Smirking, Dodoria rose into the sky and fired a gigantic beam from his mouth that reduced where the village had been to a smoking crater. This was far too easy. It had given him a special pleasure to wipe the ignorant look off of all of their faces. In fact, wipe any look off of their faces. Snickering, he turned around and prepared to take the Dragonball back to Frieza.
Off to the side, Dodoria saw something bright flash. Focusing, he turned on his scouter and aimed it toward the apparent disturbance. There was a battle going on, and at the site of another village! Flying to the nearest of the small flunkies, Dodoria handed them the Dragonball and headed toward the village. If he kept this up, Frieza might give him a serious raise!
Kooie looked around carefully, scanning the area with his scanner. Dodoria and Zarbon had taken his leads on villages before he could go for them. As much as he hated them, he did respect the power that they possessed, and the power that they represented. Just then, he found something. Not very much of a ki, but he figured it was worth checking out.
If this really was a Dragonball, it'd be the hardest to find, and so he'd get the most glory. That worked for him well enough. Flying there, he saw a single building, perched atop a large cliff. Landing, he prepared to step inside, but a dark form barred his way.
"You cannot enter here."
"I can enter where ever I please! Who are you to question one of Frieza's highest military officers?"
"There is evil in your heart. I cannot allow you to enter here and endanger the greatest Elder."
"Well kid, you should be worried about yourself, not him."
Just then the Namek from within flew at him, hitting him with a hard punch in the stomach. Flying backward, Kooie righted himself and scanned the Namek before him carefully.
"You're strong, kid, about 10,000. I'd like to know your name before I kill you."
"My name is Nail," the green fighter spoke softly, then braced himself again, "and I am giving you one last chance to leave here."
"Ha!"
Flying down, Kooie slammed him down toward the ground, then intercepted his flight and punched him around a while. As the Namek tumbled backward, Kooie launched a final blast to finish him off. But when the dust cleared, the Namek stood there, still very much alive.
Before he could be surprised long, Kooie felt a blow hammer him backward. Appearing above him, Nail elbowed Kooie into the ground, then stomped on him. Jumping up, Kooie began firing blasts toward Nail, then kept firing, blasting him into oblivion. If one blast wouldn't do it, then he'd just use hundreds.
In the next instant he sensed Nail's presence behind him, but the Namek had already struck, sending him tumbling. Landing, Kooie turned back to him and tapped his scouter again.
"What! 30,000! This can't be!" breathing heavily, he realized this Namek had even greater power than he did. This was incredible!
"This is not my max," Nail said calmly, "what does your metal thing say about this?"
Energy flowed around Nail as the Namek powered up. Kooie gasped as the scouter's rating mounted higher, to 40,000, then 55,000. Just as it seemed to make yet another jump, larger than any before, it shattered, unable to take the strain. Nail leaped forward and punched directly through Kooie, letting him fall to the ground lifelessly. Flying back up, he entered the house again and sat before the entrance, waiting.
"He was not the one, master."
"No," a voice wafted from the shadows inside, "but soon. Very soon."
Goku got up from the hospital bed and stretched, muscles rippling. That rest was all he needed, and now he was feeling in top shape again. Walking out of the room, he ran past the attendants in the hallways and flew out the door, which banged open against the wall. Arcing up into the sky, Goku looked around. He needed to find his house. It didn't take that long, as he knew where he was and had a good hold on his surroundings. Right now he really wanted to see his wife Chi-chi again. And he was hungry.
It took him only a few minutes to reach his house. Goku landed and walked into the door. Shoot, it didn't smell like food in here, he had hoped to eat something. Looking around, he moved into the next room. Chi-chi was there reading a book. When she saw him she dropped it.
"I'm home!" Goku said happily.
"How can you dare to come back here?" Chi-chi practically screamed at him.
"What?" Goku was genuinely puzzled.
"It's bad enough that you took Gohan away! Now he's going to Namek!"
"That wasn't my choice!" Goku protested, "he wanted to go! Piccolo trained him while I was dead. Remember the Raditz fight?"
"I hate you!" Chi-chi was screaming now. "Get out of the house!"
Stumbling backward, Goku knocked open the door, tripped and fell on his back. He tried to get up.
"Chi-chi, I don't understand, I-" The door slammed right in his face.
Goku, holding his head in his hands, sitting in the dirt, heard a soft chuckle behind him. He whirled around, but was relieved that it was just Piccolo standing there.
"Ah, humanity," Piccolo said softly, his eyes looking vaguely amused and yet sorrowful, "you could have done better than her, Goku."
"I don't understand," Goku mumbled, not getting up. "What did I do wrong? I just don't understand..."
Piccolo stepping around in front of him and, first checking to see if there was anyone looking, put his hands on Goku's shoulders. Goku leaned forward, a few tears falling from his eyes. Piccolo wasn't used to displays of affection, but he would do almost anything for his friend.
"Goku, this is something that is going to be very hard for you to understand, considering how much you try not to. Most people hate us, Goku. Me, you, anyone who is different. Anyone at all actually. There's an evil dark energy in the planet, a horrible corruption. It is not your fault, Goku. You were everything a good father should be. The plain and simple truth is that there's too much hate here to survive."
