Chapter 3
It’s not enough. They whispered to him.
Goku could feel the anger surging through him. Every dead person swarming within his transformed being was crying with dissatisfaction. Every soul was another drop of rage that fueled his hatred. Freeza’s death was not enough to satiate their anger.
It’s not enough. They screamed. It’s not enough. It takes more than one life to make up for the horrors we’ve been afflicted with.
At that moment Goku realized what he’d done. When he accepted the Trampled Innocence from that strange being he gave his life away. He surrendered his will to those millions that empowered him.
Their collected power came with a price. He could no longer control himself. It wasn’t his emotions driving him. Goku was subservient to those who inhabited his body. And it scared him.
We must make more than Freeza pay. They said at once. We must destroy his empire. Obliterate all he has created. His army and his legacy. His army, the Freeza Force, must be the first to go!
No! Other voices cried. We must destroy those who profited from his destruction of our races! We must wipe out those who stole our planets from us!
You’re all wrong! Another group said. We must destroy those who threaten the universe the most! We need to kill the most immediate threats to the innocent civilians of the galaxy! Kill the most evil races!
The murdered souls would not stop arguing about who needed to die. Their debating of the issue drove Goku mad despite his wish that they would stop. What made it awful was they composed his being. He was no longer a singular entity but constructed of hundreds of millions of different beings.
The conflict of the different individuals was analogous to one’s cells forming into groups and slamming into one another. With each clash of separate spirits it caused him pain so deep it was beyond physical. Goku could feel his own spirit tearing apart with their arguments.
But he fully wanted to give into their rage. Their desire for revenge was overwhelming. It was the one connecting thread between every individual. Within his being, Goku could sense the Trampled Innocence was millions of different races. Most did not know one another outside their own species but were in complete unison. They all had one enemy.
The evil of the universe. Goku said to them. Must be stopped.
Yes! The souls cried together. Yes! Destroy the evil that plagues our galaxy! Punish the wicked for their crimes! Rain judgment upon the tyrants!
The Saiyan could not hold back his wrath. His emotions weren’t his own. Just as his body was no longer the same, his spirit wasn’t either. Every spirit was knit into his own soul. Each one was like a piece of cloth woven into a pre-existing blanket. Now that they were attached, Goku could not deny them their revenge. Because their revenge was his. And when the different souls bickered with one another it was like a blanket rending itself.
There will come another Freeza. Goku said. Another tyrant.
He glared into the horizon, the expression generating another whirlwind of gold aura.
And that is why we cannot kill Freeza alone! He shouted to them. We must do everything possible to be the shield to the innocent of the universe!
YES! They all cried. YES! Our champion finds our cause worthy!
We can’t be satisfied with one path of destruction! Goku said. We must destroy every possibility of evil! And rid the universe of those who benefit from Freeza’s tyranny! We shall do all that and more!
Every soul laughed in excitement.
However…Goku said. Before we annihilate the wicked…we should bring back those who never deserved to die.
He lifted his hands into the air before tracing outlines of his fallen friends in the ground around him. Perfect outlines of Gohan, Krillin and Piccolo were drawn at Goku’s feet before twinkling stars lit up their borders. He then lifted the traced cutouts into the air as they slowly rotated around him with a silvery aura.
I will do everything as you command. Goku answered the voices. Your pleas for vengeance cannot go unanswered. But first I must return my fallen comrades to life. After all…they fought to their deaths to protect the innocent.
Every spirit within him agreed with this sentiment. Righteous vindication swelled up within Goku as their collective respect for his friends came into existence. The millions of souls then spoke in unison.
“To gain the true power of a Super Saiyan,” they said. “You must be willing to make a sacrifice.”
When they spoke aloud, it came from Goku’s own mouth. After he spoke to them, they then replied using the same tongue he used. Their collected voices sounded so odd coming from Goku’s lips. A trillion voices, none his own, erupted from his throat without his willingness.
“A sacrifice?” Goku asked. “What kind?”
“The Super Saiyan’s Qi Vendetta,” they said using Goku’s mouth. “A Qi Vendetta is a unique power they make for themselves. They can wish any specialized, personal ability into existence…so long as an appropriate cost is made for it.”
“I wish to resurrect everyone killed by Freeza, his soldiers and the Saiyans on Earth,” Goku said.
“Why?” the Trampled Innocence spoke.
“Why?!” Goku asked. “What reason should I give?! Not only were my friends killed by Freeza’s forces but the entire population of Namekians was wiped out! Should there be a better reason?”
“We do not ask for moral justification,” the Trampled Innocence said. “We mean your personal reason for doing so. A Qi Vendetta is more than just a power. As the name implies, it is an ambition that arises from the user’s innermost being, brought about by injustice they wish to rectify. In your heart of hearts…what is it you seek?”
