The Snow King, one month after the Bojack incident.
Frieza's three-pronged feet moved silently through the expansive labyrinth of corridors that ran throughout the entirety of his egg-shaped ship. "Has she gone running off?" he asked aloud. The former tyrant had been heading to the guest chamber to tell Zangya that it was about time for dinner but the orange-haired girl wasn't in her room.
He'd been exploring for a time now, and still he hadn't found her. He'd spent some time getting to know her and her past life, and he got the feeling she really wasn't a bad girl, so she wouldn't just run off and go back to a life of crime. There was the possibility that she had lied to him about every detail she had told him, but Frieza always thought of himself as quite skilled at telling lies from truth.
"Oh to hell with it." Frieza said, pressing two fingers to his brow and scanning through all the energy signatures on the ship until finally he locked onto Zangya's "Ah. There you are."
With but a thought he whipped through hyperspace after the Heran, and found himself inside the training room of the ship, a massive and sudden shift in gravity almost causing him to double over...and a sucker punch to the jaw sent him crashing across the room.
"O-oh my goodness! You just...Appeared there! I'm so sorry!" Zangya exclaimed, pressing her hands to her face. Frieza gave a small groan and sat up, rubbing where she'd slugged him on his right eye.
"I suppose I should have seen that coming...ow...What are you doing here?" Frieza asked, getting to his feet.
"Training." Zangya said, figuring that would have been obvious. Her lime-green skin was slicked with sweat, and her hair seemed slightly frazzled from the exertion "I wanted to challenge you to a rematch at some point." she admitted.
"Hm...Is that so?" Frieza asked, allowing himself to smirk at the Heran. "Well then...How about I help you with your training?" he asked, entering his fighting stance.
Zangya gave a small scoff at that "Hmph...It defeats the purpose of me getting strong enough to beat me if you get stronger from my training..."
Frieza maintained his cocky smirk "C'mon, it'll be fun..."
"Oh very well..." Zangya said finally.
So the two clashed, keeping their power levels relatively similar, delivering blows that would leave no lasting damage on their foes. They clashed for well over an hour, forgetting entirely on food and focusing entirely on the fight. And when they finished they agreed to meet up the next day for training, and the day after that and the day after that, every day at the same time for two whole months.
Eventually, well...Being in close proximity for so long led to a growing 'tension' between the two, and eventually Zangya suggested how to resolve this particular tension...
"...And that's how we wound up getting together..." Frieza concluded, glancing to Android 18 beside him as the duo flew through the black mists of Destron Gas. As he had predicted, no negative effects befell them.
"Too much information." 18 replied brusquely, keeping her same flat expression.
"You're the one who wanted to know." he reminded her.
After a few more moments spent flying in silence, 18 announced "There's another one." pointing to one of the red machines atop a large hill in the grasslands. They had destroyed two thus far, and the only real challenge was the force field the gas dispensers formed when they were attacked...Quite a pathetic invasion it seemed.
"Alright. We'll take care of this one in a flash..." Frieza remarked, raising one arm up high and forming an orb of purple and white ki. He flung it toward the gas dispenser...And a red bolt of ki promptly pierced the ball and caused it to explode prematurely.
"What the..." 18 said, trailing off once she saw a trio of shadows looming overhead. She didn't know what the hell they were, but Frieza recognised them well enough. The mechanical duplicates of Cooler.
These ones looked much the same as the one he had fought on the Shamoian homeworld, but Frieza had to wonder how the hell they were here if Cooler himself was on Arcos...
The three moved like blurs and suddenly two of them were attacking Frieza while the third started flinging blows at 18. "Listen to me! These things drain ki from energy attacks and close proximities! You need to put them down quick!" Frieza yelled to 18, dodging the flurries of strikes heading his way. These were no stronger than the machine that attacked Frieza years ago, but with their energy draining that could change in a heartbeat...
18 was a bit stronger than she had been, having done some training since her escape from Cell, so she was holding her own against the Unit Alpha who had targeted her by blocking and parrying all his strikes...Yet from what Frieza understood of 18's energy reactor, she was in the greatest risk against these machines. She blocked one punch and dashed backward to avoid a tail swipe from the mechanical monster, and then with as much speed and force as she could muster she drove forth and knocked the Alpha's block off with one mighty punch, the disembodied head soaring away and vanishing into the horizon.
The two that were attacking Frieza were pushing him back through the air with the storms of punches and kicks being hurled his way. While they could never break his guard, every time the metal brushed against his skin Frieza could distinctly feel the sapping of his ki. He'd need to end this quickly...
