Blood

Chapter 88: Death, And


At last the wind came to an end and Piccolo's cape stilled behind him- but only for a moment, as his hand plunged under his cowl near his neck and pulled the garment over his head.

'You look surprised, boy,' Slug remarked, grinning at him from the other end of the Lookout. 'I'm guessing you thought you wouldn't see me here.'

'If anyone,' Piccolo said after a pause, words and motions slow and measured as he dropped the now-folded cowl to the ground at his side, 'I thought it would be Katas. I didn't think it was possible for you to come to Earth.'

'Ah…' Slug tilted his head skyward: old and dull yellow teeth shined in the last of the day's light. 'But if you know who I am, you know what became of me, all those years ago.' His voice sounded like a memory. 'I was tricked and sealed away on a barren planet by the dragonballs.' Slug swung his fanged smile to Piccolo. 'Guru's dragonballs. And Guru isn't around anymore. So it was a simple matter for someone to pilot a ship to where I was and earn my goodwill by saving me.'

Piccolo's gaze had drifted during Slug's self-indulging speech- his eyes locked with Tien's. At first he was shocked the human had enough mental control to show anything other than the near-certain torment he felt in his left arm. Then Piccolo realized what exactly he was seeing. That fire. Even though one of his limbs was nearly severed, he still wanted to fight.

Wait. Tien's voice, curt and cut-off, as if he was hemming out the parts he didn't want him to hear, rushed into Piccolo's mind. Just wait.

Piccolo's attention was in two places at once; without thinking he turned back to Slug. 'So who, then? Who sent you?'

'Oh?' Slug's fangs dipped into the light as his smile widened. 'Is it not obvious? And once upon time Katas thought so much of you.'

Normally it was irksome to hear such plain condescension and superiority from an opponent; he bordered on rage as Piccolo knew what he heard was justified. Slug was one of the three who had conquered nearly the entire galaxy in their time. It did not matter that the Namekian he saw now had been darkened, discolored, and wrinkled with age: just one look in his direction sent a stab through Piccolo's soul. He could feel the manifold inside him- the thousands of shards all pressed into place by his will, meshed together into something disgustingly monstrous...

Piccolo tore his gaze away from Slug, frowning at the ground. 'Katas received his wish. He is alive again. What more does he want?'

'Do you really have to ask that question?' Slug said in a low, humored voice. 'He's not one- or myself, for that matter- to leave threads… unattended to.'

It struck Piccolo that the Slug before him was so similar and yet so different from the one he knew from Guru's memories. This Namekian had absorbed more of his kin and conquered more planets than both his peers combined. Rage and aggression came to him as easy as drawing a breath. And yet his physical presence, sturdy and brawny still in his old age, was restrained. He was calm, almost relaxed in how his towering figure, even taller than Piccolo's, balanced on the tiles.

'Lost in thought, boy?'

'Katas should have come here himself.'

'Perhaps he should have.' Slug's eyes swept across the Lookout. 'He is occupied by other matters.' His lit eyes landed on Tien. 'But this has been fun.' Instinctually Slug raised his arms and wrung out his muscles. 'I was happy to throw some punches for the first time in centuries.'

Piccolo saw Tien was still facing the ground, blood dripping from his ruined left arm, breath pained and sharp. And yet-

'And now I must ask you to leave this planet with me.' Slug's attention fixed on him. 'You and Kami.'

Bile rose in Piccolo's throat. 'Why?'

'You know why.' Vile possession flooded Slug's eyes. 'Your kin desire it.'

'You are no kin of mine,' Piccolo growled, fanged canines flashing. 'And Earth… Earth is…'

Earth was what? Was it home, now? Could he finally admit that to himself? He had grown up here, alone, amid quiet forests and seas. He had a lot of unhappy associations with… well, a lot of things on this planet. But perhaps it meant something that he had any associations at all. To leave it all behind...

Unbidden Piccolo thought about what Traveler had told him not too long ago- how he had left the Earth with Kami in his timeline after the Saiyans had crushed them. What had changed? Did Piccolo feel there was no future left for him- or Kami- after that? Because… because they died? And on an Earth without a future, when he had his own questions about himself and Kami to find answers to…

A knot settled behind his forehead. That was it. It had to be.

'Your eventual answer is unwelcome,' Slug snarked, rolling his shoulders. 'Hesitation spoke for you. I'll just have to take you and Kami by force.'

Piccolo pressed a hand to his skull. 'And what does Katas want with Kami and I, then?'

'I don't know,' Slug enthused, cracking his knuckles. 'I don't care. I'm only here to make sure you come, willingly or not.'

'Yeah?' Piccolo's body tensed as his joints bent. 'You think you can pull that off?'

Slug feet twisted and pushed into the tiles, edging them out of alignment. 'I don't think you understand who I am, boy. I bet Guru never told you about what it felt like- what it meant to be a Super Namekian. The thrill of that power. The chills. Grinding down weak souls and pouring them into your own, like everlasting tinder to a flame… do that long enough and your relationship with other beings changes.' A faint dark green color swirled into the air around Slug. 'Everyone becomes so brittle. After all- ask your broken friend.'

There was a shift in the air. 'Ask him yourself.'

Slug and Piccolo's attention, by now locked on each other in anticipation of an imminent fight, snapped leftward: unsteady at first, Tien rose to his feet, fingers on his maimed arm twitching while it dangled back-and-forth from the few remaining stands holding it to his torso. 'I'm… I'm not broken.' He calmed himself with a breath, and as he exhaled a white-red aura filled the air around him. He slid one foot back and angled his guard, raising his right arm in between him and Slug. 'Not at all.'

Piccolo was surprised- and judging by what he saw on Slug's face, so was his opponent. 'Tien? You're-'

'I knew I couldn't beat him on my own- so I stalled for as long as I could.' Tien's eyes narrowed on Slug. 'But that doesn't mean I had to use all my power to get here. Far from it.'

'But your arm…'

'Doesn't matter.' His aura whipped into the air, tossing the first gusts of wind across the Lookout. 'I've got another working one, after all.'

'Well…' Slug closed his eyes and stifled a chuckle. Old folds and lines swept across his face. 'What's one more?' Without warning a wave of energy erupted from his aura, pouring across the tiles like slow-moving fog. Tendons tightened and coiled under weathered skin. 'This will be a fight… and fighting you two…' The ancient Namekian raised his arms before him, fingers thrown from his hands like claws, and let out a loud, guttural cry. 'It won't change the gulf between us! You two are just two more souls to grind!'

