mmm, tasty spite

Oh also, guess who caught COVID~~~

eh, I'm mostly fine now

EgyLynx: le thank

thewittywhy: spite for Vegeta spite for Nappa. SIGohan is not gonna be jazzed about Nappa's presence, but man, Vegeta's existential crisis is gonna be great short-term gratification. One correction however, Nappa does not have his tail, Goh cut it after Nappa fell unconscious cause he doesn't deserve it. Kinda necessary for a future plot point as well.
Tolerate is a good word to use
The timeline thing will be addressed, eventually
And yeah, fighting out of necessity. Helped further by the fact that She's only ever fighting people who are stronger than her. It'd be more enjoyable in a casual setting, or when the scales are turned, but that certainly won't be the case for a while yet

frankieu: le thank. the number of kept Namek babies if any remains to be seen

Shadowj6480: tasty spite indeed. and yeah...I plan on just skirting past the Senzu Bean thing. Magical Beans always have just enough to be plot convenient.
I had considered having Dodoria and Zarbon stick together, but the Veggie would probably just kill Dodoria and it'd be a shame to save him for later just for him to die off-screen
The child collection grows. There be a child? It gets added.
And, of course, thank

Slayer76: Yeah, I figured it was fine since while most Namek Namekians have slug-based pun names, Tsuno was one of them and that's an instrument pun, so all are fair game. Demon King Piccolo's clan's names tended to be more literal than puns from what I could tell

FlameSparks7: Rip indeed. The greatest deviation to canon is yet far ahead.

DannyPhantom619: It'll be a while

Shel21: Ah! Thanks!

I've got a Dragon Ball.

I mused as I flew back holding the oversized orb in my hands as I flew.

Remembering myself I scanned ahead for Ki-

Barbed wire.

Vegeta.

Whoops.

I dove for one of the islands, ducking behind one of the rocks and smothering my Ki. It didn't amount to much since Vegeta stopped above me anyway.

I shoved the Dragon ball into the deepest crevice I could find.

He scanned the islands. He wasn't wearing his scouter anymore but considering he had learned to sense Ki, somehow, it didn't help much. It just removed the option of exact numbers.

"Whoever you are, show yourself." He called down, "if you don't come out I'll start blasting this entire area until I find you."

Maybe I can bluff him out?

"Come out! Last chance!" Slowly he began charging Ki up in his hand.

Ok, so no bluff out then.

"Ok fine," I called out, peaking my head up from the rock, he stopped his attack mid-charge.

"What do you want?" I climbed up onto the rock.

"Ah, the son of Kakarot." Vegeta slowly floated down until he was in front of me.

"Yeah, we've established that."

"So, what brings you out here, so far from your friends."

"Oh just, flying around."

"Flying around?"

"Flying around."

"Thwarting my plans?"

"Thwarting your plans?"

"Are you?"

"No."

"Good because that would be bad."

"How bad?"

"I'd have to kill you."

"Hm, that's bad."

"Indeed, there are so few Sayains left, it'd be a shame to kill one," mentally I questioned his trying to kill Nappa, but didn't say it out loud.

"What's that you're holding?" I pointed at the Dragon Ball tucked under his arm as if it wasn't obvious.

"Oh, this? Just one of your precious Dragon Balls."

"Oh wow, they're big here."

"And this one makes seven. Almost a shame there's nothing you can do about it."

I licked my lips, "Yeah, I don't think fighting you for it would go over too well for me."

"Certainly not."

"What's that you're holding?" He mimicked my earlier sentence, pointing to the Radar, I kicked myself for not tucking it away.

"It's, a watch. It tells time. And nothing else," I waved it nonchalantly, after making sure its screen was blank.

"That's what a watch does, dumbass."

He landed right in front of me. I resisted the urge to step back

"Tell me, is your father here?"

"No. He was too injured to make the flight."

"What a shame, sending his child to do his work now, is he? What kind of father does that?" Vegeta placed his hand on my head, I flinched despite myself.

"There are only four of us left of the Sayain race, we have to watch out for each other, isn't that right?" He ruffled my hair.

