Chapter 3

The ship had now entered the atmosphere and was preparing for the landing.

On the ground the group around Goku, Gohan, Vegeta and Bulma, Krillin, Seventeen and their Families + the Universe 2 and 6 fighters + Beerus and Whiz and the other Angels, was waiting for their arrival.

"You will fight with us?" Goku asked his eldest son.

"I might not like to fight," Gohan stated. "But everyone will be more save, if we are all fighting. That is a lesson I have truly learned," he explained.

"We will fight with you as too," Goten said.

"We have not been much of a help during the last fights," Trunks admitted, not sounding happy, "but we will at least be able to take care of every help Freeza has with him easily, right father?" He turned to Vegeta.

"Of course son," he replied.

"Hey - we are here as well," Caulifla called out.

"We can help as well," Cabba said. "And we will."

Vegeta gave him a short nod.

xxx

A few minutes earlier

17´s wife and his children had introduced themselves to the others. As she had explained to them, she was a zoologist working in the same wildlife-park like 17 himself did.

18 and her seemed to be getting along pretty well from the get go.

She introduced herself as Ruby.

"So how did you and 17 met?" Krillin asked her.

"Well - it was still in the old Wildlife-Park. Before most of the animals were moved to the island. I had just begann my new job, while Seventeen had already been working there for some time. So he was assigned to - aeh... watch over me wile I was in the reservart."

"What she means is that I was assigned to look out for her, because she had never actually been in the wilderness and the chief didn´t want her to do something stupid and get herself killed," 17 commented.

She was more than used to the sarcastic attitude her husband showed sometimes. She even started to actually like it somehow.

Beside that, she could not even say he was wrong. Looking back, she truly did have no clue. She would have probably ended up being eaten by some animal or died of cold if he hadn´t been.

How had he called her back then?... zoolo-wimp. Looking back, it was actually a little bit fitting, she admitted to herself.

She suppressed a grin.

"I have always asked myself how you even got that job Seventeen," Krilin said. "I mean how do you come from hunting for Goku because you have nothing else to do, to protecting animals?"

"I have heard that story from some of the rangers." Ruby grinned. "Seventeen came just driving up to a ranger patrol with a shackled poacher on the back of the truck. He had just run into the guy, overpowered him and stole his car. Afterwards the ranger-chief had instantly offered him a job."

"Yes, that sounds like something Seventeen would do." 18 grinned.

"I just crossed through the area after our meeting at the place of the Cell Games, after I came back to life. I decided I didn´t like what that guy was doing." And he had also been thinking about 16, he added silently.

At the same time Marron finally got to know her cousins. One older boy and girl who had been adopted and the youngest girl, who was 17´s and Ruby´s own child.

xxx

Present

"Broly is not with them this time," Vegeta stated as they looked up to the ship that was just landing. "I can not sense him."

"No," Goku said. "That would have also surprised me. He is still on his planet. And I don´t think that he would join Freeza again anyway after all what happened."

"Broly? This other saiyan you had been mentioning?" 17 questioned.

"Another saiyan?" Caulifla asked. "Is he strong?"

"Very," Goku replied. "Me and Vegeta barely managed to beat him."

"We have other problems right now Kakarot," Vegeta interrupted them. "Freeza is coming."

"Freeza," Cabba said quietly... and visibly unsettled. He remembered the evil alien warlord from the tournament. A double of Frost from his own world. Only more powerful and more evil.

Vegeta had told him that he was responsible for the death of nearly all saiyans in this universe.

At least back at the tournament Freeza had not been allowed to kill anyone. But this time it would be different.

"Piccolo is already on your island?" Goku asked 17.

The Android nodded.

"Yes."

xxxxxxx

17´s island - the evening before

"So this them," Piccolo said. "Had they been here the entire time?"

"For the most part," 17 replied. "As you know, I came across them a few years after the Cell Games. They had as it looked been lying low since then. They had obviously inherited enough of Cell´s knowledge to be able to supress their aura."

Standing in a line before them were no one else than 7 Cell Juniors, the same ones that Gohan had defeated years ago. As 17 explained, they had regenerated afterwards without nobody noticing... and had been around since then the entire time.

"And nobody knows about this?" Piccolo asked.

"Except me, you and Dende, I have only told my wife," 17 responded, "but nobody else. It was also Dende who had shielded this place from the outside world."

"You know, back when he had first told me about this, I thought he had gone crazy," Piccolo said. "This creatures had nearly killed us at the Cell Games."

"It was not their fault what Cell had been using them for," 17 stated.

"Maybe not," Piccolo admitted. "But that doesn´t mean that they aren´t dangerous."

"Not to us, 17 replied. "They have not gotten significanty stronger since back then... even when I sometimes fought them for training."

"Maybe not to us, but to everyone else on the planet," the Namek said.

"Don´t worry. I have trained with them and teached them for a long time. They know not to attack anyone from the ranger-force... or who they had seen with me."

