Authors note: Hey, guys, thanks for the reads, and the reviews. I love getting those alerts. Please feel free to keep them coming, and let me know your thoughts as the story progresses.
Chapter 11
On Namek
Bulma watched as the blue land rose up and the ship settled gently on it. Switching her displays she began to analyze the atmosphere of Namek. "We should be safe." Looking out the window she studied the blue grass, green sky, and a river that cascaded over a nearby cliff face.
She unbuckled herself from her seat, and stood up, stretching. "What's the radar showing, guys?"
Pulling the device from his pocket, Tien tapped the single button, before rotating it to extend its view. "We have Dragon Balls. Three are together, three more are spread out, fairly evenly around us, and the last one is off by itself."
"Frieza must have already started gathering them, then." Goku said. "Looks like we'll have to face him no matter what."
"Let me see." Bulma took the Dragon Radar, and without retaking her seat pulled up a pair of maps on her displays. "Well, that makes sense."
Goku and Tien came up on either side of her. "It looks like the three in a triangle around us are all at a village, and the three gathered together are at another village. Looks like it won't be our typical scavenger hunt, as they must have standard storage areas for the balls after a wish is made."
"How about the last one?" Goku asked. "The one that's off by itself."
"Remember how I detected a high power level, aside from Frieza's, and his army? Whoever that is, they have the last Dragon Ball." Bulma said. 'Maybe it's their planets guardian, like Kami?' "Can you guys sense the Namekians?"
Goku, Gohan, Krillin, and Tien close their eyes, and threw their senses out. The rest stood still while Goku moves his head from side to side, as if looking for a particularly fresh cut of meat at the store.
"Yeah, I can feel them. A lot of them are strong, really strong. Stronger than I was a year ago." Goku said. "The strong one."
Goku pointed with his chin. "Isn't alone. He's got someone else with him."
"Can you guys feel Frieza?" Tien asked.
"I'm not sure." Goku responded. "Something feels off out there, and I'm not sure if it's Frieza, or if I'm just imagining it."
"I can feel him." Turles said. "I've been near him before, so I may be more sensitive to him in particular, but he's here, him and his goons."
Turles points through the wall of the ship. "Are you feeling it that way?"
Goku nodded. "Yeah, that must be him then. He feels, odd. He feels like… like a spring? Like he's got all this energy, but at a moment's notice he could explode. It feels… wrong. Like his energy isn't natural."
Turles tilted his head at his nephew. "I don't know what you're talking about. He feels strong, incredibly strong, but no more powerful than you were when you lost control."
"Anyway, now that we know Frieza has begun collecting the Dragon Balls, I'm not sure if splitting up is such a good idea anymore." Tien said.
"I agree. I don't want to come up against him, or any of his army, alone out there. I'm sorry, but I'm not comfortable going alone." Krillin said.
Gohan cleared his throat. "Should we all go together to get one? As long as we have one, Frieza won't be able to make his wish. Alternatively, we can pair up. There are 6 of us, and get as many Dragon Balls as we can, to hopefully leave as quickly as we can?"
"You need to have all seven to make a wish, right?" Turles asked.
"Yes." Goku said. "All seven need to be brought together to summon the Eternal Dragon."
"So, no matter what, we need to steal from Frieza?" Turles asked disapprovingly. "In that case, I don't see why it would matter if we stole three now, or six later? Although if we steal the three now, then we'll have to go back to steal from him again if he gets even one more."
"Also, if we take even one of his balls, he'll know we're here and after the same goal." Gohan said. "If he thinks he's the only one after the balls, it may be easy to take them from under his nose. If he's been robbed once, I don't think we'd be able to do it again. I'd much rather only face him once."
"We're not going to face him, kid." Turles said. "Because we'll likely die if we do."
"Correction, we'll only have to risk an encounter with him once." Gohan said.
Turles and Tien nodded in unison. Krillin looked relieved that they were taking the time to be stealthy about this.
