On another plane of existence some time before, King Kai stood apprehensive, watching the fight with Frieza's second form take place and mumbling nervously to himself while Roshi and Chiaotzu paused in their training to observe their new teacher. Suddenly, however, he gasped in surprise.
"Ah, yes, I forgot! The Namekians summoned their Dragon God!"
At this, Roshi and Chiaotzu's eyes widened.
"What did they wish for?" Roshi asked. King Kai scratched his head for a second before remembering.
"I believe they wished to teleport everyone but those who would stay and fight to Earth!" King Kai replied before an idea struck him, and he hesitated before shrugging his shoulders. "Not much I can do as a spectator to Goku's latest grudge match. But as for these Namekians..." he said as he shifted his telepathic focus away from Namek and towards the planet Earth, attempting to locate them before finally zeroing in on their location: a forest just outside of West City.
Bulma and the villagers milled about in confusion for a moment, getting their bearings and taking note of the bodies which surrounded them, before the Namekian Dragon Balls landed nearby, swiftly reactivating and summoning the giant figure of Porunga once more, who looked down upon the others with slight irritation.
"THERE ARE STILL TWO MORE WISHES, YOU KNOW. I DON'T HAVE ALL DAY," the dragon replied indignantly, causing the villagers and Bulma to take a step back in apprehension.
"Ah! Uh, right!" the villager who had summoned Porunga said nervously, before pausing. "Remind me, did the one called Roshi wish to be revived?"
"Not as of yet, no."
The villager leaped back in shock. "AH! W-who is this?!" The others looked on in confusion at the villager's antics. Roshi chuckled.
"Right, sorry about that. Name's Roshi." The villager's eyes widened in understanding. "Say, while I've got you here, you're planning on reviving Chiaotzu, right?"
The villager calmed down somewhat, adjusting to his strange circumstances. "Um, that's correct."
"Excellent. Please proceed immediately."
The villager nodded, before a question came to his mind. "Wait, what about the third wish?"
"Oh, right, you have three," Roshi said before muttering something and momentarily breaking the connection. "Uh...either of you have any suggestions?"
"Hm...I'm not quite sure what could help the fighters on Namek at this point," King Kai replied as he turned his attention back to the fight. "Perhaps we could teleport Frieza to another planet?"
"Hm...Goku would hate that, although we could easily teleport the rest of them here. But that could put Goku in danger if Frieza's more than he can chew..."
"Maybe we could make them immortal?" Chiaotzu chimed in.
"Can wishes for immortality even work on groups?" Roshi asked, to which the others shrugged.
"Well, in any event, making Goku or Gohan immortal would likely negate the advantage of the Saiyan zenkai," King Kai mused. "All of the others are too weak at this point to do much against Frieza even if they were immortal. The only one who might...ah! That's it!"
"What's it?" Roshi asked.
"The kid, Dende! He's developed healing powers! Frieza will undoubtedly target him in order to stop any of them from being restored back from the brink of death!"
Roshi shrugged. "Seems like as good a wish as any." He then placed his hand onto King Kai's shoulder once more. "You still there?" he asked the villager.
"Ah, yes, I'm still here."
"Okay, here are the other two wishes. Firstly, revive Chiaotzu, and second, make Dende immortal."
The villager cocked his head in confusion. "You're sure about this?"
"Oh, yes."
"Well, alright," the villager replied before the connection was broken. He looked up at the dragon, who was far more impatient than earlier.
"HAVE YOU FINALLY DECIDED ON TWO MORE WISHES?" Porunga asked, to which the villager nodded in affirmation. "OH, THANK THE KAIS."
"[Revive the Earthling known as Chiaotzu!]" the villager called out, to which the dragon nodded.
"NICE. A SIMPLE TASK FOR A CHANGE."
In an instant, the halo above Chiaotzu's head disappeared, and he was left to float around gleefully on King Kai's planet.
"Sorry for making you arrange your own transportation down there, but since Kami brought your body back up here..." Roshi trailed off, and Chiaotzu nodded in understanding before Roshi held up a hand. "Actually, now that I think about it...I might know a woman."
While Roshi thought this over, the villager on Earth asked for the third wish to be cast.
"[Now, make the Namekian child known as Dende immortal!]"
