The Saiyan Pilgrimage

by MegaBob452

Five years have passed since Goku gave his life to protect the Earth, and he is given a mission from the Grand Kai. Return to the living realm on a distant planet, one that spans the divide between the living and the dead, and put an end to the steady stream of death and destruction that has plagued it for a thousand years. Here, on the planet known as Spira, this is his story.

1. Dead Saiyan Walking

"This is my story…"

"Well…"

"More like my Epilogue…"

Chapter 1: Dead Saiyan Walking

The afterlife wasn't so bad.

Here one had limitless time to do whatever one pleased, so long as one enjoyed doing it. For most it was an unending reunion with those that had died before them, who in turn welcomed those that followed them in death. There was also no need for one to concern oneself with worldly essentials, unless one wanted to take part in worldly pleasures such as eating or drinking, among other things. It was a paradise unlike any in the world of the living, so long as one had been good enough to earn such an eternal pleasure and happy content.

After five years in this place, Goku was getting bored.

Sure the endless feasts and epic fights with long dead heroes had been fun, for the first two years after dying at the hands of Cell. Now it was getting repetitive fighting the same people again and again, long after knowing all their moves and tricks by heart. Even the fights with Pikkon, the most formidable opponent Goku had found here, were losing their appeal after being done countless times. And while the flow of new dead guys into the afterlife was as strong as ever, very few if any of them were on the same level as Goku to provide a new friendly challenge.

Even the simple pleasures of training his body to reach new heights was getting old, having long since reached the level of power Gohan had achieved during the Cell Games. As the years went by Goku experienced diminishing returns with training, acquiring less and less additional power with each successive training session. Without some drastic change in his training regimen or discovering an even higher transformation, he knew he wasn't going to get much higher than the Ascended Super Saiyan, or a Super Saiyan 2 as he started to call it.

So Goku broadened his horizons.

Having been living, for lack of a better term, on the world of the Grand Kai, Goku got to see all the various people that came to see the overseer of the afterlife. One day a group of recently deceased aliens had arrived, wishing to pay their respects to the Grand Kai. Goku had sensed something curiously odd about them, their energies being equal and perfectly in sync with each other. Goku introduced himself to the aliens and they got along quite well, and Goku enjoyed the time spent learning all about the Metamorans.

"Fu…"

In time they told Goku about the pinnacle of Metamoran techniques, the ability for two of their kind to combine into a single superior warrior. A series of poses were required to make it happen, and when the final pose had the two participants touching the results were extraordinary. This technique was how the Metamorans dealt with threats far more powerful than themselves, by fusing themselves into stronger warriors capable of fighting off the threat, and when it was over the warriors split apart to resume their normal lives until the next threat came.

"…sion."

The technique only required the participants to be of similar size and power, as well as capable of performing the poses in synch with each other. The Metamorans were especially suited for this, having near identical bodies and a knack for precise motion control. There was very little variety amongst them, and so this technique was basic education for their species. To the eyes of a Metamoran most other species were baffling with their customization, finding the sheer variety of forms in a single alien species to be utterly bizarre.

"HA!"

So teaching the technique had been a cultural experience for both Saiyan and Metamoran, a glimpse into the worldview of each other. Although Goku could understand the technique and easily memorized the poses, actually performing the technique was beyond his grasp. None of the Metamorans were on par with Goku's power, and Pikkon wasn't willing to be seen in the poses for the technique, so there was no one able and willing to fuse with Goku. And without a partner to perform the technique Goku couldn't claim to have mastered it, even though the Metamorans claimed that he had it down.

One more time Goku watched a pair of Metamorans fuse into one, and after the bright flash of light during the fusion Goku gave applause. "It's still amazing that you guys can to this."

Now standing before Goku, a fused Metamoran nodded. "And yet it's basic education for us."

Even though the individuals had eerily similar voices to begin with, it still seemed weird to hear two voices overlapping from one person. "Still, I appreciate you guys showing it to me. Even though I doubt I'll ever get to use it."

"I wouldn't say that," the fused Metamoran said. "That's the up side of being dead, eventually someone you need is going to die and end up here. You just need a little patience."

"Yeah, but I bet it will be years before Vegeta dies again," Goku mused.

The fused Metamoran raised an eyebrow. "Again?"

"Dragon balls," Goku clarified, though he saw an even more bemused look on the Metamoran's face. "We bring people back to life with them."

Sure enough that led to a description of what the dragon balls are, what could be done with them, and the limitations they had. Although the basics only took a few minutes to tell, the history and experience with them took much longer. At the half hour mark he was interrupted by the fused Metamoran splitting back into two people, having reached the time limit for the fusion to end. After that Goku's tale continued as normal, and he had nearly reached the end of it before another interruption. Goku sensed the approach before the arrival, and he turned in time to see King Kai.

"Ah, Goku, there you are," King Kai said. He was a little out of breath, having rushed most of the way here. "I need to have a word with you."

"Couldn't you just use your mind speaking thing?" Goku asked.

"I wanted to say it in person," King Kai answered. He walked up to Goku and leaned in close, eyes darting back and forth as if expecting eavesdropping. "And you never know who is listening in."

