(Otherworld, outside King Yemma's palace)

Gohan found himself on a wide walkway of white stone, leading up to an ornate temple gate and the palatial building behind it. The sky above was clear blue, and the entire surrounding area was covered by soft, yellow clouds. On the walkway itself there was an impossibly long line of small, white flames, each dancing in place as if impatient to move forward towards the palace gate. The walkway, and the line of impatient flames, stretched from the gate itself and into the distance, as far as Gohan could see. Each flame had a tiny portion of mortal ki, and the half-saiyan recognized them as dead souls waiting to be judged.

The scene looked familiar, but Gohan could never remember exact details about this place. Intellectually he knew he died once, when Earth was destroyed by Buu, but the period of time between his absorption and revival was blank. This wasn't a good time for drudging up memories of the past. Gohan cleared his mind, rose above the line of waiting souls and began flying towards the palace.

Closer to the gate there were several ogres keeping the souls moving in an orderly fashion. They wore modern office clothes common in Earth's cities, and held small flags, waving them up and down to prevent souls from cutting in line or staying still for too long. Gohan approached one of the ogres, a young-looking one with a thin mustache and tidy black hair. When he saw Gohan, the ogre suddenly froze in place.

"Hello, my name is Gohan. Can you take me to King Yemma, please? This is important."

"Err..." the ogre couldn't sense Gohan's divine ki as such, but he could instinctively sense the young man's high rank, as if he was radiating authority. The unfamiliar sensation caused the ogre to stutter in confusion. Eventually force of habit took over, and the ogre nodded. "Of course, come with me, sir."

The pair started walking towards the palace. The other ogres stared at Gohan and his companion in stunned silence, sensing that same authority but not knowing who or what he was. Gohan stretched his ki senses as the pair advanced, trying to get more familiar with this strange world. What he sensed was so outright bizarre that he couldn't understand it at first, and when they got to the palace gates Gohan had to stop. Perhaps there will be time to explore later.

An older, higher ranking ogre relieved Gohan's companion and sent him back to his post on the walkway. The older ogre was bald, had a wrinkled face and wore thick, black-rimmed glasses. He took out a pen from his pocket and opened his notebook, prepared to write. Unlike the younger ogres, this one had seen it all. Gohan's strange aura of authority didn't affect him as much.

"Yes? How can I help you?"

"Hello," Gohan nodded in greeting. "I need to see King Yemma."

"Special visitor for King Yemma," the ogre mumbled as he wrote the details down. "What is the purpose of your visit here?" He considered adding that mortals weren't supposed to come here at all, but avoided doing so on instinct. This young man's rank felt much higher than his own.

"I need to ask him about ways to deal with a soul of a dead mortal."

"Query... soul..." the ogre wrote everything down, then put the notebook and the pen back in his shirt pocked. "Very well, follow me please."

The interior of King Yemma's palace was colossal. The proportions were such that the building's true size was difficult to judge, but it looked like the hall of judgement was made for giants. From the palace entrance Gohan could see King Yemma judging a soul in the distance, close to the other side of the hall. The entire space between King Yemma's table and the main entrance was empty, and the line of waiting souls ended just behind Gohan. In fact, some of them quivered in annoyance when the half-saiyan and his ogre escort passed them by.

"Sorry, guys," Gohan said. "I'll try to make this as fast as possible." He couldn't tell if the souls understood him, but felt he had to apologize.

A thunder shook the entire hall just a few moments later, as King Yemma signed the soul's documents and gave them to his assistants. The soul quickly left through the exit at the other end of the gigantic hall, and the ogre started walking forward. "Follow me to King Yemma's table, please."

The two crossed the room and reached the towering wooden table. "King Yemma, this mortal wishes to speak with you," the ogre said calmly. "He has questions about a mortal soul."

The gigantic judge of the dead looked at Gohan for a few moments, clearly confused.

"Ahh... well, alright." Yemma came to his senses and looked at Gohan. "Who are you?"

"My name is Gohan, sir," Gohan said patiently, looking up at the massive ogre. "I believe you know my father. His name is Goku, we're from Earth."

"Oh, you're Goku son? I remember judging you once, years ago." He sighed, slightly annoyed by the thought of wasting time on souls that were later revived. "Well, how can I help you, Gohan?"

