Chapter Eleven: Victims of Frieza
Twenty days have passed since the gang left Earth in Kami's modified old spaceship to head to Kami's homeworld known as Namek. In hopes of collecting and using the native's Dragon Balls to bring back their deceased friends that died from the battle against the Saiyans. However, the task at hand is not so easy to accomplish. Due to learning that they might be in competition in searching for the Dragon Balls and granting a wish based on what John has told them, who is by the way currently still on earth recovering from the injuries he gained from himself and the fight against Turles. The gang might possibly be facing up against an evil tyrant by the name of Frieza.
On the ship, the gang was passing the time to keep from being irritated or going insane during the trip. Goku, Krillen, and Gohan spent the time doing image training, while Chi Chi was doing push-ups until her biceps gave out. As for Bulma, she spent most of the time either keeping an eye on the piloting controls, doing some serious image training with Chi Chi, eating junk food, or just doing what she is currently doing. She was on her bed asleep in her half-gray sleeveless shirt and gray panties. Snoring quietly with her mind in her dreams.
"Alright, no more." Chi Chi stopped doing pushups as she grabbed her nearby silver container filled with cold water.
She sat down and drank her water while eyeing Goku, her son, and her best friend sitting in a circle in a meditation position with their eyes closed. She watched the faces that they were making and saw they were training hard in the mind, as she saw that it would be wise to let them finish their training. Chi Chi sat her bottle down beside her and leaned her head up against the nonmetal wall. During their time in deep deep space and out of their Galaxy, Chi Chi has been starting to get fret in her head and in her heart. She just can not stop thinking about the guy named Frieza.
Is he that strong to what John says?. Is Frieza truly beyond heartless than the old and dead Red Ribbon Army once was?. So many thoughts and questions were going through Chi Chi's mind to no end. During her first years married to Goku, he did not mention anything about Frieza. Heck, she recalled that her own brother-in-law never talks much about the forced occupation that his and Goku's people were oppressed.
"Boy, I can never imagine being tired from sleeping."
Chi Chi looked up to see that Bulma is up and energized. "I do know if I should tell you good morning or good evening in space."
"We are in deep deep space at the speed of light and out of our Galaxy." Bulma got up out of her bed and walked towards the capsule corp mini fridge. "It really does not matter."
Chi Chi watched her sister-in-law pull out a can of beer. "I thought John told you that drinking liquor is bad for you?. He values your health, you know."
Bulma gulped a few sips from her can. "True. But he is not on this ship to stop me to have a little bit of fun. Besides I am drinking because I'm just too damn worried about what is waiting for us on Namek. Other than Kami and Piccolo's people and the Dragon Balls."
"You mean Frieza?." Chi Chi plugged her single-travel stove before putting a big deep pot on top. "I am starting to question my brother-in-law about this Frieza person."
Bulma came closer to Chi Chi while sipping her beer. "You and I both know that John would not be joking about certain things. One of them being…Frieza."
Chi Chi went over to take out enough vegetables, beef tongues, chitterlings, and a whole gallon carton of bouillon. Then she asked Bulma to help chop the vegetables while she chopped pieces of the beef tongues and chitterlings. The wife of Goku is planning on making supper of beef tongue and chitterling stew. A classic recipe from her hometown. Bulma put the chopped vegetables in the pot of boiling broth.
Chi Chi continued the conversation. "Sometimes people over-extract things or people. Frieza probably did not hear any of the conversations that Turles and Nappa were saying. We can not prove that at all."
Bulma crushed her empty beer can with her forehead and then basketball shot it in the nearby trash can. "I doubt that Goku has ever told you this about John. He sometimes wakes up in the middle of the night after having terrifying nightmares about Frieza or any of the Cold Family coming to Earth, in the mindset of wanting to either destroy it for finding out that he and Goku escaped genocide or wanting to conquer the planet just to enslave us."
"Goku never mentioned that to me before. Assuming that John just brushed it off saying that he does not need to worry. Right?." said Chi Chi, while adding seasoning to the boiling pot.
"Probably so. At first, I took his word but then started to get worried when his trauma episodes kept happening." Bulma put her leg over the other to relax better. "I managed to make John tell me the nightmares that keep resurfacing in his head. This is before we got sexually married and we were hunting the Dragon Balls for the first time."
Chi Chi and Bulma continued on and on with the conversation. Meanwhile, Goku is putting the heat against Krillin and Gohan in image training and is pretty much winning the fight. Gohan and Krillin's body language were talking while Bulma and Chi Chi ignored everything around them as they continued on and on with their conversation. In the image training, Krillin and Gohan were working hard together, trying to beat Goku but the full-blooded Saiyan was not the one to give up so easily. Especially when smelling his wife's cooking and going right ahead using Kaioken and knocking the two down with no hesitation.
