PART EIGHTEEN: THE NIGHT OF REST

Chapter 87

Translated by npberryhill

In the dimly lit corridors of the arena, several of the Universe 1 Nameks were walking, their senses alert. Patrolling a certain area, the small score kept their eyes watchful. They were certainly not the most powerful of their own species, but despite that, they hadn’t detected anyone out and about who was a danger to them.

During the night, almost all of the Nameks on patrol had felt drafts in the corridors; strange, as the Varga facilities had no ventilation system. These drafts were random, like small whips of air out of nowhere. But, in spite of the peculiarity, none of Nameks were alarmed. They saw nothing and no one. And, as the Varga’s were much shorter, very few of them even felt the occasional unexplained breezes.

Coola was the author of these almost imperceptible air movements. With overwhelming force, which was somehow drowned out by the ambience of the powerful fighters in the arena, the son of Cold moved very quickly in the hallways. He zapped over the heads of Namekians without making a sound, his stealthy tactics very effective at concealing his presence.

He was looking for something, carefully inspecting inside of each room he found. This explained the cases where a few of the Vargas, each having a small apartment to himself, returned home to find their doors wide open but no one inside. But in spite of his thoroughness, Coola could not find what he wanted: the Dragon Balls. Yet he wasn’t ready to give up yet. He still had a lot of ground to cover.

While he was still speeding silently through the hallways, something he thought was a fist struck him on the left cheek, hurling him into the corner of a corridor. The shock was violent and unexpected. Coola was thrown three meters back. But he landed on his feet, one hand on his sore cheek.

“What the—” he said, just before getting kicked again. Coola was sure he had seen a white blur, the form of someone incredibly fast, pass right under his chin.

Freeza's brother whirled in the air, bumping his head against the ceiling of the corridor, and spun a little further before finally straightening out in midair.

“Who's there?” he cried, looking frantically around; he saw absolutely nothing.

“Hehe! And who are you going complain to?” said a voice behind him.

But Coola didn’t have time to respond. An elbow immediately smashed into the top of his head, a very violent blow which rendered him immediately unconscious. He fell to the ground.

“Cool," Vegetto said, chuckling at his pun. "One down, now to take care of the brother...” the Saiyan whispered to himself, pointing two fingers to his forehead and feeling out the Ki of his old enemy. ‘Interesting...he isn’t alone,’ the Saiyan fusion observed before teleporting.

Indeed, Freeza was not alone, but he hadn’t yet realized that fact. The frost demon was in a small room sparsely decorated with only a chair, a few cabinets and closets, and a kind of old-school safe that was opened by a spinning combination lock.

But these safes acted as mere closets. They were empty and devoid of interest. Freeza mumbled curses to himself, frustrated nearly to the point of despair. He had searched so many places already; where could they be? He closed his eyes, reflecting once again on all the places where he might hide the Dragon Balls if he were a Varga...when suddenly he felt a presence behind him. He turned to face the unknown visitor, a trickle of sweat on his forehead.

“Really, don’t bother. I already scanned the entire building,” Buu of Universe 4 said, revealing himself. He sat casually in the only chair, arms crossed, one leg over the other, and smiled with an almost friendly grin. His dangling head tentacle hung between the wall and chair, the pink appendage curling up and down beside his thighs. “They aren’t here,” the Djinn said, kicking his feet into the air and leaning back. Freeza, who had now risen, continued to listen in shock. “In fact, it’s so simple. They just keep them in another universe. I would have done the same thing.”

“You scanned the entire building?” Freeza asked, surprised that Buu could do such a thing without the use of any device. The half naked Djinn, who was entirely alone in his world, did not seem to be in a position to scan anything.

Buu simply nodded.

Freeza, naturally, was still skeptical. Could this strange being really be his ally? They both had to be looking for the same thing—more power through the Dragon Balls.

