Chapter Text
One of the things Piccolo noticed first about the Demon Realm was the creepy absence of light there was at night. Perhaps it was just because he was so used to life on Earth, but the darkest evening was never unsettling or disturbing for him back home, even as a child. There was always some kind of light, whether it was the warm glow of a human dwelling, a fire, cities, cars. Even when he had lived all alone in his former life in the far frigid corners of Yunzabit Heights, there were still the twinkling pinpricks of stars, and the shining white reflection of the planet’s moon. It was never completely dark unless one purposely ventured to covered or deep spots where light could not penetrate.
Not here.
At least not on this particular planet. Here on this wasteland of a world, so far out from Gomah’s castle or anything else even remotely resembling civilization, there was absolutely nothing to illuminate the night. Not a single star or satellite in the endless inky void. Were it not for the campfire their party had lit, it would be far too easy to assume one had just wandered into a hidden pocket dimension like the Room of Spirit and Time, where instead of a maddening white emptiness stretching into infinity, there was instead the terrifying black abyss of oblivion.
Piccolo repressed an instinctual shudder as he sat anxiously waiting with the rest of their party, child-sized arms cradling the tiny squirming body of a babyfied Dende, Earth’s current Kami. Both of them were still woefully under the mysterious curse that had miniaturized so many of their friends and loved ones.
Why was it that Piccolo had to be the one stuck babysitting? It seemed that he was always the one on call for the most degrading jobs, and he was always the sucker who caved to Goku’s pleadings. Part of him just wanted to dump the wriggling infant onto Mr. Popo, but the other part of him that had been the previous Kami told him that the poor man had been through enough after being yanked into this horrible realm when demons absconded with mini Dende. No matter what, Piccolo always retained a soft spot for the one being who had been a centuries long trusted friend and confidant for at least a fraction of Piccolo’s soul. So Piccolo gritted his teeth and soldiered through the aggravation, promising himself that he’d find a way to get Goku back later at a more appropriate time.
Piccolo winced as tiny Dende somehow managed to squeeze his fingers under Piccolo’s turban to grab at his sensitive antenna, finding the other Namekian’s pain a source of hilarity as he giggled.
Speaking of Namekians.
“How much longer are we going to just sit here waiting for that old timer anyway?” Piccolo growled as he tried to extract his poor abused antenna out of Dende’s fingers.
“Seriously? We all could have flown and made our wish in half the time!” An equally small Vegeta stood to the side of their group, arms crossed, forehead vein throbbing as his patience was quickly nearing its limit. It had been hours since they managed to defeat the demons who had cursed them, and they still were no closer to getting back to normal and going home than when they had first arrived.
“Shouldn’t be too much longer. Neba said he knew exactly where the rest of the dragon balls were being stashed in the castle. Once he gets them back to join with ours, we can wish everyone back to normal.” As always Goku remained upbeat, not nearly as bothered as the rest of his friends about being stuck at such a small size. The idea of having to wait a few more hours or even few weeks didn’t seem to deflate his mood.
“If we never see this wretched dimension again, it will be too soon!” Vegeta irritably batted away an extremely toothy giant demon mosquito that had buzzed too close to comfort near his face.
“Aw come one, Vegeta, it wasn’t that bad,” Goku folded his arms behind his head in a relaxed fashion, obviously finding amusement in the smaller Saiyan’s temper tantrum.
“I’d expect nothing less from you, Kakarot. Of course, the Saiyan with the IQ of a toddler would have no problem being changed back into one!”
Goku grinned and chuckled, taking no offense at Vegeta’s insult. Truth be told, being little had its good points and had been pretty fun. It reminded him of when he was young and just starting out learning martial arts, going on exciting adventures with his old friends. Fighting bad guys with just his regular raw strength and abilities. But Goku also couldn’t wait to be back to his old super strong self. At least he’d always have some fond memories to look back on and some great stories to tell Chi-Chi, Gohan, and Goten when he got home.
“Hmm, I do understand the concern,” the Kaioshin seemed less impatient and more worried as he glanced over towards the distant blank horizon, “Neba should have returned by now. Perhaps something has happened.”
Goku frowned at the thought. They had met the elder Namekian while he had still been working with the new king of demons and Makaioshin.
The poor old guy had been captured from his home by those greedy demons to try and force him to make special dragon balls for the Demon Realm. But when it became clear that the old guy either didn’t know how or wasn’t talented enough, they reached into the Upper Realm and forced Dende to teach Neba the craft. Goku wasn’t sure how it happened, but somehow, those villains realized too late that their new dragon balls were tied to the life of their creator. The demon dragon balls would only remain active as long as Neba was alive, which probably wouldn’t be much longer at his age. They had kidnapped Dende as a sort of backup to replace Neba once he eventually passed, hoping that he would pass the link over to a new successor when his natural end drew near, which who knew when that would be.
