Dragonball Divergence by TokiNabi

Disclaimer: Dragonball, Z and GT belong to Akira Toriyama and Toei. Some of the dialogue and plot points in this fanfic are from the Dragonball manga. The rest however, is my own work. This is simply a work of fiction for fun and not for the purposes of profit.

Notes: /text/ - refers to dialogue spoken in another language than the main characters'. In this case, most of it is to indicate Namekian, but it is also used to indicate when Freeza speaks in his own native language.

Chapter 09: Hostility

-x-x-x-

Guru felt it right down into his bones, the now familiar sharp pain that accompanied the death of his children. He bowed his head miserably at his helplessness and tried again to conceive a way to save the remaining survivors of his family.

"/Lord Guru…/" Nail said quietly.

"/Please deliver a message to all of the villages for me Nail. Everyone must move from their homes and go into hiding./" Guru said. "/It is not safe to go off planet now. The invaders are destroying any ships they see in the skies. Move quickly and be careful./"

"/Of course./" Nail nodded. "/Forgive me if I cause you any discomfort, but I will move your home underground as quickly as I can./"

A look of surprise crossed Guru's face and he shook his head. "/I am old and close to my time…there is no need./"

"/That is not true. We all still need you./" Nail bowed and before Guru could say anymore, he left to relocate the elder's home.

-x-x-x-

It was one week and a half into the flight and the ship already seemed too small.

Chi-Chi had always gotten along well enough with her fellow travellers before, but those feelings of camaraderie seemed to fade with each day. She had hardly gotten a moment to herself since the trip began and the few times she could be alone weren't nearly enough. All the noise and closeness had been refreshing at first, as she had mostly been by herself at home except for when she was with Goku and Gohan – but now the lack of alone time was beginning to wear on her nerves. No matter where she was - if it wasn't the bathroom and she wasn't using the toilet or tub - someone else was there with her. Even the psychically projected training sessions she had with Gohan and Krillin were doing little to ease her growing irritation. And judging by the glares Bulma shot at anyone who came within two feet of her, Krillin's nervous looks, Launch's agitated shifting and Gohan choosing to discreetly sit in a corner to read while his feet rattled against the floor, Chi-Chi wasn't the only one feeling cramped and antsy.

"Shit, this thing looked big before… but now it just seems to get smaller each day." Launch murmured to herself as she paced around, the skin of her feet occasionally squeaking over the floor. Her eyes narrowed menacingly at Krillin who cringed and shuffled closer to where Gohan was quietly reading. She shook her head. "There's just nothing to do!"

"Well what else did you expect?" Bulma asked crankily, flipping a page of her book which had strange letters scrawled over the cover. She shifted and flopped into another position on her seat, causing it to groan loudly. "I told you guys it would take two weeks to get to Namek. You should have brought reading material or something to entertain yourself."

"How was I supposed to know that there'd be no shit to do? I thought this thing would have a TV at least. And all the booze is gone already!" Launch groaned as she flopped onto one of the large seats of the ship. She pushed a button on of the chair's arms to make it recline and gave a loud sigh.

"What good would a TV do out here? There's no reception and the beer is gone because you drank it all!" Bulma said testily.

Launch's eye twitched as she sat up. "Me? Everyone saw you suck down a six pack yesterday!"

"At least I don't drink like I'm trying to instantaneously die of alcohol poisoning!"

"Hey, hey…calm down you guys…" Chi-Chi said uneasily, stepping between the two women. In truth she was really irritated too and wanted to join Launch in complaining about how there was nothing to do, but Bulma was driving and maintaining the ship by herself. Any extra stress could potentially cause her to accidentally (or if she was in a particularly bad mood, on purpose) pitch them into a sun. Or at least, that was what Chi-Chi told herself when she felt like she was about to lose it. "This really isn't the time to be fightin'…I mean, we're all feelin' a bit on edge, but we're here for the same reason, right?" She looked back at Krillin for help, but discovered that he had escaped to the washroom and locked himself in. She glared at the red "occupied" sign glowing brightly on the door and entertained thoughts of kicking the man's ass. Gohan tried to make himself smaller behind his book when she looked in his direction.

"Stay outta this." Launch growled as she cracked her knuckles. "She's asking for it and I'm gonna- h-hey, what are you-ah-achoo!" She sneezed when Chi-Chi swiftly snatched up the automatic mini vacuum cleaner then emptied its contents over Launch. Dust clouds dimmed the air and Chi-Chi promptly turned the vacuum cleaner on and released it. The small machine hummed quietly as it rolled about the floor, sucking up all the dust and dirt that had just been loosed. Launch looked around curiously. "Oh my, are we still on our way to Namek?" She asked softly.

"Yeah." Chi-Chi answered wearily. If there was something she was thankful for, it was that out of all of them, Launch was the easiest to deal with, at least temporarily. Her blond alter ego was probably going to be pissed off when she came back though. "Are you sure you can't make this thing go faster?" Chi-Chi asked.

