Dragon Ball L Revenge of the Saiyans

by SilverSaiyan44

After the destruction of their home planet, Vegeta, the three surviving Saiyan warriors Raditz, Nappa, and Prince Vegeta continue to serve under the evil tyrant Frieza. But 24 years after the Saiyans' near-extinction, the survivors grow tired of serving at Frieza's whim. Do they act on these feelings and rebel against Frieza and his empire? Or do they continue to live as slaves?

25. Chapter 25 Ginyu Games

[A/N] What's this, three chapters in a row released on time? WHAT SORCERY IS THIS!?

I know I technically had to move up the release date by a few days to accomplish this but… it still counts!

My pathetic jokes aside, hey guys, SilverSaiyan44 back with the 25th chapter of Revenge of the Saiyans. Honestly, I think I made the right call bringing back chapter deadlines. Since doing so, my work ethic has been a lot more efficient and I can manage my time more effectively.

But screw that! You guys didn't come here for my rambling, you came to see the epic final battle between the notorious Captain Ginyu and everyone's favorite Saiyan prince!

I promised this would be a long one, and I think it's fair to say that I delivered. Fun fact, this is officially my longest chapter released. So… woo!

But without further ado, I hope you guys enjoy the chapter as always and I'll see you at the end.

---

Chapter 25 Ginyu Games

High above the planet Earth, a lone spaceship floated alone in orbit. Aboard said craft, a certain pink-skinned commander was growing impatient.

"What's taking them so long?" Dodoria grumbled as he paced along the bridge. "This was supposed to be a simple recovery mission."

As if on cue, the soldier known as Greevo glanced back at his leader with a report. "Sir, we've been able to piece together how the team is proceeding," he stated.

Dodoria's scowl shifted into a smile, "Finally. What do you have?"

"Well sir, it seems that the Ginyu Force engaged the Saiyan targets and proposed a sort of... competition to persuade them to surrender," Greevo explained as eloquently as he could.

The obese alien felt his smile fade away upon hearing the strange report. "What!? Those idiots! I knew Ginyu couldn't be trusted with this mission," he fumed.

Greevo started at his superior for a few silent seconds. "Orders, sir?" the peon eventually inquired.

Dodoria remained lost in thought for a moment before his expression suddenly lit up. "Greevo, locate the Ginyu's space pods and prepare for a landing. We'll locate them from there and finish this mission for good," he commanded enthusiastically.

"Yes sir!" the soldier barked obediently, turning back to his station to begin tracking the Attack Balls' crash sight.

Dodoria grinned sinisterly while staring down at the blue planet. "I'll show Frieza that he should have trusted me to lead this attack in the first place. Once I'm done, Ginyu and the rest of those freaks will be revealed as the fruity hacks they really are."

---

"I can't believe we actually managed to score two wins over these guys," Yamcha said excitedly. "We've got this this little game in the bag."

"I wouldn't celebrate just yet," Tien cautioned. "We still have to win one more battle, and if we lose, it's all over," the triclops added.

Despite his friend's words of caution, the confident expression on Yamcha's face never faded. "Come on, Tien, don't forget that Vegeta is the strongest one here," the former bandit rebutted, placing a hand on his training partner's shoulder. "He'll wipe the floor with that horned freak."

Vegeta remained silent as the two spoke. His expression was neutral, not betraying any of his thoughts or feelings.

At that moment, Goku walked up next to the Saiyan prince. "Hey, Vegeta, so who are you going to take into the battle with you?" the spiky-haired fighter inquired, secretly hoping it would be him.

"Nobody. I can handle this on my own," Vegeta answered bluntly.

The rest of the group gasped in shock.

"Are you insane!?" Krillin exclaimed. "The rest of us barely survived our fights against these guys, and now you're going to take out their leader by yourself?"

The elite warrior chuckled. "Don't presume to know my power," he said in a tone of pride. "Ginyu has no idea who he's dealing with."

Goku looked at Vegeta, trying to ascertain his thoughts. "You're awfully confident all of a sudden," he pointed out. "What happened to you being all scared of losing to these guys?"

The first-class warrior's expression remained unchanged, "My concern, Kakarot, was that you lot would struggle against the others and lose this little game before I had the chance to step in. But now that it's down to me, our victory is a forgone conclusion."

Even Raditz began to eye his self-assured leader skeptically. "With respect, I must concur with Krillin and Kakarot on this one," the long-haired man mumbled in a low tone. "Taking on Ginyu without backup is risky, especially considering the circumstances," he stated.

Vegeta shot his comrade a glance of slight irritation. "I'm surprised at you, Raditz, I thought you of all people would know not to question my abilities," the prince gibed.

"I meant no offence, your Highness. It's just that these Ginyus tend to be… unpredictable," Raditz clarified.

The royal Saiyan retained his air of superiority, "Duly noted. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go teach Ginyu a lesson in pain."

Tien tensed up suddenly as he sensed someone approaching. "Speak of the devil… incoming!" he announced, prompting the rest of the group to turn and watch as the newcomer landed in front of them.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" Ginyu greeted with a grin.

Ginyu was a tall humanoid alien with a fairly muscular build. He had purple skin, prominent veins across the top of his head, and two black conical horns protruding from his temples.

The captain wore basic black PTO armor with brown accents that was adorned with his team's insignia, black spandex, and a green scouter over his left eye.

Vegeta stepped forward. "Just plotting your imminent and swift demise by my hands," the prince quipped.

Ginyu snickered, "So you'll be fighting me alone? Bold choice, Vegeta," he said. "I always knew there was a reason you were one of Frieza's favourites."

"Is that jealousy I detect?" Vegeta queried with a cocky smirk.

"Hardly. I was just hoping for a good even fight," the captain replied, humored.

"You'll get far more than that with me, I assure you," the elite Saiyan proclaimed.

"Heh, heh, I look forward to it. Meet me at the battlefield when you're ready to lose," Ginyu jeered as he began floating into the air. The PTO soldier glanced at Raditz, Nappa, and Goku. "Oh, and boys, make sure to say your goodbyes now. Because when I'm done with Vegeta, you're all coming with us," he said with a sinister laugh before blasting away.

"Wow, that guy is a jerk," Krillin grimaced as soon as Ginyu was out of earshot.

"Tell me about it," Nappa echoed.

"Nappa, Raditz, a word," Vegeta ordered, prompting the two Saiyans to follow their leader several feet away from the rest of the group. The prince leaned in so that nobody else could hear. "Once Ginyu is defeated, I'll give the signal for two to finish off the rest of those freaks. Understood?"

The two elite Saiyans nodded obediently.

Nappa giggled slightly, "I've been looking forward to this."

Vegeta's expression remained serious. "Whatever you do, we must ensure that neither Ginyu nor his men will leave the planet alive. Do not let Kakarot or the Earthlings get in your way," he instructed.

"It will be done, your Highness," Raditz replied with a slight bow.

With that, Vegeta turned away and began walking in the direction of his opponent.

"Hey, Vegeta!" a voice from behind him called.

The prince turned to see that it was Yamcha.

"Listen, I know you can do this, but still, just… watch your back out there," the scar-faced fighter said.

Vegeta shot his old training partner a warm smile, "Mark my words, the story of the undefeated Ginyu Force ends today."

---

"Looks like Vegeta's going to try and take on the Captain all by himself," Jeice mused as he watched the upcoming battle from the sidelines.

"HA! The Captain's gonna wipe the floor with him!" Recoome bellowed with a child-like laugh.

Though his comrades seemed fairly certain of their leader's success, Guldo stood relatively silent. "I don't know. As much as I hate to say it, Vegeta is a crafty one," the green-skinned Bas admitted. "I sense that the arrogant monkey has something up his sleeve."

Burter chuckled at the four-eyed being's apprehension. "Don't get so dramatic, Guldo, it's only Vegeta. Just because you hate the guy with a passion, doesn't mean he's hiding something," the reptilian alien said dismissively.

Guldo gritted his teeth at the taller Ginyu Force member, "I AM NOT BEING PARANOID!" he snapped. "Vegeta is plotting something, I'm telling you."

Just when Burter opened his mouth for a rebuttal, the two were snapped out of their thoughts by a loud whistle from Jeice. The two soldiers turned to their lieutenant.

"Hey! No need for bickering, boys," Jeice chastised, causing the two to stand at attention. A sly smirk crossed the Brench's face, "Besides, the fun's just about to start."

---

Ginyu chuckled with excitement as Vegeta landed several meters away from him. "I've been looking forward to this fight for hours now," the captain said.

"Then quit your blathering and let's get to it," Vegeta quipped impatiently.

The elite soldier waved a finger defiantly at his opponent. "Not so fast, Vegeta, we have to start this properly," he stated with a smile. Ginyu then placed his hands at his hips in what was meant to be a heroic stance. "You will now be facing…" the horned alien began in a booming voice.

Vegeta stared at his opponent in complete confusion, "Uhhh."

"The illustrious leader of the almighty Ginyu Force…" Ginyu went on, striking several daring poses as he spoke. The horned alien then twirled in place for a few seconds before leaping into the air and landing in a final pose on the ground, with his arms at his sides. "CAPTAIN GINYU!"

The Saiyan prince was locked into a dumbfounded expression. "How could THIS possibly be one of Frieza's most elite soldiers," he pondered to himself.

Even with his immense bewilderment, Vegeta couldn't help but smile with amusement at the supposed mercenary captain's performance. "Now I see where your men get their… unique personalities," the first-class warrior said mockingly.

Ginyu stood from his kneeling pose, his bravado unaffected in the least. "Mock me all you want, Vegeta, but just know that I intend to use my full power," the purple-skinned being retorted in a threatening tone.

An expression of intrigue sparked onto Vegeta's face. "In that case, why don't we skip all the pre-battle mind games so I can show you the extent of my own power," he challenged.

Though slightly caught off guard by the proposal, Ginyu retained his confident demeanor, "I'd love nothing more."

"Excellent, though I have to warn you, what you're about to witness may be… shocking," Vegeta said.

Just when the Saiyan elite was about to begin powering up, his AI partner suddenly activated. "Prince Vegeta, are you certain it is wise to begin the battle at full strength?" Royal inquired in a tone of caution. "Perhaps it would be more effective to-"

"Royal, I know what I'm doing," Vegeta interjected. "Now, shut yourself down until I say otherwise," he instructed in a cold tone.

"As you say, sir," the AI said obediently before disconnecting.

