"Oh right — how are Gohan and Krillin doing?"
Goku suddenly remembered why he'd come in the first place and quickly turned to ask.
"See for yourself." Old Kai rolled his eyes and lazily waved a hand toward the Crystal Ball sitting nearby.
Goku peered into it — and found nothing but empty, hazy light. He gave Old Kai a puzzled look. "Uh, Lord Old Kai... there's nothing in here."
"Hmm..." Old Kai leaned over for a look, his expression immediately going shifty.
Right. He'd forgotten to channel his divine energy into it.
Not that it was a big deal.
Old Kai promptly held both hands out toward the Crystal Ball and began muttering an incantation under his breath.
Snap!
The figures of Gohan and the others shimmered into view inside the Crystal Ball.
"Where are they? Doesn't look like they're on a planet — more like they're on a spaceship." Goku scratched his head, murmuring to himself in mild confusion.
"Hmm... judging by their heading, it seems they're making for Namek." Old Kai studied the image carefully and stroked his chin.
Goku quietly counted the figures on the ship.
Good. Every one of his friends was accounted for.
With that, the knot that had been sitting in his chest finally loosened.
"Alright then, Lord Old Kai — I'm going to go train. See you!" And with that, Goku vanished in an instant with a flicker of Instant Transmission.
Whoosh!
A heartbeat later, he reappeared on the planet of King Kai in the North Galaxy.
"Goku, what are you doing here again?" King Kai eyed him with open suspicion, clearly dreading the possibility of him dragging yet more people along.
Last time you brought every single Namekian along...
Do you have any idea how small this planet is?
"I'm here to train, King Kai!" Goku grinned from ear to ear. "I'm going to keep getting stronger!"
"Go train on Earth — why do you have to come train here?" King Kai asked, visibly put out.
"Ha! I just think your planet is the perfect place for training!" Goku laughed it off, ignored King Kai entirely, and jogged off to a clear spot to begin training in earnest.
In the vast expanse of space, a ship cut through the stars at speed.
It was Vegeta's spacecraft, hurtling through the cosmos.
Aboard it, Cranberry suddenly received an incoming transmission — from Ginyu.
"Captain Ginyu! This is Cranberry!" Cranberry's voice immediately cracked with emotion, tears nearly spilling from his eyes. He hunched over and kept his voice low, terrified of Vegeta overhearing.
"Have you located Lord Frieza?" Ginyu's tone was taut with its own anxiety.
If he's been found, I need to change course immediately.
"Not yet... something went wrong." Cranberry's face fell, his voice heavy.
"Oh? What happened?" Ginyu asked, caught off guard.
But before Cranberry could answer, Ginyu let out a sharp exclamation.
"Hold on — I think I've spotted Lord Frieza's ship." A faint tremor crept into Ginyu's voice. "Stand by," he said quickly, his tone going low and urgent.
Cranberry went silent.
"If I'm not mistaken... that might actually be the ship I came in," Cranberry quickly replied.
"You? You're on Lord Frieza's ship?" Ginyu blinked and immediately demanded Cranberry's current coordinates.
Cranberry relayed his position.
"That is your ship!" Ginyu snorted. "What, you're flying out here to find Lord Frieza yourself?"
"I — I was kidnapped by Vegeta!" Cranberry had been waiting for exactly this opening. He launched into a frantic account of Vegeta's betrayal.
"Vegeta dared to betray Lord Frieza?" Ginyu's eyes narrowed, and a thought took shape in his mind.
Surely my luck can't be this good.
I go over there, beat Vegeta half to death, and keep him under my thumb.
Then I head to Namek and find the Dragon Balls.
Once I have the Dragon Balls, if Lord Frieza doesn't show up — I make the wish myself.
If Lord Frieza does show up — I tell him I came to help. After all, didn't I capture Vegeta?
Vegeta. You picked the worst possible time to show up.
"Avoid fighting in open space if at all possible — if Vegeta decides to blow himself up and take us with him, we'd lose more than we'd gain." Ginyu issued his orders decisively. "Find a planet nearby and make a quiet landing."
"There's a primitive planet up ahead!" Cranberry replied. "Will that work?"
He transmitted the coordinates.
"That'll do." Ginyu gave his assent without objection.
Whoosh!
Cranberry altered the spaceship's heading, accelerating toward the planet ahead.
The ship touched down moments later. Not long after Vegeta's craft had landed, Ginyu's pod came screaming down from above.
BOOM!
It slammed into the planet's surface and blasted a massive crater into the ground.
Ginyu burst out of the spherical pod and immediately flew toward Vegeta's ship.
With Cranberry's cooperation, Ginyu stepped aboard.
Cranberry immediately dropped to his knees in a deep bow, tears streaming down his face in relief.
I'm finally saved.
"Where's Vegeta?" was the first thing out of Ginyu's mouth.
"In the room over there. He hasn't come out since we boarded — no idea what he's been up to in there." Cranberry pointed toward the training chamber inside the ship. "He said he was going to train."
"Train?" Ginyu paused for half a second — then burst out laughing. "A waste with a power level of 18,000 actually thinks he can push it past 100,000 through training alone? What a joke!"
"Right, right!" Cranberry nodded along eagerly.
"Let's go." Ginyu strode toward Vegeta's room.
The two of them stopped outside the door of the chamber where Vegeta had been training.
Cranberry hustled ahead and reached for the handle.
Creak!
But before he could pull it open, the door swung open from the inside.
Vegeta stepped out, his expression cold and composed. He swept one dispassionate glance over Ginyu.
Ginyu looked back with a smile plastered on his face — smug and mocking.
"Vegeta. Long time no see." Ginyu offered the greeting with a grin.
"Oh, it's Ginyu." Vegeta gave a light smile, utterly unhurried and full of confidence. "I was expecting Frieza."
After a full day of travel, Vegeta had spent every waking moment pushing himself through intense training. His power had recovered — not dramatically, but enough.
It wasn't much. But as far as Vegeta was concerned, it was more than enough to deal with someone like Ginyu.
"I hear you've been training in there — how's that going?" Ginyu craned his neck and peered curiously into the chamber.
"More than enough to handle you." Vegeta smiled, calm as still water.
Ginyu stared for a moment — then broke into loud laughter.
Cranberry laughed even louder, practically doubling over.
After all, from Cranberry's perspective, no matter how strong Vegeta had gotten, there was simply no way he could surpass the captain of the Ginyu Force.
To be continued…
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