Chapter 028 - Race For The Dragonballs
"Vegeta!" Goku cried. "What are you doing?"
The Saiyan prince leapt off Burter's neck, which had collapsed under the impact of the attack. No doubt he would not be breathing for much longer - if he were still able to breathe.
Vegeta turned and fired off an energy attack straight for Recoome, who was still out from Goku's earlier strike. The bent-over fighter vanished in a thick cloud of dust as the attack hit; his ki vanishing alongside him.
Corset flinched and turned away from the wind; she hated seeing people die. It always made her want to burst out crying no matter whether the person was good or bad, seeing people in pain was horrible!
What was the point in fighting? What was the point in her fighting? She didn't enjoy it, she found it terrifying and upsetting, especially for someone at her age! Why did she have to do it? Why had she been forced into this anyway?
"I said there was no reason to kill anybody!" Goku bellowed furiously. "They couldn't even move!"
The cold look in her dad's eyes sent shivers down Corset's spine. "Your softness makes me retch as usual! Why did you stand there and let one of them get away? You're no Super Saiyan after all!"
Corset perked up on her father's words. 'Super Saiyan?' What was that? Some kind of super hero Saiyan? She thought Goku fitted that perfectly!
"Super Saiyan?" Goku repeated.
"I guess you're proud to have gotten so strong but you're still not strong enough to beat Freeza, not without becoming immortal." Vegeta jeered. "You still don't know the terror you're up against."
"Wait a minute..." Goku mumbled, "I'm more powerful than ever, by far and yet you're saying I still don't match up against Freeza?"
Corset wasn't sure she wanted to hear the answer to that.
"Freeza's might is beyond anything you can conceive," Vegeta retaliated, "You cannot even prepare yourself."
She was right; she didn't want to hear the answer!
"That's ridiculous, Vegeta," Krillin smiled. "You saw how easily Goku tossed those other guys around."
"Well you can fight him and see..." Vegeta smirked. "Just remember that Freeza has probably been granted eternal life by the Dragonballs by now! I'd say our best bet is to pray we don't come across him!"
Was he telling the truth? Corset felt a cold shiver come over her. If Freeza had already gotten his wish, that meant they couldn't bring the others back to life – especially if he'd used up all three wishes! It was all over. There was no point of them even being here now; they'd lost the fight.
She couldn't bear the thought of having to tell her mother, grandparents and all of those on Earth that they'd failed...
"I don't think he's gotten eternal life yet."
All eyes fell on Krillin.
"H-How do you know?" Vegeta asked curiously.
"Well if these Dragonballs are the same as the ones on Earth, it should get dark when Shenron appears, right?" Krillin explained. "Well it's been daylight the whole time. I don't think it's happened yet."
"... Shenron?" Vegeta repeated more to himself than to the others. "You mean there's some kind of being involved with the Dragonballs?"
Corset looked at Gohan who just shrugged his shoulders. She had no idea what to have expected from the Dragonballs of Namek. Her mother had told her stories of the ones on Earth but there had already been differences between the two sets. For one, her mother had told her the Earth Dragonballs could fit in the palm of your hand, where as the ones from here were huge!
"I get it!" Goku exclaimed. "Freeza doesn't know the words! He probably thinks you get your wish granted just by gathering all seven Dragonballs together. We still have a chance to get our wish!"
Corset smiled in hope; she really, really, really wanted Goku to be right! She remembered her mother telling her all about the Dragonballs now. The words, what happened to the sky, how a massive dragon would appear and talk in a really deep and loud voice, demanding they tell him their wish.
"We can still bring everyone back to life!" Gohan cheered. "Yay!"
"Wait you guys, we're not out of the woods yet." Krillin butted in. "We've still got a small problem –trying to get those Dragonballs back from those guys."
"Vegeta, you know these guys pretty well," Goku turned to the shorter Saiyan, "any ideas?"
Now Corset was happy to have her dad on their side; he could tell them all about their enemy. Piccolo'd always said any information was valuable when it came to a fight.
