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Chapter Text

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

"How many of these things are there?"

"Lots of em so don't relax too much. Otherwise, we'll get blown up instead."

"Ugh, right," Cheelai wiped some sweat off her forehead then pulled all the strength she had into rotating the ships cannon for another round. Her thumbs pressed down on the buttons and let out a few more laser blasts rip. Watching big space rocks blow up was fun the first couple of times but after half an hour of flying through a belt full of them? She was beyond done.

Not enough to quit, dying wasn't her style, but to whine about it to her pilot for a little fun. "Why are we here again?"

Lemo sighed in that rough, old-timer voice of his. It made her instantly feel better. "We're looking for soldiers to recruit to the Freeza Force. Which you already know. So stop playing dumb trying to annoy me."

"I can't help myself, it's too much fun."

"Not for me," Lemo tried sounding mad, but she could tell from his voice he was smiling."But I get why you hate this assignment."

Something he did below made the ship jerk hard to the right, almost knocking her out of the turret seat. "I'm not liking this either, but those're the orders."

"Weren't you Freeza Force guys supposed to be decked out with the best stuff? She asked, unloading another barrage into the belt.

"Yes, WE'RE supposed to be the most well-equipped army in the universe. But when everyone who can run it ups and dies one day, you get where we are now."

"That's an understatement," When she heard of the Freeza Force recruiting a couple of weeks ago, Cheelai was ecstatic. When most of your crew gets busted for hijacking their ships, going to the people they'd never mess with seemed like the perfect place for a hideout. Instead of joining a legendary army responsible for taking over the whole universe, she found... something a lot less impressive.

Half of the recruits were thugs who acted tougher than they actually were. The rest looked ready for retirement, not coasting through the universe.

The grand fleet? It was one decent looking ship with a bunch of smaller ones bought out from anyplace they could salvage. Shipment freighters, private yachts... It looked like a junkyard being scavenged over. She'd told this to Lemo a couple of times, and he said it was fine, they had Freeza back.

She'd heard of him too, even saw Freeza in photos but never in-person. Honestly? With that big purple head and tiny body, he looked really funny. Definitely not the kind of guy you'd expect to rule the whole universe. On the way to this piece of nowhere, Cheelai joked, calling Freeza a shorty. Lemo went nuts, telling her to never, ever make fun of Freeza's height.

At first, she thought Lemo was being too serious, but something about the cold look in his eyes made her wonder...

Unloading a few more rounds, Cheelai felt her shoulders cramp from using a turret built for people twice her size.

She caught a glimpse of a weird looking thing out there. The turret was built with a monitor to make firing easier, and for a split second, they flashed over something that didn't look like an asteroid.

"Slow down the ship. I see something out there."

"Really? What is it?"

"Just... Gimme a second..."Taping on the monitor, Cheelai zoomed to the spot where she noticed whatever was out there. It looked metal and broken with one big piece floating in-between the asteroids with lots of smaller ones there too. "Is that... a ship?"

"Yes," Lemo sounded grim."An old Freeza Force ship."

"What? You're sure?"

"I'd recognize that ship anywhere, it's an old XV model, two pilot fighter made for dogfights in space. I haven't seen one of those in over 30 years, since before even Freeza vanished."

Curiosity beat fatigue, so Cheelai kept looking, noticing how the asteroid belt seemed to thin out all of a sudden. She spotted another pair of those same ships looking just as if not more beaten than the first one. From the damage done, two of them crashed into the rocks, but the other two were definitely fired by someone.

Floating near the last was a body, wearing Freeza Force armor still preserved out there in the vacuum. The weirdest thing about it? It had a bone sticking out its backside.

"A-A Saiyan?" Lemo stuttered out. "I haven't seen any of them either, not for ages..."

"A what?"

"What? You've never heard of Saiyans? Although... I guess it's not too surprising."

"Wh-why is that?"

"The Saiyans were a warrior race kid, some of the toughest bastards I'd ever fought alongside. A few even scared me as much as Freeza..."

Cheelai poked her tongue out, trying to remember if she'd heard of them before. She gave up. "Nope, they don't ring any bells."

"A meteor smashed into their planet decades ago. Most of them were wiped out. A couple of leftovers stuck around with the Freeza Force but I never got assigned to a job with them. Where are they now? Who knows, probably got killed by the same thing as the Ginyus, Zarbon, Dodoria..."

A loud pinging noise started coming from Lemo's end, going into Cheelai's scouter. "What is that?"

"Freeza Force signal, a pretty old one too..."

"Yeah, that seems to a running theme around here."

"Don't get smart, if the signals still active, we might just find some of our guys stuck out survivors from the fight outside."

Which meant a reward from Freeza, a good one too if these guys were strong. "Where's it coming from?"

"See for yourself."

She raised an eyebrow at that until noticing a distinct lack of asteroids to blow up anywhere close. Strapping out of the turret position on top of their ship, Cheelai slid down a single set of stairs to the mid-section. A short walk later got her back to Lemo at the pilot's seat.

Squinting out into the void, she looked long and hard until spotting something resembling electricity going off at random in the middle of space. Which wasn't possible, nothing worked like ... "A planet?"

"Exactly, those storm clouds are camouflaging that recovery signal we probably would've missed the whole thing completely."

"Maybe we still should, To land, it'll take flying through those storm clouds and I don't exactly trust this clunker to get there."

"You obviously don't know much about mining ships," Lemo smiled. "Miners get sent off to hostile planets like this. They have to for recovering the most valuable might fly like a brick, but its tough as one too."

She raised an eyebrow at him.

"My old man ran a mining job, clunkers like these kept him alive for a good long time."

"Huh, guess we lucked out with it after all..."

"We'll see...," He strapped himself tight. "Take a seat, trust me, it's gonna get bumpy."

Bumpy was an understatement she'd realize turbulence was so bad even strapped down, both of them were being practically tossed out of their seats. It didn't help visibility dropped to almost nothing when they got to the clouds. Besides a general idea of "keep flying down" and avoiding whenever the big lightning bolts lit up the whole outside, they were totally blind. The lights coming out the front were useless.

A few dozen sharp turns this way and that and trying her damnedest from throwing up, Cheelai only let herself breathe once the clouds were behind them.

"Good grief," She gulped, wiping some sweat off her forehead. "I really hope we won't have to do that again later..."

"Me too," Lemo sighed, easing up on the control stick."Now, let's see what's down here."

He gently nudged the ship down, allowing the lights a chance to give them a look at the place. It wasn't much, the storm outside was blowing dust everywhere but from what Cheelai could see the planet was full of big, rocky crags and mountains. No forests, trees, oceans, or rivers to speak of.

Flying a while longer, the beeping of the signal grew louder, almost rhythmically going off when Lemo started hovering near a series of crags.

"Its down there, buried in that rock pile but we'll have to walk to it, I can't see a good landing spot any closer."

"How's the atmosphere look?"

"Mean. Temperatures almost zero, the winds moving hard and we'll need gas masks."

"Terrific," Cheelai sighed, unstrapping herself and heading to the back with Lemo by her side. With the loud clunker engines turned off, she could hear what he meant by the wind moving hard. It was loud enough to breach into the hull. Just ahead of the exit ramp was a few fully equipped locker waiting for them. They had masks, jackets, boots and all sorts of stuff leftover from whoever owned the clunker before.

They'd have to ditch wearing their scouters, the gas masks were full face but Cheelai was thankful it all seemed to fit her size this time.

"Ready?" Lemo asked, his thumb hovering from the ships open button.

"Yep," She answered, clicking her blaster pistol battery shut.

With the kind of laborious slowness one would expect from a clunker, the ramp took its sweet time going down, making the entire ship creek all the while. It made Cheelai wonder how they were supposed to get in again if something went wrong and needed a fast getaway.

From the scowl on Lemo's face, he probably thought the same. "Let's go."

A second out of the ship almost made both of them fall. The howling wind was strong and bitting right through their jackets, so much Cheelai had to keep her teeth from chattering. It didn't help the howling was creeping her out, sounding like some kind of twisted, moaning chorus of miserable people. With Lemo leading the way, they started walking towards the signal.

It was even slower than watching the ramp; every step was careful, almost scared. The wind blowing was one problem, but the low visibility meant they constantly checked for cracks or rocks littering the place and there were plenty. Even the gas mask lights and scouters didn't help much there. Cheelai was especially bothered by this. Everything looked like a creepy pile of pointy rocks in twisted shapes. It didn't help the wind constantly knocked pebbles over, giving the impression something was skittering around all the time, waiting to jump them...

Luckily, the crags looked bigger than they actually were. A corner turn then scaling a couple of boulders brought them to the crash site. With the way it looked, it couldn't be called anything else. The XV model was practically ripped in half with a giant, spiky rock sticking out the middle. The windows were blasted away, and the outside looked beaten from who knew how many years of exposure.

"How'd the beacon even survive that?" She shouted to Lemo.

"Let's go find out!"

A whole lot of pebbles falling on Cheelai stopped her from following him closer, that and... a weird growling noise sticking out from the winds. Snapping towards it, she squinted at an oddly shaped rock shimmering close by. For a second she thought her eyes were messing with her. But when a pair of eyes reflected her light, Cheelai knew they weren't alone out there.

"Lemo! Somethings out here!"

Whatever the thing above them was knew when its cover was blown and leaped right at them. Cheelai grit her teeth and dived away, hoping she didn't get stuck or smash her mask against something. The thing landed where she stood, its four spiky legs digging then ripping through the rocks before tilting its body to face her.

"Take it down!" Lemo shouted and she obliged. Training their pistols on the monster they opened fire lightning up the whole area with big, loud flashes of blue laser charges. For all the good it did, the spider looking thing just growled, shrugging off their blasts. From the brief flashes, Cheelai got a good look at its face, and the smile on it made her skin crawl. Not as much as what jumped out from its mouth.

From what she guessed was a tongue, a long flexible thing with a pointy end shout out towards her. She dodged in the last possible second and saw how it cut right through a big boulder just behind her.

"Holy crap!" She panted, watching the tongue retract so fast it looked like a blue blur.

"Hey! Creep!" Lemo shouted, fiddling with his pistol blaster behind the monster. Spinning its round body toward him, Cheelai saw it grin along with a spiked teeth mouth starting to open up again. From what she could see, he wasn't going to dodge it.

"Why don't you eat this!" In a split second, the spider's tongue blasted back out and Lemo dived. In that blur of motion, he managed to toss something into their attackers grinning mouth. Cheelai barely got a good look before it and the spider exploded in a big mess of blue energy and lots of monster guts...

Wiping orange blood and other bits off her, Cheelai ran over to a moaning Lemo trying to get back up. She offered him her hand."What was that?!"

"Overloaded weapon battery," He took it, breathing hard."I used it to kill a bunch of tough Mouma years ago."

"Huh and here I thought they were invincible."

"Not if you're-" Suddenly, the heard more growling off in the distance, just like the spiders. "Damn! I guess it was too much to hope for just one of em."

"We'll talk about it back in the ship! Come on!" Helping him along, Cheelai and Lemo climbed back down the boulders blocking their way in and heard lots of rhythmic thumping against the ground. Ignoring the nagging feeling of a horde barreling down on, they rushed towards their ship, getting back halfway when a group of the spiders cut them off.

Slowly, methodically, they skittered towards them, grinning and opening & shutting their mouths.

"I don't have enough blaster batteries for this one."

"I was afraid you'd say that..." They backed away even with more skittering noises all around and every instinct telling them both to run like hell. The monsters mouths opened wide and Cheelai mentally prepared herself for whatever was gonna happen next. She expected lots of pain, not a whooshing noise cutting through the wind and blowing up the ground between them and their attacker.

Staring at what just happened, barely realized someone had grabbed the pair from behind and was flying them through the air!

"Huh?! What?! Who?!" She stammered, trying and failing to get a good look at the person holding them. But his strength was unreal, she couldn't even budge! One thing was sure from the little Cheelai made out: his outfit was Freeza Force too.

Their mysterious savior landed near what looked like a pair of tunnels, the smaller one with the bigger off to the side. Once they were finally in, he let them go. Cheelai and Lemo backed a few steps away, taking a second to catch their breaths while their rescuer kept looking out the storm outside.

She didn't expect him to look... old. His hair looked gray or white and oddly spiked up. His face had lots of thick lines and a heavy beard covering the bottom half. The armor was broken or dented in a few spots. One eye was missing. But what got her attention the most was his long, white tail!

"Y-You're one of those Sayens!"

"Saiyans, Cheelai," Lemo corrected her, his voice lined with awe... and a little... fear? "I was right, it was you guys littering the asteroid belt up there. Now the big number makes sense.."

Glancing at his scouter, Cheelai's jaw almost hit the ground when she read out the number: 6200! "W-Wow...I didn't think it could even go that high..."

He didn't respond, instead staring out back into the storm. Cheelai was about to ask what his deal was when she heard the thumping and skittering noise again.

"Coming here..." The Saiyan said in a rough, scratchy voice. "They haven't been that bold in a very long time. I guess fresh meat's made them reckless tonight."

"More of them?!" Lemo shouted. "C-Can you stop them?"

"No, but I don't have to." She couldn't quite make it out from his beard and the bad lighting from inside the cave but Cheelai thought he might've smiled a little.

Facing towards the inside of the cave, the Saiyan took a deep breath then shouted right into it. "BROLY! GO!"

Almost instantly, Cheelai had to grab on to Lemo or risk crashing onto the ground. Something stronger than the wind outside blasted out from inside the caves and crashed somewhere ahead of the caves. Another second later, Cheelai heard explosions going off along with the loud shouts of a monster.

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

Gulping, she took a few steps closer to the Saiyan who'd turned around to watch the fighting outside and was stunned to find everything burning. Flashes of green went here and there before exploding into what was definitely the spider monsters outside. Their shouts of pain were still drowned out by the ones from whatever was fighting and killing them out there.

"M-My scouter..." Lemo said from her left, raising it up to the fighting. The numbers were going berzerk, increasing higher and higher until it blew up right in Lemo's hand! "Th-that never happens..."

"On the contrary," The Saiyan said like nothing out of the ordinary was happening. "Rising battle powers can break scouters, provided they're strong enough."

Lemo and Cheelai both just stared at him then instinctively backed away when the loudest roar of them all so far practically blasted into them.

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

The explosions got even stronger, practically swallowing up the entire view from inside the cave. Pretty soon, it all looked like a mish-mash of greens and fiery reds.

"W-What is that?" Cheelai asked and the Saiyan looked like he was smiling again.

"That would be my son, Broly."

Chapter Text

Cheelai wasn't sure when or how she'd fallen asleep. Between the ground shaking, explosions, spider monsters being ripped apart by an even bigger one it was a miracle she slept at all. It sure took her a while but not for Lemo. He was out almost immediately after lying down. Serving under Freeza must've taught him how to block fighting noise out she figured.

Even when sleep finally came, it was the tired, dreamless kind that left you feeling exhausted. It didn't help the temperature became impossibly hot out of nowhere. Moaning, Cheelai practically ripped the jacket away when she noticed Lemo already up, stretching so hard his bones cracked.

"Hey..." She said, wiping her eyes and yawning.

"Morning," He answered, not sounding the least bit tired or shaken up from last night. "Didn't sleep well? Can't say I blame you."

"Not all of us are grizzled old tough guys."

Noticing his smile, Cheelai felt a little better and got back to her feet. While she stretched, the sun shining outside was almost blinding even inside the cave. It was completely quiet too. It made her almost forget the place was a monster-filled death trap.

"Where's our guest by the way?"

"Here," The rough, scratchy voice from last night said behind them. From inside the cave, the old Saiyan, Paragus, walked toward them. "I've gathered our belongings; we can leave."

Walking in-between them with a determined stride, Paragus left with Cheelai and Lemo exchanging glances as they followed him. If the sun inside blinded her, then actually going out was practically a smack to the face. Rubbing her eyes, Cheelai blinked a few times before finally getting her vision back… along with a view of last night's aftermath.

Dozens, maybe hundreds of spider bodies littered in the field in front of them. Mangled, beaten, torn to shreds. The ground around them was scorched and blown to pieces. In the middle of all this was the biggest spider corpse, easily as long and wide as their ship and Paragus' son Broly eating its leg. Feeling queasy, Cheelai hesitated walking through the disaster area and made a point not to look at the still grinning monster bodies around her.

Instead, she focused on Broly himself and even crouched down it was obvious the Saiyan was gigantic. His hands alone were as big as her whole head. His skin was tanned like Paragus' and lined with a bunch of scars all over. He didn't wear anything on top beside a weird looking necklace. There was a long green pelt tied around his waist, masking his torn up blue Freeza Force pants.

When he heard them come, she got a look at his face, noticing the messy black hair running down his neck along with a scar across his cheek. There was a mean look to him at first, especially with a bloody meat chunk in his mouth. But then he noticed Paragus and smiled with big bright eyes.

"Father," He gulped, holding out the spider leg. "It's big, we won't go hungry or thirsty for a lot!"

Cheelai and Lemo both gawked at him. His voice was soft and a little rough but nothing that could make the screams they heard last night. Right?

"We won't choke down on those vermin anymore. We're leaving. Don't hurt our rescuers." Paragus walked passed him leaving a stunned-looking Broly, lamely holding onto the spider leg.

Then he actually pouted and dropped it before following him. "Yes, sir..."

They shared another look ahead of picking the pace up, both walking a little more to each side from Broly before getting back to Paragus.

"So, what happened to you guys? We didn't have much chance to talk last night?" Lemo asked, trying to break the awkward silence.

"My son and I were exiled here from our home. You mentioned seeing Saiyan's out in the asteroid field? Those were our pursuers I killed on the way here. Unfortunately, they did damage to my ship. The rest speaks for itself."

"How long were you down here?" Cheelai asked next, glancing between him and Broly blankly following behind them.

"He was a baby when we arrived.

Wondering when the surprises would stop, Cheelai wasn't sure she could take anymore with this heat. Already her mind wondered what Broly's age was now. 20 something? 30? He couldn't be older from the looks of him. But if what Paragus said was true, they'd been stuck on this scorching then freezing spider-filled hellhole for decades. Without gas masks and barely any clothing? Lemo said Saiyans were tough bastards but to pull something like that off with those odds seemed hard to believe.

"Well don't worry, you guys are leaving this rock and I'm sure Lord Freeza will appreciate your return to the Force. He could definitely use some tough guys back in the ranks."

"Oh?"

"Ah, right, you don't know about this. Lord Freeza vanished a while back, some people even say he died. Anyway, the Force isn't what it used to be. We're so few he's sending out teams like Cheelai and me here to find anyone to joins us."

"I'm surprised King Vegeta didn't take advantage of this power vacuum," Paragus almost smiled again. Behind them, Cheelai heard Broly let out a low growl. The mean look was back on his face. "Or did he?"

"King Vegeta? Oh!" Lemo snapped his fingers. "The Saiyan ruler... Uhh..."

"What is it?" Paragus' only eyed narrowed.

"It's just... I don't know how to tell you this... The Saiyan's are...gone..."

Paragus stopped dead immediately and the rest of the group followed. Lemo gulped while Cheelai kept looking between Broly and his father. Paragus didn't look different but from the way his tail jerked like it was snapping at something she knew he probably wasn't okay.

"Gone...?" He asked without changing a beat to his usual tone. "How?"

"I-It was a meteor... it struck the planet, and the whole place blew up ..."

Paragus just stared blankly ahead, still jerking his tail. The color drained a little from his face and to Cheelai, he looked like a very old, very tired man.

"Most...?"

"L-Last I heard... a few of them survived... even their Prince or something? B-But he left the Force, made an enemy of Freeza or something..."

Paragus' tail finally relaxed, the color coming back to his face and he let out a deep long breath. From behind, Broly walked closer, his hand going to Paragus' shoulder. "Father...?"

"I'm fine," The old Saiyan said, the weary look gone completely. "All is not lost just yet. You have my gratitude for this information and our rescue...?"

"L-Lemo and she's Cheelai."

Paragus nodded at that. "I will humbly request Lord Freeza to reward you well for all this. I won't forget it either."

The rest of their return trip went by quietly with Cheelai complaining to herself about the heat or wondering about everything she'd seen. Being one of the last of your species? It was impossible for her to imagine the feeling. Sure, as an orphan family wasn't a problem but she'd known lots of others from her race even without bonding with many of them. Seeing all those people and places get blown up? It made her feel cold.

The daze kept distracting her until they finally made it back to the ship – which took its sweet damn time lowering the ramp. Paragus eyed the thing like he couldn't believe it was there. Broly meanwhile gave it a look between curiosity and fear.

"A mining ship. The times are indeed hard for the Force to resort to these."

"At least it's better than the AB line ships," Lemo chuckled. "Now those were some flying scrap heaps."

Paragus rumbled something that might've been a laugh. "Can't disagree with that assessment."

Cheelai noticed Broly staring at the exchange until the lowered ramp thud made him tense up. Lemo was the first one in with Cheelai trailing after the two Saiyans. Paragus didn't mind it but Broly's curiosity was piqued again. He looked at everything with amazement and a little fear. Even sniffing around like a hound.

Once inside the cockpit, Lemo was already in the pilot's seat, prepping it for launch when Cheelai poked his shoulder.

"What?"

"It's my turn now."

He stopped for a second. "I... don't-"

"We switch out between flights. Thems the rules," She smirked. "Or is that big turret up there too hard for you to move?"

Throwing a mean look her way, Lemo unbuckled himself out and went up the ladder. Cheelai took his place while Paragus sat behind her. Broly settled next to his father, fiddling with the seat belt before finally getting it right on the fifth try.

"Cheelai, guns ready. Let's get outta here."

"No problem," The droning of the ship's engine stirred after a few button presses then riled back to full force. Slowly they went up and up, building more speed with every passing second. Outside the hostile planet Vampa shrank away, looking almost pretty with the bright morning sun shining down.

Cheelai wouldn't miss it and she wagered neither would their guests.

Without a storm around, getting out into space was a cake walk. Now all they had left to deal with was the asteroid belt for a while. "This could get bumpy so hold on."

The ride out of the place was just as shaky as the one through it. Lemo was firing off blasts all over the place with Cheelai jerking the control stick in every possible direction. Every booming explosion lit up some of her field of vision and the ship shook violently.

This didn't worry her so much as Broly's growling from behind did. In the window's reflection, Cheelai saw him baring his teeth and shaking. Pretty soon, she heard the sound of metal creaking when he started crushing the chair's arms.

She wanted to try calming him down seeing as he'd never been out to space before but Paragus stepped in first.

"Calm yourself boy and stop making a mess of things," he barked the order out.

Broly tensed up then shrank back into his seat after a long breath. The scowl directed at the noise outside didn't leave his face though. "Yes, sir."

Putting that extra worry aside, Cheelai spent the next half hour fully concentrated on escaping the asteroid belt. Steadying her breathing, ignoring the cramps on her shoulders and the sweat everywhere, a lifetime of hustling ships kept her sharp through all of it.

Only when the last of the rocks was behind them and the autopilot back to the fleet was on did Cheelai let herself relax. "Phew, finally."

"Yeah, no kidding," Lemo said from the hallway. Removing his cap, he wiped away the sweat, looking out of breath. "That gun really is a pain."

"Gee, you think?" She let the sarcasm ooze off her voice while reaching into her pouch for a little treat. Something to ease the nerves after the last few hours of craziness. It was a big bar of dark chocolate, twice the size of her own fist. "Want some?"

"Nah, I'll eat when we get back home." He replied, putting his cap back.

"How about you guys?" She spun the chair around to the two Saiyans. Paragus waved the offer aside but Broly's scowl focused on the candy in her hand. Slowly, he sniffed the air and leaned forward, straining the seat belt across his giant chest. His nose practically bumped against the wrapped candy before he opened his mouth to swallow.

"Hey! Wait!" Cheelai pulled her arm back, leaving Broly staring at her wide mouth. "You gotta get rid of the wrapper first."

As she did so, the Saiyan's nose worked again, wrinkling left and right when the scent of chocolate was let loose. Reaching out to him again, Broly sniffed it some more then took a bite. An almost thoughtful look crossed that scared face of his before he chewed the piece some more. Then his eyes got almost comically wide he gulped.

"It's good, right? Here, I'll give you some more." Snapping a few chunks more and handing them off, Broly took it all in one palm then gobbled it up in one big swallowing motion. He even went so far as to lick the tiny crumbs left over and the smears of candy smearing around his lips.

"What do you say when offered a gift?" Paragus said from Broly's right side.

Son glanced at father for a second before bowing his head a little. "Th-Thank you, sir."

Cheelai stared blankly at him while Lemo was trying not to laugh. Paragus let out a single puff of air which might've been from exasperation or chuckling. A part of her wanted to get mad at Broly but given what they'd heard so far, he must never have met a girl before. Much less learned how to talk to one.

"Actually, I'm a girl."

Broly's eyebrow went up and he just blinked at her. "Oh," he let out in a slightly higher pitch from his quieter voice. "Th-hank you, madam."

"You're welcome but don't be so formal," She made a circle with her thumb and index finger. "Saying thanks is fine."

Broly blinked at her again. With a slow, awkward motion he tried copying the OK sign putting his middle finger together with the thumb instead. "Tha-Thanks?"

Cheelai smiled at him, feeling like she was staring at a big kid right in front of her. One who could smash an entire army of evil spider monsters. The conundrum that was Broly wasn't getting any easier to untangle...

Chapter Text

Broly was having a strange day.

It started when Father asked him to destroy the beetles. That was normal. He did it lots of times before. Morning came and so did Father out with other... people. Broly never saw anyone else like them before. He heard stories about others when Father told him those stories, a long time ago. They were both really short and had strange colors on their skin and they wore outfits like him and Father, but not torn up.

But more importantly, he found a sweet beetle. They were usually sour but sometimes, a few of them were juicy. He saved that one for Father as a gift. But he wouldn't take. That made Broly sad and a little angry at the new people. Them coming was the reason his gift got tossed away. Then they made Father sad by telling him some story. Broly didn't like them any better when he got inside a big, flying box. He wanted to smash it all when they started making fires and booms go off everywhere. Father told him to calm down and so Broly listened.

Then one of them, the girl Cheelai, offered him a gift too. Something called candy. It smelled nice, so he ate it and liked it a lot. He liked the new people a lot better after that and felt bad for not liking them until then. After relaxing inside the box, Broly started staring at the outside. The stars were there but they were going past them, moving. He'd never seen them do that before.

"Is this box making the stars move?" He answered, keeping his voice respectful and low.

The girl, Cheelai smiled. "Well, they're not moving. We are. All the black stuff out there? That's space, we're just flying through it."

Broly nodded, recognizing what space was from Father's stories. "So it's like when I fly? The ground stays and I'm moving?"

"Pretty much."

"Thank you for- I mean, thanks for explaining."

She smiled wider. "You're very welcome!"

They flew a while longer, eventually a big brown dot Broly spotted far away got bigger and bigger. Pretty soon he found out how huge it was.

"W-What is that?" Broly pointed his finger at it.

"That's a planet," Cheelai answered again. "It's where people live and the place our fleets hiding out. You'll see in a second."

Silently, he waited to see this... fleet, whatever it was. The planet, something else Father mentioned to him over the years, got bigger and bigger. He wondered if Vampa was that huge too. Then he saw something shiny out in space but it wasn't stars, even though the lights looked like them. The lights were red, sometimes huddled together and moving slowly and others faster.

Squinting even closer, Broly recognized other flying boxes outside. They looked different from theirs. Some had pretty colors and were curvy. A few reminded him of theirs. But the one in the middle, the biggest, that got his attention. Not just because of how huge it was but from looking so much like Father's old ship! The one he used to spend lots of time trying to fix before giving up.

"Vessel, identify yourself or risk destruction." Some voice spoke from the flashing buttons in-front of Cheelai. Broly tensed back up at the word destruction but nobody else seemed to care.

"This is Sergeant Lemo vessel number 3-20-20-18 responding. We've got new recruits for Lord Freeza here and ask permission to board. Over."

Whoever he was talking to spoke up a little while after. "Acknowledged 3-20, glad to have you back. New recruits you say? How big are we talking?"

"One's got a battle power of over 6000, the other," Lemo looked at Broly for a second. "A whole lot bigger. Scouter exploding big."

The voice let out a long, whistling noise. "I'll let the higher ups know. Land in Hangar 1."

"Acknowledged."

"You think Freeza's going to want to see them personally?" Cheelai asked. Father moved in his seat, looking meaner than usual.

"We'll find out soon enough. It's not every day someone finds strong guys like them after all."

Feeling curious again, Broly looked to Father's scarred side and tried building up the courage to ask him. "Father..." He started, trying to sound as respectful as possible. "Who is Freeza?"

"Someone very powerful we will show absolute loyalty and respect to," Father turned his head to look at him with his other, good eye. "I expect you to remember all of your manners boy. Treat Lord Freeza with even more respect than you would me. Bow as I do and do not speak unless spoken to first! Am I clear?"

Broly gulped then nodded. "Y-Yes, sir."

The biggest ship only got more huge the closer they flew, opening up one of those yellow things sticking out its sides. Broly saw even more people walking around there, moving things he couldn't even start describing and wearing more suits like his and Father's.

From behind the flying box, Broly heard the rumbling and whooshing noise start dying down. Stopping when the whole thing shook and finally stopped. Watching how Father unstrapped himself, Broly did the same, he didn't want to break something and make him mad again.

Out of their group, he stayed at the back, following Cheelai and Lemo out of the flying box. The weird lowering thing in the back started going down, slowly and thumped down, letting them walk outside.

When they got there Broly saw even more people running around. All of them were wearing clothing like him and Father too but a little different. Some of them had spikes on their shoulders or waist or both. Some just wore a chest piece without any spikes. Another thing Broly noticed was how wrinkly a lot of them looked. They reminded him of Father and Lemo.

The place they were in was grey, blue and really shiny. Just from being there, lots of smells he never felt before were everywhere. Broly wanted to sniff everything like he did their flying box but Father told him to behave well.

"Sergeant Lemo, Private Cheelai," A voice spoke from above them. "Report to Lord Freeza's throne room immediately."

Lots of people stopped moving in the room. All of them were the wrinkly looking ones with a few non-wrinklies too. The rest, like Broly and Cheelai, looked around, surprised and confused by this. They were all scared, very scared; Broly saw the looks on their faces before and it made him tense up. Scarier anyone else's look, was Father being afraid again too.

"Seriously, why do you all freak out when he-"

"Shush!" Lemo cut Cheelai off, giving her a mean look. "Stay quiet unless Lord Freeza asks you to, got it?!"

She blinked at him, surprised by how mad he sounded. Broly was too; Lemo seemed nice up until then. Cheelai nodded at him and they were walking again. All the scared people kept looking at them on the way out.

The ship got really small from where they came in. Their group almost took up all the room on the way to this Lord Freeza. Occasionally, Broly would get to see the outside again with the planet and even another sun shining through. This confused him since Father said there was no air in-space and without air you died.

After some more walking, they stopped at a wall with a line running through the middle. He'd seen a few of them on the way there and how they whooshed open to let people walk in and out. Lemo turned around to Cheelai.

"Remember," His voice was still mean. "Mouth shut unless he speaks to you. Answer politely, got it?"

Cheelai nodded again.

"That goes for you to Broly."

"Yes, sir."

Lemo, who'd been at the front of the group, took a deep breath then walked to the wall, making it whoosh open. Everything opened up again but not as much where they landed. This place wasn't so blue and gray either, having some brown colored things around the ceiling and walls too. To their right, the ground went up with a hole in it, maybe for a bed like they had back on Vampa?

Watching all these other things, Broly missed someone a little ways off from them, standing next to those holes letting them see out into space. He was really short - Broly could tell even from being far away from him. He was also really white, with purple bits here and there and with a long tail running down from his butt. Neither Father nor he had a tail anywhere near that long.

With a loud clacking noise, he turned around, giving Broly a look at his face. The ears looked like tubes from Father's old ship and his lips were really black. But what got his attention the most was the red eyes. There was something about them he... didn't like.

"Good day, Lord Freeza!" Everyone but Broly said together, making him immediately nervous about what Father would say. Gulping just a little, he looked around and noticed them lower their upper bodies down, resting their right hands on their left shoulders. As fast as he could, Broly tried to copy that, at least and hope Father and this Freeza didn't get too mad.

"Colonel Paragus?" Freeza called out to Father, sounding surprised. His voice was really soft, Broly expected him to sound gruff like Father. "Is that you?"

"Indeed my lord," Father answered, sounding very respectful. "I have returned to serve you once again."

With more of those clanking noises, Freeza took a few steps forward and let out laugh Broly didn't like much either. "Ohohoho! This is quite a surprise indeed. I had not expected to meet an old friend from me the past today."

"I didn't expect to be rescued today, my lord, though I never stopped hoping for it."

Again, everyone but Broly moved and stood back up, back straight, respectfully just like Father taught him a long time ago to. Broly didn't have a problem copying this, at least. What made him nervous was Freeza looking at him, not Father with a smile.

"And who might this fellow be?" He moved a little closer, whooshing his tail around. Broly kept himself looking respectful, back straight but it wasn't easy with scary eyes like that looking at him.

