~Chapter 20: Strange Friends and Stranger Enemies~
When I write (this is my third book), I usually start to fall into a routine. I think that I've done so more than ever with this book because it can help me to dig into the past. Sometimes it's hard to recall things that I haven't thought about in a long time. I sit here and wear my old hat and one of my favorite shirts. I have a tall cup of iced coffee, and I lean back into my favorite horrendously incorrect writing posture. I look pretty ridiculous, if I do say so myself.
Recently, Marron caught me when I was fully in the writing zone. She stared at me amusedly for a few seconds and then slipped away. I shrugged it off, but a few minutes later, I felt a presence hovering behind me. I turned around, and I saw both Marron and 18 staring at me.
"What?" I exclaimed, and they both started laughing. Well, that's okay. I like to hear them laugh. Man, I love my family.
Aw shoot, I'm getting sappy on you. Sorry. I guess I should get back on topic.
Vegeta was terrified of the Ginyu force. His fear was obviously genuine. He immediately dropped any intentions he had of killing us or whatever it was he was planning to do. He actually appealed to Gohan and I, telling us to give him the dragon ball so he "could become immortal - it's the only way to defeat the Ginyu force." Initially, of course, I refused, but I didn't really have a choice. Between Vegeta shouting at me and the fact that I did feel several very strong ki approaching, I had to admit there didn't seem to be another option. I still wanted to revive our friends, but Nail told us that the balls grant three wishes on Namek, so we might still be able to do that. I finally gave in, but I hated it. Can you imagine having to support your worst enemy? I felt like I was going to explode with frustration and rage.
So, Vegeta, Gohan and I all took off together, suddenly allies. In retrospect, that's about par for the course. Piccolo, Vegeta, Buu, and even 18 were all considered to be our worst enemy at some point. I didn't trust Vegeta in the slightest, of course. Yet, I don't think that we were ever really enemies again after that.
We had to stop at the spot where we'd left Bulma and our dragon ball and retrieve it. The Ginyu Force were approaching fast, so we basically just picked it up - I think I shouted something to Bulma, but there wasn't really time to explain - and flew away as fast as we could. Poor Bulma. I bet she really freaked out, especially since Vegeta was with us.
We almost made it to the dragon balls Vegeta had stashed before the Ginyu force arrived. Actually, we thought that we had made it, but they appeared in front of us just before we made it. They were so fast that I couldn't even feel them coming. I don't think even Vegeta could.
The Ginyu force was Frieza's elite team of henchmen, only called in for emergencies. There were five of them. I won't bother trying to remember their names. As far as I can gather it, they were each mutations from a different race, probably conquered or sent into extinction by Frieza, that were born much, much stronger than anyone else in their species. The shortest of them came up to my chest. The tallest must have been 11 feet at least. It's interesting when you think about it - almost a shame that they're all dead now. I wonder if that's what I am, a mutation. There's no way I could've become this strong if I was normal.
Their leader was named Ginyu. He was a 7-foot tall purplish thing with dark black horns. As he taunted us, I just stood there and felt their power. It nearly brought me to my knees. I had never felt anything like it before. They had the sort of power that could easily level a small continent. Ginyu himself was even stronger than the rest of them, and one of them... the little one, I think he was called Guld or Gurd or something like that... was totally weak. Of course, that's only in comparison to the rest of them. He might have been as strong as Nappa.
We did try to keep them from getting the two dragon balls that we already had. Vegeta tried to get rid of his by throwing it, but they were too fast. He desperately ordered me to destroy mine, and I tried to do so without hesitation, but my fist just struck air. They were just too fast. Ginyu took off with the balls, leaving the rest of them to deal with us. It was terrible to see him taking them away, but by this time, I was almost numb to such shocks. Sigh. You know, I don't know whether you've gotten the impression, but Namek was exhausting. I'd been constantly fleeing, fighting, hiding, trying to talk my way out of deadly situations, and to top it all off I'd had maybe 6 hours of sleep in the past four or five days. As terrified as I was, I simultaneously just wanted to go to sleep. You'd think that such things would cease to matter, but trust me, they don't.
