Namek
Chapter 58: Opening Moves
Bez, arms folded and hands pressed into his sides, remained silent as Bulma, Tien, and Yamcha strode over to him. He spoke to them without lifting his gaze from the ground. 'So… you're done with whatever that was.'
'We were having a chat with… a deity,' Tien managed. 'That last part isn't important. What matters is that our plan is set going forward.'
'The plan to get us out of here?'
'With time,' Yamcha said. 'Our friends back on our homeworld are preparing to help us if needed. But, for the moment, all we can do is wait for the PTO to attack and beat them.'
One of Bez's brow ridges- he had no hair on his head, including eyebrows- arched. 'You're telling me that after all that- the black sky, the gigantic monster that lorded over all of us, and having literal magic wishes granted, we're still in danger? We're still stuck here?'
Tien frowned. 'It was the best we could do,' he said. 'We needed wishes to fix the harm done to our own planet and to set ourselves up better for the fight ahead, while the Namekians wanted to avoid making any hasty decisions. They prefer to repel the PTO through traditional means before being forced to use the dragonballs.'
'And how do you know the PTO will risk another assault? Why wouldn't they just blast this planet from orbit instead?' Bez pushed.
'Well, you were there at FP083,' Bulma chimed in. 'You know that we're fugitives. Nappa and Vegeta-'
'Yes, Vegeta,' Bez shot his gaze towards her, 'where is he? Or his lapdog Nappa? We haven't fought them yet. If they had wanted to settle a score with us, they would have come here, alone, and not have brought an entire army with them.' He paused, and tightened his grip around his body. 'You know what I think? I think Vegeta framed us up for his and Nappa's own attacks at FP083. Convinced the PTO that we were the instigators and that they were trying to fend us off. How else would everything line-up so perfectly? That we were able to escape when we were half as strong as Nappa, who was less than a third as strong as Vegeta. No- they framed us,' Bez reiterated with more force. 'It's the only explanation. And if that's the case, and the PTO is throwing every available resource at us, then- then we might as well be dead…'
Surrounded by empty houses and barren space, Bez's voice carried his words through the village and faded into the far-off and unseen distance. Bulma, Tien, and Yamcha, looking at him, felt indescribably distant.
Bez's gaze tracked their attention on him, then moved beyond them. 'The past few hours have been a lot for me,' he sighed. 'Nearly dying, magic wishes, people coming back to life… I really don't understand what's going on anymore, and I can't go anywhere, and I'm tired,' he finished, letting his arms drop to his sides. 'I need to sleep.' He glanced between them, then hardened his face. 'I'm going to sleep.'
The wind picked up then and whistled through the area. As if he was being carried away by it, Bez turned and walked into an empty house. No one moved or said anything; they watched the building's gloomy interior enshroud Bez's angular, vertical purple form in darkness until he disappeared entirely.
'You know,' Yamcha said, drawing Bulma and Tien's gazes, 'he's not wrong.'
'About what?' Bulma asked.
'We need to sleep,' he replied. 'We haven't slept since we've got here. And if we're going to be fighting for our lives soon… again, we need to sleep.'
Tien yawned. 'Now that you mention it… yeah, I'm pretty tired.'
'This may be our only chance to do so before everything kicks up again,' Yamcha advised. 'We'll duck into one of bigger buildings towards the center of this village…'
Bulma glanced over to the closest building. 'What about Bez?'
'Let him be by himself. He'll do no harm on his own. For now, let's…' Yamcha yawned, 'sleep…'
0o0o0
With Yajirobe at his side and Kami seated just a few feet away, Korin watched as Mr. Popo skipped away to the complex and returned a minute later with what looked to be a rolled up carpet. After nodding to Kami, Mr. Popo placed the fabric down and laid it out across the tiles. As soon as the carpet was fully unfurled, it rose half a foot off the ground. Mr. Popo climbed up on it and looked at Kami once more.
'I will see you soon, Kami,' they said, standing up fully with their hands clasped behind their back. Then, with some unseen command, the carpet lurched into motion. As Popo's carpet dove and disappeared beneath the edge of the Lookout, Yajirobe turned and leaned towards Korin. 'How come you're not searching for the dragonballs, Korin?'
'Because I don't have a flying carpet,' Korin bit back.
The interim caretaker of the Earth was feeling odd. A part of him wished he had had more time at the Lookout to himself. In a few short months he had explored nearly every room, crook, and chamber, and yet was only beginning to understand the long-running history that pervaded the bones of this place. But Kami's return had changed things for him- he felt like a bystander again… which, in its own way, made him feel relieved and sad.
'Can you help me to stand again, friends?'