"This is my son, Broly, sire. He too was exiled with me in the backwaters of the universe," Father's voice got a little angry then. "By the hand of King Vegeta."

"Exile?" Freeza sounded surprised again. "I was led to believe you were driven away on charges of treason. If I remember correctly, of course."

Broly could've sworn he heard Father gulp. "False charges, my lord. The only treason came from King Vegeta himself. He exiled my son to a hostile world then tried to murder me when I attempted a rescue. In the ensuing firefight, my ship was damaged and so both of us were left trapped."

"I see," Freeza said, still looking at Broly instead of Father. "Am I right in presuming your son's abilities are the reason why?"

"You are, sire."

"King Vegeta always was a jealous creature, afraid of everyone and everything with powers greater than his own," Freeza took a few steps to the side then looked behind Broly. "No tail?"

"It was a prudent course of action to get rid of it, my lord. Broly's Oozaru became too dangerous, his self-control too... lacking."

Broly tried to keep his shame from showing. Father never did forgive him for not learning how to control that power right...

"Is this a persistent issue now, too?"

"Rarely. I've devised a way of taming Broly should he lose control," Father's voice sounded different then, almost... nervous? "H-He will be of great use to you, lord Freeza. I-I'm sure of it!"

"Ohohohoho!" Freeza laughed again. "This is indeed a most pleasant surprise! Sergeant Lemo, was it?"

This time, Lemo was the one who gulped. He looked a little white in the face too. "Y-Yes, m-my lord!"

"You've made a wondrous discovery! Expect to find a most generous reward in your barracks chambers when you return there."

Immediately, Lemo's face got back its orange color along with a smile on it. Cheelai grinned too and Broly smiled just a bit. Whatever they got, it made them happy. He was glad about that.

"T-Thank you Lord Freeza!" The two of them said, doing that lowering of their upper bodies thing again.

"Now, would you kindly leave us? I have some private matters to discuss with our latest additions to the Freeza Force."

"O-Of course!" They got back up and left the room, Lemo practically running out. Cheelai turned and waved at Broly on the way out before the wall whooshed open then closed again.

"Now then," Freeza spoke up again. "Are you of your homeworlds fate since your exile?"

Broly wasn't sure but Freeza's smile got just a bit wider and... happy?

"I was informed by Lemo, yes. But this matters nothing to me. All I wish is justice for myself and my son."

"Then you should be quite happy to know that the Kings son, Prince Vegeta survived the meteorite collision of your world. Though, much like his father, he had a rebellious streak and left the Freeza Force."

Father smiled then too, it was creepily similar to Freeza's. "Yes, I heard that too."

"Then allow me to propose an alliance," Something almost shined in Freeza's eyes then, causing a chill to pass over Broly's body.. "I too seek vengeance against a friend of the princes. If you fine gentlemen would lend me your aid in attaining it, I can guarantee the realization of your own revenge as well."

"My lord, for Vegeta's head? I would gladly help you burn down the entire universe and then some."

"Ahh, there's that Saiyan enthusiasm for destruction I've so missed.

Chapter Text

Father and Freeza, no, Lord Freeza, talked for a while more. Mostly about why King Vegeta betrayed and left them to die on Vampa. It was a story Broly heard lots of times before. So many he could say it again word for word without missing anything. The part where Father talks about King Vegeta and how they were friends before the exiling made them enemies always made Broly really, really angry. Friends shouldn't hurt each other.

Even the name Vegeta made him want to smash something. But Broly respected Father too much to get mad then. He kept himself respectfully quiet and spoke only when someone talked to him first. Fighting back the chill running through him whenever Lord Freeza looked at him for a second was another feeling he kept in-line.

Shortly after Father finished the story, Lord Freeza told them to go someplace for a... shower? He told them to go eat something in the cafeteria too, that they'd meet after an hour. Broly wasn't sure what a shower or cafeteria were. Father led him away through the whooshing walls and into the tight space they walked through and Lemo weren't there. That scared and made him a little sad. It was nice talking to someone new besides father and who didn't make him tense like Lord Freeza.

They went past a few more of the whooshing walls with Father squinting at some strange, glowing symbols above them. "Room 3603. This is ours."

Moving inside this... room, Broly realized it was just a much smaller version of the place they landed and met Lord Freeza in. Inside he recognized some things from Vampa: boxes to put things in, except these, looked nice, shiny. Against the left wall, Broly saw two things stacked on top of one another. They were flat and didn't have anything on it. He decided to touch it, just a little when he noticed Father kneeling in-front of a box, putting things from his back into it with his back turned.

"That's a bed," Father suddenly spoke up, making Broly snap his finger away. Gulping, he expected more yelling but it didn't come. "It's meant for sleeping, you'll see tonight."

A big relief passed through him when Father didn't get mad. Once he was done putting their things away, Father walked to another whooshing wall showing a really small room there.

"Come here, I've got something to show you."

Broly did so. Father pointed to some red and blue things sticking out of the wall. "These are buttons for water, blue is cold, red is warm, that hose up there," He pointed to a weirdly shaped ball with tiny little holes in it above them. "Is what'll help clean you up. Don't be afraid, it's harmless. Leave your clothes out here, you won't be needing most of it anymore."

"Y-Yes, sir," Broly nodded, carefully removing Bah's pelt first, fighting back the fear Father would get rid of it while he was doing this showering thing. Father saying he wouldn't need most of his clothes helped squash the idea he'd do that.

"Wait," He said, his voice sounding gruffer than usual. His hands went to Broly's neck, wrapping around the collar he's had on for as long as he can remember. Broly couldn't move, it was suddenly hard to breathe but he tried not to show weakness, not to make Father mad. But he looked mad already, his one good eye was extra squinty, making his wrinkly face look really, really mean.

"Don't try anything, understood?" Father's grip around the collar tightened, making Broly's breath hitch. It was the voice he used rarely when he was dead serious. It sounded like a meaner version of Broly's own growl whenever he got mad.

"Y-Yes, sir..." Broly answered honestly, hearing a loud pounding noise in his ears. Father nodded and a clicking sound came from behind. Suddenly, all the pressure around his neck was gone, along with Father's hand... and the collar...

It was with Father's hand then. Gone for the first time in forever. Broly thought he was in a dream, Father never removed the collar before, not since-

"Alright, now finish undressing and get in there."

Almost mumbling a "Yes, sir," Broly removed his clothes and went inside the smallest room yet, the whooshing wall closing behind him. He just stood in the small place, not sniffing for any new smells or even alert for any danger. Instead, he just traced along where the collar used to be, getting the pounding from inside his ears under control. Not long after, he let himself smile a little.

But this daze didn't last long, Father's order to get a shower snapped him out of it. Gently, Broly pressed down the red button and immediately growled then growled when something juicy started splashing all over him.

"As I said, it's harmless, son." Father reminded from behind the whooshing wall. Broly listened, taking a few deep breaths. Whatever this water was, it wasn't juicy like the Vampa beetle's blood. That stuff was sticky and got all over. This water thing felt... nicer. It got everywhere but left right away. Gently, Broly rubbed the water between his fingers. His hands felt smooth, smoother than they'd ever felt before.

Broly wondered if this water thing tasted good. Cupping his hands together, he got a big puddle of the stuff there then gobbled it down. It definitely wasn't like the beetle blood. It felt a lot better, going down his throat nice and easy. It didn't really have a taste but it was warm and it wasn't bitter. Opening his mouth nice and wide toward the hose, Broly kept chugging lots more of it down.

He must've been at it for a while since Father called out to him. "What are you doing in there? You should be clean by now!"

Jamming his mouth shut fast, Broly gulped the last of the water. "S-Sorry, Father. I'm coming out."

Father shoved something in his chest the second he was out. It was nice, soft and furry in his hands, it reminded him of Bah's pelt except white and smaller. "Use that to dry yourself with, your clothes are on the top bunk."

Following Father's order, Broly rubbed the soft white pelt all over, smiling, enjoying the feel of it against his skin. It got rid of the water still on him too. On the top bunk or bed, he guessed there were some pants, gauntlets, boots, a chest piece like the one Father wore but different and Bah's pelt waiting for him. He smiled a little again when he noticed that. And no collar around too. Maybe Father wouldn't use it anymore?

Still smiling, Broly saw his new clothes. The new pants were purple, not blue like the old ones and they weren't torn up either. The boots and gauntlets were nice too, no dirt on them. The chest piece looked a little small, making him wonder if he should even try putting it on. But when he took hold of the green thing sticking out the shoulder part, Broly was amazed when it stretched.

Wondering if the rest of it did too, he gently started putting it on, slipping his head through first then his arms. It fit great! Didn't even feel clumsy or heavy like it looked it could be.

With another whoosh, the wall opened up, showing father drying himself off too. "Good, you're dressed. We'll get to the cafeteria in a minute."

Father's new clothes were nice and shiny too with lots of greens and purples. Unlike Broly, he went for gloves and something like a pelt too going around his waist, covering up his legs and most of his tail. The only thing kept from his old armor was the belt, a worn-out, orange one where the remote was kept.

The collar too... which Father took out from the pouch to his left. Instantly, the warm feeling of water left Broly's suddenly dry mouth and the pounding came back in his ears as Father walked up and started setting the collar back on.

While Father stood there, Broly tried very, very hard to keep a respectful face. Instead, he focused all his anger and sadness to his right fist, tightening it so hard it started hurting him. With the same loud clicking sound from before the collar was back in place.

"Alright, let's go."

"Yes... Sir."

The trip to this cafeteria took them through part connecting all the rooms together. This time, Broly didn't feel like sniffing for new smells or to look out at space where you could do that. He kept his head low and a respectful distance from Father.

Not even seeing Cheelai and Lemo again in this cafeteria, where people were sitting around, resting their arms on some grey looking slabs helped his mood.

"Yo!" Cheelai smiled and waved at them. "You guys are looking better! Come eat with us!"

Father nodded and moved to the opposite end of the table from where Cheelai sat. Broly decided to sit to her right, across from where Lemo was.

"Looking good in that new battle uniform!" She smiled wider. It helped make him feel a little better. "Although, that stinky fur around your waist should go!"

Her hand moved to where Bah's pelt was tied too, pulling at it just a little. Immediately, Broly's anger couldn't be stopped. Putting his hands to the spot she just touched, a sharp growl followed by a "No!" came out.

Everyone around them gasped and started staring at him, making Broly tense up even more as he started looking everywhere for danger. Cheelai jumped back in her seat, almost knocking it over while Lemo almost sank in his, staring at him with big, wide eyes.

"Broly," Father's cold voice suddenly cut through the silence. "Sit down and behave yourself."

Hesitantly, he looked at Father and saw he was getting mad too. That made Broly stop and try to calm himself down. With a long breath, it mostly worked. With the anger more or less gone, shame replaced it - the kind that really hurt whenever he messed something up for Father. Now he messed up with Cheelai and Lemo too.

"I-It's okay," Cheelai spoke up next, looking at Broly and Father. "I didn't know it was important."

Her hand went to the pelt again. This time gently brushing it, the same way Broly's hand used to brush against Bah... He felt like telling them about him but he'd already disappointed Father enough and talking about Bah would only make things worse, along with getting him very angry too.

Sitting down, Broly kept a respectful silence. Cheelai smiled at him a little while Lemo slowly pulled himself out of the chair. There were drops of sweat coming down his face.

"I see Lord Freeza has rewarded you well," Father spoke up, nudging his head toward something shiny in Lemo's hands.

"Oh? These? Sure! It'll make my retirement a helluva a lot nicer!"

"Weren't you already retired?" Cheelai asked him while Broly silently wondered what the word meant.

"Well... yyyeeeaahhhh..." Lemo started looking a little awkward too. "But... Y'know, when Lord Freeza says he needs you back, you come back."

Father let out another rumble that might've been a laugh. "That's how it works for everything."

"True that."

Some strange, white... flying thing came up to them, holding lots of smaller slabs with something that Broly's nose felt was food. "Here are your orders, enjoy!"

"Sweet! I'm starving!" Cheelai told them, licking her lips.

The floating thing with lots of arms left, leaving everyone a slab of food. Little things were next to it, a knife, a blunt knife and a knife with three spiky ends. While Broly wondered what they were for, everyone else started eating... with the knives. Looking around their table as well as the other ones close by, it was something they were all doing. Except for one table full of shouting people talking and looking funny.

Broly didn't want to shame or anger Father anymore, deciding he was going to eat like the others. Taking the spiky knife in his right hand, very gently along with the regular knife in his other one. Pressing a red, big piece of food looking like meat with the spiky knife, he started moving the regular knife up and down, cutting a piece off. Then he ate it.

It was the best meat he'd ever tasted. He only ate Vampa beetles but this tasted so much nicer than any of them ever did. It was even better than those little meals Father used to have, the ones he gave when Broly did something really good.

He couldn't help himself, gobbling up the meat in big chunks in no time. Next to it was some green stuff that wasn't as tasty but it was nice too along with these crunchy yellow things about the size of Broly's finger. Separate they were fine but when he put them together, along with some red mushy stuff in a small cup, it tasted even better than the meat!

"Wow..." Lemo said in a weird voice, stopping Broly mid gulp and getting his attention away from the food. Looking around the table, everyone was staring at him, not angry... just staring. "You... really like the food?"

Broly remembered not to speak with his mouth full, gulping before answering. "Y-Yes, sir."

To Broly's right, Cheelai laughed a little, smiling again. Lemo was the next one, a little smaller than his friend. Even Father let out a little rumble.

"Someone liking our cafeteria food," Cheelai kept laughing. "Never thought I'd see the day."

"W-Why? It's very good."

For a second they stared at him again then laughed harder, even Father was obviously doing it this time though he held back more than the others.

"So now we know what it takes to like the grub here," Lemo spoke up again, shaking his head left and right. "Being stuck on a crazy planet for years with nothing else to eat."

"Trust me, it doesn't," Father responded before eating down some yellow food with the blunt knife. This got another laugh out of the others, and Broly smiled too.

"H-Hey there," A new voice said, belonging to a smiling looking tall guy walking up to them. For some reason his purple cheeks were red and his walk was kinda funny. Immediately, Cheelai's smile disappeared, making her look angry for the first time since Broly met her. "How ya do-"

"I already told you to leave me alone, jerk."

The new guy, this jerk, stopped smiling for a second then laughed. "Aw! C'mon! Don't be like that! Why don't ya come t'my table and have a good time? Sittin' around with old farts and loud babies is borin'!"

Broly didn't know what a baby was but from the looks, Lemo and Father were giving this guy on top of Cheelai's told him this wasn't someone he should like.

"Buzz. Off." She answered coldly, it reminded him of Father when he got mad. Lemo, pushing his seat back, went to the guy who stood between Cheelai and Broly.

"You heard the lady fella, don't cause trouble or-"

With a loud thud, the guy smacked Lemo across the face putting him on the ground. "Piss off, old man!"

Broly was on him immediately. Before the red cheek guy knew it, his right arm was grabbed. "H-Hey! What're ya doUUUGGGHHH!"

The next thing grabbed was his throat. Choking and gurgling, Broly kept a strong squeeze on the guy who was hurting and bothering his friends.

"Stop, Broly," Father ordered from the back but Broly didn't care enough to listen. His bad mood from before was bad and a whole lot worse. From the jerk's table, he heard his friends shouting and getting back up. He could tell they wanted a fight. With a growl turning into a shout, Broly raised the jerk over his head and tossed him right across the room and into his table.

Lots of stuff clanked on the ground, the slab they were eating on flipped over, covering most of them in food. Out of the six guys there, five of them were still down with one managing to stay on his feet. With slow, powerful steps, a growling Broly started coming towards them.

"Broly! Stop right now!" Father ordered again, Broly still didn't listen. He kept marching, his feet starting to crack the ground right from under him. From inside, he felt a strong, familiar power building up. The kind Father was always proud of... and a little afraid.

The jerk and his pals were back up but from the looks on their faces, how they were staring at him with big eyes and open mouths. Broly knew they were very should be.

"BROLY!" Father shouted again, louder than he'd done in a very long time. "DON'T MAKE ME USE THE REMOTE!"

Feeling like he'd gotten punched across the face, Broly did as ordered and stopped just a few steps away from the jerk and his friends. A horrible fear beat out his anger, leaving him stuck-in-place until he got himself back under control. With a deep, long breathe, Broly finally got his body to move again, the pounding in his ears mostly gone.

Looking back, Cheelai helped up Lemo and were both looking between Father and him. Father's hand was on the remote's pouch. That made Broly freeze again, needing a few more deep breaths to calm down.

"F-Father..." Broly stuttered out, trying to sound respectful, not terrified. "I'm-"

"Colonel Paragus, Private Broly," The voice from before spoke above them again. "Report to Lord Freeza in the main hangar bay immediately."

Just like last time, most people in the room looked as afraid as Broly felt when the voice came back. Even Father, despite knowing he'd meet up with Lord Freeza after they ate.

"You," Father said, growling the word out. His good eye almost shut into a mean slit. "Come with me. Right now."

Gulping, Broly nodded and rushed out after him, not even looking back at Cheelai and Lemo on the way out. He didn't dare to stall Father after everything today. Walking very fast, almost running, they got closer to the place their flying box was left at.

"Shut up and let me do the talking, understood?"

Broly didn't know whether or not the order meant he should immediately shut up or be quiet after saying he'd listen. Father didn't seem to care, even if the confusion made his son all the more scared and tense. Lord Freeza stood at in front of a ship that was a smaller version of the one they were already in.

With the same smile as before, he waited until they reached him. "Colonel Paragus, Private Broly."

"Lord Freeza!" Broly timed the bow thing from earlier right this time but his greeting was still just a little after Father's, making it sound wrong. Lord Freeza didn't seem to care.

"Rise gentlemen," He waved them up and they did. "I hope you've both eaten well and rested a bit?"

"Y-Yes, sire," Father nodded, little beads of sweat moving down the side of his face.

"Good, good, so you won't mind indulging me for a bit?"

"I-Indulge you, sire? With what?"

"Oh, nothing particularly extravagant," Lord Freeza's smile widened, his eyes narrowing... at Broly. "Just a friendly little spar between me and your son? I would very much like to see the power which terrified King Vegeta after all.

Chapter Text

Their flight down to the other planet went smooth. It didn't make Broly scared or angry like the one away from Vampa. Other things did this instead. Father and Lord Freeza.

Hearing the word "spar" brought back memories, some he didn't want to remember. He only trained with Father... and Bah. Lord Freeza would become the third person. Someone even Father took orders from. Broly had to fight well. They'd get angry at him if he didn't. But what if it happened to him, instead? What if he hurt Lord Freeza like he hurt...

A small thudding got Broly's attention back to his surroundings.

"We've landed, Lord Freeza." The weird guy with black spots and green skin told them. He flew the ship.

"Good, good. I'm quite excited for this," Lord Freeza, smiling, walked out of the room first. His tail whooshing through the air.

Father and Broly followed him, after unstrapping themselves. For some reason, Father walked a little ways off from Lord Freeza.

"Do whatever Lord Freeza wants, Broly," He whispered, sounding nervous. About the same thing Broly himself was? "Understood?"

"Y-Yes, Father."

This ship had a thing lowering too, letting them all walk outside. This new planet reminded Broly of Vampa. It was full of dirt, rocks and not much else. Except Vampa was a pretty yellow in daylight. This place with cloudy sky above and lots of brown boulders everywhere looked kind of... wrong? Unlike Vampa where you could see or hear the dogs and beetles everywhere moving around hunting and eat each other, this place felt... empty... Like they were all alone on the whole planet.

They walked a long way until their ship was just a tiny dot off in the distance. The ground underneath was softer than Vampa's. Broly almost sank a couple of times before pulling himself out.

"This spot should suffice," Lord Freeza stopped a short distance away, smiling and swinging that tail left and right. "I am ready to begin whenever you are."

"Remember our training," Father said from behind him. "Now... GO! BROLY!"

On an instinct inside him for as long as he remembered, one trained by Father, Broly blasted off towards Lord Freeza. Feeling bits and pieces of the ground crash against his face on the flight there. He was confused and a little worried by his opponent just standing there, smiling at him.

But Lord Freeza wanted this and Father said to remember training so he did. Making a fist, Broly raised it over his head and swung. Instead of hitting a face, Broly blinked when his whole arm couldn't move and the rest of him with it. Lord Freeza caught his punch in that tiny hand of his. None of him budged an inch while Broly felt his whole arm shaking in the lock.

"Do continue," Freeza told him so... easily? It made Broly blink a few times before remembering what he was supposed to do. Making a fist with his free hand, he took another swing. This time Lord Freeza blocked with his knee, moving it so fast Broly again couldn't follow him.

This went on for a while, Broly remembering every way to punch and kick Father ever taught him and every single one being blocked by Lord Freeza. Broly wasn't even sure the guy moved from his spot at all. It was annoying, making him mad. But not mad enough to forget what happened earlier with Cheelai and the jerk up there or his fear of the collar...

"This is beginning to grow tiresome, what say we liven the festivities, hm?"

Before Broly could even wonder what a festivity was, Lord Freeza... moved again, Broly wasn't sure. Something blew him away, making him feel dizzy... and hurt. The pain took a while to feel but it was strong, stingy and going all over his face from his right cheek. Forgetting his training, dropping his guard, Broly went to the spot hurting most then immediately moved his hand away.

That was when he realized Lord Freeza hurt him. It had been so long since that happened. He must've only gotten big when it did last time. Then Broly got hurt again, this time his other cheek got hit with enough power to knock him off his feet.

"No daydreaming, private," Lord Freeza warned him before hurting Broly again. This time the hit got him in the chest, blasting Broly away. Feeling something wet and bad tasting in his throat, Broly growled in mid-air, trying to ignore the pain and keeping himself from getting too mad.

That part was getting harder and harder to do. Every time Lord Freeza hurt him, Broly felt a huge urge to smash him like he wanted to smash the jerk from earlier. A few times, he even thought some of his punches or kicks would land. He could follow Freeza a little better, see where he was coming only for his opponent to make himself even faster, his hits tougher.

"You're improving but not quite well enough," Freeza spoke up again, vanishing when Broly's fist was about to hit him again. Another kind of pain he hadn't felt in a long time made him shout, a burning one coming from his leg. Seeing Freeza's smoking finger, Broly knew what he'd done. It was energy, that power letting them do all of this and more.

Letting a low growl loose, Broly threw his arm at Freeza to fire a blast of his own. It missed because the target moved... and hit him instead. Broly tried again and failed this one too. He kept failing, over and over and over. Every time Broly could follow a little better, Freeza just shot him with another red finger blast.

Pretty soon, Broly couldn't even get a chance to fire at all. Freeza moved so fast, hit him all over the place, Broly felt lots of horrible burning pain all over almost at once. The voice telling him to not get mad, to not lose control completely started going away, lost in his temper, the pain, and wanting to make it stop.

That's when something in the pit of his stomach started showing up. This hot, burning feeling Father used to tell him to reach into back when they trained for it. Before they stopped after he disappointed Father by not doing it right. This showed up whenever he got really mad. When he wanted to smash something to bits. Like that jerk with Cheelai, his friends... and... Freeza...

Pretty soon, smashing Freeza was the only thing close to a thought he had left. The burning feeling got bigger and bigger before finally exploding out of him with a giant shout. A monster's shout came out of his throat, mixing up with his regular voice. Pretty soon, lots and lots of green energy came out of him, blowing away all of Freeza's blast and finally, finally, hitting him.

But it wasn't enough. Not even close. Going after his enemy, Broly sent another punch. Freeza blocked it but this time, he wasn't moving as fast. He could be followed and the power behind it made him fly backward.

Broly's next attack was even stronger and faster, sending Freeza down from the left. Before he even hit the ground, Broly was already behind where he was supposed to be smacked his opponent away. With every attack, he let Freeza have it, putting each and every bit of power he had into them. But he didn't get any tired, not like when he was calm. Whenever he got mad, Broly felt like he could fight forever and ever.

After punching Freeza hard in the gut, Broly spun behind him and brought down both his fists right in the back of his head. The ground exploded into a giant mess of lots of soft rocks.

Somewhere far away he heard someone shouting at him. But Broly ignored it. He had to smash Freeza some more.

"Impressive," A familiar voice said from behind. Spinning around, Broly growled then squinted through the mess of tiny rocks still falling down and recognized Freeza floating there. He was totally fine. "It seems your power grows in response to desperation and anger."

Broly, still surprised by the fact Freeza was fine, didn't react fast enough. Let alone attack, Freeza's hand whipped up, pointing one finger at the sky. Just above it, a teeny little ball of purple energy showed up. When this hand snapped down, the ball went right toward Broly.

On the way down it got much bigger, so big Broly couldn't see anything in-front of him but purple.

Paragus feared this would come to pass. When Lord Freeza asked to meet with them after lunch, he assumed they would rejoin to talk about strategy, when they would exact revenge on Prince Vegeta and the Saiyan aiding him on some backwater world. It never even remotely crossed his mind Lord Freeza would want to fight with Broly.

He'd never even heard of his superior training, period! Was that the reason for his supreme strength? The power allowing him to dwarf Broly, the strongest Saiyan born in dozens, perhaps hundreds of generations so effortlessly? If so, it only proved the idiocy of King Vegeta. The futility of his schemes... and his petty exile of Broly decades ago.

But at that moment, Paragus didn't have the luxury of cursing King Vegeta. His son was doing precisely what he didn't want him to: tapping into power he never, ever had the proper control to use. A power greater than any Saiyan had ever achieved since living memory and beyond. Possibly even greater than the original Super Saiyans! All funneled through King Vegeta's little pet project.

There was a time Paragus found the irony of using the King's own toys to kill him amusing. Now? It only meant trouble. Lord Freeza being beaten, possibly killed, made his blood run cold. He knew it would come to this. When Broly started losing, when he got cornered, it was all just a matter of time...

"B-BROLY!" Paragus shouted, shielding himself from the force of Broly's green energy billowing like an unstoppable wind across the land. "BROLY! STOP THIS INSTANT! THIS IS NOT WHAT YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO DO!"

Nothing. As expected. This far gone you would have more luck trying to reason with a planet-wide storm over Broly. Gritting his teeth, Paragus decided to put a stop to this with the one thing he knew could work.

But before he could even bring it out, Broly smashed Lord Freeza into the ground. From the blast of wind and ground literally imploding right from under him, Paragus found himself flung back, rolling through as helpless as the planet itself was against Broly's power.

"Ugh... Damn..." Paragus coughed out of the sand, spitting some of it out. On old shaky legs that didn't work as good as they used to, he spotted Broly and Lord Freeza hovering over the massive hole the former just made. Squinting his one good eye, Paragus spotted something purple and glowing above Lord Freeza... before it was thrown right at his son.

It was an energy ball, five times the size of Broly who was already among the tallest Saiyans Paragus had ever seen. From afar, he heard his son's voice combined with that of his Oozaru form roar against the ball barreling down on him. Now another fear, similar but fundamentally different shook him: what if Lord Freeza inadvertently killed Broly?

The thought of this happening made Paragus' blood run even colder.

"His ki rises still," Nearly jumping out of his skin, Paragus noticed Lord Freeza standing next to him, looking completely fine. Smiling even. "He will overpower my attack."

Momentarily he wondered how Lord Freeza could possibly know this. Or what this ki thing was until another one of Broly's shouts made his attention return to the fight. The green energy seeping out of his son suddenly grew even larger and just as his superior predicted the burst of power broke through the ball.

The blast of green energy from Broly's mouth cut right through it, shooting through the sky, carving through several mountains even farther off in the distance. It finally stopped when it blew up above them, raising entire mountain ranges to dust.

"Most impressive indeed. You mentioned a way to calm him down, correct?"

Recovering his wits, Paragus gulped. "Y-Yes, sire..."

"Good," Lord Freeza smiled wider. "I would appreciate a demonstration of it."

That was the first thing about this whole ordeal he liked. "O-Of course, my lord!" Reaching into Beet's pouch, Paragus went for the one thing he could always count on to bring Broly back under control: the remote to his collar. A slapdash device created decades ago from bits and pieces of technology left over from the crash.

He wasted no time in aiming it then pressing down on the sole button.

Broly's shout changed immediately, transforming from a powerful monster's boom to a loud, almost ear piercing pained shrieking. His green energy became wild, so strong Paragus feared it might inadvertently lash out and strike him down. Worse, Broly grabbed the collar and pulled. If he pulled it off...

But Paragus' fears disappeared when, in this storm of green power, Broly began to give in. Eventually, the green energy disappeared and Broly fell to his knees. The only thing you could hear was Broly's pained gasps for air.

Letting a few more moments of silence pass, without waiting for Lord Freeza's permission, Paragus ran. He crossed the vast distance in no time but slowed down considerably on the final approach. He kept a very keen eye out for Broly's breathing. He needed to be absolutely certain the rage had been beaten down. Paragus had no interest in being on the receiving end of it. Not ever again.

From the looks of things, his fears were unfounded this time. Broly was asleep. His breathing sounded a little ragged but otherwise, he was fine. Finally, Paragus could let himself breathe. Feeling safe, he kneeled down and grabbed his son by the right arm, putting it over his shoulder.

"Incredible," Lord Freeza suddenly appeared right there again. "To think such a small device could bring down someone of his overwhelming power, I do hope there is no permanent damage?"

"Broly is a Saiyan. This won't affect him adversely in the long term."

"Yes, yes, how silly of me to even ask," He laughed. "Though I must say, I've never encountered a Saiyan with quite this type of power before. An Oozaru but in human form..."

"Y-You're right, my Lord," Paragus spoke carefully, trying to find the right way to phrase this. "It's a special ability only a few Saiyans ever attempted and now... only Broly can do it... such as it is..."

"Strange that I've never encountered it before. I believe it's never been even recorded within our databanks."

"I-It wouldn't be."

"Oh?"

Paragus' reluctance was replaced by anger as he remembered his own conversations on this very thing a lifetime ago. "King Vegeta came up with it, sire. It was a secret project of his: Oozaru power in human form. He developed it in secret, on remote worlds using only elite warriors already capable of maintaining cognizant thought in Oozaru."

"To kill me?" Lord Freeza said it so frankly Paragus found himself off balance once again.

"Y-Yes, my Lord,..."

His superior laughing at this only left Paragus more bewildered. The very fact he knew this information could have been used to imply treason on his part. Treason killed before it accomplished anything but still...

"Ohohohohoho! You Saiyans! Always finding new transformations to power yourselves up," Lord Freeza giggled, his hand stretching out to Broly. "Is this the sixth or seventh one so far? I've honestly lost count."

"My apologies for going overboard. But I had to see what he was capable of. We can't rush into our revenge blindly now can we?"

"N-No, my lord," Paragus answered. "I-If I might ask sire, what exactly did you mean by Saiyans discovering transformations? Besides the Oozaru and this permutation of it, there aren't any others."

"Oh my dear colonel," Lord Freeza chuckled, shaking his head. "I've much to tell you upon our return to the capital ship."

Chapter Text

"And this form is known as Super Saiyan Blue. Once Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan... You can see why they changed it..." Freeza cringed at the idiocy of Goku's naming scheme. It never failed to irritate him.

Colonel Paragus observed the computer display hovering around him with an expected mix of surprise and cold fury. The unconscious Broly was immediately sent to the ship's finest healing chamber to recover as quickly as possible. Meanwhile, the two conversed within the privacy of the throne room.

Though Freeza found himself acting as more of a professor or presenter. With a carefully articulated choice of words, he went past the various forms and abilities acquired by Vegeta over the intervening years. Sensing ki to remove the use of a Scouter. But far more importantly, his acquisition of various Super Saiyan forms. Goku was used to fill in the ones Vegeta either failed to attain or hadn't shown yet. The former scenario was the more likely one, in Freeza's opinion.

Sorbet's left-over spy drone information was useful. With it and newer footage from across the Earth from a new batch of devices planted there, Freeza could convey the weight of the challenge Broly would have to face in the coming battle. Colonel Paragus, expectedly, assumed the Saiyan warrior race was left in a similar state power wise as they once were.

An illusion quite shattered, even if Paragus tried to put a brave face on.

"Thi-This is..."

"Shocking I know. But I can assure you, Colonel, every word is true. The legendary Super Saiyan has not only been rediscovered but severely supplanted in power."

"B-But... to think Saiyans could become Gods..." The aging soldier shook his head. "... I-It's insane, my lord!"

"Madness or not, it is the reality of our situation. One we mustn't deny, correct?"

The coolness of Freeza's voice calmed him somewhat. Making him stand firmer, more upright. "Yes, you're right, sire. I apologize for stumbling."

"You are forgiven," Freeza smiled, nodding in-acceptance as he leaned back into the throne. "Now, the information I've detailed here is not everything. More thorough reports await you through your room's private terminal. I expect you to spend the coming days becoming intimately familiar with everything inside."

"Of course, my lord. However, it'll take more than me having this memorized to win."

"Indeed it shall, which is precisely why I intend to train Broly."

Paragus' sole eye widened. "T-Train, my son...?!"

"Of course," He kept gawking at Freeza. "Come now my dear Colonel, who else but I could do it? Surely my performance against him should dissuade any fears of Broly slaying me?"