Goku nodded, and then looked back at the Metamorans. "It was nice hanging around with you guys."

King Kai discretely led Goku back to the small house he had on the Grand Kai's world, a near perfect replica of the house King Kai had back on his world before it was destroyed. All the little knickknacks and trinkets King Kai collected over the last five years were carefully arranged inside, though they could never replace the ones that had been lost. Still it was rather comfortable living for one in this small house, especially considering that the owner was dead. Goku usually enjoyed his visits to King Kai home, but his gut told him that this visit would be different.

The other visitor already here confirmed that.

Sitting in the living room, in King Kai's favorite recliner nonetheless, was the Grand Kai himself. The grizzled old man had been watching TV for a while, looking through his sunglasses while stroking his thick white beard. He turned off the TV and turned the recliner towards the front door, and he gave a welcoming smile when he saw Goku and King Kai come inside. Grand Kai then waited for Goku to close the door behind him, and the welcoming smile vanished. He got out of the recliner and took a few steps forward, meeting the two just inside the entrance to the living room.

"I apologize for having to meet this way," Grand Kai said. "Goku, what I'm about to tell you is a very sensitive and secret matter. I need you to promise me that you won't speak of it outside this room."

"Okay, I promise," Goku said.

"Mean it," Grand Kai insisted. "I need to trust you on this. Swear it on what you hold most dearly."

Goku held up one hand. "Fine. I swear on the memory of Gohan, past and present, that I will not tell anyone else what you are going to tell me now. Now will you please tell me what this is about?"

King Kai nodded toward Grand Kai. "I believe him."

"Good," Grand Kai said. "Goku, what would you say if I told you there was a way to return to the world of the living, with no strings attached?"

"I'd say you found a set of dragon balls," Goku answered.

"He got you there," King Kai said.

"Yeah I walked right into that," Grand Kai admitted. "I'll rephrase the question. What if I told you there was a place where you could simply walk into the living world, and from there you could go anywhere you want in the universe without being pulled back here?"

Now Goku understood the need for secrecy, as the implications of such a place were all too obvious. "Either you're pulling my leg, or you trust me not to make a break for it when you send me there."

"I wish it was the first, trusting North Kai on the second," Grand Kai answered. "As I'm sure you can imagine, if everyone found out about this place we'd have a mass exodus of the dead on our hands."

"What exactly is this place you're talking about?" Goku asked.

"It is a very special planet," Grand Kai described. "There the cosmic barrier that separates the living and the dead is very thin, with the planet straddling the divide between them. The barrier tore open quite some time ago, forever connecting the two sides on that world."

"And it's been a pain in our collective backsides ever since," King Kai added. "Dead guys from that planet cross back over all the time. Every so often other dead guys stumble across it and pass through too. It's nearly impossible to keep track of everyone down there."

"What does this have to do with me?" Goku asked.

"Getting to that," Grand Kai said. "About a thousand years ago something slaughtered a majority of that planet's population, and there's been a steady stream of death ever since. I need you to cross over and find out what is going on, and put a stop to it if you can."

"Hang on," Goku said. "If this whole thing started a thousand years ago, what took you so long to deal with it? And why do you need me to do it?"

"Hey I'm over ten million years old!" Grand Kai objected. "It takes a thousand years just to get through half the things on my to-do list."

"A hundred if it's urgent," King Kai commented.

"Quiet you," Grand Kai said, then turned back to Goku. "As for why I'm sending you, well you're the only one qualified. Your appearance is close enough to the locals to blend in, you're powerful enough to deal with just about anything, and you're trustworthy enough to come back when you're done."

"So I'm off to some alien world and meddling in their affairs?" Goku summarized. "You know, something tells me that isn't such a good idea."

"Just be subtle about it," King Kai recommended. "If anyone questions your presence, keep your answers vague and immediately change the subject."

"I'll try," Goku promised. He rubbed his palms together. "Okay, let's do this. So where am I going?"

"Here," King Kai said, turning to point a shoulder toward Goku. "I'll show you where it is on this side."

Goku put his hand on that shoulder, allowing King Kai to share thoughts through touch telepathy. King Kai then used his antennae to search the cosmos, looking for the correct location and showing Goku flashes of places along the way. Most of those places were very nasty environments, from rivers of lava to mountains of spikes and everything in between. It soon stopped at a barren wasteland with dark storm clouds overhead, with bright lightning spawning thunder that drowned out the sound of thousands wailing in eternal torment.

"You're sending me to Hell?" Goku asked.

"Just through it," King Kai corrected. He focused on a scorched plateau, near the base of one side. "You have to go through here to reach the other side."

"Got it," Goku said. He looked over at the Grand Kai. "Is there anything else I need to know?"

"When you get down there, hang to the right," King Kai answered. "The left path goes to this really weird place that makes less sense the more you learn about it."

"Okay, hang right," Goku said. He let go and put two fingers to his forehead, and he disappeared.

