Chapter 23 Part 2

“Bulma?” Kuririn said, jerking her away from her thoughts. “What’s happened to you? Why are you so scared of
Vegita lately? I know he used to scare you a lot in the past, but he kept Jees from killing you, right? Shouldn’t that
lessen the fear a little?”

Bulma could see right away that this was a loaded question. She glanced down at Kuririn with a look that begged him
not to continue. But he misread it entirely.

“Come on, Bulma,” he said, looking her straight in the eyes and putting a hand on her shoulder, causing her to flinch
and turn away from him. Kuririn’s eyes suddenly narrowed. “Did Vegita do something to you?” He asked earnestly.
“I’m right, aren’t I? It was Vegita, wasn’t it?”

Bulma sighed and shook her head. “Just let it go, Kuririn,” she said quietly. “Vegita didn’t do anything to me except
put me in the rejuvenation tank to heal. Don’t worry about it. If something was going on that I thought you should
know, I’d tell you.” She got up to leave, but, reconsidering something as she opened the door to the recovery room,
she turned back around.

“Hey Kuririn,” she said, smiling at him.

“Yeah?” He said attentively.

“Thanks for worrying about me,” she said, waving at him and Gohan before slipping noiselessly through the door.

Bulma glanced at Vegita on her way through the recovery room. He was sound asleep, sitting at the foot of the
rejuvenation tank that Goku was sleeping in. Bulma wondered momentarily why Vegita was so tired, but she decided
that the fight with Ginyu must have drained him. His mouth twitched, and his brow sunk down a little. Whatever it
was he was dreaming about wasn’t making him happy. She shivered. Even in his sleep, Vegita made her
uncomfortable. She walked as quickly and quietly as she could out the door and into the hallway beyond it, leaving
Vegita to his dreams.

It didn’t take Bulma long to find the way out of Freeza’s ship. As soon as she was outside, she shot off like a bullet
for Saichorou’s. She focused her ki sense straight ahead of her and located Freeza almost immediately. Nail was
there too, and his ki had risen a great deal. Maybe he was defending Saichorou and Dende. She could just barely
sense Saichorou, but Dende’s signal was surprisingly strong. She pondered this for a couple of seconds and monitored
this strange signal carefully, until she realized that he was increasing in intensity only slightly, but evenly. That must
mean that he was moving toward her! And judging from how quickly his ki was intensifying, he was moving very fast,
much faster than she had been aware that he was capable of moving. Bulma decided to stop on her way and ask him
what news he could tell her. But after that, she was going to have to teleport him to Freeza’s compound so he could
be under Kuririn and Gohan’s protection. This was no time for Dende to be flying around and drawing attention to
himself.

It was another fifteen minutes before she was close enough to see him coming. She stopped and waited for him to
come to her. He stopped about half of the way there when he saw her, and he started backing up, a look of terror
spreading across his face. Bulma suddenly remembered what she was wearing, and realized that Dende must not
recognize her in the clothing of their enemies.

“Wait, Dende!” She called out to him. “It’s me! Bulma!” She flew up closer so he could see her face. He smiled with
relief then, but soon his eyes filled up with tears, and he dove into Bulma’s open arms, crying hysterically.

“He’s going to kill them!” Dende wailed. “He’s going to kill Nail and Saichorou!” He buried his face in her neck and
cried some more. Bulma frowned. No child his age should ever have to be put through such hell.

“There there,” Bulma said, patting his back and trying to sound comforting. “Don’t worry Dende. We’ll beat him yet.
I’m on my way over there now, so I can teleport him away from Saichorou. But I’m afraid that I can’t take you with
me, little one. It’ll be hard enough for me to pull this off as it is. I left Gohan and Kuririn back at Freeza’s compound
with Vegita. We’re planning to use the dragonballs as soon as we figure out how to call the dragon. I have them
hidden not too far from there, and once I find out from Saichorou how to use them, I’m going to teleport over there
and bring everyone to where they are. In the meantime, however, I’m going to teleport you over to where Gohan and
Kuririn are. You can’t stay out here in the open like this, or someone may spot you.” She let him go and prepared to
zap him over to Freeza’s compound.

“No, wait!” He cried. “You need to come with me then! Saichorou sent me to tell you how to call the dragon and
make the wishes! He said you wouldn’t know how otherwise!”

“Wait a minute!” Bulma cried excitedly. “Do you mean to tell me that you know how to call the dragon?!”

