Planet Namek.
Having cooled off, Cooler's mind raced through a dozen nasty little plans.
"What now? Plot all you like schemes are nothing in the face of real power," Son Gohan said, catching that flicker in Cooler's eyes and curling his lip.
"Because of Frieza's stupidity, things have come to this," Cooler replied, voice like ice. "I won't repeat his mistakes. This time, I'll wipe the Saiyan race out completely."
"Oh? That confident? Try me." Gohan crooked a finger, the picture of disdain.
"Flame Rift Wave!"
Cooler broke pattern, hurling a blazing, flame-shaped blast.
"Parlor trick. Pressure Blast!"
Gohan set his hands and pushed an invisible shock front boomed out, smashing the incoming wave.
Boom crack!
The flaming blast hit the unseen wall and blew apart. The afterflash, hot and scarlet, washed the sky and hid Cooler's silhouette for a heartbeat.
Gohan's chest tightened. A feint.
"Cutting Discs!"
Energy spun into twin circular blades on Cooler's palms. He flung them the instant they formed.
They weren't just Krillin's Destructo Discs Cooler could steer them with sheer will, the way Yamcha directed his Spirit Ball. Until they bit into their target, they would not relent.
The twin blades carved through the dying flare
"So it's that move." Gohan vanished with Instant Movement.
"Don't think you can run!" Cooler's eyes narrowed. The discs hooked and chased, homing.
"You've learned to sense ki?" Gohan reappeared with a sober look.
"I seldom dirty my hands personally. That doesn't mean my talent's inferior to a Saiyan's," Cooler sniffed. "While watching Frieza and your father, I made… rapid progress."
"Heh. I really can't afford to underestimate your lot," Gohan said, weaving as the discs nipped at his back.
Shnk, shnk, shnk the blades screamed after him
while far out in space, five streaks arrowed toward Namek.
"Captain, over there what is that?"
"Mm? Lord Frieza…?" Captain Ginyu's eyes bulged. He'd just seen something he never expected to see.
The five streaks were the Ginyu Force Jeice, Burter, Recoome, Guldo, and their captain abandoning their raid on Planet Yardrat after Frieza's summons. With Gohan's "death" and all the chaos, an hour had slipped by. They'd made it.
"Captain, Lord Frieza's life signs are present!" Burter reported, reading the ship's scanners.
"Stop. Retrieve Lord Frieza's body. We're withdrawing," Ginyu ordered, face solemn while a venomous gleam sparked in his eyes.
"Yes, sir!"
Not one of them objected. Whoever could do that to Frieza was not someone they could face. The retreat order came as a relief.
They dropped to the shredded hulk that had been Frieza only the upper half remained, and one arm was gone. Ginyu opened the hatch.
"Lord Frieza!"
"Ginyu… you're here. Quickly… get me to a base… medical…," Frieza rasped, forcing one eye open.
"At once, Lord Frieza." Ginyu lifted him carefully into the cramped cabin. He could survive in hard vacuum for a short while not like Frieza, but long enough.
"Captain," Ginyu said as he sealed the pod, "we passed a world last time a place with medical pods that can regrow limbs."
"Is it safe?" Frieza's voice was a thread.
"Safe. High tech, low combat strength," Ginyu answered, palms damp.
"Good. Do it. Son Gohan… Cooler… you will both pay," Frieza hissed, malice burning through the pain.
"As you command, Lord Frieza." Ginyu's heart pounded with a strange, giddy joy he kept off his face.
"Jeice, Burter report this situation to my father. Don't follow us," Frieza ordered over the comm.
"Yes, Lord Frieza!" the four chorused. Their absence suited Ginyu perfectly.
"Ginyu… go. I can't… hold out long," Frieza whispered.
"Don't worry. That planet is close an hour at most."
"…Hn." Frieza closed his eyes. Too weak to speak. Too weak to suspect.
Ginyu felt it: an opportunity unlike any he'd ever have again. He drove the ship hard, past rated limits. Frieza took it for loyalty.
He had no idea his end was near.
Planet Vanka.
