Thanks again for all the reviews. Especially those who keep them up every chapter.

Chapter 8

Piccolo drove his fist into Arrack's gut, causing the wolf-man to bend over. He then spun around and slammed the back of his fist into his face. Arrack fell onto his back with his hands over his nose, whimpering with pain.

Piccolo decided he'd wasted enough time. He had to get over to Capsule Corp and meet up with the others. He raised his arm, palm facing Arrack, and energy began to gather around his hand.

Suddenly, a faint voice entered his mind.

'Piccolo!'

"Dende?" Piccolo looked up at the sky. He raised his antennae to try and get a clearer message. 'What is it?'

'Piccolo listen, I don't have a lot of time! Mr. Popo and I are on a ship, orbiting Earth. The others are here too. They're being held captive by a guy named Snail. He's the son of Slug.'

Piccolo's eyes widened at this.

'A super namek! Oh this is not good!'

'But Piccolo, you've got to lose this fight!'

"Lose!"

Piccolo was suddenly tackled from behind by Arrack. He grabbed the namek around his waist and slammed him, German suplex style, into the ground. He then flew up, high into the air.

'Piccolo, please trust me! If you win, you'll just wind up here with us. You've g-got to… l…'

Dende's mental voice wavered and then disappeared. Piccolo reached out with his own mind to try and locate it, but it had vanished. He looked up and saw Arrack with his arms crossed over his chest, gathering energy into his flat palms.

"Eat this, Greeny! Byron Beam!"

Piccolo watched the indigo coloured energy beam shoot down towards him. He could've fired his own beam and knocked it back, but instead he stayed on the ground and let it come.

'I hope you're right, Dende.' He thought as Arrack's attack struck. The explosion caused the surrounding mountains to shake and all but the toughest of trees to be uprooted. Arrack remained in the air, waiting for the dust to settle. He kept his guard up, just in case. But when the smoke cleared, he saw Piccolo lying on his back in a crater. His purple fighting uniform was torn and singed and there wasn't a hint of movement from the namek.

Arrack just stared at the prone form for a few seconds and then a small, almost nervous laugh began escaping his throat. It grew into a triumphant and then hysterical set of giggles.

"Ha ha! I did it! Sorry Greeny, but it looks like I'm the one who'll be joining Snail!"

Right on cue, the clouds gathered and the transporter beam took Arrack back up to the Revival, leaving what was left of the countryside peaceful once more.

Chichi crawled out from behind the overturned table in her living room. The glass in the front window was completely shattered and lay across the floor. She carefully stepped outside. One look at the front of the house confirmed that it had been a good idea to seek shelter inside. Being the home to three saiyans and a woman whose own physical strength was somewhat above average, the interior of the Son household had been 'renovated' several times to make it more durable.

Chichi turned her attention in the direction the sound of fighting had come from, before everything had gone quiet. She cautiously approached the area, and found Piccolo lying motionless on the ground.

Kneeling beside the namek, Chichi couldn't help but feel sorry for him. Granted, they had never been close, but Piccolo had saved her son's life on several occasions and had been a good friend to her husband. She reached out to check his pulse, and his eyes suddenly snapped open. Despite herself, Chichi gave a small shriek and fell back onto the ground.

Piccolo got to his feet with a groan and rubbed his head.

"Man, that smarts." He said to himself. "I must be getting old." He then seemed to notice Chichi. She stood up, dusted herself off and cleared her throat politely.

"Ahem, Piccolo, I'm glad to see you're alright. And if you're done with your "duel", would you be so kind as to explain JUST WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?"

Piccolo nearly hit the ground again at Chichi's outburst. But he managed to collect himself and answer Chichi in a steady voice.

"Goku, Gohan and Goten are alive. They're being held prisoner on a spaceship, by a super namek, along with Dende, Mr. Popo, Videl and Trunks. I'm going to Capsule Corp now, to meet up with the others and hopefully launch a rescue." And with that, he took off into the air and jetted away, leaving Chichi with eyes wide and mouth agape.

After a moment, she stopped looking at the spot on the horizon, where Piccolo had disappeared and turned to face her house. The front door chose this moment to fall off its' hinges and break apart as it hit the ground. Chichi's shoulders slumped.

'I suppose I'd better get the broom.'

(Scene Change)

"Well, here it is!" Bulma looked up proudly at the Capsule Corp Interstellar Transportation Model 3. All the others were gathered around her. Vegeta was still holding a miserable Dolt by the back of his armor.

"Have you always had a spaceship in your garage?" Krillin asked.

"If there's one thing knowing you guys has taught me, it's to be prepared for anything." Bulma replied. "Now, if what our friend here has told us is true, once we get close enough to this Snail's ship, I should be able to send a signal from the ship that will disable the force-field around its' docking bay. And then we can -"

"Um, excuse me." 18 spoke up. "It sounds to me, that you think you're coming too."

"Well, of course I'm coming!" Bulma whirled around with her hands on her hips. "Who else is going to pilot the spaceship?"

"Er Bulma, this could get dangerous!" Said Krillin. "We're most likely going to have to fight those aliens again. Maybe you could show one of us how to -"

"Oh please! I wouldn't trust any of you to drive a lawnmower, let alone man the controls of something that I spent over a year working on!"

All the fighters narrowed their eyes at this comment. Vegeta stepped forward and spoke sternly,

"Listen Bulma -"

"No Vegeta!" Bulma cut him off. "He's my son too. I'm going and that's that!"

They held each other's gaze for what seemed like an eternity, then Vegeta gave a snort.

"Just don't get yourself killed."

Bulma turned around so that her back was to him and crossed her arms. A small smile was on her face.

'What is it with these Earth women?' Dolt thought to himself. 'Even saiyans are no match for them!'

"Well now that we've got that settled, maybe we can get going!" Everyone looked up to see Piccolo standing on the open roof of the garage. He jumped down and landed among them. He gave Dolt a cold stare which made the alien cringe.

"I take it you don't need me to explain the situation." He said.

"That's right." Said Bulma. "We saw them take Trunks and this guy told us how they got Videl. We tried calling Goku, but there was no answer. So we're assuming he and his family has been taken too."

"Chichi's alright." Said Piccolo. "I think I accidentally hit their fuse box when I batted one of Arrack's energy beams away. But Goku, Gohan and Goten have been taken."

This news had a very demoralizing effect on the group. There was silence for a few moments, until it was suddenly broken.

"Well, what the hell are we waiting for?"

Vegeta started marching up the ramp to the spaceship, dragging Dolt with him.

"If Kakarott's gone and got himself into trouble, then I'll just have to go and get him out of it. After all," He turned to face the group with a smirk on his face. "That's what I do."

Everyone else couldn't help but be heartened by this. After saying goodbye to their friends and loved ones. Bulma, Piccolo, Krillin, 18 and Buu followed Vegeta into the ship.

Soon it was just a dot in the sky and Dr. Brief, Mrs. Brief, Marron, Hercule and Bee watched it disappear.

"Bye Mommy. Bye Daddy." Said Marron.

"Be careful, honey." Said Dr. Brief.

"Good luck, Buu." Said Hercule. "You be sure to bring Videl back."

Suddenly, the sound of a car pulling up caused them all to turn their attention to the front entrance. There, they saw Master Roshi get out of a taxi and wave to them cheerfully.

"Hey gang! Sorry I'm late! Did I miss anything exciting?"