Ch. 64: To See the Grand Elder

"They're... splitting up? Why?" Krillin wondered, feeling Vegeta's energy leave the village, while Nappa stayed behind.

"Yeah, I expected them to just wipe the village out and take the Dragon Ball by force." I agreed with Krillin. That was what Vegeta had done in the original canon, after all.

"My people are safe?!" Dende asked us, unable to sense energies like we could.

"For now, they're alive. But with Nappa staying behind, I honestly can't tell you how long that's gonna last." Piccolo told Dende.

"If you fought them off on your planet, can't you just go over there and save our people, then?" Cargo asked earnestly.

"It's not that simple. Without Goku and Raditz, we probably don't stand a chance against the likes of Vegeta." Krillin told the young Namekian, whose head drooped sadly.

"Don't be sad! I promise, my friends will save your people. All we need to do is find one Dragon Ball and they won't be able to wish for anything! Then, we can use our Dragon Balls on Earth to wish all of your dead friends back to life in just... ten... months..." Bulma was excited at the beginning of her statement, but then she remembered that it'd only been two months since we used the Dragon Balls to wish Goku back to life.

In the canon, they'd been able to circumvent the cooldown time since Piccolo died, but he was alive and well right now. I was planning on using Shay's powers in that case, but I'd posed her as a bit of a freewheeling character. As far as they knew, her interventions couldn't be relied upon, and they didn't know the real extent of her powers, either. 

"Ten months! Your Earth dragon balls have a long cooldown time! With how few of us Nameks are left alive right now, there probably won't be any left in ten months..." Dende said, thinking deeply. "I know what needs to be done! I need to take you guys to the Eldest Namek! He'll know what to do!"

"Who's that?" Krillin asked.

"Can he help us?" Bulma added.

"The Eldest Namek is very wise! He'll surely know what to do, after all, he's the father of all Nameks! Dende's right! He may be our only chance!" Cargo told us.

"Wait... You mentioned that before. He's literally the father of every single Namekian born on this planet?" Piccolo asked.

Dende nodded. "Yes. He alone survived the terrible catastrophe that nearly destroyed our world. I myself am his 108th child."

"So... he's the most important Namekian out there, then?" Krillin asked.

"You mean, he's the guardian of this planet!?" Bulma realized what we were getting at.

"That's one way of putting it, yes." Dende nodded, not quite understanding what we were getting at.

"We need to go! Quickly!" Piccolo grabbed Dende without warning in a princess carry. "Hanna, you're coming with me. You four, stay here!" He ordered.

"Wait, Piccolo, what's wrong!?" Gohan asked.

"The Dragon Balls are tied to the lifeforce of one single person... their creator. That was probably this Eldest Namek." I explained.

Krillin added to that, "If he's given a Dragon Ball to every single village, and there aren't many Namekians left on the planet, then it stands to reason that he himself is holding on to the last one. If Frieza or Vegeta finds it..."

"They'll kill him. Mercilessly, without hesitation. Making the Dragon Balls on this planet worthless. Then, they'll probably destroy the planet in a fit of rage. We'd need two wishes to bring him back." Piccolo finished.

"Two wishes! Two years! What are you waiting for, go! Go now! Vegeta's probably already on his way there!" Bulma cried.

"You're right. If he has any kind of power, Vegeta's gonna sense him from miles away, then he'll take his dragon ball. There's only about a fifty-fifty chance that he'll remember that the dragon balls are worthless without their creator, after all." Gohan said, "We should all go."

"No, Gohan! Stay here with Krillin, Bulma, and Cargo. Frieza's combing the planet right now, looking for Dragon Balls. We need fighters to stay here in case they find the cave." Piccolo said.

"He's right, Gohan. Hanna and Piccolo are stronger than us, anyway. It's best that they do the more dangerous things while we hold down the fort here." Krillin told Gohan.

In response, Gohan clenched his fists and walked back inside the Capsule House without a word.

"Krillin." Piccolo said.

"I got it." Krillin assured him, "Good luck out there, you two. If you die, I swear I'll make you come back to life, just so that I can haunt you myself."

"That makes no sense." I cracked a smile.

"Let's go, then. Every second counts." Piccolo told me, launching off the ground with Dende still in his arms. I followed shortly after.

"You know I can fly, right?" Dende asked, annoyed.

"Our control is better than yours. We can fly faster with a lower power output. It's best if I carry you." Piccolo explained.

"Plus, we can react faster if Vegeta senses us if we don't have to warn you." I added.

"Alright, that makes sense. The Grand Elder's residence is that way, about five hundred miles in that direction."

"Five hundred miles at this speed!" I groaned, "That'll take like five hours!"

"Would you rather speed up and end up fighting Vegeta?" Piccolo asked me sarcastically. Honestly, my answer was a resounding "YES!" but I couldn't admit that to him, since it would also be admitting that I was strong enough to eradicate Vegeta without a fight. 

"You're right, but I can still be annoyed." I told him.

"Think of it as training. We're expanding your sense of patience." Piccolo told me, only annoying me more.

'I'm Baack, Mistress!' My coat sung telepathically. I felt the urge to jump with joy. Except, I was already flying. Between Piccolo, Dende, or Shay as conversation partners, I'd always choose Shay. Piccolo was too serious, locked inside his own head, and Dende wasn't much of a conversationalist, with his planet being taken over by impressively strong thugs. Shay, on the other hand, only cared about me. To a disturbing degree, but she always endeavored to make our conversations lively and fun if I had nothing else to do.