Chapter 1: The message
-third person POV-
7 years after the Buu Saga
It was late afternoon when it hit Goku that he heard King Kai's voice. Everyone was at the beach enjoying themselves to the third last day of their vacation. There was practically the whole family along with extra friends for this very special occasion during summer. The Son family, Briefs family along with the Z-fighters and Master Roshi attended the picnic. Even Piccolo was there. The earth had been in peace for the last 7 years and everyone was getting settled once again. Krillin watched as his baby daughter played in the sand. She was trying to make a sand castle but failing every time as the sand wasn't strong enough. He smiled as he watched her trying over and over without giving up. 'That's my girl' he thought to himself. He looked up just to see Gohan and Goten trying to surf in the distant ocean. "HEY GOHAN! LOOK AT ME I'M DOIN IT BETTER THAN YOU" Goten shouted. The fourteen year old half-saiyajin was really a pro compared to his older brother. They both landed safely ashore and Gohan had to admit his brother was better. He patted Goten on the back and headed towards his wife Videl and his one year old daughter Pan.
Krillin smiled at the scene when he noticed the three together. Reminded him of his own family. His thoughts quickly changed to Goku when he realized he wasn't there yet. Last time he asked Chi chi she said he was still sleeping at the hotel and she left without him in a rage. It had been almost an hour since then and he wanted to check again. Just as he asked 18 to look after Marron he heard the familiar cheerful voice that he had been waiting for. "Hi guys! Sorry I'm late" Goku half yelled across the beach. "IT'S ABOUT TIME GOKU!" shouted Chi chi. She was furious at her husband's bad timing. "DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY TIMES I TRIED TO WAKE YOU UP? YOU REALLY NEED TO GET YOUR TIME MANAGEMENT RIGHT. AT THIS RATE WE'LL BE LATE FOR EVERYTHING!". She kept yelling as Goku put his head down in shame. He really was scared of his wife more than anything. "Sorry Chi chi, jeez I didn't know this was so important to you" Goku said with a quiet voice. "I didn't mean to be late it's ju-" before he could finish, his wife came up to him with a smile. "It's ok I'm not mad at you anymore" Chi chi said. 'I can't stay mad at you for long, you big lug' she thought to herself. "Well thats great! I'm starving where's the food?" Goku said looking around just to see the picnic basket next to Bulma. He quickly jumped over and started stuffing his face. Everyone started laughing immediately. Well except Vegeta who seemed to be enjoying his ice cream at a lonely corner of the beach while everyone else was in a huge group. Videl sat down with Pan in her arms next to Gohan as they were all ready to have a picnic . Trunks noticed that everyone was already heading towards the shore to go eat so he quickly swam back. "HEY RIN! Come on it's time to eat" he shouted right before he reached the gathering. "COMING" Rini shouted back. She was close to shore holding a giant floating ring as she couldn't swim. She soon joined in and after a while everyone had a sandwich or burger or even a hotdog in their hands. Chi chi and Bulma had packed just enough for Goku to pig out and for everyone else to enjoy as well. "Wow Goten's dad sure eats a lot" Rini said amazed at how much Goku was eating. "Don't worry it's normal, he's usually worse" said Trunks reassuring her. As Goku was stuffing a burger in his mouth he could hear a familiar voice in his head. "Goku! Can you hear me? It's me King Kai" it's was the old mentor of Goku communicating through telepathy. "Fau fai fingsns faifsn" Goku said with his mouthful. "What? Did you just call me names in a different language?" King Kai said offended. Goku swallowed and continued "No! I said 'Hi King Kai'". "Oh never mind then. Anyway I have really bad news Goku. I can feel a really high amount of negative energy coming from earth. It's like all your old enemies have come back and there are some new ones too!" King Kai explained the situation. "Now that the you mention it I can feel it too. It's not close but it's high enough to sense from afar" Goku said knitting his eyebrows in concentration. By now everyone had noticed Goku's sudden pause from eating. "What's wrong dad?" Gohan asked. He knew something was wrong from his fathers face. "Do you feel that energy son?" Goku asked Gohan. "Wha-, yeah I do feel it. It's