Hey guys! Chapter 21 is finally up! Time to start the new year with an all-new chapter, don't you say? I apologize it took so long to update, but I had to study for exams, and I was also spending a lot of time on my other stories. Thankfully, this chapter is a long one, so you got plenty to read. Now enjoy the final round of the Friezamania!
"LET THE FINAL ROUND BEGIN!"
Just as the rounds before, the two combatants disappeared in an instant. Milliseconds later, they reappeared for brief intervals, the force from their blows sending shockwaves much more powerful than any battles prior. On the sidelines, even Atomic Samurai was unable to properly track his enemies movements, with Superalloy Darkshine only able to somewhat keep up with their movements. The only ones who were able to see the battle in full clarity were Bomb and Lord Frieza himself. As Frieza had stated before, this was truly going to be the pinnacle of the Friezamania.
Besides the other heroes, Garou snarled in fury; to know that there was still such a monumental gap in strength between the old fart and himself, even after all of the heroes he had defeated during the hero hunt, was a big blow to his pride. If Garou fought the old fart now, he wouldn't stand a chance. Likewise, that captain was no pushover either, and seeing that he looked down to Frieza in such a submissive manner, Garou wasn't so sure about fighting him one-on-one.
On the battlefield, Ginyu and Bang were exchanging a series of powerful strikes with their sharpened nerves and iron fists. Thoughts were racing through both the combatants minds as the battle had commenced. For Bang, Ginyu's fists felt like iron balls pummeling against him, yet he was able to strike with such accuracy that was uncanny in most monsters he had faced. Ginyu was at least in the upper echelon of Dragon-level, that was for sure. On the other end of the thinking spectrum, Ginyu was fascinated and at the same time baffled that such an old man could possess such unbelievably strong power hidden in his punches. Not only that, but his speed was far beyond what he would have considered possible, even for Ginyu himself. Coupled with his amazing strength, Ginyu knew that this would be a difficult battle.
Captain Ginyu struck Bang with a right side kick, but Bang caught it and twirled it around, causing Captain Ginyu to spin around multiple times midair. Captain Ginyu groaned in anger, and while he was spinning, fired an consecutive barrage of energy attacks. The purple rays of energy flew out everywhere, exploding midair just seconds after being launched, destroying the stone tiles nearby and damaging the arena even more. Bang did a backflip and evaded the energy blasts. Captain Ginyu turned his body vertically and landed squarely on his feet to stop himself from spinning. The captain raised his two hands, and fired the same barrage of energy waves at his opponent. The martial artist initiated evasive maneuvers and stealthily dodged the attacks. The purple energy waves lit up the arena with a bright purple glow, forcing the spectators to shield their eyes from the light. Bang too covered his eyes from the blinding light. But that was a bad mistake on his part; almost immediately after, Bang felt a fist gutting him in the stomach. Bang was sent flying up in the air, going out of the bounds of the ring. "Hah! It's already over!" shouted Captain Ginyu.
But a master martial artist wouldn't be defeated by a technicality such as a ring-out; while he was still being propelled midair, Bang began spinning his body to change his trajectory, until he landed on one of the four pillars of the ring. The master martial artist bent his knees and body back, and sprung to Captain Ginyu, attempting to attack with a left knee. Captain Ginyu met his knee head-on, and the fighters initiated another short-range exchange of kicks and punches.
Quickly after the short barrage of blows, Ginyu managed to land a powerful right side kick that hit Bang square in the chest. The martial artist let out a minor grunt of pain. The captain followed up his attack with a right uppercut that struck Bang square in the chin, causing him to fly up a few feet into the air. Captain Ginyu jumped up to the sky, clamped both of his fists together, and swung downward at Bang. Bang was sent flying back into the ground, but just before he was about to be sent crashing into the arena, Bang put his arms out and began a series of very fluid backflips. Once Bang quickly finished the series of backflips, Bang firmly planted his feet on the ground, and sprung up to attack Ginyu with a right elbow. Captain Ginyu met his attack with his own elbow, creating a large very sharp burst of air pressure that fractured the arena below them and caused two of the pillars to crack and fall onto the ground. While they were falling to the ground, the two continued to fiercely fight each other. While midair, Ginyu chopped Bang on the side of his neck. At the same time, Bang struck Ginyu hard in the solar plexus. The two let out groans of pain, but it was obvious that Ginyu's groan was louder than Bang's.
When both of them made it to the ground, Bang swept Captain Ginyu's feet from under him, causing Ginyu to lose his footing and fall to the side. Bang clamped both of his fists together and struck Ginyu with a very quick jab. The captain barely had enough time to block the strike, and he was sent back-first into the ground, creating another large crevice in the arena.
The Captain was somewhat slow to get up, having to momentarily regain his senses. Ginyu then calmly brushed the dirt off of his armor and let out a hum of curiosity and mild surprise. "You're quite something there. Just as I thought, this wasn't going to be an easy battle."
"Likewise," replied Bang. "You're definitely not the leader of your squadron for nothing. But..." Bang crossed his arms in an utterly confident manner, staring coldly at his opponent. "In the end, it isn't enough. If this is the zenith of your powers, then this match is already over.
"Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist."
Before Captain Ginyu had the chance to retort, Bang sprinted up to Captain Ginyu and blitzed him with a series of attacks that Captain Ginyu wasn't prepared for. Yelling in rage, Captain Ginyu threw a right jab at Bang's face; Bang met his fist with his left fist, but to Ginyu's complete shock, Bang was able to nullify the force of Ginyu's punch, yet his hand continued to move across his arm and struck Ginyu in the forehead with his fingertips. The force of the attack propelled Ginyu back away from Bang. The alien rubbed his forehead and let out a slight moan. He looked back up to his opponent and stared at him with awe. His movements were so... fluid. He was able to defensively meet Ginyu's attack, yet at the same time, managed to strike Ginyu with twice the power as before.
Bang sprinted up to Captain Ginyu to follow up his attack; Captain Ginyu held his arms up to defend himself from the onslaught of blows that were about to come his way. But it wasn't enough; Captain Ginyu felt himself being batted around by Bang's fists like he was just a rag doll. It was unbelievable; even in defensive stance, this infuriating man was able to expertly strike him at his body's natural weak points. Hell, even the bones in the back of his hands were being targeted, causing him to feel pain shoot up through his hands.
Up in his hover chair, Frieza let out a hum of entertainment and mild amazement; only moments into the battle, and already Frieza could see the unbelievable talent in this liver-spotted, hunchified old man. It wasn't just his strength or his speed: it was his precision, his technique. Even from up here, Frieza witnessed the way in which the old man was able to strike Ginyu's weak spots, with his fingers no less. With that kind of precision, that old man could defeat an opponent twice as strong as him. Quite a troublesome foe indeed...
On the battleground, Captain Ginyu tried hopelessly to retaliate, but it was no use. Every time Captain Ginyu attacked him, Bang was there to neutralize and counter his attacks with twice the force. This endless barrage continued to pummel Captain Ginyu until he was standing about 2 tiles from the edge of the arena. Instinctive fearfulness overtook Captain Ginyu's heart, and before Bang managed to land the final blow, Captain Ginyu put both of his hands out and fired a blast of purple energy, which hit Bang straight in the chest, but ultimately did little damage.
The Captain was breathing heavily; his arms were at his sides, and he could see drips of blood falling on the ground stemming from his lip and streaming down his chin. If the battle kept going on like this, Ginyu would be knocked out. But he didn't know what to do! This old man's speed and reflexes were amazing, far greater than anything he'd ever faced before. He was basically done for. Unless...
