As the others disembarked from the ship, Bulma pulled out her Dragon Radar and began scanning for the Dragon Balls' unique energy signature.
"I anticipated that the signature of these Namekian balls wouldn't be identical to that of our own, but the radar should be able to re-calibrate itself soon..." Bulma said absentmindedly, intent upon her device's readings. Meanwhile, Gohan and Krillin explored the immediate vicinity, too distracted by the wonders of the alien landscape to bother to sense for any living creatures.
"Wow...so this is where Mr. Piccolo came from, huh?" Gohan remarked.
"So it seems. Looks like a rather serene place. Hard to imagine a guy like King Piccolo coming from here...technically," Krillin replied.
"Hm. I think Mr. Piccolo would like it, though."
"Really?"
"Yeah. He likes quiet places-helps him focus on meditation."
Krillin chuckled. "Yeah. That's right-you did spend a year alone with the guy. You probably know him a lot better than any of us," he remarked before pausing. "...What is he like?"
Gohan thought for a moment. "He's...reserved. He only talks when he deems it necessary."
"Funny. His dad seemed fond of monologueing," Krillin replied with a short laugh, to which Gohan replied in kind.
"But, he's also kinda intense, in his own way. Very intimidating."
"Mhm. I hear that."
Just then, the Dragon Radar began beeping, signalling that it had detected something.
"Got it!" Bulma cried out as Gohan and Krillin rushed to her side to see for themselves. Yamcha began to step forward, but paused while Bulma announced her findings. "So, it looks like there are seven balls here, just like on Earth, although...huh. That's odd."
"What is it?" Gohan asked.
"Three of them are on their own, but four of them are clustered together."
"Maybe the locals are gathering them for something?" Krillin posited.
"Well, if they are, I'm hoping they won't mind lending us a wish."
As the three of them talked, Yamcha began pacing nearby. "Hey, uh, do you two...feel anything?" he asked Krillin and Gohan.
Gohan shook his head while Krillin turned to him and reached out with his senses. "Eh, don't think so," he replied before taking pause. "Wait a second..."
"Where are the four balls clustered?" Gohan asked.
"Looks like...a flat plain somewhere on the western continent," Bulma replied. "I wonder..."
Yamcha and Krillin both looked around, evidently sensing the same thing, yet struggling to pinpoint the source. At last, however, Yamcha managed to localize two signatures nearby. Krillin reached out further, and rushed to shout out a warning as Yamcha already leaped into the air in front of the ship.
"Guys, get down!" Krillin cried out, hurriedly flying forward and pulling both Gohan and Bulma to the ground. No sooner had he done this than he heard the sound of some kind of energy blast, followed by the sound of a body hitting the ground amidst cries of pain.
"Mr. Yamcha!" Gohan cried out, getting up off the ground along with the others to look at the source of the blast: two aliens carrying what appeared to be plasma guns and wearing a similar style of armor as they had seen the Saiyans wear on Earth, complete with green and red scouters. One alien had light purple skin and horns, along with almost golden hair, while the other was darker purple and had a more reptilian appearance.
"Ha! Look at him, Banan!" the reptilian one remarked. "He flopped around in the dirt like a Tarkasian Gillfin!"
"Indeed, Sui!" Banan replied with a hearty laugh. "Let his pathetic cries of pain serve as a warning, tourists: Lord Frieza has decreed that any ship found having landed on this planet is to be destroyed and its crew detained! Surrender now and avoid further punishment!"
Krillin balled his fists. "Is that so?" he replied. "Well, why don't we give you a counter offer?" He nodded to Gohan, and the two took off into the air with all their speed.
"W-what the-?!" Sui cried out before Gohan punched him in the stomach with all of his strength, while Krillin swiftly followed with a mighty kick to Banan's jaw, leaving the two of them to collide with each other mid-air before falling unconscious into a nearby lake. After taking a short breath, Krillin moved back to Bulma's position while Gohan rushed to Yamcha's side.
"What the-?! Who the hell were those guys?! Who's this 'Lord Freeza' person?! Why'd they try to blow up the ship?!"
"I'll explain later. Listen-did you outfit the ship with a capsule slot?"
"I-agh, no! I didn't think it would be necessary!"
Krillin sighed. "Well, no use worrying about it now. We need to get ourselves and the ship out of sight as quickly as possible." Krillin looked off to Yamcha's position to see Gohan helping him walk back towards them.
