"What the hell are we doing?" Vegeta muttered, looking more than a bit annoyed as we walked through the metallic, junky, and overall unpleasant surface of the Big Gete Star.
"We're walking across a planet, Vegeta!" Nappa, as annoying as ever, chimed in 'helpfully.'
"I didn't mean literally, Nappa! You idiot!" Vegeta apparently didn't think his partner's words were all that helpful.
"You're cloning those idiots?" Android 18 muttered to my side, glancing sideways at me doubtfully, "Then you'll just have twice the amount of morons."
"Only one of them is really an idiot," I countered, as while Vegeta certainly did a lot of stupid and pride-fueled things at times, he couldn't be lumped into the same group as Nappa, "And I have my reasons. You both will see soon enough."
At the moment, the group of myself, Android 18, Bulma, Vegeta, and Nappa were casually striding across the surface of the Big Gete Star, and headed for the entrance that led to the interior of the star. Once in there, we would head to the cloning control room, and both Vegeta and Nappa would be cloned.
As well as Android 18, if that was possible. She was an android, but so had Meta Cooler been in a sense, so I assumed it would be possible. If the Big Gete Star was able to clone her completely, including the infinite-energy module, then it would be a big boon to the efficiency that Gero could work.
While he had the blueprint to fully create the infinite-energy module, and could even create an entirely new Android 18 from scratch if I wanted him to, it still took a lot of time. Unsurprisingly, developing unlimited energy was not a simple task, even if you already had the blueprint to do it. There was a reason Gero only had two androids capable of it, and not an army.
But if the Big Gete Star could replicate it, then that army would be a reality. An army of androids with unlimited energy at my disposal was certainly an appealing situation.
Though, as for Android 18 herself, I only planned to clone her once and ensure it was possible. As much as I enjoyed the woman's presence, and I certainly wouldn't mind a thousand versions of the beautiful woman being at my disposal, her personality was far from ideal.
She could essentially be boiled down to a 'brat,' who did whatever she wanted, always thought she was right, and didn't take shit from anybody. For one Android 18, or even two, that was fine, as she was still manageable and controllable. But, for an army?
There would definitely be some hiccups down the line, and a more easily controlled and loyal alternative would be preferable. So, if Android 18 proved that the concept of cloning the infinite-energy module was possible, then Gero would create a more robot-like than android-like alternative to be mass cloned.
"I'm with her on this one." On my other side, Bulma also expressed her doubts as she glanced over, watching Nappa continue to annoy Vegeta with his excessive ramblings, "I'd understand if they were at least super-strong or something, but they're both a lot weaker than even Dodoria, aren't they?"
Vegeta had powered up a bit from his Zenkai Boost following the ass-beating Goku gave him, but he still wasn't as powerful as either Dodoria or Zarbon, as both of my top-tier minions had been put through the training wringer since my arrival in this world. In that sense, Bulma was completely correct, but there was another reason I was using Vegeta and Nappa specifically here.
"They have something those two don't," I said simply, only confusing Bulma more at my words, "They're Saiyans."
"...so?" Bulma asked blandly, but I just grinned lightly at her.
"You'll see."
The goal of cloning Nappa and Vegeta wasn't simply to give them sparring partners, but to have cloned Saiyans to see if the clones could achieve the Super Saiyan transformation. It was the single most overpowered ability in this world, and while the idea of an army of Super Saiyans running around was terrifying, it was also enticing.
My ambitions in this world had slowly been growing with each victory and step forward taken. At the start, I had simply wished to raise the quality of Universe 7 and avoid erasure. Now that such a result seemed guaranteed from my efforts to improve the quality of the planets in my empire, and from being able to clone powerful subordinates for decades to raise the average power level, along with my 'training' of the Z-Fighters, my ambitions had grown again.
Truly, Frieza's body was both overpowered and terrifying. I was certainly still me - a normal human - deep down, but this body had limitless ambitions, which didn't fit well with Frieza's lazy attitude. Now that I had taken over, and now that I was far from lazy, and actually very efficient if anything, the ambitions deep within this body only reared their head more and more.
Avoiding erasure and doing whatever it took to please Beerus and Zeno wasn't enough. I was in the body of the intergalactic ruler, and that 'intergalactic' would become 'universal' in the future. I wouldn't let Beerus walk all over me when he awakened, and Universe 7 would one day be getting a new God of Destruction.
Then, after that, Zeno ending up in my crosshairs wasn't out of the question.
But, for all of that, I needed a powerful army, and I needed more power for myself. After this cloning expedition, my true grinding would begin, and I'd train until I dropped.
"We're here," I said finally, arriving at our destination. On the metallic and rough surface below us, a singular piece of metal jutted upward. I reached down, grabbed the top of the scrap, and pulled up.
As I did, a collection of scraps surrounding that one crumbled, falling down into a dark, seemingly endless pit that had been underneath. In reality, it was far from endless and was instead the entrance to the interior of the Big Gete Star.
Why was the entrance so well-hidden? I don't know. Don't ask me how long it took to find this entrance either, because the answer is 'way too long.'
"We're going down there?" Android 18 asked, peering down into the dark hole as she wrinkled her nose, "I didn't think I'd ever miss that ship, but I am right now."
"Just follow me," I said dismissively, turning to the side as I casually reached forward, sweeping Bulma off her feet and into a bridal carry. I ignored her slight yelp and red cheeks as I stepped forward, walking into the hole and starting to plummet downward.
Behind me, I sensed Android 18 do the same, and then Vegeta and Nappa followed closely behind. I plummeted through the darkness for just a few seconds before my legs tensed, stopping my free-fall just a foot off the ground as I slowly descended and landed on the floor.
