The earth quakes and the ocean rages as the massive Genki Dama sinks into the crust of planet Namek with the force of a meteor. The great sphere dives deep into the horizon.
It stops.
A menacing ki spikes from far beneath the earth. The cold malice is unmistakable. Freeza's power roars to the unimaginable size it was before. Then it breaks through even that insurmountable barrier into a realm beyond reality.
Goku, Gohan, Krillin, and Nail collapse beneath the pressure. Freeza's power once hammered their senses like a planetary ocean. Now it crushes them like an unchartable cosmic sea.
Krillin quivers on his hands and knees.
"What's happening? How can Freeza be a million times stronger than before?"
No one answers. They all stare with mesmerized horror as the Genki Dama retreats from the earth. It rises from its crater and into the sky.
A slender figure shorter than Goku and Nail holds the ball aloft with a single arm. The shock of Freeza's new appearance from the previous form is nearly as stark as the difference in power. He is toned and tiny, but is undoubtedly stronger, fiercer.
The sleek white of his skin runs the length of his body undisturbed like a perfectly fitted suit. Purple jewels on his forearms and shins complete his attire. They fit oblong shapes from one joint to the next. His cold eyes remain exactly the same.
"He…" says Krillin. "…had another transformation?"
Freeza lowers the arm holding the Genki Dama. He juts it back up. The spiritual sphere races up past the dark clouds. A thunder deafens the battlefield. A blinding white flash pierces the black sky. Only the shadow of Freeza's figure stains the brilliant spectacle.
The light fades. Freeza hovers over to his quarry. He lands atop a cliff on their island that overlooks them.
Goku and his friends remain frozen in fear. Only their eyes follow his movement.
"Why the sullen faces?" says Freeza. "You should be happy I stopped that attack. It would have destroyed this planet. And I know how hard you've all been working to protect it. You should be thanking me really. It would have been a shame to watch it all go kaboom."
Freeza takes in their horrified expressions. The silence lavishes him.
"In fact, I'm impressed you were able to gather such an impressive amount of energy. It really knocked the breath out of me. It's a rare event when I have to unrestrain my full power.
"I'm sure you must have thought my strength before was too unfathomable to go any higher. But it's plain to see on your faces how painfully aware you are of your ignorance.
"However, you may take solace in the fact that what you see before you is my true form, and all my power has come to bear. You should be honored in fact. I don't usually carry around this much energy all at once. It's rather burdensome."
Freeza dons an expression of reminiscing.
"The last time I did was against a member of my own species. So don't waste your final moments in fear. Stand proud knowing you are to be the first killed by this form outside my own kin."
Freeza lifts his finger.
The Dragon Team flinches.
Freeza scratches his nose.
His arms flare out.
The Dragon Team jumps back a collective step.
Freeza's hands find his hips. He stretches his lower back by pushing his pelvis forward with his thumbs.
Cold sweat beads the Dragon Team's bodies. Goku pushes Gohan behind him. Gohan clings to the back of his leg.
Goku blinks. As his eyes flick open, the pale figure of Freeza stands right before him. His mouth starts to drop open. Freeza's foot slams against his jaw. His teeth crunch as his neck slams back.
Goku lifts off his feet. Freeza jumps atop him. Freeza's grasping toes clamp around Goku's throat, cutting off his airway. Freeza stomps his foot down and pins Goku's neck to the ground.
The force crushes his throat. The toes tighten their grip as the sole of the foot presses harder. Goku gags and pulls at the shin and calf strangling him.
"Goku!"
Krillin dashes at Freeza. A flick of the tail lashes his chest. His shirt and skin splits open. The attack slams him against a ridge of rock. A fissure rends the stone on impact.
Nail appears beside Freeza with a readied fist. An unseen force constricts his entire body. Freeza gives Nail a coy smile as he restrains him with his telekinesis.
Nail's arms and legs bend and twist unnaturally behind him. Agony fills them as they contort beyond their limits. He drops to a strained kneeling position.
