Wow, it seems like I'm doing this every other chapter now, but thanks for getting Earthling Chronicles over the 500 review mark! You guys are really the best readers I could ever ask for, and I feel like I should do something for the great support you all have shown me since I came back to the site. So if there's any idea you guys have that you would like me to do for you all to thank you for all of the support for the story, just leave your idea in your review for this chapter! I really hope there is something I can do for you guys that really show my gratitude for all of support you've shown me.
Chapter 31
Edited by: Ness Frost
"I thought you were a goner back there," admitted Vegeta as he gave his patented smirk to the stunned Goku. "I'm not sure how you managed to survive, but it doesn't really matter now. I'll make sure you stay down this time."
"Vegeta," said the younger Saiyan. "Wow, you were able to beat that Ginyu guy. I'm surprised; from what Tien told me, you didn't stand a chance of helping us beat him when we fought him before."
"Well, I must admit, Saiyans have the remarkable ability to increase their power exponentially after a near death experience," said the Saiyan Prince as he clenched his fist, seemingly admiring his newfound strength. "It seems my fight against Burter fit the bill nicely."
Cocking his eyebrow, Goku couldn't help but feel there was something off about the older Saiyan. There was just something in his voice that made him a little unsettled about the current situation. Of course, that could be simply because he knew that a fight with Vegeta for the Dragon Balls was almost a certainty, but there was also something else. Shaking his head, the wild-haired Saiyan disregarded the notion. It didn't really matter now, all that mattered was making sure that the wishes from the Namekian dragon didn't fall into the wrong hands, and Vegeta's hands were the definition of wrong.
"We don't have to do this, Vegeta!" proclaimed Goku as he saw the other fighter dropping into his stance. "Just leave now and our differences can be set aside, but I won't allow you to use the Dragon Balls for your own selfish reasons when my friends need my help. I don't want to fight you, but I will if you force me to."
"Afraid I can't just pack up and leave," responded the other Saiyan. "It wouldn't be too good for my long-term health you see. You, on the other hand, should be worried about your well-being in the here and now!"
After his declaration, the flame haired warrior charged at Goku with a fierce battle cry. Drawing back his fist, the man smirked as he noticed that his opponent had been caught off guard and was completely unprepared for his assault. Drawing back his fist, Vegeta let loose another shout of triumph as he saw Goku's eyes widen as he threw his punch. The Saiyan's eyes widened as his fist went right through the orange gi and revealed that the form of Goku was really just a simple afterimage.
"You think a simple mirage like that can fool me?" bellowed Vegeta as he whirled his body around and delivered a chop aimed at the neck of the reappearing form of Goku. Again, though, the Saiyan Elite's blow simply passed through the vapory form of the other Saiyan, causing a snarl to form on the prince's face.
The snarl contorted to a grunt of pain, though, as he turned around and received a navy colored boot that connected with the bottom of his chin. The power behind the kick sent Vegeta rocketing into the sky as his assailant braced himself before leaping after him, kicking up a cloud of dust which settled over the surrounding terrain in his wake.
Instead of pressing the attack, Goku instead halted his own flight into the air and allowed his adversary time to recover from the blow he had just received. The disgruntled growls of the shorter man reached his ears, but the younger Saiyan was not perturbed by them at all. He watched as Vegeta descended so that they were parallel to each other in the clear, green sky of Namek before addressing his foe once again.
"Like I said, Vegeta, we don't have to do this!" exclaimed Goku. "Give up your evil ways and help us fight against Frieza! We would have a better chance of defeating him if we were to work together, not against each other."
"It sounds an awful lot like you're scared to fight me," stated the other Saiyan. "You should be, since you'll be facing one of the most illustrious fighters in the entire universe! Now, enough of this pointless banter, it's time for you to be put in your place underneath my boot!"
The Prince phased out of sight. Goku's eyes quickly scanned his surroundings in an attempt to locate the recently vanished Vegeta. A tiny hint of a smile formed on the man's face as he raised his arm to deflect a kick before swaying slightly to the left to evade a screaming right hook.
The furious assault continued as Vegeta continued to hail down a torrent of lightning fast punches and kicks. Not one managed to connect with its intended target, though, as Goku calmly dodged and each and every one of the limbs thrown at him. The wild-haired warrior could also tell that his rival was growing frustrated by his inability to hit him and that Vegeta's attacks were growing wild as a result.
After one particularly erratic punch that went sailing over its target's bowed head, the Saiyan from Earth went on the offensive. Rising up underneath the other Saiyan's outstretched arm, Goku threw a powerful uppercut that connected with Vegeta's jaw and began to propel the older Saiyan upward. Before the force of his last blow carried him away, Goku unleashed a flurry of punches that hammered into Vegeta's armored chest. To finish up his deadly barrage, the younger Saiyan delivered a mighty roundhouse kick that sent its recipient crashing into Frieza's ship.
