Dragon Ball - Heart of the Adventurers
By LastationLover5000, and Demod20, edited by Firegod00
Chapter 28 - Minacious Accord
As the leader of the Ginyū Special Squadron, Ginyū prided himself on his team's efficiency, if nothing else. Leaving the cacophony of noises behind him — explosions, shouts, and other sounds of violence — the Captain of the Ginyū Squad rushed over the surface of the Planet Namek, a man-sized, lavender comet streaking across the sky. Beneath him, the force of his ki kicked up the emerald waters of Namek's oceans, leaving a thin wake as he flew. Levitating above the heliotrope-skinned alien were his trophy, the Dragon Balls he had procured for Lord Freeza.
Ginyū was unable to force down his snickering. The Dragon Balls in hand. His men were summarily handling the traitors and their associates. And his superior, Freeza, would soon be immortal. For a loyal member of the Freeza Army — for one who had been there when Freeza rose to power — there could be no greater joy. The Captain's journey was a short one; within mere minutes, Freeza's ship began to appear over the horizon, enlarging from a blot, to a blob, to an identifiable body of the ship. He slowed his flight, making his descent towards the waiting craft. His Scouter pinged as he sunk through the air, the alien scanning the horizon for signs of life. When he was satisfied that nothing was there, or that perhaps it was a small creature, he touched down, and awaited the arrival of his Master.
Clinging to the ship's port side, Chi-Chi's breath hitched. How had he gotten back so fast?! It's barely been eight minutes...! The young woman had decided, in a spur of the moment, to try and get closer to the ship, as she was certain no one was coming back this soon. Ginyū had taken her off guard by returning before even ten minutes had passed. Chi-Chi cursed under her breath, and rapidly tried to conceal her combat strength. For a moment, a fleeting moment, she thought the alien had detected her with that damn device of his, which made for the second close call in so short a time.
She inhaled slowly, then exhaled slowly, an action to calm her as much as steady her power.
What am I getting into?
Chi-Chi heard a faint whirring noise, creeping alongside the edge of the ship at a snail's pace to follow the source of the noise. She stuck her black-haired head as far as she felt comfortable, until her line of sight was no longer blocked by the pauldron-like extensions of Freeza's ship. Chi-Chi's pale hand was wrapped firmly around the Bashōsen, knowing that the possibility of fighting for her life was the likeliest outcome of this new streak of daredevilry. Two figures came into view in Chi-Chi's dark eyes; the imposing figure of Ginyū, and the diminutive one of Freeza. Remembering the campy personality of the former and the sheer ruthlessness of the latter, Chi-Chi took one thing to heart: if she ever made it off this planet, she would get the saying to never judge a book by its cover engraved on a plaque.
"I'm delighted to see you've returned, Mr. Ginyū," Freeza spoke, and every trace of excitement was hard to repress in his voice, the tyrant's eyes settling on the gleaming spheres floating above Ginyū. Ginyū bowed low, settling the spheres on the ground. The five within Freeza's possession soon found their way to the two brought by Ginyū, creating a set of seven spheres that shone with the light of the varying number of stars lodged inside.
He really has them..all seven Dragon Balls...! Chi-Chi bit her lower lip. She could jump out right now, using the Bashōsen for a surprise attack. Even if she couldn't take all of the Dragon Balls, she could take one of them and flee. Before Chi-Chi could act on this impulse — at the exact moment her right leg inched forward — she felt, for a brief moment, a beam of ki pierce her breast. The pain nearly sent her to the ground, and she felt for sure that she should topple over right then and there. Frantically, Chi-Chi grabbed at her chest...and felt there to be no hole, no damage.
Nothing had struck.
If I move from here right now...I'm going to die... The realisation had hit her like a speeding freight; she hadn't actually been struck, but something, be it intuition or much more, told her that had she moved, that brief premonition would have come to be true. She could only watch. Watch and pray for something to go horribly wrong.
"And what of Vegeta and his cohorts?" inquired Freeza. Caught up in the moment, Freeza had finally dismounted from his hovercraft, and it did nothing to improve his stature. If anything, his full unimpressive height was made even more apparent standing next to Ginyū, as Freeza only came up to the man's hip.
"My associates are handling them, my Lord," replied Ginyū smoothly.
"Excellent," Freeza's face broke into a wicked smile. "Then I can expect their heads delivered to be forthwith. You've outdone yourself, Mr. Ginyū. With this, my wish for immortality is at hand!
"Think nothing of it, my Lord," Ginyū said, his face lighting up. "Shall I show you the Dance of Joy to celebrate our successful mission and your impending rise to supremacy?"
Freeza's face blanched, and he let out a hesitant cough. "Perhaps some other time." Placing his hands over the Dragon Balls, which not only emitting their own glow but caught the light of the harsh Nameccian sun. As if they knew a prospective wish-maker was standing not even a foot from them, the Dragon Balls pulsated eerily, yet it was simultaneously beautiful. His voice demanding, Freeza's voice echoed to the heavens.
"DRAGON BALLS! I, LORD FREEZA, DEMAND THIS OF YOU: HEAR MY DESIRE AND GRANT MY WISH! FREE ME OF THE SHACKLES OF MORTALITY, GRANTING ME ETERNAL LIFE AND RIGHTFUL DOMINION OVER THE LESSER LIFEFORMS!"
No, he's made his wish! Panic flooded Chi-Chi's core, and she half expected to see Freeza's body to shift, radiating in golden light; in her mind, this is what someone who was immortal would look like. Yet there was no physical change, and nothing of the Dragon Balls — still luminous — suggested that they'd been activated. Then Chi-Chi remembered the old stories of the Dragon Balls, at least the ones on Earth. Using the Dragon Balls should have summoned a Dragon of some sort, but that hadn't happened here. We might have a chance...!
The silence that followed the lack of a response from the Dragon Balls was weighing heavily in the air. Freeza carefully inspected his body, and, in a move that surprised Ginyū and Chi-Chi both, made a thin but careful laceration along his left bicep. Purple ichor dripped from the wound, and when Freeza saw it made no noticeable effort to repair itself, his face split into a horrific expression of fury. Ginyū bravely voiced his concerns.
"D-Did...did the Dragon Balls work, Lord Freeza?"