Blinking, Korin turned to Kami and, assisting Yajirobe, helped the Guardian to his feet. He noticed that Kami had resumed rubbing his forehead. 'Are you alright, Kami?'
Kami pushed his fingers even deeper against his skull. 'I have an atrocious headache. Perhaps, in death, I had forgotten how frail my living body is.' But then Korin found himself being nudged away from Kami. 'While I appreciate your concern, there will be time to worry about my health later. For the moment,' he moved both of his hands to his staff, 'I must finish setting things in motion.'
He took a breath. Then, withdrawing into his own mind, Kami pushed his consciousness down into the very core of the Lookout.
0o0o0
Spinning, Launch backflipped once, then twice, then crossed her arms and felt a fist crash against her block. Her feet stabbed the ground, started to dig trenches through it as her body moved with the force of the blow. Something brushed against her-
And she stepped to the side, letting Suno cry and fly past her before stepping back and grabbing her by the back of her blue-white gi's collar. Immediately, Suno began to squirm in her grip.
'Hey!' She growled, twisting her head towards her. 'What-'
Quick as lightning, Launch pressed one finger to Suno's mouth, silencing her. 'Quiet. I think… we're about to receive a call.'
0o0o0
Wiping his hands clean of grease on his apron, Dr. Briefs placed them on his thighs and pushed himself to his feet. 'Glad you brought that to my attention, Retu,' he said as he turned away from the ship's piloting console. 'Would have hated to see the navigation system fail halfway into the cosmos- err- what are you doing?'
In the center of the ship's round and spacious interior, one hand placed high above the central pillar's own console, Retu pinched his face and kept his gaze aimed up at the ceiling. 'Dr. Briefs,' he said without facing him, 'I know that Bulma took one of the dragon radars with her to Namek… we have a spare one, right?'
For a moment Dr. Briefs scratched his head, but then the full implication of Retu's question floored him like a truck- he nearly stumbled over his own feet. 'Oh, my.' He broke into a jog towards the ship's exit. 'Oh, MY!'
0o0o0
Carrying Gohan with one arm, Oolong glided down the hall. The half-Saiyan was fidgeting in his arms, yearning to get back on the ground. 'Chi-Chi,' Oolong called out as he took a sharp right into a room. 'I think Gohan is… what's going on?'
In a circle in front of him, the Ox-King, Chi-Chi, Puar, and Rayne had their arms linked and were jumping and spinning around. Chi-Chi's head tipped out backward. 'It's happening! It happened!' She cheered.
'What? What's happening- happened?'
'What we've been waiting for! Kami is back! He's alive! We have dragonballs again!'
A smile spilled out onto Oolong's face. 'Seriously!? That's…'
'Amazing!' Rayne finished for him. She left the circle and moved over to her backpack. In one smooth motion, she lifted it up and across her arms, fitting it tight to her back. 'So now we just need to find the dragonballs… and then Krillin will be back.' Rayne paused, and let her arms hover around her abdomen. It might have had a bump; she might be showing. Could she tell? Not through all the mania and anxiety that potential development brought. 'He'll be back before it happens,' she asserted. 'I know it.'
While this was happening, Chi-Chi exited the circle and took a reaching Gohan into her arms from Oolong. 'Uh, Rayne? Are you going to go looking right now?'
She tightened the straps laid across her chest. 'The backpack didn't give it away?'
'You know we don't have a dragon radar, right? You're going to be wandering around aimlessly for who knows how long trying to find even a single dragonball.'
Rayne smirked. 'If the universe knows what's good for it, it's going to lead me to one. Either that, or you all will find one for me.'
'Ah,' Chi-Chi said, giving a weak smile. 'That makes more sense.'
0o0o0
Before Korin knew what had happened, Kami's eyes fluttered open. The Guardian turned to Korin and Yajirobe. 'It is done. Everyone who has a stake in this has been informed of the present circumstances and plan.'
Korin gaped at him. 'You're done already? That took barely a minute!'
'Oh?' Kami flashed Korin a smile. 'Were you keeping time?'
'What else am I supposed to do while I'm waiting around? Sit here and stare off into space?'
'On the contrary,' Kami said, leaning forward and putting more of his weight on his staff. 'I have a special task for one of my oldest friends of all.'
0o0o0
Fire. There was flame racing across the land, split by falling rubble and light. Buildings devolved; windows and siding peeled away, then the guts and bolts, until even the primary pillars and beams were broken apart. It was soundless, this chaos, and even though Bez knew that his people were dying left and right, burning, asphyxiating, bleeding, suffocating- he could hear nothing. He could only see terrible scenes continue to play out across a familiar landscape and taste the stink of death in his mouth. Across his face, his chest, his arms, his hands...
