Author's note: Hey, guys, thanks for the reads, and the reviews. I love getting those alerts. Please feel free to keep them coming, and let me know your thoughts as the story progresses.
Chapter 14
In space.
Five darkened attack pods flew in formation towards Planet Namek. Gradually lights began turning on, and consoles began to beep, waking their passengers.
Captain Ginyu spoke in the lead pod. "Roll call."
A purple snake tongued man responded first. "Burter." He was curled uncomfortably in the undersized pod. His red eyes motionlessly scanned his console, ensuring everything was functioning as it should. Grabbing his green scouter he put it on.
The bright red skinned Jeice responded next. "Jeice." He brushed aside his mass of white hair to check his systems, and smiled at his reflection in the glass pod door.
"Guldo." A light green alien said. His proportions were similar to that of the pod he sat in. He tried to grab his scouter, but due to his minuscule size, couldn't reach it. If anything went wrong in his pod, he'd be in quite the pinch.
"Recoome." A giant, red hair, man spoke from his pod. He hugged his knees, holding his shoulders in tight as well. Having the opposite problem of Guldo, if he got comfortable he'd risk either destroying his pods console, or deactivating auto pilot, at which point he'd be unable to correct his actions.
"And we are..." Captain Ginyu said while rhythmically moving his light purple arms. The conical horns atop his head scratched the inside of the pod, but prevented his wrinkly scalp from impacting it.
"The GINYU FORCE!" The five of them shouted in unison.
"Captain, sir." Jeice spoke up.
"Yes, Jeice, speak!" Ginyu cheered.
"It looks like we're not alone up here" Jeice said. "There's another ship, heading out of the system. It's not one of ours."
"Good observation, Jeice." Ginyu enthusiastically praised his team mate.
"Thank you, Captain." Jeice was just as enthusiastic.
"We'll continue to the planet." Ginyu said remorsefully. "Intercept that ship and report back."
"Yes, sir." Jeice saluted the air. "Disabling auto pilot. Best of luck, I'll rejoin you as quickly as I can."
Loa's village.
The Namekian and his friend stood over the invader. When he went unconscious he lost his transformation. With his body face down in the dirt he actually looked relatively unharmed. Nail used his foot to flip Zarbon over, and the damage was obvious.
"What are you going to do with him?" Loa asked Nail. She sat the dragon ball down and used it as a seat.
"I don't know, I didn't think of that before just knocking him out." Nail admitted. "I'm actually surprised he lived at all."
"Shouldn't you just kill him?" Loa asked. "We both know you can't safely hold someone like that against his will."
"You also know that as long as he's not fighting, I can't just kill him." Nail looked down at Loa. "If he died, that would have been fine, but now?"
"You can leave him to me, I'll take care of it." Loa smiled, and her head tentacle twitched behind her.
"What do you plan on doing with him?" Nail asked. "I know you wouldn't kill him."
"Of course, Nail." Loa stood up and walked to Zarbon's head. She squatted in front of him. Her tentacle slowly crawled over Zarbon, wrapping itself around his neck, and as Loa stood up Zarbon rose in front of her. "He looks, delicious."
Outside Frieza's ship
Four groups of guards circled the outside of Frieza's ship, three per group. Their power was low, the only threat coming from the guns they carried. The ship itself was round, with many bulbous legs evenly spaced around it. A low dome capped the ship, with a black circle atop. Small windows dotted the ship, one between each set of legs.
Tien crouched behind a small boulder. Leaning out from cover he saw three guards rounding the ship. Counting to twenty he checked again and saw them now walking away from him. Stepping out he raised his left hand, and fired three dodon rays, quickly knocking out all three soldiers.
Krillen ran out from behind another near by rock. Picking up one of the bodies he brought it back to hide. Turles was on his heals ,carrying the other two.
"That's all twelve." Tien said.
"Good, let's make this quick." Turles said. "Krillen, get us in."
Krillen, Tien, Turles, Goku, and Gohan approached the ship. Four of the fighters put their back to the ship, on guard, while Krillen summoned a small kienzen in his right hand, and made four quick slashes. Once done he turned his blade sideways and used his ki to pry the metal out of place, it pealed away and fell to the ground with little effort.
