A/N: [Recently Updated and Amended - The original document accidentally got split when I originally posted it. I'm hoping to make every chapter at least 5,000 words long as a goal. Now it is whole again like it was supposed to be and hit the mark. I'll be sure not to let this happen again in the future.]
Welcome back everybody. Before we get started I'd like to speak about some of the reviews being made recently.
For starters, I'm not one of those authors who throws a fit whenever someone throws a flame or two my way. It comes with the territory for any writer, amateur or otherwise, and everyone has an opinion that deserves to be heard. Criticism can be just as effective as positive reviews, either way I respect my readers for having their own ideals when reading my work.
I just don't want folks to fight over it. This site was designed for us to share ideas, offer pointers, and write out kickass stories about anything and everything we love. If some folks don't like what I have to offer, I don't take it personally, I'm obviously not the author they were hoping to find.
Trust me, my predecessor Wraith002 used to get death threats through PMs. But that never stopped him, and it won't stop me from writing either. Though I will still accept occasional flames, try to keep it from crossing a line is all I'm asking.
With that bit out of the way, it's time to get to what many of you are really here for. And as promised, I made sure to make it something worth your time. And even though 'Cooler' may or may not live up to the anti-hero vibe I was hoping to set in the very beginning, I'm still intending on making him badass in the end.
X
X Flashback Many Years Ago X
Cooler stood at the open door to the bedroom that belonged to his little brother, Frieza laid in his bed curled into a little ball, his small frame covered in scrapes and bruises thanks to the latest session he had with their father.
Sighing, the older Frost Demon entered the room quietly and sat on the bed. "You okay?" he asked, already knowing the answer as Frieza whimpered and curled in on himself more.
"Why is father so cruel?" he asked, his red eyes beseeching his older brother for the answer.
"He wants to make us strong. But he is too arrogant to know that his ways are wrong." Cooler answered honestly.
Frieza looked confused, "Father is...wrong?"
The older Frost Demon nodded, "Having more power isn't the only way to become strong. True strength comes from fighting for something important."
His brother sat up slowly, wincing when his bruises started aching. "Something important?"
"If you fight to protect something, you'll find true strength." Cooler smiled as he pat Frieza on the head, "Father hopes to break us down and remake us in his image. But we can be so much more than what he wants us to be. We can be better, stronger, but to do that we need to attain our own form of strength to grow from."
Frieza was quiet for a while, "But, how do we find what to fight for? What's that important thing?" he asked with the curiosity that showed his young age.
Cooler smiled, "Family, those we care about most. As long was we don't lose sight of that, and work hard to protect it, there won't be anything in the universe that can stop us."
The younger Frost Demon smiled brightly, "Does that mean I'm important to you, brother? Is that why you're so much stronger?"
"Yeah, squirt." Cooler replied while rubbing Frieza on the head, "And no matter what, I'll always try to be there for you. That's what family does."
X Present X
The memory passed through his thoughts against his better judgement. One of the many rare instances back after he had been reborn that he actually treasured.
Back then he had done everything in his power to try and keep Frieza from becoming the power hungry bastard he was in the original story. Because despite everything, Frieza had become his little brother, and since he didn't have siblings in his original life, he wanted to make sure that he was safe and grew up to be decent person.
But in the end, the fates were against him. Frieza still took after their father and became just as sadistic and power-mad as the old King himself had been. Maybe even more so than that.
Shaking his head to clear that line of thoughts, Cooler continued his flight to where he knew Frieza would be landing within the next few minutes. Having passed over West City, the ocean, and going deep into the rocky badlands miles away from any form of civilization.
Finding a tall mountain with a flat peak that overlooked most of the wasteland, the Frost Demon landed on the edge and looked out over the rocky landscape. Enroute, he could sense multiple ki signatures powering up and heading in the same direction. The other Z-Fighters would be there soon.
"How much longer do we have?" he glanced left to where Piccolo was standing a couple meters away. Having appeared seemingly from thin air.
