Some time before, on the other side of the planet, Piccolo and company landed in front of the Capsule Corp spaceship which Goku and Piccolo had arrived in.
"Ha! We actually made it!" Yamcha cried out in joy. Krillin joined in as well, not quite able to help himself. Piccolo scoffed, although Gohan could tell he too was relieved that the others were out of danger.
"Alright, we'll stay here and guard the vessel until Goku finishes Frieza off. Between his immense power and the Kaio-ken technique, it should be fairly easy."
Gohan and the others agreed with the sentiment, but Gohan began to focus more intensely than he had been on the distant ki signatures of Goku and Frieza. After a minute, he quickly noticed a problem. "Uh...guys?"
Piccolo looked over at him. "What's going on?"
"Both of their ki signatures are rising rapidly," Gohan replied. "It doesn't seem like Daddy's doing any damage to Frieza at all."
The others began to grow concerned, and quickly devoted their attention to the area as well, stepping back a pace in surprise. "I see what you mean," Krillin said. "Frieza's ki is insane! And...Goku's ki seems to be faltering a bit."
"Yes...although he's increasing it ever-further with the Kaio-ken, the strain is taking a minute, yet evident toll, accelerated with every increase," Piccolo explained. "I would also deduce that he is being injured by Frieza whenever he overpowers certain states." After a minute of apprehensive silence, Piccolo was about to say more, but paused as he felt an intense jolt in his head. The others evidently felt it as well, trying to blink away the sensation.
"Is that...?" Yamcha began, in awe at what he was feeling from Goku and Frieza.
"Times Twenty. It has to be," Krillin finished, before the group was rocked by the intensity of Goku and Frieza's struggle.
"Good lord!" Yamcha cried out in astonishment, while the others were left simply stunned. When the struggle had ended, Piccolo grimaced.
"Frieza is stronger," he remarked simply, catching the others off guard.
"A-are you sure?" Gohan asked.
"I could tell from his ki signature. Times Twenty has done significant damage to Goku's body. It is likely the maximum he can withstand. Frieza struggled intensely against that power...but still saved himself."
The group was left stunned by this information.
"W-what do we do?" Yamcha asked, struggling to find an answer. Piccolo continued to scowl.
"I...I do not know. Frieza's power is beyond all of us...and beyond Goku. We should not have dismissed King Kai's warnings."
"G-Goku has a plan though, right?" Krillin asked. Piccolo paused.
"He was hoping the Kaio-ken Times Twenty would be enough. Without it...he has only one chance. And it is unlikely Frieza will give him the time to use it."
"What are you talking about?" Yamcha asked, while understanding dawned on Krillin's face as he began to feel a slight shift in the energy around him.
"Yeah, that's it! He's using the Spirit Bomb!" he cried out excitedly.
"The Spirit whatsit?"
"The Spirit Bomb!" Krillin answered. "H-he takes energy from everything around him-plants, animals, people-and gathers it into a sphere of energy. Even a fraction of the energy he gathered from the people of Earth was enough to nearly kill Vegeta back then!"
Yamcha paused for a second. "You know, now that you mention it, I did feel like a bit of my ki was going down while you guys were fighting," he remarked, before chuckling. "I just attributed that to my injuries."
"But...surely Daddy must realize there isn't enough energy on this planet anymore," Gohan said.
"He's likely aware, but at this juncture...he has no choice," Piccolo answered. "We could attempt to buy him time to gather more energy, but...Frieza's power alone is enough to crush all of us."
Gohan furrowed his brow in thought for a moment before looking over at Dende. "Not all of us," he said, turning the others' attention to him.
"What do you mean?" Piccolo asked, causing Dende to quickly answer.
"When Frieza hit me with that beam, I was completely fine, even after a similar beam had killed Nail easily," Dende answered, the memory causing him great discomfort. "And during the fight, I felt a rush of...something, in my body. I think...I think my people used our Dragon Balls to make me immortal."
Gohan nodded while the others were left perplexed. "B-but why?" Yamcha asked. "What purpose would that serve?"
"...I understand," Piccolo said, thinking for a moment before elaborating. "King Kai can see events transpire throughout the universe, and he can communicate telepathically with any life form he wishes. He has been watching this engagement, and knows of Dende's healing abilities. He must have contacted the Namekians and told them to make Dende immortal so that Frieza couldn't kill him and prevent him from healing us."
"And now we can use that to our advantage," Gohan said. "If someone can keep Frieza distracted, Dende can heal Daddy! With the damage he's sustained, that might give him another boost!"
Piccolo's eyes widened as he caught on. "And if it's anything like the last one...factoring in the Kaio-ken, it may give him the edge he needs to put down Frieza for good." However, he shook his head after a few seconds of consideration. "But we could never stall him long enough for that plan to succeed. It would surely mean all of our deaths."
Gohan nodded. "Maybe so, but...there is a way we can improve our odds." He looked into Piccolo's eyes, doing his best to communicate his intentions.
Piccolo looked back at him, puzzled. "What are you...no," he asked before putting his foot down. "No, that is not acceptable."
"But Mr. Piccolo-!"
"Silence! I will not let you take such a risk!"
"I'm the only one who can get stronger on the spot like that! I definitely won't get strong enough to beat Frieza, but I might get close enough to stall him, at least for a few minutes!"
