I have no business starting anything new, especially since I have four final exams within the next week.  Perhaps I should call the Psychiatric Ward ahead of time and reserve a room.  What do you think?

All reviews and constructive flames are welcome.

This is my telling of Piccolo's thoughts during his time on Nameksei, as limited as it was.  There's a good chance that I have the events and the dialogue messed up a little…humor me.  I haven't seen that saga in well over a year, and I don't have it memorized.  Just take it for what it is and enjoy it. *grin*

Disclaimer: Only in our dreams is it possible to own DBZ.

Nameksei, My Home

By: Dreamwraith

            I had not expected Gohan to act as quickly as he had.  One moment I was in the Afterlife on Kaio-sama's planet, and in an instant I was on Nameksei, the ancestral planet of my people.  My home.

            So this is it, I thought.  Nameksei.

            I stood on a rocky outcropping overlooking a large body of water.  There were many, many islands on this planet, I noticed.  It seemed warm, for all the incessant winds that made my cape billow around me.  I automatically searched for the ki of those remaining on the planet.  I hadn't expected much…Kaio-sama had kept us informed of the situation on Nameksei.

            This place, it seemed so familiar to me.  I feel as if I have lived on this planet my whole life, though I have been here for only a moment.  It was soothing, standing here and gazing out over the horizon.  The colors, the wind, the gravity, even the ground all seemed right to me.  Could it be that I have found my place at last?

            This is what I have yearned for my whole life…without ever knowing why.  The thought came unbidden to the front of my mind.  I gritted my teeth, but the truth still remained.  I had come home, and I knew it.

            I cannot adequately describe what feelings welled up inside me in that instant, with that realization of a truth so profound it threatened to unmake what I had tried so hard to create.  I am a man of few words, so to speak, but this…this requires more than just a passing thought.  I scowl at my reflection in the water so far below me, but it doesn't do me any good.  If anything, it reminds me of my heritage, and of why I am here at all.  And it shows me that I need to let my thoughts, if not my feelings, run loose, at least for a moment.

            I have spent my entire life on Chikyuusei, the planet Earth.  I was born from hatred, and I lived for hatred.  I was created as a weapon, as a final effort to destroy the world's greatest defender, Son Goku.  I was never loved, nor was I coddled.  I never slept in a warm bed.  No one ever tucked me in at night.  And no one dared approach me as a friend, until recently.  This planet, though…I have been here for a minute only, and I can feel it around me.  You may think I am foolish, but this planet seems to care for its children.  As I search out the last beings on Nameksei, I can feel it surrounding me.  It unconditionally loves its children as might a god, including its children from another world.

            "Another world."  That is what my name means.  Is it coincidence that I, the prodigal Namekjin, so to speak, have such a meaning?  I say not.

            There has always been a longing in my soul, although I did not know what I had been longing for until now.  As I stand on this piece of rock, I feel as though I have come home, even though I have never been here before.  Why is this? I ask myself.  I am a demon.  I have fulfilled my purpose in life.  I have nothing more to do with myself.  Then why do I finally feel so…whole?  So complete?  I am home.

            I stop musing as the ki signatures register in my mind.  There is one power fading, off to my left.  I do not recognize it, but something, some inner feeling tells me that it is the creator of the Dragonballs.  I have never met him before, but in the center of my chest I feel an ache for him.  Foolish! I hiss to myself, but I cannot prevent myself from feeling such.  After all, I think with some amusement, he is a relative of mine.  Far-removed, but the blood tie is still there.

            Could that be why I am so aware of this planet?  If what Kaio-sama said is true about the Namekjin elder, then I am bound by blood to all the people of this planet.  I turn my head slightly into the wind, looking at the source of the sky's darkness.  Gohan and Kuririn are there, and Vegeta, and a weak power.  Then I sense him.

            Frieza, the monster who has slaughtered my race, my family, is with them.

            I feel my eyes widen dramatically.  Such power!  The monster is more powerful than I could have ever imagined!

            I force myself to calm down.  I know that I will not be able to help Gohan if I become too agitated (or scared, my mind whispers) to fight properly.  So they have already begun their fight for survival, I think sourly as Frieza's ki spikes.  That dragon had bad aim, if it thinks that where I am now is where they are.  I quiet down a few seconds later, losing most of my anxiousness as well.  I can't help but wonder how this strange homeworld of mine is affecting my mind as well as my spirit.  No matter.  I am here to fight.  And I am here to destroy Frieza, the being who obliterated my people.

            I can sense the bloodshed on this planet now.  My people, the Namekjins, are a dead race because of Frieza, and I am among the last.  Why? I ask myself.  Not even my sire, Piccolo Daimao, had been this ruthless.  It may be my imagination, but I can hear the dying screams of the people of Nameksei, and I know beyond a doubt how they all met their end.

            I have to force myself to calm down again, but I am not frightened or agitated this time.  I am enraged, and all of Nameksei is backing me up.  This battle-lust of mine has become so much more now.  It has gone beyond a simple test to prove my strength against the strongest being in the universe.  It has become a fight for revenge.  I am out for blood.

