Chapter 27


This was indeed turning out to be a long fight. Bulma frowned and looked at her watch. Freeza and Goku had been at it for over an hour now, and so far, neither one had shown signs of giving up. But it was easy enough to see that Goku was slowing down. His ki signature had gotten much weaker in the past few minutes, and it was making everyone nervous.

Suddenly Piccolo gasped. He had previously been in one of his trademark meditational poses, but now he was gaping, astonished, at something in the sky over the battlefield.

"Oh no!" He cried, as little beads of sweat appeared on his brow. "Has it come to this, now? Is there no other choice already?"

Bulma's curiosity had been aroused. "What is it?" She asked. "Is it Goku?"

"He's resorting to the Genki Dama!" Piccolo exclaimed. "I can't believe I didn't notice it before! That thing must have been building for minutes! It's enormous!"

Bulma looked up at the glowing ball in the sky and gasped. It was definitely larger than the one he'd used on Earth!"

"He's going to need our help," Piccolo growled grimly. "He can't form the Genki Dama and fight Freeza at the same time. No wonder he's been getting so weak. Freeza's been fighting him all this time! Give me your hands!" He barked suddenly.

Kuririn and Gohan each took one of Piccolo's hands. There wasn't one for Bulma to grab, but she wouldn't have done so even if there had been. "What are you doing?" She asked impatiently.

"I need you three to lend me your power," he said quickly. "I'll need it to hold Freeza off of Goku. It's the only way!"

"Wait!" Bulma cried. "I have a better idea! Just leave it to me! All I'll have to do is teleport Freeza to the other side of the planet! It'll take him at least ten minutes to get back here! And if we need more time, I can teleport him away again!"

"That's incredible!" Kuririn exclaimed. "You're a genius, Bulma!"

Bulma smiled. "Yeah, that's what they tell me," she said with a shrug.

"All right," Piccolo said with a wry smile. "Your plan's a good one, Bulma, but it won't be of any use to us unless you hurry up with it. We don't have time for idle chatter."

Bulma grinned. "Right," she said. "I'll meet you all out there with Goku. See you then!"

She took off for the battlefield then, stopping time as she jumped up into the air. When she got to the dust cloud, she realized with a great deal of surprise that Goku and Freeza were a good distance away. They must have come out so they could see each other. She knew Goku didn't need to, but Freeza would. Goku must have followed him out or something. Anyway, it didn't really matter. She had reached them now, and she stared in shock at the incredible tableau laid out before her eyes. Goku was standing upright, with his arms held straight up toward the sky. He was all mussed up, and the top of his gi had been nearly totally blown off. Bulma wondered why in heaven's name Goku was standing in such a vulnerable position. Perhaps this was the reason Piccolo said Goku needed their help.

Freeza was hanging suspended in the air in the middle of a flying kick aimed at Goku's face. Bulma grimaced as she realized how dangerous this technique must be for Goku, and how terribly effective it must be for him to risk it like this. Perhaps this was why the Genki Dama only seemed to be used as a last resort. Sighing, Bulma grabbed Freeza by his tail and flew off with him in tow. She grinned as she tried to decide whether to appear briefly in front of him when she had taken him to the place she was going to drop him off. But she frowned, remembering all the times that taunting Freeza had ended in disaster. She decided that she'd play it safe this time. She'd been burned too many times with Freeza because of her big mouth.

After several hours of very fast flight, Bulma decided that she was about as far away as she could be. She stopped and looked around. There were small lakes everywhere below. Her eyes gleamed with mischief at the possibilities. One little prank couldn't hurt, especially if she didn't stick around to see the results. She flew with Freeza down to the lake directly below them. She dove in and pulled him along behind her. She grinned as she stuffed him down in the mud at the bottom. Boy was he going to be mad!

She shot up out of the water when she was finished, and stopped when a disturbing thought occurred to her. When she started time again, Freeza would be mad all right. He'd be mad, and he wouldn't know where he was. If she were in Freeza's position, she'd be mad enough to do something VERY drastic. Perhaps she ought to clue him in as to at least where he was. He'd be mad, but he'd know where to go to find Goku, so chances were good that that's where he'd go.

Bulma drew in a slow breath and let time flow again. The water closed in around the tubes she'd made in it. About a second later, an angry, boiling mass of foam and mud popped out of the water. In a brilliant flash of ki power, Freeza did a rather impressive job of drying and cleaning himself off.

"Where the hell am I?" He snorted, looking around. "Humph," he grunted when he noticed Bulma. "I might have guessed you'd be behind this. So let me guess. You're trying to keep me from fighting your Saiyan friend, is that it? Figuring on keeping me here, wherever the hell this is?"