"What you're proposing is far too risky! If done incorrectly, you could die!"
"Why do you think I'm asking you to do it?!" Gohan shot back, leaving Piccolo stunned. "Your techniques are far more precise-no offense," he added hastily for the others' benefit. "I know you'll be able to do it safely."
Piccolo hesitated, sweat beads forming along his eyebrows as he contemplated what the child was asking him to do.
"I don't like it any more than you do, but it's our best chance," Gohan said candidly. "If we knew what happened to Vegeta after fighting that Ginyu guy, we could try that fake moon thing he did to turn me into that big ape monster, but I highly doubt that plan would work out much better in the long run."
"Not to mention Vegeta would probably sooner kill us than team up with us," Yamcha added.
Piccolo was about to raise an objection when the gang felt a sudden decrease in Goku's ki signature. It was easy enough to deduce that Goku was being pummeled by Frieza.
"Come on, Mr. Piccolo! It's now or never!" Gohan implored his teacher, only intensifying the dilemma evident across Piccolo's features. Recognizing this, Gohan looked at him and chuckled, causing Piccolo to turn to him in annoyance.
"W-what?!" he asked, slightly embarrassed.
Gohan smiled. "Nothing, it's just...funny. Only a year ago, you threw me at a cliff and left me to fend for myself in the middle of a barren wasteland."
Piccolo was left stunned at how quickly Gohan had deduced his emotions, before he growled at the thought of having any weaknesses, let alone one exposed so easily. Kami chuckled in his head.
"You know, I never would've imagined you had such a soft side, Piccolo."
"The day your mind is absorbed by my own is the day I will cry tears of joy for the first time in my life."
"Very well! I'll do it." Piccolo took a few steps back, hesitating for a second before placing his fingers on his forehead. Gohan nodded to Dende, and the Namekian child floated apprehensively to his side as he screwed his eyes shut, bracing himself for the pain. Yamcha and Krillin both turned away and covered their ears, the sight being a bit too much for them.
"This is going to hurt," Piccolo cautioned the child, who simply chuckled nervously, fully aware of that.
"Promises, promises," Gohan replied with a forced smile as he dropped his energy to zero. Piccolo couldn't help but grin a bit in return as he poured all the energy he could muster into the attack, aiming directly for an area of Gohan's chest that Piccolo knew would not be immediately fatal.
"Special Beam Cannon!" he cried out as he fired the beam, which easily pierced through the area he had aimed for and sent Gohan falling to the ground, blood sputtering from the wound as a small trickle escaped his mouth. Dende was on him in an instant, readying himself to begin the healing process. Gohan's eyes began to lose focus as he drifted in and out of consciousness, his mind preoccupied with one single thought.
"Come on...please, let this be enough...to make a difference..."
As Dende poured his energy into Gohan's body, the boy's wounds were quickly sealed up, and he opened his eyes to find Piccolo and the others looking down at him in worry. With some slight nausea, Gohan managed to pull himself up off the ground, with Piccolo lending him a shoulder. Once on his feet, Gohan looked over at everyone and held out his hand slightly. They got the message, stepping back a couple of paces, before Gohan let out the full extent of his power with a mighty battle cry. The others were left completely stunned, with Piccolo having to grab onto Dende to keep him from being blown back by the sheer intensity, while the others barely held on after powering up as much as they could. When Gohan's display was finished, he looked down at his outstretched arms for a second before clenching his fists, satisfied in his own way with his newfound power.
"It's nothing like Frieza's...but it's enough."
He turned to the others and looked at them with the expression of a natural leader.
"If you guys are coming along, you should stay behind me. I'll take Dende and draw Frieza away. That should give you guys time to get into position and do what you can to stall him while Dende heals Daddy."
The others nodded, aware of the danger of what they were about to do, yet committed nonetheless. Gohan moved to grab Dende in a bridal carry while Piccolo grabbed Krillin. Yamcha flew over to place Nail's body inside the ship before closing the door and grabbing onto Piccolo's outstretched hand. Without another word, the group took off as fast as they could, Gohan roaring ahead of the others at dizzying speeds to intercept the tyrannical emperor.
"...What are you doing?"
Frieza looked at Goku with a look somewhere in between confusion and incredulity. As far as he could tell, Goku was just...standing there. There wasn't any visible collection of energy, and the man seemed so drained to begin with that Frieza had to wonder if any sort of last resort wouldn't just kill him outright.
"I-I don't understand. Is this some kind of technique? Some gesture of capitulation? I...this doesn't make any sense. You can barely stand! Just what are you thinking you're going to accomplish with this...whatever it is?!"
Goku, meanwhile, stayed silent, focusing all of his energy on what was now his last resort.
"Agh, I knew it would be difficult with so little life left on the planet! Thank God he hasn't noticed yet...okay! With this new power boost...yeah! I can reach out to nearby planets!" Goku found himself taking a deep breath involuntarily. "All planets close to Namek, please! Give me as much energy as you can spare!"
High above the pair of them, well beyond Frieza's field of vision, the Spirit Bomb directly above Goku's head grew ever larger in diameter, quickly reaching and surpassing 150 feet. However, Goku could sense from the ball's output that it was still nowhere near strong enough to take down Frieza.
"Based on what I sensed before...once it's a good deal above the Kamehameha I tried earlier, it might be enough! Still...it's a gamble, and so far, every gamble I've made on Frieza's limits has blown up in my face-literally. Let's just hope this time my luck comes through for me!"