Goku pulled out the blue demon dragon ball that they had managed to keep away from those two evil creeps. It was still shiny and bright, so Neba had to still be alive. Otherwise, it would have already turned to stone in his pocket.
But being alive didn’t mean he was all right.
It seemed that almost everyone was getting antsy waiting for Neba’s return. Maybe they were right to be worried. What if he had been captured again by other demons? Or fell down a hole and couldn’t get out? Or maybe he just forgot where the other dragon balls were being held and was wandering the castle helplessly lost.
“Maybe I can find him and bring him back,” Goku volunteered as he pocketed the blue dragon ball and stood up, patting the desert dust off his orange gi pants.
“Whatever you do, hurry – OW! Quit it!” Piccolo yelped as Dende pulled extra hard on the antenna he had a surprisingly iron grip on.
“You think Goku will be able to find him?” Shin asked to no one in particular as he watched Goku fly off towards the thin glowing line indicating the approaching sunrise.
“Maybe,” Piccolo’s head also turned to the same direction, “We just have to trust he knows what he’s doing.”
“I trust he’ll find a way to fuck things up,” Vegeta snapped, eyes staring into the distance as the other Saiyan rocketed over to Gomah’s fortress.
Goku landed softy onto an open balcony and confidently strolled into the dimly lit castle that had once been the palace of the previous lineage of the kings of the Demon Realm.
There was an unnerving silence now that its previous residents had vacated.
“Hellloooooo,” Goku hollered as he strolled through the torch lit halls, “Neba are you around? It’s me, Goku! Have you found the dragon balls yet?”
Goku’s voice echoed unanswered down the long silent hallway. He kept walking and then stopped as a sudden crash could be heard in one of the rooms far ahead. Instinctively, he pulled out his Nyoibo in preparation to fight some baddie that might have escaped their last attack. He sprinted towards the room he had heard the commotion and swung open the heavy wood door.
The room was in absolute shambles. Overturned chairs and dining tables, fallen curtains, various broken vases and shattered statues were scattered over the floor. A white robed figure in a lilac colored collared cape was on his hands and knees, halfway inside some kind of cabinet and carelessly tossing various porcelain plates to the side
“I could have sworn they were here,” a deep grizzled voice muttered to himself, “or maybe they were in the grand hall? The observatory? Oh dear…”
Goku peered in for a closer look and beamed when he recognized the elderly Namekian.
“Neba! There you are!”
At the sound of Goku’s voice, Neba started and hit his head on the upper half of the cabinet he was currently wedged into. He backed out of the narrow opening while rubbing the back of his skull.
“Oh, it’s you,” Neba smiled warmly up at the little Saiyan hovering over him.
“What are you doing on the ground?” Goku asked as he watched the elder shakily push himself up onto his feet, leaning heavily on his wooden staff.
“About that. . .I’m sorry to say that I’m still looking for the dragon balls. I thought I had seen them in the throne room, but when they weren’t there, I started to look elsewhere. I have had no luck so far, though,” Neba sighed deeply. “You and your friends will have to wait a bit longer than we hoped. Gomah and Degesu must have moved them from their original hiding spot. It will take some time to find out where they are now.
Goku’s eyes bugged at the news.
“What? You’ve gotta be kidding me! You mean we’re still going to be stuck like this until the rest of the dragon balls are found?!”
“I’m afraid so,” Neba confirmed sadly.
Goku sat down on the cool tile floor, arms crossed in thought.
“Vegeta and Piccolo are not going to like this one bit. Too bad we don’t have Bulma’s dragon radar with us. Then we could find the rest of the dragon balls no problem. Maybe if I bring everyone over here, they could help us search and find them faster.”
Neba rubbed his chin as he pondered the suggestion.
“Perhaps, I suppose that could work. . .” Suddenly, his eyes widened in inspiration
“Wait a minute. . . You still have one dragon ball left, right?”
“Yeah?” Goku took out the sapphire-colored orb out to show he still had it, though he had no idea what good only one dragon ball would do in their situation.
“Perhaps we can use that to our advantage,” Neba examined the faintly glowing sphere.
“What do you mean?” Goku cocked his head inquisitively.
“The dragon balls glow in proximity to one another. The closer we are to them, the brighter your dragon ball will illuminate.”
“Hey yeah, that’s right! I almost forgot about that.” Goku recalled that fact when Burma had first showed him dragon balls when they first met as kids. He guessed he had just gotten so used to using the dragon radar, that he forgot that they acted almost like their own homing beacon.
