"Ahh — agh — " Ginyu's breathing came in ragged heaves, his face twisted with pain. Blood gushed freely from his shoulder.
"What's wrong?" Vegeta said with an easy smile.
"Vegeta — I really do like the look of you as a Super Saiyan." Ginyu laughed through his pain and then suddenly spread both arms wide and bellowed, "CHANGE NOW!"
Whoosh!
The instant the words left his mouth, a beam of light shot from Ginyu's body and streaked toward Vegeta at blinding speed.
But Vegeta had been ready for exactly this.
A reincarnate doesn't make rookie mistakes like this.
Vegeta shifted his body to one side with a subtle, practiced motion — and the beam slid right past him.
CRACK!
The light fired from Ginyu's body slammed directly into a gnarled, crooked tree standing just behind Vegeta.
Body Change — complete.
Ginyu's expression froze on his face. Then he snapped to attention and stood rigid and perfectly still, his head slowly drooping to one side.
At the same moment, Ginyu's soul had been swapped into that gnarled tree — stripped of any way to speak.
"What just happened?" Cranberry stared blankly, utterly lost.
Vegeta looked from the body-Ginyu to the tree, and understanding clicked into place at once.
He swapped with the tree?
Poor wretch.
Last time around he at least ended up as an animal. This time he went straight to plant.
Vegeta flew over and snapped a branch off with one hand, then asked conversationally, "I wonder — does that hurt?"
Ginyu: ...
Ginyu was barely keeping himself from losing it entirely.
Break off one of your own fingers and tell me how that feels.
But of course, Ginyu had no way to speak. He could only endure in silence.
Vegeta reverted to his base form and cast a sideways look at Cranberry, who was rooted to the spot. His eyes turned frigid.
Cranberry's knees buckled. He fell to the ground.
"I told you — no tricks. I already gave you one chance." Vegeta said coldly. He extended his hand toward Cranberry from across the distance.
Cranberry immediately kowtowed, begging for his life.
Vegeta had no intention of showing mercy. He was preparing to finish Cranberry off for good.
"Wait — Prince Vegeta!" Cranberry's eyes darted frantically, and he blurted out, "I have brand-new intelligence — please, spare my life!"
"Let's hear it." Vegeta said, his tone flat.
"There's a small spacecraft in the nearby sector — it seems to be heading in the direction of Namek!" Cranberry said in a rush. "It launched from the planet where the Ginyu Force was stationed! The people on board must be the surviving members of the Ginyu Force."
At Cranberry's words, Vegeta immediately expanded his Ki sense, reaching out through space for any familiar signatures in the surrounding area.
Kakarot, you useless fool.
Always making me clean up your mess.
Why are the Ginyu Force still breathing? You were supposed to have wiped them all out.
But as Vegeta extended his senses — what he picked up made him pause.
The Ki signatures didn't belong to the Ginyu Force.
They felt like... Piccolo and that bald Krillin.
What are they doing all the way out here?
"Get them on the line — now." Vegeta ordered Cranberry.
"Yes!" Cranberry bobbed his head and quickly raised the Ginyu Force's ship through his scouter.
Lemo answered.
Aboard the ship carrying Piccolo and the others.
A voice crackled abruptly over the comms.
"Hello? Hello? Can you hear me? Please respond if you can!" Cranberry's voice was tight with urgency, clearly terrified of what would happen if he was too slow.
Piccolo and the others exchanged glances, then turned as one toward the communication device.
"We hear you. Who is this?" Piccolo asked, his voice sharp and cool.
Vegeta held his hand out toward Cranberry, gesturing for the scouter.
Cranberry's mouth twitched — but he obediently passed it over with both hands.
"That's Piccolo, isn't it?" Vegeta said, his tone matter-of-fact.
"You — Vegeta?" Piccolo recognized the voice immediately.
"Yes." Vegeta replied simply, then asked, "Where are you headed?"
"We have nothing to say to you." Piccolo had no goodwill for Vegeta whatsoever.
"You're on your way to Namek, aren't you? You'd be better off turning back. Frieza has gone missing." Vegeta said evenly. "If I had to guess, Frieza is heading for Earth. Go back and wait for him there."
"You — what? Frieza is going to Earth? How do you know that?" Piccolo's expression shifted sharply.
"You don't need to know the details." Vegeta smiled, cool and unhurried.
"Don't worry — Goku is on Earth. It'll be fine." Piccolo said with a confident snort.
"Is Kakarot on Earth right now?" Vegeta frowned slightly, a bit thrown off.
At this point in time, Kakarot should be on Yardrat learning Instant Transmission.
Wait — no.
The reason Kakarot ended up on Yardrat was because of the Ginyu Force.
With the Ginyu Force captain intercepted here by me, Kakarot never had a reason to fall into their hands.
So he never would have ended up on Yardrat.
"Of course Goku is on Earth. Don't go getting any ideas about causing trouble there." Piccolo warned, slipping in the threat naturally.
"I wouldn't dream of it." Vegeta replied with a calm smile.
Piccolo: ???
Piccolo was briefly stumped.
Those words — did they actually come out of Vegeta's mouth?
"You're on the Ginyu Force ship..." Vegeta mused out loud. "Don't tell me — you wiped out the Ginyu Force?"
"The universe's greatest elite force. Not so impressive up close." Piccolo said with a smug curl of his lip.
"Funny you should say that — I ran into their captain on the way and took care of him myself." Vegeta mentioned it with casual ease.
"You — you took out the Ginyu Force captain?" Piccolo paused, surprised. "Wasn't he working with you?"
"Don't lump me in with Frieza. Frieza destroyed our Saiyan homeworld — why would I ever be on his side?" Vegeta said with a sharp snort, then spoke directly to Piccolo. "Come to my location. We can talk face to face."
With that, Vegeta passed the scouter back to Cranberry and told him to walk Piccolo's group through the navigation.
Cranberry didn't hesitate. He immediately began guiding Lemo with remote instructions on how to pilot the ship to their planet.
Lemo took careful note of everything.
The call ended there.
"Piccolo — do we really go to wherever Vegeta is?" Krillin asked, visibly unsettled.
"We go." Piccolo nodded. "We've been training under King Kai. Vegeta is no match for us now."
To be continued…
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