The barren wasteland in this part of Hell was deserted, off limits even to the ogres that kept the damned in check. Although they were some distance away, their tormented wails carried a long way and reached this place. The dark storm clouds overhead never produced rain, only spawning lightning and thunder that echoed across the land. The plateau here was always a distant landmark to those in the neighboring areas, mysterious to the ogres while unimportant to the damned souls. Once in a while someone would approach, and never be seen again.

Next to the plateau Goku appeared, standing over a hellfrog he'd used to lock onto for instant transmission, lowering his fingers and looking around. "Well this must be it."

Facing the scorched side of the plateau, Goku could see a narrow vertical gash in the rock face. From either to the left or the right it appeared to be just an ordinary crevice, but from directly in front the depth seemed to go on forever. In fact when Goku flew above the gash to see the top of the plateau, he found that the gash was deeper than the plateau itself. That alone confirmed that the path through the gash led out of this plane of reality, and so Goku landed to walk down that path. At first the sides of the gash were the same scorched rock, but that soon faded into smoother dark blue stone.

As Goku walked down the path the natural light was quickly gone, even the bright flashes of lightning couldn't get this far in. For a little while Goku stumbled in the darkness, until the novelty of walking blind wore off. So Goku conjured a small sphere of energy in his palm, using its light to show the way. The smooth stone along the path took on a more ethereal quality, right about where Goku was certain that he was no longer within the plateau. Wherever he was now Goku couldn't tell, just that he was leaving Hell itself.

Further down the path there was a split in it, one going left and the other going right. Although he had been told to stick to the right path, Goku was curious about what lay down the left path. So he took it and kept track of how far he walked, making sure that he could find his way back. The tunnel ended after half a mile, coming out inside a maelstrom of swirling green mist. Goku flew out of the exit and up the maelstrom, discovering a stone ceiling with a person sized hole and then stuck his head through. He found a small chamber made of dark blue rock with a throne at one end, and there was somebody in it.

"Oh for Zeus's sake!" Whoever this person was he had blue skin, wore a black robe, and had blue fire where hair should have been. "I am not in the mood for this today!"

"Sorry," Goku said. He looked both ways and then back at the only person here. "I made a wrong turn."

"Well go back and make the right turn!" He stood up and turned to the left, putting his right hand on his head as if to nurse a headache. "I've had enough of people from other worlds meddling with my underworld. It never ends well. So go back and we can pretend we never met!"

"Well goodbye then," Goku said.

Goku left the way he came with his curiosity satisfied, and then he went down the correct path. He made a mental note to check it out again later, when he had the time to do so. Soon this tunnel was filled with white mist, and then the tunnel walls abruptly vanished. Goku found himself walking through the white mist without a defined path, stepping on soft soil before walking into a field of flowers. There the white mist began to clear, allowing Goku to see the colorful flowers he had come across. Soon the mist was gone completely, and the view all around him was simply stunning to behold.

Massive waterfalls surrounded the field on three sides, the water falling into an abyss far below him. On the fourth side the landscape stretched on for an eternity, filled with bright colors and shimmering lights far away. All around Goku there were glowing spheres of light that left shimmering tails behind them, all drifting aimlessly in this colorful place. It had an unearthly quality that was almost mesmerizing, which was to be expected in a place such as this. Goku took a moment just to look around, so that he could remember the beauty and tell others about it someday.

Above Goku there was a small stone platform seemingly hovering in the air with nothing to support it, a suspicious sight that told him to investigate. Goku flew out of the meadow and up to the platform, landing on the floating barren rock. There he found a strange transparent barrier at the platform's end, and that the rock was jutting through the barrier from the other side. Goku walked up to the barrier and stared at his reflection in it, certain that this had to be the border between the worlds of the living and the dead in this part of the universe.

Goku reached for the barrier, but when his fingers touched its surface the barrier repelled his hand. So he punched the barrier and the impact sent ripples through it, but his fist still could not get through it. Goku held his arm out, palm facing the barrier, and fired an energy blast at it. The little ball of light punctured a hole clean through, only for the hole to seal itself shut before Goku could reach it. He repeated the energy blast, rushed immediately behind it, but still didn't get to the hole fast enough to pass through.

"This might be a problem," Goku complained.

As if beckoned by his frustration more spheres of light emerged from the flowers in the field and ascended to the platform, where they started swirling all around Goku. They converged on him and passed into his flesh, the sensation akin to when Shenron had restored him to life nearly ten years ago. Goku had his suspicions on what the spheres of light did to him, and so he punched the barrier one more time. Now his fist plunged through the barrier, feeling resistance against his flesh but not enough to be forced back out.

Quickly Goku got his arms through the barrier and then his head and upper torso, feeling pain everywhere as he steadily pushed through to the other side. Even as his legs passed through the barrier it still tried to pull him back the other way, right up until Goku was completely through. On the other side the force pulling back suddenly ceased, and Goku's own might flung him forward fast and he crashed headfirst into a stone wall. Slightly embarrassed Goku pulled himself out of the rock, finding that he was now inside a long cavernous tunnel.

Sure enough, now that he was on this side of the barrier, Goku felt truly alive again. "So the Grand Kai wasn't kidding around. This really is a way back to the living."