The sound of crunching metal filled the surrounding landscape as the body of the short Saiyan tore through the side of the flying saucer. Goku calmly waited outside of the ship for his foe to reemerge and evaluated the fight so far. While Vegeta was definitely powerful, there was just something off about his fighting style. It was different than the style he had witnessed the Saiyan Prince use during his battle with Tien back on Earth and he seemed to have much less precision and ferocity behind his attacks now. Even though the Saiyan's attacks were dissimilar to how he had fought against Tien, Goku couldn't help but feel that it was still eerily familiar.
His reflections on the situation were cut short, though, when Vegeta suddenly came skyrocketing out of the recently formed hole in the spacecraft. As a howl of rage left his lips, the Saiyan Prince brought back his leg before whipping it around his body directly towards Goku's head. Reacting to the surprise attack, Goku quickly caught the boot that was closing in on his temple before using the momentum of Vegeta's kick to begin rotating his own body. After several revolutions, the orange-clad fighter released his hold on the Saiyan and sent him spiraling into a nearby rock formation, which collapsed upon Vegeta's impact with it.
Touching down in front of the pile of rubble, Goku shouted, "We don't have to keep up this pointless conflict, Vegeta! We're wasting time fighting each other when we should be working together to bring down Frieza. Why can't you just set aside your pride this one time and help the side of good?"
A cracking sound echoed from the mound of rock and Goku watched as the high and mighty Saiyan Prince crawled out from underneath the tons of debris that he had been buried underneath. His face now bore many scrapes and cuts and the younger fighter could see several streams of blood trailing down his face. The white breastplate that Vegeta wore was cracked from where Goku's fist had pounded against it, and dirt and some small pebbles were lodged into the Saiyan's spiky mane.
"How…how did you become this strong?" asked the battered warrior in between gasps for air. "You were not this strong the last time we fought!"
"I've improved a lot since you were on Earth, Vegeta," stated Goku. "Training at 100 times normal gravity will do that for you and you're not the only one that gets stronger after a fight."
"Interesting, you must have gotten quite the boost from your last battle," commented the older Saiyan thoughtfully. "Maybe even more so than I have, so let's see how powerful you've actually become."
Charging up a small sphere of purple ki in his palm, Vegeta smiled deviously as he threw the ball of energy at Goku. Without missing a beat, Goku calmly swiped at the oncoming violet orb of energy and knocked it to the side. The energy was sent careening several miles to the right until it made contact with a distant plateau. Purple light illuminated the horizon as the ki detonated and completely uprooted the far-off terrain.
Still wearing his devilish smirk, as if he had some sort of knowledge that no one else did, Vegeta formed another ball of energy and hurled it towards the low-class Saiyan. Again, Goku effortlessly deflected the ki attack and he was beginning to wonder why his opponent was carelessly wasting energy. It wasn't like Vegeta at all, especially when it was clear that such an attack was useless against him.
After a few more deflected energy attacks, Goku finally decided that his enemy's little game had gone on long enough. "Will you cut it out! This is time we could be using to prepare to fight against Frieza! What don't you understand about that!?"
"Heh, heh, yes, you'll do nicely," mumbled the older Saiyan before smirking at Goku. "Prepare yourself, because any hope you had of winning this conflict is about to be thrown right out the window!"
Upon making his declaration of victory, Vegeta braced himself and gave a small grunt of concentration as he began to power-up. The ground beneath the two fighters' feet began to tremble from the power output of the flame-haired Saiyan and the clouds overhead were blown away from the pure energy that was being exerted.
"Give me your best shot so we can be done with this fight!" yelled Goku as he braced himself to receive whatever Vegeta threw at him, confident that he could handle it.
"YOU'RE MINE!" screamed the powering-up Saiyan as he thrust both of his arms outwards until they were fully outstretched. That's when it suddenly hit Goku: the Saiyan Prince's voice was different! His low, deep tone had been replaced by a much more polished and higher pitched inflection than before.
"Wait you're…" He never got to finish his sentence, though, because his opponent suddenly fired a golden beam of light from his mouth straight at Goku. Caught off guard by the sudden assault, the wild-haired warrior didn't even have time to raise his guard before the beam flew inside of his own, gaping mouth.
Instead of erupting in a brilliant explosion, though, as Goku thought it would, the beam instead simply continued to hum and connect his body with that of the older Saiyan's like a bridge between them. Just as he was beginning to wonder what the purpose of this strange technique was, a sudden lurch in his body caused him to shout with pain. Yet, no sound was emitted from his mouth even though he had shouted in his mind.
