Zarbon flew silently across a distant field, conducting a planet-wide search for the individuals responsible for Dodoria's death. At first, he hadn't been quite sure where to start, sending Appule and some of his men to scour the planet for any village which may contain a Dragon Ball. However, once one of his men noticed how two scouters had stopped transmitting some time before the rest had been destroyed, and pinpointed their coordinates, Zarbon found the lead he'd been looking for. Thus, he flew towards that location at top speed, yet didn't see much of anything which would indicate the presence of another being within the vicinity.
Unbeknownst to him, however, Vegeta was hot on his trail, his own power allowing him to easily catch up to the turquoise alien. Without a scouter of his own, his first indication of the approaching prince came only when said prince kicked him in the side and into a nearby mountain.
"HA! Even I didn't think I'd get the drop on you that easily!" Vegeta called out, laughing heartily.
Zarbon lifted himself up out of the rubble and dusted himself off. "That irritating laugh, that ridiculous haircut, that complete lack of manners..." he mused out loud. "So. The 'Prince of All Saiyans' has graced us with his presence, from beyond the grave."
"That's right," Vegeta said as he watched Zarbon float up into the air to meet him.
"Well, dear prince, I am not an unreasonable person. So, I'll propose a trade: I'll forget how you so rudely interrupted my investigation, and the matter of your not being dead, and keep Frieza off of your scent, if you give me that scouter."
"Ah. So you've lost all of yours?" Vegeta mocked. "The locals giving you a bit of trouble, then?"
"My patience is not to be toyed with, Vegeta. The scouter," Zarbon replied, holding out his hand.
"Right, right. Well, if you want it so badly, then..." Vegeta began as he took off the instrument, before shattering it to pieces in his clenched fist. "I shouldn't give it to you."
"You fool! You've only hindered your own search for the Dragon Balls!"
"Not quite. You see, while I was recovering from the injuries I sustained on Earth, my physiology adapted towards a new capacity," Vegeta smirked. "I can now sense energy."
Zarbon's eyes widened slightly. "That's...not possible. Saiyans have never naturally exhibited that capacity."
"And what's more, I've already disposed of the two-bit soldiers you sent to finish me off!"
"Is that so?" Zarbon asked, some of his calm returning. "Interesting-I was certain that Aka should've crushed you easily."
"Yes, well, unfortunately for you, my Saiyan biology had something to say about that."
"The Zenkai?" Zarbon asked, a faint piece of trivia returning to him. "Curious-it had never been reported to give such a massive boost all at once before. You're just full of surprises, aren't you? You must have been nearly obliterated by the inhabitants of that 'Earth,'" Zarbon said with a cocky laugh. "If so, its value as an acquisition just went up tenfold."
Vegeta scoffed. "Those fools on Earth...Cui, Aka...you...are all nothing compared to the power that I possess now."
"Oh, here we go..."
"I have surpassed all known levels of power that the Saiyan race has boasted! That of my father, the warrior Bardock, and now...his son, Kakarot," Vegeta finished, his satisfaction evident. Zarbon, however, tilted his head in confusion.
"Kakarot? I've never heard of a Kakarot."
"Oh, don't trouble yourself, Zarbon. You won't live long enough to ponder it over, anyway. Your battle power is less than Aka's, and as I am now, I would easily crush him under my heel."
To his surprise, Zarbon chuckled. "We'll see about that," he said as his whole body tensed up. "You should be honored-other than Lord Frieza, nobody in the galaxy knows of my race's particular transformation."
Vegeta raised an eyebrow, confused yet fascinated.
"We don't like to use it if we don't have to. It's rather...hideous. But in it, our true power is unleashed. And as the prince of my world, I am the strongest of my kind. Now, behold, monkey-the power of my race!"
With that, his body seemed to balloon in size, his arms, legs, and torso all expanding and becoming significantly more muscular. Scales began to make themselves known across his body, and his face took on a far more beast-like appearance, resembling the maw of a crocodile, as he grinned evilly at the Saiyan prince.
Several minutes before, Yamcha had been napping somewhat fitfully in the sleeping quarters he shared with Krillin and Gohan, while Bulma remained in her own room. His somewhat terse conversation with Bulma still on his mind, it only took the slightest fluctuation in ki to rouse him.
"What the-?! ...No. No! Don't tell me-!"
He hastily got up out of bed and attached his hand, frantically stretching out his senses to the point where he could pinpoint the prince's location. He eventually located him alongside several smaller signatures and another familiar signature which, at this point, was less powerful than Vegeta's.
