"Who are you and what are you?" Captain Ginyu asked. Goku sighed and his eyes looked depressed. It seemed almost sacrilege for him to have lost his usual happy buoyancy.
"I'm Goku. I'm a saiyan."
"And what are you here for?"
"That depends, I suppose." Goku sighed again, still looking discouraged. "Who are you?"
"We are the Ginyu Force!" the entire group sang out in sing-songy voices.
"Does that mean you work for Frieza?"
"Yup," Jiece nodded, "he's here."
"Oh, that's great," Goku said, sadly sarcastic, something completely alien to his normal voice. "Now I have the most powerful being in the universe to contend with, too. Splendid."
"You won't be a bit of a problem," Recoome smirked. "We already whipped the strongest saiyan in the universe, so you can't be much of a challenge."
"Vegita?" Goku asked. "Okay, whatever you say."
"Guldo, finish him," Captain Ginyu barked. Something unnerved him about this saiyan.
Guldo ran forward, then suddenly held his breath. Time froze, except Guldo, who flew forward in a kick directly to Goku's chest. He hit dead on, and nothing happened. Guldo's eyes widened, but he kept attacking. His blows did no good, Goku just kept standing there. Trying everything, uppercuts, hooks, below the belt shots, none of it had any effect. Guldo uprooted a tree and hit it over Goku's head as hard as he could. The tree broke in half. Goku was still standing there. Finally Guldo couldn't hold his breath any longer.
"That was interesting," Goku smiled a bit sadly, although some of his old sparkle had returned, "but it won't work."
"I can do it over and over, does it really matter?" Guldo laughed evilly.
Goku instantly zipped forward, grabbing Guldo in a choke hold.
"Not if you don't have any air, my friend."
Guldo choked and spluttered. Soon, however, he started to waver. He grew less solid, he started to fray apart. Power and streams of matter slipped through the air, entering Goku. Eventually nothing was left. Goku smiled and turned to the rest of the Ginyu Force.
"I certainly hope he wasn't representative of the rest of you."
"He was a weakling," Recoome laughed. "His only strength was that trick of his. I am the brute force of the group. I have muscle everywhere!"
"Including your head," Goku said. He still seemed sad, but fighting had already put him in a better mood. "Are you next?"
Recoome charged forward, bashing Goku in the face. Goku returned blows, and they started fighting in a shower of blows that the other Ginyu Force members couldn't follow. Eventually Goku fell from the fray, landing on the ground, his lip bleeding.
"You are strong, a bit over 200,000," Recoome said, holding his scouter, "but I am 250,000!"
Goku stood up and shook his head. He suddenly powered up, his lip healed itself together and was in perfect condition. Though he didn't smile, Goku seemed to be enjoying himself.
Recoome gasped, "Now it's 300,000!"
"Show me your true power!" Captain Ginyu roared. "All of it! Every last bit!"
"It doesn't matter," Goku said gloomily again. "Fine, if it makes you happy. Let me finish this first."
Yelling, Recoome charged forward in a flying head butt. He may as well have head butted a wall. He rocked back, clutching his head. Goku wasn't fazed and slammed Recoome in the head, then grabbed him by the hair. In the same way Guldo did, Recoome vanished as well.
Turning back to Captain Ginyu, Goku unleashed his power around him, powering up to full.
"One million!" Captain Ginyu gasped. "That's impossible!"
"How did you get so strong?" Jiece cried.
"Must be my diet," Goku said, still not smiling. "I always drink my grape juice and eat my peas."
"Ahhh! Idiot!" Captain Ginyu muttered.
Goku shook his head. Suddenly both figures were disrupted as they saw a few others standing off to the side.
"Nice going, Dad," Gohan yelled sarcastically. "We were doing just fine until you had to come!"
"Yeah, why do you always ruin our fun?" Krillin joined in.
Goku staggered under their completely unexpected verbal assault. Before, this sort of thing had always been easily ignored, not even scratching his cheerfulness. Now, however, he couldn't dredge up any part of his old shield. Everything was a lie, and he couldn't forget that.
"Why?" he gasped on his knees. "Not my son and friends as well!"
Jiece took the opportunity to fly forward in a flying kick. The saiyan's head jerked up before it connected, he grabbed Jiece's foot and pounded him into the ground. Jiece started bouncing around him in a series of flashy moves. Goku moved alongside and copied them all exactly, hitting Jiece at every turn. He fell as Goku grabbed his face and smashed him into the ground. Touching Jiece's arm, Goku glowed softly as Jiece wavered and disappeared. For a while Goku continued to grieve, and when he got up, and the last spark of his old self in his eyes was gone.
