Chapter 8: Piccolo's Tale.
"I hated him. I truly did. He was the absolute bane of my existence, like a festering wound that gnawed at my body and soul. His death was the only thing I ever thought about. His death, and how to make it as painful as physically possible."
Bardock's face, enshrouded in shadow, stared emotionlessly at the source of this somewhat unusual statement from across the flickering fire. Piccolo, the enigmatic being who they had travelled to Hell to find, had begun to relate his story...
"Our first fight was at the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai, a martial arts tournament held on the planet Earth. The battle...it was truly a thing of beauty. Though battered and beaten, neither of us would relinquish the victory, and we continued to fight even though it took an immense strain on both our bodies. Eventually, Son won the match, and my hatred for him increased tenfold."
Bardock sighed in quiet frustration. This was not what he wanted to hear...
"So tell me Piccolo, at what point exactly did you stop trying to kill my son, and when are you going to get to the part where you let me know what has happened to him?"
"All in good time," came the harsh reply. "First of all, I would have thought that since you've suddenly decided to find Goku you might be interested in hearing about the life he led on Earth."
Bardock snorted and waved him to continue.
"I suppose you're right. Go on.."
Piccolo resettled himself.
"As for why I no longer bear him any malice, well, you could say that a long time ago I achieved a form of...closure."
"Really? What did you do, exactly?"
"I killed him."
For several moments, there was silence at the fireside.
Bardock suddenly remembered the vision he had been stricken with only a few hours beforehand, while he had been unconscious during his fight with Conoracha. The vision which had showed Kakarotto and Raditzu being slaughtered by a Namek.
A Namek which, he now realised, was sitting right in front of him...
"You...killed both of them, didn't you? Kakarotto and Raditzu."
Bardock could not see Piccolo's face, but he imagined that it must be crossed with a look of extreme surprise. He could, however, hear him mumbling something incomprehensible. He could only make out one word in the entire sentence.
That word was..."sorry".
Eventually, the Namek raised his voice once again...
"Yes, I killed them both. At the time, I thought I was simply killing two birds with one stone. I got rid of the immediate threat to the planet Earth, and I finally managed to fulfil Daimou's final request. I eviscerated Goku, and took great pleasure in doing it."
"Ah, yes", Bardock raised two fingers to touch his forehead. "With, what did you call it again? Makankosappo?"
At this point, Piccolo began to feel distinctly uncomfortable. Bardock knew far too much about what had happened for his liking, and he was taking it all very well considering that he was within a few metres of the person who had murdered his only sons. Maybe he was still reeling from the after effects of the Pitharos?
He decided to continue as if he had never heard that last comment.
"But, as I saw him lying there, with a hearty smile on his lifeless face, I realised that this is not what I had been waiting for all those long years. He had willingly sacrificed his life because he knew that it would guarantee the safety of his friends. Then I began to train Gohan, and the whole idea of hating him gradually faded away in the face of the impending threat."
"What threat?"
"Nappa and Vegita. Two Saiya-jin like yourself. They had set out on a journey to Earth as soon as Raditzu was killed."
Bardock tossed his head back and laughed bitterly.
Vegita? That cocky little shit? He had survived the destruction of Vegita-Sei? Not surprising really. He was always Freezer's little pet...
"And what did his royal highness want on Earth, may I ask?"
Piccolo looked up in interest. Bardock, apparently, was not very fond of Vegita. Not that he could really blame him for that...
"As Raditzu was dying, I revealed the secret of the dragonballs of Earth to him, and that information was relayed to Vegita and Nappa though his scouter. As soon as Vegita heard that the dragonballs could grant any wish the user made, he was practically on his way to Earth before I finished the damn sentence."
Bardock ceased his chuckling, seemingly content to continue the conversation with a bemused smile on his face.
"Finally, we get to the point. These dragonballs that you and Tenshinhan mentioned, I want to find out if they can be used to wish Kakarotto back from wherever he disappeared to."
Piccolo lowered his head and shook it slowly.
"Not a chance. Tenshinhan never found out, but I know that nothing on any plane of existence can wish Goku back from where he is now."
"Really?" Bardock leaned forward. "So tell me Namek, where is he?"
Piccolo looked up, the fire reflecting in his dark eyes.
"A place you and I can't even begin to imagine. He is...with the gods now."
Bardock was beginning to get annoyed.
"So he's dead then?"