With his mind cleared of distractions and an impatient opponent standing before him, the prince knelt down and began powering up.

"Hurrrrrrrrrrr!"

A purple aura flared up around Vegeta's body as his power continued to rise quickly. By this point, Ginyu had activated his scouter and started scanning his opponent's power level.

"HURRRRRAHHHHH!"

As the flame-haired man continued charging, sparks of purple electricity started flashing around him every few seconds, illuminating the battlefield.

Ginyu laughed in exhilaration. "That's pretty impressive, Vegeta, but it'll take more than a light show to beat me!" he exclaimed, speaking over the prince's yelling.

Vegeta ignored him and went on charging. Soon enough, the very ground beneath them began to shudder as the elite warrior's power swelled.

"HURRRRRAHHHHHH! HYAAAAAH!"

The look of bemusement on Ginyu's face faded away as he noticed the power level on his scouter beginning to skyrocket. "Wait… what? That's not right," he muttered to himself in bewilderment, pushing several buttons on the device in an attempt to recalibrate it.

A devilish grin formed on Vegeta's face as he felt the immense ki continually flow into him.

"HAHAHAHAHA! HURAAHHHHHHHHH!"

---

"Woah, it feels like the whole planet is shaking!" Goku stated in disbelief as he and his allies attempted to keep their footing.

The Z Fighters continued to watch in shock as pebbles and other bits of terrain suddenly began floating into the air.

"I've never seen power of this magnitude…" Tien marveled.

Yamcha had a more fearful reaction. "If he doesn't slow down, he could cause an earthquake!" the long-haired martial artist squealed.

While Goku and the Earthlings panicked over the environmental effects of Vegeta's show of strength, the two elite Saiyans were focused more on the prince himself.

"Unbelievable… how could Vegeta get so powerful?" Nappa entreated, his tone incredulous.

"I see it now," Raditz said inexplicably, causing the older Saiyan to glance at him.

"What are you on about?"

"In the days after you left to pursue Turles, Vegeta would spend as much time as he could in the gravity chamber," Raditz explained. "He trained for hours on end, rarely stopping to sleep or even eat. At the time, I didn't understand his urgency, but now I see why," he stated.

A look of realization sparked onto Nappa's face, "So that's why he was so confident," he said. "But I still don't get it, why would Vegeta hide his power level from us for so long?" the former general asked.

"He must have been saving it for our next training match. But when Ginyu and his team arrived, Vegeta decided to play scared to throw them off guard," Raditz theorized. A smirk then crossed the elite Saiyan's face, "And finally, he doesn't have to hold back anymore."

---

"HURRRRRRRRR! HRAHH!"

Vegeta let out a final roar as a burst of energy was released from his body. The debris that had floated into the air fell, and his intense aura faded.

Ginyu gasped upon seeing the final readout on his scouter. "Power level, 120,000…?" the captain stammered. "How…?"

The purple-skinned alien's train of thought was broken by a sharp laugh from Vegeta. "What's wrong, Ginyu, ready to give up already?" the prince said mockingly.

Ginyu's expression shifted back to its naturally confident state. "Not on your life, Saiyan, a little number isn't enough to scare me off," he replied, unfazed. "It's time for you to see what a great warrior I really am. Here I come!"

The elite PTO soldier charged at Vegeta with a flying punch. The Saiyan warrior was quick to follow suit, rushing in with his own. Their fists met with a clash, causing the ground around the two powerful fighters to crack from the impact.

They continued pushing against each other, soon realizing that they were even in strength. Ginyu pulled away quickly and attacked with a swift kick aimed at his opponent's neck. But Vegeta ducked the strike with ease, countering with a lightning-fast punch to the face that sent the horned being staggering back.

Vegeta lunged at his dazed opponent and kicked him hard in the chest, launching Ginyu up into the air. The prince smirked to himself before blasting off after the captain.

Before the purple alien could get his bearings, Vegeta was assailing him with a barrage of punches and kicks. The Saiyan pulled his arm back for a final blow to the head, but Ginyu managed to duck to the side; he then swiftly snap-vanished behind his enemy and elbowed him in the back of the head.

Though temporarily stunned by the sudden attack, Vegeta quickly recovered and turned around. The flame-haired man was then met with the sight of Ginyu floating several meters away from him, a ball of energy sparking in his outstretched hand.

"You're pretty tough, Vegeta," Ginyu admitted. "But why don't you try THIS on for size! Galaxy Dynamite!" he exclaimed as he fired a large beam of energy at the unsuspecting Saiyan.

Vegeta immediately cupped his hands at his sides, charging an attack of his own. "Galick Gun, FIRE!" the first-class warrior shouted, performing his signature technique.

The two energy beams collided, illuminating the sky in purple light. Though Ginyu's attack was incredibly formidable, he had counted on taking Vegeta by surprise; and he certainly wasn't expecting the Saiyan prince's power to be so comparable to his own.

Vegeta pushed every bit of energy he could into the Galick Gun, causing it to double in size and push back the Galaxy Dynamite with ease. With his attack all but burnt out, the horned alien could do nothing but raise his arms to guard as the Galick Gun hit him in the chest and exploded.

"Aughh!" Ginyu cried in pain as he was knocked backwards by the blast. Just as the smoke cloud around him began to fade, the leader of the Ginyu Force spotted a blur rushing at him, before suddenly being punched hard in the stomach.

Vegeta chuckled devilishly as he continued to bury his fist in Ginyu's abdomen. "Had enough yet?" he inquired in a jeering tone.

Without warning, the prince felt a hand grab him by the collar of his armor. In an instant he was pulled closer to Ginyu and punched hard in the face.

Vegeta flew back several feet before catching himself. He wiped a bit of blood off of his lip as he looked up and saw Ginyu staring back at him with a grin.

"I can do this all day," the PTO soldier said, cracking his neck. Ginyu then rushed his opponent at blinding speeds, striking the Saiyan with yet another punch to the face before following it up with a flurry of lightning-fast attacks.

The barrage went on for several painful seconds until Vegeta finally decided to retaliate with a blow of his own. Unfortunately, Ginyu blocked the strike with ease and responded with a blinding kick to the chest to knock the shorter fighter away.

An expression of glee lit up Ginyu's face, "This is the best workout I've had in years," he commented.

Enraged by the remark, Vegeta charged in for another attack. He threw a punch, but Ginyu snap-vanished several feet back before it connected.

The captain snickered at his opponent's obvious frustration. "You know, Burter wasn't the only member of my team with some speed," he said. "Why don't I show you."

With that, Ginyu rushed at his opponent and hit him with several precise punches to the chest. Vegeta attempted to counterattack, but the captain snap-vanished away at the last moment and began attacking from his right. The prince swung an arm at Ginyu's head, but yet again, he disappeared before it could connect.

Though Ginyu wasn't moving nearly as fast as his Selvadar comrade had been in the earlier battle, Vegeta still couldn't seem to land a hit.

This cycle of dodging and attacking went on for almost a minute before the aggravated Saiyan was finally fed up. "That's enough! Hyaah!" he screamed while releasing a large explosive wave, hoping to catch Ginyu wherever he appeared.

Vegeta breathed deeply as the energy around him subsided. "That must have got him," the Saiyan prince thought to himself. At that moment, he heard the sound of snap-vanishing above him. The first-class warrior glanced upwards in shock, only to see Ginyu floating above him, smiling.

"Nice try, you almost had me, almost," the captain quipped. Just when Vegeta was about to pounce at him, Ginyu charged up and fired an energy blast that carried the flame-haired man down to the ground, detonating on impact.

BOOM!

Vegeta laid unmoving in the small crater for a few seconds before struggling to his feet. "H-How can this be?" he questioned in anger. "Even with my immense power up, I'm still barely keeping up with him," the elite lamented.

A loud battle cry snapped Vegeta out of his thoughts. Ginyu had circled around and was now rushing directly at him!

Despite his injuries, the Prince of all Saiyans stood his ground. He instinctively charged a bit of ki into his hand as his adversary grew closer. Right when Ginyu was about to strike his seemingly helpless opponent, Vegeta pointed his hand in front of him and fired a large burst of energy, temporarily blinding the Ginyu Force leader.

"ARG! What the!?" the captain snarled as he was suddenly unable to see.

Vegeta continued by firing a barrage of ki blasts into Ginyu's chest, creating a smoke cloud to even further disorient him. With his opponent relatively subdued, the Saiyan warrior retreated for the time being.

Once he was at a safe distance, Vegeta activated his communicator. "Royal, I need your assistance," he commanded.

His AI partner was online in less than a second, "How may I be of service, Prince Vegeta?"

"I need you to pull up Ginyu's file and scan it as quickly as possible," Vegeta instructed. "Skip the biography, all I need to know are his weaknesses and any special traits he may have."

"Right away, your Highness," Royal said obediently as he began searching the PTO databank for the high-ranking captain's file.

Vegeta remained on guard the entire time, watching the smoke cloud that currently housed Ginyu intently. About two minutes later, Royal had come to a surprising realization.

"Sir, it appears we may have a problem," the royal class AI stated in a rare tone of uncertainty.

"Grr, what now?"

"Well, it seems that all files related to Captain Ginyu are heavily classified, and therefore encrypted behind an intimidating firewall," Royal explained.

Vegeta cursed under his breath. "Is there any way for you to decrypt it?" he asked.

The AI paused to consider for a moment before responding, "Well yes, technically, but it would take a remarkable amount of-"

"Good, then do it," the Saiyan elite interrupted. "Get Spectre and Ghost to help you if need be, just get it done as quickly as possible."

"Of course, Prince Vegeta," Royal answered in a dutifully. "Just so you're aware, I will be temporarily offline until the decryption is complete," he added.

"Fine, I'll keep throwing attacks at this fool in the meantime," Vegeta said, clenching his fist in front of him.

"Good luck, sir," Royal concluded in his typical analytic voice before disconnecting to complete his task.

Mere moments after Royal's voice faded away, Ginyu burst from the smoke cloud and struck Vegeta with a hard punch to the face.

Caught completely off guard, the Saiyan prince was sent flying through the air. He hit the ground with a crash before skidding to a halt. Vegeta slowly got up and began sensing the area around him for Ginyu.

He eventually spotted the alien captain floating high in the air. His arms were crossed over his chest, and he appeared to be charging an energy attack, as evidenced by his glowing hands.

