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 16
Ginyu's landing site
Nail stood across from the shortest Ginyu Force member. Ginyu stood behind his soldier, smug in their guaranteed victory. Nail hadn't laid one finger on Guldo yet, Nail hadn't even attempted an attack.
Breaking his streak Nail quickly summoned his aura and dove head first towards Guldo. Pulling his fist back he prepared to finish Guldo in a single attack. Slightly startled by the unexpected attack, Guldo gasped, and held his breath.
As the world slowed around Guldo, he he chuckled to himself, making sure not to exhale. Nail froze in place, hovering in the air, and Guldo approached. Not wanting to knock him out of his path Guldo put a hand behind Nail's head and began repeatedly punching him in the face. Working his way down the Namekian's body Guldo pulverized his target's chest, stomach, and legs.
After finishing with Nail's feet Guldo took up a position behind him and prepared his most powerful ki attack. Timing it perfectly Guldo released his breath as he released his attack. Nail was in instant pain, if he had bones they'd be broken, if he had ribs they'd be shattered, if he hadn't been wearing shoes he'd have felt the weak attack from behind.
Disoriented by pain and the sudden absence of his target Nail didn't think to stop his flight. Instead he continued rocketing forward until he impacted a, to him, unmovable object. As Nail bounced of Ginyu and hit the ground he started to regather his wits.
Ginyu looked down at the confused green man. "You missed your target."
Looking left and right Nail didn't find Guldo. "Where'd he go?" Nail looked up, expecting a punch.
Ginyu sighed. "Guldo, you knocked a screw loose, I think." He shook his head and pointed behind Nail.
Nail rotated in place, getting back to his feet. Spotting Guldo he angrily growled. "Why, won't, you, stay in place!" He re-summoned his power.
Reaching out Ginyu grabbed Nail's chin in his right hand, and cupped the back of his head in his left hand. With a quick jerk he spun the local's head around. Making eye contact with the soon to be dead Namekian Ginyu apologized. "Sorry, you're not worth our time." With another quick jerk Ginyu completed the rotation and continued doing so until Nail's head fell to the ground, landing a short ways away from his body.
"Good show, sir!" Guldo saluted his captain.
"I know you could have done it, Guldo, but I've got a bad feeling. Something is not right." Ginyu responded. "I'm going to meet up with Lord Frieza. Guard the pods."
"Yes, sir!" Guldo saluted as his captain departed.
Somewhere on Namek
Reaching forward with his senses Tien was observing Nail and his fight. When Nail's power sharply dropped and Tien could barely feel his life energy, he pushed his focus towards his ki sensing ability. There was a massive power level in front of him, coming their direction. Even after having his potential unlocked it was nearly double his power. Another smaller power level stayed still, where Nail's energy was dropping.
While Tien had his third eye pealed, his senses sharpened, he felt an exploding force from behind. Frieza was intimidating, but this was insanity. He couldn't be certain, but he hoped this overwhelming force wasn't coming from Frieza. It had so much anger, so much hatred, Tien didn't know who else it could have been.
"Something's happening!" Tien shouted over the wind noise. "I think Nail was defeated."
"And back with my nephew?" Turles asked.
"I'm not sure who, probably Frieza but I hope I'm wrong, has done something. I'm not sure how, but, but it's unreal."
"Do we need to go back to help?" Krillen asked.
"Krillen, if that is Goku, then there's no chance Frieza can win. If that's Frieza, there's no chance Goku can win. We need to focus on these new arrivals." Tien raised his fist and the trio stopped. "Krillen, I think we may need to bite the bullet and eat one of those fruit. Nail was on the same level as us, and he was defeated without even pushing his enemies."
Turles' features sharpened. "What about me? You're both already ahead of me, and going further. If I get mixed up in a battle like that then I'll almost certainly die."
"I'm not sure of the numbers, Turles." Tien faced the saiyan. "But with that transformation of yours I think you'll be fine."
"I don't know if you've noticed, Three Eyes." Turles snarled. "But this planet doesn't have a visible moon, or even a day night cycle oddly enough. Also, what if they have transformations? Then I'm back to square one, but as a much larger target."
