Father and Son

Gohan had stood idly by as both his father and Vegeta had been struck down by the tyrant. Moments ago, the blast had made a deep crater in the ground, and Goku was not emerging from it.

"I could have helped. I could have done something." Gohan said aloud. "But I was too afraid! Why am I always so afraid?"

He felt a shiver jolt down his spine, fearing to accept the truth that he was now alone. He had always had someone, at least Krillin, to watch out for him. It wasn't as if he really needed looking out for anymore, he just relied on their support. After all, he had become one of the strongest beings alive and he was only five years old. His power had only been eclipsed by, of course, Super Saiyan Vegeta, Goku, and Frieza's final form. And against the frost demon, he would give anything not to be standing there by himself. As it was, he felt completely isolated.

"Aww, has your father gone and died on you? Life's tough, kid. It's good that you learn that lesson early." Frieza had gotten rid of his jitters and was back to his old self, taunting his newest victim. "When I was a boy, my father never would have abandoned me. Know why? Because he was the most powerful in the entire universe! Your father was just a puny monkey; that's why he died. Hahaha."

Gohan felt a tear trickle down his young cheek, his short body still leaning over the crater and scanning for any hope that his father might still be alive. He couldn't feel Goku's energy at all, but what else could he do? He couldn't possibly stand up to Frieza - or could he? Gohan decided, then and there, that he wanted to die in battle, just like his father. The demon had continued to insult his honor, and Gohan would make him pay, or die trying.

"I'm not scared of you anymore, Frieza!" Gohan yelled.

The boy possessed an incredible hidden power, directly connected to his rage. He hadn't ever intentionally brought it out before, nor did he know how. It awakened in response to a need, not a desire. While fighting Frieza's second and third forms, he had demonstrated some of that power, even momentarily eclipsing the demon in raw energy. Now he needed it more than ever.

"My father...grrrrr...was a better fighter than you ever were!" he screamed.

"Oh? Haha," laughed Frieza. "Then why is it that I was able to so easily conquer him? Perhaps your small brain is imagining things. You see, today has proven to me exactly why I am feared above all others. I am the strongest, boy! I can never be defeated!" Frieza triumphantly proclaimed his victory, needing only to smite one Saiyan child before the entire race was no more.

Gohan dropped back two steps, flaring his white aura and placing his arms straight out. He braced his left hand perpendicularly behind his right, as he began charging his strongest attack.

"Oh my. What's this?" Frieza put his fists against his hips, elbows pointing out, and smugly lifted his chin. "Go ahead. Take your very best shot. Hahaha!" He was completely confident that he had seen the limits of the boy's power when fighting in his previous forms. He had been using even less than 1% of his true power at that time and Gohan still hadn't damaged him. Even now that he was worn and wounded, he was at least still 65%. There was no way this would even tickle.

"Masenko! Haaaa!" yelled the youthful disciple of Piccolo.

The blast rapidly streaked towards Frieza, its diameter nearly as wide as the demon was tall. Gohan screamed with all his rage, offering every scrap of power he could muster to the force of his attack. He could feel the impact on the other side of his blast, but there was no explosion.

"Oh no," Gohan thought. "He caught it! What am I gonna do now?" He continued trying to push the attack, if only to prevent Frieza from hurling it back at him. "I...can't keep this up much longer," he panicked. "Looks like I'll be joining you soon, father...huh...dad?"

Gohan saw a beam of burning blue suddenly behind Frieza, trapping the frost demon between the two attacks. The boy didn't have time to think. His second wind arrived all of a sudden, and he released it all into the Masenko.

"Thuuuuuuum," came the explosion, crashing around the young Saiyan's ears and making them ring. Frieza had been pancaked between the two attacks, and Gohan could feel a huge drop in the tyrant's energy. Best of all, he felt his father.

Shrouded in debris, the icy tyrant was furious. He knew without turning who had fired the attack on his back; that other stupid Saiyan. The combined explosion had weakened his body much more than he would have liked, and he now felt very near to only half his strength. Things were getting out of hand again, somehow. He was certain when he had killed Vegeta that his victory over the others would be as easy as a milk run. Yet, their resilience continued to surprise him. But no more. He was through playing games and toying around. They would both die, by his mighty hand, very soon.

As the dust from the explosion began to clear, Gohan's eyes met his father's. They looked past the demon between them and connected with each other. Exhausted and panting but glad, Goku spoke to his son telepathically. "I'm so proud of you, Gohan. You've become so brave and so strong. But right now, we need a plan. We'll have to work together if we want to beat Frieza once and for all. You'll have to do exactly what I tell you."

