Co-written by SuperSaiyan2Link.


Earlier

Ginyu, in Pan's body as a result of Jeice's meddling, and without Recoome and Burter due to Guldo supposedly abandoning them, was picking back and forth between which of the two he would execute with a blast. Both hypothetical recipients were frozen stiff, believing if either moved, Ginyu would use it as the basis for his choice. His humming of a tune to himself as he went back and forth with his hand only made it even more intense for them.

With the tune coming to an end, Guldo hunched over onto his knees, his arms covering his head. Seeing Guldo duck, Jeice couldn't help but follow suit. Ginyu took note of this, but kept to the final note.

*BEEP*

Ginyu was confused to find that according to his scouter, only one of the two remained.

"What in the...?"

He turned to Jeice, whom the scouter could read clear as day.

"Then that means..."

Looking straight at the ducking Guldo, all four of his eyes closed, he saw that he remained while the scouter couldn't.

"Jeice."

Quickly stepping onto his feet...

"Captain?"

"Give me Guldo's power level."

He pressed on his scouter, at first scoffing at the idea.

"Not like his is even that much..." he quietly muttered to himself.

But once the reading came back to him...

*BEEP*

Jeice was awestruck at his seemingly puny comrade.

"You... you ain't even being read on this thing!"

Guldo, now feeling like he was not about to be destroyed, stood back up as Ginyu crouched down to look at him at his eye level.

"How did you do that just now?"

"I wish I knew," Guldo began. "Somehow... I guess I tried to be hidden. Be invisible."

"Well you didn't quite do that, but hiding your power..."

Jeice entered in, almost sounding excited.

"That's just what those Earthlings and that Saiyan have been doing to us, and you figured it out just now!"

Now Ginyu pondered while remaining crouched, stoically frozen like a statue of a thinker.

"Can you teach us, Guldo?" inquired Jeice.

"I don't even know how I did it! I couldn't even begin to teach...!"

"You don't have to," re-entered Ginyu, who was now standing up, towering over Guldo. "We will make use of this newfound ability. Now when the Earthlings face you, they will be forced to contend with someone they cannot find with their other senses. Only through sight."

"I can only imagine the look on their faces when they can't find him," went Jeice enthusiastically.

But then Guldo had a thought.

"If I might make a suggestion, Captain... what if you and Jeice approach them while I join you unseen?"

"Heh," went Jeice, back to jeering at Guldo. "Trying to save yourself all the work? Lazy..."

"Now wait a minute..." went Ginyu with a hand out. "So you, Guldo... you'd be lying in wait unknown to the enemy, then when they least expect it..."

But then Ginyu realized something that would put a hole in their plan.

"...but shoot, that Saiyan saw you earlier. He might be awaiting your arrival."

The three were left to evaluate how to get around it. Jeice had his hand up with a thought.

"How about this, Captain? Maybe you and I could tell 'em that you greased Guldo for... I don't know... insubordination for something..."

"Oh geez, are you still on about that?" went Guldo, his arms crossed.

"Oh, of course!" went Ginyu, a hearty fist raised. "We compel them into believing our ruse, and if I am still unable to switch bodies with the Saiyan, then you, Guldo, will set that Saiyan up for my technique. It's brilliant!"

Ginyu could barely contain how ecstatic the plan made him, but then cleared his throat and recomposed himself.

"Then it's settled. Guldo and Jeice, your plan is a go."

The two comrades, whose dislike of one another had previously left them trying to get the other killed instead of themselves, were now looking back at one another with comradery and even some admiration.

"You're not so bad at the whole planning thing, Jeice."

"It was your plan, Guldo. Just threw in a few bells and whistles is all."

Ginyu knelt down, his hand out and lowered so Guldo could reach. With that, Guldo and Jeice placed their hands over his.

"If we pull this off, and Lord Frieza achieves immortality, the sundaes are on me."

As if they all counted to three in their heads simultaneously, they lowered, then raised their hands into the air while shouting "Ginyu Force!"


"I don't understand."

"Understand what, Mira?"

Mira, while his expression was as still as his posture, gave away just enough in his facial muscles to indicate some puzzlement.

"How is it after everything we've done... bringing back Guldo... instilling into Guldo the ability to hide his ki... all that time Ginyu spent in the patroller's body... Goku as himself for far longer than before... and still, Ginyu went exactly the route he took in history."

"Think of the flow of time like a body of water, Mira. A river. So far, we have been creating ripples. Time, history, corrects itself. The flow and direction remain the same."

"And what we're trying to do..."

"Is change the tide. Shift the river in another direction... just as Trunks did long ago."

