Chapter 10: The Planet of Hope.
Namek-Sei was a perfect example of the word paradisiacal. Unspoilt fertile plains stretched as far as the eye could see, randomly dotted with undulating, gently-sloping hills. The planet was constantly bathed in the golden light of one of its multiple suns, meaning that night was a phenomenon all but unknown to it's native inhabitants- the relatively pacifistic Namekian race. Although they possessed strength significantly greater than the average members of other races, they seemed content to live out their lives as farmers, cultivating the land they loved.
The idyllic world gave no indication of the fate suffered by it's predecessor- destroyed by the tyrant Freezer, whose overwhelming fear of defeat led him to annihilate the planet, under the erroneous belief that it would lead to the demise of the Saiya-jin Son Goku. In the end, it really had no effect on the outcome of their battle. It was truly a case of survival of the fittest: Goku triumphed, while Freezer was left to rot in the empty vacuum of space. A truly ironic outcome...
Both the planet Namek and its people had apparently completely recovered from their ordeal at the hands of Freezer, for neither the planet nor the species showed any remnants of the tyrant's brief but memorable occupation. The dragonballs had restored them both, wiping any and all traces of Freezer's sick influence from the emerald sphere. Now and for evermore, this was Piccolo's homeworld, the world which had given him life, and now, it was hoped, the world which would give Goku life as well...
Bardock, Piccolo, Tenshinhan and Fionn materialised on top of one such undulating hill, kicking up a cloud of dust as their four bodies occupied a previously empty space. For someone who was not accustomed to travelling by such an unorthodox method, it took several seconds to recover from the reintegration process. Bardock and Fionn were two such people and, after much ungainly coughing and spluttering, they managed to focus their senses on the surrounding territory...
Bardock didn't attempt to hide his confusion. He had expected to reappear directly beside this Dende person, or at least in the middle of some kind of Namekian settlement. As it was, it turned out that they were standing on top of a hill, near a large lake, with no discernible signs of civilisation anywhere nearby...
He scratched the back of his head.
"Uh, don't take this the wrong way, but where the hell are we?"
Tenshinhan looked around, apparently as confused as Bardock was.
"I...don't know. Like I said before, I haven't acquired that much control over the Shunkan Idou yet. From the looks of things, we got the right planet, but it could take us a while to find Dende's exact location."
"Wonderful..." Bardock muttered grumpily.
"Piccolo, this is your planet. Do you have any idea where the nearest settlement might be?"
When he received no reply after several seconds, he turned around and asked again.
"Piccolo...?"
Much to his surprise, the Namek appeared to be entranced with their newfound surroundings, as he stared blankly into space, giving no hint of acknowledgment of his comrades' presence. Bardock found this to be completely out of character considering the experience he had had with the Namek so far. He had thought he was made of sterner stuff than this, but now, here he was, going all to pieces over a visit to his home planet. Bardock angrily shook this train of thought out of his head. After all, who was he to judge the Namek for reacting slightly nostalgic? Who was to say that he himself wouldn't act the same way if he was ever given the chance to visit Vegita-Sei again, if it were somehow restored to the way it had been during it's glory days?
He tapped Piccolo on the back.
"C'mon. Neither me nor Fionn know Dende's ki, so we won't recognize it even if we manage to sense it. It's up to you and Tenshinhan to find the place we're looking for."
Piccolo took another moment to take in the scenery around them, the turned to face the group since again. The last time he had been here, it was under less accommodating circumstances, as he had been forced into a pitched battle with Freezer in order to save the lives of Gohan and Kuririn, never mind the planet itself. Vegita was there as well, but, at that particular point in time, he honestly couldn't have cared less about him. All in all, he was probably only on the planet for a few hours, and a lot of that time had been spent nearly bleeding to death on the floor of a Capsule Corporation spacecraft. Now, for the first time since he could remember, he felt like he had finally...come home. It was something that gave him a strange feeling of...pride, deep within the depths of his soul. With a confident smile on his face, he spoke for the first time since they had arrived...
"Don't worry. I've already located him. His ki has changed quite a bit since I saw him last, but the basic essence is still there. Let's head in..." He pointed directly ahead of himself. "...that direction. It's only a few miles away."
Bardock, Fionn and Tenshinhan nodded soundlessly, and took off almost simultaneously, powering forward at an incredible speed. At this rate, it would take them less than a minute to reach their intended destination. Bardock was silently thankful; after all, Namek was a massive planet, and he didn't really feel like flying around aimlessly trying vainly to locate a single being on its vast surface.
