Some Sort Of Namek will be soon. Eventually.
Chapter 0: Prologue
The morning sun glared over Mount Paozu, the summer heat beating down on Gohan and his brother Goten, who sat along the bank of a river, fishing rods in hand.
"It feels nice being able to relax for once," Gohan sighed, "What with Mom working us to bone out here, as well as Piccolo's training regiment."
"Yeah," Goten said, "Especially in this heat. And speaking of Mr. Piccolo, wasn't he supposed to come by to get you by now?"
"Not today, no," Gohan replied, tossing his line into the river, "He said he had some business with Dende and Mr. Popo up on the lookout."
"Oh," Goten said, his voice filling with excitement, "Does that mean you'll get to spend the day with me?"
"As long as Mom's chores don't get in the way," Gohan laughed. As he finished the sentence, an explosion sounded from behind them, prompting the brothers to turn in surprise.
"What was that!" Gohan exclaimed before being sent flying by a fist to his nose. The half-Saiyan plunged into the river, his assailant stepping onto the bank. He reached down into the river and fished Gohan out, holding him by the collar above the water.
"Allow me to introduce myself," He said, tossing Gohan aside, "My name is Pui Pui and I work for someone who's quite interested in your strength."
"Pleasure to meet you," Gohan coughed.
"Let me go!" Goten yelled. Gohan looked over to where the sound came from and saw his brother being lifted by the back of the shirt by another creature.
"That would be my associate Yakon," Pui Pui said, "He's not one to speak much."
"Goten!" Gohan yelled, attempting to get to his feet to help his brother. As he went to stand up, Pui Pui slammed his foot down onto his back, crushing him into the ground.
"Sorry, but I can't be letting you get up," Pui Pui said, pulling a large device from his back, "Now just sit still. It'll only be a pinch."
Pui Pui jammed the device into Gohan's back, causing him to scream in pain. He could feel his energy being drained from his body, his limbs beginning to feel weak.
"What- What is this?" Gohan asked weakly.
"Just relax," Pui Pui said, "It'll be over soon."
Gohan felt the device slip out of his back before he lost consciousness, Pui Pui slamming his head into the ground. He tossed Gohan over his shoulder and turned to Yakon, motioning for him to follow.
"Take the boy with you," He said, "He might be worth something."
Vegeta's steps clunked on the metal floor as he approached the railing, the muscular brute standing on the floor below, Trunks' head held in his hand.
"You have five seconds to put the boy down and get the hell out of my house," Vegeta said, cracking his knuckles, "Before I come down there and make you leave."
The brute looked at Vegeta with a smirk and threw Trunks to the side. Vegeta leaped over the railing and vanished, reappearing behind his son, stopping him from hitting the wall. The boy was unconscious, his breathing very slow. Vegeta sat him against the wall and turned to the brute, a deadly glare in his eyes.
"Mind explaining who you are?" Vegeta asked.
Spopovich simply stared menacingly at Vegeta, ready to attack at moment's notice.
"Now, now, Spopovich," A voice said, "You should know that it's rude to not answer someone. Now give the nice man your name."
"My name's Spopovich," The brute slurred.
"I have to apologize for him," The voice said, its owner walking into view, "He's never really been the brightest."
The two men had noticeable similarities. Both of them had gone bald, while their skin had paled significantly, the letter "m" emblazoned on their foreheads. The difference, however, surprised Vegeta. This new man was considerably smaller than his partner, yet his energy was so much larger than the other's and far more controlled. Something Vegeta feared.
"Forgive my manners. I don't think I've given you my name yet," The smaller one said, "My name is Yamu, and I'm here on a bit of business. You see, we work for someone who has taken a considerable interest in your strength. Figured it would be much better suited in his hands."
"So he sends his lackeys to do his dirty work for him?" Vegeta asked, "Tell you what, you can turn your asses around and head on back to whoever sent you and tell him to face me himself. Then I'll consider dealing with you idiots."
"I'm afraid he's a bit busy right now. Other business he had to attend to," Yamu said, "But that doesn't mean we can't have some fun."
Spopovich charged Vegeta at full speed, the Saiyan taking a leap into the air to avoid him. As he ascended, Yamu jumped after him, using Spopovich as a platform. He grabbed onto the Prince and dragged him back to the ground. Vegeta slammed into the ground on his back, Yamu scurrying to his feet. As the Saiyan went to stand up, Yamu swung his leg out and knocked Vegeta off his feet. Spopovich grabbed Vegeta by the face and rammed him into the wall. The brute tossed Vegeta into the air and grabbed his ankle, slamming him down onto the floor. He continued to fling Vegeta over his head from side to side, slamming him harder onto the floor each time.
