A big thank-you goes out to the readers who have been reviewing the last few chapters, and especially to Wicked Woman. I would also like to thank The Prideful Mink for being my bouncing board. She's an acquaintance of mine over on fictionpress.net, and she's done a wonderful job of listening to me ranting about writer's block. *waves to Mink*
Disclaimer: I do not own Dragonball Z. I own the Seer and the two hybrids, and the demon's realm that I created. (What a thing to own up to.)
Chapter Nine
"Hey, Gohan," Goku exclaimed. "You've been holding up well, from what I can see." The man picked himself up out of the dust and brushed himself off with one hand, hugging his son back with the other. He began walking up the side of the crater, mindful of the smoke that still wafted from the scorched earth and smiling widely enough that it seemed as if his face would crack.
"Dad, I'm so glad you're home!" Gohan cried as he snuggled his face into his father's neck. "I've been so lonely. There's nobody to play with, really, and mom's been making me study a lot."
"I'll bet," Goku laughed. Then he looked up to the rim of the crater and spotted his one-time nemesis. "Hey, Piccolo," he said, waving his free hand at him. "Glad to see that you're still alive. Frieza's gone now, though. Too bad you couldn't kill him, huh?"
There were days when Son Goku had precious little sense, and this was one of them. The green man rolled his eyes in disgust. "Goku," he growled as he glared down at the man, "you really don't have much in the way of tact up in that head of yours, do you?"
The Saiyan gave him his customary grin, putting his free hand behind his head. "Nope. Never have, and probably never…will…" Goku's grin faded as his vision began to blur, and his voice trailed off. He swayed as he took one step forward, and then his knees buckled, nearly falling on Gohan.
Piccolo was behind him and supporting his weight before either he or Gohan could hit the ground.
"Thanks, Piccolo," Goku said weakly as he set his son down. "I owe ya one."
"You owe me nothing," the Namek hissed, uncomfortable with the situation he had involved himself with. "I did not want you crushing my student, and you can't show us this 'Super Saiyan' form if you're passed out in the dirt."
"Are you all right, dad?" Gohan asked, hanging on to his father's gi pants.
"Yeah, squirt," he said. "I think I'm just feeling the effects of being in suspended animation for a few weeks."
Piccolo hissed a second time at the Saiyan. "You've been away for more than a few weeks. Perhaps your brain was damaged by your landing."
"Really?" the man asked, genuinely curious. "How long have I been away?" At most, he expected one of them to say a few months. He could understand that. But nothing could have prepared him for what his son told him.
"A little more than a year, dad," Gohan said sadly.
Had Piccolo not already been supporting him, Goku would have fallen over in shock. "A…year? But so much will have changed!" Gohan watched as his father's face ran through a gamut of emotions, from confusion to sadness and ending in fear. "What will Chi-Chi think of me?" he whispered. "I've left her for a year."
"Your wife," Piccolo growled, "is waiting at the top for you. Now go talk some sense into her before I do." He half-threw Goku up the incline and over the lip of the crater. Gohan scrambled up the side after him, clearing the impact radius quickly. Piccolo simply levitated himself out of the hole. He came face-to-face with Chi-Chi, as she embraced her husband. If looks could kill, he thought as the woman scowled at him.
He walked off to the side and turned his back on the group, choosing instead to fix his gaze upon the mountains off in the distance.
"I'm glad you're home, Goku," Chi-Chi whispered into her husband's ear. "I'm glad you're home."
"So am I, Chi-Chi," Goku exclaimed softly. "If I had known that I would be gone for an entire year, I wouldn't have started pushing buttons." He reluctantly released the woman and sighed.
"But Goku," Bulma interrupted, "if you hadn't done that, you never would've made it off the planet in time. You would have been incinerated, blown to bits, kaput!" She threw her arms wide to emphasize the importance of the matter. Behind her, Yamcha rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, I suppose you're right, but still, it doesn't make up for my absence."