Confused, Goku attempted to move his arms, but found that he could not. In fact, he couldn't move any part of his body at the moment and it was as if he had lost control of it somehow. As he was trying to wrap his head around what was going on another unexpected pull occurred, and. Goku felt as if his mind and spirit were suddenly removed from his body!
Looking down, the Saiyan from Earth could see his own body standing underneath him, paralyzed by the golden beam. Before he had more time to try and analyze the predicament he found himself in, Goku once again felt the now all too familiar yank that this time sent him flying down the energy beam and directly towards the statue-like body of Vegeta. As his consciousness slammed into the body of the other Saiyan, a blinding golden light enveloped the entire landscape and both the bodies of Goku and Vegeta were obscured from sight.
As the light began to subside, Goku once again could feel his body and quickly shut his eyes until he was sure that the blinding wave of photons was gone. Cracking his eyelids slowly to readjust himself to the light, the former Turtle student raised his hand to rub his eyes but found that his appendage was covered in a white glove.
Startled by the sudden appearance of this foreign fabric, Goku leapt to his feet and surveyed his appearance. His skin was covered in a navy blue, spandex-like material and strapped onto his chest was a fractured and splintered breastplate. Feeling a warm, moist sensation across his brow, Goku wiped his forehead with his now-gloved hand and was surprised to see blood now smeared onto its surface.
"So, how do you like your new form?" Raising his head to try and get a glimpse of the possessor of the familiar voice, Goku was met with a navy blue boot to his face. The force of the kick sent him sprawling across the ground and his body skipped across the plain before coming to a stop next to the edge of the water that surrounded the peninsula.
Looking up to catch a glimpse of his attacker, Goku was utterly stunned when their eyes met. Menacing over him, clad in the orange fighting gi of the Turtle School with a blue undershirt and boots, was a carbon copy of himself. It was unlike anything Goku had ever seen before, though, because while the clothes and the hair were the same, this clone's face was shrouded in a devious smirk, the likes of which had never tainted Son Goku's expression before.
"What kind of trick is this!?" demanded the baffled fighter. "How did you copy my body?"
"Heh, copy?" chuckled the imposter. "I think you need to check again, Saiyan."
Furrowing his brow, Goku turned his head away from his doppelganger to look at himself in the reflection of the green water to his right. Instead of his own, familiar face, the Saiyan from Earth was instead greeted by the confused expression of Vegeta.
0o0o0o0o0o0o
"Ugh-ARGH!" cried out Nail as the nightmare continued for him as the terrible Frieza rammed his knee into his gut. Ever since the tyrant's horrible metamorphosis, the last Namekian warrior had been unable to even lay a finger upon his enemy. Now, not only was the feeling of shame overtaking him for his failure to avenge his fallen kin, but he was being thrashed to within an inch of his life.
"Oh come, you can do better than that!" taunted the monster before hammering his elbow into Nail's arched back, forcing the helpless fighter to cough up some more blood. More of the purple liquid had begun to stream from the corner of the battered warrior's mouth and Nail could tell that the Frost Demon was enjoying every second of it.
Removing his knee from Nail's abdomen, Frieza spun his body around before bringing his long, thick tail crashing into the vulnerable Namek. The green alien was sent flying through the sky until his collision with a mountain cut his unplanned flight short. Nail found that his body was firmly lodged inside of the fractured rock and that he was unable to move as the fiend slowly made his way over to him.
"I must say Namek, you've disappointed me," commented Frieza in his now baritone voice. "What with you promising to 'make me pay for my crimes' and making sure that I met 'justice', I was expecting you to actually be somewhat of a challenge. Oh well, all bark and no bite I guess."
Raising his hand to Nail's face, the Arcosian lightly slapped his opponent's face back and forth before saying, "Though, most people are that way when compared to my awe-inspiring power." Frieza paused a moment before continuing to jeer at the broken Namekian.
"Speechless huh? I get that a lot, especially in this form." Again, Frieza paused in order to gauge his adversary's reaction to his mocking. Nail refused to give the smug, arrogant bastard the satisfaction of seeing him break mentally and emotionally. The murderer of his people had already broken him physically, what more did he want?
"I imagine my disappointment in your performance so far is nothing compared to those slugs you call 'kin'," prodded the gigantic, horned demon. "First there's the dozens that my men and I slaughtered effortlessly that were counting on you to 'avenge them'. Then there's also those-oh, how many were there? Ah yes, 27-cowering weaklings that put all of their hope into you being able to defeat me to save their own, worthless skin. They would be heartbroken to learn that their savior was inadequate for the task."
Nail cast his eyes upward, and a snarl formed across his face as he growled, "Frie…Frieza, you'll pay…I'll make you pay for what you've done to my people…you'll never kill another Namek as long as I continue to draw breath."