"Did you judge Freeza recently?" Gohan asked.

"Ah, yes." Yemma's face wrinkled in distaste. "I sent him straight back to Earth's hell, where he was before."

Gohan sighed. "Excuse me, King Yemma, but why?"

Yemma was surprised by Gohan's question. "Why what?"

"Why would you do something like that? Doesn't that mean that Freeza gets to keep his body, and could just be revived later?"

Yemma stopped. Did the strange mortal just question his judgement? This was exactly the worst thing anyone could say to him. He could sense Gohan's apparent rank very clearly, but the young man was still just a mortal.

"I am the judge of the dead," said Yemma in a booming voice, growing more and more annoyed. "I don't owe you any explanations, mortal. I'll forgive your insolence this one time out of respect for your father and his deeds, but you have to leave this place right now."

Gohan started to get angry as visions of Freeza's murderous past rose up in his mind. Gohan's recent loss of control, however, still made him feel regretful and deeply ashamed, and the young half-saiyan forced himself to calm down. All his research over the years seemed to imply that Yemma performed his assigned function and nothing else. The entire system seemed sick and failing to Gohan, but there was no real reason to get angry at this gigantic ogre specifically.

"I'm sorry," Gohan said and looked up, straight into Yemma's eyes, "but I will not leave."

A shocked silence spread through the room. Defying King Yemma in this hall was absolutely unheard of. The various assistant ogres quickly retreated to stand as far away as possible, and even the waiting souls moved a few steps back.

"WHAT!" shouted Yemma, "how dare you!" The massive ogre stood up, causing his chair to emit an extremely loud grinding noise. He pointed at Gohan and called out to his assistants. "Guards! Remove this mortal from my palace right now!"

One ogre took a step forward, noticed he was the only one moving, and quickly stepped back. The others held their breath. In their eyes Gohan was radiating extreme authority, as if his rank was much higher than Yemma himself. Their loyalty to Yemma was completely negated by the young man's strange essence.

"Useless, all of you," said Yemma in anger and pounded the table with his hand, shaking the entire hall.

Gohan just stood there calmly, facing Yemma's wrath without flinching.

Yemma was furious, but didn't allow his anger to overcome his common sense. Gohan was the one of the strongest beings in the universe when he first died, and since then the young man had apparently gotten even stronger. And not just that, his aura commanded authority on a level Yemma had sensed only a few times before. It wasn't enough to compel him to obey this mortal, but combined with Gohan's power it did dissuade Yemma from from engaging in physical combat.

Perhaps he should call Grand Kai for reinforcements? If Grand Kai and his warriors attacked Gohan together, they might be able to defeat him... possibly. The fact that he couldn't tell for sure bothered Yemma greatly. Perhaps he should goad the young man into revealing more of his intentions, then come to a final decision.

Yemma sat down heavily, slightly less angry now that he had some kind of plan. "I sent Freeza to hell because he's completely evil and needs to be punished. The place he's in right now may seem pleasant to others, but to Freeza it's an eternal torture."

"But that doesn't make any sense," said Gohan. "My father told me that during Freeza's time in hell he trained himself mentally, and his energy control was sharpened to an extremely high level..." Gohan stopped, suddenly realizing the huge mistake he had made. After all these months of planning, how could he have been so blind? He was still alive thanks only to blind luck.

After waking up from his ordeal following the ritual, Gohan sensed Freeza's power and it was lower than his own. He had assumed that Freeza would lose in a confrontation between them, but apparently Gohan had underestimated Freeza's unbelievable ability to control energy. By amplifying his power precisely at the right moment and keeping the flow of ki in his body under complete control, Freeza's effective power was, in fact, much greater than Gohan's at the time. It was the same way Goku, Vegeta and the rest of his family and friends fought, taken to an unimaginably high level of skill.

If a mysterious benefactor hadn't saved him, he'd be dead. And if his saiyan physiology hadn't boosted his personal power after he was healed, he'd be just as dead. Freeza's skill at controlling energy was now far, far greater than his own, possibly much greater than his father's as well. And by having more time to train it, that skill would increase exponentially until the tyrant was revived again, this time as a completely unstoppable monster. Gohan couldn't allow that to happen.

