Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Saiyan Style ❯ Part III: Namek ( Chapter 3 )
Disclaimer: I do not own DBZ or any of its characters, isn't that a shocker.
Epic
By: Letta
Rating: R - NC-17
Warnings: Yaoi, violence, language, poor grammar, attempted writing, good times
Pairings: Goku X Vegeta… completely classic.
Notes: I sort of skimmed over a lot of stuff that I felt was unnecessary… if I couldn't remember it, it must not have been that important!
"denotes speaking"
*denotes thought*
//flashback//
A/N: Wow, this took awhile… I think this is the first part where I actually start to slip away (barely) from the show. Sorry it took so long, but I finally got a couple days off from work where I didn't have anything else that I had to do.
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Saiyan Style
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PART III: NAMEK
Vegeta's pod landed on Namek, creating a large crater in the process. When the door had finished opening, he stepped out onto the dusty ground. He couldn't see anything from the heart of the crater, so he walked over to the steep slope that made up part of the wall of dirt and began to ascend. When he reached the lip of the crater, he moved his eyes from side to side, surveying the area.
It was a rather nice looking planet; he'd destroyed similar ones. Its blue grass and green sky were opposite that of Earth, he noted. For some reason, he found himself comparing nearly everything to that planet and Kakkarot. Perhaps it was the cause of his failure to destroy it.
He turned on his scouter to find Frieza, and was pleased to discover that the lizard was on the other half of the planet. That would benefit him nicely. Not only could he find somewhere to hole up in until he could think of a plan, but it also gave him a little breathing space.
*****
Goku gritted his teeth as he made it to his knees. He had been on his way to Namek for a little while now, thanks to the ingenuity of Dr. Briefs. Bulma's father had managed to build a ship capable of flying to Namek based on the knowledge he gained from fixing up Kami's Namekian ship. As an added bonus, he installed a graviton that could simulate earth's gravity and greater. Goku was amazed, not to mention delighted, at how much progress he could make by training in increased gravity.
King Kai had contacted him earlier and told him how Yamcha, Tien, Chaotzu, and Piccolo had made it to his planet to train, and in less time than he had. He wasn't at all surprised by the last part. They had just finished training for a year, and each had been a lot stronger than when he had died.
King Kai had also told him that Vegeta had made his way to Namek, along with an alien named Frieza, who was supposed to be the strongest warrior Goku could ever face. He had been strictly ordered to stay away from him and he wasn't sure if he could obey that. The prospect of facing a fighter like that excited him. Perhaps he was a little more of a saiyan than he cared to admit. In light of that revelation, Goku wasn't too surprised when he found he was eagerly awaiting facing Vegeta again. The prince had been his most challenging opponent, to date.
He wasn't sure if Vegeta would still be alive when he got to Namek, however. According to King Kai, Vegeta had gotten on Frieza's bad side. Not surprisingly, it all had to do with the dragonballs, and it didn't look too good if either of them won.
With that thought in mind, Goku resolved to train as hard as he possibly could.
*****
Vegeta dipped his hands in the water. He had just killed Dodoria, Frieza's fat pink henchman. It had been easy.
He had gotten some information out of the blob before blowing him up, finding that some humans from Earth had managed to make it to the planet, and he had a pretty good idea of whom they were.
No doubt they were here for the dragonballs as well. Let them try. They wouldn't succeed, he would make sure to that. He had already taken the liberty of visiting a Namekian village and relieving them of their dragonball, and their lives, then he had hidden the ball in a nearby lake, where he figured it would safe. As long as he had just one ball, Frieza nor anyone else could make any wishes.
Suddenly, Vegeta thought of something.
*Maybe Kakkarot is with them. Those idiots of Frieza's wouldn't know he was a saiyan.* An abrupt chill of excitement ran down his spine and he couldn't help but notice the hope rising at that thought. *I must be more eager to fight him than I thought.*
*****
Goku wiped the beaded sweat from his forehead, as he headed down the metal steps of the space pod, having just halted a rigorous training session when his stomach reminded him it needed to be filled. He had recently graduated to twenty g's, more than pleased at how quickly he was ascending.
