"Take this, Frieza!" proclaimed Vegeta as the Saiyan Prince released a massive wave of energy at the back of his most hated enemy.
Vegeta's declaration reverberated across the vicinity and that, mixed with the power and magnitude of his blast, was enough to immediately halt the fighting between Piccolo, Gohan, Krillin, and Cooler's Armored Squadron. They stopped mid-battle and watched as the blast soared at Frieza, but in the split second that Vegeta had released the energy blast, a figured of unbelievable speed appeared and slapped Vegeta's blast clean across the planet.
Upon closer observation, everyone found that the figure was none other than Cooler. Of course, Krillin, Gohan, and Piccolo had no idea who this person was. Unlike Vegeta, who had fallen to his knees in despair, they weren't sure what to think of this new player. The only thing that they could discern was that this new figure looked unnervingly similar to Frieza; this similarity caused the fear-stricken Krillin to speak up.
"Is that another Frieza?!" he yelled out of shock and fear.
Dore and Neiz immediately shot Krillin insufferable glares for his ignorant observation. How dare he confuse their lord with Frieza? For that reason alone, they could've ended his life.
"No, you idiot, that is Lord Cooler. He is the most illustrious fighter in the galaxy," chimed Dore. Considering their mission, he then added, "Second only to Lord Frieza."
"Cooler?" questioned Gohan.
"Yes; he is Lord Frieza's older brother," cheerfully responded Neiz, enjoying any moment to speak of his lord.
"I don't care who he is!" roared Piccolo as he charged in with a fierce left hook to Dore's jaw that sent the brute hurtling across the sky. He then used his super speed to rapidly fly over to Neiz and connect a powerful knee to the Zaltian's frontal bone, followed by a double axe handle that knocked the alien out of the sky. Piccolo then placed his palm at the freefalling Zaltian and began charging energy for his Destructive Wave. Before he could release the wave, though, a spike in energy caught his attention. Piccolo looked up just in time to see Salza floating just above him with his hand encased in a sharpened aura.
All Piccolo, Gohan, and Krillin, could do is gawk at the cyan-skinned alien as he slashed his hand down at Piccolo.
As for Cooler, after knocking Vegeta's blast away, the evil Arcosian took a moment to observe Vegeta's plight. I understand why you would want my brother dead, Vegeta, thought Cooler. After all, I want him dead as well, but I've come too far and taken too many risks by coming out here. I refuse to stick my neck this far out on the butcher's board just so that I can watch some low-life Saiyan steal this opportunity away from me. Frieza will die by my hands, and mine alone.
Behind the older Arcosian tyrant, he could feel a cold glare. He didn't have to turn around to know that it was his brother. Now, the question was how to handle the situation. Cooler needed to know one important thing in this moment: Was Frieza immortal? If by some cruel joke of the gods Frieza had gained immortality, then Cooler would have to drastically change his plan, but if Frieza was still killable by standard means, then by all means it was time for death to knock on Frieza's door.
The question is: How to go about the situation delicately? Frieza was a number of things, but dumb was not one of them. While Cooler had never expressed his desire to kill or even hurt Frieza before, it was no secret that they had a minor sibling rivalry. Well it was no secret in everyone else's eyes; of course Cooler knew the truth of the situation. In any event, it would be easy for Frieza to assume that Cooler journeyed out here to steal the wish and if that was the case, Frieza would no doubt play mind games. Cooler needed straight answers before he proceeded further with his plans. He would have to adjust his plans if Frieza was indeed immortal, but if not, then Cooler could continue ahead. Also, while the thought of immortality was never a high priority of Cooler's, if he had the prospect of attaining it, then by all means he would attempt to acquire it. At least with immortality, if by some means King Cold found out about Cooler's treachery, he would be able to stand against his father.
With all of this in consideration, Cooler decided the best route to go was to use Frieza's ultimate weakness against him, his vanity. Frieza saw himself as the greatest, most powerful, most perfect fighter in the universe. Even though it was obvious that their father outclassed the both of them, Frieza continued to look at himself in such a manner. For this very weakness, Cooler knew that he could manipulate his brother with ease. There was nothing that Frieza enjoyed more, than having someone, especially Cooler, dote at his power.