"Gohan, Tien." Goku said. "I want you two to stay behind with Bulma. Hide the ship, and set up base somewhere safe. Turles, Krillin, and I will go find the nearest Dragon Ball, and bring it back."
"I want to come with you." Gohan said.
"That's okay with me." Krillin said. "Gohan is stronger than me, so he'll be more help with you guys, plus you're stronger than all of us, so he'll be a lot safer with you than with Tien and Bulma."
"That's okay with me." Bulma said. "Tien, Krillin and I can make camp while our alien friends explore an alien world and try to secure an alien artifact from an evil alien… just another day in the life of a Brief."
"Alright, Gohan, you'll come with me and Turles. Tien, Krillin, Bulma, find a hiding place, we'll find you." Goku said.
"Once we have camp set up, we'll be watching you with the scouter." Bulma said.
With everyone knowing their job, they began filing out of the ship. Once out, Goku, Turles, and Gohan took off towards the nearest Dragon Ball, while Bulma capsulized the ship and looked around.
"Okay, so, not many hiding places here, huh? We could get in the river, but we'd stick out like a sore thumb from above. How about underground? Who wants to dig?"
Moori's village
Goku followed the radar, as Turles and Gohan followed him. Flying low and slow, they were careful to stay below the level of the trees and rock mounds that covered the planet, along with the several large bodies of water. As the ball got closer, Goku sped up.
Within half an hour, they came to an open area, with several round buildings circled around a central clearing, surrounded by wide fields. Tall green men rose from their knees in the fields, watching the groups entrance.
Goku, Turles, and Gohan stopped and landed outside the circle of buildings. As they touched down, a majority of the Namekians rushed from the field, to get between them and their village. Several children were pushed into houses, and doors were slammed behind them.
"Hi, I'm Goku, a Saiyan from Earth. This is my son, Gohan, and my uncle, Turles." Goku stood in front of the others.
Towards the back of the crowd of Namekians, a dark green man in a red vest, and white suit under it, coughed.
"Greetings." The Namekian came forward, and a path was cleared for him. "I am Moori, the elder of this village. What brings Saiyans to us?"
"We're here to ask to use your Dragon Ball, sir." Goku said. At this proclamation several of the villagers stepped back, while several of the others stepped forward, coming up even with their elder.
Moori's forehead lost wrinkles as his face tensed. "I will not allow it. You will leave my village, now."
"Please?" Goku clasped his hands in front of him. "Can't we talk about it?"
'A Saiyan that wants to talk? That's not right.' "There is nothing to talk about. Entire villages have given their lives already in defense of the Dragon Balls, and we are prepared to do the same. We will not allow you to use our Dragon Ball for your greedy intentions."
"We don't want to hurt anyone." Goku said. "And our wish isn't greedy, either."
"Save your breath. We will not aid you. The only way you will get this Dragon Ball is over my dead body." Moori said while looking over his shoulders at his children beside him. 'Over the bodies of all of us.'
"Sir, you mentioned other villages being wiped out." Gohan said. "We are not with that group. We hope to avoid that group at all costs."
Noticing Gohan for the first time, Moori's expression loosened slightly. "That is a risk we are unable to take, son. I am sorry, but you need to leave."
Turles, not satisfied with how quickly this conversation has turned south, stepped forward. Thinking for a moment on what to say, he was stopped by Goku's hand on his shoulder.
"Turles, we only need one Dragon Ball to stop Frieza from making his wish." Goku said. "We don't need this one, we'll find another."
'Frieza will kill him for refusing the Dragon Ball. At least if we take it by force, they'll be alive to receive it after our wish.' Turles looked back at Goku, extremely uncomfortable being restrained by a simple hand.
"Sir, if other villages are being destroyed, is there anything we can do to help" Goku asked.
Moori studied Goku and his family. Goku's power wasn't of note, his warriors could stop him if it came to combat, but the other Saiyan, his twin, was strong. "If you stop this attack on our people, then I would hear you out, and consider allowing you access to our one Dragon Ball."