Gohan and Krillin jumped back and snapped out from image training while trying to regain their surroundings.
"Ah, Dad, I thought you said you were not going to use kaioken this time?." Gohan got up off the floor.
Goku innocently chuckles while rubbing the back of his head. "Sorry, Son, it is just that when I smell your mom's cooking, I just can't help but to finish up training."
Krillin chuckled while getting up off the floor. "Typical Goku. That will not change for anything."
"You got that right. You boys ready to eat?." Chi Chi said when making Goku a large bowl.
"Yes, Mom, I'm starving!." Gohan spoke with enthusiasm.
"Glad to hear it." Bulma said when handing her nephew his food.
All five sat down and ate their meal while talking about random things. To pass the time they talked about what Namek would look like when arriving on that planet. The five were taking the moment to calm down before being mentally on what is going down in Namek. But they were not prepared for some issues in space. Suddenly, the five got themselves in the crossfire in a field of asteroids in which Bulma had to put her pilot skills in high gear. The others hold on to whatever is bolted down. Bulma stirred the ship left to right, up and down from getting attacked by the asteroids.
"Guys we are in the clear." Bulma relaxed. "What the?."
"What do you mean, What the?." Chi Chi came over to where her sister in law is.
Goku, Krillin, and Gohan ran over and saw what the other two were seeing. There in the space area, all five can see their own ship flying straight at them. Which is impossible to say the least. Bulma tried to steer the ship away from making contact with the identical ship. But for some unknown reason, the ship is not moving, instead, it is being pulled directly towards it.
"Bulma?." Krillin saw they were getting closer and closer.
"Brace yourselves for impact, you guys!." Bulma yelled.
After giving the heads up and not having to wait any longer they made contact with the identical ship. They were expecting to die from the forced crash but it did not come. Instead, they were still alive. To their surprise, they noticed a bunch of armed kids surrounding their ship after opening their tight eyes.
"Huh?. What in the world?." Goku said when seeing the kids with guns in their hands.
"Wait, so the ship that we thought is ours is basically a reflection of their ship." Chi Chi comprehended.
Bulma then said. "That ship blends in the background of deep space. Impressive technology."
"Alright, whoever is inside that ship needs to come out and inform us of who you are." a teen spoke, aiming his weapon. "Or we force our way in."
"They sound serious." Gohan went over to where to exit the ship. "We should do what he says before things get too heated."
"Yeah, you are right, sweetie." Chi Chi grabbed Goku by the hand. "Let us do it."
Bulma shrugged and followed Krillin. The five exits the level down to meet the ringleader who had his followers having their guns pointing at them. They eyed them and see they were anxious, hostile, and even aggressive for their own self-protection.
"We mean you kids no harm." Bulma spoke up with her hands up. "Honest."
"You five look pretty strong and dress funny." The kid scanned them head to toe. "Are you working for Freiza?."
"Freiza?." Goku looked at the kid with shock. "Are you guys running from Frieza?."
The kid lowered his gun. Hearing this question and seeing right away that they were not loyal workers of Frieza. "We are the only survivors and victims of Frieza, from our home planet."
"What do you mean by that, kid?." Chi Chi asked.
"I mean that Frieza and his men came to our planet a long time ago. When he came to our world he gave us a choice. Either submit to him and work for him or lose our lives." the teen started explaining. "Some submitted. Some took the fight against his army and lost their lives. Eventually, our people submitted and worked for Frieza. We did every single thing to our ability for that cold-blooded tyrant. We went hand and foot for him. Then once he sees that our usefulness and service had reached their conclusion, he ordered his men to genocide all of us. The adults put up a weak fight while giving us enough time for the remaining kids to get on the escape ship. We had more ships but the remaining of our people were killed before taking off."
Hearing one of the living eyewitness victims of what Frieza is capable of just proves without a reason of a doubt what John means. This made Chi Chi worry as Goku held his mate close to him. He has a look of seriousness as he remembered everything that his big brother had been telling him all these years when he was just a kid. Frieza is indeed horrifying. Bulma looked at the scare in the eyes of the little kids as it put a sharp pang in her heart. No kid should ever deserve to be torn away from their parents or go through some major trauma. Ever.
"Let me ask you, kids something." Krillin spoke up. "Does Frieza ever mention ever wanting to live forever and not wanting age?."
The ringleader of the group was puzzled by that question. The other kids were unaware about any of Frieza's men ever mentioning anything about the tyrant ever talking about wanting to live forever. The question can not be answered right away or get the chance, due to large rumble disturbance as it shook the ship and got everyone alerted big time.
