Way of the Saiya-jin
Chapter 2: Dragon Ball Found?!? Goku and Pack's New Objective
The orange sun began to slowly dip behind the great forest trees that Goku and Pack found themselves surrounded by. The two boys tiredly trudged along on the muddy ground of the forest, leaving footprint shaped depressions behind them. Pack had convinced Goku to take a ground route for a while after nearly falling from his waist dozens of time while flying with Kinto'un. Goku had his hands clasped behind his head, like any typical male in the Son family, and stared up at the purple sky through the trees. His face was nearly motionless except for his eyes darting from the path in front of him to the sky. Pack was trailing closely behind, slightly bent over from the weight of the red backpack that he was carrying. The two boys had been traveling for three days and were showing visible signs of anguish.
"Goku," Pack exhaled heavily. Pack set his backpack down, sat next to it and leaned up against it. "We need to take a break for the night,"
Goku stopped walking and turned toward his friend. "C'mon Pack," he said quietly. He raised his arm and pointed in the opposite direction he was facing. "There's a clearing up ahead of these trees. We can set up camp there,"
Pack let out a huge sigh and lifted his backpack up and onto his back. "You better be right about this Goku,"
"Don't worry about Pack," Goku said with a smile. "I'm positive. Tomorrow will be much better. The radar says we are close to a Dragon Ball. Hopefully it's the temple and we can begin our training,"
Goku waited for his friend to catch up to him and they walked together further into the woods. Sure enough, the trees thinned out and the clearing came into view. A relieved Pack smiled happily and fell to his knees "Finally!" he shouted. Goku laughed at his friend. "Lets set up this tent and get some food, I'm starving!"
The boys pulled a brown rolled up cloth from Pack's backpack and lay it out on the soft, green grass. Goku then grabbed some thin wooden poles from the bag and began placing them in a tent shape while Pack retrieved another brown tarp from his bag. Goku and Pack set the tent up quickly and immediately went to work on dinner. Goku went into the woods and found sticks and old dried up leaves from kindling while Pack prepared some meals that Pan had packed for them. Goku dropped the sticks and leaves next to the tent and began to look for rocks to contain their fire. As he reentered the forest on the opposite side of the clearing from which they entered, he found what he had been looking for. In front of him sat a shimmering blue river with multi-colored rocks lining the banks.
"Ha! Alight!" Goku said to himself. As he ran up to the stream, a dark, house-like object came into focus. His dark Saiya-jin eyes widened with amazement. "Pack! Pack, come here!" he shouted.
Pack followed the echoes of Goku's voice. "What is it Goku?" His friend came running up to him waving the Dragon Radar wildly in the evening air with a look of pure joy on his face. "Pack, I think that's it!" he yelled, pointing in the direction of the house. "I think we found the temple!
"What?! No way," Pack said in disbelief.
Goku stopped in front of Pack and pointed his finger to a yellow circular object on a green grid. The yellow light flashed with an accompanying little 'blip' to indicate a dragon ball was nearby. Goku's smile was a mile wide, but Pack had a skeptical look across his face.
"I don't know Goku," he said, placing a hand up to his chin. "Didn't you say there were seven of these things?"
Goku's smiled faded and his arm fell from the air as if air was let out of a balloon. He scratched the back of his head. "Well yeah but the six-star ball is inside the temple. The rest of them would be scattered throughout the world. How could one make it inside of a building otherwise?"
"I don't know Goku, but I don't really want to think about it right now," Pack said irritably. "Just grab some rocks for the fire pit and we'll sleep on it,"
Pack turned and walked back toward their campsite. Goku sadly turned the Dragon Radar off and placed it back into his pocket. He slowly walked back toward the river and began to pick up the larger stones for his fire pit. With rocks cradled in his arms, he stood and looked across the river at the house through the dimming light. He sighed and turned back toward camp.
-
The bright sun shined brightly overhead, sending beams of light through the tree leaves. The light marked the ground like polka dots as the boys packed up their small camp site. They rolled up the tent cloth, returned it to their backpacks and set off once again on their journey to find the six-star dragon ball. Goku pulled the white Dragon Radar from his pocket and clicked the button located on the top of the small device. The radar immediately began to make short little 'blips' and showed a little yellow dot on the screen. As Goku and Pack exited the forest, they were forced to shield their eyes until they were used to the light reflecting off of the clear blue waters of the small river in front of them.
Pack glanced over to Goku. "What do you think we should do?"
Seemingly without thinking, Goku slung his backpack off his shoulder and placed in onto of his head. He held it in place with his right hand and tried to keep his hair out of his eyes with his left. He carefully made his way down the banks of the river and placed a foot in the cool water. He turned around to Pack. 'C'mon Pack, let's cross,"
"You're joking right? We have no idea how deep it is! We could get swept away by the current!"
Goku turned his entire body around since he couldn't turn just his head with the backpack on it. "Trust me Pack. Look, you can see the rock and everything. The water is so clear,"
Pack frowned and tentatively entered the water. Once in, he let out a breath and caught up to Goku; who was nearly on the other bank. As Goku climbed up onto the bank, one of his shoes got stuck in mud and fell face first onto the soggy grass. His backpack rolled down the bank and into the river. "Pack! Quick, grab it!" Goku shouted.
Pack lunged for the bag, but all he got was a face full of water and even soggier clothes. Goku ran down the river bank, keeping up with the backpack that contained the remainder of the food that Pan had packed for them, as well as half of their tent. Goku kept his attention on the bag, watching its every move; waiting for a chance to dive for it. With his attention elsewhere, he didn't see the large oak tree that sat on the river bank in front of him.
"Goku look out!" Pack screamed.
