Ch. 79: The Ginyu Force

"They're on their way! We need to move faster!" As it was, things were set to play out almost exactly the same as they had in the show. Namely, the Ginyu Force was going to catch up to us just as we landed in the spot where I could sense Vegeta kept his Dragon Balls. 

"Un! Here they are!" Vegeta shouted, finding the island that the balls were on. We landed and ran to gather them, but out of fear that we'd fail to hesitate like Krillin and Gohan had in the original canon, and actually end up making the wish before the Ginyus arrived, my girls had subtly warped space and time around us and the Ginyu Force as we moved. As a result...

"Hey Vegeta!"

"Hi, Mate!"

"Been a long time!"

"Ngh." Vegeta ground his teeth as the Ginyu Force landed directly between us and the remaining five Dragon Balls. It was too late, and now we'd have to fight them. "I was so close!" Vegeta muttered.

"I was sure that we'd make it!" Nappa agreed. Nappa was right. Even with me holding us back, we were faster overall than Krillin, Gohan, and Vegeta from canon had been. We should have had more than enough time to get here and maybe even figure out how to get the Dragon Balls to work before these idiots showed up. That was the entire reason that I'd had the Core Girls watch over it and change the timing up. But none of the others knew that.

"Heh. We've come to collect you and the Dragon Balls, Vegeta." Ginyu said.

Recoome looked back, "Hey, Captain. Looks like the other five balls are right here."

"Tch." Vegeta clicked his tongue, that famous forehead vein bulging with barely contained rage.

"Looks like this'll be easier than I expected. I should thank you, Vegeta. You are the epitome of what delivery services should strive for, bringing all seven Dragon Balls right to us." Ginyu gloated, "But you'll understand if I don't."

"Don't get too cocky, Ginyu! You haven't beaten us yet!" Vegeta shouted.

A certain member of the Ginyu Force stepped out from the stupid formation that they were in, locking eyes with Vegeta in a state of barely contained rage. Then, he started laughing. "Oh, you think you're pretty tough, aren't you? Well, this time, you don't have Frieza to save your scrawny carcass! Oh, I've waited for this!" 

"Really!?" Vegeta goaded.

"Yeah, that's right! Come on!" Guldo shouted.

"Friend of yours? From his low power level, I'm guessing that he has some sort of special ability, too?" Piccolo asked Nappa beside him, casually.

"...Something like that." Nappa muttered.

"Guldo. You're still a freak." Vegeta told the alien. He wasn't wrong. The tiny, four-eyed thing was almost impressively ugly in real-life. And his personality was just as bad as his looks.

Guldo didn't take the jab well. His eyes went bloodshot and he growled like a wild animal. Then, Recoome beside him picked the tiny ball of ugly up by his head, stopping him from doing anything stupid.

"Now, hold up there, Guldo. Frieza wants him back alive, remember?" Recoome chided him, forcing the little guy to back off.

"Vegeta, don't be silly. You'd save us all a lot of trouble by handing over those Dragon Balls." Ginyu warned.

"Heh, yeah, right. Then, you'll have me surrender so that you can kill everyone else here and take me back to Frieza. That the plan?" Vegeta asked.

"Heh. Smarter than you look." Ginyu answered with a smirk.

"Hmph! Go to hell!" Faster than any of us could stop him, Vegeta chucked the Dragon Ball that he'd been holding in his arms this entire time as far away from the Ginyu Force as he could manage, but Burter had been half-expecting that. The tall blue alien who'd prided himself on being the 'fastest in the galaxy' immediately leapt into action, flying after the dragon ball, retrieving it, and flying back before Vegeta's feet had even touched the ground. 

"That's... insane!" Piccolo couldn't help but exclaim.

"Nice try!" Burter retorted.

"You're so quick, mate." Jeice congratulated his buddy on the quick retrieval of the ball, making the Ginyus all laugh like something incredibly funny had just happened.

"Nice try, Vegeta, but my friend Burter here just loves a good game of catch." Ginyu said, making Burter puff his chest out in a display of pride.

"H-how?!" Krillin and Gohan exclaimed almost in sync.

"Now, the other one." Ginyu waved his hand in a 'give it here' gesture.

"Not going to happen!" Piccolo, who'd been carrying our own Dragon Ball, took immediate action. Gathering as much energy as he could into his hand, he... punched thin air. Guldo had stopped time and taken the Dragon Ball from the Namekian in a single breath. "Where'd it go?!" He wondered.

His question was immediately answered, when we all noticed a heavily panting Guldo holding it in his hands. Vegeta clicked his tongue.

"So, it's true what they say. Guldo really can freeze time." He muttered.

"Freeze... time?!" Piccolo growled, realizing the significance of that skill. Even though it was wasted on Guldo.

"Seems to tire him out a bit, though. He's breathing almost as funny as he looks." I joked, making Guldo growl. Unfortunately, the atmosphere wasn't great for joking, and nobody laughed.

"Freezing time is impossible!" Krillin said. Honestly, all you needed was the ability to break the natural flow of things. Anyone around the strength of Jiren could do it without much effort. My girls had done it to the entire planet to ensure this meeting.

"Yeah, just keep thinking that." Guldo laughed, glad that at least someone was treating his power seriously. His glaring shifted from Vegeta to me, though thanks to my joke.

"Alright. We have what we came for. Now, to deal with these six. Numbers are a bit lopsided, but try to treat them nicely, boys." Ginyu said.

"Alright! Time to kill all of them except for Vegeta!" Recoome exclaimed.