"Goku." Turles said. "We are not going to fight Frieza. I know you're strong, but Frieza is on a whole different level. Sure, you might have had had that kind of power when you lost control, but you don't know how to draw it out."
"He's hurting innocent people. We can't let him do that." Goku said. 'If we didn't try to help the people on that last planet, you wouldn't be here now. You can't protest this.'
"Dad, we're just here to revive Piccolo and the others. Not to fight Frieza." Gohan said.
"If he's just taking the Dragon Balls from the villages, and we can secure one, that's one thing, but he's not just taking the balls, he's killing people. We can't knowingly let him continue his path of destruction." Goku turned his back on the Namekians, facing his son and uncle.
"That isn't our fight. If we confront Frieza, we'll die. We need to be stealthy, maintain the element of surprise." Gohan said.
"The elder made up his mind." Turles said. "If he'll die before giving up the ball, he's going to die. We may as well let Frieza be the one to do it, and stay hidden for now. I'd rather him not die, but he's not giving us a way to save him."
'He's the most powerful of them, yet he answers to his nephew?' "Tell me, how are you finding our villages, our Dragon Balls?" Moori asked.
Goku faced Moori once more. "We had Dragon Balls on our planet as well. A scientist, my good friend, Bulma, made this." He fished the radar out of his pocket and held it out. "It detects the Dragon Balls. Fortunately, yours are similar enough to ours that we can detect them."
"May I see it?"
"Of course." Goku gently threw it to the elder. "Be careful though, it's really fragile."
Moori studied the device, and at Goku's instruction pressed the power button. He saw a beacon in the center, which must be his ball, three more off together, and a final three by themselves. Looking around, moving the radar, he quickly figured out which villages were still standing. "There are three together?"
"We're not certain, but we assume that is Frieza's group. I assume your Dragon Balls are kept in their own villages, and not kept together anyway?"
"I have heard that two of the villages containing Dragon Balls were wiped out. I fear Frieza is still raiding a third. At this rate it won't be long until he is here."
"I'm sorry to have brought this bad news." Goku said.
"To the contrary, I thank you for bringing it. It will allow us to prepare, to evacuate those of us that will be unable to fight, and to hide our Dragon Ball." Moori studied the radar in his hand once more. "I don't know if I can trust you. If I can, I am sorry."
Effortlessly, he crushed the device in his hand, glass and plastic fell to the ground as smoke rose from his palm.
"What the hell did you do that for, old man?" Turles got in front of Moori, noses inches apart. "Goku offered to fight Frieza for you, and that is how you repay him?"
"I cannot take the risk that you may not be who you claim." Moori did not step back. "If you cannot find the other villages, then at least I know they are safe from any potential risk you represent."
"Turles!" Goku snapped the name. "Sir, I'm sorry, but the radar just helped us. We'll have no problem finding the other villages, and neither will Frieza. He may rely on technology, but he has an army with him. We use technology to help us, but we can sense energy, and find your villages based off of the people in them."
"Then there is nothing we can do to prevent a fight. We will have those incapable of fighting leave with the Dragon Ball, and we will wait for their arrival." Moori spoke to his villagers as much as his visitors.
"You don't get it, old man, do you?" Turles said, still in Moori's face. "You could all flee, split up, run and hide. Frieza will find you, his men will find you. They wear special energy-detecting visors called scouters. They don't detect the energy of the village, they detect your energy. If you are alive, you are vulnerable, your elders are vulnerable, and your children are vulnerable."
Moori's shoulders sagged, and his eyes sank. "Please go. There is nothing more for us to discuss."
"You broke our radar, and are telling us to leave?"
"We don't need it, Turles. He wants us gone. Let's go talk to a different village." Goku said. 'I need to find a way to stop Frieza before he keeps destroying villages. Even if it blows our cover.'
At the landing site
"I think this will work now!" Krillin called out from inside a newly formed cave. "There's a few sharp bends, so I doubt any light would escape from our camp in here. If we need a bigger cavern, I can do that easily enough."
