Chapter 78: Return of the King

All right, all right, everyone saying I dislike Gohan...I don't.

Just...everybody gets their ups and downs! Where else is a 'down' for Gohan but the start of the Buu saga, eh?

And in case this chapter does not make it obvious: No. Gohan was not a Super Saiyan 2 before. If he had been, he'd have won. If the fight had continued and his life had been threatened, he might have transformed, but as it is it stopped.

Finally, it appears I forgot to mention a very important point in my zenkai theory:

I tend to think of the zenkai as a mechanism for accelerating a saiyan's growth towards becoming a Super Saiyan. Hence, once they transform, it stops taking effect—partly due to the fact that it can no longer provide boosts of a significant amount compared to a Super Saiyan's power.

Cell did get a zenkai at post-SSJ levels, but he was A. not quite a saiyan, and B. regenerated from a single cell, about as close to death as you can get.

Anyway, hope that answers some questions. On with the chapter.

"...Piccolo."

"What tipped you off?" The malevolent Namekian jeered. His clothing was fully transfigured now, Nail's jacket replaced by the hauntingly familiar dark purple.

Raditz smirked. "What have we got to worry about? Piccolo had maybe a bit of power in reserve, but he's still somewhere close to Nail's level. We can handle him."

"It's not quite so simple..." Kaioshin said gravely, again the bearer of bad news. "Babidi's spell...it draws on the evil in a being's heart, seizes on it, and then amplifies their power in proportion to that evil..."

"You mean..." Goku asked anxiously, "...the more evil somebody is, the more powerful they get?"

"Yes...that is why petty thugs like the two humans he recruited only improved to a low level, whereas under Babidi's spell Dabura became far more than what he was before."

"Well, that isn't good," Gohan muttered. Goku nodded, glancing warily at Piccolo, who seemed content to watch them fret for the moment.

"What?" Kibito interjected. "What's the problem?"

"Piccolo was originally part of another Namek, hundreds of years ago," Gohan began, "but he sensed that there was darkness in his soul—"

"So he split in two," Launch took over, feeling that Gohan's explanation would be too long-winded to put up with. "He separated out the evil in him, and that part became Piccolo. And now he's got all the power of both halves, plus a third Namek, and now this..."

Kaioshin seemed to understand. "Oh, my...you mean...this Piccolo is a being formed out of pure darkness—comprised entirely of evil?"

"That's about it," Goku confirmed.

"This...is terrible...!" Kibito hissed. "A creature like that, under the influence of Babidi's magic—he could become unimaginably powerful! I know of no more terrible being other than Buu itself!"

Piccolo interrupted, striding towards them. "Yes, I've been wanting to test that." He raised one arm, clawed finger pointing at Goku. "You. I still owe you."

Goku stepped in front of the others. "I beat you three times, and you still want more?"

"This time will be different."

"I bet." Goku grunted, almost snapping into Super Saiyan. "Can't say I don't expect this from you...shall we?"

Piccolo made fists at his sides, keeping a level gaze on his long-time nemesis. "We'll see how long you can keep up that calm attitude."

A noise from behind interrupted Piccolo. The door slid open, and Dabura re-emerged. "As we thought, there's one of them you have a grudge with."

"You might say that..." Piccolo growled.

"We will have to work on your attitude later," Dabura sniffed. "But often the new ones need time to...break in. You crush your enemy, and I will attend to the rest. There are a lot of them, after all..."

"Do as you will," Piccolo said evenly.

There was a brief explosion of light and sound, followed by the now-familiar rush of magical teleportation and the party found themselves in the ruins of a small town.

"I see..." Kaioshin said slowly. "We're still near the ship. This is the area Babidi's troops destroyed before we arrived..." He turned his head away at the sight of a group of corpses, a dark look falling over his face.

Raditz moved slightly towards Dabura. "I think I know the real reason you came back..."

An amused expression played over Dabura's features. "You think so?"

"Yeah. You want to fight me, right? Not just hold us off in general. I keep getting in your way."

"That is true." The technically-dead saiyan laughed as Dabura summoned his sword again. "Oh, be patient! I'm not done."

