Co-written by SuperSaiyan2Link.
"Get back, Gohan," went Piccolo, lightly pulling the son of Goku away further behind cover. "It's too dangerous for us to get involved now."
"If I hadn't helped, Frieza would've done even worse to her. Maybe even killed..."
"It's a good thing that you helped," Krillin responded. "But Piccolo's right. From here on, if he turns his sights on us, with our ki as it is now, we'll be sitting ducks."
"And since he can sense ki, we have to be extra cautious."
Before hiding himself, Piccolo saw Goku and Pan standing side-by-side, completely laser-focused on Frieza.
"If Frieza's not bluffing and it's the start of the real fight... I can only hope there's still a planet to even stand on."
"Now before we start," Frieza began. "Would anyone care to fight in the skies above or would you prefer combat on the ground we're standing on?"
Goku and Pan remained unmoving without so much as a reply to his inquiry.
"The ground, then."
He sighed, shaking his head.
"And here I thought you'd welcome my generosity..."
"Generosity?" Goku began. "Seems more like you're showing off your superiority."
"Despite the impression you've gotten thus far, I am quite nice once you get to know me. And to demonstrate..."
He put both his hands out.
"I'll fight the two of you without either of my hands. All at no extra charge. You won't find anyone else offering such good deals."
"Good deals, sure."
Goku used this brief respite to stretch his legs. Pan, especially wary of Towa's machinations, turned to him.
"Goku?"
"Yeah?"
"You probably don't need me to say it, but he's up to something."
"Don't worry. I'll keep an eye out for anything shorthanded."
"Underhanded."
"Huh?"
"Underhanded is a trick. Shorthanded is not having enough people."
"Huh. Wish I knew that earlier."
Frieza loudly cleared his throat to get their attention.
"Let me be crystal clear: I won't lay even one of my hands on either of you. Now will that suffice or would you prefer it written in ink?"
"Written in your blood, maybe..." went Pan privately.
Her grandfather ready, the two took on stances once more.
"May I start us off?" Goku asked.
Frieza, both hands behind his back, bent down in a mock bowing motion with a red flash in his eyes.
"But of course."
"I never thought of Frieza as being a man of his word," Mira began.
"He most certainly is not," Towa clarified. "He was just intrigued enough by Goku and eager to prove his power that he gave himself a handicap."
"So what shall we do now? Break his promise?"
"Oh no. He'll keep to his word..."
Towa's blue finger pressed a button.
"...at least as far as that tyrant is concerned."
Frieza combated the two without using his hands, Pan and Goku finding him moving fast and either hopping away from their attacks or blocking them with one of his legs.
"Don't know if Frieza's gone up in power... or if he's this hard to tag when he focuses on defense."
"Still haven't had to use Kaio-Ken yet... but now I can barely even touch him. And his legs alone are giving me trouble."
A dodged punch from Pan had her looking over at Frieza's hands behind his back, the angle she was exposed at leaving enough of an opening for his left arm to hook her, but he instead stuck out his right leg and span. Pan's left wrist intercepted it in time, but even as she stood initially, the force behind the leg then threw her through a wall of rock.
Goku saw Frieza eying his work and his tail completely exposed for a grapple only for his opponent to turn around and throw a kick, forcing Goku to swerve his upper body underneath it. An attempt at a sweep missed when the tyrant hopped over and as Goku watched him to counteract any number of kicks...
...a glint of red flashed followed by beams from his eyes. Goku pushed off the ground with both hands, getting away just in time, but right as Frieza landed and Goku was about to move his feet to charge at him once more...
...he saw a large pebble flying towards him from the corner of his eye. He fired an invisible eye beam to destroy it, then turned back to Frieza, finding the tyrant flying at him feet-first, then delivering a barrage of kicks that he was forced to block. While successful, each kick sent him further back towards the same wall that Pan had been knocked through before.
Pan climbed out of the hole, seeing her grandfather guarding against Frieza's kicks, then saw a nearby pebble behind the two floating off the ground...
...and Frieza's fingers moving from behind his back.
"He's still using telekinesis!"
Goku, so focused on protecting himself, then saw said pebble disappear from his sight, flying in too low for him to see. He adjusted his left leg, but then felt a scratch between his left thigh and knee. This gave Frieza enough of an opening to get in his last kick directly to Goku's forehead. As Goku was launched upward, Frieza zoomed directly above him to capitalize on this with a two-legged stomp.
He then saw the Power Pole being thrown directly at him and Goku saw it stopped in midair, inches from touching the tyrant. Frieza then found the back of his head gripped and pushed down, shoving his forehead into the frozen-in-place polearm, the initial impact like hitting something immovable until he released it from his telekinetic grip.
Goku, about to throw a punch of his own, found his right arm caught by Frieza's tail, then, as Pan tried to break her grandfather out of it, stopped her advance as Goku was held in front of her. With that moment of hesitation, Pan saw Frieza grin, then saw the Power Pole racing towards her. Goku saw the polearm launched with high speed and power directly towards Pan's chest as she put her hands out to try catching it. He didn't see or hear the point of impact, only catching Pan being sent high into the air with the polearm at least striking her. It gave him the worst sense of deja vu, recalling Bora being struck straight through by his own spear thrown back at him by Mercenary Tao when he was younger.
"Now that is how you use such a weapon!"
After Frieza's taunt and feeling unable to get out of the constrictor-like grip on his right arm by the tyrant's tail, Goku practically snarled. Frieza looked downward, his eyes practically glowing with what he was about to unleash now that his trapped opponent was in peak position.
"AGK!"
Frieza spat out, seeing Goku had actually bitten his tail.
"A-again with the tail! These monkeys! Filthy degenerate little...!"
