Bulma's hand went to her forehead the instant she stirred from unconsciousness, dimly registering a faint residual headache. Her vision blurred as she tried to take in her surroundings-what appeared to be a pastel-colored room with no windows and only a single light source. What furniture had been in the room had evidently been torn out save for a cot and a sink, with a series of packages stacked next to it.

"Oh, good, you finally decided to awaken," a familiar voice said a few feet away from her. As soon as she registered it, she attempted to move backwards, only to find her body held in place. After a few seconds of struggle, she gave up, accepting that she was not freeing herself from Frieza's telekinetic grip anytime soon. "Ah. So you've accepted your circumstances," Frieza observed. "Excellent. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to ask you some questions."

Bulma sighed, regretting her life choices. "And if I refuse?" she said pointedly, some defiance left over. A second later, she drew a sharp breath and winced as her pinky was broken without any conscious effort on Frieza's part. "...Point taken," she got out in between deep breaths.

"Superb. Now, firstly, just so that we're clear, you are female, correct?"

Bulma's eyes adopted a cynical look, the look of one who has dreaded a particular situation for some time and did not wish to ever experience it. "...Yes."

"Alright. I just wanted to make sure that calling you 'girl' was technically correct. Understand, it was either that or 'filthy primitive trash,' and really, the first is a bit simpler, wouldn't you agree?"

Bulma cocked her head in confusion. "Couldn't you have just asked my name?"

Frieza laughed out loud. "As if I'd bother to remember something like that!" As he finished chuckling, he took a slight breath and continued. "Ah, you peons crack me up sometimes. Anyway, girl, you will inform me of the current whereabouts of your associates immediately-most particularly the young Saiyan child-or you will suffer immensely as I slowly break every individual bone in your body."

"And if I have absolutely no idea where they are at this point?" Bulma shot back.

"Then you will explain to me in the next sixty seconds why I should not shatter every bone in your body at once and liquefy your organs. Your time starts now."

As Frieza slowly began counting down from sixty, Bulma's eyes widened in panic. Hopeful that she could still talk her way out of this one, she blurted out at the forty five second mark: "I CAN HELP YOU FIND THE DRAGON BALLS!" Although she did her best to play up her own apprehension to his benefit, she quickly discovered she didn't need much help on that front.

Frieza's eyebrow arched up slightly. "Oh? Well, that would be something. The most elite military organization in the galaxy ultimately failed on account of one troublesome monkey, a dwarf, and a small monkey child, but sure, I imagine you can succeed where they failed."

Bulma smirked, satisfied she'd gotten his attention. "What if I told you there was a way to locate the Dragon Balls without relying on your scouters to find people who have them?"

This time, Frieza seemed genuinely interested. "...Is that so?"

"In my research, I've discovered that the Dragon Balls give off a particular energy signature, which my equipment can track. My friends have the original device, but I could probably cobble together a rudimentary version for you with the proper materials, Lord Frieza, sir," she said, hoping that he accepted her assistance.

Frieza seemed to consider her proposal before nodding slowly. "An intriguing offer. How long will it take you to complete this device?"

"Hm..." Bulma appeared to think for a moment before replying. "About four days, give or take."

Frieza scoffed. "By that time, the Ginyu Force will have already arrived with their scouters, which shall be more than adequate in locating someone who can tell me the balls' location. You have one. Any longer, and the sixty second timer will resume where we left off."

Bulma gulped. "Gotcha. Now then, just get me some materials and-" Before she could finish, she vaguely heard a whoosh of air, followed by a pile of scrap metal falling at her feet. This procedure repeated itself several times over the next thirty seconds, with Frieza only seeming to disappear for a few seconds every time. He finally threw down a handful of tools whose functions Bulma could only guess at.

"Work," he commanded. Bulma sighed and began examining the tools to figure out how they worked, as she carried out what she could of her plan. She could only hope that the others had noticed her being taken and were busy coming up with a plan of their own.

