The lives of flies

"What the-" The prince gave a confused gasp at the sudden appearance of the orange-clad man.

Nappa narrowed his eyes, he would have smirked if he felt victorious, but he does not, he just stares dead ahead, matching the prince in the eyes, who himself was looking at the monkey with surprise and amusement.

The failed Saiyan looks around, born so weak, Nappa's memories surge back, a battle power of merely five, he was considered so weak, even in comparison to his brother, and now so strong, it has an irony to it for certain.

"Yamcha." The monkey exclaims, having noticed the sizable crater with the disposable inside of it, surrounded by bits of green skin.

He looks around more, the battered green man, the child-man barely standing, the triclops collapsed over a rock in weeping agony, and his son, a brave facade over his face even though he is battered and beaten, frightened too.

"Everybody, are you all right?" He finally asked, his words long and drawn out, falling like a thin veil over the howling silence, barely masquerading the anger within.

"T-took you long enough to arrive Goku." The child-man said, a weakened laugh at the end of it barely teetering out of his mouth. "C-Chiaotzu, Chiaotzu is dead too." To that, however, he averted his head, not explaining any further.

Smart choice, Nappa noted.

That only seemed to add another layer of dark grimness to the tale, and the monkey nodded his head gravely.

"Here, take half of the bean, it will make you feel better." Protests were raised by the child-man, yet looking as bloody and broken as he was, it is unlikely that he could have survived without half of that miraculous bean.

Neither could he fight back against the monkey force-feeding it to him, yet he still coerced him into eating it.

Brave, brave, and hopeful Nappa concluded. Desperate too, but before all, brave and hopeful.

The other half was given to the triclops, who still distraught from sadness barely managed to open his mouth, the monkey almost forced him to swallow the bean. It didn't heal his arm, but he sure looked better after that, a layer of skin growing over the stump. The triclops said not a word during the whole time.

After making all the rounds, words of encouragement exchanged with his progeny and one final nod towards the green man, he finally turned towards Nappa, his face contorted into a grimace of anger. "Was it you?"

A simple question, yet one to be answered wisely, he can not just state it, he must be political about it, give a nonanswer to the question.

"For the deaths? Indirectly. For the injuries? Yes." And he went with the dumbest possible solution, it made him almost chuckle. Neither he nor Nappa was a very good politician, nor spokespeople, even after an eternity, it is a skill to be practiced in public, and he had none while alone in the nothingness unless you count his multiple personalities, nor did he have any companions in the black void of space, only enemies. "But right now we have no time for petty squabbles unless you want the rest of your companions to die too, we will have to fight together."

That riled him up, the monkey grit and almost bared his teeth at the muscular soldier, visibly reacting in anger.

Calling the death of his friends and serious injuries to his son a "petty squabble" is not the most charismatic of answers, then again Nappa is not a speaker. A soldier, yes. A general, perhaps. But not a public speaker.

Tension began to build up, Nappa twitched slightly. It would seem that perhaps he indeed will pull for the worst possible outcome, a three-way battle, a decidedly terrible thing to happen to him.

"Tch, as much as I don't like this guy, he is right Goku. He just hit that guy with all he has, and even with your little fella sacrificing himself, he's barely got a scratch." Thankfully it would seem that great green has taken a liking to him, or is being pragmatic and looking at the logical side of things, for he immediately backed him up.

The orange monkey seemed to calm down slightly, his friend's words having a considerable impact on him, still frowning and scowling, but less so than before.

"Fine, but tell me one thing. Why are you doing this?" This? This what? Nappa's nose wrinkled, he knows what the monkey is referring to, but his philosophical side almost called him out, it's good that it did not.

Still, how to respond. Honesty? Lies? Many options floated unbound around him, like fairies along the rivers. He has nothing to lose, death will just bring him back, in nothingness he will just go insane again after he returns, a bitter feeling rests in his heart at that thought, half-truths will have to do.

