Ch. 57: Saving Dende

"He's going to kill them all." I muttered. Piccolo didn't disagree.

"Gohan, calm down. If they notice us up here, we're dead." Piccolo chided Gohan, who was trembling with rage.

"I hate him." Gohan muttered through clenched teeth.

"Piccolo's right, Gohan. We're just going to have to wait. We aren't going to help them by getting ourselves killed." Krillin whispered to him.

"Don't worry. Even if this ends in the worst way possible, we still have our dragon balls on Earth. Their deaths won't be permanent, so long as that guy doesn't end up with all seven of their dragon balls. We need to keep that in mind." I whispered.

While we were busy talking up in our hiding place, Moori finally emerged from his hut, carrying the Dragon Ball in his hand.

"There. Now, you have what you came for. Take it, and leave!" The elder told them through clenched teeth.

"Alright. I'll do just that. But while I decide whether or not to kill you, tell me where to find the last two Dragon Balls!" Frieza pressured as his henchman took the Dragon Ball from the old man. 

"How dare you! We had an agreement! Take your Dragon Ball and leave us as promised! You'll get nothing more from me!" The elder shouted.

"Hmm..." Frieza replied with a polished sneer.

"Go. For the last time. Leave us in peace!"

"Oh, shut up. I promised nothing, and you are definitely not in the position to be issuing threats. Tell me what I want to know, or I'll beat it out of you!" Frieza told the Elder.

"How dare you! Do your worst!" Moori shouted with a growl. In response, Dodoria nailed the elder with his elbow, causing the elder to roll backwards into the wall of his hut, spewing blood from his face.

"Elder!" The Namekian children cried.

"Torture me all you'd like! I don't know where they are!" The Elder declared.

"You're lying. And you've already hindered my search by destroying my scouters. I'll give you one last chance to save yourselves." Frieza declared to the Elder, a bare-faced lie. He was going to kill the elder and the children either way.

"I don't trust you. Why should I believe the word of a murderer?" Moori asked, pulling himself to his feet shakily.

Frieza laughed mockingly, "Guess you caught me. I was going to kill you either way."

"We don't need him, anyway. Even without the scouters, it shouldn't be too difficult to find the next village." Zarbon reminded Frieza.

"You're right, Zarbon. Read my mind, in fact." Frieza said with a smirk.

"Argh..." Piccolo groaned beside me.

"Children. Run and get help." Moori whispered to the two children behind him. Nodding, they took off. "If it's a fight you want, so be it!"

"He's going to!" I'd been waiting for this. Dodoria was about to shoot the younger child down in cold blood with a mouth beam. The Elder would quickly follow, then, Gohan was supposed to rush in and save Dende at the last possible moment. This time, things didn't turn out that way. 

"RAAH!" Dodoria shouted, firing off his mouth cannon. My hair color lightened a few shades. My power increased considerably. And I darted out into the village at full speed.

"HANNA!" Piccolo shouted after me, "Damn it!"

"AAGH!" 

I deflected Dodoria's cannon right back at him, saving the young Namekian's life. A beat later, Gohan was beside me, unable to hold himself back any longer. 

"Huh?" Moori was shocked for a moment, but he immediately adapted, showcasing exactly why Guru would later choose the Namekian as his replacement.

"Are we going to fight?" Gohan asked me.

"Don't bother! Please, take the children and run! I'll hold them off for you!" Moori shouted at us.

"You brats!" Dodoria had been holding back quite a bit with his mouth cannon, since he was simply killing a child. As a result, he hadn't been injured by his own shot at all. Just humiliated, which was probably worse.

"No! We can't just leave you!" Gohan shouted back. Just then, Piccolo and Krillin's minds finally caught up with what we were doing. They flew down to the village, but they didn't stay. Krillin grabbed the younger Namekian child, while Piccolo grabbed Gohan, throwing him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes before they flew away at top speed without a word, trusting that I'd take Dende. 

That was exactly what I'd expected them to do. In accordance with their plan, I grabbed Dende and took off without another word.

"Thank you!" Moori shouted after me, watching us fly off into the distance.

"Zarbon, make a note. Remind me to torture and kill those four eventually. It seems that the Namekians have enlisted some off-world help."

"AARGH!" Dodoria shouted, watching us fly off. "Milord! I'll bring them to you, DEAD!!!" He shouted, flying into the air after us, enraged at me especially. I'd embarrassed him in front of Frieza, after all. He was absolutely livid. Just as I'd hoped. 

"Keep the Namekian warrior alive!" Frieza shouted after Dodoria's retreating figure. Then, he turned to Zarbon, "He didn't hear me, did he?"

"I don't think so, milord." Zarbon agreed.

"If he doesn't follow my order, and ends up killing them all, remind me to kill that fat, pink oaf." Frieza muttered.

"Noted, sire."

"No... I couldn't even stop him..." Moori muttered, dejected. He'd originally intended to buy us a bit of time by keeping Dodoria here, even if just for a moment, but the spiky pink blob had been too fast. He hadn't even been able to totally keep up with Dodoria's launch speed, as the fat idiot had simply forgotten about him the moment that I'd shown up and embarrassed him in front of Frieza. 

"Oh, right. You." Frieza's attention turned back to Moori, having already written our group off as pests that Dodoria would probably end up taking care of. Without his scouter, he couldn't tell how strong we were, so he had absolute faith in Dodoria's abilities.

"Torture me all you want, I won't tell you a thing!"

"I know." Frieza pointed at him with one finger. "Bang."