"RUN, YA DUMBASS!"
Son Gohan ran.
He'd tried really hard to keep in control of himself. But he couldn't stand by and watch innocent old men and children be killed without stepping in. He'd stood by and done nothing while Yamcha was killed. He'd stood by and watched Chaotzu commit suicide. "Look at him!" spat Piccolo, when Gohan had tried to cover his eyes. "We shall not dishonor his sacrifice by turning away from him!" He'd stood by helplessly while Tenshinhan died. When his own turn came up, Piccolo jumped in to save him. He was useless, wasn't he? The guilt weighed down upon him in everything he did.
He'd watched the Namekian warriors fall one by one, watched the youngest child and the elder be slaughtered by Frieza and his big pink goon. These were Piccolo's people, weren't they? He couldn't leave them to fend for themselves, not after all Piccolo had done for him. Krillin had put a comforting arm around him, and he was glad that Krillin understood what he felt, but Gohan couldn't get past the feeling that if he could just save one, just this one--
Krillin was right beside him now, a blur of bright orange wrapped around a mass of shivering green Namekian child, the wind whipping at his gi. Gohan flew as fast and as hard as he ever had before, vaguely glad that his mother had softened his hair before their departure; it made him a little more aerodynamic. The pink fucker blasted a string of ki at them, and Krillin dropped the Namek. Gohan dived and made the save while Krillin was held up by the pink blob, and then they were off again, the wind tearing at their clothes and ears and stinging their eyes. The mountains passed by them, the valleys and rivers stringing along below. They couldn't lose the guy--I've killed us all.
Krillin instructed Gohan to keep flying and not look back no matter what, and he fell back closer to the pink abomination. Gohan did as he was told. After all, he'd gotten them in enough trouble as it was. There was a bright white flash behind him, and then Krillin was grabbing him and dragging him down to the ground. "Hide your ki!" he whispered fiercely. "He can't sense our ki without his scouter, but he can still hear us! Don't make a sound!"
"What did you do to him?" Gohan whispered, pressing himself and the Namek kid into a curve in the rocky wall.
"I blinded him for a while, it's Tenshinhan's technique."
They flattened themselves against the rocks, silent and shivering despite the warm, balmy air. Gohan could see the enemy flying low, searching the rocks and caves and cliff faces for signs of them now that his vision was returning. Krillin snaked a rough hand back and planted it firmly over Gohan's mouth. "Listen," he whispered. "If I tell you to run away, you run away fast. Got me? Don't look back, don't try to save me or the kid. Don't be a hero. I'd rather die a hundred times than face Goku again if something happens to you. Understand?" Gohan nodded mutely, eyes wide. "Good. I think he's going to try to blast us out, so as soon as you see the shot coming, dive out that way, behind him. Hang on to the kid." They each took one of the Namek child's hands and waited with baited breath for the moment to come.
It took about two minutes, and then they were floating in the air behind the lumpy pink fuck, staring down into the fiery crater that had seconds before been their hiding place. They held their breaths till he was out of sight. They would be glad to know, if they could have, that Dodoria would meet his doom within minutes, at the hands of Prince Vegeta.
They regrouped.
"Can you fly at all?" Krillin asked the green kid.
The boy (was he a boy?) nodded. Krillin let him go cautiously, as did Gohan, and he floated in the air between them. His ki signature was weak, and he wouldn't be as fast as they were, but at least they wouldn't have to carry him anymore.
"Thank you for saving me." he said softly.
Krillin gestured to Gohan. "Thank Gohan here. I wasn't going to try to fight those goons, but it looks like Gohan's braver than I am."
Immediately Gohan felt more guilt pile on, as if he hadn't already collected enough.
"But Krillin, if you hadn't helped us we'd both be dead right now." he said.
"Well in any case, let's get back to the hideout. If I know Bulma—and boy, do I know Bulma—she's probably freaking out right now. You gonna come with us, kid? We're not bad guys."
The boy nodded hesitantly, and the three set out in the general direction of Bulma.
***
Halfway there Krillin dragged them all back to the ground, tucked into an alcove in the mountainside, scanning the skies. Gohan felt the dark ki too, and it seemed terrifyingly familiar... and there appeared in the sky the silhouette of Prince Vegeta. Had Gohan been less than what he was, he may have wet his pants. He'd known Vegeta was here, but it hadn't really hit him until now.
