Chapter 19 – "Their dreadful past revisited! Freeza touches down on New Namek."

Eyes in the dark…

Arugula woke up in the middle of the night. Her eyes eventually adjusted to how dark the room was and she could hear a rustling coming from the curtains that were closed, obscuring the view from outside. She studied the room and realized she was back home on Bloss.

She didn't remember when she had got back from Earth, she might've fallen asleep the whole trip, nor could she remember when they actually left Earth in the first place.

When she climbed out of her bed, she tried to switch her lamp on but nothing happened. She checked to see that it was plugged in and sighed, disappointed that there was no power. She walked over to the window and opened up the curtains but was met with a pitch black screen. She felt this was a bit odd considering that each night she could see Lemo's garden and the fields of crops he planted. She could gaze up at the sky and saw millions of stars shining brightly.

But this? Nothing, absolutely nothing.

She opened up the window and took a peek outside, yet again there was nothing but a vast emptiness, a menacing and ominous color blacker than her father's hair.

Another rustling sound alerted her to something behind her and she spun around to face it but saw nothing but her room.

Swish swish

Swish swish

The rustling noise sounded more frequently and she felt her heart beat a bit faster. She closed the window and ran to the door, opening it to run out into the hall of her house but when she opened the door, there was the same void she saw when she looked out the window and she lost her balance, tumbling forward.

She continued falling forward, flipping over and over until she landed gracefully on her feet. She felt a chill, a cold deathly breeze that was small and quiet blow against her night wear and her hair.

As far as her eyes could see, there was nothing but a void and the absence of sound.

"Mama?" Arugula called, but it felt like her sound had been absorbed into the darkness.

"Papa? Lemo? Big brother?" she called out to the rest of her family but no answer, the sound once again absorbed into the darkness.

"Sissy? Pan-Pan?" She called out, walking forward. She wasn't sure what she was walking on, the surface felt hard enough to stand on yet soft like a carpet or a large patch of fur.

Her eyes caught sight of something off to the right of her, a pair of unblinking eyes. Those eyes looked different than what she was used to and when she looked more closely, she could see red lines criss-crossing across the iris like a plus sign.

"Is anyone there?" she called out to the pair of eyes, and several more appeared beside the first pair. She felt very uncomfortable watching these eyes stare back at her and she backed away slowly.

She felt something tingle in the back of her head and she turned around to a close-up view of the same pair of eyes staring down at her. They were surrounded by other eyes of varying sizes, some smaller, some larger, and one pair so large they almost took up the void itself and she closed her eyes, breathing heavily.

There were other sounds that started appearing, breathing noises as well and she spun around, freaked out by all these eyes with lines on them surrounding her. She began to run but all she was doing was running past those eyes watching from the void and she stopped when she saw another pair of eyes, only this time they were different. These eyes were framed within a face that faded into her sight. Another face appeared beside it and they both smiled at her. These eyes didn't have irises or red lines on them but were like glossy metallic eyes. The red-lined eyes all moved to surround the two faces behind them and they began laughing. The laughing began growing louder as she backed away from the faces and she turned around to run away as fast as she could, looking behind her to see if they were following.

The faces and the eyes stayed in place as they went further away and she didn't notice the body she ran into, falling backwards after bouncing off of it. When she looked up, she saw her father, but his eyes were glossed over and there was a large hole in his chest.

That's when she screamed…

Her screaming woke up the others in the room and Cheelai quickly turned on the light and saw Arugula scream and toss around on her bed under her blanket.

"Arugula?! Little one!" She yelled and quickly rushed over to wake her up.

"Arugula, wake up!" Cheelai cried and shook her a bit to get her to come to her senses and her eyes darted wide around the room. When she saw her mother's face she buried herself against her chest, bawling and Cheelai stroked her daughter's hair. Bok and Broly were fully awake now while Lemo slowly sat up, glancing over at the two.

"Wh-what happened?" Lemo asked, his speech a bit slurred.

"She had a nightmare," Cheelai said as Arugula kept shuddering and crying. "There there, little one. Mama's here, mama's here."

Cheelai rocked back and forth a bit to calm her down and Broly sighed, sitting at the foot of the bed. His weight almost lifted the head of the bed off the floor so he had to adjust himself as to not topple it over. His face bore a huge look of concern as he watched his little girl have an emotional meltdown.

"She's never had a nightmare like this before. Is this one of those prediction dreams?" Bok asked and Cheelai shook her head.

"I don't know. I don't want to know. Let's put that out of our heads for now," she said and Bok nodded.

Lemo looked at the time and sighed. "Guess we're not getting any sleep the rest of the night."

"Not for me at least. You can go back to sleep, I'll stay here with Arugula," Cheelai told them and Broly nodded. He walked over to her and his daughter and stroked her hair with his large hand.

"Go on and get back to sleep, kid," Lemo told Bok and he shut the light. Bok laid back down on his bed but it took a while for him to get back to sleep since his mind was now preoccupied with the condition of his siblings. Lemo readjusted his alarm for when he actually needed to wake up and prepare breakfast for the family, a little annoyed that they decided to ditch him for the restaurant with Goku but he wanted to make sure that they couldn't ignore what he was going to prepare for them and grinned at the prospect of how amazed they'll be with his latest recipe.

When Arugula's sobs died down, Cheelai was still holding her head against her chest and Arugula could hear her mother's heartbeat to calm her down, yet her eyes were still wide open and full of terror at what she had seen in her dream.

"Little one? You wanna tell mama what you saw in your dream?" Cheelai asked in a soothing tone. Arugula slowly shook her head no and Cheelai sighed a bit. She glanced back at Broly and nodded towards him to return to their bed. She leaned back against a wall that Arugula's bed was adjacent to and cradled her daughter in her arms, letting her rest more comfortably against her. She wasn't sure if Arugula was going to go back to sleep, but the sound of her heartbeat helped calm her down enough that she eventually did fall asleep again and she breathed a small sigh of relief, giving Arugula a kiss on the head.