Mira returned to assessing the situation.

"Ginyu is where he should be at this point in history: Goku's body. That much has been corrected."

"But consider: it took considerably longer to reach this point, Ginyu has switched bodies with two recipients, Goku has a new wound, and Guldo is involved far past the point of his death."

"Time can correct small differences, just as it has in our prior attempts... but if prolonged long enough and with major changes..."

"Time will not be able to correct itself and Chronoa will have to contend with having failed in her duties a second time."

Mira heard a clatter, then saw Towa picking up her staff.

"Will the formula work with Goku's body?"

"I've made some adjustments. I will try accessing Ginyu's mind."

But then Mira thought of someone she had yet to mention.

"One other factor..."

He turned their attention to someone who had remained in hiding even amidst everything thus far.

"Vegeta will join them soon."

"Not unless the Saiyan Prince is coerced."

Preparing to teleport...

"Watch over me, Mira."

"I will."

The moment Towa disappeared from his view, Mira made his way to the console, watching over what was transpiring to ensure that not only would her end of the mission be carried through, but that she would be safe throughout.


Ginyu, after his laughter concluded, put his scouter over his eye, then continued looking over the hands of the body he had wanted since reading its incredible power.

"Impeccable. This is the body of a perfect warrior. And now it is mine."

Goku, meanwhile, grasping the wound on his side from Jeice's attempt to stab Ginyu during the body change...

"Ginyu! You..."

He was partially shocked to hear himself speak with a different voice, but thinking back to the deception regarding Guldo that led them to this moment...

"You tricked me! Lied to us!"

"It was a legitimate strategy," Ginyu retorted with low-key delight. "It got me your body, didn't it?"

Goku let go of his wound with one hand, so infuriated at Ginyu that he made it into a fist.

"I won't let you keep it!"

"You'll never get the chance to take it back. For one thing..."


Pan, getting to her knees, eyed the currently idle Jeice while overhearing Ginyu's conversation with Goku.

"For one thing... I will never again need to change bodies."

She already knew this wasn't to be, or at least it wasn't supposed to in history.

"Walk me through it, Supreme Kai of Time. What happens with Ginyu?"

"Him being in Goku's body didn't work out as he had hoped. He survived only because Krillin and Gohan held back on him."

"So Krillin and my dad defeated Ginyu?"

"No, it was..."


Trunks, listening in as he waited by Ginyu's rallying point from before...

"It was my father. He practically crippled Goku's body."

"Trying to kill him," went Pan, catching on to Vegeta's less than noble intentions before having to be reminded of his character. "So if I were Towa, I'd want Vegeta out of the picture."

"Supreme Kai of Time, I need you to..."


"I'm looking for your father right now, Trunks."

Chronoa was turning her view towards Frieza's ship.


Vegeta, looking out in the direction of the battle that was now transpiring farther from where he was hiding, could no longer see what was happening. He only sensed six ki sources...

...and a seventh.

"What?!"

Then it disappeared, having vanished just after he caught it. He knew all six combatants' ki clear as day and while it was brief, he knew just whose ki popped up.

"That weaselly green imp..."

Clenching both fists, he was ready to depart straight into the air.

"I'll finish off every single one of Ginyu's..."

"You will remain here."

Towa, her staff to the back of Vegeta's head, was channeling her formula into him. While trying to turn around at first, once his pupils took a purple hue, he stopped moving.

"I will remain here," he repeated in a trance.

"You will let them finish each other off."

"I will let them finish each other off."

"The wish on the Dragon Balls will be all yours."

"The wish on the Dragon Balls will be all mine."

"And then..."

She whispered directly in his ear.

"Immortality."

Taking her staff off of him, Towa slowly walked away from Vegeta, who remained still like a statue.

"And then..."

Still repeating back what Towa said even once she left his presence completely...

"Immortality."


"Oh, I can't wait any longer," went Ginyu, all but salivating at the power he believed was now at his fingertips. "I simply must give this new body a spin."

Goku saw his body turning back to him, his stance indicating his intent to approach him for combat.

"Starting with you."

Goku tried taking on a stance, but clearly winced.

"Now wait a minute, Captain," interrupted Jeice. "You shouldn't need to sully your new body's hands with that Saiyan..."

While Ginyu didn't give Jeice a dirty look, the Red Magna couldn't help but feel like he misphrased what he meant to say.

"Uh, no offense to your old body."

"None taken."

Looking back to the two smaller combatants on Goku's side...

"Then I will test my might with you two."