Freeza flicks his chin up and looks down on Nail. The simple gesture drives Nail through the soil. His body furrows deeper as he pushes toward the ocean.
Nail breaks past the shoreline. The sea parts around him as he dives towards the bottom.
Goku watches in terror as his comrades are easily dismissed. Then he hears something more terrifying than his own dire situation.
"Leave my dad alone!"
Goku sees Freeza's smile grow. His eyes dart to Gohan. His son takes a fighting pose in the orange shirt hanging from his shoulders to his knees.
Goku tries to yell a warning to run away. His vocal cords twitch in his neck, but they cannot utter any more than nonsensical gurgles.
Gohan jumps from his spot.
Freeza raises a finger. A purple spark twinkles at the end of the nail.
Goku's eyes widen. His wrists wrench Freeza's unshakable leg. His palms slide uselessly with the effort around the cold skin. He summons the Kaioken. The usual explosion of pain fills his body, but the crimson aura fails to follow. The last scraps of his ki burn away leaving him completely depleted.
The spark takes flight from Freeza's finger. Goku follows the trail.
The flickering marble collides with Gohan's chest. His ribs buckle inward. A hole rips open as the projectile punctures the cavity.
Gohan's body halts and falls backward. The bullet breaks free of his back and shoots off into the distance.
A still image of Gohan with a fading trail of purple energy piercing his body burns itself into Goku's mind.
His son's body flops to the ground.
Goku's body squirms for escape beneath Freeza's foot. It writhes to lift every part of itself except the neck. He chokes himself against the brace, but he does not care. His only thoughts are on getting to Gohan.
Freeza releases his grip and lifts his foot. He takes a step back as Goku scrambles to stand.
He rushes to Gohan.
"Gohan!"
A swift punch to the side of his face alters his direction. Freeza grins as his knuckles crack Goku's cheek.
Goku's stumbles sideways as the fist knocks him off course. But his feet manage to stabilize him. He dashes from the hand still pressed to his skin. He sees only Gohan.
"Gohan!"
Freeza frowns and moves in for another strike. His shin smashes Goku's stomach to halt his advance. He lifts Goku from his feet so he will fall flat on his belly.
Though the pain is overwhelming, Goku's anxiety over Gohan's health is worse. His son reaches out a tiny hand for help.
Goku's legs flutter in the air as his feet search for the ground. They, along with his hands, find it. He scampers on all fours until he is upright and running again.
Freeza's frown deepens. Lines crease his cheeks. He holds out a hand to Goku's exposed back. A purple sphere ignites. It fires and explodes over Goku's shoulder blades. It shreds his blue, sleeveless shirt. The skin below blisters from the heat.
Freeza watches the body ragdoll in the air. It hits the dirt and rolls several times. A smile finally returns to Freeza's face.
Goku stares at Gohan and reaches out an arm. The motion aggravates his burns and peeling skin.
"You should hurry," says Freeza. "Your son probably only has another five seconds to live."
Goku pushes up despite the biting burns. He crawls several feet to Gohan's side. Gohan coughs up blood while gasping for air.
A clean hole through his son's chest bubbles with blood. A dark stain soaks the orange shirt and adheres it to his skin.
"Gohan! Gohan, no!"
Goku watches his son's eyes plead for relief from the pain and the fear of death. One small hand grabs his pants and squeezes tight.
Goku fears doing anything because it might make it worse. Tears well in his eyes. Gohan convulses and sputters.
"Gohan!"
Freeza laughs in the background.
"You should choose your final words to your son more carefully," he says.
Goku cups a hand under Gohan's head. His other arm reaches over Gohan's stomach and under his hip. He pulls the little body over his kneeling thighs. Gohan is cold. Then he is still.
"Gohan! Gohan!"
"You see," says Freeza. "Five seconds. Am I good or what? It comes from years of practice. There's just something so satisfying about letting someone linger like that."
Freeza laughs with glutinous glee.
Memories of Gohan's smiling face jump through Goku's mind.