Porunga again nodded. "A SIMPLE MATTER," he said before his eyes glowed, indicating that the final wish had been cast. "NOW, FAREWELL!" he shouted as he disappeared in a burst of light, and the seven Namekian Dragon Balls hovered up straight into the air for a moment before falling back down as nothing but large, inert rocks. As the sky shifted back to its regular afternoon shade, the villagers breathed a sigh, working out what exactly they were going to do now. Bulma, meanwhile, pulled out her phone and dialed a familiar number.
"Hi, daddy, I-yes, daddy, I'm back. Long story involving Dragon Balls and big muscly people punching each other. Look, can you just-daddy, please, do not do this again. I'm just trying to-DADDY I AM OKAY!" Bulma took a deep breath. "Look, can you just make room in one of the storage rooms, maybe bring in some beds and a lot of water? I've got about 20 Namekians with me who may wind up without a home in the next hour or so and need somewhere to crash. Not to mention a lot of bodies. ...I'll explain later, can you please just get the room ready? ...Yeah, we probably should bring a copter for them, huh? ...Thank you, daddy. I love you, too. Bye." With that, she hung up, and addressed the Namekian villagers.
"Alright, so my dad is going to arrange for you all to stay at Capsule Corp, so if you can all just wait for the helicopter to arrive, I'll-" she paused when she noticed Tsuno and the Namekian warriors on edge. "What's up?"
"A significant ki signature is approaching our position from the city," one of the warriors responded.
"From West City...oh! Oh, guys, it's okay! It's probably Tien Shinhan!" Bulma replied with a smile. "Gotta say, I'm surprised he's back up flying already..."
No sooner had she said this than Tien himself touched down near them, ki primed for battle, but relaxing slightly when he saw Bulma among the crowd. "Let me guess-long story?" Tien asked candidly. Bulma nodded, to which Tien nodded in turn before turning to the Namekians. "My apologies, but when a couple ki signatures not too far below my own pop up out of nowhere a couple miles away..."
"A sensible precaution," the warrior replied, holding out his hand, which Tien accepted. After a moment, he noticed the large rocks.
"So those were the Dragon Balls you were using earlier," he said, to which Bulma nodded.
"Even better, the elders say they can restore our Dragon Balls!" Bulma said cheerfully, to which Tien's eyes widened in surprise.
"Is that so? Curious," he remarked. Tsuno nodded in confirmation.
"I just need to know where the balls' material focus is or where each individual ball is located, and I can begin the process."
"Material focus?" Tien asked, to which Tsuno nodded.
"Every set of Dragon Balls has a certain material focus which channels their magic. In the case of ours, that focus is simply the body of the elder whose life has been tied into the balls. If yours are the same, I should be able to recreate that process by using my own body as a new material focus."
Tien sighed. "Well, you may not have heard, but ours spread out all over the world whenever they're used, and when inert, they look like ordinary rocks. Finding them that way would be pretty difficult. However...there is someone who knows more about the Dragon Balls than I do. He might know a way to speed things up," he said, pointing up in the general direction of the Lookout.
"Ah. I had sensed a fairly significant ki signature coming from that position," Tsuno replied. "I will go up to meet with this person. Please be sure to look after Lord Guru while I-Lord Guru!" he suddenly cried out as Guru began coughing violently, rushing to his side along with some of the other Namekians. Guru waved them all away.
"Be at peace, my sons. I...knew this day would come."
"L-lord Guru, please!" one of the villagers responded. "W-what if you were to fuse with one of us?! Or, i-if you can hold on, we can restart their Dragon Balls and use them to-!"
Guru shook his head. "I appreciate the sentiment, but...everything has a season. With Kami's fusion, I am the last survivor of a bygone era. My time...has come. My responsibility, throughout my entire life, has always been to ensure that you all live to continue my legacy."
Tears sprung to the villagers' eyes as they saw their father slipping away. Guru rested a hand on Tsuno's head, who was crying harder than any of them.
"Tsuno...my firstborn son," Guru said with a smile. "I know how deeply this pains you, but...I hope that this will be some small consolation." Suddenly, Tsuno felt his ki released to a greater extent than before, while at the same time centuries of memories and experiences flooded into his mind. He stared at his father in a mixture of wonder and pure sadness. Guru simply chuckled.
"Well...hopefully you'll find at least a bit of that useful," he remarked wryly before he grew somber once more. "Look after them, Tsuno. Protect them...from whatever danger may come. Whatever may come of our home, of our culture, promise me...that you will do everything in your power to preserve it."