"Anything?"

Nail floated down to the ground besides Krillin and Gohan, careful not to give away their position behind the nearby outcropping. Krillin and Gohan looked at each other before he shook his head.

"Nothing. Near as I can sense, he doesn't seem to experience fatigue, meaning that any plan involving him taking a nap is out. He hasn't moved much, so he probably doesn't need to eat or drink anything for a while, either."

"Hm...I don't suppose you'd be willing to try your luck at hitting him with a Solar Flare followed by that disc attack?" Nail asked, expecting the answer in advance.

"Somehow I doubt even the Kienzan is that strong."

"Are you sure we can't just use the Dragon Balls?" Gohan asked, hope in his eyes. Nail sighed deeply.

"I discussed the matter with Lord Guru and the others once I delivered the balls. Several ideas presented themselves, albeit all of them come with an unfortunate risk."

"Name them," Krillin said, both he and Gohan waiting for an answer.

"The first was to teleport Frieza and Vegeta, should he still live, away from this planet. There is a planet not too far from here which has no intelligent life-Frieza and Vegeta would find themselves stranded there, battling the many hostile creatures that call it home, as well as each other. Based on his power and injuries, Vegeta would surely perish, and Frieza could very well starve to death."

"...But?" Gohan asked, expecting a catch.

"Our knowledge of the technology Frieza possesses on his person is limited. We know that all of his scouter devices were destroyed, but-"

"For all we know, he could have some other communicator or distress beacon on him," Krillin finished, to which Nail nodded. "By which point more of his men show up, give him a lift, and he's right back here sooner or later, royally pissed."

"Or he travels to your world instead, which he is evidently aware of given what Lord Guru told me about Vegeta's earlier invasion, and kills all of your loved ones in pursuit of your own Dragon Balls."

Both Gohan and Krillin paled at the thought of all of their friends and family dying along with the rest of humanity.

"W-what about the second option?" Gohan asked, to which Nail chuckled bitterly.

"That one was more controversial-teleporting everyone living or dead on the planet away, to Earth perhaps, and leaving Frieza and Vegeta here along with whatever warriors wish to remain to try and stop them."

"Wait, didn't you say that the Dragon Balls' magic can't affect their creator? Would Lord Guru have to stay behind?" Krillin asked.

Nail shook his head. "There are some exceptions to the general rule. Simply teleporting their creator from one place to another is permissible. However, there are larger issues with this plan."

"Such as?" Gohan asked.

"Well, for one...some of the survivors do not wish to risk our home further, and they are not convinced that the warriors you spoke of will be powerful enough to defeat Frieza. Should Frieza not be stopped here, the fate of this planet, our home, is obvious."

"Not to mention the Earth will still be in danger," Krillin added. "He'll just sigh, shrug his shoulders, and go there next!"

"Further, with both plans, it is highly probable that Frieza will kill your friend in a fit of anger upon realizing what was happening, which would be rather troubling, to say the least." Nail paused as he delivered the verdict. "In light of these considerations, Lord Guru has decreed that the Dragon Balls must not be used at this time."

"Well, we have to do something!" Gohan snapped back in frustration. "It's been seven hours!"

"At the very least, she seems alive and healthy for the moment," Nail remarked. "I can only assume she's provided him with something of enough value to justify keeping her alive."

Krillin and Gohan looked down at the ground as they considered Nail's grim logic. "If that something is how to build a Dragon Radar, we're all screwed," Krillin said bitterly.

"We can assume that a man of Frieza's imperial tendencies wouldn't stoop to the task of building such a device himself if given instructions on how to do so, even if he could. So, it would be logical to conclude that your friend shall remain alive for however long she takes building this device for him."

Gohan put his anger to the side for a moment to consider this. "And...since he doesn't know what's in the radar, she could be building him something completely useless!"

"Precisely. Which may actually serve to throw him off the track even longer, helping us all the more as we await the arrival of your warriors and decide our next move."

