1. Dende

High above the clouds the Lookout stood tall and unyielding as always. Dende stood at the edge leaning on his staff looking out over the clouds below. The clouds had darkened over the last couple of hours and rain was sure to come. The sun was setting, turning the sky into a sea of orange. It was Dende's favorite time of the day. He had watched the sun set every day since he first came to Earth. Sure enough Dende could hear the rain start to fall and could see the lightning surging through the rain clouds like bright flashing lights. It had been raining a lot lately, more than usual. He walked along the perimeter not stopping until he reached the gardens. The gardens were Dende's idea. He was feeling homesick so he made a garden behind the palace. The gardens were a mirror image of Planet Namek, his home planet until Frieza destroyed it. Everything was blue. The trees, hedges, and grass were all blue. Upon entering the gardens, Dende made a mental note to thank Mr. Popo for keeping the gardens so wonderful. Dende didn't know a harder working person the Mr. Popo. He walked through the rows of hedges until reaching a wooden bench. He sat down turning his head slightly to the left to watch the sun set. Dende's thoughts started to drift towards Gohan.

It was five years ago today that Gohan beat Cell and lost his father Goku. Goku's death was hard for everyone, but Gohan had the worst time coping with it. He blamed himself for his father's death. The last time Dende saw Gohan was when he went to visit with him after the Cell games. Gohan was a mess. He didn't want to see anyone. He didn't want to leave his room. As years pasted Dende received news that Gohan had found closure with Goku's death. Gohan never was the same though. He gave up fighting and focused solely on his studies. This news shocked everyone, a saiyan not wanting to fight. Dende assumed that it must be his human half. The humans must have strong will power if Gohan was able to suppress his saiyan instincts.

Dende closed his eyes and focused in on Piccolo's ki. Upon locating it, Dende stood up and sighed then made his way out of the gardens to the palace entrance. Piccolo had been gone for 3 weeks now training on his own. Piccolo had been leaving more and more lately to go for these long training trips. Dende knew there was something unsettling him, but never bothered to question him because he too has had a troubling feeling. It's something he couldn't explain, but instead could feel an unbalance on the Earth. Dende reached the entrance way, the sun was gone leaving the flashes from the lightning to light up the night sky. He turned around for one last look of the grounds. Just as a lightning flash brightened the sky, there standing on the edge, Dende thought he saw a silhouette, a shade slightly darker than the night. A second flash of lighting and the silhouette was gone in a blink of an eye. Startled slightly, Dende reached out with senses to locate any source of ki, but nothing was near. Relaxing, Dende assumed his eyes must be playing tricks on him; he had been feeling edgy lately and no one outside of the z-fighters knew how to suppress their ki or even bothered to do it. Dende breathed in deep then exhaled slowly, turned and went inside. Torches lined the walls lighting the hallways. Looking for Mr. PoPo, Dende decided to head to the kitchens and start there. His footsteps could be heard echoing off the marble floors. Making his way for the kitchen, his thoughts drifted to Vegeta.

Vegeta had taken the title of the strongest on the planet, though he would say strongest in the universe. Even though he hadn't ascended past a super saiyan he was now stronger than Gohan was when he defeated Cell. This drove Vegeta mad, he trained everyday trying to break through, but Dende knew he wouldn't do it by training alone. He remembered Goku saying that he became a super saiyan because his body responded to his need for more power in order to come out alive, not because of the want for power. Vegeta knew this too, which made him more frustrated and lead him to train even harder. Luckily saiyans get stronger by pushing themselves beyond their limits.

Dende was pulled out of his thoughts when he walked into the kitchen. Mr. Popo was there preparing himself a plate of food.

"Good evening Mr. Popo" Dende said.

"Really? I don't like rain even if we don't get wet." Mr. Popo responded

"I guess I get used to saying the same greetings all the time. I don't like the rain much either"

Dende filled a glass with water and took a seat at the end of the table. Mr. Popo sat down next to and took a bit of his food.

"I don't know how you live without eating delicious food" Mr. Popo said in between bits.

"Every time I see you eat, I still feel my insides turn." Dende responded

Mr. Popo had convinced Dende to try a bit of food, he was sick for over a week.

Dende shuttered at the thought.

"It's been raining a lot lately, have you noticed Mr. Popo" Dende inquired.

"I haven't given it much thought, but I suppose your right" Mr. Popo said.

