Chapter 110 – Frieza’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

~ At The Same Time ~

Ajax folded his arms firmly over his chest, staring out at the horizon stoically. His mind replayed the recent moment when he had instructed Bulma and Jaco to withdraw and keep clear of the imminent battle. Their part in the Namek campaign was over, and now their only task was to stay safe.

Thankfully, they hadn't needed convincing—they'd readily agreed, offering their goodbyes and well wishes before departing in Jaco's spaceship, vanishing into the distance.

Meanwhile, Mushin, following Ajax's instructions, had hidden himself at a nearby vantage point, remaining out of sight but still within reach. A faint orange thread of energy connected them—an extra layer of insurance Ajax was sure he'd need against Frieza.

For a brief time, a delicate calm lingered in the air, like the eerie silence before a violent storm. The only tension that plagued them had been the knowledge of what lay ahead—the certainty of facing an enemy entire leagues beyond their pay grade.

It was, of course, utterly terrifying, like staring at death square in the eyes.

And Ajax was in no way immune to that pressure. His hands trembled, slick with sweat, and his breaths grew shallow, hardly the image of a battle-ready warrior. And now, with the clock ticking down and the final battle drawing near, those nerves only wound tighter.

But he wasn't alone in that regard.

Krillin had fared no better, and poor Gohan had even hurled, unable to cope with the suffocating pressure that seeped into their very bones. Even Goku remained uncharacteristically silent.

Moments like these never made it into the anime.

Ajax's far-reaching Ki sense picked up the energies rapidly converging on their position. He felt it distinctly: Nappa and Vegeta barreling toward them at a breakneck pace, their fury propelling them like a pair of raging comets. They must have pieced together the betrayal shortly after the second wish—hardly a challenging conclusion for Ajax to reach, given that they'd immediately decided to obliterate his multi-form clone without even waiting for an explanation.

However, despite their strength, Ajax could barely sense them. Their energies were mere flickers compared to the two colossal, sun-like presences closing in from the opposite direction.

Indeed, Frieza and Slug were fast approaching, their power levels so overwhelming that they drowned out all else like twin stars devouring the sky. Ajax swallowed hard. They had maybe five minutes, at best, before the true monsters arrived.

Under ordinary circumstances, Ajax might have found some comfort in the knowledge that his meticulous planning would see them through. But something had shifted—something beyond the plan he'd been following all this time—a deviation from the original timeline that threw everything off balance.

In the original showdown against Frieza, Krillin and Gohan's power levels had climbed to around 100,000 each. Vegeta, thanks to a frankly bullshit Zenkai boost, had rocketed far past them. While the exact figure was never explicitly revealed, Vegeta's power level had become staggering enough to challenge Frieza's first form, which clocked in to be around half a million.

Those numbers had been engraved in Ajax's mind as a clear benchmark, a tangible goal for everyone to reach before facing the tyrant. Yet, the reality before him was starkly different—and disturbingly so. Krillin and Gohan's Ki barely reached 35,000 each, a far cry from the strength they'd attained in the original story.

And Vegeta, who should've towered over them in terms of power, seemed to hover just below Jeice's maximum, but not by much. It didn't make any sense.

What was going on? Was it true then? Had Toriyama-Sensei really manipulated reality to suit the narrative, and now that this world had to adhere to reality, those leaps in power just weren't possible?

The thought sat like a stone in his gut. If that was true, then it implied that the miraculous boosts that had made survival barely possible in the original story might not materialize here. If this was the case, then they were about to enter the final battle at a quarter of the strength they'd had in canon, and against an opponent like Frieza, Kaio-ken or not—that was practically a death sentence.

Ajax felt sweat sliding down his forehead, each droplet marking the seconds slipping away as Frieza approached. His throat tightened, and he swallowed hard. This wasn't just bad—it was catastrophic.

They might be well and truly screwed.

'You need not worry, young Ajax.'

The sudden voice in his head startled Ajax so badly that he practically jumped a foot in the air, his heart pounding against his ribcage. He whipped his head around wildly, scanning his surroundings, before the realization hit him. It was Guru. Of course it was.

'Ever since you revealed the future to me, I have been contemplating my place within this "canon" of yours,' Guru continued, his tone thoughtful, almost melancholic. 'And I have come to the conclusion that I played a much larger role behind the scenes than the narrative ever attributed to me.'

Ajax blinked, taken aback. He had never even considered that possibility; it literally hadn't even crossed his mind.

