Raditsu floated in the rejuvenation tank, his mind plagued by strange, detached images that seemed to make no sense.

In his dreams, he could see Kakarotto, again using the name of Gokou, standing on the rocks of Earth. However, standing across from him was the armored Prince Vegeta, battered and screaming something unintelligible. The two combatants each charged up a powerful beam, then let their attacks fly, causing the beams to collide. However, Gokou's beam managed to force back Vegeta's, destroying the Prince.

He saw the earthling Krillin standing atop a rock, a shimmering ball of energy hanging above his head. Below, a fat man was hiding behind a boulder, waiting for the moment to ambush Prince Vegeta, who stood near him.

Raditsu could not understand the dreams. There was no such person as Gokou.

[I really need to get out of here,] he thought dimly. [The others... need my help.]

-----

Raditsu was right; the others DID need his help.

"I'm sick of this standing around," Kiwi said darkly, stepping forward and clenching both fists tightly. "Come on, vegetable boy. Let's rumble."

A smirk played across Prince Vegeta's face. "Whatever turns you on, big boy," he said simply.

"Are you gay?" Kakarotto said suddenly.

"What?" Vegeta blinked, his smirk vanishing.

"You heard me. Are you gay?"

"No."

"Then why did you use that line?"

"I can't resist a double dare." The prince glanced briefly at Ginyu, who nodded briefly.

"Just shut up," Kiwi snapped, irritated by the delays. "If we're gonna fight, it's gonna be NOW."

Vegeta nodded quickly.

Kiwi was the first on the attack, charging through the air with his knee snapping forward, driving into Vegeta's gut with the force of a speeding Mack truck. Vegeta shrugged the blow off, smashing Kiwi over the head with a vicious hammerblow that knocked the squidlike soldier to his knees.

Blood trickled down Kiwi's chin, but he ignored it as he rose into the air, letting out a loud roar and bombarding Vegeta with blazing balls of scarlet energy. Pillars and walls exploded as the fireballs struck them, blowing the roof off and annihilating the wing of the castle which stood in the line of fire. A shimmering dome of ki began to take shape, billowing outward in a forceful explosion. Laughing, Kiwi finished the attack by hurling a larger fireball into the explosion, widening it by a huge margin.

The dust cloud engulfed the surrounding area, but slowly began to fade, revealing that the entire west wing of the castle had been annihiliated.

"That must have hurt," Kakarotto remarked. Kiwi looked over his shoulder to find his companions floating a fair distance away, unscathed by the fireball assault.

"It felt about as strong as a mosquito bite!" came a loud shout from the heart of a fresh crater, another aftereffect of Kiwi's attack.

"Impossible!" Kiwi shouted as Prince Vegeta hovered out of the crater, his armor a bit battered. Aside from the armor damage, the prince was in perfect condition - not a hair on his head was out of place. Ginyu floated several yards behind him, smirking.

"You can't defeat my awesome power!" Vegeta shouted, his expression one of certain triumph. "Now I'll kill you!"

Kiwi braced himself and prepared to fight again.

-----

A powerful blast of ki blazed from Neizu's right palm, but Broli battered it aside easily and charged up to the red newt, pummeling him with his huge fists and feet. Neizu stumbled back weakly, blood dripping from his nose and mouth.

"You can't win, my froggy friend," Broli announced loudly. "Why don't you give up now."

"Not on your life," Neizu snapped. "You see, I've already won."

"What?"

"He means that he's accomplished his task," came a crisp voice from the vast oaken doors of the throne room.

"I recognize that voice," Freeza said sharply, his head turning so that his gaze focused on the opening doors.

Standing in the vast doorway were two figures. The taller of the two was unmistakibly nobility, his muscular form held proudly and draped in a rich violet cape, accompanied by silver armor with golden straps. The other being was a bit shorter, but no less intimidating, with a thin grey head and a masklike growth over his mouth. He wore armor almost identical to Freeza's, save for the golden shoulder straps where Freeza's had flaring plates.

"Koola!" Freeza half-shouted. "Impossible!"

"I thought you would be happy to see me, brother," the shorter alien said in a smug tone. "What's the matter? You look a bit scared."

"You've been manipulating this all along, haven't you. The Saiyajins are nothing but your puppets."

"We're equal partners," Koola insisted, but a faint stress in his tone of voice told Broli that the 'equal partners' bit was a lie designed to keep King Vegeta in line. So Koola had been controlling things all along. But what was his goal?

"Enough of this talk," King Vegeta intoned. "I shall destroy these intruders."

"You'll destroy the Super Saiyajin," Koola corrected. "Freeza is mine."

Freeza didn't reply to that, instead bracing his slight form and dropping into a slightly crouched position, gathering his ki. A vast aura of blue surrounded him as his body began to ripple with power.

Then Broli's eyes met King Vegeta's. Suddenly, the prospect of having to kill his king seemed very real. Could he really do it?

He would do it. He didn't have a choice.