"We're in." Krillen said while diving through the hole. Tien followed immediately, followed by Gohan, Turles, and finally Goku.
"Tien, we're going left, Goku, Gohan, head right. Krillen, if anything happens, blow stuff up until we're back together." Turles instructed the group, feeling at home.
"If anyone needs help, power up to the max." Goku instructed his friends. "We'll try to stay hidden, as long as possible, but we all know it won't last forever. If you find the dragon balls get them out of the ship. If you find Frieza, run, no one faces him aside from me."
"No complaints from me." Krillen said.
The four hunters wished each other luck, and split apart.
Tien and Turles walked down their hall in relative silence. The pair would come upon a door, listen at it, sense for energies, open it, and continue. Most of the rooms were barely equipped, a pair of bunk beds with a tall hanging locker between them, and a tiny sky light above.
"Where is everyone?" Turles asked after closing the door on yet another empty room, this one full of weapon lockers.
Tien shrugged. "My guess is Frieza doesn't travel with a full crew most of the time. With his power, and the power of his men we felt so far, those soldiers would be a non factor." Tien opened another door, a purple scaled humanoid soldier was stepping out of a shower, and Tien knocked him out, hiding him behind the shower curtain, before the solider even noticed the intruder.
"Why are you here, Turles? I thought you were petrified of confronting Frieza, but now, here you are, invading his ship, opening doors that could easily have the devil himself behind it."
"You're right." Turles said. "I am petrified of Frieza." He let that hang in the air.
"And?" Tien was insistent.
"And I told you when we met, I'm not going to work for anyone, ever. If Frieza makes a wish." Turles crushed the handle to a closet when he tried to open it. "If he makes a wish, nothing will stop him from enslaving everyone, and last time I checked, everyone includes me."
"Goku can stop him." Tien said. "He's beat him once, he will do it again."
"If I didn't know that, I wouldn't be here." Turles came upon a closet full of armor. "If Frieza becomes immortal though, then it won't matter. He'll just get more powerful, and no matter how many times he's put down, he'll get right back up."
"At this point, and please don't take offense to this, you're not strong enough to really be a factor in this fight." Tien noted Turles' tail unwrapped from his waist at that comment. "I don't think Krillen or I would be a factor either, but we're here to support Goku, and help where we can."
"What are you trying to say?" Turles faced Tien.
"If I were you, I'd be running. I'd want nothing to do with this." Tien said. "You're a good person."
"There is a part of me that wants to run, turn tail and hide. I'd be lying if I said there wasn't." Turles kept walking down the hall, opening doors. "That part of me is weak though. The part of me that wants Frieza destroyed." Turles' tail was slowly curling and uncurling. "That part of me is, it's screaming at me to be here. Also, don't be so quick to write me off, Tien. I may not have the same base power you do, but us saiyans have an ability that comes in handy during situations like this."Turles smirked at his private knowledge.
"Your transformation, oozaru?" Tien asked
Turles looked at Tien. "Yes." Turles looked at the floor as he continued walking. At the end of their assigned hall they encountered another.
"Which way do we go first?" Tien asked, ignoring Turles' disappointment.
"We could split up." Turles suggested. "We're both capable."
"That, is not, a good idea." Tien said slowly.
"Your senses are sharper than mine." Turles said. "Do you sense anyone around that could hurt you?"
Tien focused for a moment. "I can feel Frieza, I think that's him anyway, that way." Tien looked back the way they came. "If there's anyone else around, they're being overshadowed by Frieza."
"So there may be people this way, but no one threatening?" Turles asked.
"I can't be certain, but probably." Tien said.
"Then let's cover more ground and split up." Turles said. "The less time we spend here, the better."
Tien sighed. "Alright, you go left, I'll go right. If you run in to trouble, power up and I'll be there."
"I'd say you too, bud, but I don't think I'd be of any help if you couldn't handle it." Turles smirked at his own lack of power
To the right
The first three doors Tien had tried were still in line of sight of Turles, who had opened three doors at the same time. All three were either empty, or housing a lone soldier that was easy for Tien, or Turles, to pacify.
The fourth door Was on the right, after a slight left curve, and Tien was now alone. Approaching the door he put his ear to it and grabbed the controls. He had given it a quarter twist before he stopped. People were laughing inside, and that was new.