He then saw Pan coming straight back down with a Power Pole swing, his eye beams intended for Goku now firing at her instead. The polearm didn't just appear to deflect them away from Pan, but actually tore straight through without resistance.
"What kind of relic is that?!"
He then quickly threw Goku back out in front of him to dissuade Pan, then saw that instead of breaking off the attack entirely, she flipped forward, then shifted forward so the Power Pole swing would strike the back of Frieza's head instead.
Goku finally released, he then took hold of Frieza's tail and span in place with the tyrant at massive speed. Pan saw the Dragonthrow in motion, then Frieza released, crashing through several rocky structures before he came to a stop.
"You gave me a real scare there," Goku started. "I thought he'd thrown it right through you."
"He tried to, certainly."
The two hovered downward as it appeared the dust around Frieza's crash landing was fading away. The tyrant then flew straight towards the two, his arms still behind them.
"I thought you said you wouldn't use your hands," Goku began.
"I said I'd FIGHT without my hands. And I'm not exactly touching you or anything with them, now am I?"
Through a technicality on his use of words, Frieza's telekinesis was him, from his perspective, staying true to that.
"Sly like a rabbit..." Goku quietly muttered to himself.
"Sly like a fox, Grandpa..."
"Hey!"
Pan just realized Goku had eavesdropped on her, however unintentionally, not daring to say anything further.
"I know I have a son now, but I'm not grandpa old. Please don't call me that."
That was now two people who had listened in on her thoughts without her knowledge and she had to be sure it'd be the last time, especially with someone directly blood-related to her.
"You got it, Goku... if you promise not to read my thoughts without talking to me first."
He was almost tempted to put a hand behind his head...
"You're right. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to eavesdrop on you just now."
...but seeing Frieza, who could strike at any moment, kept his hand locked on to his target instead.
"I promise. From now on, I'll always ring you up first."
"I'm being extraordinarily kind, waiting on you two to strike first," Frieza declared. "That is, unless you want me to retract that kindness and attack you first thing."
Pan stepped forward first, her Power Pole drawn in her right arm while her left wrist scrubbed beneath her nose.
"Then I'll start us off."
She span her polearm in her right as she ran forward, then, to the tyrant's surprise, instead of a swing, hopped upward with a kick. He swerved his head to get underneath it, then saw Goku joining in, a jab aimed at his chest. Frieza practically hovered sideways, then, as Pan and Goku were now counting on, gestured his hands to telepathically take hold of any number of rocks nearby.
As Pan landed, she saw pebbles launched towards her and knocked them away with her polearm. Goku, blocking a kick, felt air ripping behind him and ducked underneath a rock headed for him. Frieza simply caught the rock, just shy of his own projectile striking his face, then launched it straight down at the ducked Goku. The Saiyan, now lifting himself up by his hands, booted Frieza with both legs while the rock only put a hole through the top of his hair.
Frieza going backward, he then found Pan put the Power Pole against the front of his throat, then used the force of her swing combined with Frieza's own momentum to launch him downward, the tyrant's back grinding against the blue-green grass and below it. She and Goku saw a substantial number of pebbles lifted into the air from the newly created trail and, as they both charged for him, knew they'd be thrown at any moment.
The two found they had made it straight to Frieza without one thrown, but as they punched and kicked at him, honed their senses to catch the ripping of air once one pebble was launched in their direction. Goku channeled ki into his wrists to smash them apart while still in ample position to attack Frieza while Pan blocked and swung at them with the Power Pole. In fact, she appeared to utilize the polearm all but exclusively to counteract the telekinetically thrown rocks while sticking to kicks when closest to Frieza.
The tyrant, puzzled at her not attacking with the Power Pole when given the chance, hopped upward and bounced off it, the impact forcing Pan's legs to be partially embedded and pinned.
"Let's see your stick stop these!"
She saw two entire structures being lifted off the ground, almost appearing like spiked walls. Her grandfather saw this and was ready to fire at them or try getting her free...
"Catch, Goku!"
Instead of trying to use the Power Pole for herself, Pan tossed it right to Goku, who instinctively caught it. Immediately afterward, he saw the two structures slam straight into each other and, to his initial horror, didn't see Pan above or below it.
Upon trying to find her ki, he did find her, as well as saw the structures cracking, light starting to shine through it. He ran towards it, sensing Frieza was coming for it as well, then saw a round expansion of energy all but shatter the structures entirely, Pan curled into a ball as her ki shield had protected her, then burst. Frieza was sent backward as well, seeing her lift the hopping Goku up by his foot, then threw him in the tyrant's direction. More and more pebbles fired at the two of them, Pan rotating in midair to avoid them while Goku appeared to go straight through them, the only impact being rocks colliding with each other.
Right as Frieza saw this, the Power Pole struck his right ankle, then his left. And with a thrust upward, Frieza was struck between both legs, then launched upward and slammed back down behind Goku. Right as he made it up to his feet and was about to turn around, Pan punched his face directly and Goku went for a jab with the polearm.
Instead, Goku felt the weapon pinned in place by telekinesis. He then found Pan took hold of it as well.
"Wait, it's too strong!" he shouted to her. "Trying to move it is...!"
"Power Pole Extend!"
Frieza saw the red polearm start to expand outward towards Frieza, who at first gestured his hand to stop it.
"I've caught it already. I just simply have to once more."
But as it got closer, he found that his telekinesis couldn't stop its path.
"How?! HOW?! I take hold of it, but as it grows, that end's like a whole separate object to my telekinesis!"
It struck him in the stomach and now both Goku and Pan ran forward, intending to send Frieza straight through the structure closest to him. They then saw Frieza put both his hands around it, Pan and Goku feeling Frieza slowing down and then themselves coming to a dead stop, unable to move forward any further.
