Author's 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 17

Where Frieza's ship was

Gohan floated over the remains of Frieza's ship, over the remains of his father. Frieza was dead, but Gohan's rage continued to fuel his attack. It faded for a moment, but now burnt brighter than ever. The beam of light persisted far longer than necessary. A hole had sprung in the boy's shell, and nothing could stop the outpouring of emotion. The roar of the beam was the only thing masking the pained howls of the son who lost his father.

Fully absorbed in the ball of energy he held within himself Gohan felt for the first time that it was not infinite. He knew he was releasing his feelings into the void of space, and he didn't want to let them all out yet. He tried to seal it away, fight the waterfall, but as the opening narrowed the stream hastened, and he didn't have the spiritual control to seal it completely. Admitting defeat he ripped the wound open, revealing himself, letting the power explode out from him like a miniature yellow star being born, before gold faded to black.

Gohan lost his transformation, he lost his power, and he lost any interest in continuing the day. He slowly fell to Namek, seeking his father. Unable to sense his ki, unable to see his broken form, Gohan groped along the ground until he felt his father's boot.

It was there that Gohan surrendered his body to the whims of unconscious thoughts and desires. He fell beside his dad, curling in to him, draping his bloodied arm over his body. Gohan's tears mixed with his father's blood as the boy gasped for air. "I'm, I'm sorry, daddy!" He hugged his father's lifeless form.

Gohan had smelled blood before. He smelled his own, his friends, and his enemies. He had felt limp flesh before. He had tasted his tears as they ran down his face and his snot as it clogged his throat. Coughing, gagging, nearly vomiting, Gohan fought back his body's urge to void his stomach. Nearly choking he lost the fight, rolled away from his father, and emptied his stomach on the upturned soil.

Ginyu's landing site

Bald headed and three eyed, Captain Ginyu landed among his team's ships. The attack pods had been closed, and Guldo stood guard over them. Not recognizing his captain's new form Guldo prepared for combat reflexively going to check his opponents power level, before remember his scouter was destroyed.

"Stand down." Ginyu told him. "It's me, The Captain." Guldo kept his guard up as Ginyu approached his pod, opening it. Entering and sealing it behind him he quickly broadcast a secure message, with an image, updating the Frieza Force's record of himself, and allowing Guldo to trust he is who he said he is.

As Ginyu reemerged from his pod Guldo saluted. "Welcome back, sir. I didn't expect you so soon."

"There was a slight change of plans." Ginyu said. "I was on my way to where I remember Lord Frieza's ship being, and encountered this fighter." He took a moment to investigate his body, rubbing his muscles, touching his third eye, and squishing his softer than stone features. "Anyway, a massive attack was launched from where Lord Frieza was, and this fighter praised his teammate. I didn't have a scouter, I couldn't have been certain, but the attack was simply massive."

The round Ginyu Force member scrunched his forehead, widening two of his eyes while narrowing the others, and tilted his head. "Why didn't you simply kill this fighter and continue on to see who Lord Frieza was killing?" Guldo asked.

Ginyu closed his main eyes, opening his third and focusing on Guldo. "Are you questioning your captain?" He stepped closer, looking down at the four eyed subordinate.

"No, sir, my apologies!" Guldo saluted again.

"I attacked this fighter, launched a heavy barrage of ki bullets and tried to finish him in one blow, not bothering to hold anything back." Ginyu closed his third eye and reopened his primary two. "He brushed it off like it was nothing. I wasn't going to let someone with that much resistance escape, so I took his body."

Guldo went to ask why he came back, but smartly bit his tongue.

"This third eye, I can't see through it, not visually." Ginyu pealed his third eye open, focusing it on Guldo once more. 'It shows me, something. Maybe power, or spirits. I'm not sure what." He let it close. "I looked towards Lord Frieza's battle, and it wasn't him that won. I'm not sure who it was, or how I am certain, but Lord Frieza was defeated." A chill ran down his spine as he spoke.

"Sir, my apologies in advance, but I need to ask. Are you certain? Lord Frieza has fallen?" Guldo's arms fell to his side, and his butt fell to the ground.

