"Damn you!" Frieza hissed, clenching his fist as he threw a fit. The psychotic tyrant waved his hands up like beginning a salute, though there was no humility or respect involved. Frieza's aura brightened to a hue of bubble-gum pink as the space emperor began peeling away the crust of the ravaged planet itself and throw the galactic bites of molten stone toward the Super Saiyan.

Goku, wearing a rich smirk, didn't say a word. As the rotating system of mountain-sized stones hurled with psychic outrage sought to decimate him, the Saiyan vanished into thin air, appearing in front of Frieza and throwing a wayward jab as if to mock the colossus of psychic power. Frieza wailed backward, clutching his crushed and pouring with cherry-red nose. As the Super Saiyan tripped him up with a low-sweep and threw a forward elbow that made Frieza hear the crack of his own ribcage as his face made expressions Frieza didn't know it was capable of.

The vengeful Saiyan warrior struck his opponent with minute effort, never winding up his strikes fully and always keeping one side of his body on the defensive. Goku was like a mindful sports player who knew that a game of at least forty more minutes was ahead of him, so he needed to pace himself. Light jabs and whipping stiff kicks softened Frieza's bulky body up as the monster wheezed and panted while being the one that was receiving the punishment.

With a deafening, proud roar, Goku raised his foot up vertically, shooting Frieza into the lower levels of the atmosphere like a lifeless sack of vegetables, extending his neck to where it strained the emperor's spine and almost tearing his head clean off with a mere kick to the bottom of the chin that way. Pursuing Frieza, Goku beat his opponent down with a flurry of heated punches and kicks without leaving the battered tyrant any chance of even taking a breath in.

"What's wrong, Frieza? You said this was your full-power!" Goku taunted his enemy while flinging a Ki blast from a close distance and slapping it right into Frieza's face as the flattened murderer hurled leagues back, forcing the Super Saiyan to pursue his opponent with a shoulder tackle as Goku no longer offered his opponent the luxurious sophistication of a punch or kick, he just threw his entire body weight into the task. Crushing by Goku's crashing tackle, Frieza slammed down into a pool of magma with a whited-out eye, causing a wicked splash.

Once a shrill shriek overpowered the thunderbolts, Goku sighed, both in ease and light vexation as his opponent burst out from the magma enveloped in a protective Ki dome he had hustled up in the last microseconds before taking the scolding splash. Frieza shrieked in physical strain again, expelling the layer of oozing magma off of him as he violently dispersed the Ki bubble. The bulky alien overlord was breathing so intensely that he hunched up upon exhaling and could barely hold himself upright.

"Well, have you noticed it yet? 'Cause your Ki is getting so low that this is feeling more and more like bullying which isn't something I feel too keen on doing." Goku waved his hand to relax some of the pent-up energy within his fist and ease some stress and scrapes sticking to his knuckles after laying siege on his opponent's body for so long.

"Damn it, damn it all… And damn you most of all, Son Goku!" Frieza grabbed hold of his temples as he began losing it thoroughly. His body continued to shrink down in bulk and Frieza had to invest all of his conscious effort just staying bulked up as opposed to using his full power for what he meant to use it for which was to fight his opponent.

"That's what happens when you don't do your best. Your body and mind keep degrading from lack of challenge and eventually, you can't even tell what your best is anymore. If you keep half-assing everything you do in life, you won't even be able to handle your own best anymore because your body will be used to slacking off. The more you struggle, the more you'll just burn through what remains of your power, Frieza. This fight's over…" Goku pointed out with a stoic expression. There was a bitter-tasting pill in a remote side of his mouth too. He wasn't able to have the fight in his life because his enemy wasn't doing his hardest and wasn't even able to do so. This fight was just never meant to be.

"I'd like to take you on some time when you realize your mistake and train up. Whip yourself into a fighting shape and live up to the code of a martial artist, challenge yourself and push your limits every day but, truth be told, if I see your face ever again, I'll pound it so hard that you won't be able to peel it off the ground. You've caused so much pain to this universe that I'm making an exception to every rule I ever had. Frieza. I'll hit you from the back, I'll kick you when you're lying down and you better believe I'll use everything and borrow every ounce of power I can to put a stop to you!" Goku flexed as he exploded with the golden gleam of a Super Saiyan, untainted and unhampered since the first moment that the warrior of legend awoke within Goku. "Carve this image of a Super Saiyan, this insurmountable wall that will protect the rest of the universe from you every time you try something. Either fix your life or keep living in self-pity, knowing that you either have to accept my advice or always stay paces behind of a rowdy monkey you hate so much."

"Stop me… You say?" Frieza hissed, finally letting go of the vain attempt at holding on to his full power, dropping in battle power significantly. "Drooling anthropoid, I'll see your matter-less brain choke on your own insolence, even if I have to face divine justice in the process!"