Krillin noticed the downtrodden look on his best friend's face. "Listen up, Goku," he said, walking up to the Saiyan and placing a hand on his arm. "There's no reason for you to beat yourself up over this. You couldn't help it. And hey, at least you walked away from the fight alive! You put Frieza in his place, all right!" the midget exclaimed, laughing. "And besides, you're here now. What could possibly go wrong?"
The small group then converged upon Goku, exchanging handshakes and congratulations and whatnot. Tien and Chiaotzu hung back from the group and talked between themselves, but the Saiyan hero's face lightened up as he conversed with Yamcha, Krillin, Gohan, Bulma, and Chi-Chi. Piccolo alone remained focused on the sky, and with good reason. He recalled the events of the past few weeks with great accuracy, and everything that had occurred seemed to be adding up to one thing: trouble from space. First had been Uranai Baba's crystal ball and its corruption, then it was the feeling of being watched, followed by King Kai's warning and ending with the feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach. None of this boded well for any of the Earth's special forces.
Tien noticed the Namek's unease and approached him cautiously. "Piccolo," he said softly so as not to attract the attention of the group at large, "is something wrong?"
The green warrior gazed up at the sky just over the horizon for a moment, refusing to tear his eyes away lest something happen. "King Kai said that there would be something following him in," he said at last. "I can't sense anything, but something is wrong. I can feel it."
"Are you positive?" Tien asked as he leaned on a tree near him. Had it been a year ago, he wouldn't have dared to do such a thing, but the times had changed. He was no longer as afraid of the son of the Demon Lord as he had once been.
Piccolo snorted. "I would not be surprised to find that something had landed behind you humans as you talked about your sentimental rubbish."
Tien sighed and closed his eyes in defeat. It was nigh impossible to speak with Piccolo without being insulted in one way or another. He was like that; his very presence seemed to either encourage violence or spread fear. Perhaps it was his sire's influence. Perhaps it was his demonic heritage. It might have even been the Namek's own aura. The triclops opened his eyes again and glanced back over at Piccolo. The self-proclaimed demon seemed concerned about something. The thought of a creature that could frighten Piccolo sent a chill down Tien's spine.
The three-eyed man had been brought up as an assassin. He was accustomed to working with fear, with manipulating the fears of others for his own benefit. He had discarded that lifestyle a long time ago, but he still knew how fear worked in the minds of others. Piccolo was simply not the type of person to cry "wolf" when he felt the least bit threatened. Heh, I should know that, he thought. He wouldn't even tell anyone about what he saw in the depths of the crystal ball, and that still gives me nightmares. If the Namek feared something, then there was good reason for it.
He outright jumped when Piccolo gasped, widening his eyes in disbelief. "There's something in the sky over the horizon," the jade-skinned warrior said softly. "It's headed this way."
"What is it? Is it the creatures the ball showed us?" Tien asked, worriedly looking out over the trees for any possible sign of such monstrosities.
Piccolo said nothing. Whether it was because he did not know the answer or chose not to tell, Tien did not know, but it didn't really matter. At the moment, he had something a bit more important to worry about, such as how he was going to survive an encounter with creatures that made the son of Piccolo Daimao fearful.
"Hey, did you guys feel that?" Goku said, rubbing his forehead.
"Feel what, Goku?" Yamcha asked, furrowing his brow. "I can't sense anything beyond us, if that's what you mean." Next to him, Bulma pressed herself into his side in bewilderment. Krillin scratched the top of his head and looked over at Gohan, shrugging.
"I felt it too, dad," the young demi-Saiyan said flatly. With his words the group fell silent. The only sounds heard were the wind rustling through the leaves of the trees and the chirping of a score of crickets. "It's faint, but it feels like there's something out there waiting for us."
"What do you suppose it is?" Chi-Chi asked, squinting against the glare of the sun in an effort to see the object that was causing her family such distress. She was no stranger to harm's path…after all, she had grown up in the wild with only her father for company, and she was accustomed to being chased about by dinosaurs and various members of the long-gone Red Ribbon Army (though they were few and very far between). She was a warrior by nature, and contrary to popular belief she still enjoyed sparring as well as the occasional fight. She wanted to know what was going on.