"If it's like the ships his force usually travels in, he should be entering the atmosphere within the next few minutes." Cooler replied, his gaze turning to the sky.
Seconds ticked by as the two aliens stood side by side and waited in silence. The others soon arrived, including Vegeta and Bulma as they prepared for Frieza's arrival.
"And what is he doing here?!" the Prince demanded after seeing Cooler, having changed into yellow pants and a pink shirt instead of his usual battle armor.
"He's the one that warned us that Frieza was still alive and might be coming here." answered Krillin, "And from what we've been feeling, he was right on the money."
Vegeta scoffed just as Tien and Chouzu arrived. "So, the gang's all here." the tri-cloptic man said, removing the heavy jacket he'd been wearing.
"Do we even have a plan?" asked Yamcha, shivering with nerves much like everyone else.
"Protecting the planet is your job as its defenders." said Cooler, getting the attention of everyone. "But Frieza, he's mine. None of you have the strength to match up with what he can dish out."
"You've got to be kidding!" Vegeta snarled, "Your a damn fool if you think I'll let someone like you or any of these other weaklings tell me what to do! Frieza is mine! And none of you are going to get in the way of-"
Cooler appeared in the face of the Prince and made him stumble back only for a hand to grip him by the throat and lift him off the ground. The Z-Fighters were frozen at the sight of the Frost Demon holding the Saiyan Prince off the ground, not from the image itself, but the look of cold lethality in his eyes.
"I'm only going to say this once, so you better be listening Vegeta." Cooler said, his tone almost frigid, "My brother is going to die today, by MY hand. He may have killed your race and damaged your pride, but he and our father took something from me that I will never forgive him for."
He tossed Vegeta to the ground, "I don't give a shit about your pride, or your never ending thirst to come out on top. This has been a long time coming, and no one's getting in the way of that." The Frost Demon turned and began walking back to his original place.
The Saiyan Prince grit his teeth as he stood back up, a ball of ki charging to his hand in preparation to an attack.
"Vegeta stop!" Gohan shouted too late as Vegeta threw the blast at Cooler's back.
Just before it was about to make contact, the Frost Demon spun around and swatted the blast aside. In the next instant he shot across the ground and planted his fist hard into Vegeta's stomach, the force of the blow cracking the ground around them as the Prince bent over with blood spraying from his mouth.
"Apparently I wasn't clear enough, so let me explain it to you in a way you should understand." Cooler said, grinding his fist harder into the man's stomach. "You get in my way, your so called 'Royal Bloodline' will die here as well."
Pulling his fist away, Vegeta collapsed to his knees clutching his midsection. "I was never your enemy, Vegeta. But you're damn close to making the list. Don't cross me again."
Everyone else could only watch with their mouths hanging. Vegeta was strong, far stronger than he had been when he and Nappa first arrived on Earth. But Cooler had taken him down with one punch!
However the most disturbing of the confrontation was Cooler's change in demeanor. Sure he was blunt, but he mostly had this casual and laid back attitude a lot of the time. But here he was cold, vicious and brutal. And how dead set he was on fighting Frieza told them that it was indeed on a very personal level.
Just what had Frieza done to warrant such violence and rage from the normally calm Frost Demon?
Having ignored the situation behind him, Piccolo perked up when he felt the powerful presence that had been getting steadily closer to the Earth right on top of them. "HE'S HERE!" he shouted just as the familiar view of a Frieza Force ship descended from the sky and made its way toward the badlands.
A large shadow being cast over them as it flew overhead and stopped several miles away and began to land in an open canyon.
While the Z-Fighters overcame their horror at the fact Frieza was actually here, Cooler rose into the air and shot off in the direction the ship had landed. A second or two passed before the others gave chase.
X
"Lord Frieza, landing procedures are complete." one of the soldiers onboard the ship reported when the vessel touched down on the planet's surface.
"Excellent. Have everyone assemble outside." Frieza stated as he rose from his chair and hovered up and out of the ship through an opening on the roof. Landing on the ground outside while his forces gathered at the end of a ramp that lowered.