Arching one of his eyebrows before chuckling, Frieza calmly asked, "Oh, is that a fact? So enlighten me, how exactly do you plan to accomplish that? I seem to be doing a pretty decent job of beating you, and I know that you are by far the strongest Namekian. So, what's your strategy here? I'm all ears."
Rage continued to build inside of Nail's body, as fury towards the brash overlord's taunts continued to rise. The audacity of his opponent appalled the Namek and he began to gather all of his anger and draw on it for power. Frieza could insult him all he wanted, but he had NO right to belittle his race. Maybe they were weaker than the tyrant in terms of pure strength, but they far surpassed him in key attributes like compassion and kind spirit and Nail wouldn't stand for Frieza's taunts any longer!
Small bubbles of energy seemed to suddenly begin to pop into existence around Nail's body as his power began to boil over and out of his body. A golden glow began to outline the green warrior as he continued to push his ki past the surface of his body until he simply couldn't contain it anymore. With a passionate battle cry, the Namekian released a gigantic, golden explosive wave that began to consume everything in its path.
The massive sphere of golden ki expanded out in every direction until it had grown to several hundred yards in diameter. The mountain he had been trapped in was completely obliterated by the explosion of energy and Nail's hated foe was nowhere in sight. He wasn't sure if the source of his people's nightmare had been caught up in the blast or if Frieza had managed to escape, but Nail did know that he couldn't keep up this level of exertion for much longer.
Ceasing the flow of ki that he had been pushing out of his body, Nail allowed the globe of yellow energy that had surrounded his form to dissipate into the air. The surrounding land around the Namek was completely destroyed and a large crater had been created beneath Nail where the sphere's bottom had carved into the earth. Not even the smallest pebble remained from the surrounding rock formations that had previously dotted the area and there was also no sign of the sadistic tyrant.
Nail's large, green hands immediately dropped to his knees as he gasped for air. He had put almost every last ounce of ki that his body still held into that last-ditch effort to at the very least maim his enemy. Was it even possible that his attack had actually completely obliterated the Frost Demon? Nail doubted it, and yet there was no trace of the murderer of his brethren.
Closing his eyes, the Namek began to try and seek out the huge, dark, encompassing energy signature that belonged to Frieza. As he began to open up his mind, the evil presence of the monster suddenly overwhelmed him and as Nail's eyes snapped open, one of the tyrant's feet came crashing into the side of his temple.
The Namekian warrior hit the ground face first and his body dug out a long canal as it ripped through the surface of the planet. After sliding to a halt, Nail tried to begin to lift himself up but he was slammed back into the dirt when Frieza came crashing down on top of him. The green fighter's body was forcibly arched around the Arcosian's feet, which had collided with Nail's spine, and another clot of purple blood was ejected from his mouth.
"That was your grand scheme?" jeered the giant as he stepped off of his victim and out of the small crater where the Namek lay. "Impressive light show, but not much of an attack I'm afraid. I should have expected as much though, you self-righteous cretins can never back up all of that talk."
Refusing to remain at the egotistical fiend's feet for long, Nail continued to try and force himself to stand. Nothing probably made the maniacal alien above him happier than the Namek groveling at his feet, so he promised that he won't give the beast the satisfaction for long.
"Having trouble are we?" asked Frieza with mock sympathy. "Here, let me help you with that." Bringing back his leg, the monstrous demon delivered a kick that caught Nail right underneath the ribs and launched the Namekian into the sky. Nail wasn't in the sky for long though, as his adversary continued his savage assault on the Planet Namek's last defender by intercepting him and then hammering the vulnerable fighter with a powerful two-handed blow which sent Nail crashing back into the ground.
A large mushroom cloud of dust was kicked into the air upon Nail's impact with the dirt, completely obscuring the warrior's body from sight. As the debris continued to rise into the air, Frieza casually landed before shouting.
"Come on now, you can't be finished already. You forced me to transform, and I want to stretch out my enjoyment of your destruction as long as possible!"
0o0o0o0o0o
Goku continued to pat the unfamiliar armor that now covered his body, attempting to prove that it was simply a mirage that he found himself trapped in Vegeta's body. No matter how many times he touched the foreign material that he found himself wearing, it didn't change his situation and finally Goku turned his attention to the man responsible for his current predicament.
"What sort of strange power did you use on me, Ginyu!?" demanded Goku, who had finally recognized the leader of the Ginyu Force's voice right before the strange beam of light.
"Quite a unique and useful one my friend, for you see, I have the ability to take control of your own body and turn its power against you!" exclaimed the body snatcher, before flexing his newly acquired muscles, rippling the blue undershirt that barely contained his bulging biceps. "Yes, your body will do nicely. It seems you possessed even more power than Vegeta! Surprising, but I should have known your power would have increased tremendously after the injuries you suffered at my hands. How did you manage to survive, at full strength and without any lingering wounds from our battle?"
