Chapter 22 - The Great Elder

King Piccolo and Dende sat across from one another in Piccolo's ship. The pair had flown uninterrupted to the ship and it was now time for Piccolo and Dende to inform one another of what was happening. "I've never seen you before on Namek, who are you?" Dende asked.

"My name is Piccolo and I have come here from the planet Earth. I was sent there as a child," King Piccolo told him.

"I've never heard of Earth. Anyways, my name is Dende. I'll take you to the great elder," Dende said.

"Who is the great elder?" King Piccolo asked.

"He's the sole survivor of the terrible drought that occurred on this planet long ago and the giver of life to all of us on Namek. I am the 108th child of the great elder," Dende explained.

"Okay, fine, take me to this 'great elder' of yours," Piccolo demanded, eager to see this great elder of Namek. The pair of Namekians exited the ship and walked out of the cave. "Lead the way, kid," Piccolo said. Dende nodded and took off into the air, with Piccolo close behind.

An hour later...

King Piccolo held Dende in his arms, speeding through the air. Not long into the flight Piccolo got fed up with Dende's slowness and grabbed him, having the child tell him where to go as he flew. Soon, a large, rocky, pillar with a Namekian structure atop it. "Is that it?" he asked after spotting it.

"Yes, that is the great elder's home," Dende confirmed.

"Such an obvious place...anyone can easily find it..." King Piccolo noted. He slowed to a stop as he neared it and landed on the grass outside of the house. As they set down, the door floated off, a sign of the Namekian's magic. Out stepped another Namekian, looking remarkably similar to Piccolo himself.

"Nail! I'm so glad you're okay!" Dende exclaimed, a happy smile spreading across his face.

"I have been waiting for you, Dende. The great elder knows something of what has transpired. Come inside, the great elder will see you," Nail said.

"But...if the great elder knew what was happening, why did he not get away from here?" Dende questioned.

"The elder is of advanced age. He knows his time of death is approaching. All he can do is rest here. All I can do is stay here and protect him," Nail explained. Nail glanced at King Piccolo in disgust before turning and leading them into the elder's home.

They stepped into an empty room with a circular hole in its ceiling. Nail floated up above through the hole and the other two followed. They were brought into a room, with the only things being in there were a throne like chair and the being sitting in it. "Hmmm...he's quite the big one," King Piccolo jested to himself. In the chair was a huge Namekian, the great elder.

"Thank you for saving Dende," the elder's voiced boomed.

"Heh, I only did it because we're both Namekian, nothing more and nothing less," King Piccolo said.

The elder spoke again. "I still thank you, nonetheless. Those monsters have slain most of my children and the grief weighs heavy upon me. And it seems that they are after the dragon balls. I never thought that the spheres of hope, the proof of the strength and wisdom of the children of Namek, would be the reason for something so terrible. I must ask, have you come from Earth?"

King Piccolo nodded and said, "Yes, it seems that I was sent there as a child, but I must ask, why? I'm sure you know the answer."

"Indeed I do know why you were sent there. You are one of few Namekian children sent off this planet during the Great Cataclysm our planet faced many centuries ago. You are the son of Katas, one of the greatest Dragon Clan members and a prodigy of this planet," the Great Elder revealed.

King Piccolo took a second before speaking again. "Thank you for the insight on my heritage, but now I'm going to need your dragon ball. I have to prevent those invaders from having their wish granted," he said sternly.

"Very well, step forward," Guru commanded, and Piccolo walked up to the elder. Guru reached his hand back and grabbed the dragon ball that had been resting in a slot at the top of his chair. Guru placed it into Piccolo's arms. "And one more thing," Guru said as he placed his hand on top of Piccolo's head. "I beg you to save this planet," he said. Piccolo suddenly felt his power rise and leap far above what he had ever experienced.

"W-what...this power...it's amazing! Hehehe, well thanks, now I'm off," King Piccolo said with a grin as he leapt down the hole and exited the house. Piccolo laughed as he blasted off into the air with the ball in hand, rocketing toward his ship. "This is incredible! With this power and the right timing, I can take down that foolish midget and his men!" Within minutes, King Piccolo reached his ship.

Meanwhile on Earth...

"Well, I guess it's time we leave," Goku said. The ship had finally been finished after an entire month. The group was all gathered at Master Roshi's house, standing outside on the beach where the ship stood. During their time waiting, all of the fighters had spent their time training in the gravity chamber, but ultimately, it was decided that the ones to go to Namek would be Goku, Chi Chi, and Yamcha while King Chappa, Yajirobe, and Chiaotzu would stay behind.

"Stay safe, you all," Master Roshi said.

Goku chuckled and said, "Relax, King Kai said they were all peaceful, we'll be fine. You guys are the ones who need to stay safe. While that Piccolo Junior fellow doesn't seem very hostile, the other Namekians are dangerous. Keep the planet safe."

After a couple minutes of good byes, Goku, Chi Chi, and Yamcha loaded onto the ship, waving as the ramp closed. Yamcha walked over to the control panel and with a big grin on his face, said, "Here we go," and pressed the lift off button. The ship rumbled as it raised up off the ground and shot into space.

"Well, let's start the training!" Goku said as he activated the increased gravity machine and cranked the dial to 60 G. Yamcha folded over for a second before pulling himself up into a standing position.

"What the hell, already?" Yamcha whined.

You know what's funny is that just like the last chapter, I have had this chapter done since 2016 yet I didn't post this one because I wanted to make it longer. I never did that and figured I was never going to so why not post it now? So that means that anything past this point will technically be the first time I've written new content for this in 4 years finally. I had storylines planned for this way past even a Cell saga, I mean I wanted this to go through the entire series basically. I actually recently found part of my planning I thought was lost forever an untitled Google Docs from 2015 and honestly looking at this as a whole it's pretty bad simply because I was on the younger side then. I'm too old to be doing this by now anyways but I would like to find time to keep this going at least to some sort of proper conclusion. Fun Fact, Tien was originally planned to have the role Yamcha currently does because in the fight against Nappa, Yamcha and Chiaotzu were gonna die rather than Tien and Nam. Anyways, hopefully I can inject some more creativity into this story to fix this mess.