Chapter 5
He'd been training for a few hours now and he wasn't ready to stop anytime soon. He'd managed to get up to twenty times gravity and that was a major accomplishment in itself. It still puzzled Ginyu how the man had made it up to a hundred. He didn't want to admit it, but the Force leader was struggling at twenty. The man was starting to grow frustrated with this body's limits. Usually, switching bodies meant an easy increase in power. With this one, he wasn't even capable of reaching his old body's maximum power. "Maybe I should've just squashed the guy while I had him in my arms," Ginyu muttered to himself. "I wouldn't be in this mess."
The limits on his strength meant he had to find some sort of way to break it. Ginyu would first increase his strength by training hard, but he knew there was more to it than that. He would need to practice some of Goku's techniques. The man was still set on his own. He was perfectly capable of using his own attacks, but knew he wouldn't reach the body's full power unless he learned some of Goku's. He managed to get some of the Saiyan's ki blasts down and killed the Earthlings with them. "He must have been using some sort of technique to raise his power level. There's no way he increased his power level to a hundred ninety thousand without a little help.
Sweat dripped from the man's face. "I can do this." He placed one hand behind his back and proceeded to do pushups with only one of his hands. His right arm was shaking with pain and his breathing was becoming very heavy. His face was one of frustration. He was trying not to concentrate on the pain that surged through his right arm. He was trying to focus on other things. Getting stronger. Beating his opponents.
A beeping noise started to ring through the man's ears, but he ignored it. There was a small timer set up on a table nearby that he had set a few hours ago. A few minutes passed and Captain Ginyu grew tired of the noise. He stretched his other hand out and released a small blast of energy. The timer exploded and finally the beeping stopped. "Timers," he muttered. "Worthless. I don't need a timer to tell me how long to train." Before proceeding with his pushups, he stopped to increase the gravity level to twenty-five. A sudden weight fell upon his shoulders again and he dropped to the floor. Instead of keeping up with pushups, he started to do pushups. I'll start with three thousand and work my way up from there.
Ginyu could only take about ten thousand before deciding to call it quits. He was no longer keeping track of time and didn't know how long it had been since blowing up the timer. He made his way back to the controls and changed the gravity level back to zero. He felt a wave of relief as a giant weight was lifted off his shoulders. It felt strange to be walking around in normal gravity. It was almost as if it was too light. "Perfect time for some poses."
Ginyu practiced a few before leaving the space ship. It was still in place outside the base. The captain was growing tired of staying at base for too long. It was always relaxing to come back for a bit after missions, but the planet was boring. He needed to leave soon or he'd start to go insane. No new missions. Frieza hasn't reported back here yet. Where is he?
"Alright, time to go rescue the damsel in distress," Ginyu muttered. He wiped his face with a towel. It was drenched with sweat. The man threw it aside and started making his way back outside.
Bulma couldn't keep track of time. She knew it had been at least a few hours, but it had taken her forever to make it to the city at least. It reminded her of her hometown. All the lights, the noise, and the overall craziness. Maybe this planet wasn't much different than her own after all.
"Damn," she muttered, "it's getting dark." Fear started to set in as Bulma realized the sun was starting to set. She couldn't make her way around the city during the day. That meant she sure as hell couldn't find her way around at night. "I came the wrong way. There aren't any ships here. Just a bunch of rundown buildings and apartments."
She looked disgusted as a group of several women passed her. Their tight clothing and makeup crammed on their face only meant one thing. They gave her dirty looks as they passed by and she tried not to pay any attention to them.
"Thanks a lot, Goku," she said as she kept walking. "Leave me here to be taken hostage." She then shook her head. "Oh, who am I kidding? I shouldn't be joking around like that. Goku, I miss you. That Ginyu guy should pay for what he did to you." As the sun began to fade, she could see the many distant planets and stars. The woman would be delighted to stay at this planet to do a bit of research had she not been taken captive.
It was only then that she started to take more of a notice of her surroundings. It was hard to concentrate on where exactly she was going. Each building, metallic and gray, looked exactly the same to her. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a man behind her. He was wearing ragged old clothing and appeared to have a drink in his hand. The woman started to walk just a little faster and noticed the guy behind her pick up the pace as well. He's following me.