Goku saw how fearful both Krillin and Gohan appeared at the sight of his own body under the possession of a villain, which was now about to attack them.

"Gohan! Krillin! Listen! You both can beat him!"

"But Dad, he's... he's you!"

"You have the power to do it, but you can't hold back! Stop him without any hesitation, even if you have to kill him!"

This struck his three allies, Pan especially, who so far had seen her grandfather despise the very notion of killing an opponent when unnecessary, but they all understood that Goku took Ginyu as such a threat to everyone he was willing to lose his own body for the greater good.

"Even if it meant being stuck in Ginyu's body for good... he was willing to take that trade-off for everyone's sake..."

As Ginyu attempted channeling power through his new body, Jeice lunged straight at the wounded Goku, a Crusher Ball forming in hand. Pan immediately intercepted, grabbing his wrist with both hands to throw off his aim. The Crusher Ball missed Goku as she had hoped, but its impact with the ground stumbled him all the same.

Taking hold of Pan by the back of her cape, he span her around him, then tossed her downward. Just then, he turned around, seeing Goku jump upward for a double axe handle swing. Jeice grinned, his hand poking out as if to gut him with his fingers.

"Like a fish..."

Before he could muster the ki for his blade, he was struck by a thrown Power Pole to his back. Goku's swing did not knock Jeice down as a result of his adversary being struck forward, but did strike the back of his head, sending Jeice behind him. In midair after the strike, Goku had to grip his side, to which Pan caught up and tried to help steady him. Just from having her right hand over Goku's, which covered his ki blade wound, she could tell it was just as severe, if not more so, than the chest wound she endured.

Jeice, turning around and fuming at how he was still being shown up, conjured ki for perhaps his biggest attack yet. Pan and Goku saw not one, not two, but six Crusher Balls above Jeice's raised arms.

"Now I'll show you lot!"

One by one in sheer rapid succession, each Crusher Ball fired straight at the two like glowing spherical cannonballs. Pan pushed her grandfather out of the way, then, not having the time to get out of the way, swung her Power Pole at each one. While the first two were knocked away cleanly, each subsequently pushed her back and got closer to slipping past to her directly.

Goku, still floating off the ground, saw Jeice forming a seventh and especially massive Crusher Ball as the fifth and six approached Pan. Seeing Jeice turn his gaze to him, Goku got ready to avoid it as best he could...

...but couldn't so much as move a single muscle. His hand over his wound, purple blood slipping through the fingers, couldn't move to adjust to keep the bleeding at bay.

"Again?!"

Pan saw Guldo back on the field, holding Goku in place to set him up for a kill once more. She didn't know if firing at Guldo would free Goku fast enough to avoid the colossal Crusher Ball aimed at him, or if he could even avoid it to begin with in his condition. As it was immediately launched at her grandfather, she decided to stop it herself.

"Kaio-Ken!"

Not wanting to chance that saying "times three" or "times four" would take too much time, she flew right to Goku, pushing him out of the way...

...right back towards Gohan and Krillin's battle with Ginyu.

"Shoot!"

Just then realizing Jeice's projectile was about to make impact with her, she put her hands out to catch it. She was holding it back, but knew it would've been with far more ease with Kaio-Ken times three or four.

Jeice, seeing Goku out of his reach and that Pan was still withstanding perhaps his ultimate technique, was beyond embittered at this point.

"Oh that tears it!"

Charging ki into his palm pointed right at his massive projectile...

"Let's see you smirk this one off!"

Pan quickly put two and two together and prepared to power up.

"Kaio-...!"

The blast was coming in too fast for her to finish.

"Crap!"

She tried drawing her shield over herself quickly...


Ginyu, a few small bruises on the face of his new body, was increasingly growing frustrated at how well Krillin and Gohan combated him and how poorly he seemed to be utilizing Goku's power.

"His body measured at a hundred eighty thousand and instead I'm fighting like I can only go twenty, twenty three thousand!"

As he tried holding them both off at once, one with each hand, he saw his old body within view, not appearing in much worse shape from before.

"You had one simple task, Jeice! I didn't even request for you to do it; you volunteered yourself!"

An explosion in the distance robbed the two attacking him of their attention long enough for him to slip past. By the time they tried to catch him, they were both frozen in place.

"It's about time, Guldo!"

Guldo, standing atop a structure, glowed purple and seemed well-rested.

"Shall I skewer them now, Captain?"

Goku, perturbed to see Guldo holding his son and his best friend, made his way to him and Ginyu without hesitation.

"Let them go! I'm the one you want!"

Guldo got ready to lift his hand to grab any number of objects below him, but Ginyu put out a hand.