"It's a new body." Ginyu said. "It's hard to explain, and I don't know if it even could be explained, but yes, I am certain." Ginyu squatted in front of his underling. "That isn't my biggest concern though." He took a deep breath. "I believe this body belongs, belonged, to an ally of whoever defeated Lord Frieza." He paused for a moment, eyes closed. "Whoever defeated Frieza."

"You think they'll come looking for us?" Guldo asked, laying back on the ground. "Someone who defeated Lord Frieza, coming to find us."

"I think they'll find us." Ginyu followed Guldo's lead. "It's a unique power, sensing energy, but we have to assume it's common among the species that I now am." He scratched his head. "You know, I can't sense Burter or Recoome. I can sense what I believe are Namekians, little sparks of life all over the planet. I can sense a few power houses heading towards each other, but they're ten times as strong as you, they can't be ours. This is it, Guldo, the end of."

"Jeice." Guldo said as he closed his eyes. "He's still out there, a small majority of us are still alive."

"I can't sense him." Ginyu said. He thought for a moment. "Maybe I can't see him because he's too far away?" He jumped to his feet. "That's it, if I can't sense him because he's not on planet, then we can escape their detection by getting off planet. Guldo, I'm a genius.!"

"Maybe it's not distance." Guldo sat up. "Maybe it's the vacuum of space blocking you?"

"Guldo, if you had a decent number of eyes I would kiss you!" Opening his pod he took his seat and began tapping controls, leaving the door open.

"Jeice, come in Jeice, this is your captain speaking." Guldo entered his pod and opened his communicator as Ginyu spoke.

"I repeat, Jeice, come in, this is your captain. Respond, now, that is an order." Ginyu slammed his fist on his leg.

Guldo couldn't see his captain, but even without being able to sense power he felt the frustration coming off his boss. He crossed his fingers and closed his eyes. 'Come on, Jeice, be alive.'

"Captain, this is Jeice. Apologies for the delays, I've got a bit of a mouthy captive up here. Jeice spoke in to Ginyu's and Guldo's pods. "I have secured the ship and its only crew member. What's the status on planet?"

"Bad." Ginyu responded quickly. "Frieza has been defeated, and is almost certainly dead. Burter and Guldo met the same fate."

"Sorry to interrupt, but I'm still alive, sir." Guldo said.

"Correction, Burter and Recoome met the same fate." Ginyu said. "What's the status up there? What did you find out, Jeice?"

Silence filled the air for a long moment. "Sir, please repeat. It sounded like you said Lord Frieza was killed?"

"That is correct. Lord Frieza was killed in combat. What did you find out?" Ginyu spoke more firmly.

Several long breaths passed before Jeice finally responded with a shaking voice. "There are three saiyans on planet, Turles, Goku, and Gohan. There are two humans on planet, from Earth, Tien and Krillen."

"Describe the humans." Ginyu interrupted.

A minute later Ginyu spoke again. "I repeat, describe the humans."

A moment later a new voice, a woman, came over the ships communicator. "Krillen, short, wears orange, shaved head. Tien, tall, muscular, bald head, three eyes."

"Thank you." Ginyu said, noting his bodies name. "Continue."

"As I said, they came from Earth." Jeice gave coordinates, and Ginyu made sure Guldo took them down. "Their planet had dragon balls, until Vegeta and the monkeys killed their planets guardian, destroying the balls. They came here to use Namek's dragon balls to revive their guardian, so they could use their balls to undo the damage Vegeta caused to their home world."

"Where are you now?" Ginyu asked.

"HE WAS RUNNING AWAY!" Bulma said when Jeice opened the channel. A brief scuffle could be heard, puntuated with yelps and gasps.

"I'm currently piloting the human's craft back towards the core worlds. I was lead to believe you had been defeated by one of their fighters, and I was unable to contact any of you." Jeice admitted. "I intended to bring her back to the Cold Empire, let the powers that be extract any and all useful information from her, before personally seeing to the destruction of Earth."

"You weren't too far off." Ginyu said. "I took the body of this Tien. What useful information do you think she has?"

