With an ear-raking shriek, Frieza charged right at Piccolo. Seeing the assault coming from a mile away, the Super Namekian decided to irritate his opponent. The rushing right cross thudded and embedded straight into Piccolo's jaw, lightly turning it to the side, but Piccolo's beady eyes remained fixed on Frieza, looking from a higher eye level down on him at disappointment.
This failure to achieve overwhelming success with his serious punch, Frieza threw a flurry of thrusted fists at Piccolo's upper section. As they built up in strength and momentum, the space tyrant turned around and whipped the Super Namekian aside with a smack of his tail, sending Piccolo floating back in mid-air. Just as he was about to regain his composure, Frieza extended his palm and shrieked again, sending a violet pulse of energy that collided with Piccolo's adamant body yet sent him rolling back in mid-air.
"Ho, you can take a beating well, Namekian. Perhaps the stories I've heard about the lively nature of your kind haven't been bedtime stories after all? Can you regenerate limbs? How well? Shall we test that today?" Frieza chuckled at his bent index finger, enjoying the advantage he thought he still had. Was he a moron? Could he not realize how little impact his strikes had on Piccolo and how much of his own stamina swinging his hands like that cost him?
"From those measly punches, I can say you're not used to fighting yourself. That's odd, because you've got power in spades," Piccolo nudged his own jaw with a cool expression.
"What was that!?" Frieza seemed to lose his cool for a snap there.
"You punch from your shoulder, not with your entire body. Also, you've got no awareness of Ki. Your stamina is all over the place too, suggesting you haven't exercised in a long time," Piccolo explained himself. He took the luxury to gander behind him, sensing his clone and Gine taking double time at getting the Saiyan to the spaceship. As long as they were en route, Piccolo had to stand here and fool around with Frieza.
"Oh? Then perhaps a master warrior such as yourself shall show me how it's done then? I'd relish a demonstration…" Frieza's black lips turned to a sly smile as he leaned his upper body down and posed with his arms wide open. What an odd guy, couldn't he sense that Piccolo's Ki was twice the size of his even while Piccolo wasn't tapping into any of his Super Namekian powers?
"Humph… I guess I have no choice," Piccolo entered a fighting stance with a grumpy look on his face. His cape rustled in mid-air. Before Piccolo could cover half the distance between him and Frieza, a tight grip of an invisible force left him utterly paralyzed. Slowly, Frieza hovered over to Piccolo and grabbed hold of his cape collar.
"You were saying? It looks to me I don't need to move a muscle to punish insolent slugs like you," Frieza's glare stabbed like a dagger while his black lips curved upward and sliced into his pale cheeks.
Holding Piccolo's paralyzed body up by his collar, Frieza smacked the Namekian in both cheeks rapidly with his front and backhand until he felt like he had enough. Two tiny violet stars gleamed in the tyrant's eyes. An authoritative psychic blast sent Piccolo flying back with a grunt of pain. Just so the Namekian didn't feel safe while he was flying off into the horizon, Frieza raised his relaxed index finger and launched a barrage of pink beams to chase after him.
A fusillade of pink explosions ripped through the skyward area of the ancient Saiyan temple site. When the smoke cleared, Piccolo stood in a singed-up white cloak, wiping scrapes off of his cheeks. Frieza's eyes lit up again. This time Piccolo could at least see the picking up wind as ethereal tendrils of mighty psychic energy hurled at him and took hold of him. Frieza took his time, dashing and blinking around, messing about with his half-decent speed though his prowess came solely from unmatchable talent.
Piccolo didn't like letting an uneducated scumbag like this guy lay hands on him. Still, letting this bastard talk and hear himself doing that, letting him think he was in charge, was the best way of buying time for his clone and Gine. He promised King Kai that he wouldn't lay hands on Frieza, and he'd somewhat keep that promise. After all, Piccolo was part god. It was just fortunate enough that the other part was all demon though, so maybe Piccolo will show this lazy dwarf something of what actual power is all about when he's about to be off this rock of a planet.
Frieza's half-assed punches irritated Piccolo until the emperor found it fitting to deliver an uppercut and send him flying up. The tiny terror vanished away in rapid succession, snapping right up to Piccolo's face and smacking him across in the face with his tail. Piccolo floated back, wiping blood off of his nose while Frieza whipped his tail in excitement.
