"This is so odd, it looks like the place Piccolo took me to train... " Gohan said. Kurilin nodded.
"Yeah, it does. Makes sense, Pic probably felt at home there, you know, instinctually?" He said. Raimi wandered over to the water's edge; and looking out to the many islands and pools, wondered where the Cold Tyrant was. She could feel him already, so powerful that he partially clouded everyone around him.
"Oh, well, why don't you idiots just stroll on out? Did you bring lawn-chairs?" Bulma shouted, making them jump. The guys looked baffled, and Raimi waved cheerfully, trying to remind Bulma that she had known Namek was safe to be on. Bulma wasn't to be mollified though, and brought out her Dragon Radar.
"Sheesh! Let's just start looking for the DB's... " Raimi wandered up, wanting to see the position of the Dragonballs on the radar. Bulma gaped at the screen, and then got very excited.
"Look! They are here! We did it!" She grabbed Kurilins hands and they danced about happily. Raimi rolled her eyes, and they felt the spike of power just as Gohan did.
"Um, Kurilin, Raimi, there's some real strong KI over there." He said, pointing. They dancers froze and looked, though there was nothing to see. Raimi cleared her throat; the time had come to come clean.
"Um, yes... see, it's like this... " She saw that the were all staring at her curiously, yet with some fear. She smiled wanly.
"Uh, you remember Vegeta? Well, he has, had a boss see, and his boss wants the Dragonballs for himself, and well, we have to keep him from getting them, or the world, the universe is over. So, I... " Just then, they heard a roaring sound, and turned to see a sphere hurtling to the ground. Raimi winced to see that it was Vegeta's ship. She turned to Kurilin, but he was ahead of her.
"Gohan, lower your KI! He'll sense you!" He snapped, and then glared at Raimi. "Ok, why did you let us come up here?" Raimi chewed her lower lip, and had to think about it for a moment.
"As I said, there is a menace far worse than Vegeta here. Vegeta's old boss is here, and he MUST NOT get those Dragonballs. I can promise you that we will win them in the end, but for now, Bulma has to contact Roshi and get Goku up out of bed, and on his way here. Then, we... " She stiffened as she felt Vegeta emerge from his pod, and she could tell that he was hiding a lot of his power. She punched her scouter and told it to adjust for the wide range of KI it would see, so it wouldn't explode when it "saw" Frieza. Yep, he was over to the north. Now if she could just hear him...
"Uh, Earth to Raimi!" Kurilin called. Raimi jumped and shook herself.
"Oh yes, where was I? Yeah, we are here to save the Dragonballs from this guy. I wish I could have told you, but you'd never have come, and you know that KI-KI would throw a fit. So, I just kept silent. And so... " They fell silent, as Kurilin digested this information, and saw the truth of her words. He knew that he would have backed out if he'd known that they were flying into danger, and Chi-Chi would have tied Gohan down to stop him. He also knew that Raimi probably would have come alone if need be. He felt a little ashamed by his knowledge of his own shortcomings, and squared his shoulders.
"Raimi, you're right. We would not have come if we'd known. And so, since we are here, what do we do first?" Raimi smiled and held out her hand, which he took and they shook on their continued friendship.
"Well, we... " They both heard Bulma say goodbye to Roshi, then as she hung up the connection, they heard the scream on another ship landing. All of them winced, and Kurilin turned to Raimi and stuttered until she calmed him.
"Forget him, Vegeta will take care of him. Now... " Bulma suddenly laughed hysterically and bolted for the ship.
"Ok, then, I'll see you in two months, OK? I won't be much help anyway!" Raimi shook her head.
"You stay here! You can't go now; you'll be blasted from the sky! They'd think you were Vegeta. You have to stay, but you will be helpful, Bulma. Just hang tight for a sec, ok?" Bulma went pale at the mention of getting shot down, and gulped as Raimi turned and peered into the distance towards where Vegeta and Kiwi were closing on each other.
"Hey, feel that?" Gohan said. Kurilin nodded, and they looked to the west (It seemed to be the west, who knew with Nameks three suns confusing things?)
"Its too weak to be Vegeta... Maybe it's a Namek... " Kurilin said. They waited as two ugly guys came into view. One was roughly humanoid, the other was a reptilian type; both pulled up short and sneered when they saw the small party from Earth.
"They aren't Namekians!" Both aliens and Earthlings said at the same time. Raimi giggled, stuck by the silliness of the moment, but quickly got serious. She turned and looked at the ship, wondering if she should just get rid of them now... But she hesitated too long. One of the two goons aimed his laser at the ship, and fired at it, punching a huge hole into the side of it, rendering it useless for space flight.
"Well, that's that!" Raimi sighed. She turned and glared at them, but left the disposal of these goons to the boys. Gohan and Kurilin suddenly powered up, and blurred out. The goons whimpered in horror, and the boys reappeared in front of them. Gohan gave the lizard guy a huge punch, while Kurilin kicked the human-like guy in the teeth. They smacked into each other and fell into the lake, where Raimi quickly lost track of their KI signatures.