"No," came the seething the reply of the tyrannical menace. "For whatever reason, the damned Balls didn't work. Why? What went wrong?!" His voice came out in a violent snarl, causing even Ginyū to step back in fear. "What...happened...?!" Freeza went over possible scenarios in his head, working overtime mentally to recall if there was any interaction with the Nameccians that should have tipped him off. Shuddering in realisation, the memory came flooding back. When he gained his first Dragon Ball, the Elder had left him with a dire warning:
Take it...go ahead...see how far it gets you, tyrant... Even if you gather all seven Dragon Balls...you will be denied your wish...!
If anything, this realisation made Freeza even angrier. "An old Nameccian..." he said through clenched teeth. "...told me that even if I collected the Balls, I wouldn't get my wish. I thought he was just being petty...!" Freeza's hands curled into fists, drawing more blood with the force of the motion. "No...he said you specifically...! I missed something! What could it have been!? A password the Nameccians know!? The arrangement of the Balls?! A sacred land to which they respond?!"
Chi-Chi grinned in spite of herself, allowing herself to embrace the feeling of relief that washed over her. So he did make a mistake somewhere...we've still got a chance!
"Why did I kill all of them?!" Freeza was raging against his own trigger-happy nature now, realising that, if all of the Nameccians were well and truly dead, he'd ruined his one and only chance to achieve immortality. He couldn't force a corpse to speak, and he was now cursing his lack of foresight.
"M-My Lord, please, check your Scouter!" suggested Ginyū, in an effort to placate his master. "You may find a Nameccian holed up somewhere!"
Rapidly, Freeza began to check his Scouter, surveying the distant horizon for combat strength readings. He passed over a large cluster of ki readings — Vegeta's group and the Ginyū Special Squadron — experiencing a rush of excitement when the Scouter struck gold. "There!" He crowed triumphantly. "I can see it! Three combat strength readings, unmistakably those of Nameccians!" His shoulders shaking with mirth, Freeza boarded his hovercraft. "Fortune has not forsaken me yet, Mr. Ginyū. I will interrogate these survivors myself. You remain here, and guard my treasure."
"Yes, sir!" Ginyū dutifully saluted Freeza, the latter taking off pelmel towards the surviving Nameccians.
Chi-Chi felt herself slump, barely able to force her body to remain upright against the ship. Whether she'd been conscious of it or not, Freeza's presence had instilled immense fear into her body. She'd felt like, the longer that main had remained her, the higher her chances of death remained. While Ginyū was no slouch in the strength department, he still wasn't nearly as imposing, or as powerful, as his master, and Chi-Chi allowed herself to breathe properly again.
I still need to get those Dragon Balls out of their hands... She thought, burning black orbs focused intently on shimmering orange spheres. If I can just get those, and then...hide them somewhere, we'll have the wish that those lot came for. And then Son will have no choice but to listen to what I have to say. The plan was sound, but the question remained to Chi-Chi: could she even get the Dragon Balls? The young woman cast an aside glance at the ship and groaned. There...might be something in the ship. This, however, posed a new was she going to get past Ginyū long enough to sneak her way into the ship?
Silently, she was biding her time; minutes passed, and when no idea came to her, Chi-Chi was about to curse her own situation. Then, when she chanced a look in the direction of Ginyū, Chi-Chi saw that the man had begun...dancing? She wanted to call it that, but the movements were strange to her; a flapping of the arms, leaping into the air, spiraling on his tiptoes. I...I might be able to distract this guy after all, honestly. Her expression showed exasperation, but at the same time, a twisted sort of relief. Chi-Chi's fist tightened around the Bashōsen, and her gaze drifted to the sky.
The forecast calls for rain, big guy... With a flourish, Chi-Chi swiped the fan towards the heavens, focusing all of its mystical energies on the sky itself. The clouds began to darken overhead, centralising over Freeza's ship. A rumbling noise filled the sky, and within seconds, rain began to fall heavily onto the ground. Chi-Chi was worried, at first, at the intensity of her creation; the winds began to rush furiously against her, causing the rain to move nearly sideways. She could hear it pattering against the side of the ship, feel the cool water drench her skin and soak her hair, a sensation made worse by the rush of the wind. Nearby, the ocean began to slap against the shore, the waters swirling against the current, and lightning flashed across the sky.
Ginyū ceased dancing, distracted by the sudden deluge. "What in the—?! A storm? Now!?" To his horror, he saw that the strength of the winds began to affect the Dragon Balls; the spheres were rolling in every direction. "No! Lord Freeza's Dragon Balls!" Reaching out with his mind, Ginyū extended his telekinetic powers, rendering the Balls immobile. This split second distraction — aided by a convenient flash of lightning and clap of thunder — allowed Chi-Chi to sneak past Ginyū, slipping into the automatic entrance of the warm ship's interior, Ginyū missing the alert of the Scouter due to the incessant noise of caused by the storm.
Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip.
No longer under the constant dredge of the rain, which Chi-Chi could firmly hear crashing against the windows still, water dripped from Chi-Chi's body, pooling under her feet. Placing her hands together, Chi-Chi channeled her ki into a kiai-like burst of wind, which dried her immediately, and she took a moment to gaze around. An appreciation for the fact that she did not have claustrophobia set in, the woman noticing that the interior of Freeza's ship was built in a way that the majority of it was a long corridor that stretched in both directions of the circular craft. The tiled floor resembled wood in shape, though it was clearly a synthetic material she didn't recognise, and the walls were a light rouge, complimented by the steel portions left uncoloured, creating a tiled effect.
"It...certainly looks alien..." Chi-Chi observed, walking steadily down the hallway. "I need something to help me get the Dragon Balls...though now that I'm in here, I don't even know what I'm looking for, do I?" She moved quietly, and talked to herself under her breath, trying to keep her presence as concealed as possible. She considered herself lucky not to have run into another one of Freeza's soldiers just entering the ship, and did not want to push her luck. Willing the Bashōsen to vanish — rationalising she couldn't make decent use of it in this cramped ship — Chi-Chi continued onward. Multiple automatic doors opened in a 'Y' shape as she passed them, and Chi-Chi looked inside to see if there was anything of use, but found, to her dissatisfaction, many of the rooms appeared to be personal quarters.
"They live on this ship?" she muttered incredulously. "In this metal husk?" Chi-Chi frowned. She couldn't imagine for the life of her spending any extended time in a ship last this. Telling herself that she wouldn't find anything within the enemies' personal quarters, Chi-Chi plowed onward. Coming across another automatic door, it opened, revealing a room which was starkly different from the personal quarters of the Freeza Soldiers. The black-haired woman looked inside; on the floor were scattered pieces of glass, and something that looked horrifyingly like dried blood. Chi-Chi examined the room still further, seeing a console standing alone to the left side, and further in, a multitude of machines — one of which had its glass dome shattered, the obvious source of the glass fragments — and one of the others contained...