"Th-That's not it, my lord. It's just..." His lip curled. "Broly has been nigh impossible to train for years. Even if you can overpower him, it might not be enough."

Freeza accepted his advice with a nod, fighting back the urge to eye-roll. Saiyans. Even when they were smarter than the average primate, power alone mattered most in their thinking. Paragus' idea of vengeance began and ended with Broly flailing as the savage he was at Vegeta until he was a bloody pulp in the ground. How boorishly Saiyan.

"Regardless, I shall do it. Broly's energy is considerable, more than adequate to exact our revenge. But to fulfill his purpose, he will need skills only I among the entire Freeza Force can offer him: the ability to sense energy or rather Ki."

Paragus blinked a few times, seemingly confused. Freeza once again fought the urge to roll his eyes at Saiyan foolishness. Luckily, the Colonel sole eye brightened with realization.

"Ah, yes! I recall you saying you could feel my son's energy!"

"It is a most useful skill, one allowing you to track foes or prepare yourself against an incoming attack. For all his raw power and even fighting skills, someone of Broly's caliber can be felled by a surprise blow. The kind Vegeta and his comrade could resort to when the tide turns against them."

"But can Broly truly learn it, sire? His temper, his self-control, it seems beyond him to master..."

Growing somewhat tired by this particular turn the conversation had taken, Freeza suppressed the urge to eye-roll and simply strike Paragus down. Death was not a warranted solution to this situation. Instead, he exercised more of the patience he'd acquired from Earth's Hell and decided on a different course of action. A simple distraction.

"I apologize for changing the subject so abruptly, Colonel," Freeza tapped the computer monitor controls built into the right arm of the throne. "I tasked some of our fine subjects in the data control center for more information as to the details of your exile. There were none... at first glance."

As though a fresh banana was suddenly dangled in front of him, Paragus' attention was immediately grabbed. "N-None? But that's impossible my lord! Even if he suppressed certain elements to the story before, there's no way he could cover up all of it!"

"See for yourself." The monitors showcasing footage or photographs of Vegeta and Goku in various Super Saiyan forms changed to those detailing certain remnant pieces of Saiyan data. Ones concerning their history, what little news passed between them, internal orders and many more things. Some were created just days prior to planet Vegeta's destruction. Others came from quite a bit earlier.

Paragus observed the reports and details, checking back and forth from the new version against the old. At one moment, his whole body seemed to freeze. Then he began checking more with increased fervor. Soon, his sole eye went from one scrap of information to the next, a ferocious madness overtaking it.

Freeza could understand why. For between these reports and pieces of Saiyan history left overlaid perhaps the greatest insult King Vegeta ever laid upon his one-time, right-hand man. The sheer deviousness of it made the rightful overlord of the universe feel a shred of genuine admiration for the deceased Saiyan monarch.

"My lord," Paragus suddenly spoke, his gruff voice hoarser than usual. From his side, Freeza could see his fist shaking with barely contained rage. "May I please continue this in my private chambers?"

"Of course, Colonel, take all the time you need."

With a stiff, hurried bow, Paragus all but ran from the throne room. His mind in a fresh rush of blood-curdling rage to fuel a blinding desire for vengeance. It was right where Freeza wanted him to be. Away in his own little world of while his son was ripe for the picking.

Switching the computer display's footage and positioning, Freeza received a good look at the slumbering Broly inside the healing pod. Looking at him in this vulnerable state, one would never think he was a being of fierce fighting potential ready to explode at a moment's notice.

But Freeza knew very well. Before Broly even set foot on his ship, he felt the approach of something... raw, untapped. Energy unlike most he'd ever encountered before. Seeing him up close then feeling it burst forth confirmed something he'd suspected from the start: this Broly was similar to the Saiyan Kale from Universe 6.

Seemingly demure but hiding a murderous temper unleashing a tidal wave of destruction on anyone or anything unfortunate enough to trigger it. If simply using this... "Super Oozaru" was enough to tap into this fighting strength, what would a stronger Saiyan form do?

The very thought of such power being at Freeza's disposal made him giddy. It reminded him of the first time he saw the Saiyan warrior race, a lifetime ago...

Many Decades Prior

"Lord Freeza, p-permission to enter?" Zarbon's voice sounded from a speaker built into Freeza's hover throne. The galactic overlord sighed, feeling slightly irritated at the interruption of his private time. Recently, Captain Ginyu conquered one of the most well-known wines-producing worlds in the galaxy. Almost immediately upon this success, he sent Lord Freeza a bottle, fully aware of his superior's love of the drinks.

Now Zarbon interrupted his tasting of it. If he was almost anyone else, Freeza would kill him. But his subordinate was aware of his ruler's preferences, meaning his interruption was for something important. With a sigh, Freeza telepathically returned the wine and allowed Zarbon in.

"My apologies Lord Freeza," He kneeled, putting in quite a bit of effort to sound apologetic. "I've urgent news to bring you. It concerns the planet of Beenz."

Freeza rubbed his chin. "Beenz... Beenz... Oh yes. A troublesome world. It has resisted several of our attempts to conquer it thus far. I had thought of sending the Ginyu Force after it should it resist us. What of it?"

"W-Well... It is being conquered... By someone... else..."

He raised an eyebrow at Zarbon's statement. "Someone else?"

"Y-Yes my Lord, p-please! Allow me to show you."

With a nod, Freeza did. Zarbon rushed back to his feet, quickly but politely walking towards a nearby computer terminal. A wide display showing real-time footage from the planet through their various spy drones on and above the world appeared before them.

From the atmospheric view, countless explosive detonations sprang to life then vanished across the world's blue surface. Already, substantial portions of the planet appeared little more than blasted rubble, the sky overhead darkening from dirt and smoke.

The ground footage was far more interesting. On it, Freeza saw the Beenz people, grey-skinned and hairless with short stubby bodies and large, ugly heads fighting against their attackers. In contrast to the diminutive but above average species in battle power and intellect, wearing armors and attempting various kinds of military tactics, these attackers were savages.

Tall, with giant, black and unruly hair turning into dozens of spikes, wearing simple armor cobbled together from primitive tribal wear and armor stolen from someone. They towered over the Beenz people, physically and in terms of power. With a gleeful merriness to their slaughter, these savage invaders overwhelmed and overpowered the same species responsible for causing Freeza's own so much trouble as of late.

The galactic overlord was understandably intrigued. Though he already found them repulsive in appearance, particularly those tails of theirs, there was something commendable in their demeanor and power. Something he was always in the lookout for when scouting for new talent.

"Zarbon, how far away are we from planet Beenz?"

He blinked in confusion. "T-Three hours my lord... But-"

"Set course for it and prepare a contingent of our troops for planetfall."

He observed the footage, delayed and troubled as it was from travel through the entire trip. Freeza didn't even bother with the wine. In short order, the Beenz people were facing extinction at an incredible rate. These attackers showed no mercy, men, women, children, animals... Though much of the world's valuable resources would be lost by the sloppiness of the assault, Freeza suspected he could gain something far more worthwhile to compensate for it.

"My Lord," Zarbon called through the communications device built into his scouter. He was in the hangar where 500 of their soldiers were awaiting the order. "Our troops are ready."

"Good, deploy. Orders are as usual: if it lives, kill it."

Leaning back into his throne, Freeza watched with an amused smile as his own forces entered the fray. They were not his best, not even close. But they were above average and certainly more useful for the test than anyone within the ground forces. Rather than be deterred by the sudden appearance of more enemies to fight, as the people of Beenz were, these attackers roared as though reinforcements arrived.

If the battle was a chaotic ramble before, it was a beautiful catastrophe now. Freeza's own forces stood no better against these invaders than the people of Beenz. If anything, their first victims bored them and so the Freeza Force troops found themselves receiving even more viciousness.

During this fighting, Freeza saw there was some method to the madness. One invader, dressed far more regally than any of the others shouted orders and commands here and there. At his side and across several points across the planet, he was in contact with others serving as leaders as well.

This was the one to approach.

"Zarbon," Freeza opened communications again, his eyes never leaving the fighting. "Prepare my own personal ship. I'm going down there myself, would you kindly join me?"

"O-Of course, my lord!"

While his close subordinate nervously operated the vessel down, Freeza observed the last vestiges of his army fall. Some of them were smart enough to realize the importance of the lead invader, recognizing his authority and attempting to kill him. Unfortunately for them, they lacked the power to do the deed or to defend themselves from the logical retaliation.

As expected, the invaders did not open fire on them, allowing both Freeza and Zarbon to descend from the ship into the middle of a recently blasted apart city. The scent of smoke was heavy in the air, along with fires and death. Freeza smiled, it was finer than the most delicious of wines.

The invaders were already converging on them from all sides, grinning and eager for battle still, eyeing the two most recent arrivals as more prey. This only widened Freeza's smile.

"What've we got 'ere?" One of them, an older looking invader shouted. "More visitors?"

"Indeed, my good fellow," Freeza nodded. "Though, a more important one than my subordinates. For I am the ruler of this world's most... recent arrivals."

This got some of them talking, though the predatory desire to fight and kill never left their eyes. From the front, Freeza detected a shuffling through the invader's ranks as they parted for their leader. He came into full view. Tall, strong, with a grim face and hair spikier, browner than the others but one of the very few with facial hair. From the way they respectfully or fearfully glanced at him, Freeza's suspicion was proven correct. He was their ruler.

"You are the king of these men?" He nudged towards the mostly blown up body of a Freeza Force member nearby. Freeza nodded. "Hmph, not a very strong army, is it?"

This got a burst of rowdy laughter from the assembled invaders and a polite one from Freeza himself. "I admit, they were not my finest troops. Not like you gentlemen, anyway."

"You're right about that, when it comes to fighting, the Saiyans are the greatest in the universe!"

They burst into cheers at the proclamation while Freeza remembered the name. "So it seems. What would you say about proving it, under me?"

His offer sobered the Saiyans while shocking others. Their king looked the most surprised of all. "Fight? Under you?"

"Indeed," Making the chair hover a few inches closer to the field's center, Freeza cleared his throat.

"I am Lord Freeza, supreme ruler of the cosmos and a man always in-search for talented individuals to join my army, the Freeza Force. I've observed the events of your fighting today with great interest. You have shown a remarkable battle power and a willingness to destroy. Both quite valued in my army. So, what say you about becoming the latest addition to the Freeza Force?"

The laughter was even louder this time, with a few of the Saiyans even toppling over. Freeza felt a slight bit of irritation from this, though he kept smiling. One of them, the older one who first spoke to him earlier laughed the hardest of them all.

"You? A ruler?! HA! A shrimp like you probably can't even throw a punch!"

Somehow, their jovial attitude became even louder. From his side, Freeza noticed Zarbon growing nervous, fearful. But not of the Saiyans and for very good reason. Once the laughter died down to a collection of chuckles and derisive sneers, the king of the Saiyans spoke back up.

"I admit, your offer is quite amusing, Freeza." He spoke, smiling and stroking his beard. "The ruler of this place offered us money to leave, to spare his people. As if that matters to us. So, thank you for the offer, but we refuse."

From his side, another Saiyan, one of the few who did not laugh walked to his king's side. With a grim look, he whispered something furiously into his superior's ear. The king gave him a look cowing him back into silence. Did this one know who Freeza was? Doubtful but there was something more to it.

"However," The Saiyan king spoke back up, his smile returning. "We will gladly accept the use of your ships as our own."

That explained it. These Saiyan primitives were likely not well versed in space travel. It must've been a small miracle they even arrived here. Now they wanted to take his vessels, kill him and continue doing so as undisputed conquerors of the universe. Such brazen audacity. It made Freeza want to wipe them out and force them to join his army in equal measure.

However, his approach was mistaken, quite foolishly so. They respected power, did they? Well, Freeza would show them power. Wordlessly, giving them his most pleasant smile, he raised his right index finger. A tiny orb of energy appeared above it. This earned Freeza another wave of derisive laughter from the Saiyans and he would make sure it was the last they'd ever do to him.

With a tiny flicker, the orb hovered ever so slowly away from him and towards their king, purposefully so. Then, with a speed so blinding it was indecipherable to anyone but Freeza himself, the orb blasted towards the Saiyan rule, past his head before blasting off into space.

Immediately, everyone wondered what they'd just seen, some tensing for battle while others stared on in confusion.

"You!" The king shouted, aiming his palm toward Freeza. "What did you do?!"

Freeza pointed toward the sky, where the Beenz moon hovered in the morning sky. They all watched it, even Zarbon, while Freeza kept his eyes transfixed on the Saiyan king. As planned, the moon cracked, literally. Its purple surface began to break more and more, revealing burning orange lines stretching across its surface. In a matter of minutes, the entire thing blew up into nothing but space dust.

A deathly silence fell upon the field. No one moved or spoke. Freeza delivered his message quickly and clearly. Even the Saiyans, as rowdy as they were, understood it quite well.

"So, gentlemen," Freeza broke the silence, speaking easily and pleasantly. "What say you about my offer, this time?"

They kneeled, naturally. Vowing eternal loyalty in service to Lord Freeza and his Freeza Force. All the while clenching their fists and failing to conceal looks of contempt at bowing to him. Particularly their king named Vegeta. Freeza found these small displays of brazen defiance charming, for a time.

Oh, if only he knew then what it meant. He would've exterminated the whole lot of them right then and there. Staring at the footage of the slumbering Broly, he knew the means to achieve this and much more were within his grasp. Only this time, Freeza would take a different approach in getting a Saiyan's loyalty.

Chapter Text

Cheelai shut her alarm up with a loud palm smack, groaning herself awake. Even after all this time in the army, waking up on a schedule still bothered her. Sure, stealing rides meant spending the odd night awake but it usually let her sleep in after. Here, under Freeza's roof, she was expected to go to bed and wake up early.

It didn't help she slept pretty poorly. Yesterday started out and kept being weird. Finding Paragus and Broly, flying through an asteroid belt, meeting Freeza then the mess at the cafeteria and finally, seeing Paragus dragging Broly to the infirmary.

Seeing that poor guy like that, after having a scary day of his own got to her. The fact she still didn't know why he was now in a healing pod didn't help matters. She tried asking Paragus what happened but Lemo stopped her. Freeza was there too and Lemo told her to stay out of his way.

Reluctantly, she did and barely forced herself to leave when the medical officers said Broly needed treatment. Visitors weren't allowed for him yet. The last time she saw him he was being carried by a whole crew of people into the pod, totally, creepily limp...

With a sigh, she tried to get the image out of her head, to relax a little. But when she saw the time on her alarm clock, Cheelai couldn't stop the shocked shriek from coming right out.

"H-Holy crap! I-It's 11 in the morning?! B-But... I didn't... I couldn't have..."

"Morning!" The doors swung open, revealing a smiling Lemo on the other side with a fresh cup of tea in his hand. "Looks like I made it in time."

"H-Huh?" She blinked, staring at him like he was crazy. "B-But I overslept..."

"Technically you did," He handed her the tea which she numbly took. "But us higher ranked officers got a call ahead of the usual wake up time. We're grounded for a while."

"D-Did something happen...?"

"We happened," His smile widened. "Turns out, Freeza was so happy about us finding Broly he's called off all the bounties looking for new recruits. He's even given a ship-wide at ease order to most of us grunts. Which means you get to sleep in for a while."

Cheelai stared at him for a second longer before looking away. She'd heard bad stuff about Freeza so him being nice sounded weird. Then again, even mean people had good days. Still, the thought of sleeping like a normal person again made her feel only a little better. There was other stuff she needed to know first before she could relax the right way.

"You think they'll let us see Broly?"

Lemo's smile dropped just a tick. "As a matter of fact yeah. I saw the big guy an hour ago, the docs said he should be waking up pretty soon."

That made her feel better, easing some tension all over her back. With this in mind, Cheelai gulped down the tea and got dressed fast. In five minutes they were both out into the corridors where a whole lot of happy looking folks were walking around and chatting. She couldn't remember the last time it felt so... nice to be there. Even the older folks, the dourest ones in there, walked with a nice spring in their step.

By the time they reached the medical wing, Broly was already up! They caught him slipping his chest piece over his head off a nearby table.

"You're okay!" She walked up to him smiling with Lemo trailing a little bit behind. Broly froze, turned around then blinked a few times at her. He looked nervous, uncomfortable even from the way he avoided looking at her.

"Hey, you okay?" The question didn't seem to help him.

"I... I apologize for the fight..."

Oh. So that was bothering him. She waved it away, trying to sound as reassuring as possible. "Hey, don't worry about. Those jerks deserved it, they've been bugging me and lots of other people around here for a while now. Right, Lemo?"

When she turned around, he gave her a... look she couldn't read but he did nod. "That's true, although I think it's good things stopped where they did."

Something about his voice didn't sit right with her either. It was guarded but just a little scolding.

"Yes," Broly spoke up. "Father says I... Get too mad for my own good..."

"Speaking of," She looked around the room. "He's not here. I figured he'd be allowed to stay with you."

"Colonel Paragus has some urgent matters to settle."

A new voice she instantly recognized from the doorway spoke up. Spinning around, hers and everyone else's eyes widened when they saw Freeza standing there, looking at the three of them specifically.

"L-Lord Freeza!" She and the others said with Broly trailing behind a little in their joint salute. Freeza just chuckled and waved it aside.

"At ease men, that's an order." Everyone did so, trying to relax as much as possible with their boss there. With a graceful stride, he walked in, his tail flailing slowly to the sides alongside every step.

"Private Broly, I hope you're feeling well after yesterday's events?"

"Y-Yes, Lord Freeza..."

"I am very glad to hear this," He nodded, giving Broly a nice smile. "I felt quite terrible about the situation escalating the way it did. It was truly not my intent to injure you."

Cheelai silently wondered what situation he meant that could get Broly hurt. A part of her even wanted to risk asking it but from the side, she saw Lemo shake his head a little. From the way, sweat dripped down his head and the stiff posture of his body, at ease he was not.

"I do hope you can accept my most sincere of apologies?"

Broly blinked at him, not immediately answering and letting an uncomfortable silence fall on the room. Cheelai wondered about the reason, did he never get an apology before or was Freeza throwing him off?

"I-I thank you, Lord Freeza...?" He slowly replied like he was afraid of what'd happen.

"Wonderful," Freeza clapped his hands together, the sound making almost everyone in the room jump back, especially the older folks. "I'm glad we can put this behind us, particularly since we shall be seeing more of each other under similar circumstances."

Broly gave Freeza another dumb stare. "Uhm... What do you mean... Lord Freeza?"

"Why, I am taking over for your training, of course! Your father and I already agreed to it while he remains busy with other matters."

From the way she could practically hear Broly gulp like a sledgehammer, Cheelai knew he didn't like the idea at all. Training. That was what got him hurt the first time, probably. If it did, it was no wonder he was scared...

Freeza must've picked up on Broly's feelings too. His smile became kinder, more reassuring.

"Do not worry my friend," Even his voice softened. "This training will be quite different from last time. I can promise you with absolute certainty no one shall be hurt."

He showed Broly his palms. "After all, I don't see a remote, do you?"

Something about the look in Broly's eyes changed. Widening eyes showing surprise and something like... relief? About the remote?

Not for the first time, Cheelai thought about it. Paragus used it to frighten Broly yesterday, threatened him with it even. What was the deal with it? Broly obviously didn't like it and Freeza using its absence to calm him down meant something... Did it hurt him yesterday? Put him in here?

Again, she felt the urge to ask and Lemo nudging her arm with his shoulder reminded her not to.

"In fact, why don't I prove the harmlessness of it immediately with a short training session? If you're up for it, of course?" Freeza asked away, gesturing for Broly to leave with him. He did that, hesitantly but not quite as afraid as he was just minutes ago.

They were back on the planet from yesterday except with no Father around. It was just him and Lord Freeza out here, the guy who flew them down left behind far away. Broly... didn't exactly know what to think about it. Last time he was here his control broke, again, just like Father always said it did, always angry at him for it. Broly disappointed him again.

But now... Father wasn't there, it was Lord Freeza training him now. Broly wasn't sure but the strange hairless man looked and talked... different. His voice was softer whenever he said something to Broly and if he gave an order, it sounded nicer too. Like he was asking Broly to do something instead of telling him.

It made him feel a little better about doing this again. But even without Father around, getting mad and failing again...

"Tell me Broly," Lord Freeza spoke up putting a box he brought with him down onto the ground. "When we fought one another, did you find yourself lacking something?"

Broly blinked, Lord Freeza's big words kept confusing him. "L-Lacking...sire?"

"Missing, as though you kept trying to do something but couldn't."

He stopped to think about it. Lord Freeza did get the jump on him a lot. The way he moved like a blur all over the place. It still made Broly's head spin. "I couldn't follow you... You were so fast...?"

Lord Freeza smiled wider. "You are half-correct. Speed was a factor but in the last throes of our battle, you and I were even yet I still managed to take you by surprise."

Broly tried remembering this but his memory always got hazy whenever the rage took over. It was all... messed up, so intense it made his head hurt just imagining it.

"I-I think so?"

"Indeed, for you see Broly, there is a special technique known only to a handful of warriors in the universe. Not even your Father knew of it until very recently."

Father not knowing something, the very idea seemed funny to Broly. Father taught him absolutely everything there was to fighting, even if he couldn't learn it all the right way.

"It is known as energy sensing. The ability to feel another persons energy from far away. Sometimes across space itself."

He recognized the thing called energy. It was what let them do a whole bunch of stuff other people apparently couldn't, like smash through mountains or fly. Broly had a lot of it, Father told him that. He could feel it inside but he'd never seen something like what Lord Freeza was talking about. Not unless someone attacked him with energy.

"I see you're a bit confused," Lord Freeza let out a chuckle. "May I try something to illustrate what I'm talking about?"

Broly gulped. "Y-Yes, my lord..."

Changing into another blur, he vanished from Broly's sight. A moment later, Broly felt something behind him and turned around to find Lord Freeza standing there.

"You see, your trained combat reflexes were able to detect a shift behind you. This is the principle behind what I wish to teach you: to hone this reflex into something even greater so no one will be able to take you by surprise ever again."

Opening up his hand, Lord Freeza made a big, yellow ball of energy hover over it. "Could you please hold out your hands?"

Broly did so, slowly and carefully preparing himself for the attack to come. Instead of the ball being thrown at him, Lord Freeza gently... nudged it over, letting it float harmlessly in-between Broly's own hands. He blinked again in-surprise, wondering how this attack would teach him anything.

"Now, try to feel my energy within the ball. Stretch out with the same sensation you do when controlling your power and apply to my own, instead."

Broly stared at him. "I-Is that all... my lord?"

"Of course! Why, what did you think we would do?"

"Combat training..."

"This is combat training, only a more... peaceful sort. Now, take your time, relax and simply allow yourself to feel."

Getting over his surprise, Broly decided to try it. The ball felt warm, that was his first thought. It was like a nice fire but he knew that from way before. Remembering what Lord Freeza said, Broly tried to remember the feel of his own energy, the little beams he made for fires or shooting down beetles or as toys to play with if he got really bored.

How the energy would come from somewhere deep down and rush out or how it would zip around whenever he made balls to make fly across the air. But yesterday was still to fresh in his mind, whenever he felt he might start to get somewhere, he got worried about getting mad. This made him fail and threatened to make him mad anyway.

Pretty soon, he was feeling a low growl somewhere in the back of his throat until the ball suddenly moved away from him.

"H-Huh...?"

"Why don't we take a small break?" It was Lord Freeza doing it, making the ball hover away just by moving his tail around. "After all, there is no need to rush through this, correct?"

He reached into the box at his feet, opening it up and letting a whole bunch of smells out; Broly's mouth watered immediately. He smelled some of it in the cantina yesterday, the rest was a complete surprise for him. In Lord Freeza's hands were two meals he'd never seen before. They had some white stuff covering up lots of green and red smaller meal in-between them.

"I can see you've worked up a bit of an appetite," Lord Freeza chuckled, handing him the meal.

Carefully, Broly took it, savoring the smell out for a bit before chowing down. Then he stopped. There were so many flavors in there, sticking out by themselves then mixing together the more he chewed them. Father said he ate like a monster but this time, Broly felt like taking his time for a change.

"It is quite good, correct?"

"Mmhm!" Broly answered completely forgetting his manners, especially to a superior. This made him stop for a second until he noticed Lord Freeza sitting down and eating his own meal. If he didn't mind then... Why worry about it? The meal was gone but Broly's hunger was still there. He looked at the box, then at Lord Freeza.

"Uhm... Can I...?"

"Of course! After all, I brought most of it for you anyway."

Most of that for him? That was nice of Lord Freeza. In an excited rush, he went over to the box and took in another meal just like the way he'd just ate. Then another, and another until he'd chowed down on a whole bunch of them. It helped lots of them had different smaller meals inside, meaning he got to taste even more delicious stuff.

By the time he was finished, Broly sat down, letting a long, satisfied sigh out.

"My, my, I shall have to bring more with me next time," He laughed pointing out the empty box. This made Broly feel bad, he must've eaten some of Lord Freeza's meals too.

Instead of getting mad though, Lord Freeza just looked at him and smiled, waving it off. "Don't fret, my friend. I don't need much. As I said, I brought this for you, as a reward for a job well done."

A job well done? "B-But, my lord... I-I haven't done anything..."

"Now this simply isn't true. You've taken the first crucial step in learning a very difficult technique. One I myself had quite a bit of trouble with. In fact, you're very fortunate to have a teacher to help you."

That made sense, Broly guessed. Father used to say something similar back then before he got angrier over the years. He even used to give Broly treats if he did a good job too...

"Now, now, none of that," Lord Freeza spoke softly, putting a hand on Broly's shoulder. "The first step is always the most difficult. Do not let it discourage you. I know you will learn it in very short order."

Hearing that last part made him feel... good. It reminded him of how Father used to be again. Although, even Father was never so soft. "Th-Thank you, my lord."

"Now, now, formalities aren't necessary between friends, not when they're enjoying each other's company."

Broly nodded, even if he didn't feel right addressing his superior without the proper respect. But calling Lord Freeza a friend... he could do that...

Chapter Text

[Colonel's Log #1. Date of recording F.A. 17854.1 Location redacted]

My name is Paragus, former first Colonel of the Saiyan Army and current member of the Freeza Force. I was born 85 years ago, in the Freeza Age 93, though we didn't call it that where I lived. We didn't have dates there period, not until later when we became its masters. So as not to confuse any listeners, I will exclusively use the galactic calendar and not our own. As I have already established, I am a Saiyan. One of the last of our kind ever since a meteor crashed into our homeworld, rendering us nearly extinct. Myself, my son and a few others are all that's left.

If you're expecting a tale about the demise of my home and species, I'll have to disappoint you. I wasn't there, nor was my son. I wouldn't be here recording this if we were. No, the purpose of this journal is far more personal and simultaneously of great historical importance. To right a horrible injustice inflicted upon me by someone who called me friend and brother. The first and unexpectedly last king of planet Vegeta, a man with the same name. Now long since burned away into nothing. I doubt there's more than a handful of people left who remember him. It's a very comforting fact.

To convey my story, however, I'll have to raise the number of people who'll remember King Vegeta. A necessary sacrifice for the truth. His work of burying it ends here, with this. If these journal entries become meandering, I apologize. Decades have passed since I've last done this.

It all begins on a world that doesn't exist anymore, in more ways than one. Before it became widely known as planet Vegeta, it was planet Plant. Contrary to popular belief, we Saiyans do not come from here. Our world was Sadala, that's more or less all I can say without going into hypothesis or conjecture. Maybe save that for a later recording or a supplement to this one?

Regardless, at some point in our past Sadala was destroyed. Through means we'll never learn, we Sayians landed on planet Plant. It was an abnormally large and dense place with a gravity ten times greater than the average world. Adjusting to these conditions was a simple matter of strength. For the natives, it meant a different means of adapting.

They were the Tsufurians, a species outnumbering us 50 to 1. Though, even a single average Saiyan warrior was combatively worth much more than them. They were a short species, barely taller than one of our children. They made up for their weak bodies through technology.

Vehicles, far range communications systems, satellites, the Tsufurians had these and many more marvels we Saiyans lacked. Not that we cared for any of it until much, much later. While they lived in vast, cities spread across Plant's surface, we lived in the wilderness. Our skyscrapers were simple huts. Our phones were lone messengers sent out to other Saiyan tribes.

Not that we cared, for a Saiyan so long as there's food to eat and someone strong to fight, life is good. You may think we would come to blows with the Tsufurians, out of sport or desire for their technology, not so. We didn't understand their machines, much less operate them and we didn't care enough to. The simplest fact of the matter was: The Tsufurians were too weak to entertain us and so we ignored them. They had no desire for combat like us and accepted the unspoken agreement.

This is how we lived in the wildlands of planet Plant, divided into dozens of tribes, each no more than 40 to 60 members. Always on the move for food or battle, our tribe names changing with whoever was leading it at the time. It made it borderline impossible to keep track who came from whom on the chance one migrated and met one another.

I was born into the Serejy tribe, named after my father. He sired many children with me being the last, last to arrive and to live. My brothers and sisters all perished in battle prior to my birth. Serejy sired me in advanced age for a Saiyan, about 60 or so years. Advanced in that he lived so long, not in how far his body degraded.

Saiyans stay young for a very, very long time, how else can we enjoy battle? Yet our relationship with age itself varied from clan to clan. Some kept their elders around, even when they couldn't fight, using them to pass on experience and knowledge to the younger generations. Mine wasn't one of them. A Saiyan who couldn't fight was useless and many intentionally became particularly bloodthirsty to find a good battle. One last bout before they became old and useless.

This is the situation I found myself in around my 16th year. Serejy was approaching the dreaded 80th year when even our youthfulness fails us. He'd taught me everything he knew about leading, battle since before I could walk. Some called me his last hope, a handful even called him overly sentimental for not just making more kids and focusing so completely on me.

Never to his face though, my father was feared and respected even close to death. Unlike other clans with frequent infighting, Serejy kept a tight leash on his. All of my siblings died in battles with outside members, never to someone from within. The only time I could remember a member killing another tribesmen was me. Serejy wanted the fight to end them all for himself and he wanted me to prove myself ready to lead.

I respected my father's wish. I gave everything I had into our battle and so did he, with the whole clan watching anything less wouldn't matter. By the end, Serejy received a worthy death. Even those bold enough to talk behind his back stood in respectful awe and silence in his passing, along with admiring looks sent my way.

Very little changed in the next three years. Control of the clan never wavered, many new battles were had and enjoyed. Life stayed simple and good. I should've known it wouldn't last. It's easy to say this now with the benefit of hindsight but when those first rumors began at the start of my fourth ruling year, I should've listened to them.

During the many migrations and encounters with other tribes, whispers reached my ears of a clan growing substantially in power. A clan by the name of Vegeta, led by a young Saiyan of similar age to myself. Even then his name was approaching legendary status. Tales of not simply his impossibly high battle prowess but his cunning and ambition. How he was taking over more and more tribes, absorbing them into his own.

Soon, he was calling himself something else, King of the Saiyans, I laughed! There were plenty of would-be kings, warriors thinking they could subjugate our entire race under their control. They never succeeded, not a single one. To be King was just under calling yourself the Legendary Super Saiyan in absurdity. It only became funnier to me when they started doing precisely that!

It wasn't until a messenger from this Vegeta arrived that I stopped laughing. To send one man to another's clan was nothing, pick anyone and send them off, usually to deliver threats or ceasefires. This Saiyan did neither. Not only was his bearing strange, always respectful and formal, no matter who talked to him but what he wore was different too.

We didn't have much more than fur coats and whatever else we picked up to dress with, it didn't matter. Some even fought and lived completely naked without a fuss. But this messenger immediately stuck out. Attached over his right arm was a band, with stripes gently carved into a pattern. When I asked him what it meant, he explained it was a designation for a messenger and that other Saiyans held other positions, each one with a different type of pattern.

He explained his chief's intent: messengers sent out to various tribes with an invitation, not to fight, just meet to hear him out and nothing else. If they wanted to join him at the end, fine, if not? Everyone goes their separate ways.

Some other clansmen told me not to go, ignore this Vegeta and fight whomever he sends next. Evidently, they found this messenger just as strange as I did. My mistake was feeling more curiosity than anger. Fascination with what he was supposedly doing just from a messenger. The worst part is... They were right... But I'm getting ahead of myself.

We left, our guest guiding us to where Vegeta's tribe settled down for the time being. Even on the road there, we encountered several other tribes, all converging on the same spot. Seeing that many Saiyans nearby one another and not fighting was a surreal experience, I felt like I was dreaming. The size of Vegeta's host struck me almost as hard as my own father's fist. Hundreds, thousands of us, all together, as far as the eye could see.

It was no unorganized able either, as we approached this massive clan site, I spotted guards and men positioned outside, making sure no one uninvited entered. Several guard positions were littered throughout the whole stretch, keeping the fighting to a relative minimum to great effect. Huts, some larger than any I had ever seen before were constructed, sometimes big enough to house as many as ten Saiyans inside.

The one place which seemed normal to me was the very center, a circular piece of ground separate from the rest of the clan site with crude, wooden barriers. It was an arena, where disputes or fights between members were resolved. It just so happened that we new arrivals, getting to the camp just as night was falling arrived to see a very particular battle indeed.

