Authors note: Hey, guys, thanks for the reads, and please feel free to leave a review. I'd love to get your feedback.
Chapter 8
On the way to Namek
A bottle cap flew through the air and landed with its 5 identical siblings, followed by a mist of beer suds and small drops. Bulma, in her captain's chair, spread her legs and leaned back, looking out the view port ahead.
Several days had passed. She was now further than any Earthling, human, or woman has ever been from Earth. If something were to go wrong, there was a zero percent chance of any kind of help ever coming. She could walk, alone, from the edge of the southern continent to the South Pole, and back again. She'd be infinitely closer to rescue there then she is here. While underwater, in the pirates cave, she could have been rescued. There was air, there was water. If she had needed help, she could have been found. Even atop the tallest mountains, support was possible. But here, she was alone with her crew. She grew cold at this thought and hugged herself.
Looking over her shoulder, she saw Krillin and Tien. The only other humans to leave the solar system were sitting cross-legged, eyes closed, facing each other. The only sign they were awake being occasional twitches, gasps, and grunts.
Krillin had recently commented that they were more than ready for the next step, and Tien had suggested Nappa. The two then closed again their eyes and Krillin's expressions grew far more frequent.
Bulma knew what they were doing. Krillin had called it Image Training. That didn't mean she understood how it worked though. To the best of her understanding, they were creating a psychic bond, and using it to generate a shared vision with shared environmental factors. She was skeptical at first, but the physical impact it was having on them was obvious.
Looking back to the observation window, Bulma was disappointed to see nothing of note. Stars, blackness, and more stars. Turning her attention to one of her display screens, she checked in on Chi-Chi's boys.
One floor down, Goku and Gohan were at the core of the ship, the gravity chamber. Gravity from their room effected the rest of the ship, but the walls around it made sure that nothing beyond normal gravity was present throughout.
The display indicated they were using 20 times Earth gravity. Gohan, a little boy, would weigh nearly 1,000 pounds. Goku would weigh nearly 3,000 pounds.
Bulma clearly saw Gohan. He was near the door to the chamber, doing jumping-jacks at a pace she thought she could match, if not for the extra gravity. His father was visible, but not easily followed. Goku appeared to be fighting a number of imaginary foes, throwing countless kicks and punches at insanely high speeds.
Watching her friends train brought some of the warmth back to Bulma, and she continued to drink her beer. 'I should send Dad and Chi-Chi an update, let them know everything is going as expected.'
Fiddling with the controls, Bulma brought up a camera feed on her secondary display, glad it only showed her upper body, and could barely see Tien and Krillin behind her chair. The main screen showed her father, Chi-Chi beside him with a stack of books that would make any chiropractor satisfied with his job security.
When her main screen cut to static, she immediately sobered up, or tried to.
'Huh?' Fiddling with nobs around the display brought a figure into some level of focus. "Guys, get over here, now."
The figure had a humanoid skull from the eyes up, with pointed ears, and a dog like snout. His skin was covered in fine tan fur, and he had long brown hair that extended below his shoulders. He spoke, but Bulma couldn't understand.
Taking a moment to regain their bearings, Krillin and Tien came to and got on either side of Bulma.
"What's going on?" Krillin asked.
"I was trying to watch my dad's latest message, but this blocked the signal." Bulma responded, turning the volume up.
"What's he saying?" Tien asked, studying the unusual being.
"I don't know, it's no language I've ever heard." Bulma answered.
"He's got pointy ears, could it be Namekian?" Krillin pondered..
"No, Krillin, Namekians are green." Bulma snorted at the question.
"Not quite. Sure, Piccolo and Kami were green, but they only count as one, since they split from the same person. We have no idea what Namekians actually look like, generally." Krillin wasn't thinking as he spoke, but realized he did consider something Bulma didn't.
"That's, a good point, actually. Maybe Piccolo and Kami weren't ..." Bulma stopped talking as she watched the aliens fur fall from his face in patches, and skin begin wrinkling.
