Chapter 036 - A New Leader
She had never expected to hear that voice ever again; just hearing it hitched the breath in her throat. Corset spun around, jaw dropped in shock.
Vegeta stood leaning against a nearby tree looking pretty smug. She didn't care. She was lost in shock at seeing him alive and well!
"Your wish was to resurrect everyone killed by Freeza and his men, right?" The Saiyan asked. "Too bad I'm not one of Freeza's men."
Several of the Namekians were spitting angry looks over towards her dad making Corset a little embarrassed; she knew they wouldn't attack him but wasn't sure about what her father would do.
Several sudden large thuds made her heart bolt into hyper-mode! Her eyes fixated on several large round rocks which apparently had fallen from the sky. Why they'd fallen, she had no idea.
"It would seem that the Dragonballs have followed me here..." The Great Elder smiled. "As I say, little of my life remains now. Muri, please step forwards."
An old Namekian stepped forward, "Y-Yes Great Elder?"
"Muri, when I pass you shall become the new guardian of the Dragonballs... and the new Great Elder of our people..." The Great Elder explained, his body starting to slowly become translucent, slowly fading then returning a little, then fading again. "Find a place... where Namekians... can live in... peace... forever... Goodbye my children..."
The Great Elder had vanished completely.
Corset felt herself become overwhelmed again; another person had died. She desperately tried to hold back her tears, sniffing every-so-often. In her mind she thanked the Great Elder for bringing out her full potential, even if at the end it had been useless...
"Farewell Great Elder," Piccolo mumbled, "Rest in peace."
"... I understand," Dende spoke up, "you merged with Nail! That's how you knew my name and knew of the Great Elder!"
"Hey Gohan, where's Krillin?" Corset asked, suddenly realising who they were missing.
"Yeah, he should be here too," Bulma added. "What about your dad?"
The frown on Gohan's face made Corset's stomach plunge. "... Krillin... was killed by Freeza..." Gohan answered. "Dad chose to stay on Namek to fight."
"What?" Piccolo gasped. "He stayed to fight Freeza?"
"He wanted to avenge Krillin," Gohan nodded.
'I can't believe Krillin died too...' Corset frowned.
"Hey wait a second," Bulma interrupted. "If Krillin was killed then why wasn't he brought back to life too?"
"If the Dragonballs bring you back once you can't be brought back again," Gohan answered. "It's the same with Chaozu."
"... Is that how it is with the Dragonballs on Earth?" Dende asked.
"What?" Corset asked baffled.
"The Dragonballs of Namek can revive a person many times, as long as they didn't die of natural causes," Dende explained.
A smile came to Corset's face as Gohan relayed exactly what her thoughts were.
"Then when we finally get another wish on your Dragonballs, we can wish Krillin and Chaozu back to life!" Gohan exclaimed excitedly.
"We could probably wish everyone back to life with the Namekian Dragonballs since we get three wishes!" Corset added. "... Oh wait... no, we'd need to use them twice since now Krillin's also gone..."
"Is Goku insane?" Piccolo still seemed to be lulling over the fact, not really caring he'd changed the subject. "He must have seen how superior Freeza's powers are, how little chance he has! Does he have a death wish?"
Corset frowned, now feeling a little bad for Goku. Then again if he'd been that power she'd sensed...
"It'll be ok; Dad will win!" Gohan smiled.
Corset looked over to him; he seemed so confident in his father.
"How can he win?" Piccolo asked.
"I saw it with my own eyes," Gohan answered. "Dad finally turned into a Super Saiyan!"
Corset gasped. "A Super Saiyan? ... How do you know what a Super Saiyan looks like? What is a Super Saiyan anyway? Everyone keeps talking about them..."
"Boy, are you absolutely certain?"
Vegeta'd approached the group; he looked pretty agitated and violent, even more so than usual. The move towards them apparently had made her mother's arms rest on her shoulder-pads.
"I'm positive," Gohan nodded. "His power was amazing when he transformed, it looked like he'd been consumed by fire! I'll bet he was more than enough for Freeza once he transformed!"
"When did he transform?" Corset asked. "What did he look like?"
"Uh, well he transformed after Krillin and-" Gohan stopped himself remembering Bulma was present. Corset'd specifically asked him not to tell her mother that she'd been killed too! "... He transformed when Krillin died and Piccolo was injured. He had blonde hair which stood up on end and a yellow glow around him."
