Chazke Village
April 3, A763

Over the mountains and through the woods, Gine jumped from tree to tree, slid down hills, even swam through a lake to keep her power level down. She could have flown with a low power level, but that was much too easy to follow and track from the air. This way, she had the thriving life of the Mt. Paozu region to cover her tracks as she made her way to the village. She wished she'd known how to lower her power levels when she'd been in the military; maybe she could have found a role as an adept scout.

Gine ran along the mountain that overlooked Chazke village, and could tell something was wrong. Even if Krillin, Raditz, and Brussa were suppressing their power, she should be able to sense the hundreds of people who lived there.

Instead, she could sense one power, and it was a faint one, at that. Gien leaped off the mountain and floated down, looking about.

There were clear signs of struggle about; some of the booths were wrecked, or goods were spilled about. There were blast marks, and a lot more than Brussa, Raditz, and Krillin would have made fighting the same number of enemies. Either whoever they fought was great in number, or her family had help in their fight.

Gine came to the town square, which was in front of the town's bathhouse, at the end of the open air market. It was big enough for the entire town to gather in one place. There were several dirt parking spaces at the edge for flyers to land, which had marks of takeoff.

"Someone took the entire town…" Gine muttered, "Did they defeat the others? They'd have to be seriously powerful, or they'd probably still be fighting."

She followed the power level into the main street, where most people lived. No children, no craftsmen, no ruckus at the saloon.

Gine saw the creature down the street, and at first, she thought it was a Saibaman. Although it was around the same size and had similar proportions, she noticed several differences as she got closer. Instead of having a chitinous shell all over its torso, it only had it over the upper chest and hips. The shape of the feet were different, and the claws of the hands were more integrated, looking less like nails and more like part of the hands. Its head was less smooth, and it had some kind of mask-like armor over its mouth. The creature's eyes were a darker red, with no pupils. Once it had dragged itself into the street, she could see that its skin and chitin were blue rather than green.

Gine stood over the creature, who looked up at her.

"Regist...Registering...Civilian...Low power-level...Recommend-reco-reco-recommend civilian b-b-b-bunker du-d-d-d-du-du-du-during planetary assault," the creature said, its voice clearly artificial and emitted from its mouth rather than being spoken.

"Where did the people of this town go?" she asked it.

"Chazke v-v-v-village s-s-select-selected for pres-pres-preservation in the ev-v-v-v-v-v-vent of alien inv-v-v-v-v-v-v-vasion. Ev-v-v-v-vacuation successful," it said, "All inhabitants willllllllingly v-v-v-v-v-v-vacated."

"There may have been three martial artists with great power, where did they go?"

"Llllllocal LOCAL locallllll personnellllll assisted Bio-Bio-Bio-Bio-Men with ev-v-v-v-vactuation and prov-v-v-v-v-vided escort of ev-v-v-vactuation v-v-v-v-vehicles," it explained.

"So the Earth is under attack, and whoever sent you came to evacuate the village. They attacked, and the warriors helped get everyone out. Where are they being taken?"

"For sssssecurity reasonssssss, this unnnnit cannnnnot-"

"All right, I understand. Do you want me to, uh...Kill you? You're clearly suffering," Gine said.

"Assisted-d-d-d-d termina-termin-termination would be acc-x-x-x-xepted," the creature said.

"Thank you for protecting these people," she said, resting her hand on its chest. With a short, weak shock, it stopped writhing and crawling about, and rested. Its dark red eyes turned black.

"If Raditz, Brussa, and Krillin are helping these things, then I'm sure they've got the situation under control, and they'll find me when they're ready. Chi Chi will be hiding with Gohan. I should see if the Lookout has been attacked yet. I need to warn Piccolo, and get some help, I can't defeat all these Saiyans on my own," Gine said to herself, and she looked towards the direction of the Lookout.

One way would be over water, and was shorter, but fighting over the ocean could be dangerous. Over land would give her more options, but would take longer and increase her chance of being discovered.

Deciding that options were better than shortcuts, Gine began to fly just over the treetops, still keeping her power level as low as she could. If the Saiyans were still looking for her in this area, it would only give her more time to reach the Lookout.