"That was a pretty cheap move, Vegeta!" Ginyu shouted from the heavens. A devilish grin crossed the captain's face. "Guess I'll have to even the score," he muttered.

The balls of energy in each of Ginyu's hands began to glow more intensely. "Dual Milky Cannon!" the purple-skinned being exclaimed as he threw two fairly large balls of energy in Vegeta's direction.

The flame-haired fighter gritted his teeth as the deadly energy balls flew towards him. He took a second to charge a bit of ki before leaping into action. Vegeta began by racing past the first Milky Cannon ball at an intense speed, leaving it to crash into the ground behind him and explode.

The first-class warrior continued his charge, firing a large ki blast point blank into the second Milky Cannon ball, causing it to detonate right in front of him.

Ginyu watched in awe as Vegeta disappeared into the second attack's cloud of smoke. Right when he was about to reach up to his scouter to check on the prince's status, Vegeta soared out of the mist at an incredible speed and smashed directly into Ginyu; knocking the wind out of him.

The Prince of all Saiyans took immediate advantage of his stunned opponent, assaulting him with a bombardment of attacks that knocked him around the sky. Vegeta concluded the combo with a hard punch, sending Ginyu flying. He then snap-vanished behind the captain with his fists raised together in the air, and smashed him downwards.

The leader of the Ginyu Force plummeted down to Earth like a meteor. Just when he was about to crash into the ground head-first, Ginyu managed to regain his senses and flipped in the air. The purple-skinned being landed flat on his feet, slightly lessening the impact of his collision.

Captain Ginyu glanced up at the sky just as Vegeta was descending towards him with fury in his eyes. The PTO soldier managed to leap back at the last second, causing Vegeta's punch to hit the ground; kicking up debris.

With his fist momentarily stuck in the ground, Vegeta was left to watch as Ginyu wound up and kicked him in the face.

"Urahh!" the prince exclaimed as he was smacked aside. He landed on the ground a few feet away, but quickly pushed himself up.

Rather than continue to attack his downed opponent, Ginyu opted to blast off into the air.

Vegeta growled in anger as his enemy took off. "I won't let you get away!" he hollered while firing off a barrage of ki blasts in pursuit.

The horned alien brushed off the ki bolts with ease; dodging or deflecting them away with his incredible speed.

Despite wanting to wait for Royal's input before proceeding, a surge of Saiyan pride washed over Vegeta at the idea of letting an enemy escape. Without another thought, he launched himself into the sky.

"Don't you dare run from me, you spineless coward!"

---

"That's it, Captain! Show that arrogant monkey who's boss!" Guldo cheered, overjoyed by watching his former tormenter get tossed around.

Recoome grinned with child-like excitement at the battle. "Wow, Vegeta's a lot tougher than I thought," he said.

Burter sneered, "Oh, please, the Captain's got that loser right where he wants him."

Jeice snickered upon noticing a familiar action their leader had taken. "Heh, speaking of which, check it out, boys," the lieutenant stated, direction the others' attention to Captain Ginyu. "We all know what it means when the Captain leads an opponent away like that."

The four deadly warriors shared in a laugh, as they all knew what was coming.

---

"No more running, Ginyu! Get down here and face me!" Vegeta yelled as he continued chasing the fleeing captain higher and higher up.

Unbeknownst to the Saiyan warrior, Ginyu had been slowly gathering ki as he flew. Eventually, the horned alien stopped in midair and turned around, staring at his oncoming opponent.

"Perfect," Ginyu muttered to himself with satisfaction. The elite soldier then began charging energy intensely, preparing for his special attack.

Vegeta continued soaring through the sky, completely unaware that he was flying into a trap!

Once the purple being had gathered enough energy, he placed his arms out at his sides and began focusing squarely on Vegeta. "Ha, ha, you're mine," he cackled.

"Change, NOW!" Ginyu chanted as he fired a wide beam of yellow ki from his mouth.

The flame-haired fighter noticed the energy beam at the last possible second. "What the...? AHHH- ulllg!" Vegeta cried as the beam enveloped him. Rather than do any actual damage, the attack seemed to paralyze the Saiyan in place while simultaneously forcing his mouth open and rushing into it.

In a state he couldn't entirely explain, Vegeta felt as though his very spirit was being pulled from his body. He was able to endure the attack for only a few more seconds before completely blacking out.

…

Vegeta slowly opened his eyes again. He was unsure how long he was out, but knew that he was in a different position in the sky. "Urrg, what did Ginyu do to me?" he thought to himself in confusion.

He then noticed someone floating lower than him. Upon further inspection, Vegeta realized that the person he was looking at was… himself. The image of his body was floating just where he'd been hit by the attack.

Though at first taken aback, Vegeta quickly scoffed. "That fool must've created an illusion to distract me so he could strike with a sneak attack," the Saiyan warrior rationalized.

At that moment, the Vegeta 'illusion' began floating upwards. It stopped just when the two were at eye level. The copy crossed its arms and smirked, "Wow, Vegeta, you're looking a lot more handsome these days. Is it something you did with your horns?" the copy mused, its voice an exact replica to his own.

The elite warrior gritted his teeth at the illusion. "What are you talking abou-" he cut himself off mid-sentence. His voice sounded completely different. In fact, it sounded a bit like…

Vegeta slowly raised his hand to look at it, and was shocked to see that he had purple skin! Everything clicked immediately in the prince's mind. That wasn't a copy of him he'd seen, it was his body. His newly bulbous alien eyes widened as he realized what had happened.

"You… switched our bodies!?"

---

"Ha, told you!" Yamcha stated excitedly as he continued to watch the battle at hand. "Vegeta's doing awesome out there! He may have had a rocky start, but I never lost faith."

Despite the former-bandit's obvious gushing, the other Earthling fighters couldn't deny that Vegeta's performance up to that point had been impressive.

"I hate to say it, but he might've been right about not needing a partner," Krillin admitted. "But even so, this Captain Ginyu is doing some pretty weird stuff. Like that last energy attack that didn't even seem to faze Vegeta," he added with a hint of skepticism.

"I noticed that too," Goku said. "It paralyzed him for a second, but then nothing happened," the spiky-haired Saiyan recounted.

Raditz noticed the Earthlings' chatter and grunted. "Please, with all the flashy nonsense these freaks have been throwing at us, a useless attack is hardly the strangest thing we've seen today," the long-haired warrior remarked.

Though the other warriors simply shrugged in concession and returned their focus to the battle, Goku couldn't help but cling to the strange attack Ginyu had used.

"What kind of attack doesn't do anything?"

---

Vegeta continued to panic over his bizarre condition. All the while, Ginyu chuckled, his newly acquired face perfectly mimicking the Saiyan prince's infamous smirk.

"Don't look so glum, Vegeta, you're the captain of the Ginyu Force now! Well, sort of," the body-snatcher quipped.

Vegeta shot his own cocky expression a glare of hatred. "Don't you mock me!" he growled. "I don't know what the hell you did to me, Ginyu, but you're going to reverse it RIGHT now!"

The cocky expression on Ginyu's stolen face remained firm. "I don't think so. You see, prince, I may have been strong, but you seem to be even stronger," he said. "And with your powerful body, I can serve Lord Frieza even more effectively."

The elite Saiyan felt his blood beginning to boil at the thought of Ginyu using his body to fight in the name of that Arcosian filth. "Fine then," he replied sternly. "If you won't give back my body, then I'll have to beat you out of it!"

With that, Vegeta lunged at his opponent and threw a lightning-fast punch.

THUD!

The prince's eyes widened in shock as he realized that Ginyu had caught the attack with ease.

"Hahaha, wow, Vegeta, you are fast," the captain commented. "Or I guess I should say, were."

Before Vegeta could retaliate, Ginyu struck him with a lightning-fast punch to the stomach before quickly following it up with a kick to knock him away.

Vegeta staggered back. He still felt awkward moving with his new height and alien body-frame. "I have to focus if I want any chance of getting my body back," the Saiyan thought to himself desperately.

In an attempt to separate the inexplicable circumstances from the battle itself, Vegeta stared at his opponent with a newly focused gaze. Beyond his own Saiyan features, he could faintly make out the sinister purple alien that was Ginyu's true form; grinning at him challengingly.

With newfound determination, Vegeta charged at his enemy once again. The prince began his assault by thrusting his elbow directly into Ginyu's stolen chest, temporarily winding him. He then continued with a swift uppercut, knocking the body-snatcher back.

Ginyu caught himself and wiped a bit of blood off of his lip, "Now that's more like it," he beamed, excited at the challenge. But before the advanced PTO soldier could fully recover, Vegeta was attacking him with a barrage of swift strikes.

The now purple-skinned warrior's attack was relentless. Vegeta completely ignored the fact that he was hitting his own body, focusing squarely on Ginyu himself.

Though at first taken aback by Vegeta's sudden initiative, Ginyu was quick to regain his bearings and swiftly dodged the prince's following attacks. He then pointed a hand at his former body's chest and fired a large burst of energy to send Vegeta flying.

Before the elite Saiyan could even attempt to recover, Ginyu snap-vanished above him, striking with a swift kick that launched Vegeta into the ground below.

CRASH!

Vegeta was left lying in the dirt, still alive, though dazed by the crash.

Ginyu stared down at his opponent with cocky glee. "This is amazing! Vegeta's body is a real powerhouse," he said. A thought then came to him. "If Vegeta's this strong, and the others managed to hold their own and even defeat my men, then maybe they could really-"

BEEP!

A sudden chime from the strange device in his left ear snapped the captain out of his thoughts.

"Huh, what the?"

"Prince Vegeta, I think I've discovered the information you were looking for," a technical voice greeted.

Ginyu struggled to think of who this voice could possibly be, before recalling something he'd been briefed about long ago. "This must be one of those Saiyan AIs from back in the day," he rationalized in his head. "Guess I should play along."

"Um… Prince Vegeta? Did you hear me, sir?" Royal asked, unsure what was wrong with his Saiyan partner.

"Yes! Go ahead… AI," Ginyu responded, attempting to mimic the prince's commanding tone.

Though slightly confused by Vegeta's demeanor, Royal proceeded anyway. "Well, it took some time, but I was able to somewhat decrypt Ginyu's file and obtain some intriguing information," the advanced AI explained.

"Really?" the body-snatcher said, surprised that Vegeta had been looking into his files. "This must be how they've been getting the jump on the rest of my men," Ginyu pondered. "Go on, then."