"Oh, hell!" he cried out as he raced to Bulma's room and hurriedly knocked on the door. "Bulma! One of Frieza's soldier guys, Zarbon, is headed right this way, and Vegeta's behind him!"
Bulma, who had only drowsily responded to the knock, woke up with a jolt. "Vegeta?! Here?!"
"Yeah!" Yamcha replied worriedly. "And what's more, I think that some of Frieza's soldiers are close to locating another Dragon Ball! I felt some smaller powers flying near a cluster of Namekians!"
Bulma hastily pulled on a pair of pants and hurried out the door. "What are we going to do?! Krillin and Gohan are halfway across the planet, and even all three of you would only barely be able to handle either of them!"
Yamcha nodded grimly, coming up with a plan. "If Vegeta's arrived here, it's likely that he got himself a scouter. So while Zarbon won't be able to track us by my energy, Vegeta very well could."
"W-what about me?" Bulma asked worriedly.
Yamcha was silent for a second before responding. "Well, Vegeta wasn't exactly friendly to this Frieza character, which means that he's probably going to be caught up fighting Zarbon. From the looks of things...he won't hold him for long. And it's more likely that he'd notice my reading than yours."
Bulma's eyes widened as she realized what he was proposing. "W-wait a second, you can't just leave me here!"
"I don't like it either, babe, but you said it yourself: I can't do squat against either of these guys if they find us. But if I'm not here, the odds of them finding you are a lot lower. Besides, I should be able to take those soldiers looking for the Dragon Ball. I'll be a lot more useful that way."
Bulma considered the logic of Yamcha's plan, but still found herself worrying. Yamcha noticed this and attempted to calm her down with his typical winning smile.
"Don't worry-I should be able to avoid those guys without much trouble."
Bulma sighed. "I'm still not even sure whether or not you're in the proper shape to fight."
"Well, only one way to find out, huh?" Yamcha replied. "Now...wait a second!" he cried out as he felt a major spike in the ki signatures.
"What? What is it?!"
"They're fighting, about 12 miles away! And Zarbon's gotten a lot stronger! Now's our chance!"
Bulma recognized this and yelled at the ship to hover above the lake once more as Yamcha raced towards the hatch. After opening the hatch, however, Bulma took pause and began to turn around.
"Listen, Yamcha, if we don't make it out of this, I just want to tell you-and, he's gone," she finished as the hatch automatically closed behind him. Bulma signed in annoyance as she commanded the ship to sink back down into the lake.
"I'm seriously going to have to make the time to talk to him," she thought to herself in irritation.
The two warriors seemed evenly matched at first, each one finding their blows blocked by the other even as Vegeta unleashed the full extent of his power, and Zarbon managing to get a few good hits in. However, to Zarbon's annoyance, while the prince merely matched him in terms of strength, he vastly exceeded his speed. Unable to hit him even with a flurry of ki blasts, Zarbon was left panting heavily, the bruises of some of Vegeta's strikes leaving him bleeding slightly from his mouth.
"Grrr...you cannot hope to match me, you disgusting monkey!" he cried out in anger.
"Then what do you call the last five minutes?" Vegeta replied snarkily.
"RRRAAGH!" he cried out as he fired a powerful ki blast, which Vegeta dodged with only slight exertion.
"It's just as I thought. You may be as strong as me, but I am far faster! And with the techniques that I am aware of, even that will prove worthless in the face of my awesome power-!" He paused as he felt a slight sensation in his head, which he had identified as the tell of a new ki signature. From his limited understanding, he could tell that the signature was fairly strong, and not one he had detected initially. Before Vegeta could think it over any further, Zarbon took advantage of the distraction and punched him in the gut. Winded and surprised, Vegeta could do nothing as Zarbon wrapped his arms around him and sent him hurtling towards a plain nearby, charging all of his ki into the throw so that when he impacted the ground, it produced a massive explosion and a crater to match.
As Zarbon panted heavily, he flew to inspect his downed opponent, but found it thwarted by the dust cloud the attack had kicked up. Nevertheless, when he saw no movement for a moment, he smirked.
"Heh...heh...now you know...not to take the Frieza Force lightly..." he got out between pants of exhaustion. However, just then the dust cloud finally cleared, revealing Vegeta with his armor tattered and bleeding from several areas due to debris and blunt trauma, yet very much alive. To Zarbon's horror, he had already begun charging up his signature attack, and was now mere seconds away from firing.
