here comes the boy~~~
It's ok if I steal chapter titles from the show as long as I acknowledge it as such
Love how I already typed out my responses to da reviews, but even though I know I saved, like twice, FFN glitched and now I have to type them again
thewittywhy: Thanks lol, it's fun to write
And nah, I ain't messing with the genetics. Besides, I have different plans for Nappa
And thanks ^.^ character interactions are the structural beams of the story since I'm not great at action scenes. Rather unfortunate for a DBZ fic
xavex: Raditz been through a bit. And yeah, dancing through the future timeline's been interesting. I more or less know where it's going, but am also rather glad this fic isn't gonna focus on it much. I have a way to go into it in story, while also not needing it to be super detailed like a standard chapter
TheRangerBoy: truly the cornerstone of this fic
OnTheTidesOfEvermore: and more you shall receive
I should have been scared. Or worried. Or concerned. Or anything but filled with anticipation.
For a brief moment the thought of what would happen if it were Goku who showed up instead of Trunks. Or if it was someone besides Trunks. Or if I messed things up so bad that no one showed up.
I dismissed those thoughts, there was no point in worrying about something I couldn't change now.
Instead, the thought of Trunks showing up filled me with anticipation. Almost giddiness. It wasn't my fault. Trunks was one of my favorites, mostly due to the scene of him yeeting Frieza. It was the first episode of the show I ever watched, it had a special amount of nostalgia.
Of course, my other favorites were Piccolo, who I get to see often anyway. And Gohan- which- uh- yeah.
So finally getting to see Trunks, specifically of the Future variety, was- it was exciting. Exciting in a way that nothing has been in this world so far, since any time anything happens it's always trouble.
Especially since, if all goes well, I don't have to fight. That's always a nice thing.
I had to keep in mind and remind myself to keep pace with Raditz. It was an odd pace, faster than I could go with Ocari, but nowhere close to my top speed. I opted to risk going too slow than too fast. I felt like going too fast and then cutting my speed to match him would only antagonize him, right when he was starting to act vaguely sociable. Didn't change the energy crawling under my skin wanting to get there as fast as physically possible.
I did keep somewhat of an eye on him, however, or kept a sense of his energy since looking back at him often would have been suspicious and obvious. He was clearly a flight risk, and I wasn't exactly sure what I'd do if he did take off. I mean, I couldn't blame him for not wanting to be around Frieza, but like, him not being there when Goku got back also felt, wrong somehow.
He didn't do anything more than mutter to himself and glare at anything we passed though so my worries were for naught.
Eventually, Krillin caught up. he hesitated seeing Raditz but flew in stride with me regardless.
Krillin didn't even have time to say a greeting before Raditz was barking at him, "Hey you! Tell the brat he's wrong and that it isn't Frieza who's shown up!"
"My name isn't you," Krillin said, voice dry.
"Whatever, just answer."
"Feels like Frieza to me. I should know, I was one of the ones fighting him. And if it didn't, Gohan's probably a better sensor than I am so I'd take his word first."
If it were possible, Raditz scowled even more, "then why are you also going that way?"
"Well, we can't just let Frieza do whatever he wants!"
Raditz very much looked like he wanted to say why not. Instead, he scoffed, "is everyone on this planet an idiot?"
"Guess so."
A silence fell over as we flew. That went, well. Or at least not bad. Krillin was being a bit, a lot, drier than usual in how he spoke but between the stress of Frieza and I think this is the first time he and Raditz interacted? Unless they crossed paths at Capsule Corp that I'm not aware of. It's not impossible, It'd hardly be out of character for Krillin to visit.
It didn't take long to reach our apparent destination, and we were the last ones there.
Of course, the first thing I noticed was Vegeta and the fact that he was wearing, what I must admit, is the best shirt in this entire series. I will take no arguments.
"Oh look even better, now the-" Vegeta was trying to be sarcastic but did a double-take, "Ra-" I could see the gears turning in his head for a moment, "…well who wasted a wish to bring the Runt back to life?"
"Who wasted nine months just to give birth to you?" I didn't have to turn my head to see Raditz's eyes bug out at my words, completely overshadowing any reaction he could have had to Vegeta.
Vegeta, however, was far more used to my quips and this not particularly surprised, apparently even past the point of threats for them, "well I'd love to introduce you, but unfortunately she's dead."
"Just, like your planet."
I didn't get to see just how far above threats he was since I was immediately snatched up by the back of my cloak, "the hell is wrong with you?" Raditz hissed.
"Hm? That? That was barely playground banter. C'mon I borderline did a "your mom" joke."
"A what? Never mind, just, keep your mouth shut."