"I still can't believe that," Goku almost sobbed. "People should all actually be good inside. We risked everything to protect this world, Piccolo, are we going to throw it all away? Are they going to throw it all away?"
"Yes," Piccolo smiled sadly, "they'd prefer to hate us than accept us as the saviors of their planet."
"You can't blame them, really." Goku was getting a better handle on his emotions now. "The saiyans did wipe out a tenth of the people on Earth."
"They haven't seen anything yet," Piccolo whispered softly into the wind, eyes haunted.
"What?"
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything. Perhaps your view is better than mine. You have faith in the humanity of humans, maybe I need to find mine again. But in any case, I can guarantee that you need to keep out of the house for a while.
"That's why I'm here. You need to be on Namek. Don't ask me how I know, but it is very important. People will die unless you get there. Kami attempted to keep you back, even kill you, but King Yemma wouldn't let him. He thinks that he has won this fight, but he didn't count on me."
Piccolo smiled. "I have my ship. It can only support one person, but you can train on it I'm giving it to you, Goku."
"Thanks, Piccolo, but what about you?"
"I'll get to Namek somehow. In the meantime, get on my ship and get moving. Time is of the essence. It's over there in the clearing."
"Thank you, Piccolo." Goku used him as support to get to his feet. "For everything."
With that, Goku was gone.
Standing by the house, Piccolo smiled softly and kindly, the type of smile that rarely graced his features. This was a very dangerous game he was playing here, and he was playing with the Kami himself. But he would win, just one battle at a time.
Glancing at the house, Piccolo contemplated destroying it. It would do Goku some good. He thought a while, finding inner peace. No, it would be best to let Chi-chi live. It would make everything more painful, but things would turn out all right, somehow.
Sighing, Piccolo walked from the valley. Suddenly he felt a telepathic message coming to him. Namekiian telepathy was a wonderful ability, but unfortunately, Kami could use it as much as he did.
You can't win, Piccolo.
I can, Kami. Oh, I can. Do you really think something like death can stop me? If I die, so do you.
You will never win.
We will see, my friend, we will see...
High above on Kami's Lookout, Kami pounded his fist on his throne's armrest. Piccolo was being mysterious and cryptic. Kami couldn't even begin to see what sort of game he was playing. Everything was shaping up to be just fine, why was Piccolo so worried?
Whatever it was, it was beginning to make Kami worried as well. He sighed and left the hall.
Goku found the controls of the ship fairly easily. Piccolo had it calibrated to head back to Namek anyway, so all Goku had to do was press the launch button. The ship closed up and lifted off. As soon as it was out of the atmosphere, Goku got up and began looking around. It was very cramped, with all the bare necessities in a very small space. A thin ladder was on one wall, Goku climbed up it, squeezed through a small hole and looked around.
The second floor of the ship was empty, with a large computer terminal along one wall. Goku walked over to it and looked around. It was pretty simple. There were a bunch of red buttons along the bottom with inscriptions on them. Goku peered down and saw 10G, 20G, 30G and so on. It went all the way up to 100 before there was a little computer screen.
Below it, there was a small keyboard with numbers on it. There was a small note taped on it in Piccolo's odd handwriting. It said to punch in any number higher then 100 here. This all made sense to even Goku, who knew he wasn't the smartest guy on the planet. Pressing the 50G button, he began training in the room.
A few hours later, Yajirobe was almost collapsing at every step.
"Guys, I haven't eaten anything for the last five minutes! I'm tired!"
"Stop complaining," Bulma growled at him, "we're almost there."
"In fact," Gohan had the Dragonball Radar out again, "it should be just over this ridge."
Everyone, with the exception of Yajirobe, bolted the last distance to reach the ridge. Down below, they saw a simple village. Most of the Nameks stood outside, watching them. Yajirobe caught up with them just as they started to walk down to the village.
The village Elder stepped forward, "What do you want from us?" he asked softly.
"Your Dragonball," Gohan told him coldly.
"Are your intentions pure? What do you want to use it for?"
"I don't need this!" Gohan roared, temper flaring instantly. "Every time, the same thing, the same message! Give it now!"
The Guru hastily nodded to a few others.
Behind him, a few other Nameks revealed the Dragonball, which they held between them.
"We'll take that," Gohan smirked, flying forward faster then the Nameks could see and grabbing the Dragonball.
"No!" the Elder cried, running forward. Gohan dodged and tripped him up.
"No," a voice said from behind Gohan. "I'll take that."
Everyone whirled around. They saw a large, fat pink alien, standing in saiyan armor and looking very menacing. Taking a closer look, Bulma realized it wasn't quite saiyan armor; it was blue and the shoulder guards were smaller, but it was close enough. Before Gohan could react, the alien grabbed the Dragonball from his hands.
"Aliens," the Elder muttered, "never should have trusted them. They are all evil ones, mark that my young Nameks."
Gohan rushed forward, but the pink blob bounced out of the way and body slammed him into the ground.
