"Pih...Piccolo...". Gohan whispered. He could feel that his Sensei was barely alive after that beam.BR
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"Gohan, run..." Piccolo wheezed before he fell on his face. Gohan stood and crept up to Piccolo, helping him to turn over.BR
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"Why? Why did you save me?" He asked plaintively. "Now, you're hurt." Raimi set Kurilin down and swiped her eyes surreptitiously. She wasn't sure she could endure one more death, especially one that would hit poor Gohan so hard.BR
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"I told you...to run...h...hurry...". Piccolo sighed. He was definitely fading, holding on by a thread. Gohan began to panic.
"Don't die Piccolo! Daddy will come soon! P-Please don't die!" He cried, shaking the Nameks green shoulder.BR
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Nappa shrugged. "Those idiots, making us kill them in the wrong order...Oh well, it all ends up the same...". He said.BR
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Raimi suddenly felt a chill run down her spine. She grabbed her head and shivered. "Kami...". She murmured. Kurilin looked up at her, and realized that the god was dying as well. Raimi had grown close to him, and seemed to feel his passing. Now that he thought about it, he could feel a strange lessening within himself; the loss of something he hadn't even realized was there. He wondered if anyone else could feel it, or if they would even care...BR
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"This is so shameful...Piccolo the Great, the incorruptible evil...saving a child, the son of my greatest enemy. How pathetic. It's because of you, and your father...your softness infecting me...but you know what? You were the only person who ever...ever really talked to me...". Piccolo said softly, barely able to breathe with his scorched lungs. "The couple of months I spent with you...weren't all that bad." He chucked as tears of pain trickled down his face. "Gohan...don't...die...". He closed his eyes, and was gone.BR
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"Kami-Sama! Noooooo!" Raimi howled, making Nappa and Kurilin jump. She leapt to her feet, arms outstretched as she screamed. Gohans' voice blended with hers as he stood and powered up, his power level skyrocketing in his pain and anger.BR
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"Nooo!" He yelled, hands over his head as he readied an attack for Nappa. Vegeta's scouter beeped at him and he was amazed at the numbers he saw. He growled in rage at the boys' power.BR
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"Power 2800, and rising. As I thought! Their powers fluctuate tremendously!" Vegeta snarled. He was very annoyed at this trait that he saw as an ability he didn't share. Nappa couldn't care less.BR
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"2800, eh?" He said, and braced himself for the attack.BR
"Maaah...Sen...Kooo!" Gohan called, and let out a brilliant golden beam with incredible power behind it. It raced at Nappa, who made no move to get away, but instead swung at it, and batted it away like a ball. It soared back towards Gohan, over his head, and hit one of the surrounding mesas, which promptly disappeared in a massive explosion. Gohan was stunned. Nappa shook his hand, and then rubbed his wrist gingerly.BR
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"I gotta say that wasn't too bad, for a shrimp especially." He said admiringly. "I'll admit, that actually stung a little bit..." He looked over at Vegeta, who made a subtle nod; their own private thumbs down signal.BR
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"His power dropped all the way down. He must have used it all up just for that beam. He sure is a Saiyan at that, isn't he?" Vegeta said, still wondering if the girl was Kakarrot's' mate; the kid seemed to be too strong to be a half-breed.BR
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Gohan sighed sadly, shoulders sagging with weariness. "I'm sorry Piccolo...I couldn't beat them for you...I can't even run away now, I'm too tired...". He dropped to his knees, head hanging as Nappa advanced on him.BR
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"Raimi, please, don't...". Kurilin said, and then realized she wasn't there. He looked for her feeling alone and panicked, but he didn't see her. He turned back to see Nappa standing over the exhausted Gohan, with that murderous grin of his pasted all over his ugly face. "No! Damn it, no!" He wept, unable to help, or even move. Where was Raimi? She couldn't have left them to die, could she?BR
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Gohan waited bravely for his death, not sorry, not even sad. He closed his eyes, and heard Nappa laugh.BR
"Hahahah, I can't wait to see Kakarrot's face when he gets here and sees his brat crushed to a pulp!" He raised his booted foot high in the air...and stomped down.BR
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On nothing.BR
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He looked at where the kid had just been. There was only his foot, which was two inches deep in the dry earth. He heard a small sound and looked to his right. There, floating on a golden puff was the kid, held safely in Raimi's arms. She was on her knees, with Gohan pulled tight against her chest, also on his knees. They both opened their eyes and looked at each other with small relieved smiles.BR
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Raimi had run around behind Vegeta (Very scary, doing that) and waited for the moment to swoop in and save Gohan; as she ran in to grab him, she was the one who had been grabbed. She had felt Goku snatch her by her waist as her arms went around Gohan, and he dumped her onto Kinto'un, before disappearing again. Now they looked over at the amazed giant, who was trying to figure out what had just happened.BR
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"What the hell is that?" Nappa said lamely. Vegeta looked at them, and then looked up, listening to a little inner voice. Sure enough, someone was up there. His breath hissed between his teeth in surprise. The new warrior quickly dropped down to the ground and ignoring Nappa, stared at Vegeta, as if he could tell the smaller man was the one to watch. The others looked on him with hope and relief.BR
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"Goku! It's really you!" Kurilin said, weeping with happiness. Gohan sighed, and rested against Raimi, finally feeling safe.
"Well, finally." Vegeta said.BR
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"Goku, we waited so long..." Kurilin called. Raimi frowned slightly. Goku felt different all right, very strong, and very pissed off. She could smell it on him, the scent only a royally angry Saiyan could give off, and only other Saiyans could smell it. Surely, Nappa and Vegeta could smell it, but would they care?BR
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"Daddy!" Gohan said, and Goku's eyes flicked to his son, softening for only a second, before he again let his gaze bore into Vegeta.BR
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"What do you think you're doing here, Kakarrot? You're not going to make some ridiculous speech about "Defeating Us," I hope? Those speeches bore me to tears..."Vegeta smirked. Goku's eyes slid away from the Prince as if he wasn't worth listening to anymore, and he began to walk forward, heading for Piccolo's corpse. Raimi knew that Piccolo was dead, and that Goku could tell too, but he still bent down and checked for a pulse.BR
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"Piccolo..." he murmured, sounding puzzled.BR
"He died trying to save me..." Gohan told him. Goku stood and looking across the field, saw two more bodies.BR
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"Tenshinhan...Yamcha..." He ground his teeth together angrily, blaming himself for not getting there sooner. Nappa snorted his distain of the dead on the field.BR
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"Don't tell me you're shocked to find your lame friends are dead! Come to think of it, there was another one; he's blown to bits. Well, no need to grieve, 'cause you'll be seeing them all soon! And right after you got yourself resurrected too." The Saiyan laughed, relishing Goku's pain. Goku was now snarling quietly.BR
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"So, Chauzu is gone too, and Kami-Sama." He said. Vegeta was watching as his power level rose steadily. He walked forward again, closing on Nappa. The giant grinned.BR
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"What is it, huh? Ready to die already? Well, here's my way of saying hello!!" Nappa yelled, swinging at the smaller man. His fist didn't make contact though, as Goku simply disappeared and reappeared twenty feet away, and commanded Kinto'un to follow him to where Kurilin was laying. The two Saiyans were slightly confused, Nappa because he didn't realize what had just happened, and Vegeta because he couldn't understand how this third-class weakling had gotten so strong.BR