"FIRE!" he cried out, leaving Zarbon barely enough time to ready himself to block it before the familiar purple blast of ki arrived at his position. Zarbon grunted as the blast hit him dead on, and he struggled as much as he could against it. The struggle left him unable to prepare any blast powerful enough to fully repel it, and thus he was left concentrating all of his ki into his own physical strength. Although he held it at bay, Zarbon could feel it beginning to take a toll on his body, damaging and burning his skin in places and chipping away at his armor. Seeing this, Vegeta only increased the intensity, pouring all of his strength into the attack. At last, faced with the absolute peak of Vegeta's power, Zarbon's defenses slowly crumbled, until at last he was left screaming in agony as the Galick Gun tore him apart.
Immensely satisfied, Vegeta smirked as what was left of Zarbon fell to the ground charred and matted with blood.
"And so...ends the great...Zarbon," he panted, grunting in pain due to various injuries. After a quick surge of ki cauterized the worst of them, the prince mulled over what to do next.
"They don't seem to have any additional scouters...meaning that they're searching for the Dragon Balls through a simple planetary search. Depending on where the soldiers go, it's possible that there may be Dragon Balls for me to find. Plus, it's unlikely Frieza will care about the deaths of a handful of worthless soldiers. ...His aide, however..." he thought to himself, charging up a ki blast and vaporizing the last traces of Zarbon's remains. Only the damage to the surrounding countryside was left to indicate their battle. Vegeta smirked as the task was completed.
"Now...let's go see about that unusual signature," he thought before he took off into the sky.
Meanwhile, Yamcha had been leaping off of mountaintops using bursts of ki in order to hopefully stay under Vegeta's scouter. However, a slight fluctuation complicated this plan.
"Hang on...the soldiers...they're all headed towards the Namekians! Someone's spotted the village!"
Aware of how fast the soldiers were, and how much more powerful they seemed than the Namekian villagers, Yamcha gritted his teeth.
"Screw it," he thought as he powered up to maximum and took off on an intercept course.
When he arrived within sight of the village, he found his impressions from energy sensing confirmed: he had only barely arrived in time, and after an evident struggle between three wounded Namekian warriors and several dead Frieza soldiers. The Namekians and the wounded warriors were being corralled by Frieza's men, led by a scrawny-looking alien with a beanpole-like purple head lined with yellow spots.
"I'm going to give you one last chance," Appule remarked to the elderly Namekian in front of him, trying his best to look intimidating. "Tell me where the Dragon Ball is...or die."
Tsuno, the first son of the Grand Elder, grunted, his anger evident. "As long as our people draw breath, you shall never accomplish your master's goal."
"...So be it," Appule replied, holding his hand forward as he prepared a ki blast. However, no sooner was he about to fire than he heard a strange noise underneath his feet. "What the-ACK!" he cried out as a yellow energy sphere emerged from the ground and hit him in the chin, knocking him backwards and leaving him reeling. The soldiers looked on in confusion before the one closest to where Yamcha arrived found himself knocked unconscious with a kick to the back of his head. The soldiers rounded upon him, easily surrounding his new position. Yamcha took a deep breath as he prayed for the modifications to his hand to have finally sorted out its problems.
"Wolf Fang Barrage!" he cried out as the soldiers leaped towards him. After holding out his hands in the familiar gesture, he struck out against the soldiers coming at him from all directions, knocking all of them away with a rapid series of powerful palm strikes as he turned around and back to meet each one. To his delight, his right hand stayed intact throughout the process, and indeed seemed to possess a bit more striking power than his left. The soldiers who were not immediately knocked out by this attack had little time to recover, for Yamcha followed up with a powerful kick to the face of one soldier and a ki blast to the stomach of the other, knocking them both out as well.
Yamcha turned to the Namekians as Appule got up.
"You guys need to get out of here, now!"
Tsuno nodded, somewhat in awe of the stranger's power. "Do as he says!" he called out to the others, who began to take off into the sky along with him. Tsuno was the last to leave after running into a dwelling and pulling out a Dragon Ball. Upon seeing it, Appule aimed a ki blast in his direction, but was kicked in the head by Yamcha before he could fire, leaving his aim off as he did so. He turned to the warrior as he wiped blood from his mouth.
"You! You must be with those two that attacked Dodoria!" he remarked.
"...That's right," he replied.
"...Ah. But they aren't here, are they?" he deduced.