As she flew, Gine reached out her senses, trying to pinpoint people's energy. To her surprise, she had some success. She could still sense Tienshinhan at the Lookout, and Piccolo's energy was fluctuating up and down, suggesting he was in the midst of battle. Weirdly enough, she could not sense Kami. She could also sense Yajirobe, whose energy was alarmingly flaring up in the Lands of Korin. In the northern mountains, she could sense Tao's energy. Piccolo was on the way, so she decided to go and assist him with whoever he was fighting, likely the Saiyans or more minions of their master.

The rate for her flight was frustrating; if Gine allowed herself to power up she could be there in moments, but she had to keep to a sedate pace to hide her power level. She could sense two more powers with Piccolo, both of them strangely familiar. The feeling of one of them gave her a sinking feeling in her stomach, but she couldn't tell why.

"Who are these people?" she wondered. Gine ran through all the Saiyans she knew that would be powerful enough to bring back but have something to offer to control them. Too many Saiyans would have too much pride to take orders.

Gine didn't like the list she came up with.

When she arrived at the wasteland battlefield, it was clear it had been going on for a little bit. There were blast marks all over, as well as a number of devastated rock formations.

"Keep it up, Namekian! I haven't had a fight this thrilling in years!" a female Saiyan wearing armor over pink clothing called out. Piccolo was taking deep breaths on the ground, his fists clenched. Gine looked up to the woman Saiyan, and recognized her instantly.

"Fasha!" Gine called out, floating up. Her eyes widened, and she turned to Gine. She then started to laugh.

"Seriously? You're here? Wow, this is going to be rich! Well, lucky for you, I'm here to fight your battles for you again, Gine. So why don't you go cook me some lunch, this Namekian's making me peckish!" Fasha laughed. Gine took a deep breath, and glanced down at Piccolo.

"You alright, Piccolo?" she asked.

"Can't say I'm not glad to have some help," Piccolo admitted, "I've got her outfought, but it's hard to keep up with someone who's already dead."

"Help? Gine? You're joking, right?" Fasha chuckled.

"I'm going to say this very carefully, Fasha, so you understand: Go back to Hell. Whatever deal you've struck, it's not going to turn out well for you," Gine warned. Fasha scoffed.

"You're certainly not going to make me. Once I kill this Namekian, all we've got is Bardock's younger brat to deal with, and the Saiyan Race is back on top. If you stay out of my way, maybe you can keep cooking for us once we're done with this planet," Fasha said.

"Are you listening to yourself? Kakarot's Bardock's son! Do you really think he'd want you to hurt him? You were on his team, you were practically family! This is our home now, Fasha. Don't take this away from me, Fasha," Gine pleaded.

Fasha looked down to the ground, where there was a fourth figure watching the conversation and battle. She smiled to Gine, flashing her new fangs, "Why don't we let Bardock speak for himself?"

Gine began to shake, as the figure flew up into the air, his eyes locked on Gine. She felt like she was about to throw up when she saw Bardock come closer.

"I know how much we risked for Kakarot, Gine," Bardock said, "But at the cost of this planet, a Namekian, and just one weak Saiyan, we can bring back the Saiyans. You can join us, Gine. We'll start again, we'll do better this time."

Gine shook her head, tears clogging her head, "You're an idiot, Bardock."

"One last planet. It's all we need for a second chance. I'll protect you, just as I always have. Maybe Raditz is still out there, we can find him, and still be a family. I know it hurts to lose Kakarot, but we don't even know him. He's just some Saiyan living on an alien world," Bardock said. Gine let out a chuckle.

"He's not just some Saiyan, Bardock. You have no idea what Kakarot is capable of. Of who he is. He's not a stranger, he's my son. And this is his home. This is my home, and I will fight to protect it," Gine said.

"We both know you can't protect this place, or Kakarot, Gine. There's no use," Bardock said, "I can take care of you, once we're done here."

Gine glanced to Bardock's Scouter, and smirked, "That thing still work?"

He touched his Scouter, "Yes?"

Gine began to power up. She listened to Fasha and Bardock's Scouters beep and shrill as her power level leaped past 200,000, blowing their devices. Fasha gawked at Gine, completely taken aback by the numbers she'd just seen. Bardock just smiled.