"They have a training room on this ship, sir, that manipulates gravity only within its walls. Adding this technology to the training routines of our soldiers would have an exponential impact on our armies strength. Furthermore, there is a dragon ball on this ship, and I was lead to believe it is possible to scan a planet for them. If there are more in the universe it would be worth while to have all our ships equipped with the scanners. Artifacts like these would likely be priceless to King Cold and Lord Cooler."

Ginyu chewed his human lip for a moment. "I like the idea, Jeice. You take her to the core worlds. I go with the humans and saiyans back to Earth. King Cold will want his revenge, and we will work together to make it as simple as possible for him."

"Yes, sir. One question." Jeice sounded nervous.

"Yes?" Ginyu stretched his new body, not feeling comfortable in his pod for so long without being gassed.

"What if the saiyans and humans want to follow me? Follow us home? I don't doubt King Cold and Lord Frieza could easily defeat them, but if they catch me alone." Jeice gulped. "I wouldn't be able to keep the captive secure."

"If they think she's dead, they won't care to chase you." Ginyu said.

"And the dragon ball?" Jeice said. "I'm not comfortable having this large of a target on my back, not when the people who killed Lord Frieza are the ones aiming at it."

"Have some pride." Ginyu slammed his fist on his arm rest. "You are a warrior. You are a member of the Ginyu Force. Your comfort comes second to your mission." He paused for a moment. "That is a good point though, Jeice. Give me a moment to think about that."

Ginyu exited his pod, put his hands on his lower back, and stretched. Yawning he looked up at the three suns overhead. Bending left he thought of the warriors on planet. Bending right he thought of the damage they could do with the dragon balls. Stretching his arms again he considered how he could control them, and if it was worth the risk to let them have the wish. Making up his mind he glanced at Guldo. How does he fit in to this?

Back in his pod Ginyu shared his plan with Jeice, who was quick to agree. Bulma on the other hand was sickened to hear she wouldn't be going home.

Somewhere on Namek

After ensuring everyone left standing wasn't in immediate danger of dying Krillen told the Namekian villagers to leave their town, and leave their dead. He reasoned that if anyone came across an empty village, they'd seek the villagers. If they found a village filled with the dead, they wouldn't think twice about it. The villagers were unhappy with this thought, but agreed it was best, and did as Krillen suggested. As the villagers left, so did Krillen.

After destroying his power ball and returning to regular size Turles had scrubbed his tongue clean. Once he had got the taste of Recoome out of his mouth he searched the village quickly. A few villagers were left in one piece, but even fewer were left alive. He wanted to help them, heal them, but he didn't have the resources. He directed them to gather at Guru's and left them to get there themselves. After reviewing the carnage one final time, committing to memory the horrors that Frieza's men, that he, would commit, he left.

It wasn't long until the two had met back up and briefly exchanged stories. Krillen was amazed that Turles didn't use the fruit. Turles was amazed that Krillen wasn't injured after fighting Burter.

"It's calm." Krillen commented. "The battle, it's over."

"So it is." Turles agreed. "Goku can handle himself. We need to help Tien."

"Use the scouter." Krillen said. "Frieza's dead. Lets get Bulma on her way back down while we go assist Tien, and Goku, and, and Gohan." Krillen spoke quietly at the end.

"Right." Turles said, pulling the scouter out. "Thank god for stretching armor, or this thing would be crushed." Fitting it to his ear he activated it. Habit took over and Turles scanned around, he picked up Krillen, and an unfortunately low number of Namekians. Tien was as powerful as ever, and absolutely dominating whoever he chose to battle, must be Guldo. Instinctively turning to check out behind him Turles' breath caught in his throat. Back at the ship, where Goku and Gohan stayed behind, battling Frieza, only one power level remained.

Forcing himself to stay stone faced Turles cursed Frieza's name before reaching out with the scouter. "Bulma, this is Turles. We killed Frieza, its safe to come back down. Looks like there's only one bad guy left, and he's nothing to worry about."

Krillen tilted his head at Turles, asking what Bulma was saying. Turles stuck a finger up to the monk.

"Bulma, can you hear me? Is this thing working?" Turles tapped the scouter, making sure it was charged.

"Hold on." A voice, a man, responded. "Sorry, I've never seen a ship like this before. Need to get used to the controls."

"Who is that?" Turles asked. Krillen raised his shoulders, tilting his head, feeling left out. Turles turned his back on him.