"...Son...Gokū?" Chi-Chi felt the words escape her mouth before she could stop them. Floating inside the liquid of one of the machines, she saw the distinct spiked hair that resembled the man she'd given her heart to. She felt herself take involuntary steps into the room, and comprehension dawned on her quickly, and she blinked rapidly before shaking her head. The other details of the man within the machine became apparent when she made her way closer to the machine; he wore the tattered armor indicative of a member of the Freeza Army. This wasn't Gokū. It was that man from earlier who so resembled him. One of Freeza's elite soldiers.
Chi-Chi trembled. Had she walked right into a trap? With that Ginyū man outside, and this man floating within this tank in front of her, was she trapped? I need to go...I shouldn't stay in here...! Her thoughts to flee came too late, and she realised with a surge of dread that Tullece's eyes were wide open, examining her with a mixture of curiousity and unwarranted interest.
Chi-Chi hesitated at first, but braved a few words.
"...so, it's you again..." Her words were careful and measured; she wasn't intending to die here by challenging the man, but she couldn't keep the confrontational tone out of her voice. Force of habit, perhaps, as Chi-Chi was hardly one for polite negotiations. The liquid surrounding the Saiyan's body receded, his spiked hair, so similar to Gokūs, sticking to the back of his battered Combat Jacket. The glass covering opened with a slight hiss, and Tullece clambered out.
"I could say the same to you, woman..." replied the Saiyan warrior. Chi-Chi saw Tullece glance around curiously, as though he was checking to see if anyone else was in the room besides themselves, and then examine his own body and attire. "Even I'm amazed at my own recuperative powers. That sort of attack should have laid me out for far longer." The grin crossing his face slid off when he gave his attire a closer inspection. "Tch! I need a new Combat Jacket." Striding past Chi-Chi easily, Tullece stopped in the doorway and beckoned imperiously. "You, come with me."
Chi-Chi scowled. "And why should I?" she asked, voice indignant.
Tullece's tail unfurled, amused. "Because I said so."
Feeling compelled, though rightfully irate, the black-haired woman followed the Saiyan out of the room and into the corridor. After a few minutes of silence — Tullece's leisurely pace giving the impression of having no ill-will — Chi-Chi broke the silence with a tentative question.
"Shouldn't you be killing me? I'm pretty sure your boss won't be happy if he knew you didn't kill me on sight."
"There's no point in killing someone by way of greeting," replied the Saiyan briskly. "It's something my 'boss' could do to learn. I haven't killed you yet because I don't have a reason to. Would you like to give me one?"
It was no longer an inkling. This man was more dangerous than the dancing Captain of the Ginyū Special Squadron outside, in terms of attitude alone. The two continued walking, taking a turn into one of the automatic doors that opened into what Chi-Chi could as a locker room. It didn't offer much privacy, and was in fact constructed in the same method as the rest of the ship. They'd opened a door from one curved hallway into another curved hallway, and Chi-Chi was beginning to think that if she'd seen the full layout of this ship, it would merely cause her mental anguish.
Tullece busied himself at one of the lockers, pulling out an intact version of what Chi-Chi and her loose allies considered to be "Saiyan armor", but Tullece had referred to earlier as a "Combat Jacket". The Saiyan unceremoniously removed the broken one he was currently wearing, surprising Chi-Chi not only in his unsolicited stripping but the fact that the jacket, which had seemed so solid, stretched like rubber. The woman barely had time to marvel at the fact that his body under the jacket had several scars, before Tullece had stretched his way into the new attire. The combat jacket he donned this time was a shade of dark navy, with pauldrons that squared off towards the end, and only two hipguards, lacking the crotchguard of his previous jacket. The Saiyan seemed relatively content with his boots and gloves, as he saw no need to adjust them.
"Now," Tullece said abruptly. "Why don't you begin by making yourself helpful? What's happened since I've been out?"
Remembering Tullece's pointed statement of not killing anyone without reason, Chi-Chi saw no point in giving him a reason. Furthermore, the room they were in did not offer much room to fight back, much less escape. She would have to be 'helpful' for now. Swallowing the lump in her throat, Chi-Chi went off into a long-winded explanation, though hurrying to the part when Zarbon was killed at Tullece's suggestion, waving off information he'd known prior. "Freeza also called for this group...a flamboyant lot? I think they were called the Ginyū Force—"
"—The Ginyū Special Squadron," Tullece muttered. His olive-tone skin paled slightly, but if this information perturbed him, he made no other noticeable hint that it did.
"Yeah, those people," continued Chi-Chi more bravely now. "Well, I think they went off after my..." She couldn't use the word 'friends', as that was certainly the furthest thing from the truth. "...acquaintances. Their leader brought back the Dragon Balls to Freeza, but they didn't work. Freeza is off looking for someone to force the information out of, but he left that Ginyū fellow outside."
"So Freeza actually called the Ginyū Special Squadron..." Tullece looked pensive. He was speaking more to himself now, and less to Chi-Chi, who watched him warily. Now that she'd provided everything she'd known, the woman didn't have the slightest reason to think he wouldn't snuff her out right now. I can't say I'm surprised. I managed to get rid of Zarbon, but given I was out, of course he couldn't send me. "But his haste to bring those fools here has just freed up my schedule...and I may be able to turn this around yet."
"Um..." Chi-Chi began, and this snapped Tullece's head back towards her.
"Ah, right," said the Saiyan coolly. "The issue of what to do with you remains, doesn't it?"
"...What do you mean?"
"I'm in a generous mood," Tullece's face broke into a smile. "Since what you did was beyond simply watching from a hill and taking off at the first sign of trouble, I like your spirit. Given you seem to show no real love for those acquaintances of yours, how about this. Come work for me."
Chi-Chi blinked, unsure if she'd heard correctly, but did not interrupt.
"If everything goes the way I'm planning it," Tullece continued, "You'll be not only at the top of the known Universe, but you'll be my lieutenant in the new regime I've got cooking up. And just to be clear, I take good care of my loyal partners; how much can you say that about your current associates?"
"Are...are you offering me a job?" Chi-Chi asked quietly. Her voice came out slow, her mind working a mile a minute. She'd expected him to have killed her long before this, but instead he was offering her a place at his side? She tried to keep her face impassive as she asked the question.
"In a manner of speaking," replied Tullece.