"Well, where would you suggest we put it?" Bulma asked.
Krillin mulled over this until his eyes fell upon the nearby lake.
"Where, indeed..."
After a few minutes, the crew had managed to hastily relocate the ship to the bottom of the lake, mere moments before a horde of energy signatures could be felt overhead by the warriors aboard.
"Holy crap!" Yamcha cried out as he felt the power at the head of the pack of signatures.
"Yeah, we felt it too," Krillin added nervously.
"T-that guy in front...he was like fifty Vegetas rolled into one!" Gohan remarked in panic.
"Not to mention the two powers with that guy that were above Vegeta's," Yamcha said. "If they're gathering these Dragon Balls, getting them for ourselves is going to be tricky."
"Okay, so, remember when you said that you'd explain things later?" Bulma asked Krillin somewhat snarkily before pointing to an imaginary watch on her wrist.
"Right," Krillin replied. "Well, from what we heard, this 'Frieza' is some galactic dictator-incredibly powerful, and someone Vegeta wanted to kill in pursuit of his own dream of conquering the universe."
"Okay. And how did he know to come here?"
Krillin coughed before answering. "From what Roshi told me telepathically, the Namekian Dragon Balls are regarded as a legend throughout the galaxy. And, as you know, the Scouters also serve as transmitters."
"...Meaning this Frieza guy was listening in on Nappa and Vegeta back on Earth, where they talked about the Dragon Balls."
Krillin nodded in apprehension.
"You said he was fifty Vegetas?"
Krillin nodded again.
"And, the most you guys could do against one Vegeta at full strength was...?"
The other two were silent as Krillin mumbled slightly, "Cut him in the side."
"Great! Just, great! We're all going to die on an alien planet! And we won't even have Dragon Balls to fix everything! Why?! Why must the greats die young in this cruel, uncaring universe?!"
Krillin and Gohan looked to each other with weary eyes while Yamcha did his best to calm Bulma down.
"...So, ideas?"
"Well, those scouter things can detect people's power levels, right?" Gohan asked.
"Yeah..."
"So what if they're only finding the Dragon Balls by locating the power levels of the Namekians?"
"...Which means that if we got just one ball, which we can locate, and hid it away, then we could at the very least delay whatever wish Frieza's aiming for!"
"I mean...seems pretty obvious that it's immortality, doesn't it?" Gohan asked frankly, to which Krillin was forced to nod in agreement.
"Yeah, yeah, probably. But still-it's a good plan! While his goons are busy searching for the ball, we could sneak the others away later by hiding our power levels!"
"Miss Bulma, where was the nearest Dragon Ball located?"
Bulma, who had only just then managed to calm herself, was somewhat behind. "Hm? Oh, uh, about 527 kilometers that-a-way," she said, pointing towards the northeast.
"Feels like there are people there," Yamcha added. "I'm sensing a handful of individuals, probably a group of Namekians."
"Hm...alright," Krillin said, thinking their plan over as he picked up the Dragon Radar, which had been discarded on the floor. "Bulma, have the ship hover above the lake for a minute-me and Gohan are going to head out. We'll hide our power levels as much as we can so that we don't show up on their scouters, and see if we can't get the fifth ball before these alien guys do!"
"Wait, what about me?" Yamcha asked.
"You should probably stay with the ship, Yamcha," Krillin replied. "We need somebody strong to look after it and Bulma in case any more scouts come along."
Yamcha nodded, while Bulma simply grumbled slightly, content that they had at least left somebody to protect her.
"Just be careful, alright? If anything happens to Gohan, my life is forfeit," Bulma said, her apprehension evident. Krillin chuckled in response.
"Don't worry-I'll look after him. Now, take us up!"
As Krillin and Gohan moved towards the ship's hatch, Bulma sat down at the helm. "Alright, ship-hover 5 meters above this lake!"
After a minute, the ship began to rise, and before they knew it they were out of the water. After opening the hatch for Krillin and Gohan to leap out onto dry land, the ship submerged itself once more. Without a moment to lose, the two began rapidly jumping off of various hilltops en route to their destination.
