Gally sat quietly, watching the moon, her robotic arms hugging her also robotic knees as she sat on an old abandoned tower high above Scrap Iron City, not that anyone but those who lived there would really call the pile of scrap and debris a city.
Actually, the real city floated high above, called Zalem. Rumor was that everyone in Zalem was wealthy, there was no crime, and no one got sick... ever. Gally knew of only one one person who had even been there, and he had proof in the small mark he had on his forehead, the man she called her father, Daisuke Ido.
She sighed and stretched, watching the moon slowly float through the sky behind Zalem as she remembered the last time she had looked into the sky for so long, That was when she had lost the love of her life... Yugo.
But that was a few months ago, and she had somehow managed to put that behind her, mostly by keeping herself busy in her job as a Hunter-Warrior, a bounty hunter.
Since she and the other Hunter-Warriors had done a good job lately, she had some time off and had decided to be alone for a while, and had climbed up here, one of her favorite spots in the whole city, an old abandoned tower that reminded of a book she read about knights and wizards and the castles they lived in.
She yawned, suddenly tired, and decided to head for home before she fell asleep on this tower.
As she leapt down the tower's sections one by one, her robotic body easily cushioned her landings with special joints, the sound being muffled by the brown, knee high leather boots and trenchcoat she wore over a black form-fitting sleeveless jumpsuit.
As he finally reached the ground and walked out into the street, it started raining. Pulling her trenchcoat closer around her, she jogged for home, smiling as she thought of Ido warming up a cup of cocoa by the stove.
Turning a corner at a full sprint, she tripped over a young girl, instinctively tucking and rolling with her amazing reflexes so as not to hurt the child by falling on top of her.
"I'm sorry." Gally said, as she stood up and turned around. The young girl was on her knees holding her head and crying softly, obviously in pain.
Gally knelt down next to her and pushed the bangs from her eyes, and gasped.
She was looking at a human version of herself, only younger.
The young girl had shoulder length black hair, straight like Gally's, and beautiful blue eyes. Other than the fact that the girl was maybe six or seven, and Gally looked around fifteen or sixteen, they could easily pass for sisters.
"There's a little green boy chasing me!" she said though her tears as Gally picked her up carefully.
"Ok, calm down, you're safe now." Gally replied, smiling, and after the little girls tears subsided, Gally walked into a dry alcove asked her a few more questions.
"So, what's your name?"
"Alita." she replied, smiling now as the rain let up a little bit.
"Do you live around here?" Gally asked softly, but in the back of her mind, she thought, Why is that name so familiar?.
"Nope." she replied "I don't have a home."
"No parents?"
Alita sniffled and shook her head.
"No, Mommy died a few weeks ago and I never knew my Daddy"
"Well then, I guess I'll just have to take you home with me for now." Gally replied.
Alita looked around, then asked, "What about the green boy?", obviously frightened.
"Don't worry, he can't hurt you now."
"I don't think he wanted to hurt me, but he scared me and I ran away." Alita replied softly
Gally put the little girl up on her shoulders and began the walk home, singing a song that she had heard earlier that day, but keeping her eyes open for anything or anyone suspicious.
A short time later, as Gally held the young Alita in her arms and climbed the steps to her home with Ido, she heard something in a nearby alleyway, and she whirled around to see none other than a small, green boy.
He was wearing robes and he had two antennae on his bald green head, he had pointy ears on either side of a face that seemed non-threatening.
"You know, you should take that costume off." Gally said as she walked toward the young boy. "It's pretty neat, but you might scare the wrong person and get yourself hurt."
"This isn't a costume." he replied, stepping toward her and smiling. "I guess I got mixed up, and chased the wrong person."
"I can see why." Gally said, looking at the sleeping Alita she held in her arms.
"Yes, I mistook her for you, but now I know you are the one I was looking for."
"Gally?" Ido's voice echoed suddenly through the empty street. "Something wrong?"
"Come inside and you can explain." Gally said to the green boy, who smiled and nodded his head eagerly. "I dunno what's going on, but at least I know you aren't going to hurt anyone."
As they walked into the house, Ido simply stared at the trio and scratched his head. I'm getting too old for this he thought, closing the steel door on the cold, dreary night.
"Let me get this straight," Ido said, looking at the small green boy. "You say your name's Dende, and you're from another dimension?"
"Yes." the boy replied, hoping he wouldn't have to explain is all again.
"And you need my help?" Gally said quietly.
"You're the only one who can help me and my friends."
Gally stood up, momentarily looking down at Alita, sleeping peacefully on the couch. She shrugged. "Well then, I guess I'll have to go with you."
