Chapter 2

Now that Goku had mentioned it, all the others could feel the power levels coming toward them. Goku blurred off in that direction, and the others, at a slightly slower speed followed. He made a slight detour then stopped where the ship was to land. Moving almost as fast as he would have with instant transmission, Goku was still behind Piccolo when it came to reaching the enemies' landing spot. Piccolo was already floating when Goku appeared. However, Goku's sudden appearance caught Piccolo by surprise, as did Goku's new look.

"Well, Goku," Piccolo growled after he'd recovered from his surprise, "Ascended a new level have you?"

Goku grinned and turned around as though modeling, "Do you like it?"

Just then the others flew up. Overhead they could see the spaceship now. It was a huge oblong shape, and as it descended it caused a huge shadow to be on the ground. It completely blotted out the sun. The ship landed and it was so big it actually caused some of th e Z fighters to move back. It settled slowly to the ground and then there was silence.

"Well, are they coming out?" asked Trunks, folding his arms and scowling in a way very similar to his father.

Goku had a look of intense concentration on his face, and he said, eyes closed, "They're coming. They don't feel that strong, but I think I'll power down to begin with anyway."

The earthshattering aura around Goku faded and he landed on the ground followed by the others. He smiled and then put his arm around Goten's growing shoulders. "Time to show how your training paid off, Goten," he said and ruffled his son's hair. Then he looked at Gohan and as they met each other's eyes, they smiled and something passed between them. No more communication was needed.

Goku looked over at Vegeta and Trunks and had to smile. Both stood in the same position a little way apart from each other, and Trunks kept sneaking glances at his Dad as though he wished his Dad would say something to him as well. Sadly, Vegeta remained characteristically quiet. However, Goku met Trunk's forlorn gaze and winked. Trunks grinned and squared his shoulders. Then the door opened.

The first creature that came out was reptilian. He wore a scouter and he scanned the warriors in front of him. They had all powered down to normal form, and had their chi mostly hidden, so the scouter didn't really reveal that much.

He stepped out and began to hiss something in and unknown language. Soldier after soldier began to march out of the spaceship, and lined up. Then the first reptilian creature turned and looked at the Z fighters. He grinned a cocky little grin at them and stated, "I am Stritle. I come from my Master Istimus. He bids you greetings. If I may have the pleasure of addressing your leader?"

All of the Z fighters looked at one another, and then, as if on cue, looked at Vegeta.

He stepped forward and said, "I am the Prince of all Saiyans. You will address me as Prince Vegeta."

The creature looked at him and keyed his scouter. "Power level 18,000? Never before have we even had to measure such weak powers with our scouters. And you consider yourself the leader? You are not the one we seek. Stand down, weakling."

Vegeta smiled, but it wasn't his pleasant smile, it was his "you are about to die" smile. "I challenge you. Test my strength."

"Very well," the creature sighed, "if you feel like being beat to a bloody pulp, come and get me."

Vegeta's smile widened into a smirk. He stared at the alien for a moment, and then charged at full speed, the alien tried to side-step. Vegeta, however, was prepared. He twisted and landed his fist full blown into the aliens face. The alien didn't move. Surprised Vegeta jumped back. The alien smiled, the punch had not even damaged his face. He seemed surprised when Vegeta smiled back.

"Well, seems I might actually need to power up to defeat you," Vegeta said, in his usual cocky manner. Instantly he powered to Super Saiyan 2. The man reached up to check his scouter, but before he could, he felt Vegeta's fist slam once again into his face. This time however, he flew backwards and hit the side of a mountain. He came out of the collective rubble after a moment, and wiped away the blood that was running down his head. Vegeta smirked at him and again he reached up and keyed his scouter.

"Hmm, power level 50,000,000, quite a bit higher," he said, in an unruffled voice, "I might have to power up as well," and with that an aura exploded around him and he charged at Vegeta. Vegeta blocked and in a few moments they were involved in an intricate series of kicks and punches. Goku watched passively. None of the troops even moved. There came a sudden lull in the battle and Vegeta and the reptile landed.

"It seems I underestimated you," the reptile said, "but now we know not to trust our scouters. I assume all of you are powered down or hiding your chi. Thank you, I will be sure to add that to our logs."