"From what I could ascertain, it seems that Ginyu is of an unknown species, and that he joined Frieza some years ago," Royal began. "However, as per your orders, I opted to focus my attention on decrypting Ginyu's battle strategies. Unfortunately, like the rest of this file, it was quite vague on details," the AI stated.

"So what did you find," the disguised Ginyu inquired, genuinely curious as to what his PTO file revealed.

"Well, the file describes Ginyu as calculating, headstrong, and cunning," Royal noted. "But the most significant bit of information came when I began researching Ginyu's 'special ability'."

"What kind of ability?" Ginyu asked, playing aloof.

"Apparently he has a technique that allows him to transfer his spirit into his opponent's body," Royal explained. "The rest is unclear, but I theorize that he uses the technique to steal the bodies of stronger opponents so he could finish them off easily, and carry on in his new form," the AI hypothesized.

"Huh, that might be why his file is so vague," Ginyu added, chuckling slyly at the AI's assumption of his nature. "Anyways, that'll do for now. Shut yourself off and don't activate again until I say so," he ordered.

Royal was somewhat taken aback at the order, "With all due respect sir, I recommend-"

"I said now! Don't make me repeat myself!" Ginyu snapped in his best angry Vegeta impression.

The royal-class AI paused for a moment before complying. "As you command, Prince Vegeta."

Once the AI's voice had disappeared completely, Ginyu was left with his thoughts. "This is more interesting than I was expecting."

Ginyu was snapped out of his thoughts when he caught a familiar purple blur in his peripheral vision. He raised his arm at the last second, just barely blocking the kick to his neck.

Vegeta was quick to adapt though, punching the body-snatched alien directly in the stomach. The prince smiled as he watched Ginyu wince in pain. "Ha, what's wrong? Can't quite muster the sheer power of a Saiyan elite," he said mockingly.

Ginyu raised his flame-haired head and met Vegeta's gaze. "I'm just glad to see that old body has still got some fight in it," he jeered.

Vegeta snarled at the imposter before rushing in for another assault.

---

"Yes, Captain, take him down!" Burter cheered as their leader, now in Vegeta's body, landed another hit on the persistent prince.

Recoome went to cheer as well, but then scratched his head in confusion. "Wait… I don't get it," he muttered. "Is Vegeta the Captain now? Or…"

Jeice sighed and placed a hand on his head. "No, Recoome, the Captain's still himself, he's just Vegeta now," the Brench answered.

A look of realization sparked onto the mutant Homarian's face, "Ohhhh, wait… what?"

Guldo groaned as his ally's simplicity. "Allow me to clear this up for you, Recoome," he offered. "The Captain still retains his identity and personality, he's just taken the form of Vegeta at the moment," the Bas clarified.

Despite Guldo's best efforts, Recoome still appeared dumbfounded.

The four-eyed alien sighed in defeat. "You know what, Recoome, yes, Vegeta is the captain now," he conceded.

Recoome grinned in understanding before raising his fist to the air, "Yeah! Go Vegeta!" he exclaimed, causing his three comrades to simultaneously facepalm.

---

"Come on, Vegeta, is that the best you can do!?" Ginyu shouted as he blocked several strikes from the purple-skinned being and kicked him away.

The Saiyan prince was growing more and more frustrated. Though he'd gotten somewhat more used to fighting in Ginyu's body, he still struggled to land a hit. As the PTO captain continued hurling insults at him with every failed attempt, Vegeta had finally had enough. "No more playing around," he thought through gritted teeth.

"Hraah!" Vegeta yelled as he charged at Ginyu.

The body-snatcher instinctively put up his arms to block, but was caught off guard when Vegeta kneed him hard in the stomach.

The prince continued by smacking the sinister captain across the head to disorient him, followed by an immediate punch to the chest to send him flying. Vegeta raced after his opponent, propelling him through the air with each punch or kick. He finally concluded the assault by firing a large ki blast directly into Ginyu's chest.

The blast exploded and the body-snatched Ginyu was launched downwards. He hit the ground hard, but thanks to the captain's natural flexibility and Vegeta's small stature, he was able to quickly roll back to his feet.

Upon seeing the large horned fighter charging at him again, Ginyu charged a bit of energy into his hand and pointed it at the oncoming threat. "How about this!" the captain shouted as he fired a large beam directly at Vegeta.

The prince scoffed at the attack. Utilizing Ginyu's admittedly impressive speed, Vegeta soared out of the energy beam's path. He then made a wide turn, rounding the entire battlefield before rushing at Ginyu's exposed side.

SMASH!

Ginyu was completely blindsided as the larger body smashed into him. Vegeta carried his enemy for several meters before finally letting go, allowing the shorter fighter to regain his footing.

Before the Ginyu Force captain could make another insulting quip, he was struck by a lightning-fast high kick to the jaw.

Vegeta continued to wail on the body-snatcher with a bombardment of swift attacks. He'd gone completely ballistic, attacking with sheer Saiyan instinct; even in a foreign body.

Ginyu attempted to counter with a punch of his own, but Vegeta avoided the strike by snap-vanishing backwards. The prince finished his combo by grabbing his adversary by the hair, slamming his knee into the elite soldier's face, and finally punching Ginyu hard in the left rib; cracking his own armor with little care.

"Gyaah!" the captain cried as he staggered back. Vegeta pounced at his damaged opponent, but Ginyu was quick to repel him back with an explosive wave.

With his opponent at a safe distance, the PTO soldier took a moment to turn away and spit some blood onto the ground. Due to his face being at an angle, Vegeta couldn't see that Ginyu was actually smiling to himself.

"Just a little more."

---

"Something's wrong with Vegeta," Goku said in a tone of concern.

"What, that he's getting his butt kicked?" Krillin quipped.

The spiky-haired man shook his head. "No, he's not fighting like he normally does," he stated. "He's being too… cautious and slow."

"I noticed that too," Yamcha added. "I've been training with Vegeta for months now, and he may like toying with opponents, but this is overkill even for him," the former bandit explained. "It's almost like he's letting himself get hit."

Nappa grunted in bemusement. "You guys are overreacting, Vegeta is just warming up," the gruff warrior said dismissively.

"Actually, I think they may be right," Raditz interjected, earning a skeptical glance from the older Saiyan. "Think about it, Vegeta normally tends to focus on defense when he's fighting hand-to-hand," the first son of Bardock noted. "Whereas now, he's just standing there taking every hit and continuing."

Tien watched the battle with intrigue, noticing something else of interest. "This Captain Ginyu is acting strange as well," the triclops pointed out. "At the beginning, he was poised and precise, but now he's lashing out like an animal, even when he has the upper hand," he said.

Before any of them could conjecture further, Yamcha's communicator suddenly activated, projecting a red hologram. "I believe I may have the answers you're all seeking," a familiar voice greeted.

"Royal?" Raditz asked in confusion.

"Indeed," the AI answered. "I came to you all because I have a theory about what may have happened to Prince Vegeta," he said.

Nappa's interest was immediately peaked, "Well, spit it out then," the former general asserted.

"Well you see, Prince Vegeta ordered me to look into Captain Ginyu's file to formulate a strategy," Royal began. "Unfortunately, it was encrypted, so I had to take myself online in order to complete the decryption process. But when I returned and gave Prince Vegeta my intel, he seemed relatively disinterested and quickly ordered me to go offline," the AI explained.

Krillin scoffed, "That just sounds like Vegeta being Vegeta to me."

The royal-class AI paused for a moment before continuing. "That would be a fair assumption, were it not for the traits I discovered within Captain Ginyu's file," he responded.

The warriors remained silent, waiting for him to continue.

"While the file itself was fairly vague, it seemed to imply that Ginyu has a special technique that allows him to switch bodies with his opponents," Royal revealed.

The Z-Fighters gasped in shock at the revelation.

A look of confusion crossed Krillin's face as he tried to process it all. "Wait, so you think that Ginyu… switched bodies with Vegeta?" he questioned.

"It's a working theory," Royal replied. "I admit that I was offline during the first half of the battle, but it would explain Vegeta's less intuitive fighting style and Ginyu's sudden rage," the AI added.

Nappa couldn't help but chuckle. "Listen, Royal, I know you're supposed to be the smart one, but that's just stupid," he said bluntly.

At that moment, something clicked in Goku's mind. "Wait, it makes sense!" he exclaimed.

"It does?" Raditz asked incredulously.

"Yeah, remember that attack that Ginyu did where he paralyzed Vegeta for a second? We all thought it did nothing, but it was probably that technique that switched their bodies," the Earth-raised Saiyan chattered in a tone of enthusiasm.

Raditz's communicator suddenly activated as well, projecting a green hologram. "To be fair, it was after that attack that Vegeta and Ginyu started acting all weird," he chimed in.

Even the skeptical Nappa began to come around to the idea. "Huh, maybe you're not totally out of it, Royal," he conceded.

Yamcha spoke up, "Now that we know what happened, what are we gonna do about it?"

Royal pondered for a moment before speaking. "If the theory is indeed true, my main concern is that Vegeta may damage his body greatly during his fit of rage against Ginyu," the AI said.

"Then we'll just snap him out o it ourselves," Goku responded cheerfully, reaching up to his communicator. Just when he was about to activate the device, the spiky-haired man was suddenly halted as Raditz grabbed him by the hand, quick as a flash.

"If Vegeta's spirit is in Ginyu's body right now, then he won't have his communicator on him," the elder brother stated in a tone of slight irritation.

"Oh yeah, forgot about that," Goku said sheepishly.

Ghost activated himself at that moment, projecting from Nappa's communicator. "Ginyu's still wearing a scouter, we may be able to hack into the com channel," he suggested.

Royal considered the idea. "It could work, but it may take time to hack the scouter of an elite soldier," he said in a tone of uncertainty.

Spectre's hologram smiled confidently. "Well it's all we've got, so I say we get hacking," the AI gibed.

Royal took a moment to calculate their odds before answering. "Very well, let's proceed," he instructed.

Just when the three AIs were about to disappear, Yamcha interjected, "Wait! Is there anything we can do to help?"

Ghost chuckled, turning to the long-haired martial artist, "Yeah, once we open the com channel, start yelling at Vegeta to get a hold of himself. I know you guys love your yelling."

---

"Give it up, Ginyu!" Vegeta roared as he continued to clash with the sinister body-snatcher. Despite being heavily damaged, the captain remained cocky.

"What's wrong, Saiyan, tired of fighting yourself," Ginyu jeered.