"But why me?" Chi-Chi was nothing if not wary. The proposition was too sudden, and far too unfitting. Recruiting her out of the entire crop of those she'd come to Namek with made no sense, not in her eyes. She pressed the matter, daring to try her luck.
"Naturally, I'd be surprised if you weren't dubious at my idea," Tullece agreed, pleased that she hadn't simply readily taken to the offer. "Truly though, it's been awhile since I've found someone with the right kind of cold...pragmatism, as you have. While I heard the qualms of that child and the distrusting dwarf's accusations, I can very much say that I reward those who I see as useful to me. Don't mistake us as friends," he added, "but more of us as business partners going into a venture. It's a big gamble, even with all of the cogs I have in my machine that's just about ready to go off. The only thing I'd like more, at this point, is someone who understands the gravity of my situation and is willing to do what it takes to help see this job through. Does that put your mind more at ease?"
It didn't sound like a lie, and that threw Chi-Chi off even more so. The fact that this man offered what so blatantly was the truth — at least insofar as he was willing to tell her — was far stranger than if he'd simply lied. Chi-Chi looked directly at his face, so similar to Gokū's own, yet so different at the same time, and carefully voiced her reply.
"...Fine. Consider me under your employ, then."
Surprisingly, Tullece clasped his hands together in apparent delight. "I'm glad to see that your mind works the way it should. You've made the correct choice, and you'll see that soon — I can give you more than you've ever thought possible." He walked over to another locker, pulling out a Combat Jacket of a more feminine design, and tossed the jacket, as well as boots, gloves, and other accessories, towards Chi-Chi, who caught them with a dull look on her face.
"Put those on," he instructed.
"I...what?" Chi-Chi glanced at the attire she now held, and then back to Tullece. "Excuse you?"
"Do you want to be caught immediately, or do you want to live?" asked the Saiyan impatiently. "Put. It. On."
Chi-Chi grumbled, resigning herself to her newfound partner's demands.
Grasping the tattered sash wrapped around her predominantly blue dress-top, torn around the waist up to her bosom from the injury she withstood from both Nappa and Vegeta from before, she pulled it up over the curves of her chest past the whipping streak of her black hair. Undoing the notches of the crimson outline of her qipao, she winced as she unfurled the top, using one arm to cover her mostly uncovered front while hauling it down the length of her supply pale legs. Taking the waistband of her pants, she fixed a glare at the Saiyan, whose eyes had been patiently following her movements. Even as she glared back, she eased the bluish fabric down to rest in a puddle at her ankles where her slipper covered feet presided. Kicking off the slippers, she sighed, and began to put on the Battle Jacket's attire granted to her.
Taking a hold of the effects handed to her, she pulled up the uneven leg sleeve fixated up her left leg, marveling at how it fit her like a glove with almost no distinction of her mass comparable to who it normally was worn by. Placing the barely shin high other matching boot, the toes of which were a blue, she latched a pair of armored knee pads; one over her bare right leg and the other over the thigh high protective mesh covering her leg. Stretching the leotard up over her hindquarters, she reached for the battle jacket and pair of gloves left. Pulling a blue abdominal and flaring shouldered jacket with mostly black fatigue -the same as the short leotard bottom hugging her buttocks almost too tightly- she found that it too was a snug fit; her bust contorted the top of the armor, meshing it on its own to hug her curvaceous torso from the waist up. Sliding the pliant white gloves on, she couldn't help but partially admire the mismatching pieces of gear she was given to blend in. Apart from her disliking of the shoulders, it wasn't that bad of a look for her...at least...for the moment.
"Would you look at that?" Tullece said smugly. "You actually clean up rather well."
Chi-Chi ignored this, though her new employer's amusement was more than evident. She'd come this far, and had already agreed to work under him, so it was going to be time to lose the discomfort more sooner than later. In an effort to do just that, the ebony-tressed woman inquired, "What's our next step then?"
"Freeza may have rushed his pieces across the board, but I've still got enough in reserve," Tullece replied, pleased with Chi-Chi's use of the plural. He fiddled with the glove on his left wrist, as if inspecting it to make sure it was still in proper shape. Seemingly satisfied with whatever he saw, Tullece grinned. "Now is the opportune time to plant it." Turning on his heel, he strode towards the automatic door. "Follow me; we'll begin the first phase now."
With only the slightest hesitation in her step, Chi-Chi followed Tullece out of the locker room.
Unbelievable.
It was truly an impossibility.
Pan had seen the result of what she thought could never occur. Before this point, she had believed that Vegeta was the strongest person that wasn't her dad. The man had seemed utterly invincible based on what was told to her after she regained consciousness. He had the strength to possibly be the most frightening thing ever, and every new monster she couldn't handle on this world was beneath him in scope.
But now, he threw his most destructive attack, and the largest of the musclebound troop merely received superficial damage. Pliant armor only partially cracked, his gloves burnt, his boots soiled and his hair frayed. With only a small sliver of blood escaping the corner of his mouth, the jolly giant of the Ginyū Squad smiled a full set of pearly white teeth at the flabbergasted attack.
The child of Gokū just knew, without even looking to her mother for confirmation; Vegeta was no match for him.
"That was a nice hit. Had some real sting to it!" Reacoom complimented, lowering his hands down to his sides and standing erect in defiance to his smaller opponent's person, feet planted solidly on the fractured, water-logged soil beneath his feet. "Got another one in you, Vegeta?"
Taking a step back, the Saiyan prince bared his teeth in defiance. No longer was he in shock from how ineffective his signature technique was. Now he was simply moving one foot behind the other. He dared not turn his gaze back at his cohorts, though it stood to reason he knew what their reactions were like; with Aspara casting a bittersweet grin, knowing she'd be next, and Nappa of pure horror.
In the next instant, he took to the air. Pan could barely follow, his body evaporating in place and not even leaving a trace of an Afterimage.
"Where did he go?!" Bulma cried out, believing for a second that the Prince left in an act of cowardice.
"He disappeared?" Tights mouthed, looking left and right, trying to scan the environment to where he went.
Wordlessly, Jaco's head was already pointing up along with Reacoom's face. The orange tuff of his oblong shaped skull angled up with his arms now propped onto his hips. What the Galactic Patrolman saw was Vegeta gathering a swathe of ki around his body. A menagerie of navy-indigo colors maneuvering around his body, up his torch-like mane and curling around his gloved hands.
"H-He's not gonna-!"