"Gally, you can't be serious!" Ido exclaimed, standing abruptly.
"They need my help." she replied "I can't turn him down after all his friends had to do to get him here."
"But you don't know what you're getting into!"
"This body you gave me is strong, and I'll never realize what I can do with it taking out the small time spine thieves and brain eaters here," she paused for a moment, deep in thought, "Besides, helping people is what I live for... and fighting to do it is such a rush."
Ido wanted to argue his point further, but when he saw the look of silent determination on Gally's face, he sighed softly and gave in, knowing once she decided to do something, she would never quit.
"You're right, you should help, you're smart enough and strong enough to take care of yourself, and I can't make you do anything you don't want to."
Gally giggled and hugged Ido, who smiled.
"Since you'll be gone a while, you should take this." he said when she finally let go, and he walked to the corner of the room and rolled out a familiar box.
"I can't..."
"I'm still healing from the last bounty." Ido replied, remembering the ugly guy with the jagged knife that had found a temporary home in his left shoulder. "Besides, it may be useful."
She took the case, and looked up at Ido.
He smiled, "Be careful, and come back in one piece."
Gally hugged Ido fiercely, and Dende smiled, knowing she was truly the one...
He just prayed his friends could hold out a little longer.
In Dende's home dimension, another green Namekian, Piccolo, stood silently in a cliff overlooking a small house in the forest.
As he watched the house, a young boy and his father were sparring at rapid fire speeds in the back yard, invisible to most people, but not to Piccolo, nor to Vegeta, who floated nearby, scowling as usual.
"Kakkarot thinks sparring with his own son is going to raise his fighting power?" he muttered.
"Gohan is more powerful than you give him credit for." Piccolo replied smoothly "I've trained him, he's strong... but he needs to learn to control his rage."
Vegeta's lip curled up in a sneer, his idea of a smile.
"Rage can be a weapon, if used correctly."
Piccolo said nothing, not wanting to agree with the Sayajin, but realizing he was correct.
Meanwhile, Gohan threw everything he had at his father, rapid punches and kicks that kept both him and his father on their toes. Finally Gohan threw a final punch that his dad, Goku, actually missed, and it caught in square in the jaw, sending him twenty feet in the sky as Gohan stood, catching his breath.
Goku quickly shook off the pain and stopped in mid-air, looking at his son drop into a fighting stance, and he couldn't help but smile.
"OK Gohan, that's enough for now." he said, landing softly next to his son.
"But Dad, I'm still ready for more, Piccolo never let me have a break just because I was tired."
"It's not because you're tired Gohan," he replied, looking at his wife, Chi-Chi, through the kitchen window of the house. "If we aren't ready when your mom yells 'Dinner', not even the power of a Super Sayajin will stop her from going on the warpath."
Gohan sat down, laughing as he pictured his mom throwing frying pans and silverware at his dad.
"Besides, training does make me hungry." Goku said, smiling ad Gohan nodded in agreement.
"Just like you Kakkarot, thinking with your stomach, and letting a woman push you around."
Piccolo smirked. "You haven't seen Chi-chi mad yet Vegeta, she makes Frieza look like a fish out of water."
With this, Goku burst into laughter, Gohan doing the same.
Vegeta scowled and landed, walking toward the house just as Chi-chi stuck her head out the window.
"Dinner's ready...".
The moment she saw her husband and son sitting in the dirt, their clothes ripped and torn from their training, she scowled.
"Nothing for you two until you get cleaned up!"
As Chi-chi slammed the window, they just smiled and headed off to get cleaned up. Piccolo hovered into the air, and sat down. Closing his eyes, he waited for Dende to return, knowing that time was running out.
As Gally sprinted down a main road, people leapt aside and watched as she and her small green friend headed toward the alley where had originally appeared. Dende was flying alongside her, barely able to keep up, even with the extra weight of Ido's rocket hammer now securely strapped to her back.
"We're here." he said and she slid to a stop in front of a glowing doorway in what Gally knew to be a solid metal wall.
"OK, I'm ready." Gally said quietly as Dende landed and walked in front of the door.
"Not quite, I should explain how things work in my dimension."
Dende spent a few minutes explaining about some of the different races and fighting techniques he knew of.
Gally was fascinated. A whole other dimension of powerful people for me to test out my Panzer Kunst techniques on, and I may not even have to pull my punches she thought.
"...and that's, generally, how it is, the rest you'll have to pick up when you get there." Dende finished.
No sooner had she replied "I understand", than the doorway began to resonate with tremendous energy. Then Dende simply walked through it.
She turned to take one last look at the only city she knew, and sighed.
