Namek

Chapter 59: Best Laid Plans


Tasked with guarding the last great mass of Namekian people in the galaxy, Nail stood at the spire's top edge and breathed. With his eyes closed, he felt more; not too far away, he sensed clusters of people landing onto the planet in unison, all guarding one central mass of people and individual power- it was there he felt three powers that could challenge his own, and one that certainly surpassed his… though, by how much, he didn't know. Before the entrance of these individuals he had felt secure that he could dispatch this invasion on his own… but, now, that belief seemed more tenuous.

'Nail,' Moori said from his side. The Elder of the Namekian race was standing in much the same way and position as Nail. 'You can feel them, can't you?'

'Yes. They're landing close by-'

'Not them,' Moori cut him off. 'Not the invaders. Can you feel the humans?'

Frowning, Nail shifted his focus towards where their allies had run off to. 'They're all there, with... well…'

'You see, then?'

'They were too slow,' Nail remarked. 'And they're too far out for me to go out and help them now.'

Moori opened his eyes and looked out to the deceptive, empty horizon. 'Do they have a chance?'

Behind them, Namekians were funneling into Guru's hall, chattering and squirming amongst each other, while the adults directed the youngest Namekians in first. After a moment, Nail opened his eyes, glanced behind him, and looked at Moori.

'No.'

Grimacing, Moori closed his eyes again. 'Hmm…'

0o0o0

By this point, between the three of them, Yamcha, Tien, and Bez had seen a lot of weird things. But someone… posing like this was not one of them.

'...What are you doing?' Yamcha asked, his eyes tracing the weird shapes Burter made with his arms. 'Is this an attack?'

Tien moved out to the side to get a better angle. 'He's moving pretty slow… so, probably not.'

Even Bez, who was shaking just a few seconds ago, steadied himself to get a good look at the tall, gesticulating alien. 'We should go,' he urged, causing Yamcha and Tien to glance back at him. 'We won't get another chance to run.'

'Run all you want,' Burter spoke, moving his arms out of the V and twisting his torso back-and-forth. As he did this, he stepped over Cui's unmoving body like they were a rock in the ground. 'Take as much time as you want. I'll catch up with you.'

Tien's mouth wobbled. 'You can't be serious-'

'Run,' Burter said, staring Tien dead in the eye. 'Go ahead.'

The two of them stared at each other until Tien wrenched his gaze away to Yamcha. 'Let's go,' he ordered, 'now.'

Nothing more was said; followed a few seconds later by a more injured Bez, Yamcha and Tien zoomed off into the sky back towards the Namekians. Burter knew where they were going, and knew how long exactly, judging from their current speed, how long it would take for him to catch-up. So he gave them five minutes. Once five minutes passed, he bent low to the ground, formed a square with his legs, and burst into flight fast enough to flatten every blade of blue-colored grass for half a mile around.

0o0o0

At the speed they were going the wind roared, and Tien had to project his ki to his left and behind him to create a space where he and Yamcha could talk to each other. 'Did we lose him?' Tien yelled back just to be extra sure he would be heard.

'We lost Bez,' Yamcha replied, his cropped black hair ruffling through the wind. 'He's farther back-'

A deafening boom rolled over them-

And Yamcha found himself half-buried in the ground, every part of him hurting, and tasted blood in his mouth. Gagging, he wormed himself out from under a thick coating of dirt and rock and rolled onto his side. Once freed, he twisted his head above the ground and spat to clear his mouth of blood.

'What… the hell?...' he mouthed, as he rolled back and onto his other side, then carefully sat up. He realized that he was in a crater. When did that happen?

The sound of two boots tapping down to the ground reached Yamcha. Startled, he jumped to his feet and whirled.

Not ten feet away, the blue alien from earlier stood motionless, arms folded. 'Told you I'd catch up,' he snarked.

'What… the hell?' Yamcha muttered. 'How can any person be that fast?'

'"Any person"? Forgot my name already, huh?' Burter teased. 'It's Burter. I'll even spell it for you. B-U-R-T-'

'GYAA!' Yamcha roared, as he surged forward and smashed Burter across the face with his fist. His head moved an inch, if at all.

