"Excuse me, but I am under the impression that we are free to go wherever we want, right?" Tenshinhan approached one soldier following him and Chiaotzu around.
"Just tell us wherever you want to go and we'll show the way. Don't worry, we'll leave you guys alone once the King or Lord Frieza signs you up for the army," an alien with potato-colored skin and an amphibian-looking face replied, staring at Chiaotzu as if he was the strangest thing that the alien had seen in his life. It was surprising, given that these soldiers roamed the universe conquering planets for Frieza's empire.
"I see…" Tenshinhan closed his eyes and looked around. There was not a trace of familiar Ki nearby. At some point, they must have gotten parted. Two Ki were flaring up on a more remote region of the planet where the rocky wastelands ended and lush jungle loomed on the horizon. One of the pair of Ki belonged to Goku, the other one was one even larger than Goku's. Chiaotzu must have noticed this interesting Tenshinhan.
"Are we going to help Goku, Ten-san?" he wondered with a mental inquiry
"I'm afraid for now we have no choice but to leave it up to him. We've struck a deal that we won't waste our standing with the Planet Vegeta military until the time is right to do so," Tenshinhan replied with a telepathic signal of his own. "We should spend our time searching for Bardock's wife, for now. That's the reason we came here, not to pick a fight with the Saiyans or Frieza."
"The soldiers don't want to get in our way either. As long as we don't attack them or try to reconnect with the others–they said they'd help us, right?" Chiaotzu spoke up.
"That's a good observation," Tenshinhan nodded before approaching one soldier. "Say, could we perhaps see the meat processing plant?" he asked.
"The meat processing plant? That's a strange request, are you sure that you're not a Saiyan?" a green-skinned, flat-faced alien who looked like an anvil with eye ridges on the two opposite sides of his flat skull joked. "Sure, I guess that's possible. Though if you're hungry, you don't have to visit that place. The plant issues the production to the check-up points."
"These two aren't validated yet. They don't have the status or any food tickets yet," the brown-skinned alien with a round, amphibian facial features replied to his ally.
"Oh, that's right… Well, I guess we could take you to the plant for now. It's odd hearing about that problem. They hand out food tickets pretty liberally on this planet, must be because of how much Saiyans eat and how nasty they can get if they're hungry…" the alien replied, scratching the back of his head.
"The meat plant?" Chiaotzu wondered, turning to Tenshinhan.
"That's right, that's where Bardock told us that Gine worked when he still served on Planet Vegeta," Tenshinhan nodded his head, communicating telepathically with his friend so that the soldiers didn't hear him talking about Bardock.
"What will we do if we find Bardock's wife, though? I don't think they'll let us just take her along…" Chiaotzu bit his lip, looking a bit worried.
"If we find Gine, there'll be no need to play along. You can paralyze them or I'll just blind them with Solar Fist and we'll book it to the ship. Let's just hope everyone's still wearing scouters and will pick up on our transmissions telling them to return to the ship and leave." Tenshinhan replied while the two followed the soldiers onto a monorail riding across boundless canyons and mesas toward a chunky and round building surrounded by sharp-looking towers far off at the edge of the visible signs of civilization on the region.
"Huh… Where did everyone go?" Yamcha looked around frantically, extending his Ki perception as far as he could. "Hey, they're all scattered…"
"If there's anything you want to do while you're waiting to get verified, off-worlder, please let us know. We'll take you wherever you need to go," a crustacean-looking alien addressed Yamcha, waving his clawed hands sunk inside a Ki-controlling cannon.
"I see…" Yamcha scratched his chin. "Say, you wouldn't know a girl named Gine, would you?"
"Gine? That sounds like a Saiyan name… I don't know her, what business do you have with her?" the crusty alien asked.
Yamcha leaned back, looking visibly freaked out. It was only now that he realized he couldn't just flat out say he wants to extract a Saiyan woman that's a wife of a known Saiyan rebel and a criminal. He needed to come up with an excuse on the fly.