"I'm ready, dad," Gohan responded silently, knowing his dad could hear him telepathically. "I'm so glad you're still alive."

"Yes, I'm alive, but I don't have enough strength left to overpower Frieza. That last blast was almost more than I could take. But you still have the strength within you to defeat him. I can sense it."

Frieza scowled, still trying to recover his energy. "What are you worthless monkeys staring at?" he demanded. "You're still no match for me."

"Do you really think I can beat him, dad?" Gohan wondered. Goku nodded almost imperceptibly. "I'm sure you can. I can sense Frieza's energy, and I think it's less than half of what it was when he was fighting Vegeta. He's also badly wounded. If you can hit the wound in his side with enough energy, it might be sufficient to reach his heart. You have the power in you. It's far beyond what you can feel yourself. If you let yourself fill with anger at the things Frieza has done, I know you'll have the strength."

Gohan didn't know whether his dad was right, but he trusted him. "What do you need me to do?"

Goku kept one eye on the still-panting Frieza. They needed just a few more moments to formulate their plan. "I'm going to use the Solar Flare technique," he said.

"But Krillin already tried that," Gohan interrupted. "Frieza might recognize it and cover his eyes!"

"That's a risk I'll have to take," Goku replied. "All I need to do is cause a diversion. Frieza can't sense energy, so he will turn toward me and defend himself as soon as I use the Solar Flare and start to attack him. I don't have enough strength to hurt him, but I will distract him. I can avoid his counterattacks for as long as he is still blinded."

Frieza was growing more and more furious by the second. "Why aren't you answering me? I demand that you speak to me." He wanted desperately to attack the Saiyan who mocked him with silence, but he needed a few more moments to gather his strength.

Goku ignored the tyrant. "As soon as I use the Solar Flare, I need you to charge the biggest energy beam that you can. Start flying toward Frieza from behind, slowly. I'll keep him distracted for as long as I can, but you need to release the attack into his side from point-blank range at the last possible instant. Can you do that for me?"

Gohan nodded. "I'll do my best, dad."

"Remember, Gohan, it won't be enough unless you let yourself get really angry. Think of all the people Frieza has hurt and all the things he is capable of. Let that be your power!" With that, Goku powered up and blasted off toward Frieza.

The tyrant, now recovered from the immediate effects of the combined attack but still in pain, turned to face the Saiyan. "Come now, you don't really think you have the power to defeat me, do you? Whatever harebrained scheme you two have concocted, I can promise you that it won't work. It will be amusing to watch, though." As Goku neared, fist raised, Frieza readied himself for a vicious counterattack.

But the expected blow never came. True to his plan, Goku pulled his fist back, both hands covering his face. "SOLAR FLARE!" he screamed, releasing a brilliant flash of light from only a few feet away. Immediately, intense pain filled Frieza's consciousness. Even as he covered his eyes with both hands, he cursed himself for not anticipating the technique. Though blinded, however, he knew he was still strong enough to defend against the miserable Saiyan.

Raising his arms quickly to shield his face, he poised. Sure enough, Goku's fist slammed into his forearms, forcing him back slightly. He noted with satisfaction that the Saiyan's punches, though powerful, weren't a serious threat. He swung his tail blindly, hoping to catch his opponent's chest, but he only succeeded in blocking a kick aimed at his stomach.

Frieza continued blocking and punching wildly, desperately wishing his sight would return, but Goku kept dancing just outside his reach, alternately peppering his body with kicks and punches. None were enough to seriously injure him, but he was growing increasingly more frustrated. Slowly, his vision began to clear, and he could just make out the form of Goku in front of him. Lashing out angrily, he punched straight forward.

Goku brought both arms up to block, but the force of the blow bowled him backward. "Now, Gohan! Do it now!" he screamed.

Frieza turned only to see a bright blue light enveloping him. His vision still blurred, he could only begin to twist away as Gohan screamed "-HAAAA!"

The concentrated beam was only a few inches wide, and Gohan's outstretched hands had been only a foot away from Frieza's side when he released the attack. His aura glowed with an almost-golden tint as he poured everything he had into the attack, his inner rage adding to the power of the energy blast. One of the Namekian suns was setting behind Gohan and its golden glow sent a shiver through Frieza's cold heart; for a brief moment he feared he was facing another Super Saiyan.

Yet Frieza had twisted out of the way just in time. Instead of piercing through his wound and hitting his heart, Gohan's beam only grazed the tyrant's back, opening an angry purple line from his lower back across his shoulder. The frost demon screamed in pain, lashing out with a vicious backhand that sent the exhausted Gohan tumbling end-over-end. Their plan had failed.

