The Vicious Gods Wrath
Chapter 3: It Lives
Space outside the Sol System
"I must hurry! The fate of the universe depends on it!" Jaco proclaims himself from the pilot's seat of his personnel vessel, his leg planted firmly onto the pedal of it as it soars across the cosmos to Earth. His mind races through the possible devastations Freeza's return would herald for the universe, the end of the various rebellions liberating themselves from the PTO and the potential conquest of many more planets for simple profit. A horrid universe he wouldn't want his wife or child to live in.
"Warning, outgoing distress call detected," States the onboard computer much to Jaco's chagrin as he has no time for interruptions on a mission as vital as this. Despite this, however, Jaco presses a nearby button, allowing the message to come through.
"Assistance needed... ship under attack by... pirate forces... Please help..."
"Where is the location of this vessel?" Asks Jaco the onboard A.I.
"900 kilars away, our estimated time of arrival is 2 minutes, do you wish to respond to this alert?"
Despite the delay it would cause, Jaco cannot bring himself out to ignore his duty as a Galactic Patrolman, not when he can aid those in need. "I'm sorry my friend, please, try to hold Sorbet off as long as you can."
Without a moment's hesitation, Jaco turns his ship in the other direction and heads to the distress calls location as fast as his ship will allow. The stars and planets whizz by before him as if they're insignificant specks of light on his windshield, somewhat helping him relax just before the attack site makes his jaw drop.
A massive ship, roughly the size of a major Earth city flies slowly through the empty void of the cosmos, firing upon a colony of a dozen much smaller vessel four of which are already aflame. His communication channel once again opens up, bombarded by dozens of bits of radio chatter and alert messages. From screams of terror, pleas for help, threats sent to the victim vessels and commands to retreat, he knows what he must do even if it may cost him precious time.
"I hope I can just finish this quickly," he sighs before entering the fray.
Satan City, Jewelry Store
"This one looks pretty good, right?" Inquires Gohan to his oldest friend and mentor Piccolo as the two stand at a jewelry store counter, as is usually the case with ordinary humans, the Namekian's great height and imposing appearance catch the eye of everyone in the store, more so than the jewelry even.
"Well...?"His former students asks again, lifting a simple, blue colored diamond ring just a few inches from Piccolo's face, seemingly oblivious to the glare being directed towards him from his master.
"Can't believe I'm doing this...," Piccolo grouchily mutters at his predicament, not appreciating the fact Gohan tricked him by saying this would be a sparring match. "Why ask me of all people for help? You know I don't get this mushy stuff, right?"
Gohan pulls back the ring and chuckles nervously. "Well... Who else could I bring along? Dad doesn't have a romantic bone in his body and frankly it's a miracle we were ever born. Vegeta would either laugh in my face or punch me in it for asking him or both, and Krillin's too busy with his new job in the police."
"Then let Bulma or 18 or your mom-"
"No, way!" Gohan frantically objects, horrified by the implications of them knowing about this. "Are you insane?! There's no way I'd be able to make it a surprise for Videl if they caught wind of this. The less they know, the better."
"I ask again, why me?"
"Well, I know you won't tell anyone about this and frankly," He looks closely at Piccolo's attire. "I've always thought you've had a pretty good fashion sense."
Piccolo continues glaring at him, unable to reach a consensus as to how to take that particular comment. With a frustrated sigh, the Namekian closes his eyes to somewhat ease the stress of the situation and points to another ring inside the case before them.
"The silver one with the golden diamond."
Like a trained dog, Gohan head snaps to the ring in question and smiles upon laying eyes on it. "You're right, it's perfect. Excuse me, sir?"
"Huh?" The middle-aged storekeeper staring at Piccolo moans, removing his gaze from the imposing green man standing before him. "Oh, I'm sorry young man, must've... zoomed out there for a minute, what ring did you ask me about?"
"This one," He points again to the ring suggested to him by Piccolo. "See, I'm looking for an engagement ring and I want the perfect one."
"Understandable, although that one is a bit expensive, 1 million Zeni to be precise."