"I can't place it, but something is making me uneasy and the rain is making it worse." Dende took a sip of his water before continuing, "I'll ask Piccolo what he thinks when he gets back".

"Dende, can I ask you something?"

"Ask way"

"Do you miss your home planet and your old friends?"

Dende sat in silence for minute before answering, "When we first arrived on the new Planet Namek, I was ecstatic. I was the last living Namek, I watched as Frieza and his men kill innocent people. It was living a true nightmare, but then everything was made right thanks to Goku and the dragon balls. I thought I would be so happy living on the new Planet Namek, but as time passed I realized that I no longer felt like the planet was my home. I felt there was more out there for me and I missed my real friends, the ones here on Earth. I was unhappy so when Goku came asking for a new god I said yes and never looked back"

Mr. Popo nodded his head in silence as he finished his dinner. Dende took another sip of water then stood and said "I'll be in the observatory if you need me otherwise good night."

Dende walked out as he heard Mr. Popo say good night back. He turned right once outside the door and headed down the long hallway before him. The hallway was drafty causing Dende to shiver and quicken his pace until he reached the room of interest and stepped in closing the door behind him. The observatory was a circular shaped room with no roof. In the middle of the room stoop a giant telescope. At the base there was a desk and chair. Dende still standing along the edge of the room looked up into the night sky. The storm had stopped. Luckily these summer showers never last long, Dende thought as he smiled to himself. With no moon the stars shined bright every night and by being this close to the sky, the night sky was breath taking. Few would ever see the sky as beautiful as it was this night. Dende loved watching the stars; he was always drawn to the vastness of space. He walked to the telescope and sat down in the chair. He opened one the desk drawers and pulled out a rolled up piece of parchment, a quill, and a bottle of ink. Dende was currently working on making a map of the stars. He unrolled the parchment, stuck his quill in the ink and leaned his eye into the eye piece and began his work with his map.

After working for some time, Dende leaned back in his chair to stretch. He was thinking about calling it quits for the night. He picked up his map to look at his process and was very pleased. As he scooted his chair back he heard a loud crashing noise then an equally load thud echoed down the hall. Dende stood up and walked over to the door wandering what Mr. Popo did this time. He opened the door and stuck his head out and called,

"Mr. Popo are you all right? What happened?"

No response, Dende stepped further out into the hallway and called out again,

"Mr. Popo!"

Again nothing, Dende started to walk down the hall toward the source of the commotion. Before he took two steps a large of gust of wind came down the hallway blowing out all the torches that lined the wall. Dende couldn't see anything. The wind felt unnaturally cold sending a shiver down Dende's spine.

"Very funny Mr. Popo, you got me. Haha jokes on me" Dende called out in the darkness.

He reached out with his hands trying to find the wall. Once his hands touch the cold wall he walked along never taking his hands off the wall. He found a door and pushed it open and closed it behind him quickly. He knew he was in a guest room and that there should be a candle and matches on the bedside table. He stumbled around the room searching with his hands for the table. He found the table by hitting it with his knee. Kami that hurt, Dende reached down and after knocking the candle over and few seconds of searching was able to grab it and the matches. He lit the candle while still holding the matches in one hand. The room was flooded with light.

Immediately something caught his eye. He looked over at the bed and leaning against the pillows was the bloody head of Mr. Popo. Dende jumped back in shock and dropped his candle. It went out as it fell and hit the ground. Dende heard it roll away still frozen in fear. He then realized too late that he needed the light. Luckily he still had the matches in his hand. He dropped to floor moving his hands rapidly across the floor in his search efforts. His hand made contact with candle but all he did was sent it farther across the floor. He quickly scurried after the noise of the rolling candle. This time he was able to grab the candle. His hands were shaking violently as he tried to light a match.

He struck the match… no good. He grabbed another match…no good. Come on Dende breath you can do this. He to focus his breathing and grabbed for another match. He felt that there were two left, he steadied his hand as best he could and stroke the match. With a blinding flash the match lit and caught fire. He lit the candle and slowly turned his head to look behind him. The door was still closed so he stood up. He didn't know why but he found himself looking into the lifeless eyes of Mr. Popo. His nightmares resurfaced and images of Frieza began to appear in his mind. With each image Frieza became more gruesome than the last. Dende was frozen in fear as he stared at Mr. Popo's severed head. Tears began to roll down his cheek at first because of fear for his own life then for sadness for Mr. Popo. He knew then he had to leave. He turned around and walked towards the door. Building up the courage he reached out with his free hand to the door knob. His hand was shaking uncontrollably as he turned the doorknob. The door swung open easily to his touch. He let out a shout this time as he tripped over backwards on his robes. He looked up in horror at the headless corpse of Mr. Popo. The corpse fell to reveal a hooded figure holding his hand outstretched. He was tall well over 7 feet and even with his large brown cloak, Dende could tell that he was very muscular. His hood cast a shadow over his face hiding it from view. His cloak reached all the way down to his black boots. Dende tried to say something but nothing would come. He tried to scream, to get up, or to just move his arm but he was too scared to move.

