"Well, there's two who won't be causing us anymore trouble." Yamcha said, tossing the two dead Planet Trade soldiers who had come to investigate their landing into the green sea's of Namek. They had fired a blast at Kami's ship, but the Scar-faced Bandit had moved fast enough the swat the blasts away before they could do any damage.
"I'm not proud of it, but that ship is our best way home. Can't afford to let it get damaged." Kami said, using his telekinesis to widen the cave path they had landed beside, before using his telekinesis to push the white ship inside the cave.
Suddenly the Namekian gave a gasp and turned to his allies "Quickly, into the cave! Suppress your power levels!" he hissed, the group scurrying in after him. The powers that moved past, some were...enormous...Dozens and dozens of soldiers, and the short creature in the bubble chair that was leading the charge...God he was stronger than 100 Vegeta's all rolled into one.
They'd sensed Vegeta shortly after arrival of course, now stronger than he had been on Earth, but now he seemed so insignificant by comparison.
Once the group of alien invaders passed them by, Kami breathed a sigh of relief and then tilted his gaze toward Bulma "Ms. Briefs, please check the Dragon Radar."
The turquoise-haired heiress gave a small nod, though she seemed to be trembling in fear with so many alien warriors flying about "Um...You guys aren't going to like this but...Well, those guys have four Dragon Balls with them."
Yamcha gave a nervous, sad laugh at that "Oh...Of course. The super powerful guy would have a head start on us, wouldn't he?" he said with another laugh.
Tien shook his head "Well, you hardly though this would be easy, did you? We're always outmatched, but we always pull through in the end." the triclops remarked. He could sense what they were up against, but shockingly enough he didn't seem afraid or nervous.
Bulma kept tinkering with the radar and then looked to her allies "Hey, wait you guys, they're heading for another ball...It seems it's a few kilometres from here." she explained.
Kami punched his palm "Over that way...That was one of the villages I stayed in when I came here." the large Namekian said, clenching his teeth. "I'm going to investigate, there has to be something we can do here." he said, walking from the cave.
"I'll come with." Tien replied, following after the Namekian "I want to get a better grasp on the power levels we're facing here."
"I guess I'll keep watch of the camp." Krillin said, taking a seat on one large rock in the cave.
Yamcha gave a nod as well, propping himself up against the cave walls "I'll stick around too. Can't leave Krillin with all the work." he teased. Krillin scowled in response to that, but stayed silent.
"Thanks for hanging back to guard the ship guys. I'm not exactly a martial artist or anything." Bulma said with a laugh.
Tien and Kami exchanged glances, and Kami spoke up "Try to suppress your ki as much as possible. Even with the Kaioken we stand no chance against that horned monster." Tien gave a nod in response, and the two started to cross the Namekian grasslands through swift and powerful leaps, not wanting to alert others to their presence through flying.
Kami and Tien travelled silently as they bounded toward the village the Dragon Balls had converged in, and the duo stopped on a large overhang beside the village. Kami nodded to Tien, and both went prone to crawl closer and investigate the scene, Kami silently praying the wouln't hurt anyone so long as they cooperated.
The demonic-looking creature was flanked on both sides by two guards, each clutching a pair of Dragon Balls under their arms, who seemed equally powerful and imposing. An effeminate lavender-skinned, green-haired man in armour similar to Vegeta's with the addition of a silly cape. And a bulky, spiky, red-skinned man whose forearms were like watermelons with nails embedded in them.
"So these are the Namekians..." Tien remarked, scanning over them. Kami made no response, trying hard to keep his ki down.
He saw the Namekians being rounded up, adults, children and elderly alike. All male, as Namekians were asexuals who reproduced through eggs. Tien seemed a little surprised by the all male species, but he managed to connect the dots between the Namekians and King Piccolo's mutant offspring.