With maniacal eyes and a grin that stretched out through most of Frieza's face, the tyrant aimed downward, Goku felt a pulse of Ki wash from down in Frieza's abdomen and spread out evenly throughout the tyrant's body. It wouldn't have taken much strength to reduce Planet Vegeta to rubble. A titan like Frieza could have blinked out a planet without breaking a sweat even with maximum restraint put on his abilities.

Goku's feet stamped into the back of Frieza's head as the Super Saiyan dived with his feet aiming down, having moved in a split instant. Having handled sabertooth tigers all throughout his youth, Goku's hunter instincts kicked in as the Saiyan shoved his tensed arm into the coil of Frieza's tail and grabbed a tight hold of it. Pulling it in, Goku let off some steam off his lungs as he began kicking his subdued opponent like a hacky sack while keeping a firm hold of Frieza's tail so that the emperor doesn't vanish or scurry away and try to destroy Planet Vegeta again.

With a deafening roar, the Super Saiyan dived and flung Frieza in a crash down into the ground, which forced geysers of magma to burst out from the shock of the impact. Using the inertia from Frieza's lifeless, bouncing carcass, Goku threw a rising uppercut, sending his foe careening off into the heavens while Goku dashed off, looking to pound the remnants of Frieza's fighting spirit out of him entirely. Punches and kicks applied ad infinitum and since the problem persisted, applied again and again.

Goku's hand grabbed hold of Frieza's deflated throat as the swollen psycho went limp in his grip. The look on Goku's face accurately portrayed the disgust he felt toward his nemesis and the fighting spirit, well matching that of his own, the devotion of his foe to use every cheap trick in the book to prevail in a hopeless bout. They truly were polar opposites and in his current state of thinking Goku just couldn't see anything he could say or do to make Frieza see his point or to consider tolerating the mindset of a martial artist as Vegeta had.

A shimmering, azure Ki blast formed in Goku's hand as he extended it toward Frieza's face, halting his hand from blowing the emperor's head clean off and wiping his consciousness clean. As if enraged by his own faltering, Goku bellowed in wrath as he slapped Frieza with his Ki blast still in hand. Even if it might have looked like Goku showing off and flexing on his opponent, the Super Saiyan let go of his enemy only to grab him with the other hand and repeat the process of slapping him with another Ki blast again and again, at escalating speeds until even Goku could barely trace his own movements.

There didn't seem to be a single patch of the esteemed paleness in Frieza's color. He was black, blue, and bloodied in all of his glory. People didn't come back from beatings such as these, though Frieza was no part of the ordinary people. His uncanny physiology wasn't just superhuman, it was super-alien, and he had willpower and deep-seated hatred brimming within him in spades. With a careless motion of his hand, Goku let go of his broken opponent down and turned back to where he could sense Gohan's and Chayote's Ki escalating lightly. The look on the Saiyan's face eased up, the sharp shapes of his eyes softened and turned rounder and the brimming, boiling aura of gold, dijon, and mustard disappeared, leaving Goku's spiky hair in a mellow, banana-like shade.

The Super Saiyan shine all blinked out in a pulse of energy that dispersed the otherworldly, almost majestic gleam and left just a wounded Saiyan of spiky, black hair seeded with bruises, scrapes and cuts all over but proud and happy with the outcome of this match. Goku took off without rush, looking around the place and observing the bright lashes of lightning and booming showers of magma around him with rounded eyes and mouth. The oaf just couldn't close his jaw, not until he saw his son and friend stretching their busted bones and looking off toward his general direction as if hesitating to see if he needed help.

"D-Dad!" Gohan yelled out, jumping to embrace his father as he landed, saluting his son and good friend with a goofy smirk of a half-swollen face.

"Yo!" Goku muttered, grabbing hold of his son before he winced in pain. "Whoa, ease up there, fella, you're really hurtin' your pops there. Let's just wait 'till both of us are recovered before the hugging and play fighting, kay?"

"Frieza…" Chayote spoke up. She was back in her normal state and felt the clarity of mind, though she could only half-remember the haze of wrath and what she went through during it. She could remember the punishment that Frieza dished out just fine, but the last moments of her friends that died while Chayote lost her senses eluded her. Figured that the only thing she wanted to keep with her would be smashed while all the pain and misery stayed forever.

"Sorry, I know you wanted to join up with that guy and all but… He's a real asshole so I kicked his ass until he can't hurt anyone anymore." Goku turned back. A semblance of seriousness returned to his face halfway to his turn, but then his aloof nature came rushing back when he turned back to Gohan and Chayote.

"No. It wasn't Frieza that I wanted to come back to. I just wanted to be a soldier. My entire life I was told that being a soldier was all that I was good for, and I was fine with that. Beating people up I could get behind but… I guess I've learned that there are more ways of making your life have meaning. Even being a soldier doesn't have to be bad. Soldiers don't have to kill and hurt people and I don't think I was ever as fine with it as I made it seem." Chayote scratched the back of her hectic hairdo, trying to dig through to her itchy head as her voice trembled.