"Well… Bardock kept talking about her when we fought him. She must be a real hottie if he's that attached to her, you know?" Yamcha explained himself, scratching the back of his head with a visible blush to his cheeks and a goofy expression.
"If she's a part of the military, I'd advise not to mate with her, off-worlder. First off, you'd need approval from the scientific department to even know if your species are compatible for that sort of business and if she's in active duty you'd have to cover for her leave and compensate the losses for her absence to Lord Frieza's treasury. It's nothing major. Our medical staff extracts the fetus and incubates it after a certain point, so you'd have to compensate maybe for a couple of weeks of absence. Still, given how you're not even part of Lord Frieza's forces yet–it is completely out of the question," the alien seemed to reply casually to Yamcha's flustering lie.
"Ah, I see…" Yamcha scratched his cheek. "Where would you go to pick some chicks up around these parts? Maybe some that aren't soldiers 'cause I'm a bit short on cash at the moment."
"You could try hooking up with some service staff. Engineers or meat plant workers have less troublesome motherhood leaves, so you don't need to worry yourself about medical expenses or fines. Still, I find it hard to believe that even a low-ranking service staff member of Frieza's army would find you a suitable mate, off-worlder." The alien waved it off.
"Just my type of day, being lectured about my attractiveness by a lobster…" Yamcha sighed to himself while shaking his head. "Well, I'd like to test my luck regardless, maybe I'll luck out and bump into a lucky girl who knows?"
"That Ki in the distance… Goku…" Krillin muttered to himself, turning to the beaming cataclysm far off to the south-east to his location. "Are we already showing our hand?" he wondered.
"Hey, I see that you've noticed we've separated you guys, if there's anything you need–just ask me, I'll show you around, shorty." A tall, black-skinned, fiendish-looking alien with rough, bony skin and massive horns on the top of his head approached Krillin and stood out in front of him and the direction he was sensing Ki at.
"Ah… I see…" Krillin muttered, becoming intimidated by the massive tower of a soldier standing in front of him even though there were leagues of a difference between their power levels. "Say… My scouter picks up some crazy readings out there. What is that?"
"Huh?" the alien turned to the direction Krillin pointed to and turned on his scouter. After a few seconds of relentless beeping, as the numbers went up and up, the scouter blasted off of the alien's face as the giant shook in his military boots and backed off, almost as if he meant to put himself behind Krillin as if the bald martial artist could serve as a good body shield from whatever threat was looming on the horizon.
"Th… That power level… It was… That Kakarot guy, wasn't it? What the heck is going on!?" the alien wondered to himself as he ran off, reporting the matter to the rest. Some of them turned their scouters in the direction of the massive clash with similar results.
"We need to let Lord Frieza know immediately. We need Zarbon or Dodoria here to contain this!" someone of the massive troupe of aliens bellowed.
"That massive power, can Zarbon or Dodoria even handle it? Heck, the whole Ginyu Force might need to get here to stop that Kakarot guy!" someone else replied.
"So are those space pirates up to no-good? That Kakarot seemed unhinged from the first moment I saw him!" a yellow-skinned, oval-shaped headed alien with red pigmentation scattered all over his skin hissed, turning to Krillin.
"I don't know… This guy seems pretty docile, and we didn't receive any alerts from anyone. Not even the crew watching Kakarot seems to have sent us any signals, so we don't know the full situation yet. Still, Lord Frieza has to know!" the fiendish-looking alien watching over Krillin waved his arms over his head.
"Frieza… That's the guy that Chayote's so afraid of…" Krillin muttered to himself. "Sorry, everyone, I might need to do something. If that guy scares Chayote speechless, I'm not sure I want to find out how scary he really is!"
Krillin ran out in front of the entire crew of aliens, who seemed to note his approach almost immediately and moved around in a circle. All of them seemed to be interested in what this short space pirate had to say, but Krillin merely raised his hands over his face and closed his eyes.