"What's happening to him?" Tien tensed.
"I don't know." Bulma began to regret that sixth beer. As she watched him grew slower, white sparkles began rising from his body, and the life left his eyes as he slumped forward, falling out of a small chair, and out of the screens view. Moments later, the display flashed white, and there he was again, sitting down, alive, and repeating the same words. "It must be a recording."
"Can you tell when it was sent? Or, where it was sent from?" Tien looked away from the display, seeing enough.
"Maybe." Bulma began working her controls. "Normally you can't triangulate something if you only have one receiver, but with how fast we're moving, I can peg the direction it was coming from when we first got it, and get a good idea of where it came from. Doubt we can tell when though."
"I'll go get Goku." Krillin nodded at Tien over Bulma's back and headed towards the center of the ship.
A few minutes later, Goku was on the bridge, covered in sweat. Gohan was beside him, looking winded, but not quite out of it. "What's going on, Bulma?"
"We got some kind of signal." She didn't take her eyes off her screen. "It came from that way." She pointed slightly off to the right of the ship, on an equal plain. "About ten minutes away."
"It's that close?" Gohan was amazed.
"No, we're just moving that quick." Bulma corrected. "I'm trying to get a scan of the planet from our built-in scouter, but I'm not having any luck at this distance. What should we do?"
Goku thought for a moment. "Did it look like they needed help?"
"Well, he didn't look well, but I'm not sure what we could do." Bulma switched her screen back to the message.
Goku watched carefully. He saw the fear in this creatures eyes, watched him grow tired, and grew angry as he saw energy leaving his body. "That, right there. It's like the Spirit Bomb. Something was draining his energy."
"Why'd his fur change color? Why'd he wrinkle?" Bulma asked, amazed Goku knew anything about this.
"I'm not sure, but we need to check it out." Goku put his hand on the back of Bulma's chair.
"No, we don't. What we need to do is get to Namek and secure the Dragon Balls." Gohan grabbed his father's wrist.
"Gohan, if people need help, then we need to help them." Goku looked at his son.
"What makes them more important than Piccolo and Yamcha?" Gohan tightened his grip on his father. Goku felt like steel in his hand.
"They're not more important than Piccolo, but all life is important. As such, if we can help someone, as capable people, it's our job to do so." Goku grabbed his sons wrist in return, trying to comfort the boy.
"What if we get there, and something drains our power? What if we die on this planet? No one will revive Piccolo. No one will get Dragon Balls back on Earth. No one will be around to protect Earth from future threats. If we die, then no one can keep Mom safe, or Bulma's family, or anyone. We need to stay focused." Gohan didn't like that his father was trying to comfort him. He wasn't upset, he was trying to keep focus. If anything, he was frustrated that his dad would get distracted this easily.
"We'll put it to a vote, how about that, Gohan? Who wants to go check this out?" Goku looked around.
Bulma spun around in her chair. Tien and Krillin made eye contact and both raised there hands. "I'm sorry, guys, but Gohan has a point. We can't risk it." Bulma didn't want to disappoint Goku, but she had to.
"Bulma, what if that was your father that sent that message? Wouldn't you want someone who could possibly help, to do so? How can we want help from others, if we can't offer it ourselves?" Goku felt a knot form in his stomach. Bulma wasn't a fighter, but she usually could tell right from wrong.
"But It's not my dad, Goku, it's a stranger. We can't risk our world for the chance to possibly help another." Bulma felt like she aged a decade in the seconds it took her to say those words. "Also, we can't tell how old that message is, it could have been sent years ago. The odds of us getting that message in time, well, they've got to be low."