Goku turned and yelled in horror as he closed in on the brown oak tree. At the last possible second, he dove into the river, hoping to grab the backpack. He swiped at it with his left hand but it flowed just out of reach and further down the river. Goku met the water with a giant splash and when he came to the surface, he saw the bag floating down toward the river rapids. Dejected, he slowly walked across the river and jumped up onto the grass. Pack appeared next to him and handed him his lost shoe. Goku rolled onto his back and stared up into the blue sky.
How can I become a great hero if I can't even save a backpack?
All of a sudden, a gunshot cut through the forest solitude. The boys' heads shot up and they turned in the direction of the house that supposedly contained a dragon ball. The shot was followed by screaming and doors slamming.
"Goku! We gotta get out of here!" Pack said.
"Ah! Let's go!" Goku shouted as he scrambled for cover.
Pack ran into the forest and dove behind an old, fallen oak tree. Goku turned to grab their backpack and saw a young, blonde-haired girl running out of the house that Goku and Pack were heading for. She was quickly followed by three gunman wearing black shirts, red suspenders, khaki pants and red bandanas around their necks. The girl dove behind a large rock and skidded to halt as bullets flew around her.
"Get back here kid! Give us that ball!" one of the gunmen shouted.
Goku quickly ran over to Pack and sat down next to him in the leaves. Goku's back was up against the tree and Pack was carefully peering over the tree to see what was going on. The three men had stopped firing and slowly crept toward the boulder.
"That girl is done for," Pack said quietly.
That girl is in trouble. I need to do something…
Goku stood up with an angry look on his face and began walking toward the three men and the girl. Pack stood up behind the rock "Goku! What are you doing?! You're going to get us killed!"
"We have to do something Pack. We can't just leave her there,"
Goku's face had the look of determination only seen before in his fight with the monster king Yômaô. The wind gently blew his wild black hair back as he made his way over to the gunmen in black and red clothing. Goku saw the blonde girl turn away from the men, crouch down and cover her head with her hands. She was wearing a white dress outlined with intricate patterns in blue lace. She slowly turned her visibly shaking body and saw Goku walking toward the gunmen. One of the gunmen appeared behind her and shoved a gun into her back.
"I suggest you had over that ball princess. If you know what's good for you," he said in a deep voice.
"Hey!" Goku shouted.
Everyone turned their attention to the demi-Saiya-jin. The gunman with his gun to the girl's back retracted the pistol and pointed it at Goku. An evil sneer crept across his face. "Well looky here boys. Looks like someone is trying to play hero," Goku stood there stone faced as the gunmen laughed at his rescue attempt. He kept his black eyes focused on the man with the gun.
"You don't seem so heroic now," he laughed. "How 'bout this boys! He's so scared he can't even talk!" The three men laughed. "Good night hero,"
Gunshots rang out throughout the forest. Goku danced around with a frightened look on his face as he dodged bullets left and right. "What did I get myself into?" he said to himself.
"Goku!" Pack yelled from his hiding spot.
Dust was kicked up everywhere, making in hard to see and smoke poured out of the men's guns. The lead gunmen by the girl smiled. He grabbed her by her arm and spun her around. He placed the tip of his handgun under the girl's chin and lifted his up so he could see into her tear-filled eyes. "Looks like you'd better hand over that ball now,"
The girl shakily reached to the back of her neck and began to unclasp her necklace. She and the man were interrupted by the sound of shouting. Goku was busy tearing apart the other two gunmen with a barrage of kicks and punches. "God dammit!" the man shouted. He turned again to his prisoner and smiled. "Don't go away,"
Once he walked around the rock, the girl shot off into the forest for cover. She found a group of tall plants green plants with small white flowers growing wildly all around. She hid behind them, but kept her eyes on her captor and Goku; who had just kicked one of the gunmen into a tree. She saw Goku turn to the gunman. He was instantly knocked down by a pistol whip to the face. The gunman then began to kick a downed Goku in the ribs. The girl placed her hand up to her mouth in shock as the boy was being beaten in front of her.
Out of no where, Goku grabbed the man's leg and pulled it out from under him. He crawled on top of him and pinned him to the ground. Goku then disarmed him and the girl could see him talking to the man. Once he was finished, the man slammed his fist into Goku's face, knocking him off of his chest. She then could here Goku yell "I warned you!" and saw Goku punch the man in the stomach, knocking him to the ground, unconscious.
Goku lightly brushed dirt off of his clothes and turned around to see Pack running over to him. "Goku!" he shouted. "That was amazing!"
From behind the two rejoicing friends, the girl emerged from her hiding place and crept slowly toward them. Even though these two strangers had ultimately saved her life, she was a bit cautious none the less. Goku could see the girl coming toward them out of the corner of his eye and he turned to greet her. "Hi! I'm Goku, what's your name?"
The girl was taken aback for a moment at the boy's kind demeanor. "A-Aoi," she replied. "Princess of the Flower Country,"
"Princess?!?" Goku and Pack exclaimed.
"A real princess wow," Goku said.
"What do you mean 'a real princess'?" she scoffed. "You city people are all the same. No manners,"
"Hey lady, we just saved your life so you'd better cool it," Pack fought back.
The girl turned her chin toward the air, crossed her arms and turned her back toward them. "Well I do appreciate you saving me but I'm sure my father's guards would've gotten here in time to save me anyway,"
"If your father's guards are so great, then why didn't they stop you from being kidnapped in the first place?!" Pack yelled.
"I refuse to be talked to like this!" Princess Aoi shouted. As she stormed off, Goku turned to Pack. "Pack, she has a Dragon Ball around her neck. Maybe if we're nice to her and take her back to her village then she'll give it to us,"
Goku and Pack began running toward the princess who was quickly disappearing through the forest. "Princess wait!!!"