"Hahahaha! Idiot!" Vegeta laughs as he flies towards Gohan and Krillin, arriving in front of them in less than a second. "You, bald man! Where are the Namekian Dragon Balls?"

"..." Krillin doesn't answer, gathering energy in preparation to fight Vegeta.

"There's no point in staying silent. With Raditz dead, I'm the only one on this planet with the power to kill Frieza. Not even Kakarot would stand a chance against him. I won't save Kakarot unless you two show me where the Dragon Balls are."

"..." Krillin drops into a fighting stance, eyeing the bag with the last Senzu Bean.

"Oh? You want this?" Vegeta mocks, taking the small, green bean out of the bag. "I suppose you think that you can still save that soft-hearted fool if you give him this? Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but that won't be happening."

Grinning cruelly, the short Saiyan pops the Senzu Bean into his mouth, chewing it with a twisted look of delight on his face. His aura flares up soon after as all of his stamina is restored, and he gains a sizeable Zenkai boost.

"Now then, before you take me to the Dragon Balls..."

Vegeta points a hand at Raditz's unconscious body, building a large ball of blue Ki in his palm.

"That bastard's regeneration has given me too many problems today. Let's see if he can heal from this!"

Gohan stares at the burnt, unconscious body lying on the ground. Blood pools around the half-dead Saiyan, causing a strange sense of deja vu to take hold of the child.

As the Half-Saiyan looks at his dying uncle, images flash through his mind, images of another warrior who saved him...

The image of Raditz is replaced by Piccolo, who died shielding Gohan from Nappa's blast. The child's breathing speeds up, veins bulging on his forehead.

"AHHHHHHHH"

A ferocious scream of rage tears its way out of his throat, causing Vegeta to back up in shock as the Half-Saiyan's power level skyrockets.

"Wha--"

Vegeta's words are quickly cut off as Gohan launches himself at the Prince, landing a massive haymaker to the Saiyan's jaw. The short man goes flying backwards while Krillin watches in surprise.

Gohan is relentless, following after Vegeta with bloodshot eyes. The Prince's defenses are beaten down over and over by the furious child, leaving the short Saiyan in shock.

Krillin chuckles in amazement as his best friend's son lays the smackdown on Vegeta. The bald martial artist's arm raises as he focuses his Ki into the palm of his hand, slowly building a disc of Ki his hand...

Vegeta's eyes widen as he sees the Earthling prepare his attack. In a panic, he lashes out at Gohan, temporarily forcing the child backwards.

'Dammit! When the hell did Kakarot's brat get this strong?!' he thinks angrily. 'It's too risky to attack the Earthling with the kid around... dammit! I can't believe that I, Prince Vegeta, am forced to do this!'

Vegeta surprises Krillin by turning around and immediately flying away at top speed. What Krillin doesn't see, however, is the ball of white Ki building in Vegeta's hand...

"Woah, you really showed him, Gohan! Let's get this guy to Dende." Krillin says, picking up Raditz's unconscious body.

"..."

"Gohan?"

Krillin looks around for a few seconds before realizing that the Half-Saiyan is gone, having went after Vegeta.

"...Dammit." he sighs, before dashing towards where he left the Namekian child.

Vegeta scowls as he forces more and more energy into the Power Ball in his hand, watching it grow with a sour expression on his face.

'That brat... he won't stand a chance when I turn into--' The Prince's thoughts are interrupted as Gohan's fist slams into the back of his head, throwing Vegeta to the ground.

The ball of Ki dissipates as the Saiyan slams into the ground, momentarily stunned by the attack he didn't see coming. Gohan gives him no time to recover, landing on the Prince's spine with a devastating knee, forcing the short man even further into the ground. As Goku's son hammers blow after blow into the back of his head, Vegeta finally acts.

The Prince points both hands at the ground, releasing a blast of energy to launch himself and Gohan into the air. Then, before he can react, Vegeta's head shoots backwards, hitting the Half-Saiyan in the nose. As soon as he stuns his opponent, Vegeta reaches over his head, grabbing onto Gohan's clothes, before pulling the child off of his back. The Saiyan takes advantage of the brief advantage he's gained, pulling Gohan's head down into a powerful knee strike. The child's nose breaks with a nasty crack, but Gohan doesn't seem to mind, struggling out of Vegeta's grasp to hit the Prince with a thunderous uppercut. The two disengage, both staring at each other with blatant hostility.

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

Vegeta opens his mouth to taunt his young opponent, but Gohan doesn't give him a chance to speak, launching a barrage of bright yellow Ki blasts at the Prince of all Saiyans. Vegeta quickly crafts a Ki barrier to defend himself, but is shocked as it instantly crumbles under Gohan's assault. Burn marks appear on his body as he fails to defend against more and more blasts. Just when Vegeta begins to worry that it'll be too much, the onslaught stops. He sighs in relief, thinking that he has a second to breathe...

...until Gohan's voice reaches his ears.

"MASENKO-HA!"

A wave of yellow energy engulfs the Saiyan warrior, incinerating most of his armor, and burning a good chunk of his skin off. As the Prince falls to the ground, Gohan comes to his senses, calming down slightly. Suddenly, Vegeta launches a pure white blast of Ki at Gohan, who bats it aside with ease. The small child points his hands at Vegeta, charging a blast of energy that will finish the Prince off...

"Burst open and mix!"

Far away, where Frieza's ship once stood, Raditz jolts awake, coughing up blood as Dende desperately tries his best to heal him...

