Frieza leaned forward and put his foot on Vegeta's head.
"Are you still awake, Prince? I want you to feel every second of the agony I'm about to put you through."
He twisted his foot, shoving Vegeta's face into the dirt. The Prince moaned, unable to do anything about it. Frieza was ignoring the rest of them, completely focused on tormenting Vegeta. Gine felt Kakarot's eyes on her, asking her what to do. They were the only two who could stop this, and Gine wasn't sure they should.
But then, as Vegeta's agonizing cries echoed across the empty landscape, Gine realized something.
Tilus' words echoed in her head: "Mercy is never the wrong choice." And even now, she knew the Namekian was wrong. Vegeta was a stain on the galaxy and she would personally sleep better at night if he was no longer in it. But he was a Saiyan, same as her, and if she stood by and did nothing while Frieza killed him she would be no better than either of them.
Gine phased forward, kicked Vegeta out of the way, and punched Frieza in the face.
Completely unprepared, the tyrant pinwheeled backward through the air, crashing into a mountain a kilometer away. Vegeta groaned, but Gine ignored him. She only had a few seconds before Frieza got his wits about him and returned. Behind her, Kakarot was speaking urgently to Chi Chi and Gohan; Nail was saying something about the Grand Elder, Dende's high, frightened voice answering him. But Gine ignored them all. She could feel a laugh bubbling up in her chest that threatened to overwhelm her composure.
She'd just decked Lord Frieza in the face.
In an instant Frieza was back, rage contorting his face. "How," he spat, his fingers going for a scouter that was no longer there. When his fingers met only air he instead clenched his fist and stared at her with far more interest than he'd shown Vegeta. That stare would have been enough to make her knees buckle, back in the day. Now the laugh surged again and she made a strangled sound to keep it in check. Frieza nodded slowly.
"A fluke," he said slowly, as though convincing himself, and Gine punched him again.
He was a little more prepared this time— he didn't go flying. But he staggered back several steps. As though she was following her fists Gine pressed her advantage, harrying him with punches and kicks he could barely avoid. He had terrible form, she realized. His blocks were sloppy and his posture did nothing to center and control his energy flow. He clearly relied on his overwhelming strength to win— but that wouldn't help him now. Somehow, amazingly, she was stronger than him. Stronger than Frieza. Her.
Gine felt a grin stretch across her face. She could no longer recall why she was holding back her laughter, and let it loose. She struck Frieza again and again, growing giddier and giddier with every blow.
She felt distant from her body, like any moment now she would roll over in bed and wake up. Frieza's nose began to bleed. She felt her grin stretch wider. There was a kite string in her hand, and she let it go, following it up, up, up into the sky until she disappeared.
Kakarot felt something seize up in his chest. Beside him, Chi Chi had pressed both hands over her mouth. Even Nail and Dende, as worried as they were about the Grand Elder, had stopped to watch.
His mother was laughing.
He'd never heard his mother laugh like that, not once in his whole life. She was grinning hugely, her eyes wide and full of hate. Frieza was totally overwhelmed and Gine was reveling in it. Vegeta, coughing up blood, was crawling toward Dende, begging for healing. No one paid him any attention.
"Grandma…" Gohan whispered. Kakarot pulled his son close, both of them staring at Gine as she dismantled the tyrant. He had always wondered what kind of being could destroy a world: one that had not just the power, but the inclination. He'd grown up knowing, vaguely, that he and his mother had come from another planet, and that that planet had been destroyed. Now that he was actually feeling the unutterable horror of Frieza's ki, darker and more potent than ink poured onto a blank page, he thought he understood why the Saiyans had all been so nasty: compared to this, a little raping and pillaging was nothing.
She'd tried to tell them, Gine had. How awful Saiyans were. He hadn't understood then. She wasn't like that. She was soft, and good, and kind. He'd been unable to wrap his mind around the idea that someone like his mother had come from monsters.
But this person, wielding death in her palms, looked like she was enjoying herself. Kakarot had never wondered if his ma enjoyed fighting. It was like asking if someone enjoyed eating. But the dark delight he could see in her eyes was nothing like her usual quiet contentment, and it gave him the willies.
"It's no use," he heard Dende sob, and he turned to see the boy exiting the house. Gohan ran to him, taking him by the hands. Nail hovered over both of them. Dende sniffed and tears ran down his cheeks. "The Grand Elder is dying. He says Frieza's evil energy is— He says— And I can't do– anything—!"
Dende cried, leaning his face on Gohan's shoulder. Chi Chi lowered her hands from her face and glowered fiercely.
"Ma!" she called. Gine and Frieza were in midair some distance away by now, and as they watched Gine kicked him viciously in the head before following it with an uppercut and then slamming both fists into his gut. She was still grinning. Chi Chi cupped her hands around her mouth and bellowed, "Get it over with, ma!"
With slow deliberateness Gine reached a hand behind her and, without taking her eyes off Frieza, shot a ki blast at the ground next to Chi Chi. Rocks and grass exploded into the air. Gine continued with the beating as though nothing had happened.
Krillin was trembling. "She… she…"
Kakarot looked at his wife, dumbfounded. But Chi Chi was glaring up at Gine, shaking with rage.
"How rude!" She ground her teeth. "I'm not giving back the tablecloth I borrowed." She turned her glare on Kakarot. "The black one with red flowers? Don't give it to her, even if she asks."
Kakarot did not have it in him at that moment to hold back the chuckle that escaped his lips. Nothing phased his wife, nothing at all, and that was almost as frightening as his mother was right now.
He looked back at Gine, her fists grinding into Frieza's face over and over in time to her laughter.
Almost.
Suddenly, Frieza halted, and held up a hand. Gine stopped her barrage, vaguely interested to see how the emperor would plead for his life. But he wasn't surrendering. He was smiling.
"Not bad," he said. "I'm genuinely impressed. That doesn't happen often, you know. Savor this moment, woman, for it is over."
Tensing, Frieza blew the armor he was wearing into pieces. Gine cocked her head to one side, curious.
Growling deep in his throat, Frieza crouched. After a moment his torso expanded to twice its size, and with it his ki jumped. Then his arms lengthened, and then his legs. Last, with a painful grunt, his head grew to match his now enormous body. Gine watched it all impassively.
"You should feel honored." Frieza straightened from his crouch. His voice was deeper now, and somehow even more full of malice. "There aren't many who have seen this form, and even fewer who lived to speak of it. Do feel free to test it out."
He spread his arms invitingly, grinning a wicked grin.
He was a lot stronger, Gine could tell. He was easily twice what he had been. Distantly, she expected to be worried about that, and was distantly surprised when she wasn't. He was still sloppy, still too used to having things all his own way. He would be even more devastated when she beat him like this.
She couldn't wait.