His feet padded along the tile floor of the new level, stopping at the massive door of the oversized fridge. Gently tugging at the handle, the fridge swung open to reveal it was stockpiled with food, more than a normal man could hope to eat in well over six months.
"This is all there is?!" Goku said to himself, as he began to rifle through its contents. After about a minute of pillaging the shelves, and loading his arms as full as he could, he kicked the door shut and sat down at a table to eat.
Half an hour later, Goku collapsed on his bed, exhausted and filled. *I'll bet I'll be able to beat Vegeta soon.* he thought as he drifted off to sleep.
*****
Vegeta stopped as he nearly ran into Zarbon. By the time he had sensed the henchman, it was too late to hide anywhere. The green alien looked down his nose at the saiyan prince, a simple gesture meant to imply that he was superior.
"So, Vegeta, where have you been hiding?"
"In your ass," the prince spat.
It didn't take long for the two to begin fighting. At first, it looked as if Vegeta had the upper hand, until Zarbon transformed into a grotesque, more powerful from.
It was quick for things to go downhill for Vegeta after that. The last attack, ending the battle, was from Zarbon, sending the battered prince into a small lake. The green alien remained hovering high above the water. After waiting a moment to see if he'd come back up, Zarbon left to go report to Frieza.
Vegeta wasn't sure how long it was, or if he had been conscious, but when he came around, he realized he was under water, and running out of breath. He forced himself to the surface, sluggishly at first, but then with more urgency.
He aimed for a small black shadow just barely discernable, then with lightening speed, shot his hand up to clasp around whatever hovered above the surface and jerked it back downward. The flapping of wings under the water's surface created too much of a commotion for Vegeta's momentary tastes, so he grabbed a hold of its neck with his other hand and pulled. The bird suddenly went still and Vegeta stuck his head through the surface, gulping in the fresh air. He let go of the nearly forgotten bird as he painfully swam his way to shore, laboriously pulling himself up on the dry bank when he got there.
He was barely out of the water when he sensed the return of Zarbon's ki. He was too badly beaten to go anywhere fast, so he didn't try. Instead, he settled on crawling away from the water's edge. All too soon, though, he collapsed, and before he blacked out, he saw Zarbon's feet land in front of him, and felt strong arms hoist him off the ground.
Vegeta slowly returned to conscious thought, finding himself in an isolation tank. His injuries had healed vastly, but not completely. He noted that he couldn't sense a doctor in the room, so it wouldn't be noted that he had woken up. He had more than a sneaking suspicion that Frieza wanted to ask him about the location of a certain dragonball he had managed to grab before Frieza or any of his men could. Guaranteed, the lizard had only wanted him awake and not well.
Quickly, Vegeta began to formulate a plan. He lowered his power level to borderline nonexistence, and smirked to himself. When the doctor returned to look at his monitors, it would look like he was barely hanging on. The prince settled back down and allowed himself to fall asleep.
*****
Goku murmured slightly in his sleep. His dream was confusing, but not upsetting. He entered into sleep with the distinct feeling that someone was searching for him, trying to feel for him. With a blazing curiosity, he reached out, hoping to get an idea of who or what was looking for him.
It was dark all around him, black with shades of navy blue occasionally dancing across his vision. At first he didn't find anything, but he reached out again, and got the impression that he had touched something. Almost tentatively, he shot his mind out again, this time grabbing onto something, while simultaneously being gripped and pulled himself.
It seemed like he and the unknown force were being pulled towards each other at such an alarming rate that the impact of meeting would severely injure both of them, so Goku tried letting go, but the force gripped him tighter.
He struggled.
Then he could see it. A glimmer in the distance at first, but then it took shape. Goku shut his eyes tightly as he prepared himself for the inevitable impact, but at the last possible second, he was stopped. Cautiously, he opened his eyes and blinked a few times.
"Vegeta, what are you doing here?" Goku asked, surprise lighting his features.