Bulma rolled her eyes. "If I could, I would have already." She turned and opened a compartment beside the driver's seat. To Chi-Chi's surprise, she pulled out a six pack of beer. "You two want one? I have a few secret stashes hidden around the ship."

"Oh, I don't drink." Launch said, drawing a grin from Bulma. "My goodness…it's like I haven't showered in a week! I need to get cleaned up right now…"

"I'll have one." Chi-Chi said tiredly. "And I think Krillin'll need one too."

"Make it two." Krillin called from the bathroom.

-x-x-x-

"What I want to know is how Piccolo ended up ahead of us when he started after us." Yamcha grumbled. "I'm flying as fast as I can already!"

"I'm just glad he's on our side now." Chaotsu said.

Tenshinhan nodded in agreement. "I'm not certain we would have lasted as long as we did if he hadn't been."

"I hope the others are okay." Yamcha said.

"I'm sure they are." Tenshinhan assured him. "Goku was already on his way back. He probably defeated that saiyan already. And no one else seems to be joining us…not anyone we recognize anyway."

Yamcha grinned. "Yeah, I bet Goku kicked that guy's ass. It's a shame we can't be there to celebrate with everyone else…but I guess we'll just have to be happy with the way things are." He sighed. "I'm really gonna miss the gang…it's just…I didn't get a chance to say goodbye to Bulma first. I really thought I'd be coming back, you know?"

"Yeah." Tenshinhan murmured, suddenly yearning for the scent of gunpowder and stew and the sound of a sweet voice that sometimes spoke of lovely things and on other occasions dropped expletives that would make a prison inmate blush. "I know what you mean."

-x-x-x-

"They should be close to Namek now." Roshi commented as he watched Goku, whose body was entirely balanced on his index finger, perform one finger push-ups.

"We should have our friends back in no time then." Goku said. "Huh, these seem easier than I remember…" Roshi noticed the lack of a tremor in the finger Goku was balanced on.

Partially in awe, Roshi shook his head. "You'd better hope the staff doesn't catch you, otherwise-" The door burst open.

"Mr. Son! Stop that this instant! You're still injured!" The doctor snapped as he stormed into the room. The rigid frown lines between his eyebrows seemed to deepen as he spoke. "I tell you over and over again, and yet you still insist on pushing yourself like th- get back into bed!" He shrieked when Goku didn't cease his exercise.

"But I'm fine." Goku whined in mid push-up. "You even said that I'd be good to go by now."

"No, I said you would need at least six weeks to heal, but your wife completely ignored me and said two weeks would be fine! What is wrong with you people? You should be in bed and letting those bones heal, not doing circus tricks!"

"But-" Goku reluctantly stopped talking and crept back into his bed, mildly concerned about the doctor's rapidly reddening face and the enlarged veins bulging around his temples.

"If you won't listen to me then look at these x-rays from this morning!" The doctor pulled out four translucent black plastic sheets. "Why, look here, according to these, all your cracked bones have completely healed! Yes, that's right…completely…?" He adjusted his glasses and stared at the images. Then he coughed. "Well, it seems I've accidentally brought someone else's x-rays." He frowned and began to mumble to himself. "But who else could have your impossible bone density?" He coughed again. "Anyway, I'll return with the correct ones." He glared at Goku. "In the meantime, you must stay in bed so you can recover!" The doctor walked out, shutting the door firmly behind him.

"Being a saiyan must be wonderful." Roshi sighed.

Goku shrugged and rolled out of bed to do more push-ups.

-x-x-x-

She was awakened by the whir of tiny wings. Without opening her eyes, Chi-Chi slapped the wall she had been sleeping against. "Ow!" She winced when a spark stung her palm. "Wha-?" she looked at her hand. "Metal?" She mumbled in confusion. The crushed insect-shaped machine crackled once more and was silent. Chi-Chi rubbed the grit from her eyes and squinted at the thing in her hand. "What is this?" She mumbled. A piece with something that looked like a red triangle painted on it glinted among the broken parts.

Chi-Chi looked at the others sleeping nearby and found Bulma's spot empty. "Bulma?" She called out quietly as she approached the pilot's chair.

"I'm here." She answered. Bulma stepped around the chair. "What's up?"

"Couldn't sleep? Worried?"

"Nah, I just can't sleep more than a few hours without feeling restless. My normal sleep schedule is pretty erratic. I was just studying Namekian." Bulma held up a small thick book. "Mr. Popo gave this to me so I could study during the trip. I've always been pretty good at picking up languages, so I think I'll be able to speak with the locals when we get there."

"In just two weeks? You're pretty amazin'. It'll sure make things easier for us." Chi-Chi held out her hand. "By the way, you know what this is?"