Frieza, now glowing purple, pushed back, Goku and Pan soon finding themselves going backward even as the polearm was still clearly expanding.
"It's still extending, but Frieza's stopped it," went Goku. "Almost like he's reversed it towards us instead."
Pan, putting a light elbow to Goku's arm, gestured for him to let go. As he did and Pan only held on with her right hand, Frieza, feeling neither was pushing it towards him any further, released it. Pan lifted the Power Pole up towards its case as it slowly began shrinking down.
"I think you definitely used your hands there," Goku lightly taunted.
"That offer has expired. My generosity has limits."
"Heh. Unlike your overconfidence."
It was almost rare for Pan to hear anything resembling trash talk from Goku. The one instance she could recall it was during the battle against Piccolo, then known as Junior, at the remains of the World Martial Arts tournament.
"He was eighteen at that time... just as I was on that very first mission."
She saw her grandfather tilting his head back and forth, shaking off any remaining bits of rock that remained from those he struck.
"Your overconfidence shows in your defense. You leave yourself wide open."
"Well now, that was awfully generous of you," went Frieza. "In fact, you're almost astoundingly powerful."
"Thanks."
"Though as fun as this has been, I do believe it's time we settle this."
He saw both his opponents clench their fists, ready to continue, and put out a hand.
"But before we do, for what it's worth, I think it'd be a shame... a waste, really, to kill one with such power. So I extend to you a one-time offer: work for me."
Pan didn't mind the fact Frieza had excluded her from this.
"Vegeta was an ungrateful spoiled brat of a prince who couldn't appreciate what I gave him. You seem much more reasonable. And you'll be treated quite well for your services."
But after everything Goku had heard and seen of Frieza, the Saiyan nearly scoffed.
"You really think I'd accept any kind of offer from someone like you?"
"We see SOME things differently, Saiyan, but perhaps we could come to an understanding. What if I leave Earth be as your vacation home?"
"Thanks, but no thanks."
Frieza hardly appeared to be disappointed, as if counting on only a one percent chance his opponent would have accepted it.
"And here I was hoping you'd be one of the good ones..."
Now he peered over at Pan.
"And I suppose that's a no for you as well, my dear?"
She answered only with her stance.
"The only good Saiyan is a dead one."
"Then there is only way this can end for you both: with your deaths."
"Really now?" Goku taunted. "I think I'll take door number two."
"You have quite the confidence in yourself. I know you still aren't anywhere near your full power. In fact, neither of you have shown it."
So far since her grandfather arrived, Pan had only utilized Kaio-Ken when faced with a mountain-like mass coming down on her. And Goku, after being fully healed from his injuries sustained from Vegeta, hadn't had to use it once thanks to her aid.
"But even when I consider how much you have hidden away..."
He gestured his hand out to them.
"I only require half of my full strength to kill you where you stand."
Goku appeared dumbfounded at Frieza's claim at first...
"You mean all this time, you've been...?"
...but then started chuckling.
"That's a good one."
He then found that Pan, while not frightened or nervous, appeared to be dreading his words.
"He's gotta be bluffing... right?" Goku asked.
"He nearly killed me before you got here... and he wasn't even using ten percent."
"It was certainly fun while it lasted... for you."
He had both his arms lowered downward and stretched out from his waist. Not only did rocks and grass alike start floating upward, but even drops of water.
Piccolo, Gohan, and Krillin at first sensed Frieza's increase in power...
"It's like their power alone could crush me..."
...then felt nothing short of an almost planet-wide quake, the landmass they stood on crackling and all three off their feet.
"Krillin, did you feel that?!"
The short Earthling, lifting his head up, spit out a clump of blue-green grass from his mouth.
"If a person could taste that level of power... then maybe I did just now."
Pan and Goku, at the epicenter, were pushed back several feet, arms crossed, then saw the area around Frieza was completely devoid of plant life.
"You both should know the last time someone gave me this much of a workout... made me resort to using this much power..."
What he had lifted upward near him was now raining down.
"...was my dear old brother."
Putting aside her shock at hearing that Frieza had a sibling, Pan tried sensing his ki to see just how much it had actually increased.
"If he was in the 20s or 30s before... this might actually be half of his strength... at least."
Gohan turned to Piccolo, trying to appear confident and strong in the face of what his father was against.
"My dad is strong enough to win this... right, Mr. Piccolo?"
But Piccolo, while keeping his composure the best of the three, couldn't bring himself to talk down the threat Goku faced.
"I have no idea. This is beyond anything I could ever imagine, let alone comprehend."
And then it happened again...
...on an even greater scale. Piccolo actually covered Gohan and Krillin to protect them from a scattering of rocks, and they could all feel water splashing down on and around them.
"Stay strong Goku," Krillin began, not whimpering, but just trying to keep himself from breaking down. "Please... for our sakes... and Bulma's."
Bulma, peering out of the cave she had been practically living in since arriving on Namek, felt one massive quake earlier, nearly losing her footing.
"What on this green planet was THAT?!"
An even more violent shake, one that not only sent her onto her side, but even had bits of the cave's top cracking apart...
...including some having now been made sharp and coming down for her. She rolled out of the way back to the grass, then heard the cave itself crackling.
"Probably should stay out here until this..."
Right as she was about to finish, the entirety of the cave collapsed.
"...dies down."
Realizing where all her supplies were...
"There goes all my gear! If we have to stay here another day, let alone a week...!"
She fumed out into the distance.
"Hasn't Goku gotten here by now?! If you have, then kick the stuffing out of Frieza already so we can get out of here!"
As if her old friend could hear her, she put both her arms out, shaking them as she looked into the green sky.
