Sorry for the missed upload, but I had no time to write with the Christmas chaos, and I figured if there were ever a good enough excuse, that'd be it
Also, Happy New Year, let's hope for consistent uploads
On a totally unrelated note, I got DBZ Kakarot for Christmas, and one of the side quests gave me an idea, this morning as of writing this, and I think I'll use it. However, the kid's canon name isn't really jiving with me so I'm gonna change it, so ah, here are some ideas I got from a Namekian name generator, tell me which one(s) you like best
Ratis, Kotai, Shami, Escar, Itar, and Ocari
I think I like Ocari the best but idk. Kotai is also good. I like all of them, hense why they're here, but indecision be the death of me
frankieu: lol yeah that may or may not be one of the reasons I've included filler
thewittywhy: Thanks, lol, I like the idea of bringing those kids back, but I have no idea when or how. We don't actually go up into space all that often outside of movies and while there are a couple of places I could probably place them, I don't want it to feel like I'm forcing them
Gullwingyunie: Lol yeah, I know. Kai was actually what I watched first as a kid. Including filler is purposeful here
"I thought we'd never make it!" Bulma was elated as she and Krillin looked out the front window. Bulma from behind her controls and Krillin up close.
"Hey Gohan, come check this out!" Krillin called back to my space in my safe, not space-related, bed.
"Ok fine," reluctantly I got up and made my way to the window.
Namek was pretty, especially from up here. But also, space. I don't think I'll ever get over this if a month out here didn't do it.
"And only four days off schedule! Our little detour notwithstanding, that shortcut those kids gave us was right on!"
With an optimistic order from Bulma, Krillin and I strapped into our seats for a landing that was somehow worse than takeoff.
You know, while being able to fly has certainly diminished any airplane fears, space travel would probably always be this bad.
Regardless, we had finally made it, for once I eagerly looked out the ship's window to see the green sky and blue grass.
Krillin and I shared a glance and while Bulma was talking about the atmosphere or something we quickly left the ship to get a better look at the surroundings.
Conclusion: pretty.
I could imagine getting bored here eventually, but it'd certainly take a while of exploring first.
It was, however, way too quiet. It was kinda unnerving, but some earbuds and music would easily take care of that.
Not that I had either of those things.
"WHAT DO YOU TWO THINK YOU'RE DOING OUT HERE BEFORE I SAY ITS OK?! YOU COULD HAVE WALKED OUT ONTO A PLANET WITH NO OXYGEN!"
Krillin and I flinched away from Bulma, who technically had a point. While I might have known it was fine, Krillin didn't have any such excuse.
"Well Piccolo survived fine on Earth, didn't he? Seems reasonable that we could on Namek," I tried to defend.
"He and Kami could breathe Nitrogen or Carbon Dioxide for all we know, which are both plentiful in our atmosphere. You had no guarantee you'd be ok. Or me for that matter, just opening the hatch could have killed us all. From now on don't do anything before I give the go-ahead," Bulma concluded as she pulled out her radar.
I fixed my cloak over my Gi as I shuffled in place. The cloak went over my backpack, which made access to my sword kinda awkward. I'd have to take off my cloak for any real use.
Bulma pushed some buttons on the radar before she gasped, "Look guys! I found four Dragon Balls already! And they're close too!" She laughed in triumph.
"Woah seriously! That's great! We'll be outta here in no time!" Krillin joined her in laughing.
I smiled despite myself as they were practically dancing in joy before I started.
I turned my head, extending my Ki sense and, "hey Krillin? You sense that?"
Krillin looked over before frowning and walking in the direction I was looking, "I, don't like it one bit. It's near, and strong."
"You guys are probably overreacting. Piccolo was really strong so it's only natural to assume the rest of his people are as well."
"This energy's different. It feels wrong."
I nodded my agreement with Krillin's statement. Piccolo's Ki felt sturdy and determined. And while I had never met Kami, the little I sensed from him teleporting Goku back to Earth was tranquil and calm.
This energy was purely malicious. And stood out far more than any other despite the fact that he felt really far away.
Frieza.
My breath shuttered.
"Don't be silly, the only people around here are the local Namekians and they're peaceful. Come on, the Dragon Balls are this way. If we get those we're over halfway there! So let's meet the locals and collect some Dragon Balls!"
