Chapter 9: Cooler's Revenge

Loose dust danced across the surface of Planet Namek. The same light breeze that lifted the loose particles nipped softly at the stray strands of lavender hair in front of Trunks' eyes. His cold stare pierced fiercely into Cooler's own robotic red eyes. The creature's metallic body was blue and light violet in color. Most of its body was covered in the blue armor, but hints of violet softness were scattered across its body at its ribs, biceps, and face. It did look remarkably like Frieza, but larger and more menacing.

"Cooler, huh?" Trunks asked, pretending to be unimpressed. However, he pondered to himself how the cyborg could have come out of nowhere without him sensing it.

"That's right," the apparent Cooler replied.

"I didn't know Frieza had a brother," Trunks began, "or else I would have killed you off too."

"I take it you met my brother?" Cooler assumed.

"Briefly," Trunks answered grimly.

"I'm surprised," the cyborg continued. "Frieza always was a talker. I'm surprised he didn't preach to you for hours about how miserable you are."

"We had our differences," explained the Saiyan. "But, a few threats, explosions, and craters later, he finally got my point and suffered a total come-apart… figuratively speaking." He knew it wouldn't be worth the effort to try to explain to Cooler how he had killed Frieza, because in his timeline, Goku had done so.

Cooler's expression changed to a serious tone.

"Frieza was not one to suffer weaklings to live," he said observantly.

Trunks remained silent.

"It doesn't matter," he concluded. "You still stand on hopeless ground facing me."

"We'll see," Trunks retorted.

"Indeed we shall," Cooler shot back. "By the way, I must thank you though. Your little run in with my Cyclopean Guards seemed to have disturbed the Namek over there. After my last run in with him, he disappeared. I expected he had most likely fled the planet somehow, but it seems you've found the little pest for me."

Dende took a step away from the monster he had fought once before. He had not forgotten the horror that the mechanical nightmare had brought upon his people.

"You'll leave him alone!" Avien shouted firmly, stepping between Cooler and Dende. "He didn't do anything to you. If you want him, you'll come through me first."

Cooler laughed softly, and Trunks rolled his eyes.

"Avien," Trunks said, "You and Dende stay out of this. I'll take care of him."

"Up yours, Trunks!" Avien shouted back. "You're too arrogant today to take care of anyone but yourself, so just focus on who you take care of most."

"Lovers' quarrel?" Cooler asked with a grin.

"We are not lovers," she corrected, making herself very clear.

Trunks shook his head angrily. "Look!" he shouted. "I don't have time for this stupidity! And I'm not gonna play around with you people! I want the other two Dragon Balls. Where are they?"

"Dragon Balls?" Cooler asked. "The orange colored orbs that this Namek tried to take from me?"

"Where are they?" Trunks repeated. "I need them, and I don't have time to play twenty questions."

Cooler smiled cynically, hesitating. "They're safe," he answered.

Between Avien and Cooler, Trunks didn't know who was pissing him off faster, but his anger was rising quickly.

"I won't ask again," Trunks said through gritted teeth.

Cooler's cool, collective smile didn't fade.

Trunks was ready to attack, when Dende's voice found its way into his mind.

"Trunks!" Dende's voice resounded in his mind. "Wait! Before you attack him, listen to me! I know that you don't want me to risk my life, because it would mean the end of the Dragon Balls if I die. But you must consider our options! Cooler knows that I'm alive now, and we no longer have the element of surprise. Me staying hidden is no longer an option, you know this! I know that you do not wish to trust me, but I implore you to. If you can keep Cooler busy, there will be no defense at his base. We've destroyed all of his guards, and if you keep him busy, I can get you the Dragon Balls. Trust me…"

Trunks hesitated. Dende did have a point. But was he really prepared to put so much responsibility into someone's hands he had only just met? He didn't want to, but Dende was right. There was no other way; Cooler just wanted to exterminate Namekians. If Trunks didn't keep him busy, there would be no where for Dende to hide. It looked like the Supreme Kai was right. Everywhere he seemed to go, he met friends that were prepared to fight to their deaths to help him. Maybe he should be grateful.

"I have your word?" he finally replied silently.

"Every one," Dende answered solemnly.

Trunks turned to face Dende and Avien, putting his back to Cooler.

"When I attack him," Trunks said telepathically to the Namekian, "I want you to wait until the battle heats up. But when it does, I want you to take Avien and go find the other two Dragon Balls."

"You can count on it," Dende replied happily.

"Have you decided on your odds yet?" Cooler said, interrupting their mental conversation. "Surrender will be much less painful."

"Be careful, Dende," Trunks said, while some of his anger subsided. "And please take care of Avien, she means well."

Dende nodded understandingly and smiled.

Trunks half smiled back.

Avien thought that Trunks was looking at her, and for a moment let her anger at him dispel. Then she realized what was going on. Trunks and Dende were planning something, and her expression went from a calm look to that of worry.

Trunks immediately became a Super Saiyan, lighting up the area around him with his golden glow. In an instant, he had turned and flew dead on into Cooler landing a massively powerful punch into the side of Cooler's face.

