"Wow, this place got a little crowded…" Krillin scratched the back of his head while looking at all the survivors from Planet Namek having found residence on the God Temple. "Of course, I can't complain. It'd have taken me months to walk again if it wasn't for their magic healing."
"It was unfortunate that Lord Slug's men snagged most of the Senzu that Korin had left. I don't recall the supply ever becoming a problem. When he told us it was getting tough to grow them, the weight of it didn't hit immediately. It is just now setting in…" Tenshinhan nodded while looking down at the polished and repaired tiles of the God Temple. The three-eyed martial artist still sulked for the life of his friend, even after Piccolo let him know the Namekians could make new Dragon Balls to replace the Earth's inert ones.
"I'm sorry…" Gohan's mouth shook as if the boy was suffering from nausea. It was him that blew up Lord Slug's ship by accident.
"No one's blaming you, Gohan, you did amazing out there!" Krillin leaned down to give little Gohan a thumb up and let out a goofy chuckle that would have made a scarecrow cackle. That laughing would have gone right at the goofy bald fighter as one would have been laughing at him and not with him, but that was irrelevant.
"Gohan-chan had his fair share of fighting, I believe…" Chi-Chi pulled Gohan in closer to her lap, wrapping her protective arm around Gohan's neck and pressing his head closer to her. "I wouldn't blame him if he wanted to give up fighting for the rest of his life after that."
"Huh? But we were buying him clothes and studying supplies…" Goku scratched his head. "I thought you wanted Gohan to receive a balanced childhood?"
"That's right!" Chi-Chi raised her index finger, still looking grumpy. "That's what the magazines said. Still, while we were spending quality family time, Gohan-chan ended up involved in fighting regardless of what we were doing. This counts as fighting and not studying!"
Even the Namekians became drawn to the heated parenting discussion that was taking place in their presence. It was only when Upa shook his head in embarrassment and asked Moori, the elected elder of the Planet Namek and its wandering population, to return to materializing Dragon Balls. While Upa had become skilled at Magic Materialization over time, Dragon Balls remained an artifact of Namekian magic, therefore, requiring a Namekian touch.
"Oh, that's right… What shall you be asking of the dragon?" Moori wondered once Upa placed the golden model of what the Earth Divine Dragon looked like before the Namekian.
"It places a moral conundrum, doesn't it?" Upa scratched his chin. "We can only ask for one thing, can't we? I am afraid that if we do not restore Namek immediately, it will fall apart because of its unstable and dangerous state, but if we do not resurrect everyone killed by Lord Slug and his men - we won't be able to resurrect them the next year. Not to mention the poor Namekians killed by this Saiyan Turles…"
"Excuse me, but… All the people?" Moori scratched his head. "I thought your Dragon Balls worked just like ours–that is why it only took me a few hours to create them."
"I also thought that way, how do the Namekian Dragon Balls work?" Upa wondered.
"The Namekian Dragon Balls can fulfil three wishes that the chosen one asks for. However, they can only resurrect one person at a time. Such is the trade-off. I suppose through sufficient time you could improve them, but magic requires trade-offs." Moori explained. "Once you cook up some Dragon Balls, you can upgrade them beyond their limits but to complete a set–you must balance them or else the Negative Energy will spill loose or they will have severe side-effects."
"Like the Ultimate Dragon Balls…" Mr. Popo noted, pulling on his lip with his index finger.
"I wish we could offer you an example of the Earth's Dragon Balls, but they've truly gone inert. They do not differ from stones right now. Could you make a set based on description and our specification, perhaps? We've gathered them more than a few times so we know their ins and outs, at least." Upa scratched his head.
"Of course, it might take a few weeks, however…" Moori nodded. "Working with a new formula, new specifications. I'd have to make sure that there are no deviations."
"Excellent, would it be possible for the Dragon Balls to fulfil multiple wishes like the Namekian ones?" Upa asked.
"Yes. Although if you need them to resurrect multiple people at once–I'd recommend two and not three wishes. Also, despite them having a one-year limit, try not to abuse them. Perhaps issue them large wishes like the resurrection of an entire town once a decade or something like that?" Moori advised.
