" Gohan says.

"I... yeah. You're right. With that crazy power boost Vegeta just got, I can't see Raditz winning this. He's surviving, for now, but if we use the Dragon Balls, Vegeta will come right to us. Raditz can't prevent him from doing that... if we want to revive Piccolo and the others, then we have to help!"

"Alright! Let's go!" the child says, taking off towards where he last sensed the two battling Saiyans.

"Wait!" Krillin shouts, grabbing Gohan's arm before the small Half-Saiyan can fly off. "We can't just rush in without a plan! Vegeta is far more powerful than any opponent we've faced."

"What do you want to do? If we don't hurry, he may catch Raditz!"

"Calm down. Listen, my Destructo Disc is the only attack we have that can hurt Vegeta! Did your Dad ever teach you about the Solar Flare?"

"No, why?"

"Alright then, listen up, we don't have much time..."

Warning: Ki at 10%

Raditz grins to himself as he stares at the message in front of his eyes, before dodging to the side, narrowly avoiding yet another attack from the now-furious Prince.

"Stop running, you damn coward!" Vegeta shouts, a vein bulging on his head.

"Why? So you can kill me?" Raditz replies sarcastically.

"YES!"

"..."

The tall Saiyan suddenly slows down significantly, a blank look upon his face.

The Prince reacts instantly, dashing forward to grip Raditz's leg, squeezing with all his might...

Warning: User's left Shin is broken.

He screams as Vegeta catches him, abruptly stopping in midair. Before Raditz has a chance to struggle free, the short Saiyan throws his arm back, and then slams the taller man into the dirt, kicking up a cloud of dust that blinds both fighters. The short Saiyan lands on the ground soon after, a large smile adorning his face.

"Out of stamina already? Tut tut, Raditz. It seems that you've been slacking on your training." the Prince says, walking towards the power level that he assumes to be an injured Raditz...

"..." the older Saiyan doesn't respond, seemingly too injured to speak.

"Hmph. There's too much dust in the way. I want to look you in the eyes as I end your pathetic existence."

Vegeta shouts with exertion, forcing his Ki to flare up to create a minor shockwave of pure power. The shockwave blows all of the dust from the area, allowing the Prince to clearly see the power level he's sensing...

"There we-- what the hell?!" he shouts in surprise as he looks at an unexpected scene.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

In front of the Prince, floating gently above a hole in the ground, is a dense ball of purple Ki. Before he can react, the Ki mine explodes in his face. Although it does little damage, it kicks up another smokescreen of dust...

"You may be much stronger than me--" Raditz calls out, but is interrupted as Vegeta dashes in the direction his voice has come from, only to find another Ki mine. He continues speaking, this time from behind the Prince.

"--but at my top speed, your eyes can't track me. That's--" the stronger Saiyan sends a wave of energy at Raditz, clearing a large path in the smokescreen.

"--why I ran for so long. I needed time to set my plan up."

The Saiyan Prince continues to follow the sound of his opponent's voice, moving as fast as he can in hopes of catching the tall man. The entire time, Raditz continues to speak, weaving around the short Saiyan's attacks.

"I don't stand a chance in an open fight with you now. If we fought, you would land a killing blow pretty quickly, even though your eyes can't follow me. Do you know why that is?"

Another attack misses, and another mine blows up.

"Well, I'll tell you. Although your eyes can't follow me, you can still sense my Ki. If I move behind you, you'll hit behind you. If I dodge to the side, you'll adjust your attack accordingly. I was quite confused on how to counter that, I'll admit..."

Vegeta runs into yet another mine as the older Saiyan speaks, his anger reaching a boiling point.

"Dammit! If you won't come out, then I'll just have to make you!" he shouts as he explodes out of the cloud of dust, flying towards where Frieza's ship once stood... where Gohan and Krillin are...

...only to find himself wandering, unable to find the two after several minutes of searching.

Laughter echoes throughout the area as Vegeta continues to fly, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"You're going the wrong way, Prince." Raditz mocks.

"Dammit! What did you do, scum?!" Vegeta yells out angrily, whirling to fire a blast at Raditz, who disappears from his position before it can land.

"Those Ki blasts that hit you... you don't really think that they came out of nowhere, do you? Although I know it'll be a struggle for you, try to use your head." the weaker Saiyan says arrogantly.

"Bastard! What do you..." the short Saiyan trails off, hands unclenching in shock as he comes to a realization. "Those Ki blasts you threw at me when I was chasing you... you didn't!"

"I did." Raditz confirms, smiling at the sheer disbelief on the Prince's face.

"But... but I would've noticed! Those holes only appeared after I slammed you into the ground! That must mean that the Ki blasts came out of the ground!"

"They did." Raditz's grin grows wider.

"Then how?! If you hid all of those blasts underground, then this planet's surface would be riddled with hole!"

