The wind bit at Krillin's face as he flew towards the battlefield as fast as he could. He could feel the dark power steadily growing closer, and he knew that he would have to confront it.

He knew that he might not survive, but he WOULD save the Earth no matter what the cost.

-----

"So get on with it," Kakarotto called up at Jeice. "If you want a fight, then let's get to it!"

"Keep ya pants on, mate," Jeice smirked. "Typical Saiyajin. All brawn and no brains, aye?"

"I'll show you brawn, you pussy."

"Oh look at me, I'm shaking in my boots," Jeice said in a voice dripping with sarcasm.

"As you should be," Bardock put in quietly.

"Alright, I'm sick of the preamble now." A huge grin split Jeice's red visage. "Time to die, monkey-boy."

Raditsu's eyes didn't pick up Jeice's knee driving into Kakarotto's spine until it was too late. He whirled towards the long-haired attacker and fired a large purple ki blast from one hand... which Jeice easily batted aside with one hand. Growling a bit, Raditsu began to hurl the fireballs in rapid succession. Jeice blocked each ball without much trouble... except for one, which slipped through his defenses and exploded, allowing Raditsu to connect with more fireballs. A fierce gale and a blast of debris rippled outward from Jeice's location as Raditsu finally finished his attack with a huge blast of ki.

"That better have gotten him," Kakarotto panted.

Unfortunately, the attack HADN'T gotten Jeice. The slightly battered prettyboy walked out of the dust cloud, chuckling a little.

"That was an impressive waste of ki, mate," Jeice said, lifting his nose at Raditsu. "You even managed to make my ears ring."

Kiwi was next on the attack, lunging at Jeice with a flurry of kicks... all of which Jeice dodged without any apparent effort. Almost absently, Jeice flicked two fingers across Kiwi's face, and the squidlike fighter flew backward to smash into a rock face.

The Saiyajins scored again as a ki blast soared from Bardock's right hand and smashed into Jeice's back. Jeice whirled quickly, firing a salvo of massive purple fireballs in Bardock's direction. The old Saiyajin had no time to dodge; the fireballs battered him into the ground.

Kakarotto went on the offensive, furiously battering Jeice with his fists... and missing with most every punch. Taking advantage of Jeice's distraction, Raditsu extended both hands in front of himself and began to charge the Hidoku Dan. It would take an especially huge 'Dan to kill Jeice.

Boredly, Jeice smashed his knee into Kakarotto's stomach, and then flew at his reeling attacker, battering him with his flying feet. Raditsu barely noticed this, as a blue aura flickered across his vision. The burning essence of the Hidoku Dan whirled between his fingers. [Almost ready...]

Jeice finally noticed the attack being gathered by Raditsu. "No!" he screamed.

Time to fire. Bellowing out the attack's name, Raditsu let the beam fly. Jeice barely managed to thrust the palms of his hands forward to hold the beam back, and he strained as Raditsu started sending the ki pulses along the beam. After the sixth pulse or so, the Dan exploded, uprooting several trees nearby with howling winds.

Raditsu took in a deep breath and stared into the bluish smoke cloud created by the explosion. His eyes widened.

Jeice was still there, his armor smashed and leaving half of his chest bare. Violet blood trickled from the traitorous red man's mouth and nose. "What a rush," Jeice grinned. "I haven't had that much fun since Gramma got caught in the wringer."

"Impossible!" Raditsu spluttered. "I put everything I had into that shot!"

"And here's your reward!" Jeice shouted. Raditsu was suddenly thrown back as a huge force smashed into his chest. A half-second later, Jeice blurred into visibility, his knee being the force that had smashed Raditsu. Pain lanced through Raditsu's body as he hit the ground, and the pain only intensified as Jeice's fists battered into his body.

And then he felt something. A small power... nearby...

-----

The red alien rose up over Raditsu's fallen form, both of his fists locked together for a final blow. Clenching his teeth, Krillin began to spin his Kienzan in one hand. He had to hurry and throw it...

The alien stretched even more.

"Now!" Krillin screamed. "KIENZAN!" And he hurled the whirling disk at the alien.

The red creature turned to see the disk whirling towards it. "Pathetic," he snorted, extending one arm to deflect the Kienzan. This proved to be a fatal error, as the Kienzan slashed on by... taking the alien's right arm with it. Howling, the armless being collapsed to his knees, clutching his stump.

"Shit!" Raditsu spluttered, whirling and turning his widened eyes on Krillin. "The hell? How'd you manage to hurt him with a little wimpy power level?"

"It's a Kienzan," Krillin explained. "It cuts through almost anything."

"Fuck, that thing is effective!"

Clenching the bleeding stump of his arm, Jeice staggered to his feet. "You... haven't seen the last of me, bitches!" he shouted as he lifted jerkily into the sky and limped through the air, vanishing into the distance.

"I don't think he'll be back," Kiwi grunted as he rose out of the rocks he had smashed into. He began to rub his right arm vigorously. "That smarted."

"And we owe it all to the midget," Raditsu noted, looking at Krillin. "Thanks, kid."

"Aw, shucks, you guys did all the work," Krillin laughed modestly.

"You're slipping again," Kakarotto informed Raditsu. "We mighty Saiyajin warriors don't thank people."

"Well, I do."

"Traitor."

"Shut up. Let's fix up the aircar and go home." It had been a long week or so for Raditsu, and he was very much looking forward to returning to his nice soft bunk back on Freeza Planet 1. Hopefully, that moment was close at hand.