Unfazed, Burter glared at him. 'E-R. Hmph.' Then, he jumped and flipped over Yamcha- which caused a charging Tien, who was rushing Burter from behind, to crash into Yamcha. Together, they tumbled and fell to the ground.

'Your friend seems pretty keen to fight me, too,' Burter commented as he tapped back down resumed his previous position. 'I'm surprised. This is typically the point where people like you start to kneel down and beg in front of people like me.'

Snarling, Yamcha clambered to his feet. This- I hate these PTO soldiers!-

'Getting angry isn't going to get us anywhere,' Tien's strained voice said, flowing into Yamcha's mind. 'We need to focus.'

'Well, running didn't get us anywhere! So we have to fight!'

'Together, then!'

Yamcha and Tien's outlines burst apart, and a split-second later, each one attacked Burter from an opposite side- but their blows both landed ineffectively against Burter's forearms. Undeterred, Yamcha and Tien weaved and moved forward, launching two or three limbs at Burter at a time. Their auras kicked up; wind blew across the surface of Namek as they wasted no time unleashing the full extent of their power. Against Cui, in either of their fights, they never fought with this purpose or single-mindedness; they fought with everything they had, with everything they knew, as between the two of them, they saw techniques last used two tournaments ago. Their opponent, a blurred splotch of blue that was present at every one of their blows, absorbed all their ferocity and focus like a tree being ruffled by a light wind. Energy roared out of both of them, but broke against Burter's black and brown armor all the same.

For all their effort… it did them nothing. They spent a minute pushing their bodies to their absolute max, beyond whatever sustainable pace they had used in battles past, because they knew that if they didn't win this fight in less than a minute, then the battle was already lost.

Screaming, Yamcha launched forward and tried to slam one ki-fanged hand into Burter's chest. As a final insult, the purple alien mildly exerted himself and zipped just a few inches away from Yamcha's outstretched appendage. 'Close,' Burter taunted. 'So very close.'

Yamcha, drooping, fell to one knee and struggled to catch his breath. Tien, in a similar state, hunched and shook on his feet. 'How?' Tien asked, disbelieving. 'This can't be real. How can the gap between us be so large?'

'Don't feel so bad,' Burter faux-consoled. 'Someone who notches a 20,000 reading on a scouter could rule most parts of the galaxy. But, here… you're outclassed.' When Yamcha and Tien, staring at him, did nothing more than continue to pant, Burter frowned. 'You know what? I feel bad. How about this: I'll give you another minute. Do whatever you want with it- run, prepare to fight me again, whatever. I'll stand here and wait.'

Weak, Yamcha half-turned to Tien. 'One more shot!' he shouted. 'Charge your strong-'

Before he could finish, Yamcha felt a person appear next to him. 'I lied,' Burter whispered into his ear. 'I don't have the time to play with you.'

Indescribable pain, delivered through a punch that pressed itself up and halfway through his body, threw Yamcha off his feet and into the air. Stunned, he was helpless as Burter appeared in the air above him, spun in place fast enough to lose all definition, and slammed the bottom of his boot against Yamcha's chest. Bones cracked as Yamcha's body blurred down and impacted with the ground near the edge of a body of water.

Below Burter, gaping, Tien saw what he could perceive of this, and heard his own blood drip off his arms and trickle onto the grass. He was faced with a ruthless power, and despair as thick as blood swept over him. I can't see a way out.

0o0o0

Ooof… His vision pulsed in and out. What?...

Knocked to the ground with his head resting on his left arm, Yamcha discovered that he couldn't move any part of his body beyond the fingers on his right hand. His mind felt disconnected from his body, which first surprised him, then terrified him. His out-of-control crash landing had come to a stop just feet away from the land's edge- beyond it, a green ocean reached out to him. Invited…

Invited what? That I roll myself into the water to hide, and drown because I can't come back up for air? Or maybe that's the idea- just to roll in and be done with it.

He began to stand. He had no idea why- there was no way they could win this battle. Before they had even had a chance to think through what longshot technique may have saved them, the battle was over. They were beaten. Even now, Yamcha felt that Burter's power hadn't diminished. And he was pretty sure that he was still holding a significant chunk of his power back.