"No, Guldo. I want you to put all your focus and power on holding them... until I kill this Saiyan."

"A fair fight?" Goku asked. "Just you and me, Ginyu?"

"A fair fight. Just you and me, Saiyan."

Even amidst his trickery from before, Ginyu's honor was starting to show through. Though even then...

"Might as well fight him fair. It's not like my old body'll defeat his with that wound."


Jeice floated back down to the ground, watching as the dust settled. With everything he had seen her do so far, he already had more than a feeling that Pan had survived.

And there she was, walking to him.

"You know what, girlie? I'll give you some credit. You had me beat earlier, I'll admit..."

All this time, Jeice wasn't disheartened as her approach was somewhat slow, and he could hear her breathing. Even with all the energy he spent, he was confident that he had more than enough to finish her where she stood.

"But then Ginyu took your body... and you and that Saiyan went and beat yourself up. Must've been horrible having to fight yourself. Getting back your body's all well and good, but you got it with all the damage included. After spending so much energy withstanding my last attack, I bet you're tired and out of juice. But I have plenty more to spare on the likes on you. And now your odds against me are..."

Jeice's taunting of Pan was interrupted by her suddenly emerging in front of him, punching him right in the face. He grinded against the ground on his back before stopping, but upon getting back up, he reeled with both hands over his face...

...specifically his nose.

"Damn near broke it..."

He fired one ki bullet at her, which she swerved to avoid without even moving one leg.

"No!"

Another, but to the same result, again without her even needing to take to the air or so much as roll or step aside. Pan still came to Jeice on foot, her pace increased, and it became clear as day that she had been acting more fatigued earlier than she actually was. He lunged straight for her, his blade of ki desperate to skewer her then and there...

"Try blocking it with your fancy red stick now, you conning little b...!"

...but saw it stopped by not just a ki-covered hand, but her right index finger.

"No, no no! This...! This ain't fair!"

He swung relentlessly at her, but she continued stopping it with that finger alone.

"You can't be doing this! It ain't natural! You're cheatin' somehow! I just know it!"

Now using two fingers to trap his blade, Pan tossed him behind her, then began running in a circle around him. He tried following her movements, but it was almost as if an additional Pan blurred in with each cycle.

But as she occupied Jeice, she knew another figure was supposed to be there.

"How long until Vegeta joins the fray?"

"He should be joining any..."


Chronoa, now seeing Vegeta...

"He's not moving!"


"Father!"

Trunks wanted to fly straight over to free him, but he and Chronoa knew why he couldn't.

"Trunks, stay still. I'm sending you back now."


Upon his return to the library...

"Towa knows I can't meet my father before I enter the timeline and Pan getting to him will expose everyone else. What are we going to do?"

"I will get him out of this, but I'm going to need you to..."

"Supreme Kai of Time... Trunks..." Pan interrupted.


She, while waiting on an answer from one of the two, stopped as Jeice saw, from his perspective, several of her standing in place.

"Pan, she'll take care of my father."

Jeice fired at one afterimage after the other, all the more desperate to figure out which one was actually her.

"What's Goku's status?"

She realized her grandfather was back in Ginyu's crosshairs as a result of her actions from before.


From their end, Trunks and Chronoa caught Pan shouting something particularly explicit in her head.

"Pan, is everything alright?"


She crouched, small pebbles starting to float off the ground.

"One second, Trunks!"

Jeice finally found her.

"There you a...!"

Just then, Pan zoomed straight into the air, a small crater resulting from the impact of her takeoff.

"Hey! Get back here!"

Seeing that she had left his line of sight, Jeice hunched over, freely huffing and puffing from how much he had been pushed.

"Damn her! Captain ain't gonna be happy with me about this one..."


Guldo, and technically Gohan and Krillin from where they were frozen, watched in astonishment as Goku, even with the wound to his side, was fighting almost evenly with Ginyu.

"That Saiyan's still going strong. Is the Captain's old body that strong... or is something wrong with the new one?"

But Goku already knew one reason for this.

"Ginyu doesn't know any of my techniques. Even if he could fight with all my body's might, he wouldn't be able to go further beyond."

Guldo felt wind brushing up against him...

"Agh!"

...as well as a grain of dirt getting in his eye. This broke his concentration enough for Gohan and Krillin to free themselves.

"Gohan, now!"

Both tried attacking Guldo...

...but he immediately disappeared from their sight, no doubt with his time stop. As they both realized they couldn't sense his location like they could before...

"Krillin, where did he...?"

Both were suddenly stuck again.

