Notes at the end for this one.

DodemGM: thanks. I've seen a couple SIs for DBZ but yeah, not many. Which, to be fair might be because if a person's placed in a standard human position, they probably aren't gonna get too far.

thewittywhy: Thanks! Want some more?

Krillin stared, devastated at yet another of his friends falling.

"Too bad. It probably would have worked if Nappa hadn't seen him coming at the last second." I mustered enough energy to glare at Vegeta.

Krillin wasn't even paying attention, "he, he gave everything he had to help us…GOKU! WHY ARENT YOU HERE?"

He and Piccolo spoke before landing on the ground. But just as they turned Nappa began to charge them.

"NAPPA! STOP RIGHT THERE!"

Like a well trained dog, Nappa stopped at Vegeta's command.

"I'm curious about this Goku they're talking about. Because I'm starting to the they're referring to Kakarot."

"That's right," I cut in, "he was renamed when he was adopted here, he goes by Goku now."

Vegeta laughed.

"What's so funny?" Krillin demanded.

"That you lot think Kakarot can beat us. He couldn't even beat his brother Raditz, and Raditz was a weakling compared to us."

"And? We've all been training since then. Dad just got some, special training that's delayed his return."

"This planets not that big so why isn't he here yet? He's smart, he's not gonna show up here!" I glared back up at Nappa.

"Oh? And you think he'd allow his kid to fight in his place?"

"Probably. Only Sayain elites ever care to raise their kids."

"That sounds like a problem with nurture, not nature. Dad was raised here on Earth where we care about others. A hard concept to understand, I know." Sarcasm entered my voice as I leveled my gaze at the man, refusing to blink.

"You've caught my interest." Vegeta cut in before the "conversation" could go any further, "we're going to wait for him. Take a break Nappa. Cool off for a while."

I closed my eyes for a second as familiar canon set in, but I didn't quite drop my stance just yet. Just out of pride I wasn't gonna be the first to move.

"Come on Vegeta, that's ridiculous," Nappa reasoned. Which, to be fair, was correct. But I wasn't exactly gonna argue against Vegeta's misplaced arrogance when it was benefiting us.

"Just hold off for three hours, we'll give them that."

Nappa debated with himself, glancing between us and Vegeta, before straightening himself up.

"Fine. You're the boss."

"The battle will resume in three hours. Whether Kakarot is here or not."

Nappa landed and walked back to Vegeta. Finally I let my shoulders relax.

The three of us stood far enough away from the two of them so that neither could hear each other, though Piccolo could probably eavesdrop if he wanted.

I rubbed my eyes, suddenly aware of how sore they felt after glaring for so long.

"Gohan." I glanced up at Piccolo. "You did well."

I shuffled in place at the praise.

"I don't feel like I did much. I just attacked when you told me to and got hit."

"That's a whole lot more than I could do at your age! Heck, twice your age!" Krillin smiled.

I only shifted my gaze.

"Accept the compliment and move on." Piccolo turned away.

I laughed despite myself, "fine fine. Thanks," I mumbled last part as I glanced down.

I sat, not quite able to relax. Despite the respite in the fight, the atmosphere was far too tense. I closed my eyes as I leaned against the rock. No point in worrying about it now, they won't attack before either the three hours run out or Goku gets to Earth, whichever happens first.

My eyes opened at the sounds of pacing and muttering.

"Krillin?"

"Goku should have been here by now! What's the deal? Was he brought back to life or not?"

"He was. There's probably just a long travel from wherever he was training to here."

"Why are we even still here? We can't beat these guys! We should run while we have the chance!"

"You can run if you like," Piccolo said, "but what's the point? If we don't stop them here you'll have to face them eventually. You might as well stay and get it over with."

"Besides, I doubt those two would let us leave. It might just end this pause in the fight if we try, which we need if we want to give Dad enough time to get here," I added.

"But…this is crazy! Where is he? He's the only one strong enough to beat these guys!"

"Krillin. Please, worrying isn't gonna help so the best thing we can do is just stay calm and wait," I said, trying to calm him down.

Krillin looked at me, "alright fine, but then what do we do if Goku doesn't make it?"

"Who knows?" There were times I appreciated Piccolo's straight forward way of speaking, and there are times when I don't. Don't know which one this was.

"We all know that Goku is on his way here. Maybe he'll make it in the next two hours and maybe he won't. But either way we're going to have to see it through. We have to be strong, it's up to us now."

Krillin made a reluctant noise of agreement and I glanced up, "since when were you a motivational speaker?"

Piccolo snorted, "since apparently some people need to be reminded to not die."

"All three of us right?"

Piccolo turned to me.