"Ooh, you better not let me down! You better not lose!"
She then felt something jump on the ground nearby her, akin to a human.
"What the f...?!"
A purple-skinned man with horns on his head and in armor had its arms and legs positioned like a frog, then hopped towards the shore and to another island.
"...f-freaky frog men!"
She groaned, watching the purple frog-like man leave her sight into the more distant landmasses.
"Adventures were one thing, but not like this. The stress..."
Bulma took a deep breath, turned around, then sat down to try relaxing, not even noticing a blue-green frog with antennas hopping in the same direction the humanoid frog went, sweat profusing from its spots.
"It been almost a whole week, but it's like I've been on Namek for years..."
Pan and Goku were forced to float upward and when they looked down at their feet, they saw that where they once stood was now broken apart almost entirely, water rushing to fill in the gap.
"Yes, it was my own brother who pushed me this far."
Frieza was in the same pose, floating upward to meet them with his eyes closed.
"And you know what else?"
They opened, red not flashing briefly over his eyes, but violently glowing.
"He didn't survive either."
It would appear to Pan that family was in no way sacred to Frieza.
"Even killing his own flesh and blood isn't beneath him..."
But as she sensed Frieza's ki once more...
"No, no, this is all wrong...!"
"Frieza's using more than half his power!" entered Trunks. "Towa must be...!"
"I sensed that ALREADY!"
But with Trunks confirming this to be the case, she caught Goku looking over at her, then felt herself shiver.
"Goku, if you can hear me now, we need to use Kaio-Ken right away. We can't wait for him to..."
"Were you saying something? I didn't want to butt in without asking like you said..."
"Kaio-Ken! NOW!"
Frieza grinned, seeing Pan shaken by what he had unleashed.
"Just wait until he realizes what I am capable of..."
Thus far, Pan and Goku appeared to have fared well against Frieza and him using half of his power was always an inevitability. But now the Supreme Kai of Time saw Trunks openly worried.
"Their Kaio-Ken, even at Times Twenty..."
"Trunks, you know how this event plays out..."
"But WHAT IF Goku doesn't survive long enough to use it against Frieza?!"
Goku lost sight of Frieza.
"Kaio-Ke...!"
An elbow to his face stopped Goku from finishing it. Pan, having shouted this at the same time as her grandfather, had her power double.
"Times T...!"
She found Frieza in front of her and blocked a punch with her wrists, but said wrist struck her mouth. They then immediately heard Goku starting Kaio-Ken again and Frieza disappeared once more.
"Crap..."
"What is it, Pan?" went Trunks.
"Me using Kaio-Ken all this time has tipped him off to what Grandpa's doing..."
Frieza, after sweeping Goku off his feet, had his tail around the Saiyan's neck, then, as if learning from his experience with the bite, the tyrant struck Goku with an elbow before he could try it again. Now no longer in the right position to get out of it, Son Goku felt the tail not only wrapped around completely, but vying to crush him.
Pan, seeing Frieza still holding onto her grandfather, flew in to stop any number of attacks, fatal or otherwise.
"Pan, even with Towa's formula, she can't overwrite their personalities completely," went Chronoa. "Your grandfather lives this long because Frieza wanted him to do so."
"But if Towa finds a brief instance to... actually gets Frieza to kill him now...!"
"Kaio-Ken...!"
She saw Frieza emerge straight into her flight path, Goku still in tow.
"Times...!"
She couldn't retrieve the Power Pole in time, but as she saw a chop coming right for her, Pan rotated fast enough for the polearm to take most of the brunt for her. Even when being flung away...
"TEN!"
She achieved the minimal Kaio-Ken she felt necessary to deal with the power Frieza was using, however much over half it was.
"Let him go!"
She had her Power Pole out to jab, but even with her speed increased ten times...
...Frieza had Goku held exactly where she was about to strike.
"Do it!" her grandfather shouted mentally, the tail constricting his neck too much to speak. "If you can get through me to him...!"
"No!"
She guarded against a Death Beam with the Power Pole, but instead of it being a harmless deflection, the force behind this one pushed her back a tremendous distance.
He tried bending his knees to then lift his legs, but the crushing force behind the tail made it all the more difficult.
"Whoever you are, you have to take whatever opening you can get!"
"Not at that cost!"
Several more passes and her grandfather was still a human shield held at the perfect angle.
"I'm fading. I'll live if you go through me. If there's no other way to hit him..."
One more pass.
"I won't do that, G-Goku!"
Frieza, Goku held over his head, peered out enough to see Pan actually jab forward, and couldn't help but smirk.
"Splendid. Once her own Saiyan friend dies by her hand instead of mine..."
"Right armpit! NOW!"
As she shouted this mentally to Goku, he lifted his right arm just enough, exposing part of Frieza's tail through his armpit.
The jab, spear-like as the stance was, didn't damage Frieza's tail in such a manner, but did push Frieza downward and had him grit his teeth from the pain, however minimal. She went to duck from his left hand, but then felt herself stuck, then lifted upward:
Frieza's hand took hold of the chain on her pants.
"I'll have to thank your master!"
During this, Goku curled up just enough to put both his feet against Frieza's waist and with the minimal opening his throat had to speak...
"Kamehameha!"
The Kamehameha from his feet pushed off Frieza, squeezing his head out from his tail, then his left arm took hold of Pan by her left side. She then kicked Frieza's face, releasing her from his grip, but did hear and feel the middle of the chain break.
The two landing on a larger stretch of land, Pan went out of Kaio-Ken, trying not to use it when out of combat.
"I've tried playing it safe with Times Ten, but it's obviously not cutting it right now... at least not alone."