"Who is next?" he said mechanically, turning to them. Burter flew forward. He start running circles around Goku, who looked like he was fenced in by a large solid blue triangle.
"I am far faster than this guy!" Burter crowed, the sound distorted. "Now watch me finish him!"
Burter tried to punch and Goku's hand came up, catching his fist behind his head. Burter took a solid blow, then began circling around at an even more intense speed. Goku this time elbowed him backward into the ground. Burter flung himself on him, and two tons of muscle landed on Goku. The saiyan put up a hand and held Burter up above him. He fired a blast through him, and the blue monster didn't move again.
After waving and unraveling, Burter disappeared as well. Captain Ginyu suddenly started laughing. Everyone there realized that he had been charging up the entire battle. Captain Ginyu launched a monstrous ball of ki at Goku. It sped forward with intense speed, blasting Goku head on.
When the light vanished, Goku still stood there, unharmed. Captain Ginyu gasped.
"You asked to see my full power, this is it. It went up a bit after absorbing the rest of the force." Tears still gleamed in Goku's eyes.
"2,500,000!" The shock made Captrain Ginyu stagger. Goku had him on the ground in one flick of a finger.
"Change!" Captain Ginyu leaped into the air and launched his energy all out at Goku. It hit, dealing no damage, but then there was a sudden flowing of spirit between them. Goku found himself in Captain Ginyu's body, and Captain Ginyu was in Goku's! Goku wasn't able to stand and collapsed. Captain Ginyu flexed his fingers, or rather Goku's fingers.
"Perfect," he hissed, turning to the Z Fighters. "Prepare to die."
"Can we really fight him?" Yajirobe asked, "He is your dad, Gohan."
"My father may as well be dead," Gohan hissed, "for all he cares about me. Even Piccolo was a better father to me. Kill his body, and Captain Ginyu with it. I don't care."
"Nooooo!"
Goku in Ginyu's body leaped up, showing strength no one thought he had. He jumped out in between both sides. Purple tears were falling freely from Captrain Ginyu's alien eyes. Goku spread his limbs wide and:
"Change!"
In a flash, everyone was back in the bodies they were supposed to be in. Goku was staggering, apparently very wounded from his experience as Captain Ginyu. He fell to the ground beside the wounded captain, but slowly moved up a hand and placed it on Captain Ginyu's chest. Captain Ginyu wavered, unraveled and disappeared and energy flowed up Goku's arm. Power floated around Goku, who got up, completely healed. But now silent sobs racked his body.
With one teary-eyed glance at everyone there, Goku powered up and flew off into the distance, vanishing over the horizon nearly instantly.
"Good riddance!" Tien called after him.
Everyone turned and looked at each other, the battle abruptly over, then looked back to where Vegita was. The saiyan had gotten to his feet and looked quite a bit better. Both sides stared at each other, but neither made a move to attack. Grunting, Vegita nodded to them.
"I'd like to kill you all, but Frieza takes precedence. If any of you tries anything, you'll regret it. As soon as I recover, I'll reach my full power, and there will be no one my equal."
"We'll see about that," Gohan smirked back at him. Vegita laughed sharply.
"If you had any idea of the level of power I have obtained, you'd be quaking in your boots."
The catcalling continued for a short while. Soon, everyone was resting up for the next item on the agenda- Frieza. Death seemed to hang in the air, along with a black wind that blew through their minds. An ominous power was gathering on the horizon.
Bardock ceased what he was doing as he sensed what was going on. He could hardly help but feel all the destruction going on on Namek. Especially with powers like Frieza and the rest of his empire fighting there. Somehow, his ability to sense the future also made him much more receptive to the present.
There was an odd power, Bardock realized, one that he didn't recognize. Who could it be? For an instant it almost felt a bit like his second son's weak ki had felt long ago. But no, that was impossible. His son had been horribly pathetic, not able to take over a planet, much less deal with real battles. Still, the resemblance was striking, and now he was thinking about his son.
Raditz had died. Bardock had received notice of his death some time ago. Now, he realized, his son was the only hope he had. If so, he was doomed. A weakling like that would disgrace him completely. The world suddenly spun around him, and Bardock dropped to his knees.
Blue grass gently waved in the wind, and the sky shone an odd green. The bizarreness of the situation took Bardock off guard for a while. Soon, however, his attention was drawn to the focus of the vision. A being he somehow knew was Frieza lay on the grass, beaten. All around the field, bodies lay scattered, as if immense destruction had taken place. So Frieza would die.
