It was time.

Gine had never made a false moon before, but she'd seen Bardock make one plenty of times. Frieza thought so highly of his transformations, but he'd forgotten that Saiyans transformed too, and that was going to be his downfall.

She was done playing around anyway. She'd toyed with the galactic emperor, played him like a yoyo on a string, and now she was ready to end him.

He'd killed her people. She hadn't always liked them, hadn't always been like them. But they were hers, even if she hadn't always been theirs. She was a Saiyan. At least one Saiyan had acknowledged that. And she owed it to him, at least, to kill Frieza once and for all.

Gine held out her hand, and—

And what?

A ball of ki appeared over her palm, but it was just a ball of energy. It didn't look right. Green, it had always been green. How did you make your ki a different color? And there had been something about waves, Bardock had said, but she'd been seventeen and staring dreamily at his lips, not listening to the words coming out of them. Damn!

It mixed with the atmosphere, that was the secret, it burst open all at once and the ki mixing with the atmosphere created a reaction. But what type of ki? Mix it how? Gine worked her fingers, the ball of ki flickering through the rainbow, going out and sparking to life again.

Nothing.

She'd forgotten. She'd never known how. She'd never thought she'd need to know.

Frieza, who had been watching all this with a nasty grin, phased forward and buried his fist in her gut, and the tiny ball of ki in her hand fizzled and went out.

"Man, if you hadn't been so hungry, maybe you woulda beat Jackie Chun!" Krillin said.

"Nah." Kakarot shook his head. "I think I still woulda lost— that old guy was great!"

"That's right!" Master Roshi interjected quickly. "Remember, both of you, no matter how strong you get, there's always someone stronger than you out there."

Kakarot had known exactly who he meant.

Gine sagged to her knees, clutching her stomach. Frieza's distorted grin grew wider. Kakarot watched, enraged, as the emperor began to give back every wound Gine had given him with interest.

Kakarot ground his teeth. If only he could help. If only she could go Oozaru… wait! That's what she had been doing! She'd been trying to make a moon. But she didn't know how, and neither did he.

"Vegeta!" He whirled on the Prince. "Make that light! The fake moon! If she goes Oozaru she can still beat him."

But the Prince sneered.

"Clearly none of you understand what a Super Saiyan is. Let me demonstrate."

And the fool prince flew toward Frieza with every ounce of his strength concentrated in his fist, screaming a battle cry. Frieza, busy battering Gine with his tail while holding her aloft by the neck, merely reached out with his free hand and flicked Vegeta away without looking. The prince sailed backwards, coming to rest with a crash at Kakarot's feet.

The entire exchange had taken three-quarters of a second.

"Now do you get it?" Kakarot leaned over him, exasperated. "Hurry up and make the moon. Only you know how."

Vegeta sat up slowly, holding a hand to the mark on his forehead where Frieza's fingers had made contact. He was staring slack-jawed at the carnage going on in front of him.

"All this time," he whispered. "He was… All this time…" Vegeta began to tremble, and for the second time that day tears began streaming from his eyes. Krillin made a noise of disgust.

"What happened to all that bravado just now, your highness?"

But Vegeta was too terrified to respond. Kakarot took him by the scruff of his neck and shook him, hoping to snap him out of it, but he only let himself be shaken, still staring at Frieza dismantling Gine.

Krillin flung up his hands. "Well, he's a lost cause."

"If none of you are going to help her, I will!" Gohan shouted, running at Frieza. Kakarot yelled for him to stop, but it was Chi Chi who flung out an arm to bar his way.

"No, Gohan," she said, and for the first time in several minutes she took her eyes off the fight. She looked at Kakarot. "You need to help her."

Kakarot gaped at her. "I can't!"

Chi Chi inflated with rage, and turned her back on the combatants completely to march up to her husband. "What do you mean, you can't? You're strong enough to help. You're strong enough to end this right now!"

"She doesn't want me to!"

His wife's nostrils flared dangerously. Behind his general terror at the situation, and even behind the specific terror of his wife being mad at him, Kakarot couldn't help but appreciate the sight of Chi Chi at the full height of her fury.