"I guess this means I'm growing up... here I am leaving home already."
With that, she turned and hopped through the doorway, hearing it close behind her as she floated through a bluish corridor toward another portal which she knew must hold the key to her future... at least for now.
Piccolo whirled the second he felt it.
It was a massive power fluctuation, but a familiar one, and Piccolo watched as the doorway opened and Dende walked out of it.
Nail, Dende's old friend, now sharing a body with Piccolo watched as well.
"Nice going Dende." Nail's voice came out of Piccolo's mouth. Dende smiled, turning to watch for the other traveler through his dimensional doorway to appear.
"I still don't see how some girl robot is gonna solve all of our problems." Piccolo said, scowling.
"She's powerful" Dende replied over his shoulder. "Wait and see."
"Wait and see what?" Vegeta said, landing next to the two Nameks.
"Her." Dende said, pointing.
Gally appeared in a flash as the door disappeared behind her, her hair flowing in the sudden wind, and she looked around at the beautiful greenery and plant life.
"Wow." she said. "nothing grows in Scrap Iron City unless you grow it yourself, and even that takes lots of work."
Grabbing Gally's hand, Dende led her to his two friends, both of whom were standing in awe of the power they felt.
"Piccolo, Vegeta, this is Gally."
She looked at Piccolo first, holding out her hand to shake his. He simply stood there, mouth open in shock.
"Um... nice to meet you." she said. Smiling, she turned toward Vegeta, who by now had began to float off the ground slightly.
"You may be powerful, but I still don't see why we need you." he said, looking her over like a child looks at a broken toy.
"First of all." she replied, her smile disappearing in an instant at his tone. "Just because you do that really neat floating trick doesn't mean you're powerful, Dende does that much."
Gally strolled past Vegeta as he made a fist in rising anger.
"Second, I didn't come here for you, I came to help Dende, so..." Gally made a stupid face and stuck out her tongue at him.
Vegeta was furious, and he began to power up, Piccolo grabbed Dende and flew backward to stay out of range of the coming fight.
"Careful Gally!" Dende yelled. He didn't want this fight, but knew it was the only way Vegeta would understand why they needed her.
"Prepare to be destroyed, robot!" Vegeta screamed, throwing a basketball sized ki blast at her.
Gally simply grabbed it with two hands, held it for a moment, she smiled, dribbling it then tossing it back at Vegeta, who dove aside as it bounced once and exploded behind him.
"Impossible." he exclaimed, powering up another, larger blast.
"Now what, 'volleyball'?" she said, standing in place watching him carefully.
"Take this!" he yelled. "Final Flash!"
He placed both palms against each other in front of him and poured a massive amount of energy into a beam aimed at Gally.
She raised her arms in front of her face and the beam split in two, flowing around her like water around sword blade.
Vegeta ended the attack, standing and catching his breath slightly.
"I don't want to fight you now, but I will if I have to."
As the Sayajin again snarled and powered up, Gally simply sighed and walked toward him.
With a yell, Vegeta unleashed a barrage of medium sized ki blasts at the apparently unaware Gally, and as the first few shots struck her and a huge cloud of smoke enveloped her, he smiled and continued the machine gun ki blasts, unleashing everything in the way of power he could spare and threw it at her in a continuous assault.
Finally, spent, he let loose the last ki he had into a ball the size of a small house and tossed it into the smoke, knowing it couldn't miss at the size it was, and chuckled as he stood, panting and sweating from the exertion.
The smoke rolled and billowed on silently after the noise of all the explosions died off, and after a few tense moments, Gally appeared from of the massive cloud, smudged and dirty, but otherwise unhurt.
"What!" Vegeta exclaimed, his eyes showing fear and uncertainty. "Impossible!"
Gally stopped a few feet from the Sayajin, and began combing her hair with her hands.
"Are you done now?" she asked sweetly, her head tilting slightly sideways in a mock gesture of curiosity.
By this time, Goku and Gohan landed on either side of Vegeta, both shirtless, but clean now, and both ready for anything.
"Goku! Gohan!" Dende cried as he ran up from behind Gally, who stood in place quietly. "This is the girl I was telling you about!"
Piccolo too landed next to the warriors, and looked into the face of the young robotic girl.
"You're immune to our ki." he reasoned correctly.
"Is that what you call it?" Gally replied, looking into his eyes as well.
After seeing confused faces all around, Piccolo smiled.
"Gally here is immune to any ki attack, or so it would seem."
"How is that possible?" Goku wondered aloud.
"Simple." Dende replied, himself smiling now.
"Ki is a living energy," he replied, choosing his words with care "and those who wield it are alive, or at least have some form of living tissue in them. Gally does not, and is not affected by it."