Tien palmed his forehead, and brushed his hand over the top of his head. "Good point."He looked at Krillen, who gave a nod. "Turles, I'll give you a fruit, but I ask, I trust, that you won't use it unless … " Tien closed his eyes for a moment. "I was going to say unless your life is in danger, but just being on this planet, your life is in danger. Turles, I'm warming up to you, but I'm not there yet. If you don't need to use the fruit, please don't. If you do, then I get it."
"So, you want me to eat it while in life or death combat, only when I'm against someone that I stand no chance against?" Turles looked questioningly at his colleague. "Is that right?"
"It sounds kind of stupid when you say it like that." Tien said.
"Yes, yes it does." Krillen said. "We shouldn't just stand here talking. Are we doing this or not?"
Tien shook his head and activated the capsule Bulma gave him. A bowl of orange fruit appeared on the blue grass. "Krillen, let's take ours now." Tien said as he picked up a fruit and bit into it. Juices began running down his chin as he chewed. As Tien swallowed his muscles throbbed, his heart raced, and his ki doubled in power many times over.
Krillen was the next to take a fruit, with similar effects. Staring at the bowl Krillen had to fight back the urge to grab another. "I, I don't know if I'm comfortable with these being around." Krillen said.
"They're addicting, aren't they?" Turles asked as he grabbed one as well. Caressing the fruit with his thumb his mouth watered. "It's not the fruit though, it's the power." Storing the fruit in his armor he looked away from the bowl. "Your body knows these fruit hold an incredible ability. They don't add power, they multiply it."
"The power?" Krillen asked, salivating.
"As a saiyan I crave battle. When we're beaten our body recovers quickly and typically our power climbs to match whatever beat us." Turles looked back towards where Goku and Frieza were fighting. "It's not necessarily the violence that we crave, it's the improvement. Krillen, what you're feeling is what it's like to be a saiyan. You feel it when you see the fruit, as to you the fruit is the source of progress. To me, to us, it's battle, as that's where we have the most potential to grow."
Krillen took a deep breath, swallowing his fear. "I think we need more fruit." As the monk spoke the ground under them shook.
"Don't bother." Turles said. "It has depreciating returns. Each one will help, but not nearly as much as the first one. Your body needs to normalize your new power before it can be multiplied again."
Tien stayed silent during this exchange, extending his senses over the planet again. He felt the rampaging beast at Frieza's ship grow even more powerful, but another was fighting back. He couldn't tell who was who, and that scared him. At the edge of his senses he felt something, not scary, but concerning. "Guys, more Namekians are dying."
"I'd be surprised if they weren't." Turles said as he tried to feel what Tien was.
"The strongest attacker is still coming this way, but I think I can take him myself." Tien said. "Krillen, Turles, I think they're attacking two different villages, not too far from here. I want to split up, I'll take Mr. Big Shot, and I want each of you to see what you can do for the villages."
"You want us to fight them ourselves?" Krillen asked.
"With the power coming from Goku's fight I can't be certain, and I am sorry, but I think after eating the fruit you should be just fine, Krillen." Tien said.
"I don't know for certain who's at the villages, but if I'm right, then Tien is right, Krillen. Even Frieza's most elite soldiers couldn't stand against us the way we are. I'm not excited to do this myself, but you'll be fine."
"Can you do that, Krillen?" Tien asked.
Dende, Guru, Moori, Tsuno, all went through Krillen's mind. He wasn't confident, but he was going to do the right thing. "Yes, I'll do it."
Tien thanked Krillen and helped him, and Turles, feel the villages they were being dispatched to. "Once one of you stops the attack, help the other. Once they're both stopped, come find me."
Turles and Krillen agreed and blasted off in opposite directions.
Above Frieza's ship
Frieza stood atop the dead saiyan, quickly losing confidence in his abilities. He had destroyed the saiyan home world, not in fear of this monster, as he believed it to be nothing more than a legend, even a coincidence, but out of an abundance of precaution. As a child Frieza was told bedtime stories of a golden warrior, a super saiyan, who his ancestor, Chilled, had defeated. As he grew Cooler turned these fairy tales in to nightmares, saying that the super saiyan wasn't defeated by Chilled, but had just picked his planet and kept it safe.