"Come on, don't get all teary on me. We're all beat. Let's just sleep for a few days on our way home. We can bring everyone back with the Dragon Balls and figure stuff out then. Frieza will not be a problem to anyone ever again." Goku smirked, patting Chayote's shoulder and gently guiding her alongside him before he kicked off the ground and hovered for a few blinks. Not wanting to spend too much more time on this planet, Goku sped up his flight step by step as Gohan and Chayote followed him.

"I can't believe you beat a monster like Frieza, dad!" Gohan turned to Goku, digging his head into his old man's chest.

"Ow! What did I tell you about abusing your pops, Gohan?" Goku winced and whined before breaking into a chuckle. "I sure knocked that guy down flat. Your old man is pretty strong now, I guess!"

"Are you sure he won't be coming back to Earth for vengeance?" Chayote wondered.

"Huh? Frieza? No way! Not even a freak like that guy will recover after a pounding he took. Trust me. He's gonna be left stuck halfway to being dead for the rest of his days." Goku shook his head. Seeing the goof object with such certainty actually reassured Chayote, as Goku's careless nature made her appreciate the times he spoke genuinely and assuredly more.

"If he comes back. That Super Saiyan, flashy-hair thing… Can you do it again?" Gohan wondered.

"Hm? Not sure…" Goku pondered. "I've had so much help from everyone around the entire universe gathering power for it, but that was not what woke it up. It was when I realized that I've got to fight with all my strength, that I can't be bothered about what's fair and how I want to fight, and that I should just defeat Frieza and stop him any means necessary that flipped the switch."

"I'm not sure I understand but… I want to learn!" tiny stars flickered in Gohan's eyes. "When we come back home, let's try to learn more about that form together, dad!"

"Huh? What's got into you all of a sudden? Jeez, I don't think I remember seeing you all fired up like that… I wouldn't get my hopes up if I were you, I'm sure your mom's gonna make you catch up on all the studying you've missed out on," Goku shook his hands out in front of him.

"B-But martial arts is like science all of its own! So many amazing techniques and miracles to learn about. Like that Super Saiyan form!" Gohan pumped his tiny fists.

"Can't you see?" Chayote interjected. "Your dad's afraid of that form, kid."

"Afraid?" Gohan turned to Chayote. Goku raised his eyes up to her too, but he didn't object or say anything at all.

"He had to ditch his principles as a martial artist, he had to fight in ways he'd consider dirty to get the job done. If he has to rely on that sort of thing, again and again, that would change the person he is. Kakarot's afraid of that change, he wants things to stay the way they always were, and deep down he's hoping that he can just come back to normal life down on Earth and fighting other martial artists in tournaments." Chayote pointed out the obvious.

"Jeez, not even Frieza's Death Beams drilled this deep…" Goku winced in emotional pain.

"The thing is, Kakarot, you're not even sure that's how being a Super Saiyan works. Your son's clearly interested in helping you learn as much about that form as possible–he's got a knack for learning new things. You two should work on it together. Super Saiyan doesn't have to define you, just maybe you can be the one to define what being Super Saiyan means." Chayote said. After all, if that was true of Goku and being a Super Saiyan, maybe the same was true about Chayote and her rage too?

"Wow! Thank you, ma'am!" Gohan nodded with a cheerful look on his face. "You seemed really scary when I first met you but you're actually a really nice scary-lady."

"Gotta hand it to you, you'd probably be better at this parenting thing than me," Goku smirked, poking at Chayote's direction with his index fingers just to return the nervous tick he suffered from her honesty earlier.

"Who knows…" Chayote closed her eyes. "With Frieza and his empire done for, I'm going to have to find something to do with my life whether I like it or not."

"You know Earth has a military, right?" Gohan looked up.

"Yeah, though maybe Chayote should try something else. She'll be standing out too much amongst Earthling soldiers, I bet…" Goku's face turned sour. "Being a soldier and fighting for good is fine and all, though maybe military service on Earth won't do…"

"Hey…" Chayote looked down at the mortified faces of the Saiyan survivors as they waited for their inevitable fate to come to them. "They didn't run away, that's odd."

"Hey, you guys!" Goku cupped his hands over his mouth and yelled out, waving for the cowering lot that he protected by bringing the fight against Frieza away from them. "Frieza's done for. We're going home to Earth. You guys should come with. There's nothing for you on this planet anymore. You can come back home once we bring Vegeta back and restore this planet to normal."

"Bring Vegeta back? Restore Planet Vegeta to normal?" one of the Saiyan survivors muttered.

"Frieza's dead?"

"Can it be?"

"H-How? It all seemed so hopeless…"

"That's the Saiyan spirit for you. Only a Saiyan could rid the universe of Frieza, Prince Vegeta was right even if he wasn't the one to do it!"

"There ain't enough space on our ship for all of you though so you'll have to check which ships are still working," Goku instructed the bickering and awfully talkative lot by waggling his finger out in front of them like a patient father.

It would be a long trip home, though, explaining all of this to Bulma and the others will be an even longer and more grueling process.