They were going to be crushed… by someone toying with them. Even in their most hopeless fights, when the odds were stacked against them entirely, it had never been this humiliating.

Shaking, Yamcha seized control of his right hand, pressed it to the ground, and clawed as the loose soil. What do I care about humiliation? My life is full of it… The hand halted, then closed together to form a palm. What's… He pressed the palm to the ground and pushed more of his weight down on that spot. What's… one more?

Through sheer force of will, Yamcha took back control over his body. From one hand, he fought his way to sit up, kneel, and finally stand. As he rose, the last pieces of his PTO chestplate fell away- no doubt destroyed by his last attack- leaving him clothed in a pair of ruined white boots and a tattered black jumpsuit peppered with blood stains. His bones were broken; he was bleeding inside and out, and Yamcha felt about as close as he could to dying without actually doing so.

He saw Tien rising to his feet about fifty feet away. Between them, Burter stood just the same as he had the entire fight. His arms were crossed.

If I ever need to die again… let it be quick, please… Yamcha staggered forward. Like when King Piccolo returned. Dying then was tolerable. It wasn't like this- not like how this is going.

He stumbled forward a few more feet before stopping. To his own surprise, he started to chuckle whenever the pain would let him. Can't believe I just thought that. Not too long ago, I would have never missed a fight, but… Yamcha lifted his gaze towards his target. Burter was fully turned to him now, and appeared to be preparing to charge him. I'd like this to be over now.

'Yamcha,' Tien's feeble voice whispered into his consciousness. 'It's time for last-ditch efforts.'

'I think the time has passed for that.'

'To win? I'd agree. But it's not a matter of winning now. It's a matter of survival.'

Yamcha halted. 'Yeah?'

'Stay down.'

Time ground to a halt- Yamcha saw Tien's pleading face hang in the distance, partially obscured by Burter on the precipice of bursting into action. Last-ditch.

Ok. Yamcha used every bit of his energy to track the oncoming blow. Then, once it hit, darkness engulfed him.

0o0o0

Just like his friend, the three-eyed one failed to see Burter zoom around to behind him. There, he paused for a moment, savoring the dumb look of a disoriented and frightened target, before slamming the tip of his elbow into the back of three-eye's head. All the tension in his body then vanished; he dropped to the ground, unconscious, just as his friend had.

Run of the mill.

A few seconds later, with each captive tucked underneath each arm, Burter took off into the sky. As fast as he was, soon enough he came to where he had first encountered his captives; he slowed and started his descent back to the ground.

To his immense satisfaction, he landed a handful of seconds before the rest of his team appeared. What would have flashes of color to any other soldier were distinct shapes of red, tan, and green- except for one. Burter may have trained his speed more than anyone else in the Ginyu squad, but, when it came to the Captain, no-one had any funny ideas as to how they stacked up against him. They all accepted and appreciated the fact the Captain was stronger than them and would step in to help them if need be- which wasn't very often. The three other men who landed alongside Captain Ginyu, with their jaw-dropping power, made that fact clear enough.

Jeice, Reccome, and Guldo, hand folded at their backs, landed behind the Captain. At first, their commanding officer did nothing except remain rigid, signaling to everyone present to remain in their present poses. But then Ginyu gave a shake of his head, strode up to Burter, and took him by his shoulders.

'Nice catch, Burter,' Ginyu congratulated him while bending up and down to examine Tien and Yamcha hanging limply in his arms. The rest of the squad also tiptoed closer and followed the Captain's lead.

'They're so tall…' Guldo remarked, poking at their legs.

'Look kinda thin to me,' Recoome commented. 'Wonder if I could snap them in two.'

'Oi! This one has a third eye!' Jeice cried, slapping Tien's forehead a few times to get everyone's attention.

As Recoome and Guldo joined Jeice in his ogling, Ginyu moved to Burter's other side. 'Anything else to report?' he asked once he had grabbed Burter's attention.

Burter nodded. 'You know Cui?'

'That fish-face?' Jeice joined in. 'The one with holes in their head?'

'Yeah, them. They're still alive. Was fighting these two.' Burter said, shaking the bodies in his arms. 'I saved their life- but Cui seems to have run off. They and... ' Burter wiggled his mouth, and drew it into a frown. 'There was a third with these two. Didn't look the same, though- definitely not a Saiyan.'