"Yeah? I guess that is at least reassuring," Piccolo replied stoically, not quite convinced. "Whatever - in any case I promise I will have an eye on them."

xxxxxxx

Now

The ship had landed, just in front of Capsule Corp, in the middle of West City.

The people were watching what was happening with unbelieving eyes. There had been rumors about alien invasions before. Some even said the flying fighters from the Cell Games were actually from another planet.

But this here was a space ship just landing in front of their noses.

The few soldiers of the Freeza Force who were still alive were swarming outside.

Closely followed by Freeza himself.

The combined group of Z-fighters and other universe´s warriors awaited them.

Beerus and the Angels like usual decided to take a back-seat and leave the matter to the mortals.

"Ah - what a surprise," Freeza said as he saw them. "All this known faces. I had just expected Son Goku and his group."

xxx

The members of Universe 2 in particular were glaring at him angrily. They remembered all too well what he had done to Jimeze during the tournament.

And they admitted they were somewhat afraid. They had long figured out that the Universe 7 fighters had been far from serious against them.

Cabba from Universe 6 was feeling similar.

xxx

"Why are you here Freeza?" Goku asked him sternly. His expression for once turning serious.

"What do you think? I am here to settle things between us once and for all Goku," Freeza responded with a smug grin. None of them realized that it was just fassade.

"What? Why now so suddenly?" Goku asked surprised. "Have you grown strong enough that you think you can defeat me and Vegeta all by yourself?"

Freeza frowned for a moment.

"Vegeta?" he finally responded. "Oh - are you saying you need help againt me Goku?" he asked smoothly. "I had hoped we two could make that out between ourselves. What do you say Goku... just you and me?" he challenged.

"He is just trying to bait you Kakarot," Vegeta said.

"I know," Goku replied. "But that doesn´t mean I don´t like the challenge."

"To answer your other question, I admit I am currently in a bit of a pinch," Freeza stated. "You see, this ship here is all what is left of my rebuild army."

"What?" Vegeta called out. "But how...?"

"Well, I don´t want to waste too much time with explanations. During my last conquest, we met a quite dangerous group of beings. I admit I could not take them all by myself... and my weak soldiers were not much of a help," he added.

"They were working for someone they called Demigra."

xxx

Beerus and Whiz both froze as they heard that name. They had been following the entire standoff from the distance, while still sitting at a table on a balcony of the CC building.

But this was something they had not expected.

"Lord Beerus?" Whiz asked his God of Destruction, who was still sitting there unresponding.

"I know Whiz, that name after all this time," he said - deadly serious for once - "If his followers are getting active again, we need to inform Zeno-sama and the High Priest about it."

Whiz nodded.

xxx

"Demigra," Goku asked, "who is that?"

But Freeza could not answer this question. He did not even react to it and moved on as if nothing had happened.

"By the way my dear friends," he looked around to the others present, "just in case some of you are feeling bored," Freeza stated. "There´s something I want to show you."

At his signal another group of warriors came out of the ship. Twelve of them all in all.

They all could nearly instantly sense that something was not quite right about them.

All of them were clearly of alien origin. That alone of course was quite usual for Freeza´s troops.

The expression of all of them were completely blank, as if they had no emotions at all - lifeless. None of the mysterious fighters was saying even a single word. They were just standing in line with their empty faces, waiting for orders.

Aside from that, all of them also seemed to possess some kind of metallic implants at the side of their heads and on other parts of their bodies.

Whatever these guys were, they were clearly not normal.

"May I introduce, this here are my new bio-warriors. As the name suggests, my scientiests have created then through bio-engineering. I think they could keep the rest of you occupied while Goku and I are doing our business."

"They are quite strong," Vegeta admitted, "but not even close to a match for us."

"Like I said," Freeza replied, "they are just there to keep you occupied. I had my scientists actually build in a few cells from this saiyan Broly, you should know."

At some logical level, Freeza knew that telling them about this new threat was probably the best he had done today.

His power might rival the one of the most powerful of the Z-fighters. (From the battle with Broly, he was pretty sure Goku could not use Ultra Instinct again.) But he was one and they were many. And they had Beerus on their side. He gritted his teeth in a burst of sudden anger.

They had far better chances to take these opponents than he did.

But he would not just stand aside and be useless. He refused to... And he would certainly not become one of Goku´s little friends. He had worked with them once and that was enough.

So he turned to the only solution left with keeping his pride intact. One of them – either Son Goku or himself – one of them would die now.

Beerus and the rest of them could then take care of the problem later.

"What is Goku - do you accept my challenge?" Freeza asked.

The saiyan was just looking at him wordlessly for a few moments.

"I do," he finally said.

"Father - do you think that is a good idea?" Gohan asked. "When we fight him together we will win for sure."

