From Enemy To Student
- a Dragon Ball Z fanfiction -
Chapter 14 – Consequences of anger
Disclaimer: I do not own, in any way, any official property related Dragon Ball, such as the anime, its characters, related movies, and so on. However, I hope to supplement that glorious work of art with my fanfictions, such as this one.
I would also like to point out that this fanfiction was originally written by Gonstika, from whom I adopted it, and many of the concepts and plot-points featured in its chapters are originated by Gonstika as well.
With that said, I hope you enjoy the story.
The amount of fear instilled into Jeice by the scene taking place in front of him was so big that, for yet another time, the red-skinned alien could do little more than to shake intensely to display his real feelings. Even as part of him kept insisting that doing such a thing would get him nowhere at all, he simply could not stop himself, not only because Frieza's true form managed to be the most terrifying thing he had ever seen in his life, but also because the way in which he was torturing Krillin managed to look equally terrifying. Although Jeice had seen and vanquished his fair share of races with more grotesque looks, and had watched worse things being done to people, although he'd never tortured someone so brutally, he was still horrified by Frieza's looks and by watching him torturing someone in such a manner, if only because it was Frieza. Ever since he could remember existing, he had learned that Frieza was like an omnipotent god, with a power so great that it was untouchable. And mere moments after Jeice had started to lose that vision of his former master, it had suddenly returned in full force, thanks to seeing Frieza's real look, and being only able to imagine how high his power could be by now.
But regardless of his fear, Jeice was still able to know that he wasn't the one whose situation was worse around here. At least he was still fairly unharmed, while poor Krillin had a hole through his torso, and excruciating waves of pain to add to the terror he was undoubtedly experiencing, and certainly felt worlds worse than all the spectators put together thanks to those things. And remarkably, he still managed to muster enough physical strength and will to bring his knee up to Frieza's face in a fairly strong blow. It was probably more in an attempt at giving the tyrant one last reminder of him than at getting himself free of the horn that ran him through, as Krillin would only manage to bleed out to death even more quickly than before if he didn't have Frieza's horn running through him to somewhat staunch the bleeding. However, Frieza caught Krillin's feeble attempt at a strike more easily than if he had just taken a breath.
"Now now, don't get so upset," Frieza said in a tone that sounded almost gentle when compared to the extreme aggressiveness he'd just displayed. "You'll get to die soon enough, don't worry."
Jeice barely heard Frieza from where he floated, but his shaking intensified nevertheless, not only from knowing that Frieza would still draw out torturing Krillin for even longer, but from being reminded that the same thing would happen to all of them – which was something he desperately wanted not to believe in, regardless of how he knew it was true.
At that moment, a sudden call broke through Jeice's thoughts, forcing him to focus on something else.
"NOOOO!" Gohan let out in an anguished scream, charging toward Frieza at top speed, with his right fist pulled back to deliver a punch.
Jeice extended a hand on Gohan's direction and tried to shout at the boy not to do that because he would only get himself killed as well, but no word made it out of his mouth, as if fear had stolen his voice. Undeterred, the half-Saiyan kept closing in, and as soon as he got within Frieza's reach, the tyrant's lizard-like tail cut through the air, swatting Gohan away as if he was no more than a fly. The sight caused Jeice's heart to jump in fright, as he feared the worse. While the boy had certainly grown much stronger recently, Frieza would still have been able to do the same thing to him even before transforming, so now that strike was potentially deadly for the boy.
Thankfully, Gohan halted his fall after dropping for several dozen meters, and although there was a pained look on his face and a large bruise forming on his left cheek, he didn't look badly hurt. However, Krillin himself now hung limply over Frieza's head, as his attempt at a knee-strike seemed to have drained the last of his energy. Clearly having taken notice of that, Frieza started rocking his head back and forth, making Krillin flap up and down like a piece of paper, and causing drops of blood to squirt from his injury, as it became ever more serious and painful.
But Frieza, as though causing physical pain wasn't enough for the likes of him, spewed all sorts of taunts he could remember, determined to get the most enjoyment he could out of Krillin's death, with all the spectators powerless to do anything but watch in equal amounts of horror, regardless of how far away they were from him. Even Jeice, who was the one farthest from the tyrant, felt as scared as all the others.
However, for unknown reasons, the horror instilled into him managed to kick-start his mind into thinking of some sort of strategy they could use against Frieza now that he was distracted. The first one he could remember was to strike Frieza while he was bust torturing Krillin, as it was the best chance they'd have to get him by surprise in quite a while. But sadly, that plan had two problems. If Jeice or anyone else closed in to deliver a ht, Frieza still had five points of attack with which to keep them at bay, if not outright kill them. And if he fired an energy blast from a distance, there was no way to know if even his full might would be able to inflict any sort of damage on Frieza, unless Jeice tried to sense Frieza's power level, something that he simply didn't dare to do. Besides, any attack that was strong enough to have the slightest chance of hurting Frieza would end up killing Krillin as well. As hurt as the human could be by now, maybe he wasn't beyond salvation yet.