Goku, his nose bloodied from the elbow to his face before, was actually trying to catch his breath from the near-suffocation Frieza inflicted with his tail, both his hands to his throat.
"Could've shouted Kaio-Ken, but I don't know if I could've gotten past that..."
"I know you were sent to Earth..."
Frieza floated down.
"...but what about you, my dear?"
She saw him rolling the broken square link from her chain between his knuckles.
"The chain suggests you lived under the rule of another. Ownership, perhaps."
Now it was on his index finger, his thumb in position to fling it at her.
"So who was your master? And how did you leave their service?"
It fired off at a high speed, one that Pan wasn't about to try catching, actually putting a hole in a structure near her.
"That chain..."
She stepped forward and clenched her fists, ki emanating from her and rocks lifting upward.
"That chain is for holding wallets, you creep!"
Frieza then couldn't help but laugh.
"I've been called many things across my various conquests. That is the first time someone has ever called me a creep."
"I think it suits you."
Goku stepped forward.
"Now earlier, you said you wanted to settle this, but tell me, Frieza: wouldn't you rather have me at my best? Get to see that hidden power of mine? Hers too, for that matter?"
Frieza, hovering downward almost gracefully, crossed his arms.
"By all means. Show me."
Goku, looking over at Pan, mentally conversed with her once more.
"There. I bought us some time so he'll let us use Kaio-Ken. Whenever you're ready."
She nodded to her grandfather.
"Ready."
Frieza appeared more than happy to oblige the two.
"It will make it all the better when they realize their very best isn't even close to my full power."
"Damn, that Son Goku is clever," went Towa. "If I had Frieza intent on stopping Kaio-Ken then, now he's staying true to himself by wanting them to suffer and for longer."
"I suppose the formula overwrote enough just getting him to skip his third form," Mira concluded. "But I don't understand why Goku would openly trick Frieza like this. Wouldn't a fair fight in his eyes be to let Frieza attack him uninterrupted?"
"It isn't a fighting tournament or a duel. Goku knows he's fighting a monster. He knows his son and best friend would be next if he let Frieza have a fair fight."
"Kaio-Ken...!" the two shouted in unison. "...Times Ten!"
Now both shared the same massive red glow, only rivaled by...
"If this goes well enough, we won't need to use Times Twenty... at least not right away."
"Did she learn that from you, or you from her?" Frieza asked, still not in a proper fighting stance.
"Monkey see, monkey do," taunted Goku before lunging towards the tyrant.
Seeing her grandfather clash with Frieza, she followed suit.
"There! With him occupied by one of us in Times Ten, maybe now..."
Zooming right behind Frieza, a swinging leg towards his face...
...she found her left ankle caught by Frieza's right hand as his left took hold of Goku's right wrist.
"He sped up?!"
Bringing his arms closer together, Pan being lowered and Goku lifted upward, Frieza had Pan's kick strike Goku's stomach and his punch directed towards her face. He then flung them backward, about to repeat the process, as the two then fired ki bullets, Pan with both hands and Goku with his left, at Frieza's seemingly unguarded head. His tail poked out behind both shoulders, swatting their attempts away.
"THIS is your best?"
Now intent on slamming the two together with even greater force, his arms gripped the two even tighter.
"I'm frankly insulted."
But Pan, her two arms free, put them to her face.
"Solar FLARE!"
His tail tried to cover his eyes, but Frieza was only able to cover just one, his left arm unable to help itself but cover his left. From this, Goku freed himself, but then found Pan still gripped, then kneed in the back. His other knee was preparing to strike her tailbone, but Goku kicked the left knee. Frieza's reaction, aside from his left hand taking hold of it instead, was for his tail to slam into Goku's right side, then shove him directly into Pan, their foreheads colliding.
"I didn't know dolls could bleed."
Besides being dazed, both of them felt a drop of blood come down towards one of their eyes. Goku, pulled back by Frieza's tail across his waist, saw his vision clear up for a moment. It looked like Pan put her hands over her right foot, then her body went limp.
"Poor little girl. Up past her bedtime."
Goku couldn't believe what he was seeing, but also tried to squeeze himself free with his hands or kick at Frieza to no avail.
"You could use some sleep too."
He saw himself about to be flung head-first towards Pan once more, the force preventing his arms from being able to stop himself.
"And inside the doll's head is..."
He found that Goku hit nothing, then saw the only thing he held was the very top of Pan's shoe, whose laces were undone.
"Slippery...!"
Frieza then felt not one, but both his ankles grappled...
"Kaio-Ken Times...!"
Frieza tried rotating his upper body to get a better look, but by the time he did, aiming his right hand straight at her in a firing motion...
"TWENTY!"
Pan's grip tightened immensely and his pointed finger curled up along with the others. Goku, feeling Frieza's tail somewhat loosened, pushed off with both hands, getting out before it could close around him entirely.
With her grandfather free, she span Frieza in place with a Dragonthrow of her own.
"Get ready, Goku!"
Goku stayed in place, then saw Frieza spin so fast as to almost become a white blur, then saw the shape of Frieza clearly when Pan released him. A thunderous kick to Frieza's forehead had him launched upward, then met by multiple high speed passes before he could even hope to recover. With a double axe handle directly to Frieza's chest, Pan sent him straight down, then, with one more grapple of his tail, into the waters nearby.
Pan landed, catching hold of her discard shoe, then exited Times Twenty immediately. Goku, seeing Frieza already poking out from the water, covered her.
"You really saved my bacon there. Thanks. Now I'll return the favor."
She saw her grandfather go after Frieza and, after the beating she gave the tyrant, actually appeared to be landing hits.
"Think you can hold Times Twenty for thirty seconds now?" Trunks asked. "Or even forty-five?"