A shadow looms overhead…

Elders of a Namekian village gathered together to help with the planting of Agissa trees, digging up new plots to plant seedlings. When the harvesters and farmers were done placing the seedlings in the soil, a couple of Namekians placed the dug up soil around the base of the seedling and another poured water around it. When the last one was in place, the group stood up and admired the work they had put in.

"Elder Arion, thank you for taking the time to help speed this up," said the other elder.

"It's always a pleasure, Elder Ocari," Arion mentioned to him and the two shook hands. While this version of Namek didn't have as many suns up in the sky as their predecessor, this one did have a cycle of two suns that provided a sufficient amount of light energy to aid in the growth of their foliage.

(Author's note: It's assumed that the current run of the Dragonball Super manga will have the main villain defeated by Goku, Vegeta and the Z fighters, with Namek brought back with the aid of the Namekian Dragonballs and the Namekians moving back there).

Over the horizon, two Namekian warriors were busy sparring, blocking each other's blows and locking fists. They stopped and nodded at each other, taking a breather with a drink from their small water satchel at their waist.

"It looks like they're just about finished planting the remaining Agissa," said one of the warriors and the second one nodded. He began feeling a change in the winds and noticed that the area darkened a bit, as though a shadow was draping itself over the land.

"Is a storm coming?" the other one asked and they glanced up at the sky. Their curiosity quickly turned to worry as they recognized the make of the object hovering overhead and flying over them to the south of the village.

"Cargo! Viol! Did you see what we just saw?" Elder Ocari shouted to them and the two warriors nodded in unison.

"Gather your villagers and return to your village, immediately!" Cargo shouted at them and Ocari waved at those who were in his village's group. They took to the air and quickly fled northwest while Arion gathered the younger Namekians, those who were still children, inside the main hut.

"Children, gather the Dragonball inside and keep it hidden," Arion told them and they cried out in panic, echoing the Elder's look of concern on his face. He waved at them quickly and they ran inside, two of them grabbing the large sphere with three red stars embedded inside and they took it outside to a nearby lake. They tossed it in the water and watched as it sunk down to the bottom and huddled close to the Elder, who motioned them to go back in the hut.

"It's not safe for you here, go and find shelter and stay out of sight. Pray that we don't see him show his face again," Arion said and glanced at the other farmers.

Those who had been brought back to life before have horrifying memories of their encounter with Freeza, the tyrant of the universe. That they saw this ominous looking ship come into their view again meant that he's found out where they had re-located themselves to and was on his way to gather their Dragonballs again. Their contingency plan would be to keep the Dragonballs hidden in case of a grave threat and to secretly gather them so they could summon Porunga and make their wishes quickly, one of them being that they'd wish the threat sent to the farthest reaches of the universe.

Viol hastily escorted the remaining members of Elder Arion's village while Cargo flew down to land beside Elder Ocari, nodding at him.

"Hopefully they'll send their weaker soldiers so we can at least dwindle their numbers and buy ourselves enough time to summon Porunga before Freeza shows his face. If we can draw them away from the village as much as possible, we might have a chance."

Elsewhere, the large ship touched down on the planet's surface and a foot soldier bowed to Cooler and Freeza.

"My Lords, we've touched down on New Namek," he said and Freeza glanced ahead at the view screen which showed the same landscape he remembered seeing so long ago. He couldn't remember when he first arrived on Namek but seeing familiar territory brought a smile to his face.

"Well, let's get this over with, shall we?" Cooler said, standing up from his seat. He paused when Freeza casually raised a hand, while the other that was holding a chalice was lowered so one of the servants could pour his favorite vintage, bowing gracefully at him as he took a sip.

"There's no rush, brother. Send the foot soldiers, they can retrieve the Dragonballs at their leisure. Scan the planet for battle powers, I want a full sweep of the surface."

"Yes, my Lord," said one of the soldiers and he entered a few keystrokes which displayed a grid of the planet and several hundred blips showed up around the surface. He rotated the display to show more blinking signals on the other side of the planet and Freeza grinned.

"Just like before, their villages are scattered throughout the planet, each one holding a Dragonball if memory serves. If they hold them for display like little trophies again, securing them shouldn't be a problem. Dispatch and separate your groups to each village and kill any who stand in your way. Bring the Dragonballs back here once you've obtained them."

"Aye, my Lord!" the foot soldiers on the bridge belted out in unison and ran off, preparing their armaments on their wrists, preparing their side blasters as well. Freeza turned to the four members of Cooler's personal armored squadron and smiled up at them, hand behind his back.

"A word, brother," Cooler said, frowning.

"Hm?"

"I would very much appreciate it if you did not utilize my ship and my soldiers for your own personal use. I should be the one dictating how to proceed," Cooler said, stepping off his chair and towering over Freeza, who simply glanced up at him with the same grin on his face.

"You'd be wise not to test my patience, Freeza," Cooler said and Freeza chuckled, tapping him on the chest with the back of his hand.

"Have I got you on edge, brother? Your soldiers should do adequately. We'll see how many come back with the Dragonballs. I'm certain these four can provide the adequate clean-up job in this instance?"

"We are capable of accomplishing this task, Lord Freeza!" Dore, the large green skinned squad member said, hand to his breastplate.

"I would've sent them to retrieve the Dragonballs instead," Cooler informed him, crossing his arms.

"And suppose they were to encounter a few Namekian fighters that could prove problematic?" Freeza asked.

"Lord Freeza, not a single one of them would be a match for any of us, I can assure you," Salza told him with a confident grin and Freeza cocked an eyebrow, taking another sip of his wine before setting his chalice down.

"Do you, now?" he said, floating up to meet him face-to-face and Salza glanced back a bit nervously.

"Play nice, brother," Cooler said, glancing to his side and Freeza shrugged his shoulders, floating back down to walk over to the display grid. Salza blushed out of embarrassment and fear of Freeza's power. Cooler merely sighed and walked over to stand behind his brother.