Red eyes scanning the surrounding wasteland, the cyborg-Frost Demon smirked to himself. "So, this is the planet Earth...how quaint." He was suddenly bombarded with the memories of his last moments on Namek, how the Saiyan called Goku had defeated him, shamed him and left him for dead with the planet's destruction.
His fist clenched tightly, purple blood dripping between his fingers as landing on the ground below. "I will make him suffer for what he did to me..." he muttered when the image of the Super Saiyan appeared in his mind. "I will make this whole planet suffer!"
Frieza turned to the soldiers behind him, "All of you, spread out and search! And when you find the Saiyan's friends, show no mercy!"
"YES LORD FRIEZA!" the all reported before they began moving out-
A beam of energy suddenly lanced through the air, cutting through their ranks and causing a large explosion and reducing the squadron to ashes and burnt body parts.
Frieza formed a barrier to protect him from the debris that had once been his men, "What?! What happened?!" he bellowed, turning to find the source of the attack.
Through the dust kicked up from the explosion, be could make out someone standing on a cliff overlooking the canyon. When he got a clearer look, his eyes widened and he froze in place.
"C-Cooler..." he muttered in disbelief.
Cooler leered down at him before jumping off the cliff, landing softly on the canyon floor without breaking eye contact with Frieza. "Little Brother." he said sharply.
Gritting his teeth, Frieza clenched his fists with red electricity crackling along his body. "Why are you here?!
"Hoping to run into you. It has been too long, and we have so MUCH catching up to do." replied the older Frost Demon, energy crackling along his frame as well. "Too bad father couldn't be here for this little family reunion."
"You dare utter Papa's name like that?! After what you did?!" Freiza exclaimed.
Cooler narrowed his eyes, "What I did was put that self-righteous, ego-maniacal power monger where he belongs. In HELL! My only regret is not doing it sooner!"
A smirk suddenly formed on the younger Frost Demon's face. "So, that's what this is about? Revenge for what father and I did to that little wretch of yours long ago?"
Despite his calm exterior, a raging inferno had just been ignited within Cooler's soul. The flames growing hotter when Frieza started to laugh.
"How utterly pathetic! We are the strongest in the universe! But you decided to go and become a disgrace for everything our family had built for eons! Father would have given you a chance to rejoin the family, but you had to go out and disrupt our operations throughout the galaxy." Frieza sneered, before smirking, "In the end, it was your own fault for what had happened. I still remember her screams...but you would have to have been there."
The ground beneath Cooler cracked violently, small stones floating into the air and hovering around him as his power began to rise with his rage.
Frieza blinked at the sudden rush of power, "Oh, consider that nerve touched then. But just as a warning, if you're hoping to fight me, brother, then you should know I have improved since our last battle." more energy crackled around him for emphasis. "Things will not go as they did before."
Like a light switch flipping off, the energy emitting from Cooler cut out. The small rocks clattering back to the ground. "You're right about one thing." he said, his tone steadily turning to ice with each word, "It really won't be like before...because I'm going to kill you."
With that being said power exploded out of the older Frost Demon like a tsunami. Sending large fissures along the rockwalls of the canyon around them. Frieza stumbled back, eyes wide while the ground shook.
"There has always been something you've been ignorant about, Frieza." Cooler said over the energy he was sending out, "Our kind was always able to reach new levels of power. We just needed to work hard to attain it. But like Cold, you settled for what you were given thinking that nothing could ever stand in your way. Allow me to show you what you were too stupid to learn for yourself!"
With a battle cry, another wave of energy exploded out of Cooler. Several cliffs collapsing under the pressure while the ground shook more violently.
Then...he started to change.
X
In the sky close to the canyon, the Z-Fighters were all frozen where they were when they saw and felt the power being unleashed ahead.
"Whoa...is...is that..." Krillin stuttered.
"Cooler." Piccolo confirmed, sweat dripping down from under his turban. The Frost Demon's power was rising, higher than any of them have ever felt before.