"I have no idea. It's not like I can do it twice or three times as long with each near-death. And right now is not the time to push my luck, or else Grandpa will be completely on his own."
Speaking of, she peered back to the battle, seeing that her grandfather's initial success at keeping up with and attacking Frieza was starting to diminish.
"Even when fighting him at Times Ten, Frieza recovered from what I did seconds ago."
Frieza, his back turned entirely, appeared oblivious to a flying kick from Goku...
...only to kick Goku directly in the face, knocking him straight back down towards Pan, who moved out of the way. She saw and felt Goku hopping upward to higher ground, Frieza then landing in the same spot Goku was in. He had his left hand raised, middle and index fingers together, while his right was out towards her.
Instinctively upon recognizing the technique, Pan reached for the Power Pole.
"I can only hope I can see faster..."
Drawing it, she was immediately met by the barrage of ki blades from Frieza's swung hand.
"Kai...!"
She put the Power Pole out to block the two closest to her, but was pushed back from the force of their collision.
"O...!"
Pan then planted it into the ground and ducked, a few just missing her while the polearm stopped a few more.
"Ken!"
Another would've struck had she not lied down prone completely.
"Times!"
But now more were much too close to the ground for comfort and she had to climb up on her hands, then make herself as narrow as possible, and with more on the way.
"Twenty!"
Making her way to the very top of the planted Power Pole, she saw what looked like a massive pink energy whip at Frieza's fingertips.
"Grandpa, MOVE!"
But Goku, a combination of shock at the amount of power in that one attack along with soreness from using Times Ten for this long, couldn't quite move his legs immediately upon landing.
"He won't make it!"
Hopping upward, not even taking the time to take the Power Pole with her, zoomed past any further ki blades headed for her, then put up her ki shield, which stretched so far over her body as to almost appear like a slightly larger Pan with wrists crossed.
By the time the attack collided with her, Goku finally floated to the side, but while it appeared to stop the attack entirely at first, Pan then felt herself pushed downward straight through the rocky landscape...
...then the whip continued, stretching out across miles of the entire planet, both land and water filling in what looked like an endless chasm.
From orbit, a thin line could be made out across nearly a quarter of Namek.
Goku, looking back at the miles-spanning rift Frieza's attack created, was first awed at such a display of power.
"Frieza's reserves... he's barely tapped into them."
But he then immediately looked for any sign of Pan, who took the entire blow that he had just narrowly avoided.
"Come on, come on... I know you got away from that attack. Just show me you're okay."
"I thought you and your friends could sense energy."
Frieza floated upward to meet Goku on the structure he had just split in half.
"She's beneath us as we speak."
The Saiyan kept one eye on the tyrant the entire time, but did catch a glimpse of an orange bandanna to his left...
...after which Frieza practically teleported face-to-face to Goku, causing him to actually stumble backward.
"You should be paying more attention to your impending demise."
As Frieza took another step to face him...
...the Power Pole came crashing down into his path and both looked up to see Pan floating downward.
"You're okay!"
"Not even a hint of damage?!"
Pan, out of Kaio-Ken, appeared entirely untouched by Frieza's attack...
...but upon landing, she took hold of the Power Pole as if to keep from falling over. Goku instinctively tried helping her upward into a standing position.
"You went Times Twenty. That much power was what it took to withstand that. You didn't hold it for long, but it's already taking a toll of some sort."
"Moving and attacking in Times Twenty is one thing, Goku. Blocking something like that... wasn't expecting it to kick this much."
Once he believed Pan to be situated, Goku, still in Kaio-Ken Times Ten, stepped past her.
"It might just have to come down to that. My body might not be able to take it, but..."
"Goku, wait...!"
She addressed him directly, hinting at mental communication.
"I can't wait. Times Ten won't bring him down. I have to do it!"
"I get it, but drop out of Kaio-Ken, at least for now," she almost ordered. "Let me buy you time. Stall for whatever breather we can get."
Frieza, continuing to wait, then had a flash of purple over his body. Goku, from all his battles alongside Pan, pieced together a commonality between these instances.
"It won't work! Whenever their bodies do that, they...!"
"Just let me try, please!"
The tyrant looked ready to attack both of them with another swiping hand.
"Frieza!"
He peered at Pan from hearing her call his name.
"Why are you doing this?"
It still wasn't enough to get him to stop entirely, but seemed to slow his impending swing.
"Do you see yourself as a necessary evil?"
Not only did a quiet chuckle emerge from Frieza's lips, but he then ceased the attack entirely, the purple aura having left him.
"In all my conquests, no one has asked me such an interesting question."
Goku, seeing that Pan's attempt to stall had paid off, moved backward to stand next to her, then left Kaio-Ken, giving his body a break.
"How did you know that'd work?"
"He loves to hear his own voice. At least, I was counting on it."
"Well?" went Goku, joining in. "Are you?"
Frieza faced them not in the stance of an opponent, but with the poise of a speaker.
"I suppose yes, I would call myself a necessary evil... but frankly, such talk is outdated in this day and age."
"Oh yeah? How so?"
"You want to know what's really wrong with this universe? It isn't that there is evil. No. It is that there is good."
Both Pan and Goku were simultaneously shocked at Frieza's statement, yet unsurprised, like it explained so much about him.
"'Good,' this. 'Morality,' that. Feh. Utter nonsense. Nothing more than inhibitions. There is only one truly universal rule: strength governs everything. It has for my empire... and my father's... and the ones who founded it long before his time."
"And your strength justifies all the innocent people you've killed?" Goku asked.
"You believe my empire does what it does for no purpose? We've spread law, order, and civilization across these backwater systems. Each and every planet we've conquered has become better for it: beacons of sophisticated society built atop the bones of such lowly and uncivilized natives. Savages, really."