Gohan scanned desperately for the eyes of his father, not knowing what to do next. When their eyes finally met, no words needed to be spoken. The message was clear. Goku wanted his son to leave, but Gohan's resolve to stay and fight was impenetrable. Together, they had to fight. There were no more plans, no more tactics. As father and son, they would combine their efforts in an all-out last stand to stop Frieza.

With a nod from Goku, they simultaneously charged the tyrant. Frieza couldn't believe their arrogance in thinking that somehow their combined effort would make a bit of difference against him. He lifted both his fists and began to block.

"Thuuum, thuuum, thuuum," came the sound of fist against fist. Every blow that came at him, Frieza was able to turn away, even with barely half his strength.

"Is this the best you can do? Hahahahahaha!" laughed the demon as he continued to parry.

Goku was so exhausted from using his 20X Kaioken, not to mention being hit by Frieza's blast, that he was barely able to fight at Gohan's level. He couldn't initiate even the tiniest Kaioken, for fear it would paralyze him or render his body useless. No, he couldn't take that chance. Especially since he knew that it wouldn't make a difference. Maybe, just maybe, if he was at full strength he could beat the damaged, battle-worn Frieza they were currently fighting. But he had no senzu beans, and knew of no other means to be healed. He was proud of his son, though. That one thought comforted the Saiyan from Earth as he fought what he feared would be his last battle. While on Namek, Gohan had progressed more than he could have hoped. Despite all of Chi-Chi's efforts, he had become a fighter like his dad. Goku smiled at his son as he took notice of the fury of his attacks and the raw power he had inside his small body.

Gohan, opposite his father, was doing his best not just to pay back Frieza, but to impress his dad. His attacks held nothing back, as he tried his hardest just to lay a single punch on Frieza. He failed, of course; they both did. Frieza could outlast any barrage of attacks at that level, even from five or ten fighters. After what seemed like forever to Gohan, but in reality had only been about a minute, Frieza released an explosion wave from his body which hurled the Saiyans away from him.

"This is it," thought Goku. "I haven't got any power left and he knows it."

Frieza smiled his malevolent purple lips, his eyes directed harshly towards Goku. Then, with such speed Goku barely saw, he charged Gohan and gave the child his strongest punch right in the gut. He was immediately knocked out cold and dropped to the ground like a rock. Frieza smiled at Goku.

"The relationship between father and son is quite unique, wouldn't you agree?" Frieza's red eyes glared upwards as he spoke. "He chose to stay and die when he could have escaped earlier, and all because of you. It's all very touching, you know. So, do you accept responsibility for your son's imminent death?"

"I do, Frieza. This is all my fault." Goku answered, slightly shocking the tyrant with his response.

"Ah good, then you understand now the consequences of opposing me. I am lord of the universe! None shall dare to challenge me, especially not a stupid monkey! Hahahaha!" boasted the ice demon.

"No, what I actually meant was that I shouldn't have interfered with Vegeta's attack earlier. I should have let his Super Galic Flash rip you to tiny shreds, Frieza!"

"What? You actually think you had something to do with my survival? Hahaha. Fool! Nothing, not even a Super Saiyan, can destroy me!" The tyrant shrugged off Goku's wildly impossible suggestion.

"You're wrong, Frieza, and you know it! That attack would have finished you! I tried to save the planet from being consumed by that attack by sending a strong pulse of mental energy into Vegeta's blast, causing it to detonate prematurely. I thought I had waited long enough that you would be dead; any longer and the planet might have been irreparably damaged. I had to make a decision and I only had an instant. I see now that it would have been better to let you die and sacrifice Namek, but I guess it's much too late to change what I did." Goku had been heavily burdened by this truth: the harsh fact that he, the supposed ally of Vegeta, the only other living Saiyan, had been the one most responsible for his death. Vegeta had earned his victory and Goku had snatched it out of his hands. Worst of all, Vegeta blamed himself for his failure. Before his death, Goku wanted to tell him the truth, but the words just wouldn't come to him. Now, at his end, he at least wanted Frieza to know that it was luck that saved him from Vegeta, not the demon's own might.

"So, it's true then." Frieza murmured. "It's too bad Vegeta had to die before he found out that his fellow Saiyan had betrayed him. But maybe when you meet him in hell you two can settle the score, haha. First, though, I have a small matter of business with your son." The frost demon grinned at the helpless Goku, seeing panic in his eyes once again.