The air shifted around Piccolo as he drew up alongside Tien. You're alright?

More than alright. Tien's aura flashed. I'm ready.

0o0o0

Rain was pouring down from the muddled gray skies above by the time Krillin and Rayne landed opposite of Rush. Darkness flooded in from every edge of the field, dimming their senses and throwing long, impermeable shadows across the ground in front of them. Underneath flashing water and silver, fleeting markings of their passage to the soil, Rush lifted his head and stared at the pitch-black clouds above. Even in the rain his hair kept itself rigid.

'I don't know what you two think.' His voice cut against the rain's patter. 'I don't know you two- at least, not in the traditional sense. So I really don't know how to do this.' His rain-kissed face swung down to them. 'I don't know how to get past… this.'

'You could start with an explanation.' Rayne's gaze thinned as light fled. 'If you tell us who you are and what exactly you're doing out here, then nothing bad will happen.'

'Bad?' Rush's pale blue eyes swept across them. 'So that's it. You think I'm from the future.'

A dull crack came from within the clouds above, throwing out yellow-white light. 'It's the likely explanation, considering who else was there that day in the desert,' Krillin said.

'...'

'You weren't aware?'

'I didn't know that man was a time traveler,' Rush admitted, 'though I assumed as much. This timeline… is already very different from what I'd expect given my knowledge of the past.' His head hung in the air as rain traveled down his face in lines. 'Let's talk for a bit, then. There might be something to gain from it.'

Krillin felt wetting mud start to cling to his boots. Since leaving his home earlier today he'd felt a near-constant sense of dread. He suspected there might be something bad going on elsewhere on the planet. But just as soon as Gohan finished describing the suspicious man he and Rayne had sensed Rush's energy, wild and burning like a volcano shooting ash into the atmosphere. It was impossible not to sense him. And Krillin couldn't help but wonder why- why did he flaunt his ki like that? It wasn't insurmountable by any means, but still...

He really hoped that kid stayed put in the valley. Marron, too. Nothing and nowhere beyond it felt safe right now.

'We told you one thing,' Rayne spoke from his left, cutting through his thoughts. 'Tell us one. What's your name, for starters? Your real name.'

'It is Rush. That's what I know, at least.' Slowly, he bent down and palmed the sodden grass around his feet as if searching for something. 'Everything you were told is true, I think. I am an Android, and I was… changed into what I am now by Dr. Gero. As part of that, I don't remember what name I had, if any.'

'If any?' Krillin asked.

'Nevermind that.' Rayne inched forward. 'What… well, you don't look like an Android- not like the ones we've seen. What did Gero do to you?'

Rush's gaze snapped upward to them. 'What does it matter?'

'It helps to build trust,' Rayne rumbled.

His hand glided across wet blades of grass before he stood. 'I don't know, truthfully. I am what I am. I picked the name Rush when coming to this timeline. As for anything else relevant…' Rush's voice faded for a moment. 'I know your names because of the information Dr. Gero supplied me with.'

'So you've met him, then?' Krillin probed. 'Dr. Gero, in the future?'

'No.'

'No?'

'Never.'

'Why is that?'

'Answer me a question, first.' Rush said. 'The man in the desert who came from the future- who was he?'

Hesitation colored the subtle shifts Krillin and Rayne made with their footing. 'So you don't know him at all?' Rayne asked.

'I thought that was obvious.'

'Wasn't to us.' Rayne glanced at Krillin. 'To be honest, we don't know who he is, either.'

Rush closed his eyes. Water wicked off his left hand as he pressed it against his collarbone, all the while his right rolled a capsule against his hip. 'I see. I'll tell you a theory of mine, then. I think this person has traveled to this timeline multiple times, because what little I did know about the Earth's history during this time hasn't occurred.'

Sweat and rain mingled and mixed on Krillin's neck. His gi was getting soaked. But flashing his ki to dry himself might come off as aggressive in these circumstances. And… if he's saying that…

'That implies you had some knowledge of what is supposed to happen, here and now,' Rayne said, speaking Krillin's thought before he could.

'I am from the future,' Rush reminded them. 'I can tell you what the other said: I knew what was supposed to happen. A few years from now Gero would have emerged from his lab and laid waste to this world, killing what remained of you and your friends in the wake of the Saiyans' attack. But now Gero has revealed himself years earlier than he should have.' His voice quieted to a whisper. 'Not to mention his new toy…'

'Now?' Krillin asked, throat tightening. 'So you're saying-'

'He's made his opening moves,' Rush said. His flat face betrayed nothing. 'What those are unimportant considering they've already been made. What I care about is why they happened.'

Rayne noticed that her fists were clenching. She made no effort to loosen them. 'You're being very nonchalant about these "moves", Rush. Are our friends in danger?'

'It's as I said. The moves have been made.' His posture opened to the rainy and lightning-threaded air above them. 'The storm is here already. What's done is done. The best we can do now is piece together an understanding.'

'Swear it.' Krillin, expression dark, stared into Rush. 'Swear that none of our friends are in danger.'

'Can't you answer that yourself?'

A bolt of lightning raced down and struck the plains about a mile behind Rush. Energy crashed apart like waves.

Rayne turned to Krillin. 'I don't sense anything… do you?'

Krillin felt the same- but it was hard to say for sure when Rush's ki kept churning and roiling in front of them. And not a single bit of it manifested in his aura. '...No.'

'Do you have a theory?' Rayne asked Rush. 'As for why Gero is… moving now, as you said?'

Interest lifted Rush's features. 'I don't know. From the moment arriving in this timeline I've been… lost.' His face creased. 'There was nothing left of this world in my time. Here, when I met Yamcha, and later Chi-Chi, I enjoyed living like them- like you and all your friends. Training under a warm sun and sleeping in a bed… it was nice. I'd be lying if I said it wasn't fun, even. So, in a way, since coming to this time, I've been going through the motions of being a fighter. I was never firmly committed to what I came here to do, so when I lost my chance, I… hesitated.'

Over the course of a few sentences Rush's voice had grown incredibly… small. Krillin's attention drifted to Rayne. 'What the hell is he talking about?' He whispered.

'No clue.' Rayne cleared her throat, grabbing again Rush's attention. 'A lot of what you just said made no sense to us.'

'...' Rush's pale blue eyes lingered on them before drifting away again. 'It doesn't matter.'

'Why did you flash your energy?' Krillin asked suddenly.