The realization struck Ginyu, and the Captain cracked a very wide smile. The wide smile progressed to a low cackling, and the martial artist's nerves rattled at the sight of this. "What's so funny?" said Bang angrily.
"It's just me, but I often find humor in the oddest of places. For example, facing off against a warrior such as yourself," replied Ginyu, his confident smirk still present as he spoke.
"And what's so humorous about that?!"
"Well, I'm not sure humorous is the word. Thrilling perhaps... Yes, thrilling! That's it!" Ginyu continued to laugh to himself, causing Bang to shift uncomfortably in his place. What was he up to?
Up in the sky, Guldo and Recoome gave each other shocked looks. "Is he about to do what I think he is?" said Guldo.
"Recoome thinks so..." replied Recoome.
Captain Ginyu suddenly began to shout, the intensity of his voice increasing every second, along with his power level. All around the Captain, the ground began to violently shake, as pebbles and other debris began to float up into the air, and the very clouds themselves began to swirl in the sky. The heroes couldn't help but be shocked by the display of power demonstrated at that moment, for none of them had ever seen it before. The power to shake the earth and shift the very sky itself? That power was crazy...
Then, the heroes watched as Captain Ginyu raised his arms up to his sides and spread his legs out. Bang saw this and knew that whatever was about to come his way wasn't good. But when Bang tried to move out of the way, he couldn't. It was as if he were frozen in place, unable to even twitch his finger. The martial artist looked at Captain Ginyu and let out a groan of anger. What was all of this in preparation for?
The Captain finished his shouting, and screamed at the top of his lungs.
"CHANGE N-"
"Enough!"
Captain Ginyu immediately halted his special move when he heard that command. The other heroes didn't know why he had stopped, but they looked up, shocked to realize that it was actually Frieza who had given the command. Yes indeed, the mighty space emperor had stood up in his chair, staring down at Ginyu and Bang. Ginyu turned to his superior, not understanding what he had done wrong. "My lord?"
"I think I've had enough bread and wine now." Frieza slowly floated off of his chair and into the sky, where he gently landed on the ground and stood face-to-face with Bang, with Captain Ginyu standing just a few feet behind him. "The reason why I put an end to this duel is that the victor was already decided."
"But my body switching technique..."
"That would help some, but I can see it in his movements. I can see that both of you have around the same level of speed and power, but his fighting technique is superior in every way. Even if he were to switch bodies, that fighting style is engraved in his mind. With such a powerful technique, I believe that you would quickly lose, even in his body. No, I need to take care of this one myself."
"I understand..." Captain Ginyu bowed his head toward his master, a feeling of guilt and disappointment filling his heart knowing he had failed and knowing Lord Frieza had to step in as he did. "Is there anything else I can do, my lord?" asked Captain Ginyu with defeat and shame palpable in his voice.
"Just go back to the rest of your team and watch the spectacle that is about to unfold," replied Frieza.
"As you wish, my lord..." The defeated captain silently flew off to his two remaining subordinates, who immediately comforted him and tried to alleviate his disappointment.
"It's alright, Captain," said Guldo.
"Recoome thinks you did a real crackerjack job," added Recoome, patting him gently on the back as he did so.
Captain Ginyu let out a soft sigh. "While I appreciate your support," said Ginyu, "There's no need to sugarcoat it. He was simply too strong for me." Ginyu gently brushed their hands off of him and straightened his body to a more respectable posture. "All we can do now is witness the everlasting and unimaginable power Lord Frieza will display for us now."
Lord Frieza was quite surprised with what he'd seen from Earth's warriors. If Vegeta and Nappa had fought any of these heroes, they would have more than likely been terminated in an instant. All of the members of the Ginyu Force had fought them to a stand-still, their victories only won through cunning tactics and playing to their opponent's weaknesses.
"Well, it looks like winners of the Friezamania are the heroes!" Frieza gave a very slow round of applause, causing the heroes standing on the sidelines to growl in anger. "Give yourself a few pats on the back for that! Well done! Being able to handle all of my most elite soldiers is quite the impressive feat, and for that, I tip my horns to you. But the starting lineup is over." Although he gave no sign of anger, Bang felt a kind of chill emanating from him, causing him to tense up. "Now you've got the main event." Lord Frieza put his his hands behind his back and calmly stared at Bang, who had taken a defensive stance and was prepared for the battle that was soon to come. "I must say, you are quite strong," said Frieza. "Never, in my wildest years, would I have imagined that someone had the strength to best Captain Ginyu, and at such an old age no less." Bang gave no response.
"I want the pleasure of beating you myself."
"Very well." Bang lifted his hands up into the air and primed his fingertips for battle. "Let's begin."
"Ok. But first." Frieza clasped his hands together and sliced downward with a swift, singular motion. The arena was split in half, causing both Frieza and Bang to fall to the ground. With another swift movement, Frieza thrust his hands to their sides; the force from his strikes caused the two sides of the arena to be thrust at blinding speeds. In seconds, the huge stone halves of the arena crashed and crumpled up as they were stopped by the nearby mountain range. "I just don't feel like rebuilding the arena a second time. Besides, I like my space."
"Now can we-"
"Hold it, old fart!" Both fighters turned their heads around to see Garou staring at them with his fists clenched and his lips pursed in a tight line. Whatever doubts he had about facing Frieza before were replaced "If your sluggish memory has a hard time remembering, I believe I called fighting the bossman once the preliminary rounds were over."
Frieza let out a small chuckle of amusement. "I never imagined that there would be a fool who'd dare to challenge Frieza! I applaud your overconfidence, sir! Well, overconfidence or stupidity. Either way, I will enjoy wiping that smug smirk off of your face once you truly grasp the depths of who you are really up against."
"Well, if you think this is goin to be easy, then you're dead wrong. I am the Hero Hunter Garou! The monster who has taken on A-class and S-class heroes alike! You're just a stepping stone for me to achieve perfect evil!" Garou motioned for Bang to step aside with a sardonic flick of his wrists, to which Bang grudgingly conceded to. On the sidelines, or what used to be the sidelines of the ring, the remaining heroes greeted Bang with praise, yet they found it hard to celebrate just yet when they knew that the big bad boss was still standing right in front of them. Bomb clasped his brother's right shoulder and lightly shook it.
"You did good, brother," said Bomb.
"Appreciated," replied Bang. But Bang's attention wasn't focused on him or his brother; it was focused solely on Garou and the fight he was prepared to start. Could his disciple really handle such a threat? Bang would have to wait and see.
Garou took a fighting pose, while Frieza just kept a calm gaze with his arms still wrapped behind him.
"You're about to get a bad case of Freezer Burn."
The square holding cell was lit up in a bright glow. Sitting in the center of this room, Speed-of-Sound Sonic was having difficulty containing his glee as he watched a blue orb clasped in his hands. He had been about 20 minutes into his new energy training, and already he had managed to halve the time it took for him to conjure up this energy ball. It hadn't been easy, but he wasn't going to let a broken body hinder his fighting spirit and desire to reign supreme over Saitama. "Hah! You said that I won't be able to fly?" said Sonic to his cellmate and current mentor, who's back was hunched against the wall, his face stone cold, as if he was concentrating very hard on something. "At this rate, I'll be able to take to the skies in only a few days!"
"Uh-huh..." Nappa said nothing more, not even bothering to chastise Sonic for his arrogant demeanor. Sonic gave Nappa a questionable look. "Sir? What are you doing?"
"I'm tryin to properly sense what's going on out there."
"What are you talking about?"
This time, Nappa looked straight into Sonic's eyes and gave him his attention. "Right now, my slimy boss, Lord Frieza, and his elite squadron have arrived on this planet, and all of them have gone toe-to-toe with several fighters. I've felt a lot of very powerful energies more powerful than you and me go down, and at this moment, the captain of Frieza's elite force initiated battle and actually lost, and if that's the case, then there must be some goddamn powerful warriors on this mud-ball."
