Vadora growled to herself as she watched Tien just block an attack from a second, weaker, Namek. "You must be Slug." he said as he pulled away from the smaller Namek. The more aged appearance being his clue as to which was which.
"What do we do?" Akemi asked, looking up at Vadora.
The Sai-jin shook her head. "There isn't anything we ca..." she stopped as she felt a power approaching quickly. An instant later there was a burst of green as Piccolo arrived, cape billowing out behind him.
"I thought that was you two I sensed." he said, getting the attention of the pair of Nameks. "It's been a while, old friend."
Slug blinked as he looked at Piccolo. "Your energy is changed." he said after a moment. "You've merged with that other Namek, the half of Zildar that I spoke with on Earth."
Piccolo gave a slight nod. "I have." he replied. "Now I am neither Zildar or his son, but something more. And we have things we must... discuss." Piccolo floated down until he was level with Slug and Tien and kept his eyes on the two Nameks to make sure they didn't try to take advantage of the Human's lowered defenses.
"I remember... everything. Everything my father knew. I remember Frigid attacking our world and Razor stepping in to 'help' us. I find it hard to believe that his intervention and your subsequent stint gathering resources from various planets are unrelated. Especially considering the circumstances at hand."
Slug smirked. "And what circumstances would those be?"
"Raven." Piccolo replied simply. He noted the shocked looks on the two's faces and smirked. "So, I was right. She was involved in the awakening of our powers. What's their game? What are they up to? Who is her mate?"
Slug's shocked expression cleared and he started laughing. "Why should I tell?" he asked.
Piccolo shrugged. "A simple gesture to an old friend." he replied. "Besides, what's it hurt to talk now? They got you killed, didn't they? Sending you to Earth...."
"We weren't sent to Earth." Sanil said barely above a whisper so as to not deafen them with his booming voice. "We were told to stay clear of the planet, that it was off limits."
"But I've never been good at taking or following orders." Slug added. "So when it turned up that Earth was the closest world to us at the time we decided to see what their interest in the planet was. If they'd clued us in a little more to the facts we never would have gone there. We knew the details we needed to know, we just hadn't drawn the connection ourselves until it was too late."
Piccolo scowled. /So, these two weren't a part of the plan, then?/ he wondered. /Hmmm, perhaps they assumed the warning from Trunks and Sakura was enough for Bardock, Gohan, and myself to be prepared by the time the Androids arrived?/ He decided he needed to confirm what was their doing and what was merely speculation on his part. "What about Recoome's attack on Tanaria? Or Cooler coming here?"
Slug shrugged. "I know Recoome works for them." he said. "The entire Ginyu force, minus Guldo, is under their employ. We had an encounter with them once that only avoided coming to blows by their intervention. Though I can't say as to if Recoome was sent to Tanaria or not. And as far as I know there was nothing more than a standing agreement between them and Cooler stating they would offer him any aid he requested. If he ever took them up on it I never heard of it."
The Namek scowled more. The answers weren't answering as much as he'd hoped. And they were presenting new questions. Something in the way Slug phrased his response.... "What do you mean 'works' for them?" he asked. "Recoome is dead, again. So is Ginyu."
Slug laughed again. "Do you really think the deaths of their soldiers is something they hadn't expected? That they hadn't planned for? Just because we've died doesn't mean we're no longer working for them."
Piccolo's eyes widened and he swallowed. "Then... this...."
"Exactly!" Slug declared, laughing even more. "Even in death we work toward their goals. All of those who work for them are given assignments to carry out after death. It was we who moved the Blood Crystal from the H.F.I.L. down into Hell. We who crossed the Realms into Makai to recruit Demons loyal to Quietus to aid us in our goals. And it was Razor who supplied us with the magic needed to release the Blood Crystal and free Quietus from his prison.
"This is just the next phase of their plan. The raising of an army of unparalleled size and power. The might of an entire Realm at their disposal! They've got everything planned out already, the entire thing orchestrated from day one into perfect perfection. The ultimate unbeatable plan."
Piccolo shook his head. "Plans are never unbeatble, never infallible. Conditions can not be so easily controlled and managed. The fact that you were killed on Earth is proof enough that even they can make mistakes."
"Perhaps." Slug replied. "But errors on an individual level such as the one I made do not effect the overall outcome. In fact, they've already anticipated them which is why we're all given post-death missions. They've got a hundred contingency plans in place per member of their army. If anything goes in an unexpected way they simply alter the effected portion of their plan until it all lines up again."
Piccolo scowled again. Bassed on what, admittedly little, he knew about Raven and her plans what Slug said made sense. He didn't like it one bit, though. They weren't just a few steps behind these people, they were miles behind. The current situation was obvious proof of that. "So, I take it you're not interested in changing sides?" he asked at last.
Slug smirked, clenched his fists, and then left out a yell as he began to grow bigger. A moment later he was as large as Sanil, though not as powerful. "Zildar may have been stronger than me before but you're no match for me now!" Slug rumbled.