"He's going to fire at us!" Aspara cried out with outrage, interrupting Nappa's stuttering indecisive fear with her own fist balling anger. She shifted around to look for an exit, determining to not be caught in the collision-
"You're going to wait your turn right there, love," Jheese ordered, bringing her movements to a halt. Frozen in place, she barely looked over her long-haired back from the left, her eye partially glaring but still possessing fear as the white-haired, red-skinned man grinned confidently beside his taller, bluer companion. "We could kill you all easily, here and now. Least you can do is play along with our game."
"Jheese, check out Reacoom," The aforementioned serpent-humanoid nudged the shorter man's shoulder. "He'sssss doing hissssss thing."
"Reaaaaaaaaacooooooooooom-!"
Sure enough, they'd see the man oddly gesture his arms, like limp noodles caught within a current of water. Bending down to squat, almost sitting upon the water filled earth, his voice cascaded in the air in a deep bellowing churn.
And in an instant, the ground erupted, as if exploding by an unseen power.
A streak of raspberry light briefly flared in the sky, following a crescendo of smaller blasts being unleashed by the airborne Vegeta. They ruptured their, blossoming balls of white-flamed orbs across the unseen moving object. In less than a second, after two dozen kikōha had seemingly met their mark, a obtusely shaped head of orange hair emerged between white gloved palms-
-and slammed like a battering ram into Vegeta's battle worn jacket, the front of which now exploded under the strain of connecting with his thick, ki-infused skull.
"CHARGE!" He finished with a succinct shout, the Saiyan prince's body lurching back from the blow and sent careening higher into the air. Twisting his body around in a flamboyant twirl, he'd begin under patented "Reacoom," in a long-winded growl. And, in another bout of pinkish swirl, his body arched around in a perfect semi-circle that elevated itself above the uncontrollable ascent of the Saiyan.
Allowing him to land a viciously shouted strike that struck Vegeta's torch-licked skull with an elliptical rupture in the skyline of splitting the air for the viewing audience's awe and terror at his power.
"ELBOW!" He crowed out, watching a deafening soaring motion of his prey soaring straight into the lake below. The water bent with his body's curtailing motion, burying him after releasing an expulsion of moisture. Waves cascaded violently, lapping upon the submersed Capsule headquarters of the gang while the island shifted with disruptive vibrations that made most of them lose footing; sans the two Ginyū Squad.
"S-Such power!" Kuririn croaked out, finding himself staggering just from the quaking impact the not-so-distant shortest Saiyan made with the lake just within eyesight. "These guys are no joke!"
"I-Is Vegeta alright?"
The dwarf didn't know if he should answer that question. While he bore no loss of love for the possible death of such a vile man like Vegeta, he was the strongest among them. If he went down now, it'd be unlikely any person among their ranks could match up to the others, let alone a monster like Reacoom.
And then, that quaking seemed to only intensify.
"W-What's happening?!" Pan cried out.
"I-I don't know!" The ex-monk exclaimed with fright.
The Scouters assorted along the two grounded and the one airborne Ginyū Squad raised brows at the sudden incline of numbers rushing up their colored lenses. The HUD displayed a similar ascent of numerical increase of power similar to the prince's earlier release of pent-up strength. But, given the general direction was all pointed below, there was no way of knowing exactly where Vegeta presided beneath the rolling waves of the Nameccian lake he was within.
Streaks of amethyst light painted the viridescent body of water, followed up with violent eruptions of golden electricity. What came next in the overcast that painted the land, air and observing people in purple was a surging comet wrapped around a silhouette resembling the Saiyan trio's leader. A pillar of destructive energy coiled a boiling water, quaking their standing isle further and more torrential, while propelling his body upwards by the pointed hands gesturing at the ground.
Reacoom saw the incoming charge with surprise, but felt no danger from such a similar display of energy. Bending his body to the left, he'd feel the white-hot plasma coursing from Vegeta's body, the figure lurching up past him. Reaching his hand out to grasp him expectantly, he'd lock eyes with the flashing purple that coated his shining visage-
-only to watch his body bow around, launching a pair of still violet-brimming feet to slam across his face, crushing the Scouter in a disintegrating flash and sending a bewildered Reacoom lurching back across the sky.
"How did you like that?!" A furious howl released from Vegeta's throat. Blood and water caked his crown, smearing his face around his brows while his teeth gnashed with similar ichor leaking between his teeth. Still wrapped in a brimming aura of crackling violet, he pulled apart the ki into both palms. Condensing into a pair of sparkling spheres, he'd push them out towards the still sprawling Reacoom, unleashing a cacophony of arcing meteorites of light that sent him farther back with each explosive connection they made. "HAVE A TASTE OF THESE!"
Each blow was a veritable thunderclap. Without being able to right himself the spectators below saw bits and pieces of his armor chipping away, then being torn apart. The fabric of his costume was burned away, and pieces of hair down to flecks of his skin was being charred away beneath the heat of every blast. A tumorous line of purplish bombs sounded over their head, dominating the vista with its shine and loud drumming blows that flowed from one to the other seemingly without ceasing.
After connecting to a distant island, a familiar shine of rosy light blew back both the ground and Vegeta's never ending barrage of kikōha. As the distant isle to those held captive to look on could see, as much damage as that should have done, it wasn't nearly enough.
"HAHAHAHAHAHA! That was great! Absolutely splendid!" Reacoom bellowed with glee, eyes shrunken and smile spread ear to ear. Despite being covered in burns that spottily shown from torn bits of fabric, the loss of his Scouter and his armor being completely erased apart from his gloves to his boots, he looked all too pleased.
"This guy's battle loving is worst than even Son's," Bulma thought with her eyes homing in at his churning figure of raspberry outline. "All this Vegeta is doing is just making him excited. So much for my hopes getting up...this guy isn't going down to anything!"
"Man, Reacoom must be thrilled to duke it out with the prince, eh mate?" Jheese asked his associate with a slight turn of his head up at the taller reptilian trooper.
"Oh yeah! Vegeta'sssss just making thissssss more fun to watch," Butta affirmed with a curl of his lipless mouth into a semblance of a grin. "No matter how sssstrong he's gotten, there'ssssss no way he'sssss going to match up to Reacoom."
"Are you ready, Vegeta?" Reacoom yelled, his voice painfully audible to everyone from the isle up to the high altitude the Saiyan prince hovered at. "Cause it's my turn!"
"Oh man, are we going to see it?!" Jheese spoke excitedly, breaking his cross-armed posture to lean forward with hands balled up at his sides, a smile breaching his face that seemed childishly giddy. "Blooming Hell, I think he is, isn't he?!"
