Chapter 4

"Gotchya."

Jeice had been sitting nearby. He had let himself go the past few weeks by sleeping in hours later than usual. Usually, Burter would wake up the whole force early for a meal. Things were different now.

"What is it?"

Ginyu had been typing away at the computer for nearly half an hour now. It was incredibly odd to see him doing this. Jeice could usually see him practicing poses or eating in the morning, but it looked like the man hadn't been interested in either.

"The guy from Namek," said Ginyu, "you know, the guy I took the body from. He was from Earth. He was pretty damn strong, but he wouldn't hurt a fly unless he had to. He even asked us to leave, remember?" Jeice nodded his head at this, as he was only slightly listening. "Well when I left that bar a few weeks ago, this guy thought I was a Saiyan and started a fight with me. He thought I was the one who purged his planet."

"So?"

"So that fool from Earth could never have the guts to purge a planet. He was a little weakling. I've been looking through these files forever, but I've finally got it. He said his planet was purged about twenty years ago. So I looked up some of the bigger planets that were purged and I found the guy's race. Back then, they kept records of the purging teams sometimes, especially the ones that seemed more of a threat. And boy did this guy seem like a threat. The guy's name is Bardock and he led a team of low class Saiyan warriors. He's been dead for twenty years now, but the guy sure as hell looks a lot like me."

Jeice looked up to the large screen and saw an old picture of a man that did look identical to Ginyu. "Except for that scar. But I thought those were supposed to go away. Don't Saiyans heal quickly?"

"Let's take a look." Ginyu pressed a tab on the side that gave him a short summary of Bardock and his abilities.

Low Class Saiyan Mercenary. Leads team on purging missions. Known to recover fast. Takes a lot of damage. Three Sons.

He scrolled down. The word "THREAT" was written in red in all capital letters.

"He only kept records of people that mattered," said Ginyu. "I mean, what's with this guy? Saiyans are supposed to be powerful, but this guy ain't special. He looks like any other Saiyan I've seen."

"Probably thought he was a hot shot," said Jeice. "You know those damn Saiyans. They think they own the universe with the way they are. You've seen Vegeta in his younger days. I still wonder why Frieza ever took the little brat."

"Hmm." Captain Ginyu pressed a tab that read "Related Files." Several files popped up. Ginyu scrolled through "Saiyans," "King Vegeta," "Prince Vegeta," and finally hit a file that said "Saiyan Survivors." A small paragraph could be seen that talked about the destruction of Planet Vegeta. A picture of three Saiyans could be seen.

"They got the other two here," said Ginyu. "The bald one and the one with the long hair."

Prince Vegeta, General Nappa, and a low class Saiyan known as Raditz are as of now the only three known survivors of the destruction of the Saiyan race. Several Saiyan children and toddlers were sent on missions hours before the destruction had begun, but none have reported back or have been contacted.

"Well there's the mystery of Goku right there," Ginyu muttered. He scrolled down once again in search of more information. His eyes widened when he saw a picture before him. Three pictures of three Saiyan babies had been placed next to each other with a caption.

Saiyan brothers Kakarot, Turles, and Raditz. All three had left for missions that day, but only Raditz had reported back.

"So," Ginyu said with a grin, "it looks like Goku had a few brothers. And he did have a real Saiyan name. Looks like he's either Kakarot or Turles. The two look so much alike, I can't tell which one he is. And I bet you that low class threat was their father. Was probably a big shot with the women. I'd be surprised if either of these guys have the same mother." Ginyu chuckled.

Jeice put his fork down and pushed his plate away. While Ginyu was looking through the archives, Jeice had been eating his late breakfast. "So now I guess we know what all those computer guys do. It always seemed like they never did anything to me. Guess we should probably give them a little more credit, mate."

Captain Ginyu shrugged. He had never accessed these archives before and it had never occurred to him to use them until now. His interest in the Saiyan race was increasing, but he still didn't know why. It looked like all the Saiyans were dead now.

"I can train all I want, but I can't get this body's full potential unless I know what I'm dealing with." Ginyu looked down at his arms. Goku's body was definitely by far the strangest he'd been in. It was hard to get used to things, but he felt with enough understanding, he could grow even stronger.

"She wants to talk." Both Jeice and Ginyu looked at the doorway. A small, plump man was standing there, waiting for them to come.

The girl had been kept in a small room for the past few weeks. She'd healed nicely, but wasn't talking very much. Ginyu came to visit her once, but she was sleeping during this time and he didn't want to bother her too early on.

"Looks like the little princess has finally woken up from her beauty sleep," he said. She glared at him and rubbed her forehead. Ginyu extended his hand to Bulma, who looked at it for quite some time without doing anything. "Come on! It's me, Goku! You don't want me to help you up? What do you say we go grab something to eat? Maybe I'll take you to the bar. I just got done with some training and I'm in the mood for something like that."

