Chapter 5: Destiny
Kassava frowned, tugging lightly on the top right shoulder portion of her new gi. The navy blue material shifted around her thumb and pointer finger, dropping back down with her hand slumping to her side and letting out a small sigh.
"When you said 'new outfit', I thought you meant that it was going to at least color match."
Vegetto kept a smirk, a small chuckle escaping as he raised his right eyebrow.
"Blue and orange isn't your style?"
Kassava narrowed her eyes, lifting up her white gloved hands with a heavy frown.
"None of it matches though! Why do you have white gloves and yellow tipped boots for an orange and blue outfit?!"
Vegetto turned back towards the pedestal holding the Scroll of Eternity, crossing his arms.
"It was my first outfit, when I was created. The Potara combines everything, regardless if it's fashionable or not."
Trunks shrugged his shoulders.
"It seemed fine to me."
Vegetto's smirk widened a bit.
"Right?"
Kassava grunted in annoyance, dropping her arms back to her side.
"Whatever. What's my first mission?"
Vegetto kept his arms crossed, staring down at the Scroll.
"You'll be working with Trunks on locating a potential threat in the Scroll."
Trunks raised an eyebrow.
"I thought we agreed to have her train in my timeline first?"
Vegetto shook his head once.
"We can't afford to waste any more time. The longer we wait, the stronger that time bandit becomes off of siphoning Frieza's energy. It may not be much, but we need to put an end to this so the others can return to their lives."
Kassava stepped out from behind Vegetto, glancing down at the dark purple energy surrounding the Scroll.
"What's the job?"
Vegetto's amused smirk morphed into a frown.
"With Frieza's resurrection, Earth was destroyed in Kakarot and Vegeta's failure to kill him quickly. Whis attempted to correct the flow of time, allowing for the others to take him out before he got the chance to destroy the Earth."
He turned his eyes towards Trunks.
"However, he ran into a problem. There's another time traveler, currently blocking Whis' ability to reverse time and slowly siphoning Frieza's power now that he is the supreme being in the universe with Goku, Beerus and Whis out of the picture. Whis has the other warriors suspended in another dimension, and has asked us to take care of this threat."
Trunks nodded.
"So we'll scan the Scroll to find the time traveler before they become too powerful, right?"
Vegetto shook his head once.
"No, it'd take too long to find them. You two are going to wait here, watching the Scroll for any signs of the traveler."
His eyes narrowed a bit.
"I'm going in to fight Frieza."
Trunks blinked.
"But why?"
Vegetto glanced over to the Saiyan.
"I'm the only one strong enough to force Frieza into using his full power. When he uses that new form, that time traveler will undoubtedly reveal themselves at the opportunity to take some of Frieza's energy. That's when you two strike, and put an end to their meddling."
Kassava nodded, crossing her arms as well.
"Seems simple enough to me."
Trunks kept his frown.
"Are you sure you can take him? I don't want you to have to deal with him if there's a better way..."
Vegetto nodded his head, lifting his lips into a slight smile.
"Don't worry Trunks. I can do this."
The Potara fusion uncrossed his arms, his shoulders rising in a slow, deep breath. He quickly expelled the air in his lungs, his shoulders dropping before reaching out with his right arm and tightly clutching onto the Scroll. Trunks and Kassava both grimaced, shielding their eyes with their arms in the blinding light that shot out in every direction.
The two slowly lowered their arms once the light dissipated away, leaving them as the sole occupants of the Time Nest. Trunks flipped open the Scroll, the image of Vegetto popping up on the screen with both Patrollers watching on. Kassava raised an eyebrow, turning towards Trunks.
"What was that about? Do you two have some history with this Frieza person?"
Trunks shook his head.
"You have no idea."
The whir of the familiar space pod rung out as it descended down towards the blue grassy field. Sitting in his perch, the unmistakable tyrant kept a confident smile as his pod levitated around the white stone hut of Namekian craftsmanship. His eyes immediately landed on the oldest of the tribe now standing in front of him, locking with the terrified pupils that gave him joy.
"Is this the only tribe that saw fit to greet me upon my return? How disrespectful."
The eldest Namekian trembled heavily in his shock, his eyes wide.
"No...the Super Saiyan defeated you all those years ago on our first home planet."
Frieza merely chuckled in response, his henchmen still as boards at the sides of his pod.
"Oh he did, but my influence isn't so easily defeated. He paid most dearly for the humiliation he forced me to suffer, so much that he had to take his world with him..."
The elder gasped slightly, Frieza leaping out of his pod and landing a few feet away from the crowd of Namekians with a light thud. He began to slowly stroll forward, clasping his arms behind his small back and coming to a halt within a few feet from them.
"But since I know your people were inspired to believe he was invincible and the savior of the universe, I wanted to make it clear that he is dead. And surely you know that even when he tried to save your world, I still managed to destroy it. Imagine what I can do now, without him getting in my way this time..."
The small tyrant kept still, extending out his left arm with an open hand.
"So let's try this a second time. You give me the Dragon Balls, and maybe I won't destroy your people out of nostalgia."
The elder kept a strong glare.
"Why would you do that? It never stopped you before."
Frieza broke out into a hearty laugh.
