Chapter Sixty-three
Red and Blue Thunder! Goku's Lightspeed Rescue!
Freeza watched the blaze of purple aura that was Captain Ginyu come towards the ship and eagerly rubbed his hands together as he watched the captain descend with all seven Dragon Balls. He watched Ginyu lay the balls before him with an ever-widening grin that only faltered for a moment when he noticed that one of the balls was streaked with blue blood. Ooh, that was Zarbon's, wasn't it? He'd have to send some sort of message to the man's family. Which would involve pretending that he cared. Some sort of condolence gift, as well. Perhaps some wine or a bit of fruit.
Or he could just save himself the headache and destroy the planet. Blame it on Cooler. That was always much easier.
"Beautiful," Freeza said wistfully as he hopped out of his hoverchair. "Absolutely beautiful." He ran his nails over the Balls, caressing them and listening to the soft tinkling sound they made. "Soon, immortality shall be mine!" He threw back his head and laughed. As was protocol, Ginyu joined in his maniacal laughter. Freeza's laughter died slowly as his brow furrowed in confusion and, also as was protocol, Ginyu's laughter petered off as well.
"What's the matter, your Lordship?" Ginyu asked. Freeza scratched his head, just behind the base of one of his horns, with a look of puzzlement on his face.
"I just… don't know what's supposed to happen," Freeza admitted. "It just feels like something's missing. They're not doing anything. I always thought they were supposed to glow or something." He paused for a moment and chewed on his lip. "I… I wish to be immortal." He paused again and waited. He certainly didn't feel any more immortal.
"Perhaps there's some sort of password," Ginyu thought aloud and stroked his chin. "A codeword or phrase that needs to be used. Probably said in their language, come to think of it." Freeza's arms fell slack at his sides and his eyes widened with shock. Of course. Of course that had to be it. After all, he'd only spent nearly a week and a half exterminating the species.
"You've got to be joking…" he grumbled as he ran a hand over his face. Why? Why did these things always happen to him? It wasn't fair! "I suppose I have to go and make sure I haven't killed them all." He tapped the scouter and slowly drifted into the sky. "Watch my balls until I get back. If anyone lays a hand on my balls, I expect you to give them a thorough beating." Ginyu saluted sharply as Freeza flew off before he spun on his heels and focused his attention on the Dragon Balls. That blue stain was really just… unacceptable. He'd have to clean that.
OoOoOoO
Goku's ship finally set down on Namek's surface and she bounded energetically to the door while she waited for the ship to open. She was so excited to see everyone again, to have a rematch with Vegeta, and most of all to fight this Freeza guy! When the door opened, however, Goku was hit in the face with… nothing. She could barely sense any ki on the entire planet. That sent a chill through Goku's body that she couldn't really explain. There were three ki that she recognized very well, however: Krillin, Suno, and Gohan. They were dropping fast… They were in trouble!
"Hold on, guys!" Goku shouted as she rocketed off into the sky, "I'm on the way!"
OoOoOoO
Krillin was sent hurtling across the island by a headbutt from Jeice, who was above him half a second later to smash him into the dirt with an axehandle blow that knocked him out cold. Vegeta had a little more fight in him, releasing a barrage of ki attacks that Jeice bobbed and weaved through before striking with a flip kick under Vegeta's chin that sent him tumbling into the air. Vegeta righted himself with a snarl and wiped the blood from his mouth.
"You'll…" Vegeta gasped as his chest heaved, barely able to stay afloat, "You'll have to… do better… than that." Jeice smirked as he flew up to meet Vegeta and drew back one of his hands to summon a large ball of malevolent red energy.
"Oh, I intend to, mate! Choke on this!" he laughed as he flung the ball forward. "Crusher Ball!" Vegeta's eyebrows had barely begun to raise on his face before the ball caught him flush and he spiraled to the ground with a trail of smoke behind him before he skidded to a stop. He dusted off his hands and crossed his arms smugly. 'Heh,' he thought to himself, 'And Salza's always goin' on an' on about how great it is workin' fer Cooler, how he gets to be the leader of the Armored Squadron an' this an' that. Well, look who took out the King of Saiyans by himself inna single hit!' Of course, in Jeice's version of the story, he'd leave out the part where Recoome did most of the fighting.