Frieza made his way towards the village in his hover vehicle, flanked as usual by his two attendants, Dodoria and Zarbon, along with his clerk Appule. Each of them held two spherical objects under each arm, each one roughly the size of their heads and all of them possessing varying numbers of red stars. Twelve Namekians of varying ages stood across from them, gathered in the area by the soldiers prior to Frieza's arrival. The eldest among them, Moori, was flanked by his two adopted children, Cargo and Dende. One of his soldiers approached the alien lord, hesitating only for a second before making his report.
"Sir! Preliminary inspection confirms all Namekians present and accounted for, sir!"
"Yes, yes, thank you, Brocca."
Brocca nodded his head before returning to the side of the troops under his command.
"Now then," Frieza began, turning his attention to Moori, "I trust you understand what we are here for."
"You seek to make a wish using our Dragon Balls," Moori replied frankly.
"Quite right. Now, if you will please give yours to us, we will gladly leave your people unharmed."
Unbeknownst to the soldiers there, Krillin and Gohan had arrived on top of a mountain overlooking the village, and were observing the exchange with bated breath.
"I'm afraid this will not be possible," Moori replied. "The Dragon Balls are sacred to us. We cannot allow them to be misused, particularly by someone with evil in their heart."
Frieza paused for a moment before sighing deeply.
"Three?" Zarbon asked suddenly.
"Three," Frieza answered.
Moori looked upon them with confusion, but before he could blink an eye, Zarbon had already released the Dragon Balls in his arms and disappeared from sight. Within the next minute, every Namekian around him save for his two children lay dead all throughout the village, while several dwellings were almost completely destroyed. He could only stare in horror as Zarbon picked up the balls and tossed his head, flicking his long ponytail forward. Gohan and Krillin were similarly shocked.
"Krillin! He's going to kill the rest of them if we don't do something!"
"Gohan, I understand how you feel, but we can't risk engaging them! They're just too strong!"
"But-!"
"Stay down, Gohan!" Krillin shot back with authority. Thus, Gohan was left to stew in his own fury as the massacre continued.
"You...you monster!" Moori cried out.
Frieza rolled his eyes. "Don't you mewling peons ever say anything original? No, wait-don't bother answering that. Zarbon?"
"STOP RIGHT THERE, EVILDOERS!"
All parties involved momentarily paused as three new arrivals made their presence known-Namekians dressed similarly to the others in brightly colored robes, yet considerably more bulky, indicating a higher level of combat training.
"Oh, goody," Frieza remarked dryly.
"Hm. Yup-no higher than one thousand, boss," Dodoria remarked after checking his scouter.
"We sensed your energy approaching this village, after you had slaughtered dozens of our people!" The one in the lead, wearing a white sash, began. "And now-we have come to avenge their deaths!" He and the others entered into combat stances.
"Wait a second-you can sense levels of power?" Frieza asked.
"That's right!" the one in the brown vest replied.
"So if you can sense power levels, including my own and those of my associates, why do you possibly think you can-? Ugh, you know what, forget it. Zarbon? Give the command."
"Dodoria? Give the command."
"Brocca?"
"SIR, YES, SIR!" The sergeant cried out, rushing towards the three Namekians along with the soldiers under his command. No sooner had he taken off across the blue field when he found himself being kicked into a mountain, never to move again. The three Namekians, having unleashed the full extent of their power, proceeded to unleash utter havoc upon the weaker soldiers, effortlessly and ruthlessly dispatching them.
"...Okay, so apparently they're three thousand now," Dodoria remarked.
"Hm. Must be able to adjust their level of power, just like the reports said," Zarbon added.
"You want me to stop them?" Dodoria asked.
"Oh, let them have their hope for a moment, Mister Dodoria. Besides, it's not like we're losing anything particularly valuable," Frieza replied as a soldier, his scouter shattered to pieces, flew over their heads and into the dirt nearby.
"Only a few of them left..." Moori thought to himself as the battle ground to a standstill, only a handful of soldiers surviving the warriors' assault. The Namekian warriors flew to Moori's side, prepared to continue battle.
"Well, I must say, gentlemen! You've certainly proven yourselves masters in the art of pest control."
The tall Namekian scowled. "Do you really have such little regard for your own men?"
"As a matter of fact-"
No sooner had Frieza spoken than Moori suddenly fired out small beams of ki from his fingertips at one of the downed Frieza soldiers. Before they could react, he fired several more blasts at Dodoria and several other soldiers, destroying their scouters as well.