But at the same time, Jeice couldn't think of any alternative plan which included getting Krillin to the second rejuvenation tank on Frieza's ship without dying in the process, and while Frieza was still torturing him, he wouldn't keep on doing it forever, and their next chance at having their foe distracted would only come when someone else was being tortured to death. In the end, the best thing to do seemed to be for all of them to blast Frieza now that he was busy torturing Krillin and hope that somehow their combined attack managed to hurt him enough for his proficiency in battle to decrease enough for them to have a chance at holding him off. If they waited too much, Frieza would just end up moving on to someone else, and the more fighters he tortured, the less of a chance they would have at hurting him.
Settling for that plan, Jeice raised his left palm, ready to make another attempt at using a Crusher Ball against his former boss, hoping that the others would understand what he was doing and follow his lead. But at that very moment, Frieza simply cocked his head to the side, and threw Krillin down toward the water, a jet of blood shooting from his open torso. Jeice immediately lowered his hand, knowing he had missed his chance, and that by now, he could only wait until someone else was tortured before trying to carry out his plan.
As long as that someone else wasn't himself, of course. Because in that circumstance, someone else would need to have the same idea, or so Jeice thought in an uncharacteristically morbid fashion.
A split-second after the thought had passed through Jeice's mind, Frieza locked his eyes on him instead, and the evil gleam on his face got more pronounced for a moment. A moment that was enough for Jeice's insides to freeze solid from pure horror, and for him to realize one startling truth: he would be next.
But before he could so, his attention was captured by another anguished cry uttered by Gohan, followed by him shooting down toward the Namekian water. Clearly, he wanted to save Krillin regardless of how slim his chances at survival were.
Noticing that right away, Frieza disappeared from where he stood and reappeared in front of Gohan, causing him to skid to a halt in midair.
"Do you want to save your friend?" Frieza asked Gohan, his eyes locked on him. "Too bad, it's useless; he's going to die."
At that last bit, Gohan started to quake, most certainly from fear. But for some reason, Jeice had a hunch that it was some other emotion that was inducing the trembling of the young half-Saiyan's body.
"If I were you, I'd think about the best way to save your own hide," Frieza carried on. "Not that it will do you any good, of course. After all, you are all going to be squashed like the ants you are."
At that statement, Frieza darted his eyes from Gohan to Dende, and then to Vegeta, before locking them on Jeice for a second. This time, he didn't feel his insides freezing from Frieza's stare, but his heartbeat started quickening, and his lungs started working at a faster rate, with chills spreading through every fiber of his being in spite of his efforts to drive them off. On a normal occasion, Jeice would have taken a deep breath to calm down, but he knew that the period of he needed to do such a thing was longer than the one Frieza would take to rush at him and maul him in some way even more painful than the one in which he'd tortured Krillin.
The realization causing his chills to intensify, Jeice steeled himself to dodge Frieza's charge, as the massive tyrant leaned toward him, seemingly caring to aim his horn at the right place before rushing at him to run him through. But then, to the surprise of almost everyone present, a powerful shout resounded through the area.
"GET OUT OF MY WAY!"
Frieza's eyes widened a tad bit in surprise, a heartbeat before the boy landed a left hook on his right cheek, before slamming a haymaker with his right hand on the place where Frieza's neck met his left shoulder. Then, he started delivering a barrage of punches to Frieza's gut, moving his arms so quickly that they seemed like mere blurs to everyone else. When he finished, he landed an uppercut to Frieza's chin, before stomping down on it. Again doing so more times than Jeice could see, Gohan ended that series of blows with a stronger blow that sent the tyrant down toward the ground. Still unsatisfied, Gohan quickly gathered an energy blast and threw it down at Frieza. The tyrant raised his arms in a cross-block to shield himself from the damage, but in doing so, he lost his sight of what was going on in front of him. When he lowered his arms, he saw Gohan charging at him, with another energy blast ready in his right hand. Too fast for Frieza to do anything, Gohan closed in on him and blasted him in the face at point blank range, which sent him crashing down into the Namekian ground.
His intense rage still fueling him, Gohan let out a long cry, and the whole area sudden gained an intense goldenrod hue, as the boy started firing a barrage of energy blasts at Frieza, all of them hitting right on the mark, causing a massive cloud of dust to appear on the island Frieza had crashed into.
All while that happened, Jeice and Vegeta looked on in amazement, with the former wondering just what the kid was running on to be able to deliver such devastatingly powerful attacks. Clearly, it wasn't a source of power that he could access whenever he wanted to, otherwise he would have done so long before. Considering the look on the boy's face, Jeice could only assume this unnatural strength was related to Gohan's emotions, and on this particular one, either his anger or his distress had somehow triggered this strong power within him, and it was so strong that even Frieza in his more powerful form had been caught off guard by it.
