(Central region of the galaxy, near New Namek)

In this region of space, so close to the galactic center, the stars were many and close together. For a traveler like Gohan this meant that visible space was full of colorful beams of light, and he even had to stop once after almost colliding with a brown dwarf. The half-saiyan found himself inside the alien, storm-filled atmosphere of the massive celestial body. For a few moments he forgot his mission and just looked around in amazement, observing the strange sea below and deflecting massive bolts of lightning thrown by a titanic storm. Perhaps one day, when this was all over, he could return to explore this place and record his findings.

Gohan flew away from the failed star to reorient himself. Extending his senses, he saw he was still quite far away from his target – a system relatively close to new Namek, in a region of space that was outside the galactic center but still rich in stars. Gohan vanished into the distance after a moment of concentration, leaving behind a colorful trail of energy. The universe once again faded into the strange tunnel of his accelerated space flight, and up ahead he could sense the unmistakable, massive aura of the galactic tyrant, Freeza.

About an hour later he slowed down just outside the atmosphere of the planet he was looking for. He could sense Freeza below, in a city that was massive enough to be seen clearly from orbit even in daylight. This world was settled, there were millions of people living in cities and settlements all around the planet. Freeza was in the biggest city, surrounded by a very large number of souls. Gohan decided to spend a little time scouting the place before confronting the tyrant himself, and flew down into the city.

This planet's civilization was advanced. Towering, gleaming buildings dominated the landscape, and Gohan could see a variety of flying cars, holographic displays and other signs of high technology. In fact, one such flying car was approaching him while he hovered above the city. Gohan sensed a weak ki signature inside the vehicle, although it was much more powerful than a normal human aura.

The car looked like an elongated teardrop with fins and antennae. It flew up until it reached Gohan, and then its protective dome opened up. Inside was a familiar-looking alien sitting behind the controls.

"Jaco?" Gohan said in surprise. "What happened to you?"

The alien sighed. He was wearing an eyepatch and had what appeared to be a few days' worth of stubble.

"I'm not Jaco, I'm his girlfriend Mako" responded the alien indignantly. Even the voice was almost exactly the same.

"Oh, I'm really sorry," apologized Gohan. Girlfriend? Did the females of Jaco's race grow facial hair? Wait, there was something strange about her stubble, now that Gohan had a few moments to examine it.

"My name is Gohan, I'm from Earth," he said, still looking at her facial hair and trying to understand why it looked wrong.

"I recognized you from pictures Jaco showed me," said Mako. She noticed Gohan staring and narrowed her eyes. "Is there something wrong with my face?"

Gohan blushed in embarrassment. "No, sorry. How did you find me here? Can your people sense energy?"

"Detect energy? Of course, we have quite advanced technology, you know. But no, our scanners didn't pick you up. I was on lookout duty when you arrived and saw you fly down through the air without any gear, like one of Freeza's soldiers. As far as we know most of them are camped inside the king's palace, so I came up here to see who you are."

"You saw me fly down?" Gohan asked, "That's pretty impressive." Jaco did seem to have excellent eyesight, perhaps all his race shared that gift. "Can you tell me what's happening here?"

"First, I want to know why did you come to the galactic capital?"

The galactic capital? Strange, Gohan had no idea this planet was important. He simply came here because of Freeza. "I'm... I'm a warrior," Gohan said, and his expression became serious. "I came here to defeat Freeza."

"Oh!" The alien's surprised expression caused her eye patch to fall off. She quickly returned it to its place, but Gohan had enough time to see that both of her eyes looked fine. "Freeza is ridiculously powerful, if you are same Gohan Jaco told me about then you should turn back."

Gohan smiled. "I think I'm going to do just fine."

The alien sighed again. "Well, you and your family are supposed to be almost illegally powerful, so who knows." She pointed towards towards a large, walled complex in the center of the city. It consisted of an impressive main building, all slender spires, domes and arches, surrounded by gardens and fountains. "Freeza is right there in the main palace. His soldiers took over the entire compound, and even forced the remaining galactic patrolmen to work for him." Mako became more serious and her voice sounded angry. "Freeza even forced the galactic king to be his personal servant!"

Gohan considered this for a few moments. "Wait, aren't you a galactic patrolwoman? How come you aren't working for Freeza?"

