The battle between Frieza and Goku begins. They seem perfectly equivalent for some time in terms of strength and speed. During the match, Goku seems to have more clever ideas on how to fight and tricks Frieza several times. Goku used to his advantage the fact that Frieza needs to see his opponent and is unable to feel their energy. While Goku was under water during one attack, he used the Kamehameha wave as torpedoes to trick Frieza. Frieza then revealed that he was only using about a fraction of his power, and that he'll power up to 50%, which turns the tables in Frieza's favor. At Kaio-ken x10, Goku was being brutally beaten. Frieza claimed he allowed Goku to think he had a chance, and even offered for Goku to replace Ginyu as his bodyguard. Goku refused, but after one rigorous attack after another, Piccolo, Gohan, Krillin, and even King Kai began to see the situation as hopeless. Goku tries to raise his power using the Kaio-ken x20 and shoot a Kaio-ken Kamehameha at Frieza, but it only leaves Frieza's hands burnt, while the attack left Goku completely drained.
Having no choice, Goku prepares the Spirit Bomb in desperation. Piccolo, Gohan, and Krillin step in to try and hold off Frieza while Goku gathers energy for the attack. Once the Spirit Bomb is finally finished and unleashed upon Frieza, it does significant damage to him, causing the Z Warriors to believe Frieza was finished off. Krillin and Gohan take Goku and Piccolo away from the damage. A few minutes of celebration was soon turned into a horrid sight once Krillin saw Frieza furiously standing on the top of a rock.
Enraged and surprised that Goku had such ability for a Saiyan, Frieza lashes out against the other warriors. He first decides to kill Goku. As he fires a Death Beam at the exhausted Saiyan, Piccolo jumps in the way of the blast and saves his life (however, in the manga, Frieza simply blasts at Piccolo with a Death Beam). Though it does not kill him, Piccolo is hurt very badly and falls to the ground unconscious, enraging Goku. Next, Frieza kills Krillin by making his whole body explode in the air. Seeing his best friend killed causes Goku to erupt with even more rage. In a display of gathering energy, the angry Goku pulls out his strongest emotions ever before reached. His hair turns spikier and golden, and his eyes turn dark green. He is now a Super Saiyan, a legendary class of Saiyan, with his power tremendously increased. He tells Gohan to take Piccolo and retrieve Bulma and take them to the ship that he traveled in and use it to head back to Earth, and get as far from Namek as possible.