Of course, being caught off guard was entirely different from being unable to overcome it. Although Frieza was certainly being damaged by the blasts, he probably would come out of this with no more than a few bruises and scratches. So Gohan's surge in power would probably do them no good in the long run, particularly considering it was bound to fade after he vented his emotions out on Frieza. And when that happened, the tyrant would be free to do to all of them the same thing he'd intended to before his plan had been postponed by Gohan's unexpected rage.
'Then what are you doing standing there like a fool?' a voice suddenly remarked out of nowhere in the back of Jeice's mind. 'Weren't you so determined to fire your strongest attack at Frieza just a moment ago?'
Jeice's eyes widened as the thought ran through his mind. At any other time, he'd be wondering at the randomness of such a thought, but by now, he realized it was right. This was bound to be the best chance they'd have to damage Frieza, and if they didn't use it, they certainly wouldn't get another. It would be better to try his plan now before Gohan ran out of power.
But he'd have to make a small change to his plan first if he wanted to increase his chances.
Moving as quickly as he could, Jeice shot off toward Vegeta, stopping right by the Saiyan's side. At any other time, he wouldn't have considered coming near him, but a situation like this called for drastic measures, and if his dislike for Vegeta would give them problems, Jeice was determined to ignore it until Frieza was dead.
"Vegeta!" Jeice shouted at the Saiyan, hoping his voice would be heard over the continuous explosions created by Gohan's attacks.
Apparently, it was, as Vegeta's eyes widened slightly when he was addressed, and he looked at Jeice, a mildly-questioning look on his face. Not taking the time to notice all the emotions in Vegeta's look, Jeice said as quickly as he could, "Now's our chance! We have to gather the most powerful attacks we can while the kid's beatin' Frieza, and once he finishes, we'll fire them!"
Vegeta's questioning look briefly shifted into one of mild amazement, but he didn't reply to Jeice. Trying to spur him onto action, Jeice added, "Come on mate, it's the best shot we have!"
Jeice's hurry seemed to be counterproductive, as Vegeta's amazed look twisted into a growl that displayed both fierceness and contempt.
"I don't take orders from you," he said, so low that he was barely heard over the explosions created by Gohan's attacks.
Jeice did everything he could not to slap his hand against his forehead in hopelessness. He knew Saiyans were proud, but why did this damned pride of theirs have to strike at the worst possible of times?
"Don't be obstructive, mate!" Jeice insisted, speaking even louder than before if only to see if he could get some results out of it. "We have to do it if we wanna win!"
It was obvious just from the look on Vegeta's face that Jeice shouting even louder than before had no result other than making him even angrier, but the Saiyan Prince decided to add something else to that and shout, also even louder than before, "I don't take orders from you, or from anyone else!"
This time, Jeice actually threw his arms up in hopelessness, his frustration starting to reach breaking point.
"Can't ya jus' stop bein' so stubborn an' 'elp me out on this?" an exasperated Jeice let out, barely audible over the explosions.
"I DON'T TAKE ORDERS FROM ANYONE!" Vegeta roared, the loudness of his tone contrasting so starkly with Jeice's that even the explosions of Gohan's attacks against Frieza were drowned out.
His hearing somehow staying intact, Jeice shouted as loud and firmly as he could in a vain last attempt at persuading Vegeta, "This ain't about takin' orders or not, mate! It's about trying ta make it outta this planet in one piece! Do you wanna die, by any chance?"
Jeice braced himself for another shout, one so loud that, if it was joined to the explosions Gohan's attacks were still making – as remarkably, the kid still didn't seem to have lost his impetus – would have caused Jeice's ears to split. But remarkably, in spite of his look of extreme contempt and anger, Vegeta didn't raise any objections this time, which could only mean that somehow, Jeice's words had managed to touch some small semblance of a rational side that Vegeta must have had deep inside him, and that side was now struggling with the monkey's monstrously big pride. For a few moments, Jeice tried to think of anything he could say, but he quickly decided not to take the risk, as any word from him by this point would only make the struggle in Vegeta's head run amok with unpredictable results. So, he just waited, hoping that the kid would somehow keep firing his barrage of attacks while Vegeta made his decision.
Eventually, after a few moments that Jeice ranked among the longest ones in his life, Vegeta let out a growl, and a disgusted look appeared on his face, but he gave an almost imperceptible nod, which Jeice almost missed thanks to the shadows created by the intense light Gohan's blasts kept lending to the area.
"Now that's more like it!" Jeice couldn't help but to say, a look of unrepressed satisfaction on his face.
Vegeta let out another growl, and his look became even fiercer than before, which caused Jeice's heart to jump inside his chest, as he feared he'd made another mistake with that comment. Thankfully, Vegeta simply turned toward the explosions by Gohan's continuous attacks in an overly forceful manner, and extended his hands, starting to gather a purple energy sphere in them. Letting out a sigh of relief, Jeice raised his left hand, and again started gathering energy for a Crusher Ball, with the combined attacks he and Vegeta were gathering causing the hue in the area to shift from goldenrod to purplish orange.