Gohan enthusiasm is entirely unaffected by this as he merely takes out his wallet and hands the store owner his credit card. "There should be enough money on there to cover for it."
"Let me guess, the Ox King give you that money?" Inquires Piccolo as the store owner runs the credit card through the reader before handing it back.
"Nope, I got couple jobs over the summer and paid for it and our dinner tomorrow all by myself. Besides, I don't want to mooch off my Grandpa for the rest of my life." He types in his pin into the reader and with a smile waits for the store owner as he puts the ring into a proper case.
"Here you go young man," He hands it over to him with a plastic bag. "Best of luck to you with your girlfriend."
"Thank you, sir! I appreciate it!" Gohan and Piccolo turn to leave the store with everyone continuing to stare at them on their way out. "Now we can do that sparring match I promised you."
"At least this trip wasn't a complete waste of-" Noticing the blackening sky overhead, Piccolo gazes upward to it along with everyone else out on the street. "Looks like someone besides us has summoned Shenron."
"You think it could mean trouble?"
"It's probably just Pilaf again-" As if suddenly struck by a wave of icy water, Piccolo's entire body shivers upon the detection of an energy signature somewhere off the distance. A malevolent and yet... Damaged, mangled presence. As if a living being has been ripped to pieces yet still alive enough to emit Ki. He glances over to Gohan and finds the young man equally perplexed by this unusual occurrence
"We're going after this," Piccolo regains his composure and takes off into the air with Gohan following closely behind him. Though he can't put his finger on what exactly is going on with the Dragon Balls, an instinctual voice tempered by years of combat and survival buzzes in the back of his head. Warning him that it does not bode well.
W-where am I...? Wonders Freeza as his eye darts around to make sense of this new predicament he finds himself in. With his left eye, he can see a black sky overhead with a vast wasteland all around him. The other sees a giant forest off in the distance and his own, severed leg nearby. Is this another trick of Hell?
He commands his body to move with equally confusing results, his severed leg twitches on the ground like a fish stranded on land, his tail spins around violently like an angry snake and his arms clench the dirt underneath them.
Wait... I can... feel?
Commanding his body once more, they do the same things as before yet unlike during the many years spent in Hell, he can actually feel the ground crumbling in his hand, his tail striking against the wind and his leg twitching. Wanting to test this further, he tries his best to look up into the sun and feels its rays shine upon his seemingly destroyed, displaced body.
I'm... alive!
With as much a strength as he can muster, Freeza uses what little Ki he has left and attempts to bring his disparate body together himself. For a moment, it seems to work as his torso re-attaches to his arms and legs, and his eyes seemingly create some semblance of a head until it all crumbles down into a mess. The tyrant sighs internally.
Well, at least, I'm not in Hell anymore.
From the corner of his eye, he spots an elderly trio consisting of a woman, a dog, and a blue pointy-eared creature.
Re-assemble me at once! He mentally demands of them at them, giving them the best threatening scowl one can as a collection of shredded body parts. As all inferior beings do under his wrathful eye, they scream in terror and take several steps back, afraid of what he might do to them.
"Lord Freeza!" A nearby voice call to him though Freeza can't put a face to it, he spots a pair of mechs walking in front of his eye with two monitors on their chests. One of another small blue creature, while the other is tall and gray, yet they both wear the equipment of his organization. "I can't believe it! The Dragon actually succeeded in bringing you back!"
"Perhaps we should ask him to rebuild Lord Freeza's body as well? The healing process may take a while given his injuries." The gray one says, trying to keep his expression cold and neutral. Yet, the newly revived Emperor of the Cosmos notice the look of disgust in the man's eyes as he looks at him. A slight dilation of the pupils common in many species as a sign of anger or loathing.
Eye's many of Freeza's enemies and by extension, victims have claimed he possesses.