"Can't find me anymore, can you, you little squirts?"

As Goku clearly put his attention on the three, Ginyu wanted to strike...

...but someone was hovering behind him.

"Is that...?"

Towa put her staff to the back of Ginyu's head, to which he froze as a purple glow overtook his new body. Goku couldn't see Towa, but knew something was happening to Ginyu.

"He had that purple glow before... but not with my body so far. Why now?"

Ginyu didn't even so much as think as he was suspended in both body and mind. With him in a fixed state...

"Kaio-Ken," Towa whispered to him.

Pressing on an earpiece...

"Now, Mira."

Goku saw a flash of white light, almost like a pillar, behind Ginyu with only a faint shape of someone in a lab coat of some sort briefly visible to him.

"Was that... a woman? Is she with the girl whose helped us?"

But then he heard Ginyu muttering something aloud.

"Kaio... K-K-Kaio-K..."

Goku, Gohan, and Krillin all feared what this meant.

"I don't know how to use any of Ginyu's techniques. How could he have possibly figured out how to use Kaio...?"

"KAIO-KEN!"

Surging with a red glow atop of his purple one, Ginyu flew at a higher speed than any Goku had encountered so far against him. He blocked the first punch with crossed arms, but he was sent upward as he saw Ginyu flying over him and turning to intercept him. While Goku could track Ginyu's speed and anticipate where he'd strike, he found Ginyu's body couldn't move fast enough to capitalize on this.

A kick to his back sent Goku careening downward, after which he saw Ginyu on the ground with a palm out...

...catching him while his hand dug into Goku's armor and chest.

"Dad!"

"Goku!"

Spitting out purple blood, Goku saw the bandage over his body fly off and felt an immense pain from what it once covered.

"His chest wound... he's opened it back up."

Goku grabbed onto Ginyu's wrist in an effort, vain as it may be, to keep him from stabbing even deeper. Even if he could somehow get Ginyu off of him, he already feared what'd come from the bout going on any further.

"With both these wounds... I can't fight... not without losing all this body's blood."

He tried appealing to the little honor Ginyu had shown.

"You had help, Ginyu. You refused help before."

"No. I just figured out how to tap into your true power."

Looking at his fingers from his other hand, an aura of red ki around them...

"Now I could give even Lord Frieza a good fight."

Guldo's jaw dropped.

"You mean... you could actually beat him...?"

This comment resulted in Ginyu losing his composure.

"NO! I didn't say that at all! I would never dare to suggest such a thing! I merely said that I could give him a good fight!"

But then he laser-focused on Goku once again, his eyes blazing with red.

"Well, Saiyan..."

He was ready to drive his freed hand into Goku's face.

"Thanks for the body."

Gohan and Krillin couldn't look away, nor could they move their eyelids to close their eyes in the face of Goku's demise. They saw the arm become a blur...

...but the impact they heard was that of a tackle, not an impaling punch. Pan rolled across the ground with a tight grip around Ginyu as the freed Goku fell to his knees.

"She made it!"

"She saved Dad!"

After booting Pan away from him, Ginyu shouted "Kill them now!" Seeing Guldo while on her back, Pan fired right at him. He vanished, having stopped time to flee, but now Gohan and Krillin were free.

Angered at her interference, this then boiled over upon seeing Jeice slowly hovering overhead.

"Maybe I should've made an example out of you..."

Jeice easily read the displeasement on his captain's face at his failures so far.

"C-Cap..."

"Save it, Jeice. Now you'd better kill one of them."

Pan rejoined her father and Krillin and they flew straight towards Ginyu and Jeice, the three covering the wounded twice over Goku...

...who gritted his teeth, small sounds of excruciating pain escaping, as Ginyu's armor gave off a glow and some steam. Once he moved his hands away from his side, the wound from Jeice's ki blade was sealed.

"Okay, that's one," went Goku in his head, then stepped forward to the dread of his three allies.

Pan, while fending off the Kai-Ken enhanced Ginyu, turned briefly to her grandfather, her eyes alone telling him "Don't do this".

"If I can still fight, I have to..."

"Goku, no!"

A new female voice spoke to him...

...through a device on Ginyu's ear.

"Are you the lady with the coat?" he said aloud.

"I'm not. And we need to keep this between us, so don't talk aloud."

"I'm not being that loud."

"No, I meant..."


Chronoa spoke with Goku while Trunks overlooked the battle.

"Just talk with your thoughts. I'll hear you."

"Can you at least tell me your name?" Goku asked.

"I can't, Goku, and there isn't time to explain, but I'm on your side."


