by DoraMouse
Dragonball characters, settings and items are all registered trademarks of at least Bird Studios.
Close to the ground a pair of radiant orange blurs tore through the turbulent scenary. The world around them seemed to be crumbling, falling to pieces in a series of thunderous colorful explosions. Anywhere that the waves of energy slammed into the ground nothing was left but dust - no trace of any form of life remained. The air was hazy, the sky tinted yellow by clouds of the airborne dust. Though the swirling dust clouds hid much of the landscape from view, the mere presence of the sickly yellow sky silently testified to the extent of the devestation.
The two did not slow down, running as fas as their feet could carry them and cursing their fate every step of the way.
"We aren't gonna make it!" Krillen called out between pained breathes as he ran, choking on the air as he struggled to make himself heard. His orange gi was tattered and his skin was covered in wounds - ugly black bruises were steadily taking shape while dark red slashes across his neck were the result of his blood drying over the injury. The pain young Krillen felt was most evident in his expression yet he forced himself to keep pace with the other orange blur.
"Don't you dare give up." Yamucha slowed enough to be able to grab Krillens arm and drag the younger warrior along. Though Yamucha had his fair share of injuries, he was in slightly better health. The bloody and broken sword he carried across his back offered an explanation - Yamucha had obviously spared himself by allowing the weapon to take most of the damage that had been directed at him. "We can't let that guy catch us!"
A short distance behind them, the clouds went from yellow to ever darker shades of red as the hostile energy signature that was pursuing them drew steadily closer.
"I'm just slowing you down." Angrily Krillen wretched himself free of Yamuchas grasp and turned, skidding to a stop as he faced the approaching evil. He had every intention of stalling the threat as long as he could. "Get the dragonballs, fix things. I'm counting on you."
Yamucha skidded to stop. "You're insane!" He shouted, devestated by the prospect of losing yet another friend. In the last two hours, he'd already lost so many people. Bulma, Puar, Oolong... The audience and most the contenders of the 22nd Tenkaichi Budoukai had been slaughtered before anyone had realized the danger. The noble sacrifices of Goku, Tenshinhan, Chaozu and Master Roshi were the main reasons that Yamucha and Krillen had managed to survive this long. As far as Yamucha knew, he and Krillen might be the only two creatures on Earth that were currently alive. He couldn't sense anyone else aside from their enemy.
"There's no way you can..." Yamucha began to protest.
"Would you just get out of here already?!" Krillen yelled with growing irritation and impatience. He KNEW that he didn't have a prayer but he felt compelled to try anyway since he was in too much pain to continue fleeing. "Go on! Splitting up is our best chance." He waved his arms in a gesture that tried to shoo Yamucha away.
Yamucha was not so easily intimidated, he scowled down at the friend that was three years his junior. "Enough people have died today." Yamucha said simply.
He vanished and reappeared quickly behind the shorter warrior. Before Krillen had the chance to resist, he was caught in bear hug that pinned his arms to his sides and left his feet dangling off the ground. Krillen struggled in vain, cursing Yamuchas height. Yamucha ignored Krillens protests as he started to run again, darting off in the direction of Capsule Corp.
In order to have any chance at locating the dragonballs, they had to get a dragonball radar first. Yamucha was gambling the fate of the world on the singular lingering hope that that Capsule Corp would have a spare - the original radar had been incinerated along with Bulma.
As he ran, Yamucha decided that if he somehow survived this fiasco then he was done with fighting. He was twenty years old. The burden of the world was more stress than he cared to deal with.
A thin streak of red energy cut through the air, whistling as it closed on its target.
Yamuchas attention was devoted soley to the task of escaping so Krillen detected the oncoming attack first. Abruptly Krillen found the anger and adrenaline he needed to power up fully. He uttered shrill warning cry as he broke free, the outward explosion of Krillens aura was enough to alter their course and save them both. The red beam shot past them, startling Yamucha, and leveled a distant hillside.
Being at full power appeared to be slowly ripping Krillen to pieces, the sheer hostile force of his own aura was making his injuries worse. Yet he refused to power down, he refused to die without putting up a fight. Krillen raised his hands so that the flats of his palms faced outward and the bottom edges of his hands touched, preparing to use an attack that he'd learned earlier today. It was the only energy attack he knew. He waited until a wicked chuckling could be heard and a tall shadowy figure was visible through the dust clouds.
"This is for Goku!" Krillen snarled, tears pooling in his eyes at the mere mention of his deceased best friend. "KAME..."
Behind Krillen, Yamucha had become resigned to this fate. He no longer viewed escape as a possibility so he figured that if he was going to die anayway, he might as well die fighting. Yamucha mimicked the attack stance that Krillen had taken - he'd learned the Kamehameha earlier today was well - and fired the beam over Krillens head.