"I went rogue," Mako said proudly, then raised her hands and adopted a heroic pose similar to Jaco's. "Now I lead a small but brave group of rebels, fighting for truth and freedom." She looked at Gohan for a few moments to see his reaction to her pose, then smiled in satisfaction. The earthling was obviously impressed by her style and skill.

Gohan was, in fact, impressed by the pose. "Okay, Mako. Look, I need to go now, but I have to know something first. Why are you wearing an eye patch? Were you injured by one of Freeza's men?"

Mako lowered her head a little, then looked at Gohan almost defiantly. "No. Jaco brought a few movies from Earth, and in several action movies the heroes looked very impressive. I chose to adopt their style to inspire my people."

"Err... you know those were probably men, right? Most Earth women can't grow facial hair."

"MEN?!" Mako was shocked. "I was sure they were women!" She looked so disappointed Gohan actually felt bad.

"Well, I have to go. Goodbye, Mako. Thanks for the help." Gohan smiled at the patrolwoman and flew away towards the palace.

Back in her car, the depressed Mako sat down, pulled out a handkerchief from the glove box and started wiping her "facial hair" away, which was just makeup. "Oh well," she said to herself, "I still have that other costume that I thought was for Earth men, but was actually for their women. I guess it also made the real male earthlings pretty happy." She reached into the back seat of the car and picked up a skimpy female biker outfit.

(Palace of the Galactic King, main hall)

Freeza sat on the galactic throne, his arms crossed. His tail was coiled up behind him and over the side of the throne, tapping it with impatience. A few moments later the galactic king appeared from a side door and entered the massive throne room. In two of his tentacles he held a tray with a glass of wine, which sloshed gently as the king crossed the hall towards the throne. Eventually the king reached Freeza and waited patiently for the tyrant's orders.

Freeza opened his eyes and looked at the king with a sneer. "You were too slow, again." Before the king could respond, an invisible telekinetic burst sent him flying across the room. The tentacled monarch landed painfully next to a group of Freeza's alien soldiers, who found the spectacle hilarious. The glass of wine shattered on the floor next to him, staining the king.

One of the soldiers kicked the fallen king, who cried out in pain. "What are you waiting for, servant? Lord Freeza asked you for a glass of wine! Go!" The soldier raised his leg for another kick, but there was a sudden gust of wind and the king was gone.

Freeza looked ahead and raised an eyebrow, observing the confused soldiers and the vanished monarch. "Interesting," he smiled.

Outside, in the palace gardens, Gohan gently laid the king on the ground. The king groaned in pain and propped himself up, looking at the young warrior in confusion. A moment later, Gohan vanished.

Gohan flew back into the throne room at full speed. Some of Freeza's men were guarding the entrances or patrolling inside, but none of them even sensed his presence. To Gohan they all looked like statues frozen in place. When the half-saiyan returned to the throne room, however, Freeza easily followed his progress. The tyrant stood up while Gohan was still flying from the entrance to the center of the room, as if to greet his opponent.

Freeza's soldiers were stunned to see a stranger appear suddenly in the middle of the hall, and aimed their blasters at him. "Stop right there, scum!" said one of the soldiers, a lizard-like alien covered in red scales.

Gohan looked around at the surrounding soldiers. There was a sudden breeze followed by sounds of impact, and all of them fell to ground, unconscious. Gohan had moved too fast for the soldiers to see, knocking them out one after the other while Freeze looked on, observing Gohan's movements.

Freeza and Gohan remained the only ones standing. "Tell me, monkey," smiled Freeza, "why have you come here? I expected your father, or even Vegeta, this is a most pleasant surprise."

"I'm here to correct an angel's mistake," said Gohan calmly.

Freeza laughed. "Oh my, how terrifying. I admit, you do feel stronger than before, but don't think you're powerful enough to challenge me. Since you provided me with some entertainment, I'll give you one chance to head back home. Go now, leave while I'm still in a good mood."

Gohan felt his anger starting to rise at the sight of this murderous psychopath babbling about his good mood. There was nothing more he could say, words were wasted on this monster. Without warning, Gohan flew towards Freeza at full speed, rotated at the last moment and hit Freeza with a powerful high kick that caught the tyrant by surprise. The impact sent Freeza flying up into the upper atmosphere, and the accompanying shock wave was powerful enough to reduce this section of the palace to rubble.

