Sorry for the late upload, did not finish on time, watched movies with friends instead. Got a bunch of fun little tidbits though, and hey, it's a long one. It did technically solve my chapter posting conundrum, as how these chapters are turning out, the next two chapters are gonna be POV chapters (one has been finished for months, I wrote it at the same time as the Krillin POV, the other I still have a bit to write on) since I doubt I'll be able to make a full chapter out of the reason the Second POV chapter should come out before the scene that shall be in it.
Also a certain feature of the next proper chapter is purely self-indulgent, which, lets face it. This is a fanfic. That's the point. The two POV chapters are also Kinda self indulgent.

Eventually, I'll stop writing these last minute and get ahead again. Probably. Maybe

thewittywhy: techinially it was a comment on AO3 that caused that specific change, but I did remember one of your comments about the Super Sayain as I wrote it lol

Slayer76: Frustrated perhaps, concerned certainly, scared ah yeah, but none quite enough to spark the transformation herself. I do have a backup plan in place for Super Sayain however

frankieu: it's a good thing there is plenty of media to draw from

fangrts: I...would far from claim that. Goku is honestly absurdly strong in canon. Ginyu referred to Goku's 180,000 power level in their first fight to be way above any standard for Sayains to that date. And becoming reliant of transformations is pretty inevitable, I mean, a 50x multiplier is a 50x multiplier. If any they start fights at base form too often.
I'm not sure about comparisons of power so far into the future as of yet either, and unfortunately, while bringing back the Nameks that Vegeta killed would be nice, SIGohan had no say in the wish made on earth.

xXSelenaXx: ah yes, the kiddos have been missed. Kiddos shall return.
I think that's a pretty fair interpretation of Nappa, I have a few baseline traits, the hard part is translating that into words.
I like Super Sayain, as a concept and design. Some of the next forms can be overdramatized but it's fine. Mostly SS3. That one's really over hyped to me. It was honestly a rather last minute change.
As for what will come of it, well I do have a backup plan, but I will say that Future Trunks is one of my favorite characters, so yeah that's inevitable.
And, of course, thanks ^.^

royalburrito999: Forbidden indeed
And yeah, I had considered it, but a couple scenes later on require SIGohan to have not died thus far

Kawaiibunny: Mmmhhh, many thank. And eventually.

I couldn't tell you how long I laid there, alternating between staring at the blue sky in melancholy and just closing my eyes in exhaustion, but by the time I sat back up most everyone there had gotten their bearings and were more or less told the gist of what had happened.

Most of those who were here were Namekians, of course. Then there was our group, sans Goku, a few Frieza soldiers, whether they somehow managed to survive that long or were killed by Frieza or his men I couldn't say, and…Vegeta.

Oh, I could already feel the headache.

Krillin noticed me get up and walked over.

"Hey uh, where's Goku?"

"Namek, probably." I avoided eye contact with Krillin.

"What?! What do you mean he's on Namek, the whole point was that we'd all come back and-"

"He asked to stay. So we let him stay."

"But- how will he- he's stuck there and-"

"If he had asked you to stay would you have made him come anyway?"

"I- no… but- how will- how will he get back here?"

"Well, either he figures it out, or we wish him back." About a 50/50 chance from at this point.

"Wish- the Dragon Balls can only wish someone back once! He's already-"

"The Earth's Dragon Balls can only bring someone back once. There's no such rule for Namek's, right?" I tilted my head to Dende, who up to this point had been glancing between us in the conversation.

"Oh! Uh, yes!"

"So, worst case we just have to wait to use the Namek Dragon Balls again."

"I- …ok…ok that's… alright. I guess."

Krillin nodded to himself as he thought over the situation.

"I'm, going to go tell Bulma…man worst comes I'm gonna have to tell Chichi again, aren't I?" He smiled awkwardly as his joke fell flat.

He turned to leave.

I-

I grabbed an edge of his shirt to stop him.

He turned in question.

It took a moment for me to find the, lackluster words.

"I…I'm glad you're ok…" was all I managed in the end, looking down and away.

Krillin blinked for a moment, before smiling, "ahha, yeah, it was a close one there, wasn't it?" He rubbed the back of his head with laughter twinged in nervousness.