"None?" Gohan said, taking a step forward in astonishment.
Gally shrugged her slender shoulders and sighed.
"I'm all machine. I was found in a trash pile and given a body by a man I call father, though I really don't know anything about where I come from."
"That's not all true." Vegeta cut in abruptly. "I can sense you... faintly."
"I do have a human brain." she shot back just as quickly. "That is as far as it goes, the rest is one-hundred percent machine."
Goku smiled, stepping forward and shaking Gally's hand.
"I sense potential here... and after dinner, we'll begin the training."
"Training for what?" she replied as everyone grew quiet.
"He's a clone of a very powerful adversary we fought not too long ago." Vegeta added, remembering the last time he had tangled with the evil force that had taken his life.
"This guy have a name?" Gally replied.
"Frieza." Dende replied, and the mention of the name drew a silence that scared even Gally.
Meanwhile, a small figure flew toward Earth in silent rage as he waited for the sweet revenge against the ones who were somehow responsible for his demise.
Fools he thought, wishing he could scream the anger he felt, but he needed air to do that, and though he could survive in space indefinitely without problems, he needed air to form the sounds he so longed to make.
He wasn't sure how, or even who was responsible, but somehow he had been defeated on the planet Namek and was now a clone of his original glory, hurtled from the planet as it had exploded and doomed to float in space for eternity.
Luckily he had found wreckage of his ship floating in the area around what was once Namek, and after searching for the parts he needed, he managed to make the computer work, and he located Earth. Vowing to repay those responsible for defeating him, he had started his long journey.
As he silently flew onward, he recalled the events he could remember in his head of the battle after he had taken his final form...
I had all of them defeated, they were just fools and didn't realize it yet. First I got rid of that little annoyance Dende, his healing powers would have made thing irritating. He thought with vivid clarity, remembering the fight like he was still there.
After that, they all attacked me, which was quite a nice show... too bad I was only playing and still none of the fools could touch me. Then I picked another target, Gohan I think they called him, and fired, only to have my former henchman Vegeta, Prince of the Sayajin race to save the miserable kid's life.
Spouting some babble about being a Super Sayajin, he attacked me and I soon defeated him as well, his friends looking on in such delightful fear, oh what fun. his thoughts lingered on the defenseless Vegeta, and how he had been such a nice punching bag near the end.
That was when the other one appeared... and that's who I must find... his smile faded.
Pouring on his speed, he flew toward Earth ever faster, remembering still more.
At least I only have three of them left... assuming they survived the explosion, the brat, Gohan, the Namekian, Piccolo and the other Sayajin... Goku. The thoughts of destroying two of them brought a smile to his face.
Frieza had easily imploded the bald one, Krillin they had called him, that was the one who had managed to cut off part of his tail in one of his earlier forms, not to mention the shot he had put through Vegeta's chest to silence him once and for all.
He flew onward, hoping he wouldn't have to wait much longer to finish what he started.
As she waited quietly for Goku to hide, Gally sat high in a beautiful Oak tree, trying to whistle.
She had been trying for a month or so, once seeing one of the other Hunter-Warriors whistling a tune as he sat in a corner of one of their hangouts, sharpening a large sword he carried.
Leaving Ido for a while and asking the fellow Hunter-Warrior, he smiled and agreed to teach her, and the two sat in the corner, Gally trying her hardest to whistle, the other bounty hunter patiently trying to teach her, and treating her as he would a trusted friend.
Ever since, she would try for a while before bedtime or when she was alone, but could never quite get anything other than a faint squeal as her mechanical vocal synthesizer tried to produce a sound from nothing.
Finally she stopped for now, vowing to try again later, as Gohan floated up to where she was perched high up in the massive tree.
"OK, Dad's hiding now, go find him."
Gally reacted before Gohan could follow, leaping from the beautiful tree and landing in the ground full sprint, dashing toward the woods, all without a sound.
They had been training her for a few days, in shifts, since Gally only needed a few hours of sleep, she spent the rest of the time working with her new friends on helpful techniques for the upcoming battle.
Dende had very little to teach the young bounty hunter, but he did spend time off and on telling her about his former home of Namek and it's beauty, something she much enjoyed as her human friends needed their rest.
Gohan, not as experienced in fighting as the others, was teaching her about the local plants and wildlife... not that she needed it to fight, but because she wanted to learn everything she could about the various species of animals and plants.
Piccolo had been teaching Gally about dirty tricks and tactics, so she would be ready for anything thrown at her, and had been surprised at how fast she had caught on, learning a few things himself.