This was nothing more than a story though, that is until the planet of the apes came in to his control. Now, saiyans weren't a bedtime story, weren't a fairy tale, but were real, living, breathing, creatures. While they were strong, they were also nothing compared to the Frieza Force. Frieza was strict, he needed to keep his fingers on the pulse of this species. He took their prince as his own, and pushed him, tried to see where his potential would take him.
Vegeta had potential, but it wasn't enough to worry about. The noble blood was the purest, but also, oddly enough in saiyans, not the strongest. Other warriors, lower class warriors, were gaining power. A few in particular were rising above their stations, and it was them that made Frieza nervous.
As rumors of ascension to super saiyan grew more common, so to did Frieza's discomfort with this species. Picking a few soldiers, the royal he had well trained, an elite soldier, and the off spring of one of the out of line lower class, Frieza decided to confront his discomfort, and rid the universe of any chance of his empire being overthrown.
No saiyan had become a golden warrior, so no saiyan had fulfilled their legend, their histories joint legend, that is until today. Frieza took a half step back, as his foot hit the ground, Gohan hit him.
It wasn't a skillful blow, nor was it well placed. The power behind it though sent Frieza flying back. Keeping up with his target Gohan was on him again, punishing him with fast, heavy, blows. Frieza tried putting up a guard, but his arms couldn't move fast enough, nor could they hold up against the oncoming storm..
Gohan relentlessly struck Frieza's torso, arms, and head. As he began to fall backwards, tripping over himself, Gohan appeared behind him. Hammering blows in to his back, tail, and skull, Gohan got Frieza in to the air. His assault from below, from behind, continued. Frieza watched as the skies overhead continued darkening. He wasn't blacking out, nor were the thunderclouds thickening, Gohan was pushing him up, closer and closer to the edge of space. When the air was too thin, and the saiyan would need to turn around, he did so, propelling himself towards Namek by kicking off of Frieza, and then launching a savage Masenko skyward.
Gohan accelerated towards Namek at the same rate Frieza accelerated away. When Gohan was feet away from impacting the planet he canceled his attack, spun in place, and rocketed back upwards. The shock wave caused by this maneuver ripped through the body of Frieza's ship, shredding it to small burnt ribbons.
Frieza was in bed, warm, comfortable. His mother was again telling him of how glorious Chilled was when he crushed the golden warrior. While the super saiyan was powerful, he was stupid. His pride was his weakness. No saiyan, super or not, could refuse a fight with an equal. Chilled used the promise of an unbelievable fight to delay the super saiyan, and while gathering his power simply blew up the planet they stood upon. Chilled was of course fine, the saiyan was dead.
With the vacuum of space around him, pulling at every cell in his body, Frieza laughed. As the attack faded away he spun and observed the planet below. He could see the boy, a pin prick of yellow on a field of blue and green. From this height the planet looked so small, so inconsequential. Frieza laughed as he realized, it was small, it was inconsequential. From his thrown atop the world he looked around, the void of space stretched out infinitely around him, the planet was large in his vision, but it would take at least 10, side to side, to even reach the edges of his sight.
Frieza called forth his power. Instead of using it to bulk up, to reach the height of his capabilities, he forced it down his arm, in to his tingling finger. Another death ball formed, and it quickly grew in size. Frieza's laugh grew manic as he prepared to throw the attack.
Sensing his quarry was still alive, yet out of his reach, Gohan prepared another Masenko. He wasn't focused though, and cared too much for speed of assault, rather than technique. A moment after thinking of reusing the attack it was flying out of Namek's atmosphere and towards Frieza.
Throwing the attack Frieza began charging behind it. Normally he'd let the attack do its thing, destroy whatever was in front of him, but after the boy's father had pushed back, he wasn't going to risk it. Frieza pumped more and more energy in to the attack as it moved forward, continuing both to grow in size and speed.
Hitting a brick wall Frieza was irate to find that the boy had launched his own attack, and the two were colliding in space. He had used too much energy to let it explode harmlessly. He braced himself and continued feeding the ball.
