Chapter 019 - The Namekian Resistance
Once again the pink blob of a fighter looked in their direction, Corset instantly ducking down and clamping her eyes shut. Had they just been spotted?
Eventually she looked quickly up at the sky ahead trying to keep herself calm, double-taking as she spotted something. Three dots appeared ahead of them and were growing larger. Fear and angst bolted throughout her small body; she wanted to run away but couldn't in case she was spotted. She concentrated on the dots trying to distinguish if they were more soldiers... They didn't have evil energies... Could they be...?
Krillin and Gohan had both spotted them as well, "... Who are they?" Gohan asked in a hushed voice.
Three pairs of feet slapped onto the ground; three Namekians landed amongst the small group of villagers.
"They're Namekians," Gohan gawked in awe.
"I didn't even sense them coming until they arrived," Krillin nodded.
"They look even more like Piccolo than those other Namekians do," Corset mumbled awestruck. The resemblance was uncanny – it scared her in a way just how much they looked like her late mentor!
The Namekian warriors did not seem happy as they exchanged words with the bad guys.
"You must be the cruel fiends killing Namekians for Dragonballs." One stepped forward.
"We'll make you regret destroying Namek's hard-earned peace," another threatened.
The pink strong man pressed what Corset knew was one of those devices the Saiyans had used to read power levels. Why was it so many people seemed to need those things? Didn't they know sensing ki was easy?
It seemed the soldiers weren't worried as they'd begun to laugh, yet Corset couldn't figure out why. The Namekians were suppressing their ki; the soldiers were no match for them. So did that mean those scouters couldn't detect suppressed energy? Corset guessed it must be so; those three soldiers that had destroyed their ship earlier had no idea just how outclassed they were...
"Can't they figure out that the Namekians are suppressing their ki?" Krillin asked stunned.
"The Saiyans didn't seem to be able to figure that out either..." Gohan mumbled.
"KILL THEM!" One soldier screamed as they all charged in on their surrounded opponents brimming with confidence and blood-lust.
The Namekians were ready. Within an instant the battle had begun; the three Namekians having no trouble beating down their opponents. One soldier flew into the rocky wall of the surrounding cliffs, landing in a dishevelled heap; others were flying left, right and centre as the Namekian warriors quickly began to overwhelm the confused soldiers. A blast from one native fighter sent one soldier bolting backwards towards Zarbon, who merely kicked the soldier into the nearby waters rather than be hit by him; seemingly indifferent who whose side the man was on.
From up above Corset cheered inside, a smile appearing on her face for the first time in a while. The Namekians were holding their own against the soldiers and seemed to be winning. "Go Namekians," she cheered quietly, struggling to suppress her joy.
That's it, go get them," Krillin smiled.
Their joy quickly faded as the stumpy pink fighter placed his Dragonballs down, swinging his arms around as if preparing for battle.
In a sudden and unexpected move, the last elder jumped up into the air and fired off what appeared to be three random shots – one of them hitting the pink fighter in the face and blowing up the small device. His actions baffled Corset; what was he trying to do? There was no way the elderly Namekian could beat that giant pink fighter and the other two people he'd struck were already down.
The green-haired man perked up, "He was after the scouters!" He cried.
"Scouters?" Krillin repeated quietly.
"They must be those things on their faces that detect power levels," Gohan mumbled.
Krillin gasped, "I get it now! The elder really got them good. Those scouters are probably what they were using to track down the Dragonballs. It's not that they knew the location of the Dragonballs; it was just that they could track down the Namekians and then take the Dragonballs from them."
"... So the Namekian worked it out and broke them?" Corset realised. "Wow, he's smart... but won't that have made those guys angry now?"
It was a rhetorical question and thankfully no one answered.
"That's it! Now you're gonna die!" The pink man bolted up into the air headed straight for the elder Namekian, within inches of the defenceless man in seconds and about to deliver the final blow-
"DODORIA!" the leader bellowed; his cry stopping his henchman in his tracks. "I want you to take care of these young ones first!"
Begrudgingly the pink fighter bolted back towards the ground, landing heavily on two feet in front of the three young Namekians who apparently were done with the foot soldiers.
Corset gulped nervously. The Namekians seemed a little confident since they outnumbered him three-to-one. Yet this didn't seem to bother the pink man...
It happened so fast. Dodoria's clawed hand rammed straight through one of the Namekian's back, piercing through and protruding out of his stomach. With no effort he yanked his hand out from the Namekian's back and turned, suddenly expelling out a blast from his mouth and catching another Namekian by surprise, incinerating his body as the blast struck. Both Namekian warriors collapsed to the floor. Both were dead.
Krillin, Gohan and Corset all gasped in horror alongside the other Namekians down below; none of them could believe how strong this fighter was!
The last remaining fighter Namekian was on guard; he barely managed to avoid being struck down by Dodoria's powerful fist, dodging a couple more thrusts before bolting backwards to open up a gap between them. Dodoria chuckled and lunged forward towards the Namekian who'd pulled both hands back. With a bellow the Namekian threw his hands out in front of him, launching off a large energy blast.