Blood encased his hands like a pair of gloves, leaving stains wherever his fingers went. A trail of pink handprints marked his path across the rubble, his scrambling across ruin like a crow. His feet sloshed in the soaked mud, punctuating his scramble with splashes of brown and black, and slid across the rubble. He was running… but for what end? What was he doing? His eyes kept glancing to his left and right; he kept seeing desiccated and fresh corpses, so many different shades of purple and different faces that consumed him. For the briefest moment the feel of death in his mouth was overpowered by something else entirely- shame.
It was a passing taste. His right foot plunged into an unseen hole and he careened forward and hard to the ground. Mud and blood mixed across the front of his body as his arms and leg peddled furiously into the muck, desperate to free himself. He was out of breath, and face-first to the ground, mud yearned to surge into his lungs.
He was drowning. But then he rose- a hand grasped the back of his clothing, and yanking forcefully, lifted him clear of the mud. Sputtering, Bez panted and filled his lungs with air even as he was tossed farther forward onto a slab of tan-colored concrete. Pain bloomed in his mind as his body was dragged face-first across the concrete, but Bez breathed in air and felt more pleasure than pain in that moment.
Writhing on the ground, Bez could do nothing as he was shoved over onto his back. Through clouded, mud-smeared vision, he saw a short, orange alien clad in plated armor, a black jumpsuit, white gloves, white boots…
And the soldier was sneering at him. A rain framed expression that said everything this murderer thought of him.
'You're the last one left alive in this city,' the alien said to him. 'Can't tell if you're lucky, or smart, or both.'
Bez said nothing. He found that he could say nothing. Like the city ruins around him, he was coerced into silence.
'You should be proud. Happy, even.' The alien pointed one open palm towards Bez. A green-blue ball was forming in its center. 'I'm happy, anyway. Once you're gone, I'll be done for the day and I can have a nice, relaxing meal…'
Death. Death filled his mouth, stronger than before. He would die on his back. This soldier- he would kill him- Bez, first-he would kill him!-
Bez's eyes sprung open and he surged to his right, aiming a ki-laden hand towards a faint figure in the dark. 'DIE, YOU- you-'
The blast should have left his hand. Instead, it clung to his skin like a drop of water. The figure didn't flinch, and after a moment Bez saw their hands drop to their sides. 'I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you…'
Bez's eyes finished adjusting to the building's gloom. The building he had fallen asleep in. It was a nightmare. A… bad dream. The figure was clearer now. They were short, and green, and had antenna- it was the Namekian child that had healed him. Feeling foolish, Bez closed his outstretched hand and dispersed his ki. 'What are you doing here?' he breathed.
Dende's eyes- the only part of his face that was easily discernible- were fixed on him. 'I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that. I shouldn't have woken you. You were having a bad dream, weren't you?'
Scowling, Bez scooted away from Dende. 'Not your concern. You're not… nevermind.'
'Do you feel different?'
Bez glared at him. 'Different? My heart is still racing from a nightmare, if that's what you mean.'
Dende's eyes continued to reflect the minuscule amount of light that reached into the building's interior. 'Do you feel stronger? More powerful? I tried the best I could…'
Eyes widening, Bez examined his outstretched hand, then dug the tips of his fingers into the bottom of his jaw. 'What did you do?'
'I unlocked your power level,' Dende explained, 'or tried to, at least. I tried to do it as well as Guru would have done it.'
'You're talking about what Guru did for Tien,' Bez said in a burst of realization. 'What allowed them to go toe-to-toe with that super elite. You… increased my power?' He questioned, his eyes locked on Dende. 'Why would you do that?'
'You fought alongside the humans- against the people who attacked my people, I'm guessing. So you're a good person.'
Bez grunted and looked away. 'I'm not as good as you think I am.'
Dende moved closer, grabbing Bez's attention. 'We all need to be prepared for the fight ahead. You, the humans, my people. Every person who can help, should. I… I saw what Nail looked like when he came back,' he murmured. 'He had to single-handedly fly to every one of our villages and fend off the invaders. He saved some, failed to save others… and when he came back, he was covered in so many different colors of blood that it looked like he had been painted…'
Bez closed his eyes and shook his head. 'Why are you telling me this? I don't need to know…' While he saw nothing, he heard nothing for a few heartbeats after this; this upset him, because that meant Dende was still with him. Why did he have to bother me, out of the four of us?...
'I don't think you four did anything bad,' Dende said, as if reading his mind. Bez opened his eyes and saw that Dende's face was shaking. 'The other Namekians speak badly of you and the humans because you came back to them unharmed… but they don't know what I know. You were all injured, in some cases badly… you fought the people who attacked us.' He sniffled, and then wiped away a tear from his cheek. 'So thank you for that. Thank you for what you've done. And thank you for anything else you're going to do.'