"So it would seem."
"Well, then-I suppose I'll have to issue you an ultimatum: surrender now, or die by my hand!"
"...Are the bodies not a clear indicator of how this is going to go down?" Yamcha replied frankly, to which Appule was left stunned.
"Grrr! Are you mocking me?!"
Yamcha smirked.
"GRAH!" he cried out as he fired a ki blast, which Yamcha managed to dodge. He tried firing a few more, but was met with the same success. In anger, he rushed the former bandit, but found most of his strikes blocked by Yamcha's Wolf Fang Fist, before a final strike hit him in the face.
"Hey, not bad! You're actually making me try here!" he consoled the alien, which only made him angrier.
"DIE!" he cried out as he placed his hands together. "CANNON OF DEATH!" he cried out, unleashing a powerful purple blast of ki.
"KAMEHAMEHA!" Yamcha countered promptly, stopping the attack in its tracks. Appule panted as he stood before the human, who seemed just as tired as he was.
"It appears we're evenly matched! You cannot hope to win!"
Yamcha chuckled. "Eh..not quite. And, yeah, I can."
Before Appule could respond, Yamcha bulked up into the Max Power state and charged up a Spirit Ball, sending it out towards the purple alien. Appule saw the attack coming and managed to dodge it in time, causing him to laugh.
"Ha! Nice try, interloper, but the same attack won't work twice, even if you have gotten stronger!"
Yamcha, however, simply smirked as he flicked his left arm downwards, then towards him.
"Hang on...what are you-?" Appule began before he heard the same noise underground. He looked down in terror before leaping away, hoping to evade it, but Yamcha's hand gestures kept the sphere with him at all times, until finally Appule was caught mid-air. He tried to block the sphere with all of his strength, but found that he could only barely keep it at bay.
"Max Power Spirit Ball...BURST!" Yamcha cried out as he clenched his fist, detonating the Spirit Ball directly in Appule's face. With one last cry of agony, he found himself completely vaporized. Yamcha took a deep breath as he returned to his normal state.
"Heh. I actually managed to beat those guys..." he muttered, satisfied. However, he soon felt a chill as he sensed an approaching energy signature. "Ah, crap-Vegeta's on his way here!" He said, his instincts kicking in as he took off as fast as he could in the direction of the Namekians he'd just saved. When he caught up to them, they looked back in surprise.
"Listen, all of you! We've got to hide for the time being-there's somebody heading towards your village with a device that can track your energy!" The Namekians were somewhat confused, but Tsuno quickly took steps to follow Yamcha's advice.
"There! To that cave, quickly!" He cried out, causing Yamcha and the others to follow suit before reducing their energy down to zero. As if on cue, Yamcha and the Namekians felt an enormous surge of ki from within their village, powerful enough to have wiped the entire area clean. The Namekians stared into space in silent despair over what they had now lost, but one look from Tsuno consoled the others.
"At least we managed to protect our most sacred treasure," he assured them, before a look of shock played out across his face. Yamcha hazarded a look outside of the cave entrance, hugging the wall in order to stay out of sight. There, he saw Vegeta, without a scouter, looking around for a few moments.
"He doesn't have a scouter...yet he still thought to look here..." Yamcha thought. "Can he sense energy now?!"
To his relief, the prince seemed satisfied that they were not there, and took off in some other direction. After five minutes had passed, Yamcha turned to the others.
"He seems to have given up for now, but...it's possible that he can sense energy. We should move carefully."
One of the warrior Namekians spoke up. "Hang on, if some of us had time to-!"
"No," Tsuno replied sharply. "You may be correct, but it's too risky!"
"...Understood, my lord."
Yamcha tilted his head in confusion, but decided not to press the issue until they were safe. "...Anyway, we should head to this Grand Elder's place. My friends have been heading there for a while now, in the hopes that he'd be able to help us end this threat to your planet."
Tsuno's eyes widened in recognition. "Yes...that would be the safest place for us. For although this alien's strength is formidable...Nail is stronger still."
"Must be the warrior Dende talked about," Yamcha mused. "Well, alright then. Pack up the Dragon Ball and let's head out as soon as possible."
Tsuno and the others nodded, picking up the Dragon Ball and quietly slipping out of the cave before each of them in turn used minimal ki to fly across the landscape, Yamcha in the lead with the elder Tsuno behind him, carrying the Dragon Ball.
"Here's hoping that this Guru is as powerful as Dende said..." he thought to himself as they continued on their long journey.