Gohan and Kurilin gracefully landed on the lakeshore, while Bulma sobbed forlornly about the ship. Raimi bent and hugged her friend.
"Bulma, please don't worry! I swear, you'll be home real soon! I promise, you have to believe me. Now, I hate to do this, but I have to leave you guys... "
"No!" All three of her friends yelled. She jumped and then shook her head.
"Yes! First, I gotta see that fight between Vegeta and Kiwi; it's going to be very cool! Second, I have to go and find all of Frieza's men and help destroy the scouters. Without them, they can't find the Dragonballs!" Understanding dawned on their faces, but Bulma still looked scared.
"But, how will we find you, or you us?" She said. Raimi smiled, and tapped her own scouter.
"I have it set to see you!" She pointed at Bulma, who had almost no KI at all. But, it was brilliant, since no one would be looking for a KI level of 2! Bulma would be safe, and Raimi could still find her anywhere. She told them to go find some shelter, and promised to find them as soon as possible, then set off on her own.
"Man, she's nuts! Going to watch Vegeta fight this Kiwi! I wanna hide myself. Well, come on guys, we better go and find somewhere safe to hide Bulma, and try to get a hold of Master Roshi again... " Kurilin said. Gohan nodded, though he looked after Raimi with longing, wishing he could have gone to see the fight too...
~~~~~~~~~~
Raimi didn't fly, but leapt from point to point with graceful jumps. She was able to get to the spot where Vegeta and Kiwi were sparring verbally in preparation for the real fight to come without them seeing her.
"Ha! So Vegeta! It seems that the time has finally come for us to settle this once and for all!" Kiwi's voice drifted to Raimi in her hiding spot. She sucked in her KI hard, lowering it as far as she could, and peeked around the corner. Her eyes widened at the sight of Kiwi, who was the first truly alien person she'd seen this close. His skin was purple, and he was very tall, with a high cranium that had two short tube-like holes at the sides. He had two antennae, similar to a catfish's on his cheeks, and his mouth was lipless. Mostly he looked like a squid, but his humanoid body was strong.
Vegeta stood only twenty feet from Kiwi, smiling like the cat that ate the canary.
~~~~~~~~~~
"I'm impressed by your courage, Kiwi! Facing me like this, and Frieza nowhere nearby to save you!" Vegeta said. Kiwi sneered.
"You are a fool for coming here, Vegeta! Frieza is very upset with your insubordination, and I have finally gotten permission to kill you because of it!"
"Humph, you, kill me? Don't make me laugh, Kiwi! Do you really think you can kill me?" Vegeta replied.
"The time has finally come to settle the score. You've been slacking off! With that measly power, you haven't a chance against me!" Kiwi jeered, annoyed by the Prince's lack of fear. Vegeta laughed and sneered as well.
"Haven't I? Well, I'll just have to show you this little thing I discovered when I went to Earth... "
"Yes, let me guess, you learned to run away?!" Kiwi roared with laughter. Raimi chuckled softly, and braced herself for the fight. Vegeta spread his feet and began to power up. The light from his KI began to blot out the light of the Namekian suns.
"No, not that. I learned TO HIDE MY TRUE POWER!" He roared, his KI skyrocketing. Raimi was forced to turn off her scouter for a few seconds, or risk it blowing up.
"You can conceal your power?" Kiwi asked, not understanding. He could see Vegeta's KI gathering around him, but didn't want to believe it.
"Now, then, watch my Combat power count closely on your scouter, Squid face!" Vegeta said. Kiwi did so, and his eyes widened in surprise.
"I... Impossible... Your power is supposed to be the same as mine!" Kiwi gasped. Vegeta laughed manically at this.
"Fool! I've been fighting continuously, in real battles, not silly little spars to kill time on Frieza 79! I nearly died on Earth! How could you hope to keep up with me, snuggled up safe and sound under Frieza's tail?!" Vegeta tossed his head back and screamed as he pushed himself to his limit. Having gone this far, he decided to go all the way. Raimi saw her scouter click on and gasped as she saw the numbers.
"22,000... 23,000..." with a small explosion, Kiwi's scouter exploded, and Vegeta wasn't even quite done yet. He began to back away from the Saiyan, eyes darting as he looked for assistance. No one was coming to his rescue though. Vegeta relaxed and stepped forward. Raimi gave a silent whistle as she noted that the high number was 24,545.
That meant Vegeta was stronger than she was, and apparently stronger than both of the big guys with Frieza as well. She looked around cautiously to be sure she could hide if necessary. She couldn't afford to let Vegeta see her here, not if he was that strong!
"Yes, those third class Saiyans were very educational! I learned a lot while fighting them... " Kiwi swallowed and tried a new tactic.
"Hey, Vegeta, I just thought of something... Let me join you, I mean you'll need help if you really want to take down Frieza, right? You can't do it all alone. I can be very helpful; I've always secretly hated the mas-uh, Frieza for a long time myself! Not a bad idea, combined we can take out Dodoria and Zarbon easily!" Kiwi was obviously underestimating both Vegeta's intelligence and his tolerance. The Prince looked faintly disgusted.
