Deep within Capsule Corp's sprawling complex, the heavy vault door of the Hyperbolic Time Chamber groaned open. A wave of oppressive heat and stale air washed outwards, thick with the scent of ozone, scorched metal, and sweat. Goten staggered out first, his small frame trembling violently. Super Saiyan 2 sparks flickered erratically around him before vanishing completely as he collapsed onto the cool hallway floor, gasping. Behind him, Gohan emerged. His gi was shredded, deep gashes crisscrossed his arms, and his hair was plastered to his forehead with sweat. Yet, his eyes burned with a terrifying focus, raw power radiating off him like heat shimmer. Piccolo followed, his normally impassive face etched with deep fatigue, his cape singed and torn. He leaned heavily against the doorframe, surveying the battered Saiyan youth. "Five days," Piccolo rasped, his voice gravelly. "Maximum density. You pushed harder than Cell ever did."
Gohan didn't respond immediately. He stared at his trembling hands, raw knuckles bleeding slightly.
Piccolo watched, a flicker of grim approval in his eyes. "You accessed your dormant power. Not Mystic – something sharper. Wild."
Goten pushed himself up weakly, staring at Gohan's aura – not gold, not crimson, but a blazing silver-white that crackled like fractured lightning. "Brother?" he whispered. Gohan finally looked up, his gaze locking onto the distant sparring plateau where Goku and Vegeta still clashed. His voice, rough from screaming in the Chamber, cut through the hallway's sterile chill: "That tremor in the air... it's not Dad or Vegeta." His silver aura flared, pupils constricting to predatory slits. "*Something's coming.*"
Above Earth's atmosphere, space tore open in a violent violet rift. Frieza's flagship emerged silently, dwarfing continents beneath its shadowed bulk. On the observation deck, Frieza inhaled deeply, savoring the psychic scent of Saiyan ki below – primal rage, desperate training, and beneath it all, the sweet, sharp tang of newborn life. His claws curled. "Arm the planet busters," he commanded, voice glacial. "*Let them feel oblivion's shadow first.*"
Below on the plateau, Goku stumbled mid-punch. His head snapped skyward, golden hair flickering back to black as primal instinct screamed warnings through his spine. "Vegeta—!" he choked out, crimson fur erupting unbidden along his forearms. Beside him, Vegeta froze, pupils dilating as he sensed the familiar, ice-cold malice descending like a blade. "Frieza," he hissed, the name dripping venom. Above Capsule Corp, Piccolo's antennae whipped toward the heavens, his green skin paling. "Gohan...the scanners—" But Gohan was already moving, silver-white aura igniting as he shot upward, tearing through the atmosphere toward the monolithic ship. Goten scrambled after him, Super Saiyan flaring gold. "Wait! Bro!"
Inside Frieza's flagship bridge, sirens blared as proximity alerts flashed. Sorbet shrieked, pointing at the main viewer. "Lord Frieza! An energy signature—immense! It's ascending directly toward us!" Frieza didn't turn. His gaze remained fixed on Earth, a pale marble beneath his ship's shadow. He smiled faintly, claws tapping the armrest. "The eldest son... how quaint." Onscreen, Gohan pierced the stratosphere wreathed in silver lightning, eyes blazing white-hot with protective fury. Behind him, Goten's golden aura flared like a desperate comet.
Frieza waved a dismissive hand. "Scramble the Annihilation Squads. Crush that insolent firefly." Outside the hull, fifty elite soldiers materialized in formation—armored in obsidian, cannons humming violet. They fired instantly. A net of disintegration beams converged on Gohan. He didn't dodge. With a guttural roar, he clapped his hands. Sonic thunder tore through the vacuum, shattering the beams into harmless sparks. Goten gaped as his brother surged forward—a silver blur carving through the squad. Fists met armor; cerulean alloy crumpled like foil. Cries choked off over comms as soldiers vaporized mid-scream.
Frieza's smile vanished. He rose slowly, throne groaning. On the viewer, Gohan hovered before the flagship's main cannon, palms pressed against its icy barrel. Silver energy pulsed, spiderwebbing cracks across the mile-wide weapon. "Impertinent worm..." Frieza hissed. Deep within the ship, engines whined as power rerouted. The cannon glowed hellish purple—charging. Gohan gritted his teeth. He remembered Videl's laugh, the flutter of Pan's heartbeat. His silver aura detonated, blinding. The cannon shattered outward in a hail of molten shrapnel, punching a canyon-sized hole through three decks.
Silence swallowed the bridge. Sorbet whimpered, staring at the mangled wreckage onscreen. Frieza stepped forward, eyes blazing violet. His tail lashed, cracking the floor. "Enough games." He vanished in a ripple of distorted space. Gohan spun—too slow. Frieza materialized behind him, claws already descending. "Your father's arrogance," Frieza whispered, icy breath frosting Gohan's neck, "...ends with your spine." The strike blurred downward, aimed to cleave skull from shoulders.
A crimson tail snapped like a whip—impossibly fast. Not Gohan's. *Goku's*. It wrapped Frieza's descending wrist mid-swing, arresting the lethal momentum with jarring, bone-shaking force. Goku's shadow fell over Frieza, immense and primal. Crimson fur bristled against the cold starlight, golden-red eyes narrowed to slits. "You ain't touchin' my son," Goku growled, the sound resonating through Frieza's very bones. Before Frieza could react, Goku's free hand—clawed, furred, radiating ancient Saiyan fury—shot out. Not a punch. A vise. His fingers clamped around Frieza's forearm with the crushing inevitability of tectonic plates shifting. Frieza gasped—a shocked, involuntary sound alien to his lips.
Goku twisted. Hard. The sickening crack echoed through the vacuum, louder than the flagship's groaning hull. Cerulean skin tore. Violet-black bone splintered, jagged ends piercing through muscle and scales. Frieza screamed—a raw, guttural sound ripped from his core, echoing across the bridge monitors. Goku held the ruined arm aloft for a fractured second, violet blood dripping onto the flagship's pristine deck. His primal gaze bored into Frieza's wide, pain-stricken eyes. "Lesson learned?" Goku snarled, tail tightening its grip. "My family ain't prey." With contemptuous ease, he flung the Destroyer aside. Frieza crashed through reinforced bulkheads, vanishing into the ship's bleeding depths.
Below, Goten cheered wildly. Gohan sagged, silver aura flickering—relief hitting harder than exhaustion. But Vegeta's voice cut cold through the commotion, booming from Earth's surface: "FOOL! That was merely his *arm*!" Inside the ruined ship, the twisted wreckage stirred. Violet light pulsed—deep, angry, hungry. Frieza rose slowly from the mangled steel, his shattered arm dangling uselessly. Blood stained his jaw. But his smile... it was pure, unadulterated malice. His intact hand glowed with condensed Hakai energy—darker than Beerus's, colder than the void itself. "Indeed, Prince," Frieza rasped, voice trembling with ecstatic fury. "Let us escalate." The ship's surviving cannons hummed, aiming not at Goku... but at the defenseless Earth below.