'I wanted to make sure you two felt me and came here. Before anything more happened I wanted to give you two an out.' Like a mask sliding into place, a taut, vertical expression took hold of Rush. 'In any case, we're done.'

'Hold on- we have a lot more questions,' Rayne said quickly. Her fists were shaking now. 'You sound like you know a lot more than what you've told us.'

'I've told you all that you needed to know. So now I need to show you something, and then you two must make a choice.'

Out of his right hand a pressed capsule jumped out to his side. A second passed before the familiar pop and hiss of smoke briefly overpowered the sounds of the storm before the rain swept away the mist and noise. What they saw- they couldn't make sense of. Something with an egg-shaped glass capsule suspended off the ground by five discolored yellow legs. Looking closer they saw scratches and chipped paint, worn burns and flash freezes, and a clinging rust running alongside the thing's left side and bottom.

'This is my time machine.' Rush ran his hand over the metal paint, now flaking apart into pieces under slick rain and the touch of his skin. 'I kept it for obvious reasons. You, Rayne, originally owned it- or it was at the very least intended for you.'

Krillin rubbed his throat. 'Er- yes, what do you mean by that? She… owned it?'

'No,' Rush examined the machine, eyes placing it into memory. 'I don't think she did… at least, not before she died.'

'...' Krillin listened to Rayne's steady breathing. 'Travel- the man in the desert never said that,' he said, focusing on Rush. 'He never said Rayne died in the future.'

'And you believe him?' Rush rebutted.

'Rush,' Rayne said tersely, 'what is the Earth in your time like? Really?'

'You can't tell yet?' His face split, molding his mouth into some sort of half-hearted frown. 'The world I come from is a graveyard. Not a single living soul remains on Earth. The air is choked with death. The ground is sown with poison. I had never seen the sun before coming here.' He swung, gesturing with his arms to the time machine. 'This, among other things, I found among dust and echoes. I don't know its history before I came to own it. So I can only say your name was written on its capsule.'

'...'

Krillin frowned at her. 'Rayne?'

She finally spoke her mind. 'I don't trust him. I haven't trusted him since we landed. He's like Traveler except even he made some damn sense-'

'I learned something recently,' Rush continued, as if oblivious to them and the growing downpour. 'Something that meant my actual mission can proceed… so I can get this damn voice out of my head…'

'-and he didn't admit to knowing so much bad was coming and then said he sat around doing nothing-'

'I don't want to kill you,' Rush announced, amplifying his voice. 'I don't want anything to do with you. Which is why I brought the time machine with me. I'm giving you an out, here and now- leave this timeline of your own volition.'

'What?' Rayne shouted. 'Are you serious? You want us to leave our friends to go to an Earth that's uninhabitable? Why would we do that after hearing everything you've just said?'

'You can't be allowed to interfere with my plans,' Rush said bluntly.

'I don't understand,' Krillin muttered. 'I don't understand anything of what you're saying. Why tell us anything?'

'Because I wanted to know more about this timeline- and because I don't want to kill you. But I can't guarantee that you wouldn't try to stop me if you knew what I was after.'

'You're insane,' Rayne decided, throwing out her arm as her aura thrummed to life around her. Rain splashed away through the air, repelled by a pulsing blue-white energy. 'And you've already made up your mind. Everything you've said gives it away that you see us as enemies.'

Rush closed his eyes. 'That's for you to decide. If we fight, I will kill one of you. I guarantee it.'

'What would you want us to do instead?' Krillin asked, tensing himself in spite of his last attempt to prevent a fight. 'What other option do we have?'

'Perhaps you could ignore what I'm about to do.' Rush said, gazing again at the pitch-black clouds. 'Excuse it, maybe. Though we both know that's impossible for you two to do.'

Krillin's aura roared into the air around him. Blades of grass came apart and spiraled away on the light-starved and water-laden wind. 'I've heard enough,' he said. 'We'll get more answers from you once we beat you.'

A crestfallen expression swept across Rush's face. 'It always comes to this…' His pink aura began to leak into the air around him, warping the rain's passage to the earth. 'I'm sorry…'

0o0o0

All at once the spread of stone underneath Slug cracked. 'Hope you're ready to die!' He hooked one foot back and focused his dark ki behind his leading left elbow. 'Graagh!'

Piccolo and Tien burst apart as Slug's energy whipsawed past them, singing the edges of their auras. Immediately Piccolo slammed his feet to the ground, stopping himself at the cost of shredding a few tiles, and vaulted to his left, aiming for Slug's backside. But as he approached the aura around the ancient Namekian shifted and erupted, stormily blasting against Piccolo and slowing him to a halt.

The sound of something large cracking the tiles tipped him off a second before he dodged backward; Slug's foot, dragging by its sole through the floor, arced out in a circle where he had been. Displeased, growling, Slug's aura blasted forward again, and like clockwork his left elbow, tipped with ki, surged forward and slammed into Piccolo's guard. Bones and flesh shook as Piccolo's skull bounced around, but his own dark green aura kept steady as he allowed the blow's momentum to push him farther across the Lookout.

Fingers separated and curled into his palms as both of them straightened after their quick exchange. 'You're sturdier than I'd given you credit for,' Slug half-growled, half-snarked.

'Enough talk!' Piccolo suddenly threw out his arms. Hands pulsing with ki swept to the ground and plunged down, releasing a shockwave of energy that rushed underneath the Lookout's surface towards Slug. Tiles levitated and spun in the air as the energy jumped towards Slug.

Slug's aura grew in response. 'Not bad!' He yelled, jumping into the air as the attack passed harmlessly beneath him. 'Stronger, too-'

His banter was cut short as Tien's Kaioken-red body slammed into Slug's back from behind, catapulting him through the air towards the other end of the Lookout. There, Piccolo appeared and slammed a mighty kick into Slug's form, punting him vertically into the near-night sky.

'Now!' He yelled at Tien, as both angled backward towards their rising target. Energy crackled up and down their bodies as three hands- two for Piccolo, one for Tien- aimed at the darkened skies above. Higher up Slug finally succeeded in halting himself and hovered above them. With slow solemnity he stretched out his arms and held them down towards the Lookout. A thin head of ki appeared beyond his palms, lighter blue while the rest of his aura was dark green.

Ready? Piccolo spoke into his mind.

Tien grunted. Ready.

'Good!' Piccolo threw his weight towards the heavens. 'Fire!'

Two beams, one dark blue, one yellow-red, rushed into the open air above the Lookout, spiraling towards the growing light-blue presence in the sky. But despite the twin beams of energy rushing towards him, Slug cracked a smile. He would have never thought he'd get such a fitting tribute at the end.