"This is Jeice, of the former Ginyu Force." Jeice said. "I was late to the party, and have no interest in getting involved in a fight like, well, any with you."

"Jeice, I personally just fucking ate Recoome." Turles snarled in to the scouter. "And I know you're not that much more powerful than him. You will tell me what the hell is going on, what the hell you're doing on my ship, or I swear to the moon I will find you, and I will fucking kill you!"

Elsewhere on the planet Ginyu and Guldo's stomachs turned at what this saiyan was claiming.

"Peace, friend, peace. Give me a minute and I'll explain." Jeice cut the microphone for a moment, confirming that Bulma was well bound and gagged. "I was running late to the mission. My ship was an experimental attack pod, and it was heavily malfunctioning. Thankfully I don't need air." Jeice lied.

"Get to the point!" Turles yelled.

"I detected this ship and limped my way to it. I arrived and the hatch was open, the life support had malfunctioned, and no one was aboard." Jeice kept a straight face.

"There was a girl on the ship, blue hair, tiny, where is she?" Turles demanded. He didn't mean to, but he got into his fighting stance. His blood was boiling, and he didn't quite understand why. He liked the humans well enough, but he shouldn't be reacting like this. Was it because either his nephew or his nephew's son was almost certainly dead?

"I'm sorry, I don't know. Like I said, the door was open, the air lock was open, there was no one in the ship." Jeice said. "Heck, there was no power on the ship before I transferred the generator from mine, and that was quite a."

"I don't care. She's not there? I want you to stop talking to me, and check the ship, every, last, room. If I find out you're lying to me, Jeice, I will get in one of Ginyu's pods and track you down myself." Turles growled.

"Give me a few minutes." Jeice said. "This ship is massive compared to my pod, and."

"SHUT UP AND SEARCH!" Turles yelled.

As the line went dead, Jeice supposedly began searching, Turles filled Krillen in. Krillen's reaction was the same as Turles', anger coupled with frustration, yet Turles' could understand it coming from him.

In space Jeice leaned back in his chair and addressed Bulma. "What clue should I find that you left the ship? Maybe a rack of space suits, with one missing? Maybe a launched escape pod? Do you have one of those?"

Bulma tried to reply, but the red ball in her mouth stopped her. She tried to spit it out, but it was tied too tightly to her head.

"I wish The Captain would have been more specific." Jeice crossed his arms and closed his eyes. "If you're dead, they wish you back. If you're alive, they wish you to them, and, my deary, I can't have that."

A few minutes later, after finishing his power nap, Jeice reactivated his microphone. "There was a note in the kitchen, attached to a large round thing." He chuckled to himself as Bulma struggled against her bindings. "Life support is failing. Evacuating ship in prototype space suit. Bringing scouter. If you don't hear from me, I'm adrift in space. Do not revive me. I don't want to die alone twice. Goku, Krillen, Tien, thank you, for everything. Gohan, keep studying. Turles, I wish I had more time to get to know you."

"Don't move." Turles growled in to his scouter as he began adjusting it.

Jeice hugged his stomach as he laughed hearing Turles' next several broadcasts. "Try all you like. She's gone." Jeice smiled and got comfortable in his chair again.

Turles explained to Krillen what Jeice had said and he took several turns to reach out as well, to no success. Krillen sat on the ground, hugging his knees, looking through the wind swept blue grass.

"What do we do now?" Krillen asked. "Bulma, Bulma is."

"We need the dragon ball." Turles said. "We can figure Bulma out later, but the entire point of this mission was the dragon balls, and one of them is flying away to who knows where." Turles picked up a small rock and crushed it to dust. "FUCK!" He yelled as he through the sand in to the air.

"Do you want me to talk with him?" Krillen asked.

"No!" Turles unintentionally shouted at the human. "I'll handle this."

"Okay, Jeice. The ship is yours, take it, we don't care about it. That ball, and the note. We need them. You said your pod was malfunctioning? Send it to us, put the ball and the note in it. If you do this for us, we'll leave you be." Turles said. "I understand freedom, and I'm happy for you that you have a chance to experience it. I won't take it from you, but we need the ball, and we want the note. Can you do this for us?"