"You will be," Dabura warned, raising his weapon.

"I think Gohan should finish his fight," Raditz continued, ignoring him. "What do you guys say?"

Gohan indicated himself. "Me?! You saw what happened last time!"

"I have to agree," Dabura said irritably. "This is no child's game. If he continues to fight, he will die."

"No..." Raditz cast a curious look Gohan's way. "Not if he uses his full power." He approached Gohan, turning his back on the demon. "Gohan—you discovered Super Saiyan 2 first. Show him."

"Uh...I really can't..." Gohan said quietly. "Sorry...I mean, I could maybe access it for a few seconds, but...fighting is another matter."

Hey. Gohan almost froze at the voice in his head—his father's. He glanced in Goku's direction, saw the slight smile, knew it for telepathy and not merely his imagination. Gohan...he's right. You can beat Dabura. Gohan didn't feel the need to reply yet-Goku had heard his earlier protests. I know it's hard. But...there's anger inside you, there's always been. Sleeping beneath the surface. So many enemies have found out, to their cost, that when you unlock that power-there's nothing that can stop you.

I don't want to—

It's not a sin to fight for good, son.

But I still don't know how! I can't just get angry on cue!

At that, his head began to burn again. Voices started to pour in. He knew them for what they were—dying screams. Last breaths. Not now! It's happening now, I don't need to see any more— He recognised a voice.

Videl. Another—Goten. More.

His mind went blank, rational thought vanishing for an eternal instant. One solitary notion cut its way through the void.

Is this the future?

Or just a future?

Dabura was unaware of all this. What he saw was Gohan double over, involuntarily going Super Saiyan. Then, on the verge of collapse, he seemd to recover his mental strength. His knees bent slightly. One fist pounded into the ground. His head rose slowly. A rumbling noise, like an approaching storm, rolled past Dabura's ears as if from a great distance. Something...changed...about the boy he was facing. Boy? No. More a man now. Odd. Why did I think that? What's different?

Raditz drew in a sharp breath. There it is.

"You wanted...full power?" Gohan slurred between clenched teeth. Super Saiyan 2 transformation completed, he attacked.

"Are you done?" Piccolo asked mockingly, having detected Goku's telepathic conversation with his son.

Goku nodded. "Yeah, thanks. All right, if we're gonna do this—" He raised his arms beside him, letting out a yelp of effort. "HYAAAAH!" An electric tang entered the feel of the air around him as his second-level, blue-gold aura ignited. "—I'll go all out from the start." Plus, if I can win quickly, Buu will get less of my energy.

"Seems you haven't been idle, Goku." Piccolo rolled his head from side to side, flexing his fingers. "You're a lot stronger than Cell was—easily powerful enough to destroy this entire solar system. Well...I relish the challenge. This fight's been a long time coming."

"Then get ready!" Lowering his head, Goku rushed Piccolo, feet pounding the road as his hypersonic charge built up momentum. He threw a straight jab at Piccolo's temple, aiming for a quick knock-out blow. However, Piccolo's hand shot up, blocking Goku's strike with his right arm and letting the shockwave of the impact blast the front off a building behind him. "You look surprised. You thought it'd be easy?"

Goku frowned, stepping back and raising his guard. "Damn...this is gonna take longer than I hoped..."

"I told you that you would suffer for letting me live," Piccolo said in a low voice. He shifted forwards slightly, then there came a blur of movement and Goku saw the heel flying at his face slightly too late. He jerked back, but it glanced off his chin, and he rolled with the blow, backflipping to the other side of the street.

Goku grabbed hold of a lamp-post to slow himself, and it came out of the ground in his hand. He swung it at Piccolo as the demonic fighter approached, but Piccolo ducked under the makeshift weapon. Goku discarded it, preparing an energy blast between his hands—but before he could fire, Piccolo vanished from his sight, phasing into view above and to the left of him.

Yelping in surprise, Goku was grabbed by Piccolo's extended arm and reeled in, straight into the path of the Namekian's fist. He twisted, trying to clear his head, and managed to strike a return blow, a knee strike to Piccolo's stomach. Piccolo leapt back, landing on a low rooftop, and Goku remained hanging in the air.