"Here it comesssss!" Butta crowed out with a fist raised holler. "Lay'em flat, Reacoom!"
"Reaaaaaaaaaaaacoooooooooom...Eraser...!"
While the two members of the Ginyū Squad made Kuririn's stomach form a pit, Bulma couldn't help but steady herself. Her head felt like a pinging migraine as the sudden rise of numerical value of the burliest member of the Ginyūs charged up an attack. While his energy was visibly thin, it was being molded with the flow of his knee-raised body, and swinging hips. Raising a gloved fist, crossing the other in front of the other, she felt her voice hitch and she cast her gaze to her sister in time for Jaco to let out a panicked noise that sprung him into action.
Pulling them both down in time for the arching curl of a massive pyre of rosy-outlined white plasma dominating their respectful vista. The Saiyans hugged the ground while Pan was thrown to the soil by Kuririn. The Ginyūs stood unaffected and unfazed, their bodies looking on in tangentially close marvel at the stream of light that was passing by their heads and roaring straight towards the sky towards the airborne Vegeta.
"CANNON!" His word etched into the air as the annihilation wave of ki was fired towards his chosen target.
In a split instance, the figure of Vegeta was overwhelmed by the attack. Its speed and power incapable of being avoided nor ignored. Even as the blast arched away from the planet, all knew had it made connection with the ground it would have completely -pun unintended, erased- the planet. Streaking off into the blackness of space, they'd never see how it brought a sense of unstoppable force, the soundless vacuum giving birth to a pinkish fire that would eventually peter out into the horizon.
Amidst its firing, came a humming sound.
It wasn't detected due to the volume of ki belched out by Reacoom. Simply present and faintly there, it was passing through a visible tear of the massive pillar of roaring rosy flames of eradicating light. Hearing it at the last second, the orange haired warrior would cease expulsion of his energy and gape at the sight of a razor disc appearing out from the head of his Eraser Cannon, cutting through it with ease and thrumming straight towards him in a vertical path.
"Whoa!" Reacoom exclaimed, performing a comical pirouette with his bulky body, watching the projectile cut past and bury itself into the water he was 'standing' upon moments ago. "That was a close o-NGH!"
Cut off in exclamation, the man was caught off guard by the still petering light of his own attack and being bereft of his own Scouter. A fingerless, torn glove slammed into his uninjured half of his face, crashing against his jaw hard enough to make him spit out several teeth in a spurt of blood. Bouncing across the water, he'd skate across its surface and catch himself on a squatting lurch, briefly reaching up to feel his face while eyeing up the Saiyan prince with a surprised expression on his obtusely shaped visage.
"No way," Jheese gasped, his eyes wide and his mouth agape. "Vegeta survived the Eraser Cannon! How was he able to get through that without a mark on him?!"
"It wassss a fluke! Hassss to be!" Butta tried to dismiss, throwing an arm to the side. "He'ssss still no match for Reacoom's power level! He'ssss just delaying the inevitable, right?"
"Of course, mate," The red-skinned Ginyū Squad member replied, easing his face back into a more relaxed smirk. "I mean, there's no way someone could breach that gap so quickly."
"T-That was my move," Kuririn gasped, his face blanching at the sight while still hugging the ground with Pan. "He only saw that move once...how did he know how to use it so easily?"
While Pan had no word to express her own amazement, the others were filled with a sudden burst of hope. Nappa looked on with a broad smile, Aspara simply looking on with shock that mirrored with her enemies. Bulma's face paled while Tights' lit up, and Jaco just cringed with discomfort at how stubborn Vegeta was.
"Was that the best you got, Reacoom?" The Prince asked incredulously, a twisted half-smile formed on his face despite the blood threatening to sting his glaring angled eyes. "I've just begun to fight!"
"Y-You surprised me, is all!" Reacoom stammered, nervously shaking off his surprise as easily as his squad mates did. Rolling his neck side to side, producing a host of loud pops, he'd twist his body around while throwing his arms side to side. "I'm gonna get you now! Reaaaaaaaaacooooooooom-"
A blurring motion, and the behemoth of a man threw his left leg towards Vegeta's left side with a succinctly spoken, "KICK!"
Bloodied, gloved fingers grasped the top of his thrown boot covered thigh, lifting the Saiyan prince up and over the devastating move while pulling an arm back. His own feet stretched out to kick the larger man's face, blocked by a raised forearm almost as large as his chest. When the toes of his feet impacted with a loud crash, he'd throw his held back hand below Reacoom's guard, unleashing a bludgeoning kiai that made the giant bowl backwards.
"UNGH!" The Ginyū Squad man wheezed out, feeling the breath leave his lungs with eyes bulging and mouth parsing out.
A mouth that'd form into a bloodied grin.
"REACOOM PUNCH!" He howled back in retaliation, slamming the shorter man into the lake below with an eruption of moisture that parted with his body's slicing velocity. The next moment later, a flash of navy blue came Vegeta ramming straight into his face, both gloves slamming his open mouth shut. Blood spouted from his nostrils and his body was thrown backwards but not off his floating heels that skated across the disruptive waves of Namek.
Catching sight of Vegeta in hot pursuit, he'd stop himself short and throw the full weight of his body forward with both arms crisscrossed in front of himself. Slicing the air and connecting with Vegeta's front, he'd shout aloud, "REACOOM DOUBLE CHOP!"
Thrown back by the force of the blow, they'd all see Vegeta's crest of his crown part through the lake and sever a nearby adjacent island. A cloud of smoke, a shower of debris and water blasted apart in a blast from the shockwave that was released by his impact.
But like before, he'd launch himself back, harder and faster than before to land another strike against Reacoom's face. The zooming motion was barely seen, and only the two island prone Ginyū Squad members could follow it. What's worse, it was only just them.
Blow for blow, Reacoom was managing to land a blow for every one that Vegeta managed to avoid. But swifter than anyone could count, every second passed that Vegeta began to dish out more and more vicious attacks than the last. Damage that bloodied his face, tearing his armor nearly in half, and ripping the fabric of his costume was ruining his otherwise impeccably intact person. Contrastingly, warping bruises began to mark Reacoom's person, his costume tearing more and more, and the amount of teeth he had was just a few compared to the mouthful he started at the beginning.
During this violent exchange Butta began to adjust the instrument latched onto his face.
"J-Jheese. Wasn't Vegeta'ssss power level 75,000 when he fired that gallick gun or whatever?"
"Yeah, why you ask?"
"C-Check your Sssscouter," Butta insisted, his face already turning a shade of paler blue than normal. "C-Causssse I think mine's broken."