"But the only way that can happen is..." Gohan said, clenching his fists angrily at the prospect. Nail nodded solemnly.

"Leaving well enough alone."

Krillin sighed. "In the absence of any actual strategy, that seems to be the best bet. We'll sit tight, stay out of sight, and hope that an opportunity to get her out of there comes up sooner rather than later. Besides, worst case scenario, we just wish for everyone killed by Frieza and his men to be brought back by the Namekian Dragon Balls when this is over and done with."

Nail drew a sharp intake of breath upon hearing Krillin mention the balls, at which point Krillin's heart sank. Gohan was the first to speak up. "What is it?"

Nail cleared his throat before answering. "Yes, I probably should've mentioned this sooner. The Namekian Dragon Balls were crafted in such a way that they can bestow three wishes within a single use. However...in the matter of resurrection, only one person can be resurrected per wish."

Both of the Earthlings' hearts sank upon hearing the news. "So...best case scenario, we'd only be able to revive three people?" Krillin asked.

"Correct. I had assumed that you could use one of the wishes to assist this 'Kami' you spoke of, thus ensuring that he would live and that you could then use your own Dragon Balls to fix the problem."

This time it was Gohan's turn to draw a breath. "Yeah, uh, about that...we already used our Dragon Balls a month ago. And our year is, like, three of yours."

Nail's eyes widened as he took in this information. "...Oh. Well."

"Not to mention that they can only revive groups of people within a year of their deaths, judging from what Kami told us before we left," Krillin added. "And most of the people we're trying to revive died, like, the day after we used them last. Clock's ticking there."

"And they can't grant the same wish twice," Gohan added as well. "So we'd have to use yours to revive our friends Chiaotzu and Master Roshi, who were revived once years and years ago."

Nail considered this for a moment before sighing. "Very well. In that case, we must approach this situation with caution. With two people requiring resurrection on top of the matter of dealing with Frieza and Vegeta, we should work to ensure that no further wishes are required. After all, we may find ourselves having only one chance to use either set of Dragon Balls before the consequences of our actions become apparent. When the right opportunity presents itself, we must act decisively to ensure that your friend is rescued unharmed."

Krillin and Gohan nodded, and the three sat in silence behind their hideout, patiently waiting for the perfect moment to rescue Bulma.

"Ughhh..."

Goku groaned as he gulped down half of a Senzu bean, Piccolo watching over him with some slight concern. Around the two of them, the pressure of 40 gees of Earth gravity was making itself known on the surrounding objects, as the intensity of their training was upon the training room floor.

"Are you quite certain that half of a Senzu bean will be sufficient?"

"Eh. It'll patch up the wound, at least," Goku remarked tiredly. "Besides, might need the other half later."

Piccolo grunted.

"You're speaking rather nonchalantly for someone who just took a Special Beam Cannon through the side."

Goku chuckled with growing strength, the half Senzu bean patching up the wound and restoring a slight bit of energy.

"Heh. Yeah. It's too bad Saiyans can't heal like Namekians can. With this 'Saiyan power' thing on top of that, I'd be unstoppable."

Piccolo chuckled. "Likewise."

Goku sighed before grunting with the effort of getting back up onto his feet, Piccolo quickly following suit.

"Wow. You know, I thought you'd start to fall behind in the training without these kinds of power boosts, but I gotta say, you're pulling ahead a lot more than I am."

Piccolo allowed a smirk to show itself. "With the potential of this new form, I think you shall find me maintaining this new gap between us far longer than you initially anticipated."

Goku laughed. "Ah, I'll catch up to you yet! Just you wait!"

Piccolo laughed as well. "So you say," he replied, smirking. "I'm more than ready to kick things up a notch once more."

Goku considered this. "Hm...maybe take a few more hours to get used to this level first."

Piccolo nodded in affirmation, yet he couldn't help grinning slightly at the Saiyan's denial. Nevertheless, he took a few paces back and paused as Goku entered into his traditional combat stance. Piccolo swiftly followed suit, and the two engaged in another sparring match.