            I leap into the air as I get my bearings straight.  I hold my power down…I have no idea if that murderer uses one of those so-called Scouters, and I have no desire to find out the hard way.  I skim along the surface of the waters, leaving my mind open for any ki that I might have missed.  As I move, the sky lightens.  There are three suns, I note to myself.  Then I think about what the lightening of the sky means: the dragon is gone.  In my mind, I know that the wishing process was not complete, and that the creator of the Dragonballs has died.  I feel an ache in my body for him, and I do not know why this is so.  I have never met this Namekjin, and I never will.  Then why does it hurt?

            It is comforting, flying over these waters.  I cannot tell you why.  Perhaps it is some racial memory of a time long past…or perhaps it is an actual memory, coming from the being that had given rise to Kami and my sire.  It is likely that I will never know, so I do not dwell on it.  I pass over one island, but as I do I feel another dying power.  It is one that I did not even realize existed, and I would have passed it over had I not come this way.

            I stop suddenly and drop lightly to the ground, and I come face-to-face with another Namekjin.  He is lying on his back, bloodied and broken and barely able to move.  Still, he raises his head slightly and looks me directly in the eyes.  I bristle at the audacity this Namekjin has; few people have the gall to look into my eyes and therefore my soul.  It is too tainted with my father's and my own evil for most to handle, though it apparently doesn't bother the dying being before me.  "It's you," he wheezes.  "So the Chikyuujins got their wish after all."

            "If you know me," I growl, "then you know I'm out of time.  I must be going now."  I turn to leave.  After all, even if I wanted to, there is nothing I can do for him.  I'm no healer, and he is on his deathbed.

            "Wait," he gasps urgently.  "I can sense your power, warrior, but it is not enough.  You simply aren't strong enough to face Frieza and live.  I've fought him…I'm the last warrior on Nameksei.  If you had come back as your original self, you would have beaten him for sure."

            I spin around angrily.  How could he have possibly known that?  "So, if I had merged with Kami, I would have what I need right now to beat him, is that it?"  I pull my lips back in a sneer.  "How ironic.  You can probably hear Kami laughing all the way from Chikyuusei."

            This dying warrior simply did not realize how dangerous I really am when I am angry.  In the back of my mind a soothing melody played, reining in my rage.  Thinking about it, it was most likely the song of the planet, not wanting two of its surviving children to fight.  Whatever it was, it worked.  "No, brother," he gasped again.  "He wants you to win.  His life depends on it."

            To this day, I cannot tell you what I was thinking when I decided to stay near that warrior in his final moments.  He told me that there was a way I could become strong enough to defeat Frieza and avenge my people.  It would require fusing with him.  I will not go into the details, but I believe that Nameksei itself was urging me on as I accepted his offer.

            The warrior's name was Neru, and he had been the only Namekjin to remain with the elder as he lay dying, until Frieza had threatened him.  He held off Frieza long enough for Kuririn and Gohan to wish me back.  This was what I was able to glean from his memories.

            I can feel the ki rushing through my body, my veins, my very essence.  "This is amazing!" I can't help but gasp at the raw power that surges through me.  It feels as though I am the most powerful being alive!  "Hang on, Gohan!" I shout as I take to the sky, my new-found strength supporting me.

            I know that I am caught up in the moment, but it does not stop me from thinking about the Namekjins, the home I never knew and would now never get the chance to see.  As elated as I am, the sorrow of this loss weighs heavily on me.  I am the last of my kind, and I am headed off to battle the fiend that made me such.  As I fly, I can hear what almost sounds like a low hum, lower than what my hearing can detect.  My heart leaps a little as my soul recognizes the feeling.  It is the hum of Nameksei itself, wishing its champion on to victory.

            Within a few minutes I am able to see the battleground, a field just short of Frieza's landing site.  None of them have spotted me yet.  I allow my aura to glow brightly around me, and I bring my flight to a halt in the midst of the battle.

            Everyone is shocked to see me, including Dende, a young Namekjin who was very close to Neru.  So this is Frieza, I think to myself as I gaze across the field.  The monster is larger than I am, and he looks as if he is ready to tear me apart, limb by limb.  He has horns the length of one of my arms and a tail nearly as long as my body.

            "So this is Frieza," I mutter as I glare at him.  No!  Don't underestimate him! cries a voice in my mind.  "This is the monster who has slaughtered my people."  I clench my hands into fists and drop to the ground.  I power up as I land.  I can sense the blood on this monster's hands, the blood of a hundred Namekjins, and it is infuriating.  As he approaches me, the tension in the air increases.  It is not just my imagination.  The planet itself is readying for battle.

            Though it is unfamiliar, I find myself silently repeating the words of an ancient Namekjin war chant, courtesy of Neru.  I smirk as I catch myself; the wrath of my people is making itself known.  They are preparing to fight.

            I fall back into a defensive stance, knowing that my entire existence has boiled down to this single moment.  I am the last Namekjin warrior in the universe, and the wrath of Nameksei is behind me.  I shall not fail.

THE END.