"Tell me, exactly what is the end goal of this little game? You've been far too relaxed for my liking and it's leaving a bad taste in my mouth."

"Simple, dear brother. The more time we take, the bigger the opportunity for Goku and Vegeta to take notice and make their way over here. If those creations of yours perform as I expect them to, the Saiyans won't resist the urge to make their way here to engage us, thinking they're here to save these Namekians."

"Fine, so long as you leave Vegeta to me. I would love nothing more than to see him writhing in agony at my feet, broken and bleeding, begging for his life."

That got a chuckle from Freeza as he watched the screen, noticing the different colored blips that represented Cooler's foot soldiers make their way around the planet to engage the Namekians in their own village.

"Why don't we have a little fun with this game?" Freeza said and pushed a button on the console.

"This is Freeza. Spare a few of them and bring them here as prisoners. Your numbers should be enough to overwhelm them," Freeza said, releasing the button. Seeing as the soldiers outnumbered the Namekian villages by a margin of five-to-one, Cooler raised an eyebrow down at him.

"You haven't grown soft on the clan over the years, have you?" Cooler stated and Freeza grinned.

"A superbly cooked meal only requires the finest ingredients. Stirring the pot a bit helps to enhance the flavor," Freeza said and his brother sighed.

"As long as this doesn't waste my time and resources, I'll leave the ball in your court," Cooler said as he walked back to his chair and sat down, leaning on one hand as he stared at the screen as well. Several blips blinked in and out and a few of the white blips that represented the Namekians stopped blinking and disappeared, indicating that some had already died.

The foot soldiers were engaged in a fire-fight with some of the Namekian warriors who shielded a few of the common villagers and returned fire with energy blasts from their hands as the soldiers took cover behind rocks and small hills, aiming as best they can to hit some of them. The warriors proved strong enough to take a few hits, using their combined energy to create a barrier large enough to hold the soldiers at bay.

"Lord Cooler! There're several Namekians with a combined battle power of thirty thousand! Their defenses are too strong for our firepower! We require assistance!"

Cooler glanced behind him after he heard the message to signal his squadron to move out but instead noticed a hand coming up from Freeza to cut him off.

"Don't bother."

Cooler frowned, sighing through his breath.

"If they fail, then so be it," Freeza told him, not looking behind him.

"Lord Cooler, we've successfully retrieved their Dragonball!" came another voice through the communication channel and Freeza grinned.

"There, you see? Some are eventually going to succeed," he said and Cooler stared down at him, a bit annoyed.

"Very well, return to the ship immediately," Cooler said and eased back in his chair.

"I take careful stock of the people I recruit on this ship, brother. Given your track record when it comes to manpower, I come out on top in that regard. However, finding replacements nowadays are becoming scarcer the more often I've received news of rebellious forces amassing in the Eastern galaxies."

"Those will be dealt with soon," Freeza said, frowning. He's been well aware of the difficulties with regards to recruiting new members of the Freeza force given that quite a few have defected to join a growing rebellious faction that so far have crippled a small percentage of his resources and faded out of sight before he could track them. Any attempts to quell this threat with his forces have been lackluster to say the least and he knew it would be pointless and a waste of time to take matters into his own hands. He figured for the time being he'd let those Galactic Patrolmen handle the situation with the help of Berryblue sending a few key "informants" to infiltrate their ranks and be Freeza's eyes and ears while he's occupied running his empire.

As the Namekians from Ocari's village retreated, they spread the word to the other villages as quickly as possible so the message could be relayed directly to Grand Elder Esca, who held the one-star Dragonball in a safe and secure place. He had two of the strongest warrior-type Namekians serving as his own personal guards, Namekians who had trained in the same manner as Nail once did. Breaking with tradition, they allowed a few volunteers to sacrifice their lives to fuse with these warriors to give them a significant power boost should any grave threats ever emerge once more. However, they were not expecting a threat like Freeza to show up again and sensing his power as far away as he was, Esca could only weather the storm that was coming and hoped the villagers would survive somehow.

"Grand Elder, if you permit us, we can go and retrieve the Dragonballs to bring them here so we can summon Porunga," said Rimba, one of the guards.

"I concur with Rimba's request," Harp, the other guard, stated.

"Thank you, but we can't risk grouping them all together, not when we have a looming evil like Freeza on our midst again. If I recall correctly, they come with devices on their heads allowing them the ability to detect energy signatures. It won't be long before it leads them here."

They both knelt before him. "Understood, Grand Elder."

Esca walked over to an open window, staring out over the horizon as the winds blew and whistled outside. Goku, I pray you're still alive out there. I hope you somehow are made aware of our dilemma and come to our aid like before.

Fully rejuvenated…

As the morning sun draped Papaya island with it's warm glow, Uub opened his eyes. He laid on his bed peacefully and slept all the way through to the next morning since he left the stadium early that afternoon. His mind felt clear for the first time in what felt like ages and he stretched out his arms and legs, yawning. He took a deep breath and jumped off the bed, flexing his arms and smiling ear to ear.

"Hooo wow, did I ever sleep like a rock!" Uub cried out and he glanced down to see he was still wearing his gi from yesterday and wrinkled his nose at the funk it had brought up. He had packed his other gi just in case and decided he needed to freshen up with a nice hot shower before he would get dressed in his own blue gi, taking the one he received from Goku off and folding it neatly on the bed.

After he washed up and got dressed, he closed his eyes and sensed Goku's energy, finding a place to lock on to he could teleport there instantly. But he opened his eyes when he realized he almost forgot to bring the Senzu beans with him and he chuckled to himself.

"Haha, almost forgot these. I'm pretty sure Pan will need one," he said and held the bag in his hand as he put two fingers to his forehead, teleporting out of the room within seconds.