Crap, then he'd have to explain how Recoome died. It'd be awful crummy of him to make it sound like Vegeta and his weird friends took Recoome out easily, just to make himself look good. Would he really do that to the memory of someone who had been his close friend for years and years?
Yeah, yeah he would.
As yet another series of kicks to the stomach broke through Suno's defenses, she was wondering if she had any ribs left. Burter, she hated to admit, would have been faster than her even when she was at full strength. In the condition she was after fighting Recoome, though, she didn't have a chance.
"Come on!" Burter taunted as he took a step back with a smug grin plastered over his reptilian features. "You can do better than that! Make me use my arms!"
"Sh–," Suno stammered out, "Sh-shinsok…" She fell to her hands and knees and coughed out an alarming amount of blood. Burter smirked and drew back a fist.
"That's what I thought," he quipped before throwing down a punch to her with killing force. To his surprise, however, Gohan put himself between Suno and Burter, catching his fist in both hands. Despite the trembling in his arms, Gohan glared up at Burter while Suno struggled to stand. Burter's surprise faded away quickly enough and he smashed his other fist into one of Gohan's ears to make him stagger before kicking him in the chest to knock him away.
"Gohan!" Suno screamed as she turned to look at her son, maternal instinct winning over fighting logic. That gave Burter an opening, which he used to smash an elbow onto the back of her neck. Suno heard the "SNAP!" before she collapsed helplessly to the ground. Burter laughed before kicking Suno's body away, sending her tumbling through the grass.
"Jeice!" Burter called up. "I've taken care of my two! How about you?" Jeice floated down to stand beside Burter, smirking.
"Was just about t'kill mine, actually," he answered proudly. "So I guess we'll finish these up and catch up with the cap'n?" Then they heard something. They turned their heads slowly to watch Gohan slowly stagger to his feet, every movement a visible struggle. "Well I'll be buggered," Jeice muttered.
"Kid's tough," Burter admitted as they advanced toward him. "Wonder how tough he'll look once his skull's cracked open." They broke into a charge as Gohan got into his guard, his face screwed up in a mixture of pain and determination. Suno watched helplessly, unable to move. She shut her eyes, unable to watch. Then she felt a sudden whoosh of air and heard the cries of pain from Jeice and Burter, as well as the sound of something hitting them violently. Suno opened her eyes to watch Jeice and Burter be sent flying away… and Goku standing in front of Gohan with the fiercest and most serious expression on her face that Suno had ever seen. Once again, she had bulked up considerably.
Gohan stared up at Goku in shock and amazement. She had come from out of nowhere and everything had happened so fast that it took his brain a few seconds to catch up to what had just happened. "Mom!" He cried happily as he flung his arms around her legs. Goku's face instantly softened as she dropped down to hug Gohan close to her chest.
"Hey, Gohan," she greeted him happily as she pulled a senzu out of the little bag at her waist, "I'm sorry I took so long to get here, but I'm here now." She handed Gohan the senzu and he ate it eagerly, his wounds healing almost instantly. Goku took a quick stock of the situation before she was right beside Suno, kneeling next to her and gently lifting her head as she put the senzu in Suno's mouth. Suno chewed and swallowed the bean and, as soon as she regained feeling in her limbs, she grabbed the front of Goku's shirt and yanked her into a fierce and passionate kiss. Goku was surprised at first, then kissed her back before breaking away and giggling as she helped Suno to her feet. "Well hello to you, too." Suno only giggled in response, beaming with happiness and relief. Goku watched Vegeta slowly pull himself up with trails of smoke still curling off his body with a curious expression on her face. "Hey," she asked, "Is Vegeta on our side?"
Suno thought about that for a moment before giving a half-hearted shrug, "Ehhh… I guess so." Goku smiled at that and moved over to Vegeta to give him a senzu.
"H-hey!" Burter stammered out as he and Jeice's shock finally wore off. "Who the hell are you?! What's going on here?!" Goku shot them a glare as she held the senzu out to Vegeta.