Goku glanced over at his wife, frowning. Chi-Chi had been through a lot this past year, and Kami knows she had been relying on Bulma and Yamcha for company. She wasn't going to be too keen on losing him again, should something happen. If anything, his wife was likely to attack whatever threatened to come between them, even if it meant her own life would be forfeit. "I have no idea," he confessed. "I don't know what's going on, or what it is, or if there's even anything dangerous out there."
"Then you are an idiot, Son Goku," came Piccolo's low growl. All eyes settled on the Namek as he turned the full force of his glare on the Saiyan. "Have you felt nothing following you in space?" The slight shake of Goku's head did little to lessen Piccolo's anger. "King Kai caught on to someone or something that was tracking your space pod," he rumbled. "They've been following you from the moment you regained your consciousness. From the looks of it, they've come to Earth for you."
Goku narrowed his eyes. "How would you know about all of this, Piccolo?" he demanded.
To the surprise of all, it was Chiaotzu who spoke up next. "Goku," he piped, "he isn't lying to you. Tien and I both listened in on his conversation with King Kai, and he had said that you were being followed. Piccolo hasn't done anything to any of us, and he won't do anything again, either." Believe him on this one, was the unspoken statement between them.
Goku fancied that the crazy expression on his face mirrored that of Piccolo. The Namek's face had blanched an interesting shade of green, bordering on yellow. He was torn between confusion about the unexpected help and anger that someone had dared to presume what he would and would not be doing with himself. He obviously had no idea what to do with the mess before him. The Saiyan had to stifle a chuckle. "All right, then how do I know when these beings are going to be here?"
Now it was Bulma's turn to glower at him. "Duh!" she exclaimed, smacking the side of her forehead for emphasis. "They have to land some time, Goku. You can be so dense sometimes!"
"Bulma," the man said, "I may not be a technical genius, but I think I already know that."
The group laughed halfheartedly as the blue-haired woman sputtered, at a loss for words. Yamcha and Krillin knew Goku well enough that if he felt something was wrong, then there was something wrong. Chiaotzu and Tien were beginning to believe that there was much more behind Piccolo than senseless destruction and chaos, that Gohan really had changed him, and that he wouldn't use a phony excuse to destroy them all as they stood in one spot. Although Chi-Chi thought that was entirely possible. The Earth's special forces had come to realize that Piccolo, like it or not, was going to be a part of them. And each part of the whole was listened to.
"Be quiet, all of you!" Piccolo hissed as he spun around and faced the group, jolting each human (or Saiyan) out of his or her thoughts. "I don't care what you are thinking right now, but it can wait until later. This 'something' is headed for the clearing behind me, and I would prefer to meet it head-on." The Namek turned back around and leapt lightly into the air, speeding toward the vast expanse of open space about a mile away.
Goku watched his one-time rival head off. "Chi-Chi," he said, "I think you should go back home."
The woman looked at her husband in shock. "Goku, why?"
"I don't want anything happening to you." The Saiyan bowed his head in embarrassment at his display of emotion.
"He's right, you know, Chi-Chi," Krillin added. "The guys we've been fighting lately haven't been the same type as the guys you're used to. These people mean business. I mean, that Frieza guy killed me without even touching me, and he almost killed Piccolo with one hit! We're all liabilities here. Goku, and maybe Piccolo and Vegeta, is really the only one in their league."
"Then it would be best if we left," Yamcha said, gritting his teeth.
The Saiyan cleared his throat. "I don't like it any more than you do, Yamcha, and everyone, but if the things coming are hostile, I don't want any of you to die. Please, go back to my house and wait for me. If it's clear, I'll come back and tell you." Goku looked into Chi-Chi's eyes, and they locked gazes for a minute. The woman dropped her eyes first.