"There...I finally managed to land a hit." Goku's breathing was already heavy. Kaioshin was right...his power's been increased in proportion to his evil—pure evil...this is gonna take everything I've got.

Dabura had decided to finish the boy immediately, and had made an attempt to decapitate him. However, he found his sword wrestled from his hand and hurled away. Gohan's strength was simply unbelievable—Dabura could never have imagined such an increase. Dabura lashed out with his fists, now trying to smash his opponent's bones with brute force, but he found his every blow deflected. Gohan moved on to the attack, and Dabura had to push himself to the limits of his reaction time to avoid taking a crippling blow. And he got the feeling that Gohan still wasn't going all-out yet.

Watching the fight, Launch nodded approval. "There's his old strength back, and then some." Gohan was only throwing the occasional attack, an attempt to keep Dabura moving slowly backwards. For his part, Dabura couldn't land a single hit, finding each of his attacks swinging through thin air or glancing off iron-hard forearms.

"I...don't believe it..." Kibito barely said. "I must be dreaming. A mortal—and one so young—is overpowering the king of the demons!"

"Get used to it," Raditz said eagerly. "He hasn't just got stronger. His battle sense is back too...he's fighting like a martial artist, not a showman." So this is what your son can do if you push him too far, Goku.

Goku had lost track of Piccolo again. A flicker of movement registered, almost subconsciously. The saiyan spun, launching a barrage of ki blasts, chasing Piccolo's half-seen form. Piccolo continued to dodge, and Goku filled the air with lancing, arcing energy beams. Piccolo threaded between them, flying up to his opponent and driving home a backfist. Goku caught his second attack, however.

"Babidi..." he said, something dangerous creeping into his voice, "...shouldn't have brought us here. You know what effect all these dead innocents will have on me..."

Piccolo grunted dismissively. "You've never met any of them. What do they matter?"

"All life is precious—you never could understand that. But don't think your life is safe because of that—you've caused too much pain!" Goku shoved Piccolo away, drawing back his fist. "After all these years, you're going to answer for your crimes, Piccolo!" He dodged Piccolo's wild pre-emptive strike, punching the Namekian hard across the face, but received a jarring kick in return that dislodged him from his foothold, sending him crashing down through the multiple stories of the house they had stood on.

A beeping noise from the device at his side broke Babidi's reverie, so absorbed was he in the fights taking place. The source of the noise was the energy meter he'd used earlier to measure Raditz's power, now repurposed to indicate the amount of energy stored in Majin Buu's cocoon.

"Wha..." the wizard stared at the meter in disbelief. "It's...full already?! But the kid is handling Dabura now. Could it be...the other fight?" He focused with new eyes on the battle between Goku and Piccolo. "Such power...I would never have thought there'd have been this much on this whole planet, let alone generated by just a couple of fighters! Well, in any case...can't revive Buu in here. We need some more space..." His hands once more raised above his head, mystical energies swirling between his fingers.

Goku pulled himself up even as the house crumbled to dust around him. Blazing a trail of light through the debris, Piccolo barreled at him. Goku took the shoulder-charge head-on, then spun sideways, letting Piccolo fly past him and tripping him as he went. Piccolo rebounded off the ground one-handed, landing on his feet and turning to face his long-time nemesis.

Goku...how long we've hounded one another...I first became aware of your presence through a sickly wrenching in my gut...my servants, picked off one by one. As an unknown third party, you left your mark. Then, the first time I laid eyes on you, you surpassed my expectations for what a human could accomplish...I left you for dead, and still you hunted me...against all odds, you killed me...

Me? What am I saying? My father. You killed my father. That was when I was born.

Then...not only did you defeat me—you played fair, refused help, you chose to forgo advantages—finally, you showed me mercy! Twice! The second time even more insulting as I was defeated in a battle that should have been mine by rights...and would have been, had he not shown up. He shot an ugly look Raditz's way.