Vegeta had surprisingly offered to train her as well, but in power and technique, and as the two had sparred a few times, Vegeta had slowly learned Gally's 'Panzer Kunst' style was chaotic and raw, much like his own style, and the two slowly began to talk once in a while.
Goku had decided on making Gally use her surroundings and forcing her to use less of her robotic parts and rely more on instinct, "After all," he had said "You never know if a system may be damaged and become unreliable." This was the hardest part for her, though she never let on, and never gave up.
"OK Goku, I'll find you this time." She said to her uninterested surroundings, birds flying around and the wind whipping through the trees as she watched intently.
Wait a second she said, stopping and watching the birds as they all flew away from a nearby spring If the birds are flying AWAY from the water...
In a heartbeat, Gally sprinted through the trees into the clearing that contained the beautiful spring, and she looked around carefully, finally seeing Goku's silhouette in a dark alcove under some boulders near the far end of the spring.
"Gotcha!" she said, leaping at the rocks and finding nothing but a carefully drawn outline of Goku in the dirt.
"Close." Goku's voice sounded over her shoulder, and as she slowly spun around to look at him, a small stone bounced off her forehead. Goku had thrown it at her to show her she could have been attacked, this wasn't the first time she had been hit like this.
"I SAW you" she replied, knowing she had failed again, and trying desperately not to cry.
"You saw what I WANTED you to see... anyone would have fallen for that." he replied, putting an arm around her shoulders.
"No" she replied, her eyes cold as ice. "I failed."
Shrugging off Goku and sitting on the top most boulder, Gally stared at the spring in silence.
"Don't take it so hard, it's not like Frieza is going to hide, I just don't want him sneaking up on you like I did."
Goku watched her for a while, then sighed and walked away, knowing she needed a little time too see things as they were.
Why can't I get this? Gally asked herself stubbornly This should be easy for me, but I can't understand it at all.
Hearing a twig snap behind her, Gally leapt from the rock perch she sat on, and spun to find Gohan, walking up to sit next to the boulders.
"You startled me." she replied before realizing he had crept up on her.
"Sorry." he apologized. "He fooled you too huh?"
Her sigh answered his question, and he knew he was correct.
"Yeah, I can never find him either."
"If I could use my scanners..." Gally trailed off.
"Let me show you something." he said, smiling and disappearing.
Gally fired up her dormant scanners and sensors, frantically looking for him all around the area, finally spotting him in a nearby tree a split second before he disappeared again.
Three more times Gohan appeared and disappeared in front of her various systems before Gally finally snapped, screaming and punching a tree into splinters before dropping into a ball and crying softly.
Gohan, nearly appearing in that tree, diverted quickly and landed behind Gally, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder.
"I didn't mean to scare you." he said softly. "That's a technique called 'Zanzoken' or teleportation, though it's actually just moving really fast."
She sniffled a couple of times.
"I couldn't keep up... I can't sense you or scan you... it was like I couldn't do anything to stop you, or even keep up."
"Maybe since you're immune to living energy, you can't track it either."
"Probably."
"I can teach you how to do it, the 'Zanzoken'." Gohan smiled.
Gally looked over her shoulder, ignoring the last few tears flowing from her eyes.
"Would you?" she asked quietly.
"Sure." Gohan said, standing and holding out his hand to help her up.
"And don't worry," he added as she dusted herself off as best she could and drying her beautiful face on her sleeve. "This is just between you and me."
Earth
Frieza smiled, and flew toward the large blue sphere as fast as he could force himself to go, plotting the destruction of those who had defeated him.
The massive explosion shook the countryside as Goku floated in midair, fully powered up to his Super Sayajin form, while Gally appeared on top of a ruin of a cliff in a blur.
"Where did you learn that?" Goku asked, landing nearby to see if his massive blast had even affected her in the least.
"I promised not to tell." she replied, but seeing the look on his face, she added quietly "Someone you know and trust taught me, that's all I can say."
"Fair enough." he replied. "Now, show me what you got..."
"Daddy!" Gohan's voice shattered the stillness like a thunderbolt, sending both fighters.
"Gohan?"
"He's on Earth!" the reply shook the Super Sayajin to the core.
"Where?"
"Is that him?" Gally questioned faintly as Goku turned around to see him as he floated toward them silently.
He was small, his smooth white body landed a few scant feet from her. He wasn't at all what Gally had expected, but just his being reeked of evil unlike any she had ever felt in her short existence.
"Well, well, well." his voice was surprisingly clear, with an underlying tone of sincerity that filled Gally with dread. "You have a new friend."
"I defeated you once Frieza." Goku said simply. "And if I need to, I can do it again."