She waited another moment before breaking out into a run. Bulma sprinted as fast as she could and took a turn down an alley, but it didn't look like it was much use. The man was right on her tail. She turned to get a glimpse of the man, but then hit something big and bulky. She was expecting to have run into a wall, but turned to see another man right in front of her.
"Hello," she said quietly. His skin was a light shade of blue and his eyes were pure black. He didn't say a word. The blue haired woman turned around in an attempt to run, but then caught sight of the other man who had previously been chasing her. His skin was a little bit darker than hers and he had bushy red hair.
"Back off," the blue skinned man growled. "She's mine."
"I saw her first," said the red haired man.
A worried expression passed across Bulma's face before she began to yell. "Help! Help! Somebody help! Doesn't anyone on this planet care about helping a poor, defenseless woman?" Neither man paid much attention to her. They growled a little more before lunging at each other. Bulma backed away up against the metal wall of a building.
She began to sprint back the way she came, but one of the man's hands suddenly slammed up against the wall. He wasn't going to let her pass. She turned to the other direction and the other man's hand slammed against the wall as well.
"Here's an idea," said the blue skinned man, "why don't we share?" The red haired man thought this over and then nodded. Both grinned excitedly as each one grabbed one of her arms. She let out another scream.
"Calm down, woman," one of them grunted. Bulma wasn't paying much attention at this point and didn't know which one it was. She looked up once more and saw the red haired man edging nearer to her. "This is going to be a bit of fun. Trust me, by the end, you'll be happy." He moved closer, but before he could even lay a finger on her, he stopped. Before Bulma could grasp onto what was actually happened, the man's head slid off his body and onto the dry pavement. She then let out a scream as the other man hurriedly turned around. He was searching around for the killer. In a second, the blue skinned man was kicked in the stomach and hurled hard up against the metal wall. He was kicked in the stomach once again. Bulma didn't pay much attention and mostly covered her eyes.
She heard yells of pain after every punch until they slowly died away. After this, she waited a moment before uncovering her eyes. The person in front of her surprised her greatly. "Ginyu," she muttered. The man approached her. He looked a little worn, but it was hard to tell if it was from the fight that just took place. He pressed a button on his scouter and peered down at the blue skinned man. There was a ringing through his ear as the number 0 appeared before him. A low laugh left the man's mouth as he turned back to Bulma.
"Scum," he said. "They practically crawl around these parts of the city, waiting for someone like you to come wandering in here."
Bulma was still a little shocked at the sight she'd just seen, but was beginning to calm down a bit. Her breathing slowed and she brushed off a bit of tears on her cheeks. "Someone… like me?"
"Don't make me say it." Ginyu brushed off a bit of dirt off his armor. He picked up the man's corpse below him and threw him across the alley into a dumpster.
"Say what?"
Ginyu looked back at her before rolling his eyes. "Well, look at you." It took Bulma several seconds to realize what the man was talking about. Her cheeks became bright red and she gave sort of a weak grin. She still didn't like the man, but she wasn't going to refuse a compliment.
The man started approaching her again. "I'm starting to think I don't need your services," he said. "Goku's space ship has been serving me pretty well. I doubt I'll need you to build another training area." Bulma looked a little surprised and panic entered at the back of her mind. What would Ginyu do to her if he no longer needed her?
"But of course…," he said, "It's my pleasure to have you around. Maybe you'll keep me company. Most of my force is dead now. Yep, it's just me and Jeice." Bulma was taken aback. She was surprised the man was actually talking to her like… a normal human being. "Come on," he said. "Unless you want to stay here waiting for the next guys in line, I think it's a good idea you come with me." Bulma sighed. She didn't want to go back to Frieza's base, but she quickly learned it was better than being stuck in this strange city alone at night without protection.
Maybe it was the lack of talking to anyone the past few weeks. Maybe it was the fact that Ginyu just saved her life. Hell, maybe it was just that Bulma was starting to slowly go insane. But the word blurted out of her before she could stop herself. "I wasn't the one who built that ship."
Ginyu looked a little surprised as he sat down. They were sitting in an area of the base that held a large computer. A few tables were spread out across the room. The man placed a cup of water in front of Bulma before sitting down across from her. "Who was it then?"
