Disclaimer: I don't own Dragonball / Dragonball Z / Dragonball GT.

Happy reading!

"Do you wanna go first, Trunks?"

"How about you?"

"Uh, well… actually, I do. Hehe."

"C'mon, Goten… let's fight together, all of us!"

"But if we gang up against him, it's unfair…"

"Let's decide! Rock-paper-scissors!"

"Wowee! I win!"

"Congratulations, you just used all your luck for your next exam."

The entire situation seemed to be handled like a casual matter by the halflings, and sure enough, there were two particular somebodies who were nothing short of vexed by the sight. One was Frieza, who had to struggle to maintain his calm although anger over being robbed of immortality was slowly gnawing through his defences. The other was Vegeta; having grown tired of the children's all-talk-and-no-action approach and obliviousness to the urgency of the case, he finally decided to settle everything himself. Besides, since it was Frieza who had exterminated the entire population of his home planet, it is by a Saiyan's hand he needed to die: an eye for an eye. "You three can't have all the fun! Move aside, this is my battle!" he shouted, positioning himself between the trio and Frieza.

"Hey, not fair! It's my turn, you can't just butt in like that," protested Goten.

"Silence! In a battle, nothing is fair!" Vegeta retorted without even turning his face to the pouting boy, his gaze locked on the round-headed tyrant who was getting more and more impatient by the second.

"You are my first opponent, Prince Vegeta?" said Frieza. He gave the word 'prince' an emphasis and said it with a mocking tone. "I was hoping to save the best for last."

"That's me. Now get ready to play, Frieza!"

"Play? Do you think this is a game?" Frieza finally snapped, "You have ruined everything, you vile lowlife! How dare you stick your tail in my affairs and derive entertainment from my hardship! Have you forgotten how frightening I really am? You are but a helpless, lonesome monkey in a slaughterhouse!" he screamed while raising his fist in front of his face to indicate the extent of his wrath, "There is no escape for you! Say your prayers!"

"Last second he was calm, and now he's mad like heck. Bipolar disorder," Trunks whispered, gaining a nod from his friend.

"Heh, do your worst," Vegeta flashed his signature smirk, "If you think I'm going to be that easy to defeat, you're greatly mistaken."

"Yes, let it all out! Live boldly, even if it is only for a few moments… because YOUR TIME IS UP!"

Without warning, Frieza flung a charged energy ball at Vegeta, but the Saiyan prince nimbly jumped away. However, being just behind him, the hybrids were forced to dodge the blast as well. The purple sphere zoomed past them and made its way to one of the spaceship legs—just next to the one behind which Dende was hiding—resulting in a rather large explosion. Not wanting to expose Gohan and Dende to danger since the Dragon Balls were no longer functioning, Trunks and Goten agreed to get them into a relatively safe place where they could still follow all the action, so they swiftly snatched the children and took them to hide behind a seemingly sturdy rock formation.

Telling them to stay still and resist all urge to confront the diminutive monarch, the half-Saiyan best friends flew on top of the formation to watch the warm-up between Frieza and Vegeta which was intensifying by the minute—in terms of rate of fire. According to Trunks, the standoff itself had no gusto at all since all they did was some kind of a basic agility training session where one would fire a rapid barrage of energy blasts and the trainee would dodge every single one of them, sending dust and pieces of rock flying to all directions in his wake. Feeling bored but knowing better than to interrupt his father in a fight, the lilac head stretched his arms and let out a huge yawn.

"Frieza's not too bad," said Goten.

"Yup, not bad indeed. Terrible," Trunks rectified the younger boy's statement, "I can still kill him with my pinkie."

"Then why are we waiting?"

"Duh, remember the reason we're here? To see all his forms!"

"Oh yeah, you're right. You brought the camera with you, didntcha?"

"I didn't. I thought you did!"

"Huh? I thought you did!"

They were just on the verge of getting into a childish argument when Trunks heard the sound of Frieza's name. When he looked down he was surprised to see Gohan standing in the open; the next second, he fired a quick energy wave at Frieza, but the lizard-man casually backhanded it like a rubber band and retaliated with another one of his own. Being too flabbergasted by the relative ease his attack was nullified, Gohan barely noticed the purple energy sphere coming at him. Seeing that Gohan wouldn't be able to step aside in time, Goten prepared to dart downward to shield him from harm, but stopped abruptly when Vegeta suddenly materialised in front of the young kid and deflected Frieza's attack, sending it flying into the distance. Thanking the proud warrior in his heart, Goten along with Trunks descended and landed beside Gohan and looked at him with a spark of worry in his eye.