Goku walked down the length of this tunnel to its end, where it opened up into a large cavern with stone bridges spanning the walls. The bridges crisscrossed over the cavern floor at various angles, connecting the upper walls with the floor and other places. There were some structures built right into the rock, some resembling homes while others were business establishments. Passing to and from every structure were a bipedal plantlike species, similar to humans but with grass-like hair and extra-long fingers more like tree branches.

When Goku entered this underground civilization he found the people stopping in their tracks, all staring at him from nearly every direction. It almost seemed like they knew where he had come from, and that his origin made him unwelcome here. So Goku took the first path he could find out of this underground settlement, that being a larger tunnel that let upward. He emerged into daylight at the far end, coming out amid exposed roots of a massive tree. There was a road heading away from this place, and as best that Goku could tell the road headed mostly southeast.

"Now then, where's this killer Grand Kai mentioned?" Goku muttered aloud.

Goku closed his eyes and focused on his senses. The first thing he felt was the underground settlement behind him, all those people blending into each other and almost feeling like plants. Then he felt individuals in front and in the distance, likely travelers along this road and groups at the stops along it. There were also some larger life signs not far away, likely beasts of burden that the people employed. However he did not feel the presence of any massive energy, nothing that would be the obvious culprit that Goku was looking for.

"Must be suppressing his power," Goku assumed. He jumped into the air and took flight. "Guess I'll have to do this the hard way."

He flew straight up for a short while, getting high enough for the horizon to curve down in all directions. There he felt for any large energy sources again, expanding his search across nearly the entire planet. Goku found two large concentrations of people within range, one to the north and the other to the south. Something wasn't right about there being only two major cities here, when there was plenty of room for many more of them. There was still no sign of what he was looking for, so Goku headed south for the smaller of the two urban populations.

That city was on the southeastern coastline of the continent, built right along the shore with docks jutting out into the ocean. The first thing Goku noticed was the large stadium, utterly dwarfing every other structure here. There were people scurrying about the streets here, going through their daily lives unaware of Goku's presence. These locals appeared to be human enough, or at least similar in appearance to make any difference meaningless. So Goku figured it was worth the effort to walk amongst them, at least long enough to learn more about this place.

Inland from the city there was a long road surrounded by fields of grass on both sides, a convenient place to land without being noticed. Goku flew in faster than the eye could see, diving into the grass before anyone could see, and then casually walked out of the field. From there Goku walked down the road to the end, where stone steps led down to the coastal city below. He got a few odd looks here and there from travelers using the steps, though only in regards to his clothing. For some reason the locals here preferred asymmetrical fashion, so the symmetrical clothes Goku wore stood out from the crowd.

Wandering around the city Goku listened to the idle conversations of the people he passed, looking for key words and judging their meaning by the context. From them he quickly learned that this city was named Luca, and that the planet they lived on was called Spira. There was also a sport that teams played here, though whatever this 'blitzball' game was Goku couldn't tell from idle conversations. What he could tell however was that the sport was a distraction from something else, something that no one wanted to talk about.

Goku turned around a corner and spotted something out of the ordinary. "Now that is a big chicken."

Standing head and shoulders taller than Goku was a bright yellow bird, standing on deceptively scrawny legs and having rather small wings for its size. It was also wearing armor fitted for the bird, and was tended to by three people in varying armor designs. A redheaded woman in blue, a dark haired woman in red, and a scrawny brown haired man in green, were all keeping the bird in good health. Then Goku spotted two more similarly large and armored birds behind them, apparently one for each of them to be riding around on somewhere.

The redheaded woman spotted Goku staring at the birds, and she beckoned for him to come over. "I see you have a good eye for chocobos."

"Chocolate bows?" Goku questioned, walking up to the three people.

The dark haired woman laughed a little. "No silly. Chocobos." The closest bird squawked and she brushed some feathers. "You don't want to get this one mad with jokes about the name."

"Yeah this one can be a real jerk sometimes," the scrawny man said. "But he can also be nice once you get to know him."

"I guess so," Goku said. "So do you fight with the chocobo? Or something else?"

"Oh now where are our manners?" the redhead wondered. "We're Chocobo Knights. "I'm Lucil, she's Elma, and he's Clasko. We ride our chocobos into battle to protect the people from fiends and bandits."

"Neat," Goku said. "I'm Goku, and I'm just looking around the city for stuff to do."

"If you're interested in joining us we have a recruitment center nearby," Elma said. She pointed towards a round plaza a couple blocks away. "It's just past the café, you can't miss it."

"I thought we weren't recruiting right now," Clasko muttered. "Doesn't the operation take pre-"

"Right, sorry," Lucil interrupted. "Forget what Elma said. It will be a few weeks before we accept new members into our ranks. Still, you look like you could handle a chocobo, so check back then."

"I'll think about it," Goku said, even though he planned on doing no such thing.

Elma spotted something not far away. "Lucil, there's our contact."

Lucil nodded and then looked at Goku. "Sorry, but we've got to go."

Clasko shrugged and took the chocobo's reins. "Nice meeting you."