Tien jumped down from atop the cliff that he sat upon while on watch duty. Bulma closed her laptop, taking it under her arm rather than storing it properly. Approaching the cliff face, Bulma found a small opening, barely wider than her shoulders, and only as tall as her hips.
"Small problem." Tien said.
"What's that?" Bulma asked.
"I don't think I can get in there. I'm a lot larger than the two of you… I doubt the others could make it either."
"Good point. Maybe if you remove your arm?" Bulma got on her hands and knees, looking into the dark hole. "I'll go check it out, and if we need to make the entrance bigger, we can. Keep on guard, please."
With that, she felt for a flashlight, was disappointed that she gave hers to Krillin, and began crawling through the tunnel. It was small, but not tight. She could move without hitting her head, and her shoulders barely touched the sides. 5 feet after entering she hit a wall, and groping it she found her path continued to the left. Another 8 feet in and she hit another wall, before realizing it bent sharply again to the right. Moving rather quickly, not wanting to think of what kind of alien insects may live in the soil around her, she was surprised when the tunnel turned sharply again, downward, and she found herself rolling head over heels into the arms of Krillin.
"Thanks for dropping in." Krillin said, setting her down and trying not to blind her with the head lamp he wore. "How's this?" He gestured around, shining the light as he went. 'I didn't want to set all the rubble outside, so I just pushed it outward, into the walls. I figure it would toughen them up, too."
Bulma got on her feet and looked around.
"This will work. This will work just fine." Setting her laptop down, she pulled out a capsule case. Selecting one of the dozen identical capsules, she through it in the air. Moments later, a comfortable house for 8 had appeared, as well as a large bank of batteries to power it. "I'll get things set up in here. You should probably widen the cave just a little though, so the guys can get in, don't ya think?"
Krillin scratched his bald head. "Yeah, I didn't really think of that, did I? I'll get right on it."
As Krillin began his excavation, Bulma began hooking her laptop up to the house. Soon enough the living room was set up similarly to the flight deck of the ship, and she had access to a map of Namek, as well as the scouter reading from before they landed.
'I need to get a live feed of energies.' she thought to herself.
Pulling out her Dragon Radar, she was disappointed to see that nothing had changed. 'Why haven't any of the balls moved yet?' she asked herself.
Tsuno's village
Goku, Gohan, and Turles flew slow and low once more, this time with Goku and Turles at the front.
"We're almost there, just another minute or two." Goku declared.
"Let me take the lead this time, Goku." Turles said. "Things didn't go very well before, and I think I may be able to do better."
Goku quickly agreed, and handed Turles the second of three radars. Turles took it, and flew in front of his relatives.
A minute later, the trio of Saiyans landed outside a nearly identical village to the one they had recently left. Villagers once more exited the fields to investigate the group, and children once more were ushered into their homes.
Turles stood in the center of the forming crowd, arms crossed, a smile on his face. Taking longer than expected, an elder stepped forward wearing the same white outfit as Moori, but under a purple vest.
"Greetings, travelers, I am Elder Tsuno. What brings you to our village?" The elder opened his arms to the warrior trio.
"Excuse my brevity, but ..." Turles took a deep breath. "Your people are being slaughtered for the Dragon Balls by an evil tyrant named Frieza. If he gets the Dragon Balls and makes his wish, who knows what would happen to the galaxy, not just your planet."
Turles noticed that Tsuno's hands fell to his sides. "We are trying to keep Frieza from gathering the Dragon Balls."
Behind Tsuno's back, Goku noticed several of the Namekian children were poking their heads out from their homes.
"We need to secure a Dragon Ball. Frieza cannot be allowed to make his wish. He already rules over a large chunk of the galaxy with an iron fist, and things will only get worse if we don't stop him."
'You're starting to sound like me, Turles. I hope you aren't acting and really do want to stop Frieza.' Goku thought.