He could not sense ki inside any of his visions, but as he turned, he saw a warrior that blazed with a visible ki aura. Just imagining what type of power it took to have an aura like that made Bardock shiver. The warrior stood with his back to the field, unmoving. A wind blew through his hair slightly. Saiyan hair, Bardock realized.
Turning, the warrior glanced directly at him. Shock radiated throughout Bardock's mind as he was forced to recognize exactly who it was standing there. The world faded again.
His son? Bardock couldn't believe it. Some of his other visions hadn't ever come true. Maybe this one was also nothing but a lie. It was conceivable that he had merely forced himself to have it, thinking about his son. Still, for now, it meant nothing. What struck him more, was how the warrior had looked at him. In every vision he had ever had, he had been insubstantial. But that time, he was sure, the warrior looked directly in his eyes.
Shrugging the memory off, Bardock cleared his mind and left the room.
It happened a few hours later. Frieza's ki was sensed by Gohan. But before it got into close proximity, another ki appeared as well, Piccolo's. Piccolo landed first, right on top of the hill. He stepped from the Capsule Corps spacecraft with a swirl of his cape.
Everyone stared at him, he gazed back and met their gazes one by one. Each time, they dropped their eyes. He sat down with them to wait for Frieza to arrive. Piccolo shook his head at himself, wondering what he was doing. There was no way they could defeat Frieza without Goku's help. But he had felt what had happened. Goku was gone. He searched for peace inside himself again, and found it very quickly. Now was not the time for action, not yet.
Frieza was almost here. Piccolo couldn't avoid sensing him now. A comet burst into the ground, and it uncurled to reveal Frieza. The evil master himself was there, ready to fight them. He was wearing a scouter on one eye and saiyan armor. It was a smaller form then Piccolo had imagined.
Sensing his power, Piccolo smiled and shook his head. Frieza only rated a half million. But Piccolo wouldn't try and deceive himself, he wasn't that much of a fool. Frieza was not nearly at 100% of his full power. Piccolo couldn't stand up to that at all. He looked over their group, wondered at their chances.
Absolutely zero, he decided. The humans were too weak even to damage Frieza, and only three of them had some power at all. Him, Vegita and Gohan all could at least annoy him. Piccolo noticed they had all obtained an entire new level of power, like he had. Vegita's power seemed to have risen greatly, to 1,500,000. If Vegita had been able to make such a big jump from his former ability, how much could Goku do? Right now Vegita outclassed Frieza, but not if the changeling powered up. Gohan was only 100,000, but his anger allowed him to get incredibly strong, so perhaps he could help a bit. And him. Piccolo sighed. He was the strongest of this group? That was pathetic. In recent times he'd spent too much time altering events, finding his truth, than in training. He had three million for his power level, but Frieza was far, far stronger than all of them.
They couldn't possibly win. Why did they try? But Piccolo felt at peace with himself, so this must be the right thing to do.
"Well, well, well," Frieza laughed. "This is a great welcoming party."
"You will die, fiend!" Gohan yelled, running at him. The boy didn't take long to get to the point. A bit of subtlety would have done him some good. Piccolo watched as he did a flying head butt.
Frieza dodged to the side easily. He glanced at his scouter briefly.
"Only 100,000. You're pathetic. The least powerful saiyan I've ever seen!" A lie, Piccolo realized. Frieza did not realize how much that lie would cost him.
"I am not a saiyan!" Gohan yelled at the top of his lungs. He ran forward, bashing Frieza back. The strongest warrior in the universe was surprised by the outburst of power and was getting pummeled for it. Gohan kicked him over and over, ramming him into a rock pillar. Frieza tossed the pillar at him, but Gohan knocked it aside and charged. Frieza held out a knee to block Gohan's head, but Gohan plowed right through it and into him.
Frieza got up, coughing and choking. He looked pretty bad.
"You've gotten stronger. Your anger is your strength," he said, still mocking. Suddenly he roared and leaped to his feet. His saiyan armor snapped off, breaking into pieces around him. His body grew bigger, almost as tall as Piccolo. His head got larger and more menacing, and his spikes bent and pointed straight up into the air. The biggest change was that he now had a tail. Frieza checked his scouter again. Piccolo winced as he realized that in his first form, Frieza had hardly been trying.
"Not up to one million yet, you have 100,000 to go. That's too bad, I have greater power still."
Gohan charged, but Frieza held up a knee again. This time Gohan plowed into it and fell down, holding his head. Frieza followed up with a kick that sent him sky high. Gohan rocketed down on him, crashing him to his knees, but Frieza hit him hard on the head, knocking him into the ground. Gohan got up, but was looking tired and worn, the power gained from his anger having faded.