"No, I don't know, just shut up and watch the playback." Someone snapped. "I tell you, The Captain is incredible." The same person continued.
Someone else, static in their voice, started speaking. "Come on, The Captain will see you now." A pause. "I have put a lot of work in to this world." Another pause. "Important? My family lives here, I live here, is that important? Here's a better question. Is this world a threat to the Ithorians?" A short pause. "Well, come on now, you're monitoring the entire planet. Is this world a threat?" Beeps and boops filled the air. "Are the people of this world guilty of any crimes by the laws of the Ithorians?"
"Here's where it gets good. This, right here, is what made Lord Frieza take interest in him."
"Shut up and let him watch."
"Okay, we're almost done, one more, just one more, that's it. Is this world protected? You're not the first ones to come here, oh, there have been so many. What you have to ask yourself is, what happened to them?" The static voice paused while more noises filled the air. "Hello, I'm The Captain, basically, run!"
Laughter broke out again. "I see why Lord Frieza wanted him. Super advanced fighter, back water planet, and sent them running with their tails between their legs? Imagine the look on those guy's faces. How horrifying, knowing that no matter how advanced you are, who's behind you, the force in front of you is completely unstoppable, and you, are, screwed."
Tien knocked on the door. 'Shave and a hair cut.' The group inside looked at each other.
"Come in?" They called.
'Two bits.' Tien delivered two swift kicks to the door, sending it in. "Their faces, are what yours should be." Tien smirked as he quickly knocked everyone inside the room out, piling their bodies in the corner.
He searched the room, no dragon balls, just posters and miscellaneous memorabilia from "The thirteen faces of The Captain."
In Frieza's thrown room
Cui was sitting in his chair, at his desk, watching a video message. As it stopped Cui checked his notes, and sat up straight. Hitting record he looked in to his camera. "No, I can't share anything beyond what I've already sent you. No, I couldn't find anything in our records." The door slid open behind Cui. "About a super saiyan, could you send..."
Cui looked over his shoulder, and back at his notes. 'Spiky hair, tail, same face, I'm boned.' Cui jumped to his feet, knocking his chair to the ground.
"What are you doing here, Bardock?" Cui tried to keep his voice from cracking, but failed. He stepped towards the center of the room, hoping his camera was able to pick this up.
Turles felt the power coming from this creature. "You look like you know something." With a deep growl he forced his power to the surface.
Cui's scouter was the first sign he had that something was off. '19,000? How could he.' He looked over the saiyan again. 'He has a tail, the one that confronted Lord Frieza didn't. This isn't the monster.' Cui sunk in to his stance, his muscles began to bulge, his veins began throbbing, and his aura matched Turles'. "Disregard that last statement, you're not who I thought you were."
Turles puffed out his chest and strode in to the room. "I asked you a question. Where are the dragon balls?" 'Come on guys, this guy is too close to me, I don't know if I can take him alone.'
"Who are you? Why do you look like that carrot colored tailless saiyan?" Cui took a step backwards. 'This isn't good.'
Losing patience Turles kicked off the ground and charged at Cui with a powerful right hook. Cui got his guard up in time and caught Turles' fist between his arms. Snapping his leg around Cui kicked at Turles' footing, but Turles was able to get his free arm down quick enough to protect his foundation. Taking advantage of Cui's failed attack Turles kicked out at Cui's knee, but Cui jumped up and back, breaking off contact, but avoiding damage.
Cui rushed back towards Turles, aiming a wide punch at the saiyans head. Turles ducked the blow, countering with an uppercut to Cui's chin. Flying back Cui impacted the curved wall right below the ceiling, and quickly slid down.
Turles was there when Cui was back on the ground, a series of fast punches to the underlings chest, embedding him shallowly in the wall. After several blows Cui was able to catch Turles fist again, and pulled it towards him. Turles was yanked off balance, and caught a fist to the temple. Stumbling backwards Cui went to chop at Turles wrist, but his attack was caught by Turles free hand.