Jeice's eyes popped open as he momentarily panicked. Looking at Bulma he grinned wickedly. "Yes, I can do that. Thank you."

"How soon will your pod be here?" Turles asked.

"The built in power should have enough energy to get it there within an hour, if it drifts, maybe you'll have it in a day. I'll give it as much of a boost as I can without risking it being destroyed on impact." Jeice said as he stood up. "Okay, Miss, I hope you were taking notes, because you have yourself one to write. Ha! I crack myself up. You're luck I'm here, not Recoome. Well, Recoome is dead, so that would be better for you, I guess, but, never mind, forget I mentioned the lovable block head."

"Thank you, Jeice. Good luck out there. May you never be oppressed again." Turles said, not getting a response.

"And?" Krillen anxiously prompted.

"The ball is on its way." Turles said. "In the meantime."

"How do you know we can trust him?" Krillen demanded.

"What other choice do we have?" Turles stood over Krillen. "I was in his shoes. I escaped. He escaped. I won't risk my freedom. Neither will he."

"What if the ball doesn't show up?" Krillen took a step back.

"Then we're in the exact same place as we would be in if we didn't trust him." Turles turned his back to Krillen. "Anyway, there's something a lot more important than the ball, and Tien."

"What's that?" Krillen looked around, expecting another warrior to pop up.

"Frieza is dead, but, someone is still alive there." Turles said.

"Of course, Goku and Gohan." Krillen interrupted.

"Some, one, is still alive. Or at least has detectable power. We need to get back there, now." Turles left his scouter on as he kicked off the ground.

"What?" Krillen asked, automatically following the saiyan. As they flew Krillen extended his senses out, and picked someone up. The power was familiar, but different. He knew it was Goku, or Gohan, but he couldn't tell who. Goku based on power, neither based on its state, and Gohan based on fragility.

Where Frieza's ship was

Too long later Krillen and Turles saw the debris field of what used to be Frieza's ship. If they hadn't known what was there, they would have no way of speculating. The blue grass was replaced with cratered soil. The trees were reduced to dead stumps. The ship itself was shredded and where it stood was a large crater, to the side of which were Goku and Gohan, lying in each other's arms.

The pair tried to speed up, but they were already pushing themselves to their limits. They came in hot, producing two more small craters as they landed beside their teammates. Gohan jumped to his feet, blood and vomit soaked his gi. Goku laid still.

Gohan was awoken from a deep sleep, first he heard the impact, then he felt their power. They were weak, but strong enough to hurt his daddy. He wouldn't allow it. Gohan powered up, not able to achieve what he had before, but he was still strong enough to push Krillen and Turles back simply by existing.

"Woah, Gohan, woah!" Krillen shouted as he fought to stay on his feet. "It's us, Krillen, Turles, your friends."

Gohan heard the words, but he couldn't comprehend them. He crossed his arms in front of his face, a ki ball beginning to form at their junction.

"KID, STOP! We're not here to fight!" Turles shouted at the traumatized boy.

"HAAAAA!" Gohan stood his ground, charging his attack.

"If he hits us with that." Krillen said.

"He won't." Turles backed up."He won't hit me with it anyway. Distract him."

"Distract him?" Krillen looked back at Turles as the saiyan suppressed his energy.

"AAAAAH" Gohan's attack pulsed larger, growing rapidly in waves.

Krillen crossed his arms in front of his body as well, reinforcing his block with as much ki as he could spare. "Gohan, Chi-Chi wants to know if you've been doing your homework." He said.

Gohan heard the words, and still didn't comprehend them. He knew homework, he knew Chi-Chi, but all he could understand was loss and anger. "GET AWAY FROM MY DADDY!" He screeched, nearly ripping his vocal chords.

"Ox King wants to take you fishing, but we need to get home first." Krillen knelt down, bracing himself against the planet.

Gohan knew fishing, he knew his grandfather, he knew family. He knew his father, he lost his father. He scissored his arms towards Krillen, launching the large blast at the monk.