The former tyrant gave a loud yell, hurling the two machines away. Following that Frieza rapidly fired a full-power energy wave from each hand, the blasts quickly overwhelming the machines and reducing them to atoms.
18 dashed ahead of him, fired a pink bolt of energy which tore through the green energy barrier around the Destron Gas dispenser and blew the machine itself to bits. Gradually, the plumes of smog vanished away, and the air became a little more breathable.
"Well...That was interesting." 18 said flatly.
"I have to wonder how the others are fairing against these things..." Frieza mused.
"...So then he says, come on honey our kids won't be like that, but what the hell does he know about kids with Saiyan DNA?" Inyon said, repeatedly curb-stomping one of the machines into the dirt. "And another thing, what the hell is marriage? Saiyans don't even have that! You kinda just...Pick a mate, see how that works out, and roll with it."
"Humans are fans of spectacle, from what I've seen..." Zangya lazily replied, catching one Alpha by the tail and flinging him into the ground with enough force to create a very sizeable crater. She never did get that rematch with Frieza, but she sure as hell was stronger than before...
"Look, maybe you should just humour him? Marry him so he forgets about kids for a while?" suggested Zangya. She formed a red ki ball in her hands, which she flung toward the mechanical abomination scrambling to it's feet. To her shock, the machine raised it's forearm up and the discharge of energy was just...sucked up into the gem on it's arm.
Inyon gave a laugh, watching Zangya's bemused expression "Yeah...These guys drain ki. Shoulda' mentioned that earlier." the dark-skinned Saiyaness said. "Anyway...I guess the kids thing is the biggest problem...Look, I know you don't know me as well as Frieza does, but well...I'm messed up in the head, I wouldn't make for a good mother. And Yamcha...I love the guy, I really do, but he seems pretty aloof to be a father."
Feeling stiff and sore, Inyon rapidly spun around and blasted apart the gas dispenser the Alpha's were guarding, the gas cloud in the area slowly vanishing afterward.
Zangya shrugged slightly "I sure as hell didn't think I'd make for a good mother, but like all skills it's something that can be learned...Hell, think of it like a battle you need to train for...A battle that gets a million times harder by the teenage years."
Inyon huffed in response "If my teenage years are any indication, it'll be a billion times harder."
It had taken some time for Goku to home in on the source of the gas machines. While they were all obviously coming from the planetoid in the sky, it was hard to pinpoint an area where he could use instant transmission to get to. Finally he found...something to lock onto. It was energy sure, but it felt like no energy source he had ever sensed before.
Regardless, Goku grabbed onto Vegeta's shoulder and the two whipped through hyperspace to reach the source of the ki...Winding up inside a large technological castle, a pale green light illuminating the area. "These are like old Tuffle ruins..." Vegeta mused.
"My my, how knowledgeable you are about Tuffles...Then again, I'd expect no less from the son of the man who orchestrated our genocide." a harsh voice called from...Somewhere in the facility. The voice echoed from everywhere, it was hard to tell the exact source.
Then a figure emerged, a figure with pale blue flesh, mismatched eyes and a bushy beard and moustache. He was dressed in some sort of mixture between a lab coat and a trench coat, the ends pointed like blades "Isn't that right, 'Prince' Vegeta?" Raichi sneered.
"I've heard of you...The Tuffles greatest scientist, Dr. Raichi!" Vegeta spat, pointing to the figure sitting crosslegged in the air.
"In the flesh...Or I would be, if you filthy savages hadn't massacred our great race!"
Goku seemed slightly puzzled "Tuffles...Oh, the guys who lived on the same planet as the Saiyans and then got wiped out by them?" he asked aloud. Vegeta rolled his eyes and then gave a nod. "So then...How is he here?"
"I'm an A.I based on the brain of the original Dr. Raichi. And I am the one who must carry on his quest for revenge against the Saiyans." Raichi explained.
Goku scowled and entered into a fighting stance "And why did you have to involve the earth in this?"
"Every Saiyan I could find in the Galaxy now calls Earth home. I have no interest in whether or not these earthling primatives live or die, they are a mere percentage on the number of lifeforms in the galaxy, on a speck of rock that just so happened to have the conditions necessary to hold life. The universe would not suffer from their loss, nor would it gain anything from their continued existence." Raichi growled out, his red eye glinting with malice.