Frieza, meanwhile, grew ever more impatient.
"I tire of this. How long are you going to stay like that?"
Goku chuckled, attempting to play off what he was trying to do.
"Long as I want to..."
At this, Frieza snapped, and Goku soon found himself on the receiving end of a powerful kick before he could even process it. As he tumbled onto the ground, Goku struggled to maintain his control over the Spirit Bomb above him. He slowly dragged himself to his feet in an attempt to continue the pose and gather even more energy, which only angered Frieza further.
"Come on, monkey! Attack me if you're going to!"
Goku attempted another chuckle.
"D-don't get so impatient now, Frieza..." he said as he resumed the pose, pouring even more energy into the Spirit Bomb. Frieza scowled at him before his scowl morphed into a smirk.
"Enough of this."
He let out a kiai which sent Goku flying into a nearby lake, producing a massive splash of water at the point of impact. After a moment, Goku's hand burst forth from the water as he dragged himself onto shore, panting heavily from the exertion. Frieza soon landed in front of the prone Saiyan and watched as he gasped for air. His lips curled into a scowl once more as he crossed his arms and looked down at the Saiyan.
"I never understand what you Saiyans are thinking," he began. "You persist in opposing a force you can't possibly stop even when you know it's useless. And for what? Pride? Honor? What passes for compassion among such simple-minded, bloodthirsty savages? Or are you simply too stubborn to just lay down and die?"
Goku simply continued breathing haggardly, trying to regain enough breath to get up and face Frieza once more, even as his body protested. Frieza simply grinned, a sinister look forming in his eyes.
"Well, I suppose I wasn't really expecting an answer. Whatever the reason, I grow tired of indulging you. You have evidently expended the last of your reserves. Continuing this battle is pointless." Frieza suddenly reached down and yanked Goku up out of the water, holding him by the throat. As Goku struggled in vain against Frieza's grip, Frieza applied just enough pressure to leave Goku struggling even harder for air. Between his strangled gasps, Frieza looked into his eyes and sneered. "I will not kill you just yet, 'Son Goku.' Only when I am satisfied will I permit you to die." Frieza tightened his grip slightly, hoping to force the Saiyan warrior into unconsciousness, when his eyes fell upon something: a reflection in the water of the lake which he had been too preoccupied to notice before. At first glance, it appeared to be a great ball of light, not unlike a sun. However, Frieza knew better.
"That's...that's not one of Namek's three suns..." Frieza muttered as his gaze turned skyward, towards the source of the bright light. "What...is...that...?" He was forced to squint as he attempted to get a clear picture of the object. Upon closer inspection, he realized that it was actually an enormous ball of energy, and from the looks of things, it appeared to be positioned directly above Goku.
"Crap! He knows!" Goku thought as he felt Frieza's grip slacken. Goku grit his teeth and powered up to Kaio-ken Times Five before letting out a kiai which forced Frieza to abandon his grasp around Goku's throat. Goku then quickly pushed himself away, landing a few feet away and continuing to hold up his hands.
"Agh! So that's what you've been doing!" Frieza remarked, while Goku simply stood there silently, observing Frieza carefully while continuing to gather as much energy as possible.
"Dammit!" he thought angrily. "He'll just dodge it if I use it now, and it's still not enough anyway!"
"Hoping to take me by surprise, were you?" Frieza said, smirking at the struggling warrior. "Fool! You have no hope of defeating me with a technique like that!" As if to demonstrate his point, he swiftly rushed forward and punched Goku in the gut, leaving him to fall to his knees in agony. In vain, he held his hands aloft, trying to eek out just a bit more energy, but Frieza wasn't ready to give him that chance. He cocked his fist, ready to punch Goku square in the face, before he felt a rush of air to his right. He had only enough time to turn his head before being hit directly in the face with a flying kick, sending him flying off into the distance for miles. Goku looked up in surprise.
"G-Gohan?!" he asked, partly surprised he was there at all and partly surprised by how strong he was.
"Just focus on the Spirit Bomb, daddy-I've got this!" the boy replied before taking off in the direction that Frieza had been smacked. No sooner had he arrived near where Frieza had landed than the tyrant burst forth from the water, absolutely livid.
"Agh, the brat! I overlooked him!" he muttered angrily to himself, looking around frantically until he found the brat in question, who just barely managed to land a punch on him to little effect. Doing his best to channel his rage, Gohan rushed towards Frieza, but quickly found himself outmatched. Before he could even throw another punch, Frieza's tail came up faster than he could react, smacking him into the dirt. Gohan attempted to recover, only for Frieza to rush downwards towards him and hit him upside the head with a powerful punch. Without another word, Frieza picked up the boy, dizzy from the blunt injury, and tossed him into the air before sending him flying through a large rock and into another with an aerial kick. Frieza calmly flew over to the struggling child and sneered.
"Did you really think you could defeat me with one measly power up?" Frieza taunted. "All you've done is hastened your own death."
To his surprise, however, Gohan simply chuckled.
"I never needed to defeat you," he replied with some effort. "I just needed to distract you."
Frieza tilted his head. "Distract me? Distract me from what...?" As he spoke, he noticed in the corner of his eye a small, blurry figure standing right next to what he could quickly recognize was Goku, still charging up his attack. As the figure held out his hands, realization struck.