“Ah, since we are alone, I have some interesting information for you. The Body Exchange ability of your Captain Ginyu...do any of your other soldiers possess it as well?”

“What? No!” Freeza replied, beginning to ask himself a thousand questions. How could this strange being from another universe know about that ability? He had long since disposed of Ginyu. There were so many questions. Meanwhile, Buu had begun to doze off, bored.

“If they want their armor back, they’ll have go through my whole body looking,” Buu mumbled, seemingly out of nowhere.

“I beg your pardon?” Freeza said.

“Huh?” Buu said, opening his eyes a little more. “Oh sorry, I must have been talking to myself; that wasn’t directed at you,” he explained. “No, I meant to say that Captain Ginyu is still alive and I know who he is. What if I told you that one of the members of Universe 8 is not in his own body?” he said.

“What...Who?”

Freeza was stunned. Of all the many questions that had plagued him since Buu’s sudden appearance, this was the one he wanted answered most of all.

“Ah, now that is for you to find out!” Buu said, smiling again. He stood, gesturing with one hand while the other leaned against his hip. Buu had learned of Captain Ginyu from the memories of a group of Namekian adventurers he had absorbed. And when he had detected peculiarities in one of the members of universe 8, he quickly recalled the "Body Change" ability.

Buu found it very amusing that this great and loyal warrior had betrayed his master, yet had secretly remained at his side, hiding all this time. And it had obviously been many, many years! The temptation to get involved was too strong for Buu to resist. The situation could turn out to be a source of great amusement, and the best way to get the ball rolling was to seek out Freeza and plant the seeds of doubt.

Of course, Freeza was stunned. He was almost sure the demon in front of him was telling the truth. There was no reason for him to lie, and he seemed to know a great many other things as well.

“Whose body is he in!?” Freeza repeated.

“Now, now. I shall not be the one to rain on his parade! But back to the subject of our lost sheep, the seven wish-fulfilling orbs we so desire. It is a waste of time to keep looking here, you won't find anything."

Buu had felt Vegetto's aura, which had only become active for a micro second, the brief instant needed to hit Coola. He wasn't surprised that the Saiyan would be out patroling either. Certainly there were constant Namekian patrols in the ultra-guarded Varga fortress, but both Vegetto and Buu knew they wouldn't be able to catch anybody worth stopping. This gave him an idea.

"But if Dragon Balls are all you want, I can give them to you, Freeza."

"What?" Freeza was really starting to get confused.

"Which do you prefer? The Namekian Dragonballs? The Earth's?"

'The Earth's?' marveled Freeza once again, the son of King Cold unaware that other Dragon Balls existed. Buu continued.

"Two stars, eight stars...?"

With a pink zap from his tentacle, Buu magically conjured tons of golden balls; there were all different sizes and numbers of stars. At the sight of the first three or four, Freeza was exultant. But now that there were sixteen, he realized he was being made into a fool. They were all shapes and colors now, some even had black stars...how illogical and badly contrived those looked.

As magical balls continued to materialize, another guest decided to invite himself to the party. With a static flash, Vegetto was suddenly there. He picked up one of Buu's Dragon Balls, a nine-starred Namek sized ball, without the slightest surprise.

"Cool! Could you make me one with four stars? It's my favorite."

Buu smiled, immediatly complying with the request; yet the room continued to fill with even more crystal balls. It was literally raining Dragon Balls, the very objects which Freeza so greatly desired. Yet the frost demon was anything but joyous. Suddenly, Buu and Vegetto turned towards the door, simultaneously saying:

"Whoops! Someone's coming!"

Freeza was instantly terrified. Before he knew it, both Vegetto and Buu had teleported away, their bodies seeming to sink into the ground and disappear into nothingness. The door flung open, the room now a pool of false Dragon Balls filled two meters high. The small Varga who had opened the door found himself instantly drowned in the massive rush of balls that came rolling out of the room. Thanking his luck, Freeza took the opportunity to eclipse into the shadows once again before being seen.