Bez, unsure of whether Dende could see his face in the dark, stood. 'Get out of here,' he said, ushering Dende out. 'Get back before anyone notices you're gone.'
Once physically prodded, Dende complied. With Bez behind him, the Namekian child walked outside, glanced at him one last time, and flew off.
Bez watched him go until the green and brown blip he made in the sky fully disappeared from sight. One sun instead of two was in the sky, though this did nothing to diminish the green-colored haze that ran in every direction. He wasn't sure how long he was out there like that, just staring off into the distance, but this state was broken when an impulse pressed against his head.
He spun to his right. To his surprise, his eyes landed on something.
0o0o0
'Sleep well?' Yamcha asked, coming up to Bez alongside Tien and Bulma.
'Well enough,' Bez grunted. 'Are we going to the Namekians?'
'We are,' Bulma answered. 'We'll prepare there.'
Bez looked at her, then Yamcha and Tien. 'To fight?'
'You've already saved all our lives once over,' Tien said, frowning. 'We don't expect you to put your life on the line for us again.'
'And if I choose to fight anyway?'
'It's dangerous,' Yamcha stressed. 'You're not as strong as us.'
'That so?'
Tien narrowed his eyes at Bez. 'Wait…'
Bez gave them a strange look. 'Keep up.' He spun and launched himself into the sky. A small phoom of wind that blew off of him, buffeting their clothes and nearly pushing Bulma off her feet. Startled, Yamcha and Tien gazed on as the purple alien vanished in a matter of seconds.
'What the hell!?' Bulma cried.
'He got stronger,' Tien noted, glancing over to the house Bez had slept in. 'From sleeping?…'
Yamcha glanced over to the building as well, then turned to Bulma. 'Come on,' he said, holding out his arms. 'Let's not keep him and the Namekians waiting.'
A few seconds later, with Bulma in Yamcha's arms, the three of them were airborne and in pursuit.
0o0o0
His fingers rapped against each other behind him. With every second that passed, they moved faster, struck harder, as all of Zarbon's fear and anger played out through two small appendages crammed behind his back. But more important than playing out this release was that it was unseen; the rest of Zarbon's body was as rigid as a slab of stone, as steady as the walls of the room surrounding him and the ship beyond it. Almost as steady as the small, pinched face, part of a projected virtual body which was about two-thirds of Zarbon's height, looking down just a handful of feet away from him.
Almost.
At last, Frieza tore his gaze from the unseen desk before him at whatever planet or ship he was speaking to Zarbon from. 'So this is the plan you've created, Zarbon?'
From his kneeling position, Zarbon made sure not to make eye contact. 'It is, Lord Frieza. Is it to your liking?'
He saw or heard nothing of Frieza for a few heartbeats. 'Rise, Zarbon, and look at me,' Frieza said finally.
'As you wish, my Lord,' he replied, standing. He noticed that Frieza was appraising him with an idle, unusually contemplative eye.
'You seem to have planned around the Ginyu Force's capabilities well,' Frieza observed.
'I would do nothing less.'
The sound of objects shuffling reverberated across the room briefly. Zarbon thought he could see something moving behind Frieza's image.
'Zarbon,' Frieza said, his gaze never leaving his lieutenant, 'tell me: what are your thoughts on fairness? Equality?'
Zarbon blinked. '... Fairness, Lord Frieza? I think it is a privilege that you may grant at your leisure.'
'Indeed. So in the interest of fairness and, there is something I must disclose to you.'
'My Lord?'
'Do you remember our common friend Vegeta, Zarbon?'
Zarbon felt a trickle of sweat run down his neck. 'But of course, Lord Frieza,' he answered. 'It is his information that has led us these renegade Saiyans in the first place.'
'I'm well aware of that, Zarbon,' Frieza said. 'Recently, I've been thinking a great deal about what he told us.'
'Thinking about what specifically, my Lord?'
Frieza flashed an eminently superior smile towards him. 'The contents of my thoughts are not relevant to this conversation. What is relevant, however, was the curiosity generated by my musing. This curiosity led me to contact Vegeta to straighten something out.' Frieza's smile faded. 'Imagine my surprise upon discovering Vegeta and his lackey Nappa are missing.'
In a show of concern, Zarbon's brows scrunched forward. 'Missing?'
'They disappeared without a trace while en route to an outpost near the edge of our holdings in the South Quadrant. For all intents and purposes, they are gone. Understandably, I've begun to wonder whether this event is in any way related to whatever information Vegeta passed along to us beforehand. So tell me, Zarbon,' Frieza said, his projection seemingly ballooning in size, 'have you identified the Saiyan renegades on your planet?' Frieza swung his hand over what Zarbon assumed was the desk. 'Because your report makes no mention of having met them yet.'