"Great, you are all welcome to make Earth your home while we restore your planet!" Upa clapped his hands and nodded.
"Humph… My patience is growing thin!" Bardock turned his back on the Namekians and the Earthling Kami and grunted for those hanging in the back of the party line to hear. "Every day we spend here, the risk of Gine suffering Vegeta's wrath meant for me grows ever more likely. We can't be wasting any more time!"
"Yeah, I hear you…" Goku nodded. "Still, Bulma's dad is going to need a few more days to build a spaceship to fit all of us inside and let us train on our way to Planet Vegeta."
"What about the spaceship that Chayote and Piccolo used to get around? It got to Namek in no time at all and Vegeta's even closer," Bardock turned to his son with a grumpy look and his arms crossed over his chest.
"That spaceship is reserved to the Namekians," Piccolo approached Bardock and stepped in between Goku and his father. "It is their spaceship, the spaceship they gave the son of Katas to escape Namek's calamity. It is theirs by right so they'll be going home once we restore Planet Namek inside of it."
"Fine," Bardock closed his eyes and sighed. "But don't think that our rivalry is over with just yet, Namekian. I can feel how much more powerful you've grown. Once Gine is safe back on Earth–I will challenge you again."
"I've no more interest in petty squabbles so your principles and warrior's mentality can go right to hell." Piccolo crossed his arms. "If you come looking for a beating, however, I'll give you one. Same if you try to pull any of your conquering routine again."
"Um…" Gohan prodded his fingers together. He wanted to speak up for a while now but with all the scary people talking one over the other he didn't find the suitable time to do so until just now, when he thought that if he doesn't butt in–he might as well never get the chance. "I want to go to Planet Vegeta too."
"What!?" Chi-Chi leaned back, going pale in terror. "My little boy in outer space?"
"I mean, there is a lot I can learn from observing how Dr. Brief puts the spaceship together and from seeing space myself. A lot that I can't find in books which will give me an advantage over my book-smart peers. Also, I want to meet my grandma. A proper family always either calls or visits their elderly, isn't that what the magazines say, mother?" Gohan looked up at his mother with an inquisitive look.
"I can't believe you've been reading the lifestyle magazines…" Chi-Chi sighed and relented, rubbing her tired eyes with her fingers.
"Well, if there is a rule set to what a proper family is–a guide, so to speak, it only makes sense for me to educate myself on it," little Gohan shrugged with a rich smile on his face.
"Okay, Gohan, we'll take you with!" Goku put up his arm as a promising gesture.
"I suppose the brat can get pretty fierce when all chips are down. He still lacks proper training and could use some hardship to build up his power level way more," Bardock rolled his eyes but didn't oppose the idea. He had grown a tad more accepting of Gohan and Chi-Chi's existence in his life and his family line after seeing them in action against Lord Slug.
"If you're eager for new experiences, go talk to Dende," the right side of Piccolo's lips tilted ever so slightly as he looked down to Gohan. "He's a youngling like you and a genuine alien. Well… I guess maybe not any more of an alien than your father… Forget I said anything."
"Huh?" Gohan peeked past Piccolo's baggy trousers at a frightened Namekian youngling hiding behind his many brothers. "Ah! All alone on another planet with his home being devastated. He must feel awful!"
The young Saiyan darted off toward Dende. While the little green boy looked anxious to speak to Gohan at first, with the entire experience being entirely too much for him and Gohan still being a Saiyan–a member of a species that decimated his planet to begin with, it didn't take long for the frown on Dende's face to flip upside down with the two rascals running off by themselves chuckling like kids do.
"Your brat's having a way easier time dealing with the rare air up here than you did, Kakarot," Chayote observed.
"Yeah, he's something else alright…" Goku nodded and pressed his fists to his hips, observing the two kids playing with one another until Gohan found himself cornered and took to the air. While Gohan thought himself safe up above, with an uneasy float, Dende levitated himself too, almost startling Gohan to the point of losing focus and falling down on his butt as their game of tag transitioned into the skies.