I glared past his hand, "is that way you tried to kill the other one?"

"Oh? Is that what you thought I was doing? Why, I was merely offering a hand in support! A shame you interrupted me, he'd have healed up much faster in a healing pod than anything your backwater planet has."

I rolled my eyes at his obvious lie, "you know, it's a shame you cut off my tail. It'd probably be a big help in fighting the bad guys. You know. Like I did. On Earth. To you."

Vegeta's placating smile dropped from his face. The next thing I knew was pain as his knee met my stomach in a very unpleasant way.

I collapsed on the ground in pain, falling onto my side as I clutched my stomach.

Vegeta placed his foot on my head, "not too bright, are you boy? You're an even bigger fool than you're father, and that's saying a lot."

He stepped harder on my head before kicking me to the side, luckily not off the rock.

"Go home, halfbreed. This is no place for a sniveling baby," he mocked and laughed as finally, he flew off.

I laid in pain for what could have been thirty seconds or could have been a couple of minutes, but by the time I managed to sit up I laughed.

"Love to see what you're gonna do with six Dragon Balls, jerk."

I dunked my head in the water to clear my head, and rinse off the dirt and blood from his boot, before reclaiming my prize.

Four-Star ball in hand I began to make my way back to the cave, slower than before, but steady nonetheless.

Finally, I landed by the cave to see Bulma packing her things, Cargo and Ocari clinging to each other in the entrance of the cave, and Krillin running up to meet me.

"I think we should find somewhere new to stay," I opened as I landed.

"Yeah I- wait, why do you say that."

"Because we probably have about five minutes before Vegeta realizes I stole this." I grinned, holding out the Dragon Ball as I ignored the residual stomach pain. Spite fueled me at this point.

Krillin stared slack-jawed at me for a second, "you got passed him with this?"

"I hid it away and he was too arrogant to think I would lie to him," I half-laughed as I glanced back with a grin.

"But yeah we should probably leave before he realizes. Because he will kill us." Despite the words, my grin never faded. Oh, how I wished I could be there when he realized the Ball wasn't there.

As we flew I felt Vegeta's Ki spike in rage and that was just about long enough that we should probably find a good spot.

It wasn't a cave, but we found an island that had a big enough crack between rocks that it'd be good enough cover.

"Well, on the bright side you won't be stuck in a cave anymore, Krillin tried to appease Bulma, but to be honest, the Capsule house was probably much more comfortable than here, and she couldn't exactly set that up here without being conspicuous.

I scanned for Ki as I ignored Bulma's string of complaints. Frieza still stationary. Pretty Boy probably dead from his fight with Veggie. Pink guy roaming along with several grunts.

Vegeta is heading away from us, from our prior hideout, that I would assume is now less than rubble.

"Hey Bulma, why don't you wait here with the kids while Gohan and I visit Guru and get him to awaken Gohan's hidden powers," I sharply turned my head over to Krillin.

"Huh?"

Oh, right, Namek power boost #1. In all the excitement I had forgotten for a moment.

Man, how did I not notice Krillin's Ki burning so much brighter before?

"I will not be left out here to play babysitter all by myself!"

"Listen, first of all, we'll be back here before you know it, and second, once we do get back, Vegeta won't stand a chance against me and Gohan."

Hmm. Sounds nice if not slightly unrealistic.

Regardless Bulma was convicted and Krillin was chuckling to himself in confidence.

I sat next to the children, "you two ok?"

Ocari said nothing as he nodded, eyes darting around.

"Some of the bad guys showed up, one of them was one of the guys who attack my village, and then they started fighting each other! I think the slightly less bad, bad guy won since he didn't kill us after stealing Guru's Dragon Ball," Cargo rambled as he spoke, "Oh! And Ocari stood in front of me the whole time! He seemed really scared but he didn't run away at all!"

Ocari blushed and turned away at the younger boy's words. I wondered if that was an intentional jab at me or if it was just unintentional phrasing.

"Gohan?" I turned to Ocari, "you said you ran into that man, the one who stole the Dragon Ball, right?"

"Yeah," I nodded.

