~Chapter 19: Hidden Powers~

Bulma had managed to set up a capsule house in the cave where we'd left her. She met us outside of it. We had kind of a weird confrontation then, because she and the Namekian saw each other and weren't sure what to make of each other. At first, the alien child didn't understand what she was. As we learned then, there's no such thing as gender in the Namekian race. That was pretty shocking to me. Without even realizing it, I'd been subconciously assuming that they reproduce the same way that humans do. We had to explain the concept of male and female to the kid, and he looked at us like we were crazy.

Bulma had a surprising piece of news for us when we got back. She said that she'd just contacted the Earth, and that Goku had recovered and was coming to Namek in another spaceship - and this one would only take 5 days to get there! Not only that, she said, but he was also going to be following some really amazing training on the way. I don't remember for certain, but I think that I might have cried. We were all deleriously happy, except for the poor Namekian kid, who was just confused. That was the first time since our ship was damaged that we'd really had any hope of getting back home alive. As usual, hope came in the form of Goku. Funny how that worked.

While we talked over some reheated meals, we learned quite a bit more about the Namekians. The name of the child that we'd rescued from Dodoria was Dende. He explained to us that the reason he wasn't eating any of his food was that Namekians don't eat food - they only need water. Again, it was a shock. Just when we were starting to get used to the strange way that these aliens look, we found out that there was even more that seperated us from them. It was definitely a new experience to discover that all of these things we'd always thought to be universal to all people didn't apply to these aliens - yet they were people, in the most important sense of the word. They just weren't human. To understand that, a person has to make an adjustment to their way of thinking, and it isn't easy at first. From the way that Dende was looking at us, I could tell that he was going through the same thing with us.

I was really hungry, and I wolfed down my meal. Between bites, I told Bulma what had happened to Gohan and I. She commiserated. Gohan added his own touches to the account here and there. We were pretty enthusiastic just from the relief of having survived.

I don't think that we were there for more than about ten minutes, though, before we sensed more Namekians dying. It felt like a whole village dying off alarmingly fast, and I immediately recognized the powerful, evil ki doing the killing - it was Vegeta. I leapt up from my seat, and so did Gohan - I knew that I didn't have to explain to him what was happening. I gave a terse explanation, though, for Bulma's sake.

Dende became very frightened when he heard what was happening, but we didn't take much notice of him. Instead, we started frantically trying to think of a plan of action. We must not have been able to think of much, because I remember feeling very frustrated. We had all but forgotten about Dende until he spoke up.

"Please!" he said. "Who are you? Why are you here? Can you save us?"

We all turned and looked at him. Suddenly, I realized how important Dende was to us. His cooperation with us could be the only thing that kept us from getting killed, or Frieza from getting the dragon balls. More than that, though, I really did feel like we owed the kid an explanation. He was very scared, his entire race was being slaughtered and the only potential hope he could see was in these strange aliens who had, for some reason, saved his life. We had to let him know that we were on his side, and why.

Gohan, Bulma, and I all contributed to the explanation. We told him that we were from a planet called Earth, and how a Namekian had come to our planet long ago, etc, up through the Saiyan attack. We tried to make it quick, but we were still pretty thorough. After hearing our story, Dende seemed to trust us. He said that he'd take us to see the Great Elder.

We had already figured that Vegeta probably had a dragon ball from the village he'd just wiped out. Since Frieza had already collected five of the balls, that left just one unaccounted for. When Dende told us that Saichourou had that last ball, I winced hard. As much as I hated to go back out where I'd be exposed to everyone on the planet who was out to kill me(and had the strength to do so without any trouble), I knew that we probably wouldn't have another chance at keeping a dragon ball away from Frieza.

Dende and I left shortly after that. I told the others to wait - no point in putting Gohan in danger. Dende said that the Elder's place was too far to walk, so we had to fly even at the risk of being sensed by Vegeta. I don't know for how long we flew. It must have been at least several hours. It might have been more than a whole didn't talk much. I had a lot of time to reflect - well, really to worry. I worried that even when Goku came, he wouldn't be strong enough. I realized that even if I managed to get the dragon ball, I had no idea what I was going to do with it. I was very afraid that we'd all end up dead.