Not long after Jeice and Vegeta had started gathering their attacks, Gohan stopped firing his barrage of energy blasts, and raised both his hands above his head, gathering a much more powerful energy blast on which he would unleash all the fury he still had inside him.
Realizing that now there would be three single, powerful attacks unleashed on Frieza at the same time rather than just one, Jeice tried to somehow gather even more energy than before, again thinking how this could be their only chance to win, and realizing that if they combined their attacks, they increase it. The Crusher Ball, which was already half the size of Jeice, grew several centimeters in diameter, as his muscles screamed in protest, threatening to shatter under the pressure Jeice was pushing them through. In addition to that, the throbbing on the back of his head intensified as through his nape was being pulled apart. Jeice initially tried to ignore the pain and gather even more energy, but then, in addition to everything he was already going through, his vision started becoming blurry and darkened at the edges, as a feeling of light-headedness threatened to take over him. Fearing to pass out if he tried to gather more energy, Jeice instead tried to make his Crusher Ball denser to make it more damaging through another way. From what he could tell, he appeared to be succeeding, but then, Gohan pulled his right hand back, the energy blast he'd gathered floating over its palm. Then, letting out a deafening cry, the boy threw it forward, straight toward the place where Frieza still was.
Knowing that the attacks had to be fired together if they were to injure Frieza as seriously as possible, Jeice raised his right hand and slapped the Crusher Ball toward the same spot. On cue with the other two, Vegeta also fired his energy blast in the same direction. Halfway on their course to their destination, the three energy blasts met, releasing a blinding flash of light that forced all three onlookers to shield their eyes. But rather than exploding prematurely, the three spheres combined together to form a single, much more powerful blast, which kept heading unerringly toward the spot where Frieza was.
A massive explosion was released when the attack met its target, unleashing a powerful gust of wind that forced Jeice, Vegeta, and Gohan to bring their arms up and gather all the strength they could muster to withstand the hurricane that threatened to blow them away. Below them, the ground of Planet Namek shook much more intensely than it did when Frieza had powered up, and all around them, enormous stones that had been thrown into the air by the explosion rained down all over the area, as a sphere of light expanded from the explosion's center, and a deafening rumble echoed all over the planet, announcing the results of the three warriors' combined attempt at killing the tyrant who not only wanted to do the same thing to them, but would undoubtedly keep on endangering the Universe as long as he was allowed to live.
The hurricane and the shower of stones that resulted from the massive explosion seemed to last an eternity for Jeice, who used every bit of energy left inside him to stay on the same spot and not be pushed by the mighty wind that blew from the explosion's center. The combined attack of all three of them had been much more powerful than Jeice had ever thought it would be, even considering that he, Gohan, and Vegeta had worked together. Apparently, the kid's rage had been far more powerful than any of them had expected it to be. Should the kid have been this furious when Frieza was still in his previous form, the tyrant would have been instantly annihilated for sure. But now that he had transformed into this form whose power Jeice hadn't dared checking with his energy-sensing skills, there was just no way of knowing whether he had survived this attack or not, at least while the massive cloud of dust at the explosion's center didn't settle down.
If one was to ask him, Jeice would say that no natural being could have possibly survived such an explosion, but the truth was that Frieza was not a being most would classify as natural, and rules applied to other creatures could be totally invalid for him. Still, Jeice hoped with every fiber of his soul that their combined attack would have managed to kill Frieza, because if it hadn't, they would all be doomed. Jeice could barely summon enough energy to struggle against the gale-force wind blowing over him, and although it seemed to him like it was starting to fade, he still couldn't say if he had enough energy to keep holding on until they ended. He wasn't sure of whether Gohan and Vegeta were as exhausted as he was, but they were bound to be, and if Frieza had survived, they would be cannon fodder for him. Even if their blasts had managed to inflict a mortal injury on the tyrant, he was bound to be able to kill them before dying himself. On that regard, the only consolation they would have was that Frieza wouldn't be able to use the rejuvenation tanks on his ship to heal himself, as they had to be operated by someone else, and there would be no one to help him on that regard, which could only mean that he would eventually bleed out to death.
In spite of being afraid of dying, a small part of Jeice couldn't help but to be a tad bit happy at the prospect, as he knew he would get to see Burter, Recoome, and Guldo again, and now that he was so strong, he'd be able to beat Ginyu into a pulp, something he still wanted to do in spite of having killed him already. Also, the same part of him found that if he would be able to contribute to Frieza's death before dying, at least he would have made something worthwhile in his final moments, although it wouldn't be anywhere near enough to compensate for all the lives he had destroyed and all the planets he had conquered or helped conquering.