Yamcha sat staring off into the distance at the front of Guru's home, arms crossed as if he were meditating, yet his eyes never straying from the direction his friends had gone. With his unlocked power and the practice he'd gotten, he could sense her even from that distance, a tiny blip mere feet away from a bright, blinding light. The same blinding light which, for what bravery he had and what caring he held for the young scientist, had been keeping him from mentally telling Krillin to screw himself and leaping into action as fast as he could fly. He could sense easily enough that Frieza wasn't going anywhere, or letting his guard down for a moment. Whether or not he was there along with Krillin and Gohan would make no difference to proceedings should they be spotted by the tyrant-if anything, it would worsen their chances of ultimately succeeding in their goals, even with all seven Namekian balls in their possession. Nothing could be gained by piling up corpses, he told himself.

Nevertheless, he couldn't deny that the impulse was there. It ate away at him, piece by piece, and it took every ounce of willpower he had to stop himself from charging ahead anyway. He knew that Bulma would chide him for it afterwards. Probably insist that she was just about to rescue herself from her own predicament. Or would it be the opposite, he wondered: her chiding him for taking so long? He chuckled. There were moments when he couldn't really tell. She seemed to bounce between moods on a dime in any given situation, viewing it maturely one moment and rather immaturely the next. It was one of the many things about her that he found strangely cute-an amusing contrast between her dizzying intellect and her spoiled shortsightedness.

He looked back on how they first met-hardly the most romantic first meeting, him being right in the middle of robbing them blind and knocking her friend around while she was taking a nap. Their second meeting was even worse, throwing an RPG launched directly at her car with her inside into the mix. And yet, somehow, their mutual desire for some kind of romance had led to them developing...something. Even after twelve years, he wasn't quite sure what to call it. It was a lot more than a fling, that was for sure, but the on-and-off nature of their relationship didn't quite bring terms like "love" or "soulmates" to mind. Particularly given a tendency of Bulma's to "keep her options open" in a rather vocal manner, which annoyed him slightly. Of course, he wasn't really one to talk-he had slightly flirted with his friend's apparent fiance once, after all.

He sighed deeply. In the end, it didn't really matter. Whatever thing they had, it most definitely was a thing. And said thing was going to keep driving him to take for the skies and burst in to save her to no effect. So, he took a deep breath, rubbed his sore eyes, and continued reaching out with his senses towards that tiny blip that represented something completely insignificant and the center of everything, at the exact same time.

After many hours of work without rest and with minimal food and drink, Bulma's "Dragon Radar" was finally complete. She designed it to be little more than an interactive screen with seven blips scattered about at pre-set coordinates based loosely on her own Dragon Radar's measurements. With luck, based on what she had guessed of the emperor's personality and his own lack of knowledge, he wouldn't expect deception until he was already there-a random spot on the other side of the planet where she had placed six of the dots, with a seventh traveling towards it at high speeds.

"Alrighty, Lord Frieza! One more or less fully functional Dragon Radar!" Bulma said, somewhat drowsily. Evidently, Frieza was not the kind of man accustomed to giving his workers breaks.

Frieza simply glanced at the readings on the device before something caught his eye-six blips on the screen clustered in one spot, with a seventh approaching them. "T-those blips...they are the Dragon Balls?"

"Correct. Why do you a-" Bulma said before looking over to see, feigning surprise. "Oh. Oh, that's not very great for you, Lord Frieza."

Frieza's face contorted into a scowl. "Either your friends or that filthy monkey must have gotten all of them in their possession by now! They're mere minutes away from the others at that speed!"

"You better hurry if you still want to get your wish, Lord Frieza, sir!" Bulma replied. "I'd hate to think I worked the last sixteen hours for nothing."