Gohan feels a large burst of energy from above him. Turning his head, he spots the source of it almost instantly.

In the sky is a large ball of white Ki. The energy he feels from it is... beautiful. Familiar. The longer he stares at it, the longer he wants to stare. Despite that, he feels a strange sense of loss, as if he's missing something important...

A loud roar from behind him clears his mind, causing him to realize the danger he is in. Without any hesitation, Gohan points his hands upwards and fires a blast of Ki at the artificial moon, destroying it instantly. Unfortunately for Gohan...

Two massive fists slam down on the Half-Saiyan, knocking him out on contact. The small child's body impacts the ground, causing a shockwave to spread throughout the area.

Once the moon is destroyed, Vegeta drops to the ground, dead tired, both from the beatdown he suffered and from making two artificial moons. All is silent for several seconds, before the Prince crawls to his feet.

"Should've saved that damn bean..." he mutters, slowly walking towards the Half-Saiyan's unconscious body.

Vegeta stares down at Gohan, before raising his palm to face the small child. He concentrates, pumping more and more energy into his arm, until a ball of Ki has built in his hand. Without wasting any time, he blasts the Half-Saiyan...

"What the hell is this brat made of?!" he says in surprise, staring at the still breathing child in front of him.

Shaking his head in disbelief, Vegeta blasts Gohan again, and again, and again. The Half-Saiyan turns into a bloody, burnt mess, but despite all odds, he continues to breathe.

"Ha... hahahahaha!" the Prince of all Saiyans laughs in disbelief at the sheer durability of Goku's son. "Fine! I guess this will be good practice..."

"Let's see... I believe Raditz made them... like this?"

A purple ball of Ki builds in the palm of Vegeta's hand, looking like a poor imitation of Raditz's paralyzing Ki blasts. The Prince throws the ball of energy at Gohan's body, watching in morbid fascination as the paralyzing Ki invades Gohan's body.

"...Hmph. It's not lasting as long as I expected... maybe it's because the boy is so strong." Vegeta thinks out loud, trying to perfect his copy. "Such a cowardly move fits Raditz quite well... still, I must admit that it's not a bad technique, although it'll be useless against Frieza. What if..."

A smile blooms upon the Saiyan's face as he remembers a technique that will be useful against Frieza. Namely, the disc-shaped attack that the bald Earthling used.

After a few seconds of messing around with his Ki, Vegeta forces it to compress into a flat, yellow disc of Ki hovering in the palm of his hand. The disc itself is unstable, with energy leaking out of it at an extremely quick pace.

"Tsk. It'll have to do..."

The Prince holds the disc up, staring at Gohan's unconscious body with a grin.

"Yes... this will be a good test. If it can kill the boy, it can kill Frieza!"

Just before Vegeta can throw the energy disc at Gohan, he suddenly senses a great deal of energy heading his way. Reacting quickly, he lifts the unconscious child off the ground, holding him up to block whatever attack is coming his way...

...and then something hits his side, launching him and Gohan away from the blast of energy. As he flies away, his opponent rips the Half-Saiyan from his hands, kicking Vegeta into the ground.

The Saiyan reacts instantly, throwing his disc of Ki as he turns towards his unseen enemy. And yet, to his shock, the attack hits nothing but air, and his opponent lands another blow, this time to his spine.

'This speed... it must be--!'

"Bastard! How are you still alive?!" he shouts, looking around for Raditz.

Vegeta's Ki sensing abilities, no longer blocked by the tall Saiyan's Ki mines, find Raditz almost immediately, allowing the Prince to dodge a dangerous strike to his throat.

"Dammit! Just die already!" he says, backhanding the blurred figure of Raditz away. Before he can follow up on his attack, however, a shockwave from a battle far, far away reaches the area, pushing him back slightly.

"Was that... Kakarot and Frieza?" he mumbles, shocked by the power he's sensing.

Raditz lands in a crumpled heap on the ground, slowly pushing himself up.

'Fuck... I need to hurry... and I definitely should've waited for Dende to fully heal me...' he thinks, stumbling to his feet.

The two Saiyans stare at each other, both exhausted, both ready to finish this.

Vegeta's body is burnt, with several patches of skin missing. His hair, surprisingly, is in pristine condition, having somehow survived Gohan's onslaught. Blood trickles from his mouth, and yet he smiles, looking at his weaker opponent.

"Heh. Judging by your energy, it seems that you didn't get much of a Zenkai boost." he says arrogantly.

Raditz is barely standing, exhaustion evident on his face. His body is still badly wounded, but he stares at Vegeta with a confident expression.

"You aren't going to kill me. Not today." he says with absolute certainty.

"What?! Do you truly think that you stand a chance against me?! Even at my weakest, I'm still far stronger than that Earthling friend of yours, he won't be able to help you."

"What makes you think that I'll need help?" Raditz says, grinning to himself when he sees that Vegeta's attention is focused on him.

"Look at you! You're a walking corpse. I could be on my deathbed, and I'd still be capable of taking you on!"

"Then go ahead, Prince, try your best." Raditz says, powering up as much as he can.

"Ha! As you wis--"

Suddenly, a disc of yellow Ki cuts through the air, unnoticed by Vegeta until it is far too late...

A hoarse scream rips through the air as Krillin's Destructo Disc cleaves the short Saiyan in two. The last thing Vegeta hears before everything goes dark is Raditz's mocking words.

"I cannot believe that worked... but I suppose you were always too shortsighted and arrogant. There's no need for you to worry, however. I'll bring you back before the battle against Frieza."