Tsuno closed his eyes and took a deep breath. As he released it he looked over his left shoulder, first seeing Namekian children fearfully watching the events of a lifetime, followed by several warrior clan members, and then the trio of aliens.
"Thank you for coming, and thank you for your concern. We have three of the most powerful Namekians in our village, who are regularly trained by the attendant to the Grand Elder. If I may ask, why do you think you are more capable of defending the Dragon Ball than we are?"
"A few reasons, elder." Turles said. "I am far stronger than any of your villagers, Frieza's soldiers are even stronger than me. Also, you are bound to this planet, whereas we are not."
To prove the point Turles ignited his aura, pushing the suppressed Goku and Gohan back slightly, and forcing Tsuno to brace himself to stay in place.
'Bad move, Turles, bad move!' Gohan yelled in his mind. 'There's no way Frieza's men will miss this.'
"If you couldn't stop me from taking the ball by force, how could you stop them? Please, give us the ball. We will not hurt you. We will not force you." Turles powered down as quickly as he powered up. "Frieza will not ask, and if Frieza is refused, he will not hesitate to force you. I can't promise you'll be safe after we leave, but I will promise you that we will do everything in our power, our greater power, to keep Frieza from getting his wish granted."
Tsuno stumbled a half step forward as he found himself braced against nothing. Quickly looking over his village one more, paying attention to the shocked faces of his warriors, he knew he had one choice. He wasn't being forced, not by these aliens, but he was being forced by his duty as an elder Namekian.
"I will entrust the Dragon Ball to you, only so that you may protect it from misuse better than we would be able. To these means, I will not entrust you with the knowledge of how to use the Dragon Balls, just their custody."
Silence fell across the village, and Turles smiled. As he thanked the elder Namekian. several of the villagers raised their voices in protest. No protests were made to the fact that these people were stronger than any Namekian in the village, but several protests were made that they were not of the Dragon Clan, and couldn't be trusted to stay true to their word.
"They are asking for the ball, when they could just take it. I feel if we were to decline their request, they would honor our refusal. The others wouldn't be so agreeable. I don't know about the rest of what they say, but I see no way that we maintain control over this Dragon Ball for the foreseeable future. I'd rather surrender it and have a chance to keep our lives, rather than guarantee our deaths."
"Thank you, elder." Turles and Goku spoke as one.
Tsuno excused himself from the center of the crowd, and walked authoritatively into the village. Namekians stepped aside, willing to protest, but not willing to obstruct their leader. Moments after entering his home Tsuno came back, holding a globe-sized orange ball in one up turned palm, seven stars swam in circles around its exterior.
'It's huge.' Goku thought to himself.
"Before I give this to you." Tsuno said. "How do you intend to keep it safe? You are more powerful than our warriors, but admit that the invaders are stronger. You can leave our planet as we cannot, however the invaders come from space as well. What is your plan? How will you guarantee the Dragon Ball is secure?"
"Sir." Goku stepped forward. "We have technology that detects Dragon Balls across a planet. We do not believe Frieza has this technology. Furthermore, our ship, and its pilot, are superior to anything known to us to be in Frieza's control. If we were to get the ball to our planet, there are several magical hiding places we could use. We could lock it in a pocket dimension with a different flow of time, we could lock it in a magic bottle of water, I could likely convince King Kai, the Kai that watches over our part of the galaxy, to keep it on his planet, which is unreachable by the living."
"Your only intent is to hide the Dragon Ball, not to use it?" Tsuno made eye contact with Goku.
Goku thought back to his run down Snake Way, his time spent with King Kai. He thought about his son losing his vision, about snapping in anger under the Tree of Might. He thought of his first time seeing the Eternal Dragon be summoned, and of how happy those panties made Oolong. He thought of Piccolo, of Kami, and of Yamcha.
"We intend to keep the ball safe, until Frieza is no longer a threat. I do intend to request them for a wish as well, to revive the guardian of my planet, and hopefully restore our Dragon Balls as well, but that will not happen while Frieza is still a factor."