Another chief by the name of... What was it... Leaps? Reaps? Regardless, he challenged Vegeta for control over this force, arriving just ten minutes ahead of us. Vegeta accepted. Being a tribe leader myself, I was able to gain a front-row spot to witness the battle.

It's nothing noteworthy to me now, I've seen and done far more impressive things in battle. But to a young Saiyan of 20... It was another dazzling experience. It wasn't simply Vegeta's speed or power, though both of those certainly proved the stories of his battle prowess. The way he fought was unlike any I'd seen before.

Saiyans don't care about finesse or grace, we fight to win. It doesn't matter if we look pretty while doing it. But Vegeta pulled it off. While Reaps flailed, growled and stomped around, Vegeta kept himself calm, focused. Every punch or kick was precisely aimed to slowly tear Reaps apart. It was like watching an engineer pick apart a machine, as I would later describe it.

What made it even more impressive, even a bit... Funny at the time was the size disparity between them. Vegeta remains one of the shortest Saiyans I've ever met at 160 centimeters. Compared to my own 183 or Reaps near 200, one would mistake him for an absolute weakling.

Yet by the time the battle was over and Vegeta stood tall, proud and without a scratch over the heaving, bloodied Reaps, he was a giant in everyone's minds... Even mine.

"Saiyans!" I a shot of lightning went through me when he shouted, arms spread out to us all. "Is this not who and what we are? Is this not what we are made to be the best at?!"

The crowd exploded, cheering at him.

"So why then do we live as we do?! Why do we waste our days fighting one another when there are worthier enemies to fight and dominate?!"

We roared again, though this time many looked confused, some even angry at what he meant. As if he could read all our minds, Vegeta took notice and accordingly prepared himself.

"You ask yourselves, who is stronger than us? Who else is worthy to fight? The Tsufurians? HA!" We laughed in unison. "No, but they can be of use to us! For I know what those gnats are capable of, the secrets they keep to themselves! The ability to travel from one world to another!"

Mine and everyone else's breath was caught by this idea, followed by loud, wondering whispers and questions amongst ourselves.

"Indeed, for I have seen it myself, observed the creatures closely. I watched as their strange crafts floated off into the sky and vanished overhead, mingling amongst the stars! Think of it, my people! Think of how many other worlds there are! How many battles we could be fighting, winning instead of crawling here in the dirt as though we're WEAKER THAN THE TSUFURIANS!"

We burst into even greater cheers, all of us from youngest to oldest. Our voices must've been carried for miles off into the distance. Most of the Saiyan race, together for the first time in ever, united under nothing but the promise of greater glory by a man whose strength of character and battle prowess mesmerized us all.

Most of were, not Reaps, however. While the others, even Vegeta, were caught in the moment I glanced at the soon to be King's feet and saw a light flicker in the defeated Saiyans hand. With that one single stroke, Reaps would have certainly caught Vegeta unawares and killed his grand revolution just when it seemed to begin.

... In that moment... One I've replayed a hundred, no a thousand times... I did something I will regret to the end of my days... I saved the bastard's life.

I don't even remember moving, one minute I was there in the front crowd and the next, my shoulder was ramming into Vegeta's side, pushing him out of the way just as Reaps blast was about to hit. It burned itself into the center of my chest, pushing me back. Luckily, I braced myself, the shot would only leave a small scar.

But as I laid there, trying to push myself up as the mad crowd descended on Reaps, a hand reached out to me from above. When I looked up, I realized it was Vegeta, smiling down at me, looking 20 years older and wiser than me despite us being the same age.

... I accepted...

Chapter Text

[Colonel's Log #3. Date of recording F.A. 17854.1 Location redacted]

Miserable, that's the word I'd use to describe our second year in the war. Hell, any word to describe a sorry state with no progress would do. It was a complete reversal of the first. I think that's what hurt more than anything. With all the clans united and the army more or less formalized, we began in earnest. Victorious, unstoppable, unmatched and then failure, or nothing at all.

Slowly but surely, the Tsufurians gave up on frontal battles with us. We'd proven our superiority there too often. A change in strategy became painfully obvious soon, in hindsight, we should have seen it coming. But we were young, hungry and winning. You couldn't reason with us any more than you could slow down an excited child. Even our King couldn't fully control himself.

Instead of meeting ground forces or air and ground-based vehicles, we found traps. Bombs and other devices were programmed to target a Saiyan's keen sense of smell. These left countless good soldiers helpless to death or capture. Planetary missiles bombarded us where we lived, forcing us into retreats sometimes hundreds of miles long. These were far more... Vicious in their results. I'd never been in a bombing myself... But I saw the aftermath of one.

No matter where we went, they found us too. Clan sites we assumed were completely secure were wiped out without warning. Troop movement was utterly compromised. No matter how secretive we tried to act, the Tsufurians saw us coming every single time. I can't begin to count how many troops found themselves taken by surprise or found no enemy to fight, period.

Arguments about secrecy then loyalty became more frequent among us. On more than one occasion, I had to defend myself from some fool looking to curry favor with the King. Ironically, it only made Vegeta hate them. My actions with Reaps permanently solidified my position in the inner circle. There were times near the end of that year where he only consulted with me.

The cause of all our troubles seems so laughable now. It's probably funny to whoever's listening to this too: satellites. More specifically, advanced ones fired into the sky as part of a vast planet-spanning web. Through this surveillance network, they could spot a nail sized bug from orbit. For all our talk of going into the stars, none of us thought artificial ones by the enemy were hanging overhead. How could we? It's like trying to explain what fire is to someone who has never seen it.

If you're expecting some other tale about how I was responsible for circumnavigating around this problem, you're wrong. It was someone else deserving of credit, another Saiyan whose name and accomplishments were purged by King Vegeta.

I remember that moment as though it were happening right now. It was near the end of our second year at war. Colonel Hocy's men were returning to camp after raiding another empty, useless town. They had the same faces as most of us, tired, angry, frustrated. I mentally prepared myself to stop a brawl or five again when something caught my attention.

Trailing at the end of this column was the skinniest Saiyan I had ever seen. He looked malnourished, even sickly, to this day I wonder how he ever got around. He was also carrying something strapped around his back, almost as tall as him. With a nervous look all over, this lanky Saiyan cautiously approached me.

"Uhh, Colonel Paragus?" He said, gulping. Almost immediately, Colonel Hocy appeared next to me. He was an older Saiyan of 65, with a grim face lined with scars and a nasty temper.

"Didn't I tell you to stop bothering people?!" Hocy shouted, nearly sending poor Beets off into the air.

"B-But sir... I-I-I really think-"

I'd gotten between them, sensing Hocy's obvious intent to punch his own soldier out. A threat of intervention from the King was enough to stop it right then and there.

Hocy growled, giving me a look nastier than whatever attack he could throw. He spat on the ground and lumbered away with the rest of his men. Once Hocy was away, I demanded answers.

"Well, it's uh... some Tsufurian tech I saw fall from the sky," Clumsily with my help, the lanky Saiyan unstrapped the thing off his back. With a quick swipe, we removed the cloth he'd wrapped the satellite in. I'd never seen something like this before. I stood there, staring at it like a fool.

"See... I picked it up out of the desert and I started... Tinkering around with it," He opened a panel to the satellite, revealing rows of circuits and buttons operating it. "It took me a while to get the letters... But I started seeing them repeat, wrote them down and it made some more sense! I-I still don't get everything but... I did figure this out."

Kneeling down, I watched a monitor flicker every so often while Hocy's man tapped away on the aforementioned keyboard. When the footage finally appeared and I saw us moving overhead to that very clan site with perfect detail, I knew Hocy was an idiot.

"I think... The Tsufurians are using these things to track us down... Uh... Sir."

My mouth was dry, my eyes must've been the size of a fist. I rose sharply to my feet, picking the satellite off the ground. "Come on, we're going to see the King."

"T-The King?" He gasped out, trailing nervously behind me. "B-But I'm not... A fighter... He won't want to-"

"He'll give you whatever you want, soldier. If my suspicion is correct, you've just saved us from losing this war."

Those are the exact words I told him. He didn't disagree with me then, instead, he just smiled sheepishly and followed me to the camp. Once he finished presenting this device and what it could do for the Tsufurians, and for us, King Vegeta agreed with my assessment. That's how I met Beets, founder, and the first officer of the Saiyan Science Division.

[Colonel's Log #15. Date of recording F.A. 17854.3 Location redacted]

Once every eight years, the full moon came out. Even before we developed a calendar system of our own, we knew this fact. It was... An instinctual feeling, a gently prickling in the back of your head growing into a buzzing until at last the day came. The Tsufurians knew it as well. Every time it happened, large swaths of land shook as Oozaru battled Oozaru in wild rage. They never cared, it was our land we were ripping to pieces, not theirs.

Oh, they cared, more and more as the fighting dragged on. It seemed the Tsufurians were bringing out new superweapons every other week, more guaranteed victories only prolonging our war. It was a stalemate to be sure but not a miserable one like in the second year. We weren't being led around like rats to a trap or bombed into oblivion. This was a constant tug of war, constantly asking a new side to push harder than the other. Our morale was high but as we learned later on from our scavenging of Tsufurian records, theirs was not.

We learned of other things as well, other hypothetical ultimate weapons in development which never came to be thanks to our victory. Oh, we'd laugh at the idea of ghost warriors or liquid machines more than once in private, the King and I. But we both knew how lucky we actually were. Had we not eradicated the Tsufurian, those machines of doom might just have done us in if they lived to finish them.

Now... I must do a very... Bitter thing and admit once again the brilliance of the King. It would have been very simple for us to charge into Tsufurian territory, burn everything down and pat ourselves on the back. It also would've left us completely stranded on a world with most of its technology burned to ash. What we procured and adapted for ourselves wouldn't have been nearly enough.

Vegeta knew this and conceived a method to the madness. Soldiers who could not properly control themselves were sent either to the front-most lines or targets deemed of little strategic value. They would wreak the bulk of the havoc with only small retinues of Oozaru controlling men to steer them. The elites were sent to valuable places: the capitals and scientific centers.

We who could control ourselves enough to eradicate Tsufurians without damaging the infrastructure already in place were of pivotal value. Our failure would doom us to an eternity of isolation on planet Plant, our dreams of fighting others across the stars never to be realized.

I still remember being there... A giant dwarfing the highest of Tsufurian structures, shrugging off their most powerful weapons but always... Self-conscious, always careful as to what and how I was attacking something. It was like trying to stomp in a pile of spilled twigs on the ground without breaking them... Or dancing...

By the time the sun finally rose and our Oozaru power faded away, the war was finished. Though a few scattered survivors lived on, even proving some futile resistance in the next few months, it didn't change the fact planet Plant was ours.

I was with the King that morning, having flown to him standing atop the highest pillar of the ruined Tsufurian ruling council building. Once again, he stood taller than his stature would naturally allow... I think back to that moment often too... How easy it would have been to wring his neck. Too in-love with his intoxicating victory, there was no conceivable way King Vegeta would have lived if I decided to finish him there, despite our difference in power.

Instead, I smiled with pride in my puffed up chest and approached him. He placed a friendly arm over my shoulder and pointed at the city beneath us.

"This is just the start my friend," He promised with a glint in his eyes. Next, the finger went up to the sky. "That is where our real future lies."

[Colonel's Log #42. Date of recording F.A. 17854.6 Location redacted]

I... Apologize for sounding agitated in this entry. It's just... That damned fool Broly barged in on my last attempt to record... He brought me food, said I hadn't eaten, drank or slept in days. So what?! Didn't I say I was not to be disturbed? Doesn't he understand how important this is?!

[60 seconds of silence]

No... No, he's right. I do feel... Tired, I-I don't think I've rested properly since... Since before I came here actually, nearly a week ago. I cannot stop, though. Not until I've completed this log, at least. Some Saiyans my age... They died in their sleep, I won't allow King Vegeta's true betrayal to go unrevealed!

Where was I last time? Oh, right, the Super Oozaru testing. The last day I participated in one, on another remote, barren moon where King Vegeta's mad idea of defeating Freeza was supposed to be realized. I had barely mastered it myself and the process of teaching it even to other elites capable of controlling themselves in the ordinary state was grueling beyond belief.

It was in the midst of just such a practice I was contacted of what happened on Planet Vegeta: an explosion in the building where Broly was in, along with the children of other elite Saiyans. When I demanded answers as to his condition, the soldier would not say, only that the King wanted me back home.

We didn't part on the best of terms, last we spoke there was a... A terse conversation about his... Misgivings with Lord Freeza. I remember being furious with him, how his disloyalty would doom them first, not any imagined hatred Freeza had for us. Wait... Didn't I already cover this? Bah, it doesn't matter, what does is that my frustration was nothing compared to what I'd learn that evening.

Immediately upon my landing, other elites surrounded me, grim-faced and tense, they were ready for a fight though I did not understand why at the time. They escorted me to the King, ignoring any questions I tried to ask them. Now, many of these men served under or with me during not just the Tsufurian war but other campaigns. Their stone-cold silence did nothing to improve my mood.

I entered the deserted, darkly lit throne room alone, Vegeta waited for me in the center, not sitting on his throne. The look he gave me when I entered was grim, I hadn't seen it on him since the second year of the war. I feared the worst but I kept that fear from showing.

"Sire!" I said, bowing. "I've come as you asked."

"Rise, my friend, now's not the time for formalities."

I asked about my son and he reassured me Broly was alive but we had to immediately discuss his future. When I asked what he meant by that, Vegeta produced a computer tablet for me. It was a report on the explosion when it happened if there were any casualties... And who was responsible. I remember how cold my blood ran when I got to the end, it was beyond my worst nightmare.

I stammered out how it couldn't be true, how it was impossible.

"I'm sorry to say it is possible," He lied, trying to sound as though it pained him. That morning, a blast went off from inside the elite chamber of the Care Center, explosive residue showed Broly as the epicenter of the blast. Thankfully, no other children or adults were hurt too badly. No, something far worse happened in Vegeta's eyes.

When the King himself went there to see if his also recently born son was alive, he found Broly on the floor, crying. His scouter, which caught Broly's power just as it rapidly winded down from a momentary spoke... Read a battle power of over 10,000. The exact same power as the King. The strongest of us all... Until that day. The King assured me these were wiped from records immediately, no one but the two of us and Beets would be aware of this. Publically, the explosion would be blamed on a malfunction in the center, an unfortunate accident.

When I asked him where Broly was, he said "away". Without asking me, without telling me until my son was already off somewhere, King Vegeta sent him into exile! And do you want to know what's the worst part? I gave him the benefit of the doubt!

I listened as he spoke more about his paranoia about Freeza, how he would wipe us all out if he knew a Saiyan child of such strength was born! How Broly absolutely had to be sent away for our collective safety and I listened instead of riping his throat out! Foolishly, I still trusted him a few minutes more, thinking how Broly's exile would be temporary at best, how he would be returned to us once this... Foolishness with Freeza was over.

"No," He said in a tone I recognized very well, it brokered no argument. "Even after Freeza is gone, your son must stay away."

Broly was a threat, he said. A threat to us all, a mutant monster whose power would be too much for anyone to control. He would destroy us all... LIES! LIES OF A JEALOUS BASTARD!

IF IT WAS HIS SON BORN WITH SUCH POTENTIAL HE'D BE GETTING THE BEST ELITE SOLDIERS TRAINING HIM IN SECRET! IF IT WAS THE NEXT VEGETA BORN AS THE SUPER SAIYAN COME AGAIN HE WOULD BE WELCOMED BACK INTO THE FOLD LIKE A RETURNING HERO!

MY SON WOULD ROT ON SOME BARREN ROCK ALONE AND FORGOTTEN SO THIS PINT-SIZED BASTARD COULD EASE HIS BRUISED EGO!

[120 seconds of silence]

... I didn't say this, of course. Though I already hated father and son both right then and there. I lied again, agreed with his plans. The moment I left the throne room, I privately contacted Beets and made my plans. He would dig up where Broly was sent and I would rescue him. Within the hour, the information was retrieved from the darkest recess of Saiyan intelligence banks.

That fool Beets... He wanted to come with me, even procured a special ship outside of standard logs for us to fly... For all the good it did us. The King, my... Friend, sent assassins after us, chasing us through space... Beets, the brave idiot, he took them down, blew all of them up while I steered us through Vampa's asteroid field. He'd never fought a day in his life before but right then and there, he was a true Saiyan...

Then a lone missile, fired by a man already suffocating in the vacuum of space punctured our craft... By the time we crash-landed... I was the only one left alive from the ordeal...

[52 seconds of silence]

... I think I'm going to go rest now. I-I hope the meal Broly brought me hasn't gotten too cold...

Chapter Text

"Can you feel them, Broly?"

"Yes, yes, I can," He was sitting down on the rough, sandy ground with crossed legs, just like how Freeza taught him. They were practicing again, the same training every day for the past week. Broly with his eyes closed while a bunch of energy balls floated around him. There were about twenty of them, some big like boulders while others were tinier than pebbles.

"Good," Freeza's smooth voice said from nearby. "Now, I wish to halve them in-number. Point out which ones I shall remove."

Nodding, Broly did just that, picking out the biggest ones for this part of the exercise.

"You know what to do next."

The harder part of their exercise: no energy-sensing allowed. He had to feel the pressure of Freeza's power around, where the air got heavier. There was no way to beat Goku or Vegeta without learning this. So, Broly focused, noticing how the balls were flying around now. Freeza was making some of them fly faster than others.

"Pick out the rest for me, won't you?"

Just a little slower than the first part, Broly did just that. The air around him got lighter and lighter until it was back to normal!

"Excellent! Excellent indeed!" Freeza clapped, walking up to him. Broly noticed his smile when he opened his eyes. "You're even faster than yesterday! Truly remarkable."

"Th-Thank you, sir," He smiled back, happy about how well the day was going. First Father not only came back but ate the food he'd left for him last night too! Broly wanted to talk to him about how well his training was going but from the snoring, he thought to let Father rest would be better. Now, his training was going better too. It was easier to focus on.

"To celebrate this momentous occasion," Freeza wagged his finger, bringing the container he brought along on every training session over. Broly's mouth watered at the thought of more, new food inside. It only got worse when the container opened, letting out a juicy smell Broly wanted to gobble up right away. But he remembered the first time he rudely ate Freeza's food too and stopped himself from doing it this time.

"This delicacy has an overly long name," It was round and not very big, Broly guessed he could eat it in one gulp. "For brevity sake, most refer to it as the Blue Jewel. They say whoever eats it won't go hungry for three days after. Shall we test it out? After all, I know all about Saiyans and their ferocious appetites."

Broly stared at the little, blue meal, wondering if that was true. It usually took a whole lot of food to fill him up. "Sure, I'll try it."

"I must warn you not to chew it, apparently it ruins the taste, making it quite… Sour."

Nodding, Broly gently took the Jewel and swallowed it right up. It tasted very sweet, just like all the food he liked most. Curious if it would fill him up, Broly stopped and waited for something to happen. His belly growled anyhow.

"Hm, seems I was lied to, oh well," Freeza shrugged moving away from the container. "Not to worry, I've brought more than enough other delicacies for us to enjoy."

A little while later, Broly ate most of it with Freeza just nibbling here and there. One time he asked his superior about it, apparently, members of his species just didn't need to eat much. Broly found that scary, how could someone not need food?

It wasn't the only thing he asked Freeza either, during their breaks, they talked about Father when he was younger, what he did for the Freeza Force. Father was a powerful warrior in the Saiyan army, Freeza and him liked each other even then.

He asked about King Vegeta and his son too. Freeza repeated a lot of the things Broly had heard over the years: they were vicious liars and dangerous opponents, especially the King's son also confusingly called Vegeta. He was one of the strongest in the universe, it would take someone amazing to beat him. But what surprised Broly was the news Vegeta wasn't the strongest Saiyan, it was some other guy called Kakarot or Goku.

This Goku was Vegeta's friend, another Saiyan who humiliated and beat up Freeza over the years. They even sent him to a horrible place where he was tortured for years by vicious monsters without being able to move, sleep or eat!

Listening to all this made it very hard for Broly to stay calm, he wanted to smash them both for what they'd done! But Freeza calmed him down, saying things were happening that would let them have their revenge. Broly would have his chance soon, in the meantime, he had to focus on training, so he did.

"Don't trouble yourself, my friend," Freeza's smooth voice snapped Broly out of his thoughts. Without realizing it, he'd made a fist tight enough to hurt his fingers. "There's no need to grow agitated for a battle yet to come."

"I-I'm sorry…"

"Oh no, don't get the wrong idea," He smiled. "Those feelings are precisely what will grant you victory. Save them for those who deserve it and you will not fail; I promise you that."

"I won't fail, sir. I promise."

"I've no doubt of that," Freeza clapped his hands together. "Well! Since we're making such good progress, why don't we have a few sparring matches and rest early for a change? Perhaps if your father awakens, you may show him the fruits of your training?"

"That would be great!" Broly jumped back on his feet, excitedly running a ways off so they could start as soon as possible!

It turned out their few sparring matches lasted a good ten or more.

"So, how's it like hanging around with Freeza?"

"Cheelai…"

"What? I'm just commenting."

"I wish you wouldn't…"

"And I wish you'd lighten up a little," Cheelai smiled when Lemo glared at her from across the table with Broly sitting between them. The poor guy was too big for their chairs so he had to sit on the floor. Not that he seemed to mind, the cup of tea they'd made for him smelled too nice she figured.

They'd seen Broly around the ship but never for more than a few minutes at a time. He was either rushing to train with Freeza or going back to his room for sleep. From the way he yawned and the dirt covering him up, Cheelai knew Freeza was running a tight schedule on the guy. Not that Broly seemed to mind, his old man, who they'd seen even less of, was okay with it.

Lady Luck must've been smiling on her tonight, she'd run into Broly who was on his way to the cafeteria from his own room. Apparently, he did so good at his training today Freeza decided to end their training early.

"Lord Freeza is really nice," Broly said, licking away big brown stains around his mouth. "He's taught me lots of things, he gives me nice food too!"

Lemo looked at him as if he'd grown another head, not that Broly noticed, he was too busy licking leftover tea from the cup.

"Uh, nice food…?"

"He says it comes from all over the universe, but… I don't know any of the places he talks about."

"Well, if there's one thing you'll do here is get around," Cheelai sipped her own tea. "Even if we've been stuck here for over a week."

"Lord Freeza doesn't want us to move, so we don't. It's that simple."

"He told me today we'd go somewhere soon," Broly said, putting the cup down. "A place called Earth."

"Anything special about it?"

All of a sudden, Broly looked uncomfortable, somehow managing to shrink right in-front of her. "I uh, I'm not supposed to talk about it. I-I'm sorry."

"H-Hey, don't worry about it," She gave him a friendly pat on the arm. "We'll just pretend not to know anything, right Lemo?"

"I got no clue what you kids are talking about."

"See?"

That seemed to calm him down judging by the way his giant shoulders relaxed. "Thank you."

Lemo picked his cup up, walking over to the machine in the tiny kitchen they'd been given. "How's your old man? What's he been up to?"

"He was doing something very important," Broly said before chugging down the tea in one gulp. Cheelai stared, wondering how his throat wasn't on fire, the tea was right out of a steaming pot! "He came back last night to rest but when I saw him just now, he was still sleeping."

Cheelai couldn't help seeing an opening, to get the answers to the questions that'd been bugging her almost since the minute they met the Saiyans. "Does he usually disappear for days at a time?"

Lemo gave her a look clearly saying "Don't poke your nose into it." She pointedly ignored it.

"Father likes to focus on important things, sometimes a little too much. But he hasn't done it this hard in a long time."

"What's there to even do on, Vampa? No offense but it's not exactly the busiest place in the universe."

"Train," Broly started licking the cup again. "We did it a lot more when I was small though and Father was in better shape. We'd fight all the time. Sometimes against each other but sometimes he'd have me fight things too."

"What? Like those spiders?" Lemo asked. "Wouldn't a guy like you have no problem taking them down, kid?"

"When I was little they were a lot tougher for me. For Father too. A big one, a super spider hurt him so bad he got a scar on his back. Father sent me to fight it too."

"Hold up…" Cheelai interrupted, not believing what she was hearing. "How old were you when this happened?"

He stopped to think about it for a second. "I was smaller than you two."

"So, your dad, who was bigger and older than you got hurt by this thing… And he sent you, a little kid, to fight it?!"

"I'm stronger than Father, ever since I was a kid too," If Broly found any of this weird or disturbing, the goofy grin across his face didn't show it.

"He's a Saiyan, Cheelai," Lemo told her as if it explained everything. "I told ya, they're a warrior race, fighting's what they're made for."

"Father said the same to me back then. He told me fighting was in our blood and I could do it better than anyone. But I had to prove it first..."

The super spider rested on its belly, legs pulled close with big bubbles of snot going in and out of its noses. From the ridge, Broly could see a bunch of smaller ones walking around or sleeping too. Broly knew he could beat them easily but the big one... It didn't scare him, much.

Father was standing next to him, chest wrapped with the cape he'd torn up for a big enough bandage. "How many of them are there, son?"

"Uhh..." Broly squinted, trying to remember the lessons they went over these days. Trying not to move his mouth or count on his fingers, he answered: "Fourteen."

"Very good, now, remember what've been training. Use it and the power inside you and these creatures will never defeat you."

"Yes, sir!" With a salute, Broly was jumping down the whole ridge and landing right in front of a spider licking its leg clean. The monster let out an annoying, loud noise before its head got punched off. The other, smaller spiders got mad and wild, either running at him or attacking with their sharp tongues. Broly took a deep breath and remembered what Father said about their training.

After jumping way above a few charging spiders, he caught the leg of one in the back and smashed it a few times against the ground. Then he clubbed a few of the other spiders with it too before tossing the messed up body away. Broly spotted two forked tongued firing at him and caught them before they could cut. With a loud, strong shout, he swung his arms back toward the ridge and made both of the spiders go splat against the rocks.

Seeing them all go down so easy made Broly smile, until he had to cover his ears from an even louder, more annoying noise. The super spider woke up!

An even louder, more annoying noise suddenly went off. The super spider woke up! Even though it was as big as ten normal spiders piled on top of each other, it moved a whole lot faster than any one of them! Seeing so many of its legs go up and down made Broly dizzy. It wasn't until one of them got close he snapped out of it, not soon enough.

The giant leg tips cut into his left arm. That red stuff Father called blood started coming out, he'd seen it before on some cuts or bruises on himself or on Father but never so much! Broly ignored the pain, like a real Saiyan would and punched the same leg. It didn't do anything but make the spider angrier! When more of its legs went up to stab him again, Broly ran right under its belly, hearing the tips pound hard into the ground.

With the monster confused, it was time to try something else Father taught him: energy blasts! Taking a deep breath, Broly made one in each hand and started throwing them into the spider's butt! When the monster cried again, he thought it was from the attacks hurting, it just turned around and snapped its tongue out. Broly couldn't do anything but dodge, every time he touched the ground, it was already attacking again. Soon, his back was turned over to the ridge from all this jumping around. The spider changed up how it attacked, sometimes just shooting out but swinging the tongue around too!

Broly was getting afraid, not just of the spider but what Father was thinking. There was no way he could lose or worse, call for help! He had to win! That was when he remembered the last thing Father told him, the power, what made him so strong! But they didn't figure out how to make it come out whenever he wanted yet!

When the spider's tail cut him across the face and knocked him off the ground, Broly didn't wonder about his Father or how to bring the power out now. The pain was so intense and the anger he was feeling so big, it came out all on its own. With a giant shout, louder than any spiders and much scarier, Broly fired a giant energy blast right from his mouth, swallowing the monster up!

But his head kept going all over the place, blowing up not just the spider but ground too. Pretty soon, the attack was blasting him off the ground and right into the air! Realizing this snapped Broly out of his anger but it was too late, he hadn't learned how to fly yet! From how high up he was, smacking on the ground was gonna hurt a lot!

Or it would have if Father didn't show up, catching him before he went splat too. Feeling his strong arms around, Broly couldn't see his face, just the smoking leftover bits of super spider burning on the ground under them.

"Wow..."

"That's an understatement," Blinking away from the spider, Broly forced his head up until his neck hurt and got a look at Father's face. He was smiling and laughing! "You didn't just defeat it, boy, you obliterated it!"

"So... I did good?"

Father touched down, letting him go. "Good? This is incredible! I never would've believed you could do this so young, even with your potential!"

Broly smiled as Father ruffled his hair and laughed some more. The two stood there for a while, looking at the fire go out on the spider, the sun was starting to set and they'd have to go home soon.

"Say, Father?"

"Hm?"

"C-Could I get some of those special treats you've got around?"

For a second, Father looked like he might refuse before ruffling his hair some more. "Alright, it's the least I can do after your performance today. But we'll be stitching your wounds up again when we get home, I don't want a hear a peep out of you, got it?"

Broly had the weird medicine Father had, it burned a lot. But that night, eating the special food he had left over from his crashed ship? It didn't bother him one bit!

Chapter Text

It was surreal, listening to someone talk about fighting and killing monsters as a little kid with so much... enthusiasm. Listening to Lemo talk about them, Cheelai got Saiyans liked to fight but this was nuts. It reminded her of guys who'd try to steal stuff all the time because they couldn't help themselves back home. She wasn't sure if mister "They're Saiyans" over there with his mouth hanging open was shocked about this or from the fact Broly could talk so much. That was the other thing leaving her stunned.

"That sounds..." She searched for the right word. "...Cool?"

Broly blinked at her in that confused way of his.

"Fun, it sounds fun!"

"Oh, well, we did other cool things too!"Broly's hand went over to his pelt, gently rubbing the right of it. "Father said I needed experience fighting other things besides him and the spider. So, we found the other animals on Vampa for that."

"Hold up," Lemo interrupted him. "There's more stuff living there?"

"Dogs, really, really big dogs," This time his arms went all the way up, nearly touching the ceiling. "The spiders sucked juices out of them, that made the dogs angry so they ate them back."

Good thing we didn't run into one… Cheelai thought, fighting back a shiver at the idea of a giant monster coming after them in that storm. "And your dad, he actually made you fight these things?"

"Sometimes but I trained flying with them first. The dogs were really fast too. There were times even Father almost got eaten by one when he was younger and stronger. Father said I'd probably be fighting other big monsters like the dogs someday and I had to be ready."

She almost asked who these monsters were. Broly only said the dogs and spiders lived on Vampa so they must've been off-world. Maybe on this Earth place he mentioned?

"The biggest dog of them all, twice the size of the others was who I trained with for a long time," His smile widened. "He looked really scary, but after flying around him a few times, Bah snapping at me turned into a game."

"Bah?" Lemo asked, glancing at the pelt.

"He growled 'bah' a lot, so I named him Bah. He was really smart too, remembered the name after a few times."

"And Paragus was okay with this?" Cheelai asked, feeling doubtful a sourpuss like him would agree to a house pet. From the way Broly's smile died on the vine, she wasn't wrong.

"I kept it a secret from Father for a long time. Said I was training when me and Bah were playing catch the boulder instead… Father would've noticed sooner but he was… Changing…"

Broly saw a big poof of brown and black smoke coming from around their home on the flight back. He spent the morning hunting some spiders, big ones. Father and him didn't talk much that day or the past lot of them. He was spending all his time on the ship, they didn't even train as much anymore together. That made him sad, even if it let him play more with Bah. When he saw the smoke, Broly thought Father might've been preparing a big fire for a giant lunch, but the closer he got the more that seemed wrong.

Eventually, he spotted what was on fire: the ship!

Flying faster and harder than ever before, Broly kept the spider bits tight, remembering how they were really good for putting out fires fast! Once he got to the ship, he spotted Father coughing and kneeling on the ground. He was probably in it when the fire started.

"Don't worry, Father! I'll stop it!" Taking a deep breath, Broly flew into the smoke and started ripping bits and pieces of spider open. Their juices spilled all over him and through the hole in the roof of the ship. The fire going on inside shrank down to nothing fast.

"N-No!" Father shouted, getting Broly's attention. "You... You..." He started coughing hard again. Broly dropped the empty spider meat away and flew down to help when a big slap got him across the face.

Feeling a painful sting in his cheek, Broly fell back, staring at Father standing over him. His breathing was rough and loud and the look in his eyes... "You... You little fool! Do you have any idea what you've done?!"

Broly was too shocked to answer.

"That fire... It was under control! I could've salvaged the ship still, gotten us away from here... Weeks and weeks of hard work until YOU RUINED IT!" Another slap to his other cheek connected, sending Broly rolling across the ground. "Get out of my sight and pray I can get the spider blood out of the circuitry or so help me I'll-"

Broly didn't need to hear more, with an awkward run, he did just as Father said and left. He didn't cry, Saiyan warriors never did that, not even in the worst pain. Instead, Broly's run eventually turned into a flight all the way over to where Bah was. Going into the caves where Father would be closer... Scared him. Bah was just waking up he noticed from the way he stretched his giant body and yawned big and wide. His nose, three times Broly's size, wiggled left and right, picking up his friend's scent.