Sure enough, within half a minute of taking flight, Bardock could spot traces of settlement off in the distance, and, as fast as they were moving, they were almost on top of it as soon as it appeared on the horizon.
Bardock stopped and stared down at the Namek village below them. It was virtually indistinguishable from any other such settlement on the planet, since the Namekian race had absolutely no cultural diversity to speak of. Even the layout of the villages were the same- multiple metallic huts, usually in pairs of two, with their trademark spikes jutting outwards from the surface. Bardock noted that Nameks tended to have a preoccupation with spikes when it came to engineering and architecture. Their huts, spaceships, even the mountains seemed to be bristling with the large appendages. For defence, perhaps? He could see no other logical reason.
The village bustled with life, as children ran from place to place, mature Nameks strolled casually around the makeshift dwellings, and farmers tended to the seemingly endless rows of vegetation which surrounded the village. These small plants, the Ajisa plants, were the only species of flora which were cultivated by the Nameks. Again, he could see absolutely no logical reason for this, considering that Nameks didn't need any source of food to survive on- all their unique physiologies required was water. Maybe they had some kind of religious significance. Hell, for all he knew, the Nameks just needed something to occupy their time and had taken up gardening...
He shook his head. This was an old habit from his days as a warrior under Freezer's command. Whenever he arrived on a new planet, he had always tried to make as many observations as possible in the shortest amount of time. Over the years, he had found it useful when it came to determining weaknesses in the planet's infrastructure, or it's people, for that matter. It was habit that had served him well, and, to his everlasting annoyance, one he had never been able to grow out of. The last thing he wanted was to be reminded of just how well he and the rest of the Saiya-jin had served Freezer, and utilising any of his old tricks only served to dredge up all those old memories once again.
He turned to Piccolo.
"So, which one is he?" he inquired, gesturing down at the numerous Nameks below who, so far, had not noticed the four visitors hovering not too far above their heads. "All you Nameks look alike to me..."
Piccolo smirked. "That's funny. You Saiya-jin all look alike to me as well." He cast his view downwards in order to get a better view of the village. After a minute or so, he replied...
"It doesn't look like he's outside, but that's hardly surprising. The Senior Elder rarely leaves his hut."
"Actually", Fionn mused. "That's something I've been meaning to ask you for a while now. If Dende is indeed the Kamisama of the planet Earth, how can he be the Senior Elder of Namek as well? I would have thought that someone could only function as Kamisama if they were on the actual planet they watched over."
"Well....", Piccolo replied, without taking his view off the village below. "That's something you're just going to have to ask Dende when we meet him." He paused, then pointed at a large hut at the northern most point of the village.
"That's where he'll be..."
Without a word, all four of them dropped out of the sky and landed deftly in front of the dwelling which Piccolo had indicated. Within seconds of their descent, the entire village had noticed them, and several large warriors had thrown themselves in front of the doorway to the hut in a desperate attempt to block the entrance, while the remainder of the adult population gathered around them with angry grimaces on their usually peaceful faces. From what Bardock could see, the Nameks were extremely protective of their Senior Elder, to the extent that it seemed they were willing to die for him. If he had still been working for Freezer, Bardock knew who his first hostage would have been should he ever have attempted to commandeer this planet...
"Stand aside.", Piccolo commanded, in a voice which boomed through the entire village.
The Nameks, to their credit, didn't budge.
"I'm here to see Dende", Piccolo continued. It was clear that he did not want to harm any of his own people unless it became absolutely unavoidable.
"Tell him that Piccolo would like to request an audience with him".
For several moments, no one moved, and it seemed like the four dead warriors would have to fight their way past the entire village. Luckily for the Nameks, one of them took it upon himself to enter the hut and carry out Piccolo's request.
Voices could be heard emanating from the hut, although the exact words could not be interpreted. The crowd momentarily diverted their attention from the intruders in an attempt to better discover what was happening.
The lone Namek reappeared a minute later, his face ashen, and his voice hoarse.
"The Elder...will see you," he mumbled in disbelief.
An angry murmur passed through the crowd. Why had the Elder granted these intruders an audience? Would he be safe once they entered the hut?
Indecisiveness ran rampant, as many members of the crowd were unsure as to whether or not they should let them pass, regardless of what the Elder had said.
Piccolo repeated himself.
"Stand aside."
This time, it seemed, Piccolo's sheer authoritative nature, coupled with the Elder's command, persuaded the Nameks to part from around the door to the dwelling, seemingly content to grant the Elder's wish.
Angry eyes followed the four intruders as they walked silently forward and disappeared into the welcoming darkness of the hut...