"All three of us are gonna make it through this right?"

"Of course. There's been a substantial enough loss here. We don't need any more." Piccolo's confidence was almost enough to put me at ease.

I was just about to lean back again when I heard something new. A car.

I looked over to see a News Jeep trying to get closer. My eyes darted over to the Sayains. Nappa had gotten up. He was turning to the Jeep.

"What are you doing?" I stood as I yelled.

Nappa barely turned his head, "gonna play with some toys is all."

"Why? It's not like they'd be able to fight back at all? What'd be the point?"

"Why not? You know you're really gonna need to change your tune when joining us in Frieza's corps."

"Well it's a good thing I'm not gonna." Mentally I noted Frieza's name. I now had an excuse to mention it later if it comes up.

"Well you sure do talk big don't you? How about this, you try to stop me here, and maybe I'll let the pathetic Earthlings go. But I'll consider the temporary truce null and void. I'm sure Vegeta would make an exception if you attack first."

And I, didn't move. I couldn't. I couldn't let the truce finish up early, I needed to give Goku enough time to get here.

And then Nappa was gone.

I hated him. I really really hated him.

I completely cut off my Ki sense as I sat on the ground in a corner of the rock, curling in on myself. Was it cowardly? Don't know. Don't care. Did it even matter when the news crews Ki's were so small that I didn't even notice until they were within hearing distance? Probably not. But now that I was aware of them I'd probably notice as they disappeared.

"Hey."

I didn't look up.

"Hey, it was really brave of you for speaking up like that," Krillin crouched down so he was eye level with me.

"I couldn't have done that, I didn't do that," his voice was softer than it had been since we got here.

"Only cause I knew he didn't want me dead for some stupid reason." I glared at the rock at my side, still curled in on myself.

"Gotta take advantage of what we can here, right? I'd say you got a pretty good lot," Krillin tried to joke. I loosened my shoulders to show I at least appreciated the effort.

And then Krillin just sat next to me, not saying anything. I kinda wish I had a sketchbook or something, not that I thought I'd draw anything but just to have something in front of me. But somehow I doubted that'd be good battle etiquette.

I don't know how long I sat there, but after a while Krillin pat my shoulder as he stood back up. I was content to continue sitting until-

"Time is up."

I turned my head over at Vegeta as Nappa once again landed on the field.

"Where's Kakarot?"

"Your were right Nappa, he's not showing up. I guess he decided to just let you die on your own."

I guess I should probably stand back up.

Nappa took off his armor as I did so. It hit the ground with a thud. Was, was it weighted? Or just heavy? It hardly seems convenient to wear weighted armor into active battle zones, since you'd have to make the show of taking it off, which doesn't mean much unless you want the spectacle of it.

It's probably just heavy due to whatever it's made of, and wasn't made a big deal of when Krillin and Gohan wore it during the Frieza arc since they were much stronger by then.

And I should probably pay attention to the approaching behemoth.

"So one at a time? Or all three at once?" Nappa chuckled, "I suppose only the midget is at risk of dying for now so do with that what you will."

"Alright pay attention you two. We only have one chance to beat him."

Krillin and I both looked up at Piccolo, who's eyes were set on Nappa.

"It's going to take all of us for this to work. Krillin I want you to charge him. Don't get too close, I just need you to get his full attention for a few seconds. Meanwhile, I'm going to sneak up behind him and grab his tail, that's a sayain's weak point."

A fact I knew all to well. I felt my own tail coil tighter around my waist at the thought. It's soft fur juxtaposed to everything about the situation. Except, "what if it's not a totally shared weakness? Or if it's possible to get rid of it?" I shared my concerns, or really, the closest I could to sharing my knowledge.

"We'll have to take that chance. It's the only one we've got. While I'm holding his tail you'll have to attack him, full force." I nodded. I couldn't fault his logic and it was a good plan if you assumed the tail was an inherent weakness.

I closed my eyes as I tried to concentrate my Ki. I opened them again to focus on the fight. I'd only have one shot at this. Probably not that much even.

Except.

Except when I extended my Ki sense I felt something new.

A new Ki that felt like someone had personified sunshine.

My first instinct was to turn my head towards it but instead I just barely let my eyes flicker in that direction. I'd at least let this attack play out first.

Besides, as soon as Vegeta or Nappa noticed on their scouters, they'd push into endgame mode and I don't really want to jump into that.

If the other two weren't entirely focused on Nappa's approach they'd have noticed it too.

It was really far away, I could barely feel it even now that I was focusing on it. The only reason I even did was because of how bright it felt.

I turned my attention back to Nappa, who, for now, was waiting for one of us to make the first move as he had cleared well over half the distance between us.

