Chapter 124 – Ajax Always Have a Plan

"Good," Frieza purred as his laughter faded into a velvety tone. "I'm quite pleased you understand that there's no returning to my army, no matter how powerful you become. That bridge, dear Vegeta, was reduced to ash long ago."

His smile thinned into a razor-sharp line, crimson eyes narrowing. "But wait your turn. I'm busy."

Vegeta, though, didn't care to wait. He stepped forward, utterly undaunted, as if Frieza had not spoken at all. "You've already crushed the strongest among us, Frieza. Congratulations. You've won."

Frieza blinked at the abrupt shift in tone and tilted his head ever so slightly at Vegeta in bemusement. Everyone else did as well.

Vegeta ignored the odd choice of his own words, drawing in a deep breath and pressing on without hesitation.

"Kakarot and that boy—they've earned your caution. I can see it in your eyes. They've rattled you. But me?" He barked out a sharp, bitter laugh. "I've been nothing more than a gnat buzzing around your ears this entire battle, haven't I? Utterly insignificant."

His voice rose in fervor. "Then why hesitate, Frieza?! Face me! I am the prince of the very race you sought to wipe from existence, and now I stand before you. Fight me—finish it, if you can!"

'Uh, Vegeta, what are you doing?' Nappa's panicked voice echoed telepathically, but Vegeta ignored him. Instead, Vegeta threw his arms wide.

"You've always loved your theatrics, Frieza. So, here's your grand performance—the Saiyan prince, standing against the Emperor of the Universe. A battle worthy of your ego. Or will you deny yourself the thrill and settle for scraps?"

Frieza tilted his head to the other side, no less puzzled than before. His lips pressed into a thin, not-quite smile as he forced out a chuckle.

"Ho? How intriguing, Vegeta. I do appreciate the thoughtfulness of your offer, but I must admit, your reasoning behind all...this," He gestured vaguely at Vegeta. "Eludes me. So, explain yourself. Why this clumsy attempt to provoke me? Why does being the first to die mean anything?"

Vegeta hesitated. But whatever doubt gripped him was swiftly cast aside.

"Because Kakarot doesn't bear the duty to stand against you!" he declared, his voice rising. "But I, Vegeta, Prince of All Saiyans, do! Such is the weight of the title 'Prince'—Noblesse Oblige!"

He paused, closing his eyes briefly as if collecting every last milligram of resolve. When he opened them again, his gaze was piercing, filled with the determination of a man who had come to terms with his fate, knowing that there shall be no more miracles.

"And as a Saiyan, there is only one honorable death—on the battlefield, fighting! Not groveling, not waiting to be slaughtered like livestock!"

"Hear me! I will not die on my knees, Frieza!" Vegeta roared, his voice echoing with unshakable pride. "If my life ends today, it will end as it should—defiant, unbroken, and worthy of the royal blood coursing through my veins. This I vow!"

The words, "And I never break my vows," went unsaid, but they might as well have been shouted. Anyone who knew Vegeta—even a little—understood that about him. His word was ironclad, his vows unbreakable. It was part of him as surely as his heart beat in his chest.

Frieza regarded Vegeta with a faintly amused expression. His eyes briefly drifted to the bloodied, orange-clad figure before him, who was apparently a Saiyan. His attention then shifted to Ajax before finally returning to Vegeta.

Without so much as a word, Frieza chuckled and released Goku from his telekinetic hold, the Saiyan warrior crumpling to the ground with a soft plop.

"You know, Vegeta," Frieza mused, his tone almost playful. "The funny thing is, I know you're playing me. But…" He trailed off. "You're right. Breaking you would be delightful. Shattering that worthless pride and that empty vow of yours, forcing you to die on your knees, begging for mercy—it certainly has a poetic appeal."

His eyes never left Vegeta as he stepped over Goku's body as if it were a mere pebble. The Emperor's voice turned mockingly gracious as he continued.

"Very well, Vegeta. I shall graciously grant you the death you so eagerly seek. Consider it my parting gift. Your... severance package, if you will, for being my loyal dog for nearly... oh, what's it been now? Nearly three decades, if memory serves?"

Frieza's measured stride came to a sudden halt, and his eyes flicked to the rest of the group. His lips curled into a cruel smirk.

"But first…"

Without warning, his hand snapped sideways. In an instant, five beams of searing purple energy—sharp as a scalpel and hot as molten lava—erupted from his fingertips. Each struck Ajax squarely in the chest, punching through his flesh seemingly without meeting any resistance. The heat of the Death Beams was so intense that the wounds cauterized instantly.

The attack was so swift that Ajax didn't even have time to gasp.