"T'aw if I didn't know any better I'd say you cared!"
"No," Raditz more shoved me towards the ground than dropped me, "I'm just in range if he happened to attack you for it."
"Well, as entertaining as that was…I think, we're off topic…" Yamcha trailed in, "hey Gohan, any word from Goku?"
"Huh? Oh, no."
My words seemed to deflate the group, or at least the members of the group that weren't too prideful to show they cared.
I looked over the group properly, it was what I remembered from canon, with the obvious addition of Nappa, and now Raditz, and-
Ocari?
I knew Bulma would be here from canon, but standing by her side, if slightly behind her, was, in fact, Ocari.
"Ocari?" I cleared the distance between us, "what are you doing here?"
The boy's eyes lowered, almost glaring at the ground, "I just- I felt the terrible energy from Namek and I-"
"Then you know it's dangerous here! You shouldn't be-"
"I couldn't just sit aside while another home was destroyed! I- I couldn't- could not-"
And what a position that put me in, because how could I possibly turn him away after that? How could I in general? He's too young? Technically, I'd be younger than he was. Too weak? If that didn't feel condescending in general, it'd also ignore the fact that Bulma was here. And obviously I wasn't going to turn her away.
"I can stay at least until something bad happens? I can take Miss Bulma away from here at least?" It felt strange, like he was asking for permission. Which was odd when he was still, and likely would always be, slightly taller than I was.
I don't know why I was even worried. There wasn't even supposed to be a fight here. Or at least not one we were supposed to be involved in.
I sighed, "alright, you can get Bulma away from here if something goes wrong," and that too felt like I was giving permission. Which I was. Why was I giving permission to a kid who was supposed to be older than me?
"HE'S HERE!" Thankfully my minor crisis was cut off by Piccolo's announcement.
Ha. Frieza showing up was a "thankfully" now. I, should probably be more concerned about this.
Anyway-
I watched as Frieza's ship descended from the clouds, far bigger than anything I'd seen. It flew overhead and landed a fair distance away.
King Cold's ship, I corrected myself. It was the same style as Frieza's, but much bigger.
Vegeta immediately started barking orders to suppress our energies.
Kinda tempted not to out of spite-
Oh, huh. Raditz couldn't suppress his Ki could he? But then, what was his Power Level? 1500? At most? Sure he'd stick out among the average Earthlings, anyone over 100 would raise some eyebrows, but it's not exactly what Frieza would be looking for either.
Whether Vegeta realized this, or just didn't want to interact with Raditz, he didn't mention anything.
I felt a hand on my shoulder.
I looked up to see Piccolo, "you ready?" He asked.
"Huh, oh, yeah sure," I grimaced at my own response. Piccolo frowned, but didn't call me out on my, distracted at best, unconcerned at worst, response.
It didn't really matter though, since Vegeta was back to barking orders like anyone cared what he said and my annoyance was quite believable.
But we were finally moving towards Frieza's ship and I could hardly complain about that.
With every step, I had to consciously keep myself calm, and ignore the giddy feeling at the concept of seeing Future Trunks.
I kept my senses trained, not on Frieza, but on his men, as I knew that was who was first to fall to Trunks's blade.
I bounced up cliffs and ledges, aware that I was almost conspicuously up front. Not first, Vegeta bounced between that role and stopping to yell at somebody.
Piccolo took second, not caring to preserve anyone's pride, but not wanting to deal with Vegeta either. And Tien. Pretty sure Tien just wanted to spite Vegeta and stay ahead of Nappa.
And then.
Several of Frieza's men blipped from existence.
It was faint but I felt a new presence standing near the base of Frieza's ship. Once I had never felt before.
I had to fight a smile from my face as I actively passed up Tien and almost passed Piccolo.
-Frieza-
"I've always so enjoyed the last few moments before lying a planet to waste."
Father swirled a glass of wine in his palm as he spoke. Frieza would have one of his own, but the doctors insisted against it. That until his healing was complete, he was not to drink spirits of any kind as they'd react poorly to the nanobots circling his veins, healing every nook and cranny that that insolent monkey-!
Of course, normally Frieza wouldn't care to listen to what those pesky little- at most he may limit his intake to perhaps a single glass, but Father had insisted, and since it was his personal doctors who had, repaired him, because healed is not the word applicable, he supposed he would listen.
Yes repaired. Because that sickening monkey couldn't just die as he was supposed to, no, he had to put up a fight and take several of Frieza's limbs with him. His left leg was halved. His right arm cut between the wrist and elbow. Most of his tail had been severed. In most cases, this would not have been an issue. His Father had the absolute best medical care one could hope for, however as his severed limbs were destroyed with the worthless planet, the best that could be offered were these awful bionics that chaffed against his skin.