Vegeta's smirk had not faded, but to Goku's trained eye, he seemed uneasy about something.

"Now," the alien said, turning to look at the rest of them, "I have a question for you."

"Well, what is it?" Piccolo asked, hating dramatic pauses.

"Which one of you is the Saiyan called Goku?" the reptiles voice hissed.

Goku started slightly, but covered it quickly, however, he couldn't mask everyone's eyes darting to look at him.

"Who wants to know?" asked Piccolo.

"I already introduced myself," the creature said, sounding quite confused, "isn't it polite to respond in turn?"

Goku shook his head. So far the guy had not been impolite, and the rest of the soldiers had just stood there. He stepped forward. "I am Goku," he said, and the reptile's eyes swung to him.

Stritle examined the creature talking to him. The Saiyan stared at him closely, and he felt as though this Goku was probing his inner self. The Saiyan was tall and muscular. He seemed to emanate power, but more than that he simply let off a sense of goodness. Stritle moved his hand up to his scouter as though from habit and then made a disgusted noise, "Bah! I forgot you know how to mask your chi. 2,000 is definitely not an accurate reading, especially from that fiasco three years ago that caused all of our scouters to explode because of the power you exhibited. What exactly were you doing?"

"Fighting," Goku replied, deciding to go with his goofy smile. He saw Vegeta's eyes narrow into slits as he looked at the reptile.

The alien rolled his slitted eyes and quickly lowered his view of the Saiyan's intelligence. "Obviously. My master would like to extend an invitation to you, though you weren't quite what I was expecting."

"I'm listening," Goku said, his smile dropping away as his face hardened into the look he used for a fight. For a moment, the reptile almost seemed intimidated. He suddenly didn't know what to think of this creature, who one moment seemed playful, even innocent, and the next looked as hard as a piece of granite.

"Uh, yes. You see, my Master would like you to join us. He extends the invitation for you to join the most elite group of fighters in the galaxy. Each of these men behind me are the top class of their planets. No where in the galaxy are there stronger fighters, except maybe standing right here. Will you join us?"

Before Goku could say anything, Gohan asked, "Join you in what? You still haven't told us who you are, or who this Master Istimus is. My father definitely won't even consider joining unless he knows what exactly you are up to."

As the reptile's eyes went back to Goku, Goku nodded in agreement. The reptile hissed. "I'm afraid I cannot divulge the main goal of our campaign to anyone outside the campaign. However, Goku, you should know this is a one-time offer only made for you, and one I'm afraid you cannot turn down."

Goku smiled slowly and shook his head. "And I'm afraid I must. You see, Stritle, I am perfectly happy where I am. I have a family, and I have no interest in leaving that family. You'll have to go elsewhere to make your offer. Especially if the offer comes with no description."

"You don't seem to understand, Goku. You will join us, willing or not. However, things will be a lot less painless for you and your friends if you simply agree now."

"No," was all Goku said, but the reptile's face tightened in anger and he hissed..

"Watch out, Dad!" Goten shouted and Goku turned just in time to see two fighters throwing a net with such speed that it immersed him before he could escape. He grinned at Stritle through the net that he easily held off the ground. "This won't hold me, Stritle," he laughed and he preformed instant transmission to behind Vegeta.

He stood there and watched the net fall to the ground with everyone else.

"Where did he go?" hissed Stritle.

Goku chuckled and the reptile turned to look at him, as did every other eye around him.

"How..?" the reptile mouthed and then he yelled, "Get him!" The army instantly attacked. They split into different groups and many went on each Z fighter. The reptile had been right, these were not ordinary soldiers. All could have defeated Freeza, some of them could have taken on Cell, and two or three could even have challenged Buu. However, Goku laughed with joy as he fought off the barrage of hands that sought to lay a hold of him. Even in normal form he was able to hold them off for a while, but eventually he was forced to transform. As he exploded with gold light, he notice all the others except Piccolo had done the same. The fighting intensified, many of the soldiers were knocked unconscious or killed, (mainly by Vegeta). Suddenly, the reptile was in front of Goku.