"I don't see how," Jheese began to adjust the reading on his instrument. "These things are brand new and had been tested already. There's no way its reading should be anything other than completely...accurate..."
His words trailed off, his mouth parted and his own face began to produce a layer of cold sweat. There was Reacoom's battle power, resting at a consistent 90,000. And then there was Vegeta's.
₈₇,₅₀₀.
₈₈,₀₀₀.
₈₉,₀₀₀.
₈₉,₅₀₀.
"No...way," He gawked, his voice trembling as he stared at the lens of his Scouter with a stupefied expression. "His Power Level...is-is rising!"
"Impossssssible!" Butta hissed aloud, his hands balling up at his sides, his body shaking in partial denial to conceal the part that was brewing fear. "There'sssss no way it can jump up like thisssss!"
A raucous laugh brought them out of their personal dismissive squabble. Looking over, they'd see Nappa jeeringly grinning at them with a now proudly standing despite Aspara's still nervously hunched over state.
"You guys really are all brawn and no brains, aint'cha?" The burly Saiyan questioned rhetorically. Thumbing at his own chest before pointing a jabbing finger at the current unfolding battle, he boasted loudly, "We Saiyans grow stronger as long as we keep fighting. This whole time, Vegeta's been getting stronger and stronger; by putting him directly in danger of his life, he's becoming more powerful in a few minutes than what would've taken him years to obtain!"
"T-That's bollocks!" Jheese cried out, jabbing a finger at the brazen Saiyan. "There's no way you Saiyans are that strong!"
"Oh yeah?" He inquired with a mirthful smirk. "Why don't you take another look?"
Daring the accept the challenge, the red-skinned mutant turned back to observe the battle that had been unfolding. His voice felt dry and his wide eyes almost bulged out. In the span of him stopping to talk with the meat-head of the Saiyan three he was now seeing what was said had truth behind it.
"HOLD! STILL! YOU!" Reacoom shouted, no longer smiling but holding a construed expression of bewilderment. Vegeta's body, constantly ebbing a pale blue luminous glow, veered left and right, avoiding each masterfully executed of the burly man's melee strikes. It was like trying to swat at a reed bending with the ocean's current, and the bloodied, torn person maneuvered as if the injuries weren't even present.
With a sudden rising leap a snap kick crashed against Reacoom's jaw, tearing the earth apart they were standing upon and rising straight up into the sky. Barely having time to cough, the fizzling outline of Vegeta's body appeared within an arc of virulent indigo, kicking his left side and throwing him across the air. Tumbling about over their heads, Vegeta charged across the peerless blue vista of Namek, unleashing a machine gun blows of punches into the undefended body of Reacoom. Thuds became wet crunches, and snaps followed by a fountain of blood spurting from an aghast Reacoom's visage.
Without saying a word, Vegeta pulled back, gathering a luminous crackling pair of orbs, now a pale white in color. Howling loudly, eyes nearly disappeared within a sea of white with red veins spread across, he clasped his wrists together and let out a furious roar.
Unleashing a massive sea of blue-outlined plasma that caked the horizon in a vista of snow hued overcast. The wind left a searing mark on the ground below, a miasma of heat and crackling lightning dancing across the expanse of their side of the planet.
Dying down, the light that replaced its luminous glow with the greenish heavens of Namek, they'd see no sign of the bloodied and bruised warrior of the Ginyū Squad. Just the steaming outline of Vegeta, his person breathing raggedly and hunched over. Grinning despite himself, the equally as ragged man turned to look down at the blue and red tinted bodies of Butta and Jheese, their eyes unbelieving of the power level he just now sported.
₁₀₀,₀₀₀...!
"T-Thisssss can't be happening!" Butta panicked aloud. "Tell me thissssss isssssn't real!"
"Vegeta...l-let's talk about this," Jheese began to stutter, his face forming a nervous half smile as he raised his hands up.
In the next moment, the Saiyan prince hurled blood out of his own throat. The staggering strength that was exhibited plummeted with the regurgitation of his blood. From the six digits it shrank down to a quarter of its worth. All beheld in a mixture of surprise and fear, his body falling straight to the ground below-
-narrowly caught by a speeding Nappa.
"V-Vegeta," He croaked out, holding the smaller Saiyan in his arms as he beheld a man rasping for air. "You alright? Say something!"
"Do I...look...alright...you dunce?!" Vegeta growled. "I don't care what happens next...use the Power Ball to-"
He never got the chance to give out the order. The limp Saiyan beheld a wrathful comet of burning crimson race up towards them, slamming into their flanks and exploding in a brilliant blaze of fire. The musclebound Saiyan had taken the full brunt of it, tearing apart his armor and burning him severely with a downward spiral, leaving Vegeta in an even more ruined state to drop to the ground with him.
This time, it was Pan and Kuririn who raced in to catch them from hitting the ground outright. While Pan opted for Vegeta, Kuririn had almost keeled over from catching the massive bulk that was the largest of the Saiyan trio. Tapping to the ground below they'd look over and see a cruel grin adorned on Jheese's face, while Butta was wiping away the sweat that had accumulated on his own scaled scalp.
"That scared me for a moment. Vegeta of all people almost gave me a fright for my life," The white-haired man admitted, fixing an angled glare towards the host of people now fathoming their new situation. "Too bad for you, your only real chance of beating us went down in smoke."
"Pan, stay close to me," Kuririn beckoned, placing Nappa to the ground with an unceremonious thud. "When I give the word, make a break for it and take Bulma and Tights as far away as possible. I won't be far behind."
"What about you, Kuririn?" Pan asked worriedly, suddenly getting a bad feeling what he meant by what he said.
"I'll think of something," He chuckled nervously. "Don't worry. I have Kashiko worrying over me. There's no way I'm going to let these jokers beat me."
"Jokersssss you ssssay?"
A hiss suddenly brought his heart to a stop and his spine chilled to subzero. Barely able to comprehend to lean shadow covering the three Suns' glare on his body, he'd turn around in time to see a storm of fists rush into him. Painful cracks were felt as much as heard, his body riddled with blows that was too fast for even his acute sense of ki to feel out. After dozens of knuckles struck him all around his short form, he was sent flying with the last one in a pinwheeling motion to limply skid over in front of Bulma and Tights.
"KURIRIN!" Pan screamed out, her body standing on end in fear at how instantaneous their luck had turned. Dashing from her point to the dwarf, she dropped to her knees and saw the man had left out shallow breathing. Despite the torn-up gi he now sported and the host of fist-shaped bruises embedded into his skin as much as his clothes, he looked unresponsive and inert.