Goku, too, was feeling introspective. Piccolo...I didn't know your name for a while—I rushed off in a rage—but I despised you. That was the first time I'd fought for revenge; to deliberately kill, even. The monster that took Krillin's life. There was a strange release to it, at first, a sense that I'd accomplished something permanant. But that 'demon' was just a pawn of yours. And I soon realised that Krillin was still gone, and no amount of killing would change that.

Oh, I got to you, of course. How many of my friends had died by your hands, or your orders, before I stopped you?

When you reincarnated, I hoped you'd changed. You never seemed as bad as your first 'self'. You even grudgingly helped us to defend the Earth.

But as time went on, I grew increasingly aware that nothing had changed at all. You were just waiting for the right moment to strike.

And what better moment than when we all thought you were gone for good?

Another thought struck Goku, cutting off his musings. "Hey, you aren't still wearing weighted clothing, are you?" he asked warily, dreading the thought that Piccolo was about to hurl off his cape and increase his speed even further. Goku got the feeling he was fighting an uphill battle as it is.

"No, I didn't bother when I created these," Piccolo replied with disinterest. "There'd have been no point, anyway—a few tons, at this level of strength, wouldn't provide any challenge in training anymore."

Well, that's a relief at least. Goku assumed his fighting stance again.

Piccolo, battle-hunger lighting up his eyes, formed an energy sphere, preparing for battle. "Come at me."

Even as their combat resumed with just as much intensity as before, a strange sight materialised at the edge of the town. Babidi, standing next to an extremely large sphere, pink, bisected by a join down the middle, and covered in organic-looking veins.

Goku missed again, feeling concrete shatter around his fist, but Piccolo's return blow struck home, and was immediately followed by two more. Goku retreated, dodging back to avoid the next few attacks. I can't keep up! Everything I hit him with, he's giving it back several times over! Gotta try for a x10, and hope I don't miss.

He began to concentrate energy through his body, building it up even as he continued to defend himself. Finally, when it had reached its maximum, he gave a shout, his power jumping up in an instant and causing Piccolo to stop short, curious.

Goku waited until the last moment to begin moving his hands into the attack pose, giving Piccolo as little warning as he could. "Times-ten..."

Piccolo's eyes snapped open wide, and he began to turn, frantic to avoid the attack.

"...KAME...HAME..." Goku intoned, as Piccolo continued to flee. Then, just as it seemed Piccolo was going to be able to dodge, he turned a hundred and eighty degrees and let the attack fly in the opposite direction. "...HA!"

"Wha..." Piccolo was momentarily frozen, then, recognising the tactic, attempted to duck out of the way as Goku let the force of the blast propel him with a massive burst of speed at Piccolo in a full-bodied tackle. He wasn't quite fast enough, however, and Goku's leg struck him on the shoulder as he passed.

Staggering forwards, Piccolo looked up just in time to see the red-blue beam curving back around towards him—he'd completely forgotten that Goku could control the direction of his signature attack. He opened his mouth for a scream of frustration, but the ki blast engulfed him before he could make a noise.

Goku hung in the air, lowering his arms and finally breathing again. Seeing the blackened, twitching body of his enemy, he risked a half-smile and let himself entertain the notion of victory. That one took a lot out of me...still, I'd never have expected to beat Piccolo of all people that quickl—

His thoughts stopped halfway through the sentence, obliterated by a feeling not quite pain. Pain was trying to encompass the feeling, and doubtless would in a few minutes—if he was still alive—but for now, it couldn't quite suffice. So it was more of a distant feeling, a purely factual knowledge that he was in complete agony, than the feeling itself.

Losing the battle for consciousness, and his transformed state, Goku's head slumped forwards. In his fading vision, he saw a sight that took him a second to figure out, it looked so out of place.

After all, what was Piccolo's hand doing protruding from his abdomen like that, and covered in his blood?

The last sound that he heard before the blackness rushed up to envelop him were words that he didn't have time to try and understand:

"How kind it was of Tien to teach Nail his multi-form technique."

Piccolo slid his hand out, and then there was pain.

Gohan felt a wave of nausea at the sight. His rage had been slipping, in danger of receding back into his subconscious, but no longer.