"NO!" he cried, rushing out to stop Dende from healing Goku. Before he could move forward, however, Gohan suddenly flew up from the rubble and grabbed onto his tail, yanking him back with all his strength. Although this initially stopped Frieza in his tracks, the tyrant, beyond annoyed with Gohan's antics, powered up to 50% of his power and swiftly broke free of the boy's hold. Frieza flew forwards at remarkable speeds, swiftly intercepting the Namekian child before he could even lay his hands onto Goku's body. With a cry of surprise, Dende soon found Frieza's hand gripping tightly around his throat, and Goku far out of his reach.
"Trying more of your backwater magic, are we? No matter. I may not be able to kill you...but I can still take you out of the equation." Frieza swiftly threw out his other arm to intercept Gohan, who had attempted to catch him by surprise. As Gohan's face began to be crushed in Frieza's left hand, he pulled back his right arm before throwing his charge into the air with all of his strength. With one drawn out scream, Dende found himself flying upwards uncontrollably, quickly fading from the others' view with no sign of slowing down. To their horror, the fighters began to sense Dende's ki leaving the vicinity of the planet, continuing on through space and only slightly impeded by his own efforts to fly in the opposite direction. Frieza smirked, his satisfaction evident.
"Well...now that that variable is out of play..." he trailed off before holding Gohan aloft, twisting his grip, and shoving the boy back-first into the ground, producing a small crater. As if on cue, Piccolo flew up at top speed and attempted to hit Frieza with a drop kick, but the tyrant easily jerked his head back and avoided the attack. Without missing a beat, Piccolo attempted to briefly charge up a Special Beam Cannon along his right hand, lunging forward with the technique aimed directly at Frieza's eyes. Although not expecting this, Frieza swiftly snatched Piccolo's outstretched fingers and crushed them into nothing between his fist, causing Piccolo to scream in pain. Frieza kicked Piccolo to the side as purple blood was left coating his palm, then followed up with a kiai launched at Goku, designed to send him sprawling to the ground with immense force.
Frieza looked around to see if anyone else sought to challenge him, and was met with Yamcha firing off a series of Spirit Balls in his direction. He scoffed with annoyance as he simply walked through the mess of spheres, each of them eventually colliding with his face to no effect before he reached through the smoke and pulled Yamcha towards him, leaving him gasping for air with a knee to the stomach. Krillin swiftly moved to attack with a point-blank Kienzan, but found this too avoided by Frieza in the nick of time, leaving only a shallow gash along his chest from the attack. Grimacing over the slight pain, Frieza swiftly smacked Krillin to the ground with his tail, leaving him dizzy and unable to get back up no matter how hard he struggled.
He was just about to turn back to check on Goku when he noticed a small stream of energy springing forth from Gohan's open palm, who had just managed to get up onto his knees. Annoyed that the child was still up, he swiftly flew over to his position and knocked him back down again with a punch. He looked down upon the child with a smirk as he struggled to get back up.
"I must admit-I'm surprised you still have this much fire in you. Evidently you are more similar to your foolish father than I would have assumed." The emperor held his fingers outward, charging up a small pink point of ki along his fingertips. "I promised him that he would be forced to watch as all of his companions died by my hand. I see no reason not to start...with his own son." He grinned maliciously as the beam reached its apex, only to hear the distinct sound of chuckling from the boy. The sound left him confused, as well as more than a bit worried. "What the-? What could you possibly find amusing about all this?!"
Gohan took a moment to tilt his head up, looking the ruthless emperor right in the eye.
"Made you look."
Without another word, Gohan poured all the strength he had left into a powerful kiai before falling backwards to the ground, exhausted. Caught off guard, Frieza took it head-on, sending him flying into what seemed to him to be some bright light off in the distance behind him. Before he could break out of the child's trap, he felt his back collide with the descending Spirit Bomb, every inch of it starting to sear with pain. Frieza could vaguely make out Piccolo carrying Gohan away from the immediate vicinity of the massive ball of ki along with everyone else, some having to be picked up. However, that was hardly his most pressing concern at the moment.
With a great deal of strain, he managed to turn himself around so that he was pushing upwards with both of his arms and all of the power he could muster in his current state. Even with all of this energy, however, he still found his body being slowly but surely pushed downwards, the ground below him already giving way before the ball of ki from its sheer intensity. What's more, Frieza felt a particularly painful sensation throughout his entire body-as if his very soul was being ripped apart by the energy of the Spirit Bomb.
"T-this is nothing!" he cried out, not fully aware of how much he was lying to himself. His veins bulged throughout his body as he tried to push back against the ball of ki. Every part of him felt like it was being pulled taut, just inches away from snapping. Idly, he wondered about risking the time-consuming process of charging up to 100%, but a growing voice inside of his mind told him that even this would not be enough.
"T-this...is...nothing!" he repeated, as if simply saying the words out loud would give him the second wind he so desperately needed. As if he wasn't being pushed downwards even as he struggled with every ounce of power he had available. As if he couldn't feel that infernal Saiyan's technique tearing him apart piece by piece, all of his immense power only serving to barely hold him together.
He felt a shift. His body was beginning to buckle as the Spirit Bomb edged ever-closer to the planet's surface. He had burned out much of his power trying to hold on, and his reserves were beginning to fail. He grit his teeth and tried to push even more energy into his body, but it was no use. There was no stopping the Spirit Bomb.