"Pan, listen to me," Bulma spoke, her voice finally regained as her child looked over at her with a shrunken pair of pupils. "Don't fight them. Get out of here and wait for your father. Do you hear me? Do not fight them!"
It was a sentiment shared by the last of the three remaining Saiyans on their feet.
Aspara whipped her head around and leaped up into the air. She planned to put as much distance between herself and this disaster of a situation. If she survived this, there was no way she was showing her face to her father.
That plan was abruptly stopped when a blurring smile belonging to Jheese appeared right in front of her.
"Where you think you're going, love?" He asked with a smirk. "The fun's just getting started."
Backpedaling in the air, she growled, her silvery aura igniting and raising her smooth hair to stand on frayed ends. Coalescing her energy into a fine point of a blade, she threw her flank forward as swiftly as she could to cut him down the middle.
An explosion of pain slammed into her abdomen, followed by a continuous grinding motion that sent her whole body spiraling back the way she came thanks to an orb that was wedged in place from her enemy. Crashing back first into the island, she felt her body become submerged in muddied water and disappear into the lake beneath. Every fiber of her body screamed but her survival instinct compelled her to move out of a certain watery doom. Propelling herself out with a burst of energy, she emerged with a rasping cacophony of coughs, that left her hunched over solid ground inches from the hole she physically made; all the while clenching her pained waist.
"Don't like the water? That's fine," Jheese taunted, raising a hand to form a sweltering crimson kikōha that overlapped her body in its blood colored overcast. "Let me dry you off!"
"STOP!"
Bleep-bleep-bleep!
Jheese stopped his attack, in time to turn his head to the right to see a wrathful streak of pale blue soar towards him. Believing it was Vegeta, he pulled the orb around and launched it straight at the charging figure, detonating it with a fountain of red akin to magma.
What came out the other end was a burned, but still charging Pan. A fixed visage of fury etched onto her face, and was outright ignoring Bulma's wailful cries at her stubbornness to rush headlong into danger.
"You little runt," The white haired trooper grinned, turning his body's full attention to throw a punch that slammed fully into her face. "Should've listened to your mother!"
A painful crack was heard as a small nose was snapped and the whole of the head was pushed backwards with her own momentum adding to the severity of the blow. Thrown backwards in a streak of blood, she was sent bouncing across the ground, skidding across the loosely broken soil.
"Damn, seems I may have overdid it," Jheese bemoaned, placing his hands on his hips. Casting a stare at the now kneeling Aspara, he grinned evilly, raising a palm to create another reddish sphere of menacing light. "You want to go at it for another round, love? I'm game for it."
"Enough of your games," Aspara sneered between clenched teeth. "If you're going to finish me...just do it already!"
"If you say so-"
"JHEESE!"
"What is it now?!" The magma skinned trooper inquired with a whining drawl.
"Look!" The serpentine humanoid urged, his hand pointing up at the sky, a faint glowing meteorite of a projectile coming in from the emerald vista. They could faintly detect power levels on it, meaning it wasn't simply space debris making impact with Namek but rather an actual spacecraft of sorts. A faint, distant impact left a rumbling thud that could be observed from the foreseen horizon.
Even as Bulma had scampered over on all fours to huddle her body to protect Pan's near unconscious frame from further harm, her tear-filled eyes looked up with recognition. These signatures her optics were flashing. They couldn't be anything else.
"Son," She croaked out, a smile now present on her face. "You've made it...!"
They finally made it to Namek.
After a brutal near full week of training, the two Saiyan brothers had touched down on the planet in more or less one piece. The ship's integrity was put into question after the first three days, leaving it scorched, torn and ruptured in several places. While the instruments had an autopilot, something had went wrong in atmospheric entry and they had to find some way to guide it to a landing position.
Somehow managing to not utterly destroy it, the less pristine vessel extended the rampart from the doorway, unveiling the two occupants that stood eagerly within.
"Good thing Kaiō managed to get me replacement clothes before our trip took off," Son Gokū remarked as he fastened the pouch on his blue sash, holding the remains of their cure-all beans within. "Ours got pretty torn up."
"I'm surprised by your god's mimicry of the battle jacket," Raditz remarked, pulling at the seam of his breastplate padding and rolling his torso from side to side to test it. "It feels as durable as before, but it feels almost like I'm wearing nothing."
"Haha, yeah, pretty neat huh?" Gokū inquired with a cheeky grin.
"Now's not the time for vanity, however," The elder sibling intoned, his face a serious expression as his eyes slanted to look at the wall of the ship and see 'past' it with his refined ki sense. "You feel it? The others are in trouble."
"Yeah, I do," Gokū's face became stoic, his body embracing the shine of the three Suns of Namek, the air bristling his angular scalp of hair while rustling his loosely worn gi. With him at the lead, he leaped out into the air and took the sky, with Raditz following behind. "Let's go save our friends!"
A/N:
LastationLover5000: This chapter was a LOT of fun to write. I haven't written anything uber casual in a very long time, it's been awhile since I've been able to just relax while writing. But this entire chapter was a doozy, wasn't it? Tullece is awake again, and he has recruited Chi-Chi of all people! If this was a manga, you can easily see it ending with a massive line "CHI-CHI JOINS TULLECE?!" and I hope you all find this to be incredibly interesting, because that was an interesting portion to write. And Tullece is now finally setting his plans in motion! But the way my co-author wrote the fight? Whoo boy, that fight was crushing and I loved every second! He did a fantastic job, but now the Saiyan brothers have arrived! Look forward to the next chapter, everyone!
Demod20: I had a lot more fun than I anticipated for this fight. While we all know the age old proberb of Saiyan biology that, "the longer you fight, the stronger you become". Well, given we showed that in action with Vegeta vs Zarbon, it's only fitting history repeat itself again with his fight with Reacoom. As part of the things that genuinely make this wholly believable, Vegeta straight-up ignores damage in favor of putting his enemy through as much misery as he's experiencing. Even succeeding, his body self destructs, which is a pretty poetic way I felt that was fitting for this fight to end. And from that point, it's all downhill from here. From Nappa being totaled, Aspara being laid to pasture, and Kuririn with Pan being just brutalized, no one is spared from the Ginyū Squadron's brutal reprisal. But, thankfully, our favorite Saiyan brother duo has made touchdown in the nick of time. How else will things play out from this point on? Stay tuned for more in the near future!