Dragon Ball Z 1. Chapter 1: A sound beating

**From Enemy to Student**

**- a Dragon Ball Z fanfiction -**

**Chapter 1 – A sound beating**

_Disclaimer: I do not own, in any way, any official property related Dragon Ball, such as the anime, its characters, related movies, and so on. However, I hope to supplement that glorious work of art with my fanfictions, such as this one. _

_I would also like to point out that this fanfiction was originally written by Gonstika, from whom I adopted it, and that many of the concepts and plot-points featured in its chapters are originated by Gonstika as well._

_With that said, I hope you enjoy the story._

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><p><em>Writer's note: For those who have read the original version of From Enemy To Student, I took the liberty of writing a new first chapter for this fanfiction, making it start at an earlier point in time, which is approximately at the beginning of uncut DBZ episode 68 "Ginyu Assault". Thank you for understanding. <em>

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><p>Whizzing sounds echoed through the green landscape of Planet Namek, as a blue alien with reptilian-looking skin and brown armor-plating on his scalp threw strike after strike at his opponent, who simply dodged them time after time.<p>

The alien was Burter, one of the five soldiers that belonged to the Ginyu Force, the most powerful combat unit of the galactic tyrant Frieza. And his opponent was, right now, the bane of his existence, as no matter how hard he tried, he simply couldn't hit him.

"Why don't you just stay still and fight me like a man?" Burter shouted at this Goku, as he delivered a flurry of boot strikes, missing each time yet again.

Goku did not reply, but whether he was too focused on dodging to have heard the question or he simply didn't care to do so it was unknown.

Growling not for the first time since the battle against this man had started, Burter continued his onslaught, as his mind screamed at him – also not for the first time – that none of this made any sense.

At first, their mission, to defeat Vegeta and a pair of runts he'd befriended and get the Dragon Balls Vegeta had stolen back to Lord Frieza, had been easy. In fact, it had been running so smoothly that it had seemed abnormally easy, as far as their standard missions went. But as soon as this man in the orange and blue outfit had joined the fray, things had gone from two easy to two hard. Not only had the guy managed to hit them with each of the strikes he delivered, but he dodged everything threw at him, not to mention he had brought Recoome down in one hit and had batted Jeice's Crusher Ball away. And a mere Saiyan shouldn't be able to do any of those things.

In fact, he shouldn't even be a Saiyan, no matter what he said, as there was no way a Saiyan could reach this kind of speed, no matter how wholesome their diet was. Also, the scouter clearly indicated that this Goku's power level was 5,000, but there was no way someone with that power level could deflect Jeice's Crusher Ball, or knock down Recoome with a single elbow-strike, no matter how careless Recoome had been. Not even Burter himself, who had a power level of 30,000, would have achieved such feats, as Jeice and Recoome were much stronger than him, their power levels at 55,000 and 60,000 respectively.

Nothing made sense. And yet, all the things Burter had pointed out had happened. And that knowledge frustrated him to no end.

His train of thoughts suddenly shifted as Jeice joined the fray, throwing punches and kicks at the Saiyan as well. Burter couldn't help but to be pleased. The two of them were the pair of soldiers that worked the most efficiently in all of Frieza's forces. They'd fought together for years, and could always know what the other would do and act accordingly. No one until now had survived a battle against the two of them together.

Still, their combined skill didn't seem to be enough to tip the odds in their favor this time, as although the Saiyan now seemed to have some more difficulty dodging the flurry of strikes, even Burter and Jeice working together were unable to hit their abnormally fast opponent.

"He can't dodge us forever, Jeice," Burter shouted as the two of them kept throwing punches and kicks at their opponent. "He's got to screw up sometime!"

Mere moments after he said that, Goku disappeared away, and the two of them screwed up themselves, Burter by landing a knee on Jeice's stomach, and Jeice by slamming his fist against his colleague's cheek.

Fortunately for them, Goku stood back instead of pressing the attack himself, allowing them to work out their issues.

"Idiot!" Burter shouted in Jeice's face, his red eyes ablaze with the anger that swelled inside him.

"It's your fault you dope!" Jeice shouted back, a fierce snarl on his face.

Over the next moments, the two of them glared at each other, gritting their teeth with such force that an outside looker would think the danger of both of them ending up shattering their teeth apart was very real.

"Wait Burter," Jeice eventually piped up, his hand raised toward his friend. "He's doing this to us mate, don't you get it?"

"He is?" Burter slowly let out, confused by the sudden change of subject.

"Darn right he is." Jeice said.

Any further conversation between the two of them was prevented by Goku's call.

"Hey guys! Yo!"

The two of them turned toward their opponent, who was calmly facing them, his arms folded.

"Well, do you wanna dance, or fight?" Goku said provokingly, an annoying smirk that only a Saiyan could muster on his lips.

At that taunt, both soldiers clenched their fists and glared at him.

'No one taunts as like that and gets away in one piece!' both of them thought.

Growling at the Saiyan who dared to make fools out of them so many times now, the two of them charged at him together, before separating so that each of them would attack from one side, Jeice from Goku's right, and Burter from Goku's left.

As soon as they got within range, Burter threw a punch, and Jeice slammed his clasped hands down, both of them aiming at the Saiyan.

Again, Goku dodged their collective strike.

Burter tried to follow the Saiyan's movement with his eyes, but by the time he found him, Goku was already shooting through the sky toward him, his right foot poised forward. Burter barely had time to gasp in amazement, before the sole of Goku's boot slammed on the left side of his back, smashing the armor in that area, and throwing him tens of meters away.

The next thing Burter knew, an elbow was slammed onto his nape, knocking his scouter off. Burter screamed in pain, as his large red eyes bug out so much that they looked like two eggs and he fell down at a speed far higher than any he had managed to fly at.

Moments before he crashed into the ground, his freefall was stopped, right at the moment when pain erupted all over his torso.

And then, as if all it had taken was pressing a button, Burter's consciousness slipped away from him.

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><p>Still floating at the same spot where he'd tried to slam his hands down on Goku, Jeice looked on at the scene in front of him, fear starting to make its way across every inch of his body at the sight of another of his comrades being defeated so effortlessly by this guy. First Recoome had been struck down with one hit, and now Burter met the same fate.<p>

"You've been deceiving yourselves!" Goku shouted at him, Burter's prone body in front of him. "This fight is fruitless."

Jeice merely kept trembling, unable to believe what he saw.

This couldn't be. Both himself and Burter were meant to be stronger than most beings in the known Universe, and certainly stronger than any Saiyan that had ever been a part of Frieza's army. There was no way they'd stand no easily by this man. Granted, they should have guessed such a thing when the Saiyan had knocked down Recoome in one blow, but both of them had thought he had only done so successfully because he'd managed to get Recoome by surprise while he had been busy making a big show out of literally cracking up the ground.

That had always been one of Recoome's faults. He allowed his opponents to spend and he always made a big show of things when he fought.

But neither of those traits applied to Burter. He was always alert when he fought, and the most he would do regarding his opponents was throwing taunts at them. And while Burter was relatively weak compared to any member of the Ginyu Force other than Guldo, there was no way a Saiyan with a measly power level of 5,000 would be capable of knocking him down so effortlessly!

But he clearly was. Which meant that somehow he was deceiving their scouters. How could that be?

"Listen, it's not too late for you to leave this planet," Goku warned him. "Your choice. But if I were you, I'd get out of here."

By that time, Jeice was still unable to speak, but there was someone else who had an opinion to voice on that matter.

"Don't be a fool, Kakarot!" Vegeta shouted. "He's destroyed more men than you can count!"

Goku turned his focus toward the other Saiyan at that comment.

"Don't you remember Vegeta?" he shouted back. "We let you go on Earth. Don't you think they deserve the same chance?"

Vegeta grit his teeth, but did not press an argument. However, one could almost hear the gears turning inside his head. He was clearly up to something.

Meanwhile, Jeice finally managed to speak, although not to anyone in particular.

"Man oh man. Burter!" he let out. "This is totally insane!"

It was. He hadn't known the taste of defeat in so long by now that he didn't even know such a thing could happen. Not only had Jeice himself won any fight he had for very long now, but never once had the current Ginyu Force failed a mission assigned to them. And yet, here was this guy, defeating them one by one without them being able to do anything about it.

"I don't know who this guy is, or where he came from, but he's good!" he continued, unable to keep that knowledge simply bottled up inside himself. "Jeez, I've never seen anything like it. We never even touched him. Now that's one bad dude! I'm bad… but man, I ain't that bad," he brought up a red aura around himself. "Sometimes you gotta know when you gotta go, go, go!"

Knowing the only thing that could be done in such a situation, Jeice took off at a breakneck pace, leaving everyone else – including his two teammates – on the battlefield.

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><p>Goku's eyes widened a bit as he saw Jeice flying off. That action had been quite unexpected by him, even considering Jeice was meant to be a soldier of the most evil tyrant of the Universe.<p>

"Gosh!" Goku couldn't help but to say. "Some friend."

He didn't know why he was surprised at such actions after having seen Vegeta killing his own comrade on Earth. After all, like he had said himself, Frieza was meant to be an evil tyrant, and certainly such a tyrant would not be surrounded by kind, compassionate, loyal people, but by others who looked like himself as much as possible, although not in the same degree so as they wouldn't overshadow him. However, for a reason even Goku could not explain, he'd gotten the impression that at least these three were not exactly devoid of feelings, at least when it came to themselves.

Apparently, he'd been wrong.

Deciding it was pointless to dwell on that any further, Goku focused his attention on Burter and Recoome. Both of them were twitching and moaning, but he could sense clearly that they were unconscious, as he had intended for them to be when he'd dealt them those blows.

'These guys may walk funny for a while, but they'll recover just fine,' he thought. 'Strong fighters, but with weak characters.'

It was a pity. If only they could see what their ways truly were like, maybe they would change for the best, and end up doing a lot of good for the Universe. But Goku knew that such a thing was extremely unlikely to happen, if not downright impossible.

A timid voice suddenly broke through his thoughts.

"H-hey, you are Goku, aren't you?" Krillin asked, fear obvious in his tone.

In less than an instant, Goku reverted back to his usual naïve, cheerful self.

"What?" he said, fake disbelief in his voice. "Of course I am Krillin. Don't be silly."

Both Krillin and Gohan let out a sigh, visibly relaxing. It was clear that, for them, it had been quite a shock seeing Goku arriving so strong after six days. Goku could understood how they felt. He would also have believed his current level of strength to be impossible to achieve, if not for the fact he had Senzu Beans and was a Saiyan, which enabled him to become stronger after recovering from near-death injuries.

Suddenly, his attention was diverted away from his two friends, as his energy-sensing skills detected something. Looking up toward what he sensed, Goku saw Vegeta rocketing down, both of his knees aiming down like missiles, and killing intent afire in his eyes.

What followed was something so unexpected that neither of the four of them knew exactly what to think of it.

Reacting on an impulse that rushed through him out of nowhere, Goku flew toward Vegeta and kicked him in the face, knocking him away right when he was about to slam his knees down on Burter's neck.

After flying for about fifteen meters, Vegeta flipped backwards and set his feet on the ground, looking like the personification of fury after being struck by Goku.

For a considerable amount of time, the two Saiyans stared into each other's eyes, neither of them saying a word.

"You fool!" Vegeta roared at him. "Just what the hell was that for?"

"I could ask you the very same thing," Goku replied, withstanding Vegeta's glare. "Don't you see you don't have to kill them? They can't even move!"

Vegeta spat at the ground as if just listening to that statement had somehow left a bad taste in his mouth.

"Your hopeless mix of excessive kindness and even greater stupidity makes me want to vomit," he sneered. "What does it take to make you understand that these two are scum and don't deserve any sort of forgiveness? Would they have taken mercy on your son and your friend? If you'd arrived ten minutes later they'd be gone right now."

Goku did not reply. Part of him acknowledged that Vegeta did have a point, but it simply wasn't and would never be in his nature to be so heartless. And besides, Vegeta seemed to be forgetting, yet again, that he wouldn't be standing here right now if Goku had followed such a reasoning.

"You're too soft to be a Saiyan," Vegeta continued. "That freak you let go could cost you your life."

"No, not him," Goku replied, confused as to where such a statement had come from.

While that guy did seem to be strong in his own, he wasn't strong enough to kill him by far.

"He doesn't have to be stronger than you to beat you," Vegeta replied as though he'd read Goku's thoughts. "He could take your kid hostage and make you walk right into their hands like a lamb. These people are ruthless savages, Kakarot. They're warriors, and will do whatever it takes to win the game. And here you are, Mr. Nice Guy. They'll chew you up and spit you out with that attitude."

Goku did not waver.

"We'll see," he said. "I don't think having a little compassion is a disadvantage."

Yet again, Vegeta had sort of a point, but he was clearly mistaking compassion for carelessness. Just because Goku had let Jeice go, it didn't mean he was going to turn his back on him and trust that he would stay put.

"Fool," Vegeta replied in the most disdainful tone he could muster. "A fight with Frieza is a fight to the end. And it will be your end. You're nothing compared to Frieza, Kakarot!"

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><p>While Vegeta and Goku argued, Jeice flew as quickly as he could toward Frieza's ship, leaving a red trail that contrasted starkly against the green sky. All of his body seemed to be ripping itself apart thanks to the strain he was putting it under, but Jeice tried with all his might to ignore how he felt. Right now, the only thing that mattered was getting to Lord Frieza's ship and relay the situation at hand.<p>

Jeice grit his teeth as Goku's stern look flashed across his mind yet again, followed by mental images of Burter's and Recoome's prone bodies. He thoroughly hated that guy's guts for beating down Recoome and Burter like that.

However, a sizable part of the hatred inside him was directed at himself, for having left Recoome and Burter to the mercy of those two monkeys and the runts. Usually, he was not this much of a coward when finding himself in tight spots during missions. Then again, he had never been in such a tight spot as this one.

And he wasn't an idiot. He knew that if he had stuck around and tried to defeat that guy on his own, he would have been knocked down as quickly as either of his two friends. By leaving, there was still a chance at keeping all of them alive, although his more pessimistic side told him that, as they were at the mercy of those two monkeys, it was unlikely Burter and Recoome would stay alive for long. Still, if Jeice managed to get to Captain Ginyu, he could inform him of the situation at hand. Then the Captain would show that idiot a thing or two – and if he didn't arrive on time to save Burter and Recoome, he would at least avenge them.

In hindsight, Jeice knew that he should have taken the time to actually carry Burter and Recoome with them, but after seeing Burter being knocked down as easily as Recoome had been, he had been too scared to think of that. It had been extremely stupid of him, and he was also upset at himself for his huge oversight, but by now, he simply couldn't go and get them. He could only keep flying, and hope to get to Captain Ginyu as soon as possible, and hope that he would still be on time.

But even if Captain Ginyu was informed of the situation and decided to do something about it, Jeice's potential problems were just beginning.

Captain Ginyu was going to be pissed off for sure when he knew of his soldier's, and might even fire Jeice from the Ginyu Force for daring to flee from the battlefield. A thought that was, at the very least, scary. Among Lord Frieza's forces, any soldier that was demoted was held in high contempt, and considered absolutely worthless in everyone's eyes, no matter how strong he was. In the Ginyu Force, Jeice had at least a high rank, which added to the fact he was stronger than nearly everyone else in Frieza's forces made the others fear him enough so as not to mess with him. If he was fired, however, he would become the target of everyone's provocations and insults.

However, no matter how scared he was of losing his rank, that concern was nothing compared to the prospect of facing Lord Frieza's wrath. As soon as he got to know of his elite force's defeat, Lord Frieza was bound to burst a fuse or two in his anger, before executing Jeice just to let off some steam, even though he was just the messenger. Not to mention he could even not go forward to finish the job himself, either because he would assume that Burter and Recoome were already dead by the time he got to know of it, or because he would decide to punish them for their defeat by leaving them to die.

While there was a slight chance Captain Ginyu could calm Lord Frieza down if he got upset, the red-skinned soldier wouldn't like to rely on it, as not only Captain Ginyu would be mad as a hornet himself, but he would also have enough sense of self preservation for not to press the issue too much, an act whose outcome would be him ending up as a pile of cold cut himself. Although Lord Frieza didn't execute higher level soldiers as frequently as he did to his weaker ones, Jeice could recall a handful of occasions when such things had happened, all of them taking place when he was particularly angry at the soldier he executed.

Even though he was devoting most of his focus to his fast flight, Jeice couldn't help but to snort at the irony of the situation. He had gone away not only to avoid his own death at that Saiyan's hands, but also to see if he could prevent Burter and Recoome's deaths, no matter how unlikely that seemed. But in the end, this desperate attempt at saving his two comrades was almost like picking his poison, as at this point the chances of him dying were extremely high no matter which of his options he chose.

In fact, considering the circumstances, the likelihood of being executed by Lord Frieza was lower than it would normally be. After all, his lord had certainly achieved immortality by now, thanks to those Dragon Balls that were the whole reason the Ginyu Force had come to this planet. And as a result, he would hopefully be in enough of a good mood to forgive them for their defeat.

But even more intense than his fear of Lord Frieza's or Captain Ginyu's wrath was the hope that, by the time he got back to them, Burter and Recoome wouldn't get as pissed off at him as they had the right to be, even as a part of him reasoned that it would be a good sign if they got pissed off at him, for it meant they would still be alive to be so. And in the end, it was exactly for them to keep at least their lives that Jeice was going back to Lord Frieza's ship, risking his own life in a very literal manner by intending to relay such news to his Captain and to his Lord.

So, in spite of knowing what could happen to him when he got to his destination, Jeice yet again attempted to fly even faster, his determination of saving his two comrades' lives – no matter how much of a desperate attempt it was – keeping him going at a speed he'd considered unachievable before.

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><p><em>Up next in Chapter 2: Will Jeice end up surviving the delivery of his report? Will Vegeta see eye to eye with Goku regarding the decision to save Burter and Recoome's lives? And will that action ending up turning back against them? Stay tuned!<em>

_Hoping you enjoyed the chapter,_

_Genescritor_


	2. Chapter 2: A shocking truth

**From Enemy to Student**

**- a Dragon Ball Z fanfiction -**

**Chapter 2 – A shocking truth**

_Disclaimer: I do not own, in any way, any official property related Dragon Ball, such as the anime, its characters, related movies, and so on. However, I hope to supplement that glorious work of art with my fanfictions, such as this one. _

_I would also like to point out that this fanfiction was originally written by Gonstika, from whom I adopted it, and many of the concepts and plot-points featured in its chapters are originated by Gonstika as well._

_With that said, I hope you enjoy the story._

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><p><em>Writer's note: I would like to point out that this chapter is largely taken from the first chapter of the original version of the story updated by Gonstika. However, I added one scene to it, and expanded some of the elements already present in the original version. Thank you for understanding.<em>

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><p>Much to Jeice's relief, things had turned out much better than he had expected.<p>

Firstly, Lord Frieza had not been at his ship to hear the news Jeice had, as he had gone to look for some Nameks that happened to still be alive so that he could interrogate them about the specific workings of the Dragon Balls. Even though Jeice had known that such a thing was merely protracting the inevitable, he could settle for that just fine, at least for now. Concerns about surviving Lord Frieza's wrath could wait until that miserable Saiyan was killed.

Secondly, although Captain Ginyu had indeed gotten pissed off at knowing that Guldo, Burter and Recoome had been defeated, and at the fact Jeice had the nerve to flee from a fight, he had not fired Jeice from the Ginyu Force – although he'd come incredibly close to doing so – and had gone to the battlefield to take care of the matter himself, although only after raging at how their group's fighting pose was not as stylish as before with two members only.

And now, after his scouter analyzed Burter's and Recoome's condition, Jeice could see that another of his hopes had not been in vain, as his two friends were still alive, which caused a noticeable sense of relief came over him.

He allowed himself to experience it for a moment, but then pushed it away. For now, it was enough that they were still alive. While both of them undoubtedly needed to be put inside a rejuvenation tank for a while, that could wait. For now, it was more important to watch Captain Ginyu beat the crap out of this conceited Saiyan. But he quickly pushed it away.

But before that happened, Jeice wanted to get in one last jab at the Saiyan who stood about fifty meters away, accompanied by Vegeta, the bald dwarf, and the kid.

"Meet the boss, matey," he called out at Goku. "His name is Captain Ginyu and he'd like to have a few words with you concerning our encounter earlier."

At those words, the bald fighter said something to the Saiyan, to which he replied. Jeice couldn't hear them, but there was no doubt in his mind that they were up to something.

"Alright, let's see..." Captain Ginyu said while his scouter surveyed Goku's power level. "The scouter says… 5,000."

'Still?' Jeice couldn't help but to think as he learned that Captain Ginyu's scouter registered exactly the same data than his own concerning this guy's power level.

"That's impossible!" Jeice countered. "Somehow he can hide his true level from the scouter."

"Shut up, Jeice." Captain Ginyu ordered in a very stern tone. It was obvious that although he'd decided not to fire Jeice from the Ginyu Force after all, he still hadn't forgotten Jeice's cowardice.

Jeice gasped at his captain's remark, but he didn't try to argue. Captain Ginyu never liked it when his subordinates did that.

"Of course he's hiding his true power level," Captain Ginyu carried on as he put his clenched fists against the thigh guards of his armor. "That's ridiculously obvious. You're looking at a rare fighter there. A guy like this can quadruple his fighting power in an instant. I estimate when he really gets going he'll have a power level of 60,000 or maybe more."

"What? 60,000?" Jeice shouted in response. "But he said he was a Saiyan! No bloody Saiyan that we've ever met is that strong."

This time, Captain Ginyu did not scold him.

"Well, this one is," he stated. "Think about it. He might be a mutant, like us. I mean, he's definitely different. He's the first Saiyan I've seen without a tail. What a magnificent opportunity to showcase my fabulous strength."

A smile of anticipation came to the Captain's lips at those words. "A chance to reveal the full extent of my grandeur in battle. You gotta love it."

Jeice did not say anything. Although Captain Ginyu had not snapped at him last time he had spoken, he didn't want to push his luck. So, he simply, he surveyed the reactions of the group in front of him. It was impossible to say whether the Saiyan had heard what Captain Ginyu had said or not, but either way, he still wasn't scared. In fact, he was so relaxed that he allowed himself to stop looking at them and fully turned toward the bald fighter and the kid, and started talking to the two of them.

At first, Jeice considered trying to attack him while he had his back turned, but he quickly dismissed that option. Vegeta, the kid, and the bald dwarf were looking at him. Also, And even if none of the first two impediments existed, Jeice this Saiyan had some way of knowing when attacks were coming at him even when he had his back turned. So, Jeice gave up on the idea of attacking, and focused his hearing so that he could listen in to the conversation, but they were too far away for him to be able to do so.

After about a minute, Goku turned away from the two runts, and started talking to Vegeta, who started walking away from where the other three.

Vegeta said only a few words in response to what Goku told him, but it was enough to bring what was clearly an objection out of the bald dwarf, and although the kid didn't say anything However, it was clear from the way he answered that Goku was not in the mood to be argued with.

The bald dwarf and the kid said something else in response, but it was clear that was the end of the conversation, as after saying those last sentences, the two of them took off.

"Hey, there they go!" Jeice shouted in alarm, as he instinctively tensed up, ready to go after them as soon as he was ordered to do so.

But Captain Ginyu simply shrugged his shoulders.

"Let them go," he said in an indifferent tone. "Big deal."

Jeice tried his utter best to refrain from giving his Captain a confused look after that remark. Privately, he thought that it was actually a big deal. After all, those two knew that the Dragon Balls were at the space ship. Although there were still several soldiers at the ship, those two were probably strong enough to dispose of them all, mainly considering they had recovered completely after taking those strange seeds. And even though the Dragon Balls had been buried, it wouldn't be impossible for the two runts to find them.

If they knew the so-called password required to activate the Dragon Balls, Lord Frieza's dream of immortality could end up lost, depending on what the exact workings of these Dragon Balls were and on whether the Earthlings would decide to do to the Dragon Balls There were many possibilities, all of them somehow involving Lord Frieza enraged at the thought of having his dream of immortality slipping through his fingers.

But, like with a lot of things today, he wasn't going to bring up any of that. After all, Captain Ginyu also didn't like it when one of his soldiers' insight was greater than his own.

So, Jeice simply tried to ignore those thoughts and simply focus on the battle that was about to begin – precisely at the time when, approximately fifty meters away, another member of the Ginyu Force tried to focus on something as well.

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><p>The first thing he felt when he recovered consciousness was an explosion of pain washing over him, coming from three distinctive spots at the same time: his head, which hurt more than it ever had in his life, his left shoulder blade, which was in such pain that the mere act of breathing caused him to feel a tightness in his throat, and his stomach, which felt as if a Space Pod had been slammed through it. The combination was so intense that it was a wonder it didn't make him pass out again.<p>

'Oww… wh-what happened?' he finally managed to think, in spite of the massive pain that made his head throb so much there seemed to be an earthquake in there.

He briefly tried to answer his own question by searching through his mind, but he realized that such an achievement was impossible with his head in this state, as well as that everything around him was black. But, as some more awareness returned to him, he noticed that he was experiencing this darkness merely because his eyes were closed. Making what felt like a great effort to him, he tried to open them, in an effort to have a better idea of what was going on. Although it took him longer than usual to part his eyelids, he managed to do so – which was no small feat considering his condition. But that did him little good, as his vision was too hazy from his previous encounter with that damned Saiyan. He could only see a lush green blur above him, shimmering like hot air.

Eventually, he realized that the lush green blur was the sky of Planet Namek. The one they had been sent to only days ago so that they would be of assistance to Lord Frieza in getting the Dragon Balls.

As that memory came to him, other related ones started to crawl back into his mind.

The landing on Planet Namek. The game of rock-scissors-paper to see who would fight who. Guldo's head being sliced off after he had made a careless mistake when he was about to kill the two runts. Recoome moving in to fight Vegeta and eventually ending up knocked down by a Saiyan who somehow managed to fool their scouters. Himself and Jeice attempting to fight that Saiyan themselves, and being unable to hit him. And then, that Saiyan….

'THAT SAIYAN!' He roared in his mind, fury rushing through him so intensely that it completely overwhelmed the pain he felt.

He, potentially the fastest being in the universe with a speed unmatched, had been defeated by a lowly Saiyan!

Fury rushed through him again, so strongly that he actually tried to command his body into getting up. But unfortunately, the pain overwhelmed his anger, preventing him from even twitching.

Letting out a low growl, he made a second attempt. This time, he managed to raise himself about an inch or two, before he fell again.

Starting to get so mad that the veins on his head felt as if they were about to explode, Burter tried to stand up, for the third time.

'C'mon Burter, you've dealt with worse pre-warm-ups than this in the Ginyu Force!' he scolded himself as he tried to summon up the will required to stand up.

At long last, he succeeded in getting up and standing on his feet, but his accomplishment only lasted for a few seconds, before he dropped to one knee, clutching his stomach as pain surged through it again. He was vaguely aware of several amazed looks locked onto him, but he ignored them, still mostly focused on trying to repress the pain.

After it went down a manageable level, he raised his head and looked around the landscape, trying to see what had changed.

Vegeta and the spiky-haired Saiyan were standing only three meters to his right, both of them looking amazed at seeing him conscious again. And, about fifty meters farther, were Captain Ginyu and Jeice. The former looked mildly amazed, but the latter gave him an honest smile at him, clearly happy at seeing him back on his feet.

But instead of smiling back, Burter growled at the one who he had considered one of his best friends for years now. The bastard had dared to let him leave here to possibly be killed by these monkeys, and now that he saw he was alive he thought he could just smile at him and everything would be fine and dandy? Well, if that was really it, he had another thing coming!

Jeice lowered his gaze after a few moments, the smile gone from his face, which made Burter know that he had perfectly managed to get his point across. And eventually, he would get much more than that when it came to Jeice.

But he wouldn't do it now. Besides the fact he was not in a very proper condition to do so, this wasn't the right time for that. He needed to get back to Captain Ginyu.

Gathering all the focus he could muster, Burter levitated a few inches off the ground, and slid over to Jeice and Captain Ginyu. He did so at a speed he deemed as excruciatingly slow because of his injuries, but he managed to get to his destination, which was by Captain Ginyu's left side.

Trying not to show any weakness when he landed, Burter stood as straight and tall as he could, and faced his Captain.

Another wave of pain rushed through his stomach when he landed, but he forced it back with a grunt, before devoting all of his focus into trying to look appropriately tough in front of Captain Ginyu. He seemed to be failing, however, because Captain Ginyu was giving him an icy smirk that made Burter even more uncomfortable than he already was.

"Well, well, well," Captain Ginyu finally said in a plain, bored tone. "So nice of you to join us, _Burter,_" he added, his voice now dripping with obvious sarcasm.

Burter's stomach churned slightly. He could tell that whatever was coming would not be good for him.

"C-Captain!" he said as firmly as he could, but unable to repress the stuttering that came from feeling faint and from fear of what Captain Ginyu could be about to do. "L-listen…"

The smirk was instantly replaced by a look of cold anger.

"Save it," Captain Ginyu cut him off.

"B-But…" Burter tried to insist.

"Save it," Ginyu repeated.

"S-sir…" Burter made a third attempt.

"I said SAVE IT!" Ginyu yelled out, making Burter flinch in such a way that the scare he got combined with his injured condition nearly made him fall again. "Do you realize what a DISGRACE you have made of the Ginyu Force, huh?"

"W-What?" Burter asked, confused at such a reaction from his Captain.

He had known from the beginning Captain Ginyu would be mad at him for being defeated, but he hadn't expected him to be THIS mad.

Captain Ginyu carried on scolding him, "Burter, do you have any idea – ANY IDEA – of what it feels like to see your face after that ridiculous defeat? You're the fastest species in the entire known universe and yet you're defeated by some nobody Saiyan?"

Having finished his ranting, Captain Ginyu punctuated it with a scoff and a single word, "Pathetic!"

At that remark, Jeice raised his head and gave his commanding officer a confused look, while Burter lowered his own gaze, ashamed of having let down his Captain.

"Cap'n, being a little harsh to Burter now aren't we?" Jeice asked in a hesitant tone.

Ginyu closed his eyes, as if simply watching Burter was too much for him to stand.

"I don't know anybody by that name," he said in a tone of utter disdain. "That weakling lost his place in the Ginyu Force and any recognition from me the moment he was defeated by that lowly Saiyan."

Feeling another pang of shame striking his heart, Burter kept his eyes averted on the floor, now even less capable of looking his Captain in the eye.

Ginyu reopened his eyes, and then added, in an almost too casual tone, "Then again, I shouldn't be surprised he was defeated, considering he was always an utter failure."

In spite of the huge shame he was feeling, the puzzlement he felt was big enough for him for him to look up.

"What do you mean by that, Captain?" Burter couldn't help but to ask.

Captain Ginyu did not reply immediately, which caused Burter to feel a huge sense of dread building up inside him, punctuated by his heartbeats, which seemed to be growing ever louder in his ears.

After a long, purposefully made pause, Captain Ginyu started speaking again. "Burter, there has been a secret I have been holding from you."

That statement brought everyone's attention to him. Even Vegeta, who seemed to be itching to leave, stayed to listen to Captain Ginyu's words.

Again, there was a long pause, which made the sense of dread Burter was experiencing soar to new heights.

"When you were training in under my recruitment, I always said I was impressed by your speed and strength," Captain Ginyu finally carried on. "I lied."

Burter's eyes widened at that statement, Captain Ginyu's comment causing him to feel as if his stomach had been punched again by that Saiyan.

"True, your speed is impressive, but your strength was pitiful, second only to Guldo. I knew you wanted to be a part of the Ginyu Force so I took pity on you," Captain Ginyu added. "I forged your grades so you would possibly stop moping around about not being the best. Looks like I made the wrong choice".

Burter was speechless. Ginyu himself was stating facts that he never known. Facts that, now that he thought about it, made a lot of sense. Burter had never been the best when it came to the Ginyu Academy. True, his speed was unmatched by anyone but Lord Frieza, but his skill at energy manipulation was average at best.

Still, the fact he was the second-fastest being in the Universe had to have counted for something, right?

It seemed that now, the only way of knowing would be if he further questioned Captain Ginyu. And although he feared the answer that was to come, he felt he had to know.

"Captain… am I really that bad?" he asked in a choked whisper, trying to hide the tears that were starting to fill his eyes.

Captain Ginyu snorted.

"Don't tell me that besides being a loser, you're also slow-minded," Ginyu mocked loudly. "Why would I lie about something so blatantly obvious? You were never good, nor will you ever be good. And if your small brain just can't quite process that measly little fact, well, too bad!"

That did it for Burter. The shock and sadness that comment had caused were so intense that he lost the small amount of footing he had and landed on his hands and knees, as he burst into tears. Almost immediately, his sadness was joined by an overwhelming shame, as he realized he was doing what was most despised by Ginyu or by any other of Lord Frieza's soldiers. However, he simply could not help himself. Even though he knew he had never been the best, he had always thought he had been useful to the Ginyu Force in battle. To have that illusion suddenly shattered was simply overwhelming. Making an ultimate attempt to preserve any last remnant of honor he might have, he pressed one hand against his face, attempting both to cover his shame and to control his crying. However, the loud sobs and frequent shaking that accompanied it made it plainly obvious.

"And to top it off, you break into tears!" Ginyu shouted boisterously. "I already knew that you were pathetic Burter, but this is ridiculous!"

The remark made Burter cry even more intensely, to the point that by now he was barely making any attempt to control his tears. Jeice looked at Burter sympathetically, seemingly itching to give him some moral support, but not doing so out of fear of something. Then, Ginyu started laughing to the top of his lungs, soon joined by Vegeta.

That was the last drop. Giving up on any attempt to control his crying, Burter fell on both hands and knees, shaking even more intensely than before, and his tears staining the grass below his eyes.

"Hey!" someone suddenly shouted from the other side of the battlefield, sounding definitely angry at the events that were transpiring.

Vegeta and Ginyu stopped laughing abruptly, and locked eyes onto the person who spoke. Jeice himself averted his look from Burter to do the same. Only Burter kept looking down, still crying.

"Is that really anyway to speak to somebody?" Goku shouted at Ginyu, obvious anger in his voice and overall posture. "How can you speak to one of your own men like that? Have you no respect for them?"

After a small pause, he shouted, "Obviously you don't, otherwise you would not put them down in such a manner!"

Jeice looked at the Saiyan in awe after he shouted those words, as well as Vegeta, although he was clearly itching to get away from the scene. Burter himself stopped crying and looked up, looking as amazed at the Saiyan's outburst as any of the others.

Even Ginyu seemed to be somewhat surprised at those remarks, but after only a few seconds had passed, he switched from the confused look back to a scornful one and let out a snort.

"That imbecile over there has done nothing to earn my respect. Respect needs to be earned, not freelanced," Ginyu replied in a disdainful tone. "As that imbecile is a complete failure, he deserves no respect from me."

Burter was about to break into tears again at that comment, but they were stopped when the Saiyan spoke again.

"If he is, in your words, a failure, it's probably just because you never once encouraged him so that he stayed motivated to work hard to please you," Goku stated, the stern look still on his face. "Not to mention you should respect the fact that he deliberately went out of his way to please you – more than once, I'm sure. If you had just taken the time to tell him something as simple as 'I know you can do this!' he'd certainly be more than up to your standards by now, because he would have actually worked even harder to please you."

Not put off by the Saiyan's response in the least, Ginyu answered him back again.

"You can't coddle your soldiers, nor can you be soft with people who want your praise and respect," he stated. "If you're not rough with them, they'll get nowhere."

His stern look becoming slightly more pronounced, Goku said firmly, "There's a difference between being rough and putting said person down like trash. What you're doing to him is treating him like trash, which he wouldn't deserve even if he was as bad as you say, and he is not by far."

That seemed to be the limit from what Ginyu could take.

"Shut up," he shouted, obviously fed up by the Saiyan's answers. "What would you know?"

"I know for a fact he isn't as bad as you say by far," Goku replied, both his tone and stance unwavering. "I admit I'm stronger than him and your companion over there, but he almost had me a few times. If that speed of his is natural then I'm surprised and very impressed. I actually had to over-train myself to reach the speed I have now and even then, like I said, he almost had me a few times. With a little bit of extra training, I believe he could become a great fighter."

This time, Ginyu took some time to answer, as though he was trying to come up with the appropriate answer to shut the Saiyan up once and for all, and was willing to take how much time it took in order to do so properly.

Meanwhile, Burter looked at the Saiyan in amazement, the tear-streaks obvious on his face, but looking insignificant compared to the amount of perplexity in his look.

He couldn't make sense of this turn of events. First this Saiyan had beat him down relentlessly, and now he had not only come to his defense, but actually spoke about him such a manner that it was obvious he was convinced of every word he said. It didn't make any sense.

Until today, no one had ever found him to be good at anything other than flying at high speed.

Back when Burter had been training at the Ginyu Academy, he had been looked down upon by about every other trainee. When he'd passed the test that would determine which recruits would join the Ginyu Force, the others' opinion about him hadn't changed one bit. Practically no one found him to have any real value. Granted, Jeice and Recoome were his friends, and Burter believed they didn't think he was a loser, but even they had rarely praised him, and when they did, it had never been in such an open manner. Most of the time, they simply focused on accepting his faults and trying to give more importance to his qualities.

But this Saiyan, who was supposed to be the enemy, praised him not only in an open manner, but as if he had absolute faith on Burter's abilities. Burter was perplexed. He couldn't fathom why this Saiyan would do such a thing when even his best friends simply thought that Burter, in spite of his shortcomings, had a few good things about him.

However, no matter how confused he was at this turn of events, Burter couldn't help but to feel happy at the fact someone had so much faith in him. Even if said someone was meant to be his enemy.

His attention was suddenly distracted from those thoughts by the sound of a small explosion. Looking on that direction, he saw Vegeta taking off into the sky, a blue aura radiating around him.

"Have fun, Kakarot!" Vegeta shouted at his compatriot, before he sped up his flight and disappeared into the distance.

"Vegeta, no!" Goku yelled, lowering his guard for a moment as he focused on the fleeing Saiyan.

Recognizing a perfect chance to strike even when in the middle of thinking about something else, Captain Ginyu charged forward with a battle scream, his right elbow poised forward to deliver a hit.

* * *

><p><em>Up next: As Captain Ginyu battles Goku, Burter and Jeice have a heart to heart conversation. What will happen? Find out next!<em>

_Hoping you enjoyed the chapter,_

_Genescritor_


	3. Chapter 3: Stronger than the Captain

**From Enemy to Student**

**- a Dragon Ball Z fanfiction -**

**Chapter 3 – Stronger than the Captain**

_Disclaimer: I do not own, in any way, any official property related Dragon Ball, such as the anime, its characters, related movies, and so on. However, I hope to supplement that glorious work of art with my fanfictions, such as this one. _

_I would also like to point out that this fanfiction was originally written by Gonstika, from whom I adopted it, and many of the concepts and plot-points featured in its chapters are originated by Gonstika as well._

_With that said, I hope you enjoy the story._

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><p>Listening to Ginyu's cry as it echoed through the landscape, Goku averted his attention from the fleeing Vegeta in order to focus on his new foe. Unfortunately, the distraction, albeit brief, had cost him dear, and he could not react in time to stop Ginyu's outstretched elbow from slamming against his left cheek. The blow sent Goku flying for dozens of meters before he managed to right himself, and when he did, Ginyu was already behind him, delivering a knifehand strike that was meant to his neck. But this time, Goku managed to duck underneath the blow, and delivered a mule kick with his right leg to Ginyu's face, which the alien dodged by bending slightly backwards. Goku retracted his leg before Ginyu could think of grabbing it, and then threw a barrage of punches at his opponent, all of which he managed to dodge. Then, the purple-alien attacked in the same manner, but like the Earth-raised Saiyan, he did not succeed on delivering a hit to his foe.<p>

For a moment, both of them alternately threw barrages of punches at each other, neither of them managing to land a single blow. But then, out of nowhere, Goku decided to throw a kick instead, attempting to catch Ginyu off-guard. However, Ginyu saw Goku's foot coming and grabbed his ankle, before throwing him against a nearby rock. Flipping in the air, Goku put his feet against the rock and then, uncoiled his legs as if they were springs, rocketing toward Ginyu, his right leg thrust forward to deliver a hit. But right as his foot was about to strike its target, Ginyu disappeared, causing Goku's eyes to briefly widen in surprise and prompting him to skid to a halt, before looking around the Namekian landscape to find the purple alien.

His attempt was not having much success. The only things he could see were an endless expanse of blue-green grass, a sky with a color similar to that of the leaves of many trees on Earth, Recoome's fallen body, and Jeice and Burter, who were both watching the fight. However, before Goku started giving another look around the area to search for Ginyu, he paused, as those two – Jeice and Burter, if he remembered right – had on their eyes as they made eye-contact with him.

Even though he was on the middle of a fight and knew he could not get distracted, he couldn't help but to notice that neither Jeice nor Burter were glaring at him hatefully or giving him smug looks to show him how they were sure Ginyu would kill him. Instead, they simply seemed to be paying attention to the fight, without conveying any personal feelings on the matter just through their looks or stances.

Although Goku did not find he could say he knew these two very well, somehow he found this was a rather atypical attitude from them. It most certainly came from the few shocking reveals Ginyu had voiced earlier on.

But this was not the right time to ponder the topic. And even if it was, Goku did not have the time to do so, as a loud rustling sound was suddenly heard in the area, bringing all of Goku's focus back into the fight. Moments after the noise had started, Ginyu erupted from the ground like a rocket, and punched Goku in the face, sending him flying for about fifty meters before he landed, and making him skid along the ground for about twenty meters more after that. Stunned by the blow, Goku briefly closed his eyes and clenched his teeth in an attempt at shrugging off the pain, before opening them again. When he did so, the first thing he saw was Ginyu's right foot coming down to stomp on his face. After rolling to the right to dodge the strike, Goku put himself on an all-fours position, before delivering a mule-kick with his left leg, which hit Ginyu's abs and sent him flying backwards. Not waiting for the purple alien to recover, Goku ran after him, and jumped up when he got to the right distance, intending to slam his left foot on the top of Ginyu's head. However, Ginyu jumped backwards at the last moment, and Goku's foot stomped on the ground instead, cracking it along a radius of a about a meter. Goku jumped up again, making a second attempt at delivering another strike of the same sort, but this time, Ginyu did a handspring backwards to dodge the blow, which again damaged the Namekian soil instead. Before Goku made a third attempt, Ginyu flew away, clearly wanting to get some distance between himself and his opponent. Finding it unwise to allow him to get that, Goku extracted his foot from the ground, and flew after him.

For a moment, he thought he had Ginyu cornered on two sides, as the purple alien was flying toward a rock, and only half a meter above the ground. But then, Captain Ginyu wrapped his left hand around the trunk of a tree that was in his path, and using it as a pivot, he made a U-turn in midflight. The move was quick enough that Goku didn't have the time to react to it, and Ginyu took the chance to kick Goku's chin, throwing him into the air, straight toward the top of the rock both of them had been flying toward. While Goku attempted to recover from, Ginyu flew ahead of him to the top of the rock, landed there, and then started spinning around, looking remarkably like a purple mini-tornado. When Goku hit the spinning Ginyu, he bounced off like a ball that had hit a wall, straight down toward the green Namekian ocean. But right when the Saiyan had been about to plow into the water, he righted himself, the energy he used causing a wave to erupt from the surface.

Ginyu gasped in surprise, as he hadn't been expecting the Saiyan to recover from that blow so quickly. But Goku, not even giving him time to be amazed, took off toward him, spraying water into the air as he did so. When the two fighters met, the shockwave of their encounter demolished the rock Ginyu had been standing on, but neither of them paid attention, as they started trading punches and kicks.

Over the next fifteen seconds, the two of them kept going at it, but eventually, Ginyu landed a punch on Goku's cheek, sending him rocketing toward a tree. Managing to recover from the blow, Goku flipped in midair, put his feet against the trunk, and gently propelled himself away from it, flying smoothly toward the ground.

Deciding not to press an attack for now, Ginyu also landed, about five meters away from his opponent.

"Man, he sure packs a wallop…" Goku muttered as he wiped a trickle of blood that seeped out of the left corner of his mouth, surprised at how much it had hurt. He had known Ginyu would be harder than the others just through sensing his energy signature, but now that he'd actually engaged in combat with him, even if only for a short amount of time, that knowledge had been strengthened.

"My, my, what a rush," Ginyu said, looking at Goku in obvious amusement. "Touché. This is a scream," After letting out a few chuckles, he added, "I'd forgotten how much fun a real fight can be."

Goku knew that, should the circumstances be different, he would be thrilled as well. After all, Ginyu was very strong, and he clearly had the skill to match the strength. And Goku had always loved fighting strong opponents. But in this particular situation, Goku simply wanted this to end as soon as possible. If he took too long, it was possible Frieza decided to come back and make his wish, or that Vegeta arrived to Frieza's ship before Gohan and Krillin could get there and make the wish themselves. If that was to happen, not only would everything they had been through to resurrect those killed by Nappa and Vegeta on Earth, but the whole Universe would end up in potentially inescapable danger. And Goku would not allow for any of those things to happen.

But he knew that, in order to help Krillin and Gohan, he first had to deal with Ginyu. And, much to his regret, he could already guess that doing so would not be as easy as dealing with any of the three soldiers he had faced before.

* * *

><p>Watching the fight from the sidelines, Burter was, to say the least, stunned. Never had he thought that he would get to see someone other than Frieza capable of keeping up with Ginyu. Not even Jeice and Recoome, the best students of the Ginyu Academy, had ever been capable of laying a finger on Ginyu – and yet, this Saiyan guy had already laid much more than a finger on him. Not for the first time, Burter wondered how strong this Saiyan was exactly, and wished that he would have his scouter back with him so that he could check just how strong this Saiyan was – assuming, of course, that the Saiyan was unable to mask his true power level while fighting over long periods of time.<p>

His thoughts were broken as yet another wave of pain rushed through his body from his head, back, and stomach at the same time, making him fall to his knees. Burter cursed inwardly, realizing that the blows the Saiyan had dealt him had made more of a number than just rendering him unconscious for some time.

"Burter, mate, are ya alright?" Jeice asked, running over to help him to get back on his feet, completely forgetting about Ginyu's battle with that Saiyan.

Although Jeice was much smaller than his friend, he was much stronger, and would have been able to support Burter without any problem. However, when he got by his friend's side and reached out a hand to help him up, Burter glared at him and slapped it aside.

"I don't need to stand up," Burter growled, managing to force himself to his feet. "And besides, even if I did, I wouldn't take your help. Lastly, if you didn't get it by now, I'm not talking to you."

From the look on Jeice's face, one would think that Burter had struck him physically, rather than with mere words. Even though he was still trying to fight back the pain, Burter smiled in bitter satisfaction. At least, now the idiot had a taste of what it was like when someone meant to be a best friend hurt you more deeply than he could do with any punch, kick, or energy attacks.

After a few seconds of pause, Jeice said, in what Burter figured to be the most apologetic tone he could muster, "Come on, mate. You don't hafta get so mad at me."

Jeice's words caused Burter to growl again, as anger like he had never known before surged through him. The bruises on his body screamed in protest as his blood boiled, but Burter ignored that, focusing only on the anger he felt.

"I don't have to get so mad at you?" Burter shouted, somehow refraining from tackling Jeice in his fury. "Are you even listening to yourself? Recoome and I could have died because you left us here, and now you say I don't 'hafta' get so mad at you? You're lucky it's me you're talking to! If it was Recoome you were talking to, he'd knock you into the next star system for that comment!"

That was not to say Burter didn't want to do so himself, but he was too weakened to be able to deal an efficient blow, and even if he was at his full strength, Jeice would still be about twice stronger than he was. Not for the first time, Burter wished that he was not so weak when compared to most of the other members of the Ginyu Force.

"Sorry man," Jeice finally said, clearly not knowing what else he could say. He sounded like he meant it, and as far as Burter knew, he probably did, but he didn't care.

"Sorry does no good," Burter snarled. "You did it anyway."

This time, Jeice actually attempted to come up with some arguments in his favor.

"Look man, I know I should have gotten ya outta here before I took off, but I was jus' so awed at that guy's punch I didn't think of it!" Jeice said. "I just thought of getting the Cap'n so he could give that guy a thrashing."

His fury soaring to new heights, Burter roared, "DIDN'T THINK OF IT? Recoome and I could have been killed by those freaks just because you wanted so badly to save your bloody hide that you didn't think about what was going to happen to us!"

By the end of his short ranting, a feeling of light-headedness returned to Burter, as his bruised areas throbbed yet again, but this time, Burter managed to keep himself on his feet.

"Hey man, you're getting it all wrong," Jeice said. "I wanted to come back as soon as I left, but I thought the guy might change his mind about sparing us, and then I decided I wouldn't be able to fly with the two of ya on my back, and that it would be better anyway if Lord Frieza didn't see ya so soon after ya had your clocks cleaned."

Not having enough energy to shout by now, Burter murmured, "That's no excuse. You didn't have to take us to the ship! You could have put us on the ground before you got there!"

Jeice looked down at that remark, shuffling his boots nervously into the ground and trying to ignore Burter's look burning holes into his back.

"I didn't think o' that." he finally said.

Still not having the energy to shout, Burter simply said, with as must disgust as he could convey, "Of course you didn't."

Jeice raised his head again at that statement, giving Burter a hurt look. For only a brief moment, Burter couldn't help but to feel somewhat guilty at having been so harsh to his friend. But that guilt was quickly pushed away as he remembered what Jeice had done to him. If not for that Saiyan's mercy, he most certainly would have ended up killed, as he doubted either Vegeta or the two runts that seemed to have left as well would have given him mercy.

But no further conversation ensued between the two of them, because, all of a sudden, Jeice's scouter started beeping, which caused him to look back at the battle between Ginyu and the Saiyan.

Regretting the loss of his own scouter, Burter looked toward the fight scene himself, and saw a purplish-pink glow emanating from Ginyu's body. Then, Ginyu unleashed one of his signature moves, the Milky Cannon. The Saiyan immediately flew upwards to dodge the blast, which dug a trench through the Namekian soil over more than a kilometer, before causing a massive explosion whose mushroom cloud was visible from kilometers away. Jeice covered his head in an attempt to protect himself from the dust and the falling pebbles, while Burter, again betrayed by the weakness inflicted on him by the Saiyan's strikes, was nearly thrown down by the shockwave, and only managed to have enough control to fall down on all fours rather than being thrown backwards. And even that was a strenuous effort on his side, as it demanded every bit of strength he could must for him not to collapse again.

By the time he finally managed to recover enough from his dizziness to look up, the dust had already dissipated and all the pebbles had already fallen down, and the Saiyan was already falling down toward Ginyu, so quickly that he was no more than an orange blur. He only became clearly visible again when he was right behind Ginyu, delivering a roundhouse kick to his head. But Ginyu ducked under the blow, and then, his hand cut through the air in a knifehand strike, heading straight for the Saiyan, who had landed behind him in the meantime. But the Saiyan disappeared, dodging the blow, and reappeared about a meter away. Then, he disappeared again and reappeared by Ginyu's left side, delivering a knee-strike that Ginyu blocked. After that, he disappeared yet another time, only to reappear by Ginyu's right side, before delivering another kick that Ginyu also managed to block.

Then, the two of them started one more exchange of blows. But this time, they did so in a much more furious manner, as if something as vital as breathing depended on landing a blow on the other. This time, their clash ended when the Saiyan managed to land a knee-strike on Ginyu's gut, which caused the purple-alien to skid backwards for about two hundred meters, before he fell into the water. Rather than jumping in after him, the Saiyan stood by the water's edge, waiting for his opponent to come out. For a moment, the water remained as still as if it was made of glass, but eventually, a curtain of steam rose from the ocean, right in front of the Saiyan. Shortly afterwards, Ginyu burst from under the surface in an explosion of green water, before flying off toward the sky like a shuttle. Taking off as well before the wave created by Ginyu's appearance could crash over him, the Saiyan flew off after his foe. For a moment, the two of them seemed to be making a race, as each of them seemed to attempt to overtake the other, with the Saiyan having a very obvious lead.

Out of the corner of his eye, Burter noticed that Jeice seemed to be partially itching to help Ginyu, presumably by somehow stopping the Saiyan in his tracks, but was not doing so. As far as Burter was concerned, that was a good decision, as, even though he now knew he was not as good as he'd believed himself to be for a long time, he was still smart enough to know Ginyu would throw a tantrum if someone interfered with his fight, and might even kill the one who had done so.

Even without Jeice's help, Ginyu eventually cut the chase on his own, as he fired a few energy blasts at the Saiyan, who stopped to deflect them. But rather than taking the chance to attack, Ginyu simply stopped at the same altitude the Saiyan was at, as if he had something in his mind.

Mildly curious about what would transpire, Burter focused his attention on the two distant dots that were Ginyu and the Saiyan, wondering what would happen next.

* * *

><p>As he put some distance between himself and his foe, Goku could not help but to let out a slight sigh of relief. He knew that Ginyu could perfectly have taken the chance to attack him while he had been busy deflecting the blasts Ginyu had fired at him. And clearly, Ginyu had known it as well, as he had flown right into Goku's face exactly when he had deflected the last blast. So, it was obvious Ginyu had, for some reason, decided not to attack, although for whatever reason, Goku didn't know.<p>

However, he was grateful that Ginyu hadn't hit him, as a single hit from Ginyu at full power would damage Goku quite severely if he kept fighting the way he was now. But, thankfully for him, he still had quite a lot of power held back, and he was ready to step things up a notch.

As if he had guessed just that, Ginyu said, a sneer stamped on his face, "You can stop playing around already, you super slick. I know very well you're much stronger than what you have showed until now. Surely you're saving some of your strength for when you have to fight Lord Frieza! But you'll have to get by me first. And sorry to break it to you, but I'm invincible myself."

Undaunted by Ginyu's threat, Goku replied, smirking in a way that conveyed all the confidence he felt, "I wouldn't be so sure of that."

That response prompted Ginyu to chuckle.

"You seem to be getting too worked up just because those three weaklings could not beat you," he said. "Well, here's a piece of news for you, I'm not any of those useless morons."

Although he did want to end things as quickly as possible, Goku could not help but to throw in a remark that he knew would prolong their conversation.

"I see my earlier words had no effect on your way of thinking," he said in an almost sad tone. "What a pity," he added in an excessively melodramatic manner.

"The words of a goody two-shoes like you are meaningless to me," Ginyu stated in a scornful tone. "If they say they are useless morons, that's what they are. And believe me, they are what I say. Guldo was capable of stopping time and had good telekinetic powers, but other than that he was just a pudgy dwarf with foul breath who couldn't even make a decent pose. Recoome may be tough, but his head is emptier than it would be if it was filled with air, and he's always spouting idiocies. Burter's fast, but his skill at energy manipulation is pathetic at best. As for Jeice, even though he's strong and good at energy manipulation, he's more spineless than a worm, as you probably saw when he ran away right after he saw he couldn't beat you."

For a moment, Goku couldn't help but to wonder why Ginyu had even kept them as soldiers if, in his description, they were as useless as he said. Probably, it was because, in Ginyu's interpretation, they were the best he could find, regardless of how much they were worthless in his eyes.

"You know, I really should be thanking you, as it was partly thanks to the battle against you that I realized what a bunch of weaklings I keep as soldiers," Ginyu stated, as if he'd had a sudden thought. "It's a pity you can't see things my way. If you could, I would hire you to fill one of the empty spots. Who knows, maybe I'd even allow you to coddle and train Burter, if it would be so important to you. Maybe that way the idiot would end up being useful for a change."

Smirking ruefully at that comment, Goku replied, "Sorry, not interested. Even if I hadn't seen how you treat your soldiers, I would never join you."

Making a big show out of shrugging his shoulders in a very hopeless manner, "Very well then. In that case, let's just settle this the old-fashioned way."

"Fine by me," Goku replied, tensing up his muscles started tensing up. "Pay attention to the numbers on your little trinket, because you're going to have a big surprise!"

Not giving Ginyu time to throw a retort, Goku tensed up his muscles in preparation for his Kaio-ken, and let out a scream as he started powering up, still intent on finishing this as soon as possible.

* * *

><p>Down below, the next few moments seemed to pass by in a blur. After having a short conversation with Ginyu about something, the Saiyan started powering up, causing the landscape to darken slightly for a moment. Then, a crimson aura erupted around him, and Jeice's scouter started going haywire as it registered the Saiyan's ever increasing power level. With each number Jeice shouted, Burter's amazement had increased, as he realized that this Saiyan was even more extraordinary than he had thought at first.<p>

But while Burter had been amazed, Ginyu had seemed to be having a nervous breakdown, to the point where he'd had to dive into the sea to cool off. He hadn't taken long, however, and when he had emerged, he had tried to strike the Saiyan from a distance, first by throwing a rock at him, and then by firing a barrage of energy blasts. Both attempts had failed, as the rock had disintegrated into dust after hitting the Saiyan's crimson aura, and the blasts had been imbedded in the Saiyan's aura when they touched it, before bouncing off in every direction. Fortunately, none of them had come close of Jeice and Burter, or of the spot where Recoome's fallen body was.

Eventually, the Saiyan's power level stopped increasing, after reaching the impressive number of 180,000. A number that was, to say the least, mind-boggling. It was far above Ginyu's 120,000, and somehow, Burter couldn't help but to think that the Saiyan's strength didn't end there. For a moment, he had even wondered if this Saiyan was a Super Saiyan, the one rumored to be the most powerful warrior in the Universe, and the whole reason why Lord Frieza had destroyed Planet Vegeta. But Burter had quickly dismissed that possibility. After all, Super Saiyans were meant to be merciless and bloodthirsty. If this guy was really a Super Saiyan, he would have killed him, Jeice, and Recoome without a moment's hesitation, except maybe to torture them a little bit in the meantime. Therefore, he most certainly was not a Super Saiyan, even though he was clearly stronger than any of them.

However, Ginyu did not seem too fazed by that, as he still tried to attack the Saiyan, first by firing a blast that the Saiyan deflected as if it was no more than a fly, and then by firing a series of blasts in quick succession, completely failing to inflict any damage on the Saiyan. But even then, he still did not seem overly concerned. In fact, he seemed almost satisfied, as if he'd just come up with a plan to win this battle. But, of course, it was hard for Burter to be sure of that from such a distance and with most of his senses dulled by the remnants of pain he still felt.

However, that suspicion was strengthened when, out of nowhere, Ginyu's voice rang through the communication device on Jeice's scouter.

"Jeice!" Ginyu shouted in a tone that caused both Jeice and Burter to wince. "Come up here this instant. And bring that blue-skinned weakling with you!"

Doing his best to hide his discomfort at the fact Ginyu had shouted so loud, Jeice took off toward his captain. Out of habit, Burter followed him, wondering what Ginyu could want with both of them. For a moment, he wondered if Ginyu wanted their help, but he quickly discarded that possibility. Ginyu would never accept help from anyone, nor would he admit that he needed it. And even if it was their help he wanted, Burter doubted it would do any good, as the Saiyan would probably defeat all three of them without much effort on his part.

Besides, Burter wasn't really sure about how much he really wanted to help in the fight against this Saiyan. Even if the Saiyan had beaten him down, he had also stood by him, had given an honest compliment to his speed, and had stated how he honestly believed Burter could become a good fighter. Somehow, fighting against someone who had spared him when he could have killed him and had even come to his help later on didn't sit entirely well within him. But at the same time, he was reluctant to disobey his Captain's order, as somehow, deep inside him, he still hoped, however faintly it was, that Ginyu would give him a second chance.

Burter had to stop thinking there, as they suddenly got only five meters away from Ginyu. Not even looking at Burter, Ginyu took off his scouter, and threw it at Jeice with an order of, "Jeice, grab my scouter."

"What for?" Jeice asked, holding the other scouter in his right hand.

"You'll see," replied Ginyu, before he looked at the Saiyan and raised his right hand.

For a moment, his hand twitched, and then, a purple glow started emanating from it, which indicated that Captain Ginyu was gathering energy in it. Then, and much to everyone's surprise, Ginyu stuck his right hand onto his right pectoral, which caused him to cough blood. After sinking his hand in a few millimeters further, Ginyu pulled it out, causing the massive wound on his chest to gush out a considerable amount of purplish-blue blood.

"Now it's time to reveal the ultimate strength of the Ginyu force," Ginyu whispered, a few trickles of blood running down his chin. "Watch, 'cause the show is just about to begin."

"Wow," the Saiyan whispered, clearly divided between amazement and confusion at this turn of events. "What's he doing?"

Paying no mind to the Saiyan's question, Ginyu spread out his arms and legs, and started powering up, his whole body shaking, and the clouds in the area dissipating, as the ground below quaked very noticeably, and tiny stones mixed with blue-green grass blades were stirred up in the air by Ginyu's powering up.

Giving Ginyu's pose a second look, Burter realized what his Captain was going to do. He was going to use what truly was his ultimate technique, one that reportedly he only used when the situation was truly dire. To this day, Burter had never actually seen him using it, but he had known it existed, and acknowledged what a terrible technique it could be when used in the right manner.

For a moment, Burter wanted to warn the Saiyan of what was coming and tell him to dodge it, but no sooner than the thought had entered his mind, it disappeared. After all, even considering Ginyu was injured, he would still be strong enough to finish Burter off if he interfered. And that would easily be the best fate Burter could expect if he helped the Saiyan, as he could easily think of plenty of worse fates he would have if he betrayed the Captain. Besides, like he had said a while ago, Ginyu hadn't fired him yet. Maybe somehow, after all this was over, Ginyu would give him another chance to improve himself. But at the same time, Burter couldn't help but to feel a little bit guilty at knowing that this Saiyan, who had stood up for him and showed more confident in his skills than anyone else, was about to meet a quite gruesome fate and he, Burter, wouldn't do anything about it.

Torn between the remnants of his loyalty for Ginyu and his guilt at letting the Saiyan meet the fate that awaited him, Burter could only watch as Ginyu, having already finished the preparation for his technique, fixed his stare on the Saiyan, and shouted, "Change, now!"

* * *

><p><em>Up next: After using his ultimate technique on Goku, Ginyu decides to take care of a few loose ends. What will happen? Find out next!<em>

_Hoping you enjoyed the chapter,_

_Genescritor_


	4. Chapter 4: Loose ends

**From Enemy to Student**

**- a Dragon Ball Z fanfiction -**

**Chapter 4 – Loose ends**

_Disclaimer: I do not own, in any way, any official property related Dragon Ball, such as the anime, its characters, related movies, and so on. However, I hope to supplement that glorious work of art with my fanfictions, such as this one. _

_I would also like to point out that this fanfiction was originally written by Gonstika, from whom I adopted it, and many of the concepts and plot-points featured in its chapters are originated by Gonstika as well._

_With that said, I hope you enjoy the story._

* * *

><p><em>Writer's note: Regardless of which body they are occupying, Goku and Ginyu will be known by their respective names or by terms or designations that specifically refer to them, not by the name of the body inside which they are. Also, for purposes of clarification, this story follows the premise that the Body Change technique does not switch the body's voice, and the change of voice seen in the anime is merely to avoid confusion in the viewers.<em>

* * *

><p>Goku had tried his utter best to be ready to counter whatever attack Ginyu would throw at him, but when the time the purple alien finally unleashed his technique, things had become so confusing that he hadn't even known how to react, nor had he had the time to do so.<p>

First thing he knew, it seemed as if his body had become made of stone, with him being rendered unable to do gestures as simple as blinking, and him being rendered blind. An instant later, he felt as if he was squeezed through a tight tunnel, before ending up splattered against a hard surface, like an egg thrown against a wall. Once that part had ended, his vision had come back, but it was so blurry that he couldn't see beyond the tip of his nose, and somehow, it had been joined by the right side of his chest exploding in a fiery inferno of pain.

Just what was happening to him?

Before Goku had the time to dwell on that, he fell his body fall a few inches down. With extreme effort, he blocked the pain – which seemed unusually strong even for an injury as the one he had – and regained enough focus to stay afloat, lifting himself up the few inches he had fallen, while at the same time taking his left hand to the injury in his chest.

With his levitation now reassured, Goku blinked repeatedly in an effort to get his vision back, always trying not to let the massive pain overwhelm him. By now, he could see something. It was an orange and blue figure, standing right in front of him, not too far away.

Orange and blue? But the only being around here who could have such a look was… but there was no way that could be!

Hoping that somehow the pain was starting to make him imagine things, Goku blinked yet again, just to make sure his eyes weren't playing tricks on him. After he did so, the pain in his chest seemed to intensify, as his heart sank in the full understanding that he indeed was seeing things the right way.

Standing right in front of him was none other than himself. However, the look on that clone's face was nothing like any look Goku remembered to have ever assumed. But, regardless of the look, how could such a thing be possible? What had Ginyu done exactly?

As if he had read his thoughts, Ginyu snickered, and then spoke in Goku's voice, "I exchanged my body by yours… thanks to my Body Change."

Goku's heart sank even deeper than it had before, as Ginyu's words reached his ears. It was impossible… there was just no way he could have done it.

Pointing at his physical self in front of him – and finding, to his great fright, that he was pointing with a purple hand whose fingers were tipped by sharp black nails – Goku stammered, "Wh-wh-what am I doing there?"

To his ever increasing horror, Goku realized that he had actually spoken in Ginyu's voice.

"I already told you," Ginyu replied. "We changed bodies."

Goku felt as if he had been punched straight in the heart, as he realized that Ginyu really hadn't been kidding. The two of them had indeed moved into each other's bodies.

"I-it's impossible," Goku still managed to get out, in spite of the pain becoming more intense when he spoke. "It can't be."

Part of him knew more than well enough that his words were empty, but somehow, Goku wanted to keep denying them, as if doing so would somehow make what he said true.

"It can, and it is," Ginyu replied simply, the evil smile on his face accentuating his affirmation.

The sentence was simple to the extreme, but the amount of certainty and finality that it conveyed made Goku recoil as if the statement had struck him physically.

No longer caring about his already defeated opponent, Ginyu extended his left hand toward Jeice, who was still floating nearby, accompanied by Burter. Had Goku not been in so much pain, he would probably have done the flying equivalent of jumping up in startle, as he had forgotten Jeice and Burter were there during the recent turmoil.

"My scouter, Jeice," Ginyu demanded crisply.

Wordlessly, Jeice gave the scouter back to Ginyu, who fit it back over his left ear.

"Let's go back to the ship," Ginyu said. "Lord Frieza is most likely about to return."

Jeice inched to the left as if to fly off, but remarkably, Ginyu didn't show any intention of leaving. Instead, he locked his eyes on Burter, who was still where he had been during the Body Change.

"But before that, I'll take care of a few loose ends," Ginyu said in an airy, casual tone, locking his eyes on the blue alien, the sadistic gleam in his eyes intensifying.

Before any of the other three could react, Ginyu raised his hand, and a massive purple beam was fired from it, quickly making its way toward the reptilian-looking soldier.

* * *

><p>To Burter, everything around him seemed to go in slow motion, as the energy wave ever so slowly filled his vision field. But while the speed of it seemed more than low enough for him to have been able of dodging it – thanks to how time seemed to have slowed down – he was unable to dodge, as he simply couldn't move. Ginyu's attack seemed to have put him under some sort of hypnosis, rendering him immobile until it hit.<p>

But in spite of knowing how his death was approaching, Burter did not feel angry, afraid, or revolted. He just felt confused.

Was he really so worthless at the end of the day to not even deserve to stay alive? Had this been everything for which he had stood by and allowed Captain Ginyu to switch bodies with this Saiyan, regardless of how much part of him actually felt guilty at doing so? So that he could end up being destroyed by the body of the only person who actually seemed to believe he had some potential.

It wasn't fair. All he had done ever since joining Lord Frieza's had been to please those he worked for, and that had remained as true as ever when he finally joined the Ginyu Force. And yet, after messing up just once for a reason whose guilt couldn't actually be attributed to him, he was taken out like he was less than a piece of junk. For the first time, he realized what the Saiyans would have felt if they had ever discovered after death that they were destroyed by the one they tried so hard to serve.

Then, his thoughts were cut off, as the blast engulfed and devoured him, and his vision was turned off, and all feeling in his body was over.

* * *

><p>Standing less than two meters away from the massive blast that was taking the life of one of his best friends, Jeice could do nothing but look in disbelief at the outline of the figure at the center of that energy wave. Part of him desperately wanted to step in, hoping that somehow his interference would be enough for Burter not to be killed, but his survival instinct held him back. He knew that if he stepped in, he would just end up dying as well. And, while part of him couldn't help but to think that at least he wouldn't be abandoning Burter yet again if he did so, the thought of feeling his whole self burning away under an energy blast was enough for him to feel overwhelmed by horror, unable to move. So instead, he tried to make some sense of the situation, hoping that somehow doing that would decrease his shock.<p>

Why had Captain Ginyu done such a thing? Burter had always been a loyal soldier, and even if he hadn't been the best of the force – not entirely due to his own fault, Jeice couldn't help but to think now – he was still better than lots of other soldiers in Lord Frieza's army. Then why kill him? It was true he had failed in defeating the Saiyan, but was one failure enough to overshadow dozens of useful deeds?

After several painfully long moments, the blast dissipated, revealing Burter's body falling down to the Namekian soil. It was still very much in one piece, but it was covered in serious burns and long, deep cuts, with his armor blown off and his trousers ripped in several places. But the parts that stood out the most to Jeice was Burter's eyes, which were staring blankly into eternity, and the traces of a shocked look still on his facial expression.

Feeling such a pang in his heart that it actually seemed to him that his air supply had been cut off, Jeice closed his eyes, unable to believe that, after all they had been through, Burter would meet such an end.

Moments afterwards, a strange glow visible even through his closed eyelids made Jeice open them up again.

This time, Captain Ginyu was extending his right arm, while gathering another energy wave at the palm of his hand. For the briefest of moments, Jeice wondered if Captain Ginyu intended to kill him as well, but that thought left his mind almost as soon as it entered it, for one simple reason: if Captain Ginyu was going to kill him, he would be aiming his blast at him, which he wasn't doing. He also wasn't going to kill the Saiyan who now had his old body, as the blast wasn't aimed at him as well. Instead, it was pointing downwards, as if its target was on the ground.

But then who…

As if he'd listened to Jeice's unfinished question, Captain Ginyu fired the second blast, which didn't go toward either Jeice or the Saiyan, but instead went down diagonally. Turning his head, Jeice's followed the route of the energy wave, which, with the aim of a homing missile, went straight toward a black dot on the green Namekian ground. Recoome.

When the blast hit its target, a sizable explosion was released, causing a very obvious mushroom cloud. And yet again, although part of Jeice wanted to step in and do something, his whole body froze over from shock, except for his mouth, which was open in a silent gasp as his other best friend was annihilated as ruthlessly as Burter had been, and yet again without Jeice himself doing anything about it.

Why had Captain Ginyu done that to Recoome as well? Ever since he had joined it, Recoome had always been an integral part of the Ginyu Force, as he was the second strongest member right after Captain Ginyu when it came to raw power. And he always had, until today, done everything requested of him without uttering a single complaint, more so than any other member of the Ginyu Force. Like with Burter, the only thing Recoome hadn't managed to do had been defeating that Saiyan, but it hadn't been his fault – or Burter's, for that matter – that the Saiyan was so strong. Why was Captain Ginyu punishing them just because they hadn't been better than this Saiyan? Hadn't both of them been better than several others in many different aspects, even if not in all of them?

Ever so slowly, Jeice turned back to Ginyu, trying his utter best to look him in the eye, thousands of questions plaguing his mind.

"Why, Cap'n?" Jeice asked in a whisper, regardless of how much a tiny part of him told him that he looked absolutely pathetic by now.

Captain Ginyu didn't mock him for the tone in which he spoke, but his urge to do so did not seem to be missing in any manner.

"I realized that those two simply aren't up to the Ginyu Force's standards," Ginyu stated in a scornful tone. "And I'm not the sort of person that keeps failures or spare pieces around. So I just dealt with the problem."

Had Jeice been less shocked or braver he probably would have exploded in fury at Captain Ginyu. But, as much as he hated to admit it, he had never been the brave sort. And now, with Ginyu inside this Saiyan's body, his survival instinct seemed to be on overdrive, as he knew his Captain was now more dangerous than he had ever been before. So, all Jeice could do was mutter, "But sir…"

Before Jeice could reply any further, Ginyu disappeared from where he had been and reappeared right in front of Jeice, causing his heart to jump inside his chest at how quickly he had done so. Even when Ginyu had been in his old body, Jeice had been unable to track his movements, but now, that seemed to have been raised to a whole other level.

A quite irritated look on his face, Ginyu grabbed the collar of Jeice's armor and pulled him to himself.

"Jeice, you should know more than well by now that I hate it when my underlings question my decisions," Ginyu said in a very slow tone that fully displayed his irritation. "However, as I am in a good mood today, I'm going to answer your question. But I will only say this once, so you better get it right the first time, do you understand?"

Jeice nodded wordlessly, already sweating buckets at having Captain Ginyu in a much stronger body so close from him and as upset at him as he was.

"Then listen properly," Ginyu said. "Those fools messed up, and in my force, there's no room for that. In fact, you should feel very lucky that you aren't joining them right now, as, considering the cowardly behavior you showed earlier on, I have more than enough reasons to deal with you as well. Had the situation been any different, you can be sure that you would have been joining them. Fortunately for you, as I already said, I am in a very good mood today, which means I will give you one more chance, as after all, you still are marginally less useless than those two were. But be warned: you mess up just one more time, and you won't even have the right to the sort of quick death I gave those two: get it?"

Almost before Ginyu had finished speaking, Jeice started replying.

"Yessir, o' course sir, right away sir," Jeice said as quickly as he could, willing to do just about anything to get as far away from Ginyu as possible.

The answer brought a bone-chilling smile to Ginyu's face.

"I'm glad we're speaking the same language," Ginyu replied with a sneer, pushing Jeice away.

"How could you have done that?" a voice suddenly shouted.

Yet another time, Jeice's heart seemed to jump up inside his chest. He had completely forgotten that the Saiyan was still here.

Judging from the look on Ginyu's face, the same seemed to be valid for him.

"They were meant to be your soldiers!" the Saiyan carried on shouting. "It's more than bad enough that you put them down as you do, but killing them like insects has no excuse!"

Seemingly unaffected, the Captain simply shrugged his shoulders.

"So?" he asked in a too casual tone.

"So you're a bastard who clearly doesn't give his soldiers any value, except maybe for the fact they can do the dirty work," the Saiyan said, seemingly having forgotten about the pain he had to be feeling as he glared contemptuously at Ginyu. "In fact, I don't even know why you go through the trouble of having them and training them in that so-called Ginyu Academy if you kill them off so quickly. Are you just one of those guys who has such a low self-esteem that he has to constantly pick on and kill those weaker than him to feel he's superior? Or do you simply enjoy picking on those weaker than you so much that actually went through the trouble of opening that academy just so you can humiliate them and then kill them once they don't give you enough amusement?"

Although he knew that this Saiyan was supposed to be an enemy, Jeice couldn't help but to look in awe at him, for yet another time. He had already been extremely surprised when the Saiyan had jumped in to defend Burter moments before, but the fact he now didn't make any attempt to hide what truly was going on inside him from Ginyu, regardless of how he had lost his powerful body and had to be in extreme pain, was even more astonishing.

Regardless, Ginyu simply seemed to think this was annoying, as stated in a tone that conveyed nothing but that very feeling, "You know, I'm starting to regret that I didn't cut off that body's vocal chords in opposition to simply sticking a hand into its chest."

Some of the annoyance in his tone slowly changing into what looked like irritation, Ginyu shouted, "What I do and how I am is none of your business, and whatever I do or however I am from now on, there's nothing you can do about it!"

His irritated look suddenly replaced by a wicked one, Ginyu said, "And just so you have a deeper understanding of that particular fact…"

Leaving his sentence hanging, Ginyu disappeared from right in front of Jeice, and reappeared in front of the Saiyan, yanking his left hand away from the gaping wound on his chest. Then, taking the time to gather as much energy as possible, he delivered a hard punch to the spot, making the Saiyan shout in pain as the blow reverberated through him. Not satisfied, Ginyu delivered another punch to the same spot, making the Saiyan utter another scream of pain, which actually caused Jeice to wince.

While he had killed countless people before, he had never been the sort who would prolong the suffering of his victims, save for a few rare exceptions, which only took place if he for some reason hated the person he was fighting against. He had long ago learned to deal with killing people, but torturing them had never been his strong point.

Still finding two punches weren't enough, Ginyu delivered a third one. This time, although the Saiyan opened his mouth, no scream came out, as if his throat had gone too tight for him to scream. By now, there was a huge purlish-blue stain on the armor of the Saiyan's new body.

Ginyu seemed to find three punches were enough, but he clearly didn't seem to think this was the end of it, as he grabbed one of the black horns of the Saiyan's new body in each hand, and spun him around five times, before throwing him down at the ground, and firing an energy blast at him. But unlike the ones he had used to kill Burter and Recoome, this one was deliberately low powered, clearly meant to not kill the Saiyan, but simply to hurt him even further.

"There," Ginyu said, his eyes locked on the falling body that had been previously his. "That should help you to reflect on how your goody-two-shoes tendencies did you no good in the end! And have a nice journey to hell, IMBECILE!"

After seeing what Ginyu had done, Jeice couldn't help but to feel sorry for the Saiyan. For long, he had looked down on their race, finding them no more than a bunch of uncouth monkeys who were glad to be in Lord Frieza's forces as long as they got to kill as much as possible and had such big egos that not even their Great Ape forms could have contained them properly. But with this particular one, it was different. Clearly, rather than looking down on those weaker than him, he had obviously tried to improve himself, and didn't behave like an asshole or had a huge ego, in spite of the few sarcastic comments he'd thrown at them. Also, he had stood up for Burter when he'd had no reason to do so, simply because he believed that Ginyu's behavior was wrong and had no fear of saying so, regardless of how others would think of him. Even when he'd lost his advantage, he'd had no hesitation about saying a few things to Ginyu.

The realization made Jeice's heart sink with the shame that weighed down on him. That Saiyan was meant to be the enemy, and he had done something that Jeice, who had been a best friend to both Burter and Recoome, had been unable to do. All because he hadn't possessed the bravery required to do such a thing. The shame he felt at that knowledge was so big that by now part of him almost wished that Ginyu would have just destroyed him as well, as at least he wouldn't be dealing with this problem if such a thing had happened.

He snapped out of his thoughts when he heard Ginyu barking an order at him.

"Let's go, Jeice," Ginyu commanded. "We have lost far too much time here."

With that, a white aura erupted around Ginyu's body as he rocketed away, back to Lord Frieza's ship. After a slight hesitation, and one last look at the fallen bodies of his now dead comrades, Jeice flew off after him.