He wasn't expecting to reappear in a hospital room after he located Goku's energy and he was surprised to see quite a few faces in the room as well. Goku, Gohan, Videl, and Bulla were all in the room and when Uub appeared, Goku blinked a couple of times before welcoming him with a huge grin on his face.

"Hey, welcome back. Looks like you got a really good amount of sleep," Goku said, standing before him with a hand on his shoulder. Uub nodded and held up the bag of beans.

"I made sure to bring these with me before I came here," Uub said and walked over to the foot of Pan's bed. When he saw her broken arm, his face lit up in a panic.

"Ah! W-what happened?!" he cried out, and Pan blushed a bit, looking down.

"It's a long story," she said. Sleep had managed to help her recover enough strength for her to move around a bit, but since her right arm was in a large cast now, she had to be careful to move it around. She proceeded to recount what had happened in her match with Choi to Uub and Uub's face grew a bit grim from listening to what happened. When she saw the bag of Senzu beans in Uub's hand, she felt a great deal of relief knowing that when she'd eat one, all her pain would fade away quickly.

Uub fished one of them out of the bag and handed it over to her. "Here."

"Thank you, Uub," Pan said and put it in her mouth. She crunched it down and began eating it, thinking in the back of her mind how she wished these beans had more flavour to them than just a bland taste.

A few seconds after she swallowed it, her eyes lit up and a huge smile beamed out across her lips as she jumped on top of the bed, ripping the cast off her arm and flipping a few times over in front of the bed to land on the floor. She moved around gracefully throwing rapid punches and kicks and almost hit her parents in the process. Thankfully Gohan caught her ankle before she could do so and he chuckled a bit.

"Take it easy there," he said and Pan blushed a bit.

"Sorry papa. Wow, it feels so good to move around again," Pan yelled and she greeted Bulla right afterwards, the two girls holding each other's hands with huge smiles on their faces.

"So what do you want to do first?" Bulla asked.

"I want to try on one of your outfits this time," Pan told her and Bulla nodded.

"Okay! Back to the hotel room!" Bulla shouted and Pan waved at Gohan and Videl.

"Bye! We'll be back by lunch!" Pan said and Videl stood up, arms crossed.

"Hold on a minute! Who gave you permission to run off so soon?" she asked and Pan paused, glancing at Bulla.

"Mom, I'm all better now, see? You don't have to be worried anymore," Pan said and Videl shook her head.

"No Pan, we're going back home. I want you to catch up on all the school work you had to miss over the summer while you were off training with Uub."

Pan's jaw almost dropped to the floor. "You're kidding, right?"

"I don't think your mother's kidding," Gohan said.

"You can't be serious?! What about Uub? What about the championship? Doesn't Uub technically win if that brat can't compete?" Pan pleaded and Videl glared at her.

"I don't care about some stupid championship. I only care about my daughter sitting behind a desk hitting the books! It's time we start setting a good example for this family that would make your grandmother proud. Let's go."

Pan looked hopelessly at Uub, then at Goku, who wasn't sure what to say. Even he couldn't stop Chichi from enforcing Gohan's education and he was reluctant to step in with this matter.

"Um," Uub began and everyone turned to him.

"We still have one Senzu left. Don't you think we should give it to Choi so he can fully recover?" Uub asked and Pan rolled her eyes, sighing.

"Why do you want to help that brat? He broke my arm for crying out loud!" Pan cried out and Uub sighed, rubbing the back of his head.

"I don't think it's fair to let him stay in his condition if I have what he needs to heal right here in this bag," he said and Pan glared at him.

"If you had been there to see him fly off the handle and almost KILL me, you'd think twice about helping him."

"I'm sorry, Pan. I should've stayed to support you. I didn't want to make such a selfish decision and go to bed when I did," Uub said, looking away from Pan. He began feeling even more ashamed of himself now that he brought it up and Pan walked over to him, putting a hand against his face.

"Uub, you couldn't have known what was going to happen. No one's blaming you for going to get some rest. You really needed it after what you've been through and I'd rather you be fully rested and healthy than worried about me."

Uub's eyes met hers and he eventually nodded. Pan smiled up at him and she wanted to kiss him but felt a pair of eyes on her as her mother stared at her and she glanced away.

"Fine, go give that brat a bean if it helps ease your conscious," she sighed and turned to face her mother.

"Can we at least stay to see Uub's match?" Pan asked and Videl stared down at her for a moment, not saying anything and she pursed her lips. It felt like a long time had passed but it was at most a couple of minutes of awkward silence as everyone waited for Videl to say something.

"Alright, we'll stay. But we're going back home immediately afterwards," she told her and Pan jumped up and down.

"Alright! C'mon Bulla! Let's get going!" Pan cried out and the two girls rushed out of the room. Uub bowed down at Videl.

"I'm sorry for all the trouble, Miss Videl," Uub said and Videl finally cracked a smile for once.

"You're such a caring soul. I think my little Pan would make a great wife for you in a few years," she told him and Uub's eyes went wide, his cheeks blushing red.

"W-wife? U-um…"

Videl gave him a caring look and glanced over at Gohan.

"I want to keep an eye on Pan. Let's go," she told him and Gohan waved at Goku and Uub. Goku put his hand on Uub's shoulder and placed two fingers to his head.

"Let's get going," he said and the two disappeared, reappearing in Choi's room. Broly, Bok, and Lemo were all gathered together save for Cheelai and Arugula and Goku scanned the room.

"Where are the girls?" Goku asked and Bok stood up.

"Arugula had a nightmare. Mother's elected to stay behind to help ease her trauma. We tried asking her what she had dreamt about but she hasn't spoken since. She did eventually go back to sleep but I don't know what could've frightened her so much."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Uub said and spotted Choi on the bed, staring back at him. Uub immediately felt the tension in the room grow after observing Choi's heavily bandaged face and his bloodshot eye which seemed to have regained a normal look to it.