"Why would I tell you?" asked Goku as he stood to his feet. He was forced to look up slightly since Vegeta's eye-level was much shorter than his own. "You're forced to rely on tricks to win a fight, where's the honor in that?
"Honor?" spat Ginyu, using the word as a curse. "You think I've survived this long by fighting with honor? I don't know how they do things where you come from, but out here it's kill or be killed. There's no room for such foolish notion as honor. I'll do anything to win, even if it means taking the form of a filthy Saiyan like yourself or Vegeta."
"Vegeta!" said Goku, suddenly wondering what had happened to the owner of the body he now possessed. "What did you do with him!?"
"Him? He's over there," answered the changeling with a jab of his finger to the limp form of his former shell. "You don't think you're the first one who's been privileged enough to have your body claimed by yours truly?"
Goku frowned with Vegeta's mouth before crouching into his stance and declaring, "You'll pay for this Ginyu! I won't let you get away with just taking other people's bodies and using such a despicable technique to cheat in your fights. This time, you won't win because of it! Even though I'm not in my own body, I swear I'll defeat you!"
"Heh, nice speech," said Captain Ginyu before using Goku's body to quickly strike one of the Ginyu Force's poses. "But that body is completely foreign to you and it will take you awhile to get adjusted to using it. While it might take me awhile to figure out how your body works, I've had a lot more practice doing this than you. I'm sure I'll figure it out before you manage to."
"I guess we'll see," said Goku.
"Well what are you waiting for?" questioned Ginyu before striking another pose, making Goku horrified at the sight of his body creating such ridiculous gestures. "I thought you were anxious to start this fight? Let's give these new bodies a test drive!"
After shouting his last phrase, Ginyu quickly charged the waiting Saiyan. It was a strange feeling for Goku to watch as his own form prepared to assault him, but he forced himself to remember that it wasn't really his body anymore. As his former fist began to fly at him, Goku prepared to raise his arm and block the oncoming attack but he was surprised when he wasn't able to get his own limb up in time to intercept the punch. He found himself decked in the face and flying backwards before sprawling on the ground.
'What the?' thought Goku as he forced himself to stand. 'Why wasn't I able to block that? I saw the attack coming, I told my arm to come up and block, and yet it didn't. Why is that? It's a simple enough move; I've done it a thousand times! Wait, I've done it a thousand times but never in this body. It must be because of our different energy levels, things that had come easy to me before might be harder now that I'm in Vegeta's body. How do I access his full reservoir of power though?'
Goku's introspection was cut short when another shout alerted him to Ginyu's next attack. Leaping backwards, he managed to avoid the flying kick and create some space between himself and his former body. The Saiyan from Earth was surprised when he found that he hadn't gotten far enough away, only leaping back several yards when he had wanted to jump almost a hundred feet.
'That's right, this body isn't accustomed to 100 times normal gravity like mine is,' recalled Goku right before a navy blue boot connected with his jaw and sent him skyrocketing. It took the pure-hearted warrior a few moments longer than normal to regain his balance in this new, unfamiliar form, and that was all the time it took Ginyu to follow up his attack. A powerful right hook sent Goku crashing into the looming spaceship behind him, creating another gaping hole in the vessel's side.
A groan escaped from his borrowed lips as Goku forced himself to stand again. Clenching his gloved fist, the Saiyan glanced through the hole that Vegeta's body had created but found no sight of his own body. Scanning around the corridor he found himself in, Goku was barely able to raise his guard as a purple beam of energy suddenly overtook him. He was able to keep from being completely overwhelmed by the blast, but Goku was sent cascading down the hallway until he screeched to a halt with the Saiyan Prince's face buried into the hard floor.
Goku heard his opponent laugh as he struggled to stand before the Captain said, "It seems that you're having even more trouble than me adjusting to your new body! While I admit your full power is still managing to elude me, I can access more than enough of your power to finish you off!"
"I won't give up so easily, Ginyu!" shouted the Saiyan from Earth as he forced himself to his feet. "I may not be used to Vegeta's body yet, but I won't let that stop me from making sure that you don't get away with this!"
"We'll see," said Ginyu smoothly before charging his new body's former master. Ducking underneath a wildly thrown punch, Goku managed to slip underneath his foe's guard and deliver several rapid fire punches to his gut. Finishing off his counterattack with a powerful uppercut, he sent Captain Ginyu flying upward and his newly acquired body ripped through the ceiling and landed on the floor of the next level of the ship.
"It looks like you're not used to the extra speed my body has," commented Goku after he flew through the hole in the floor and landed across from his body's sprawled form. "You overextended yourself on that last punch because you moved faster than expected."