Before he could delve more deeply into those thoughts, he noticed that the wind around him had subsided and the shower of stones had already stopped, not to mention that the area had already returned to its natural color, rather than keeping the purplish-orange hue that had been temporarily given by the combined blast all three of them had fired. The only signs of their attack that remained now were the still fading ripples in the water below, and the massive cloud of dust that kept settling down at the place where the explosion had occurred. Groaning in slight pain, Jeice finally lowered his arms, panting more heavily than he had ever done, with his lungs threatening to burst through his ribcage from how much they were expanding to intake air, as every single muscle of his body protesting from the effort he'd put it through, and the back of his head pounded more intensely than ever before. But again, that wasn't his main concern. He was more worried on knowing whether Frieza had survived the blast or not, and how damaged he was if he still lived. So, he tried to peer into the ever thinner cloud of dust, although his blurred vision darkened at the edges didn't help at all on that regard.
By Jeice's side, Vegeta, whose breathing was just as labored, did the very same thing, as he clearly also wanted to know for sure what had happened to Frieza. However, Gohan, who for some reason was the one with the easiest breathing in the whole trio, looked down into the water instead, seemingly more concerned about something else.
"Krillin…" he whispered, his sagged shoulders shaking slightly, as he was about to start crying over the loss of his father's best friend.
Briefly halting his efforts to discern Frieza through the cloud of dust, Jeice spared a glance at the kid. Before arriving on this planet, he wouldn't have thought about feeling sympathetic at all, but now that he also knew what it was like to lose close friends to the clutches of Death, he felt considerably more sympathetic for the kid. In spite of not having cared at all when Recoome had broken Gohan's neck with a single kick, he had changed more than he would have expected to be possible in the amount of time that had passed since then. Even if he wouldn't go as far as to say he was on good terms with any of the others, the fact that he could actually relate to the kid now at least enabled that small sliver of sympathy he was currently experiencing. Still, he didn't know what to say to the kid, nor did he think comforting words would do any good if he could come up with them.
But all of a sudden, it seemed that they wouldn't be necessary yet after all, as Gohan's look quickly changed from grief-stricken to surprised. Wondering what could have brought up such a change in the kid's expression, Jeice followed the kid's gaze down to the water. To his amazement, the Namekian kid was floating there, with one of Krillin's arms draped over his shoulders, panting heavily from the effort that he had undoubtedly undergone to retrieve him from the ocean's cold depths.
"He's breathing, Gohan!" Dende shouted up at him. "He's still alive!"
Amazement flickered through Jeice's exhaustion at that remark. Clearly, Earthlings were much more resilient than he had expected them to be, considering Krillin had managed to hold his breath for so long after having been trespassed by Frieza's horns, and how his right lung was probably about to collapse with all the blood that had to be in it.
"Will he survive?" Gohan asked, every bit of his stance and expression revealing how much he hoped for an affirmative answer.
Privately, Jeice thought he wouldn't, but he didn't dare say it to Gohan. Not only did he have enough to worry about without having an even more heartbroken kid added into the mix, but he somehow believed it wouldn't do any good, as Gohan would only be sure that Krillin wouldn't make it after he died. Dende also didn't say anything, certainly because he wasn't sure himself.
However, Vegeta didn't have any problem saying somethnig.
"If I were you… I'd worry about more important matters… boy," Vegeta whispered, his sentence let out in bits because of his labored breathing.
A confused look on his face, Gohan turned toward Vegeta, silently requesting for him to explain himself.
"If you truly think… we managed to kill Frieza… you've got another thing coming," the Saiyan Prince added as he wiped some drops of sweat from his forehead with the back of his left hand.
Looking nothing short of terrified at Vegeta's comment, Gohan turned his gaze to the place where Frieza supposedly was after having been hit by their massive attack. In the meantime, Jeice glared at Vegeta, cursing at the fact the Saiyan didn't have any qualms about voicing their biggest fears in such a manner, although part of him acknowledged that after all, truth hurt.
Sparing himself from continuing to criticize Vegeta for his comments, Jeice instead turned on the same direction the other two were also looking. Most of the island Frieza had been thrown into had been blown away, providing the stones that had fallen around them, and by now, there was only a tiny islet sticking out of the water. And on the center of it, lying face down on the bare rock, was a twitching Frieza, with deep cuts all over his arms, legs, neck, and trail, and the blood that erupted from them in jets painting the ground below him.
Feeling a surge of fury as strong as the one he'd experienced after knowing he had lost his immortality, Frieza twitched uncontrollably on the ground, about to explode from rage, with the injuries that had been inflicted on him burning as intensely as his anger. The armor plating on his back and nape was covered in scuffs, his arms and legs had cuts that were easily several millimeters deep, and although his neck and tail were less damaged, the injuries on those spots still hurt like hell for him, and helped in fueling the rage that was overtaking every bit of his mind.
Him, the mighty Frieza, the one whose name made the entire Universe cower in horror, suffering such injuries at the hands of such pesky vermin! It was unthinkable! Unacceptable! Unforgivable! Shedding such an amount of his blood, mainly now that he was using a form that no foe he'd ever used it on had seen and lived to tell the tale, was absolute sacrilege!