As he began this new conversation mentally, Goku watched the battle between Pan and Ginyu in his body.

"She's helped me all this time and I still don't know her name either..."


Hearing this, the Supreme Kai of Time had to consider the risk in what she was about to tell Goku, but knew leaving him with silence would only push him back to reentering the battle.

"I'm with her. We're both doing all this to help you and everyone you care about."


Goku, taking in what he had been told, began to drop his stance.

"It's how she was able to help me against Turles... and still protect Gohan and Krillin before I got here."

"Look, Goku..."

Chronoa tried thinking of how to go about responding to what Goku was figuring out, but returned to her primary concern.

"Goku, the best thing you can do right now is stay back and leave it to them."

From what Goku could see, Pan, Krillin, and Gohan weren't struggling, yet even then, he felt that without another person to help...

"I can't just leave them."

"Do you have faith in their abilities?"

"It's not about me doubting them. It's all the dangers none of us can see."

He thought back to how Ginyu in his body wasn't the greatest threat until after he took on the purple glow, after which he suddenly gained knowledge of the Kaio-Ken. He even went further back to all the times before he had seen purple glows, which was always followed by his opponents becoming stronger, regaining their composure, or just performing slightly better. And back to where it all started...

"Ever since I fought Piccolo in the tournament, someone has been interfering."

Glancing back to Pan, who was, to him, still a mysterious female ally he knew nothing about...

"That's why she appeared then and why she's been helping all of these times. And whoever's doing all this, I know they're cooking up more. I can't just sit back and let them get the jump on everyone."

Chronoa knew this wasn't Goku wanting to rejoin the battle because he enjoyed fighting, but because he knew something was wrong and he couldn't abide by it.

"I completely understand, Goku, but in your current condition, they'll have the unseen dangers and your health to contend with. If they have to cover for you too, that will put them at a far greater risk."

Goku mentally groaned, still not accepting this circumstance he was in, but ultimately agreeing with it being the right play.

"I just need to know: will they be okay?"

"Goku, I promise you I won't let you down... and neither will she."

Stepping back to where he could watch, but keep his distance, Goku then sat down, allowing himself to try letting his body rest.


Now that Goku had been talked down from fighting, Chronoa took hold of the scroll and began closing it in her hand.

"Trunks, I'm going to need you to watch over me."

"You don't mean..."

"Can you watch over me, Trunks?!"

"Y... yes."

They both knew the risk, but Trunks understood that she wouldn't be doing this if there was any other way.

"Yes, I will, Supreme Kai of Time."

"Good. I'll be counting on you."

Chronoa closed her eyes, then Trunks caught the scroll as she vanished.


Pan kept an eye on Gohan and Krillin holding off Jeice while she herself was locked into a duel with Ginyu. While she was keeping at Kaio-Ken without a further multiplier to match Ginyu's, she knew she couldn't hold it forever.

"You'd better be on your way now, Vegeta..."


Vegeta, immobile like a stone statue, couldn't even blink due to his state.

"Immortality..."

He continually muttered this word, his desire, even as he could clearly hear footsteps behind him.

"Immortality..."

"You're being played, Vegeta."

Chronoa stepped more towards his side, but remained out of his sight.

"You know this isn't the right play."

"If I let them finish each other..."

"Then what?"

"The wish is all mine."

While she remained composed, she was clearly hiding the lightest shade of frustration. But she was determined to snap him out of Towa's spell.

"They couldn't summon the dragon, could they?"

Vegeta's eyes actually widened as he realized this.

"You couldn't possibly get your wish."

"There's three Namekians left. It's their Dragon Balls. I'll get the method... one way or another."

The Supreme Kai of Time had seen enough of Vegeta's history to know there was very little in the way of torture that'd be beneath even him.

"Nothing you could say could involve me with those Earthlings. It's their problem now."

Now his frozen expression was giving way for the slightest grin.

"They took my tail. Without me, Ginyu will take their lives. A fair trade."

Chronoa turned away for a moment, all but visibly fuming at Vegeta not just being stubborn, but his true sadism showing through even despite the spell.

"It's like he isn't even trying to fight the incantation!"

She audibly groaned aloud from how hopeless Vegeta was making her job to help him.

"Trunks, how did you ever put up with his crap?!"

"You're not giving up, are y...?"

"No! NO! No, I am not!"

She sat down, trying to get into a more meditative state for the solution.

"Look, I get it. Reasoning with my father isn't working. Is there any way you can wipe his memory of Towa talking him into this?"

"This isn't a memory issue. It's Towa's formula."