'We've located their positions,' Zarbon replied immediately. 'There is no doubt in my mind that they're here.'
'You're sure?'
'I am.'
'There is no shame in being wrong, Zarbon.'
'I am not wrong,' Zarbon said, holding his ground. 'I have staked my reputation, my career, and my life on this mission. To fail you would be to utterly and completely disgrace myself. I wouldn't be able to go on living if that were to occur.'
Frieza stared at Zarbon, his eyes not betraying his what was going through his mind in the slightest, but eventually relaxed his face in what seemed to be a gesture of satisfaction. 'Good to hear,' he said. 'I wouldn't want my best lieutenant wasting his time chasing false leads. Capture these renegade Saiyans and bring them to me.' Frieza's gaze tightened again. 'And be aware, Zarbon, that if you fail…'
Suddenly, a shape lunged at Zarbon so indescribably quick that he screamed and stumbled backward. Even as his body fell to the cold hard ground, the shape twisted and spun, and came to a tip- and-
Zarbon was on the ground, and saw the object's tip held an inch away from his chest. It was blue-tinted. Wide-eyed, Zarbon looked back up.
With nerve-wracking slowness, a smiling Frieza drew back his projected tail from Zarbon. 'I don't want you to go the way of Dodoria, Zarbon. Need I say anything else?'
'No-n-nothing else, Lord Frieza,' Zarbon stammered, shaking and struggling to stand.
'You're dismissed.' Frieza's image cut out a second later.
It had taken less than a second for Frieza's final and least veiled threat to be presented to Zarbon- but it was this one, above all the others, that forced the sweating, stained alien to recover his breath and his wits from a pathetic position.
0o0o0
Aching and exhausted, Cui shook their head and floated back to the ground. They landed awkwardly, landing on one foot before the other, and nearly fell over from the movement. Frustrated, they shrunk a hand into a fist and beat their chest in an effort to keep their wits about them. 'Focus!'
Without a scouter they had spent hours and hours flying aimlessly around this forsaken planet, first from fury and later from stubbornness. The planet was huge, however, and maddeningly sparse. Every feature looked the same, down to the color of the grass and the sky. Though in some way they were thankful for this- when a village appeared he spotted it easily, and doubting that he would find anyone, Cui touched down to the ground and sought out a place to rest.
They heard nothing as they approached. Cui quickly realized that the village was abandoned. Moving closer to one of the buildings, they saw the black marks of blaster fire scoring one side of the building. The PTO has been here… Cui hobbled around the building. Which means…
A handful of bodies, all PTO, littered the village's center clearing. Seizing the opportunity, Cui rushed forward, kneeled down next to one of the bodies, and flipped it. A seemingly-intact scouter was resting over the dead soldier's face.
Fumbling, Cui grabbed it and yanked it off. They slapped the scouter over their left eye and pressed down the boot button on its side. For a moment, nothing happened, and Cui held their breath… but released it as soon as readings began to pop-up across their visor. They were all concentrated in one spot- one target. Pooling their strength? As if that'll do them any good!
Cui was sure that they'd find those fighters who had humiliated them there. These natives had no means of challenging a spaceborne fleet, which most likely meant that the rest of the PTO force was in orbit and preparing another assault. There was no doubt in Cui's mind- they would be joined soon by the full weight of the PTO's wrath. Perhaps even that bootlicker Zarbon would get involved. Zarbon...
At their side, their hands began to clench and curl. He- the PTO and my enemies have forgotten me. Cui had spent a miserable chunk of their life on this planet- marooned, blind, and humiliated- that they would never get back; but they intended to correct this. They would correct this.
Grimacing, Cui wrapped themself in a purple aura and roared into the sky.
0o0o0
'Are we agreed, then?'
Moori's words echoed within the room. Guru's hall, without Guru himself, felt empty. Moori, Nail, Tsuno, Leera… none of them could fill the space left by Guru. None of them ever would. Yamcha, his attention fixed on the massive chair where the now deceased leader of the Namekian race had sat, knew this beyond a doubt.
'We'll try to keep the fighting away from here,' Tien said from his side. 'When the PTO approaches, we'll rush out and meet them head-on. They're only interested in us- they shouldn't need to assault this place.'
'Nail will stay here to defend us just in case they do,' Moori said, gesturing to the Namekian warrior standing to his right. 'I am also aware that your friend, Piccolo, should be here soon.'
Yamcha nodded. 'Hopefully, he'll be of some help. Can you tell how strong he is?'