"Solar Fist!" he yelled out, blinding the aliens and forcing them to reel back in pain and irritation around their eyes. As the aliens struggled to regain their vision, Krillin quickly took the group out one hit at a time and dashed off toward where Goku's Ki was.
"Our gig might be up, sorry. I'm coming to help you out, Goku, hold on!" Krillin grunted to himself with a dire expression.
"What's that guy doing?" a bald Saiyan scratched his head, pointing at Piccolo, who sat atop of a landing pad that had seen off the vessel it had contained and remained empty at the moment. It was the tallest point around this part in which the concealed Namekian found the best place for meditation and observation.
"I'm not sure. He hadn't wondered why we split him off of the rest of his group at all. What a creep, I wonder what he's thinking…" another Saiyan, a slim one with spiky hair answered, looking up at Piccolo meditating atop of the landing pad.
"Everyone seems so creeped out by that Kakarot guy but I'm telling you, this guy's the scariest one of 'em all… I hate those strong, silent types…" the bald Saiyan replied, annoyed by his task of watching the green-skinned member of Kakarot's crew.
"You fools!" Piccolo hissed, snapping his eyes open with an infuriated look to him. Even when the ire of the concealed Super Namekian wasn't directed at them, the Saiyans and aliens watching over him backed off in terror. "Tsk… I can understand Son messing this up, but Krillin…" Piccolo muttered to himself with a sour-looking face as he stood up and stared off into the distance, further intimidating the crew guarding him from making trouble.
Goku's scowling face appeared from the falling rubble and smoke. Vegeta's sucker punch attack had blasted the Saiyan armor right off of his upper body and left Goku with just torn up bodysuit that laid underneath. Even that suffered some damage as the whole right side of it had torn off of his body. The Earth-raised Saiyan shook his muscular arms as he lowered them from his cross-shaped blocking position.
"That was dirty, Vegeta!" Goku hissed in pain. "You attacked me just when I said I was going to help you!"
"Humph…" Vegeta turned his nose up and away from his injured opponent. "It's your fault you lowered your guard, Kakarot. You should have known that this isn't settled just because you decided to grovel before me and obey me like you should have all along. A true bout between Saiyans isn't settled until one beats the other, don't forget it, Kakarot!"
"You're really… Grinding my gears right now!" Goku yelled out. "If you want it that badly, I'm gonna knock you flat with this!"
"Huh? You mean you've been holding back some technique on me, Kakarot? Don't make me laugh. If you had such power available to you–you'd have used it long ago," Vegeta mocked his opponent but took a fighting stance just in case. Even his cocky smirk betrayed a moderate amount of excitement as a reaction to Goku's declaration.
"Get ready, King Kai's Fist!" Goku yelled out.
"King Kai's…?" Vegeta muttered to himself, unable to complete the sentence before his opponent lit up with a radiant, red aura that spiked up his hair some and buffed up his injured body. Goku then took off like a rocket with a charging punch. The Saiyan prince raised his forearm and blocked the attack, gritting his teeth as the immense pressure from Goku's attack pushed him back some.
Goku didn't intend on wasting the momentary power-up that only lasted for a heartbeat before it tore his body up more and more, depending on hard he cranked the technique up. The Saiyan martial artist burst into an explosion of striking offense, forcing Vegeta on the defensive. Even if the Saiyan prince looked shocked at the booming power of his opponent and took it on the defensive, grunting at every strike he resorted to blocking because of the immense wallop that they packed, Vegeta responded to every attack and defend himself.
"Heh, I guess just a simple King Kai's Fist isn't enough…" Goku smirked, admiring Vegeta's incredible strength. It was a dire smile, however, as it came with the chilling realization that he would have to do something he didn't want to do and crank it up much higher at the risk of breaking his body apart. Given he was standing against a fearsome foe that might not have had mercy on him if Goku shorted out before winning the bout or options for recovery if King Kai's Fist ended up breaking his body–it was a daunting risk.
"That power-up… That ferocity… Could it be? No…! It's impossible! A low-class trash like Kakarot can't possibly be a Super Saiyan!" Vegeta clenched his fists and scowled in confusion and anger. "You hear me, Kakarot!? Becoming a Super Saiyan is my destiny, the birthright of a Saiyan prince!"
