PART FOUR: TWO UNIVERSES IN BAD LUCK.

Chapter 16

Translated by Kakarotto Ka Power Level Kya Hai?

"All right! It's my turn!"

Reacum smiled. His opponent was a Namek. This should be simple enough. He was luckier than Jeece, at least. And he could never be as imprudent as Butta. The latter had just recovered from his defeat. He got up painfully, with a stomache ache. Clearly, the Kaioshin had made a good shot.

"Hurry up and win, Reacum," ordered Frieza.

"Okay, sir," he replied with an attentive pose. "But first, I need a modified scouter."

Reacum and Freeza turned around to face a deformed head with mottled purple skin.

"Kiwi, where is it?" Freeza asked impatiently.

"Well, we found a problem, Lord Freeza. It turns out that too many people here makes the scouters unstable, causing them to explode. Fixing the scope of the analyzers about 10 units seems to be the only thing we can do..."

"Ten units is a problem," said Freeza with his arms crossed. "Well, go ahead and give one to Reacum."

The latter outstretched his hand, waiting for the scouter, indicating that Kiwi was a slave in his service.

"This is... the only one we modified like that..." Kiwi replied shakily.

As Freeza got excited, Reacum intervened. "Uh, actually, it's okay. I'll just take Butta's."

He walked to his companion, making little noises as his massive foot stomped the ground with each step. He quickly grabbed Butta's scouter, modifying the apparatus to fit his right eye.

He looked at Jeece and Burta and said, "If you guys lost, it's because you didn't do the Dance Presentation! Ready! Go!"

"Reacum!" Freeza cried, "Stop these jokes immediately and fight before you're disqualified!"

The Ginyu Force member did not even bat en eye. He did not even argue and flew straight off into the ring... while Jeece and Burta continued their silly dance. As he landed on the ring, his opponent was ready in fighting position.

One of the announcers announced the start of the match. Reacum stiffened... then suddenly began to make strange movements with his arms and shouted, "Special Force... Ginyu Commando!"

He added ridiculous leg movements. He finished on one foot, facing Nail, who was embarrassed to see such shameful poses before him, shouting his name, "Reacumm !"

Just as he finished shouting he charged at Nail rapidly, yelling with a smile void of seriousness... For Reacum, this fight would merely be a formality.

Nail managed to narrowly dodge Reacum's rush by moving to his right. He took advantage of the slight imbalance to give his opponent an upward vertical kick. But Reacum had strong reflexes and dodged the blow by letting himself nearly fall backwards.

The Namek responded with a quarter turn by chaining another kick, this time a horizontal one, but in a quick flash, his opponent found himself almost on all fours, allowing him to avoid the attack.

Realizing that his back vulnerable to attack, the Namek turned and leaped forward to minimize the distance between them. Suddenly, they rushed at each other and chained attacks and counter attacks at high speeds. For about twenty seconds, neither fighters seamed to have the upper until Reacum bellowed his "Reacum Kick," with a credible and effective position and movement of attack. Nail was hit in the face and was thrown into the air, heavily crashing to the ground several feet away.

In Universe 13's wing, a Bald Saiyan was carefully observing the fight. At the start of the fight, he had let it slip that he wanted the tall one to be eliminated. He then grinned when Nail was struck by Reacum's kick.

Vegeta, turning his head towards his great friend, challenged him. "Well, it seems that Reacum is stronger than that Namek."

"Well, if that's true then Nail is much weaker than that Caracagot thing," Nappa replied simply.

"Even if, by some chance, you both faced a Namek in the first round," Raditz intervened, "it's unfortunate that

you won't meet in the tournament. We'd be able to see who's the best out of you two and maybe you'd have kicked his ass like he kicked yours at the time."

Nappa and Vegeta looked at Raditz"...Yeah.. at the time..."

"Hey look! The Namek's getting up," declared Kakarotto, distracting his three friends who went back to observing the ring.

"You want some more?" asked Reacum sarcastically, as a white aura surrounded the Namek as he stood up on his legs.

A few seconds passed as neither fighter moved. Then, suddenly, Nail cried out, clenching his fists and revealing his true strength. His aura raged more violently.

The Ginyu Commando's scouter beeped. He quickly read the number as 58,000 and rising, albeit slightly. Certainly, the limit must have been close to 60,000.