"Take care," Goku said, watching the three take their chocobos and leave.

That little diversion over, Goku returned to wandering around Luca looking for information. At least now he knew what those big yellow birds are, in case he came across more of them. And it could be worthwhile to know a few people that lived here, and those three seemed like good people. Goku made sure to remember what their presence had felt like, for if he ever wanted to teleport to them later. After that Goku walked back the way he came, and once he was outside Luca and out of sight he took to the air and flew away from the city.

It was clear that Goku wasn't going to get the answers he wanted in a big city, since the people in them were actively trying to avoid the topic. He needed to find people more willing to talk about it, perhaps in a smaller settlement that couldn't afford to ignore the issue. Goku checked his senses and searched for suitable places, ignoring the larger concentrations of people to focus on the smaller ones. There were some islands not very far from the coast, one of them significantly larger than the rest with a population much smaller than Luca.

Goku flew towards that island at a casual speed, still looking out for whatever monster that terrorized this world. While his senses were pushed to their limit Goku felt a presence below him, someone small and alone in the middle of nowhere. It would have been of no concern normally, except that it was stranded in the middle of the sea. Goku slowed down and flew in closer, concerned that it could be someone shipwrecked and in peril. Sure enough a fragment of a boat was floating in the water, with a single person clinging to life on the buoyant piece of hull.

Close enough to see the survivor with his eyes, Goku found a girl around Gohan's age. Short, blond hair, and wearing a light red wetsuit, she looked alright in spite of her situation. Goku's shadow passed over her body, prompting her to look up to find the source. She saw Goku's silhouette within the rays of the shining sun, a hand reaching out to her as he came down from the heavens. Willing to take any option to get out of her predicament, she reached upward toward the hand she saw. Goku took the teenager's hand, lifted her off the floating piece of hull, and carried her as he would a small child.

"Thank you," the girl said, grateful to be rescued. "Thank you so much."

"You're welcome." Goku turned around to fly back toward the mainland, figuring that he could put her down there and move on. "I'll have you on dry land in no time."

The girl looked away and saw the ocean going by, now having the time to actually think about what was happening. "You're actually flying…"

"Yeah I can do that," Goku said. Before the girl could ask more Goku changed the subject. "So what happened to you? Why were you floating out there?"

When she answered, one could feel the sense of dread in her voice. "Sin."

That word sunk in for Goku, now having a name to what he was searching for. Whatever it was clearly destroyed the boat that his girl had been using, and had the people of Luca so scared of it that they did not dare speak about it. Goku didn't know what exactly Sin was or what to expect when he would find it, only that its power wasn't a kind that could be sensed in the usual manner. That sort of thing wasn't unheard of, since artificial energies had that property too. Still, Goku's questions could wait until they reached dry land, and he soon set foot on the shore a few miles away from Luca.

"Here we are," Goku said, setting the teenager on the ground. "Safe and sound."

"Thank you again, I mean it," the teenager said. "I don't know how I would have gotten out of that."

"You're welcome," Goku said. "Miss…"

"Rikku," she answered, turning around to look him in the eye. "You know, I thought flying men were only a little girl's fantasy, mister…"

"Goku." He jerked his head out back toward the ocean. "Do you want to talk about what happened?"

"It's just… things were going so well." Rikku found a large rock and sat down on it. "Brother and I were just about ready to celebrate with the rest of our crew. We'd just found a lost airship, intact no less. If we can get it working again it would change everything for us."

"And Sin ruined it?" Goku guessed, standing next to the rock that Rikku sat on.

"Yeah…" Rikku answered. She pulled her legs up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. "Whenever things look up, Sin attacks. Whenever we forget that, people die."

"I've never actually seen Sin," Goku said, neglecting to mention that he had never heard of Sin either. "What does it look like?"

"Big," Rikku described. She looked out at the open ocean, the memory of the attack appearing to her in the depths. "It's like the biggest whale that you've ever seen, but several orders of magnitude bigger. When Sin attacked I felt smaller than a flea, and just as easily swatted away."

That was hard to picture without seeing it firsthand, even with the large great ape Goku imagined for reference. "So Sin showed up, smashed your boat to pieces, and just left you there to drown."

"I think we were just in its way," Rikku guessed. "We knew it had to be nearby when that boy… said…"

When her voice trailed off Goku looked at her. "What boy?"

Rikku's eyes opened wide, remembering something that had been forgotten in the chaos. "He said he survived another Sin attack, not long before we found him in Baaj. He seemed completely lost, and now he's all alone again, even if he survived Sin a second time."

"I could look for him," Goku suggested. "If he made it he can't be too far away from where you were."

"Yeah just call out for… for…" Rikku struggled to complete that sentence, and a strange thought got her to make a weak laugh. "Huh? He never told me his name."

"Weird," Goku noted. "What does he look like?"

"He's a little taller than me, short blonde hair, yellow shirt, black shorts with a J on one leg," Rikku described. "He says he's from Zanarkand, so if he winds up in a town that'll point him out fast."

"Zanarkand, got it," Goku said, though he had no idea what Zanarkand was. Goku waved to Rikku while walking toward the water. "I'll see if I can find him."