Tsuno nodded wordlessly, tears clouding his vision, as Guru smiled one last time at his children. Then, in a blur of motion, Guru was gone, his body having been transported to a higher plane. The villagers were left to mourn their father for some time before Tsuno eventually dried his eyes and looked to his people.
"There is still one more task I must complete, so that we may be united with our fallen brothers. Wait here," he commanded, and the people obeyed, prompting him to take off into the sky in the direction of the Lookout. The other villagers looked on sadly, while Bulma and Tien stood there awkwardly, unsure of how exactly to cheer them up. Fortunately, however, a distraction from their troubles soon presented itself, albeit not a very pleasant one.
"GET BACK INTO BED THIS INSTANT YOU THREE-EYED BASTARD!" a woman's voice could be heard screaming in the distance, upsetting the local wildlife. The situation wasn't made any better by the gunshots she was firing into the air at random intervals. Bulma had to resist the urge to burst out laughing, while Tien simply sighed in annoyance.
"Oh! And just who might that be?" she asked sarcastically. Tien chuckled dryly before giving her a frank answer.
"My girlfriend."
Frieza stood before the group with a triumphant grin, while Goku and the others sensed the tyrant's ki with apprehension.
"This is bad! From what I'm sensing, he could go toe to toe with me at Times Ten! I'm not even sure if that's his maximum!"
Before he could think on the problem further, Frieza moved behind him faster than he could see, and he was forced to test his assumption firsthand.
"KAIO-KEN TIMES TEN!" he cried out in the nick of time, powering up just enough to take an incoming punch to the face which sent him flying past the vaporized remains of the mountain. Frieza moved to fly after him, but found himself rushed by Gohan, not quite capturing the power of his earlier rage boosts and consequently finding himself winded by a knee to the stomach. No sooner had he left Gohan gasping for air than Goku came back and hit Frieza with a powerful downward strike which sent him reeling back a pace. The two then flew up into the air simultaneously, each one trying to land a decisive hit on the other and finding every single blow parried. Piccolo rushed to aid Gohan while the rest of the warriors looked up at the scene with concern.
"Damn!" Krillin remarked worriedly. "Goku's too close...and they're both moving so fast...I can't risk using my Kienzan!"
"At this point, that's the only attack we have that's even done much more than annoy him," Yamcha added bitterly. "All that talk about doing whatever we can do, and yet..."
"'Whatever we can do' is not much at all," Nail replied, bitter himself at how useless he had become in the fight to protect his world.
Meanwhile, Goku and Frieza continued to struggle, Goku slowly gaining the upper hand in Kaio-ken Times Ten, but not without a persistent problem rearing its ugly head.
"Damn it! Guru's unlocking thing is unlocking more of my power as I fight, but at the same time, using the Kaio-ken at different levels this entire fight is starting to wear down on me! And he isn't letting up in the slightest!" Goku thought as he narrowly avoided a punch. "I have no choice! I've got to hike it up even more!" Goku and Frieza continued to exchange blows while Goku thought out his plan, each of them wounded by stray hits slipping through the cracks. "It seems like I have to power up by increasing amounts for each level of the Kaio-ken to be used safely, but between my training and Guru unlocking my potential...I should be capable of a bit more by now!" No sooner had he thought this than Frieza landed a powerful hit to Goku's torso which he couldn't quite react to, causing the tyrant to chuckle.
"Well, well, well! It would seem that the drawback of this multiplication technique of yours is finally beginning to outpace the gradual increase in your power!"
"Crap! He noticed!" Goku thought as Frieza continued.
"I must admit, Son Goku, I'm surprised you lasted this long against my third form. True, the maximum power you hold with this technique is nothing compared to my full power, but to prove an even match for this form is no easy feat. I had long assumed that nobody would surpass the power of Captain Ginyu, and yet so many of you have risen far beyond that point. The bald one, your Namekian friend, your spawn, Vegeta...and, of course, you yourself, now several times stronger than even Ginyu's new body." Frieza chuckled again before his lips curled into a sneer. "All the more reason to wipe you insolent monkeys off the face of the universe."
Before Frieza could move towards him again, Goku gritted his teeth. It was now or never.
"KAIO-KEN TIMES TWELVE!" he cried out.
"Wait, times what-?" Frieza said in confusion before he was hit across the jaw by a powerful punch which sent him flying through the air. Before he could react, Goku was already upon him, first kicking him hard enough to send him flying through the air and then flying up to meet him with an elbow to the chest, winding him severely. As he gasped in pain, Goku continued raining down blows which Frieza was only barely able to react to. Although he blocked some of them, by and large Frieza was suffering fairly significant amounts of damage.
