Chapter 2: A Story Told

Krillin stood at the door and let out a sigh. Why were they meeting at Tien's house? When did they ever meet at Tien's of all places? Why all the secrecy? Krillin had to take off work and lie to his wife about where he was going for this. He hoped it was worth it.

Well, he supposed the only way to find out was to knock on the door and ask. Yamcha answered and looked around. "You didn't tell anyone you were coming here, right?"

Krillin raised an eyebrow. "No. I followed your instructions perfectly. Yamcha, why are we meeting here? Why couldn't we have met up at my place? You know this is way out of the way for me, right?"

"Well, because then your wife would know plus, you and I both live in the city. There's too many people that could over hear us. Now come on, Tien and I have already talked about it so we just need you."

"Talked about what?" Krillin walked in and noticed how cosey the area was. There Tien sat at the kitchen table, looking as serious as always. Suddenly Krillin felt like he was a criminal involved in a heist. "Yamcha, you know, if you need money you could always just ask. It's no shame."

Yamcha stared with wide eyes. "Huh? No – no I'm fine. It's not that at all it's – well – look just sit down. Tien, how about you explain?"

Krillin sat down and looked to their three-eyed friend for help. Whatever these two were planning it had better be good.

Tien sighed and sat up straight. "Krillin, you know how we can all feel our fans, right?"

"Yeah, of course I do." Now he was even more confused. "It's a weird sort of energy that sits there and moves around depending on what's going on in the community. What about it?"

Yamcha took over. "Well, try to imagine what Goku must be feeling."

"Probably something great." Krillin assumed. "Honestly, I'm jealous of it but what of it?"

Yamcha grinned and Tien continued. "That right there. The jealousy. All three of us feel the same. Krillin, have you ever thought about changing that? Have you ever wondered what it would feel like to have as many fans as Goku or Vegeta?"

Krillin frowned. "You're worrying me, Tien. So what if I have? There's nothing we can do about it."

Yamcha leaned forward on the table, clearly getting excited about the conversation. "There is one way. Krillin, you and I have both teased Goku about getting him to share his fame so that's why I asked Tien if we could bring you along but you have to be cool about this."

"About what?"

"About convincing the fans that Goku isn't perfect."

Everything froze. Suddenly the atmosphere was very tense and serious in the silence. Krillin opened his mouth and then closed it. Was Yamcha serious? Did he really hear that right?

"Come on" Krillin finally broke the silence, "you know they don't believe that. They know all about his flaws already."

"But what if we made some up?"

There was the deafening silence again. This time, Tien cut in. "Krillin, we all know that they know Goku isn't perfect but have you seen the way they talk about him? They worship him, Krillin, more than any of us could possibly imagine. He's like an infallible God to them."

Krillin glared at Tien. "I think he's earned that. They all read the same story, our story, the story we lived, I don't see anything wrong with them giving him the credit he's due."

Yamcha groaned. "Come on, Krillin. It's not even that big of a deal. If we convince a few idiots of a lie or two, then we'll get those fans. Goku's said himself that he wouldn't care if we shared them."

Krillin hummed and crossed his arms in thought. "So what you're saying is that if we broke the one rule we gave each other for long enough, we could feel whatever Goku must be feeling now?"

Yamcha nodded, getting excited. "Yes, exactly! It would be so easy, we just go in, tell a dumb story that we all agree on here tonight and then watch as it feathers out and causes a few people to change who their favorite character is."

Tien joined in. "Hopefully it'll be changed to one of us."

Krillin sat there in thought. It really would be incredibly easy and it's not like it would hurt Goku any. None of them have ever experienced anything bad from the community even when there were people that disliked them. Just go in, spread a few falsehoods about Goku and then leave it be. He wish he could say he was better than this but that jealousy was a dark and powerful mistress indeed.

He sighed. "Alright. Since it won't really hurt anything, I'll help you out. So, what do we do?"

Yamcha grinned. "Easy. We all agree on a caricature of Goku, I'm thinking, we tell them he's selfish and stick by that. Then we take on different persona's and enter the community, starting with the forums."

They talked all day about different ways to go about discussing with the community. They traded alias ideas and new flaws to drown out the reality of Goku's reckless nature. Eventually Krillin had to return home and he did so with a heavy conscious.

He just had to keep reminding himself that nothing bad would happen. He was sure nothing bad would happen. It was all just a fun game, nothing more. Just a fun game.

Just a fun game where nothing bad would happen.