"Goten… I'm… sorry!" the poor boy was seized by embarrassment, "I know I shouldn't have done that, but I had to try getting him while he was distracted!"

After a quick inspection Goten concluded Gohan sustained no damage whatsoever and sighed in relief. That was all that matters right now. "It's okay, Gohan. But you gotta be more careful next time, okay?" he said, gaining him an 'okay' from his brother.

A minute of silence followed with Vegeta and Frieza staring at each other, carefully waiting for the other to make a move. When Frieza finally did, Vegeta leapt into action; quicker than human eyes could see—except there were no humans around—the Saiyan and the tyrant soared to the sky and exchanged blows mid-air before dashing somewhere else. The process repeated for five more times before they finally landed on the ground again, continuing their staring contest of not-so-epic proportions and creating yet another period of calm.

"Are you alright, Gohan?" a voice called. It was Dende; seizing the moment's reprieve, he too got out of his hiding place to lend a helping hand if needed.

"I'm okay… thanks, Dende," replied Gohan.

"Do you think… we can win?" asked Dende. He looked genuinely concerned about the outcome of this encounter.

"I really dunno if we can win… look at them go, he's too strong."

Having overheard their exchange, Frieza answered for Gohan, "Well, I do have the answer. You are all going to perish, and I assure you it will not be pleasant."

"Gee, he's so smug," Goten raised his eyebrows, "If someone hadn't taken my place, he wouldn't be saying that now."

"He sure can't read the writing on the wall," Trunks just shrugged.

Hearing Trunks and Goten, Vegeta smirked although he felt somewhat irked at Goten's nonsensical and childish accusation. His sadistic personality then took over and he wasted no time in attempting to aggravate the cold-blooded emperor and humiliate him. "You know what, Frieza? Our chance of winning is just as good as yours!"

"Such jabberwocky. Do you think I can be fooled that easily?" said Frieza haughtily, believing his opponent's words to be a complete ruse.

"You're so blind you don't know what hit you. Haven't you noticed yet? Take a good look at the little guy behind me!" he pointed at Gohan with his thumb, "His power is enormous but he doesn't even know it yet."

This revelation came as a surprise to Gohan, perplexing him to say the least. So this wasn't the full extent of his latent power which was unlocked by Guru? Since then he had noticed a huge increase in his fighting abilities, of course, but to think that there was more to it just made him more amazed of what he was actually capable of. All this time he hadn't realised it, and little did he know this day was going to be a fateful day when he would see for himself glimpses of his true might.

Ignoring the mop-top head's confusion, the prince carried on talking, "As for the other two, I don't know who they are or where they came from, but they're the ones who took care of Ginyu's weaklings like they were nothing. Even if I fall, which is highly unlikely, you'll be having a hard time against them. And that's not all…" he paused for a moment before continuing, "Soon, I'll be a Super Saiyan, your worst nightmare!"

At the words 'Super Saiyan' Trunks and Goten exchanged a knowing look while Frieza's expression slightly stiffened, but he remained calm nonetheless. "Trivial nonsense. You brag extraordinarily well, Vegeta, but we are all aware of that legend. This so-called Super Saiyan has long become an item of antiquity."

Vegeta just simpered shiftily. It might only be a legend, alright, but there was no mistaking the fact that his strength had increased substantially ever since his arrival to earth. He had escaped death three times, and that was exactly how many times his zenkai had activated. Surely his power had multiplied by a factor of at least twenty, placing him around 400,000, and which other Saiyan had that high of a power level? With Kakarot out of the picture, he was the strongest Saiyan in existence and if it wasn't the definition of Super Saiyan, what else would it be?

Having had enough of that senseless swagger, Frieza boomed, "You worthless piece of garbage! I refuse to believe in old wives' tales!"

"Well, sad for you!" came Vegeta's reply.

"Why, you! I shall wipe that irritating smirk off your face!"

Out of vexation Frieza charged at the adult Saiyan, bent on eliminating him at all costs. He had insulted him too many times and would have to face the consequences. Frieza intended to land a right hook on his opponent's face, but to his surprise Vegeta managed to—with some effort—catch his arm before the blow connected. He tried his luck with his left fist but to no avail; again, it was caught by Vegeta's right and and his attack was foiled. Now with one's hands tightly locking with the other's—and no, it was all brawns and far from romantic—they could only stand their ground while powering up, their energy gradually carving a crater out of the ground around them. The rise in Vegeta's power level proved too much for Frieza's brand-new scouter to handle; it exploded and distracted him, giving the flame-haired prince an opportunity to land a blow on his face. His attack was quickly followed by a big leap backward, creating a space between them.

