Dragon Ball Z: Paradise Found

Stalling Becomes The Main Attraction

With an ear-raking shriek, Frieza charged right at Piccolo. Seeing the assault coming from a mile away, the Super Namekian decided to irritate his opponent. The rushing right cross thudded and embedded straight into Piccolo's jaw, lightly turning it to the side, but Piccolo's beady eyes remained fixed on Frieza, looking from a higher eye level down on him at disappointment.

This failure to achieve overwhelming success with his serious punch, Frieza threw a flurry of thrusted fists at Piccolo's upper section. As they built up in strength and momentum, the space tyrant turned around and whipped the Super Namekian aside with a smack of his tail, sending Piccolo floating back in mid-air. Just as he was about to regain his composure, Frieza extended his palm and shrieked again, sending a violet pulse of energy that collided with Piccolo's adamant body yet sent him rolling back in mid-air.

"Ho, you can take a beating well, Namekian. Perhaps the stories I've heard about the lively nature of your kind haven't been bedtime stories after all? Can you regenerate limbs? How well? Shall we test that today?" Frieza chuckled at his bent index finger, enjoying the advantage he thought he still had. Was he a moron? Could he not realize how little impact his strikes had on Piccolo and how much of his own stamina swinging his hands like that cost him?

"From those measly punches, I can say you're not used to fighting yourself. That's odd, because you've got power in spades," Piccolo nudged his own jaw with a cool expression.

"What was that!?" Frieza seemed to lose his cool for a snap there.

"You punch from your shoulder, not with your entire body. Also, you've got no awareness of Ki. Your stamina is all over the place too, suggesting you haven't exercised in a long time," Piccolo explained himself. He took the luxury to gander behind him, sensing his clone and Gine taking double time at getting the Saiyan to the spaceship. As long as they were en route, Piccolo had to stand here and fool around with Frieza.

"Oh? Then perhaps a master warrior such as yourself shall show me how it's done then? I'd relish a demonstration..." Frieza's black lips turned to a sly smile as he leaned his upper body down and posed with his arms wide open. What an odd guy, couldn't he sense that Piccolo's Ki was twice the size of his even while Piccolo wasn't tapping into any of his Super Namekian powers?

"Humph... I guess I have no choice," Piccolo entered a fighting stance with a grumpy look on his face. His cape rustled in mid-air. Before Piccolo could cover half the distance between him and Frieza, a tight grip of an invisible force left him utterly paralyzed. Slowly, Frieza hovered over to Piccolo and grabbed hold of his cape collar.

"You were saying? It looks to me I don't need to move a muscle to punish insolent slugs like you," Frieza's glare stabbed like a dagger while his black lips curved upward and sliced into his pale cheeks.

Holding Piccolo's paralyzed body up by his collar, Frieza smacked the Namekian in both cheeks rapidly with his front and backhand until he felt like he had enough. Two tiny violet stars gleamed in the tyrant's eyes. An authoritative psychic blast sent Piccolo flying back with a grunt of pain. Just so the Namekian didn't feel safe while he was flying off into the horizon, Frieza raised his relaxed index finger and launched a barrage of pink beams to chase after him.

A fusillade of pink explosions ripped through the skyward area of the ancient Saiyan temple site. When the smoke cleared, Piccolo stood in a singed-up white cloak, wiping scrapes off of his cheeks. Frieza's eyes lit up again. This time Piccolo could at least see the picking up wind as ethereal tendrils of mighty psychic energy hurled at him and took hold of him. Frieza took his time, dashing and blinking around, messing about with his half-decent speed though his prowess came solely from unmatchable talent.