"How about I just destroy this planet like I did Namek and watch you all die as it explodes?" Frieza replied, chuckling as the other warriors gathered to back Goku up if necessary.
"More friends," he cackled on "Oh this will be fun."
"Why would you want to destroy such a beautiful planet as this?" her innocent question sparking the evil being's interest, and stopping his laughter.
"And who are you, little girl?"
"My name is Gally." she replied calmly "And I don't know what your problem is with Goku and his friends, but there has to be a way to settle it without destroying a whole planet."
Frieza laughed at this statement, twitching his tail slightly, turning Gally's simple, questioning expression into a frown of annoyance.
"Oh that's rich, 'not destroy the planet' she says." his laughter continued as Gally's discontent became rage.
"Stop it."
Frieza laughing stopped abruptly as Gally's eyes lit up in anger.
"Oh now, I've upset her." he replied. "Shame on me, I really should be more polite."
"Shut up!"
He chuckled once again at her tone, his tail easily coming to rest on the ground as he himself landed on a small patch of grass, as if the Earth itself ran away from his evil touch.
"Dear girl, do calm down before you say something you'll regret."
"I said..." she took two quick steps toward this alien, pulling back her fist "Be QUIET!"
She screamed the last two words, sending Frieza through a nearby mountain with a flaming right hook he never saw coming.
"Time to clear out guys." Goku said, floating up into the air silently, powering down to conserve energy in case his plan didn't go like he wanted.
"Daddy?" Gohan said, floating up alongside his father, confused.
"Just let her work her magic, and be ready to help her if she needs it." Piccolo replied, placing a hand on his students shoulder and floating skyward with the two of them, catching on as to Goku's plan.
As the group of fighters levitated skyward, Frieza suddenly blasted free of the rubble pile, angry himself now.
"Foolish girl, NO one does that to me and lives."
"Then defeat me if you can, Frieza." Gally retorted swiftly as she double checked all her internal systems mentally.
Frieza disappeared, scaring Gally inwardly for a few seconds before he appeared a few feet in front of her, smiling in his own evil way.
"I'll make you suffer you insolent little girl, though I must admit, you do pack quite a punch."
"And you pack a huge mouth for someone so little." Gally answered him, though he was taller then she was, but not by much. Little did he know she outweighed him by nearly a hundred pounds.
"Such a pretty girl." Frieza said quietly "What a shame it will be to destroy you, such a pity."
"Just get on with it, I have better things to do than look at your ugliness all day."
Frieza laughed again, sending Gally's temper to the danger level again, if there was one thing she hated, it was people that laughed at her.
"Oh such a little chatterbox you are." he replied. "As you wish, let's get this over with, I have bigger fish to fry." he glanced at Goku hovering nearby as he finished.
Frieza's glance skyward was all the hesitation Gally needed, and she launched her assault.
Panzer Kunst was a style even Gally was unsure of totally, mainly because it worked on reflexes more then she liked, but she knew it was far from what anyone here was used to. She had seen many types and styles of fighting in her bounty hunting time, but none remotely compared to the styles present here. If I'm not used to their styles, logic suggests they aren't used to mine, so there's one advantage.
As if reading her thoughts, her first strike, a flying kick, connected painfully with the side of Frieza's head, sending him flying backwards toward a grove of trees. Not letting up for a second, she sprinted past the flying Frieza and met him before he hit the trees with a nice volleyball set, diverting him skyward. Then, leaping high into the air, assisted by hydraulics in her legs, she spiked Frieza easily into the ground below and leaving a four foot deep crater in the soft earth.
As the dust settled, Frieza rose slowly from his knees, wiping the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand. Noticing a sliver of purple blood, his eyes grew large.
"I underestimated you, little girl." he said quietly. "That won't happen again."
Having landed nearby, Gally simply shook her head.
"Shut up and fight me, or run home to wherever it is you come from."
"Ooooh, I'm scared, look at me shake." Frieza replied icily. "I'm so scared I can't even move."
Gally charged, drawing her right hand back to swing, and Frieza disappeared the way Gohan had done in the forest. Still running, she tucked and rolled as he appeared in front of her to swing at her head, and she went from forward to straight up in a handstand kick in an instant, staggering Frieza back a few paces while she flipped and landed on her feet.
Holding his jaw, Frieza muttered something unintelligible to Gally, who just smiled.
"Speak up, I can't hear you way over here."
Spitting, he turned to face her, his face full of pain and anger.
"I said DIE!" he pointed at the girl that had caused him so much pain.