I think that the thing I fear the most is to die with regrets on my conscience. We all have to die some time, but I feel that to die with regrets is to never know peace in the afterlife. Right then, it looked likely that I'd die, and I had two pretty sizable regrets. One of them was that I still felt I'd wasted my life. I'd never had a girlfriend, I'd never had a real job. I felt as if I'd never achieved anything in my life. I had spent most of it training in the martial arts, and where had that gotten me? What really made me feel bad, though, was the thought of not being able to bring back the people that had died fighting the Saiyans. They were all good men, and they didn't deserve to die like that. Our purpose in going to Namek was to resurrect them, but by that time even surviving seemed unlikely. I found myself apologizing to Yamucha in my thoughts. I wonder if he could hear me.

The trip to the Great elder didn't go uneventfully. We were detected by Vegeta. He didn't actually see us, but I felt his ki approach. I panicked, grabbed Dende, and hid. Fortunately, before Vegeta could find us, he was distracted by another powerful fighter. Soon they started to fling ki blasts at each other. There was a huge explosion. I was just in awe of thier power. I wasn't even in thier league. I grabbed Dende again and flew away, thinking to myself, "Please, just let them kill each other."

I was too frightened to fly at anything less than full speed after that. I think that it still took another few hours to get there.

The Namekian Great Elder, or Saichourou, was the only survivor of a cataclysm that wiped out all of the Namekians a long time ago. All of the population of Namek when we got there - about a hundred or so - were his children. He lived in a building atop a crag that was easily the most visible place on the entire planet. It's really amazing that Frieza didn't find it before I got there.

We were met by a Namekian named Nail who was a dead ringer for Piccolo. He had a much stronger ki than any other Namekian. He was probably even stronger than Vegeta. I was amazed by the amount of beings out in space whose power is so far above what we'd achieved on Earth. When I think about it, what we saw on Namek only scratched the surface. It's a big galaxy out there. I wonder sometimes, if there's all of this to be found in our galaxy alone, what might be found in other galaxies. Food for thought.

Nail led us in to see the elder. He was enormous. His body took up half of the room. He spoke with a kindly tone, but he was very worried and sad. Somehow, he seemed to know everything that was going on.

It took me a minute to gather myself and speak to the elder. I was very intimidated by him. I'll never forget the strange, warm majesty that he seemed to have about him. Even as his planet was being laid waste and everything was going to hell, he seemed be at peace with everything. I asked as respectfully as possible about the dragon ball.

"Come here, son of Earth," he said to me. "Let me probe your past." I had no idea what he was talking about, but I went to the spot beside him that he indicated. He slowly lifted on of his great arms and brought his enormous palm to rest on my head. It felt leathery and warm.

As the elder held his hand there, he seemed to learn everything about my past. I heard him mumbling about Piccolo and the Saiyans. After several seconds, he announced that my intentions were good, and I would have the dragon ball. Nail handed it to me.

"But," the elder said, "I must warn you that you will probably not get your wish..."

"Huh?"

"My life will last but a few more days. When I die, the dragon balls will also expire."

Well, that hurt. I was forced to give up the last shreds of hope that I had on that point. I wrestled with that for a few seconds. I couldn't bring back my friends. I probably couldn't even survive. But it meant a lot to me that he'd trust me with the dragon ball. I told him that I'd protect it with my life anyway. He smiled at me. I was about to ask for permission to leave, and then something amazing happened.

"By the way," he said casaully, "You have exceptional strength for an Earthling. You have still more strength inside, I can awaken it if you like."

I laughed at the thought. I told him that that was kind of him, but he was mistaken, I'd reached my limit. He pressed my head lightly.

That makes about number four in the top moments of my life. Have you ever had all of your stregth and abilities increased to about a dozen times what they were in the space of an instant? That's what happened to me. What a rush! It was like an explosion. It was like being reborn. For the first time, my ki flared up brilliantly around me. My ki flare is white, i discovered. I was so happy, I practically squealed in gratitude. Heh heh. For what it's worth, the elder seemed very pleased to have made me happy.

It occurred to me quickly that Gohan probably had a lot of latent power as well. I was so excited by that thought that I left almost immediately to go get him. I was amazed by how fast I could fly. I broke the sound barrier for sure. It took me probably a little over an hour to get back to Bulma. I was so happy that I forgot entirely about avoiding detection by Vegeta, and I didn't even notice his ki when I flew right by it. When I reached Bulma, Gohan had left. She told me that Gohan was going after a dragon ball. She didn't have time to say anything else, I don't think, before Vegeta caught up with me.