"Hey don't just-" a gale from Goku taking flight interrupted Rikku. "-leave me here alone."

Goku didn't hear that last part as he flew into the sky, leaving Rikku alone on the shore. He flew over the ocean back to where he had found Rikku, stopping to hover over that piece of debris floating in the water. Here Goku closed his eyes and checked his senses, this time searching for anything small and adrift at sea. Unfortunately there weren't any other people he could sense in the water, in the immediate area anyway. Goku expanded his search across a much wider stretch of ocean, looking with his eyes until the setting sun dipped below the horizon.

As the night came Goku figured he wasn't going to find Rikku's friend at sea, since he had to have either drowned or reached one of the nearby islands. Either way a delay in his search wasn't going to change that, while a delay was needed to satisfy a growling in Goku's stomach. He took an hour to fish in the ocean, caught a couple dozen fish much smaller than the ones back home, and took them to an island to cook and eat. After that it was getting late in the evening, so Goku laid back on a beach and listened to the ocean waves until he drifted off to sleep.

The following morning the first rays of the sunrise woke Goku from slumber, the start of a brand new day to resume his search. Goku flew back into the sky and checked his senses one more time, but was not surprised when he didn't find anyone drifting at sea. The only people he felt were on the nearby islands, one group larger than the rest while the others were more scattered about. One of those smaller groups was the closest to where Goku had found Rikku, and was the most likely place her friend would have washed up on yesterday or the day before.

So Goku flew straight for that island, and when he arrived he found a place lush with thick jungle vegetation. This island had a single mountain on it, covered in rolling hills instead of the jungle at the base. On one side of that mountain was a small village, and on the other side was a beach next to a small port. For some reason all of the people who lived here had gathered at that small port, facing the sole ship that happened to be docked here. Goku picked a spot that was out of sight and landed there, then walked out of the jungle onto the beach to see what was going on from ground level.

A few dozen people were standing on the beach, some old, some young, all sad. They were giving their farewells to someone on the boat, which was about to head out to sea. Goku stopped just behind the crowd and looked at the boat, seeing the person that they were sending off. It was a young teenage girl in a white and blue robe, her long brown hair flowing in the wind as she waved to the people she had known all her life. Goku didn't know why but this seemed like a sad departure, judging by all the tears on everyone in the crowd.

The girl on the boat spotted Goku and made eye contact, him noticing her mismatched blue and green eyes. Goku waved, she smiled, and then both looked away. A loud horn blew somewhere on the boat, a ramp to the dock was removed, and the anchor was raised. The boat then set sail and left this little island behind, though the crowd continued to give their farewells until it was gone. The crowd lingered here for a little while longer, taking about the girl that had departed from them. In smaller groups they left the beach and headed back to their village, unaware that someone was following them.

Goku followed the last group across the island, walking down narrow dirt trails through the jungle and around the mountain. It wasn't until he reached the village that people started to notice him, though at first they assumed he was just a traveler that arrived with the boat earlier today. Goku looked around the village as he walked through it, eyeing the small collection of huts spread in front of a single ornate building. None of the people here matched the description that Rikku gave him, unless the large building happened to house lost travelers.

Inside the building was a modest antechamber, semi-circular in shape with a set of stairs at the far side. Along the walls were rows of identical statues, depicting members of a special order. Near the stairs were a handful of larger statues, each one of them unique and depicting particularly important individuals. This place was some kind of temple for a religion on this world, as that much was obvious even to Goku. He saw priests in robes tending the statues, and people from the village coming in here and praying for good fortune and protection for loved ones.

A bald priest saw Goku enter and approached him. "Welcome traveler. May the blessings of Yevon watch over you."

"Thanks?" Goku muttered, not sure of what else he could say to that. He saw the priest make a strange gesture, like holding a ball while making a bow. "But really, I'm just passing through here."

"Yevon looks over us all, no matter where we go," the priest said. He stepped out of the way to let Goku see one statue more clearly. "We just received our statue of High Summoner Braska. As long as you are here, perhaps you should pray, and maybe he will show the way for the faithful."

Goku walked over to that statue, that of a man in robes holding a staff. "So what's so special about this high summoner person?"

All the praying in the temple went silent, and all eyes were on Goku. Immediately he realized he had said something that was profane here, given that this was a temple and he made an ignorant comment about it. And yet there was no immediate lynching for his disrespect for their religion, but rather an understanding of some concept Goku was unfamiliar with. The people made that bowing gesture to the priest, and then went back to what they were doing before. The priest in turn made that gesture to the statue, and then turned back toward Goku.

The priest spoke with a sympathetic tone. "My, another poor soul afflicted by Sin's toxin."

That wasn't a lead Goku was looking for here, but he was willing to take it anyway. "Sin's toxin? What is it, and what does it do?"

"It is truly a sad fate," the priest said, shaking his head. "While the wrath of Sin destroys the body, the toxin of Sin destroys the mind. People forget who they are, where they've been, even their belief in Yevon can be gone. Why, we just had one boy so badly afflicted he believed he lived in Zanarkand."