"Yeah…close…" still I did not look at him.

"Hey," Krillin placed his hands on my shoulders, "I'm ok see? And you're ok too. And, like you said, one way or another we'll get your dad back real soon too, so, everything's going to be ok, alright?"

"I know…" for now at least.

"Alright, I'm going to go tell Bulma now, alright?" He didn't move until I nodded. At which he nodded back and left.

At which I was torn between wanting to collapse back and just wait for something else to happen and the complete inability to stay still.

I ended up wandering closer to the main group, though not close enough to be dragged into unwanted conversation.

"JUST WHAT WAS GOKU THINKING? EVEN IF HE DOES BEAT FRIEZA THERE'S NO WAY FOR HIM TO GET OFF THE PLANET!"

I blinked for a moment, apparently, Piccolo finally overheard the news and wasn't quite happy with it.

I smiled, floating up and poking him on his temple, "t'aw, you care about him," my smile turned to a grin as I teased.

Piccolo stared for a moment, shock the only emotion I could read among the few there, before sharply turning his head away, "tch, him dying somewhere else just means I can't be the one to beat him."

"Mmhmmm."

Piccolo didn't say anything else to defend himself, only staring into the sky, once again unreadable.

Maybe I'm just bad at reading expressions.

Probably both.

"It makes perfect sense."

Any light hearted joy I got from teasing Piccolo, who I just had to note was once again alive and well on earth, instantly vanished the moment Vegeta spoke. It was remarkable, really.

"He can't turn away a good fight. The blood of a Sayain runs too strongly through his veins. And now, since that idiot martyr is becoming a Super Sayain his hunger for battle is even greater!"

I paused, processed, and slowly my grin retook its place.

I laughed.

"What's so funny?"

I waved him off, "it's nothing, nothing."

He still doesn't know. He still thinks a Super Sayain is just when they get stronger. It was unreasonably funny.

Well, at least I don't have to worry about Vegeta slacking in his training out of lack of spite.

Vegeta glared, looking like he wanted to hit me to end my laughing, which, to be fair, was dying down by this point. And he probably would have if there were less people around, as it was he probably wanted to pretend like he had poise.

And so he continued on, "nothing will stop him and Frieza fighting now, that is, not until the planet explodes and they both go out with it," he laughed, quite literally throwing his head back.

"Meanwhile, with those two out of the picture, I'M the most powerful in the universe!"

"You little-" Vegeta didn't so much as pause at Piccolo's interruption.

"I must admit, this was a little unexpected, but that doesn't mean I won't enjoy it," he laughed again. Are there evil laughter classes I should know about?

"So?"

Vegeta faltered.

"What's your point? Is this supposed to be revolutionary information or…?" I trailed off, glancing downcast to the side in complete nonchalance, my hands resting on my hips.

"And we're doing this again!" I ignored Krillin.

"So you're the strongest, how new," I rolled my eyes, "now what? I mean, dad's the," I coughed to stop myself from laughing again, "the Super Sayain, isn't he? He's beat you even in death, assuming he dies. It doesn't matter how strong you get, you will never beat that, not if you can't beat him yourself."

"However," I pointed up one finger, "say he does come back, and he is this, Super Sayain, well, on one hand, you decide to do your whole, super evil bad man thing and well, I doubt he'd be partial to play fair. But- if, perhaps, he gets back and you haven't killed everyone for, reasons? I don't see why you would really- but in that case, hey, maybe there's some secret to getting there. Who knows."

"I can think of plenty of reasons to want to kill you, specifically." I barely blinked at the threat.

"And what do you suppose if he is dead? What then?"

"Well, obviously we will wish him back. 'Course if we can't do that then the secret to your precious legend is lost."

Vegeta glared, tilted his head up, then smirked, "well, I suppose I'll wait to kill you until I achieve the legend then."

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes as I turned and walked away.

I once again drifted off. Waiting for something to happen.

I sat back and waited, closing my eyes half tempted to fall asleep.

Until Bulma announced that Goku won, getting a message from King Kai, or rather, Yamcha through King Kai. And that Goku died with the planet. Supposedly. It was still about 50/50 in my books, after all, they thought the same thing in canon, they had to have since they tried to wish him back.

