Disclaimer, in case it wasn't obvious. I don't own Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, or really any other property. Thank you.

The Cataylst

Act IV

Chapter 54: Familiar

Bulma:

Something was wrong.

Something was very, very wrong. It only took a cursory glance to look at the Dragon Radar and see that four of the world's Dragon Balls had just been gathered to one place in under an hour. Someone was gathering these things faster than anyone could, except for Goku or one of his friends. Or…

Turles. But how would he know where to look?

She'd already did a complete check over her inventory to see if there were any signs of anything missing, everything in her inventory was there. The only things out were what Vegeta was using to be train. When her thoughts drifted to Vegeta she almost winced for a moment. A lot of the time, she was very reluctant to dwell on how they'd spent the evening together more than once. The truth was, no matter how bad he seemed, she felt safe near him. Ever since they'd been on Namek and he'd saved her from that monster who was somehow gathering the Dragon Balls. A phantom pain moved through her hand and she almost trembled.

"Oh look, its grateful, are you sure she isn't one of yours?"

Turles's voice rang through her ears as she heard him mocking Vegeta after he'd been figuratively dragged away from her. There was a time where she felt bigger thank anything that could come at her. But after that encounter on Namek, and after going through everything she had on Earth, someone wearing her best friend's face was always a nightmare in the back of he heard. It was a monster who didn't feel, or care about anything, and only wanted more for itself. She came to that conclusion. Even the way he'd "defended" Gohan from, ironically, Vegeta, she could see he wasn't doing it for altruistic reasons. He'd wanted to break Vegeta to show everyone who was in charge.

Grabbing her phone, pushing those thoughts aside, it began to ring as she heard Chi-Chi pick up on the other side.

"Son residence, this is Chi-Chi speaking," a familiar voice answered.

"Do you have a Dragon Ball at home right now?" Bulma asked. "It's important."

"Well, yes, we've got the Four-Star Ball right now. I think it's in Gohan's room. Why? What's wrong? Do we need it to summon the Dragon?" she asked. "Did something happen?"

"No, well, yes. Someone is gathering Dragon Balls. You've gotta get Goku and everyone together. Tell Goku to come grab the Dragon Radar from me. This is important. Someone grabbed all these Dragon Balls within the last hour. And I'm afraid it might be Turles."

"Oh god, I'll let him know right away. Goku! Goku!-"

There was a click on the other side of the line and Bulma breathed a sigh of relief, before she hung up her own phone and nervously approached the window, looking at the ship she'd constructed. Walking outside, her feet found themselves moving one another after as her eyes scanned the open space between here and there. Her heart was beating heavily as she reached up with a nervous hand, opening the doorway to the ship as gravity internally automatically lowered.

There was something quiet inside, as if she'd just awoken a furious animal within, having pulled away its meal for the day without any kind of notice. The looming figure of the man who would protect her slowly appeared in the gateway from this world, seemingly into his, and she could hear the labour of his chest and see the anger in his stance.

"Woman," Vegeta almost growled, clearly livid, she could hear the accusations he wanted to hurl at her without even him giving voice to them. Worse, she already wanted to apologize, which only brought a frown to her features as she took the steps up to him.

"Vegeta," she said, holding her resolve.

She felt comfortably enough to reach for his hand, but he immediately stepped back.

"If you are interrupting me to talk to me, or waste my time with some human courtship nonsense, look somewhere else," he almost snapped, walking back towards the centre of the room. "I am not interested."

Some of the fire she still had in her stomach came up as she felt her chest puff up.

"Well, Vegeta, maybe I should just go then. Considering you're such a jerk! What do I care if it looks like Turles is gathering the Dragon Balls?"

Vegeta paused before staring at her, his eyes steeled.

"What?"

Within a few seconds, before she could answer, Goku materialized next to her. It was shocking enough that she almost slipped and fell over. Every time he did that it was absolutely terrifying. For a second, she thought he was his twin, which made her yelp before she really did finish slipping and fell on her butt.

"Would you stop that?!" she shouted back at him, breathing out shakily. "You can't just sneak up on people like that!"

"Kakarot," Vegeta growled.

"Oh, hey Vegeta! Hey Bulma, do you have a Dragon Radar for me? Me, Piccolo, and Raditz are going to check it out. If he's gathering them all into one place, we can get the drop on him. To talk."

