Episode 50

Cunning Illusion

"I'm sorry, guys," Bardock suddenly said who had his back turned these creatures that he deemed unreliable already. He was heading back to the ship. "We've got another planet that's far more genuine than this," he emphasized that word, showing his contempt already.

"Uh, what do you mean?" asked Zaacro who was confused.

Raditz followed his father from behind. He tried to call his nephew and the rest of his friends. "Come on, no time to waste."

"Hey!" Bulma placed her hands on her hips. "You two are being rude! These two gentlemen are really Namekians! I'm sure they're here to help us out."

"Yes, we would very much like to help you find these…DragonBalls you wanted to look for," Raiti said.

"Yes, so you can grant your wishes," Zaacro added.

Of course, everyone was obviously shocked since they had not spoken a word about their hunt for the DragonBalls. This made Bardock and Raditz's suspicions grew even stronger. Their conviction for the Namekians rapidly faded. Actually, it was not even there in the first place.

"We just know about everything there is to know about," Zaacro explained why he knew about their plans.

"And what do you mean by that?" Bardock asked firmly, wanting to know how they had acquired knowledge about this.

"Well, we can read minds," Zaacro simply said.

Bardock immediately grunted and chuckled under his breath. "Read minds? Since when Namekians can do that? I know all about psychic abilities more than what you think."

Raiti knew he and Raditz did not trust them one bit, but he wanted to assure them, "Please! We mean no harm at all. You can trust us. We will cause no animosity."

Bulma was annoyed with the Saiyans again. "Are you kidding me?! You guys are really being impolite!"

"No, please," Zaacro tried to calm her down as well. "It's fine. I guess we're just too nice to strangers."

Raiti had an innocent smile and told his friend, "Well, not all strangers; only the ones we like. You guys are very trustworthy. In fact, we're thinking if we could use your help."

"Our help?" asked Krillin.

"Yes," Raiti nodded. He then suddenly had a disappointed look. "You see, we Namekians come in tribal groups and we perform rituals twice a year to foretell any forthcoming calamity that we might face. Though our planet has faced many troubles, on this very day, we saw a vision and it could be our greatest calamity ever yet."

Bardock raised an eyebrow.

"We saw a vision that a terrible, galactic emperor will soon come to this planet and ravage us all!" finished Zaacro.

"That's terrible!" Gohan exclaimed.

"Oh my," Bulma gasped in fright. "What are you guys going to do about it?"

"Unfortunately, we do not have the power to fight whatsoever to ward off this evil emperor. We're hoping that you could help us build like an escape ship that'll help us leave this planet for good," Raiti explained with desperation, "before that emperor gets to us."

Bulma, Gohan, and Krillin looked at each other one by one. Raditz and Bardock, however, were sensing something strange about their words.

"This beautiful ship that you have," Zaacro approached the spacecraft that the Z-warriors landed with, "I bet you made this, no? It can really get the job done, I can tell."

Bulma folded her arms and thought about it. "Well, building a ship can take a lot of time. Do you guys have the tools or a laboratory somewhere?"

"And if you're thinking of using ours, I don't think all of your people can fit in there," Krillin laughed a little.

"Oh no, there's not much of us left," Raiti said sadly, putting his head down.

"Yes," Zaacro had the same expression as his. "We have unfortunately gone through so many troubles and instability in this planet, there're only thirty of us left."

Bulma, Krillin, and Gohan felt extremely sorry for them.

"That's so sad," Gohan expressed.

"Oh no," Bulma shook her head, feeling like she could cry.

However, Raditz and Bardock had to interrupt. In fact, they were getting sick and tired hearing their lies that were just masked as words of pity in order to persuade and make them sympathize with these deceitful creatures.

"Enough with this talk," Raditz raised his voice. "You're trying to deceive us and we're not going to fall for it!"

"Guys!" Bulma had to shout again at Raditz including Bardock.

"Wait a second!" Zaacro interrupted them before this tension could have escalated to something worse than an argument. "There's no need to fight. I understand how your friends do not trust us still. Look, here's the deal. These DragonBalls that you're looking for, they're all with us, at this very moment!"