"Huh?" Bulma's eyes rounded. "Get that away from me!" She shrieked, throwing herself back. "Why would you put something like that in my face?"

"It's not a bug, not a real one." Chi-Chi explained. "Look." She held out her hand again. "It's made outta metal. I just thought it might be important for the ship. I accidentally broke it."

Bulma frowned and shifted closer to take a look. She squinted at the pieces and frowned. "It looks like…a bug."

"I know that." Chi-Chi said impatiently.

"No," Bulma shook her head. "Not that kind of bug. Like, a surveillance bug."

"Oh. So you didn't make it?"

"No. And I know my dad didn't either…" Bulma and Chi-Chi looked at each other.

"Who made this then?"

The ship rocked sharply, flinging Bulma into Chi-Chi. The metal pieces in Chi-Chi's hand flew everywhere. "What was that?" Chi-Chi yelped as she pushed Bulma back onto her feet.

"We've reached Namek!" Bulma yipped excitedly, rushing to the pilot seat. "Get everyone up and tell them to get their seatbelts on!"

Chi-Chi grabbed and shoved everyone into a seat as quickly as she could. Launch nearly elbowed her in the face when Chi-Chi lugged her out of her sleeping blanket and into a chair. Bulma gave a set of instructions to the ship in Namekian and the ship rumbled and slowed.

"Okay, we're going into manual flight mode." Bulma announced. "Don't worry if it gets a little rocky as we go down. Even if we are going a lot slower now, there might be some unexpected turbulence as we go through the planet's atmosphere."

Chi-Chi let out a small sigh of wonder as she buckled her seatbelt. The large windows of the ship allowed the passengers a clear view of Namek's green skies, blue grass and abundant waters. "It's beautiful."

"Isn't it?" Bulma grinned. "It looks so peaceful here."

An explosion roared in front of the ship. Bulma screamed and spun the steering wheel just in time to avoid the ball of fire.

"What was that? What's going on?" Launch wailed hysterically, wide awake now.

Another explosion slammed into the ship's side, pitching everyone's weight left. Everyone let out a shout of dismay and pain as their bodies were squeezed against the seatbelts holding them in place.

"We're being shot at!" Bulma shrieked. She leaned hard on the wheel and the ship shuddered as it swung right. There was a thundering crash from the side again and a deafening screech of tearing metal dominated the air.

"What was that?" Chi-Chi snapped.

"That was our engine exploding!" Bulma yelled. "Hold on tight, we're going to crash!"

"No we're not!" Gohan shouted. He tore off his seatbelt. "Let's get out of here before that happens!" He pointed his palm at the ceiling of the ship and shot a hole through it.

"My ship!" Bulma shrieked. "What are you thinking – there might not even be any air out there!"

"We don't have a choice - the ship's going down anyway!" Krillin quickly removed his seatbelt. "I'll carry you out!" He told Launch who had already unbuckled her seatbelt and grabbed her luggage. He picked her up before leaping out the hole, followed by Gohan. Chi-Chi moved to Bulma's side and swiftly picked her up.

"Wait, get my bag first!" Bulma shouted over the rumble of the ship's failing engines. "It has all the survival supplies!" Chi-Chi spun around.

"Where is it?"

"There!" Bulma pointed at the large yellow duffel bag next to the pilot's seat. Chi-Chi snatched it up, dashed to the jagged opening in the ship's top and jumped out just as the ship collided with a tree and exploded. "That was too close." Bulma sighed. Chi-Chi nodded in agreement. "And hey, this planet does have oxygen."

"Are you two okay?" Krillin called.

"We're fine!" Chi-Chi answered. "We-" She gasped and darted back, narrowly avoiding a laser shot. Bulma screamed. "Who's there?" Chi-Chi demanded.

When some of the smoke from Bulma's burning ship cleared, Chi-Chi caught sight of two men floating nearby, wearing armour similar to the ones Vegeta and Nappa had been wearing. "/What the hell? These aren't the slugs of this planet./" One of the men growled.

"/Who are you?/" The other demanded.

Bulma tilted her head. "These aren't Namekians are they?" She asked. "They don't look anything like Piccolo…"

"What did he just say?" Chi-Chi asked.

"He's wondering who we are." Bulma said.

"/They're definitely not from Namek./" The first soldier murmured. He pressed the chip embedded in the back of his neck and his scouter buzzed as a string of words rolled across it. "/It says they're speaking a language from the planet earth. Freeza scheduled it to be invaded by Vegeta's squad a while ago. They shouldn't even be alive./"

"/Let's find out what they're doing here./" The second soldier pressed his own language chip and addressed the travellers. "Who are you?"

"Hey, he knows our language too." Bulma said, looking surprised. She glared at the man. "We're from earth! Who are you and why did you shoot at us?"

"We know you're from earth! Why did you come here?" One of the soldiers demanded.