* * *

><p>Although the pain on the right side of his chest was soaring to all new heights after the new blows he had taken from Ginyu, Goku eventually managed to recover focus enough to stay airborne, although by that time he had already fallen so much that he was only five meters away from the ground. However, that didn't mean the pain had lessened in any manner, as it was still so overwhelming that he could scarcely move.<p>

For what was probably the first time ever, Goku regretted not having killed an opponent when he knew that he still could do so. If he had wanted to, he could easily have killed Ginyu in one strike after using the Kaio-ken, and then all problems would certainly be solved, as it didn't seem like Burter and Jeice would wanted to fight him again. But no, Goku had actually tried to make Ginyu become a better person. And now, because of his attempts at being merciful, he was trapped in another being's body, said other being had taken his old body and was about to and on top of it all there had already been two victims claimed by Ginyu after having taken his body. He knew that those two were far from innocent, as they certainly had already killed countless people themselves, but that still didn't mean they deserved to die as they did, killed by someone they had served so loyally.

In spite of the extreme pain he was feeling, thinking about Ginyu's recent actions made Goku growl. Even though he had seen Vegeta doing exactly the same thing to Nappa back on Earth, he still couldn't help but to feel outraged at having seen Ginyu do exactly the same thing.

Not for the first time, Goku wondered how evil Frieza was, if his soldiers were already as ruthless as this. Could he truly be even more evil than his soldiers were? If he did, Goku simply could not see how. And probably he would never be able to until he met Frieza, which he currently didn't look forward to doing, no matter how much he ordinarily valued a good challenge.

Either way, now was not the time to think about the tyrant that King Kai had told him to avoid at all costs. He had to get to Ginyu and his henchman so that they wouldn't kill Krillin and Gohan, which would make the whole journey to this planet just so they could resurrect the Saiyans' victims have been completely in vain.

Summoning every bit of determination he could, Goku started flying on the general direction he had seen Ginyu and Jeice taking, trying his utter best to focus on their energy signatures in spite of the burning pain on his right side, and of how, in spite of all the focus he was trying to put into his flight, he was moving extremely slowly. But he knew he couldn't stop now, as that would mean certain death for Gohan and Krillin. He didn't know how the three of them were going to kill Ginyu while the bastard was in what had been his old body, and he was certain that attempting it would somehow end up on his death. In spite of that knowledge, however, he wouldn't give up from trying. He would only consider this over if he died.

Summoning every bit of strength he could, Goku carried on flying ahead at the snail's pace he found himself unable to increase, determined to get to Frieza's ship on time to help his son and best friend, and hoping that somehow, he would be able to do it.

* * *

><p><em>Up next: As Goku, trapped in the injured body of the last foe he faced, bravely trudges forward to help Gohan and Krillin, Jeice, still following Captain Ginyu to Frieza's ship, thinks back on the recent events, and on some not so recent ones. What will happen? Find out next!<em>

_Hoping you enjoyed the chapter,_

_Genescritor_


	5. Chapter 5: Remembrance and fury

**From Enemy to Student**

**- a Dragon Ball Z fanfiction -**

**Chapter 5 – Remembrance and anger**

_Disclaimer: I do not own, in any way, any official property related Dragon Ball, such as the anime, its characters, related movies, and so on. However, I hope to supplement that glorious work of art with my fanfictions, such as this one. _

_I would also like to point out that this fanfiction was originally written by Gonstika, from whom I adopted it, and many of the concepts and plot-points featured in its chapters are originated by Gonstika as well._

_With that said, I hope you enjoy the story._

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><p><em>Writer's note: The following chapter dwells (albeit briefly) into topics that some readers should be careful with: the triviality of killing people as seen through the eyes of a hired soldier, and the conscious sacrifice of thousands. I would like to state that those are simply the character(s)'s views on the matter, and that I in no way agree with either of those things as I lay them out down there. I'm not entirely sure of whether this note is necessary, but it's better to be safe than sorry. That's all I can say.<em>

* * *

><p>Clenching his fists so tightly that his nails were about to dig into his palms even through the gloves he was wearing, Jeice flew at full speed after his Captain's new body, trying his utter best to erase the recent events from his memory and from his mind's eye. However, as if his brain was being exceedingly stubborn, the images of Burter's shocked look as his burned body fell away and of Recoome's prone figure being hit by the energy blast kept replaying in front of him over and over again no matter how much he tried to block them out. And each time that happened, a type of pain Jeice would never have guessed he would feel seemed to explode from his chest over and over again.<p>

It had would have been bad enough if Burter and Recoome had been killed by that Saiyan or by Vegeta, but at least in that case, they would have died in combat, a fate that eventually befell any of Lord Frieza's soldiers, no matter how much one would like to think differently. But to actually be killed by someone of superior ranking was meant to be the most horrid of punishments reserved only for those who committed the highest treasons – although Jeice knew Lord Frieza wasn't exactly opposed to kill some low-level soldiers if he was bored or in a bad mood. And no matter how much Jeice mulled the matter over in his head, he could only come to one conclusion: Burter and Recoome had done nothing wrong. They didn't deserve to be killed in such a manner.

An orange and blue blur suddenly passed by the corner of his eye, causing Jeice to snap out of his deep thoughts. It was Ginyu, doing all the sorts of acrobatic maneuvers as he flew through the Namekian air, making no secret that he was on an emotional high thanks to the incredible speed his new body possessed.

Seeing that, Jeice couldn't help but to feel a lump of bitterness form in the back of his throat. He still couldn't believe Ginyu had actually killed Burter and Recoome over something like that. Not only it revealed a complete lack of respect by soldiers that had served him so loyally, but, a small logical part of Jeice couldn't help but to think, it as a completely illogical attitude. After all, soldiers with Burter's and Recoome's power levels were rare among Lord Frieza's forces, and they usually tended to receive more lenience from their superiors (which weren't that many of, he had to admit) due to the fact they were not easy to find, and so they would better be 'saved' for as long as possible – or at least, that was how Jeice viewed it. To be honest, Jeice was quite sure that even Lord Frieza wouldn't be as ruthless with soldiers as strong as Burter and Recoome, even if he was mad at them for their failures. Then why would Ginyu himself be so ruthless? And how could Ginyu, who was far weaker than Lord Frieza, give himself to the luxury of being more ruthless than him, for that matter?

Whatever the reason, it didn't matter. Ginyu's lack of foresight and extremely puzzling behavior were easily the last things that would have affected Jeice at this moment. The actual deaths of Burter and Recoome were truly what made him feel more downcast that he had ever been in his rather long life. That was not to say that working in Lord Frieza's army had never been anything close to a paradise, but he had never gotten to know anything better. While he knew he should have had some other life before joining Lord Frieza's forces, as he had one or two isolated memories that could only belong to such a period, the truth was that, for all practical purposes, he had been working under Lord Frieza's forces for his entire life.

He still remembered when, back when he was a child, it had been unpleasant for him to exterminate alien races in droves. But it had been made very clear to him since the beginning that it was either them or him. And while Jeice didn't view himself as particularly indispensable, nor did he particularly like his life, he also didn't look forward to dying, which would be the fate that awaited him if he had hesitated to exterminate the inhabitants of the planets he was assigned. After all, hesitation was a form of weakness, and the weaklings could never be prospers. So, Jeice had sucked it up and tried to make the best of it.

As he had grown up, he had managed to get used to the part of exterminating races, and although it had never become pleasant for him, at least he could incinerate them in single blasts and be done with it, as he was powerful enough to do so. His high power level also gave him the advantage of having others respect him – or at least fear him – enough for not to mess with him. And the truth he had never been as bad off as some of the others, thanks to his naturally high power level, which made others respect him – or at least fear him – enough for not to mess with him. However, that didn't mean Jeice had had what he would call a good life, not even when he had tried to bring himself to enjoy decimating the races of the planets he had to conquer, and, almost to his displeasure, had ended up doing so, at least to an extent.

But, after about twenty years of that sort of life, things had gotten better for him, thanks to a certain mission that had been assigned to him – and to a few others.

* * *

><p><em>Planet Frieza 54, April 2<em><em>8th<em>_, Age 729, Jeice's twenty-fifth year_

_Trying his utter best for not to surpass the highest speed-limit set for the speed at which one could run through the corridors of one of Frieza's planetary bases, Jeice ran past closed doors and soldiers standing by the corridor's walls, heading straight toward the communication center to receive his most recent assignment, which, like a good number of the ones he got, would be given to him by Lord Frieza himself._

_In spite of the haste he openly displayed, Jeice was not in any particular hurry to get to his destination. But he also didn't really want to stay here, because as boring as his missions were, thanks to how easily he could carry them out, waiting for his next mission at one of Lord Frieza's planetary bases was equally boring. Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do about any of those things. Lord Frieza's missions were not to be turned down, and Jeice had heard that if one actually started asking for certain missions he could end up killed, as Lord Frieza could find something fishy was going on and decide it was better to be safe than sorry. As for the boredom at Lord Frieza's bases, the truth of the matter was that there were very little things one could do when at one of Frieza's bases, with the main ones being to have their meals, to rest, and to pick on verbally on another of Frieza's soldiers – none of which Jeice was particularly fond of, although pushing the buttons of certain guys he disliked had its fun side. Even training was not an option, as training on your own was forbidden, and training under specialized units tended to be dangerous, with a good number of the recruits ending up dying, even on those units where the trainees were only high-level elites. And Jeice didn't really look forward to trying his luck there. So, in the end, he really had no way to escape his boredom. _

_Jeice forced those thoughts out of his mind when he noticed he was about to get to the communication room. When receiving a mission from Lord Frieza, one had to be attentive to the most, as forgetting even a single detail of the instructions he received could end up very badly for him. _

_So, Jeice ran into the door, which automatically parted to give him way, and looked around for the screen where a video in real time with Lord Frieza giving him the proper instructions would be displayed, while at the same time trying to stand at attention. But in the brief seconds during which he paused, he spotted something unusual about the scene. _

_For the most part, this communication room was the same, with several low-level soldiers of several different races working by several communication screens or just audio-transmission devices. But much to his surprise, there were two other beings there who were undoubtedly warriors, and not technical workers. At least, that was what Jeice thought when seeing their looks. One of them was easily half again as tall as Jeice was, with massive muscles, mildly-tanned skin, and a clump of orange-red hair that made it seem as though a miniature roof made of some sort of grass had been taped to the top of his scalp. The other was even taller than the first one but had a considerably leaner build, although he was undoubtedly muscular. Also, he had blue scaly skin, red eyes, and a yellowish-brown dome on the top of his head instead of hair. If they were indeed warriors, then the reason why they were here had to be because this mission would also be assigned to them as well. That surprised Jeice, as he usually had missions on his own, which was something he had little problem with because of his high power level. Why should he have a group mission this time?_

_But before Jeice had time to do more than to register these two soldiers' appearances and wonder about why he would be going in a group mission this time, he noticed that the two of them seemed to be looking at something, and were standing at attention in front of said thing. Not having to think for long in order to guess what it was, Jeice turned on the same direction, and stood at attention himself, right in a front of a five meters tall screen. _

_As he had expected, Lord Frieza was being displayed in it, sitting inside the round vehicle which he normally used to travel, and looking straight back at them with that gaze that still made Jeice feel slightly uncomfortable, in spite of all the years he had spent enduring it. And this time, that discomfort became a little more than slight, as Lord Frieza was looking directly at him. _

"_So nice of you to finally join us, Jeice," Lord Frieza said from the other side of the screen, his tone fully displaying the slight annoyance he felt, certainly at how long Jeice had taken to arrive._

_Jeice found it better not to reply, as if he did so, Lord Frieza would certainly try to get a few mocking comments on him, and he didn't want to hear them. Besides, one slip of his tongue could end up with Lord Frieza being furious at him. Although Lord Frieza could be at any of his other planetary bases, if Jeice rubbed him the wrong way Lord Frieza wouldn't rest until dealing with him – and that usually was done by Lord Frieza himself killing whoever he was upset at. _

_Fortunately, Lord Frieza did not press for an answer, and instead, shifted slightly in his vehicle, so that now his gaze was directed at all three of them in general. _

"_Now that everyone is here, it's time to tell you three your mission is," Lord Frieza stated, thankfully in a normal tone instead of the patronizing tone he used for some lower-level soldiers. "As usual, pay attention, because I won't repeat myself."_

_Jeice did not even nod, devoting every bit of focus he could muster to paying attention to the order Lord Frieza would give them. By his side, the other two soldiers did the same. In the meantime, the other workers tried to go on about their business, as if the scene that was taking place did not affect them all._

"_The three of you are to go to Planet Jygerto, and wipe all of its population," Lord Frieza informed. "You have one week from the moment you get there to do so, as the need to get that planet on sale is imperious." _

_Although Lord Frieza's voice had not changed throughout his entire speech, there was no mistaking the implied warning in his words, which made Jeice shudder at the thought of what would happen to them should they fail in purging that planet on time. _

"_Take particular care not to damage the uninhabited areas, even more so than normally," Lord Frieza instructed. "Not only because the damaged landscape will lower the planet's value, but apparently, Jygerto is home to wild populations of an orange quadruped whose meat is said to be a delicacy according to the word of some of our lower soldiers who happened to visit it. Such an asset raises the planet's price, so take great care in keeping those animals alive, do you understand?"_

_This time, Jeice and the two other soldiers nodded, knowing that Lord Frieza would expect such of them._

"_Very well," Lord Frieza carried on. "As basic information, the trip to Jygerto takes three weeks from your current location. The average power level of a Jygertoran is 50, and there are several dozens of them with a power level in the mid-hundreds, with about ten of them getting to a power level of 2,000. The planet's population is slightly above 65,000,000. You are meant to kill every single one of them. And you are also meant to reduce their bodies to ashes should you not kill them through this method in the first place, as scattered bodies will look unaesthetic on the planet, and decrease the price."_

_Jeice did his best to bite back a gasp. This mission was considerably harder than the ones he was used to. While a being with a power level of 50 was nothing compared to his own, eliminating 65,000,000 of them in one week would be no picnic, even considering he had the help of these two soldiers, who shouldn't be much stronger than he was. Mainly considering there were those few dozens with power levels in the hundreds, and those three or four with power levels of 2,000. _

_Something that seemed odd to him as well was that Lord Frieza was actually giving them so much information about this planet and their power levels, and about the way in which he wanted it conquered. Jeice could only assume that Jygerto was valuable indeed, and that Lord Frieza wanted to make sure For a moment, Jeice wondered why Lord Frieza wouldn't do the job himself if he was so determined to have Jygerto conquered in the proper manner, but he answered that question as soon as he made it. Lord Frieza wouldn't do the job himself because he was the boss, and what the boss did was sitting tight and throw orders at his underlings. At least, that was what Jeice assumed – and he sure as hell wasn't going to commit the impertinence of making the proper questions to clear his doubts. _

"_That is all you need to know," Lord Frieza added. However, only a few moments after he finished that sentence, he said one extra sentence, "Except for one small thing more."_

_After making a small pause for added effect, Lord Frieza added that very last thing._

"_Do not fail__."_

_The amount of emphasis Lord Frieza managed to put on that small sentence was impressive. Clearly, it was to leave them another reminder of what would happen should Lord Frieza not get satisfied with the final result of their mission._

'_As if we would need even more of them,' Jeice couldn't help but to think._

"_Now get going!" Lord Frieza barked at them, dropping his cool façade._

_That was all Jeice and the other two soldiers needed to rush outside to their Space Pods, intending to get Jygerto's purging over with as quickly as possible._

* * *

><p><em>Like Jeice had known after listening to the information Lord Frieza had given him, the mission to Jygerto had been considerably more difficult than the sort of missions he was used to. Although the Jygertorans – a race of beings with dark-brown hair, pale-green skin, but having a very similar look to Jeice himself overall – had extremely primitive technology, to the point of not even having developed any form of fire-arms or engine-powered vehicles, there had been a considerable number of them who were well versed in the arts of energy manipulation, just as Lord Frieza had warned them about. And every single one of those had come forth to confront Jeice and his two temporary associates when they had landed on the planet. It had only taken the three of them one hour to get rid of this planet's only army, but that had been more enough for many of the other Jygertorans to leave their cities and hide in the wilderness, which had forced Jeice and the other two soldiers (whose names Jeice didn't know yet, and didn't particularly care to know) to chase them and kill each of them individually, which had made the task considerably more tiresome than it would have been should all the Jygertorans have stayed in their cities, which were now reduced to shambles. And the fact they had to burn <em>

_But in the grand scheme of things, the mission to Jygerto had not been all that difficult, considering that they had finished purging Jygerto six hours ahead of schedule, and none of them had even come out injured. However, even considerable tiredness was more than what Jeice was used to feel after his missions, to the point of having been so long since he felt that way that he had truly forgotten what it felt like. And as the other two also seemed to be tired – the blue-skinned one much more so than Jeice, and the muscular orange-haired one noticeably less tired than Jeice – there had been an unspoken agreement between the three of them to rest for some time before sending a message to tell that Jygerto was conquered and leaving back to base. It had been unspoken, because socialization had never been something Jeice had been good with, and from what it seemed, those other two felt the same way, as none of all three had said as much as a single word since they had first met on Planet Frieza 54. But at least, all three of them had managed to see eye-to-eye without even exchanging words, and so, all three of them were now sitting by their Space Pods to rest._

_Or rather, Jeice and the blue-skinned one were resting. The big one seemed to be trying to get something from inside his Space Pod, which was not an easy task, as he was considerably big, and the Space Pod was not custom-made for him, in spite of seemingly being his. And although he was not particularly curious about what the big guy could be trying to get, Jeice watched him as he did so, as it was the only form of distraction he had._

_Eventually, the giant got out of his Space Pod, holding something that looked very much like a portable freezer. Setting it on his lap, he opened the door, and got out something that made Jeice let out a silent gasp in surprise._

_It was a chocolate ice-cream, served on a cone, and wrapped in plastic that clearly indicated so._

_The sight of the treat was something that immediately made Jeice's mouth water. Ice-cream was his favorite type of sweet, and his top-favorite ice-cream was chocolate ice-cream. On a normal occasion, Jeice would never turn it down, and after a hard mission such as this one had been, it would make wonders to help him, not only because it would raise his spirits a bit, but because he – just as the other two for that matter – had been so busy getting the mission finished in the manner Lord Frieza had instructed them to follow that they hadn't had much time to eat or sleep, and because of that he was exceedingly hungry more than he was tired. In fact, should Jeice not feel as drained, he would seriously consider challenging this muscular brute for his freezer and the ice-creams inside it, but he was so tired that he would only succeed in getting a thrashing, and that wouldn't be worth it if he didn't get the ice-creams in the end. And even if he wasn't tired, he could still very well get a thrashing, as this guy had a power level of 54,000, while Jeice himself only had one of 45,000._

_Out of the corner of his eye, Jeice could see that the blue-skinned seemed to be having similar thoughts. But, as he was even more tired than Jeice, fighting the muscular one was completely out of question for him as well, as his power level would only be 25,000 even if he was at his full strength. _

_Paying Jeice and the blue-skinned one very little mind, the burly giant took the wrap off of his ice-cream cone, and briefly summoned forth some energy from his hand that destroyed the wrap to the point where it literally didn't leave a trace, all while Jeice and the other one looked in longing at his treat._

_Still paying little mind, the man seemed to be about to stuff the whole ice-cream in his mouth, but right before he did so, he noticed Jeice's and Burter's looks, which made him pause in his gesture. For a considerably long moment, all three of them froze, while Jeice and the blue-skinned one tensed up for some defensive behavior from the giant one at having his sweets threatened. But, eventually, the giant stuck his free hand inside the portable freezer, which still had its door open, and took out two more ice-cream cones. _

"_Do you want one as well?" he asked in a slow, slightly loud voice, raising the hand that held the still-wrapped ice-creams. _

_Jeice had to do a serious effort for not to let his bafflement reveal itself at that time. This big guy's attitude was completely unheard of in Lord Frieza's army, even after all the years Jeice had spent serving in it. In Lord Frieza's army, the only standard types of relationship were those between superiors and underlings, with superiors giving orders, and underlings obeying them. Most of the time, soldiers who didn't have such relationships simply stayed out of each other's way, or, if for some reason they didn't like each other or wanted to have fun with some of them who happened to have a particular bad reputation, picked on that guy. Granted, Jeice had seen a few pairs of soldiers who acted as though they were on good terms with each other, but never had he seen someone going as far as to offer sweets – sweets he was certainly very fond of, as he had taken the time to bring a full supply on a mission – to complete strangers._

_But Jeice was not in the mood to question that attitude for long, as he was hungry, and he loved chocolate ice-cream too much to turn it down, mainly if it was free of charge. _

"_Sure," Jeice replied, holding out his hand to catch the ice-cream tossed at him. "Thanks, mate."_

_Again, Jeice had to contain a sudden burst of amazement. But this one directed at himself. Not only could he easily count the number of times he'd said thanks with the fingers of one hand, but he hadn't ever gone as far as to call anyone 'mate'. And just because this one had offered him an ice-cream, there was no reason for things to be different just because of that._

_The blue-skinned one also caught an ice-cream tossed to him by the big guy, but without saying any words. It was plainly obvious that he felt uncomfortable among them, possibly because his power level was considerably lower than theirs – although it was clearly far higher than that of many other of Lord Frieza's soldiers. But eventually, he added in an awkward manner, "Thanks for that ice-cream, uh… what's your name?"_

"_Recoome," replied the big guy, raising a hand in greeting._

_The blue-skinned one nodded, before saying "I'm Burter."_

_Recoome nodded, and then looked at Jeice, as if he also expected him to tell him his name. At first, Jeice looked away in an attempt to avoid that, but then, the blue-skinned one, or rather, Burter, turned his gaze toward him as well, clearly also expecting an answer to that question. _

_After some more moments of hesitation, he finally said, "I'm Jeice."_

_Just by saying that, Jeice had done something out of character for the third time in less than five minutes. He seldom told his name to anyone, as it didn't matter when people knew his name, save for those who had to give him his missions – and even then, it only mattered to them, so as to make sure they delivered the message to the right person. Therefore, there had really been no reason to tell his name, except that Recoome wanted to know it, and Jeice didn't really have any reason to leave Recoome satisfied._

_But this time, he didn't dwell on that topic, as he was all too eager to taste what had just been given to him. So, he effortlessly tore off the piece of plastic that enveloped the chocolate ice-cream and fully focused on enjoying this unexpected treat. _

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><p>Back then, Jeice had never considered, not even for an instant, that just accepting an ice-cream from a stranger would lead to anything. But later on, as the three of them had eaten the ice-creams together, they had started a conversation about the most various themes, talking about the mission they'd just had, and discussing their impressions of the others' skills, at which time Burter had ended up considerably downcast due to his relative weakness when compared to Jeice and Recoome – although he'd brightened up somewhat after the second ice-cream. They had had such a good time that in the end they had nearly forgotten to deliver the message saying that their mission was done, and had ended up talking for at least two hours before doing so.<p>

Since that mission to Planet Jygerto, the three of them had always tried their utter best to spend time together whenever they were on the same planetary base, and to talk through their scouters if they couldn't do so face to face and had enough free time for a conversation – which was basically whenever they weren't on missions. Over the years, Burter and Recoome had become his best friends, and Jeice could honestly say that he felt that their friendship had made life much better for all three of them. Granted, they were eyed with mistrust by basically every other soldier that saw them, as having close friends was not a habit among Lord Frieza's forces. But they didn't mind. After all, they had yet to meet anyone who would dare to mess with all three of them when they were together, and even just one alone was already far too strong for basically every other of Lord Frieza's soldiers, at least if said soldier was alone as well.

Eventually, almost thirty years after they had met, the three of them had ended up joining the Ginyu Force, thanks to an offer Lord Frieza had made them, saying that he viewed them as good enough to try to join his super-elite squad. That offer had been all the encouragement they had needed, as if they were accepted, they would get a boost in their status, which was always a welcome thing. And now, after spending only five years in the Ginyu Force, Burter and Recoome had been killed by their very leader. as if they were mere insects, like the Saiyan had put it.

Yet again, the orange and blue blur that was Ginyu doing an acrobatic maneuver during his high-speed flight flashed in front of Jeice's eyes. He had done so a lot of times already, but on this particular one, something new happened. Straight from the very core of his being, anger that Jeice had never known he would be able to experience rose through him, rushing through every fiber of his being in an uncontrolled burst. And all of it was directed at Ginyu, for having killed the only two friends Jeice had ever had. All of a sudden, he found himself agreeing with that Saiyan's view on how one had no right to kill people just because they were weaker than themselves. Jeice knew he had done more than his fair share of that before, but somehow, now that people close to him had actually been killed, his views on the matter had completely changed, as if he'd had an epiphany.

The more he thought about the way Ginyu had viewed Burter and Recoome like trash after everything they had done for him, and the more he dwelled on the more than thirty years during which himself, Burter, and Recoome had been so close friends, the more anger built up inside Jeice, and the more he actually wanted to strike Ginyu in order to act out on it.

But, no matter how big his fury was, his instinct of self-preservation was enough to remind him of one very simple fact: there was no way Ginyu would let him get away alive if he ever dared to tackle him. When in his old body, Ginyu had already been far out of his league, and now that he was in the Saiyan's body, that factor only rose to new levels. And as much as part of Jeice felt revolted at just letting the murders of Burter and Recoome slide, he was not foolish enough to strike Ginyu in a suicide charge, as there would be no purpose in doing so.

But somewhere in the bottom of his heart, he knew that if the chance to beat Ginyu into a pulp without meeting certain death in the process ever arose, he would try his utter best to use it.

* * *

><p><em>Up next: Jeice and Ginyu finally get back to Frieza's ship, where they find Krillin and Gohan. As Ginyu fights them, Jeice's mind keeps rushing over to find a way to make Ginyu pay for having killed his two best friends. What will happen? Find out next!<em>

_Hoping you enjoyed the chapter,_

_Genescritor_

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><p><em>Writer's explanatory note: Regarding why Jeice, Burter, and Recoome are said to have power levels of 45,000, 25,000, and 54,000 respectively, when it was said in chapter 1 that their power levels were 55,000, 30,000 and 60,000 respectively, the answer to that question is that more than thirty-three years have passed between the Ginyu Force's arrival to Planet Namek (which took place on December of Age 762) and the day when Jeice, Burter, and Recoome met (on April of Age 729, as per this story's plot). Thirty-three years is a big enough period of time for all three of them to become somewhat stronger, even considering that in DBZ canon most of Frieza's soldiers don't seem to take training very seriously. <em>

_Thank you for reading this note,_

_Genescritor_


	6. Chapter 6: Unexpected flaw

**From Enemy to Student**

**- a Dragon Ball Z fanfiction -**

**Chapter 6 – Unexpected flaw**

_Disclaimer: I do not own, in any way, any official property related Dragon Ball, such as the anime, its characters, related movies, and so on. However, I hope to supplement that glorious work of art with my fanfictions, such as this one. _

_I would also like to point out that this fanfiction was originally written by Gonstika, from whom I adopted it, and many of the concepts and plot-points featured in its chapters are originated by Gonstika as well._

_With that said, I hope you enjoy the story._

* * *

><p>Jeice's decision to make Ginyu pay for what he had done to Burter and Recoome had only taken a moment to be made, but it had settled in his mind much more firmly than if it had been stuck there with the most powerful glue Jeice had ever seen in his journeys across space. He was determined to avenge his two friends, and nothing, not even the now even more massive gap between his power and that of Ginyu's new body, would make him change his mind.<p>

And over the course his flight after Ginyu, he had already been attempting to figure out the best way to carry out that plan. Although he was furious, he was still smart enough to know that if he acted rashly, he would be doing little more than digging his own grave. And he knew that even with every consideration he could think of taken into account, his chances of exacting his revenge on Ginyu were not high, or even favorable enough for the probability of success being good. After all, Ginyu had always been exceedingly strong, and Jeice doubted he would ever be able to take him out, even if he attempted a surprise attack when Ginyu had his guard down and his scouter off. After all, the difference in their power levels was just too big for him to be able to so. And trying to become stronger through training was not a possibility. That was not to say Jeice believed he would be unable to do so – after the amazing power level that Saiyan had showed him and the speech he had given to Ginyu, Jeice had known he would be able to become even stronger if he had pushed himself hard enough – but Jeice knew that if he suddenly started trying to become stronger and actually succeeded in that endeavor, he would raise a lot of suspicions, and most certainly end up being killed by Lord Frieza himself, as Lord Frieza would think Jeice was trying to become strong enough to defeat him, and not to defeat Ginyu. Not that Jeice hadn't actually started considering to do so in some obscure way since his decision to kill Ginyu, but one thing at a time. Even Ginyu would already be nearly impossible to kill at best, and Lord Frieza was on a whole different level. And in the end, the important fact for now was that trying to defeat Ginyu in a physical fight was not something to be considered.

But now that he had started considering the matter more deeply, Jeice realized that a physical fight was not the only way of killing a person. If Jeice truly wanted to kill Ginyu, he could attempt it through some other mean, such as pouring something poisonous onto one of Captain Ginyu's meals, or tampering with his Space Pod so that it would malfunction in some manner while on a trip and lead to him being killed by the cold emptiness of outer space. And there were certainly other ways Jeice couldn't think of at the time. In fact, the whole concept seemed so simple right now that Jeice couldn't help but to wonder why no one had ever tried to kill Lord Frieza in any of those manners before. Then again, maybe someone had and it wasn't as simple as it seemed. After all, Jeice couldn't see how someone would be able to pour some powerful enough poison on Lord Frieza's food without being found out and killed in the process, and damaging Lord Frieza's spaceship through whatever mean, from energy blasts to explosives, was not an option, as Lord Frieza could live in outer space, and there was no energy blast or explosive known to be powerful enough to actually take Lord Frieza out.

But possibly doing either of those things with Ginyu himself would be simple enough to be worth the try, at least after Jeice had the knowledge required to realistically attempt that without being caught, as Ginyu usually traveled in Space Pods, and possibly was not as careful with what he ate – although Jeice had no way of knowing, as he'd never had meals with Ginyu. Either way, the most important drawbacks to Jeice's plots were that, as of now, Jeice could not think of any poison powerful enough to kill Ginyu, and he didn't have enough knowledge on the workings of Space Pods to sabotage Ginyu's in a manner good enough for not to leave obvious signs, which either would inevitably make Ginyu not to board it, as he certainly would not be foolish enough to do so if his pod was very obviously damaged, or would make the Space Pod malfunction instantly, and render it unable to even take off, which would only make Ginyu pissed off. And it would take some time for Jeice to learn both about powerful poisons and the mechanisms of Space Pods. After all, Jeice hadn't had to know anything other than fighting over the course of his entire life, as what he'd been labeled as was a soldier, and in Lord Frieza's army, one could only be useful on a predetermined area.

However, Jeice now knew he could make himself wiser on those topics. After all, like that Saiyan who was now in Ginyu's previous body had proved to him, when there was a will, there was a way. And even if it took some time for him to learn that, he wasn't in a hurry. He was only determined to be successful in the end.

But it would be better not to think any more about that for the moment, he realized when he noticed that Ginyu was decreasing his altitude. Although he hadn't been paying much attention to his surroundings over the course of this flight, he could easily guess that they were arriving to Lord Frieza's ship. That likely meant they would engage in a fight soon, as the Saiyan's friend and son – as well as Vegeta – could already be here, lying in wait for them before striking. And the scouter most certainly would be unable to find them, as after all, they had proved capable of increasing and lowering their power levels. Probably, they would be able to lower their power levels to the point where they wouldn't be detected by the scouter, which made them considerably dangerous. While they certainly wouldn't be strong enough to kill Ginyu, maybe they would be able to incapacitate Jeice to such an extreme that he'd be rendered useless in this fight. He would have to be on the lookout if he wanted to make it out alive, and to finish things as soon as possible from the first moment he was struck.

Part of Jeice was somewhat sorry for either having to kill or having to witness the deaths of the Saiyan's friend and son – although he would never be sorry for killing that arrogant monkey Vegeta or for watching him getting what he deserved – but there was nothing else Jeice could do if he wanted to survive for long enough to get his revenge on Ginyu. After all, if he showed any hint of mercy or softness, not only would that make him an easier target for those three, but it would certainly make Ginyu second-guess his choice and kill Jeice.

With those thoughts in mind, Jeice landed, and surveyed his surroundings. It didn't take him long to realize that his suspicions about someone having already been here – if they weren't around yet – had been right. First, none of the soldiers they had left behind to watch the Dragon Balls was still here, which could only mean that they had been killed. Second, the Dragon Balls had been unburied.

"Huh?" Jeice couldn't help but to ask when he noticed that fact. "What are the Dragon Balls doing all dug up?"

Jeice knew the obvious answer, but he could not get how such a thing was possible. Even if the soldiers had left traces of their digging, the hole was small enough for not to be easily spotted from above, and one would not think to look outside of the ship before searching inside it. And the ship was big enough, certainly they had not been away from it long enough for even Vegeta or Goku's friend and son to be capable of searching the ship's inside meticulously enough before searching outside.

Either way, the Dragon Balls were out – and maybe they had already been used. Jeice sincerely hoped that wasn't the truth. If it was, Lord Frieza would be pissed off, maybe enough so to kill every living thing in sight, which would certainly include himself and Ginyu. Therefore Jeice sincerely hoped that no wish had been granted, even if that meant that, once Frieza killed him and Ginyu and all of them were on the afterlife, Jeice, Burter, and Recoome would be able of getting back at Ginyu all together.

"How convenient," Ginyu said when he saw the unburied Dragon Balls, for whatever reason he had in mind, seemingly not wondering for a moment whether the Earthlings would have asked their wish already.

Again, Jeice realized that Ginyu had thought of less of the matter's implications than Jeice himself – and again, he didn't voice it. By this point, he scarcely minded what happened to Ginyu, as long as he was alive for Jeice to eventually kill him afterwards.

Suddenly, the sound of relieved laughter broke through their thoughts. Looking on the sound's direction, Jeice and Ginyu saw the Saiyan's short friend, looking out from behind a rock, a smile on his face.

"Hey Goku, it's me, Krillin!" the bald dwarf said, waving enthusiastically at Ginyu. "Me and Gohan were really worried about you. What took you so long, huh?"

Jeice did his utter best for not to display any obvious feeling of bafflement or anything in a similar vein. Someone with half a brain would easily have noticed all the things that were to be pointed out about such a situation, namely the fact "Goku" was wearing a scouter and was hanging around with Jeice. How could this guy be an idiot to the point of approaching them like that?

"Boy, for a second there I thought you were that Captain Ginyu coming, but you must have taken care of him, right?" Krillin said, approaching them in a confident manner.

Jeice briefly noticed the Saiyan's son was nowhere in sight, and immediately raised his guard even more than it already was, just in case the boy would try to catch him off guard and "Krillin" was actually purposefully acting like an idiot so as to distract them.

"Never mind him," Ginyu said in a crisp tone, obviously somewhat irked at the mention of that Saiyan. "Now, how did you find the balls?"

Jeice had to do a great effort not to raise an eyebrow at this behavior from Ginyu. Not that he truly cared about what Ginyu did from then on, but he couldn't help but to think it was a somewhat foolish decision to not try to play along. The Saiyan's lectures must have gotten more under his skin than Jeice had thought at first, if Ginyu wasn't even trying to act like him.

"Whoa, Goku, why those manners?" Krillin said, clearly taken aback by the outburst. "And why that sort of question? You should know well enough that we used the Dragon Radar to find them."

"A Dragon Radar…" Jeice couldn't help but to mutter when he heard that information.

Not only was he amazed at the existence of such technology, but also at the fact Earthlings had been those who had managed to develop it. After all, from the little he had heard, Earthlings were meant to not even have enough technology to travel in outer space, which apparently was something simple enough for a number of other races to have. So, the fact they had made something capable of detecting Dragon Balls – and something small enough that apparently was portable, for that matter – was something remarkable, at least for him.

"And have you made your wish?" Ginyu insisted, still not trying too hard to play this Goku fellow, further proving that having received such a lecture from this body's previous owner had gotten him more on edge, and probably also more eager to try this body's new powers.

"Uh… we couldn't, we didn't know the password," Krillin replied, seemingly putting aside the fact he'd found "Goku's" behavior weird. "Do you know it?"

Although Jeice could not see Ginyu's face from where he was, he could guess from Ginyu's overall posture that he was finally building himself up to tell Krillin the truth in the most shocking manner he could.

"Maybe," Ginyu replied. "I could always try, at least."

At that answer, a wary look returned to Krillin's face. For some reason, he started walking closer, but he seemed edgier and more scrutinizing, as if he was trying to find something clearly unusual in Goku.

"Are you sure you're feeling alright?" Krillin asked, obviously finding "Goku's" behavior too unusual to keep ignoring. "You're weird."

Jeice yet again did his best not to do something: this time, to shake his head in hopelessness. Apparently, his initial thoughts that Krillin had been purposefully behaving like an idiot had been completely incorrect, as it was obvious that it was only now that Krillin actually decided to act as if something was wrong.

"What do you mean weird?" Ginyu asked in a fake nonchalant tone.

Krillin paused, as if to gather all the facts in his head, before he started to speak.

"Well, you're hanging around with Jeice," Krillin pointed out. "Jeice is meant to be the enemy, unless you somehow got him to switch sides."

Apparently, Krillin was not as much of an idiot as Jeice had initially thought, but it was obvious that he, for some obscure reason, was still sure that this was actually Goku, and not "some impostor".

"Also, your energy signature is very different from what it usually is," Krillin carried on. "And why on the hell are you wearing a scouter?"

Hearing the bald man's words, Jeice took notice of his comment about "Goku's" energy signature. What did he mean by that? Could these people somehow sense other people's power levels, rather than just mask their own? If it was so, maybe it would be worth a shot for Jeice to try to learn those techniques by himself, as getting someone who knew the technique to teach it to him was clearly not an option.

"Do you really want to know?" Ginyu asked, raising his left hand.

Jeice immediately closed his eyes. He did not look forward to seeing baldy having his head blown off after taking such a hit – which was certainly what would happen. But even with his eyes closed, he was startled by the voice that seemed to come from the same rock behind which Krillin had been hidden.

"Krillin!" the Saiyan's kid shouted. "That's not my father!"

Surprised by the sudden call, Jeice ended up opening his eyes, right on time to see ginyu bringing his left hand down, smacking Krillin's chin. The blow sent him flying for about twenty meters, until he straightened himself by the rock behind which he and the Saiyan's kid had hidden. But, much to Jeice's surprise, Ginyu's blow had only given him an injury on the corner of his lip. How could that be? That guy had gotten a lot of broken bones after taking one kick from Recoome, who was way weaker than this Saiyan's new body should be, and Recoome had not been kicking him all that hard when he'd done so. And Ginyu would have had to be trying in order to hurt Krillin so little, mainly now that he was in such a strong body. But he didn't seem to have done that in any way. What was happening here?

For once, Ginyu seemed to be thinking the same, or so it could be judged from the comment he made.

"You're tougher than you look, shorty," Ginyu said, a sneer on his face. "But then again, I'm not interested in weaklings like you. I want a real challenge."

The shocked look on his face becoming ever more intense, Krillin blurted out, "Hey, what the hell did you do that for, Goku? And why are you behaving like that? You're scaring Gohan!"

From his tone, it was clearly Krillin wanted to add something like 'and you're scaring me as well' but something, most likely his pride, had stopped him from doing so.

The Saiyan's kid – "Gohan", Jeice reminded himself – seemed like he was going to tell Krillin something about that matter, but Jeice beat him to it. He wanted to get this fight over with rather than wasting time on dramatics he wasn't even sure he would be able to pull off. And even if he managed to pull off the dramatics, he certainly wasn't in the mood for one of the "stylish" introductions Ginyu was so fond of for whatever weird reasons he had.

"That's because he ain't Goku," Jeice proclaimed in the most dramatic, shocking tone he could muster. "He's Cap'n Ginyu, matey. He switched bodies with yer Saiyan pal after he saw how powerful he was."

Jeice tried his best not to sigh after he had finished that sentence. It had taken a considerable toll out of him to speak in that tone rather than in the one that would have naturally come out of his lips if he had allowed it, and which, for some strange reason, was one of warning. And in the end, he wasn't even sure he had been able to pull it off.

In the end, it seemed he had, because Krillin and Gohan, who had already seemed scared before, looked absolutely terrified by now. However, he had done more than disturbing them: he had also managed to make Ginyu upset.

"Jeice!" Ginyu scolded, looking at him with a definitely angry look. "Just what the hell were you thinking? That was meant to be my dramatic moment! I was the one who should tell that those weaklings! And you not only ruined that by telling them yourself, but you also ruined the stylish introduction I had in mind!"

Trying his utter best not to let his fear show through, Jeice stood his ground. Somehow, he guessed that behaving cowardly would only make things worse for him. Besides, he guessed Ginyu would not give full way to his will to berate him in the middle of this battle.

"Listen very well," Ginyu warned, his glare focused on Jeice. "Were we not in the middle of a battle, I'd show you in a very specific manner what you get by ruining the style of my battles. As this is not the right time for that, you have earned yourself a temporary reprieve from my wrath. But as soon as these bugs are dead, I'll give you a good thrashing for completely ruining the stylish beginning of this battle! Do you get it?"

"Yes, Cap'n," Jeice said, nodding in an unusually solemn manner.

He knew from the beginning that it had been dangerous from him to do such a thing, but he simply was not in the mood to put up with Ginyu's fancy poses and drama at this moment. And a mere beating was something that Jeice somehow found he could live with it. After all, there would be a rejuvenation tank to put him back together at the end of the day. And even if he would be forbidden to use them, Jeice still found there would be worse things – after all, losing Burter and Recoome had somehow hurt more than any beating he could ever get.

Seemingly not in the mood to scold Jeice any further for the moment, Ginyu turned back toward Krillin and Gohan, and said, "Well, as that cowardly imbecile did the favor of explaining to you, I am indeed Captain Ginyu, and I took the body of your good pal, because it is much more powerful than my own."

That statement was all it took to make Krillin and Gohan snap out of their collective shock-induced torpor.

"How the hell did you do that?" Krillin shouted, again completely ignoring the fact that he was in the presence of children and should watch his words. "And what exactly happened to Goku?"

Seemingly ignoring both those fundamental questions, Gohan glared at Ginyu with the most heated glare Jeice had ever seen on a child's face.

"Give me my father back, you bastard!" Gohan yelled in fury, looking like he was about to charge at Ginyu and beat him to a pulp – or at least, to try.

It was more than intimidating enough for Jeice to feel somewhat wary. However, Ginyu didn't look the slightest bit affected.

"You two are in no position to make such demands of me or to make me questions," Ginyu said. "After all, with my new body, I can blast you into oblivion as if you were no more than slugs."

Jeice recoiled as Ginyu said that, as fresh memories of Burter and Recoome made their way through his mind. But at the same time, his decision to avenge them shouted out at him.

"I don't know what happened to him, but considering how damaged my old body was before I exchanged it for his, and how I actually took the time to teach him a little lesson after he was in my old body, I'd say he is still where I left him, meeting a slow death," Ginyu said. "As for giving you your father back, rest assured, because as soon as I kill you, you'll be reunited with that fool!"

Then, without any further words, Ginyu charged at Gohan and Krillin, while Jeice watched from the sidelines, somewhat relieved at the fact he didn't have to join the fight himself.

* * *

><p>Completely unnoticed by any of the other four at the scene, Vegeta watched the fight of Ginyu against Gohan and Krillin, hiding behind one of the insect-like legs that was part of the landing gear of Frieza's space ship, and clad in a new armor he had gotten himself after killing all the soldiers that were left at the ship. He had been here for a long while, at first simply watching the two brats' actions as they tried to use the Dragon Balls and failed. And now, he was watching Ginyu inside Kakarot's body throwing blow after blow at baldy and the half-breed, who were just managing to block them, and probably would not be able to do so for very long.<p>

It had been bad enough when the so-called Dragon had not answered to baldy's summon, but to have Ginyu in Kakarot's body suddenly appearing and challenging those two only complicated things even further. After all, Kakarot had revealed some of his incredible strength before, and if Vegeta guessed it right, he still had that mysterious technique of his that allowed him to multiply his strength much further. While Vegeta had become much stronger after eating the seed that Kakarot had given him, he didn't know if it had been enough for him to be capable of defeating Ginyu in Kakarot's body, especially if he used Kakarot's technique to its full potential. For now, it was clear that Ginyu was just warming up, as the few blows he landed on the runts didn't even seem to hurt them seriously. That was, to say the least, very weird, considering how strong Kakarot was meant to be, and certainly even a stray blow would be enough to cripple both the badly and the half-breed. Somehow, Ginyu should really be holding back.

But more than that, what for some reason stood out the most to Vegeta was how Jeice looked. Rather than watching the battle interestedly and looking like he was silently rooting for Ginyu, he looked different, as if he'd lost that haughty air about him, and was actually somewhat downcast. But Jeice should have no reason to feel that way. In fact, he shouldn't even be capable of experiencing such feelings, as no one in Frieza's forces was meant to do so. Then what was eating him?

Obviously, Vegeta was far from worried about Jeice. He fully intended to blast him into oblivion on the first chance he got, and Jeice's emotional state would not impact that decision in any way. But at the end of the day, Vegeta had always been an attentive warrior. He noticed things, and he mulled over what he found weird until he managed to work it out. And right now, he couldn't help but to be mildly curious about whatever was disturbing the bastard. And considering that he was simply watching from the sidelines, he had time to wonder about that topic.

Was Jeice's disturbed state somehow related to the absence of Burter and Recoome? After all, although Kakarot had stopped Vegeta from killing them, that didn't mean he wouldn't have changed his mind for whatever reasons – or that Ginyu himself wouldn't do it as punishment, considering how he had proclaimed that Burter was a failure.

But whatever the reason for the absence of those two, the fact that Jeice was so depressed because of the deaths of his two companions only proved that he was an idiot, just as Vegeta had always though. After all, the only reason for that red-skinned freak to be sad was if he had formed some sort attachments to them. And, no matter how much of a fool he was, he should have been smart enough to know that one did not cultivate that sort of relationship in an environment like that of Frieza's forces. It was only a waste time, a surefire way of signing up for pain, and a reason to be singled out by Frieza as a person to be killed sooner or later. After all, only weaklings formed attachments, and Frieza didn't like weaklings.

'Oh well, all the more reasons to kill that imbecile,' Vegeta couldn't help but to think rather ironically, while continuing to watch the events from the sidelines. 'After all, it'll end up putting him out of his misery!'

* * *

><p>Oblivious to the fact that Vegeta was in the vicinity, Jeice watched Ginyu's fight against Gohan and Krillin, unable to repress the ever stronger feeling that something weird was going on.<p>

Even though Ginyu looked like he was making somewhat of an effort in his fight against two, they were managing to block most of the strikes Ginyu threw at them, and the few they didn't manage to block were not doing any real damage. That was exceedingly weird, as even a warm up with this new body should be able to render these two unable to fight in only two or three hits at the most, and the strikes should be far too fast for these two to block them. Was it possible that somehow these two had become stronger after Kakarot had given them those weird beans or whatever they were?

No, that shouldn't be possible. While the brat was a half-Saiyan, and Saiyans were indeed known to become much stronger after recovering from near-death injuries, as the kid had, the kid supposedly shouldn't have become stronger to the point of holding his own against the warm up level of Ginyu's new body, even with the Earthling's help. There had to be something else going on.

For a moment, Jeice had thought about pressing the button in his scouter to see if he got to know the level they were truly fighting at, but he had ended up not doing so. After all, he had learned from his recent fights that the scouter did not give away the real power levels of these people, and most likely it also would not give Ginyu's power level now that he was in the Saiyan's body. He'd have to stick to watching with his own eyes, all while regretting the fact he did not know how to sense energy signatures, something that probably would be much more reliable than the scouter.

At that moment, Ginyu, continuing his two versus one fight, threw a punch at Krillin's cheek, and a knee-strike at Gohan's stomach, which both of them managed to block, like they had done to so many other of Ginyu's strikes. However, neither of them attempted to strike back. Instead, they simply put some distance between Ginyu and themselves, awaiting Ginyu's next move and trying to get themselves ready for it.

Snarling in frustration for some reason Jeice couldn't fathom – perhaps at the fact his warm-up level wasn't having the desired results – Ginyu moved about twenty meters backwards himself, his eyes locked on his two opponents.

"Impressive," Ginyu said to his two foes, in a somewhat appraising tone. "You two brats are managing to hold your own against this body much better than I expected."

Gohan and Krillin didn't say anything, sticking to glaring at Ginyu when he again mentioned the fact he was in Goku's body. Probably, should Ginyu be in a body that wasn't that of their friend/father, they would be fighting much more seriously, but the fact they were facing Goku's physical part seemed to put a dampener on their fighting skill. Unfortunately for them, that would make Ginyu's kill of them much easier, once he grew tired of toying with them.

And it was obvious for Jeice that such a time had come now.

"But I've been just warming up until now!" Ginyu shouted. "And I'm tired of that. Therefore, get ready to see the real power of this body!"

Gohan and Krillin flinched very noticeably, but both of them stood their ground in such a manner that it almost made Jeice lower his head in shame. He was meant to be much more powerful than these two, and yet he couldn't even reach their ankles when it came to bravery. It was actually pathetic by Ginyu's and Lord Frieza's standards. In fact, it was that way to such an extent that it was beyond him why he had been allowed to live for so long.

In the meantime, Ginyu settled into a powering-up stance, and started raising his power level. Krillin and Gohan shook in trepidation, while the area darkened slightly and a yellow glow appeared around Ginyu.

The changes in the environment were of little consequence to Jeice, though, as from the moment Ginyu started powering up, his scouter started to beep, as every scouter did whenever someone's power level changed or appeared in the nearby vicinity.

A look of disbelief made its way onto Jeice's face as he read the number that the scouter showed him.

"Jeice!" Ginyu barked down at him. "What is my power level right now?"

Thanks to his absolute puzzlement at the number the scouter showed him, it took several moments before he finally replied.

"Uh… 23,000." Jeice said, barely audible by Ginyu, in a tone that fully conveyed his inability to repress his confusion at why the scouter would show such a number.

Ginyu's power level in this body was 23,000? How could that be possible? Goku had been much stronger than that. Why would Ginyu inside his body be so weak? Was Goku somehow capable of hiding his strength even when he was unleashing it?

From the look on his face, it was clear Ginyu was wondering the same.

"23,000?" Ginyu shouted down at him. "ONLY 23,000?"

Almost before Ginyu had finished his second shout, Krillin appeared above his head with his hands clasped together, and slammed then down on Ginyu's head, sending him rocketing down for about thirty meters before he managed to stop himself.

"Gohan, I don't understand what's going on, but somehow, Ginyu is unable to use all of Goku's power," Krillin shouted at the young boy. "That means we can beat him, but it's better if we work together, just in case."

Still shaking, but seemingly not in trepidation by now, Gohan took a long time to reply, and when he did, he was stammering his words.

"But Krillin… I… I can't fight him," it was all he managed to get out. "He… he looks just like Dad!"

"Gohan, I know it's hard, but like you said yourself, this IS NOT your father!" Krillin shouted in the sternest tone he could muster. "It's Ginyu!"

The kid kept shaking in nervousness. All of a sudden, Jeice was reminded of his early days in Lord Frieza's forces, when he'd behaved exactly like that kid at the prospect of having to kill countless people. Even if the kid was being forced to kill just one person, the fact that it was someone who looked like his father certainly made it hard, something Jeice could understand even without having ever known any of his family members.

"But Krillin…" Gohan tried to insist.

With a sternness whose size was inversely proportional to his height, Krillin insisted, "It's what's on the inside that matters, Gohan! And Ginyu is inside Goku's body. Somehow, that means we can defeat him at this moment, but we can't let this go on for too long! Who knows what might happen if we drag this out! I need your help!"

Gohan kept shaking over the next few instants, but, ever so slowly, as Krillin's words hit their mark, a look of resolve that seemed far too intense to be on the face of such a young child – even a Saiyan one – made its way onto his face.

"Right." Gohan said, before rushing forward toward Ginyu, his leg pulled back for a kick.

Ginyu raised his hand in an attempt to block the blow, but he moved far too slowly, and Gohan's kick hit its mark, destroying Ginyu's scouter and making him fly for a considerable distance, straight onto Krillin's foot. Ready to meet his foe, the bald fighter kicked Ginyu upwards, before disappearing from his current location, and reappearing in Ginyu's path. Ginyu put himself back together mid flight, and threw a punch at Krillin, which he managed to block, and followed up with a knee-strike, which Krillin managed to block as well. His despair becoming ever more evident, Ginyu started throwing a flurry of blows at Krillin, all of which he managed to block without too much effort.

After about ten seconds of blocking Ginyu's blows, Krillin started punching and kicking at Ginyu himself, being far more successful in delivering his hits than Ginyu had been. While Ginyu managed to block a few of the hits, most of them hit their intended target.

And things only got worse for Ginyu when, not long after Krillin had started to hit him, Gohan joined his friend and started throwing his own hits. Now that two fighters, both of them clearly stronger than him, were double-teaming on him, Ginyu could not block a single hit from any of them, and soon was covered in injuries and bruises courtesy of Goku's furious friends.

After spending some time hitting Ginyu, both Krillin and Gohan pulled back slightly to gain momentum for a larger hit, and then, the two of them floating side by side at the same altitude, Gohan threw a punch with his left hand while Krillin threw another with his right one. The two blows hit Ginyu at the same time, and together, they worked like a much stronger blow that sent Ginyu flying for about a hundred meters, until he managed to stop himself, about thirty meters away from Jeice.

"Gohan, we can do this!" Krillin cheered on, as if he for some reason needed to keep reassuring himself of that fact.

Gohan nodded fiercely, not saying a word.

In the meantime, Ginyu growled fiercely, very clearly furious at the fact that his new body, rather than making him stronger, had actually made him more vulnerable to the wimps that these two runts were. He was gritting his teeth with such force that they seemed about to shatter, and his fists were clenched so tightly that veins had protruded all over his arms.

Suddenly, as if he had remembered a fundamental fact, Ginyu turned around, and saw Jeice standing there as a spectator to the fight.

"Jeice, you imbecile!" Ginyu shouted down at him. "What are you doing standing there like an idiot? Fight as well!"

Out of habit, Jeice was about to answer with a 'Yes Cap'n' and to fight those two as well. But, right as the words were about to leave his mouth, he stopped himself, realizing the exact implications of this strange fact, and what it represented for him.

What had he been doing standing here? He'd learned in a foolproof way that Ginyu had somehow become weaker than himself – much weaker than himself, he couldn't help but to think – and yet he'd been standing there calmly, instead of fighting him. What was wrong with him? He had been so determined to make Ginyu pay for what he had done, and yet he hadn't seized a chance to do so even though it had been shoved right in his face! And to think he'd viewed the Earthling as stupid!

But that wasn't even the worst part. The worst part was that he hadn't tried to stop Ginyu from killing Burter and Recoome because he had thought he would have died if he did so. And now, he realized that if he had actually tried to do so, he would have managed it for sure, as Ginyu was so much weaker in this Saiyan's body that he would scarcely be able to damage Jeice, even if he was still strong enough to kill Burter and Recoome in their extremely weakened states.

Knowing that made the knowledge that Burter and Recoome were dead even worse, as they would have been alive if Jeice had just somehow summoned enough courage to try to save them. Why did he always have to be as spineless as he was?

"Didn't you hear me?" Ginyu shouted at him. "Join this fight immediately!"

As involved as he was in his thoughts about his extreme cowardliness, Jeice scarcely paid attention to Ginyu's words. But somehow, there was one part of him that remained rational enough to recognize one thing: as much as it had been his own fault that Burter and Recoome were dead because he hadn't tried to save them, it had been Ginyu who had killed them in the first place. Ginyu had been the one to dismiss them as useless, and the one who had fired those blasts. And even if that didn't excuse Jeice for not having tried to save his comrades, it still made Ginyu as deserving of what Jeice wanted to give him, as far as he was concerned. As far as what Jeice himself deserved… well, maybe fate would eventually come around on that regard. And even if it didn't, living with the guilt was still a punishment, even if not everything Jeice deserved for what he'd done.

Ready to seize the chance that had miraculously arrived much sooner than expected, Jeice finally replied to Ginyu's words.

"With pleasure," Jeice growled, every fiber of his being suddenly afire with the will of beating Ginyu into a pulp.

Then, to the surprise of everyone else in the area, Jeice rushed forward toward Ginyu, his features bared into a look of insane rage.

"What the…" was all Ginyu, Gohan, and Krillin could say at precisely the same moment, instants before Jeice swiftly punched Ginyu in the face.

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><p>Watching this strange turn of events from his hideout, Vegeta felt his own expression twist into one that mirrored what Kakarot's spawn and the bald dwarf were thinking. No matter how weak Ginyu was compared to Jeice himself, Vegeta would never have thought that the red-skinned idiot would grow the backbone required to beat his commanding officer – or former commanding officer, depending on how one viewed it – into a pulp, his expression one of rage that Vegeta had not seen on many people's faces. Apparently, Ginyu had indeed been the one to kill Burter and Recoome, and somehow, that must have made Jeice upset enough for him to turn against his leader, even if only after he had gotten to know that Ginyu was much weaker than him.<p>

It sort of made sense, now that Vegeta thought of it. After all, when he'd fought Kakarot and his foolish friends on Earth, Kakarot's spawn had also been enraged enough to fight him after he'd started torturing Kakarot, and had even been empowered by rage. While Jeice didn't feel that much stronger because of his rage, Vegeta could feel his anger as he pounded every inch of Ginyu that he could reach, obviously having no intention of slowing down his onslaught anytime soon.

While nothing otherworldly, Jeice's actions were remarkable enough for Vegeta to suddenly think that maybe it would be worth to keep Jeice alive, at least for some time.

That was not to say Vegeta suddenly liked him, or that he felt sorry for him, but the truth of the matter was that Jeice was still considerably strong, enough so to be useful o a fight against Frieza. And if he had truly decided that Ginyu and Frieza had gone from friends to foes after Burter and Recoome had been killed, maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea to keep him around. After all, as much as Vegeta hated to admit such a thing, he would need all the help he could get when facing a foe like Frieza, mainly if he, for some reason, didn't manage to earn immortality from the Dragon Balls. And at the end of the day, beggars can't be choosers.

Of course, Vegeta knew more than well enough that Jeice was a coward, and it was very likely that he would crawl like a worm to be back on Frieza's good graces if he ever was face to face with that effeminate lizard. But then again, if such a thing happened, the most certain outcome would be Frieza killing him, as after all the bastard didn't take kindly to men whose loyalties were always being switched about. And even if somehow Frieza was in enough of a good mood for not to kill Jeice himself, Vegeta wouldn't have all that much trouble doing so himself. Even Kakarot's spawn and the Earthling would be able to do without much problems if they worked together.

But, as of now, he would do nothing. As he'd been doing until now before, he'd keep sitting back and watching the events. And whatever he did in the future would be based on the turns this situation took. After all, that would be the best way to use the events to his advantage.

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><p>The fury inside him burning as intensely as it had been when Jeice had first decided to kill Ginyu, the red-skinned soldier sank a fist into Ginyu's gut, taking the right to deliver the punch in the proper way for him not to fly off after being hit. After trying to sink his fist even more deeply for a few more moments, Jeice removed it, and then started peppering Ginyu with the hardest punches he could deliver in such a quick amount of time, moving at such a speed that he seemed to have three sets of arms, and Ginyu could not even begin to attempt to block the blows Jeice delivered.<p>

After he'd grown tired of delivering punches, Jeice pulled his right leg back, and delivered a roundhouse kick to Ginyu's left cheek, which sent him flying away. Then, Jeice disappeared from his current location, and reappeared in Ginyu's path, his hands clasped tightly together above his head. As soon as Ginyu got to the right distance, Jeice slammed his hands down on his former Captain, sending him rocketing down toward the Namekian sea, before disappearing again. When Ginyu was only ten meters above the water's surface, Jeice reappeared behind him and delivered another roundhouse kick, this time to Ginyu's back. The blow sent Ginyu flying into Frieza's ship, shattering the part he crashed into, before Ginyu bounced off weakly, falling on his back on the Namekian grass.

Scarce moments after Ginyu had fallen, Jeice landed twenty meters away from him. Although he'd not given full way to his fury yet, and he felt Ginyu deserved much more than what he had gotten until now, Jeice didn't press an attack as of yet. On one hand, part of him wanted Ginyu to fully understand the reasons why Jeice was beating him to a pulp before finally killing him. Also, and surprisingly so, Jeice had actually been going somewhat easy on Ginyu. That was all because he wanted to gather all the anger he felt for the fact Ginyu had murdered the only two friends Jeice had ever had into one single attack that would finally blast him into oblivion. And waiting for Ginyu to get up also helped to build up that fury he needed for that grand attack.

After a considerable amount of time, Ginyu rolled into his stomach, and then, with painful slowness, he forced himself to his feet into a half-upright position, with his legs parted very obviously and his arms hanging limply, as he hunched over slightly. By now, thanks to all the blows he had gotten, he was covered in bruises, most of which looked nasty. Also, blood streamed down from his nose and leaked from various cuts that had been opened on his face and arms thanks to the blows he had taken.

However, in spite of his beaten look, a look of shocked anger made its way onto his face, as he glared heatedly at Jeice.

"What exactly do you think you're doing, you idiot?" Ginyu growled weakly, trying to sound menacing, but failing spectacularly in that endeavor thanks to his battered look and to the fact his tiredness didn't allow him to speak in a very forceful tone.

In spite of his anger, Jeice couldn't help but to play a little game with Ginyu, just to push his buttons a little bit. After all, psychological impacts could be more painful than any hit, like Jeice had learned from firsthand experience on this very day. And some psychological warfare that would delay the moment when he delivered the killing shot would also allow Jeice to build up even more anger for when he finally did so.

"I am simply doin' what ya said," Jeice replied. "Joining the fight."

Ginyu's look of rage became even more intense than it had been before at listening to that comment.

"Are you kidding me, you fool?" Ginyu managed to shout in spite of how much pain he was in, coughing out bloody phlegm as he did so.

"Ya told me to join the fight." Jeice replied, a sardonic smile on his face. "Ya never said which side I had to join."

Ginyu grit his teeth so tightly at that comment that now, more so than ever before, it was an absolute wonder that his teeth hadn't shattered from that.

"You bloody fool!" Ginyu roared. "Did you forget what happens to those who rebel against the Ginyu Force?"

A bitter smile making its way onto his face, Jeice replied, "I'm sorry ta say it mate, but I'm quittin' the Ginyu Force. After all, being killed if you messed up is something that wasn't on the contract, and I read through all the small print with the best microscopes on the Universe."

Rather than replying, Ginyu forced himself to stand up straighter, seemingly having recovered somewhat from the blows he had taken, as he wiped the blood from his face with his left forearm. Once he lowered it, it became obvious that the enraged look on his face had been replaced by one of his trademark sneers.

"You always liked to think you were good for a laugh, didn't you Jeice?" Ginyu jeered at him. "Well, let me tell you this small bit of information: one doesn't quit my force. It's a service for life, or for death."

Not intimated in the least, Jeice replied in an almost too casual tone, "I get that, but sadly, those words' impact is poor without the power of your old body to back them up."

Ginyu was obviously about to shot some witty comment back, but he seemed to think better and instead asked, "What's all this about anyway? Why the sudden decision to rebel against me?"

Any mood for cruel jokes that Jeice had been in before disappeared, and a look of absolute anger made its way onto Jeice's face. Even after everything he had seen from Ginyu in this weird day in which more new things had happened than it usually did in a standard year not all that long ago, the fact that Ginyu displayed such a blatant disrespect for the lives of someone who had served him so loyally to the point of forgetting about having killed them was enough to make Jeice's blood boil even more intensely than it had been before.

Even without Jeice replying to his question, Ginyu's face showed very clear signs of the fact that he was slowly getting to that realization. Only moments afterwards, he shouted in an overly dramatic tone, as if he'd made a huge discovery, "You are so riled up just because of those two imbeciles I dispatched?"

Hearing such a term applied to Burter and Recoome, Jeice growled even more intensely than he'd had done before. He wanted to go right at Ginyu again for that comment, but somehow, he held himself back, as part of him wanted him to be as furious as humanely possible for when he finally killed Ginyu.

A look of understanding dawning onto Ginyu's face, the man suddenly burst in loud, obnoxious laughter, clutching his stomach as he did so.

"Oh my, don't tell me you're actually so low that you actually had those two idiots as friends!" Ginyu managed to shout through his laughter.

His fury increasing even further, Jeice growled.

"They weren't idiots," he said with every inch of firmness and conviction that swelled inside him. "You're the idiot her, because you never knew to give any of us our real value, _sir_."

Ginyu laughed even louder than he had been before, which did nothing to calm Jeice down. He was in fact so furious that he was just about ready to forget his decision to gather fury and rush forward again to pound Ginyu flat.

"And even if they were idiots, at least they made my life being about more than just satisfying each and every whim of someone else," Jeice said. "The same can't be said for you."

Ginyu scoffed audibly, again spitting out bloody phlegm in the process.

"Maybe so, but this situation also further proves that besides the two of them being idiots, you are one yourself for not saved them!" Ginyu shouted in a triumphant tone. "After all, it's obvious that had you just been a little bit braver, you'd have been easily able to do so! But you didn't do so, all because you're a coward, like I've always known you were."

Jeice growled again, even more furious at Ginyu for having further pointed out something that Jeice himself had already realized.

"That still didn't give you the right to kill them," he snarled, giving Ginyu a look that would have killed him if looks could do such a thing.

A sudden though suddenly coming to his mind for whatever random reason, Jeice couldn't help but to add, "And anyway, for all those conversations and convictions about superiority and smartness, why didn't ya ever take Lord Frieza's body? If ya were half as good as ya say, at least ya'd have been smart enough to do so!"

Ginyu immediately stopped laughing, and resumed glaring at Jeice, which left quite clear that the red-skinned soldier had struck a nerve with that fundamental question he'd made.

"Why I never did that is none of your business," Ginyu growled.

Purposefully making an excessively understanding look, Jeice shouted in the same melodramatic tone, "Oh, so ya have thought of it!" He paused for effect. "Maybe yer smarter than ya look."

Ginyu was obviously about to throw some form of comment in response to Jeice's statement, but before he did so, Jeice shouted, not wanting to hold himself where he was any further. "Oh well, ya won't be alive ta try it anyway!"

Saying no more, Jeice charged at Ginyu again, pulling his right hand back for another punch. But this time, something that hadn't taken place before happened.

Much to Jeice's surprise, Ginyu pulled his arm back and threw a punch of his own first, straight at Jeice's head, as if he suddenly had started having much less trouble to keep up with his soldier's now much faster movements. Surprised at the sudden increase in Ginyu's speed and strength, Jeice halted his charge, and leaned to the right in order to dodge the punch. But in spite of not having taken the full brunt of it, Ginyu's fist had hit the scouter, shattering its circuitry and making the device explode.

Letting out an angry curse, Jeice stopped his dodging and closed his eyes for an instant in order to protect them from the small explosion. That tiny moment happened to give Ginyu the moments of advantage that he needed, and he landed a punch of Jeice's cheek.

Although this blow was a far cry from Ginyu's earlier attempts at fighting back against Jeice it still wasn't that strong, as it merely made Jeice stumble a few steps backwards. But Ginyu, determined to press his advantage, jumped in, and delivered one third punch. However, Jeice managed to recover right on time, and blocked Ginyu's punch, before throwing one of his own, which Ginyu managed to block as well.

For a few moments, the two of them exchanged blows, neither of them really trying to go in to deliver hits, but instead trying to know how the fight would go now that Ginyu seemed to have kicked it up a notch for some unknown reason. A few instants later, Ginyu thrust both his arms forward and fired an energy wave straight at Jeice. Although the attack was at very close range, Jeice still managed to put his hands forward to grab it, but he didn't manage to stop himself from being pushed him backwards for about thirty meters before finally turning the attack into the sky.

Spotting the very obvious opening in Jeice's defenses, Ginyu charged at him, but before he had gotten there Jeice delivered a roundhouse kick to his abs, which made him fly for a considerable distance, almost to Frieza's ship.

Instead of continuing his attack, Jeice decided to try to make some sense out of this situation.

"What's goin' on?" Jeice shouted. "Ya weren't that strong and fast just a few moments ago!"

Jeice's question brought a wicked smile to Ginyu's face. It didn't take a genius to guess that whatever had happened, it spelled bad news for him.

"You see, Jeice, one thing you didn't know about my Body Change is that it's all a matter of habit!" Ginyu proclaimed. "I may take some time to adjust to new bodies whenever I perform this technique, but as soon as I manage to adjust, that body is mine. That adjustment comes in spurts, but once it fully happens, it's there. And that's what will eventually happen to me and the body I now inhabit."

Jeice cursed at learning that particular bit of information. Again, he couldn't help but to think that, if he had known that from the beginning, he would have actively attempted to stop Ginyu from killing Burter and Recoome. But at least, he was still alive himself, and even if his own life didn't have that much value in the grand scheme of things, at least he would be capable of avenging Burter and Recoome. If he hurried up, that is. While he still held an edge over Ginyu as of now, should Ginyu manage to control all of the Saiyan's powers, he would undoubtedly be done for.

"Oh well, I just will have to not let you get used to that one!" Jeice said, while charging forward again, ready to restart the fight.

"Who says I need your permission?" Ginyu mocked, settling into a fighting stance to meet Jeice's head-on charge.

* * *

><p><em>Up next: Goku finally makes it to the scene, and Gohan and Krillin give him the briefing of the battle at hand. In the meantime, the fight between Jeice and Ginyu comes to its climax. What will happen? Find out next!<em>

_Hoping you enjoyed the chapter,_

_Genescritor_


	7. Chapter 7: Changing back

**From Enemy to Student**

**- a Dragon Ball Z fanfiction -**

**Chapter 7 – Changing back**

_Disclaimer: I do not own, in any way, any official property related Dragon Ball, such as the anime, its characters, related movies, and so on. However, I hope to supplement that glorious work of art with my fanfictions, such as this one. _

_I would also like to point out that this fanfiction was originally written by Gonstika, from whom I adopted it, and many of the concepts and plot-points featured in its chapters are originated by Gonstika as well._

_With that said, I hope you enjoy the story._

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><p><em>Writer's note: Similarly to how this story follows the premise that the Body Change technique does not switch voices and the changes of voice seen in the anime are merely for the viewer's sake, it also follows the premise that all the visual effects that accompany the technique in the anime are for the sake of the viewer. <em>

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><p><em>Writer's note #2: This chapter contains a scene that may be somewhat disturbing for readers with more sensitive minds. Therefore, it would be better for those readers in particular to be cautious when reading this chapter.<em>

* * *

><p>While Jeice and Ginyu started the second round of their fight, which was much less one-sided than the first one had been, Krillin and Gohan watched from a distance as they had been doing since the moment Jeice had punched Ginyu, while at the same time continuing their attempts at overcoming their shock at this strange turn of events.<p>

Krillin, in particular, was thoroughly puzzled by this weird situation. Not as much because of the fact Jeice was fighting Ginyu – after all, those power-hungry pricks certainly were of the sort who took every chance they could to try to climb up the social ladder – but because of the way how he was doing so. Krillin did not consider himself a particularly good character judge, but he could see that there was real anger behind Jeice's punches and kicks, particularly because the red-skinned soldier was making no effort to hide. Krillin could only guess that it had something to do with the absence of those two that Vegeta had tried to kill before being stopped by Goku, as after all, neither of them had come along, and if they were simply injured, they certainly would have been carried here by Jeice or Ginyu.

In the end, that certainly meant Ginyu had killed those two. And if that was indeed the case, Krillin could fully see why Jeice was as mad as he was. After all, he had felt the same way himself when the Saibamen had used that kamikaze skill of his and killed Yamcha, and even though Jeice himself had fully intended to either kill him or to have fun by watching him dying, Krillin actually found himself relating to Jeice, and had had no problem standing aside to let him work his issues out with Ginyu.

Until now, that is. After all, at first Jeice had seemed like he was pummeling Ginyu, but now Ginyu seemed to have some more control of the fight, which could only mean he was getting used to Goku's body. And if Krillin guessed it right, Goku was much stronger than this. He had to be in order to have knocked Recoome down with one elbow strike and to have fought against Jeice and Burter as he did.

Once Ginyu got fully used to Goku's powers, things would probably be as bad for them as they would be if Frieza suddenly arrived and found them here.

"What do we do, Krillin?" Gohan asked out of the blue, breaking the silence that until now had only been accentuated by the sound of Ginyu and Jeice trading blows in the distance.

Krillin didn't reply immediately, mostly because he was quite startled by the fact Gohan had suddenly decided to turn to him for guidance, which was not usual. The kid tended to think with his own head, and generally not care about what others thought. In fact, between the two of them, Krillin was not the leader, but the follower. On the battle against Vegeta, Gohan had been the one deciding to go back. When they had saved Dende from Dodoria, Gohan had been the first to step in. And although Gohan never had a problem doing what Krillin told him, he had never directly asked Krillin for guidance on something.

"Do we help Jeice, or do we not?" Gohan insisted, clearly taking Krillin's lack on an answer for not knowing what he meant.

"I don't know," Krillin replied, only to acknowledge that he had listened to Gohan's question.

He had been asking himself the very same thing ever since the fight between Jeice and Ginyu had gotten an even one. In fact, if he was noticing things right, Ginyu was slowly starting to gain an edge on Jeice, and that was bound to increase in the future. If they truly wanted Ginyu dead, Gohan and Krillin would have to help Jeice before Ginyu got full control of Goku's body.

But there were two issues with that. For one, Ginyu was still in Goku's body, and no matter how much Krillin tried to put a tough front and encourage Gohan to think that Ginyu had merely stolen Goku's appearance, he couldn't fight to his full potential when his foe looked so much like his best friend.

And for two, Krillin didn't want to help Jeice. After all, that guy was the enemy, and as far as resorting to enemies as allies went, Krillin had had more than his fair share of that by joining Vegeta in order to fight the Ginyu Force, and although he acknowledged that without Vegeta's help, neither he nor Gohan would have made it past Guldo, he hated Vegeta, and although he felt he could relate to Jeice, who actually seemed slightly less heartless than Vegeta, he didn't like him either.

So… what should he do?

"Beats me, kiddo," he finally said. "To be honest, I'd rather wait it out and hope that somehow the two of them will end up destroying each other."

The moment he said that, Krillin realized how well that would turn out. He had hoped exactly the same thing when Vegeta and Zarbon had fought each other, and all that had happened had been that Vegeta had become much stronger and only hadn't killed them because he considered them too far beneath his notice to be worthy of the effort.

"But if this goes on for much longer, what will happen is that Ginyu will kill Jeice," Gohan said, not conveying any real sympathy for Jeice, but stating a very real fact. "And then we'd be back to square one."

If this was any other kid, Krillin would be awed at listening to him mention killing in such a casual manner. However, Gohan was a kid who had had to mature far more quickly than any kid should have to, all because his uncle had fallen from the sky and turned their peaceful lives into wreck. On top of that, he was already stronger than Krillin himself, a thought that disturbed him somewhat.

But he was also one last thing, at this on this current situation. He was right. If they didn't help Jeice, they'd have to fare against Ginyu on their own once he killed Jeice, and that would make their trip to Namek have been completely in vain, something that had already been about to happen far too many times before. And if a five year old was capable of suggesting the prospect of allying with someone who was meant to be the enemy and of fighting a foe who looked like his father, then Krillin himself, an adult man – he'd have said grown, but sadly genetics didn't favor him too much on that matter – could do the same.

"You're right, Gohan," Krillin said, trying his utter best to speak in an encouraging tone. "Let's help Jeice. But remember, Gohan, be careful, not only during the fight against Ginyu, but after it ends as well. Because by that time, there will be no way of telling what Jeice will do to us."

Gohan nodded, before the two of them inched forward, ready to take off toward the fight. But at that very moment, much to the surprise of both of them, a new energy signature slammed into their senses. Confused by the sudden development, both of them forgot about their plan to help Jeice out and looked on the direction the energy signature came from.

"Who is it?" Gohan asked, peering off into the distance. However, this time, it didn't seem like he expected Krillin to answer him.

Unsure of what else to do, Krillin looked off into the distance as well.

At first, nothing could be seen there, although someone was clearly coming. Krillin noticed through his senses that said someone was very injured, and approaching at a snail's pace. For a moment, he wondered if it was Nail or Dende coming to talk to them for some reason, after having narrowly escaped Frieza, but that thought didn't last for long. This energy signature didn't feel like Nail's or Dende's at all, and Krillin was skilled enough at sensing energy-signatures to know that for sure. But who was it then?

Krillin's answer took a few moments longer to come, but eventually, a black speck that contrasted sharply with the Namekian sky could be seen in the distance, slowly approaching. Although Krillin could only see an outline, it was enough to give him further confirmation that it was not Nail or Dende. In fact, it was not even a Namek.

Still, the same question he'd made before remained unanswered.

"It's Ginyu!" Gohan shouted, recoiling in surprise, right as the figure fell about twenty meters before managing to stop itself and resume its flight.

Krillin nearly jumped out of his skin at that exclamation, thoroughly confused at such an exclamation.

"Ginyu?" Krillin shouted. "But that can't be! Ginyu's inside Goku's body!"

As soon as that remark left his mouth, though, everything made sense to Krillin. Ginyu had said he'd switched bodies with Goku. But he'd also said that Goku had ended up inside his old body. Which meant this figure had to be…

"Does that mean…" Gohan asked, as the realization started to hit him as well, and a horrified look settled on his face.

Too taken aback by this event, and too shocked at the fact his old friend now looked like such a freakishly ugly alien, Krillin could only nod, feeling like his throat had suddenly grown very tight.

"No!" Gohan moaned, looking as though he was about to break into tears. "It can't be! I don't want see my Daddy this way!"

Krillin fully understood what Gohan meant. Seeing Goku looking like this was the biggest shock of his life, mainly because he knew that such a thing was bound to be permanent, unless the Dragon Balls could do something about it, which Krillin doubted for some reason, not to mention there was the issue they could never be able to use the Dragon Balls, as they didn't know the password to call the Namekian Eternal Dragon.

However, when Goku dropped about twenty meters again, with his energy signature clearly indicating that his strength was faltering, Krillin forced himself to put the horror Goku's new look gave him aside, and to focus on how this was still his best friend, no matter how he looked now.

"Gohan, I know it's tough, but just as we had to fight Ginyu even though he now has Goku's looks, now we have to help Goku even if he looks like Ginyu," Krillin said, hoping to be speaking in a calming tone. "Come on, buddy, let's go help your Dad."

At first, Gohan hesitated, looking like he'd been completely paralyzed by the sight of his father's new body. But when Goku again fell down to the Namekian ground, this time unable to stop himself before he landed, Gohan seemed to forget about the horror his father's new looks gave him and rocketed off toward him so he could try to help.

Deciding it would be better to do the same, Krillin followed him.