There was a tremendous explosion as Dodoria collided with the oncoming attack, dust and light thrown about the immediate area, wind sweeping across the ground. Through the dust the Namekian watched and waited, trying to spot anything that resembled his opponent on the ground...
Through the clearing smoke Dodoria emerged unharmed, much to the Namekian fighter's shock and dismay.
"It's no good," Krillin bared his teeth, "an attack at that magnitude won't stop this guy!"
Dodoria charged at his opponent head-on, ramming the Namekian with his spiky skull; spikes shallowly piercing the Namekian as he pushed him ever closer to the wall of solid rock. A horrendous crack echoed loudly alongside the Namekian's scream as he was crushed up against the rocky cliff-face, body falling limp over Dodoria. The chunky fighter landed on both feet and pulled his head away from his opponent; the Namekian slumped against the wall, dead.
Corset could barely breathe. The situation was horrible – it was horribly one-sided in favour of these evil men. As much as she was too scared to do anything, she wished there was someone around to beat all these men up so all could end well.
"Do you see how pointless resistance is?" the leader called up to the elder. "Now why don't you come down, sir?"
The elder Namekian landed back on the ground in front of the remaining children.
"A wise decision I must say," the leader smiled. "Now then, since you destroyed our scouters I suggest you hand over the Dragonball as an apology. You've seen how we deal with things so I advise you not to be a stubborn fool, not unless you want those children to die."
The elder bared his teeth in fury, "You fiend!" He hissed. "... If I give you the Dragonball will you promise to leave and not hurt the children?"
The leader seemed to give a small nod or maybe he just looked trustworthy; either way the Namekian elder vanished into one of the houses and soon returned.
Corset's heart sank. It was another Dragonball. Another Dragonball out of their reach.
"You should have done this in the beginning; you could have saved a lot of those deaths from happening," the leader smiled eagerly.
Up on the cliff above, Gohan's anger and frustration was beginning to boil. "Those monsters... they won't get away with this!" He snarled grasping the grass tightly in his clenched palms.
Krillin's attention bolted over towards the young boy, "whoa Gohan, don't get any crazy ideas about jumping in. There's nothing you or I can do about any of this; we'd just be needlessly slaughtered by these guys."
"Here is your precious Dragonball; take it and leave!" the elder spat, handing the Dragonball over.
"Good, now before we leave you may as well tell us the location of the remaining two Dragonballs," the small leader smiled. "You did destroy our scouters after all."
"Never!" The elder barked back. "I will never betray a fellow Namekian even if it means my life! Do as you promised and leave!"
Frieza sighed and shook his head, "The people of this planet sure are a stubborn breed. You and the children will have to die after all..."
"WHAT?" The elder gasped.
Dodoria bolted forwards, elbowing the elder right between his eyes, sending him rolling backwards into one of the small houses.
Corset was so shocked and stunned by what she'd seen. The last elder of this Namekian village had just been struck down despite doing what he was told! What kind of people were they dealing with? It sent waves of fear and sorrow through her; this wasn't right! This was cruel and she hated how she had to stay and watch it.
Gohan bared his teeth in frustration as he watched. "That monster!" His rage was beginning to bubble.
Krillin placed his hands on Gohan's shoulders in an attempt to calm him down and keep him from jumping into the situation, "Bad idea kid, calm down. There's nothing we can do at this point. We've got to keep our heads or we're all dead."
To all their relief, the elder slowly sat up, blood running from his nose from the harsh strike as his body shook with fury. "You gave your word. I gave you the Dragonball now leave us in peace!" He hissed.
"We will but first you must tell us where the other two Dragonballs are," the leader replied coolly. "You destroyed our scouters so you must now tell us where the remaining two Dragonballs are located. They're useless unless all seven are together."
"I already told you; I would never betray another Namekian even if it costs me my life!" The elder spat angrily.
"Oh it will, it will," the leader sighed.
The green-haired fighter glanced over at his boss, "Master Freeza, would we not be able to find the two remaining Dragonballs without these fools' help?"
"We could if we searched the entire planet for more villages," Freeza nodded. "... Kill all three of them."
Corset gasped in horror at what she'd just heard. "No... They can't..." she quivered.
"Those monsters!" Gohan hissed furiously through gritted teeth.
"Calm down Gohan; you're not going down there," Krillin muttered sternly.
The Namekian elder rose to his feet and glanced over his shoulder, "Children run! Run and get away from here!"
The two Namekian boys nodded obediently and ran.
"I shall show you the honour of all the Namekians!" The elder roared raising both hands readying an attack-
A blast from Freeza's finger narrowly missed the elder's head as it shot between his skull and arm, striking down one of the Namekian children in the back. The elder gasped and turned to see the younger of the two children laying on the ground charred and motionless.
The three Earthling warriors gaped in horror, eyes fixated on the downed and defenceless Namekian child. He hadn't stood a chance.
