Chapter 125 – A Saiyan’s Struggle

~ Vegeta and Frieza ~

Vegeta's teeth clenched as he launched a storm of punches.

"What's wrong, little monkey?" Frieza's voice took on a mocking singsong lilt. "Isn't this your big moment? Or, are you having… performance issues?"

Frieza effortlessly slipped past a vicious haymaker heading his way.

"Surely this isn't the extent of your bite, Vegeta? Weren't you barking on and on about becoming the first Super Saiyan in a thousand years?" Frieza's voice was airy, almost playful. "Zarbon mentioned that's all you go on about when you think no one's listening. Such grand ambitions."

"Shut up!" Vegeta bellowed. "Don't act like you didn't fear us because of our potential! Because of the legendary Super Saiyan!"

With a roar, Vegeta lunged, his fist rocketing toward Frieza's face.

But, predictably, Frieza's hand snapped up and intercepted the strike, his fingers clamping around Vegeta's fist mid-swing. The impact barely caused the tyrant's arm to budge.

Vegeta's jaw tightened as his free hand moved into position, palm outstretched, a glowing sphere of Ki already formed. The energy blast detonated mere inches from Frieza's face with a blinding flash and a deafening boom. Smoke and sparks covered his vision, but Vegeta's chest tightened because Frieza's grip on his fist failed to loosen even the slightest.

Soon, the smoke began to clear, and Frieza's silhouette came into focus as he advanced, his fingers still clamped tightly around Vegeta's hand. Each step Frieza took forced Vegeta to retreat as the tyrant emerged completely unscathed from the explosion.

"Ah, yes. The 'legendary' Super Saiyan," Frieza mockingly drawled as he rolled his eyes. "A little bedtime fairytale told to Saiyan children to make them feel special. But that's all it is, isn't it? A legend. A story. Unfortunately for you, I deal with facts, not myths and legends."

Vegeta's lips twisted into a snarl, a rebuttal on his tongue, but he was silenced when Frieza leaned in to whisper.

"And even if—by some cosmic miracle—you managed to achieve it, you'd only barely scrape together enough power to match your overinflated ego. But even then? You'd never come close to matching me."

Frieza casually rolled his neck as he effortlessly held Vegeta's fist in his grasp. His expression was that of pure, condescending smugness.

"Besides, let's not jump to conclusions. There's a rather significant difference between 'caution' and 'fear,' wouldn't you say? And as for Father, he only ever advised me to 'fear' two beings in this universe: Majin Buu the Evil Incarnate and Beerus the Destroyer." Tilting his head, Frieza adopted an exaggerated sympathetic look. "My apologies, Vegeta, but 'Super Saiyan' didn't quite seem to make the list."

Vegeta let out a roar of fury and yanked his hand free from Frieza's grip. The sudden release, however, caused him to stagger back a couple of steps. Frieza's lack of resistance made the success hollow—it was clear the tyrant had simply let him go. Nevertheless, Vegeta quickly leaped back to create some distance between himself and his tormentor.

Frieza chuckled softly, rolling his shoulders as if he had just wrapped up a mild warm-up.

"Come on then, Frieza! Take this if you dare!" Vegeta shouted, desperation seeping in. His hands moved swiftly as he summoned a crackling golden-yellow orb of energy between his palms. It hummed as it grew larger with every passing second.

Frieza made no effort to interrupt. He watched with an almost condescending patience as he indulged Vegeta with this fleeting moment of hope.

With a roar, Vegeta hurled the blazing orb of energy toward its target. For a moment, it looked as if the blast might connect, but as it reached Frieza, the tyrant simply raised a hand and plucked it from the air.

"How impressive," Frieza said sarcastically, turning the orb in his hand as if examining a trinket. Then, with a nonchalant flick, he tossed it aside and sent it spiraling off into the distance, where it detonated in an explosion far out of sight.

Then, Frieza moved.

In the blink of an eye—a fraction of a heartbeat—Frieza arrived before his foe. Vegeta barely registered the movement before Frieza's tail lashed out like a whip and struck him across the face with a sharp snap. His head jerked to the side, the sting burning his skin.

The blow wasn't meant to send him flying—Vegeta knew that all too well. The force had been tightly restrained. But at the same time, the humiliation of such a controlled strike burned hotter than the pain itself.