"We don't have to tell you anythin'!" Chi-Chi snapped, irritated by the man's rude tone.

"You'll tell us whatever we want, otherwise we'll kill you!" The two aimed their guns at the women.

Bulma's arms tightened around Chi-Chi's neck. "Why did you get them angry?" She hissed.

"It's fine." Chi-Chi hissed back. "Stop chokin' me!"

"This is your last warning! Tell us what we want to know or else-" The rest of his sentence was cut off when he and his partner were struck from behind by Gohan and Krillin. The soldiers dropped like stones, splashing loudly as they fell into the water below.

"My, this place doesn't seem too safe." Launch commented, looking concerned. "Maybe we should find a place to hide."

"Good idea." Bulma agreed. "Once we do that, I'll set up the radio and contact my dad." She said shakily. "I'm going to tell him to ship Goku over here now."

"Wait." Chi-Chi interrupted. "So far there haven't been any huge threats and there's still a chance of Vegeta goin' back to earth. Goku should be there if he decides to come back."

"…I guess we'll hold off on that for now then." Bulma said. "Let's find a safe place to stay."

A faint sound of an explosion rumbled and a thin line of black smoke became visible in the distance. Everyone stared at it and then looked at each other.

"I'm going." Gohan said resolutely.

Chi-Chi sighed. "Of course you are. We all are, but we're goin' to lay low first and see if we can figure out what's goin' on before rushin' in and doin' anythin'. Got it?" Gohan nodded.

"K, let's go."

-x-x-x-

"/Give us your dragonball!/" A soldier clad in a rounded white helmet with a glass visor, and wide-shouldered yellow, black and white body armour shouted. "/The first shot was a warning! Next time, I'll shoot one of you slugs!/" The other eight men with him aimed their guns at the closest live targets.

The Namekians glanced at each other and the oldest one, Moori stepped forward with his hands raised, followed by a tall, powerfully built Namekian who silently glared at the attackers. "/Please lower your weapons. I must ask that you leave./"

"/You're in no position to be asking for anything./" The soldier snarled. He aimed his gun at the elder, prompting the younger Namekian to move in front of Moori. "/Last chance. Give up the dragonball or die./" When no one moved, the soldier spat impatiently. "/Die then./" A sneering grin curved the ends of his lips and he quickly shifted his gun so it was aimed at two children instead. Dende and Cargo shrieked fearfully, shutting their eyes and clinging to each other.

"/No, wait!/" Moori shouted.

The soldier pressed the trigger. The villagers cried out in dismay as the children were lost in the resulting explosion. "/Monster!/"

"/Are you going to listen this time?/" The soldier smirked. "/Or will I have to kill another one?/"

"Stop it!" A new voice called out.

"/Who's there?/"

The smoke cleared and revealed a small boy with a fierce glare. His hand was outstretched and there was a small smoking crater in the ground in front of him. Behind him, Dende and Cargo were still clutching each other tightly, but appeared to be completely unharmed.

"/Who are you?/" The soldier demanded. The boy continued to glare at him without answering. "/You want to die? Answer me!/"

"Stop this and leave." Gohan growled.

"/What the hell is he saying?/" All the soldiers pressed their language chips. "Want to say that again, brat?"

"I said stop it and leave." Gohan repeated. "Jerks."

"You're the one who should leave, if you want to stay alive." All the guns were aimed at Gohan now. "Not that you're going to get the chance." Gohan smiled.

"What's so funny?"

"Take your men and go." The soldier spun around in surprise at the other unfamiliar voice. His eyes bugged out in surprise at the sight of his entire squad lying unconscious on the ground. A woman and a man, clearly aliens, stared at him, both looking utterly unconcerned. "Or do we need to convince you too?" Krillin asked smugly.

The soldier backed away. "You'll regret this!" He snarled. "Lord Freeza will kill you all!" As he backed away, Krillin darted in front of him and swiftly punched him across the face. The man briefly wobbled on his feet and slumped to the ground.

"I figured we shouldn't let him tell his boss what happened." Krillin said.

"Lord Freeza?" Chi-Chi repeated curiously. "I wonder if Vegeta's workin' for him too…these guys are wearin' the same armor as him…"

"Someone strong enough to order Vegeta around? What a nightmare." Krillin groaned.

"What are we gonna do with these guys?" Chi-Chi asked, gesturing to the unconscious men. "They're going to wake up sooner or later…"

"I guess we'll deal with that when it happens." Krillin said sheepishly.

"Is it safe now?" Launch called out.

"Yeah, you can come out." Krillin said. Bulma and Launch walked out from behind one of the many dome-shaped buildings. The two women cautiously looked about and nodded with nervous smiles as they moved to join their friends. Bulma noticed the Namekians murmuring amongst themselves as they openly stared at them. Smiling, she stepped forward. "/Hello. We are not here to hurt anyone. We are visitors, looking for help./" She said in Namekian.