I allowed them to work through the problem of getting him back themselves. After all, King Kai already seemed somewhat suspicious, no need to add to that.

Eventually, it was Vegeta who came up with the whole "wish him to Earth's check-in station first" plan. Which was decent, I guess. Even though it was certainly just so he could learn about the, "Super Sayain."

Ok, as concerning as it is that Goku didn't get Super Sayain, it is funny how Vegeta's still misinterpreting it.

Bulma offered her place for the Namekians to stay, and the ex-Frieza Soldiers that had landed. And, of course, Vegeta and Nappa.

Vegeta tried to scoff it off and generally be Vegeta, so Nappa loudly accepted for both of them with a grin.

With a call to her father, she announced that he was on their way with a Ship large enough to transport the intergalactic refugees.

And after a few minutes, I was startled to my feet.

It wasn't that the energy I sensed was particularly strong, or by any means a danger.

However, it burned with the fury of a raging Ox.

I scampered a bit, collecting my backpack from Dende- sweet baby child keeping it safe all this time- and rifled through it.

Darn it, of course I don't have a brush in here, why would I?

Ah! Found a hair tie at the bottom though!

It was fast approaching so I rushed into the tree line.

"You have not seen me! You do not know where I am! You do not even know me!" I announced to anyone who could hear as I hid up a tree, desperately tearing through knots with my hands.

The Capsule Corp™️ ship came into view and landed.

With dread, I watched as the hatch opened and an all too familiar silhouette raced out of it.

Chichi's glare pierced through anyone she saw until her eyes landed on Piccolo.

"You! Where is my son!?"

"Who?" Was his delightfully dry response.

"Gohan! Where is Gohan!?"

"Ah. Well, Gohan is over there," I watched in horror as Piccolo casually pointed at my place in a tree.

"Evil! Betrayer! How dare!"

No further responses were possible as I was somehow plucked out of the tree. I could not tell you how it happened. It was as though one moment I was safe and in tree. The next I was cradled in the doom of mother who has seen her child for ten days of the past year and nearly two months.

I was shoved away from her embrace just enough for her to take in my appearance.

"Gosh you're filthy! And exactly what are you wearing? Oh you have so many split ends, have you been taking care of your hair at all and-"

She froze, and the expression on her face was unreadable as she stared wide-eyed. Was- was she getting paler? I don't-

"WHAT HAPPENED!? WHO DID THIS TO YOU!?"

What? What was she-

I followed her line of sight to my upper arm and-

Oh right. The scar.

You know, when I was going through my bag maybe I should have put on my cloak first.

It didn't matter how much I insisted I was fine, there was still no escaping her grasp all the way back to Capsule Corp.

I was, however, delighted to see Vegeta taken completely aback by Bulma's mother. Who, granted, I also probably wouldn't want to be trapped in a one on one conversation with either.

And then was annoyed when Dr. Briefs explained the schematics of their backup ship when Vegeta noticed.

Yep, he's stealing that.

It wasn't long until I was shipped back off home under Chichi's care while Bulma got the Nameks and company comfortable.

Krillin-

Krillin didn't quite know what he expected returning to Earth. The last thing he expected was for Goku to stay on Namek! Why couldn't he have just let Frieza die alone on the planet instead of insisting on finishing a stupid fight for once?

Gohan didn't seem too worried, which was something at least. He still seemed a bit out of it but watching him joke with Piccolo was a relief. Also, it was the first time he had seen them interact when there wasn't someone trying to kill them. It was, nice. Real far from the monster who destroyed Papaya Island all those years ago.

To be honest, even watching him interact with Vegeta was welcome at this point. That spark of spite meant that at least Gohan wasn't completely lost to the ordeal.

And, as much as it, was probably not a good thing that Vegeta was alive and not so subtly threatening them, at least Gohan's, concerningly well put together, monologue convinced him out of murder in cold blood. Not that he was going to go out of his way to interact with him anytime soon.

It was only when he had time to pause and think did it really hit him. He, he almost died. Like, really died. He could still feel the pressure of Frieza compressing his chest, the burning feeling as something was terribly wrong.