Goku lowered his head.
“I suppose…” he said. “I have always wanted to protect my friends no matter the cost. But in this case…”
He looked to the place in front of him where Freeza climbed out of the water to kill his friends.
“What caused me to transform is that suffering like this should not exist,” Goku said. “The evil should suffer! Only the wicked! And the innocent should feed on and rule over anyone who is impure!”
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“Then that shall be your Vendetta!” the Trampled Innocence cried. “You shall resurrect your friends by redirecting agony and pain into reviving energy! Your Qi Vendetta shall be Suffering Redirection Revival!”
Goku’s eyes opened wide as he was overcome with the sudden urge to lift his hand in front of him. The Super Saiyan held his palm forward and directed it at the piece of ground where Freeza had been swallowed up. A crevice in it opened before tongues of red fire rose from it. To Goku’s enjoyment, Freeza’s screams rang in the Super Saiyan’s ears again before shining red sparkles flowed into the earthen cutout of Krillin’s body.
Once the crimson stars touched his best friend’s silhouette of dirt and rock, the human’s face appeared in it. His smiling, happy expression showed on the flat surface like in a mirror before disappearing. Goku gasped in relief.
“Krillin!” he cried.
Goku almost wept when his friend’s face disappeared and the Trampled Innocence further goaded him.
“It will take more than just one person’s suffering to resurrect even one person,” the collection of spirits shouted through his mouth. “You must take on cosmic-like destruction of evil that has never been seen. And with so many of us empowering you…your power level will be hundreds of times stronger than the original Super Saiyan.”
He wiped a single tear in his eye as he ground his teeth.
“Yes,” Goku answered. “Those that took innocent lives and profited from war…they shall be the ingredients to my resurrected friends.”
“Excellent,” the Trampled Innocence cried. “Now…let us have our revenge!”
Goku smiled as raised his hands and wings to the sky.
“Certainly!” he shouted. “We will start with Freeza’s heritage!”
Goku now found himself standing in the Soul Realm again. Pillars of translucent white with flowing faces appeared around him. Goku walked through the room of pillars as he tried finding the correct qi signature.
If only I could find Freeza’s spirit in here. He thought. Then I’d be able to sense his qi signature and find his homeworld.
Out of the corner of his eye he found Freeza’s white face with a purple scalp. His expression was one of immense agony as Goku could vaguely make out the faint shape of tongues of fire around him. Before his appearance could disappear from the surface of the pillar, Goku placed his hand on it.
This room connects the living with the dead. He realized. It’s not only a space between the afterlife but the world of the living as well. I not only have some control of the other world but the living world as well. With that in mind…I should be able to locate beings that have a similar qi signature. I’ll just enhance my sense of qi across the entire universe and…
Goku absorbed the qi of Freeza through his right hand before repulsing it from his being. He then sent the signature he absorbed into the base of the pillar before it pulsated outward into the rest of the floor. The Super Saiyan then had a different vision.
He was suddenly jettisoned thirty lightyears into space from the planet Namek. Moons, space satellites, ships and stars blurred past Goku before he found what he was looking for. The planet he ended up looking at was a world composed mostly of land and very little water, the complete opposite of Earth. It looked pale purple in color.
The sentient inhabitants were a dead ringer for Freeza. While most of them had horns they generally had the same shape about them. The aliens were humanoid in appearance and their skin was a combination of white, purple or light pink. They had prehensile tails they often used to grab things as easily as one would with a hand.
The buildings on the planet were very ornate, usually decorated in silver and gold. They had various ornate windows that were like stained glass that depicted all sorts of wondrous alien creatures. The streets were a pristine pale blue and each city seemed to have very well-kept gardens of lush greenery and showy flowers.
And each inhabitant seemed incredibly evil. Goku had never felt such a vast collection of wrath, greed and wickedness. Each frost demon, as Goku came to realize they were called, was just as heartless as Freeza. They were just not strong enough to be the tyrant they wanted to be, like Freeza.
The frost demons, as Goku now knew them to be, were among the strongest warriors in the galaxy. Apparently the planet’s name was Cold. Their kind not only had enormous natural qi reserves but also had the habit of producing mutants like Freeza’s lineage that could steamroll even the Saiyans. Freeza’s specific family was hundreds of times stronger than any of the ordinary frost demons, which was how he became the ruler of the galaxy.
However, that did not excuse the entirety of the frost demons. As Goku kept sensing Freeza’s species through the tyrant’s qi signature, he found the spirits stirred with even greater anger. They were excited at the sight.