The fight began to degenerate into a melee. Kaioshin noticed Babidi beginning to closely examine the large object beside him—Majin Buu's cocoon. Kaioshin made a beeline for the wizard, Kibito following on his heels, but Dabura broke away from Gohan and raced to intercept.

Gohan siezed the chance to charge Piccolo. "You...what do you think you're doing to my dad?!" He roared, but Piccolo contemptuously avoided his attack, punting him away. As the saiyan hybrid skidded back along the ground, Dabura noticed the opportunity, and knocking Kaioshin and Kibito flat with a double-handed kiai, he once again summoned his sword, leaping at Gohan and descending towards him, aiming to skewer him.

Raditz flew in from beside the demon, turning Super Saiyan 2 effortlessly mid-flight and kicking Dabura through a row of houses. He drew his own sword and rushed off after his new opponent. "You wanted to fight me? Then let's go!"

Gohan stood, glaring at Piccolo, but he couldn't ignore his father's critical condition. "Kibito!" he shouted. "Help him!"

Kibito turned to Kaioshin, who shook his head. "Buu could be released at any moment! We must hurry—"

"Help him or I'll make you, damn it!" Gohan snarled, firing a ki blast from his eyes at the god's feet and detonating it just short of him. Fearfully, Kibito ran to Goku's side, but Piccolo intercepted, standing between them.

"Now, don't go undoing all the hard work that I just did," he jeered.

Babidi paled as Kaioshin approached him, Launch running up to support him. "Piccolo! I need a few moments more of preparation to release Buu! Help me!"

"What? No," Piccolo said offhandedly, casting an idle glance to Goku's bleeding, unmoving body.

"W...What are you saying?" Babidi hissed. "I order you to protect me! You allowed me to possess you—you cannot resist my commands!"

"I'm changing the deal," Piccolo muttered. "I'm not moving until this man is beyond help-and his brother is next..."

"D-Don't give me that!" Babidi clenched his fists, sending Piccolo a magical compulsion to obey. "Your personal vendetta is meaningless to me!" All others on the battlefield were entranced by this strange drama. Babidi's hands glowed slightly, and Piccolo grunted in pain, bending as if under some immense weight. He put one hand on the floor to steady himself. His mind, it seemed, was gone, being overpowered by a machine, a mechanism for serving the wizard like Dabura and the rest had become.

He felt himself slipping—but something remained. A solid bastion within his mind, untouched by the ravages of Babidi's spell. He forced words to form, gving shape to his resistance.

"You...you think you can give me orders?

You don't know who I am, or where I've come from.

You can't command me...I command...I rule...I am the Demon King Piccolo!" His words rang with conviction. "I was born to lead, not to serve! Least of all to some snivelling magician!" He made himself stand, his power burning around him. "I BOW TO NO-ONE!"

This last effort broke Babidi's hold, the wizard even feeling a slight physical shock—feedback from his overloaded spell. "What...happened?" He resisted my orders...that's never happened before! What mighty willpower!

Another, more physical battle was in progress, high above the town.

Raditz didn't give an inch, laying into Dabura with startling aggression. His strikes were as fast as they were unpredictable. At least this time, Dabura was ready to fight another sword-wielder, and his weapon wasn't instantly destroyed by the katchin blade. The clanging of their swords meeting rose to such a high frequency that it blended into a monotonous drone, a continuous shriek of metal warring against metal.

Finally, Dabura slowed slightly, made an error. Raditz parried, countering instantly. Dabura moved to block, but found he'd reacted to a mere feint, and Raditz's attack instantaneously changed direction. His sword danced through the air, piercing Dabura's sword arm just above the elbow. The demon cried out, jerking away and pulling himself off the blade, but found he'd dropped his own weapon in the process. He was about to summon another when Raditz vanished, teleporting above him using Instant Transmission and bringing the hilt of his sword down on Dabura's head. Dabura dropped, stunned, to the pavement below, throwing out a vast cobweb of cracks beneath him.

Raditz landed gracefully behind him, silently sheathing his sword. "One down." His calm demeanour, however, was only skin-deep. Now that he's out the way...my priorities are clear.

