Kattatsu then astral projected to the planet Namek, far distant and yet as near as a pining thought of home. His body remained hovering in meditative stasis over the green where Kaio-sama still looked on with wonder, supposing the Namekian to be deep in thought; or communing with the lost Z-Warriors who had been kidnapped by Garlic (assumed Kaio, who had a penchant for dreading the worst). That was what Kattatsu wanted him to think; he did not desire to deceive the gods, only to remain one step ahead of them. He knew of the evil that lay waiting around the next bend in time. He stood tall whispery and more ghostly than ever outside of the ceremonial building where the Namekian elder, Guru, still resided; though he heard the sound of waterfalls all the time.

Kattatsu stepped aside for a shorter man in a traditional vest as he suddenly exited the one-room structure, emerging like a reflection passes over the surface of water. The man was Nail, he knew, the elder's devoted servant. And even if Nail could not see him or sense him, he stepped aside out of reverence and perhaps a little nostalgia for one who had replaced him in the function. Nail flew away into the green sky, into the rapid light of Namek's many suns, and Kattatsu watched the twinkling aura until it was gone. He then went into the dark chamber, his keen ears and his spirit filling with the hum of Guru's unmistakable signature.

He could sense that the old Namekian was quite aware of him. And yet Guru remained silent as Kattatsu approached him in his great chair, almost as if he were dreading the communion with the Dead which was after all the source of his wisdom and by extension the cause of his election as leader of the Namekian race. But at length, Kattatsu heard a greeting rumble forth out of the great and peaceful visage.

"Greetings, fallen one," said Guru.

Kattatsu bowed, his eyes for a moment staring into the darkness at his own feet. "Good morning, Guru. Or is it afternoon? It is difficult to tell here..."

"It is twilight, I am afraid, though the hour be not late, forsooth. I fear I know the reason for your coming. For days, weeks, perhaps even months, I have felt a great evil approaching this world, its will bearing down on us. Crops have failed, some of the elderly have even died. And I know that my time soon will come, in the glare of this red ray..."

"Please, Guru," said Kattatsu, betraying more emotion than he had wanted. "That is why I am come out of the land of the dead. To aid you, and Namek."

Guru returned with a wry smile that lifted some fifty years from his serene and ancient face. "I knew you would come, my child. Just as I know Piccolo will soon come here as well, to the place of his origin. But ... I am afraid it will not be enough, not without the great dragon."

"My elder, even now, Piccolo is struggling with the trial I devised for him when I released Garlic from the Dead Zone..."

"That was foolish," said Guru, not unkindly. "What if he is slain permanently? Then Kami would disappear forever, and with no replacement on Earth, 'twould be a forsaken realm indeed. Frieza would-"

They both paused as a loud crack split the air outside, then another, then another. The sound of battle, one-sided, rang dimly like a nightmare coming to life, and the sounds of Namekians perishing to standard-issue rayguns needled at them both. Guru felt himself expire a little faster with each needless death. The darkness was coming.

"Listen," he gasped.

-(The coffin yet whispers.)-

Nail ignored the stinging in his eyes as he raced at top speed across the long sullen waters of his home world: the only waters he had ever known. He longed to dive into the waves as he had done as a child, hide in the strange but welcoming realm of fish and soft coral, and wait for whatever destruction he now went to face alone to catch up with him fawning in some more blissful moment. Or perhaps just let the deep waters of Namek carry him away into oblivion. He scanned the islands, most of them uninhabited except for an errant bulltoad, as he focused ki behind and around himself, pushing forward while parting the air like a knife's edge. He had trained his whole life in the arts of combat, and knew he was strong. But he had also trained in the special skill of divination; and knew that he was about to die.

Suddenly it hit him: almost literally a pain forced its way into his stomach; and if his hairless arms had been capable, they would have crawled with goosebumps.

FRIEZA

This energy seemed to wear its master's name.

This power was the terror of the universe incarnate.

This ki was imbued with the coldness of murder, the song of last despair.

When Nail landed, he stared at the little alien in his form-fitting armor and smart red scouter with a sense of hateful redundancy bordering on loathing: for he knew that this creature, intelligent as he appeared, was merely a vessel for that evil power inside of it, a power so terrible that it had its own name.