"My father," Bulma replied hesitantly. "We had a pretty big business back on Earth. Some of the studies showed we were one of the richest families on the planet." Ginyu laughed a little.
"I didn't know I was taking an important woman hostage," he said. Bulma gave sort of a nervous laugh, but tried to remain serious. Ginyu's expression was currently emotionless. "So, tell me about this Goku."
Bulma was hesitant, once again, to say anything. "First you tell me something."
"Tell me what you need to know."
"How did you take his body? Where is he? Did you, like, manage to clone him or something?"
Ginyu gave a weak laugh. "The Ginyu Force is a powerful group of warriors from all across the universe. We're all mutants, which means all of us have special abilities. Mine is the ability to switch bodies, and it just so happens that I took a liking to your friends body."
"So Goku?..."
"Is dead," Ginyu finished for her. He drank a bit of water. "He tried to put up a bit of a fight in my old body, but he was too weak. I finished him and those other two pint sized twerps off." Ginyu laughed a little.
Bulma glared at him and then took a sip of her own water. She had accepted the fact that her friends were gone, but she was still unhappy. "So?" Ginyu asked her as she took another sip of her water, angrily setting the glass back down.
"Goku was a Saiyan," Bulma remarked. "He was sent to Earth as a kid to blow it up, but he got amnesia and forgot about his mission. He grew up on Earth like any other normal human, but he was anything but normal. You could just tell by seeing he had a monkey tail."
"Most Saiyans do," said Ginyu in all seriousness. "What happened to his?"
"It was cut off," said Bulma, "a lot of times, actually. When a full moon came, he didn't know what happened. He would turn into a monster and never wake up with any memory of it. You don't know how many times he almost killed us. We had to cut off his tail. It was too dangerous."
Ginyu studied her face for a moment. "You said it was cut off a few times. Is there any way to grow it back?"
"What?"
"You heard me, woman," said Ginyu. "Is there any way to grow Goku's tail back?"
Bulma shook her head. "Why in the world would you want to do that?"
"I have my reasons," he said, taking another drink of water. "So tell me."
"Well," said Bulma, thinking. "No. There's been a lot of advancements in genetics in the past few years, but I think that's pretty much impossible. Goku is one of the last surviving Saiyans. Or he… was. Vegeta's tail was cut off on Earth… and Goku's brother is dead. And that other guy that came to Earth with Vegeta, as far as I'm concerned, he's gone."
Ginyu sighed with frustration. He got up and started heading to the door. "Wait!" Bulma yelled. "What are you going to do with me?"
The man looked back at her. "I'll decide that tomorrow. Who knows? I guess you're not so bad once I get to know you. But then again, any woman can be a pain in the ass. We'll just have to wait and see." He left her in the room, with no worry of her escaping. Even if she did, he didn't worry much about losing her. She wasn't much use after all.
Bulma shrugged. She wasn't very sad or angry anymore. In fact, she felt the best she'd felt in the last few weeks. Although the conversation wasn't much, at least it was a conversation. Ginyu was a jerk, but he had saved her.
But I wouldn't need any saving at all if it weren't for him. Bulma groaned as this thought passed through her mind. She wouldn't be leaving the base again tonight, but that didn't mean she'd lost all motive to escape. She got up from her chair and winced. A strong smell had just entered her nose. She approached the glass of water that Ginyu had left on the table. He seemed to be drinking a lot. The strong smell of alcohol entered her nose once again as she sniffed the drink. "Bleh…"
It was late into the night and the man still refused to stop. He'd decided to do some more pushups at thirty times gravity, but he stopped for a few minutes. Sweat drenched his hair and forehead once again. Ginyu stood up slowly, feeling the pressure on his body as he did so.
He didn't exactly know what he was doing. The man had been training hard with strength workouts for weeks now and he was showing progress, but there was something missing. It was as if… his body had a sudden instinct. He didn't know exactly what it was. The man shifted his stance a little bit, feeling a surge of energy through his body. What was going on? Have to release it, he thought to himself. He gave some sort of odd hand gesture and then pushed the energy out of his body in the form of a ki blast.
