Chapter 9

"Don't worry. I'm sure my dad will be fine."

Krillin glanced at Gohan who was flying right next to him. The boy's large, dark eyes were shining with sincerity and his genuine smile was truly touching. Krillin grinned back. "You don't need to cheer me up. I've seen how amazing your dad is. If everything goes according to plan him and Vegeta are bound to win." He couldn't quite suppress a sigh. "It's just ..."

"Yes?"

He didn't really want to worry Gohan more than he had to, the kid had gone through enough terrible things already. But he didn't know how to phrase 'We left your dad with a genocidal maniac' without alarming the boy. He sighed again and settled on "I just hope Vegeta won't turn on him."

"But he's on our side now. He even saved our lives. You told that to Bulma, too, didn't you?"

He did. They had picked up the Dragon Radar and given Bulma a quick update about what happened. After she was done chewing them out for leaving her alone for so long and rejoicing about Goku's arrival, she had asked about Vegeta's presence back when they picked up the Dragon Ball from her. And Krillin himself had assured her it was fine. If only he could believe that himself.

He managed a smile and nodded. "You're right, Gohan. I probably worry too much, that's all." He spotted something in the distance and motioned toward the large object. "We're almost there. We need to be on our guard."

The Dragon Radar in Gohan's hands beeped in confirmation as they got closer. The Dragon Balls were right ahead.

Yet the actually visible thing wasn't the orbs they were here for. It was a massive ship, far bigger than the one they came in. It was vaguely saucer-shaped but as it was sitting atop the grassy hills on long clawlike legs it reminded Krillin of a giant crab.

The strange thing was that there was no ki around. Had Freeza taken all his men with him when he went looking for the last surviving Namekians?

Krillin shrugged inwardly and looked for a way to get inside. One of the wide, bulbous windows had been wrecked by what looked like a blast coming from inside the ship. He didn't quite know what had happened here but he guessed this was the easiest point of access.

Not that he really was all that keen to go into this unknown environment where any number of traps could lay waiting for them, but the Dragon Balls had to be in there, so there was really no choice.

As they got closer, Krillin aimed for the shattered window when Gohan's voice made him stop in his tracks.

"Wait! Krillin, look. The signal." Gohan held out the Dragon Radar to him. "It's not from the inside the ship. The Dragon Balls have to be hidden out here somewhere."

That was actually quite a relief, even though it turned out they had to dig up the orbs from where they had been buried about a foot deep in the Namekian soil. But Krillin preferred a bit of manual labor to searching an alien ship with foreign tech neither of them knew how to handle.

Their lack of shovels meant they had to get very hands-on with digging and ended up quite dirty but as soon as they spotted the orange-golden shimmer of the first Dragon Ball all that was forgotten.

They had almost made it.

They had traveled through space, explored a strange, alien world, fought terrible opponents, and were now so close to bringing back all the friends they had lost.

Bring back Piccolo who had grown to be such a good person he sacrificed himself so Gohan would live. Bring back Tien and Chiaotsu who had fought loyally at their side until the very end. And bring back Yamcha who had faced their foes in Krillin's place and had died instead of him.

So close now.

They were almost giddy as they now plucked all seven Dragon Balls from the dirt and placed them on the ground nearby. Then a solemn mood overcame them.

Krillin nodded firmly at Gohan and drew a deep breath, before raising his hands and shouting. "Come forth, mighty Shenlong, and grant me my wish!"

Wind blew over the Namekian fields, making the blue grass sway gently in the breeze. If there had been crickets on this planet they probably would have chirped, but as it was not even that could be heard.

After a moment too long Krillin's arms dropped back to his sides. He glanced at Gohan uncertainly, embarrassed to seek help from a child but unable to think of anything himself. "It's not working. Why isn't it working?"

Gohan who had been smiling just a moment earlier looked just as devastated as Krillin felt. "I don't know. Maybe you have to say it differently," he said haltingly.

"Oh, Shenron, please come. Fulfill our wishes," Krillin tried again but the results were just as poor as during the first attempt.

"Maybe the dragon isn't even named Shenron on this planet."

Krillin groaned in despair and tested a few more variations but no dragon showed itself. Instead, his mental feelers started to ring like an internal alarm bell.

"Someone's coming," Gohan whispered.