"Well, you're right, it never has. But with Goku's death and my dominance over all existence assured with the disappearance of Lord Beerus, I'm feeling a bit generous today. That perhaps, you may celebrate with me."
The elder lowered his shoulders slightly, hesitating for a moment. His eyes then suddenly widened, before immediately collapsing backward from the energy blast that easily pierced through his right chest. The crowd of Namekians gasped in horror, stepping back at the sight of the smoke trailing rising up from Frieza's right pointer finger.
"Oh don't be so surprised. Why on Namek would I want to celebrate with cretins such as yourselves?"
He lowered his arm, his smirk returning.
"So here's my real deal to you people. Fetch me your Dragon Ball, tell me where the others are located on this planet, and I promise my men will give you swift and painless deaths. You can fight all you want, but in the end, you're going to die anyway."
He shrugged his shoulders slightly, the soldiers slowly moving into the town to search within the stone huts.
"Besides, think of it as your chance to spite me. If you don't resist and die to my men, you avoid the outcome of entertaining me with pitiful attempts at resistance. You're winning here!"
The crowd of Namekians remained tense, many of the older members grunting in frustration. Their eyes shifted however, to the sight of a bright beam of light descending down from the sky. The soldiers all stopped at the crashing roar of the energy striking the ground, Frieza turning towards the beam with a frown of his own.
The beam of energy remained strong for a moment, slowly cascading from the clouds down towards the ground to coat a humanoid size form. The glowing form slowly rose to their feet, with the energy quickly dispelling outwards at the forceful grunt of the being. Vegetto lifted his chin up with a deep breath, opening his eyes with an exhale towards the crowd of onlookers.
Frieza blinked once at the sight, staring with wide eyes. He lifted his left arm lazily, flicking his wrist towards Vegetto in front of a couple of soldiers as an order. The two soldiers both nodded, bolting forward with roars with their fists reeled back.
Vegetto's pupils rapidly darted to the approaching warriors, but only his muscles moved as they tensed at his command. The first soldier arrived within milliseconds, Vegetto tilting his head to the right as the fist swiped at the air next to his ear. The fusion then lightly slapped the second soldier's fist downward inches away from his stomach, the soldier crying out in shock as he crashed into the ground with a shock wave shaking the planet from the force of the impact.
The fusion floated back a bit, launching a burst of air from his right palm at the remaining soldier. Frieza jumped to his left, watching on in shock as the soldier rapidly flipped backwards and crashed into the nearest plateau, the rumble ringing out from about half a mile away.
The tyrant quickly turned to face back towards Vegetto, his eyes narrowed into a sharp glare.
"No..."
Vegetto smirked.
"Yes."
Frieza roared, immediately launching his right arm up with a refined red energy laser firing from his pointer finger. Vegetto grunted, smacking upwards to send the beam skyward in response, holding his right arm up steadily for a moment before letting it drop back to his side.
"Surely you can do better, Frieza. You of all people should know it won't unless you go all out here."
Frieza lowered his arm slowly, his eyes narrowing.
"Your voice. There's two of you?"
Vegetto kept his arms tensed, matching Frieza's glare.
"I know you can see it, Frieza. The condescending tone of the Saiyan Prince, mixed with the arrogant nature of the Saiyan monkey you hold so dear to your heart."
Frieza's eyes immediately widened, stepping back.
"It can't be...you were both dead! I destroyed your planet and you along with it!"
Vegetto crossed his arms in response.
"You destroyed them, not me. I exist separate from Kakarot and Vegeta, along with their motivations. Despite your hatred for them both, I've come here for another reason."
Frieza grunted.
"And what reason is that?"
A smirk returned to the fusion's expression.
"To save you."
Frieza snarled in response, clenching his fists.
"That filthy Saiyan garbage has been dead for years, and yet he still finds a way to annoy me with his constant need to show me leniency."
His eyes widened, the veins in his head bulging.
"Fine! Try to 'save' me all you want: you'll die a fate worse than his in your arrogance!"
Vegetto kept his smirk, remaining still as the planet began to shake in Frieza's heavy roar. The golden flames immediately erupted in every direction around his body, masking Frieza from sight as his power rose exponentially. Cracks along the ground shot in every direction, lightning raining down from the new clouds above to fill the crevices.
The fusion locked eyes with the newly transformed tyrant before him, the golden shine of his skin glistening from the brief shot of lightning above.
"You may think you know me, but I've learned from my last encounter with Goku. The one weakness I had on Earth is now gone, and along with it, your chances of beating me."
Vegetto uncrossed his arms.
"I had hoped so, Frieza. I saw the fight on Earth, and I can't say I was impressed with your lack of endurance. If you had kept up your strength, you would've beaten Kakarot easily."
Frieza blinked, gasping at the sudden out pour of blue fire around the fusion's body. A masking energy slowly exploded upwards from the fusion's boots in his thunderous roar, slowly revealing the transformed Vegetto as the passing particles of light rose towards the sky. His blue eyes remained locked with Frieza's, his blue hair flowing in the breeze of his aura like a flame.
"Hopefully, you'll be the first one to give me a real challenge."
Vegetto dropped his smirk, dragging his right foot back into a defensive stance while Frieza nearly matched it, the two squaring off in the silent calm atmosphere of New Namek.