"No. But he isn't alive either."
Bardock felt like leaping to his feet and strangling the Namek. But then again, that hadn't worked very well the last time he tried it...
Through gritted teeth, he asked...
"And what exactly does that mean?"
Piccolo drew in a long, hard breath, and continued.
"Several decades ago, Son appeared before me here in Hell. At first, I thought he had died again, but that didn't explain why he had been sent down here. It took me a few moments to realise the true purpose of his visit. He was here to say goodbye."
Bardock cocked an eyebrow with interest.
"Really?"
Piccolo nodded dolefully.
"He said he would never forget the times we had together, and then...he left."
"What do you mean he just left? Where did he go?"
Piccolo frowned. It must have been a nervous habit with him.
"At that point in time, there had been a great conflict on the planet Earth. The Terran dragonballs had been infected with a dark energy which had built up every time negative wishes had been made over the years- an energy which gave birth to several sentient beings, the Evil Shenlongs. These were creatures of magic, each of a dragonball, and even though Goku managed to defeat them, he knew that if such energy ever built up in the balls again after he was dead, then no one in the living world would have the necessary strength to defeat the dragons."
He smiled.
"Son, as always, was unprepared to let that happen, and so he made the ultimate sacrifice for the people of the living world. He gave up his own life energy to heal the infected dragonballs, thus ensuring such evil would never be created again."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Bardock growled. "If he gave up his life energy, that means he's dead, which means he should be here in the afterlife."
"No. Not at all. What you don't seem to understand is that the dragonballs are an existence upon themselves, their own reality, their own universe. The world of dragons. Of magic. When Goku gave of himself to heal them, he became part of that universe. Do you understand what I'm saying here...?"
A look of shocked realisation dawned on the Saiya-jin's face.
"You see?", the Namek pressed on. "Goku and the dragonballs...until his energy is able to repair the damage all the negativity has caused, they will be one and the same. One single entity. One universe. One being."
He paused.
"And that is why no one has ever been able to sense him in either the living world or the afterlife. He is in neither, yet in both and the same time. He is everywhere, and he will only return when the dragonballs have healed themselves. As far as we are concerned, he no longer exists in this reality."
He paused once again and sat back triumphantly.
"But..."
He smiled.
"But, that doesn't mean that you can't find him. That we can't find him."
Bardock leaned forward, and in a voice barely above a hushed whisper, said...
"What?"
"Look here." Piccolo leaned forward to meet him, with a look of unappreciated genius in his eyes. "At present, there is only one thing which links Son to this plane of reality. The one thing which took him from it in the first place."
"The dragonballs?", Bardock ventured.
"Exactly!", Piccolo whispered. "Find those, you find him. When they are reborn, so will he. Believe me, you've been searching for the wrong thing."
Bardock leaned back, desperately trying to process this new information. All he had to do was find these dragonballs, and that was it? Perhaps he could help Kakarotto to heal them; perhaps he could speed up the process? Either way, by finding them he had found his son. He could not resist asking the all-important question...
"Where are they?"
"Ah", Piccolo smiled, gesticulating calmly with his hands. "Luckily for us, that's the easy part. See, the dragonballs of Earth are currently undergoing a regenerative period in order to rid themselves of all their negative energy, much like the 1 year rest they usually take after granting a wish."
Bardock frowned in confusion. He failed to see how that was relevant to their location.
"And, when the balls are in their regenerative states, their link with the being who created them is heightened to an incredible degree, much more so than when they're active. They have even been known to follow their creators across entire galaxies during this stage. For instance, once, when the Namekian dragonballs became dormant after granting their 3 wishes, they followed Saichorou all the way to the planet Earth."
Bardock was finally beginning to understand...
"So, you're saying that the dragonballs are with their creator? But I thought that was you?"
"Not me. My link with the Terran dragonballs was broken a long time ago. The planet has a new Kamisama now; a Namek by the name of Dende."
"Very well. So the dragonballs are with him on Earth?"
Piccolo shook his head once again.
"No. Dende is no longer on that planet. And neither are the dragonballs."
"Where then?"
Piccolo got to his feet and beckoned for Bardock to join him. He did so, and, in the far distance, he could see Tenshinhan and Fionn returning to the camp. He caught Piccolo's eye and pressed him for the answer.
"Isn't it obvious?", asked the Namek. "He's gone home. Don't you see? We don't have to go to Earth to find the dragonballs. We have to go to Namek..."