Namek-Sei was a perfect example of the word paradisiacal. Unspoilt fertile plains stretched as far as the eye could see, randomly dotted with undulating, gently-sloping hills. The planet was constantly bathed in the golden light of one of its multiple suns, meaning that night was a phenomenon all but unknown to it's native inhabitants- the relatively pacifistic Namekian race. Although they possessed strength significantly greater than the average members of other races, they seemed content to live out their lives as farmers, cultivating the land they loved.
The idyllic world gave no indication of the fate suffered by it's predecessor- destroyed by the tyrant Freezer, whose overwhelming fear of defeat led him to annihilate the planet, under the erroneous belief that it would lead to the demise of the Saiya-jin Son Goku. In the end, it really had no effect on the outcome of their battle. It was truly a case of survival of the fittest: Goku triumphed, while Freezer was left to rot in the empty vacuum of space. A truly ironic outcome...
Both the planet Namek and its people had apparently completely recovered from their ordeal at the hands of Freezer, for neither the planet nor the species showed any remnants of the tyrant's brief but memorable occupation. The dragonballs had restored them both, wiping any and all traces of Freezer's sick influence from the emerald sphere. Now and for evermore, this was Piccolo's homeworld, the world which had given him life, and now, it was hoped, the world which would give Goku life as well...
Bardock, Piccolo, Tenshinhan and Fionn materialised on top of one such undulating hill, kicking up a cloud of dust as their four bodies occupied a previously empty space. For someone who was not accustomed to travelling by such an unorthodox method, it took several seconds to recover from the reintegration process. Bardock and Fionn were two such people and, after much ungainly coughing and spluttering, they managed to focus their senses on the surrounding territory...
Bardock didn't attempt to hide his confusion. He had expected to reappear directly beside this Dende person, or at least in the middle of some kind of Namekian settlement. As it was, it turned out that they were standing on top of a hill, near a large lake, with no discernible signs of civilisation anywhere nearby...
He scratched the back of his head.
"Uh, don't take this the wrong way, but where the hell are we?"
Tenshinhan looked around, apparently as confused as Bardock was.
"I...don't know. Like I said before, I haven't acquired that much control over the Shunkan Idou yet. From the looks of things, we got the right planet, but it could take us a while to find Dende's exact location."
"Wonderful..." Bardock muttered grumpily.
"Piccolo, this is your planet. Do you have any idea where the nearest settlement might be?"
When he received no reply after several seconds, he turned around and asked again.
"Piccolo...?"
Much to his surprise, the Namek appeared to be entranced with their newfound surroundings, as he stared blankly into space, giving no hint of acknowledgment of his comrades' presence. Bardock found this to be completely out of character considering the experience he had had with the Namek so far. He had thought he was made of sterner stuff than this, but now, here he was, going all to pieces over a visit to his home planet. Bardock angrily shook this train of thought out of his head. After all, who was he to judge the Namek for reacting slightly nostalgic? Who was to say that he himself wouldn't act the same way if he was ever given the chance to visit Vegita-Sei again, if it were somehow restored to the way it had been during it's glory days?
He tapped Piccolo on the back.
"C'mon. Neither me nor Fionn know Dende's ki, so we won't recognize it even if we manage to sense it. It's up to you and Tenshinhan to find the place we're looking for."
Piccolo took another moment to take in the scenery around them, the turned to face the group since again. The last time he had been here, it was under less accommodating circumstances, as he had been forced into a pitched battle with Freezer in order to save the lives of Gohan and Kuririn, never mind the planet itself. Vegita was there as well, but, at that particular point in time, he honestly couldn't have cared less about him. All in all, he was probably only on the planet for a few hours, and a lot of that time had been spent nearly bleeding to death on the floor of a Capsule Corporation spacecraft. Now, for the first time since he could remember, he felt like he had finally...come home. It was something that gave him a strange feeling of...pride, deep within the depths of his soul. With a confident smile on his face, he spoke for the first time since they had arrived...
"Don't worry. I've already located him. His ki has changed quite a bit since I saw him last, but the basic essence is still there. Let's head in..." He pointed directly ahead of himself. "...that direction. It's only a few miles away."
Bardock, Fionn and Tenshinhan nodded soundlessly, and took off almost simultaneously, powering forward at an incredible speed. At this rate, it would take them less than a minute to reach their intended destination. Bardock was silently thankful; after all, Namek was a massive planet, and he didn't really feel like flying around aimlessly trying vainly to locate a single being on its vast surface.