enormous!" Gohan stood up in shock as did Goku. Everyone looked at the father and son as they realized something wasn't right. Goku thought quick and fast 'if that energy comes anywhere near us we're all doomed. We need to go back and start taking precautions before things get out of hand'. Vegeta glanced from afar as he could see Goku stand up from the corner of his eye. He quickly walked up to the gathering. "You feel it too Kakarot?" Vegeta asked. Goku nodded in response. "Listen everyone I'm sorry to ruin this party but I think we should go back home by tomorrow. I know it's not time yet but I think there's danger close by. Theres a really high power source close to the city. We should all get home to safety before the negative power gets to us" Goku said. Chi chi got furious 'first he's late and now he wants to go back' she thought but as she was about to shout at Goku she noticed the seriousness in his face. She realized that he was never this serious before and agreed to the idea. "I think he's right guys we should go home before we get into trouble" she said. Goku smiled; his wife might be short-tempered but she was quick at understanding. Krillin on the other hand already started panicking 'that energy level is higher than anyone has ever felt. Someone might die fighting the owners of the power. I don't wanna die! I'm too young' he thought to himself. "Hey Goku I have an idea! Why don't we gather the dragon balls just in case the power gets to us and someone, you know dies or something. So we can be ready. Also we can stop them from gathering the balls so they can't make any wishes" Krillin suggested. "That's a good idea Krillin. We can make two groups. One that'll go hunt for the balls and the rest of us can go the hotel for safety. We can all then head back home tomorrow" replied Goku. So they decided to do as Goku said. Bulma and Chi chi took most of the people back to the hotel while Goku, Vegeta, Gohan, Goten and Trunks decided to look for the dragon balls with Bulma's radar. "Hey Trunks can I come with you?" asked Rini. "I don't think you should come. It might get dangerous and I don't want you to get hurt" Trunks replied. "I understand but you know how much I always wanted to go on one of those adventures you told me about. You had those when you were a kid and I want to have an adventure like you" Rini said pleading to go. "Goku?" Trunks said askingly. Goku smiled and nodded. "I guess you can go but promise me you'll get out of there if things get bad" Trunks said. Rini grinned ear to ear "I promise" she said then turned to Goku and said "Thank you so much sir, I appreciate it very much". Goku smiled and said "Now lets go we have 7 Dragon Balls to find!". They all headed the direction shown in the radar. The radar pointed out a dragon ball due south of the beach about 6 miles ahead. They easily found their first ball lying under a tree. It was the 5 star ball! "At this rate we'll have the balls in no time!" The next dragon ball was south west and it wasn't very far from the last spot. As they came closer to their destination they could see a forest lying ahead. "The radar points directly at the forest. Guess we have to move in" said Gohan. But just as they tried to fly through an invisible barrier hit their heads. "OW!" Everyone shouted at once. "What the" Goten said astonished. "Seems like there's a shield protecting the forest" said Trunks baffled by the thought. "But how? It's not possible. I mean forests aren't usually magical right?" Rini asked. "Yeah I hear you, I've never been to a magical forest either" said Goten. "Maybe if we use an energy blast it'll wear off" suggested Vegeta. He then proceeded to use his Final Flash attack. BOOM! Nothing happened. The attack was deflected. "Woah! Looks like this barrier is stronger than we thought" said Goten. "Hey dad why don't you try the Kamehameha attack?" Asked Goten. "Right" said Goku as he proceeded to stretch his hands behind his back. "KA-ME-HA-ME-HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" the attack flew straight for the centre of the forest as the sky turned blue and light consumed the surrounding. BOOOOOOOM! Dust and smoke filled the air and for a moment everything was black. When the dust cleared off they saw that nothing had happened yet again! "What the hell is this thing?" Trunks asked in shock. They were stuck outside a mystical first with no sign of the dragon ball and a radar pointing straight ahead. What was going on?
~end of chapter 1~