"Shut up!" screamed Ginyu as he flew across the hole and tackled the Saiyan. Goku had been completely caught off-guard by the sudden, unorthodox move and he had been surprised by the speed at which the Captain had been able to command his body to move. Maybe the alien fighter really was getting the hang of using his body.
The two combatants wrestled on the hard tile of Frieza's ship for almost a minute as their fight caused them to roll down the hallway. Neither fighter was able to gain an edge on the other as they tangled with each other. For one second, Goku would be on top, using Vegeta's legs to pin his former body to the floor while attempting to punch Ginyu in the face. The next, Ginyu would use the legs he had wrapped around Goku's waist to flip him over and then roll on top of the pile.
When it seemed that Ginyu may have finally gained the upper edge, having Goku pinned underneath him and delivering several punches to the Saiyan Prince's face, their fight was interrupted as a squad of soldiers suddenly rushed down the hallway before pointing their blasters at the duo.
"Cease and desist you two!" commanded the leader of the squadron. "You are charged with trespassing and the damaging of the mighty Lord Frieza's personal property. We have orders to take you in, Vegeta, to be disposed of by Lord Frieza himself."
"Oh shut up you idiot!" shouted Ginyu. "It's me, Captain Ginyu: leader of the Ginyu Force. Now, if you know what's good for…UMPHH!" The body-thief was cut off as Goku managed to break free of Ginyu's full body lock and quickly kicked him with both of his armored boots and sending his real body up into another level of the vessel.
"Quick, open fire men!" shouted the commanding officer of the patrol and the group opened fire on the person they believed to be the Saiyan Prince. Goku didn't even feel the weak blasts of energy as they simply ricocheted off of Vegeta's body as he leapt after his opponent.
As he entered up through the hole, though, Goku was suddenly rammed into as Ginyu caught him unawares and flew into him with the Saiyan's former body's shoulder lowered and pushed him through the corridor at a breathtaking pace. Ginyu continued to drive the Saiyan from Earth and he punctured through the steel-like walls of the spaceship and entered back into the outside world. After exiting the ship, the Captain let loose a mighty battle cry from Goku's lips as he slammed the other fighter into the side of a nearby rock formation, letting go as Vegeta's form was devoured by the tumbling boulders of the collapsing tower of stone.
"Well, it's been fine primate," said Ginyu as he used Goku's own lips to smirk at their former owner's demise, "but I'm growing tired of playing with you. It's time for you to perish, just like every other warrior that's dared to go up against the almighty power of the Ginyu Force!"
As Captain Ginyu began to strike several more of his signature poses as he powered up, Goku was weakly crawling out of the rock tomb he had been buried underneath. Blood now stained Vegeta's ripped, navy spandex suit and Goku didn't think he had any energy left in this body. The strong-willed warrior refused to give in, though, as he forced himself to his feet even as the Saiyan Prince's body protested against the action with throbs of pain.
"This is it Saiyan!" yelled Ginyu as he finished his final pose and summoned a sphere of violet energy into his palm. "It's time for you to meet your doom!"
Realizing that there was only one hope for him to make it out of Ginyu's next attack in one piece, Goku forced Vegeta's body into the stance to begin charging the Turtle School's signature attack.
"Kame…" chanted the weary Saiyan as he brought forth every scrap of ki that he could wring from the prince's being.
"Oh so it looks like you have some fight left in you after all!" shouted Ginyu with glee lacing his voice. "Good, it would be disappointing if you were just roll over and die. I want you to realize that you had no chance of beating me when I send you to the next dimension!"
"Hame…" continued Goku as a blue orb of energy sprung to life in between the cupped, gloved hands of Vegeta.
"Good-bye ape!" shouted Captain Ginyu as he thrust Goku's arm forward and released a large, purple energy beam which he sent racing towards the motionless figure of the flame-haired Saiyan.
"HAAAAA!" yelled the good-natured fighter as he threw his rival's arms forward and fired his most powerful attack. The blue wave of ki erupted from the hands of the Saiyan Prince and shot towards the oncoming purple beam. The beams clashed in mid-air, and the wave of power that emitted from the epicenter of their collision caused all of the nearby pillars to collapse from the sheer power radiating off the two energy attacks. The light being discharged from both of the energy attacks was so plentiful that it actually blotted out the light from the Suns and cast the sky in a purple, malevolent shade and the ground in a bright, blue filter.
Struggling for dominance, Goku and Ginyu's attacks remained stagnant as the two beams canceled out each other's movement. Finally, after several seconds of neither side gaining the advantage, the violet wave began to slowly push back the Kamehameha wave. Growling in frustration, Goku attempted to pour more of his energy into his energy attack but found that there was none left to give. He had still been unable to gain access to all of the power that Vegeta's body contained and the body Goku now found himself in seemed to have depleted all of its reserves anyway. If he didn't find some extra energy somewhere soon, the low-class Saiyan knew that he wouldn't be able to hold off the Captain's beam much longer.