"Looks like you finally found your fighting spirit, Gine," Bardock chuckled, "I wish I didn't have to have died to see the day, but I'm proud of you."

She punched him in the face.

"Woah! Looks like Gine's finally got fire!" Fasha laughed. Gine seized her by the throat, and squeezed.

"You might be dead, but let's see if you can still pass out," Gine hissed, wrapping her other hand around her neck. Fasha tried to punch Gine, but she ducked her head to the side, and then headbutt Fasha's forehead, stunning her.

"Gine! Put her down!" Bardock commanded.

"You're an idiot, Bardock! If you'd done an ounce of research before doing this, you'd know we lived here! You'd know things have changed!" Gine shouted to him, "But now you're about to doom our family's last chance at happiness."

"I don't need you to be happy," Bardock said, flying at her, "I just need you out of the way."

Before Bardock could reach her, a pair of grann arms grabbed Bardock by the shoulders and yanked him back. Piccolo began to slam him against the ground. Bardock managed to grab Piccolo's wrists and pulled. Piccolo, however, retracted his arms, pulling Bardock with him. Just before they reached Piccolo, the Namekian jumped up and kicked, striking Bardock squarely on the face and sending him reeling.

"Words failing you, Fasha? Looks like Bardock's not coming to your rescue this time," Gine groweld to her. Fasha pushed against Gine, struggling to get her away, but Gine's grip was firm. Gine squeezed harder until she felt something break. Fasha let out a gurgle and a wheeze, and stopped moving. Gine released, allowing Fasha to fall to the ground in a heap.

Without hesitating, Gine flew at Bardock and impacted with him as he tried to charge back at Piccolo.

"You don't understand anything about what's going on!" Gine screamed at him, "Nothing about this world, nothing about my family, or about what's going on! You're just being an arrogant fool!"

With every punch she landed on Bardock, he bounced off the ground, allowing her to grab him and land another blow.

Bardock managed to land a punch on Gine, which ended her game of bouncy-punch and allowed him to get back on his feet. As she charged at him, he put his ahnds together and struck Gine with an axe-handle punch, sending her into the air.

Gine fired a rapid-fire series of blasts at Bardock, filling the air and forcing him to duck and weave as he charged at her, but Gine took the initiative, reversing course and charging back. As she didn't have to dodge the attacks, she had the speed and inertia, and landed a supersonic punch on him.

"Let's add some irony to this fight," Piccolo said, placing two fingers to his forehead, and he began to charge.

Bardock, as he plummeted, aimed his right arm, and charged Ki, and threw it at Gine. As it moved, it elongated so the tip of the blast was wider than the tail, like a spear. Gine recognized his Riot Javelin, and used a Blazing storm to intercept and disperse the attack.

Bardock leaped into the air to be at equal altitude with Gine. She raised her right hand, concentrated her energy, and formed it into a disk.

"KIENZAN!" she shouted, and threw the Destructo Disk at Bardock. It was faster than he expected, and as he tried to drop and avoid the attack, it sliced through his left arm and a part of his tail. Bardock began to scream, clutching his arm, and didn't notice that Piccolo had jumped up into the air.

"Makankōsappō!"

The attack struck him in the shoulder, forcing him to the ground. In a last ditch effort to defend himself from the shot, Bardock thrust up his hand with two fingers pointing up. He exploded in a flash of white light.

When the light was done, Bardock's left arm was completely severed at the shoulder, his armor was gone. Gruesomely, the left side of his face had been completely burned away, including his eye; there was only just enough flesh for his lips to remain intact. Not even his eye had survived the blast.

Gine landed at the lip of the crater, with Piccolo stepping up to join her, and they looked down at the groaning Saiyan.

"That should have been more than enough to kill him," Gine said.

"Yeah, but he's already dead," Piccolo said. He looked over at Fasha, "But it looks like they still need air to function."

"That's what I was thinking," Gine said. Bardock managed to get back on his feet.

"You're making a mistake, Gine!" Bardock shouted up to her.

Piccolo laughed, "Weren't you listening? You're being a fool! Goku's not even here. He's in space, on his way back. He's a Super Saiyan, you know. He figured it out while he was fighting Freeza."

