Chapter 10
Disclaimer- I don't own dragon ball/z/gt. Not at all, nope nope nope.
Note- things in are in another language.
Recap: Last chapter (a million and a half years ago) Gohan was taken to Labyrinth 1, the base of Vegeta's secret anti-Freiza forces and placed under the guard of a soldier while Radditz went off and reported to the lizard. Kami told Bulma, Krillin, and Tien that he had spoken to Goku and that a Dragon Ball had been destroyed and the power from the ball had been transferred to something…or someone… who could act in the place of the Dragon Ball.
*****
Bulma, Krillin, and Tien all stared at Kami for a moment, not quite sure of the implications of his last statement. It was then that Krillin noticed that Piccolo was not present. Tien understood first.
"Radditz!" He burst. "That's why he could keep fighting after all that damage,"
"Yes. You are fortunate that he is unaware of what happened, because if he learned to control that power, no force in the universe could stop him." Kami said.
"Wait, how do we wish Goku and Yamcha back!?" Bulma wailed. "The dragon won't come to only six balls!" Kami looked gravely at her.
"The balls are merely a symbol; something for people to grasp. It is the energy that matters. But you are correct. If even a seventh of that energy is missing, Shenlong will not respond."
"Hold on a minute," Krillin's brow was creased in concentration. "If the balls were just carriers of the energy, and it was transferred, then if we got the new vessel…"
"How in the world do we do that?" Bulma demanded, but Kami looked thoughtful.
"I think we can do it. No, I think we must. Let me see the dragon radar." Bulma gave the guardian a startled look and pulled the broken gadget out of her pouch. "What is the range on this?"
"It covers all of Earth," She stated. "But it's broken." Kami peered at it closely.
"I can fix this for you." He said simply, then turned and retreated into the sanctuary. Bulma stared after him incredulously.
"No way. I used everything I know on that thing. He won't be able to fix it." But the guardian walked out a minute later, the glowing radar in his hands. "How…"
"I work in mysterious ways, child. Now go. You've got a world to save." Bulma nodded mutely. She and the two warriors got back into the air car, and Mr. Popo watched with Kami as they vanished.
"How did you do it?" Mr. Popo asked.
"Simple. I changed the batteries."
*****
Gohan woke up about half an hour after Radditz left. He was startled at first by his surroundings, but quickly discerned that they contained no hidden threat. He climbed off the bed and walked over to the desk. The surface of it was just a bit too high for him to reach, and there was no chair. Odd…he looked around for something to stand on, but the only other piece of furniture in the room was, of course, the bed. Gohan really didn't think he'd be able to move it across the room. There was a blanket on the bed, though, and he could move that. He yanked it off the bed, folded it into a nice thick wad and placed it by the edge of the desk. When he stepped on it, however, it squished beneath his weight and wasn't stable at all. Gohan went back to the bed to retrieve the pillow. After he added it to the blanket wad, the squishy tower gave him just enough height to grope around the surface. His hand felt something solid and he grabbed, just as the pillow fell off the blanket and he landed on the floor. The box in his hands was plain and black. There was no writing on it and it didn't open. There was a small hole in the side, but Gohan couldn't see anything through it. He shook it but nothing rattled. Bored, he set it on the floor, thinking it must be some sort of decoration.
Going over to the door, he had to crane his neck somewhat to see to the top of it. There was no doorknob. He had no idea how to get out of the room. He wasn't even sure what he was going to do once out, but being in the room was too much like trapped, and he really wanted to believe the best about his uncle. So, not seeing anything else to do about it, he knocked on the door. It slid open.
Gohan walked right past the startled soldier-turned-babysitter and wandered off down the hall. The soldier remained a considerable distance behind him, but kept a close eye on his charge. Gohan walked wide-eyed down hallway after corridor after passage until he felt quite befuddled. Just as he was thinking it would be impossible to reach the relative safety of Radditz's room, he found himself right outside the door. Looking around, confused, Gohan found he had gone full circle- with a few detours, of course. He was wondering how to open the door again when his shadow caught up. The soldier knelt so that he was the same height as the child and said:
"Did you need something?" After all, Radditz had said that the child was very important.
"I'm…a little confused." Gohan admitted.
"I can try to answer your questions," The guard offered kindly.
"Who are you?" The least important question of the million he wanted to ask popped out first.
"I am Kako," He replied. "Radditz assigned me to watch over you." Gohan looked closer at Kako. He guessed that up against his uncle, Kako would be about shoulder height. At first glance, his skin looked white, but looking closer, Gohan discovered it had a faint reddish cast to it. The really startling thing, however, were his eyes. They were slightly angular and had no pupils. Instead, they were a solid red. Seeing Gohan's silent appraisal, Kako smiled slightly, revealing fangs. Gohan smiled back, somehow managing to make even this gesture of friendship look rather grave. Gohan continued to ask questions.
"Why am I here? And where is here?"
"This is Labyrinth I. It's a resistance base. Prince Vegeta is gathering forces to oppose Freiza." Kako said the lizard's name with almost as much hatred as Radditz had. Gohan, remembering the story Radditz had told him, wondered how a force in a small base like this could take on Freiza when most of the Saiyan race had died trying. Then he realized he was being pessimistic and decided to stop.
"Where's my uncle?" Gohan asked next. Kako looked at him confusedly. "Radditz," Gohan said by way of explanation. Kako's eyes got a little wide.
"He went to Freiza to report. He, Nappa, and Prince Vegeta have to do that often so Freiza doesn't get suspicious."
"Do you know when he'll be back?"
"It shouldn't take too long. Freiza doesn't need them by his side every second of the day. My turn," Kako said. "Where did you come from? I had no idea Radditz had any family."
