Ch. 39: To Namek We Go (2)

'You know, I remember Planet Namek. It was once a very beautiful place. Very much like the Earth, in fact... Lush and green, with an abundance of life. But that was long ago... before a catastrophic event caused the climate to change.' King Kai mused., Everyone but Bulma listened intently, especially Piccolo, who knew nothing about his ancestral home.

'The effects on the planet were devastating. It has recovered, little by little over time. But I'm not sure if there were any survivors.'

"But... Really?" Krillin asked.

"Check." Shay told the Kai.

'Alright. I'll feel it out. Give me a moment... Oh, there it is!'

"The 'catastrophic event' King Kai spoke off... That's probably why Kami and myself came to the Earth, right?" Piccolo wondered.

"You're right, Piccolo. Yes... It must have been so long ago that Kami can't even remember, but perhaps his people sent you here after the climate on Namek changed, so that at least one of their race would survive." Korin agreed with Piccolo's thought.

"You know... If the Nameks have their own Dragon Balls, why couldn't they just use them to wish their planet back to normal? Problem solved, right?" Tien asked.

"No... I doubt it." Krillin answered.

Elaborating on Krillin's statement, Roshi continued, "The dragon is not all powerful, Tien. When we tried to destroy the Saiyans with a wish, Shenron told us that it was not possible. You see, the Dragon Balls are tied to the one who created them, and they cannot grant a wish that exceeds their maker's power."

"I see..." Tien said.

'Good news, everyone! I found the Namekians! I can sense about a hundred of them still on the planet, alive and well!' King Kai declared, lifting everyone's spirits.

"A hundred Piccolos, huh?" Tien wondered aloud, 

"Or a hundred Kamis." Korin argued.

'No, no no. King Piccolo was originally born from evil intent, sure, but that all came from all of the horrors and senseless destruction that he was exposed to while growing up on Earth!' King Kai said to assuage everyone's fears, 'Namekians in general are usually peaceful by nature.'

"So, I'm the exception to the rule, even among my own people, huh?"

'If it makes you feel any better, Piccolo, right now, I'd put your moral standards at around average among Namekians. They've got a deep seated honor, and loyalty towards their friends, just like you.'

"Shut up." Piccolo told the Kai.

"So, Earth's the cesspit, huh? People definitely have their good sides and their bad sides, but the bad tends to shine through easier." Tien said.

"Earth's not the worst place in the galaxy, you know." Raditz argued. With all of his experience in 'horrible' places, nobody could disagree with him.

"Either way, we need to go there and warn them that Vegeta's coming for their Dragon Balls!" Krillin said.

"Not so fast, guys. Nothing's really changed. So what if we know where planet Namek is, we still can't get there in time. Not without a wish from the Dragon Balls." Bulma declared, having finished her calculations.

"What do you mean, Bulma? Can't we just take a spaceship?" Tien asked.

"No, we can't! I just calculated how long it'll take us to get to Planet Namek in the fastest Capsule Corp spaceship available. 4,339 years. It'd take us over four. Thousand. Years to make that trip with the tech that we have on Earth. One way!" Bulma told everyone, "The numbers don't lie."

"Duh." Shay told her.

"I don't suppose you have any bright ideas, miss 'I'm a goddess who knows everything!?'" Bulma asked Shay, irritated by the younger (looking) girl's clear dismissal of the situation.

"Probably." Raditz muttered, but, to his credit, he was too wise to say that loud enough that Bulma could hear him. After all, this was a girl with enough power to rewrite the very laws governing whether someone was alive or dead. And break both into and out of hell without breaking a sweat. He was pretty sure that she was omnipotent by this point.

"Multiple." Shay said, thinking back to her orders. 'Two ships, right? You, Gohan, Krillin, and Piccolo on the first one, along with Bulma, and Goku and Raditz go on the second one with me?' She asked me telepathically.

'Yeah. You know what you're doing, Shay. Be more confident.' I advised her.

"Alright, what's your big idea?" Bulma asked, probably seeing Shay's hesitation as some sort of desperate last ditch effort to think of a real idea.

"Mistress wants two separate ships. I'll provide them. One'll carry Hanna... Piccolo, Gohan, and Krillin" I didn't even want to know why she paused after saying my name... "The second ship will just carry Raditz and Goku." She continued.

"Why not just squeeze us all onto one ship? Are your ships just not big enough or something?" Bulma asked.

The ships in question were designed and constructed in the Core, over the past year. The designs were based on our predicted design of the one that Goku'd eventually have made by Capsule Corp, but imbued with a ton of our ki, as well as enhanced for my comfort (for some reason). 

"Mistress has more knowledge than you or I. She wants two ships, so she'll get two ships." Shay said with finality, pinning all of the blame on me perfectly. I couldn't really blame her for phrasing it that way, though. I honestly had no clue how the Namek Arc would play out this time around, with Nappa and Raditz as extra players, so I was trying to keep it as close to the original as possible, hoping that the extra Saiyans wouldn't change things too much. 

Unfortunately, that meant that the 'B-Team' needed to get to Namek before the 'A-Team' did, and Piccolo simply wasn't going to be able to keep up with the two Saiyans on their spacecraft. He'd inevitably slow their training down. That meant that he needed to go with Krillin, Bulma, and Gohan, and get there before the Earth Saiyans did.

While I could keep up with Raditz and Goku in their training, obviously, I decided that I needed to go with the B-Team in case Piccolo's being there changed things too much.