Majin Buu can wait.

Piccolo stood resolutely between Kibito and the dying saiyan. "Don't worry. In a few seconds, there won't be anything to worry about..." A noise like the rushing of air, barely noticeable but to his sensitive Namekian ears, alerted Piccolo. He turned, seeing Raditz standing with Goku's body in his arms. The older brother's face was still calm, but deep hatred burned in his eyes.

"I'll be back for you," he promised, then vanished with Instant Transmission.

Piccolo was about to scream in frustration, when an exuberant cackle from Babidi interrupted him. "Yes!" The wizard screamed. "Yes! It's complete, it's finally ready! Majin Buu shall live again! I've started the process now, you cannot stop it!"

The anger contorting Piccolo's features washed away, instantly replaced with a cunning smile.

Babidi was about to continue his celebrations, when a hand about his neck cut off his breathing and hoisted him into the air.

"Can't cast spells if you can't speak, eh?" Piccolo said slyly. "Now, you're going to do exactly as I say. Majin Buu is a magically-created creature, is it not?" Babidi nodded. "A creature of pure evil, even?" Another nod. "Interesting." He paused, letting Babidi splutter in vain for breath. "Right. I'm going to release you, and you're going to cast the spell you used on me...on Majin Buu." He saw the confused look in the wizard's eyes. "No doubt you think it's impossible, it won't work. Well, I'm just curious like that."

"It was because of what I said..." Kaioshin realised.

"Yes, that's right." Piccolo flashed a fanged grin the deity's way. "You said you know of no being more evil than me—other than Buu. And the spell empowers someone based on the evil in their heart..."

Kibito looked grave. "But-there is no way of knowing what effect it will have on a being like Buu, already born out of similar magics itself." Piccolo, however, has nothing to lose if it fails.

Piccolo set Babidi down. "If you do anything else—raise a hand towards me, anything but what I have instructed—I will kill you faster than you can speak a syllable. Now, do it."

"Gohan, stop him!" Kaioshin pleaded. Kibito is right, the consequences are completely unknown. Buu could be destroyed...or become a thousand times more terrible! He scarcely had to ask—Gohan was already headed for Piccolo while the demon's attention was temporarily diverted.

Piccolo absent-mindedly flicked his hand out, launching a kiai at Gohan. But he had underestimated the young warrior—instead of being blasted away, Gohan crashed straight through the wave of force, barely breaking stride, and collided with Piccolo. The two went down in a tangle of limbs, and emerged with Gohan grappling with Piccolo from behind, struggling to keep him immobile.

Babidi considered his options. Now, he can't kill me so easily...

But doubtless he will overcome this child, and if I do not do as he commands he will become aggressive. He's proven his prowess already. And I can't just try and kill Piccolo now while he's occupied, or these three will be free to kill me before Buu is released.

I suppose...I have no choice.

Gritting his teeth and screwing his eyes shut, he cast the spell.

Raditz, raising two fingers to his forehead to return, having delivered Goku to Dende for healing, gave a cry of shock. "Too late! Buu's coming out!"

Goku, a ragged hole in his gi but his flesh repaired, ran up behind him. "Wait up a sec!" He placed his hand on his older brother's shoulder. "Okay, go!"

"Don't have to tell me."

Piccolo had managed to throw Gohan off, and the Super Saiyan was preparing to attack again when Buu's cocoon began to emit great gouts steam. "I'll destroy it!" Gohan decided, throwing a two-handed energy bolt at the sphere. However, at that instant it cracked in half, and the blast passed between the two parts, exploding harmlessly a mile or two behind.

From within the cocoon an enormous cloud of pink smoke rolled forth, slowly dissipating in wisps and clumps. Within it...slowly emerging from the smoke...

Nothing.

The cocoon was empty.

Babidi stared, wide-eyed, mouth opening and closing a few times silently. He sank to his knees, feeling the weight of all his fruitless years of searching bear down on him. All this time...for nothing? All my life I have spent in pursuit of this one goal...

He got no farther than that—Piccolo blasted him to atoms with a pair of explosive eye beams. He then turned his attention back to the others. "Finally. That runt was really starting to grate on my nerves."