"I hated him. I truly did. He was the absolute bane of my existence, like a festering wound that gnawed at my body and soul. His death was the only thing I ever thought about. His death, and how to make it as painful as physically possible."
Bardock's face, enshrouded in shadow, stared emotionlessly at the source of this somewhat unusual statement from across the flickering fire. Piccolo, the enigmatic being who they had travelled to Hell to find, had begun to relate his story...
"Our first fight was at the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai, a martial arts tournament held on the planet Earth. The battle...it was truly a thing of beauty. Though battered and beaten, neither of us would relinquish the victory, and we continued to fight even though it took an immense strain on both our bodies. Eventually, Son won the match, and my hatred for him increased tenfold."
Bardock sighed in quiet frustration. This was not what he wanted to hear...
"So tell me Piccolo, at what point exactly did you stop trying to kill my son, and when are you going to get to the part where you let me know what has happened to him?"
"All in good time," came the harsh reply. "First of all, I would have thought that since you've suddenly decided to find Goku you might be interested in hearing about the life he led on Earth."
Bardock snorted and waved him to continue.
"I suppose you're right. Go on.."
Piccolo resettled himself.
"As for why I no longer bear him any malice, well, you could say that a long time ago I achieved a form of...closure."
"Really? What did you do, exactly?"
"I killed him."
For several moments, there was silence at the fireside.
Bardock suddenly remembered the vision he had been stricken with only a few hours beforehand, while he had been unconscious during his fight with Conoracha. The vision which had showed Kakarotto and Raditzu being slaughtered by a Namek.
A Namek which, he now realised, was sitting right in front of him...
"You...killed both of them, didn't you? Kakarotto and Raditzu."
Bardock could not see Piccolo's face, but he imagined that it must be crossed with a look of extreme surprise. He could, however, hear him mumbling something incomprehensible. He could only make out one word in the entire sentence.
That word was..."sorry".
Eventually, the Namek raised his voice once again...
"Yes, I killed them both. At the time, I thought I was simply killing two birds with one stone. I got rid of the immediate threat to the planet Earth, and I finally managed to fulfil Daimou's final request. I eviscerated Goku, and took great pleasure in doing it."
"Ah, yes", Bardock raised two fingers to touch his forehead. "With, what did you call it again? Makankosappo?"
At this point, Piccolo began to feel distinctly uncomfortable. Bardock knew far too much about what had happened for his liking, and he was taking it all very well considering that he was within a few metres of the person who had murdered his only sons. Maybe he was still reeling from the after effects of the Pitharos?
He decided to continue as if he had never heard that last comment.
"But, as I saw him lying there, with a hearty smile on his lifeless face, I realised that this is not what I had been waiting for all those long years. He had willingly sacrificed his life because he knew that it would guarantee the safety of his friends. Then I began to train Gohan, and the whole idea of hating him gradually faded away in the face of the impending threat."
"What threat?"
"Nappa and Vegita. Two Saiya-jin like yourself. They had set out on a journey to Earth as soon as Raditzu was killed."
Bardock tossed his head back and laughed bitterly.
Vegita? That cocky little shit? He had survived the destruction of Vegita-Sei? Not surprising really. He was always Freezer's little pet...
"And what did his royal highness want on Earth, may I ask?"
Piccolo looked up in interest. Bardock, apparently, was not very fond of Vegita. Not that he could really blame him for that...
"As Raditzu was dying, I revealed the secret of the dragonballs of Earth to him, and that information was relayed to Vegita and Nappa though his scouter. As soon as Vegita heard that the dragonballs could grant any wish the user made, he was practically on his way to Earth before I finished the damn sentence."
Bardock ceased his chuckling, seemingly content to continue the conversation with a bemused smile on his face.
"Finally, we get to the point. These dragonballs that you and Tenshinhan mentioned, I want to find out if they can be used to wish Kakarotto back from wherever he disappeared to."
Piccolo lowered his head and shook it slowly.
"Not a chance. Tenshinhan never found out, but I know that nothing on any plane of existence can wish Goku back from where he is now."
"Really?" Bardock leaned forward. "So tell me Namek, where is he?"
Piccolo looked up, the fire reflecting in his dark eyes.
"A place you and I can't even begin to imagine. He is...with the gods now."
Bardock was beginning to get annoyed.
"So he's dead then?"
"No. But he isn't alive either."