Cooler turned his head to look into the scarlet eyes that adorned nearly every member of his family and said, "Hello brother."
The astonishment that had been prevalent on Frieza's face moments ago immediately faded at the voice of his brother. In fact, it was replaced with a hint of frustration at Cooler's presence. "Hello? Cooler, what are you doing here?! You never mentioned that you were coming to this area of the galaxy, let alone this planet!"
Cooler was tempted to say, "You never asked," but that pretentious and borderline crass attitude he displayed on the spaceship earlier would do him no good right now. Now was the time for unassuming dispositions and slight servitude. "I know, brother, but I wanted it to be a surprise. When news spread that you would be attaining immortality, the servants and commanders wished to throw a grand party in your honor. I was on my way to Frieza Planet 419 to gather 'entertainment,' but upon reaching my destination, the sensors in my spaceship picked up an extremely large power level in this location. I knew that this was your relative location and I figured that you had powered up to your fourth form. After all, a power like yours can be felt across the entire galaxy. Being that you don't usually transform, I figured I'd be in for quite a show if I came to witness perfection at its best."
The smug smile that was spread across Frieza's face was all that Cooler needed to prove that he had done well.
"A party in my honor; that is wonderful news," replied Frieza with a gleeful smile, lost in his brother's words and forgetting his momentary fit of anger.
"Yes, brother, it is. Though I must ask, it may have been naivety on my part, but I kind of figured that your appearance would change once you were granted immortality." Truthfully, Cooler had no assumptions, but that is the only thing that came to mind when wanting to ascertain the knowledge of Frieza's status as an immortal.
Frieza's smile instantly faded into a deep frown. For an instant, Cooler feared that he may have overstepped his current boundaries, but at Frieza's words, Cooler relaxed. "This meddlesome idiot is to blame for that," replied Frieza as he pointed at Vegeta. "Him and his little partners in crime up there." Frieza then gestured to Gohan, Krillin, and Piccolo that were still in the air behind him with Dore and Neiz there as well. "The dragon balls turned to stone before I could make my wish. I'm sure that you can imagine how enraged I was and frankly, still am. So if you don't mind, I will get back to ending Vegeta and then the troublesome three up there are next. You should pay close attention; maybe you'll learn something, brother." Frieza stepped past Cooler as he went back to attend to Vegeta.
As Frieza stepped around him, a broad smile began to spread across Cooler's face. It was a shame to know that the dragon balls were no longer any good, but it didn't matter anymore. Frieza was still mortal and now it was time to end his pathetic life. Cooler was beginning to reach into his inner power, knowing that he would need it to finish Frieza, but a sudden surge of power stopped him.
Completely caught off guard by the appearance of this new foe, Piccolo was unable to manage the tiniest of guards. This left Gohan and Krillin too shell-shocked to move as they watched the cyan-skinned alien drop his ki-sharpened hand down upon their Namekian friend's skull.
However, before Salza could land the fatal blow to Piccolo, a hand caught his wrist before impact, the unexpected contact extinguishing the Brench's ki-blade. The appearance of the hand brought along a powerful rush of wind, as if the very atmosphere had given way to this new figure's presence.
Blinded by the sudden rush of air, no one could focus on this new fighter, but once the air had died down, everyone looked to the sky to find that Goku was Piccolo's savior. The Saiyan hero had Salza gripped tightly by the wrist as he glared daggers into the eye of the very person who had aimed to harm him earlier.
The Brench commander struggled against Goku's firm grip as he alternated between staring the Saiyan hero in the eye and looking back at the vice grip around his wrist. In the heat of the moment, Salza hadn't recognized Goku from the spaceship, but as he continued to look back into the hero's eyes, he eventually came to the understanding. "Y-you're zi guy from zi ship," stated Salza once the realization dawned on him.
Goku took a moment to continue glaring at Salza before saying, "How dare you try and hurt my friend?" He amplified his point by squeezing harder on Salza's wrist, producing a sneer of pain from the Brench commander.
Salza gritted his teeth through the pain, but managed to reply, "Zi Namek should've gone ahead and died with zi rest of zi slugs."