His power had dwarfed Freiza's by multiple times!
Vegeta clenched his fist in anger at feeling such an immense power level. His stomach still ached from the blow it had taken and now he was feeling for himself just how strong Cooler really was. Filling him further with rage...and more fear than he was willing to admit even to himself.
Once they had all overcome the sudden influx of power, the warriors all landed on a ridge that overlooked the canyon. And much like the villain who had come to their world, they bore witness to their most recent ally's transformation.
X
Power coursing through him, Cooler focused all of it into himself. And with it, his body began to change.
His form grew taller and broader, reaching almost ten feet in height. His bio-armor shifted to match his his growth as well, his shin-guards developing dark-blue bio-gems on either side in addition. His forearm-guards did the same, but also grew on the blades on the outside that were half a meter long and curved back toward his elbows.
The armor covering his chest also changed. The shoulder pads extending upward and outward in a loop on either arm and a pair of spikes sprouted from the back by his shoulder blades.
His helm changed next. Growing wider and forming four spikes making it look more like a crown with the bio-gem shrinking slightly to fit in the middle. His eyes, which were now completely red, began to glow while his power continued to climb higher and higher with his transformation.
For Frieza, all he could to was stand in shock and awe at what was happening to his older brother. Not believing what he was seeing right before his eyes.
The whole change took less than 25 seconds, but the result was something that left anyone who bore witness to it speechless.
Standing tall in his new form, Cooler fixed his brother with a leer that burned straight to his very soul. The air around him seeming to act like a gravity well causing debris from the canyon to float around him.
"Wasn't expecting that, were you?" he asked, his voice now deeper and filled with power. "I discovered this form in my training. I wasn't kidding when I said our kind could reach new levels of power." A facemask suddenly extended and connected over his mouth and nose with a sharp 'clack!', leaving only his glowing eyes visible.
Frieza took a step back, his cybernetic body quivering as the full realization of what was happening finally settled in his mind.
"You know, it's funny. Father had the same look on his face when I transformed during our last encounter." Cooler continued as he clenched his fists, "And I'll tell you the same thing I told him;"
He vanished in a burst of speed, appearing behind his brother and showing just how much larger he was compared to the cyborg. "You can breathe, you can blink, you can cry, you'll be doing a lot of that, but in the end...it changes nothing."
Frieza spun around, energy gathering to his hand for an attack only to get launched into the air from a powerful uppercut.
Managing to right himself, the cyborg was blind-sided by Cooler who slammed him with his knee and droved him into a cliff face. He followed up with an axe-handle that sent him crashing into the canyon floor.
Not giving him a chance to recover, the older Frost Demon shot toward the ground like a missile. Slamming both fists into Frieza's chest and sending them both tunneling beneath the Earth.
Seconds later, the ground exploded elsewhere in the canyon with Cooler shooting into the air, his hand clasped tightly around Freiza's ankle before he threw the cyborg into a canyon wall.
Shaking off the barrage, Frieza charged his own ki and launched at his brother. Vanishing into thin air before he could make contact.
The older Frost Demon remained still while floating, his head turning sharply to the right with his fist snapping up and crashing into Frieza's jaw when he tried to get him from behind. Stunned, he couldn't avoid Cooler's tail coming up and wrapping around his neck and flinging him in another direction.
Righting himself, Frieza glared with growing hatred as he charged energy to his hands. "YOU WON'T MAKE A FOOL OF ME!" he launched a barrage of red ki blasts intending to overwhelm the older Frost Demon.
Cooler remained still, glowing eyes narrowing as the attacks could hit home.
Frieza kept up the assault for several more seconds before stopping. A grin of satisfaction spreading along his lips as having defeated his-
"Is that all you have?"
The cyborg froze in terror from the voice spoken behind him. Desperate, he spun around and threw a wild punch with his cybernetic hand only to have it caught in Cooler's iron-like grip. The elder of the duo applying more pressure and causing sparks to begin discharge from the metal limb.
Gritting his teeth, Frieza swung with his other hand only to have it in the same predicament.