"Looking for you, baka."
"Ready for a rematch or what?" Goku looked at the warrior before him. By all means, Vegeta was a force to be reckoned with, but Goku didn't feel any sort of apprehension. In fact, he was startled to find himself rather pleased to see the other man. He found that at that particular moment, he would like nothing better than a rematch.
"Something like that," the prince answered. Goku couldn't tell if the man was being cryptic or indifferent. To him, Vegeta was a mystery, but a challenging and exciting one. That was why fighting him was so much fun.
"What are we doing here, anyway?" Goku asked cocking his head to the side.
"How should I know? It just happens to be where we both ended up. The question you should be asking is what we're going to do now."
"Well, we could always spar," Goku suggested, somewhat hopefully. The prince looked him over critically, then nodded sharply.
"Yes, we could always spar," Vegeta agreed.
*****
Vegeta came to quickly, his senses returning to him immediately. He was satisfied to note he was fully healed. He also noted a relatively small ki was present in the room, but for the moment, he ignored it.
He had dreamed about Kakkarot. At first, he had been surrounded by darkness, but seemed to know someone else was there, also. Out of curiosity, he had sent his mind out to find them, and felt something touch him, but it disappeared too quickly for him to react. Then it came a second time, and latched onto him, and he grabbed onto it at the same time. Suddenly, he found himself speeding towards the other presence, but it tried letting go in a moment of uncertainty so he had tightened his grip. Whoever was on the other end struggled.
Then, he saw something, and they were stopped, facing each other. It was Kakkarot, eyes squeezed tightly shut, and his arms up to block, his entire body assuming a defensive position. Vegeta smirked in amusement. Then the man opened his wide, blinking eyes and looked at him. His clear voice rose up and asked him something.
To Vegeta, the exchange of words were unimportant. He just let his eyes travel the length of his adversary's body, noting the man was clad only in a pair of boxer shorts. Vegeta remained silent about it, but realized he was dressed in torn and cracked armor that was dripping a blue colored liquid. It was as if he had been removed directly from the isolation tank and placed there. He figured that the same must be true for Kakkarot, the man had been transported as he had.
"Well, we could always spar," Goku suggested, somewhat hopefully. The prince found himself lured back into the conversation, then nodded, after looking over Kakkarot once more.
"Yes, we could always spar," Vegeta had agreed. However, before they could begin, Kakkarot was snapped back, and Vegeta was pulled back as well. As near as he could figure, Kakkarot had woken up, probably after having fallen out of bed.
Vegeta now turned his attention back to the ki in the room. He figured it was the doctor, although it seemed as though the man was taunting him.
"You're not so tough. The mighty saiyans? Ha! A few scratches and they're done! Look at you, barely hanging on!" Though the words were muffled through the tank, Vegeta could make them out. *So he thinks he can get away with insulting the saiyan race? We'll see.*
The prince abruptly powered up, sending his energy outward, blasting through the glass and instantly killing the man beyond. Quickly, Vegeta hopped out, sent a beam of energy through the wall, and ran behind the cover of the other isolation tank in the room. If he could pull this off…
Roughly half a minute had passed by from the time he had blasted out of the tank until Zarbon and Frieza charged into the room.
"He's escaped!" the green alien cried.
"Don't just stand there, go find him! I want that dragonball! You have one hour," Frieza ordered, as Zarbon shot out the hole created in the side of the ship by Vegeta's second blast.
Vegeta silently dashed out of the room and raced down the corridor to Frieza's main viewing room. There, resting on the floor of the ship were five dragonballs. A small blast removed the room's large window and Vegeta began picking up the dragonballs and throwing them hard, and well out of site to an island roughly a mile and a half away. When he was done, he shot up to where he spotted Zarbon.
"Looking for me?" The man spun around to face the prince. "Here," he said, throwing a large ball of energy at Zarbon, while he dashed out of site to hide around the side of the ship. Taunting that prettyboy alien was too hard to resist.