After resting, Gohan, Krillin, and Dende resumed flying towards their objective, vaguely aware for some time of Vegeta's activities yet continuing on in the hopes that Vegeta would not detect their power levels. Finally, after several more hours, the three of them arrived at their destination.
"Hang on, I see it!" Krillin cried out as a singular dwelling atop a large rocky spire came into view. "Is that the place?"
Dende nodded eagerly as Krillin and Gohan smiled triumphantly. They took off towards the building with renewed vigor before landing in the field outside. Shortly after their arrival, a tall Namekian warrior, clad in a long flowing blue vest and his people's traditional garb, came out to greet them, having sensed their coming arrival for some time. His stoic expression brightened somewhat upon seeing Dende.
"[Dende! It is a blessing that you are well. When I sensed that monster approaching your village-]" he began in Namekian, but Dende placed his hand around Nail's leg.
"[It's okay, Nail. I understand that your sacred duty takes precedence.]"
Krillin and Gohan tilted their heads in confusion throughout the whole exchange.
"These are the ones who saved you?" Nail asked, pointing to the pair of them. Dende nodded, and Nail came forward towards them before bowing. "I extend my people's thanks towards you two for protecting him."
The two were somewhat taken aback by this, but Gohan pressed forward by bowing slightly in return. "I just wish we could've done more. ...So many innocent people dead..." he thought aloud, his fists clenching in anger. Nail smiled consolingly.
"I sympathize with your anger, child. I too wish that I could have lent my assistance."
Krillin coughed slightly, causing Nail to chuckle.
"Of course. Your purpose in coming here is readily deduced. Please, come with me." As Nail led them towards the door, he remarked, "Truthfully, I am not certain what assistance Lord Guru can extend to you."
Dende's face fell. "Y-you mean...?"
"Yes. He's gotten worse," Nail replied. "The loss of so many of his children has put a great strain and sadness upon his heart. I fear that he has mere days to live."
"Can't your Dragon Balls do something?" Gohan asked.
"Their magic does not work upon the entity responsible for their existence."
Krillin's eyes widened. "Yeah, I figured if anyone had made these things, it would be him. The creator of ours was in a similar situation, although in his case the Dragon Balls were recharging."
Nail's eyes widened in surprise as he stopped in his tracks. "You have Dragon Balls on your planet?!"
"Yeah," Gohan answered. "A long time ago, a Namekian who we call Kami created them. They've been really helpful over the years."
"So...that is where he traveled to all those years ago..." Nail muttered, his realization evident across his features. "But...does this mean that the son of Katas is no longer living?"
"He's alive as far as we know. Well...half of him is," Krillin remarked. "But he's old-he doesn't have long. Maybe a few weeks by now."
Nail seemed confused, but shook it off and looked on solemnly as he stepped onto the lift into Guru's chamber. "Then the Namekian species may truly be facing complete extinction."
Before Krillin and Gohan could comment on this, they were taken aback by the sight of Guru-an evidently aged Namekian whose sheer size seemed to take up half the room. Upon his simple throne, resting at the top, was a Dragon Ball. Nail and Guru noticed the Earthlings' expressions, causing the latter to speak up.
"I have not...gone out much in my old age," the elderly Namekian said with a chuckle.
Krillin hastily shook his head. "F-forgive me, your Excellency, I-!"
Guru held up a hand. "Don't bother. On the contrary, such a cause for mirth seems more necessary than ever in these bleak times." His gaze shifted towards Dende, and he smiled softly. "I am thankful that some of my children have been fortunate enough to escape harm."
Krillin and Gohan nodded, before Krillin spoke up. "Lord Guru, my name is Krillin. I came here with some of my friends in order to locate and use your Dragon Balls so that-"
"Please, move closer to my side, young man," Guru interrupted, beckoning him forward. Krillin complied, until he was standing directly adjacent to Guru's chair. Guru reached his large arm over and lightly held it over Krillin's head. He felt a sudden jolt before he lifted up his hand once more.
"Ah...yes. To restore innocent lives...lives sacrificed valiantly in the defense of your world from invasion...your wish is honorable. We shall allow you to utilize the balls for this purpose, and in the hopes that it shall thwart the tyrant Frieza's ambitions."
"Thank you, Lord Guru," Krillin replied. "Now, if you could perhaps give it to us for safekeeping, we can-"
"There's no need," Nail cut in. "The ball is as safe as it can possibly be here. We have been hiding our energy from any possible means of detection, and my power exceeds that displayed by all parties currently on this planet, save for Frieza himself. So long as he does not come here, it will be protected."