"Don't get to cocky," he hissed and from his talons exploded light. Bands of light streamed through the air at Goku, and he experienced sudden deja vu. They reminded Goku of the bands of chi Vegeta had used during their fight before Buu where he'd stuck Goku to the mountainside and pummeled him. Goku moved to dodge, but two men, jumped on him and stalled him for the two seconds Stritle needed. The bands of chi hit Goku, one on the throat, two on his wrists, one on his waist, and two on his ankles.

They carried him back into the side of the mountain, and he growled as he struggled in their grip. They were much more powerful than the ones Vegeta had used, and somehow they seemed to be sucking his chi. Stritle landed in front of him and grinned his cocky, crocodile smile. "Try and get out of that," he said, "the more you struggle and power up, the harder it becomes. This has held the strongest of the strong, there is no way you can escape."

Goku didn't answer with words, he knew there wasn't time, if he was going to escape, he needed to now, or he would have to little energy. He began to power up, and Stritle said, "Excellent," and turned on his scouter.

As he built of his energy, the battle around him paused as scouters began to beep and light up and the Z fighters felt his energy increase.

The more power Goku drew, the tighter the bands swelled until he was having a hard time breathing, but he pushed him self on. He went into Super Saiyan 3 with no problem, but by that time, the sheer amount of power he was giving the bands was being counterproductive. He still pushed though, even as he gasped for breath, even as his circulation was cut off he strived to push through the barrier. Stritle stared in amazement as his scouter continued to skyrocket. It was getting dangerously close to breaking and he quickly recalibrated it to a higher frequency. The power level continued to build. The bands of energy cut through Goku's skin, and blood began to drip to the ground. His air tunnel was completely sealed off, and his waist was also being bereft of his oxygen supply. However, Goku didn't stop, running completely on adrenaline he cascaded higher and higher. He broke through the barrier at the same time his mind blacked out, and as he transformed Super Saiyan 4 for the second time, he dropped back to his normal form, him mass shrank, and his unconscious body breathed in relief.

In the silence that followed you could have heard a pin drop. Stritle's mouth hung open, his slitted eyes wide with astonishment. His scouter showed an energy level of 1,000,000,000. Vegeta, Goten, Gohan, Trunks, and Piccolo all stared at the unconscious Goku as if unable to believe their eyes. Some of the soldiers held their hands to bloody heads where scouters had exploded because they hadn't been quick enough to recalibrate them.

"That's impossible!" Gohan heard one of the soldiers yell, "he cannot possibly be that strong! He's just a monkey!"

Vegeta turned his cold, black eyes on the creature and it gulped and quickly shut up. Vegeta turned his attention back to Goku.

"Wake up, Kakarott," he growled under his breath.

Goten stood frozen, and then suddenly, he became angry. How dare these creatures come and try to force his father to leave! With a cry of rage, he powered up to Super Saiyan 2 and flew straight at the reptilian creature. Still stunned, unprepared, and powered down, the creature just stood there and Goten's fist crashed into his head. He fell to the ground unconscious. Goku woke up just in time to see his little boy take out Stritle. However, the power bands did not disappear, but Goku didn't seem worried anymore. "Good job, Goten," he cheered. Goten grinned and flew over to him. Then Goku concentrated on one of the bands of light, and to the watchers' surprise, the band disappeared. Then he did the same with the rest. Stritle woke up just in time to see the last one disappear.

"Im..impossible!" he howled. "You cannot just make them disappear! Impossible! Everything about you is impossible."

"I do not think that word means what you think it means," Goten said, with a scowl on him face. (He had just recently been watching a movie, and he decided to add in that line.)

The reptile scowled at him and then just as suddenly, he smiled. "It makes no difference, you still cannot stand up to all of us. Men, line up! Chi elimination fields! Turoken!"

Instantly, all of the soldiers lined up facing the Z-fighters. Piccolo was bleeding from several flesh wounds, but they all stood ready for the attack. Goku powered up and exploded to Super Saiyan 3. All the others reached Super Saiyan 2. "Ka-me-ha-me..." Goku and the others chanted.

"Tu-ro-ken!"

"Haaaaaaaa!"

"Final Flash!