Ignoring the man's angry shouts, he dove under the water and swam to the other island to collect the dragonballs. He would have loved to stay and fight Zarbon, but with Frieza so near, and not having collected all the dragonballs yet, he knew better.
When he resurfaced, he was pleased to note that Zarbon was already far away, looking for him. The same trick could work on him twice, it seemed. Vegeta climbed onto the shore of the island and began searching for his looted treasure. It didn't take him long.
*Just one more, and the dragon can grant my wish!*
*****
Bulma blew out heavily, the breath pushing her bangs up. Her head was resting in her hands as she disinterestedly stared down at a magazine. All Gohan and Krillin wanted her to do was to hide in a cave! While they were off zipping about the planet, she was stuck sitting with the bats and with nothing to do other than leaf through old magazines. She was just thankful that she was brilliant enough to bring a capsule house.
She was about to go stir crazy! Bulma narrowed her eyes, a sudden anger rising up in her as she once again thought about how she was left stranded. She stood abruptly, knocking the chair she was sitting on off-balance. Beginning to pace, she planned on what exactly she was going to say when those two returned.
As if on cue, a sharp rap came from the front door of the capsule house. Bulma stopped pacing and stalked over to the door, throwing it open and immediately began on a tirade. Gohan and Krillin automatically flinched and leaned back slightly.
"And just where have you two been! I've been sitting here for hours with nothing at all to do! You just take off, saying you'll be right back, but it takes you… Hey, who's that?" she asked, taking note of a small Namekian child.
"This is Dende," Gohan said, "We're going to keep him with us for awhile until we can find a way to get him back safely to his family."
"What happened to them?"
"His village was attacked by a guy named Frieza and his men. He's bad news," Krillin explained.
"Well hi, Dende. I'm Bulma," she said, thrusting out a hand at him as she introduced herself, completely forgetting about being mad at Gohan and Krillin.
"Hi," he said shyly, taking her hand and shaking it. Within minutes, they were all inside the house and seated before heaping plates of food, when they noticed Dende wasn't eating.
"Nameks don't need to eat to survive. We just need water," he explained.
"Then why do you plant crops?" Gohan asked referring to the of the rows of sowed dirt he had seen in the villages.
"Those? Well, the elder Nameks say that our planet was once covered with a type of plant that made it much more beautiful than it is today, but violent storms all but destroyed them, including our people. Only one Namek was left alive, and he set about rebuilding the planet and our people. So now we plant them in hopes of making the planet as beautiful as it once was. But now with Frieza and his men, I'm afraid it's hopeless, especially since Guru is getting old and he may die soon," he finished, tears welling in his ebony eyes.
"Dende, how can one Namek repopulate an entire planet?" Bulma asked, curiously.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, you see, there's a mother and a father to …" Bulma began, choosing her words carefully.
"Guru is father to all."
"You mean…? Wait, I've got it! Guru is a female Namek who was carrying eggs and…"
"What's a female?" Dende asked, his expression becoming confused.
"Well, there are two kinds of people, male and female. I'm a female, you know how you have brothers and sisters…" Bulma tried, slightly flustered.
"We're all brothers on Namek."
"You mean… there's only one gender on this planet?! How boring!" Bulma cried.
"Hey Dende, this Guru, does he know what's going on? You said he's getting old, and maybe someone should warn him that eventually Frieza is going to go after him," Krillin thought aloud. "Who knows, maybe he can help us find a dragonball!"
"What?! How do you know about the dragonballs?"
*****
Vegeta felt the ebb of a power level tug at his senses. He glanced to the sky to see a short, bald guy streak across the horizon holding a dragonball. Knitting his brows in concentration, he realized it was one of the fighters from Earth, the one who was going to finish him off before Kakkarot talked him out of it.
*So they are here. Maybe Kakkarot is nearby.* Before he knew it, Vegeta found himself speeding along after the man, hoping he wouldn't notice him until after he was led him to the saiyan in question. It didn't take long after that for Vegeta to sense a large power level just take up chase after him. *So Zarbon thinks he can just sneak up on me, eh?* Vegeta smirked, resolving to wait until after he landed to face off against Frieza's green pretty boy.