"We gotta think of something. If we take too long, Nail will give out and..."

"We have more time than that. Half the reason Nail lasted as long as he did was because Frieza..."

With this one word, this name, came a eureka. Now starting to smile, Chronoa turned back to Vegeta, her first step intentionally audible.

"Are you still there, woman?"

"And what if I am?"

"I'm not going anywhere. Waste your own time for all I care, but stop wasting mine."

"Well alright then. Do what you will."

An especially big grin came over her.

"Then I guess you have Frieza handled, then."

His eyes shot up even larger than before, and he couldn't keep his mouth closed.

"F... Frieza?"

"You can take him yourself, right? I mean it's not like any of those Earthlings or Goku could be of any help."

She saw Vegeta beginning to twitch his fingers.

"They could be of... of..."

Chronoa looked up to the sky up at Trunks watching over her.

"You know what to do," she said aloud to Vegeta, and also to Trunks.

As the charade of the thought put into his head by Towa was slowly coming undone, Vegeta turned, seeing no sign of the voice that spoke to him just now.


Ginyu, brushing past a swing by Pan, pressed on his scouter while blocking another successive punch with his freed hand.

"Kill that Saiyan now, Guldo!"

Whether Guldo could find him or not, Pan had to know for sure where her grandfather was.

"Trunks! Find Gok...!"


Guldo looked up upon holding his breath, seeing Pan and Ginyu locked in conflict while Jeice was being dragged back by both arms by Gohan and Krillin. With time frozen, Guldo ran across the area to try locating Goku, but even when he mixed in jumping and flight to give him a better view, it was taking him too long.

"Just where is he hiding?! They can't find me, but I still can't find them!"

He took cover and breathed out, taking a break. Seeing a lone tree, he had an idea of how to perform the killing blow to the Saiyan who now possessed Ginyu's body.


Peering his head out over cover, Goku took just a moment to see how things were going for his allies, as well as to make sure his location hadn't been discovered yet.

"They're all doing good. And I know Ginyu will be done just as soon as he..."

"Aha!"

Goku turned to see Guldo, a makeshift spear hovering over his raised hand.

"The little guy..."

He was more than prepared to get out of the way of the impending attack...

"Stay still."

Yet another female voice unfamiliar to Goku spoke to him, this time close by instead of in his earpiece...

...and something stung at his neck: Towa's staff.

"The lady in the coat..."

"Stay perfectly still."

Towa couldn't manipulate Goku's mind, so she was instead controlling Ginyu's body. As such, Goku found he was trapped just as she had wanted.

Guldo, meanwhile, didn't even see Towa, but saw Goku frozen even as his facial muscles twitched.

"Heh. Works for me."


"Trunks! Find Goku!"

Ginyu could tell Pan's mind was elsewhere, but this did little to help him break away from her.

"Forty-five degrees, Pan!" Trunks shouted. "About two o'clock!"

She looked that way and along with a pillar of light saw Goku standing right out in the open, as well as Guldo with a floating spear.

"Grandpa!"

Pan aimed her hand at the spear's intended path, accounting for speed as she channeled ki for a projectile strong enough to stop it with the little time she had. The split-instant she saw the spear launched, a ki bullet was poised to leave Pan's hand...

But Ginyu nudged her slightly right as she fired.

"No!"

Her ki bullet had just missed the spear.

"NO!"

But in that moment of grief and agony of knowing the spear was going to its target unhindered, she saw something faint traveling fast on the ground, almost like...

"A shadow?"

And instead of hearing the spear stabbing straight into something...

...she heard it suddenly stopped. Both she and Ginyu looked over at the cause of this.

"If Kakarrot is to die in battle..."

Vegeta caught the spear in his hand just as its pointed end was about to touch Goku's right eye.

"It'll be by my hand and my hand alone. Not a lapdog of Frieza. Oh, I'm sorry. I meant a lapdog of Frieza's lapdog."

Even though Guldo saw Vegeta's intended throw clear as day, he couldn't catch the thrown spear with his telekinesis fast enough...

"Killed by my own weapon..."

...but a blast shattered and incinerated it into bits. He had one guess as to who had saved him just now.

"The Captain... he..."

But Ginyu had no such posture for a blast. Peering lower, he saw Jeice floating with his hand out.

"Jeice. You..."

"I've got you covered, mate," Jeice answered back as he landed besides his comrade.

As all this transpired below, Pan was gripping Ginyu's hands to prevent any further blasts below. Now they hovered, spinning and moving in place as neither could break away from the other.