Clenching his right fist in fury, and scraping the rock below him in the process, Frieza pulled himself to his feet, trying his best to ignore the intense burning all over his body. Trickles of blood ran down his arms, legs, chest, and tail, which burned more intensely when it swayed through the air. The rage inside him boiling even more intensely than it did before, Frieza finally turned toward the three pesky insects that were floating there, focusing his gaze on the young kid, the one who had undoubtedly fired the massive attack that had injured him so seriously. How a kid could gather so much power as to damage him as much when he was in this form, Frieza didn't know, but he also didn't care. The brat would pay for what he'd done.
"Fools!" Frieza roared out at them, addressing them all in spite of his ardent belief on how the kid had been the sole responsible for the pain he now suffered. "Idiots! Do you have any idea of what you have done by causing me such pain? You shall pay for your insolence with the most painful deaths I have ever given to any being I have ever met!"
Frieza was about to charge out at them to beat them to a pulp, but as he gathered himself to do so, the cuts on his body burned more intensely again. In spite of how strong his fury was, it wasn't powerful enough for his pain not to be able of making him stop and second-guess his course of action. As much as he wanted to beat into all of them with every particle of fury that boiled inside him, he knew that the pain of these injuries would distract him from his plan. If he wanted to be fully focused on showing them just what sort of act it was to cause him such an amount of suffering, he would have to do something else first, which would enable him to be healed.
Half-bending his arms and spreading his feet apart to the same distance that separated his shouted, he shouted, "Beware, fools! Pay attention to what I'm going to show you! You will be the first beings in this Universe to see it!"
Alarm rushing through him at Frieza's sudden proclamation, Jeice tried to steel himself for all sorts of unpleasant things, while inwardly knowing that there was no way any of them would be ready for anything in their sorry state. Even if they were to somehow regain all the strength they had expended, Jeice doubted it would do them any good against whatever was to come, seeing as it was so terrible that Frieza claimed he had never needed to show it to anyone. They would need help if they were to stand any chance of surviving it, but the only help that would come would be through either this Piccolo fellow or through Goku, both of whom seemed to be taking their sweet time to come.
But then again, their presence here probably would make little to no difference, if what Frieza wanted to show them was half as terrible as he claimed it to be.
But just what was it that he was going to show them?
On cue with Jeice's question, Frieza started crying to the top of his lungs, the air around him swirling as a brownish-red aura erupted from his body. Then, ever so slowly, his head started elongating backwards, as its white armor-plating seemed to swallow up Frieza's black horns, making them almost horizontal, although they still curved slightly upwards in an obtuse angle. A matching shorter pair, appeared close to Frieza's eyebrows, as his nose and mouth blended together into some sort of round muzzle similar to a frog's, and the armor-plating of his shoulders sprung out to form two protrusions that looked remarkably like shoulder pads. As the final details, two spikes erupted from the center of his shoulder blades and a smaller one burst from above the small of his back, as the injuries Frieza had all over his body started quickly closing up, the remnants of blood on his body being cleaned off by his soaring energy.
Frieza's changes caused the horror the spectators to the event were already experiencing to soar to all new heights that would have looked impossible to achieve before. Never would any of them have imagined that Frieza would be able to transform yet another time. And knowing that he could just further reinforced the feeling that they were all doomed.
But while most of them were paralyzed by the feeling, one of them, for once in his life, was spurred him into action.
Letting out an ear-spilling wail of utter despair, Jeice triggered an unexpected burst of energy that had somehow been triggered by the sheer amount of panic he was experiencing, and rocketed off toward Frieza in a suicide maneuver. It was a desperate effort, and he knew that he would die in it, but at the end of the day, the truth was that he was doing this because if he didn't do it, he wouldn't meet death anyway. Part of him hoped that if he managed to hit Frieza hard enough while he was transforming, maybe there was a chance the process of his transformation would be disturbed enough for something bad to happen to him. And even if his theory turned out to be wrong, there was a chance Frieza would finish him off a single blow just for not to be disturbed, rather than going through the trouble of torturing him. If Jeice had to die, he at least wanted it to be quick and painless.
And seemingly, it would be, as moments before he got close enough to deliver a hit, Frieza's wounds fully healed, as his transformation finally finished. Not slowing down, Jeice pulled back his fist, ready to deliver a punch. But at that moment, Frieza's tail again uncoiled through the air, striking Jeice squarely at his waist. The red-skinned alien let out a gasp, but rather than feeling pain exploding at the spot, he felt all the feeling in his body below his waist suddenly disappearing, as a sickening crunch resounded through the vicinity, and Jeice sailed out of control toward a rock on another island hundreds of meters away, crashing through it before sliding a hundred more meters along the ground, where he lay in the end, paralyzed from the waist below, and unable to summon enough strength to lift the front half of his body off the ground.
"Don't be in such a hurry, Jeice," Frieza said, his voice now sounding like a mix between that of his second and first form, and his eyes locked on his former soldier. "I'll play with you once I'm done with the little boy."