A small noise, a shimmer of displaced air, and Raditz and Goku had returned. "You just never stop, do you?" Goku asked. "What was the point of all that?"

"I don't really know," Piccolo admitted. "It just seemed like a good idea at the time. Shame. I would have liked to see Buu, especially the effects of that spell on him." I guess I'll just have to kill them all myself. No great loss.

There was a long pause, after which Raditz raised his head towards the sky, and said slowly, "You might not be disappointed."

"What are you—" Piccolo stopped, turning his eyes up to whatever Raditz was looking at. Quickly, the others did the same.

The cloud of pink smoke that had been released from Buu's cocoon was still there, hanging high over there

Far from dissipating, in fact, it was coalescing. Drawing together. Solidifying.

Something was emerging.

One of the joys of this kind of writing (i.e. that I'm not making money on) is that I can call my chapters whatever the hell I want.

FAQ: Why didn't Gohan go Super Saiyan 2 from the start?

A: Because it's hard for him to use in battle, he hasn't trained to control it like the others. He didn't go SSJ2 in canon against Dabura and Buu for the same reason.

Q: I love it how pretty much everyone just told Babidi to STFU and get out of their heads, most entertaining. And Goku, your true nature didn't jump off a cliff, it fell into a ravine and cracked it's head, Silly Goku, get your stories straight. Oh boy, Piccolo, and unlike in cannon, this one is bad to the bone, he looks cool though what with his turban and cape and stuff.

A: Well, you can hardly expect him to remember it, he did suffer brain damage...

...Hey, does that make him legally mentally handicapped? Does he get government benefits for that?

Anyway. Interesting choice of words with Piccolo. I shall now try reading his dialogue with 'Bad to the Bone' playing.

Q: You know I've realise but going by you're theory on Zenkais that BTtL super perfect cell would be weaker then in canon.

A: Quite possibly! Though I hadn't thought of this theory when writing that part.

If I had, I probably would've given Cell a LSSJ-like green aura instead of an SSJ2-like one, though there wouldn't have been any noticeable story difference, since he was weaker than an SSJ2 either way. Still, it would've been pretty cool, huh?

Q: [chapter 18 review] i usually leave these at the end of the chapter but heres the thing goku and freizas power on namik was 500,000,000 agensed 450,000,000 so that would mean radiz and cooler are weaker then the ones from the origanal fight so yeah thats a thing

A: What? Where did you get those numbers from? Please provide evidence.

And now, the moment four of you have been waiting for:

Dr. Space, M.D.

('M.D.' stands for 'Maybe Delusional', by the way.)

Okay, so this week I'm going to talk about power levels in the Frieza saga (instantly about half the audience turns off).

First off: the Daizenshuu. Frankly, the Daizenshuu is not reliable by any means. There's no evidence for any of their numbers other than a general 'eh, that sounds about right'. So they're not unfeasible, just not really accurate. And no, by the way, Akira Toriyama did not come up with those numbers, so don't go waving that around.

Now, if we're thinking of fan-made power levels, many of you might point to Bringer of Death. Well, that's all well and good, but they use the Daizenshuu's Frieza saga numbers as a starting point to base their logical system off of, and today I'm here to dispute those numbers. Not to knock Bringer of Death, they do an excellent job—I'm just saying, please don't say stuff like "ugh, why are you bothering when they already worked out a great system?" I think the only novel conclusion I arrive at that they already have is for Frieza's third form; it diverges after that.

Okay? Are we good?

Right.

The last reasonable-to-assume-is-correct power level in the series is Frieza's second form, at 'over one million'. All right, all right, technically the last one is when a random soldier scanned Trunks, but that isn't helpful since he was suppressing his ki so frankly shut up, smartass.

Jeez, some people. Anyway. I'm going to put Frieza, form 2, at around 1 million, as if it was significantly higher than a million, he probably would have mentioned it, so it's likely to be something like 1.00873 million, in which case I can just round to a million and have a much easier time working with it.