'One particular detail from your memories disturbed me deeply.' Guru went on, cutting off Ajax's train of thought. 'It was said that I died of stress, a natural cause, yet I was able to be revived by Earth's Dragon Balls. However, upon being brought back, I did not live for much longer before passing again. If my death had truly been artificial enough for the Dragon Balls to consider it "unnatural," then that second, natural death should not have followed so swiftly. No, my lifeforce was completely spent—far more than it should have been, even in my advanced age.'

Ajax blinked again.

'Uh, well—wasn't that just a plot hole? I mean, there are some somewhat reasonable explanations, right? Maybe the stress pushed you beyond your limit, making it a premature, 'unnatural' death. And that second death could've just been for the sake of moving the plot along, you know, to keep things going?'

'…'

Ajax winced at the silence that followed. He could practically feel Guru's unimpressed judgment radiating through their connection. Dragging a hand down his face, Ajax felt the heat creeping up his cheeks. 'Right, sorry. This isn't a story. I forgot.'

A warm, gentle chuckle filled Ajax's mind, softening the awkwardness.

'Indeed, young Ajax. But the point I wish to convey is this: Zenkai is not as miraculous an ability as your story portrayed. It's not some magical force that bends the laws of reality to ensure the heroes win. It's a biological process, a result of evolution, and as such, it must follow logical constraints and principles.'

Ajax frowned but remained silent, waiting patiently for Guru to continue.

'Zenkai cannot enhance one's power from the mere hundreds of thousands to millions in an instant, not when its previous enhancement range had been in the ten thousands. Such an inconsistent and sudden leap defies all natural laws. That kind of explosive growth must have been aided by a catalyst—something that was never shown explicitly but was undeniably present.'

Ajax's eyes flew wide open as the realization crashed over him.

'My conclusion is that I sacrificed what remained of my Life Ki and shared it with all of you,' Guru explained gently. 'In that reality, I had been pushing them forward, enabling them to continuously shatter their limits. Here, their powers are indeed growing, but at a natural pace, unassisted by my influence.'

'And that greatly enhanced their power but left you significantly weakened, which is why you were on the brink of death even after being wished back to life!'

'Precisely, my boy.'

Ajax rested his hand on his chin, deep in thought. With Slug present this time around, Guru needed to conserve his strength to deal with his other half. As a result, the Z Fighters had to reach that strength on their own without relying on Guru actively infusing them with Ki, which was why their power levels appeared so much lower.

However, this situation was unlike the Ki-sharing method the Z Fighters had previously utilized, where they pooled their collective energy into a single fighter—typically Goku—for a temporary enhancement, as seen against Z Broly or Super Android 13. Those boosts were short-lived, fading away as soon as the fight ended.

But what Guru was describing seemed...permanent—a total transfer of life force. In fact, it sounded a bit like fusion.

Curiosity surged within him. There was something deeper here, something beyond the basic principles of energy manipulation he had learned from Kami. If he could understand this process, then maybe—just maybe—he'd have another path forward, a new avenue for increasing his power.

"How does this work, I wonder?" Ajax murmured, more to himself than to anyone else. "Ki sharing isn't meant to be permanent. Ki doesn't simply... merge like that; not in a way that lasts. It's always been temporary."

'No, no, my boy. You misunderstand. I am not sharing Ki with you; I'm sharing Life Ki,' Guru corrected patiently.

'Okay, and Life Ki is... not Ki?'

A rich, hearty laugh resonated in Ajax's mind, pulling him out of his reverie.

'Oh, my dear, naïve boy,' Guru chuckled, brimming with warmth and a hint of fondness. 'None of you—none, not even Kata's boy—truly understand what Ki is.'

Ajax had always known there were gaps in his understanding of Ki. But now, the curiosity actually burned him from within. He really wanted to know—no, he needed to.

'There's an ancient saying from my people,' Guru continued, his tone now tinged with nostalgia. '"When you master Ki—truly master it—you will find yourself in a realm beyond the reach of others. By mastering Ki, you uncover solutions to problems that others have no solutions for. Feats that you never thought possible become possible—for you." But, unfortunately, this isn't the time for a lesson.'

Ajax jolted, recognizing the familiar words. 

'Wait!' His plea burst out. 'If I could just get an idea—'

Guru cut him off gently but firmly.

'You were a scientist in another life, were you not, young Ajax? Or at the very least, you possessed the qualifications to become one. Now that you have a subject, I am confident you will, in due course, uncover the truths you seek. I look forward to reading your thesis.'