Krillin gets to his knees, clutching at his chest. He feels Goku's emotions fill the air. The emanating sadness and anger mix with his own.
The images of Gohan having fun with Chichi and the Ox King gain an ever deepening red hue as they play in Goku's thoughts.
Nail drags himself onto the shore from beneath the waves. The water around him skulks out to sea as if fleeing in fear of the shore.
The memories in Goku's mind are indiscernible now. The deep red bleeding through them makes them appear like overexposed pictures. They burn up and shred like a film strip on fire. It bubbles and separates until it rips apart.
Goku's blood pressure skyrockets as adrenaline fills his system. His head rocks back with each pump of blood from his heart through his neck.
A bloody Kaioken breaks from his body. His hands grip the sagging body of Gohan tighter between his knees.
Freeza chuckles.
"I've already seen that one monkey. How about something new? Or is that your only trick?"
Goku starts screaming. His head writhes side to side trying to break loose from his shoulders. The pained roar thickens the tendons of his neck. His irises and pupils disappear into the whites of his eyes.
His head snaps back, chin to the sky. His scream echoes forth.
"FREEZA!"
An orange tinge blooms at the base of his aura. It proliferates like a dye in water until it consumes the entire thing. The current lifts his hair so it flows upward in wavy locks. A red shadow coats the fringes of his black hair. Golden speckles glint the dark orange. A yellow glow lights his skin and clothes like the inside of a fire. The yellow flashes and fades in rhythm like a warning signal.
Goku lays Gohan down on the ground. He stands up. His empty, white eyes lock onto Freeza. Golden tears alight with ki flee from his eyes while they contort in anger.
Freeza staggers back a single step. The loudness of the deep orange aura assaults him. The red tinted hair and glowing yellow skin pulse danger. But worst of all is the eyes. Their pupilless glare. The sharp lines framing them. He can almost feel the actual rage and sadness that control them.
"What is this?" says Freeza. "What are you?"
"Freeza!"
Goku vanishes.
Pain explodes in Freeza's stomach. The enflamed Goku stands before him. Freeza coughs up bile as his body lifts from the ground on a fist.
Goku flings his foot behind himself before punting Freeza in the chin. His foot follows through over his head, launching Freeza skyward.
Freeze flips end over end unable to control himself.
"Freeza!"
The word rings in his ears but he is helpless to defend himself.
Goku's raging form appears behind Freeza. He rams an elbow into Freeza's spine, reinforcing the strike with his other hand. Freeza bends around the point before the force knocks him back at the ground.
"Freeza!"
His own name conjures fear within him. For the first time he senses a malice hell-bent on destroying him. He gains control of his fall and immediately flies as fast as he can away from Goku.
"Freeza!"
Goku chases in a careening path. He swerves erratically as his ki bursts from random sides of his aura. The unbridled approach leaves Freeza guessing which direction to escape in.
Krillin feels the torment radiating from Goku as he gets to his feet. The anger, the hatred, bores into his mind. It clouds his own pain. He does not even recognize any trace of his best friend in the aura filling the battlefield.
He drifts over to Nail who watches the cataclysmic powers collide.
They stare in bewilderment.
Freeza flees. Goku pursues.
Freeza fires several death beams behind himself. Goku flies straight through them. One pierces the outer edge of his abdomen on the left side. Another strikes through his right pectoral just below the collarbone where his chest meets his shoulder.
Goku feels nothing as the energy pierces his flesh. Overworking healing systems strive to clot the wounds with rapidly dividing and dying cells.
"Freeza!"
He races with reckless abandon at his target. He punches the source of his pain and anger straight in the nose. Blood squirts as Freeza's nose swells and bruises.
Goku grabs one of Freeza's flopping arms. He yanks it hard enough to make Freeza yelp. The action flips his opponent around to expose his back. Goku clenches one of Freeza's legs with his other hand. He lifts Freeza up by his limbs, and then slams him down into a knee hammering upward. The blow crushes Freeza's spine.