"Wow. I wish I could have seen it..." Corset mumbled, making Gohan jolt a little.
"Where were you then?" Bulma asked.
"Um... I was... I was looking for you to make sure you were ok!" Corset stuttered nervously – she'd just dug her own hole!
"Hey, where'd you get the... YEEK!" Bulma screamed and jumped back. "You're both in Saiyan armour!"
"Yeah, Vegeta gave it to us," Gohan nodded.
"What? V-Vegeta?" Bulma recoiled. "Oh, by the way – what were you doing flying around with Vegeta and taking the Dragonball?! No one bothered to stop and tell me what was going on!"
"We were in a hurry but we were gonna try and make our wish," Gohan answered. "That's when these guys called the Ginyu Force showed up. Dad beat them all – we came back to get the Dragonball Radar from you and then soon after that we got our wishes granted and brought Piccolo back to life."
"Right, well thank you for letting me know while all this was happening!" Bulma snorted.
Corset looked back over to her father; he'd returned to the tree he'd been at before. She was still surprised to see him of all people here! "... How come Dad got wished back too?"
"I dunno, I guess whoever wished everyone back to life also wished him back," Gohan suggested. "I wonder if my dad's beaten Freeza yet..."
"Maybe," Corset mumbled. "You really think he can?"
"I know he can," Gohan nodded, "I saw him transform – I know he can beat Freeza! His power was incredible!"
It was a little while later before any news came through, and it turned out it was directly from Kaio.
Corset and Gohan were talking to Dende when Bulma began to act strangely.
"What? Yamcha?"
Corset turned around confused; what was her mother talking about? Yamcha was dead.
"What's wrong?" Gohan asked. "Is it Kaio?"
"...Yeah! How'd you know?" Bulma mumbled. "It's Yamcha talking though." She turned away and glanced forwards, not that it really mattered where she looked! "So how are you, Yamcha?"
Corset walked over to her mother, assuming Kaio was getting Yamcha to talk to her telepathically. She eagerly waited for her mother to say something. Surely it was news about Goku and Freeza's fight.
A smile lit up her mother's face. "Hey guess what? Goku defeated Freeza!"
It was almost too good to be true. Corset grinned and turned to Gohan who seemed just as ecstatic. "He did it!" She cheered.
"Go Dad! I knew he could do it!" Gohan grinned.
"So he beat him... Unbelievable!" Piccolo muttered.
Bulma's smile dropped. "... Hold on guys, there's more. Planet Namek blew up in the fight and Goku died. He couldn't get off the planet in time..."
The words hit her slowly. Gohan's dad had beaten Freeza yet Gohan's dad had died...? Anxiously she looked back at Gohan; how would he take hearing his father had died again? It was heart-breaking.
"... Dad didn't make it?" Gohan mumbled looking shocked more than anything.
"Don't worry about it," Bulma smiled. "The Namekians came to Earth with their Dragonballs so we can just bring Goku back with the Namekian Dragonballs: they can bring back people more than once. We can even bring back Krillin and Chaozu!"
"Yeah, that's true," Corset smiled at Gohan. "See, we can bring your dad back and it'll all be ok."
"I guess so," Gohan nodded a little, still looking a little unhappy. Corset wondered if he was holding back any tears or not. She felt awful for him but knew there was a solution for them. At the end of the day he could be wished back.
"... Oh..." Bulma's smile had dropped once more making Corset nervous. Maybe she'd wished too soon.
"What's wrong, Bulma?" Gohan asked.
"... Kaio says we can't bring Goku or Krillin back..." Bulma mumbled. "The dragon always brings you back to life where you died. Chaozu died on Earth so he'll return here but... Goku and Krillin died on planet Namek... and since there's no planet Namek they'll come back to life in space... but you can't breathe in space so they'd die... Kaio can't do anything about it..."
"That's awful..." Gohan frowned. "So dad and Krillin... they're gone for good?"
Corset frowned feeling her emotions slowly welling up inside of her. So they were gonna stay dead? Not even the Dragon or Kaio could do anything to stop it?
The news that both Goku and Krillin were going to stay dead was almost too much to bear. Two people who'd had such a large impact on Corset over the past two years of her life were suddenly gone forever.
"I'm really sorry Gohan," Bulma frowned.
"Why don't you idiots use your brains for a change?"