But not yet. With both hands Slug raised his attack above him, holding it like some ancient sword. More ki blossomed up the blade-like flame catching on wood, and soon its luminosity outshone his own, sparkling like a fated star in the night sky. He smiled, said a silent word to himself, and turned his attention downward.

'Oblivion's Edge!' With a swing the ki wrapped around Slug and shot to the Lookout, racing, pulsing. It crashed against the two attacks raised against it to form a perfect three-limbed joint- and then cut through them as it continued heading down. Much of its power, alongside the power stripped from Tien and Piccolo's blasts, was lost in the air, spinning and detonating like so many wayward fireworks, but what remained of Slug's attack grew outward until it resembled a giant slice swinging down from the gods themselves.

Piccolo's body tensed. 'Down!' He shouted, as he blasted backward, away from the Lookout's center. Without looking he sensed Tien did the same. Both of them flew out past the edge of the platform and shielded their eyes as the wave crashed down on top of the main complex of the Lookout. There, the attack seemed to fold in on itself, worming and sawing into the Lookout like a ship soaring across rough waters. Worn and newly laid stonework came loose and splintered apart as the dome and every other standing part of the place fell into itself. But once the entire structure had collapsed Slug's assault ceased, as the attack seemed to lose cohesion and collapsed like falling sand settling onto the ruins. Misted energy sagged and slid across the tiles.

For a long time Piccolo made sense of what was left of the Lookout as he caught his breath. Once more this place had been leveled. So then-

Alarm jolted through Piccolo. Kami! His head whipped back-and-forth. He's- he's still there. He felt his other half was alive… somehow. But the room he was in had clearly collapsed.

Piccolo. Tien's voice pulled Piccolo's attention across the Lookout. At the other end the human warrior looked the same as him, only winded, even though his left arm still dangled ominously at his side. He's coming down. Slug. You see it, don't you?

See what? Piccolo wrenched his gaze away: he did see Slug, looming as large as ever, slowly drifting back to the ground. His stature and cut of his chin was even more intimidating given the growing darkness of the encroaching night. And his dark green aura… like a dread wind in the air...

Perhaps you don't. Tien paused. He's dying, Piccolo. We need to end this quickly.

0o0o0

A bolt of lightning rushed down from the stormy skies and impacted the grass not too far from them; in that moment both Krillin and Rayne, both lit with the Kaioken's aura, rushed across the plain towards Rush. He might have grimaced- it was hard to tell as the lightning's light receded- but what Krillin saw for sure is his pink aura growing to a pitch and then suddenly dispersing. When they reached him they attacked from two angles, Rayne from the side, Krillin from the front, as their leading strikes blurred in the air around them.

Two quick strikes: pink ki swaddled Rush's right arm as it spun, batting aside both Krillin and Rayne's attacks, while Rush's other hand clenched and jutted out one finger. Yellow ki billowed on its tip as it spun, fired twice, and retreated back into its fist ahead of a wisp of smoke.

'There.'

Krillin stood for a moment, the red aura of his Kaioken raging around him, before it and him fell to the ground. His knees crashed into the wet grass while cool, wet air plucked at his right knee, swarming, then panging with sudden pain. He looked down, and though he couldn't see it, he realized his kneecap had been pierced clean through.

A heavy wave of rain fell across the ground, draping Rush as he bent backward, almost recoiling from what he had done. '...'

As he sucked in a sharp breath Krillin managed to wrench his attention to his left; rather than on her knees Rayne was splayed out on her side, leaning on her left arm, as fresh blood pumped from a hole in her right thigh.

'I didn't mean to hit you there,' Rush said, possible regret swirling in his voice. 'I wanted to get your knee, too. But you were too fast-'

The storm was pushed aside, wind and rain thrown back at the clouds themselves, as Krillin's roaring red aura exploded, blurring him out of sight, voice screaming, throat aching, until he reappeared behind Rush and grappled him. Bulging muscles wrapped around his neck and forced him to the ground, body ready to snap at any command given by his outrage. 'You think you can apologize!-'

A pulse came from Rush. 'Please.' The slightest whisper of ki touched Krillin's senses as a faint halo of pink shimmered inches away from Rush's skin. 'Consider what you do next carefully.'

The feel of that energy reached Krillin in spite of the rush of energy swaddling him. Instinctually his injured knee spasmed as the true measure of what he sensed became clear. The power he had felt present for a moment earlier before withdrawing, now present again… it was…

'Let me go now, Krillin.'

His Kaioken winked out from around him as he fell back to the ground, eyes unblinking. The now screeching pain in his knee seemed to glide on the edge of his consciousness as he stared at the person in front of him. With no hurry at all Rush stood.

'You... felt it, then,' Rayne said in a muted voice from his left. Her breathing was pronounced. 'That's… why I didn't get up.'

'Again,' Rush said slowly, dispersing his aura and letting the rain fall on him again, 'I didn't mean for this to happen.' He moved a foot closer to Rayne and stared at her laid pose for a moment. 'I'm sorry.'

'Krillin…' Rayne's voice called for him. 'Please… look at me…'

He couldn't. 'I… I don't understand.' Krillin struggled to drag words out of his muddled mind as Rush looked over his shoulder at him. 'Your energy… how did you keep it so suppressed? You went from virtually nothing, to... ' His eyes grew wider. 'And… that technique you used… no…'

'It's who I am.' Rush fully turned to him. 'And I have nothing more to say on this matter. Now…' He bent and hefted Krillin over his shoulder. Then he finally saw Rayne- saw how she had grabbed a fistful of her gi at her chest, wringing blood out from the fabric between her clenched fingers. 'It's time I send you on your way.'

He should have been fighting. He still had life left in him. He had been ready to snap Rush's neck- but then, he knew he couldn't. The energy he felt for that brief second was greater than anything he had ever felt in another living person, barring Traveler. This close up it rivaled the sense he got from turning his mind to the stars, sensing the energy of far-off places- except, well, even the largest supernova amounted to nothing beside this. So… so far beyond…

'I'm… sorry Rayne.' He watched as she drew away from him, as he was slung again into what was the cockpit of the time machine. Again his empty gaze turned to Rush. '...Just… who are you?'

'No-one important.' Rush edged back and punched a final series of buttons. The glass hatch half-open to side started swinging back closed. 'It's better you forget about me. It won't do you any good to torture yourself where you're going.'

