OPENING THEME:
Episode 20:
THE DEATH OF AN ERA: THE TALE OF PORUNGA
"Piccolo!" Gotenks exclaimed.
The boy made his way forward but was motioned not to come any further.
"Why are you attacking these children?" Piccolo repeated, his white aura emphasizing his intense features as he bared his teeth in rage.
Trembling, the giant mumbled, "The Great Ruler. Orders from him and only him."
"Is he an Elmorite as well?"
"N-No. He is a Mezoran."
"I do believe my eyes do not deceive me but I believe that I have not encountered any other Mezorans within the last few hours I've been here."
"They are out and about at the moment. They only come out when we cannot - when the sun is at its highest."
"Hm...why is that?"
"The sun is torturous to us. Please, have mercy!" he begged.
"Why have you bought a planet with a sun you cannot handle?"
"We were one of several invited to view the planet before purchase - we quickly objected but the Great Ruler convinced our Elder to stay - no doubt with threats. We believe that he was impressed with our power but his has rivalled ours and since then we have become slaves while being forced to enslave others. We had no more money to move again and our kind has been deemed a bad omen throughout the universe. With all other ships destroyed by the Great Ruler, there was little hope for us to even escape."
"Thanks for that back there. At that voltage, we would have been knocked out for days." The golden hair retreated and once more the hybrid warrior was sporting the black and grey do.
"Don't mention it," Piccolo said firmly and tightening his hold on the creature, he continued his investigation, "Where is this Great Ruler?"
The giant pointed to his left.
"Thank you. And next time you won't be so lucky." He released his hold and the giant scampered away.
The three of them settled down on the grey dirt.
"How the heck did you do that, Piccolo?" Gotenks asked, looking up at him with wide, curious eyes, "Back there with the giant?"
"Humph. You should know that by now."
"No, not that - I know you can regenerate. I mean about the - well, um... did you get like super strong or something since last we saw you? But I'm not sensing a difference in your power reading, I mean - it's like you didn't even try. Are you like a - god? But then again, we wouldn't be able to sense you if you were. Or maybe..."
Interrupting the boy, Piccolo firmly stated, "The few of these Elmorites that I happen to have met have proven that they are not very skilled warriors in combat. Powerful, yes. Skilled, no. Their electric spikes are their go-to attack when in doubt and seeing me explode to only come back is their worst fear. Foolishly, as suspected, they lowered their power exponentially and I went in for the kill, so to speak."
"Suppose your plan didn't work, then what?" he asked
"Well, the three of us together would have done wonders, I suppose," Piccolo answered, his taut grin finally relaxed.
"Who's this?" squeaked Desy.
"You mean who're you?" Piccolo said as he turned to face the girl.
Before the hybrid could respond, a strange occurrence interrupted the moment. In a puff, one body had become two.
"What the?" gawked Desy.
Laughing nervously, Goten explained, "Time's up."
"Yeah, that explains everything," she said without really believing it herself.
"H-How did you get here, Piccolo?" asked Trunks, studying the Namekian with curious eyes.
"For me to tell you that, I will have to explain in great detail certain things first," he said thoughtfully but added in an authoritative bark, "So listen up!"
Alarmed, the boys stood at attention and with rapt eyes on him, they anxiously awaited what was to be said. Desy's stare shifted from the boys to the alien and from the alien to the boys.
"As you boys know, the balls on my planet have become unusable for at least a few months now. Hence, why Dende and I have been called away."
The boys nodded, they knew the story all too well.
Piccolo continued, "Apparently, the dragonballs have been out of commission for far longer than was let on. The five-star ball is typically kept with the Grand Elder Moori, it is a symbol of great importance to him and if it was not for him we would still not know about the balls. Without warning, it was turned to stone."
The boys gasped and Piccolo's worried eyes glanced over at them as if trying to prepare them for the rest that was to come.
"After plenty of resurrection spells and after fusing their power into the balls, nothing worked. Then that was when they finally reached out to Dende. He chose to go, in hopes of performing the same as he had done with the Earth balls and I offered to tag along. However, nothing Dende did was working and even with my help, after all Kami is still a part of me, nothing worked. And we were the last option. So then Moori and Dende worked together and conjured up some sort of enchantment. This told us the list of wishes made to the balls in an effort to pinpoint the culprit because perhaps the dragonballs could have been used somehow without their knowledge. Which would be bizarre because as I said, the five-star ball was under constant watch and moreover who else knows the Namekian language to make wishes in the first place?"
Dread crept over the boys' faces as they noticed the discomfort in Piccolo's stance as he recounted the tale.