'Strong?' Recoome asked, grinning.

Burter chuckled. 'Not in the slightest. Not very fast, either.'

Ginyu finished examining the bodies and straightened. 'Then this third is not our concern,' he said, 'nor is it anyone else's. We are here to capture potential Saiyans and Saiyans only. Rule #14 to ensure a successful operation, men: never spread unnecessary information among your allies. You'll either distract them or doom them to an early death.' He spun on his troops. 'Am I clear? This information does not leave our squad!'

In unison, Jeice, Recoome, Guldo, and even Burter, saddled with two people, snapped to attention. 'Sir, yes, sir!'

Ginyu inspected their poses for a moment, then dipped his head. On cue, his squad relaxed. 'Jeice,' he addressed the red alien, 'I want you to take those two back to the command ship. Stick them in a storage room with energy dampeners clamped around their wrists. If they wake up before you get there, knock them around again- my scouter logged their max power level at around 20,000, so it should be easy for you to detain them again if need be.'

Jeice clicked his boots and saluted. 'Sir, yes, sir!' Quick and soundless as the wind, Jeice strode over to Burter, let the alien hoist the bodies onto his shoulders like heavy sacks, and gave a wave of his hand as he lifted up into the sky. 'Don't let them have all the fun without me, Cap'n!'

Ginyu gave a flat smile. 'See you soon, Jeice.'

With one final nod, the red alien twisted and blasted off into the horizon. Once he was gone, Ginyu turned back to his men. 'Well, now that we're all wrapped up here, it's time to rejoin the others! Everyone! Prepare to fly, in formation! We've got a reputation to uphold!'

His squad hooted in response to his words. Ginyu may have been far and away the strongest member of the Ginyu Squad- but power wasn't everything. A good leader should know how to motivate and inspire the troops under their command. And Ginyu considered himself to be much, much better than a "good" leader.

As his men stretched and hopped, preparing themselves for the imminent flight, Ginyu came to Burter's side and clapped a hand on the alien's shoulder.

'Burter?'

The blue alien lifted his chin and looked at him. 'Yes, boss?'

'I want you to fly in front of us. Full-speed, no delays.' Ginyu's mouth curled into a crooked line. 'Embarrass Zarbon before we arrive. It'll make our job at the end of this that much easier.'

Burter smirked. 'Will do, boss.'

0o0o0

Petrified, Bez tried his best to meld into the stray rock he was currently pressed up against. Just a couple hundred yards away, he saw the living, breathing Ginyu Force circle around Yamcha and Tien like a group of vultures. Both of them had gone down without so much as scratching the blue one, Burter. But, oddly enough, they weren't being finished off. If anything, their unconscious bodies were treated carefully as they passed from the blue alien to the red one.

It hit him. They're prisoners. They- we weren't being hunted- we were being tracked. Which meant that Yamcha and Tien were now back to what they were a little over a week ago- prisoners in the most brutal organization in the galaxy. They were as good as dead once whoever wanted them alive was done with them.

They were my ticket out of here. It was a nasty, selfish thought, and to Bez's surprise, he felt shame for having thought it. I can get back to the other one, Bulma, though. She and I-

Bez ducked, pressed his back to the rock, and slapped himself. It hurt a little. Stop that! No more! If we can leave together, we will. They'll escape… somehow. I believe in them. Wouldn't be the first time they've done something impossible.

A roar of wind reached Bez's ears. Alerted, Bez sat back up and peered out over the top of the rock. He looked just in time to see the Ginyu Force, in formation, lift off from the ground and fly off. When they finally fully dispersed, Bez, relieved that they were gone, stood. He was careful not to inflame any of his previous injuries, nor further dislocate his shoulder. Ouch... Forgot about that. I'm going to need someone to pop that back in.

'Asshole.'