"Perfect, then we'll go check it out. We'll fly by the planet and see if we can find anything. If there are still people there then we'll help, if we can. If there's nothing left on the planet, then we've only lost half an hour, or so, right?" Goku grinned, and he felt Gohan's grip tighten on his wrist. 'If he held his mother's hand like this, he'd…'
Bulma looked down at her lap. She hadn't shaved her legs in a while. Why didn't she pack shavers? Was it the shaving cream that may have caused an issue? She couldn't remember now, nor did she know why that caught her eye. She figured she was trying to avoid thinking about the people that needed they're help or thinking about how she wanted to leave them. Her gut told her to stay clear, that she was putting herself, her planet, in danger, but her gut also told her that she'd hate herself if she left people in need without at least trying.
Following that chain of thought she went back to Earth. Her family was the richest on the planet. They rented out entire cruise ships for birthday parties, owned a massive compound that housed their business, but also their family. People on Earth needed their help, with a lot lower risk, but she had never even considered that before. Sure, their capsules brought the cost of living down as low as she figured it could go, but some people still couldn't afford it… if she made it home she'd have to do some more thinking on this, if she remembered.
Spinning her chair away from Goku, she muttered under her breath. "Okay, we'll check it out, from space."
Turning off the message, she brought the star map back up and relocated the star system that sent out the signal. A few keystrokes later, and their course was changed.
Over Bothawui
Entering orbit Bulma pulled a leaver. 'Can't forget the parking break.'
"What's it like down there?" Goku asked eagerly.
"Woah, boy, let me get the scouter going." Bulma flipped on a third monitor, and studied it as it populated itself with a few pixels of color. "Well, that's no good. The scouter is set to scan the planet, and instead of giving numbers in this mode it creates a map of power."
She entered a key stroke, and the screen turned from mostly black to mostly deep blue with a few specs of purple. "This is Earth. Being a planet full of life, there's energy almost everywhere. The lower the energy, the darker the color. The purples are above average humans, like Tien, Krillin, and even Roshi."
She switched the display back to the planet under foot.
"It looks like the planet is mostly lifeless at this point. The black is a lack of life energy. Those spots of purple, blue, and green, are powerful life forms. No way to tell if they're sentient, or what they are. I'm sorry, Goku, but it looks like we're too late."
Goku didn't hear a word Bulma had said. He, like Tien and Krillin, were gobsmacked by what they were seeing out of the view port. Over the horizon of the planet, a giant green mass was appearing, slowly morphing into the canopy of an incredible tree. As the tree came into view, and the scouters reached it, the display turned white.
"Huh, that's, odd. I didn't think white was possible, especially on this level." Bulma tapped the screen, testing for glitches.
"Bulma, could that be the source?" Goku pointed at the massive tree.
Bulma looked up at Goku, then out the view port. Looking back at the screen, she chewed her lip. "Yup, that's it. The planet has about as much life as Earth, but it's almost all focused into that tree. It's power is in the literal billions. Heck, I don't think it could grow that large if it wasn't. Any idea what it is?"
"Yes." King Kai spoke into their minds. "It is the Tree of Might."
Bulma's skin crawled 'I'll never get used to that.'
"It comes from a planet called Malchior 7." King Kai cleared his throat. "The trees on that planet have become the dominant life form. Where your trees on Earth absorb water from the ground, and take energy from the sun, this tree takes a more direct route. It drains the energy of everything around it. On its home world, this means they have drawn life from every other life form, and absorb energy from each other as quickly as they lose it to each other. They're locked in a perfect balance."
"So, this is natural? The tree is alive, and it feeds on others?" Tien asked. 'It's just a super predator?"
"On its home planet, yes. However, it looks like someone poached this tree, and is using it for their own gain." King Kai sounded disgusted. "When it doesn't have other trees draining it's energy, it will bear fruit. This fruit has a small fraction of its food sources energy, and when consumed greatly increases your, that's the royal you, power."
Goku looked at the tree, now being able to see its entire form. "So, someone stole the tree, planted it here to grow fruit, and will eat the fruit to gain power?"
"That's exactly it."
"Bulma, let's land. I need to destroy that tree." Goku put his hand on the back of Bulma's seat again.
"Good boy, Goku." King Kai praised his student.