Mr. Popo's killer took a step into the room shifting his gaze towards Dende.

"Ah there you are Namek. Now tell me where the dragon model is. You know the one you made the dragon with." He said with a raspy voice.

Dende didn't answer.

"Not gonna talk eh? That one over there did the same thing. He was too loyal for his own good" he pointed to the body of Mr. Popo.

"Now I think it would be in your best interest show me the dragon model is"

Dende got onto his hands and knees when the hooded assassin walked over and kicked him in the stomach causing Dende to fall back to the ground. The hooded figure reached down and picked him up before slamming him up against the wall.

"Where is it?" He asked threateningly.

He dropped Dende who stumbled to the door to balance himself.

Finding his voice, he squeaked, "I don't know what you are talking about."

"A big green dragon that can grants wishes, sound familiar? It looks something like this," he pulled out a broken top half of a model dragon from inside his cloak.

The incomplete model was a dragon with a rather large head and upper body. He had horns coming out his head as well as the tops of his shoulders. He had more of a reptile look than Shenron.

Porunga, Dende thought. Then that must mean…

Dende gasped in understanding, "You killed Porunga".

"I killed a lot more than just the dragon. I killed every single last pathetic Namek on that planet. Unfortunately for you someone said there was a Namek on the planet Earth, but not just any namek, a namek that could make dragon balls. I laid waste to that filthy planet and made my way here. I can't say that this planet is any better."

Dende felt his heart drop into his stomach. Is it true? Is the new planet Namek gone?

Dende thought about telling him where the model was, but then he thought about Mr. Popo and his sacrifice to keep the dragon balls safe. He thought about all his friends that fought for their lives against monsters like Frieza and Cell. He wouldn't live his final moments as a coward. Dende looked directly into the killer's hood and shook his head.

"I will never tell you"

"Brave now are we. Well we can change that." The assassin slammed his knee into Dende's stomach repeatedly until Dende spit up blood. Dende was blinded by pain, he felt himself slipping into unconsciousness.

"Oh no you don't" the hooded man charged a small ki blast in his hand then placed it on Dende's chest sending enough energy to wake him back up.

Dende opened his eyes, "never". He received a fist in the face for his insolence.

"Tell me now, I can make this much worse for you" another fist hit his already broken nose.

Where Dende found his courage he did not know, "I have died once already, I'm not afraid of death or you".

"Save the heroics, I'm not going to kill you. You're too valuable for that. But I will break every bone in your body unless you tell me where the model is".

Faster than Dende could see, the assassin grabbed Dende's hand singling out a finger. Dende tried to pull his hand away, but the man's grip was too powerful. Snap, Dende screamed in pain. The hooded man grabbed another finger,

"I beg you, please don't" Snap. Dende screamed louder.

The hooded man let go of Dende's hand and grabbed the front of his robes lifting him off the ground.

"Where is it?"

Dende remained silent.

"Fine, we can do it the hard way, I like it better anyway".

The hooded assassin began to punch Dende until he fell unconscious again. Again the hooded man revived Dende. Dende blinked blood from out his eyes. The pain was too much, all he wanted was for it to stop.

"Stop please no more I'll show you where the dragon model is" Dende struggled to stay on his feet as stumbled out of the guest room and down the hall.

His vision was swimming. He didn't make more than five steps before he fell. The hooded man pulled him back on his feet and shoved him hard in the direction he was going. Half walking, half being shoved Dende made his way a staircase at the end of the hallway.

Dende raised a shaky hand and pointed down a flight a stairs as darkness began to creep over him, "That door on the left with the ornate handle is the one you want". He felt his strength leave him, there was nothing but darkness now.

Dende woke up in a tiny room. He found himself lying on a bed and sat up. He looked around the room trying to become familiar with his surroundings.

Where am I?