With their leader gone, the Ginyu force soon shed its image and was revealed as it truly was, which was, in total honesty, a pack of complete clowns. They talked like they were in a bad movie, they were dumb as rocks, and they knew next to nothing about fighting. (Actually, I have to say that Ginyu was the exception there - he may have been ridiculous, but he was very good.) Everything they did was more than a little... well... off. I was still terrified, but I was pretty confused too. They actually played a game of rock, paper, scissors to determine who'd fight us. I swear to you that I am not making this up.
Gurd was selected to fight us. He'd fight just Gohan and I, as the agreement among the force went. I couldn't believe the arrogance. Nothing was serious to them. Gurd seemed downright disgusted to be reduced to fighting us. Well, until Gohan and I powered up, that is. After that, he was mostly panicking and screaming. We attacked him with everything we had, literally fighting for our lives. We used a strategy where we moved quickly to both sides of him and attacked. It would have worked well, but Gurd was a talented thing. I guess he had the ability to stop time temporarily, although I really don't understand how that's possible. Whatever it was, every time we almost had him he suddenly disappeared and was somewhere else. He hid behind things, not knowing that we could just sense his ki. Every time we immediately adjusted and came at him furiously. Finally, he jumped out in front of us and screamed something.
We found ourselves frozen in mid-air. I strained and strained, but I couldn't seem to move. That's the third time I've been paralyzed by telekinesis. To make an obvious point, it doesn't get any more fun. He threw something sharp at me. I remember seeing it hurling toward me, with enough weight behind it to seriously mess me up. My mind was like a fire alarm, screaming, "get away", but I just couldn't. At the last possible moment, though, I managed to move out of the way. Gurd's concentration must have broken. I guess that getting your head chopped off by Vegeta would do that.
There's an extremely vivid image of my mind of Gurd's bloated head rolling around on the ground. It actually talked to Vegeta, which was beyond creepy.
The head of Gurd complained to Vegeta. He said that it wasn't fair.
"Poor Gurd," said Vegeta, and he killed him with a minor ki blast. I tried to thank Vegeta for saving my life. He responded with an indignant denial accompanied by posturing. Really, I think that Vegeta just had a huge ego problem.
The rest of the Ginyu force stood there with their mouths hanging open for a second. "This is it," I thought. In a moment, they would realize that this was for real, they would stop playing games, and we'd be dead within minutes. Surely, the death of one of their own would be enough to give them a grip on reality.
Of course, I didn't know them very well. They started to Roshambo to see who'd go next. Again, I swear that I'm not making this up. I wish I were.
One of them came forward to fight us. He was a big, muscular bruiser, and he was probably the most ridiculous of all of them. He stood in front of us and struck an utterly ludicrous pose. Vegeta, on the other hand, didn't play any games. He screamed and powered up enormously, veins bulging on his head. Whatever the circumstances, right then I was damn glad he was on my side.
Vegeta flew at him and launched an attack like you've never seen. He hit him hard and kept going. His attack ended with a series of enormous ki blasts, the force of which knocked my flat on my back. During all that time, the big warrior didn't make any effort to attack or dodge, he just took everything that Vegeta threw at him. After the dust cleared, he got back up, barely fazed. What a wave of hopelessness washed over us then. It would only get worse.
He just beat the hell out of Vegeta after that. He didn't even use any ki blasts. Vegeta tried to fight back, but it was mostly useless. It was horrible. I have to confess that the whole time, what I was thinking was "I'm next." Not very heroic, huh?
As he set up a big finishing attack that would kill Vegeta for sure, I decided we might as well act since we were dead anyway. Gohan saved Vegeta while I attacked the enormous alien just as he was unleashing a powerful blast from his mouth. I kicked him in the head. I hit him so hard that his mouth clamped shut and he fell over. He got back up.
He was hurt and mad. He asked his teammates for permission to kill me even though I was their territory. "Oh, all right," They said.
For a second, he faced me - a tower, a mountain of muscle, a terrible giant. I froze in terror. He said something - I didn't catch it - and then his foot collided nanoseconds later with my abdomen. The world flashed red and black, things snapped inside me, and the next thing I remember is landing - painfully, more than once - several hundred yards away. My bones were broken. I could not move. I could barely breathe. I was in agony. I lay on the ground and shook softly as my blood pooled in my cheek. I spat some of it out. Lord, it hurt, but I felt beyond pain. I wanted to die. I vaguely perceived Gohan running to my side. I just chanted "It's all over."