"We will continue to safeguard the ball here. If necessary, I shall order Nail to assist you in obtaining the others," Guru added.
Nail turned to his master in confusion. "M-my lord, if I left you here, you would be completely defenseless!"
"One of us could stay and protect him," Gohan proposed.
"Indeed. There is great potential within these two...particularly the son of the great warriors of old," Guru remarked. "Were I to unlock it..."
"Wait, were you to what now?" Krillin asked.
"One of Lord Guru's abilities is the ability to unlock someone's dormant potential, bringing out new power and abilities they did not previously possess. It is because of this that Nail possesses some of his great strength," Dende answered. Krillin's eyes widened.
"Wow! Really?"
Guru nodded. "Both of you, come here."
Krillin stepped forward, but Gohan hesitated. "You're sure that this won't adversely affect you?"
"Your concern is appreciated, but it takes no energy from me. I can do it as many times as I wish with no negative repercussions to my health. Now, come."
Gohan complied, and the two stood in front of Guru as he placed both of his hands over their heads. With a rush of ki, the two suddenly found their own ki skyrocketing, as if a great mass of power had been freed from a cage inside their own bodies. After a few seconds, the burst of power subsided, and the two looked over at each other as they felt their own power pulsing through their bodies.
"This...this is...incredible!" Krillin gasped, to which Gohan hastily nodded. Guru smiled as he observed the two testing out their newfound power. "You're saying you can do this as many times as you want?"
Guru nodded. "Yes, I imagine your friend-Yamcha, was it?-would appreciate a power boost as well. He is currently on his way here."
"Wait, huh?" Krillin and Gohan asked in unison. "We haven't been able to sense him for hours now!"
"Lord Guru's ability to sense energy is far more sophisticated, due to centuries of experience," Nail explained. "He informed me some time ago that Tsuno, your friend, and the inhabitants of his village would be making their way here."
"It is my belief that they have the Dragon Ball of Tsuno's village in their possession. Your friend defended their village from attack by Frieza's soldiers."
"Yeah, we felt that. Well...great! Awesome!"
"Of course, Vegeta's also out there..." Gohan reminded them.
"Hm...well, then we can go out and escort them over here! That way, if Vegeta comes looking for them, we'll be more than capable of stopping him."
Nail considered Krillin's proposal before looking to Guru hesitantly, who gave him a nod. "It is decided," he said simply, walking towards the lift out of the building with Gohan and Krillin on his heels.
"Thank you for all that you have done," Guru said as the three of them left. "All of Namek stands with you."
"Good luck!" Dende called out before the lift gate closed, and the three warriors took off, the two Earthlings marveling at the speed afforded them by their newfound power as they flew into the sunset.
When they had disappeared from view, Guru pondered something to himself.
"So...he split himself in two, did he?" He thought aloud. "A shame. Were this 'Kami' and 'Piccolo' to become one once again, the potential that such a being could possess..." He trailed off, lost in thought as Dende looked on in the direction the others had left, his concern evident.
Frieza stood in his personal chamber in contemplation before the communication terminal. It had been many hours since Zarbon or Appule had returned from their missions, and it was approaching the point of genuinely concerning the tyrant. At long last, a soldier burst into his quarters.
"L-lord Frieza! My apologies for intruding, but-!"
Frieza held up a finger to silence him before sighing deeply, resigned to what he had to report. "Which one's dead?"
"...Sir?" the soldier asked.
"Zarbon, or Appule? Whose broken body did you find tossed into a ditch by some primitive trash this time?"
"Uh, n-no bodies, but...scouts did report a series of collapsed mountains and a large crater near Lord Zarbon's last intended destination...as well as a massive crater within Appule's latest search grid."
Frieza turned his head towards him ever so slightly, so that only one eye was glaring at him.
"And an Attack Ball! From Frieza Planet 79!" the soldier got out in a panic as his whole body began sweating profusely in utter terror.
As realization struck Frieza, his scowl deepened, and he turned away. "You are relieved, Private."
The private frantically bowed before leaving the room. However, he had only just managed to make it to the door before Frieza idly fired a finger beam in his direction, leaving him to scream in agony and enveloping his entire body in a mass of ki which left him burned to a crisp on the ground. The door hissed shut, some of the smoke from his corpse flowing into the room.