* * *

><p>As soon as he realized that it was Kakarot in Ginyu's body who had arrived to the scene, Vegeta got a look of absolute bafflement. Never in a million years would the Saiyan Prince have thought that the low-class clown would have been able to make his way here all the way from that battlefield in a body that not only wasn't his, but was so beaten up that looked like it would belong to a burial pit. In fact, he hadn't even thought that the idiot would still be alive, as he would have deemed Ginyu as someone who would kill Kakarot after how he had stood up for him. But then again, with how injured Kakarot was, he probably would end up dying very soon if he didn't get some treatment. To be honest, as much as Vegeta hated to admit such a thing, it was actually impressive that Kakarot had managed to travel such a distance in a non-Saiyan body that wasn't his own, even considering how long it must have taken.<p>

In fact, now that Vegeta thought of it, Kakarot's presence here worked to his advantage. After all, like he had said so earlier, he needed all the help he could get against Frieza, and as hard as it was for Vegeta to stomach the prospect of allying with such a fool, he could not afford himself to be picky when it came to choosing fighters for his ranks.

But for Kakarot to be as helpful as Vegeta wanted him to be, he would need to somehow get back to his old body, which would have to be healed before he fought Frieza.

And, right at that moment, an idea on how to get that plan worked out made its way onto Vegeta's mind, looking so perfect and so flawless that he could almost swear he'd been intending to do such a thing for years.

* * *

><p>It had been absolute hell for Goku to make his way to Frieza's ship.<p>

Not only had he been in a body that was not his own and was injured, but he'd been so desperate to get to Krillin and Gohan and so scared for what might have been happening to them that he had barely been able to sense their energy signatures and lock onto that direction. And that skill of his also hadn't been helped by the fact he had been in a new, alien body. For a moment, he had actually wondered if Ginyu would also have issues dealing with his body, even considering it was in prime condition, but he had been – actually, still was – in so much pain that he could not think coherently about anything other than getting to Krillin and Gohan for long, and even keeping that thought strong enough to urge him forward had been exceedingly difficult.

Thankfully, luck had been on his side, and when he had arrived to Frieza's ship, both Krillin and Gohan came forward to meet him, looking unscathed for the most part. He'd been briefly surprised at the fact Jeice had been fighting Ginyu, but he had quickly placed that thought aside when he saw Gohan and Krillin landing by his side. Somehow, neither of them had been repulsed by his current body, but Goku figured that must have been because they had somehow known of that before and had already had enough time to adjust to that idea. Whatever the reason, Goku had been indescribably grateful for it. Things were already bad enough without Krillin and Gohan being disgusted by his outward appearance.

Over the next moments after meeting him, Krillin and Gohan explained the situation to him as quickly as possible, each of them holding one of Goku's arms over his shoulders. They told him how they had tried to use the Dragon Balls, but had been unable to do so, as somehow they required a special password. They told him how Ginyu and Jeice had arrived before they could make their wish, and Ginyu had started fighting them, faring surprisingly badly considering the body he inhabited. And lastly, they told him how Jeice had suddenly started fighting Ginyu once he realized how weak he was, and was actually fighting as if there was some personal matter to settle.

Had the circumstances been slightly different, Goku probably would have taken the time to interrupt them and explain the reasons behind Jeice's new behavior, but there was no time to lose now. Explanations could wait until Ginyu was defeated.

"And that's what's happening now," Krillin finally finished after an explanation that he had tried to make as quick as possible. "As of now, Jeice is up there working his issues out with Ginyu, but at the rate things are going, he may turn out to be the one with whom Ginyu has issues to work out."

"Actually, we were just about to help him when you showed up, Daddy." Gohan added, finding better not to leave that detail out.

"I… see…" Goku muttered, forced to pant between every word, and to cough blood every three words. "In… that… case… go… help… him…"

Both Krillin and Gohan looked uncomfortable at that statement.

"Goku, you're not expecting us to leave you here, are you?" Krillin asked. "We have to get you some form of help!"

"That's right!" Gohan immediately added in a tone as firm as possible.

Goku gathered himself for an attempt at scolding them, but he only managed to let out a moan, as the pain he felt threatened to overwhelm him.

"There's nothing… to be done… for me now," Goku said, managing to slow down his panting somewhat, although it took an extreme effort on his part. "But you can still… help Jeice. If Ginyu… kills us all… everything will have been in vain."

Krillin looked as if he was about to argue again, but after the look Goku gave him, he balked and decided to keep quiet, although he clearly did not like the idea. However, Gohan would not give up so easily.

"We can't leave you here like this, Daddy!" Gohan insisted.

Being forced to get some focus back, as a sudden feeling of light-headedness came to him, Goku took some time to reply.

"Didn't you hear me?" Goku shouted weakly as soon as he managed to, spurting out even more blood when he finished his sentence. "All of us will die if you don't help Jeice right now!"

Before either Krillin or Gohan could argue again, another voice, much gruffer and deeper, barked, "Those two helping that idiot? Don't be a fool, Kakarot. If they get anywhere near Ginyu, they'll be smacked aside like flies before they even know what hit them."

Completely unprepared for being addressed in such a manner, all three of them nearly jumped out of their skin. Fortunately, the speaker did not take the chance to strike them while they tried to recover from their amazement. But that was not necessarily good news, for it meant that whoever spoke was confident enough in victory for not to need dirty tricks in order to win, at least when allied to the gruff manner in which the person had talked.

Trying to get their frantic heartbeats under control, all three of them looked toward a short figure with flame-shaped hair, standing there with his hands on his hips.

"Vegeta!" Goku whispered, being the first to recover from his amazement.

Vegeta smirked at that moment, but whether it had been cued or was merely a coincidence Goku could not tell.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" Krillin shouted in what he hoped was a defiant tone. He looked as though he would have jumped back and assumed a fighting stance if not for holding one of Goku's arms over his shoulders. "And for how long have you been here, for that matter?"

"Long enough to listen to what you were saying," Vegeta replied smoothly. "And let me just tell you that's the most foolish plan I ever heard. Once Ginyu gets full control of Kakarot's body, things will be hopeless for you too, even if you fight alongside that red-skinned idiot."

Gohan bared his teeth at him, while Krillin narrowed his eyes at the short Saiyan.

"You're one to talk!" he snapped. "You're standing there so full of yourself when you could actually be doing something to help us. If you want to criticize us, at least do so for fair reasons!"

His cynical smirk looking like it had been glued there, Vegeta said, "I'm criticizing you for fair reasons. For the fair reasons that you are all a bunch of idiots. Because unlike you, I actually have a plan on how to proceed in this situation. And seeing as the plan would benefit all of us if it worked, you'd be wise to listen to it."

Krillin looked like he's going to keep arguing, but right as he opened his mouth, Gohan snapped in an angry tone, "And how would that be?"

"And while we are on the matter, why haven't you helped us before if you have that so-called plan?" Krillin added in an angry tone.

His smirk melting into a scowl, Vegeta barked at them, "I didn't help you before because it was more than obvious you didn't need it and that it wouldn't have benefitted me in any manner, not to mention it would have made me waste energy. Which means I'm helping you now because it benefits all of us. And as for how that benefits all of us, it is because, if this plan works out, Kakarot will get his body back, which will be very useful when we have to fight Frieza."

Vegeta said the last sentence in a disgusted tone, having a hard time stomaching the facts that he was relying on a low-class fool to help him on the fight against that freak and that he was actually going to help the fool, even if resentfully. But still, that was enough to make all three of them gasp in amazement, as Vegeta giving them any actual help was still a considerable surprise.

"Now just shut the hell up, and listen to what I have to say!" Vegeta roared, nearly making the three of them jump out of their skins again.

Intimidated into silence by Vegeta's glare and shout, the three of them simply nodded at the Saiyan Prince, signaling for him to explain his plan.

* * *

><p>Narrowly dodging a punch from Ginyu, Jeice threw one of his own at his foe, which he managed to block easily, before throwing a knee-strike at Jeice' face. Jeice immediately leaned backwards, avoiding the blow's full brunt, but the fabric of Ginyu's trousers still grazed his nose, which showed him just how close to connecting the blow had been. And the same was valid for the knife-hand chop Ginyu tried to throw at Jeice's neck. Although Jeice managed to avoid the hit by ducking at the last moment, the air dislocation caused by the blow blew the hairs on the top of his head, and Ginyu's hand swished through his long white mass of hair.<p>

While he righted himself again, Jeice threw an uppercut at Ginyu's chin. Undisturbed, Ginyu shoved the blow down with both his hands, but Jeice took advantage of the brief opening and threw a punch with his other hand, his fist passing through the space between Ginyu's lowered arms and hitting his gut. Ginyu grunted as the strike hit him, but it was obvious the blow had not been that painful, both because Jeice had not put much force behind it in his haste to hit the right spot and because Ginyu seemed to be becoming number to Jeice's strikes, in spite of the injuries he had already suffered.

In an attempt to press his advantage, Jeice delivered a knee-strike at Ginyu's gut, but Ginyu managed to grab Jeice's knee with both hands with hardly any effort from him. Smiling wickedly as he realized he had a great chance to cripple his opponent, Ginyu went to press his thumbs down on Jeice's knee, clearly intending to shatter Jeice's kneecap. But Jeice, who had started reacting from the moment he saw Ginyu's wicked look, threw an energy blast at Ginyu's face. The blast hit its target, and Ginyu let go of Jeice's knee in his amazement.

Jeice took advantage of that to kick Ginyu in the gut with all his might, which threw him about fifty meters away. But this time, rather than pressing an attack, Jeice remained where he was, trying his utter best to get his breath back, while his lungs seemed about to burst and his muscles screamed in protest. He had never truly been on the defensive end during a fight, not even when he had fought the Saiyan, who basically hadn't given him a chance to defend himself. And ever since Ginyu had started getting adapted to the Saiyan's body and fighting him with ever more strength and speed, this fight had been a lot more difficult for Jeice. Even though he had been completely focusing on the defense, he'd barely been able to block all of Ginyu's strikes, and had still ended up exceedingly tired anyway. In the end, that kick he'd just delivered had taken the final reserves of breath that he had, and now he'd need a few moments to rest before making the next attempt at fighting.

However, Ginyu did not seem to be having such problems. Although he was clearly in pain from all the hits he had gotten earlier on, the fact he'd been harnessing ever more of the Saiyan's power seemed to somehow enable him to block off the pain and focus more on the fight.

Right now, though, he didn't seem to be all that interested in resuming the fight, and was instead more focused on smirking conceitedly at Jeice.

"What's the matter, Jeice?" Ginyu mocked. "Are you tired?"

Jeice glared at him, too out of breath to reply. Should he not be panting so deeply, he would actually have growled as well, but he could not do so right now.

"That's a pity," Ginyu mocked. "But then again, I can relate. I'm also starting to get bored with this fight."

After making another pause for no other reason than to drag things out, Ginyu added, "Sadly, that also means I'll kill you."

Completely forgetting the fact he was trying to get his breath back, Jeice let out a growl. But more than growling at Ginyu, he was growling at himself. Had he used the scouter on Ginyu before Ginyu had asked him to do so, he would have realized Ginyu was much weaker than himself earlier on, and almost certainly would have been able to kill Ginyu before he had started to get adapted to the Saiyan's new body. Why did he have to be so sure that the scouter would fool him if he tried to use it on Ginyu's new body? He'd wasted a lot of precious time in which he could have killed Ginyu!

And now, he would have to live with that. Or to die because of that.

"Well, you should have known this was coming!" Ginyu shouted in a dramatic tone. "After all, that's what happens to those who challenge me!"

More than to put up a tough front than for any other reason, Jeice said, "Yea mate. Too bad."

Smirking in a manner that Jeice found himself hating with every fiber of his being, Ginyu said, "No, Jeice, it's not too bad. For me, at least, it's quite good."

Jeice growled, deciding it was better not to say anything this time. If Ginyu was going to kill him, why couldn't he just get it over with rather than playing all those sick games with him?

He felt so exasperated he'd been about to shout that, but he knew that doing so would only drag this out for even longer.

"And you know what?" Ginyu said in a conspiratorial tone, as if he was telling a dirty secret. "Seeing as, all cowardliness put aside, you were actually somewhat useful during all the years you worked under me, I think I'll give you a special kind of death."

In spite of the turmoil of emotions swelling inside him, there was somehow enough room to add fear to the mix, as Jeice shivered when he heard Ginyu's mention of giving him a special type of death.

"I'm going to pummel you until you're nothing but a pulpy mass, and then I'm going to finish you off by frying you very slowly with an energy wave," Ginyu said. "How does that sound?"

Trying his utter best not to show the fear he felt at the prospect of dying in such a manner, and the anger he felt at the fact he was going to die without having avenged Burter and Recoome, Jeice tried his utter best to assume a fighting stance, still attempting to get his breath back, although trying to hide it in order for not to look weak. His smirk deepening for an instant, Ginyu charged at him.

Letting out a sigh in a faint attempt to be ready for his final fate, Jeice gathered some energy in his fists, ready to unleash it in an energy wave fired at point-blank range, hoping to hurt Ginyu somewhat.

But all of a sudden, before Ginyu had even made him halfway to Jeice, a white and dark-blue blur charged into the scene, so quickly Jeice could barely follow its movements.

What was going on now?

The blur briefly stopped by Ginyu, revealing itself to be Vegeta, who sank a fist into Ginyu's gut, before delivering an uppercut to his chin, which sent him flying away. But Vegeta, who was not yet through, flew in a circle over over and under him and slammed the soles of his boots into Ginyu's back, sending him shooting upwards. Then, he flew in a half circle to above Ginyu, clasped his hands together, and slammed them down on Ginyu, throwing him toward the Namekian ground, into which he crashed loud enough for the noise to be mistaken by the sound of a thunder-strike directly overheard.

"And now, I'm going to kill you!" Vegeta shouted, clenching his fists tightly, with a blue aura erupting around him.

Anger suddenly swelling up inside him, Jeice glared at the Saiyan for what he was about to. He should be the one beating Ginyu around as Vegeta had done, and has he had been doing before Ginyu had had a big spurt of strength aided by further control of Goku's body. He had the right to do so. Burter and Recoome were his friends, and Ginyu had killed them. Therefore, it was his right to kill Ginyu, not Vegeta's.

But Jeice, as tired as he was, had no way of backing up his point, and certainly would not have even if he was at full power, as it had become clear enough that Vegeta's strength had increased very much after he had been healed, just like it always happened to Saiyans who were beaten to the point of near-death. Therefore, should he try to tell that to Vegeta, the Saiyan Prince would only get rid of him first. And even if Jeice didn't think Vegeta would have any special reason to leave him alive for long, he still didn't look forward to dying any sooner than expected.

Looking like he'd powered up enough for what he was going to do, Vegeta finally rocketed down in a straight line, both of his fists pulled backwards, obviously only to be brought forward as soon as he got into the right distance from Ginyu, so that he could deliver the killing shot with full force.

However, from Ginyu's movements down there, it didn't seem like he was all that worried. Initially, Jeice had believed him to be dead, but then, he saw Ginyu twitch, which indicated he was alive. And eventually, at a time when Vegeta looked like he was charging at such a speed that he would not be capable of stopping it, Ginyu opened his mouth, and shouted, "Change, now!"

Feeling so scared that it seemed his heart was freezing in his chest, Jeice weakly raised his hand toward Vegeta, although he knew it would not make any difference. Nothing would be able to stop Ginyu's Body Change technique once it was started, except another body, and there was no way anything would be able to get between Ginyu and Vegeta now. Which meant Ginyu would be able to get inside Vegeta's body. And once there, they would all be done for, for sure.

But, right when Jeice thought everything was lost, Vegeta fired an energy blast to his right, which completely blew him off his course, allowing him to dodge Ginyu's technique.

Almost on reflex, Jeice looked upwards, briefly wondering what would happen to Captain Ginyu should his body not meet any other to switch with. But when he saw what was much higher up there, his mouth opened in amazement.

Right in the Body Change's path, and with Krillin and Gohan floating not ten meters away, there was Captain Ginyu's old body, waiting to meet the technique's front.

* * *

><p>When Ginyu had first intended to switch bodies with Vegeta, he had been counting not only on being saved from death but on entering a body that would enable to kill not only Jeice but whatever meddlesome fool dared to cross his path, other than Frieza, of course. However, the full truth of it was that it had been a desperate move, which had not been premeditated, but made more out of desperation than anything else.<p>

And, as he was realizing now, his desperation had cost him dear, as Vegeta, who had clearly been expected the technique, managed to dodge it, and instead, he ended up heading straight toward his old body, the one that was now inhabited by that Saiyan bastard who had come up with that gibberish about being soft and respect your men, whose only purpose was to satisfy their leader's every whim and to be killed after running out of usefulness.

"What?" Ginyu shouted. "Get outta there!"

Had he been capable of doing so, he would probably have canceled his Body Change technique, but that was not a possibility. Once the Body Change technique was completely started up, exactly as it was now, the only way for it to stop would be if it met a body on its path, whatever it was. And right now, his old body was the one.

Thinking a hundred thousand different curses in less than a minute, Ginyu returned to his old body, while enabling the Saiyan to do the same thing.

Once back in his own body, the only thing Ginyu felt he could do was to land, and try to work out the best thing to do now that he was back inside this body he had thought he'd never see again.

"Ugh… agh…" he moaned, pressing a hand to the gaping wound he'd inflicted to his own body, while landing about thirty meters away from the Saiyan. "Those imbeciles… tricked me…"

He wanted to add that he should have killed him when he had the chance, but the pain that overwhelmed him was simply too big for him to do so.

"Man… that hurts…" Goku moaned from where he lay on the Namekian soil. "But at least… I'm back… in my body…"

More than a hundred meters away, Gohan and Krillin were getting to that very same conclusion, after using their energy-sensing skill to check out whether Vegeta's plan had worked.

"It worked, Krillin!" Gohan shouted. "My dad has his own energy signature again! He's back in his body!"

"You're right, Gohan!" Krillin agreed enthusiastically. "Goku's back in his body!"

Hearing their remarks, Vegeta made it a point to scoff as disdainfully as possible, while the Earthling and the half-breed whooped.

"Well, you may be a bunch of losers, but at least you seem capable of following instructions given by those greater than yourselves," he said. "Maybe you're not a lost case after all."

It was hard for Ginyu to say whether the Earthling and the half-Saiyan heard Vegeta's remark, but if they did, they didn't react to it, probably because they were too busy cheering the victory they had just achieved. Either way, it didn't matter for him.

"Fools!" Ginyu shouted. "You think this is the end? Even if I got back into this body, that doesn't mean you've seen the last of me!"

He did not find it wise to voice such a thing, mainly because none of those fools seemed to have realized that fundamental fact, but the truth was that just because he was back in his old body, that didn't mean he wasn't, at the very least, capable of performing his Body Change technique again.

And he just knew which body he was going to use the technique on.

Setting his sights on Vegeta, who seemed to have dropped his guard for whatever unknown reason, Ginyu opened his arms, ready to perform the Body Change technique for a third time on this day.

"Sorry mate, that ain't happenin'." a voice said from behind him, as if the person who spoke had listened to his thoughts.

Ginyu froze in surprise at being addressed so suddenly. He had completely forgotten about the presence of that fifth person in the area. And, just to his misfortune, that person was one who was more than well aware of that technique he knew. And while Ginyu wouldn't have any problem driving him off if this body was in prime condition, now that he had beaten it up so much he could hardly move while in it.

Even so, Ginyu tried to quickly turn around to attack his foe, but as soon as he twitched, Jeice landed a punch on the right side of his back, exactly behind the injury Ginyu had inflicted on his right pectoral muscle. The pain of the blow being so strong that he could swear he was going into cardiac arrest, Ginyu gasped in pain, vomiting a torrent of blood, as he started to fall to his knees. But as his legs gave way under him, a hand roughly forced him to spin around in a 180º angle, before another one sunk into his injury, causing an explosion of pain even more intense than the first one. This time, the gaping wound hurt so much that Ginyu blacked out for an instant.

For a few moments, he tried to gasp, in an effort to get his breath and his eyesight back. But when he did, the vision he got was so disturbing that, for the first time ever, Ginyu truly felt utter horror crashing down on him, elicited by this terrifying sight: Jeice glaring at him with what was easily the most furious look Jeice had ever seen on someone's face, with his left hand sunk fist-deep in the injury Ginyu had made to his body at that time when he had believed he would never be inside it again.

"No…" Ginyu whispered, unable to shout through the tightness in his throat and the heart-splitting pain that numbed his chest. "You… can't… do… that…"

Unfazed by what he said, Jeice intensified his glare even further.

"I can. And I will."

Somehow, Ginyu knew those would be the last words he would hear in his life.

* * *

><p>Not thirty meters away from there, Goku's eyes widened, as he beheld the scene in front of him, and fear making his way up his entire being. Not for himself, but for the life of someone else. Of Ginyu, actually. Somehow, even after everything Ginyu had done to him, and what he had done to his own soldiers, Goku could not help but to think deep inside his being that Ginyu had the potential to change somewhere in his heart, and that he should, at the very least, get the chance to do so.<p>

"No, wait!" Goku shouted in an impulse, in an attempt to make Jeice share that belief he had ingrained deeply inside his being. "Don't kill him!"

If Jeice listened to him, he paid no mind to his words. And Goku did not get to shout at him again in time.

The glare of fury ever present on his face, Jeice fired an energy wave from his left hand, which exploded inside Ginyu's body, causing the purple alien's torso to swell out on every direction, as his eyes went white, and torrents of blood came out of his nose, mouth, and ears. As that very instant, Ginyu's energy signature went out like a light.

The Captain of the Ginyu Force was no more.

* * *

><p>Over the next instants, Jeice felt as if time had stopped and all his energy had been drained from inside his being, all thanks to the utter disbelief he felt at what had just transpired.<p>

He could not believe he had done such a thing: killing Captain Ginyu. That was not that he hadn't intended to do so. Like he had decided not long before, he had intended to kill Ginyu with every fiber. But he now realized that he had never truly thought that he would have been able to do so. When he still thought Ginyu was as powerful as the Saiyan, he had believed he would never be able to figure out a poison or an inconspicuous way to tamper with Ginyu's Space Pod. While he had briefly believed he would have been able to do it when he had known Ginyu was weaker than him, that illusion had been dispelled.

Yet, thanks to a few turns of events, he had managed to have Ginyu dying by his hand. But somehow, doing so did not bring him any joy, unlike what he had expected to feel when he not only managed to perform such an incredibly hard feat, but at managing to avenge his two best friends. He had expected to be beyond himself, and yet the main emotion he felt was weariness.

However, that weariness was joined by a sizable portion of relief and accomplishment. At least, Burter and Recoome were avenged now.

"I did it," Jeice said, trying his utter best not to let himself pass out from the horrid stench of Ginyu's blood. "For ya, mates." he added, thinking of Burter and Recoome.

At that proclamation, a sigh of relief left his mouth. He could only hope that this had, in some way, enabled Burter and Recoome to be more at peace now.

Knowing there was no point in having Ginyu's dead body hanging on his fist, Jeice pulled his arm backwards, allowing Ginyu's body to fall down like an empty sack, his blood straining the grass. As his vision was unblocked by no longer having Ginyu in front of his eyes, Jeice saw that Vegeta was standing there looking at him, with his arms crossed and a haughty look on his face.

"Oh well, at least you didn't make us wait for the rest of the month before you finished the job," Vegeta remarked loud enough for the whole planet to hear. "But you certainly don't understand the meaning of a clean kill, judging from the mess you made."

Jeice did not reply. He could not do so. Besides the strange weariness that he felt, the fact he had managed to slaughter Ginyu with his own hands seemed to have robbed speech from him.

Fortunately, Vegeta did not keep provoking him, and instead turned around, presumably to look at the others. Jeice looked on the same direction, and saw that Krillin and Gohan had landed by Goku and helped him back to his feet.

"Are you alright, Goku?" Krillin asked, draping his friend's right arm over his shoulders.

Smiling weakly at Krillin, Goku whispered, "Well, Vegeta and Jeice seemed to have made somewhat of a number on my body, but I guess it could have been worse."

Jeice shifted his eyes down slightly. While he had not been sorry in the slightest for hurting Ginyu when he had been inside this body, he now felt somewhat sorry that Goku had to experience that pain, as after all, the poor guy didn't deserve it. He could be a Saiyan, but he had proved that there were people of all sorts regardless of what their race was, and he certainly was not the sort who deserved to feel that.

"Don't you have any more Senzu beans, Daddy?" Gohan asked.

Jeice briefly raised his eyebrows, taking notice of that term, which certainly applied to those things Kakarot had fed the others.

"No…" Goku moaned. "I don't have any more of them."

Gohan and Krillin got sympathetic looks on their faces at that response. Jeice also felt sorry for knowing the guy would not be able to be healed from his pain that fast. Vegeta, however, simply laughed in amusement.

"You know, right now I could eliminate all of you," Vegeta said, his voice revealing the sneer Jeice could not see. "Then you would stop being a thorn on my side."

Krillin and Gohan tensed up at that remark, as well as Jeice, who privately thought he should have guessed such a thing would be coming soon.

"You ungrateful bastard," Krillin said in a disgusted tone. "It's only thanks to us that you are even still alive!"

Vegeta simply shrugged his shoulders as if to say, 'So what?'. That gesture made Jeice furious, to say the least. Regardless of how much he had killed people, he at least understood concepts like loyalty and friendship. And Vegeta also should, more so than Jeice actually, as he, until very recently, had had two comrades, unlike Jeice, who had never met any member of his race.

However, he didn't dare to say it, as it would only call Vegeta's attention to him.

"Don't worry," Goku whispered. "Vegeta's not going to kill us."

Goku's sentence was met with baffled looks from everyone else, except for Vegeta, who again laughed in faint amusement.

"For low-class scum, he can at least be quite smarter than you two," Vegeta said. "After all, there's not only the matter of the Dragon Balls, but like I said, Kakarot is meant to be on top form if we are to fight Frieza, which is the whole reason why I helped him to get back to his body, and the reason why I am going to help him recover right now. So follow me, you two."

But rather than lifting himself off the ground at that statement, Vegeta turned around, and looked Jeice in the eye, glaring at him.

"As for you, I suggest you either decide to join us for good or get the hell out of this planet," Vegeta growled. "Whatever of those two options you choose, the likelihood of death is considerably high for you."

His growl becoming even louder, he said, "But be warned, if you say you join us and then you try to get back to Frieza's side, I'll blast you into the next dimension before you have the time to do so, get it?"

Still too emotionally drained to be scared by Vegeta's threats, Jeice simply said, "Yea, I get it."

Vegeta smirked at that statement, and said, "I'm glad we're speaking the same language."

Then, he turned back to the other three. "As for you, follow me."

Without any further words, Vegeta flew off toward the top of Frieza's ship. Krillin and Gohan seemed hesitant in following him, but after Goku whispered some encouraging words, they seemed to accept that, and also started flying, carrying Goku's dead weight on their shoulders.

Jeice himself stayed behind, thinking of what choices he had now, and which would be the best one to make.

This whole situation seemed ever more surreal to him. Never before would he have believed to be capable of killing Ginyu, even if he was incapacitated and Jeice had help and, more important than everything, actually managed to summon the guts to do so. A week ago, he never would have thought he would ever find himself in this sort of predicament. Even when he had arrived to Planet Namek, he had found that he would be serving Frieza to the end of his days, and even that he most likely would not reach whatever was the old age of his species, as Frieza would probably kill him when he started weakening, if he didn't die before on a mission. But from the moment that Saiyan in the orange outfit, everything seemed to have been turned upside down. He'd found things about Ginyu, he'd had his only friends dying, and he had switched sides.

And now, after killing Ginyu with his own hands, Jeice realized, more fully than ever before, that there was no way around this situation he'd found himself in from the moment when Ginyu had killed Burter and Recoome. For better or for worse, he would never be able to work for Frieza again after this.

Jeice briefly thought about leaving Planet Namek in his Space Pod, but he quickly dismissed that option. After all, each and every Space Pod had a tracking device built into its system, which enabled Frieza to know where each member of his forces was, as long as he put enough effort into finding that out – or rather, ordered his soldiers to do so. It was actually a wonder that Frieza had deliberately left Goku out of his reach for so many years, considering he could easily have gone to Earth and killed him at any time. But it was obvious that Frieza hadn't ever considered disposing of that Saiyan or getting him back to his forces, most likely because he had found him too beneath his notice, or actually had forgotten about him.

But he certainly would not dismiss Jeice's existence or forget about it if he suddenly tried to run away. After all, Jeice himself was a rather strong soldier, and Frieza would certainly think Jeice was trying to rebel if he found out that Jeice was running away. And he certainly would not deem Jeice as dead once he found out that his Space Pod was missing. And sadly, getting the tracking device out of the Space Pod's circuits was not an option, as after all, Jeice himself had said that he knew too little about the Space Pod's circuits to be capable of pulling off such a feat, if it was even possible for the Space Pods to fly without having the tracking device integrated in their systems. Therefore, there was only one thing he could do: to stay and fight.

Unfortunately, it was a suicide effort, just like he had known. Each of them individually could be picked apart with ease by the Cosmic Emperor, and even if the five of them fought together against him, Jeice doubted any of them would be able to make it out of this alive. And in the remote chance any of them did, it would probably be worse if that one had been killed, as after all, there were things worse than death.

But trying to defeat Frieza was the only hope they had left. If they just sat down waiting for Frieza to come, they'd be handing themselves to him on a silver platter. At least if they fought, maybe they would have a chance of winning, no matter how slim it was. Maybe somehow, if they fought together, they'd be able to take him down. After all, the Saiyan had revealed he had incredible powers, and he'd get even stronger after being healed, just as Vegeta had. That was not to say Jeice didn't have a bad feeling about it, but it was to say that he found it better not to dwell on the topic, at least for now.

Steeling himself in an effort to get ready for the bleak future that was just around the corner, Jeice followed the others inside Frieza's ship, trying not to think too much of what was to come.

* * *

><p><em>Up next: With Ginyu finally dead, Goku starts recovering from the fight, and Krillin goes to investigate the password required to summon the Namekian Dragon, as Jeice sets about on learning new skills. What will happen? Find out next!<em>

_Hoping you enjoyed the chapter,_

_Genescritor_

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><p><em>I sincerely hope you've enjoyed this Christmas gift, even if it is a little bit belated. I also hope that the readers who don't celebrate Christmas for whatever reason also enjoyed this chapter.<em>

_I likewise hope you had a very happy Christmas, Chanukah, or whatever it is you celebrate. And if for some reason there is any reader who doesn't celebrate anything for whatever reason, I sincerely hope you had a very happy day._

_Genescritor_


	8. Chapter 8: The summoning

**From Enemy to Student**

**- a Dragon Ball Z fanfiction -**

**Chapter 8 – The summoning**

_Disclaimer: I do not own, in any way, any official property related Dragon Ball, such as the anime, its characters, related movies, and so on. However, I hope to supplement that glorious work of art with my fanfictions, such as this one. _

_I would also like to point out that this fanfiction was originally written by Gonstika, from whom I adopted it, and many of the concepts and plot-points featured in its chapters are originated by Gonstika as well._

_With that said, I hope you enjoy the story._

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><p>After entering Frieza's ship, Jeice had followed the other four as they walked through the corridors, passing by the charred bodies of countless Frieza soldiers sprawled on the floor, which gave Jeice the answer to his question about what had happened to all the soldiers that had stayed behind. While that didn't leave him shocked or enraged, as he'd seen a considerable amount of death in his life, and never had any particular attachment to any of these soldiers, he couldn't help but to feel some pity, as at least some of them had certainly ended up being killed in a very brutal manner, considering the sort of person Vegeta was.<p>

However, the first emotion that he felt after entering Frieza's ship was complete and utter bafflement, and all because of something he'd never believed to be possible. Once they had arrived to the chamber that had the older models of rejuvenation tanks, Vegeta had ended up knocking over a few boxes, and one of them had spilled its content at Goku's feet. Once he had realized that a syringe was among those, he had somehow forgotten about the pain that had previously stopped him from moving, and had tried to crawl away, while shouting things like 'No! Not a syringe!' and 'I don't want any shots!'. The fact that a person capable of standing up to Captain Ginyu in such a manner could be so scared of something as mundane as a syringe had been so mind-boggling that Jeice hadn't even known how to react. But fortunately he hadn't needed to do so, and Goku had been calmed down and put inside the rejuvenation tank without any major complaints.

Shortly afterwards, Vegeta had decided to give Krillin and Gohan some battle armors, claiming that such an attire would protect them better for when they fought Frieza. At that point, Jeice had had to make a considerable effort for not to roll his eyes or give an exasperated sigh. If Vegeta was enough of a fool to believe simple battle armors would give them any sort of help against Frieza, then he'd be killed in five minutes. Frieza would be capable of ripping those armors apart as if they were silk paper, and they should consider themselves lucky if Frieza didn't use the broken pieces of the armors to slice them into cubes. But Jeice hadn't dared to voice those thoughts, as he felt the situation was bad enough without him voicing his concerns to make it worse. Besides, it would probably lead into some snide comments from Vegeta, and Jeice certainly wasn't in the mood for those.

After Krillin and Gohan had put their new armors on and behaved themselves in an extremely childish and awed manner that made both Vegeta and Jeice feel somewhat disturbed, Krillin had decided he wanted to see 'Guru' – who was apparently the Namek who had created the Dragon Balls – in order to ask for the password, and shortly afterwards Vegeta had decided he wanted to take a nap, as he hadn't been sleeping much lately.

Jeice and Gohan were now outside Frieza's ship, the former leaning against one of the insect-like parts of the landing gear, and the latter sitting on one of the Dragon Balls, both of them trying their utter best not to think about the inevitability of the battle that they would have sooner or later and about the outcome it would have.

Such a thing was hard for both of them, but Jeice in particular was almost absolutely sure that they were all going to die. After all, he had lived under Frieza for as long as he could remember and had spent more than fifty Earth-years listening to how his lord was an unstoppable force. No amount of optimism or self-reassurance could change that, even after seeing how amazingly strong Goku and Vegeta had turned out to be. Granted, Jeice himself had managed to kill Ginyu, but he knew that he would have died if he had fought against Ginyu when he was at the top of his shape. And Frieza was on a whole new league when compared to Ginyu. Even considering that both Goku and Vegeta had revealed amazing power levels, which should be at the very least over the 200,000's, Frieza still had a power level of at least 530,000, which was still likely to be superior to all of their power levels combined. And even if it wasn't, should Frieza move so quickly that none of them would be able to track his movements – which was something that would happen for sure – their group having a combined strength superior to Frieza's would do them no good. Not to mention that 530,000 was rumored to be only the tip of the iceberg regarding the totality of Frieza's power level. Should that rumor turn out to be true, they were really done for.

The thought was so terrifying that it made Jeice shudder for the planet to see.

For some reason, at that time Gohan turned around and regarded him with a somewhat anxious look.

"Are you alright?" Gohan asked him, looking like he was starting to get somewhat spooked himself.

Taken aback at the fact the kid had somehow sensed his nervousness, Jeice shouted over at him in a shaky voice, "Why do you ask?"

Gohan himself took his time before replying to that question, clearly not very used to receiving that sort of answers.

"No reason," Gohan said, before turning around and looking on the same direction into which Krillin had flown.

Temporarily putting his nervousness aside, Jeice glared daggers at the kid's back. Here he was, trying his utter best to hide his nervousness, and that kid who wasn't even looking at him managed to realize how scared he was. If that kid managed such a thing, then Frieza would certainly do the same, and take the time to torture him in as many ways possible before finally killing him. If he didn't decide that he wanted to keep Jeice alive for some more torture sessions before finally killing him, that is. After all, it wouldn't be the first time Frieza did such a thing, as Jeice had heard of a few unfortunate people who were kept by Frieza as 'torture toys' for months or even years before finally being killed. And when that happened, Frieza himself usually wasn't the one doing so, as he would have grown so bored of that 'toy' that he didn't even find it in himself to dispose of it for good.

But who knows, maybe his nervousness was not that obvious after all. Maybe the kid had only detected it because he was half-Saiyan. As Saiyans were known to have a remarkable sense of smell, maybe he'd gotten that trait from his father, and realized Jeice's emotional state through his smell. Or maybe he had detected it because of that skill to sense energy signatures that he and Krillin seemed to have. After all, there was no way of saying just how much information an energy signature transmitted, unless one knew the technique himself.

But was it really a technique, or was it some sort of genetic trait that came with some organ or brain component only humans possessed, and which Gohan had gotten as well thanks to being half-Earthling, and somehow having the organ that allowed such a thing passed on through the genetics that came from his mother?

In the end, there was only one way to find out. And hopefully, investigating the matter would somehow help him to not think too much about how impeding his end was.

Finding that option as good as any other, Jeice started walking closer to Gohan, so that they wouldn't have to shout over to each other. To his surprise, Gohan turned to him when he was about halfway there, clearly having sensed his approach in some manner. But as Jeice didn't find that particular point worthy of dwelling on for long, he put it aside, and said, "Say kid, may I talk to ya about somethin'?"

Gohan immediately tensed up at the question.

"What is it?" he said, every letter he said brimming with nervousness.

Jeice did his best not to frown at the kid's open discomfort. He could understand it, as after all, he wasn't thrilled by associating with someone who had been a friend until so recently, but that didn't mean he liked it. However, hoping for anything else would not be hypocrite of him, but asking for something that was nearly impossible.

So, trying to pretend that he wasn't paying any mind to the kid's discomfort, Jeice said what he wanted to say, "Earlier on, when ya were the first to realize that Cap'n… I mean, that Ginyu was in yer dad's body, yer bald friend Krillin mentioned somethin' 'bout energy signatures, and 'bout the signature yer dad's body had while Ginyu was inside it bein' different than the one it normally has. Thinkin' back on it, it's obvious he said such a thing because he somehow has a sense to detect energy signatures. Am I right?"

Gohan took a long time to answer, obviously debating on whether to share that piece of information or not. In the meantime, Jeice waited as patiently as possible – which wasn't a lot, he had to admit. He'd never had to wait for information of any sort.

But then again, he'd never shared knowledge of any kind with anyone, or asked anyone to share knowledge with him. That sort of thing was never done in Frieza's forces, where every soldier fended for himself (or herself, although there weren't that many women in Frieza's forces) and learned whatever was possible exclusively by self-teaching, for two reasons. Firstly, asking for help on how to do something was seen as a weakness by everyone, and weaknesses were not tolerable on Frieza's forces, no matter the sort. Secondly, everyone at Frieza's forces was too selfish to share knowledge on how to perform a technique, to the point that, on certain circumstances when one soldier managed to learn a technique that had been created by another, the technique's creator could be so angry that a physical fight would ensue between both of them, sometimes to the death.

Therefore, asking for information, mainly from a kid, was one of the weirdest experiences Jeice ever had in his life. Should he be among Frieza's forces, certainly everyone, no matter the rank, would have made fun of him or thrown the ugliest insults in the Universe at him. But he was no longer among Frieza's forces, and while he was going against his basic nature by doing this, he'd already gone against stronger parts of his nature today. This one wasn't much of a stretch.

"Yes, you are," Gohan finally said.

Somehow finding this part easier now that the whole conversation had truly started, Jeice probed the matter further, "Is that genetic, or can it be learned?"

This time, Gohan took much less time to reply, as if he was also finding it easier to carry on now that they had already started.

"I'm almost sure it can be learned." he said. "I learned it not all that long ago, and my dad also knows the technique because he learned it, as well as Krillin and some more of my dad's friends. Even Vegeta, after fighting us on Earth, learned the technique without any direct teaching."

Jeice nodded, not saying a word. But he had to admit he was surprised. Either that technique was a lot easier than it seemed, considering how such a young kid had managed to learn it, or this kid was exceedingly gifted to have learned it at such a young age. But in the end, he assumed he couldn't be that difficult, if Vegeta himself had managed to learn it without any direct teaching. After all, Saiyans could not be that better in fighting skill when compared to other races. Or could they?

Whatever the answer, it was obvious that at least Vegeta had been better than himself, to have learned that technique so easily. The thought actually made Jeice sick, but he was not enough of a fool to not realize that there was only one thing to do if he wanted to learn the technique himself. And although doing that thing also went against his nature, he somehow felt he was curious enough about the workings of the technique to do so. He could not figure out why he felt that way, but he decided that in the end, if didn't matter.

Taking a deep, fortifying breath in order to steel himself for what he was about to do, Jeice asked in a slow, careful tone, "And how does that technique work exactly?"

* * *

><p>The moment of silence that followed Jeice's question as to how energy-sensing worked exactly was much longer than the one that had followed Jeice's first question about the skill to sense energy signatures. Still, and in spite of his impatience regarding the topic, Jeice waited for the kid to answer, not only because getting impatient would not only shatter the already frail alliance that he had with these two, but because he wanted to keep himself in the best possible condition for the fight against Frieza. If the chances of him dying were already next to nothing with him on top condition, they'd be even worse if he got hurt. And even though it was unlikely the kid would cause him too much damage, it was better to be safe than sorry.<p>

Eventually, after a long moment of silence, Gohan had explained him how to sense energy signatures, clearly having decided that such knowledge was not one that could not be shared with him, even though he had been an enemy until very recently. It had been a considerably simple explanation, clearly initially conceived to be given to little kids, and which sounded as though it was being relayed after coming initially from someone else. Most likely, it had been the very same Gohan himself had been given when learning first the technique.

In the end, the important part was that it had been simple enough for Jeice to learn how to sense energy signatures in mere minutes. Granted, he could only sense those that were closer to him, which were those of Goku, Gohan, and Vegeta, but for him, that was already much better than nothing, and certainly a lot better than when he'd had to rely on his scouter to detect living organisms. It was surprising even to himself that he had learned a basic version of the technique so quickly, but he'd always been fairly good at fighting and anything related with energy after all. He'd simply never put much effort into learning new skills other than those related to a new energy attack, not only because there was no real need to do so, but because of the ever-present undercurrent in Frieza's forces in which someone wholly devote to learning new skills was viewed as suspicious and taken out in a hurry.

Even when training at the Ginyu Academy, Jeice's power – as well as the power of all the recruits, for that matter – had only grown some thousands of units, at the utter most. At the time, Jeice had thought it was simply because no one had much potential to improve, but now that he thought back on it, training at the Ginyu Academy had never been that much exerting – certainly not as much as the second round of his fight against Ginyu in Goku's body.

In that case, how strong could he be by now if he had been training as seriously as Goku claimed he had his whole life? And just why did it seem Ginyu didn't push his recruits all that much? Was it because he didn't want them surpassing him after all, or was it for some other reason that he wasn't figuring out at the moment?

Before Jeice could come to a conclusion on that topic, he noticed that Gohan seemed to be looking into the distance, as if he was focusing on something that could not yet be seen.

"What's up, kid?" Jeice asked.

Again, Gohan took a moment to answer, but this time, as on other previous occasions, it was a short moment.

"Krillin and someone else are coming," he said. "But they have masked their energy signatures for some reason."

That sentence from Gohan briefly made Jeice think about the technique to mask energy signatures, and which he hadn't gotten to ask about yet. At first, he considered asking about the workings of that particular one, but he dismissed the possibility as soon as he thought of it. Even if Gohan had agreed to teach him how to sense energy signatures, neither him nor Krillin would teach him how to mask his energy, as they certainly would want to know where he was, just in case.

Besides, he felt like he had already learned too much from the kid for today. Had he been at Frieza's forces, everyone would have made fun of him if they knew he had lowered himself to learning from a kid. And while he was no longer in Frieza's forces, nor did he want to go back there, he had already changed too many of the ideals he'd followed during more than fifty Earth-years on a single day. Therefore, he would go as far as to ask a kid to teach him more than one technique a day. And it wasn't as if suppressing his energy signature would do him any good against Frieza. In the end, he would just blow up the planet. And if Jeice left on his Space Pod, the outcome would be death whether he reported to one of Frieza's bases or not, as if he reported Frieza would kill him for cowardice and if he didn't report Frieza would hunt him down and kill him for treachery.

"Come on," Gohan told him. "Let's meet them."

Jeice was about to nod, but he froze mid-gesture, glancing at the Dragon Balls afterwards. He didn't like the thought of leaving them here alone, even if he was sure that there were no more soldiers to remove them, and he knew the kids had to have some sort of gadget to find them. But he had a feeling Gohan wouldn't leave until Jeice agreed to follow him, and probably Krillin and that other person wouldn't come forward, considering that if they had masked their energy signatures, they probably would also want to conceal themselves from someone's sight.

"Alright," Jeice said.

The kid nodded, and then flew off in the same direction into which he had been staring. After hesitating for a few moments and looking at the Dragon Balls one last time, Jeice followed him.

But why was he so concerned about the Dragon Balls anyway? It wasn't as if he would get to make the wishes he wanted to have granted: to have Burter and Recoome coming back to life, and for all three of them to end up in some place where Frieza would never find them and where they would be able to live peacefully until the end of their days, while eating all the flavors of ice-cream they could think of in the process. After all, the Dragon Balls would be used to grant either Vegeta's wish of immortality or the one of Gohan and Krillin, whatever that one was. In the end, Jeice would prefer it if Gohan and Krillin were the ones to get their wish granted, as it would certainly be preferable to Vegeta's wish of immortality. Should that one be granted, the Universe would simply end up with another Frieza in its hands.

"There they are!" Gohan suddenly said, clearly having found what he'd sensed. "It's Krillin and Dende!"

After a brief search through the Namekian sky, Jeice found Krillin, accompanied by a small Namekian child, who was clearly this Dende that Gohan had spoken off.

"Krillin!" Gohan said in a very relieved tone when the two groups met. "Are you alright?"

In the few moments of silence, Jeice noticed that Dende glanced wearily at him, and had a few beads of perspiration on his green forehead, undoubtedly thanks to fear.

"Yea, yea, I'm fine," Krillin said airily. "Thanks to Dende here coming to speak to us, I didn't meet up with Frieza, so don't worry."

Gohan and Jeice nodded, acknowledging Krillin's words.

"And do ya know the password, kid?" Jeice asked him.

Giving him a wary look, Dende tried to hide behind Krillin, not answering the question, which made Jeice frown in displeasure, even considering how the could be looking much more scared, and even surprised. Clearly, Krillin had already told him that Jeice had called truce with them, but he didn't believe it.

Dismissing the kid's presence, Jeice turned to Krillin instead.

"Does he know the password, or not?" Jeice asked, trying to keep the calmest tone possible.

His airy look replaced by a stern one that looked very out of place on such a short person, Krillin said, "Yes, he knows it."

After a moment's pause, as if he was letting Jeice soak the answer in, Krillin added, "But while we are on this matter, let's make something clear. Gohan and I have come too far for this wish for not to get to ask it now, so don't try to jeopardize it. Just so you know, in case you try it, Gohan and I can easily defeat you if we work together, so the only thing you'll accomplish with such an attempt is ending up with your two buddies, get it?"

Rather than shooting some response back, Jeice used his newly-acquired energy-sensing skills to gauge Krillin's and Gohan's power levels in comparison to his own. He still didn't have a full handle on it, and therefore it wasn't really a 'sense' yet, but it was already good enough to be comparable to having an in-built scouter, so to speak.

And indeed, much to his surprise, even Krillin was almost as strong as Jeice himself was, and Gohan was quite stronger than him! But how could this be? He was sure neither of them had been this strong when fighting Ginyu, and at that point, they had already been stronger than when they had fought Recoome! Just what was going on here? What was their secret to become so strong as time passed? While the explanation of becoming stronger after a healing could be applied to Gohan, who was a half-Saiyan, Krillin was meant to be an Earthling. He simply shouldn't be this strong!

There just had to be some sort of secret to their ever-increasing power.

But whatever it was, Jeice doubted he would be able to find it out. And the truth was that, like Krillin had said, he and Gohan would be able to kill Jeice if he did anything to mess their wish up. And the law of the strongest was the one Jeice knew best.

"Sure," Jeice finally replied.

Krillin intensified his glare as if to get his point across even further.

"Glad we're speaking the same language," he said.

Whether he repeated Vegeta's earlier sentence to Jeice premeditatedly or by coincidence, Jeice didn't know. And he didn't ask.

Looking like he didn't have anything else to tell Jeice, Krillin turned to Gohan.

"Where's Vegeta?" he asked. "We came here suppressing our power levels for as long as possible so he wouldn't find us, but I was sure he would have come with you if he had seen you taking off. Why isn't he here?"

Gohan cast a glance to Frieza's ship.

"I don't think he even realized we were leaving," Gohan said. "He said something about not having rested in days and went to sleep in the ship."

"That's great!" Krillin exclaimed. "It's just what we needed! We'll take advantage of the fact his guard is down, and sneak the Dragon Balls away before he realizes anything!"

Gohan immediately flew off toward Frieza's ship, closely followed by Dende. But Krillin made it a point to stay behind and look Jeice one more time, the surprisingly menacing look back on his face.

"Be warned…" he said a tone that matched his look. "…any attempt at getting the way, and Gohan and I will take you out so quickly you won't even have time to blink."

Jeice did his best to bite back a remark that would have lead to an all-out brawl between the two of them. As far as he was concerned, this little baldy didn't have much of a right to make demands of him like that, not to mention he seemed to have forgotten how Jeice could easily have snapped him like a twig not long ago, and although that option was clearly out of his reach by now, Jeice was fairly sure he still had chances of winning against him in an all-out fight. But fighting each other would only make them be in an even worse condition for the fight against Frieza, not to mention that if they weren't working together toward the same goal, they'd be easier targets. That was something even he had managed to learn in his years under Frieza's forces. Teams always had to work together, no matter what their members thought of each other. And right now, these three, as well as possibly Vegeta, were his team.

"I got that," Jeice growled. "I've got a lotta hair, but I ain't stupid."

Not replying to that comment, Krillin took off toward Frieza's ship himself.

But Jeice stayed where he was, trying to repress his anger at the short bald man.

He could understand that Krillin and Gohan wanted to make their wish after everything they had endured to get the Dragon Balls, and he could also understand that they would be uneasy at his alliance with them, but they had no right to treat him as if he was the enemy. After all, he didn't even want to make himself the new emperor of space, he simply wanted to resurrect Burter and Recoome and find somewhere peaceful enough to live with the three of them, where they would be able to eat all the ice-cream they wanted without being interrupted, and perhaps train so they could become stronger in the meantime. It could be a rather selfish wish, but Jeice viewed it as way less selfish than what Vegeta had in mind, as after all the guy clearly wanted to make himself the new emperor of space much more than he wanted to take Frieza out.

But in spite of his bitterness, he knew that the wish he had in mind would be in vain. Even if he resurrected Burter and Recoome, Frieza would just kill them again, as well as Jeice himself. And if they were to be killed again, there was not much of a purpose to them coming back to life, as much as Jeice hated to admit such a thing.

Trying his best to come to terms with that fact, Jeice followed Krillin to Frieza's ship.

* * *

><p>Getting the Dragon Balls away from Frieza's ship had turned out to be somewhat harder than Jeice had expected. The Dragon Balls were considerably big, and with all of them being rather short, carrying them had turned out to be somewhat difficult, as in spite of the Dragon Balls not being heavy for people as strong as them, they were still big, burdensome targets.<p>

Fortunately, there had been four of them, and Vegeta had not woken up to find they were trying to sneak the Dragon Balls away from him. So, they had managed to take the Dragon Balls to a small island, where they would hopefully be able to ask their wish even if Vegeta found out that they had taken the Dragon Balls away from him.

"We did it," Krillin said, sighing in relief once they had finally set the Dragon Balls down.

Gohan and Dende also looked overjoyed, but Jeice simply stood aside. After all, he wasn't going to get to make any wish, and his survival instinct was still acute enough for him not to be foolish enough to try to do so.

But why was that? After all, if Gohan and Krillin didn't kill him, Frieza would. And Gohan and Krillin were still likely to be more merciful when killing him. After all, Krillin had said they would kill him before he had time to blink. And even if he was alive, he would probably make no difference in the fight against Frieza. Maybe it would be better to have them kill him so that he would be killed in a relatively painless manner.

No. That couldn't be. He had to stay alive. If he died, he'd have to face Burter and Recoome, who would certainly no longer want to be friends with him after Jeice had left them be killed by Ginyu when he could perfectly have saved them, even though he hadn't known he could have done so in the process. Besides, even if he couldn't do much against Frieza, maybe he could still help to buy some instants for Goku to get healed, which would already be somewhat helpful. But most importantly of all, and as much as he was ashamed of thinking in such a manner, he was so scared of his actual death that he simply didn't want to anticipate it, even if doing so meant his death would come in a less painful manner than it would if it came later by Frieza's hands.

So, at least for now, it was better for him to stay put and just wait for these two to make their wish, whatever it was. After all, he could always change his mind later on.

"Now it's up to you, Dende." Krillin told the little Namek.

Dende extended his open palms toward the Dragon Balls, but before he could make as much as a sound, Gohan looked to the left, a serious look now etched on his face.

"Krillin, I think I sense someone coming," Gohan whispered. "And fast."

Krillin turned on the same direction into which Gohan was looking, as well as Jeice, who tried to focus his new energy-sensing on that direction to know what Gohan was talking about.

It took him several seconds to sense to the right distance, as he was still new enough to the concept to have to reach out with that sense for a considerable amount of time if the target was at a long distance. But eventually, his new sense managed to detect what Gohan was talking about.

The effect was instantaneous. The moment he sensed it, it was as if a splitting headache had overwhelmed every fiber of his being and all the strength had gone out of his legs, to the point where Jeice had felt like he wanted to keel over and vomit. That energy signature had been so intense that it had completely overwhelmed Jeice's still poorly developed sense, and the result was rendering him about to pass out.

He knew who it was, and he knew he was sensing things accurately, but his mind simply couldn't accept it. There was no way someone could possibly be that strong. Such a high power level defied the laws of nature as Jeice had known them. Even though he had known what Frieza's power level was in terms of numbers before knowing how to sense energy signatures, somehow he still couldn't take in that Frieza's energy could be this intense.

"It's Frieza!" Krillin shouted.

Although he'd barely heard that, as he was just managing to cling to consciousness, Jeice still thought that Krillin's shout had been rather redundant. But then again, it wasn't as if that would have any impact on their final fates. In fact, should redundant statements somehow save them, Jeice would be up to uttering thousands of them as quickly as possible.

"Dende, call the Dragon now!" Krillin told his friend.

Dende quickly said some words in what had to be Namekian, while Jeice, still taking deep breaths, managed to force himself to his feet, standing on wobbly legs that threatened to give way at any instant. Any conviction he'd had about how they were all doomed had suddenly been strengthened tenfold. There was simply no way they would be able to stand against such a high power level, no matter how much they joined their efforts or how much they tried to drag things or for Goku to come to help them. Once they met Frieza, they would all be goners.

And judging from the speed at which he'd sensed that energy signature moving before he lost his focus on it, that moment would come very soon.

"Hey Dende, nothing's happening," Krillin said.

Momentarily distracted from his imminent end by those words, Jeice looked toward the Dragon Balls. Indeed, they had remained exactly the same as they had been before Dende had shouted those words. Apparently, the little kid did not know any password after all, and they would not be able to make any wish before Frieza arrived.

But then, all of a sudden, a golden-orange glow started fading in and out of each of the Dragon Balls, rendering the starts inside the balls completely invisible whenever it was present. Moments afterwards, the sky of Planet Namek went from green to pitch-black, as a wind started emanating from the Dragon Balls, and the golden glow inside them didn't fade. Then, the set of Dragon Balls seemed to explode in a golden light, as a huge column of the same golden-orange color of the light that the balls had emanated rose into the sky, releasing bolts of electricity of a matching tone, and unleashing even more powerful gusts of wind.

The resulting effect was so intense that Krillin and Gohan had to shield their eyes with their forearms, and even Dende and Jeice, who could observe the effect directly, seemed to have been robbed of their breaths.

The column of golden-orange light kept snaking its way toward the sky, until it had reached a height of at least a kilometer in Jeice's estimations. Slowly, the center of the column seemed to morph into a dark-green being, which had a massively muscled upper body that resembled that of many beings Jeice had seen across the Universe – but which morphed into a long slithery tail rather than a set of legs – a snake-like face with sharp teeth, two antennae hanging over red eyes, a long spike protruding from each shoulder, two horns erupting from the top of its scalp and one more erupting from each cheek, and a fin that made its way from the base of the being's neck to nearly the end of its tail.

The Eternal Dragon of Namek had finally appeared.

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><p><em>Up next: After many hard trials, the Namekian Dragon has been called at last. But which sort of wishes will Gohan and Krillin ask? Will Jeice try to make a wish of his own after all? And will all the wishes they have n mind be granted before either Frieza or Vegeta arrive to the scene? What will happen? Find out next!<em>

_Hoping you enjoyed the chapter,_

_Genescritor_


	9. Chapter 9: Granted wishes

**From Enemy to Student**

**- a Dragon Ball Z fanfiction -**

**Chapter 9 – Granted wishes**

_Disclaimer: I do not own, in any way, any official property related Dragon Ball, such as the anime, its characters, related movies, and so on. However, I hope to supplement that glorious work of art with my fanfictions, such as this one. _

_I would also like to point out that this fanfiction was originally written by Gonstika, from whom I adopted it, and many of the concepts and plot-points featured in its chapters are originated by Gonstika as well._

_With that said, I hope you enjoy the story._

* * *

><p>The mountainous dragon that had come forth from Planet Namek's magical spheres was such a sight to behold that, over the next moments, none of the four spectators managed to utter as much as a sound, thanks to how awed they were at the creature's mighty presence.<p>

"Whoa," Krillin finally uttered, being the first to speak. "Planet Namek's Shenron is this big?"

Remarkably collected for such a young child, Dende replied, "We actually call him Porunga, which means 'Dragon of Love'. And this is also the first time I see him."

Dende's calm at the presence of such a creature was so impressive that for a moment Jeice almost felt like he wanted to take a seat. It didn't make any sense for a mere kid to be so calm on the first time he beheld such a creature, and one that had the power to grant wishes no less! If not for the fact anyone else was managing to somehow keep his wits, Jeice would probably have fallen on his bottom and taken several deep breaths.

Seemingly unaware of all the awe he had instilled in them, Porunga looked down and boomed in a mighty voice, "You who have gathered the Dragon Balls, make your wishes. I shall grant you three wishes, as long as they are within the limits of my power."

Jeice's eyes widened at that statement. Had Porunga just said he could grant three wishes? But wasn't he meant to grant only one? After all, everyone until then – the Earthlings, Frieza, Vegeta, and even Jeice himself – had been acting as if the Dragon Balls would grant a single wish. And the Earthlings were meant to be the ones who knew about the Dragon Balls. How could that be?

"Did he say three?" Krillin asked, as if he doubted his hearing.

Seemingly unfazed by his friend's confusion, Dende replied in a patient tone, "Yes, Krillin. We can make three wishes."

While Krillin and Gohan cheered over that fact, Jeice thought about what would be the best wish to make. After all, if the Earthlings had only had one wish in mind when they had come here, it was perfectly possible that they would let him have one of the other two. But what should be his wish?

He briefly thought about bringing Burter and Recoome back to life, so that they would not have to put up with Captain Ginyu in the afterlife, if such a place did exist in the first place. After all, Ginyu was bound to be pissed off at the fact he had been killed, and would certainly take out his frustrations on them. If Jeice resurrected them, they wouldn't have to deal with Ginyu.

But they would have to deal with Frieza, who was bound to be even angrier if he found out that not just one, but three of his men had switched loyalties. Assuming Burter and Recoome would even do such a thing, that is. After all, Burter could be still so mad at the fact he had been abandoned by Jeice that he would stick by Frieza's side just to see Jeice get what he deserved. It was something that Jeice could understand, but which he found better if it didn't take place. As for Recoome, he had been unconscious while Ginyu killed him, and while Burter could have explained the situation to him if they had met in the afterlife, such a thing was only valid if there was an afterlife in the first place. In case there was no afterlife at all, Recoome would just be resurrected without knowing what had happened and be utterly confused at what had taken place during his death, which would only make their situation even worse.

While Jeice wanted to have Burter and Recoome resurrected at some point, maybe it would be better if he waited for a time when it would be safer to do so, just in case, and regardless of how guilty he felt at the fact he was suddenly thinking over whether his friends would get to be resurrected or to stay dead. After all, he was no god to be deciding those things.

Krillin's shout to Dende brought him back to reality.

"First ask him to resurrect all those who were killed by the Saiyans on Earth!" the short bald man commanded.

Again, Dende shouted some words in Namekian. From what Jeice had seen so far, the password to make the wishes was simply the Namekian language. And speaking of wishes, Jeice couldn't help to find that making this particular one was a complete waste more than anything else. While he understood that Gohan and Krillin would want to see their friends again, he couldn't help but to think that they should have tried to use their wish to strengthen their own skills in whatever way possible rather than resurrecting their friends. After all, if those friends of theirs had been killed by Vegeta and Nappa, they wouldn't last a second against Frieza, mainly when even those here on Namek probably wouldn't last much in spite of working together. He really should have tried to give his own input of a wish before those two had actually tried to make it.

But then again, there would be two more wishes after this one, and as Gohan and Krillin hadn't had any other wish in mind, they could always use those two wishes to improve their chances against Frieza in whatever way possible.

After a few seconds of silence, Porunga boomed, "That wish is beyond my power. I can only resurrect one person per wish."

Gohan and Krillin moaned in displeasure at this turn of events, but Jeice, who had already decided – albeit begrudgingly – that not resurrecting Burter and Recoome for now would be better to everyone, including Burter and Recoome themselves, sank back into his own thoughts, and tried to think of what wish they should make in order to improve their chances against Frieza.

He briefly wondered if it would be possible for the Dragon himself to kill Frieza, but that was a thought he quickly discarded. If it was possible for Porunga to kill Frieza, certainly the Earthlings would have thought of making that wish in the first place, considering how they could sense energy signatures and how they undoubtedly knew that Frieza was so much stronger than them. After all, they couldn't be all that idiotic, could they? But if the Dragon could not kill Frieza directly, maybe it would possible for him to make Jeice himself – or any of the others, for that matter – strong enough to defeat Frieza. While it was also a bit of a long shot, as certainly that was something the Earthlings would also have thought of asking if it was even possible in the first place, Jece figured it would be worth the try.

Finding that the best course of action to take for the moment, Jeice opened his mouth to tell them his idea, while inwardly hoping that the two of them wouldn't kill him before he spoke as a safety measure. But right when he was about to start speaking, Gohan's look melted into one of awe for some unexplained reason, as if he had seen or heard something that surprised him greatly.

Jeice briefly looked around to see if anything new had happened, but the scenery around had remained exactly the same way it was before Gohan had earned his look of awe. But then, why would he be like that?

Gohan's awed look remained for a few moments, before turning into a joyful one for some unexplained reason.

"Piccolo!" he said, a happy smile on his lips.

Jeice raised an eyebrow. Piccolo? What sort of thing had gotten into this kid's mind for him to be saying random words like that? And what or who was Piccolo, for that matter?

The second question had a partial answer soon, as Krillin started looking around as if he expected to see someone else there, and asked, "Where is he?"

Almost before Krillin had finished that question, Gohan said, while also looking in every direction, "I can hear you, but I can't see you."

From the actions of those two, it was clear for Jeice that this Piccolo was some friend of theirs, and that for some reason Gohan at least had suddenly started to hear his voice. But clearly not even the kid had any idea why that happened, considering the question he had made.

After a few moments of silence, Gohan spoke up again.

"Piccolo? Are you still there?" he asked, obviously no longer hearing Piccolo's voice.

Again, a moment of silence followed, but this time, Gohan had a look on his face that suggested he was listening to someone, which indicated Piccolo was talking to him in some way, although he again seemed to be the only one who heard him thanks to whatever communication process they were using.

"Hey, he's right!" Krillin suddenly said, showing that he could also hear this Piccolo guy. "Let's bring him back first!"

Standing aside, Jeice couldn't help but to let out a frustrated grumble, feeling quite left out of the conversation. While he understood the concept of talking privately, and he didn't actually consider himself close enough to Gohan and Krillin to have earned a right to listen in on their conversations, he still felt slightly upset at the fact he didn't know what they were talking about, mainly because whatever Piccolo could be telling them was something that could affect them all. At least, he wasn't the only one left out of the conversation, as Dende, judging from the look on his face, also didn't seem to much of an idea of what they were talking about.

In the meantime, Gohan seemed to have gained a slightly amazed and scared look on his face, thanks to whatever Piccolo was telling him to do next. But a few instants afterwards, that look was replaced by one of resolve.

"Yes," he said in an equally determined look. "Crystal clear, Piccolo."

Deciding he had been kept in the dark for long enough, Jeice finally said, "Hold on a second there! What's crystal clear? What's this Piccolo dude telling ya to do?"

Looking like he hadn't even heard Jeice's question, Gohan said with another happy smile on his face, again answering to something Piccolo had told him, "Yeah! We'll be fighting side by side again, just like on Earth!"

Even more upset at the fact he had been ignored in such a manner, Jeice insisted, now in a considerably louder tone, "Didn't ya hear me? I asked what was crystal clear!"

Gohan, Krillin, and Dende jumped slightly in startle, as if they had forgotten Jeice's presence. Jeice inwardly cursed at that. It would already be hard enough for him to tell his idea without putting them even more against him than they already were, and scaring them with loud speeches wasn't something that would put them more on his side. If anything, it would make them even more antagonistic against himself.

Fortunately, Gohan at least didn't take all that long to recover from his amazement.

"My friend Piccolo had just told me the two wishes he wants us to make," he explained. "First he wants me to resurrect him, and then he wants me to bring him here to Planet Namek so that he can help us fight Frieza."

Jeice nodded in understanding, while at the same time realizing that there was indeed an afterlife, if this Piccolo guy was dead and had been able to talk to Krillin and Gohan from there. But inwardly, he couldn't help but to find that they would be wasting too wishes on the same person, not to mention that he doubted this Piccolo, whoever it was, would be much of a help in fighting Frieza if he had perished against Nappa, or, at the very least, Vegeta.

"And don't even think about stopping us from asking them, get it?" Krillin warned threateningly, as if to remind him of their previous conversation.

Raising his hands in the most placating gesture he could muster, Jeice said in a calm, even voice, "I wasn't gonna do that."

Inwardly, Jeice thought that he would have liked to dissuade them from asking those wishes and use them on something that would further improve their odds against Frieza. But he knew they weren't going to balk on that point, and trying to get his idea across by force would be unsuccessful, not to mention it would make them lose more time, considering how Frieza was meant to be coming closer.

But maybe it would be possible to condense those two wishes into a single one, now that he thought of it.

After thinking again about the wishes this Piccolo had wanted Gohan and Krillin to make, Jeice said, "Why don't ya just ask the Dragon to resurrect this Piccolo guy here on Namek? I'm sure he could do that."

For the first few moments, Gohan and Krillin looked as if they hadn't even heard Jeice's suggestion, but soon, thoughtful looks to their faces as they mulled the matter over in their heads. It was a good start, for at least it meant that in spite of them having been enemies, they were somewhat receptive to Jeice's suggestions, as long as they were logical enough, anyway.

"Well, maybe that would be possible…" Krillin said. "But we don't know if he could do that. Our Dragon always resurrected people where their dead bodies were."

Jeice couldn't help but to feel a momentary surge of irritation. Didn't these guys understand that the longer they hesitated in the wishes they wanted to make, the closer Frieza got, and the less likely it was that they would be able to make all the wishes they had in mind before Frieza got here? Granted, they'd only had one wish in mind,

Thankfully, Krillin didn't take all that long to come to terms with his decision, although he still took too long considering the huge speed at which Frieza was closing in.

"It's worth a shot, anyway," Krillin said, which caused Jeice to let out an excessively loud sigh of relief. "And that way, we'll have even more wishes to ask. Dende, tell the Dragon to bring Piccolo back to life here on Planet Namek!"

Dende nodded, and then relayed the wish to the Dragon in Namekian.

"A simple matter," Porunga boomed after Dende had finished. "I shall grant this wish."

The Dragon's red eyes glowed when he finished his sentence, but nothing else happened in the area. Not even a bug appeared there after the Dragon finished speaking.

At first, they waited until the Dragon's eyes had stopped glowing, but eventually, the red light inside them faded, and yet no one else had appeared on that location.

"Your first wish has been granted," Porunga said after the red glow in his eyes had faded. "State your second wish."

Those below looked around one last time, expecting to see something that had escaped them from the previous times they had done so, but yet again no one else was present there.

"What's goin' on here?" Jeice asked. "Why can't I see this Piccolo guy? Is he invisible or somethin'?"

At first, he wondered if he was going to get an explosion of angry comments from someone unexpected because of that remark, but no explosion of obscenities uttered by an unknown voice followed his questions.

"No, Piccolo isn't invisible," Krillin replied to him in a calm, even tone, seemingly having forgotten his animosity toward Jeice, at least temporarily. "He simply isn't here, and we don't know why."

A look of fear suddenly dawned on Dende's face.

"I only asked the Dragon to bring him back to life here on Namek!" he shouted. "That means he can be anywhere on the planet!"

Gohan and Krillin gasped loudly as the realization sunk in, and even Jeice muttered a curse, as he also had forgotten that particular point. But he took considerably less time to get over his annoyance at the fact than the other two. If this Piccolo was not capable of making his way here to help them on the fight against Frieza, then he would not be of any use against Frieza even if he had been brought directly here in the first place.

Deciding he had already waited long enough to know whether the wishes he had in mind, he turned directly to Porunga and shouted up at him, "Say Dragon, would it be possible for you to kill Frieza or to make any of us strong enough to do so?"

Although Jeice had already known what the answer to his first question was likely to be, he decided to make it anyway, just in case the Dragon could actually kill Frieza for them and the Earthlings simply hadn't thought of it. While it was taking the coward's way out, Jeice wasn't foolish enough to rush head first into a suicide battle if there was any way he could avoid. Charging recklessly into danger or fighting enemies they knew they had no chances of defeating was something only Saiyans did.

All too late, Jeice remembered that until now the kid had always talked to the Dragon in Namekian, and that Jeice himself hadn't. But, much to his surprise, Porunga replied in his booming voice, "Killing the one you call Frieza is beyond my power. I am unable to grant any wish beyond the power of Great Elder Guru, the keeper of the Dragon Balls. As far as making any of you stronger than Frieza himself, the best I can do with regards to battle power is to awaken battle power that is sleeping inside the individual."

Jeice was briefly surprised that the Dragon had replied to him even though Jeice hadn't spoken in Namekian – but on second thought, he had to admit it had its logic, as Porunga hadn't spoken in Namekian not even once ever since he had first appeared. But soon, his thoughts shifted to his annoyance at the fact the Dragon could not kill Frieza directly with his wish. It would be much better if he could simply do so and solve their problems at once.

The fact Porunga could only awaken sleeping powers also annoyed him somewhat, but still, he recognized it was better than nothing. Therefore, the next wish that would be better for them to ask was for Porunga to awaken the sleeping powers of as many people as possible. But who should he include in that list?

Jeice wanted to include himself in that wish, but he had his doubts as to whether Gohan and Krillin would allow for that. Most likely, they would want to keep the wish all to themselves. But should their sleeping powers be enough to turn the odds in their favor, maybe it would be worth a shot.

This Piccolo guy was also a first choice. While Jeice wasn't sure of whether he had any sleeping power to speak of, if he had then it would be worth the try to have the Dragon awaken it.

It would be better not to extend the wish to Goku, as after all he was still recovering inside that rejuvenation tank, and there was really no way to tell what such a wish would do to an injured body, or if it would even work on it. Besides, Goku would already get much stronger once he was healed, considering that he was a Saiyan.

As for Vegeta, Jeice simply thought he was already strong enough without having any sleeping powers – assuming Vegeta even had such a thing – awakened. Not to mention that if such a wish was extended to him, Vegeta was bound to wake up, see what they were doing, and either be pissed off at the fact his immortality had been denied or demand for them to grant him immortality. And an even more powerful Vegeta turned immortal was something that Jeice did not want to see, not even if it meant Frieza would be killed.

Deciding that he'd already had a good enough plan for a wish in mind, Jeice turned to Dende and said, "Kiddo, ask the Dragon to awaken any sleeping powers inside me, these two here, and this Piccolo dude you talked about."

Then, suddenly remembering an earlier thought he'd had when first considering his wishes, he added, "Oh, and of Recoome and Burter as well."

Up until now, neither Krillin nor Gohan had tried to forcibly silence Jeice, although they had always kept their gazes locked on him, clearly to make sure he wouldn't pull any fast one. But now, before Dende could utter as much as a sound, Krillin raised his hand toward him and said, "Don't ask for that wish Dende."

Shifting his now even sterner look to Jeice, he said, "What part of you being taken out if you tried to jeopardize our wish didn't you get?"

The annoyance he felt at the bald man's obstructive remarks coming through, Jeice shouted, "I didn't jeopardize anything! I even helped you to condense your two wishes into one so that we'd have more wishes to turn the odds in our favor as much as possible! Do you really think we can afford ourselves to not take advantage of that? I personally to have our chances against Frieza be as good as possible!"

Krillin looked like he was going to argue back at first, but as Jeice's words slowly hit home, he stopped himself and thought them over. Yet another time, Jeice grumbled at how much time these guys could lose when thinking – although he had already acknowledged that they wouldn't just do what he asked without any questions.

"You have a point," Krillin said. "But if you are asking that wish, why did you go through the trouble of including those two comrades of yours in that list? And for that matter, why aren't you including Goku and Vegeta as well?"

Before Jeice could answer to that, Krillin shouted, "It's because you're trying to be stronger than them, that's why! Well bastard, you're not going to get that!"

Turning to the Namekian kid, Krillin shouted at him, "Dende, don't ask the Dragon to grant that wish!"

His annoyance increasing even further, Jeice shouted, his red aura suddenly explosion around him and causing the ground to shake for a few instants, "Will you just listen to me?"

Dende jumped back, both because of Jeice's shout and because of the small tremor Jeice's surge of energy had caused. Krillin and Gohan weren't as taken aback by that, but both of them glared at him for both things. But Jeice, not giving them time to come up with any more angry comments and delay things even further, said, "I'm not purposefully tryin' to make myself the strongest of our bunch, although I'd certainly take that if it got Frieza killed. As for not includin' Goku, I didn't do it because he's still beaten to a pulp, and who knows what would happen if such a wish was made on an injured body. And about Vegeta, I didn't include him because if such a wish was made on him he'd certainly wake up, find you what we were up to, and be barkin' mad."

Remembering he still hadn't addressed one of the points Krillin had raised, "About Burter and Recoome, why does it matter to you how strong they are? They're dead! What difference does it make that they become strong in the afterlife where they can no longer get to you!"

Gohan's and Krillin's angry looks decreased considerably as they considered the logic in Jeice's words.

"Granted, you have a point again," Krillin said, thankfully after a much shorter pause this time. "But would you even want to make that sort of wish on dead comrades?"

Even more annoyed at the fact Krillin was only making them waste more time with what he had said "Like I said, why does it make any difference to you how strong they are, as long as they stay dead?"

He didn't tell so to Gohan and Krillin, but the reason why he had thought of including Burter and Recoome on the wish was because, now that he had found there was an afterlife, he was sure Ginyu would be taking out his frustrations at having been killed on them. If the two of them had any sleeping powers awakened, they would be able to defend themselves from him much better. Who knows, maybe they would even be able to get back at him for what he had done. Hopefully, Porunga's wish would affect dead people. But seeing as the Dragon had the power to resurrect people, Jeice figured it was possible.

As long as Krillin and Gohan got to a decision on whether to let him ask for that wish or not, that is. Krillin, in particular, still looked really hesitant. But Gohan suddenly snapped out of his thoughts, clearly focusing on something else, and shouted, "Krillin, Frieza's closing in fast!"

Jeice's heart jumped up in fright. In his annoyance at the bald man's hesitation, he almost had, ironically enough, forgotten about Frieza's impending approach. He didn't dare to use his new energy-sensing skill to see how far away Frieza was, though. He didn't want to get sick again.

Fortunately, the reminder of that minor fact seemed to be enough for Krillin to make his decision.

"Alright, what you say is fair enough," Krillin replied. "And even if I don't like the thought of you being stronger, it's certainly better than having Vegeta be immortal."

While Jeice couldn't help but to grumble at such blunt honesty, Krillin turned to Dende, and said, "Dende, do as he said. Ask Porunga to awaken any sleeping powers that myself, Gohan, Piccolo, Jeice, Burter, and Recoome may have. Oh, and feel free to count yourself in as well, buddy."

Dende seemed somewhat puzzled by the complexity of the wish, but he relayed the wish to the Dragon, speaking more slowly than usual to make sure that he didn't forget anyone. Although Jeice himself didn't speak Namekian, he soaked in every word of the wish, as he knew he would be capable of recognizing the names Dende would mention, and wanted to see if he had forgotten someone.

Much to Jeice's relief, Dende included all the names intended to be incorporated in the wish. But still, Jeice steeled himself for any potentially unpleasant answer when the little Namekian finished speaking. After all, some of them could not have sleeping powers for the Dragon to awaken, or he could be unable to awaken sleeping powers inside dead people, in spite of his obvious skill to resurrect them.

After a few moments that felt eternal, and in which Jeice's heart beat so loudly that it was the only thing he could listen to, the Dragon parted his menacing maw full of sharp teeth, and said, "That is a simple wish. I shall grant it."

Right as Jeice let out a sigh of relief at the fact Porunga hadn't raised any objections, the mighty Dragon's red eyes glowed again.

At that very instant, Jeice felt a weird tug that seemed to come from the depths of his being, as if a heavy inner burden was being heaved up at an immensely high speed. Then, before Jeice could even think about stopping it, something seemed to break, and energy like he had never known before flooded through every fiber of his being, causing his aura to erupt around himself from the forced power-up, pushing his long mane upwards. The rush was so intense that it pushed every thought out of Jeice's mind, and he could only keep his wits enough to try to repress that weird flood that spread through every pore of his body, fearing that this unknown feeling would overwhelm him if he dared to let it come forth in its full intensity, while at the same time not wanting it to end soon.

After only a few moments in real time had passed, although they had felt like an eternity to Jeice, the strange flood inside him finally subsided, and he managed to regain his wits somewhat, although he still felt giddy and lightheaded, as if he wanted to jump up in joy.

"Your second wish has been granted," Porunga boomed. "State your third one. And think wisely."

Barely registering the Dragon's words, Jeice looked down at his hands, gazing down at his aura, which seemed to not only have grown more intense in glow, but to radiate farther outwardly from his body.

'I can't believe this!' Jeice thought. 'I must be at least five or six times stronger than I was before! It's amazing!'

Jeice almost burst into euphoric laughter at that realization. He had always known himself to be quite strong by the standard of Frieza's forces, but it was more than clear to him by now that over the course of his whole life he'd only been scratching the surface of his whole power.

However, as much as he was happy at knowing he had become so strong, he was also frustrated at the fact he had so much sleeping power inside him. If this power had truly been sleeping inside him, then that meant Jeice would have been capable of accessing it if he had trained in the right manner. If he had controlled all this power, then Ginyu would not have stood a chance against him, and he would easily have been capable of stopping Ginyu from killing Burter and Recoome.

As he came to this realization, Jeice couldn't help but to think that maybe he had gained his answer about why he hadn't felt like any of the recruits in the Ginyu Academy had improved all that much. Apparently, Ginyu had been carefully not-training them, so that they wouldn't be stronger than himself.

