PART TWENTY-FIVE: FACING THE ADVERSARY THAT MADE YOU WHO YOU ARE

Chapter 121

Translated by npberryhill

“We can now begin the first match. It will be Goku of universe 18 against Freeza of universe 8! Contestants may now enter the ring, and be careful not to touch the outer wall please!”

At the other end of the arena, the Frost Demon landed inside, an icy smile on his lips. Imperceptibly, the younger prince of universe 8 touched his foot against the back wall in defiance. Next, Goku stepped over the wall, grabbed it with a naive expression, then suddenly disappeared.

A dull sound rang out through the arena, then brief silence, and lastly a groan of pain. The audience then burst into laughter, even from the participants and organizers. Gohan, Pan, Trunks, and Goten, who had rushed up to the barrier, saw the Saiyan stretched out on the cracked ground — his face revealed he was still blissfully unaware of what had happened. Piccolo and Vegeta turned their heads in annoyance at the spectacle. Kakarotto of the 13th gritted his teeth, being bombarded by sarcasm from his teammates, and Vegetto shut his eyes, ashamed under the sneer of Cell from next door. Finally, Goku stood up, but again put his hand on the barrier, which immediately shocked him with an energy discharge. Sighing, his comrades repeated the Varga’s comments from before.

“Dad, the gravity is 1000G’s now,” Son Gohan said.

“And we are not to touch the wall,” Piccolo added. “The protective barrier is triggered automatically the second the two fighters enter the ring, and it begins with the low wall... in the shape of a cylinder, as they explained before...”

“Hey, it’s forbidden to give advice to a participant,” Goten remarked ironically, recalling the reproach he received for making a simple comment during Gast’s fight in the last round.

“Okay okay!” Goku replied, smiling and scratching the back of his head, embarrassed.

For his part, Freeza hadn’t reacted to the hilarious scene that had unfolded. Rather, he’d kept his cruelty sufficiently contained for the moment, waiting patiently for his adversary to be ready. The humiliation Nappa had dealt him was still boiling beneath his skin, and he was determined to do anything to win — especially since his opponent was a Super Saiyan and most certainly stronger than himself. He was about to go head to head with his worst nightmare, the infamous mythical warrior he’d feared to ever face...the supremacy of his family depended on him defeating the arrogant monkey. His father had been forced into using his full power against one of the golden-haired primates, and he was not going to make the mistake of underestimating this Saiyan — who was too dangerous to risk a physical altercation with.

In the Universe 18 balcony, several of the members began commenting on the unfolding scene.

“Freeza...Goku...a legendary face off...reborn...”

“It’ll be over in two seconds,” Vegeta snapped, somewhat jealous that he wasn’t the one to get to face his old boss. Years ago, Freeza had humiliated and killed him, then nearly defeated Goku as well. But in the years that followed they’d both not only become Super Saiyans, but reached levels even far beyond that. He certainly would’ve liked the opportunity to crush the icy tyrant with his own two hands, without even transforming himself, the maximum humiliation. But...seeing him defeated by Goku would still be satisfactory.

The two fighters now faced each other only a few yards away, staring silently at one another.

“Tell me, Saiyan,” Freeza finally began, “would you like to make this fight more interesting? I propose you join me in my place.”

Goku’s eyes raised, puzzled. “...What’s that?”

“I’m inviting you,” Freeza repeated, holding out his hand. “Would you agree to come with me?”

“Uh...well...” the Saiyan hesitated, scratching his cheek. “I...guess so.”

A red glow appeared in Freeza’s eyes, which stared directly at Goku. Instantly the two warriors found themselves in a completely different world — an arctic landscape covered in ice and show. Goku began looking around, amazed.

“This is ‘my place’,” Freeza explained. “It’s an illusionary world in our minds. Let’s say, if I win in here, I’ll win the match. How about that...Super Saiyan?”

“Why not,” Goku answered, a smile on his face. “You know, Freeza, I didn’t know someone like you was capable of a trick like this.”

“One can never be too careful,” the demon replied, still grinning. “I once met a magician who taught me many such tricks, before I reduced him to dust of course. It would seem after all this time I finally have a use for them. After all, you Saiyans are obsessed with finding a challenge, are you not? Do you have the guts to accept this one?

“No problem! It should make things a lot more interesting.”

“Perfect...” came the response from Freeza, sporting a far more sadistic grin.

The demon disappeared suddenly. Goku didn’t know whether or not it was due to magic within the strange realm, but finding his enemy was no problem. He raised his right forearm and parried Freeza’s leg easily, then blocked the continued flurry of quick strikes with little effort. The galactic tyrant concluded by throwing a powerful kick into Goku’s face, which was intercepted also. The Saiyan merely grabbed his leg and redirected him face-first into a snowy outcropping of rocks. Freeza recovered quickly, back on the attack without pause, but Goku continued to dodge multiple attacks and even took advantage of an opening in his foe’s defenses to land a free kick in the demon’s face — who ended up on the ground with his chin bleeding.