Gally never saw the blast that sent her thirty feet backward into a nearby tree and dazing her slightly, but before she even realized she had been hit with a tremendous bolt of energy, she was being pummeled by the white demon at speeds even she could barely follow.
"She's getting thrashed!" Gohan said, about to rush down and help out.
"Easy Gohan." Goku said, never taking his eyes off the fight, "She'll be OK, have a little faith."
Frieza finished off his massive punch-fest with a swift kick to Gally's side, sending her a few feet to the side.
Gally rolled with the kick, ending up on her hands and knees.
"Foolish girl, your luck has just run out."
Ignoring him, Gally got to her knees and closed her eyes, reaching in her trenchcoat pocket and pulling out a small vial of silver paint.
"Oh no, paint." Frieza chuckled "She's going to paint me to death."
She took some on her finger and put some under each eye, like a quarterbacks' pre-game warpaint and opened her eyes, which flashed as she powered down all her sensors and optic enhancements.
It was then Frieza knew what he faced, and he took a step backward, his own eyes wide with astonishment.
"A robot?" he asked, as if expecting an answer, but the only one he received was the wind gusting slightly from his back, making the hair around Gally's face blow around and make her seem that much more evil.
She stood, contemplating her next move, calm despite the damage she had sustained.
As Gally remained motionless, Frieza decided to end this and disappeared, appearing behind her and chopping downward toward her neck, only to be blocked by her metallic hand. The resounding clang echoed across the countryside.
Again and again Frieza tried to attack Gally from all sides and angles, being dodged or blocked each time to his growing frustration.
Finally, after a failed attack with his tail, Gally grabbed hold of it and pulled, pulling the off balance Frieza toward a blue flaming right hand.
When she connected, she snapped, her body taking control of itself and pummeling Frieza repeatedly, punching and kicking, until finally, with a knee to the gut and an uppercut a pro boxer wished for, he somersaulted backwards a few dozen feet and landed on his head in a small cloud of dust.
Gally, still not in full control, jumped into the dust, and the sounds of a one-sided battle echoed as the dust thickened, and after a few minutes, Goku decided enough was enough and rushed down to pull Gally off the massively injured Frieza.
He landed, clearing the dust aside and saw Gally, still punching Frieza, who was now unconscious.
"Ok, you win." he reached out and grabbed her by the shoulders, and to his surprise, she tossed him over her shoulder a few hundred feet to a sliding, bumpy landing head first against a large rock.
Goku shook his head to clear his thoughts and barely avoided the flaming punch aimed at his face. Diving sideways and rolling, he turned to see the ruins of the boulder, and the area around it disintegrating in a shower of dust and stones in every direction.
"Whoa!" he said, as Gally's gaze turned from the destruction she had just caused to him. "I'm on your side."
She leaped again, and connected... with the side of Gohan's face.
Her world came to a crawl as she forcefully pulled most of the force of her punch and quickly dispersed it into the plasma vents as simple air, which not as damaging, certainly looked worse than it was.
Gohan collapsed in a heap on top of his father, who kicked Gally skyward to separate his son from a second blow, and as she landed, she smiled, knowing Goku would finish her in a rage for hurting his son, and she was glad... a power like hers was dangerous, in the wrong hands, she could destroy anyone or anything.
No one deserves a power like this she reflected and blinding speed as the ground grew larger but at least I did as much good with it as I could...
And then, she met the Earth with a resounding crash, and all was black.
She awoke in a dark room, probably a root cellar if her sensors weren't damaged in the battle. Sitting was tedious, she had severely damaged her right arm pulling that last punch. Frieza had done considerable damage as well, most of her internal workings were damaged or off line. She was as normal as any other girl her age, so to speak, except her optical sensors still worked, and that was simple nightvision and thermal optics, both of which she fired up.
As she figured, a root cellar, and checking the door, she found it locked.
"They're probably confused as to why I attacked Gohan, and I don't blame them." she said quietly. "I really wish I knew myself."
"Actually, they only put you here because they figured you were dead, they're digging the hole now."
"Gohan?" Gally turned and saw him, sitting back against a wall nearby to where she had been laying.
"I was asleep until you said something." he stretched, and smiled, his jaw swollen, but only a little. The thought of a full strength punch connecting with his innocent face made her shudder in revulsion.
"Gohan, bring her up if you can lift her." Piccolo's voice sounded from outside, and the sound of chains filled the small, dark room.
Sunlight poured in from outside, crisp and orange as the sun retreated over nearby hills. Piccolo's silhouette outlined the doorway, and he gasped in two voices as he saw Gally shielding her eyes, now temporarily overloaded from all the sunlight's barrage of her optics.
"Gohan?!"