"You are a fool to attack me," it laughed, "I am Dodoria, one of Frieza's greatest warriors! You weaklings cannot defeat me!"
At that moment, Gohan got up and kicked Dodoria hard in the stomach. He went tumbling backward. Tien raised his hands.
"Triangle Cannon!"
Dodoria looked up in time to see that Tien's fingers were up in the shape of a triangle, the image inside was already zoomed on Dodoria and then the triangular ki blast was launched. The blast flew out, frying Dodoria. When the smoke cleared, the alien was still standing there. He moved forward in a pink blur. One kick sent Yajirobe out cold. In an instant he rounded on the others and started beating them all across the village. But he paused before attacking Krillin, and that was a mistake.
"Solar Flare!"
The giant flash of energy burst out, hitting their enemy's eyes. Blinded, Dodoria stumbled backward, giving Gohan time to ram him into the ground. Muttering curses, Dodoria backhanded him off. He faced them again, and they realized with some dread that he wasn't too much worse for the wear.
Vegita smiled as he sat in his chair. He was healed, and thanks to the saiyan gene of becoming stronger after near death experiences, his power had reached incredible new heights. Now he was going to Namek, where he would wish for immortality. Once he had that, Kakkarrot could never defeat him. Everything was going according to his plan, everything was working perfectly. Kakkarrot wasn't even on the planet, and the only ones there were a bunch of weaklings.
His ship landed, and Vegita stepped from it. He was surprised for a second, as he was in the middle of a Namekiian village. Glancing around, he saw all the Nameks cowering in fear. Then he saw what made them so worried. The Z-warriors from Earth were facing off with Dodoria. Vegita remembered him well, he was Frieza's left hand man. He wasn't a problem for him now, merely an annoyance.
But he was a bit late. It appeared that the battle was over. All of the Z-warriors lay sprawled out of the ground, defeated or unconscious. Dodoria picked up the Dragonball, swung that one woman over his shoulder and started flying off. What was her name? Bulma? Something like that, it didn't matter.
Running, Vegita sprang into the air and struck Dodoria before he got up to full flight speed. This made him lose his momentum, but it didn't matter. Dodoria spilled everything as he went down. Vegita allowed his fat to take most of the fall, then leaped off him. Bulma was okay, but so was Dodoria. That was who really mattered.
The pink alien charged at him, but Vegita dodged his punch, then kneed him in the gut. Dodoria fell away and launched an energy blast his way, but Vegita knocked it straight back at him. Grabbing a tree, which he noticed was also blue like the grass, Vegita swung it around, knocking Dodoria into the air. As he sailed up, Vegita quickly got out of sight and prepared for his finisher.
Flying up into the air, Dodoria looked around wildly for Vegita, but didn't see him anywhere. Suddenly he heard a noise, one that filled his heart with a cold fear.
"Galic Gun!"
Glancing up, Dodoria saw Vegita streaking down at him, his hands cupped before him. Energy disks flew from them and slammed down at him, blasting him into a large crater on the ground. Vegita landed and smirked at the dust that remained. In times past, Dodoria had intimidated him, but now he had just killed him easily! There was a whole new level of power for him to explore, and this was barely the beginning.
Bulma was just getting up. He glanced down at her carelessly.
"You saved me?"
"That's right woman."
Suddenly Vegita felt himself being propelled into a pinnacle of rock. After taking the hard blow, he whirled around on his attacker.
"Zarbon!" he hissed. Now he was battling more of Frieza's minions. Zarbon was Frieza's right hand man, a lot stronger then the pink freak, at least that was what his sources told him. Much taller and less fat than Dodoria, Zarbon's blue skin went well with a blue shaded armor. They must have been working together again, like always.
"Do you know me?" Zarbon said, brushing green hair from one eye. "Well, I'm flattered. Shame you killed Dodoria. That was, I'm afraid, unpardonable. Prepare to die, saiyan ."
"My power is beyond anything you have ever seen," Vegita smirked. "You cannot beat me!"
"I wouldn't bet on that," Zarbon told him, getting into a fighting stance. "The scouter says your power level is 100,000. Just one more saiyan up the creek without a paddle."
Vegita was surprised. Zarbon had a scouter? He had owned one once, but while trying to read Goku's power level, it had broken. Leaping forward, Vegita bashed Zarbon pretty hard. Flipping back, Zarbon launched an energy bolt at him. Vegita deflected it, but got it squarely in the face as Zarbon slapped it back at him again. They got closer and started fighting in earnest.
Piccolo tapped a few buttons and the spaceship rose into the air. Looking from the window, he gazed down at Capsule Corps, which quickly became no more than a speck beneath him. He was lucky it wouldn't take him long to reach Namek, because they needed it desperately.
Something was going to go horribly wrong, but to help stave off complete destruction, Goku had to be there. But at this point, Piccolo really didn't know what all had to be done. By the time things came up, he'd hopefully have some answers, because this was as delicate as a card house, one false move and it'd all cave in. Even if things went perfectly, there was a chance of failure. Would it be enough?
Folding his legs and hovering, Piccolo allowed his mind to reach a state of perfect calm. There would be answers, somehow.