The elder who had tried to reason with the attackers moved forward, looking surprised at hearing her speak. "/Hello./" He said cautiously. He looked nervously at the others behind Bulma. "/Your friends are strong…they defeated those men so quickly./"

Bulma grinned, winking at him. "/That was nothing. They were not even trying- but we're not here to fight anyone unless they're trying to hurt others./" She said quickly when the old man's nervous expression intensified. "/I am sorry. We must seem weird because we suddenly appeared without explanation and beat these people up…I promise we don't have any bad intentions though. Oh! I will introduce everyone to you!/" She put a hand on her chest. "/I am Bulma./"

"Bulma…" The man repeated slowly. "/I am Moori./" Grinning, she nodded and then introduced everyone else. Seeing that the newcomers were friendly, the rest of the Namekians moved forward to get a closer look at the curious visitors.

"I guess we'll have to keep askin' Bulma if we want to know what everyone's sayin'." Chi-Chi said.

"There is no need for that." Moori said, pronouncing the words perfectly.

"Bwuh-?" Bulma stared at him, slack-jawed. "H-how?"

"My people have the gift of...all-speak...all-languages…?" He frowned. "There is no good translation in this language for what it is… We can learn a language by perceiving a single aspect of it. It was a gift from…a great power, requested by one of the elders of long ago in order to encourage good relationships between our people and all the peoples we may meet. Speaking the language of these invaders did not help us though." Moori explained forlornly.

"When did they come here?" Chi-Chi asked.

"Not long before you did." Moori answered solemnly. "Shortly after they arrived, they began to seek out and attack our villages. Our warriors are able to defend us, but not all of our villages have warriors, and more troubling, there is news that a being far more powerful than any other in the universe is accompanying one of the invading groups and slaughtering anyone who does not comply with his demands… Some of our people have escaped on ships, but it has become difficult to do so lately, as the invaders have taken to shooting down any ships they see in the sky."

"There are so few of you…" Bulma said, looking around the small village.

"There are more of us in different villages and off-world." Moori explained. "Many suns ago when our planet was afflicted by a great disaster, some of our ancestors took to the skies in order to find another safe and flourishing planet. I am part of the few that stayed behind in hopes of reviving our original home planet."

"That's amazing." Gohan said, wide-eyed as he thought of Piccolo, or maybe his parents, coming to earth years before to escape the disaster-ridden environment of their planet. Where and how had they lived? 'I'm glad Mr. Piccolo came to earth.' A small pang of guilt snaked through him.

"Could it be…?" Bulma murmured thoughtfully. "Moori, I have another question. You mentioned "a great power" earlier. Were you talking about the dragonballs?"

Moori's eyes widened. "How did you-?"

"We had a Namekian living on our planet…we called him Kami and he was the guardian of our planet." She explained. "His parents sent him off Namek at the time of the disaster."

"Remarkable…" Moori murmured. "How is he?"

The group's expressions became sombre. "He died recently…" Bulma said. "Saiyans invaded our planet and killed many of our friends…" She decided to let him assume the rest rather than start a long-winded explanation about the Kami-Piccolo situation.

"I see…that's unfortunate." Moori sighed. "So many of us have seen death recently…"

Bulma nodded. "But…that's what brought us here in the first place." At Moori's confused look, Bulma continued. "When Kami died, earth's dragonballs disappeared. We came here hoping we could use yours. Once we bring Kami back, our dragonballs would return and we could wish our friends back with them. We can even wish your friends back too if we word it right!"

"I see." Moori murmured. He nodded. "Well, I cannot refuse such a request. To be honest, I did not intend to tell you about the dragonballs, as it is the reason for why we are currently being invaded, but in your case, we will be more than happy to help you on your quest. Xobes?" He turned to address at the Namekian who had been protecting him earlier and nodded at him. Xobes walked into one of the houses and came out with a large, bright orange, glass-like ball with six darker orange stars on its surface.

Bulma's eyes rounded. "It's so big – like one fourth of me! Ours are the size of baseballs- ah wait, you don't have those…well they're much smaller."

The faint sound of beeping caught Krillin's attention. He looked around curiously for the source and his smile faded when he caught sight of the flashing scouter on one the unconscious soldiers' faces. Frowning, Krillin walked to downed man and tapped the device. Feeling a sense of foreboding he glanced at all of the scouters. To his dismay they were all flickering at the exact same intervals of time. The approaching power signatures abruptly flared in his senses. Realization jerked him to his feet. "The scouters- that's how they're finding you!" He extended a hand and shot a quick succession of beams to destroy all the scouters in the area. "They're coming this way now! Including-" He grimaced. "Whoever is coming this way is incredibly strong."

"What?" Bulma shrieked. "What do we do?"