"All right, Goku," she whispered. "But be careful. I don't want to lose you now that I've got you back."
"Wait for me." He pressed a finger to her lips before turning to Krillin. "Krillin, would you take Chi-Chi and Gohan home?"
"Sure thing, Goku," the other man replied.
"Dad, why can't I come with you?" Gohan asked angrily. "I've been training for fights like this since I was four! Why can't I?"
The boy's father knelt down in front of him, coming eye-to-eye with the child that had made him so proud. "I know, Gohan," Goku said, "and I'm very proud of you. I know you have a power inside you somewhere, but you haven't learned to control it. I can't risk you being out on the battlefield without being fully in control of yourself. Maybe next time, squirt."
Gohan sighed, taking a sudden interest in how green the grass was. "Okay, dad." He lowered his eyes and turned away, dragging his feet as he trudged over to his mother.
Goku frowned. There's something I forgot to mention to the little guy, isn't there? he thought. "Oh yeah!" he exclaimed. "And Gohan," he added, watching as his son turned back around, "when I get back, I'll take you fishing." The gratitude that shined through the boy's eyes more than adequately lightened his attitude. Then Krillin and Gohan took off, carrying Chi-Chi between them.
"Come back alive, Goku," Bulma called, waving her arms frantically as Yamcha followed suit.
"I'm surprised Chi-Chi didn't panic about you going out there with Piccolo," Tien said, smirking at him.
"I don't think she remembered," Goku said, frowning again. "But you guys had better get going. If whatever-it-is is actually hostile, I don't want you and Chiaotzu caught up in the fight."
"I know, Goku," Chiaotzu piped, "but are you sure you won't need us for anything?" Tien joined his smaller counterpart in staring down the Saiyan.
In response, Goku tapped his right forefingers to his temple. "I'll ask Piccolo to call you if something happens."
Chiaotzu nodded once and flew off.
"If I feel that you need help out there, Goku," Tien said, "I'm going to come back. Whether you call for help or not."
Goku grinned. "That's fine. I'll see ya later. Make sure Chi-Chi doesn't start dinner without me."
Both men nodded to each other and flew off in opposite directions. This is going to be one heck of a fight, Goku thought. For a second there, I thought Piccolo was going to catch me! He probably knows, though. He's just not saying anything. Not that I blame him or anything. Goku winced. Although he could tell me where Vegeta went. I don't think he's the type of guy who would miss something like this.
Goku landed a moment later next to Piccolo, a light sheen of sweat on his skin. "Did I miss anything?" he panted.
Piccolo did not miss Goku's lack of breath. "They'll be here in a minute," he said sharply, glancing sideways at his fighting companion. The man's eyes were bright with excitement, and had he still possessed a tail it would have been lashing back and forth. "You did not tell them, Son Goku," he added. "You could have used the extra rest."
Goku waved a hand dismissively at the Namek. "Nah. I just have to catch my breath."
Piccolo sneered at him, folding his arms across his chest and allowing the never-ceasing winds to billow his cape out behind him. "You might have been able to get everyone else to believe you, but I am not so easily tricked, Goku. You already know that. Your little slip into stasis didn't heal you as you led the humans to think. You're whole, but you don't have the ki to hold your own in an extended fight." The Namek quirked an eye ridge at him, expecting a response.
The Saiyan felt his mouth drop open. "How…but how…was it that noticeable?" he stuttered, glancing quickly at the sky for any indication of an imminent hostile alien takeover. A few wispy clouds made their way across the crystal blue of the heavens, but outside of that nothing was visible. Yet. "I didn't think it was all that obvious, was it?"
Piccolo smirked. "How you forget, Son Goku, that I was created to destroy you. I was born knowing most of your actions and habits."
"Then I suppose I should be glad that we're fighting on the same team again?"
"Perhaps you should." Piccolo then glowed faintly and pointed his hand at the other man. Goku did not even have time to protest as he was wrapped in a dimly-glowing green light. It took a whole of five seconds for the light to fade, and when it did, Goku was clothed in a fresh orange gi.