"There! Now you cannot locate our villages."
Frieza stared at the elder Namekian open mouthed and evidently furious, before sighing. "Dodoria?"
Dodoria grinned widely. "Yes, boss?"
"I tire of them."
"Copy that," he said as he set down the Dragon Balls gently onto the ground before taking a step forward. The Namekian warriors scoffed.
"You may be stronger than us, alien, but you'll never defeat all three of-!"
Dodoria suddenly vanished, disappearing completely from the Namekians' sight.
"W-what the?! Where did he-AGH!" The Namekian in the white sash cried out as Dodoria reappeared and shoved his arm through his chest, mortally wounding him. The other two began to take a step backwards while Dodoria chuckled.
"You know, I gotta wonder: what's the point of being able to sense energy-"
The second Namekian, a shorter warrior in a blue garment, leaped forward with a fierce battle cry, before Dodoria fired off a ki blast from his mouth which burnt him to a crisp, leaving his dead body to fall mere feet in front of him, still poised for an attack.
"-if you can't tell when you're already dead?"
The third Namekian in the brown vest shuddered, trembling with fear, before he steeled his resolve.
"FOR MY PEOPLE-!" he began before a more focused ki blast sent him flying into a mountain with a hole in his chest.
Gohan clenched his teeth in anger while Krillin was left frozen to the spot. Dodoria turned back around to look upon the survivors.
"So...the Dragon Ball?"
Moori shuddered slightly before turning to the two children. "Run," he signaled to them telepathically, before he walked into a nearby dwelling and took the Dragon Ball off of its mantle. "Here," he said, holding it out with his left hand.
"Excellent," Frieza remarked as Appule nervously took the ball from him and headed back to his master. "I'm glad that we understand each other. Now, if it wouldn't be too much trouble, could you perhaps tell us where the other villages are located?"
Moori grunted slightly. "That wasn't part of our agreement!"
"...I'll take that as a no," Frieza replied before pointing at the fleeing Namekian children.
Moori's eyes widened. "Wait!" he cried out as Frieza fired a finger beam, burning Cargo to a crisp in the blink of an eye. As Dende looked over the corpse of his friend in horror, Moori scowled with rage at the alien tyrant. "You...you-!" He began before Dodoria appeared behind him and swiftly snapped his neck.
"Oh, thank you, Dodoria. I was loathe to hear what unoriginal insult he had for me next," Frieza remarked. "Now then...seems like you missed one."
Dende, who had been frozen to the spot in fear, frantically ran as fast as he could, only to find Dodoria in front of him. Meanwhile, Gohan growled in righteous anger, his sheer rage driving away whatever trepidation he may have suffered from.
"Gohan! Again, I know what you're feeling, but we can't risk it! They'll kill us instantly! Just stay down and-"
"NO!"
Gohan took off from the mountaintop, his power skyrocketing under the effects of his emotions as he swiftly kicked Dodoria upside the head, sending him crashing into a dwelling.
"Crap, crap, crap, CRAP!" Krillin cried out as he took off after him.
"What the-?! The hell was-?" Before Dodoria could finish and get back up on his feet, Krillin kicked him down to the ground before racing towards the Namekian child. In an instant, he scooped him up and the pair of warriors took off into the distance. "Grrr...you little-!" he cried out in anger as he swiftly took off after them.
Zarbon jerked back in surprise at the sudden attack, before sighing, assured that Dodoria could handle this. Frieza, however, simply sat in his hoverchair, staring.
"What is it, Lord Frieza?"
Frieza simply pointed in the direction Dodoria had gone.
"That child...had a tail."
Having sensed no other major ki signatures in the immediate vicinity, Yamcha saw fit to relax in the ship's kitchen area, while Bulma was waiting for the ship's antiquated communications systems to establish a connection to the receiver at Capsule Corp. In a moment of idleness, Yamcha moved around the fingers of his left hand, followed by his right, and raised his eyebrow. He tried a few more times before coming to a conclusion.
"Hey, babe?" he called out. "I think the inputs on the hand are still messed up."
"Ugh, seriously?" Bulma replied, exasperated. "Why do they keep falling out of sync?" Without another word, she walked over and inspected the hand's circuitry, tinkering with select portions as she attempted to correct the problem.