"Well, well, I am impressed. I've killed King Vegeta with a single strike, and here today I met two beings capable of dancing alongside me. How quaint…" Frieza chuckled to himself, exuding an aura of superiority over his vexed opponent.
"Two? So, you're the one who killed Bardock then?" Piccolo spat a trace of blood aside, stopping checking on his nose as the minute trail stopped, causing him trouble after just a few moments. This was a neat idea. To see if he can find out some information while he's toying around.
"That surprisingly lively monkey from earlier? Yes, that was me. You know him? How unexpected, I'd have never thought to see the day primates would be teaming up with slugs. So, has prince Vegeta-san put you up to this? Has he reached out to the Namekians for help? Who else must I punish after exterminating every single Saiyan turd on this planet?" Frieza began his inquiry politely but transitioned into a chilling tone filled to the brink with unease and a desire to inspire terror. He had similar ideas to Piccolo, it seemed.
"Vegeta? You runt…" Piccolo reared his fangs, taking off at Frieza. The cold and calculated sovereign of space gleamed with violet in his eyes again, sending a chilling gust of telepathic grip to subdue Piccolo in his track but, this time, Piccolo lit up golden again and split into two clones. One grunted in pain and stiffness as Frieza's grip took hold, but the other dashed on and struck the untrained emperor in the jaw with his elbow, then kicking him away with a good punt before returning to the paralyzed original.
Piccolo snapped away, appearing at a line's sight to Frieza, and extended his hand, pulling Frieza in for another punt, this time one that came from the original. With the elegant emperor reeling back in pain and shock after the resonating kick that nearly took his whole head off his shoulders, Piccolo moved in close with a knee strike before repeating but at a higher angle, smashing Frieza's face in and sending him soaring into the air even higher above the clouds. As the stunned tyrant plummeted from up above, Piccolo caught him on his way down with his elongated hand and pulled him back in, kicking him in the inner knee to open Frieza up before faking another knee strike out for a right cross to Frieza's jaw. Then came the knee, another knee.
"Get gone, trash!" Piccolo hissed as he kicked Frieza away and outside the temple site range. If he was Frieza, he'd fear losing sight of his opponent after kicking him away the length of an entire town's worth. However, with his Ki sensory working as intended, he had nothing to worry about. Plus, Frieza felt like the type of guy who couldn't forget a grudge, so he'd be back and fully focused on Piccolo instead of trying to chase Gine down again.
Frieza snapped back in front of Piccolo sooner than the Super Namekian would have thought. Whatever this half-sized freak's race was, they were tough. Piccolo felt confident in making that judgment, as nothing about Frieza suggested an ounce of training. His power was all just a natural advantage. Not too much different from how a lot of demons back on the Demon World act when they persecute humans. Maybe it was because Piccolo wasn't Piccolo Jr. who grew up around them anymore, but even those memories alone made him sick. He wasn't much of a fan of those guys back then either…
"My, my… What a shocker!" Frieza exclaimed with a crazed pair of eyes that had bloodshot lines surrounding them as the emperor who appeared to put incredible care in his aura of faux politeness struggled to keep up with his facade. "It seems you're truly quite capable of fending off for yourself. I'd have never imagined Namekians to be this powerful. No worries, unlike this pebble in my shoe, nothing's stopping me from popping Planet Namek like a grape after this…"
Piccolo's expression turned dire as Frieza chuckled to himself. This made things much more complicated. Why did he have to return the favor? He should have just kept letting Frieza land his harmless freebies and then slip away when he had the chance and when the time was right. Now the tiny bastard felt offended, he'll surely go after Namek. This meant Piccolo couldn't keep Frieza alive anymore. Screw what King Kai thought or what whatever other divinities in the bureaucratic line thought.
"Congratulations, you've just made yourself a dead man," Piccolo cracked his neck about before entering a fighting stance with a dead-serious look on his face.
"Oh, is that so? Then perhaps I should take this fight a little more seriously as well?" Frieza taunted the Super Namekian as he dropped his stance and chuckled at his bent index finger. "You see, while hurtful and insolent, you weren't entirely wrong. The power I was born with was so immense and unlike anything else in this universe, that I placed restrictions on it so that I don't burn too much stamina on meaningless day-to-day activities."
"Lazy bum," Piccolo sneered. "You could just exercise and learn to control your power instead of tucking it away."