“Yes,” the Trampled Innocence spoke. “Yes. The frost demons have repeatedly produced the most evil and greatest of galactic conquerors.”
“I thought it was the Saiyans?” Goku asked.
“No,” the collected souls stated. “The Saiyans sought to increase their battle strength and took pleasure from fighting. Frost demons naturally seek money, territory and ruling others. If a Saiyan’s highest pleasure is battle, then the frost demon’s highest pleasure is annexation of planets and people. They are born with the instinct to reign over as much as possible.”
“So there are others like Freeza?” Goku asked.
“Take a look at the Planet Cold,” they answered. “Freeza is not even the greatest of them. Freeza’s family, called the evil lineage, has produced many frost demons that were feared for their enslavement and genocide of entire species. They shall be the first to fall. But before that, there is something you must be shown.”
The Trampled Innocence gave Goku a picture in his mind of thousands of different planets. Each planet they showed him had an ominous stream of purple energy flowing from it. Different planets had varying amounts of evil qi arching from them with some being small while others being large.
The streams of purple all flowed into one single point in the middle of the galaxy that was blacker than the rest of space. Goku could sense nothing but pure evil from the rivers of violet qi intersecting at that portion of space. It was odd to him as he would have thought he could sense something that strongly embedded with the presence of evil before becoming a Super Saiyan.
“Wh-What is that?” Goku asked. “Is it…something to do with Freeza?”
“No,” the Trampled Innocence said. “It is an amalgamation of evil beyond even what Freeza could produce. It is gathered by one being for the sole purpose of empowering him.”
“Where does it all go?” Goku asked.
“To a place we cannot reach,” the Trampled Innocence explained. “Now, to defeat it…you must cut off its supply of power. A good place would be to start with Freeza’s father…”
Goku nodded before leaving the Soul Room. He pictured the place in the galaxy where it was. A mental map formed in his mind of where the Planet Cold was. It had the largest amount of evil qi flowing from it to the center of the galaxy. Not only did he know the directions by heart but Goku’s qi sense was locked onto the planet. He then raised his wings and flapped into the air, rocketing toward the sky.
Behind him trailed the three silhouettes of his friends. As he got airborne, Goku used the Soul Room to track Piccolo's soul. After finding his spirit flowing within the pillar, Goku saw every Namekian that had recently been murdered. He cut out silhouettes of rock and dirt in the shape of them and had them levitate around him.
After carving the shapes’ of the Namekians, he then made three more for Yamcha, Teinshinhan and Chiatzu. As he rose into the air, these carvings of earth spinned around him even more rapidly. Ironically enough, every Namekian killed by Freeza or his soldiers was championing Goku to take revenge.
“The only reason my friends went to Namek was to revive my friends who died fighting Vegeta and Nappa,” Goku said. “And the only reason that Freeza brought his army here was because they heard about the origins of the dragon balls from us. I am sorry…I-I can’t-”
“No,” the Trampled Innocence said. “Do not be sorrowful. You are a mighty warrior of justice. You did everything you could to prevent the deaths of good people.”
“Thank-you,” Goku said.
He then looked down one last time at Namek as it became further and further away.
“But there is one more person I must restore to life,” he said.
Goku then made a carving out of Vegeta. The soil beneath him drew an outline of the Saiyan prince before he felt some resistance. The Trampled Innocence was skeptical of this move.
“What are you doing?!” they shouted. “Some of us were killed by him!”
“I have to give Vegeta a second chance,” he answered. “I pity him!”
“For what?!” the Trampled Innocence shouted.
“Before Vegeta died,” Goku said. “Freeza took him as a child to serve him. Not only did Freeza take Vegeta from his father but threatened to kill his father if Vegeta defied him. He looked so sad when he died…”
Goku shook his head as the carved cut out of Vegeta rose to him and began rotating like the others.
“Please,” he said. “Give me this one chance…and I’ll prove Vegeta can be redeemed.”
He could feel the Trampled Innocence skeptical of this decision but eventually gave in.
“We do not like the Saiyan prince,” the spirits said. “He is just as cruel and vile as the other Saiyan elites were. But since you are of pure heart, are willing to rid the galaxy of the evil plaguing and have used up your Qi Vendetta only to bring your fallen comrades back…we will allow this as a token of gratitude.”
“Thank-you,” Goku cried.
Goku flapped his bat-like wings with greater ferocity as he left Namek’s atmosphere. He was surprised to find that he had no trouble breathing in space. Apparently his newly transformed biology did not need oxygen. Goku flew through the cosmos, not caring for the celestial objects he sped past. The planets and stars were blurs to him as he flew toward Planet Cold at speeds not even the spaceship could produce.
“And now for our revenge!” Goku cried.