"It's those eyes...they have the same eyes!" Freeza gasped, quaking as he faced down the impossibility before him.
"Was it something I said?" the young Super Saiyan before him sneered.
Freeza had went into shock. Another Super Saiyan? One boy had literally sprung out of nowhere, challenged him and his men, wiped out his troops and transformed. And all throughout, all he could do was look on slack-jawed as saw the scene change. Blue sky became Black. He was whole, but dying. And the Super Saiyan changed into the one he had fought before.
Goku.
And the eyes did not change.
"Freeza." he whispered.
"No-Saiyaaaaaaaan!" what came next was instinctual for Freeza. Some primordial instinct overtook him, activated by fear. He lashed, out pouring golden energy from his outstretched palm. The image snapped, and he realized that he had just attacked, taking him, his Father and the Saiyan by surprise.
There was a plume of ash and smoke, enveloping his opponent covering the group completely.
"My. I would say that was all rather anticlimactic, wouldn't you? I mean the little runt certainly didn't last very long now did he?" King Cold said. He was laughing inside, that Freeza, his heir, his son, was afraid of a kid who could do fabulous things with his hair.
"Well, what did you expect?" Freeze answered, giddy and secretly relieved this entire ordeal was over. "He was only a...ah-ah-ah?" He knew it was too good to be true as the youth was standing there, unharmed, unmoved and still with a cocky grin on his face.
"I really hope that's not the best you can do. 'Cos if it is, then you'd best give up now. You can't win Freeza." he said, the grin dissipating, his face deadly serious now.
"We-we'll just see about that, boy!" the diminutive tyrant roared. "TAKE THIIIIISSSS!" He sent an even larger energy blast at the Super Saiyan, intent on finishing the fight early.
"Freeza!" King Cold yelled. This was worrying. He may not have known his offspring was currently pumping out enough energy to vaporise him, but he knew what would happen if Freeza lost his temper like that. "You'll destroy us all!"
The young man braced himself, and Freeza was pleased to see he was being pushed back by his blast. Until...
"What...?" Freeza said in astonishment. The Super Saiyan had began to splay his fingers, dispersing the beam into thousands of miniature basts, no more powerful that a small animal. They cascaded around the environment and impacted harmlessly into the ground. All that was left was a long gouge from the ground and the Super Saiyan, looking ticked off. Growling, he began to plan his next strike.
"It looks to me as if you're running out of tricks Freeza." he said, smirking once again. Oddly enough King Cold had also began to smirk.
"Hmm. This Saiyan is really something else." Freeza rolled his eyes. He just knew his father was a wannabe schemer, and those plotting lessons with a purple Cybertronian crime-lord didn't help. True enough, his father was thinking about all the possibilities of a mind controlled...no, army of mind controlled Super Saiyans at his beck and call;-
"Why with an army of these brutes, I could almost certainly dominate the incursions on the Sontar front, expanding my empire twofold...Yesssss..." he thought, and began to plan as he had been told to.
"Okay, that's two. I'll give you one more chance to hit me with everything you've got. Then it's Strike three Freeza. Game over,you're out." The Super Saiyan called over.
"It's time we...put an end to this." Freeza answered, plan finally formulated. He began to float higher and higher, until he was a good few hundred metres off the ground. Focusing his energy, he concentrated it all in his index finger, and began to form a huge globe of horrible energy. Cackling, he began to aim his Death-Ball at his target.
"Even if he survived, then-boom! This stupid planet will be gone! Without Goku to Stop me!"
Laughter escalating in his throat. No all he had to do was to say something witty and...
"Hurry up! Are you going to end this or not?" King Cold snapped.
"Just watch me!" Freeza said, wondering whether he should try to catch his parent in the vaporising shockwave. Due to fond memories, he decided against his better judgement not to, deciding to focus wholly on the Saiyan. Throwing the deadly ball of energy, he yelled in addition "This one's for you, Father!"
With an unfathomable force, the orb slammed into the ground, striking the unmoving Saiyan and the Earth shook, as Freeza cackled wildly.
"You know Freeza, you could have done this right from the start and saved us a good deal of effort."King Cold chided, completely irritated about his son's lapse in his usual well mannered professionalism, oblivious to the crashing energy ball in the background.
"Huh. There's just no pleasing you sometimes Father" Freeza replied with an exasperated sigh. He landed on the ship feeling a little drained, but otherwise no worse for wear. Listening to the crashing of his handiwork, he began to stride towards the ship's opening. At least, until the crashing stopped. Slowly, he looked around to see the huge Death-Ball rising back out of the ground.
"There's no way..." he said as he glanced at his equally befuddled father. And under that ball...
The Super Saiyan. Holding it in one hand as easily as Freeza might have done himself. Perhaps more so.
"How?"
"Impossible!"
The mysterious youth had began walk rather nonchalantly towards the ship. Freeza jumped from it to the ground, mind and heart racing.
"Why you little..." Freeza began.
" 'Scuse me?" the Saiyan interrupted."Is this yours?"
Losing his temper completely, Freeza shot a tiny energy blast into the Death-Ball, causing it to detonate in a massive explosion, leaving a huge crater. Chuckling to himself as his father landed next to him, Freeza stood fearless. After all, he had just proved that he could kill a Super Saiyan, Goku or not.