Frieza's tail lashed out again, snapping Vegeta's head sharply to the other side, then back, then again after that. Each slap forced Vegeta to stumble back.

Fortunately, Vegeta recovered quickly.

As Frieza's tail swept toward him once more, Vegeta ducked low. The air whistled above his head as the tyrant's tail slashed harmlessly past him. With a roar, Vegeta launched into a furious storm of punches and kicks, each one faster and more aggressive than the last.

But Frieza easily weaved and sidestepped through the barrage as though Vegeta was attacking in slow motion. Each strike Vegeta threw swiped uselessly through empty space, never once coming close to landing.

"Watching you flail like this is almost entertaining," Frieza said at last. His crimson eyes glinted as they tracked Vegeta's flurry of futile blows. "Though your efforts remind me of someone trying to drain the ocean." He let the words hang for a moment, then added with a razor-sharp smirk, "With a teaspoon."

Vegeta's chest heaved as his furious assault slowed. Grinding his teeth in frustration, he let out a feral snarl and drove his fist toward Frieza's smirking face with all the force he could muster.

Obviously, the punch never connected. Frieza's hand snapped up and once again caught Vegeta's strike effortlessly. Vegeta pushed his fist forward, muscles bulging and power flaring, but Frieza didn't so much as budge.

Frieza's smirk twisted into something icier.

"Tell me," he said lazily, "do you Saiyans ever get bored of losing? Just so you know, it's starting to get quite repetitive for me."

Vegeta froze for a moment. The condescending tone, the smug derision—they were all so stereotypical of Frieza. It was everything he loathed about the damned lizard.

"SHUT UP!" Vegeta roared, his voice cracking slightly. "I'll wipe that arrogance off your face, Frieza!" With an explosive burst of energy, Vegeta twisted sharply and drove his leg into a powerful kick at the tyrant's side. His boot struck home with a dull thud against Frieza's ribs…but did nothing.

Frieza didn't so much as twitch. Not even a little.

It felt as if Vegeta had kicked a slab of pure Katchin Steel.

Meanwhile, Frieza's gaze drifted down to where the blow had landed. His eyebrow arched slightly in curiosity as he pondered Vegeta's words.

"Arrogance?" he repeated softly, tasting the word as though it were foreign to him. His eyes flicked back to Vegeta, and with a slow wag of his finger, he chidingly corrected his former subordinate. "No, no, Vegeta. 'Arrogance' suggests unwarranted confidence. I, on the other hand, am merely stating a fact: I am far, far superior to you and your species."

A cruel glint flickered in Frieza's crimson eyes as he continued while idly tapping his temple with a finger.

"Although… your little outburst does remind me of something. Ah, yes, your father said almost the exact same thing to me once, right before he charged in like a fool. Of course, that was just before he ended up pathetically groveling at my feet, sniveling like the spineless waste of a king he was. And soon enough, you'll follow in his footsteps." He tilted his head slightly, his tone gleefully mocking. "Like father, like son, wouldn't you agree?"

With that, Frieza flung Vegeta away. The Saiyan prince's body sailed through the air like a ragdoll, crashing back-first into the ground with immense force. The impact sent rocks and debris flying as Vegeta carved a deep trench into the dirt. Thick clouds of dust rose, obscuring him as his momentum finally died.

For a while, silence reigned supreme. Then a faint groan broke it as Vegeta stirred and propped himself up on one elbow. Blood dripped from a split lip, smearing crimson onto his glove as he wiped it away with the back of his hand. Slowly, agonizingly, he pushed himself to one knee, his teeth gritted, his chest heaving.

And then he looked up.

The heated glare he leveled at Frieza could have melted through solid titanium.

"My father…" Vegeta rasped, his voice hoarse, "was not worthy of his crown. He tarnished the pride of the Saiyan royalty by clinging to his power through trickery and deception. There was no honor in that—he was no true warrior. Not the kind he should have been. Not the kind he intended for me to become."

Frieza was a picture of smug amusement as his tail swayed lazily behind him. "Oh? How touching! An honest critique of your dear old daddy."

"But!" Vegeta snarled, completely cutting off Frieza's unwanted commentary, "Even if he was the worst scum in the history of the Universe—you of all creatures do not have the right to insult him!"

A guttural cry tore from Vegeta's throat as he forced himself upright. Despite the blood streaking his battered armor and the tremors running through his body, he stood tall, his back straight.