"T-this...is..."
The tyrant's eyes widened, and for the first time, the most fearsome mortal being in the universe felt fear. The unstoppable force of destruction appeared to have met his match. The great and powerful Frieza let a thought that he would never have dared cross his mind pass unhindered, for now, in this moment, he had finally dared to believe it could ever be possible:
"I'm...I'm going to...die."
A nearby observer could have distinctly heard the tyrant's cry, a cry of pure fear as he contemplated what appeared to be his imminent demise. The Spirit Bomb enveloped him completely, only heightening the emperor's terror. However, this cry was swiftly drowned out by a far more imposing roar: the deafening explosion of ki that resulted when the Spirit Bomb finally collided with the planet's surface, a blast that could be clearly seen even by the distant form of Dende, who had still been unsuccessful in coming to a complete stop from Frieza's maneuver. As for Earth's warriors, no matter how far they had managed to get from the epicenter, their vision was quickly obscured in mere seconds by an enormous flash of bright blue light. Only seconds later, the deafening noise hit along with the residual shock wave, the force of which causing everything to fade to black.
Several minutes passed during which the only sound that could be heard was the fading aftermath of the explosion and the roaring waves kicked up as a result. Eventually, however, a figure managed to pull himself up out of the water, grasping onto the first stable landmass he could find after regaining consciousness. Yamcha coughed violently for some time before regaining his composure. His own safety tentatively established, he reached out with his senses to locate the others.
"Please don't all be dead, please don't all be dead, please don't all be dead...wait a second!" Yamcha said aloud as he finally picked up something. He flew over to a spot nearby which seemed to host a fairly weak ki signature. After a bit more focus, he realized who it was, and held out his hand just as Krillin managed to swim up to the surface. Finding it somewhat difficult to pull him up, Yamcha let Krillin have a moment to cough up the water that had made its way into his lungs. Eventually, Krillin was able to pull himself up into a sitting position.
"Whew, man! That was a hell of an explosion," Krillin remarked tiredly, exhausted from having to swim up to the surface of the lake. Yamcha nodded.
"Now where could the others have gone...?" Yamcha wondered aloud. Krillin chuckled.
"If we're alive, you can bet they are, with how crazy strong they've all gotten."
Yamcha murmured to himself. "I dunno...Goku was pretty close to that blast, and he and Gohan were in pretty bad shape." The two looked around, hoping to find Piccolo, Gohan, or Goku somewhere nearby. After a moment of frantically looking around, Krillin eventually spotted something. "There!" he cried out, as both of them began to make out the form of Piccolo floating some distance away, battered from the explosion. Gohan lay barely conscious in his arms, only dimly registering the presence of the others. With some difficulty, Piccolo managed to fly to their position and set Gohan down onto the ground in front of him after spotting the group, falling to his knees not long after. With a nod, the two humans gave Piccolo and the weakened child as much energy as they could spare, and the light in his eyes shone significantly brighter.
"Ugh...what happened?" he asked, to no one in particular. "Did we win?"
Piccolo thought about this for a moment. "I'm not sensing Frieza's ki...or Goku's..."
The warriors looked at each other somberly. "Neither can I," Yamcha remarked, to which Krillin nodded. Gohan looked around, deeply saddened until he began to feel something in the back of his mind. His eyes widened a bit.
"Wait a sec...I feel something! It's...it's Daddy's ki! Coming from over there!" He pointed off in the distance, which seemed to be nothing but empty seas. Piccolo flew off as best he could towards the area, diving down in search of Goku's ki. After a few moments of tense silence, he emerged from the water with Goku in hand, looking incredibly drained. With great care, Piccolo set his body onto the ground in front of them, pushing some of his energy into his unconscious body in the hopes of getting him to come around. After some violent coughing, Goku's eyes slowly fluttered open.
"Ah...man, I...I think I saw Grandpa for a bit there," he said weakly, chuckling to himself almost deliriously. Piccolo chuckled.
"And Roshi, I'd imagine." Goku chuckled as well before tensing up for a second. He relaxed, appearing sure of himself.
"Yup. I'm not...sensing Frieza anywhere. I...I think we did it, guys."
The others couldn't help the bright, relieved smiles that formed along their faces, Goku included. Even Piccolo got in on it, although his was far more subdued.
"Come on," he remarked. "Let us return to the spaceship. With any luck, it's still intact, and we can go out and bring Dende back to Earth with us."
Goku nodded and let Piccolo pull him up off of the ground and onto his feet.
"I just hope that the Namekians were able to get our Dragon Balls working," Gohan said. "Then we could revive everyone who's died this last year, if we word the wish right." Everyone else nodded in agreement.
"From what I know through Kami, the process isn't that difficult. Tsuno should be able to restore them, or perhaps even enhance their capabilities. In time, we'll be able to bring everyone back."
The others decided then to take off at a leisurely pace, heading towards Goku and Piccolo's ship. As they flew, Yamcha addressed the elephant in the room.
"So what happens now?" When the others looked towards him, he stuttered slightly. "I-I mean, Frieza's gone, but isn't he supposed to be the head of some big empire out in space? It's not like that went away."
"Well, with their leader and many of his top subordinates dead, their empire is no doubt in disarray," Piccolo remarked. "It is unlikely that it poses a threat."