Ajax's breath hitched at the mention of the word "scientist." It felt like a lifetime ago, but the skills and the methodical approach toward understanding the world still resided within him, dormant and quietly waiting to be awakened.

A thick mental silence settled between them.

'Farewell, my boy,' Guru finally said, carrying a warmth that softened the finality of his words. 'I'm confident we will meet again someday, but in the meantime, if you ever wish to find me, I'm sure you can find me lounging around in Hell somewhere.'

With that, his voice faded into silence, leaving behind a quiet emptiness. The mental connection snapped, leaving not even a ghostly tether behind. For a fleeting moment, Ajax just stood there, staring blankly into the distance as he tried to process everything.

Then it happened.

A sudden wave of energy flickered at the edge of his perception, moving so impossibly fast that he nearly overlooked it.

By the time Ajax realized what was happening, the process was already complete. He'd only detected it because he had been expecting it and had mentally braced himself for something extraordinary. His allies, however, were far less prepared and missed the moment entirely.

Gohan and Krillin drew sharp breaths, eyes wide with shock as their Ki erupted, skyrocketing at an astonishing rate. Ajax could feel their power exploding upward, each of them rapidly exceeding the 100,000 thresholds they had originally attained in the canonical timeline.

And Ajax himself? He felt his own Ki soaring, an endless stream of energy welling up from within until it stabilized just over a quarter million.

Goku—in Ginyu's body—seemed unaffected by this, his power level stagnant. Ajax wasn't surprised; Goku's original body must have already been empowered by Guru's 'Life Ki', while Ginyu's original body had not received such a gift.

Ajax let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. Relief flooded him, momentarily loosening the tight knot of anxiety that had been lodged in his chest. This was a significant leap forward for their odds, though it hadn't come without a price.

Ajax's gaze fell upon the Dragon Balls. Porunga hadn't faded yet, so Guru wasn't gone.

In the end, they had only a few scarce minutes to acclimate to their newfound power. Because then, it was time to face the music.

A thunderous boom reverberated as Vegeta and Nappa crash-landed with all the subtlety of an erupting volcano. The ground shook beneath them, cracks spiderwebbing outward from the point of impact. Both were seething with rage.

"I KNEW IT! YOU BACK-STABBING, DISHONORABLE—"

"Shut the hell up, Vegeta!" Ajax snapped back, falling back on his planned response for the Prince of Saiyans. "We did jackshit! There were three wishes: the first reversed the body change, the second made everyone stronger, and we saved the last one for you! Now hurry up before Frieza arrives!"

The lie slipped from Ajax's tongue effortlessly, but his tone carried the urgency of someone who had no patience left to give.

For once, Vegeta was rendered speechless, stunned out of his rage.

His expression shifted, anger melting into a pleasant surprise, and something dangerously close to gratitude flickered across his face. Exchanging a look with Nappa, both Saiyans seemed to piece together what that earlier surge in their Ki—that incredible influx of power—had been.

Without wasting another second, Vegeta spun toward Porunga, eyes blazing with ambition and desire.

"Dragon! I wish for immortality!"

However, Porunga remained unresponsive, the colossal dragon staring down at them with impatient, radiant eyes, as if Vegeta's words had gone unheard.

"Maybe try shouting louder; he probably didn't catch that," Ajax quipped, unable to resist taking a jab. He kept his tone light, framing it as friendly advice.

Vegeta snapped his head around, confusion and suspicion twisting into a snarl as he glared at Ajax, but he had no time for much else.

In that instant, the atmosphere shifted; a heavy power crashed down on them, nearly forcing them to their knees as they struggled to draw breath under the suffocating pressure. A bone-chilling presence had finally made itself known on the battlefield.

Frieza had arrived.

The ground quaked as the Emperor made his entrance, descending from above like a dark celestial entity. He paused, hovering in mid-air at eye level with Porunga, embodying regal malice.

Frieza, however, paid little heed to the Z Fighters, casting only a brief glance in their direction. His attention was razor-sharp, locked onto one thing and one thing only: a Namekian who could translate his wish to the massive, glowing dragon before him.

Any amusement or curiosity Frieza might have typically shown toward the colorful characters within Z Fighters' ragtag ensemble was eclipsed by the mounting frustration that there was, in fact, not a single Namekian in sight.

But Frieza wasn't the only one to arrive. In the next moment, another energy signature erupted—hot, fierce, and chaotic—crackling through the air like a bolt of lightning and radiating the tortured screams of countless souls.