Gohan followed Freeza into orbit, unleashing a massive energy blast at the tyrant. By that time, however, Freeza managed to recover from Gohan's kick. The tyrant was stunned by the monstrous power of Gohan's untransformed state, and decided it was best to finish the battle as soon as possible. With a yell and a release of power, Freeza transformed into his golden form and started to deflect the blast toward the planet.

The energy blast was extremely powerful, though, and the act of deflecting it was not instantaneous. Gohan had enough time to fire a smaller energy attack into the much bigger orb currently being deflected by Freeza, causing it to explode violently. Freeza cursed as the titanic explosion battered him, but held his ground.

Gohan went on the offensive again immediately after the explosion, attacking Freeza with a lightning-fast flurry of kicks and blows. The tyrant was ready for the half-saiyan's assault, blocking or dodging his attacks and retaliating with his own strikes whenever possible. Their battle carried them around the planet, and to the millions of inhabitants below it looked like random flashes of light in the sky accompanied by deep, powerful thunder.

Eventually Freeza managed to wrap his tail around Gohan's left arm. He threw the half-saiyan away, and immediately launched a lethal energy disk at his opponent, threatening to cut him in half. Gohan sensed the attack in time, but he knew there was no time to dodge and it was too deadly to block. Instead, Gohan let the disk reach him, then rotated gracefully while nudging the disk with controlled, elegant bursts of ki. Freeza saw Gohan catch the disk in the air with his open palm, rotate in place and launch the cutting attack right back at him, all in one, smooth motion.

Freeza dodged the disk, and the deadly attack exploded into a shower of sparks behind him. The two opponents hovered in place for a few moments, allowing the enraged Freeza to speak.

"You dare! You dare attack me! I wasn't planning on visiting your world anytime soon, but my plans have changed. Oh, how they have changed." His eyes opened wide and his features twisted in a display of murderous anger. "Once I've destroyed you I'll be paying a visit to that cursed planet of yours, and I'll be sure to tell all of your monkey relatives who doomed them before I destroy them all." Freeza raised his arm, one finger pointing up, and gathered a gigantic death ball almost instantly. "THEY WILL BURN FOR YEARS BEFORE I ALLOW THEM TO DIE!" With a final scream of rage, the tyrant hurled the huge, black orb of crackling energy down towards the planet.

Gohan immediately released a blast of his own towards Freeza's attack, causing the death ball to fly away into space. This action gave Freeza enough time to charge at the half-saiying and land a painful kick that connected with Gohan's ribs. As Gohan recoiled in pain, the tyrant followed through with a barrage of painful punches, finally kicking Gohan away and launching a deadly beam of ki from his finger.

The beam pierced Gohan's left shoulder, and a spray of blood bloomed in the air behind him. Gohan shouted in pain and grabbed his shoulder while Freeza laughed, enjoying the sight of his wounded enemy. "Still think this was a good idea, monkey?" Freeza chuckled in glee.

Instead of answering, Gohan gritted his teeth and ignored the painful wound. With an effort of willpower, he gathered his energy into his right hand, extended it towards the surprised tyrant and launched a wide beam of white hot energy towards his laughing opponent. The beam engulfed the surprised Freeza and launched him away into space, his entire body covered in burns and soot.

"It's no use," thought Gohan. Freeza was even stronger now than he was during the tournament, so strong that he seemed unstoppable. Freeza's increased energy control meant he could survive in golden form for extended periods of time, so any hope of tiring him out was lost. Even now the drained Gohan could feel Freeza's massive ki aura stabilize and ignite in anger. The tyrant regained control thousands of miles away and launched himself back towards the planet.

Freeza crashed into Gohan head-first like an angry comet, slamming into the half-saiyan's stomach with an angry roar. The terrible impact caused a massive shock wave that evaporated the clouds in the atmosphere below, and the strike almost knocked Gohan unconscious. Although he was scorched and bleeding from a multitude of small wounds, Freeza proceeded to beat the dazed saiyan mercilessly.

"You fool!" Freeza screamed. "Sacrificing yourself for these scum on the planet below, as if they're worth saving!" Gohan could just barely block some of Freeza's slower, more telegraphed attacks, but was too far gone to protect himself against the majority of the strikes. "WHO DO YOU THINK BOUGHT PLANETS FROM ME ALL THOSE YEARS!" Freeza screamed as he buried his fist in Gohan's gut. "YOU PATHETIC WRETCH!"

