The Saiyan screamed in agony. Blood surged out of his shoulder, staining his once-blue royal cape a horrible shade of crimson.

Wasting no time, Piccolo threw the arm away and landed near Gohan. Gently but firmly, he pushed his way through Chi-Chi and Videl. He picked up the half-Saiyan and examined him carefully.

"His spine has been broken at the hip, and he has been paralyzed from there down," the Namek told the women after a moment. "Senzu beans can't heal this. It will require something more."

Holding Gohan by the collar of his shirt, he stared off into the sky for a few seconds. Then he suddenly hurled him through the sky, until he disappeared over the horizon.

***

Dende was standing on the edge of his tower, observing the battle. Mr. Popo stood behind him, listening to the other's description of events.

"We'll be getting a visitor in a few seconds, Mr. Popo," Dende suddenly said.

Indeed, he had barely spoken when Gohan come shooting through the air, landing just feet behind the pair.

"He's been injured horribly," Mr. Popo told the Namek. "Even your healing talents may take some time to work."

Nodding, Dende laid down the large staff that was his symbol of office. Then, placing both hands above the fallen scholar, he began to make him well.

***

"With any luck, he should be fully recovered and ready to rejoin the battle in a few minutes. Of course, with even more luck, by then the battle will be over."

Piccolo now turned to face Chi-Chi and Videl directly.

"Leave. If you're still here when Gohan gets back, you'll distract him and that's something we can't afford. I recommend flying off to Dende's, you can raise his spirits when he's healed."

"But--but I can't fly!" said Chi-Chi, dumbfounded.

"Well then, Videl will have to give you a ride."

The two women stared at him. It hadn't sounded like he was joking, and besides, that wasn't something Piccolo did that often.

"Fine," said Videl after an instant. "Give me your hands." As soon as Chi-Chi had taken her hands, Videl shot off into the sky.

Once they were out of sight, Piccolo grinned that old demon-king grin. Then he began to distribute more senzu beans. He gave them to Goten, Trunks, Goku, and Vegeta. He began to go inside to Capsule Corp. to give one to Tenshinhan, but then he glanced up at the Hasha.

Somehow managing to still hover, he took his left hand and placed it over the bloody gash. It glowed for a moment.

Piccolo realized what he'd done. He'd used ki to cauterize the wound and stop the bleeding. And if he was like the typical Saiyan, he'd be back fighting in just a few more moments.

Looking through one of the holes in the roof, he espied Bulma looking up. Thinking quickly, he dropped a senzu down the hole.

"BULMA! Give that to Tenshinhan!" Without waiting for a response, he flew back to the Hasha no Ankoku. The Supreme Ruler of Darkness looked up from his injury just in time to see the Namek's booted foot slam into his face.

***

Videl flew on through the air, her mother-in-law dangling from her hands. Soon, Chi-Chi began to lose her grip and she had to readjust her hands.

"You know, you could stop for a second and let me get a more stable grip."

"Yep."

"You're not going to, are you?"

"Nope."

"Why not?"

"First explain your mysterious hatred and loathing for me."

"What if I don't?"

"I could drop you and tell Gohan it was an accident."

There was a pause as Chi-Chi tried to calculate the odds that she was serious. Then, after a moment, she replied, "Fine then. I'll tell you why, if you're ready to hear."

"I am."

"Let's begin at the beginning. At first I didn't think you two actually loved each other."

"WHAT?! Then why do you think we moved in together?"

"I thought that was just so you two could 'enjoy each other's company,' to put it politely. But I was wrong on that point, and I realized it."

"When did you realize it?"

"The night before the wedding."

"You really are insufferable sometimes."

Ignoring her remark, Chi-Chi continued.

"You might be in love, but I still don't think you're good enough for Gohan."

"Gohan seems to think differently."

"Yes, well, he doesn't always know what's best for him. But I do. A boy's best friend is his mother."

Videl burst out into a loud stream of laughter. She shook violently as she did so, struggling to hold on to her passenger. Finally, she managed to recover.

"Friend?" she asked incredulously after she had done so. "Friend? Maybe in most cases that's true, but not here. You're not his best friend. More like his jailer."

"Nonsense! I let him move out and into that house with you, didn't I?"

"Probably only because he had reached the age where even Goku would object to you trying to control his life to that degree. Am I right?"

Silence.

"And do you want to know why we moved in together?" Videl continued.

"Because you're in love, I thought we already covered this."

"Yes, that's definitely a large part of it. But another part is that he simply wanted to get away from you!"

Now it was Chi-Chi's turn to disbelieve. "WHAT?! Get away from me? What are you talking about?"

"He got sick of you trying to control every detail of his life, and quite frankly I don't blame him. He decided to move in with me so he wouldn't have to live with you."

"No! He would have told me if he felt like that."

"Ha. He's told me many things he's never told anyone else, and that's one of them. And here's another one. It may sound mean of me to be saying this, but he loves me more than you!"

"We'll see about that."

***

Piccolo, meanwhile, continued to fight the Hasha no Ankoku. The latter had lost not only much blood but also a massive amount of energy when he lost his arm. And he was still beset by the pain. Not only was the Namek able to fight him solo, but also he appeared to actually gain an edge.

The Hasha retreated away and, with his sole remaining arm, reached into his flexible armor, removing a small device that looked like a calculator. It was, in fact, the gateway summoner he could use to return to his home timeline. He couldn't believe this. Once again he had come to Earth expecting an easy conquest, and once again he was forced to retreat.

Before he could use it, however, the gateway summoner exploded in his gloved hand. Started, he looked up to find Piccolo glaring at him. Then he figured it out. The Namek must have used his psychokinetic abilities to destroy it from a distance.

"Do you have any idea what you've done? Without that I can't return back to my universe! Now I'm trapped on this damned little planet forever!"

"So I surmised. Let you escape and heal and return to wreak havoc on us someday? I think not. Today you will die."

And the two began to clash again.

***

Without their human passengers, Nappa, Turles and Bardock were able to fly much faster on the return trip.

"Look!" said Nappa as the trio approached Capsule Corporation. "There's the Namek!"

"He's holding his own!" Turles yelled in amazement.

"Not just holding his own…he's actually winning!" Bardock said, his eyes wide. As they drew closer, Piccolo felt their ki's. He turned his head around to look at them. The Hasha no Ankoku took advantage of the split-second distraction to unleash a series of savage blows that ended with his opponent laying on the ground, out cold.

"Oops," said Bardock.

Turles looked around. None of those sprawled on the ground seemed to have regained consciousness yet. "It looks like it's up to us to delay him until some of the others wake up," he said. "Everything's riding on us doing that."

"We're all doomed," Nappa muttered.