Quickly reevaluating the situation, each fighter holding one of the others hands, Turles decided to take a page out of Cui's book. He pulled the alien towards him, using his momentum to amplify a star spawning headbutt. Cui was dazed, but didn't let go. Instead he pulled back, thankful for the resistance provided by Turles. He pulled his feet off the ground, rotated in the air, and used both feet to kick Turles' face.
Taken by surprise Turles stumbled backwards, and Cui continued his spin, landing back on his feet. Jumping right back in to the thick of it Cui and Turles exchanged fists, elbows, knees, and feet. Each fighter was taking damage, slowly being worn down.
Using his superior size Turles was able to pressure Cui backwards. Seeing an opening he whipped his tail out from his right, grabbing Cui's right hand. Pulling it down he exposed Cui's back and savagely hammered it with several heavy blows from above, paired with a pair of knee strikes to the bloodied creatures stomach and groin.
With fog closing in on Cui's vision, it took him far longer than it should have to realize what Turles had done. Twisting his wrist he grabbed the saiyans tail and squeezed with all of his remaining energy. Turles' assault stopped.
"Stupid saiyan!" Cui laughed as he straightened up, coughing up blood.
"Strong saiyan." Turles countered. Turles twisted to his right, whipping his tail once more, dragging Cui off his feet, and on to the ground. Immediately Turles had mounted the other man, hands around his throat.
"Go ahead, Bardock, just do me a favor, smile for the camera." Cui smirked. "That's right, we know who you are."
Turles followed Cui's gaze, and saw himself in the center of the display. Taking one hand off Cui, for one second, Turles shot one ki blast, destroying the work station. "Who were you broadcasting to?"
Looking down at Cui as the life was draining from his eyes Turles finally processed what he had said. "Bardock? He's alive? What do you know about my brother? Tell me, or this will get a lot more painful for you."
Cui wheezed "You're, brother?"
"Start talking, lizard lips." Turles grabbed one of Cui's ears, summoning ki in his hand. "Answer me, or we're having cooked crocodile for dinner, and suffering makes your people taste so much better."
Cui tried to laugh, but it came out as pained gasps. "Of course you're just his brother. No monkey could have survived what Frieza did to your pathetic planet."
Turles took a moment to process this information, unintentionally loosening his grip. "So, Frieza destroyed Planet Vegeta, huh? Well, that doesn't change anything. Any last words?"
"It doesn't matter who I was broadcasting to. They watched our fight, they know a saiyan is still alive. You're marked for death, not just by Frieza, but the entire Cold Empire!" Cui was going to laugh again, but found himself unable to get air as Turles had squeezed a little too hard, crushing his wind pipe, spine, and everything else. Cui's head rolled away and Turles stood over the headless corpse.
With Goku and Gohan.
Goku and Gohan were walking down their hall, quickly checking each room they passed, but not finding anything of note. Large pieces of equipment, and a variety of boxes, were spread throughout the hall.
"What a mess." Goku said. "Bulma would shoot us out of the airlocks if we treated her ship like this."
Gohan stubbed his toe, third time. "I think I'd be on her side with that one." Gohan said. Gohan flopped on to the floor and rubbed his foot through his boot.
As he stood back up he felt, something, a windless breeze that only hit him for a moment? A soundless scream that was cut short? "Did you feel that?" He asked his father.
"I'm not certain." Goku said. "I think Turles powered up for a moment, but Tien didn't. They're fine."
"If we could feel him, the scouters probably picked him up. Do we still need to be sneaky?" Gohan asked.
Goku quickly scanned their area. He felt Krillen, he thought he felt Frieza, and he felt Tien and Turles. "There's no threat around us, I think we're okay to stop suppressing ourselves this much."
Back on his feet Gohan summoned his aura, gently pushing some of the less heavy litter away. "Wow, this place really is a mess." Goku nodded, thought for a moment, and agreed.
"Gohan." Goku said. "When the fighting with Frieza starts. I want you to run away."
"I don't know if I'll be able to do that, dad." Gohan said. He swept his hand over his own pockets, trying to be discreet while verifying he still had the fruit.
"You're strong, stronger than I ever thought possible." Goku took a deep breath. "But I felt Frieza, and without Kaio-ken, or that power of mine, I wouldn't have been able to beat him. Without the element of surprise I don't know if I could have done it. This fight is going to get ugly, fast. I don't want you anywhere near him, and if I lose control again, I don't want you near me, Gohan."