FRIEZA

"What?" The creature's mock surprise filled Nail with loathing. "Another Namekian, ka?"

Nail dodged the killing beam which erupted from the creature's lazily extended finger by mere centimeters. At that, Frieza had aimed it at his face, and a less trained Namekian would have had a hole bored straight through its skull. Nail shuddered.

"Oh? Still alive? Come then, call me by name, and we shall make some words before I try again."

Nail screwed up his courage. "... Frieza!"

This brought out a cackle from its black lips. "Yes, quite so. Or Lord Frieza if you like, though it really makes no difference. For soon I shall-"

Nail thought he saw an opening, a hole in the creature's defenses as it seemed to wallow in its thought of killing him. He was on it in a half-second, aiming a closed fist at the small exposed neck. A good shot could maybe-

But nothing happened. His fist crushed against Frieza's neck like a paper wagon hitting a brick wall. Then Frieza took Nail by the wrist, lightly as a dance partner, and Nail felt everything inside of him turn to ice.

"What? This one fights, does he? I'm sorry, I didn't notice your power level."

Nail growled. "I am the strongest on Namek!" He tried to remove his wrist from the creature's light grasp; but it would not come away.

"You're wrong, I'm afraid. I am now the strongest on Namek."

And with a dainty twist of his torso, Frieza removed Nail's hand from his arm.

-(Fresh and brood.)-

Good for you. You're not the coward I thought you were.

Piccolo awoke in the dark. At first he thought that the demon had loosened its grip at the last moment, or perhaps been knocked away by the valiance of Chiaoutzu. It had loosened, he had fallen half-unconsciously to the floor of the cave and lain for … how long? He reached out with his senses, but felt nothing of the energy from before. He was in a different place.

"Piccolo?!"

Piccolo shook his head, and stood up. He saw Tenshinhan standing over him, although the two of them were practically walled off by a thick weird mist which filled the cavern.

"Ten … what's going on?"

There was an explosion of power from above, and Piccolo barely had time to dodge as someone crashed into the ground where he had been standing, making a shallow crater. There was a roar of laughter from above, and a voice called out:

"WELCOME TO THE SHOW, PICCO-LO!"

Piccolo saw that it was Yamcha in the crater, sprawled out but not dead. His life pulsed but weakly. He was beginning to come to. There was no time to help him, however, as whoever it was that had called out to 'welcome' him recently was on the move headed straight toward him. Piccolo gathered up Yamcha in his arms and sprung away as a hulking figure, twice the size of the demons which had assaulted him and Chiaoutzu, crashed into the spot where Yamcha had been, obviously intent on squishing him out like an insect.

"Yamcha, you've got to – oof!"

Piccolo didn't have time to finish his sentence as the hulk, Garlic, hit him over the head with a double axe handle smash. He split off from Yamcha and went flying away, almost knocking the mist apart with his wide shoulder-pads. He recovered, backflipping around and coming to a fast stop. Piccolo strained to feel the incoming attack, but nothing happened.

Tenshinhan saw Garlic go after Yamcha, who still seemed unconscious. So he's methodical, at least, thought Ten, finding that he was no longer bound as he had been before. Something had broken the link which had been holding him in place. Perhaps it had been the arrival of Yamcha, or Piccolo. But why were they showing up here so mysteriously, and how had he gotten here? There was no time to think about it now. He lifted himself up into the air and flashed out toward Garlic's energy signature at lightning speed, catching up to the huge demon in time to block a massive hand as Garlic turned and attempted to swat him away. Garlic howled with laughter.

"BACK ON YOUR FEET ARE YOU."

"Where's Chiaoutzu?!"

"BWAHAHA. WHERE INDEED! ALREADY IN THE DEAD ZONE . . ."

Tenshinhan winced. It couldn't be. He growled and rushed Garlic, who had obviously been expecting it. But he wasn't expecting Piccolo, who descended suddenly from above, dropping his foot into the top of Garlic's head. Garlic whistled down and out of sight.

"Thanks, Picc. Do you know where we are?"

"No. But I don't like it here. It feels like this whole place is just … in my head, or something."