His hands moved forward, palms pressed together like the snapping jaws of a predator. Rising slightly into the air, his form became engulfed in a violent, royal purple aura that exploded to life around him. He drew his hands back to his side as energy coalesced within his palms.

"I am not my father, Frieza!" Vegeta roared, his voice shaking the air. The aura around him flared wild and chaotic as chunks of earth tore free from the ground to hover around him. "Even if I am not the Super Saiyan, I am still a Saiyan! I will not bow! I will not beg! You can break my bones; you can shatter my body, but you will never—never—break my honor, nor my pride, nor my will!"

Vegeta's blazing eyes locked on Frieza as he ascended higher into the air. He bared his teeth in a semi-grin that was more bloodthirsty than joyful. "If I die today, it will not be on my knees before the likes of you!"

The purple light surrounding him grew so intense that his form was no longer visible.

And then…

"GALICK GUN!!"

The beam tore through the air like a blazing comet, its light reflecting off the shattered ground and glinting ominously in Frieza's crimson eyes.

Below, Frieza patiently waited, one hand resting on his hip, the other raised with an open palm to intercept the attack. The Galick Gun collided with an earth-shaking roar, but Frieza didn't move an inch. His expression remained unchanged, unimpressed, as his arm stayed extended, holding the beam at bay as if it were little more than a minor annoyance.

"This is it? All that bluster, and this is the best he can—"

Before the words could fully leave Frieza's lips, Vegeta suddenly burst out of the very heart of the beam itself. The sheer unexpectedness of the move surprised Frieza, and that surprise dulled his reaction during that critical moment.

Vegeta's knee drove directly into Frieza's chest, striking the same spot Ajax had targeted earlier with his Rokuogan.

For the first time, pain flashed across Frieza's face. He hissed sharply and stumbled backward as his hand moved instinctively to clutch his chest. A grimace twisted his features as the Galick Gun faded around him.

Vegeta landed lightly, wasting no time as he charged forward, intent on exploiting the opening he'd created to land a crushing follow-up strike.

But Frieza recovered far faster than Vegeta could have anticipated. In a blur, the tyrant shifted forward, just a few inches, to meet the Saiyan prince head-on. His hand shot out like a viper, clamped down on Vegeta's face, and without further ceremony, slammed him into the ground with such force that the earth itself cratered beneath them.

Vegeta's feet jerked up uncontrollably from the impact before crashing back to the ground with a dull thud. Frieza loomed over him, his crimson eyes burning with cold fury, the smirk gone, replaced by icy irritation.

"You're persistent, I'll give you that," Frieza said calmly, his voice devoid of amusement. He tightened his grip on Vegeta's face, his fingertips sinking into the Saiyan prince's cheeks. "But persistence without power is nothing more than being pathetic."

"HRMMPHH!" Vegeta thrashed, but his muffled cries were audible beneath Frieza's hand.

"I think you need a little punishment, Vegeta—to remind you exactly where you stand in my universe."

Frieza's tail uncoiled itself like a serpent and wrapped tightly around Vegeta's neck. Having learned his lesson the hard way, this time, the tyrant kept his tail low enough to ensure he couldn't be bitten. Then, Frieza lifted his prey higher. Vegeta's feet dangled uselessly as his fingers scrabbled futilely at the tail, desperate for a breath, but Frieza ignored the futile attempts, instead spinning Vegeta around to expose his back.

"Let's start with something simple, shall we?" Frieza purred darkly as he cocked his fist back, knuckles faintly glowing with power. Without warning, he drove the punch forward and smashed it into Vegeta's back.

"ARRRUGH!!" The impact was catastrophic. Vegeta's Frieza Force armor instantly shattered like brittle glass under the force of the blow. His body arched unnaturally, blood spraying from his mouth and splattering across his chin and chest. Before Vegeta could even choke out a gasp, Frieza struck again, his fist slamming into the exact same spot on Vegeta's spine.

Frieza tilted his head as he listened to the rhythm of Vegeta's blood hitting the ground.

"Let me offer you a piece of advice, Vegeta," he purred, leaning in closer. His tail loosened just enough to allow Vegeta to gasp for breath. "Kneel. It might spare you from... unnecessary suffering."

"Y—YOU CAN GO FUCK YOURSELF!!"

Frieza blinked, momentarily stunned by the audacity. Then, his lips curled into a scandalized smile.

