"Gahh, bloody fuck!" Cacao yelled. He quickly spun around seething in fury. He was just about to finish off Yamcha when an azure beam of energy shredded his unguarded back. He growled at the bald monk. "Why you insignificant..!"

Krillin closed his eyes and focused. He felt Daizu approaching him rapidly from behind. Within seconds he would tackle the monk with all the force of a comet striking the planet. The cyborg before him flexed and multiple flaps opened along his armor once more, this time with intent to launch a barrage of missiles at the short man.

Still keeping his eyes shut tight, Krillin took in a deep breath and yelled, "Solar flare!" Creating a blinding flash of white light that focused the intensity of the planet's nearby star.

Now being blind and unable to see, Daizu was completely unaware that his intended target had flown up into the air at the last moment, causing him to mmissthe monk and fumble mid-air. Due to his inability to sense energy he was also unaware of the dozen missiles that were mere seconds from colliding with the man head on because of he and Caocao's incompatibility in a fight.

Several explosions rocked the air. "Bahhh!" The foreign prince yelled as he was caught up in a variable explosion of light and smoke. "Shit!" Caocao cursed as his vision finally began to return to him and he relaized he had blasted his own partner. "Midget! Bastard! You!-.." He scoffed as he located the retreating Krillin.

However before he could move to strike the short man he heard a battle cry from behind him.

"Hey metal head!"

He turned in time to see a furious and damaged Yamcha charging a power ball in his right hand, while clutching his wrist with the left hand. "It's embarrassing how often my friends save my ass but.. I'm still a part of this team, don't count me out!" He yelled, pitching the attack like a baseball at the man.

The cyborg sweat dropped and sidestepped the attack. "Seriously!? That wasn..!" He laughed, but was cut off as he was forced to Dodge the attack a second time and then a third and forth. "Wha!?.." He cried in indignation as he realized that the bandit was somehow controlling the attack with a waving right hand. Beyond that…

Yamcha crouched low as his left hand began to glow a putrid purple. The disgusting Ki was bubbling and dripping off of the man's hand like some sort of acidic substance because, well.. it basically was. "Here's a little something I developed with the help of my friends. Combination move! Spirit Wolf's poison Fang!" He roared.

The annoying fly that was his spirit ball ceased buzzing around Caocao and flew back to its master. It enveloped his right hand which began to shine with a brilliant golden light.

Now with his hands pulsing in stark contrast from one another, he rushed forward at easily twice his previous speed. The man who had once tried to steal from his friend, Goku, poured everything he was into this attack.. 'I owe you at least this much, Goku!'

Yamcha began pelting the evil robot with dozens of blows each second. Normally the man's punches wouldn't do all that much damage to the cyborg as the being had almost triple the bandits power..

However.. The real effect of his attack quickly became apparent as each strike from his violet left hand seeped into the robot's armor and began to corrode him from within. Meanwhile the vibrant golden energy of his right hand allowed him to hit with nearly triple his usual strength which was just enough to keep the robot from being able to immediately mount a reasonable defense.

As this was occurring, Daizu managed to make his way back to the battle with unbridled fury etched into his features. He looked over at the struggling Caocao. If he had decided in that instance to help his ally they may have won this fight..

As it was he scoffed. 'If that damn idiot can't even fight off that weakling he deserves to die!' He ripped his gaze sideways until he found the primary source of his current irritation; Krillin.

"Your existence is an egregious mistake that I shall correct! Come here!" The prince roared, charging toward the bald monk. Krillin gulped. He spared a quick glance at his fellow Earthling and quickly turned, flying in the opposite direction.

Just like he had planned, the big idiot, Daizu, followed him without even bothering to try and help his friend.

Krillin saw the look in Yamcha's eyes as the man nodded subtly at the bald man without even missing a beat in his offensive strikes.. It was time to launch their counter attack.

With Caocao and Yamcha, the desert bandit was continuing to strike the massive cyborg before him with a furry of unending blows. This prevented his opponent from being able to recover in any real capacity. The damage was mounting rapidly and large sections of the beast's armor were corroded and warped. 'How!?' Turles's soldier gasped. 'How am I struggling this much!?'

However.. Even though Yamcha clearly had the upper hand for now, he was pouring all of his energy into this assault.

He was beginning to pale and sweat drenched his forehead and chest. He couldn't keep this strenous effort up much longer. Caocao knew this as well and he growled. "Just give up you bastaaard!" The cyborg roared, stomping his foot.

"Not!.. *dodge* while..! *Punch* *Punch* I'm still..! Breathing!" Yamcha spat back in the large man's face between each assault.

Unfortunately the stomp from the cyborg had cracked the ground a little bit and the exhausted Yamcha was caught unaware as a large section of rock crumbled beneath him, causing him to lose his footing. "Gah..!?"