The two Kamehameha waves combined into a single attack, a massive wave of neon orange energy fringed in white light that proved difficult for both warriors to control. The attack surged forward with a deafening roar and was countered, shaking the very Earth as it collided forcefully in midair with a beam of crimson energy. For a moment the two attacks held each other at bay, pushing back and forth with equal strength. The tug of war was quickly ended since Krillens aura was fading fast. The human warriors started to slip, their combined Kamehameha all but vanished. The red beam advanced.
What little was left of Krillen took the brunt of the attack. He was thrown back even as the intensity of the red attack continued the torture that his own aura had started - ripping him to pieces, reducing him to dust. As the dust was blown back, the energy had another side affect. The dust was slammed so forcibly into the second warrior that it was being absorbed...
Yamuchas vision was filled by the attack, he couldn't see anything aside from red light and he was numb with the expectation of death. But for a split second, through the detached pain, he was vaguely aware that his power level was doubling. He didn't understand how or why such a thing could happen but didn't bother to question it. He wasn't about to waste such a gift. Even as the energy had begun to alter him, Yamucha mustered all the concentration he had and threw every atom of energy that he could spare into the creation of a protective energy shield. He mentally prayed to god that this idea would work.
God must have listened.
An orange energy shield flickered into place and held. The red attack did not penetrate the bubble of safety however the bubble was still on the recieving end of the powerful blast. Piccolo Daimio watched in mild confusion as his attack tore rapidly through the sky, pushing the energy shield in front of it. The monster had expected the blast to rip through the bubble rather than carry it. He waited. The red attack peaked, reaching a point where the energy was unstable. The beam could not continue so instead it exploded. When the smoke cleared, the bubble was gone. Piccolo Daimio nodded in satisfaction, convinced that the last warrior was dead and the world was now his to rule without any interferance from puny Earthlings.
He was a bit wrong in his assumptions. The explosion had ripped a hole in space.
Ugh... As he regained consciousness, the warrior sat up slowly. Mentally filled with surprise as he pried his eyes open and caught sight of a lush forest.
He wasn't sure why but everything felt...wrong. Out of place. He instinctively knew the surroundings were too peaceful, he anticipated danger but couldn't remember why. Upon inspecting himself, he found that all his injuries had been healed and even his sword was now intact though he wasn't sure why he'd expected the weapon to be broken. He felt that he had changed but he wasn't sure how. The extent of his memory loss irritated him so he decided to assume the whole vague experience had been a bad dream.
It was not a bad dream. Krillen, age 17, and Yamucha, age 20, had completely and permenantly fused before being blown into this alternative world. The resulting burly warrior was a teenaged human. The guy was relatively short with long shaggy dark hair and small dark eyes. He wore a simple orange robe and a pair of sandals.
He regarded the sword for a long time before picking it up. He knew that he disliked fighting but the sword seemed to offer comfort. It was familiar somehow, it had sentimental value so he took the weapon with him even though he had no intention of using it unless absolutely necessary. He walked through the forest for a bit, trying to get his bearings and organize his thoughts but he was distracted by his own abilities. He was amazed by his own foot speed. When he ran, his feet were so blurred that he couldn't even see them clearly.
He was running around at random, testing the extent of this skill when something tripped him. Or rather, he tripped on something. He fell forward and caught himself on his hands. He spent a moment discovering that he was strong enough to put dents in the ground simply by pushing against it then stood up and searched for some clue as to what had tripped him.
What he eventually found was a small orange sphere with a single red star to decorate its glossy surface. He didn't know what the sphere was or why it was out in the middle of a forest but every instinct he had was screaming that the item was important. He couldn't simply leave it embedded in the ground. With a shrug, he lifted the dragonball. Though no one was around, he felt the need to triumphantly announce his find. He held the dragonball up.
"Behold, I - the mighty warrior..."
He blinked and blushed in sudden embarrassment. He was drawing an absolute blank. Deep down he suspected that his name started with 'Ya' something but he wasn't really sure. With a sigh he realized that he didn't know what to call the orange sphere either so there really was no point in finishing the announcement. He tucked the dragonball under one arm before continuing his walk through the forest at a more relaxed pace, hoping to find something to eat.
He would continue to wander alone in the wilderness of Earth for the next three years, meditating and sometimes training as he traveled. He would remain unable to recall his past, unable to truly understand the origin of his abilities.
By the time that he once again heard mention of the name of his best friend, Goku and his worst enemy, Piccolo Daimio - the fused warrior would have picked out a new name for himself: Yajirobe. He would never quite be able to grasp why he felt such a strong sense of deja vu around the other warriors of Earth. For his own peace of mind, he would chalk it up to their being kindred spirits.