Now that was the lead Goku had been looking for. "Is there a place to get help for this condition?"

"I'm afraid there isn't one on Besaid," the priest answered, saddened by that unfortunate truth. "Still, the boy left on the boat today. Perhaps Summoner Yuna can alleviate the worst of the toxin's effects."

That would certainly be a relief for Rikku, if Goku found her again to deliver the good news. Goku could catch up to that boat at his leisure, so he changed the subject. "What else does Sin do?"

"Sin is our punishment," the priest said. "Our ancestors committed crimes against the world, and thus Sin was born to punish us. Only when we have atoned and our sins are forgiven, will Sin truly vanish."

Naturally Goku didn't believe that last part, not without seeing Sin and judging it for himself. "Well who knows? Maybe Sin can be destroyed if the right person tries."

"Many have tried, all have failed," the priest answered. "Only the summoners can keep Sin at bay, and only for a short time. No, our only true salvation is the teachings of Yevon."

"We'll see," Goku said, turning around and walking away from the priest and out of the temple.

Outside Goku walked back through the village, leaving its small huts behind him and ignoring the people that looked at him. He walked down the dirt trail until he was out of sight, then took to the air and flew high above the island. Although he still didn't have any clue as to where Sin might be, he knew where Rikku's friend was instead. It was a rather small lead in comparison to what Goku wanted, but at least he could take the time to confirm that it was Rikku's friend on that boat. So Goku flew off in the direction that boat had set sail, and he figured it wouldn't be too hard to catch up with it.

The boat had sailed surprisingly far in just a couple of hours, already halfway across the waters between the previous island and the one with the largest population. Goku actually had to feel for the presence of the people aboard to find it, as it had been too small to see from the sky. He had to fly in lower altitudes to see the boat with his eyes, and even lower to make out individual people on it. However as he closed in on the boat Goku saw something else with his eyes, a large shadow within the water and growing larger by the second.

"Is that what I think it is?" Goku wondered aloud, seeing something big but not sensing any large power.

It certainly fit the description of a massive monster, shrouded in the depths of the sea. It dwarfed everything else Goku had ever seen before, making that boat appear as small as a child's bath toy. Its presence displaced tons of water and made massive waves rise and fall, leaving the boat to fend for itself against the ocean's wrath. Simply by being there this monster threatened to capsize the boat, which wasn't even the monster's target. It was heading for the same island the boat was sailing for, straight for a port town on this side of the shoreline.

Goku accelerated his flight and shot straight for the boat, and was almost there when one massive wave burst open. A colossal black fin rose out of the water, casting a wide shadow over the surface of the sea. The black fin was easily bigger than the great ape by orders of magnitude, and the monster attached to the fin had to be so much bigger. Water sprayed high into the air in the black fin's wake, showering the boat as it tried to sail around the deadly obstacle. The black fin cut through the water like it wasn't even there, heading in a straight line for the island up ahead.

"That has to be Sin," Goku said. He accelerated and flew for the black fin. "Time to go to work."

Suddenly the black fin of Sin shed its outer most skin, breaking apart into person sized flakes that shot out in every direction. Hundreds of them shot through the air in Goku's direction, and they turned just enough to get directly in front of him. The black flakes unfolded into the form of monstrous insects, now flying under their own power and extending deadly barbs. It seemed that these black insects were meant to deal with those not worth Sin's attention, as a few of the black insects flew for the boat while the majority of them flew for Goku.

Goku held one palm in front of him and opened fire, shooting energy blasts rapid in speed and numerous in quantity. Each energy blast destroyed one of the black insect in a large explosion, and there were a lot of explosions when the swarm intercepted Goku. Hundreds of exploding energy blasts lit up the sky like an enormous fireworks display, and it quickly punched a hole through the swarm. The effort barely slowed Goku down at all and he was soon through the swarm, flying past the boat and on his way toward Sin.

Meanwhile the boat below had fired a pair of harpoons at the black fin, one of them impaling the target and tethering the boat to Sin. All that accomplished was dragging the boat in Sin's wake, failing to dissuade the monster from its current course. Some of the black insects had landed on the deck, and a group of five passengers was fending them off. The boat was pulled back and forth by the raging currents, but always behind the black fin as it kept moving forward. Although their efforts were in vain, they kept on fighting for the slim change of averting catastrophe.

Through the swarm Goku put on a burst of speed, pulled back his right fist, and punched at the last second. His fist struck the black fin with tremendous force, knocking the fin away and tipping it halfway to the horizontal. A fist size hole broke the dark skin where Goku hit it, and black blood bled out from the wound. The black fin quickly became upright again, and the monster below began to slow down and turn to the left. It appeared that Goku now had the monster's attention, for inflicting a wound was enough to be a significant threat.

A dark aura formed around the fin and grew darker by the second, becoming nearly black when one side of the fin faced Goku. The aura then erupted into a wave of black energy, the center of it heading straight for Goku. He crossed his arms and took the attack head on, the black energy striking him as the energy wave washed over him. In moments the energy wave had passed on, and Goku remained in the air none the worse for wear. But the black aura quick reappeared around the fin, promising to attack again and use more of Sin's power.