"I see..."
But suddenly, Nappa's serious tone changed into a more malevolent anger, and he let out a shout of rage, causing Sonic's energy ball to vanish and the ninja to slightly move away from Nappa. "What? What is it?!" shouted Sonic.
"I can't take all of this sitting around anymore!" replied Nappa. "I've been cooped up in here as a prisoner for days on end, unable to break free of my bonds and take my revenge on that disgrace of a saiyan prince! I am a Saiyan General! I refuse to let myself stand idly by as the tides of battle wash over me! I've had enough!"
Sonic uneasily said to Nappa, "What does that mean?"
Nappa's voice was cold yet determined when he spoke his next words, "It means that I'm busting out of here, no matter what it takes." Nappa walked to the center of the room, standing just in front of Sonic. At the center of the room, Nappa bent his knees, his white aura beginning to flicker to life, making the light from Sonic's energy ball look like a tiny flashlight in comparison. Nappa began shouting angrily as he accumulated whatever energy he had into his throat to prepare his most powerful attack.
"BREAKER CANNON!"
From his mouth, a huge burst of yellow energy spewed out. For a moment, the attack was violently pushing against the cell wall, unable to break free from the sturdy confines. But then, a crack formed. In a second, that crack became two cracks, then three, then four, and in mere seconds, the entire wall collapsed as the energy wave broke through. Nappa's Breaker Cannon then exploded in the air, illuminating the surrounding city with its momentary flash.
"A week ago, I couldn't have done that," said Nappa to nobody in particular. "I guess the rest actually did me some good. I'm feeling stronger than ever."
"You're leaving?" Sonic surprised himself with those words; they had just come out in the spur of the moment, and he hadn't thought about what he said until after he had said it. The heat rose to Sonic's cheeks from the embarrassment of such an open question and the sincerity laced in it. Nappa turned his head back to Sonic and noticed Sonic's embarrassment; the look on his face had reminded him of a time in a certain upstart prince's youth when that same expression was plastered on his face.
"Yea. But don't get any ideas, you shit-faced prick." Nappa's rude comment caused the redness in his cheeks to quickly disappear, and the two resumed eye contact with each other. "Listen to me, Sonic. If I don't return, then just use what I've taught you and hone your abilities the best you can."
"But what are you gonna do?"
Nappa turned his head away from Sonic and looked up to the sky. "I'm gonna take care of some... personal business. I need to do it alone."
Nappa didn't need to say anymore, because Sonic knew exactly what Nappa meant with just those few words. "Well then... good luck." All it was was a killer bidding a killer good luck. Nothing more, and nothing less, and both Sonic and Nappa knew it to be true. "I don't need luck."
Nappa gave Sonic a very small salute, and flew off into the sky without another word. No multitude of words could have been more significant than the look of respect both of them gave each other in those final moments, but whether or not the two warriors understood why was up to them.
"Are you seeing this?"
In the central communications and security center of the Hero Association Headquarters, one of the security officers had just witnessed on tape one of the imprisoned mysterious beings blasting the wall with a huge energy wave, then flying off into the sky. The security officer called other workers to his side just to see if they were seeing the same thing he was, and they were. Now, the officer was dialing the number to Bofoi's office as quickly as he could.
In the dark confines of Bofoi's underground laboratory, the S-class hero was working diligently alongside his brother, his assistant, and another S-class hero, Demon Cyborg, when his phone rang to life. The scientist groaned in agony. What could this be?
"Well?" asked Dr. Kuseno. "Are you going to answer it?"
"Alright, alright..." Bofoi grudgingly trotted over to his desk, picked up the phone, and angrily stated, "What is it?! I am very busy right now, and have no time to address trivial matters!"
"Metal Knight!" The voice of the caller sounded rushed and panicked. "The dragon-level mysterious being you imprisoned..."
"Yes? What about him?!"
"It... It... It..."
"What?! What is it?! Spit it out, you fool!"
"It's broken free! It blasted through its cell and flew off into the sky?!"
Bofoi couldn't help but be taken aback by this recent news. The scientist immediately hung up the phone and pulled up the security cameras on his multiple monitors, and sure enough, there was a giant hole in the cell, and one of the prisoners was absent. The other prisoner, however, hadn't taken the opportunity. Bofoi couldn't understand why, but once he took a closer look, Bofoi realized that the prisoner was limping. Then it occurred to him that he still hadn't healed from his injuries.
"What's happened?" Dr. Kuseno questioned his brother, but got no answer. The good doctor walked over to Bofoi's side to see what all the commotion was about, then noticed the missing prisoner on the screen monitor. "The prisoners broke free?" asked Dr. Kuseno.
"Yes," replied Bofoi.
"Well then, do something!"
Bofoi shook his head. "I'll send some security drones to keep an eye on that pesky ninja, but there's nothing more I can do about that other one." Bofoi typed several keys into the keyboard, then quickly paced back to resume his work as before. "Besides, we have bigger fish to fry."
Dr. Kuseno ran his hand through his hair, knowing that Bofoi was right yet feeling frustrated nonetheless, and walked back beside his brother. Child Emperor suddenly reentered the laboratory, sprinting to the sides of the two scientists in desperation and a sense of urgency. "I've finished the system check and integrating the software with the new machine."
"Good. Genos." Dr. Kuseno flicked the monitor on, and on the screen was Genos diligently working with the same frantic urgency as Child Emperor, for like the young child, Genos knew that time was of the essence. "Have you finished the data upload?!"
"I managed to start the upload, but it says it will take an hour to complete!"
"Grah! Alright, I'll meet you there. Bofoi, you and Alex finish making the required modifications to the new machine, and I'll try and see if I can speed up the data upload as quickly as I possibly can." Dr. Kuseno sprinted as quickly as he could across the room, leaving Alex and Bofoi alone.
"How much time do we think we have?" asked Bofoi.
"I'm not certain, but given how things are going..." Bofoi picked up a remote that was next to forearm and pointed it to his multiple screen monitors. The monitors flashed to life, and Alex saw several S-class heroes lying on the ground in an unconscious state. The scene shifted, and showed brief flashes of Silver Fang fighting some mutant with purple skin and big black horns sticking out the sides of his head.
"I sent a few spy drones to the site to see how the events would unfold." Child Emperor suddenly felt a fearful chill emanate from Bofoi, something Child Emperor had never seen before. "Let's just hope that our weapon will be enough."
"It will," replied Child Emperor. "It has to."
Garou lunged for Frieza, all-the-while letting out a vociferous shout. Garou began the battle with a series of short jabs, but Frieza dodged them with a relaxed stride in his movements. Garou continued his assault by punching, kicking, and elbowing Frieza as hard as he could, but for every single one of his attacks, not a single one hit home. The Space Emperor let out a laugh of condescending malice. "Hah! Is this serious?!" said Frieza. Garou swung a right jab at Frieza's face, but the breath was completely taken out of him when he felt Frieza's fist in his stomach. Garou was sent rolling and tumbling back dozens of feet, as rocks scraped his shirt and his muscles. Frieza continued his chorus of condescending laughter. "Please tell me there's more than this! After all of that big talk about being the "monster hero hunter", I expected something that would at least cause me to break a sweat. But with your speed? I wouldn't have to use even a tenth of my power to take care of you!"