The Z-warriors were surprised.

"Huh? You do? Where?!" Bulma looked from left to right. She pulled out her Dragon Radar again and pressed the button on top. On the screen, she saw that all seven DragonBalls were gathered in one spot. "I can't believe this. You guys have all of them!"

"As we mentioned before, we perform our tribal rituals twice a year and we use these DragonBalls analogous to a fortuneteller's crystal ball," Raiti explained. "We can get them for you now and then, will you be willing to stay to build a ship for us?"

Bulma, Krillin, and Gohan felt they could certainly trust them after all. They agreed to this deal then. All of them were now excited that their friends will be wished back to life and they were only moments away from it.

However, Raditz and Bardock cannot believe how gullible they were to fall right into their trap, but after hearing from Bulma that the Dragon Radar was able to detect all seven DragonBalls, they were a little confused now who or what to believe in.

"I don't understand this," Raditz said to himself.

"We'll just have to wait for a while then," Bardock whispered to his son.

Raiti turned to his friend and asked him, "Zaacro, please get all the DragonBalls. And while you do that, I'm going to treat our guests to a delicious buffet," he generously offered to them.

Bulma, Krillin, and Gohan realized they had not eaten any lunch yet and so, after hearing the word "buffet", their stomachs growled in response.

"I am getting kinda hungry," Gohan held his stomach.

"Yeah, why not? Let's go ahead and eat!" Krillin insisted.

"You two are very generous, thank you," Bulma expressed her gratitude for their hospitality.

While Zaacro went to get the DragonBalls, Raiti prepared this delicious buffet for them to fill their stomachs. The food looked exotic, of course, but the aroma was quite mouth-watering.

They sat down on the grasses like they were having a picnic. Immediately, they ate all of this food and they were quire amazed by how it tasted. It was an entirely new flavor, but enjoyable one as well.

"Mmm!" Bulma had a big smile on her face. "You guys can really cook. Where do you guys live anyway?"

"In a basement down here," Raiti pointed to where he went to before when he got all this food for them.

"I bet you have a laboratory there since you want us to build you a ship, right?" asked Gohan.

"Yes, of course," Raiti nodded.

Krillin continued to munch on his food. While chewing, he turned his head to check on Bardock and Raditz. The two full-blooded Saiyans kept very close to the ship, not enjoying themselves at all. They were leaning against the walls of their spacecraft, their heads down, their arms folded, and their eyes closed. Their minds, however, were in a state of great vigilance.

"Guys, don't you wanna join us?" asked Krillin. The fact that the two of them were not even tempted by the scent of food, which, he believed, was every Saiyan's weakness, he found this to be strange.

"Nah, leave them alone. They just need more time to trust you guys, right, Raiti?" Bulma asked and went back to eating.

Raiti stood up and began to wander around. "Yes, of course. You just give them time to think."

Gohan had been keeping his eyes on Raiti the whole it. At first, he thought this was really Namek, but now, just seeing the actions of the Namekians, he found something quite off. He wiped all the crumbs from his pants and then, he whispered to his friends. "I've been wondering though…"

"What's that?" asked Krillin.

"I mean, don't get me wrong," Gohan told them, "I'm excited that we'll soon be bringing our friends back to life, but don't you think our journey has been too…easy?" at the end, he lowered his tone a little more so that only Krillin and Bulma could hear him.

Krillin placed his hands on the grasses and leaned back a little to stretch. "If the truth be known, I kinda have to agree with you. I mean, of course I want our trip to be smooth-sailing in every possible way, but…"

Bulma shook her head, however, and thought they were just making things way too complicated than they seemed. "You guys think too much! So what if it's too easy? When the perfect opportunity comes, you have to grab it!"

"Yes," Raiti spoke out of the blue.

The three almost jumped in surprise that he was hearing their conversation all along.

Raiti then suddenly spread his arms out wide, trying to touch the skies above him. "We've been waiting for so long about that perfect opportunity, but I think now the time has come. This planet has been a bore to us and we desperately want to escape it."