"Well done Freeza. It only took you four tries to destroy that little boy!" King Cold said, bursting into laughter.
Embarrassed, Freeza was immediately on the defensive; "I was just...warming up Father! Really!"
"Of course son. Of course."
Unfortunately for the two, said little boy had materialized upon the top of a nearby cliff and began to preform a series of complex arm gestures, before thrusting his hands in front of him.
"HEY! FREEZA!" he yelled. Freeza quickly spun round on his heels, dreading what was coming next. As it turned out it was a sphere of energy, not particularly powerful, but extremely fast. The two jumped out of the way of the blast, and Freeza cursed to himself;
"When I get my hands on...huh?"
The Super Saiyan had dropped out of nowhere, screaming like a maniac and brandishing the sword that he had used to slice his way through the Freeza troopers.
Freeza was frozen to the spot. This was it.
Helplessly, King Cold watched his beloved son get sliced in two faster than he could follow. All he could do was let out a strangled yell.
"FREEEZAAAA!" He cried, choking back tears. But the Saiyan wasn't done yet. As if to add insult to injury, he began to slice the once living dictator into small chunks, before vaporising them completely.
Freeza Cold, scourge of the Galaxy, was dead.
Chargrilled bits of flesh rained down as the youth sheathed his sword, completely unreadable. Cold began to compose himself. Freeza was gone. He could just blow up the planet from orbit, but he needed to get there first. Confronting the child on a rock mesa, the "Machiavellian" King made his next move, the Flattery and Bargaining game. His favorite.. Smiling he began to strike a conversation.
"Super Saiyan!" he said emphasizing every word. "I am impressed! To encounter a fighter of you caliber is a rare occurrence indeed!"
The Saiyan said nothing, but King Cold saw his temple tighten as he spoke again.
"But it does present quite an opportunity. You see, I have appreciated great talent, such as yours. My eyes are not blinded by pride like my son's were."
"Join me, and take Freeza's place at my side as supreme ruler of the Universe." It was a lie of course, If the Saiyan wished to it, he could take it up with Cooler, and his new grandson could become successor to the victor after a "tragic" accident.
"Not a chance." The Saiyan replied.
Blast..."Now don't be too hasty. Imagine, this and every other world would be but the merest of baubles in your collection, playthings for your amusement, subject to your every whim...No?", he added seeing how all these temptations were going unappreciated. Perhaps...the weapon was the key to his power, and therefore all he needed to take what he wanted. Then he would have it.
"Alright, but grant me this; allow me to examine your sword, a weapon of such,obvious quality practically begs to be admired."
The Saiyan shifted his position slightly. "You have nothing to fear from me." King Cold added. To his relief, the young man smiled,
"So, you wanna see my sword huh?" he said "Here, catch!" and tossed Cold the sword.
"Yessss. Yes indeed. Remarkable craftsmanship...and I have a hunch that you would not have defeated my son without it..."Cold said, revealing his plan. "What do you say?" he added, an icy tone creeping into his voice.
"Believe what you want to." The Saiyan replied, looking just as smug as King Cold.
"Aha! Hmhmhm." Cold said swinging the sword, then dropping into a crouch ready to spring. "Alright then, I will. I say ...that without this sword...you're NOTHING! THAT'S WHAT I BELIEVE!" he said, dropping all of his cool, collected facade. Leaping forward, he swung the broadsword, intent on decapitating his foe...
As the Saiyan caught the blow in his bare hand. Cold visibly faltered, gasping in shock. He then strained, intent on letting the weapon continue on it's destructive path. The Super Saiyan merely flared his aura, and gradually stepped forward, pushing the giant dictator backwards.
"So much for your theory." he gloated. Spurned on by these jabs at his regal intelligence, Cold summoned everything he could, trying to move the sword, even a small distance. But his opponent didn't budge. "You should know that a weapon doesn't make the man." the youth added, stretching out his palm to King Cold's breastplate. Desperate, he called out, using all the wrong words.
"WAIT YOU DIRTY LITTLE SAIYAN-" before the Saiyan blasted him clear off the mesa, still holding his sword. Crashing to the ground, hole in his chest, the mighty alien's life flashed before his eyes. His heirs. His grand-heirs, all his friends and foes, everything he had ever killed, Cooler's walkout and the loss of his wife in an incident involving some sort of time-traveling trickster . And all throughout, he could only think back to his initial thought of the day's events.
"Why didn't we just blow up the planet from orbit?"
The boy approached him as he made one last, futile effort to save himself.
"W-wait! You can't...no, please! I am defenseless. Please? I'm-m not bad...m-my son was evil, b-but not I. I w-wanted nothing but peace. I meant you no harm. I-I swear it. I am-ARGH!" His begging was cut short as the Saiyan blasted him again, this time incinerating him completely. "Long live the king." was the dreaded emperor King Cold's last thoughts.
Almost immediately, the young stranger turned on his heels and vaporised the damaged ship.
The immediate danger was over. But the party didn't really start until three years in the future.
And boy, was Trunks ever glad to see hope arriving, as a small pod approached the battleground.