The hero hunter jumped into the air and propelled himself downward to attack Frieza. "Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist!" Garou struck Frieza with his not-so-favorite fighting technique, but knew it was necessary for an opponent of such caliber. But even then, all of Garou's attacks were deflected by Frieza with only a single finger. "GRAHHHHH!" Garou added more speed and power to his strikes, with anger being his fuel, but Frieza was still giving him the look that told him this was just a joke. "My god! How did you know I was deathly allergic to tickling!" Frieza caught both of Garou's hands middair with practically nonexistent effort. Garou snarled in anger, and attempted to knee Frieza hard in the chin, but it seemed like great monsters thought alike; before Garou even had the time to move his knee more than an inch, Frieza's kneed Garou in the chin so hard, he felt like his entire jaw had been knocked loose from his head. The hero hunter staggered in a momentary daze, and he dropped his knee to the ground as he gripped his jaw to make sure he could still properly talk. All of the other heroes looked in shock. They all knew about Garou's victory over Tanktop Master, the S-class hero, and knew that he wasn't one to be easily trifled with. So how was it that Garou was being knocked around like a rag doll?
"God, this battle has lasted less than a minute, and already on your knees," said Frieza. Frieza mercilessly kicked Garou on the side of his head, causing Garou to fall completely on the ground. The hero hunter tried to push himself off of the ground, but Frieza's foot was planted firmly on Garou's back, preventing him from moving. "I've had worse times, you know? It's not often that I dirty my hands with this sort of grunt work, but there's always a certain satisfaction I get about doing it myself." Frieza grabbed Garou by the hair and held him in an upright position. "How pathetic." Frieza punched Garou in the chest, eliciting a loud yelp of pain from Garou. Frieza then formed a small ball of energy at his fingertip, and fired it at point-blank range. Garou's form was barely visible as he was sent back at astounding speed. After a short moment, the energy ball exploded, creating a cloud of dust that surrounded Garou.
Once the smoke cleared and Garou's form became visible, the heroes couldn't help but let out a gasp of shock; Garou's shirt was completely ripped apart. Blood was dripping down his arms, his legs, his chin, you name it. His left eye was no longer white, but instead, drenched in blood red, and his long silver hair was a disheveled mess. Garou's veins were popping out in unmitigated fury, his fists were clenched tightly enough to the point of breaking the skin, and his eyes were poised with rage. Less than a minute had passed, and with only four attacks, Garou already felt like he was going to pass out. This kind of strength was just... unfair. In order to create a fair world from the pure, monsterfied evil within himself, Garou would need this unfair power himself.
"How did you do it?" whispered Garou.
"What? I'm sorry, come again? I couldn't hear you over the sound of my badassery."
"I said how did you get so fucking strong?!" snarled Garou, staring straight into Frieza's eyes when he did.
The space emperor shrugged his shoulders callously. "My family line is the strongest of our race, and I am a prodigy even among my family. Someone as unimportant and weak like you couldn't understand."
Garou's teeth grinded against each other from the unbridled rage flowing through him at this lackadaisical reply. "You bastard! You think you're all high and mighty, standing up from your fancy throne and controlling everyone like puppets!" yelled Garou. "I'm trying to change the world! To eliminate the unfairness caused by heroes and their perverted sense of justice! Is this how you treat everything?!" screamed Garou. "AS A GODDAMN JOKE?!"
"Pretty much, yes. But I don't consider you a joke." This last statement took Garou by surprise. "Really?"
"Of course not. Jokes are hard and require skill."
That did it for Garou. With a blood-curdling scream, Garou channeled all of his rage, passion, and remaining energy into a single punch. Alas, to all familiar with the name of the game, the punch was nonchalantly caught by Frieza, who was still smirking in delight. "Oooh! I see you've gotten a second wind!"
Without warning, a powerful left kick hit Frieza's head, ramming him into the ground. Garou was released from Frieza's grip, and when he saw who had saved him, his lips parted into a frown. It was the old fart, along with the rest of the S-class losers who were standing right beside him. "I told you to stay out of it! This is my battle!"
"Your muscles are practically destroyed," said Superalloy Darkshine, "And it's been about a minute."
"Besides, we don't need your permission to enter a fight or not," added Atomic Samurai, "Unless you want to try and stop us." Atomic Samurai pulled out his katana and pointed it at Garou's forehead. But before he could do any more, Bang put his fingers on the blade and lowered it to the ground. "Now isn't the time for that. Bad as this might sound, we might need him. He has natural talent unlike anything I've ever seen before."
"This monster is too much for any single one of us to handle alone. We'll need all of the help we can get," said Bomb. "Or am I wrong?" While the overconfident personas they had developed would have probably jumped at the challenge to fight the God-level monster alone for the pride and fame that would come with it, they knew that what they had seen from this monster was something none of them could fight alone. No, this would have to be together. The five of them, and reluctantly, Garou. But when the five S-class heroes realized there were only four of them, they turned their heads and realized that King hadn't moved a muscle.
"King, what are you doin there? We need your first-rate muscles!" said Superalloy Darkshine.
"I cannot." The determination and resolve in his voice was palpable to the group of heroes. After a few seconds of anticipation and nominal fear, Atomic Samurai was the first to ask the obvious question. "Why?"
At Atomic Samurai's question, all of them could hear the King's engine roaring to life. "You see, when the aliens entered Earth's atmosphere, the reaction created a new compound called Engawatson. When it reacted with the bonilezane found in radiation, it causes the rare Organic Jose Phenomenon. This effect is naturally dangerous, but combined with the very high energy from Frieza, the effect is compounded many times over. If I unleashed my full power, the energy could destroy the entire planet. We're heroes; we're meant to save the world, not destroy it. I'm sorry, but I cannot do anything." The King Engine was beating louder than ever once he finished his sentence, and that was all any of the heroes needed to back off, lest they face the wrath of the strongest man on the planet.
Frieza found it hard to form a complete sentence; he listened to every single word this man, and he found it hard to distinguish whether that was complete bullshit spewing out of his mouth or if there was actually some sort of truth behind it. He thought of the possibility that this man was the warrior who defeated Vegeta and Nappa, but then he remembered Vegeta saying that the man who defeated them was bald and had a cape. After a few moments of internal thinking, he decided that once he was finished with these wannabe fighters, he would take on that man himself.
Once he was done observing King, he turned his attention back to the five fighters standing before him. "So a little five on one? Alright, I think I can manage. Sound like Cooler's birthday party at a stripper club."
All five warriors tightened their bodies and took a fighting pose. Garou absolutely detested having to work alongside the old fart, his brother, and the two other S-class heroes, but what choice did he have? It was either take all six them at once in his weakened condition, which was practically impossible, or just give up like a coward and let the heroes do all of the work. So, the hero hunter psyched himself up and stubbornly accepted the support of the heroes.
"Well, Devil of Frost, it's about time I give you a front row seat to the gun show, motherfucker!" And with that, Superalloy Darkshine was the first to attack. Frieza's eyes widened a smidge when he lost sight of Superalloy Darkshine for a brief moment. However, he quickly regained sight of him and blocked the hero's punch. Superalloy Darkshine continued with a quick series of punches that were strong enough to fracture the ground behind Frieza from the great air pressure formed from his punches. While Superalloy Darkshine continued to punch him, Atomic Samurai sped up to Superalloy Darkshine's side and diligently slashed his sword, but somehow, Frieza was able to expertly dodge both string of attacks. Following up the two S-class heroes, Bang and Bomb joined in on the attacks and attacked Frieza with their own respective martial arts. Up in the sky, Vegeta and Zarbon couldn't see anything but Frieza dodging all of the attacks that were coming his way. Likewise, Guldo and Recoome's heads were spinning trying to keep track of what was going on. The only warrior who could see the battle properly was Captain Ginyu. But the thing they all had in common was the slack-jawed expressions they had on their faces, both because of the speed of all 5 warriors and how that didn't mean a thing in face of Frieza.