He emptied the bag of the last Senzu bean and placed it on a table. He glanced down at the bean for a moment, then back at Choi.

"Just so you know, I don't hold any malice towards you," Uub told him and tossed the bean at Choi, who was able to catch it with some recovered strength in his arm.

"While I doubt you would've done the same if the situation were reversed, I still believe we have the finals to take part in. I want to make sure you're at your absolute best so we can have a proper fight."

After Choi ate the Senzu bean, he ripped the bandages off his face and his eyes were clear again. He felt his nose and breathed a sigh of relief as he smiled, more at the fact his nose was back to the way it was. He threw the blanket off and jumped off the bed, checking his wrists and fists, punching one hand with the other. He glanced at Uub and frowned.

"Hate to disappoint you, but I forfeited after mother insisted I do so," he told him and Uub narrowed his eyes, staring at him.

"Forfeited?"

"Don't make me repeat myself. While I'm glad to be back at full strength and not talk so funny, I've got some other stuff that came up now. That weirdo offered to train me so I'm taking him up on his offer. Where's your girlfriend?"

"Girlfriend? You mean Pan? She's not my girlfriend," Uub said and Choi chuckled.

"Could've fooled me, fauxhawk. You two cozy up to each other quite a lot, it's pretty obvious. Uncle Lemo taught me and Bok quite a bit about people who bond and mate or whatever disgusting things they do together thank you very much," Choi said shooting Lemo a look.

"Don't think that lesson was easy for me to teach, that was as hard on me as it was on you," Lemo retorted and Choi glanced back at Uub.

"Anyway, you won your little championship. Congratulations. Go tell that one guy that I forfeited," Choi said and was about to walk out when Uub quickly stepped in front of him.

"No."

"Excuse me?"

Choi clenched his fists, ready to fight Uub but Uub stood his ground.

"I don't accept this. I should have a say in this as well, knowing that we're both supposed to fight this match. I don't accept this victory, not when I have the chance to prove to myself that I've worked hard and trained for this. If I can't beat you, then so be it; but at least give me a chance to give you that opportunity to fight as well."

Choi chuckled, staring up at Uub. "You want it that badly, don't you?"

"I know you want to fight me too, Choi," Uub said and raised his hand up for Choi to shake it. Choi instead batted it away with the back of his hand.

"Shaking hands are for saps. You wanna fight me that badly? Fine, I'll give you your match. Let's go find that announcer guy with the sunglasses," Choi said and Bok closed his eyes, sighing.

"Oh boy, mom's going to kill him when she finds out."

Broly approached his son and stared down at him with his arms crossed.

"Promise me you will control your temper this time," he told him and Choi swallowed, staring up at him.

"Choi," Broly insisted and Choi averted his gaze.
"Y-yeah, I'll promise. I'll try not to get angry."

Choi avoided his father's stern look and walked out of the room, while Bok walked up to Uub.

"I hope he'll get his act together this time and not let his ego get in the way. I think he knows you're going to be a tough opponent he can't take lightly since you defeated me."

"I expect him to bring his best, right Master?" Uub said, glancing back at Goku, who nodded with a determined grin.

"Yeah. You're as ready as you'll ever be and you have nothing holding you back anymore. Your mind's clear and focused this time and that's the best position you can be in for this fight. Fight hard and don't worry about the outcome, just know you're giving it your all against a strong opponent."

Uub and Goku clapped hands together and nodded while Bok and Broly left with Lemo to join up with Choi.

When they tracked down the announcer, they all gathered together and gave him the news.

"Ah! That is the best news I could ever hear! Thank you both so much for allowing this to go on!" he cried out. He put his hands on both boys' shoulders, getting a weirded out look from Choi, and smiled at the two.

"Destiny will smile on one of you after this is over, mark my words. I look forward to raising one of your hands in the air holding the championship belt, as well as hand one of you the ten million zenni prize."

Choi stared up at the announcer, annoyed that his hand was still on his shoulder and the announcer retracted it quickly. He cleared his throat.

"Um, well, the stage should be repaired by this afternoon so please make any final preparations you need before then. 1300 hours will be the starting time of the final match. See you then!" he shouted and walked away to join his committee staff and Choi glanced back at Uub with a smirk.

"I can't wait to rub that belt in your face when you lose, fauxhawk," Choi told Uub and grinned, turning around. Uub frowned but didn't seem annoyed as he stared at him and wrapped his arms casually around him.

"We have a few hours to kill before the final match, master," Uub said, glancing back at Goku.

"Great! Time to get in breakfast!" Goku shouted and Lemo gawked at him.

"Where does all that food go when you eat it? Geez, not even Broly can pack that much away!" Lemo shouted and Goku couldn't help but laugh.

"Sorry, I get so easily hungry it's almost like a curse!" he stated and wrapped his arm around his student's shoulders.

"But the big meal should be reserved for you, Uub. I want you to pack in as much energy as possible so you can fight hard!" he shouted.

"I think Choi might want the same thing. I'll go get him back so we can hit the restaurant together," Bok said and ran off to fetch his brother. Broly walked over to Goku and stood beside him.

"No matter the outcome, I hope these two have a spirited fight," he said and Goku grinned. His grin faded for a moment and he glanced up.

"Hm?"

"Master? What's wrong?" Uub asked.

"It's faint but I keep sensing an evil energy signature blink in and out. I felt something like that yesterday but the fight between Pan and Choi obscured most of it that I couldn't get a good read on it. But I'm sensing it again and it feels weird, like it's superimposing itself onto another person's energy."

"Is someone in trouble?" Uub asked and Goku closed his eyes, trying to get a better feel for the energy he sensed and his eyes opened wide seconds later.

"That was Tien's energy," he said and then shook his head.

"Wait, that can't be right. What's this weird energy I'm sensing that's messing with Tien's?"

"Master, what's going on? Who's Tien?"

Goku looked back up in the sky and frowned.

"He's an old friend of mine. He looks like he could be in trouble," he said.