Krillin's mouth was dry. 'Rayne… where is Rayne? Why isn't she here with me, then?'

'...' The glass sealed closed. Pink radiated off of Rush as he hovered into the air beside the machine, all the while holding Krillin's gaze. 'That would have been too cruel, I think.' Lines suddenly blurred through the air around and past Rush, wiping him from existence.

'Be seeing you…'

0o0o0

As if trapped in some torturously painful nightmare Rayne tracked the blood seeping from her chest and thigh with tentative breaths as Krillin- and the supposed time machine he was in- disappeared into a melting haze. Then given enough time the rain filled the space and it was like he and it had never been there.

There was a chance she was hallucinating. Her left lung had been pierced- and judging by how much she was bleeding, probably an artery, too. It had been a very long time since she was this injured. And this time she didn't think it was likely any of her friends would get here in time to save her. Even now… on the edges of her consciousness… she could feel them far away… weak, and...

A laced boot stepped into her clouding vision. 'I'll say it once more.' Rush seemed as tall as a tower from her nearly flush position to the ground, head just titled to the left. 'I apologize. I would have sent you with Krillin if it didn't mean pushing him forward with the corpse of his… partner, or wife, or whatever you are to him.' Rush frowned, throwing his face and straight, vertical hair into rain and gloom induced darkness. 'Gero never cared about personal details, even though he had all the knowledge in the world available to him. He didn't even write down your daughter's name.'

Rayne stared at him- she tried to commit his face to memory. For what reason? She didn't know. It felt important. She was going to die here, though. What reason could she have had? She wasn't angry or sad. She just felt… aimless, like everything vital to her was slowly slipping away. Faces, people, names…

Names… Gero...

'That… was a time machine?' She managed with slow, halting breaths, as air leaked in and out of her left lung. 'Meant… for me? Really?'

'It was.'

'Then why… why send him… into your future?'

Grass parted as Rush crouched down. Drops of rain had made ravines of his face, following their destined paths like stars circling through space. Beads of water pooled and dripped from his chin, striking her clothes, hair, and face, mixing, giving into blood.

Rush sighed. 'To be honest? It was my way of working up the resolve to stay. Without a way to go back… I'm committed to what I have to do now.'

'Why... ' Rayne coughed. Black spots swept through her vision. 'Why… not send me?... because you already killed me in that time… right?' Her neck trembled as she lifted her head just an inch off the ground. 'I could step in… like… nothing happened… at all…'

Perhaps she said something that displeased him because he stood; perhaps he was bored. Either way, he cast one last wordless look at her before turning. 'Gohan… I'm coming for you, now. And once that's done, then…''

Rayne tried to speak again but she coughed again and couldn't stop. A pool of liquid now laid in the grass around her torso. As her muscles gave out and her head tilted leftward, falling flush to the ground, she saw a final image of Rush walking away in the storm before either it or her death plucked it from her vision.

At peace. Marron… be safe. She closed her eyes and laid a hand atop the hole in her torso. There was heat, there was pain, and there was nothing.

0o0o0

Quickly? Piccolo's voice rang in his own ears. If he's dying why do we need to finish this quickly?

Tien shot him a look from the other side of the Lookout. Opponents like that are dangerous. There's no way to predict what they'll do- here he comes.

Between them, Slug hovered into view, dark aura trailing and clinging like smoke. From where he was in the air Piccolo could see the sweat lining his forearms and telltale looseness to the ancient Namekian's shoulders and back. It seemed foolish to believe their opponent was ailing as much as Tien suggested. And yet…

Heavy breathing floated through the air as Slug half-turned to look at the remains of the Lookout's complex. His eyes seemed to waver between something visible and something not. 'He lives, then…' With a groan he started turning in earnest. 'So…'

Halfway around, a screech of wind hit Slug and he rapidly flipped back around, crashing forearm to forearm with Tien. Rage played across his face like frothed surf rushing towards the coast. 'You should be focusing on me!' Tien's aura expanded around him, forcing back Slug's. 'You think I'd forget about what you did to my arm?!'

Slug groaned as he dragged more out of his aura, bending back forward. 'I'll admit- you're tougher than you look!' His body flashed and Tien dodged to the right, avoiding a razor-sharp jab from Slug's free hand. Sliding sideways through the air, Tien pulled back his good right arm to his chest and started to collect ki in between his fingers.

The wind whipped around him- Slug was already charging a counter-blast in his palms, limbs splaying out in all directions from his torso- as Piccolo rushed up from under Tien, ramming shoulder-first into Slug's sternum. Both of them grappled through the air, bodies shifting in line with their quick adjustments and dodges made faster by their swirling auras, and a thought occurred to Tien: instead of firing his blast he drew his energy back into him and blasted higher into the sky.

'Boy!' Slug's voice boomed as he decoupled from Piccolo and swung his entire body around, chop sailing inches past Piccolo's jaw. 'Give up, or-'

Coincidentally Slug's aura pulsed and folded back just as Piccolo ducked another swing and straightened his body into a rod. 'Or what!?' Piccolo roared. Force gathered underneath the soles of his boots. 'You'll kill me!?'

A phooom went through the air as Piccolo's skull rammed into Slug's gut, flesh giving way to flesh as Slug's arms rushed to protect his gut. His entire body bucked bad enough to come apart, but even as the pain blazed in him, Slug made sure that his hands and their jagged fingernails dug into Piccolo's shoulders. When the younger Namekian tried to pull back, purple cloth split and blood drew from his skin.

'Got you,' Slug hissed, body still shuddering from Piccolo's headbutt. 'No… no matter how much time passes, you've always been a fool… you… vessel!'

Piccolo's heart stuttered. A sudden sensation swept from where Slug was gripping him, cold as death and tugging like an anchor. An indescribable sense of… pulling, like his blood- no, his being was being wrenched from him. In the edges of his visions he saw a white, almost spectral glow adhere and flake away from his skin like dried blood. It was so familiar, like-

PICCOLO! Tien's voice screamed into his consciousness. SWING DOWN!

He did so immediately. As Slug, teeth bared, was wrenched so that his back was to the air, the spectral white swarming around Piccolo dispersed. Fury, and then a more urgent form of it cauterized the ancient Namekian's face as his faded eyes widened and spun back to look towards the sky.

Not too far above in the night's gloom Tien held his right arm out in front of him, muscles clenching, veins bulging, while his hand vibrated amidst a growing aura. Yellow energy meshed, pinched and lashed out from the edges of the cupped shape. The attack knew it wasn't quite whole: energy jumped and scattered from its yawning open left side as he pushed more power into it.