"Well - it would make things much easier," Vegeta stated. Then however his expression changed. "But it is not about that, right Kakarot?" he said with a light smirk. "This is a matter of pride, isn´t it?"

Goku returned the smile.

"I think you can call it that. It is simply, I want this fight. I had hoped for a chance to fight Freeza again since the tournament."

"I guess there is no talking you out of it father. But be careful," Gohan stated.

"I will," Goku replied. "And you all better look out," he said quietly to them. "Just in case he once again tries to blow up the planet or something."

Gohan nodded.

xxx

"Hey Goku - beat the hell out of that bastard!" Caulifla called out. "I only wish we could do it ourselves."

"It would be nice if we still had the portara earrings sis," Kale mentioned.

"Yeah – but at least we can watch the fight. Don´t you agree Cabba?"

"We would truly like a piece of that guy too," Sanka stated. "For what he had done to Jimize."

The yadrat in question was just starring at Freeza with an unrecognizable expression.

"But we have no chance. Especially if he had grown even stronger," Brianne stated. "It seems even love is not always enough in the end."

"Love is not the problem," 18 said. "It is not about love, but about your own limits. Love might be infinite, but that doesn´t mean that you are. After all, you don´t have to defeat him on your own. We all are standing against him." (Even if Goku insisted o fighting one to one, she thought.)

"What does he have? A group of mind-controlled puppet-warriors and a crew of weak underlings who are more afraid of their leader than of us."

"I-... You are right Eighteen." A smile formed on Brianne´s face.

xxx

Goku and Freeza meanwhile started their fight. They both charged forward with their fists clashing with each other – Freeza in his true form and Goku in SSJ1.

They exchanged a few more blows, mostly as a test.

"You have truly grown even better," Goku commented.

Freeza didn´t reply and instead only aimed a blast at the saiyan´s face, that Goku however easily dotched.

xxxxxxx

Meanwhile the fight with Freeza´s bio-warriors and the rest of his forces had started as well.

Trunks and Goten had transformed into SSJ and were fighting a couple of them.

Another one was charging directly at the Universe 2 warriors, but 18 interferred, sending him backwards with a kick.

But despite that it left a large mark on it´s skin, the creature didn´t really react to the Android´s blow. It´s only response was a mindless growl and to attack again.

But 18 moved quicker as the bio-warrior could react, appeared right in front of it and blasted it to ashes.

The Kamikaze Fireballs once again started their transformation ritual... and this time they actually succeeded, because 18 and Krillin were shielding them.

Jimeze was using his teleportation technique to outmanouver and dominate entire group of Freeza´s regular soldiers, by constantly moving and taking shots at them from all sides.

Vegeta, Gohan and 17 exchanged a short look. They had decided to stay out of this for the moment to follow Goku´s advice to keep any `stray´ shots from harming the planet.

Beside that, it looked like some of the others were all too eager to fight.

Cabba, Caulifla and Kale had transformed as well and were now easily overpowering a half dozen of the bio-warriors and several normal soldiers supporting them.

Unless something unforeseen happened, it looked as if the Z-fighters and their allies were easily winning this fight.

xxxxxxx

"So - how abou we stop playing around?" Freeza said to Goku.

"Of course," the saiyan replied.

They both transformed further. Freeza turned into his Golden Form and in response Goku first bacame SSB... and then activated Blue Kaioken x 20.

xxxxxxx

Meanwhile far away. It was a secret palace - a fortress that had been created along time ago in a bubble of space formed in the empty room between the universes.

The two beings named Towa and Saek were meeting here with other followers of their Lord Demigra. Like them, they all had the appearance ressembling the Angels.

"I see you are back," one of them greeted the two.

"Mira," she said, "how good to see you."

"Lady Towa," he replied, "how did it play out?"

"This Freeza has refused our offer. We have taken care of him. Lord Demigra already know about it," she explained.

"Has he any orders for us?" she asked the one called Mira.

"Oh yes - I have," Demigra´s voice halled through the room.

They all gave a short bow in respect to their leader. Even if he was not physically present.

None of them was particular happy about the situation. But they all had sworn that they would not longer serve under the rule of a unpredictable child a long time ago. Beside that, it were only Demigra´s powers that were still hiding this place from Zeno´s eyes for so long.

Demigra´s physical self was still in the rift in space and time, where he had been trapped ages ago. At least for now.

"What do you want us to do My Lord?" Towa asked.

"I want you to make subtle contact with some of the Universes that have taken part in Zeno´s last tournament. Subtle - do you understand me? Reveal under no circumstances your identity or that you are working for me."

The name and some parts of the backstory of 17´s wife are borrowed with permission from the story Seventeen (spanish: Diecieste) from Ioannes1547.

I have decided for another version of his wife, than in my Alternates/Timelines stories, that are completely separate from this.

The chapter also contains a few hints about this story´s version of Demigra.

The fight between Goku and Freeza will be concluded next chapter.