"Not exactly," Bulma said quietly. She could sense the incredible power of the Genki Dama that Goku was creating, even from the other side of the planet. She sighed. She hoped this would work.

"Look," she said, crossing her arms and glancing at her watch. "I'm going to level with you, Freeza. I teleported you here so I could buy Goku some time. I won't tell you why, but I will tell you at least that much. I realize that this is a sneaky way of doing things, but it was the only way. Now, I'm going to cut you a little slack, Freeza," she said, noticing his furious expression with amusement. "Since you don't have the ability to sense your opponent's position like we can, I'll tell you where to go to find Goku. You're exactly on the opposite side of the planet from him, so just pick any direction and keep with it. I estimate that with your power and speed, it'll take you less than a quarter of an hour to find Goku. Oh, and just so you won't miss him, he's going to place a very bright beacon in the sky above him to help you find him. Man, I haven't seen Goku this excited about a battle since his fight with Vegita! You're really giving him a run for his money, Freeza. Ciao for now!"

And, ignoring his angry protests, she stopped time and took off. She grinned at her own cunning. At least this time she knew better than to give him a chance to attack! Poor Freeza. He was in for the most unpleasant surprise of his life!

It took her a good four hours - with time stopped, of course - to make it back to Goku. She sank to the ground, landing on her hands and knees. She was exhausted. Namek was a BIG planet. Before she let time resume its course, she looked around. Goku was where he had been when she left him, but boy did he look confused! And Piccolo, Kuririn, and Gohan were just within viewing distance. Good. They could help her keep a lookout for Freeza. She glanced up at the enormous orb of energy above them. "That must be all the way out in space!" She thought, shielding her eyes from the intense light. Even through the blue haze of halted time, the Genki Dama was spectacularly bright. Bulma let time flow again and got back to her feet.

"Just keep working on the Genki Dama," Bulma said with a hand raised to silence Goku's imminent exclamation of surprise. "I took care of Freeza for the time being. I teleported him away to the other side of Namek. He won't be back for at least another ten minutes!"

She sat down on the ground next to him and crossed her legs. "Don't you worry about a thing, Goku," she said with a short sigh. "We've got Freeza covered." She smiled up at him.

Goku let out a long breath and nodded. He really did look messed up. Bulma was still amazed at how well he had done against Freeza. Goku was really something!

Piccolo, Gohan, and Kuririn flew up to join them. They looked around nervously for Freeza.

"Don't worry," Bulma said wearily. "He's gone for now. He won't be back for a little while."

"Bulma," Piccolo said suddenly, frowning deeply. "I thought of something on the way over here. Freeza's going to be coming here from a good distance away, isn't he?"

"Oh yeah!" Bulma said contentedly, yawning.

"Well, I hate to say this," Piccolo said grimly, "but we may have done more harm than good by this."

"What do you mean?" Bulma asked in alarm.

"What I mean is that when Freeza gets close enough, the first thing he sees won't be us or Goku. It'll be the Genki Dama. He'll already know to avoid it, and he might try to destroy it!" Gohan and Kuririn gasped in horror, and Goku's eyes shot open wide with alarm.

"Oh that!" Bulma said dismissively, waving it away. "Don't worry; I took care of that too. I told Freeza before I left him that Goku was going to leave a 'bright beacon' in the sky above him so he'd know where to find him. I made it sound like Goku was all excited to fight him! Freeza wouldn't dream of passing up a challenge like that, and he'll think nothing more of Goku's Genki Dama than we would a harmless old light bulb!"

Kuririn and Gohan laughed gleefully at this, and Goku beamed. Piccolo smirked a little too.

"Have I told you yet that you're a genius?" Kuririn laughed, slapping Bulma on the back heartily.

Bulma just smiled and shrugged. She liked compliments as much as the next person, but right now she was just too tired to care.

"Goku," Piccolo said suddenly. "How much longer do you need?"

"Only a couple of minutes," he replied, his face drawn with heavy fatigue and concentration. "I'm having to tap into the power of the nearby stars and planets. Namek doesn't have enough strength left to beat 'im."

Piccolo nodded. He sure seemed to know a lot about this, Bulma thought to herself. Well, he had spent some time at Kaiou-sama's, after all.

"Hey, Piccolo," Bulma said, looking up at him. "Did Kaiou-sama teach you how to form the Genki Dama too?"