Goku frowned slightly. "Eh, I dunno about all that." Piccolo turned towards him as he elaborated. "While I was fighting Frieza, he mentioned that his parents were strong enough to injure him. If that's the case, then once they find out about this...things will get ugly."
"Plus, the universe is big," Gohan added. "Frieza may have other guys out there we don't even know about!"
Piccolo nodded as the ship came within sight. "Hm. That is indeed troubling."
"Eh, it's not so bad," Goku said. "I'm almost as strong as his dad, according to him, and now...who knows how much stronger I'll get?" After a moment of thought, Goku came up with a plan. "The next time King Kai contacts me, I'll ask him to keep an eye on everything that happens with Frieza's empire, and to tell me where I can find Frieza's dad. We can deal with him and anyone else who might take Frieza's place. After that, if somebody tries to start up something like that again, we'll deal with that too. If not, we'll let things sort themselves out. For now, though...let's worry about getting ourselves home, huh? Your mom's worried sick," Goku said to Gohan, who shuffled his feet a bit.
"Right. Yeah. The whole sneaking off on the spaceship thing." Goku nodded.
"And picking a bunch of fights with evil alien guys trying to kill you," Goku remarked. "I feel like it's my job to scold you on that, but I'd probably have done all of that stuff when I was your age, and also now, so really...seems a little unfair, don't you think?" He smiled down at his son, causing him to chuckle a bit.
"You make a compelling argument, Daddy." Goku chuckled before pointing down at his son, giving his best effort at a stern look and not really succeeding.
"Don't you go thinking that your mom's gonna let you off the hook, though. You know how she gets." Gohan sighed.
"Grounded for a month and double the homework?"
"Grounded for two months and triple the homework," Goku clarified. "She was mad."
Gohan groaned in anticipation of his fate, but still couldn't help but smile a little at the thought of going home. The others likewise smiled as they touched down in front of the ship, relieved that this long nightmare was finally over.
Piccolo was just about to step onto the extended boarding deck when he paused, suddenly overcome by a cold feeling in the back of his mind. A quick glance around at the others showed that they felt it too, and that it appeared to be...familiar. "What-?" Piccolo got out before he turned to the side-and was pierced through the chest by a pink beam of ki. As Piccolo collapsed soundlessly, suddenly on the brink of death, the others whirled around to the source of the noise.
Standing menacingly on the roof of the Capsule ship was none other than Frieza himself, having just landed after firing the beam. His eye appeared to be forcefully kept shut, his body plastered by cuts and bruises from the explosion and resulting debris. Almost a third of his tail was missing, the end reduced to a still-bleeding stump, and the gash across his chest only seemed to be causing him even greater pain. And yet, despite all of this damage, he was alive all the same, and, judging by his energy, far more powerful than any of them.
"FRIEZA!" Yamcha cried out in panic, overwhelmed by fear as the supposedly dead tyrant looked down at them with an entirely new level of hatred.
"P-Piccolo!" Gohan cried out, horrified at the fate which had befallen his teacher. Frieza's breath came shallowly as he began to speak.
"Even I thought I was dead. I very nearly was...because of you," he said, looking at Goku with a malice he'd never seen before.
"Guys, get out of here now!" Goku cried out frantically, before powering up to Kaio-ken Times Five, every inch of his body screaming in protest as he flew right at Frieza. Although evidently weakened, Frieza still managed to counter with a punch in the nick of time, sending Goku sprawling to the ground. The others hesitated for only a few seconds before resolving to leave, which turned out to be a few seconds too many. Suddenly, Krillin and Yamcha began to float off the ground without intending to, their whole bodies vibrating as ki was forcibly entered into them.
"Agh, what the-?!" Yamcha said in astonishment as he began to feel the effects of Frieza's technique.
"What's going on?!" Krillin asked, panic entering into his voice. Goku struggled to push himself up off the ground in order to get a look at just what Frieza was doing.
"Frieza...no..." he said, too weak at this point to be heard clearly. Frieza caught the plea all the same, and chuckled to himself.
"You really think I'll let these insufferable wretches go? None of you are leaving this planet alive!"
With a flick of his hand, the two rocketed upwards, the ki surrounding them rising in intensity as they both cried out in terror. Gohan began to sense what was going to happen to them, while Goku struggled to turn his head in their direction.
"Krillin! Yamcha!" he cried out as he resolved to try and distract Frieza in order to break his control, but it was too late. Krillin and Yamcha frantically looked down at the ground, making eye contact with Goku just as they felt the ki being pumped into them reach its apex.
"GOKU-!" they both cried out, only seconds before they were silenced. The two bodies simultaneously exploded in a massive plume of ki, vaporized almost instantly and left with little remaining but smoke and dust.
Goku was left awestruck as each of his friends were ripped away from him. Too weak to do anything, he could only watch with growing anger. Gohan, meanwhile, couldn't stop tears from flowing down his cheeks. Even though he knew that they could all be brought back one way or another, he couldn't help but wonder if that would be true once Frieza was done with them.