Blood flew from Vegeta's mouth as Spopovich raised him into the air, blood rushing to the Saiyan's head. In one quick move, Vegeta kicked against the brute's arm and freed himself, falling to the floor with a thud. As he got onto his hands and knees, he felt a spur of lightheadedness as the blood rushed back through his body. Before he could react, Yamu's foot connected with his ribcage, knocking him back to the ground. Vegeta felt a sharp stab in his back, causing him to let out a painful scream.
Yamu knelt down and grabbed Vegeta's chin, forcing the Saiyan to look at him. "Don't worry, Vegeta," He said, "You're in good hands."
Vegeta felt his energy being drained, a chill spreading through his body as it emptied. His vision began to grow dark as more and more energy was drawn from his body, his body beginning to feel light.
"That's enough, Spopovich. We don't want to kill him," He heard Yamu say faintly before collapsing from exhaustion.
Dende stared down the blade as it flew towards him, terror filling his soul to its brim. Time seemed to slow for the young Namekian as Piccolo appeared before him, slapping the flat of the blade away with his hand. He held out his other hand and blasted the sword's wielder backward into one of the Lookout's towers, collapsing it into rubble.
"P-Piccolo?" Dende asked, the events sending him into a lightheaded state.
Piccolo looked around at the state of the Lookout. Mr. Popo was leaned up against a tower, blood dripping from his forehead, his head drooping towards the ground. "Damn it," He said, "I shouldn't have even left."
He turned toward the young guardian and rested his hand on his shoulder. "You okay, kid?" Piccolo asked.
"Yeah. I'll be fine," Dende gulped as the tower's rubble began to stir, "Piccolo, watch out!"
The older Namekian turned toward the rubble, ready to fight whatever may come at him. Instead, the assailant simply rose from the rubble and sheathed his sword, casually walking out to face the two Namekians. Standing there, Piccolo noticed the similarities to what he would refer to as a demon.
Despicable creature, He thought to himself.
"You'd refer to someone similar to you as such, Daimao?" His opponent asked, his voice resonating through Piccolo's body.
"Excuse me?" Piccolo asked, "You must be confusing me with someone else."
"I'm afraid I might be," His opponent said, "Yes, you do not exhibit the energy of a demon. Though you look incredibly like him, you are not Daimao."
"Of course not, Dabura," Another voice chimed in, "Don't you remember what happened to him? This is clearly Daimao's son."
"But his energy," Dabura said, "It's so incredibly similar to his. They can't possibly be two different beings."
"But indeed they are," The other figure said, "Daimao must've reincarnated into his son before his death. Sadly, it appears his offspring's gone soft on us. Shame really."
"Truly," Dabura said.
"Now, back to business per normal," The other voice said, "All we've added is one extra corpse."
"As you wish, Master Babidi," Dabura said, his sword appearing in his hand.
"Stay back, Dende," Piccolo said, taking off his cloak and turban.
Dabura launched at Piccolo, slashing away at the Namekian with his sword, Piccolo dodging past each attack while leading Dabura away from Dende. As those two took the fight away, Babidi approached Dende, the young guardian cowering as he neared.
"Don't be afraid. I've only got a few questions," Babidi said, "Your name is Dende, correct? The guardian of this planet?"
Dende stared in terror at the wizard, sweat dripping from his face.
"And if I've done my homework correctly, you should be the creator of the Dragon Balls. And I'm right in assuming that they'd go inert if you were to perish, correct?" Babidi asked.
Dende nervously shook his head as he tried to back away from Babidi, the wizard just flying to keep up with him.
"The reason I ask is because I have a rather important... 'business partner' coming to visit Earth in a little while, and he's not so keen on things like those being used for the wrong purposes," Babidi said, "So he's asked me to make sure they don't fall into the wrong hands. Alongside other things."
"I... uh... don't see what that has to do with me," Dende said nervously.
"Well, taking the Dragon Balls away isn't the best of ideas. There's no telling how many people will come searching for them. That option's out of the question," Babidi said, "So there's only one other option we have in this situation, and that's to simply get rid of them."
"Oh," Dende said. In a spur of terror, Dende turned and ran, Babidi following closely behind him. "PICCOLO!" He yelled as he dashed across the lookout.