Bez recognized the voice; he really, really didn't want to see this person again. An instant later, Bez fell forward, propelled by a blinding force emanating from the back of his skull. He crashed to the ground, gasped, and threw himself to the right, avoiding a charred white boot stabbing itself into the ground. Tearing up, Bez's eyes traced the leg up to its owner

Cui looked more like a corpse than a person, but even so, they made one angry corpse. 'Captured, your two friends are going to suffer a worse fate than you,' they said, bending over and picking up Bez by the edge of the hole in his chestplate. They slammed a fist, knuckles raking across Bez's chest, sideways across his armor. The armor splintered apart, and Bez was thrown several feet and rolled across the ground.

As Bez used his good arm to push himself up, he glanced to his right and saw Cui stomp over to him, aura flickering around them, and pull off the ruined remains of their white gloves from their hands. 'Get up!' they yelled.

0o0o0

In the distance the spire stood, stolid, and did not cast a shadow. Zarbon was surprised when he noticed this; in all his planning, he had never thought about how this planet's three suns would make it that there were no shadows on its surface. No darkness hung out in the open among all the light; not a single spot was untouched by the constant sunlight, barring whatever caves or crevices laid underneath the surface.

As it was, everything that could be apparent to him was- and he was confident that his hands would soon be clean of everything before him.

'Commander?'

Zarbon turned to his right. Appule, the purple alien with a massive, cylindrical head whom he had made his second to replace Dodoria, waited on his word. 'Yes?'

'Three things. First, we've started to receive close-range readings from the spire.'

Zarbon returned his attention to the far-off landmark. 'Average power level?'

'Around 3,000 to 4,000. Puts them on about equal footing with an average soldier of ours.'

'So you'd predict an even battle if we were to engage them as an army?'

'Well, if it was just them…'

Zarbon put his hands to his neck and cracked it, thrashing around his ponytail braid on his back. 'You're referring to the one who decimated our army in the last attack, I presume.'

'Yes… we've detected a reading of at least 22,000 among the others. And it's been growing steadily over the past hour- just a few minutes ago, it came in at 20,000.'

'That so?' Zarbon thought on this. Perhaps they're trying to intimidate me. Perhaps they're preparing for the battle, in their own way… but it doesn't matter. I've planned for whatever flailing they wish to do. 'And the second thing?'

Appule blinked. 'Second-ah, yes! Sorry, sir! We've just received a message from Captain Ginyu. One of his men successfully intercepted and captured the readings that had peeled off from the spire.'

Zarbon's gaze swung back to his second. 'Captured? I didn't order that.'

'They think they're Saiyans,' Appule clarified. 'So, as per our orders…'

'I recall my own orders, Appule,' Zarbon reminded him. 'What makes them think those two are Saiyans?'

Appule tapped the scouter over his left and eye and began reading off of his visor. 'Well, their prisoners don't look like the other locals we've met- they're not green, don't have antennae. They have beige-white skin. And, perhaps most damning of all, they were caught wearing PTO armor.' Appule clicked the side of his scouter again and looked back to Zarbon. 'If you want my opinion, sir, I think it's pretty likely they're the people we're looking for.'

Zarbon regarded the distant spire again. 'Indeed. It is likely, based on what you've told me. Though you seemed to have forgotten an important detail, Appule.'

'What's that?'

'There were three reported renegades, Appule!' Zarbon said, swinging back to glare at his second. 'Which means that we're not done here- the plan continues as planned.' He pointed into the distance. 'Their third is still there, at the spire, hiding behind what's left of this planet's people.'

'So we attack?'

Furious, Zarbon twisted back to Appule and nearly struck him and his thick, fat skull. 'No! We do not do anything until the Ginyu Force arrives!' He yelled, making himself seem twice as tall as Appule. 'They have a warrior who surpasses most, if not all of our forces! Are you too dumb to realize that flinging ourselves at that now would invite needless death? Do you know nothing about being a commanding officer? You- we do not throw away our soldiers' lives unnecessarily! Am I clear?'

Shrinking, Appule looked away from Zarbon's murderous glare. 'Yes, sir. Sorry- I didn't mean to… make dumb comments.'

Zarbon fumed at him. 'I'm sure,' he said, turning away his gaze. 'Nevermind. Do you have anything else to report?'

'The third thing, sir?'

'What is it?' Zarbon asked, exasperated.

'We got a reading on someone else closing in on the spire. They logged a reading of 5,000 on our scouters. Too weak to be one of Ginyu's men.'