However, this too came at a cost, which Goku could feel all too well as his muscles screamed in protest. Knowing he had to end the fight fast, Goku sent Frieza flying down into the ground with a downward strike, before charging up a hasty Kamehameha and firing it down at the tyrant. Frieza was able to respond with his own energy wave, fighting back with all the power he could muster in his current state. Although the Kamehameha overpowered the beam initially, the struggle between the two was prolonged enough to cause Goku intense amounts of pain, causing him to falter in his concentration for only a second. However, this second was all the tyrant needed to gain a massive lead, and his Death Cannon swiftly overpowered Goku's Kamehameha.
Realizing he couldn't hope to win even after reestablishing his focus, Goku flew to the right at the last second as he shut off the attack, causing the Death Cannon to fly off into space unimpeded. Before he could even think about powering up again, Frieza was already on him, savagely kicking him into the ground and causing him to tumble around for a great distance, only accentuating the pain of his injuries. Frieza sneered as he pointed a finger at the fallen Saiyan, ready to end his life once and for all.
Across the planet, Ginyu walked anxiously throughout the corridors of Frieza's ship, inexplicably worried for his master. Frieza was the strongest in the universe, this he knew well, and yet...it hadn't just been one single power whose sheer magnitude had destroyed his scouter when he tried to read it. All of those three warriors were beyond what he had been, and what he was capable of now. Providing assistance to his master was out of the question-Frieza saw such suicidal endeavors as a waste of valuable resources. He also considered traveling to the location of his men to confirm whether they were alive, but...Frieza had already determined they were as good as dead. For all he knew, the people he was fighting now killed them on the way there. And besides, he had been assigned the task of guarding the ship. He couldn't abandon the post his master had ordered him to fill.
Thus, Ginyu patrolled around the halls, the third such circuit he had made since his scouter exploded, before he found himself overcome by an immense feeling of exhaustion. "When was the last time this body had slept?" he thought idly before stumbling slightly. "No. No!" he said aloud. "I have to...focus! I have to...force myself awake!" He slapped himself in the head as he said this to jolt himself, the effect lasting only a few seconds. "To stay alert...for Lord Frieza..." he muttered as his body simply gave up after days of little food, no water, and no sleep while under Vegeta's care. He collapsed against a wall in the hallway, desperately fighting his exhaustion and failing miserably, his ki dropping rapidly from his previous alert level to a more relaxed magnitude. No sooner had he truly begun to drift off than he heard a high pitched whine. The next thing he knew, he felt something hot tear through his chest, and his eyes widened suddenly to see a grisly sight before him.
Vegeta stood there, still in Ginyu's old body, with all of the same injuries Vegeta had inflicted upon it previously, worsened by the exertion of traveling to the ship based on what he'd been able to gather from his limited energy sensing. His finger was extended, showing he had launched a finger beam into Ginyu's chest. He chuckled to himself.
"I knew you had to drop from exhaustion sooner or later, Ginyu!" he announced triumphantly. "Now...give me back what is rightfully mine."
"V-Vegeta?!" Ginyu cried out in shock. "H-how could you possibly-?!"
"Never underestimate a Saiyan's tenacity, bootlicker," Vegeta replied. "Now give me back my body!"
Ginyu grimaced. "N-never!"
"The wound I inflicted is severe. You can't hope to last long."
"Neither can you!" Ginyu replied.
"True. But I'll last longer. Long enough to stumble into one of the older healing tanks, anyway." Ginyu's eyes widened. "Oh, yes. I know. I made sure of it while you were busy pacing. And by all means, you're welcome to try getting to them as you are. But if I'm right, you're not nearly as strong as you could be, and I assure you, I won't make it easy."
"But you could make it, if you got your body back?" Ginyu asked. "In that case, better to use what strength I have to finish you off, then take my chances!"
"You would be so quick to throw away your own life just to kill me?"
"About as quick as you are...to throw yours away...to get your body back."
"You're starting to lose consciousness, Ginyu. You seriously believe you'll make it, with those injuries, and with the pitiful percentage of my power that you've drawn out? Now, were you in this wrecked body, you might make it to the tank, or to one of the pods outside to stabilize yourself. But in mine, you don't have a chance."
Ginyu's eyes widened in fear as he considered this. "H-how do I know...you won't just kill me when I switch us back?"