Moori turned to Nail. 'Well?'
Nail closed his eyes and seemed to concentrate. 'Hard to say,' he said. 'He hasn't revealed his full power yet… but, if I had to guess, I would say that he's stronger than you two or your friend.'
Bez, leaning against the hall's wall behind Yamcha, Tien, and Bulma, didn't register that he was being referred to. Instead, as evidenced by his distant expression, he seemed preoccupied with some internal thought.
'Hopefully… that's a good thing,' Bulma ventured.
'Can you tell us anything about the PTO?' Tien asked.
Nail shook his head. 'From this far out, it's hard for me to gauge the total strength of our enemies. Though I am aware that a recent arrival of a few men has increased their strength considerably.'
'But none of them are stronger than you,' Yamcha sought to confirm, 'right?'
To everyone's surprise, Nail looked to his right and said nothing. After a moment, Tsuno coughed and cleared his voice. 'Do you have any update on the dragonballs?' he asked of them.
'We were told that we'd be contacted when they've been gathered,' Bulma informed them. 'And we haven't been contacted yet, so… yeah.'
Moori frowned. 'Let us hope it does not come down to the wire.'
'I can't imagine that it'll take much longer. Our friends have gotten pretty good at finding dragonballs at this point, and they've already had several hours to look for them.'
Yamcha leaned over to Bulma. 'They have a second dragon ball radar on Earth, right?' he whispered.
'Yes! Of course…' Bulma's speech slowed. '... Well, actually-'
'Someone's coming,' Nail spoke up from the other side of the room. He opened his eyes and glanced towards the hall's entrance. 'They're close.'
'Another assault? Already?' Tien asked.
'Not the main force… someone who's been on this planet since the first attack.'
Tien instantly realized who Nail was referring to- he searched and found Yamcha's concerned gaze. 'Then we have to go,' Yamcha declared. 'How long until the main PTO force lands?'
'Not long, if I had to guess from what I can sense,' Nail answered. 'You won't have much time to fight them alone.'
Tien looked back to Bez, who nodded. 'That's fine. We shouldn't need much time to defeat him.'
As Tien and Bez strode towards the exit, Yamcha began to follow them. But after taking one step, a hand grabbed his arm and stopped him. Confused, he turned to a visibly worried Bulma.
'You're don't want to come, do you?' he asked, unsure of what was going on.
Bulma's nose crinkled, and she playfully shoved him away. 'No, you dolt.' She then stepped closer. 'But…' Yamcha was shocked as Bulma stepped up onto her tiptoes and planted a kiss on his right cheek. She then rocked back, smiling.
'For good luck.'
Looking like he had been touched by a ghost, Yamcha rubbed the spot on his face where she had kissed him. 'Are you going to do that every time I'm about to go into a fight?' he asked, astonished.
'Far from it,' Bulma countered, jabbing a finger to his chest, 'I expect you to do that for me the next time I'm about to do something dangerous but necessary. So get out there, win, and come back safe. Someone who expects you to do the same for her is waiting for you.'
Grinning hard enough to crack his jaw, Yamcha nodded, and seeing that Bez and Tien had already exited, spun and ran out.
0o0o0
Gliding above the Namekian landscape, a sudden mental jolt hit Piccolo. He had been tracking a power moving across the planet to where he was also going, and had been planning on intercepting this person… but three powers had just peeled off from his original destination to intercept this person as well. Piccolo recognized two of them.
Tien and Yamcha. Exponentially stronger than they were the last time I was alive… but weaker than me regardless. He had a good idea as to what had happened. The humans had arrived on Namek and had convinced the Namekians, his people, to revive Kami. When Kami was revived, he came back, too.
Though the question remains… why am I here? I should be on Earth if all they did was revive Kami… so they must have brought me here. But why?
Piccolo suspected the reason might involve the mystery energy the humans and their third were moving to intercept and the vague collection of energy Piccolo sensed was moving closer to the planet's surface. Perhaps they wanted him to fight for them. Perhaps they wanted him to help them.
In an instant the white aura that surrounded Piccolo's airborne body doubled in size, nearly doubling his airborne speed. Fools. Not just Yamcha and Tien- every single human. That entire race was a collection of idiots. Were they that quick to dismiss his deeds? What he had done? He wasn't Kami, nor was he his father- he was Piccolo, and with a single-minded focus, he would pursue what he wanted for himself.
He was close now; he would have the Namekians all to himself.
0o0o0
Cui's scouter beeped several seconds before they appeared. To prepare themself, Cui stopped flying, folded their arms, and began to hover in mid-air. Below, the land was flat and remarkably uniform. It would make a fine place for their revenge.