"Let me tell you a secret, Vegeta. You know that I have learnt several strange, powerful techniques. My self-healing ability is one that you've seen. One that I haven't revealed to you, however, is the ability to create items and materials with my Ki."

Vegeta's mouth hangs wide open, forming an O shape.

"I knew that the only hope I had of beating you was to disable your ability to sense my Ki, and so I planned to do exactly that. While you were chasing me, I left dozens upon dozens of Ki mines behind me, which you thought was just an attempt to slow you down. Every time we flew by a minefield, I would put a few of the Ki mines underground, and then use freshly created dirt and grass to cover the hole. I guess you just assumed that I had lost concentration on the mines whenever we passed by again."

"It took everything I had and almost left me drained of Ki... but it worked. Under the surface of this planet lies thousands upon thousands of balls of Ki. Each blast doesn't have a lot of energy, but together? Well... they're more than enough to interfere with your Ki sensing. Maybe if you had more experience in controlling Ki, you could block all the interference out and find what you're looking for, but we both know you don't have that kind of skill. Not yet, anyways."

Vegeta stands there, stunned, before gritting his teeth. With a furious shout, he launches himself at Raditz, trying to catch his slippery opponent. "You'll eventually run out of stamina! Even if I can't sense you, I could easily catch up to you then!"

"Prince... you don't understand the situation you're in, do you?" the weaker Saiyan calmly asks.

"I bet you'll tell me." Vegeta scoffs.

"Vegeta, while you cannot sense me... I can definitely sense you. I will know where you are at all times. Tell me, how do you plan to catch me then? If I sensed you flying in my direction, I would simply hide underground, easily avoiding you. I would rest up, heal up, and then go back to attacking you."

"..."

"I will know where you are at all times. Whenever you stop to rest, to sleep, I'll attack, and you won't be able to do anything about it. Sure, you can eat the last Senzu Bean when you're really tired, but that will just prolong the inevitable. You can't win this fight."

"But... but what about your brother, Kakarot?" Vegeta says, grasping for anything to save him from the difficult situation he finds himself in. "If you waste time with me, Frieza will surely kill him. Fight me like a true Saiyan warrior, and whoever wins can go fight against Frieza, proving that they're the true Super Saiyan!"

"Oh? And will you give me the Senzu Bean so that I can fully heal whatever wounds I may have, and get a Zenkai boost to match your power?"

"..."

"That's what I thought. Now, as for your question about Kakarot... what makes you assume that I haven't already saved him from Frieza? If you couldn't follow my speed, and you think you can kill Frieza, then why would you believe that he can react to my movements? Kakarot is resting in a cave somewhere, recovering from the wounds Frieza gave him." Raditz lies.

"You're bluffing!" the shorter Saiyan yells, instantly calling Raditz out.

"But you don't know that for sure. Even if I am lying... we have Dragon Balls for a reason. Surrender, give me the Senzu Bean, and we can fight Frieza together. As I said earlier, you can't win this fight. If you want a chance to take revenge against me, then we can arrange that later... after Frieza is dead."

"How... how do I know that you aren't lying? You've been completely devoid of any honor this entire fight!"

"You don't know. You only have my word, for the little that it is worth." Raditz says honestly. "But you also have no choice. I'll kill you otherwise."

"..."

The Prince is silent for several seconds, before a crafty look appears on his face.

"Alright. Come here and I'll give you the Senzu Bean." Vegeta says, clenching the bag in his fist.

"Nice try." Raditz laughs. "I want you to swear on your pride as a Saiyan that you won't try to kill me, Kakarot, or any of our allies until after Frieza is dead and we've arrived back on Earth. That's one promise that I doubt even you would break."

Vegeta stares into the air, trying to force his Ki sense to find Raditz, but then sighs dejectedly.

"Fine... fine! I, Prince Vegeta, sw--" he cuts off, eyes lighting up with glee as he spots an opportunity.

In the distance, a small child flies beside a short, bald man clad in orange. Both of them fly towards Vegeta at a slow speed, doing their best to hide their power levels. Unfortunately for them, Vegeta isn't relying on his Ki sense to search the area.

He points his hand at them, unleashing an immense blast of energy from his outstretched palm. The two attempt to move out of the way, but are far too slow, only being able to stare at their oncoming doom with fear...

Boom.

An explosion erupts from the area as the blast meets flesh. However, to Krillin and Gohan's surprise, they feel no pain, no heat from the attack. The reason for that is quickly revealed...

Standing in front of the two is a tall, long-haired man in a burnt orange martial arts Gi. His arms are outstretched, and his skin is blistered and blackened. His breathing is ragged and uneven, and every breath creates a raspy, wheezing sound. Under the joyful gaze of Vegeta, Raditz falls to the ground, unmoving.