Vegeta gave a scoff and immediately transformed into a Super Saiyan, illuminating the chamber with his golden light. Goku was very quick to replicate his action, transforming and amplifying the golden glow even further. "If you think a stupid computer glitch like you can stop the wrath of the Super Saiyans, you're not the genius the history books made you out to be."
"It's not me you need to worry about, Prince." Raichi spat. Suddenly the ground under Goku and Vegeta's feet began to rumble violently, and then it exploded out from beneath them. Hatchiyack swooped up, the gems on his body glowing with stolen ki. Before Vegeta could react to the red giant bursting up from underneath him, one of Hatchiyack's fist struck his cheek and sent him smashing through one wall of the chamber and into a darkened chamber filled with criss-crossing metal beams.
"Vegeta!" Goku exclaimed. He leapt at Hatchiyack and drove his heel into the machine's face, and while the blow was enough to stagger Hatchiyack slightly, he was quick to respond by gripping Goku's dark blue boot and flinging him through the hole he had smashed Vegeta through, Goku being embedded within one of the metal beams from the force.
Dr. Raichi smirked, watching the screens displaying his machines attacking the Z-Fighters across the world. "Have fun, but not too much fun Hatchiyack. Some of my equipment is rather fragile."
His mismatched eyes homed in on the screens again, and his smirk grew into a full-blown grin 'That's right, keep expending your energy fighting my drones. All you're doing is making Hatchiyack even stronger...'
"Grah! How many of these damn things are there?!" Piccolo snarled, weaving around the volleys of death beams being launched his way by the mechanical monsters. Thus far, 15 of the machines had moved in to battle Gohan and his former master. Right now, four of them were advancing on Piccolo, and the others were all ganging up on Gohan who was in his SSJ1 form right now.
"I dunno! There's something about them, it seems...I dunno how to describe it, it's like they're affecting my ki!" Gohan called back, delivering a strong downward elbow strike to one Alpha's skull, shattering it apart on impact and sending the lifeless lump of metal crashing to the earth.
Three others had managed to move behind Gohan and struck him in the back all at once, the combined force of their attacks sending Gohan soaring downward, forming a deep trench in the earth from the force behind his impact.
As Gohan managed to scramble to his feet, Piccolo landed silently beside his former student "We can't afford to waste more time with all this gas around. Power up Gohan." Piccolo said. The half Saiyan nodded, and the Alpha's seemed to pause in anticipation. All according to plan...
The auras of the two warriors exploded outward, shattering the earth beneath their feet and sending lightning spiralling into the air. While they couldn't quite see it, the machines started to 'drink' in their auras, stray wisps of the light being soaked into the glowing gems located across their mechanical bodies. Piccolo, now at 100%, and Gohan in his SSJ2 form, both warriors glared up. They moved so fast they became effectively invisible, tearing the Alpha's to bits with their bare hands, sending out discharges of ki to destroy their bodies...If only they understood the damage they were doing.
Finally, Gohan formed a sparking ball of blue energy in his palm and flung it at the gas dispenser, swallowing it up in a mighty explosion, destroying it entirely.
"Phew...That's that done." Gohan remarked.
Piccolo gave a grunt and shook his head "I just hope Goku and Vegeta get to the source of this quick and put an end to it..."
A loud yell of pain escaped Goku's lips, feeling Hatciyack's foot swing into his lower back, sending him upward like a football and crashing through several metal beams "ALL SAIYANS MUST PERISH!"
Vegeta managed to swoop down and drove both his feet into Hatchiyack's face, causing the giant to stagger backward, grunting in pain. "Shur your mouth you Tuffle piece of trash!" he spat, his legs moving like blurs as he repeatedly struck the red giant in the face.. Vegeta gave a loud yell and swung both his fists down, striking the gem in Hatchiyack's forehead and sending his flying a few metres backward.
Wisps of green and black ki were suddenly sucked toward the gems on Hatchiyack's arms, and he gave a drawn-out snarl as he flung himself toward Vegeta. His fist impacted against the prince's gut with such force that it caused a bulge to form on Vegeta's back, and his eyes bulged out of his skull from the immense pain.
Goku shot forth like a golden bullet to try and save Vegeta, but once within range Hatchiyack started to pepper the Super Saiyans with furious punches, knocking the wind from the warriors and sending sprays of blood and spit into the air "I WILL KILL ALL SAIYANS!"
'Just a little more ki, and I will have enough power to unlock Hatchiyack's super form...'
"More of them..." 18 growled, spying seven more Alpha units shooting toward herself and Frieza. The annoyance on the former tyrant's face was...very visible to say the least.