The three immediately became confused by what he just said.

"A bore?" Bulma asked, "But I thought-"

She was interrupted, however, when Zaacro had finally returned. He was carrying a large sack over his shoulder. "My friends, I have all the DragonBalls here!"

"Oh, wow!" Bulma exclaimed. She quickly stood up and went to Zaacro to check out what the DragonBalls would look like. Krillin and Gohan tagged along. As if they had already forgotten about their doubts, they were excited, relieved, and at joy that they were only minutes away from summing the dragon and having it grant their wishes.

Zaacro placed the bag in front of them and opened it immediately. Inside laid all seven DragonBalls, these precious orbs shimmering and glittering in front of their eyes.

Bulma could not contain her excitement. She quickly took out her Dragon Radar and pressed the button on top. Even her device did not lie. These were definitely the DragonBalls they had been looking for.

Raditz and Bardock finally opened their eyes. Still feeling suspicious of Raiti and Zaacro, they agreed they should keep close to their friends and Gohan in case anything should happen. Bardock moved his head, insisting Raditz that they should go and have a closer look.

The two Saiyans then stood behind Bulma, Krillin, and Gohan.

"They actually look the same as from Earth," Krillin remarked, still staring at the DragonBalls.

"Yeah, I thought they were going to look a bit more different," Gohan said.

"Who cares? All right, everyone, time to grant our wish!" Bulma excitedly said.

Just before Bulma had made the chant to summon the dragon, Bardock and Raditz were quick enough to chance a glance at Raiti and Zaacro. They did not know why, but they believed they saw their appearances actually being replaced with another alien race-

"Hey, WATCH OUT!" Bardock warned them.

All of a sudden, Raiti and Zaacro began to screech in a very unnatural tone; not even a Namekian would make a sound like that. "You fools!" the two had a sinister laugh.

Unexpectedly, the DragonBalls produced several silk-like threads like web, which caught Bulma, Gohan, and Krillin by surprise. Raditz and Bardock were able to get away before the threads could have gotten them as well. The web then attached itself to the corners and trees with Bulma, Gohan, and Krillin stuck in the middle of the web, struggling with all their might to get out.

"What's going on?!" Gohan cried out, his hands and legs all in these tough threads.

"Hey, what's the big deal?!" Bulma questioned angrily. "I thought you guys were on our side!"

"You fools really fell for that, didn't you?!" shouted Raiti and Zaacro.

Bardock grunted with irritation. "Tch! I should've known."

Raditz shook his head. "If only they listened, none of this would've happened."

Krillin was using all his strength, but it seemed like the threads of the web resisted to budge every time he pulled. "Darn it! I can't move!"

"Me, too!" Gohan even tried to raise his energy to escape from their clutches, but he cannot at all.

Zaacro and Raiti continued to laugh, their sinister laughter echoing throughout the skies, which had made the entire place transform into a different landscape entirely. The Namekians suddenly transformed into light red-shaded aliens with freakish features. Their yellow eyes bobbed out and went in different directions, their claws and feet were shaped unnaturally as well as their tongues and antennas. In simplest terms, they just looked hideous.

Gohan was shocked. "Aah! They're not Namekians! They're aliens!"

"AAH!" Bulma screamed in fright.

The entire planet changed in appearance as well. The once lively green trees and forests had turned into dull, gray caves and canyons. The grasses that were filled with delicate flowers had transformed into gray grounds, rocks, and boulders. The clear skies were suddenly covered with rain clouds, which looked like it will rain for eternity. The entire planet had turned dreary and strange.

Even the DragonBalls themselves had transformed into nothing more but plain rocks.

All this time, everything was just a cunning illusion.

"You-you tricked us! Why you!" Bulma gnashed her teeth together.

Zaacro just laughed. "Hah, hah! You should've listened to your friends earlier ago, but you guys are just too foolish!"

"We need to get out of here!" Krillin struggled.