"Hey, boy..." Broly called out to him, letting Bah lean close. With more of that nose wiggling, he must've smelled all the spider juice and ash covering Broly in black, gray and orange colors. With one big lick, Bah got rid of most of it. He coughed from the smoke taste, though, Broly giggled. "Yeah, it tastes bad for me too."

They went out hunting first, catching and killing a few hundred of the spiders for lunch. It was easy enough for Broly alone but with Bah there, they made two giant piles for each of them close to Bah's spot. Broly suggested a food fight to see who'd eat more and his friend won by a lot. With a mouth big enough to fit three of Father's ships into, how could he not? Still, it was fun for Broly to see just how much he could gobble up before finally giving in.

"Ooohhh, I'm stuffed," He patted his big belly, burping over and over again to make it slim back down. "Wanna play catch the boulder?"

Bah gave him another full-body lick, getting a laugh out of Broly. With Vampa, big rocks to play with were all over the place. It was a simple game, Broly would find and throw one and Bah would spit it back at him. They made it by accident when Broly noticed how Bah would try to eat energy blasts he'd throw around. Rocks were much safer for the dog.

The sun was starting to get low by the time Bah broke boulder number nine. Broly smiled, watching him chew it up and spit it out into big heaps. Luckily, they'd brought over a few. "Okay boy! Here comes another one-"

A familiar sound whizzed through the air a second before the tenth boulder exploded right next to Broly, knocking him onto the ground. Bah snarled loud enough to make the ground shake. Broly pulled himself up and followed where he spotted the light coming from. It was Father. His hand was smoking and the angry look on his face was even worse than earlier. His eyes were slits and his teeth were pushed against each other.

"Is this what you've been doing?" He whispered aloud, arm shaking. "First you strand us here... And now, now you don't even have enough sense of responsibility to train?!"

Bah, let out a loud, strong howl, making a strong wind snap at Broly and Father both. The two of them were facing each other down.

"Stay out my way you dirty fleabag," Father said to him. "Unless you want to be my dinner tonight."

"B-Bah!" Broly shouted, getting back on his feet. "D-Don't-"

It was no use, the big hound snarled again and went right for Father. Another light glowed in his hand, another whizzing noise and another, hurt sound from Bah. Father's blast cut his ear right off. With a loud thud, it fell onto the rocks while Bah whined louder and harder than Broly had ever heard him do before. The dog shook left and right, blood pouring out of the wound until he shrank into the big hole he lived in.

"W-Wait! Don't go, boy!" Broly shouted, watching Bah go lower and lower. By the time he reached the hole edge, the big green hound vanished somewhere in the dark tunnels. For a little while, he could hear Bah's whines and growls until those went away too. This time, Broly couldn't keep himself from crying, right in front of Father to boot.

"Unbelievable," He said, twisting his mouth. "Somehow managing to anger me and disgrace yourself even more... I've never been more-"

What happened next, Broly himself, even after so many years couldn't say for sure. One second, he was standing over the black hole and then the next... He was standing over Father. He was on the ground, moaning... Holding back a lot of blood coming from his left eye. There was a look in his eyes Broly'd never seen before. It was there even when he scrambled back onto his feet and ran away.

The silence in the room was thick enough to beat someone up with. Broly's enthusiasm from just a few minutes ago was totally gone. He'd shrunk into himself even more than when he revealed that planet Earth. He was holding onto the pelt tight, avoiding both of them. Cheelai and Lemo looked at him, then back at each other then back to Broly.

"... That's why... I've got the collar..." Broly finished the story. "Father says... I can't be trusted when I get too... Wild..."

Another, thicker silence fell over the room. Cheelai wasn't sure how long it lasted until Lemo recovered first and broke it. "Say... Kid. Why don't I make you some more tea? It'll take the load off you."

Broly seemed to like that, letting himself breath a little. He nodded.

"Great! Me and Cheelai just have to go out for a second and get some more, is it alright if you wait here alone for a bit."

"...Sure."

They made sure to get a far enough distance away from the room and triple checked to make sure nobody was listening in. Once they were sure no one was listening, they told each other in unison.

"We gotta help him!"

"We gotta stay away from him!"

They stared at one another, confused. Cheelai got the next word in. "What do you mean we gotta stay away from him? His poor dad's screwed him up! You heard what they guy taught him!"

"Cheelai..." Lemo said, very slowly. "He's a Saiyan. It doesn't matter if the guy was raised by saints, fighting and beating stuff up is what they're all about."

"Oh for the love of... I can't believe that's your whole argument!"

"It's a good one! I've seen what happens to places once these guys are through with it! They make Freeza look like a puppy by comparison!"

Cheelai raised an eyebrow. "What're you talking about? What's that supposed to mean?"

"Exactly what I said; Freeza's a planet killer and so are the Saiyans! They got along like a house on fire!"

"W-Wait a second," She shook her head. "What do you mean by planet killers?"

Lemo stared at her, squinting hard as if there was some piece of food stuck somewhere. "Cheelai... What do you think the Freeza Force is?"

"You're... A tough army who scare the Galactic Patrol...?"

"A tough army who- What the hell?!" He almost shouted. "What do they teach you on that homeworld of yours?!"

"They don't teach us crap cause I never went there! I've been stealing since I could walk! It's a damn miracle I can talk and write okay!"

Lemo licked his lip, letting out a long puff of air. "Cheelai... The Freeza Force... It's not just a tough gang that goes around punching out the Galactic Patrol cause we can. We kill planets... For Freeza... Or whoever's paying him enough for it."

It was Cheelai's turn to stare, her mouth opening then closing shut a hundred times. Shouting at Lemo came right at the tip of her tongue, insults, demands for the actual truth... But looking at him right then and there, those big, sad eyes of his told her it wouldn't change facts. Suddenly, this ship, filled with recruited people and beaten up old people and a guy everyone was scared to death of... Looked a lot smaller...

"I-I didn't know..." She lamely admitted, sounding dumb to herself and probably a lot more to Lemo. "I've heard you guys talk about fights here and there... But... I just thought... Nobody talked about..."

No, that wasn't entirely true. Cheelai heard a couple of times about those creeps and grunts talk about blowing planets up. She just never paid attention to hyperbole from drunks or thugs...

"Everyone who's seen it doesn't want to talk about it and young guns like you don't know any better. In more ways than one."

"... That's why we can't help Broly, isn't it?" She asked, already knowing the answer but not wanting to believe it. "He'll kill us all."

"Us, everyone we've ever known and our entire species," Lemo said without missing a beat. "You wanna know why he publically announces all the time? Why everyone pisses their pants over them? It's caused nine times out of ten, folks like you and me don't come back out when we're summoned. Hell, I've heard about actual good fighters of his dying for anything at all."

"... Like calling him short..."

"Like calling him short... I lost a whole group of friends that way. Saw him cut them down personally... The only reason I'm still alive is an important call distracting him long enough to get dismissed..."

They fell into another silence, broken up only by the very soft hum of the ship's engine through the deep hull.

"Come on," Lemo put a hand on her shoulder. "We gotta get that tea before Broly gets the wrong idea."

"D-Do you really think he's a bad guy, like Freeza...?"

"... No..." He trailed off, leaving them in awkward silence on the walk there.

But under Freeza, he might be. Cheelai could guess the unspoken follow-up and it scared her more than anything in her life.

Chapter Text

Cheelai stopped the alarm before it even rang, there wasn't much point to it when you were already wide awake. A horrible insomnia kept her up through the whole night. No matter how she tried to sleep, head out, head covered up, side ways, on her back, sleep just wouldn't come. After what Lemo told her hours ago, it wasn't surprising but it sure was annoying.

Her overactive imagination and curiosity kept flashing pictures in her head; of Lemo helping to blow up planets, of herself having to do it one day... And Broly doing it to that Earth place he mentioned. Every new version was worse than the last. In all of them, she imagined that snide sounding snake Freeza laughing at it the way a kid would at fireworks.

"Cheelai..." Lemo's sleepy voice said from the lower bunk. "You up?"

"Yeah," Her voice came out more monotone than tired. "Want some coffee?"

"Sure, thanks."

She didn't even bother getting into her sleeping clothes before hitting the hay. One perk of being in the Freeza Force was having nice, hot baths all the time. But Cheelai just couldn't make herself care about hygene then or now.

A small crackling noise suddenly came from one corner of the room, freezing halfway out of the bunk. Cheelai's eyes widened, her heart thumping like a ticking bomb waiting to go off.

"Colonel Paragus, Private Broly," The announcer said. "Report to Lord Freeza's throne room immediately."

"Ah, gentlemen! Good morning to you!"

"Good morning to you as well, Lord Freeza!" Broly and Father said with perfectly timed voices and bows. Broly hoped they didn't look too messed up, they rushed over there fast. Father was still sleeping tight just a few minutes ago. Broly not so much. Talking with Cheelai and Lemo about what happened made his dreams that night feel weird and not fun at all.

That turned out to be a good thing, he was able to get Father up and head over to Freeza without losing too much time. Their superior didn't look like he cared or notice. In fact, he looked very happy.

"I trust you've recovered well, Colonel?"

"I have, Lord Freeza. I-I must apologize for any worry I might've caused either of you," Father bowed again. "However, my mission was very successful! King Vegeta's lies are recorded and exposed for all-time."

"Very good, Colonel," Freeza's smile widened. "And most fitting timing for our business today."

"Our business, sire?"

"As you both already know, the Freeza Force has closely monitored events on the planet known as Earth," Those computer images showed up, floating in front of Father and Broly. "Recently, a contingent of scouts have procured these items known as Dragon Balls for my own purposes. Very soon, they shall acquire all seven of them."

They were orange balls with red stars, one with just one and the rest with more. Before Broly could ask more, they switched to something else. There were images of strange looking people, one of them with black, spiky hair and glasses with a girl, little kid, a bunch more people and one of the strangest men Broly had ever seen. His hair was big and silver, going way up into the sky, his outfit was red and he had a weird looking staff. When he tapped it, they all glowed and disappeared in a flash of white light!

"That was a particular being known as Whis, carrying some of Goku and Prince Vegeta's strongest allies with him to parts uknown yesterday... Parts which I can most certainly tell you are quite far away. Too far to interfere with our plans. "

Father was the first one to figure it out. A gasp came out of him and his only eye got very big. "D-Does, does that mean what I think it does?"

"Colonel, Broly, we're already on our way to Earth. We make planetfall within the next 15 minutes."

Broly tried not to look too surprised. Inside the ship, he had to remember Father's orders of staying respectful to his superiors, even if Freeza was a friend too. What made it harder though was Father himself doing just that, his mouth even hanging open.

"At long last..." Father said in a small voice before gulping. "At long last, justice will be ours..."

"Justice and so, so much more!" Freeza laughed, something from him that still made Broly a little scared. "Head for the landing craft my friends! I've a small matter to attend to before joining you."

"Yes, Lord Freeza!" They said it together again, leaving after another bow. Broly trailed after Father, finally letting himself act a little less proper. His heart was thumping fast and hard, there was sweat already between his fingers and breathing became a little harder.

This was it: everything he'd been doing all his life, all the fighting, training with Father and now Freeza was going to pay off! He would finally get a chance to make them proud and destroy the evil Saiyans who wronged them both. It was exciting, at first and then got scary.

What if he failed? What if he disappointed them, wasting all the time and effort they'd put into making him stronger? What if Father brought out the remote again, made Broly pay for it even harder than after Bah was hurt?!

"Broly! Stop!" Father's voice snapped him out of it. With a gasp, Broly noticed he'd walked ahead of him, almost into a wall. There was more sweat covering him then, in his arms pits, falling down his neck. That made him even more worried, he had to make himself look respectful before Father got mad.

"Turn around."

He did just that, readying himself as much as he could in the second it took to do. Father was standing really close, looking him right in the eye. He didn't look calm or angry, somewhere in-between. He was breathing hard and loud, not speaking at all for what felt like forever. Broly didn't know what to do but keep standing there.

"Your training with Lord Freeza, it goes well?"

"Yes, sir," He answered, realizing this was the first time they were really talking in over a week. "Lord Freeza said I'm so good he let me go from training early yesterday."

Father nodded, expression not changing at all. Not knowing what else to do or say, Broly decided to speak up without being asked or told to first. "I won't fail, Father. I will defeat Vegeta and Goku, no matter what."

He didn't even nod this time, or tell him not to speak without being spoken to. Instead, Father's arm moved until his hand rested on Broly's shoulder. His eye softened just a little.

"I know you will," Father's voice sounded a little rougher. "In-spite of... Everything that's happened, you'll see this through to the end."

Now, Broly really didn't know what to say or do, especially when Father even smiled at him! What he did notice was how... Calmer he'd gotten. The thumping quieted down to normal, the sweat was gone. He was still ready to fight, still feeling a little worried but it was all somewhere faraway...

"H-Hey!" Turning around, Broly spotted Cheelai walking up to them. She didn't smell good and the skin under her eyes was a darker green than the rest of her. "Sorry If I'm interrupting, I just wanted to catch up to you guys."

"We're under a tight schedule, young lady," Father said, back to normal. "We don't have much time for chatter."

"Yeah, I figured that..." She sounded strange too, tired. "This'll just take a second."

Before Broly could ask what was going on, Cheelai walked up really close to him, closer than even Father had been a second ago. Leaning close, her mouth touched his cheek.

"Be careful, alright?"

"Uh," Broly wiped the spot her lips touched, not sure what was going on. "Okay, I'll do that."

She gave him a small smile. "Thanks, now... I gotta head back, I sort of... Ditched Lemo before I could make his coffee. He wishes you luck too, by the way!"

Broly watched her run down the ship back to their room, no less confused by what she'd done. What was even stranger was Father's reaction. There was another look on his face Broly had never seen before, not angry... Exactly but sort of annoyed?

"Unbelievable," He shook his head.

"Father? What's wrong?"

"Nothing," He pushed Broly to start moving again. "We'll talk about it after the mission."

"But-"

"After the mission son, trust me, I'll need time to prepare..."

Broly almost thought about asking again but stopped himself. Whatever Father wanted to say, he'd do it later. Right now, there were more important things to do. Still feeling the calm from before, Broly walked toward the hangar, ready and eager to keep his word.

"You guys ready?"

"Ready, Dad!"

"Ready, Goku!"

"How about you, Vegeta?"

"Get on with it, Kakarot!"

"Alright," Goku smiled, letting the ki ball bounce against his head. "First team t'let it through loses!"

After the last bounce, he smacked the ball fast and hard over the volleyball net. On the other side, Trunks moved too, sending it back over to Vegeta before it hit the ground. In no time flat, they were running across the beach so fast big sound clouds and winds were blowing all over the place. Just like he expected them to, the boys flew up first to get an edge.

Goku and Vegeta followed them up but all four of them kept to their side to not mess up the game. The ki ball was zipping around like a yellow blur. From the way they kept pounding away at it, it was a miracle it didn't blow up in someone's face!

Goten and Trunks were doing good, better than Goku thought they would. But while he and Vegeta weren't even close to breaking a sweat, the kids weren't doing as well.

"What's wrong boys? Yer huffin' and puffin' like a couple old guys!"

"Slacking off tends to do that."

"J-Just you wait, Dad!" Trunks shouted, almost letting the ball slip back down. "We're not done yet!"

"Yeah! You're the old guys here, not us!" Goten backed him up.

"Oh really?" Goku smiled, looking over to Vegeta who smiled back. "Awright, let's see ya keep up with this!"

Taking it up a notch, the two of them sped up even more, totally messing the boys up. If they were in better shape, they might've been able to follow this for a while. Along with the other thing holding them back. Now? It didn't take more than a minute to get the winning score when the ball slipt through Goten's tired swing, flew way over the beach and landed in the ocean on the other side of the island.

Goten and Trunks were sweating hard enough to sink the place, their arms were hanging in the air looking pretty limp.

"So," Vegeta spoke up, crossing his arms. "Who's not done yet?"

"N-Not us!" Goten tried shouting but it turned into a cough. "We still got one more... Way t'win!"

"Uhh, boys, I dunno if that's a good idea," Goku warned, knowing what they were going to do. "Fusion's gotta be done right an you guys aren't all there."

"You're just... Afraid you'll lose..." Trunks laughed.

"Let them do it Kakarot, it'll be amusing either way it goes."

"Well... I guess they'll just go back t'normal soon anyhow..."

"Awesome!" The boys shouted, powering themselves all the way to Super Saiyan but keeping their strength even. With Trunks on the right and Goten on the left, they went into the poses.

"Fu... Sion... HHHHAAA!"

Goku spotted right away what they'd messed up but before he could stop it, the boys vanished in a shiny light, merging together. It wasn't exactly a shock when Gotenks came out... Wrong but boy was it different from the other two times they failed the dance!

Most of him looked fine, legs, chest head but the arms were like outta those scary movies Goten asked to see without Chi-Chi knowing about it! They were freakishly big, way too big for even someone of Goku's height, never mind a teenager like Gotenks. Both of his arms were big enough to crush a watermelon in!

"Hahahahahahaha!" Vegeta burst out laughing, so did Goku.

"Wh-What the hell...?!" Gotenks shouted and almost immediately powered up. His arms were so heavy he had to keep trying to fly up or he'd fall all the way back down. "Wh-Why am I-"

"Y-Yer fists!" Goku tried to explain before laughing again. "You guys bumped fists instead of touching fingers!"

"Aw man, really?! B-But that's such a rookie mistake!"

"I toldja boys, fusing while you're off won't work," After staying small for a long time, the boys suddenly started going into a growth spurt. Bulma and Chi-Chi both freaked out about it, had to start giving them Gohan and Vegeta's clothes to wear while they did emergency shopping for underwear, shoes, jeans, the whole works!

The spurt was already making the boys more sluggish and awkward then they should've been. For fusion that was just a recipe for disaster.

"Don't worry, boys," Vegeta flew over to pat Gotenks on the back. "I'm sure one of your mothers will be happy to feed you until you get back to normal!"

The two of them laughed again, harder this time. Gotenks' face turned redder than a tomato but he didn't say so much as a peep when they flew him back over to Bulma's private house. With summer on, school was out and Bulma invited a whole bunch of them over for a trip here. Almost everyone blew her off for one reason or another.

Tenshinhan, Piccolo didn't like this sort of thing, Yamcha had a big baseball season on, Krillin already lived on an island and had to work for another couple months anyhow, Gohan and 17 went on a whole other kinda trip just the other day...

"Oh my God!" Goku winced when heard the voice, he probably should've seen her reaction coming. "What happened? How did he end up like this?!"

Chi-Chi was out of the chair like a rocket, staring with her mouth open at Gotenks. Before Goku could explain, another scream went off and this one he knew even longer.

"Are you two that stupid?!" Bulma went right up to their faces, although she was leaning more toward Vegeta. "Letting him do the dance! What part of puberty clumsiness don't you understand?!"

"B-But I didn't have that!"

"H-He's right!" Vegeta actually backed him up. "We just age into our prime selves and-"

"NONE OF YOUR SAIYAN CRAP!" Chi-Chi and Bulma shouted together, getting so close Goku and Vegeta both reflexively jumped back. Without them there to hold Gotenks up, his giant hands pounded into the balcony, making giant holes into it.

"Uhh... Sorry...?"

From the look Bulma was giving him, Goku knew they'd definitely be.

"You people... Can't even let a deity eat ice cream in-peace..."

Sitting in the corner with a big umbrella blocking out the sun and a bowl of ice cream the size of a small fridge in his lap, was Lord Beerus. He was giving them all mean looks, moving his mouth up and down like he was eating dirt and not some expensive chocolate chip.

He'd been in a bad mood since before coming there. Apparently, Beerus tried making some popcorn with the microwave Bulma got for him. He didn't pay attention to the instructions saying you're only supposed to cook it for three minutes. He left it there for 10. When he got it out, Beerus got so mad he actually blew up his whole house!

But Whis was even madder! Goku couldn't picture it but from the way Bulma told it, Whis just showed up and dumped him on Earth, telling Beerus if his bad temper blew up the Earth, he wouldn't get any help bringing it back.

Gohan and 17, who'd been talking about taking their families somewhere, heard the whole thing from Bulma and asked Whis if he could take them on a roatrip through the other universes. Gohan was making a book for his college job and 17's kids kept bugging him about seeing the other places their dad saved.

Goku tried getting in on that action but Chi-Chi got him first. She said if he even thought about travelling through the multiverse with the them, he'd go hungry for the next three months. And he got so excited to fight again too, maybe even against Jiren if they ran into him...

"Oh hush, you!" Bulma shouted at Beerus next. "Eat your ice cream and leave the parenting to us."

Beerus scowled hard at her but didn't say more. Whis' threat must've been nasty for him to just take it like this.

"You two! Help bring him t'the table!" Chi-Chi ordered and they weren't about to say no. Hoisting Gotenks off the floor, Goku and Vegeta carried him to where little Bra was sleeping in her crib. None of the noise was bugging her somehow. Real gently, they put Gotenks on the ground close to where Chi-Chi was sitting, making sure not to break anything else.

The table they were eating was big, enough for ten people and with food for a hundred! Goku was getting hungry just walking next to it. Maybe the boys cutting their volleyball matches short wasn't such a bad thing after all... Before he could maybe chow down on a cake or two, Bulma's phone went off.

"My dad?" She said, walking up next to Gotenks. "What could he want?"

"Hello dear!" Doctor Briefs showed up on the touch screen. "Sorry for interrupting your vacation but your lab's been broken into."

It took a second for everyone to react but when they did, almost everyone there but Beerus and little Bra shouted, "WHAT?!"

"Oh yeah, I was just walking over to the shop to tune up my Harley and I saw it all messed up," He moved his phone over the room. Vegeta was right next to Bulma first, then Goku and finally Chi-Chi.

"What's goin' on?" Gotenk asked them from across the table. "Who broke in-"

"Quiet!" Bulma said, shutting him up. "Dad, did you check the security footage?"

"Hm? Oh right! Did, there were two of 'em, weird looking folk dressed like Vegeta. They took the Dragon Balls you found and the Dragon Radar."

"I knew it!" Vegeta shouted so loud, Bulma winced. "That bastard Freeza! He's making his move just like I knew he would!"

"I dunno about that, " Dr. Briefs lit up a cigar. "But we should probably get some better security, right honey?"

"Yes, yes, Dad, you're right. I'll get right on that," She forced a smile, ending the call. Goku could tell from the way her eye twitched she was mad.

"Why were you collectin' the Dragon Balls anyhow?" Goku asked.

"None of your business! Not that it'll matter if you two don't get them back!"

"Oh we will," Vegeta said, throwing a capsule on the ground. From the poofy smoke came out a longer sleeved version of his suit with a chest piece too. "And when we do, we'll correct this moron's mistake as well!"

"Huh? My mistake?" Goku pointed to himself. "What'd I do?"

"What'd you- Are you serious?! You're the one who promised Freeza another life! He's a threat again thanks to you!"

"Aw c'mon Vegeta! If it weren't fer him, we'd have lost the Tournament of Power!"

"Huh, really?" Chi-Chi asked. "Isn't he some real evil guy?"

"Yeah but he really saved our bacons," Goku smiled. "Lotsa people we know we're kinda bad until they teamed up with us!"

"Freeza is not like lotsa folk," Vegeta slipped the longer shirt over his chest. "He'll never stop trying to destroy us! Not until he's dead and gone permanently!"

"He was always an egotistical little worm," Beerus spoke up all of a sudden with a big load of ice cream stuffed into his mouth. "Even dared to call himself a Hakaishin during a dinner with me. It was only his father's amusing grovelling which made me spare him then."

"If he's such a rotten guy, why'd you let em come back, Lord Beerus?" Goku asked, Bulma made a scoffing noise from his right.

"Because Freeza can keep doing his job while he gorges himself."

Beerus scowled at her again but didn't answer, he just leaned back into the chair and shoved the spoon back into the bowl.

"Do you know where the final Dragon Ball is?" Vegeta asked, slipping his gloves back on.

"Yeah, it was in the Arctic, I don't like the cold so I held off on looking for it."

"The Arctic? Got it! Well, I'm off-"

"Wait just a second!" Chi-Chi got into Goku's face, stopping him from getting out of there. "And who exactly gave ya permission t'ditch this family vacation? HUH?!

"B-But Bulma's stuff got stolen!" Goku stook a step back, raising his hands. "You heard us talkin'! Freeza's a dangerous guy! I gotta go fight 'im!"

"I can handle it myself," Vegeta said, putting the chest piece on. "Knowing you, you'll just let him go again."

Chi-Chi looked about ready to say yes to that. Goku panicked, he was having fun there with the boys and everyone but getting another fight was fun too! Even if it was Freeza coming for another round. That was when he remembered something.

"W-Wait! Hold up!" Goku felt more confident all of a sudden. "You didn't say I couldn't go out an fight people on Earth! Just if I tried goin' with Gohan and 17 outta here! Remember?"

Chi-Chi opened her mouth to shout at him but stopped herself all of a sudden. From the way she was blinking and licking her lips, Goku knew he got her!

"I-I-"

"You did say that, Mom," Gotenks spoke up, leaning his face over to a plate with pork chops on it. "I was right there, remember?"

"And that's good enough fer me!" Locking onto some ki all the way up in the Arctic, Goku saw Chi-Chi and Vegeta's eyes bulge a second before he teleported outta there.

Chapter Text

"Damn that Kakarot!" Vegeta shouted for what felt like the millionth time since before leaving the island. He should've seen it coming, the fool vanishing over there in hopes of fighting Freeza again first. Well, not this time! This time, Freeza would die for good. Nothing he or Kakarot did would change that fact.

Thankfully, the flight to the Arctic was brief. The green and brown of fields and trees turned into snow and ice caps right under Vegeta. Kakarot's energy grew closer too but not of Freeza's men. He must've assigned weaklings they wouldn't sense out for the task. From the way he was moving up and down the place, Kakarot must've been having problems tracking them down.

Vegeta found him standing on the edge of a deep hole, scratching the back of his head. He was sorely tempted to kick the bastard into it.

"Man, where're these guys hidin'?"

"The same place you'll be when Chi-Chi hunts you down," Vegeta smiled at the memory of Kakarot's wife shouting bloody murder. "I believe she vowed to burn your martial arts outfits."

"Ah, it'll be alright!" He waved the threat aside. "Chi-Chi says she'll do that all the time nowadays!"

The smile vanished, leaving Vegeta just irritated again. Doubly so when he noticed Kakarot wasn't bothered by the cold in short sleeves. Seeing him shiver in the snow would've made a nice bit of karma at the very least. Maybe if I'm lucky someone will shoot him through the head this time...

Somewhere off in the distance, a faintly audible boom cut through the thick blizzard. "I recognize that sound, it's from a Freeza Force ship!"

"Sweet! Let's go!"

Putting his grievances with Kakarot aside, Vegeta took the forward point, keeping an ear out for more of engine noise. They sounded off again, louder this time - a few degrees under their flight path. After a third sound, Vegeta opened fire, catching the ship in the rear exhaust port.

"I got it!" Kakarot increased his flight speed, catching the truck-sized ship before it crashed. He was lifting it above his head. "Awright you Freeza Force guys! Where're the Dragon Balls?!"

He shook the ship the same way Bra shook her rattle toy. Landing to Kakarot's left, Vegeta saw and heard the screams and moans from two different voices inside. With every shake, a pair of soldiers got bashed against the windshield.

Scouts alright, Freeza's army used low-level soldiers in this capacity since Vegeta could remember. Though, they were never this old.

The one with blue skin and hair appeared middle-aged from the wrinkles around his mouth. His partner, noticeably shorter and more obese, had a gray mustache under a thick, bulbous nose. When their faces got pressed against the windshield again, their eyes locked to Vegeta and grew three sizes.

"V-Vegeta, sir?!"

"Huh?" Kakarot stopped shaking them. "You know these guys?"

"No, but I can guess how they know me, they're probably from the original army. What's left of it after Freeza incinerated the rest. They look old enough to have served that long."

"P-Please, sir!" The fat one shrieked. "W-We's just doing what Lord Freeza's orders! Don't kill us!"

Vegeta was about to say he would kill them if they followed their orders when the ship suddenly budged again. The soldiers fell away from the windshield, banging on the inside floor. That idiot Kakarot spun it around to face them.

"Huh? Really? He's still doin' that stuff?"

"Oh for the love of- Of course, he's doing it!" Vegeta shouted, pointing a fist at him. "I know this is beyond you but for once stop being a fool!"

Kakarot opened his mouth to say some other stupid thing when both of them froze, sensing a giant, familiar power in the sky. A moment later, one piece of it fell closer to Earth. For an instant, the whole sky glowed bright red until the force of the explosion wiped the clouds and the blizzard out. With them gone, there was a clear view of Freeza's capital ship against the blue sky.

"So, he's already here."

"Gotta make a big entrance," Kakarot laughed, putting the soldiers down. Vegeta supposed it didn't matter whether or not Freeza got the Dragon Balls, he wouldn't get long enough to use them.

The capital ship descended fast, small landing feet exiting from its squashed, crab-like frame. Once it touched down, one of the doors detached from the wall and lowered itself, offering a staircase. The first ones out were an eight-man squad of tall, lanky looking soldiers wearing full body armor. They stood tall at attention, opposite one another on each side. At the doorframe was Freeza, smiling, arms behind his back and a familiar device across his left eye. Vegeta burst out laughing when he spotted it.

"Hahahahahaha! A scouter? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!" The laugh echoed through quiet mountains. "What's wrong, Freeza? Have your skills already fallen so low from drinking wine all day?"

Surprisingly, Freeza didn't look bothered by it at all. Instead, he kept walking calmly down the staircase, past the attending troops. A pair of people were following after him. One was an old man with gray, spiky hair and beard whose tanned skin was full of wrinkles. One of his eyes was cut out. The other was much younger with black, long hair and a clean-shaven face. He was also absurdly tall, one of the tallest beings Vegeta had ever seen.

"Wait... Are they Saiyans?"

"Huh? For real?" Kakarot looked at him then back at the Freeza's companions. "Hey! The old timer's gotta tail stickin' outta his dress! He's definitely one a' us!"

This old man scowled at the dress comment but that was nothing in comparison to the look he sent Vegeta. What's that Earthling expression, if looks could kill?

"What're you doin' here, Freeza?"

"Isn't it obvious, Goku?" He chuckled, waving his fingers in their general direction. From behind them, the seven Dragon Balls flew across the air right into Freeza's palm. Apparently, the two thieves were trying to sneak away with their pursuer's backs turned. "I wish to make a wish or three on these lovely orbs of yours."

"And those two are here to help you, I assume?"

"Why, yes Vegeta!" Freeza stepped aside, gesturing for his lackeys to step forward. "These are the latest additions to the Freeza Force! Private Broly and his father, Colonel Paragus. Although," He chuckled again, eyes narrowing. "The Colonel is not precisely a newcomer to us. Or to you, Vegeta."

Paragus stepped forward first, his son trailing behind him with clenched fists. This old man seemed to scrutinize Vegeta, staring into his face long and hard. "Yes, you're his son alright. Minus the beard and being slightly taller, you're the spitting image of your father, Prince Vegeta."

"You knew him?"

"Oh, very much so. I served as his right hand for many, many years, against the Tsufurians and in our service to the Freeza Force," Paragus' lone eye narrowed. "Until he betrayed me and my son!"

Vegeta scowled back, already seeing where he was going with this. "Paragus, huh? Never heard of you or your runt. If you've got business with my Father, take it up with him in the afterlife. Your grudge is none of my business."

"That's where you're wrong, Prince Vegeta," Paragus pointed an accusing finger. "It is because of what my son represented to you we both were wrongfully exiled! Your Father feared Broly surpassing you and we rotted for decades on an oppugnant world!"

"Huh? Oppugnant?" Kakarot blinked, looking confused. "What's that s'pposed t'mean?"

Freeza sighed, shaking his head. "It means a very hostile place, Goku..."

"Oh! Hahahaha! Okay!"

"As I was saying," Paragus growled, giving the grinning idiot a hateful look. "Today, my son and I will be avenged, Prince! No matter what it takes! Your Father's treachery will not go unpunished!"

Suddenly, something thick and strong began to simmer. Not from Paragus... From his son, Broly. The tall Saiyan was scowling as well, just under the surface his energy was rising. Vegeta wasn't sure with him still trying, badly, to conceal it but it was a considerable power. Is this Freeza's little trump card? It must be, even he wouldn't be stupid enough to stir trouble by himself again.

"Treachery you say?" Vegeta laughed again, intentionally letting it draw itself out. "You work with that conniving snake who destroyed our planet and call my Father a traitor? Exile must've done a number on your aging mind."

Paragus and Broly both seemed shocked by that, looking as if someone smacked them across the face. Freeza, however, still didn't seem bothered by anything so far. He just chuckled in that annoying, mouth-covering way of his.

"Me? The destroyer of Planet Vegeta? Ohohohohoho! Truly, Vegeta, your imagination is quite astonishing!"

"Yer the one who kept talkin' about it on Namek!"

"Hearsay of enemies and traitor's sons," Freeza smiled at Paragus, whose shock disappeared by the moment. "Wouldn't you agree, Colonel?"