"And you weren't scared? You just, stood up to him? Despite him being so much stronger?"

"Well, I knew he was a lot stronger, and that he easily could have, but I didn't think he would."

"Why?"

Because I knew he wouldn't from canon. "because while he is a bad guy, he's not like the other ones. He has killed people. He has killed people on this planet. But for people he has an interest in, he likes to play around with them instead, and he couldn't do that if he just killed me right out."

Ocari looked down and frowned, "I don't like him, even if he's not as bad."

"Oh, I despise him," I clarified, "just, if I had to choose between him and just about anyone else on the enemy side, I'm glad it was him I crossed paths with."

"Gohan?"

"Hm?"

"Do, you think I could be as strong as you?"

"Huh? I mean, sure? I don't think of myself as very strong. Maybe stubborn. But- I mean, yeah, you can be strong."

"And not scared?"

"I've been scared since I got here. I just, try to ignore it. That's not really the healthiest thing to do, don't take from my example, but whatever works for now."

Ocari's hands gripped his knees as he thought, glaring at them.

"But hey, could I ask you to do something very important while we're gone?"

Ocari looked up at me, wide-eyed.

"Take care of this for me, would you?" I offered up the Dragon Ball.

He looked between me and the ball a few times before he took it and nodded with determination.

Sword in place, backpack on and cloak fluttering with utmost dramatics, Krillin and I took off for Guru's.

Flying to Guru's was stressful for a few reasons. One we couldn't fly very fast or else Vegeta will sense us, to which, something tells me he won't exactly be in the mood for a truce just yet. Two, even at this speed if we stray too close he could sense us. I was reasonably certain that he was in the opposite direction, but apparently, along with magically learning how to sense power, he also learned to suppress his own.

And three, apparently Frieza has gotten so frustrated with Vegeta's antics that he's just occasionally firing random energy blasts around which, I don't have to focus on them to realize that getting hit by one would cause a game over.

"At this rate, it'll take us forever to get to Guru's house!" Krillin idly complained, probably to break the silence, "but we can't risk turning up the speed, or else Vegeta will sense us. I don't know how but it feels like he just keeps getting stronger by the minute."

"I think it's a Sayain thing," I noted, and he turned to me, "I mean, I'm pretty sure I got a bit stronger after eating that Senzu Bean from the Sayain fight, I might be a damage or healing kind of thing. The injuries probably have to be really bad though."

"That seems, incredibly unfair…" Krillin lamented, before facing forward again, "well between being Goku's kid, being a Sayain, and, that, getting your potential unlocked by Guru will totally close the gap enough that the two of us together could Probably stand up against him."

I hummed in response as we continued flying.

As we came upon many, many hours of flight, Krillin decided to call for a rest to eat and a nap. As well as one could nap on a planet with three suns, but I managed to doze for who knows how long until it was time to take off again.

My sleepy state was broken by Krillin declaring it was probably safe enough to pick up the speed.

I didn't think twice on it. Danger or not, the monotonous repetitive landscape was getting to me with nothing else to do. It's not like I could draw or anything while flying.

We took off at several times the speed from before.

It only took a couple of hours of flying after that before Krillin noted we were almost there, "right there! On top of that peak!"

Looking forward, I saw that there was, in fact, a large, and very steep mountain that we were approaching, and as we came up closer I began to see a building on top of it.

Of course, that was the moment a prickly sense of barbed wire crossed my senses.

Krillin and I froze in our tracks.

Oh, that's, less than ideal.

Krillin removed his backpack, letting it fall to the ground far below as he spoke, "Gohan, I'm gonna try to hold him off. You go to Guru and get your power unlocked."

"I, uh, ok," I turned and left him to deal with the ticking time bomb alone.

And with that I quickly cleared the rest of the distance between me and the mount, cutting off my sensing completely so I couldn't be distracted.

And now, I just have to, walk inside. To Guru's. It's fine. I'll just have to not think about his entire race being killed off. Or the fact that he's gonna die twice in like two days tops. Or that-

"You seem troubled," I looked up to see a Namekian, he was shirtless except for his vest and was otherwise dressed similarly to most Namekians I've seen here. He had a stern expression and stood straight with his arms folded behind his back.

