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Chapter 7

Dolt opened his eyes and immediately wished he hadn't. Vegeta, Krillin and 18 were standing around him, glaring down at the battered alien. Buu and Hercule had arrived at Capsule Corp and, thanks to Buu's healing magic, the three fighters were back on their feet.

Before Dolt could even open his mouth, Vegeta's hand closed around his skinny neck and lifted him off the ground!

"Alright! I'm only going to ask this once, so pay attention!" The saiyan prince's eyes bored into Dolt's. "Where's my son?"

'What the hell!' Dolt thought. 'I don't owe Snail anything. He left me behind, twice! And besides,' He gulped with some difficulty. 'It's very unhealthy to say no to a saiyan!'

"Okay, okay." He said in a choked voice. "My boss, well former boss Snail, sent us down to fight you guys, to see who gets to join his forces. If your son isn't here, that means he's been chosen – Ack!"

Vegeta's grip tightened.

"Chosen to do what!" He shouted.

(Scene change)

Piccolo and the wolf-creature's fists smashed into each other's faces, sending them both crashing to the ground. They both got back to their feet, slightly out of breath but still very much in the fight.

Piccolo grinned at the alien.

"Y'know, in all the excitement, I forgot to ask your name."

The warrior smirked back at him.

"Well, I guess it's only right that you should know the name of your executioner." His smirk then turned into a snarl as, with ki glowing in both his hands, he sprang into the air. "I'm Arrack!"

Arrack's arms became a blur as he sent a volley of energy balls towards Piccolo. The namek braced himself as the deadly barrage hit the ground around him, sending up a huge cloud of dust. Arrack watched the dust-cloud eagerly, only to see Piccolo come flying out of it, towards him.

"Is that the best you've got?" Piccolo yelled as he threw a punch that connected with Arrack's head. Arrack went flying back, but didn't get far before receiving another punch in the stomach. Piccolo then spun around and landed a kick to the side of Arrack's head, sending him to the ground once more.

It took longer for Arrack to get up this time and when he did, he saw Piccolo standing a few feet away from him with his arms crossed and a smirk on his face.

"Take all the time you need." The Namekien said. "I'd hate for you to strain yourself."

Arrack howled in anger. He ran at Piccolo and threw a punch with his right fist. Piccolo grabbed it in his left hand and held on tightly. Arrack then tried his other fist but Piccolo caught it in his free hand. Piccolo gripped Arrack's fists so hard that his talons penetrated the alien's tough skin. Arrack howled again, but this time in pain. He suddenly stopped when he heard a voice far off to his left shouting,

"Special Beam Cannon….."

Arrack turned his head to see a second Piccolo! He was charging ki into his index and middle fingers and was standing in the spot where he had bombarded Piccolo with the hailstorm of energy balls. Arrack's eyes went from one grinning Piccolo to the other and he realized what had happened. Piccolo had used the dust kicked up by the energy ball flurry to conceal himself while he used the multiform technique to split into two beings. He'd then only attacked with one of them so that Arrack would be distracted and not notice the other one. Now, with one Piccolo holding him firmly in one spot and another about to launch his killing move, Arrack knew he was in trouble.

"I'm gonna give you one chance to get out of this, mutt!" The Piccolo that was holding him said. "Where are Goku and the others?"

Arrack looked Piccolo right in the eye as he answered.

"You should never assume you've won, until the final blow has been delivered."

His eyes then began to glow red! Piccolo felt the energy gathering behind Arrack's eyeballs and ducked just as the twin lasers flew from his pupils. They shot over Piccolo's head and disintegrated a tree behind him. Unfortunately, Piccolo's face was now in perfect position for Arrack to make hard contact with his knee.

Feeling the Namekien's grip loosen, Arrack pulled his hands free, clasped them together and hammered Piccolo in the side of the head, sending him flying into his counterpart. The beam cannon shot out of his fingertips and blew the top off of a mountain in the distance.

The two Piccolos merged back into one and stood up. He wiped some blood away from his nose.

'I should've seen something like that coming.' He thought to himself.

"Hey, Greeny!" Arrack called over to him. "If I were you, I'd stop wasting time asking questions! If you really wanna find out where your friends are, then beat me! Do that and I guarantee you'll see them again!"

Piccolo didn't know what Arrack meant by that but, truth be told, he was tired of asking questions.

"Well, then. In that case, I can stop holding back now!"