My excitement faded immediately, replaced again by fear and desperation. So I was a dozen times stronger - so what? At most, that meant Vegeta might have to hit me twice. I felt so angry at myself. My mind raced. Amazingly, I had an impulse to attack. I told my impulse to shut up.

Vegeta gave us a knowing, chilling smirk. "I have complete power over you", it said. I believed it. He left us with that and turned to face someone who was just arriving: Zarbon, Frieza's henchman. They exchanged some trash talk - there was obviously some deep bad blood between those two. Zarbon then transformed. He shifted shape into this... the only word I can think of for it is monster. It was even more disgusting than Dodoria. When he transformed, his ki became a lot more powerful - it was shocking. He hadn't just been supressing his power, he'd been hiding it in another shape. He and Vegeta started to fight immediately.

It was a hell of a fight. They were both incredibly powerful, but Vegeta was good, and ruthless. Before long, he had Zarbon on the ropes. He laughed and screamed as he beat him into the ground. I think that at some point I tried to get Bulma and run away, but Vegeta turned and threw a few stray blasts at me to let me know that that wasn't going to happen.

Zarbon was desperate. "I'm still stronger than you, Vegeta!" he screamed, almost in denial.

Vegeta grinned so hard I thought his face was going to crack. Then, I learned the truth about Saiyans and why they're so strong and resourceful. As Vegeta cheerfully explained to the doomed Zarbon, whenever a Saiyan comes back from a near-death experience, their strength increases tremendously. For this reason, their potential is practically boundless.

Zarbon attacked one more time. Fighting with the last surge of strength that comes from desperation, he managed to make things fairly difficult for Vegeta, but he was soon wounded fatally. He begged for his life, but Vegeta killed him off with a final blast.

Vegeta stood there for a few seconds. Then, slowly, horribly, he turned to face me. He exuded defiance and confidence. I grinded my teeth, terrified and hating Vegeta with all of my heart. I hated him for making me feel so helpless.

He told me to give him the dragon ball. I did, and he left. It was incredible luck that he left us alive. It generally wasn't Vegeta's style to do that. He did it pretty much on a whim - as I think he put it, "I suppose I have no need to waste my energy squashing bugs." Of course, I had lost the dragon ball, but even though Vegeta kept talking as if he had all of the dragon balls, I had a feeling that Gohan had one of them, like Bulma had told me when I'd arrived. So, we waited there for him. Luckily, I was right.

As soon as Gohan got there, we left and hid somewhere else, because we knew that Vegeta would be coming back for us. Man, I bet he was pretty pissed off when he found out that his dragon ball had been taken. I decided that I should take Gohan to the Great Elder like I'd planned. At that point, my hopes hung on the Elder's power boost making Gohan stronger than Vegeta.

It took us about four days to get to the Elder's. We flew very slowly, suppressing our kis as much as we could. I'd learned my lesson about being careless and getting detected. Unlike the trip with Dende, this time we did talk. I did a lot of explaining in the beginning, and
whenever there was a lot of quiet, before long I'd hear a "Hey, Kuririn?" from Gohan. He didn't have much in particular to talk about, he just needed a reassuring voice. I did my best.

Eventually, we sped up, figuring that it was taking too long and that Vegeta would never find us from how far away we'd gotten. Of course, he caught up with us in another half hour. We were almost there when he finally caught up. I tried to send Gohan ahead and keep Vegeta busy, but he just went around me. Vegeta, Nail, Gohan and I all met outside the Elder's house. Gohan had been powered up by the Elder, but I was disappointed to sense that he'd only been made a bit stronger than I had.

Before anything else could happen, Dende rushed out of the building and shouted, "Everyone, someone's coming!"

I felt a strong ki approaching the planet. At first I thought it was Goku, but it felt like more than one person. Vegeta suddenly seemed terrified.

"No," he said, "It can't be... the Ginyu Force!"

As you've probably already guessed, it was. I'll talk about them next chapter, as this one is getting a bit long winded already.

--END OF CHAPTER NINETEEN--