"I'm Son Goku," she told them, "And I'll deal with you in a second! I'm helping my friends!" The remaining members of the Ginyu Force were so shaken at someone actually talking back to them that they were struck dumb all over again. What the hell was this lady?!
"We're not friends," Vegeta grumbled even as he took the senzu from Goku's hand and jammed it into his mouth, grumbling and chewing on it contemptuously. Only Vegeta could wear an expression that was a mixture of relief at his healed injuries and contempt at Goku for helping him. The ground between Vegeta and Goku shifted before Krillin popped up out of the dirt, apparently having tunneled his way to meet them.
"Oh, hey, Krillin," Goku said amiably as she brushed some dirt off his shiny head. "Y'know, I don't think gophers make very good martial artists."
Krillin rolled his eyes and held out a hand. "Yeah, yeah," he muttered with good-natured irritation, "Just gimme the senzu." Goku laughed and handed him the bean before turning her attention back to Burter and Jeice and striding purposefully towards them.
"You hurt my friends," Goku told them sternly, "And judging by your outfits, I'm guessing you've hurt a lot of other people, too. I'm gonna give you one chance, though. If you promise you won't hurt anyone else, I'll let you leave this planet in peace." She paused for a moment to get into her guard. "Y'know, instead of pieces."
While Goku had been talking, the other four had grouped together and, after Goku said that, Gohan looked up at Suno to ask his mother what his mom had meant. Once he saw her face, however, he had a different question in mind. "Mother," he asked, "Why's your face all red?"
"No reason," Suno hurriedly assured him. Burter scoffed at Goku's threat and Jeice spat on the ground in front of her.
"Who in th'hell d'you think you are, Sheila?" Jeice asked contemptuously. "We're the Ginyu Force, the baddest of the bad! The meanest of the mean! We're the greatest warriors in the universe and we don't run from-AWK!" That "awk" was apparently the sound Jeice's species made when an open palm hit their solar plexus at something near to mach three. Jeice staggered away, grasping at his chest and heaving painfully.
"I just told you," Goku reminded Jeice, "My name is Goku, not Sheila." Burter stared at this new woman in shock. He'd never even seen her move but there she was! Right in front of him, still leaning forward with her arm sticking out and her palm trembling in the air! He snarled and struck, unleashing a barrage of left-hand jabs to the side of her head.
"You might be able to do some damage with a cheap shot," he told her, "But you'll never get the drop on me! I'm the fastest in the unnAAAAARGH!" Burter howled in pain as Goku took the one hand she'd been using to block all of his attacks and grabbed his forearm before holding it out straight and painfully twisting it around to trap him in place. Before he could even blink, his head snapped back from a punch Goku had thrown with her free hand.
"Just to remind you," Goku told him as Burter stared at her in horror and blood flowed down his scalp, "I did give you the chance to run." She smirked. "There's a lot of people who'd say you should've taken that." Then she was punching him, over and over, Burter's head snapping this way and that and his body convulsing from the speed and force of her strikes.
'W-what's happening?!' Burter thought to himself even as he was being beaten senseless, 'Th-this speed! She's so fast, it's like time is standing still!' Goku finally released Burter's arm and let out what could only be described as a roar as she smashed her fist under his chin and sent him careening through the air with a cry of pain to land in a heap beside Jeice, who had finally stopped gasping.
"You're really red, mother," Gohan said. "Are you sure you're okay?"
"Oh, I'm more than okay…" Suno muttered out of the corner of her mouth.
"Huh?"
"Nothing!" Krillin snickered and Vegeta… Vegeta was too stunned to offer any sort of smart remark. Goku got out of her guard and cracked her knuckles as Jeice looked back and forth between Burter's unconscious form and the crazy woman who'd literally appeared from nowhere and had knocked them senseless. She could probably have taken Recoome out in one hit!
"Last chance," Goku warned him. "Take your friend… and run." Jeice stared at her, trembling and stammering in fear. She took a step forward and Jeice let out a shriek of terror before rocketing into the sky.