A cold breath bursts from Freeza's mouth. It frosts the air like a spirit leaving the body.
Goku pulls Freeza's wrist and ankle to stretch him over his knee. Freeza wails in distress. Goku drops his knee while driving the opposite one into his victims back. Freeza barks more agonized noises as Goku repeats the process over and over.
Freeza looks into the eyes of Goku hoping to find some semblance of mercy. But the empty whites offer no signs of remorse as the knees stab him.
Goku lets go of Freeza's limbs and clasps his hands over his head. He drops them against Freeza's stomach. The impact repels his enemy at sonic speed. Freeza crashes like a meteor, cratering an island. The huge indentation replaces the land mass entirely.
Despite bleeding profusely from his two torso wounds, Goku dives after Freeza. His cloudy eyes cry tears while sharpening into rageful slits. The inferno of aura around him burns bigger and brighter.
"Freeza!"
He aims a fist at Freeza's stomach and hits the ground as a second asteroid. The crater breaks open to twice its width and depth. Freeza's mind blanks as pain infuses the entirety of his being.
The ocean cascades into the crater to drown both of them. The turbulent waters swirl as they fill the new valley.
Freeza bursts free of the sea. He rockets away as Goku blasts out right behind him in pursuit. Freeza unloads a frenzied bombardment of ki bolts. Goku flies straight in taking several hits.
"I don't get it," says Nail. "Goku is so powerful now, why doesn't he just dodge Freeza's attacks?"
"He's lost all sense of himself," says Krillin. "He's not worried about survival. He's just trying to exhaust the pain."
"But he'll destroy himself exerting that much uncontrolled force for much longer."
"I don't think his mind can even spare a thought for that."
###
King Kai observes the fight from his mountaintop. His pupils stand around him.
A sick feeling cuts Piccolo deep. He looks to King Kai.
"Tell me Gohan's going to be okay," says Piccolo.
"I'm afraid not," says King Kai. "He has passed over to our side."
The answer stuns Piccolo silent.
"How could that insane Genki Dama not work?" says Yamcha.
"Freeza was far more powerful than I could have imagined. And now Goku is fighting a losing battle."
"But I can sense Goku's new power through you," says Yamcha. "It's incredible. Surely that can do some damage."
"No it's not about power anymore. Goku's rage has unlocked a great ki within him, but the serenity of mind he needs to control it has evaporated. He'll destroy himself if he cannot come down from this anger and hatred."
"Can't you contact him and warn him?" says Chiaotzu.
"I've tried. But I can't reach through the blinding hate that conceals his heart. He is a torn man. His gentle nature is at war with the insatiable urge to satisfy his fury. Either his rage will end or his body will."
Roshi closes his eyes and looks down at his feet.
Oh Goku, he thinks. I can't imagine what you must be going through. But please, for your own sake, don't lose yourself to this darkness. Don't become like Freeza.
###
A black void.
Two combatants.
Each is a silhouette of Goku.
One is a bright, raging red. The other a dark, melancholy blue.
They trade strikes and blows. The hair of the red silhouette floats upward on a rising wind. The hair of the blue silhouette droops beneath a raining aura.
The red Goku presses the attack while the blue one defends, only striking to drive back the aggressor. The red one lands its knuckles against the cheek of the blue Goku.
Blue staggers back. An orange bruise spreads on its cheek. It looks back at red. White tears streak down its face, leaving light blue trails.
Red hesitates. It roars and lashes out again. Blue defends.
The will to fight erodes with each orange bruise it acquires from Red.
The knuckles of Red stain with purple after each hit. It pauses a moment to look at them. It roars again and continues the assault.
###
Goku snarls as Freeza restrains him. Freeza's arms shake with the effort to hold Goku's wrists. His tail, wrapped around Goku's waist, squishes like a spring as it holds Goku back.
Drops of saliva pelt Freeza from his foe's jaw snaps at him. His arms stretch wide as Goku pulls them apart, drawing his throat closer to the chomping maw.