"I want to experience more." It seemed strange, now that he said it, and judging by the looks everyone gave him, they thought so too. "I want to eat a cake. Get a friend. Go buy something, see what it's like to live for life's sake, not for fighting."

Half-truths and lies by omission will have to do, he can't get himself to tell the whole truth, that would just not pass, but this is good enough. All his words are true, just that he does not tell them of the raging wrath in his heart, nor the euphoria of destruction and carnage he has learned to love.

For a good few seconds, silence reigned. Nobody reacted, nobody knew how to react, but finally, the prince of Saiyans spoked, no, spurted out.

"Bahahahaha." He laughed, like a maniac, barely holding himself together by the seams of his sides and belly with his hands. "Seriously? For that, you have betrayed me? You Nappa? Hahaha, for that you have betrayed me? Fool!"

Perhaps the person who knows him best in the world, and yet he doesn't believe the truth, half-truth, he is saying. Tragic, were it not for the fact that it made the rage in his heart all the stronger.

"Mhm." The orange monkey, on the other hand, accepted his answer with full seriousness. His face was stone cold, although a glitter of something kind too could be seen in his eyes.

Nappa reared his head, eyes passing over the other combatants. The triclops was still distraught, the progeny looked confused, the child-man looked at him with hopeful suspicion, while the greet green looked at him with skepticism and suspicion.

Not the greatest response, but ut is workable, it will have to do.

The monkey walked up to Nappa, settled himself between the great green and Nappa, amusedly overshadowed and oversized by both of his allies, still, he is the strongest of them and in full seriousness, he prepares himself for a confrontation.

"You guys, go back to Kame house, I'm afraid he is too much for you to handle." The monkey said to the two midgets, not even turning his head from the threat in front of him, and hinted at them taking the triclops with them.

"What? Me! Nooo! Chiaotzu, I have to avenge Chiaotzu! I can't leave, not now Goku!" The triclops tried to protest, but his words fell on deaf ears, although Nappa could see the prince enjoying his raving despair, the child-man on the other hand just gave a grim nod.

"I understand, Goku, we are just in your way." He sounds so bitter, saying it like that, every one of his words laced with regret at his powerlessness, a feeling Nappa can strangely relate to. "Just please change locations, I don't want their bodies to be disrespected. And if they get resurrected..." He didn't say anything more, the monkey just nodded.

He looked back at the prince, still standing so tall and might, smirking, so assured of his victory, not even a guard set up.

Again, the rage boils. It knows that the time is nigh.

"Oi, let's change location before we fight." The monkey yelled, already in the air, Nappa is too, with great green accompanying him, truly not leaving many choices to the prince as to follow or not.

Well, he could have just attacked the progeny, but he is not that dumb. Even as angered, as prideful as he is, he recognizes that a six on one doesn't bode well for him, especially with such a powerful opponent.

"Heh, fine. It's all the same end anyways." Although looking, and sounding, miffed, the prince still agreed to the proposition, making the sound tactical decision, and they blasted off.

Nappa was trailing behind the monkey, next to him the great green eying him suspiciously, but still flying steadily, and the prince right next to the monkey.

Nappa barely focused on the flying, allowing his body to follow on autopilot. His injured arm took more focus, deft and experienced application of the energy inside of him thankfully allowed for a quick, although not exactly easy, refined, or effective solution.

'How do I combat this?' Most primarily, however, are the battle plans he has begun to think up. His head is where the true warfare was happening, mind whizzing with possibilities and ideas, he is well aware that the prince is around 4 times stronger than him, hard to tell concretely, thankfully he has meat shields with him, but still, it is going to be a tough fight.

Once more, he made many plants. Plenty of them decent, a few genii, and much more simply disastrous. A primal urge told him to simply smash his head in with a rock, despite knowing that such an act would not work.

His wayfaring thoughts were cut at half-point by a sudden drop, he looked down and realized he was descending, on the wrong side though.

