Leaving the Yardrat elders behind felt less like an escape, as one of the old ladies, send me away.
One moment I was surrounded by cushions, tea, and cosmic gossip, the next, space folded in on itself and Heaven blurred away, replaced by the familiar pull of King Kai's planet.
Gravity slammed into me the instant I arrived.
Ten times Earth's gravity welcomed me back like an old enemy.
I bent my knees instinctively, boots scraping against the tiny planet's surface as I stabilized myself. The air smelled faintly of oil and citrus, King Kai had been washing his car again. What does he uses that car on, this planet is tiny.
But something was wrong.
The planet felt… tense..?!?.
I straightened and looked around.
Yamcha was pacing.
Tien stood stiffly with his arms crossed, eyes narrowed toward the sky.
Chiaotzu hovered slightly above the ground, silent and pale, clutching his hands together.
Piccolo stood apart from the rest, cape fluttering despite the lack of wind, staring into nothing, does that guy ever stop aura-farming.
No one was training.
No one was saying a word.
That alone told me everything.
"…Okay," I said carefully as I stepped forward. "Why does it feel like someone just told a room full of ghosts bad news?"
No one answered.
I turned toward the small house.
King Kai stood near the porch, sunglasses on, antennae drooping just a little lower than usual.
That worried me, and walked up to him.
"What's in the bloody hell is going on?" I asked.
King Kai sighed.
Not his usual dramatic sigh, this one was too heavy for my liking.
"They landed," he said.
I raised my lelt eye brow
"…Who?"
"Bulma, Gohan, and Krillin," he said. "They made it to Namek."
"And that's bad....why..?"
But then King Kai kept talking.
"And so did The Warlord Frieza."
"And his forces."
"There's more," King Kai added.
'Neat' i thought to myself as i already knew.
"Vegeta survived," he said. "And he's there too. On his own."
"No way", i said half-heartly.
"So we've got three groups," I said slowly. "Bulma's group, Frieza's empire, and Vegeta."
"All hunting the same thing."
I rubbed my face.
"Dragon Balls."
"Yes."
I looked at the others.
Yamcha still pacing.
Tien's jaw tightened.
Chiaotzu floated lower.
Piccolo's fist clenched.
"And you don't know why Vegeta wants them," I said.
King Kai shook his head. "No idea."
I snorted weakly. "Immortality. Power. Spite. Take your pick."
King Kai didn't laugh.
They don't know, it gonna get even worse later.
....
There is nothing worse than being dead, powerful, and completely unable to act.
We couldn't go to Namek.
Not without living bodies.
So we waited.
As the Days passed.
Or what felt like days.
Time worked differently here, but anxiety didn't care.
We watched and waited, as i was thinking of a plan.
King Kai monitored Namek constantly, narrating events like a commentator who desperately wished he could stop the match.
"Krillin and Gohan avoided another patrol."
"Vegeta wiped out a scouting group."
"Frieza… is moving, to a fighter named Nail."
Every update tightened the knot in my chest, as i double checked my plans.
Sometimes I paced.
Sometimes I sat.
Sometimes I clenched my fists so hard my nails bit into my palms.
I hated this waiting.
Then, one moment, everything changed.
King Kai suddenly stiffened.
"…Wait," he said.
We all turned toward him.
"The Dragon Balls," he said slowly. "They're being used."
My heart slammed against my ribs, this is it.
"Porunga has been summoned."
We crowded closer.
King Kai's voice lowered as he listened.
"…First wish," he said.
I held my breath.
"They're wishing back everyone Vegeta and Nappa killed on Earth."
For half a second, nothing happened.
Then...
The world lurched.
I felt it before I understood it.
A pull.
A snap.
A violent, overwhelming sensation like being dragged through a tunnel made of lightning and memory.
My vision exploded into white.
I slammed into something solid.
Air rushed into my lungs.
Pain followed.
Glorious, horrible pain.
I gasped, rolling onto my side, coughing, heart hammering as sensation flooded back into my body.
Gravity... real gravity.... pressed down on me.
Wind brushed against my face.
"I'm alive," I wheezed. "And Ready."
I pushed myself up.
Around me, Yamcha groaned.
Tien steadied himself on one knee.
Chiaotzu blinked in confusion.
Piccolo stood perfectly still.
We were back on Earth.
"Well," I said, standing fully and stretching my fingers. "That was fun."
Piccolo turned to the sky.
"Gohan," he said with worry.
King Kai's voice echoed faintly in my head.
"They've made their second wish."
My pulse quickened.
"They're sending Piccolo to Namek."
Piccolo didn't hesitate.
One moment he was there.
The next...
He vanished.
Just gone.
I stared at the empty space.
"…That's my cue," I muttered.
I raised two fingers to my forehead.
The universe sharpened.
Ki signatures bloomed in my awareness like stars.
There.
Piccolo.
Familiar.
Focus, Focus.
I locked onto him.
And Instant Transmission.
...
The world snapped back into focus.
Green sky.
Blue grass.
Warm, heavy air.
And Piccolo, frozen mid-step, standing right beside me.
He jerked in surprise, cape flaring.
"Huh... how...what...when..?!?"
I appeared fully, boots crunching against Namek's soil.
"Miss me?" I said.
Piccolo stared.
"…But How," he demanded.
"Long story," I replied. "Involveing old ladies, and tea."
He scowled.
"You shouldn't be here, your too weak."
I glanced around.
Frieza's presence loomed like a storm on the horizon.
Vegeta's ki flickered nearby.
Gohan's energy pulsed faintly...scared shitless, but alive.
Krillin too, and without a nose.
"I am stronger than you," I said calmly. "You're too weak."
Piccolo narrowed his eyes.
I smiled.
"Yeah," I said. "doesn't feel good, does it."
I looked toward the distant battlefield.
Toward Frieza.
"Let's go save us a kid." said the teen.
Ben's power level: 25,006