"We should run away!" Launch said nervously. She glanced at the Namekian children huddled together nearby. "If we leave now, we could find a big enough hiding place for all of us, couldn't we?"

"Someone with power like that would be able to catch up to us in no time, regardless of how far we got." Krillin said grimly. "And if they're using their scouters, they'll notice the entire village of people moving."

Chi-Chi pressed her lips together in a straight line as she considered their options. She sighed. It wasn't ideal, but… "Gohan! You take Launch, Bulma and the rest of the villagers to a safe place! Krillin and I will stay behind to stall whoever's comin'!" Chi-Chi said. "If you can suppress your energy to the same level as villagers' while Krillin and I raise ours, maybe whoever's comin' will take it as a challenge and forget about the rest of you."

"What?" Gohan yelped. "I'm not leaving!"

"He's right. All of you must go. I will stay behind." Moori said calmly before anyone else could speak. "If he is as powerful as you say he is, none of you will survive this encounter. I will hold him here under the pretence that I am still in possession of the dragonball and wish to use it as a means to save the lives of my people. While he is here, you must take my people and the dragonball as far away as possible."

There was a moment of shocked silence before everyone spoke at once, making protests and urges for other ideas.

"There has to be another way!" Bulma said.

Moori smiled at her, shaking his head. "Your friends already know that is impossible."

"Then I will stay with you." Xobes stepped forward. "I will use your idea," he said to Chi-Chi, "and raise my energy as a challenge and distraction while everyone escapes."

"I cannot ask you to do this." Moori protested.

"Your ploy will look more convincing with a warrior at your side." Xobes said.

"I'm sorry." Moori murmured. "Thank you Xobes." He turned to the group from earth. "I know it is selfish of me to ask this of you now…but please help protect my people from the horror that has come to our planet." Moori said.

"We will. I promise." Krillin said, looking pained. "We'll do our best." The others nodded along with him.

"Well, if you're goin' to be doin' this… then we'll act as some extra insurance." Chi-Chi said. "Bulma, Launch and Gohan will go along with the villagers to a safe place. Krillin and I will take the dragonball in another direction. If you can't stall him for much longer…then tell him where we went. It's the dragonballs he's after, so he'll definitely go after us. Sorry Krillin." Chi-Chi apologized.

"It's fine. I wouldn't let you do this alone." Krillin said.

"Then I should go with you too!" Gohan said anxiously.

"You need to protect everyone in case things don't go as planned." Chi-Chi said firmly. "Can you do that for me?"

"Yes mom." Gohan mumbled, clearly unhappy about the arrangement.

"Is this okay with you?" Chi-Chi asked, looking at Moori and Xobes. A small smile crossed Xobes's face and he nodded.

"You are very brave." Moori said. "Thank you."

-x-x-x-

They arrived shortly after everyone had left.

"/It was quite an uncivilized invitation, but I was curious enough to accept./" Freeza commented as he and two soldiers descended before Xobes and Moori.

The Namekians remained silent, expressions rigidly sombre.

"/My, how rude. I know from previous encounters with your people that you can speak any language in the universe./" Freeza said. When there was no answer, he sighed then shrugged. "/Well, I suppose I can offer you this courtesy if nothing else./" He pressed the language chip on the back of his skull. His subordinates Zarbon and Dodoria followed suit.

"/Now, to reciprocate our act of courtesy, tell me what it is you want us to see. If you are merely wasting our time, I will have my men pursue your fleeing people and kill them all. And you can be certain of the fact that the ones behind me are far more capable fighters than the garbage lying around you./" Freeza looked disdainfully at the unconscious men strewn about the village.

Moori swallowed thickly and straightened. "/I wish to negotiate with you./"

Freeza chuckled. "/You mean you wish for me to guarantee the safety of your people in exchange for the dragonball?/"

"/Yes./"

"/I will need to see the dragonball before guaranteeing anything./"

"/How can we be sure that you will not simply take it and kill our people anyway? You have already murdered many of my kin./" Moori gritted his teeth to control the immediate flood of anger he felt at the words.

"/Well, the reality is that you have no choice./" Freeza's black lips stretched into an insincere smile. "/Where is the dragonball?/"

"/Find it yourself monster!/" Xobes growled before Moori could speak. "/But no wish will be granted for such a filthy creature./"

Freeza tilted his head and pointed a finger at Xobes. A beam of energy sliced through his knee and pulled a scream from the warrior. He collapsed onto his other leg, tightly clutching his scorched bleeding limb.

"/Xobes!" Moori stepped in front of him. "/Do not incur his anger…he is too strong for you to fight./"

"/Where is it? I am growing impatient./" Freeza's eyes narrowed.

"/I…I cannot tell you./" Moori growled.