Goku's expression immediately soured further from Salza's words. To silence the cyan-skinned invader from speaking more hateful words, Goku attempted to thrust a knee into the abdomen of Salza, however, the Brench managed to catch the attack with his free hand. He then used Goku's momentary distraction with the knee attack to yank his hand from the Saiyan's grip and then use said hand to release an energy wave at point blank range.
Goku anticipated the attack, though. Just as Salza was ready to release the wave, Goku leaned back and simultaneously kicked the Brench's hand into the air, forcing the blast to fly off into space. The Saiyan hero then floated back upright and sent a fist hurtling into Salza's face, but instead making contact, Goku stopped his fist just before impact and allowed the energy behind the attack to knock Salza away, and away the Brench went.
He coasted back several meters before he was finally able to right himself. Floating upright, Salza brought a glove to his nose and began shaking with anger as he realized that Goku had made his nosebleed without even touching him. What is this guy, he thought. He didn't even punch me, but my nose is running like a leaky faucet, this just isn't right. Vegeta's laughter brought the Brench out of his reverie of thoughts.
The resonation of Vegeta's cackle called the attention of everyone in the area. Even Frieza halted his task of killing the Saiyan Prince to find out what he thought was so humorous. "You shouldn't look so upset, Salza," stated Vegeta once he brought his laughter under control. "How did you really expect to fair against a Saiyan?"
Vegeta's words brought a look of surprise out of Cooler and Frieza, most notably, Frieza.
"Not another one of you miserable monkeys," said the galactic overlord as he turned to look at Goku. "I swear; it's like you're multiplying!"
Salza spat down at the ground to show how much he cared for Vegeta's declaration. He then brought his eyes back up to rest on Goku, who was as serious as he could've been in that moment. "So, he's a Saiyan. As far as I'm concerned he's just another animal ready to be slaughtered."
Dore and Neiz then appeared behind Goku.
With a sinister chuckle, Neiz said, "I don't think that I've ever killed a Saiyan. This will be fun."
"Let's wreck this guy," boasted Dore.
"Prepare to face zi wrath of Cooler's Armored Squadron, you Saiyan filth," threatened Salza.
Though Goku kept his attention focused on his assailants, he could see that Piccolo, Gohan, and Krillin were ready to jump in to assist. "No, you guys," Goku said while keeping his eyes trained on Salza and using his senses to keep tabs on the accosters behind him. "They want to fight a Saiyan, so I'm going to give them a fight."
At Goku's words, the others immediately stopped. Piccolo was the closest to Goku and could clearly see the determination etched into the Saiyan hero's face. As Goku continued to wait for Cooler's squad to attack, Piccolo could see that Goku's attention was diverted between watching his opponents and his friends. With this in mind, the Namekian called out, "Krillin! Gohan! To the ground. Now!" as he dove out of the air.
Gohan and Krillin paused for a moment at the randomness of Piccolo's statement, but quickly followed their friend, figuring that he must've had a reason for calling them out of the air.
With his friends out of danger's reach, Goku focused solely on his opponents, waiting for one of them to strike.
The Saiyan hero didn't have to wait long as all three opponents sent small energy blasts at him. Goku easily evaded by rapidly flying off into the air as the three blasts connected where his position had once been, bringing to life a large cloud of smoke from the explosion.
The crew quickly pursued Goku as they rapidly flew off into the air. Goku came back into view high above the plume of smoke and easily sensed the appearance of Neiz behind him. The Zaltian attempted thrust a punch at Goku's back, only to have the Saiyan hero flip over the punch and use Neiz's arm as spring so that he could fly higher into the sky.
Once Goku righted himself after dodging Neiz, Salza was the next to attack. The Brench appeared a couple of yards away from Goku and dove in with roundhouse kick. Goku easily evaded by ducking under the attack and soaring behind Salza. He then quickly flew higher into the air as Salza turned to backhand him.
High above Salza and Neiz, Dore was the next to attack. The brute attempted to axe handle Goku out of the air, but his hands flew through an afterimage. Perplexed by Goku's speed, he was caught off guard by the roundhouse kick that Goku delivered to his face, the force behind it managing to knock his helmet off as he was knocked back a few yards.