Vegeta responded simply by grunting in anger and elbowing the PTO soldier hard in the chest. The prince threw a swift punch at Ginyu's face while he was dazed, but his crafty adversary managed to duck under the attack at the last second and blasted off into the air.

"Nice try, but it'll take more than pure power to beat the 'Prince of all Saiyans'," the body-snatcher said, mocking Vegeta's title.

The Saiyan warrior felt his blood beginning to boil. Without a word he took off in pursuit, eager to end this nuisance once and for all. Vegeta attempted a flying uppercut, but Ginyu rolled out of the way with ease. Just when the prince was about to turn around for another attack, he felt a hand touch his back, and was blasted away by a large energy burst.

Upon catching himself in midair, Vegeta released a burst of ki, clearing the small smoke cloud that had formed. He then scanned the sky around him for signs of his enemy, eventually spotting the Ginyu Force captain floating above him; his expression humored and cocky.

Before Vegeta could charge in again, a vaguely familiar beep sounded in his left ear. It was the chime of the scouter he now wore.

"Prince Vegeta! Listen to me," an AI voice commanded.

"Royal?" Vegeta asked in confusion.

"Yes sir, I managed to hack into the Ginyu Force's scouter channel after learning that the two of you had swapped bodies," the royal-class AI explained.

The prince gritted his teeth at the mention of his current predicament. "I'm going to make that spineless fool pay for this," he vowed, raising a purple fist at his enemy.

"That's just it, sir," Royal said. "I understand your anger, but if you keep fighting like this, you may end up destroying your own body in the process," he cautioned.

Vegeta grunted in disapproval at his AI partner's tone, "Please, Royal, I can handle fighting myself."

"I have faith in you, sir, but Ginyu is unlike any opponent you've faced before. He has speed, strength, and advanced training on his side," Royal implored.

"Humph, we'll see how much his special training matters after I've beaten him to a pulp," Vegeta said bluntly with a sly grin.

At that moment, another familiar voice began speaking through the channel. "Vegeta! It's Yamcha. Remember what Nappa learned during our fight? Your anger will only get you so far against a skilled opponent like this Ginyu freak," the former bandit recalled.

The first-class warrior paused for a moment to consider his training partner's words. Just when he was about to speak, the sound of laughter rang out in the distance.

"Ha, ha! What's the matter, Vegeta, need to call on your little friends for help!?" Ginyu exclaimed. "So much for that precious Saiyan pride and honour that I've heard so much about."

Vegeta clenched his fists in rage. In spite of his AI partner's protests, nobody insulted his pride.

"Shut UP!" the elite Saiyan roared as he took off in Ginyu's direction. The body-snatcher was caught off guard as Vegeta snap-vanished up to him and struck with a sudden punch to the face.

Ginyu grunted in pain as Vegeta continued to pummel him with yet another barrage of brutal strikes. The captain leapt back in an attempt to regain some ground, firing small ki blasts to cover him.

Vegeta swatted the energy bolts away like insects before rushing at Ginyu, a purple aura blazing around him as he flew. The Saiyan prince rammed into his opponent, gripping him by the collar and pushing him down towards the Earth.

The purple-skinned warrior stared down at his enemy with haltered in his eyes. "This ends, NOW!" Vegeta declared as they began picking up speed in their descent.

Ginyu smirked, "I couldn't agree more."

The captain than broke away from Vegeta's grasp and fired a small burst of ki into his former body's chest, knocking Vegeta away. Unfortunately for Ginyu, the downward momentum they'd built up proved to be too much, and he crashed hard into the dirt.

Vegeta slowly landed, about 10 meters away from the crater Ginyu had created upon impact. He smirked to himself, "That showed him."

But, to the prince's dismay, he saw a familiar silhouette step out of the crater. "Heh, that the best you got, Vegeta," Ginyu said mockingly. Though confident as ever, Ginyu's new body hadn't fared well from the attack. He had burn marks all across his somewhat cracked armor, and his forehead was bleeding slightly.

Enraged at his own weakness, Vegeta began charging energy into his purple hands. "You want more, eh, HOW ABOUT THIS!" he screamed.

"Vegeta, no!" Goku's voice pleaded over the communicator.

But the younger Saiyan's warning came too late as the prince began firing a flurry of large energy blasts in Ginyu's direction.

"HRAAH!"

As the blasts began closing in on him, Ginyu noticed a gap in the center of the oncoming barrage and smiled sinisterly. "Perfect," he said to himself as he began gathering energy. He then placed his arms out as his sides, preparing for his signature technique.

"Change, NOW!" he chanted, firing a yellow beam from his mouth as he had before. The beam flew through the gap in the center of the energy storm, on a direct course for Vegeta.

In the midst of his barrage, Vegeta didn't notice the attack approaching until it was far too late. "Wha- AHHGGHH!" he cried as the beam overwhelmed him. Paralyzing him in place. The Saiyan once again felt his spirit being pulled form his body, and blacked out immediately.

…

Upon opening his eyes again, Vegeta was pleased to find that he was back in his own body. But his celebrations were cut short as he saw the mass of energy blasts flying towards him fast. "What the!? NOOOOO!"

The Prince of all Saiyans raised his arms to guard at the last possible moment before the energy bolts made contact.

BOOM!

---

"Vegeta!" Nappa called out in shock as his friend was enveloped in smoke. He turned to the others with determination, "We need to help him."

Raditz grabbed the older Saiyan by the arm as he attempted to sprint. "Wait!"

"Let go of me, Raditz, that's an order!"

"I can sense him," the long-haired man said. "He's still alive."

Nappa calmed down and focused his mind. Soon enough, he too could feel the prince's presence within the smoke cloud. The former general's expression remained grim as he felt the power dwindling.

Krillin walked over and placed a hand on the burly man's shoulder. "Don't worry so much, Nappa, Vegeta is the toughest, meanest Saiyan I've ever met," the bald fighter reassured. "He'll be okay."

Nappa grunted, "I know that, but tough or not, how much longer can he really last with his body that damaged?"

The former Orin monk remained silent. He didn't have an answer.

---

Vegeta breathed deeply, amazed that he was still alive. He pushed himself to his feet, gripping his sore left arm. The Saiyan prince slowly walked out of the smoke cloud, only to be met with an unpleasant sight.

"You put up one hell of a fight, Vegeta," Ginyu commented as he slowly walked towards his weakened opponent. As he walked, the captain began flexing his muscles. "I should thank you for leaving this old body in such good condition," he said, patting himself on the chest for emphasis. "Not a scratch on it. Too bad I can't say the same for yours, eh?"

Vegeta snarled in anger at the comment. Without saying a word, he jumped at the PTO soldier, throwing a punch.

Unfortunately, the Saiyan proved to be too slow in his weakened state, allowing Ginyu to dodge the blow with ease and counter with a kick to the stomach that sent Vegeta skidding across the grass.

Ginyu calmly set his foot down and continued walking as though nothing had happened. "You know, when I was in your body, your little AI buddy came online and started giving me all this info," the horned alien stated. "Unfortunately he came up pretty empty, but then I thought, if you want to hear my story so bad, why don't I tell it to you," Ginyu suggested. "Would you like that?"

Vegeta stood up and dusted himself off, "I'd rather just kill you," he answered sternly, dropping into his fighting stance.

The captain laughed in the face of the empty threat. "Well fortunately, I can multitask," Ginyu said as he raised a fist.

With his strength somewhat restored, Vegeta lunged at his opponent again and began a clash. Though the Saiyan's movements were still sluggish from his injuries, he managed to hold off Ginyu's attacks for a time. All the while, the Ginyu Force leader was talking about his origins.

"To start, I'm a member of the long forgotten Kruiden race," the purple-skinned being began as he blocked several strikes before landing a punch across Vegeta's face. "You probably haven't heard of them, see, they were wiped out over 50 years ago," Ginyu said.

Largely ignoring this, the elite warrior snap-vanished next to his opponent, engaging in yet another skirmish.

Ginyu took a second to defend against Vegeta's rapidly quickening attacks before going on with his story.

"Like all other races in the center of the galaxy, the Kruiden people lived peacefully until Frieza and his PTO lackeys showed up," he explained, ducking under several punches as he spoke.

Fed up by his missed attacks, Vegeta fired a burst of energy at Ginyu, but the captain flew into the air to dodge.

Ginyu then snap-vanished behind the prince and punched him in the back, briefly stunning him. "My people fought hard, but Frieza's forces overwhelmed us. Eventually, it was just me, and a couple hundred others left," the advanced soldier went on.

Vegeta swung his arm back, attempting to smash it into the purple alien's temple. Ginyu barely managed to dodge the strike and countered with a kick to the neck, which the Saiyan prince blocked with ease.

The first-class warrior then released an explosive wave, knocking Ginyu back several feet. The captain caught his footing and stopped, staring at his opponent.

"Seeing my power, Frieza himself offered me a deal," Ginyu said. "Join him and save my own life, or die with the rest of the Kruidens."

Vegeta remained silent, calculating his next attack.

"As you can probably guess, I chose to live, leaving the rest of my people to their fate," Ginyu stated grimly, charging energy into both hands as he spoke.

For the first time in a while, the elite Saiyan chuckled, "So you were a spineless coward, how predictable."

In a rare loss of composure, Ginyu gritted his teeth in anger. "I was a SURVIVOR!" he shouted as he fired two large ki blasts at Vegeta.

The prince deflected the blasts into the ground before leaping at Ginyu and throwing a punch at his bewildered face.

The captain managed to catch the punch by the wrist just before it connected. Even so, he was struggling to hold Vegeta back. He stared the Saiyan directly in the eyes, "You know, Vegeta, if you think about it, we're cut from the same cloth, you and I."

The flame-haired man's eyes widened in surprise before quickly narrowing into anger. "We are nothing alike," Vegeta sneered. With that, the elite warrior kicked Ginyu in the shin, loosening his guard. He followed it up with a hard smack across the head to daze his opponent before finishing the attack with a hard, satisfying punch to the jaw.

The Kruiden warrior staggered back several feet. For the first time in the battle, he bled. The captain reached up and wiped some of the bright blue blood off of his cheek. He then stared at the Saiyan warrior and chuckled.

"Impressive. Even when you're beat to hell, you still manage to surprise me, Vegeta," Ginyu commented. "You know, I told you my story, but you still haven't told me yours," he pointed out. "I mean you were one hell of a soldier, one of Frieza's favorites outside of his elites. So, tell me, why would you throw away all of that potential, just for some petty scheme of revenge?"