'Damn this thing.' A course correction was hurriedly applied, his body having followed the prince, as it has been used to for the past two decades, still he managed to land somewhat neatly next to his two companions.

Everyone gave him funny, or suspicious, looks.

Looking down he saw that he is standing on a rock, a vertical red stone outcropping in an arid desert.

The monkey is on the same rock next to him, a slight bit higher up, the green on the other side of the monkey, all of them looking up at the prince, who is standing on a higher rock than theirs.

Childish, almost, Nappa noted, to insist on being on the higher rock.

"So this is where you have chosen your graves to be? I must admit..." A round of boasting immediately began from the prince, automatically Nappa tuned him out. Long memories of this shameless self-indulgence have by this point made it clear that this all served no purpose.

Especially so in this situation, with the monkey here not being intimidated by his arrogance, a strategy that worked surprisingly well on numerous planets.

No, instead he began to collect energy. Concealing it in the makeshift Ki bandage on his arm, even though the prince can't sense Ki he isn't going to take that chance, a blast began to form. It was slightly stressful, the "weight" of the Ki pressing against his bones, vibrating his flesh, but endurable, pain, after all, is nothing but a distraction.

One he doesn't mind nor care for.

He observed the prince steadily, like a hawk, he waited, lured the man in. The speech began to near its end, fizzling out noticeably. Within a few seconds, it was done, and only the sharp whistling of air was heard for a moment.

Even with his incredible senses, Nappa could not perceive what happened, only feel and experience it, for, in a flash, he was gone, disappeared from his sight with a sharp whistle, then a smack was heard by his side.

'Wait for it.' He told his body, his instincts almost firing the ball of energy prematurely, luckily his mind is sharp enough to stop that, he still has an opportunity.

He turned, at speeds unseen to the common eye the two stronger were fighting, he could barely perceive them, the green man too tried to get in, having cloned himself into three.

'Fool, there is nothing we can do with our bodies.' He knows that fact, he is well aware that they are like bees compared to those two, especially physically, but that is fine. They may not be able to directly influence the fight but indirectly is acceptable, despite his rage telling him otherwise.

"Begone worm!" The prince yelled, displeased with the meddling from the green worm himself, a backhanded slap sent him and all of his three clones hurling back.

'Now!' Immediately, however, Nappa took hold of the opportunity. In that second, that slim moment, that slice of an eyeblink, when his arm had to travel back and reorganize itself, as was planned by the prince, he struck.

*Piyu*

A ball of energy shot out, fast, small and accurate, it managed to hit just at the wrist portion of the hand, throwing it slightly off course and dealing insignificant damage.

Yet he knew that was enough, a barrage of hits came upon the prince once distracted, once his hand was not in the expected position. He was happy, as petty as that happiness was, to injure, inconvenience the prince, it felt good, even if he was not the one injuring him, a vicious smirk wiggled its way on his lips.

That does not mean, however, that he is unaware of the consequences that follow, no, he knows what to expect.

Within a second, the prince disappeared from his view, he materialized exactly as quickly, a hand raised, ready to strike, having decided to leave his back open if it meant getting to dispose of his once-loyal dog.

Nappa snarled slightly, he doesn't have time, nor the speed truly, to dodge. Disregarding his opponent's complete domination in terms of power, Nappa himself was never too fast nor agile. Unexpectedly agile and fast for his large frame, yes, but he relied more on strength, endurance, and toughness than limberness and speed.

Still, when he knows what result to expect, he can sufficiently sacrifice for it, like chess. His injured arm was already raised from the attack, and in the time left he managed to raise it more, using it as a barrier between himself and the prince.

Since it's already broken, there is no need to worry about his arm breaking again, although the force of the impact still sent him reeling back.

Thru the air, into stone, embedded shallowly, it still hurt and brought with it a fair share of bruises, but the arm had received most of the damage, and the Ki managed to lessen the impact somewhat.