Gohan stopped walking.
"Gohan?"
"I can get stronger. I know I can." Gohan felt the fruit in his pocket. "If I could get stronger, right now. Flip a switch and be stronger than Frieza, stronger than you. Should I do it? Would you tell me to do it?"
"Gohan, I'm your father." Goku said. "Of course I want you to be strong, but." Goku knelt in front of his son. "If you had a switch to flip, to become stronger than me, stronger than Frieza, I'd want you to flip it, immediately. I wouldn't want, wouldn't ask you to do it so that you could fight. I'd ask that you do it so you wouldn't need to." Goku studied his young sons face. "If I was as strong as I am now when Raditz came to Earth, we never would have fought. You never would have been hurt. Piccolo never would have died. I don't want you to have power so that you can fight, I want you to have power so that you won't need to."
Gohan contemplated his father's words. "I need to pee." He told his dad.
"You know, I haven't seen a single bathroom yet, have you?" Goku stood up and chuckled.
"Dad, I haven't seen anything ..." Gohan smiled.
"Well, alright, just go in here." Goku opened the next room, a pair of bunk beds on either side.
Gohan entered the room, walking to the hanging locker at the end, and unzipped his pants. Looking back he asked his dad to close the door, and Goku did.
Taking his manhood and the fruit out, he bit into one while relieving the other. As he chewed he felt power course through his body, his muscles ached, his blood boiled, and his urine raged. He continued chewing the flesh of the fruit, feeling more satisfied than if he had eaten a bag of senzu beans. He finished the fruit, licking the juices from his hand. He shook the dew from his leaf and put it away as well.
Opening the door Goku looked in. "What was that?" The beds were in tact, made comfortably, but the locker had a hole drilled through it, dripping in what looked like apple juice.
"I told you, I had to pee." Gohan said. "Also, I may have eaten a fruit from the tree of might..."
"You did what? Where'd you even get it from?" Goku yelled.
"You told me you'd have me flip the switch, well, I did. I snatched it quite a while ago. I was hoping I wouldn't need it, but, but I, you can't deny that I'm much safer now." Gohan responded defensively.
Goku rubbed his temples. "Chi-chi is going to kill me." He said.
"And what would she do if something happened to me?" Gohan questioned.
A few minutes prior, in space.
Sitting in her chair, Bulma read her displays. While she didn't have video feeds, she was able to tell someone had just been fighting, and she was confident it wasn't her group. Someone died, someone was injured, and someone had dominated the fight between the three of them.
"Good show, whoever that was." She gave a thumbs up to the screen.
Switching the display to her primary controls she navigated to the video message system. Activating the camera she inspected herself in her reflection and hit record.
"I'm a bit out of the loop for this update." She began. "Goku told us to take this dragon ball and to get off planet, immediately." She took a deep breath. "Frieza is aware of us, and if my sensors are correct, Goku fought, and beat, him. I just observed another battle, where I suspect but am not certain, that a native was able to defeat Frieza's two top men." Bulma closed her eyes for a moment. "I lost track of Krillen, Tien, and Gohan. Or rather, I'm not certain of them anymore. I was tracking them specifically based off their power levels, and there is no longer anyone on planet with their power levels."
Bulma took a drink of wine. "I don't want you to worry. The three of their power levels are gone, and three more massive power levels popped up on planet. I just can't tell who's who anymore." She looks around for more things to talk about, seeing the empty bowl on the table she decides to go that way. "I gave Tien the fruit from the tree of might, and asked they not eat it if they don't need to. Unfortunately, it seems like they needed to."
Beeping from a raised spherical display caught Bulma's attention, and she inspected it. In the three dimensional display she saw her own ship at the center, planet Namek approaching one of the edges, and a group of crafts approaching the planet from the edge. 'Who's that?"
As she watched one of the ships broke away from the cluster and began heading her way. "Oh, crap." She noticed her message was still being recorded. "Um." She tried to think if she should share this latest development. "That's, everything as of a few minutes ago. Anyway, I need to keep flying." She looked back at the spherical display, and one of the craft was definitely leaving its group. "Okay, so, I'll keep you posted as I learn more."