The blast was pretty powerful, but he knew he could do better if he practiced a bit more. Ginyu waited a minute or so before trying again. He shifted his stance once again and pushed his hands out, releasing a large ray of energy. This one was much larger and it was traveling around in a circle. Ginyu's eyes widened and he panicked as he saw the blast traveling back around the other way. It would hit him right in the back if he didn't do anything. "Shit."
Ginyu suddenly turned around and blocked his face with his arms. He felt the warm blast of energy hit him. The pain was pretty bad, but he'd experienced worse. Within a few seconds, he opened his eyes. The blast had faded and there was a bit of smoke coming from him. His arms were scorched a little and he felt a great deal of pain surging through them. "Time to call it quits," he muttered.
The force leader left the ship and travelled back to the base. He didn't find as much comfort sleeping in a bed lately, but had been spending a lot of nights in the healing tank. The man entered the healing room before slipping off his armor and entering the chamber. He knew he would slip into unconsciousness any minute, but before he did, he smiled, remembering his little fiasco with Bulma earlier that day. The water started to fill the tank and he slipped the mask over his face before shutting his eyes.
Most people who weren't close by would have considered it a miracle. It was just a sudden flash of light that could brighten anyone's night. Some couldn't tell if it was a shooting star or an airplane. Most thought, considering how fast it traveled, it had to be a shooting star. Both were wrong.
The space pod made impact with the ground before anyone could take notice of what was happening. It was a small forest just on the outskirts of the city. A teenage boy and girl had been camping nearby. Their tent was pitched deep into the forest, but from what they saw, the thing had landed closer to the city.
"Come on," he said, trying to drag her away from the tent.
"I'm not going," the girl replied.
"You saw that!" he yelled. "You have to be curious! What if it's… an alien?" The girl looked up at her boyfriend and shook her head.
"I didn't even want to go on this stupid camping trip anyway," she told him. "I don't know what the hell your problem is. If you ask me, we should've just gone to the movies this weekend."
The teenage boy sighed in frustration. "Fine. I'll go by myself." He started jogging to the end of the woods and eventually broke into a sprint. It was several minutes before he reached the end of the forest. Sure enough, there was a large hole in the Earth where the thing had landed. The sound of impact still rang through the boy's ears, even after several minutes.
The boy edged closer to the sight. He could feel the warmth of the space pod before he even caught sight of it. It was like something straight out of a comic book. The boy was astounded at the sight. He moved a little closer and suddenly felt his foot slip on a bit of mud. He fell on his back and his whole body started slipping down near the pod.
That's when the door opened. The boy hadn't been paying much attention. He was trying to get himself up. A thick coat of mud covered his jeans and jacket. There was some on his face as well. The whoosh of the pod door opening was what caught his attention. He moved closer to the door. Fear ran through his entire body now. It never actually occurred to him what might actually be in the pod.
The man didn't look alien at all. His dark hair seemed naturally placed upwards in one large spike. He was wearing some sort of odd clothing and a bit of dried blood covered his face. Other than that, he seemed alright.
No, the boy thought. As he peered closer, the boy could sense that this man was very weak. He smelled pretty bad as well. The boy edged closer to the door as the man started to slowly move out. He could barely stand.
"Sir," the boy said. The man's eyes caught the boy's and a surge of fear ran through the boy's body once again. "Sir, you look like you could use some help. I can call an ambulance. Or I can drive you to the hospital."
The man didn't say a word. His gaze suddenly turned into an intense glare and he lunged forward at the boy. The short man clutched the boy by his collar and pulled him up into the air. "I don't need your help," he hissed. "Boy, you made a mistake by coming here." Vegeta wasn't in a forgiving mood. He was still upset about what had happened on Namek and was in his old mood for killing. It would be times like these when he wished Nappa were still by his side.
The boy let out a weak yell before Vegeta threw him out of the pit. A scream could be heard before a loud crack. The boy's yells were quickly reduced to muttering as Vegeta crawled up out of the pit. "Stupid Earth scum," he murmured. "I hate this damn planet." He tried to get back up on his feet, but knew it was useless. He'd spent so much time in his space pod and now he could barely walk. Still, it was better than accepting help from that stupid Earth boy.
Vegeta crawled for a minute or so longer before slowly slipping into unconsciousness.