The attack hit Krillen's guard, and began pushing him back. His bottom foot quickly gave way and started trenching through the ground, his back began to bend, and the attack was bearing down on him. Reinforcing his knee with energy he captured the ball between his arms and his upper knee. He put his core to work, trying to crush the ball, and failed. Thinking quickly he let the blast bowl him over, rotating his body under the blast, and flicking it up into the air.

Gohan went to charge his father's oldest friend, but was caught short, like a dog being held back by his master with a leash. The boy was the dog, Turles was the master, and his tail was his leash.

Putting as much force as he could into his grip, knowing he couldn't hurt the boy no matter how hard he tried, Turles tried to crush the boys tail. Gohan's body went slack, and he fell forward into the soil. Turles released his grip and Gohan began to rise again, so he quickly grappled the whipping appendage again and sat beside his great nephew.

"Saiyan's tails, oldest trick in the book. Thankfully it apparently works on a half breed." Turles patted the boys back. 'Two saiyans, that's it.'

"What the hell was that?" Krillen asked as he rubbed his soar arms.

"Judging by the condition of Goku, and Gohan here, I'd say Frieza and Goku killed each other, and Gohan watched." Turles ran his fingers through the sedated boys hair. "Poor kid. He's one of the strongest people in the universe now, based off that attack, and he probably couldn't even lay a scratch on either of the titans he found himself between."

"We can't leave Goku here." Krillen approached the corpse. Looking over the body his eyes were drawn to Frieza's horn. "We can't leave him like this."

"Can't he be revived?" Turles asked. 'Why aren't you awake? The tail should stun you, not knock you out.'

"No. He's been revived before, before Nappa and Vegeta came to Earth." Krillen's eyes began to water. "He can't be revived again."

Turles slowly released his grip on Gohan's tail, and was glad when he didn't lash out again. The boy opened his eyes slightly, felling Turles over him. He curled in to a ball and pushed his back against his father, before beginning to snore.

"So, we revive Piccolo, and then use Earth's dragon balls to undo the damage from when Vegeta came to Earth? That's your plan?" Turles kept rubbing Gohan's back.

"That's our plan." Krillen said as he knelt over Goku's body. "I, I don't know if it is the right one though. Where would that leave Namek?" He wrapped his hand around the horn, disgusted as he felt Gohan's torso resist the slight movements caused by his gripping.

"I want to say that's not our problem." Turles saw his corpse in Goku's. "But, none of this is my problem at all."

"You want to leave?" Krillen asked as he pulled the dagger like item from Goku. Holding it up for inspection he observed blood and viscera drip from it.

"No, I don't think I will." Turles sighed. "The boy needs a saiyan in his life. His father didn't know he was one, but he was. I haven't met this Chi-Chi, but..."

"If you say one bad word about my best friend's wife, about his son's mother." Krillen interrupted.

"I haven't met this Chi-Chi, but I don't think she can relate." Turles said. "You are human, Tien is human, there is a planet full of you humans. I, I'm the last, the last saiyan. Gohan doesn't deserve to grow up, live, not knowing who he is, where he came from." Turles picked the sleeping boy up. "None of this, Earth, the Namekians, you, are my problem. Gohan is half human though, and Earth is his home. If it's important to him, it's important to me." Turles gestured with his chin for Krillen to pick up Goku.

Krillen lifted one of Goku's arms, but he couldn't get him on his back. He tried to forklift him, one arm under his knees, one under his back, but he couldn't watch Goku's head lull back like it was. "I, I can't, I can't do it right." Krillen said.

"Take Gohan, I'll take my nephew." Turles said as he handed Gohan to Krillen.

Moments later the pair took off and were ready to fly. "Where are we going?" Krillen asked.

"Guru's." Turles sensed the elders ki and began heading that direction, slowly. "We need to figure this out."

"What about Tien?" Krillen asked.

"Tien is fine. The difference between him and the guy he's with is about the same as him and Frieza, Goku." Turles said. "He'll be fine."

With Ginyu

"HARDER!" Ginyu shouted at Guldo.

Guldo focused more, all, of his ki in to his fist, his waist, and his shoulder. Swinging with all the power he could muster he struck the back of his captain's head. "How's that?" He asked.

"Did you leave a mark?" Ginyu asked.