"I've had enough of these things, I'm transforming and putting an end to-" Frieza was cut short by the familiar sound of a person exiting hyperspace via instant transmission. He turned his head slowly, and sure enough there was his older brother floating straight beside him.
Cooler gave a cocky smirk, glancing from Frieza to the incoming enemies "Hello little brother. Is this the party?"
"Ah, Cooler. How I have missed your 'wit'..." Frieza replied flatly. "Unfortunately the party had to be cancelled, invasion of Tuffle machines it would seem."
"Weren't they dead?"
Frieza shrugged "I thought so too...More importantly, they're replicas of the mechanical body you had on the Shamoian homeworld..."
Cooler's face contorted into an irritated scowl "Is that so?" he asked slowly. His aura flared to life, and veins began to pop up along his purple skin from his rising power level "Well then. I believe I should teach these gentlemen that there is only one Cooler..."
Frieza sunk into his fighting stance, and his own aura flared up. The Alpha's all paused to suck in the ki of their dark aura's, which only amplified once the two fully transformed into their Super Arcosian states.
"Shall we?" Cooler asked.
"Oh no, after you brother." Frieza replied.
'Just a few more units of ki, and Hatchiyack will be complete...'
The two Super Saiyans smashed into the hard ground of Raichi's fortress, forming deep craters from the force behind the collision. Vegeta, his blue uniform torn up and his body covered in bruises and wounds,was first to his feet "Damnit all...Kakarot, have you had any experience with the Super Saiyan 2 form?"
Goku got to his feet and tore off the remainder of his orange top, leaving his dark shirt covering his chest "Heh. Sorry...I've unlocked it, but I haven't practised with it as much as I'dve liked to..."
"Tch...That figures, you stupid slacker." scoffed Vegeta. He watched Hatchiyack cackling, his body glowing a pale green as he powered up. "Still...If we're to beat this damn thing, we can't afford to hold back. Transform clown, we need to stop this Tuffle bastard here and now!"
A grin etched onto Goku's face at this, and the two Saiyans yelled out in unison. The fortress quaked from the force of their ki, their hair became even more rigid, the golden light of their aura's grew even stronger, lightning became to arc around both of them. Then finally, with a flash of light compareable to the beauty and majesty of a supernova, Hatchiyack was faced with two enraged Super Saiyan 2's.
Goku struck Hatchiyack faster than the machine could perceive, rapid kicks constantly disorientating the beast and keeping him from striking back. Vegeta had targeted Hatchiyack's chest, a storm of punches striking into Hatchiyack's gut, chipping away at the thick layer of red armour on his body.
Vegeta drop-kicked Hatchiyack down through the chamber, Goku suddenly appeared behind the flying beast and roundhouse kicked him across the air. Then suddenly Vegeta was just above the Tuffle machine, driving his elbow down into Hatchiyack's face and sending him smashing into the floor.
Goku cupped his hands together at his hip, a blue sphere of energy growing between his palms, while Vegeta formed two crackling orbs of energy on his splayed arms, before pushing his hands together and forming the two spheres into one larger sphere.
"Kame...Hame..."
"Final..."
"HAAAAAAA!"
"FLASH!"
The beams of gold and blue ki swooped down toward the red giant who was only just now getting to his feet. In his panic he quickly raised both his hands and formed a dome of green ki around his body. The combined beams clashed against his barrier, and cracks began to form along the sphere quick enough, he wouldn't be able to keep this up much longer...
Despite the cacophony of noise formed from the maelstrom of energy, Hatchiyack heard the voice of his creator in his mind quite clearly "Yes Hatchiyack! Those two Arcosians have given us the last bits of ki that we needed! Now you'll have your full power!"
Large tendrils of energy, formed from all the ki that Dr. Raichi's machines had been stealing for the last seven years, began to move into the gems on Hatchiyack's body. A howl like that of a mad beast escaped Hatchiyack's maw, and his whole body began to glow violently. The ki building inside him released a mighty shockwave that dispersed the two energy beams.
Goku and Vegeta were pushed back by the planet-shaking force, and they could only stare in shock and awe as Hatchiyack's whole body began to change.
"N-No..." Vegeta murmured "With the way his ki is growing, he's growing s much stronger than Cell ever was..."
A/N: Phase two of Raichi's plan is underway. The destron gas was a mere diversion, and now thanks to said diversion Hatchiyack has become the strongest foe the Z-Fighters have faced thus far.