"CAAAAPTAAAAAAAAAIN!" He wailed out in terror as he vanished over the horizon. Goku dusted off her hands before turning back to the others.
"Well that was fun!" she exclaimed with a great big smile on her face. "So what've you guys been up to?"
"Oh, y'know," Krillin replied with a shrug, "Gettin' the Dragon Balls and stuff. Almost dying. The usual stuff when you're not around." Vegeta just continued to stare at Goku in shock. This was insane! He snapped out of his stupor to whip around and blast Burter's unconscious body into oblivion with a ki beam, as if he needed to kill something to remind himself of his own natural superiority.
"Vegeta!" Goku snapped. "He wasn't a threat anymore! There was no reason to do that!" Vegeta scoffed at her, outwardly contemptuous and inwardly furious.
'This cannot be happening,' Vegeta told himself. 'Can. Not. I refuse!' Kakarot was just a commoner! A woman! Low-born trash with the murderous intent of a houseplant! He was the last of the Kings! He had the stronger bloodline! He had divine purpose! He had destiny on his side! And yet… and yet she was stronger than him?! Could Kakarot truly be the Super Saiyan?
"Hey," Goku said as she noticed the headless corpse of Recoome, "Who was that?"
OoOoOoO
Nail stopped in mid-flight as he took stock of the new arrival on the planet. This new ki was much larger than the others and lacked the malevolent intent of the five previous arrivals. It was also larger than his own so the outsiders were probably safe. Then he realized that an absolutely monstrous ki was headed for… The Elder Guru's hut!
"The Elder's in trouble!" Nail breathed out in a stunned whisper. He immediately changed course and rocketed back to the hut. Even if this evil ki was vastly beyond his own, he was honor-bound to protect his father. He pushed forward with all his energy, streaking across the sky.
OoOoOoO
"So what should we do now?" Goku asked after Suno gave her a slightly more detailed account of events than "the usual stuff."
"What does it matter?" Vegeta asked bitterly. "With as long as he's had the Dragon Balls to himself, Freeza has to be immortal by now."
"Doooon't bet on that, Geets," Krillin told him. Vegeta shot him a murderous look and Krillin quickly explained. "It's just that, y'know, the sky hasn't turned black or anything. Plus, we haven't seen any giant dragon. That's what happens when we use the Balls on Earth."
"Wait," Vegeta asked incredulously, "You mean to tell me that an actual dragon is involved?" Suno snickered and Vegeta whipped his head around to glare at her. "And what is just so godsdamned funny?"
"You and Freeza don't know how the Dragon Balls work!" she pointed out gleefully before she snickered again. The other three joined in their laughter and Vegeta was sorely tempted to see how many of them he could kill before Kakarot got him.
OoOoOoO
Captain Ginyu had been enjoying his solitude and imagining new poses that would strike fear in their enemies and boost confidence in their comrades when Jeice came flying back towards him… alone. That was unusual.
"Cap'n!" Jeice screamed as he landed on the roof of Freeza's ship beside Ginyu, wide-eyed, sweating with panic and terror and practically hyperventilating. "Th-there was a thing annathing an'en they killed 'em an'en we beademup an'en this lady comes outtathasky an'en she beat us–" Captain Ginyu slapped Jeice hard in the back of the head to stop his incoherent babbling and then sighed, using the temporary silence to rub his temples and make Jeice take a few deep breaths.
"Tell it again, Jeice," the Captain ordered, "But this time without the hysterics." Jeice nodded, took a few more deep breaths… and was only slightly more coherent this time.
"It was awful, Cap'n!" he babbled. "First they killed Guldo and that was okay but then they cut off Recoome's head so we beat 'em up, but then this new lady just dropped out of the sky an' kicked our bleedin' heads in!" Ginyu shook his head and clucked his tongue. This would not do, this would just not do. The poses would look terrible with just the two of them! He'd have to train some new recruits after this was all over. Lord knows it would take forever to bring them up to his standard. Oh, and justice for the other three, of course. Well, Recoome and Burter. The Captain had no real love for Guldo. His quarters were always a mess and he never took their morning routines seriously. This is what he deserved, Ginyu told himself, for relying on his mental powers.