At least, he was now paying for that. After all, if Jeice himself had become so strong, and the Dragon had also awakened whatever sleeping powers Burter and Recoome might have had by the time of their deaths, then they would have certainly become strong enough to beat the crap out of Ginyu while they were up there.

Suddenly, as if it came from far away, Gohan's voice reached out to his ears.

"What's going on here?" Gohan asked Krillin, although he sounded like he hadn't expected an answer. "Why did he become so much stronger, and yet our power levels have barely increased?"

Brought back into reality by that question, Jeice pushed his own thoughts away and focused on the kid's words.

"I'm not sure, Gohan," Krillin said. "But considering what we specifically asked for, I think that what the Dragon did is the same thing Elder Guru did to us. If that's true, then we either can no longer become stronger, or it hasn't been long enough since Guru awakened the sleeping powers we had at the time for any sleeping power that we might have gained since then to be noticeable by now."

Gohan didn't reply for a few moments, as if he was taking special time to soak in Krillin's words in order to make sure he got everything.

"Well, at least Piccolo must have become stronger as well," Gohan said. "After all, the wish included him as well."

Krilin nodded at him.

"Indeed," he said. "And by the way, speaking of wishes, what are we going to ask for the third one?"

While Gohan and Krillin thought the matter over, Jeice did the same. If he had become stronger to such an extent, then Burter and Recoome must have become stronger as well, and would be a great help when fighting Frieza. And if there was an afterlife at all, then they clearly knew what Ginyu had put them through, and were less likely to side with Frieza if they were brought back.

However, the Dragon would only be able to resurrect one of them, and Jeice didn't want to have to choose between any of them. If he was to resurrect them, he would do it to both of them at the same time, as the one who wasn't chosen would certainly get mad at him out of being neglected. And while both of them could be mad at him if Jeice forewent resurrecting them this time, at least there was still a chance they would understand that he had done so only because he wanted to have the two of them back at the same time, and that he hadn't used the remaining two wishes to do so because he'd been trying to make sure they wouldn't be killed again shortly after being resurrected.

He again couldn't help but to inwardly berate himself at thinking over whether Burter and Recoome got to live or die, but as he had done before, he forced himself to accept that this was not a thought for some time. He'd be able to feel all the guilt in the world as soon as Frieza was killed.

And speaking of which, maybe there was still some way in which they could use their third wish to increase their chances of victory against Frieza.

Suddenly, Gohan broke out of his deep thoughts again, and looked in pure fright at something in the distance. Jeice instinctively looked back on the same direction, and saw a pale-blue circle with the black dot in the middle, growing ever closer by the second.

"Oh no!" Krillin shouted in fright. "Vegeta's coming! We'd better think of something fast!"

While Gohan and Krillin tried to follow that very suggestion, Jeice focused his energy-sensing skills on Vegeta. The intensity of his energy signature was strong indeed – converted to scouter units, it would certainly be well over the 200,000s. And at the same time, it didn't seem to be everything there was to it. It almost seemed as if Vegeta was holding back some strength, and could still let it come forth if he so chose.

Well, at least this way, they certainly wouldn't have any problem defeating Frieza when the time to do so came. Maybe they'd live through this after all.

"How about we ask the Dragon to heal Daddy?" Gohan asked. "That way, we wouldn't have to wait for the machine to finish doing it!"

Both Krillin and Jeice looked at him upon his suggestion. But while Krillin looked rather joyful at Gohan's idea, clearly finding it a very good one, Jeice grumbled when he heard it, realizing a very fundamental point that he had completely forgotten, and that Gohan's words had made him remember.

"Drats," Jeice grumbled. "We could have made that wish before the one to awaken our sleeping powers, and then made the one to awaken sleeping powers extended to Goku as well!"

Jeice stomped the ground in frustration, causing several long cracks, each of them several millimeters wide, to radiate from the spot his foot had hit, crisscrossing through the grass. How could he have been so stupid? If they had first made the wish to get Goku healed, and then had made the wish to awaken their sleeping powers with Goku also included on the list, their chances against Frieza were bound to be so good that victory was guaranteed!

Damn it, why did this have to happen? He had thought about combining the wishes to bring this 'Piccolo' to life and to Namek into a single one. He had thought about making that wish to awaken whatever sleeping powers they might have. Why couldn't he have thought about healing Goku first, and then have all of them awaken their sleeping powers? For someone who did want to have Frieza defeated, and was actually trying to do whatever they could to achieve that, he certainly wasn't doing that good of a job either!

From the looks on Gohan's and Krillin's faces, it was clear enough than they were thinking a very similar thing, but whether they were thinking Jeice was guilty for not having thought of that or whether they were the guilty ones for not having thought of it either was unclear. And in the end, it seemed not to matter, as before they could even start trying to partially correct their wish and have, at the very least, Goku healed and back to them, something no one had been counting on happened.

The golden-orange glow around Porunga faded, and the Dragon himself started fading in and out of existence, as if there was some sort of connection problem. After that had happened a few times, Porunga stopped 'blinking' but he somehow seemed to have become less opaque and solid, as if he had suddenly turned into some sort of smoke. At the same time, the glow around him returned, even brighter than before, but it seemed unstable, like a fire that blazed violently only to burn out right afterwards. Then, the red in his eyes faded to black, and a roar of agony seemed to come from his entire being as he slowly dissolved into smoke that went up in a vertical column, before condensing into a spherical cloud and exploding in a shower of green and cream over them.

As Jeice, Krillin, and Gohan gasped in amazement, a column of golden-orange light that matched the glow that Porunga had emanated erupted from the seven dragon balls, as a blinding white light completely engulfed the area, so intense none of them could see anything, other than the seven Dragon Balls, which had floated up to half the attitude at which Porunga's highest point had been. Then, the seven balls converged together into a golden-orange sphere, before parting in radial directions, flying over about five meters, and falling down to the ground with booming thuds, turned into nothing more than spherical white rocks as the sky overhead went from pitch black to the typical green that it was on this planet when it wasn't covered by pale-yellow clouds.

At first, not a sound was heard in the area, other than a noise that sounded like that of quiet sobs, and which seemed to come from Dende, who was now on all-fours on the aqua-colored grass. But eventually, Jeice managed to speak up, trying his best to forget the strange event he had just witnessed.

"What's goin' on here?" Jeice whispered, hoping somehow any of them would be able to tell him. "What happened?"

Gohan and Krillin turned to him, but they didn't say anything, clearly as confused as to what had happened as Jeice himself was. But Dende, in spite of the noise he was making – which now looked even more distinctly like sobs – managed to reply

"Guru's gone," Dende whispered. "The Great Elder of Planet Namek, the keeper of the Dragon Balls, has died of old age."

At that explanation from the little Namekian, Gohan and Krillin also got stricken looks on their faces. Clearly, they had known this Guru as well, and also were affected by his death. And although Jeice himself had never met the guy himself, he also gasped, as he suddenly felt as if his heart had been run through.

If there were no more Dragon Balls, then there would be no other way of bringing Burter and Recoome back to life. The two of them would have to stay dead forever, no longer having any hope about coming back to life, enduring whatever the afterlife had to give them. But at least, they would have each other. Jeice would spend the rest of his days alone, without anyone to eat ice cream or chocolate with, or to make silly jokes with. And the rest of his days was likely to be a very long time-period, as Jeice hadn't felt himself aging the tiniest bit in decades, and most likely also wouldn't age any further over the next decades, although he had no real way of knowing for sure whether those thoughts were true, considering how he had never known any other member of his species, and therefore didn't know the average lifespan of a member of his race.

Whatever his lifespan was, though, he could already know one thing for sure: without Burter and Recoome to give him their company and friendship, the period that followed would be the loneliest one of his life.

A low tapping sound that seemed to come from far away reached his ears. In an almost mechanical response, Jeice turned around to see what had made that noise. What he saw was so scary that he completely forgot his thoughts about a lonely life and jumped back in startle, nearly spitting his heart through his mouth from fright.

Looking like the personification of fury itself, with veins protruding all over his forehead, a fierce scowl on his face, and his flame-shaped hair looking even spikier than it had been before, Vegeta stood there, his fists clenched so tightly that he was almost digging his nails into his palms even through the gloves he wore.

"You fooled me." Vegeta growled at them, his anger so intense that it made him quake. "YOU FOOLED ME!"

Gohan and Krillin jumped back from fright, and even Dende was scared out of his sobbing, crawling backwards to Gohan and Krillin. This time, Jeice managed to stand his ground, but he could already feel a few beads of cold sweat starting to appear on his forehead.

"I hope you are fully aware of the implications of what you have just done when you betrayed me," Vegeta growled at them. "Whatever weird things you wished for, you have just wasted our only chance at defeating Frieza, which was me becoming immortal!"

In spite of his fear, Jeice glared at the Saiyan, setting his own face into a snarl that matched Vegeta's. That stinky monkey certainly was full of himself if he thought they would all just decide to go and not only rely exclusively on him to defeat Frieza, but actually be foolish enough to make him even more dangerous than Frieza was at the point!

Seemingly unaware of Jeice's thoughts – or of the change in his expression – Vegeta growled. "Well, here's a piece of news for you. Now you no longer have to care about being killed by Frieza, because I'll do you the favor of taking you out myself!"

As if to punctuate his last sentence, Vegeta clenched his right fist even more tightly, if such a thing was even possible, and summoned an energy sphere at that hand, seemingly intent of unleashing it on them. Jeice immediately stiffened, his eyes locked on Vegeta's right hand, ready to jump away from the place he was currently at if that arm of his as much as twitched.

The sphere around Vegeta's fist grew in size, with the glare on his face suggesting that he'd level the half of the planet they were on in that single strike if his fury was enough to empower his blast. But all of a sudden, as if the power inside him had gone out, the energy sphere around Vegeta's fist vanished, and the look of anger on his face was replaced by one of utter fear, as he looked at something above and behind Jeice.

Feeling a sudden chill creeping up his spine, as if there was a gaze locked onto him, Jeice turned around very slowly, as if he was made of crystal and making any more sudden movement would cause him to shatter. Still, it was all too soon for him that he finished turning around and setting his sights on what Vegeta had seen. And when he did, his whole body froze in horror.

Standing on the top of a rock, with a look of cold anger that somehow looked thousands of times scarier than the most uncontrolled fury ever known in the Universe, Frieza himself looked down at them, his sleek black horns glistening menacingly under the light of the planet's suns.

"Well, well…" Frieza whispered, as if he was trying to save as much fury as possible, only to unleash it all at the same time when the chance came. "What do we have here?"

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><p><em>Up next: Now that the Cosmic Emperor himself has arrived to the scene and realized what has transpired, he's furious at being denied his only chance at eternal life! And now Jeice, Gohan, Krillin, Dende, and Vegeta have to face his wrath. Will their new powers be enough to protect them from him? What will happen? Find out next!<em>

_Hoping you enjoyed the chapter,_

_Genescritor_

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><p><em>I sincerely hope your transition from 2011 to 2012 was as good as it could possibly be. <em>

_I wish you all, my dear readers, the happiest possible 2012. And for those who follow calendars in which the year didn't start today, I hope you also have a Happy New Year from whenever your year starts to whenever it ends._

_Genescritor_


	10. Chapter 10: A few revelations

**From Enemy to Student**

**- a Dragon Ball Z fanfiction -**

**Chapter 10 – A few revelations**

_Disclaimer: I do not own, in any way, any official property related Dragon Ball, such as the anime, its characters, related movies, and so on. However, I hope to supplement that glorious work of art with my fanfictions, such as this one. _

_I would also like to point out that this fanfiction was originally written by Gonstika, from whom I adopted it, and many of the concepts and plot-points featured in its chapters are originated by Gonstika as well._

_With that said, I hope you enjoy the story._

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><p>Only moments after he got himself of his frozen-stupor to an extent that enabled him to think, Jeice's mind was divided between the only two options that came to it: bolting for cover as quickly as he could while hoping against all hopes that he would somehow be able to escape Frieza, and killing himself before Frieza could do it if only so he wouldn't have to face a slow, painful death at Frieza's hands. However, a tiny fragment of stark logic that was still left in his brain dictated one very simple truth: doing either of those things successfully was practically impossible. If Jeice tried to flee, Frieza would strike him down in a heartbeat, and then revel in the pleasure of killing him slowly and painfully afterwards. And if Jeice tried to kill himself, Frieza would be capable of crippling him to such an extent that Jeice would not be able of doing so. Granted, the second option was slightly more likely to be successful than the first, as Frieza would only stop Jeice from committing suicide if he truly wanted to have the honor of killing Jeice himself, and there was always a possibility Frieza wouldn't want to kill Jeice <em>that<em> much. But it was a remote one, just like the possibility of any of Jeice's two plans succeeding.

With all those things considered, the only thing Jeice had left was to follow his third option: to fight alongside Vegeta, Krillin, and Gohan against Frieza. It was something Jeice had known he'd have to do sooner or later now that he had switched sides, but now that the moment had finally arrived, Jeice could feel how he was not ready for it. After all, how could one set his mind to fight his own master, a being who ruled dozens of planets, in only an hour after having switched his loyalties? Granted, it could be easy for Vegeta, who had certainly been planning to rebel for a long time, or for Gohan and Krillin, who had viewed him as the enemy since the beginning. But Jeice always had considered Frieza as the omnipotent being on whose good graces he had to stay, right until Ginyu had killed Burter and Recoome. And although Jeice no longer wanted to stay on Frieza's good graces, as he simply was no longer capable of following Frieza's ideals after personally experiencing what it was like to have someone you cared for taken away forever, he still viewed Frieza as someone he couldn't defeat. While Frieza somehow seemed less all-powerful than before, thanks to how strong he had become after the Dragon's wish was granted, he still was too strong for Jeice to defeat on his own. Even if he had three other fighters to back him up, he wasn't sure of how he would work with them, as the only ones he'd been used to work with were his own comrades, and probably Vegeta and the others thought the same about him. And Jeice was smart enough to know that if they fought Frieza with individualist mentalities, they would all be killed, even if they fought him all at the same time.

Somehow, they would have to improvise a decent enough teamwork, and hold Frieza off while they waited for this Piccolo guy to arrive or for Goku to get healed. Hopefully, this Piccolo had become very strong after his sleeping powers were awakened, and Goku would have a big boost in strength after getting healed – although that one was sure to know, as a Saiyan's increases in strength after healing from near-death injuries were not set to a pre-determined multiplier, and so it was impossible to tell how strong he would become. Not to mention the accursed rumor about 530,000 not being Frieza's full power. If that was more than a rumor, they would all be lost for sure.

Any further thoughts on the matter were suddenly cut-off, as Frieza, after looking down at them for an amount of time that seemed to drag on for years, finally floated off the rock he was standing on, and floated down to their level with excruciating slowness. Forcing his fears and doubts to the back of his mind, Jeice put on the bravest front he was capable of, clenching his fists and standing as tall as he could with the most defiant expression he managed to muster.

After another eternity, Frieza touched down soundlessly, and looked back toward them again. But this time, and after only a few moments of silence, he spoke again.

"I must say this is definitely a surprise," Frieza said in a tone that sounded too nonchalant, for lack of a better description. "I didn't expect a bunch of weaklings to be capable of defeating the Ginyu Force, using the Dragon Balls, and robbing me of the immortality I wanted so much to earn."

At that comment, Frieza clenched his fists tightly, causing veins to protrude from the back of his hands and a few trickles of blood to leak through his fingers, certainly because he'd dug his nails into his palms.

"But it seems you didn't get all that lucky as well, isn't it Vegeta?" Frieza asked, now using a mocking tone, even as his fists seemed to clench ever more tightly. "Considering how you looked just about ready to kill them all, I'd say they must have somehow double-crossed you as well, and taken the chance to make their own wishes, rather than granting you the immortality you clearly wanted so much as well. You really should choose your allies more carefully."

At that remark from Frieza, Vegeta growled at him, veins protruding all over his forehead, as the same furious look from before returned to his face. However, he seemed to have completely forgotten about the others, and instead directed all of that rage toward Frieza, as if he somehow hoped that his mere look would kill Frieza. Well, if looks could kill, Frieza would certainly have died a thousand times over by now.

Completely unfazed by Vegeta's glare, Frieza carried on, now with a hint of anger in his voice, "However, the truth of the matter is that you have managed to stop me from gaining immortality."

His calm look suddenly twisting into one of pure anger, Frieza shouted, "AND I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU FOR THAT, YOU DISGUSTING WORMS! I'LL TORTURE YOU SO MUCH BEFORE KILLING YOU THAT YOU'LL BE BEGGING FOR DEATH BEFORE I'M EVEN HALFWAY DONE WITH IT!"

Krillin and Gohan, who had already been quaking in fear since they first set their eyes on Frieza, recoiled backwards when he shouted, while Dende clung to one of the now inert Dragon Balls as if doing so would somehow save him from Frieza's wrath. Jeice somehow managed to keep his brave front, but he was sweating buckets to such an extent that he was surprised his hair hadn't grown soaked yet.

However, Vegeta simply replaced his scowl with a defiant smirk, and said, "Just try it, Frieza. If you truly think you can defeat me so easily, you've got another thing coming."

Looking like he had temporarily forgotten his anger, Frieza chuckled in amusement, as if Vegeta's declaration had been no more than a joke for him.

"It seems you've forgotten just how terrible I truly am, Vegeta," Frieza said, now speaking in such a calm tone that anyone who hadn't heard his shouts wouldn't have believed him to have been so angry just moments before. "I'll have to give you a refresher of that fact before I kill you."

As he finished speaking, Frieza stood up straighter, although with a more relaxed stance, and said, as if a sudden thought had just come to his mind, "But before we start brawling like a bunch of uncivilized bullies, just let me get something clear."

When Frieza finished that sentence, the moment Jeice had been dreading the most came. Frieza set his sights on him.

"Why would you be idiotic enough to join forces with these fools, Jeice?" Frieza asked in a mock-hopeless tone, while putting the tips of his fingers to his forehead in a melodramatic gesture. "I expected an uncivilized monkey like Vegeta to be foolish enough to rebel, but you? I always thought you were smart enough – or at least, coward enough – for not to betray me."

As if he felt the need to clarify something, Frieza added a heartbeat later, "Not that I mind – after all, crushing five bugs is only a tad bit more annoying than crushing four – but I still would prefer not to kill you without knowing that particular fact. Just so I don't have to mull it over afterwards, you know?"

During all of Frieza's dialogue, Jeice had wanted to shake in fear so badly that he didn't know how he had managed to stop himself from actually doing so. But somehow, he managed to keep the mask of bravery and firmness he'd forced himself to assume, although by now it felt as if he was holding crystal that would break at the slightest carelessness from him.

"Well, what can I say?" Jeice asked, forcing himself to speak in a nonchalant manner, and doing so to such an extent that it was clear his tone was forced. "This mission 'ere on Namek took a big of an unexpected turn when the Cap'n killed Burter and Recoome, and that made me decide I didn't wanna stay in the Ginyu Force any longer."

A brief look of amazement came onto Frieza's face at that explanation. Turning his gaze away from Jeice for a moment, he looked over at the others, as if he was trying to scour them for any telltale sign that would indicate Jeice was telling a lie. Finding none, he looked back at Jeice.

"So that's it, eh?" Frieza thought. "Well, I can't say I don't get your point of view, but I certainly also get Ginyu's. Having those fools killed was nothing but a favor to the Universe. I didn't even know why I allowed Ginyu to choose them for his elite soldiers, in the first place."

Jeice's fear decreased substantially after hearing that sentence, as it was replaced by a surge of anger. Even though he hadn't exactly expected Frieza to have any consideration for Burter and Recoome, hearing them being referred as trash still angered him. In fact, it did so to such an extreme that he couldn't even begin to comprehend how he had been capable of referring to several other people the same way Frieza now referred to Burter and Recoome.

"Still, that doesn't make you any less of an idiot for standing against me," Frieza pointed out. "Although it does make me wonder why Ginyu chose such big dopes to be his soldiers. After all, he was at least smart enough to learn from his mistakes."

Feeling a sudden burst of curiosity at that seemingly casual remark, Jeice asked, "What does that mean?"

Jeice expected Frieza to lash out at him in some manner after that question, as he didn't really like being interrupted when he was speaking, and certainly wouldn't like the fact that a long chat was delaying his impending slaughter of them. But instead, Frieza kept his cool and said in his exceedingly casual tone, "I really don't need to be telling you. After all, you'll soon be in Hell, and then Ginyu himself will be able to tell you everything."

Hearing that answer, Jeice shrugged the matter off. It wasn't as if knowing such a thing would make any difference in the long run.

"But then again, it's not as if it does any harm telling you," Frieza pointed out. "So listen carefully, because I won't repeat anything."

Jeice did just that, while feeling grateful for the fact Frieza had decided to tell this after all. The longer they stalled, the more likely it would be for Piccolo or for Goku to get to the scene, and then the tides would turn in their favor.

"About thirty Earth-years ago, I came across a planet that even my elite soldiers found themselves unable to conquer," Frieza said as if he was just telling a story. "No matter how many teams I sent there, how numerous they were, and what races were part of them, there were always more losses on my side than on that planet's."

Jeice nodded, for some reason finding himself forgetting his fear while he listened to Frieza's story. To his surprise, it wasn't all that hard to listen to Frieza speaking, in spite of his firm decision to not go back to his side. After all, he'd done it for so long that the habit was still deeply ingrained in his mind.

"After about a month of that, I eventually felt I had to take care of the job myself, and so I went to that planet," Frieza carried on. "Naturally, once I got there, I wiped out all of that planet's army. But once all the army had been killed, a loud-mouthed bastard who until then had done no more than standing there with his fists on his hips and barking out orders, criticisms and insults to all those who would hear him, challenged me for a fight. If you haven't guessed, that was Ginyu."

Jeice could have guessed the last bit without being told anything. What Frieza told in his story perfectly matched the side of Ginyu that Jeice had gotten to see on several occasions during this mission that had taken numerous unexpected turns.

"Obviously, I won, but at that time, and much to my surprise, the idiot stuck his hand in the right side of his chest, and then spread out his arms as if he was preparing himself for something big," Frieza said. "But he didn't get to do so, as I felt so sorry for him and found he should be so sad after being defeated by me that I actually helped him to finish his task and finished the hole he made in his chest."

In spite of everything he had seen and done, Jeice cringed at the mental imagery Frieza's sentence conveyed. While he'd killed people in various fashions, Frieza clearly hadn't killed Ginyu with that strike. And surviving such a hit certainly meant enduring an enormous amount of pain that Jeice couldn't even begin to imagine.

"Afterwards, I was both curious enough about what he'd tried to do and impressed enough at his strength that I decided to keep him around," Frieza continued. "So, after healing him in my ship's rejuvenation tank, beating him until he spewed out everything I wanted to know, and then healing him in my ship's rejuvenation tank again, I gave him the place of leader of my top elite unit, considering how my old one had been lost on the massacre of his planet. But I made it very clear to him that if he ever was to use that peculiar trick of his on an anywhere-near-permanent basis and on any person, I'd be able to track him down and do what I hadn't done when we had our fight on his planet."

Jeice nodded again, realizing that by now he had the answer to the question he'd asked Ginyu regarding why he hadn't ever used his Body Change technique on Frieza. It was obvious he had tried to do so, and had been intimidated enough by the results that he hadn't dared to perform the technique again on a permanent basis. However, it didn't explain why Ginyu had used the technique on Goku, considering the warning he had gotten from Frieza. Clearly, he had expected that Goku's body would be strong enough to defeat Frieza, and had been more than ready to betray his Lord himself. But sadly, things hadn't really gone along in his favor.

Snapping back to reality, Jeice found himself watching Frieza's lips part again, as he said his next sentence, "And now, this chat has lasted for long enough. Get ready to die, fools!"

With those words, Frieza shifted into a powering up stance, and brought up an aura of a purplish-blue around himself, as he increased his power-level even further.

The effect was instantaneous. The ground they were standing on started shaking furiously, as pebbles easily bigger than Jeice's thumbnails started rising vertically from it, the low cracking sounds doing nothing to drown out the wicked cackles Frieza continuously let out as he powered up.

A sense of fear instantly seemed to come over all of them. Krillin and Gohan, who had already looked terrified before, now seemed so scared that one would think they would keel over from mere fright. Dende clung to the huge Dragon Ball even more tightly than before, somehow not closing his eyes, as if he found the pictures he would convey would be even worse than what he was actually. Feeling the already frail mask he had on shattering completely, Jeice allowed himself to reveal all the fear that swelled inside him, his jaws agape, although he was so scared that he couldn't even shout in fright. Remarkably, Vegeta kept his defiant glare, but a sharp observer could easily see his own apprehension peeking through.

Gradually, the shaking of the ground intensified, and chunks of soil almost half the size of Jeice's head broke off and ascended vertically, while large cracks started radiating from the place where Frieza was standing, whole rocks seemed to be pulled up slowly, and large waves started rippling from the place they were standing on before crashing against some large chunk of land that would find in their way. But the things that somehow managed to become more pronounced faster than anything else were Frieza's murderous cackling and the gleam in his eyes that conveyed the same emotion.

Seeing the gleam in those eyes, one very simple thought came to Jeice's mind. One that seemed so obvious he couldn't understand how he hadn't managed to grasp it before.

This was it. They were done for.

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><p>While Jeice and the others were trying their utter best not to succumb to their panic, two particular beings in the depths of Hell, a place located under a layer of caramel-colored clouds that could only be traveled through from above to below, were experiencing a very similar feeling. But rather than trying not to fall prey to their terror, they were making no effort to hide it, and each of them was displaying it in a very different manner that, in a way, was opposed to the one displayed by the other.<p>

"Recoome, calm down, man," Burter said, while holding his much burlier friend with all his might. "There's nothing we can do other than to calm down."

Keeping Recoome restrained had been a nearly impossible mission from the beginning, as Recoome was not only burlier than him but also much stronger than him, and had been struggling like mad ever since they'd started watching this giant crystal ball, which had been right when Frieza had started powering up in his fight against Jeice and the allies he'd somehow gotten himself. Even though both of them had gotten an unexplained power-up not long after they had died, the gap between them did not seem to decrease in proportion, which in the long run made the power-up useless for this particular purpose.

"I can't calm down!" Recoome shouted like a stubborn child demanding for more sweets, making yet another attempt at getting out of Burter's grip. "We gotta help Jeice! We can't just sit here and do nothing!"

In spite of having to focus most of his energy on having to stop Recoome from charging toward the giant crystal ball – as if doing so would actually help in any way – he couldn't help but to notice how the scene they were making seemed to have drawn a lot of attention from the spectators, who were giving them weird looks. Clearly, they were the only ones who weren't rooting for Frieza to torture his opponents in the most gruesome way he could imagine before finally killing them.

But he didn't pay it any mind, nor did he think himself and Recoome were wrong in rooting for Jeice rather than for Frieza. They could have ended up in Hell for what they had done in their lifetimes, and Burter could have been mad at Jeice for having left him to die on the battlefield shortly before his death, but in spite of that, Jeice was still his friend, as well as Recoome's. And in Burter's opinion, one simply didn't leave his friends' side. If he was there at Planet Namek with Jeice and had to choose between Jeice's side and Frieza's, he'd choose Jeice's, even if he hadn't gotten this mysterious boost in strength. Or at least, he'd want to be on Jeice's side with all his heart. Whether he'd be able to do so was a different story. But Burter liked to think that if he was there, he would be able to summon the bravery required to stand by his friend's side, even if it meant being killed by Frieza.

It wasn't important, though, as they weren't on Planet Namek, but on Hell, and would be unable to do anything other than to stand by and watch. And Burter had to convince Recoome just of that.

Focusing back on the task at hand, Burter again had to make an effort to hold Recoome as he nearly broke free of his grasp for yet another time.

"Recoome, I know it's hard, but we can't do anything other than staying put and waiting," Burter said, repeating words he'd already voiced several times before over the last moments. By now, he almost started to regret the fact they had found this crystal ball and started watching the battle against Frieza that was being broadcast on Hell thanks to it.

"What do you want to do anyway?" Burter added, willing to try just about anything to make Recoome stop struggling. "Do you think you can just crack that crystal ball with a punch and get inside it for us to be instantly transported there?"

The moment he voiced that thought, Burter couldn't help but to wonder – mockingly, of course – whether Recoome would actually try just that. After all, he'd always been known to think with his fists, not with his head, and when he came across problems, he usually pounded his way through them. That was not to say he was the biggest bastard in Frieza's forces, but he was certainly one of the most simple-minded ones. Thankfully, when they had been alive, most of the problems they had at Frieza's forces were of the sort one could just beat through, and Recoome's expertise in doing so was certainly remarkable.

But here at Hell, this problem was one that could not be solved just by hitting. In fact, it was one that had no solution, other than maybe hoping things would not go wrong. Unfortunately, Burter didn't have a lot of faith in hope. Back on purging missions, the inhabitants of the planets they conquered were always driven by hope, whether they fought or ran away. And their hope did them no good in the long run, as they were eventually killed. Burter himself had also hoped that Captain Ginyu would eventually give him the approval he worked so hard to get. His hope also had taken him nowhere. In the end, hope was just something that did not good.

Even so, Burter could not pass on that belief to Recoome. If anything, he had to make Recoome think there was some hope for Jeice there at the world of the living. After he managed to get him to stop struggling, that is.

"We can't just stay put!" Recoome said yet again, after one more attempt at breaking free from Burter's grip. "We're stronger now, we should be able to do something! And even if we can't, at least we tried!"

His efforts unwavering, Burter did his best to tighten his grip around Recoome again, although he started to wonder why he was even doing so. After all, like he had said, it wasn't as if Recoome charging at the crystal ball would get him to the scene, where they would likely be killed by Frieza if they stood on Jeice's side. Maybe it was because he felt more like he was trying to get Recoome's nervousness down if he also endeavored in grabbing Recoome tightly. Or maybe it was just as a safety measure to prevent Recoome from provoking the wrath of the other spectators to the event. All those guys looked at least rather strong, and if they all attacked Recoome in mass to make him pay for having destroyed the crystal ball, Recoome and Burter would find themselves having to face all of them. Although they were already dead, that probably only meant they could still die a countless number of times, only to be revived afterwards so they could be killed again. And Burter didn't look forward to dying more than once.

Deciding it was better to change his strategy, Burter disappeared from where he was and reappeared in front of Recoome, looking at him squarely in the eyes.

"Look, big fella, I know it's hard, but we just _can't do anything_." Burter said, carefully emphasizing the last words. "Even if we are stronger now, we'd probably be killed by Frieza in a flash if we were there. But even if that wasn't true, we can't go. We're dead, remember?"

Burter practically shouted the last sentence, as if doing so very loudly would somehow get the fact across to Recoome. It seemed to work for that purpose, as Recoome at least stopped struggling, but by now he also looked far more stricken and downcast than he had been before.

Not finding that an acceptable alternative, and willing to do just about anything to cheer him up, Burter said, "Well, look on the bright side. At least if Jeice dies, he'll be down here with us. It will be just like old times! Granted, we won't have the ice cream we loved so much when we lived, but at least we will be together! That's the important thing, right?"

Burter knew it was somewhat foolish of him to be saying such things to cheer up someone, but this was Hell after all. If they were already dead, there certainly wouldn't be anything worse that could happen to them. Of course, Burter knew that wouldn't be exactly the same thing. If Jeice was to meet them down here, not only they wouldn't be alive, but they also wouldn't have the ice creams they had been so fond of. And they wouldn't have Guldo either. Although the friendship the three of them had with the pudgy dwarf had never been the same they had between themselves, and had mostly consisted of playful taunts and threats to kick Guldo out of the bowling team (the latter of which he somehow always took seriously) Burter had to admit he missed him. And for some reason, neither Burter nor Recoome had seen him since they had arrived down here to Hell, which could only mean he was purposefully trying not to be found or somehow had been sent to a different area.

Whatever the reason, Burter couldn't think of that now. He had to get Recoome calmer, and then he had to see what would happen to Jeice. Once things were quieter, him and Recoome could think about looking for Guldo. Fortunately, like on Burter's efforts to get his previous point across, the arguments he raised se conversation seemed to work, at least somewhat, as Recoome seemed to perk up slightly, although he looked far from happy. But hoping he would be happy would be asking too much. After all, no one got happy at the thought of having one of his friends dying.

Finally thinking it was safe enough to do such a thing, Burter removed his hands from Recoome's shoulders, and turned around, as the two of them continued to watch the events relayed by the giant crystal ball.

* * *

><p><em>Up next: While Recoome and Burter watch from Hell, powerless to do anything about what's going on, Frieza keeps powering up, before finally coming down on those that stole his immortality so he can punish them. At the same time, Gohan, Krillin, Jeice and Vegeta try their utter best to stand against the tyrant. What will happen? Find out next!<em>

_Hoping you enjoyed the chapter,_

_Genescritor_


	11. Chapter 11: The beginning of the fight

**From Enemy to Student**

**- a Dragon Ball Z fanfiction -**

**Chapter 11 – The beginning of the fight**

_Disclaimer: I do not own, in any way, any official property related Dragon Ball, such as the anime, its characters, related movies, and so on. However, I hope to supplement that glorious work of art with my fanfictions, such as this one. _

_I would also like to point out that this fanfiction was originally written by Gonstika, from whom I adopted it, and many of the concepts and plot-points featured in its chapters are originated by Gonstika as well._

_With that said, I hope you enjoy the story._

* * *

><p>As Frieza continued with his power-up, the witnesses to the event shook ever more obviously, as the fear swelling inside them increased at the same pace as the secondary effects of Frieza's power up became ever more obvious. The ground shook with growing intensity, and although there were no longer boulders rising from the ground in columns, the water that surrounded the island was parting, seemingly pushed away by the sheer power emanated by the pink reptilian tyrant. As if that wasn't enough, Frieza had kept cackling all the way through his power-up, which somehow managed to make the situation ten times worse for all of them.<p>

And none of them was shy about revealing the terror inside them. Krillin and Gohan seemed about to crumple apart with how much they were shaking, and Dende hugged the Dragon Ball he held as though he wanted to disappear into it. Jeice, for his own part, sensed the fear threatening to dissolve his very tissues and bones, and felt as though he would fall down like an empty sack. Only Vegeta managed to somehow keep that smirk on his face, but all the others knew that even he had to be terrified, as there simply was no other way for one to feel anything else at what was going on in front of them.

All of a sudden, Frieza's aura steadied, and the ground finally stopped shaking, but the cracks that had been made remained where they were and Frieza's laughter carried on. But only a few seconds afterwards, the tyrant finally halted his laughter, although the wicked smile remained plastered on his face.

"Just watch, Vegeta," Frieza said, looking as if he was about to explode from anticipation. "You're about to be reminded of how terrible I truly am!"

Vegeta's smirk faltered, but it was for such a small instant that most would think it had never happened. A heartbeat after Vegeta managed to put his smirk back on his face, a rock more than ten meters tall erupted from the ground in front of him, nearly busting the Saiyan's nose as it ascended. Once again, Vegeta allowed his smirk to slip away for a moment, but managed to get it back right as the rock broke in half in front of him, destroying the barrier that had been between himself and Frieza. As soon as that happened, Frieza raised his right hand and fired an energy wave through the gap between the halves of broken rock, which headed unerringly toward the Saiyan Prince. Vegeta immediately disappeared out of the attack's path, an instant before it hit a rock instead, releasing a massive explosion.

Taking that as their cue, Krillin and Gohan ran for cover, while Dende managed to disengage himself from the Dragon Ball he was holding and did the very same thing. In the meantime, Vegeta reappeared on the top of the rock that had been hit by Frieza's blast, but not totally destroyed by it. He soon disappeared again, though, as Frieza fired another energy wave at him, destroying the part of the rock where he had been standing moments before.

Throughout all of that, Jeice had remained rooted to the spot where he stood, unsure of whether to take cover like Gohan, Krillin, and Dende, or to attack Frieza now that he was distracted with Vegeta. The very thought of doing the second thing terrified him, but he didn't want to do the first due to his decision of no longer behaving like a coward. Thanks to that, he for yet another time just remained where he was, and simply let the course of the situation choose his actions for him.

The choice it made was forcing him to move, as at that moment Frieza realized Jeice was still there in plain sight, and fired the next energy wave at him rather than at Vegeta. Finally spurred into action by the sight of the blast that headed at him, Jeice disappeared himself, dodging the blast. A moment afterwards, he reappeared several dozens of meters above and away from the spot where he had been standing, his heart beating considerably faster. In spite of the undeniable relief he felt at having managed to dodge that energy wave, he knew there was certainly no way he would manage to dodge all those Frieza fired at him, and he would certainly keep doing so until he hit on the mark.

And Frieza certainly wasn't shy about trying, as over the next moments, he fired energy waves at Vegeta and Jeice alternatively, using both hands now, as if he was bent on making sure neither of them spent too much time without having to dodge an energy wave. While Frieza fired his attacks, causing a cloud of dust to cover the whole area and boulders two meters wide to be thrown about, Jeice and Vegeta kept disappearing and reappearing at a different spot, dodging the energy waves by a margin that, while not exactly comfortable, was not too narrow either. Still, it was big enough for Jeice to start getting puzzled about what was going on. How could be managing to dodge all the energy waves Frieza had fired at him until now? Dodging the first one out of sheer luck could be explained – even if it was something Jeice had trouble believing – but managing to dodge all of those Frieza had fired at him until now was, to say the least, weird. While Jeice definitely wasn't complaining, he also seemed to be having trouble resisting the truth of the facts. And what was more, he felt like he would be able to move even faster if it was really required for him to do so.

But how could that be? Surely Porunga hadn't awakened _that _big an amount of sleeping powers, had he?

Before Jeice could dwell further on the matter, he noticed something odd: Frieza had suddenly stopped firing energy attacks at him and Vegeta, seemingly for no reason at all.

Looking down to see if he realized what had happened, Jeice saw Krillin and Gohan, who had clearly left their hideout, standing not very far away from Frieza at an area where the dust was not as concentrated. Each of them was firing an energy wave at the tyrant, clearly in an attempt to catch him off guard while he was distracted attacking Jeice and Vegeta. But Frieza had clearly noticed their presence, and turned around in response, firing an energy wave of his own at theirs. Frieza's attack blasted through Krillin's and Gohan's effortlessly, and continued moving toward them. The two fighters flew backwards in an effort to stay ahead of it, but they ended up setting their feet on a rock, and it was only at the very last moment before being hit that they managed to use it a support point to propel themselves upwards, barely dodging the energy wave. They ended up landing at another rock, at the exact moment Frieza fired an energy wave at them. As before, they dodged it, Gohan by flying to his right, and Krillin by flying to his left. One more time, the rock they were standing on was destroyed by the energy wave a heartbeat after Gohan and Krillin left it. But Frieza didn't even look at the explosion he had made, and instead started firing energy waves at Gohan and Krillin, like he had done before with Jeice and Vegeta.

Krillin and Gohan kept jumping from side to side, managing to dodge all of Frieza's attacks. But they seemed to have much more difficulty doing so than Jeice and Vegeta, and according to what Jeice could see, they were only doing it because Frieza was purposefully holding back on both the speed and the power of the blasts.

Deciding that his chance had finally come, Jeice raised both hands above his head, and gathered an energy wave on them, to fire it at Frieza while he was distracted with Krillin and Gohan. While he knew he would do little more than anger Frieza if the attack didn't have the required power, he was fairly sure he would be able to damage Frieza somewhat if he caught him off guard with it. But in order to do so, he had to wait for the right time, and to gather the proper amount of power.

While he waited for the right time, Jeice kept gathering energy, and Krillin and Gohan kept dodging the blasts Frieza fired at them. Eventually, in their dodging, the two of them ended up landing by the same spot, which was by the rock behind which Dende was, judging from how the small Namekian came running toward them.

Smirking at the sight, Frieza fired a much more powerful energy wave at the three of them, one that was too fast for any of them to dodge, and which certainly had so much power behind it that it would obliterate them all in a heartbeat. His heart jumping in fright, Jeice fired the energy wave he had been gathering, hoping that somehow it would damage or distract Frieza enough for him to lose his hold on his own energy wave. But Frieza, as though he had seen Jeice's energy wave coming, raised his left hand and fired an energy wave from it, which headed straight for Jeice's attack.

When the two blasts met, they released a massive explosion, which forced Jeice to shield his eyes, as the shockwave blew his hair backwards. In spite of the deafening rumble, there was a second explosion audible underneath the first one's shockwave, which could only mean those hit by the attack were already dead, and their screams of terror had merely been drowned out by the explosion. That noise caused Jeice to immediately steel himself to take one of Frieza's blasts, although he knew he wouldn't be able to survive if it hit him straight on. But with luck, Frieza would wait until the dust settled down before firing an attack at him. It wasn't that much luck, as Jeice was bound to die in a few seconds anyway, but it was still the best he could hope for.

As soon as things settled down, Jeice lowered his arms, so he could see what was going on, half-expecting to find a giant crater at the spot where Dende, Krillin, and Gohan had been, and Frieza looking supremely proud of himself. But instead, what he saw was the aforementioned trio looking shaken, but physically unscathed, and Vegeta standing in front of them with his right arm extended, as a cloud of dust that undoubtedly had been made by an explosion settled down in the distance.

Summoning much more power than he had ever believed he could have, and doing so much more quickly than he expected, Jeice fired his attack at Frieza.

For some time, Frieza kept firing the energy blast at Gohan and Krillin, while Jeice watched, still trying to decide what to do. But eventually, in their dodging, Krillin and Gohan ended up landing at the same spot, by a rock behind which Dende came, running toward the two of them.

At first, Jeice raised an eyebrow, about to give in to a sudden puzzlement that came over him. He could tell that what had happened had been that Vegeta had stepped in front of Krillin, Gohan, and Dende and punched Frieza's energy wave away. But he definitely hadn't expected for Vegeta to be capable of punching one of Frieza's energy waves away, even though he had known that Vegeta had grown much stronger thanks to recovering from near-death injuries.

But now was not the right time to think about that. They still had to keep stalling Frieza until Goku or Piccolo arrived. And Jeice himself had to see if he remained a little less isolated, just so Frieza wouldn't set his sights on him just because he was alone.

So, he flew down to the ground, landing about fifty meters to Vegeta's left, and a similar distance ahead of Frieza. For him, that was the biggest lack of isolation he could afford himself. Besides, if they clustered together Frieza would probably be able to take them all out at once, while if they remained somewhat separate, Frieza would have to choose between one of them, which would make him take more time, and further contribute to stall him.

While Jeice made those considerations, Krillin voiced one particular thought of his own, sounding as if he just couldn't keep it to himself any longer.

"He's too strong," Krillin muttered, now not shaking, but looking like he really wanted to do so. "There's no way we can win."

Gohan, who seemed too scared to talk, did not say anything in response to that, just like Dende. Vegeta kept his usual scowl on, not acknowledging Krillin's words, but Jeice, although he didn't answer, pondered what the human had said. It was true Frieza was a force to be reckoned with, but somehow he now seemed, for lack of a better description, considerably less menacing. Granted, he still seemed more than powerful enough to kill Jeice, but it was a far cry from the omnipotent force he had appeared to be just earlier on this very same day. And somehow, that was enough to at least keep Jeice relatively motivated to carry on fighting.

"Of course you can't," Frieza stated. "Do you really think half a dozen of ants can defeat a dinosaur?"

In spite of his previous burst of confidence, Jeice immediately put himself on guard for whatever stunt Frieza would pull. If he was still so confident, then he certainly had some sort of trick up his sleeve. Or then, maybe he just wasn't really aware of his opponents' levels.

"You foolish lizard," Vegeta said. "If the four of us work together, of course we can defeat you."

Vegeta's comment caused him to be the focus of everyone else's bewildered gazes, not only by what he said, but in the manner in which he had said it. He seemed totally confident, as if he didn't have the slightest doubt in his words' veracity. But, as usual, there was the ever present question of whether they were true, or not.

"Just what are you saying, Vegeta?" Frieza asked in a tired tone, clearly sick of listening to his voice.

Not missing a beat, Vegeta elaborated, "What I'm saying is that their power levels increase very rapidly. Particularly the kid's; he doesn't even know how strong he can be if he really needs to."

Seemingly forgotten of his own fear, Gohan gasped in surprise at Vegeta's words. Jeice himself raised an eyebrow, wondering just how much their powers had increased over time. He briefly thought of using his newfound energy sensing skill to gather that particular information, but he discarded the thought as soon as it came to his mind. He still had to focus too much to feel for energy signatures, and if he was distracted with doing so, he wouldn't be able to pay proper attention to what was going on around him.

"And I am becoming the Super Saiyan you fear so much." Vegeta finished, speaking forcefully as if he intended to drive his words into Frieza like a sharp knife.

This time, Vegeta's words were more than confusing enough to make Jeice shout a reply at him.

"Vegeta, now ain't the time to be spoutin' nonsense, man!" the red-skinned alien scolded. "He's already mad enough without ya proddin' him further!"

Grunting loudly, Vegeta scowled at Jeice, clearly unhappy at the fact he had been putting him down. But Jeice, who was still too focused on what would come from Frieza, did not pay much mind to the Saiyan.

"See, Vegeta?" Frieza remarked casually. "You could really learn from him. At least, he is smart enough to know how such a comment rubs me the wrong way."

His bone-chilling smile deepening even more – if such a thing was possible, Frieza added, "In fact, so you can learn from him even better, I'll make him something else regarding what will happen to you."

Vegeta raised an eyebrow, seemingly confused at the wording Frieza had used. But Jeice, for his own part, steeled himself, knowing that something unpleasant was about to come his way whether he wanted it to or not.

"I'LL MAKE HIM AN EXAMPLE!" Frieza shouted, charging toward Jeice at a breakneck pace, his fist pulled backwards for a punch.

Again to Jeice's surprise, he managed to see Frieza coming at him, although he by no means found Frieza had moved slowly. And when Frieza threw the punch at him with his right hand, he managed to catch it as well. Even though blocking the blow made his arm quake considerably, Jeice somehow had the weird impression it would have been way less bad if he had made more of an effort - effort that somehow seemed to be within his reach.

But he couldn't ponder that now.

Trying to anticipate himself, Jeice threw a punch of his own at Frieza, who managed to catch it, but not as effortlessly as he had expected, judging from the astonished look on his face. Snarling in rage, Frieza started pushing forward, as if he was attempting to shove a heavy burden. Reflexively, Jeice brought his own aura around himself, which blew his hair upwards, and started powering up as much as he could, although he doubted he would be capable of raising his power level much further, if he could even do so at all. However, to his utter bafflement, not only was his own power-level increasing steadily, but the look on Frieza's face seemed to become ever more strained as time went on, as if he had to make ever more of an effort to win this struggle. And if a final confirmation was necessary, Frieza's scouter was now beeping uninterruptedly, as Jeice saw the number on it grew ever bigger.

But by this point, he was beyond letting himself be amazed by that, and tried to accelerate his power up. By now, a ring of dust was swirling around himself and Frieza, as cracks started to radiate from the place where both of them struggled to overcome the other. A few instants afterwards, a crater started opening up underneath them, growing ever bigger as their auras radiated ever more outwardly. Strangely, as their struggle went on, Jeice didn't feel the difficulty of it increasing or remaining at the same level. If anything, things were becoming easier for him, while Frieza seemed to have ever more difficulty, as if Jeice could still power up further, but Frieza was already at his limit. And the continuous beeps of Frieza's scouter, audible even over the roar of the crater that expanded around and underneath them, just further confirmed that Jeice became ever stronger.

Right as Jeice, in the back of his mind, started to wonder for yet another time just how strong Porunga's wish had made him, Frieza's scouter exploded. Even though by then Jeice was too engrossed in continuing to power up to stop doing so until he had truly reached his peak, he couldn't help but to feel a faint sense of puzzlement at the fact such a thing had as much as happened. The scouter Frieza had been wearing was one of the latest model, meant to short-circuit only if it detected a power-level higher than 500,000, which should be enough to cover the power level of any being in the known Universe besides Frieza himself. Or so Jeice had thought, because, unless the scouter had been malfunctioning, his own power level was also above 500,000. In fact, it should be considerably above 500,000, seeing as Jeice kept powering up for a considerable moment after the scouter's destruction. Could the Dragon's wish truly have awakened such an amount of sleeping power, in spite of Jeice's earlier thoughts?

There was only one way to find out.

Deciding he had gone far enough already, and that maxing himself out would only cause him to be tired more quickly, Jeice leaned forward and head-butted Frieza's nose, taking enough care not to slam his forehead on the armor plating that Frieza had protecting his scalp. Letting out a grunt of pain, Frieza recoiled backwards, as two small torrents of blood squirted from his visibly-damaged nose. Clearly, he had felt that one.

Pressing his advantage, Jeice punched Frieza's left cheek, sending him flying into the crater's wall, and making him open a trench along the ground for about fifty meters beyond it. Before Frieza could recover, Jeice flew at him, already pulling his hand back for another punch. But at that moment, Frieza released an explosion of energy which sent a shower of stones flying on Jeice's direction. Jeice put up his arms in a cross block to shield himself, feeling the stones shattering against them and giving him bruises where they hit him. After he was sure the explosion had subsided, Jeice lowered his arms, right on time to see Frieza already in front of him, in the middle of throwing a punc. Although Frieza was nearly glued to him, Jeice managed to bring up his left hand and catch Frieza's right fist. Undeterred, Frieza threw a punch with his other fist, which was blocked by Jeice's right hand. But then, Frieza's tail came swishing through the air and slammed the top of Jeice's head, making him lose concentration and fall facedown. Smirking at this development, Frieza gave one step backwards to be at the right distance, and then delivered an uppercut to Jeice's chin, sending him flying backwards, before flying in hot pursuit of him.

After he was at an altitude of about a hundred meters, Jeice managed to stop his momentum, which caused Frieza's eyes to widen in surprise as he threw yet another punch at him. However, Jeice managed to slap it away with his left hand, and then brought his right fist forward to hit Frieza's left cheek. Frieza managed to catch it in his left hand, but in the meantime Jeice delivered a roundhouse kick with his left leg, aiming it at Frieza's head. Right before being hit, Frieza his right forearm, managing to block the kick. Jeice felt the pain that came from hitting the armor-plating around Frieza's forearm, which was considerably more solid than the rest of Frieza's body, but he was too caught up in fighting to slow down, and brought his right knee forward to slam it on Frieza's already-damaged nose, in spite of the precarious position he had to put himself in so he could do so. His eyes widening in startle, Frieza immediately flew backwards, dodging Jeice's knee-strike by mere millimeters. Not even shifting in his position, Jeice pointed his palms at Frieza and fired a red energy wave from his two hands. As quickly as he could, Frieza put his hands against it, but he didn't do so quickly enough to stop himself from flying for about a hundred meters before he finally managed to divert the energy wave's course upwards. But in the amount of time that took him to do so, Jeice had put his left hand upwards, gathering a Crusher Ball in it as quickly as he possibly could. Taking advantage of the exposed stance in which Jeice had to put himself to deliver the attack, Frieza fired a pair of eye-lasers at him, while also throwing an energy wave from each hand. Jeice swerved the left half of his body backwards in a quarter of a turn, dodging both the eye lasers and the energy wave that came from Frieza's right hand. However, he still was in the path of the other energy wave, which he countered by landing an uppercut on it, sending the blast up toward space. Not even taking the time to savor his achievement, Jeice brought the left side of his body forward and fired an energy ball from the palm of his left hand in the process. Frieza batted it aside without much trouble, but that created an opening in his defenses, and Jeice immediately delivered a haymaker to the spot. Almost too late, Frieza put his left forearm to block the blow, while delivering an uppercut with his right fist. Again forcing himself to shrug off the slight pain that came from hitting Frieza's armor-plating, Jeice parried the uppercut with his left hand.

In the follow up of that strike, the two of them engaged in an exchange of blows, the sounds of the struggle between a galactic tyrant and one of his former soldiers being heard for a radius of hundreds of meters.

* * *

><p>Standing at the same spot where he had punched Frieza's energy wave away from Kakarot's spawn and the other two weaklings, Vegeta watched the battle playing out in the sky, wearing an astonished look rather than his usual scowl or smirk. While he would never outwardly acknowledge any other fighter's superiority, he knew, deep down, that both Jeice and Frieza were stronger than he was. In Frieza's case, it was not by too much of a margin, at least if Vegeta was powered up to his limit – which he wasn't yet – but in Jeice's case, not only was he stronger than Vegeta as well, but he was also substantially stronger and faster than by Frieza. Not enough to have his victory guaranteed, but enough to have more chances of winning than Frieza, even if he fought on his own.<p>

The very thought that such a thing could happen was infuriating. Just when he was starting to come close to grasping the title of most powerful being in the Universe, he had one more challenger for that title! A challenger who not only had said challenger never had any real desire to fight, but he had been part of a squad of imbeciles who were more concerned with poses than anything else! True, he was only stronger because he had cheated and relied on the Dragon Balls – after all, there was no way to explain such a big increase in power in such a little amount of time, considering that Jeice didn't have a drop of Saiyan blood – but still, it was infuriating for Vegeta to know not only that he had more competition than expected for the title of strongest in the Universe, but also that if things kept going this way, he wouldn't be the one to take out Frieza.

It was so infuriating that it made Vegeta regret the fact he had barged in on Ginyu's fight against Jeice when he had. While he (begrudgingly) found it a good thing that Kakarot had gotten back into his body, he now couldn't help but to think that maybe he should have waited until Ginyu had killed Jeice before putting his plan in action, or maybe even have killed Jeice himself. At least that way Jeice wouldn't be stronger than him thanks to nothing but cheating.

He knew it was no use being sorry and wishing things had gone differently, that didn't make him any less furious, though. In fact, he was just about furious enough to charge into battle, and was only held back by some common sense that told him that if he barged into Frieza's fight with Jeice all of a sudden, the thing he was most likely to do was making a mess that would probably lead to all of them dying by Frieza's hand. No, he would have to wait until the right time came – and then, he would get Jeice out of the way before taking on Frieza himself.

"Incredible," Krillin said, looking at the battle taking place farther away, with a mix of optimism and awe in his look. "That guy is actually having an even fight with Frieza! He surely must have had more sleeping power inside him than we expected at first."

At that comment, Vegeta turned around and looked at Krillin, fully focusing his attention on his words. While he didn't need any more reminders of the fact Jeice was stronger than all of them, his attention had been captured by the 'sleeping power' bit. He wanted to know what that meant, and he wanted to know why that power was no longer sleeping. And even though he had his suspicions, he wanted straight confirmations, if only to have something more concrete to be furious about.

"But he wasn't so strong right after the Dragon awakened his sleeping powers," Gohan pointed out, not noticing the look Vegeta was giving them, just like Krillin and Dende. "In fact, he's almost twice stronger now than he was just a while ago. Why's that?"

Listening to the kid's words, Vegeta took notice of them. He now knew why Jeice was so strong, but he had never imagined these three would just let him make that wish, at least if it had been applied exclusively to Jeice himself. Some other people must have had their sleeping powers awakened. The question was who.

"It must be because it just takes time to fully awaken one's sleeping powers," Krillin theorized. "Remember that when Guru did that to us, we also seemed to have our strength growing in spurts? If the Dragon used the same method on Jeice, his power will probably grow in a similar way."

At first, Gohan merely nodded, but all of a sudden, he got a terrified look on his face, as if he had just remembered something very important.

"If his power grows as much as ours in proportion, how strong will he be?" Gohan asked Krillin, half-muted by fear. "And what will he do to us once he realizes he truly is the strongest?"

The optimism on Krillin's expression faded away, as he suddenly seemed to realize the same thing Gohan was bound to be thinking. Vegeta didn't have to be a clairvoyant to guess what it was. If the astonishing increase in strength these two had was due to the witchcraft of some 'Guru', and Jeice had had a similar thing done to him, he could probably become dozens of times stronger than he had been at first. And if he all of a sudden got convinced he was omnipotent, he certainly wouldn't take long to think about taking Frieza's place.

But that was not a concern for now. First he'd think about taking Frieza out, and about how to arrange things so he'd get to be the one doing it. And before that, he'd get just one thing clear, if only so he could fight without mulling over the matter in his h ead.

"Hold on a second, you two," Vegeta barked, deciding it was more than time to cut into the conversation. "Before you start babbling in panic about the potential power that red moron over there may achieve, explain that gibberish about sleeping powers and Dragons. And be quick!"

Krillin gulped, as if he had only now realized that not only that they had completely forgotten about Vegeta's presence, but that the cat was out of the bag regarding whatever they had done without Vegeta's knowledge.

"I'm waiting…" Vegeta growled, barely managing to stop himself to summon an energy attack and blasting the bald dwarf into oblivion, although he knew that the only way he'd get an answer through that method was if it was revealed after destroying the body around it.

Seemingly even more scared than he had been when Frieza had powered up, Krillin stuttered, "Well, one of the wishes we made with involved awakening the sleeping powers of some of us, and Jeice was included on the list."

Vegeta gave an almost imperceptible nod. He'd already suspected that had been pretty much what had happened; Krillin's confirmation had been a mere formality.

"And let me guess, I wasn't," Vegeta said crisply, not even knowing why he was saying so.

While he felt stronger after having rested, he was sure that if he had gotten that power-up, he would be much stronger. Not that he would have needed or wanted such a thing – he was the Prince of All Saiyans after all, and resorting to any cheap techniques or to any sort of help was beneath him, and he had already humiliated himself far too much by having to make an alliance with these fools. But he still had to hear Krillin say that, if only to have his fury at the fact he'd been purposefully left out of that list more justified.

Krillin shifted nervously in his spot, as if he thought doing so would spare him from answering. In the meantime, Dende and Gohan shook nervously, looking as if they were hoping against all hopes that Vegeta had forgotten about them.

"SPEAK!" Vegeta roared, unleashing an explosion of energy as the word left his mouth.

Yelping and jumping up in startle at Vegeta's outburst, Krillin started stuttering almost more quickly than Vegeta could register, "Well, Jeice said something about you realizing what we were up to if you suddenly felt any stronger, and the two of us were just foolish enough to listen to him, and we didn't include you in the wish, and…"

After the first two bits, Vegeta felt himself tuning out Krillin's words, as if his ears had stopped working. He could only listen to the bubbling fury that soared inside him as he realized that the weaklings had actually collaborated in making Jeice, a loud-mouthed moron with an accent that made his ears bleed, stronger than himself. It was worlds more intense than when he had found out that he had been robbed of his immortality. As much as he wanted to say he didn't need help to get that power out, said power was after all his own, it wasn't artificially given to him. And the power he had sleeping inside him was certainly that of the Super Saiyan, one that only needed the right motivation to be brought out. Or the right trigger. As much as Vegeta decided he did not need help or methods that resorted to cheating, he was furious at knowing Super Saiyan could be within his grasp by now, if those morons just hadn't listened to Jeice!

"… and we're really sorry we did that, but…" he suddenly found himself listening to Krillin again.

And he decided he'd had more than enough of it.

"SILENCE!" Vegeta roared.

Again, Krillin jumped up and yelped, before falling to his knees with his hands put together and pointing upwards as if he was praying

"Sorry sorry sorry sorry!" the bald dwarf babbled incoherently, seeming as if he expected Vegeta would blast him to the afterlife and was trying to beg for mercy.

In spite of his fury, Vegeta scoffed mentally at the notion. As if he would ever grant mercy to worms like these!

"You fools should consider yourselves awfully lucky that I think I may still need you to defeat Frieza after all," Vegeta growled. "If I was absolutely sure I could do so without your help, I'd kill you after knowing of that stunt you pulled!"

Another explosion of energy left his body as he shouted the last sentence, blowing Dende backwards until he fell on his back. Gohan and Krillin both managed to keep themselves upright, but that seemed to take a noticeable effort from them.

"But Vegeta, the way things are going right now, Jeice may just be able to kill Frieza on his own," Gohan pointed out. "Why do you say you're going to be the one doing it?"

Why the kid had pointed such a thing out, Vegeta would never know. After all, anyone with half a brain would keep such a fact quiet, as it would be just one further point as to why Vegeta wouldn't need those two. Maybe the kid was just trying (in vain) to prove he was smart, or maybe he was simply confused enough as to why Vegeta had said that when he saw the battle playing out between Frieza and Jeice. Vegeta didn't know, and he didn't care. He merely addressed the kid's remark, by saying something that had been told to him a few days ago.

"This isn't Frieza's full power," Vegeta explained. "He can transform."

The fear on the looks of Gohan, Krillin and Dende grew even more intense, but by now it clearly wasn't directed at Vegeta. Instead, they seemed to have forgotten the Saiyan had been just ready to kill them only seconds ago.

"Transform?" Krillin finally managed to ask. "You mean like what you did on Earth?"

Again, Vegeta scoffed mentally. Such a slimy, repulsive being getting a power-up comparable to that of the most powerful race in the Universe? The mere thought was ridiculous! Saiyans were the best warrior race in the Universe, and they hadn't even started to glimpse their true potential at the time Frieza had destroyed Planet Vegeta. But Vegeta didn't bother saying any of those things. Or most of them, at least.

"The principle should be the same," Vegeta stated. "Although I have no idea what the transformation will look like, and the power-up will certainly pale in comparison."

At those words from Vegeta, Krillin and Gohan seemed to 'toughen up' as though they had somehow served to inspire them into battle.

"We've gotta help Jeice and make sure we kill Frieza before he does that transformation!" Krillin shouted, turning to Kakarot's son. "Come on, Gohan!"

The two of them inched toward Jeice as if they were about to fly off toward him, but before they could take off, Vegeta disappeared from where he was, reappeared behind them, and put a hand on a shoulder pad of the armor of each of them.

"You two fools will stay put," he growled, suddenly looking like he was ready to kill them yet again. "Otherwise, I will kill you both, seeing as I don't need you to kill Frieza while he is in this state, as you so graciously pointed out. And like I said just now, consider yourselves lucky I may just need you to kill Frieza in his transformed state. But remember, stay put. If you make a gesture that as much as hints at an attempt at helping that moron Jeice, I'll blast you into the next dimension, get it?"

Krillin and Gohan seemed somewhat reticent to the thought, as if debating on whether to have their lives extended for some more time only to be killed by a stronger Frieza, or to end their lives just now if only to make sure Vegeta would be forced to kill this weaker Frieza. In the end, they didn't seem too keen on dying, because they stayed put, besides their quiver of fear, of course.

Settling for that, Vegeta immediately started powering up, ready to make sure that he would get to kill Frieza on his terms, and in the way his Saiyan pride demanded of him.

* * *

><p>Unaware of Vegeta's thoughts and of the fact said Saiyan was getting ready for battle, Jeice blocked another punch from Frieza, while throwing one of his own at his former lord's face. Frieza managed to put a hand up to block it, but the look of strain on his face was visible, as well as the drops of sweat that started to trickle down his face. It was more than obvious that this fight was considerably hard for him, and that if it kept going for long, he would most likely end up losing.<p>

That was not to say Jeice himself was having an easy time of it. While he had a noticeable advantage in power level and in speed, it had become more than clear to him that Frieza was not merely an overpowered tyrant who relied simply on his overwhelming strength. Rather, he was also a very skilled fighter who somehow didn't grow lazy or sloppy in spite of the fact he rarely took part on purging missions himself, and most certainly rarely had to make much of an effort when he did so. Should Frieza be used to rely only on his power, Jeice would certainly have gotten much more blows in by this point, maybe to the point of having his victory just about guaranteed. However, Frieza was smart and competent enough at fighting to be capable of making the gap in power and speed between himself and Jeice not count all that much.

But in the end, the truth was that Jeice still had that noticeable advantage in power and speed over Frieza. If he managed to have a comparable advantage in stamina, he'd eventually be able to outlast Frieza, and win the fight.

With that thought in mind, Jeice again grasped another punch that Frieza threw at him, and tried to land one of his own. Frieza grasped Jeice's fist as well, but it was with slight more difficulty than he had moments before, and it had not been easy already then. Ironically, that caused the two of them to be in a very similar position to the one they had been in not long before, when Jeice had powered up enough to overload Frieza's scouter.

But this time, they didn't start another power-struggle, as moments after Frieza caught Jeice's punch, his pupils glowed pink, indicating that he was up to something. Instinctively, Jeice let go of Frieza's fist and yanked his own hand free, while flying down on a straight line in the process. A heartbeat later, another pair of beams came from Frieza's eyes, missing the tips of Jeice's long white hair – which had been momentarily slicked upwards by his quick descent – by mere millimeters. But the eyebeams weren't the only thing Jeice had to worry for, as even while he fired them, Frieza brought his thick tail forward, heading straight for Jeice's face. On the very last moment before it struck, Jeice managed to grab it.

And then, as if he had been granted divine inspiration, he just remembered something he could do to fight back at this time.

Grasping the thick tail with all his might, Jeice spun around three times, before finally throwing Frieza down with his back turned upwards. Frieza flew down for at least a hundred meters before he could stop his momentum, and when he did, Jeice slammed his feet down onto his nape, which sent him crashing down again, even faster than he had before. This time, the reptilian-looking tyrant could not stop himself, and landed on the Namekian soil on an all-fours position, cracking the ground underneath him as he crashed into it.

In spite of the armor-plating that protected his head, Frieza was still affected by the blow, and had to shake his head for a few moments in order to regain his bearings faster. But even before he had fully managed to overcome his dizziness, he heard the tell-tale sound of Jeice rocketing downwards, certainly ready to deliver another hit down on him. Not wanting to stay put to get it, Frieza jumped backwards, a split-second before Jeice's feet slammed down on the cracked ground, causing the red-skinned alien to sink in it up to his waist. However, that did not stop him, as he immediately fired an energy wave at Frieza. Frieza swerved to the left in order to dodge it, but Jeice used that moment to unleash an explosion of energy, throwing a shower of stones into the air and opening a wide crater around him, which released the lower half of his body. The explosion of energy was intense enough for Frieza to have put his forearms up in order to shield himself from the stones, and Jeice used that moment to come down on him and deliver a haymaker to his cheek, which sent Frieza flying against a rock that crashed down on him right afterwards.

Certain that Frieza would be out of action for some time now, Jeice raised both his hands above his head, and started gathering an energy wave more powerful than any other he had used in this battle – or at any time in his life, for that matter. Even if it didn't hit Frieza straight on, the explosion would certainly be more than enough to at least damage him somewhat.

But before Jeice had managed to finish gathering his attack, an energy wave came from underneath the pile of boulders, heading straight toward him. Choosing to play it safe, Jeice retracted his energy and dodged the energy wave, keeping his eyes locked on it in the process. Doing so cost him dear, as at that very moment Frieza used his telekinetic skills to send all the boulders that had been covering him flying at high speed toward Jeice.

Jeice let out a gasp of amazement at seeing such a display, and immediately put up his arms to shield himself, knowing he wouldn't have time to gather an attack strong enough to destroy all these boulders before they crashed into him. The giant chunks of rock didn't inflict much damage on Jeice, but when they piled onto him they pushed him backwards for several tens of meters rather than crumbling apart, as though they had been strengthened by Frieza's telekinesis. Thanks to thank, Jeice ended up crashing against another rock, out of breath, and with his outfit and hair full of dirt.

While Jeice coughed up in an attempt to get all the dust out of his throat, Frieza let out a cry, and a white light suddenly emanated from him, as a loud crack that seemed to come from him was heard. Thankfully, Jeice was far enough from Frieza for not to have to shield his eyes in order to protect them from the light's intensity, but even so, he could not see what was going on. While he knew Frieza could be up to any last trick and that he possibly would do better in stopping it, he found it better to not charge blindly into something he could not see.

However, when the light cleared out, Frieza still had exactly the same look he had before, and did not seem to be up to something. The only difference – which was fairly noticeable – was that his battle armor had been blown off and its broken chunks were lying about around him.

Jeice raised an eyebrow at the weird sight. Just why would Frieza do such a thing? Removing his armor would do very little in an actual fight. In fact, it would even give him a disadvantage by rendering him more vulnerable to his enemy's attacks… wouldn't it?

For some reason, Jeice found it was better not to stay put to find out. In this fight, he'd had more than enough time to find out that Frieza was as cunning when it came to fighting as he was regarding the expansion of his empire. He would only remove his armor if that meant he would have some reason to do so, one that compensated being less protected than before.

Following his guess that it was safer not to stay put to find out just what sort of reason Frieza had to remove his armor, Jeice immediately fired an energy wave at his former lord, hoping to keep him distracted enough for him not to be capable of doing whatever he had in mind. Frieza, who looked like he was gathering himself for something, was too caught up in whatever he was doing to dodge the attack, and was met by Jeice's blast head on, being blown backwards after taking the hit. But Jeice didn't stop there. He immediately rushed at Frieza, and landed a punch on his right cheek, before delivering another to his neck. While Frieza held his throat, letting out ragged gasps of pain, Jeice clasped his hands together and slammed them on the back of Frieza's neck – which wasn't covered in armor-plating – sending him down belly first. As Frieza crashed against the Namekian ground, imbedding several centimeters into it from the force behind that blow, Jeice grabbed Frieza's tail, and spun him around five times, before throwing him into another rock, which also crashed down of him.

Finding he had stunned Frieza enough for his purposes, Jeice brought his left hand upwards, and started gathering energy in it as quickly as possible. Even though he'd somehow managed to land so many hits on Frieza in a row and had actually had a slight advantage ever since the beginning of the fight, the situation still seemed too good to be true. It was better to finish this before he woke up to some harsh reality.

After he had already gathered so much energy that he was sure he would demolish everything in a radius of miles, Jeice moved his right hand to slap his Crusher Ball, as the move required him to do.

However, a fraction of second before his palm touched the energy sphere, something that apparently came out of nowhere slammed on his nape, causing a feeling of numbness that departed from the spot that had been struck to spread through his whole body, as the hold Jeice had on his attack was completely lost, causing the Crusher Ball to fizzle out.

The last thing the red-skinned alien remembered was the aqua-green grass of Planet Namek coming ever closer to his face, before his eyelids slid shut and he met the ground. But by that point, he was too far gone to even feel his body crashing belly down on the grass.

* * *

><p>Still under the pile of boulders that were all that was left of the second rock Jeice had thrown him into, Frieza let out a growl of fury, feeling his whole being boiling from the anger that came from receiving so much pain at the hands of someone who was meant to be a weakling compared to Frieza himself. Frieza didn't know how on the hell Jeice had managed to become so strong in such little time – although he suspected that somehow the Dragon Balls were involved in the process – but the truth of the matter was that his former elite soldier was giving him far more trouble than Frieza had bargained for. Not only had he proved to be skilled enough to keep up with him, but he had also turned out to be noticeably faster and stronger than him.<p>

And to think he had so concerned about those accursed Saiyans! If Jeice's race had ever attacked him in force, he'd have much less of a chance than he would have if the Saiyans had been the ones doing so! Fortunately, that particular problem was not present, as Jeice's race was nearly extinct by now, although not as close to extinction as the Saiyans were. Other than Jeice himself, there were was only less than half a dozen of representatives, and although all of them were noticeably strong – in fact, all of them were probably stronger than Jeice had been before he had gotten this power up – they would not be foolish enough to dare to try to kill him. They knew very well that even if they succeeded in doing such a thing, they would unleash the wrath of a power so big that they would have no escape. A power that would be either the very same one that had wiped out their race, or another even bigger than that one.

The problem was that Jeice himself was attacking him at this moment, and Frieza would have to deal with that issue on his own. That was made difficult not only by Jeice's increased power level, but by the fact he seemed much less prone to taking chances than Vegeta or the others woud likely, as evidenced by how he had acted moments before when Frieza had removed his armor. Rather than waiting to see what he would do, Jeice had decided to attack him right away and try to kill him before he managed to do whatever he had been attempting. If it had been one of those idiot Saiyans, such as that idiot Vegeta, they'd certainly wait and see, not only out of overconfidence, but also out of curiosity, or, at the very least, puzzlement. And then, they would be doomed. But Jeice, in spite of having been an idiot by daring to rebel against him, was at least smart enough to be determined to succeed, and to not take any chances that might jeopardize his eventual victory.

But if that was so, why wasn't he continuing to attack him at this moment? Although Frieza didn't have much of a notion of time while he was covered in boulders, he knew enough to be sure that it had been quite long since Jeice had attacked him. Either the fool was somehow sure that he had already killed him, or how he was gathering energy for a big attack – although Frieza doubted it was the latter, because he couldn't see any beams of light peeking through the spaces in the boulders. But at the same time, he didn't believe he was the former either – Jeice had been too cautious in this fight to start acting on overconfidence all of a sudden.

Knowing that there was only something he could do to find that out, Frieza let out an explosion of energy which threw the boulders that covered him – all of them much bigger than himself – on every direction. A deafening rumble was heard in the area when Frieza released his energy, and was quickly followed by several loud crashes, as the boulders Frieza had thrown about to dig himself out fell down thunderously.

Once the dust and the boulders had settled down, Frieza looked around for Jeice, trying to see whether he would need to find some more efficient manner of holding him off before he could continue to do what he had been doing before.

It took him only a few moments to find Jeice – but to his surprise, the idiot was lying at Vegeta's feet, back at the spot from where Frieza had been thrown into this rock. Whether he was unconscious or dead, Frieza couldn't tell, but he clearly had, for some reason, been struck down by Vegeta. As for the Prince of All Monkeys himself, he was glaring at Frieza, but not only with the usual glare that very clearly revealed the disgust he felt toward him. Although Frieza kept his expression as cold as it always was, he had to admit he was puzzled by Vegeta's actions. What sort of idea had come onto the monkey's brain?

"Well, it's about time!" Vegeta growled in impatience, as if he was scolding him. "Were you napping down there or something? I know lizards hibernate, but the weather doesn't seem to be cold enough for you to do that!"

Frieza rarely let any emotion other than coldness slip through his expression, but this time, his eyes widened briefly. What was Vegeta talking about? While he thought Saiyans were nothing more than a bunch of morons, and that trait was exemplified in its full breadth by the Royal Family, this behavior seemed just too random, even for him. Not that Frieza was worried, but he was certainly puzzled.

His scowl suddenly twisting into a smirk, Vegeta added, "By the way, before I forget, let me just tell you this: I never thought you'd be pathetic enough so as to need one of your enemies to help you achieve victory."

Frieza raised his eyebrows, again wondering what Vegeta was talking about exactly.

He didn't have to think for long, as Vegeta, unknowingly answering Frieza's question, barked at him, "Now are you going to transform or what?"

For the second time in a remarkably brief period, Frieza's eyes widened in surprise.

In spite of the very blatant insult that Vegeta had thrown at him not long before, by suggesting he would need his enemies to help him defeating them, Frieza wanted to do nothing more than to burst in laugher at the monkey's gargantuan foolishness. How could one be such a big idiot so as to hand advantage over to his enemies in this manner?

But if Frieza wanted to crack up, Vegeta's allies seemed absolutely heartbroken, although they had exactly the same thoughts, which obviously were received differently by them. Most likely, they had wanted to stop Vegeta from doing such a thing, but had not done so, certainly because of how terrified they were.

Well, Frieza was certainly grateful to them, he had to admit it. He greatly preferred to stay put and be capable of transforming in peace rather than having to fend off bothersome flies before he could do it. And he would show them just how grateful he was by giving them the most creative kind of death he could think of.

But rather than telling them that, he addressed Vegeta.

"Well, well, Vegeta, I certainly didn't expect that," Frieza said. "And I'm talking not only about your knowledge of my transformations, but at the fact you are such an idiot that you would willingly fight your own allies so as to give me the chance to undergo them!"

Vegeta growled at the insult, but did not reply in any manner.

After letting out a few chuckles for the purpose of the moment, Frieza added, "How did you get to know of my transformations anyway?"

Scoffing in an overly obnoxious manner, Vegeta said, "Zarbon told me of your transformations. And just pay attention to who you call an idiot!"

His expression returning to his usual glare, Vegeta added, "Don't think I'm not aware that what you're doing is simply displaying an excessive amount of arrogance. Zarbon could also transform, and he certainly didn't get that much stronger in proportion! That means the same should be valid for you."

Vegeta's stupidity was so unbelievable that Frieza felt he wanted to slap his forehead in hopelessness. Just how foolish could these monkeys truly be? Or for that matter, was there even a limit to the stupidity of their race? What a pity he would never find out the answer to that question – after all, the Saiyans would be extinct once Vegeta was finished off.

Oh well, seeing as Vegeta was actually decently strong when compared to his race, Frieza could just do what he wanted and transform before he could kill him. After all, that had really been what he had been trying to do before killing Jeice.

"You really are hopelessly ignorant, my poor Vegeta," Frieza said in a melodramatic tone. "Do you just have any hint of an idea of what will happen to your chances of winning when I transform?"

Not giving Vegeta the chance to answer, Frieza shifted into a powering up stance.

"Pay close attention when I give you the answer to that question," Frieza said, as he started to summon the energy required for his transformation. "After all, it will be one of the last things you'll ever see!"

* * *

><p><em>Up next: As those fighting Frieza watch in horror, the transformed tyrant comes down on all those standing in the vicinity. Meanwhile, in the depths of Hell, Recoome and Burter suddenly find themselves with their own problem to face. What will happen? Find out next!<em>

_Hoping you enjoyed the chapter,_

_Genescritor_


	12. Chapter 12: An unwanted visitor

**From Enemy To Student**

**- a Dragon Ball Z fanfiction -**

**Chapter 12 – An unwanted visitor**

_Disclaimer: I do not own, in any way, any official property related Dragon Ball, such as the anime, its characters, related movies, and so on. However, I hope to supplement that glorious work of art with my fanfictions, such as this one. _

_I would also like to point out that this fanfiction was originally written by Gonstika, from whom I adopted it, and many of the concepts and plot-points featured in its chapters are originated by Gonstika as well._

_With that said, I hope you enjoy the story._

* * *

><p>It was with great satisfaction that Frieza realized his words had made the insects even more scared than they already were. The Namekian child that had turned out to be one of the reasons why he hadn't gained immortality was now pressing into the ground as though he wanted to sink into it, and the Earthling and the kid, although they were still standing, were quaking in pure horror. All in all, it was a perfect picture to Frieza, for whom there was nothing like scaring his victims before starting to torture them. The only parts of the scenery that he didn't like were Vegeta and Jeice, the first because he still had that arrogant smirk on his face in spite of the fact he was about to die, and the second because, being unconscious, he would not experience any terror when he saw him transformed. But then again, he was bound to wake up eventually, and even if he had been killed by Vegeta, whether accidentally or on purpose, there wasn't much harm done, as Frieza would be able to compensate by torturing the others a little bit more and kill them in an even more painful manner.<p>

But at the end of the day, Frieza liked to have his victims as scared as possible before killing them. Therefore, he deliberately delayed his transformation even further, by saying to everyone else, "Just so you have any idea of what you are up against, this is hardly a habit of mine. Not even when I destroyed Planet Vegeta I had any need to transform before doing so."

Focusing his gaze on Vegeta, Frieza added, his smile even wider than before, "Nor did I have any need to transform when I fought your father, Vegeta. He was such a disappointment for the king of the so-called most powerful race in existence!"