'Someone with a power level of 5,000 does not concern me. Send Cochau and Rasp with their squads towards this reading,' Zarbon commanded without hesitation. 'We can afford to spare them and still ensure a strong enough perimeter around the spire.'

Appule bowed, and began to back away to relay Zarbon's command. 'Then I'll do that, sir.'

Zarbon, after eyeing Appule retreat, turned his gaze back to the spire. '...'

0o0o0

Perched like a bird, Moori squinted into the distance. 'What are they doing?'

At his side, Nail grunted. 'Nothing. Absolutely nothing.'

'You sound displeased by this.'

'Nothing means that they're waiting.' In one abrupt motion, Nail clenched his hands into fists and raised his arms. Waves of wind arose from nowhere and flew across the spire's top. 'I can sense how far away their reinforcements are. I can decimate this army before they arrive with time to spare.'

Moori linked his hands together in front of him. 'Then the humans lost? They're gone?'

Nail shifted his gaze to his right. 'Not gone. Their energy is faint and moving together with one of the stronger powers across the planet. They've most likely been captured.'

'They were baited,' Moori said, shaking his head.

'Looks like it.'

'We will have to rely on their friend, now, to use their set of dragonballs.'

'Then keep her here. Do I have your permission to engage the army?'

Moori dipped his head. 'Go.'

'What's going on?'

Surprised, Nail and Moori turned. Bulma, her face tied up into an anxious knot, fought against the wind rolling off of Nail's body and approached. 'Are Yamcha and Tien coming back soon?'

Unseen by Bulma, Nail glanced at Moori, then summoned his full white aura and rushed into the sky towards the thin black line of people surrounding the spire. Bulma would have been blown off her feet if it weren't for Moori grabbing her arm and steading her. Moori noticed how tense her entire body was and how her fingernails dug into her palms.

'Let's go inside,' Moori suggested, pressing an arm to Bulma's back in an attempt to turn her around. 'I see that you're upset-'

'They're not coming back, are they?' she shouted while shoving off his arm.

Moori frowned. 'They seem to have been captured.'

'Then are you going after them?'

When Moori didn't respond, Bulma huffed, implied a hundred awful things she would do to Moori if given the chance with her eyes, and strode back towards the hall. After a moment, he followed her inside.

0o0o0

Mid-flight, Piccolo came to an abrupt halt. 'Hmmph?'

Twenty armor-clad soldiers were assembled in his path. Considering that they had stopped him, he didn't see them as very smart.

'Who are you supposed to be?' Piccolo asked broadly in a dismissive tone.

A red colored man in front floated forward. 'Haven't met us before, huh? Where were you the last time we went through here?'

'Not here,' Piccolo brushed off his question. 'Now move aside- my patience for fools only goes so far.'

'Fools, huh?' A stone-gray soldier rumbled while drifting closer to Piccolo. As he did this, what Piccolo thought to be a feature of his armor unwrapped itself from around his waist and extended. It was an arm. A third arm. Not the grossest thing I've seen.

'Say that again,' this stone-gray alien repeated, floating straight into Piccolo's face. 'Say it again, native- say that we're fools.'

'We can read your power level clear as day,' Rasp commented from just a few feet behind Cochau. '5,000. You're nothing compared to us.'

A wide, thin smile took hold of Piccolo's face. 'It's funny. A few months ago, I would have been scared of you. Now, though…' Piccolo shook his head and trailed off.

Cochau now was mere inches away from him. 'What?' He snarled. 'What's so funny!?'

'I was wrong,' Piccolo said just before he appeared behind Cochau and swung his leg through the soldier's body, severing him clean in two. 'You're not fools. You're dead men.'

0o0o0

Zarbon's scouter beeped. The warrior his forces had been monitoring was flying away from the spire towards them. 22,000, then 23,000…

Rigid, Zarbon removed his scouter from his head. 'Hold this for a second,' Zarbon said, giving it to Appule.

Appule clumsily accepted it. 'What are you doing, sir?'

'Stand back.'

'Sir?'