"Yeah. And what's with Garlic? He's strong but … I thought he would be a lot stronger."

"Guess our training paid off. Seen Yamcha?"

"Seen him, but …" For a moment Piccolo thought Ten was going to shrug. He must be worried about Chiaoutzu. I should tell him—"Tenshinhan, I saw Chiaoutzu."

"You did?" All three eyes, even the lazy one, now regarded Piccolo. "When?"

"He was here before. I mean, when I came here, he was the only one here. You and Yamcha were missing. Now I see you and Yamcha, and Chiaoutzu isn't here. I'm not sure—"

"WHAT'S GOING ON?" There was a rumbly cackle from below them, above them, all around in an echo which bounced off of the unseeable cave walls. "IT'S SIMPLE REALLY. I WAS GIVEN THE CHOICE TO LEAVE THE DEAD ZONE AND I TOOK IT. BUT DO YOU REALLY THINK ONE CAN SIMPLY WALK OUT OF THE DEAD ZONE?!"

-(Kat and mouse.)-

"The deal was that Garlic inherit my ability to astral project, as I am doing now," said Kattatsu, and he became aware for the first time of a feeling of fatigue tugging at him by some hidden string. "Of course it is impossible for anyone to leave the Dead Zone physically. It was constructed in a time where such a limitation was ultimate. If you could simply walk out of the Dead Zone..."

"It wouldn't be the Dead Zone," said Guru. "So he has astral projected himself into the Other World Tournament. This must be what Kami was trying to tell me."

Kattatsu nodded gravely. "At this point, the only one who doesn't know is..."

Kaio-sama sighed, leaning on a sign which read "Keep Off Grass Please!" (he hadn't read the sign yet). Kattatsu had been hovering nearby with his eyes closed for what seemed like hours, and beyond being worried about the fate of his warriors and fretting uselessly over his blown chances at winning the Other World Tournament, he was simply bored at this point. But it wasn't like him to disturb someone so deep in meditation as Kattatsu seemed to be. He could feel that the Namekian's energy was condensed by extreme focus into a point very far away. In his own capacious godhood, he could almost follow it to the point, could almost hear voices whispering beyond the edge of his consciousness . . .

Yamcha?!

Yamcha's eyes opened. He sat up, bumped his head with one hand until a small pebble rolled out of his ear. "Ugh. How has he stayed so strong while wasting away in the Dead Zone?!" He stood up, tightened the belt of his gi, and tested his footing. "What do they have training dummies?"

Yaaaaaaaaaaamchaaaaaaaaaa.

Yamcha's brow twitched. Was someone—wait, was that Kaio?

Kaio-sama?

Yamcha!

Kaio-sama.

Yamcha!

I can hear you! What do you want?

There was a silence, and then, What are you doing?

I'm fighting Garlic obviously. Can't you like, sense him and stuff?

Um. Not really. But! What are you doing on Namek?

I'm not on Namek, Kaio-sama. I'm still here on the island. Just underground or something.

No, no, Yamcha, I'm pretty sure you're on Namek.

Come on Kaio! How could I have gotten to Namek, I'm dead! What are you on?

Look, Yamcha. I followed you—with my antennae! Well. I followed Kattatsu, who I'm preeeeetty sure is astral projecting to the Planet Namek. And when I followed him, I found you, see, so that only means that you could be one place, and that place issssss

"OH MY GOD WOULD YOU BOTH SHUT UP?!"

Tenshinhan looked at Piccolo. "Why isn't Garlic attacking?"

"What's he yelling about?"

Tenshinhan!

"Chiaoutzu? Chiaoutzu!"

"NOT YOU TOO!"

You've obviously gotten your signals crossed.

"Kaio-sama," said Guru with a knowing smile.

Kattatsu nodded again. But they both frowned as they felt a great disturbance not far distant, and Guru felt a deep pain as if something had torn off one of his limbs. "Ngh..."

"Hold on a little longer, elder-sama," said Kattatsu. "I know Piccolo will pull through."

Chapter 11: things are getting weird! Lines are getting crossed. It's hellacious when the astral plane is filled with the voices of telepaths! And what of this new threat, called "Frieza"? Stay tuned for the next chapter!

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