Gohan was pissed that his rampage was being stalled, and began losing his mind as his own beam was pushing him backwards. Normally his beam would penetrate the ball, but Frieza had thickened it too much. Normally his beam would mushroom out, absorbing the ball, but he wouldn't let it. His hatred was too pure, to sharp, and he refused to let his beam adjust. Instead he just reinforced it as Frieza's death ball bore down on him, pushing him towards the ground.
Gohan sweated profusely, each drop immediately turning to steam. Looking back the mindless rage machine saw Namek approaching far too quickly. Surrendering the ki struggle he split his beam in two, creating a narrow path between him and the ball of death. Quickly soaring through it he gathered energy as he passed it, using it to boost his speed, his power, his durability.
At the point of impact Gohan had reabsorbed his Masenko, using it to encase himself in a shell of destruction. He punctured the red balloon, pulling its destructive energy into himself as he continued his course.
Frieza couldn't sense ki, he saw his attack making headway and continued chasing it down. He assumed the saiyan was overwhelmed when he tried to stop it. He assumed the saiyan would either be dead, or falling towards the planet. He didn't expect to see his attack implode on itself, and the golden warrior explode from its depth.
Before Frieza could react Gohan had passed completely through the death ball and Frieza's stomach. Showing excellent ki control Gohan stopped on a dime, turning to face the brutalized tyrant. Screaming in agony, hatred, pure emotion, Gohan released his regathered ki, mixing it with the stolen essence of the tyrant, to blast Frieza back towards Namek.
Frieza hit the planet face first, and Gohan continued his beam until his stolen energy was drained. Immediately Gohan was on the ground, next to Frieza, looking over his disgusting half corpse.
Frieza looked up at the golden warrior. "You're a saiyan. You live for battle. You won't strike me down. You know how much power I have, how your father wouldn't allow me to use my true might." Frieza coughed up a blob of crimson blood. "I saw that bean you ate, the one that healed you. Give me one, let me use my true power, and let us see who is truly the strongest."
Gohan heard the desperation in Frieza's voice, the begging. If his father was begging, Frieza would laugh, Frieza would continue the assault. Gohan laughed, he grabbed his sides, tears began flowing freely from his eyes. Tears of joy, tears of sorrow, tears of anger.
Frieza got to his feet, clutching the hole in his stomach. He was off his feet again and Gohan continued laughing as he was showered in the nearly dead frost demons blood. Any normal mortal would have died by now, and Frieza was reaching the point where he wished he was normal.
With Krillen
Shortly after leaving the group Krillen arrived at a burning Namekian village. He had felt hell open over the skies of Namek, but he didn't think it was in this region. Each building was burning, and a huddled group of Namekians stood opposite of a purple warrior, a pile of corpses between them.
Krillen increased his power as he approached. If the invader had a scouter, he would have drawn his attention. Instead the red eyed man raised a hand over his head and snapped his fingers. As he did so a Namekian appeared in his free hand.
Krillen was closer now, able to hear the man shout. "Five, four, three, two, one." He plunged his fist through the villagers chest, and threw him on the pile. Raising his hand again he prepared to snap.
"STOP!" Krillen shouted. Everyone turned to look at him as he flew between the Namekians and their attacker. Stopping from full speed Krillen rubbed his neck. "I really need to get more familiar with this power before going full speed." He cracked his neck and put his back to the Namekians. "You, leave, now!"
"Me?" Burter pointed at himself. "You want me, a member of the Ginyu Force, to leave?" Burter widened his stance. "Kid, you don't know who you're talking to. I could leave, circle the planet, and be back before you knew where I went. I, I am the fastest fighter in the galaxy!" Burter dropped to a knee, bent at his waist, and pointed his fingers to empty air. "I am, Burter, of the Ginyu Force!"
"Good for you!" Krillen shouted, hopping over the bodies. "I am Krillen, and I will not let you harm another one of these villagers." He flared his aura to emphasize his statement, doing so caused the corpses behind him to start sliding towards their relatives.
Burter stretched his hand out in front of him, and the villagers stepped back. Peeling his pointer finger out of his fist he pointed past Krillen, at a young Namekian, the boy began to run. He crossed his middle finger over his thumb, and Krillen prepared to strike. Snapping his middle finger against his palm he reappeared beside Krillen, stopped by a hand grabbing his armored back.