"Ah, secrets secrets. What are you fools whispering about over there?"

"That'd for us to know, but you'll find out soon enough." Was there some kind of battle one-liners book I missed out on, because I think it be pretty useful really.

"Fiend! Take this!" Krillin's charged with some grade A acting. Everyone knows that to really pull off a play, the word fiend must be used.

When Krillin got within grappling distance, he instead fired a blast at the ground, propelling himself upwards, drawing Nappa's sight upwards.

And Piccolo vanished from my side.

I channeled my Ki as Piccolo grabbed Nappa's tail.

I channeled it towards my legs instead when I saw Nappa smirk and bring his elbow down.

I had only managed to clear half the distance before he drove his elbow into Piccolo's head.

"What's wrong Namik? You look surprised." I cleared the rest of the distance as I grabbed Piccolo out of Nappa's grip and jumped away, stumbling under the awkward size difference more so than the weight.

"Hey make sure he doesn't die one is, we still need him to tell us about the Dragon Balls." I glared for half a second before turning my attention to Piccolo.

"Piccolo?" I hated how my voice shook. I hated that I was aware of it despite the situation.

Piccolo's eyes were screwed shut, too strained to be entirely unconscious, but he wasn't responding either.

There was a clear crevice dented into his skull.

I still felt his Ki so all wasn't lost yet. As long as Krillin and I could hold out until Goku got here with a Senzu Bean or two. Hopefully at least two.

"Guess I'll have to find someone else to play with until he wakes up. How about you kid? Or should I just go and kill the midget first." I glared. Honestly I commend Krillin's patience for not having said anything yet, but fear probably played into that.

I stood. More aware than ever of the stark size difference between us. He was easily well over a foot taller than I'd have been before. Probably almost two. Now? He was several times my size.

I suppose I could use that to my advantage some.

I darted between his legs before jumping up and kicking him in the head, following that up with a Ki blast. Only for his own hand to shoot out from the smoke to grab my leg. I made a small noise as he dragged me down.

"You'll make a fine warrior someday," he chuckled, "but not today."

And suddenly I was being thrown through the air, my shoulder grinding against the dirt and rock until I stopped.

That.

Wasn't fun.

I flinched at the stinging of my right shoulder blade as I reached up. It was all but skinned off, an ugly mess of reds and pinks. My gi was torn and my undershirt over the shoulder was shredded.

I blinked away tears in my eyes. My pain tolerance had gotten pretty good while training with Piccolo, but man, it only went so far.

"Now don't tell me you've had enough. Show me your Sayain Pride." I glared, which seemed to be a common occurrence when looking at the brute. I climbed to my feet regardless, trying my hardest not to move my arm.

Nappa smirked before charging at me, only to get kicked out of the air by Krillin.

Krillin punched him into the distance, and as soon as Nappa tried to counter attack he darted to the side.

"He's making you look bad, Nappa."

"Not for long he isn't."

Nappa charged at Krillin, but I forced myself to dart forward, wincing as it pulled at my arm but confining anyway, once again kicking Nappa in the head. Distracting him enough for Krillin to charge up a Destructo Disk.

That was probably my favorite of his attacks, and probably the only one that was solely attributed to him, though it gets stolen by a few others.

Of course my distraction came at the cost of being thrown back into the ground. I cried out as I landed back on my shoulder.

You know, usually I don't mind stinging pain as much as I do bruising pain. But this? I'll make an exception for this. This is worse. Much worse. Zero out of ten, would not recommend.

Unfortunately Vegeta yelled at Nappa to dodge at the last moment, and so the only show for the effort was a bright new cut on Nappa's face. That'd have left a scar.

The disk instead carved cleanly though a mountain top.

Idly I stretched out my Ki sense again. The sunshine Ki was almost overwhelmingly bright. But still, darn it why was Goku so far away?

"Oh you've gone an done it now! You've scarred my beautiful face! And you're gonna pay for it!" I thought we had reached the limit on Nappa's hypocrisy. I was wrong.

Krillin barely managed to dodge a ki blast where he was standing, but the shockwave knocked him off balance, preventing him from catching himself in midair.

I struggled to my feet as Nappa charged up a second blast, trying to spark ki into my left hand, only for a blast to be shot at Nappa's back from behind me.

Krillin hit the ground.

Piccolo was half way back on his feet, eyes unfocused, but still clearly alive.

Piccolo stumbled on his feet, I just wanted to yell at him to stay down, but I knew it wouldn't amount to much.

"Bring it on," Piccolo growled, "I'm tired of you and you're loud mouth."