Dende nodded fiercely. “Yes,” he said quickly. “All Namek children learn that at an early age.”

“Dende, you’re wonderful!” She cried, hugging him for all she was worth. “Come on! In that case, I’ll teleport us both
there right away!”

He nodded, and she took off. She teleported with him until she came to the lake she’d hidden the dragonballs in.
There she stopped her teleport and set him down by the water’s edge.

“Wait here,” she said. “I hid the dragonballs down there in the lake. I’m going to go get Kuririn and Gohan now,
okay?” He nodded. “See you in a nanosecond!” She cried, stopping time and shooting off for Freeza’s compound.
When she got there, she simply ran through the various hallways to the room with the boys, not bothering to halt her
teleport as she went. She grabbed Kuririn and Gohan and then she carried them all the way out of the compound and
flew them to the lake. She set them down beside Dende, and she finally let time flow again. She bent over, panting,
and tried to catch her breath as Kuririn and Gohan fell over from lack of balance.

“Gah!” They cried together, falling into each other comically. They looked around in confusion for a couple of seconds,
before they saw Dende and Bulma.

“Bulma!” Gohan cried. “You teleported us here, didn’t you?”

“Yes,” she said hastily. “Sorry for not warning you, but I couldn’t take the chance that Vegita might hear me. I ran
into Dende on the way to Saichorou’s, and guess what? He knows how to call the dragon!”

“All right, Dende!” Kuririn cried, picking him up and hugging him fiercely – and completely startling Dende in the
process. “You’re a lifesaver, kid, do you know that?”

Dende only smiled. Kuririn put him down and grinned at Bulma.

“So it’s back to plan B, right Bulma?” He asked excitedly. “I’m assuming that since you left Vegita back there that
you’re not including him in these wishes.”

“That’s right,” she said. “But we’d better hurry before he wakes up. I feel kind of funny about cheating him like this.”

“Gotcha,” Kuririn said, nodding in agreement. He looked around for a few seconds. They were standing right in front
of the lake, which was shielded on one side by a ten-foot rock face that stretched back for a few hundred feet. There
really wasn’t much else to speak of in the way of distinguishing features. “All right,” he said at last, shrugging. “I
give up. I don’t see the dragonballs anywhere, Bulma. Tell me, where are they, anyway?”

“I hid the dragonballs in the lake here,” Bulma explained. “We won’t have to go get them, though. We can still call
the dragon from up here, right, Dende? They are all together down there, after all.”

“Right,” Dende said. “Do you want me to call him now?”

“Please,” Bulma said, nodding at him. “The sooner the better.”

Dende nodded. He stretched his arms over the water and began speaking in Namek.

“Takkarato po Porunga pupirittoparo!” He cried out. Bulma gasped as she recognized the words as being identical to
the ones she’d used – with one exception. She’d referred to their dragon as Shenlon, instead of using Porunga, his
real name. She smacked her forehead as she realized that Nail had already mentioned Porunga’s name to her once
before. She couldn’t believe that she’d actually tried to call the wrong dragon!

Bubbles began to rise out of the water, and a faint glow appeared at the bottom of the lake. Kuririn looked over at
Bulma.

“Man, Bulma,” he said. “Didn’t you say the same thing?”

“No,” she said, shaking her head in disgust. “I forgot that their dragon’s name is Porunga. I called him Shenlon. I
even got the phraseology right. It was just that damn name that I messed up. I feel so stupid!”

“Wait a minute!” Dende said, as the ground trembled slightly and the water began to boil ferociously. “Bulma can
speak our language?”

“Yes, I can,” she replied. “Didn’t Nail tell you?”

“No,” Dende said. “You have no idea how close you were! It wouldn’t have mattered which summoning phrase you’d
used, just as long as you said Porunga’s name and asked him in our tongue to come forth!”

Bulma smacked her forehead again. Well, this was about typical! She looked at Kuririn and shrugged. He shot her an
“it’s okay” look, and then they both watched Porunga emerge from the water.

Bulma, Gohan, and Kuririn stared in awe as the biggest, widest, most un-Shenlonlike dragon shot up and out of the
water. He was enormous! And unlike Shenlon, who looked more like a long snake, Porunga was a thick lizardlike giant
of a dragon who did a little more than strike a little fear in Bulma. She backed up nervously, ready to bolt in case he
was more temperamental than Shenlon was.