Letting out an angry growl at those words, Vegeta barked, "Just so you know, I had already surpassed my father when I was a child. And I'm going to prove you I'm stronger than he could ever hope to be by defeating you in your so-called transformed state! If you even have it, that is. Considering the time you're taking to enter it, I'm starting to wonder whether it is no more than a bluff!"

Vegeta's conceited statements were so foolish that Frieza simply could not help but to chuckle. The monkey conveyed as much arrogance as his father had, only moments before Frieza had literally punched him out of existence. This was indeed turning out to be the perfect therapy for the anger he felt at having lost his immortality. And it could be even better when he finally transformed.

But just so to build himself up to enjoy the experience more fully, Frieza added, "You truly are your father's son, Vegeta. Not only both of you have gazes that are afire with madness, but both of you have egos far too big to make you see the obvious truth. But rest assured, I can help you on that regard in your final moments!"

Now looking so furious that his flame-shaped hair seemed to be crackling with electricity, Vegeta bellowed at him, "ARE YOU GOING TO TRANSFORM OR WHAT?"

At any other occasion, Frieza would have laughed to the top of his lungs at seeing how eager the monkey was to die, but by now, he felt he had reached his own limit as to how much he could delay the moment of his transformation and his implied enjoyment of the torture of these worms. So, rather than saying a word, he simply bent down his knees and his arms, shifting into a powering up stance.

"As you wish!" Frieza shouted, before finally starting his transformation.

* * *

><p>As Frieza's announcement seemed to reverberate through them like the impact of the most overwhelming of physical blows, and strong gusts of wind emanated from the tyrant's reptilian body to further manifest his increase in power, Krillin, Gohan, and Dende shook even more intensely than they had done when Frieza had first arrived to the scene, knowing they were about to go from what was already a very bad situation into one that was countless times worse. And while such an act would be expected from children such as Gohan and Dende were, Krillin did not feel any less scared than the two of them, nor did he feel more capable of controlling his fear than they were.<p>

Even though he was supposed to be the adult of their trio, and was standing at a fairly big distance from the murderous tyrant, the room between them did nothing to decrease the fear that swelled up inside Krillin, and should any spectator be at the scene, the terror that radiated from the former monk would be plain as day, as he shook ten times more intensely than a pile of cubes of jelly balancing on top of a spoon. However, the only other beings in the area beside him were too focused on being scared themselves to pay any sort of attention to the fear of others.

In spite of the horror he was experiencing, a part of Krillin could not help but to feel guilty at being so scared. He knew that, as the adult of their trio, he should be doing something other than shaking in terror, such as trying to comfort the children, or promise to protect them when danger came. But he simply could not bring himself to do so. Not only did the realization that Frieza would become an even bigger threat paralyze him, but his cold logic shouted at him that whatever promises he made to Gohan and Dende would be completely in vain. For one, Gohan was already stronger than himself, and therefore, had bigger chances of survival than him. Also, any attempt Krillin made at protecting either him or Dende would be in vain, as Frieza, even before transforming, would be able to burn him to a crisp without breaking a sweat, and after transforming, certainly would be able to do so even more easily. In the end, he had just become little more than cannon fodder, no matter how much he hated himself for that or how much he wished it to be different.

But he did not have time to wallow in the guilt he felt, as at long last, a change in physical looks joined Frieza's increase in power, as the tyrant let out a loud cry, and his torso more than doubled in size, making his head, limbs, and tail looking disproportionately small. However, Frieza's limbs quickly adjusted in size to fit the more massive torso, looking not only much bigger, but much more muscular proportionally. The tyrant's tail also lengthened and became much thicker, swaying behind him like the most potent of whips.

Frieza's head was the last thing to change, but eventually, it also increased in size, although it was much smaller when compared to his body than it had been on his previous form. However, it looked far more menacing, as Frieza's horns lengthened and bent upwards in an almost right angle, making them look even more terrifying weapons than they were when Frieza had been in his previous form.

Each and every of those changes had been accompanied by an increase in Frieza's energy, and now that his transformation was complete, his power had easily become twice as big, maybe a little bit more. Even the tyrant had fallen to one knee, as if the power of this transformation was so big that even he could not keep it in his body. However, it soon became obvious that it should be more for the act than for any other reason, as the evil look on his face did not suggest he was feeling any sort of physical strain because of this power.

Ever so slowly, the tyrant stood up, their deaths written in every line of his face. It was such an intimidating picture that even Vegeta himself could do nothing but stare in pure horror, as he finally understood what a mistake he had made by enabling Frieza to transform.

"Be very careful," Frieza said in a considerably deeper voice, his smile looking not only as wicked as it did in his initial form, but also even more violent. "When I am like this, I am not as nice as before."

If those had been mere words, it would have been possible that Krillin would have simply remained as scared as he was before, in opposition to growing even more terrified. But that statement had been the purest of truths, as evidenced by Frieza's facial expression. And although Krillin had already been feeling more scared than he had ever felt before in his entire life, he found, to his great amazement, that it was possible for him to grow even more terrified.

"I am so strong in this form that if I simply gave you a careless pat, I would mortally damage you," Frieza carried on. "Just for you to have an idea, my current power level is well over a million!"

Frieza had not told them anything new, as Krillin had been able to tell, thanks to his energy-sensing skills, that Frieza's power level was indeed considerably over a million scouter units – probably about a hundred thousand or so. But to have that fact stated in words somehow managed to make it even worse.

"Impossible!" Vegeta said with such vehemence that he gave the impression that he hoped denying the fact would make it false. "There's no way your power level can be that high!"

If Krillin had been only a little less scared, he probably would have been able to throw a sharp-tongued remark, such as 'Well, it is, and it's all your fault for letting him transform!'. But right now he was too scared to think of anything other than his impending death, just like everyone else on the battlefield, except for Jeice, who was still unconscious, and Frieza, whose smile widened at the sight ever-increasing terror in the faces of those that stood against him.

"A non-believer, eh?" he asked, raising his left forearm until it stood parallel to his body, the fingers of his left hand pointing to the sky. "Well then, here's a little something to prove how your chances of winning have gone flying out of the window!"

Before any of them could as much as bat an eye, the whole area was overwhelmed in a massive explosions, with rocks being disintegrated as if they were made of sand, the grass on the ground burning like a fuse, and the inert Dragon Balls, Jeice's unconscious body, and everyone who was awake besides the tyrant being blown away like feathers by a hurricane, as all the way from outer space, a purplish-pink light bloomed all over a part of the planet, signaling the power of destruction caused by the one rumored to be the most terrifying being in the whole Universe.

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><p>While the conscious fighters on Planet Namek tried in vain to struggle against the shockwave released by Frieza's attack, another struggle, very similar to the one that had taken place shortly before, was going on in Hell, by the massive crystal ball that the most evil beings ever to have lived used to watch significant events going on in the realm of the living.<p>

Exactly as it had happened when Frieza had first powered up, Recoome was trying with all his might to charge toward the gigantic crystal ball that relayed the battle taking place on Planet Namek, as if doing such would enable him to get to the event. In addition to that, he was also bellowing all sorts of profanities directed toward Vegeta as he tried to charge toward the magical sphere, displaying not only the intense anger he felt toward the Saiyan for having knocked out his friend and for having enabled Frieza to transform, but a knowledge of fowl words surprisingly broad for a man who was viewed as being extremely dimwitted.

Like on the previous occasion in which Recoome had been trying to charge at the magical sphere, Burter was trying to restrain him with all his might. Only this time, he had twice the work on his hands, as he not only had to keep Recoome from charging at the crystal ball, but had to keep the giant's mouth closed, so as to stop him from bellowing obscenities out for all of Hell to hear. So far, he was managing to do the first thing alright – although it took him a considerable amount of effort – but he had much more trouble with the second part of the task, to the point where he didn't manage to fulfill it in its full breadth.

"That big…" Recoome roared when he managed to pry Burter's hand off his mouth for an instant, before his saurian look-alike friend put it back there, which caused the next insults to come out as muffled sounds impossible to work out. "…bloody…" again, Recoome managed to get his mouth free for an instant, although Burter covered it again shortly afterwards. "dammed…"

Letting out yet another grunt in frustration at realizing how this task was quickly becoming harder as time went on, Burter once again covered Recoome's mouth with his hand, blocking another torrent of profanities from coming out.

Truth being told, the thing he wanted to do the most, besides not having to worry about restraining Recoome, was bellowing all the curses he knew at Vegeta himself, before pounding the bastard to a pulp, regardless of how unlikely it was that he would be capable of doing such a thing. And even that would not be anywhere near enough punishment for that huge monkey-wrench Vegeta had shoved into the whole situation.

Things had been going so well for Jeice until Vegeta had suddenly decided to break into the fight! And for a completely stupid reason nonetheless! Just how could someone be as stupid? Even Recoome, who was far from bright, would have displayed the basic intelligence required to know not to hand over advantage to his opponent like that if it would mean as much as a bigger chance at dying! Granted, Recoome had never been defeated in a fight until he'd met Goku, but that didn't mean he wouldn't have a bare minimum of common sense, something that Vegeta seemed to lack completely. After all, that was the only explanation for one to enable his opponent to become stronger like that. As soon as that monkey was killed by Frieza, Burter would tell him few and good.

But first, he somehow had to continue restraining Recoome from charging at the crystal ball and take his frustrations out on it, as well as he had to continue muffling out every insult at the Saiyan Recoome bellowed out. Both those efforts, which Burter had been performing ever since Vegeta had knocked Jeice out, were turning out to increase in difficulty far quicker than he would like. And sadly, he could feel himself starting to lose the fight, as not only Recoome was much stronger than him on normal circumstances, but this time he was being fueled by an anger that was even bigger than the despair he had previously felt when he had wanted to help Jeice against Frieza. Such anger only seemed to render him even more powerful than before, and it took all of Burter's strength to hold him down. And anytime soon, Recoome would be able to break free and pound the crystal ball, not only to take out his frustrations, but certainly also to somehow attempt to get to the scene through breaking the sphere. Regardless of Burter's warnings about how doing such a thing was bound to get them nowhere, Recoome still seemed willing to try.

But he couldn't happen. After all, even their current scuffle was already starting to draw the attention of many residents of Hell, even more so than the one they'd had not long before. And a good number of them looked like they were quite mad at the fact Burter and Recoome were not letting them enjoy their only source of entertainment in peace and quiet. If this carried on for much longer, it was only a matter of time before one of them would get mad enough to pick a fight with them. And Burter was not mad enough to think he and Recoome were the strongest beings in Hell, particularly after what he had seen in the last hour or so of his life. If all the evil beings that had died everywhere in the Universe since the beginning of time came here, there could easily be a good number of them stronger than himself and Recoome put together, even after they had gotten that mysterious boost in power that they still couldn't explain. With Burter having no way of guessing who those beings were, the only thing he could do was try not to anger them. And right now, that endeavor entailed keeping Recoome put and quiet.

Sadly, all of Burter's determination in achieving that deemed failed all too soon for his likes, as Recoome, somehow still oblivious to the fact he was the focus of everybody's attention, again managed to get Burter's hand off his mouth, and this time for a longer period of time.

"When I get out of here I'll get you good, you big…" the rest of the string of insults was so bad that Burter, who by now could only focus on holding Recoome, grimaced as though he was being slowly impaled and trying to hold back the scream, while at the same time trying to shut his ears through sheer force of will. Just where had Recoome learned such kinds of insults after all, and how could he actually have remembered so many of them?

"Do you hear me?" Recoome finally shouted when he finished his string of insults, although it seemed like a whisper for Burter's ears, which were still buzzing.

That seemed to be the last drop for the other spectators to the battle against Frieza, as finally, a voice that spoke in an accent that people on Earth would have identified as pseudo-Caribbean shouted from the crowd. "Will you just shut the hell up, you muscle-bound moron? There are people trying to watch this here!"

Burter winced when he heard those words, but this time it wasn't because they were particularly loud. Instead, it was because his fears had come true. Recoome's behavior had finally made at least one other resident of Hell reach the limit of his patience. And if things kept going the way they were, others were bound to follow the set example at the slightest provocation.

Right as the thought came across Burter's mind, Recoome, momentarily forgotten of his anger toward Vegeta, turned to the direction of the voice and immediately started powering up a blast, clearly intending to level whoever had shouted that at him. Feeling a sudden burst of panic, Burter immediately clenched a fist and clobbered the back of Recoome's head, not hard enough to try to knock him out, but enough to make him lose his focus on the blast.

It was a hard task, as Recoome was built like a tank, and although his head was more sensitive than the rest of his body, it was also tough, which made it difficult for Burter to gauge the strength required to hit him hard enough to disturb him without leaving any damage. Were it not for their unexpected burst in strength, Burter would not have tried to be careful, as he would have been capable of gauging the strength required for such a task without many problems, and probably would have failed in inflicting any damage even if he had tried. But with these weird spurts in their power levels, and no way of knowing whether they had been in the same proportion in both of them, it was better to be careful.

Fortunately, it turned out he'd made just the right amount of effort. Recoome's energy blast faded, and the orange-haired giant fully extracted himself from Burter's grip, before turning around to face him.

"What the hell did you do that for?" Recoome shouted up at him, standing on his tiptoes in order to have his face anything closer to Burter's.

Not paying any attention to how intensely his muscles were aching after restraining Recoome for so long, Burter shouted back, "Did you even listen to what I told you a while ago?"

Burter knew the most likely answer to that question was no, but even if it wasn't, he decided to remind Recoome anyway, particularly because he knew the giant could not even know about which exact thing Burter was referring to – after all, he had told Recoome quite a few things.

"For starters, breaking the crystal ball will do nothing to get us there," Burter said, counting off of his fingers to make sure he didn't forget anything. "Secondly, Frieza is too strong, there's no way we'd be able to make a difference against him. Thirdly, we're dead, there is nothing we can do!"

Burter hated himself for having to say those words as much as he hated the raw truth that was contained in them, as well as he absolutely loathed the fact he had to tell such things to Recoome. For all of his big friend's flaws, and regardless of how there hadn't been any battle they'd had trouble with until they had met Goku, Recoome had always been the one most concerned about the safety of others when they went on purging missions, and the one who would willingly rush headfirst to help either one of them if he as much as suspected there was any need to do so. If he was not so strong, that habit of his probably would have cost him his life at least half a dozen times on purging missions, as they'd met several races with weaponry that was easily capable of killing beings with power levels in the high thousands. And if by some miracle they could make it to the battle against Frieza and end up helping, they'd certainly achieve nothing more than dying again.

"Didn't you hear me?" the same being with pseudo-Caribbean accent shouted at them somewhere from the middle of the crowd. "Just shut the hell up, damn it!"

Recoome started to inch on the direction of the voice, but Burter quickly grabbed his head with both hands and forced his friend to keep his lock of gazes with him.

"Don't mind him, just answer my question," Burter growled. "What exactly do you think we can do, considering all the things I pointed out?"

For a few moments, Recoome did not reply, his brow scrunched up in concentration as he tried to work out an answer to Burter's question. At first, the saurian look-alike wondered if he would have to repeat 'all the things he had pointed out' but after a surprisingly short period of time – mainly considering how long Recoome usually took to think with his head rather than with his fists – he answered.

"We've got to be able to do something!" Recoome said like a stubborn child. "And I'm not staying put until I find out what that is!"

On normal circumstances, Burter would have thrown his hands up and let out a loud groan of hopelessness at Recoome's infantile persistency. But this time, he did not do so, simply because he simply did not have the time for it.

"Alright, that's it!" the being with pseudo-Caribbean accent shouted. "If you don't shut up on your own right away, I'll go there and do it for you!"

Feeling apprehension creeping up through him at the very clear threat, Burter looked in the direction the voice had come from, trying to find out who had spoken so he could be as ready as possible for an eventual attack. For a few moments, he glimpsed a being with teal-colored skin and chin-length bright orange hair looking in their direction. From what Burter could see, the being didn't look particularly violent or evil - taking the being's mannerisms as basis, Burter would identify him more as a rebellious teenager than as a bloodthirsty tyrant like Frieza. Still, Burter somehow knew that this being from an unknown race would be strong enough to obliterate both him and Recoome with no more than a sneeze, which was something he definitely did not look forward to, even though he was already dead - or mainly because of that, as he didn't look forward to seeing what would happen to someone who was killed after being already dead.

However, before Burter had the time to decide what was best to do now, or Recoome managed to throw back some sort of response, a second voice manifested itself.

"Oh no you don't!" it shouted. "The pleasure of laying hands on them belongs to me only!"

As if a spell had been cast, Burter's insides froze when he had that voice, as he suddenly felt himself being invaded by a fear that was comparable to the one he would experience if he was standing in front of Frieza on his own, about to be killed. That voice had been the last one he'd heard in his life, moments before he had been fried alive by the most powerful energy blast that had been fired at him.

By his side, Recoome seemed equally terrified, and appeared to have suddenly shrunk from the terror that clearly rose up inside him. And how could he not be that way? After all, for the longest time, there had only been one being known to be capable of standing against the one who had spoken, and said being would never do so. And although now there more than a few others who could perform the same feat, all of those Burter knew were in the realm of the living, and the ones who were here in Hell – if they even existed – certainly would have no reason to do it.

Feeling twin chills on their napes, both Burter and Recoome turned around as slowly as they possibly could in an attempt at delaying the inevitable, before at long last looking into the murderous gaze of the one that stared down at them, and gasping his name out at the exact same moment.

"Captain Ginyu!"

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><p><em>Up next: The seeds for a confrontation between Ginyu and two of his former soldiers are planted, as the terror that looms over Planet Namek further grows in intensity. What will happen? Find out next!<em>

_Hoping you enjoyed the chapter,_

_Genescritor_


	13. Chapter 13: Impending fights

**From Enemy To Student**

**- a Dragon Ball Z fanfiction -**

**Chapter 13 – Impending fights**

_Disclaimer: I do not own, in any way, any official property related Dragon Ball, such as the anime, its characters, related movies, and so on. However, I hope to supplement that glorious work of art with my fanfictions, such as this one. _

_I would also like to point out that this fanfiction was originally written by Gonstika, from whom I adopted it, and many of the concepts and plot-points featured in its chapters are originated by Gonstika as well._

_With that said, I hope you enjoy the story._

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><p><em>Writer's note: I apologize for having to tell you readers this, but as I started writing this chapter, it started taking a path different than the one I had planned for it. Therefore, the events depicted here won't be the exact ones that have been alluded to at the preview given at the ending of the last chapter. I give you my deepest apologies, and I sincerely hope you enjoy the chapter.<em>

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><p><em>Writer's note#2: This chapter contains one scene that, although brief, may be somewhat disturbing for readers with more sensitive minds. Therefore, reader caution is advised when reading this chapter.<em>

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><p><em>On Planet Namek…<em>

The first thing Jeice noticed when he started regaining his consciousness was that he was spinning over an horizontal axis several times a second, as if someone or something was pushing at a very high speed. He feebly tried to struggle against the unknown force that exerted its effect on him, but in his dizzy, half-unconscious state, with a persistent throbbing on his nape, a loud rumble that seemed to clog his ears, and blurs of all sorts of green swirling in front of his barely open eyes, his condition wasn't anywhere near the one required to do such a thing. Still, he was aware enough to realize that there was not anything below him by now, and that he could not feel anything pushing him. Clearly, whatever had thrown him away had been momentary, although its effects were certainly long-lasting, as Jeice guessed he had already flown for a good distance, and he did not feel the impetus of his unnatural propulsion decreasing to any extent.

Rather than dwelling on the matter any further, though, Jeice instead tried to summon his usage of energy to stop his momentum and prevent his fall, as he wasn't sure of how high he was, and even someone as strong as he was could get hurt when falling from a big enough altitude. Flight was easily the most basic technique known to all those who could manipulate energy, and every Frieza soldier was forced to master it until it became as natural as breathing. However, a perfect grasp on flight required a clear mind, and with his head spinning from the dizziness and throbbing insistently at the same time, Jeice took several moments to access it. And in the meantime, he had already started flying away from whatever had pushed him at a lower speed, which in turn caused him to suffer a significant drop in altitude as well.

Fear rushing through his veins at the realization, Jeice summoned every bit of concentration he could, desperate to stop his fall. His body jerked to a halt in midair, shaking intensely in the process, which caused the throbbing in his nape to intensify and his stomach to churn intensely, as a strong queasiness seemed to accompany his ever bigger return to full consciousness. Still, the success of his attempt at preventing his own crash-landing on the planet's ground caused Jeice to let out a deep sigh of relief. While the sudden halting of his fall had hurt him somewhat, it would have been worse for him if he had kept falling and eventually landed.

"What on the hell happened?" Jeice muttered, as he tried to repress the queasiness in his stomach and rubbed the throbbing area of his nape to see if he could make it settle down.

That question was the fundamental one at the time, but from what Jeice could see, there was no one around to answer him, and he simply didn't know the answer himself. He only knew that, right before that strange blackness had engulfed him, he had been about to fire the most powerful Crusher Ball he had ever made at Frieza, hoping with the entirety of his being that his attack would kill or at least mortally injure his former lord. But, seemingly out of nowhere, he had fallen unconscious, and next thing he knew, he was flying through the air, managing to stop his fall only moments before he had crashed into the Namekian sea. The thought caused him to feel another surge of fear, as he knew that if he had remained unconscious for only one minute longer, he would most certainly have drowned.

The shiver of fear caused the throbbing in his nape to intensify, but that secondary effect of his scare made him realize the obvious truth: someone had closed in and knocked him out when he was distracted.

But who would do such a thing? All of Frieza's soldiers other than himself were meant to be dead by now, and even if there was a lucky one who had somehow survived, it was extremely unlikely any of those soldiers would be able to knock Jeice out now that he had become so strong, no matter how much he managed to get him by surprise. Besides, now that he thought of it, Vegeta, Gohan, and Krillin had been nearby. Should there have been anyone else in the vicinity, they were meant to end up taking notice of that person and deal with him or her while Jeice was busy with Frieza. Although they weren't meant to be his friends, Jeice knew the four of them should work together and watch each other's backs if they were to defeat Frieza. And while Jeice had been doing fine by himself before he had been knocked out, he privately admitted that he would have appreciated some help if he had needed it.

The weirdest part, though, was that he seemingly hadn't needed it, as he had been almost killing or incapacitating Frieza by the time he was knocked out. What had happened then? Had Frieza somehow managed to dig through the ground underneath Jeice only to come up behind him and knock him out? That couldn't be, as Frieza certainly would have taken the chance to kill Jeice when he did so. And he clearly hadn't even attempted to do such a thing, as although it seemed to Jeice that his clothes and hair were more dirt-smudged than they had been before he had been knocked out, he didn't feel any injury that he hadn't had before losing his consciousness, besides the throbbing at the spot where he had been hit.

In the end, trying to answer the question of what had happened to him was like walking in circles. But although he hadn't found his answer, Jeice knew he couldn't waste time trying to figure it out at the moment. The battle against Frieza was most likely still going on, and as Jeice was still alive, he would still be able to help. Although he did not feel as fit for battle as he wished to be, all thanks to the blow he'd gotten to the head, he was reasonably sure that he would be more useful than if he wasn't there at all. But he would only be useful if he managed to find the place where the fight was going on. And at the moment, it seemed to be very far away, as he couldn't even notice specks that could correspond to the shapes of Frieza or any of the others, so finding them would be difficult. At first, Jeice considered using his new energy-sensing skills to find the others, but he quickly discarded that thought. After all, he had felt sick the last time he'd sensed Frieza's energy signature, and although it was possible he would not be as overwhelmed by the feeling the second time he experienced it, Jeice didn't feel like trusting that chance now that he had such an injury, even considering that the throbbing in his head was starting to subside. So, he gave a look around instead, hoping to find something that would hint at him where the others were.

The first look around earned him nothing, as he saw no lead to follow in order to find the whereabouts of the others. But after looking around for a second time, he noticed something that had escaped him the first time, certainly only because the throbbing in his head had dulled his senses slightly. There was a place, well into the distance, where there were many specks that seemed to be falling down from the sky, almost like meteorites that made it through a planet's atmosphere without burning up and crashed at an extremely low speed. That could only mean they were not meteorites, but stones that had been thrown into the air by an explosion, and were falling down now that the explosion had subsided.

That was certainly the area where the fight against Frieza was taking place, although there didn't seem to be any more explosions following the first one, nor were there clouds of dust being stirred up by the shockwaves caused by the clashes of blows. At first, Jeice wondered if he had been unconscious for so long that Frieza had somehow killed all the others, and the explosion that had pushed him away was actually the one caused by the attack Frieza had used to kill all the others.

No, that couldn't be. As far as Jeice knew, Frieza only used strong explosive attacks when he wanted to get rid of an entire planet. Normally, he preferred to use a thin, piercing beam which tended to run his foes through rather than explode against them. And although he sometimes used explosive attacks to kill others, any attack powerful enough to kill Krillin, Gohan, Vegeta, and the Namekian kid all at the same time would simply have to be so strong that it wouldn't be able to hurl Jeice away over such a distance and leave him relatively unscathed in the process. And if he had only caught the attack's side effects, then he simply shouldn't have been thrown so far away from the battle – unless Frieza had somehow used his full power, and it was so high that just a shockwave from one of his attacks would be able to hurl Jeice away.

That just couldn't be. After all, Frieza had clearly been using his full power already when Jeice had fought him. The signs had been plain for Jeice to see. Could this mean that Frieza had just been a good actor, and had suddenly ended his masquerade? Or had he somehow become stronger through some mean that Jeice couldn't recall?

Whatever had happened, the stones falling at that distant place were the only lead that Jeice had, which meant he had to go to that place and see what was going on for himself. However, right when the thought crept into his mind, he had a feeling which he did not like at all. It seemed as if, at the very moment his brain had considered the option of following the clue of the falling stone, his instincts had started shouting at him that he would find something unexpected at that place, and would not like his discovery at all.

And even though Jeice didn't know whether that feeling was right or not, he didn't like it in the least.

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><p><em>In Hell…<em>

Trying to not let his fear be obvious to any onlookers, Burter did whatever he could to look Ginyu in the eyes, while he inwardly cursed the fact that he and Recoome had to meet up with him again from the very depth of his being.

When Burter had died, he had never thought he would meet Ginyu so soon after his death. In fact, he had scarcely thought about Ginyu in spite of having been killed by him, as he had been far too worried with more pressing matters for most of the time. At first, he'd had to explain everything that had happened to Recoome, as his friend had been killed while he was unconscious, and had no real idea of the situation at hand. Then, he'd had to calm Recoome down, as his friend had been outraged after knowing how Ginyu had treated Burter in his last moments, and how he had eventually killed Burter, before moving on to Recoome, certainly because he viewed him as more trash as well. Although Burter had found Recoome's anger completely justified, and in fact had had half-a-mind to let himself succumb to it as well, he had known that there needed to be someone level-headed in their group, and as much as he didn't want to say it, he was better suited for that role than Recoome.

After Recoome had finally calmed down somewhat, the two of them had started looking for Guldo, so that the three of them could stick together as the friends they were, mainly now that they were on a place more unfamiliar and alien than any planet they had ever visited in their lifetimes. For whatever unknown reason, Guldo had been nowhere in sight, although he hadn't died all that long before them, and as such there should be no reason for him to be all that far away. But shortly after starting their search for him, Burter and Recoome had ended up finding the giant crystal ball that was relaying the events taking place on Planet Namek, and had gotten there only moments before Frieza had started powering up to fight Vegeta, the bald Earthling, Goku's son, and Jeice, who clearly had allied himself to them for whatever reasons he had. After having seen that Jeice was about to fight Frieza, both Burter and Recoome had decided to stop their search for Guldo until the battle ended, as after all, there was no reason to be in a hurry when one was going to stay dead for the rest of eternity. And although Burter had, for just an instant, wondered about what had happened to Ginyu, considering how his Captain hadn't seemed to be around and how Jeice had allied himself to the kids and Vegeta, it hadn't taken Burter long to be too worried about Jeice's well-being to think about Ginyu.

Not long after starting to watch the battle, his focus had switched to trying to prevent Recoome from turning the other residents of Hell against them by destroying the crystal ball through which they were watching the fight, first because Recoome somehow thought that breaking through the crystal ball would get them to the location where they were and make it so they could help Jeice, and then because Recoome had wanted to do the very same thing, but because he wanted to beat Vegeta before Frieza did it instead.

Now, at a time when Burter was no longer restraining Recoome to stop him from getting to the crystal ball, Jeice's situation on Namek had grown even direr, and Vegeta was most likely well on his way to be killed, the two Ginyu Force members who had been killed by their captain were standing against their executioner, whose gaze seemed to pierce into theirs.

"Well, well," Ginyu finally said after what seemed at an eternity of silence, sneering down at the two soldiers he had killed not that long before. "What do we have here?"

Neither Burter nor Recoome replied Ginyu's question, as both of them were too focused on trying to repress the inherent fear they had felt toward Ginyu ever since day one, and which had never completely gone away even after years of serving him. Apparently, it hadn't died with them either, as neither could help but to feel horrified just from being in his presence, particularly now that he had revealed his real opinion about them.

"Is it a pair of worthless soldiers that are just what I need to vent my frustrations?" Ginyu carried on, his smirk deepening, as he suddenly floated down and ahead, slowly growing closer to them.

Clearly, not expecting them to answer, he added after a few moments, "Oh my, it does seem like it is! How fortunate!"

Realizing what Ginyu intended to do to them, Burter shivered in a very visible manner, as he recalled the pain he'd felt when Ginyu had obliterated him. However, in spite of his fear, Burter still managed to retain enough common sense to understand that if Ginyu was here with a halo hovering over his head like everyone else, then he had somehow been killed as well. That realization caused Burter to experience a flicker of satisfaction, but that feeling quickly vanished, as his fear didn't let it remain there for long.

"And they still say this place is Hell!" Ginyu carried on, now only three meters off the ground, and about twelve meters away from them. "With two top-quality punching bags like these, it will be paradise!"

Again, Burter's fear did not prevent him from feeling someone else as well. This time, it was pure anger toward Ginyu for the way how he was treating them. While Ginyu had never given either of them a lot of value when they had all been alive, it had become fully obvious that now that they were all dead Ginyu truly didn't view them as anything but expendable objects, if as much. And although Burter had already known Ginyu found them worthless, he still felt revolted, not only because of how Ginyu had treated him, but because he'd gone along killing countless people over the course of his entire life just for someone to whom he'd been so loyal ending up not only deeming him as worthless, but killing him as well. But experiencing such a thing would do Burter no good, as it wouldn't change what was about to come, which would be either an eternity of being killed by Captain Ginyu before being revived instantly, and then being killed again, or to meet whatever other fate awaited someone who was killed after being already dead, which somehow should be even worse than spending the rest of eternity being killed.

At long last, Ginyu touched down in front of them, the soles of his boots barely making a sound as they met the black rock that formed the ground of Hell, and his bone-chilling smirk as wide as ever. But after a few moments, it was replaced by a focused look, as Ginyu gave a few looks around the area, apparently looking for something that he believed was meant to be in the vicinity, but which he couldn't find.

"Where's Guldo?" he barked at Recoome and Burter after he finished his brief scrutinizing, sounding very displeased at the fact his four-eyed soldier was nowhere in sight.

By Burter's side, Recoome momentarily forgot his fear and got a puzzled look on his face. While Burter himself didn't forget his fear, he certainly got puzzled as well. After all, there should be no reason for Ginyu to be interested in knowing where Guldo was, mainly after having proclaimed that this Hell would be like his paradise with two punching bags like Burter and Recoome were.

"Didn't you hear me, you useless morons?" Ginyu repeated, significantly louder than before. "Where is Guldo?"

Being already quite scared, thanks to knowing the fate they would soon meet, both Burter and Recoome recoiled visibly when Ginyu shouted at them, visibly displeased at the fact they wouldn't answer.

All around them, several of the other residents of Hell present in the same place smiled evilly at the sight, visibly eager to see this newcomer beat the other two into a pulp – which could only be expected, as this was, after all, a place where evil people went after dying. But others seemed visibly annoyed, most certainly because the commotion at that place was preventing them from enjoying what the crystal ball was relaying to them.

And one belonging to that group voiced his displeasure not for the first time.

"Don't you start as well, you purple moron!" said the teal-skinned alien with chin-length bright-orange hair and pseudo-Caribbean accent. "I've already had to deal with the racket made those two; I'm not in the mood to hear you as well!"

Burter's heart jumped up inside his chest. He had been so focused on Ginyu that he had completely forgotten about this guy. And somehow, being reminded that he was also present there only managed to leave him even more scared. It was true that, from a realistic point of view, the guy hadn't done anything scary enough to warrant the fear Burter felt for him. Up until now, the guy had simply protested at the noise Burter and Recoome were making. But for reasons unknown even to himself, Burter was even more scared of this guy than he was of Ginyu, or even than he would be of Frieza if he was the one here, as even though he had never seen the guy before nor had he ever met another member of the guy's race, he somehow knew this guy had the potential to be much more dangerous than either Ginyu or Frieza.

And it seemed his fears were not entirely groundless, as all other residents of Hell visible in the area, regardless of whether they had previously been eager to see Ginyu thrashing Burter and Recoome or annoyed at the fact they couldn't watch the crystal ball in peace, seemed to get significantly scared when they saw the alien's visible anger. Burter had never seen beings of most of those races either, but there were some of them he had heard of, and a few of those were rumored to be very strong. For them to be as scared of this guy, he really had to be something else.

Ginyu himself did not look very scared, but there were no doubts that he was at least being cautious, as he did not throw a smug remark at the alien. Instead, he gave him a wary glance, before turning back to Burter and Recoome.

"For the third time, where is Guldo?" he said in a lower, but angrier tone.

Finding it would be better to give Ginyu some sort of answer so he wouldn't be even more furious, and not wanting to make the teal-skinned alien even more upset by listening to Ginyu voicing his fury, Burter finally said in a tone that he tried to make as plain as possible, "We don't know where is."

To his relief, Burter managed to stop any fear from being conveyed through his voice, but the emotional effort required to do so had been considerable, and careful observers would notice how Burter clenched his fists, as if trying to keep himself together by sheer force of will. However, Ginyu was not such a thing, as after hearing Burter's response, he looked more frustrated than anything else, and apparently didn't care with the way in which Burter had voiced it. But after a few moments, as if he had reconsidered his stance toward the matter, he smiled wickedly again.

"You know, that's a real pity," Ginyu said. "As much as you two make good punching bags, the small, rotund, and squishy ones have always been my favorite variety. And Guldo is easily the one fitting that profile the best."

Momentarily forgetting his fear, Burter raised an eyebrow in confusion. Did Ginyu truly mean he was simply looking for Guldo just because he was picky enough to prefer beating him rather than them?

Seeming to take Burter's puzzlement as a request for confirmation, Ginyu leaned toward them as if he was telling them a secret, added in a lower tone, "So, if you had been able to tell me where he is, I might not take out all of my frustrations on you, and save most of them for him instead."

Ginyu's comment caused Burter to growl in fury, as by his side, Recoome did the very same thing, while also clenching his fists tightly and inching forward, revealing how eager he was to beat Ginyu to a pulp – although the fact he had back proved that he still remembered how he wouldn't have any chance of doing so.

While Burter acknowledged that neither him nor Recoome had been particularly nice to Guldo when they had been alive, all the teasing they'd given him had always been playful and good-natured, and even though they sometimes overdid it a bit, they always tried to make it up to him afterwards, at least on all the occasions when they were sure that they had done such a thing. But now that Burter thought of it, that really wasn't saying much. The two of them – as well as Jeice, for that matter – had most certainly exaggerated on their teasing of Guldo on far too many occasions. And after what he'd been through recently, Burter couldn't help but wonder whether himself, Recoome, and Jeice should have actually tried to build up with Guldo a camaraderie similar to the one they had between themselves, rather than spending most of their time mocking him and making empty threats of kicking him out of the bowling team.

Still, as much as they had never been as nice to Guldo as they should have, Burter at least knew he would never use someone who had been as loyal to him as Guldo had been to Ginyu as a punching bag. Unfortunately, and once again, that wasn't saying much, as Burter had, on occasion, unloaded his frustrations on others, particularly when purging planets, and had never cared about all the lives he was taking just because he wanted to vent his anger on something.

It disgusted him that he'd been so foolish as to never realize he'd been so disregarding of the lives of so many people, a disgust that was only surprised by the knowledge that even the combination of the regret he felt for having taken so many lives and the disgust he felt for having been such a person wouldn't make him strong enough to be able to teach Ginyu a lesson, and make him pay for having killed not only him and Recoome, but so many others.

Suddenly, as if a switch had been flipped, Burter's eyes widened, as his train of thoughts ended up reminding him of a fundamental fact.

"Powerful enough to teach Ginyu a lesson…," he mouthed to himself, as he remembered the unexplained boosts in strength that he and Recoome had gotten not long before finding the crystal ball that relayed the battle taking place on Planet Namek.

Burter didn't know why that had happened to them, but if he had to make a guess, he'd say they were Jeice's work, seeing as Jeice had also grown much stronger, as evidence by how he'd had an even fight with Frieza. And although Burter didn't think he'd grown so much stronger proportionally when compared to Jeice, he was more than sure that he had still become strong enough to be capable of dealing with Ginyu on his own. And with Recoome there to back him up, dealing with their former boss would be piece-a-cake.

As the realization of that fully sank into his brain, Burter's look of barely-controlled fear was replaced by a smile of anticipation. That didn't go unnoticed to Recoome, who gave Burter a concerned look, while Ginyu raised an eyebrow in obvious puzzlement.

"What's on your mind, Burter?" he asked, seemingly so surprised by Burter's look that he had forgotten to speak using spiteful words and a scornful tone. "Are you so scared of spending the rest of eternity dying by my hand that your brain was affected by the fear?"

His thoughts of beating Ginyu into a pulp growing ever more vivid, Burter sneered openly, letting out a few low chuckles.

"I wouldn't count on the fact you'll beat me to a pulp," Burter said. "If anything, I'll be the one doing that to you. I and Recoome, of course. After all, you killed him as well, and I wouldn't dream of depriving him of his revenge."

Giving Burter a puzzled look, Recoome scratched his head, seemingly trying to work out whether his friend had gone mad or whether it was Recoome himself who was missing something very obvious. As for Ginyu, his eyes widened to three times their normal diameter, as if Burter's statement was the most ludicrous thing he had ever heard.

Then, after a few seconds of silence, he started laughing to the top of his lungs, doing no effort to hide how he found Burter's affirmation completely ridiculous. Burter did nothing to stop Ginyu's laughter, as he wanted Ginyu to grow even more scared after seeing firsthand the sort of power he had managed to win thanks to whatever Jeice had done. Recoome, whose brain could almost be heard working, also didn't do anything.

"You… beating me… to a pulp…" Ginyu managed to get out between waves of laughter. "That's… the best joke… I've ever heard!"

Ginyu looked like he was going to unleash a louder, more uninterrupted torrent of laughter after that exclamation, but at that moment, anything the three of them could even think of doing was cut off by something else.

"Alright, that's it!" a voice roared out of nowhere.

Almost before the shout had finished being uttered, a lime-green energy blast was heard whizzing behind them, heading straight for the trio formed by Burter, Recoome, and Ginyu.

As beings that stood in the attack's path either dove for cover or jumped up as high as they could, Burter himself flew upwards as fast as possible for him, finding it wiser not to test the blast's power by taking it, even if it was to be grazed. By his side, Recoome, in spite of having clearly been caught off-guard by the shout, did the same. Even Ginyu instantly forewent his next torrent of laughter and flew upwards, only a split-second before the blast would have hit him.

Not meeting any more targets in its flight, the blast sailed for what was possibly hundreds of kilometers, before crashing into a nearby mountain, releasing a massive explosion. The blinding lime-green flash that was released was so strong that it was easily visible for tens of thousands of kilometers, and the shockwave itself was so strong that in spite of being at a significant distance from the explosion, Burter, Recoome and Ginyu had to struggle with all their might for not to be thrown off-balance by it. Boulders that were almost half as big as a Great Ape rained down on them during the explosion's aftermath, and all those in sight tried their utter best not to be hit by one of them, as a pitch-black mushroom cloud rose into the sky, so high that it probably reached beyond even the yellow layer of clouds that was part of the sky in this place.

His mouth agape by watching the sheer destructive power that blast had, Burter could only look on in amazement and horror. Not long after getting to Hell, he had used an energy blast to test how tough the ground was in this place, out of nothing more than curiosity. The blast he'd used to do so, which would have easily leveled a large city or a on many planets he had visited, had proved unable to even scratch the ground of this place. For that lime-green blast to have inflicted such damage to this place, the being who had fired it had to be immeasurably strong, certainly worlds stronger than even Frieza himself.

The thought again caused Burter to feel a wave of fear, more intense than the one he'd ever felt in his entire existence. Being capable of causing such destruction was going against the laws of nature, to surpass each and every limit of power Burter had ever known to exist. For one to have done so, he simply could not be… well, Burter didn't even know the proper warning to be used. He just knew it was beyond unnatural.

Wanting to know just who had done such a thing, Burter turned his gaze on the general direction the blast had come from, his curiosity being strong enough for him to temporarily forget his fear. Not so much to his surprise, the same being with teal skin and chin-length bright orange hair who had already complained numerous times about the noise they were making was standing there, with his left hand raised on the general direction of the place where they had been. With the area around him clearer of other residents of Hell, Burter could now get a proper look at him.

The being was slightly over two meters tall, and proportionally more muscular than Ginyu was, although not as much as Recoome by far. He was clad in a black t-shirt, baggy white trousers with a piece of black cloth tied around his waist right below the waist, and wore goldenrod metal boots with a grey patch in front of them and the tip of the same color. As forms of decorations, he wore a grey metal band around his right bicep, and one goldenrod metal band around each wrist.

Burter found the decoration a bit peculiar, but he didn't dare to say so out loud, as he didn't want the alien's anger turned toward him, although he didn't seem as evil as Frieza or Ginyu. Looking at him, one would take him for a moody teenager, in spite of his massive muscles. Not only his expression was very commonly seen in the faces of haughty teenagers, but his face, with a smooth plumpness that was slowly developing into sharper features (or had been when the alien had been alive) hinted at him being a teenager of his species, at least if his physical growth could be compared to that of Earthlings.

But regardless of his race or level of physical development, this guy was still a very powerful being who should not be angered. After all, besides having laid waste to a huge expanse of rock that Burter hadn't even managed to scratch with one of his powerful attacks, he didn't seem out of breath in the slightest after having done so, and there was not a drop of sweat visible on him. If the alien had destroyed such a vast area of impossibly tough mineral, he would easily be able to do the same thing to any of them, who were far less resilient than the rocks in this place. And if Burter truly wanted to thrash Ginyu without being disintegrated by this guy and meeting whatever fate awaited those who were killed after dying, he now knew they should do so as far away from here as possible, before the alien decided to blast them again – if he wouldn't do so after noticing he had missed his first try.

Raising his gaze toward the place where Burter, Recoome, and Ginyu were floating, the alien shouted in his pseudo-Caribbean accent, "This is your last warning! Next time I'll blast you!"

A collective gulp was heard coming from Burter, Recoome, and Ginyu. It had been more than scary enough to have barely dodged such a blast, but to have dodged it only because the one who had fired it had truly been intending to fire it as a warning shot was even more disturbing. At least, Burter now knew that this guy wouldn't blast them again, as long as they did not anger him any further. But then again, why hadn't this guy shot to kill in the first place? After all, if he had come to Hell after dying, he was evil, or at least was meant to be evil. Was he simply not up to killing them? Or was he in any way fearful that some even higher power would come to punish him for misbehaving – assuming such a thing even existed in Hell?

The thought of someone even more powerful than this being was frightening, but before Burter could start dwelling on the fear it instilled, Ginyu, who had managed to pull himself together, said in a tone that sounded just like the one he'd used when giving them orders back when he was alive, "You heard the fella. Let's find some quieter place so I can beat you two into a pulp."

His voice didn't betray any fear, but it was obvious from the fact he had told them to heed the guy's suggestion that he didn't want to have a direct conflict with him – or rather, to be obliterated by one of his blasts.

"If you fools don't come quietly, I'll beat you into doing so," Ginyu added, his evil smile returning so quickly that one would never have imagined that he had been overwhelmed by horror just moments before.

Recoome got an even more scared look on his face after Ginyu said that, who now still remembered the boosts in strength he and Recoome had received, in spite of being recognizably scared of the teal-skinned guy, said, "Lead the way, Ginyu."

Ginyu's surprised look briefly returned, this time with very visible shock joining it. But this time, instead of being followed by a wave of loud laughter, it was quickly replaced by a threatening look. And when Ginyu spoke, he did so in a tone that matched the look he got.

"It seems that rather than only having to beat some sense into you, I'll have to teach you some respect as well. In case you don't remember, you're supposed to call me _Captain_ Ginyu."

Ginyu paused after finishing his sentence, as if he expected Burter to make some sort of reply to his statement. When he didn't, Ginyu carried on speaking, this time in a nonchalant tone. "But alright, if you want to be beat so badly, just follow me."

Burter did not reply to that either. For him, doing such a thing would only delay his beating of Ginyu even more, and he didn't want to delay it more than it was absolutely necessary. But at the same time, he also didn't want to beat Ginyu to a pulp around here, as that would anger that teal-skinned alien who would have disintegrated them all already if he had been truly trying. So, he had to follow Ginyu to wherever he wanted to lead them – and then get back at him for what he'd done.

But while Burter was actually looking forward to that, Recoome didn't seem so eager for that moment to arrive. Instead, it was clear from the look on his face that he looked halfway ready to protest to Burter's words, but wasn't doing so, probably out of his fear. Apparently, like it had happened to Burter at first, Recoome was so scared of Captain Ginyu – simply out of the fact they were conditioned to feel that way during the time they spent in Frieza's forces – that he had forgotten his increase in strength. Only unlike Burter, he didn't seem to have come to the realization that he was stronger than Ginyu, at least not yet.

Burter started inching forward to follow Ginyu, but as soon as he moved, Recoome's mouth opened, and a sound could already be heard coming out of it. However, before Recoome had enough time to fully utter a word, Burter, who by now could barely stop himself from beating Ginyu here and now, quickly raised a hand to silence him, and whispered, "Just trust me on this one, pal."

Recoome got a conflicted look on his face in response to that. Clearly, he wasn't so sure as to whether he should trust Burter. Should it be anyone else – other than Jeice or Guldo – who had told him that, he probably wouldn't be conflicted at all, and would have fully given into his fear by now, while also taking the person's words as a dirty lie. And although he wasn't raising any objections or displaying his mistrust in a too open manner, both those things were still there, and would probably be revealed more openly if this carried on for too long.

Deciding to put a stop to Recoome's fear, Burter kept his eagerness to beat Ginyu at bay, and leaned over to his orange-haired friend, whispering, "Don't you remember what happened to our power levels not long after we got here? Dealing with him will be piece a cake! And we can get back at him for having killed us."

Burter's words caused a thoughtful look to appear on Recoome's face, which remained there for a few seconds, as though it took him some time to remember exactly what Burter was talking about. But as he finally processed the information in his brain, a huge wicked grin appeared on his lips, and he started inching toward Ginyu. His heart suddenly giving another jump in scare, Burter reached over to Recoome and grabbed him by his right arm, forcefully pulling him closer.

"Not here, you big dope!" Burter hissed in Recoome's ear. "Do you want to anger that guy who nearly torched us just a moment ago?"

This time, there was no long interval between Recoome's changes in expression. The giant's face instantly got a scared look on it, as he glanced at the massive crater full of huge chunks of rock that could now be seen. Sighing in relief, Burter let go of Recoome's arm, while inwardly groaning in frustration. Did he really have to be the one thinking of everything?

"Right," Recoome said, speaking lower than he usually did, but still loudly enough for Ginyu to hear him, although Recoome didn't particularly want that. "We'll thrash him farther from here."

Like it had happened when he'd witnessed Burter's display of smug confidence, Ginyu got a puzzled look on his face after hearing Recoome's words. Just from watching his expression, one could clearly see that he was wondering just how much damage Burter's and Recoome's brains had suffered since they had gotten down here. But this time, he didn't make any questions or spiteful comments. However, he took the time to say in a scornful at the same time frustrated tone, "It's about time you made the decision!"

Although Ginyu's shout hadn't been particularly loud, Burter cringed noticeably when he heard it, not because his ears were sensitive, but because that shout could be more fuel to that teal-skinned guy's fiery anger. He had already made it clear to them that he'd already given his last warning. Next time they angered him, he'd certainly level them with no second thoughts.

"Now just follow me once and for all!" Ginyu added in an impatient and equally loud tone, clearly too impatient to think about all the implications of his shouts.

Again, Burter momentarily cringed, fully expecting a lime-green light to engulf the whole area and disintegrate all of them in a flash. However, nothing like that came, and the moment Ginyu turned around and flew away, any thoughts about the teal-skinned alien disappeared from Burter's mind, as he and Recoome followed Ginyu through the airspace of Hell, both of them openly displaying their eagerness to lay their hands on Ginyu in the way how they clenched their fists and through the smiles of anticipation on their faces.

Still unaware of the boost in power his two soldiers had gotten, Ginyu himself felt about to explode with the eagerness to vent all of his frustrations by beating those two morons into a pulp. Like he'd said, this place would be paradise for him, even though it was meant to be the Hell evil people were sent to for their crimes.

In the midst of the feelings they were experiencing, none of them noticed the figure that sneaked through dark shadows created by outcrops of rock, following the trio at a distance.

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><p><em>On Planet Namek…<em>

Trying his utter best to ignore the bad feeling that kept nagging at him and the persistent throbbing on his nape, Jeice flew toward an impending battle of his own, for the most part hoping to get to the right place by following the clue given by the stones he'd seen falling into the water. But at the same time, a significant part of him didn't want to get to the place, at least not if the strange feeling he'd had about Frieza having become stronger was right. If he had anything close to a certainty that such a thing had actually happened – and by now, he had already had something that resembled that far too much – he would most likely get the hell away from this planet, and although Jeice didn't exactly want to leave at least the two kids, he didn't think they would do any good by becoming cannon fodder. But he knew now, as he had known since the beginning, that fighting Frieza was the only option he had. If he tried to hide on Planet Namek, he would end up dying when Frieza destroyed the planet out of not having any use for it, and if he escaped on his spaceship, he would only be setting himself up for having entire fleets of Frieza soldiers after him, as after all he was one of Frieza's top soldiers, and one who was bound to be relentlessly pursued if there was any hint at betrayal – and thanks to the tracking device that all Space Pods had, they'd find him eventually. While Jeice could try to become stronger before that happened, not only he wouldn't have any way of knowing when he wouldn't be strong enough to defeat Frieza, but Frieza himself could end up coming to the planet where he was and obliterate it in one shot, as after all, he wouldn't have any qualms about whatever innocent people he could end up killing.

Doing his best to push those thoughts out, Jeice instead tried to focus on hoping that the bad feeling he'd gotten about Frieza having become stronger was completely groundless. Because it just had to be. After all, what ways could there be for someone to become stronger all of a sudden?

Sadly, Jeice didn't take long to realize that question had one very simple answer: transformations. There were many races in the Universe who were capable of transforming, and Jeice had met a fair few, both on purging missions and on Frieza's forces. Frieza's race could easily be another of those, although of course he should have very little occasions on which to transform, considering how strong he was without doing so. But just how strong would he be after transforming? After all, the power multipliers varied for each transformation Jeice had ever seen, and although there were a few races that had transformations with the same multiplier, it was certainly a mere coincidence. If anything, the multipliers had a tendency to vary, from races whose transformed state didn't even make the individuals twice stronger, to others whose transformation made individuals as much as five times stronger or more. Off the top of his head, the Saiyans were the race whose transformation had the biggest multiplier, with their strengths increasing ten times when they were in their Great Ape state. But even if Frieza had a transformation which only made him twice stronger, it would be enough to tip the advantage back to him, or at least to make things more difficult. And unless Goku recovered or that Piccolo arrived to the scene, they'd all be in trouble. Again.

The thought caused Jeice to feel such a big surge of frustration that if he'd had any inanimate object in front of him, he would have punched it while at the same time uttering an endless torrent of curses at the fact things had apparently become so much more difficult just when it seemed they were getting better. But he didn't have anything to take out his frustrations on in this place, and shouting curses into the open didn't seem like a very sensible thing to do. And in a sense, that helped him, as the fact he didn't have anything to focus his frustrations on prevented him from fully giving into them, and allowed his rational side to keep something in mind: whatever had happened, there was nothing he could do now, other than keep fighting. And he'd do better at that if he was focused. He already had a throbbing in his nape as a big handicap, he didn't need his anger to further distract him from the fight, mainly when distractions could cost him dearly.

Listening to the advice given by the rational side of his mind, Jeice let out a deep sigh to steel himself, and then carried on flying on the same direction, hoping to get to the right spot. He quickly realized the clue he'd followed had gotten him to the right place, as he could now see three specks floating in the air, which could only be some of his fellow fighters. As he got closer, he quickly realized his guess was right, as he could see Gohan, Krillin (who was holding the Namekian kid) and Vegeta. But he couldn't yet see Goku, or someone who could be that 'Piccolo'. Or Frieza.

Finding it better not to rush in without having any idea where his foe was, Jeice slowed down on his fight, and looked down in an attempt to spot Frieza before he got to the place where the fight was meant to be going on. After looking around on all directions, he saw someone standing on a piece of rock that seemed almost too big for him, looking up at them. That someone had to be Frieza, but even from the distance, Jeice could see that he had a clearly different outline, and also looked much bigger than before. Noticing those things, the red-skinned alien felt the queasiness in his stomach, which until now had been fading almost to non-existence, return in force, as he started noticing that the guess he'd had regarding Frieza having transformed was most likely right.

On cue with that thought entering Jeice's mind, the figure standing on the rock disappeared, and before any onlookers had the time to even blink, there was a pink light streaking through the air, heading straight for the four beings floating the closest to him. Next thing Jeice knew, Gohan and Vegeta were looking on in horror, and Dende floated in midair with a lost look on his face, as Krillin twitched in pain, and Frieza floated right in front of him, with one of his black, pointy horns running through the Earthling's stomach, and the brave warrior's blood streaming down onto the tyrant's face, further strengthening his look of satisfaction at having taken yet another life.

* * *

><p><em>Up next: As the others look on in horror, Frieza continues his torture of Krillin, looking to get the most out of it before moving on his next victim. Meanwhile, Ginyu, Burter and Recoome look for a remote area in Hell, so they can solve their issues without taking the risk of angering someone more powerful than themselves. What will happen? Find out next!<em>

_Hoping you enjoyed the chapter,_

_Genescritor_


	14. Chapter 14: Consequences of anger

**From Enemy To Student**

**- a Dragon Ball Z fanfiction -**

**Chapter 14 – Consequences of anger**

_Disclaimer: I do not own, in any way, any official property related Dragon Ball, such as the anime, its characters, related movies, and so on. However, I hope to supplement that glorious work of art with my fanfictions, such as this one. _

_I would also like to point out that this fanfiction was originally written by Gonstika, from whom I adopted it, and many of the concepts and plot-points featured in its chapters are originated by Gonstika as well._

_With that said, I hope you enjoy the story._

* * *

><p>The amount of fear instilled into Jeice by the scene taking place in front of him was so big that, for yet another time, the red-skinned alien could do little more than to shake intensely to display his real feelings. Even as part of him kept insisting that doing such a thing would get him nowhere at all, he simply could not stop himself, not only because Frieza's true form managed to be the most terrifying thing he had ever seen in his life, but also because the way in which he was torturing Krillin managed to look equally terrifying. Although Jeice had seen and vanquished his fair share of races with more grotesque looks, and had watched worse things being done to people, although he'd never tortured someone so brutally, he was still horrified by Frieza's looks and by watching him torturing someone in such a manner, if only because it was Frieza. Ever since he could remember existing, he had learned that Frieza was like an omnipotent god, with a power so great that it was untouchable. And mere moments after Jeice had started to lose that vision of his former master, it had suddenly returned in full force, thanks to seeing Frieza's real look, and being only able to imagine how high his power could be by now.<p>

But regardless of his fear, Jeice was still able to know that he wasn't the one whose situation was worse around here. At least he was still fairly unharmed, while poor Krillin had a hole through his torso, and excruciating waves of pain to add to the terror he was undoubtedly experiencing, and certainly felt worlds worse than all the spectators put together thanks to those things. And remarkably, he still managed to muster enough physical strength and will to bring his knee up to Frieza's face in a fairly strong blow. It was probably more in an attempt at giving the tyrant one last reminder of him than at getting himself free of the horn that ran him through, as Krillin would only manage to bleed out to death even more quickly than before if he didn't have Frieza's horn running through him to somewhat staunch the bleeding. However, Frieza caught Krillin's feeble attempt at a strike more easily than if he had just taken a breath.

"Now now, don't get so upset," Frieza said in a tone that sounded almost gentle when compared to the extreme aggressiveness he'd just displayed. "You'll get to die soon enough, don't worry."

Jeice barely heard Frieza from where he floated, but his shaking intensified nevertheless, not only from knowing that Frieza would still draw out torturing Krillin for even longer, but from being reminded that the same thing would happen to all of them – which was something he desperately wanted not to believe in, regardless of how he knew it was true.

At that moment, a sudden call broke through Jeice's thoughts, forcing him to focus on something else.

"NOOOO!" Gohan let out in an anguished scream, charging toward Frieza at top speed, with his right fist pulled back to deliver a punch.

Jeice extended a hand on Gohan's direction and tried to shout at the boy not to do that because he would only get himself killed as well, but no word made it out of his mouth, as if fear had stolen his voice. Undeterred, the half-Saiyan kept closing in, and as soon as he got within Frieza's reach, the tyrant's lizard-like tail cut through the air, swatting Gohan away as if he was no more than a fly. The sight caused Jeice's heart to jump in fright, as he feared the worse. While the boy had certainly grown much stronger recently, Frieza would still have been able to do the same thing to him even before transforming, so now that strike was potentially deadly for the boy.

Thankfully, Gohan halted his fall after dropping for several dozen meters, and although there was a pained look on his face and a large bruise forming on his left cheek, he didn't look badly hurt. However, Krillin himself now hung limply over Frieza's head, as his attempt at a knee-strike seemed to have drained the last of his energy. Clearly having taken notice of that, Frieza started rocking his head back and forth, making Krillin flap up and down like a piece of paper, and causing drops of blood to squirt from his injury, as it became ever more serious and painful.

But Frieza, as though causing physical pain wasn't enough for the likes of him, spewed all sorts of taunts he could remember, determined to get the most enjoyment he could out of Krillin's death, with all the spectators powerless to do anything but watch in equal amounts of horror, regardless of how far away they were from him. Even Jeice, who was the one farthest from the tyrant, felt as scared as all the others.

However, for unknown reasons, the horror instilled into him managed to kick-start his mind into thinking of some sort of strategy they could use against Frieza now that he was distracted. The first one he could remember was to strike Frieza while he was bust torturing Krillin, as it was the best chance they'd have to get him by surprise in quite a while. But sadly, that plan had two problems. If Jeice or anyone else closed in to deliver a ht, Frieza still had five points of attack with which to keep them at bay, if not outright kill them. And if he fired an energy blast from a distance, there was no way to know if even his full might would be able to inflict any sort of damage on Frieza, unless Jeice tried to sense Frieza's power level, something that he simply didn't dare to do. Besides, any attack that was strong enough to have the slightest chance of hurting Frieza would end up killing Krillin as well. As hurt as the human could be by now, maybe he wasn't beyond salvation yet.

But at the same time, Jeice couldn't think of any alternative plan which included getting Krillin to the second rejuvenation tank on Frieza's ship without dying in the process, and while Frieza was still torturing him, he wouldn't keep on doing it forever, and their next chance at having their foe distracted would only come when someone else was being tortured to death. In the end, the best thing to do seemed to be for all of them to blast Frieza now that he was busy torturing Krillin and hope that somehow their combined attack managed to hurt him enough for his proficiency in battle to decrease enough for them to have a chance at holding him off. If they waited too much, Frieza would just end up moving on to someone else, and the more fighters he tortured, the less of a chance they would have at hurting him.

Settling for that plan, Jeice raised his left palm, ready to make another attempt at using a Crusher Ball against his former boss, hoping that the others would understand what he was doing and follow his lead. But at that very moment, Frieza simply cocked his head to the side, and threw Krillin down toward the water, a jet of blood shooting from his open torso. Jeice immediately lowered his hand, knowing he had missed his chance, and that by now, he could only wait until someone else was tortured before trying to carry out his plan.

As long as that someone else wasn't himself, of course. Because in that circumstance, someone else would need to have the same idea, or so Jeice thought in an uncharacteristically morbid fashion.

A split-second after the thought had passed through Jeice's mind, Frieza locked his eyes on him instead, and the evil gleam on his face got more pronounced for a moment. A moment that was enough for Jeice's insides to freeze solid from pure horror, and for him to realize one startling truth: he would be next.

But before he could so, his attention was captured by another anguished cry uttered by Gohan, followed by him shooting down toward the Namekian water. Clearly, he wanted to save Krillin regardless of how slim his chances at survival were.

Noticing that right away, Frieza disappeared from where he stood and reappeared in front of Gohan, causing him to skid to a halt in midair.

"Do you want to save your friend?" Frieza asked Gohan, his eyes locked on him. "Too bad, it's useless; he's going to die."

At that last bit, Gohan started to quake, most certainly from fear. But for some reason, Jeice had a hunch that it was some other emotion that was inducing the trembling of the young half-Saiyan's body.

"If I were you, I'd think about the best way to save your own hide," Frieza carried on. "Not that it will do you any good, of course. After all, you are all going to be squashed like the ants you are."

At that statement, Frieza darted his eyes from Gohan to Dende, and then to Vegeta, before locking them on Jeice for a second. This time, he didn't feel his insides freezing from Frieza's stare, but his heartbeat started quickening, and his lungs started working at a faster rate, with chills spreading through every fiber of his being in spite of his efforts to drive them off. On a normal occasion, Jeice would have taken a deep breath to calm down, but he knew that the period of he needed to do such a thing was longer than the one Frieza would take to rush at him and maul him in some way even more painful than the one in which he'd tortured Krillin.

The realization causing his chills to intensify, Jeice steeled himself to dodge Frieza's charge, as the massive tyrant leaned toward him, seemingly caring to aim his horn at the right place before rushing at him to run him through. But then, to the surprise of almost everyone present, a powerful shout resounded through the area.

"GET OUT OF MY WAY!"

Frieza's eyes widened a tad bit in surprise, a heartbeat before the boy landed a left hook on his right cheek, before slamming a haymaker with his right hand on the place where Frieza's neck met his left shoulder. Then, he started delivering a barrage of punches to Frieza's gut, moving his arms so quickly that they seemed like mere blurs to everyone else. When he finished, he landed an uppercut to Frieza's chin, before stomping down on it. Again doing so more times than Jeice could see, Gohan ended that series of blows with a stronger blow that sent the tyrant down toward the ground. Still unsatisfied, Gohan quickly gathered an energy blast and threw it down at Frieza. The tyrant raised his arms in a cross-block to shield himself from the damage, but in doing so, he lost his sight of what was going on in front of him. When he lowered his arms, he saw Gohan charging at him, with another energy blast ready in his right hand. Too fast for Frieza to do anything, Gohan closed in on him and blasted him in the face at point blank range, which sent him crashing down into the Namekian ground.

His intense rage still fueling him, Gohan let out a long cry, and the whole area sudden gained an intense goldenrod hue, as the boy started firing a barrage of energy blasts at Frieza, all of them hitting right on the mark, causing a massive cloud of dust to appear on the island Frieza had crashed into.

All while that happened, Jeice and Vegeta looked on in amazement, with the former wondering just what the kid was running on to be able to deliver such devastatingly powerful attacks. Clearly, it wasn't a source of power that he could access whenever he wanted to, otherwise he would have done so long before. Considering the look on the boy's face, Jeice could only assume this unnatural strength was related to Gohan's emotions, and on this particular one, either his anger or his distress had somehow triggered this strong power within him, and it was so strong that even Frieza in his more powerful form had been caught off guard by it.

Of course, being caught off guard was entirely different from being unable to overcome it. Although Frieza was certainly being damaged by the blasts, he probably would come out of this with no more than a few bruises and scratches. So Gohan's surge in power would probably do them no good in the long run, particularly considering it was bound to fade after he vented his emotions out on Frieza. And when that happened, the tyrant would be free to do to all of them the same thing he'd intended to before his plan had been postponed by Gohan's unexpected rage.

'Then what are you doing standing there like a fool?' a voice suddenly remarked out of nowhere in the back of Jeice's mind. 'Weren't you so determined to fire your strongest attack at Frieza just a moment ago?'

Jeice's eyes widened as the thought ran through his mind. At any other time, he'd be wondering at the randomness of such a thought, but by now, he realized it was right. This was bound to be the best chance they'd have to damage Frieza, and if they didn't use it, they certainly wouldn't get another. It would be better to try his plan now before Gohan ran out of power.

But he'd have to make a small change to his plan first if he wanted to increase his chances.

Moving as quickly as he could, Jeice shot off toward Vegeta, stopping right by the Saiyan's side. At any other time, he wouldn't have considered coming near him, but a situation like this called for drastic measures, and if his dislike for Vegeta would give them problems, Jeice was determined to ignore it until Frieza was dead.

"Vegeta!" Jeice shouted at the Saiyan, hoping his voice would be heard over the continuous explosions created by Gohan's attacks.

Apparently, it was, as Vegeta's eyes widened slightly when he was addressed, and he looked at Jeice, a mildly-questioning look on his face. Not taking the time to notice all the emotions in Vegeta's look, Jeice said as quickly as he could, "Now's our chance! We have to gather the most powerful attacks we can while the kid's beatin' Frieza, and once he finishes, we'll fire them!"

Vegeta's questioning look briefly shifted into one of mild amazement, but he didn't reply to Jeice. Trying to spur him onto action, Jeice added, "Come on mate, it's the best shot we have!"

Jeice's hurry seemed to be counterproductive, as Vegeta's amazed look twisted into a growl that displayed both fierceness and contempt.

"I don't take orders from you," he said, so low that he was barely heard over the explosions created by Gohan's attacks.

Jeice did everything he could not to slap his hand against his forehead in hopelessness. He knew Saiyans were proud, but why did this damned pride of theirs have to strike at the worst possible of times?

"Don't be obstructive, mate!" Jeice insisted, speaking even louder than before if only to see if he could get some results out of it. "We have to do it if we wanna win!"

It was obvious just from the look on Vegeta's face that Jeice shouting even louder than before had no result other than making him even angrier, but the Saiyan Prince decided to add something else to that and shout, also even louder than before, "I don't take orders from you, or from anyone else!"

This time, Jeice actually threw his arms up in hopelessness, his frustration starting to reach breaking point.

"Can't ya jus' stop bein' so stubborn an' 'elp me out on this?" an exasperated Jeice let out, barely audible over the explosions.

"I DON'T TAKE ORDERS FROM ANYONE!" Vegeta roared, the loudness of his tone contrasting so starkly with Jeice's that even the explosions of Gohan's attacks against Frieza were drowned out.

His hearing somehow staying intact, Jeice shouted as loud and firmly as he could in a vain last attempt at persuading Vegeta, "This ain't about takin' orders or not, mate! It's about trying ta make it outta this planet in one piece! Do you wanna die, by any chance?"

Jeice braced himself for another shout, one so loud that, if it was joined to the explosions Gohan's attacks were still making – as remarkably, the kid still didn't seem to have lost his impetus – would have caused Jeice's ears to split. But remarkably, in spite of his look of extreme contempt and anger, Vegeta didn't raise any objections this time, which could only mean that somehow, Jeice's words had managed to touch some small semblance of a rational side that Vegeta must have had deep inside him, and that side was now struggling with the monkey's monstrously big pride. For a few moments, Jeice tried to think of anything he could say, but he quickly decided not to take the risk, as any word from him by this point would only make the struggle in Vegeta's head run amok with unpredictable results. So, he just waited, hoping that the kid would somehow keep firing his barrage of attacks while Vegeta made his decision.

Eventually, after a few moments that Jeice ranked among the longest ones in his life, Vegeta let out a growl, and a disgusted look appeared on his face, but he gave an almost imperceptible nod, which Jeice almost missed thanks to the shadows created by the intense light Gohan's blasts kept lending to the area.

"Now that's more like it!" Jeice couldn't help but to say, a look of unrepressed satisfaction on his face.

Vegeta let out another growl, and his look became even fiercer than before, which caused Jeice's heart to jump inside his chest, as he feared he'd made another mistake with that comment. Thankfully, Vegeta simply turned toward the explosions by Gohan's continuous attacks in an overly forceful manner, and extended his hands, starting to gather a purple energy sphere in them. Letting out a sigh of relief, Jeice raised his left hand, and again started gathering energy for a Crusher Ball, with the combined attacks he and Vegeta were gathering causing the hue in the area to shift from goldenrod to purplish orange.

Not long after Jeice and Vegeta had started gathering their attacks, Gohan stopped firing his barrage of energy blasts, and raised both his hands above his head, gathering a much more powerful energy blast on which he would unleash all the fury he still had inside him.

Realizing that now there would be three single, powerful attacks unleashed on Frieza at the same time rather than just one, Jeice tried to somehow gather even more energy than before, again thinking how this could be their only chance to win, and realizing that if they combined their attacks, they increase it. The Crusher Ball, which was already half the size of Jeice, grew several centimeters in diameter, as his muscles screamed in protest, threatening to shatter under the pressure Jeice was pushing them through. In addition to that, the throbbing on the back of his head intensified as through his nape was being pulled apart. Jeice initially tried to ignore the pain and gather even more energy, but then, in addition to everything he was already going through, his vision started becoming blurry and darkened at the edges, as a feeling of light-headedness threatened to take over him. Fearing to pass out if he tried to gather more energy, Jeice instead tried to make his Crusher Ball denser to make it more damaging through another way. From what he could tell, he appeared to be succeeding, but then, Gohan pulled his right hand back, the energy blast he'd gathered floating over its palm. Then, letting out a deafening cry, the boy threw it forward, straight toward the place where Frieza still was.

Knowing that the attacks had to be fired together if they were to injure Frieza as seriously as possible, Jeice raised his right hand and slapped the Crusher Ball toward the same spot. On cue with the other two, Vegeta also fired his energy blast in the same direction. Halfway on their course to their destination, the three energy blasts met, releasing a blinding flash of light that forced all three onlookers to shield their eyes. But rather than exploding prematurely, the three spheres combined together to form a single, much more powerful blast, which kept heading unerringly toward the spot where Frieza was.

A massive explosion was released when the attack met its target, unleashing a powerful gust of wind that forced Jeice, Vegeta, and Gohan to bring their arms up and gather all the strength they could muster to withstand the hurricane that threatened to blow them away. Below them, the ground of Planet Namek shook much more intensely than it did when Frieza had powered up, and all around them, enormous stones that had been thrown into the air by the explosion rained down all over the area, as a sphere of light expanded from the explosion's center, and a deafening rumble echoed all over the planet, announcing the results of the three warriors' combined attempt at killing the tyrant who not only wanted to do the same thing to them, but would undoubtedly keep on endangering the Universe as long as he was allowed to live.

* * *

><p>The hurricane and the shower of stones that resulted from the massive explosion seemed to last an eternity for Jeice, who used every bit of energy left inside him to stay on the same spot and not be pushed by the mighty wind that blew from the explosion's center. The combined attack of all three of them had been much more powerful than Jeice had ever thought it would be, even considering that he, Gohan, and Vegeta had worked together. Apparently, the kid's rage had been far more powerful than any of them had expected it to be. Should the kid have been this furious when Frieza was still in his previous form, the tyrant would have been instantly annihilated for sure. But now that he had transformed into this form whose power Jeice hadn't dared checking with his energy-sensing skills, there was just no way of knowing whether he had survived this attack or not, at least while the massive cloud of dust at the explosion's center didn't settle down.<p>

If one was to ask him, Jeice would say that no natural being could have possibly survived such an explosion, but the truth was that Frieza was not a being most would classify as natural, and rules applied to other creatures could be totally invalid for him. Still, Jeice hoped with every fiber of his soul that their combined attack would have managed to kill Frieza, because if it hadn't, they would all be doomed. Jeice could barely summon enough energy to struggle against the gale-force wind blowing over him, and although it seemed to him like it was starting to fade, he still couldn't say if he had enough energy to keep holding on until they ended. He wasn't sure of whether Gohan and Vegeta were as exhausted as he was, but they were bound to be, and if Frieza had survived, they would be cannon fodder for him. Even if their blasts had managed to inflict a mortal injury on the tyrant, he was bound to be able to kill them before dying himself. On that regard, the only consolation they would have was that Frieza wouldn't be able to use the rejuvenation tanks on his ship to heal himself, as they had to be operated by someone else, and there would be no one to help him on that regard, which could only mean that he would eventually bleed out to death.

In spite of being afraid of dying, a small part of Jeice couldn't help but to be a tad bit happy at the prospect, as he knew he would get to see Burter, Recoome, and Guldo again, and now that he was so strong, he'd be able to beat Ginyu into a pulp, something he still wanted to do in spite of having killed him already. Also, the same part of him found that if he would be able to contribute to Frieza's death before dying, at least he would have made something worthwhile in his final moments, although it wouldn't be anywhere near enough to compensate for all the lives he had destroyed and all the planets he had conquered or helped conquering.

Before he could delve more deeply into those thoughts, he noticed that the wind around him had subsided and the shower of stones had already stopped, not to mention that the area had already returned to its natural color, rather than keeping the purplish-orange hue that had been temporarily given by the combined blast all three of them had fired. The only signs of their attack that remained now were the still fading ripples in the water below, and the massive cloud of dust that kept settling down at the place where the explosion had occurred. Groaning in slight pain, Jeice finally lowered his arms, panting more heavily than he had ever done, with his lungs threatening to burst through his ribcage from how much they were expanding to intake air, as every single muscle of his body protesting from the effort he'd put it through, and the back of his head pounded more intensely than ever before. But again, that wasn't his main concern. He was more worried on knowing whether Frieza had survived the blast or not, and how damaged he was if he still lived. So, he tried to peer into the ever thinner cloud of dust, although his blurred vision darkened at the edges didn't help at all on that regard.

By Jeice's side, Vegeta, whose breathing was just as labored, did the very same thing, as he clearly also wanted to know for sure what had happened to Frieza. However, Gohan, who for some reason was the one with the easiest breathing in the whole trio, looked down into the water instead, seemingly more concerned about something else.

"Krillin…" he whispered, his sagged shoulders shaking slightly, as he was about to start crying over the loss of his father's best friend.

Briefly halting his efforts to discern Frieza through the cloud of dust, Jeice spared a glance at the kid. Before arriving on this planet, he wouldn't have thought about feeling sympathetic at all, but now that he also knew what it was like to lose close friends to the clutches of Death, he felt considerably more sympathetic for the kid. In spite of not having cared at all when Recoome had broken Gohan's neck with a single kick, he had changed more than he would have expected to be possible in the amount of time that had passed since then. Even if he wouldn't go as far as to say he was on good terms with any of the others, the fact that he could actually relate to the kid now at least enabled that small sliver of sympathy he was currently experiencing. Still, he didn't know what to say to the kid, nor did he think comforting words would do any good if he could come up with them.

But all of a sudden, it seemed that they wouldn't be necessary yet after all, as Gohan's look quickly changed from grief-stricken to surprised. Wondering what could have brought up such a change in the kid's expression, Jeice followed the kid's gaze down to the water. To his amazement, the Namekian kid was floating there, with one of Krillin's arms draped over his shoulders, panting heavily from the effort that he had undoubtedly undergone to retrieve him from the ocean's cold depths.

"He's breathing, Gohan!" Dende shouted up at him. "He's still alive!"

Amazement flickered through Jeice's exhaustion at that remark. Clearly, Earthlings were much more resilient than he had expected them to be, considering Krillin had managed to hold his breath for so long after having been trespassed by Frieza's horns, and how his right lung was probably about to collapse with all the blood that had to be in it.

"Will he survive?" Gohan asked, every bit of his stance and expression revealing how much he hoped for an affirmative answer.

Privately, Jeice thought he wouldn't, but he didn't dare say it to Gohan. Not only did he have enough to worry about without having an even more heartbroken kid added into the mix, but he somehow believed it wouldn't do any good, as Gohan would only be sure that Krillin wouldn't make it after he died. Dende also didn't say anything, certainly because he wasn't sure himself.

However, Vegeta didn't have any problem saying somethnig.

"If I were you… I'd worry about more important matters… boy," Vegeta whispered, his sentence let out in bits because of his labored breathing.

A confused look on his face, Gohan turned toward Vegeta, silently requesting for him to explain himself.

"If you truly think… we managed to kill Frieza… you've got another thing coming," the Saiyan Prince added as he wiped some drops of sweat from his forehead with the back of his left hand.

Looking nothing short of terrified at Vegeta's comment, Gohan turned his gaze to the place where Frieza supposedly was after having been hit by their massive attack. In the meantime, Jeice glared at Vegeta, cursing at the fact the Saiyan didn't have any qualms about voicing their biggest fears in such a manner, although part of him acknowledged that after all, truth hurt.

Sparing himself from continuing to criticize Vegeta for his comments, Jeice instead turned on the same direction the other two were also looking. Most of the island Frieza had been thrown into had been blown away, providing the stones that had fallen around them, and by now, there was only a tiny islet sticking out of the water. And on the center of it, lying face down on the bare rock, was a twitching Frieza, with deep cuts all over his arms, legs, neck, and trail, and the blood that erupted from them in jets painting the ground below him.

* * *

><p>Feeling a surge of fury as strong as the one he'd experienced after knowing he had lost his immortality, Frieza twitched uncontrollably on the ground, about to explode from rage, with the injuries that had been inflicted on him burning as intensely as his anger. The armor plating on his back and nape was covered in scuffs, his arms and legs had cuts that were easily several millimeters deep, and although his neck and tail were less damaged, the injuries on those spots still hurt like hell for him, and helped in fueling the rage that was overtaking every bit of his mind.<p>

Him, the mighty Frieza, the one whose name made the entire Universe cower in horror, suffering such injuries at the hands of such pesky vermin! It was unthinkable! Unacceptable! Unforgivable! Shedding such an amount of his blood, mainly now that he was using a form that no foe he'd ever used it on had seen and lived to tell the tale, was absolute sacrilege!

Clenching his right fist in fury, and scraping the rock below him in the process, Frieza pulled himself to his feet, trying his best to ignore the intense burning all over his body. Trickles of blood ran down his arms, legs, chest, and tail, which burned more intensely when it swayed through the air. The rage inside him boiling even more intensely than it did before, Frieza finally turned toward the three pesky insects that were floating there, focusing his gaze on the young kid, the one who had undoubtedly fired the massive attack that had injured him so seriously. How a kid could gather so much power as to damage him as much when he was in this form, Frieza didn't know, but he also didn't care. The brat would pay for what he'd done.

"Fools!" Frieza roared out at them, addressing them all in spite of his ardent belief on how the kid had been the sole responsible for the pain he now suffered. "Idiots! Do you have any idea of what you have done by causing me such pain? You shall pay for your insolence with the most painful deaths I have ever given to any being I have ever met!"