A rage began to rise in Vegeta as the Ginyu Force captain referred to their entire crusade as a 'petty scheme'. The Prince of all Saiyans rushed at Ginyu angrily, shattering his guard with a single swipe before kicking him hard in the chest, launching the horned being into the air.

Vegeta proceeded to charge deep blue energy into his right hand and point it at the airborne soldier. "How's this for petty! Big Bang Attack!" he roared as he fired the large blue energy ball.

Ginyu stared at the attack with awe. From his scouter reading alone he could tell that the energy ball would disintegrate him instantly were it to connect. The agile alien then did the first thing that came to mind and flew over the Big Bang Attack, stretching his legs as the deadly energy ball just barely missed his groin.

Just when Ginyu thought he was in the clear, Vegeta closed his fist, causing the energy attack to detonate in a brilliant flash of white.

BOOM!

The intense explosion sent the Kruiden soldier flailing through the air. Once he was able to finally catch himself, Ginyu's scouter alerted him that Vegeta was flying right at him!

The Saiyan warrior caught his opponent with a punch to the chest. Ginyu recovered quickly though, rolling out of the way of the following attack. Vegeta wasted no time in pursuing his fleeing opponent.

He threw a right-handed strike aimed at the face, but Ginyu managed to catch it. Vegeta followed it up with a quick jab from his left arm, but the alien caught that attack as well. This left the two warriors floating in midair with their hands interlocked; pushing against each-other to gain the upper hand in the scuffle.

Despite his bound position, a smug expression crossed Vegeta's face as he met the captain's gaze.

"Just to answer your question, Ginyu, yes, revenge on Frieza was worth losing my pointless rank," the Saiyan said. "We will continue to fight Frieza for the rest of our lives if it means getting revenge for what he did. But our rebellion was about something more, something a boot-licking fool like you wouldn't understand; FREEDOM!"

At that moment, Vegeta released an explosive wave, knocking Ginyu away and breaking the clash. He then proceeded to grab the Kruiden by the horns, and thrust his knee directly into the man's chest, cracking his spotless armor.

"ACK!" Ginyu squealed, sputtering blood.

Vegeta continued his assault by sending the captain flying with a punch to the cheek. But he wasn't done there. The prince snap-vanished under Ginyu and kicked him hard in the back, launching him skyward.

The elite warrior chuckled to himself as the end was in sight. Using his intense speed, Vegeta flew upwards, passing Ginyu's body.

He stopped in the air and stared down as the PTO soldier's helpless form continued flying towards him. Vegeta laughed manically as an intense purple aura flared up around him. "This is the end! Galick BREAKER!" he exclaimed as he thrusted his arms downward and fired an enormous burst of purple energy.

Ginyu looked up in disbelief as the monumental energy beam fast approached. "Wha- NYAAAAAHHHHH!" the captain screamed as the beam enveloped him.

The attack continued descending before finally hitting the ground and exploding, producing a blast that seemed to rock the very planet to its core.

BOOOOOM!

The spectating fighters on both sides were forced to shield their eyes as a bright flash of white enveloped the entire area.

Once the explosion subsided, the spectators were dead quiet, anxiously waiting to see whether the climactic battle had come to its end.

Minutes passed before the smoke cloud finally lifted, revealing Captain Ginyu lying in the center of a large crater, twitching; still alive but unable to get up. The illustrious captain had been defeated.

---

The Ginyu Force stood in shock, unable to speak.

"What? H-How is this possible?" Guldo stammered.

"The Captain… lost?" Recoome queried.

Burter turned to their second in command, "Jeice, what do we do now?"

The red-skinned Brench stood silent for a second before speaking, "Ginyu Force, stand at the ready," Jeice commanded.

"We need to be prepared to face the enemy."

---

"HAHA! I knew he'd pull through!" Yamcha effused, cheering with uncontained excitement.

Goku, while equally excited, was still in awe of the climactic finish. "That attack was amazing," he said in a tone of marvel.

Krillin nodded, "Yeah, I was worried he might destroy the planet for a second," he panted, breathing a deep sigh of relief.

Tien grunted in his typically stoic mannerism. "Vegeta may be powerful, but he could stand to work on his control and discipline," the martial artist pointed out.

Krillin couldn't help but chuckle, "Yeah, good luck telling him that."

Off to the side, Raditz and Nappa were equally excited at the victory.

"I can't believe we really beat the Ginyu Force," Raditz said, in disbelief of his own words.

"It's not over yet," Nappa pointed out.

The long-haired Saiyan noticed his comrade's dark expression, "Right, of course. I'm prepared," he answered obediently.

"Good, we move when Vegeta gives us the signal," the former general instructed.

Raditz simply nodded.

At that moment, Gohan walked over to his uncle with an expression of joy. "Hey, Uncle Raditz, we won!" he cheered.

Raditz forced a smile and ruffled his nephew's hair, "Yes, Gohan, we did," he affirmed in a somewhat enthusiastic tone. The first son Bardock then focused his gaze on the unmoving captain. "I only hope this goes at least somewhat smoothly."

---

Ginyu struggled to move, but he could barely twitch. His armor had been severely damaged and he felt as though he was bleeding internally. The captain's scouter had miraculously survived the blast, but was cracked and sparking.

The Kruiden soldier stared up at the sky as Vegeta slowly descended, a devilish smile on his face. "So, this is how it ends," he thought to himself.

Vegeta landed on the ground several feet away from Ginyu. As he walked over to the fallen warrior, a spark of purple ki began forming in his right hand.

He pointed the glowing gloved hand directly at his dying adversary's chest. "Any last words before I send you to the next dimension?" the elite warrior asked callously.

Ginyu stared up at the man that would be his executioner and… chuckled.

Vegeta was dumbfounded, "What the hell are you laughing at?" he demanded.

The captain looked into the Saiyan's frustrated expression and smiled. "You know, Vegeta, I came to this planet not only to complete my mission, but because I wanted to see first-hand what you and your Saiyan renegades were made of," he explained.

Vegeta tilted his head in confusion, "Why?"

"Come on, Vegeta, I know that you and your allies used those AIs to look into our pasts," the Kruiden said. "Guldo was a disobedient slave; Recoome, a brutal experiment; Burter, the brave defender; and Jeice, the unfortunate conscript," Ginyu listed, recounting all of the tales the Saiyan had heard. "We were all victims of Frieza, just like you."

"I am no victim, I'm a warrior" the elite Saiyan said coldly, the energy in his hand glowing brighter.

Ginyu's humble expression remained stern, "I know you hate to admit that we're the same, Vegeta, but at least hear a dying man out," the captain replied simply. He paused for a moment, "You were right about me, I was a coward. I left my people, my family, to die."

The horned alien then glanced over at his team. "But I made up for all of that. Those men, they're my family now. And I hate Frieza every day for what he did to all of them," Ginyu sneered, his tone growing darker.

Vegeta quavered for a moment at the mention of Frieza, before quickly regaining his composure, "What's your point?"

Ginyu looked the prince dead in the eyes. "My point is, with your power, determination, and leadership, I believe that you and your allies will be able to take out Frieza," he said confidently. "And I'll die happy, knowing that the Saiyan rebels will soon avenge me and my team."

The flame-haired fighter was left speechless, he continued to train his energy-infused hand at Ginyu's chest, but was unsure how to proceed. Right when Vegeta was about to bite the bullet and deliver the killing blow, the Kruiden said one final thing that changed his fate.

"It's funny, when you think about it," he said. "People always saw the Saiyans as blunt instruments to be used by the likes of Frieza. But in rebelling, you proved that the Saiyans are capable of anything, no matter what they were raised to do."

Vegeta's eyes widened at the words. He was instantly reminded of what Mai had said to him days before, that he'd deliberated over for so long. As the Prince of all Saiyans debated what to do, voices filled his mind.

The first was his own, "Are you certain you're capable of doing what's necessary to win, Kakarot?"

The next was that of Raditz, "I'm an elite Saiyan warrior, I won't hesitate to kill an enemy in battle."

And finally, louder than any other, was the gentle voice of the Earthling woman, Mai, "Just because we're raised a certain way, doesn't mean we have to let it define who we are."

The energy in Vegeta's hand faded away, much to Ginyu's confusion. He slowly reached up and activated his communicator, "Nappa," the prince called.

"Yes sir, ready and waiting," the former general responded with a hint of enthusiasm in his voice.

"Throw me the last of those senzu beans."

"Wait, what? What about the-"

"Just… do as I say," Vegeta interrupted, his own tone uncertain of what exactly he was doing. He turned and watched as Nappa hesitantly took the magical bean from Krillin and threw it in his direction.

Vegeta caught the bean in his left hand. He looked at it, conflict in his eyes. "What are you doing?" a voice in his head nagged. "Just kill him, you're a Saiyan."

In spite of his Saiyan conscious, Vegeta did the unthinkable. He kneeled down and placed the bean at Ginyu's mouth. "Eat this," he said.

The captain was extremely confused. But rather than question the warrior's motive, he took the strange bean and put it in his mouth. Ginyu chewed for a bit, still unsure of what the point was, until he swallowed.

Suddenly, in an unexplainable act, Ginyu felt a wave of refreshment wash over him. His entire body had been healed instantaneously. He placed a hand on his chest, as though to confirm the sensation was real.

Once he'd made a full recovery, Ginyu noticed Vegeta's outstretched hand. He took it and stood up, looking the shorter man with complete confusion. "Why…?" he asked.

Vegeta paused for a moment, trying to find the answer in his conflicted mind. "It's like you said, we're one in the same," he responded. "There's no point in destroying a potential ally."

The captain couldn't tell if Vegeta was being serious due to his omnipresent scowl.

Ginyu's expression of bewilderment remained for several seconds before shifting into a warm smile. "Heh, wow, you really have changed," he said.

"Don't push it," he snapped, raising a hand to his communicator. "Nappa, Raditz, bring the others and get over here," he commanded.

Ginyu activated his scouter, "Ginyu Force, fall in, we have much to discuss," he ordered.

Within seconds, both groups had flown over to meet in the center of the battlefield. They squared off for a moment, remembering each of the brutal battles.

"Vegeta, have you lost your mind?" Nappa asked, breaking the silence.

The prince glared at his comrade, "We've come to a mutual understanding," he replied.

Nappa's aggravated tone remained.

"What kind of understanding?" Goku asked, his tone more neutral.