"Oh my~!" he cooed. "Such crude language from a prince. Well, I do hope you'll maintain this bold attitude—" He leaned in close, his voice dropping to a cold whisper, "—in two minutes."

Indulging himself, Frieza let loose, letting his strikes rain down with increasing speed. Every blow was precisely calculated to inflict maximum pain, but never enough to knock Vegeta into unconsciousness—or death.

After all, there was no rush to end the torture—oops, fun, too soon.

With each strike, Vegeta's body jerked violently, his screams echoing for all to hear. Frieza hummed softly, his head swaying rhythmically, moving in time with Vegeta's agonized cries. It was as if he were the conductor of an orchestra, and Vegeta's torment was the centerpiece of his symphony.

But then, a new voice joined Vegeta's anguished cries.

"Haha! Who's the comedic relief now?!"

The shout came from about a hundred paces away, and Frieza froze mid-strike, his head snapping around. His expression shifted from amusement to faint annoyance as he spotted the source.

It was Krillin, standing with his hands on his hips, looking absolutely terrified about his interruption. The boldness of his words seemed to startle Krillin himself, yet he managed a shaky grin as he basked in the satisfaction of having just exacted his revenge on Vegeta.

He quickly followed up with, "Bet you wish you were bald now, huh, Vegeta? Might've dodged a few of those punches without all that hair weighing you down!"

From further back, a hesitant but determined voice piped up.

"Y-Yeah! Hit him harder, Mr. Frieza! Mr. Vegeta is really strong; he can take it!"

It was Gohan, nervously cupping his hands around his mouth to project his shaky shout. Despite his trembling legs, the boy managed a small, almost apologetic smile, though it was unclear who he was apologizing to.

Frieza's eyes narrowed in confusion, and as he continued to observe, Piccolo joined the fray.

"Take it easy on the Super Saiyan, Frieza," Piccolo's arms were crossed as he stood next to Krillin. Though he didn't shout, his voice carried effortlessly. "His ego bruises far easier than his spine."

"Vegeta, I believe in you! Show him why he's no longer dealing with the average Saiyan warrior!" This voice was unmistakably Nappa's, and though his tone was sincere and filled with genuine encouragement, in this moment and context, the words came across more like mockery.

Vegeta, still dangling limp in Frieza's grasp, had just understood the absurdity of it all when a new voice echoed in his mind—telepathic and unmistakably Ajax's. 'Arch your back more! Show some professionalism, Vegeta!'

Unlike the others, who had some purpose behind their taunts, Ajax was simply there to stir some shit.

At the sound of those words, Vegeta's eyes snapped open in outrage. Though he couldn't respond verbally, the burning murderous intent in his gaze could have sent a shiver down Zabuza's spine.

Outwardly, Vegeta was barely capable of more than pained gasps. But in the telepathic channel, his indignation burned brightly.

'I—I swear, if I survive this, I'll kill you all...! You'll all pay!!'

But despite Vegeta's threats and curses, the Z Fighters had, in their own way, accomplished their goal. Their interference—whether through mockery or sheer audacity—had disrupted Frieza's little game and pulled Vegeta from the brink of immediate defeat, from a situation he couldn't possibly extricate himself from.

After all, how much longer could Vegeta endure such torment?

Meanwhile, Frieza turned to glance back at the gathered crowd in bewilderment.

"Ho, ho, what a lively little peanut gallery we have here!" he exclaimed. "This is quite the novel experience—receiving such enthusiastic support from my enemies. I must say, it's heartwarming."

Then, as though recalling the Saiyan still dangling in his grip, Frieza's crimson eyes returned to Vegeta, "Who needs enemies when you have such loyal allies like these, right, Vegeta? Their faith in you is... truly inspiring."

Without waiting for a reply, Frieza pulled his fist back and slammed it into Vegeta's side one last time. The Saiyan Prince's body jerked violently, and he let out a low groan of pain.

It was unfortunate that even though Frieza was fully aware of their intentions, it didn't make him any less susceptible to their interference. With an audience now behind him, the context and dynamic of his battle with Vegeta had changed. The exhilaration of tormenting Vegeta faded once it was no longer a private matter.

With a dismissive snort, Frieza's tail uncoiled from Vegeta's throat. Without a second thought, he tossed the Saiyan Prince forward like discarded trash.