Still, to think he could barely take one punch, even worse than it is delivered half-heartedly, just like dismissing a fly.

'How pathetic.' He doesn't know whose's thoughts those are, his emotions speaking out or his own opinion, most likely both. The sudden desire for power and destruction crept in once more, fueling him strongly.

'Maybe I too should blow myself up.' It was a random thought, the vindication he associated with it was a large reason for its existence. To take his murderer down with him, both of them burning in hell, he was sickened by how appealing the prospect seemed, bringing both vengeance, destruction, and power to kill the one stronger than himself.

Still, he dismissed it, so much more to be done, more to destroy, stronger to get, more to experience, to gorge himself now on the appetizer would leave him unable to eat the delicious main dish.

*Peh*

Pebbles tumbled, with a slight effort he pulled himself free from the indentation, the thoughts have taken less than half of a dozen seconds.

He looked up, holding his injured arm, Ki working rudimentary, very crudely, to patch it up. It will work but would need more extensive care later.

By this point, a red aura had surrounded the monkey as he dueled with the prince. It brought him no small pleasure to see blood dripping from the prince's maw, that must be a first in half a decade, he noted absentmindedly.

'Kaio-ken, so the battle has begun to creep up.' Still testing each other out, he remembered remembering the technique well from his memories, it was always notable for being red, instead of the standard yellow.

He flew up, knowing full well that by this point there was little he could do but lie in wait, lurking in the shadows, waiting for the opportunity to strike, a poison applied to the knife, waiting to take effect.

He landed on a rock, alone for a moment, before the green figure bounded over to him, from where unknown, his injuries less than they were before, regeneration, truly a blessing.

"I hate to admit it," The being said. "But they are truly out of our league now." He admitted wholeheartedly, a mix of bitterness and acceptance creeping in his voice.

'That is yet to be determined.' Even a particle of dust in one's eye could blind you long enough to lose. Although the emotions are bitter, bitter over the weakness, acceptance wholly dismissed, Nappa knows that logic is unforgiving.

The battle rages on for a few more moments, then stopped. The two strongest currently just talking, he couldn't hear them, energy was crackling, and they were pretty far away, the prince was noticeably doing something other than just talking. Distorting his surroundings with Ki, it would seem.

Then he gave it his full power, Ki flowed unbound, making the very air tremble in power. Large storm clouds began to gather overhead, no, not gather, appear is more appropriate, as a layer of energy enveloped the prince.

Nappa narrowed his eyes, noting the similarities in the technique, if what Nappa used can even be classified as technique, it's more of an application of brute force, yet the differences were staggering too.

His own "technique" summed what was already there, the clouds didn't appear but were gathered, himself acting as a guiding rod for the lightning, letting it strike him, storing the natural Ki of that planet in himself.

What the prince is doing, on the other hand, can be called just a pure show of force. It could be useful, against armies of weaker foes, and even now somewhat it could be used slightly, yet Nappa knew that that is not something the prince would do, pride clouding his mind far too much for that.

This was just a pure show of power and arrogance on his power, which suits him fine.

He began to siphon, if the prince will not use this power, then he will.

A grim grin almost made its way to his face as the natural Ki began to flow, there is little he could do besides wait and accumulate, bitter were the emotions admitting such a simple fact, but even that little is enough in a battle with such proportions.

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P. S. The title of the previous chapter is a reference to Ghoultown and the song Drink with the living dead, the exact verse goes like this: "But I don't forget the night when death had chosen me." The unnamed cowboy of the song says this after surviving his encounter with Stanton Cree, a close brush with death. A clear reference to our protagonist escaping the immediate death because of Vegeta's betrayal. It also carries some slight foreshadowing, but that is for the future.

P. P. S. (Pee-pee small)- This chapter was a bitch to edit, with the most words pre-edit so far, I was tempted to title it Bigus Dickus because of how much of a pain it was to edit, and how long it was pre edit.