Side-by-side, three figures halted before them. Cui recognized the one in the middle and on the right- but their gaze lingered on the tall purple one to their left. 'Who's this?' Cui mocked. 'One of your friends?'
Bez floated a few feet away from Tien and Yamcha. 'I'm just here to fight,' he said.
'You're in PTO armor,' Cui noted, examining the nearly broken state of Bez's chestplate. 'The blast that created that hole in your armor must have been bad enough to have killed whoever was wearing it. You steal it from a dead soldier, native?'
Bez scoffed. 'You think I'm a native? You really do know nothing about the planet you're attacking.'
'Not my job,' Cui replied, a smug smile glued to their face. 'But you know what is my job?' They pointed an accusatory finger at Yamcha and Tien. 'I think you two are who I'm looking for. You're certainly strong enough.'
Yamcha and Tien glanced at each other. 'Yeah? Who exactly are you looking for?'
Cui, peeling back the sides of their mouth with a grin, shook their head. 'Always the same with these Saiyans…'
Cui's purple, lithe form then blurred to one side, coalescing into lines, and spinning, Tien caught a forearm with one hand that had been aimed at his head.
'Shame that I can't kill you now!'
0o0o0
Despite the storm of fists, kicks, and elbows that burst into being just to his left, Bez hung back. He wasn't sure Cui had said something. He wasn't sure… He… might be sure.
Cui had said Saiyans. Bez was nearly sure of it. What else would Cui have said that starts with "Sai…"? Vegeta blamed us.
A crushing impact roared down from above. Before Bez could look up, Yamcha's body crashed into his own, sending them spiraling down to the ground. After a second of flailing, Yamcha growled, spun, and pushed Bez away from him in mid-air. 'Get in the fight!' he yelled, before zooming off to Bez's right.
Startled, Bez flung out his energy and slowed himself. He looked skyward again and dodged to the right just in time before Tien's body catapulted past him. Orienting himself diagonally to the ground, Bez drew back one arm and leg, and brought the other two limbs closer together like a brace. True to his guess, Cui's form slammed into his own a second later, causing Bez to shudder from the sudden and painful crush.
'Get out of my way!' Cui shrieked while pushing against Bez's guard.
Bez swung to his left to avoid an overhead chop, then shifted back instantly to grab Cui's left arm high and above his head. Bez then rapid-fire slammed his left elbow into Cui's left side, causing the PTO soldier to gasp and chips of Cui's armor to fly off. Bez finished by zooming around to Cui's back and bending their left arm further behind them, causing Cui to painfully squirm, before hooking back his right arm to drive into Cui's back.
'GET OFF!' Cui roared, before launching their head backward and slamming it into Cui's face. Stunned, Bez let his grip around Cui's left arm loosen- Cui spun, and their entire body flipped- and two boots slammed down on Bez's right shoulder, twisting it down and out far further than it should have and launching Bez towards the ground. Rubbing their pained, stretched arm, Cui watched Bez crash into a plain below before charging a ki blast in their other arm. 'My scouter tells me where you are, fool!' He shouted, turning.
A wave of pink energy exploded from Cui's palm, enveloping the Saiyan with the black hair- Wait, no! Even through the sheen of light coming off of their attack, Cui saw Yamcha's form disperse as the blast passed through the area he was without resistance and zoomed off into the sky. Frantic, Cui looked to their left and right before Yamcha appeared below them and roundhoused kicked them higher into the sky.
Immediately, Yamcha began charging a Kamehameha in his palms. 'Tien, now!' he telepathically commanded.
Far above him, Tien materialized in the path of Cui's trajectory, two fingers pointed down. 'FULL-POWER DODON RAY, HAH!' Tien yelled as a beam twice as wide as his two fingers shot out from his fingertips and screamed down towards Cui. Alarmed, the PTO soldier barely managed to halt their momentum, raise their arms to block, and call forth their raging purple aura. When the beam hit, it crashed against Cui's arms and the full might of their aura, and despite Tien's best efforts, the driving edge of it soon began to splinter apart inches away from Cui's forearms.
'Did you learn anything from last time?' Cui screamed, shooting a gaze that could kill at Tien. 'You can only slow me down!
At this distance, Cui couldn't see Tien's face- but they were sure that he was casting down an insufferable smile regardless. 'That may have been true before,' Tien yelled back, 'but you're weaker than you were last time!' The dodon ray received another burst of energy, pushing Cui back several feet down in the air. 'Not to mention more arrogant!'
BEEP-BEEP-BEEP; the scouter over Cui's left eye shook, then exploded in response to a new source of energy. Cui's attention moved beyond the mass of energy pressing down on them from above and to their right. Just as they caught a glimpse of blue, Yamcha's Kamehameha roared up from below and swallowed them.