"You're too slow." Krillen heaved Burter in to the air and threw him out of the village before giving chase.
Burter was on his feet before Krillen landed. "Who do you think you are?" He demanded.
"I'll speak slower this time." Krillen put up his guard. "I am Krillen. I am going to stop you."
Burter disappeared, reappearing in front of Krillen. His fist was in Krillen's hand. Burter growled as he pulled back his fist and unleashed a series of kicks at Krillen's torso. If Krillen was more familiar with his power he would have had no difficulties at all, however as it was he kept overshooting his guard.
Burter's foot aimed for Krillen's hip. Krillen raised his knee to block, but he moved too quickly, and it was his shin that took the hit. Burter aimed a fist at Krillen's jaw. Krillen went to block it with his own fist, but took the hit on his elbow instead. Krillen had the power, had the speed, but didn't have the control. No attack was landing as intended, but each attack was hitting something that Krillen would rather not get hit.
Losing his patience Krillen swept Burter's legs out from under him. The force of the blow had Burter finding himself parallel with the ground. Responding quickly he put on a burst of speed, avoiding Krillen's follow up attack.
Burter looked over his shoulder, Krillen was flying after him. Putting on a burst of speed he saw Krillen vanish. Refocusing on his path Burter barely twisted out of the way of a hand held ki disc. Letting the spin continue Burter draped himself in purple ki, curled his flight up, and drilled down towards Krillen. Sharpening his ki Burter cleanly burst through Krillen. Righting himself Burter looked at what should have been the corpse of a potential rival, but instead was a flickering image.
The after image vanished as a half dozen more appeared around Burter. "I'm sorry. I'm using more power than I've ever had access to before, and my technique is suffering due to it. Stay still and I'll make this as painless as I can." Each Krillen formed a kienzen overhead, and rotated it to be used as a shield, a blockade.
The images closed in on Burter. Looking over both shoulders and spinning in place he couldn't find a way out at this level. He intended to rocket himself up, out of their range. One foot off the ground he looked up and two feet off the ground he noticed there was another Krillen overhead, fingers to his forehead. At the third foot of elevation Burter was blinded by a brilliant flash of light, and at the fourth foot he was cut down in a tornado of ki discs.
With Turles
Turles, keeping his word and not eating the fruit, was far slower than he would have liked. He felt each life blink out in front of him, as well as the wall of power crushing over the villagers. He was a skilled fighter, and could come up with and change strategies easily in the heat of battle, but some gaps were just too large to be bridged by skill alone.
As the village appeared over the horizon Turles began lowering himself. He didn't want to come in hot and get blown out of the sky before he could even tell what was going on. Closing on on the village Turles landed, quickly dashing from boulder to boulder, keeping as much cover as possible, until he could see the village.
Quickly scanning the village Turles' stomach sank. It looked as if there were 20 buildings. Now, 5 were nothing but empty craters, surrounded by chunks of building material. Blood was splattered across the ground and remaining buildings, as if they were a piece of pottery and the Namekians were messily applied glazing. Several large piles of green and red paste marked where a number of locals died.
As Turles watched another building exploded out. A red haired neanderthal in white armor held an elder Namekian over his head, and crushed him between his hands, using his ki to direct the mess away from his body. Turles recognized this man, and the badge that he wore. He didn't know the numbers, but he knew that he wouldn't stand a chance as he currently was. His heart pounded against the fruit in his armor, and his tail twitched in excitement.
Regretting the decision as he made it Turles summoned his saiyan power in to his hand, and threw the ball of energy in to the air.
Recoome noticed the shooting star, and was confused why it was leaving the planet instead of coming towards it. He then wondered why he could see it while it was bright out. Scratching his head he followed it back towards it source, and saw a shock of black hair.
Angry that someone was hiding from him Recoome leaped over the village, over Turles' hiding place, and landed in front of the now terrified saiyan. Fortunately for Turles the power ball was already in the air, and already working its magic on him. As Recoome watched the man in front of him began to bulk up, quickly matching his own incredible size. As Turles grew his hair did the same, and his arms and legs were coated in thick brown fur.