She saw Gohan and Krillin, who thankfully didn't suffer any injuries as a result of Jeice escaping their grasp, internally debating between helping her against Ginyu or covering Goku and Vegeta. As much as she would have liked the help...

"Help Goku!" she all but ordered them.

Krillin flew off, but she saw Gohan still hesitant.

"But you... you're..."

"Your father needs you. Please... go."

While he clearly still showed concern for her safety, Gohan nodded to her, acknowledging her request. Now she saw the two standing alongside Vegeta as the statue-esque Goku was all but unmistakably under Towa's influence.

"Just like Towa did to me after Ginyu and I switched. Not through the mind, but through Ginyu's body."

Though Pan noted that this was somewhat different.

"...except she puppeteered me into attacking him. Now she's forcing him to stay still."

But then she and Ginyu collided with a rocky structure, all but pinned in a narrow part of it.

"Maybe if I can keep Ginyu stuck here, my Dad, Krillin, and Vegeta can..."

But now she saw Ginyu glowing purple and completely still. This did nothing to loosen his grip, but Pan knew the cause.

"Towa..."

Sure enough, Pan saw Towa over Ginyu's shoulder, her staff to his head once more. She feared saying her name out loud or even acknowledging her would cause Ginyu to gain insight that'd cause any number of changes. All she could do was watch as Towa whispered in his ear.

"Kaio-Ken..."

Pan couldn't dare let her finish.

"Don't do this..." she pleaded.

"Times..." continued Towa.

Pan fired an invisible eye beam to stop her, but a hexagonal field emerged over Towa as the beam was about to make contact.

"Four."

This was even worse than what Pan feared.

"If he goes Times Four..."

"Kaio-Ken..." began Ginyu.

Pan couldn't reach him for a headbutt. She then felt her legs were pinned by his to prevent any kicks.

"Times..."

Now having to resort to her eye beams, she found that they couldn't even get past his Kaio-Ken's aura. She stared back at Towa, a combination of anger at what Towa had done and dread at what was now inevitable.

"FOUR!"

Not only did Ginyu's aura nearly push her away alone, but his grip on her hands tightened immensely. Pan cried out from Ginyu all but trying to crush her hands into dust. Towa didn't enjoy seeing Pan in this state and quickly spoke.

"You will throw her into the water, then kill the rest."

"I will throw her into the water, then kill the rest."

Ginyu began to hover out of the structure with Pan in tow, then upward for the first order he had been given. Pan watched as Towa, floating back to avoid Ginyu's sight, couldn't hide the genuine remorse on her face and even her stance for what was about to happen.

"I am sorry, patroller."

Once Towa vanished away, Ginyu then began something akin to her grandfather's Dragonthrow only with her hands gripped instead. Even for a human-Saiyan hybrid, the speed Ginyu was spinning her at was becoming especially disorienting, and with how outclassed her unmultiplied Kaio-Ken was compared to his Times Four, Pan knew the throw's eventual force would be practically inescapable.

"He could throw me straight through Namek!"

Upon Ginyu releasing her, it took merely a second before she splashed down into the vast body of water in the far distance. The moment she finally began to be able to move...

...she was already right at the very bottom with her body digging straight through Namek's crust.


Vegeta, Gohan, and Krillin saw that neither Jeice nor Guldo made a move on Goku, figuring they were well aware of the difference in numbers and power between the two groups.

"Without the Captain, I don't think we can win this one."

"I could stop time all I want, but even with that, they'd still keep me from that monkey in Ginyu's old body."

*SPLASH*

Everyone present stopped after hearing this, looking in the same direction at nothing short of a mushroom cloud shape of water that ascended. Just as it crashed back down, another splash resulting from it, they felt what seemed to be a small earthquake below them, including small cracks.

A thunderous impact then shook the ground and everyone saw Ginyu had touched down with an even more massive red aura than before.

"Sorry I'm late."

Vegeta knew all too well the further multiplied power-up Ginyu was wielding...

"That's... that's what Kakarrot used to stop my Galick Gun..."

But a new thought had him even more unsettled...

"...and that was before he could take on the likes of Recoome and Ginyu."

But Gohan was less terrified of the power Ginyu now wielded in his father's body and more distraught at what he had done just moments ago.

"We can't give up, Gohan!" went Krillin. "You gotta...!"

"I left her with Ginyu," Gohan answered back, openly sobbing. "She told me to go help my dad. I did what she said and now..."


Below the waters of Namek was Pan's orange bandanna, having been undone from the impact of Ginyu's throw...

"Ginyu's even stronger now and she's..."

...gradually sinking farther downward to the darkest depths of Namek.