Yamcha sighed. "I wonder if they have anything like our Senzu beans on this planet?"
"Hm. Well, if they do, with your luck, they actually don't work," Bulma replied with a smirk as Yamcha groaned.
"Come on, seriously? I told her I was sorry!"
"Next time, pay better attention."
Yamcha smirks. "Sorry. I was too busy-"
"'Thinking about you,'" they said in unison before Bulma chuckled. "Don't you have any other lines? You've been using that one since we first started dating!"
Yamcha just chuckled along with her before the pair of them grew silent, and a thought came into his head.
"Wow, that was-"
"Twelve years ago, yeah."
"Man...it's been off and on, but..." Yamcha added, trailing off, before taking a deep breath. "...Do we maybe want to talk about that?"
Bulma began to noticeably tense up, narrowly avoiding the mistake of crossing two opposing wires accidentally. Eventually, she steadied herself. "...Look, I-"
The pair were interrupted by a loud beeping noise emanating from the console, to which Bulma hurriedly-and, perhaps, a bit too enthusiastically-ran to answer. Yamcha looked off at her, lost in thought over what she was about to say, before sighing and getting up out of his chair, setting his hand to the side for the time being.
"Bulma?! Is that you? Did you make it there safely?!" her father asked from the small monitor. Bulma chuckled.
"Well, daddy, it's...a bit of a story."
Already several miles away from the village, Krillin and Gohan rapidly flew through the sky back in the direction of the ship.
"You have really screwed the pooch on this one, Gohan!" Krillin shouted, the Namekian child still in his arms, as the Saiyan hybrid flew ever-so-slightly behind him.
"'Screwed the-?'"
"Never mind! Just, what were you thinking?! This guy's stronger than Vegeta!"
"Don't worry, we should've gotten a significant head start, and he can't sense energy! All we have to do is find somewhere to hide and-!"
"GET BACK HERE YOU LITTLE BASTARDS!" they heard a few hundred meters behind them, followed by the whine of a ki blast being fired in their direction, which they narrowly avoided.
"WELL, LOOK WHO'S WRONG!" Krillin shot back as the three dodged several more ki blasts.
After another minute of dodging, Krillin began to formulate a plan. He tossed Dende to Gohan in mid-air before turning around to face Dodoria..
"SOLAR FLARE!" he cried out after performing the requisite channeling of ki, casting the entire area in a blinding white light. As Dodoria howled in pain and instinctively drew his eyes to his face, Krillin came to a stop and began charging up his signature technique after getting some distance from Dodoria. "This could be our best chance at getting out of this alive...come on, please be enough!"
Gohan, meanwhile, flew Dende away from the scene of battle faster than he could on his own. He stopped to look as Krillin began forming a disc of yellow ki above his hand. "Wait...is that-?!"
"KIENZAN!" he cried out, throwing the disc at an angle directed at the pink alien's heavyset torso. Dodoria only dimly registered the shout before recognizing the whirring sound of the disc. Panicking, he tried his best to save himself in spite of his lack of clear vision, but quickly discovered that his efforts were for naught as he felt the disc cleave deeply through his torso, from around his midsection to his right shoulder. As his right arm swiftly fell to the ground below, Dodoria could only let out a strangled gasp of hatred before the rest of his body followed suit, falling into unconsciousness and leaking out copious amounts of purple blood.
Krillin took a few shallow breaths before his natural instincts kicked in and he met up with Gohan and Dende before flying back to the ship at full speed.
When the two returned three hours later, they were greeted with little fanfare, as both Yamcha and Bulma seemed too preoccupied to register their presence until Dende was introduced. A few minutes later, while Bulma was busy preparing a glass of water for the Namekian child, Yamcha staggered slightly as he took in what Krillin had just told him.
"Hang on, you killed one of those guys? A guy even stronger than Vegeta?"
"I mean, he looked like he was just about dead, yeah," Krillin replied, somewhat surprised at how little it concerned him. "But if I hadn't gotten him with that Kienzan, he could've very well killed us."
"...You have got to teach me that technique when you can."
Krillin smirked. "It took a long while to master, but yeah, I hear you."
"Oh! By the way!" Yamcha piped up, suddenly remembering. "We just got a call from Dr. Briefs! Apparently, Goku is on his way here, along with Piccolo!"