"You're…," Bulma stopped for a second. "You're not Goku. I can tell by just looking at you. Something's off." She didn't dare speak of it, but she had a faint memory from a horrible experience on Planet Namek. Her confusion grew into anger. "Who are you and what did you do to Goku?"

Captain Ginyu had to laugh at this. Her reaction wasn't as good as the little twerps back on Namek, but it was still giving him a good laugh. "I'll tell you what I told the little guys back on Namek. I'm taking his body for a little test drive. Well, I guess I'd say now it's my body."

Bulma's expression was one of horror. She was confused and horrified at the same time.

"I'll make you a deal," said Ginyu. "I saw what you made on Goku's space ship. It's actually pretty nice. I'm surprised we don't have one of those yet. I've been testing it out for a while now. Now I want you to build me my own personal training area."

"And what if I say no?" she asked. "You haven't exactly given me any reason to be helping you! I don't think you deserve my help! You kidnapped me and stole my friend's body! Especially after what you did to me back on Namek! That's right! Don't think I forgot!"

Ginyu gave another laugh and stepped forward, grabbing hold of the woman's arm. It was scrawny with barely any muscle on it. The captain could easily break it if he wanted to. He started squeezing tighter. "Let me go! Let me go!" she screamed. She was attempting to punch the man with her free hand, but it wasn't really doing any good.

"I don't think you're exactly in a position to say no," said Captain Ginyu. "I could do to you what I did to your friends back on Namek… or if you want, I can do ten times what I did to you on Namek." He laughed and proceeded to place his hand on Bulma's cheek. She smacked it instantly, but he didn't remove it until a few seconds afterwards.

"I wouldn't exactly say you know how to treat a lady," she said, giving up on trying to pry Ginyu's hand off of her arm. She calmed down a bit and thought about the situation. She obviously didn't want to build this guy a training area, but she didn't want to die either. And she certainly didn't want to be given any other kind of torture. This was just like Namek all over again. She'd have to buy some time and then try to work things out. She could either concoct an escape plan during this time or better, convince this guy to let her go when she's done.

"Fine," she said. "I'll build you a training area, but let's make a deal."

"What?" Captain Ginyu asked.

"Take your hand off me and I'll let you know."

"You're a feisty one," Ginyu said. "That could be a bit of a good thing… or a lot of a bad thing." He took his hand off her arm and watched her rub it with her other hand.

"I want to go back to Earth," she said. "As soon as I'm done, you'll take me back home and you'll leave me and my friends alone. You'll get what you want from me and I'll be free."

Ginyu thought this over for a second. "We'll see about it," he said. "We'll just have to wait for a while. I'll consider it."

Bulma rolled her eyes at this. "I'll need to see a work area and some tools. I'll need some paper for blueprints and all that. I'm sick of waiting around in this cramped little room with barely any food or water. If you want me to work on this, I'll need to work under some good conditions."

"Alright," he said. "I'll see what I can do. You'll probably have to meet up with some of the guys down below in the work station rooms."

"Okay," she said. "Just go now. I'll be fine on my own until you come back. Well, I guess that really doesn't matter because you don't really care. But you can go now."

Ginyu didn't budge, but just stared at the blue-haired woman. "You aren't going to give me a proper introduction? Come on, I'm a man who likes to match up names to faces."

Bulma glared at him. "You certainly didn't think of that when we met the first time. If anything, you're more of a man of action!"

"Alright, alright," said Ginyu. "I'm… Captain Ginyu! The fearless leader of the all-powerful Ginyu Force!" He struck a pose and remained there for a few seconds while Bulma tried to control her laughter.

"My name is Bulma," she said. She then turned away from the man and started to walk towards the corner of small dark room.

Ginyu glared at the back of her head and turned around to walk away.

Silence. Not even the sound of the space pod rushing through the galaxy could be heard. Like always, there was nothing the man could hear except his own train of thought. He had been sitting in the pod for nearly a month now. Most of the time had been spent sleeping, but now he was wide awake, with nothing to do but listen to himself think.

There was no one left. His comrades were dead and that was partly his own fault. Nappa had been killed by the man himself and he didn't expect much interest in saving Raditz. The last remaining Saiyans were now gone. Even Kakarot was dead. It was first an enjoyment for Vegeta to see the low-class Saiyan die, but now it was a pain. The man could have helped him recover the dragon balls… or even defeat Ginyu. He was strong, but was too merciful. It was funny how Captain Ginyu could easily pick that trait out. It was funny how the man would have died a horrible death had he not noticed Kakarot's weakness when it came to fighting others.

But now it wasn't really funny at all. Vegeta was all alone in a changed universe. Solitude certainly was not a bad thing before, but the man may have been stupid in his ignorance and lost all the people that could have helped him. No one would want to help him now. Frieza was immortal and there was no stopping him. Namek was surely destroyed by now and the dragon balls on Earth ceased to exist.