"No, if what you said is true and these Earthlings have comparable power to our Lord on top of being able to sense power, we should take our leave at once. His remains alone may be enough to draw their attention, and I for one do not want to run into Vegeta again." The blue one grimaces at the thought of encountering the damnable Saiyan Prince, enough to ignore the single-eyed scowl directed to him by his newly revived master at the mere mention of that particular thorn in his side.
"Yes... we wouldn't want that to happen..." The subtly hidden disdain of the gray one bleeds into his voice, joined by clear apprehension. Clearly, this is one who will need to be taught a lesson if this healing process is as potent as they say it is. The blue one's enthusiasm seems genuine enough.
"Great Shenron!"The other blue one with pointed, knife like ears calls to something glowing in the sky nearby. "For our final wish, please, reinvigorate me and my compatriots here! Make us young once more!"
"That is within my power," A booming, powerful voice like the cracking of the sky responds to the inquiry, Freeza tries to take a good look at it off the ground but cannot will himself to do so. If his mouth is still somewhere, it must surely be agape in awe, for the knife-eared creature, the canine and the woman all physically transform right before his very eyes.
The graying hair of the woman and canine vanish entirely, transforming back into blue and brown. Wrinkles on their skin vanish entirely, entire decades of their lives disappear in a matter of scant moments. That is when Freeza realizes what power this is, it is the Dragon Balls.
"It is done, I take my leave of this place until the time of my next summon, fair well." The thunderous voice from before tells the trio and suddenly, the blackened sky returns to a natural blue and from the corner of his eyes, Freeza makes out the shapes of glowing, golden orbs dispersing through the air.
"Yes!" The knife-ear thrusts his hands into the air triumphantly. "Finally, something's gone right for us-"
"Uh... sir?" The girl tries to interrupt to no avail.
"Don't interrupt me Mai! Can't you stop being a buzz kill for just two seconds?!" The small Earthling turns around to cast a glare towards his female companion and gasps in shock upon seeing her reduced to a mere child. He immediately looks to the dog and notices that he too looks much younger than they expected to be. "No... don't tell me..."
"The wish sire! It's turned us into little kids!" The dog whines in an irritatingly cowardly voice, a type Freeza's suffered through and quite often silenced for the sake of preserving his sanity. "What are we going to do sire?!"
"What can we do?! The woman tells him with indignation and anger. "We used up all the wishes! That means Shenron can't be summoned for at least another year!"
"What?! You mean we're gonna stay like this for a whole year?!" Her canine compatriot somehow grows several shades paler through the fur.
"Probably more knowing our rotten luck," Mutters the girl with her arms folding across her chest. Their apparent boss continues standing still, too angry to even listen to their bickering. Freeza remembers moments such as these during his very early years upon forming his Empire. Back in the days when he was young and unproven and many chose to both challenge and argue in his presence.
With swift and brutal punishments to any who dared to do so, he quickly ended these practices of his subjects. If this knife-eared runt has spent as much time with these partners of his and has failed to teach them a lesson in respect and fear, he deserves every piece of grief sent his way from them.
Finally and thankfully, Freeza's two rescuers collect his various pieces of flesh and metal into a metal cylinder, concluding with his eye and upon sealing the lid, rob their revived master of most outside stimuli. Not that it matters to him, the peace and quiet is particularly comforting after spending who knows how much time in the loathsomely cheerful depths of Earth's hell. Freeza has half a mind to stay here forever, an understandable but impractical little thought he entertains briefly.
No, he has no intention of staying here or much less in this condition. For in all the time he's spent between the nightmares and the parades of the deplorable angels of Hell, one thing kept him from feeling any kind of repentance for his sins, even if he knew such an admission would set him free. One goal he knew was impossible until this day but one he simply couldn't erase from his thoughts, and certainly won't now that he can realize it.
Son Goku... The name of his most hated enemy sends a cold fury coursing through his dismantled body. Soon... I will return to this world you call home, and when I do, you will experience a terror beyond your worst nightmares.
A short chapter I know but given the tests I've had recently at college and my generally not really knowing how to go about this part of the story left my quite conflicted about how to execute it. At least that scene I promised back in chapter one managed to get included ;)