Corset looked up and over to her father; he was facing them with his arms crossed, leaning against a nearby tree. She'd almost forgotten he was here!
"Bring them back to life after you transport their souls here!" Vegeta muttered. "Try it at least..."
Would that work? Corset didn't really know how moving souls and wishing back people worked...
"That's it!" Bulma grinned. "That's a great idea Vegeta! You're brilliant!"
Corset smiled. So her dad had been the one to come through with an answer. Maybe it wasn't just her mama who was smart!
Gohan walked over to Vegeta whilst Bulma explained the plan to Kaio and the others. Corset watched Gohan, keeping her mother's voice heard. She flinched a little when Vegeta slapped Gohan's outstretched hand! Had that really been necessary? Gohan wandered back over to her and her mother looking back at Vegeta.
"What did you do to make him slap your hand?" Corset asked curiously.
"I thanked him," Gohan muttered, pouting slightly that his sign of gratitude had ended up with his hand stinging!
"At least it was only a slap, it could have been worse," Corset giggled. "It's weird he didn't want you to thank him though."
"Excuse me, person of Earth..."
Corset looked around; Muri – the newly appointed Great Elder – had approached her mother. She wondered what he wanted.
"We plan to find a suitable planet in order to live on but it'll take some time," Muri explained. "Do you know of a place we could stay until that time comes?"
"Sure, you can stay at my place!" Bulma nodded.
Corset gawked, eyes wide as they looked up at her mother. 'Is our house big enough? There's a lot of Namekians here!'
"We mustn't impose..." Muri mumbled awkwardly.
"Hey, it's no big deal. My dad's complex is huge – you'll all be able to live comfortably there," Bulma replied. "Besides we're gonna need your Dragonballs soon anyway. If you stayed anywhere else you'd cause quite a fuss! Most people on this planet aren't used to seeing aliens and will probably be hounding you guys. You're better off staying at my place."
"I see your point!" Muri perked up. "... Alright, we accept your kind invitation."
"Hey, that means you get to stay around my house, Dende!" Corset smiled. "I'll show you all my toys! My grandpa's got lots of pets at home and you can meet them all!"
"Pets?" Dende asked confused.
"Hey, what about you?"
Corset looked back at her mother; she was talking to Vegeta. Corset wondered how this would go. She'd never seen her parents have a civilised conversation so far; would it get horrible and mean again?
"You're gonna need a place to crash too, right?" Bulma smirked. "Why don't you come along with us?"
Vegeta didn't answer; he turned away with a grunt.
Was her mother really inviting her father to stay... with them? Would that make them a proper family? Corset began to feel eager and anxious. If her father lived with them it would be the most amazing thing ever! She'd always resented all the other children she knew because their mothers and fathers lived together. Why was she the only one whose parents didn't live together? She wanted this more than anything so the other kids wouldn't be mean to her about it. She wanted to know her dad more.
"Why don't you drop the arrogant, tough-guy attitude?" Bulma rolled her eyes. "You don't have any money to stay at a hotel. At our place we've got plenty of food – I bet you eat a lot just like Goku does!"
"... Please?" Corset asked.
"See, you're more than welcome!" Bulma grinned smug. "Just don't do anything naughty – I know I'm hard to resist!"
Corset had no idea what her mother meant by this but her father's reaction baffled and amazed her. Was he embarrassed? Why? Was he going to beat her mama up? Corset would never let him get away with it and would do anything to stop that from happening, although in reality there probably wouldn't be much she could do before being beaten into a pulp. Still, something told her she'd missed what her mother was actually suggesting...
"Alright, it's settled," Bulma smiled. "I'm gonna give my dad a call and tell him to pick us all up."
"... Um... Bulma? Can I stay with you guys too, just for a little while?" Gohan asked.
Corset's head spun eagerly; today was the best day in her whole life! "Yay! I get to play with all of my friends! I'll show you all my toys and my room and we can play all day!"
"Hold on a minute Corset," Bulma seemed a little unsure, "Gohan, you should go back to your mother instead. I'm sure she's worried sick about you by now."
"... I forgot to do my homework..." Gohan mumbled sheepishly. "She'll yell at me..."
"Oh... your homework got blown up when the ship got attacked." Corset frowned. "I hope she doesn't tell you off much..."
It took almost an hour before Dr Brief arrived with the hugest plane Corset'd ever seen. It reminded her of a really big, fat whale! What amazed her even more was that everyone managed to fit on it.