"Let's set up a bit of insurance," Frieza's lips curled into a pleased smile as he wagged his finger back and forth at Ajax. "Now, be a good boy, and stay down while I entertain myself with Vegeta. Don't worry—I'll deal with you right after."

With that same icy smile, Frieza shifted his attention from Ajax to the rest of the Z Fighters. His eyes swept over them, cold and cruel. "And as for the rest of you—don't even bother running. It's pointless. And besides, I hate to chase."

Vegeta didn't wait for Frieza to finish. Years of simmering hatred and frustration had long since boiled away any semblance of patience. The ground fractured under the force of his takeoff as he launched himself forward with a snarl on his lips.

"Vegeta, no!" Nappa shouted with panic.

"Vegeta, yes!" Vegeta shot back as he closed the gap between him and Frieza.

But pride and willpower were no substitute for raw strength. Ninety million wasn't just a number—it was a chasm so vast that no amount of desperation or bravado could bridge.

Frieza's expression remained bored as he patiently waited for Vegeta's attack to close in. At the last possible moment, his tail snapped like a whip, striking Vegeta squarely across his midsection. The blow was so quick that Vegeta was sent halfway across the battlefield before his body even had time to register the pain.

"Actually Vegeta, no," Frieza said mockingly. He clasped his hands neatly behind his back and began to walk away, adopting the casual gait of someone on an afternoon stroll through a serene garden. "You Saiyans never learn. Always so eager to throw your lives away for nothing."

~ Meanwhile, with the group ~

The Z Fighters, along with Nappa, remained deathly silent as Frieza leisurely sauntered off to continue his torment of Vegeta. A suffocating sense of dread seemed to choke them by their throats.

They all understood that once Vegeta fell, it would be their turn. And with their strongest fighters already defeated, there was no plan, no path to survival, no hope—just death.

They've lost, plain and simple.

And the inevitability of their fate pressed heavily upon their shoulders.

In the oppressive quiet, a faint telepathic message broke through.

'Dende, heal Goku first...then me,' Ajax's pained voice resonated in their minds. 'I have a plan—because of course I do—but I need Goku awake for it.'

Dende instinctively acknowledged Ajax's command with a subtle nod, though none of the others could see it. He darted through the air toward Goku.

Thankfully, the young Namekian had kept his invisibility intact—a precaution caused by Ajax's earlier intense reaction to a non-existent threat. That moment had spooked Dende enough that he maintained the concealment spell—a decision that hid him from Frieza's sharp senses. It was a serendipitous stroke of luck.

Meanwhile, Nappa's incredulous voice spread through the telepathic connection. 'You've got a plan? Now? Still? When we're this fucked?'

Everyone ignored him.

It wasn't that they didn't share his skepticism—many of them did—but everyone was simply infinitely more comforted by the thought that they still had a plan.

And, to their credit, Ajax's plans had a history of working. They were often unconventional, sometimes vague, occasionally outright reckless, but they worked in the end. In the face of Frieza's presence, the mere existence of a plan—any plan, even a flawed one—was a thread of hope they weren't ready to let go.

Even Piccolo, usually Ajax's harshest critic, didn't doubt his strategic acumen. Ajax's plans had seen him through battles with Raditz, Vegeta, the Ginyu Force, and every other major fight he'd been part of. The proof of their effectiveness? He was still alive.

'Hey, guys,' Dende interrupted. 'I can heal Goku no problem, but there's an issue. His Ki reserves are dangerously low, and I can't do anything about that. I can fix his injuries, but he won't be able to fight until his Ki recovers to, at a bare minimum, a non-critical level. Right now, he's no stronger than an average person.'

Ajax mentally hummed, but his response was confident despite the setback: 'That's fine, Dende. I don't need him to fight for the plan to work. Heal him as much as you can, but leave some of the superficial wounds visible—just like you did for me.'

Dende immediately complied, his healing energy working quickly. Soon, Goku's breathing stabilized, though his Ki remained woefully depleted.

Goku's exhausted mental voice slowly filtered into the telepathic link. 'I'm…here…'

Sensing everyone's focus settling squarely on him, Ajax took a deep mental breath and began outlining his plan—the one he shamelessly lifted from Canon but tweaked, as always, to fit their circumstances.

'The plan is straightforward. We hit Frieza with something massive—something overwhelming. The Spirit Bomb. It brought down Vegeta; there's no reason it can't work on Frieza if Goku gives it enough power.'

'But to take down Frieza, it's gotta be HUGE—way bigger than last time!' Goku countered, his voice gaining strength as Dende's healing continued. 'There's no hiding something like that. Frieza just has to look up, and he'll spot it right away! It's not gonna work!'