Gohan was hovering there, barely conscious and trying desperately to focus through the pain. Freeza breathed heavily in berserk rage as he watched his enemy tumbling through the air. It took him a few moments, but eventually the tyrant regained control and his breathing slowed. With a cold smile Freeza focused his energy into the tip of his tail, making it crackle with power.

"Don't worry, monkey, soon you'll be joined by the rest of your pathetic relatives," Freeza said. He raised his tail and attacked, using it like a spear to impale Gohan through the stomach. The half-saiyan shouted in pain and finally blacked out. With a lash of his tail, Freeza tossed Gohan down like a rag doll while laughing manically. The tyrant looked at the falling Gohan for a few moments, then raised his arm and gathered a massive, world-destroying energy sphere aimed at the planet's core.

(Sacred world of the kais)

Old Kai and Shin were gathered around the old one's crystal ball, watching Gohan fight Freeza. They have been following Gohan's actions ever since the ritual earlier that day, stunned by the young warrior's increased power and puzzled by the change in his essence.

"What should we do, elder?" asked the younger god in a worried tone.

"It's a pickle," answered Old Kai. "If we do nothing and Gohan dies, Freeza will go on a rampage and destroy even more planets before anyone could stop him. Twenty eight will become twenty seven and then twenty six and so on, and soon we'll become a ghost universe."

"But Beerus was the one that ordered Freeza to be brought back to life, if we help Gohan he might be angry with us."

"Yes, he probably will..." the elder god said, deep in thought.

"What if we brought in Goku to fight Freeza?" asked Shin.

"That might work, but then Beerus will be angry at Goku. It looks like he has some kind of relationship with our saiyan friend, if that connection breaks because Beerus gets angry, nothing will stop Beerus from destroying Earth."

"You're right," said Shin, "we have to think about the future as well, not just this fight."

"Of course I'm right," the old one. "If we help Gohan and Freeza dies, Beerus might focus his anger on Gohan for acting alone, and Earth will most likely be spared. He may become angry with us as well if he finds out what happened, but that's a risk we're going to have to take."

This train of thought saddened Shin. "So we help Gohan only to watch him be destroyed later on, and count this as a success?"

Old Kai looked into his younger friend's eyes. "It looks like that will be the wisest thing to do. I know it's difficult, but we have to try to save as many people as possible."

Shin nodded. "Very well, how should we proceed? I could transport myself to Gohan's location in the mortal realms and bring him here, but Freeza is much faster than me and I probably won't have time to act."

"You're right," said Old Kai, "very good. We should teleport to New Namek again and use the dragon to help Gohan, last time I looked Porunga was still waiting, but he was getting grumpier by the minute."

(The Galactic Capital planet)

Freeza felt a momentary pang of regret as the world below was engulfed by a cataclysmic explosion. It was a useful world, the hub for a large network of trade and communication across the galaxy. The regret vanished quickly, however, and was replaced by the usual rush of pleasure as the planet tore itself apart. He used too much energy and the world was completely vaporized far too quickly for his taste, but you live and learn. Freeza's ship was parked on one of the planet's small moon, along with a skeleton crew. It will be a bother to fly there now using his own power, but it was a small price to pay.

Where there was a living, prosperous world, now there was a glowing-hot field of space dust and small asteroids. As always, he searched with some amusement for those tiny bits of surface that somehow survived intact, but to Freeza's dismay his senses told him something else.

No. NO. NOOO! Freeza shouted wordlessly and flew towards the familiar energy signature. How could he have survived? Not only was the wretch already on death's doorstep, the precious air his kind needed to exist had evaporated along with the rest of the planet!

Gohan was hovering in the debris field, glowing with energy. He opened his eyes, suddenly completely restored. Was he dead? Was this the afterlife? The sight of an enraged Freeza charging at him forced the half-saiyan to focus, and he quickly dodged the tyrant's attack. The two hovered in place and examined each other.

Gohan was distracted by an unfamiliar feeling, and looked at himself with surprise. "What is this..." he thought, "is this me? This power is unreal!" The young man completely ignored Freeza for a few moments, looked at his open palm and clenched his fist, sending ripples of lightning across his entire arm.