"Do you feel it, Frieza?" Cooler asked. "That feeling of helplessness? The end drawing near? The terror? Something you instilled countless lives...including HER!"
With the last word coming out in an enraged roar, Cooler crushed Frieza's cybernetic arm and yanked back with all his strength.
Metal cracked and shattered, wires and circuits tore as the limb was ripped from Frieza's body in a burst of sparks and purple blood. The tyrant shrieked in agony when his arm was violently removed, oblivious to the world until Cooler grabbed him by the face and rocketed back toward the ground.
The older Frost Demon slamming the cyborg into the Earth where he adjusted his trajectory and dragged him along the canyon floor. A massive fissure being made in their wake before coming to an abrupt end when they reached another rockwall. Frieza's battered body being embedded into it deeply.
With chilling indifference, Cooler slammed his large foot into his brother's chest, sending him farther into the rockwall and keeping him pinned there while a hand grabbed one of his cybernetic legs.
Brought out of his pain induced stupor, Frieza became overcome with sheer terror at what was happening.
"C-Cooler! NO!"
Cooler was silent as he broke Frieza's leg at the knee and removed it like his arm, doing the same a moment later with his tail and other leg, leaving him with only his flesh and blood arm.
Satisfied with his actions, the older Frost Demon grabbed Frieza and tossed him out of the wall and onto the ground. A puddle of his blood mixed with synthetic fluids beginning to pool under him as he laid in a state of shock.
"The sad part of all this? It didn't have to be this way." Cooler said, coming over and standing above his brothers ravaged form. "We both could have defied Cold, made the universe into something far better than what it was. But you threw away everything we had as brothers for the seat as Emperor of the galaxy. And instead of coming after me with what I had done to your so called empire...you went after the one other person in this universe I cared about more than anything."
Glowing red eyes closed for a moment before opening again and leering down at Frieza. "Now Cold's dead, and you're gonna join him."
Frieza shot upward, firing a Death Beam directly at Cooler's eye. A last ditch effort that failed as the older Frost Demon tilted his head to the side and avoided the attack, his right hand shooting forward and going through his brother's chest and exploding out his back.
A chilled silence filled the canyon. Blood dripped off Cooler's hand and splattered on the ground as Frieza looked down at the arm plunged through his torso. Several coughs came from the cyborg with more blood dribbling down his chin.
Red eyes slowly rose and met the glowing ones that once matched his own.
"B-B-Brother..." he rasped through the pain and blood gathering in his throat.
Cooler shook his head and launched Frieza's dying form high into the air. Bringing both his right side, he began to channel a large amount of energy to his cupped hands and a ball of red and yellow ki began to grow in strength.
When he had enough gathered, he thrust both hands upward at Frieza's body. "NOVA CANNON!" a massive beam of swirling red and yellow energy lanced forth, the ground shaking at the source from the output of power. The attack striking the body and vaporized it in seconds, not even ashes left behind as the beam continued into the air, passing through the atmosphere where it dissipated.
After everything settled, Cooler slowly lowered his arms. Taking a deep, cleansing breath while powering back down to his true form, he felt as though a heavy weight had been lifted from his shoulders with Frieza's demise.
X
Up on the ridge, the Z-Warriors were still as statues. Several of them pale as ghosts as they bore witness to the brutal death of the one many of them feared.
Even Vegeta and Piccolo were unsettled by how Cooler had dispatched his own brother with such viciousness. Frieza had been utterly outmatched in both power and skill, and the oldest of the two siblings didn't pull any punches and showed absolutely no mercy.
Yamcha broke the tense silence with a nervous chuckle, "Heh...guess it's a good thing he's on our side...right guys?" no one answered him.
"That power..." said Tien, all three of his eyes not leaving Cooler from his position while Chouzu shivered beside him. "It was beyond anything any of us have ever seen before!"
"It wasn't just his power level." said Piccolo. "What we just saw was rage. Expertly controlled, but rage nonetheless. He wasn't kidding when he said that this was personal."