He followed the baldy to a small island where he saw him talking with an unfamiliar blue haired woman. The moment he landed, they both jumped up, terror etched onto their faces as they unconsciously took a step back. He smirked. Since he didn't sense a strong enough power level to be Kakkarot, he figured he wasn't around, if he came.
"I see you have a dragonball, better give it to me."
"No way, Vegeta!" the cueball rebuked, though his voice was shaky.
"All right, have it your way." Out of the corner of his eye, Vegeta noticed a small spot in the sky suddenly grow bigger. "It seems we have company."
No sooner had he spoken than Zarbon landed. "Hey, where'd that guy get a dragonball?" the green freak asked himself, looking at Krillin, which obviously unnerved the bald man, though it was doubtful he had picked up what Zarbon had said.
Vegeta heard a lot of whispering between the two humans when suddenly the woman waved towards Zarbon and called out, "Yoohoo, green is my absolute favorite color!"
"Hn. Silly girl," Vegeta smirked. He had to admit, for a human, she was very attractive, though he doubted she had much in the way of brains after the last comment.
"Vegeta, you'd better tell your little friends to hand over that dragonball right away," Zarbon warned. The saiyan prince looked at the green alien evenly, then assumed a fighting stance. Zarbon took the cue and did the same.
They began to battle, Vegeta getting in more hits than Zarbon. His blasts met their target while he avoided most of the returns.
"You know you can't beat me unless you transform into that hideous monster!" Vegeta taunted.
"You have no right to be calling me hideous, Vegeta!" Despite the rebuke, Zarbon, began to gather power for his transformation regardless. It didn't take long for his legs and arms to bulge out and his face to take on the appearance of a frog on radiation.
"You should know better after your last beating, Vegeta, that you can't beat me when I'm in this form," came the raspy voice. Behind them, the woman let out a shriek.
"We'll see about that." Vegeta then launched himself at the mutated form of Zarbon, fist drawn back for a strike. With a previously unpossessed speed, Zarbon shot out of the way, and countered with a blast of energy. Vegeta easily dodged it, and shot off a blast of his own.
The two continued on like this when Vegeta caught sight of the earthlings making a break for it. A powerful kick sent Zarbon crashing to the ground while he released a spray of energy blasts in their path. "And where do you think you're going?" he called out, as they came to a skidding halt, the woman screaming her head off.
His attention was once again turned to Zarbon who had quickly recovered and was now preparing to smash his fist into Vegeta's stomach. It was apparent that Vegeta had the upper hand as he dodged another countless blow, allowing Zarbon to shoot past.
Zarbon spun around and gaped at the prince. "Where did you get all this power?"
Vegeta failed to answer save for his trademark smirk. Another round of blows were exchanged and blocked when Zarbon suddenly realized that if he didn't do something drastic, he was probably going to be killed. Gathering all his available energy, he released an assault of blasts at the prince, the brilliant light soon covering up his image, and a cloud of smoke beginning to form.
Zarbon remained where he was, panting to catch his breath, but grinning triumphantly just the same, until a hard blow to the back of his head sent him careening towards the ground. Then, Vegeta was in front of him and stopped his descent… with his knee. The prince never let up after that, until a large blast of energy killed the former pretty boy.
Vegeta looked over his shoulder at the now terrified humans. Too easy. "Give me the dragonball."
"No way!" Krillin called back, but Vegeta could tell it wouldn't take much persuading before he gave in.
"Look baldy, you can give it to me, or I can take it from your lifeless hands."
"Listen Krillin, you'd better just give him it!" the woman said, cowering behind him. *Maybe she does have a brain in that pretty head after all.* Vegeta thought.
"But Bulma…" there was indecision in his voice.
"Krillin we don't have a choice! You either give it to him, or we're both dead!" Vegeta smirked, the girl got it through her skull pretty quick.
"All right, but I don't like it!" With his mind made up, Krillin held out his hands, offering the dragonball to Vegeta.