Reacum had no time to comment on the strength as the Namek charged at him, creating a small crater where he stood less than a second earlier. Nail managed to land his first shot. His fists pierced the armor, landing in Reacum's stomach. Reacum gasped. Nail followed up with a second punch to the face this time, which made his enemy stagger. The scouter fell to the ground and Nail crushed it, almost unintentionally. The Namek continued to barrage Reacum with many punches and it seemed Reacum was having difficulties. He retreated again and again.

Finally, Nail violently attacked from the left, which brought down his opponent. He outstretched his right arm, palm open with his three fingers joined together and his aura reappeared. Shouting again, a wave of energy struck Reacum, who had just begun to recover. The explosion that followed was violent.

As the dust began to settle slowly and Nail caught his breath, Nappa let out a grin... which faded almost as quickly when Vegeta said, "Not powerful enough. And indeed as the dust disappeared, everyone discovered a pretty beaten up and bruised Reacum, but he was still standing, with his armor crumbling. He smiled, rubbing the dust off his chest.

He replied simply, "Not bad... that wasn't bad at all... My turn!"

He opened his bleeding mouth and a light appeared within. He then shouted the name of his technique, the Reacum Eraser Gun. A powerful energy beam collided with Nail that, even with protection with one arm, he could not resist its force.

Smoke and dust rose into the air. Craters appeared in correspondence to path the energy wave. on the land, lay the Namek, whose body was still smoking. He tried to stand up by leaning on his right arm because he had lost his left arm and part of his ribs.

Reacum approached him laughing. He grabbed the dying Namek by the left wrist and lifted him up.

"No Resistance! You're no different from the Namekians we slaughtered back home..." he said still grinning.

The image of Reacum flaunting his superiority annoyed Nappa, triggering a memory of his experiences.

Thirty-two years earlier...

After a discussion with their master, Lord Freeza, Vegeta, Nappa and Raditz left the command center of Freeza's ship. Walking briskly down the hall, the began to discuss. "How the hell does he expect us to attack Helior in such short time? Three days!? Is he serious?" Nappa wondered aloud, edgily. "We'd have to end our current mission now!"

"He's laughing at us," added Vegeta, just as upset.

"If only we had one more person..." growled the bald Saiyan.

"Hold on, maybe we can get some help," intervened Raditz behind the other two.

The two Saiyans stopped and turned.

"How would you do that?" demanded the Prince of Saiyans, arms folded across his white armor.

"My little brother is probably still alive. He was sent to a distant planet whose inhabitants are not strong at all. If we can find him..."

"I thought your brother was only two units when we sent him," said Nappa mockingly. "Even as an adult, he wouldn't be very strong. There's no point."

"Nappa's right.... But why not?... At worst... Yeah, he might be helpful."

"I should leave as soon as possible to check... but..."

"Don't worry. We'll finish our current mission in two standard days and we'll expect you two to attack Helior with us. Go on now, don't waste any time."

Without another word, Raditz turned on his heel and ran to his pod, ready to find his little brother, Kakarotto, on Earth. Behind Vegeta and Nappa, two people appeared.

They called out, "Well, well. If it isn't our friends: the Saiyans?"

Turning around, Nappa and Vegeta found themselves face-to-face with two members of the famous Ginyu Force. Reacum, the tall orange-haired man, and Guldo, tiny in comparison to his friend, the plump creature with greenish eyes wide apart...

"What do you want?" Nappa asked Reacum spitefully as they approached.

"Calm down, we just want to talk to Frieza. We want to take care of Helior ourselves," said Guldo.

"Don't make me laugh!" laughed Vegeta, "You would never survive!"

"Joke while you can! You're just upset that you're not part of the Legendary Ginyu Force!"

"No way!"

"Tsk, anyway," replied Nappa, "Lord Freeza entrusted US with the mission."

Reacum was thunderstruck. "How? Impossible! Well... at least there's the chance that you'll all die, good riddance, and then we can take it!"

"What did you say?" said an enraged Nappa, clenching his fists.

"Oh, don't get excited, little one. Keep your strength, you'll need it."

"You motherfucker!" Nappa snapped. "Don't think I'm inferior!"