His carelessness was rewarded by the feeling of Freeza's tail wrapping itself around his neck with crushing force, while the tyrant was hovering behind Gohan. Unable to target Freeza directly, Gohan channeled ki into his neck until Freeza was forced to release his victim and fly away, his tail smoking and burnt. Gohan massaged his bruised neck and looked around, this time maintaining his guard.

Suddenly he realized where he was, and a terrible, guilty rage began to grow inside him. All those millions of people, Mako, even the king, all gone... this act of mass murder was too much to take. Gohan once again thought back to that moment in the tournament, when the smiling Whis brought Freeza back to life at Beerus' request. "You did this, Beerus," the enraged Gohan thought, "this has to stop NOW!"

Gohan's aura changed color, from pure, shining white to angry purple and red, and his hair turned from black to pastel pink with white highlights. Yelling soundlessly in the airless void, Gohan's deep guilt and unrestrained rage poured out of him in waves of energy. Freeza had no idea what this lunatic was doing, but kept his distance rather than risk some unknown attack.

The debris field around them rippled and began to fill with matter, and soon afterward Freeza and Gohan were surrounded by a lattice of massive rock filaments stretching for thousands of miles in all directions, intersecting each other to create an endless variety of shapes. To Freeza it looked like some kind of gigantic, planet-sized cave interior, filled with equally massive stalactites and stalagmites growing in all directions. Freeza smiled. No matter what power this fool was trying to use, all it did was summon some rocks.

Gohan finally stopped and looked around, enraged and disappointed. For a few moments he felt something, some new power, and grabbed it with his inexperienced mental hands. With all his might he tried to bring the planet back somehow, but the only thing he managed to create was this world-sized tombstone. And in front of him hovered Freeza, smiling.

Gohan charged at the tyrant, completely consumed by rage. Freeza barely dodged Gohan's initial flying kick, and both opponents re-engaged in a furious exchange of close-range strikes. This time Gohan had a clear advantage in terms of both strength and speed, slowly wearing down Freeza's stamina. The battle was long, and the entire zone became full of floating rocks and dust as the two opponents crashed through one rock filament after another. Eventually Gohan punched Freeza in the stomach, and then kneed the tyrant in the face as he reeled in pain. Freeza stumbled back through the rock-filled void, momentarily dazed.

Unable and unwilling to hold back, Gohan raised his arm and launched an energy blast at Freeza, who barely managed to dodge it in time. While Freeza was distracted by the blast, Gohan grabbed whatever power he had used earlier and summoned it again, this time with lethal intent. Spears of rock grew out of the stone filaments near Freeza and rushed to impale the tyrant. Surprised by the speed of the attack and weakened by the prolonged battle, Freeza couldn't escape all of them and was eventually caught off guard.

Screaming without sound, Freeza reeled in pain as two spears of stone pierced his left leg. As soon as he slowed down the doomed tyrant realized it was all over. Hundreds more strands of rock rushed towards him and impaled Freeza from all directions, sealing his fate and grinding together with a force that sent ripples throughout the entire rock formation.

Gohan turned his head away from the grisly sight, his rage spent. The angry aura faded back to white, and his hair returned to its natural position and color. Looking at Freeza's remains, Gohan raised his arm and released a burning hot stream of energy until nothing was left. Freeza was gone.

Gohan had no idea how he survived Freeza's brutal attacks earlier, but somehow he came back, stronger than before and with access to a new power. It might very well be the creation power his dream apparition was talking about, cementing the fact that at least part of the entire thing was true. Gohan looked at the area previously occupied by the impaled Freeza, and once again felt that deep, familiar shame. He lost control, failed to protect innocent people and acted with a murderous aggression that made him feel uncomfortable. Part of it was Beerus' fault, the destroyer's savagery staining and corrupting the rest of his universe, but Gohan couldn't blame Beerus for everything. He must remain in control, he must act out of a need to protect, not fuel his attacks with murderous hatred and rage.

Still, the past was over and done with, there was nothing he could do to change it. Right now it was time for the next phase of his plan, the reason he flew all the way to New Namek to make that wish to Porunga. Gohan concentrated on the strange, fleeting god ki he felt after making that wish, and it immediately came to mind. This time, instead of trying to locate it precisely, he concentrated and tried to draw it forth, as if it was a part of his own divine ki.

Gohan vanished, leaving behind his strange, failed creation of rock and void.