Gohan began to speak, but quickly stopped himself. 'As long as we can stop the trees' owner, then we can eat the fruit ourselves. It's probably not worth the risk, but we shouldn't pass on this chance.' "Let's go."
On Bothawui
"The air is oxygen rich, but breathable. You're good to go." Bulma gave a thumbs-up with one hand while typing in commands with her other.
Goku, Gohan, and Tien, watched as the ramp split from the ship above their head, revealing a blue sky. As the ramp lowered they saw more of the planet, not obscured by their window. The ground was brown, not dusty, but covered in dead grass. Dead trees surrounded the ship, and nearby a stream was gurgling between banks of dead fish.
"Can you feel that?" Goku asked his companions as they walked down the ramp.
"It's incredible." Gohan responded. He distantly felt a few unique power levels. However, the air in front of him felt like an impossible wall of force. As he stepped on the ground, he felt the grass break under his feet. The smell of decay hit him like a ton of bricks, and a fine layer of dust started forming on his skin.
Goku got his bearings, quickly and easily due to the massive tree being hard to miss, and began flying towards it. Gohan followed, and Tien took up the rear.
"Did anyone bring an ax?" Tien chuckled to himself.
"My mom says I'm not old enough for body spray." Gohan jested back.
Goku smiled at his sons behavior. This is what he wanted more of, joking, lighthearted, and not worried for his life. He focused on this thought for the ten or so minutes it took to reach their target.
Near the base of the tree, Goku came to a stop. "I can do quite a bit with the Kamahamaha, but I don't think I'll get it nearly wide enough to cut down this tree… any ideas?"
"We probably should have had Krillin come, his Kienzen could have come in handy." Tien crossed his arms.
"Can we blow it up?" Gohan asked his father. "Or maybe burn it down?"
"Maybe they can help?" Goku pointed into the tree, at a pair of short purple men and a quickly retreating bush of hair. The aliens had ovular heads, and were equipped with a pair of blue scouters and black battle armor.
"Hey, guys. Can you help us cut down this tree?" Goku called up.
"Here that, Rasin?" the slightly shorter, and more ovular-headed one, asked the slightly taller, and more spherical-headed, one.
"Yes, Lakasei. It sounds like they need some help." Rasin responded.
The pair hopped off their perch, hovering down in front of the trio of Earthlings.
"Hey, guys! Nice to meet you. I'm Goku. Not sure if you noticed but this tree is sucking all the life off the planet. We're pretty strong, but it seems like this will take a bit more effort than I thought to cut down. Want to help?" Goku pantomimed as he spoke.
"Um..." Lakasei looked at his brother.
"Uh… yeah, that's not going to happen. You see, this here is our tree, and even if you could cut it down, we wouldn't let you. I assume you're not from around here, are you?" Rasin asked Goku. "Any chance you're a Saiyan? You look just like my pet monkey. GET OUT HERE, MONKEY BOY!"
"I am a Saiyan, but I'm no one's pet. I'd thank you to step aside though. I'm not going to allow this tree to continue what it's doing." Goku shifted his feet apart.
"Well, not yet." Rasin smiled.
"Did you know a Turles? I know your extinct, almost, but Turles is still alive. Wanna meet him?" Lakasei looked back up into the tree.
"No, I don't. And I have no interest in other Saiyans. I'm not from Vegeta, I was raised on Earth." Goku slid his right foot back. "Now move so we can start, since you're not going to help."
Rasin tapped his scouter. 'Not even 1,000 each.' "That didn't quite sound like a threat, but in case it was supposed to be one… step off, monkey. If you want a cage, I have room for another on the ship, I'll even let you eat the scraps of the fruit."
"Goku, I could be wrong, but it sounds like he's got a Saiyan slave. We should probably address that." Tien tried to focus Goku.
"Also, are they vampires? I mean, they absorb then consume the life energy of others..." Gohan derailed the conversation.