Yemma coughed, ending Gohan's reverie. "Okay," began Gohan. "Freeza can't be allowed to train and become any stronger than he is now. Sending him to the same place he was before was a huge mistake, King Yemma."

Yemma's eyes almost bulged out in anger, but once again he refused to lose control. "Well, I have already judged him. It's done."

"Can't you change your decision?" asked Gohan.

Lying was against King Yemma's nature. "Yes," he admitted through teeth clenched in anger.

"Okay. Can you neutralize him somehow? What happens if his soul is destroyed while he's in the afterlife?"

Gasps of shock sounded from all around the room as the ogres contemplated Gohan's question. Destroying a soul was the most heinous crime imaginable, if it could even be accomplished.

Yemma looked down at Gohan, frowning. "First you barge into my hall and refuse to leave, and now you talk about destroying souls? That's the most terrible sin that can ever be performed! None may do it except..." Yemma stopped talking, suddenly feeling cold dread at the direction this conversation was taking.

"Except who?" Gohan asked, perfectly calm.

"Nevermind that," Yemma tried to changed the subject. "You want to neutralize Freeza? What would you have me do, then?"

"I don't know," admitted Gohan, "I'm not an expert in these matters. And the scholars of Earth don't really know much about it either. That's why I'm asking you, can you do anything to neutralize Freeza? And I mean forever, so that he can't be revived."

The gigantic judge settled back in his chair, deep in thought. A long time passed before Yemma spoke again. "No," he said in a somewhat uncertain voice.

Gohan looked at King Yemma carefully. Whatever his faults, the massive god was so bad at hiding the truth that even Gohan could pick it up easily, despite not being an adept at reading people. Yemma was clearly very nervous, huge beads of sweat appearing around the edges of his horned helmet. His eyes were moving rapidly from side to side, and he started tapping one foot on the ground rapidly, causing minor tremors.

"I think you're hiding something," Gohan said. "There's an important fact you're not telling me."

Yemma allowed some of his anger to come back, gathering his courage. "That's it, mortal. You've gone too far." Yemma turned to one of the ogres waiting at the edges of the hall. "You! Call for reinforcements right now. Tell them what's happening and ask for everyone to come here as fast as possible." When the stunned ogre refused to move, Yemma shouted "NOW!", causing the frightened assistant to run towards a smaller exit.

"I don't want to fight, but I will if I have too," said Gohan calmly. He began to rise into the air, reaching the level of Yemma's head. The half-saiyan started gathering his energy, instantly causing his white aura to expand and flare. A wind picked up in the hall, flowing away from Gohan's body and rising steadily along with the young man's power. Gohan began to shine with a bright light, and small arcs of lightning reached around him as if searching for a target to strike.

Yemma lost his nerve when several lightning arcs hit his table, setting one of the documents on fire. "Enough! Stop!" Yemma yelled and snatched the document away, snuffing out the fire with his finger. "You," he told the ogre, "stay right there for now." The frightened ogre nodded and stopped moving.

The lightning disappeared and Gohan's aura calmed down, although he remained hovering in mid air. He looked at Yemma, waiting to hear what the judge of souls had to say.

"Fine," said Yemma angrily. "Beerus, the Destroyer. Long ago he told me to keep Freeza safely locked away so that he could always be revived in case something happened to him. Beerus didn't expect Freeza to die, but he came here with his servant and asked me personally. In fact, before he left he asked me to keep any evil, violent warrior who was as strong as Freeza or even stronger."

Gohan's eyes widened in surprise. Of course. Beerus had some kind of relationship with Freeza that mirrored the destroyer's connection to his father and Vegeta. For some reason the catlike god didn't want Freeza to disappear forever, but why? Was it just so he could have another powerful warrior in his stable of gladiators?

"I didn't expect Freeza to get stronger in hell," continued Yemma, "but that doesn't change anything as far as the destroyer's request is concerned."

"I thought Beerus was the god of destruction," said Gohan, "what kind of authority does he have over the dead?"

Yemma shifted uncomfortably in his chair. "Well, he doesn't. It's simply... well, safer, to grant his requests."

Was everyone in this universe just a victim of Beerus? Gohan's anger returned, this time taking longer to calm down. Again, King Yemma was almost certainly a complete innocent in this affair. There was no reason to get angry at him.