"For being so cooperative, I think I'll hold out on your deaths," Vegeta said, taking the dragonball and shooting off into the sky. Behind him, Bulma fell to the ground in relief, while Krillin stood there with clenched fists.
*Finally, I have all the dragonballs!* On his way back though, Vegeta realized he forgot to ask if Kakkarot came with them, but he figured he could find out later. It was when he nearly ran into Gohan when he figured out Kakkarot hadn't come. Frieza's men said there had been three from Earth, and the woman, cueball, and Kakkarot's brat made three.
The kid understandably didn't seem too happy to see him. He was on a tiny island, barely big enough to even be considered such. He figured the kid had probably stopped to rest for a second. He noted the boy's ruffled appearance and how filthy his clothes were, covered with dirt and sweat.
"You shouldn't be out by yourself, there's dangerous men out here," Vegeta started, smirking. "You don't want to get hurt or anything. But you are part saiyan, and we saiyans should stick together. After all, there's not too many of us left. We have to watch out for each other."
He couldn't help but notice how the boy's eyes were glued to his dragonball. He also had the distinct feeling that the brat was hiding something.
"Where'd you get that dragonball?!"
"Your cueball friend and that gorgeous girl back there gave it to me," he smirked, noting the kid's horrified expression at this admission.
"You better not have done anything to them!" Gohan growled.
"I wouldn't worry about them. They were smart enough not to make too much of a fuss."
A wandering part of his mind started noticing the similarities between the boy and his father. He reached his hand out and put it on the boy's head, ruffling his hair for a moment, before grabbing onto it, and slamming the brat's head against his knee. He finished it off by kicking the kid a few feet away, the boy landing on the bottom of a small ledge. Nothing to seriously hurt him, but more to warn him.
Vegeta laughed and took off to the sky once more. He was in a good mood, now that he finally had all the balls; he could at last become immortal. He frowned inwardly though, when he had ruffled the kid's hair, he hadn't actually meant to do it, he was thinking about Kakkarot. He roughed up the kid slightly to make up for his mistake. He merely failed to see why thinking about Kakkarot would make him ruffle his son's hair. Absently, he started to wonder if he was becoming obsessed. He usually didn't get so worked up about revenge.
*****
Gohan scowled until he could barely feel Vegeta's power anymore. Then he laughed. Sitting up, he looked over at the dragonball he had been carrying when he sensed Vegeta. He had hidden it behind the ledge when he felt the prince, and it was the only place he could have really hidden it in such a short amount of time.
"At least he didn't find my dragonball!" The dragon radar had led him to a destroyed Namekian village, where bodies lay all over the ground. He couldn't just leave them like that, so he buried all of them. It had taken him awhile. Then, when he was done, the dragon radar had led him to a lake right on the edge of the village. He found the dragonball in it. He couldn't figure out why it was in such a weird place, but he wanted to get back to Bulma and Krillin rather than try and think of why.
*Vegeta came from where Bulma was! I hope she's okay* Gohan remembered worriedly, then shooting off, dragonball in tow. He sped as fast as he could, until he finally saw the cave in view, with Krillin and Bulma standing outside.
"Gohan! We thought you had maybe run into Vegeta!" Krillin called out, running towards him.
"I did, but he didn't really do anything."
"Then why didn't he take your dragonball?" Bulma asked, bringing the orange ball into subject.
"Oh that," Gohan laughed, putting a hand behind his head, "I hid it from him."
"Wait a minute, when did you meet Vegeta?" Bulma wondered.
"On his way back from here. I saw he had our dragonball."
"…And he was going in the direction you came from?"
"Yeah. I came back from a Namekian village. It was horrible, someone killed them all, and I couldn't just leave them like that, so I buried them. That's why it took me so long. Then, I found the dragonball in a lake right next to it."
"I bet Vegeta was responsible for that," Bulma began, "so he must've hidden the dragonball in the lake. Which means he doesn't have all the dragonballs, but he'll probably be back once he puts two and two together. We should probably find another island." With a nod of their heads, Krillin and Gohan agreed.