Recognizing the transformation for what it was, a saiyan oozaru, Recoome jumped back in to the air. "Recoome Renegade Bomber!" Hhe threw his hands forward and launched a barrage of ki bullets at the growing Turles, each one hitting the unprotected saiyan.
Turles felt each blow, but kept his eyes on the ball. Completing his transformation he roared at Recoome. Quickly inspecting himself he was hurt, he transformed too close to the battle and took damage due to it. 'Crap'
Keeping his eye on the target he reached back, grabbing the boulder he had hidden behind. Recoome summoned a ki ball in his right hand. Turles brought the rock around, flicking his wrist at the point of impact to increase his blows force. Recoome held the ki ball in front of him, and the rock shattered around him.
"Stupid monkey, plays with rocks!" Recoome put more distance between them. "Recoome Eraser Gun!" He opened his mouth and shot a beam of energy from between his teeth. Turles countered with his own mouth beam, much larger, but much slower.
The beams met right in front of Turles. If he had taken the shot, he would have lost his head. Turles opened his mouth further and the wider beam slowly started overtaking Recoome's attack. The ground shook as Turles stepped forward. Continuing his stride the attack was pushed back further, and faster. Before it could impact Recoome Turles threw an uppercut at him.
Smashing Recoome's jaw shut didn't stop his beam, and his teeth were obliterated. What did stop Recoome's attack was being grabbed out of thin air. "Stupid monkey, needs chew toy!" Turles spoke as he brought Recoome to his mouth.
Disgusted with himself Turles put Recoome's upper body in his mouth and bit down with as much force as he could muster.
In space
"Last question." Jeice pointed towards the kitchen with his chin. "What's that?"
"Oh, that ball? It's..." Bulma cursed herself for not thinking of a lie sooner. 'Of course he'd ask about it. Idiot, idiot, idiot!' "That's an egg."
"When I asked about the importation of foreign life forms you didn't mention it. Why not?" Jeice looked smug. He didn't get her on a technicality, he knew about the dragon balls, he just liked making this woman squirm.
"Um, it's not fertilized. It's for eating, that's why it's in the kitchen." Bulma kept a straight face but internally was cheering her creativity and fast thinking.
"Really? What creature is it from?" Jeice made small talk.
"It's a species native to my home planet. It's called." Bulma took a big drink of water." "It's an Oolong."
"Interesting, Oolong, it looks yummy. Cook it." Jeice stood up.
"What?" Bulma spat out her next sip of water.
"I said, cook it." Jeice crossed his arms. "I'm hungry, and you're wasting away. Come on with it, let's have lunch."
Before Bulma could respond her monitors began beeping, going crazy. She went to spin in her chair before forgetting who she was with. She looked at Jeice for approval, and he shrugged then nodded.
"What's alerting?" Jeice asked.
"Ship mounted scouter, it's picking up several massive power levels on Namek. All over the planet, the entire planet has turned in to a battlefield."
"Who's fighting?" Jeice stood behind Bulma. His deep breaths sent air flowing down Bulma's back, making her squirm again.
Bulma took a moment to respond. She didn't want to over play her hand, but decided that lying really wasn't her strong suit. "My companions, they're fighting Frieza."
"Really? Your companions, from this Earth, are fighting Frieza, lord of the galaxy?" Jeice scoffed. "Tell me, Miss, what are the power levels you're picking up? My scouter doesn't reach that far for detection purposes."
"My tech isn't precise, and after a certain level it just says the power is high. Right now I'm picking up multiple power levels over 100,000,000, plus a lot more than I expected around 50,000 to 150,000, or so, plus a single at about 1,000,000." Bulma smirked, not doubting for a moment that a majority of those fighters were on her team.
"What scale are you using? That can't be galactic standard." Jeice felt his skin go cold.
"We're new to this, but we calibrated it off of someone that attacked our planet. His name was Prince Vegeta, and he reported a power level of 18,000 before my companion's toddler killed him." Bulma felt Jeice get nervous. "We made sure we were right by calibrating off Vegeta's partners, Nappa and Raditz if I recall, plus we were able to compare our tech to a scouter we borrowed from someone we met on our trip here."