"Do you want me to go with you? We have plenty of time before the match starts," Uub said and Goku shook his head.

"Don't worry about me, I'm just going to check up on him and see if he's in actual danger. I hope this evil energy isn't too big of a threat."

Goku put two fingers to his forehead and disappeared. Bok returned with Choi and the two blinked for a moment.

"Tch, your master went and abandoned you? What a surprise," Choi muttered with a coy smile and Uub gave him a look.

"He went to investigate some evil energy, but he'll be back before the match starts," Uub said and Choi shrugged his shoulders.

"Whatever, not my problem. You got money, Uub? You're gonna have to pay for all of us since we don't have any," Choi said and Uub's eyes widened.

"Uh, um…I don't have money, no. Sorry."

"Wait, didn't that blue-haired granny pay for all the food when she was still here?" Choi asked and Bok cleared his throat.

"Bulla's still here, I'm sure she can arrange something for us," Bok said and Choi shrugged his shoulders again.

"Fine, let's go find her then. Sorry Uncle Lemo, I don't feel like waiting for your cooking this time, I'm starving."

Lemo sighed, waving him off. "I'll go let your mother know you're feeling better again and give her the unfortunate news I'm sure she'd not want to hear. Hope she doesn't chew me out for this."

He went his separate way while the rest walked back to the hotel to meet up with Bulla and Pan.

Taken over…

Three different parties were all making their way towards a similar location to find a Dragonball, two of which have Dragon radars to help them find it. The party of one, consisting of Bulma, raced towards the other group, comprising of Pilaf, Shu, and Bao. She wanted to engage them and make use of their radar since the one she was currently using had very little power left to it and occasionally would shut off prematurely before she could get a precise fix on the location. She banged on it a couple of times and it reactivated, sighing as she studied the grid once more.

The third party was Tien and Chaozu, flying overhead to Bulma's location. The two were flying at a casual speed since Tien was still recovering from his injuries, so his speed was limited for now. When Goku appeared beside them in the air, Chaozu was the first to stop and turn around. A huge smile appeared on his face.

"Goku!" he cried out and flew over to him. Tien turned around and tried to smile but felt a sharp pain in his head and put his hand against his temple. He shook his head and floated over to Goku.

"Hey Goku, what brings you to see us?" he asked.

"Are you alright? You look like you had a fierce battle," Goku asked and Chaozu was almost in his face.

"Goku, it's bad, really bad! We've got androids on the planet and what's worse, they look a lot like Freeza!" Chaozu yelled and Goku's eyes widened in surprise.

"Freeza?!"

"Yeah, it's bad. These androids are looking for the Dragonballs, but for what purpose we don't know yet. They destroyed my school, killed a lot of my students, and knocked me out but I guess they took off when they couldn't find the Dragonball. I hit them with a Kikoho but it didn't seem to be all that effective. They were like liquid reforming itself, it's hard to explain. Right now we're off to warn Bulma and to ask that she gather the Dragonballs as quickly as possible so we can wish those androids away from here."

"Tien, you shouldn't talk so much, you should save your strength for finding the Dragonballs," Chaozu told him and Goku frowned when he felt a spike in Tien's energy.

"Are you sure you're okay? I've been feeling something strange about your energy."

"Strange?"

"Yeah. Did something else happen? I can't help but sense small blips of evil energy inside you, like energy that's not yours but it's there regardless."

"Tien?" Chaozu said, now even more concerned.

"I don't sense anything evil inside me, Goku. I hope there isn't. If you're worried something is wrong with me, I might have to look into some method to cleanse my energy. Would you pass the message along to Bulma in our stead? She needs to know that we've got a looming threat on our hands, and because they're androids like 17 and 18, their energy can't be detected."

"I see, thank you for the advice. We'll have to keep an eye out then for those Freeza-like androids if they show up again. Take good care of yourself, Tien, I hope you can fight off this evil energy," Goku said and Tien nodded, smiling.

"I will. If it consumes me completely, please stop me so I don't do anything I'll regret later. Same goes for you, Chaozu," Tien said and Chaozu glanced at him sadly.

"I'm sorry if I've caused you unnecessary worry," Goku said and Tien waved him off.

"It's ok. I'm glad you brought this up before something unfortunate happens. I at least have a fighting chance now. Please find the Dragonballs before they do," Tien said and he started flying off in the opposite direction.

"There aren't many places on Earth that have purifying springs, so we'll have to trust Goku and the others to do the right thing," he said as the two were flying together.

"Stay strong, Tien, I know you won't let this evil energy consume you," Chaozu cried and Tien smiled at his friend.

Off in the distance, the androids were observing the interaction go down since they had been following Tien from a concealed location. The fact no one can sense them gave them a huge stealth advantage.

"There's no mistake, that was Son Goku, the sworn enemy of Uncle Freeza," Tundra said as he watched Goku fly off.

"He's resisting much more than we had anticipated," Glacial said, referring to Tien.

"This programming is relatively untested. But whatever method he uses that he thinks will help him cleanse himself will be ineffective. It won't be long until he submits completely," Tundra informed her and the two androids smiled.

"Let's follow Goku, he can lead us to more of his associates that we can take advantage of and have them find the Dragonballs for us," Tundra said and the androids nodded to each other, flying low to avoid being spotted by Goku.

When he found her, Goku saw her whiz by in her aircraft.

"Bulma!" Goku yelled, waving his arms. Bulma glanced over to her side and turned her ship around to stop in front of him. She opened up the hatch and looked at him curiously.

"Goku? Is the tournament already over?" she asked and Goku shook his head.

"Nope, there's still one more match to go between Uub and Choi," he told her and she frowned.

"So Pan lost. That's a shame, she's a really good fighter. I guess Uub managed to defeat Buu?" she asked.

"Sort of. Buu decided to concede but he's now in his hibernation phase so he'll be out for a couple months. I came here to give you a message from Tien and Chaozu."