Kami could hear their voices quite clearly despite the distance, hearing the strange little man in the bubble chair start to speak "Hello there, I'm Lord Frieza, ruler of the Galaxy, and I'm searching for your Dragon Balls. Give me the information I want and nobody has to get hurt." The elderly Namekians remained silent as the grave. Despite the calm face and smile on his face, Frieza's voice grew noticeably colder at his captives unwillingness to talk "Give me the ball...And you can live."
The elderly Namekian, who Kami quickly recognised as Moori, stepped forth and spoke in ancient Namekian. Seemed that he was trying to feign ignorance, trying to fool Frieza into believing he couldn't understand the question...But Frieza's smirk showed that Moori wasn't the first to try this ruse "Your native language eh? I'd rather you speak to me in your my language. I know you can." he said, slowly lifting an index finger. At this, Moori clutched his two children closer.
"Where is the ball? Is it here?" Frieza asked, lowering his finger.
"N-no, it's not here." Moori answered swiftly.
The response seemed to amuse Frieza, a smile tugging at his lips "Dodoria, do you recall what happened at the first village we went to?" he asked, glancing to the bulky red man beside him.
The red-skinned alien, evidently named Dodoria, gave an ugly smile and replied "Yeah, they said they didn't know where the balls were either."
"The elder wouldn't cooperate, so I killed all his friends." Frieza chimed in. The Namekians were shocked silent, and Kami clenched his fists so hard that his nails drew blood from his palms. "That loosened his tongue sure enough, told me how every village elder guarded over the Dragon Balls. I've had similar problems in the past four villages, with similar results. So make this easy on yourself and hand it over."
Moori was in deep shock "That's...That's impossible..." he grunted in disbelief.
"Well then, I'm more than happy to demonstrate. Zarbon!" Frieza called out. At his command, the lavender-skinned alien dashed forth so fast that his movements were hard to detect, even to the warriors of earth. His leg struck one elderly Namekian in the cheek with such force that his neck snapped in a most awful manner and he landed stone dead on the grass.
One elderly Namekian, who looked akin to Kami before he merged with Piccolo, gave an enraged snarl and rushed at Zarbon "You'll pay for that!"
Zarbon flung one Dragon Ball skyward nonchalantly and leapt up to avoid the Namekian's blast, which instead struck and fried one of the weaker Planet Trade goons. With a flourish of his cape, Zarbon launched his own small ki blast which burnt the dark green Namekian into a crispy black. In the span of a second, the dead Namek hit the floor, Zarbon landed, and then effortlessly caught the orange sphere he'd tossed skyward.
Kami was shaking with rage, seeing his kinsmen being killed so casually...Men he'd known in the time he'd spent on Namek. He could hear Piccolo's voice, buried deep in the back of his mind, goading him, whispering to him to attack with everything at once. Surely the dwarf in the chair couldn't withstand a surprise attack of such magnitude...Nonsense...
"Now do you understand? Give me the ball and I shan't need to harm any more of you." Frieza remarked. 'For the moment' was the term missing from that sentence.
Moori was silent for a moment "What do you want the balls for?"
"Why, to wish for immortality of course."
Moori narrowed his eyes "Then you'll get nothing from me. I'd rather die!"
Frieza gave a small 'tsk' but his smirk remained firmly plastered to his face "Poor choice of words. Still, I do believe youll change your mind. Unless you want us to kill the children?"
A mask of fear etched onto Moori's face "NO! LEAVE THE CHILDREN ALONE!"
It was at that moment that Dodoria's scouter beeped to life, and he quickly turned his head "Some high power levels incoming." the plump alien remarked.
On the horizon a trio of younger Namekians, young adults by Tien's mental estimation, flew into view and landed on the blue grass surrounding the village. "The warrior caste." Kami murmured over to Tien.
Frieza lazily glanced over at the trio "So nice of you to take some time out of your busy day, just so you could come by and let me kill you." he remarked.