"And how do you know that?" she growled through clenched teeth. He shrugged helplessly.

"I just know!"

"Who cares what she wants!" Chi Chi shouted. "She's going to die getting what she wants! Is that what you want?"

Kakarot shook his head slowly. Chi Chi didn't understand. How to make her understand? "She doesn't need my help!" he shot back, his voice almost (almost) a yell. "She's— She's—"

She was stronger than him. She had always been stronger than him. She would always be stronger than him. Oh, maybe someday she would get old and retire, but probably not. Master Roshi was a couple hundred years old and used a walking stick, but he was still one of the most dangerous humans in existence. His ma couldn't— she wouldn't ever—

Out of the corner of his eye Kakarot saw Frieza fling Gine to the ground. Gine did not get up.

"Well, that's that I suppose," Frieza said, and raised a hand. The tips of all five of his fingers began to glow red. Gine moaned but did not rise.

No, a calm, distant part of his brain thought, even as the rest of his body moved automatically. Ma can't lose. There's always someone stronger out there.

Kakarot stood in front of his mother and deflected the blasts, sending them sailing into the ocean. The water exploded with steam, and the three of them were drenched with hot rain. Frieza raised an eyebrow.

"Oh? And what are you?"

Kakarot stared down the nightmare of his mother's people. If she couldn't fight him, then he would. "I'm a Saiyan from Earth," he said.

Frieza curled his lips back over his distended mouth in a parody of a smile.

"I really need to invest in some pest control," he said. "Since I seem to have failed at it so profoundly."

"You know what they say," Kakarot said, getting into his strongest stance. "If at first you don't succeed..."

Frieza laughed.

"Oh, this is going to be fun."

Kakarot agreed.

From where she lay, all Gine could see was Kakarot's boots, and then even they disappeared as he charged at Frieza. The noise of their battle, even more intense than hers, sounded all around her as the two of them clashed. With effort she rolled onto her stomach. Breathed. Braced herself. Got her knees under her. And that was all she had strength for. Because she was weak.

Her breathing sped up in rage or frustration or sorrow, she couldn't tell. She'd had him. And then she hadn't. And Kakarot had had to step in. Like Bardock always had. Because she'd always been weak.

All that training, all those zenkais, that boost from the Grand Elder. What was the point of it all if she couldn't kill the one person whose death really mattered? She might as well have stayed home on Earth and grown rhubarb. Better than coming all the way out here only to have her inadequacies shoved in her face again. Because she was weak, and always would be.

She raised her head and watched her son fight her battle for her.

With the ease of a dancer Kakarot dodged and leapt around the battlefield, his movements perfectly timed, always one step ahead of Frieza. His punches were devastating, his kicks crisp and precise. He moved like someone completely at ease in his body, someone completely in control.

Someone who loved to fight.

Gine could still feel the sick need pulsing under her skin, but it was more about vengeance than joy. If she could have held a gun to Frieza's head and killed him that way, she would in a heartbeat. But even in the most desperate circumstances, Kakarot fought like there was nothing he'd rather be doing. He was skilled. He was strong. And he always would be.

Despair welled up inside her, overriding her fatigue, and she pounded the ground with her fist. The earth cracked and shattered at the blows, but she barely saw it through the hot, angry tears in her eyes.

What good was she? What good was all the training she'd done? The battlefield belonged to other people, not her. Never her. Piccolo had nearly beaten her. Vegeta had been miles out of her league. Frieza was always one step ahead of her. What was she doing here?

She struck the ground one more time, and then the despair ebbed as quickly as it had flowed, taking the rest of her strength with it. She lowered her head again, utterly spent. Kakarot would make short work of the emperor and then they would go home. And she would tend to her garden, and always she would know that it was Bardock's blood that made their son strong, not hers.

The noise of battle stopped, and Gine raised her head in time to see Frieza, now in a smaller, sleeker form, point a finger at Kakarot's chest and fire.