Bardock felt like leaping to his feet and strangling the Namek. But then again, that hadn't worked very well the last time he tried it...
Through gritted teeth, he asked...
"And what exactly does that mean?"
Piccolo drew in a long, hard breath, and continued.
"Several decades ago, Son appeared before me here in Hell. At first, I thought he had died again, but that didn't explain why he had been sent down here. It took me a few moments to realise the true purpose of his visit. He was here to say goodbye."
Bardock cocked an eyebrow with interest.
"Really?"
Piccolo nodded dolefully.
"He said he would never forget the times we had together, and then...he left."
"What do you mean he just left? Where did he go?"
Piccolo frowned. It must have been a nervous habit with him.
"At that point in time, there had been a great conflict on the planet Earth. The Terran dragonballs had been infected with a dark energy which had built up every time negative wishes had been made over the years- an energy which gave birth to several sentient beings, the Evil Shenlongs. These were creatures of magic, each of a dragonball, and even though Goku managed to defeat them, he knew that if such energy ever built up in the balls again after he was dead, then no one in the living world would have the necessary strength to defeat the dragons."
He smiled.
"Son, as always, was unprepared to let that happen, and so he made the ultimate sacrifice for the people of the living world. He gave up his own life energy to heal the infected dragonballs, thus ensuring such evil would never be created again."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Bardock growled. "If he gave up his life energy, that means he's dead, which means he should be here in the afterlife."
"No. Not at all. What you don't seem to understand is that the dragonballs are an existence upon themselves, their own reality, their own universe. The world of dragons. Of magic. When Goku gave of himself to heal them, he became part of that universe. Do you understand what I'm saying here...?"
A look of shocked realisation dawned on the Saiya-jin's face.
"You see?", the Namek pressed on. "Goku and the dragonballs...until his energy is able to repair the damage all the negativity has caused, they will be one and the same. One single entity. One universe. One being."
He paused.
"And that is why no one has ever been able to sense him in either the living world or the afterlife. He is in neither, yet in both and the same time. He is everywhere, and he will only return when the dragonballs have healed themselves. As far as we are concerned, he no longer exists in this reality."
He paused once again and sat back triumphantly.
"But..."
He smiled.
"But, that doesn't mean that you can't find him. That we can't find him."
Bardock leaned forward, and in a voice barely above a hushed whisper, said...
"What?"
"Look here." Piccolo leaned forward to meet him, with a look of unappreciated genius in his eyes. "At present, there is only one thing which links Son to this plane of reality. The one thing which took him from it in the first place."
"The dragonballs?", Bardock ventured.
"Exactly!", Piccolo whispered. "Find those, you find him. When they are reborn, so will he. Believe me, you've been searching for the wrong thing."
Bardock leaned back, desperately trying to process this new information. All he had to do was find these dragonballs, and that was it? Perhaps he could help Kakarotto to heal them; perhaps he could speed up the process? Either way, by finding them he had found his son. He could not resist asking the all-important question...
"Where are they?"
"Ah", Piccolo smiled, gesticulating calmly with his hands. "Luckily for us, that's the easy part. See, the dragonballs of Earth are currently undergoing a regenerative period in order to rid themselves of all their negative energy, much like the 1 year rest they usually take after granting a wish."
Bardock frowned in confusion. He failed to see how that was relevant to their location.
"And, when the balls are in their regenerative states, their link with the being who created them is heightened to an incredible degree, much more so than when they're active. They have even been known to follow their creators across entire galaxies during this stage. For instance, once, when the Namekian dragonballs became dormant after granting their 3 wishes, they followed Saichorou all the way to the planet Earth."
Bardock was finally beginning to understand...
"So, you're saying that the dragonballs are with their creator? But I thought that was you?"
"Not me. My link with the Terran dragonballs was broken a long time ago. The planet has a new Kamisama now; a Namek by the name of Dende."
"Very well. So the dragonballs are with him on Earth?"
Piccolo shook his head once again.
"No. Dende is no longer on that planet. And neither are the dragonballs."
"Where then?"
Piccolo got to his feet and beckoned for Bardock to join him. He did so, and, in the far distance, he could see Tenshinhan and Fionn returning to the camp. He caught Piccolo's eye and pressed him for the answer.
"Isn't it obvious?", asked the Namek. "He's gone home. Don't you see? We don't have to go to Earth to find the dragonballs. We have to go to Namek..."