"I thought you were going to fight Freeza instead?" Vegeta snorted.
"Well I was going to..." Goku replied, "... to tell you the truth, Kaio told me to stay away from him. As much as I wanna fight him, I think our first task should be to bring back those people you killed."
"That's your wish?" Vegeta chuckled amused, making Corset feel a little cross. Was he saying their wish was stupid or something?
"Idiot, what good will it be when Frieza blows up your planet someday!" Vegeta sniggered. "Grant me eternal life instead."
"N-No way!" Krillin snapped. "If we did that then you'd be no different than Freeza."
Vegeta glanced over his shoulder as his attention was averted, ignoring Krillin's protests. A smirk formed on his face. "Well, well, well! It looks like Jeice – the one Kakarrot let get away – is now returning with Captain Ginyu!"
"He's right," Krillin realised. "Goku, this is bad!"
Corset agreed; she could sense the two ki heading straight for them. It was the purple guy from earlier!
"Wait... Where's Freeza?" Vegeta gasped. "He was at the spaceship where Ginyu took the Dragonballs…"
"There's a huge ki way over in that direction," Goku pointed. "That must be Freeza."
Corset looked over in the direction Goku was pointing in.
"Oh no!" Gohan gasped. "That's near where the Great Elder is!"
"You're right!" Krillin cursed.
"W-Why would he be over there?" Corset asked panicky; she didn't want the Great Elder to be hurt!
"I get it!" Krillin realised. "Freeza couldn't get his wish granted so now he's gone to the Great Elder to try and get him to tell him the words. What he doesn't know is that the Great Elder was the one who created the Dragonballs here."
"No!" Gohan gasped. "I'll bet he'll kill the Great Elder once he tells him the password!"
"If he does that then the Dragonballs will vanish and no one will be able to get their wish granted!" Goku added grimly.
In that instant, Jeice and the purple man landed before them.
"So you thought you'd made fools of us, huh?" The red man Vegeta had referred to as Jeice seemed rather confident. "Well now you'll find out who the real fools are – fools!"
"... What do you think Goku?" Krillin asked. "Do you think you can win?"
"I won't know until I try," Goku replied, "This Captain Ginyu guy looks a lot tougher than the others..."
Corset looked at the horned man and gulped. There was something scary about him. Maybe Goku was right; maybe he was a lot tougher than the others. Why else would he be the captain?
She could just about hear the other two men talking amongst themselves.
"He's just at five-thousand..." Ginyu muttered.
"I know!" Jeice exclaimed. "That's what's so crazy!"
"Idiot!" Ginyu snapped. "Do you always believe everything you see? He must be able to spontaneously increase and suppress his power!"
Corset cocked her head in confusion. Those were some big words there! What was spontaneously? She wished she could ask someone but now didn't seem like the right time!
"I'll keep him busy," Goku decided. "Krillin, Gohan and Corset – you all look for the Dragonballs with the radar. I bet they're still at the ship. If I beat this guy I'll come and join you."
"O-Ok," Krillin nodded, "We'd better hurry or the Great Elder will be killed!"
"He could already be dead..." Gohan gulped.
Corset frowned, feeling her heart thumping inside of her. This was so tense; so much was riding on the Great Elder being alive. She didn't like any of this!
"Vegeta, you fight the other one..." Goku continued. "I know your power increased when you ate that senzu bean; you should be able to take care of him now."
"... So you knew..." Vegeta muttered.
Corset raised an eyebrow. What was he talking about?
"Come on Corset, we've gotta go!" Krillin tugged at her arm.
"Be careful, Daddy!" Gohan called as the trio took off into the sky.
"Fly as fast as you can!" Krillin barked, increasing his speed. It wasn't much of a struggle to keep up with him but Corset couldn't shake the feeling something bad was about to happen to them.
It had been almost twenty minutes since they'd left Goku and Vegeta to deal with the two remaining Ginyu Force members. The power radiating from the battle behind them was immense, although there were other things playing on the young girl's mind.