Frieza nodded, and with a slight twitch of his eye, the metal of the wall and floor around Bulma twisted, breaking into bent strands which swiftly trapped her. Frieza looked deep into the scientist's eyes. "If I find that you have built this device as part of some elaborate deception-"

"You'll liquefy my organs. Yeah, I got the picture."

Frieza chuckled before snapping his fingers. The same crushing sensation from before permeated throughout Bulma's body, and she fell into unconsciousness. "Actually, I was going to say I'd blow you up into a million pieces and send them all into the cold reaches of space, but...that works." With that, he took off, the radar in tow as he raced against time to acquire the "balls" for himself.

Although Bulma was out cold, a few minutes later she was roused from the emperor's forcibly induced slumber by a loud crash which tore apart the metal around her, freeing her from her bonds just as she was startled awake.

"AGH HOLY CRAP WHAT THE HELL?!" she cried out in shock before she was suddenly tackled into a hug by Gohan, Krillin floating nearby as he discarded the pieces of metal alongside a Namekian Bulma didn't recognize.

"Miss Bulma!" Gohan cried out in relief, while Bulma simply chuckled. "Agh, I was so worried!"

"Awwww. Don't worry, buddy. All he did was mess up my sleep cycle a bit," she replied, touched by Gohan's concern and having calmed down somewhat, before her attention fell on Krillin. "Look, I know you had to wait until he was gone, because...yeah, you guys do not stand a chance against that, but...could've done with some warning."

"Difficult to manage when you're completely unconscious," Nail replied pointedly. Bulma cocked her head, before Krillin elaborated.

"Nail, Bulma. Bulma, Nail."

"Greetings," Nail said, holding out a hand, which Bulma took quickly before letting go and grabbing a couple things from the cell. Nail got the message. "Of course. We shall make haste to depart, but first..." Nail began, intent upon finishing his thought as he briefly floated out of the crew quarters and down the hall towards the engine room when he felt something. A familiar disturbance on the edge of his awareness, that was a lot bigger than it should've been. Much bigger. "...Oh, no."

"What? What's going on-oh, no," Krillin replied a few seconds afterwards, proceeding to grab Bulma and take to the sky immediately. "Yeah, okay, we're leaving right now!"

"What?! Why are we going all of a sud-oh, goddammit, it's Vegeta, isn't it?!" Bulma cried out, annoyed at what seemed to be an endless stream of powerful people who wanted them all dead. As Krillin and Gohan took off, Bulma remarkably surprised at their speed, Nail followed suit after sending a small ball of ki down the hall and directly into the engine room, permanently grounding Frieza's ship, before he too fled, being able to tell all too well that he wasn't dealing with the same Saiyan warrior he fought before.

By the time the medical pod opened automatically, releasing its various restraints as Vegeta slowly awoke, the Saiyan prince was the only person left on the ship. He only dimly registered Nail's energy for a few seconds before it disappeared somewhere, but Vegeta shrugged this aside. What was more important was the intensity-whereas before, Nail's power had been far greater than his own, now the reverse was true, to an even greater extent. Vegeta laughed maniacally as he flexed his newfound muscle, powering up to maximum and taking off through the ship's hull, cleaving through it like paper. He looked off into the distance, where he could sense Frieza's energy across the planet, first concentrated in one spot and then increasingly spreading out around the nearby area. He assessed the energy from his own body, and came to a remarkable conclusion.

"I'm...I'm only slightly weaker than he is!" Vegeta remarked, shocked himself at the sheer boost in power. "I may yet risk it, but...no. No, it'll be smarter to wait. Once I gain immortality, my victory will be assured!" With this thought, he turned his sights towards where he had sensed Nail's energy, and took off there immediately mere moments before Frieza returned, more incensed than ever. As Vegeta searched around the area of Frieza's ship to no avail, trying as he might to sense even the smallest perceptible energy source and failing, so too did Frieza observe all of the obvious signs of escape by Bulma and her friends, and found himself tiring rapidly of the whole business. He crushed the useless device between his fingers, before proceeding to vaporize it with a small ki ball.