Sure enough, within half a minute of taking flight, Bardock could spot traces of settlement off in the distance, and, as fast as they were moving, they were almost on top of it as soon as it appeared on the horizon.
Bardock stopped and stared down at the Namek village below them. It was virtually indistinguishable from any other such settlement on the planet, since the Namekian race had absolutely no cultural diversity to speak of. Even the layout of the villages were the same- multiple metallic huts, usually in pairs of two, with their trademark spikes jutting outwards from the surface. Bardock noted that Nameks tended to have a preoccupation with spikes when it came to engineering and architecture. Their huts, spaceships, even the mountains seemed to be bristling with the large appendages. For defence, perhaps? He could see no other logical reason.
The village bustled with life, as children ran from place to place, mature Nameks strolled casually around the makeshift dwellings, and farmers tended to the seemingly endless rows of vegetation which surrounded the village. These small plants, the Ajisa plants, were the only species of flora which were cultivated by the Nameks. Again, he could see absolutely no logical reason for this, considering that Nameks didn't need any source of food to survive on- all their unique physiologies required was water. Maybe they had some kind of religious significance. Hell, for all he knew, the Nameks just needed something to occupy their time and had taken up gardening...
He shook his head. This was an old habit from his days as a warrior under Freezer's command. Whenever he arrived on a new planet, he had always tried to make as many observations as possible in the shortest amount of time. Over the years, he had found it useful when it came to determining weaknesses in the planet's infrastructure, or it's people, for that matter. It was habit that had served him well, and, to his everlasting annoyance, one he had never been able to grow out of. The last thing he wanted was to be reminded of just how well he and the rest of the Saiya-jin had served Freezer, and utilising any of his old tricks only served to dredge up all those old memories once again.
He turned to Piccolo.
"So, which one is he?" he inquired, gesturing down at the numerous Nameks below who, so far, had not noticed the four visitors hovering not too far above their heads. "All you Nameks look alike to me..."
Piccolo smirked. "That's funny. You Saiya-jin all look alike to me as well." He cast his view downwards in order to get a better view of the village. After a minute or so, he replied...
"It doesn't look like he's outside, but that's hardly surprising. The Senior Elder rarely leaves his hut."
"Actually", Fionn mused. "That's something I've been meaning to ask you for a while now. If Dende is indeed the Kamisama of the planet Earth, how can he be the Senior Elder of Namek as well? I would have thought that someone could only function as Kamisama if they were on the actual planet they watched over."
"Well....", Piccolo replied, without taking his view off the village below. "That's something you're just going to have to ask Dende when we meet him." He paused, then pointed at a large hut at the northern most point of the village.
"That's where he'll be..."
Without a word, all four of them dropped out of the sky and landed deftly in front of the dwelling which Piccolo had indicated. Within seconds of their descent, the entire village had noticed them, and several large warriors had thrown themselves in front of the doorway to the hut in a desperate attempt to block the entrance, while the remainder of the adult population gathered around them with angry grimaces on their usually peaceful faces. From what Bardock could see, the Nameks were extremely protective of their Senior Elder, to the extent that it seemed they were willing to die for him. If he had still been working for Freezer, Bardock knew who his first hostage would have been should he ever have attempted to commandeer this planet...
"Stand aside.", Piccolo commanded, in a voice which boomed through the entire village.
The Nameks, to their credit, didn't budge.
"I'm here to see Dende", Piccolo continued. It was clear that he did not want to harm any of his own people unless it became absolutely unavoidable.
"Tell him that Piccolo would like to request an audience with him".
For several moments, no one moved, and it seemed like the four dead warriors would have to fight their way past the entire village. Luckily for the Nameks, one of them took it upon himself to enter the hut and carry out Piccolo's request.
Voices could be heard emanating from the hut, although the exact words could not be interpreted. The crowd momentarily diverted their attention from the intruders in an attempt to better discover what was happening.
The lone Namek reappeared a minute later, his face ashen, and his voice hoarse.
"The Elder...will see you," he mumbled in disbelief.
An angry murmur passed through the crowd. Why had the Elder granted these intruders an audience? Would he be safe once they entered the hut?
Indecisiveness ran rampant, as many members of the crowd were unsure as to whether or not they should let them pass, regardless of what the Elder had said.
Piccolo repeated himself.
"Stand aside."
This time, it seemed, Piccolo's sheer authoritative nature, coupled with the Elder's command, persuaded the Nameks to part from around the door to the dwelling, seemingly content to grant the Elder's wish.
Angry eyes followed the four intruders as they walked silently forward and disappeared into the welcoming darkness of the hut...