Frieza was about to charge out at them to beat them to a pulp, but as he gathered himself to do so, the cuts on his body burned more intensely again. In spite of how strong his fury was, it wasn't powerful enough for his pain not to be able of making him stop and second-guess his course of action. As much as he wanted to beat into all of them with every particle of fury that boiled inside him, he knew that the pain of these injuries would distract him from his plan. If he wanted to be fully focused on showing them just what sort of act it was to cause him such an amount of suffering, he would have to do something else first, which would enable him to be healed.

Half-bending his arms and spreading his feet apart to the same distance that separated his shouted, he shouted, "Beware, fools! Pay attention to what I'm going to show you! You will be the first beings in this Universe to see it!"

* * *

><p>Alarm rushing through him at Frieza's sudden proclamation, Jeice tried to steel himself for all sorts of unpleasant things, while inwardly knowing that there was no way any of them would be ready for anything in their sorry state. Even if they were to somehow regain all the strength they had expended, Jeice doubted it would do them any good against whatever was to come, seeing as it was so terrible that Frieza claimed he had never needed to show it to anyone. They would need help if they were to stand any chance of surviving it, but the only help that would come would be through either this Piccolo fellow or through Goku, both of whom seemed to be taking their sweet time to come.<p>

But then again, their presence here probably would make little to no difference, if what Frieza wanted to show them was half as terrible as he claimed it to be.

But just what was it that he was going to show them?

On cue with Jeice's question, Frieza started crying to the top of his lungs, the air around him swirling as a brownish-red aura erupted from his body. Then, ever so slowly, his head started elongating backwards, as its white armor-plating seemed to swallow up Frieza's black horns, making them almost horizontal, although they still curved slightly upwards in an obtuse angle. A matching shorter pair, appeared close to Frieza's eyebrows, as his nose and mouth blended together into some sort of round muzzle similar to a frog's, and the armor-plating of his shoulders sprung out to form two protrusions that looked remarkably like shoulder pads. As the final details, two spikes erupted from the center of his shoulder blades and a smaller one burst from above the small of his back, as the injuries Frieza had all over his body started quickly closing up, the remnants of blood on his body being cleaned off by his soaring energy.

Frieza's changes caused the horror the spectators to the event were already experiencing to soar to all new heights that would have looked impossible to achieve before. Never would any of them have imagined that Frieza would be able to transform yet another time. And knowing that he could just further reinforced the feeling that they were all doomed.

But while most of them were paralyzed by the feeling, one of them, for once in his life, was spurred him into action.

Letting out an ear-spilling wail of utter despair, Jeice triggered an unexpected burst of energy that had somehow been triggered by the sheer amount of panic he was experiencing, and rocketed off toward Frieza in a suicide maneuver. It was a desperate effort, and he knew that he would die in it, but at the end of the day, the truth was that he was doing this because if he didn't do it, he wouldn't meet death anyway. Part of him hoped that if he managed to hit Frieza hard enough while he was transforming, maybe there was a chance the process of his transformation would be disturbed enough for something bad to happen to him. And even if his theory turned out to be wrong, there was a chance Frieza would finish him off a single blow just for not to be disturbed, rather than going through the trouble of torturing him. If Jeice had to die, he at least wanted it to be quick and painless.

And seemingly, it would be, as moments before he got close enough to deliver a hit, Frieza's wounds fully healed, as his transformation finally finished. Not slowing down, Jeice pulled back his fist, ready to deliver a punch. But at that moment, Frieza's tail again uncoiled through the air, striking Jeice squarely at his waist. The red-skinned alien let out a gasp, but rather than feeling pain exploding at the spot, he felt all the feeling in his body below his waist suddenly disappearing, as a sickening crunch resounded through the vicinity, and Jeice sailed out of control toward a rock on another island hundreds of meters away, crashing through it before sliding a hundred more meters along the ground, where he lay in the end, paralyzed from the waist below, and unable to summon enough strength to lift the front half of his body off the ground.

"Don't be in such a hurry, Jeice," Frieza said, his voice now sounding like a mix between that of his second and first form, and his eyes locked on his former soldier. "I'll play with you once I'm done with the little boy."

Then, saying no more, he disappeared from where he stood, as the drops of his blood that still were on the rock kept tricking toward the Namekian sea.

* * *

><p>Watching Frieza vanish from sight, Gohan let out a scared gasp, but before it even had the time required to fully leave his mouth, the tyrant reappeared in front of him, even Gohan had time to blink, Frieza reappeared in front of him, his evil look managing to look even more pronounced than before thanks to his new facial structure.<p>

"Come here," Frieza whispered sinisterly, his eyes trained on the child.

Yelping in fright, Gohan tried to jump away, but he only managed to move a few inches before Frieza brought his arm down so quickly that it was less than a blur, clobbering the top of Gohan's head, which sent him rocketing down toward the Namekian ground. The child desperately tried to make any attempt at struggling against his excessive impetus, but he had no glimmer of success, and soon, he met the rocky surface of one of Planet Namek's islands, the ground underneath him cracking loudly as a crater two meters wide spread around Gohan.

Summoning all the strength he could gather, Gohan tried to get up, but even before he'd gotten to an all-fours position, Frieza's tail coiled around his legs and raised him into the air, before slamming him down violently, cracking the bottom of the crater underneath him, and causing him to scream in agony. After pausing for long enough to allow the boy to fully experience the pain caused by the blow, Frieza lifted him again and slammed him down for a second time, turning the already cracked ground underneath Gohan into gravel. However, Gohan didn't scream in pain this time, which made Frieza sneer in displeasure, as he thought he wasn't managing to hurt him enough. Lifting Gohan yet again, Frieza brought his knee up, smashing Gohan into it with his tail. Once again, the boy let out a shout of pain. Immediately sporting a more pleased look at the fact he had managed to make him scream again, Frieza uncoiled his tail from around Gohan, and then grabbed him by the collar of his armor with his left hand, before swatting Gohan with his tail six times, three on each side.

The blows were delivered so quickly that the boy felt them as a single, massive one, but Frieza, who still hadn't finished, threw Gohan into the air, and again disappeared from where he stood, reappearing behind Gohan and throwing him back toward the ground with a strike of his thick tail. For a second time in this battle, Gohan went rocketing down toward the ground, but on this occasion before he could hit, Frieza reappeared in front of him and caught his head between both his hands, raising Gohan at the right height for the boy to stare him in the eye.

"It hurts, doesn't it?" Frieza asked, smiling in such a manner that he looked like a frog that ate a particularly tasty fly.

Able to make no sounds other than moans of pain, Gohan didn't reply. Those blows simply hurt so much that he felt like he was about to pass out from the sheer agony caused by them. And in the end, he didn't know that every blow had actually been carefully landed, so that he would be able to take the biggest amount possible of them without breaking to pieces. Had Frieza been delivering careless hits, Gohan would have died after taking the first two or three.

"Well, I think it does," Frieza carried on. "And I'm sure that by now, you understand just what you have done by inflicting such damage on me."

Giving Frieza the most furious look he could muster, Gohan weakly tried to raise his right arm so that he could fire an energy blast, as Frieza's arms were so long he would be unable to land a punch. However, the limb screamed in protest at the attempt, as at least half of its bones had been shattered, and the others were at the very least bruised. And his other arm was in a state that was just as sorry, if not even worse. He wouldn't be able to do anything to change what was to come.

"But just so the lesson fully sinks in, let me teach it better by crushing your head to a pulp," Frieza said, his voice trembling with anticipation.

Wasting no time in doing what he'd said, Frieza started pressing his hands together with what for him was excruciating slowness and caution. And just as he'd expected, that turned out to be just the right amount for Gohan to let out a long scream of pain, that drowned out the cracking of his bones as they were squashed by the massive hands that squeezed them, and conveyed to all who heard the amount of suffering he was experiencing.

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><p>Floating at the same spot where he had fired his blast at Frieza when the tyrant had still been in his second form, Vegeta looked on at the fate that was befalling the young half-Saiyan, with two feelings he didn't normally experience manifesting themselves inside him. The first was fear of the massive power that came from Frieza, and at the knowledge that Vegeta would soon experience it on a more direct manner. The second, which was even more unusual for him, was regret at the fact he had knocked Jeice right when he had been about to kill Frieza. As much as he hated to admit it, he now knew that by having done so he could very well have condemned them all. And most of them had already met that fate. The bald Earthling had been gored by Frieza. Jeice was out of power and had his back broken, which rendered him as helpless as a caterpillar. And Kakarot's brat was having his head crushed by Frieza. As for Vegeta himself, he was also drained, completely powerless to fight back once his turn finally arrived. So, they were all doomed. Even if Kakarot got healed and came to help them, there was no way he would be able to stand against a power as strong as the one that came from Frieza.<p>

The only remote chance they would have at surviving would be if Vegeta managed to turn into a Super Saiyan, like he had been hoping to do for a while now, but with his energy supply so depleted, achieving the power of the Saiyan of Legend seemed about as hard as travelling the entire planet on foot. The only thing he could do now was to stand by and watch as the kid kept being tortured, while wallowing in the knowledge that everything he had endured under Frieza's reign in the hopes of killing him had been for naught.

As if he'd heard Vegeta thinking, Frieza temporarily paused on his torture of Gohan, and looked up at the full-blooded Saiyan, causing him inch backwards in apprehension.

"What's the matter, Vegeta?" Frieza drawled. "Aren't you going to help the kid? His head is about to burst, you know?"

Vegeta didn't reply verbally, but every fiber of his being shouted a loud 'No.'. He had seen very well what Frieza had done to Jeice with a single hit, and as much as his own cowardice disgusted him, he wasn't foolish enough to die needlessly, mainly for a half-breed brat of a low-class warrior.

"Well, I can't say that I blame you," Frieza carried on. "After all, you must be quite terrified by now."

Vegeta growled when he heard those words, not only because of the mocking tone in which Frieza said them, but because they were, as much as Vegeta loathed the fact, the truth.

"Oh well, if you don't want to help him, then watch as his cranium explodes!" Frieza shouted, his muscles tensing as he gathered himself for an almighty squeeze, ready to feel the contents of Gohan's head squirting through his fingers.

Guessing what was to come, Vegeta also tensed himself, ready to feel a spurt of bile bursting through his stomach at the sight of the boy's headless body falling down to the ground. But right when Frieza seemed about to deliver the finishing blow, Vegeta's breath was taken away, and the tyrant himself looked up from his task in alarm, both of them noticing something they hadn't been counting on.

A white bolt that came out of nowhere hit Frieza like a thunder strike, making the tyrant skid along the ground for tens of meters, and engulfing the boy in the bright light that it released. Startled by the strange phenomenon, Vegeta did his best to put up his guard, wondering just what on the hell was happening now, and what consequences it would have for them.

* * *

><p>His left cheek burning in pain from the blow that had been landed on the spot, Frieza let out a slight groan, feeling the whole front of his body stinging from having slid across the dirt almost until he got to the edge of the island on which he had been torturing the kid to death.<p>

He couldn't understand what had happened. On one moment he'd been enjoying himself with crushing the boy's head, and the next that massive beam of light had charged at him out of nowhere, hitting him as though it actually had something solid inside it. Feeling the spot burning again, Frieza growled in fury, as once again, he'd experienced a feeling that he had never thought he would. After all, there had never been any need for him to use this form in a fight, so there should be no reason for any lesser being in the known Universe to be capable of causing him the slightest of damages when he was using it. Just who, or what, could have done such a thing to him?

Wiping a drop of blood from the left corner of his mouth, Frieza pushed himself to his feet, standing in the slouched over stance typical of this form. Hearing a low hum behind him, Frieza turned around, and came face to face with a glowing pale-blue sphere with a diameter of well over two meters, which made him raise an eyebrow. How could something that seemed a simple sphere of light be as solid as this? Even energy blasts didn't transmit the feeling Frieza had experienced when his cheek had been struck, regardless of how strong they were. And if this wasn't an energy blast, what was it?

But after he got a better look, he realized that the light that came from the sphere was slowly becoming dimmer, and that by now, he could see the outline of a figure, which only became more defined as time went on. Soon, and to his great amazement, Frieza could see the figure of a Namek, wearing a purple outfit that included a white cape with massive shoulder pads and a purple and white turban. The Namekian was holding the kid Frieza had just been torturing, and looked over at the tyrant with a look that displayed immense contempt, surpassed only by an even more powerful rage.

His anger roused again as he realized that another lesser being had managed to inflict pain he wasn't supposed to sense on him, Frieza glared back at the Namekian again.

"So there is still a Namekian left, is there?" he asked, more to rupture the silence than for any other reason, although he was truly puzzled as to why this particular one was still here, and why he wouldn't have engaged him before if he was so strong as to damage him in this form. "Who would have known?"

The Namekian looked like he was about to make some sort of remark, but then, the kid's eyelids fluttered, and his eyes opened just a tad bit, as he looked up at the Namekian holding him.

"Mr. Piccolo…" the boy whispered, a look of disbelief mingled with joy on his face. "You're here…"

Hearing the kid addressed him, the Namekian glanced at him and spared a small and brief, but nevertheless reassuring smile, which seemed to be everything the boy needed for his whole body to sag in relief. Then, the Namekian turned his gaze back to Frieza and, never looked away, set the boy down on the grass with all the caution in the world, before carefully stepping over him.

"I'm more than a mere Namek," 'Piccolo' replied to Frieza's earlier remark in a tone that meant business. "From now on, I am also your worst nightmare."

* * *

><p><em>Up next: Having finally arrived to the scene, Piccolo engages the newly transformed Frieza, as Vegeta looks on in amazement, and Jeice tries to overcome his broken back. Meanwhile, Ginyu, Burter and Recoome finally start solving their issues at a place where they won't anger anyone potentially more powerful than themselves. What will happen? Find out next!<em>

_Hoping you enjoyed the chapter,_

_Genescritor_


	15. Chapter 15: Payback time

**From Enemy To Student**

**- a Dragon Ball Z fanfiction -**

**Chapter 15 – Payback time**

_Disclaimer: I do not own, in any way, any official property related Dragon Ball, such as the anime, its characters, related movies, and so on. However, I hope to supplement that glorious work of art with my fanfictions, such as this one. _

_I would also like to point out that this fanfiction was originally written by Gonstika, from whom I adopted it, and many of the concepts and plot-points featured in its chapters are originated by Gonstika as well._

_With that said, I hope you enjoy the story._

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><p><em>Writer's note: This chapter has a scene whose content may be more unsettling for readers with more sensitive minds. Therefore, reader caution is advised when reading this chapter.<em>

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><p><em>On Planet Namek…<em>

It was not uncommon for Frieza to be threatened by people that he viewed as foolhardy ignoramuses that were well out of their depth, but had no idea that they were about to meet their end. Whenever such a thing happened, Frieza would kill the poor idiot before he had any idea of what would have happened, or have some fun by showing said idiot what he'd truly gotten himself in for, before eventually killing him in some drawn out painful way. Still, Frieza knew that there were a few rare occasions when he should take things seriously. And he also knew that this was one of them.

For some reason, Frieza was sure that there was something different about this particular Namekian, even though he'd only taken one blow from him so far, and had been gotten by surprise when that happened. While he wasn't worried about what could happen, as there was no way a mere insect like this Namek would be able to defeat him, he knew he would have to keep focused if he didn't want to get any nasty surprises from the green bean. Unlike that bothersome monkey Vegeta, he knew better than to throw caution to the wind.

It was a good thing for him to be in that state of mind, as mere moments after making his threat, the Namekian rocketed off toward him, one fist pulled back to deliver a powerful punch. His eyes widening slightly at how fast the Namekian was approaching, Frieza quickly raised his left forearm to block the hit as soon as the Namekian threw it, feeling his limb shaking from the impact. If Frieza had been in his previous form, he could not have been able to see the Namekian's charge at all, and he could have broken his arm just from blocking his punch. Even in this transformation, he would have been unable to parry the hit if he hadn't been taking his opponent seriously.

Unfazed by the fact his first strike had failed, the Namekian quickly threw another punch with his left hand, which Frieza blocked by raising his right one, before bringing his right knee up to drive it into the Namekian's gut. However, the Namekian mirrored the move with his left knee, and their strikes clashed, releasing a noticeable shockwave. Again, the green-skinned slug paid it no mind, and instead leaned forward suddenly, slamming his forehead into Frieza's face. Frieza fell backwards from the blow, but he quickly put his left foot against the ground and threw his right leg out, kicking the left side of the Namekian's ribcage. The Namekian grunted in pain from the hit, but didn't completely lose focus, and wrapped his arms around Frieza's outstretched leg, spinning the tyrant around three times, before finally throwing him away. As quickly as he could, Frieza righted himself and then crouched on all-fours, sinking his toes and fingers into the ground to stop his flight. Eventually, he slid to a halt, but by the time he managed to stand up again, the Namekian was right in front of him, ready to throw a punch.

Frieza clenched his fists and bending his arms so as to look he would simply stand his ground, but then, his tail uncoiled through the air, and struck the Namekian's chest, throwing him away. But even as he flew through the air, the Namekian quickly extended his left arm straight toward Frieza, making it grow in length at a record speed, and aiming straight for his foe's tail to grab it and tear it to shreds. Surprised at such a skill, Frieza jumped up at the last moment, barely getting away from the Namekian's reach. Not missing a beat, his foe looked up in his direction fired a pair of eye-beams at him, and making Frieza swerve to the side to dodge them. But when he did so, the left side of his ribcage was met by a haymaker from the Namekian, as his right arm, its fist clenched, had also grown toward him at an incredible speed.

Gasping as the air was forcibly driven out of his lungs, Frieza quickly grabbed the Namekian's arm, intending to chop it off. But then, he felt it 'undulating' under his palm, and to his great surprise, the Namekian was shrinking his arm back to its normal size, but instead of the arm shrinking into the Namekian, he was the one coming toward it. At the same time, his left arm was also shrinking to its normal length, but this one was retracting into the Namekian instead, and had nearly fulfilled its task. Before Frieza had time to think, the Namekian was right in front of him, and throwing a left hook at his very elongated head. Thinking fast, Frieza jammed an uppercut into the Namekian's torso, which caused him to lose focus on his blow. Smirking in satisfaction, Frieza slammed a left hook in the same spot. The Namekian gasped at the combined strike to the same place, but then delivered a knife-hand chop to Frieza's neck, before clasping his hands together and raising them as high as he could, clearly intending to slam them down on Frieza's massive head. Repressing the coughs that had resulted from the strike on his neck, Frieza quickly fired a pair of eye-beams himself.

Looking surprised for once, the Namek quickly unclasped his hands and flew backwards, barely dodging the pair of eye-beams Frieza had fired at him. Not letting him rest, Frieza raised his hands and pointed both of his index fingers at the Namekian, firing barrages of pink beams from them. The Namekian disappeared from their path, and reappeared behind Frieza to attempt an attack from there. Sensing him there, Frieza attempted another strike with his tail, but this time, the Namekian caught it, ready to spin Frieza around again. Sensing his intentions, Frieza raised a finger to fire a Death Beam at him, but the Namekian quickly let go of his tail, and fired an energy blast at him at point-blank range. Frieza was blown backwards by the hit, several areas of his body smoking, as a significant part of him was now covered in scratches and burns. The Namekian flew toward him to try to press his advantage, but then, Frieza recovered and quickly spun around to the left, again intending to strike the Namekian with his tail. The Namekian curled into a ball in midair to dodge the hit, but Frieza, sensing he had missed, finished spinning around, and delivered an uppercut into the Namekian's chin, sending him soaring upwards from the hit.

As quickly as he could, Frieza gathered the most powerful energy wave possible in his right hand, and fired it at the Namekian, determined to do some damage. However, and to his great surprise, the Namekian recovered while the attack had only made it halfway toward him, and rather than dodging it, he clasped his hands together and batted the energy wave back down at him. Amazed at the move, Frieza swatted the returned attack aside, but by that time, the Namekian was back onto him again, throwing another punch at his face.

Again, Frieza blocked the blow, and both of them started throwing a flurry of hits at the other, the blurs of arms and legs that clashed thunderously during their exchange unable to obscure the murderous gleam on each contender's face from his foe.

* * *

><p>Watching the heated battle taking place at a distance, Vegeta looked on in a mix of awe, puzzlement, and fear, while biting back a torrent of profanities that would be leaving his mouth if he didn't hold keep it in check for reasons that not even he knew, and trying to make some sort of sense of this new development, as he had been for some time now.<p>

He had recognized the Namekian not too long after he arrived; it was the piece of trash that even that weakling Nappa hadn't had much trouble killing, and although it had been strong enough to fight back for a while and had even managed to inflict some damage, it infuriated him that Kakarot's brat and the bald Earthling would waste the Dragon Balls on resurrecting such useless vermin rather than on giving him the immortality he needed to defeat Frieza.

Even worse was the fact that the Namekian – Piccolo, if Vegeta remembered it right – was not only keeping up with Frieza's third form, but actually having an even fight with him, when Vegeta hadn't even been able to properly track the bastard's movements when he was only in his second form, and it had taken all of him, Gohan, and Jeice to injure the bastard seriously, but not mortally. Frieza still seemed to have a slight advantage in both speed and strength – although it was hard to be sure, as Vegeta could only catch a few tidbits – but it wasn't one of the sort that couldn't be overcome with cunning and a solid fighting technique. Quite noteworthy, when by this point no one else there had as much as a hope of standing against Frieza.

Once again, one of Vegeta's foes had risen from the dead with a massive power increase, but this time it was a much bigger one. Kakarot had needed eleven months of death to go from unable to defeat Raditz to being able to defeat Vegeta, but for the Namekian to go from unable to defeat Nappa to capable of having an even fight with Frieza's third form was a whole other sort of increase, one that was too big to be acceptable. The only explanation for that had to be the wish Jeice had made with regards to awaken his sleeping powers, which had somehow included the Namekian as well, but even so, it still didn't make any sense. For the Namekian to stand on even ground with Frieza in this, he'd need to have been massively strong already before the wish had been made. So there had to be some other explanation for the huge increase in his power-level.

At first he wondered if the Namekian had somehow undergone some sort of training in the afterlife, like Kakarot seemed to have, but that option didn't make sense. A mere Earth-month wouldn't be enough for the Namekian to gain such an increase in power, mainly considering that he was a Namekian, and not a Saiyan, and so wouldn't become stronger after recovering from near-death (assuming dead Saiyans could even do such a thing in the first place). Clearly, something else had happened. And Vegeta was bent on figuring out, if only so he could be furious at something particular, rather than at an unknown, obscure fact.

Curiously, while Vegeta was trying to make sense of the Namekian's much bigger power-level, his energy-sensing skills picked up an increasingly stronger energy signature, which strangely seemed to come from the same spot where Frieza had been torturing Kakarot's spawn. In fact, it felt just like that of the brat.

Distracted from watching the fight between Frieza and the Namekian, Vegeta turned on the direction where he picked up the unusual phenomenon, and saw that the Namekian kid was standing at the spot where he felt the increasingly stronger energy-signature. The green brat's hands were emitting a soft glow, and extended toward the prone body of Kakarot's brat, the light that came from them pulsing as the half-Saiyan's energy became ever stronger. To the Saiyan's prince utter amazement, the bald Earthling was less than a meter away from the two brats, back on his feet, and no worse for the wear than he had been before being gored by Frieza, although the hole in his armor remained there as the only piece of evidence that the injury had even existed in the first place.

Both intrigued and shocked by the situation, Vegeta rushed over to the spot using whatever energy he had left, arriving there right as Kakarot's brat stood up, fully healed of all the injuries Frieza had given him, and his power-level much stronger than before, thanks to the Saiyan blood in him.

"What is the meaning of this?" Vegeta demanded as soon as he set his feet down on the ground, his eyes set on all three of them, not being one to spare time for greetings or proper mannerisms. "What sort of stunt did that kid just pull?"

None of them looked particularly surprised at Vegeta's arrival, as all of them had sensed him long before. Still, hearing the brash manner in which the Saiyan addressed them, Dende gave three steps backwards, a wary look on his face, and while Krillin and Gohan stood their ground, they looked noticeably apprehensive as well, although not as much as their friend.

"Dende here has the power to heal injuries," Krillin explained, while taking a hand to the hole in his armor, as if to make sure again it was healed indeed. "And that certainly is a good thing, because otherwise, I don't think Gohan or me would have lasted much longer!"

Letting out a low growl at the rather redundant reveal, Vegeta said in a very slow and angry tone, similar to the one he'd used when he'd found out what wishes had been made, "And you didn't tell me because…"

Raising his hands in appeasement, Krillin quickly said, "Whoa, whoa, hold on Vegeta! We didn't tell you because we didn't know! If we knew he had that skill, we would have asked him to heal Goku!"

Vegeta's expression did not become any friendlier or calmer after hearing the explanation, but a brief growl of acknowledgment came out through gritted teeth, signaling that while he was still mad as hell at these imbeciles for what they'd done behind his back, he at the very least had heard them saying that they hadn't done yet another thing to add to the list of things they'd done without his consent. Krillin didn't seem overly fazed by it, but at the same time, his eyes were shifting from one place to the other. Assuming it was simply because the baldy was trying to avoid his look, Vegeta paid it little mind, but soon, the Earthling looked back at him, maybe because he was now going to address him instead.

"Say, where's Jeice?" Krillin asked. "I thought he was there with us back when Frieza…" he wavered in his speech when he got to that point, but managed to let out the next bit. "…skewered me."

Fighting back a shudder at the memory that passed through his mind, the Earthling added, "Anyway, what happened to him?"

Hearing the bald Earthing's question, Vegeta sneered in displeasure, feeling a bad taste in his mouth at the mention of that bastard who had somehow managed to become stronger than him again.

"He charged toward Frieza when he was transforming into his third form, but Frieza finished transforming before he got there and just smacked him aside with his tail," Gohan explained, correctly guessing that Vegeta wouldn't answer the question. "He hasn't gotten back up since, so he's probably really hurt."

Krillin winced in sympathy, imagining how unpleasant it could be to get such a blow from a stronger version of Frieza, before closing his eyes in concentration. A moment later, he opened them again.

"I can sense him, so I guess he's still alive after all," he said to himself, apparently having sensed that Jeice still had somewhat of an energy signature. "But he's hurt alright," he added, again wincing as if he could sense the damage Jeice had suffered without looking at him.

Growling in annoyance at the level of concern baldy was displaying for that red-skinned bastard, Vegeta barked so as to put a stop to the matter, "Why isn't the mini-bean healing him as well, then?"

Looking as though they hadn't even thought of that yet, both Krillin and Gohan turned toward the Namekian kid, clearly expecting him to do that very thing. Vegeta didn't do the same thing, but he sort of expected the same, so that at least that way they would stop talking about that.

"I won't heal him," Dende said, avoiding both Krillin's and Gohan's gazes. "He's one of Frieza's men, and he must have destroyed countless planets in his lifetime. I refuse to do it."

Hearing Dende's refusal, Vegeta could not help but to feel slightly impressed at that fact, as after all, Namekians were rumored to be a bunch of saints throughout the Universe, and a Namekian who truly followed that model would at least have considered healing that moron, not only out of acknowledgment that there could be some kindness in him and the fact said Namekian's conscience wouldn't allow him to let someone suffer, but also out of the realization that they could still need him in this battle. The fact Dende was having this sort of attitude was, to say the least, noteworthy.

But Krillin and Gohan seemed to think more of it. In fact, judging from the looks on their faces, they would say something anytime soon.

Knowing that if either of those two was half of a goody-two-shoes as Kakarot himself was, they would certainly try to convince the little bean to heal Jeice as well, and not being in the mood to listen to either of those fools, Vegeta flew away toward another island, intending to watch the battle between Frieza and Piccolo without being constantly bothered by the bickering between these three idiots that was bound to come anytime soon.

* * *

><p>Feeling the strong rush of air caused by Vegeta's sudden takeoff blowing over him, Krillin briefly raised one eyebrow, wondering just what on the hell had made the Saiyan leave so suddenly. Had he somehow guessed what Krillin would tell Dende, and left because he wasn't in the mood to listen to them speaking about such a matter? Well, if that was it, then it wasn't really surprising he had done so. After all, Vegeta had been just about ready to kill Burter and Recoome even though doing so would be entirely unnecessary, so listening to them discussing the possibility of saving Jeice would probably be sickening for him. In fact, should he have more energy left, he probably would be going there and try to kill Jeice himself before they could heal him, if only to put a full-stop to the argument of whether they should heal him or not.<p>

Not that Krillin himself felt very compelled to have such an argument. In fact, he also was, for the most part, ready to either allow Jeice to remain where he was and endure whatever nasty injury he had or to go there and kill him. The only reason why he wasn't doing so was because killing someone who in fact was no longer a threat would be setting a bad example for Gohan.

Trying his best to defend a cause that he didn't truly believe in, Krillin said to Dende in what he hoped was a gentle, but persuasive tone, "You're being a little unfair, Dende. Jeice is not that bad. He helped us against Ginyu when he was in Goku's body, and he did help us making wishes that would increase our chances against Frieza."

In spite of Krillin's comments, Dende still didn't look very convinced, and again, Krillin couldn't blame him. After all, Jeice had only helped them once he had been sure that Ginyu was weaker than him, and he had only thought of that wish to awaken their sleeping powers because he had been included in it, and his two friends also had. But at the same time, no one could really be asking him to charge into battle against a foe whose power he completely ignored. And while the wish he'd made with regards to awakening sleeping powers hadn't had any effect on Gohan, Krillin, or Dende, it clearly had it on Piccolo, judging from how well he was fighting Frieza in his third form.

But that wasn't enough for Dende to be convinced to heal Jeice.

"I still won't do it," Dende insisted in a surprisingly unwavering tone. "I can't heal someone like him."

Sensing Dende's persistence in refusing to do it, Krillin considered turning to Gohan for help in convincing their friend. After all, if there were two of them persuading Dende, maybe it would be easier to convince him. But he quickly put the thought aside. Gohan was only a kid, and he was both his friend and Dende's, and as such he shouldn't be forced to take sides, mainly on such a difficult decision as this. Besides, part of the reason why he was convincing Dende to heal Jeice would be to set Gohan a good example, and doing something difficult on his own would set a better example than asking for help from someone, mainly if said person was only a kid.

"I understand you being upset, and I do know that Jeice was one of Frieza's men up until recently, but the truth is that we just may need his help again," Krillin pointed out. "Remember, this is Frieza we're dealing with. All the help we can get may not be enough. Piccolo may be doing alright against Frieza, but we don't know whether we might have to step in should Frieza pull some sort of nasty trick. If Piccolo dies, the Earth's Dragon Balls will disappear again, and we won't be able to resurrect anyone else. And there are no Namekian Dragon Balls to bring him back – assuming they wouldn't have the same restriction that ours back home, which are unable to resurrect someone more than once."

Hearing those comments, Gohan glared intensely at Krillin, making the short former monk flinch, as he realized he'd said the wrong thing when he had mentioned the possibilities of Piccolo doing badly against Frieza and the risk of him dying again. Had he been in a different situation, he probably would have smacked his head for his idiocy. It had been hard enough for Gohan to watch Piccolo dying once. Having the same happen again was bound to be unbearable for the kid.

Dende seemed equally troubled by the mention of someone else of his race being at risk of dying again, but at the very least, it seemed like mentioning that point had started to make him consider the possibility of healing Jeice, seeing as he now no longer had that stubborn look on his face, and instead had a conflicted one.

Not wanting to put the kid under too much stress, but at the same time thinking he should at least come up with one more convincing point, Krillin thought for a moment on what else he could say, and then decided to play what he knew would be his last card.

"Look, I know Jeice isn't exactly the nicest guy around, but like I already told you," he began, referring to some conversations he and Dende had to keep themselves busy back when they had been flying together toward Elder Guru's house. "…our group sort of has a history of bad guys that one way or another became good eventually. From what I know, Yamcha was a bandit when Goku first met him, and I was there myself when Tien and Chiaotzu were still loyal to Master Shen's ideals, and when Piccolo, who gave his own life for Gohan's, wanted to destroy the world. Even Vegeta, who wanted to destroy us all, is at least capable of putting that aside and fight alongside us against a bigger threat."

A bit too late to change his mind, Krillin realized he'd probably done something wrong by mentioning Vegeta, as the big creep, regardless of having made an alliance with them, always wanted to do things his very way, and was willing to go to great lengths just to make sure that happened, without thinking of the consequences. Not to mention he was likely still determined to kill them once this was over.

Trying to correct his mistake, he said, "Believe me when I tell you this: Jeice is better than Vegeta. It would be much safer to heal him back to health than it would be to do it to Vegeta."

Krillin inwardly sighed in slight relief. At least he had been able to believe that part of his speech, if only because it was true. After all, Jeice had been mad at Captain Ginyu for having killed his two friends, and the fact Jeice had wanted Recoome and Burter to have their potential unlocked as well had revealed he worried about their safety even though they were already dead. Vegeta, however, definitely didn't care about his comrades, seeing as he had so ruthlessly disposed of Nappa in opposition to trying to find some sort of way to heal his broken back. So, although Jeice had been one of Frieza's men and had certainly killed many people before, he was still better than Vegeta.

However, there was the question of whether that last argument would be enough to convince Dende. The conflicted look remained on his face as proof that now he was at least trying to make a decision, but there was no way of knowing what would be his final verdict.

Knowing he now had finally ran out of arguments he could use, Krillin turned his attention back to the fight between Frieza and Piccolo, and Gohan soon followed his lead, both allowing Dende to come to the final decision on his own.

* * *

><p><em>In Hell…<em>

His fists clenched in all the anticipation that he had been experiencing ever since he had remember that he and Recoome were stronger than Ginyu after all, Burter kept flying through the sky of Hell, his orange-haired friend flying by his side, and their despicable purple-skinned former boss quite ahead of them, as they kept looking for an area that seemed deserted enough for them to settle their matters without taking the risk of annoying some other resident of Hell whose power even resembled that of the teal-skinned alien.

Slightly to the surprise of all of them, they seemed to be having a bit of a hard time coming across such a location, as Hell seemed to be a fairly populated place. While it was unlikely each and every of those creatures was strong enough to do something like what the teal-skinned alien had done – as the fact that literally everyone in sight had stared in pure horror clearly indicated that a power like his was a true rarity even in a place where every evil being that existed since the beginning of time ended up – there should be more than a fair few residents of Hell stronger than Burter and Recoome combined, even considering the boosts in strength they had gotten. So, it would be better to keep looking for their deserted area and work out their issues there. After all, like he'd thought so many times, there was no reason to be in a hurry if you had the rest of eternity left for you.

Of course, that was the theory. In practical terms, Burter was simply dying (which he knew was a bad pun, but felt was adequate enough regardless of his current status) to beat into Captain Ginyu with every inch of his newfound power, and make sure he would pay for having killed him and Recoome so mercilessly. If not for his fear that some of those beings currently down below were actually stronger than him, he would have already given full way to his desire to beat Ginyu to a pulp. However, his fear of knowing personally what would happen to someone who was killed again after being already dead kept him in check.

But while Burter managed to repress himself somewhat decently, Recoome seemed just about to snap, and in spite of already having seen that there were many beings more powerful than himself in this place, he seemed to have chosen to either forget or ignore that and instead focus on how he was stronger than Ginyu and wanted to beat him, period. By this point, he was permanently looking in each and every direction, frantically looking for the deserted area they were supposed to find. Burter constantly sent him warning glances to advise him not to do anything rash, but the effect they had seemed to be wearing thin, and probably wouldn't take long to disappear altogether. Sadly, words of warning were fully out of the question, as if he was to shout them loudly enough for them to be heard over the noise made by their flight, Ginyu would obligatorily hear them as well, and either think something fishy was going on or start up some sort of provoking speech that would definitely make Recoome snap. So, they had no other choice than to go along with it until they finally arrived to their area where there would be no potentially stronger people around.

Again displaying his difference from Burter, Recoome didn't seem to need Ginyu's provoking comments to snap, and the fear caused by the teal-skinned alien's attack seemed to have already dispelled for the most part, as all of a sudden, and without any sort of warning, he let out an incoherent bellow and the aura around him intensified as he rushed forward toward Ginyu much faster than he had before.

Still listening to the side of him that wanted them to keep finding their isolated area to work out their issues with Ginyu, Burter extended an arm and shouted, "No, don't do that!"

But sadly, Recoome had his eyes locked on Ginyu, conveying as much fierceness as a hungry lion, and paid his friend no mind.

Recoome's movement was so quick that Burter wouldn't have been able to see it at all before getting his boost in strength, and Ginyu simply had no chance at all at spotting. Before he'd even turned halfway around, with only the beginnings of a surprised look on his face, Recoome's gigantic left hand had reached out toward his right shoulder and quickly fastened its grip, causing Ginyu to let out a scream of pain as his armor cracked like an eggshell all the bones there broke from the strength with which Recoome had grabbed him.

Not even giving Ginyu the time to scream, Recoome threw a right hook at the left side of his face, completely shattering the left side of Ginyu's upper and lower-jaw, breaking his nose, and leaving his left horn hanging as if by a hinge. Still unsatisfied, Recoome grabbed the sides of Ginyu's face and slammed his forehead into it, again causing a loud crunch to be heard, and Ginyu to let out another scream. Then, Recoome shifted his hand to grabbed Ginyu's right wrist, and slammed a haymaker into Ginyu's chest with his right hand, again smashing through his armor and most of his ribs. To finish the set, he delivered a roundhouse kick to Ginyu, which also hit the purple alien's chest and sent him soaring away. That last blow was so loud that it resounded through the whole vicinity, but remarkably, there was no shout of pain from Ginyu over the blow, just like there hadn't been over the whole duration of Recoome's brief, but very strong onslaught, as if the blows had been too powerful and delivered too quickly for Ginyu to have time or to be able to scream.

"Nice going there!" Burter yelled in sarcasm, having realized the exact level of the racket Recoome was making with his punches. "If there is anyone around here halfway as strong as that guy from a while ago, they'll all be barking-mad at you by now!"

He doubted Recoome would listen to him, as the guy had a tendency to get so engrossed in dishing out beatings that he paid no attention to anything else, but still, it was worth the shot.

To his relief, Recoome did turn around, but it seemed more to throw a few quick sentences than to actually engage in a long conversation with him.

"Come on, man, don't be such a wuss!" Recoome said. "We're far enough from that guy already, and there shouldn't be many like him around!"

Burter growled in frustration at Recoome's limited-as-usual train of thoughts. As much as Burter had learned to accept Recoome for his positive qualities, sometimes it was really tiresome to have to deal with someone who had such a level of intelligence.

"There don't need to be many like him around," Burter said. "One is all it takes."

In truth, Burter wanted to do to Ginyu the very same thing that Recoome had already started doing, but at the same time, he didn't want to risk being killed over and over again just because he would annoy someone particularly powerful, or worse yet, to cease existing or meet some other sort of fate even more unpleasant than dying. But as always, Recoome seemed unfazed by his arguments.

"If there's one, I'll be worried about him," Recoome replied, not missing a beat, revealing how he wanted to get the conversation over with as quickly as possible. "But while there is none, I'll be more worried about pounding him flat, because I've waited long enough already!"

Before Burter could raise any objections, Recoome rushed toward Ginyu, who was just now starting to halt his momentum after having flown through the air over a considerable distance that none of them cared about measuring.

In an ultimate attempt at checking whether it would be truly safe to beat Ginyu to a pulp at this particular spot, Burter looked on every direction, doing his best to see if there was anyone else in the vicinity seemed to be particularly upset at the aerial brawl taking place and wanted to do something to stop it. But much to his relief, there didn't seem to be many dead individuals in this particular area, and most of the few that were visible were either fleeing in very clear terror or giving anxious looks at the battle taking place in the sky. Clearly, none of them would dare to try to do anything about what they were doing.

Satisfied enough with his assessment, Burter finally turned back to Recoome, who was now holding Ginyu by the neck, repeatedly slamming punches into his gut, oblivious to just about everything else going on the surrounding area.

Flying toward the scene as quickly as possible, Burter shouted in enthusiasm, "Throw him over here! It's my turn now!"

At first, Burter wondered whether Recoome was too engrossed on punching Ginyu to listen to him, but right after slamming a last punch into Ginyu's gut, Recoome smiled at Burter and tossed their former boss over at him like a ragdoll, sharing a punching bag with a best friend as heartily as he gave ice cream to comrades with whom he'd only worked once.

Fully focusing on how badly he wanted to beat Ginyu at last, Burter grabbed Ginyu by the neck with his left hand, not slowing down on his own flight, and catching his former boss had when he had made it only halfway over the distance at which Recoome had wanted to throw him.

At first, when he felt a different hand grabbing his neck, Ginyu's eyelids fluttered, and he opened his eyes, which had been closed in a permanent grimace of pain. But when he saw who was holding him, they widened just a tad bit more in amazement, as he met Burter's exhilarated smile.

And that was everything Burter gave Ginyu the time to do before finally taking some action himself.

Curling his right hand into a fist, Burter slammed the most powerful punch he could muster into Ginyu's gut, causing him to let out a gasp of pain even more intense than the ones he'd made when Recoome had hit him. After all, Burter had taken the time to make sure he delivered a proper hit and to enable Ginyu to fully experience the pain he'd gotten, differently from Recoome, who dished out hits almost faster than Ginyu could feel them, although he did so even more powerfully than Burter. After the gasp had left Ginyu's mouth, Burter squeezed his neck even more tightly, and then slammed a punch into his nose, further damaging that part of Ginyu's face, as it was signaled by the loud crack that was heard right after the blow landed. This time, Ginyu didn't gasp or scream, as if that area was in so much pain that it couldn't feel any new waves of it.

Fully extending his left arm, Burter then showered every bit of Ginyu he could reach with punches, his right arm looking like a blur, and the squishy sound of the punches that met their target resembling that of a machine gun being fired thanks to the occasional cracks that would result from more of Ginyu's bones shattering. But all too soon for his likes, Burter got tired of that method of attack, and threw Ginyu into the sky with an uppercut. As Ginyu rocketed upwards, Burter disappeared from where he stood, and reappeared right by Ginyu's side, his hands clasped together. Not missing a beat, Burter slammed them down on Ginyu's back, while at the same time shooting his right knee upwards. As a result, Ginyu was sandwiched between the two blows, and another gasp of pain left his mouth, as yet another crack was heard.

Grabbing Ginyu by his nape as he pondered what to do with him next, Burter again smiled in satisfaction at knowing that he had caused even more pain to the one who had killed him. Back when he had been living, he never would have thought that someone like him could reach such a level of power, and now that he realized that he could, he felt as if he was about to explode with satisfaction. But at the same time, Burter was starting to feel just a tad bit frustrated. It was more than clear for him now that, thanks to his massive boost in strength, Ginyu was no match for him even if he fought alone, much less for him and Recoome together. In a way, Ginyu was breaking too easily, and at the rate he was currently going, there was no way he would last long enough for both Burter and Recoome to get their revenge on him. It would be better for them to find some way of making this last for some time.

But what should it be? What sort of torture-method would enable Ginyu to stay in one piece for a relatively long time while at the same time enabling them to have some fun with pounding him?

As he tried to figure that particular detail out, a loud cough caught his attention. Looking on the direction from where it came, he saw Recoome floating at the same altitude at which he was, but at quite a distance, his arm extended toward him. Clearly, although he had temporarily loaned Ginyu to Burter, he wanted him back by now. Holding out his hand to signal Recoome to wait just a little bit longer, Burter kept thinking about some good torture method, mentally revising all the ways in which him, Recoome, Jeice and Guldo had had fun killing people of the planets they visited. While he now felt a noticeable pang of shame at realizing just the sort of people they had all been back then, he still thought that recalling those memories would enable him to find the solution he looked for.

And soon, he settled for one that seemed satisfactory enough for the likes of him.

Extending his left hand – which was the one holding Ginyu by his nape – toward Recoome, Burter called, "Hey, Recoome! Let's play this new game I just came up with! It's called Ginyu-minton!"

At first, Ginyu gave him a half-puzzled look through his swollen eyes, but soon, he realized what Burter had in mind, and started moaning in pain while he feebly attempted to flail about madly, obviously desperate to escape. But Burter easily kept his firm grip on his former Captain, and started explaining just what the game consisted of.

"I'll throw him at you, you punch him back at me, I punch him back at you, you punch him back at me again, and we carry this on for as long as we want!" Burter said. "What do you say?"

This time, Recoome took only a few instants to think of the answer to Burter's question before giving it.

"I like it," he said, his own smile widening as he clearly envisioned the game in his mind.

Not needing any more words, Burter made the first toss, and then got himself ready to have Ginyu punched back at him.

* * *

><p><em>On Planet Namek…<em>

Bringing his left forearm up to block another punch the Namekian had thrown at him, Frieza growled in frustration for yet another time since the battle had started, feeling the sweat that trickled down his body as a result of the strenuous effort this battle was requiring from him. In spite of his best attempts to overpower this accursed Namekian, he was making very little progress, as a vast majority of his moves were either countered or dodged by this unexpectedly strong and skilled warrior. What was more, the Namekain actually managed to fight back somewhat, and keep on inflicting pain that Frieza wasn't supposed to be feeling in this form. While Frieza was sure he still managed to dish out slightly more damage than he took, this still wasn't the sort of battle he was used to have. His opponents were meant to be overwhelmed by this form's might, not to take a bit more hits than they managed to deliver.

Trying for yet another time to overpower the Namekian, Frieza threw a right hook at the Namekian's face, and this time, managed to hit his intended target. Pressing his advantage, Frieza slammed a haymaker into Piccolo's chest, and then brought his tail forward, striking the Namekian's face, and throwing him away. Frieza immediately flew toward him to deliver another hit, but Piccolo recovered faster than he expected, and fired an energy wave toward him, intending to engulf him with it. At the last moment, Frieza disappeared from where he stood, and Piccolo's attack hit nothing but air and rocks. Realizing he'd missed, Piccolo quickly stopped firing his attack, right as Frieza reappeared behind him, his own hand thrust forward to fire an energy wave of his own.

Sensing the move, Piccolo quickly disappeared himself, and the energy wave fired by Frieza also hit nothing. An instant afterwards, Piccolo reappeared above Frieza, again intending to slam Frieza's massive head with his clasped hands, raised together above his head. Halting the firing of his energy wave, Frieza quickly flew downwards, barely dodging the blow. Frieza quickly raised one finger and fired a Death Beam at the Namekisn, who deflected it to the side. But while he was busy deflecting it, Frieza disappeared from where he stood, and reappeared right behind the Namekian, ready to attack him from there. Sensing Frieza reappearing behind him, the Namekian brought his right elbow backwards, jamming it into Frieza's gut. As the tyrant spurted a considerable amount of drool, Piccolo quickly spun around to the left, and slammed a roundhouse kick into Frieza's face, throwing him dozens of meters away. Then, he put the middle and index fingers of his right hand up to his forehead for a brief moment, causing a faint glow to appear around them.

"Special Beam Cannon!" he shouted as he thrust his hand forward, firing one of his signature attacks.

Thrusting his right hand forward with his middle and index fingers pointing at the attack, Frieza fired a bright pink beam from it, which met the Special Beam Cannon and destroyed the whole island they were standing on.

Both Frieza and Piccolo disappeared from where they were, dodging the explosion, and reappeared about two hundred meters above, again trading a flurry of hits, neither of them managing one attack through the other's defenses. After about thirty seconds of this, the two of them disappeared again, and reappeared at another location, again trading hits without either of them managing to get one through. Once again, they disappeared after about thirty seconds of doing so, reappearing at a different place to do the very same thing.

In the end, the process repeated itself for three more times, but when the two of them disappeared after the fifth consecutive exchange, they instead reappeared at another island, at about thirty meters from each other, both of them panting heavily from the fruitless effort they had just undergone, with drops of sweat, bruises, and burns as additional proof of the battle they'd had.

However, although neither of them had managed to get one hit in during these most recent exchanges, now that they had stopped to catch their breath it was obvious for an attentive observer who had the advantage in their fight. Piccolo's breathing was slightly more labored than Frieza's, and there were a few more drops of sweat trickling down his body than there were on the tyrant's, as well as a few more bruises, burns, and scratches on him. Should things keep going the same way, Frieza would be the one winning in the end.

But at the same time, Frieza didn't feel as sure of himself as he knew he should be feeling when facing an opponent. Having to make such an intense in this form was new for him, and at the same time, the body he had while in this transformation wasn't really suited to fight opponents as strong as he was in this form, as the massive, long head was somewhat of a handicap, and the various prominent points he had (namely the shoulder protrusions, the big horns, and the spikes that erupted from his back) didn't help much either.

Still, Frieza took some comfort in knowing that the Namekian was worse-off than he, and that he would eventually be able to overpower him. After all, he could use the exercise, and in the end, any damage he suffered in this form was completely inconsequential in the long run.

Strangely, the Namekian didn't seem all that concerned, in spite of not having an obvious advantage. He should be hiding something.

"For someone who beat me so easily before, you seem to be having a lot of trouble this time, Frieza," the Namekian remarked, having caught his breath at last.

To Frieza's surprise, he wasn't speaking in his usual voice, but instead seemed to be using a different one, although the tyrant was sure he'd heard someone else using that voice before.

"Mainly considering you are in a more powerful form and using both your hands against me," the Namekian added, his cocky smirk perfectly matching his tone, and still speaking in that voice that didn't seem to be his own.

Hearing the voice for a second time, and remembering something he had said to another Namekian warrior, Frieza finally understood just who was speaking through this one.

"That voice," he gasped. "You're that insufferable Namekian who is the whole reason behind me not having gotten my wish for immortality!"

The Namekian smirked cockily in response to Frieza's realization.

"That's right," he said, still speaking in that voice that wasn't his own. "I'm Nail. Not long after you beat me to near-death, I met Piccolo when he was on his way here, and as I knew what he was up against, I decided to fuse with him so he'd be better prepared for what was to come."

Switching his voice back to his real one, the Namekian added, "And that is one of the reasons why you can't beat us now."

Frieza took notice of the fact the Namekian had said there was more than one reason why he wouldn't be able to defeat 'them' but he didn't particularly care to find out what the other one could be. What mattered for him was that he had just discovered that he would get to beat the crap out of yet another being who was one of the reasons why he was still considerably far from the status of godliness he had wanted to reach.

"Regardless of how many Namekians there are in that body, I will kill them all anyway when I get rid of the host," Frieza said, his smirk returning at the thought of killing several beings at literally the same time. "And don't pull the tough guy act on me, because I can see very well that you are a bit more tired than I am. Eventually, I will be able to outlast you, and when that happens, you'll be history. And besides, you have made a huge mistake by revealing that part of your identity to me with that careless comment of yours. Because now I'm even more motivated to defeat you."

Considering how the last Namekian he had beaten to a pulp was part of this one, Frieza expected him to at least be considerably scared after remembering the last beating he'd gotten. But that was not the case, as the somewhat cocky smirk remained present on his face.

"Is that so?" the Namekian asked. "In that case, what do you say to me finishing my warm-up?"

Not waiting for Frieza's reaction to that statement, Piccolo reached up to his head and pulled off his turban, before doing the same to his cape right afterwards. Both garments fell on the ground with heavy thuds, sinking quite deeply into it, as the Namekian craned his neck to both sides to loosen his stiff muscles, before entering a fighting stance. In spite of himself, Frieza could not help but to tense up in apprehension at the sight. Apparently, things were even uglier than he had expected them to be.

"Now it's time for the real fight to begin." Piccolo said, his cocky smirk quickly shifting into a look of anger. "And for you to truly feel the pain of all the Namekians that died because of you."

Again not giving Frieza the time to outwardly react, the Namekian disappeared from where his location. Then, before the tyrant knew it, a veritable storm of blows was raining down on his body, with him being unable to block or dodge any of them, and with Piccolo having no intention of slowing it down anytime soon.

* * *

><p><em>Up next: Having finally removed his weighted clothes, Piccolo has turned the tide on his battle with Frieza. However, the tyrant has one card to play in response to that move, and wastes no time in doing so as soon as he gets the chance. Meanwhile, Dende finally makes his decision regarding whether he's going to heal Jeice or not. What will happen? Find out next!<em>

_Hoping you enjoyed the chapter,_

_Genescritor_


	16. Chapter 16: A scary announcement

**From Enemy To Student**

**- a Dragon Ball Z fanfiction -**

**Chapter 16 – A scary announcement**

_Disclaimer: I do not own, in any way, any official property related Dragon Ball, such as the anime, its characters, related movies, and so on. However, I hope to supplement that glorious work of art with my fanfictions, such as this one. _

_I would also like to point out that this fanfiction was originally written by Gonstika, from whom I adopted it, and many of the concepts and plot-points featured in its chapters are originated by Gonstika as well._

_With that said, I hope you enjoy the story._

* * *

><p><em>On Planet Namek…<em>

While the second round of the fight between Piccolo and Frieza carried on, Jeice remained sprawled at the same spot where he had ended up after the wretched tyrant himself had smacked him aside, oblivious to the events taking place in the vicinity. Or, to be more specific, oblivious to just about everything besides the condition that lizard had left him with nothing but a strike from his tail.

The worst injury Frieza had inflicted on him was not painful in itself, as Jeice couldn't feel or move anything from the waist below, but whenever he tried to will his unresponsive half into making the slightest of movements, his whole body seemed to explode in such an intense pain that he nearly blacked out from it. Also, he had a few other injuries, and while not even all of those together were life-threatening, each was painful in its own way, and did nothing to tone down his terrible condition. Lastly, the intense throbbing on his nape, which had miraculously been put at bay while Jeice had been fully devoting his focus to attacking Frieza with all the strength he could gather, had returned in such a manner that it seemed to have been gathering its strength while it hadn't been felt. And of course, that was another thing that made Jeice feel even worse.

But in spite of being so drained he couldn't even push his upper half off the ground, and experiencing so much pain that he was nearly unconscious, he was still awake, although he felt detached from this realm, capable of seeing little more than swirls of all shades of green dotted with brown and of experiencing little more than the pain on the injured areas of his body. It had to be even worse than when Recoome and Burter had been effortlessly struck down by Goku as soon as the Saiyan had started fighting more seriously. At least they had blissfully been knocked unconscious, and hadn't been disposed of _that_ easily. The fact he had been swatted aside in such a manner made Jeice feel as helpless as a bug when compared to Frieza's own might. While he'd had that knowledge before, learning it from experience was another thing entirely, mainly when the only thing he could do about that was to lie there like the cripple he'd become, waiting for Frieza to arrive and crush him beneath his foot.

Why that hadn't happened yet was beyond him. Regardless of how bad Jeice's estimations of the passing of time were when he was like this, and of how the former Frieza soldier hadn't yet gotten to the point where he was desperately begging for death, he could tell that his life was for some reason lasting longer than it was meant to.

And while he couldn't tell the exact reason, he had been vaguely aware of things like booming clashes of blows meeting each other and sounds of explosions that could only be the product of energy blasts for some time now, which likely meant that Frieza was fighting someone. But he guessed those things were illusions caused by the throbbing on his head, as there was no way anyone would be able to have such an intense fight with Frieza in his third form. After all, it had taken Gohan's unexpected burst of rage-fueled strength to have as much as a chance against the tyrant's second form, and he'd only succeeded in inflicting all that damage because Jeice and Vegeta had helped him. So, how could it be that someone was actually managing to force Frieza to at least make somewhat of an effort when he was so powerful?

Jeice had tried to figure it out before, on the hopes that it was not an illusion after all, but whenever he tried to turn his head aside, the throbbing on his head intensified even more, and although somehow not enough to break through Jeice's resilience to pain and make him lose consciousness, it fully prevented him from regaining enough awareness to have a reasonable idea of what was happening.

Not that knowing what was going on would make any sort of difference. In the end, Frieza was bound to deal with this new obstacle in some way, and dispose of all those in the nearby vicinity after doing that. It had been this way ever since the fight against him had started, and Jeice hadn't so far seen any reason why the trend should be broken. He only hoped that Frieza would actually come here and dispose of him personally, rather than just destroy the planet and have Jeice dying from the lack of oxygen and the freezing cold he would be subjected to after the planet vanished. In spite of not finding it likely that he would survive a planetary explosion in his helpless condition, he didn't look forward to learning that one from experience.

But it seemed he wouldn't have to. Right when the frightening thought ran through his mind for yet another time, he heard a low tapping sound coming from right by his left side, which sounded exactly like the noise someone made when landing. Apparently, his time had finally come.

For once, he didn't shiver in fear, as his instincts seemed to be stopping him from doing that so he wouldn't feel another gigantic headache. The only outward sign of Jeice's fear was the fact he clenched his fists, his fingers leaving parallel trails on the ground as he did so. He knew such an action would prompt a few mocking comments from Frieza, but he was past caring about that, mostly because he wouldn't be able to hear them anyway in his current state.

Feeling a modicum of gratitude for that, Jeice steeled himself to feel a gigantic energy wave washing over him, or a concentrated energy blast running him through at some vital area, or some equally unpleasant method of killing that would probably enable him to suffer for a while longer before dying.

However, he felt nothing of the sort. Instead, he felt a peculiar warmth cloaking him, which didn't cause more pain to erupt around him, but instead gradually started making him feel better, like it had happened on the only time he had been put into a rejuvenation tank while conscious. And the purpose seemed to be the same, as the warmth, which seemed to focus on his injuries, caused him to heal at an unthinkably fast rate. Even the damage to his spine was fixing itself up, which was nothing short of remarkable, as that was the sort of injury even the most skilled doctors in the World Trade Organization would have a lot of trouble patching up at best.

Curious about which could be the source of that warmth, Jeice started looking over his shoulder on that direction, but a familiar voice stilled him.

"Be still," Dende warned, still releasing that light through his palms. "I'm not sure whether my healing will work as it should if you are moving."

Although Dende hadn't said much, it was still enough for several questions related to the topic to come to Jeice's mind. But nevertheless, he heeded the advice and remained as immobile as he could, while holding off any questions he might have, and inwardly marveling at the kid's power. That hocus-pocus was so quick and efficient that it made rejuvenation tanks, which were capable of healing several types of supposedly mortal injuries, look obsolete. The only thing that Jeice had seen working faster than this magic was those Senzu Beans that Goku had used on Gohan, Krillin, and Vegeta, but even they didn't seem to be more efficient ultimately.

Dende kept releasing that strange light and the warmth that came from it for a while, but after about a minute, he ceased doing so, and stepped back from Jeice.

"You can get up now," he informed, before flying away from the former soldier.

Not bothering to see where the kid had gone, Jeice stood up in a hesitant, even fearful fashion, as if part of him still believed that being healed of this injury was too good to be true.

But somehow, it was happening. Against all hopes, an injury that would have been nearly impossible to heal was fixed up to such an extent that it seemed like Jeice's spine had never been broken to begin with. And that wasn't the only injury Dende had healed. Every single bit of damage had taken ever since landing on Planet Namek, even the injured nose he'd gotten thanks to Goku's punch and the bruises and minor scrapes he had received during the fight against Ginyu in Goku's body, had been fully repaired.

Also, in addition to being completely healed, Jeice felt much stronger than he had been since the last time he had fought. But that was something he couldn't understand at all. After all, he was not a Saiyan, so there should be no reason for him to become stronger after recovering from any sort of injury, no matter how much it had pushed him to near-death. And even though any fighter would supposedly get an increase in strength after pushing himself to his limits, that increase shouldn't be as big as the one Jeice had gotten. Either he was missing some important information, or somehow this healing had the secondary effect of making him imagine things for a while.

Wanting to figure that one out, Jeice turned around to see if he could find Dende and ask him the questions he had. But as soon as he did so, his eyes bugged out until they were the size of grapefruits, as a sight he definitely hadn't been expecting awaited him.

Only about three meters away from him were Krillin and Gohan, with Dende hiding behind them as though he didn't want to stand directly in front of Jeice. Both the Earthling and Goku's son looked fresh as everything, even though Krillin had been gored by Frieza and Gohan certainly had also ended up taking a lot of punishment from the tyrant. While Krillin still had the holes on his front and back at the place where he had been run-through, Gohan didn't look any worse for the wear, and there was no damage visible on his clothes to suggest the fact he had taken a blow at any point. Although Jeice realized it was likely that Dende might have healed them as well, he couldn't see how he would have been able to do so without Frieza noticing and killing him as well.

"What are ya still doin' here?" Jeice asked in a very loud and blatant manner. "Weren't ya two meant to be dead?"

Gohan seemed slightly surprised either by Jeice's question or by the manner in which he'd phrased, but Krillin simply shrugged his shoulders in a way that seemed forced, before he replied in a matching tone , "Well, we most certainly would be if it wasn't for Dende here. But he managed to get me out of that lake while I was still alive, and healed me afterwards. As for Gohan…" at that point, Krillin stopped for a few moments, clearly unsure of which words to use to not to make the kid recall what he'd endured in a too intense manner. "…he also got smacked around a bit, but Piccolo arrived right on time to save him, and then Dende had no problem healing him afterwards." he managed to finish, before letting out a sigh of relief, as though it had been difficult for him to say all of that.

Hearing that explanation, Jeice remembered the explosions and thunderous clashes he had heard at some points during his period of near-unconsciousness. Apparently, he hadn't been imagining them at all. And now that he was fully recovered and devoting some attention to the topic, it seemed to him that he could still hear those clashes now, although they not only were farther than before, but also seemed different on the delivery, as if the battle had shifted in location and the blows were thrown in other ways – or with different results.

As the realization that he hadn't been imagining things after all fully sank in, Jeice turned toward the source of the sounds and focused his sight on the place to get a better look at what was happening. After watching keenly for a few moments, he spotted a green figure with pink patches on his arms and dressed in a purple outfit giving a beating to another figure with pink skin, white armor-plating, and a very large elongated head. The action was taking place too quickly for Jeice to work out more specific details, but he had no problem deducing that the white and pink figure was Frieza, and his opponent, who was clearly a Namekian, had to be Piccolo. And boy was he strong! Even with Jeice being unable to keep up with the action in its entirety, he could see that Piccolo was the only one delivering hits, and was doing so at such a fast rate that before Frieza could even attempt to block one strike, at least two more hit their intended target.

"Unbelievable," Jeice said to himself, right as Piccolo landed a kick on Frieza's chin, sending him rocketing away. "That guy is creamin' Frieza in his third form like nothing, while I was down for the count after taking one hit from his tail! Just how can that be?"

Listening to him, one would think that Jeice was jealous, but the truth was that he was merely astonished. After all, Piccolo had reached a level of power that was meant to be impossible to reach, and in doing so, had gone beyond not only Jeice's expectations, but certainly Krillin's and Gohan's as well.

"Well, one could say it's partly thanks to you," Krillin replied in an almost smug manner, as though he was either the one who had such power or the Namekian's incredible prowess was entirely due to him. "After all, if you hadn't thought of that wish to awakening sleeping potentials in which he was included, he wouldn't be this strong by now for sure."

Jeice briefly nodded, remembering how he had indeed thought of that wish, and of how Piccolo had also been included in it. But at the same time, he couldn't help but to also recall his earlier thoughts of how Frieza until now had always managed to find some way of dealing with the obstacles that had been in his path, and how so far there had been no reason to believe that trend would be broken. Even if Frieza's strength had a limit, nothing said this had to be it. And if Frieza indeed still had more strength to summon, then he'd probably break free of Piccolo's onslaught anytime soon, and deal with the Namekian, before doing the same to all of them in some horrifically powerful form he would assume. Jeice briefly considered getting ready to help Piccolo, but he soon realized that option was out of his reach. Even if Jeice had become as stronger as he felt, Frieza should still be able to take him out in one blast, and even the momentary distraction he would provide on such an occasion would certainly not be enough for it to make any difference. It would be better for him to stay out of the way for now, although he still would change his mind if the situation called for it.

Besides, maybe that wouldn't be necessary at all. Maybe this was the limit of Frieza's power after all. While it had been true that Frieza had been making himself more powerful thanks to his transformations, his first form had already been supposedly unbeatable, and yet Jeice would have been able to kill Frieza in that form if he hadn't been knocked out for whatever reasons he couldn't understand. So, maybe Piccolo would be able to beat him after all, although Jeice didn't like the way how that mostly relied on Frieza's lack of further transformations.

In an effort for not to think about that, he turned back to Dende, and changed subjects to one other topic that had also been nagging at him, and which was also at least partly motivated by something Krillin had ended up saying.

"Hey kid, don't take this question the wrong way, but when ya came 'ere to heal me, why did ya take so long?" Jeice said. "Were Krillin and Gohan that much more injured than me for you to spend so much more time on them than on me, or was I just so hurt that it seemed to me time spent so much more slowly?"

Hearing those two questions, all three others present at the scene got uneasy looks on their faces, and started shifting uncomfortably on their spots, which immediately made Jeice narrow his eyes in confusion.

"Was it somethin' I said?" he asked, in spite of the redundancy of doing so, as he was almost sure of the answer.

Again, none of them answered. Dende subtly tried to hide behind Krillin, and Gohan shook slightly as if fearing an impending explosion of anger from the red-skinned alien. As for the short Earthling, he seemed slightly at a loss to what to do.

But eventually, under the continuous inquiring gaze Jeice was submitting him to, Krillin ended up explaining in a slow, hesitant manner, "Well, Dende took a bit longer to come to heal you because he was quite hesitant when it came to doing so. He still remembers that you were one of Frieza's men and were literally our enemy a matter of hours ago, and he's is quite upset at you because of that."

Suddenly, as if stating that fact had somehow given him a temporary injection of courage, Krillin added in a tone much firmer than one would expect from such a small man speaking to a person who was now several times stronger, "And don't you dare holding that over him. Because the truth of the matter is that you were one of Frieza's men until very recently. Don't think we've started liking you all of a sudden, or that we've forgotten about all those people you've killed in your lifetime."

Knowing why he'd taken so long to be healed in addition to hearing Krillin's rather blunt statements left Jeice at a loss for both words and reactions. He hadn't been expecting such forward statements from anyone of the group, and while he knew they didn't have him in high regards, it still came as a bit of shock to know they had actually let him suffer for longer while debating whether to heal him or not.

Jeice knew, deep within himself, that he really couldn't expect that Dende or any of the others would just forget about what he had done over his entire life before meeting them, even though he was now sorry for having followed that path and had decided to never do it again. But at the same time, he also couldn't forget that he had endured quite a lot of extra suffering all because Dende had taken his sweet time getting over the anger he felt toward him, nor could he stop himself from feeling quite upset at that fact.

Close to him, everyone else kept waiting for his impending reaction, with Dende now peeking from behind Krillin, Gohan looking ready to bolt away at the slightest menacing twitch from him, and Krillin apparently trying to summon up his courage for an impending fight.

But although Jeice gave them the strongest glare he was capable of mustering after he heard their words, he did not lash out at them neither verbally nor physically. While he was undoubtedly angry, he was still calm enough to know that no anger or beating would change things, as it wouldn't make time go back. Besides, now wasn't the best time to think about this. Frieza was still alive, and no matter how well the Namekian was doing in his fight against him, things would only be over once the bastard was dead.

So, after keeping his glare for a few moments longer, Jeice looked away from them in a deliberately forceful manner, turning all of his focus back to watching Piccolo hitting Frieza with everything he had.

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><p>Floating at the same place to where he'd moved after baldy started trying to persuade the Namekian kid to heal Jeice, Vegeta growled in anger as he saw Jeice standing at the same spot where he had been lying down after being whacked by Frieza, looking as healthy as though he'd never been injured in his life. Even from this distance, he could tell that the Namekian brat's healing abilities were extraordinary, as not only Jeice didn't seem to have any permanent damage to the places that had been injured, like it usually happened to several of those who had their broken spines treated by doctors at the World Trade Organization's bases, but Jeice's energy signature felt stronger to such an extent that one would think he was a Saiyan. Vegeta could only assume that whatever wish the red bastard had made to awaken his sleeping powers took some time to make full effect, although in the end, it seemed to compensate, as by this point, Jeice was so strong that he would have had good chances of winning against Frieza if he had still been in his second form, and could still become stronger if the wish still hadn't made its full effect.<p>

Knowing that Jeice was so stronger than himself made Vegeta growl in so much anger that he was actually quaking from it. Even considering that the idiot had relied on magical trickery to obtain such power, and that he still wasn't the strongest in the whole group – as after all, both Piccolo and Frieza were still much stronger than him – he still was the third strongest out of all those present, unlike Vegeta, who even at full power would simply be the fourth strongest, and in his exhausted state would probably have a hard time even defeating the bald Earthling.

Which was enough for Vegeta to feel pure anger bubbling from the very depths of his being, like boiling lava in a volcano, ready to explode in the most violent eruption recorded on any Saiyan. He was the Prince of All Saiyans, the strongest individual of the strongest race of warriors in the entire Universe. As much as that didn't seem to be enough for him to measure up to the likes of unnatural creatures like Frieza, he should be the one who was the strongest compared to that blasted lizard, not the Namekian. And certainly not Jeice! Granted, Vegeta's power had remained in a more or less stagnant state over the time he'd served under Frieza, but that was only because he had been completely and utterly unchallenged in nearly every mission he'd gone on, although how he'd had to go all out a few times, most notably on Earth. As soon as he'd started being challenged for real on a regular basis, his power had started going up through the roof compared to what it had been for years. And if he had only managed to become a Super Saiyan, he would have already defeated Frieza and claimed his rightful spot as the strongest warrior in the Universe!

And while on that matter, why did the transformation keep evading him?

Whatever the reason for that, it wouldn't do so for much longer. As angry as Vegeta could be, his anger hadn't been able to overrun his capacity to think, and had only contributed to strengthen his biggest desire at the moment, which was to become a Super Saiyan. He wanted it more than ever, and now that he had seen the Namekian kid's healing abilities in action, he had already devised a plan to achieve that goal. Although that plan also relied on taking a shortcut, Vegeta, unlike Jeice, wouldn't be cheating at all, as he would be fully relying on a natural trait every Saiyan possessed for that plan to work, and as far as he was concerned, relying on natural skills was not cheating.

But as much as he wanted to become a Super Saiyan, he also knew that this wasn't the right time for him to carry out that plan. After he had seen how much the Namekian kid had hesitated when it came to heal Jeice, who was still held in higher regards among their group than Vegeta himself, the Saiyan Prince had realized that the kid wouldn't heal him unless the situation desperately called for it. And he couldn't just start going around threatening to beat the kid up if he didn't heal him, or anything that involved resorting to physical violence or threatening to do so. He would need one of the other three to mortally injure him before the kid could heal him, and if he started resorting to violence or making threats, it was possible that they would just leave him to bleed out to death.

So, as much as he hated doing such a thing, he would wait for a situation so desperate that they would have no choice but to heal him, as he really didn't have any other choice. In the end, that situation would certainly come sooner or later. After all, there was just no way that the honor of defeating Frieza would belong to that wretched Namekian, or to anyone else present there. The only being worthy of doing such a thing was the Super Saiyan of legend, like Vegeta himself would become after his plan was carried out. And eventually, fate would see to that one way or another.

* * *

><p>After sinking his fist into Frieza's gut for yet another time, Piccolo threw a right hook at the tyrant's face, which sent the reptilian creature flying away like a rocket.<p>

The tyrant already had every inch of his body covered in bruises and cuts from Piccolo's onslaught, but the Namekian didn't feel like he was anywhere near finished, as the side of him that came from Nail's personality wanted to beat into Frieza until the accursed lizard had been reduced to what Earthlings called raw hamburger. While Piccolo didn't entirely like the slight changes that had come to his personality, and certainly didn't appreciate to have others telling him what to do, he was, for now, allowing Nail to have his revenge, so to speak. He knew what it was like to want revenge, and although he no longer wanted his own, he was feeling gracious enough to allow Nail to have his, at least for now.

With that thought in mind, Piccolo immediately disappeared from where he was, and reappeared behind Frieza, nailing a punch exactly at the center of the imaginary triangle defined by the long spikes erupting from the tyrant's shoulder blades and the much shorter one erupting from above the small of his back. The blow hit Frieza like a battering ram, causing the tyrant to gasp in pain, but thankfully, his armor-plating repelled the blow enough for his back not to break. Not even waiting for the tyrant to finish letting out his gasp, Piccolo grabbed the protrusion above his left shoulder and forcefully turned Frieza around, before slamming yet another barrage of punches all over his torso and face.

The blows were delivered so quickly that Frieza didn't even have time to moan between them, but after delivering a flurry of punches for about fifteen seconds, Piccolo pulled his left leg back, and kicked the purple plate at the center of Frieza's chest with all the strength he could muster. Once again, the tyrant rocketed away, but this time, Piccolo didn't fly after him. Instead, he stretched his left arm to several times its length, and grabbed onto Frieza's right ankle, before moving his arm down as if to slam Frieza on the ground, which caused the tyrant to make the beginnings of an arch through the air.

While doing so, Piccolo gathered the strongest energy blast he could muster in his right hand, intending to throw it at Frieza after slamming him down on the ground. But all of a sudden, Frieza somehow brought himself out of the world of pain he'd been unable to break away from until now, and fired a Death Beam at Piccolo's head. Letting go of Frieza's ankle, Piccolo immediately moved to the left, while firing the energy blast he'd been gathering on his right hand, and retracting his left arm as quickly as he could.

Frieza flew upwards as quickly as he could, dodging Piccolo's attack by centimeters, and then fired a pair of eye-beams at the Namekian's still retracting left arm. After moving it down in order to put it out of the beams' way, Piccolo quickly put the middle and index fingers of his right hand to his forehead, while the beams entered the water below and caused a significant explosion. Only a second afterwards, Piccolo thrust his fingers back forward as quickly as he could, firing a Special Beam Cannon at Frieza.

The piercing attack moved much faster than the energy wave had, so much so that Frieza barely had time to react to it. As quickly as he could, Frieza swerved his right side half to the left, but the thinner beam of the Special Beam Cannon managed to graze his front as it went up toward space, creating a row of small cuts that started on his left hip and passed over the purple plate at the center of his chest, only to end on his right shoulder. Frieza let out a hiss of pain, as several drops of blood seeped from each cut and trickled down his body. Forcing himself to ignore the burning, Frieza pointed his left index finger at the Namek and fired a barrage of Death Beams from his left hand, which had become encased in a sphere whose color matched the beams'.

Unimpressed, Piccolo grabbed his right wrist in his left hand, and fired a Destructive Wave at the beams. His attack plowed through Frieza's beams with little effort, and then exploded against the tyrant himself, who had managed to put his arms up in a cross-block to shield himself, as his front side had been covered in new burns. After the smoke settled down, Frieza lowered his arms, but Piccolo chose that very moment to fly toward him at full-speed, his right fist pulled back to deliver a punch. Frieza flew to the left as quickly as he could, and then fired a Death Beam at Piccolo, who quickly disappeared, causing the beam to pass through the spot where he had been. Then, he reappeared above Frieza, and slammed his hands, which were clasped together, down on the tyrant's long head. The tyrant immediately crashed down into a mountain below, which crumbled down on him in chunks of all different sizes. Coincidentally, at that very moment, the remnants of Frieza's Death Beam hit a faraway island, and destroyed it completely, causing a shower of stones to fall into the water in that area.

Not caring about that, Piccolo started gathering energy in his hands, intending to fire a barrage of energy blasts down at Frieza. But before he did so, the stones piled on top of Frieza started floating seemingly out of their own according, hovering about two meters above the spot where they had originally been. Then, smiling wickedly from under the floating rubble around him, Frieza thrust his arms toward Piccolo, making each and every piece of rock shoot off toward the Namek at speeds incomprehensible for anyone else but the two of them.

Knowing that he'd be hurt quite a lot if even some of those rocks hit him, Piccolo fired the energy blasts he'd been getting ready at the boulders instead, intending to destroy them all before they could hit him. A series of strong explosions took place in the sky, as each of the rocks Frieza flung at him was met by an energy blast and destroyed, causing a cloud of dust to cover the area and a shower of gravel to fall down on the ground of the same island Frieza had crashed into.

Not waiting for the dust to settle down, Piccolo immediately focused his energy-sensing skill to the fullest, as that was the only sense he would be able to rely on to detect Frieza if the tyrant decided to sneak up on him at the moment.

He immediately found the tyrant, but, to his great surprise, Frieza had used the time in which Piccolo had been busy destroying the rocks to sneak up on him, and now, he hovered right behind him, both close enough to have a chance of firing an energy attack that would hit its target and far enough for neither Piccolo nor Frieza to be capable of landing a physical hit on the other, even if Frieza used his tail.

Not sensing Frieza gathering any sort of energy attack, Piccolo clenched his right fist and spun around to the left in a half turn, intending to fire an energy wave at Frieza at point-blank range. Moments after he started turning around, Piccolo saw that Frieza had his left arm extended toward him and was holding his left fist with his right hand. However, as he didn't sense Frieza gathering any energy, he didn't think much of it, and didn't even halt his movement.

Then, a moment before Piccolo had finished his half-turn, Frieza quickly half-closed his left hand, and then opened it again just as quickly. A heartbeat later, right as Piccolo started to bring his right arm forward before firing the energy wave he'd been intending to unleash, a golden-orange sphere whose diameter was slightly bigger than Piccolo's height appeared out of nowhere around him, causing the Namekian to gasp in surprise, and even a little bit of fight.

He had never felt anything remotely similar to this. It seemed as though he was trapped in a skin-tight barrier meant to prevent him from making any serious movement. He could not keep moving his arm toward Frieza no matter how hard he tried, and even moving his head seemed to demand a huge amount of effort. Using his energy also was out of the question, as it seemed to have been frozen solid by the peculiar sphere in which he had been encased. Thankfully, he could still breathe, and he figured he would be able to talk if he tried, but that would do him little good in such a situation. Without being able to as much as throw a punch, he would be helpless against anything Frieza decided to use on him.

Smiling in satisfaction at seeing his foe trapped inside his technique, Frieza kept his palm, which emitted a glow of a color equal to the sphere's and released a few purple rings that grew in diameter before disappearing like ripples on the water's surface, pointed at Piccolo as he flew down to the ground, dragging the sphere in which the Namekian was trapped alongside him.

"How's this, Namekian?" Frieza asked in a tone of mock-curiosity, as his feet finally touched the ground, the orange sphere in which Piccolo was trapped now hovering about ten centimeters above Namek's surface. "Do you like my Imprisonment Ball?"

Piccolo didn't reply, but he took notice of the attack's name when Frieza mentioned it. If this attack was merely meant to trap him, as its name seemed to suggest, then Frieza would certainly need to remove it before using any sort of attack on him. When that happened, Piccolo should be at least able to try to defend himself in some manner. But of course, that was only a theory based on a guess. He had no real idea of the full workings of this technique, and so he had no idea whether any method of defense he might be able to attempt worked. Considering how he couldn't do anything other than breathe, talk, and move his head with great effort, the odds weren't looking good.

Unfazed by Piccolo's unresponsiveness, Frieza lowered his hand and jumped about five meters back, before carrying on, "Well, if you don't like this technique, I understand. After all, you're not in a state fit to like anything, seeing as You Might Die This Time. That is, for the record, another of my names for this attack."