"Piccolo...Krillin...Yamcha...Daddy..." he muttered in a mixture of sadness and building fury. As he began to breathe heavily, Gohan's ki skyrocketed, in a boost far greater than any he had yet been able to muster. Gohan rushed towards Frieza with a howl of anger, intent upon beating the tyrant to a pulp. Caught off guard, Frieza was left on the defense as he threw punch after punch his way, each attack growing more and more erratic. Eventually, however, Frieza managed to grab Gohan's fist in his own, stopping the boy in his tracks. Before he could respond, the boy heard the high-pitched whine of a ki beam and felt a horrible sensation in his chest, akin to something being run through. With horror, he realized that it was his heart, torn through by Frieza's attack. The tyrant kicked his dying body to the side, where he landed only a few feet away from Goku. Unable to get back up, Gohan could feel his vision fading rapidly.
"Daddy..." he said in a small voice, looking into his father's eyes before collapsing face-first onto the ground, his ki fading beyond Goku's ability to sense.
"Gohan..." he said back as he frantically got back up to his knees, as if the name alone would bring some spark of life into his son's body. With great effort, he crawled over to Gohan and placed his hand on his chest, trying to find some sign that he could still be saved. When he couldn't hide from the obvious any longer, tears welled up in his eyes as well. "GOHAN!" he cried, cursing himself for his weakness and cursing Frieza for his unimaginable cruelty. The man in question, meanwhile, smiled with a kind of euphoric glee as Goku sunk his face into his son's chest, tears beginning to crack through all efforts at holding them back.
"Ah..." he said, completely satisfied. "This is exactly what I wanted. The look on your face, the pain in your voice, the fire in your eyes finally withering and dying."
Goku, meanwhile, tuned out the tyrant's speech, too zeroed in on his own grief, and his own feelings of guilt and failure.
"I promised Chi Chi...that I'd protect him! I promised everyone that I'd keep them safe!"
"It is true that I have sacrificed far more than I wanted to in the course of this...lesson. My tail...my dignity...but, even so, the reward is well worth it."
"I was supposed to be strong enough! Even after he transformed, even when his power proved to be so much greater than I thought...I thought I was strong enough to stop him!"
"Vegeta and the Namekians must still be dealt with, of course. Not to mention your companions on Earth. Left unchecked, they will surely move to revive you and these peons with their own Dragon Balls, assuming they're still active."
"But I wasn't, and now everyone else is in danger! Bulma and the others will bring everyone back-just for them all to die again when Frieza goes to Earth!"
"Truthfully, I had some doubt regarding Earth's value as an acquisition. This...disaster has only confirmed my assessment, and indeed amplified it. Earth's continued existence is a direct threat to my empire. It must be destroyed without delay."
"After that...we'll all be dead. For good."
"After that, I will requisition this planet after killing as many of the Namekians as I can afford to. The child will serve as a useful source of information regarding the Dragon Balls...and, perhaps, something of a curious plaything."
"Chi Chi...Gohan...Krillin, Bulma...Piccolo, Tien, Yamcha, Master Roshi, Chiaotzu...everyone. The whole planet will just be...gone."
"With his...assistance, I'm sure that my dream of immortality will be achieved sooner or later. And then...then I'll have all the time in the world to personally wipe you monkey scum off the face of the universe. I just thought you should know all of this...before you die."
Frieza began to charge up a finger beam, pointed directly at the back of Goku's head. Goku, meanwhile, struggled to stand.
"I...I can't let that happen! I can't! I've already failed to protect everyone twice now! I can't let it happen again!"
Frieza chuckled. "You know, I really must thank you, monkey. In spite of all the indignities I have suffered today...this will be one of my most cherished memories."
With all of these thoughts in his mind, this final proclamation made something inside of Goku snap.
"He...he's killed so many people. Tortured them, hurt them in ways I can't even imagine. And he...enjoys it. He fawns over every detail, in every act of cruelty. He's a monster. He'll kill everybody on Earth, and then he'll just keep killing...because I. Was too. Weak."
Goku felt something. A feeling that was almost familiar, yet...different. His heart began to beat rapidly in his chest. Every muscle in his body felt like it was being pulled taut, straining against some invisible force. His muscle mass itself was expanding, growing not quite as much as with the Kaio-ken, but enough to produce a noticeable change. It was almost like using the Kaio-ken, but stretched out, and more intense than he had ever felt. His ki was rising rapidly, beyond anything he could have imagined. His senses also reached new heights, particularly his awareness of the ki surrounding him. He could sense a small flicker of light in Piccolo's chest...and nothing else, save for the distant ki of Dende heading towards them.
More than any physical change, however, he felt a profound change in his own mind. His thoughts were becoming erratic, like a continuous angry outburst. Scattered fragments about Frieza and the deaths of his friends played through his mind over and over again in an endless loop. More worrying than that, however, were brief flashes of desires he never knew he could manifest. His mind produced a continual series of violent scenes in which he brutally attacked Frieza in all kinds of ways. He found himself enjoying the images far more than any person should.
His tears stopped as his grief for Gohan and the others morphed into a feeling of rage unlike any he'd ever experienced. The mental strain of the entire process was so difficult to bear that even speaking became an issue. Nevertheless, as his rage seemed to reach a crescendo, he let out a scattered threat, burning with intense anger.
"I...I won't let you...get away with this!"
Frieza took a step away from Goku involuntarily, his finger still pointed at the back of Goku's head.