And sure, now he knew that he could have been brought back again, with Namek's Dragon Balls, and if that wasn't a relief and a half-

But he hadn't known that then. If he had died there, as far as he had known, he would have been dead. No third chances. He had quite a few close calls on Namek there, and honestly, he was surprised in himself that he didn't run out sooner.

He almost died.

That seemed to bother Gohan a lot too, it was after that had happened that he seemed to check out completely. He reassured Gohan that he was fine best he could, of course.

He almost died.

He almost died and Nappa had saved him.

Sure, he already said that there was no way he could ever forgive him until at least their friends were brought back to life- and he was sticking to that! He was! - but, after the Namek's Dragon Balls recharge…maybe, maybe he wasn't too bad.

As I had expected, getting back to a normal sleeping schedule was an absolute pain. Adjusting back to a 24-hour day cycle was awful, and while I could probably force it to adjust by skipping a night or two of sleep, something that would be made much easier with the Sayain biology and Ki control, Chichi still insisted I go to sleep at a reasonable time, which resulted in me laying in bed staring at the ceiling for hours on end for far too long.

And, suffice it to say, being left alone with my thoughts at that time, was not ideal.

Look, logically it was fine, Goku would probably reach Super Sayain later and it's not like Vegeta is losing any spite training since he still thinks Goku is one.

Logically, logically I know it'll probably be fine.

Logic is not very helpful in the dead of night.

It wasn't all bad though, despite my concerns I was glad Krillin hadn't died. I know he would have been brought back, but considering the recharge time on the Dragon Balls, it'd be a while.

Piccolo was alive. Krillin was alive. Goku was probably alive. Aside from the devastating loss of the Super Sayain, it went better than canon.

And it was easy enough to keep that positive thought in mind when visiting the orphanage for the first time in nearly two months.

I landed in front of the orphanage just as Pigero and the second oldest boy of the group were walking by.

"..She can fly…alright, yep. That's, a thing now."

His statement gave me pause. Oh yeah, flying, is a thing, normal people can't do.

Maybe Namek messed with me more than I thought if I forgot that.

I was brought out of my thoughts by Pigero ruffling my hair, "nice to see you again," he smiled. The other boy stood to the side, not really saying anything.

He seemed to take a moment to choose his next words, "so, how did your trip go?"

There were a few ways to answer that question. Of course the simplest-

"Did you actually want to meet Piccolo at some point ooorrr…?"

Of course, I doubt Piccolo would humor me enough to come along but details.

Pigero made a noise between a sigh and a snort.

"You are aware I was, like six or seven, when the Demon King Piccolo threatened the world, right?"

Again I paused, doing the mental math. He's what 15? Actually probably closer to 16 now.

So he'd be like, ten or so when I, as Gohan, was born- and about 4 years before that-

Oh yeah, huh. It's kinda easy to forget sometimes that Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z don't exist in separate bubbles.

Of course, by then the other kiddos noticed me and as to be expected at this point I was tackle-hugged by Rom and Chico, quickly followed up with a slightly less violent hug from Ena.

And with not much fuss I allowed myself to be pulled into the simple shenanigans of the children.

Bulma-

Bulma, barely knows what's going on, but whatever it was she's glad it's over now.

Oh sure she's heard what Krillin had to say about it all but that's pretty far from actually seeing it.

Man, she kinda missed being on the front lines. The fun adventures and adrenaline-fueled chases. Sure it's way more dangerous now but, what, are those blasts gonna kill her any more than a gun would have? Dead is dead after all.

Though, she was glad she wasn't just left alone the entire time. Being stuck as babysitter was annoying, but at least it was better than having nothing to do for what, six days? She'd have gone mad.

She'd never necessarily hung out with many kids in her lifetime, but being around those two really showed off how odd Gohan was.

Not that she'd put much thought into it, it just makes a sort of karmic sense that Goku's kid would be strange in the exact opposite way Goku was.