Bulma hugged Puar close to her chest, having trouble trying to place the violent being she had just witnessed to the same Cooler who had been staying in her home. "But...how could he be that vicious? I mean, I know Frieza was a monster and the universe is better off without him, but he was still his brother." she said in utter confusion and unease.
Vegeta clenched his fists, old feelings of being powerless against another coming back to him with avengence. First Frieza ever since he was a child, then Kakarot attaining the ascension to Super Saiyan, and now Cooler, who took Frieza apart and obliterated him in less than three minutes!
How was this possible?! He was the last of his royal bloodline, yet he was constantly being left in the dust by those that were supposed to be beneath him!
X
Back on the canyon floor, Cooler opened his eyes.
"You can come out now. Show's over." he said, turning his attention to a dark crevice not too far away.
Movement in the shadows could be seen before someone stepped out into the light. A young male with short lavender hair dressed in yellow boots, black pants and wife-beater with a dark-blue jacket baring the Capsule Corp. insignia on the shoulder. He also had a sword strapped to his back, and from the way he was currently standing with his hand resting on the hilt, he knew how to use it.
Sharp blue eyes leered at the Frost Demon who sent a similar look right back.
"Relax. Like I told the locals weeks ago, if I wanted the planet destroyed I wouldn't have even bothered helping out." Cooler stated calmly.
The youth narrowed his eyes further, sending a fleeting look at the cybernetic limbs Cooler had torn from his brother in their fight. "Sorry if I don't take your word for it." he said flickering his gaze back to the Frost Demon.
"Frieza and I had a disagreement. He wanted to keep living, and I wasn't going to let that shit fly." Cooler said with a shrug of indifference, "Besides, you're not here about me and my family drama. You're here for something else, something that has to do with the fate of the future, if I were to hazard a guess."
The teen blinked in shock, grip tightening on his sword. "How did you know that?! Who are you?!"
"We're all privy to our secrets, kid." said the Frost Demon as he turned his back and began walking away. "But let's just say I have a hand in keeping people alive as much as you do."
Cooler looked back over his shoulder, "Well? You going to do what you came here for, or are you just gonna stand there? This world isn't going to save itself."
Hovering up over the ridge on the top of the canyon, the Frost Demon touched down while everyone else kept their eyes locked on him.
"Enjoy the show? You could have stepped in at any time." Cooler said as casual as someone would talking about the weather.
"Uhh...y-you looked like you had everything under control." said Krillin, failing miserably at hiding his nervousness after what they had witnessed.
Cooler raised an eye ridge at him as the lavender-haired youth came up and landed beside him. "Whose the kid?" asked Yamcha at the new arrival.
Instead of answering, the teen pulled up the sleeve of his jacket and checked his watch. "If you guys are waiting for Goku, I can show you where he's going to be."
This bit of news sent a wave of shock and confusion through the gathered fighters, save for Cooler who was expecting this turn of events.
"Wait, how did you-" Bulma's question was cut off as the unknown teen rose into the air and started flying off farther into the wasteland.
Gohan was the first to snap out of his stupor and quickly gave chase, Piccolo behind him with the others following right after. Cooler watched them leave one after another, remaining where he was for a while longer.
Lifting up his arm, he looked at the blood that had dried there, recalling the moment he impaled Frieza before reducing him to dust in the wind. He'd avenged the countless lives he had taken, including one of the few that meant the most to him since his rebirth.
Lowering his arm back to his side, the Frost Demon looked up where the Z-Fighters had gone after Trunks where Goku would be landing in the next couple of hours.
Rising into the air, he took off in that direction at a slower pace. There wasn't a need to rush given how long the wait would end up being.
X
A/N: Frieza's down, Trunks has arrived, and Cooler has shown without a doubt that he isn't one to be F***ed with.
(Brownie points if you can catch the famous quote made in this chapter!)
I'm still just getting started, and I intend on keeping this ride going as long as I can. So if you're still with me out there fans, keep reviewing and keep kicking ass and I'll see you all next time!