"Hahaha!" cackled Captain Ginyu menacingly as he watched his attack devour the Kamehameha wave. "Thanks for the body, but it's time for you to go bye-bye!"
"GALICK GUN…FIRE!"
"What the hell!?" screamed Ginyu as he turned his head just in time to watch a gigantic wave of violet energy ram into him and propel him into the upper atmosphere. As the leader of the Ginyu Force was being carried skyward, Goku was able to push back the villain's attack with his own because of the stoppage in energy being poured into the beam. The two energy waves were carried high into the air, where they exploded with a deafening roar and in a brilliant fashion that caused the entire landscape to be covered a blinding light.
After the dazzling lightshow finally ceased, Goku cracked his eyes open and stared dumbfounded at the previous form of Captain Ginyu that was standing within a centimeter of himself.
"Kakarot!" bellowed the purple-skinned alien with the gruff voice of the Prince of All Saiyans. "I demand that you leave my body at once and stop disgracing it with your foul presence!"
0o0o0o0o0o0
"Come on now," said Frieza with a bored expression on his face. "Surely that little love-tap didn't do you in. Expected more from Namek's greatest warrior, oh wait, no I didn't." The tyrant's rumbling laughter echoed throughout the ravaged ravine as the dust from Nail's latest encounter with the ground finally settled.
"Well, I guess I should check to see whether he has a pulse or not," rumbled the changeling as he began to slowly march towards the crater that had been formed by the Namekian's body. It was invigorating to be in his much larger, much more powerful second form again. The Arcosian prince had almost forgotten how much of an adrenaline rush he received after crushing the life out of an inferior opponent.
A "ferocious" battle cry caused Frieza to halt in his tracks as his green-skinned opponent suddenly sprung up from the hole he had been hiding in and charged the "murderer" of his brethren. A smirk formed across the fiend's face as he watched the Namek pull back his leg and whipped it forward towards the Frost Demon's neck.
The kick landed with a resounding thud, but Frieza's body didn't move a millimeter because of the contact. The galactic overlord watched with amusement as Nail's eyes widened in fear as he realized the futility of his assault. Still wearing his devilish smile, Frieza clamped his hand around the Namekian's ankle.
"Oh my, you should be a masseuse. Though, I'm not sure you've quite got the hang of making your patient feel anything. Here, let me show you how it's done properly."
After finishing his barb, the sadistic alien used his hold on the Namek to slam him into the ground to his right. The green warrior's face shattered the tough surface of blue turf, and debris from the collision went flying in all directions. Not relinquishing his hold on his victim, Frieza forced Nail's body to travel 180 degrees before smashing his body into the opposite side of the dictator's body.
A cry of agony entered into the sadist's ears and he relished the sound of his adversary's suffering. It really was the simple things in life that gave him the most enjoyment, and Frieza was looking forward to an eternity of enjoying his guilty pleasure of degrading himself to fight such inferior creatures.
Dragging the Namek's face through the ground in a complete circle around himself, Frieza threw the broken warrior into the air. Frieza chuckled before leaping after his defenseless prey and he rocketed through the air with a sadistic grin as he neared his target. Lowering his head, the Arcosian rammed one of his long, black horns straight into the Namekian's chest.
Nail opened his mouth and held it agape in a silent scream, but the warrior was in such pain that he couldn't even muster the strength to howl in agony. A steady stream of purple blood quickly began to stream from the wound and down the bare chest of the Namekian before finally dripping down onto the white, bone-like material that covered the tyrant's body. A glint of glee passed through Frieza's eyes as the purple liquid oozed down onto his horn, staining it with the blood of his victim.
Wanting to hear cries of pain from the Namekian, Frieza began to shake his head and move the horn around inside of Nail's body. As the horn dug deeper and wider into his body, the protector of the Namekian people screamed in torment with each shake of the sadistic fighter's head. Finally sated by the creature's suffering, the Frost Demon finally removed his spike and then flipped over and smashed his tail into the helpless warrior, sending him crashing back down to the planet's surface.
The sound of Nail's return to the ground filled the entire ravine and Frieza relished in the sound of his enemy's defeat as the pillar of debris erupted from the ground and covered the entire landscape in a cloud of dirt. The outcome had never been in doubt for the cruel ruler; no one in the universe could stand against his might! Now all that was left was to deliver the final, finishing blow to the impotent being that dared to challenge the almighty Lord Frieza.