“Greetings mortals,” he rumbled loudly. “I will grant thee the first three wishes uttered by those present, and no
more. What is thy first request?”

Dende looked at Bulma expectantly. “Go ahead,” he said. “Tell him what you want to wish for. Be sure to say it in
Namekian, though. He only grants wishes said using our language.”

“All right,” she said nervously, looking up at Porunga. She cleared her throat and spoke in a loud, clear voice. “I wish
for the earth warriors named Piccolo, Yamucha, Tenshinhan, and Chouzu to be resurrected from the dead. Please,” she
added, trying her best to sound polite.

Porunga’s red eyes narrowed a little. “I cannot,” he said after a short pause. “I am only permitted to bring one
person back to life per wish.”

Bulma gasped. “What?!” She cried. She stared at Gohan and Kuririn in horror. “What are we going to do?” She cried
in dismay. “There are only three wishes! And we were gonna wish the Nameks back to life too! We can’t even wish
all our friends on earth back, let alone all of the Nameks!”

Gohan suddenly gasped. “Hey!” He cried. “It’s Piccolo! I can hear his voice in my head! Hi, Piccolo-san!”

“Oh great,” Bulma thought nervously. “What a time for Gohan to lose it!”

“Wow!” Gohan cried. “What a great idea! Yeah, I’ll tell them!” Gohan turned to Kuririn and Bulma. “Piccolo is at
Kaio-sama’s,” he said excitedly. “He just told me that we need to wish him back first. That way the dragonballs will
appear back on earth, and we can use them to wish all the Nameks back!”

“Tell Piccolo to say hi to Kami when he gets back to earth,” Bulma cried, snapping the fingers on her right hand,
“because they’re both about to rejoin the living!”

She told Porunga to bring Piccolo back to life, and once again, the dragon’s eyes narrowed. “A simple matter,” he said,
and he glowed with a red aura for a couple of seconds. “It is done,” he said finally.

“We did it,” Gohan said with tears in his eyes. “The dragon granted our wish, Piccolo-san!”

“Does he have any more suggestions?” Bulma asked. “We still have two wishes left.”

“Piccolo-san, are you sure?” Gohan gasped. He paused. “Well, okay, I’ll tell her.” Gohan looked back up at Bulma.
“He says he wants you to wish him to Namek,” he said. “He wants to defend his home planet from Freeza.”

“What?” Bulma gasped. She thought for a second, her face hardening. “Does he realize that if he dies here, we’ll
lose the chance to use the earth’s dragonballs?” She asked Gohan grimly.

“He says he knows,” Gohan replied, nodding. “Kaio’s pretty mad at him, but Piccolo says that this is what he wants to
do.”

“All right,” Bulma sighed. “I hope he knows what he’s doing.”

Shaking her head, she gave Porunga the order. His eyes narrowed again. “A simple matter,” he said, and he glowed
red as he had before. “It is done,” he said again. They looked around for Piccolo, but he was nowhere to be found.
They couldn’t even sense him.

“Where is he?” Bulma asked aloud. “I thought you said you brought him here!”

“I brought him to Namek,” Porunga rumbled impatiently. “But you never said you wanted him right here!”

“Oh great!” Bulma groaned. “I should have been more specific! So what should we do now, guys? We still have one
wish le-…” She stopped short as she felt something that she should have sensed long ago. That ki was nearly upon
them!

“What’s the matter?” Kuririn asked, suddenly anxious. Bulma was trembling so much she could hardly stand, but she
managed to turn around until she was looking at something behind them.

“Ve- Ve- Veg- g-…” She stuttered, pointing shakily to the quickly approaching Saiyan. She could feel his rage as he
raced toward them, and it kept her rooted in place, too petrified to move. He was going to kill them all!

“Oh my God!” Kuririn gasped, as he spun around and looked. “We’re in for it now! Vegita’s going to kill us for this!”

“Snap out of it!” Bulma’s mind screamed at her. “Run for it! Grab everyone and teleport away! He can’t get his wish
granted anyway, because he doesn’t know the language! Get the hell outta here!”

But her body refused to comply. She suddenly felt very lightheaded and woozy, and she was afraid she was going to
faint. As she fought desperately to clear her head and regain control of her senses, an idea flashed in her mind, and
she suddenly knew exactly what had to be done. She steeled her nerves and rigidly stood her ground as the others
backed away.