The back of Ginyu's bald head was a mess of bruises and broken skin. Blood slowly ran down his neck. "Yes, there's a bit of damage."

"I don't think your hands are enough." Ginyu said. "Hit me with your best attack."

"Sir?" Guldo asked.

"Do it!" Ginyu snapped.

Not daring to question his captain yet again today Guldo quickly charged his ki. The sphere began to grow in Guldo's right hand, and using his left he kept it about the size of a small ball. Making sure to snap his wrist he flung the ball as quickly as he could into the back of Ginyu's head, and managed to leave a large burn mark, stopping the blood. "Okay, Captain, that should do it."

Ginyu stood up and looked at his soldier. "Thank you, Guldo."

"It was a pleasure working for you, sir." Guldo snapped a quick salute before relaxing.

"You were a good soldier, Guldo." Ginyu said as he lifted off the ground. "If you can't find a way off this mud ball, enjoy your vacation. If you're not back in the force by the time all this ends, well, I'll be sure to come get you."

"Thank you, sir." Guldo smiled.

"The name is Tien." Ginyu smiled as he locked on to several rapidly moving energies. "Farewell!" Ginyu blasted off.

Somewhere on Namek

Turles and Krillen flew without speaking. The only sounds were Gohan's snoring, and the clink of Frieza's horn against Turles' armor. Krillen asked why he wanted to keep it, and Turles said it was a reminder that Frieza was dead. Krillen thought of it as a reminder that Goku was dead, but let it go.

As the two flew they sensed Tien approaching, and changed course slightly to meet up with him quicker.

"Krillen, you're alive." Tien looked over the group of four. "How's Gohan?" He didn't risk misidentifying the nearly identical saiyans. Why hadn't anyone mentioned only one had a tail?

"He's okay, but he's wiped out. If you've got a senzu bean, he could really use it." Krillen looked at the boy he was cradling. "Goku, though. He, well, he killed Frieza, but well, they killed each other."

Tien noted that Turles was the living one as he made a show of going through his clothes. "Sorry, no beans."

"What happened with your fight?" Krillen asked.

"Captain Ginyu and Guldo. Captain Ginyu is, well, I punched a hole through his chest. Guldo I let live." Tien said.

"You let one of them go?" Krillen's eyes bulged.

"He wasn't a threat to me, and when he found out about his captain he wanted to start over. He's not a problem, not now, not ever." Tien said. "What's the plan?"

"We're going back to Guru's. We've got almost all the balls, and, I'm sorry, we have some more bad news." Krillen looked at Turles for support.

"What's that? I mean, this is already pretty bad." Tien gestured at Goku.

"Bulma." Krillen said. "Something happened with the ship, and she abandoned it. Someone came along and found it, and we were able to talk with them. The last dragon ball will be sent our way in one of those attack pod things, it was another soldier who just wanted out, as well as a note from Bulma. Bulma, she's, no longer with us. She explicitly asked not to be revived either."

"Why would she do that?" Tien asked.

"If she, when she, died she would have died in space. If we revive her she'll just die again. She doesn't want that." Krillen said.

"That's." Tien took a deep breath. "That's unfortunate. At least the three, four, of us are alright."

"So, we're going to Guru's now that we have the dragon balls, we need to figure out what to do now. Our original wish, well, it seems a little selfish now, you know?" Krillen said.

"Yeah." Tien agreed. "Well, lets not keep him waiting." He looked around, trying to find out who, and where, this Guru may be, and making sure to show the back of his head to Krillen and Turles.

"Tien?" Turles asked.

"Yes?" Tien responded.

"What happened to your head?" Krillen asked for Turles.

"I, I don't know." Tien stammered. "I, I was fighting Ginyu, and I came to like this. I can't remember the details of the fight. I, I can't remember a lot of things." Tien blinked back a tear. "I'd rather not discuss it right now, if you don't mind." He looked at Goku's corpse. "There are more important things right now."

With that the three, carrying two, locked back on to Guru and began the last leg of their journey.

Author's note: Please be aware I will be predisposed of next weekend, the 24th and 25th, so I most likely will be unable to upload again until Halloween or the 1st.

Q. Vukk Dragonballs are still around...but how do they get the one in space...

A. That is an absolutely fantastic question.