Now, of course, she has to make accommodations for a much of aliens. The Namekians were easy, apparently, all they needed to survive is water, sunlight, and sleep. Of course, if she was going to play host she'd make a damn good one and make sure they were as comfortable as physically possible! Especially after their planet…

There were a few of those Frieza guys. Whether by fear of people strong enough to stand against their boss, or just not liking Frieza they didn't make much fuss about staying either. There were a few outbursts but none that the bigger Sayain, Nappa couldn't deal with. One of them was just a chef that made downright good company.

The, Sayains, were another issue. She offered them a place to stay as well, because what else were they gonna do with them, and while she save on food with the Namekians, those two nearly made up for it. She'd expected as much, and it wasn't like she couldn't afford it.

As for, actually dealing with them, being around…Bulma was, conflicted.

She wanted to hate them. Of course she should. They'd killed people. They'd killed her friends. But according to Krillin, they'd helped a lot on Namek. And, that's gotta count for something, right?

The prince, Vegeta. He was kinda, rough around the edges. Far from any prince she'd grown up reading about. He seemed more talk than action for the most part to her though. Sure he killed the monster pretty boy, but he was their enemy too. He'd never actually killed anyone on Earth, and, he did on Namek, she knew that, she did.

She'd also be lying if she said that he wasn't attractive. In a, distant, edgy, bad boy, kind of way.

The other one, Nappa. He did kill people on Earth. A lot of people. He killed her friends.

But he wasn't really, scary? Like sure, she knew he was dangerous. Even more willing to kill than the prince. But, the way he acted was just kinda? Not? That? She didn't like him, but she found herself minding his presence less the more he was just, around.

Plus, he willingly came to help. The prince just ended up doing so by happenstance.

Well, it wasn't like they weren't going to be wishing their friends back soon anyway. Then she could accommodate them without guilt. With less guilt.

Including Yamcha.

Yamcha…

That, that was the whole reason she went to Namek in the first place.

But, over the trip, she'd had time to think over their relationship.

It, it wasn't great. It's been on and off for years. She still cared about Yamcha, obviously, he was one of her first real friends.

And so she'd decided, she'd give him one last chance. And then, if it didn't work out, she'd drop the relationship entirely.

And, she hoped their friendship would survive the ordeal.

Over the months I had fallen back into a pattern. I'd eventually managed to fix the mess of a sleep schedule and continued the sabotaged home school curriculum from Chichi. Every few days I'd visit the Orphanage, to Chichi's encouragement, and in slightly larger intervals I'd sneak off to visit Piccolo, to Chichi's less enthusiastic response. She didn't actively try to stop me which was something. Sometimes I'd go down to Capsule Corp to visit the three Namek kids. Ocari was usually the most enthusiastic to see me.

Until, Finally, 133 days had passed. And the Namek's Dragon Balls had recharged.

We were all invited to go and watch as our, their friends were revived, and Chichi was happy for it. And happy to brag about how I had "almost caught up with my homework" that I had missed.

The first thing was first, to wish Goku back. And when it was time to wish Goku back to Earth's check-in station in order to bring him back to life-

The dragon said it was impossible.

Because Goku was still alive.

And I sighed a breath of relief. Oh sure, Goku won't be back for a while yet but at least that much of canon was still intact.

So, after that was discovered and accepted, they decided to use the three wishes to bring back their three still dead friends.

And it, surprised me.

How little I cared.

I mean sure, I was glad that they were coming back. But, I didn't really feel much throughout.

Maybe it was because I already knew? Knew that they'd be coming back with little issue. Maybe just because I didn't actually know the three of them, Yamcha, Tien, and Chiaotzu like I did Krillin or Piccolo.

And, watching the Namek's Dragon come and go brought up another issue. Or, not really an issue, but a conundrum.

It just, seemed like a waste.

To have the Namek's Dragon Balls and do nothing more with them than in Canon.

Well, there was that one idea…I mean, after what had just happened, it didn't seem right to want to change something else so quickly, but with just 133 more days to use it or lose it, I kind of had to.

Well, I didn't really have to decide now. 133 days was still quite a few, and I'd have to talk with a few people about it first anyway. Can't make that wish without proper prep and whatnot after all.

Nappa-

Well, he'd been on missions that went worse. All in all, he'd call this a success. Even Kakarot somehow managed to survive off an exploding planet, and if that ain't pure luck he does know what is.