"Attention, attention. Landing pad for off-world guests is open. Please avoid unnecessary damage."
As the ship dipped below the stratosphere, a transmission pinged their console.
Vanka was highly advanced and one of the few worlds openly trading with other species. Border system on the edge of the North Galaxy, near the South far from Frieza's usual routes.
A Frieza Force transponder earned no resistance here.
Ginyu had lied. He'd known about Vanka for years and never reported it. He'd intended to seize it one day as his private base.
He hadn't expected it to be useful this soon.
"Take me to your clinic," Ginyu said, cradling what remained of Frieza.
"Of course. This way, honored guest," said a fox-headed attendant, leading them to the nearest medical facility.
Ten minutes later, they entered a quiet hall lined with pods much like the Frieza Force's rejuvenation tanks.
"Place him inside and press 'Start.' The process is simple," the fox-man said.
"Understood. Wait outside."
"As you wish. Regrowth will take about half an hour. It can be painful. Please prepare your friend to endure it," the attendant added gently.
"Noted. You can go." Ginyu's throat had gone tight.
The fox-man left without fuss. He'd seen pairings like this many times; Vanka respected off-world privacy. There were no cameras in their clinics.
"Shall I put you in, Lord Frieza?" Ginyu asked softly.
"…Mn." Barely a sound.
Ginyu slid Frieza into the pod and tapped the start rune. Green fluid rushed in, flooding over the ruined flesh. Bone scaffolded, fascia spun, nerves stitched, muscle layered, skin sealed
First an arm… then a whole new lower half.
Frieza's brow creased. It itched; it tingled; it crawled.
"Lord Frieza… allow me to rule the universe in your place," Ginyu breathed.
He drove his right hand straight through his own chest.
"Gah !"
Blood fountained.
"Change!"
With the last of his strength, he flung the word like a spear.
A flash of gold.
"What ? Ginyu… you dare betray me cough!" The voice was Frieza's but it came from Ginyu's crumpling body, which hacked blood and collapsed to the floor.
"So strong… so strong ha ha stronger than I ever imagined," Ginyu exulted silently, drinking in the flood of power. He didn't answer the thing in the pod; sound wouldn't carry, and he had no reason to speak.
Twenty minutes later, regrowth completed. The hatch hissed open.
Ginyu now wearing Frieza's newly restored, gleaming body stepped out of the mist.
The mind trapped in Ginyu's ruined frame guttered. Frieza's consciousness was fading fast.
"Lord Frieza… thank you for the loan of this body," Ginyu said, crouching beside the heap that had once been his own flesh. "Strength like nothing I've ever known."
"Heh… Ginyu… I'll be waiting for you in Hell," Frieza's thoughts scraped like broken glass. Son Gokū, Son Gohan, Cooler even Beerus ghosted through his mind. "Parading around in my body… won't be so easy."
"Then that's my problem," Ginyu said gently. "Allow me to see you off."
A bead of energy bloomed on his palm. He set it on his old chest on Frieza's new prison.
Shss The husk vaporized, leaving not even dust.
Ginyu walked out of the clinic.
"Your friend?" the fox-headed attendant asked, startled.
"Him? He had business elsewhere." Ginyu didn't bother to explain. He rose into the air and arrowed for his ship.
The fox-man didn't stop him. Not his concern. On Vanka, medical care for visitors was free another quiet way to keep the lanes of trade open.
Back on Namek, two shadowed figures watched a floating projection.
"Tch. Interesting. Who'd have thought Frieza would die at his own man's hands?" said the God of Destruction, amused.
"Hehe. Aren't you going to intervene, Lord Beerus?" Whis asked with a smile.
"Why would I? Makes no difference to me," Beerus said, voice cool and pitiless.
From the moment Ginyu had taken Frieza and fled, Whis's staff had been scrying. They watched it all the treatment, the swap, and Frieza's end.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Your support keeps this story going leave a 5★ review, add it to your library, and feed it some Power Stones!
"Want to stay ahead of the game?Advanced chapters are up on my Patron. If you're enjoying the ride, swing by and check them out."
[email protected]/_theon
Change @ to "a"