"Well, if you're worried about my having enough strength to finish you off, you could always do more damage to yourself. But...well. Fine tuning these things is so tricky," he drawled. "You might just wind up killing yourself. And, of course, I could always reply in kind." As he said this, he charged up ki in his left arm, and drove it into his chest, allowing some blue blood to seep out as he winced in pain, blood trickling from his mouth. "You're out of time, Ginyu! Switch us back!" he cried through gritted teeth. Ginyu panicked for a moment, considering his options as he felt his life force seeping away. He let out a cry of anger and fear before shouting out the two words he needed to say.
"CHANGE NOW!" he cried, allowing a yellow beam to burst forth from his mouth and into Vegeta's, switching the two of them to their normal bodies. Vegeta slumped forward, seeming to have passed out from the blood loss, while Ginyu hurriedly cauterized his chest wound with a burst of ki. Not wanting to waste the time of checking if Vegeta was really out, Ginyu hurriedly flew outside towards the pods-an action he wouldn't have the time to regret as a finger beam pierced his skull from behind, exiting right between his eyes. Ginyu soundlessly fell forward as Vegeta dragged himself up, clutching his bleeding chest.
"Like I said..." he muttered weakly, "Never underestimate a Saiyan's tenacity."
With that, he looked off in the direction he knew the old healing tanks were: a level below, to the left. With this in mind, Vegeta flew through the bulkheads, crashing into the room with a thud. With a supreme effort, Vegeta dragged himself up and into a tank, executing the activation sequence remotely with a small kiai directed at the control panel. This accomplished, Vegeta rolled his head back and let his consciousness slip away as the tank filled, already beginning to work upon healing his wounds. He felt a vague sensation in his head now that he could properly sense energy again-powers beyond his comprehension, struggling for dominance. He recognized one of them based on the feel of his ki-Frieza, much greater than he had been. With no explanation for how this was so, Vegeta was left pondering the other ki signature that had seemed to be equal to Frieza's power. He had only one explanation, and he let out a half-formed curse as he considered the implications.
"Ka...ka...rot..." he muttered before he finally slipped away.
Frieza grinned maliciously as he charged the finger beam, but no sooner had he just about readied himself to fire than Krillin threw a quick Kienzan at him. This attack was easily avoided, and Frieza responded swiftly with a localized kiai, sending Krillin flying off into the distance. Frieza prepared a finger beam once more, only to find himself intercepted by an enraged Gohan, who had flown above his position while he was distracted.
"WHY WON'T YOU JUST DROP ALREADY?!" the boy screamed, charging up another variation of his signature Masenko technique. Unlike the previous version, this one was fired off as a massive, crackling sphere of yellow ki, one which swiftly collided with Frieza and sent him slowly moving towards the ground. With no ability to sense energy, Frieza was left surprised at the sheer power on display, and found himself grunting furiously attempting to repel the attack. While Frieza was occupied, Goku reached out telepathically to anyone who would listen.
"Piccolo! Nail! Krillin! Yamcha! I need one of you to get to me as fast as you can!"
Piccolo and Nail heard the call, but as Yamcha was the closest to where Goku had landed, it was he who ultimately responded while Dende flew over to try and treat Goku's injuries. "What do you need, Goku?"
Goku held up a hand to stop Dende from healing him as he shakily got to his feet. "Not yet," he said before coughing violently.
"B-but Goku, you've been hurt! You need treatment!"
"The damage I've endured...isn't enough," Goku replied. "I see now...none of us can beat him as we are."
"B-but Gohan is-!" Yamcha began before Goku chuckled.
"Gohan's close...really close," he said, pride seeping into his voice. "But it's...not enough. His attack has only worked this long...because of Frieza's injuries."
Yamcha's eyes widened, connecting the dots of Goku's reasoning. "He keeps getting stronger every time he almost dies..."
"Apparently Saiyans do that," Goku remarked with a weak chuckle. "Not sure how it works, but..."
"You don't seriously want me to-!"
"We don't have a choice!" Goku said, more forcefully as he coughed in pain. "It's...the only way I'll become strong enough...to beat him once he transforms again!"
Yamcha paled. "A-again?" he asked in a nervous whisper before returning to his main objection. "B-but surely there's some other way you can match up to his power?!"
Goku shook his head. "Frieza's hurt, but even if...Dende healed me as I am now...I'm not certain I could win. The guy's made of some pretty tough stuff. But...more than that...it feels like a waste."