"Huh? Of all the people who need to see me, I never would have expected those two. Don't they have some sort of martial arts school not too far from here?" Bulma asked and Goku frowned. She knew that serious expression better than anyone ever could and knew immediately that this wasn't a playful reunion.

"Freeza's up to no good again," Goku told her and her eyes widened a bit.

"Freeza?! Is he here again?!"

"No, I don't sense his energy anywhere. But we've got just as big of a problem. According to Tien and Chaozu there's two androids that arrived here that they said look just like Freeza and they're searching for the Dragonballs."
Bulma gasped. "That's crazy! If Freeza wanted the Dragonballs, why didn't he come here himself to retrieve them?"

"I don't know," Goku said, hand against his chin. "This doesn't strike me as something he would do."

"Maybe he had some of his scientists create androids to collect the Dragonballs for him so he could arrive later to make his wish?" Bulma speculated.

"If they're like Freeza, they must be very strong. But because they're androids, I can't sense where they are so I could fight them. I don't like that Freeza has this advantage all of a sudden and I wish I knew what he wants to accomplish with this."

"Yeah, this is a bit of a predicament. Oh come on you stupid radar, work!" She cried, smacking the back of the radar to keep it switched on since it was starting to blink in and out.

"Wow, that's a really old model of your Dragon radar," Goku said and Bulma gave him a look.

"It was the only one available since Pilaf stole the better one," Bulma muttered and pressed the button on top to get a better view of the blip with the number 3 on it to indicate three Dragonballs moving together.

"They're not too far from here. I can get the Dragonballs they found and use his radar to get the rest so I can make my wish," Bulma said.

"Do you want me to come with you?" Goku asked.

"It's fine, I can handle Pilaf. He's not as resourceful as he used to be," she told him and Goku waved at her.

"Well, if you're sure you'll be fine, I can go back and watch Uub's match. Stay safe out there!" Goku shouted before he teleported out of Bulma's sight and she closed the hatch.

"Great, even more people are looking for the Dragonballs," she said and gasped when the radar shut off again. She smacked it a few times but it wasn't having an effect this time and she leaned forward, resting her head on the steering wheel, sighing.

"Just what I need right now," she muttered. She took a deep breath to calm herself down and went over her head the coordinates of the radar before it shut down and she nodded.

"Right," she said, determined and she flew off to her estimated location of where Pilaf and his crew were going, which was in the direction of Tien's destroyed martial arts school.

Back on New Namek…

The foot soldiers who had returned deposited four of the seven Dragonballs in front of Freeza and Cooler.

"Communications with squads A through C have gone silent for some time, my Lord," said a Captain of one of the squads who had retrieved the two-star Dragonball.

"Then they failed to retrieve the Dragonballs and were likely killed by some of their warriors," Cooler said, standing up. He got off his chair and rested a hand on its side, staring up at his armored squadron.

"Dore, Neiz, go and retrieve the remaining Dragonballs. You have one hour," Cooler commanded them and the large green-skinned squad member and the other one who had red-scaly skin and a head shaped like an iguana both saluted Cooler, hand to their breastplate and bowed at him.

"I trust you have no objections with this, brother?" Cooler said as he watched the two leave the ship and take to the air.

"Do what you want, it is your ship after all," Freeza said, almost sarcastically.

"You sound as if you doubt the ability of my squadron," Cooler said, glaring at him.

"Oh I'm sure they're a fine bunch, brother. Whether they get the job done is left to speculation," Freeza said, glancing behind him with a smirk.

"Father may have given you his empire to rule, but you're still on my ship as a 'passenger'. If I wanted to I could pull everyone out of here, dump you on this rock and leave you behind to fly around the universe. Don't underestimate my squadron, they will accomplish their task."

Freeza turned around to stare up at Cooler and he glared up at him. His aura exploded into its golden color and he shifted into his Golden form. Cooler was unphased by his brother's transformation but still stared back at him in defiance.

"I needn't remind you, brother, the reason why Father was insistent that I inherited his empire?" Freeza said, grinning maliciously at him and Cooler narrowed his eyes. But he too began to smile back at him and couldn't help but chuckle.

"To think my little brother had so much monkey business to mess around with that he had to actually do some training to keep up with them! You may have rule over this universe but I have the wonderful pleasure of watching you fail at every step. I couldn't care less if you have father's empire. I have a much better present of free entertainment!"

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" Freeza screamed and both Salza and Bonyu backed off, eyes wide in fear, as have the foot soldiers and squad captains who remained behind. They retreated as far away from Freeza as they could while Berryblue casually walked over to the two brothers and cleared her throat as Cooler kept staring at Freeza's menacing look with a salacious grin on his face and Freeza scoffed at him, powering back down to his normal state.

"Your brother always had a way of getting under your skin, Lord Freeza. Despite how much growth you've made-"

"Albeit very little of it," Cooler interjected, poking fun at Freeza's height which got him a sour look.

"I'm impressed only Lord Cooler has made you this unhinged so easily, so there is progress to be grateful for."

"Spare me the encouragement, Berryblue. Just make sure your squadron do their job, brother," Freeza said and crossed his arms, no longer amused. He didn't even want to see a glimpse of Cooler's frame in his vision at the moment since he was still quite salty about the comments and he studied the display to distract himself.

Scolded…

Bulma flew in the air for a bit, the radio in her aircraft playing music to pass the time. She tapped her fingers on the steering wheel since this was one of her favorite stations she played often as she travelled. She'd often get comments from Vegeta asking why she loves that music so much but she never could give him a good enough answer.

"I just do, deal with it," she'd tell him after she had enough of his critique and he left it alone from then on.

Overhead, she could see small figures run along a trail to the remains of Tien's destroyed school and she smiled.

"Gotcha," she muttered with a smile and flew her craft down. When she passed the three overhead, the winds she kicked up almost blew Pilaf and Shu down, and Bao had to grab both of them before they fell face-first in the gravel.