Goku cupped his hands and put them at his side. "Ka, Me, Ha, Me, HA!"

A bright blue ball of light appeared in Goku's cupped hands, and then he thrust them forward with his palms aimed at the fin. The blue ball exploded into a bright blue beam that shot straight for the fin, hitting it right in the middle of the exposed side. The Kamehameha burned through black flesh all the way through to the other side, and proceeded to impact the sea afterward. After the attack there was a clean circular hole in Sin's fin, the edges of the wound cauterized with no blood seeping out. Goku then cupped his hands again, ready to use the same attack on the rest of Sin.

A mighty roar bellowed up from the depths of the sea, the rage of Sin audible even through all that water. The monster bellow surged upward and burst into the air, revealing much of its pitch black back to all that gazed upon Sin. Raw black energy appeared around Sin and was released in a shockwave, though not one directed at Goku. No, this shockwave struck the water all around Sin, creating a massive wave of water that spread out in every direction. That happened to include the island that Sin was headed for, and the little port village about to be annihilated in watery doom.

Goku saw the village in danger, cursed under his breath, and put two fingers to his forehead. "Crap."

He disappeared that very second, and in the next second he reappeared above the port village and the people in it. A wall of water over a hundred feet tall was bearing down on this place, and there were only a few short moments to do anything before it hit. Goku stuck his arms out with both palms facing the oncoming water, glowing with energy and getting brighter with each precious second. At the last possible moment Goku fired that energy, making a wide yellow beam just as tall as the water and nearly as wide as the village below him.

The yellow beam and the wall of water collided, unleashing an explosion that brightened the sky for miles around. Water evaporated into a thick cloud of steam that expanded to several times the original volume, shrouding the village in a thick fog that stretched out to sea. However, only the middle portion of the wave had been annihilated, the sides still crashed into the island shore. The two half-waves broke against the island and smaller waves created in their place, which then struck the port village from the sides in a massive flood.

Little huts along the village outskirts were destroyed when the waves hit, breaking apart the wood and reeds before washing the remnants away. People unfortunate to be inside were broken just as quickly as their homes, and then washed away with the raging current. But as the waves washed through the village the damage they inflicted greatly decreased, and by the time the waves collided with each other they were barely stronger than the tides. By the end of it the outskirts of the port village were destroyed, but the center was still standing.

Goku had saved the port village from certain doom, but when the fog began to clear he saw only calm and clear waters before him. "No."

Sin had disappeared, gone into the depths of the sea where Goku could not follow.

And yet Goku still couldn't sense it, whatever power Sin drew upon eluded his ability to sense living energy. "How does it do that?"

That mystery would have to be solved another time. For what he could sense were the locals trapped in debris, soon to be either crushed or drowned if no one did anything. Sin could wait, the trapped locals could not, so Goku flew down to the flooded parts of the city to help. He dived into the water and got to work clearing debris, freeing the people trapped and getting them to the surface. There was a lot of debris to go through, and Goku made sure to be thorough with it. But for every person rescued from the deep, a dozen more had lost their lives today.

Half an hour later Goku stood at the edge of the village, looking at the survivors grieving for those they had lost. He also saw the boat now in port, one harpoon launcher missing but otherwise intact. Its crew and passengers were helping the survivors cope with loss, including preparation of the dead for some kind of ritual. Goku watched them put the bodies in light wooden caskets and put them out to sea, alongside bright flowers floating in the water. Although Goku wanted to leave and find Sin again, it seemed respectful to stay long enough to watch this ritual.

Goku saw the teenage girl from the boat walk in front of the survivors, a long staff in hand and a somber look on her face as she faced the sea. Somehow she walked on the surface of the water without plunging into it, and she stopped in the middle of the floating caskets and flowers. Then she started spinning her staff around in a dance, as if collecting something with the elegant circular motions. The water shimmered all around her during her dance, right before spheres of light emerged from the caskets and floated into the air.

The sight was truly mesmerizing, until sudden pain struck Goku. "What the…"

Goku dropped onto one knee and a hand clutched his chest, gritting his teeth as the pain grew stronger and stronger. The pain seemed to be inflicted upon his very soul, in an agony greater than anything ever inflicted on his physical body. Goku held up his other hand and saw it shimmer and turn transparent, followed by a sphere of light bursting out of his flesh. More spheres of light came out of Goku one by one, and each time it felt like his grip on reality was slipping away. The spheres of light above the water were starting to vanish, and Goku felt like he was going to vanish with them.

In an instant, everything snapped back.

All the pain instantly vanished, the spheres of light were gone, and his flesh was solid again. However Goku felt very exhausted and he was breathing heavily, his muscles aching as he slowly stood up. Goku wasn't certain what had just happened, but was grateful that it was over. He was also grateful to have been at the edge of the port village, far behind everyone else watching the girl perform her dance for the dead. No one had seen Goku during his moment of weakness, and even now all eyes were on that girl instead of him.

Goku was staring at her too, very concerned about whatever magic she possessed that affected him here. "Okay little lady, now you have my attention."