Nail. My head provided his name against my wishes. There was something about him I was forgetting. He dies fighting Frieza? Maybe but that doesn't seem right. Something else I think.

He turned into the building when I failed to respond, "come, Guru has been expecting you."

And with that, he disappeared into the building. I jogged to catch up, scaling the steps into the main room only to see, a very large Namekian. By which I mean he was about the size of my room on earth.

Only slightly daunted, I walked up as indicated, stepping beside his chair at his word.

Dende stood a few feet to my side and Nail stood on the opposite side of Guru's chair as his hand was placed on my head.

"There is a great power at your disposal, however, there seems to be a disconnect between your mind and body, child, but you're not quite a child, now are you?" My eyes darted to the side as the eldest Namek chuckled.

"Do not worry, as interesting as your mind is, I will not pry. I do not believe it would be very beneficial for me to do so, now would it?" I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding as I shook my head.

I glanced at the other two in the room, Dende looked curious, but didn't ask any follow-up questions, Nail looked unaffected.

"Now then, I can unlock your potential now, however you may find it difficult to unlock new power as you go on. If I may offer one piece of advice, may it be not to focus on the power you are meant to have, however, attain the power that is right for you."

I frowned but didn't say anything. It didn't make much sense. Power here was obvious, wasn't it? I'd eventually get to Super Sayain and then, somehow, get to Super Sayain 2. I'd have to fight Cell, which is something Gohan has to do.

Whatever, worrying about that now wasn't gonna help anything, and besides that, any musings were cut off by Vegeta approaching the building.

"Um, a bad guy is right outside the building so, if you wanted to hurry this up maybe…?"

Nail turned to leave the building as Guru nodded.

Actually, I was pretty sure Nail was stronger than Vegeta right now so like, fair enough.

My attention focused in on myself as Guru's hand began to glow and I, was completely overwhelmed.

I was shaking as I looked down at my hands. Then Guru removed his hand, and it immediately got worse. I couldn't breathe, or focus on anything other than the power running through my limbs.

Months ago I had mused that being as strong as I was then was almost scary. This was, so much more. I was suddenly hyper-aware of the fact that any wrong move could leave rubble in my wake. I couldn't, couldn't-

"…an? Hey Gohan?" I blinked, seeing Dende kneeling over me, what? Oh, I was sitting. When did I sit?

"Are you ok?" With still shaking breathes I forced a nod.

This was necessary, this was far less than I will need going forward. Far less than I needed now.

"That power is your's young one. There is no need to fear it, as it obeys only you."

Still shaking, I climbed to my feet. I rubbed my arms as I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths.

I looked up at Guru, then over to Dende.

I formed a small ball of Ki in my hands. I sparked and flickered, already much more powerful than almost anything I could have produced before.

"Mine." I closed my hand as I dissipated the Ki.

With a final breath I ignored the remaining tremors as I looked up at Guru, "thank you for the help," and I walked down the stairs.

A smile made its way to my lips as Vegeta demanded that "Kakarot" come out.

The look on his face when he saw me step out the door instead made the whole ordeal worth it. He blinked a few times as if to confirm that the power was really coming from me.

"Sup?"

"You? What happened to your power level? What is this place? What have you done?"

"Who me? Well I just talked to a friendly old man is all," I shrugged as I looked to the side, as if Vegeta wasn't the top concern here.

Let's see, quick scan. Frieza stationary. Pinky by his side. Vegeta is obviously here and-

Oh. Welp, that's unfortunate.

Vegeta started laughing, but I barely noticed as I focused on the powers approaching the planet. They were powerful enough that I could sense them from this far away, which was concerning. My new boost pales to that several times over.

"What am I supposed to be scared now that you've gotten a little power boost? You're still nowhere near my level, so go ahead if you want. Attack me. Besides Frieza, I'm the strongest one on this planet, bar none

My, probably sarcastic, retort was cut off by Nail stepping forward.

There was a standstill, no one moved for several moments.