Jeice took a step back. She was talking about these powers so casually. Stopping his recording Jeice activated his communicator. "Captain, come in. This is Jeice. Captain, can you hear me?"
Bulma turned to face the red man. "What's his power level, exactly, I can see if I can find him here?"
"Um, 120,000, give or take a few hundred." Jeice said before repeating his broadcast.
Bulma quickly spotted the power level, heading right towards one that dwarfed it. Hoping that his scouter was broken, Bulma didn't lie, just spoke the future. "He's dead. I'm sorry."
"Burter, come in." A brief pause. "Recoome, you big idiot, answer your scouter!" Jeice clenched a fist for a moment before adjusting his scouter. "This is Jeice of the Ginyu Force, anyone on Planet Namek, report. I need to know what's going on down there, now."
Bulma pointed at her monitor, at a shrinking power. "That right there is Frieza." Bulma said. She pointed at another, larger, power level adjacent to Frieza. "This is Goku, my best friend since childhood. His son is the one who killed Vegeta, and his son is on planet as well. I know who you are, and so do they. I've sent a distress signal, and as soon as they kill Frieza, they'll be coming up here. You should leave, now."
Jeice gulped. "Your friend, the saiyan?"
"Yes." Bulma said. "Goku, the saiyan. Turles, his uncle. Gohan, his son."
"Your saiyans." Jeice tensed. "They can't breathe in a vacuum, and I don't think you can either, human." He put his hand on the back of her chair.
"Um." Bulma looked for something to say.
"While you're up here, there's nothing they can do to help you." Jeice summoned a ball of red ki inches away from Bulma's head. "I'm going to go secure my ship." He took his hand away, leaving the ball of energy where it was. "When I come back, we're leaving this system. If you try to escape, I'll just blow you up. Unlike you, I can survive in a vacuum. Not forever, but more than long enough to return to my ship."
Bulma gulped.
Back above Frieza's ship
Frieza tried to spit out blood, but his teeth went with it. He tried to put up a guard, but his arms were as structurally sound as wet strings. He tried to kick out at the super saiyan, but his legs were as firm as sand.
Gohan struck Frieza with another dozen punches and kicks.
Frieza knew he was in bad shape, he felt the blows, he felt the pain, but he couldn't follow them. At this point he couldn't even see the boy's limbs. He arced around him like electricity, striking invisibly and powerfully.
"Mercy." Frieza spat the word. "I surrender."
Gohan stopped his assault on Frieza. "What?"
Frieza repeated himself. "I surrender. I can not defeat you. If we continue, I will die. I no longer wish to fight."
"You're afraid of dying? You' wish to stop fighting?" Gohan spoke through a clenched jaw.
"Yes. I am done." Frieza said.
"With how many people you have killed, how many planets you have destroyed, you think you get to walk away? If you didn't give mercy, you don't get mercy." Gohan summoned ki in to both his hands.
Frieza struggled to speak. "Boy, by your own words." Frieza coughed and felt one of his internal organs start trying to escape. "If you do not grant me mercy." Frieza fought back the urge to vomit. "When you need mercy, none will be given to you." He fell to his hands and knees, as they gave way he fell on his face.
Gohan stood over Frieza, attack ready. "I don't need mercy." He prepared to strike.
"You may not, but your loved ones, the rest of your..."
"You killed my father, prepare to die!" Gohan poured more power in to his hands.
"I am Lord Frieza, ruler of the galaxy. I can give you unbelievable amounts of wealth, unimaginable power. Spare me." Frieza begged.
Gohan brought his hands to his side, forcing the ki out of his hands, in to the void between them. "Ka, me."
"Please?" Frieza asked.
"Ha, me!" Frieza could no longer look at Gohan, the attack was too bright.
"I don't want to die! Please, I'll..."
"No." Gohan shouted. "You do not get to live!" Gohan pushed one more wave of power in to his attack. "HA!" The beam erupted from Gohan's cupped hands and Frieza was bathed in light. Meeting little resistance in the space emperor the beam continued in a straight line, eventually becoming the second of Gohan's attacks to leave the planet that day.