Gohan was doing his best to escape from this web. "Rrrgh, I'm trying, but I can't get out!"

"You can't get out!" Raiti told them, laughing hysterically. "Now with your ship readily available for us, we can finally get out of this filthy planet for good. Hah, hah!"

However, they were too busy talking to the three whom they had trapped in their web, they almost forgot about two important people.

Bardock stepped forward with his arms folded. "I believe you're the ones who're fooling yourselves this whole time."

Zaacro and Raiti turned around, but they continued to keep their evil grins on their faces, seeing the two Saiyans as no threat to them. It was either they were too confident in their abilities to be able to beat them actually or they had no clue who these Saiyans were and the astonishing capabilities they can carry.

"Those looks on your faces…you have no idea who you're messing with, aren't you?" asked Raditz with a grin.

The two creatures did not flinch still. In fact, they confronted them and were actually prepared to do battle.

"Your pride and ego's too big that you can't even see what lies ahead of you!" Raiti declared. "Your friends here will be our appetizers and you two will be our main courses. Prepare yourselves!"

Bardock grunted and closed his eyes. "Okay then…but let me warn you, you can't beat us," he declared to him this time. He looked up and pulled off a wider grin.

Raditz stepped forward this time and demanded from them, "We'll give you a chance though to avoid any confrontations from us. You let them go now if you know what's good for you."

Zaacro and Raiti did not heed to their words. They now prepared in their fighting stances.

"So be it…," Raditz grinned wider.

The two hideous creatures moved forward and tried to do hand-to-hand combat with them, but they quickly realized that Bardock and Raditz did not have to make any efforts. They did not budge one bit, not even a slight inch just to evade their moves. In fact, the Saiyans were letting their enemies' fists hit their faces and bodies and they simply stood there straight and firm like carved statues with uninterested looks. They were not even hurt one bit.

Zaacro and Raiti soon took into understand they were falling faster to their dooms sooner than they thought.

"Aah! Impossible! I've never met anyone who's this powerful!" Zaacro cried out anxiously. "Wha-what are you?!"

Bardock and Raditz chuckled under their breaths.

"Well, that explains a lot now," Bardock smirked.

Both father and son then took their turns. With just one move, they sent powerful, direct fists to their stomachs. Their foe's shrill cries of pain only revealed how weak they actually were. Zaacro and Raiti quickly fell to their knees, weakened by the Saiyans' shocking, insurmountable powers.

The enemies were clearly defeated and as a result, Bulma, Krillin, and Gohan were finally set free from the web. They fell to the ground, but they tried to keep their balances intact. Behind them, the web disintegrated and the threads vanished into thin-air.

Gohan stood up and bent his elbows to his waist. "Grandpa Bardock and Uncle Raditz were right all along. We should've listened to them in the first place."

"Yeah," Krillin agreed with what he said, "but at least it's over now."

The fight was not done, however, as Zaacro and Raiti were persistent enough or at least to the Z-fighters' eyes, too stubborn that they had to challenge the Saiyans again as if they had not learned at all.

"No!" Raiti yelled with anger. "We will get what we want and we will!"

He and his comrade were prepared to confront Bardock and Raditz again. The two Saiyans stood there, already anticipating what the likely outcome will be. Before their foes could land a move though, Krillin and Gohan appeared in front of Bardock and Raditz and they decided that they themselves should conclude this irrelevant fight once and for all.

"We'll take care of this!" they both said in unison as they leaped in air, sending front kicks to their enemies' chins, jerking their heads back. They fell to the ground, almost unconscious.

"Whoo!" Krillin then did the fist-bump to Gohan in which Gohan did the same.

Bulma was still on her knees, still disgusted by the looks of these creatures.

Zaacro and Raiti struggled to stand now on their own two legs. While they tried to move their bodies, Bardock came up to them, his shadowing looming over these imposters.

Bardock's grin had suddenly faded away and now, in his eyes, there was anger in them. He began to lecture them for some reason, "You being able to read our minds had allowed you to discover our intentions, but there's only one thing that disgusts me. How dare you make up stories involving that foolish overlord just to instill fear in us. You think this is all a game to you?!" he raised his voice.

