Taking action

As Kast powered up, the scouter aboard Ginyu's ship picked up the readings.

"Oh, he's finally lost his patience and shown himself. I wonder—is he acting out of pity for this planet, or is he afraid?"

Either way, as long as Kast had come out on his own, Ginyu had achieved his goal.

"Hmm. This is a real talent. Worthy of being recruited personally by the great Ginyu."

With that, Ginyu rose from his seat and instructed his subordinates.

"Hey, keep an eye on the ship. I'll be back soon."

If King Frieza finds out I recruited such a talent, he'll be thrilled.

Imagining himself recruiting Kast and bringing him before King Frieza, Ginyu felt delighted and excited.

Full of anticipation, Ginyu flew out of the spaceship and waited silently in midair.

"He found me."

Looking at a figure in the distance, Kast could tell from the strength of his battle power that it was Ginyu. From where he was hovering, Kast also realized that he had been waiting specifically for him.

Curious, Kast quickly flew over to Ginyu and studied him closely.

From the original story, Kast knew what Ginyu looked like and what he could do. Ginyu was the captain of the Ginyu Force, with a light purple body, two black horns on his head, and vein-like markings on his forehead.

During the original story's battle on Namek, Ginyu had made the giant Namekian Dragon Balls float in the air. This suggested that, like Frieza, he might have the psychic ability to make objects levitate.

But Kast also knew from the original story that Ginyu had another ability besides levitating objects: a technique that let him switch bodies with other people, called Body Change.

It was an incredibly overpowered skill. If you let your guard down, you could end up like Son Goku in the original story and have your body taken over.

If Ginyu hadn't been unable to use Kaioken after switching bodies with Son Goku—and thus unable to bring out his full strength—Vegeta wouldn't have beaten him so badly. Then Ginyu tried to use the same technique on Vegeta, only to end up switching bodies with a frog after Goku intervened. If things had gone differently, Ginyu's plan might have succeeded, and Son Goku and his companions would have been the ones killed.

Although Body Change was immensely powerful, the technique had one rather fatal flaw: to make the switch, Ginyu had to shout, "Change!"

Kast also had a hunch that the technique couldn't switch him with someone whose power was vastly greater than his own.

Otherwise, Ginyu could have switched bodies with Frieza.

Moreover, because Ginyu had used Body Change to switch bodies with powerful warriors from across the universe, he no longer looked as he originally had. Only a few people knew his true appearance.

Like the original story, Ginyu currently had a purple body, a pair of black horns, and vein-like markings showing on his forehead. Though he hadn't revealed his abilities, Kast suspected they were the same as in the original story.

Just like Kast, Ginyu was studying him closely.

"I never would've guessed this guy was just a kid."

Ginyu had assumed that someone with 30,000 battle power and such a strange ability would be an adult from some unknown race. But the person standing before him was a child of about seven or eight.

"Hmm? And he's a Saiyan, too." Ginyu's interest was instantly piqued when he saw the tail wrapped around Kast's waist.

"Kid, are you really a Saiyan? There aren't any Saiyans your size with power this great. Are you sure you haven't transformed from some other race?"

Ginyu asked, his gaze fixed on Kast.

But Kast didn't answer his question. Instead, he asked, "Ginyu, why do you keep coming after me?"

"Oh! You even know who I am. Now I'm even more interested in you."

When he heard Kast say his name, Ginyu couldn't help smiling.

"Since you know who I am, this will be easy. I don't care who you are, whether you're a Saiyan or from some other race. I'm very interested in your ability to hide your ki."

Ginyu paused, then continued.

"So, kid, how about joining my force? With your ability and battle power, as long as you're willing to submit to King Frieza, I'm sure he'd give you a chance, even though you're a Saiyan. I'll put in a good word for you and make you my second-in-command. Then you'll have wealth and power beyond your wildest dreams."

Ginyu knew the Saiyans already worked for King Frieza, and he was offering Kast even better treatment. He was confident Kast would accept.

But Kast didn't answer right away, much to Ginyu's disappointment. Instead, he fell into thought.

From what Ginyu had just said, Kast realized that he'd drawn Ginyu's attention by hiding his ki when he first noticed him.

So it was my own fault after all.

Kast frowned and sighed in resignation.

"Sorry, I'm not interested. Could you pretend you never saw me, and I'll pretend I never saw you? Then we can each go our own way." He knew the odds were practically zero, but he still decided to sound Ginyu out.

Sure enough, at Kast's answer, the confident smile vanished from Ginyu's face.

"Brat, you dare disrespect an invitation from the great Ginyu? Looks like you don't want to live!"

As he spoke, a purple ball of energy gathered in Ginyu's right hand.

"I'll ask you one more time. Do you accept my invitation? If not, you and this planet can both turn to space dust!"

"Guess there's no avoiding this after all."

Hearing Ginyu's response, Kast sighed helplessly.

"Looks like I'll have to end this quickly!"

With that, Kast appeared in front of Ginyu in an instant. He thrust out his right hand, aimed the palm where he'd gathered a Ki Blast at Ginyu's abdomen, and pressed it against him.

"What! Th-this is impossible!" Before Ginyu could react, Kast had suddenly vanished from in front of him. By the time he reappeared, he was already right there.

"W-wait!" Seeing the ball of energy against his abdomen, Ginyu was about to say something, but it was already too late.

"Bang!"

As Kast pressed the energy ball into Ginyu's abdomen, Ginyu felt the armor at the point of contact fall away in an instant, vaporized by the intense heat. A searing pain followed as his skin and muscles split open. The energy ball then became a streak of white ki and pierced through his body.

"H-how is this possible? I..."