The cyborg didn't flinch. Reflexively, Trunks' eyes widened significantly. Cooler's grin had faded; his cheek remained hard around Trunks' fist. Just below the hill rise, Dende and Avien both stared with wide open mouths.

"Surely that's not the best you can do," Cooler muttered modestly.

"There's no way," Trunks thought to himself. "Dende," he said telepathically to the Namekian, "Take Avien and get out of here now!"

Immediately, Dende grabbed Avien by the arm and bolted away from the action.

"It looks as if the Namek is doing what he does best," Cooler mocked arrogantly. "…Running. I am curious though. I thought that Goku was the only Super Saiyan. Who are you to have obtained such power?"

Trunks ignored the cyborg's question and powered up until he felt Cooler's face beginning to give way.

"Good," he thought to himself. He had just underestimated Cooler's power. He could still beat him.

"You are very strong," Cooler complimented. "But it won't be enough."

Without warning, Trunks expanded his fist into an open palm and brought his left hand up to complement it, then fired an immense, yellow energy attack. His beam instantly consumed and rushed by Cooler, exploding on the horizon. He half smiled with relief, but only for a moment. As the smoke cleared, Cooler was no where to be found. He immediately began searching the surrounding landscape for any sign of the mechanical menace. The damn machine had no power level, thus making it incredibly hard to track him.

"Impressive," Cooler complimented. "Your power is much higher than the Saiyan that I fought the last time I was on Earth."

Trunks looked up. Somehow Cooler had managed to make a massive dodge up into the air. But at the close range that Trunks had fired his beam, wouldn't a dodge maneuver be impossible?! He powered up again and quickly flew towards his enemy in the sky.

"What are you talking about?" Trunks asked as he reached the cyborg.

"Many years ago, I traveled to Earth to exact revenge on those responsible for my father's death," Cooler explained. "Frieza was not much of a loss; he was an arrogant little thing anyway. But the dishonor of my family line by my father's death was not something that I was prepared to tolerate. Unfortunately, the Saiyan responsible, one named Goku, was far more powerful than I had expected. He was allowed to dishonor my family further by beating me in battle. And now, when I'm finished draining the life from this miserable little planet, I'll return to Earth and take not only Goku's life, but his entire planet's life!"

Trunks remained quiet, taking it all in. There was even more history that he didn't know about?! He had thought for sure that he had researched all that had happened before he was born! His mind flashed back to his conversation many years ago in the past with Goku. He remembered that after Goku landed, he mentioned that he had a technique that would have allowed him to get to Earth and keep Frieza and his father from destroying the planet. He expected that was how he had done so in Trunks' own timeline. But wasn't Goku supposed to die shortly after that? He must have fought Cooler shortly after, before the Androids surfaced on the planet. That would have been the only way.

"If all you want is Goku dead, then why stop here and kill the Namekians?" Trunks asked.

"It was a much closer planet than Earth," Cooler continued to explain. "And it's my understanding that these green creatures have some sort of bond to each other; if you destroy one, all the others will come to its aid. I remembered that there were Dragon Balls on Earth, so there must have been a Namek on the planet somewhere. And I knew that if I killed enough of these creatures that the one on Earth would come to help, dragging Goku along with him. It was just an educated guess to try to fight Goku sooner. Pity it seems to have not worked."

"You're no idiot," Trunks said. "I give you that. Your plan should have worked, it's nearly perfect. But Goku is dead. He died shortly after his battle on Earth with you. So your wait has been for nothing."

"Goku is dead?" Cooler asked with a look of shock. "Who destroyed him?"

"Not who, what," Trunks corrected. "The same thing that eventually claims everyone. He died of a viral disease that attacks the heart."

Cooler immediately bust out into laughter.

Not amused, Trunks searched the surrounding landscape for Dende's power level. Good, he was almost to the fortress.

"How ironic!" Cooler snorted. "Who'd have thought that one so powerful would be destroyed by a mere sickness? I don't know whether I should be glad or feel cheated."

"Either way, Goku isn't coming," the Super Saiyan reasoned. "So you have no business on Earth or New Namek. So why don't you just give me the Dragon Balls, and we both go our separate ways?"

"There's only one thing wrong with that, Super Saiyan," the cyborg argued. "The only separate ways that I'm prepared to accept are me destroying this planet, and you dying with it."

Without warning, Cooler charged towards Trunks engaging in a wild barrage of punches and kicks. Immediately, Trunks begin blocking and dodging, but as he gained the opportunity, be began counterattacking with his own blows. Their aerial battle continued in the same fashion, with no one really gaining the upper hand.


"This way!" Dende shouted to Avien. "And do your best to suppress your power level, we don't want to show up on the defense system's scanners."

"This thing has defense systems?" she asked.

"Yes," the Namekian replied. "But if I had told Trunks that he would never have agreed to let us go."

"Who cares what he thinks?" she argued. "The only thing he cares about is the Dragon Balls."

"Try not to judge him too harshly," Dende explained. "I sense that he lost many that he loved in his previous battles. It would be no surprise to expect that he blames himself and wishes to set things right."

"He still shouldn't treat us like that," she retorted. "We're only trying to help him."