Vegeta took a moment to collect his thoughts before speaking, "As we all saw from their files, the Ginyu Force were victimized by Frieza as much as the Saiyans were," he began. "In spite of their initial animosity towards us, I believe they could valuable allies in our fight against Frieza."

Both the Z-Fighters and the Ginyu Force were shocked at Vegeta's announcement.

Jeice turned to his leader, "Captain, is this for real? We're rebelling against Frieza?" he asked.

Ginyu grinned and clasped a hand on his lieutenant's shoulder, "Yes, Jeice, it is, we've been serving under that tyrant for far too long now. And with the Saiyans' help, we may have a chance of taking him down."

The Saiyan and Earthling warriors remained silent at the proposition. The two groups continued to stand off for a few tense seconds before Gohan finally walked over to Guldo and offered a hand in friendship.

The Bas was taken aback. He shot a glance at the captain, who nodded. Guldo hesitantly shook the boy's hand and smiled.

Goku was next to act, going up to Burter and offering his hand as well. "If Gohan's willing to bury the hatchet, so am I," he said warmly.

The Selvadar looked down awkwardly, but eventually accepted the rival fighter's hand. "Uhh, for the record, I was actually bluffing about the whole village thing before," Burter admitted sheepishly. "I just wanted to see how fast you were."

The spiky-haired Saiyan's expression lit up. "Well thanks for that, because even I didn't know I was that fast," he responded genuinely.

Slowly but surely, the rest of the Z-Fighters, even Nappa begrudgingly, approached their Ginyu Force rivals and made peace. When all was said and done, the warriors stood awkwardly.

Raditz, who had been standing off to the side, unsure about the situation, suddenly sensed something in the distance. "Hey! I think there's someone lurking over on that hill," he pointed out, gaining the rest of the group's attention.

Jeice turned and scanned the area, coming to a quick realization, "It's a scout!"

Upon being seen, the armored alien got up and began sprinting away.

Ginyu glanced at his team, "Burter, take him out!" he ordered.

"On it, Captain," the reptilian soldier answered before taking off in a flash.

Vegeta activated his communicator, "Royal, jam his signal!"

"Already done, sir," the AI reported.

The Homarian scout ran as fast as he could, but he was suddenly tripped up by a blue blur rushing past him.

Burter appeared under the scout while he was midair, thrusting his knee into the man's back and snapping his spine.

CRACK!

Burter activated his scouter as the man's lifeless body fell to the ground, "Scout eliminated, Captain."

"Good, I'm sending Jeice over to you. I want you both to fall back to the Attack Balls, we'll follow soon," he instructed.

"Yes, Captain!" Jeice and Burter said in unison, as the Brench took off to follow his ally.

Vegeta shot the captain a skeptical look, "You didn't tell us that you brought more forces."

"I didn't. That must've been one of Dodoria's men," he hypothesized.

The three Saiyan warriors' mouths fell open in shock at the mention of Frieza's top commander. "Dodoria is here!?" the three of them shouted.

Goku scratched his head, "Who's Dodoria?"

"One of Frieza's right hand men," Raditz responded, his tone still fearful.

Nappa growled at the Kruiden in frustration, "You didn't think to tell us this sooner!?"

"I was about to," Ginyu said calmly. "I specifically ordered him to stay in orbit, that pink bastard will pay for crossing me," he vowed.

Vegeta crossed his arms, "We're going with you," he declared. "If Dodoria really is on Earth, we can't let him escape back to Frieza."

Ginyu nodded, "My thoughts exactly, let's get moving," he recommended. With that, the Ginyu Force members along with the Saiyan trio took off.

Goku glanced back at Yamcha and Tien, who were still on the ground. "You guys coming?"

Yamcha shook his head, "Nah, Tien is still pretty banged up from his fight," the scar-faced man said. "I'm gonna take him back to Capsule Corp so I can check on Bulma and Dr. Briefs."

The Earth-raised Saiyan nodded, "Good idea, take Gohan with you."

After saying a quick goodbye to his son, Goku blasted off after the others. He picked up speed until he was flying right next to the Saiyan prince.

"Hey, Vegeta!" the gi-clad fighter called, attracting the elite warrior's attention.

"There's no time to chat, Kakarot," he snapped.

"I know, I just wanted to let you know that you did the right thing back there," Goku said with a smile. "Behind that grouchy face, I know you're a better person than you want people to think."

Vegeta grunted, "I can still hurt you while I'm flying, Kakarot," he grumbled in a passive-aggressive tone.

"Alright… baby steps then."

With that, the warriors continued their flight in silence, eager to intercept the PTO commander before he made his escape.

---

Dodoria groaned to himself as he stood in the blazing sun. "On this entire rock, those freaks had to pick a desert to land in," he growled. The pink being then turned his attention to his men, who had begun searching the Ginyu Force's pods for a clue to their location.

One of the soldiers walked up to Dodoria nervously. "Uh, sir? We still haven't heard anything from the scout," the Litt reported.

The pink-skinned commander scowled at the news. "He should've been back by now, something must have happened," he grumbled.

Suddenly, there was a scream of terror over near the pods. Dodoria turned in the direction of the commotion only to see a humanoid soldier running towards him. "Sir, we have incoming!"

The obese alien's eyes widened in alarm, "What!? Is it the Saiyans?"

"No sir, it's the Ginyu For- ULAHH!" the peon was cut off by an energy blast detonating behind him.

Dodoria shot his gaze upwards and spotted a being he instantly recognized as Jeice, raining energy blasts down on his men! He tightened his fists, "Those filthy traitors. Men, open fire!" he commanded, gesturing to the red-skinned alien.

The soldiers complied, aiming their blasters at the sky, ready to blast the Brench out of the sky. Just when the troops were about to fire, a blue blur appeared in a flash and raced through the group of soldiers, flicking sparks of energy to disable all of their blasters in seconds.

With the soldiers thoroughly disarmed, Jeice chuckled and fired a large beam of energy, destroying half of the bewildered troops and causing the rest to scramble.

The blue blur materialized in front of Dodoria, revealing himself as Burter. "Remember me, Commander?" the Selvadar taunted. Before the pink alien could even articulate his frustration, Burter rushed in and began striking with a barrage of lightning-fast strikes.

Though he was a large target, Dodoria made up for it with incredible endurance. He took every hit with ease, scoffing as though they were mere insect bites, before finally smacking Burter away.

The reptilian soldier landed in the sand, dazed.

"Burter!" Jeice cried upon seeing his friend in danger. The Brench charged at Dodoria, firing a Crimson Cannon as he flew.

The PTO soldier pointed a hand out in front of him and took the attack full force. Jeice attempted to attack up-close, but Dodoria was deceptively fast, catching the white-haired man with a punch to the chest that knocked him onto the ground next to Burter.

Dodoria smiled to himself. He charged energy into both hands and raised them over his head, preparing to execute the traitorous soldiers. At the last second, the commander was hit with a hard punch to the face, causing him to stagger back.

"URG! What the!?"

As soon as he caught his footing, Dodoria saw Captain Ginyu himself standing above his comrades, a cocky smile on his face.

"Sorry for dropping in unexpected, Dodoria."

The obese being gritted his teeth. "You've got some nerve, Ginyu. Lord Frieza will hunt you and your freakshow team to the ends of the galaxy!" Dodoria seethed.

The horned alien snorted. "True enough, but he won't be getting the news from you," he said threateningly.

The Litt soldier at Dodoria's side raised his blaster at the captain in an attempt to defend his leader. But the soldier was suddenly pierced through the chest by a purple energy beam, killing him instantly.

Dodoria glanced up in shock, only to see Vegeta landing with his hand outstretched; Nappa close behind.

"Dodoria, how unpleasant to see you again," the Saiyan prince greeted.

"Vegeta…" the commander hissed. Dodoria turned to some of his remaining soldiers. "Men! Attack the- wha?" he cut himself off upon seeing several troops being pummeled by Recoome along with a short bald Earthling.

He finally glanced above at the solders who'd been resting on top of the ship, but sure enough, they too were being dispatched by the Saiyan Raditz and an unfamiliar spiky-haired fighter.

Vegeta laughed at Dodoria's desperation. "How the mighty have fallen, looks like there's nobody left to save you," he quipped, aiming a hand at the commander's chest.

As the Saiyans and Ginyu Force soldiers flanked him, Dodoria seemed trapped. Until a fateful realization came to him. "Not quite, monkey," he said, activating his scouter. "Greevo, now!"

Dodoria ducked as turrets sprouted from the bottom of the ship and began firing wildly. The Saiyan and Ginyu Force warriors scrambled for cover as the turrets peppered the sand around them.

Seeing that his allies were in danger, Raditz placed a hand on the top of the ship and blasted a hole in the craft's hull. Without wasting a second, the two sons of Bardock leapt into the ship, catching the guards inside by surprise.

Raditz lunged at the solder at the ship's controls while Goku fended off the rest of them.

As the long-haired warrior fought, he noticed two more troops sneaking up behind his brother. Thinking on his feet, Raditz kicked the guard he was fighting into the control panel, pointed a hand at him, and aimed the other in the opposite direction.

"Double Sunday!"

The twin energy beams hit their marks, finishing off the soldier known as Greevo and wiping out the remaining troops behind Goku.

The Savior of Earth shot his older brother a smile, "Nice move."

Raditz smirked cockily, "Thank you, Kakarot, I do my best," he replied as he walked over to the control panel. The Saiyan took a second to find the turret controls before pressing the button as fast as he could to disable the weapons.

As soon as the anti-personnel weapons were offline, Vegeta poked his head up and spotted Dodoria fleeing in the distance. "He's getting away!"

The rest of the warriors heard Vegeta's call and raced into action.

Guldo phased in front of Dodoria by stopping time, and attempted to use his Psychokinesis technique to bind the commander.

Dodoria thought quickly though and scraped his boot across the ground, kicking up sand in the Bas's eyes to blind him. Just as he flew over Guldo's flailing form, Dodoria felt someone grip onto his left arm.

He turned to find Nappa wrapped around him, holding the large alien back with as much force as possible. Dodoria elbowed the Saiyan several times in the face, loosening his grip. Finally, the commander flung Nappa into a nearby sand dune before continuing his escape.

He'd landed just in front of one of the Attack balls when he heard someone charging in from behind. Dodoria turned and saw Vegeta and Ginyu flying side by side, their expressions grave.