"They weren't putting the energy to good use, kid. I see your tail there too. How about we forget your dad, and you come live with me? I'll take you for walks every day." Lakasei smiled at the half-Saiyan, and Goku stepped between them.
"Okay, that's enough of that. I'm going to destroy that tree now, and I recommend you get out of the way." Goku growled as he began gathering energy.
As Gohan felt his father's energy skyrocket, he felt two other, powerful, powers appear behind him. He turned to face it.
"Stand down, Saiyans." a voice droned from one of the powers.
"We don't want a fight." Gohan engaged the large, somewhat cybernetic, fighter.
Tien spun in place, taken by surprise. The cybernetic warrior seemed to be the more threatening of the two. The tree was throwing off his senses, but it seemed like this guy was far more powerful than him, him and Gohan for that matter. He wasn't feeling much from the shorter man, with a teal ponytail, but Tien knew better to make any assumptions there.
"You found one." Cacao, the cyborg, responded. He punched his fist towards his partner, who returned the distant fist-bump, and a purple ball of energy formed between them and launched towards Gohan.
As it left their hands, Goku moved in a flash and was in front of his son. With a wild left swing, he sent the attack into the distance, where it burst into a flaming ball of destruction against the trees bark, leaving no damage beyond a small burn mark.
Gohan was immediately on the defensive, powering up to the max. Goku on the other hand had suppressed his energy. "Last chance, leave now, or this will not go well for you."
"Ha, toss away one weak blast, and you think you can fight us? Daiz, what's the scouter say about his power level?" Cacao took his eyes off of Goku.
Daiz looked between the Z fighters. "The kids about 7,900. The pet is 3,200 or so, an upgrade from Turles, and the mute is a pathetic 600."
Cacao looked over his victims and laughed. "Your brat has ten times the power you do, but regardless of that, I'll still take you all on, myself. Lakasei, Rasin, Daiz, don't engage."
Gohan gritted his teeth. 'We can do this. Dad is stronger than them all, but if we get in the way, I could be in danger here.'
"Gohan, stay back. Tien, keep him safe." With another growl Goku's aura sprung up. The grass at his feet immediately caught fire.
"Sir, 13,000 and climbing… 15,000… 17,000" Daiz took a step back, putting up his guard.
Reading their own scouters, Rasin and Lakasei began stepping away from each other.
'The monkey and brat were distracted, but the third guy was staring right at them. His power was climbing too, but it seems to have stopped at a manageable 6,000. This might be doable.' Rasin thought. 'We should be able to get out of this in one piece.'
Cacao spread his arms, opened his palms to Goku. "I think we got off on the wrong foot, we can talk about this."
Goku stopped gathering his energy. "Now that you know how strong I am, you want to talk? You start a fight, but you don't finish it when you know you'll lose? You're a coward."
"No no no, it was a misunderstanding. We love Saiyans..." Cacao shut his mouth at the glare he received from Goku.
"I don't. We don't. I was born Saiyan, but raised an Earthling." Goku returned to his combat stance. "Leave now, or we will fight."
Gohan felt an intense energy coming from his side. Quickly forcing his energy forward, he launched himself back, feeling extreme heat and pressure soar in front of him washing over, and off of his hands in a heartbeat. His father was hit by the blast, but just crushed it in his hand. Gohan screamed in pain. It hurt, not too bad, but he would like to be overestimated.
"NO!" Goku glanced at his son. He was in one piece, before Goku returned his gaze to Cacao and Daiz. Cacao was working on getting his arms in front of him, Daiz was turning around, likely to flee.
Goku forced his energy behind him, rocketing towards Cacao. Before Cacao had his guard up, Goku was on him. A right hook shattered the attackers scouter. A left jab crumbled the warrior, and a series of knee strikes and elbow smashes turned Cacaos face into something more akin to lunch meat, and the back of his head more tender than blue steak. 'I'm hungry.' Goku thought.
The battle had begun, and Gohan quickly searched out his attacker and launched a return blast.