With Tien
Tien watched the kamehameha fade in to the sky. "Good job, Goku." Reaching out with his senses Tien felt only one power where that attack came from. Widening his field of observation Tien found that his target had stopped as well, not far away. Not wanting to let him get away Tien continued flying.
It wasn't long before he found who he was looking for, a tall, wide shouldered, horn headed alien. "Who are you?" Tien demanded.
Reflexively preparing his routine Ginyu looked to his sides. Not finding his men he shrank in disappointment. "I." Ginyu started before regaining his motivation. "I am Captain Ginyu, of the Ginyu Force. You may have heard of me?"
Tien rubbed his chin. "You know what, I think I may have." Tien thought back to his attack on Frieza's ship, to the soldiers watching a recording. "I remember something about thirteen faces of The Captain?"
"Yes, hello, that's me. The one and only." Ginyu bowed.
"If I recall, whenever you die, you just regenerate, a new form, and far more power?" Tien stopped rubbing his chin. "How do you do that?"
"Tell ya what." Ginyu sank in to his fighting stance. "If you push me far enough, I'll show you."
Before Tien could put up his guard Ginyu attacked. Starting with a series of curved ki blasts, followed by a single powerful chest strike, intended to be a one shot kill. Ginyu put all his might into his fist, enough power to destroy planets, but it wasn't enough. Tien caught the punch, and let the blasts burn out on his skin.
"If you leave now, I won't kill you." Tien looked up at the horned monster.
"Really? You stop me dead in my tracks, and you let me live?" Ginyu asked.
"Yes." Tien said, crossing his fingers behind his back.
"What if I want to see your true power. As a fighter, not as a death match." Ginyu smirked.
"You want to fight, for fun?" Tien said.
"Yes." Ginyu hopped back. "I won't waste your time, not much. I just want to throw my best attack at you. If you can stop it I'll know I'm outclassed, and I'll leave. Soldiers honor." Ginyu put his hand on his heart. "I have four attack pods back that way." Ginyu lowered his guard, trusting Tien wouldn't attack. "If you can stand against my mightiest attack, I'll call a retreat, and we'll be out of your hair."
Tien thought for a moment. "No one dies?"
Ginyu looked down at himself. "This body is squishy. Well, it's mighty, but not compared to yours. After my attack I won't try to lay a finger on that beautiful physique of yours, and I'll tell my troops to do the same."
"If I refuse?" Tien asked.
"Then I leave my men to do as they please. I'll leave, but you'll have to track them down individually." Ginyu hovered backwards, in to the air.
Tien put one foot back, turning his side towards Ginyu. "Alright, hit me with your best shot." He twisted slightly at the waist and crossed his arms.
Ginyu pulled his limbs in tight, gripping the power within him. Throwing his arms up he pulled it to the surface. Kicking his legs out he summoned his aura. "Are you ready?"
Tien sensed the power behind this attack. Minutes ago it would have been enough to kill him. Minutes ago he didn't think his entire group could take on this monster, but now, now it was unlikely it would even budge him from his spot. "Bring it!" Tien shouted over the roar of gathering ki.
"Here we go!" Ginyu kept pushing his ki out. Fearing a barrier he decided to mix in his life force as well. "This is it, one shot, let's make this count!" He snapped his arms in front of him, pointing at Tien. Instead of a clap sounding out, a narrow beam of energy did. "Change now!"
Tien reinforced his ki shield, not expecting someone to mix that much of their life in to an attack, but not doubting for a moment that he could survive it. The beam hit his left arm first, passing through the robotics. Still not worried Tien held his guard. The beam burned, but again, wasn't deadly. It washed over Tien, in a wave of white light. As the light faded Tien felt great, a little disoriented, but unharmed.
As he regained his bearings Tien noticed himself on the ground. While trying to process what he was seeing he failed to get his guard up in time and allowed himself to have a fist driven through his chest. Looking down at his armored torso confusion swept through him at the same pace as pain. Before he could process it was his hand in his chest, he was dead.
Author's note: Okay, so the Gohan / Frieza fight went differently than I had intended, but I think it turned out better with this pacing. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the matter.