The obese man sniggered as they approached, "That all you chumps got!?" he bellowed. Right when the two leaders were about to land a blow, Dodoria released a massive explosive wave, knocking them both away.

Vegeta had just pushed himself back up when he saw Dodoria squeezing into the space pod. "Nooo!" he roared as the ship began floating off the ground.

Noticing that the pod was in fact his, Ginyu pulled out his remote and pressed several buttons, hoping to force a landing. "Damn it, he must have disabled remote access!"

At that moment, Nappa rose from the sand dune, a ball of energy in hand. "Then we blast him the old-fashioned way," he said gruffly.

Right when the warriors were about to vaporize his ship, Dodoria grinned and pressed a button specific to the ships of PTO leaders.

The four other Attack Balls suddenly exploded, knocking Vegeta and the others onto the ground before they could strike at Dodoria's pod.

Raditz and Goku ran down the main ship's entry ramp just as the space pod blasted away.

"Oh no!" the younger Saiyan lamented.

Raditz hung his head in defeat, "We… failed."

Vegeta was having a more explosive reaction. "NRAAH!" he exclaimed, punching the sand in a fit of rage.

Ginyu placed a hand on the Saiyan prince's shoulder. "Relax, Vegeta, we'll get him next time," the captain said reassuringly.

The flame-haired warrior shrugged him off. "Don't you get it? Dodoria got away, which means that he'll report our location to Frieza!" he snapped. Vegeta turned away and sighed.

"It's only a matter of time now until he finds us."

---

Several days had past since Dodoria's unfortunate escape. With their ships destroyed or stolen, the Ginyu Force had no choice but to stay at Capsule Corporation until Dr. Briefs and Bulma were able to fix up the PTO invasion craft. In less than a week's time, the ship was fully repaired, and it was finally time for the team to depart.

Yamcha strolled out of the lab to find his girlfriend's father working out the finishing touches on the ship. The Scientist had a bandage wrapped around his head to nurse the concussion he'd suffered upon the Ginyu Force's arrival.

"Hey, doc, how are you feeling?" the scar-faced man asked casually.

"Oh, right as rain, Yamcha," he answered cheerfully. "Nothing improves my healing process more than working on an alien spacecraft."

Yamcha chuckled, "You're one of a kind, sir," he said in a careful tone of respect.

While some of the other Ginyu Force members had taken the time to get to know some of the Z-Fighters, Guldo mostly kept to himself; sitting alone in a corner of the lab.

"Hey, frog-breath," a familiar voice called.

The Bas turned only to see Vegeta approaching him. "What do you want now, Vegeta?" Guldo grumbled.

The elite Saiyan kneeled next to his former rival, a cocky smile on his face. "You know, when I first laid eyes on you, I thought you were the most weak, pathetic creature I'd ever laid eyes on," he said.

Guldo growled in anger at the flame-haired man's insult.

"However, after seeing how you got the jump on me upon your arrival, and your cunning performance against the halfling child, I must admit your skills are somewhat impressive," Vegeta admitted. "For a toad, that is."

Despite the back-handed nature of the compliment, Guldo found himself smiling. "Well… thank you," he replied awkwardly. "And I guess… you were pretty strong against the captain."

The elite warrior grinned. "Glad to hear I'm still on top," he muttered smugly as he stood up straight and turned away.

Guldo snorted. With just a few words, their entire petty rivalry had been relatively defused.

Outside the lab, just in front of the ship, Captain Ginyu was showing off some of his fighting poses to an onlooking Gohan.

"That's the spirit, kid, you're a natural," the Kruiden praised as the young boy attempted to mimic his fancy moves. "If you want to be a true hero, you need to master the art of the fighting pose!"

Gohan tried to stretch his leg up, but ended up tripping. "Ow! This is harder than I thought," the half-Saiyan muttered.

At that moment, the young boy heard the familiar sound of his father's playful laughter ringing form behind him. "I don't really know if that's the kind of training I had in mind for you, Gohan, but you look great," the spiky-haired man commented.

Goku then turned to Ginyu. "Doctor Briefs told me to tell you the ship's all ready," he said.

The horned being nodded, "Good to hear, my men and I will begin our departure ASAP," he responded, his strict military tone shining through.

A somewhat sad look crossed the Earth-raised Saiyan's face. "You sure you guys have to leave, Ginyu? Like Vegeta said before, we could really use your help against Frieza," Goku offered.

Ginyu's expression shifted from enthusiastic to somber. "We do appreciate your hospitality, Son Goku. But my men and I have a lot of sins to make up for, and we can't do that here," the captain explained. He smiled again, "But don't worry, we'll support your fight against that tyrant every step of the way; and perhaps someday we'll return."

Goku nodded, "I'd like that, we all would."

With that, the two shared a handshake to truly mend their differences.

Minutes later the Ginyu Force stood at the open ramp of the ship, preparing to leave. All of the Z-Warriors stood at the doors of Capsule Corp to see their new allies off.

"Vegeta, I can't thank you enough for giving me and my men the chance to redeem ourselves," Ginyu said genuinely. "I know that you partly blame me for Dodoria's escape and allowing Frieza to find your location, and for that I apologize," the former PTO soldier added. "But know that during our travels, we will do everything in our power to hold that Arcosian bastard's attention, giving you all time to prepare."

The Saiyan prince nodded, "I trust you'll keep to that promise. We may have our differences, but you're an honorable man, Ginyu," Vegeta said.

The Captain responded with a salute. "Fight the good fight, boys."

The Saiyan trio returned the gesture, followed soon after by the Earthlings.

With that, Ginyu turned to his men. "Ginyu Force, move out!" he commanded. With that, the team of mutants marched onto the ship, waving back at the Z-warriors as they departed.

After a few seconds, the engines roared to life and the large craft lifted off the ground. The ship hovered for a moment before finally blasting off into the cosmos.

Raditz walked up beside Vegeta as they watched the vessel disappear into the dusk sky. "So, what's our nest move?"

The Prince of all Saiyans took a deep breath before responding, "We prepare for the worst."

---

[A/N] And that was the 25th chapter of Revenge of the Saiyans! Sorry if some of those last parts seemed rushed at all. As you could tell, there was a lot to cover. Also I kind of faked you guys out a bit at the beginning by claiming that this would be the final battle of the saga.

In truth, next chapter will be the conclusion of the Ginyu saga. Don't worry, it won't take nearly as long to release.

On a side note, I apologize that Ginyu's little backstory wasn't as detailed as the others. I wanted to tackle this one from a different perspective. Who knows, if there's enough demand, I may cover that bit in a future side story or bonus chapter. As you all know, I don't tend to throw ideas away. ;)

But without further ado, let's move on to the review responses! Yeah, remember last chapter when I was complaining about the lack of reviews? Well… that problem solved itself pretty soon after.

It's almost like updating consistently makes people more enthusiastic to give feedback. Who'd have thunk it? XD

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Review (Ch. 1): Read the story when you can read the comments

-Guest

Response: I'm not 100% sure what you're trying to say here. But since this was posted on chapter 1, I will take this time to let you guys know that I'm working on revising those early chapters to make them a bit more… readable. So if any of you want to do some re-reading between updates, it will be a much smoother experience. But anyways, thanks for the feedback!

Review (Ch. 24): To be honest I was expecting more of a fiery/lava theme from Jeice more than just his attack names, but I can't complain. This was a good fight, and it actually showed a fairly even level of skill. The other fights, for the most part, was the Z-Fighters desperately struggling to fight against the onslaught, coming up with powerful blows towards the end due to knowledge, but this seemed to be more even of a fight, which was cool to see.

Also, I really like how knowing about your opponent actually matters in this universe. In a lot of DBZ fics it's just who is more powerful, but it's refreshing to see strategy actually play a part in the battles.

Response: Hey, Kuma! Been a while since I heard from you last. I'm really glad you enjoyed the Jeice battle (that one was one of my favorites to write). And thank you for noticing my focus on strategy this saga. I notice that in actual DBZ, people seem to ignore the fact that strategy is a major factor at times.

Look at the Raditz fight, for instance. Goku and Piccolo were significantly weaker than Raditz, but they beat him using strategy. Anyways, I'm rambling.

Thank you so much for the review and I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Peace! :)

Review (Ch. 23): Nice handling of Burter's character and great job making his defeat believable. Nothing wrong with showing a bit of emotion on Vegeta's part.

-daughterofrisingsun

Response: My old friend! So glad to hear from you again. Really happy you enjoyed the Burter fight as it was honestly one of the ones I was most nervous to write going in.

Also, really appreciate the input on Vegeta's emotional moment. People are sometimes really sensitive to the prince's character when it comes to such thing, and I'm happy to hear it came across well. I'm curious to see how you feel about the unwary alliance this chapter.

But anyways, thank you so much for the review and support, and I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Peace! :D

Review (Ch. 24): I like how you further characterized the Ginyu Force and made them all unique in their own way. All of them have their own specialties, quirks and backstory. This is probably the first fanfic I have read that does that. Great work!

-flexng2013

Response: Thank you very much! I remember you following the story a long way back, glad to see you're still around even after my constant hiatuses. XD

I really appreciate you noticing the sense of character I gave the Ginyu Force. Most fics I've read seem to dismiss them the way DBZ did; having Goku or whoever the lead is deal with them in a couple sentences so they can move on to Frieza.

(Note: Not bashing any other writers, I just wanted to do something different with the Ginyu Force in my story)

But in a more paced story like mine (especially one that focuses centrally on the Frieza saga) taking some of the few named henchmen Frieza has and giving them a story seemed necessary. I definitely plan to do more with Zarbon and Dodoria, but that's later down the line.

But enough rambling, thank you so much for the review and I hope you continue to enjoy the story. Peace! :)

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Now let's move on to the QotC (Question of the Chapter). Seeing as this is the last of the five fights, it's only fitting that I ask: Which battle did you enjoy the most and why?

Feel free to let me know if there was anything you would have wanted to be done differently in this saga too. Remember, there are no wrong answers to the QotC; constructive criticism is always appreciated.

And that's about it for today. Sorry again for the slight delay on this chapter's release. I severely underestimated how long it would take me to finish. Hopefully I'll be more forthcoming in the future.

With that being said, I'll do my best to have chapter 26 out by this coming Thursday, or August 16th 2018. I'll let you know as usual if there are any last minute complications with the release date.

So as always, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, a review would be greatly appreciated, and this is SilverSaiyan44 signing out. See you guys in chapter 26!