"K-Krillin, what were Goku and my dad talking about back there?" she asked. "Goku said that my daddy grew stronger when he ate that bean..."
"Oh, that?" Krillin replied. "Well from what I've heard, a Saiyan grows stronger every time he fights. He grows a lot stronger if they have a near-death experience. He said it when he was fighting that Zarbon guy – you were there!"
"Oh..." Something still bothered her. "... What's a near-death experience?"
"It's when you nearly die but manage to recover," Krillin responded. "I guess if you think about how badly beaten up Vegeta was when he left Earth. Well, he must have been hospitalised which made him all better. When he became all better, his ki would have grown a lot making him stronger!"
"Wow..." Corset lulled over the thought. "Is it the same with me and Gohan?"
"From the feel of it, I'd probably say it is," Krillin nodded. "Changing the subject a little, we've gotta hurry and remember where we left Bulma."
"It's a little further up ahead." Gohan replied.
It didn't take them too much longer. The gorge in the middle of the rocks appeared before them and the trio landed in a rush.
"Bulma!" Krillin cried.
"There!" Corset spotted her mother sleeping against the side of one of the walls. "Mama! Mama wake up! We need the Dragonball Radar!"
Bulma's eyes slowly fluttered open and she sleepily looked over.
The sleepy look snapped into an angry look so fast it made Corset step back in fear. She'd seen that look from her mother more times than she cared to mention.
"What have you been doing?" Bulma bellowed. "First you came to get the Dragonball – with Vegeta in tow – and then you took off again! What's the big idea leaving a girl alone in a place like this?"
"B-Bulma we need to get the Radar," Krillin quivered, "We might still be able to get our wish granted if-"
"WHAT?" Bulma snapped. "You mean you still haven't gotten it granted? I saw all seven Dragonballs on the radar together. I thought it was you guys getting your wish granted. Just what the heck is going on? Why are you playing around for?"
Corset dared to look away from her mother and realised Gohan was fiddling around over where her mother had set up her little camp. He suddenly snatched something off the table – it was the radar!
"Krillin, they're all over in that direction!" The boy pointed.
"Alright, let's go and get those Dragonballs!" Krillin leapt up into the air.
"W-Wait!" Bulma cried. "Someone tell me what's been going on!"
"S-Sorry, Mama, we're in a hurry!" Corset apologised.
"By the way, my dad's here!" Gohan smiled.
"Goku's finally here?" Bulma grinned. "How does he look? Did he get more powerful?"
Corset smiled and gave her mother the peace-sign, Gohan giving her the thumbs up.
"You guys, let's go!" Krillin yelled.
The trio took off once again, now following the directions of the Dragonball Radar.
It wasn't a long flight.
"There it is!" Gohan cried.
"That must be the spaceship!" Krillin nodded.
The large, strange looking ship was unlike anything Corset'd ever seen. It looked a lot different to the Namekian spaceship they'd used to get to Namek.
"Hey... the Dragon Radar says they're not inside the ship..." Gohan mumbled confused. "They're a little way away."
"Let's get down there and start looking for them," Krillin decided.
The trio landed on the grass and began to look around.
"No one's here at all..." Corset mumbled. Surely there would have been some soldiers guarding the Dragonballs. Something about this whole area seemed a little off. It was very quiet. Maybe too quiet.
"So where are they Gohan?" Krillin asked.
"... This way..." Gohan mumbled taking a couple of steps forward, Corset following him and taking a peep over his shoulder to see what the Dragon Radar said. She then looked up ahead at where she thought the Dragonball Radar indicated too, noticing something funny.
"Hey, why's the ground look different here?" She pointed to a patch of dirt, small layers piled up on one another.
"There! That's where the Dragonballs must be." Gohan cried. "The radar's pointing to that spot."
"Right. It looks like someone buried them here," Krillin smiled. "Let's dig them up!"
Corset dropped to her knees and assisted as the trio began to dig up the dirt, smiling in relief when a shiny orange sphere appeared.