“You know, Freeza,” Goku began, his face somewhat disappointed, “it’s pretty cold here, but that seems about it. The terrain isn’t even to your advantage, don’t you think you should’ve chosen a better spot? I don’t think you can beat me here.”

Just then, the uneasiness that had gradually begun setting in on his body struck. Goku began coughing, clutching at his chest. He felt stifled and panicked. Was the heart disease from all those years ago back?

“It feels...like I’m suffocating...” he whispered. “And...”

He raised his hand to his face, which felt stretched, thin and tired somehow — only to realise wrinkles had appeared! He was astonished.

“Ah, so you finally noticed?” Freeza cried out in a cruel tone. “There’s almost no oxygen in this atmosphere. Each of your movements will deplete your reserves of air bit by bit. And that’s not all, our aging process is also vastly accelerated in this dimension! I’d say from the looks of it you’ve put on a good twenty years. Then again, I can’t be bothered with the specifics of how an inferior race such as yours ages.”

He assumed an almost imperial posture, sufficiently full of arrogance, that of a true tyrannical monarch. The Frost demon’s haughty voice continued.

“You see, the cold, the air, the inevitable grip of time...such things hardly have an effect on superior beings like myself. Super Saiyan or not, you are inferior! This battle was over before it began!! Forfeit now, fool, before I end you permanently!”

Goku’s face still held resolve. “Then I’m not wasting any more time!” Goku exclaimed, instantly powering up to level three.

But no sooner had his hair lengthened that he sunk back down to his knees, back in his normal state, out of breath and weakened — instantly drained.

“No,” he murmured, “my body just can’t handle level three at this age, and especially not in these conditions!”

By the time he’d finished his sentence, Freeza had rushed him. He kicked the Saiyan in the head, sending him tumbling away and landing in the snow. Goku stood back up, abiet painfully, his hair greying by the second, and an impressive mustache forming above his upper lip. As the tyrant approached again, he quickly powered up to Super Saiyan two and landed an uppercut on his enemy’s face, knocking him away and leaving a trail of blood in the snow. But even this simple gesture further aggravated his physical condition, bringing even more forceful coughs than before to his lips.

“Ha ha ha...” Freeza laughed, straightening up. “What fun...”

He lifted into the air, holding his left arm above his head where two extended fingers began to gleam. The Super Saiyan, recognizing the technique, barely had time to cross his arms in front of him defensively. With dazzling speed, Freeza swept his arm sideways, a long stroke of energy creating a massive crescent shaped fissure in the ground — and barely missing Goku. No sooner had the Saiyan landed than he sensed a large rock rapidly flying towards him. Firing up his golden aura, he began flying through the air, dodging the incoming rocks Freeza hurled at him telekinetically — the tyrant refused to allow Goku to catch his breath even for a second, not to mention he was enjoying toying with his prey.

While the Saiyan managed to successfully avoid all the incoming projectiles, he was caught off guard when Freeza had hidden himself behind one of the boulders, smashed it, and began striking his enemy all over with powerful blows. Baddack’s son was sent careening off into the distance, smashing rock and ice as he skid across the landscape. Triumphantly, Freeza then pointed a single finger at Goku, who was barely managing to stand, and fired a death beam. The Saiyan, still at level two, managed to avoid most of them, but each dodge diminished his reflexes and deteriorated his perception. A purple death beam struck him in the chest, forcing him down onto one knee.

“Ah how the mighty have fallen. Your movements are a mere snail’s pace compared to before, Super Saiyan. It’s time I end this before you collapse of old age and rob me the satisfaction!”

Raising his arm in the air, the frost demon began forming a black death ball surrounded by purple crackles of electricity — the same attack which had failed to annihilate Namek, used by his counterpart from universe 18, before the Spirit Bomb had engulfed it.

“Adios you arrogant ape!” the tyrant shouted, joyous.

Goku knew he’d reached his physical limit, and even standing would be difficult. In a last ditch effort, he raised his right hand to brace against it. Seeing this, Freeza merely laughed, sending a dozen more of the attacks in his direction.

“Go ahead and try, there’s no way you can deflect them all!” Freeza exclaimed. “You’re finished! Just die!”

The death balls seemed to approach him in slow motion, as if it were the climactic moment of a film. Freeza even shut his eyes, savoring the glory of the moment — he would succeed where his brother had failed and win against a Super Saiyan! But when he opened his eyes, his entire vision was clouded by the shape of Son Goku’s hand mere centimeters in front of him. The Frost Demon realized in a fraction of a second that it was the instant transmission technique used by the Yardrats. His heart missed a beat, while the Saiyan barely whispered, his voice incredibly weak.

“...me-ha...”