Rasin caught the attack and sent it off, away from the tree.
Lakasei shot a purple blast towards Tien. Tien's guard was on time, but it was not enough. The blast pushed him back, nearly in between Gohan and the other purple thing.
As the blast burnt out on his arms Tien quickly pointed at Lakasei and shot a Dodon Ray at Lakasei. Catching the blast in his open palm, Lakasei smirked. He could handle this.
Goku continued his assault on Cacao, not willing to stop until the coward either tapped out, died, or wouldn't be able to fight again. Grabbing a robotic arm in both hands, Goku ripped it from Cacaos body, throwing it to the ground and blasting it to pieces.
Gohan ducked and weaved his way through an onslaught of ki bullets. He felt like a salmon climbing rapids as he approached Rasin. Dancing around the blasts he crossed his arms above his head.
"Masenko, ha!" He summoned the energy and quickly smashed the beam through the few remaining bullets, hitting Rasin in the stomach, and trapping him against a house-sized branch.
Tien braced his left hand with his right, focused, and began rapidly shooting Dodon Rays from his three middle fingers. Lakasei continued catching them in his open palms, but was unable to counterstrike. If he let one through, it likely wouldn't injure him, but he couldn't take the risk of him powering up as the other two fighters had done. Checking his scouter, he was amazed to see no reading on these attacks. He felt them, but they weren't real? Lakasei had heard of psychic powers before, and knew they were rare. If he was right, then these attacks only had the power that he gave them…
Off in the distance, at the landing zone, Krillin felt Goku power up, and felt a new intensity from him. Something was going on, and he felt he was needed. "Stay here, and don't let anyone in." Krillin told Bulma as he left the ship and began flying towards the battle.
Cacao spotted an opening on Goku's defense, and tried reflexively to punch through his guard. Since he was missing an arm though, all he did was open himself up to Goku even further.
Goku did not pass up this chance and quickly grabbed the back of Cacao's neck. Pulling him forward, he delivered a precise strike to his lower back, releasing a small ki blast at the moment of impact. Cacao howled in pain, flailing his remaining arm frantically at Goku. As Goku floated away, Cacao fell to the ground. He tried to lift himself up, but realized his legs weren't responding. 'DAMN IT!'
Looking at the ongoing battle behind him, Goku saw Rasin push back against Gohan's Masenko. Gohan was strong. The energy in that attack could have ended Rasin, but Rasin had decades more experience. Gohan could win, but it was too high-risk. Tien was in a similar boat, however it looked like Lakasei wasn't taking any damage, nor was he in any kind of distress. Tien needed more help, but Gohan was his son.
Goku made his decision. "Help Tien, I got this one." Goku told his son.
Gohan didn't hesitate. He stopped his attack, thankful to stop the drain on his energy. Immediately, Rasin was charging up an attack of his own, but Gohan's dad had it under control.
Lakasei saw the change in battle, and knew it was now or never. He brought his hands together and forced out a slow, wide, energy wave in front of him, hoping reality would shape around him, and the psychics blasts would be stopped in dead air, knowing that if this were real, he'd take several direct hits. Unfortunately for him, he was wrong.
Dodging out of Tien's focus of fire, Lakasei was hit multiple times in the ribs and shoulder. While he was processing their quite real pain, he stumbled forward, right into Gohan's right hook. As his head bounced off the tree, he blacked out.
Tien stopped his assault and rushed to Gohan's side. "Is he down? I still feel his energy?"
"He's just knocked out." Gohan prepared for another Masenko.
"Gohan, stop." Tien grabbed Gohan's raised hands. "I'll take care of this."
Tien squatted down, putting his finger to the back of Lakaseis neck. 'I'm sorry, but I can't risk you waking up again.' A narrow beam of ki entered the back of the purple monsters neck, through his spine, and came out his forehead. "I'm glad Gohan couldn't see that."