"I didn't want to think the rumors were true, but a group of bandits have come to steal our Dragon Balls...You'll pay for spoiling the tranquility of Namek!" one of the trio snarled, surveying the death marking the village.
"Dodoria, check their power levels." Frieza said, unmoved by the warrior's outrage.
As Dodoria listed off their power levels, stating they were all in the region of 1000, a plan began to form into Moori's mind. 'So that's how they're finding the villages, using those devices on the sides of their heads.'
Much to the shock of the lower class warriors in Frieza's posse, who had expected a curb stomp battle from the readings Dodoria gave them, the first trooper to lunge the warriors was casually kicked away by one of the larger warriors and crashed face-first into a mesa.
"Suppressing their ki, a very good tactic against those scouters." Tien mused. Even then, they still couldn't hope to beat the two elite mooks or the big bad sitting between them.
One of Frieza's soldiers, a creature with a vile crocodilian snout dove straight at the tallest of the Namekians, who parried the soldiers punch and then delivered a flurry of punches to the beasts face. He struct with such force that he smashed his snout, broke off the`invaders helmet, and then delivered a horizontal chop so hard that it snapped the croc's neck in a grotesque fashion.
One humanoid soldier fired a ki blast from a wrist-mounted blaster, aiming for an airborne warrior who casually deflected the energy blast and fired back one of his own. The explosion struck the ground before the trooper and sent him soaring toward Zarbon, who nonchalantly kicked the alien away into the green waters.
"What's going on with their ki? You said they only had a power level of 1000." the green-haired elite remarked, glaring at Dodoria.
"I...I don't get it, the scouter says they just jumped from 1000 to 3000." the plump alien replied, tapping his scouter repeatedly.
"They can control their power levels, don't you see? Surprisingly clever." Frieza remarked, his trio of henchmen looking to the Namekians as they finished off the low-class warriors. It was at that moment that Moori took his chance, he leapt high into the air and fired off a rapid flurry of fingerbeams, blasting the remaining scouters on both the living and the dead into bits.
"YOU...OLD BASTARD!" Dodoria howled, flying straight up at Moori and ignoring the burns on his flabby face.
"Dodoria, wait!" Frieza ordered, his voice causing Dodoria to halt mid-flight. "Kill the warriors first!" Frieza commanded. At his word, Dodoria tumbled downward and landed straight before the trio of Namekians, grinning wickedly at them,
"Hehe...It'll only take a few second to kill you." Dodoria growled.
"Give me a break!" one warrior yelled "You can't beat all of us!"
"I can't beat you weaklings?" Dodoria asked, vanishing from sight from his surprising speed. he reappeared behind the Namekian warrior who had goaded him, and promptly speared his fist through the warrior's torso "What a joke!" Dodoria's head whipped around swiftly, and a gold beam of ki shot from his maw, smashing into another Namekian and killing him in a powerful explosion.
Kami's rage was building, he had to do...something. He couldn't let his kinsmen be murdered like animals!
Dodoria started pursuing the last Namekian, who was narrowly dodging his foe's meaty fist, leaping back and back, further away from the village. In a desperate move, the last warrior raised his hands up, and then fired as much ki as he could muster at the advancing Dodoria. The blast struck him head on, and created a decent-sized crater from the power behind it. Didn't even lay a scratch on Dodoria's armour.
Dodoria cackled and lunged forth, the spikes on his head burying into the last warrior's chest as he was carried along, smashing into a bed of rock, cracking his green skull open like an egg. Dead, like the rest of his allies.
Moori stared in horror, the most powerful of his village being killed like they were nothing at all. "Now do you see what you're up against? I wouldn't advise resisting any further." Frieza warned, causing the elderly Namekian to reluctantly land. "So you're finally listening? Very good. I should be mad at you for breaking our scouters, but I'll forgive you if you hand over your Dragon Ball."