Landing in the colossal crater that his last attack had created, Frieza laughed as he slowly walked towards the prone form of his opponent. The Namek lay in a growing pool of his own blood, but the fiend knew he wasn't dead yet. Frieza delivered a light kick to the green alien that forced him onto his back and to look straight at his demise.
"Oh my, it looks like I've broken you," mocked the tyrant as he pressed one of his large feet against Nail's chest, eliciting a howl of agony from the Namekian. "Oh well, all good toys get broken eventually. Fortunately, I know where to find a whole group of new Namekians to use for my entertainment."
Frieza heard a growl come from the alien underneath his foot but he quickly cut it off by applying more pressure onto the Namek's chest, causing it to scream out in pain again.
"Now remember when I said that no matter how many times people have tried to defy my will, I always get what I want from them?" asked the maniacal ruler. "Well, this is that moment. You will give me the password to use Dragon Balls immediately or I will be forced to torture it out of another one of your deplorable species! So, I suggest you spill it out now before I get bored with you."
To the tyrant's surprise, instead of begging for mercy and pleading for its life and the lives of its kin, the Namekian actually began to laugh! A snarl formed across Frieza's face as he stared down at the laughing Namek that was being crushed by him. What did that imbecile have to laugh about? He was about to die and the rest of his pitiful race was about to wiped out as well. So what in the hell was so damn funny?
"What are you laughing about?" demanded Frieza as his anger began to build up. "Are you realizing the hopeless state you find yourself in, or are you laughing because of your pathetic attempt to defeat me? Now, that was laughable."
The last Namekian warrior stopped laughing long enough to answer his tormentor. "No, I'm just laughing at the irony of you asking me the password for the Dragon Balls." Nail was forced to stop as he coughed up some blood before continuing. "You see, the Earthlings already have the password and have been at your ship taking them back from you while you've been here fighting me. More than likely, they've already summoned the Dragon and used your wish. So really, you don't even need the password since you've already lost your shot at immortality."
The monstrous form of Frieza began to tremble with rage at the words that were spurting from the Namek's hideous mouth. Had he really been duped into spending too much time fighting this simpleton, allowing his other opponents to steal his Dragon Balls? No, the Ginyu Force was more than enough to take care of that three-eyed freak and Vegeta. Still, if there was even a possibility that his wish for eternal life was being stolen from him, he needed to return to the ship immediately. This sort of ingression against him would not go unpunished! No one took what was rightfully Frieza's and lived to even enjoy what they had stolen!
"This isn't over Namekian!" screamed Frieza, the roar of his voice reverberating through the surrounding terrain. "I'll be back to slaughter the rest of your despicable species after I finish murdering your friends that dare to steal from me! You, in the meantime, will die a slow, miserable death here alone with the knowledge that you failed to protect anyone from me!"
With a final stomp, which landed with the resounding crack of several ribs, the enraged demon took to the air and began his race towards his ship. The only color that Frieza could see as he rocketed through the air, his aura causing nearby mountains to crumble simply because of his presence, was red, and the only thought that filled his mind was that whoever stole his wish was going to die the most gruesome and terrible death he could imagine. And he had quite the imagination.
So there you guys have it! Neither Ginyu or Vegeta is dead yet, but Captain Ginyu is in Goku's body now, Goku is in Vegeta's, and Vegeta is in Ginyu's. How well this all sort out, well I guess you all well just have to read the next chapter! Oh, and Frieza is on his way in his 2nd form already. That can't be good for our heroes. Now for Power Levels!
Goku: 200,000
Vegeta (possessed by Ginyu): 160,000
By the time they started fighting, Ginyu had already learned how to access all of Vegeta's power that he had received from his last zenkai. That's right around where I think Vegeta was after getting beaten by Recoome so that's pretty much how much he jumped in the canon universe so I feel it stays pretty much the same. Goku's power level also jumped quite a bit from his previous fight with Ginyu
Goku (possessed by Ginyu): 96,000
Vegeta (possessed by Goku): 80,000
Now both of their power levels were constantly rising the entire fight as they grew more accustom to the bodies they had been thrown into and as they figured out how to use them. This is the highest point that either of them got to, right around when they fired their energy beams at each other. The reason Ginyu is able to get a better handle on Goku's power level quicker in EC than he did in canon is because this Goku doesn't use techniques like the Kaio-Ken to increase his strength like he did in canon, which is how his power level was 180,000 in canon, so it's much more like other people's power levels than it was in canon. Frieza and Nail's power levels were the same as last chapter.
Alright, well that's it for me for now. Thanks have to go out to Ness Frost for being the best editor I could ever ask for and really helping to clean up the story from a grammar standpoint. Thanks bud. Also, thanks to all of you for reading the story and for your continued support. I can't wait to see ideas that you all come up with so I can give back to you all.