"Dodoria, Zarbon, Cui, Abo and Kado-some of my most dependable soldiers, all ripped away! Vegeta, that alien, and that...Saiyan...from earlier, must be the ones responsible, whether they're acting alone or together. Well, no matter. I'll have to send in my most dependable soldiers if I truly want them dead. Trash like them don't deserve the honor of my dealing with them personally."
Thus, Frieza activated the communication terminal, and in only a minute, he found himself speaking directly to a large, muscular individual with purple skin and spikes protruding from the sides of his bald head.
"Captain?" Frieza began. "I believe your services will be required after all."
And now, the story continues!
Once again, thank you all for bearing with me on splitting the chapter up like this. Fortunately, there'll be a break by the time chapter 17 is up, so there should be plenty of downtime for me to write new chapters and maintain the schedule.
Also, might've missed my shot with the last chapter, but I just wanted to take a moment to tell y'all to go follow BobtheBobKing/BobtheArtKing on Tumblr! They've been following this fic both here and on Ao3 for a while now, and they recently did an adorable piece of fanart depicting Yamcha and Bulma as they appear in Hermit. As soon as they told me about their art blog, I followed it immediately-their art style is really cute and fits the DBZ universe well. Be sure to check out their stuff and read up on their commission prices-they definitely deserve more support.
Anywho, response time!
The Richmaster says:
"... I feel kind of sorry for the Doctor there but it seems likely that Tien's vitals were being recorded so people will know it happened. The real question becomes what might some people do to try and obtain the miracle drug that was used there. The whole interaction with Piccolo and Goku worked pretty well too; it seems pretty clear that the former is still adjusting to the new him"
Yeah, that's always an interesting question. Personally, Idk whether or not I'll do much with that idea in this fic, but I agree that concepts like that are interesting. And thanks! I was hoping to sell the idea that Piccolo isn't quite as "Grrr! I'll surpass Goku and become the mightiest warrior in the universe! MWAHAHAHA!" as he was before. Kami being there to advise him, as well as giving him that sweet, sweet power boost, kinda helps him mellow out on that front. He realizes how much stronger he can become, perhaps more so than Goku, and thus he's secure regarding his place in the world, at least in that respect. Needless to say, having what up until now had been his sworn enemy being this amiable with him is an adjustment for Goku.
BarryManiHigh says:
"Another great chapter. I wasn't expecting the Hyperbolic Time Chamber to come into play at this point, but I loved your utilization of it. I wouldn't be surprised if at some point during their stay in the HTC Goku started teaching Piccolo the basics of the Kaio-ken."
Yeah, it kinda just popped into my head one moment while I was writing that chapter, since I wasn't entirely sure if Piccolo would be able to adjust to gravity training and would need time to get there compared to Goku. The chamber offered a convenient way of getting them both to the same place in that regard so that they'd start training from the same point en route to Namek.
Also, I've honestly gone back and forth on whether I should have Piccolo learn the Kaio-ken. Of course, two weeks is hardly enough time to get much of it regardless, but anyway. With the humans, learning the Kaio-ken is a nice way to keep them relevant, but for much of Z, Piccolo already is relevant-he's fighting Imperfect Cell and keeping up with the Cell Juniors, becoming even stronger than an untrained Super Saiyan before fusing with Kami. So it's a unique case in that he's already portrayed as being incredibly powerful on his own, and rolling in the Kaio-ken on top of that by, like, Android Saga, with his power...I'm worried that this fic would kind of become the Piccolo Show post-Android Saga, and up until Super comes along and brings Beerus into the picture. The threat of the first two androids would be nonexistent(which might just wipe out 17 and 18 from the picture altogether, and with them much of Imperfect Cell's relevance to proceedings), which alone would have a profound impact on future arcs, possibly for the worst.
I'm not saying all this to suggest that these changes would be bad-more that I'm still deciding if the resulting changes are the changes that I want for this story. You'll have to stay tuned on that.
Guest says:
"Your story has taken a stumble off a cliff with the last few chapters. It is established that a super namekian is stronger than an untrained super saiyan (although goku had 4 years under his belt by the time the androids appeared) which in turn gives your decisions and explanation for said decisions a petty, ''ignorant to everything but praise'' sort of output."
Forgive me, but I'm not quite sure where you're getting that impression?