"Oh? And just how are you going to stop me, monkey?" He charged up the finger beam even more, intent upon making sure that Goku would die. Goku, meanwhile, felt his entire body pulsing with energy as the transformation ran its course. For a brief instant, his hair and eyes changed color as his aura flared up with a new intensity, enough to knock Frieza back with an elbow to the face. Firing wide, Frieza stumbled backward as Goku shifted back, his body in all the more pain after this brief release. Now on his feet, he shakily turned towards Frieza, a murderous look in his eyes.
"You..." he growled, seething with fury. "You killed the Namekians. You killed my people. You killed my friends. ...You killed my son." With every sentence, his pain only intensified along with his rage, while Frieza looked back at him too confused to do much of anything. For a moment, he stood there growling, before he finally got out a warning. "No...more. No! More! Do you hear me?! I'm not going to let you kill anyone else, Frieza! Only one more person is going to die today..." His hair and eyes briefly changed color again, his aura flaring up even further as his body struggled to access a transformation leagues beyond what it had been capable of before. As he shifted back, Goku was left seething with both anger and pain, struggling against what he was experiencing. His mind fraught with turmoil, he suddenly found himself in a moment of quiet, the calm in a mental storm the likes of which he couldn't quite process. Inside it, he only heard a single voice, coming from somewhere deep within his mind. It spoke softly, yet firmly, and thus, Goku found himself wanting to listen to it. After what felt like an eternity, the voice finally rang clear through his head.
"Let go."
With this, all of the barriers set in place to stop this transformation he was undergoing gave way, and Goku's ki exploded in a fiery burst of sheer power. When the initial rush subsided and Goku was able to settle into this new state, he could vaguely see Frieza looking at him with a mixture of confusion and apprehension. Without a word, he tilted his head upwards, looking Frieza directly in the eye and scowling. Caught off guard by this, Frieza was left stunned by the look in Goku's eyes, now shining with a cold teal glare. Gone was any of his usual cheeriness, or even his usual brand of determination. In their place, there was only deep, unfettered hatred, the likes of which Frieza had never seen before. With his mind no longer being held in check, Goku finished his threat, in a voice which wasn't quite his own.
"It's not going to be me."
Whoo! Finally done with this!
Sorry about the delay, everyone. I was supposed to be back from my trip yesterday, but all sorts of airport shenanigans conspired to leave me stuck for another day, and arriving home fairly late. I also took some time to make some final revisions, and as a result, this update is way past the time I would've liked to upload this. Hope you guys can bear with me on this, as I may come back to add some other stuff later. Still, though, at least it's done and up on the day I promised.
In other news, I looked into a few things while I was on vacation, and realized I might've screwed up on the immortal Saiyan thing, since apparently Zamasu's immortality manifested in the form of regenerating from any injury. Since Zamasu is the only canon example of full immortality, this technically means that I wrote Dende's experience with it earlier wrong, and also means that an immortal Saiyan would receive zenkai boosts for as long as they could do so. Thus, there's no reason Goku or Gohan couldn't have been made immortal, and which would've been helpful as well since they'd just keep regenerating from any lethal injury. Still, in the end, the story isn't impacted too badly by this oversight, so we could possibly make the argument that King Kai isn't fully aware of the mechanics of immortality granted by the Dragon Balls, or just have me rewrite that whole thing. Idk, whatever you guys think is best.
Anywho, responses!
GhostKing666 says:
"Just pointing this out, Jeice is from planet Brench(same as Salza actually), which like planet Vegeta and planet Zoon has 10X's earth's standard gravity. So you probably shouldn't expect him to struggle there just because of the gravity."
Huh. Did not know that. Well, at any rate, he'll be sparring with Recoome, who will get a gravity boost, so it shouldn't cause too much of a power disparity. Also, we don't really know how long he lived on that planet, so he might not be fully conditioned to fighting in ten times gravity anyway.
Guest says:
"Jeice and Recoome are going to Planet Zoon, eh? I think I see what you're planning there, but it'll probably be awhile judging by the original canon. Anyway, really liking the story so far. Some cool twists, and divergences from the original story. Looking forward to more!"
Actually, I had a completely different plan for them before seeing this, but after reading this and thinking about it, I'm actually liking another one more. I think you have some idea of what I mean already, but I'll let it play out in a subsequent chapter.
Next up, power levels!
Gohan(post-Zenkai): 8,000,000. This is from doing his darndest to get up to Frieza's maximum level, Piccolo's full power Special Beam Cannon, and factoring in his earlier power. He sensed Frieza's power at varying stages and is trying to get to where he can fight him, but his body can only push him up so far even with such a powerful attack running him through.
Frieza(heavily wounded, 50%): 50,000,000; 100,000,000 at 100%
Gohan(Enraged): 12,000,000. Originally, I had the idea of giving Gohan my personal take on the Pseudo Super Saiyan form from the Lord Slug movie, but I figured giving him a new form and Goku a new form so close together would be a bit much. This form would've made him about 5 times stronger than he was, based on the idea that Pseudo Super Saiyan is an incomplete variant of Super Saiyan powered by sheer rage rather than both rage and experience in ki manipulation like Goku has, explaining how he can access the full form. Maybe someone will get the form later, who knows?
Goku(Super Saiyan): 215,000,000 under ideal conditions, but he's obviously been put through the wringer by Frieza and thus isn't operating anywhere near peak performance.
With all that said, thank you all for reading, have yourselves a fantastic night, and take care. I'll see you in two weeks with Chapter 24.