"Yes, yes, I do, my lord," Paragus fully recovered. Vegeta figured he was too obsessed with his little revenge fantasy to even consider the truth. Or too stupid to figure it out as Nappa and Raditz were for the longest time. Not that it mattered, Vegeta preferred grounding Freeza's latest attack dog with his hands, not fists.

"I dunno all this stuff about Vegeta's old man," Kakarot cut in, taking a few steps forward. "But I do know you guys're Saiyans! So let's do what we're good at an' fight!"

"Hold it right there!" Vegeta shouted, marching over to face him down. "Last time that bastard," He pointed his thumb over to Freeza. "Attacked you were the one to fight first! After your little stunt earlier you're not doing it again! Got it?"

"Oh, like you haven't pulled dirty tricks on me before! Remember when you ditched me on Namek against that guy who got turned into a frog?"

Loath as he was to admit, Vegeta did remember it well. He just wished Kakarot's brain didn't suddenly start working to remember it too. "Tch, fine! We'll do it nice and fair then! How's that?!"

"Wh-What is the meaning of all this?!" Paragus shouted. "What are you-"

"Leave them be, Colonel," Freeza cut him off. "Believe me, its easier for everyone this way."

"... Yes, sire..."

"Alright!" Kakarot raised a fist over his head. "Ro..."

"Sham..." Vegeta did the same.

"..BO!" It was rock versus paper, victory went to Vegeta.

"Darn it..." Kakarot snapped his fingers, taking a few steps back. "Guess you got yer way anyhow..."

"Hmph, I always do. Now then," He smirked at Paragus. "Try me, old man."

"With pleasure," Paragus smirked back, behind him, Broly shook and growled in-place, letting more of his ki out. "The time has come my son! GO! BROLY!"

A long, powerful shout came from Paragus' son, letting out a gust of wind from sheer energy strong enough to blast away the two rows of troops surrounding them. He was off in the ground in an instant, arm poised for a punch Vegeta blocked easily enough. To get away from anyone who could meddle, Vegeta let the force fling him back, dodging more of Broly's punches as they came along.

Each one was faster and no doubt stronger than the one before but nothing Vegeta couldn't handle. "You're not bad, for a small warm-up. But I wonder if you're good for anything else!"

A kick to Broly's gut sent him sliding against the snow. On all fours, the Saiyan recovered quickly and jumped back into the fight. Vegeta sidestepped an overhead blow and answered with one of his own to Broly's forehead. He grunted from pain but fought back almost instantaneously. Each time Vegeta blocked or dodged an attack, Broly came back with more power and speed for the next. His ki was rising steadily, much faster than the usual Saiyan.

Still, it was far too little to be a threat. Swatting aside a punch, Vegeta decided he'd had enough warming up and went for a neck chop to knock this Broly out. That was when this giant of a Saiyan ducked without looking back, giving his backhanded strike a chance to land.

Vegeta spun through the air, landing barely a tenth of a second before Broly was back on him again, moving with a new upsurge of surprising speed. Another hit landed in the left shoulder while one of Vegeta's counter kicks to his chest was shrugged off. Taking off into the air didn't help either, Broly proved himself faster there too, appearing from behind and spinning to maximize the power of his kick. From off in the distance, Vegeta heard a cheer from Paragus before his son's next punch, an uppercut connected again.

"That Broly guy's doin' pretty good!" The one-called Goku, formerly Kakarot, said casually. "He's givin' Vegeta some trouble!"

"He'll give Vegeta much worse I assure you," Paragus promised him, not liking his attitude at all. But what could he expect from a Saiyan raised on a backwater planet such as this? "You'll experience it for yourself in due time."

"If he's got more going fer 'im then sure!" He laughed, smiling from ear to ear. "I'd love t'take 'im on!"

"If?" Lord Freeza laughed as well, as though they were old friends! "Come now, Goku. I would think you'd have more faith in me than that."

"I sorta have to. Fightin' you is alright and all but doing it with the same folks gets old, ya know?"

Paragus mouth fell open at the brazen insult. But once again, Lord Freeza didn't seem to care one bit. "Variety is the spice of life they say and I'm quite certain Broly won't let you down in that regard."

Smashing Vegeta's face again felt good, especially when he grunted or shouted. Broly hated him a lot then but seeing him show such disrespect to Freeza and to Father... How he and his friend Goku lied to their faces, played a game, treating all of this like a joke! Broly wasn't sure he could've stood there for much longer before attacking even without Father's command. But it didn't matter now, Vegeta's annoying smile was gone and he wasn't fighting as good as before.

Broly let his blast hit, barely feeling any pain in his face at all before giving Vegeta a strong elbow to the nose. He growled again and went a few steps back, jumping out of the way of Broly's smack. The shrimp landed on a little, spiky hill where the white stuff wasn't totally covering it. Broly felt some of it fall into his mouth. It was like chewy water. Maybe when they won, Father and Freeza would let him eat some more in peace.

Vegeta spat out some blood, looking angry. "Guess I was wrong, you're not just good for a small warm-up."

Broly didn't answer him. He wouldn't talk to this guy anymore than he talked to a Vampa spider during a fight. Not that Vegeta seemed to care, another annoying smile showed up on his face.

"Fine then, let's see if you can handle this!" Out of nowhere, a huge rush of ki exploded out of the Saiyan prince. It was totally different from his power so far. The wind from it was so strong, Broly felt pushed back through the white stuff. It was shinning a lot too, forcing him to cover his eyes. When it died down, Vegeta changed. His hair was gold, his muscles got bigger and his eyes were green. The ki coming out of him was gold too and hot. Broly noticed how much warmer it got all of a sudden standing close to him. What caught Broly by surprise and left him staring was how pretty this Super Saiyan looked. It was like those lightning things he'd sometimes watch out on Vampa's nights.

It was a big mistake because the next second, something very, very tough smashed right into his stomach. Broly was so shocked, it took him a while to even see what happened. Vegeta moved so fast, one second he was on the hill and next real close!

"What can you do about this, I wonder?" The punched pulled out and it somehow hurt more. Broly gasped, holding his belly tight. Before he could attack again, Vegeta got him again across the face, making Broly spin wildly and landing face first into the white stuff. He wasn't down there for long, Vegeta's arm grabbed his leg and threw him into the sky before another round of punches and kicks came.

It was like watching a yellow blur, attacking from all over the place. Even blocking one of Vegeta's hits hurt. Broly knew he couldn't win, not like this. He needed that power of his and fast...

Goku watched Broly land hard into the snow, his front totally covered up by it. Vegeta got there a second before and pinned him down with his boot. He had one of those smiles of his on, alright.

"B-Broly!" Paragus shouted, a whole bunch of sweat breaking out on his face."B-BROLY! DAMN IT! CAN YOU HEAR ME?!"

"Don't bother, old man," Vegeta crossed his arms, burying Broly's face even more. "Your attack dog put up a decent enough fight for a start. But even against a regular Super Saiyan, he's no match for me."

"Your arrogance truly does blind you, Vegeta."

"That's rich coming from you, Freeza," He stepped off Broly, smiling wider. "Now that this sideshow attraction's done for, why don't we get on to the real fighting-"

"Vegeta!" Goku shouted, mostly ignoring their talking and feeling something going on with Broly since before Vegeta nailed him down. If it was what he thought it was... "Broly's not done, he's-"

Before he could finish, the something from Broly went off like a giant Kamehameha. Vegeta didn't stand a chance, Broly's fist shot out from the snow and socked him right in the back of the head.

Chapter Text

"Vegeta!" Goku shouted mid-take off, turning Super Saiyan on the rush over. This new guy of Freeza's, Broly, was tearing into Vegeta, beating him so fast and hard he'd gone back to his normal state after just a couple of hits! It was unreal. Ever since the two of them started fighting, Goku kept a nice close eye on what the new Saiyan could do. There was something in there, alright and now Vegeta got it out.

Before Broly's foot could stomp on Vegeta's head some more, Goku's punch knocked him away. Broly staggered back, skidding across the snow, growling then lunging for another attack. Goku blocked the first punch then ducked under the next two, kneeing Broly in the gut and finished it all off with a spin kick across the face. This time, Broly barely flinched and with another big spike in his ki, grabbed Goku's leg so fast there was no way to dodge or react to it fast enough.

"Hey! What're yaaAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHH!" Goku screamed as Broly flailed then smashed him again and again into the ground like a sack of potatoes. Every time he did it, it hurt more and more. When Goku wasn't shouting his mouth off from the pain, he was gargling snow.

Broly must've found it annoying or got bored doing it. Pretty soon he switched over to spinning Goku around instead, doing it so fast it blew away all of the snow around them from the sheer force of the wind. It was somehow even worse than that carnival ride Goten made them take a few years ago. Goku counted himself lucky for not eating anything so close to the fight or else.

Once Broly got enough momentum going, he spun Goku high over his head, leaned back then forward and threw him right into the air.

In a wild rush, Broly, Vegeta, Freeza and the whole Arctic shrank right in front of Goku's eyes, getting smaller as he flew higher up every passing second. It was a good thing Broly didn't manage to knock him out after all those hits. If he got it as bad as Vegeta did, Broly would've thrown him unconscious right into space. Of all the times he'd died, sleeping in the middle of space would've been the studipest one by far.

Instead, he managed to stop himself dead with a burst of ki somewhere in the upper sky. It was one of the atmospheres but Goku could never remember which was which.

"Wow!" He sighed. "That guy doesn't pull his punches... No wonder Vegeta's takin' a nap down there."

A sudden warning buzz went off in Goku's head, from Broly. He wasn't attacking Vegeta anymore. Instead, he wanted to keep this fight going on instead.

"So, Freeza taught ya how t'sense ki," Goku smiled, getting more and more interested in this Broly guy and his insanely growing power. It kept going up and up all the time but he wasn't even transforming into a Super Saiyan yet! Was he saving it for later or was he just that good without it?!

Either way, Goku could sense he'd be having some big, tough and angry company real soon.

"Awright! Let's see whatcha really got!"

Five seconds before Broly got there, Goku revved up Super Saiyan all the way to up maximum power! Four seconds before, he reached deep down for another power he had: Super Saiyan God and let it rip at the same time, turning his spiked up hair red. Three seconds before, when Broly was halfway there, Goku took a deep long breath, inhaling the two Super Saiyan powers into himself. At two seconds left, he focused on these types of different ki, combining them into a new type of power stronger than either one. At the last second, when Broly's fist was raised and just inches from hitting, Goku breathed out, letting his strongest form come out too.

Then, with total calm, Goku caught Broly's punch mid-swing and using all the momentum built up threw him right back down to Earth.

"Just made it," He laughed, watching Broly shrinking to a tiny blip on fire all the way down. It was fine, though, Goku doubted something small like this would take the guy out. Hopefully, it didn't, things were getting way too interesting to end that way!

Teleporting back down to ground level, Goku almost lost his balance when he appeared on a big chunk of the floor caved in from the crash landing. In the center, he heard Broly growling, digging his way out through the giant rocks. With how deep the hole looked, it'd take him a while.

"Hm, guess I got 'nother minute..." With nothing better to do, Goku flew away to the sturdier ground and started stretching. Watching Vegeta fight Broly then going man-to-man with the guy didn't give him much of a chance to in all that excitement. First, he did some circles starting out with the head then the arms and finally with hips. After that, a triceps and biceps stretch. By the time Broly finally clawed his way outta the ground, Goku was on his fifteenth jumping jack.

On the sixteenth, the jump went a couple of dozen feet into the air to dodge Broly's ki blast.

"Perfect! I was just about done!"

The two flew toward each other, fists raised and smashing into one another in a giant boom. Broly's left leg snapped out of the ruble nailed Goku in the stomach, blowing him back. Grinning, Goku recovered fast with a kiai and burst of ki, ducking under Broly's swing and uppercutting him right in the jaw. With Super Saiyan Blue, Broly's hits didn't feel as overwhelming but perfect. Just the right kind of tough and painful to keep things from getting too easy. Where would the fun in that be anyway?

On and on this went with the two of them sending one attack at the other, every one faster than the last until they both almost looked like blurs to each other. Broly must've gotten sick of it, growling and firing up big ki balls in both hands. Goku broke off, flying away to dodge them while Broly lit up everything behind him in the chase. It was all part of the plan, once his concentration was good enough, Goku charged up a ki ball of his own and teleported right behind Broly.

For a second it looked like Goku's attack would land, judging by the way Broly froze up from surprise. But he recovered fast, snarling and swinging behind, forcing Goku to fly away over attacking. "So, Freeza taught ya how t'feel pressure when we're like this? That's pretty good!"

This just seemed to make the guy angrier. With another burst of ki, Broly's hair spiked up Super Saiyan-style and he got even taller too, by at least another head. His muscles bulked up so much Freeza's outfit looked like it might explode! What was really amazing was how he didn't slow down at all from all that new weight. If anything, he was faster than ever! Goku just barely managed to zip away from his lunge.

When Goku went for a counter-attack, Broly was the one to vanish with raw speed, trying to take Goku by surprise from below. His hit didn't land either. They kept going like this for a while, trying to one-up each other with speed, always almost landing a strike but never pulling it off. Pretty soon, it turned into a mess of traded punches, kicks and a few blasts thrown in there just to spice things up.

Broly broke the exchange, jamming a big ki blast right into Goku's chest. Before he could recover, Broly zipped through the air right behind him, smashing into Goku's back with both fists right into the floor. His next move, a downward lunge didn't land. Goku recovered and backflipped right out of there.

"Phew!" Goku wiped some sweat, feeling sore in the best possible way. "You really are somethin'! And Vegeta said lettin' Freeza come back was a bad idea!"

Broly, not looking whipped in the least, got himself out and ran in to attack some more. Goku smiled at his determination, part of him was up for another round or two. But after seeing what the guy was made of, Goku felt pretty satisfied for now. It didn't feel right to fight Broly like this anymore. They could always go for more fighting later when he wasn't being forced into a deathmatch.

Firing up his ki, Goku decided to test out a move he sort of stole from Hit, a move to stop whoever he was fighting in their tracks. Pointing both hands at Broly, Goku let his ki wash over Broly, restraining him mid-punch. It was working out pretty good from what Goku could tell, keeping Broly locked down minus some movement from his arm or face.

"Yo! Calm down!" Goku said, seeing the guy's eyes wildly look around in a panic. "Don't worry! It won't hurt ya! I just wanna talk t'ya!"

Broly's raised arm twitched something fierce and a giant shout from him sent a gust of wind so strong chunks of ice the size of Chi-Chi's car flew around. But he couldn't break out.

"I've fought lotsa bad guys over the years on Earth an I can tell yer not one of em!" Goku said with a smile, remembering all the fights they'd had so far. Tenshinhan, both Piccolo's, Raditz... "You don't gotta listen t'Freeza or that mean lookin' old guy! Besides! If ya calm down, we can grab some grub and I know yer big on food!"

Broly couldn't hear what this Goku was saying after the shout. His heart was pounding so very, very loud. Like some punching him over again inside his own skull. That shout was the last bit of strength he had left to break out of... Whatever this blue stuff around him was. It didn't hurt like Father's collar did, leaving his throat so sore Broly couldn't even talk for days afterward. Everything else was like it though.

The feeling of being trapped in his own body, being able to move just enough to think he could power through before it all went black again. Except usually, the pain was strong enough to just make Broly fall asleep. Now? There was no pain to save him. Harder and harder his heart pounded until Broly started snarling and screaming to make it stop.

"Let... Me... Go..." He growled, reaching deep down into his ki, that incredible power letting him fight so well. "Let... Me... GO!"

The creep Goku wasn't smiling at him anymore, he looked afraid. Pointing his hands back up, he poured more of the blue stuff on to make this cage thing stronger. Broly couldn't let that happen, he'd just felt it loosen for a split second. It was now or never.

"LET!" He shouted again, louder than ever before. "ME!" His twitching fist got closer and closer. "GGGGGOOOOOO!"

The punch moved so fast, hit so hard, it took Goku's brain a second to figure out it landed. Its power flew right through Goku's skull, whizzed through the air and blasted away the tip of a mountain nearby. He staggered back, barely staying on his feet. Broly wasn't finished, with an overhead punch he sent another shockwave through Goku's head, this time breaking the ground under their feet. Then a pair of arms bigger than his head snapped through the air and clapped into Goku's ears so hard they rang like bells.

Somehow, he managed to stay conscious through it all but just barely. Blinking through the huge black dots in his eyes, Goku saw a giant green glow heating things up. By the time he figured out Broly was about to fire a mouth blast point-blank, it was too late, it was already smashing into him.

Goku knew two things right off the bat: there was no way he'd be able to stop it and if he didn't, Broly would probably blow up the whole planet! Letting the pain of the ki wake him back up, Goku felt himself smash through something and knew the blast was getting closer to the ground.

"No... You... Don't!" Gritting his teeth, it took all the strength he could manage to power himself back up then unload all that ki through his hands against Broly's attack. His blue ki blasted off, taking the mouth blast right into the air. In no time flat, they were both gone from the Earth, going off somewhere far away in space.

Goku managed a chuckle before he suddenly crashed into something and lost consciousness.

Broly's legs gave out from under him. His breathing ragged and hard, it didn't help the air was really cold, almost like Vampa's at night. The burning in his hands from the attack was bothering him too. Staring at them and the white stuff underneath, Broly remembered how cool it was to the touch, maybe it could...

Bracing himself, he put both palms into the stuff and winced when the cold reached his hands. Some of the white stuff melted away, diving his palms deeper in. In no time, the pain went down, feeling just a little numb between his fingers.

Letting himself relax, Broly tried to detect if Goku was still alive. From what he could tell, the answer was no. That got a smile out of him, Father and especially Freeza would be happy about that! But before he could feel too good about his victory or finally try out what all this stuff on the ground tasted like, someone else' power showed back up, where the others were...

Crushing some of the white stuff in his fists, Broly grit his teeth and powered back up to take care of Vegeta.

Chapter Text

One blast... That's all it would take... The thought ran through Paragus' head for the hundredth time - ever since his son pounded the pompous windbag into the dirt mid-taunt. Punching, stomping and lash out at the Prince who so easily dismissed them. He'd never felt more proud of Broly.

Before he could finish it, Vegeta's ally, the idiot Saiyan known as Goku intervened. Now they were fighting somewhere in the sky or on the ground. Paragus couldn't tell, not without a scouter or that strange energy sensing ability. But from the look on Lord Freeza's face, all seemed well enough.

All except Vegeta being within walking distance, completely helpless and still breathing face buried in the snow. It would be oh so very satisfying to snuff him out there. A completely shameful way for a Saiyan to die, especially the vaunted Prince.

But every time Paragus' hands lit up with a blast, the other end of the action stopped him. It would also be a shameful way for a Saiyan to kill another. To do it when they're vulnerable, unable to defend themselves, a dagger in the back instead of a blow to the face.

He spent decades cursing the boy's father for doing precisely that. Turning on his supposed friends and allies, sending assassins instead of being a true warrior and fighting his own battle. Paragus supposed this was the reason his blast, once it finally flew, exploded hard enough to only hurt Prince Vegeta, not kill.

"On your feet boy," Paragus shouted, watching the younger Saiyan moan himself awake. "When you die, you'll do so as befitting a Saiyan."

"Ohohohoh! Quite interesting, Colonel!" Lord Freeza said, smiling as the Dragon Balls kept floating nearby. "I kept wondering what you would do with all that flaring energy of yours."

"I-I hope I didn't displease-"

"Not at all!" He waved the concern off. "Misery is far more entertaining when the recipient is aware of it."

"As you'll learn soon enough, Freeza..." The Prince growled in a way which eerily reminded Paragus of the King. On shaky feet, he managed to stand and directed a scowl at Paragus too. "You as well, traitor."

If Lord Freeza was bothered by the threat, he wasn't showing it at all. "It is always such a joy watching you bluster, Vegeta. It will make your second round of tears all the more delicious."

Vegeta's eyes almost bulged out of his skull. Paragus was so surprised, the question automatically burst out. "T-Tears?"

"Didn't I say?" Lord Freeza almost looked apologetic, if the sideways glance and smile he sent Vegeta's way didn't say otherwise. "Pardon me, Colonel. It must have slipped my mind, so many duties occupy my time as you know-"

"Don't you dare-"

"However, seeing as we've enough time," Paragus' superior continued as if Vegeta didn't just shout. "Yes, little Vegeta there thought himself a Super Saiyan during our encounter on the Namekian homeworld. When I proved how foolish he was, the oh so proud Saiyan prodigy lost all hope. I do so wish you could have seen him, Colonel, trembling, heartbroken, eyes red from tear-"

"ENOUGH!" Vegeta shouted again, louder this time with a burst of golden energy exploding out of him. Soon, it turned into a blue one, along with his hair and eyes. "You've pissed me off for the last-"

As soon as it came, Vegeta's anger was replaced by another shock. Lord Freeza looked surprised by something as well.

"My lord, what is it?"

He smiled, letting out a small laugh. "Well, it seems your son's successes continue to mount. I suppose I won't be getting a turn after all."

"He's defeated, the Saiyan Goku?"

"Oh indeed, in spectacular fashion might I add."

Pride swelled in Paragus from the news, stamping out the shred of fear which crept in when Lord Freeza told him of Broly being thrown back to the Earth.

"Th-That idiot..." Vegeta stammered, feeling the exact opposite. He stared behind himself towards a snowy mountain rage where Paragus could just barely see some green light coming from. "What the hell has he been doing?!"

"I wouldn't concern myself overly with Goku, Vegeta. Not when you're next."

The green light was growing, getting closer. Suddenly, enough of the mountain tops exploded and from a distance, Paragus heard his son Broly rushing back to finish what he'd started. Vegeta shot another glare at them before entering a fighting stance in Broly's direction, his energy rising to meet Broly's.

"Brace yourself, Colonel," Lord Freeza ordered, raising his hand and surrounding them both in a bubble of purple energy. "The show continues."

"H-Holy crap!" Cheelai shouted, losing balance when a big explosion of green and blue energy went off from the ground. The wind was so strong even Freeza's ship, built to withstand space travel, shook like a little kid's rattle toy.

"I got ya!" Lemo caught her on the way down, keeping himself pretty steady all things considered. The mess hall's other people weren't so lucky, screaming and bumping into each other or flying chairs. Some of them even slipped on the grub, somersaulting through the air and knocking themselves out against the walls.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, thanks,..." She said, feeling tense under the ship's constant, smaller shaking. Cheelai went back to staring out the window where booming noises kept going off. They were even louder than the ones they'd seen when they first met Broly. So was his screaming. Even miles above where the fighting was going on, it sounded close enough to be just outside the hull.

It was impossible to figure out what was going on. The scouter's mechanism made it shut down if big enough battle powers spiked closeby. The zoom option wasn't much use, just giving her a closer look at the green and blue explosions going off.

"You're not gonna see anything. These guys don't fight like normal people. Might as well try dodging the rain over following them."

"I know," Cheelai told him tersely, squinting harder. "I just... I want to-"

Suddenly the explosions stopped and something blue smashed into the snow some ways off from Freeza and Paragus. Leaning as close to the glass as possible, Cheelai zoomed-in her scouter to the maximum setting and finally got a good look at Broly pinning someone to the ground. It was the hairy midget from before! But now his hair was blue.

Broly was huge, Cheelai wasn't sure she'd even reach his waist anymore if they stood side by side. His messy mop of hair was giant and wild, pointing up in black spikes. She couldn't see right from the way he kept flailing around, trying to smash this Earthling but something looked... wrong about his eyes...

Then again, the whole thing looked pretty wrong to her. The guy who used to stare at wonder in everything was snarling like an attack dog. "Paragus must be happy... He's doing his dirty work alright..."

Lemo sighed, pinching his nose. "Leave it be kid, you can't-"

"I know I can't change it," She ground out, watching on even when she'd really look away. "You made that real clear..."

The fight took another turn, this time away from them when Vegeta fired a big blast of ki into Broly's chest, blowing him away over a nearby mountain range. He followed after him, shaking the whole ship again from his takeoff.

Please be careful... She thought, watching more explosions go off in the distance.

"Goku, Goku!"

"Ughh... " He moaned, feeling worn out and numb all over. For a while, he couldn't even see right, not until the black spots went away. "P-Piccolo...?"

"Yeah, don't try to move," He said just when it crossed Goku's mind. "Mister Popo's coming back with some senzu... Hopefully."

"P-Popo?" Goku asked, blinking the haziness out of his eyes. Sure enough, it was Piccolo alright kneeling next to him. He smelled familiar palm trees around too. "How'd I-"

"Get to the Lookout? Sheer coincidence. Whoever that monster you're fighting is just so happened to send you flying... towards us... ."

He looked kinda nervous saying that. Before Goku could ask him why, a familiar ki flew towards them. It was Popo, all right, smiling with a few senzu in hand.

"Open wide," He said, kneeling opposite Piccolo. Goku didn't have to be told twice, with a loud gulp he gobbled the little miracle fruit right up. A second later, all the pain and fatigue was gone! Goku smiled backflipping back on his feet.

"Awright! Thanks, guys- Holy crap!" He shouted, seeing right off why Piccolo was nervous about the Lookout: there was barely anything left! Half the upper part was blown away from the blast and from what he could see, most of the lower one too!

"S-So that's what I smashed into..."

"Nevermind that," Piccolo said, sounding all business. "Focus on the matter at hand, what the devil is happening over there? What's Freeza's game this time?!"

"He's got a new Saiyan workin' fer im, the name's Broly," Goku explained, cracking some bones from the stretches he decided on doing. "Vegeta's dad did sumthing t'his and now they want payback. You should see him, Piccolo! He's crazy tough!"

"Yeah, I noticed when he nearly killed us all! Even now he's releasing an incredible level of ki..."

"He's not a bad guy," Goku said in the middle of some slouch stretches. "I can tell, Freeza's just usin' him fer fighting us. I tried talking t'him but he got mad again an blew me away."

"Easy to see why when you attacked him first."

"Gotta get a few good hits in, don't I?" Goku laughed while Piccolo glared at him... at first. Pretty soon he just smiled and shook his head.

"Just don't get too carried away, alright? Whis isn't here to bail us out this time."

Around them, the Lookout started glowing back to normal with bigger and bigger chunks of it appearing out of nowhere. Pretty soon, you couldn't even tell it got smashed in the first place! Dende must've been the one doing it, flying over to them from the bottom with two sticks in his hands.

"Phew, it's finally back to normal..." Dende wiped some sweat away. "Sorry about not fixing you up, Goku. I figured the senzu'd just do it better."

"Yer right! I feel like a hundred percent!"

"Is that enough to take down this Broly?" Piccolo asked, back to all business.

"Maybe not by myself but Vegeta's fired up Blue too!" Goku said, finishing up his little bout of workouts. From the other side of the planet, he felt the two of them going at it something fierce! "Gimme another bean fer im and we'll get Broly t'stop."

"There's only one more," Mister Popo said, handing it over. "Yajirobe and Karin got into an argument over another board game. Made him eat a fresh batch again."

"Fool..." Piccolo rolled his eyes.

"Nah, it's fine, a good appetite's important!" Goku snatched the bean then powered Super Saiyan Blue back up. "Thanks fer the help guys! See ya later-"

Before he teleported away, Goku took another look at the Dende. Or just one of the sticks he was carrying around. It wasn't like the old God's walking one. This one was smooth, red and really familiar.

He almost smacked himself for forgetting it. "No way! You found Nyoibo!"

"Oh, this?" Dende held it out and Goku snatched it right up. "It got loose when the Lookout was damaged, took me a while to find it down there."

Goku giggled, feeling it back in his hands. A whole rush of memories came back to him as he spun it around for the first time in ages. Grampa giving it to him, smashing animals and bad guys around... It was in the middle of a few spinning then jabbing moves where he'd make it extend then shrink back down that he got an idea.

"I'll be takin' this for a while, 'kay?" Goku said, locking back onto Vegeta and Broly's ki. "Don't worry, I won't break it!"

Dende might've said something but he wasn't sure. Goku's surroundings changed from the Lookout back to the Arctic. For a second, Goku felt an even bigger chill than the one before with his gi's top half blown off... Until an explosion closeby got rid of that real fast.

Broly and Vegeta were going at it man to man, not bothering to even fly. Just smashing their fists into one another. They didn't even notice he was there! That gave Goku another idea. Smiling all the way, he grabbed both ends of Nyoibo and tensed up his body for a jab just before teleporting closer.

"Guess who!" Goku poked the back of Broly's head, getting a kick out of the way he froze right up and Vegeta's face. Broly got mad real fast again, shouting some more and swinging for a back-handed smack. He didn't even come close. By the time his hand was where Goku stood a second ago, Goku himself already spun to the side, built up some speed with Nyoibo and smacked Broly hard and fast enough to blow him away right into the air and into a mountain peak on the other end of the Arctic.

Chapter Text

"About time you showed up, Kakarot!"

"Huh?" Goku turned around to see him. "Why? He too tough for ya?"

Vegeta scowled harder than usual, he might've even wanted to say something if they both didn't snap towards the mountain Broly just flew into. With a beam of giant, green ki firing into the sky, the pair braced themselves against the gust of wind sliding them through the snow.

"D-Damn it!"

"Amazin'" Goku laughed, using Nyoibo for better leverage. Broly's ki might not have been getting much stronger but it wasn't running out either. Even after all the fighting, they'd done. He wondered just what it would take to tap him out.

"Here, eat this!" He tossed the last senzu over his shoulder to Vegeta and flew off. Goku vaguely heard Vegeta call him a bastard for some reason but he couldn't hear much besides Broly's kiai.

Pushing through the wind, Goku saw the ki beam start spinning around Broly's mouth, getting bigger every second. "Oh no, yer not doin' that t'me again!"

Knowing that Freeza prepared Broly for moves like teleportation already, he decided on doing what neither of them could ever see coming. Pulling his arm back, Goku let out a shout of his own and threw Grandpa's gift to him with everything he had.

Sure enough, Broly didn't see it coming. The stick jabbed him something fierce right in the throat, breaking his concentration and blowing up all the ki he'd built up in his face. He was still coughing, blowing smoke out by the time Goku reached him.

Sorry, Yamcha! I'm gonna hafta borrow your move! Snatching Nyoibo out of the air, Goku took it with both hands and gave Broly the meanest swing to the face, blasting him through about five or six more mountain tops."Four!" He shouted, laughing at his own joke. "Wait... Isn't that the other one-"

Something fast slammed into Goku's back, knocking him through the air. It was Vegeta, rushing right at Broly!

"Hey! Wazzat for?!"

"For making me dig through snow to find that damned bean!"

"Aw, c'mon!" Goku flew after him, catching up fast. "Just cause you an Gohan can't catch ain't my-"

A few dozen small, green blasts cut their talk off. Broly was firing them like crazy, forcing Goku to go up while Vegeta flew down. Trying to stop them all didn't make sense, they weren't strong enough to blow up the Earth. Both of them decided to dodge instead.

Once he found a good enough gap in Broly's firing pattern, Goku kept himself far enough away for him to think the swing wouldn't reach.

"Nyoibo!" He smiled, taking the swing. "EXTEND!"

Taking down a few of Broly's blast, the stick got him right the chest. While he was busy groaning, Vegeta flew straight up and kneed Broly in the jaw then spun mid-air for an overhead kick, smashing him into the snow.

Broly breathed hard, getting his head out of the puffy white stuff. Spinning around, he tried to blast Vegeta away when Goku suddenly popped up right in-front of him, smiling and waving that... stick of his.

When it came down, Broly jumped out of the way only for a horrible pain to show up in his back. It was Vegeta, attacking like the coward Father said he was. Broly tried to make him pay but that annoying Goku attacked first, jabbing his weird stick right into Broly's gut, making him back off.

"You calmin' down yet? Or do we hafta fight ya some more?" Goku said, clearly ready to fight again from his pose.

"Please say no," Vegeta cracked his knuckles. "I've got plenty enough to repay you and your master for..."

"Vegeta... Yer not helpin'"

"What?!" He turned around. "He's a threat! Another thug from Freeza who tried to blow up the Earth!"

Goku looked away too, giving Vegeta a weird look. "How's that any different from yo-"

Broly took his chance, seeing they'd lowered their guards. Rushing Vegeta, first he knocked Father's enemy far away with a smack before going after Freeza's. With a giant shout, Broly caught both of Goku's hands while they were holding his stick.

Before he could try something weird or funny, Broly headbutted Goku a bunch of times, even getting him to kneel. With his hands pinned down, there was no way he could teleport away! Broly had to finish it fast though, Vegeta would come back soon and mess everything up. Goku had to die, for Freeza.

Something weird started happening with Goku anyway. His squeaky shouts changed into growls, closer to Broly's. When his lowered face got back up, Broly was so shocked he froze. Goku's eyes were white and his teeth became long, pointy fangs. He looked just like...

On an old instinct, he'd practiced a long time ago, Broly let go and jumped back when Goku snapped his giant teeth... Leaving himself open to Vegeta's grab.

"That's the last time you make a fool out of me!" Pulling on Broly's hair so hard it got him off the ground, Vegeta punched him so fiercely it made black spots show up in his eyes. The next few were just as tough, hurting Broly's chest, mouth, shoulders...

It wasn't until Broly felt Bah's pelt get pulled out that he fought back again. "Stop!"