He decided to return immediately to his ship rather than the Universe 8 apartments. His getaway through the fortress was definitely too dangerous. If other warriors were to catch him, as Gohan of Universe 18 had predicted, they might not be so nice; he had been toyed with enough already and wasn't in the mood to be caught in someone's trap and disqualified! Besides, he now had plenty of other things to think about. In particular, the elusive master of disguise...Captain Ginyu.

In the circular vessel, the Frost Demon family ship, there were a few of his men. But none of his underlings with any kind of real fighting ability had stayed on board. Reacum was the only one, but as he was still in stasis inside a healing tank, he didn't count. Reflecting with speed, Freeza decided to pull one of his technicians aside at random. When he had selected one, a henchmen whose name he hadn't yet learned, Freeza led him to a room full of computers. When they had walked to one of the computers at the far end of the room, he asked his question.

"Do you remember the great battle when the capital of my empire was destroyed? Captain Ginyu is...was...the one I held responsible."

"Yes Master, I’ve heard of it. We learned about it in school."

"Excuse me?"

"Eh...I was not yet born at the time, Master."

"Pfff! Well, open up the archives and pull up all the information on it. I killed Ginyu for his failure. I want to know who took his body!"

"Uh...I...but there's no record...I'm sorry, my lord, it's impossible to know."

Freeza gave the young technician a look that many of his men knew well. It usually indicated that the recipient was about to lose a century or two of life expectancy. In the Frost Demon empire, methods to lengthen the normal lifespan were common and known, although usually reserved for the rich. Most of Freeza's high up soldiers benefited and easily lived two hundred years in their youth. In particular, the members of the Ginyu Force hadn't aged. Thus, the participants of the Universe 8 had not changed for years, since they had not been killed on Namek or Earth like in other universes.

Any of Freeza's men who reached retirement age were considered lucky. The leading cause of death in Freeza's ranks was violent explosions, and those not always from the hands of the enemy! The lackey thought quickly.

"What did you do with the body, Master? Was it sent to the furnace?"

"Of course!"

"Very well, then. I'll do a search in the records for the furnace of the ancient capital...Yes, here it is. Ginyu was cremated on the 1st of January, Age 763. The one in charge signed his name here...Puar."

"Are you sure it's him?"

"Uh, well, yes. See, he signed it. Look."

They saw Puar's full name on the screen, along with his unique ID number and a signature in a box. Actions important enough to require confirmation, like disposing of the body of an elite, required an electronic signature. This individual had written "Puar" by hand. Most people signed with their first name or a drawing, not initials. Freeza felt he was approaching the truth.

"Show me the papers of this soldier!"

The screen displayed a card with a 3-dimensional photo of Puar. Among the information was a signature...which was not the same. It was a drawing of an egg with a narrow top.

If Freeza had believed in anything other than himself, he would have blessed heaven that their technology still used handwritten signatures, despite many people insisting that an ID card was sufficient for executing actions.

'Hah! This isn’t the same signature,' thought the tyrant. He looked at the information on the display. Puar had apparently died...only two weeks later, in an insignificant battle on another planet. Freeza didn’t even remember this particular conquest...

"This battle, show me the information! Who was our most powerful soldier?"

Without quite understanding what they were really looking for, his brow dripping with sweat, the young lackey searched the lists until he found what his master sought.

"Captain Némokid, Lord. His strength was 2600 units."

"What happened?"

"Uh..."

He typed frantically on the keyboard.

"He retired shortly after. And died on June 6th, Age 784."

"Hmm, strange that we weren't informed. Isn’t all of this information supposed to be sorted and archived by headquarters?"

"Of course."

"Hmm...Ginyu must have known it would too easy to trace if he killed each person right after changing bodies with them. However, there are always plenty of soldiers who would give about anything to get early retirement...he could talk to practically anyone, even the lowest level, someone he knew well and who died some time after, preventing us from following the lead...pff! Curse that pink idiot!! He could have told me more! But it’s not like I can just go back and ask him."