"Very well...But you have to promise not to harm the children..." Moori said, slowly turning to one building. He returned from the white building moments later, and handed the orange sphere to one of Frieza's surviving goons.
"Oh, and while you're at it..." the icy tyrant began "Be a dear and tell us where the other villages are."
"Wh-what?! I'll never sell out my fellow Namekians! Now keep your word and leave this village in peace!" Moori yelled back, veind throbbing on his wrinkled brow.
"Good god, you too? You Namekians never want to talk...I suppose you'll just have to die with your children." Frieza said, a smirk etching onto his face. Quick as a flash, Dodoria zipped at Moori and smashed his grotesque fist into Moori's face, causing him to skid along the ground.
"You...You promised..." he grunted out.
"I need all seven Dragon Balls. I needed my scouters to find them, the scouters which you destroyed. Therefore I think it's fair that you pay reparations and tell us where to find the other Dragon Balls." Frieza explained.
"I won't tell you anything!" Moori yelled, getting to his feet. "Quick children, run! Get as far away as you can!" he added, glaring back at Frieza "I'll show you the pride of the Namekians!" Frieza casually raised on finger up and fired a beam of purple energy from one finger, which arced over Moori and struck one of the fleeing children, immolating him instantly.
"C-Cargo!" the remaining child gasped out.
"That...Monster..." Kami hissed, his power slowly beginning to rise.
"Kami, calm down! I know it's horrible to watch, but we can't do anything to that guy. He's just too powerful!" Tien pleaded.
Dodoria caught Moori by the neck while he was distracted, and with a grotesque *Snap* of his neck, Moori fell to the blue grass dead as a doornail.
Now, there was only one Namekian left in this village. The cowering, terrified child. He went to flee, but Dodoria leapt from Moori's corpse and landed straight before the child "Come on now, I hardly have time to waste on a runt like you." he spat, raising one arm up high.
That was when Kami struck.
He buried his fist into Dodoria's flabby face, sending a spurt of blood across his knuckles as Dodoria was flung back and crashed through a large house. Still moving quickly, Kami grabbed the Namek child and held him underarm as he took off into the air "Tien, come on!" he yelled, the triclops wasting no time following after Kami.
"A Namek and a...3-eyed man." Frieza remarked, simply watching them leave. They were entertaining, if nothing else.
"Agh...He boke my dose..." Dodoria growled, sitting up and rubbing the bleeding, gushing ruin that had been his nose before Kami smashed it to bits.
"Dodoria, get after them you fat bastard! I want to know who the hell they are!" Frieza yelled. Dodoria hastily complied, scrambling to his feet and zooming straight after the fleeing trio.
As they fled, Tien allowed himself to check for pursuers "I think it's just the fat one coming after us. I think we should have the means to beat him." Tien remarked, quickly turning his gaze back to the horizon.
"You are Dende, right?" Kami asked. The child gave a nod, slowly recognising the tall Namekian who had saved him "Good. Go with my friend Tien, he'll take you somewhere safe."
"Th-thank you sir. But I can fly on my own." Dende replied, floating from Kami's grasp. He went to Tien's side, and the duo quickly flew off. Kami stayed back, and looked to Dodoria's rapidly approaching bulk.
"I'll make you pay..." Kami spat, clenching his fist.
"DERE YOU AH, YOU BASTAHD! I'LL TEACH YOU NOT TO BAKE MY DOSE!" Dodoria howled, charging toward Kami. Suddenly he was struck in the side by a boot and sent hurtling downward, tumbling until he corrected himself in the air. Kami and Dodoria both stared at the newcomer, and were shocked by the sight.
There, hovering in the sky, was Vegeta.
A/N: Next chapter, the brawl between Kami, Dodoria and Vegeta! Dende helps the group meet up with the Guru of Namek!
Power Levels:
Namekian Warriors: 3000 each.
Zarbon: 23,000
Frieza (1st Form): 530,000
Dodoria: 22,000
Vegeta: 24,000