Krillin and Gohan beamed at the news that Goku would finally be arriving along with a strong warrior like Piccolo.
"How long until he gets here?" Krillin asked.
"About six days," Yamcha replied, causing Krillin's heart to sink slightly.
"Well...we'll call surviving that long Plan A."
The five of them paused for a moment before conversation resumed.
"So, what now?" Gohan asked.
"Well, without scouters they shouldn't be able to sense us. Meaning as long as they don't think to check down here, we should be safe," Krillin reasoned.
"I meant more along the lines of stopping them."
That question proved harder for Krillin to answer, but as he hesitated, Dende spoke up for the first time since he had asked for refreshments.
"They already have five of the Dragon Balls. That means, in all likelihood...all but one of our villages has met the same fate as my own." As he spoke, his voice wavered, the thought of dozens of his people being senselessly murdered refusing to leave his mind. Tears began welling in his eyes, and he rubbed them away as quickly as he could. Bulma moved to comfort him, sitting next to him and patting his shoulder as she handed over the glass of water.
"Hey, it's okay. We've...faced one or two similar situations ourselves," she said, looking back on the four-was it seriously four?-times her entire species had been faced with the prospect of global tyranny or total extinction. "A long time ago, I was almost put into the same situation you were-having my mother and father taken away from some otherworldly villain."
Dende looked somewhat better, yet also confused. "Y-you misunderstand. Elder Moori is not my parent. And...w-what is a mother?"
Bulma cocked her head. "'What is a...?' You mean your species is all men? No women?"
Dende tilted his own in confusion. "'Men?' 'Women?' I don't understand."
"Huh. So you don't have any concept of sex? Then how do you, uh...you know?" Yamcha asked, somewhat fascinated.
"All members of my species are capable of bearing children, if they so wish, once they reach maturity. I was under the assumption that yours was similar, and yet you, Krillin, and Gohan are obviously different from this 'woman' Bulma in terms of physical anatomy."
Bulma blinked, surprised at the young child's vocabulary. In a way, it almost reminded her of Gohan's. "...How old are you again?"
"Three, although Namekians develop their mental capacities from an early age."
"I see..."
"When I was training with Mr. Piccolo, he told me a bit about his origins," Gohan piped up. "He mentioned being born from an egg produced by King Piccolo just before he died. And he was speaking full sentences moments after he emerged."
Bulma nodded, the scientist in her fascinated while the rest of her was disturbed.
"Wait...you said there were six villages?" Krillin asked. "But there are seven Dragon Balls on the radar."
"One of them resides with our Grand Elder," Dende replied. "He lives in a secluded residence many hours' flight away from this location, looked over constantly by our planet's strongest warrior."
"Huh," Bulma remarked. "What's his name?"
"Guru. One of two survivors of a terrible drought that plagued our planet 500 years ago. While the son of the Grand Elder at the time escaped into the stars, Guru dedicated his life towards rebuilding our race. I am his 108th child."
The Earthlings all looked at each other as Dende mentioned the other survivor, all thinking the same thing, yet choosing not to mention it.
"Is he strong?" Gohan asked.
"Not really, no, but he is the wisest among us, and his experience has caused him to develop several extraordinary abilities."
"What about this greatest warrior?" Yamcha added.
Dende pondered this for a moment. "I do not know his true strength, but he's most certainly stronger than all of you."
"Hm...then it's settled," Krillin said. "It's too dangerous to attempt another direct engagement with Frieza's forces. Me and Gohan will go with you to see this Grand Elder and try and come up with a counter-strategy. Hopefully it'll take them a while to locate your last village. Meanwhile, Yamcha will-"
"Stay with the ship," Yamcha finished, to which Krillin nodded.
"Again, be careful!" Bulma called out as they made their way to the hatch. Krillin could only give a half hearted smile.
"We'll try."
Frieza stood in front of his personal chamber with a look of irritation across his features.
"What could be taking Dodoria so long?" he mused idly. Efficiency was certainly not something in which the bulbous alien was lacking-if it were, he would not be in such a high position within his army. So why had he not yet returned after three hours?
Suddenly, the door to the chamber hissed open to admit Zarbon.
"My lord, I've just received word from a scout near the Namekian village we attacked earlier today."
"Yes?"
"There was no sign of the Namekian child, or the two aliens who attacked Dodoria, but...we did locate him."