"When did the wind blow so hard?" Bao asked as Pilaf breathed a sigh of relief, dusting himself off. He looked at the dragon radar and pointed behind him to the ruined temple.

"Hm, I don't think this place looked like this before," Shu alluded and Pilaf waved him off.

"Does it matter? The Dragonball's in there alright. It won't be long until we've got the fourth one, then we can go after the next one. I can see the goal posts now!" he said, laughing. Bao blinked as he saw a woman approach Pilaf and Shu from behind them.

"Uh, Mr. Pilaf?"

"Not now, Bao, I'm busy gloating. Shu, look at my gloating face! I'll have the Dragonballs and my wish for world domination at long last!" Pilaf cried out, laughing even more and Shu applauded him.

"We don't have to worry about anyone getting in our way this time," Shu said and he too joined Pilaf In his laughing.

"Um, boss?"

"Bao, shut up and laugh with me! We will be victorious!" Pilaf cut him off and the two continued laughing.

"But boss, there's someone behind you and I don't think she wants to laugh," Bao said, pointing at the figure behind them. Pilaf stopped and glared at Bao, annoyed, then noticed a shadow looming over him. He recognized the hairstyle in the shadow's silhouette and he gulped. He looked up and saw a pair of eyes leering down at him with a grin on her face.

Seconds later, Bulma punched Pilaf hard in the back of his head.

"Oh dear, oh dear, this isn't good," Shu said and he prostrated himself before Bulma, going down on his knees and pleading with his hands together.

"I'm sorry, Miss Bulma! It was Pilaf's idea, I swear!" Shu said nervously and Pilaf was still disoriented when he stood up, holding the back of his head. He spun around and cried out, dropping the Dragon radar in the process. He had the bag with the three Dragonballs in his possession and he backed off towards Bao, clutching them tightly like his life depended on it and he stared at her.

"N-now listen here, you! I'm tired of playing your little servant games! I'm going to find the Dragonballs and then you'll be very sorry you've made a fool out of me all these years!"

Bulma picked up the Dragon radar and waved it in front of him with a coy smirk.

"And how will you be accomplishing that?" she said and Pilaf gaped at her, growling with tears in his eyes.

"It's not fair! I'll never get my wish! Why can't I get my wish, dammit!" he yelled, stamping his feet and jumping up and down having a tantrum and Shu shielded his eyes.

"Oh dear this is embarrassing," he muttered. Pilaf stopped and moved behind Bao, pointing at Bulma.

"Bao! Be useful and take the Dragon radar back from her grubby old lady hands!" Pilaf said.

"GRUBBY OLD LADY HANDS?!" Bulma screamed and she ran off to pursue Pilaf, who bolted the moment she dashed towards him and she chased him around the area before he tripped and the bag spilled the Dragonballs out onto a patch of grass. He scrambled to grab one of them while Bulma managed to snatch the other two, putting them in her lab coat pockets.

"Um, should I still go get the dragon radar, Mr. Shu?" Bao asked, pointing at Bulma. "That lady looks scary."

"No, you don't need to do anything, Bao. Pilaf! It's over, give the Dragonball to Bulma!" Shu cried out to Pilaf and he glared back at him.

"NO! I'm not giving up what I worked hard to obtain! It's my Dragonball! MINE!" He screamed, staring defiantly at Bulma as he clutched the Dragonball tightly in his hand. Bulma walked over to him and he cradled the ball against him. Bulma extended her hand, waiting for him to hand it over and she cleared her throat. Pilaf broke down in an embarrassing blubbery mess and flailed about on the ground as Bulma took the Dragonball from his hand. His screams of "it's not fair!" fell on deaf ears as she took his bag as well and placed the three balls back inside, putting the bag around her shoulder. She activated the Dragon radar again and smiled at how smoothly the device was running.

"Ah, this is so much better now," she said, smiling as she walked over to the wreckage of the temple and she sighed.

"Tenshinhan worked so hard to run this only to have it destroyed so easily," she said, kneeling down to put a hand on one of the blocks of cement that was once a part of a statue. She stood up and looked ahead.

"It's in here somewhere, 300 meters straight ahead," she said as she walked forward. She glanced behind at Shu and Bao, blinking.

"Well? Are you two coming or not?" she said and Shu looked back at Pilaf, who was still in the midst of his tantrum and he frowned.

"Uh, y-yes, Miss Bulma! Come on, Bao, we might need your strength to move some loose rocks," Shu told the large man and Bao waved at Pilaf.

"Bye Boss! It was nice working for ya!" he said and ran to join Shu and Bulma.

When they were inside, Bao moved several pillars and rocks blocking their path to clear the way. Since none of them could fly on their own power, they had to use alternate methods to move onward since Chaozu could easily fly over the obstacles and pass through small gaps due to his size.

In the distance, Tundra and Glacial observed the trio move into the temple and they smiled.

"So they were hiding a Dragonball from us," Tundra said.

"That human woman will lead us to the rest of them. She's in possession of some sort of device that tracks their location," Glacial added and Tundra nodded.

"I suggest we split for now," he said. "I will follow the human woman as she finds the remaining Dragonballs. You go an ensure our newest 'acquisition' is up to speed and completely infected."

"That human did possess quite a bit of power, we weren't expecting a level of attack that big," Glacial mentioned and Tundra nodded.

"Correct. It is likely that Son Goku and several of his kin and friends are equally if not more powerful than the one we infected. We may have to infect those as well to increase our numbers."

"Build an army for father?" Glacial asked and Tundra nodded, grinning.

"I am open to that idea, yes."

"We only need to inflict a small injury to accomplish what we need," she said and chuckled a bit. "Very well, I'll ensure the takeover is complete and maybe infect his companion too."

Glacial took to the air and flew off in the direction she remembered Tien and Chaozu fly off to, and it wasn't long before she caught up to them from a distance since they weren't flying as fast.