A heavy silence followed as Goku's logic sank in, casting a pall over the group. Despondent, their eyes turned back to Ajax. To their surprise, Ajax greeted their worries with a confident smile.

'You're absolutely right, Goku. We aren't lucky enough to be in a reality where Frieza's going to conveniently overlook something so obvious. That's why… I'll make sure he doesn't notice.'

Confusion rippled through the group, but Ajax continued without pause. 'You're all familiar with my external Ki manipulation, right? Where I infuse my Ki into the environment to control it? Normally, I use it to force the air still to make it 'dense' or to sweep it away to reduce drag when flying, but it's capable of much more than that.'

Ajax gestured to the battlefield around them with his eyes, where scorched earth stretched as far as the eye could see, charred black from countless blasts. Heatwaves visibly distorted the air, and tendrils of steam rose from the scattered bodies of water that were visible from their vantage point.

'Take a good look around,' Ajax said. 'The ground is burning. The air is full of heat from all the explosions. Everywhere you look, it's nothing but heat. Now imagine what happens when I use my external Ki manipulation to push all that hot air upward.'

Ironically, but perhaps fittingly, it was Gohan who pieced it together first. The young boy's eyes lit up as realization struck him like a bolt of lightning.

"Updraft!" Gohan's exclamation was brimming with excitement.

Piccolo gave a sharp nod, understanding Ajax's plan at once, though he remained silent. Meanwhile, confusion lingered on the faces of the others, but Krillin's brow furrowed as he started to understand.

Ajax's voice was almost teasing. 'Look up,' he instructed, the faintest hint of satisfaction in his mental voice. 'I've been working on this ever since I went down.'

The group obeyed almost instinctively, their gazes turning skyward—everyone except Dende, who was too focused on rushing back to Ajax's side from Goku.

High above, a thin layer of dark clouds had begun to form, swirling together like ink spreading in water. The subtle gathering had gone unnoticed until now, but as they watched, the clouds steadily thickened, slowly darkening the once-clear sky into a stormy gray.

And just like that, the metaphorical lightbulb smashed itself over Nappa's and Goku's heads.

'When those clouds get thick enough, how would Frieza ever notice if something's hidden up there?' Ajax's mental grin almost seemed audible. 'And even if a little light does peek through, how could he tell if it's from the Spirit Bomb... or one of Namek's three suns?'

A sly smile spread across Ajax's face as he delivered the final blow to their doubts.

'Oh, and one more thing—now that I'm focused on external Ki manipulation instead of fighting, do you think those clouds are going anywhere without first getting my say-so?'

Goku's understanding of the plan clicked into place, and his exhaustion was instantly pushed aside by a renewed sense of purpose. Without wasting another second, he thrust his hands toward the sky while still lying down.

'Alright, give me five minutes—no, wait, better make it seven, just to be safe!'

Ajax, now mostly recovered from the five Death Beams, gave a nod. 'For the rest of us, our task is simple: make sure Goku gets those seven minutes—no matter what it takes.'

His gaze drifted to the distance, where Vegeta and Frieza were locked in what could barely be called a fight. The Saiyan Prince lunged at the tyrant again and again, only to be swatted aside like a ragdoll every time. Yet somehow, Vegeta kept rising, his pride refusing to let him stay down.

'Vegeta's doing his own thing, and for now, it's working in our favor. He's buying us time, whether he realizes it or not. Also, fuck Vegeta's pride—we're dealing with Frieza. So here's the deal: if you think you can keep Frieza occupied longer by interfering with their so-called 'battle,' then do it. Hell, mock Vegeta if you think it'll help him last longer! Say whatever you have to, taunt him, provoke him, push his buttons, whatever! Because if Vegeta falls too soon, we're the ones who'll have to stall Frieza long enough for Goku to finish.'

Even Nappa, a Saiyan general steeped in their traditions of honor, didn't seem inclined to object.

The group exchanged glances, new sparks of determination igniting in their eyes. The despair that had weighed them down moments ago now felt far away, replaced by a fresh sense of purpose and hope. A viable plan, no matter how risky, had changed everything.

Amid the rising optimism, Nappa stood a step apart, his gaze fixed on Ajax with an expression caught somewhere between awe and disbelief. At last, he broke his silence with a low, gruff chuckle, shaking his head.

"Goddamn," he muttered, his voice tinged with grudging respect. "You lot are fucking scary. No wonder Vegeta and I got our asses handed to us back then."

Ajax shot him a quick smirk, a glimmer of humor glinting in his eyes.