Freeza sighed. "/You mean you will not. Dodoria./" The rotund pink alien with spikes lining his entire body stepped forward and blurred from sight. Xobes let out a choked gurgle as something thick closed around his neck and lifted him off his feet. "Xobes!" Moori spun around in shock. 'How could we lose control of this situation so quickly?' He released and sucked in a ragged breath. 'No…we never had any control to begin with.'

"/Will you tell us, or will you be cruel and let your friend suffer needlessly?/" Freeza asked. Dodoria flexed his arm, pulling an agonized wheeze from his hostage. Moori shuddered and opened his mouth.

"/Don't…tell…/" Xobes hissed. Then letting out a roar he whipped his hand into Dodoria's face, claws piercing the skin of his eye and smashing the scouter. With his other hand, Xobes simultaneously released a shot that exploded Zarbon's scouter.

The sudden jolt of pain surprised Dodoria; enraged, he instinctively reacted and snapped Xobes's neck.

"/My eye!/" Dodoria screamed, dropping Xobes's body and clutching the seeping wound.

"/Dodoria! Shut up!/" Freeza barked. Despite his injury, Dodoria immediately quieted. "/You stupid thing, you killed our leverage./" Freeza sighed. "/I'm disappointed Dodoria. Perhaps I was hasty in recruiting you. And you, couldn't you have dodged that?/" Freeza glanced disapprovingly at Zarbon.

"/My apologies Lord Freeza./" Zarbon delicately brushed the debris from his skin and hair, apparently uninjured.

"/F-forgive me Lord Freeza./" Dodoria whimpered. "/Please forgive me…I didn't mean to-/"

"/Shut up you fool./" Freeza snarled. Dodoria snapped his mouth closed.

"/Xobes…/" Moori hissed, despair weighing down his limbs. "/Monster./" He glared at Freeza. We do not have what you're looking for!/" moving swiftly, he shot at Freeza's scouter. Freeza casually dodged the attack by tilting his head.

"/Don't be stupid. Lord Freeza is the strongest being in the universe./" Zarbon said. "/And your lies are useless. We know each village with an elder has a dragonball. We already got all the information out of your friends./"

Moori cringed as he thought of what the others must have endured. "/No. We have…we have already given it to a group of peaceful travellers!/" Moori rasped. "/We have nothing for you to take./"

Freeza's eyes narrowed. "/Group of travellers?/" His long black nails clicked in succession against the glinting metal surface of his chair arm. 'There was a recent report of a Namekian ship landing…then a group of visiting slugs are collecting the dragonballs for themselves?' A sour look crossed his face. "/This complicates things./" He looked at Moori. "/You still have a chance to spare yourself./" Freeza's lip curled up in a thin, unfriendly smile. "/Which way did those travellers go?/"

"/It would be in your best interests to talk./" Zarbon said, lifting a glowing hand.

"/Stop./" Zarbon relaxed and stepped back. A slow smile wormed across Freeza's face and Moori's skin began to prickle with dread. "/I seem to have used the wrong threat. You don't care about your own life; that much should have been obvious from the fact that you stayed behind to delay us while the rest of your village escaped. Why don't I change the terms?/" He leaned forward in his chair. "/You left us with one functioning scouter. If I must waste time using it to locate those travellers, then I will also use this scouter to hunt down every last member of your race. And I promise you, each and every one of them will die a long, torturous death and it will be the sensitive flesh of the children that I take the most time with./" Freeza grinned - it was more a hungry baring of teeth. "/Now tell me. Which way did those travellers go?/"

Moori swallowed hard. 'Forgive me…' Guilt assailed him as he realized he would have to accept the visitors' offer of sacrifice. "/There are two of them. They went that way./" He pointed. Then Moori closed his eyes and waited for his attackers to kill him.

-x-x-x-

"/There are two power signatures moving quickly in that direction./" Freeza said, tapping his scouter to hone in on the fleeing targets. "/Hardly anything to be worried about though./" He removed his scouter and with a light flick of his hand, tossed the device to Dodoria. "/Go after them Dodoria./" Freeza said. "/Kill those Namekians and bring me the dragonball. I'll have you skinned if you fail./"

-x-x-x-

"Someone's comin' after us now." Chi-Chi said grimly. She and Krillin had both felt Xobes and Moori's lives disappear and had expected the enemy to begin pursuing them.

"He's fast." Krillin growled. "Even if we go at top speed…"

"We'll keep going the same speed we are now." Chi-Chi said. "Otherwise we'll be too tired to fight him. Got any ideas?"

"Kinda." Krillin said nervously. "We still might die though."

"Who knows. Maybe we'll get lucky." Chi-Chi grinned with more confidence than she felt. "So what's your plan?"