Then I was being held up by the front of my cloak.

I couldn't see Vegeta move and barely managed to pry my fingers between the cloth and my neck to prevent myself from just being choked out.

"C-careful, you'll rip it."

"Oh? Still think you're in the position to be a wise guy do you?"

Dende ran out to say something but was cut off by my predicament.

"Yeah, right so, can we just, skip to the part where we have to work together to fight the, one, two, three, four, five, really scary powers heading to the planet?" I managed to ask as I sacrificed one of my hands maintaining my airflow to point towards the direction of Frieza's ship, and by extension, the approaching powers.

"What are you-" Vegeta began as he turned his head to where I was pointing.

He dropped me in shock.

I then proceeded to ignore his scared ramblings as I fixed my cloak back in place and rubbed my neck.

And then I was grabbed again.

"No more time for games! You will give me your Dragon Ball this instant!"

"Unfortunately, we don't have it here," I managed, this time not having the time to protect my air.

"Tell me where it is! Tell me and I promise no harm or your friends," ooh a deal. He must be really scared, "but I promise you, if I don't get my wish by the time they get here we're all dead."

"What do you think we are, stupid?" Krillin asked, and Vegeta must have been truly terrified to hold back any sort of affirmation to that.

"You put him down right now, Vegeta."

Wow, Vegeta is in a really accommodating mood considering the next thing I knew I was half dropped, half thrown to the ground.

I fell to the ground, but aside from the skin on my neck, I was mostly unharmed.

Better than my last meeting with dearest Veggie.

"Listen to me, don't be a fool. These are no petty henchmen Frieza's called in; it's the Ginyu force. Each as strong as I am, no, even more so."

Wow, humble much. Considering how much he got battered around by, the orange one, I'm gonna firmly place most of them in the "more" category.

"In a few moments, they'll land here with their new Scouters. They'll find us and kill us all!"

Krillin's denial was batted to the side, "do you feel that power coming towards us! None of us are strong enough to face that! The only chance we have is if we use the wish to make me immortal!"

"I fear what the Sayain says might be true; this is an, evil presence that approaches," surprised, I looked up at Nail. Wow, he was tall, probably helped by the fact that I was still sitting on the ground.

Anyway, Krillin looked between Nail and the incoming power before turning to Vegeta, "ok, here the deal, we use the wish on Gohan then!" My head shot to Krillin so fast I'd have gotten hurt if I wasn't a Sayain.

Death might terrify me, but immortality is even worse. The implications of it just, no thank.

For once I was grateful for Vegeta's quick dismissal, "the boy might have power, but he doesn't have the fighting experience, it has to be me!"

I suppose I could just make another wish to be not immortal, but the rules of what wishes are or aren't allowed have always seemed fickle, and that's one wish I don't want to mess with.

Even if a few Zenkai boosts would put me over the scales of beating the Ginyus.

Wait did Zenkai's power through damage, or by near-death? Because if I can't die then what if Zenkai boosts just, stop being a thing?

That's too many hypotheticals for something that will not happen.

Krillin's remaining concerns were then dismissed by Nail, "but you would still have two more wishes."

The three of us turned to him, "didn't you know? The Dragon Balls will grant you three wishes."

"The Dragon Balls on Earth only let you have one wish."

"I see, that would explain the confusion…do you plan on remaining on the ground until it is time for you to leave here?"

I shrugged.

"We're wasting time!" This time Vegeta grabbed Krillin by the front of his Gi, "the Ginyu Force will be here any second! We have to use the Dragon Balls now before it's too late!"

Krillin grabbed Vegeta's hand, pushing it away, "you're not giving the orders here Vegeta! Nail are you absolutely certain the Dragon will give us three wishes?" Where that confidence came from, I don't know, but I am certainly not complaining.

"Yes."

"…let's go then…but! You try anything funny and the deal's off, got it?"

With a nod received, Krillin turned, "follow me." He took off, Vegeta following after him, and finally, I stood up to follow as well.

Like it or not, we were now, very temporarily, working with Vegeta.

Unfortunately for all involved, it'd turn out to be less temporary than intended.