"Hmmm, And here I thought you were just a coward, Kiwi, but now I see that you're a liar too... " He said.
"... Lying, me... No, you can trust ME Vegeta... Oh, Master Frieza!!" At the name, Vegeta shot a look over his shoulder, and Kiwi charged up a Sokidan that he obviously thought would end the Prince right there.
"Fool!!" He yelled and let it fly at Vegeta. The Saiyan turned and glared at the orange ball before it enveloped him. Kiwi let fly about twenty more KI spheres, which met and added to the explosion. Raimi was forced to leap to a new perch as the rocks she was hidden by cracked and fell to ruble in the shockwave. She ducked behind a new cliff, and peered out cautiously.
Kiwi was panting from his efforts, and chuckled, not realizing that Vegeta was only a few meters away.
"Ha! Better a liar than a fool! I don't care how strong you are, you're useless if you leave yourself wide open." Kiwi said, feeling good.
"You know, I can't believe that even you'd stoop so low, Squid face. But more disappointing than your ethics, is your pathetic attempt at strategy." Vegeta said, shaking his head in disgust.
"B-but... But I just..." Kiwi said, panicking as he realized at last that it was he who was going to die, not the Prince.
"Its only logical. If my power increases, shouldn't my speed increase as well? Oh, and so has my rage, Kiwi. My rage increases with each of your stupid assaults" Vegeta said, voice quiet and deadly. Kiwi backed away, and turned to run, only to fall on his face. He looked over his shoulder and fired up his KI, flying away. Vegeta shook his head and disappeared, only to reappear in Kiwi's face. The frightened alien gasped and was unable to get away, as Vegeta slammed his fist into Kiwi's belly. His armor shattered and Vegeta's fist actually sank into the creatures flesh, punching into his body. In what Raimi was sure was a favorite move, the Prince shot the poor creature off his arm with a KI blast that sent him flying, and then used the same attack he'd used on his Saibaiman on earth to blow the unfortunate Kiwi into calamari. Kiwi's scream of horror was short and pathetic.
Raimi felt slightly ill as she watched the unwholesome cloud that was all that was left of Frieza's captain drift away. Vegeta smiled evilly, and turned to look in the direction that his scouter had said Frieza was in.
"Ah, but I always love fireworks. Well, I know they saw that. Damn, I need to use more self-control! Well, they definitely know I'm here... I can take out Zarbon and Dodoria with no problem, but if I approach too recklessly, I'd never be able to beat Frieza!" Vegeta mumbled to himself. Raimi smiled at this; she thought out loud a lot too, at least when she was alone.
"Now, that dead Namek said they would have to gather all seven of these Dragonballs to make the wish... Ah, that's it! I just need to get one of the balls, and then Frieza can't make his wish! It shouldn't be too hard to take them later. Ok! Frieza, you may be stronger than I right now, but I am smarter! I'll defeat you yet, you bastard!" He smiled and took off to keep track of the fun; never even realizing Raimi had been there.
~~~~~~~~~~
"Well, that was gross. Now, where is Bulma?" Raimi said softly. She punched the scouter and finally zeroed in on her friends KI. It seemed to be close by, so she ran and began to jump again from point to point, loving the power and grace her Saiyan body possessed all over again. It didn't take long to get there, but Gohan and Kurilin had already left for the nearest Namek village.
"Damn, I was hoping to go too. You have the Dragon Radar with you?" Raimi said. Bulma showed it to Raimi, who carefully memorized the location of the village, and the two balls as yet undisturbed. One was to the west, the other due north, and very far away. Bulma pelted Raimi with questions about the fight she'd seen, and who was this hugely powerful guy the boys were scared of, and when was Bulma going to get to go home?
"Yeesh! The fight was really cool, Vegeta won, thank goodness... " Bulma gasped at that.
"You're glad he won?"
"Of course! If he hadn't, Frieza would be sure to get the Dragonballs! Vegeta is too strong for even Kurilin and Gohan together to stop, and I can't fight him, so we have to let him do his thing, at least for now. We need him alive, believe me. He won't hurt you, at least, but the rest of us... Well, anyway, Frieza is bad news. VERY bad news. The real reason we are here is to make sure Goku comes and destroys Frieza. And you go home when we all do. Now, I gotta go again. Be good, and don't let yourself get captured or anything, ok?" Bulma screamed in fear and grabbed Raimi in a death grip.
"No, no, no! You can't go, don't leave me alone here! Raimi, please, I'm so BORED and alone, and I'm sure to be found out!" Bulma wept. Raimi rolled her eyes, and gently pushed her friend away.
"Bulma, I have to go and find Frieza's men, and destroy those scouters! If I don't, Frieza will find those Dragonballs for sure! Besides, if I get them out of the way, there won't be any guys to find you! See, I'm trying to do the best thing for everyone. I'll be back soon, I swear!" Bulma nodded sadly, and ran into the cave.
Raimi sighed and looked for any minor powers, locating a few about a kilometer away. That was far too close to Bulma for comfort! She ran lightly to meet these guys and see what was up...