"Well," Ginyu told Jeice, "We can't let Lord Freeza know about this. It would be a nightmare for our image. Best keep this under your hat for now."
"...I don't wear a hat, cap'n," Jeice pointed out. Ginyu rolled his eyes and smacked Jeice in the back of the head again.
"Just bury the Dragon Balls," Ginyu ordered him. Jeice nodded and quickly blasted a hole into the ground before kicking the Dragon Balls in and covering them with dirt. "Now take me to where you met this woman who 'kicked your heads in', was it? I shall deal with her myself." Jeice beamed at that and eagerly saluted him.
"You got it, cap'n! Follow me!" He flew off with Captain Ginyu following close behind him. That weird buff lady might have been able to beat up him and Burter but there was no way she could take out the Cap'n! She'd get hers, alright!
OoOoOoO
"So," Goku said, "If this Ginyu guy ran off with the Dragon Balls, he probably took them to Freeza–" she paused and turned her head on a swivel when she sensed a really big, really evil ki, "And that's probably him headed that way." She said as she pointed off in the direction she'd sensed the ki coming from. This Freeza guy was really strong! She could handle him, though, especially with all the work she'd put into Kaiouken. She could get up to times twenty if she pushed herself. If the worst came to it, she could hit him with the Genki Dama.
"Wait," Gohan chimed in with sudden realization, "That means he's going to Guru's house! If he kills Guru, we won't be able to use the Dragon Balls!"
"Then I guess we'd better move fast," Goku decided. "I hope this doesn't come out wrong but I'm pretty sure me and Vegeta are the strongest ones here." Vegeta puffed out his chest and Gohan rolled his eyes.
"I mean, you're not wrong," Krillin admitted in a self-depreciative tone.
"So here's what we'll do," Goku told them, "When Jeice comes back with that Captain guy he was crying for, me and Vegeta will deal with them while you guys go find where they put the Dragon Balls." Vegeta managed to suppress a shudder of revulsion into little more than a grimace, not unlike someone pretending that their stomach wasn't bothering them.
"That's… actually a pretty good plan," Suno conceded with a small hint of surprise. Not that she thought her wife was stupid, of course, it was just that… well, she usually wasn't much for planning.
"Indeed," called a voice from above, "A clever ploy, to be sure. It does have, however, one major snag." Captain Ginyu descended dramatically with Jeice following swiftly behind, the pair striking as dramatic a team pose as they could manage with just the pair of them. "That snag, of course, meaning me." There was a long, awkward pause.
"Yeah, see," Krillin finally said, "I feel like this would have been more impressive back when there were five of you." Ginyu and Jeice dropped out of their pose with a huff and stood with their legs apart and their arms behind their backs.
"You guys get out of here," Goku told Gohan, Suno, and Krillin. "We'll handle these guys." She got into her guard and, in a pleasant surprise, so did Vegeta! The other three quickly took off and Jeice watched them fly away.
"Should I take care of 'em, cap'n?" Jeice asked. Captain Ginyu smirked and shook his head.
"No need, Jeice. The most they'll be able to do is dig the Dragon Balls back up. Then we'll just fill the hole back up with their bodies." Goku glowered at him and balled her fists.
"Y'know," she told Ginyu as he got into a fighting stance of his own, "Your buddy can tell you that I don't like people threatening the people I care about." Then she looked at Vegeta out of the corner of her eye. "I know we've got our problems," she admitted, "But I think if we work together to take on these guys, we'll be able to work through those problems. I know you've already helped my friends a little bit, so I think you're not as bad as you…" Then she looked to see that Vegeta had already disappeared. For a guy who loved talking about how great of a warrior he was, he sure was good at running away. 'Eh,' she told herself with a shrug, 'He'll come arou–' Her thoughts were interrupted by Captain Ginyu punching her in the side of the head.
"Ah ha!" he laughed boisterously as Goku staggered away. "Never take your eyes away in the heat of battle! If you think you can play games with the Captain, you'll find I play for keeps!" Goku grinned as she got back into her guard.
"Okay," she shot back as she lunged for him, "Let's play!"