Then, saying no more, he disappeared from where he stood, as the drops of his blood that still were on the rock kept tricking toward the Namekian sea.
Watching Frieza vanish from sight, Gohan let out a scared gasp, but before it even had the time required to fully leave his mouth, the tyrant reappeared in front of him, even Gohan had time to blink, Frieza reappeared in front of him, his evil look managing to look even more pronounced than before thanks to his new facial structure.
"Come here," Frieza whispered sinisterly, his eyes trained on the child.
Yelping in fright, Gohan tried to jump away, but he only managed to move a few inches before Frieza brought his arm down so quickly that it was less than a blur, clobbering the top of Gohan's head, which sent him rocketing down toward the Namekian ground. The child desperately tried to make any attempt at struggling against his excessive impetus, but he had no glimmer of success, and soon, he met the rocky surface of one of Planet Namek's islands, the ground underneath him cracking loudly as a crater two meters wide spread around Gohan.
Summoning all the strength he could gather, Gohan tried to get up, but even before he'd gotten to an all-fours position, Frieza's tail coiled around his legs and raised him into the air, before slamming him down violently, cracking the bottom of the crater underneath him, and causing him to scream in agony. After pausing for long enough to allow the boy to fully experience the pain caused by the blow, Frieza lifted him again and slammed him down for a second time, turning the already cracked ground underneath Gohan into gravel. However, Gohan didn't scream in pain this time, which made Frieza sneer in displeasure, as he thought he wasn't managing to hurt him enough. Lifting Gohan yet again, Frieza brought his knee up, smashing Gohan into it with his tail. Once again, the boy let out a shout of pain. Immediately sporting a more pleased look at the fact he had managed to make him scream again, Frieza uncoiled his tail from around Gohan, and then grabbed him by the collar of his armor with his left hand, before swatting Gohan with his tail six times, three on each side.
The blows were delivered so quickly that the boy felt them as a single, massive one, but Frieza, who still hadn't finished, threw Gohan into the air, and again disappeared from where he stood, reappearing behind Gohan and throwing him back toward the ground with a strike of his thick tail. For a second time in this battle, Gohan went rocketing down toward the ground, but on this occasion before he could hit, Frieza reappeared in front of him and caught his head between both his hands, raising Gohan at the right height for the boy to stare him in the eye.
"It hurts, doesn't it?" Frieza asked, smiling in such a manner that he looked like a frog that ate a particularly tasty fly.
Able to make no sounds other than moans of pain, Gohan didn't reply. Those blows simply hurt so much that he felt like he was about to pass out from the sheer agony caused by them. And in the end, he didn't know that every blow had actually been carefully landed, so that he would be able to take the biggest amount possible of them without breaking to pieces. Had Frieza been delivering careless hits, Gohan would have died after taking the first two or three.
"Well, I think it does," Frieza carried on. "And I'm sure that by now, you understand just what you have done by inflicting such damage on me."
Giving Frieza the most furious look he could muster, Gohan weakly tried to raise his right arm so that he could fire an energy blast, as Frieza's arms were so long he would be unable to land a punch. However, the limb screamed in protest at the attempt, as at least half of its bones had been shattered, and the others were at the very least bruised. And his other arm was in a state that was just as sorry, if not even worse. He wouldn't be able to do anything to change what was to come.
"But just so the lesson fully sinks in, let me teach it better by crushing your head to a pulp," Frieza said, his voice trembling with anticipation.
Wasting no time in doing what he'd said, Frieza started pressing his hands together with what for him was excruciating slowness and caution. And just as he'd expected, that turned out to be just the right amount for Gohan to let out a long scream of pain, that drowned out the cracking of his bones as they were squashed by the massive hands that squeezed them, and conveyed to all who heard the amount of suffering he was experiencing.
Floating at the same spot where he had fired his blast at Frieza when the tyrant had still been in his second form, Vegeta looked on at the fate that was befalling the young half-Saiyan, with two feelings he didn't normally experience manifesting themselves inside him. The first was fear of the massive power that came from Frieza, and at the knowledge that Vegeta would soon experience it on a more direct manner. The second, which was even more unusual for him, was regret at the fact he had knocked Jeice right when he had been about to kill Frieza. As much as he hated to admit it, he now knew that by having done so he could very well have condemned them all. And most of them had already met that fate. The bald Earthling had been gored by Frieza. Jeice was out of power and had his back broken, which rendered him as helpless as a caterpillar. And Kakarot's brat was having his head crushed by Frieza. As for Vegeta himself, he was also drained, completely powerless to fight back once his turn finally arrived. So, they were all doomed. Even if Kakarot got healed and came to help them, there was no way he would be able to stand against a power as strong as the one that came from Frieza.
The only remote chance they would have at surviving would be if Vegeta managed to turn into a Super Saiyan, like he had been hoping to do for a while now, but with his energy supply so depleted, achieving the power of the Saiyan of Legend seemed about as hard as travelling the entire planet on foot. The only thing he could do now was to stand by and watch as the kid kept being tortured, while wallowing in the knowledge that everything he had endured under Frieza's reign in the hopes of killing him had been for naught.