"It feels like there's two of them," Krillin replied. That meant it wasn't Goku alone. If he was still with Vegeta that would account for two kis but ... "They are both so sinister. Is it maybe those Ginyu guys?"

Gohan stared into the sky, his eyes wide and concerned. "If it's them, what happened to my father?" he breathed.

Krillin didn't know and he didn't want to think about it either. Nor did they have time for much more soul searching. He grabbed Gohan's wrist and pulled him toward a rocky outcropping nearby where they wouldn't be seen immediately. "We need to be careful. Hide your ki."

The boy complied silently and they pressed themselves against the rocks, peering out just a little to see who might arrive near the ship.

A moment later two figures landed next to the mound where they had dug up the Dragon Balls and Krillin breathed a sigh of relief. "Goku!" He jumped out of their hiding place and waved at his friend. He had no idea why he had misinterpreted his ki as being evil but he assumed that this had simply been his frayed nerves making him imagine things.

In any case, he could trust his eyes well enough, and here was Goku, showing hardly any signs of battle damage, but curiously wearing a scouter over his left eye. Next to him stood Jeice, the red-skinned alien from the Ginyu Force. Krillin couldn't say he was exactly happy to see this new ally but he assumed he could hardly be worse than Vegeta. On the contrary, after getting over his initial surprise at least this guy was grinning happily to see him instead of the perpetual scowl Vegeta usually wore. And he hadn't personally tried to kill Krillin yet.

"Hey, Goku, it's just me," he called as he strolled closer chatting away happily. "I'm so glad to see you. For a second I thought it was Ginyu who was coming, but then I saw you. So you defeated Ginyu already and you managed to convince his underling to come to our side, yes? That's so amazing."

"Yes," Goku replied in an odd tone. "I sure did." He looked around and raised an eyebrow. "So, you were the one who found the Dragon Balls. How ... how did you do that?"

Krillin laughed. Goku looked virtually unscathed from his fight with Ginyu, so he probably was just a bit scatterbrained today. "You're kidding me, right? I used the Dragon Radar, of course. You told me to yourself, remember?"

Jeice looked suitably impressed. "Whoa, they have the technology to do that?"

It made Krillin appreciate Goku's switch in allies even more. Vegeta with his perpetual frown would never show any appreciation for their technological advancement, he was sure.

Goku ignored Jeice and kept his stare on Krillin. "Did you get your wish granted then?"

Krillin sighed, his former mirth forgotten. "No, that's the thing. Summoning Shenlong just didn't work. Maybe the password is different from the one we use on Earth, but I tried several different ways and he still wouldn't show up."

Goku grinned widely, sending a shiver down Krillin's spine. "So, it didn't work, huh?"

Something felt so wrong about all this, but Krillin couldn't figure out what was going on. "Goku, are you okay?" he asked carefully. "There's something off about you. Your ki feels so different, too, and why are you wearing one of these scouter things like Freeza's men do?"

Goku's grin got even wider and he leisurely raised his arm.

Just as the bad feeling in Krillin's mind reached a crescendo he heard Gohan scream behind him. "Krillin! Watch out! That's not my dad!"

He didn't fully evade the blow but he jumped backward in time to reduce a punch that could have incapacitated him to a bruise on his cheek. His mind was in turmoil, though.

This was his best friend. From the wild, black hair to the bright orange gi, everything about him looked so normal. And now this? What was going on?

"So there's another one hidden," Goku said with a glance at Gohan. "The scouter didn't register him. They seem to be able to dampen their battle power."

"Goku, what ..." Krillin tried again helplessly but Gohan interrupted him.

"That's not my dad! That can't be him, I feel it!"

Goku threw his head back and roared with laughter. "What a clever lad. This Goku fellow was so strong, I just had to switch bodies with him."

He struck a pose and Jeice joined in immediately, announcing the presence of the Ginyu Force. Or rather what was left of it.

Krillin's mind was reeling. It had been a long day so far, from the moment he set out with Gohan on the last leg of their trip to the Grand Elder of the Namekians to his alliance with Vegeta and the following fight against Guldo and Recoome. It might have been merely a few hours but in that time the universe had thrown a lot at Krillin and by now all he wanted was a break from all the craziness.

"Goku, have you been brainwashed?" he croaked desperately as if his denial could make this latest insanity not true.

In the end, whether he believed it or not made little difference as Goku, or rather not-Goku, gleefully told them he wanted to test out this new body and hurled himself at them. Krillin did his best to deflect and evade all punches and kicks, but he was far too distracted making sense of having to fight someone who looked so much like Goku and acted so little like him.