"No," the young child said, "It isn't over." He approached the alien to attack, and I stopped feeling sorry for myself. Gohan was so brave. He fought uselessly. He was beaten down. He staggered and fell.
The poor kid. "Stay down, just stay down," I whispered. He got up one more time, launched one last attack, and received a chop. I heard his neck break when he landed. I raged at it, at everything. There was nothing I could do. I felt like there was never anything I could do.
Fill in the blank. That's when Goku got there. It isn't his fault that he didn't arrive until then, of course. But, that time, too much had happened. Things had gone too far. I barely even felt relieved when he got there. I watched as he revived Gohan, and I accepted the senzu bean that Goku slid into my mouth. The pain faded, and I stood up. There was Goku, our savior. He was confident, even cheerful. The look on his face reminded me of when he was a little kid. I sighed at him. I had already given up. As far as I was concerned, we were already dead. I just felt sorry that Goku had to die too.
However, that isn't what happened. Goku gave the last senzu to Vegeta, and proceeded to take on the Ginyu force all by himself. I thought he was being arrogant. Really, he just didn't want us to get hurt. He defeated the big one we'd been fighting with one punch. He handled the other two easily - "You keep leaving yourselves open," he said. There he went again, as if by magic making all that we'd fought against, feared, and tried so hard to overcome look like a sad joke. Goku was merciful as he always is and gave all of them the chance to leave alive. It was quite admirable of him. I'd have killed them, myself. It pissed Vegeta off, of course, and he finished two of them off. One escaped.
Well, after I was done marveling at Goku, I finally snapped out of it and was thinking clearly again. I actually felt pretty good. It was almost as if the whole thing had never happened. As long as Goku was around, we were safe. We talked about the dragon balls, and somehow we came to the conclusion that they hadn't been used yet and we still had a chance to get our wish, so we were happy. Vegeta did make some prophetic statements about the strength of Frieza, but we ignored them for the most part.
That mood lasted for a golden five seconds or so, and then a bunch of things started happening at once. We sensed Frieza's ki moving and realized he was headed for the great elder, and the one who'd escaped came back with Ginyu. We left Goku and Vegeta to handle them, although we weren't sure that even Goku could handle Captain Ginyu, and we went to try and get the dragon balls before Saichourou got killed. Things were back to a suitable panic, I'd say.
Let's pause to breathe here. Get a snack or something. I am. It isn't good to take all of this stuff in at once.
Back? Okay.
We got the radar from Bulma, who complained at us a lot. I can't blame her, but, frankly, I didn't need that right then. I just ignored her.
Gohan and I found the dragon balls. They were buried near a spaceship that must have been Frieza's. We dug them up and arranged them. I felt strange, seeing our goal in front of me like that. There it was. We had gone through so much.
I tried to summon Shenlon, using the words Bulma'd taught me. Nothing happened. We didn't realize then that the Namekian dragon balls only worked if you said it in Namekian. Whoops. Then, things got really weird.
We felt two definitely evil ki approach, and we hid. Sure enough, two people arrived. One of them, however, was Goku, and he was wearing a scouter. The other one was the surviving member of the Ginyu force. I really should've known that something was up, but how could I suspect Goku? I got right out of my hiding spot and waved to him. I chatted to him as casually as you please about everything that'd happened. Gradually, though, I started to notice that his replies were very different from the ones I'd get when talking to Goku.
"Kuririn!" shouted Gohan. "That's not dad!"
Then Goku punched me.
Okay, I ought to clear this up before anyone gets confused. The person who punched me was not Goku. Goku would never hit me, unless we were sparring or something. It was - try to follow here, I know it's weird - Ginyu in Goku's body. Ginyu had this technique where he shouts "change!" and he switches bodies with someone. He didn't hold any pretense of being Goku after he hit me. In fact, he dutifully informed me of what I just told you. Like you, I didn't really buy it. I was scared to death. I thought that Goku was under hypnosis or something, and it had always been a secret fear of mine that we'd have to fight Goku.
Ginyu attacked us. We didn't do much but block and dodge. I was still trying to make sense of the whole thing. Then, things got even more complicated. Ginyu showed up - only it wasn't Ginyu, it was Goku in Ginyu's body. So, from here on where I say Goku, I mean Goku in Ginyu's body, and when I say Ginyu, I mean Ginyu in Goku's body, at least until the next body switch. Ow. My head hurts.