Zaacro and Raiti trembled in fear. The message had finally gotten across for them. All they could do now was to beg on their knees and asked him to spare them.

Bulma, Gohan, and Krillin heard what Bardock said. Apparently, this "overlord" that Zaacro and Raiti had mentioned once seemed to have a connection with Bardock. They were beginning to wonder who this overlord was. For some reason, by instincts, they wondered if this "overlord" had some sort of connection with Frieza, but they thought that was absolutely ridiculous.

Only Raditz knew whom he was talking about. He lowered his head a little with shadows casting over his eyes.

Bardock thought he should just give their enemies a good beating, but Zaacro and Raiti surrendered and really begged him to spare them.

"Please, we'll leave you alone now! You don't understand! We don't have any taste of violence!" Raiti struggled.

"We never fought before in our lives," Zaacro added.

Krillin growled. "Then why did you try to attack us anyway?"

Raiti and Zaacro looked at each other and they just shrugged their shoulders, actually having no clue why they did that.

Bardock crossed his arms again and stared at one angle. "Even their intellect's pretty bad…"

Bulma then stood up, actually angrier than ever. If there was one thing that will make her fully irritated and embarrassed, it was a joke that was being played on her especially that she was the one who dragged herself into this mess. She stomped her way towards their ship. "Come on, let's move! It's about time we go to the real Planet Namek!"

The rest shrugged their shoulders and they followed Bulma from behind.

"I guess this is a goodbye, guys!" Krillin waved at the fake Namekians.

"Enjoy the rest of your days here," Bulma waved her hand, not bothering to look at them though.

"Thanks for the food, I guess," Gohan laughed to himself while Raditz and Bardock just kept on walking.

Zaacro and Raiti still staggered from the pain the Z-fighters gave them. "Ow…you're welcome…"

The Z-fighters headed back to their ship. They immediately took off and left, leaving the stranded, fake Namekians behind.

Zaacro asked his friend, "Oh well, what can we do now?"

Raiti complained, "Not sure, but we're stuck in this planet forever!"

The Z-warriors took a brief rest inside the ship before going back to their normal chores and training.

Everyone was quiet for some reason. Actually, it was more of Bulma who was keeping herself too quiet. The rest only stared at her.

Bulma was making adjustments and plotting in coordinates to the ship. She then sat on her chair and gave a pouted look.

"Okay," Krillin broke the silence. "I guess the real Namek will be the real deal, huh, Gohan?"

"Yeah, of course!" Gohan tried to add some cheer to the air.

Raditz and Bardock went by to Bulma's side to read the data shown on the radar screen of the controls of the ship. There was a small box on the bottom left corner of the monitor, which showed the distance they had traveled so far as well as the duration of time. It also had the name of their destination displayed there.

Bulma did not bother to look at the Saiyans though. She had an annoyed look.

The two knew what she was thinking though, but they decided to leave her alone for a while. They were about to go back to their rooms.

"Hey, guys," Bulma suddenly called them, but it can be heard that she was clearly struggling with her words. "About what happened earlier ago…"

Bardock and Raditz listened to her.

She was hesitant to say what was in her head though. Then, a sudden mood swing hit her. She stood up and made her way towards the kitchen. "Ugh! What I'm trying to say is that it's a good thing we knew about the true colors of Raiti and Zaacro, but even you two would've been fooled, you know, if you guys were just as gullible as us! Oh, whatever, let's just forget about what happened," she opened the refrigerator and took out a slice of leftover cake she baked yesterday.

Krillin knew exactly what she was trying to say. He decided to translate it for them. "I think what she meant to say is she apologizes for being too bossy and for not listening to you guys as much."

Bulma heard what he said and she yelled at him, "Krillin, be quiet, will you?!"

Bardock and Raditz could not help but chuckle lightly to themselves. They told her though, "Apology accepted."

The rest had a hearty laugh while Bulma continued to eat her cake in bittersweet silence.