Yamcha cocked his head. "A waste?"
"To not fight him at his strongest. To not see what the strongest guy in the universe is capable of."
Yamcha was confused, to say the least. "S-shouldn't it be more important to stop him from killing anyone else?!"
Goku weakly shrugged. "No reason I can't do both."
Yamcha stared at him for a minute before sighing. "You've always been a really weird guy, Goku. But, if this is really what you want..." He stepped back a few paces and charged up every last bit of energy he had into his palm. Goku likewise dropped his energy all the way down to zero, rendering him vulnerable. With a nervous gulp and a nod from Goku, Yamcha made his move, screwing his eyes shut.
Dende hovered nearby, nervous as to what he was going to have to do, before he suddenly felt a large surge of...something, throughout his body, which the others didn't seem to have noticed.
"Wait, what the heck was-?!" Dende began just as Yamcha fired the blast, piercing Goku's chest easily and causing him to fall to the ground, sputtering blood from the wound. Dende was on him in an instant, shaking off his earlier surprise. No sooner had Dende gotten to Goku's side than Frieza had finally pushed back Gohan's attack, leaving Gohan to take the blast head on. In the nick of time, Piccolo fired off a ki blast with all of his energy, mustering up just enough power to knock the ball off course and into space. Gohan stared down at Frieza breathlessly for a moment before the tyrant appeared behind him, kicking him into the ground now that his rage boost had subsided. As luck would have it, Gohan crashed directly into Dende just as he was able to heal Goku, leaving him pinned for some time as Gohan was left on the ground in pain. Frieza looked over the group with satisfaction, before making an announcement as he settled down onto the ground.
"Well! It would seem that I'm just about equipped to deal with you all in this form, but I believe it would be more instructive to show you just how far the gap between our powers really is!" Frieza sneered as he began charging energy one final time. "Now, prepare...for my final transformation!"
Frieza put in every inch of focus he had into completing his final transformation, while the others were left unsure what to do. Gohan was the first to spring into action, albeit hindered by his injuries. He hovered up in the air and fired off ki blast after ki blast at the tyrant, hoping to interrupt the transformation. Yamcha quickly left Goku's side and responded in kind, entering into Max Power and hitting him with everything he had. Unfortunately, even after a rain of energy attacks, Frieza was left smirking as he continued to transform.
"Damn it! His ki's already risen too much for any of us to hurt him!" Yamcha said angrily. "Agh, come on, Goku! Get us out of this!"
Dende, meanwhile, was finally able to get over to Goku and fully heal him after some time. Goku slowly got up again with a slight headache, and began to sense the ki flowing through his body. Unbeknownst to him, Frieza was watching the exchange intensely out of the corner of his eye, and smiled as one who finally understood a puzzling problem. Goku smiled as well as he stretched out his arms, bracing himself for combat before addressing everyone.
"Hey! You guys need to get out of here while you have the chance!"
The others turned to Goku in surprise.
"W-what are you talking about? We can't just leave you here!" Yamcha replied.
"Don't worry! If this last transformation is anything like the others, I'll have him whooped in no time!"
Frieza sneered as Goku attempted to get his friends to leave. "Don't be so sure, monkey."
Goku let out the full extent of his base power to demonstrate what he meant, causing the others to gasp in astonishment as they sensed his energy.
"W-whoa..." Gohan said breathlessly.
"To think anyone could have such power..." Nail added. Piccolo growled, his disappointment evident as he compared Goku's might to his own.
"After finally surpassing you, now...now I am beaten twice," he remarked bitterly, Kami attempting to console him in his mind. After a moment, Piccolo sighed and addressed the others as well. "Goku's correct! We're just collateral damage at this point!" Yamcha, Gohan, and Nail looked between Piccolo and Goku with uncertainty before sighing in acceptance, and offering what encouragement they could.
"You've got this, Goku!"
"Be careful, daddy!"
"The hopes of the entire universe ride on you!"
With that, they took off, Nail moving towards Dende to pick him up as the others landed next to them, planning out where to go.
"Do not worry," Piccolo said. "Our ship is not too far from here. We should be able to get there fairly quickly if we leave now." No sooner had he said this than Frieza's ki exploded into a massive burst, the signal that his final transformation was complete. The others looked on with apprehension as Goku stood the tyrant down, currently cast in a layer of smoke. Although none of them could tell, even Goku was somewhat nervous at the tyrant's power.