"Through their search they discovered that the most recent wish was made by an Elmorite. We discovered that planet Elmor was destroyed by a meteor 25 years ago and that New Elmor is the name given to a planet once known as Mezora which led me here. Every race has a means of survival. Warrior races rely on their brute strength and races such as the humans who are neither warrior nor mystical, rely on their technology. However, every race has the potential to become as strong as needs be such as Krillin, Tien or myself but it is only with great effort. As a majorly mystical race, our survival depended on the dragonballs and now Porunga is dead! Never to return."
"Dead! What do you mean by dead?" Trunks bellowed.
"Another set cannot be made as one with such power will not be present not for another possibly 100 years. Hence why Dende was the only hope for resurrecting the Earth balls. You forget that they are so few Namekians now."
"Whoa! I can't believe this," Goten showed his sorrow, "I really loved that dragon, he was so cool. And we didn't even get to say goodbye."
Piccolo eyed the boys with great disdain, "I'm surprised to find you two here. What are the odds and while I'm on the search for the culprits. Are you boys here alone?"
"No, we came with Mr. Vegeta."
"Hmm. How convenient. If he has ties to these Elmorites, it makes him look bad indeed. His wife knows the language - I wouldn't be too surprised if he forced her to teach it to him. I always figured something was up when Porunga deemed him pure enough to be wished back to life. He must have tinkered with the dragonballs somehow and now I have proof."
Trunks could not hide his anger and he was quick to defend his father's honour, "You take that back this instant!"
With his arms folded, Piccolo found the boy quite laughable, "You want to fight me, eh, kid? Like father like son, I see. I suppose the apple doesn't fall far from the tree after all."
Growling, Trunks dashed forward at the tall, green man. His blows were swiftly dodged before Piccolo tried to land attacks of his own but it was in vain. Realising that fighting like that was a waste of time, the two charged blasts that consistently grew at a rapid rate. Their auras intensified with Trunks' own becoming golden along with his lengthened hair. About to release the power balls at point-blank range, a sudden figure appeared between them, stopping them in their tracks and forcing them to back off of the other, their blasts being reduced to nothing.
"I will not have you saying those mean things about Mr. Vegeta," yelled Goten, his dark eyes were burning with passion, "When my father was not around, he and Aunt Bulma practically helped raised me. Why do you think Trunks and I are so close? We're practically brothers. Now stop this madness, we are all here for more important reasons than fighting over such ignorance."
They both gawked at the boy and finally settled their fighting stances, their heads hung low in shame. Did Goten just stand up to them both and so boldly?
"Wow. You guys sure do know how to settle your differences," Desy piped up. She had remained silent throughout the entire speech and the following conflict.
Goten's angry scowl was transformed into a happy-go-lucky grin, "Yup. My Mom says it's the consequence of being a fighter. I suppose that's why she tries to drown me in books 24/7." He laughed nervously.
Desy smiled at him and he blushed despite himself.
Before Trunks could pounce on him for his show of affection towards his cousin, he was suddenly overwhelmed with a huge spike in energy and he hardly had time to warn Desy of the incoming attack.
The blast zipped through her shoulder inches below the clavicle and she fell, her eyes losing all signs of life instantly. Devastated, the boys looked up but only to see nothing but lightning fast streaks and they fought to keep up with it. In no time, they were being plummeted with blows but soon the impostor was thrown off of them by Piccolo's rage. However, he was not very lucky as a blast was aimed for his head.
"There's no coming back from this one, Namekian," the voice boomed as the blast was released.
The bright light flickered about them and the boys assumed the worst had happened but they were too weak to do anything about it.
"These boys were actually able to keep up with me. My power and those blows should have killed you by now. I'm impressed - perhaps, I shouldn't kill you after all but I think the girl's going have to stay," the man said, lifting them by the collars.
Completely drained from the assault, Trunks and Goten tried to catch a glimpse of their attacker. In a blur, they recognised a familiar face and a familiar laugh laced with evil intent.
"Dad?" Trunks asked before he slipped into unconsciousness.
END THEME:
PREVIEW OF NEXT EPISODE
Vegeta's large blast consumes the helpless boys and in the aftermath it would appear that they were reduced to nothing.
"Son Goku here! What the hell! How could you? My son!"
The King sends blasts to release golden chains from about the Great Ruler after Vegeta bows down to him.
"Or maybe he didn't have a choice? Is that his father? What the hell is going on out there?"
Vegeta chuckles and his father looks up at him with intrigue.
"Or maybe, after all, this entire trip was just one big set up. See you NEXT TIME ON DRAGONBALL SUPER: VEGETA VS. VEGETA: FATHER AND SON REUNITE?"
END CREDITS : Author/Creator of the DBZ series and characters: Akira Toriyama
Author/Creator of this Story/Series; Creator of the reason why the Namekian balls are out of order (as promised! :D), and quite a shocker at the end (in my opinion at least) : Chrissi B (c) February 2016