This time, Vegeta ducked under the attack, giving him a nasty looking smile. "Oh? Sensitive about our fur coat are we?"

Baring his teeth at the Saiyan prince, Broly let more power come out, getting rid of all the pain.

"Vegeta! We're tryin' ta calm em down!" Goku shouted, moving up next to him.

"What's calmer than being unconscious?!"

Getting really sick of them both, Broly charged again, hoping he'd catch them off guard again. Goku jumped back from Broly's punch while Vegeta kicked him in the head. Broly tried to grab it only for Goku's freak stick to poke him right in the nose. When Broly tried grabbing it, it got small again, leaving him open for another hit from Vegeta.

No matter what he did, it kept going on like this. Goku or Vegeta covering each other, dodging or taking hits meant for one so the other could get Broly. Punches, grabs, kicks, ki blasts, none of it worked. Not even reaching deep down for more power.

Goku was the worst fighter Broly had ever taken on. When they trained, Freeza told him so but Broly didn't completely believe him. After so many stories from Father about how bad Vegeta was, imagining someone worse was crazy! But it all turned out to be true.

Vegeta was easier to fight, using the kinds of moves Broly could see coming - the kind he'd prepared for. Goku hit harder, faster and weirder. Popping from one spot to another, it was like he didn't even exist for a second! Then there was that horrible stick of his, getting smaller or bigger all the time. Just from the way he made it spin around made Broly's head hurt.

At one point, Goku was twirling it around so fast it looked like he had eight arms!

Before he even figured out it was happening, Broly slowed down. Punches he should've seen hit, dodges he should've done right were sloppy. It reminded him of Father's earliest lessons when he kept falling over himself... Messing things up... Making him angry...

Goku's stick got him in the chin, making Broly fly high in the air. With more effort than he should've needed, he stopped the spinning.

"Finally burning out, eh?" Vegeta shouted from the ground, giving him another taunting smile. "Now be a good boy and stay there, we've got business with your master!"

"Yo! Broly!" Goku waved at him. "If ya want, we can go get sum food! Chi-Chi's probably still mad at me but her grub's crazy good!"

Broly breathed hard, looking down at them. Both acting just like Father and Freeza said: arrogant and fake friendly. Goku got under his skin more, he sounded so sincere and friendly, even while they were fighting... Broly almost thought about trusting him.

That might've just made him feel the angriest he'd been that day.

"No..." He growled, powering up again. "No...! I won't lose!" Giant balls of energy showed up around his hands. "I won't let you trick me! I WON'T FAIL FATHER AND FREEZA!"

Giving it his all, Broly fired down on both of them, turning the white puffy stuff there into a whole bunch of blasted, grey ash after a boom. Goku stood in the middle of it, stepping up in-front of Vegeta and twirling his stick in a bunch of crazy moves, turning him into a blue, red blur.

When they didn't move from that spot Broly thought the fight would finally go his way. All he'd have to do is keep throwing, keep smashing into them until Goku got turned smacking his blasts away and he'd win.

He even smiled at the thought of making Father and Freeza proud... When he noticed something weird happening. Goku, who used to just smack the blasts away... Started smacking them into other ones.

Gritting his teeth, Broly tried firing harder, faster. His body couldn't do it, he was slowing down again, feeling all the hits he'd taken so far with every throw. When the last of his blasts were thrown right back at him, Broly couldn't do anything else but float there and take them.

He wished he dodged when the first one hit. The power behind the blast was so strong it nearly knocked Broly out of the air, the rest were just as tough. All of them blew up, leaving him stuck in a cloud of fire, choking, stuck, being hurt over again by his own move.

Before the cloud even went away and he could catch his breath, Broly spotted Vegeta hovering on the other side, glowing with a giant, purple light coming out of his hands.

"GALICK-HO!"

Broly barely fired a blast out of his mouth to catch it. Trying to reach into more of his power, he kept Vegeta's stuck mid-air. No matter what he did though, he couldn't beat it completely, the two attacks just kept going up and down. Until Goku showed back up.

"Ka... Me... Ha... Me" He flew up, hovering next to Vegeta, his hands to the side and charging up another blast. This time, Broly didn't even get the chance to try blocking it before Goku fired it off. "HHHAAA!"

Paragus was running before Broly even landed, watching in-shock when his son's blasts were devoured by Goku and Prince Vegeta, blowing him out of the sky. The crater was massive, easily the size of a Saiyan landing pod's.

Stopping at the edge of it, Paragus looked into the smoking center and found Broly. He was moaning, cuts, bruises, and burn marks all over his body. The right part of his armor had been blown off by Goku and Prince Vegeta's joint attack and his pants were torn open in spots.

He was breathing raggedly, growling every time he tried and failed to get back. Paragus couldn't remember the last time his son was left in such a state. Tired, beaten... The whole scene left him numb from shock.

After another failed attempt to get up, Broly's head fell to the side and his eyes widened when he spotted Paragus there, watching him. Suddenly, all the fatigue drained from his face, replaced by a wild determination.

On shaky arms, Broly ground his teeth and pulled himself back to his feet. He took a single, deep breath before shouting again, releasing another burst of energy and flying off back into the sky. In mere moments, the sounds of blasts and clashing fists filled the air.

Paragus just watched it all happen, a horrible realization hitting him like a fist to the face. He's going to die...

So long as his order was there, Broly wouldn't stop, couldn't stop. Not until they were dead or he was. They were going to take away the only thing he had left at this rate.

No... He clenched his fist, forcing himself back into action. No, they won't... I'll make sure of that!

But he wasn't the one giving the orders, it was Lord Freeza. A man whose reputation for failure and sympathy was well known. Paragus briefly, foolishly, entertained the notion of perhaps taking him by surprise then almost laughed at the absurdity of it. No, there was only one thing he could possibly try to save Broly's life.

Luckily, Lord Freeza had arrived there as well, silently watching Broly's continued fighting far away. He didn't look... exactly displeased, pensive if anything.

"L-Lord Freeza..."

"Hmm?" He said, looking at Paragus. "Yes, Colonel?"

"M-My Lord!" Paragus kneeled, closing his eyes. "M-My son has fought well but the battle is lost! If he continues like this, they will surely kill him! I-I ask your permission to perform a strategic retreat, sire! Leave, regroup and return to fight another day!"

Lord Freeza said nothing, leaving only the distant sounds of fighting and the cold afternoon wind to break the silence. Paragus silently gulped, hoping to... something, anything, his request was honored.

"Your assertion is correct, Colonel, Broly cannot continue like this."

"...W-What...?"

That got a laugh from his superior. "Come now, Colonel, you're not going deaf, are you? It is as I said, Broly cannot win under these circumstances. Our intervention to prevent his demise is necessary."

Paragus let out a relieved sigh, managing to somehow bow even deeper. "Thank you, my lord! I will get him to stop at once."

"And I shall take care of the rest."

With the weight off his shoulders, Paragus got back to his feet, feeling reinvigorated after silently watching the tide turn against them. Thankfully, they were fighting much, much closer than before, he only had to run a short distance to get within range for the remote.

Lord Freeza said he would handle things, more than likely getting Broly out of there so the collar didn't leave him too vulnerable to attack. It was a sensible decision to do.

"I'm sorry, my son," Paragus reached into the pouch where the remote was. "I'll have to resort to using this once again-"

The pouch was empty. He didn't realize it at first, gently tapping around at first before hastily ripping it off to look inside. "W-What... B-But..."

A familiar sound from above made him snap back towards the battle. It was Broly, shouting, no, screaming in pain... From the electricity covering his whole body! Then it stopped, started again and stopped once more.

N-No! That's not right! It's supposed to be a sustained burst!

"My, my," A voice said from behind Paragus, a very amused one. "Even as he is now this trinket pains him. Your craftsmanship is most impressive, Colonel."

Paragus laboriously turned around, gaping in shock and horror at Lord Freeza, pressing on and off the remote's button, sending wild, erratic shocks through Broly's body. Behind him, Broly screamed louder and louder... Until it turned into shouts, the kind he got when he became bloody angry.

"N-No..."

"Don't be so surprised Colonel," Freeza smiled at him. "I meant what I said: Broly cannot win like this. So I'm taking care that he does."

Then he vanished, leaving the remote, and a stunned Paragus behind. Broly's furious shout came again, louder this time, angrier. Paragus managed to turn around just in time to see his son's gargantuan fist overhead before he never saw anything ever again.

Chapter Text

"Wh-Where am I...?" Broly said, shaking his head and blinking the black dots out of his eyes. Feeling around with his feet, he wasn't in the air anymore, there were rocks and lots of that white stuff under him. Why was he on the ground? Goku and Vegeta weren't, he could see that much when his sight finally came back.

His heart was thumping loud again, louder even then when Goku put that blue cage of his on him. No matter what Broly tried, breathing like Freeza taught him to, it didn't help. Not that breathing itself was any easier, every time he tried, there was a horrible, sore pain there. Just like when Father used the remote. It hurt worse than all the injuries he'd gotten...

Slowly, Broly gently tried to reach for the collar, pull on it to make it hurt less when his nose picked up on something. He looked down and stopped when he saw the bloody knuckles of his right hand. When did it show up, where did it come from? There weren't any injuries like cuts or bruises there. Even if there were, it was a lot of blood to come from those.

Broly's nose picked up on more of it on the snow, leaving a trail to his right... All the way to Father, lying face first in the white stuff. Suddenly, the heart thumping in his ears stopped dead.

"F-Father!" He shouted, flying over to him, forgetting about Goku and Vegeta. A tiny voice in his head told him not to disobey orders but for once, Broly ignored it. Orders didn't matter, not with Father lying there with blood coming out of him! "Father! What happened?!"

Broly pushed him gently up and froze, there was a horrible, bloody wound coming from the side of Father's face. His neck... It was bent in a weird angle, it didn't look right.

"No.. No, no!" Getting close, Broly kept an ear out for Father's breathing and felt a horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach getting bigger. "No... Father... Please..."

He disobeyed Father again, tears that stung his eyes were falling out. Broly couldn't help himself from doing it, sniffing and sniveling like a child, completely unbecoming of a true Saiyan. What made it all the worse was the fact nothing made any sense!

Father was all right! He was with Freeza just a minute ago, where was Freeza? Did something happen to him too? Broly tried to think, tried to understand what happened, why there was this horrible haze clogging his head.

It wasn't until his eyes dropped onto Father's open remote pouch that things got horribly clear. The haze went away, giving him flashing images like the ones Freeza used to show him things. Broly remembered fighting Goku and Vegeta some more, trying to keep his promise even with all the pain making it harder. Then... Then the collar went off. But it was different from before. Father... He kept turning it on and off, hurting Broly for a little bit, stopping then doing it again.

Broly remembered the fear, of how Father must've been mad at him for failing... Then, Broly remembered himself getting angrier and angrier right back...

"D-Did he do what I think he just did?" Vegeta asked him while they landed a ways off from Broly. The big guy was bawling his eyes out, holding onto Paragus, asking him to come back.

Watching him like that, it reminded Goku of something he hadn't thought about for years and years. On the night the monster he didn't know was actually him, came out during the full moon and wrecked everything. Trees, their house... and Grandpa Gohan.

There was a big footprint the size of an ox where Goku found his clothes and stuff. There wasn't much else left. Only the four-star Dragon Ball got out of there in one piece. Grandpa didn't hold it against him, even when he and Goku talked about it years and years ago. Watching Broly like this, Goku remembered how horrible he felt when he figured out who the monster really was.

"Yeah, he did..." He finally spoke up, feeling bad about all this. That collar thing, Paragus must've started shocking his own kid. Goku felt mad about a scummy thing like that. He felt worse about not knocking Broly out first, though.

"... What do we do...?" Vegeta looked actually confused, staring at Broly too. From the way he was a little paler, even this was getting to him.

"Helpin' the guy out," Goku sighed, resting Nyoibo over his shoulder. "It's not his fault this all went so-"

Every hair on the back of his neck suddenly stopped up, a million warning bells rang in Goku's head. Broly's hair flashed gold for a second, his power spiked up and down. From the way Vegeta tensed up, he knew too. Broly was gonna do it.

Realizing that was the only reason they got their barriers up in time. Still holding onto his dead dad, Broly's head snapped up in a long, horrible sounding scream of pain. A rush of giant, strong ki literally exploded out of him and traveled fast.

"D-Darn it!" Goku shouted against the storm of ki blowing all over the place. He should've seen it coming. There was no way Broly could've done killed his own pops and for things not to go like this. But even still, the power rushing out of him was terrifying!

Goku'd never been in one but if there was any way to know what stuck in the middle of a tornado was like, this would be it. The energy was whipping against the barrier he barely got up in time. It was taking absolutely all of his strength and concentration just to keep it steady. Letting it drop, even for a second to try and teleport, there was no way he'd survive that.

Not that teleportation could even work if he thought there was a chance to pull it off. The way Broly's power swallowed everything it made sensing anything or anyone else, even Vegeta who was standing right next to him, impossible. Hell, Goku couldn't see the guy at all!

It didn't let up either, Broly just kept letting out more and more ki, anyone else would've run away or stopped by now. Not him, though. With Super Saiyan out, it was like a lid got blown off his power. Seeing Broly kill Paragus already killed a lot of his excitement for the fight. Now it was totally gone, there was just fear of what was waiting for them on the other side of this mess.

The ki tornado eventually let up, the second it did, Goku let out a long, hard gasp, using Nyoibo to stay on his feet. Vegeta kneeled, breathing just as hard if not more. Which wasn't easy, Broly's power didn't just melt all of the ice there but it burned the ground and air hot enough to make the place feel like a heated-up tub.

There were fires burning around, big and small ones, adding in smoke just to make the place even nastier to be in. The closer Goku looked to where Broly was, the bigger they got. He was standing there, in the middle of this disaster area. His armor was completely blown off, the weird pelt around his waist was gone too… So was Paragus.

Broly kept holding onto the guy mid-power up, now there was nothing left him in those giant, bigger than ever before hands. Broly kept staring at them, chest heaving up and down with loud growls. When he looked up from them, Goku noticed through the blonde hair falling over his eyes that they were completely blank.

Another, louder and even weirder shout came out of his throat, showing that Broly's voice changed too. It was the voice of that Oozaru thing Saiyans could turn into!

"W-What the hell…"

"Move!"

Goku didn't know how they pulled it off but somehow, both of them jumped straight into the air a second before Broly's oversized fist showed up. Even though he was at least two heads taller than before, his speed only got better! With big, wide eyes, Goku watched Broly's fist smash through the floor so hard a million cracks big enough to fit a truck through popped up for miles and miles.

"W-We gotta get outta here, Vegeta!" He reached out. "Grab my hand before he-"

Broly got him, flying overhead and pounding Vegeta straight down into a bunch of mountains under them. Even more, cracks popped this time, along with something else. The ground started shaking harder and harder until the tiny dots of red Goku saw got bigger. It was lava! A whole bunch of it blowing up through the mountains straight up into the air like a red, hot geyser. The biggest of these came from the hole Vegeta fell into, it even swallowed up Broly too!

Goku was already getting his barrier ready to get him out of there when Broly shouted in that new, freaky way. He snarled right out of the lava without a scratch on him. There was no time to do anything else but put some arms up in a guard to block. Broly's fist was bigger than Goku's chest, when it connected, he was sent flying behind the mountains.

Gritting his teeth, Goku ignored the numb feeling from his arms and adjusted the flight down just a little. He really didn't want to fight with lava blowing up all over the place; it was gonna be hard enough without that. Not that he needed too, Broly was on him so fast, attacking him over again with more, stronger punches than the last one.

Every one of them made the numb feeling worse. If it wasn't for the barrier making him tougher, Broly would've broken his arms already. But it couldn't last, by the fifth punch, Goku's guard already fell, the sixth one got him right in the chest.

This time, some bones did break. A bunch of blood came rushing out of his mouth and his body went limp. Even banging against the hot rocks hurt more than it should've.

"Ach! E-Extend!" Good old Nyoibo helped, stretching down into the ground to help Goku slow himself down. Using it for more support, he snapped toward Broly when the big guy screamed again and got the staff out for a swing. All he had to do was give himself a few seconds of free time, just long enough to concentrate, teleport out of there and figure something out to win.

The attack hit Broly all right, even with his beaten-up arms Goku was still strong enough to give it a mean swing. It even got Broly to stop for a bit. But what stopped him too, what he absolutely didn't count on was Nyoibo snapping in half from connecting.

It didn't just snap either, the whole upper third exploded into tiny wood chips and the middle was dangling just over Goku's arm. He stared at it, mouth hanging open even when every instinct he had and trained for years told him to run out of there.

N-No way… G-Grandpa's gift… It never even got a scratch before!

Goku didn't snap out of it until another punch of Broly's hit him right across the face, his right ear buzzed so hard it was a miracle it didn't completely snap. The next hit, an uppercut, broke a couple more ribs, keeling Goku over in a long, pained cough.

Broly didn't let him stay down there long, grabbing Goku by the hair and hoisting him off the ground. For the first couple of punches, he put up a guard until his arms went limp, then there was nothing stopping Broly from snarling and pounding into his face and chest some more.

Goku didn't know when he dropped out of Super Saiyan Blue, the dizziness got bad fast. Pretty soon, he was barely even feeling Broly's hits at all.

The big guy didn't stop until something under his feet made him look down, it was Vegeta! He must've flown through the lava down there and waited for a chance to attack. Even beaten up, half unconscious and in pain, Goku couldn't help but smile at the guy's sneakiness.

But it didn't matter, even though Vegeta's uppercut to Broly's jaw made him flinch, all it took was an angry slap to stop whatever else was in-store. The other giant arm grabbed onto Vegeta's chest plate and squeezed, hard. Through his good ear, Goku heard Vegeta scream bloody murder.

But even that didn't stop him. Vegeta opened fire on Broly with small ki blasts, still trying to do some damage or get the hell away from him. Through those big, dinosaur sausage fingers, Goku saw something green flash a second before the whole top of Vegeta's body was covered up by a mouth blast even stronger than the one Goku himself took a while back.

Broly didn't even seem to care he was firing on his own arm either. When it stopped going off, Vegeta was limp in Broly's hand, Super Saiyan Blue gone. With another horrible, freaky shout the big guy's ki exploded again. It was the last thing Goku felt before he suddenly got smashed back down and went back to sleep.

This is more than I could have hoped for! Freeza thought with elation, observing his greatest soldier of an all-time tear through both of his hated enemies as though they were nothing at all. In less than a minute following Broly's ascension to Super Saiyan, the tide turned in Freeza's favor irrevocably!

Now, the blood lusted behemoth was powering up once again, leaving the defeated Goku and Vegeta in the rubble while he flew upward. Green and gold energy burst forth, now focused between the palms of his hands. Forming two orbs at first before joining into one, greater attack. The two monkeys would have been hard-pressed to stop it at full-power.

Grinning from ear to ear, Freeza nudged a button built into his custom scouter to check the status of a small surprise lying within Broly. His smile grew larger when the device was confirmed to be fully operational even now. It meant Freeza could put a leash on his hound once all foes were swept aside.

It was another shock device hidden within the fake meal Freeza called the Blue Jewel. Once inside, this secret little project built since the day of Broly's arrival would latch itself to the inner part of his stomach, releasing a far more powerful, crippling surge of electricity throughout Broly's entire body, even up to his brain. No matter how angry he would get, Freeza would have the means to force him to heel.

And what an anger it was! No Saiyan, not even the girl Kale, displayed such pure, animalistic fury. The hate Broly must have felt for himself even now, it may have even rivaled Freeza's own hate for Goku! Yet, when the dust finally settled and Broly returned to normal, it would be Freeza, his only remaining friend there to pick him up and replace the Colonel.

The scouts Cheelai and Lemo were of no consequence either, given how the capital ship laid broken and split in half. Freeza thought they may serve as possible alternatives for Paragus when the old fool seemed to have overworked himself to exhaustion and possible death. Unnecessary in hindsight. Should either one live, disposing of them would prove a simple matter.

Broly's orb grew on, the very clouds, air, and smoke twisting around it as though it were the heart of a black hole. Its size rapidly approached that of a small moon. There was no doubt its collision with the Earth would wipe the entire ice continent from the face of this world.

Freeza couldn't help but laugh just from imagining it. "This may end up surpassing Planet Vegeta's destruction!"

"That must've been quite the sight."

"Why yes, Lord Beerus it was-" As though his own attack bisected him once more, a horrible, chill momentarily left Freeza frozen stiff. It took another moment for his mind to recover from the shock. It was already far, far too long. Whatever Freeza could have done to defend himself, escape or perhaps even fight, a horrible pain from his kidney sent him hurtling to the ground.

Coughing blood, failing to stand, Freeza spotted the Dragon Balls perpetually hovering over his right palm fall then flew around him, to Beerus' instead.

"It's a good thing you kept these so close, otherwise I might not have been able to find you," With a simple flick of the wrist, Beerus sent the whole set hurtling beyond the mountain range and Freeza's sight.

"W-Why…" Freeza struggled to speak.

"Why did I find you?" Beerus smirked. "If you were less busy patting yourself on the back and didn't laugh, I wouldn't have," His ear twitched. "Which works fine for me, I don't want you slithering away while I'm busy."

Freeza managed to grit his teeth, even clench his fist but Beerus' blow, it was clearly beyond a mere kidney strike. The Hakaishin of Universe 7 walked closer to where Freeza himself stood a moment ago, watching Broly's rising power with a glint in his eye.

"You have my thanks, Freeza," Beerus' smile widened, showing rows of sharp teeth. "Y'see, I've had a bad couple of days, receiving disrespect from my own attendant all the way down to Vegeta's irritating wife and I can't do anything about it…."

The way his voice lowered and those teeth grit into a snarl made Freeza gulp. Not as much as Beerus' smile coming back, though.

"However, thanks to you I've got something big, tough and very disposable to vent my frustrations on."

Something purple from around Beerus' waist whipped through the air, then across Freeza's whole face. The Emperor of the Universe momentarily hovered, stunned, above the ground before everything went black.

Kill. Destroy. Burn.

These were the only things left resembling thoughts in Broly's head, through the red haze of anger. He didn't recognize Goku, Vegeta, Freeza, Cheelai, Lemo, not even Father. All there was left was to break everything he could see, including himself. The anger was so great, Broly only barely in the back of his head even understood what made him so furious, to begin with.

The only thing that made it feel even a little better was killing, destroying or burning and doing it to the two guys lying on the ground would do it. So, he made the ball bigger, stronger, tough enough to wipe out this whole place somehow making him feel this way.

He'd never get to throw it. For some reason, the ball went wild and blew up right in Broly's face. The pain didn't bother him at all, somehow, it made him feel just a little better. He landed in the rocks on all fours, growling and looking around but his nose caught a scent.

Snapping his teeth in that direction, Broly growled when he spotted a short, ugly looking dog on two legs smiling at him. Did he make the ball go boom?

"Broccoli, was it?" The ugly dog smiled, showing nasty teeth. "Do try to last long enough for me to feel better, won't you?"

Broly's instinct knew a threat when they saw it, with another loud roar, he ran toward this next thing to kill, destroy and burn!

Chapter Text

Jaco let out another content sigh from the reclining beach chair, its special adapting material burying his whole backside in a comfy blob. The bright sun shined overhead, however, thanks to a special energy barrier surrounding the chair, Jaco was able to block out or lessen its effect. His skin burned easy but it would be criminal to go on vacation and not enjoy the view.

It was his first one in ten, long, agonizing years. Ever since a nasty accident with the Galactic King's pet, which was unfairly blamed on him and not faulty ship equipment, Jaco was on regular duty every single working day. His only breaks being trips to and from whatever assignment he was headed off to next. He couldn't even take a sick day!

But the ever merciful Galactic King extended some of it, probably because he'd gotten a new pet to the replace the last. As soon as he could, Jaco told them he'd be gone for a month and blasted off for Netait. A resort world built for the upper class of the galaxy. With its vast coastal stretches, 100% pure water and exquisite resorts, it was a place most average folk couldn't afford. But when someone didn't spend a dime on any vacation trips for a decade, quite a bit of money could get swallowed up.

Just getting a room somewhere on the planet swallowed up 80% of those savings and he'd make the next 20% count for all they were worth. Jaco couldn't help but smile like the galaxy's biggest moron every waking second there.

"Care for a drink, sir?" A smooth voice, definitely belonging to a girl, caught his attention. Adjusting his body to face westward, Jaco's mouth almost dropped like an anvil at the sight of her. With her dark blue skin, smiling purple lips and white hair, the Netaitian waitress carrying the tray might just have been the most dazzling member of her species he'd seen so far. And there'd been quite a few of those already.

"Uhh... " He gulped. "S-Sure, I-I'd love one..."

"Wait, are you from the Galactic Patrol?"

"H-Huh?! W-What gave me away?!"

"The fact you're wearing the uniform?"

Jaco blinked stupidly before glancing down at clothes. The girl let out a small laugh but it didn't sound mean.

"Heh, I-I guess I am... Sort of a force of habit. After all," He tried flashing a grin at her. "A super-elite like myself has to be ready for any danger!"

Her eyes widened, sparkling brightly in the sunlight. "You're a super-elite?! That's amazing!"

"It's a very serious position, one fraught with danger," Jaco momentarily decided to act serious before smiling again. "But yeah, it's pretty amazing too."

"W-Wow! So you must've seen the whole universe, right?"

"Oh sure, a hundred times," He shrugged, deciding to play it cool. If he played his cards right... "Last time I did it there was this giant di-"

Without warning, something broke the sound barrier towards the direction of the ocean. A powerful gust of wind blew at them, not quite strong enough to knock everyone away but for a second there it looked like it might. A loud, blaring alarm noises sounded from personal communicators, bars and even the chairs themselves.

"Alert, alert, class 12 tsunami approaching. Estimated time of arrival, 15 minutes. Please, remain calm and seek shelter inside your chosen hotels and/or resorts. The energy barriers there will prevent any loss of life."

The monotone voice blared on while a mass panic exploded all over the beach, women, and children screaming, people running and smacking into each other. Jaco was so stunned by this disaster happening now of all people he didn't even realize the waitress was calling him.

"H-Huh? What?!"

"You have to stop it!"

"Stop what?"

"The tsunami! You're a super-elite galactic patrol officer, right?"

Suddenly, a cold chill ran down Jaco's spine. Fighting the urge to punch himself in the face, he was faced with a dilemma: either admit he lied and lose any shot with the girl or... Go back to work and try to stop to a giant tsunami. It was the closest shot he'd gotten to having another girlfriend again in over 40 years...

"... Yes," Jaco blurted out, jumping out of the blob chair. "I'll do it! I'll stop this tsunami! Nobody's going to die today! Not with me, the super-elite Jaco on the case!"

He tried striking a pose only for some tall man's elbow to sock him right in the face. Falling face-first into the sand, Jaco shook the dizziness away and watched the waitress running away and waving at him.

"Good luck! I'll be rooting for you!"

A loud, watery sound made the panic even worse. Jaco layed on his side and already saw the mega-tsunami, capable of swallowing half a continent careening towards the beach.

"If I ever run into whoever or whatever started this mess..."

Beerus found himself flung back, away from whatever tropical planet he and Freeza's lapdog flew past. The giant, green Saiyan was a relentless brute. Everything he lacked in finesse, technique or even basic survival instincts he more than made up for with his sheer strength, speed, tenacity and stamina reserves.

No matter how much Beerus struck this Broly, he kept coming, not slowing down for an instant. It was a good thing he'd led the battle away from Earth, they would've annihilated the whole place in an instant.

Ducking under an attempted grab, Beerus used his built up momentum to land a blow across Broly's face, altering the trajectory of their flight into a nearby asteroid belt. With a full frontal strike, he head-butted Freeza's lackey in the chest, propelling him further into the belt, right through thousands of rocks the size of Earth. The size comparison pleased Beerus. After listening to that horrid woman Bulma nag at him about this and that, even having the gall to try and turn him into a babysitter, would've been more than enough to put him in a foul mood. One improving with every attack sent Broly's way.

Besides, it was fun partaking in some fighting once again.

The brute's ki started spiking up, Beerus bounced off his chest and managed to erect a barrier in time to block out Broly's wave of ki bursting in every direction, annihilating most if not all of the asteroid belt. Flying out of the explosion, Broly's massive arms wrapped around the barrier, squeezing tighter alongside his increasing power. The barrier strained under the pressure with cracks showing up.

Time to get lost, Beerus let Broly keep squeezing, waiting for the right moment... Now!

Seeing the lackey's muscles loosen for a split second before another tensing up, Beerus fired a pair of ki blasts out of his feet straight up, leaving the barrier behind. Broly crushed it then stared like an idiot as to what happened. The Hakaishin floated gently behind, smiling at his confusion. With a gentle tap, he got Broly's attention and ducked under a backhanded smack, delivering an uppercut to the Saiyan's chest.

Instead of seeing the Saiyan reel away in pain, he completely ignored it and headbutted Beerus right in the nose! Staggering back, Beerus put up a crossguard from Broly's incoming blows, the force of them propelling him further through space.

He's still not slowing down... Beerus mentally cringed, actually starting to feel his arms shake from the attacks. They might've flown through a planet or two through it all but there were more important things to worry about. Reeling his tail back, Beerus struck the Saiyan in the one place no being in the universe could shrug off: the crotch.

In the atmosphere of some desert planet, Broly screamed, some pain finally registering in whatever passed for a consciousness left in that mad mind of his. Beerus shut him up with a ki ball in the mouth. Broly instinctively attacked with a smack to his face.

This time, Beerus was sure he'd flown through several planets. Looking up into the sky of the one he'd been pinned to, the solar system in question was aligned in a perfect line. And all ten of them were sliced through the middle by the force of Beerus' flight. On the other side, a bright green light sparked, along with Broly's energy. Cracking his neck through the rubble, Beerus snapped the mountain away, letting his energy stir up.

"Well, it certainly has been a while since I've done this," He said with a mix of anger and fascination. "And here I thought Goku would be the one to do this..."

With the greatest speed he'd shown in the fight, Beerus' flight force erased not only the planet he'd taken off of but nearly all the rest of them on the way back to the final one. Broly sensed his approach, arm raised for a punch. Their fists colliding annihilated the last one.

Instead of Broly going down, he was only staggered but retaliated with another, then another, launching into a barrage of attacks at one another releasing shockwaves across the recently killed solar system. Then this particular galaxy and on it went. Soon they were flinging each other again, flying to and from one planet or moon or asteroid belt to another, leaving explosions and rubble in their wake.

After punching each other to the opposite ends of the universe, Beerus, and Broly both took a deep, long breath and charged again. This time when their fists collided, a bright, white light exploded from inside the blue sun they'd met halfway in.

Broly snarled, his eyes hurting from the shiny white thing. Snapping at it with his arms, he could breathe again but the black stuff with dots around them was gone. They were somewhere else again. It was unlike anything he'd ever seen before. There were so many colors all over the place, black, blue, green, purple and they all moved weird. Some of them were thick lines, others big, cloud looking shapes.

"Damn, I've let this go overboard," Hearing the ugly dog's voice, Broly's anger flared back up into another attack. The dog didn't stop the punch, his eyes bulging from the hit to his stomach. Another got him in the face, then in the back of the head. He fought back, punching, kicking and firing on Broly. Somewhere, he felt the pain but every time the anger beat it out, anger that was getting stronger and stronger all the time.

The dog wasn't strong anymore. Broly used to be taken by surprise from his attacks, feel more pain. But not so much and less the more they fought. After getting another cut on the cheek, his power got bigger and he caught the dog by surprise. Grabbing him by the ears, Broly flew until they hit something hard enough to smash his enemy into it.

Kill.

Broly swung the dog all over the hard, blue floor.

Destroy.

After one more heave, Broly started stomping his feet on the spot where the dog was.

Burn.

With the angriest scream so far, he fired off a blast from his mouth into the hole, blowing apart the blue thing they were on. He kept firing, making the place they were in change colors from the blacks and blues and purples into greens and reds. From somewhere in there, another, deeper purple showed up. It was the dog, looking angrier and more beaten up than before.

"Impudent bastard!" He shouted, a ball of fire around him. Broly fired on it but his attack just couldn't break through it. It was getting bigger and bigger, so big it was pretty soon the only thing Broly could see. "Now, take this!"

The ball came at him then over him. All over. Broly shouted again, this time from the pain. Everything hurt, even more than it already did. Broly got angrier but this time he couldn't break out. Instead, the pain got worse the smaller the ball got, the dog was doing something with it from the strange way his arms moved.

"Let's see how you deal," His arms crossed, the pain got even worse. "WITH THIS!"

Another shine happened, this time with a loud boom and it was one of the most painful things he'd ever felt. It hurt so much Broly didn't even figure it out until later. After the shine went away, when his hearing came back and he saw they weren't in the weird place anymore, but somewhere that looked familiar... He didn't like the place.

Growling, Broly tried to get back up and fell. He fell two more times before his shaking legs did what he wanted. There was an annoying buzzing in his ears, a hot pain feeling all over him. It made him scream and snarl and bash his fists, stomp his feet and fired blasts but it didn't stop, it never stopped. Not even letting more of his power out with another shout did, no matter how big Broly made it go.