Piccolo smirked as his green aura burst to life around him. He hunched over, clenched his hands into fists, and left out a yell as his power climbed. It only took a moment to reach and match the other two Nameks and it kept right on going. When his power-up finally came to and end he was more than three times stronger than either of them. "You were saying?" he asked.
"How... how is that... possible?" Slug asked, wide eyed. "How could your power have increased this much!?"
"When I was on Namek before, just prior to Frieza's arrival there, I merged with another Namek by the name of Nail. The strongest Namekian warrior on the planet and one that had greatly surpassed our previous unenhanced strength. I then had my hidden powers awoken by the planet's Guardian. That was the power you fought on Earth." Piccolo explained.
"That was followed by three years of intense training, my merge with Kami which awakened Zildar's power, of which I'd previously only had access to a small fraction of, and then followed up with two more years of intensive training under special conditions. The last seven years I haven't been as serious with my training as I had been during those five but I've kept up a pace that would have put the two of us to shame back on Namek."
Sanil looked over to Slug. "Father."
Slug's eyes narrowed and then he nodded slowly as he turned to face Sanil. Piccolo's eyes narrowed as he wondered what they were up to and then snapped wide in shock and worry as he saw Slug place his hand on Sanil's chest.
"Damnit!" he cried surging in, but it was too little too late. An instant after he began moving Slug's voice bellowed out over the terrain as his arua flared up massively around him like a green sun. "This is not good...." Piccolo growled as he drifted back. "Not good at all."
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
Planet Vegeta, Saiya City Outskirts
"There's the city." Raditz said as their group flew. They'd encountered a few pockets of battle along the way, where the planet's soldiers intercepted some of the attackers heading for the city, but had largely ignored those. Defense of the city itself was more important. There were a lot of civilians in the city, people who'd come to watch the tournament. Nova glanced around at the size of the city. Even from this distance she could tell it was large.
"We should split up." Sango said. "It'll be faster that way, the attacking forces are spreading out through the whole city."
"I don't have any way of locating Cold." said Nova. "Other than simply searching the streets and that would take too long."
"I'm not sensing any powers that are beyond us other than Cold." Yamcha said as his eyes scanned back and forth along the edge of the quickly nearing city. "A few higher than Sango but other than Cold none of them are as high as Krillin or I. We could have someone go with you to help you find Cold while the rest of us split up."
Senator Vegeta nodded. "Sounds like a good plan to me." he said. "And as much as I'd like to be there to see Cold sent back where he belongs I think it should be Raditz that goes." He glanced over to the other Sai-jin as he spoke. "Like the rest of your family you're stronger than I am, and stronger than Cold is."
"Right." Raditz nodded.
"That's fine with me, I just want to be the one to deal with him." Nova said. "We have a few things to settle."
"Oh, hey." Krillin started. "Nova, what about your ship? The soldiers on it?"
The Changeling glanced over to him for a moment before turning her gaze forward again. "In all the commotion I had forgotten that they were out there still." she said. "Adding them to our forces could be helpful though I'm worried that not everyone would recognize them as allies.... I suppose, though, that it's a chance that we'll have to take."
"Here." Vegeta said, holding out a communicator.
Nova gave him a nod as she took it and put it on. Activiting it she then adjusted the settings to patch in with her ship's communications. "This is Queen Nova, do you read?"
"This is Hydra." came the voice of her long time friend and ally. "It's good to hear from you, we were getting worried."
"There's plenty to worry about." Nova replied. "Are you still in silent mode?"
"Yes ma'am." Hydra responded, concern in her voice. "What's going on? Has something happened?"
Nova remained silent for a moment as she considered how to best explain what was unfolding around them. "Complete chaos." she said at last. "I don't quite understand what's happening myself but... a war of sorts has broken out."
"A... war?"
"Yes. This world is currently under seige by the dead and by Demons.... I want my Elites down here to support the Sai-jin's forces. Don't worry, the Sai-jins already know about me, but don't expect everyone down here to consider you allies."
"If it's really that bad are you sure just the elites are enough?"
"This is out of the league of anyone but the elites." Nova replied. "You'll understand once you've put the ship in active mode again and are able to scan the planet for power levels." She paused as they crossed the city limits and started flying over buildings. "I'll contact you again when I have the chance, just get the elites to Saiya City." And with that she shut off the communicator and handed it back to Vegeta.
"Alright, split up!" he ordred has he returned the device to his ear. In a flash the six of them divided into five groups and spread out through the city.
Nova pulled to a stop as she saw Raditz do the same. Turning to look she saw him gazing off into the distance, eyes wide. "What is it?" she asked, turning to look the way he was as well. Just over the horizion she could see bright green light.
"I'm not sure." he replied. "There's a huge power flaring up right on top of Piccolo...." He shook his head. "We'll worry about it later, right now we have a city to defend."