In front of me, the rather confined hole, which had only been a couple of feet wide all around, extended into a large, towering room. The ceiling was more than fifty feet overhead, and the overall square room was more than two hundred feet wide. It was somewhat ominous, as the dark, gray wall of scrap led to the massive, and nearly entirely empty, room being pretty dark.
Behind me, I heard Android 18 land, and then Vegeta and Nappa follow. I placed Bulma on her feet and then looked forward at the sole thing within the otherwise empty room.
Far in front of me, with various metal wires and cords stretching down and pressing into his face, was a familiar figure.
"Lord Frieza!" Dodoria instantly reached up, grabbing the wires connecting to his face and ripping them off, then fell down to one knee as he looked over at me.
"Dodoria. You should've waited for the process to finish," I said a bit dryly, striding towards the large pink man.
Somewhere within the Big Gete Star, as a result of Dodoria ripping the wires off of his face at my arrival, a half-finished Dodoria formed. This wasn't the first time this had happened, and the half-finished clones usually tended to be even fatter and blobbier than Dodoria was, with even uglier spikes sticking out from their body.
"Oh, right! My apologies, Lord Frieza!" Dodoria bowed his head low to me, but I just waved him off. One messed-up clone wasn't a huge deal, and it'd actually make my time here shorter than expected, as I wouldn't have to wait for him to finish the process.
"It's fine. Vegeta, place those on your face," I said simply, pointing at the hanging wires that Dodoria had just pulled off.
"These…?" Vegeta muttered doubtfully as he stepped past me, looking up at the hanging wires, "Why do I have to stick these to my face?"
"Because I said so," I replied bluntly, smirking a bit as Vegeta's back stiffened, and then he slowly nodded. He reached forward, grabbed the various wires, and pushed the sticky outer surface to his skin.
"Hey, Vegeta! Hey, Vegeta! What does it do?!" Nappa stepped forward excitedly, practically bouncing as he questioned Vegeta rapidly.
"I don't fucking know, Nappa! Shut the hell up!"
"Hey, Vegeta! Don't be like that! Tell me what they do!"
"I just told you I don't know, moron!"
I just chuckled as Nappa continued to harass Vegeta, "Just stay like that for a few hours. I'll tell you when it's finished."
"A-A few hours?!" Vegeta asked incredulously, looking over at Nappa as he was about to be subjected to a half-day of Nappa's stupidity.
"Good luck," I said simply, grinning as I turned around and headed back to Bulma and Android 18. While watching Nappa ask a million questions to Vegeta sounded like a pretty terrible way to spend my day, at least the company of two gorgeous women would make it better.
Now, all that was left to do was wait.
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"GRAH! I can't believe I'm losing to this pathetic excuse for myself!"
"Ha, can't handle the might of the Prince of all Saiyans, fake?"
"SHUT UP! You're the fake, inferior version, you swine!"
I watched, a mixture of amused and annoyed, as Vegeta fought against… Vegeta. More specifically, a clone of Vegeta, as, after all, who could be a better sparring partner for the Prince of all Saiyans than the Prince of all Saiyans?
The clone was actually a bit weaker overall than real-Vegeta, as I had learned with the Zarbon's that they came out at anywhere from roughly 75% to 90% of the original's power, depending on a few more complicated factors within the Big Gete Star that even Bulma didn't fully understand.
Not that the difference in power mattered right now, as clone-Vegeta, despite being weaker, was also less emotional than real-Vegeta - though only by a bit, as he was certainly just as prideful and arrogant. As a result, he fought more efficiently and was ahead in the sparring match.
Though I suspected that real-Vegeta's pride and anger would result in a power boost when pushed to his limit, and as a result, the clones would still be inferior to the real deal overall. Beyond that, the suppressed emotions would also make the clones being able to become Super Saiyans more difficult, but I did still have years to figure that out.
For right now, their sparring was enough.
"Hey, Vegeta! This guy's pretty tough!" real-Nappa shouted over to Vegeta.
"Ha, you think so?! Hey, Vegeta! This guy thinks I'm tough!" clone-Nappa shouted over to clone-Vegeta.
"That's because he's you, Nappa!" real-Vegeta snapped back.
"Eh? Well, he does look just as handsome as I do, huh, Vegeta?!" One of the Nappas agreed with a wise nod.
"He's literally you, Nappa!" One Vegeta snapped again, and the second Vegeta agreed a moment later.
"You're the same person, you imbecile! We're clones!"
"Do… I really… have to watch them the whole time?" To my side, sitting in a rather comfortable loung chair, was the distraught form of Android 18, "Why do I have to do this?! Make the clone do it!"
"Your clone is helping Dr. Gero with his research. If you'd rather trade with her and go do that, you can," I said simply, smirking a bit as Android 18 wrinkled her nose and quickly shook her head.
As annoying as watching the two pairs of Saiyans bicker and spar was, Android 18 hated being around Gero more than damn-near anything in this world.
In case it wasn't clear from her words, the cloning process on Android 18 had indeed worked. As a result, Android 18's job of being Gero's guinea pig for developing Android 21 and other androids was given to her clone, and she was now in charge of watching over the Saiyans.
"You don't have to watch them intently or anything. Just make sure none of them kill each other," I said simply, as Vegeta getting pissed enough to kill his clone - or, more likely, both Nappa's because of how annoying they were - was definitely a possibility.
Android 18 was more than strong enough to handle all of them, so while I was working on something else, she would be here.
"Whatever," Android 18 sighed, not looking happy about it, but nodding nonetheless. As she did, I turned away, heading for the exit of the training room.
Now, it was time for my personal training to get started. Before my next trip to Earth, I was determined to achieve my golden form.
The timeline of this world had been accelerated rapidly, and in the far future, Beerus wouldn't know what hit him.
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