"It...doesn't feel like much more than his last form, but...it also feels like he's holding back," he thought to himself. "Let's hope that he isn't holding back too much-"
No sooner had the thought entered his head than Frieza suddenly fired a finger beam which soared through the sky too fast for any of the warriors assembled to track. Before anyone could even react, Nail, who had been standing slightly to Dende's left, suddenly burst into flames, dying almost instantly as his charred body fell backwards next to Dende. The others looked on in horror while Frieza simply grimaced at the failure of missing his target. Goku especially looked at the figure who finally became visible from the cover of smoke.
Contrary to what any of them were expecting, Frieza's final form returned him to a humanoid appearance, ditching the spikes seen in his previous forms. With the exception of simple arm and leg guards, all of the natural armor his previous forms possessed was gone, while his facial features took on a greater resemblance to his first form, once again possessing a nose and thin, piercing red eyes. He stood taller than in his third form, but not quite as tall as his second, and his feet and ears retained their curious shape. Various areas of his body, such as his shoulders and the tip of his head, were purple in color and somewhat bulbous in texture, including a curious section around his chest, which may have served as some kind of natural chest guard. Every other part of his body was solid white, and unlike his second form, his muscles were only somewhat substantial, showing that he was powerful yet not necessarily trained extensively in combat. Most significantly, all of his earlier wounds had healed, including his tail, which had now been fully restored from its earlier damage. Frieza sneered as the warriors looked upon the monstrous amount of ki which he was allowing them to see, this too a simple glimpse at the potential of his true form.
"Now...you will know a fear worse than death itself."
Final Form, here we goooo!
Alright, we're at the end of the chapters that I had written in advance about a month ago, but I've been working on the next couple in the interim. Should be ready on time, with another one or two down the pipeline. I gave some thought to trying to keep up a weekly update schedule over the summer, but honestly, I think it's just better this way, as this schedule lets me work at the pace I want without being too taxed by the demand for constant updates. At this pace, I know I will have a chapter ready for you guys, every time. One thing the summer may allow me to do, though, is update my other Dragon Ball fic, Forgotten Son, on alternate Sundays, so that's cool(and yes, this is an invitation to go check that out if you're interested).
In the meantime, though, responses!
Anonymously96 says:
"I'm guessing Gohan got a zenkai putting him at around 800000 or so
Frieza will probably beat Goku to a pulp first, he can sustain times 10 kaioken but it is kind of tough to keep sustained for very long unless he makes his base stronger and more capable to handle the strain
Wonder what Vegeta's doing and how he'll get his body back
Update soon"
Yeah, sorry, forgot to add in Gohan's power level post-Zenkai. And it looks like your other questions were more or less answered here-Goku can keep up Times Ten for a while, and even go beyond to Times Twelve, but it screws him up. And Vegeta survived and took advantage of Ginyu falling asleep and losing his energy to mortally wound him.
Ushindeshi says: "Interesting chapter." Why, thank you! I'm glad you think so!
Guest says:
"Not very good, goku and gohan are severely ooc (frieza too). Two handed special beam cannon? You're slipping."
Your input is noted, but without a more clear description on what you find off about their characterization here, I'm not entirely sure what I can do to alleviate that concern.
As for the two handed Special Beam Cannon, that is indeed a thing Piccolo does. If you go back to the Saiyan Saga, during the scene where Piccolo attempts to fire on Nappa as he falls through the sky, he fires out a two-handed energy wave that looks and acts like a weaker, rapid-fire version of the Special Beam Cannon. This attack intrigued me based on its general premise-a faster, albeit much weaker version of his signature move-and so, I decided to have him employ it from time to time. I'm not really sure what you're taking issue with there. It's literally an attack taken straight from the manga, the end all, be all of Dragon Ball canon up until the end of Z. Or, perhaps, Dragon Ball Cannon. Eh? Eh?
Now, this chapter was a first for me in that, more than any other previous chapter, I got a lot of reviews for older chapters in between the last chapter and this one. It seemed like too much of a hassle to go back and edit all the docs both here and on Ao3, or to post them all here, so I've decided to simply post the highlights of each person's reviews.
GhostKing666 says in Chapter 2:
"Eh, while the Time Chamber's gravity is bad, it's not the only thing that makes using the Chamber so difficult. There's also the thin atmosphere(though the Lookout is the same there), the massive temperature changes from firestorm to blizzard that can occur at the drop of a hat. And finally, my personal favorite, the fact that the chamber is a virtual void of white that seems to go on for infinity, something that can be particularly taxing if your dumb enough to go in by yourself and aren't used to long periods of complete isolation. All in all, I'd say the Chambers high gravity is probably the least difficult aspect of it."