"They're here! We did it you guys!" Krillin cheered, unearthing a Dragonball. It didn't take much longer for them to dig out the rest, placing them on the ground behind them.
It was almost too good to be true! Finally, finally they had all the Dragonballs!
"OK you two, looks like it's finally time to call on the Shenron of Namek!" Krillin smiled. "... We sure went through a lot to get these..."
"W-We'd better hurry up before the Great Elder is killed," Corset prompted. She was eager to get this over and done with now before it was too late. She so desperately wanted to see Piccolo, Tenshinhan, Yamcha and Chaozu back alive.
"DRAGON! COME FORTH AND GRANT ME MY WISH!" Krillin chanted, tossing his hands up into the air.
Corset took a deep breath, expecting to see something terrifying occur...
Nothing.
Nothing was happening.
The sky didn't change. There was no change at all...
Had something gone wrong?
"...I don't understand..." Krillin gulped. "I-It should have been here by now! Why didn't Shenron come bursting out?"
"Maybe you said it wrong?" Gohan suggested.
Corset frowned disappointed and discouraged. "... Maybe the Great Elder..."
"N-No, if the Great Elder was dead, the Dragonballs would have turned to stone and would look nothing like this," Krillin shook his head. "There's something wrong... Something's not happening that should be happening. Maybe Gohan's right, maybe it's what I said. It's gotta be that!"
Gohan's head whirled around similarly to that of a rabbit listening out for predators, "K-Krillin, I'm sensing someone's coming!" He babbled, a trickle of fear in his voice.
Corset caught onto the ki signals and gulped; one of them was the red guy's energy.
"Is that Ginyu and the other jerk?" Krillin cried. "Where's Goku's ki?"
"Y-You don't suppose he got killed, do you?" Gohan wailed anxiously.
"They're evil powers!" Krillin gasped. "What the heck happened – Goku was sure of himself!"
"They'll see we've got the Dragonballs!" Corset realised panicking. "Krillin, what do we do?"
"We don't panic – we hide!" Krillin grabbed the two and dragged them behind a nearby rock. "Keep your ki suppressed and don't say a word." he ordered.
Corset peered around the side of the rock as much as she could; she could see two dots on the horizon getting closer. One of them confused her a little...
Jeice and Goku landed not too far away from them.
Now everyone was baffled!
Goku was here!
"The Dragonballs have been dug up!" Jeice exclaimed.
"How did they know where they were...?" Goku asked.
Corset noticed something rather odd; Goku had one of those things that measured power levels on his face... Why?
"Goku!" Krillin smiled, walking out from their hiding spot. "You gave us a bit of a scare for a moment. We thought you were Ginyu!"
"... Krillin..." Gohan mumbled quietly. "It's not..."
"What's wrong?" Corset asked; she could see a worried look on Gohan's face.
"Something's wrong with Dad," Gohan mumbled. "I think we'd better stay here..."
"So what's with the other guy?" Krillin asked; Gohan and Corset watching from a safe distance. "He decide to join us after you clobbered his boss?"
"Were you the one who found the Dragonballs?" Goku asked. "How did you know where they were buried?"
"What do you mean Goku? We found them with the Dragonball Radar of course, just like you said!" Krillin raised an eyebrow.
"Did you get your wish?" Goku asked.
"Heck no, something went wrong," Krillin shook his head. "Shenron didn't even come out! We're not sure why but maybe the invocation's different here."
"I see..." Goku smiled.
"... Goku, you seem a little off." Krillin mumbled. "You're wearing one of those scouter things too! Why?"
"You really want to know?" Goku asked smug.
Corset almost jumped as Gohan jerked to the side, "KRILLIN – THAT'S NOT DAD!" He bellowed.
Goku suddenly struck Krillin backwards, startling Corset! She turned to Gohan dumbfounded. "That's not your dad? It looks just like him!"
"It's not him!" Gohan replied. "I don't know how I know but I just know it's not!"