In an instant, Zarbon's width doubled, as his muscles expanded to twice their usual side. Slim legs and arms became engorged pillars. Most strikingly, the lower half of Zarbon's face expanded to accommodate a set of crocodile-like teeth and a wicked, though concerned, grin. It looked like his entire body was about to burst out from underneath his now skin-tight armor. 'Scouter, please,' he said, in a much lower voice than he had had previously.

When a shaking Appule hesitated, Zarbon swung his snub-nosed face to him. 'I am still your commanding officer, dolt!' he snarled while snatching the scouter from his hand. 'Good for nothing!' he snarled, as he fixed the scouter back over his left eye.

Before Appule could respond, Zarbon blasted forward.

0o0o0

These would-be conquerors were weak. Nail had first discovered this when skimming across Namek in defense of the Namekian villages. They relied on their misplaced confidence, the puny weapons fixed to their arms, and their sheer, brute numbers to slaughter like common thugs. Did they think they had an actual chance?

Shaking off the thought, Nail placed a hand to a soldier's back and pulled out his other arm. The blue-skinned alien fell to the ground with a thud.

A nearby soldier spun in response to the sound. 'He's over here!' he yelled, as he raised a beam blaster. In-sync, the rest of the soldier nearby, all arranged in a line, turned and raised their own weapons.

'Blast him!' the original soldier yelled, as a wave of yellow oval-shaped blasts zoomed towards him. Expressionless, Nail's outline vanished. He reappeared in the sky above and behind the line of soldiers. Oblivious, they continued to bombard the spot where he had just been with a hail of energy blasts.

They can't track my movements in the slightest. Raising both of his arms, Nail felt a twinge of pity for them. Their actions were born of total ignorance. Perhaps they expected their leaders to only send them into battles they could win. Perhaps they had faith that their lives wouldn't be thrown away for nothing.

Thin gold sparks began to race up and down the length of Nail's arms. But he had no sympathy for them. Any person used as a tool had to be prepared to answer for their user's crimes.

Nail then appeared just above and in front of the original soldier who had spotted him. From this position, he faced the curving line of soldiers that ran around the spire in a circle.

The original soldier had just enough time to move back a step before Nail thrust his arms forward. 'GOLDEN PIERCE!' The sparks leaped off of Nail's arms like lightning, coalesced into a thick, arcing beam of yellow energy, and ran through the soldier's chest, skewering him and causing blood to shoot from his mouth. As he began to fall, Nail saw the arc splinter into four separate paths and impale the next four closest soldiers. What had been originally one arc soon grew into hundreds, as a chain of lurching energy moved through the line, killing soldiers as it went.

When the blast petered out a few seconds later, having cut through a large swath of the circle surrounding the spire, Nail realized that he had given them more mercy than they deserved; only the first soldier had enough time to see his death before he became it.

A flicker of energy caught Nail's attention. Mid-turn, he was slammed to his right towards the spire from behind.

0o0o0

Rushing, Zarbon followed after Nail's careening outline. His light blue outline burned around him, spitting color into the air, as he appeared above the green warrior's body, locked his fingers together, and raised the combined fist over his head.

When he swung, the strike fell neatly into Nail's outstretched hands. The warrior narrowed his eyes at him, then pushed back and away, disappearing from sight.

Alarmed, Zarbon slowed his momentum to a halt. His scouter beeped. 30,000!? At the last second, Zarbun spun and caught a fist that had been aimed for his back. They remained locked in that position for a time, each one staring down the other. Zarbon, despite his bulkier and larger body, physically trembled with exertion to remain in place. 'So,' Zarbon forced out, 'you're the local pest who's been making a mockery of my operation?'

Nail raised an eyebrow. 'Your operation?' Nail then applied more force, made Zarbon yelp and stammer, and bent Zarbon's arms at an unnatural angle. 'You are responsible for everything that's happened?'

Zarbon's scouter beeped again. 33,000 flashed on its display. Bloodshot, Zarbon's attention fixed on the number. No! That's impossible! That's higher than mine!

'I see,' Nail seethed, before Zarbon's vision shook back and forth and a horrible pain erupted against his head. Trailing blood, Zarbon crashed to the ground below near the foot of the spire. His world spinning, Zarbon struggled to remove himself from the ground.