Goku bites at Freeza's neck. His hot breath warms the skin. He bites again, and his teeth nip the flesh. Goku reels his head back for a final strike at the blood filled vessels of Freeza's throat. His neck lunges.
Freeza throws his head aside. He twists his shoulders to evade the jaw. A sharp vice of pain cries out from the soft spot between his neck and shoulder.
Goku's teeth latch onto the spongy flesh. Purple blood fills his mouth and runs from its corners. His jaw clenches to sever the chunk of muscle. He rips the tissue free, leaving a gruesome notch lined with teeth marks in the crook beside Freeza's neck.
Goku chews the flesh. Blood squelches from it and runs down his chin. A horrifying grin of enjoyment spreads his lips.
Freeza stares at the hideous sight. He loosens his grip and releases a huge blast of energy. It pushes Goku away while he rises on it to escape.
Goku's silhouette appears in the clearing smoke as he floats free of the explosion unscathed. The chase begins again.
Goku hounds Freeza and ignores his own well being as he takes one attack after another without defending. The thrill of bloodying Freeza fuels his conquest further. He smiles as each of his own strikes land.
He pounds Freeza's face with knuckle cracking hits. Puddles of blood form beneath the bruising attacks. The purple blood stains his fingers. Freeza gurgles nonsense as his mind fades in and out of focus beneath the bashing.
Goku smashes his clamped hands against the back of Freeza's neck.
Freeza rockets into the ground without any attempt to stop himself. The impact flattens a rocky hill. He lies motionless.
Goku's boots clack the terrain as he lands. He reaches down to grab Freeza by the throat. He lifts him to a kneeling position.
Freeza's eyes roll as they try to settle on Goku's face. The empty eyes still glisten with ki filled tears. He sees a life ending fist lift up and glow with destructive intent.
Freeza closes his eyes and turns his face away. His arms dangle limp at his sides. Goku's fingers pinch tighter around his throat. He croaks a single word.
"Mercy."
The light behind his closed eyelids brightens. The air grows hotter.
"Please."
###
The black void.
Red Goku holds its blue shadow by the throat. A lethal energy radiates from a fist held aloft. It growls with anger.
Red hesitates. It watches streams of tears spill from Blue's eyes. Red looks at its own hand around Blue's throat. Its color almost matches Blue's skin after the beating.
Red's hand breaks away from Blue's neck. The swirling energy extinguishes from the other. Red drops to its knees. White tears spill from its eyes leaving light orange streaks on its cheeks.
The two lock stares. Blue opens its arms aside.
Red clenches its own chest to hold in the sadness fighting for release. It chokes out a sob as its fury final breaks. Red leans into Blue's chest. They embrace and merge.
Their forms mingle as they take the shape of a golden flame.
###
Freeza wonders why the death blow has not come. The threatening light behind his eyelids softens. The heat drops to a comfortable warmth. Freeza dares to peek through cautiously small slits.
The sight before him inspires his first sense of awe. His cheeks lengthen as his mouth opens.
Piercing, blue-green eyes stare into his own. Their angry edges and yet soft irises give him a mix of ease and anxiety.
The jet black hair from before shines with a brilliant blonde. It flows upwards like the feathers of a bird in a light breeze.
The once jagged spikes of the fiery, feral aura now wisps as a golden yellow of magnificent grace.
Goku releases the hand around Freeza's throat without a word.
Freeza falls to his butt and scampers backward. He gasps for air as he slithers away. A terrifying question crawls to the forefront of his mind. He tries to hold onto it, but it escapes his lips.
"Are you … a Super Saiyan?"
Author's Note 11/6/23: Is it true? Has the mighty Freeza's worst fear come to life? Can Goku harness this new power and defeat the immortal tyrant for good? Tune in for the next chapter of Dragon Ball Ki to find out!
Additional Note: I see emails and data haven't been working. If you've submitted a comment or message and I haven't responded, it's because I have not received it for whatever reason. Hopefully all of this gets sorted out soon. Thank you for reading!