“Stay where you are!” She barked at them. “And let me handle this. We’ll have to give Vegita what he wants anyway
if we want to win against Freeza. Goku’s in no condition to fight him, and only the gods know where Piccolo is right
now. Just be quiet and let me do the talking.”

Vegita raced up as she finished, and Bulma did her best to keep from shaking. “Damn you three!” He screamed.
“Didn’t I tell you what I’d do to you if you tried anything with me?! I’ve a good mind to blast you all into oblivion right
now!”

“Try it,” Bulma said coldly, “and just see how well this Namek dragon will grant your wish. You can’t speak Namek,
Vegita, and he’ll only answer to wishes made in his own tongue.”

In an enraged frenzy Vegita rushed forward, grabbed her roughly around the neck, and lifted her bodily off the ground.
“Do you really think you can get away with defying me?” He yelled. “We had a deal, woman!”

Bulma didn’t struggle against him, or even show any signs of the terror she was experiencing right now. It was
absolutely imperative that she not provoke the angry man. She knew that.

“We still do,” she said, as calmly as was possible, “but I modified it a bit. I didn’t trust you not to destroy the
dragonballs once your wish was granted, so I made our wishes first. There’s one wish left, Vegita, and it’s yours. So
if you’ll take your filthy hands off of me and stop throwing tantrums, I just might tell the dragon your wish!” She tried
her best to sound angry and authoritative, and she actually did a pretty good job of it. Truth be told, however, she
was far too terrified to be truly angry yet. It was her own will to survive that was making this act possible.
Fortunately for her, it must have been convincing enough for Vegita, because he released her and withdrew his hand.

“Make the wish!” He hissed. Bulma knew he really would kill her if he knew what she was about to do. At least she
could be sure that he wouldn’t understand what she was going to tell Porunga.

“Fine,” she said soberly. “Porunga!” She cried, switching back into Namekian. “I wish for you to make Vegita
immortal for three-…” She stopped as Porunga suddenly began to flicker like a fluorescent light bulb. “What’s
happening?” She cried out in surprise.

Porunga roared a strange roar before suddenly disappearing, leaving the seven dragonballs in a tight ring up high in
the air. They suddenly flew off in radial directions, but landed only a few hundred yards away from each other, having
turned back into stone already.

“Oh no,” Dende sobbed, sinking weakly to the ground. “He- he’s gone. Saichorou is gone!”

Vegita growled like an enraged beast and jerked the already petrified Bulma up by her arms – just as Jees had done.
This caused something strange to happen. Something snapped in Bulma’s mind, and she suddenly found herself
reliving her experience with Jees all over again. She began to tremble violently. She was no longer aware of where
she was, or that Vegita was the one holding her up. All that she could see was Jees, along with his smoldering gaze
and sadistic grin.

“Noooooo!” She screamed, struggling wildly. “Let me go! Put me down! Please God, not again!”

Vegita was so surprised that he actually dropped her and she fell to the ground. He suddenly realized what was
happening to her and that he had caused it to happen. But by now he was too furious to care. He picked her up again
by one of her arms and slapped her across the side of her face, causing her to return to her senses. “Shut up and
snap out of it!” He roared ferociously. “Or I’ll give you something to scream about! Now tell me! Am I immortal or
not?!” She stared up at him, numb with terror, and unable to speak. Her arm began to throb from the force of his
grip. “Answer me!” He yelled, his ki flaring up.

“I- I never got to finish the wish,” she stuttered, hardly able to breathe. “No. You aren’t.”

Vegita was so angry he couldn’t even speak. Bulma had only seen him this angry once, and at that time the anger
had resulted in Jees’ death. This time, it was directed at her and her friends, and Bulma had a terrible feeling that
she knew what was coming. Vegita flung her back at Kuririn and Gohan, who caught her and helped her keep her
balance.

“You’ve just sealed your doom,” Vegita growled, lowering his face, but retaining his gaze on Bulma and her friends.
Bulma could feel his ki intensifying. He was beginning to lose control of his temper. But suddenly he looked up at the
ledge behind them, and his expression changed into one of pure fear. Bulma looked up, and she saw what had chilled
Vegita’s anger so rapidly. Freeza was standing up there, and he was glaring at them with a look so terrible that
Bulma concluded right away that they were all going to meet their end very soon.

“What have we here?” He asked very calmly and quietly. “Why wasn’t I invited to your party?”



On To Chapter 24 ~~~>
Back To Kamejen's Fiction