Piccolo raised an eyebrow at that piece of information – which wasn't impeded by the Imprisonment Ball at all. If this attack really had an alternate name such as You Might Die This Time, then its functions should not be limited to mere imprisonment. But at the same time, it shouldn't be all that successful, at least if this particular alternate name had any true meaning to it. Still, Piccolo wouldn't rely on that guess once the attack was truly unleashed.

"However, if I was to use this particular attack for its real purpose, you would most certainly die, have no doubt of that" Frieza said as though he'd sensed Piccolo's question. "But rest assured, I will not do such a thing. I have something else in mind."

Those words might have given Piccolo some relief, but only under different circumstances and if they came from a different person. Somehow, he doubted Frieza's other idea would be any less dangerous or painful than the effects of the Imprisonment Ball if it fulfilled its true purpose.

Now looking like a professor clarifying a student's doubt, Frieza spoke even more, "Just to make things clear, I'd normally just beat you to a pulp before finally fully using this attack on you. However, seeing as you gave me so much pain even though I was in this form, I think I'll enter a state not only more appropriate to dispose of you, but which will also be much more terrifying to both you and your worthless friends."

A look of fear that Piccolo didn't even attempted to conceal erupted upon his features at hearing those words. He'd sensed Frieza's energy rising on several occasions when he'd been making his way to the battlefield, and thanks to both the memories he'd gained from Nail and the subtle changes he'd detected on Frieza's energy signature after two of those increases, he'd been able to tell the tyrant had transformations. While neither of them had so far been as proportionally empowering as the Great Ape state was for Saiyans, for example, they had both been too much for the fighters present at the moment. And if he still had as much as one more transformation to make, things could get too tough even for him.

As though he'd sensed Piccolo coming to that realization, Frieza smiled more broadly for a few moments, and then turned on the general direction of the place where the others were standing.

"Attention, you worthless worms!" he proclaimed in a tone that resembled that of a showman on Earth making a grand announcement. "You are about to behold something even more terrible than death itself!"

After giving them a few moments to fully absorb the information he'd given and getting looks of pure horror on their faces, Frieza added, "My final transformation! My true form!"

* * *

><p><em>Up next: With Piccolo restrained, Frieza finally gets ready to ascend into what he dubs his true form, as Vegeta realizes the time to carry out his plan has finally arrived. Meanwhile, Jeice ends up devising a plan of his own, one that they all end up realizing they could have attempted much sooner. What will happen? Find out next!<em>

_Hoping you enjoyed the chapter,_

_Genescritor_


	17. Chapter 17: During the transformation

**From Enemy To Student**

**- a Dragon Ball Z fanfiction -**

**Chapter 17 – During the transformation  
><strong>

_Disclaimer: I do not own, in any way, any official property related Dragon Ball, such as the anime, its characters, related movies, and so on. However, I hope to supplement that glorious work of art with my fanfictions, such as this one. _

_I would also like to point out that this fanfiction was originally written by Gonstika, from whom I adopted it, and many of the concepts and plot-points featured in its chapters are originated by Gonstika as well._

_With that said, I hope you enjoy the story._

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><p><em>Writer's note: This chapter has a scene with content that may be somewhat disturbing for more sensitive readers. Therefore, reader caution is advised when reading this chapter.<em>

* * *

><p>Hearing Frieza's announcement of how he had yet another transformation to unleash on them, Jeice felt his heart-rate speeding up for yet another occasions, as his throat tightened to about a third of its original width thanks to the grip fear seemed to have on it. He had already been scared too many times for his likes during this battle, but now he realized that such an occurrence probably had yet to run its course before the day was over. Even though Frieza had already announced that the form he would enter was his final one, he still had to transform into it. And once he did, he would certain end up as a horrifying monster, possibly something with thirty-centimeters-long claws at the end of his fingers, and black eyes with a dead appearance too them, and a three-pronged protrusion at the end of his tail, and razor-sharp teeth that would actually be capable of tearing chunks out of them, and too many things that were too horrifying for Jeice to even dare to conceive, and would certainly be even more horrifying in the flesh.<p>

However, none of those could even measure up to the terror caused simply by knowing that Frieza still had one last form to enter. As much as Jeice had entertained thoughts about how Frieza could still have more forms to enter after this remarkably ugly one, he had been hoping deep down within himself that those were just products of his pessimism and nothing else. However, his assumptions had clearly been accurate. And although Frieza had clearly announced that the form he was about to enter was his last, Jeice was sure that form would be more than enough for him to kill them all.

And he clearly wasn't the only one thinking like that, as by his side, Krillin, Gohan, and Dende were all quivering with fear, looking even more scared than Jeice was. And in Jeice's opinion, Piccolo certainly was feeling worse than any of them. Granted, the Namekian was stronger than all of them put together, and he also seemed much less prone to experiencing or displaying fear than any of them – but he just had to be scared. After all, he was trapped inside a sphere that not only he had no way to break free from, but which could also be one of Frieza's deadliest moves.

Jeice had only seen the Imprisonment Ball in action once, but it had been enough to learn how it worked. The sphere basically hindered every of its prisoner's movements other than breathing, and it also prevented said prisoner from using his energy for not to blow the ball apart. The sphere would only disappear if it touched anything of fairly high density other than Frieza himself – but whenever that happened, the sphere created a massive explosion and a follow-up vacuum that sucked in everything in a radius of tens of meters. And that had been the one Frieza had used in his least powerful form. Surely the explosion of the Imprisonment currently engulfing the Namekian would be much more destructive if it exploded, and the power of its vacuum would certainly be much more encompassing. Jeice didn't even want to think what would happen if the Imprisonment Ball currently engulfing the Namekian exploded.

The others with him clearly did not know the technique's properties, but that either only served to increase their fear or did nothing to decrease it. And their fear seemed to be exactly what Frieza wanted, as he had actually been taking the time to contemplate the terrified looks on their faces up until now. But then, as if he decided he'd had enough, he assumed a powering-up stance, slouching over even more than this form required him to do naturally, flexing his arms slightly, and spreading his feet apart at shoulder-width. Then, he let out a strange gurgling wail, as the area around him started to display the secondary effects of his power-up. The air swirled, black clouds gathered overhead, and cracks that looked like scalpel-stabs appeared on the ground under the tyrant, emanating thin jets of dust that kept rising into the air, as if to symbolize the constant increase in Frieza's strength.

'Just how much stronger can he become after all?' Jeice wondered, his throat still tight from fear, and his whole body shaking like a slab of jelly. 'And just how strong is he right now?'

Jeice knew those questions were of the kind whose real answer didn't matter, as Frieza, regardless of his exact level of strength, would certainly become too strong for even all of them together to deal with him. Knowing his exact power-level mattered little to nothing. However, Jeice couldn't help but to want to know it, both because he would at least have a more concrete basis on what to be scared of and because he would stop wondering about it. Sadly, he had lost his scouter, but even if he had it, it would be no good, as even the most recent scouters could not as much as register the full power of Frieza's first form without exploding.

While he did have his energy-sensing skill, he now dared to use it less than he ever had before, as the last time he'd done so had nearly caused him to pass out from the sheer difference between his power and Frieza's. Even if part of that was due to the difference between his power and Frieza's, Jeice didn't look forward to trying again. If he sensed Frieza's power level at this state, it should be so overwhelming that he probably would die from it.

'But would that really be so bad?' Jeice couldn't help but to wonder. 'It would certainly be less painful than whatever Frieza has in store for me. And even if I only pass out, maybe I'll be so deeply unconscious that I won't feel anything when Frieza tortures me."

Jeice grimaced when those thoughts came to him, wondering just what had happened to him to develop such a morbid side. It was upsetting for him to understand that he, someone who would always try to see the best in everything, developed thoughts morbid enough to actually look for an easier way of dying – mainly considering that up until now he'd been doing everything he could to avoid dying in this battle. But this time, he just couldn't find any solution to their problem, except looking for a less painful way of dying, like he had been trying to do when he had rushed at Frieza when he had been transforming into his third form.

Making his decision, he extended his energy-sensing skills, trying to do as forcefully as possible, so that the feeling would be the most sudden he could get, and hopefully have the same effect of a lethal electric shock.

However, the result Jeice got from sensing wasn't the one he'd been expecting. Rather than dying just from sensing Frieza's overwhelming power, he simply got a powerful headache and wobblier legs. While it was still unpleasant, it wasn't even as bad as how he'd felt when he'd sensed Frieza's energy signature for the first time. Maybe this meant that somehow the unlocking of his hidden powers had also strengthened his energy-sensing skill to a degree – although apparently not to the point where he could truly use it as a sense, like he knew the more skilled users of the technique could.

Whatever it was, it didn't matter. In the end, the only thing he'd achieved by sensing Frieza's energy was feeling even worse than he already did. He'd have to find some other way of having a faster and less painful death.

But then, he couldn't even do that, as before he could think about that, a voice called at all of them, coming from several meters at their right.

"Hey, you morons!" Vegeta said, standing behind a rock. "Come here, right now!"

Vegeta's shout hadn't been particularly loud, but nevertheless Krillin, Gohan and Dende jumped up in startle upon hearing it, being so caught up in their fear that being pulled out of that state in any manner was jarring for them. Jeice did not display his fear so openly – mostly because he was still trying to pull himself together after the sick feeling he'd gotten – but his heart jumped inside his chest and his headache flared more intensely for a moment. Like the others, he'd been so caught up in his thoughts that he had completely forgotten about Vegeta's presence

"What are you waiting for, imbeciles?" Vegeta insisted in the same relatively low tone, clearly being careful for not to do it loud enough to attract Frieza, but at the same time impatient they were taking so long to do what he'd said. "Come here! We have to carry out my emergency plan, and we have to do it now!"

Stimulated by his snapping tone, all four of them ran toward the Saiyan Prince. But before he got to a place where his view of Frieza would be concealed by the gigantic rock behind which Vegeta stood, Jeice took the time to spare one last glance in the tyrant's direction. By now, the columns of dust around him seemed to have become denser and thicker, and there was an ever bigger layer of black clouds looming over him. And as if that wasn't enough, right before Jeice's view of him was blocked by the large rock, all of Frieza's body started emanating a pinkish-red glow, as though he was going to blow apart from the inside from the amount of raw energy he had inside him.

Had Jeice actually been standing at one place when he had that vision, he might have contemplated the matter for longer, but there were only so many things he could think about at the same time, and right now, he was more interested in hearing Vegeta's plan, in spite of how unlikely it was that it would work. So, he just kept on running like all the others until he got to Vegeta.

"Alright then, spill it," Krillin said as all of them skidded to a halt. "What's that mysterious plan of yours?"

Jeice did his best for not to look as disbelieving as he felt. He had very little faith in plans that came from an uncivilized monkey like Vegeta, but the truth was that this was a time when they couldn't afford to be picky. He'd just have to wait until he heard the plan, and if it was good, he'd go along with it, as much as he disliked playing pawn to that prince with an ego too big for his small stature.

Vegeta glanced at them all as if to make sure they were all paying attention, and then started talking, "As all of you know, Saiyans have the skill to become much stronger after healing from potentially fatal injuries. The deadlier the injury, the stronger we become if we manage to recover."

Jeice made a noncommittal noise upon hearing that. Not only Vegeta wasn't telling anything new, but he was also overestimating that skill for sure. While Jeice didn't view himself as an expert in Saiyans, he knew their increases in power after getting healed were actually mostly random, and not necessarily related to the seriousness of the injuries they got healed from.

"So, I want one of you to strike me with all your might until I'm nearly dead!" Vegeta carried on. "Then, that kid will heal me, and when he's done, I will finally be a Super Saiyan, which will enable me to defeat Frieza once and for all!"

Krillin, Gohan, and Dende seemed slightly confused, clearly wondering yet again just what that Super Saiyan thing was. But Jeice knew very well what it was supposed to be, and this time, he didn't care about hiding his disbelief in Vegeta, or his utter amazement at such a suggestion. Like it seemed to have happened on too many occasions today, his eyes' width increased several times, and the rest of his expression seemed to scream his disbelief to the whole Universe.

If Vegeta hadn't added the part about the Super Saiyan, Jeice would have recognized that plan as the only thing they could attempt under the circumstances, but he simply couldn't take that plan seriously when Vegeta was depositing so much faith on the Super Saiyan, which was meant to be nothing but a legend created by the minds of Saiyans with already too big egos who were trying to find something that could make their egos even bigger and had started making up stories about this warrior who was worlds more powerful than all other Saiyans, who were already supposed to be the most powerful warriors in the entire Universe. Granted, Goku and Vegeta had proved to be much stronger than any other Saiyan Jeice could recall, but their strength was nothing compared to Frieza's, and if that was really a Super Saiyan, they could just as well commit suicide, because neither of them was strong enough to defeat Frieza.

Paying no attention to Jeice's bafflement, Vegeta locked his eyes on Dende, and growled, "And you will heal me, get it kid? I don't want you pulling that stunt of indecisiveness and holding grudges that you did before you healed Jeice!"

Even in his tired state, Vegeta managed to sound intimidating enough that Krillin and Gohan stepped back nervously. But Dende, in a surprising display of defiance for such a young kid, stood up as straight as he could, and said, "I won't go along with that plan, if it involves doing anything to help a murderer like you!"

The kid's tone was so snapping that Gohan and Krillin flinched as though they'd taken a hit, and even Jeice raised an eyebrow, giving the kid an impressed look. He had to be either very brave or very stupid to talk to Vegeta in that manner, as the Saiyan would easily be able to kill him even though he didn't have much power left.

Getting a quite frustrated look on his face at Dende's response, Vegeta rubbed his forehead, and then shouted, an angry look on his face "Didn't you hear me telling you not to pull that stunt of holding grudges? This is our lives we're talking about, kid! We'll all die unless you do as I say!"

Not missing a beat, Dende shouted back, "You're just like Frieza! You killed an entire village of my family! I will never heal someone like you!"

His angry look growing even more intense, Vegeta raised his right hand, which was curled into a fist, and shouted "What part of we will all die if you don't do as I say you aren't getting? Do I have to beat some sense into you just so you'll heal me?"

Dende was unwavering, but Krillin, seemingly taking Vegeta's threat seriously, quickly stepped in between them, and raised his hands toward Vegeta.

"Whoa, whoa, calm down!" he said as hastily as he could. "No one has to beat sense into anyone! We can all get to an agreement."

The intensity of Vegeta's angry look decreased very little, but he did lower his right hand, although he kept it curled into a fist, looking just about ready to raise it again if the need arose.

Finding that acceptable for now, Krillin turned back to Dende, and said, "Buddy, I know it's tough, but just try to understand the situation here. We have no other way of having a chance of defeating Frieza."

In spite of Krillin's sound argument, Dende's challenging look didn't disappear. It was obvious he found it better to be killed by Frieza than to dishonor the memory of those Vegeta had killed. By now, Jeice was the one who felt just about ready to slap his forehead in hopelessness. The Namekian kid was managing to be as stubborn as one of those damn monkeys.

"It's our only choice," Krillin insisted. "If Goku was here, we wouldn't have to do it, but his body got so beaten up while Ginyu was inside it that he must still be in bad shape now. So, you'll have to heal Vegeta from the injury he'll gain from one of us."

As Krillin's speech was not meant for him, Jeice scarcely paid it any attention at first, but then, as if he had been hit by a sudden burst of inspiration, the bald Earthling's words hit home, and he realized not only something they could attempt, but their tremendous lack of foresight and logical deduction by not having even considered attempting to do so before. In fact, that option they hadn't even considered was so obvious that he could not even realize why it hadn't come to their minds before.

"How could we have been so stupid?" he muttered to himself, feeling a sudden urge to punch his own head. If he hadn't been experiencing some remnants of his still fading headache, he probably would have done it.

Jeice's comment caused everyone's attention to be on him.

"What are you muttering about, you red-skinned idiot?" Vegeta grumbled. "I've got enough worries with trying to convince greenie to heal me without listening to your nonsense."

Frowning at Vegeta's insults in spite of the way how he had expected them and actually found them to be somewhat appropriate – if not applicable only to him – on this occasion, Jeice said, "I'm muttering about the fact we didn't think of taking the kid to Frieza's ship and having him heal Goku before. If we had done it, this whole mess would already be over for sure, and we wouldn't have needed to be about to die so many times."

Following Jeice's explanation, everyone around him seemed to get paralyzed, like in a photograph. Even the movement of the black clouds that converged over Frieza seemed to have frozen temporarily. Then, Krillin shouted, "Of course! We can take Dende to Goku's ship and have him healed rather than waiting for that machine to finish its job! How come we didn't think of it before?"

Gohan seemed just about ready to jump in joy at the idea of having his father healed sooner than expected, but Vegeta glared at Jeice as though he intended to kill him just with his look. And if looks could kill, Jeice would already have joined Burter and Recoome in hell.

But he had never been one to let himself be intimidated by Vegeta's glares, even though those from Ginyu or Frieza had managed to leave him quaking in his boots several times before. And now that he'd gotten this sudden burst of inspiration, he realized something else, the voicing of which would end up calming the Saiyan down.

"But it would still be better if we followed Vegeta's plan before getting Goku healed," Jeice explained. "We'll need to keep Frieza busy until Goku gets 'ere, and even I will take some time to get Dende on Frieza's ship. And I doubt I'd even 'old off Frieza's third form right now, much less his final one. So we do need to have Vegeta become stronger, and then I'll get the kid to Frieza's ship while Vegeta holds him off."

A smug smirk replacing his previous anger, Vegeta said, "Once I'm healed, I won't be holding Frieza off, because I'll be a Super Saiyan, and I'll be more than powerful enough to destroy that lizard."

Not having the time to care about Vegeta's boasts of his future achievement of something that most certainly did not exist, Jeice looked at the others, deciding their opinions counted much more than Vegeta's. The displeased looks on their faces spoke for themselves, and Jeice not only understood perfectly, but agreed with it. He wanted to have Vegeta become stronger as much as any of them. But he wanted to die even less, and they did need someone to keep Frieza from destroying the planet, at the very least. With the increase in strength he'd gain after being healed, Vegeta would certainly be the most likely candidate, and even if he wasn't, they could always injure him again and have him healed a second time.

Eventually, Krillin and Gohan nodded, but Dende still seemed resilient to the idea of healing Vegeta. Jeice couldn't say he didn't understand, but like Vegeta had said, this was their lives they were talking about, and being stubborn was not a good choice at a time like this.

Deciding it was time to make some persuasion of his own, Jeice said, "Look kid, ya healed me as well, didn't cha? I wasn't much better than Vegeta until a matter of hours ago. In fact, I probably was worse. If ya healed me, ya can 'eal Vegeta as well, unless ya wanna die. I think yer family would be far more upset if ya allowed yer planet to be destroyed and got yourself killed over your stubbornness than if ya healed Vegeta to ensure at least the survival of their planet and your own."

Jeice's persuasive speech probably wasn't the most effective one, but the truth of the matter was that he'd been mostly giving guesses. He'd never had a family of his own – although he assumed he had to have come from somewhere – but he had seen many families on the planets he'd purged and had destroyed many of them. It had been fairly frequent to have relatives (mostly frequently wives or children) of people he was about to destroy rushing in to make feeble attempts at helping, and most often the helped one protested vehemently at the fact the helpers had not obeyed his or sometimes her instructions to leave for safety.

On any other occasion, Jeice would have wallowed in self-disgust at the fact he'd destroyed so many families who had relationships between themselves that were certainly deeper than his friendship with any of his comrades, but they were in the middle of the battle, and although this seemed to be a time-out, there was no way of knowing when it would end. In fact, it was surprising it hadn't ended yet.

At long last, Dende nodded, showing his acceptance of the plan, but then, apparently having a sudden though, Krillin said, "Hold it there! How do we know that when you take Dende, you won't just kill him and then leave this planet on your ship, after making a detour to that healing machine and killing Goku in case he's still injured enough for you to do it?"

Gohan and Dende looked at Krillin in startle upon hearing that, making it obvious they hadn't thought of Jeice doing such a thing.

As for Jeice, he took a few seconds to reply, but not because he was wavering. He was simply thinking of the best way to remove any significant amounts of mistrust from them.

"I wouldn't do that because Frieza has his ways of trackin' down the ships of his army," Jeice explained as clearly as he could. "If I ran away, I wouldn't be able of doin' more than delayin' my death, as I doubt I would become strong enough to kill Frieza even if I trained for a hundred years – and for that matter, I don't even know my species' average lifespan. For all I know, I may wither and die a year from now, and I want Frieza killed as much as any of ya. And I know that the more of us want it, the likelier it is we manage to do it if we work together, so I wouldn't double-cross ya, get it?"

No one had any objections. In fact, Jeice's argument had been convincing enough for them to immediately nod firmly – although if not for the impending threat of a painful death, they probably would have taken longer to react.

"What a relief!" Vegeta shouted, as though he had been the one making that question. "Now, does anyone have any more stupid questions, or can we move on to the plan by now? Frieza's almost finishing his transformation!"

Both annoyed by Vegeta's constantly grouchiness and alarmed by the warning that Frieza was nearly done – which he was unable to tell thanks to how his energy-sensing skill was still very weak – Jeice shouted, "Here's your answer!"

With no further warning, Jeice raised his hand and fired an energy blast at Vegeta, making the injury he'd been so eager to receive.

And it certainly was quite an injury. A circular hole, which was almost half again as big as Jeice's fully spread hand, had appeared on Vegeta's torso, destroying most of his right lung, completely wiping out several disks of his spine,, and a significant portion of his liver. The blast had been so strong that it had completely run Vegeta through, and by now, there was a veritable eruption of blood bursting from the hole on his body.

"That's… alright…" Vegeta said, spewing out a torrent of blood as he fell down on his stomach, unable to hold himself upright with a chunk of his spine missing.

For yet another time, Jeice couldn't help to feel a wave of puzzlement coming over him. He had never expected anyone – not even Vegeta – to be pleased at having such an injury, no matter how much that injury was necessary to achieve their goal.

But if Vegeta was pleased, no one else there seemed to be feeling that way.

"Man!" Krillin shouted, looking as if he was about to hurl from the picture in front of him. "You could have at least given us a warning!"

Jeice shrugged, privately thinking the bald Earthling was being too picky and sensitive for someone who was meant to have been in life or death battles before and had certainly seen people dying in quite gruesome ways.

"Aren't we in a bit of a hurry here?" he shouted. "Next time, just get ready to do it!"

Turning to Dende, he added, "And as for ya, I suggest ya heal him. I don't think he'll last long without that chunk, and he's more useful alive than dead."

Looking far less upset than Krillin and Gohan for some reason, Dende gulped forcibly as if to keep his hesitation down, and then rushed forward, slipping on Vegeta's blood as he stepped on the red pool that surrounded the Saiyan's prone body. Putting his hands against the Saiyan to steady himself, Dende stood back up and then put his hands over the Saiyan's injury, before starting to release a light that Jeice could only assume was his healing ability.

But for some reason, it seemed to not be efficient, as the injury didn't show any signs of changing. For a moment, Jeice wondered if he had inflicted too serious of an injury for Dende to fix. No matter how banged up he had been when Dende had healed him, he had still been basically in one piece, and hadn't had anything missing. Lost chunks could be beyond this kid's healing ability.

However, after the first tense seconds, the hole on Vegeta started closing itself up, the skin there as unblemished as if the hole had never existed. If not for the pool of blood below his body and the hole on his armor, one would wonder if Vegeta had ever been injured.

Then, after an amount of time that lasted too long from Jeice's perspective, the hole on Vegeta's torso had been fully closed. As soon as he finished, Dende jumped back, the sneer on his face further showing how eager he was to be in close quarters to someone like Vegeta. But the Saiyan paid him no mind, and instead

"Frieza's power-level is incredible," he said, sounding slightly impressed, but not too much, presumably thanks to his new power level. "He's finished his transformation."

Alarm rushing through him at the statement, Jeice lunged toward Dende, intending to scoop him under his arm and rocket away, saying, "Then let's go, kid!"

Dende gasped in surprise when he felt Jeice's left arm enveloping him, but he didn't scream nor struggle, and although Krillin and Gohan yelped in surprise at Jeice's sudden movement, they didn't protest either. The only one who seemed to be about to do such a thing was Vegeta, but Jeice, who had already been basically expecting that, said, "Don't ya start with that. Yer already healed, don't start complaining just because Goku will also be. Go beat Frieza up if yer in that much need of pounding something.

Vegeta leaned menacingly toward Jeice at that statement, clearly eager to teach him a lesson after he'd said such a thing, and finding himself more than capable of doing so after the increase in strength he'd had – which Jeice didn't care to check for not to take the risk of experiencing another headache and having his flight to Frieza's ship any more slowed down than it already was by default thanks to the remnants of the previous headache he'd gotten.

But then, he seemed to second-guess that option, and stood upright again.

"Have it your way," he said. "But tell Kakarot he'll be doing nothing but watching, if there will be any part of the battle for him to watch by the time he's healed."

Jeice snorted in agreement. That was all he'd get from Vegeta, and he couldn't waste more time reacting to his conceited comments, even if he did so inwardly.

Hoping that his sense of urgency would somehow make him fly faster and tone down his headache, Jeice took off with Dende firmly tucked under his arm, while Vegeta jumped to the top of the rock behind which they had all been standing while Frieza transformed, looking at the cloud of dust that kept the tyrant's true looks concealed from him.

"Come and get me, Frieza, or whoever you are now," Vegeta said, his eyes locked on the exact spot where he knew Frieza stood. "I've just become a Super Saiyan."

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><p><em>Up next: Holding Dende under his arm, Jeice dashes toward Frieza's ship as quickly as possible. But will he get there before Frieza kills someone or destroys Planet Namek? And if so, will Goku be strong enough to make a difference against Frieza? What will happen? Find out next!<em>

_Hoping you enjoyed the chapter,_

_Genescritor_


	18. Chapter 18: Vegeta's overconfidence

**From Enemy To Student**

**- a Dragon Ball Z fanfiction -**

**Chapter 18 – Vegeta's overconfidence**

_Disclaimer: I do not own, in any way, any official property related Dragon Ball, such as the anime, its characters, related movies, and so on. However, I hope to supplement that glorious work of art with my fanfictions, such as this one. _

_I would also like to point out that this fanfiction was originally written by Gonstika, from whom I adopted it, and many of the concepts and plot-points featured in its chapters are originated by Gonstika as well._

_With that said, I hope you enjoy the story._

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><p><em>Writer's note: This chapter has a scene with content that may be somewhat disturbing for more sensitive readers. Therefore, reader caution is advised when reading this chapter.<em>

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><p><em>Planet Namek, by the spot where Frieza has entered his final transformation…<em>

All over history, several people have said that ignorance can be bliss, but in these particular circumstances, Piccolo didn't think that statement was true in any manner. If he wasn't ignorant as to the means one had to use in order to escape this Imprisonment Ball – assuming there were any in the first place – he could have already broken free and killed Frieza before he had entered his final transformation. However, thanks to his ignorance, he had remained trapped, and now the only thing he could do was deal with whatever would happen to him now that Frieza had finished his transformation.

That was not to say he hadn't tried to escape. He had attempted every method he could think of to break free, from summoning an energy wave to break through the technique, going through things like extending his arm to break through his prison and using his antennae beams to dispel the technique, and ending in using his Giant Form technique to grow too big for the Imprisonment Ball. But unfortunately, the Imprisonment Ball prevented him from releasing his energy in any way, so he'd failed to summon an energy blast, or to use his energy in any manner, for that matter. He also hadn't managed to fire beams from his antennae, nor had he managed to stretch his arm while the Imprisonment Ball was trapping him. As for using his Giant Form to break free, the attempt had nearly caused him to end up as a pulp, as he had almost been squashed by the lack of room when he'd tried that. If he hadn't promptly shrunk to normal size, that would have happened for sure.

After having failed to break free even with the Giant Form, he had decided to stay put and wait for Frieza to finish transforming, if only to save energy that would undoubtedly be valuable once the fighting started – assuming he would even have a chance to fight. And now that the tyrant was done, Piccolo was waiting for the dust to settle down instead, as his foe didn't seem to wait to make any move until the cloud that covered him dissipated.

'Damn bastard,' Piccolo couldn't help but to think, knowing far too well that the tyrant was trying to make them even more scared by having them wondering just what he looked like.

If Frieza knew they could sense energy signatures, he probably would have dropped those theatrics, as his looks mattered very little when he had such a terrifyingly high power level. By this point, he was strong enough to beat Piccolo around even more easily than the Namekian had done to Frieza after removing his weighted clothes. And unless Piccolo was wrong, the tyrant could still go higher than that. He really should be the most powerful being in the Universe.

The cloud of dust kept settling down, and by now, Piccolo could see parts of Frieza through the patches of cleared air. He certainly looked different from his previous form, but he didn't look all that intimidating. From what Piccolo could see, Frieza was now much shorter and scrawnier, and didn't look all that much like a fighter. But the Namekian wasn't one to judge people for their looks only, and Nail hadn't been either. Even if he didn't have his energy-sensing skill, he would have been able to assume through sheer logical deduction that a fighter like Frieza wouldn't enter a form where he would lose strength, unless it gave something really big to compensate for a lack of power. So, Frieza's new, less robust appearance didn't put him at ease in the slightest.

A gust of wind then came, and dispelled the rest of the cloud that had been concealing Frieza from everyone's sight, finally unveiling the tyrant's true look, like he had dubbed it shortly before starting his transformation.

Like Piccolo had suspected when he had caught glimpses of Frieza's new form through the dust-free parts of the cloud, it didn't look all that intimidating. He was much shorter and scrawnier now, and had no horns or protrusions to make him look menacing. His skin had changed to a pale-grey color, and most of the armor-plating on his body had been removed, leaving only the one around his forearms and calves, which now had a color that matched that of his skin. Also, the patches on the remaining armor-plating, which had been pale-orange with black streaks before, now matched the purple tone of the plates he had at the center of his chest, on top of his head and on each of his shoulders. But if Frieza's looks weren't terrifying, his energy signature screamed so many volumes about how terrible he truly was that Piccolo started to think the tyrant hadn't been exaggerating when he had said he would show them something more terrible than death itself.

As if he'd heard Piccolo's thoughts, Frieza turned to him, his black lips curled upwards in a cruel smile.

"Sorry I made you wait for so long, Namekian," Frieza said in a tone that actually seemed sincerely apologetic. "I truly didn't mean it, but this form is just so powerful that it takes quite some time to access it."

Piccolo glared at Frieza as intensely as he could, wishing for the first time in his entire existence that his mere looks could kill. He'd never had the patience for opponents who mocked him.

"But don't worry, I'll make the experience worth the wait," Frieza reassured – and again, it seemed he was being honest. "After all, I wouldn't dream of making you wait so much just for you to go out with a bang – which for the record, is what would most certainly happen if this Imprisonment Ball touched anything fairly dense, other than my own body that is."

Piccolo's glare faded slightly, as he turned some attention away from it in order to focus on the realization of why Frieza had kept the Imprisonment Ball hovering above the ground. Clearly, he hadn't intended on killing him with it – and even if that only meant that Frieza had something else in mind, Piccolo couldn't help but to think that was a good thing. Like humans said, as long as there was life, there was hope, and for as long as Frieza allowed him to live, Piccolo could fight him and hopefully find some weakness to exploit.

"So, go on, join your friends there on that rock!" Frieza beckoned as he again held his right wrist in his left hand, pointing his right palm at the Imprisonment Ball.

With deliberate slowness, he spun to the left at a 90º angle, moving the Imprisonment Ball with him as he did so. Then, a surge of energy came from Frieza, as if he was getting read to fire an attack, and next thing Piccolo knew, he shot out of the Imprisonment Ball like a rocket, as if the sphere itself had spat him straight toward the top of the rock where Vegeta, Gohan, and Krillin were standing. A few moments afterwards, the sphere dissolved into the air, as Piccolo kept flying out of control.

He briefly considered trying to stop his momentum, but he disregarded that option after making a quick prediction of his trajectory, as he realized that if he kept heading the way he was, he wouldn't meet the rock, so he wouldn't be hurt. He wouldn't waste energy stopping his forced flight unless it was absolutely necessary, as every bit of energy he could spare would be welcome if he wanted to survive this ordeal. And, as if the impetus with which he was thrown had been carefully calculated by Frieza, Piccolo started to slow down when he approached the rock, and by the time he passed above it, he had already lost enough momentum that he simply had to flip backwards and push down a little bit with his energy in order to stop.

Even before he had touched down, Gohan was already walking over to him, an anxious look on his face.

"Are you alright, Mr. Piccolo?" Gohan asked, sounding almost as worried and scared as he had been when Piccolo had been dying after putting himself in front of Nappa's blast to save Gohan's life. "Are you hurt?"

In spite of how grim the situation was, Piccolo spared a quick smile at the boy, deciding for once that the situation was already bad enough without Gohan being scolded by him and that this time Gohan would do better if he at least was reassured about his condition.

"I'm fine kid," Piccolo said in the most reassuring tone he could muster, "That sphere didn't really hurt me. It trapped me, but it didn't hurt me."

As if to remind him of the fact he was telling a lie, his body briefly screamed in protest, the pain that had come from his vain attempt at using his Giant Form to break free of the Imprisonment Ball making itself known again. But Piccolo forced himself to ignore it, knowing that if he betrayed the feeling in any manner, Gohan would make even more questions, and would be distracted from the fight against Frieza, which would only make the situation worse.

"Weakling Namekian," Vegeta snorted as disdainfully as he could. "To let yourself be trapped in such an amateurish trick... that Dragon must have messed up when it awoke your sleeping power. Unless, of course, you were exceedingly weak before then, which wouldn't amaze me at all, considering how poorly you did on Earth."

Hearing Vegeta's very obvious and deliberately provoking insult, Piccolo growled at the Saiyan Prince. At any other time, he would have barked a reply at Vegeta at the least, and beat him to a pulp at the most, mainly because he knew that the Saiyan Prince was the true responsible for this situation, which he knew because he had been keeping up with the battle ever since he arrived to the planet thanks to his energy-sensing skills. He had sensed a powerful fighter – presumably this 'Jeice' – about to deliver a potentially lethal blow to Frieza, and he also sensed Vegeta moving in close to Jeice while he was distracted, and Jeice's energy changing to a state that energy signatures only assumed when the one releasing them was knocked out. Whatever his reasons were for doing that had been, Vegeta had put everyone at great risk, something that doubly angered Piccolo because of how Gohan, who he cared about, and Dende, who the side of him that came from Nail cared about, had been included in that group.

But, and much to Piccolo's regret, Vegeta did have somewhat of a point, as the Namekian had indeed ended up trapped in Frieza's Imprisonment Ball, and now would certainly turn out to be too weak to be of much help in the battle against Frieza, in spite of his increase in strength, whose origin had just been indirectly explained by Vegeta.

Before he could further dwell on that, however, Frieza took off from where he was, moving so quickly that even Piccolo saw him as no more than a pale-grey streak that started to fly in a round arch toward them.

"He vanished!" Gohan and Krillin shouted in unison.

In little more time than it took both of them to finish that sentence, Frieza finished his arch through the air and landed by the edge of the rock where they stood, about five meters away from them.

"I warned you: I'm going to show you something more terrible than death itself," Frieza said in a relatively slow manner, as if he was trying to explain something to dim-witted people.

After a small pause, his eyes narrowed slightly, he added, "Although I have to say that I am surprised I will have to make that demonstration to so many people, mainly considering I thought I had already killed some of them."

His gaze focused on Krillin and Gohan as he said that, conveying the fact that the tyrant still remembered how he had beaten them to near-death. Piccolo only hoped that Frieza couldn't read minds, or wouldn't start making too much questions that Krillin or Gohan could end up answering out of fear. If that happened, he could find out Dende's involvement in the situation, and end up killing him. It was good that Dende had gone off somewhere with Jeice to carry out what undoubtedly had to be a plan that the others had developed while Piccolo had been trapped, but he and Jeice weren't out of danger because of that. And while Piccolo didn't really care about Jeice, the part of him that came from Nail worried about Dende.

And soon, that part of him grew scared, as Frieza's eyes rummaged through the group, and he asked, "Where's that cowardly Jeice? I know he somehow managed to get back up like the rest of you, so where is he?"

Gohan and Krillin gulped in nervousness, and a few drops of cold sweat started running down Piccolo's head, as uneasy looks came to the faces of all of them. The Namekian only hoped those two – and himself, as much as hated to think it – would be able to keep their wits together enough for not to blurt out any valuable information as to Jeice's whereabouts.

"Did he get so scared at the prospect of seeing my new form that he decided to flee?" Frieza pressed. "Because that wouldn't actually surprise me – Ginyu always told me he was quite a coward."

In spite of Frieza remaining still except for his tail cutting through the air and the movement of his lips, Krillin and Gohan were so nervous that by now Piccolo's sharp hearing could pick up the chattering of their teeth. As for Piccolo himself, he only wasn't following their example because he was gritting his own teeth as hard as he could, which had the secondary effect of making him let out a permanent growl. Only Vegeta seemed unaffected by the anxiousness that had affected all of them. In fact, he seemed just about ready to start fighting, and even appeared to not be doing so only because he was building his eagerness up – for whatever reasons he had. And indeed, he was the one with fewer reasons to be scared, as by now his power-level was nearly on par with Frieza's. But it shouldn't be enough for him to defeat Frieza yet, mainly if the tyrant could still raise his power, like Piccolo suspected he could.

"Oh well, it doesn't matter anyway," Frieza finally decided. "If he's still on this planet, I can find him if I want to. And if he isn't, I can still give my demonstration to all four of you, and then catch up with him later to make the same to him."

At those words, Gohan, Krillin, and Piccolo sank into their fighting stances as quickly as possible, although each of them knew that doing so would make little difference. With Frieza being so strong, the best – or worst – Gohan or Krillin could hope was that he currently judged their strengths and pulled his punches accordingly for not to kill them in one strike. Piccolo figured he'd be able to take a fair number of blows without breaking, but he doubted he'd be able to block a hit from Frieza, or to strike back. From what he could tell, even Vegeta would have problems fighting Frieza, but the truth was that the Saiyan didn't seem worried at all, so it was possible he somehow had a few surprises in store for the tyrant besides the increase in his power – which Piccolo doubted, but hoped to be at least partially true in some form.

"I suggest you pay attention," Frieza said, not bothering to settle into his own fighting stance, and not disturbed in the slightest that they had done so. "Even though there are four of you, my demonstration will be different for each." He paused to give his speech some extra effect. "And while I know it's kind of unfair, seeing as after all the last one to die will be so much wiser about methods of death than the first one, I'm not one for monotony. So get ready, and pray you're the last to die, because dying wise is much better than dying ignorant."

In spite of his fear of what was to come, Piccolo wanted to shout at Frieza to just get on with it, as dragging this situation on just seemed to make it ten times worse than it already was.

He wasn't the only one thinking like that, as Vegeta, who finally seemed to have built himself up enough for whatever he wanted to do, spoke up.

"You're too sure of yourself, Frieza," the Saiyan said. "If I were you, I wouldn't be so certain of what is to come."

His icy demeanor breaking ever so slightly for the first time since he had entered this form, Frieza gave Vegeta a look that had a hint of surprise in it, and deadpanned, "What's your point, Vegeta?"

A fierce grin appearing on his face, Vegeta said as if he had all the self-confidence in the Universe, "My point is that the demonstration these three will get is a demonstration of how I'll kick your ass."

Completely forgotten of how scared they were of Frieza, Gohan and Krillin instead gaped at Vegeta, utterly astonished as to how he could be so confident against Frieza. Piccolo, however, could only find it in himself to sneer, as he'd already learned that the Saiyan had an ego that had to be knocked down a few notches. As grim as the situation was, Vegeta needed to learn a lesson in humility, and what he'd get should be enough to give him just that.

Turning away from Frieza for a moment, Vegeta looked at his allies, and barked in an impatient tone, "You're burdening me here. Go to watch the show from farther away."

All too eager to get as far away from Frieza as they could, Gohan and Krillin immediately rocketed off, their action so sudden that one would think they wouldn't stop any time in the next century. In spite of hating to have someone ordering him around, Piccolo also flew away, but did so at a more leisurely pace, and only flew as far as he could go without ceasing to hear any conversation Frieza and Vegeta would have. The Saiyan seemed satisfied by that, though, and judging from Frieza's look, he couldn't care less about the others' relative position at the moment.

"You're definitely too arrogant for your good, Vegeta," Frieza said, paying attention to the Saiyan Prince and nothing else. "Did you accidentally knock your own head back when you put Jeice unconscious, or did your fear somehow affect your brain?"

Undisturbed by the insults, Vegeta said in the same tone of absolute self-confidence he had used before, "Go on, laugh while you can!" He clenched his right fist more tightly as if to give more impact to his words, and added, "Because now you're facing the Super Saiyan that you fear so much!"

Both Frieza's and Piccolo's eyes widened at that bold statement, although the latter had no real idea of what a Super Saiyan was supposed to be. He knew that Nail had heard Great Elder Guru using the term before, when Krillin had told Guru that Piccolo and Kami had been killed in the battle against the Saiyans, and Guru had said that a Saiyan capable of defeating the original Namekian that had divided into Piccolo Senior and Kami would have to be a Super Saiyan, but even Nail had never known specifically what a Super Saiyan was. As for Piccolo, he had only known of his true origins for less than two months, so he had no way of knowing what Vegeta was talking about.

But Frieza seemed to have, and judging from his expression, he was far from concerned. If anything, he looked amused.

"Oh Vegeta, you're such a jester…" Frieza said between waves of chuckles. "Depositing such confidence in a baseless myth…"

At those words, the look on Vegeta's face went from confident to furious, making it obvious for everyone but the least perceptive that Frieza's comment had rubbed him in the most wrong way possible.

"Is that so?" Vegeta shouted. "Well then, I hope you also find this funny!"

Not giving Frieza the time to reply, Vegeta quickly shifted into a powering-up stance, and let out a cry that seemed to come from the very depths of his being. As if the sound had flipped a switch inside the Saiyan, a white aura with a width half again as big as his height erupted around him, releasing gale force winds and causing the rock where Vegeta and Frieza stood to be reduced to a pile of rubble.

Although Piccolo was floating at a considerable distance, the wind was strong enough that his antennae were flattened against his temple on a near-permanent basis, and if he had been much closer, he probably would have had to make somewhat of an effort for not to budge. Even Frieza had dropped his amused look and flown about ten meters back, seemingly finding he'd been too close to the volatile Saiyan.

In spite of the impressive display, however, Vegeta's power had not increased all that much, which gave Piccolo the impression that the Saiyan had done that more as an attempt to unsettle Frieza than anything else. He didn't know whether Vegeta was still holding back out of some battle strategy he might have or whether he'd already reached his limit, but he suspected it was the second. Even if the previous gap between Vegeta and Frieza had been nearly eliminated by now, Piccolo was sure that the tyrant could still go higher, and if he was right, then Vegeta was pretty much doomed.

As if he'd heard Piccolo thinking and wanted to prove him wrong, Vegeta ceased his power-up and rocketed off toward Frieza at a speed higher than the Namekian could properly track, every bit of his stance showing how he was about to land the most powerful hit he'd thrown in his entire life.

* * *

><p>Floating at a spot where he would have been able to stand before Vegeta had destroyed the rock below them, Frieza tensed up like a bow's string, knowing that he'd have to take this fight seriously, unlike what had happened in every fight he'd had with a Saiyan up until now. He wasn't worried or scared, as Vegeta simply could never hope to reach anything that would remotely resemble his full power, but he was certainly surprised. After all, from what he'd understood beforehand, Vegeta would only be capable of defeating him in his weakest form, at the most. But his estimation seemed to have been proved wrong, as judging from the speed at which Vegeta approached him now, he would have easily defeated him in his third form, or even landed a serious punch on him if Frieza wasn't taking the Saiyan seriously.<p>

But he was, and as such, he managed to swerve to the right and avoid the right haymaker Vegeta threw at his head, which gave Frieza a sense of déjà vu, as Vegeta's father had begun his short battle against him all those years ago in that very same way. If not for Vegeta's black hair, inferior height, and lack of goatee, Frieza would think that King Vegeta had somehow returned from Hell for a second round.

Dropping any further thoughts about the parallel between the two, Frieza flew backwards as quickly as possible, this time so he could dodge Vegeta's left fist, which had shot out toward his gut like a battering ram. Now being too far away to land any punches or kicks of his own, Frieza tried to slam his tail into Vegeta instead, its tip curled slightly to have more force focused on a smaller surface area. But Vegeta managed to track the movement and immediately took his hands to Frieza's tail, grabbing it right at the spot that would have hit him if he hadn't blocked the strike. Before the Saiyan could grip it more tightly or start spinning him around, Frieza drove the lower half of his body forward and thrust out his left foot, striking Vegeta's chin with his heel, which forced the Saiyan to let go of his foe's tail as he was driven backwards by the hit. Seizing his chance, Frieza started to curl his tail around Vegeta's left leg, but before he could get a proper grip on it, the Saiyan recovered and flew back forward, throwing a right roundhouse kick at Frieza's ribcage. Frieza flew backwards to dodge the hit, but Vegeta enabled his momentum to carry on and thrust out his left leg, intending to slam his left heel into Frieza's waist. Frieza quickly raised his left hand to parry the hit, but Vegeta didn't let himself be deterred and drove his left elbow backwards, straight toward Frieza's chest. Frieza blocked the hit with his right hand, but then Vegeta tried to slam the knuckles of his right hand into Frieza's face, and the tyrant had to fly backwards to dodge the hit. Knowing that he now had a good chance to attack, Frieza fired a pair of eye-beams at Vegeta's back, but the Saiyan quickly wrenched his whole body forward and upwards in the beginnings of a back flip, and the beams passed by the spot where he'd been moments before without hurting him, even as Vegeta carried on with his flip and threw a kick at Frieza's nape after spinning in a 270º angle. Frieza quickly ducked to dodge the hit, but Vegeta again flipped through the air, this time forward and downwards, and thrust his hands toward Frieza, firing a purple energy wave at him.

Frieza stood to full height and raised his palms toward the attack, but he wasn't fast enough to summon the proper amount of resistance, and as such the attack pushed him down until he got to the ground. With a solid basis below him, though, Frieza easily managed to thrust both his arms upwards, diverting the attack into outer space. But by then, Vegeta had snuck up behind him, and was already throwing a right hook at him. Frieza quickly ducked to dodge the hit, and again tried to clobber his ribcage with his tail, but Vegeta quickly disappeared from where he stood and reappeared in front of Frieza, his hands clasped together and raised above his head. Sensing the move, Frieza quickly jumped backwards, as Vegeta slammed his hands on the ground where he had been standing moments before, causing cracks half a meter wide to erupt along the ground from the spot he had hit. Trying to act quickly, Frieza fired a Death Beam at Vegeta, confident in how he'd run the Saiyan through if the attack hit him. Although that meant his demonstration on Vegeta would be cut short, Frieza had dropped the thought of making any demonstration with him the moment he had started to fight seriously.

But rather than trying to dodge, Vegeta stood his ground and delivered an uppercut to the Death Beam, throwing it away into space, which caused Frieza's eyes to briefly widen in amazement. Taking advantage of that brief moment of surprise, Vegeta fired an energy wave from his left hand at Frieza, which forced him to disappear from where he stood in order to dodge, as he would have no time to gather himself to block that hit.

The moment the blast hit the ground, it released a massive explosion, causing the whole island they had been standing on to be wiped out from the face of Namek. A moment afterwards, Frieza reappeared well above the explosion's edge, looking down in order to see whether Vegeta had somehow let himself be hit and damaged by his own attack. He wouldn't be surprised if that had happened, as those Saiyan monkeys managed to be quite a stupid bunch. But the instant the thought came to him, Vegeta appeared in front of him, throwing another haymaker at his torso, which again made Frieza recall King Vegeta's last vain stand against him.

Not letting himself dwell on the similarity this time, Frieza immediately tried to drive his right elbow into Vegeta's stomach, but the Saiyan managed to parry it with his left hand, even as he raised his right knee toward Frieza's gut. The tyrant quickly blocked it with his left hand, but once again, Vegeta threw a punch at his chest, which Frieza blocked by putting his right hand in front of it.

Soon, the two of them had started trading hits, their blows clashing as neither managed to get one strike through the other's defenses. As their exchange dragged out, the thunderous noises made by the strikes that clashed grew louder, and the frustration of both of them began to escalate.

Of course, Vegeta was the one who felt that more intensely, as he truly was frustrated at not managing to hit his foe. For Frieza, the only reason behind his disturbance was that he didn't manage to hit Vegeta at the level of power he was currently using. He could easily power-up further and dispose of the Saiyan in a flash, but as much as he'd lost his patience to give Vegeta his 'demonstration' he also didn't want to use any more power unless he had to. It had already been shameful enough that he'd had to transform into his second form in the first place, and having to resort to his final one was beyond shameful. So, having to use more than the base power of his final form seemed even worse for him, mainly if it was to fight a weak monkey like Vegeta.

As the thought came to him, Frieza again wondered just how it was possible that Vegeta was so strong now. He knew that the Saiyan hadn't been holding back on him before, otherwise there would have been no reason for him to get so scared when Frieza had revealed his two previous transformations. But it was more than evident now that he had become much stronger in the short amount of time that had passed since then, as there was no way for him to be putting up such a fight. Frieza knew that Saiyans could become stronger upon recovering from potentially mortal injuries, and he also knew that sometimes those increases enabled them to multiply their strength several times. And now that he thought of it, he could see a gaping hole on the right side of Vegeta's armor, and it took him little to assume there had to be a matching one on his back. Clearly, Vegeta had somehow injured himself there or gotten one of the others to injure him, and then gained a massive increase in power after healing from the injury.

As he came to that conclusion, Frieza understood everything, except how Vegeta had managed to get such a serious injury in so little time. But that was something he didn't particularly care about, as he already knew that Vegeta had to have used the same method those two kids and Jeice had used on themselves, and he didn't need to know any further. After all, if he guessed it right, that method – whatever it was – required their bodies to be in one piece. But after Frieza was done with them, they would be in far too many pieces to pull themselves together no matter what magic they had available.

As if to put a stop to those thoughts, Vegeta finally managed to get a haymaker through Frieza's strikes and defensive maneuvers, his frustration reaching the point where it actually could be used to fuel that one single blow through which Vegeta intended to unload everything on Frieza. His eyes widening in alarm, Frieza tried to lean his head to the left in order to dodge, but although the move saved his nose from being broken, if not downright shattered, the Saiyan's punch hit Frieza's right cheek squarely, sending him flying away like a rocket.

Rather than stopping and basking in his relief at having finally managed to land a blow on Frieza, Vegeta shot off toward Frieza as he quickly as he could, both hands pulled back to deliver a double-punch on the tyrant. But right as he got to his foe and thrust both fists forward to deliver the hit, Frieza vanished from his path, forcing Vegeta to skid to a halt so he could look for Frieza.

But almost before he'd stopped, a thick tail had coiled around his throat so quickly he'd been unable to react, and a powerful fist had slammed into his back, right at the spot where his armor had been broken-through when Jeice had given him the injury that had given him such strength.

Gasping and coughing in pain, Vegeta saw Frieza floating, in front of him, a bruise with the shape of Vegeta's fist adorning his right cheek, and one of his usual looks of cold anger on his face.

"You rotten monkey," Frieza sneered, his voice dripping with anger. "Do you have any idea of what you have just done by punching me in such a manner?"

At first, Vegeta did not reply, as he was still finishing coughing up from the after effects of the blow he had received. But then again, he really had no idea of what he had just done, as he could not possibly know what it was like to actually cause him to feel pain when he was in this form, one that he had never been meant to use when fighting such a lowly monkey.

Eventually, Vegeta managed to reply in a raspy voice, "Yes, I have an idea of what I've done by punching you in such a manner." Letting out a few mocking chuckles in an obvious intent to further annoy Frieza, he added, "I've given you a very small portion of what you deserve to get."

As soon as he finished his sentence, he let out a loud gasp and took his hands to the part of Frieza's tail coiled around his neck, as the anger his statement had triggered caused the tyrant to coil his tail more tightly.

"Is that so?" Frieza asked, his fury soaring like it always did when one of his inferiors provoked him so blatantly. "Well then, enable me to return the favor!"

Uncoiling his tail from around Vegeta's neck with such speed that it left a visible rash on the spot where it had touched his skin, Frieza landed a punch of his own on the Saiyan's right cheek, sending him soaring away even faster than Vegeta's punch had thrown him. Feeling slightly vindicated after doing that, Frieza smiled in satisfaction, before flying off to start the second round of their fight, in which Vegeta would get what was coming to him after he'd dared to strike Frieza in such a manner.

* * *

><p><em>In the depths of Hell…<em>

Clenching his fist as tightly as he could in order to make sure he would deliver the hardest possible strike, Burter looked on at his former boss as he flew through the air like a hurled deadweight, ready to throw a punch as soon as his former boss was within range. He had performed this move ever since he and Recoome had started playing their appropriately named game of Ginyu-pong – which had already been lasting for quite some time now – and until now he'd never failed in striking his target.

So, it was no surprise when this time he also managed to strike Ginyu squarely on the right side of his chest with the strongest haymaker he had ever thrown – which Burter actually felt was not an exaggeration, because he had the vivid impression that both his and Recoome's powers had been steadily increasing for some time now, possibly out of whatever had caused them to have their bigger boost not that long after arriving in Hell.

But this time, like it had already happened when he'd landed his last few punches on Ginyu in order to throw him back at Recoome, Burter didn't feel like he was breaking anything solid, nor did he hear the distinctive cracking of bones at one of his blows. Instead, he only heard a squishy sound, and felt something dusty underneath an almost spongy surface when his fist touched Ginyu, who didn't even moan in pain upon receiving the punch. Also, although he did managed to throw Ginyu back at Recoome with his blow, his former captain's body seemed more like a flap of cloth being blown about by the wind than anything else, as though he no longer had anything solid inside his body to offer resistance to the air.

With Ginyu being taking longer than usual to reach Recoome, Burter took the time to fling some dark-blue drops off of his right hand, grimacing in disgust at the sight of it covered in a layer of caked blood that held together bits of Ginyu's meat and skin. It looked even more sickening than it felt, and it was definitely something that took appeal out of the prospect of continuing the game. But even if Burter's hand was completely clean, that would have little impact on how playing ping-pong with his former boss was starting to lose its interest. When he had started the game of Ginyu-pong, he had experienced a feeling of elation that only grew with every punch he landed on his former boss and with every scream of pain, as each of his blows was fueled by the resentment he felt toward Ginyu. But now that he'd enabled himself to experience those feelings in fullest and had unloaded his frustrations on the one that had triggered them, his blood no longer boiled as much when he thought of Ginyu's betrayal, although that was not to say he had forgiven him. Also, the fact Ginyu was hardly solid by now and therefore could only be punched from one of them to the other if who threw the hit put quite a lot of effort into it made the task less appealing, and as a result of those two factors combined, the pleasure was simply not big enough to be worth the effort by now, at least for him.

Recoome, however, seemed to be a different story, as he still had that ecstatic look plastered to his face, and when Ginyu finally got to him, he punched him even harder than he had done. But rather than hitting Ginyu in the chest, Recoome's much bigger fist struck his former captain's massive head, which remarkably had remained relatively intact until now, as neither of them had landed any serious hits on it. But once it was struck by Recoome's massive fist, a massive crack of the likes that hadn't been heard for quite some time now resounded through the vicinity, as Ginyu's jaws and teeth were completely shattered by the strike and his left horn was broken off, falling down toward the ground below.

Burter had seen many horrific things over the course of his life, and had carried out about as many of those as well, but still, he grimaced ever so slightly upon hearing Ginyu's skull bursting like an egg and seeing his broken horn dropping like a pebble. And somehow, knowing that the last solid part of Ginyu's body had been destroyed made him decide that at least he'd had enough.

So, when Ginyu got back to him, Burter instead grabbed him by the neck, feeling the bones already quite broken under his arm, but also fairly untouched when compared to Ginyu's ribs, for example. For a moment, Burter wondered if Ginyu would try to use his Body Change technique on either him or Recoome, but he quickly decided such a thing was unlikely, as his former Captain was certainly in too much pain and too damaged to even raise his fingers, much less summon the concentration required to perform any sort of technique.

The only sign of protest from Ginyu at being handled in such a manner was a brief grunt of pain, but there was another who protested in a much more vehement manner.

"Aw, man!" Recoome complained the moment he saw Burter hadn't punched Ginyu back at him. "Why'd you go and do that for? I was having so much fun!"

Burter didn't react in any manner upon hearing his friend's complaint, as, truth being told, he had been expecting it. Recoome had always enjoyed dishing out beatings more than Burter, Jeice, Guldo, and Ginyu put together, and were it not for the deadlines of the purging missions they went on, he probably would beat every single inhabitant of the planets he conquered to a pulp, like he had done to Vegeta when they had fought on Planet Namek, which was an atypical behavior even for a place as ruled by brutality as the World Trade Organization, or, in simpler terms, Frieza's army, and if Burter guessed it right, had started all the way back on Recoome's childhood.

About ten Earth-years ago, more than twenty Earth-years after Burter had met Recoome and Jeice, and a little less than three Earth-years after they had met Guldo, they had been having a casual conversation while they enjoyed their ice-cream, like they often did between purging missions. Eventually, the conversation had drifted toward their childhoods, which was something Jeice and Burter had very little to talk about, as they'd spent all their lives either serving in Frieza's forces or getting some very basic lessons in order to learn their job. Guldo had had more things to talk about on that topic, as he'd actually lived up to his young adulthood before his planet had been conquered by Frieza himself and he had been 'coerced' into joining the tyrant's forces, like some of the other soldiers. Recoome hadn't had as much to talk about regarding his childhood, though, and hadn't seemed all that enthusiastic about sharing what little he could tell, but eventually, he had told them all about his father, a guy who was reportedly big enough to make Recoome look like a pygmy, but even so had a size that was dwarfed by his enjoyment of beating others to a pulp. From what Recoome had told them, he'd been his father's favorite target, and Burter still remembered the shock he'd experienced as though he'd just felt it.

Granted, the World Trade Organization was a place ruled by violence, but most of the soldiers working on it weren't even of the same race, and those that were didn't exactly have many reasons to get along, because the overall ambience there didn't exactly favor friendships. But Burter, Recoome, Jeice, and Guldo – who for that matter were even of different races – were friends, and all of them agreed that friends didn't use friends as punching bags for the hell of it, although they wouldn't have any problem with friendly spars if such a thing was allowed by Frieza. And although Burter had never had a family, he wouldn't have considered beating up a family member to have fun even before he'd heard the Saiyan's speech on Planet Namek. If Burter was following the correct pattern by thinking in such a manner – which he was relatively certain of, although it was hard to tell without a personal basis to make comparisons – then Recoome's father wasn't of the good sort to have done that to his son.

In fact, the first thing Burter had thought upon learning about that bit of his friend's past was that it was impressive how Recoome had been the one giving the first step on that day he had met Burter and Jeice, as he doubted people who got such treatments from their own families would be prone to starting friendships or even experiencing them. Of course, that was not to say Recoome hadn't come out of his childhood without a few marks. Although he most of the time hid that side of his with his dumb air and the way how he gobbled down ice creams, it always resurfaced on their purging missions, when Recoome would always take the time to beat someone to a pulp without any apparent purpose, other than making up for the fact he couldn't do the same thing to his father, who had been killed when Recoome's planet had been taken over by a powerful force (most likely being Frieza doing it in an undercover manner, or something of the like).

Once Recoome got engrossed in the beatings he dished out, it was hard getting him to stop, even when his target supposedly no longer had any untouched part. Should it be anyone else other than Jeice and Guldo who had interrupted their game in such a manner, Recoome would probably have already picked that person as his next target.

"Didn't you hear me?" Recoome insisted. "Why did you stop? Don't you want to play anymore?"

Burter's head jerked up in startle. Apparently, he had been lost in memories for longer than he'd realized, if Recoome had actually grown impatient for his answer.

"Well if you don't, fine, but if that's the case, just hand him over because I'm not done yet!" Recoome shouted, clearly unhappy at having lost his punching bag.

Burter did his best to hold back a groan upon hearing that. He wanted to watch Ginyu getting beaten up by Recoome even less than he wanted to continue participating on the deed. And all the thinking Burter had ended up dwelling into had lead to him thinking back on Jeice, who at best was still on Namek fighting a losing battle, and at worst had already been killed and sent down here with the rest of them. In turn, that had lead to Burter wanting to go back to that giant crystal ball so he could have an idea of how things were. While that was not necessarily impeditive of Recoome continuing to beat Ginyu into a pulp by himself, Burter didn't fancy going back to that crystal ball by himself, in spite of how it would actually be safer to do so, considering the teal-skinned guy with orange hair who'd been so annoyed by Recoome's complains. For one, Recoome was the only familiar good thing he had here, at least until they found Guldo. And for another, he also thought that Recoome would want to see how Jeice was doing himself, and would end up feeling bad if he lost all the action once he finally got back to the crystal ball, mainly if Jeice lost.

Deciding to be as direct as possible, but not too forceful in doing just what he wanted, Burter said, "Alright man, I can toss him back at you if that's what you want. But just so you know, I was thinking of going back to that crystal ball to see how Jeice is doing."

Recoome's impatient look faded significantly, now having obvious alarm mingled with it. Clearly, just like it had happened to Burter himself, he'd gotten so focused on beating Ginyu that he had forgotten about Jeice, and now that he remembered the topic again, he was quite put-off, to say the least.

"So, what do you say?" Burter insisted. "Do you want to come along as well, or do you want to spend some more time beating Ginyu to a pulp?"

To his credit, Recoome not only didn't hesitate in his choice, but made exactly the one he'd been expecting.

"I'm going with you," he said forcefully. "I'm also worried about Jeice and want to see what's going on with him."

Burter smiled at his friend upon hearing that. Clearly, regardless of whatever issues he had thanks to his past and of how he could get engrossed in dishing out beatings, Recoome still cared deeply about those he considered his friends.

"In that case, let's go," Burter said, as he started to turn around. But barely after beginning the gesture, he stopped and turned back toward Recoome, deciding it was better to issue a warning about a certain someone. "Just remember: watch things quietly, and don't anger that guy with orange hair and teal skin who said he would blast us if we bothered him again, alright?"

A terrified look exploding across his features across his features, Recoome nodded, seemingly too scared to speak. Clearly, the massive blast that the teal-skinned guy could have obliterated all of them with had made an impression on him as well.

With all pressing matters settled, Burter let go of Ginyu's neck, and he and Recoome started flying to the crystal ball in order to watch the rest of the battle against Frieza, while their former boss's broken, incredibly beaten body fell down to the ground of Hell.

* * *

><p><em>At a nearby rocky outcropping…<em>

Hiding in the shadows created by one of the many rock-formations that existed in Hell, he watched the two former members of the Ginyu Force flying in a direction that he knew to be the general one of the crystal ball. Although he wasn't absolutely sure of whether they truly intended to go there and watch the battle against Frieza, he was almost sure that those were their intentions, and in all honesty, he wanted to watch that very same thing, as he too was interested in watching the outcome of that battle.

Either way, what had to be done wasn't always what one wanted to do, and right now what he had to do was keeping an eye on Captain Ginyu, in order to ensure that he wouldn't use those nasty skills of his in the right manner. He'd certainly be more motivated than ever to do such a thing after he'd been reduced to a beaten meat-bag stuffed with bone dust by his two former underlings' beating, and if he could ever do such a thing, everyone in Hell would be in danger.

Granted, those two had made quite a number on him, but here in Hell such injuries had very little significance. He would be up and running soon, and once that happened he would carry out his plan, unless he stopped him like he intended to do.

He wasn't thinking of stopping Ginyu because he was necessarily worried about all the assholes that inhabited the place, but upon considering the skills Ginyu had at his disposal, one never knew whether he wouldn't escape Hell and eventually put all of existence in danger if he switched bodies with the right people.

Of course, he could have the matter solved by now if he had brought two of those ogres that ran the place and told them to lock up Ginyu in a specially designed cell while the guy put himself together, but he wouldn't consider of doing that just yet. After all, he wasn't the sort of person who liked to rely on others' help, and while he would eventually have to do just that if he didn't want to spend the rest of eternity guarding Ginyu, he preferred to delay that moment as much as possible, and do by himself the biggest part of the task he could, at least now that he no longer had his team with him.

As soon as Ginyu tried anything nasty, he'd show up and do an even worse number on that horned bastard than his two former soldiers had. And once he was done with that guy, he'd wait for Frieza's arrival, and then move on to him. After all, that other horned bastard was the one he'd truly wanted to lay his hands on for years now.

* * *

><p><em>At Planet Namek, in Frieza's spaceship…<em>

Oblivious to what was going on back where the others were and to what two of his former comrades were up to in the afterlife, Jeice kept on flying at full speed toward his destination, a look of fear and nervousness very visible on his features, and such an amount of cold sweat dripping down his body that it was a wonder Dende's body hadn't slipped from his grasp and been left behind until now. The flight to Frieza's spaceship had easily been one of the most stressing moments in Jeice's life, if not the most stressing one. He'd been constantly fearing things like having one massive blast approaching him from behind and burning both him and Dende to a crisp before he could do anything about it, or to have whatever sort of horrific monster Frieza had become appearing right in front of him and bringing his murderous hand down on the two of them to squash him and the little Namekian kid like bugs without giving them the time to dodge the movement, to mention only the more mind-friendly things he'd been thinking, as he knew that Frieza would have very little problems in coming up with appropriately painful methods to terminate both him and Dende.

Fortunately, his fears seemed to be for the most part groundless, as none of those things had happened to him until now. Still, that didn't really put him at rest, as he kept fearing for Frieza to pop up out of nowhere in such a manner that Jeice would probably be killed from mere fright. To his surprise, he even found himself thinking how that could have a good side, as his fear managed to make him fly even faster, and therefore it would be more likely for him to get Goku back to the battlefield before something nasty happened to any of those left behind – or to himself.

As a result, Jeice only allowed himself to relax when he finally detected Frieza's ship in the distance, as he knew the tyrant wouldn't dare to destroy it just for the purpose of killing Jeice or bringing him out of his hiding place. He valued that ship far too much in order to do such a thing, as unlike Space Pods, those things were still expensive enough and hard enough to build for one not to give himself to the luxury of destroying them on a whim. Although it was unfit for travelling as of now, Frieza could still call a team of mechanics to repair the damaged parts, and have his ship back up to par, which would be much easier and cheaper than building it back up from scratch.

With that thought in mind, Jeice immediately blasted a hole into the ship's side to create a shortcut, and flew into it, before continuing to cut through the ship's corridors like a rocket straight toward the area where they had left Goku inside of one of the rejuvenation tanks. Fortunately, he had been inside this ship a fair number of times before, and as such, could make his way through it without hesitating about the right direction.

As a result of that, he'd quickly gotten to the right room, and burst through the closed sliding doors without even taking the time to blast them open, although he was careful enough to put Dende in a position where his body would simply be passing through the already open hole rather than bursting through the door itself. After all, there was no way the little Namekian would survive such a thing.

"Whew!" Jeice finally said as he smoothly set his feet down on the ship's floor and carefully dropped Dende on the floor. "We made it here."

Dende didn't reply, but the relief in his face absolutely matched Jeice's. Clearly, this hurried flight hadn't been an enjoyable experience for him.

"Right," Jeice said in a more forceful tone, changing his relieved look for an all-business one. "Get ready to do your stuff, while I take care of getting Goku out of there."

Not waiting for a reply, Jeice disappeared from where he stood and reappeared by the rejuvenation tank inside which Goku was, sticking a hand into the machine's porthole without caring for the destruction he'd just caused. Trickles of blue liquid spurted from the hole, but Jeice ignored them and held onto the door's interior with one hand, before he tore it off with one swift movement. A wave formed by all the healing fluid left inside the tank poured out, completely soaking Jeice, but the red-skinned soldier paid it little mind and instead seized the front of Goku's shirt in his grip, tearing the Saiyan away from the breathing apparatus and brainwave sensors.

Goku's eyelids fluttered upon the sudden movement, and he let out a pained moan, but other than that, he remained unconscious. That alone made it obvious that if not for their timely intervention, he probably would have taken much longer to heal, and almost certainly wouldn't have made it back on time to help anyone. Thankfully, that would not be the case.

"Alright kid," Jeice replied, carelessly dropping Goku in front of him. "Do yer stuff."

For once putting his inherent contempt toward Jeice aside, Dende quickly put his hands over Goku, and his palms once again started emitting the usual glow that came from them when the kid healed someone, which was, also as always, accompanied by the same high-pitched sound.

While the kid did his job, Jeice simply stood aside, trying not to let himself be overcome by his impatience while he waited for Dende to be done. Every extra moment the kid took was one extra moment in which Frieza could come bursting in through the ship, or in which he could kill one of those that had stayed behind to fight him. As much as Jeice wouldn't particularly care about what happened to Vegeta, and hadn't met Piccolo for long enough to worry all that much about the Namekian, he had, for lack of a better word, grown fond enough of Gohan and Krillin for not to want them to die if he could help it. Although he doubted he would be all that affected by their deaths, that didn't mean he wanted them to die, or wouldn't at least be a little bit sad if that happened.

Fortunately, in about a minute, Dende had finished his job, and Goku looked as fresh as he had been when he first arrived on Planet Namek. Like he always did, Dende stepped back, enabling Goku to get up without bumping into him.

The Saiyan flexed one arm as if to make sure he wasn't dreaming, and then turned back to Dende, a cheerful smile on his face.

"Thanks, Dende," he said, giving a friendly rub to the little Namekian's forehead, presumably in an imitation of the gesture he would perform if the little kid had any hair.

"You know my name?" Dende whispered, everything about his stance suggesting that his eyes had widened in amazement – although Jeice couldn't be sure of that from where he stood.

"Yes, I do," Goku replied. "One of the first things I did when I got to Namek was glimpsing into Krillin's memories to see what he'd gone through here before my arrival, and that included what he went through with you."

Recognizing Goku's explanation as his description of what he'd done when he touched the bald Earthling's forehead, Jeice's own eyes widened in amazement. This Saiyan had to be even more incredible than any of them had ever imagined if he had a skill that undoubtedly was incredibly hard to earn.

Judging from the slight shifting in Dende's stance, he seemed about to say something, but Goku cut him off by saying in a firm, but gentle tone, "Now is not the time for questions. I have to get there to help the others, and I'd better do it sooner rather than later."

His eyes shifting toward Jeice, he said, "I have a general idea of what is going on thanks to my energy-sensing skills, but it could be helpful if I knew some more specific details," He extended his hand toward Jeice's forehead, perfectly mirroring the gesture he'd made when he had glimpsed into Krillin's memories. "Could you come here, please?"

Slightly taken aback by the Saiyan's words, Jeice hesitated before heeding the request. He hadn't been expecting for Goku to address him in such a calm and polite manner, as though Jeice hadn't been someone who had been actively trying to kill him such a short time beforehand. While he guessed there could be forgiving people in this Universe (after all, he'd always ended up forgiving his friends on the rare times one of them made him upset) and Goku's friends had seemed to have put their prejudices aside in face of the present situation, it was still shocking to have Goku truly acting as if nothing had happened. Also, Jeice was more than quite a bit resilient to the idea of sharing something as personal as his thoughts with anyone, as there were quite a lot of things even he didn't want to think about, much less make known to other people. Even if this was Goku, someone who he could already tell would be among the last people in the Universe to hold anything over his head or to be judgmental, Jeice didn't look forward to doing so.

But the Saiyan's look of contained urgency screamed out how there was no time to waste, and so, after a few moments of hesitation, Jeice finally moved forward, willing to share with the Saiyan everything he could about Frieza, and in spite of his dislike of the task, fervently hoping that somehow the knowledge Goku would earn from that would be enough to make the difference required for the battle to end with a victory from their side.

* * *

><p><em>Up next: Eager to find out whatever he can about Frieza, Goku starts reading Jeice's mind, but when he does that, the two of them end up getting a few surprises. What will happen? Find out next!<em>

_Hoping you enjoyed the chapter,_

_Genescritor_


	19. Chapter 19: Down memory lane

**From Enemy To Student**

**- a Dragon Ball Z fanfiction -**

**Chapter 19 – Down memory lane**

_Disclaimer: I do not own, in any way, any official property related Dragon Ball, such as the anime, its characters, related movies, and so on. However, I hope to supplement that glorious work of art with my fanfictions, such as this one. _

_I would also like to point out that this fanfiction was originally written by Gonstika, from whom I adopted it, and many of the concepts and plot-points featured in its chapters are originated by Gonstika as well._

_With that said, I hope you enjoy the story._

* * *

><p><em>Planet Namek, inside Frieza's spaceship…<em>

When he first saw Jeice walking over to him, Goku couldn't help but to experience a considerably strong surprise, although nothing about his stance or expression conveyed what he felt in the slightest. As much as he had always tried to be a non-judgmental person, particularly upon realizing how certain things about the world were different from what he'd assumed when he had lived alone in Mount Paozu, it was hard not to be even a tiny bit amazed at seeing this former Frieza soldier willing to share something as intimate as his thoughts with him. That was not to say Jeice appeared to be looking forward to it, as both the look on his face and the slow manner in which he approached Goku screamed volumes about he'd avoid doing that if he could. But in spite of his obvious apprehension, he was doing it anyway, which was rather noteworthy.

Goku could only assume it was because this Frieza he'd learned quite a lot about through King Kai's warning and what he'd seen in Krillin's memories was the sort of person that really had to be defeated for good. It was nothing new, as like he'd told Jeice, he had been sensing the fight against Frieza, and so knew exactly where the tyrant's power level stood. It was leaps and bounds above any power level he had sensed before, and he could see why very few planets would be safe from Frieza's tyranny. Even if he decided to work alone, Frieza's power would be enough for him to bring most civilizations in the world to their knees, just like he now seemed to be trying to do to Vegeta. But what concerned him the most was the amount of evil he sensed in Frieza's energy signature. It wasn't necessarily the most evil one he'd ever felt, as Goku was sure that the Demon King Piccolo or Vegeta when he'd first visited the Earth would carry out the same deeds if they had the appropriate means available, but the fact there was such great evil conjoined to this sort of power was enough to make Goku decide without a doubt that Frieza was the most terrible of foes he'd ever faced.

Finally, Jeice came within arm's reach of Goku, his white boots sending out twin splashes of rejuvenation tank liquid that had turned the floor blue.

Eager to get the information he wanted, Goku put his hand to Jeice's forehead, ready to start learning everything about Frieza that could be useful in a battle. But the moment his wet palm touched Jeice's equally wet forehead, the red-skinned soldier shivered very noticeably, pressing his lips together in a clear attempt to stop the trembling of his body.

"Hey, you don't need to be scared," Goku replied in the most comforting tone he could muster, knowing from the fluctuations in Jeice's energy signature that at least part of his shiver had been due to fear and not to the chill caused by being soaked in blue healing liquid. "My mind-reading doesn't cause any pain, OK?"

Jeice's eyes widened in very obvious amazement as Goku said that, which the Earth-raised Saiyan took as a sign from the red-skinned soldier being quite unused to hearing words like that. In spite of not knowing all that much about the inner-workings of Frieza's army, Goku wasn't all that amazed, as what he'd seen already was enough for him to know that whenever someone was scared in Frieza's forces, his superiors, if not his comrades, scolded him senseless at best, and blasted him into oblivion at worst.

And that was certainly only the tip of the iceberg formed by the amount of evil that went around in Frieza's army.

'But just what other sorts of evil there could be in such a place?' Goku couldn't help but to wonder.

In spite of having seen his fair share of evil beings over the course of his life, Goku somehow still had trouble conceiving new sorts of evil things one could do, most likely out of his inherent naivety and out of being someone who always tried to believe in the best inside everyone.

On that moment, as if he'd just received divine inspiration from King Kai or some other superior deity that could exist, Goku couldn't help but to think that he had the means to figure out his answer after all, if he read Jeice's mind in the right manner. Granted, it would be a bit of an invasion of privacy, but Jeice would never know exactly what Goku had seen anyway, and mind-reading enabled him to view information much more quickly than if he was simply watching a movie, so he wouldn't spend too much time on this even if he viewed years' worth of Jeice's memories.

Still, he would have to be quick. Although Frieza as of right now didn't seem to be killing his opponents left and right, Goku could sense Vegeta was getting weaker in a slow but steady manner as the tyrant landed blow after blow on him, and if Frieza suddenly grew bored of him and decided to kill him, he could move on to someone else, which was something Goku wanted to avoid, and would only do so by getting there on time to stop him from doing that.

Determined to make his gain of information as rapid as possible, Goku pressed his hand more tightly against Jeice's forehead, and then put his mind-reading skills to work, while wondering exactly what sort of things he would see in the red-skinned alien's memories.

* * *

><p>A moment after Goku's hand pressed into his forehead, Jeice felt a slight tickle inside his braincase, which he assumed meant that Goku had started reading his mind. In spite of the Saiyan's reassuring words about how mind-reading wouldn't hurt him, Jeice couldn't help but to brace himself for some unpleasant feeling, as after all he'd never had his mind read before, and he'd always been someone who was fairly wary of new experiences, although his laidback exterior would never make those who knew him judge such a thing. No matter how Jeice remembered that Krillin hadn't seemed to feel anything when Goku had read his mind, the red-skinned alien knew that he and Krillin had, if nothing else, quite different personalities and mindsets, and in his opinion, something as complex as mind-reading didn't necessarily work in the same way for everyone.<p>

Fortunately, his fears seemed to be unfounded, as quite some time had already passed, and nothing unusual had happened, besides the fact the tickle he felt inside his head remained there, and grew more intense every few seconds, as if Goku's focus on the skill increased at that very same moment for some unknown reason. As that small secondary effect was not anywhere near what he'd call unpleasant, Jeice allowed himself to relax slightly upon seeing that his concerns on that matter were groundless.

Or so he thought.

Right after he'd allowed himself to have that marginal relaxation of how he didn't seem to be suffering any effects besides that peculiar tickle, something happened that made him change his mind. The tickling inside of his forehead changed to a prick that seemed made by a needle, and then, in the blink of an eye, the image in front of him changed completely, like the image of an observation camera watched through a screen being flipped to show that of a different camera. Instead of seeing Goku standing in front of him on Frieza's ship, Jeice saw the porthole of his Space Pod in front of him, the image looking as though it was leaving a planet to enter outer space, and at the same time becoming less focused, as if Jeice it was starting to fall asleep. And in fact, it also seemed to him like he was feeling his consciousness fading out, like it always happened when he entered the state of suspended animation required for long trips in Space Pods.

But almost before he had the time to register the new image, it changed back to the old one, and again, he saw Goku in front of him, with his hand pressed to his forehead, and looking as though nothing had changed.

Somehow managing not to pay much attention to his need to adjust to the sudden and incredibly brief change of scenery and feelings he had experienced, Jeice raised an eyebrow in puzzlement, wondering where on the hell that had come from. If he didn't know any better, he would have said that, for a split-second, he had traveled back in time to some moment when he'd left a planet on his Space Pod and started to fall into the forced sleep those ships placed their occupiers into.