"Sir!." a female teen came running in. "We are caught in a major asteroid field!."
"Asteroid Field!?." The ringleader rushed to where the control room was.
"Hey, Kid, watch out!." Bulma flew forward and grabbed the kid.
Bulma flew the teen away from the falling debris. "You almost got killed!."
"You saved me. Why?." the ringleader asked in shock.
Bulma got the kid back to his feet. "Cause that is what good people do. Now, take me to the control room. I can get all of us out of this jam."
The ringleader nodded and guided Bulma to the control room, while Goku and the three managed to keep harm away from the kids. Goku used his kaioken to quickly swoop a few kids away from a large fallen ceiling. Chi Chi helped Krillin and Gohan stopped a fallen piece from crushing a few kids and then threw it to the side. Bulma reached the control room and quickly pulled a teen out from the pilot seat. Then she sat in the seat and went right away operating the ship.
"Hold on to your asses, kids!." Bulma informed as she steered the ballooned-shaped ship through the asteroid field.
"You are quite good." commented a teen.
Bulma did not distract herself from bragging and praising herself. She needed to get their butts out of this situation. They are the only ones to get to Namek and wish their friends back. Bulma just can not let everyone down. She steered over a large asteroid and then made a sharp turn around a couple of asteroids and then used the ship's fire cannons and blasted a few asteroid debris. Her efforts got them out of the deep end as they found themselves in clear deep space.
"Yes!." Bulma happily cheered before getting up.
"You did it!. Thank you so very much!." The ringleader spoke with gratitude as he stuck his hand out. "We owe you big time."
Bulma smiled and shook his hand. "The pleasure is all mine, kid."
After helping to fix the damaged ceiling and being informed on what the plan those kids have set out to do. Which was going to a relative planet that their other people live on and starting all over. On the plus side for them, the ringleader informed them that they so happened to fly past Namek and gave them the coordinates to get there. Meanwhile back on Earth and still in the hospital, John watched tv to pass the time and keep his anxiety at its low. His father in law has been keeping him updated on the progress of his ship being constructed and everything that he has requested from him.
Currently, he has his mother in law to keep him company as she is in her chair knitting something. John has never doubted anything he said about what waits on Namek. Just thinking about Frieza, leaves John to remember every single detail of his childhood being taken and destroyed from him. Heck, he never had a childhood to begin with. All he ever knew was being groomed to be the next ruler of the Saiyans and being forced to be nothing under Frieza and men's eyes.
"Oh, I hope you like this shirt that I am making for you, dear." Mrs. Brief spoke in her cheery voice.
John looked at his mom in law and saw the sized shirt being knitted. "Looks pretty good, Mother Brief. You knitted my favorite color."
Mrs. Brief smiled at getting praised. "Why of course, John. Yellow is your favorite color. I'm your mother in law. It is my job to know everything about my son in law."
John gave her a pleased smile before looking back at the tv. "You are the best. Compared to my own mom. Wish that I was not beaten up and wrapped up too badly, I would be doing some training by now. Going over my limits is not always the best route to take."
"I see." Mrs. Brief resumed knitting. "Bulma is a lucky woman to have a nice strong handsome man who is so willing and determined. That is sexy in my books. Plus, you are an alien on top of that. My daughter has won the husband lottery with you."
"It is pronounced Saiyan. Alien is such a common and unpopular term for nonnative people on the planet." John changed the channel after seeing another commercial.
John tried his best not to worry too much. Yeah, Goku is there with them and he has learned the kaioken. But has no mastery of body control and prevents it from being damaged when going to the next level over three and beyond. King Kai told them that it would never happen as it is highly impossible. Even if Goku has to use kaioken against Frieza, he has to hope that the tyrant is having an off day but that is doubtful.
"I should have told Goku not to fight Frieza. Goku is going to be fatigued and hurt if he doubles his kaioken." said John, looking at the ceiling. "Goku or the others are on the bottom of the power level chart, while Frieza and his family are on the top level."
"Oh, I would not worry too much." Mrs. Brief took the moment to drink her tea. "Once you get healed and catch up with the others, you will make Frieza wish that he never hurt our friends and family."
"One can only hope, Mommy Brief." John spoke sadly.
Meanwhile, between while, back in deep space. Bulma got dressed and sat in the control chair as she saw the green planet dead ahead. While Goku stayed training in his mind and training really hard as he needs to sharpen his fight skills up. Now, Goku is getting mentally worried about the whole Frieza thing after hearing what he did to the kids' homeworld.
"Let us hope that nothing is waiting for our asses." commented Chi Chi.
(A/N): Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Happy Memorial Day. Excelsior!.