Tien couldn't help but cram even more energy into the blast. It had to be enough. It would be enough- he just couldn't be timid.

'You again!?' Slug shouted from below as he grappled unsuccessfully with Piccolo. 'How much power do you have?'

'Enough.'

He inhaled. It was all a matter of control.

'TRI-BEAM, HAH!'

In a flash the triangle-block of energy shot from his right hand- keeping its shape- and speared down towards the Lookout like a javelin of pure light. It was just dense and narrow enough to hit Slug square in the back. Tien- not to mention Piccolo and the Lookout- was spared from direct harm as the attack immediately erupted into enough force and light to shine a second star in the Earth's atmosphere, if only for a few seconds.

0o0o0

Consciousness and dry pain rushed back to Piccolo's gasping lungs. With a start he coughed and crawled backward, scrabbling until his back hit something solid. Before his eyes could make sense of what he saw his hands snaked behind and felt it- the wall. Or what was left of one, more accurately, as he ran his palms over a break in the stone. He was among ruins. Among the dark broken white tile strewn alongside toppled brickwork rose and fell across the Lookout like raw hills peeking out from the countryside. If he had to guess, he was where the complex used to be.

Groaning at the thought of that much damage, Piccolo leaned forward to brush some debris off of him- and he froze when he saw a dark-green hand half-hidden below the rubble just inches away from his leg. More than that- it was shaking.

He made sure to curl further back, using the broken wall to steady himself as he stood, before he carefully released a wave of wind with his ki. Most of the rubble before him was brushed aside. That hand was attached, after all: Slug was on his back, grievously injured, head tilting and mouth drooping like he really was dying- and yet his hand kept up its incessant twitching. Almost like… it was seeking.

'Katas... was right about you,' Slug said in a cold whisper. He was aware Piccolo was near, although his eyes hadn't budged from their sightless stare at the sparkling stars of night above. 'You're no successor of Guru's…'

'...' Piccolo wasn't sure what to say.

'Then… again… Guru took centuries to grow into his power…' Slug coughed. Dark blood trickled out of the corner of his mouth. 'It took… so many lives… to get him there…'

'This is how you want to end your time in this world?' Piccolo asked, eyes pinned to his feet. 'Demean the one who defeated you?'

'Demean?...' Slug's face creased with confusion. 'You?... Ah. No. I only regret that you are reluctant to grow as he did.'

Before Piccolo could figure out he had meant, Slug gritted his teeth and painfully rolled onto his side. Sticking out to the air Piccolo could see the edges of what must have been a fatal energy wound on his back.

'You… should know… I lied,' Slug said between long breaths. 'Katas... didn't send me here. I just wanted an excuse… for you to fight me… an old Namekian close to dying from time's slow crawl. I wanted… to leave this world… fighting.'

Piccolo felt at ease enough to cross his arms and sneer down. 'Foolish. With the dragonballs you might have prevented that. But you weren't ever fighting to win, were you?'

The air fell still; like a knife cutting through flesh a bloody grin yawned ear-to-ear on Slug's face. 'You… suspect it… and yet you don't believe it. Fine…. I'll tell you. When Katas used your counterpart… he broke him. His power is no more. And no more power means…'

Slug paused long enough for some rubble to shift back onto his legs. 'The dragonballs here… are dead.' Slug coughed again. Purple blood blended with the night's ink-black color. 'They were dead as soon as Katas's claws wormed into your other half, Kami. They were, after all, created for that moment… and once that passed…'

Fury rang in Piccolo's ears. Before he knew what he was doing he had crouched down and throttled Slug by his neck. 'You're lying!' He snarled.

'Boy... you know it… to be true…'

Why should he believe the words of someone this evil? It wasn't definite. Even if Kami had been used. Even if his power had been… broken. Even… if...

Piccolo refocused his anger at Slug. 'Then why did you come here!? Huh!?' He snarled, shaking him. 'You could have died on any other planet!'

A hand rested on his neck- light, like a cloth held to a wound. 'Hah… haha…' Slug's smile was full of thick blood. '...Absorb me.'

Piccolo realized Slug was no longer speaking. 'What?'

'I knew for sure you were stronger than me the minute I stepped onto this planet. Greater than me.' Like a frigid and building sea Slug's voice sloshed into his mind. 'You are a true successor, unlike those weaklings Katas is obsessed with… you have power. Youth. And perhaps most important of all… you know how to use it…' The flesh on Piccolo's neck thrummed. 'I would make a worthy addition to you- to your power. Your… might.'

Those words kept echoing in his head. Piccolo lost his sense of touch- Slug's neck felt like the wind passing through his fingers. Power… power is everything. From the moment he had been born he had sought power. Power to crush my enemies. Power to complete my goals. What had stood in his way had always been that. That strength in those others. Their might, combined… their…

Wherever his mind was, Piccolo took a deep, cleansing breath. He was in his consciousness again. Here he had control- here he was alone. Here he could think. What Slug offered was clearly insane. To even consider it a proposition was an insult to himself. He did not need power- he did not need others beyond the goals he shared with them. He was sufficient unto himself. His power… his goals…

There was a blank thought where they should have been. His goals… what were they, truly? He had reached Kami, as he had half-wanted, half-dreaded for years now. And he had wanted to reach Kami to… to what? For what end? For power? No. For… understanding. To get a sense of where he fit in in this galaxy. For reasons he was just now beginning to understand he had always felt like an outcast before becoming one. He had pushed himself to find a place among… anyone, even when alone. When he was younger it was enough to try and satisfy his father's dying wishes, if only to get his voice out of his head. Now, though? He wasn't sure.

Meaning… understanding… knowledge. He needed more of those things, he realized. He needed a link to the past. Guru's knowledge had been a good start- but more was needed if he was ever going to make something whole out of himself.

That left the Namekians, wherever they may be in the galaxy… and him. Katas. However strong he was… power to rival Slug's but centuries younger... if he really did leave this planet to confront him, he would need power-

Fingers wound around his shoulder.

'Piccolo.' Tien's hand was hot. Or was his own body cold? 'You alright?'

He wasn't alright, and judging by Tien's grip on him, he could tell that. 'I'm… thinking.'

'Do me a favor.' Tien tugged on Piccolo's shoulder: without realizing that he had done it beforehand, Piccolo followed his direction and rose out of his kneel. 'I don't like you standing over him like that.'