"Super… Saiyan?" Goku wondered to himself. Vegeta blitzed to him like a speeding missile. A blurry flash that further confused Goku as Vegeta's head smacked right into Goku's own face, making him black out for a second and see flashing stars. With a ruthless kick to Goku's chin, the elite Saiyan warrior sent his inferior opponent flying as he pursued Goku to the skies and slammed both of his arms down with a double ax handle slam, crashing Goku back down into the luscious green that was burning up and falling apart from the ground-shaking battle occurring in the region.
"A low-class trash like you can never become a Super Saiyan! You're too soft, you're too weak, most importantly, you're absolutely insignificant! I will become the Super Saiyan that will liberate the Saiyan race and I will be the one to remind the Saiyans about their pride!" Vegeta pointed to himself with his thumb as he wound back his arms and formed glowing Ki spheres in each hand before unleashing a torrent of raining down continuous Ki bullets.
After his capricious outburst had subsided, Vegeta panted for a second, feeling sweat running down his face and mix with the blood that leaked from the more than a few sound cracks he had taken in this clash. The Saiyan prince looked down, feeling strength persisting in his opponent and wondering just what else will he have to resort to and how far will such a low-class opponent push him. Him. A Saiyan prince. The strongest of all living Saiyans.
"King Kai's Fist X3!" Goku's voice pierced the rampant smoke and the fire that began expanding over the decimated jungle landscape and fallen buildings. The erupting force ripped through the vicious tongues of flames, raising them up in pillars before dispelling them with a single burst of power as Goku emerged from the smoke enveloped in a crimson aura. The bodysuit he had no longer could contain the bulk of his amped-up body and had completely torn off, exposing Goku's body to scrapes, bruises, and burns from Vegeta's previous attack.
Goku's right hand almost pulled Vegeta's head off of his shoulders, straining the prince's neck to its very limits and making the Saiyan royalty white-out after the first brutal strike. It wasn't like he was done with just that, however, as the Saiyan martial artist threw a strong kick to Vegeta's mid-section and swatted the prince away like a bothersome pest before charging back in with a crushing uppercut to Vegeta's abdomen that sent the prince plummeting down. Vegeta's consciousness only returned to him a few meters away from the ground. The falling prince stopped himself and dashed back up to the skies to meet his opponent.
"Damn it, damn you!" Vegeta cursed, wiping the blood and sweat off of his face as he realized that once his opponent powered up with his crimson aura, not even a Saiyan prince could measure up to his incredible strength. And even though that power up lasted for a mere heartbeat, just the fact that it was possible for someone like Goku to step over his level of power infuriated the prince. "The one to become a Super Saiyan will be me!"
Vegeta drew his hands to the sides and channeled his Ki throughout his body with electric impulses, charging up two white, electric energy spheres in each of his hands that radiated with electric jolts around them. "Final Crash!" the Saiyan exclaimed as he brought his arms back together with his fingers spread apart and expelled the pent-up energy in a massive wave coming right at Goku.
"Kamehameha!" Goku yelled out, firing a mere Kamehameha wave with little channeling right back at his opponent. As the two energy waves collided with one another and Vegeta's Final Crash began pushing the Kamehameha aside as if it offered no opposition, however, Goku once again burst with the crimson aura of the King Kai Fist. "King Kai Fist X20!" he yelled out, putting all of his energy and gambling his body's integrity by cranking up his power as high up as he gambled it against Lord Slug back on Earth.
With a boom of scarlet aura igniting over Goku's signature attack, it felt as if it had breathed in new life into it, super-sizing it several times as the reddish aura swirled around the technique and Goku's muscles bloated to a ridiculous amount in order for his body to contain the incredible power it was expelling. The ground down below was shaking, sending every pebble and piece of debris flying up at the nova of energy as Goku's X20 Kamehameha had dispelled Vegeta's technique like a harmless spark and enveloped the proud Saiyan prince, blasting him off and away into the distance as it disassembled Vegeta's armor and burnt up his bodysuit while nearly obliterating the Saiyan royalty whole.