In the far distance, Slug appeared as well, having fallen just a step behind Frieza's speed.

Frieza released a deep, primal roar of fury before turning to face Slug, and his rage manifested as a furious barrage of Death Beams.

But Slug's form blurred between the beams with effortless ease. Even as he moved, Slug's eyes remained locked on Porunga, a feral grin twisting his lips. He opened his mouth and bellowed something in Namekian even before he had reached the battlefield.

"Πορούνγκα, Αιώνιος Δράκος των Ονείρων! Εύχομαι να ζήσω για πάντα στη φυσική μου ακμή!".

Slug's commanding words rang out, and Ajax's heart sank like a stone. What was Guru doing?! This wasn't part of the plan—this couldn't be happening!

A surge of panic washed over Ajax as his eyes focused on Slug's figure in the distance, but just as he did, a sudden searing pain shot through his chest, robbing him of breath just as he was about to speak up. He doubled over, gasping as a violent fit of coughing wrenched itself from his throat. Crimson flecks splattered against his palm, and he stared down at it, stunned. Blood.

"No, no, no—not now!" he hissed, clutching his chest. He couldn't comprehend it; he had adapted to his illness—or at least he thought he had. Was it the immense pressure from Frieza's and Slug's auras that triggered it again? Was it the stress? Perhaps the Kaioken had pushed his body beyond its limits?

But undeniably, heat flared in his lungs, and the sickness he believed he had overcome roared back to life with a vengeance.

Ajax lifted his gaze just in time to see Porunga's massive head shift slightly, acknowledging Slug's command with a thumbs-up.

Ajax's blood ran cold even as he continued to cough.

Above everyone, Porunga's eyes glowed an eerie, blood-red hue, the light intensifying until it was almost blinding. Then, just as quickly as it had appeared, the glow began to fade.

But the glow continued to fade, the brilliant crimson eventually dulling into a lifeless black.

Suddenly, Porunga shuddered, his massive form shaking violently as if an unseen force were squeezing the life from him. Cracks began to appear along his scales, spreading out from his chest and limbs at an alarming pace.

By this point, everyone realized something had gone horribly wrong.

"No… no, no, NO!" Krillin's voice was raw and frantic. Gohan stood frozen beside him, unable to look away from the distressing sight before him. Even Vegeta, usually composed, took a step back, his jaw clenched as his eyes darted frantically between the Dragon Balls and the withering creature above them.

Porunga's colossal body began to turn to stone, the once-vibrant emerald scales transforming into ashen rock, as if caught in the petrifying gaze of Medusa. His spines cracked, fragments breaking off and crumbling into dust, while his once-mighty tail collapsed into rubble in an instant.

With one final, shuddering breath, Porunga's head solidified into stone, his eyes fading into lifeless orbs. Then, with a sound resembling cracking thunder, his massive form imploded, disintegrating into dust and sand that scattered across the desolate landscape.

The seven Dragon Balls rose into the sky, as if to scatter, but lost strength and ultimately crashed down heavily to the ground, embedding themselves into the earth. Each impact shook the ground, but they ultimately came to rest, half-buried and motionless—reduced to nothing more than unremarkable gray marble.

Above, the sky gradually transitioned from its grim darkness back to its natural brightness. The three suns of Namek broke through the clouds, their brilliant rays dispersing the unnatural storm clouds that had gathered.

For several seconds, no one moved. All eyes were glued to the Dragon Balls that had turned into cold and lifeless stones.

As everyone attempted to comprehend the bizarre occurrence, a strangled cry captured their attention.

"GUH!" Slug's voice was hoarse, ragged with pain and disbelief. He tripped over nothing, stumbling mid-air as if something had drained him of all his strength. Unable to maintain his flight, he crashed to the ground with a loud thud.

Slug struggled to his knees but remained hunched over, clutching his chest and bowing in despair at the realization that he had yet to return to the peak of his youth.

He looked up, and the images of seven gray stones reflected in his wild eyes.

"No... NOO!" He coughed violently, blood splattering onto the ground before him. "Damn you, Guru, damn you, DAMN YOU!!" His voice rose into a hoarse, furious scream that echoed across the wasteland—a cry filled with raw, unfiltered hatred from a soul denied, from a being who had grasped victory, only for it to be torn from his hand by the one who knew him best.

Then Slug began to fade.

His body turned translucent, the edges blurring and shimmering like light. Bit by bit, his form disintegrated into countless tiny motes of light, drifting upward like embers caught in the wind.