"You arrogant fool!" Nappa yelled, on one hand, pot, kettle, ext ext. On the other hand, I completely agree and really wished Piccolo would just, not. At the very least, goading him on wasn't exactly the best plan at the moment.

"You're life is mine to take when I want! The only reason you're still breathing is because we need you to tell us about the Dragon Balls! And once we have that, you'll be nothing more than a memory!"

"You caught me by surprise. It won't happen again!" Piccolo announced before-

His eyes widened, and his head made a clear 90 degree turn as he stared into the distance.

I closed my eyes. Endgame mode it is then.

"What in the world am I sensing? There's an incredibly huge power level that's heading straight for us!"

Honestly, I'm surprised Piccolo of all people wouldn't recognize that as Goku, but if this was the first time I noticed it I'd probably only notice how strong it was too.

"It's- it's Goku," Krillin managed from his spot on the ground, "I knew he'd save us, get him Goku."

"You're just trying to trick me! You can't sense power levels without some sort of device!"

"Afraid you're wrong." There was an odd mix of anticipation, apprehension, and excitement on Piccolo's face.

"You're bluffing."

"Oh? Wait and see."

I tested my arm. Yep. Still burns to move. The adrenaline is helping a bit though.

Goku could easily power through Nappa. I knew this both from my knowledge, and the sheer overwhelming Ki heading this way. Now the hard part is lasting long enough for him to get here.

First Senzu Bean goes to Piccolo. As much as I wanted to get rid of my skinned shoulder, that head injury was the most concerning thing to me. As much as he tried to hide it, I could still tell his eyes were unfocused, and the only thing keeping him on his feet was stubborn willpower.

"Vegeta, what do you think? Is Kakarot really coming or not?"

"Calm down Nappa," I watched from the corner of my eye as Vegeta picked up his scouter, "certainly there's nothing to worry about."

He affixed the scouter back over his eye," who cares anyway? Let him come."

Vegeta pushed a button on his scouter.

His eyes widened.

"Vegeta? Hey Vegeta!" Nappa called to his, partner? Boss seems more accurate it terms of their dynamic but would that apply when the both work under Frieza?

"Snap out of it, you look like you've seen a ghost or something," Nappa laughed, but apprehension filled it this time, "come on, don't tell me there's some kind of truth to what these fools have been saying."

"Something is definitely heading this way. But it can't be Kakarot! The power level's to high!" Vegeta turned to Nappa, "whatever's coming has a power level of five thousand."

Nappa shot up as he shouted in denial, but by then Vegeta was lost in thought.

Piccolo laughed at their frustrations. My eyes darted to the approaching Ki. Darn it it's still gonna be a few minutes til he gets here at the rate he's going.

"Nappa! Quickly! Kill them all! We cannot let them join this fighter, if it is Kakarot, he has to know that we will not be opposed by anyone!"

"Vegeta?"

"All of them Nappa! The runt, the Namek, and the brat!"

"But you said-"

"Damn it, do as I say Nappa!"

Nappa's eyes hardened but he turned back to us anyway, "yes sir."

Nappa eyes darted between me and Piccolo.

He turned towards Piccolo.

I shot a Ki blast at him with my left arm. It wasn't very strong, or accurate, hitting his should blade instead of the middle of his back like I intended, but it got the job done. He turned back to me.

"Well, going down fighting huh? I can respect that. Clearly you want to die first."

He charged at me, this time with the clear intent to kill unlike before. I'd have to play this closely. While I'd rather just fire off blasts from a distance, he'd just dodge anything I could throw.

I waited until he was within striking distance before I vaulted over his arm. I kicked the side of his head, and barely turned in time to dodge his arm coming up to grab me, at which point I blasted him in the face with a Ki Blast as strong as I could manage that quick.

He stumbled backwards as I hit the ground hard.

He laughed.

"Not bad kid. But I shouldn't prolong this. I'll make this quick."

He began charging up a powerful Ki blast as I forced myself to stand up again. Time seemed to slow down as I weighed my options.

I couldn't move now, Nappa would just adjust his aim and continue. If I waited for him to fire then I wouldn't have enough time to dodge. I could try to fire a Ki blast back at him, but if I messed up it might just combine with his and I'd quite literally have a bigger problem to deal with.

I guess the only option I have is to block it. It absolutely will not work but, it's the best I've got. I forced my right arm up as I set my stance, squinting as his Ki glowed a brighter and brighter white.

He shot his arm towards me.

And then all I saw was purple.

no

No.

Yeah I'm sorry. I know I'm disappointing at least one of you but Piccolo had to die. I tried but there's one fundamental problem that I'll address at the end of the arc

Also I got some cute fanart from Kitsune Queen on Instagram, Y'all should go look at it