Piccolo sneered. "He tried," he said caustically. "I learned the principle behind it, but the simple fact of the matter is that my soul isn't pure enough to control it. Yamucha ran into the same problem, but Tenshinhan and Chouzu were making good progress when you wished me back. So far, though, only Goku has mastered the technique better than Kaiou-sama."

"Hm," Bulma murmured, looking down. "Yamucha's soul wasn't pure enough, huh?"

"I'm afraid not," Piccolo said, shrugging. "It just wasn't quiet enough, Kaiou said."

Bulma shrugged too. "Oh well. Yamucha can be as much of a hothead as I am sometimes. I daresay I would have the same problem."

Piccolo nodded. "Well, at any rate, we'll have to be sure it hits Freeza," he said grimly. "A Genki Dama this big isn't going to have any problem destroying this planet if it misses him. Goku's taking a great risk on this."

"We sure won't be able to bounce THIS one back," Gohan said, squinting at it and frowning worriedly.

Bulma just shook her head and smiled. "We can't look at it that way," she said, trying to sound cheerful. "Even if it misses Freeza initially, the destruction of Namek will kill him anyway. I hope you guys aren't offended by my saying this," she added, looking at the ground thoughtfully, "but our lives should be no great sacrifice if it means ridding the universe of Freeza. Just think of the countless civilizations he has yet to exterminate. I'd say it's a good trade-off."

Piccolo nodded in agreement. "I know," he said, "but I'm at least going to make an effort to survive. I'm not ready to die again yet."

"Don't worry," Goku said suddenly. "I'll get him. You can count on it."

Bulma sighed and got to her feet again. She wondered how much more time they had left before Freeza got there.

"There," Goku said suddenly, relaxing a little. "I'm sure it's strong enough now. I'm ready. And Freeza's nearly here. I can sense him coming. Boy is he ever mad!"

"Yeah, well," Bulma said nervously, putting her hand behind her head and looking at her feet. "I'm afraid that's my fault. He and I don't get along very well."

"He doesn't care too much about me either," Goku said, winking at her. "Don't worry. His hatred'll draw the Genki Dama right to him. With as much evil as that little guy has in 'im, it can't miss!"

"Well, just the same," Bulma said, tensing up as she began to sense Freeza's approach, "I just wanted to let you guys know that if we do end up kicking it from this, there's no one else I'd rather die with. I'm just sorry there's no way for me to make up all the times you guys have saved my neck."

"The feeling is mutual," Kuririn said, smiling briefly at her. "But we'd better get ready, because here he comes!"

Bulma could just make out the tiny speck on the horizon that Kuririn had referred to. But it soon grew, because as he got closer, she was able to tell that just by flying over the ground, the sheer power of his ki aura was carving out an enormous gully in the land along his path of flight. And he was succeeded by the very large cloud of dust and debris that he was kicking up behind him. Freeza was furious!

"Not quite…" Goku said, tensing his muscles. "Almost…" He paused, and suddenly his eyes opened wide. "NOW!!!" He yelled, and, roaring with the effort, Goku dragged his arms down through the air. Bulma looked up to see the Genki Dama stretch a bit, and then it began to move. Slowly at first, it shot downward. Bulma looked off toward Freeza. He hadn't noticed the Genki Dama yet. He was probably watching Goku. He kept coming at them. It would probably be only a few seconds more before he would reach them, but as Bulma looked up once more, she saw the white orb of energy break though the atmosphere. It was moving much faster than Freeza now. Bulma grinned wide at Freeza as he came within 100 yards of them. Still grinning, she pointed up.

Freeza came to a screeching halt when he saw her, and he looked up. "What the hell?" He exclaimed at the approaching blast.

Bulma cupped her hands around her mouth. "Betcha can't block this one!" She yelled at him.

Freeza growled with his eyes narrowed at the immense ball of energy heading for him. He braced himself for the impact. He was going to try to bounce it away!

"It's going to work!" Bulma said to herself excitedly. "His ego's the only part of him bigger than his strength, and it won't let him pass up this challenge! Goku did it!"

"Uh, guys?" Kuririn said as Freeza flew up to meet the Genki Dama. "Don't you think we should be a little farther away than this?"

Goku's face lost a little color. "I think that might be a good idea," he laughed nervously.

"Freeza might think we're trying to escape," Piccolo said. "He might try to follow us."

Goku frowned. "You're right," he said. "I'll stay as long as it takes for the blast to completely swallow him up. You guys get out of here!"

"No way!" Bulma yelled. The sound of the Genki Dama had become a dull roar. "We're staying with you!"

"No!" Goku yelled. "Get out of here! I'll be just fine!"