The following couple of weeks of peace felt like the tensest peaceful weeks that the Dragon Team had ever known. Because of the massive number of the surviving Namekian population, they couldn't have all fit in God's Temple, so only the most important ones used the location–the heads of the villages and the elder Moori himself. The rest of them made a comfortable home inside of the massive garden in the Capsule Corp building.
"What a bother…" Dr. Puri sighed, wiping the sweat off of her forehead and rolling up her sleeves while she pressed her hands against her waist and took a second to observe the revitalized garden filled with Namekians doing farm work and garden maintenance for their spare time. The prodigious doctor was busy assisting Bulma and Dr. Brief with the spaceship as the scientific quarters of Capsule Corp were just as hard at work as the Namekian gardeners or their elder who was crafting the Dragon Balls.
"What's the matter? Don't like close contact with alien species?" Bulma winked at her personal assistant and one of her most trusted scientific minds.
"This dome was meant for scientific breakthroughs, not husbandry…" Dr. Puri turned up her nose, flicked her hand through her curly, auburn hair and rushed to the gloomy lab where work awaited her. Bulma shook her head, realizing that there was nothing she could have done to help her assistant change her opinion on the harmless and hard-working race that sweetened the impression Bulma had of them herself. It was especially impressive considering that Bulma had only met King Piccolo and his reincarnation before taking Namekian refugees.
Weeks later the Dragon Team had arrived to the Capsule Corp front yard where the Namekian village heads and their elder was already waiting for them alongside Upa and a completed set of Dragon Balls. Both the newly completed Capsule Corp spaceship and the old Namekian ship that the Nameless Namekian used to arrive to Earth stood parked in the backyard.
"Hello, Yamcha," Bulma squinted her eyes at the arrival of her ex. "Sorry we didn't pick your limp body up so that the Namekians could heal you. When we came to check the ocean you were floating in, you were already somewhere else."
"I know you're still angry at me, for whatever reason, but that was really cruel, you know…" Yamcha stretched his neck and his shoulders. "I had most of my ribs busted and I passed out from the sum of my injuries. It might have taken me months to get back on my feet had Gohan and Dende not dropped by in one of their expeditions to check the Earth out."
"Why choose the lifestyle of a martial artist if you can't handle the bruises?" Bulma shrugged and walked away, signaling that she fully intended to end their conversation at that.
"The Dragon Balls require a Namekian life link to function, don't they? It seemed like a big deal, bigger than even the Ultimate Divine Dragon could treat." Tenshinhan turned to Upa. "Did you bind them to Piccolo again?"
"No, actually," Upa looked thrilled about something he had worked out with Moori as the Namekian elder nodded his head with a subtle smirk. "We figured it might be dangerous to link the Dragon Balls to a vital part of the Dragon Team who constantly rushes into battle to protect the Earth and can die. We therefore took another option."
"When I first came to Earth, it seemed incredibly scary, and I didn't know anyone here and most of Namekians I knew, my own brothers, were dead and my planet was inches away from blowing up…" Dende spoke up with a bitter tone that soon brightened up when a smile colored his face and he looked to Gohan. "But once I met Gohan-kun, and we began playing around–that all changed. He showed me all the different biomes that the Earth offered, all the natural wonders and pleasant people, and I've come to like it here."
"I see, so you've tied the Dragon Balls to Dende…" Tenshinhan nodded to himself.
"That's right–it works out just great too because with the Senzu becoming harder to cultivate we can no longer rely on them and Dende is an excellent healer," Upa pointed out.
"He is also a member of the Dragon Clan, meaning that he can check-up on the Dragon Balls and power them up or make new ones if needed, that's pretty clever, Kami," Piccolo nodded in reserved approval.
"Hm…" Goku leaned in, beginning to inspect Piccolo from a closer distance, coming dangerously close to pulling his long ears open to see inside if anything's different about his old rival.
"What are you doing?" Piccolo hissed.
"I dunno… Ever since you came back from Namek, you're way different. You don't yell at people or threaten to kill them or remind everyone how you're the reincarnation of Demon King Piccolo and all that…" Goku pointed out. "Your Ki is different too, you're way more amazing than you were before!"