"Damn freak of nature..." A voice he recognized said from nearby... The dog's voice... "To think I'd have to go this far..."

Broly stomped in his direction, baring his teeth in a loud growl when he spotted the ugly mutt making another ball. It wasn't made out of fire or big like the last one. It was smaller too and purple, just big enough to fit in the dog's hand. Broly wasn't going to let another one hit him this time. Charging some attacks of his own, Broly fired on the ugly dog with lots of green blasts. He snarled too, trying to dodge them but one got him in the left arm. His other one, with the ball still there, threw it and it went right over Broly.

"D-Damn it..." The mutt shouted and Broly was about to attack him, make him pay for all the pain he'd given him when another voice shouted. But it wasn't like a fighting one, it was... Strange. There was another one, from an older voice too. They both sounded very afraid.

"B-Broly!"

"Help!"

Broly stopped and listened, the anger and pain both not quite going away but not as strong as before. Those voices were familiar, he knew them, very well... When he finally recognized to who they belonged to, it was like a giant splash of that water, just very cold, washing over him.

"C-Cheelai... Lemo?!" He shouted, turning around to where the shouts were coming from and stopped again, staring with a shaking open mouth. They were both hurt, Cheelai trying to help Lemo out of some stuff pinning him down... The dog's purple ball coming right for them.

There was no way they could dodge the attack, Broly knew firsthand how strong this guy was. Gritting his teeth, Broly reached deep down again, into absolutely all the strength he had left, letting the rush of it speed him up and fight through his beaten-up body. With a loud shout, he flew again toward the ball. Swinging with both hands, he tried to destroy it with some blasts of his own but a fresh wave of coldness washed over him for a second when the ball turned his attacks into little, white sparkless.

If he had more time, maybe a stronger one would work, but there wasn't... Cheelai and Lemo would definitely die before he could make an attack like that. The thought got rid of the cold feeling, replacing it with another burst of power. If Broly couldn't shoot the dogs attack out of the air, he'd have to stop it any way he knew how...

Flying past the ball, Broly stopped right ahead of the attack and braced himself for whatever was about to happen next. It hit him right in the back, making him scream in pain almost immediately. It was unlike any other kind of attack he'd ever felt before. Worse than any punch, kick or blast from Vegeta, Goku or the Dog. It hurt worse than watching Father shoot Bah and then Father's own horrified look when Broly attacked him the first time. And as he tried to brace himself, tried to fight back against the overwhelming power constantly beating against him... Broly realized this pain was possibly even worse than remembering how he'd killed Father...

It was almost enough to make him quit, to just let it go and make it all stop... But somewhere, in the noise of energy and his own screaming, Broly heard Cheelai and Lemo in-front of him, screaming too, for him. Peeking at them through painfully shut eyes, he saw them staring at the whole thing, stuck in place. If he didn't win this, he knew, they would die too and it would be his fault all over again.

That fact alone pushed the idea of quitting out of his head.

No-No one... No else is going to die because of me... He swore to himself and the two of them, and this time he intended to keep his promise...

Chapter Text

Cheelai woke up in the middle of a coughing fit, a thick smell of smoke and ash hung in the air stinking up the place. Her eyes felt heavy, taking forever to open. When they did, all she could see was an orange blur, it was the planet's setting sun hanging just over the blown-up mountains. Cheelai tilted her head to the side and spotted dozens of metal pieces lying around. Some were barely bigger than her pinky, a lot could've crushed her like a bug if they fell. Most of the place was on fire too with big plumes making it hard to breathe.

She didn't know how long she laid there, staring at the mess all around, not feeling much of anything. Her brain was a scrambled mess trying to figure out just what happened for her to end up wherever she was. There were flashes in the back of her mind, of fighting, shouting, explosions and none of it made a lick of sense. At some point, she became aware of a horrible buzzing noise in her ears, muffling even the vaguely chilly air passing over. The buzzing did go down eventually, letting her hear something else.

"C-Cheelai...?"

Something clicked in her brain. "L-Lemo...?" She weakly called out. "L-Lemo!"

"I-I'm over here..."

Taking a deep breath, Cheelai tried and failed to get up, banging her head against a rock on the first try. On the second go, she got back up before falling again. On the third one, she managed a sitting position. With a better look at their surroundings, more things clicked in Cheelai's head.

Th-This is our ship... She realized, staring at familiar door frames, purple pipes running through the place, a thrown over toilet seat. What the hell happened...?

"C-Cheelai...?"

"I'm coming... Just gimme a sec..." Luckily a big, heavy-looking box of food landed close enough to grab. With great teeth and more than a few curses, Cheelai grabbed hard and used it to get her butt off the ground. The effort alone made her stop for a second to catch her breath and from the way her feet wobbled, the odds of walking right weren't good.

Well, at least I'm not hurt... She thought with some relief until a drop of purple blood slid down the side of her left eye. Gingerly, she touched the vaguely sore spot, wincing at the sudden flash of pain from the cut. Great...

Hoping to get lucky again with something vaguely looking like a stick, Cheelai groaned when nothing usable was close by. Carefully, she walked toward where Lemo's voice came from, getting more feeling in her legs with every step. Only then did she get a good look at how badly messed up their ship was.

A whole chunk of it, maybe even half, was two miles away. Dozens of supply boxes were spilled out and wrecks of smaller transport craft were blasted, ripped and crushed against or through one another. More memories came rushing at her, of a giant green light, everything shaking, folks screaming...

"...You're here..."

Blinking herself out of the trance, Cheelai gasped and looked at her feet and stared at Lemo. He looked ten years older, about as tired as she felt and with a snapped fuel pipe pinning his left leg to the ground.

Somehow he smiled at her. "... You're okay, that's good..."

"Holy..."

"It doesn't hurt..." He winced. "It just... Won't budge..."

"D-Don't worry! I'll try and find something to get you out of there!"

"No!" The shout echoed through the wreckage. "The only thing you've got to get out of here is yourself... Hurry! Before Broly comes back!"

"B-Broly...? What do you mean Bro-" The mess of images came back again in all its horrible clarity. She remembered how and what snapped their ship in half and wrecked everything around them. How Broly kept trying and failing to win, the two of them barely making out what happened in that mess of flying around and explosions. But there was one thing she did remember seeing well enough thanks to her scouter's zoom option...

Freeza and Paragus... They did something to him... And then he-

A sudden cracking noise went off overhead, they both gasped and stared to see... The sky breaking like glass! Big chunks of it falling out of the sky, big and small ones. All of them just vanished before hitting the ground. Somehow, that wasn't the weirdest thing of all: it was the purple hole left behind, like a rock thrown through a window with purple and blue shapes wiggling on the other end.

From that hole, she saw two people not land so much as fall like meteors out of it nearby. Cheelai instinctively covered Lemo with her own body against the wind sending shrapnel and rocks toward them, getting a couple more cuts over her arms. Once it died down and the dust settled, she got a good look at what did it.

"B-Broly...?" She whispered, seeing him trying and failing to get back up. How his arms kept giving away, how his whole body was covered with fresh burn marks, how he kept snarling and bashing the ground like a wild animal.

"Damn freak of nature," The other guy who fell spoke up, a weird, beaten up looking purple cat guy. He was giving Broly a pretty impressive scowl in spite of the black eye. "To think I'd have to go this far..."

This made Broly even madder from the way he stomped and snarled to face the cat guy. He was glowing purple, making a ball or something in the palm of his hand. Cheelai didn't know why but just staring at it made her shiver.

"Get outta here!" Lemo whispered. "Go! Now-"

"Not without getting you away first!" She reached over the pipe, trying to lift it. It didn't budge an inch. It was from one of those older model ships, the kind where you need a two-man team to just lift and carry one of those to and from a ship. Even in good shape, Cheelai wouldn't have a chance to move it. Whooshing noises went off, Broly fired some green attacks at the cat, nailing him in the left arm. Whatever the purple stuff was, it flew right over Broly... And was coming for them.

"N-No!" Cheelai tried to lift again, harder this time, ignoring Lemo's shouts to run away. But the damn pipe still wouldn't budge. Not knowing what else to do, she closed her eyes and shouted: "Broly! Help!"

There was a pause and then another massive gust of wind. It was so strong she barely stayed on her feet. Then came a horrible, horrible scream. Opening her eyes, Cheelai stared at Broly being hit by the purple ball in the back, his arms spread out, mouth painfully snapped open and his whole body shaking painfully. There was a green glow around him, fighting back against the purple one. The ball grew and shrank against him, his scream getting louder and louder until it was high pitched enough to break glass.

Cheelai and Lemo just stared, not even their basic survival instincts working anymore. Eventually, after who knows how many tries, Broly's green vanished and so did the ball. No, that wasn't right. It changed, passing over his whole body like a camera flash. The giant bulky muscles of his shrank to normal, the wild green hair turned black and his vacant eyes were back.

All the anger and pain vanished from Broly's face, in fact, it was the calmest she'd seen him in this whole disaster of a day. He looked at them both and even smiled, letting out a tiny breath.

"Y-You're... Okay..." He let out in a very small, very soft voice. Cheelai smiled back, thinking everything would be okay. When she saw Broly's legs give away, she already moved forward to try and catch him. Mid-fall, something else happened: Broly's whole body flashed purple and she watched in silent shock as his body transformed into a giant pile of ash. It fell all over her and Lemo.

Cheelai stood there, feeling all that was left of Broly on her. She wasn't sure how long she stood there, staring at nothing, mouth opening and closing without another peep. But eventually, the shock wore off and she screamed and screamed and screamed...

"Wh-Who's that...?" Goku wondered, hearing a loud screaming coming from a girl coming from the spot where Broly's ki used to be. Vegeta and him just woke up, sore and tired all over. It was so bad, they were practically both flying and leaning on each other. They'd kiss the ground if they didn't. "And where's Broly...?"

"We'll find out soon enough... " Was all Vegeta said after they flew over the mountains. Freeza's ship was all over the place, all sorts of stuff blown, shredded and tossed around. Broly got it when he transformed. "Look, Beerus is there."

"O-Oh yeah...!" Flying toward the Hakaishin, Goku and Vegeta both gasped when they saw the shape he was in. Big, black bulge over his left eye, lots of cuts and bruised all over. It was unreal. "H-Holy crap..."

Beerus' left ear twitched, making him turn toward them. "Oh, it's you two."

"Broly did that to ya? Woah, I knew he was tough but-"

"He was an impudent gnat who got what was coming to him," Beerus snapped, making both of them flinch. "To think... Needing to use Ha-"

Out of nowhere, someone Goku recognized showed up behind Beerus. It was Freeza, transformed into that Golden thing of his and a chop aimed for the neck! Goku wanted to shout a warning but it was no use, he was so slow and weak right then it was a miracle he spotted Freeza at all.

"Now, die BeeruUUUFFFFF!" An elbow to his stomach shut Freeza right up, making his eyes bulge almost out of his head. With a big crunch, Beerus' backhanded smack broke the nose, a hard stomp to where Freeza's ribs were broke a couple more things. Beerus didn't even bother looking at him while doing it either!

"A-Amazing...!" Vegeta whispered.

"Y-Yeah..."

"H-How...?" Freeza coughed banging his fist against Beerus' leg. "How did youOOOOOHHHHH!"

"I don't need anything close to full strength for the likes of you," Beerus gave him an ugly smile before pushing the foot down even harder. "And now that your lapdog is dead I'llAAAHHHH!"

A big rock hit Beerus in the right ear, making him yelp a lot like a kicked dog would. Looking at where it came from, they all saw a little green alien girl wearing Freeza's armor carrying an old-timer over her shoulder. Goku knew that kind of look in women from Chi-Chi pretty well...

"You... You bastard!" She picked up and threw another rock, Beerus smacked it away with his tail. "You murdering bastard!"

"Murderin'?" Goku repeated not getting what she meant, for a second. "Wait, didja kill Broly?!"

"Of course," Beerus didn't bother looking at him. "That creature was too dangerous to remain alive. A Hakai was a justified course of action."

"H-Hakai?!" Goku and Vegeta both repeated, gawking at Beerus.

"It wasn't justified, you walking skeleton!" The green girl shouted again, Goku saw some watery stuff showing up in her eyes. The old-timer she was carrying wasn't even looking at them. "Broly wasn't like Freeza! He was a good guy! They just used him! Freeza and his asshole father both!"

"Yes, yes, my heart bleeds for you," Beerus aimed his hand at them. "Now begone, I've had enough Freeza Force lapdogs to test my patience for the-"

Before something else went down, Goku teleported behind the girl.

"W-What are you?!" Vegeta and Beerus both shouted, he just put his hand over the alien girl's head and reached deep inside. Feeling around for her memories, Goku saw a whole bunch of stuff, how they met Broly, them talking to him and Broly's dad over in the ship, the story about the dog Bah. He saw the guy calm for a change, looking like he was having fun talking to them. But there was one thing Goku saw that stuck out like a big, nasty hair in a porkchop...

Letting the girl go, she gasped and swung her arm at him, turning around and giving Goku a mean look. He didn't stop the hit. "Get away from me! Don't touch me, you hear?!"

"Damn it, Kakarot! What's this all about?"

"She's tellin' the truth," Goku answered, looking at the ground. "I saw it all, Broly was a good guy. He wasn't like Freeza's other goons..."

"W-What?" The alien girl asked and the old-timer next to her looked up. "H-How, how do you know this?!"

"Vegeta, I'm gonna hafta let ya go."

"Oh don't you dare you bastard-"

Teleporting just himself over to Freeza, Goku kneeled down with creaking knees and reached out for Freeza.

"D-Don't you touch me you Saiyan fifth! I'll-" Whatever he wanted to say got stopped dead in its tracks. Poking around, Goku saw lots of memories, all of them bad in one way or another. But he was after something specific, the parts where he was "Really nice" the way Broly said he was. When he got there, the memories of their training, the way Freeza acted and how he really thought... Goku couldn't snap his hand away fast enough.

D-Damn simian! What did he do?! Freeza silently cursed, gasping for air even harder than usual. Son Goku's face was... Strange. As if he'd sniffed a particularly nasty piece of dung.

"Well?" Beerus asked. "What did you see?"

"... Nothin' good..."

"... Not surprising," Beerus said after looking at him for a second, then turning his attention on Freeza. "Well, Freeza? Any more plots and schemes for today?"

Oh, many and more than that! But I will endeavor to wait for those! First... I must... Swallow my pride and do whatever I can to get away from here... Though some bit of worry was there, Freeza did have something in mind for a worst-case scenario. Something which would most definitely help him live to fight another day: Son Goku's foolish mercy and fairness.

"I-I..." He tried once, gulping back the disgust building in the back of his throat. "I'm sorry! I am truly, truly sorry!"

A silence fell over everyone, he'd gotten their attention quite well. That was a good first step.

"Come again?" Beerus asked.

"I know I've done horrible things today! I know I... Promised not to change my evil ways... B-But... I've seen the error of them!" He let a sickening amount of loathsome approximation of remorse seep into his voice. "I have tried to destroy you and I thought... Broly could help me there... But now I see-"

A rock hit him across the face, actually managing to hurt! It was from the Cheelai brat...

"You don't get to say you're sorry! Not after everything you did! I know you used him just like Paragus did."

"She's right..." That old fool Lemo spoke up for once and the look he sent Freeza's way was one no subordinate of his would ever live long enough to regret giving. "Get rid of em."

"He'll never change!" Vegeta, the ever-present midget thorn in his side spoke up, forcing himself back to his feet. "Kill him now! Once and for all!"

Ha! Futility in its purest form, Freeza tried very hard not to laugh or even smile openly. It was very difficult. Call for blood all you want, but I know one who will vouch for me as he did many times before! One fool who'll supersede everything you demand with his own!

"Not this time," A voice suddenly spoke up, silencing everyone there. "Yer not gettin' away with it this time, Freeza."

It took a moment for Freeza to realize it was the voice belonging to Son Goku. It was firm, simmeringly angry and not in the slightest merciful. Just like his expression. Staring at it, even untransformed, sent Freeza's mind reeling back well over a decade into the past. On the day his position as the ruler of the universe was disputed and battered on planet Namek. It was the face of the bloody furious Saiyan whose withering look left him paralyzed then as it did now.

No matter how hard he looked, Freeza couldn't find a hint of the fool who'd repeatedly let him getaway. Constantly gave another chance again and again. There was only the man who wanted him dead and gone for good. It was then that Freeza realized he was a dead man. When the panic started a moment, his pleas for mercy, at least, were genuine this time.

Chapter Text

"What happened next?"

"Yeah! Tell us!"

"Now, my dear ladies, it's not a story for ones so young..."

"But you have to!"

"Yeah! You can't tease us with something so interesting and bailout! It's mean!"

"Hmm..." Gohan mostly closed his eyes, leaning back in the hot tub and pretending to ponder the suggestion. He even stroked his mustache to sell the act better. The girls, twin brunette sisters from a planet he still couldn't name, got closer. They were martial artists who recently arrived there, being well acquainted with the ladies, Gohan insisted on meeting with them. It took barely ten minutes to get them inside the spa area of Heaven.

The hot steam enhanced their heart-shaped faces, delightful pouts, huge green eyes, and many other... assets. Gohan let the silence drag on until he felt the girls' chests pressing into his sides. It was very hard not to smile. Slowly, Gohan's hands moved away from the mustache, going to the sides of the tub, giving the two of them a small invitation to get even closer. They did exactly that.

"Well, I suppose since you're so insistent on it. It happened on a cold, rainy night! I was a younger man then, much stronger than I am now if you can believe it!"

"Wow! Really?!" The girl to his right squealed. Gohan fought the urge to cringe. "But you're so strong looking already!"

"Oh, that's kind of you to say, my dear," He sighed, letting some fake fatigue into his voice. "But it's the truth."

"Stop making him feel bad!" The left girl practically leaned over Gohan's belly. "He's just gotten back to the story!"

It was very hard not smile when she did that. He'd seen enough times how Roshi messed it all up for himself by not having self-control. Instead, he put a placating hand on both the girls' backs.

"Now, now," He gently said. "Let's not fight over this! We were having such a good time, weren't we?"

"Uhuh!"

"Of course!"

"That's wonderful! Now, as I was saying, it happened on a cold, stormy night where-"

"Hiya Grampa!"

"Where my grandson appeared aAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!"

Somersaulting out of the tub with a giant, upwards splash, Gohan landed behind the outer part of the tub and pressed his chest against it. He'd left his towel somewhere else. Goku stood on the opposite end of the tub, smiling that goofy smile of his, completely oblivious to the two women screaming and swimming away from him.

"G-Goku! What are you doing here?!"

"Just droppin' in t'tell ya me and the kids are visiting!"

"W-What?!" Gohan sputtered and snapped his head left, then right then back again as the girls ran off. So fast he didn't even get a peek at them! He stared after them, mouth hanging open until he looked back to Goku with a sudden jerk. "W-Wait! The kids?! You brought your kids here already?!"

"Nah," He waved the concern off. "I remembered the last time I brought someone over! Kaio looked so mad I thought he was gonna-"

"NOT DO ANYTHING AS HORRIBLE AS I AM IF YOU DON'T GET OUT OF HERE AND LET ME DRESS!"

5 minutes later...

"Ox-King! You old barbarian! How are you doing?" Gohan went to give his old friend and fellow student a hug, inevitably getting hoisted off the ground and almost crushed. But he'd gotten used to that many, many years ago.

"Better than you, you old ladies man!" He chuckled, fixing his glasses after putting Gohan down. "But I can't exactly complain! Not with a family like this one!"

"Hey, don't be so greedy, they're my family too!"

They shared a laugh, Ox-King putting a hand to Gohan's back and guiding him to a young lady with black hair tied back in a bun. Gohan knew who she was right away, the resemblance with her mother was uncanny. Still, no use he couldn't have a little fun.

"Now, let me guess," He stroked his mustache, giving Chi-Chi his best contemplating look. "You must be my great-grandson's wife!"

Chi-Chi expectedly blushed, letting out a charming little laugh. "O-Oh no! I'm Goku's wife!"

"Hahaha! You still haven't changed a bit!" Ox-King boomed another laugh, getting a sly little wink.

"Naw, this is Videl!" Goku brought the young lady with pretty blue eyes and a little girl in her arms forward. "And this is little Pan! I'm her Grampa!"

"It's very nice to meet you, sir!" Videl bowed, keeping her voice respectful.

"Now, now! None of that sir stuff! Just call me Grampa too!"

The word Grampa made the little one, Pan, wake up with a delightful baby yawn. Blinking her little eyes open, the girl giggled when she laid eyes on her mother and positively squealed when Goku showed up.

"Hiya, Pan!" Goku waved then pointed in Gohan's direction. "Ya know how I'm your Grampa! Well, he's MY Grampa, see!"

Pan seemed confused by this, staring between them with a wide-mouthed look. Gohan stepped closer, wagging his finger at her. "Hello there! I'm the first Grampa! It's nice to meet you!"

The baby looked at it for a moment then laughed, taking hold of the finger. A second later, Gohan went to his knees with a barely held back groan when she grabbed it. "My... My... She's quite strong..."

"I'm so sorry!" Videl came to his rescue, breaking Pan's hold. "She just really don't know her own strength!"

"I-It's true, sir, she doesn't!" A voice came from the back of the group, from a young man with glasses and spiked up black hair Gohan spotted on the walkover. Rubbing his throbbing finger, Gohan moved over to the man in question. Just like with Chi-Chi, he recognized him right away from the stories Goku told through the years spent in Heaven.

"Gohan, meet Gohan!" Goku laughed, giving his firstborn a friendly pat on the back. The young man gulped, looking very nervous. From the way, he dressed and his posture, it was easy to see he was a different sort in the family.

"I-Its very nice to meet you, sir," He bowed, bowed so hard Gohan was instantly reminded of a flamingo drinking water. "I've heard so much about you from Father here!"

"Come on, Gohan, loosen up!" Another young man, more of a teenager with messier black hair, t-shirt and jeans stepped forward. Though he was doing a good job of hiding it with some swagger, Gohan knew he was nervous too from that little drop of sweat running down his neck. "He's our gramps! Not your boss at work!"

"S-Sorry," Gohan, the younger one, snapped back, scratching the back of his head in a way unmistakably similar to his father.

"Nothing to apologize for!" Gohan senior gave the two of them big hugs, letting the gesture relax them a bit. "My great-grandchildren can greet me any way they like!"

After a few moments, both boys eased and returned the hug.

The day passed in much the same way for them, once the picnic was set up anyway. Gohan and Ox-King regaled the youngsters of their many adventures during their youth, and more than a few jokes at Roshi's expense. With the younger Gohan, he learned about his aspirations as a scholar and a recent book the young man was writing about ki. Even going so far as traveling to other universes to study it! Listening to how polite and well-spoken he was, it made Gohan amazed over again how such a lad came from Goku of all people!

The youngest boy, Goten, was a different story. He wasn't as interested in books but with his charming good looks, it wasn't hard to see where his interests lied. Once Videl and Chi-Chi were out of earshot, Gohan gave him some very good advice about ladies, what car to drive and how to cheat at cards without getting discovered. Little Pan was a fighter, alright. Her youthful energy was endless and to see such a young girl flying around when even old masters couldn't was a good sign for future generations.

Eventually, Gohan came to Goku, the two of them sitting a ways off from the others preparing dinner. They talked normally for a time until his grandson became more serious. He didn't come just for a visit. Silently, Gohan listened to his story, of a tyrant called Freeza arriving at Earth, manipulating a poor soul into a fake friendship, killing his father to destroy the whole planet Earth. It was quite a tale until Goku got to the parts that were bothering him.

"Freeza made Broly kill his dad," Goku said, face pointed down. "Beerus had ta destroy him, we were all gonna die if he didn't..."

"He can't be brought back?"

Goku shook his head. "It's not like how we've died... This one's permanent... So was Freeza's later..."

Gohan noticed his hands, resting on the knees, turn into fists. "... I thought he'd change, fer real. He helped me save the whole universe before this... But... I couldn't let im get away with it Grampa..."

"And now you feel responsible for Broly and Paragus booth."

He nodded, solemnly, the same way before as a child whenever he messed something up and was afraid to admit it out loud. "You have a good heart, Goku. That's nothing to feel regret over. Freeza got more than his fair share of chances, he made his choice and they led him here."

"I know... I just wish I could fix the rest of it somehow."

"Somethings can't, as hard as it may be for you to accept." He put a comforting hand over Goku's shoulder. It felt like touching a boulder. "You've had more than a few lucky breaks, with no little help of the Dragon Balls."

"But they can't help em this time..."

"No, no they can't. But you made sure Freeza can't hurt anyone ever again, sometimes that's simply good enough."

"Yeah..." Goku's hands relaxed, some of the tension easing out of his shoulder. "It's just... Seein' Broly kill his dad like that..."

"Now, that's enough of that," Gohan sharpened his tone. "You weren't in any more control of yourself than he was! And didn't I already tell you years ago when we saw each other again you have nothing to apologize for? You're my grandson, nothing is ever going to change that."

Goku looked at him then for the first time since the conversation started his face back to the usual smile that belonged to it. Moving faster than ever before, Goku wrapped his big, strong arms around Gohan.

"Thanks, Grampa. I knew you'd help me out."

"Always, my little Goku," Gohan returned the gesture. "Always."

Chapter Text

"Cheelai! How's it goin' over there?"

"Just a second! I almost got this damn cable in... Alright! Give it a try!"

Stepping back from the truck, Cheelai wiped the sweat and oil from her forehead with a rag. Bom, the truck's owner, worked the steering wheel, his pink tongue sticking out while he concentrated. Stomping on the pedal, the truck's engine came alive again, rumbling and twitching loudly. There was a long, grating whine inside the engine, the kind Cheelai had heard twice before when she thought it was fixed. Curling her lip, she already mentally prepared herself to dig in back there when the whine suddenly stopped and the truck's tires started moving forward.

Bom squealed in delight, his blue, bubbly face lighting up with a great big smile. "Yes! You did it! It finally works!"

"Thank goodness too," Cheelai sighed. "I was worried I'd never get it moving again."

"Ha! You and me both!" Another delighted sound came from him, this time a laugh. "You've done me a big favor, what do I owe ya?"

"Oh, nothing at all!" She smiled, shaking her head. "Like you said, it was just a favor."

"Yeah but I don't feel right, you spendin' the whole morning fixing this clunker fer nothing," He stared past her, rubbing his chain and making his whole head comically bob. "I got it! Why don't I and the missus invite you an Lemo for dinner tonight?"

"That's really not-" Cheelai stopped herself mid shake, her brain stopping her mouth from doing something stupid. Lemo already said he'd spend most of the day out in the fields, picking up berries or carrying equipment around with no return trip for lunch. Accepting Bom's offer would free her whole afternoon up for some things...

Changing her expression into a thoughtful one, Cheelai bit the inside of her lip and tilted left and right in fake consideration. Letting the act go for a few seconds, she let out a fake sigh. "Okay, okay, if you insist. At least I won't have to listen to Lemo complain about my cooking tonight..."

"Specially after he tries my wife's!" They shared another laugh, Bom driving off slowly to the fields. Cheelai waved him goodbye, collected her own tools and made her way home. Okai village was a small place, built deep in the woods of planet Kwest, deep in the outskirts of the known galaxy. There were only a couple hundred people, most of the tech was pretty low-key or straight up outdated. It was a place for a simple, farming life. For a couple of former Freeza Force goons wanted by the Galactic Patrol, it was a good a place as any to lay low.

Saying hi to a few folks through the village's square, Cheelai reached the south end where she and Lemo lived. It was a decent sized, one-story hut made out of stone and wood. It was big enough for two, close enough to town and fields so neither of them had to walk very far and spacious enough for a few personal effects.

Closing the deep curtain serving as their door, Cheelai left her toolbox on the sole table of the room and glanced at the wall on the opposite end of the entrance. She stared at it for a few moments, a wave of varying emotions passing through her all the while. Using them to stave off whatever fatigue from the mornings truck tinkering, Cheelai crouched in front of her bed and pulled out another box entirely, one containing the highest bit of tech on the planet: a computer.

Sitting on her bed, back pressed against the cool stone wall, Cheelai placed it on her knees and watched it boot up. Taking out a pair of bulky headphones almost too big for her head out. She typed away to the data she wanted, a damaged audio file. Recovered from what was left of Freeza's ship just before she, Lemo and a few other survivors ditched Earth for good. Just as it had so far, the file was a jumbled mess of noises, some whines, others crackling static. But, every so often, the log momentarily let out a voice she recognized very well.

"Miserable, that's the word I'd use to describe our second year in the war..." Paragus said before the crackles and static drowned him out again. Angrily, she typed away some more, using whatever program she had to clean it up or fit the pieces back together. She was no expert at this stuff, learning as she went but there was no way that little detail would stop her. The answers were literally in the palms of her hands and she'd get them.

The furious listening, typing, piecing and learning went on and on. Cheelai ignored the soft ringing in her ears from the noise, the cramped feeling of her back. All attention was focused on whatever scraps of audio she could dig out. Paragus' voice came back only two more times, the first referencing some ritual fight, the other a shouting match with himself over lies. It was something but not enough, not nearly to satisfy her...

"Cheelai!"

"Ggaaahhh!" Screaming, Cheelai's whole body snapped away from the voice suddenly talking to her. Flailing her arms, she slapped a hand away before realizing the tilt sent the computer off her knees. Fear took over, that it would break and take all the information with it. But crashing onto her side on the bed meant there was no way for her to try catching it. The fear changed to panic until an orange hand caught the computer in mid-air.

"Good grief," Lemo sighed, gently taking the computer in both hands. "For someone so obsessed over this, you sure are quick about breaking it."

Cheelai's mouth hung open, she didn't know what to say first: thank him for saving it, or curse him for making her panic in the first place. Eventually, she decided to curse him for something else. "I'm not obsessed!"

"Really?" He put the computer onto the table. "Is that why you've been stuck here for ages and haven't even cooked anything for us? Even though it's your turn to do it?"

Glaring at him, Cheelai was about to say she wasn't there for ages until a glance at the small window behind Lemo said otherwise. The bright suns that were high up in the sky before were almost under the mountains. The sky was a very, very dark blue and only scant bits of sunlight were left shining. It had been a few hours at the very least since she'd seen Bom. Not that she would admit it to Lemo.

"For your information, I'm not cooking! Bom invited us over tonight for dinner!"

"And that left you loads of free time to waste chasing ghosts. Makes me wonder if you were hoping for something like that to go down in the first place."

"I am not chasing ghosts!" She shouted, rising from the bed and stomping her feet. "I'm looking for answers! I wanna know why all of that crap happened to us! What's so wrong about that?!"

Lemo glared back after that. Just as she expected it to. This wasn't the first time they'd talked or rather argued over this. "Looking for answers isn't the problem, sitting here, closed off from the whole world isn't! You haven't even gotten anything to eat since this morning, have you? Or how about taking a shower?!"

"I'll do both in a few minutes!"

"Yeah?" He scowled harder. "And what happens down the line when you spend more and more time on that thing? When you stop eating or sleeping even longer? Hell, I wonder what you'll do when the batteries for that croak!"

The thought actually quieted her down for a second. At first, her temper flared. Lemo never pulled that card on her before. But then she started picturing things going down this way. Her spending a whole day combing through the files, maybe reaching the full story at last only for the damn thing to die on her... The thought sent another wave of panic through her. Licking her suddenly dry lips, she tried to think of a retort to throw him off. But her damn imagination just kept going back to that what he said might happen...

"That's what'll happen," He said with a sudden softness, all the anger going away from his face. "You're going to freak out, panic even worse than you are now just thinking about it."

Again, she stayed quiet, not even pulling back when Lemo's hand landed on her shoulder.

"It was messed up, what happened. All of it..." He sounded ten years older. "If I had any idea things would get that bad, I would've flown both of them away somewhere and told Freeza nothing."

Then, he looked at the wall opposite the entrance, his eyes becoming glazed over. "I don't want you to stop looking Cheelai, I wanna know what made Paragus push things along too. But not at the expense of your life."

Lemo looked back at her. "Take it from an old man who wasted his, kid. It's not worth it."

That wasn't what she expected. Usually, they shouted it out until they both just swept it under the rug until next time. Looking at that sad, wrinkly face that took care of her these past few months, Cheelai couldn't stay angry. She just felt very, very tired and hung her head in shame.

"I'm sorry," She said, realizing she meant it this time versus all the others.

"I believe you," He smiled. "If you're feeling too tired we can just go to sle-

"No, no. I'll take a shower, that'll wake me right up. Besides," She smiled back. "I know what it's like going to sleep hungry, not very pleasant."

"No, no it is not," Moving his hand away, Lemo walked over to the entrance curtain. "I'll head over to Bom's and tell em you'll be a little late."

"Thanks, I'll try not to take too long."

With a nod and another smile, Lemo left. Keeping her word, Cheelai picked up some spare clothes, towels and a little shampoo they salvaged from Freeza's ship. Lastly, she took the computer and with a lot more ease of heart than usual, put it away under the bed. When she too reached the entrance to her home, she cast another look back at the opposite wall, at Bah's pelt hanging there, burned but recovered from Earth.

The time, she managed a smile at it before walking away into the night.