0o0o0
Ooof… Bez's eyes fluttered open. Ouch… Groaning, Bez sat up, brushing off the dirt that had half-submerged him as he went. He rolled his neck, noted that the pain his right shoulder was horrible- probably dislocated- and glanced around. He was in a crater.
Got knocked down… so… up? Bez looked skyward. High above him, he saw Cui's purple form pressing against a yellow blast from above. Tien, most likely. Closer to him, Bez saw Yamcha cocking back his hands… and then shooting a blue, loping beam up towards Cui's back. The PTO soldier looked back at the last second before being sandwiched alive. The blue and gold ran over their aura and mixed together, generating an explosive, volatile white, before bursting apart and exploding.
The shockwave was horribly loud- Bez covered his ears while waves of wind drove down from above and crashed against him, strong enough to nearly flatten him to the ground again. All around him grass wavered violently and was flung into the air, while a few trees lost all their blue leaves to the repeated blasts of wind. In the distance, he heard the churning of water spout and bubble.
By the time the shaking stopped, Bez was standing, body and bones aching with his left arm hovering over his right shoulder, and was searching the sky above him. For a moment he saw residual energy unraveling, streaks of blue and white… but then Yamcha and Tien appeared to him and started to descend.
0o0o0
Tien touched down first. 'You alright?' he asked, running his eyes over Bez.
'I'm fine,' Bez said, shaking off Tien's question and any behavior that accurately indicated how much pain he presently felt. 'He's gone?'
'He's not up there, so he's either dead or somewhere down here.'
Yamcha then touched down. To Bez's eyes, he seemed concerned. 'Something the matter?' he asked.
'That shouldn't have been enough energy to kill him,' Yamcha muttered. 'If we hit him, he should be heavily damaged, unable to fight- but not dead.' Yamcha closed his eyes, then shook his head and looked at the ground. 'Can't sense anything. Still too much random energy in the air.'
'If he's alive, he couldn't have gotten far.' Tien stepped out to his right, glanced over Bez's shoulder. 'We'll just need to look for him the old fashion way. I'll get airborne again and get a better vie-'
'Hmm?' Bez looked over to Tien; the human had visibly paled and was frozen in place. Bez's eyes shot over to Yamcha, saw his gaze was directed over his shoulder too, and fighting a rising feeling of dread, he followed their attention and turned.
Ten feet away, an eminently cocky, smug, and blue alien smiled at them with his lips. He was tall- maybe a third taller than Yamcha and Tien, and possessed a slender yet muscular build. He wore a black jumpsuit underneath black armor and white boots, and the tanned color of his shoulder pads matched the color of a segmented, oval piece of his skin that ran along the topmost part of his head. Only one difference in his attire as compared to the average PTO soldier stuck out to Yamcha, Tien, and Bez- a white, upside down A with purple in the center was laid across an orange patch on the left side of his chestplate.
They also saw that Cui's motionless body, burnt and mangled by their combined attack, was tucked underneath the blue alien's right arm and dripped dark purple blood onto his white boots.
Burter drew back his lips and gave them a real smile. 'Hello, boys.' Without any concern for Cui, he then let the PTO's soldier body slip out of his grip and crash to the ground. 'Too bad I didn't get here a few moments earlier,' Burter teased. 'Would have saved Cui here a lot of pain.'
Yamcha's gaze tracked Cui's body plop down, bounce once, and come to a stop. 'Damn it,' he fumed, 'he's still alive!…'
'Oh?' Burter said, gazing down at Cui planted face-down in the dirt. 'Pity. You're not going to do much better today than what you did to him.'
Without thinking, Bez took two steps back, placing himself behind Tien and Yamcha's rigid forms. A living nightmare, in the flesh. He isn't supposed to be here. This just isn't fair… He took another step back. If all his friends are here... we really are dead.
'He's one of your own,' Tien said, trying to disguise the fear in his voice.
'He is, and you've had your fun with him,' Burter jeered. He then slid one foot back, raised his arms above his head, and stuck out his body at an angle. 'Now it's time for Burter of the Ginyu Force to have his fun!'
A/N: This was a super tough chapter to write (primary reason for why this was on the shorter side…). Also a tough spot to end things! I was originally planning on writing a few more scenes out for this chapter, but decided in the interest of getting out a Saturday update to shunt them into next week's chapter. Got in some action, though! And next week will have a whole lot of that!
Power levels
Tien: 16,000
Yamcha: 15,000
Bez: 12,000
Cui: 17,000 (weakened from 18,000 from the previous fight)
Burter: ?
Reviews:
LWexe: I always enjoy your reviews! Keep 'em coming!