For the final touch, Garou sprinted up, jumped into the sky, and prepared to attack Frieza from above while he was distracted. Regrettably, as soon as Garou was mere inches from striking Frieza, the space emperor grabbed Garou's arm and, using Garou's momentum he built up while midair, swung him in a circle, forcing all four of the heroes backwards. After swinging Garou around, Frieza threw him on the ground and under the feet of Bang and Bomb. Garou quickly pushed himself up and put his hands up in defense, his fighting spirit still shining as brightly as ever.
"Oh, I don't think that will do," said Frieza. Atomic Samurai, Superalloy Darkshine, and Garou tensed. Bang and Bomb looked at each other, and with only a second of eye contact, they knew exactly what the other was thinking. Then, both Bang and Bomb stepped in front of the other three fighters and stood only feet away from Frieza. Both of them nudged their hands back, which was basically saying for the others to stand back. The three did as the two masters said and stepped back a few paces. A small ring of laughter came out of Frieza's mouth. "Oh? What special combo are the two old masters going to throw at me now?"
Bang and Bomb said nothing, taking their fighting stances. The stoic silence and the serious lines engraved on their faces caused Frieza's lips to move down. What were they up to? The two martial artists suddenly began moving their arms and stamped their feet into the ground, causing the rocky surface to crack beneath them.
"Flowing Water Whirlwind Roaring Aura Void Ripping Fist!"
The two martial artists moved toward Frieza at a velocity the space emperor was unprepared for, and they struck Frieza by rotating one of each of their hands into one single fist. When the special move made contact, a massive wave of air streams was released. All three of the fighters watching this technique were in awe; the way the attack perfectly blended the flowing air waves from the Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist and the whirlwind air waves from the Whirlwind Iron Cutting Fist was beyond what even Garou himself thought possible from the Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist. The space emperor was thrown off of his feet, sent crashing into one of the rock formations that made up the great range of canyons surrounding them. The rock formation instantly crumbled when Frieza was smashed into it, quickly burying the space emperor in the process.
Once the two master martial artists had finished the special move, they slowly dropped their hands to let their guard down, and momentarily dropped their knees to the ground. Superalloy Darkshine and Atomic Samurai walked over to them and tried to help them up, but the two pushed themselves back up before the heroes had a chance. "That move's really somethin there," said Superalloy Darkshine, "Exactly the kind of power I expect from the master of the Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist."
"And combined with your brother's martial art, there's no way any monster could survive," added Atomic Samurai.
The martial artists gave the two heroes a courteous nod and a small smile in return. "Since we've passed our prime, we can only perform the technique every once in a while," said Bang.
"Good thing we managed to hit him with it," stated Bomb.
"Hey old guys!" Everyone turned their heads in annoyance toward Garou, who was pointing his finger straight behind the heroes. "I wouldn't start celebrating just yet..." Not knowing what Garou was talking about, the four of them looked to where Garou was pointing, and they grimaced; Frieza had just burst free from the pile of boulders he was under and for the first time, Frieza looked genuinely pissed. The heroes squinted their eyes, and realized the attack had managed to fracture Frieza's body armor, revealing a white-colored upper body with a purple section in the center of his chest and on his shoulders. Frieza floated up into the air, and slowly made his way back to the group of fighters, still shocked at the minimal amount of damage Frieza had sustained. With a gentle thud, Frieza placed his three-toed feet back onto solid ground.
What the heroes didn't know was that Frieza was just as shocked as they were. Frieza could still feel his bones shaking inside of him. The thought that such old relics could create such a powerful attack was astounding. Frieza reckoned they couldn't have a power level that was more than 150,000, yet their mastery in martial arts was something Frieza had never encountered; not even his father managed such precision or deadliness in his strikes. He had been arrogant to take that attack head-on; if he took another one of those attacks, he might be in considerable trouble. The newfound caution extended not only to the two old geezers, but also to the rest of the heroes. If they had abilities and precision just as unique as their aged comrades, then his life could be ended with just one slip-up.
"I'm impressed. I felt that." Frieza closed his eyes, and his body began to shake with rage.
"A LITTLE TOO MUCH!" In an instant, Frieza uppercutted Bang and Bomb in the chin and sent them flying up into the air. To follow up the attack, Frieza prepared two small energy balls at the tips of his fingertips, and fired them directly at Bang and Bomb. But before the energy balls hit them, they were blocked by Superalloy Darkshine, who jumped up in the air to protect Bang and Bomb. The energy balls exploded upon impact, creating a cloud of gray smoke. But Frieza was unprepared yet again; Superalloy Darkshine burst through the cloud of smoke and pummeled Frieza with a cross-armed tackle.
"Superalloy Butterfly!"
Frieza tensed his body and held his arms out to block the tackle, a move to which he instantly regretted. Frieza's feet were planted in the ground, being forced back by the monumental strength channeled in this single tackle. Frieza now understood that his ridiculously large muscles weren't just for show. The two combatants pushed against each other with heated intensity, neither one of them being able to gain a decisive advantage over the other. "Looks like the gun show has made it to the main event! Let's see you handle these babies!" shouted Superalloy Darkshine with a confident smirk on his face.
A blue aura began to flare up around Frieza. Another loud shout escaped from Frieza's lips, and the space emperor began to raise his ki. The surge of energy released caused the ground to shake around him, and the smirk on Superalloy Darkshine's face disappeared. "The circus act's over, bodybuilder!" As the blue energy encased around Frieza began to intensify, so did Frieza's advantage over Superalloy Darkshine. The black bodybuilder was soon being forced back by Frieza, surprised at how a tiny little lizard like this with no muscles had the strength to push back his Superalloy Butterfly. With a final shove, Frieza pushed Superalloy Darkshine off of him, and punched him at maximum power to effectively get through all those layers of muscle. Superalloy Darkshine blocked the punch with his elbows, but that still didn't stop it from hurting, and he was sent backward at blinding speed.
Next up in line, Atomic Samurai jumped into the air, doing multiple front flips in the air, and swung his sword at Frieza, to which the space emperor dodged. The force of Atomic Samurai's slash created a sharp crevice in the ground, eliciting a slight gasp of surprise from Frieza.
"Atomic Slash!" The master swordsman performed his signature sword technique against Frieza. But this time, Frieza would not take his opponent lightly, and he took evasive measures, being very careful to expertly dodge all of the swordsman's slashes.
From behind Atomic Samurai, Bang, Bomb and Garou followed up the attack and struck Frieza as a single unit.
"Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist!"
"Whirlwind Iron Cutting Fist!"
All three of them attacked at the same time while Atomic Samurai was still using his Atomic Slash. A few seconds after, Superalloy Darkshine shook his head to shake off the damage he had taken, and jumped in yet again to join in the fight, punching relentlessly at the tiny, infuriating space lizard. But no matter what they did, Frieza was still able to outmaneuver them all. It was utterly ridiculous.
From afar, the strongest man on Earth, King, was almost ready to piss his pants. He imagined that some god had been on his side today, because the fact that King was able to bullshit his way out of fighting a God-level threat was nothing short of a miracle. But beyond this, King didn't know what else he could do. He knew that bluffing would only go so far, and if 5 S-class heroes actually lost, then his fate was practically sealed. But wait! King began to hear a few moans near him. He looked down, and saw that Puri-Puri-Prisoner, Sweet Mask, and Tatsumaki's eyes were all starting to flutter open. King's heart did about fifty summersaults, and for a brief moment, the emotionless, stoic machine was replaced with that of the nerdish, frightened gamer that he truly was, and he frantically shook all of them awake. "Guys! Guys, come on! Get up!" All three of them were slow to get up, and had to take some time to remember where they were and what had happened. "Are you guys alright?"