"Ok, you're uh, probably right. We got ourselves worked up over nothing," Krillin laughed, easily talking himself down from his concern, "I'm kinda embarrassed about it actually."
I turned my head to the sound of, an airplane? Oh, no. A spaceship. Duh. It was one of the round ships of Frieza's troops.
Now, what are the odds that-
I extended my Ki sense only to sense a Ki that made barbed wire look friendly.
Yep. Vegeta.
As Krillin and Bulma freaked out over it, another ship came flying after him. I'm assuming that'd be the guy that shared a mutual hatred with Vegeta.
Not a concern, Vegeta pretty much immediately kills that guy.
"We should probably lower our power levels, so his, or their, Scouters won't pick us up," I turned to Krillin, who nodded, and we both did so before turning back in the direction of Vegeta's power.
"Bulma, you should leave."
Bulma and I turned to Krillin, "take the spaceship and go back to Earth, bring Goku back here."
Bulma agreed but made sure to mention that it'd take two months for that. Which honestly wouldn't be fine in general but made much worse by the fact that the planet had a future vision survival time of about a week.
Regardless, Bulma began calling back home. She spoke, I assumed, to her father and explained the situation. That's good, now Goku will come regardless.
Also, I have absolutely no idea how she got a phone call all the way back to Earth, let alone one with little to no delays.
Krillin and Bulma began discussing the logistics of Bulma going back to Earth when I turned to the distance.
"Someone's coming."
The two turned back to me. Krillin ran to my side and Bulma hid behind one of the legs of the ship.
"Is it…Vegeta?" Bulma asked from her barely a hiding spot.
"I don't think so, this power feels way too low to be his," Krillin responded.
And around a rock face appeared two aliens. One with blue skin and, not even blond but yellow hair, and the other purple and reptilian. Both wearing Frieza Force armor, of course.
"They're wearing the same uniforms as Vegeta and Nappa did," Krillin noted, "that, probably is not a good thing. Do you think they work for that Frieza guy that everyone keeps mentioning?"
"I think that's a distinct possibility."
They flew closer, clearing the distance between islands quickly.
"Gohan, keep your energy suppressed until we know what we're dealing with," I nodded at Krillin as the two came to a stop above us.
The purple one laughed, "this will be easy, their power levels are alimony nonexistent. They're probably tourists."
"Stay where you are, and we'll shoot you!"
"Don't you mean, or we'll shoot you?"
"I know what I said."
He aimed his blaster, gun, thing and shot it. Unfortunately, his target was not us, if it were we could have blocked or dodged the blast.
No, the target was the ship. Of course.
The front window was now completely shattered and there's no way we're getting to space in that.
Ok, trapped on an alien planet. With a tyrannical, genocidal, space dictator. On a planet with an expiration date. This is fine. Totally fine.
The two laughed as Krillin and I raised our power level, they barely got to realize something was wrong before I shot up and punched the purple one in the face.
Krillin easily dispatched the blue one.
"That was easy enough, huh?" Krillin smiled as the two didn't rise back up from underwater.
"Looks like they're all, washed up," Krillin poked at my side with the obvious bad timing that any bad pun should have. I snorted.
Huh, if they drowned would that technically count as killing them? I mean, it didn't really matter since they'd probably die anyway and-
"DON'T LOOK SO HAPPY!" I flinched away from Bulma, who had tears in her eyes.
As she lamented the broken ship I walked over and picked up the pair of blasters dropped by the former Frieza Troops.
"Bulma, you should probably take these," I held out one of the blasters to her.
"What!? I don't want those! I'm not going to shoot anyone!"
"Good, don't. They're a last resort only. Hide first, shoot only if necessary."
It would probably help against any grunts at least. Anyone stronger was out of the question, but if it made her feel safer, that's all that really mattered.
Hesitantly, she took the blaster I was holding out and I placed the other one with her stuff. She could also probably disassemble one and figure out how they work.
"Well now that that's settled, we need to get out of here," Krillin gathered up his backpack, "whoever's sending those scouts knows where we are now and we shouldn't be here when they send follow-ups."
"Worst case scenario, we can wish our way back home," I ever so slightly hinted at the end result here.
After a fair bit more convincing, Bulma packed up all her stuff into capsules which fell neatly into designated pockets throughout her outfit.
That is, really convenient.