"When one stands on the brink of losing everything, it is common for one to become aggressively defensive, even towards one's friends," he replied.

They had reached the wall of the massive star-shaped structure that lay stretched out across the land.

"What now?" Avien asked.

Dende pondered for a moment. He didn't exactly have a plan for getting in unnoticed.

"Surely there's a door or something around somewhere," Dende suggested.

Avien sighed. Without a word she charged up a red energy blast and exploded a gaping hole in the side of the wall.

"Oh, look," she mentioned innocently, "a door."

"Are you crazy?!" Dende asked angrily. "We must keep quiet or you'll bring Cooler's entire army down on us!"

"But you said that you told Trunks that the Dragon Balls are likely unguarded," Avien reminded him.

He crossed his arms and gave her a hard, slant look.

"Oh," she said embarrassingly. "Or you could have been bluffing… My bad, my bad!"

"Hopefully, this won't take long, and our visit will go unnoticed," Dende hoped as they flew into Avien's makeshift entrance.


Trunks and Cooler continued to swap blows as their battle raged across the skies of New Namek. They had been fighting for a full fifteen minutes and no one had managed to land a single blow. Finally after an attempted kick, Cooler pushed away and floated away from Trunks giving them both a break from the action. Trunks immediately searched for Dende and Avien and was glad to know that they were already inside Cooler's base.

"At this rate," Cooler interjected, "You have no hope of winning. Because whereas your power level will slowly begin to decrease as the fighting continues, mine will not."

"Don't count on it," Trunks sneered, wanting to keep Cooler's focus on himself and off of events happening elsewhere.

He again fired a bright, one-handed beam at point blank range into Cooler's face. But as the beam cleared the target area, Trunks again noticed that Cooler wasn't there. He turned around just in time to catch Cooler's fist in the jaw. Stunned, he was knocked backwards until he caught himself and stopped.

"How could he dodge something that close?!" Trunks asked himself.

"I take it you've never seen that trick?" Cooler assumed. "Interestingly enough, that technique I picked up from your friend, Goku."

"What do you mean?" the Saiyan asked.

"You see, you can't beat me," Cooler explained. "When I fought Goku on Earth, he finally managed to kill me by pushing me through the planet's sun. Fortunately, some of my cells survived the incinerating heat. As they floated through space, they eventually were found by an extremely powerful microprocessor. On an alien world somewhere, a race of beings were some of the most technologically advanced in the universe. They managed to develop a microprocessor that not only maintained actual intelligence, but was capable of learning and correcting any errors in its programming.

Unfortunately for them, it was lost in a little run-in they had with space pirates in a galaxy not too far from here. As this chip floated through space it began to reconstruct its ship into a vessel suitable for its needs. Its needs were simple: power. As this vessel floated through space, the processor absorbed everything around it, recreating it without flaws. And that's when it found me. It took the last genetic information from my cellular structure and recreated much of my body. Unfortunately this was a tedious task, and so the chip decided to make fully robotic clones of my essence to serve as body guards while it reconstructed my organic form for itself.

I don't really mind, because in a sense it's a ticket to immortality. I can't get old, or frail, or even sick, like our late friend, Goku. And every time I suffer damage, my body is reconstructed to prevent the damage from occurring again. Thus, my ability to use of Goku's most favored technique. Even your friend, the Namek, managed to beat me once, but I came back even more powerful and with a host of new techniques.

As for the massive construct attached to this planet, it is the form of the microprocessor's final form. It is called the Big Gette Star. As I said, the processor needed power, and the Big Gette Star does just that. By attaching itself to a planet, it manages to drill deep inside a planet, robbing it of all of its natural minerals and energies. I must admit, it really is modern technological breakthrough. And I'm not much of one for science."

So that explained it. Trunks figured that the move Cooler was using to move such great distances was the same that Goku had used to get to Earth in time to beat Frieza and his father. Which meant that he had to beat this guy quickly, or Cooler would just learn from his attacks until the Saiyan would have nothing left to hit him with. Trunks had to admit, it was an incredible technological achievement. Too bad it was just like Gero's Androids and was being used for evil means. He knew he didn't have much time to spare.

Trunks immediately burst into Super Saiyan 2 form and drew his sword. Mustering enough strength to make sure that Cooler couldn't block it, he flew forward and swung his blade straight through Cooler's neck with a horizontal slice.

After Cooler had enough time to shed his surprise and realize what had just happened, his face displayed a severe look of shock and cybernetic pain, and his entire body lost its relaxed state to a stance of failed defense. His fingers and tail spasmed minutely.

It seemed almost like Trunks' slice had moved faster than physics could keep up with, and a split-second later, Cooler's head separated from his body and began to slowly float away in the direction of the slice.

Trunks knew better than to wait for Cooler's body to repair itself, and he immediately sheathed his sword. Gathering as much energy as he could in a short amount of time, Trunks brought both hands together in front of him and unleashed a devastating Buster Cannon Attack, his own version of his father's famed Final Flash.

In an immense flash of light and energy, Trunks could see most of Cooler's body being vaporized by his attack. With any luck, the battle was over…