-x-x-x-

'/There they are!/' Dodoria's good eye widened when he caught sight of his targets. '/…but they don't look like those slugs?/' He frowned, shaking his head. '/Whatever they are, it doesn't matter! They have the dragonball!/' He checked the readings on his scouter and smirked. The numbers were pathetically low. Regaining Freeza's favour would be easy. Concentrating, he aimed at the shorter one holding the dragonball and threw his attack. To his shock, his quarry dodged the attack with ease and sped up. The numbers on his scouter marginally rose. '/How could he have- he wasn't even looking this way!/' "It doesn't matter how fast you are, I'll still catch up!" Dodoria shouted. "Give me that dragonball now!"

"Whenever you're ready." Chi-Chi said, shutting her eyes.

Krillin nodded and spun around. "Solar flare!" He shouted, splaying his fingers over either side of his face. Dodoria howled as surges of light burned away his sight. He shut his remaining eye tightly, rubbing at it furiously with his thick scaly hand.

Chi-Chi flew at him, concentrating her energy into her leg. She somersaulted in the air and executed an axe-kick. Her heel slammed into his head and belted him headfirst into the water below. "Go!" Chi-Chi barked. She and Krillin pushed all their strength into flying as far from Dodoria as they could.

"I'll kill you!" Dodoria screamed as he burst up from the water. Breathing hard, teeth gritted with rage, he tilted his head and listened. "It's no use trying to escape, even if I can't see, I can still hear you!" Dodoria bellowed and to Chi-Chi and Krillin's horror he began to fly right at them.

"Plan B!" Krillin yelled.

"Right!" Chi-Chi began charging an attack. Simultaneously, Krillin raised his hand above his head then began to make circular motions in the air with his arm. A flat circular blade of energy appeared in the air above his hand. Chi-Chi swung her energy blast at Dodoria, dismayed when the impact barely slowed him down.

Dodoria let out a scream of frustration and began to hurl multitudes of energy grenades at them. Krillin and Chi-Chi dodged the barrage easily, thankful of Dodoria's sloppy aim. Krillin grimaced. "Damnit, It's tricky to do this while I'm flying!"

Chi-Chi grabbed his waist and took the dragonball. "I'll fly! You concentrate on your attack!" She darted left, closely avoiding an attack that nearly took their heads.

"Thanks!" The disc in Krillin's hand doubled in size. "Almost!" Chi-Chi nodded as she weaved between the explosions lighting up the sky. The attacks seemed to grow more accurate with each second and she realized Dodoria was already regaining his sight.

Dodoria blinked rapidly and realizing his sight had completely returned, he fixed his eyes on Krillin and Chi-Chi. "You're dead!" He snarled, careening at them.

"Krillin!" Chi-Chi shouted, bracing herself.

Krillin swung his arm just as Dodoria reached them.

Dodoria froze in midair, face still contorted with rage. He couldn't remember why he had suddenly decided to stop. He saw Krillin with his hand outstretched, nearly touching his face. Dodoria reached out to grab his neck. Then everything exploded in red.

Krillin winced and darted back when blood spurted in all directions from Dodoria's bisected form. His destructo disc had gone straight through Dodoria's head and down his entire body. When the remains of Dodoria's body disappeared into the waters below, Chi-Chi let out the breath she had been holding and released Krillin.

"That was…too close." She huffed.

"You're telling me." Krillin said shakily. He grinned. "But we're still alive, which counts for a lot."

Chi-Chi stared at him in disbelief, and then let out a bark of laughter. "That sounds like somethin' Goku would say." She wiped the sweat from her forehead. "But…maybe that's why I feel okay right now." The two shared a laugh.

The roar of a ship sounded in the distance. Chi-Chi looked up just as a Saiyan pod ship streaked across the sky. A familiar life signature registered in her senses and she froze. "No way…" She whispered. "That's…"

"It's Vegeta." Krillin said in a strangled voice. "He…he came here."

"And now I feel a little less okay." Chi-Chi said in a similarly strained tone.

TO BE CONTINUED

-x-x-x-

Woo hoo~ And that concludes chapter nine!

I included that part with Nail moving Guru's home underground because with the invaders going around looking for Namekians to kill, it really would have been a bad move not to go into hiding. Especially when you live in a house on a high, thin pillar of rock. I always wondered why no one else was able to find Guru's place until they were led there, because it's…well, up in the sky and pretty obviously a home for someone.

And if anything in the chapter seems a little random, well…it might just be because I love dropping hints about things to come…as you may have noticed in previous chapters~

Apologies for the length of time this chapter took! But thank you readers and reviewers for your patience and awesome comments! Your support really brightens my day 3

An extra thank you goes to reviewer: Individual Lies, who pointed out an error in chapter eight, wherein the moon suddenly reappeared when it was destroyed a few chapters earlier! Nice catch!

Also, in regards to dbzfan's question: I definitely think that Gohan's power isn't just the result of Goku's genes alone – Chi-Chi's genes also played their part in making Gohan an awesome fighter with loads of potential and power. I probably won't be going in depth with that angle in this fic though, it's just something that I consider a fact.

See you all in the next chapter~!