"King?" said Sweet Mask. "What's going on?"
"Oh, that little fucking toad..." As soon as Tatsumaki remembered her battle, her entire body began to tremble with rage. "I swear to god, I'm going to-"
"Tornado!" King coldly called her name, bringing her attention to him. "There are bigger battles going on right now than the "little toad,"" said King. He pointed towards Frieza, and the three heroes realized that Bang, Bomb, Atomic Samurai, and Garou were all in battle with Frieza, and for whatever reason, none of them were able to land a firm hit on Frieza.
"I don't know how much longer they can keep this up. They need your help!"
"So then why aren't you in battle?" asked Tornado.
"Yea... If anything, the strongest man on Earth should be fighting the God-level threat more than any other S-class hero," said Sweet Mask with a skeptical tone.
The King Engine started to hum to life, and his eyes became like piercing daggers, setting them on all three of the heroes. "I've explained this to the others, but right now, when the aliens entered Earth's atmosphere, the reaction created a new compound called Engawatson. When it reacted with the bonilezane found in radiation, it causes the rare Organic Jose Phenomenon. This effect is naturally dangerous, but combined with the very high energy from Frieza, the effect is compounded many times over. If I unleashed my full power, the energy could destroy the entire planet. I'm sorry, but I cannot do anything."
Tornado still gave the skeptical gaze to King for a few seconds, then let out an aggravated groan, throwing her hands up into the air in annoyance. "Fine! Whatever! Come on guys, let's go help the manly men!"
"I'll try to bring Metal Bat and Flashy Flash back to it; it's the least that I can do," said King. The three heroes gave small nods to King, and ran off to aid the heroes in the ongoing battle. King sprinted to Metal Bat and Flashy Flash's sides and vigorously shook their bodies, trying to get them to come to it. "Come on, guys. Don't leave me hanging here. We need you..." King continued to shake them as hard as he could, and after about 10 seconds of shaking, there was finally a sign of consciousness. A breath of relief escaped King's lips.
"Guys? Can you hear me?" Like with the other three heroes, both Metal Bat and Flashy Flash responded to King with a series of groans, clutching their heads as memories of the previous battles came back to them. "What's going o-"
King pulled on both of their heads to show them the ongoing battle between the S-class heroes and Lord Frieza. "Right now, they're in a losing battle. Long story short, I can't battle. There's no time to ask why that's the case, it just is. Flashy Flash, do you have an extra weapon on you?"
"Yea..." Flashy Flash dug around his belt, and drew out two dual-blade knifes. "I can manage with this."
"Finally..." Metal Bat propped himself off of the ground with his bat and stared at Frieza with lust for battle burning in his soul. "I get to show that upstart lizard what for! Let's go, Flash!" The blond ninja nodded, and the two of them sprinted off to join in the battle.
"Wait a minute, what the hell..." Frieza muttered to himself when he saw that the number of heroes he was fighting had risen from 5 to 9; yes indeed, it appeared that the earlier combatants had had enough rest and decided to join in on the fun. With this many opponents, Frieza couldn't afford to go offensive, or else he would take 10 hits for every one hit he got on them. He had no choice but to stay on the defensive.
"Hold on..." Frieza began to feel his body grow heavier, his movements more sluggish, and his speed decrease. Frieza had no idea what was the cause of this, until he looked up and saw the tiny little esper, with her body glowing a bright green and her hands held outward towards him. That infuriating wench! She must have been using her psychic abilities to slow his body down so it would be harder to fight all of them at once!
Up in the sky, Tatsumaki's head was racing with thoughts. "How pathetic. You guys can't do anything without me... If I use my powers like this, then the damage will worsen, but if I sleep for the next few days, I think I'll be alright... But..." Tatsumaki was taken aback by Frieza's heightened resistance against her psychic powers. Any normal monster would have been defeated in five seconds with the kind of power she was exerting now, but somehow, Frieza was able to withstand it. Was this the strength of a God-level threat?
"Dragon Thrashing!" Metal Bat unleashed his signature technique, which involved a barrage of smacks from his bat at the same spot from multiple angles. Frieza groaned in anger, having difficulty dodging all of the attacks with the tiny bitch restraining him. On his right, Flashy Flash was attacking him with two dual blades, and on his left, Puri-Puri-Prisoner was swinging his iron ball like he was swinging his dick.
The heroes could see the aggravation in Frieza's face, the more frantic and disorganized behavior in his dodging. They were doing something right, that was for sure.
"Too... many..." Every second, the amount of hits Frieza took began to increase. Even though his speed and strength were superior to all of them, fighting 10 people, with one of them making it almost impossible to use more than half of his power, was too much, even for him.
"Atomic Slash!" The infuriating swordsman once again used his Atomic Slash, and this time, Frieza wasn't able to get out of it unharmed; all over his body, scratches were left by all of the narrow dodges Frieza managed while still working to keep the others from hitting him. "Do it now, Silver Fang!"
"Huh?"
Atomic Samurai jumped up out of Frieza's path, along with the rest of the heroes, making Frieza realize that their attacks were just a decoy for the real attack: the two old geezers. Both of them were at top speed, side-by-side, rushing for their ultimate attack.
"Secret Combination: Cross Fang Dragon Slayer Fist!"
Frieza felt the amazing martial arts prowess yet again, but this time, it was amplified, even more powerful than the Whirlwind Water Roaring Aura Sky Ripping Sky. Frieza blocked some of the attacks, but the esper's psychic binding prevented him from properly defending himself against this kind of united attack, and he was forced to take some of the blows and feel the way the force reverberated throughout his bones, his spine, his muscles. Hell, even his brain was being shaken like a maraca.
The hero hunter repeated his previous move of jumping up into the air to strike Frieza with the finishing blow. They could actually do this! The bastard heroes actually did their jobs for once and put Frieza on the ropes! They could win!
"You're finished, Frieza!"
"NOOOOOO!" The space emperor let out a ear-splintering scream, and released a huge surge of energy, pushing Bang and Bomb back and forcing the other heroes to take evasive maneuvers. The surge of energy created a bright flash, encompassing the entire area in a white dome. However, the attack was only temporary, and in less than a few seconds, the bright dome was gone. In the center of the dome, Frieza chuckled in delight. "That should do it." Frieza looked across the rocky terrain, realizing he was in fact wrong; all of the heroes were standing several hundred feet away, completely uninjured. Even the two old geezers had managed to escape the attack unharmed. Frieza didn't understand how, but then he realized that the esper must have shielded them with a protective barrier. He looked to the sky, and sure enough, Tatsumaki had Bang and Bomb floating up beside her, all three of them encased in the same green aura. "Why you..."
"It's all over," exclaimed Sweet Mask. The group of fighters all jumped simultaneously, until all ten of them were surrounding Frieza in a circle, preventing him from escaping.
"This is the end of the line for you," said Flashy Flash. "You're outnumbered. This is the true power of our planet."
"You don't stand a chance," shouted Metal Bat.
"This is your limit."
At those words, an obvious light bulb lit up in Frieza's head, so obvious that he can't believe it took him this long for him to come to him. The frustrated lines etched in his face vanished, and his lips pursed into a smile.
"Oh you don't know how wrong you are." Frieza's calm and condescending demeanor most of the heroes were all-too-familiar with returned, causing some of them to back off in slight hesitation. Frieza let out a soft chuckle and put his hands to his sides, extending his legs as well. "You have no idea what you've gotten yourselves into.
"If you had been here when I handed to the leader of the Monster Association-"
"You defeated the boss of the Monster Association?" said Puri-Puri-Prisoner, interrupting Frieza.