"King Yemma, what would you have done if Beerus hadn't intervened?"

"Well," the king thought about it for a few moments, "I'd probably wipe away his memories and send him to be reincarnated. I'd do it as fast as possible, too."

Gohan's eyes opened in surprise once again. "You can do that?"

"Of course!" Thundered Yemma, "I rule over all the dead souls in the universe!"

"Well, why not do it now? Why not send Freeza to be reincarnated right away?"

Yemma looked right into Gohan's eyes. "Didn't you hear me? What about Beerus?"

It took Gohan a few moments to come to a decision. "Let me worry about that. Tell Beerus I threatened you and you didn't have a choice."

"I..." Yemma stammered, "I can't lie to him."

Gohan's aura expanded rapidly, the sudden gust of wind sending Yemma's papers flying around the hall and forcing the panicked ogres to run for cover. Blasts of lightning left charred spots on the ceiling and floor directly above and below Gohan, a particularly violent bolt actually disintegrating one of the yellow floor tiles and causing a blast of red-hot shrapnel. Yemma had to look away or risk getting blinded by the sudden flash of Gohan's aura.

"I can make it convincing, if you want."

Yemma had no choice. This time he could feel Gohan's raw power in the air, and knew none of Grand Kai's legendary warriors could stand up to Goku's son. Even if all of them attacked at once it would still be a one-sided battle. "Stop!" Yemma roared, "I'll do it!"

Gohan's aura calmed down instantly, and this time he sank to the floor. "Can you bring him Freeza here before you reincarnate him?" Gohan avoided the blasted floor tile and continued. "I want to ask him a few questions."

Yemma nodded. This mortal had him in his power, there was nothing he could do but agree to all his demands. Sighing, he scanned the floor and noted the blasted tile. The giant ogre pointed at the ruined spot and commanded "Freeza! Appear!".

From the ash-filled pit that the ruined tile left behind, a small sapling started to grow. It grew up fast, making strange grinding noises, until it became a large tree. A small, strange cocoon was hanging from one of the tree's branches, and inside that cocoon was trapped the former galactic tyrant. Only Freeza's head could be seen, the rest of his body hidden by the cocoon's folds.

The dead tyrant opened his eyes and stared bloody murder at Yemma, and then his eyes bulged even harder when he saw Gohan. "You!" Freeza grimaced in rage, unable to move. "I will get free eventually, and then I'll be coming after all of you! You should have left me alone, fool!"

Gohan observed the cocooned tyrant for a few moments, considering his approach. Even now he could sense Freeza straining what little ki was available to him in strange ways. Was it possible that he could escape his prison on his own? Who knows. Freeza has defied all expectations, surpassed every limit that mortals were supposed to have, and that's without even having access to god ki. His innate gifts were staggering. Was he born twisted? Or was he molded into a murderer by that father of his? Was it possible that without his memories, Freeza could become a good person in another life? Gohan wanted to believe it. Piccolo became his mentor, practically a second father, and Vegeta changed from a murderer to a husband and a father. Whatever regrets Gohan had about the way he killed Freeza, he felt this was the right thing to do.

But first, a few last questions. "Freeza, what's your connection to Beerus?"

Surprised by the question, Freeza stopped ranting and raving. "What? What are you babbling about, what connection?"

Gohan looked at Yemma for a moment. "Beerus, the Destroyer. He asked for you to be kept in hell if you die, so that you could be revived later."

Freeza's eyes betrayed his surprise, but he said nothing.

After Freeza remained silent for a few moments, Gohan continued. "Well?"

"Well what?" asked Freeza with a sneer. "Do you honestly think I'll answer your questions? I have nothing to say to you, scum."

Gohan smiled, looking into Freeza's eyes. He came closer to the trapped tyrant and raised his hand towards the cocoon. King Yemma stood up, worried that Gohan might somehow carry out his threat to destroy Freeza's soul completely.

"What do you think you're doing, fool?" asked the alarmed Freeza.

"Oh, nothing," Gohan smiled – increasing Freeza's rage – and tapped the cocoon gently with his finger, causing the entire thing to sway gently.

"I swear to you, halfbreed, when I get free I will exterminate you all."