He stood with his legs apart, knees bent and fists clenched. A low moan came out of his mouth, which gradually began to rise in pitch and volume. A white aura surrounded his body and the ground he was standing on began to shake.

Arrack stumbled back from the force given off by Piccolo. He took his eyes off of him for a second as he steadied himself. But a second was all Piccolo needed.

(Scene change)

Dende and Mr. Popo stared in horror at the construction before them. It was shaped like a dome but had a flat side with the outline of a doorway on it. Looked innocent enough, but the namek and the immortal could sense the tremendous power radiating inside of it. And that wasn't all they could sense.

"Gohan… Goten…" Dende was sure it was their ki he was feeling. But it was so unstable. It would flare to dangerously high levels, and then sink threateningly low. Worse still, his telepathic abilities allowed him to feel their minds. He mentally gasped at the pain and torment he sensed.

Unable to stand it anymore, he spun around to face Snail.

"What's happening to them!" He snarled at the older namek, his fangs bared.

Snail still had that calm smile on his face and his hands folded behind his back.

"They are being affected by the ameron crystals. I was able to tap into the crystals' energy to power this entire ship. They've even fortified the entire hull. This ship is now indestructible, even by your standards. Granted they do have a rather unpleasant effect on life forms, especially during a prolonged exposure."

"But why!" Dende screamed. "Why are you doing this to them? I thought you said you didn't hold any grudges over your father's death!"

"I don't." Snail replied calmly. "You misunderstand me. If I wanted to kill Goku or his sons, I could've done it easily while they were still paralyzed by my transporter. I'm used to the effects, so I could've finished off young Gohan and Goten after they arrived here with me. But if I did that, it would be such a waste of talent.

You see, after the two half-saiyans have received the full effect of the crystals, their power will be higher than it has ever been. Unfortunately, the effects on their minds won't be as fruitful. But that's where I come in." Snail pointed to his antennae.

"You're going to control them!" Mr. Popo exclaimed.

"For lack of a better term." Snail gave a small shrug. "Once I've got all of the fighters I've captured under my control, as well as my own forces, I shall finally be ready to start the revival."

"Revival? Of what?" Said Dende.

"Why, the namek race of course!" Replied Snail. "In case you hadn't noticed, there aren't that many of us left. I intend to change that. Using my new super warriors, I will claim new planets for our race, and populate them with my own offspring."

Snail rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"I suppose it would be very similar to how Guru repopulated the old planet Namek."

Dende's eyes flashed with anger and Mr. Popo had to grab his arm to keep him from charging at Snail.

"You dare compare yourself to Guru?" He snarled as, still fresh, memories of his sire surfaced in his mind.

"There's one thing I'd like to know." Mr. Popo said to Snail. "If you could capture any of the Z-fighters at anytime, why did you send your men down to battle them?"

Snail looked towards the chamber as he answered.

"The ameron crystals can only enhance a certain number of individuals. I'd always planned to include Earth's warriors in my forces, but there were still my own troops to consider. I told each of them that if they could defeat one of Earth's fighters by themselves, then I would let the ameron crystals boost their power. Of course," Snail grinned. "I failed to mention the effects the crystals would have on their minds. But, I believe the saying goes, what they don't know won't hurt them."

Snail then pressed a button on his wristband and a holographic image appeared. It showed the battle between Piccolo and Arrack. Right now, Arrack was being sent flying through the air like a ping-pong ball by Piccolo's attacks.

"Hmm, it seems that Piccolo will be the next to join us. I'd better go ready the transporter."

He pressed the button again to make the image disappear and then pressed another. A small beeping sounded out and a few seconds later, Lance and Quiver entered the room.

"Ah, men. Could you kindly take young Dende and his associate to the holding chambers? Now don't worry, my boy." Snail said to Dende. "I've no intention of enslaving your mind. You're the key to this planet's dragon balls. I wouldn't want to do anything to jeopardize them."

He turned around and walked out of the room with the small smile still on his face and his hands still behind his back.

Dende felt a hand grip his shoulder. As he and Mr. Popo were led away by Snail's men, he closed his eyes and reached out with his telepathy. He'd never tried contacting someone from outer space before, but he had to try. He couldn't let this lunatic get Piccolo too.

'Come on, Piccolo.' His antennae twitched wildly as he tried to reach the mind of his friend and mentor. 'You've got to hear this. You've got to lose that fight!"