"Is that what you've done here on Namek?!" went Pan, now standing up without the Power Pole. "By wiping out the Namekians?!"
"There is a cost to such endeavors, death most assuredly. But we have the courage not to shy from it."
"You think this... ALL THIS... is courage?!"
While Pan had set this conversation in motion to give herself and Goku a breather, the not just unapologetic, but entirely unempathetic ideology Frieza subscribed to legitimately spat in the face of everything she had been taught and believed in.
"Fate dictates those with the courage to use their strength will rule. I am simply doing as fate asks and taking over the universe. To stand against me now is to go against fate's own design."
"You actually believe fate WANTS THIS?!"
Frieza could tell Pan couldn't stomach much more of this.
"Vegeta rebelled against me, but even he mostly subscribed to my doctrine, unlike this Saiyan girl..."
"There are two types of people in the universe: those who serve me and those that do not. The only way the latter can hope to survive in this world is to pledge allegiance to me, and to my empire, for which it stands. To take what I give and be grateful for it. And above all else, unquestioning and undying loyalty to my flag. And if this offends you, I will personally pack your bags... on your one way trip to Hell, which awaits all who dare to question or challenge MY divine right."
Trunks had only encountered Frieza once, and only knew that he was simply an enemy of Goku, as well as a galactic emperor and conqueror. But now that the tyrant's twisted ideology was laid out from hearing Pan's comms, Chronoa caught the half-Saiyan absolutely disgusted by it.
"Trunks?"
"He's worse than the Androids. They were punks programmed to be without empathy. Forced into what they became. Frieza revels in cruelty and believes it's not just justified, but that it actually makes him the hero."
"In short, everything in my dominion is a tune, and it must be sung together or else. Now does that sufficiently answer your inquiry, my dear?"
Frieza found Pan was absolutely livid at him, then peered to the full-blooded Saiyan.
"In spite of your time on Earth, surely you can understand."
What Pan couldn't tell was that Goku, taking in every detail of Frieza's conquest playbook, was now imagining a nightmare scenario of what Frieza, or his men for that matter, would do upon touching down on Earth:
"No one will be spared. Not Chi-Chi, Ox-King, Doctor Brief, Panchy..."
He then pictured his master, his pet turtle, the two shapeshifters, and the blue haired woman who turned blonde haired and back upon sneezing.
"Suno, Eighter, Bora, Upa..."
Four friends whom, while he didn't visit often, were there at a pivotal juncture of his life when he took on the Red Ribbon Army.
"Yajirobe, Korin, Mister Popo, Kami..."
These four emerged both before and after his climactic battle against King Piccolo, an adversary Frieza began to remind him of.
"King Piccolo was cruelty incarnate, but even you would make him sick."
But if Goku lost the battle now, even if Frieza had no intentions of going to Earth...
"Gohan... Krillin... Bulma... he would take all your lives."
"Why Saiyan, you enjoy using your strength as well, do you not? Fighting and laying waste to your enemies?"
"You couldn't be more wrong, Frieza."
"Hmm?"
Frieza wasn't puzzled so much as snobbishly waiting on them, just shy of looking at his wrist.
"I do enjoy fighting... but I take no pleasure in bringing death. Destruction too, for that matter."
His face became not just one of determination in the face of evil, but also of desperation for what he was about to do.
"I'm going for it now! You can go Times Twenty or just Ten! Either way, are you ready?"
She nodded once more to her grandfather.
"Ready."
"This is it! Our last chance! I pray he's been bluffing this whole time!"
But Pan, knowing full well Frieza was using more than half his power, could only hope both of them using Times Twenty would wear him down in even the slightest.
"Here goes..."
"Kaio-Ken...!"
"They could use that level of Kaio-Ken for a full minute and it wouldn't make the battle any more winnable," went Mira.
"Do what you can, then drop out and save as much ki as you can for what comes after," Trunks cautioned.
"Times TWENTY!"
Goku struck the tyrant back, then Pan followed suit.
Towa simply watched what was to come in silence.
Chronoa, even knowing the event to come like the back of her hand, dreaded what would come.
"Hang in there, please..."
Neither even tried keeping track of the hits they landed, but struck Frieza back and forth repeatedly, not quite in sync or with any coordination, but their efforts collaborative.
Goku struck the tyrant upward, hopped upward a few feet off the ground, then cupped his hands together.
"Ka... me..."
With the combination of the force dealt in that strike along with the beating prior, Frieza couldn't hope to recover in time.
"Ha..."
Or so Goku thought, as Frieza then appeared ready to fly in any direction he so needed.
"Shoot, he's recovered! I can try bending it, but that'll take too much power!"
"I'll set him up! Keep going!"
Pan, seeing Frieza more than able to avoid her grandfather's attack, untied both her shoes and hopped upward towards the largest peak nearby.
"Me..."
Frieza fired a barrage of Death Beams, but Pan swerved through them, and then he saw Pan's feet glowing.
"Kamehame..."
Once her feet touched the structure, Pan almost appearing to stand sideways on it...
"HAAA!"
...her Kamehameha from the feet launched her straight into Frieza's backside, tackling the tyrant.
"HAAAAA!"
Now the two of them were being sent straight into the path of Goku's Kaio-Ken Times Twenty Kamehameha. Frieza could strike at Pan with his elbows to break free...
...but not wanting to chance escaping from Pan would leave himself exposed to the impending blast, he instead put both his hands out in an attempt to shield himself.