Hmm, this planet was supposed to have Dragon Balls, was it not? Perhaps he will wish his limbs back properly.
After, he eliminates all life on this wretched ball of dirt, of course.
"I am quite anxious to meet this, Sayain. After all, I've heard so much about him, one could hardly blame me," father spoke, and Frieza's eyes narrowed at the planet, literally named after dirt. How can he insultingly call it dirt if that's literally what the planet was called-
But even so, of course, after all that filthy Sayain Monkey couldn't just roll over and die like he was supposed to. Couldn't just disintegrate on the exploding planet and die, burning for his eternity.
No, he somehow managed to get off that planet and hide away. Somewhere Frieza could not find. But reports showed one of his Ginyu's space pods heading to Earth and it wasn't exactly hard to piece together what that meant.
Perhaps he'd use a wish to bring back the captain. Assuming he got more than one, that is. Captain Ginyu was a good underling. Did what was asked of him with enthusiasm. Never going out of line. Everything one could ask for.
That Monkey might have had a head start but Father's ship was much faster. They quickly outpaced and were set to arrive exactly three hours before the monkey.
That's not to say he'd do anything different if the monkey hadn't survived. Perhaps he'd have waited another month, until the medics gave the clear and he'd have no restrictions, but he'd still have come to the planet Earth regardless. That monkey made a fool of him. Everything he holds dear deserves to die.
It was almost a shame, as far out of the way as it was, the planet itself was decent. It would sell rather well on the market, after a bit of terraforming. Unfortunately, as an example to any who would stand against him, it must be reduced to rubble.
"I still don't see why we can't just blow up the planet from here and be done with it."
"Because, Father, I must get my revenge properly. You taught me that much. Why I can't wait to see that pitiful monkey's face when its friends are all lined up at its feet, no more than corpses."
Frieza would have it no other way. He had the faces from Namek to memory, he'd be able to recognize them, assuming there was enough left to recognize.
Perhaps he'd keep the baby monkey alive, and kill it in front of its father. Yes, that is what he'll do. What perfect helplessness, to know his child was so close but unable to save it in time.
Then in either grief or rage, the monkey would be much easier to kill, with no rational thought guiding his battle. He'd be able to defeat the monkey even without his father's help,
And then he can put this whole chapter behind him. He can return to his prior life, with the only evidence of this shebackle being the bionic enhancements. Perhaps he will create an heir of his own, one to raise and spoil just as Father had done for him.
But before any of that came this.
The ship landed, crushing any stray rocks it may have encountered.
He ordered all his men out as he and his father exited. He would love to make a game of this, but unfortunately, the monkey was only three hours away, it's have to be quick work. To at least raze most of the planet. The lack of decorum disappointed Frieza, but what can you do really.
He dug into the ground with his bionic foot. A rocky plain. The planet has a fair bit of biodiversity, why did they have to land somewhere so, dusty?
"How, quaint," he commented.
"Yes yes, can we hurry this up? I'd hate to be on this mudball for any longer than necessary," his father said to him.
Frieza held back from rolling his eyes. Honestly, Father rarely left the capital anymore, if he didn't know any better, he'd say Father had gone soft in his old age.
Mudball though, while it doesn't quite work for this particular area they'd landed in, in general, that might work for an insult to the planet. It was largely water after all.
Regardless, he ordered his men off, to kill as many earthlings as they can. A simple job for the grunts, few earthlings even reached a pitiful power level of ten.
And then the first who set out were little more than a pile of limbs.
Well, that doesn't seem right.
Frieza looked towards the front of his shop to see a new figure standing there.
Perhaps Earth does have a fighter that's worth glancing at.
He didn't recognize this Earthling, so it was not one from Namek. One of his surviving grunts mentioned a power level of five.
Interesting. Power suppression must be a common skill among Earth's fighters then. To the extent that he should be concerned about sending in his grunts though? He doubted it, but it might be best to keep an eye on the first few rounds of them.
After, taking care of this one, that is.
He took a moment to commit its face to memory. Whether to kill or recruit, he wouldn't want this one to get away.
Purple hair and blue eyes seemed defining enough, but he wasn't sure how common they were among Earthlings either. This Earthling seemed to have similar features to a Sayain's by which standard, it would be male. Standard build for a Sayain, not that it was sure to tell under its clothes, too casual and clean to be worn by the average Sayain.
He was obviously not a Sayain, however. Obvious enough by the purple hair. Although possible for half breeds to exist, proven by the baby monkey on Namek, there's no way one could exist in the timeframe so that a grown one could be standing here.