Frieza's eyebrow shot up. "You mean to tell me-?"
"His wounds were severe, and evidently inflicted several hours ago. His right arm severed, severe lacerations along his torso...he had to have been dead for at least two and a half hours."
Frieza sighed deeply. Although remorse was an emotion foreign to him, he did feel some selfish sense of loss-loss of a dependable right hand who carried out his orders without question, and in a manner which personally amused him. Now he was dead, killed by a Namekian they hadn't yet slaughtered or a pair of random aliens on a largely insignificant planet. To lose such a trusted adviser in such a way...there was only one recourse.
"...Zarbon, I want you to personally continue the search for the Dragon Balls. Comb the planet, no matter how long it takes. Find whoever did this, and bring me their skull!"
Zarbon nodded. "Understood, Lord Frieza," he said as he exited the room, leaving Frieza to contemplate a choice, before deciding against it.
"No...Zarbon alone should be able to handle this. His power is far greater than Dodoria's, greater than almost anyone else in the galaxy is aware of. He'll get the job done...or he'll have to answer to me."
Several hours after Krillin and Gohan had departed, the pair of them along with Dende continued to fly as fast as they could manage in the direction which Dende had indicated that the Grand Elder could be found. Unaccustomed to a planet with no true cycle of day and night, the human and hybrid found themselves fatigued as their bodies failed to adjust to the planet's cycle, and they were both forced to acknowledge that they surely must stop soon. So focused and fatigued were they, however, that neither of them noticed a small streak in the sky overhead, soaring along the planet's atmosphere before landing thousands of miles away.
Minutes after the object crashed, leaving a crater in the otherwise tranquil landscape, a hatch slowly hissed open before landing on the ground with a thud. Still blinking his eyes, a familiar figure slowly made his way out of the pod and pushed himself to his feet. He activated the instrument on his right eye as he began to search for his targets.
"Interesting...not as many soldiers as I was expecting...and no sign of Dodoria..."
Truth be told, he wasn't sure what else on this planet other than Dodoria's own allies and he himself could possibly kill him, but he'd find that answer soon enough. For now, however, he had his sights set on one particular signature.
"There you are..." Vegeta muttered with a sinister smirk, before taking off in his direction as fast as he could manage.
Another chapter done!
Not too much to say for this one as far as development goes other than that I had to look at a copy of some Dragon Ball volumes to get most of the details for this section of the arc right. Also, Krillin killing Dodoria was kinda a spur of the moment thing, but like, really, if you think about it, it makes sense that he'd be able to do that. Don't worry, though-this isn't going to become a trend.
Although...keeping the fight with Second Form Frieza in mind, "What if Krillin Killed Frieza?" sounds like a pretty interesting What If story idea, actually. Might play with that at some point.
Also, just so y'all know, we're going to have a bit of a detour in Chapter 14 in order to focus on just what Goku and Piccolo are doing on Earth leading up to current events, so stay tuned for that.
Finally, gonna rework the question thing since nobody seems to be asking actual questions, and turn it into more of just a general responding to comments/reviews thing(because ngl, the system has where you have to respond to such things via pms rather than some kind of comment thread is kinda silly). So, let's go!
Anonymous says:
"Wait what. Piccolo post fusion only 20K? I thought he would be way more powerful considering guru said that he would be a super namekian if fused so it seems odd that he is barely on the level Goku would be post zenkai"
Yeah, I'll be honest, I tossed around between 20k and 30k for him. I think either makes sense, though, and I'll explain my reasons.
So in canon, Guru says that he'd become a Super Namekian after peering into Krillin's memories, which one can assume would include Piccolo's death at the hands of Nappa. This knowledge of Krillin's memories would allow him to gauge Nappa's capabilities at the time, as well as Vegeta's. So essentially, Guru is simply saying that if Piccolo and Kami became one or had remained so, they wouldn't have died during the attack of those particular Saiyans. Plus, before Goku, nobody knew exactly how powerful the Super Saiyan state was, just that it was a state beyond the capabilities of any known Saiyan, and Guru has no idea what kind of training the Nameless Namekian would have done in his exile because he didn't know where he'd gone. So, Guru could've just been wildly overestimating how strong the Nameless Namekian had gotten during his exile.