"Master, am I to understand that Captain Ginyu is still alive? But what does this have to do with all the other soldiers?"

“Hn! Be careful what you ask. Very few people have ever been told of this, but Ginyu once had the power to swap his own soul with that of another. He could change bodies with whoever he so chose. He clearly took the body of this Puar, signed in his place, and threw his old carcass into his furnace.

“I see! But, I’m curious...the captain’s total unquestioned devotion to you, Lord Freeza, was legendary! Plus, the face on Ginyu’s own identification card...it never changed. How was he able to alter his records, or had he just never changed bodies after entering your service?”

“Ah, yes. That. His purple body, the one with horns that everyone is familiar with, formerly belonged to a powerful demon mutant on a planet that we attacked. At the time, Ginyu was a simple soldier. But being an opportunist, he was able to steal this demon’s body. After that I promoted him, and, since he never found a more powerful body, he kept it. I specifically arranged to have his picture identification changed in all our systems, and that’s how he became well known in that particular form.”

“But, that’s an extremely dangerous power! What was there to prevent him from using it on you?”

Freeza gave him the same threatening look again, causing the little man to begin trembling.

“Idiot! Do you really believe that his pathetic body exchange technique would have any effect on a Frost Demon?! No, Ginyu knew his place. He respected his superiors, his loyalty was unquestioned; the thought that he would betray me with his ability never crossed my mind!”

In fact, the admiration and respect that Ginyu had for Freeza was indeed great, but the captain respected many others as well. In many universes, when he had faced Son Goku on Namek, he had trembled in utter fear, believing him to be the Legendary Super Saiyan. But when he realized that the Saiyan was just "immensely strong", he reconsidered, beginning his strategy to change bodies with him immediately. Captain Ginyu was an honest and respectful fighter, not one to use unfair advantages in a duel. But the Frost Demons, as well as other rare myths and legends, were too frightening for him to dare trying to take their bodies.

“But you killed him rather unfairly; perhaps he held on to resentment all these years and...”

Realizing the brashness of what he had just suggested, the little man began to sweat profusely, feeling death itself crawl onto his back. He slowly lifted his eyes up to his master, terrified. Freeza's gaze was no longer the same threatening look as it had been the other two times. Now, it was pumping with genuine anger. And nothing was worse than to be the nearest living creature to Freeza when he was absolutely livid.

“Ma...Master, I'm sorry. I only meant to suggest a possibility of what was going through Ginyu’s head! Of course he was wrong to question you, my lord! I'm just trying to understand his way of thinking!”

Freeza was silent, his wrath contained by only a small thread.

“I'll begin to investigate it immediately, Lord! Not to sound boastful, but I am very skilled at this kind of research. I can carefully comb through all the data available, tracking Ginyu’s path from body to body based on the different deaths and dates we have in our records. I’ll be sure to catch the little details, any unusual action, such as a soldier who asked to change his password because he seemingly forgot. I promise to investigate this matter as thoroughly as possible, and I assure you I will discover which body Ginyu is currently inhabiting! And, of course, I absolutely will operate with the utmost secrecy. You can count on me, Lord Freeza!”

Freeza’s glare softened. He was pleased with the idea, though still impatient. At first, he had intended to kill the technician when he had concluded the interrogation. But allowing him to investigate was a much more productive option.

“Alright, you may proceed with your plan. Succeed, and you will be promoted; riches the world over shall be yours. But if you fail...or if there is a leak, I'll find a way to make you wish you had never been born!

Freeza left the small computer room to let his new investigator get to work. But he did not rejoin the other members of his family right away. He decided not to even mention the subject to them, not yet at least. For the moment, he preferred to meditate in his own small chamber and ponder the situation...Ginyu couldn’t hide forever.