Then they heard Jeice call out and all three of them paused their fighting and stood still in mid-air. "Commander Ginyu, that guy you fought is coming here."

Krillin looked in the direction Jeice was pointing and his eyes widened. The ki that was approaching felt like Goku's yet when the owner came into view it was clearly Ginyu.

The purple-skinned alien tumbled while flying and was much slower than usual. As he landed nearby Krillin saw in what kind of terrible shape he was. Blood the color of dark grapes seeped through his fingers that he pressed onto a gaping wound in his chest. And yet he remained absolutely determined as he pressed on. "Finally I found you!" he said, then he was shaken by a violent cough and spit more blood.

Not-Goku laughed at him. "Amazing that you're still moving. You really are quite persistent. I should have wounded myself even more before switching bodies."

Ginyu ignored him. "Krillin!" he cried. "And Gohan! That one isn't me. That's Ginyu who switched bodies with me."

Krillin's jaw sagged. So it was true and no pretending otherwise would make a difference. He looked at not-Goku with a sinking feeling in his stomach. How could he hold his own against someone in a body as strong as Goku's? He and Gohan were doomed from the start if they so much as tried to fight him.

As if reading his mind not-Ginyu shouted up at them. "I know you can beat him. He may have my body but as long as he doesn't know how to use body and mind in unison he'll never be able to use its full potential, let alone a Kaioken."

Not-Goku snorted. "You fool. This body has a battle power of 180,000! All your babbling about mind powers won't change that. They don't stand a chance against me." He turned to his comrade who was still standing on the ground eyeing all opponents. "Hey Jeice, use your scouter and tell me how strong I am. Let's show these pitiful fools what they're up against."

Jeice did as he was told and as not-Goku screamed as he gathered his ki and powered up he kept his scouter trained on him and grew more and more terrified. Because for all his screaming not-Goku's power refused to rise beyond 23,000 which meant that Jeice and his master had not nearly as much of an advantage as they had thought.

"I knew it!" not-Ginyu cried. "He can't use my body properly because he's not used to it. Krillin! Gohan! This is your chance! Get him!"

Krillin hated it. He had fought Goku before - in training, in tournaments, and just to test himself - but this was different. This was a fight to the death with someone wearing his best friend's face. Gohan seemed just as disturbed as him, yet still they took on this imposter.

They threw themselves at him, punching and kicking, and to their amazement what not-Ginyu had claimed was true. They managed to hold their own against him. Unfortunately, that didn't mean that winning was all that simple.

not-Ginyu called for help from Jeize, but just as Krillin braced for another fighter joining in the fray, he suddenly saw Vegeta. He had no idea where he had come from right now, but he didn't have time to wonder about it. All that counted now was that he kept Jeice busy.

And then several things happened at once.

A vicious kick sent Krillin flying, but Gohan was there to immediately take his place. He landed and noticed that Jeice's ki had just winked out of existence. As he spotted the cloud of his remains billowing in the sky, raining disgusting body pieces, he saw Vegeta already on the move. He sped towards not-Goku who had managed to grab Gohan by the throat and was about to pummel the boy.

Vegeta barreled into the two of them and soon Gohan joined Krillin on the sidelines, nursing a bleeding nose and catching his breath.

As much as Krillin wanted to do something, talk to Gohan or not-Ginyu who was still standing nearby, bleeding and barely keeping on his feet, or join the fight again, all he managed to do was stare at them. He had seen this before, back on Earth. Goku and Vegeta, fighting, snarling at each other. And yet it was completely different. Of course, Goku wasn't himself and Vegeta was on their side as far as Krillin knew.

Still, he couldn't cheer Vegeta on. It all looked so wrong whenever Vegeta managed to land a punch, fired a ki blast, or kicked not-Goku in the face.

Then, from one second to the next, he knew it was over. Vegeta was charging at not-Goku who was lying on the ground, unable to get out of the way. But then not-Goku started to glow and not-Ginyu leaped upwards and got between the two of them.

Vegeta pulled up short and Ginyu landed next to Goku, looking furious and cursing angrily, while the latter laughed as if he had gone mad.

Krillin looked from one to the other in confusion but Gohan's eyes widened and a smile spread across his face. "It's my dad," he cried pointing at Goku. "He's back in his body."