Piccolo turned his head to see what was wrong, allowing Dabura to quickly overpower the Namekian and send him flying into the Time Chamber's walls with the back of his hand. The demon ran towards Dende with his sword raised, Dende too concerned with avoiding Babidi to notice. Piccolo lifted his head in time as Dende neared Dabura, the sword's blade ready to stab through the Namekian.
"Dende!" Piccolo yelled as he sprung to his feet and darted for the guardian. Before the older Namekian could even make it halfway, Dende unknowingly ran into Dabura's sword, a glazed look of shock covering his eyes. "NO!"
Dabura pulled his sword from the Namekian's torso and tossed him over the Lookout's side, his robes fluttering as he fell towards Earth. "Good work, Dabura," Babidi said, "Now we just have to deal with the other one."
Dabura charged at Piccolo with his sword drawn, Piccolo's attention focused on Babidi. The Namekian slid under the demon's legs and ran for Babidi, both of them not processing what just happened. The wizard regained his senses as Piccolo grabbed his robe and began to time him up in the cloth, the wizard falling to the ground in a struggle. While Babidi was distracted with that, Piccolo turned his attention to Dabura, who once again charged with his sword. As the demon brought down towards Piccolo's head, the Namekian caught the blade in his hand and kicked Dabura in the chest, knocking the sword from his hand. The blade slid across the Lookout and stopped just before the edge, teetering on the rim.
Piccolo flipped off of the Demon's chest and landed on his feet, taking a stance in anticipation of Dabura's attack. Dabura stood his ground in front of the Namekian, his arm outstretched towards the sword.
"Impressive," Dabura said, the side flying to his hand, "It's been many millennia since I've been disarmed in combat. But don't let that give you any hope of beating me."
"I won't," Piccolo said, stepping over Babidi, "Because I'm not trying to beat you."
He picked up the struggling Babidi and threw him at Dabura, the demon catching him in his chest. Piccolo ran for the duo and grabbed Dabura by the waist, dragging them along as he ran for the Time Chamber. "I know I can't beat you. That's been out of the question for a while now," Piccolo said as he neared the Chamber, "So I have to go with the next best option."
"And just what would that option be?" Dabura grunted.
"Make sure you can't do any more damage," Piccolo said as they entered the Time Chamber. The Namekian threw the duo as far as he could, Dabura landing as his back as Piccolo let go. Piccolo quickly charged an attack and turned towards the entrance.
"Special Beam Cannon!" He yelled as he extended his arm, a purple spiral of light shooting towards the door.
Babidi freed himself from his robes as the entrance crumbled, sealing them off from the outside world. He looked around at the vast white space he was in before turning to Piccolo, his anger skyrocketing.
"Where are we?!" Babidi yelled, "Where did you take us?!"
"This room goes by different names," Piccolo said, "'The Room of Spirit and Time,' 'The Hyperbolic Time Chamber,' or simply 'The Time Chamber.'"
"What is this place?" Dabura asked.
"A room outside of the flow of time," Piccolo asked, "It's sort of a dimension separate to Earth's."
"And you think you've trapped us in here?" Babidi asked.
"I know I have," Piccolo replied.
"Nonsense," Dabura said as he got to his feet, "I'll just go through the Demon Realm."
Dabura raised his arm into the air as dark energy surrounded his hand, crackling with black lightning. He swung his hand down in an arc and created a tiny rip in the air. He chuckled before his expression turned to shock as the tiny hole quickly sealed back up, never giving him a chance to escape.
"This room exists outside the flow of time," Piccolo repeated, "A day out there is equal to one year in here. If you wanted to tear a hole in the dimensional boundary, you'd have to time precisely when the flows of time line up exactly. And that opening would be pretty slim. Without the door, that is."
"Damn," Babidi muttered, "So we're trapped in here for a year, then?"
"Not necessarily," Piccolo said, "We could be trapped here a lot longer if you aren't precise. But even if you manage to open a way back, there's no way I'm letting you escape."
"You'd waste your life in here trying to stop us?" Babidi asked.
"It's better than letting everyone else suffer," Piccolo said.
"You do realize this doesn't stop our plans, right?" Babidi asked, "This is merely just an obstacle for us to work around. We'll just have to deal with this mess before moving on."
"Then let's see how well of a cleaning crew you make," Piccolo said, preparing to fight again.
"So be it," Babidi said, "Dabura."
The demon stepped in between the two and prepared to fight Piccolo. The two stared each other down before charging at each other, their fists connecting with a powerful thud and a clash of light.