As if he'd heard Vegeta thinking, Frieza temporarily paused on his torture of Gohan, and looked up at the full-blooded Saiyan, causing him inch backwards in apprehension.
"What's the matter, Vegeta?" Frieza drawled. "Aren't you going to help the kid? His head is about to burst, you know?"
Vegeta didn't reply verbally, but every fiber of his being shouted a loud 'No.'. He had seen very well what Frieza had done to Jeice with a single hit, and as much as his own cowardice disgusted him, he wasn't foolish enough to die needlessly, mainly for a half-breed brat of a low-class warrior.
"Well, I can't say that I blame you," Frieza carried on. "After all, you must be quite terrified by now."
Vegeta growled when he heard those words, not only because of the mocking tone in which Frieza said them, but because they were, as much as Vegeta loathed the fact, the truth.
"Oh well, if you don't want to help him, then watch as his cranium explodes!" Frieza shouted, his muscles tensing as he gathered himself for an almighty squeeze, ready to feel the contents of Gohan's head squirting through his fingers.
Guessing what was to come, Vegeta also tensed himself, ready to feel a spurt of bile bursting through his stomach at the sight of the boy's headless body falling down to the ground. But right when Frieza seemed about to deliver the finishing blow, Vegeta's breath was taken away, and the tyrant himself looked up from his task in alarm, both of them noticing something they hadn't been counting on.
A white bolt that came out of nowhere hit Frieza like a thunder strike, making the tyrant skid along the ground for tens of meters, and engulfing the boy in the bright light that it released. Startled by the strange phenomenon, Vegeta did his best to put up his guard, wondering just what on the hell was happening now, and what consequences it would have for them.
His left cheek burning in pain from the blow that had been landed on the spot, Frieza let out a slight groan, feeling the whole front of his body stinging from having slid across the dirt almost until he got to the edge of the island on which he had been torturing the kid to death.
He couldn't understand what had happened. On one moment he'd been enjoying himself with crushing the boy's head, and the next that massive beam of light had charged at him out of nowhere, hitting him as though it actually had something solid inside it. Feeling the spot burning again, Frieza growled in fury, as once again, he'd experienced a feeling that he had never thought he would. After all, there had never been any need for him to use this form in a fight, so there should be no reason for any lesser being in the known Universe to be capable of causing him the slightest of damages when he was using it. Just who, or what, could have done such a thing to him?
Wiping a drop of blood from the left corner of his mouth, Frieza pushed himself to his feet, standing in the slouched over stance typical of this form. Hearing a low hum behind him, Frieza turned around, and came face to face with a glowing pale-blue sphere with a diameter of well over two meters, which made him raise an eyebrow. How could something that seemed a simple sphere of light be as solid as this? Even energy blasts didn't transmit the feeling Frieza had experienced when his cheek had been struck, regardless of how strong they were. And if this wasn't an energy blast, what was it?
But after he got a better look, he realized that the light that came from the sphere was slowly becoming dimmer, and that by now, he could see the outline of a figure, which only became more defined as time went on. Soon, and to his great amazement, Frieza could see the figure of a Namek, wearing a purple outfit that included a white cape with massive shoulder pads and a purple and white turban. The Namekian was holding the kid Frieza had just been torturing, and looked over at the tyrant with a look that displayed immense contempt, surpassed only by an even more powerful rage.
His anger roused again as he realized that another lesser being had managed to inflict pain he wasn't supposed to sense on him, Frieza glared back at the Namekian again.
"So there is still a Namekian left, is there?" he asked, more to rupture the silence than for any other reason, although he was truly puzzled as to why this particular one was still here, and why he wouldn't have engaged him before if he was so strong as to damage him in this form. "Who would have known?"
The Namekian looked like he was about to make some sort of remark, but then, the kid's eyelids fluttered, and his eyes opened just a tad bit, as he looked up at the Namekian holding him.
"Mr. Piccolo…" the boy whispered, a look of disbelief mingled with joy on his face. "You're here…"
Hearing the kid addressed him, the Namekian glanced at him and spared a small and brief, but nevertheless reassuring smile, which seemed to be everything the boy needed for his whole body to sag in relief. Then, the Namekian turned his gaze back to Frieza and, never looked away, set the boy down on the grass with all the caution in the world, before carefully stepping over him.
"I'm more than a mere Namek," 'Piccolo' replied to Frieza's earlier remark in a tone that meant business. "From now on, I am also your worst nightmare."
Up next: Having finally arrived to the scene, Piccolo engages the newly transformed Frieza, as Vegeta looks on in amazement, and Jeice tries to overcome his broken back. Meanwhile, Ginyu, Burter and Recoome finally start solving their issues at a place where they won't anger anyone potentially more powerful than themselves. What will happen? Find out next!
Hoping you enjoyed the chapter,
Genescritor