"Indeed. You should have been there, because if you had, you would have learned that this isn't even close to the pinnacle of my strength. For you see, I am one of the few beings in the universe with the ability to transform at will."
A few gasps escaped the lips of the heroes. "Transform?! What are you talking about?!" shouted Tatsumaki, who was still floating in the air a few feet above the rest of the heroes.
"The form you see before you is not the form I was born with. This state is an altered shape of being designed to keep my power from running amuck."
"Don't fall for it!" shouted Metal Bat. "You can't seriously buy this, right?! This is obviously just a bluff meant to scare us!"
"Is that a fact?!" Frieza craned his head to Metal Bat and flashed him a devious smile. "Very well. I'm only too happy to put your doubts to rest. Now pay close attention; this isn't something you see every day." Despite some of the arrogant claims of falsehood against Frieza's boastful claim, many of the heroes were in fact desperately hoping it was a lie for the unadulterated fear bubbling up inside them from the possibility of witnessing something stronger than the monstrous beast they were fighting right now.
The space emperor bent his knees and prepared to start the show.
"Let's begin the terror."
Once again, Frieza began to shout. As he did, a fluid, light red aura wrapped itself around Frieza. Every single one of the heroes took a step back as they watched the first stage of some unspeakable horror about to unfold. The energy released from his body wasn't just to start a light show; in fact, his entire body began to bulge. The muscles in his arms and legs buffed up, causing Frieza's scream to louden. It sounded like the transformation was actually causing Frieza pain, the surge of power increasing his size beyond what should have been possible. Frieza's height was no longer that of a small 6th grader, but was changing into a stature worthy of an emperor of his status. Frieza's horns elongated, changing shape and pointing upward instead of to the side. His neck stretched out several inches. For the finishing touch, every line and feature carved in his body began to glow a bright red. The screams of pain emanated from Frieza began to die down, until they were nothing more than tired grunts. Frieza took one final breath, then calmly exhaled.
"There. All done," Frieza's voice had deepened, cutting into everyone who heard him speak, "and judging by the looks on your faces, so are you." Frieza turned his head 360 degrees to see the look on their faces, and it was even better than he had expected. Yes indeed, what Frieza had become was beyond anything they had ever thought possible from such a small monster.
Out of all of the heroes, Superalloy Darkshine was in fact the first one to snap out of the self-induced shocked state. "Now this is what I was expecting from the Devil of Frost!" exclaimed Darkshine. Frieza turned himself to face Superalloy Darkshine, giving him a sly smirk as they stared each other in the eye. "If you ask me, this is the form you should stay in, because with this, I can see real muscles! But..." Superalloy Darkshine raised his fist, willfully determined to reign victorious, buffed his entire body up, and struck the space emperor with everything he had.
"Superalloy Bazooka!"
"It won't work this time..." Darkshine's face completely faltered, the supremely confident hero facade he built up vanishing into the wind. With almost minimal effort, Frieza caught Darkshine's fist. "Now it's my turn." Frieza nailed Darkshine in the stomach with his left knee, causing Darkshine to grunt in agony. Following up was a right fist slamming across Darkshine's face, and for the final touch, Frieza cupped his hands together and blasted Darkshine away with an orange energy ball. Darkshine was blown away, and the energy ball exploded like others before.
"Bastard!" Next up to bat, Metal Bat bounded toward Frieza, prepping his ultimate attack.
"Savage Tornado!" Metal Bat wildly swung his bat with enough speed to create a small tornado. What the heroes seeing was unreal; Frieza merely stood there, taking all of Metal Bat's hits, with not so much as a scratch forming on his body.
"Ah-ah-ah..." After being hit by the bat 100 times, Frieza decided he let Metal Bat have his fun and caught his bat with the tips of his fingers. Metal Bat's eyes became just like Superalloy Darkshine: lit with fear. "You're too old to play with toys." Frieza gripped the bat, causing it to crumple up. Metal Bat's heart jumped up to his mouth. The space emperor took the bat out of the teenagers hands, whose loose grip made it easy to take. After looking at the bat for a few seconds, Frieza shrugged his shoulders and tossed the bat up into the air up to god-knows-where.
"But my bat's indestructible..."
"Ah, my boy, everything is destructible," jeered Frieza. "Here, let me quell your suffering." Frieza slammed his elbow down on Metal Bat's back, then kicked Metal Bat's face with such strength that even his fighting spirit couldn't compensate for, sending him to the same fate as Darkshine and knocking him unconscious yet again. Frieza let out a hardy laugh. "Now let's see who's next..." After searching the group of terror-stricken heroes, he finally found his next volunteer.
"You're up next, little one." In the blink of an eye, Frieza disappeared, quickly reappearing behind Tornado of Terror. The space emperor lightly tapped her shoulder with his finger, causing her to jump up in fear. The female hero's fear quickly disappeared, and Tatsumaki tried to restrain his body just as she had done before, but it wasn't working. The power he had now made his other form look like a sleeping kitten; she couldn't do anything to him. "Not in my house..." Tatsumaki put up a psychic barrier to protect herself, but Frieza ripped through it like paper, proceeding to punch her square in the nose. The female esper clutched her nose, screaming in pain. Frieza cackled in delight, and finished off the annoying esper with a single kick.
The remaining fighters could not believe their eyes: Frieza was decimating the world's most powerful heroes with no more than two attacks like this was nothing more than child's play. The space emperor assuredly crossed his arms, floating back down to the center of the remaining group of fighters.
"So who's next?"
The next moments were a blur to all of the fighters; all of them decided to go for broke and attack him all at once, but it was pointless. Frieza was so fast, none of the heroes ever realized he had even moved. With nothing more than single punches, each fighter was rewarded broken bones, bloody faces, torn muscles, injuries that were impossible to simply tough out.
"Oh, I'm feeling real good about my life right now."
All remaining heroes landed on the ground with a silent thud. It was over; Bang, Bomb, Garou, Flashy Flash, Puri-Puri-Prisoner, Atomic Samurai, Superalloy Darkshine, Sweet Mask, Tatsumaki, and Metal Bat had all been taken out. The only soul still standing was King, the world's strongest man.
The only one still conscious was Garou. With the last of his strength, the hero hunter silently uttered these words: "Go kick his ass, King."
"And the rogue warrior stands alone!" shouted Frieza. "I must say, I am rather curious of what the proclaimed strongest man on this planter has to offer." Frieza unhurriedly made his way toward the final opponent, strutting around like he hadn't a care in the world, which thankfully, he didn't. King didn't move a muscle, he didn't speak, he didn't do anything except stare right back at Frieza with the cold, signature gaze he gave any monster unfortunate to come across his path.
20 steps had been taken, and Frieza now stood before King, hovering over him, glaring at him with natural curiosity. The wind had stopped. Tension and intensity entered the atmosphere, and between Frieza and King, the boiling fire of battle grew hotter and hotter with each passing second. The spectators watched in earnest to witness Frieza take on his final opponent and probably the toughest challenger any of them had ever seen.
After about a minute of this silent apprehension, it was King who finally broke the silence and spoke. "Do you know who I am, Frieza?"
"You're the strongest man, are you not?" inclined Frieza.
"My name is King, and yes, I am the strongest man on this planet." As soon as he finished his sentence, a rapid beating noise filled the air. Frieza's eyebrows furrowed, wondering where this random noise had come from, until he realized the beating was coming from King. "What's the matter? Are you scared?"
King scoffed. "Scared? Of course not. The public knows this as the King Engine, which is the sound my heart makes when I prepare for battle. For all opponents I face, it's the last sound they ever here."