No one had accounted for Chichi being on board! Her loud voice could be heard through the thick exterior walls of the ship. Corset couldn't help but feel reminded of the last time Chichi had come after the battle against the Saiyans: she'd dashed out from the plane and decked Krillin away from her son!
"Gohan!" Chichi shrieked dashing out from the plane, the doors not fully opened! "GOHAN!"
Corset noticed she couldn't see Gohan anywhere! Where had he gotten off to?
"Poor Chichi hasn't seen her son for over a month," Bulma mumbled, a hand resting on her daughter's head. "It'll be hard telling her that Goku's gone again... He'd only just been brought back over a month ago too..."
Corset frowned. That hadn't even occurred to her until her mother'd pointed it out.
"Come on, wanna help me get the Namekians onto your grandpa's ship?" Bulma put on a smile, trying to hide the emotions that had started to rise inside of her.
"Ok," Corset nodded.
It took almost an hour to get everyone acquainted and to bring Dr Brief and Chichi up to speed with what had happened. No one had quite mentioned about Goku's death just yet; the main priority was to get everyone back to Capsule Corp.
On board the ship Corset had sat next to Gohan and Dende, now lost in her thoughts. She was going over what had happened over the days they'd spent on Namek and it wasn't too pleasant. She hadn't done as well as she'd hoped. Freeza had killed her; she'd been too weak. Krillin had died as had Dende and her father. Piccolo'd been brought back to life but injured. There'd been several occasions when Gohan and Krillin had gone into battle bravely and she'd been too terrified to move.
She hadn't changed.
The thought made her feel sad and ashamed. She had not achieved what she'd wanted to fighting-wise. She was still so scared of those stronger than her. She didn't want to get hurt; she feared being in pain. She didn't like seeing anyone else be hurt; it made her want to cry. As much as she'd want to help them, she'd found she was too concerned over her own well-being to jump in and help.
Maybe she wasn't right for fighting. Maybe there was nothing she could do about it. Maybe she shouldn't fight anymore...
"Hey, what's wrong? You look sad."
Corset blinked and turned; both Gohan and Dende were looking at her.
"Oh, it's nothing..." Corset gave a smile. "I'm ok."
She turned to lean over the back of the seat, looking at all the Namekians sat down behind her – in particular her eyes looked at her father. Although nervous she'd be spotted looking at him she wondered what he was thinking. Was he happy to be staying with her and her mother? She hoped so. It would be incredible if they could live happily together. She wondered why her mother had suddenly gone from being all hostile around him to being kind. It was weird but she wasn't complaining!
Corset turned back around and looked ahead at her mother and grandpa; both sat at the front of the plane. She wondered how much longer it would be until they arrived home...
It hadn't changed since she'd left. Her home was still the tall building it had always been, surrounded immediately by the many gardens they had before the suburban tell-tale signs engorged the grassy ground, replacing it with concreted streets and tall steel buildings. It felt good to be back.
All of the Namekians seemed impressed at how big the building was!
"Wow... so this is really Capsule Corp?" Gohan mumbled in awe. "You were right – your house is the biggest house I've seen!"
Corset blushed feeling rather proud. "I told you it was big! Why don't we go play until your mama wants to leave? We should have time."
A flash of white made her blink startled; she turned to see her grandmother had appeared and was talking to her father. It looked so strange to see her grandmother talking to him; what's more her dad's expression was quite funny!
"...You should get a medal!" Her grandmother was saying. "You're a hero!"
Corset couldn't help but smile. In a way her grandmother was right. Her dad had ended up fighting on their side. Surely that meant he was now a good guy?
"Who's that?" Gohan asked.
"That's my nana," Corset smiled, waving towards the blonde haired woman. "Nana!"
Mrs Brief turned and spotted her granddaughter, squealing and rushing over. "There's my little granddaughter! Don't you look strong now? What unusual clothes you and this young boy have on! Did you get them from Namek?"
"No, we got them from my dad," Corset shook her head. "He's the Saiyan you were talking to! Oh, this is Gohan!"
"Oh so you're Goku and Chichi's son!" Mrs Brief smiled. "I've always wanted to meet you, you look so handsome just like your father! Speaking of which, how are your mother and father? Oh we must have a get-together sometime and catch up!"
It definitely felt good to be home.