"That reminds me," Krillin said, turning to Gohan, "Guru gave me a huge power-up, and I bet he could do the same for you. He said as long as someone has hidden power, he can bring it to the surface, so it should make you a lot stronger. I think we should go after we get Bulma somewhere safe, it might give us a chance. Who knows, maybe we could even beat Vegeta!"
"I say we take all the help we can get!" Gohan agreed.
*****
Goku was up to one-hundred g's. He couldn't believe how strong he had gotten. According to the last transmission from Dr. Briefs, he should be arriving at Namek anytime now. He couldn't wait. He wanted to test out his new power, and he wanted Vegeta to have the honor.
Goku had to admit, his blood burned hotly in his veins when he thought about fighting Vegeta again. Almost as if he were born to do that and nothing else. Ever since he had that dream, it was all that had occupied his mind. Though they hadn't actually sparred -he had fallen out of bed and woken up- it was the thought and feelings that accompanied it. After all, Vegeta was the last full blooded saiyan besides himself, it would make sense that he'd want to fight with him.
*****
Vegeta raced after the human and half-saiyan, his anger swelling with each passing second. The brat had stole his stolen dragonball! It wasn't long before a tall pillar of rock swam into view, and before much longer, he saw that there was a building on the top of it. In his way though, was the short, bald man named Krillin.
"Out of my way, baldy!" he growled.
"Forget it, Vegeta." The prince was too upset to waste his time teaching the man proper respect, so he instead shot past him to the Namekian structure. Krillin followed after him, landing in between the saiyan and the entrance to the building, although he highly doubted that the walls would stop the prince.
To his immense relief, however, Nail, Guru's personal protector, stepped halfway outside the doorway behind him, obviously having sensed the second power. A few seconds more and Krillin felt a huge upsurge of power, a telltale sign that Gohan had received his powerup.
"Who else is in there?!" Vegeta demanded. In answer, Gohan stepped outside, moving past Nail to stand next to Krillin.
"Guru says he senses a large power heading towards the planet. You think it's my dad?"
"It must be! Bulma said he should be here anytime."
"Kakkarot's coming?" Vegeta asked, trying desperately to hide his own interest. "Wait a minute," he cried, straining his senses harder to be certain, "that's not Kakkarot! It's the Ginyu Force!"
"The who?" Krillin asked.
"Frieza's personal band of fighters to do all his dirty work. If he called them, he must be getting desperate. They'll come after you and your dragonball, too. I recommend we team up and use the dragonballs to wish me immortality, it's our only chance!"
"Wait a minute, Vegeta. Why not wish Gohan immortal? Call me crazy, but I don't exactly trust you," Krillin reproached.
"Sure, the kid may have the power, but he doesn't have the experience!"
"I don't like the idea of wasting our only wish on you," Krillin replied, evenly.
"Don't you know the dragonballs grant three wishes?" Nail suddenly spoke up.
"You mean they don't grant just one…?" Krillin furrowed his brows and thought for a minute. "All right, Vegeta, we'll let you use our dragonball for your wish, but we get the other two. I don't like it, but it's our only choice."
"Deal."
*****
Bulma looked up as she felt a tug at her leg. She had tied the dragonball to her ankle after it had rolled into the ocean and caused her a whole world of trouble. This pull could only mean the dragonball was moving. She watched as Krillin yanked on the knot, finally freeing the orange globe.
"Just what do you think you're doing?! You said you'd be right back, and it's been hours! Do you know how much I've been through while you were gone?!…"
"Sorry Bulma," he said, looking up and grinning.
"Krillin hurry up with that dragonball!" came the snap of a rough, impatient voice.
"Got it." With the dragonball in tow, Krillin shot up into the sky, and Vegeta followed. After they had left, the shock was still sinking in.
"Vegeta and… Krillin?"
*
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Hmm? Getting better or worse? I can't believe it's already July 8th. Wow. Next week, I get to go to Georgia, won't that be fun? For the Georgians. I get teased in the South. They say I talk funny.