'There!' The crusher exclaimed internally. He bellowed in rage and triumph as he drove his head forward in a savage headbutt that caught the alarmed Yamcha square in his nose. The cartilage was crushed and the man lost consciousness instantly as he was planted once more into the crater from before, causing it to crack and sink further.

"Now you're mine!" Caocao warned, as various flaps opened along his body once more. Much of his internal wiring was badly damaged from the poison still in his system but he was more than capable of finishing this Earthling's life. At least that's what he thought..

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

A moment later a slender but toned arm burst through the man's chest causing him to cough and splutter in fright and shock. "Wha.. What?! How..?"

He was hoisted into the air by the arm protruding from his torso which allowed him to turn just enough to see the face of his assassin from his peripheral vision. It was none other than Chi Chi, her crimson Aura blazing wildly.

The built in scouter which had been hardwired directly into the cyborg's brain informed him that at this very moment, the woman's power level was registering at nearly 80,000. The Robot's eyes widened even further, if possible.

He wanted to scream his defiance and hatred to the world but the mixture of shock and rapidly pooling oil in his circuits made audible speech impossible. As it was, the man could barely gurgle in response as his life-force faded and the Ox princess tossed his carcass to the side.

Without his vitality to fight it off, the remaining traces of poison within his body caused him to dissolve rapidly. Chi Chi shook her headinto the pile of goo in disgust and ran over to her wounded boyfriend.

He was very badly damaged.. But with the healing chambers there was no question he would survive. She cried tears of relief as she kissed his bloodied lips..

With Krillin and Daizu..

"Get back here you coward! Who runs away from a fight!?" Daizu yelled while quickly gaining on the short monk from Earth.

'Someone who wants to live you big doofus..' Krillin thought while straining his body to fly as fast as he possibly could. Sweat was beginning to pool on his bald head causing it to shine due to the reflection of the planet's sun.

Looking over his shoulder he called behind him, "I'm not running! I'm strategically retreating!" The large bulky man who looked nearly identical to a saiyan scoffed. "What's the difference, moron!?" He yelled while shooting forward with an extra burst of speed.

His intent had been to tackle Krillin from behind but the other man was ready. At the last minute he did a backward handspring mid-air, causing Daizu to overshoot the man's position. "Glad you asked! Tien! Chiaotzu!" The monk yelled.

Of course, this confused the absolute hell out of his opponent, who frowned heavily as he came to a skidding stop mid-air. Had the man been paying any semblance of attention to his surroundings he would have realized that Krillin, who he initially believed was simply running away, was in fact flying in a very deliberate direction.

A few moments later, Tien and his paper white companion exploded forth from behind a massive rock that had concealed them from Daizu's view. He whipped his head towards them and narrowed his eyes.

The prince knew it would take a few moments for the suprise attack from the Earthlings to reach him and he was certain he could finish his prey off in one swift blow now that the small man behind him had stopped running away.

Lakasei and Rasin were hot on the heels of Tien and Chiaotzu's but Krillin had already accounted for their presence and in fact, had been betting on it.

Amidst the confusion the bald monk had flown several feet backwards. He tucked his hands close to his sides, charging a special variant of the Kamehameha that was entirely of his own making. Daizu, having largely gotten over his momentary lapse in concentration, tore his gaze away from Krillin's allies.

With a cocky smirk he turned back to the monk. However, when he turned around to face the bald man, but the bright azure energy in his enemies hands gave him pause. 'How the fuck did he gather so much energy so quickly?' He idly wondered.

He raised his arms, forming an X in defense as Krillin launched his attack. "Scatter Kamehameha!" He yelled. The Azure beam of raw energy blasted forward toward the smirking Daizu. 'Pathetic!' The man barked internally.

However his cocky attitude and condescending demeanor quickly changed, giving way to a frown as the blast curved upward mere inches before it hit him.

"What!?" He spat, looking straight up as the blast reached the epitome of its skyward arc. True to its name, the blast split into three separate Kamehamehas a second later. At this point Tien and Chiaotzu were less than fifty feet away which just so happened to be the current limit of Krillin's range of control.

Daizu realized what was happening a moment too late, turning around and calling for his allies to stop. "No, stay back!" He ordered Lakasei and Rasin. Unfortunately, the two small, snarling warriors were so intent on finally catching their annoying quarry that they either didn't hear him or simply didn't heed the warning. Tien and Chiaotzu split apart at the last minute, spinning quickly around as they each pointed a finger at the surprised twins.

"Dodon ray!"

"Dodon ray!"

They shouted in unison, a small volatile beam crashing into the twins' knees. The attacks didn't do much damage overall but it did force the Beenz Brothers to stop just long enough..