While it was incredibly hypocritical of Piccolo to say this, given how he hid most of his Super Namekian might away as well, he did so for a vastly different reason. Piccolo restrained himself because he was a martial artist seeking a challenge, and after dealing with Turles and his God Tree, nothing in the universe felt like they'd be able to provide him with a challenge anymore. Even the fearsome Frieza struggled to meet the power of the space pirate Turles, let alone Lord Slug.
"I refuse to take life advice by a walking cucumber," Frieza's stare turned to sour before he returned to his explanation of why he suddenly stopped fighting. "Then again, perhaps I spent a little too much effort on that worthless ape back then. Just maybe I need to slip this cumbersome armor off and tease you with my fearsome transformation?"
"Transformation?" Piccolo raised the ridge over his eye.
"Indeed, I can transform and release some restraints I have on my peerless power," Frieza chuckled. "Just like my subordinate Zarbon-san."
"Zarbon? You mean that heap of trash could transform? I killed him off before he could show that ability off, then…" Piccolo smirked. He didn't regret not messing around with that weakling at all, even if he powered himself up tens of times after this supposed transformation of his, he'd have remained meaningless, irksome fodder.
"So, you and your accomplices are the ones responsible for killing Zarbon-san then? I assume you've also killed the others, the Ginyu Force, all of my men you've encountered too?" Frieza crossed his arms, lashing his tail about in displeasure.
"Guess so, they'll know better than to underestimate Earth," Piccolo made a sly smirk with that last remark. By throwing Earth into Frieza's scope, he'll redirect the tyrant's attention and force him to come to Earth instead of Namek or any other planet. Even if the emperor survives Piccolo now, he'll get his weakened empire to meet utter ruination by coming to Earth.
"Earth? Planet Earth? Yes, I think Zarbon-san mentioned something about Earthlings being on Planet Vegeta. So, that pesky space rock rolled into my way from all the way out in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by much more expensive and richer with minerals peers? Going there will be most impractical, but seeing it reduced to space dust will be most pleasing," Frieza caught on to Piccolo's bait.
Just as he did so, the emperor flexed his arms and positioned them beside him as he hunched over and burst forth with a vibrant, pink aura that expanded further and further. The resonating energy coming off of Frieza covered him in a blinding, ethereal glow before the tyrant rid himself of his armor like a moth shedding out of a cocoon. After his burst of power subsided, Frieza stood before Piccolo, mostly unchanged but without his armor.
A new, more biological-looking armor made of white, bony material that covered Frieza's head as well spread out an extra layer of covering to protect the emperor's chest, gleaming with purple gems on the center of his body and his shoulders. What a disappointing transformation. At the very least, Piccolo would have thought Frieza to become taller after going through all that surge of power.
"Well, you did power up some, but you're in for another beating if you think this'll help you," Piccolo offered Frieza a cocky grin.
"It is I who shall lay the beat downs here, Namekian," Frieza muttered in a calm voice as he charged at Piccolo head-on. Before a single punch could connect, Piccolo threw his leg vertically upward, kicking the rushing emperor high into the skies before snapping after him and driving both his arms down like hammers with a double ax handle slam to drive Frieza back down into the temple site. The vicious slam of Frieza's head into the ground and prompt disappearance in a hole of his own making, together with splitting fissures all around him, made a dent in the ancient Saiyan temple site. Piccolo pressed the index and middle finger of his right arm to the front of his forehead.
A bubble of Ki sent debris flying in all directions as Frieza jumped out of the hole, properly sullen after this humiliation. The fact that the same manner of attack he landed in his very first and weakest form didn't work now that he shed his armor and powered up some baffled him and that unknown only added to the wrath that boiled within him and the need to obliterate this Namekian scumbag. If only he could see him…
"Here, you fool!" Piccolo taunted Frieza from down below, having vanished and moved in right back down to ground level the instance he began charging up his attack. "Special Beam Cannon!" the Super Namekian yelled out, extending his fingers with a tiny sparkle flickering at the very tip of his nails. He hadn't charged that technique at all, but it didn't feel like he needed to. This much should deal a grievous wound to Frieza and leave him unable to pursue anybody anymore.
Frieza's gaze went blank as the beam of purple and electric-green drilled right at him, offering him no time to evade the attack he didn't see coming until his opponent warned him of it. The beam smashed through Frieza's natural, bony armor in no time and smashed the purple gem protecting his abdomen to pieces as it drilled through in a shower of cherry-shade blood. Frieza staggered back with widespread, whited-out eyes and a dropped lower jaw that flooded with blood rushing up from his wound.