I've responded to every review left here since making it a full on response thing rather than just questions, positive or negative. That alone suggests that I am at the very least aware of issues brought up by others. And I have indeed made alterations-the TFS lines have gone down, I've tried to keep a healthy balance between character interactions and action, and the gag of picking on Yamcha for not understanding how the Senzu beans work arose from a reviewer pointing out the discrepancy between that statement and the established capabilities of Senzu beans in canon which I had neglected to consider in writing Chapter 9's scene with Piccolo and Good Launch. You can literally see my responses to criticism in the work itself. Idk what else to tell you.
As for the Super Namekian issue, I touched on it when the fusion occurred, but allow me to go into greater depth.
Going back to what Guru said about the Nameless Namekian, asking if he was killed by a Super Saiyan, there are a few things to keep in mind:
1. Guru's only real metric for how tough "Katas Jr." might be, beyond his knowledge of his own vast potential, is Krillin, since he knows that he comes from the same planet "Katas Jr." ended up. He doesn't have much reason to suspect that he's the strongest human alive before probing his memories, other than the fact that it was him who decided to make the journey to Namek, which isn't saying much. So his knowledge of what kind of training Katas Jr. had undergone prior to splitting is limited.
Also, just, realistically speaking, he can only be so strong given that his fission into Kami and King Piccolo produced Namekians below even a power of 500. True, fusion is shown to be an exponential increase, so one would assume fission is an exponential decrease, but Piccolo's fusion with Nail in canon proves that it's nowhere near something like just directly multiplying the two powers together. It's more complex than that, and less easy to pin down into a reliable formula given that we don't know Piccolo's precise power level during said fusion, or Piccolo's during his fusion with Kami, or even the power of the Universe 6 Namekians from Super after their fusions, beyond mere guesstimates.
So, in summary: we have no clue what Katas Jr.'s power was when he split apart. All we have to go on for his potential is the power Piccolo gains after fusing with Kami, which is demonstrably much stronger than an untrained Super Saiyan and achieved after he'd already gotten incredibly powerful through training with King Kai, his fusion with Nail, and three years of sparring with Goku as a Super Saiyan.
2. The power of the Super Saiyan state is in itself not something Guru or anyone else can pin down definitively before Goku unlocks it. All Guru knows of are the legends his people recorded and heard about the Saiyans(among them the legend of the Super Saiyan God), and it isn't like legends would state the guy's exact power level. And all anyone in the Frieza Force knows is that no Saiyan has gotten anywhere near the 60,000 Ginyu had thought Goku to be at during their fight, and that the Super Saiyan was so powerful even Frieza feared it. Which sounds like something, except...nobody knows Frieza's maximum power either. They know his first form, which is a start, and they know he can transform into stronger forms, but he's only busted out the second form occasionally, and never uses his other forms except when with his family. Given the limitations of scouters, I don't even know if he's ever bothered having his power measured beyond the second form, let alone if they're physically capable of doing so without exploding.
In conclusion, Guru's working off on an unknown, which is based on an unknown, and which he believes to be greater than an educated guess. All that we can say definitively about Piccolo and Kami's fusion is that, under the right training and support, the form has the potential to be exceedingly stronger than an untrained Super Saiyan. Whether that potential is fully utilized determines whether or not this is the case. Base power will only get you so far, as we can infer from Kami and King Piccolo's respective power levels after Katas Jr. split apart.
With that done, time for power levels!
Vegeta: 32,000
Vegeta(Galick Gun): 38,000
Zarbon: 23,000
Zarbon(beast): 32,000
Appule: 1,800
Tsuno: 1,000
Namekian warriors(their names will be revealed later): 1,300, 1,310, 1,350
Krillin(potential unlocked): 13,000(16,250 at Max Power)
Gohan(potential unlocked): 18,000(yeah, I know, borrowing from TFS here, but tbh, it seems like a pretty good benchmark for a kid with his potential)
Anywho, with all of that said, thank you all for reading, have yourselves a fantastic night, and take care.
(Update 3/10/19): Okay, so I don't really like doing retcons, but in this case, it's pretty embarrassing, so I'll just let you guys know: I'm going to add slight edits to chapters 13 and 15, on account of an alteration I made which I failed to account for. That alteration being that Gohan still has his tail. I've been writing everything from 13-onwards on the assumption that he didn't, and therefore couldn't be readily identified as Saiyan, forgetting that I never had him go ape in the Saiyan Saga, and thus there was no need to chop it off. So Frieza should know that Gohan is a Saiyan from their first meeting, and thus, I have altered that scene and subsequent scenes accordingly. Sorry about this, just thought I'd let y'all know.