That is a good point, and one which I admit I might not have fully considered. However, I think to the humans, at this point in the story, the gravity would ultimately end up being the biggest obstacle. True, they're a lot more powerful than Goku is when he lands on King Kai's planet, but consider: Saiyans are born on a planet with ten times Earth gravity, the same gravity as in the chamber. Their bodies are naturally designed to operate in such an environment-thus, gravity training is a lot easier for Saiyans like Goku and Vegeta. Humans like Yamcha and Tien are built to live on Earth-so while the mechanics of the Dragon Ball universe allow for them to eventually adapt to and benefit from gravity training, the initial threshold they'd need to pass to go through ten times gravity training would naturally be much higher than Goku's. As a result, especially when taking the other factors you mentioned into consideration, they aren't quite ready for the chamber at that time.
Chapter 10:
"Yeah, Ima call bullshit in the idea that the senzu beans cant heal Tien. True the beans cant heal maiming but anything else is good. The beans could heal a broken neck(see Gohan vs Recoome), they shouldn't have a problem with getting Tien out of his coma just because his body is thrashed."
Wait, they can't heal maiming? I could've sworn they could regenerate a severed arm-at least according to some throwaway line Future Trunks says talking about Future Gohan. If they truly can't...hm, that could have canon issues later.
As for the other thing, yeah, I agree I screwed up there. At the time, my thought process was basically, "The damage Tien has suffered is so severe that he'll live, but needs a wish from the Dragon Balls to restore him to health." I was basically trying to give more incentive for the gang to go to Namek, but not only is such a scenario not really possible when Senzu beans exist, it's also not necessary. Two of their friends are permanently dead-that's reason enough. In subsequent chapters, I retconned that statement as Yamcha misinterpreting Korin's explanation of the Senzu beans' capabilities and ran with that as its own little comedic gag, in a sense poking fun at both Yamcha and myself. Anywho, my apologies for the slip up.
Bardock's Other Son says in Chapter 1:
"Loved the intro great way to start things up."
Honestly, everyone compliments me on the intro to this fic, and tbh? I'm not entirely sure why. I mean, it does a decent enough job setting the stakes and nobody's really out of character, but I also got some stuff wrong and the whole thing feels off compared to my more recent chapters. It feels like I wrote most of it at 3 am(probably because I think I actually did =P). Idk, glad y'all liked it, anyway.
Chapter 6:
"Heck yeah good on Tien, so glad to see him get redeemed for once, I always hated how the humans got pushed aside for the Saiyans so early on."
Yup, that scene sticks out to me even now, looking back on how things have developed over time. It just felt like what he deserved, and with that extra arm and Max Power, Tien's way stronger than he was before. Stay tuned for future chapters-I've got some developments planned out for the humans that I think you'll enjoy.
Chapter 9:
"Great way to keep me going on this story, I am missing the presence of Master Roshi, but it is still a very well written story keep it up"
Yeah, in hindsight, I kinda wish I'd included a cut or two to Roshi in subsequent chapters, but don't worry, he'll come into the spotlight again soon enough.
Chapter 21:
"Great job!, truly loving the spins you putting on it, can't wait to see more of it!"
Thanks! Glad to see people are liking the twists I've been making thus far.
Anyway, on to power levels!
Gohan(Enraged): 1,800,000
Frieza(3rd form): 2,120,000
Goku(Times Twelve Kaio-ken): 2,520,000
Realized I forgot to include Krillin or Yamcha before. With all this fighting they've done, I'd say 20,000 for Krillin and 18,000 for Yamcha is fair.
Frieza(final form): Jumps between about 2,500,000 and 6,000,000 from completing the transformation to firing the Death Beam.
Goku(post-Zenkai): 4,300,000(I'd say he's stronger than his zenkai from canon on account of his greater level of power, greater degree of physical training, and his expectations regarding Frieza's own power, which he had been led to believe would double based on what he could sense of his prior forms. As a result, his body prepared him to dominate Frieza in base, nevermind the Kaio-ken. But, unfortunately, his body might have miscalculated a smidge. ;) )
With all that said, thank you guys for reading, as always, and I'll see you next time. Take care, everybody.