A moment later all three of the crusher corps members found themselves bathed in brilliant, white hot energy.

Daizu was struck in the back and driven towards the ground while the twins were blasted backwards, seemingly unable to escape the potent attack that swept them up. They screamed as they were carried far off into the distance where a few moments later an intense explosion occurred.

One would think that since the original dense ball of plasma had split into three separate and individual blasts that the attack wouldn't have much bluster behind it. However due to the nature of the skill that couldn't have been farther from the truth.

Regardless of how many times the energy split, each attack would contain the full force of Krillin's considerable abilities. Effectively he had fired off three full-powered Kamehamehas at once.

The only real drawback to the technique was that using so much energy all at once was extremely taxing. Add that to the fact that Krillin had consumed a large amount of stamina on the initial game of cat and mouse, and he currently found himself struggling to breath.

Remaining upright in the air was taking everything the man had so he slowly lowered himself to the ground, clutching his chest and trying desperately to regain his composure.

"Not.. Done." He huffed, Rasing his right hand towards the sky. He began tracing a circle through the air in a clockwise motion. He winced, closing one eye and continuing to gasp for air but he didn't falter.

Even as Daizu screamed and blasted himself free from the pile of rubble he'd been buried in, Krillin maintained focus. Even as the man rounded on the short bald monk and raised a trembling fist in anger, he did not stop forming his energy. "I'll fucking kill you!" Daizu roared. He took one raging step forward but then found himself frozen against his will.

"Huh!? Now what??" He growled in a mixture of shock and irritation. "Gaaah!" He grunted as he tried breaking free. "Damn it!" He cursed, managing to turn his head just enough to see the source of his current immobilization.

Less than thirty feet behind him Chiaotzu had both of his arms raised and was gritting his teeth in concentration. Turles's solider struggled, his eyes widening as he growled. "Let.. me.. Gooo!"

Lakasei and Rasin were approaching swiftly, having recovered from the Kamehamehas. They were smoking and damaged but very much alive. Their battlecries echoed simultaneously as the duo charged at the preoccupied Chiaotzu who refused to let go of his unyielding telekinetic grip on Daizu.

"Tien!" He yelled, slamming his eyes shut in fear.

The man in question divided himself into two separate, but identical beings and charged the twins with reckless abandon. Since he split his power level, each of the Tiens were only about a third of his foes' strength. This in turn meant that there was no way in hell Tien would be able to go toe to toe with the duo that was approaching at the speed of sound.

However, one had to remember the man was a master class assassin due to the manner in which he had lived his life before his ways were changed by Goku's good-hearted nature. If there was one thing The Crane students were good at, it was diversion and hit and run tactics. "Four witches technique!" The two identical copies of the triclops yelled.

In an instant each of the Tien's sprouted additional arms from their shoulders so that both the original and his clone had four arms a piece. He didn't stop there however as his (And subsequently his clone's) third eye began to shine a bright pink light.

"Eye laser, mother fuckers!"

"Eye laser, mother fuckers!"

And surely as one might expect from the two Shinhan's, a moment later a sharp beam of energy shot from their third eye at the speed of light. The two beams struck the twins who gasped in shock but were unable to react to the unorthodox move due to their own momentum. They were each struck in the eye, crying out in pain and forced to skid to a halt. They grasped and clawed at the sensitive orbs which fortunately, were not permanently damaged.

It did, however, have the intended effect of leaving the two practically blind long enough for Tien and his clone to finish closing the distance between them.

The crane hermit student reared back all four of his arms while screaming a battle cry within his mind. 'This is for Goku, and everyone else!' "Machine gun blows!" He roared, and began showering the helpless Lakasei with an innumerable amount of punches.

Meanwhile his clone mirrored his movements and began doing the same to Rasin. Overall the damage may not have been much but the unusual combination of skills was highly effective at keeping the two from being able to assist their ally, who's situation had become increasingly dire as Krillin finally gathered the necessary energy to make his move.

Daizu gasped in horror as Krillin formed a buzz saw of energy roughly a foot above him that began to spin rapidly in the air. "Impossible!" The man yelled as he realized how alarming his situation had just become.

As the full implications of what was about to happen dawned on him, he began to cry. 'How could we.. Turles's crusher corps.. have lost to these.. maggots..?'

Unfortunately, these were the last thoughts the evil being would ever have as a second later the disk of energy filed his vision before it ripped through his body and everything went cold and dark…

"I had faith *Huff* *Huff* In my team, Asshole.." The bald monk wheezed.

Having spent all of his energy, Krillin's consciousness fled from him and the dwarf collapsed in a heap on the dying, brown planet beneath him.

End of chapter 23.