As Frieza saw it, once the Ginyu Force arrived, he could search for the balls at his leisure. Even if they ultimately used them, he could simply occupy the planet for one rotation after murdering Vegeta, the child, and the other pests, and get his wish again. Similarly, Vegeta knew that the moment any of the Namekians or Earthlings revealed themselves with a significant burst of energy, he could track their location even despite his still limited understanding of energy sensing. Thus, the two royal figures came to the same conclusion at the same time:

"All I have to do is wait."

As soon as Nail and the Earthlings had gotten out of Frieza and Vegeta's reach to Nail's satisfaction, they quickly worked out a plan.

"Without any scouters, we shouldn't have to worry about Frieza coming after us unless he decides to search for us himself. He doesn't really seem like a hands-on kind of guy, you know?" Krillin pointed out. Bulma, however, took a deep breath before letting the group know what she knew.

"Apparently he's called in some group called the Ginyu Force. Sounds like they're the elites of Frieza's army, and you can bet they'll be bringing scouters too."

Krillin gulped, while Nail pressed for more. "How long?"

"Three days now, he said."

"T-three days?! How the hell are we supposed to get back to Guru's by then without tipping anyone off?! And what if they're even stronger than any of us?!"

"Don't worry-my daddy and Mr. Piccolo are coming in three days, too!" Gohan pointed out, to Krillin's acknowledgement.

"Let's just hope Goku will pull one of his miracles here," he replied, somewhat optimistically. The group nodded.

"In any event, we must ration our time carefully," Nail remarked. "With the destruction of your ship, there is nowhere closer for you to go to be safe than Guru's home. And in order to evade Vegeta, we must travel by foot or brief bursts of flight which he's unlikely to detect. This would only lengthen the journey."

"Still...it's the best idea we've got," Krillin remarked. "We'll get there as fast as we can, wait for Goku and Piccolo, hope they're strong enough to save the day, and use the Dragon Balls to help us out as soon as we safely can."

The other group nodded, and after a short break with some of the rations Bulma smuggled out, the group was off at minimal speed towards Guru's home.

Over two days later, Goku collapsed onto the ground, hurriedly swallowing another half of a Senzu bean before handing the other half to Piccolo, who was similarly impaired. After a few minutes, the beans managed to repair most of their injuries, and they pulled themselves up from the floor of the training room, one hundred gees of gravitational force bearing down upon them before Piccolo switched off the generator with telekinesis, restoring normal gravity within the chamber. Goku sighed deeply as he took in the latest results of his training.

"Man! With all of that exertion, I was worried the room was going to crush me!" he said, to which Piccolo nodded wearily.

"Indeed. It gave me some trouble as well."

"Well, what do you say? Wanna keep at it?"

Piccolo shook his head. "We should take a day to rest and recover our energy more completely by the time we arrive. We can conserve Senzu beans for the others that way."

Goku nodded, acknowledging the point, before he felt a familiar sensation in his head.

"Hello again, my pupil."

"Master!" Goku called out to himself happily, in order to indicate who he was speaking to. Piccolo nodded and moved towards the living quarters, intent upon getting some rest, while also somewhat annoyed at the power he felt from Goku.

"I take it the training's gone well?"

"Yup! We're taking a break until we get to Namek, though! How about you?"

"Well, fortunately it didn't take me too long to catch that damn monkey, so I've been spending the last few days working on the Kaio-ken."

"Any progress?"

"Well...I think I understand the concept. It's similar to the Max Power technique, albeit without the same increase in mass. But even still, actually getting it to work has been tricky. I'd probably need a couple months to get it all down, minimum."

Goku nodded thoughtfully. "Do you want us to hold off on reviving you until then?"

"If you don't mind. Since I don't have my body up here, reviving me would just put me right back wherever you guys are keeping me."

Goku nodded. "I'll be sure to tell them. What about Chiaotzu?"