Vegeta flew a little lower, clearly looking for them. But he wasn't wearing a scouter—could he sense that they were here?
"He must have learned to sense power levels back on Earth." Krillin said softly. A skilled warrior could, Gohan knew, sense the slightest trace of a living creature's ki signature. If that had been Piccolo or Daddy looking for them, they'd have been found already. It seemed the scouters worn by Frieza's men and Vegeta (assuming Vegeta wasn't with them) could only sense battle powers, so as long as they could keep their ki down they would be safe. However, if Vegeta was learning to sense ki too… how fast would he learn, and how long would it be before he found them? "At this point, Gohan, I think all we can do is fight him. We'll probably die, but if he can find us without a scouter we can't exactly run forever, ya know?"
"Right." Gohan pushed the Namek kid further into the little alcove. "Stay safe, okay kid?" he turned back to Krillin. "We need to attack him first, while we have the element of surprise, right?"
"That's right. Let's see if we can wait till he's looking the other way."
But as they rounded the corner to prepare, a tidal wave crashed over them from a nearby lake—a huge whale had surfaced excitedly, no doubt in pursuit of some prey. Great, now they were going to be dead and wet—but as luck would have it, Vegeta seemed to decide that it was the mammoth fish he had sensed, and took off.
Krillin collapsed, spread-eagled, in relief and shock. Gohan's knees were weak as well, so he sat heavily on the ground. He had been coming down off the adrenaline, but now it was pulsing through him full force again. It may be that Vegeta wasn't skilled at reading ki, but it was a miracle that he hadn't heard Gohan's heart pounding like timpani in his chest. Krillin sat up in a meditative pose, hands together in prayer, and took a few deep breaths. Having centered himself, he opened his eyes and got to his feet.
"Okay, we need to get back to Bulma, but we're going on foot." He grinned a little. "I don't think I can take any more surprises!"
"Okay." Gohan got up. He felt weak and shaky, and out of breath. But they couldn't just stay out here in the open, and Bulma wasn't a fighter. If Vegeta ran across her she'd be dead. "I'm sure it's over this way, we aren't far." They walked a little way, sullen and quiet, with the Namek following along behind them.
"I'm starting to think we shouldn't have come here." Krillin said confidentially to Gohan on the way. "Besides not being able to bring back Yamcha and the others, I'm afraid we're only going to add ourselves to the death toll."
"I'm sorry Krillin. That whole thing back there, it was all my fault."
"No, it wasn't. Well okay, it was. But it's okay. Everybody loses their temper one in a while." Krillin glanced back at the Namek child. "At least it was for a good cause, right?"
"Yeah." Gohan's face felt like it was on fire, but up ahead he caught sight of the cave. They rushed forward, to find no sign of Bulma. "Do you think she moved to somewhere else?"
"Maybe she's further back in the cave, to get out of the heat?" Krillin stepped forward. "We can't use our ki as light, so be careful going in." But once their eyes adjusted the daylight was plenty to see by. They hadn't gone far in the cool shadows when they spotted the clean white dome of a Capsule House. Bulma's face appeared at the window, and then the door flew open and she laid into them for taking so long and being so laid back about leaving her alone in the wilderness… Geez, she sure was uppity for somebody who was living in a cave.
"Hey, that's a little mini-Piccolo!" Bulma said, brushing her blue hair back, "Is that a real Namekian? Has something happened?"
"Can we just get inside and lock the door behind us? We'll fill you in on the details." Krillin led the way in.
"Oh, I've got some great news, guys!" she exclaimed in response, "I talked to my dad by satellite a little while ago, and he said Son-kun just lifted off and should arrive here to get us in about six days!"
Krillin brightened a lot at this. "Really, Goku's coming? Well, we can make it for six days can't we, no problem? Yeah!" Gohan's heart skipped a beat, and he started joyful a little dance with the Namek kid, who looked frightened and had no idea what was going on. The very name Son Goku was like hope on the horizon for them; maybe all this wouldn't have been a waste after all.
***
Somewhere out in space, Son Goku was glued to the outside of a spaceship that was rapidly progressing toward a bright orange sun.
***
They all trooped into the little living room and sat down. Outside the windows, Gohan knew, there was hard grey rock all around. But with the curtains closed, this was a charming little house with cushy furniture and warm carpet. There was a bathroom, a bedroom with two sets of bunk beds, and a little kitchenette. Bulma put some TV dinners on and the Namek boy told them he didn't need any food, only water.