Both Krillin and Vegeta stared at him when Goku piped up, too. "Yeah, I'm back." He chuckled again but the pain he was in was obvious. Vegeta had beat him up so thoroughly, he wasn't even able to get up again.

Ginyu, on the other hand, was still bleeding from his chest wound but looked more murderous and determined than ever.

Vegeta didn't wait much longer and hurled himself at Ginyu again.

Krillin watched them apprehensively. He didn't feel as conflicted about siding with Vegeta this time as he had when Ginyu had still worn Goku's body. But that didn't mean he was happy having to entrust their survival to the Saiyan. True, he had been wrong to prefer Jeice over Vegeta when he still believed Goku had made him their new ally. And yet, he couldn't help but wonder where Vegeta had been before he showed up again out of thin air.

Looking more closely now, Krillin noted that Vegeta had cleaned up quite a bit. The dried blood caking his face was gone and he wore a completely new and whole suit with a different set of armor over it. When did he get that? Was this what he had left Goku behind for? Krillin had never taken Vegeta for being particularly vain. So was changing his outfit the only thing Vegeta had been up to?

He watched Ginyu taking another kick into the side and frowned. While Vegeta had gotten a whole lot stronger after their previous fight with Recoome, he couldn't help but wonder why Ginyu was fighting back so little.

A moment later Ginyu flashed with bright light again, yelled, "Change!" while Vegeta was charging at him, but before Krillin could even react, there was a sudden movement by Goku and suddenly Ginyu fell out of the sky along with something smaller. Was it ... Krillin got a few steps closer. A frog? Yes, it was certainly some sort of amphibian. A Namekian frog.

Ginyu still hadn't gotten up again. Instead, he was crouched on all fours, a blank expression on his face. He opened his mouth and croaked hoarsely, then he hopped off.

Krillin didn't pay him much heed. Along with Gohan he rushed over to Goku and helped prop him up. Vegeta landed next to them, his arms folded and a frown on his face. Goku smiled at him, revealing blood-stained teeth. "Man, you smashed up my body pretty good, Vegeta."

The other Saiyan snorted. "Whatever. You better explain what just happened with Ginyu, though."

Goku strained to laugh, but it sounded more like a pain-filled wheeze. "He was about to switch bodies with you, so I threw a frog in his path." He nodded into the direction of the receding form of Ginyu. "The one that just hopped off was the frog and that frog over there is Ginyu."

Vegeta laughed heartily and walked over to frog-Ginyu. "Well, let's put an end to him then."

The frog clearly understood him well enough and turned to flee but Krillin knew he didn't stand a chance.

"Leave him be, Vegeta," Goku said almost gently as if that had stopped him when the other Ginyu Force members were already out of commission.

To Krillin's surprise this time Vegeta merely shrugged and turned back. "Fine. Living the rest of his miserable days in that pitiful form is punishment enough."

Goku grinned again when another wave of pain gripped him and he slumped in Krillin's and Gohan's arms.

Beside himself with worry, Krillin asked, "And you really don't have another senzu bean with you?"

"I'm afraid not."

A cold chuckle made them look up. Vegeta was strolling over to them, his fists on his hips and a self-satisfied smirk on his face. "It would be so easy to get rid of you useless rabble now."

"Vegeta, you ... you ..." Icy dread spread in Krillin's chest. Vegeta was right. It would be easy. Goku couldn't even stand on his own, was bleeding, and had probably several broken ribs. Gohan and Krillin had taken not too much damage during their fight against Ginyu but against Vegeta, they stood no chance at all. After his latest power boost, the Saiyan had progressed past all the members of the Ginyu Force and he was the only one who had come out of this battle virtually unscathed.

He'd kill them now and take the Dragon Balls for himself and all their hopes would be lost after all.

Goku smiled through his pain. "D-don't worry. He can't kill us now. And he knows it."

Vegeta snorted but he returned the smile. "You're right. I still need you because of the Dragon Balls. And for the fight against Freeza, I could use some extra power, especially from Kakarot." He turned towards Freeza's massive ship and motioned for them to follow him. "Come with me. And bring Kakarot."

Krillin stared at him but a quick glance at Gohan and Goku made him resign himself. They really were out of options. Vegeta needed them, but they needed him just as much.

They started to limp after him, Goku's legs dragging behind him, and made their way to the space ship.