"Well, he definitely wants to keep training, but he also wants to see Tien and Launch again ever since King Kai told us Tien had recovered."

"Got it. So we should revive him immediately?"

"I believe he'd like that, yes."

Goku nodded again. "Well, I should probably start resting. Anything else I can do for you guys?"

"We're doing fine up here, but, uh...if you don't mind staying on for a minute, I figured it might do you well to know a certain 'party trick' of mine for your journey."

Goku's face brightened up. "Are you going to teach me how to read minds?!"

"Nah, that one's a lot more complicated. Just pulling up memories should be simple enough to teach."

"I feel the need to point out that my telepathic powers are not some intergalactic calling service," King Kai interrupted, his irritation evident. "How long will this take?"

"With the aid of your powers, just a moment," Roshi replied before a series of images flashed through Goku's mind, and he stepped back in shock.

"Whoa...that was so cool! I think I can figure it out with all of this, though. Thanks, Master!"

"Don't mention it, son. Good luck," Roshi replied before cutting off the communication, leaving Goku to ponder over the memories and experiences his master imparted upon him as the Capsule Ship flew ever closer to Namek.

Meanwhile, for the next three days following the rescue mission, not much in general changed on the planet itself. Guru's health continued to deteriorate, although Tsuno's own ancient medical knowledge helped mitigate his symptoms. Nail and the Earthlings were still stuck traveling at a fraction of their maximum speed as Vegeta struggled to sense their presence, and Frieza distracted himself with idle amusement as he waited for the Ginyu Force to arrive. During a holographic war-game with the now-derelict ship's computer, Frieza looked up and out the window of his observation deck to notice five meteors soaring through the green skies of Namek. His lips curled into a smirk as the pods crash-landed some distance away.

"Finally...they're here."

*Sigh*. And we're done.

Honestly, I have no shame in admitting that this was one of, if not the, hardest chapter for me to write thus far. I knew I needed to resolve the Bulma capture plot, and establish a few other details which will be relevant later, but accounting for all of that made a fairly short chapter, so...I added on. Hopefully it reads okay, but if not, don't worry-I trust the next chapter will begin to make up for it, with the arrival of...the Ginyu Force!

Anywho, yeah, stay tuned as we go back to some of the real DBZ action with one of the major fights of the arc. But without any further ado, comments:

Zeltch says:

"Nice chapter. The Freeza kidnapping Bulma is a novel concept, so props for that.

Oh, and I usually don't get involved in power level debates, but one of the interesting aspects of Guru's potential unlocking is that it isn't complete the second he lifts his hand. Krillin, by the end of Namek, is stated to have a 90000 power level (or 75000, I have to look it up the Daizenshu), and if I had to guess, the further enhancements are drawn from all the fighting he found himself in - pretty much like Gohan fighting Goku in Super. "

Thanks! Ironically enough, it kinda came about by a throwaway line in one of the DBZA episodes: "You know I never even SAW Freeza?! Not even once?!" Plus the general fact that Bulma was basically irrelevant that entire arc.

Also, hm...yeah, the manga does seem to reference that, with Vegeta saying Krillin and Gohan were getting stronger. Not sure how high that goes, but based on this, it's definitely given me some things to think about power-wise.

Anonymous says:

"Wow. Poor Bulma captured huh. And I wonder what Vegeta will do once Frieza comes back to his ship.

I believe they should've simply used the dragon balls to transport all non evil people on the planet to Earth along with Goku and piccolo and saved themselves a lot of headache, trained in peace and then fought Frieza once ready.

Also, Goku and Vegeta never ever trained together in canon simply because Vegeta hated Goku's guts and didn't become a ssj till almost the androids had arrived. Goku trained with piccolo and Gohan making them stronger, and we'll a stronger base form stronger ssj form too plus he may have not been too worried considering he kind of outclassed future trunks by a margin and though he could take the androids. Piccolo during androids, pre fusion was probably around 50% frieza final form and post fusion probably double of an untrained ssj(Vegeta at the time was a pure untrained ssj, while Goku probably was slightly stronger). I really like the changes happening in the fic and would like to see the greater repurcussions it may bring. Also it'll be interesting seeing the mafuba on final form Frieza. Update soon"

Yeah, power levels beyond just a general scale get screwy after the Frieza Saga. I'm probably not going to bother with them, and just make it obvious who's stronger than who.