"That's because I've become one with a strong Namekian warrior and found a new, greater purpose in life rather than be what my predecessor intended me to be. I am my own warrior now and that freedom has made me the most powerful I've ever been," Piccolo replied, taking Goku's goofy observation completely seriously. "The only reason I still accept being called Piccolo is because I know that you feeble minds would have trouble dealing with the new me."
"Well… You may have finally gotten one over Goku, as a married man, that sort of freedom is something he won't ever have!" Krillin felt obliged to make an absolute baller of it.
"I'm right here, you know…" Chi-Chi said, eyes closed, stone-cold face and fists crossed and ready to instill terror. They appeared to have that effect without the woman needing to use them as Krillin seemed plenty terrified just from her presence alone.
Despite the Dragon Balls being remade, the chant to call out the Divine Dragon and the appearance of the eternal, wish-granting entity appeared exactly the same. Chayote felt a little disappointed because the dragon didn't even grow any larger despite, apparently, receiving a buff and becoming able to fulfill two whole wishes with none of the drawbacks present in the Namekian Dragon Balls.
"Now, state your wish!" the Divine Dragon thundered over seemingly the entire West City through the darkened skies.
"We wish for you to restore Planet Namek back to its prime state!" elder Moori raised his hands over his head, making the request of the Divine Dragon.
"It can be done…" the dragon replied, and after a glow of red from his eyes, it was. "Now, state your other wish!"
"We wish for everyone that was killed by Lord Slug and Turles to be resurrected!" Upa yelled out.
"I cannot do this. The Namekians are on a faraway planet, I can only resurrect them alone or the Earthlings. Choose one." The Divine Dragon explained. Moori and Upa looked at each other while Moori's face become sour and he shook his head in acceptance.
"Planet Namek received its wish. Please, bring back the killed Earthlings!" elder Moori asked and with another gleam of the Divine Dragon's eyes–it was done.
"Are you sure about that? What about your people?" Upa placed his fit arm over the shoulder of the smaller Namekian elder, looking distraught at this outcome long after the Dragon Balls beamed up into the sky and shot away into all seven different directions.
"As I've said–Planet Namek had its wish. Your people deserved rebirth. Lord Slug is one of ours. It is the least we can do to repent for the actions of this monster…" elder Moori sighed. Despite the elder's anguish–he didn't question his decision even once.
"I see…" Upa sighed. "Please don't feel inclined to leave Earth at once. Take as much time as you need. Despite the bump of the Evil Tribe between our histories and the many casualties taken by Demon King Piccolo and Lord Slug, let it be known that our planets are friends and allies."
Moori nodded, brightening up once he looked at Gohan and Dende holding hands, somewhat ignorant to what had just happened and the sacrifice that the elder and Kami had made. Perhaps for the better. "Although, we have overstayed our welcome here. Our new home calls to us. We thank you for the return of this spacecraft, perhaps, with it in our possession, one day, we can roam the cosmos like we used to and trade again."
"I see, in that case, farewell," Upa nodded, looking downcast because the Namekians left this soon. He had learned many things about Magic Materialization ability from them, and there was still so much more that they could teach each other.
"Take care of yourself, Dende," Moori turned back to the emissary that the Namekians were leaving behind with an encouraging smile before the shutting door blocked him off and the spaceship took off with one mighty boom.
"I can sense Chiaotzu's Ki near South City," Tenshinhan looked up and to the south. "Once he catches up with us–we can depart for Planet Vegeta."
"Gohan-chan, I've packed this bag for you…" Chi-Chi dragged a super-sized lump that might have weighed well over a hundred tons to her very baffled son. "Listen to your father. He is an airhead, but he'll have to take care of you for both of us."
"Huh, mother's not coming with?" Gohan looked up.
"Absolutely not!" Chi-Chi wagged her finger. "Your father has needles; your mother has space… Let's leave it at that. I'll make sure to make your grandma proud and happy when she comes back by cooking up a feast worthy of a peckish family of Saiyans, don't worry."
"Suit yourself," Bardock shrugged and looked to his son, who just let out a goofy chuckle and rubbed the back of his head.