We walked across the islands, Krillin consoling Bulma's complaints while I ignored them.
Idly I kept a sense out for both Frieza's and Vegeta's Ki's. Frieza's stayed stationary, for now, but Vegeta's suddenly rose dramatically and the guy's who followed him here disappeared.
Hey, Vegeta finally got to kill someone.
Finally, we found a cave far enough away to feel safe. At least there's one positive-
Frieza started moving. Quickly. In this direction.
"In the cave! Now!" I shouted and Krillin and I practically pushed Bulma in the cave as quickly as we could before shoving ourselves against the wall.
I condensed and smothered my Ki as much as I physically could as I screwed my eyes shut.
It was all I could do to keep standing as the overwhelmingly malicious and overpowering Ki shot past us. Oh, there were several others too. But those were barely noticeable over Frieza's.
Finally, he was past us, and it was slightly easier to breathe.
"Hey uh, Krillin, I think they had the Dragon Balls."
"Yes Gohan, I noticed."
"Most of them were as strong as Vegeta."
"Yes Gohan, I noticed."
"And the guy in front? Was like, a hundred Vegetas."
"Yes, Gohan! I noticed!"
"Just making sure."
"This is bad, I have a bad feeling that that might have been that Frieza guy everyone's been talking about."
I nodded.
"You didn't mean it when you said that one guy was stronger than Vegeta did you?"
"Yeah, and by a lot," Krillin glared down, his fists clenched, "and we're gonna have to figure out how to get the Dragon Balls from him! How are we gonna do that!?"
"We might not have to."
"What?" Krillin turned to me.
"We might not be able to beat any of those guys, but Vegeta can beat at least some of them and he's after the Dragon Balls too."
"Why would he do that? He works for that guy, doesn't he?"
"Maybe not, look over there," I pointed over to where Vegeta and the other guy landed, "the guy that followed Vegeta here, his Ki is gone. I'd be willing to bet Vegeta killed him. Which means he's probably turned against Frieza. Enemy of my enemy might not be my friend, but at least they might take each other out."
"It'd probably be easier to steal the Dragon Balls from just Vegeta than it would be that guy and a bunch of others just as strong as Vegeta," Krillin agreed.
"But that means we'd have to risk Vegeta getting his hands on the Dragon Balls! If he gets his wish who knows what would happen!"
"Does Vegeta even know how to use the Dragon Balls? He might just assume you only have to collect them and then wish. It's a gamble either way."
Krillin's glare shifted from where Frieza was heading and where Vegeta was plotting.
"Quick guys! Look!" Krillin and I turned to Bulma, "they're heading directly for another Dragon Ball! It's like they know just where it is!"
"Oh, that's just great! So they have radar too. Which way?" Krillin's question sounded more reluctant than ever.
"The radar says it's about ten miles that way," she pointed off in the direction Frieza was headed.
"They might not have a Dragon Ball radar, they might just be using their Scouters to see where Namekians live," I pointed out.
"Yeah, that's probably the best-case scenario here," Krillin took off his hat, backpack, and weighted undershirt.
I took off my backpack and sword but kept my cloak.
"Wait! You guys can't just leave me here alone!"
"Ok Bulma, you can come chase the bad guys with us if you want," Bulma quickly backpedaled at Krillin's words.
"Now Gohan, we're just going to see what's up. Keep your power suppressed and absolutely do not be seen by any of those guys." I nodded and we took off, jumping from island to island instead of flying.
It'll be fine.
Probably.
Every step brought us closer to that horrible malicious energy until we made it to the village.
I swallowed.
We made sure to position ourselves behind the alien threats.
"It looks like they're still searching, you might have been right about them not having a Radar."
I looked over the scene, the village was rather small, which made sense. The only people out were Frieza's men. A bunch of grunts were searching and Frieza's right and left hands stood slightly behind the monster's vehicle.
The pink spikey one, and the fake pretty boy. Dodoria and, the other one. Also, I don't remember which one was Dodoria.
And of course, there was Frieza. Sitting in the center in his stupid little hovercar thingy. Too good to even fly on his own. Somehow his tail looked even more rat-like in this form in a real-life setting than it had in the show.
Suddenly Krillin started, his Ki fluctuating, "Take a look at what those guys have tucked under their arms! It's the Dragon Balls! Man, they're huge!"