Regarding the plan, it could work(provided you were okay with good old Veggie almost certainly dying), but honestly, from a narrative perspective, I really don't want to have long time lapses in this fic any more than the source material dictates. Frieza would find his way to Earth sooner or later, but it would still represent a fairly sizable pause.

Anywho, glad you're liking the fic so far!

Guest says:

"God knows how a number that low is reasonable, remember saiyans get stronger alot quicker than namekians. Giving him a higher level helps keep him relevent, if you do have him match Goku and Vegeta what happens when they transform? It probably could've added to the story about him returning to namek with enough power to leave the namekians in awe, if done correctly. Somebody should have the namek saga about piccolo vs freiza, then have the saiyans start to peak around the android stuff. As long as its like this."

Eh, don't worry, I don't plan on making Piccolo irrelevant. If anything, fusing early helps by giving him far more potential for growth from the same training than he would've otherwise had prior to fusing with Nail. Plus, I've given some thought to him possibly picking up the Kaio-ken at some point. In any event, trust me-the Namekians will be impressed.

Geo Bong says:

"Good morning, I think this story is a swell one!" "It makes me happy too!" "Thank you very much for sharing this story so I can read it!" "Sincerely signed, Geo Bong over and out!"

Aww, thanks! Glad you liked it!

HighPriestYT says:

"A thought, occurs to me, Would it be possible to adapt anything from learning the kaioken to improve Max Power? or vice versa? the techniques due seem to have some overlap."

Yeah, I kinda alluded to that with this chapter-the two are similar enough that it likely won't take Roshi as long as it took Goku to get it down, given his experience with it. As for using that knowledge to improve Max Power, I'm not too sure. I know that, if you could get yourself to a point where you could handle combining the two, you'd become a lot more powerful. I mean, that's a 25% boost in overall power, magnified through levels of the Kaio-ken. You could basically turn a Kaio-ken Times Twenty into Times Twenty-Five with that. Given that Roshi will be learning the technique, I'll have to consider that question for the future.

T-Biggz says:

"Since Goku was assumed to have a power level of 60,000 when he arrived at planet Namek in canon after training in space on his own and easily dominated the Ginyu force I'm going to assume that both he and Piccolo have a power level of around 90,000 due to both being fairly strong prior to leaving and having someone to further push the other in their continued training.
If Vegeta's Zenkai boots puts him in the same ball park as Nail, or even above it then he shouldn't have any trouble taking on the Ginyu Force.
Although how you intend to finish the Namek Saga with Earth's Dragon Balls effectively Dead is a scenario I hope you can successfully answer."

? I could've sworn Goku's base power level was 90k when fighting Ginyu, which he hiked up to 180k with Kaio-ken x 2. I based my estimates of their final power levels on that assumption, which is what I've generally seen in videos by guys like Masakox. All I can say is their base will be a fair bit stronger than that. Also, I treated Vegeta's zenkai boost here as being similar to the one he got from Recoome, which put him fighting on par with 1st Form Frieza, if I interpreted that scene right, so I figured it'd be the same here. I know some sources put him at 250k, but it seems odd Frieza would be forced to struggle so against power less than half his own, or that Vegeta would be so confident he could face him(I know he's Vegeta, but even he has limits).

As for that problem you mentioned, wait and see.

Anywho, power levels:

Vegeta(post-zenkai): Roughly 530,000

Guldo: 6,000

Jeice, Recoome, Burter: 42,000

Ginyu: 120,000

With all of that said, thank you all for reading, have yourselves a fantastic night, and take care.