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
Planet Vegeta, Galactic Games Arena
Tien held his arms up over his face to shield himself and turned away from the churning power before him. The cries of the two Nameks had fadded away into the roar of the energy and their power was still growing quickly. "This is impossible...." Vadora breathed as the light flared even larger and brighter.
The sphere of green light began to swirl around at increasing speed as it started to shrink. The ground under the outwashing energy ripped apart and a crater formed as the backwash of power intensified. Once it was at half its former size a shadowy form became visible. And then in a burst of green the light vanished leaving behind a single normal sized Namek. Slug. Young once more thanks to the fusion.
Slug began laughing as he clenched and unclenched his fists. "This is incredible! Even more power than I had imagined!" he cried.
Meanwhile Piccolo was cursing under his breath. Things could have been worse, much worse, but that didn't mean they weren't bad just the same. The new Slug outclassed him in power by more than enough to be a serious problem. He quickly reached up and pulled off his cape and turban, tossing them aside as he contemplated battle plans. But the only tactics he could think of that would enable a win involved charging one of his more powerful attacks.
Somehow, he doubted Slug would just stand by and wait for it. He needed some means of distracting or stalling the Namek long enough to attempt an attack. He cast a quick glance around at his available aid. Tien, Vadora, Akemi, and the now stirring Cheri. /Damn. The only one that could likely be of help would be Tien, but it'd likely kill him in the process./ the Namek though sourly.
His attention was drawn back to Slug as the Namek suddenly fired off a blast of energy. Piccolo moved quickly and prepared to deflect it but never got the chance. A streak of green appeared before him and then the ball of yellow green energy vanished. Absorbed by Eskarga. "I believe this belongs to you!" he said, before firing off an attack of equal power to the one Slug had launched.
"Thought you could use a little help." Eskarga said, glancing back, as Slug easily deflected the attack. He drifted back a little so that he was beside Piccolo and then spoke softly so that only the one Namek could hear him. "If you can draw his attention I can get behind him and siphon off some of his energy, bring him down to a more managable level." he said.
"But I can only increase my power up to one hundred times it's normal level at any given time. Once I reach that level I can't absorb anymore until I burn off what I've already got. So it'll take at least four tries to get him down to something more your level, five tries to really even things out."
Piccolo smirked. "If you think you can do it then I can keep him busy."
Eskarga nodded and then shot off to the left. Slug's eyes started to follow him but then quickly redirected to Piccolo as the powerful Namek charged him. Piccolo lashed out with a hard left for Slug's head but the other blocked it easily and countered with a punch aimed toward Piccolo's stomach. He just barely slipped around that and then slammed a fist into the other's chest to very little effect.
"Heh heh heh, that tickles." Slug said, smirking. "Though I must admit, fighting you like this sure does bring back memories."
Piccolo snorted and then thrust an arm out and fired a blast of energy into Slug's face before shooting backward quickly and placing two fingers to his forehead, energy sparking at their tips. The blast to Slug's face temporarily blinded him and when his vision cleared again Piccolo was already thirty yards away.
"You don't really think I'll give you the opportunity to use my own attack against me, do you?" Slug asked as he prepared to give chase. But he stopped as a hand suddenly grabbed him by wrist and an odd sensation came over him. He looked down at his wrist and found a green hand which he followed back along an extended green arm to the other Namek from a moment before. "What do you think you're doing?" he growled, giving his arm a jerk.
The motion pulled the other Namek in toward him quickly. He wasn't nearly strong enough to be a threat, even though his power was increasing.... /Wait, what is this... my energy... it's... dropping?/ Slug wondered as the other Namek continued to near. /No, not dropping... it's leaving... but, how?/
His eyes widened as he realized the other Namek's power was increasing at the same rate his was dropping. /He's stealing it somehow! Well, I'll just have to..../ his train of the thought ended there as a voice called out from behind him.
"Special Beam Cannon!"
Slug spun around and saw the spiriling beam of energy surging right for his head. He also realized quickly that while he'd been distracted by the other Namek Piccolo had moved in close again. The short distance and the speed of the attack meant that he barely had time to dodge.
As Eskarga pulled back from the battle again, his absorption limit reached, and Slug just avoided being hit from the incoming attack, Piccolo began firing off a volley of energy blasts. The Special Beam Cannon had just been a decoy, a stalling tactic. He'd barely put any power behind it and he'd never expected it to do damage, even if it had hit. As Slug turned from the dodged attack he found himself surrounded by balls of golden energy with more of them still coming. "You try whatever you like." Slug said with a smirk. "But there's no way you can beat me!"
Piccolo snorted. "We'll see about that!" he called, bringing his hands together and causing the energy spheres to surge in at the Namek. Slug quickly thrust his arms out as the energy neared. An instant later the attacks began exploding and lighting up the sky, the loud bangs thundering across the open plain and shaking the ground below.