"Not too shabby for a monkey, especially that little demonstration of power of yours," said Frieza while wiping his face. Never in his life had someone other than his parents successfully landed an attack on him. He was slightly pleased.

"If you ask me, I'd say you're too shabby. You won't be able to beat me in your current state, so just transform, Frieza!" Vegeta attempted to talk his foe into doing as he said. This battle had no zest for him, and if he could kick up the challenge by a notch or two, why not? "Transform and show me your true self!"

Hearing his father provoking Frieza to transform, Trunks got all psyched up and started paying attention. "Oh! This is it, Goten. It can be any second now!"

"He can… transform? That doesn't sound good, Trunks…" Gohan cringed, not believing letting it happen to be a good idea. However, he was told not to worry by Goten who insisted that Gohan would be safe and just fine as long as he and Trunks were here to help. That was all Goten needed to say; with his rock-solid faith in his brother, Gohan nodded in agreement and decided to let things advance the way Vegeta wanted.

"So you know about my little secret…" said Frieza. He was quite surprised someone not among his elites was aware of that fact.

"That's right. Your loving minion Zarbon conveniently blurted it out," replied Vegeta, "Now hurry up, transform before I change my mind and kill you right here and now! I haven't got all day, you know."

Frieza didn't need to be told twice. If it was a transformation Vegeta wanted, then it was a transformation he would get although the battle would certainly be heavily skewed toward his favour. "Well, if you want to die that badly, let me just speed up the process. Lo and behold, and marvel at this!"

Accompanied with a loud cry, an intense explosion of energy emanated from the overlord's relatively tiny body, pushing everything not firmly fastened to the ground—including one Saiyan, three Saiyan hybrids, and one Namekian—away into the air. How that much power could be contained within that form without it collapsing onto itself was beyond understanding, but Vegeta's explanation made it clear to everyone that Frieza was using that form to actually conserve energy, quite contradictory to the common sense. Whatever the truth was, when they looked down, they saw Frieza undergoing an apparently painful process: his muscles bulged, his neck stretched, his limbs elongated, his torso expanded, his horns curved upward, and—no longer able to contain his build—his battle armor shattered. It looked like they were witnessing the birth of a whole new being instead of a modification of an existing one.

"Well, that's… one heck of a transformation. I wonder if that hurts," Goten remarked.

"Hmph! At last, some quality entertainment," Vegeta snorted.

After screaming for a minute due to the enormous outflow of energy, the creature finally cooled off and everything started to settle down. No more gusts of wind, flying pieces of rock and dust, or intense output of energy; much to Vegeta's anxious anticipation, Trunks and Goten's enjoyment, and Gohan and Dende's horror, his transformation was complete.

"Here I am, as you wish," Frieza said from the ground. His voice was now heavier and there was a change in the way he spoke, perhaps true to his wilder and more powerful appearance. "Be careful, I won't be as gentle as before. But since I'm feeling particularly generous today, I'll be giving away free one-way tickets to hell." He then casually screened through his potential victims to decide who the lucky winner—as he put it—was going to be.

Trunks was not amused at the tyrant's dry sense of humour. "Ha-ha… very funny! Looks like you know how to make lame jokes now, huh?" he said. However, Frieza's new appearance which looked like an oversized version of Ginyu really took him by surprise; the combination of muscles, pink skin, and tight-fitting briefs was just too much for him to contain his amusement. "Goten, you're right, he looks so gay! Hey, freak show, you're probably here to look for a boyfriend. Well, sorry to disappoint you, but I'm straight!"

For a moment everybody was silent except for Trunks who was laughing his head off. Frieza, however, decided to be mean and break the laughter. "I've decided!"

Looks could be deceiving; despite his bulky size, Frieza darted toward his target even faster than when he was in the previous form. Being too engrossed in his glee, Trunks failed to notice that he had been placed at the very centre of the hulking giant bull's-eye. The poor lilac-haired preteen wouldn't be able to dodge whatever he was dealt with in time; the only thing that could save him was either some kind of a divine intervention… or a surprising decision of someone nearby.

Post-note: To those who celebrate, have a blessed Maundy Thursday :)