"But weren't you all growing some vegetables or something around your village?" Krillin asked. Gohan was sure the elder had said that the warriors were out working in the fields today.
"Oh, those are tree seedlings. Before the weather changed, Namek was covered with beautiful forests. Now it's mostly plains and mountains, but we are trying to bring back the forests by nurturing the seedlings and transplanting them to the plains." The boy looked nervous, but Gohan wanted badly to befriend him. After all, he'd had a rough day.
"What's your name?" Gohan asked him politely.
"Dende." The kid sipped his juice with a frown. "But, just who are you guys, anyway?"
Right that minute there was an energy disturbance, and both Gohan and Krillin jumped up and rushed out the door, leaving Bulma and Dende staring after them. Outside, one of the suns had set, lessening the light, but as Gohan focused off in the distance, he seemed to see a glow emanating from the spot on the horizon where the disturbance had originated.
People were dying.
Right.
There.
"It's Vegeta." Krillin murmured through clenched teeth. Bulma came up behind them. "He's surely learned to pick up ki by now, and he's attacking a Namek village over that way." The ki signatures Gohan had managed to discern were blinking out of existence, one by one. The glow was fading a little. "Hiding ourselves for six days may turn out to be more trouble than I thought."
"Well what choice do we have? It's not like we can leave, not with the spaceship blasted to pieces." Said Bulma. Dende appeared behind her at the mouth of the cave.
"Can you imagine what would happen if that Frieza guy became immortal? I don't know if Vegeta and Frieza are working together or not, but even if either one of them gains eternal life with the Dragon Balls, it'll mean the end of this world, and probably ours, and probably every other one in the universe too."
So it had been said. This wasn't just about them, or their friends, or their homes, or their Earth. This was bigger than anything Gohan had ever been involved in before. This was about the whole galaxy; such a powerful being as Frieza or Vegeta could destroy all of civilization if he became immortal.
It was the fate of the universe, playing out right before their eyes.
Falling into their hands.
"If we were able to get just one Ball, we could hide it and they wouldn't be able to get all seven together."
Dende looked stricken, though whether by the deaths that were occurring as they spoke or by the prospect of an immortal Freiza, Gohan didn't know. He didn't know how Bulma could think at a time like this. The fate of the universe. But—
"We can't do that!" Gohan cried. "They'll just keep searching for it, and torturing and killing Nameks for no reason!"
"Gohan's right, we can't do that. I can't bring myself to sacrifice all these people, even if it is to save the universe." Krillin dropped to the ground, the shine in his eyes that the hope of Goku's arrival had brought fading rapidly. "And do you think that if the two of them are working together that even Goku would be able to defeat them? I don't think so."
"Of course he can!" Bulma said sharply, as if reprimanding a child for questioning God. "Son-kun can defeat anyone."
"Of course if anyone can, Goku can." Krillin turned to face her, dismayed, "But can he? He couldn't defeat Vegeta alone. If only I had killed the bastard when I had the chance!" he slammed his fists down into the dirt, leaning forward in an almost fetal position. The anguish seemed to emanate from him in waves.
Dende interrupted them. "Please, tell me how you know of the Dragon Balls!" he implored. "If you can save anyone else by any means, please do so!" Gohan sat down dejectedly in the dirt by Krillin.
"Well, we had a set of Dragon Balls on our planet, you see." Gohan started.
"The Kami of our world was a Namek, who had come there during the weather shift." Bulma said. "He had created the Dragon Balls. But he died, and many of our planet's warriors were killed by Vegeta."
"Vegeta's the guy who attacked that village over there." Said Gohan.
"Right." Said Krillin. "Since our Dragon Balls died with our Kami, we came here in a spaceship in hopes of borrowing your Dragon Balls in order to wish our Kami and our friends back to life."
"But we weren't going to torture anyone." Gohan clarified quickly. "We were going to ask nicely."
Dende stood silently for a moment, contemplating them all. Gohan looked at the boy's robes; was he training to become a priest or monk of some sort? After a minute, Dende said "If that village has been destroyed, and mine as well, that means that there are fewer than fifty Nameks left alive on the planet. But I know that none of the elders would have given up the Balls without a fight, and Frieza had five of them already! If he's destroyed that many villages already, and now another one is lost, there can be less than ten Nameks left!" Tears streamed down his face. "And after we'd grown so many trees, too!"