"Let a real saiyan take a hand." Vegita pushed Gohan aside. He stepped forward and did the same head butt. Piccolo had to smile; Frieza was foolish enough to hold out his knee again. Vegita was stronger than Frieza was in this form, so Frieza took a very hard hit. The two of them got closer, just slugging the battle out. Sighing, Piccolo turned and went back into his ship. He entered the training room and started training until the inevitable.
After a while, he heard a noise outside. Heading back out, he saw Vegita deal a kick that sent Frieza flying. When the monster landed, he was still.
"I knew you'd transform," Vegita mocked him haggardly. "Zarbon taught me that. But you're still no match for saiyan power!"
Piccolo sighed yet again. Vegita was too arrogant, he honestly thought that he had won. Frieza got up and transformed again, getting larger with a longer head. New white spikes broke out from his suddenly elongated head. Frieza's tail slowly grew out to even longer lengths. Vegita attacked, but Frieza batted him aside with his tail. Vegita flipped onto his feet again.
As he attacked Frieza, the saiyan slowly realized he wasn't getting a single blow through. Frieza was blocking everything near him. Before he could change strategy, Vegita saw Frieza disappear and felt the blow coming from behind. Rolling in midair, he turned and launched his power at close range. Taking the blast and shrugging it off, Frieza backed away.
As Vegita shakily prepared to attack again, he suddenly gasped as he felt Frieza behind him. The changeling grabbed Vegita, and the saiyan found himself helpless to escape his grasp. Laughing, Frieza grabbed Vegita's legs and began bending the saiyan backward over his knee. Vegita screamed in pain.
"Idiot," Frieza hissed. "Do you think any saiyan can stand up to a changeling?"
"You destroyed my planet," Vegita hissed. "I'll make you pay."
"Oh, that little lie," Frieza hissed. "A small matter. It was easy to make you believe I had destroyed your planet so I could control you. Trusting fool."
"You lied to me!" Vegita roared, energy exploding around him. Frieza was knocked backward by his aura, and several more blows struck him further. Leaping back across the field, Vegita raised both hands and fired.
"Galic Gun!"
The disks flew toward Frieza, who answered with his own attack. The battle raged toward Vegita, who summoned all of his strength and stopped Frieza's beam. But then, while Frieza turned up his power, Vegita ran out of energy and got hit dead on. Vegita barely got to his feet, but Piccolo decided it was time to take a hand.
Using the old flying head butt attack, Piccolo varied it a little bit. He moved up slightly, ramming Frieza's chest, not his knee. Frieza went flying backward. Piccolo flew forward and started bashing him. Though Frieza fought back, but he just wasn't strong enough.
Vegita and Gohan both recovered as the battle raged. Finally, Frieza fell from the fray, bleeding severely. Getting up, however, he shrugged off his wounds and suddenly exploded. After the pieces fell to the ground, standing among them was a new form, this one small and strange looking. It was only about five feet again, and completely white and purple. His shoulder and head had purple spots on them now, and they gleamed in the light. His tail was smaller and had a blunted end instead of a sharp one.
"Behold, my final transformation!" Frieza sneered, his voice higher pitched, yet somehow menacing. "You're the first ones I have ever needed it to beat. Prepare to be crushed."
Vegita groaned, Gohan gasped, the humans cowered, and Piccolo sighed deeply. This new form had power beyond all the others he had seen before. Piccolo estimated it at about five million. Worse, Frieza wasn't even at his full power yet! Piccolo knew he was being left in the dust fast.
But he needed to hold him off for just a second. Doing the flying headbutt, he charged. It would have hurt his head more than Frieza, but Piccolo halted at the last instant, grabbed Frieza's raised knee and tossed him into a cliff. Charging, Piccolo used Frieza's temporary instability to land another hard punch. Frieza blasted him backward, but Piccolo launched two beams of his own as he fell back, nicking Frieza with both.
Gohan and Vegita moved forward now. Piccolo knew they didn't have a chance, but his inner spirit was sensing something new. He tried to make peace with himself and concentrated. Right now, they needed Goku. Now was the time. As he looked up, Piccolo saw Frieza's power fly around him.
"You fools," he hissed. "I have reached 50% of my full power, and you stand no chance against me! The universe is mine!"
Piccolo sighed again, only slightly surprised how strong Frieza could become. When they said he was the master of the galaxy, they weren't kidding. Frieza's power had doubled to ten million. This was very bad. He needed to find Goku fast, before Vegita and Gohan fell. Piccolo sped off.