The two blasts met in midair and it immediately began to fall towards the Z fighters. They all increased their chi, and Goku began to power up more, but it still wasn't enough. The enemies attack hit them full throttle and exploded.

Once the smoke cleared, (of course, because this is DBZ we're all expecting to see them fine and healthy) it revealed the Z fighters. They were all laying on the ground unconscious, except for Goku. He swayed on his feet and scowled at his enemies. "No matter what you do to me, I will fight you to my last breath," he declared, thinking something heroic was in order.

However, Stritle stood with his hands behind his back and did not seem impressed. "I don't think so," he said, "you see we now have a trump card that is going to make you come along with us."

"Nothing you do could make me join you," Goku growled. His brain was quickly trying to figure out why they were all smiling so cockily. "I'll give you one last chance to leave before things start getting ugly."

Stritle continued to smile and then he drew his hands from behind his back. In his arms he held a sleeping Chikou. Goku made a startled sound and unknowingly took a half-step forward. "You see, Goku," Stritle said, condescendingly, "the seer knew all of this was going to happen, so she sent two of my men to gather something with which to control you. At first, I hadn't believed her, but now I see she was right. Now, agree to join us, or the baby dies."

Goku stood frozen for a moment, his eyes boring into Stritle with an intensity that frightened the reptile. He stood as tense as a statue and then slowly his shoulders lowered in defeat. He wasn't surprised, he had been expecting this to happen for a long time now, ever since Radditz tried something similar with Gohan. He was just lucky Freeza or Buu hadn't thought of it. He said nothing, but simply crossed his arms and nodded, powering down to as low as he could.

The reptile tried to assume his cocky grin again, but underneath Goku's heated glare, he found he was unable too. However, that didn't stop him from tempting fate. "Nuh-uh," he said, "that's not good enough. I want to hear you beg for the baby, and then swear that you'll join us, or I'll just kill her here and now. And don't think you can be fast enough to save the baby. Even if you succeed, there are men back at your house who will kill your mate if something happens to me."

Slowly, Goku's body stiffened, and his resolve seemed to melt as he gazed at his daughter. Slowly she opened her clear eyes and stared at her father. There really was no choice for Goku as she gazed at him with love. Slowly, he stepped forward. "Please," he said, stiffly, "don't harm her. I...beg of you."

"On your knees, if you please," the reptile hissed. "And swear you'll join us."

Goku heard a sound behind him, and he looked to see they now had all of the Z fighters tied with chi-restricting bands. They stood over them menacingly, and one of them even grabbed Goten by the hair, holding a sword's blade to his unconscious throat. Goku gazed at each of his friends and rivals in turn. Vegeta's arrogance, Gohan's quiet strength, Goten and Trunk's youthful vitality, Piccolo's uncomfortable friendship, each one had qualities that defined them, and again Goku had no choice. Neither his pride nor his freedom was worth their lives. Didn't even come close. He looked back at the reptile, who said, "Now, all their lives are in your hands."

"Do you promise you'll release them?" Goku asked, his voice cracking slightly.

"Of course," Stritle said, "and none will be hurt. You're the only one we came for. As I said, if you'd just agreed to it earlier, no one would have been hurt."

Goku swayed as a great tree does when it is about to fall, and slowly he sank to his knees. His spiky black hair swayed in the breeze, and slowly he said, "I beg you to release them, and if you do, I swear I will join your master's army and serve under his command."

"Say please," Stritle taunted, but as Goku's frosty glare landed on him, he quickly sucked in his breath, "Never mind," he stated hurriedly, "now, Goku, get on the ship, you will be shown to your room. Anything you need?"

"Chichi," he murmured quietly, but the reptile didn't seem to hear him.

"No? Well, alright. Nufter, show him to his new home."

As Goku walked on the ship, he thought he heard Goten say, "Daddy?" He turned and looked at his youngest son, and assuming a confident grin, said quietly, "Tell your mother I'm sorry, Goten. Take care of her and your brother and sister. Promise me?"

Goten's eyes swelled with tears and he said, "I promise, Dad."

Goku smiled at his son, then turned and walked away. He didn't even look at Chikou as she began to cry, and her wailing followed him all the way inside. He heard Gohan's voice though, as he whispered, "Father."