"C-Cargo!" The other Namekian child cried, fearfully taking a couple of steps away from his fallen dead friend.
Gohan's rage boiled inside of him. "Those... Those monsters...!" He growled furiously struggling to keep himself under control.
Dodoria lunged forward catching the elder off guard as he grabbed him by the neck, twisting him by the head. There was a horrendously loud snap as the elder's neck broke.
Corset cowered away from the ledge slightly, eyes furiously trying to blink back tears. "H-He k-k-killed him!" She stuttered almost hysterically. She'd never seen something as cruel as this before; at least when the Saiyans attacked it was against warriors who could fight – these were just civilians!
"Gohan, keep it together!" Krillin warned, trying to calm the shaking boy; Gohan's knuckles had turned white from the sheer strength in his arms.
Dodoria smirked and dropped the dead elder to the ground, "I think that's enough honour for one day."
He glanced over towards the last remaining Namekian; the boy being shaken out of his fear-induced paralysis as ice-cold eyes met his. He screamed and tried to flee the area, tears streaming down his cheeks due to the magnitude of emotion, heart feeling as if it would explode at any given moment! Within a second Dodoria had blocked his path and raised one arm up, "Squashing a little bug like you won't be any fun at all!"
Gohan's fury was beginning to peak as he venomously glared down at the two, body burning with rage.
"Kid, just die!" Dodoria bellowed.
A loud battle cry from her side made Corset's head whirl around.
"Gohan!" Krillin cried. He and Corset watched as Gohan flew down to the fighters below and booted the off-guard pink warrior around the face, sending him straight into one of the Namekian houses with a crash.
Krillin clenched his fists. "... That idiot!" He cried, leaping forward to join the young boy, leaving a stunned Corset by herself on the top of the cliff.
The bulky fighter rose to his feet, exchanging a couple of words with Gohan before being completely caught off-guard by Krillin, knocked to the ground again with another kick! With no second thoughts the bald fighter grabbed the Namekian boy. "Idiot! Get outta here! NOW!" He leapt up into the air, Gohan quickly on his heels.
"CORSET GET A MOVE ON!" Krillin bellowed.
Corset jumped and scrambled to her feet, jumping into the sky and chasing after her comrades as they fled the scene. Her heart was pounding, her breathing rapid. No doubt they'd just angered those stronger fighters and they'd want to try and kill them too! Why did Gohan have to dive in and intervene, as much as she was glad there had been one Namekian survivor – why had he needed to endanger their lives?
"You two, fly as fast as you can! He's gaining on us!" Krillin bellowed.
Corset looked over her shoulder and struggled to suppress a scream; the pink bulky fighter was behind them! The three of them clearly weren't fast enough; at this rate Dodoria would catch up to them... Corset didn't want to think of what he would do to them when that happened!
Energy shots suddenly bolted past them, Corset doing her best to dodge whilst keeping an eye on where she was going. She repeated to herself to imagine it as Piccolo's training rather than a life-death situation! She'd done it before, she could do it again! Each dodge she made reinforced her belief yet at the same time scared her as she knew another one would be coming straight for her.
The sound of contact made her glance around; Krillin had been hit and as a result he'd dropped the Namekian boy!
With no second thoughts Corset bolted down towards the Namekian child, noticing Gohan beside her; surely one of them could catch him. Both were closing in on him; Corset glanced over her shoulder, noticing Krillin had been captured by the bulky fighter. An insane idea had immediately popped into her head and she stopped in mid-air, fear temporarily subsiding enough to let her arms fall by her sides, palms facing forward.
Corset closed her eyes tightly as she gathered as much ki as she could into her hands, body searing with heat from the rapid increase in energy. This had to hit its target!
"KENTOKA FLASH!" She bellowed angrily, tossing both hands forward and cracking her wrists together as she fired off the blue beam of energy. Rapidly it bolted towards a startled Dodoria; the alien lost his grip on Krillin's ankle as he dodged the blast, watching it with a look of surprise on his face as it shot up into space.
"... These kids aren't that bad for little runts... What the hell are they?" He muttered to himself loudly enough for the others to overhear him.
"MOVE!" Krillin bellowed, quickly regaining control of his fall and pelting forwards at top speed, grabbing Corset by the hand, "FLY!" He cried.
Gohan flew towards them and joined them once again, spotting that Dodoria was once again following them. "Krillin, he's gaining on us again!" He shouted over the scream of the wind.
"What are we gonna do?" Corset asked frantically, dropping back slightly as Krillin released her from his grip and beginning to panic more. He could have warned her he was gonna do that!
Krillin turned around so he now flew backwards. "You two close your eyes and go on ahead; I'm gonna distract him! Whatever you do, don't look back and keep your eyes closed!"
"Keep our eyes closed?"" Corset repeated, "b-but we-"
"Don't ask questions – just do it!" Krillin bellowed, slowing down slightly so to let Corset pass him and to also make sure his opponent was in range.
Both Gohan and Corset did as they were told and closed their eyes, both hoping they didn't fly into anything!
What was he up to?