A blue wave of energy burst out of his hand, pulverizing Freeza’s head, as he’d not even had time to block at all. The point-blank range attack, even by a greatly weakened Super Saiyan two, was far too much for Freeza to handle.

Suddenly, the two fighters were back in the arena in their respective bodies, both standing in exactly the same position they were in before entering the illusionary world. Goku instantly began touching his face and body, making sure he was back to normal — and clearly quite relieved to be so.

“Hey, I won.”

“Wait, what happened?” Videl asked her husband. “They just stood there for a few seconds without moving, and now Goku’s saying he won...?”

“It was a mental battle,” Gohan of the 18th explained. “Their minds met and fought. I used to do it with Krillin sometimes to train.”

Without having known the exact details of the engagement, Gohan and many others had still detected the multiple increases and decreases in power of the two warriors — though time had been accelerated while they were in the other dimension.

“Interesting,” Vegeta began. “I didn’t think Freeza was smart enough to try something like that. He knew he’d have to use every trick in the book to have a chance at defeating Goku.”

Back in the center of the arena, the latter sighed with relief, breathing easily once again — while his opponent was literally foaming with rage. Freeza stammered, barely able to contain his frustration.

“Nnnn...No! What I said was that if I won our mental battle, I would also win the match! I never said anything about if you won! This match isn’t over, I’m going to crush you, filthy monkey!!”

“Well, okay,” Goku smiled gleefully. “If you insist...”

Without warning he vanished, landing a hard left punch to the Frost Demon that slammed him to the ground, fainted.

“Victory for Son Goku of universe 18,” a Varga announced, “who, at the risk of repeating himself, has yet another one-hit knockout.”

The creature had been completely oblivious of the mental battle that had taken place, thinking the fight had barely begun. Up in the stands, two spectators who had observed the match began speaking — one absent mindedly, the other with more careful thought.

“Sensei, what do you think of this man Goku?” the one with lighter hair asked. “There’s no registry of him in the hero association, but like you, he seems more than able to end each of his battles with one punch. Do you think he’d make for a worthy opponent?”

His master, a bald man in a yellow suit with red leather gloves, yawned loudly.

“Well, I guess it could be interesting. But, truth is I only had two free days to watch the tournament — plus the sales will start very soon, we should really be getting back. Come, Genos, we’ll watch the rerun of the tournament later if you’re so interested.”

“Wait, Saitama-sensei!”

Goku, returning to the universe 18 balcony, timidly tapped the wall with his finger before hopping over. It was of course deactivated, shut down between matches. Over in the universe 8 balcony, Cold and Coola were still in shock. A Frost Demon had been felled by a Saiyan with a single blow! Coola was quite anxious for his brother to awaken, if only to humiliate him for lasting an even shorter time than he had. As for Cold, he knew his own opponent would be a much more powerful Super Saiyan — and he eyed her across the arena, perplexed. Perhaps his plan would work after all...

No one, including the fighters themselves, realized that a certain zen djinn had witnessed the entire mental battle. Over on the universe 1 patio, the spherical blob of Buu had projected himself into Freeza’s mind in order to witness the spectacle. He hadn’t been surprised by Goku’s perseverance at all, which he’d seen firsthand in his own universe many years ago.

‘As expected, Goku was triumphant,’ he thought silently. ‘Barely, but he did manage. I certainly did well to absorb him all those years ago — undoubtedly one of the most useful of my assimilations, and a personal favorite. Of course, that battle did little to reveal his true improvements since the last time we met, but helping him would’ve been pointless. He and Vegeta will be grand opponents without any assistance whatsoever from me!’

The Varga announcer resumed with the next match with a booming voice.

“And now, the next fight! Majin Buu from universe 11 against Uub of universe 18!!”

Uub was taking a moment to stretch and prepare himself for battle, when Piccolo addressed him from behind.

“Be careful, Uub,” he advised. “You’ve sparred against our Buu, but as you know this one is very different...inside of him, dormant, is a depth of unfathomable evil. Stay on guard.”

“Right,” the young man exclaimed.

“Take him out, little guy!” one of the Heloites cheered. “We’re counting on you, you’ve got this!”

Uub shot them two thumbs up and a big smile before rushing into the ring. As soon as his feet touched, he felt the intense pressure on his body. A drop of sweat even appeared on his forehead.

“Seriously...this gravity is even worse than the training room!” he said aloud.

A loud cheer rang out through the massive stadium.

The universe 11 Djinn called out his name, shouting “Buuuuuu!” as he crashed into the ring — his body being smashed into a thick puddle of pink marshmallow under the gravity. The wizard behind him put his hand against his forehead in shame as Dabra also looked away.

Though astonished at first, apparently not understanding what had happened, Buu suddenly re-formed his body — he punctuated his grin with a silly-faced “Ta-daaaa!!!” He smiled, determined and vicious. “I’m going to win the tournament!!”