"You know, when he gets here, with all that power, I don't think Kakarot's going to be happy that his dead father helped someone take over his homeworld. What do you think, Piccolo?" Gine asked. Piccolo's smile widened.

"Oh I think he'd go Super Saiyan all over again. Do you think your master can deal with that, Saiyan? The killer of Freeza himself?" Piccolo asked.

"Kakarot...Is a Super Saiyan?" Bardock gasped, "I've got...I've got to warn the others! Out of my way!"

Bardock flew up with a blast of energy, swooping over them and diving to grab Fasha, and he flew off to the northwest. Gine clenched her fists, wanting to chase after him, but she decided against it. Gine looked over to Piccolo, and began to cry.

"I can't believe...Bardock...He risked so much to save Kakarot...He wasn't...This isn't…" Gine began to stutter. Piccolo held out his arms, and supported her, allowing her to cry into his chest. Piccolo was not one for reassurance; his embrace was cold and stiff, but just for a moment, Gine needed help; even this much was enough for her.

Gine pushed herself off him, and wiped her eyes, "I'm sorry, it's just...Seeing Bardock again, and I had to fight Nappa earlier, and I don't know where Gohan and Chi Chi are."

"I can't say I totally understand, but you're phenomenally strong, Gine. You showed it when you killed me, you showed it on Namek, and you showed it today. We're going to need that strength. You said you fought Nappa?" Piccolo asked.

She nodded, "There were three more Saiyans, one a member of the Royal Family. They bit Nappa, and he went crazy. He even stopped talking, he just attacked me like he was possessed."

Piccolo nodded, "That's what I was afraid of. I know who's behind this."

"You do?"

"Yeah, and it's a big problem. His name is Garlic Junior, we've dealt with him before. Unfortunately, you know how Freeza was looking to wish for immortality? Garlic Junior actually managed to pull it off. He's made these dead Saiyans more powerful with the Black Water Mist, and he's probably planning on using it on the whole planet. Once he does, we have less than twenty-four hours to find a way to reverse it," Piccolo explained.

"The Dragon Balls aren't ready yet, and the Namekian's won't be ready for months. And how do we defeat an immortal? We had a hard enough time dealing with these dead Saiyans," Gine asked.

"Well, the dead Saiyans have a time limit, too. They have to go back within twenty-four hours. Clearly, Garlic Junior's looking to take over the Earth in a hurry. Which means, whether or not they manage to kill me, Garlic Junior's moving ahead, and I don't know how we'll defeat an immortal," Piccolo admitted, "If they bit Nappa, then he's infected, and we'll need to fix him before the end of the day, or he'll be Garlic Junior's slave forever."

"Well, what are our options?"

"We'll need everyone on deck. Where're the others?"

"Raditz, Brussa, and Krillin helped with some kind of evacuation. I met this creature, called itself a Bio-Man. It told me the village was attacked, but wouldn't tell me where they went."

"We don't have time to go looking for them. That means the only place we can get help is the Lookout. Cargo! Chi Chi! Gohan! You can come out!"

Piccolo's apprentice and the mother and son emerged from their hiding place. Gohan ran to Gine and leaped into his grandmother's arms, and squeezed her in a locking hug. She managed to free her arms to hug him back.

"We flew to Piccolo to get help, but as soon as he found him, those Saiyans attacked," Chi Chi explained, "I'd have helped, but…"

"It's all right. That was...That was my former mate, Bardock, and a teammate of ours, Fasha. He was...Goku and Raditz's father," Gine said. Chi Chi joined her son in the hug.

"Well he's no grandpa of mine if he's trying to kill Mister Piccolo," Gohan said, "So what's going on?"

"You remember Garlic Junior and his goons?" Piccolo said.

"But I thought he was locked away in the Dead Zone forever?" Gohan asked.

"Evidently not," Piccolo grumbled.

"Wait, what's the Dead Zone?" Gine asked.

"It's a pocket dimension that, once you've fallen into it, you never escape. Seems that Garlic Junior's found a loophole," Piccolo said.

"Then we find the loophole, and shove him back through it," Gine said, "Along with his goons. The Saiyans, too, if we have to. Let's head to the Lookout, and find an end to this."