Piccolo never fought with Frieza's second form with them both going all-out, as once Piccolo removed his weights, Frieza transformed again. However, the fact that he felt the need implies that Piccolo was at least equal to his second form, so:

Frieza 2nd form: 1 million

Piccolo: At least 1 million

Now, onto Frieza's third and fourth forms.

Remember my zenkai talk? Specifically, Vegeta's final zenkai before fighting Frieza? I mentioned that if Frieza's fourth form had had the same power increase progression as the other three, Vegeta could've won, but the increase was much greater (which makes sense as the fourth was Frieza's true form).

So in order for him to form such a theory, there was probably a logical power progression from one form to the next.

If form 1 was 530,000, and form 2 was just over a million, then either it's being doubled or it's a +500,000 boost. And whichever it was, Vegeta must have sensed the same increase from Frieza's third form.

Now, I reckon it'd be a lot easier to sense that 'hey, his power went up by the same amount both times' than 'hey, his power doubled both times'! In the latter case, he might just think 'it went up by different amounts, I can't see a pattern'.

So, I'm going with +500,000. Giving us:

Frieza 3rd form: 1.5 million

And therefore:

Piccolo: Between 1 million and 1.5 million

Vegeta therefore, it seems, thought Frieza's fourth form would have a power level of about 2 million. Now here's where I will use an idea of Bringer of Death's: The 10% rule. That being that to have a significant advantage over an opponent, you have to have at least a 10% power level advantage over them. They explain it a lot better than I could, so if you want to know their reasoning, check out their chapter 50 special, but if you can't be bothered, just...trust me, it makes sense. So thanks, guys! That's a really helpful rule.

Because with that, we can take a look at Vegeta around the point of his zenkai. He clearly thought he'd be able to fight Frieza, beat him even, so we can assume that his power was over 2 million. But he wasn't all "haha, I shall crush Frieza with a single blow!" He was more...hopefully/optimistically confident, shall we say. Hence, his power was probably only just around the 10% advantage margin which would allow him to beat what he thought Frieza's fourth form would be like.

Vegeta: 2.2 million

Now, as we know, he was wrong. Frieza was stronger, even with the supressed level of power he used to fight Vegeta and Goku. But how much stronger? Vegeta didn't land a single hit, even his strongest ki blast was deflected, so I think it was above 2.32 million (the necessary 10%). But not that much above it-Vegeta could see Frieza moving and attacking a couple of times, which the others completely failed to do. So, maybe something like this:

Frieza (supressed): 2.5 million

And since Goku was about equal to Frieza at first...

Goku: 2.5 million

So then we get to Frieza powering up to 50%, and stopping Goku's Kaioken x20 attack. He's superficially damaged, but not hurt at all, so he must have been at least at the 10% advantage mark; however, he was seriously worried, and even remarks "That was close." So I put his advantage at right around the minimum.

Goku (Kaioken x20): 50 million

Frieza (50%): 55 million

From there, it's pretty easy to arrive at Frieza's full power, and Goku as a Super Saiyan was roughly equal to him until Frieza began to tire out.

Frieza (100%): 110 million

Goku (Super Saiyan): 110 million

(We can also use these numbers to determine that by this system, Frieza was using 2 and a bit percent power at first when fighting Goku and Vegeta. I mean, most of us know that "one percent" was only a dub line and not really canon, so I got curious as to how much exactly he was using by my numbers. By the Daizenshuu's numbers, in case anybody was curious, it's exactly 2.5 percent if we assume he was using the same power as Goku to start with, which to be fair I know some people disagree with.)

That's about as far as I'm going to go—the further on in the series I conjecture, the more questionable these estimates become. Note that even at this point, if you disagree, that's fine; I'm not claiming to be 'right'. There is no right answer. These are just some ideas I've had, which I hope are pretty logical.

Anyway, yes, this clashes with the power levels I gave out much earlier, stating that Raditz as a Super Saiyan on Namek was at 150 million, since I hadn't yet come up with this theory.

Well, according to this theory, he'd be 110 million as well, and Cooler would be something like 115 to 120 million, if I had to guess. So. The moral of the story, I suppose, is take any and all power levels you hear, mine included, with a pinch of salt.