Goku told us to fight Ginyu. He said that we couldn't lose. Of course, against Goku as he was then we would have had no chance, but it wasn't the same. Ginyu didn't know how to use Goku's body. He couldn't get his power up. Gohan and I realized that we could fight him. We started to beat him up. He ordered the other one to attack, but Vegeta showed up then and took care of that. Gohan and I fought Ginyu. We beat him up pretty well, but I didn't want to hit too hard because I didn't want to hurt Goku's body. For that reason, we didn't really beat him. However, Vegeta soon got finished killing the other alien and was more than happy to help. He was a little too eager, in fact. He would have killed him.
Here's where things get hard to follow. Ginyu tried to switch to Vegeta's body, but Goku got in the way, getting his old body back, albeit beaten to a pulp. Ginyu went back to his original body, and made another try for Vegeta, who was very confused. However, Goku managed to throw a passing frog into the path of the change, and Ginyu became the frog. We let the Ginyu-frog live. It's conceivable that it's still alive, come to think of it, because all of the life forms on Namek were sent to Earth. At any rate, he's pretty harmless in that condition. He lacks the vocal chords necessary to say "change".
Gohan and I had to help Goku up. He was really injured. That jerk Vegeta. He didn't have to beat him up that badly. We put him in a healing chamber in Frieza's ship. Vegeta fitted Gohan and I with suits of rubber armor just like the kind the Saiyans and Frieza's army always wore. The stuff was really amazing. It was harder than anything, but light as a feather and flexible as, well, rubber. Their technology was so far ahead of ours. Actually, we were the only people from Earth ever to wear that armor. Some others had the chance, but refused to wear something associated with the Saiyans. For me, I say that anything that might increase my chances of not getting killed is a good thing.
I took off alone to the elder's to try and learn the password to the dragon balls, well aware that Frieza might be waiting there. Luck was on my side, though. I ran into Dende soon on the way, and he knew that you had to speak in Namekian. We made it back to Gohan quickly, and we had even more good luck - Vegeta had fallen asleep. Well, we really, really didn't want to make him immortal, so we very carefully snuck the dragon balls away from him. Talk about tense. We got somewhere that looked safe and summoned Porunga, the Namek equivalent of Shenlon. We hurried as much as possible, because we felt Frieza coming.
We were taken aback a bit at the sight of it. Porunga was enormous and very strange looking. The sky turned dark when he was summoned, which was actually a welcome relief from the constant day of Namek.
We tried to wish to revive all those who had died fighting the Saiyans on Earth, but the Namek balls could only revive one person per wish. We were left not really knowing what to do.
At that moment, Piccolo spoke to us. He was talking through Kaiô-sama. He had an idea that was better than anything we had - if we revived him, Kami- sama would be revived as well, and the Earth dragon balls would be restored. He told us to use the second wish to bring him to Namek so he could fight Frieza. We told Dende and got those wishes made, but Piccolo didn't appear. Then we realized that we had only wished for him to come to the planet, and he could be anywhere. We didn't have the time to worry about that, however. We had to hurry up and figure out what to use that last wish on before someone took it from us. We weren't fast enough.
Vegeta arrived, livid. He clearly intended to kill us, and to make it painful. Gohan yelped that there was still one more wish. I snapped at him for telling Vegeta, but it at least seemed to appease him. Vegeta threatened Dende to try and get him to make the wish, but Dende looked only at me; he was waiting for my decision. That really put me in a hell of a spot. I knew that it would be really bad to make Vegeta immortal, but I didn't know what other choice we had. I hated myself for it, but eventually I made a sort of half-decision that Vegeta was at least better than Frieza, and I told Dende to do it.
I can only imagine how things might have gone if Vegeta had been made immortal. However, he wasn't. Porunga disappeared before Dende could say the words. The sky turned light. The balls became stones.
Dende drooped where he stood. "The great elder... has passed away..."
I felt both tremendous relief and disbelief. I was thankful, but I felt guilty for being thankful that the great elder had died.
Something snapped in Vegeta. He looked as if he were having a seizure. He turned and started to approach me.
"You..." he said, his voice getting louder and angrier. "You did this..."
Before he got much further, he looked up. Slowly, we all looked up.
Standing on the cliff above us was Frieza. He smiled.
Things went generally downhill from there.
--END OF CHAPTER TWENTY-