"You're going to talk with your brother?" Vegeta scoffed. "I'd almost want to go myself, to watch him spit in your face!"

Vegeta's laugh echoed throughout the craft before Goku just scratched the back of his head for a second, and shrugged.

"Well, we might as well talk, even if its for a second. The Dragon Balls in his hands could be really dangerous. Maybe you wanna come with us Vegeta?"

"No," Vegeta answered bluntly. "My training is already being interrupted enough by nuisances. The next time I'll be going with you anywhere, it'll be to fight you, or the Androids. It just depends on who gets in my way first."

"Well, whatever, I'll see you then I guess!"

Blinking, almost dumbfounded, Bulma reached out with a capsule, which Goku took carefully from her, smiling down at her before nodding.

"Thanks, Bulma. Keep an eye on Vegeta for me, would you? I wouldn't want him to train too hard. Too much time in the Gravity room can really do a job on your body. Trust me I know."

There was a frustrated growl from the other side of the room as Vegeta sneered at him, and within a second, he disappeared, leaving Bulma still on the floor, sitting there for a few seconds.

"I think I bruised my butt," she sighed, starting to pull herself up, taking note that Vegeta hadn't moved an inch towards her from the centre of the room.

I always end up with jerks.

"Turn the training back on after you leave. I have more important things to do than worry about any of this nonsense."

An irritated glance was cast in the Princes direction before she collected herself and walked out. As the door closed behind her, she locked the training rooms gravity in at x10 gravity only. The last thing she was going to tolerate was Vegeta being that much of a jerk. She knew he wasn't going to apologize. But he could have a few hours to himself, as far as she was concerned.

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Goku:

Whoever was gathering these were keeping their power level deliberately low. Even while flying, he could see a fifth Dragon Ball, and a Sixth moving towards the location. Which also ruled out something important. Turles was one person, and not only did he not have a radar, but he definitely didn't have any friends with a significant enough power level to move like this. Just who was gathering these things?

Krillin, Tien, and Gohan were back at his home with the four-star Dragon Ball. The last thing he needed was for whoever was doing this to grab them. He couldn't sense any powers nearby the Dragon Balls, and couldn't even hone in on it with his instant transmission. Though honestly, it was better to have Piccolo and Raditz coming with him anyway. Getting blindsided was the last thing he needed.

"Kakarot," Raditz's voice came from his side, clearly noticing something. "What is it? Did something change on the radar?"

The wind blasting around him almost made it hard to hear as they flew beneath the clouds, turning his attention to the others, rolling onto his back through flight he held up the tracker while facing them. The blinking device beeped while he took one last look at it to make sure.

"Yea, the Dragon Balls are moving. Two of them. This means it's not-"

"It's not Turles," Piccolo observed. "Which means its someone else. And they're moving fast, aren't they?"

It was surprising to him and the others clearly. Raditz looked the most concerned about all of it. There was something wrong about all of this, wasn't there? It came seemingly out of nowhere, from no one they could know. But whoever it was, was keeping their power suppressed as much as they could, just like Turles. The climate around them was getting colder and colder as well, as the radar put the Dragon Balls themselves to the Earth's north. Far to the Earth's north.

"Frieza's family," Raditz swallowed. "There is no one else it could be. Unless its some pitiful group of humans, but you've already said it's too fast for that."

That was a real possibility. Goku's eyes flashed with surprise, given that he never expected them to hide their power like this, if it was them. Frieza, even when concealing his own energy, was always so obvious. He flaunted his power, even in his most basic forms. The brother however, Cooler, was a lot more reserved, he could tell even from just sensing the fight between Gohan… the other Gohan, and Cooler. There was a real chance that Frieza's family were just as treacherous as he was. Which honestly might have explained a lot.

It was angering, and more than anything disappointing.

"That's… yea, I guess they are the main ones we'd have to worry about doing this," Goku admitted.

Piccolo stared ahead.

"Even after the last year of training, no matter how intense its been, you're the only one here who could hope to stop those two," Piccolo said with an honest tone. "We'll have your back though. We'll do what we can, if it is them."

With a serious look, Goku nodded at Piccolo, before he nodded at Raditz.

"Let's do this."

Surging his power ahead, Goku's body blasted forward on a faster arc towards the glacier where he saw a space ship in the distance. It was enough to make his blood freeze, even more than the freezing air. But as they rapidly closed the distance… this space ship was not from the Planet Trade Organization.