"Goku's right!" Piccolo yelled over the din. "Come on!" He grabbed onto Bulma's and Gohan's arms and shot off with them at top speed.

"Good luck, Goku!" Kuririn shouted, taking off after them. "We'll meet you again when it's over, right?"

Goku shot him a thumbs up, and Kuririn raced to catch up to the others. Goku shielded his face with his arm and watched tensely as Freeza met the Genki Dama head on. It began pushing him toward the ground…

"Piccolo!" Bulma protested angrily. "Let me go! I can fly on my own, you know!"

"If you fly back to Goku, I'll knock you senseless!" Piccolo said through gritted teeth. He let her go and she flew alongside him. She rubbed her sore arm angrily. He didn't have to treat her like some kind of child!

"Hey guys, wait for me!" Kuririn called behind them. "I'm coming!"

"Hurry up!" Piccolo barked. "We're not slowing down!"

Kuririn just grinned and strained to keep up. "Last I saw it was forcing Freeza toward the ground!" He yelled. "That thing's awfully strong!"

Piccolo snarled. "Yeah! And if it goes all the way THROUGH the ground, we're history! It better engulf Freeza before then!"

"Whoa! Incoming!" Bulma yelled as they raced past an airborne boulder. There were huge boulders and uprooted trees flying though the air at high speeds, and they were flying in the same direction as the four retreating fighters. But while the high winds were powering the flight of the large objects, Bulma and her friends' flight was much faster, so they whipped past the large projectiles as if they were standing still. They were still flying when the big explosion went off. Piccolo sensed it coming, and made everyone get down to the ground just before it reached them.

When it hit, it felt like the whole planet was shuddering. First came the shockwave, and it was so huge; so enormous, that regardless of how well they had braced themselves, and how far away they were, it still managed to sweep them away like mere bits of fuzz. They were blown several hundred yards away, amidst a storm of debris that ranged in size from dust grains on up to house-sized boulders, and although it seemed like an eternity to Bulma, she didn't even have time to scream before she fell flat on the ground and a bunch of rocks, dirt, and plant matter rained down on top of her. She waited, rather stunned, for the rumbling to subside before she picked herself up out of the rubble to look around. There were rocks and debris everywhere, and no sign of her friends in sight.

"Gohan! Kuririn! Piccolo!" She yelled, floating up about ten feet to scan around.

"We're over here, Bulma!" Kuririn called from the left. Bulma looked to see Kuririn and Gohan trying to lift an enormous boulder off of Piccolo's right leg. She flew down to give them a hand.

"Hang on," she said, grabbing onto it on the other side. "Okay, I've got it now. All together!" They heaved the massive chunk of rock off of Piccolo's leg and threw it off to the side.

Piccolo-san!" Gohan cried, rushing to his Sensei's side. "Are you okay?"

"Heh," Piccolo grunted, picking himself up and hopping upright onto his good leg. The other one had been fairly badly mangled from the knee down. He wouldn't be able to fly, let alone walk very well with that. "It's quite an inconvenience to have a lame appendage. I'll have to take care of this. Don't worry. We Nameks have amazing regenerative abilities. As long as our head remains intact, we can regenerate any parts of our bodies that get cut off."

"But Piccolo-san," Gohan said, "you leg hasn't been cut off."

"It will be," Piccolo said without a trace of a smile.

"Huh?" Gohan said in confusion. Piccolo gave Bulma and Kuririn a commanding look, which they interpreted correctly.

"Come on, Gohan," Bulma said. "You probably won't want to see this. Let's go see if we can find your dad. I'm really worried about him."

"Oh yeah!" Kuririn cried. "Come on; we better hurry! Oh, uh, Piccolo, do you need any help with this? My kienzan would do the trick, you know."

"Thanks, but no," Piccolo said. "Just go on ahead. I'll meet you there in a few minutes."

"I'll teleport us there," Bulma said, taking their hands. "There's no telling how much time Goku has left!"

"Wait!" Gohan cried. "Dende! We forgot Dende! When that shockwave hits, he could be hurt! We need to check on him too! We should split up."

"I think I'll save us some trouble," Bulma sighed, "if I just teleport there and check on him, I'll bring him back with me, and if he's okay, it might be handy to have him along if Goku's in bad shape."

"Good idea," Kuririn said. "Are you up to it, Bulma?"

"I'll live," she said dismissively. "I'll meet you guys out there, okay? Bye!" She then stopped time and took off for Freeza's ship. She hoped everyone turned out to be okay!



On To Chapter 28 ~~~>