Gohan started to whistle a tune from a popular commercial he kept hearing on the radio, and began tapping Freeza's cocoon along with the rhythm.

Freeza was seething with anger, but closed his eyes and tried to concentrate. He could withstand the torture of those faeries and stuffed animals down in hell, so he must be able to withstand this pathetic monkey. But try as he might, every time he almost centered himself there was another tap, and that horrible, nightmarish tune repeated itself. What's worse, the infernal half-saiyan whistled wrong, mangling a note every once in a while in a way that completely prevented Freeza from meditating. His rage increased more and more, until every last bit of mental peace evaporated.

"STOP!" Freeza roared in impotent rage.

Gohan stopped and took a step back. "Tell me," he said after a few moments of silence, "what's your connection to Beerus?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about, scum." Freeza said. "I only saw him once before, not counting our recent encounters, and he didn't say anything to imply there was a connection."

"What?" asked the surprised Gohan, "When was this?"

"It was before you were spawned," Freeza looked at Gohan angrily, "when Vegeta was still a child."

"What did he tell you, then?" Gohan asked. Perhaps the destroyer let something slip that might be useful.

Freeza had no intention of telling Gohan the truth. "Nothing, he told me to take Vegeta under my wing if something happened to his father, and raise the child properly. And that's exactly what I did," Freeza said with a smug half-smile.

Gohan considered this, but before he could come to any conclusions King Yemma rose up and shouted. "I will not have any soul lie in this hall! Your past is on display now, Freeza!" Yemma's loud voice shook the entire room. "One more lie and you'll regret it!"

Freeza frowned and looked at the judge of the dead angrily. "Fine. Beerus told me to destroy planet Vegeta. I didn't think much of it because I was going to do it anyway." Staring into Gohan's eyes, he added "and that's the end my little encounter with the god of destruction. My father knew Beerus somehow and warned me never to cross him, so I never did."

Gohan was stunned by this revelation. The saiyans were a murderous, savage race and far from innocent, but the fact that Beerus was involved in their destruction was a huge surprise. It didn't affect him personally as much as he thought it might, Gohan couldn't feel any more anger towards Beerus than he already felt. However, this news might change everything for Vegeta. Who knows how the prince will react.

And there was that other tidbit of knowledge, too. "Your father?" Gohan focused and turned to King Yemma. "King Yemma, is Freeza's father available for questioning?"

Yemma shook his head. "No, he was reincarnated years ago."

Freeza raised an eyebrow at this, but said nothing.

Gohan sighed, disappointed. Other than Beerus' request to destroy planet Vegeta he didn't learn anything useful. After considering for few minutes, Gohan came to the conclusion that any further interrogation of Freeza would be pointless.

"Alright," Gohan told the judge, "Please reincarnate Freeza now."

"What!" The enraged Tyrant shouted. "NO!"

King Yemma said nothing. He sat down, took out a form and started filling it while Freeza was shouting. Gohan observed the enraged tyrant silently, and after a minute of waiting Yemma put his pen down and reached for his stamp.

"King Yemma," Gohan began, his voice softer than usual. "Is there a way to make Freeza come back as a good person?"

Yemma looked at Gohan with surprise. You could never tell with these mortals. The young man seemed so ruthless and commanding, but now, at the last moment, he was showing a more merciful side. Now Gohan reminded Yemma of his father. Just before Goku destroyed Majin Buu, the saiyan had wished for Buu to be reincarnated as a good person. Buu was completely evil, true, but his evil was tied to his magical nature. Without his body and with his magic gone, the soul of Buu was a completely blank slate. Yemma couldn't even judge the creature to heaven or hell, so the only choice was reincarnation.

Shaking his head and coming back to the present, the judge of the dead answered Gohan's question. "I'm sorry, Gohan, but no," Yemma shook his head. "Freeza is too evil, it will take several lifetimes for him to be able to come back as a good person."

Gohan nodded and looked back at Freeza, who was shouting obscenities and threats. "I hope to see you again one day, Freeza. Goodbye."

With a final, thundering sound, King Yemma stamped Freeza's form. The tyrant faded away into a cloud of colorful sparks, and the hall of judgement became quiet once again. Gohan exhaled in relief and allowed himself a few brief moments of happiness. It worked. Despite everything, the first stage of his plan worked. Somehow.