Landing on both his feet in the midst of a small army of soldiers clothed in strange armour, clearly inspired by the Frieza Force but at the same time different, he could see them standing there nervously, their helms and visors covering their faces. They were all keeping their power suppressed, being this close to them he could really sense it now. Taking a step to the side, he gave a hardened look.

"Who's in charge here? And where are the Dragon Balls?"

The mass of troops looked like they might be prepared to attack, before a wave of red energy cut in front of them, leaving several to fall to their knees in fear as others jumped back.

"We're not joking," Raditz spat from above. "Who is in charge? You will tell us immediately!"

There was a cough from behind the wall of soldiers.

"Men," a deep voice grumbled, before a figure on a great palanquin rose to his full height. A black cloak concealed much of his form, but a yellow tunic was clearly beneath it. "… Normally I hate cowardice. But you may stand down, I will deal with our guests."

The massive figure strode through the crowd of men before coming in front of them. He was old. Not like a little old either, this guy was ancient. Goku actually felt kinda bad for him just seeing him. He must have been a hundred!

Piccolo made a nervous noise as he slid back slightly on his feet, while Raditz stayed in the air, staring down with some concern. Goku's senses were on high as he stared at this behemoth of a man, or err, alien, thing.

"My name is Goku," Goku announced after a few moments. "Do you mind telling me why you're here?"

"Son Goku," the figure chuckled. "He said you'd come. I must admit that I am impressed. He said you were very predictable."

Uh oh. This feels really familiar.

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Staff:

Whoever this sorcerer was, he'd cast a spell on Lord Slug, as far as Staff was concerned. Here they were on a miserable backwater planet, not even fit to become a husk as they extracted its resources. And worse, they couldn't even use it as a craft, apparently. It was pathetic. So, they were going to come here, give their master his wish, and then simply move on? Something was off about this entire venture. They were all keeping their power levels artificially suppressed until they felt something "happen". It was pitiful.

And this sorcerer, despite being a fraction of their power, was the one leading them all around to these Dragon Balls. He insisted as well that they come along for this one. Apparently, he was going to be their 'director'. It was utterly disrespectful that not only he, but his brother Shell were lowered to be this creature's lackeys on his little escapade out here. There was the obvious element of revenge that this creature wanted. Worse yet, his master had insisted they refer to him as "King" in his title once they found the first of these Dragon Balls.

Lord Slug was being guided along by this creature, for its own purposes… and all for the wish they didn't even know was real. Who was to say these Dragon Balls even existed?

Their forms jumped and leaped through the air as they rushed through the forests around them. Giving his brother a look of concern, Staff himself seemed to be just as irritated.

"I don't see why we need to work with this scum. Why didn't Achatin or Colchico get stuck with this freak?" Shell asked.

"Apparently Lord Slug wanted the other two balls found by them. We were given this task because there were going to be multiple defenders. That's what our Lord told me, anyway."

Great. So, they were the ones given the fight. Achatin and Colchico were stronger as well. Admittedly, there was only one being on this planet as far as he could tell that was strong enough to challenge even Staff and himself, to be fair. Still, being stuck with mop up duty and being this freaks errand boy, didn't sit well with Staff, especially since he didn't trust this "King Piccolo" at all. In fact, beyond not trusting him, he was repulsed by the dark energy he could sense around him. Every motion, every word he spoke, even when he attempted to disguise it, was poisonous. This creature knew nothing but hatred and revenge.

Even Lord Slug, despite his harsh demeanor, was nowhere need as… toxic as this creature.

They stopped on a set of tree branches as they looked at a small, Earthling hovel in the woods. Looking towards his younger sibling, Staff crossed his arms while his white cape blew behind him for a moment before looking coldly towards their host.

"There," King Piccolo almost reveled with delight in seeing it. "And just in time. Can you sense the powers across the planet?"

Three of this planet's four strongest warriors were at the landing site. They were with Lord Slug… their master was stronger, by far, but he was more than concerned about his advanced age.

"Are we going to get this over with?" Shell almost spat. "We break in, kill everyone, get the ball and go."

"No, not yet," the 'King' remarked, gesturing his hand. "The two of you will lure the fighters out, only once we sense Son Goku's power rise. He should be distracted or killed before we move on them. I already warned you about his instant movement. Kill the fighters. I also want you to kill the woman we find there. Kill her slowly."