Goku then pointed his palm down at Salza and Neiz, and emitted a powerful energy blast. Salza managed to dodge the attack, but Neiz met the blast head on and tried to catch it. Yet, the power behind the attack was enough to push Neiz down until he crashed into the water.
Back in the sky, after emitting the blast, Goku was met with a punch from either side of his body by Dore and Salza. Using both arms to fend off either attack, the squad believed that they had Goku caught and unable to defend further. With this belief, Neiz shot forth out of the air and aimed to land a fierce punch into Goku's abdomen. However, the Saiyan hero was far from done.
Utilizing his legs, he brought his knee up to block Neiz and began channeling his energy as he emitted an explosive wave that blew all of his accosters away.
The shockwave of the minor attack managed to disorient all of the squad, but Neiz was the first to come to. He was instantly met with a powerful knee to his abdomen by Goku. Then the Earth-raised Saiyan raised his clasped hands over his head as he prepared to knock Neiz out of the air. Before he could do this, Dore appeared with a swift kick, yet the kick was directed through another afterimage.
"Not again!" yelled the green brute as he paused to look for Goku.
"Right here!" responded Goku as he appeared above Dore and utilized his double axe handle to smack Dore and Neiz out of the air. The evil duo was sent crashing into the ground several meters from Cooler.
With two foes down, Goku waited patiently in the air for Salza. While waiting, Goku quickly brought his hand up to catch something to the right side of his head. Suddenly Salza's booted-foot came into appearance as it was locked in a firm grip by Goku.
Salza was in complete awe of the power that he was facing. Goku had managed to dispose of his two comrades without even being at a loss of breathe and now the Saiyan had caught his sneak attack like it was child's play. "Wh-who are you?" he questioned.
"My name is Goku. I am from Earth and though this is not my home, I will not allow you or anyone else to cause any more harm to this planet," responded Goku before pulling Salza over his head and beginning to spin the Brench around rapidly. After an innumerable amount of rotations, Goku finally released Salza, allowing the commander to spear into the crater with Neiz and Dore. Salza impacted the ground with an explosive amount of force as Goku landed on the ground between Cooler's downed squadron and Cooler himself.
Though Cooler was deeply displeased with his squad's performance, he was much more impressed with Goku's power. The Saiyan had put down his entire squadron without as much as a hint of difficulty. In fact, Cooler was sure that Goku hadn't even begun to show his true power. To find a Saiyan with that kind of power was a rarity indeed. A part of Cooler wanted to jump into battle with the Saiyan to truly test the monkey's power, but Goku was a part of Frieza's problem, not his.
"So I take it that you are Frieza," Goku said as he indicated to the evil overlord. "I have to admit that I thought you'd be taller."
Cooler couldn't restrain the amused smile that came upon his face at Goku's words, especially when he heard Frieza growl in anger from behind him.
"I assure you, you mindless monkey, my stature plays no role in my cruelty. If anything, I'd advise that you get down and begin begging for your life, and maybe – and I do mean maybe – I'll spare your life in spite of that dimwitted comment," replied Frieza as he stepped away from Vegeta and came to stand alongside his brother.
"I think I'll pass, Frieza," responded Goku with a confident smile.
Frieza began smiling at Goku's overconfidence. This Saiyan was just as brash and ill-advised as the rest of his clan. As far as Frieza was concerned, this new opponent would be as easily dealt with as every other to step in his path. "Well I assure you, Saiyan, I won't pass on killing you."
Throughout Goku and Frieza's back and forth, Vegeta could see movement coming from behind Goku. The very mound of dirt that Cooler's Squadron had been place inside of was shifting as someone slowly tried to rise. It was a sneak attack and Vegeta was sure that Goku would be too preoccupied to dodge.
In an instant, Salza burst free of his earthy grave and emitted a purple-shaded energy wave at the back of Goku, announcing, "Die you Saiyan trash!" as he did so.
Goku was far from shocked by the declaration from behind him, though. He could sense that something was stirring from where Cooler's squad had been placed, but just as he turned to deflect the blast, Goku became truly shocked. Before Goku could fully turn, Vegeta had appeared behind him.