"Right here." he replied, squinting in the sunlight. "I'm OK."
Just then, an explosion deafened the three, staggering Gohan and Piccolo and leaving Gally wondering.
Unable to see, and only hearing ringing in her ears, she staggered forward, somehow Frieza had survived, and she knew she was the only one who could stop him.
She made it up the stairs with agonizing difficulty, and outside with only less discomfort. Though she could hear again, and what she heard gave her the strength to stand straight and tall.
"Oh what fun... every Bar-B-Q needs fireworks." Frieza cackled madly from somewhere in front of her.
"Hey, Ugly!" Gally yelled.
"My my, if it isn't little Ms. Robo Girl, still looking to finish this?"
She stared directly at him, her internal computer telling her her eyesight would be out for another two minutes.
"Yeah, unless you're chicken."
"Fine, I'm done playing, and you ruined my party, so you die first."
"Come get some." Gally replied, hoping she could hold out for little while, at least to see to fight, even if it meant her end.
As she stood in place, listening intently to the air around her, she felt a sudden change in the air pressure, and for some reason, felt the need to move. She did just that, stepping to her right and hearing Frieza grunt as his punch missed.
Again, she felt a wind change, and she ducked, Frieza tripping and falling over her as she rolled to her feet.
"A tricky one." his voice said from behind her, and she dared not move or she would lose her bearings.
"No trick, just skill." she replied... a minute and a half left.
"I'll show you skill."
Gally found herself dodging and moving and avoiding so many punches and so fast, she could barely keep track, finally a massive kick to her gut dropped her to her knees in tremendous pain.
"If you have someone you pray to, now is your chance to make peace." Frieza said softly.
Gally stood up slowly... thirty seconds...
Shedding her ruined trenchcoat, Frieza gasped as he saw Gally for what she truly was.
Her right arm was damaged, but still useable. and as Frieza looked at the metallic limbs of his opponent, he chuckled.
"So, robotic arms and legs is all I see, well then, I think I'll just scrap you for pocket change."
Gally smiled now, realizing Frieza wasn't as smart as he let on, and now, also being able to see again, she laughed herself now.
"What is so funny?" he wondered aloud.
"I'm not just metal arms and legs, idiot, I'm a superior machine."
"Impossible, no robot is nearly as powerful as I am."
"Now you will feel MY power!" she yelled, opening all her plasma vents and flaring up to mimic the way Vegeta had when they had sparred a few days before.
Frieza slowly backed off, in fear of a robot who should raise her fighting power like he could.
"A Sayajin Machine?"
Those were his last words, the massive ki blast enveloped him and Gally, and he realized he'd been tricked, but now it was far too late, and he slowly melted away into nothing in front of Gally's eyes, a thought she would regret for the rest of her life.
Even though he was evil, he died before having the chance to change.
After Vegeta's beam had done it's destructive work, Gally's plasma stores sputtered out and as both dissipated, there was a flash.
Gally turned to see the glowing doorway she had appeared through shatter into thousands of pieces.
Dropping to her knees, she could only stare as she realized her doorway home was forever broken, and she was truly alone.
"Sorry kid." Vegeta muttered. "If I'd only looked..."
"No." she replied, shaking her head, but never looking away from the fading radiance of the doorway. "You did what you had to to stop a menace, accidents happen."
"So I guess you'll need a place to stay." Gohan's voice said from beside her as Goku appeared with Piccolo, both confused as to what had happened.
"The cellar is fine." she replied. "but I would like to ask you one thing..."
"Sure, anything." Gohan said.
"Tell me about these 'Dragonballs' you mentioned a few days ago."
"Yeah... but um... after dinner, OK?" he replied, his stomach growling.
Gally's sudden laughter shattered the tension, and the new group of friends headed toward the house, chuckling or smiling as they went. Vegeta, alone with his thoughts, remained behind to make sure the damage Frieza had caused was no threat to anyone.
If she can do half of what she seems able to, with the proper training she could be more dangerous than Frieza, especially if she snaps again...
Vegeta let the thought drop, turning and walking toward Kakkarot's house to get some food himself, glad that she was a friend... having fought her once, he was in no hurry to repeat the encounter anytime soon.
In another dimension, Ido awoke in a cold sweat, the nightmare of Gally stranded on an island still fresh in his mind. Though she appeared stranded, and seemingly alone, she had looked surprisingly happy, and that gave him some comfort.
Be safe Gally, and come home someday
Daisuke Ido smiled, slowly lay back down and returned to sleep, knowing that one day, Gally would indeed return, it was just a matter of time. After all, the Hunter-Warriors didn't call her the 'Battle Angel' for nothing.