Further, Nail says that if Kami and Piccolo merged as Piccolo was then, he'd be stronger than Frieza, but his understanding of his capabilities isn't perfect. Also, Piccolo had gotten stronger to an unspecified degree after his time with King Kai, whereas here he's still more or less at the level he was during the Saiyan saga. So, it's understandable that the resulting fusion would be far weaker than something which could curb-stomp 1st Form Frieza.
Finally, the general trend of Namekian fusion seems to be that the user gets a big boost to start, followed by greater potential for improvement-thereby being able to get far stronger by the same training methods. Piccolo's going to undergo a lot of intense training during this arc, so, this 20,000 isn't quite representative of how strong he could get in the future. Just wait and see.
Luke says:
"Oh boy, Vegeta is going to be Ginyu Force level strength when he gets to Namek...it'll be interesting how this plays out!"
Haha, not quite. The Zenkai he got from his fight with Aka is comparable to the one he got from his beat-down from Zarbon in canon. So, he's not going to be too much more powerful than he was then: from about 30,000 to 32,000.
Roshi Rage says:
"Here's the thing... you're applying real world logic to Roshi's power. That's where you messed up, in my opinion. This is a setting that had Roshi, a 300 year old man, blowing up the MOON by himself. No part of that has anything to do with reality. This is a setting that has an alien species that turns into gigantic mutated monkey-gorillas because they have a tail and happen to see the full moon. No part of that has anything to do with reality. This is a setting where wish granting dragons, immortal martial artists, aliens, magic, and super technology are commonplace. No part of that has anything to do with reality. And you want to apply logic like "he's old, so he has to grow slower!" to Roshi's, the guy who is 300 years old/immortal/regularly dealing with magic, ability to gain power?
This is a guy who was able to keep up with Goku in his base form LONG after he'd managed to become a Super Saiyan, which would make him capable of matching someone with power in the millions... by training BY HIMSELF. And you think THAT GUY would be outpaced by the others, when he's actively learning from them as well as teaching them? No, I deeply disagree with you there. Personally, I think he should be the strongest human they have, hands down. So long as he stays actively training with them, I don't see ANY of the humans surpassing him without training with the dedication of a Saiyan."
A few good points, but allow me to explain my reasoning.
Yeah, logic and Dragon Ball don't exactly go hand in hand, I grant you, but the canon generally supports Roshi being below Tien and Krillin in power when all else is equal, at the very least. Roshi is only able to beat up Tien in Dragon Ball Super when under the influence of that one woman's magic charm, implying that under ordinary circumstances, he'd be weaker than Tien. And as for Krillin, he pushed Goku into Super Saiyan and(I'm assuming) a very small portion of Super Saiyan Blue's power during their sparring match. Keep in mind that this is the same character who's barely trained since the Cell Saga on account of staying out of martial arts to be with his new family, with the exception of that one Super episode with the forest of illusions and, of course, the lead up to the Tournament of Power. Not to mention even Chiaotzu can give base Goku trouble with his telekinetic powers in Super. Basically, what I'm saying is that, if even after decades of intensive training that allows him to take out guys in the ToP on the level of Semi Perfect Cell is still leaving him weaker than Tien and Krillin, it's about more than just training time or even training methods.
So, in summary, Roshi should definitely be weaker than Krillin and Tien under the same training regimen-his capabilities simply aren't as extensive as theirs, which doesn't really matter much anyway given his far greater importance as a tactical fighter and battlefield strategist for the group as a whole, rather than a full out brawler.
And don't worry, good sir-what he showed off during the Saiyan Saga is hardly going to be the peak of his power in this story. You'll see where he ended up in the next few chapters.
Anyway, power levels:
Sui, Banan, other Frieza soldiers: No greater than 1,500
Brocca: 2,000
Appule: 1,800
Dodoria: 22,000
Zarbon: 23,000(normal form)
1st Form Frieza: 530,000
Vegeta: 32,000
Nail: 42,000
Moori: 1,000
Gohan(post-Saiyan Saga zenkai which I forgot about): 1,500
Gohan(rage boosted): 3,500
With all that said, hope you all enjoyed, and let me know what you think in the reviews below.
(Update 2/4/19): I-impossible! The views...they're...
THEY'RE OVER NINE THOUSAAAAAAAAAAAAAND!
I'm sorry I couldn't resist. Seriously, thank you all so much.