"Still feels like you've got plenty of fight left in you, punk," Piccolo flexed his neck before rotating his stiff wrist. "Think about this humiliation when you think about coming to Earth. You're lucky that I let you bleed here in agony with only one foot cooking down in hell instead of kicking you all the way down there. It's just the type of person this new me is, I suppose."
"N-Namek-Namekian…" Frieza hissed as he collapsed on his knees, his hand made a feeble attempt at covering up the jarring hole in his gut as he continued to throw up blood from his mouth at a rate that reminded Piccolo of vomit. Honestly, with how grievous his wound was, Piccolo was a little freaked out to see Frieza still keep at least a third of his Ki. He might have been as fearsome in his resiliency as an actual demon. It was just that Piccolo was an entire class worse than that right now.
"Don't bother talking. You'll be wasting more of your blood and it's not like anyone in particular gives a shit about what an entitled little prick like you has to say. Your goons are all dead or about to be, you're done here. I suggest you take this as a life-changing experience and don't show your ugly face to me ever again. If you as much as flick a finger toward Earth or Namek, I'll be eager to remind you what agony you're feeling now feels like." Piccolo hissed right back at the emperor.
"O-Over… Y-You say…?" Frieza wheezed out through a mouth sunken in blood. He was hissing again, but this time it sounded different. It sounded like… Laughter? Piccolo looked back and around him, noticing the pebbles moving and transitioning into a panicking quake. Before he could blink twice, they took off in a telekinetic float off the ground.
The ground underneath Frieza burst as the kneeling and writhing tyrant burrowed himself into a crater of his own making. This was no mere tomb that Frieza was about to create. His entire body lit up in white energy as his dipped Ki signature began escalating upward at an alarming rate, shooting way up the scale of his previous, armor-less form. The resonating energy wave bent the light in curious ways, sending ripples of complete blackness where only Frieza's frightening visage remained visible, but then those rings passed and a sense of normalcy returned only for this unnatural lamination to repeat itself.
The pink energy emanating off of Frieza like an aura became more akin to an electric outline, sending jolts of decimating, unstable power in all directions. All of this swelling might began turning Frieza larger, buffing up his muscles with each pumping of blood, each heartbeat full of vigor and untold potency. This was a crude surge of power too as veins popped out around Frieza's muscles but also his knuckles and somewhat unnatural locations.
The psychic powers that manifested in gales before became full-on turbulent typhoons, ripping and tearing the leaves off of the surrounding woods and flipping mountains over with just a blow to their side. Frieza's middle section suddenly sprung into a rapid spurt of bulking up, while the rest of his body was slow to catch on. The rampant growth filled up the hole in Frieza's gut as all traces of the previous injury disappeared in a blink as more and more power began pumping through Frieza's limbs too, helping them buff up to the same degree as his chest. Arms first, then his legs too.
With a final, unnatural, and grungy sound that felt like it must have hurt, Frieza's head snapped back alongside with his entire spine as his head gained the gift of the fleshy spurt to match the rest of his expanded body. As the tyrant's new and improved body structure continued to settle in with disproportionate twitches and stretches, Piccolo could only observe in awe. Was that last transformation only a joke? This felt like the real deal, this completely flipped the tables.
As the initial spark of excitement settled, Piccolo's lips turned up and he couldn't wait to take a fighting stance again. This was a horned behemoth worthy to use his full power against. A being surpassing both Turles and Lord Slug together. Now the fear that King Kai and the rest of the universe showed made a little more sense.
"Well then, you were saying this was over, weren't you? I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I'm glad to announce that you'll be getting that fight you were looking for. More of it than you can handle. My power level in this form easily surpasses one million!" Frieza basked in his own glory as he rose off of one knee and posed, stretching all of his renewed limbs overflowing with vigor. "As my appearance suggests, I can be quite monstrous in this form, however, I owe you a glimpse of hell you'll be roasting in after I'm done, don't I?"
Piccolo couldn't contain his excitement as he saw warning signs that this mad monster was about to attack. Gine and his clone were still far off from the spaceship. The woman's injuries and weakness were the major factors keeping her from crossing all the way to the other side of the planet this fast, but Piccolo liked it just the way it was. May those two never reach the spaceship. This has actually turned interesting. This universe still had figurative demons for him to vanquish!