He threw himself at Reacum, fist forward... but the latter stopped him with one hand gripping his wrist. Worse, he lifted Nappa up into the air. Since Reacum was larger than Nappa, he stretched his arm over his head, grabbing the Saiyan's wrist tightly and laughing. Vegeta's acolyte was in pain, but he clenched his teeth to keep from screaming. He was barely touching the ground... While the Prince of Saiyans was preparing to respond, Nappa attacked Reacum with his good arm, but Reacum parried it easily.

Suddenly, Freeza, intervened behind them, "That's enough."

His voice, calm and cold, was enough to force compliance. Vegeta stood up, loosening his fists and Reacum let go of Nappa, who fell to his knees, rubbing his sore right hand.

"Reacum, Guldo, follow me immediately."

Freeza turned around. With a last, far-from-friendly look at the Saiyans, both members of the Ginyu Force left. Vegeta glanced at his partner, grumbled, and left him too. Nappa rose, grabbed his throbbing hand and looked behind him. Since then, he hated Reacum.

Reacum struck Nail, who seemed to be dying, in the face. Laughing, he punched him strongly in the head, abdomen and what was left of his ribs. The torture never seemed to end, but finally, the big redhead paused to admire his work. A big mistake! Nail took the opportunity to take a quick breath. His eyes fixed onto Reacum and from his eyes came out two yellow laser beams that managed to pierce his enemy.

Reacum fell to his knees, let go of the Namek's wrist and put his hands to the two wounds on his torso. He breathed heavily and evilly.

Rising, Nail allowed himself before explaining to Reacum, "You should've been more careful." The latter looked at him and tried to withstand the pain. He was astonished to see that Nail had regenerated his body in just a few seconds' respite! Nail tore off his jacket and threw a kick that Reacum could not avoid.

Reacum crashed to the ground and lay still. But his thoughts were tangled. He was furious. He remembered himself facing Nappa more than thirty years ago. He was stronger than him. He always had been. And somehow, by chance, they both faced a Namek from the same universe, certainly of equivalent power. Nappa had won so quickly.. and he.. he was losing.. or even dying? He was not careful, he realized suddenly...

And he deserved his death...

"Death? No, I'm not dying here! Not against the green thing! Impossible!"

Reacum seemed to come back to life. He screamed, causing Nail to cringe in fear. Nail turned around in defense. But, though he was enraged and screaming, Reacum remained on the floor. The Namek preferred to secure his victory... He walked over and violently landed his foot firmly into the belly of the man on the ground, shattering away a piece of armor.

This time, silently, breathing calmly, Reacum sank into unconsciousness. The announcers began the count. Nail breathed in relief because, despite his ability to regenerate, he was now running out of energy.

"And THIRTY! Nail wins this fight!" declared the presenter.

Sighing, the Namek immediately left to join his room to rest and be congratulated by his friends. In the ring, the Namekian organizers were busy bringing Reacum to his Universe, where Freeza ordered to bring him into the ship's treatment room. He was accompanied by the rest of the Ginyu Force, all with worried faces.

In Universe 18's space, two men and a Namek were talking about the fight that had just finished.

"It's too bad that we didn't have Nail helping us against this commando on Namek!" Gohan said after they had discussed the strengths and techniques that made Reacum reckless. (Goku also benefited from Reacum's imprudence to explicitly sho Uub that it could be fatal.)

"I wonder what he was doing instead of helping us on Namek," Vegeta replied to Gohan, remembering that they were being crushed by Reacum until Son Goku's arrival.

Beside the Saiyans, Piccolo twitched slightly. Had Vegeta forgotten that Nail was within him? Hold on. Did he even know? The Namek was about to tell them that he fought Freeza himself to save time... but changed his mind... nevermind... he didn't want to be reminded he got beaten out...

In Universe 8's wing, as Freeza raged inwardly, Coola approached him with a hand on his shoulder. Freeza, surprised, thought his brother came to boost his morale, for once. Pfft, some boost!

"Haha! The Legendary Ginyu Force is just too strong! HA! They all lost, and so quickly!"

"Coola, stop bothering your brother," King Cold intervened before the fighting escalated.

"We'll see how well your minions will do," retorted Freeza looking at Sauza who was standing right behind Coola. "And we'll see how you'll do, yourself!"

"I am under no illusion, I..."

He was interrupted by the announcement of the next fight... Trunks of Universe 12 against... Coola of Universe 8!