Frieza's words had sunk in deep. In a sense he had betrayed Vegeta, and he felt the weight of what he had done. But his time to regret was over; Gohan's life was now at stake. Goku had tried several times to give Gohan a chance to escape, but the boy had just stood there watching. If only he had never come back for him. If he had stayed with Krillin and Piccolo. "Piccolo...hmmmm," thought Goku. "If he is alive, then the dragonballs of Earth are back. Maybe they could wish to have my full strength restored! But I would have to hurry."

Goku quickly let his mind seek out the energy signature of King Kai. When he concentrated, he had learned to telepathically contact him, even from galaxies and realms way. Mostly this was due to King Kai's own telepathic powers and the fact that he usually kept a close eye on Goku.

"King Kai can you hear me? King Kai, hello?" No response came from Otherworld, as Goku realized that Frieza was now hovering directly in front of him. "Why isn't he answering? Uh-oh."

Frieza backhanded Goku, slinging him into the side of a rock formation, which crumbled and fell on top of him.

"How dare you ignore me when I speak to you, monkey!"

Goku didn't have the strength to blast the boulders off of him, so instead he lifted them off and crawled out. Frieza was waiting.

"Now, this time I want you to look me in the eyes when I speak to you!" Frieza yelled and reached his tail around Goku's neck, lifting him in the air by stranglehold.

"Before you die, I want you to have the privilege of seeing me kill your son." Frieza lifted his left arm in the direction of Gohan and, with his tail, yanked Goku's head to the side so he was forced to watch. "Just look at him over there. Even unconscious, he has that disgusting look of hope on his face. That is why he must die, you see." Frieza began charging a purple sphere in the hand pointed at Gohan. "Because against Frieza, there is no hope for anyone! Now DIE!"

"THUUUUUM!" A thundering explosion interrupted Freiza accompanied by a flash of brilliant golden light, not a mile away; something had suddenly burst out of Namek.

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Special thanks to davidstarlingm for being my editor. His assistance with planning, collaboration, and particularly organization with regard to power levels has been vital to Bringer of Death. His contributions extend beyond even these, as he has also recruited a lot of new readers. Everyone here who was invited by David from the Dragonball Multiverse page is especially welcome! Additionally, anyone here who is not an avid reader of DBM should definitely check it out.

I'm very excited to be releasing parts 11 and 12 next week. Although I do not plan to take a break from writing, they will act as sort of a finale to this particular segment of BoD. As always, your feedback is extremely appreciated by David and I. I will try to now address some of the comments that have been recently asked.

Comment: "I imagined that Frieza would survive but he really recovered THAT fast?"

Answer: As was explained in part 10, Freiza only survived at all because Goku intervened. Had he not, Frieza would have most definitely been destroyed, along with the entire planet.

Comment: "Was Vegeta at base when Frieza shot the death beam through him?"

Answer: This will be alluded to briefly in part 11, but suffice to say Vegeta simply dropped his guard. Also Frieza's success was due to the nature of piercing attacks like the death beam. He got in a sneaky but well-aimed shot.

Comment: "Goku isn't saving the day for once."

Answer: Exactly! That is the main point of Bringer of Death. This is a re-tooled version of Dragonball Z where Vegeta gets the majority of the attention. David and I are both big fans of Vegeta and we want to make this story both realistic and pleasing to the Vegeta community. Not to say that it will stray too far from DBZ canon, or that it will be enjoyable exclusively by fans of Vegeta though.

Comment: "Goku going super saiyan from Vegeta's death isn't plausible."

Answer: I totally agree. As was pointed out, he didn't do it in the manga when Vegeta died. I'm glad we agree, because I really want to be true to the characters.

Comment: "Kinda knew Vegeta would let his arrogance get the better of him eventually like it always seems to."

Answer: He has always struggled with this, and I knew it was a character issue I wanted to address. I think you will find part 11 deals with this aspect considerably.

Comment: "Is Frieza going to be pushed to his limits to develop a new form or anything?"

Answer: I'm not incredibly fond of using `deus ex machina`, especially regarding new transformations or new characters. However, if it is already fairly established that a character might be capable of something, either a new technique or transformation, although they are never seen doing so, I may decide to expand upon that. Overall though, my objective is to not stray incredibly far from the events we know to happen in DBZ.

Thanks for reading everyone! I read every comment and will always try to respond to your questions, unless I know it is going to be giving too much away. Also, any questions regarding the power levels, SSJ boosts, Kaioken, potential unlock, etc. should be addressed to David. He is kind of brilliant with numbers (Physics Major back in college) and he has been able to accurately chart out power levels through the whole of DBZ canon using our system