"I'm from…Earth," Gohan said, frowning. "My dad… I guess he was Radditz's brother, unless it was my mom who was his sister…anyway, they're both dead." His frown deepened. "I was in an orphanage…then Radditz came. He was destroying things." Gohan had almost forgotten about those people who had been his father's friends. He was very confused. Should he hate his uncle and be afraid of him? Or should he feel just fine in this situation and make the best of it? He remembered that he had given up being pessimistic, and decided to make the best of the situation. Kako saw the far-off look on his charge's face.
"Maybe you should get some rest; it's late." He suggested. The boy nodded, but looked doubtfully at the door. Kako had to cover a smile. The child wasn't heavy enough to trip the sensors that would open the door. "Jump up and down on it," He advised. The sight was a funny one. Finally, the door opened. Gohan, pleased, dashed inside before it could slide closed again.
Kako readied himself for the night. Luckily, his kind-Seika, from the planet Seik-needed no sleep. In fact, if they slept at all they got extremely disoriented, so Kako was perfect for this job. He whiled away the long hours (Seika needed no sleep, but tended to get bored faster than most species) thinking about his new friend. It was hard to judge Gohan's age: on Seik, it was perpetually night. There were no 'days', and thus no 'months' and no 'years'. One could learn the stars and study the passage of time, but few, if any, undertook this weighty (and boring) task. If anyone had bothered to find out, however, they would have found that Seika do not socialize according to age group, but by maturity or interest. They would have found many centuries old beings talking quite seriously to newborns about philosophy and politics. So all that Kako knew was that Gohan was on pretty much the same level as he was, and that made them essentially the same age. He smiled softly to himself. He sensed a deep power in this boy. He would make an excellent training partner.
*****
"It's the latest model." Bulma explained proudly. "I helped my dad design it. It goes really fast."
"How fast?" Krillin asked, looking dubiously at the bean shaped space ship on the Capsule Corp. front lawn.
"Fast enough to get us out of the Solar System in a minute or so. That's about 99,000 miles per second, I believe."
"Is that fast enough? The universe is a pretty big place," Tien commented.
"Of course it's fast enough! I could even push warp speed if I absolutely had to, but I wouldn't recommend it. There's a reason it's called 'warp'."
"Great, so are we ready to go then?" Bulma rolled her eyes.
"Noooooooooo." She said, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I have to pack." Tien and Krillin groaned.
Several hours later, the three of them were ready to go.
*****
At the ends of the Earth…
Kami looked upon the green, insect-like structure before him. It was the ship he had traveled to Earth in. His palm open at his side, Kami began charging a small globe of ki. Now, Earth's guardian rarely used his energy in such a way, so the ball was only just potent enough to destroy a large, green spaceship. Regretfully, he loosed the blast that would do away with the remnants of his life before Earth. But the ki never reached its intended target. It exploded instead on a large rock outcropping a few yards away from the ship. Kami peered through to see what had deflected the blast.
"Piccolo!"
"What're you doing Kami?" Piccolo growled. "'Cause it looks to me like you're destroying my one chance of following those fools to space." He glanced over at the ship. The hatch was open. "If you're so eager to get rid of it, why don't I just take it off your hands?"
"Why do you even want to find young Gohan, Piccolo?" The hatch closed. "He is the son of your enemy. You've saved his life once before. What are you trying to prove?"
"I'm just looking for the dragon balls, old man. What so I care if Son Goku's kid lives or dies? But I have to ask, what are you up to, Kami-sama?" He used the term of respect mockingly. "I'll bet it's nothing a Guardian of Earth should be doing."
"What do you know about being a Guardian?" Kami demanded, his face twisted in anguish. "I'm destroying this last piece of my past so that Earth can have a future! So that a group of children can't destroy the planet by bringing back the last of the Sons!"
"Too late."
"What?"
"I said: it's too late. One of those 'children' has developed a ship fast enough to travel across galaxies in hours. They've already left." Piccolo was grinning. Kami was fighting the urge to sink to his knees in despair.
"The Fates are against me," He murmured.
"If there's nothing else, I'll be leaving now." Piccolo turned to enter the ship.
"You won't even be able to get off the ground." Kami said softly. Piccolo looked at him sharply. "It's voice-activated. The ship responds to the Namekian language, and, though you are Namekian, you do not know it."
"But you do."
"I won't tell you. If you join with the others, there's a chance they may succeed. However, without you, there is no chance of them returning with the boy. All I have to do to save this planet is keep you on it."
"Kami, I am an exact copy of you. Well, at least a close enough one that it isn't possible for us to keep secrets from each other."
"Where are you going with this?" Kami asked nervously, backing away.
"My point is…this should work!" Piccolo leapt at Kami. One hand pushed the Guardian against a rock wall and the other pressed against his head. "Now, I've never tried this before, so let me know if it hurts." There was a bright flash. Kami drew a sharp breath, but the whole thing was over before he could scream.
"It worked!" Piccolo was pleased. He hadn't been sure if it would. I can speak the language and command the ship! He said in flawless Namekian. Kami trembled and collapsed. An unfortunate side effect, but Piccolo didn't care one whit about his double. He needed to be off now if he was going to tail Bulma, Krillin, and Tien.
As the stars raced by, Piccolo thought over his amazing good luck. After finding Goku dead, Piccolo had not gone out and conquered the world, as his father would have. It didn't seem right, somehow, and now he knew why. Kami had said the bringing the last Son to Earth would destroy it. Piccolo didn't want to destroy Earth, but he thought he might like to rule it now. He could train Son Gohan himself, then threaten Kami with the boy. If the old man wanted to believe the kid was going to destroy the world, that was up to him. Now it felt right. Piccolo's father and Goku had been enemies. Now their sons would be allies. It had a certain irony that appealed to the demon prince, and he settled back in his chair content with a newfound sense of purpose.