The pink guy turned his head, sending Krillin and me ducking behind the cliffs.
"Ok, we need to be careful," I nodded at Krillin as we hesitantly looked back over the edge.
One of Frieza's men began ushering Namekians out of their homes.
There were five of them, three of them very old. They looked kinda like Piccolo, obviously. But that wasn't the first thing I noticed. No the first thing I noticed was-
"There are two children here?" My voice was little more than a whisper, regardless it was enough to get Krillin's concerned glance.
I mean, it was only a matter of time until we met Dende, and I assumed it'd be at this village, but, two? Were there always two children here? I don't- I don't know. I know Krillin and Gohan are only supposed to save Dende.
"Hey," my head shot up to Krillin, "take a breath, you need to focus on keeping your power down."
I nodded. Glaring at my hands before I forced myself to calm down. Worrying won't help anything, let's just, see what happens.
By the time I looked back up, Frieza was threatening the Nameks. His voice was too quiet to make out exactly what he said, but it was enough to get the gist.
The next thing I knew, the pretty boy had darted forward, kicking one of the elders across the clearing. The other non-leader elder reacted, firing a Ki blast at the man, only for him to dodge and it to hit one of the grunts instead, destroying one of their Scouters.
In dodging, pretty boy had jumped up and fired a Ki blast of his own down at the elder, before landing once again by Frieza's side.
The elder could only take a few steps back before collapsing on the ground, his Ki fading away.
The children cling to the sides of the leader.
Frieza raised a finger towards them, I was about ready to jump up when I sensed three new power levels approaching.
They were much stronger than either the elders or children, three Namekians, adults, clearly in their prime.
They weren't nearly as strong as either of Frieza's top men, but maybe if they were suppressing any of their power they could take out some of the grunts.
They exclaimed in shock and rage at their fallen comrades.
The pink guy read their power levels, only to laugh and the grunts followed suit.
As I had expected, the three easily caught the grunts off guard and took them out one by one, using the dust kicked up by their blasters as cover.
And with them, their Scouters were also destroyed.
The pink guy reread their power levels and seemed surprised by the jump.
The elder pushed the children away from him, before shooting a beam at the pink guy's face.
No, at his scouter.
Quickly he jumped up and took out the last two remaining Scouters.
"That crafty old dog! He's destroying their Scouters so that they can't find any more Namekians!"
I nodded, well aware that the elder more or less just sacrificed himself for that move. It was genius nonetheless, and he was probably dead either way.
The pink guy shot up towards the elder, only to be cut off by Frieza.
Frieza shouted his order to kill the warrior Namekians first. Enraged, but compliant, spikey landed on the ground.
It took me a second to realize Frieza's twisted logic.
If the warriors were all dead, then the elder would be more likely to tell where the Dragon Ball is with no one left to protect the children.
To call it a fight would be generous. The first was killed instantly, a single and thrust right through his torso. The second was hit by an elbow before being dispatched by a blast. The last guy lasted the longest, being able to dodge his initial strikes, and even managed to get a counter-attack in. But pinky walked it off completely, head butting the Namek into a rock face, and considering the spikes on his head, there was little to question on whether or not the Namek died.
The elder slowly floated back to the ground, defeated.
A few words were passed before the elder was retreating into one of the houses and returned with a Dragon Ball.
Frieza, never a man of his word, demanded more information from the elder, only to receive an elbow to the face from pink guy.
Frieza shrugged off the elder's insults and the elder ordered the children to run.
The pink guy charged up an attack from his mouth. At first glance, it looked like he would kill the elder, but no, the angle was slightly off. It was aimed behind him.
I didn't yell, I didn't say anything. I just charge up my Ki as quickly as I could as I shot down there and kicked the spiked idiot in the head, causing his mouth to close and the blast to implode on itself.
He reeled back in shock, unable to speak through his bleeding mouth.
I stood there for a moment, frozen, eyes darting between the three threats.
I felt Krillin's ki rise as he followed after me.
"I- uh- Bye!" I turned around, grabbing the smaller of the children and trusting Krillin to grab the other.
We zipped off as fast as we could and, unfortunately, leaving the elder to his fate.
Dodoria killing Lil' Cargo was so fast and unexpectedly that I probably could have gotten away with killing him anyway, but I had already made up my mind to save him around the same time I decided to add the side plot Namek kid