"Well… actually, if no one is left alive to be tortured, it's probably in our best interest to go ahead and search for that last Dragon Ball." Bulma's cold, insensitive logic was hurtful, but she was right. "Even if we can't get them all, we can stop Vegeta or Frieza from getting them."
"If you could get all the Balls, could the warriors you wish back help fight this Frieza guy?" Dende was wiping his eyes on his dirty robes, sniffling. He didn't sound hopeful, but Gohan was.
"I'm sure Piccolo would be glad to help, at least. And when my dad gets here, they could team up and fight him like they did when they beat that Raditz guy." Gohan looked at Krillin for agreement, "I mean, together, wouldn't they stand a better chance than anybody?"
"Yeah they would." Krillin said. "I don't think we can manage to steal the ones Frieza has already, though."
"But we Nameks can help you!" Dende came forward, dry-eyed this time. "I will take you to the Grand Elder. He will know what to do!"
"The who now?"
"The Grand Elder, the eldest Namek! He is the father of all us Nameks, the only one who survived the weather change. I am his one hundred and eighth child."
"Uh…" Bulma looked uncomfortable. Gohan wondered what could bother someone like her. "If he was the only one to survive, how did he repopulate the planet by himself?"
"Huh?"
"I mean, how did he have a hundred kids all by himself?"
"Well he spawned the eggs from his mouth, of course."
"Huh? You mean there are no female Nameks? You don't have two different types of people?"
Oh.
"I only know of the Namek people." Dende looked puzzled.
Bulma leaned down and whispered to Krillin, "Did you hear that? They don't have males and females on this planet! How boring!"
"Uh… well anyway." Krillin took a step away from her. "Does this eldest Namek by any chance have the last Dragon Ball?"
"He does, and if he deems you valiant and pure of heart he will give it to you freely!" Dende pointed west. "His home is in that direction. We can take his Ball and hide it away, and then regroup with the remaining Namek warriors and make a plan! If we can revive your friends, and they team up with us, perhaps we can beat Frieza and save the universe!"
Wow, this kid sure had a good grasp on things.
"Ok you guys go to the Grand Elder guy, and I'll go try to get my dad back on the radio and let him know what's going on. Maybe he can relay a message to Goku." Bulma headed back inside, chipper as ever.
"Gohan, I want you to stay here." Krillin bent to tighten his bootlaces. "If I get caught by one of them, you'll still need to be here to look after Bulma and fill your dad in when he gets here, okay?"
"Right." Gohan agreed, somewhat fazed. Were they really going to do this? Save the universe? "But do I really have to stay here with Bulma?"
Krillin laughed softly. "Look, I know she's annoying, but she's mine and your dad's friend, okay? She may be whiney, and vain, and prissy sometimes but she's right here with us, isn't she? Fighting the good fight? That's what it's all about, kiddo. We all get down sometimes and morale suffers, but we still do what we've got to do. It's the same as when we fought the Saiyans back home, we knew there would be casualties, but we all showed up for the battle anyway. Actions speak louder than words." Gohan blushed, realizing that he was being scolded, however gently. "Try to keep yourself occupied, okay? Sweep the cave or something. We'll be back ASAP. And be careful!" Krillin and Dende took off.
Gohan watched until he couldn't see them anymore, then sat down on a rock outside the cave, head in his hands. It seemed that it had been so many hours since the three of them stood watching Vegeta's space pod burn through the atmosphere, but night did not appear to be on its way. Gohan was glad though—night on this planet would surely bring as many horrors as this long day had. He could hear Bulma's footsteps at the mouth of the cave now, and it crossed his mind that Krillin was right. She was still pretty uppity for someone living in a cave—but she was doing it, wasn't she? She was out here, right beside them, every step of the way. Krillin himself had been pretty dejected before they'd found out Goku was coming, but he hadn't called it quits either.
Gohan found himself admiring the courage in both of them. It was equal to what the others had shown in the battle against Vegeta back home—greater, even, because they knew that if they failed, the universe would be lost, not just their own home. Gohan got up, walked in a circle around their little cavern. Perhaps he should go find some firewood—who knows how long they might take to capture the Dragon Balls after his dad got here, and they would need a good home base to work from. Then he ought to do some training, so he'd be ready for the next fight. He was sure there would be one soon.