For the Saiyan prince, pushing his body beyond its limits was anything, but difficult. Though his body was battered and bruised, when he saw that Goku was about to be the victim of a cowardly sneak-attack, he jumped into action. As much as Vegeta hated to admit it, at this point, this low class Saiyan was their only hope for survival. Using Cooler and Frieza's preoccupation with Goku, the Saiyan prince used his remaining strength to sprint around the brothers and Goku just as Salza was springing out of the ground. As the blast was hurtled, Vegeta landed on his left foot, used a great deal of strength to backhand Salza's blast away, and lunged forward to use up the remainder of his energy reserve by sending a blast of his own at the Brench commander.
Quite naturally, Vegeta's attack was far from enough to cause a great deal of damage to Salza, let alone kill him. The commander caught Vegeta's attack with both hands and then threw the blast into the air with relative ease, offering Vegeta a sly smile once he threw the blast away.
However, Piccolo was on standby to finish things. After threw Vegeta's blast into the air, Piccolo caught said blast and threw it back down at the Brench, adding his Destructive Wave to finish things. Preoccupied with Vegeta, Salza had no way to block as Vegeta's blast, followed by Piccolo's Destructive Wave, fell down upon him in an incinerating fashion. In an instant, Salza and the ground below him were reduced to nothing as Piccolo's blast barreled through.
As for Neiz and Dore, the two jumped out of the way just as Piccolo's Destructive Wave crashed down upon their commander.
"No; he killed Salza!" exclaimed Dore.
"I'm going to kill that Namek bitch!" shrieked Neiz.
The duo rose high into the sky until they appeared on either side of Piccolo. Roaring in anger, Dore dove in first, but was caught with a brain-rattling elbow to the face by Piccolo. While his comrade was disoriented, Neiz leapt at Piccolo as he tried to unleashed a barrage of punches, but was angered to find that he couldn't land a punch on the speedy Namekian.
Piccolo eventually caught one of Neiz's punches and squeezed said fist until Neiz was trapped into submission. Piccolo was ready to end the Zaltian until two big green arms wrapped around his body, forcing Piccolo's release of Neiz. Piccolo looked back to see the recovered Dore behind him and holding him in a painful bear hug. The Namek attempted to struggle, but stopped once Dore started applying so much pressure that he yelped in pain.
With Piccolo entrapped, Neiz raised a hand above his head and allowed an electrically-charged purple energy to surround his hand as he prepared his finisher. "Take this!" he declared as he released his fully-charged ultimate attack.
Unfortunately for the remainder of Cooler's Armored Squadron, they fell right into Piccolo's trap. In the instant that Neiz released the attack, Piccolo lodged his elbow into Dore's stomach, allowing the Namekian to move out of the way as the scorching energy of Neiz's attack encased Dore. In less than a second, the forest-green brute was turned into a human-sized pile of embers.
"Oh, no, Dore!" yelled Neiz in horror.
"Worry about yourself!" proclaimed Piccolo after appearing behind Neiz.
Stunned by Piccolo's appearance, the Zaltian was unable to move as Piccolo's palm came to rest against his back. "No, wai…AHHH!" sounded Neiz before being completely obliterated by Piccolo's Destructive Wave.
As for Vegeta, after seeing that Salza was dead, he fell to his knees out of exhaustion. He had already used a lot of energy to attack Frieza earlier, but that last attack was pulling on his life-force. He took a moment to catch his breath as Goku stepped over to check on him. Vegeta quickly placed a halting palm at Goku to keep him from coming closer. Vegeta wasn't sure if he could say that he had been through worst, but he'd never accept help from anyone, especially not Goku. After catching his breath, Vegeta stood back up, though he was slightly slumped over from exhaustion. He turned to Goku and angrily said, "Kakarot, what was that?! The Namekian had enough nerve to kill those idiots, why didn't you?!"
Goku turned away from Vegeta and said, "Vegeta, it isn't in my nature to kill people. I understand that you and I don't have the same beliefs, but I'd appreciate it if you respect my honor code."
"Honor code?!" shrieked Vegeta. The Saiyan prince then stepped around so that Goku would face him. "Let me tell you something about your honor code, Kakarot. Those two monsters over there laugh at your honor code. They use you honor code as a bum wad and then dispose of it as if means nothing because in their eyes, your honor code is nothing. These are brutal savage beings and would kill you to simply satisfy a cheap laugh," stated Vegeta as he pointed out Frieza and Cooler. "These are cold-blooded killers! The only way to win this fight is if you kill, do you understand?!"