“So,” Neba continued, “if we keep searching the palace while observing the dragon ball-”
“-then we can just watch it to see how bright it glows and know when we’re getting close!” Goku excitedly finished the elder’s thought. “Look, Neba! It’s already glowing a little bit!” Goku bounced up onto his feet excitedly.
“Sharp lad!” Neba beamed at the little Saiyan. Just as quickly, his face fell into one of worry.
“I just hope they didn’t move them completely away from the castle. It’s possible Gomah might have split them up and hid some of them away somewhere else on the planet.”
“Oh, I didn’t even think about that,” Goku’s face fell at the thought.
“If that’s the case, perhaps it would be best to get your friend’s radar just to be sure. That way, if they are hidden elsewhere on the planet, you’ll still be able to find them no matter where they are.”
“That’s a great idea!” Goku smiled broadly, thankful that Neba was working on their side and using all his smarts to help Goku and his friends out. They were lucky that the old guy came up with such a plan, otherwise, they’d probably still be stuck here for the rest of their lives.
“Go tell Glorio to ready his ship to take you back to your home,” Neba instructed the youngster, “and meet me back here as soon as possible. In the meantime, here,” Neba held out a wrinkled palm towards Goku.
“Let me borrow that dragon ball for a bit while you're gone. This way we can save some time, and it will help me make my search go much faster to find at least the one other dragon ball that we know is here somewhere.”
“Sure! Here you go,” Goku said as he handed the blue orb over.
“You best be on your way and let your little friends know about the change in plans.”
“I’ll be back real soon! Don’t go anywhere!”
“Don’t worry about me. These old legs can’t go too far these days.” Neba chuckled at his own joke, eliciting a joining laughter from the small Saiyan in front of him.
Goku began to sprint backwards towards the doorway.
“See ya later! And thanks for all your help!”
“No, thank you, Goku. For everything!”
Goku took off down the hall, waving back at his new friend.
“Good luck, Goku!” Neba called out as the boy began run towards the entrance back to the others. “Hurry back!”
“I will!” Goku laughed as he jetted off.
Dawn was breaking when Goku landed by the dying embers of the campfire that their group was huddled around.
“Well, what happened?” Shin asked, eager for any news.
“Looks like we’ll have to wait just a little more time. The King and Makaioshin must have moved the dragon balls when they knew we were coming. They weren’t where Neba saw them last. They could be anywhere.”
“Well, that’s just perfect,” Piccolo grumbled in annoyance as baby Dende pulled at one of his ears.
“That’s why we need to get back to Earth as soon as possible,” Goku explained. “We need Bulma to give us the dragon radar so we can look for the other missing dragon balls.
The tiny wild-haired boy turned towards a tall, white-haired blue demon in a purple puff bomber jacket.
“Glorio, how soon do you think you can fix your ship?”
Glorio pointed his thumb towards the round, shell-like looking aircraft that had been sitting near useless since they had crash-landed earlier
“It’s ready to go now. I haven’t been completely idle all this time,” the young demon pilot said with a smirk.
“Perfect! We can all leave right now and be back in no time.”
Goku scrambled into a seat in the back and began to buckle himself in as the others piled in.
“Is Neba coming with us?” Mr. Popo asked Goku, wondering about the Namekian he had only briefly spoke to since their arrival, but who had reminded him so much of his dear old friend Kami. “I thought he said he was looking for passage away from the Demon Realm as well.”
“He’s going to stay behind to see if the other dragon balls are hidden somewhere else in the castle,” Goku replied, still fiddling with his seatbelt. “If he finds them, he’ll let us know as soon as we get back.”
“Seems pointless just to wander aimlessly searching every crack in a gigantic fortress like that,” Piccolo commented as he tried to figure out how to get himself strapped in while holding a fidgeting Dende. “Why not just wait for us to get back? Save himself a few hours of futile hunting.”
“Don’t worry about him. I gave him our dragon ball to help him look.”
There was a deathly silence as everyone froze from whatever they were in the middle of doing to stare at Goku, who was oblivious as he finally succeeded in getting himself buckled in.
“You. . .did what?” Shin said shakily with barely repressed horror and shock.
“He reminded me that the dragon balls glow whenever they’re near another one,” Goku turned to the paling and sweating Kaioshin. “He’s going to use our dragon ball to help him search, and if he finds them, he’s going to hold onto them for us.”
There was a sound of hand smacking forehead, and Piccolo was glad at least someone in their party did what he would have had had his hands not been full.
“Here, take this,” Piccolo unceremoniously foisted little Dende onto Vegeta’s lap and hopped out of the aircraft.
“What? Get back here! I’m not a damn Namekian babysitter!”
Piccolo ignored the indignant shrieking as he made a beeline back to Gomah’s palace.