'A minute is all I need to dismiss what remains of your army,' A voice spoke down to him from above. Blinking away the bleariness in his eyes, Zarbon recognized Nail as hovering above him. Somehow, he had transformed his stolid face into something terrifying.

'Then, I'll come for you,' Nail continued, sneering. 'And trust me; I'll want more than a minute with you. When- Hmph?' Nail's eyes flickered towards something farther out, away from the spire. His postured tightened, and a moment later, he zipped away.

Head aching from the last blow, Zarbon's eyes struggled to see where Nail had gone. Forgetting that he had a scouter, he stood and looked towards his army, searching for a green blur bulldozing its way through his forces. After a few seconds, his scouter beeped and drew his attention skyward.

Nail was flying parallel to the spire to its top. 'He's pulling back,' Zarbon muttered. He tapped his scouter- thankfully, it was still working- and connected to Appule. 'Order everyone to regroup! Now!'

0o0o0

A spire, starting as a thin line running from the horizon into the sky, widened and grew over the course of a minute. Atop it, Piccolo sensed his ultimate goal- the Namekians, gathered together in one place for his leisure. He sensed that Tien and Yamcha were far away now, faint, which meant they wouldn't be interfering with his plans any time soon. He also sensed that a ring of soldiers was surrounding the spire- but those same soldiers were occupied by someone, most likely a Namekian, cutting through their ranks. But even if they hadn't been occupied, they were… Piccolo half-smiled, flashing one of his fang-like canines.

Ingrates. The ones he ran across before, now dead, had wasted his time. He didn't intend to let anyone do that to him again. Putting on a burst of speed, Piccolo sprinted down the final stretch. A white building now came into focus atop the spire, and inside, he felt forty-odd souls huddling together. No-one would get between him, them, and what he wanted to know. No-one-

He was feet away from the edge of the spire when a green blur shot up from below and halted in his path. A Namekian, a strong one judging by how fast he flew up to meet him, examined him. 'So, you're Piccolo?' He asked.

Piccolo, examining him in turn, finally met Nail's gaze. 'I am. I take it that I have to thank you and the other Namekians for my revival.'

'Us, and your friends from Earth.'

'That's what they said?' Piccolo grinned from ear-to-ear. 'Friends?'

'My word, not theirs,' Nail said, unamused. 'They promised that you'd be able to help us- but I noticed that you flew past everyone surrounding this spire.'

'And?'

Nail wrinkled his nose. 'The deal we struck with the humans is that you'd help us fight. And, right now, your back is turned to the battle.'

'I'd prefer if you didn't question my actions,' Piccolo growled, 'and that you let me proceed into the hall.'

'When you haven't given me a good reason to let you? Not a chance.'

'"Let you?"' Piccolo repeated, irate. 'Are you getting in my way?'

'You got in mine, first.'

For a handful of seconds, both Namekians stared down the other, prepared to fight at a moment's notice. Piccolo drifted closer.

'Not another inch,' Nail said, holding out his palm. 'Turn around.'

Stone-faced, Piccolo looked away from Nail and began to turn. Halfway through it, white lines coalesced in front of Nail and, driven by instinct, Nail raised his forearms and blocked a fist. Piccolo then lurched up and above Nail. 'Get out of my way!' He roared, as he brought up his right hand, filled with crackling yellow energy, and encased Nail in a vertical tube of concentrated energy.

0o0o0

From a distance, Zarbon watched on with awe as a whole sliver of the spire was ripped apart by a yellow blast.

Next to him, Appule yelped as his scouter exploded on the side of his head. 'Ow! Ow, ow, ow!' He fell back to the ground on his butt, and began to pat the left side of his head. 'OW!'

Zarbon didn't even spare a glance for his poor-luck second. His full attention was consumed by the cloud of dust and debris rolling out from the bottom of the spire. Maybe I won't need the Ginyus, after all…


A/N: This arc is shaping up to be a long one. Buckle in.

Reviews:

Titanfire999: How strong will the Saiyans be? RAFO, bud. And I do read Dragon Ball Multiverse! Dare I say I'm a big fan of it!

LWexe: Nothing is simple when the Ginyu Force is involved, bub!