"I read you loud and clear," stated Cooler as he emitted a death beam from his index finger and pierced Vegeta's chest.
Goku's facial expression faltered to a look of pure horror as Vegeta collapsed onto the ground, a puddle of blood beginning to form beneath his body. Goku then turned back to Cooler. "Why did you do that? He was no threat to you. In fact, he hadn't even attacked you since you've been here. There is no honor in attacking someone like that."
"Say what you want, Saiyan. If I didn't do it, I'm sure that my brother would have," replied Cooler, eliciting a smile from Frieza.
Goku then fully turned to face the two brothers, but Vegeta's voice reclaimed his attention.
"Kakarot!" said Vegeta through the pain of his body.
Goku looked back to Vegeta and said, "Save your strength. I will handle this."
"No, Kakarot! Listen to me, you have to understand what kind of monsters you are dealing with," began Vegeta again as he struggled through the pain and the emotions that were beginning to well up inside of him. "We did everything that he asked and yet he still destroyed us. He took me away from my father. He told me that he'd kill him if I didn't do what he said. I did everything and more for Frieza, and that monster still killed my father." Vegeta could feel the tears beginning to form in his eyes, but he couldn't stop now. Goku needed to know this pivotal information. "He was scared of us, Kakarot. He was scared that we would rise up against him and he was scared that the Super Saiyan would one day return. He knew that his days were numbered with us around. They both knew it!" Vegeta began hacking up blood, but tried to calm his lungs so that he could continue talking. "You are the Super Saiyan of legend, Kakarot. I can feel it in my bones. You will be the one to put an end to their tyranny and avenge our fallen race. Please, Kakarot, you have to do this. It was them and that wretched organization that did this to me. They made me what I am. Don't let them do it to anyone else….d-don't let th-them." With those final words, Vegeta closed his eyes for the final time. His life of pain and misery had come to a horrible end, but alas, it was finally ended.
Goku stepped over to his fallen comrade, no, his fallen friend. "I understand now, Vegeta," he said. "You didn't have a decision in your life. You were brought up in a world of pain and forced to thrive. While the things that you have done over the years can't be excused, I feel better knowing that you had the capacity for good inside of you." Goku scooped Vegeta's body up and using his energy, blasted a hole in the dirt. He then placed Vegeta's body inside and covered the hole up. Standing back to his full position, Goku said, "Rest easy, Vegeta. You deserve it." Goku finally looked back to Cooler and Frieza with anger etched into his face. "You two are monsters. You kill at a whim and enjoy every last moment of your terror. Well your era of terror comes to an end today!"
"Such a courageous fellow," taunted Cooler.
"Indeed; they are always the most enjoyable to kill," replied Frieza. "Say brother, how about you handle mister mighty Saiyan while I take care of his friends. And once I'm done with them, we can take our time tearing him apart." Frieza didn't bother waiting for Cooler's reply, assuming that he'd agree.
However, Frieza was wrong. Now that Cooler understood that Frieza was still mortal, being subservient to his demands was the last thing the Cooler planned on doing. "I'll take a rain check, Frieza," replied Cooler, halting his brother from his planned movement. Cooler was intrigued by Goku's power and at the very least; he could allow Frieza to get a little winded from beating Goku mercilessly. So, with that he said, "Wouldn't you rather kill all of them without my unneeded intrusion?"
Frieza snorted at Cooler's reply. "If you're too scared to fight, then maybe you should just say that. Go on, Cooler; let the big boys fight," stated Frieza as he dismissed his brother.
Cooler slyly smiled as he floated away to higher ground. Think whatever you want, Frieza, but I promise, you will regret every thought once I get my hands on you, he thought. Cooler floated away to a high mountain ridge as he looked down upon his brother and Goku. He looked off to the side to see Goku's friends landing on an equally high mountain ridge, but a fair distance away from Cooler. The older tyrant then looked down as Goku slammed his foot down onto the ground to use as a platform as he charged at Frieza. Well let's see what the Saiyan can do.