"Oh-oh, ominous!" The space emperor took a fighting pose, while King remained motionless. "Well then let's put it to the test."
"Hold on." King put his hand up into the air, catching Frieza off guard. "Before we fight, I'd like to know a little more about you."
"You do?" Frieza went out of his fighting pose and crossed his arms. "And why might that be? Are you stalling for reinforcements to arrive? Have you realized that I am an opponent that cannot be beaten? Because if you have, then I officially consider you the smartest being on this mud-ball."
"Not at all. No, I am just genuinely curious. I was warned about your arrival though a prophecy, but beyond that, I know practically nothing behind you. You are by far the strongest warrior this planet has ever come across and the strongest opponent I will ever face; just killing you wouldn't be right. I need to know the history behind the Emperor of the Universe in order to be truly satisfied with my victory." Frieza's face hadn't changed a millimeter. His arms were still crossed in front of him, and the skeptical look in his eyes never left.
Inside King's mind, he was already thinking what his epitaph would be on his tombstone. It was over. He'd shit his way through a lot of problems, but this was finally the time he kicked the bucket. Saitama wasn't coming, all the heroes were down, and the lie he had lived for these past years was about to be revealed to the world in all its undignifying glory. Today was King's demise.
Or so he thought. Somehow, that unbelievable luck King had acquired these past few years had saved his ass yet again, or maybe the God watching over him had decided to give King a second chance, because Frieza actually bought it. "Why, I've never been asked such a question in all my years. To be honest, I'm actually quite flattered. Very well." Frieza unfolded his arms, and the skeptical look had faded. "I'll humor you and tell you the story of my grandiose title.
"I am born to a race of extremely powerful warriors. My father, King Cold, raised me alongside my brother, Cooler."
"Did you have a mother?" King had to stall as much as he could without making it so obvious, and that meant dragging this conversation out by asking as many questions or commenting as much as he could.
"Why yes, I do. My parents trained me during my childhood, and when I was old enough, my father allowed me and my brother to officially rule as part of the Galactic Frieza Army. Throughout my years, I conquered many planets and enslaved many races. All-in-all, I own 448 planets."
"Quite impressive," said King.
"Why, thank you." Frieza gave King a small smile. "While I enslaved many races, the race that was the most powerful by far was the Saiyan race. You might not know, but one of them is up there." Frieza pointed behind him to where his subordinates were watching. "The one in the black hair is Vegeta, Prince of Saiyans and the last remaining saiyan in existence."
"What happened to the rest of them?"
"Well, since you're going to die anyway, I might as well tell you. You see, there was a legend of a Super Saiyan, a warrior of unrivaled power and one of the only beings who could ever pose a threat to me. At first, I brushed this off as nothing more than a farcical myth; however, after many saiyans started emerging with rapidly evolving potential, I started to get a little edgy. With so many saiyans growing at such amazing speeds, I couldn't just sit back and do nothing. So I did the simplest thing possible: I torched the whole barrel of monkeys.
"In fact..." Frieza suddenly began counting to himself, greatly perplexing King. "I think this is the 25 year anniversary! Huh! Imagine that!" Frieza let out a few chuckles of amazement. "It must be destiny, I suppose. The fateful day the saiyans were extinguished was truly a spectacle to behold."
Up in the spectators stand, Vegeta tried to listen in on the conversation they were having, but was unable to get anything more than a few words, one of them being saiyans. "Zarbon, can you hear what Frieza's talking about?" said Vegeta.
"It's Lord Frieza, and no, I cannot," replied Zarbon.
"Whatever..." Vegeta grumbled to himself and clenched his fists in anger.
"Ah, the look on King Vegeta's face is something I will never forget. King Vegeta, the ruler of all saiyans, bid a hasty retreat at the power my first form yields, and in a foolish last stand, was ended with a single punch like the woeful dotard he was."
"You... you..." The person who spoke wasn't King. Frieza and King turned around to see someone entirely unexpected. Up in the sky, Vegeta's body tensed, refusing to believe what he was seeing. Of all the times in all the places, he had to come now, just when Frieza was about to do combat with the strongest man in the planet and just when the horrifying truth of the Saiyan's extinction was being revealed. "The brick-headed spastic actually had the gaul to show his face again."
Nappa, the Saiyan General, had returned, and he had heard every word of what Frieza just said.
To describe in words what Nappa was feeling was utterly impossible. No word in any language came even close to what Nappa was feeling at that moment. For 25 years, he had to live with the guilt, pain, sadness, and grief of his race's extinction, and to know he hadn't been there with King Vegeta was something he never forgave himself for. For 25 years, he served under the loathsome, conniving, sadistic, lying, dishonorable snake who destroyed his home world and killed his king. Not a single day went by without thinking what he would say to King Vegeta if he ever got to see him again, to tell him he was sorry he couldn't be the mentor to his son the King had hoped him to be, to tell him that despite his best efforts, his pride and hubris had blinded him to the point of abandoning his saiyan brethren, and to tell him he was the only true friend he ever had. The two shared the brotherly bond all saiyans should have shown for their brethren, and standing a few feet away from him, his killer stood grinning and gloating with hubris, without a care in the world.
"You exterminated my race..."
Frieza was unsure of how to respond to this, and mumbled a bunch of incoherent nonsense.
Something became... different in Nappa. The ground began to tremble around his feet. Out of nowhere, lightning began to strike down from the sky. Pebbles began to rise from the ground, floating in the air. The ground below Nappa then shattered underneath him. His eyes began to flicker, changing in color. A gold aura begin to flicker in and out of existence around Nappa. What was happening to him?
"I will... make you... suffer..."
All the rage, turmoil, resentment, and grief within him was boiling inside him, setting his very soul on fire. It was like a surge of energy, a rush of adrenaline that he'd never experienced before. He felt like his entire body was going to explode, taking the entire planet along with him. With the last restraints of anger finally being unleashed, Nappa let out a cry of rage, his aura bursting out in an uncontrollable torrent of flame.
"WHAT?!" shouted Frieza.
When the scream of Nappa echoed to a stop, the earthquakes and lightning immediately ceased. It was as if time had ceased completely into a frozen standstill. A golden light radiated from Nappa. An intense pressure surrounded Frieza and King, threatening to knock King unconscious from the unbelievable gravity surrounding him. Likewise, the spectators watching above could feel this unprecedented wave of energy. This pressure almost took away the physical changes that had occurred. His muscles had bulged in size, causing him to gain about an extra foot in height. His eyes and facial hair were the same color as the golden aura radiating around him.
Ginyu, Recoome, Guldo, and Zarbon didn't understand what this meant. None of them had ever heard of a saiyan transformation beyond the Great Ape. But this wasn't any great ape! A series of baffled stutters caught their attention. Turning their heads, they saw Prince Vegeta, who looked like someone had stabbed him in the chest. What the hell did he know that they didn't?
"No... This can't be... Don't tell me..."
"What the hell have you become?!" screamed Frieza.
The Saiyan General gave no response at first. A few seconds passed, and the General looked up at Frieza. When Nappa focused his gaze on Frieza, the tyrant was rendered speechless.
"I am a Super Saiyan. Now prepare to burn in hell."
Oh ma god! Nappa turned into a super saiyan?! Jesus Christ! The legend has awoken!
Now, for all the viewers, I'd like you to place a vote on what your favorite fight of the Friezamania was on my poll. I put it on my profile page at the top of the page, and at the start of the next chapter, I'll announce which battle was favorite among the viewers. I'd appreciate the opinion, and I'm just curious which was favorite, so don't be shy. For me, my favorite was Guldo vs. Tatsumaki. Anyway, until next chapter, when the battle between the Super Saiyan and The Emperor of the Universe will commence!