Back with Goku and Gohan.
Walking in silence Goku continued opening doors as they walked. Habit had taken over, and he nearly didn't notice the trio of orange spheres in a windowless room.
"Found them!" Goku said while pulling Gohan into the room.
"That was too easy." Gohan said.
"Don't say that. We're not out of the woods yet." Goku said."Let's see here, Bulma has one, Guru has two, here's three, and Nail is working on the last one. That's all of them!"
"How do we get them out of here?" Gohan asked.
Goku walked to the center of the room, reviewing his mental map. Walking to one of the sides he punched through the wall first with one hand, then the other. Spreading his arms he opened the wall, wide enough for the dragon balls to fit through.
"We still need to kill Frieza." Gohan said, handing a dragon ball to his father. Goku threw the ball out of the ship, thankful they're tougher than a standard glass orb. Gohan handed the next two balls to his dad, and he rocketed them behind their third. "Also, thank Kai that we have a dragon radar."
"So, let's go find Frieza?" Gohan asked.
"Even with your power increase." Goku said. "I want you to leave when the fighting starts."
"I won't promise that." Gohan said.
"You need to protect Krillen and Tien, and help Bulma." Goku said. "I can finish Frieza by myself."
"I know you can, but will you?" Gohan asked.
Goku hesitated before speaking. "I will kill him. Now, I think Turles and Tien are coming our way. Let's meet up with him and regroup before we try to find Frieza."
Following their ki sense they kept walking through the ship. 'Why can we feel them now?' Gohan asked himself. 'Frieza was overpowering a few minutes ago, now I can't even feel him.'
Opening a door and entering Goku and Gohan found themselves in a medical bay. Large tubes lined one wall, desks and drawers on the other. "Wow, Bulma would love to see this." Goku said while looking at each tube in sequence. When he got to the third one, he froze. "Gohan, back up, slowly. We need to get out of here, now."
Goku kept his eyes fixed on the sleeping tyrants face as he backed up, slowly. When Frieza's eyes snapped open Goku stumbled. "Oh, crap."
Frieza glanced around the chamber, he was frustrated that his medical staff weren't there to greet him. When he saw the orange intruder he understood. A smirk crawled across his face as cracks began to form over his body. Light, energy, beamed out from the splits in his skin, and his aura burst forth, destroying the tank around him, and heavily damaging the rest of the room. Focusing his energy inward the aura narrowed in to a vertical beam, piercing the top, and bottom, of his ship. As the energy dissipated Frieza revealed that he had changed.
"GOHAN, RUN, NOW!" Goku shouted at his son while immediately pulling his power to the surface.
"Let the boy stay, we don't want him to die tired." Frieza cackled. He looked at the man who had bested him, and the boy he'd enjoy breaking. "You have a tail, so, you're a saiyan. I thought that might be the case."
"Yes, I am a saiyan. What the hell are you?" Goku wanted this conversation to drag on. He wanted his son to get away, for Turles, Tien, and Krillen to run. Frieza was intimidating before, but now, his far taller, more muscular form, it was incredible. His power had doubled.
"Me? I am, to put it simply, far more powerful than you could ever imagine. When you are as powerful as me, it's hard to exist, so I lock my power away, I transform down." Frieza smiled. "You monkeys need the full moon to achieve your power. I just need to decide to stop going easy."
"So this is your real power?" Goku asked. 'Gohan, why aren't you moving!'
"Not even close." Frieza threw his arms out, presenting his full glory to Goku. "I won't need my full power to destroy you, if that was all you had." Again, cracks began to spread over Frieza's body, and he burst with energy. The frost demons head extended, forward and back. His face dropped, and his regenerated head spikes duplicated, and triplicated, to run along the side of the purple gem that topped his scalp. His muscles grew even larger, and his aura was pushing Goku and Gohan back.
"That's enough!" Goku dug his feet in. "Kaio-ken times 10!" He screamed as his skin, hair, and aura gained a deep red tint. Gohan was forced back even further by the clashing energy of the two titans. If he hadn't eaten the fruit, this much conflict could have destroyed him just by proximity.
Authors note: Well, now we're talking! Next chapter Frieza and Goku rematch, with full intent to kill from both parties. As always, please leave a review!