Letting go just nanoseconds from joining Frieza, Pan swerved upward and back down, immediately dropping out of Kaio-Ken when she saw Frieza enveloped in it. She crashed straight down as if pulled, like gravity increased several hundred times over, steam emanating just from how close she was to the point of impact as she climbed out of the hole she made.
"That's the most damage we've done to him at... whatever percent power he's at..."
Seeing her shoes just next to her, Pan expected to feel her bare feet touch the blue-green grass...
"Huh?"
She saw and felt that her socks were entirely undamaged from the Kamehameha.
"Kami didn't just repair them: he made them ki-resistant."
She then looked over at Goku, who had exited Kaio-Ken Times Twenty soon after the largest Kamehameha he had pulled off, far eclipsing the one he used against Vegeta on Earth.
"He's... out of breath?"
Her grandfather dropped down onto his feet, having to use his hands to catch himself.
"H-hey..."
She then heard Goku give a chuckle even amidst his exhaustion.
"This was the first time I've used Times Twenty and just like that, I'm spent. But you... you still have some fuel in the tank. You've got a better handle on Times Twenty than I do."
Pan, receiving such praise from such a highly regarded fighter, couldn't help but blush.
"Well, give it time. Next time, you're bound to catch up."
"I don't think there's going to be a next time..."
Now her grandfather tried getting back up to his feet.
"He's not just alive... he's still going strong, even now. He... he wasn't bluffing."
She tried to help him up, but Goku tried waving her away.
"Wait. I didn't want it to come to this... the planet might not be able to take it... I just need time to pull this off..."
"Pan, Goku's going to use the Spirit Bomb..." entered Trunks on comms. "Now all you need to do is..."
A high-speed zoom between Pan and Goku...
...and Frieza, purple over him, had his arm poised for a spearpoint strike to the back of Goku's neck, her grandfather struggling just to try turning around.
"...protect him while he..."
Pan, without the time to say Kaio-Ken, but able to reach the Power Pole, pulled it just far enough out of its case to intercept the blow.
Piccolo, Gohan, and Krillin saw Frieza's attack on Goku blocked by the Power Pole...
...then had to shield themselves from a massive gust.
Goku not only reeled from the impact of the Power Pole, but then fell onto his knees, his arms going limp.
"I've... let you all down..."
He looked Pan in the eyes just as his were about to close.
"For... forgive me..."
He lied on the ground, Frieza appearing ready to fire straight at his heart through his back.
"Now's the perfect opportunity!" went Towa. "Do it! Kill Son Goku!"
But Frieza saw Pan stand in his way with the fully drawn Power Pole, even as she was the furthest from peak condition, to protect Goku.
"What do we do now, Trunks?! Chronoa?!"
"At first, I was disappointed that my attempt to skewer your fellow Saiyan only knocked him unconscious, all thanks to your meddling..."
...but then the purple aura left him and he grinned.
"But now that I think on it, I'm rather glad you meddled: it would have been so unsatisfying if he died as such."
"This shouldn't be possible, Mira: he's overwriting my formula's command. He refuses to kill Goku."
"No, I want him to live to see what I do."
Pan tried staying on her feet, her stance becoming shaky.
"We have to revive him... wake him back up..."
"I mean, if we borrow just one more senzu bean from Korin..." Trunks replied.
"IOU-aside, completely healing Goku could alter the course of the battle entirely!" Chronoa countered. "I couldn't begin to predict what would come from it!"
"Imagine how much better it will be once he wakes up to the results of his failure."
"Crap, I'm..."
She stumbled to the side, short of falling over.
"I don't know if I'm at twenty percent or even ten..."
"Don't keel over... at least not yet. You and his little friends will have parts to play."
But then she found Frieza crouching down, his right hand out as if about to lift her up by her right wrist.
"But between you and me, that blast of his..."
His hand squeezed into a fist...
"...HURT!"
...then became a chopping palm, its back facing her.
"REALLY! HURT!"
Try as she could to lift the Power Pole up to protect herself or even swerve her head, the backhand struck her right temple, the thunderous force sending her rolling into the same rock structure she leapt off of to tackle him.
"Suppose I should at least make the Saiyan comfortable while he's dreaming..."
"Get away from him!"
Krillin charged forward, Frieza keeping his back to him...
"I thought I sensed a rat..."
...the Earthling's palm up in the air in a stance Frieza would recognize.
"Or do you want to lose your tail again!"
Gohan followed soon after.
"I'm not going to let you hurt anyone else!"
Piccolo appeared to be the last to stand to Goku's defense, albeit in silence.
"Now that you're all here, I have big plans: a surprise for when he wakes up... and you can help me with the setup."
Gohan, seeing the Power Pole under Frieza's foot, and the tyrant holding something against his chest as if keeping it hidden for a surprise...
"All FOUR of you."
Frieza turned to the trio, holding Pan's orange bandanna, which had been discarded from his last hit.
"So while the Saiyans sleep, how about another game? Might as well let you have just a little fun... until they both see what's left of you."
Pan, blood coming down towards her right eye, lied, her fingers moving, but unable to get back up.
"Pan, do you copy?!"
"Pan, you have to get up!"
She couldn't even hear her comms, both sight and sound muddled.
"You have to hurry! Your father...!"
"If Piccolo and Krillin die now...!"
Pan could only lift her head just enough to see a purple pair of shoes she hadn't seen since she was last on her Earth.
"Pan."
This voice was clear as day to her...
"Hey."
A voice of someone she just fought alongside on Namek, but the tone and mannerisms of someone she hadn't heard in some time.
"Look at me."
Pan peered upward at a pair of yellow slacks, a white shirt underneath a black and red letterman jacket...
"You're not through. Not yet."
...to the face of the man that raised her best friend Bulla, a smirk hidden under his mustache.
"V-Vegeta?"