Tsuno pondered Goku's words for a moment, as well as his thoughts.
"I can read you like a book, son, and I appreciate your honesty." The Dragon Ball in Tsuno's hand began fading away, shifting out of reality. "Screw, please retrieve the real Dragon Ball."
One of the children shut the door to their home, before exiting moments later carrying the 4-star Dragon Ball, which was larger than his head. Tsuno patted him on the head as he took the ball from the child.
"Goku, Turles, Gohan." Tsuno spoke as he handed the ball to Goku. "I am in training to become the next Grand Elder, and hope to not have to take that post for many years. However, I have several abilities that are not common in our kind. I would advise you to visit Guru, our Grand Elder. He is able to grant you a powerful blessing if you are worthy, and he is able to tell for certain if you are worthy. If you think you are, seek him out, and tell him that I, Tsuno, personally advised you to do so."
Goku took the Dragon Ball, hugging into his chest. "Thank you, elder. Your help is appreciated, and I give you my word that we will do our best to do right by you, and your people. Now Guru, how do we find him?"
At base camp
"There's movement on the radar." Krillin broke the silence.
"What's happening?" Bulma stopped typing and spun in her chair.
"Four balls are moving." Krillin said. "One that was in a village is moving our general direction. The three that were together are moving too. They're going towards where Goku went."
'Frieza is on the move. That's not good.' Bulma thought. "Where's Goku? Can you feel them?"
Tien pointed through the rock. "They're that way, getting closer. Is that where the Dragon Ball is? Do we have one?"
Krillin double-checked the radar and quickly nodded. "That's it, that's them. We've got one… this is real."
"Okay, they're doing their job, but we still need to work on ours." Bulma noted. "Any more ideas on how we can get the rest from Frieza?"
Part way back to the landing zone
Goku held the giant dragon ball close to his chest, like he was carrying a baby.
"We should speed up." Turles said. "After my stunt, there's no way they don't know someone else is lurking here."
Goku came to a swift stop. "Hold on, wait a minute."
Turles barely avoided ramming into Goku from behind. "What now, Goku?"
"That way, the first village we went to, can you feel it?" Goku asked.
Gohan and Turles followed Goku's gaze and felt out in that direction. Turles tensed as tears began to flow from Gohan's eyes.
"Is that Frieza?" Gohan asked. "Please tell me that's not Frieza I'm feeling."
"I'm sorry, kid, but if you're feeling what I'm feeling, then yes, that is Frieza, one of the most powerful devils known to exist." Turles said.
"I think he's attacking the village." Goku said. "He's right on top of it, and I think I felt someone die a moment ago."
"We can't worry about that, we have a Dragon Ball, we need to get it out of here." Turles had a sharp tone, but it wasn't as natural as he would have liked.
"Turles, take Gohan back to the ship. I want him and Bulma off this planet as quickly as possible. If Krillin and Tien want to go with them, and if you want to go, that's okay, I get it. Otherwise, do you think you can find Guru's place by yourself?" Goku's voice was shaking, his jaw was chattering, and his hands were shaking. 'I don't think I've ever had this reaction before. I've been in life-or-death fights before, but this, this is just crazy.'
Turles nodded, and took the Dragon Ball from Goku.
"Be careful out there, Goku. I'll get Gohan to the ship, get the ball out of here, and get to Guru. I'll be back as soon as I can. Please don't do anything stupid." Turles snapped his fingers. "Gohan, with me, now."
Gohan regained his composure, somewhat. He continued to cry, but he was at least able to focus again. "Stay safe, Daddy."
"You too, son. Thank you, Turles." Goku turned away from his son, from his uncle, and flew towards where he sensed hell itself.
Author's note: Edited by StevenBodner on 6/3/2021.
Authors note: Not quite as long as I had hoped, but if I didn't stop here we'd end up doubling the length. Next chapter, Goku gets to see Frieza, and Turles gets to send Bulma back into space.