Sensation cracked against Piccolo's skull, throwing his head around hard enough to strain his neck. His gaze landed on Slug's penitent, almost prayer-like pose as his head and arms just barely lifted off the ground, reaching for Piccolo like he was the only thing in the world. It was all there again in his eyes- the naked possession, the hunger, and the desperation.

'He's a poison,' Tien spat. 'From the moment he stepped onto this planet I felt him. It's time we finished this.'

Piccolo was slow to respond. He was thinking.

'You have a problem with that?'

'Poison,' Piccolo said, turning away from Slug. 'What do you mean?'

'His entire being is evil.' Tien said in a low voice. 'Perhaps you don't sense it… probably you're like everyone else in that regard. But his energy… it feels like so melting souls, all crawling over each other for the briefest gasp of air…'

Hollow breath settled in Piccolo's chest. Had he forgotten? Or merely willed it out of his mind? This gross might… he would be insane to accept what Slug offered. The slow death of the million tortured Namekians before him was power he wanted nothing to do with.

'No?...' Slug's face faltered, and though there was a sense disappointment, he didn't look particularly shocked. 'One word from him… then live without me. But know… I am nothing compared to Katas. Age, betrayal… both weakened me to what might as well be a different plane of existence from him. He… he will annihilate you if he cares to.'

Piccolo's antenna twitched. 'What do you mean by if? Is he not planning on coming here?'

Hands and head dropped like the last remains of the Lookout falling into disrepair. Slug's breaths came slowly now. 'He thought… you would come to him, eventually.' As the last of his vitality drained from him, Slug managed to prop his mouth into a smile one last time. 'I think that, too… Given... ' His eyes grew faint. 'Enough…' His head settled further. '...time…'

'You'll die before you see that day.'

Piccolo wondered if he said that to a corpse- and yet the corpse breathed once more. 'When… you face him… you will have two choices. Both… either… will end… the same…'

And Slug breathed his last. He died among broken stone and a night sky full of stars. It was better than what he deserved, Piccolo thought.

'He's gone.' Tien suddenly hissed, as if holding the sound back for a long time. 'Good. Now… my arm…'

'Your arm.' Piccolo dumbly swung his attention back to Tien. Throughout that entire interaction with Slug he had forgotten- 'How's your arm?'

'Just as bad as when you came out here, amazingly,' Tien said, wincing as he prodded his chest with his still-good right one. He also looked taxed- from the Kaioken, no doubt. 'I know we're standing in a bunch of rubble… but any chance there'd be any senzu beans hidden around here?'

Piccolo frowned into the mess around them. Finding them- if they even survived- would have been nearly impossible in the daytime, let alone at night. 'You'd have to ask Korin.'

'He's right here, by the way!'

That random voice- Korin's random voice- both alarmed Piccolo and Tien. Despite its familiarity both of their auras flared. 'Korin?' Tien called. 'You're here?'

'Yes!' The voice, they realized, sounded a bit muffled. 'Pinned underneath this giant block of rubble! So, if you don't mind!...'

It took about a minute of stressed jogging and sifting before Korin and Yajirobe, both strewn with dust and white powder, were freed of the rubble slabs they had been holding above them- and Kami, unconscious on the ground beneath them but alive. Piccolo belatedly realized what had happened.

'You figured it out, huh?' Korin asked, noting Piccolo's expression. 'Well, good. We busted ass to get up here in time!'

'Yeah… you two, both…' Piccolo stared at Yajirobe. The human seemed a little uncomfortable to be paid attention to and pointedly looked away. 'Kami and I have our lives to thank you for, linked as they are.'

'No worries!' Korin replied, smile beaming. 'I figure you saved our two lives by dealing with that… Namekian, right? That guy was a Namekian, right?'

'It was,' Tien answered, grimacing at a new pain in his legs. He had pushed the Kaioken too far. 'Still…' he groaned, sitting, 'it was good you got up here to save Kami.'

Korin exchanged a quick glance with Yajirobe. 'Erm… well, we'd be lying if we said saving Kami was our first mission up here… which isn't to say we don't care about your life or anything, haha!'

Tien ignored Piccolo's glowering. 'What was your first, then?' he asked.

'I see your arm.' Korin mischievously folded his hands behind his back and bounced forward-and-back from his hips. 'I think I can help with that.'

'Yeah?'

Korin's hands swung around, gripping a dusty but intact leather bag like it was an offering to some great and mighty king. Green beans poked out from its top.

Tien's eyes widened. 'Those are…'

'Even when hell is falling down around me, I always make sure to get the goods.'

0o0o0

Two suns as the last of the night drew away. In the distance the first faint blues and reds were gathering to spill out across the sky. But much closer, the still-burning fires of West City churned and spat against the blackened, sooty air, a half-dead torch to shoulder the world into light. From the ridge Traveler stood upon he could see the desiccated brick-and-metal frames of burnt away buildings and smell the sour stench of charred life. Smoke towered and rose, a trail to heavens, a monument to…

To…

He faltered as he ran his right hand along the worn red scar spilled across his right forehead above his just untouched eyebrow. He had expected this. He had seen this, in different places, different times, to the point where all memory blurred and ran together until they passed through his hands like grains of sand. So it wasn't regret, or concern, or even acceptance that flitted through him. It wasn't anything. He felt nothing towards what he saw. A hundred fires like this one had preceded today, and a hundred more would follow if it was necessary. He had followed this road too long now to be anywhere but. To leave it now would be even crueler than finding its end.

And still his hand rubbed across his pitted skin. Bare flesh aching against unclean fingers. I hope… I hope this is it. The last world I help to suffer like this...

0o0o0

Every monitor was playing the same thing; picture-perfect flames rushing across burning and broken buildings. The smoke thick enough to blot out the sky. The whisper of death. In her office far too early in the morning every person's eyes were glued, helpless and terrified of the images coming out of West City.

Nette had waited for one of her superiors to come in and set everyone to a task- to something- anything- but her coffee had long ago grown cold and still between the ceramic of her mug. While slumped onto her desk her hands kept turning the cup by its base, revolving just before the intermittent feed playing on her desktop. Flame and fire with no end in sight. She wanted to despise someone. She wished someone had told her who had done this to West City. But there was no word and no sound within her office. Nearly thirty agents, dressed to their feet and necks in onyx-black suits and trained to know everything by the World Government's finest, saying nothing.

With her head balanced on her desk Nette shifted and rummaged the corner of her cubicle. She pulled away a business card and turned it over it. She had their phone number written on it. But they had said they would contact her once their investigation was complete. It couldn't have been at most more than a few days since then… but everything felt like a lifetime ago now.