His roar of rage abruptly cut off, and within moments, there was nothing left. No body, no trace, not even a whispering echo of his final roar. It was as if he had never existed at all.

A deep silence enveloped the clearing, the kind that seemed to consume everything in its wake. Even the wind had quieted.

Ajax stood there, his eyes narrowed and his heart racing in his chest.

'Nice. One down, one to go,' he repeated in his mind, but the words felt weightier now, for what awaited ahead was an even greater terror.

Because now only Frieza remained.

***

DBA Corner: Guru's Potential Unlock and Life Ki

Hello, everyone! It's been a HOT minute since we last had one of these—our last Corner was all the way back in chapter 66, a full 44 chapters ago!

If you've stuck around long enough to read this paragraph, then I would highly recommend reading this section to the end, as it provides context that won't be deeply explained in the story itself (I mean, who really wants to read an extensive monologue right before the Frieza fight, right?).

So, let's dive right in. This DBA Corner is here to clarify Guru's "potential unlock," the "buff" granted to the Z Fighters, and a quick teaser about "Life Ki."

As always, the following are my interpretations. They are canon within DB Alternative, but not necessarily to the original story.

To start, Guru's potential unlock, as seen when he empowered Gohan and Krillin in the original story, shouldn't be described as "potential unlock," despite that being what the fan community typically calls it. What Guru is actually doing is drawing out all of a person's latent power—the strength they already possess but cannot access for various reasons. Guru himself says something to this effect in the anime by referring to the unleashed power as "latent" or "dormant."

In essence, this means that Guru's power-up draws out the maximum power a person can reach with their current physical capabilities—the absolute limit of what they can handle. In theory, if someone trained to ABSOLUTE perfection, meticulously fine-tuning every aspect of their abilities, Guru wouldn't be able to draw out anything more, as all their latent power would already be fully realized.

Now, on the other hand, if a person's potential is increased, their future upper limit is raised, which might enhance their talent or training speed but shouldn't instantly boost their current power.

This is because potential represents the maximum strength a person could ever achieve. Once someone reaches that peak, there's no way for them to become stronger, as they've already hit their limit. Of course, most people have only effectively realized a portion of their maximum potential, which is the power they can currently access. The rest of their potential remains untapped and unrealized.

So, once again, Guru's ability isn't about unlocking someone's latent or unrealized potential but rather tapping into realized potential—the latent power someone had already achieved but could not yet tap into.

This differs from the Ultra Divine Water, which directly boosts potential at the expense of life force. For those interested in revisiting the UBA Corner on UDW, it is located back in Chapter 26.

Now, Guru's sharing of Life Ki is NOT the same as his initial "potential unlock." It has actually been mentioned prior in the story under a different name. Life Ki is the same "Life Force" that UDW permanently depletes in exchange for potential. When Life Ki is running low, a person becomes more vulnerable to illness, and if it depletes entirely, they die. In this story, if someone ever runs out of Ki and dies, what they've actually exhausted is their Life Ki.

NOTE: This boost isn't an additional layer on top of the BS Zenkai boost that Goku and Vegeta received in the original story. Instead, this is the explanation for that exaggerated power increase. Because honestly, this part of the story is just notorious for inconsistency with Zenkai and power levels. So, in DB Alternative, rather than everyone getting unexpectedly massive Zenkai boosts—or in Krillin and Gohan's case, a power-up without much explanation—this is the mechanism used to bring everyone to where they were in the original timeline.

As you might have guessed by now, Life Ki isn't the same as regular Ki. What Guru did here isn't typical either, as the VAST majority of people cannot control their Life Ki at all. Guru, however, possesses exceptional talent in this regard.

As for what Life Ki is exactly... well, Ajax is still trying to figure that out, so no spoilers! All I can say is that once Life Ki is revealed during the Cell Saga and after, these past DBAs will take on a whole new meaning...

***

*As requested by one of my readers, here's a quick snapshot of everyone's current power levels right before facing Frieza (saves me the hassle of finding a reason to list them in the story).

Power Levels (for characters with Ki Control, assume they are at max exertion):

Frieza (Final Form): 120,000,000

Vegeta: 620,000

Nappa: 181,000

Krillin: 112,000

Gohan: 124,000

Goku-Ginyu: 125,000

Ajax: 276,000

Piccolo: ??

Goku-Original Body: ??

Miscellaneous Power Levels

Slug (Old-Age): 40,000,000

Jeice/Injured: 103,000/32,000

Jaco: 850

Bulma: 12

Ginyu-Frog: 0.0001