Ch. 144: Transportation and Rebirth (2)
"Look, Gohan. That's the ship that I took to get here, okay? It's designed to be able to support one adult Saiyan for two full years straight, without stopping. It should be able to hold you and Cargo here to Earth in a couple months' time." Nappa explained to the young half-Saiyan that he'd just attempted to kidnap. "The other villagers all agreed to it. You two are the only ones young enough to be able to fit, anyway. Someone should survive this, at least."
"You want me to just run!? That's my dad out there fighting right now! It's my sister that Frieza just-" Gohan began to shout, but Nappa cut him off.
"SHUT UP!" He shouted, cutting Gohan's rant off. "You're not stupid, kid. You can be a bit rash at times, but you've got a brain in that head of yours, so use it. Nobody here's half as strong as you right now. Plus, you're right. it's your dad that's out there fighting for us, right now. What do you think he'd tell you to do if he were here? Do you honestly think he'd tell you to stay here and die, when you can get out of here right now and live?!"
"Mr. Nappa..." Gohan faltered.
"Kid, get in the pod. Live, and get stronger, like a real Saiyan. Go home to Earth, train your butt off, and then kick Frieza's butt when he inevitably tries to get his grubby little claws on Earth's Dragon Balls. Then, you can wish all of us back, alright?"
"Gohan, he's right. Get in the pod and go to Earth. We'll be right behind you." Piccolo told Gohan, putting a hand on the young boy's shoulder. Beside him, Bulma gave a hesitant smile.
"He's right. We've still got our own ships here. We'll probably beat you to Earth, you know." She joked.
Gohan bit his lip once again. They were right. It made sense for him to leave with Cargo in Nappa's ship now, so that the others could use the two ships that'd come from Earth, since they had more space. But that still amounted to leaving his friends on Namek with an uncertain future.
His Saiyan blood screamed at him that he couldn't run away from danger if he could do something about it, but his head kept telling him that there was nothing he could do to help his friends at this point, other than leave as soon as possible.
"Swear you'll be right behind me." Finally, Gohan turned around and made a demand of Piccolo.
"Even if I have to leave everyone else here in this hell. After all, if I die, then so do the Earth's Dragon Balls." Piccolo reminded Gohan. That made Gohan smile. Piccolo was a good guy, but above all, he was smart. If it came right down to it, he wouldn't shirk from doing something that felt wrong for the greater good. Gohan knew that he could trust that promise.
Making sure that Cargo was securely inside the capsule, Gohan stepped inside. But as his foot entered the ship, his surroundings suddenly changed, including the ground. Losing his balance as the spot that he was intending to step on disappeared with Nappa's ship, Gohan stumbled a few feet before slamming face-first into a wall that wasn't there seconds before with just enough force to cause a loud 'CRACK' "Wh-what!? Ouch!"
...
Suddenly, the space around me changed as Shay transported me to Earth. "Wh-what!? Ouch!" As soon as I landed, I heard a loud, confused yelp and a crack as Gohan fell head-first into a wall.
"Wait... My dojo!?" My first thought was 'Oh come on! I put that wall up myself, Gohan!' but I didn't say that aloud. Yelling at Gohan about the new crack in my wall would have to wait. The more important thing was taking a look around.
I'd had reservations about having Shay bring the Namekians to my dojo, but it just seemed to be the best place for them. My dojo was built into the base of Mt Paoz, on the other side from my parent's house. It was far away from populated areas, and not only equipped with enough nonperishable food to last several dozen Saiyans through the winter, but also contained a water purification system built from a nearby waterfall. That purification system not only brought clean water to the dojo, but also free, admittedly crude electricity, powering the lighting system. While the building itself wasn't currently large enough to house the several hundred Namekians here, nobody would starve, and there weren't any nearby normal people to freak out.
Currently, Gohan and I were in the entrance hall, along with a dozen confused Namekians that I didn't recognize from the village we'd been at moments ago. From the entrance hall, you could see the entrance to the inner courtyard, two meeting/living areas, and the two hallways that framed the inner courtyard. But all of the Namekians at present were staring through the open door to the courtyard, tears of disbelief falling down their cheeks.
"No way... Great Elder Guru?!" One of them finally managed to choke out. "Great Elder, you're alive!" As soon as one of the Namekians managed to get the words out, the floodgates seemed to open. The air around us seemed to pulse in life as the almost one hundred Namekians who'd been dropped throughout the dojo heard the words and cried out in relief and ecstasy as they realized that not only were they alive, but sitting in the center of the dojo's inner courtyard, their Great Elder, Guru himself was looking around at his new surroundings, clearly alive and brimming with life as the young Namekian, Dende, clung to him, asleep from crying his eyes out over Guru's original death.
There was a stampede of green people as the Namekians swarmed their elder for a hug, but Gohan didn't seem to care. As soon as he extricated himself from the wall, he saw me and time seemed to stop as we made eye contact.