"What a crazy guy…" Goku groaned in pain as he rubbed his cracked and bleeding lip with the back of his bruised and burnt up fist. His arms felt stiff as if injected with entire containers of lead. Just thinking about fighting seemed unimaginable and yet he still sensed weak Ki emanating from within Vegeta–the Saiyan prince was still alive after taking that blast. "Not even a X20 Kamehameha, huh? This is getting ridiculous! I don't think my body will hold much longer…"
"L-Lord Frieza!" Zarbon burst into the office of the tyrannical space emperor with a sweaty and terrified expression on his face. The alien's arms were shaking. It wasn't tough to see why. He was after all invading Frieza's personal time and caught his emperor with a pair of tweezers as he was putting together a monorail model atop of a galactic map with a blush on his cheeks and was about to report some, supposedly, bad news. These transgressions would be punishable and Frieza has punished people for them by death.
"Yes, Zarbon-san…" Frieza put down the tweezers with a toy tube that extended his toy monorail line. The overly polite tone and the use of honorifics froze Zarbon and told him better than anything else that he had pushed his luck well over the deadline already and had to use this borrowed time to swim from down under.
"It's… Planet Vegeta, Sir… Our… Our systems picked up an anomalous battle power reading, Sir… It was absolutely too massive for any scouter gadget to measure, the systems of our spaceship were necessary to calculate such ridiculous energy output," Zarbon spilled his words out like peas thrown at a wall.
"I see… And what did our spaceship systems estimate that battle power to be?" Frieza closed his eyes and raised his finger by his lips, just a mere twitch away from blasting a hole in Zarbon's chest. Just seeing his overlord move a muscle made Zarbon go through thousands of potential instant death scenarios in his head.
"It's… 1 306 294, Sir… It seemed absolutely unbelievable, but we measured it multiple times. We've run test runs and the systems are working just fine. Our specialists see no potential way how that much energy could be a cause of system malfunction. Cosmic phenomenon does not give out or register a battle power, but if they did–that'd be an equivalent of a small supernova." Zarbon rubbed the back of his neck, wondering if his time in this universe has come to an end.
"Planet Vegeta, was it?" Frieza sighed before snapping his eyes open, overcome by absolute fury. "That's it! I don't care what anyone has to say, that planet has outlived its purpose in this universe! I will not allow a Saiyan with such a ridiculous battle power to draw breath and buy into those ridiculous dreams of Super Saiyans! It is time that planet blinks out of existence! Take us to Planet Vegeta immediately!"
"Y-Yes, sir!" Zarbon straightened his back out and saluted his space emperor. If Frieza instructed him to do something, that meant he still intended to keep him alive even after walking in on his overlord playing with his toy monorails. Zarbon truly felt like he was an important and trusted member of his lord's army, and now he dashed with extra gusto in his step.
"This must be prince Vegeta's doing, is it? If your battle power was just approaching 100 000 just a few weeks before and has escalated to such ridiculous heights, I must eradicate you without delay… I knew it, I knew all along that keeping you loathsome monkeys alive was a mistake!" Frieza seethed in wrath as he opened up the shutters of the porthole behind him and pressed a button on his table that flipped and morphed the table around to swallow up the toy monorail models up and switch it with an empty worktable.
"L-Lord Frieza…" Zarbon's voice came out of a microphone on Frieza's worktable. "Shall we instruct our personnel present on Planet Vegeta at the moment?"
"No, just instruct Captain Ginyu. No one else can know. If even one other soldier hears of this, the Saiyans might know too. I'll have no survivors spreading all across the universe!" Frieza lashed out at the microphone with a sharp yell. "I trust that Captain Ginyu will make sure that anyone in his circle hearing this news alongside him shall be promptly executed."
"Yes, sir!" Zarbon replied with a subtle stutter.