Vegeta thought of the times he was on a team with Nappa and Raditz. The three worked pretty well together, but that was when they worked under Frieza. It was funny to think about how determined he was back then. Now it was as if life was… meaningless. He could easily find a small planet and live there, in fear of Frieza for the rest of his life. But that itself would be meaningless.

No, he told himself. I'm not going to give up. There's a way to stop Frieza. It's taken me years and I still have a long way to go. He's immortal now and it will be pretty hard to beat him, but I can do it. I know I can.

Bulma looked down at the sheet before her. The lines were perfectly straight and it was starting to give her a headache. She'd been staring at it for almost an hour now. She could usually easily start designing something. In fact, if she put forth the effort right now, something could be drawn instantly.

She barely had any time to take this all in. This man had taken Goku's body, which probably meant he and the rest of them were dead. Her eyes didn't move from the blue paper in front of her. She was usually pretty emotional about this kind of thing, but she was at a vulnerable state.

"If I don't start working soon, they'll know," she muttered to herself. She started tracing out a small diagram. She worked out the little things in her head, like what her father probably used. The man had mentioned to her that there was a gravity machine on the ship, which was actually pretty impressive. Goku must've thought of that. Her eyes welled up with just a little bit of tears thinking about the little boy she met years ago. He was now a young man with a child. Both were dead. It was hard to believe.

She looked back to the other end of the room. The metal door had been sliding open and shut every few minutes. Little men in their uniforms kept running back and forth, obviously concerned about something. There was probably a problem with one of the systems on the base. Bulma thought about offering her help, but decided against it. It wasn't a wise idea.

"He's not going to take me home," she whispered to herself. She'd been contemplating the idea for the past hour. He hadn't promised anything. How could she allow herself to be talked into this? "He's going to get what he wants from me and then kill me. Or worse…" She thought about Namek. Little bits of images flashed through her head. It was absolutely horrible, yet she knew it could have been worse. "There has to be some kind of ship that can take me home." Come to think of it, she hadn't even seen the outside of this place. She knew she was on some sort of far off planet, but she didn't even know what it was like.

Without thinking it over much, she quietly placed her pencil down on the desk in front of her and started pacing back and forth. Eventually a small man started to make his way out the door and she followed close behind him. She walked down a long metal corridor for several minutes before reaching a flight of stairs. Nobody paid much attention to her, which was quite surprising. It wasn't long before she made it all the way out the door of the base. When she knew she was safe, she made a run for it.

The long line of people in front of Captain Ginyu all looked pretty nervous in front of him. Neither of them dared to speak.

"I suppose you're probably wondering why I called you here," he said. "As some of you know, the Ginyu Force now has three new open positions. You men are lucky. It's not every day there's such a demand for great warriors. I'm going to have to spend a lot of time judging you men, but if you make the force, it'll be worth it, won't it? Now… show me your best poses!"

All of the men looked confused and none of them even bothered to move. Ginyu slapped his hand up against his head. "One of the first rules of the Ginyu Force: If your leader tells you to do something, he expects you to do it!" He created a ball of energy in his right hand and started raising it. All of the men immediately placed themselves in some sort of ridiculous pose. They didn't have much time to think of anything.

"Hmm," said Ginyu. He walked down the line once looking at everyone. Once he stopped at the end, he started walking back towards the other end, studying the men more closely. "You call that a pose?" he yelled at one man. He picked several of the men up by their collars and threw them off into the distance.

"None of you look like you have what it takes!" he yelled at them. "What do you think you're doing? Don't you understand posing? You need to draw attention to yourself with a pose, not fade into the background!" He gave them an example of a pose and watched some of the men trying to copy it.

"Now I want you to give me a real pose!" he said. "Cut the crap this time! Ready, set, pose!" The men started to pose while citing all their names at once. "Hmm. Adequate, but not exactly good enough. Put it this way: I'll give you a chance if you can take me down." He smiled as a few of the men hesitantly stepped forward. Within a few seconds, they all tried piling on top of the man, who punched and kicked all of them off of him. They were all sent flying off into the distance with the rest of the men. "I guess I'll just have to do a little bit more searching," Ginyu muttered to himself, half serious, half joking.

Jeice had been spending most of his time out by Ginyu, but had been doing a little bit of training. He wasn't training very hard, but felt obligated to do just a little bit of training since Ginyu had started.

"I say we go check on our little lady friend," said Ginyu, nudging his head toward the base. They had been just outside the base with the men. Jeice nodded and followed Captain Ginyu inside. They walked to the stairs and made their way towards the back room where they last left the blue-haired woman. The door slid open and Ginyu searched around for her. "She's… she's not here." He rolled his eyes.

Jeice was surprised the man didn't look very mad. "She probably thinks she can go find a ship out there," he said. "I think I'll wait a little bit before finding her." He sounded confident in himself.

"But Captain," said Jeice, "you're not worried?"

"Why should I be worried?" he said. "She's the one in trouble. Even if she makes it to the city, she won't last very long."