Even with their brutality on a thousand worlds. They killed at a whim, torture was considered truly pointless. What did they get from it? What was the point? Just kill people and be done with it. He'd gotten over the childish fantasy of pulling the legs off his prey long after he'd emerged from his youth.

"Why? What's the point?"

"Because I ordered it," King Piccolo snapped. "And I am the one giving the orders here."

That comment enough almost made him snap. This weakling was ordering him around as if he was a pawn? Lord Slug could give him orders because not only was he the strongest, he was the last of the great Super Nameks from their home world, and they were taken in by him across the cosmos. And even if he was harsh, there was respect. This pitiful creature didn't have any respect for anyone. It almost made his skin itch as he did his best to hold himself in place as he tried his best to keep his professional demeanor about him.

Remember, this isn't him giving me orders. Lord Slug has put him in charge, only for the moment.

The spiteful glance from his younger sibling told him exactly what he thought as well. Shell looked even more on his edge but Staff slowly shook his head, warning him not to go through with anything rash.

There was a chuckle emerging from between them as he realized the sorcerer was standing there with a feverish look of delight in his eyes. The malice lacing this joy was… unnerving, even for him.

"Yes, we'll kill his family here in the most brutal way that we can. Even if that rat escapes Slug, my revenge will have only started… and if he's killed all the better. His legacy will die here in agony. My revenge will be complete."

The laughter between words almost was loud enough to carry to the house, the figure stopping himself only as he realized that his laugh may have revealed them sooner than later.

"Prepare yourselves," he chuckled before crossing his arms once again, the smile unable to be stripped from his face it seemed. "It will begin… soon."

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Author's Notes:

Where to start? Stealthing in and nabbing the Dragon Balls with the help of King Piccolo? Wanting to murder the family of your most hated rival? A tenuis alliance between a bunch of Namekians, and an evil demon in the guise of a Namek?

Also, before anyone asks, since Slug's a movie villain I don't really follow his strength at that time. I based Slug's power off something that's not quite as powerful as the Merged Piccolo, when he's at his full strength that is. I just wanna preempt that before people tell me that Slug's no more powerful than like 50% of Frieza's power, lol.

Also, to anyone reading this during January of 2019, go watch Dragon Ball Super: Broly in theatres. Even the parts I didn't like were fine, and the rest was awesome. Go see it in theatres, support it!

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Reviewers:

Perfect Carnage: A few people caught onto Garlic, but I don't think anyone caught onto King Piccolo… .… .… .…

Blades of Fury: Taro and Brass see Raditz as their weak and foolish uncle. Junia sees him in a less flattering light…

Thomas-The-TMC: Thanks.

Sigmakleim: February of March. The big chapters are hard to write.

Kacarrot: Answered by PM.

Guest1: Originally, Cooler getting the Tree of Might fruit was actually supposed to be in The Catalyst. I flipped it over to TLR, as I didn't think there was a good chance of me getting that far here anytime soon. As a result, it's not gonna happen in this story. :P. Garlic also wasn't in the Deadzone for over a decade going mad. He was only really stuck there for like… 6 weeks. Lol

ShMikeX: I think I answered this by PM.

Luke: It was love at first sight. Lol

Transformerss G1's-Prime: I think I answered by PM.

Zyr0TruthCanExist: Answered by PM.

Super Mystic Gohan: Answered by PM.

Proman1398: Answered by PM.

Jason9000: Every time I see Demon King Piccolo, I just imagine Lisa from the Simpsons after she drank the water in the theme park, just standing atop a box shouting "I am the Lizard Queen!" I dunno why. Lol.

Landers03: Answered by PM.

OuterSpaceHooker: Thanks!

Anomymous: Turles is Goku's other half. When he focus's in on something, he's good at it. :P. Untransformered with no KaioKen Goku is the same strength as Turles atm. Vegeta is actually behind both Kakarot and Turles right now, but that's not going to be forever, I promise. Piccolo is stronger if he uses his Demon-Ken. Also, Abaddon is not going to make an appearance right now (the deranged grand supreme Kai from The Long Road), but you never know.

Nexus The 13th: Answered by PM. Expect for the story to flesh that out more through flashback chapters and pieces over time.