The man looked over at Piccolo, puzzlement openly shown on his face. "What gives, Piccolo?" he asked, genuinely confused. "Why'd you go and do that? Doesn't it use your own ki?" He gave the material an experimental pull and found, to his delight, that it didn't tear. It was lightweight and soft to the touch. He had no idea how Piccolo had managed to materialize the cloth, but he didn't question him.
"If you want to keep up your image of strength, you don't want to go into battle already looking as if you were beaten into the earth. Materializing cloth doesn't use ki either, as I found out on Namek. It's a racial ability, magic."
If Goku was confused before, he was utterly lost now. "Magic? As in spells and wands and books? Kinda like Uranai Baba, right? No, wait, she's a witch. I didn't know Nameks used sorcery!" he exclaimed.
It was obvious by the look on his face that Piccolo did not think highly of Goku's reasoning capabilities. "How else do you think the Nameks created the Dragonballs?" he snapped. From the mischievous look that crossed the Saiyan's face, Piccolo determined that he would not want to hear Goku's idea. Just as he was about to make another comment at Goku's expense, he heard a faint metallic squeal. Damn, he thought as he gritted his teeth, ignoring Goku's question about what was happening. They're here. He uncrossed his arms and stood still, watching as a metal oblong shape appeared above them.
For Goku's part, the man was silent after asking what was going on. He, too, was watching, waiting, as the ship's landing gear emerged from their respective slots. It took only a minute after Piccolo's initial reaction to the noise for the ship to land. He gritted his teeth as well as the ship settled itself into the earth, sending dust flying everywhere and obscuring his view of the vehicle. The tension in the air was thick enough to cut as the door to the alien spacecraft opened, swirling yet more dust into their faces.
"Well, well, well," came a mellow-toned voice from somewhere inside the dust cloud. "It looks like we have a welcoming party, brother."
Brother? Goku thought. There's two of them? Great. This is just not my day, is it? I wasn't even home for an hour!
Goku and Piccolo both heard the tell-tale beeping of a Scouter. "There are only two of them," said the second voice, not much deeper than the first. This one seemed to be slightly off to the right of and behind the first voice. "And their ki levels are pitiful. Shall we still use the psi-down/G mixture?"
Psi-what? Goku thought. What are they talking about? "Show yourselves already!" he shouted. "We didn't come here to sit around all day!" To his right, Piccolo growled low in his throat, sensing something that Goku wasn't able to pick up on.
Until that something was splashed across his face. There was an apparently silent signal that had been given between the two beings in the doorway, and whatever it was had been an affirmative. He grunted in surprise and wiped some type of liquid out of his eyes. He could hear Piccolo doing the same next to him. "I don't have time for your tricks!" he yelled again. "Come out!"
And they did.
Two men, one the size of Goku and the other easily topping Piccolo's own tall frame, stepped forward out of the dust and into their view. Both were broad-shouldered and heavily muscled, wearing Ginyu Force-style armor and garments. The scraggly black hair on their heads was long and kept out of their faces with bandannas. Their skin was a rather dusky color. What drew Goku's attention was the tails around their waists. What caught Piccolo's attention were their eyes, both a light blue and both lacking any emotion.
"They have the same eyes as Frieza," Piccolo growled, furrowing his brow.
As Goku stared in horror at the aliens' tails, the smaller man spoke up again, a wicked gleam in his eyes. "So we finally meet, Kakarot," he declared, "only to see you destroyed."
"What?" the Saiyan squawked.
"You heard him," the taller alien spat. "You are a traitor, Kakarot, and you must be destroyed."
* * * * *
Thanks again for reading. Please leave a review for me.
I'm hoping to get the next chapter out within a week. I have most of it typed up already, but I have to fight for my Internet time. Wish me luck…it will be my first actual attempt at a fight scene. *grin*
~Dreamwraith