Rasin sent a purple ball of spinning energy towards Goku, and Goku disregarded its existence completely. Charging headfirst towards Rasin, Goku flew through the incoming attack, not slowing down. As Rasin screamed in panic, another yell rang out in the distance, and Rasin fell silent as his chest was punctured, and pinned to the tree by the splinters of armor that shattered off his back.
Goku, Gohan, and Tien froze. "Who was that?" Tien asked.
"Krillin?" Gohan asked.
Goku let out a shout of frustration and made eye contact with Gohan and Tien. Moments later, the trio were flying back towards their ship, leaving the tree, and its remaining occupant, intact.
As he watched the fighters leave, Turles, the pet, stepped out from behind a split branch. Rasin wasn't dead yet, but he would be in a moment. Lakasei was gone. Cacao was breathing, but it looks like he had passed out. Looking into the tree, Turles saw a few small blips on his scuffed scouter. Fruit. Jumping from one branch to the next, he climbed the tree, trying to stay low, both in height and energy output.
Reaching a cluster of fruit, Turles picked one. It was heavier, denser, than he had expected. It's orange skin was marred by darker spots.
Not holding back, Goku quickly came upon the source of the shout. Gohan and Tien were left in his dust. He couldn't risk something bad happening, he couldn't hold back.
The fighter that fled had captured Krillin. Krillin was in front of him, energy blade at his throat.
Goku eyed Daiz, trying not to focus on the small burn forming from the ki on Krillin's neck. "Let him go."
"Leave the planet. Once I'm back to my ship I'll release him as I leave." Daiz replied calmly. "No one needs to get hurt here. Don't make me kill him. All I need is an hour to get the fruit, and leave. We can all leave here alive."
"We're not leaving Krillin behind. We're not leaving the tree standing. Let Krillin go, and you can leave." Goku kept drawing his power forward. Daiz face paled as the number on his scouter passed 30,000.
"Stop that. We're not going to fight. We're going to settle this like civilized adults." Daiz moved the blade slightly away from Krillin, not wanting to risk a twitch eliminating his only chance of getting out of here alive.
Tien and Gohan finally arrived, spreading out to either side of Daiz, trapping him.
"Let Krillin go. We won't do anything until he is free." Goku reached his peak.
"Y-Y-You'll kill me as s-soon as he's safe." Daiz began to stutter, looking between the warriors.
"We haven't attacked anyone here. You attacked us, we defended ourselves. We don't want anyone to die. I give you my word, we won't kill you. We won't hurt you. As long as you don't attack us, we won't attack you." Goku kept his power up, but lowered his defense. He began floating down towards the dried grass below and the others followed his lead, Daiz being the last to touch down.
A near-silence filled the air. The wind stilled. Krillin's gasps for breath momentarily paused. Beeps from the scouter alerted Daiz to a rising power, as Goku turned to look over his shoulder. Goku had only felt something like this once before, but it was less dark, less precise, but more powerful. 'Are you still alive, Vegeta?'
Author's note: Edited by Steven onBodner 4/21/2021.
Authors note 2: First of all, thank you for the reviews, I love getting those email alerts. Please, keep them coming, I'd love to hear your thoughts.
In regards to powers in this chapter, the Crusher Corps are pretty much unchanged from the movie. Cacao has two levels, neither have a chance against Goku, so I went with his higher level.
Tien and Gohan, as well as Krillin, are all beyond where they were in cannon. This is due to access to the gravity chamber while traveling.
For Turles, the fruit from the tree gives about a 15-16 multiplier to a Saiyans power. He jumped from about 19,000 to 300,000. I doubt the fruit he ate on Earth was his first, and if a fruit got him to 19,000, he likely started at about 1,200-1,300. If he was only at 1,200, and the rest of the crew was 7,000 and up, there's no way he'd be in charge, even transforming he'd be at most equal with the highest power, Cacao at 13,000. Somehow he got his hands on a fruit, grew to 19,000, and got control of the Crusher Corps before heading to Earth.