But why had it happened? As far as he remembered, Krillin hadn't gotten to experience anything of the sort when Goku had read his mind. Could his brain be somehow that much different from a human's?

Jeice started opening his mouth in an attempt to voice the question to the Saiyan, but then, he felt the same sort of needle-prick inside his braincase for a second time, and again, the image in front of him and the feelings he was experiencing changed completely, this time to him hovering some hundreds of meters above a planet, firing an energy blast at a large city to wipe it off the map.

This change of image was even quicker than the previous one, and he scarcely had the time to even notice it before he went back to reality. But differently from the previous occasion, he didn't have time to acknowledge the return to reality before the needle-prick returned, this time repeated several times over in quick successions, and with a different image associated to different sounds and feelings being shown to him.

Soon, Jeice could only be aware of was a swirl of images associated to a myriad of noises and joined by a rush of different feelings, as the different memories he was reliving happened in such quick succession and were so brief in and of themselves that he couldn't even figure out one before the next three had already rushed through.

Somewhere, as if calling to him from far away, a small semblance of consciousness that he had somehow managed to retain tried to grow more intense as if to shove the memories away, but they were all so many that it simply could never manifest itself with the required strength to stop what Jeice was going through.

After the first three feeble attempts, the small bit of consciousness settled down, with Jeice having used his last remnants of awareness to decide to wait the situation out, under the hope that it would somehow end soon, and convincing himself that he did need to inform Goku of what he could expect from Frieza in the best manner he could.

But then, mere moments after Jeice had made that decision, the latest needle-prick he felt grew into a knife-stab, and then, the scene around him finally seemed to settle down, as the red-skinned alien relived one moment of his past.

* * *

><p><em>Planet Gujorty, May 8<em>_th__, Age 743, Jeice's thirty-ninth year…_

_His heart and senses working overtime, he ducked and swerved his way through the air, determined to weave his way through the countless strings of homing missiles fired at him from every direction. All around him, explosions were heard as one missile would crash into another, and whenever that happened, his fear would flare more intensely, as if to remind that even one of those missiles had enough power to hurt him seriously if it struck him head-on. And there were so many of them that in spite of his frantic dodging, he would get too close to one every so often, and was forced to fire an energy blast at said missile before hastily backing away in order for not to be struck by the shockwave of the missile's concentrated explosion and thrown straight into the path of another war projectile. He knew what he had to do if he wanted to decrease the number of missiles coming at him, but there were so many it was difficult._

_Still, he pressed on and on, and he steadily got closer to the rim of the cloud of missiles, where he would have a better chance at striking. _

_After he'd managed to get halfway out, one of the aircraft shifted in its position, in a clear attempt to get in a better place to fire a shot that would at the very least push him further inside cloud of missiles again. However, the pilot seemed to miscalculate his maneuver, and the shift in the aircraft's position actually gave Jeice an opening he could use to get out of the cloud of missiles, and he was too experienced in this sort of thing for not to see it. _

_Determined to take his chance before the pilot could correct his mistake, Jeice rushed through the opening, gathering an energy blast in his right hand to take out the aircraft, while at the same time having to dodge some missiles that would get too close to him. Still, he now had no problem getting away from the densest concentration of missiles, and as soon as that happened, he fired the energy blast he'd been gathering, cleaving off one of the aircraft's wings and its rear end. _

_As expected, the vehicle immediately fell down in a trail of thick smoke, but he didn't look at it for long, as all the homing missiles that hadn't yet exploded by crashing into each other were now coming at him. He fired three quick blasts that each hit one, and the explosions veered several more off their paths and against another, causing even more explosions. However, more of them managed to keep coming at him, forcing him to resume his dodging, while more of the aircraft resumed their firing of missiles, their pilots putting off their shock at their comrade's death. _

_In spite of his extreme focus on the task of dodging, Jeice could see that all the aircraft that weren't firing were shifting in their position, clearly intending to resume their formation around him as well as they could. _

'_One down, fourteen to go,' Jeice thought after a quick but precise assessment, determined to make sure there would be none left in the sky when he was done._

* * *

><p>An unknown amount of time after Jeice's mind had settled down into replaying his battle against Gujorty's air-force, everything transmitted to him by each and every of his senses seemed to be ripped away, and the swirl of images, sounds, and feelings returned as intensely as it had been present before, accompanied by the same ever so constant needle-pricks inside his braincase, which if anything seemed to have grown not only slightly more intense but also much quicker in succession.<p>

Once again, memories of things Jeice had experienced in his past life were flashing by him in such quick succession that he didn't even have time to register anything he captured. On occasion, he could make out the tiniest traces of sounds he'd heard, things he'd seen, and feelings he'd experienced, but he didn't have time to even try to make sure of what he'd heard before the tiny bit of consciousness he'd managed to retain was overwhelmed by the next wave of past feelings his mind replayed to him.

In spite of his previous decision to try and see if he could wait the situation out, things had currently reached such a level of discomfort, not to say downright unpleasantness, that Jeice again decided to try and summon every bit of will he could possibly gather to force away the constant blur of things that kept being swirled around in his brain. But if before the fairly weak needle-pricks had already made the task difficult, by now it was nearly impossible for him to muster as much as a semblance of the mental force required to stop what he was going through.

And then, his feeble attempts were cut short, as for a second time, a knife-stab even more painful than the one he'd experienced before came through his mind, and the blur of things picked up by his senses abruptly halted, as the memory of another past event came down on him.

* * *

><p><em>Planet Kytulis, July 27<em>_th__, Age 725, Jeice's twenty-first year… _

_Trying to force down the feeling of unease that was starting to creep through him, Jeice summoned as much focus as possible, knowing that he'd need all of it if he was to survive the impending battle with the hundred-thousand strong army of Kytulisans that floated around him, divided in twenty formations, each of them shaped like the outside of a funnel with its stem pointed at him, and each of them moving in such unison that it seemed like a single, massive organism. The Kytulisans' bio-luminescent yellow skin glowed in the night sky, just as their white hair, making the formations seemed like clouds of some bright, poisonous gas, which caused a queasy feeling in the pit of Jeice's stomach, disturbing his efforts at focusing for the impending battle._

_And that wasn't the only thing that made the task difficult, as his mind was still reeling from how the Kytulisans, in spite of having a power level of five at their lowest and of twenty at their highest, managed to fly at speeds that should only be possible for beings who had a power-level well above thousand at the very least. And that in itself was enough to make him wonder what other nasty surprises they could have for him, as well as for the several hundreds of soldiers from the World Trade Organization to whom the purge of Kytulis had been assigned. _

_As of now, he wasn't yet all that worried, as in spite of their speed being much higher than it should be for beings of their power-level, it wasn't anywhere near high enough for him to have a problem tracking them. But there were a hundred-thousand soldiers here, and if they could fly, it was possible they could also fire energy blasts. If he let himself be hit by the blasts of even a tenth of these soldiers, he would die. And he couldn't use too much energy to kill them either, as these one-hundred-thousand were only a thousandth of the totality of Kytulis' army. Although he wasn't alone on the purge of this planet, Jeice still didn't know if he and the other soldiers that had come with him would be able to wipe the totality of Kytulis' army. _

_Unfortunately, the only thing he could do was to keep up with the situation and do the best he could to successfully fulfill the purge. _

_A beeping from his scouter cut through his thoughts, causing Jeice's whole body to jerk up in startle. However, it only lasted for a few moments, and then, the focus he'd been so desperately tried to muster came to him by magic, as every bit of his mind steeled itself to do nothing but what it had to in order for him to survive. _

_He noticed that while he'd been distracted, the formations of Kytulisans that now surrounded him from every direction seemed to have gotten into position, and now, several of the soldiers were gathering energy blasts of a pale leafy-green, all of them pointed at him. _

_Noticing that, he started forming an energy blast himself, knowing that he would have to do that if he wanted to wipe off as many of those soldiers as he could in one strike. Still, he didn't fire his attack, as he was determined to do everything he could to let them make the first move. For him, it had always been easier to respond to his enemy's moves rather than to make his own first and have to deal with the counterattack. _

_But the Kytulisan soldiers didn't seem to care too much for following the same rule, as after spending some moments gathering their energy blast, the soldiers of two of the formations fired their energy blasts at him. _

_In the first few moments, Jeice managed to see that although the Kytulisans flew much faster than their power level should have enabled them to, the same rule didn't extend to their energy blasts, as their attacks moved at the speed that would be expected for someone of their power level. _

_But then, why were they firing energy blasts at him from so far away? Didn't they know he would be able to dodge those blasts without any problem at all?_

_His answer came a few moments later, as out of nowhere, and much to his amazement, the energy blasts fired by the individual Kytulisan soldiers started to combine into ever bigger energy blasts, whose power was equal to the combined power of the smaller energy blasts that had united into bigger ones._

_That by itself wasn't so surprising, but somehow, the blasts didn't seem to combine only in power. Somehow, the speed of the combined blasts was equal to, if not slightly bigger than, the sum of the speed of every individual blast that had united into a bigger one. With there being one combined blast per formation, made by all the soldiers that were part of it, each of the 'formation blasts' would have enough power to destroy him. And there could be twenty of them coming at him at the same time. _

_While Jeice had been making those considerations, the two 'formation blasts' that had been gathering had been finished, and were now flying at him. _

_Moving as quickly as he could, Jeice rushed out of the way of the two blasts, and then fired his own energy attack at the closest formation, reasonably sure that it would be more than enough to destroy them all._

_His attack approached the formation at a speed far too great for the soldiers to have any hope of dodging, and a massive red explosion lit the night, even as Jeice dodged two more 'formation blasts' and started gathering a second energy wave to destroy another group of soldiers. _

* * *

><p>As if on cue with him summoning the energy for his next attack, everything around him seemed to ripped away, and for the third time, Jeice found himself in the center of an intense tornado of all sorts of feelings, sounds, and images that seemed to have grown more intense during the replay of that part of the battle on Kytulis, with the needle-pricks inside his braincase so intense and constant by now that it was impossible for him to tell when one began and the next one ended.<p>

He could not even make any sort of an attempt at pushing the constant rush of everything away, and his tiny bit of consciousness by now felt as though it was afloat on an endless void with showers of meteors coming down on it from every direction, unable to gather any coherent thought other than keep taking the heat and hope that this would end soon, like he had decided to do before experiencing his first flashback.

But that hope had been completely in vain before, and it also seemed like it would be now, as with everything his mind was subjected to, he simply did not have any notion of time, and with him not having anything close to a solid recognition of what memories were flashing by him, he had no way of knowing when this would be over. He could only hope that he would not experience yet another flashback, because the mental pain that always seemed to come before them was nothing short of intense, and he didn't want to feel it again, mainly because it only seemed to grow stronger with each recurring time.

And just like Jeice's hope that this would be over soon, this one also was completely, as a knife-stab so intense that it threatened to tear his last remnants of consciousness to pieces came down on him.

This time, rather than skidding to a halt, the blur of pictures, sounds, and emotions seemed to be thrown into his face instead, with such intensity that even the blow he'd gotten from Frieza could scarcely be compared to what he experienced now, as a third moment of his life started replaying itself around him.

* * *

><p><em>Planet Ostr, August 5<em>_th__, Age 706, Jeice's second year…_

_Feeling dizzy and hurt after the fall, as if a huge had shaken him very hard before throwing him into the ground, Jeice crawled over to his father, who for some reason had stayed down after the fall. He still couldn't understand what was going on, but he knew that something was wrong, for many reasons. There shouldn't be big fires all around, as if the flame his parents lit when it was cold had become giant and appeared in many places at once. There shouldn't be scared screams coming from everywhere, as if everyone had been so scared as to scream. And his parents shouldn't have woken him up like that and left the house with him, looking so scared as they did it._

_Something had to be wrong, mainly if his parents were also afraid. And knowing that made him afraid as well, although he knew his parents were with him, and he had no reason to be afraid while he was with them, _

_Still dizzy, he finally reached his father, expecting him to get up and comfort him, like it sometimes happened when he was scared. But he didn't do anything. He just kept lying down as if he was asleep – but he just couldn't be, because his eyes were open. He knew people didn't sleep with their eyes open. But he also knew how his father looked at him – and it wasn't like he did now. Now his eyes were scary, too still, and too empty. _

_He put his hands over his father's chest and started shaking him, to see if he woke up._

"_Daddy," he begged over and over again, shaking him as hard as he could, and growing more scared when he wouldn't move. "Daddy! DADDY!"_

_With every time he said that, his voice seemed to change toward sobs, and after a few seconds of saying that, his throat was so tight he couldn't even say the word. Tears had started to spill out of his eyes, and in moments, he was crying to the top of his lungs. But even that hadn't made his father get up. _

_He got even more scared when that happened. His parents always got up when he cried and came to see what was wrong. But this time, his father hadn't done that. And his mother hadn't as well. _

_His mother! Of course! Maybe he could go to her instead!_

_Not feeling dizzy now, he got up and used that weird inner-thing that made him fly when he pushed it below him to go to his mother, who was also lying down. Maybe she would wake up. _

_But when he got to her, he realized something was wrong with her as well. She had a weird liquid coming out of her mouth, and her eyes looked like his father's had looked just a moment ago. There also seemed to be a huge stain made by the liquid that came out of her mouth on the left side of her chest. _

_He put his hands there and tried to shake her awake anyway, but the moment he touched the spot, his hands got sticky because of that liquid, and he realized something was wrong with her as well. There seemed to be a hole below his hands, so big that the 'pillow' on the left side of her chest had gone, and that beat he could always feel when he leaned his head into it was no longer there._

_And somehow, he knew she would not get up as well._

_Him getting even more scared than he was before, his lip started to quiver, and his eyes started getting full of tears. _

"_Mommy…" he whispered, his throat so tight he'd barely been able to say that. _

_His lip kept quivering, and he could feel himself about to start crying, but right before that happened, he saw a shadow, so big that it covered him completely. _

_Looking back to see what it was, he saw a man, slightly smaller than his father, standing right behind him. He looked like one of them, but at the same time he also looked different: his clothes were weird, he had something over his left eye and ear, and his hair also was different. But what really scared Jeice was the mean look on his face._

"_Now it's yourr turrn," the mean man said, his voice sounding so scary that he would have burst into tears if his mother and father were still with him. _

_But this time, he knew his mother and father wouldn't get up, so, instead of crying, he flew away as quickly as he could, that weird inner-thing that made him fly working harder than it had ever done before. He knew he had to get away from the mean man, because if he was caught, he would get hurt. _

_After having flown for only a very short time, the mean man suddenly appeared in front of him, and grabbed him by the neck before he could do anything._

"_My, my…" the mean man said, as Jeice started to struggle as hard as he could. "Quite a fast tyke, arren't you? I neverr saw a kid your age that flew as fast."_

_Knowing the mean man still wanted to hurt him, Jeice tried to get his fingers off of his neck, while kicking as hard as possible to see if he would hit the mean man and hurt him enough to get away._

"_But I guess the scouterr wasn't lying afterr all," he said. "The speed you 'ave is the norrmal one for someone with yourr powerr level. It's imp…"_

_The mean man's next word was cut off when Jeice kicked his nose, causing the mean man to scream and take a hand there as he said angry words. But his other hand didn't release Jeice. Instead, it grabbed his neck so tightly that he couldn't breathe, and had to stop kicking to try and pull his fingers away. _

_After some time, the mean man took his hand away from his nose, which was dirty with the same liquid that Jeice's hands had gotten when he'd touched the hole in his mother._

"_You little brrat…" he said, roughly pulling Jeice closer to his face. "Do you 'ave any idea of what you 'ave just done?"_

_Jeice didn't understand all the words, but he knew the mean man was very mad now, and would hurt him even more. He tried to cry in fear to whoever would come to help him, but his neck wasn't being grabbed with too much strength, and he couldn't make a sound._

"_You'rre going to die forr that!" he shouted as he raised his free hand, where a ball of that light that Jeice's father and mother used to cook appeared._

_Did that mean he was going to be cooked? _

_His heart jumped at the idea, and he again started kicking, even harder than before. He didn't want to be cooked! He wouldn't be cooked! He wasn't food!_

"_Having kid problems, Salza?" a voice suddenly asked, sounding as if it found something funny. "I really didn't picture you as the guy that would run across that sort of thing."_

_The 'cooking light' disappeared from the mean man's hands, and Jeice stopped kicking when he heard that voice. He didn't see who spoke, but that voice sounded even scarier than the mean man's. And the mean man was clearly afraid as well. _

_If that was true, whoever had said that had to be even worse than the mean man. _

"_N-n-no, of coursse I'm not 'aving any prroblems, sirr," the mean man said. "I'm just 'aving some fun."_

_Jeice noticed the mean man's voice also had a lot of fear, so that had to mean he was scared as well. If he wasn't scared, he wouldn't speak like that._

"_I'd say you're lying," the voice said. "You wouldn't have a bloody nose if you weren't having problems."_

_Shivering from fear when he heard the voice again, Jeice slowly turned around, feeling that he had to see who was speaking, in spite of how much the voice scared him. And then, his breath seemed to freeze in his neck, right at the spot where he was being held._

_Standing in front of the many big fires, there was a… something that looked like the scariest thing Jeice had ever seen. It had two normal arms and two normal legs, but it also had a very long and thick tail, and its head didn't have hair and had a weird shape._

_He had never seen this thing, and the big fires made it look like a simple shadow, but he was sure of what it was. _

_It was a monster._

"_What are you doing with that kid, anyway?" the monster asked. "Shouldn't you have just killed him already and been done with it?"_

_Jeice noticed the monster seemed annoyed at the mean man, and he knew there had to be a reason for that. Maybe because it wanted to have dinner and the mean man hadn't cooked Jeice yet._

_The thought of being cooked made him even more scared, but this time, he didn't start kicking or anything. This monster scared him so much that he couldn't move in front of it._

"_Sirr, this kid seems to be much strronger than 'e should be," the mean man said. "Even though 'e is verry young, his powerr level seems to be higherr than that of an averrage adult."_

_The monster chuckled, again sounding amused. _

"_But I thought you were meant to be leaps and bounds in strength above every other member of your race, Salza," the monster said. "Are you somehow implying that I should get rid of you and get this kid in your place?"_

_Out of the corner of his eye, Jeice saw the mean man quickly extend a hand, and speaking in an even more scared tone._

"_No, no, of course not, sirr!" he said. "I am farr stronger and farr morre loyal than 'e could everr 'ope to be! And if you still need any morre prroof of that, I'll give it! I prromise!"_

_The monster didn't say anything for a good moment, and the only noises that could be heard were the mean man breathing very quickly and the big fires that were far away._

_But then, the monster chuckled again._

"_Don't worry, Salza, I know you're strong, and I also know you're loyal," he said. "After all, you have purged your own home-planet as a sign of loyalty toward me, and have already done the same to every other of your planet's satellites besides this one. And you have done that all on your own. In spite of what it may seem, I know how to recognize loyalty and strength when I see it, and I do not forget such good services. Rest assured, your place in my army is guaranteed."_

_The mean man sighed in relief, but Jeice didn't. He couldn't be relieved in front of the monster. He could only get more scared. _

"_But wait a second." the monster said, speaking in a different manner. "Is this kid already old enough to survive on regular food?"_

_The mean man made a weird noise after the monster spoke, which somehow made Jeice guess he was confused._

"_Well, if the babies frrom Ostrr's inhabitants can be comparred to those back in Brrench, then yes, he can…" the mean man said, speaking more slowly for some reason. "But why do you ask such a thing, sirr?"_

"_Then don't kill him," the monster said. "He'll be more useful to us alive."_

_The mean man made the same noise again. _

"_What do you intend to do with 'im, sirr?" he asked. "Arre you thinking of trraining 'im to serrve in yourr arrmy?"_

_The monster shook its head, and said, "No, of course not. Raising children to be a part of my army isn't something I favor. As much as it may increase their loyalty toward me, the initial years demand too much effort. It's better to have already adult warriors to serve me, even if they only do so out of fear of their own deaths."_

"_Then why arre we keeping 'im, sirr?" the mean man asked._

_The monster immediately raised its arm, one finger pointing upwards, "Because I know someone who is interested in raising kids to become members of his army when they grow up. And I'm fairly sure that if I give him one as unique as that brat appears to be, I can get something in exchange. Maybe two or three planets from his empire, or a few tens of his soldiers… either way, I can earn something out of that kid."_

_The mean man made another weird noise. _

"_I see," he said, again speaking more slowly than usual._

_Jeice couldn't see anything about the monster's face, but he had a sudden feeling that it was smiling, and it was not a smile like the ones his mother or father gave him. It was one that was as scary as everything else about the monster._

"_Good," the monster said, sounding satisfied. "In that case, and also as a reward for your loyalty, watch me finishing this particular part of the job as well. I need to have some fun of my own."_

_Jeice had the impression the mean man nodded his head, and then, a small pink 'cooking light' appeared over the tip of the finger that the monster had kept raised for some time now. _

_Jeice froze, thinking the monster would cook him now, but instead it turned around and pointed his finger straight at the place where the big fires were, before the pink dot became a pink line that flew toward the place. _

_Moments later, all the fires in the distance disappeared, as a much bigger one that seemed to swallow them all up appeared, releasing a wind so intense that Jeice put his hands in front of his eyes, as the loudest noise he had ever heard reached them, and more tears started running down his face, pushed out by the biggest fear he'd ever felt._

* * *

><p>That was the last drop.<p>

The small bit of Jeice's consciousness had handled the replaying of the two previous memories in spite of the lack of experience in that department thanks to the fact such experiences had been fairly non-traumatic, in spite of how much his existence had been in danger. But for him, having not only to relive such horrors but to feel all over again the amount of pure terror that had been associated to the experience had simply been far too much. And as if the fear he'd felt upon reliving that massive explosion had served as a super mind-stimulant, the small bit of consciousness he'd retained finally managed to overpower the hurricane of everything that kept going on around him.

'STOP THAT!' he mentally shouted, mentally releasing something akin to an explosion of energy released through his body.

Like it had happened when he'd relived those memories of his past, the blur was ripped away from him, but this time, the knife-stab associated to the flashbacks he'd experience wasn't present, and instead of settling on some previous moment of his life, he had gone back to Frieza's ship on Planet Namek, and could see the ground quickly approaching his face.

In spite of his massive mental fatigue, Jeice managed, out of sheer reflex, to put his hands down in order to somewhat steady his landing, and although his arms quaked slightly upon his landing – leaving two hand-shaped indents on the ship's floor in the process – the damage could have been far worse.

Still, even that small task seemed to take his last bit of strength out of him, and moments after having fallen on his hands and knees, he fell down on his stomach, breathing heavily, with his head still swimming in spite of him no longer being subjected to Goku's mind-reading, and the healing fluid that coated the floor soaking the whole front of his body.

Then, out of nowhere, a quick succession of splashes that grew ever louder and closer was heard, and Goku's shadow came over him, as the Saiyan pulled him up to his knees, and then gently supported his side as Jeice tried to get his breath back.

"Jeice!" Goku said in alarm, his breathing also slightly heavier than usual, as if he'd just been thrown away with moderate force. "Are you alright?"

Taking another deep breath, Jeice glared at Goku as intensely as he could, unable to repress his anger at the Saiyan.

"I ain't EVER lettin' ya do that again," he managed to wheeze out before taking another deep breath.

Rather than being mad at Jeice's tone or words, Goku just gave him an apologetic look, clearly very regretful of what Jeice had had to endure – even though he probably wasn't even sure of what it was.

"I'm sorry you had to go through that," Goku whispered, his tone matching his expression and words. "I have very little practice with this skill yet, and I've never used it to see years' worth of memories of someone's life. Until now, the longest period I saw was of six days."

Momentarily forgetting about his pressing need to get his breath back, Jeice looked at the Saiyan in utter bewilderment, his left eyebrow raised to such an extent that it blended perfectly into his wet bangs. Had the Saiyan really dared to use a skill he didn't have a full grip on? Jeice would never assume that he was an expert on mind-reading, as he didn't even know such a thing existed until very recently, but he assumed it was the sort of thing that could go very wrong if one didn't know what he was doing. Granted, nothing too hazardous seemed to have happened to him, but he knew he could have been less fortunate.

"And I'm also sorry for whatever you may have had to see that you didn't want to," Goku added, sounding even more regretful than he had before.

His heart clenching at those words, Jeice lowered his head, knowing far too well what the Saiyan was mostly referring to. He'd always wondered where he had come from, what had happened to his parents, and how he had ended up in Frieza's army. Now, thanks to how this mind-reading had allowed him to remember things that should have remained forgotten, he had his answer. But it was one he didn't want to think of at all.

Seeing the dead bodies of his father and mother through that flashback had been even more terrifying than when he had watched Burter and Recoome being killed by Ginyu, and the fact he could truly remember what he had felt now made it ten times worse. He'd guessed his planet couldn't have had a very bright end, and the same should have happened to his parents, but now he realized that no matter how he'd been certain that his assumption was correct, seeing it and knowing it was true made it heartbreaking to a whole new level.

And yet, he still found it in himself to ask more questions to himself.

Who was that Salza guy who had killed his parents? He seemed to be of Jeice's race, and he had been wearing battle armor, that, although of a design Jeice had never seen, was very similar to that of all soldiers in Frieza's forces. But Jeice had never heard of the guy, which didn't make sense, because someone strong enough to wave wiped out all of Jeice's race on his own would be so powerful that the entire World Trade Organization was meant to know who he was. After all, everyone knew of Zarbon, Dodoria, or Cui, and none of them would have been strong enough for such a feat, at least from what Jeice had gathered from his flashback. In fact, judging from his estimations, even the Ginyu Force would have been unable of such a feat.

Then why didn't he know about Salza? Had the guy somehow died before Jeice had started learning about the most important Frieza soldiers? Or could there be a different explanation for why Jeice had never learned about the murderer of his entire population?

As his thoughts strayed that way, Jeice's puzzlement started to shift into barely controlled anger, and his right fist clenched as if Salza was small enough to fit inside it and was already there, ready to be crushed. He may never have heard of the guy up until now, but he instantly vowed that if he ever saw the creep again, he would give him much more than the bloody nose he'd given him on their last encounter! And he would do the same thing to the monster as well.

Thinking about that being who had given him the chills again caused Jeice's mental focus to change completely in a second. Who had been that 'monster' after all? Had it been Frieza in some form Jeice had never seen him using? Or had it been someone else entirely, someone who Jeice also had never heard about in spite of having spent his existence serving under Frieza?

Whoever it was, Jeice knew that the monster looked like Frieza, and had a strong feeling that it knew Frieza, judging from how it had voiced its intentions to use Jeice as currency to get something it wanted. Unless there was some intermediary between the monster and Frieza, that accursed tyrant had to know the monster.

But from where, that was something only Frieza himself knew for sure.

A comforting hand suddenly laid itself on his right shoulder, and another grabbed his left upper arm, bringing Jeice out of his thoughts.

Somehow managing to feel touched by the gesture in spite of the turmoil of feelings and thoughts inside him, he looked up at Goku, and the Saiyan looked back, even as he pulled him up. Once they were standing to their full height, Goku looked down at him, which was required because of their difference in height.

"Look, Jeice, once this is over, I promise I'll help you on whatever you need to the fullest extent of my capabilities," Goku promised, a solemn look on his face. "But right now, there are other things to take care of. Unless my senses are fooling me, Frieza's almost done with Vegeta, and if I don't get there soon, he will not only kill him, but move on to someone else."

Jeice's heart jumped up in startle when Goku said those words. He had been so overwhelmed by everything he had ended up experiencing as a result of Goku's mind-reading that he had completely forgotten about Frieza being on the same planet as them, and being more of a threat right now than he had ever been before.

But regardless of his lapse, he knew the Saiyan was right. Frieza had to be dealt with first. Jeice could start thinking about what he'd learned about his past and work on finding answers for all his doubts once that bastard was dealt with him.

"If you want to, you can stay here," Goku added. "But if you want to come along, feel free as well. Just don't get in my way once the fighting starts, alright? Frieza's so strong by now that I'm not sure even I can defeat him."

Jeice's left eyebrow rose again, even higher than it had before. In spite of him not having said anything with true confidence in victory, Goku had spoken as though there was a realistic change of him winning against Frieza. As he knew how to sense energies, and appeared to be much less conceited than Vegeta, he was most likely speaking the truth. But still, Jeice couldn't believe his statement had any sort of logic to it. Goku's base power level had been 90,000 when he had fought Ginyu, and although he had that technique that enabled him to multiply his power level for an yet-unknown value, even Frieza's weakest form had been several times stronger than Goku's base back then, and the tyrant had transformed three times since then.

Granted, Vegeta had also shown absurd increases in power recently, but for Goku to have a sizeable chance at winning, any increase in strength he had gained had to be much bigger than any of Vegeta's, even considering his power-multiplying technique. Just how strong had he managed to become through this healing?

Jeice's mind quickly started to slip down another ramp of questions, but before he completely succumbed to it, he noticed that Goku seemed to be staring at him, and an instant afterwards, remembered that the Saiyan expected a reply from him.

"Right," he said, adding a slight nod of acknowledgment to his answer.

Goku nodded back, and then turned on a different direction.

"What about you, Dende?" he asked. "Are you coming, or do you want to stay here?"

Jeice's eyes briefly widened for the second time. He'd also completely forgotten about the little Namekian's presence.

"I'm coming along," Dende immediately replied. "If someone out there is hurt or gets hurt, I'll have to heal that person, and I need to be there to do it."

A slightly surprised look on his face at the little Namekian's decisiveness, Goku said, "Alright then. But make sure that you heal whoever gets injured at a place where Frieza can't see you, because if he realizes you can do that he'll kill you for sure."

Dende nodded fiercely in response.

"Alright then," Goku said. "In that case, let's go."

Not waiting for them to answer this time, Goku started turning around toward the wall. But even before he'd turned halfway around, Jeice raised a hand toward him, as another sudden thought rushed through his mind.

"Wait there, mate!" he called. "Didja at least end up learnin' what ya wanted?"

Jeice didn't know why he was asking that, but something in him felt compelled to do so, as if somehow knowing that the ordeal he'd gone through would have some positive effects on this battle would help him to overcome this.

Freezing mid-turn when he haid Jeice's voice, Goku looked back at him, a sorrowful look on his face.

"Yes, I did," he replied, his voice sounding honest, but strangely regretful, as if in spite of having seen what he had wanted, he had also seen a lot of things that he would have preferred not to see.

But Jeice didn't have the time to question him on that, as a split-second after he answered, there was an explosion of pieces of metal, and next thing Jeice knew, much of the wall had been turned into a large hole, through which the white trail of Goku shooting off toward the battlefield could be seen.

Barely blinking at the new development, Dende flew out through the hole after Goku, but Jeice kept standing where he was, and in spite of everything he'd gone through recently, he couldn't help but to wonder in a somewhat humorous fashion why Frieza's ship had doors at all, if almost no one would use them to get either in or out.

He briefly chuckled at his unvoiced attempt at a joke, knowing that Burter, Recoome, and Guldo would have found that one absolutely hilarious if he'd told it to them. Still, a pang in his heart immediately erased any traces of will to laugh from him, as the memories of his dead comrades flashed across his mind's eye.

Out of the three of them, only Guldo hadn't met his end because of the direct upholding of Frieza's ideals, and even in his case, he had been killed by someone who wanted to follow in that tyrant's footsteps one way or another, just like that guy who had killed Jeice's parents, and just like the monster that guy worked for.

Under different circumstances, Jeice would have again started going along one of his chains of thoughts, but with Goku's reminding about Frieza's current status still fresh in his mind, he managed to remind himself for once that now wasn't the time to think about that. Like Goku and Dende, he had to get to the place where Frieza and the others were. Even if he couldn't directly help on the battle against Frieza, he would still be able to give moral support, or at least serve as a spectator to Frieza's death.

And somehow, after what he'd been able to remember thanks to Goku reading his mind, he wanted to do at least that, even if it was the last thing he would ever do.

* * *

><p><em>Up next: <em>_Goku, Jeice and Dende finally make it back to the battlefield, but while they were away, Frieza has carried on with his beating of Vegeta, which has left the Saiyan in a condition that is far from desirable. __What will happen? Find out next!_

_Hoping you enjoyed the chapter,_

_Genescritor_


	20. Chapter 20: More revelations for Goku

**From Enemy To Student**

**- a Dragon Ball Z fanfiction -**

**Chapter 20 – More revelations for Goku  
><strong>

_Disclaimer: I do not own, in any way, any official property related Dragon Ball, such as the anime, its characters, related movies, and so on. However, I hope to supplement that glorious work of art with my fanfictions, such as this one. _

_I would also like to point out that this fanfiction was originally written by Gonstika, from whom I adopted it, and many of the concepts and plot-points featured in its chapters are originated by Gonstika as well._

_With that said, I hope you enjoy the story._

* * *

><p><em>On Planet Namek, before Goku left Frieza's ship…<em>

As blow after blow kept coming down on his exposed back, new waves of pain rushed through Vegeta's body, causing him significant physical pain, which he seemed to have been experiencing far too frequently since he'd landed on Planet Earth. Although he had been faring relatively well against the most basic state of Frieza's final form, he'd been unable to have any semblance of control of the fight ever since the tyrant had decided to kick things up a notch. No matter how focused he was on the fight, or how much power there was behind Vegeta's attacks, Frieza dodged or countered everything as though it was a mere annoyance, before alternating between landing bone-crunching hits on Vegeta and smacking him around like a bothersome insect.

Until a while ago, that was, as Frieza had recently decided to deliver his beatings in another manner, and had started squeezing Vegeta's neck inside his tail as he pelted his back with punches after punches, while the Saiyan tried as well as he could to pry the thick tail off his throat, looking sorrier than he ever had after the beating he'd taken from the tyrant. Bruises and cuts covered him all over, his armor had fallen off a long ago, and most of his bodysuit also had vanished, exposing the right side of his upper body and his left leg. Vegeta desperately tried to summon every possible bit of resistance he could muster, but now that he was as injured and exhausted as he had been when crawling toward his Space Pod to escape Earth, he could only keep his hands wedged between Frieza's tail and his neck, which merely served to keep its grip loose enough for him to still be able to breathe – for the time being. His last remnants of energy were quickly being drained from him, and once he was completely spent, Frieza would be free to choke him to death, or kill him in whatever other nasty manner he had planned, without Vegeta being able to do anything to stop it.

Still, even through his extreme despair at his predicament and the considerable amount of pain he was experiencing from the constant punches, both those feelings were superseded by the anger and frustration he felt at how things were going all wrong.

He should be a Super Saiyan! He should be taking the most powerful of Frieza's hits without even sensing them, and have enough power to flatten the tyrant with a mere flick of his finger if he chose to, which wasn't even near the most amazing feats that the Super Saiyan was capable of according to legend! As much as legends could exaggerate, if Vegeta had truly become a Super Saiyan, he should be annihilating Frieza effortlessly anyway! However, in spite of the remarkable increase in power he'd gotten thanks to healing from that mortal injury and of the multiple attempts at ascending into a Super Saiyan that he'd made during this battle, using the most varied means he could think of, there had been no moment when he had as much as sensed the power of the Super Saiyan state, and now with his energy reserves so depleted, he doubted that moment would ever come for him. But what did that mean exactly? Was the Super Saiyan really just a legend after all? Or was Vegeta, in spite of his dramatic increases in power, still too weak to be anywhere near the level required to become a Super Saiyan?

Ordinarily, such thoughts would have caused a substantial amount of rage to flow through him followed by the release the most intense explosion of energy he could unleash, but now, with his energy supply being so depleted and Frieza's current power level dwarfing his own even when he was at full strength, the Saiyan Prince could only feel despair like he had never known before weighing down on him, so intensely that he could not even hold back his tears, which constantly dripped down his face as if squeezed out by the tyrant's punches.

But even Frieza seemed to have his limit for how long he could torture someone in the same manner, because eventually, after Vegeta's back had been reduced to little more than a stain of a blue comparable to that of his bodysuit, Frieza finally halted that constant flurry of punches. However, before Vegeta could even take a breath, the tyrant roughly pulled him back with his tail, and then turned the rest of his body around, before releasing Vegeta's neck and delivering an uppercut to the Saiyan's chin, which sent the Saiyan flying upwards for hundreds of meters. Then, Frieza disappeared from where he was, and reappeared in Vegeta's path, smacking him with his coiled tail, which sent Vegeta crashing down toward the Namekian soil. Instants before the Saiyan impacted into the planet, Frieza appeared in his path once again, his left elbow poised forward to strike the Saiyan's back. Fear bursting through him, Vegeta desperately tried to summon the concentration that would be required to dodge at least this hit, but any efforts from him were fruitless, and his back slammed straightly onto the tyrant's elbow. Vegeta tried to gasp in pain upon being hit, but his throat was so scratchy that no sound left it, and right when the air left his mouth, Frieza clasped his hands together, and clobbered Vegeta down toward the ground, making him fall flat on his back and stir up a considerable cloud of dust.

In the subsequent moments, Vegeta simply stayed there, lying flat on his back, while trying to both get his breath back and to cough out all the dust that had entered his system.

"This is starting to bore me, Vegeta," Frieza remarked in an annoyed tone after Vegeta's coughing had subsided. "You're not even yelling in protest of the pain anymore. I had expected that you would be able to withstand much more than this, but it seems that your weakness has curtailed my fun."

Vegeta's facial expression shifted in a manner that suggested a sneer, but then a cough left his mouth, followed by another mouthful of dust. However, no words came from him, as his throat was too scratchy for him to speak and thus prevented him from answering even if he wanted to.

"But you know, I'm starting to feel sorry for you," the tyrant carried on. "Let me abbreviate your pain."

Before Vegeta could even fully register those words, Frieza latched his right hand onto the left side of Vegeta's bodysuit and lifted his torso slightly off the ground, before bringing his left hand backwards, all of its fingers poised forward as if he intended to run the Saiyan through with his bare hand. And if that was what he wanted, he would have little trouble doing it at his current power level.

The thought of ending up run-through yet again caused a shiver of fear to rush through Vegeta. He'd experienced the feeling once, and he didn't look forward to feeling it a second time, mainly if it ended killing him. He inwardly cringed at the fact he was displaying such a feeling, but he simply wasn't in a state fit to mask it.

As if he'd read Vegeta's thoughts, Frieza smiled wider in an apparent attempt to intensify that feeling, and then looked to the left, as if he had seen something worthy of his attention there.

"If you want to save him, you're welcome to try," Frieza said. "But don't expect to be successful."

Somehow managing to feel enough curiosity to wonder just who Frieza was talking to, Vegeta looked to the right, and saw Krillin, Gohan, and Piccolo standing about twenty-five meters away. Apparently, he had ended up crashing fairly close to them – certainly because Frieza wanted to give them a horror show before choosing one of the group to be his next victim.

Frieza shifted his look back to Vegeta, and once again, the Saiyan shuddered, unable to stop himself from closing his eyes in fear at the prospect of impending death.

Seeming to think that he had scared Vegeta enough, Frieza let out an ear-piercing screech, and then thrust his hand forward like a deadly spear. However, moments before the tips of Frieza's nails touched Vegeta's torso, the Saiyan prince's saving grace arrived.

Cutting through the air at speeds that Vegeta couldn't even conceive, a blur of movement touched down only dozens of meters away, the gust of wind it left upon landing being intense enough to startle Frieza and make him halt his finishing blow.

That was the last thing Vegeta felt, before, a mere split-second after the air rushed over him, the combination of exhaustion, pain, and a close encounter with death caused him to lose consciousness, his head falling limply backwards.

* * *

><p>Having a sharp hearing as a result of his Namekian heritage, Piccolo was the first to hear the approaching blur, but even he did not have time to turn around before it landed, less than 10 meters away from them, releasing a strong wind upon touchdown. However, he had enough time to see that the blur was largely a rather unique shade of orange, and the identification of that trait enabled the Namekian to easily guess what it was, even without sensing its energy signature for confirmation.<p>

It was Goku, countless times stronger than he had been before judging from his energy-signature, and looking nothing short of serious and focused for the battle that would soon start. By Piccolo's side, Gohan and Krillin immediately smiled with glee upon seeing him, and even the Namekian couldn't stop himself from letting out a sigh of relief at his ex-rival's entrance. Maybe with his help, they would be able to take down Frieza.

Seemingly not taking notice of the reactions that met his arrival, Goku stood up and surveyed the scene with his gaze, while at the same time standing as still as solid rock. He gave Piccolo an almost imperceptible nod of greeting upon seeing him, and relief was visible in his eyes when they skimmed over Gohan and Krillin, but even that was nearly unnoticeable. The most visible of his actions was when he finally spotted Frieza, and his eyes widened significantly in what appeared to be astonishment, as if he was surprised either at someone as strong as Frieza being so puny, or at Vegeta being in such a condition. But if it was either of those things, Piccolo didn't think it made much sense for Goku to feel that way, because he wasn't naïve enough to judge opponents by their looks, and he should have had a very good idea of what Vegeta was going through by sensing his energy signature.

In spite of his own puzzlement at Goku's reaction, Piccolo didn't dwell on the topic further. As long as Goku's amazement didn't impair his fighting skills in any way, he could live with it.

After several seconds, Goku's eyes returned to their normal size, and he started walking toward him.

"It seems I again cut it closer than I had imagined," he remarked, apparently speaking to himself and not to any of them. "If I'd made it here a split-second later, Vegeta would be dead by now."

His stern look switching for a more humorous smirk, he finally focused his eyes on their group, and said, "However, it seems that for once I managed to get to the battlefield without you being all beat up."

Giving Goku a slight smirk of his own, Piccolo replied, "Well, I'm pretty sure you can guess by now who helped us in that department."

Goku didn't reply, but his knowing look conveyed well enough that he knew what Piccolo meant. But on the other hand, the Namekian became doubtful thanks to his own words.

"By the way, while we are on that matter, where is he?" he asked, hoping that Goku knew whom he was referring to.

From the answer he gave, Piccolo could tell he didn't, but still, the Saiyan's reply was elucidative enough for him.

"Both of them are healthy, and both of them are coming back here," Goku replied. "They will only take longer than I did, because they aren't as fast."

Piccolo nodded. He wasn't all that worried about the red-skinned guy, but, mostly thanks to the part of him that came from Nail, he was relieved to know that Dende was alright.

Just in case, he quickly focused his energy senses on the direction Goku had come from, and sure enough, both Dende and Jeice were flying toward them – or, more accurately, Jeice was again carrying Dende while he flew. Apparently Dende had for some reason accepted being carried a second time.

While Piccolo made his assessment, both Gohan and Krillin took the chance to run toward Goku, obviously very eager to speak with him.

"Hey, dad! Welcome back!" Gohan shouted, while still smiling pleasantly.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Krillin asked, not missing a heartbeat, while sounding and looking considerably more anxious than Gohan.

Focusing on Gohan for a moment, Goku gave him a warm smile, and then shifted his gaze so that he looked at both of them.

"I'm better than I have ever been before," he replied. "And I'm proud of all of you for lasting this long."

Upon saying that, he ruffled Gohan's neatly cut hair, causing him to giggle with obvious joy.

Then, as if a button had been flipped, Goku's warm smile was again replaced by the same stern look he'd first had on his face upon arriving to the battlefield.

"But you can take a backseat now," Goku said, his tone perfectly matching the seriousness of his expression. "I'll take care of this."

In spite of his extremely developed hearing, Piccolo couldn't help but be amazed, and actually wondered whether his ears had somehow fooled him.

"What are you saying?" Krillin shouted, the anxiety of his expression shifting to pure shock.

Not hearing Goku replying to that statement, Piccolo turned away from the direction where he sensed Dende and Jeice to focus back on his former rival – and in doing so, he caught the bone-chilling look that Frieza was giving Goku.

Somehow managing not to let himself be deterred by that, Piccolo stepped toward Goku, and said, "Are you kidding? Surely you don't intend to fight him alone! You won't stand a chance!"

"Don't worry," Goku replied in an almost dismissive tone, before turning toward Frieza and starting to walk toward the tyrant, every bit of his stance betraying both a sense of calm confidence and a contained anger that Piccolo wasn't entirely sure about why it existed in the first place.

"Please, daddy, be careful," Gohan whispered as his father passed by him and Krillin.

"That's right!" the bald fighter added. "Watch out for that tail most of all!"

Goku didn't answer any of those. He simply continued his slow, secure walk toward Frieza, doing so in such a manner that Piccolo immediately understood that there would be no point in trying to talk him out of it. Besides, he just looked so confident that the Namekian couldn't help but to think maybe he could win.

'He may look sure of himself, but it seems he doesn't know what sort of monster he's about to face,' Piccolo thought, feeling a few beads of sweat starting to form on his forehead. No matter how many challenging opponents Goku had faced before – among which was Piccolo himself – Frieza's strength was far beyond belief.

'But who knows, maybe he won't get in over his head,' the Namekian added, reflecting on how Goku's strength seemed to have been increasing in a very similar manner ever since the fight against Raditz.

Hopefully, he had somehow managed to pull off another drastic increase out of his bag and would be able to stand against Frieza thanks to it.

Because otherwise, they would all be done for.

* * *

><p>Clenching his fists in a manner that conveyed contained anger to anyone who would be watching, Goku carried on with his controlled walk toward Frieza, who dropped Vegeta when he saw him approaching, and fully turned toward him, his stance looking so similar to something he'd seen in Jeice's memories that Goku had to intensify his efforts at concealing his considerable amazement. He succeeded, but at the same time he couldn't help to find it a bit of a redundant effort, as he'd probably let some visible signs leak through earlier on.<p>

But he hadn't been able to help it. When he had first spotted Frieza, he'd been utterly taken aback by the similarity this form of Frieza had to the monster that he had seen in Jeice's memories. While Goku hadn't been able to recognize most details, the basic shape was, to say the least, very similar. In fact, it was similar enough for Goku to wonder whether the monster in Jeice's memories had been Frieza assuming this form that Jeice had never seen in his later years.

That could be true, but Goku wasn't entirely sure, mainly because the monster had said that it had intended to trade Jeice for other sorts of possessions. While the trade could have failed, it was also possible the monster hadn't been Frieza, although it had most certainly been someone of the same species.

Whatever the answer, Goku had an idea on how to find it out.

"So you're Frieza, huh?" he asked, stopping about 10 meters away from the tyrant. "You're a lot smaller than I imagined."

Smiling indulgently at the not-so-implied insult, Frieza replied, "I may be small, but I had no problem demolishing the pride of this monkey here."

That checked it. Frieza was not the monster from Jeice's memories. His voice hadn't sounded similar to that monster's in any way. Instead, it had sounded exactly like the one Frieza had possessed in his weakest form. So, the monster had to be someone else. But who?

Still curious enough to want to figure it out, Goku decided to keep making small talk, while taking it toward a path that would give him the answer.

"I can see that," he replied. "And for that matter, I can also see that you and your race seem to have a problem with your personality, considering the kind of evil you spread across the Universe."

Frieza's eyes opened wider upon hearing Goku saying 'and your race', as if he was for some reason surprised at the fact he knew there were others like him. And although he quickly pulled himself together, that small slip-up was enough for Goku to know he'd struck a nerve one way or another.

"I don't know what you mean by my race, but whatever it is, you're wrong if you assume there are others like me," Frieza said in one of the smuggest tones Goku had ever heard. "I am one of a kind, and I can't be compared to anyone else."

If he'd have to judge Frieza only by the response he'd given to this statement, Goku would have believed he was telling the truth, but right now he simply judged him to be a literally flawless actor, who for some reason seemed not to want anyone to know about his race.

"Well, if that's really true, I have to say it's a relief," Goku replied in a biting tone. "The Universe is much better off without any other being taking after you in any way, no matter how remotely."

He could hear slight gasps of amazement from his friends when he said that, and the fluctuations in their energy signature told him the very same thing. Indeed, they were bound to be surprised at Goku not only acting as smug, but also at taking the time to insult and mock an opponent, which was something he didn't usually do, no matter how subtly. But this time, he chose that option to see if Frieza would incidentally reveal any information that could hint at who was the monster in Jeice's memories. If that monster was still around, it also had to be dealt with in some way.

Like Goku had expected, Frieza's expression immediately shifted when he heard such criticisms to his race, his look going from calm and mild to so enraged that it seemed he was about to throw himself at Goku.

But moments before he did so, both of them were distracted by a low sound that was a mix of a moan and a groan. Looking in that direction, both of them saw Vegeta's body twitching, signaling his return to consciousness. Moments afterwards, the Saiyan turned his head to the right in what seemed a supremely demanding task, his eyes focusing on Goku.

"It-t-t-t's you, K-k-k-kakarot," he moaned. "Y-y-you're here."

Frieza raised an eyebrow at those words.

"Kakarot?" he said as if the name rang a bell in his head. "That name…" he turned to Goku. "Are you a Saiyan?"

Goku didn't reply, finding that the question was ambiguous enough to have two different answers. He'd been a Saiyan in the sense that he was born on Planet Vegeta, but he was an Earthling in soul, and for him, that was what was truly important. And if his answer was different from Frieza's guess, they could end up debating the matter for too long, which was something Goku wasn't interested in. The only thing he'd remotely want to debate about was anything that would help him to find out the answers to the questions he'd had ever since reading Jeice's mind.

Frieza didn't seem to require an answer, though, as his eyes soon widened, this time in recognition.

"That's it!" he said. "You look just like that Saiyan who faced me right when I was about to destroy Planet Vegeta! You might even be his son!"

Goku took notice of Frieza's mention of someone who might have been his father, but he didn't comment on it. Considering the Saiyan standard of personality and the fact the only relative of his he'd ever known had been a bastard, his father shouldn't be the most ideal of people to be around, and Goku had most certainly ended up better off by never knowing him, as depressing as it could be to think like that.

"I didn't come here to talk," he said. "I came here to teach you a lesson, so I suggest you get ready for it," he added in an even more aggressive tone, finding that the way things were going, Frieza wouldn't end up answering any of his questions, and so there was no point in delaying the inevitable.

Frieza's cold smile returned when he heard the issued challenge.

"We'll see about that," he said. "Ready?"

Not waiting for Goku to reply, he disappeared from where he stood, and reappeared by him instantly afterwards.

"Let's go!" he shouted, bringing his tail down on the Saiyan like a whip thicker than Goku's arm.

Moments before it struck, Goku disappeared from where he stood and reappeared by Frieza's right, bringing a foot forward to slam it on the tyrant's chin. As a result, he went flying away, leaving a trail made by a cloud of dirt as he skimmed along the ground. After some dozens of meters, he managed to flip into an upright position and landed on one knee and one hand. He remained in that position for a few moments, before finally standing up, rubbing the purple bruise adorning his right cheek with a mild look of pain on his face.

"Did you see that?" Goku heard Krillin asking. "Goku really got better since we last saw him fight."

He was vaguely aware of Gohan saying something in reply to Krillin's comment, but he couldn't make out the word, as he was too far away to listen properly and too focused on paying attention to Frieza, who had reassumed his wicked smirk, moments before pointing his right index finger at him.

"Watch out, Goku!" Krillin shouted at him. "Dodge that thing!"

No sound was heard from anyone or anything in response to his warning.

"Everyone, hit the dirt!" he added. A moment afterwards, Goku heard a twin sound that told him both Krillin and Gohan had done just that.

"You're too proud, Saiyan," Frieza said, punctuating his sentence by firing a beam of energy that turned the whole area into many shades of pink.

Goku remained where he stood, and as soon as the beam came within proper distance, he batted it aside with his right hand. The attack flew a considerable distance away before exploding, causing the area to return to its normal colors right afterwards, and Frieza's eyes to widen in amazement.

But in a matter of moments, the tyrant overcame such an emotion, and his whole hand was enveloped by a sphere of energy, before a multitude of energy beams that looked exactly like the one from before were fired from it, all of them heading toward his foe's chest.

His look not losing any of its cold calm, Goku started deflecting all the attacks away with his right hand only, making every effort he could to ensure they would be turned away from his friends, and trying not to convey any sign of distress to the tyrant firing the beams at him.

* * *

><p>At that very moment, several kilometers away, Jeice skidded to a halt in midair, startled by the instant change of color in the scenery and by the Death Beams that could be seen falling around the place as if they'd come out of nowhere. His sudden stop caused Dende – who had accepted a second ride from Jeice after the soldier had caught up with him – to groan in obvious discomfort, but Jeice was so puzzled by what he was seeing that he barely paid any attention to it, and any grip he managed to keep on the little Namekian was due to either instinct or simply being so amazed that he forgot to let go.<p>

"What the…" he said to himself, the puzzlement in both his expression and voice showing his lack of belief in what he saw. "But just what's goin' on?" he blurted out, as if the sheer volume of his question would be enough to make him get an answer.

But of course, it didn't. The only response to his exclamation was a nearly inaudible scared sound from Dende, whose previous discomfort had been forgotten in the midst of the fear he felt at seeing this barrage of attacks further devastating his planet and hearing the continuous explosions they caused.

Jeice was not so caught up in his puzzlement or so distracted by watching and hearing the stray Death Beams exploding in front of them for not to notice what the child was feeling, but being aware of the kid's fear didn't do any good, because he simply didn't know how to react. He was used to fear, of course: he had caused others to experience it more times than he cared to count, and had even felt it himself on some occasions, most of which had actually taken place earlier today. But in the first case, he had grown used to that, and if he didn't want to deal with it, he could always blast whoever was scared into oblivion. In the second, it was just a matter of somehow getting rid of whatever was scaring him – usually in a manner that also involved destruction – and then denying he'd ever felt such a thing by covering it up with bravado and boasting, like all of Frieza's soldiers did.

None of that was an option in this case, though. He knew that in theory, the ideal would be comforting the kid, as that was what he'd seen parents doing to children who were afraid of him, but in practical terms, he didn't know how to do that. He briefly thought of trying to tell Dende not to be so scared, but he guessed that downplaying the kid's fear would do more harm than good at worst, and help nothing at best. Even though the World Trade Organization actively discouraged displaying any sort of emotional vulnerability, he was knowledgeable enough on the matter to know that such emotions couldn't be controlled.

In the end, it seemed better just to wait for all these attacks to end and then drop off the kid at the safest distance before closing in and try to get an idea of what was going on. Hopefully, the kid would have been able to somewhat pull himself together in the meantime and heal whomever had gotten injured upon being caught up in that storm of Death Beams.

Right as the thought came to him, one of the attacks, which seemed even more powerful than the others, flew toward him as if it had learned of his decision and wanted to make sure he wouldn't get too relaxed. The beam ate up the ground between them so quickly that Jeice barely could dodge sharply upwards, literally coming within millimeters of being either pulverized or run-through.

His heart beating mile-a-second, he looked toward the spot where he guessed the Death Beam would land, barely turning his head on time to see an entire archipelago located about two kilometers away being leveled, sending an explosion of stones, water, and destroyed vegetation up into the air.

"Whew!" he said, holding Dende to him with his left hand only in order to rub his other forearm across his forehead, wiping off imaginary sweat while he let out his sigh of relief. "That was a close one. I'll hafta pay more attention from now on."

Following his own advice, Jeice turned back around toward the spot from where the Death Beams kept radiating, trying to watch out for any that would come toward him, although right now none of those that came in his direction had enough power behind them to make it halfway to him before falling and exploding.

Seeing those attacks reminded Jeice of the puzzlement he felt just a moment ago, and stirred up his doubts about what could be taking place there. Either a very violent fight was taking place there, or Frieza was somehow trying to vent any feeling of anger by firing as many Death Beams as he could in every direction. Both of those were scenarios that Jeice didn't enjoy, as up until now, no one had ever been able to defeat Frieza whenever he decided to stop playing with kid's gloves, and if the tyrant was doing that to vent, whomever he was mad at had most certainly been turned into a sieve by now.

Whatever the case, he had to wait until the storm of Death Beams faded before going closer and seeing what was going on, like he had told himself so shortly before, as if he did anything else, he would only get himself killed.

Eventually, the pink light that had changed the color of the whole area faded, and no more beams came from that dreaded location.

By that time, Jeice had worked up so much anticipation that upon seeing he had free way to close in, he flew down to the closest island and set Dende down before the child even had time to fully realize what had happened.

"Stay here," he said, before quickly shooting off toward what he assumed was the battlefield, trying to ignore the shadow of dread caused by the thoughts of the sort of monster he would see upon arriving, and of how mangled would be the dead bodies of all those that had been in the vicinity.

At any other time, he might have decided to sneak in instead of flying so openly through the sky, but in his opinion, those Death Beams had certainly destroyed any potential hideout that could be close to the battlefield, and by now, Frieza should be so powerful that if he as much as caught a glimpse of Jeice, he'd be able to move over to him before Jeice had tried to hide again. Besides, he was too nervous to be capable of hiding decently.

When he got somewhat close, he saw that Piccolo, Gohan, and Krillin – the only ones visible anywhere near a column of dust located right on top of the center of that storm of beams – seemed to be alright, but although he was at least somewhat relieved by that knowledge, he couldn't help but to find it a bit weird, as he didn't think any of them would have been fast enough to dodge even one of those beams – much less an entire barrage of them – at such close range. Somehow, Frieza must have fired the Death Beams while deliberately avoiding hitting them.

Knowing there was only one way to know if his guess was right, he landed close to them, the question already building up in his vocal chords even before he landed.

As if their movement had been cued, all three of them turned toward him upon hearing his touchdown, although they had probably noticed his approach long before thanks to their energy sensing skills.

Seeing that Piccolo was starting to open his mouth, Jeice wasted no time in speaking, determined to get his doubts clarified.

"What's up?" he asked. "What did I miss?"

By the time he asked his first question, Piccolo looked as though he was about to start speaking himself, but held himself back. However, a few moments after Jeice had voiced his second doubt, the Namekian asked something himself, "Where is he?"

"I asked first!" Jeice instantly snapped, his curiosity intense enough to push that question further.

Piccolo's eyes narrowed upon hearing the complaint.

"Now's not the time to be childish," he berated in a gruff tone. "Where is he?"

Jeice could feel another protest making its way up his throat upon the Namekian's refusal to answer him, but right as it was about to leave his mouth, he grit his teeth and then mentally gulped to force his complain down. He was smart enough to know that if he and Piccolo started arguing, neither would get anywhere, and could even end up fighting, which was the last thing they should do at a time like this.

"'e's rather far away from 'ere," Jeice replied. "And before ya ask, 'e's fine, other than bein' a lil' bit frightened."

Piccolo didn't say anything, but his posture and expression relaxed just about enough to be visible after Jeice said those words, showing how the Namekian was relieved at knowing that Dende was alright for the most part.

With that matter out of the way, Jeice prepared to repeat his questions, but before he even started to make a sound, his eyes fell on the column of dust not too far away, which had dissipated enough for him to see the outline of Goku's figure, and realize that the Saiyan was not only unscathed, but somehow had – or at least appeared to have – deflected all the Death Beams that Jeice had seen flying about using his right hand only.

Jeice let out a gasp of amazement. Even if Goku hadn't truly deflected all those Death Beams with one hand, he had still become extraordinarily strong, considering how even Jeice himself wouldn't have been able to stand even against Frieza's third form, and Goku had managed to divert so many attacks from him in his fourth form without even using his strength-multiplying technique. As long as Frieza hadn't been lying about not having any further transformations beyond this one, they should have their victory assured after all.

But then again, he'd thought that many times before, and it had never proved true.

More of the column of dust kept settling down, now enabling everyone there to see Goku without any problem, and causing Jeice to hold his breath in dreadful anticipation. He knew he was about to finally see what Frieza had labeled as his 'true form', and if the tyrant's previous metamorphoses were anything to go by, then it had to be something monstrous, possibly worlds worse than the conception Jeice had made when Frieza had begun transforming for the third time.

His heart thudded in his ears, as if it was urging the dust to dispel faster, and slowly, Jeice could see another outline. But it didn't look anything like the giant monster with massive horns and long claws he'd been picturing. Instead, it looked small and lithe, no longer with menacingly sharp spikes protruding from his body. It looked like…

It.

The outline Jeice saw instantly reminded him the accursed creature responsible for the death of his parents and everyone else on his planet. That could only mean something: Frieza had been the one responsible for the demise of his race, and had deliberately prepared him to be just one more addition to his so-called army.

Memories of the fear he'd felt upon staring into Salza's cruel gaze and at seeing the monster destroying an entire city returned to him with the force of a meteorite impact, but this time, that fear was accompanied by utter fury that exploded through his being and was only comparable to what he'd felt when Ginyu had slaughtered Burter and Recoome. And behind that fury, came one resolution that seemed to burn into his mind with a laser beam: difference in strength be damned, Frieza would pay.

Unleashing an inarticulate cry of fury and an explosion of energy that prompted Piccolo to shield his eyes and Gohan and Krillin to throw themselves onto the ground for a second time, Jeice rushed forward at the remnants of the column of dust, murder written in every line of his expression.

Even before he got through the cloud of dust, though, a pair of powerful arms clamped themselves around him, pressing his arms to his body and instantly stopping his course. His heart jumping in scare at finding himself trapped, Jeice started flailing his legs as hard as he could and released another explosion of energy in an attempt to get himself free. However, he only managed to destroy the last remnants of the cloud of dust, getting a full vision of Frieza's final form – a short, pale-grey being with an almost frail appearance, looking at Jeice in that bone-chilling way he had once feared so much, but which now only intensified the rage that flooded him.

"Don't do that!" Goku shouted in his ear, not sounding distressed at all in spite of Jeice's frantic struggling. "He'll kill you if you get anywhere near him!"

Paying no attention to those words, Jeice let out another inarticulate cry and then pointed his palms at Frieza, unleashing the most powerful energy wave he could possibly gather in an instant. Undaunted, the tyrant simply waited for the attack to cross the ground that separated them, and then batted it back with a lazy flick of his tail so quickly that Jeice had no time to register his blast flying back toward him. Thinking fast, Goku spun to the right at a 90º angle and then kicked at the blast with his left leg, effortlessly sending it away toward space.

"Didn't you hear what I said?" Goku shouted again into Jeice's ear, speaking more forcefully than anyone else had ever heard him doing. "He's too strong for you to take him on!"

"'e killed mah family!" Jeice roared, still frantically trying to get himself free. "And I'm gonna kill 'im!"

Frieza's eyes widened slightly at hearing Jeice's first sentence. Clearly, it was a surprise to hear his former soldier saying such a thing seemingly out of the blue. But Jeice knew it wouldn't measure up to the surprise it would be for Frieza to find himself being beaten senseless by him.

For a moment, he almost managed to slip free, as Goku had apparently been surprised by his shout as well, but the Saiyan re-tightened his grip around him at the very last moment before Jeice broke free.

"It wasn't him!" Goku replied in a shout louder than ever before, traces of strain detectable in his voice for the very first time since he'd grabbed Jeice, "I heard his voice already, and I can tell it wasn't anything like that creature's. Frieza didn't kill your parents or your compatriots."

"Not that that makes him any less of a bastard," the Saiyan added as an afterthought, his voice thick with disgust at having been speaking in defense of such a tyrant, even if it had been to prevent someone from meeting his death.

Jeice kept struggling for a few moments longer, his mind seeming to take longer than usual to process information, but gradually, he stopped flailing his legs and trying to push Goku's arms off him, as the fury swelling inside him slowly decreased to a more manageable level. Sensing it was safe, Goku finally opened his arms, and Jeice fell down to the floor, as he'd stopped focusing on floating the moment he'd started struggling.

But as much as Jeice could be calmer now, he hadn't been completely placated by any means, and the look of anger he kept directing at Frieza fully conveyed that.

"If it wasn't 'im, it 'ad to be 'is brother or somethin'," Jeice growled. "The two of them look far too much alike!"

For a second time, Frieza's eyes bugged out, this time upon hearing Jeice's theory about his eventual relative, and more so than they had before. However, his puzzled look quickly shifted back to his normal cold expression, in perfect unison with his tail swaying back to a more normal position.

"Well Jeice, if it puts you at ease in any way, I wasn't the one who killed your certainly-worthless family," the tyrant said. "I simply bought you from the one who did it. And just so you know, although you were young, you cost me fifty standard soldiers, under the premise from the one who sold you that you'd be a worthy investment."

Finally hearing Frieza's voice, Jeice realized that Goku had been speaking the truth. Frieza's voice didn't sound like the monster's at all, so the two of them couldn't possibly have been the same. But that realization only made Jeice hold his breath in anticipation and look at Frieza as if trying to will the next words out of his mouth, certain that he would hear the name of the one who had destroyed his birth planet and sold him like a regular object anytime soon.

"It seems I was fooled, as not only you did betray me, but you were also meant not to have long-lasting damage caused by the killing you witnessed," Frieza carried on, as if he was expressing a random thought. "Or at least, I was assured you were far too young to remember. It seems I'll have to demand for compensation once I'm done with my business here."

"Who did it?" Jeice shouted, sick of waiting for any sort of incidental revelations, and his remaining fury urging him to know who had been the responsible for everything his life had been so that he could set his sights on a concrete goal.

Frieza didn't sound intimidated at all by his demand, but his cold, calm smile twisted into a displeased frown, as if he'd been pestered about the matter for a long time now.

"You don't need to worry so much about that," Frieza said, his usually cool voice now sounding slightly impatient, as if he was trying to dismiss the matter. "After all, your family should be most willing to answer any questions you may have once you meet them in the afterlife. And rest assured, I have no problem sending you there."

If Frieza had been the monster after all, any calm Jeice might have been feeling would have immediately been destroyed and he would have resumed his furious charge at the tyrant. But if Frieza had been the monster, Jeice wouldn't have calmed down in the first place. And now, although he was still furious and determined to find who had been the monster after all, some unease was starting to creep through him, as he'd gotten to see first-hand how low his chances would be against Frieza after the tyrant had deflected his attack in a virtually effortless manner.

"Sadly, though, I'll have to dispose of the Saiyan first," Frieza explained. "You see, he just rubbed me in too wrong a way for me to let him live any longer, in spite of the short time in which we've met. But don't worry, after I'm done with the monkey, I promise you'll be next."

Jeice didn't know what answer to give to those words, so he kept quiet, and flew in a half-circle through the air, landing about ten meters behind Goku. As much as Frieza had said that he wanted to deal with the Saiyan first, the tyrant had never been of the reliable sort after all.

Goku hadn't said anything in response to Frieza's words either, but, to Jeice's surprise, another person did.

"If I were you, I wouldn't be so sure about your victory, Frieza…" someone said in a low, stuttering voice, as if the one speaking had his throat or lungs too damaged to do so properly.

Recognizing the voice as belonging to Vegeta, Jeice raised an eyebrow in surprise and turned his head on the direction of the sound. Not too far off to Goku's left, the Saiyan Prince laid on his back, looking sorrier than Jeice had ever seen him, and the ground underneath him coated red by his own blood.

In spite of everything he'd already seen, Jeice couldn't repress a slight wince at seeing Vegeta's condition; not even when Recoome beat him down had the Saiyan ended up as damaged. If Frieza truly had taken the time to beat him so bad, he was even more of a bastard than Jeice had thought, as not even Recoome would take the time to beat someone so bad before killing them. In fact, it was a wonder Vegeta could speak at all, as a look at him would make anyone assume his lungs had been too damaged to be functional. Apparently, the Saiyan was even tougher than anyone would ever have dared to assume.

"Believe me, Freiza, you'd better fight seriously if you want to have any chance of winning…" Vegeta carried on. "Because he is what you fear the most! He is… the Super Saiyan!"

This time, Frieza's look of amazement lasted more than a few moments, and it was more intense than any he'd shown after hearing either of Jeice's remarks that implied him. But if Frieza was amazed, Jeice just about managed to stop himself from slapping his forehead in hopelessness.

Was Vegeta eternally doomed to being unable to learn basic facts? The Super Saiyan was a mere legend, and preaching about it would not be enough to make it true!

"He's the Super Saiyan… the warrior of legend…" Vegeta carried on, clearly determined to make the biggest possible impact on Frieza with his speech now that he was too damaged to do so with his fists, and his gaze seeming to grow infested with madness as he spoke further. "…the most powerful being in the Universe… you're done for!"

The last sentence was spoken in such a manner that it seemed more than ever he'd tried to drive a sword into Frieza, and by now, his look seemed so deranged that there appeared to be no sanity left in him. That very same madness shifting toward his smile, Vegeta started laughing so loudly that his lungs suddenly appeared to be in perfect condition, clearly intending his mad laughter to have an effect superior even to that of his words.

What came next was so quick that Jeice could barely register what happened. He saw a flash of grey as Frieza raised his arm, and next thing he knew, the whole area had become pink for an instant, and Vegeta had a Death Beam running through his heart, effectively cutting off his laughter, and causing everyone present to look at him as a collective gasp of amazement left their mouths.

The attack's explosion caused Vegeta to flop off the ground in something akin to a death-throw, before he fell down with a dull thud, gasping in pain as landing on his pierced back elicited him to cough a mouthful of blood.

"Vegeta, you should know by now that I don't tolerate idiocies," Frieza replied as he started to lower his right hand, before changing his mind halfway through the gesture and raising it again, pointing his index finger at Vegeta for a second time.

This time, however, no Death Beam came from it. Instead, Frieza fired a tiny, almost invisible sphere of energy, which left a trail of dirt parted in both directions as it flew toward the Saiyan before finally hitting him. Rather than exploding, though, the attack seemed to sink into Vegeta's body, causing him to flop off the ground for a second time – not as significantly as before, but still very visibly.

"And for the rest of you, if any of you makes any attempt at taking him away to heal him in whatever magical manner you've been using, I'm going to blow him up!" Frieza said. "And believe me, now that I fired that dot at him, I can do it with a single gesture. Ask Jeice if you don't believe me."

Jeice grit his teeth when he heard that. Indeed, he knew that any attempt at saving Vegeta would be useless now, no matter how much they wanted to. From the moment Frieza fired that sphere into any opponent's body, the poor devil was doomed, as the attack could not be removed, and the only possible fate was to end up exploding, like it was suggested by the name Frieza had given to the attack: "I Won't Let You Escape With Your Life!". And clearly, Goku had learned from it when he'd watched Jeice's memories, because if he hadn't, he would have most certainly rushed at Frieza in an attempt to do anything he could to stop the inevitable.

"It's about time I started actually killing someone around here," Frieza added, sneering in obvious distress at the reminder of how so many of his supposed killings had been unsuccessful.

At that comment, Goku looked at Frieza again, now looking like he was quivering with fury.

"Vegeta was so injured that he couldn't even move!" Goku shouted at him. "Who do you think you are to have the right of doing what you did?"

Looking considerably calmer at the fact that for once someone he was going to kill didn't have a chance of being healed, Frieza replied in his usual relaxed voice, "I think that if I didn't do what I did, one of you would take him away and heal him with whatever method you've been using to keep coming back to life when you should have been dead. And like I told you, I want to make sure all you vermin will be killed. Besides, Vegeta was getting too annoying with that Super Saiyan talk, and I can't stand annoying people."

"Kakarot, you can't keep preaching that mercy nonsense," Vegeta gasped out. "As long as you do it, that means you're still holding back, and therefore you're not a Super Saiyan, damn it!"

At any other time, Jeice would have felt exasperated by Vegeta's continuous insistence regarding the Super Saiyan, but now, hearing the despair in the Saiyan's voice as he spoke, he couldn't help but to feel sorry for him. It was clear that even in the brink of death, he was trying to hold onto what he believed to be their last hope of victory over Frieza.

"The only way you can beat him is if you harden your heart, you fool," Vegeta kept on scolding him, somehow managing to sound forceful in spite of his now weaker-than-ever voice. "You have to put aside your mercy. Then you might actually stand a chance at becoming a Super Saiyan!"

At that moment, Jeice braced himself, invaded by the sudden feeling that Vegeta might blow up anytime soon. After all, Frieza had said he was tired of hearing about the Super Saiyan, and although Vegeta was doomed anyway by this point, the tyrant could still choose to end things more quickly and blow him up at any time of his choosing.

As of now, Frieza didn't seem tempted to doing it, but he could change his mind anytime if this conversation carried on.

"I can't be wicked, Vegeta," Goku insisted. "I could never act as cold-blooded as you do, even if I thought it would make me stronger. Whatever this Super Saiyan thing is you're talking about, I think I'll get by just fine."

Momentarily forgetting his fear of having Vegeta potentially exploding almost on top of them, Jeice shifted his gaze toward Goku, again feeling taken aback, albeit for a different reason. Apparently, as different from regular Saiyans as Goku could be, he was still more like them than it seemed. At least, he had sounded as stubborn as Vegeta when he'd said that.

"The S-s-s-super Saiyan is…" Vegeta started, but his speech was cut-off as he coughed out yet more blood, causing Frieza to let out a chuckle of pleasure.

"Stop talking," Goku said in the most forceful tone he could. "You're only going to hasten your death if you do it!"

Vegeta opened his mouth to say something, but the only thing that came was another cough, causing more blood than ever to come out of his mouth.

"Please, Kakarot, you have to listen to me…" Vegeta insisted, not caring about his compatriot's warning.

Although Goku didn't repeat his words, Vegeta stopped there, as if saying that short sentence had drained him of most of his energy. For a moment, Jeice wondered if he was just going to keel over there, but the Saiyan kept breathing, although his chest seemed to go up and down at an ever slower rate.

"If you have anything to reveal you'd better hurry up," Frieza remarked as if he was trying to remind Vegeta of some basic truth. "Because soon you won't have any strength to talk."

Paying no mind to Frieza either, the Saiyan Prince resumed his speech, looking as though he was summoning every bit of strength he had left.

"I need you to know what happened… to Planet Vegeta… where we were born…" Vegeta said, his eyes now starting to shimmer, as though he was about to cry. "It wasn't destroyed by a massive meteor… It was Frieza! He did it! Although we Saiyans served him faithfully, and followed each of his orders, he blew our planet apart, and killed each and every Saiyan there!"

By the end of his tirade, a stream of tears had started to run down from Vegeta's eyes, mixing with the blood underneath him, and causing Jeice to open his mouth in utter awe. In spite of how little he'd always cared about the Saiyan and of the low opinion he had of him, he'd always thought at the very least that Vegeta would never cry. And yet, here he was, shedding tears for what was probably the very first time in his life.

"The two of us were lucky enough to avoid that, but your father wasn't spared, and neither was mine!" Vegeta added, managing to speak louder for just about a moment. "They both died, just like all the others, all because of that tyrant whose biggest fears were the growing strength of our race and the eventual birth of a Super Saiyan!"

"Shut up; those words won't get you on your feet," Frieza said, starting to sound annoyed again.

Instinctively, Jeice glanced toward Frieza upon hearing him talk like that, and tensed himself up for the tyrant clenching his fist and causing Vegeta to explode as a result of his technique. But again, Frieza didn't do anything that might suggest he was going to do that.

"I… didn't know…" it was all Goku could mutter, doing so in such a manner that although his back was turned to Jeice, the red-skinned alien could clearly tell he was shell-shocked.

Now with his tears flowing down with more intensity than ever, Vegeta raised his quivering hand toward Goku, somehow still having enough strength to attempt that gesture even though he should be nearly dead!

"I beg you, Kakarot… beat him…" he muttered. "For the pride of our race… please… he must die by a Saiyan's hands… I'm counting on you… promise me!"

The last syllable he uttered was not only screamed, but infused with utter despair, clearly intended to be spoken while Vegeta could still do so. However, before Goku could reply, the Prince's hand fell down limply, stirring up a small cloud of dust. Vegeta let out a few more groans, but then, even those were silenced, and the even movements of his chest ceased, as his head also feel against the dirt.

It was all over for him.

His heart growing heavier for a reason that not even he managed to explain, Jeice looked down himself, a weary sigh forcing its way out of his lips. Somehow, in spite of how little he'd cared for the Saiyan, now that he was dead he couldn't help but to feel sad over it. He could have been a bastard, but now Jeice knew that most, if not all of those on Frieza's forces couldn't be fully held accountable for what they had become. At least in most cases, they had become byproducts of what the bastard wanted them to be, all to further the expansion of his empire. On that regard, Jeice had at least been lucky enough to have Recoome, Burter, and Guldo as good friends. He dreaded to think what he would have become without them.

A gentle breeze started blowing through the landscape, running over Vegeta's dead body as if it was trying to sooth him and contribute as much as possible in giving him a quiet eternal rest.

"Vegeta…" Goku whispered as his hair was pushed aside by the wind, before letting out a low sigh similar to Jeice's.

"There, he's at peace now," Frieza said. "That's what he got by trying to act all high-and-mighty, and I warned him."

The wind intensified for a moment as if to shout its anger at the tyrant, but a moment afterwards, it settled down, as if apologizing for its outburst. Through it all, Goku just kept staring at Vegeta, as if he was still trying to process the Saiyan's words.

"Well, let's not leave him here to rot; he doesn't add anything to the décor," Frieza added.

Before any of them had time to react, Frieza thrust his right arm upwards as if delivering an uppercut, and Vegeta's body shot up like a rocket. Then, with a smile of satisfaction, the tyrant clenched his fist, causing the Saiyan to explode more than a kilometer above them, his charred remains falling down in a shower of ash.

"That's better," Frieza said, lowering his hand so that now both his arms fell alongside his body.

Feeling paralyzed by what he'd witnessed, Jeice looked on at the cloud of ash that had once been the Saiyan Prince, something that looked like a block of ice gathering in his throat. Like most of Frieza's moves that he knew, he had only seen "I Won't Let You Escape With Your Life!" being performed once, but every second of it had vividly clung to his memory, from the utter terror the move's victim had experienced to the deafening explosion on the sky that signaled the death of someone so powerful that it had taken Frieza himself to kill. He couldn't help but to think that Vegeta had had it better, after all, as he hadn't felt the horror of having an unresponsive body and being helpless to stop himself from being blown up to smithereens. In spite of how he'd died anyway, Jeice was sure his ending had been preferable to the one he would have faced otherwise.

As if coming from very far away, Goku's voice got to him, the anger in it reverberating through the area.

"Vegeta, you may have been a bastard, and believe me, I don't particularly care about you after everything you've done to me and those I care about," Goku said, staring a few wisps of ash that were falling don right in front of him. "But now, at the very least, I respect your Saiyan pride."

Upon those words, his whole body turned toward Frieza at such a speed that it seemed no more than a flash to Jeice's eyes.

"And for all the Saiyans you killed, for all the Namekians you've harmed, for all those you tried to make ruthless soldiers of since childhood, and for all those that must be saved from your evil…" he added, thrusting a fist toward Frieza. "I'm going to finish you!"

A few seconds of silence went by, and the wisps of ash that had been passing in front of Goku finished falling down, mixing with the spot of Vegeta's blood that was still there.

"Well, I'm waiting!" Frieza replied, as he sank into his fighting stance.

Letting out an unimpressed snort, Goku did the same, the deliberateness of his every move conveying his unwavering determination to make the tyrant pay for everything he'd done and to make sure he wouldn't do it to anyone again.

* * *

><p><em>Up next: Goku and Frieza finally begin their battle, clashing with a might that no one there has ever witnessed. Meanwhile, in Hell, something happens that bodes trouble for everyone there. What will happen? Find out next!<em>

_Hoping you enjoyed the chapter,_

_Genescritor_


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