"Ah, you must be Frieza," he spoke and Frieza frowned.
"It's Freeza," he corrected.
The Earthling frowned and took out a piece of paper, "my teacher spells it with an 'I'"
Such insolence- speaking back to- "well obviously, your teacher is wrong," he said, with barely restrained anger.
The earthling looked between his paper and him, skeptical, "no, I think I'll take her word over yours. Though it could be pronounced…"
Kill then. Definitely killing this one. The nerve to speak back- to think he knows better about his own name!
Who was this teacher he speaks of? How would she know of him? There were no females, from what he could tell, on Namek. None that would have been close enough to claim any knowledge about him. The only one who he couldn't claim as male or female was the baby monkey. It was impossible to tell while they were young. But that one was hardly old enough to be called a teacher.
Oh who cares. He'll just kill this one, and his supposed teacher will inevitably fall when he razes the planet.
The boy didn't seem to understand the severity of the situation he walked himself into however as he simply took out another piece of paper and began reading it.
He mumbled the words as he looked through it, "You see I'm not the average Sayain warrior- oh I'm not reading this!" The boy apparently gave up on the papers as he crumpled them and returned them to his pocket.
What was that? Was he now actually claiming to be a Sayain? Or was it that teacher of his, knowing of their existence and, what? Trying to bluff him out? As if he would be intimidated by the mere mentioning of a Sayain. That monkey on Namek was a fluke and trying to bluff him out with it is worth no less than death.
"Alright, you get the cliff notes version," the boy announced, "I'm a Super Sayain, and you're going to die."
And Frieza had to resist the urge to roll his eyes. Honestly, he had heard enough of it from Vegeta, now this, definitely not a Sayain, was also claiming to be one? Please.
"Well aren't you an arrogant little thing," Frieza regained composure, "perhaps out of whatever howl you crawled out from you'd be considered strong, but it's hardly worth my time."
He ordered the remaining grunts to attack. The first one to step up once again checked his power level at five. Redundant. He fired his designated blaster at the boy.
The boy deflected the blasts without losing a step.
The earthling then took advantage of the grunt's shock to strike him and send him flying against Father's ship. Dead or unconscious, Frieza couldn't care less.
"Well, this one does seem to have some bite to him."
The rest of the grunts charged at once, and we're just as quickly cut down.
Except for one that is, the worthless fool was left with little armor as it was sliced apart by the Earthling's sword. He backed away, and such cowardice could not be tolerated in his crew, let alone his father's.
So Frieza went ahead and finished the job the young earthling started and killed the coward with a simple hand through the chest.
Quick and decisive. Yes, he thinks he will stick with that from now on. Toying with his opponents was fun, but that was the reason that Monkey had managed to get the better of him.
"I must admit, I'm impressed," Frieza commented. There is never any harm in admitting such things. At the very least it would make one's opponent overconfident in their actions. And if it's one he wanted to recruit, it'd make it much easier. Not that it was necessary, a few threats was all that last one took, but sometimes it was nice to have more, loyal underlings.
Like Ginyu. He almost misses Ginyu. He would never say that out loud, of course.
The earthling, however, was unmoved. He needed to be knocked down some pegs, immediately.
But now he was out of grunts to throw at the boy, and obviously, he wasn't going to ask his father to fight.
So Frieza's turn it was.
"Let me offer you a bit of advice, boy. Those who are overconfident will find their place kneeling at my feet."
"Thanks. Let me offer you some advice. You're going to die."
The line fell rather flat.
"Perhaps you should go back to those pre-written scripts."
The boy frowned, "oh whatever."
And he began, just yelling. No words, just noise.
Honestly, he could almost ignore the impossibility and believe he was a Sayain. They were always so, loud. Almost. That is.
There was a spark and his hair lit up in a golden glow.
Huh, well that was a new one. Some kind of transformation? It didn't change much if it was. Was it purely a cosmetic change to aid in his bluff? Or did it truly make him stronger?
No matter. It's not like it'd really make a difference in the long run.
The boy would be dead at his feet in mere moments
Ha, he thought.
*calls myself out on spelling Frieza's name wrong* *continues spelling it wrong*
So, During the Namek Saga, at some point I responded to a comment saying that I wouldn't be doing a Frieza POV, obviously I changed my mind. It was kinda a last-minute change, as I wanted Trunks's entrance written, but didn't want to do a Trunk's POV because I'd have to be careful to dance around some topics, which would feel awkward. So Frieza it was. It was interesting to write. Was it the best ever written? Probably not, but it served its purpose, which is what's important. Got to sneak in a reference or two to boot