Puar and Oolong… wherever you two are… I hope you're safe.

'...and that is why I did what I did.'

The single line of dialogue snapped Nette's head off of her desk. The image of a burning city had been replaced by something even more surreal. An old man with a black stove hat and striped clothes had his hands laced together in front of him as if in penitence in front of an utterly black background. Hazy gray lines tracked around the image's edges.

Was this a recording? She glanced around the office. Playing… everywhere!?...

'I did what I needed to do,' the old man went on. 'And I will do what else is needed to right the wrong done to me.'

Faces in gray little boxes- with names, age, and addresses pinned underneath them- appeared as a bottom bar of the video. 'These are the ones I require. Some have likely already been killed by my hand. So I say this to them and the world: surrender, or help deliver the living remainders of whom you see and you will prevent another West City.'

His words turned to fuzz in her brain as she stared at the faces. This… this can't be…

'Commit their faces and names to memory. Find them or force them to come forward. Or I will drum humanity's cities one-by-one into nothing.'

His words turned to fuzz.

'Nette!'

Agents were rushing behind her, scurrying back and forth, some running out of the office, some running to her- a hand pushed her forward. 'Those are them on the video! Those are the people from your file, isn't it!'

'Nette! What's going on?'

'Did you know this was going to happen?'

'We have to apprehend them, now, before anyone else dies!'

Amidst the chorus of pleading and fear surrounding her, Nette tilted her head and brought her hand back to the coffee cup. She tried to grip it by its handle but her shaking hands only managed to tip it and spill a dark brown streak across her desk.

'Oh, fuck...'


A/N: Hey all. Wanted to write a short chapter for a change. We can see how that turned out. So here are the last remaining loose ends from the last arc tied up. I decided to resolve these specific ones here as they'll have a much more immediate impact than the other ones. Next chapter will have more "content" for Blood. Lots of after-battle scenes to go through then…

Also, I have to offer what is becoming the typical and customary apology for running 2 weeks for getting another chapter to you all. In my defense, these are some pretty consequential chapters, though! It was really important I write and hit the exact notes I'm aiming for now in lieu of what's to come. Hopefully we'll hit a run of easier sledding soon.

One more note: I've updated the last chapter with power levels for the respective fights. Some are here, too, without giving the game away. Keep in mind these reflect near-max possible fighting power (which is a flip from this chart's last iteration), so that someone who uses a technique like the Kaioken to be on par with an equitable amount of natural power is at a disadvantage, and also that it would take multiple people from any given tier to fight about equal with someone in a tier above them.

Tiers & Integrated Power Levels:

Mystery S (?): Traveler, Rush

A (7 to 5 million range):

B (5 to 3 million range): Slug, Piccolo, Tien

C (3 to 1 million range): Krillin, Rayne

D (1 million range): Yajirobe, Korin

Gero, Android 19: ?

I might have missed a character between this chapter and last's index, so let me know.

Reviews:

Perfect Carnage: With Slug's death, I think the Earth has peaked in its chaos level… for now.

the1andonlyLucian: Yeah… IF they see Raditz, I suspect Bardock and Kakarot are going to have a moment.

KagariAsuha: So you heard some more from Rush. Got anymore questions xp

Transformers g1's-Prime: Who boy… this arc title is definitely the most fitting one I've come up with for an arc's content in a long time. You're in for a ride.

yasho360: These chapters are friggin' long! I mean, this is one of my shorter ones and it's over 10,000 words! Doesn't feel that long! But I digress. Yes, Tien was on the ball because Slug's spiritual essence was essentially the most evil thing he had ever sensed. And I'm excited that you have no idea what's coming :^)

Cityracer: For what it's worth Mark also stood up for Saiyans and said he'd try and not kill one if possible in the chapter before last. So there's that for him to consider, as well.

Yep- Chiaotzu has died before. To be honest, though, anyone dying right now with *extremely* dubious dragonballs are in a tough spot…

I'm glad you enjoyed the comedic section! One of those things that I hadn't planned at all but realized would be needed if Launch blasted in-half the way back to the station. And from there the idea snowballed.

If you knew what I'm planning for Bulma and Yamcha next chapter… ohh boy.

Here's a question for you to consider: we know that Vegeta died in Traveler's timeline fighting Frieza. And yet Vegeta offered this to Cooler- and was denied. Nappa steps in with recently remembered knowledge prompted by seeing the Earthlings again… and who kicked all these events in motion? My point is that maybe Cooler coming to Earth isn't Vegeta's fault after all.

I imagine your trust of Rush had dropped even more this chapter.

Slug was tough but beatable. Seems like he had other goals than winning… at least in the conventional manner.

Anonymous: Thank you for this super long review! I'll try and do it justice!

At this point I definitely think Launch is my favorite character to write. Good mix of chaotic energy and pettiness.

Lots of coinciding fights in this story I'll admit xp

It's always tough to be the last person conscious after a group fight. And yes, Wheelo was going to apologize to Kochin.

I totally get your point about the names being confusing during the Wheelo fight: it seems that my own uncertainty as to how to approach that bled through into the fight. Overall I like your suggested fixes and will do something like them once I get some damn progress on releasing these chapters regularly!

Easy to red herring when you don't even know a threat is coming I bet :^). As for Yamcha- totally agree. I enjoyed him finding his resolve when it really mattered. Perhaps if he was on his own he might have crumpled. But this Yamcha, when protecting others, isn't going to give up, no matter how much his inner voice doubts him. Also, sorta yes, Yamcha has regrets. I'd say more but that'll more-than-likely will address that when a certain someone re-enters his life...

You don't become the right-hand man to the Emperor of the galaxy without smarts or strength. Luckily for Salza, he's got both. He did utterly utilize Zarbon post-Namek, after all.

You hit exactly on Nappa's excruciating decision there. Either path would represent an utterly reprehensible decision as according to his own Saiyan code and honor. But in the end he was most likely selfish and couldn't bear to see Vegeta die in front of him.

Vegeta is just utterly broken by that chapter. He's had to renegade on a promise he made to not only himself, but his follower- who had broken the promise for him. Not going to say more as it's going to be explored!

Totally agree with your approximation of Kami. It's clear that he was always trying to reach for a quality of good-heartedness throughout his life that he always seemed to fall short of grabbing. How that struggle intertwines with the plot of DBZ and Piccolo's life is super interesting to write about. It's also, I'm now realizing, a potential parallel to the life of this story's Guru.