What's more, he's pretty damn proud of himself. He stood against Frieza himself. Sure in the grand scheme he didn't do much, but that in of itself is more than even the King ever managed!

Interacting with Kakarot's friends was fun. It was a relief to know they weren't all so idiotically trusting. He made sure to put a check on how he interacted with them. No need to make them distrust him more than they already did by playing up the violence.

He'd say he toned it down to more like how he acted when Raditz and Vegeta were young, which was for the best anyway since Kakarot's kid was who he mostly interacted with.

Gohan, the kid he'd decided on, Nappa wasn't entirely sure it was him calling him by name that caused him to snap at him, or just general dislike, but either way, it was probably better to remain informal for now.

It was almost laughable how different the kid was from Kakarot. In general, the kid was very un-Sayain like. Nappa attributed it to being half-human, mostly.

And hey! He handled Vegeta pretty well there! Nappa wasn't particularly worried about Vegeta actually killing the lot of them. Mostly. Kind of…but Ah, hey the kid gave him an excuse to not kill them and save face. Win-win for the prince.

It was pretty funny how he so often sassed off to Vegeta. It seemed he had a special little hatred for him.

And, it was pretty clear that the kid didn't like him either. It didn't really bother him, he'd always had people dislike him. Came with the position.

It was, slightly disappointing. There weren't many Sayains left, and Vegeta just took off wherever- honestly, that woman Bulma offered them a place to stay and Vegeta just disregarded it- she had called Vegeta cute. Nappa was looking forward to teasing him about it.

And being left alone made it harder to decide what to do. If Vegeta were here he could just follow his lead, like normal. What was normal. Before.

But now, he was left here alone. And he had to decide what to do.

The woman Bulma didn't take back her offer of a place or anything, and she didn't seem to expect anything from him, but it felt, wrong, to just, do nothing.

Especially in exchange for the generously from Bulma. Perhaps something to help her specifically then? Protection perhaps? Sure Earthlings weren't exactly strong, but neither was Bulma and he was pretty sure that as laughable as their weapons were, they meant to harm other Earthlings.

Of course for that, she'd have to trust him and he was certainly far from that. Oh well, it's not like he'd have to decide on anything right away. Maybe something else would pop up for him to do.

Whatever, there's no point in dwelling on it now was there.

And hey, it was a nice planet. While it's certainly a change from bouncing from planet to planet, on jobs and conquest, he wouldn't mind spending his time here for the foreseeable future.

He'd have to play nice he supposed. It'd be unpleasant at best if he ruined whatever limited trust the lot of them had in him. And from what he'd seen, they wouldn't be appreciative if he killed any of the locals.

He was certain that the kid didn't like him.

Which was why it was so surprising when he had approached him to talk.

It was after the Dragon was summoned. The Namek one, apparently the Earth one looks different. He'd stayed long enough to see the Dragon summoned, and to hear that Kakarot was still alive, and would be back eventually.

He made himself scarce after that. He figured he'd be unwelcome when it came to wishing back the friends that he had killed.

He was sure that he could come to respect the lot of them, he had already done so for the midget at the Namek. The Namek was downright impressive, even with his latest Zenkai boost he wasn't sure he was stronger than him. And the midget, Krillin. Well, he was certainly the weakest among them, but he was several times stronger than Nappa himself had been less than two months ago, it'd be damn hypocritical of him to discount that. Besides, anyone who stood against Frieza deserved respect.

But it didn't quite matter whether or not he'd respect them. Odds are, they'd never trust him. And understandably so, he wouldn't expect them to. Unless they were as idiotically trusting as Kakarot, they wouldn't.

It was after the sky cleared again and he was starting to ponder what to do that the kid approached him.

No amount of surprise of the kid willingly speaking to him would compare to the surprise of what he had to say.

Yeah I need Instant Transmission for the fic so obviously I had to keep that much intact.

Also, I hope none of y'all are too attached to Nappa's name being in the character notes cause he's gonna be replaced, not necessarily soon, but in a few chapters, as he falls out of the limelight and someone else comes up.
Like, he is gonna be around, obviously, but he won't be center focused on much